Alright, we're in Hebrews chapter
13 again this morning. Hebrews chapter 13. And our text
will be in verse 4. And I'll just read from the first
verse down to verse 4. Let brotherly love continue But
be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby some have
entertained angels unawares. Remember them that are in bonds
as bound with them, and them which suffer adversity as being
yourselves also in the body. Marriage is honorable in all,
and the bed undefiled, but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge. Now, everything we've looked
at here in the past few weeks has to do with brotherly love.
And this fourth verse has to do with brotherly love in a threefold
manner. First of all, in the way a husband
and a wife treat each other. If both have been brought to
saving faith in Christ, then they cannot neglect each other
without neglecting one for whom Christ died. And then secondly,
it has to do with brotherly love in the way that we respect the
marriage union of our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.
We should never conduct ourselves in a way that would disrespect
the marriage union of couples within the church. In this regard,
the teaching speaks to those who are both married and single.
And then thirdly, it has to do with the essence of what brotherly
love is. and how uncleanness in no way
honors Christ's union with us and our union with Him. Brotherly
love is a spirit a believer possesses in our persons, in the new man
created in Christ Jesus. And it's the fruit of the Holy
Spirit within a believer, the love of the brethren. It's not
brotherly love merely because we show it and it's reciprocated
back to us from another. That's not what makes it brotherly
love. Brotherly love is the spirit
within a believer even when we're dealing with those who are not
brethren. And even when we're shown no
love by those with whom we are dealing. The greatest illustration,
example is Christ. He loved us, not that we loved
Him. And we don't disrespect him by calling him brother, but
he is in fact the elder brother over his father's household. And he loved us, though we didn't
love him. Brotherly love is that spirit
we have by virtue of Christ's union with us. And therefore,
one of the first warnings taught the believer since the beginning
is to abstain from uncleanness. from fornication and or adultery. For in these we dishonor our
union with Christ." Now, the text says here, marriage is honorable
in all. Look over at Genesis chapter
2 with me. I'm going to read this passage,
then I want to look at a few things that we find in this passage
of Scripture. This is the first marriage. Genesis
2 verse 20. And Adam gave names to all cattle,
and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field.
But for Adam there was not found and help, meat for him. And the Lord God caused a deep
sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept. And he took one of
his ribs and closed up the flesh instead thereof. And the rib
which the Lord God had taken from man made he a woman. and brought her unto the man.
And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my
flesh. She shall be called woman, because
she was taken out of man. Therefore shall a man leave his
father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife, and they
shall be one flesh." Now let's notice a few things from this
passage. First of all, the institution of marriage was the first thing
that God did after He created the world and man. the union
between Christ and his people. God's very glory is the preeminent
reason God made the world and man. We read in Isaiah 54, 5,
thy maker is thine husband, the Lord of hosts is his name, thy
redeemer the Holy One of Israel, the God of the whole earth shall
he be called. And then after God had created on each day,
he said God saw what he had made and that it was good. But when
he made Adam, it says God saw it was not good that the man
should be alone. And as to man, the creative work
of creating him was not complete until there should be found for
Adam a help that was meet for him. I compared this to what
our Lord compared the kingdom of heaven to in Matthew 22 too. He said, the kingdom of heaven
is like unto a certain king which made a marriage for his son.
That's what God the Father did before the world began. He made
a marriage for his son. And then notice the bride, Eve,
was created out of Adam. Her fitness was of him. That
what made her meet for him was of him. Even so, Christ's church
and each member individually was created in Him, by Him, and
for Him. And He's made us meet to be partakers
of the inheritance of the saints in life. Ephesians 2.10 says,
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus under good works,
which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them,
just as Eve was created out of Adam. And then in Ephesians 4.22
it says, put off concerning the former conversation, the old
man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lust. That's
what we're dealing with here in our text in Hebrew. And be
renewed in the spirit of your mind and that you put on the
new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. Our fitness, our meat, what makes
us meat fit to be partakers with Him is Him. And then we see here
from this passage in Genesis 2 that Adam had to be put into
a deep sleep in order for his bride to be created out of him.
Our Lord went to the cross and laid down his life. being made
sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God
in Him, that we might be made meat, that we might be created
after His workmanship in true righteousness and true holiness.
Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his
life for his friends. And then Adam rejoiced over his
bride, and he said, This is now bone of my bones and flesh of
my flesh. She shall be called woman because
she was taken out of man. The body, the bride of Christ,
is called His body. The fullness of Him that filleth
all and all. This bride of His is bone of
His bone and flesh of His flesh. We read in Ephesians 5.22. Turn there with me. Ephesians 5.22. wives, submit yourselves unto
your own husbands as unto the Lord. For the husband is the
head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, and
he is the Savior of the body. Therefore, as the church is subject
unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. And then husbands, love your
wives even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for
it, that he might sanctify it and cleanse it with the washing
of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a
glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing,
but that it should be holy and without blemish. So ought men
to love their wives as their own bodies. He's saying Christ
is one with his bride, even as a husband is one with his bride.
He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet
hated his own flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the
Lord the church. For we are members of his body,
of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause, this is what
we saw in that first marriage, for this cause, that's why Adam
was created. And Eve was created, and this
marriage union occurred in the garden before anything else occurred. It was by divine design to glorify
God's Son. And for this cause shall a man
leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his
wife, and they too shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery,
but I speak concerning Christ and the Church. Nevertheless,
let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself
and the wife see that she reverence her husband." Whenever we come
down now in our text in Hebrews 13, if you'll look back there
with me, Hebrews 13.4, we come to a scripture and it
says now that marriage is honorable in all. And it says, "...and
the bed undefiled." For those joined together lawfully
according to God's Word, especially two believers, the conjugal union
of a husband and wife being undefiled speaks of the blessed union between
Christ and His bride, Christ and the individual believer who
lawfully did everything necessary before God to make His bride
His own and join Himself to her so that now we're eternally pure
in Him. If He can be defiled, our union
with Him can be defiled. It can't be defiled. Look at
Matthew 19 with me. You remember when the Pharisees
came to the Lord. Folks who don't see the beauty of Christ
in all the relationships that God has made, which He made them
to glorify His Son. He made them for that purpose,
to glorify His Son. The folks who don't see it get
off on a tangent, chasing rabbits and want to talk about something
else. And the Pharisees did that with our Lord. They came to Him
and they said, asking Him questions about divorce. Which in our text,
when it speaks of adultery, that's mainly what it's talking about.
It's putting away someone in divorce and marrying another.
And it's speaking of adultery. We'll get to that in just a moment.
But when they came to the Lord asking Him that, this is what
He said, Matthew 19, verse 4. He answered and said unto them,
Have ye not read that He which made them at the beginning made
them male and female? He said, He made one man and
he made one woman. He made one man for one woman
and one woman for one man. Not a man for a bunch of women
and a bunch of women for a man. And He said, Have you not read
that He made them male and female and said, For this cause shall
a man leave father and mother and shall cleave to his wife,
and they too shall be one flesh? Wherefore, they are no more two,
but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined
together, let no man put asunder. Now, what God has put together
is Christ and His bride. And He put one husband with one
bride, and one bride with one husband. And that marriage, that
loving union between those two, wherein they become one flesh,
cannot be defiled. It cannot be defiled. It's the
eternal security of the believer. It cannot be defiled in any way.
And so He says, and therefore, don't talk about divorce. because
this is what's typified in the whole thing is my union with
my people. That's what Christ is putting
forth here. We read in Revelation 21-27,
He's talking about the Kingdom of God. "...There shall in no
wise enter into it anything that defileth, neither whatsoever
worketh abomination, or maketh a lie, but they which are written
in the Lamb's Book of Life." They'll enter in there. And nothing
can defile that union. Nothing at all. So we see here
that everything that God has made, just like everything else
that He's made, marriage was ordained to glorify Christ the
Son of God. That's why we read marriage is
honorable. And the bed undefiled. It's a union that cannot be severed.
Now, He gives us a warning. Hebrews 13 verse 4. He says marriage is honorable
in all and the bed undefiled. We're joined together with Christ
our husband and we can never be polluted. That union can never
be severed. It can never be defiled. No abomination
can enter in because of Christ's blood and what he has accomplished
on our behalf and how he's vitally joined us to himself and he will
not put us away. But, he says, here's a warning,
but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge. Now, seeing that
this marriage union glorifies Christ and the church, Christ
and His bride, we're given a warning. And this was one of those things
we're going to start seeing in Acts 15, where from the very
beginning, the saints were warned against abstaining from fornication
and adultery. And it was for this reason. For
this reason. And that's what's being told
us here. If you want brotherly love to continue, husbands and
wives treat each other as unto the Lord. Brethren, treat the
marriage union between your brothers and sisters in the church as
unto the Lord. And then those who are single
in the church, or those who are married, if you turn from your
bride to another, or if a single person joins themselves with
a harlot, so there's a problem. Let me show you this. Now, let
me make a statement here before we move forward. This is always something I want
to point out when we talk about marriage and things like this,
because folks who have been divorced, been married and divorced, who
are believers, they will get hung up on this, and they can't
really see the beauty of what the message is. Let me just make
this statement. There's not a soul here, not
a man or a woman here, that is not guilty of this. You may not
be in the act, but you are in spirit. Not one of us. So, this
is teaching us, brethren, what's in the past. Put it behind you.
Press towards the mark of the prize of the high calling of
God in Christ Jesus. And don't let those past sins
pull you down. But now, let's see what we can
view here from this. The Lord's people, through His
Word, through His Gospel, through the glorious illustration of
this marriage union between Christ and His Bride, and by God's power
working within us, we're made to abhor such uncleanness and
adultery. We abhor it by His grace. We
don't want to have any part in it. But because this, just as
marriage illustrates better than anything else the union between
Christ and his bride, fornication and adultery illustrate like
nothing else the union of a sinner with this adulterous world. If
we can yet forsake Christ, we were never married to him. If
we can leave him and join ourselves with this world, we were never
married to him in the first place. And God will judge those. And
those of you who are united with Christ. Christ will, He will
correct us. That's what scripture tells us.
When you try to turn to the left or the right, you'll hear a still
small voice. What did the Hebrew writer just
tell us? Don't despise the chastening of the Lord. He gives us correction,
faithful correction as we need faithful correction. But let's
see this, 1 Corinthians 6 verse 13. I've got two scriptures I
want you to see. And I want you to see this one
first. 1 Corinthians 6.13. About the middle part of that
verse. Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord. This is speaking to believers.
And the Lord for the body. And God hath both raised up the
Lord and will also raise up us by His own power. Know ye not
that your bodies are the members of Christ? Shall I then take
the members of Christ and make them the members of a harlot?
God forbid. What? Know ye not that he which
is joined to in harlot is one body? For two, saith he, shall
be one flesh." We've just seen that. So we've seen, just as
this is an illustration, just as the marriage union, which
is honorable and undefiled, is a picture of Christ and His bride,
this union is a picture of forsaken Christ for this world. And he
says, but he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. Flee
fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is
without the body, but he that committeth fornication sinneth
against his own body. What, know ye not that your body
is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which ye have
of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price.
Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which
are God's." I told you that, be turning to
Malachi 2 with me, Malachi chapter 2. Now I said that this is an
illustration of what it is to forsake Christ and go into spiritual
adultery, spiritual fornication. That's why If all it is is just
us saying, well, I don't want to commit fornication, or I don't
want to commit adultery because I love my wife, well, that's
a nice thing for you to want to strive for. But if you don't
see Christ in this, it won't be of any benefit whatsoever.
It'll be just a legal obedience that you have. He's our motivation. The love of Christ constrains
us in everything we do. He is love for us. Now, I said
that this adultery spoken of here has to do with divorce and
which is primarily what's spoken of and the Lord uses this to
show us again how that he joined us together with Christ and he
uses the nation of Israel to show us this and in Malachi chapter
2 he's speaking to the priest he's speaking to those who were
given to minister to the people the Word of God concerning the
coming Messiah And they, but they, they didn't do that. They
didn't do that. Now listen to what he says about
this. He didn't make many wives for Adam, he made one. He made
one man and one woman after the image of God, and he did it for
this reason. Let me make this comment, that
they might produce godly seed. that they might produce godly
seed, that is, legitimate offspring, not illegitimate offspring. But
fornication or adultery, putting away your wife to marry another,
it's an illustration of leaving Christ for a strange God which
will produce nothing but illegitimate children. Now watch this, Malachi
2.10. And I want you to go back at
your leisure and you read Malachi 2, and you'll see that he's speaking
to religious leaders in Israel. Read this now, Malachi 2, 10.
Have we not all one Father? Hath not one God created us? Why do we deal treacherously? Now that word right there is
one with the word adultery. every man against his brother
by profaning the covenant of our fathers. Judah hath dealt
treacherously, and an abomination is committed in Israel and in
Jerusalem. For Judah hath profaned the holiness
of the Lord, which he loved, and hath married the daughter
of a strange God. The Lord will cut off the man
that doeth this, the master and the scholar out of the tabernacles
of Jacob, and him that offereth an offering unto the Lord of
hosts. And this have ye done again and again," God said. You've left me for a strange
God. And he committed adultery and he says, And this have you
done again and again, covering the altar of the Lord with tears,
and with weeping, and with crying out, insomuch that He regardeth
not the offering any more, or receiveth it with good will at
your hand. And yet you say, wherefore? Why
doesn't He receive my offering? Because the Lord hath been witness
between thee and the wife of thy youth. against whom thou
hast dealt treacherously, yet she is thy companion and the
wife of thy covenant." The one that you vowed to, made that
covenant with. And he says, and did not he make
one? He made one bride, one husband
for one bride. Yet had he the residue of the
Spirit, and wherefore did he make just one? That he might
seek a godly seed Why did God give a people to Christ to be
his bride? That he might preserve a godly
seed. Why did he make Adam and Eve
to procreate, to multiply? That there might be children,
offspring in the earth. But we sinned in her then, and
we sinned against God, and we left our husband. in Adam. And when we did, we brought forth
illegitimate children. And now he says to Israel, I've
given you the covenant of your fathers. I've given you one covenant
and you've been betrothed to one husband and yet you've forsaken
him. And you continually come to the
altar and bring your sacrifices and say, but why don't he receive
our sacrifices? And he says it's because you
have dealt treacherously. Therefore take heed to your spirit
and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth.
For the Lord, the God of Israel, saith that he hateth putting
away. For one covereth violence with
his garment, saith the Lord of hosts. Therefore take heed to
your spirit, that you deal not treacherously. Ye have wearied
the Lord with your words, yet ye say, Wherein have we wearied
him? When ye say, Every one that doeth evil is good in the sight
of the Lord, and he delighteth in them. Or, Where is the God
of judgment? Now, what we're being told here
in our text is that the marriage bed for a husband and wife is
the antidote against adultery and uncleanness. the physical
adultery and uncleanness. The marriage union is undefiled,
and it's the antidote against adultery and fornication. But
the spiritual application is giving ourselves to Christ, our
husband, is the only antidote against sin of dealing treacherously
towards him. Wives, submit yourselves unto
your husbands as the church submits herself unto the Lord. That's
the two-fold application here. And I know that's what we're
being taught because you know that's the only time to give
ourselves to Christ. It's the only time, Paul said,
that as husbands and wives we're excused from excusing ourselves
from the marriage union. He said, to avoid fornication,
let every man have his own wife and let every woman have her
own husband. And he said, defraud you not one the other, except
it be with consent for a time. And that time is that you may
give yourselves to Christ, to fasting and prayer, and then
come together again that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency.
So you see the two-fold lesson? It's that this marriage that
God has given us, we're taught through it, that the way to keep
us from Satan's beguiling with adultery and fornication and
those things is because marriage is honorable, and the bed is
undefiled, and we've been joined together in holy matrimony. And
likewise, the way that we stay on Christ and stay faithful to
Him and good fidelity to Him is by giving ourselves to Him,
just as a husband and a wife. And the only time we're excused
from giving ourselves to our husband or our wife is when we're
giving ourselves to Him. You see how one this is and how
it goes right together? It's just beautiful. Now, let
me give you a little application here. How vital is the marriage
of Christ to his church? How vital is the marriage of
Christ to his church in order for the church and kingdom of
God to exist? How vital is it? It is as vital
as marriage between a man and a woman in order for the world,
populated world, to exist. What would a populated world,
how would a populated world exist unless God ordained marriage
between a man and a woman? There'd be no children, wouldn't
there? Honorable citizens in a country are made up of honorable
sons and daughters. That's who makes up the citizenship
of a country. But before there can be honorable
sons and daughters, before there can be brethren,
there must be honorable husbands and wives. And to the same degree that marriage
between a man and a woman degenerates into dishonor in a society, to
the same degree that that union between a man and a woman degenerates
in a society, so does that society degenerate. Look around us. Look around us. So it is with
Christ and the church. The church is populated with
sisters and brothers concerned for the honor of their father
because he's a faithful husband to his bride. If his honor toward
his bride could diminish, so could the brethren, and so would
his church. And that can't happen. He won't
allow that to happen. So that's why we're given this
warning against uncleanness and adultery and to heed it. Our most dire necessity is the
marriage union between us and Christ. You want to see this
church right here degenerate into nothing? Don't heed this physically. Don't
heed what this is saying physically. Paul was telling the Hebrew brethren,
if this one starts going after this one's wife, and this one's
wife starts going after this one's husband, and the single
ones in the church start going after this and that one, it's
going to degenerate just like a society. Any society degenerates. And our union that we need most
vitally of everything is our union between Christ, us and
Christ. And so we do everything, everything
we do in our daily lives, we do to honor that union and to
honor that marriage. And we honor that marriage by
honoring the marriage that he's given us in this life. And that's,
there's no better illustration. And we know that because right
behind our union with Christ in conversion, Right behind,
second behind our union with Christ in conversion, the most
monumental thing for a man and a woman to experience in this
lifetime is marriage. Isn't that right? And you know
what's right behind that? The birth of their children. Now you think about all that,
and you think about Christ our husband, and how by joining himself
with his church, he has brought forth children. Righteous offspring. Legitimate offspring. And we
learn, brethren, that's not by accident, but by divine design. And I beseech you, therefore,
brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies
a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable
service.