OK, if you take your Bible and
turn me to Hebrews chapter 13. Hebrews chapter 13. You're looking at one verse this morning,
verse four. The title of the message this
morning is a right view of marriage. A right view of marriage. The Apostle here in his practical
application to the graces and love of God says, marriage is
honorable in all, and the bed undefiled, but whoremongers and
adulterers God will judge. The first thing is, I want us
to see this, the truth that God has instituted marriage. It is God who instituted this
covenant agreement between a man and a woman. The institution
of marriage was ordained by God Himself in the garden. Man, Adam,
who was created perfect, innocent, and yet when he had named all
of the creatures, found none suited for himself, being the
highest creature on earth God did not at this time give him
a suitable mate. And seeing that he did not have
one, God says it is not good that man should be alone. Think
of that. Adam was a perfect man, and yet God said it is not good
that he should be alone. Marriage is a gift. for man's good. It is a gift. God gave him a woman to be his
helpmeet. God made the perfect helpmeet
in a woman. Not to rule over the man, but
she was the object of his heart. That's why she was taken from
his chest and not his foot. She was to be his helper. She
was to be the object of his affection. And she was to be a faithful
helper. Now, marriage is a union by which
societies are built. If you think of any society,
think of any civilization, the basic core unit of all civilization
is a family unit, is a marriage union, a covenant. And so then marriage is a foundation
God instituted for civilization. And it's no wonder that you can
see corruption and the immorality of a nation simply by looking
at its view of marriage. Can you not see that in our nation,
the corruption? Can you not see by looking at
the concept of what people think of marriage and see the corruption
of it? Our country sees marriage as
a non-binding contract, some veil of morality. That's all
it is. So nobody's mad at them. They
get married. They get married, so nobody gets
mad. Otherwise, they would have no qualms about living together. They want this just as a veil
to cover their sin. Something that is not necessary,
they see it as out of date and out of time. Well, that's just
old-fashioned. Woe to this nation that calls
good bad and bad good. God says marriage is good. God
says it was good for Adam who was without sin. How much more
better is it for us and needful for us who are men of sin? Now, the only people seeming
to want to be married today are Sodomites. I mean, is that the
sickest thing? That they want to defile this
union, and yet people who are not that way, they don't even
care. It's because God has given them
over to a reprobate mind. The only reason that they want
to be married is hatred of God, the defilement of God's institution. That's the only reason. There's
no other reason. There's no other reason. But this is best. This is the
best result of man's utter depravity, of God giving them over to a
reprobate mind. Men have stopped being men. This is a problem with marriage.
Men have stopped being men. Because man, desiring to fulfill
his lust, have left the bonds of marriage and have defiled
themselves, they've broken the bonds of marriage and committed
all sorts of immoralities and sexual sins, which always brings the judgment
of God on a nation. Is that not so in Scripture?
Did it not happen to the children of Israel when they committed
all sorts of sexual sins? When they broke the bond of marriage,
God came down and killed many thousands of them at one time.
God had left them over into the hands of their enemies so many
times because they gave in to these immoralities by not honoring
what God had set up, what God had instituted. Who's to blame for such things?
What's the cause of immorality? Well, I'll tell you what, the
buck stops here. Let judgment begin first in the
house of God. The church is to blame. I don't blame the depravity of
man. I don't blame them for being
dead. They're dead in their sins. What else do you expect from
dead people? Do you expect them to honor marriage? No. But when
the church ceased to honor marriage, it gave in to all sorts of immoralities. Believers in
Christ, we are the light of the world. And if the light be hid, darkness
prevails. You are the salt of the earth. If the salt has lost its savor,
if it's lost its taste, why would you salt anything? It'd be good
for nothing but to be cast out and trodden under man, the foot
of man. It starts with us who bear the
righteousness of Jesus Christ in this mortal body, who have
the Holy Spirit dwelling in us. Let judgment begin here. How
have we treated God's institution? How have we treated God's institution? Yet, if we think light of marriage,
if we are blinded to the benefits of the goodness and necessity
of marriage as well as the responsibilities of marriage, then the standard
will be lowered. Is that not so? If we who are
the standard bearers lower our standards, how much lower will
the immoral world lower their standards? Believers in Christ, marriage
is good because God made it. And the scripture here, very
plainly, marriage is honorable in all. Marriage is honorable and the
bed undefiled. Proverbs 18.22 says, Whoso findeth
a wife, findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favor with the
Lord. I've found a good thing. I've
got a wife and she's a good thing. Wonderful. What a blessing. I've obtained favor with God.
He's given me a helpmate. Proverbs 5, 18 says, Let thy
fountain be blessed and rejoice in the wife of thy youth. See
that marriage is to be a joy. How many people enter into it
with such fear and tremendous intimidation? Oh no, I'm paralyzed! What? Because we have a low estimation
of it. We think that somehow we'd be
better just by ourselves. That's not how the Lord made
us. For by means You see marriage to be a joy
then, so long as it's done in God's order. But when abused,
it is not a good thing. When it is abused, it can be
a very vile, horrible thing. Proverbs 6, 26 says, For by means
of a whorish woman, a man is brought to a piece of bread,
and the adulterer Adulterous will hunt for the precious life. A man will not love his wife
and is drawn away by a whorish woman. That way leads to death. That way leads to death. Can anybody cite an example where
it's been better in that case? For a man to leave his wife for
another? That usually ends up, there's a chain of them. If they
leave one, they're just going to leave the other, and leave
the other, and leave the other. It's not good. If a man will not honor his wife
and love his wife, if a wife will not honor her husband. I like this, Solomon said, a
contentious woman is like a drip. Drive a man mad. It can be horrible. If a man won't
love his wife, it's horrible. If a woman will not love and
serve her husband, it's horrible. Because it's not the way God
ordained it. That's not the way that God instituted
it. Believers in Christ are to seek
to honor marriage, the covenant of marriage. And I'll tell you
this, seek out believers. Oh, what pain it is for a believer
to be married to an unbeliever. It is a great agony. A burden. I've seen a man who
loved his wife so much he would talk to her every day of the
gospel And he basically just would hit her on the head with
this thing. He loved her. He went about it
wrong. But all his life until he died,
she was an unbeliever. And she still is. Great pain. And to marry an unbeliever
is also bad because it would draw us away from the gospel. Being yoked to an unbeliever
causes to compromise the gospel of Jesus Christ. We should seek our believers,
not these fly-by-night believers. Oh, my goodness. How many of
those have come in and gone? People bring their boyfriend
or girlfriend in, and they're like, oh, I wanted to believe
so bad. And then they make some profession of faith, and then
they're married the next week. Oh, man. No, you want somebody
that's been there a long time. You want somebody who's been
proven. That's not always going to be true. I understand that
there'll be apostates, that there'll be people, there'll be reprobates
in the church, but yet we want to try as hard as we can because
this is a very important institution. And I'll tell you, I don't know
how in the world unbelievers work together. We have two sinners
living in the same house, and it is tough. It's tough. I can't imagine what it is if
there were an unbeliever in this union. Seek out marriage not based on
physical attraction as much as spiritual union. There must be an attraction,
I don't doubt that, but most importantly, it's got to be a
spiritual union. And then God will honor it. God will provide what is necessary. He made this covenant. He instituted
it, and if we abide by it, it's going to be a blessing. But I want to tell you something
about marriage that's more important than everything I just said. Marriage is to be upheld and
honorable in the church because it is a picture of the Lord and
His church. It is a picture. God has allowed
anyone who is married, God has allowed us to be a visual picture
of the relationship between Him and His church. Go to Ephesians chapter 5. Verse 20, giving thanks always
for all things unto God in the Father, in the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ. Now, I'll tell you what, that's
important, isn't it? Before you begin anything, just
give thanks. Give thanks for all things. Submitting yourselves one to
another in the fear of God. Now, with such thankful and humble
hearts, he begins with this. How wise the Apostle is to begin
to humble us before he says this, but, Wives, submit yourselves
to 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. Wives, submit yourselves to your
husbands. This is how to enjoy marriage. This is how to enjoy it. Take your place that God has
given you. You are a picture of the Church. Wives, you are a picture of the
Bride of Jesus Christ. Beautiful! Beautiful is the Bride
of Christ! Glorious and precious is the
bride of Christ. And I'll tell you, the bride
of Christ is most glorious when she is most submissive. Is that
not so? Is not the church the most beautiful
when it's the most submissive? Yeah, it is. Beautiful. Therefore, as the church is subject
to Christ, so let wives be to their own husbands, Husbands,
love your wives. How? Oh, even as Christ loved
the church and gave himself for it. God help us. If men would love like this,
we'd have no problem with marriage. There'd be no problems. There would be no reason for
a wife to not submit to her husband if we would love like this. If
we would give ourselves as Christ did. That he might sanctify and cleanse
it with the washing of the 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 that
loveth his wife loveth himself, for no man yet ever 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 shall a man leave
his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they
too shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery, but
I speak of Christ and His church. Marriage is a picture of the
union between Christ and His body, His church. What a precious
love the Savior has for His church. What a precious love. It's an
eternal love. And we are so in union with Christ
that He is our head and we are His body. We are the body of Him that feeleth
all in all." What a mystery this is. This is a great mystery. The picture of marriage speaks
to us of the mystery of Christ and His church. First of all,
that we are His betrothed bride. You, believer, are His betrothed
by the Father. The Father chose us. This is
how marriage worked. Under the Scripture, it's why
you read these things, the Father picked the bride. And He picked
the best bride. And it wasn't because of anything
that was in us. He said, I did not choose you
because you were better than any nation on the face of the
earth. He said, I didn't choose you
because you were the most lovable. God chose us out of sovereign
mercy. He made us a beautiful bride. That's not what we were by nature.
That's not what we deserve. We did not deserve a husband
that would love us this way. But we were chosen of the Father
and we were bought. We were a bride that was bought.
We had sold ourselves in the slave market of sin. The whole
idea of Hosea marrying that whorish woman was a picture. We had sold ourselves in the
slave market of sin. And we were not even a meek whore, but boastful. in our condition,
spinning in the face of God, who was the only one who could
redeem us. And yet He did. He bought us
with His own precious blood. He washed us. You know Gomer
in that picture? You know her name means wasted?
Is that not our nature? Wasted. Is that not our life? Wasted. Deserved nothing but hell. And he said, I'll take that one. I'll take that one. That's mine. I'll buy it. And he bought us. And he washed
us. When men hear of the mercy and
grace of God and reject this message of grace, is that not
just a whore spitting in the face of a prince who would love her and care for
her? You remember the sin of Achan. Well, in Hosea, this is the gift
of the husband to the bride. He said, I'll give you the valley
of Achar. That's the place where Achan
died. You remember he stole those things
from Jericho. And how that he was stoned to
death so that they were able to defeat Ai, that small city
that they were defeated by because of this sin. This is a picture
of Christ. We have an inheritance. The valley
of Achar is our inheritance. Jesus Christ died for our sins
so that we might be redeemed. So that we might be saved and
joined in marriage union to Him through faith. Behold the love of Christ to
give us the glorious right to call Him our Beloved. He says
in Hosea 2, He says, You shall call Me no more Balali, which
means Master, but Thou shalt call Me Isha, Beloved Husband. Beloved Husband. And we are Christ
by marriage because we are called to the marriage. Have you been
called to the marriage? Have you been called to believe
on Christ? Have you repented from your sins
and now believe on the Son of God to atone? You're married
to the Son of God. You are in union with Him. This is the privilege of the
bride to be called and joined to her Lord and Savior. We have
gladly given up the rags of our flesh for the robe of His righteousness,
and we are happy to own Him as our Beloved. And the Bride in this picture,
that's you. The Bride in this picture is
to be like the virtuous woman of Proverbs chapter 31. I know my wife reads that quite
often. But truly, this is a picture of you and me. We are to be that
virtuous woman. We are to be a servant. We are
to submit ourselves daily to our master, our husband, Jesus
Christ. The bride of Christ is to have
her heart fixed on him, to be faithful to him, to be pleasant
to his eyes, and not be tempted away. The bride of Christ is
not to be slack in her duty. In Romans chapter 12, it says
this, Be not slothful in business, fervent in spirit, serving the
Lord. That's not talking about our
business as your job. This is talking about being fervent
in the business of Christ, R.C. To be fervent in the business
of serving Him. With whatever gifts or talents
the Lord has given us to serve Him, we should serve Him with
everything we have. He is our husband. And we are
His bride. Believers in Christ are to be
fervent in the business of fervent in worship above all else. Are you fervent in worship? Are you fixed? Is your heart
fixed to worship? It should be. Mine should too. Are we fervent in study? Are
we fervent in prayer? The Scripture says be instant
in prayer. That virtuous woman that says that she begins early
in the morning and she doesn't stop until she blows out the
candle at night. She is fervent in that business.
So should we be fervent in prayer. We should wake in prayer. We
should daily be in prayer, momently be in prayer. And then before
we blow out the light, we should be in prayer. We should speak
to Him. Fervent in generosity. We should
be fervent in generosity. Kindness, gentleness, meekness,
temperance, faith, love. We should be having all these
graces adorn ourselves. We should be fervent not to sin. My little children, John says,
sin not. There is no excuse for sin. If we excuse our sins, we are
insincere in our confession of sin. Insincere. And I hope to preach on that
in just a minute. We, as the bride, should look
well to our ways because we represent Christ on earth. Do you realize
that? Wherever the bride goes, wherever
my wife goes, she represents me. And I know this, my wife is a
joy to me because she speaks well of me wherever she goes.
That's a joy. That's comforting because I know
who I am and I'm so glad she does speak well of me. But how
much should we speak well of our beloved? Wherever we go. And we should make marriage honorable
in the church because not only because of all the good it does
us, not only because of all the good it does society, but because
we are the representatives of the Savior. And if our marriages are broken.
What does that say about our union with Christ as a body?
It's telling the world that we can compromise. May God help us to have a right
view of marriage, that we would always see Christ in his church. When we think of this subject,
when we think of our own marriages, let us take our place so that
we are shining lights in this world. witnesses of the union between Christ and
us. I pray that God blesses to you.