More Than a Contract: Understanding Marriage as a Divine Covenant

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:00:00] Good morning everyone. Come on now. That's Jason everybody. Glad you guys are here this morning. We are finally back in the building after we got the shockingly the most amount of snow I can remember being here in North Carolina. But we had a blast minus preaching to an empty room last week. But if it is your first time, my name is Scott Broom. I'm an associate pastor here. I help lead our men's ministry on Wednesday nights and then our media team. And if you don't currently come to Wednesdays, you should. All right. And if you're not local, you can still watch online the next week.
[00:00:36] next day. But doors open at 6.30 and everything starts at 7. We have men's, women's, students, preteens, and now third and fourth grade ministry. So something for almost the whole family. But we're going to be starting a new series today called Built to Last. And we're going to spend
[00:00:54] a couple of weeks talking about the heart of marriage. And I want to say too, before we even begin, as you can imagine with a series on marriage, there may be a few things that we
[00:01:04] talk about, including today, that if your kids are a certain age, you may not want to have to go home and to explain to them. So I can't say it now or else it would defeat the purpose, right?
[00:01:13] But you kind of know what I'm talking about. And so if you do have little kids in here, we have kids ministry. They'd be happy to accept them late. But I just wanted to kind of give that
[00:01:22] heads up to anybody who's a parent in the room. I'm a parent too. I got four boys and another something on the way. We're finding out because we didn't want to be like, we want a girl, but
[00:01:32] then a boy shows up and you're like, thank you, but we're going to love you, but we're a little disappointed, you know? But no, we will love it no matter what it is. It'll be wonderful,
[00:01:44] but a little girl would be nice because we got four boys. But this series is called Built to Last. And I've been with my wife, Rachel, for 14 years. We've been married for 10. We met
[00:01:56] my freshman year of college, her sophomore year of college. I saw her walking through the gym and And I was like, I wasn't really saved yet then either.
[00:02:05] So there were way more, you know, not good things that went along with that.
[00:02:10] And then her, so I thought, I'm like, this is the most beautiful girl I've ever seen.
[00:02:15] Her first impression of me was he has big ears.
[00:02:22] But it worked out.
[00:02:23] When we first started dating, my family thought it was a joke.
[00:02:26] They're like, this isn't real, is it?
[00:02:27] I'm like, what do you guys mean?
[00:02:29] Yeah, it's real.
[00:02:30] But we've been together 14 years.
[00:02:33] We've been married for 10.
[00:02:35] I believe we've always loved each other.
[00:02:36] but then there have been periods where I'm not sure we really liked each other.
[00:02:41] But I don't claim to be some marriage expert.
[00:02:43] I don't claim to have it all figured out.
[00:02:45] You know, I was talking to my wife when I thought that I may do a marriage series.
[00:02:49] About a month ago, she goes, well, I need to be on my best behavior so we don't have any examples to use once you actually start.
[00:02:56] So I don't pretend to have it all together.
[00:02:58] I will share what I know, what I've learned, but I'm not the ultimate authority on marriage.
[00:03:05] That being said, I have access to the ultimate authority on marriage, and that is the word of God.
[00:03:14] Because you and I aren't the people who dictate what marriage is.
[00:03:18] It's the word of God.
[00:03:20] We're not the ones who came up with it.
[00:03:23] And so I don't want you to think that this marriage series maybe is to cover everything, but it is to start the foundation of what a marriage should really look like and the reality that your marriage doesn't have to suck.
[00:03:36] It doesn't have to be a bane of your existence.
[00:03:38] Now, for most people, is it?
[00:03:39] maybe, but it doesn't have to be, and God doesn't intend for it to be. And I want you to know too that as we go through a marriage series, obviously if you're in the room and you're married, this
[00:03:51] clearly applies to you. If you're in the room and you're young and you're single, this applies to you because you need to know the girl you're dating, she's not going to satisfy every desire that your heart's had, all right? The dude you're dating, he's not everything, you know what I mean?
[00:04:06] they may be great, but give it some time, get married, have some kids. They will not be the thing that satisfies you. Now, is marriage meant to be beautiful? Yes. Is it meant to honor God?
[00:04:16] Yes. Are you meant to get a lot of joy out of marriage and out of your spouse? Yes. Are you meant to enjoy each other? Yes. Is your spouse meant to be your source of joy and fulfillment?
[00:04:28] No. That is something that they were never meant to carry, nor can they. And then if you're older in the room, maybe you're divorced or you're widowed, and maybe the time has passed for you,
[00:04:43] what you learn in this will still point back to the character and the nature of God. It'll teach you something about the significance of marriage, and then it may give you something that you can
[00:04:50] share with somebody else who's in a younger season of life than you. Maybe it's your children. Maybe it's a cousin. Maybe it's a niece, a nephew. Maybe it's somebody at your workplace that you can be
[00:05:00] like, hey, I wish I would have known this earlier, or here's some really good information I wanted to share with you. So no matter kind of what camp you find yourself in, I still believe this series
[00:05:10] will add value to your life and help you understand the significance of it and the reflection of God's character and nature in it. And today I primarily want to talk about what marriage is and what marriage isn't. Because if you don't understand the value of it, the
[00:05:26] significance of it, the weight of it, and what it is, you may not put it in the specific place that it needs to be in your heart and mind. For instance, let's say somebody doesn't know what
[00:05:35] gold is but he finds a huge gold bar and he's like perfect i needed something to hold my door open to let my dogs in and out and so he slaps the gold bar down there does it work to hold the door open
[00:05:47] yeah but he's you what's a block of gold these days like 160 000 or something he's using 160 000 to prop open the door because he doesn't understand the value of it and he doesn't
[00:05:56] understand what it really is and so it doesn't carry the rightful weight or place in his life the same is true if we don't understand marriage if we don't understand the significance of it what it really means and what it is and the first thing that i want you to understand is that
[00:06:12] marriage is a covenant marriage is not a contract marriage is a covenant marriage is not a contract i want to go to malachi 2 just to show you this so in malachi chapter 2 the people
[00:06:30] people, specifically the men, are going up and they're sacrificing and they're praying at the altar and they're weeping and they got tears and all these things, but the Lord says, I'm not going to listen and I don't hear you. And then in verse 14, he says, but you say, why does he not? Why
[00:06:46] does God not hear me? Why does God not hear us as we're weeping and crying out at the altar? He says, because the Lord was witness between you and the wife of your youth to whom you have been
[00:06:58] faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. She is your companion and your wife by covenant. Did he, meaning God, not make them one, husband and wife? Did he not make them
[00:07:14] one with a portion of the Spirit, God's Spirit, in their union? And what was the one God's seeking?
[00:07:23] godly offspring but he says though she is your companion and your wife by covenant not contract covenant it says does he not make them one with a portion of the spirit in their union so first
[00:07:37] off if you look at what covenant means as it's used here it says at its core this word for covenant describes a solemn binding relationship and this is looking at the Hebrew definition of this word, a solemn binding relationship established by oath, sealed with a sign and administered by
[00:07:58] God as the highest party. It is both relational and legal, whether between God and humanity or among humans. This word for covenant creates an enduring framework of loyalty, blessing, and accountability. So it describes a solemn binding relationship. It's established by oath
[00:08:18] sealed with a sign and administered by God as the highest party. So this isn't just you're married because the state of North Carolina says so. Marriage is a covenant with God as the highest party and authority of that covenant. And it says that a portion of his spirit is a part of that
[00:08:40] union between a husband and a wife. That's a big deal. It's a very big deal. And to explain just a little bit of how seriously God takes covenants. In Joshua chapter nine, when Joshua and the
[00:08:56] Israelites, Joshua took over as Moses's predecessor. And as he's leading the people out of Israel and into the promised land, one of the people groups that he was going to be wiping out were the
[00:09:06] Canaanites. And the Gibeonites were a part of the Canaanites, but the Gibeonites didn't want to get wiped out. And so they created this plan to go to Joshua and the leaders of Israel. And they
[00:09:20] got all these raggedy clothes. They got old bread that looked really dry. I think it was like moldy or something. But they made it look as if they were from way far away, from a really far away
[00:09:32] country. And they deceived Joshua and the leaders of Israel. And so they came to them and said, hey, we're from a really far country. We want to make a covenant, a treaty, this kind of thing.
[00:09:44] And so Joshua and Israel made a big mistake, which is they did not inquire or ask of the Lord what was up.
[00:09:50] My guess is he would have told them, but they didn't ask.
[00:09:53] It's a different message for a different day probably.
[00:09:56] But they didn't ask.
[00:09:57] And so they made a covenant before the Lord with the Gideonites to basically not harm them.
[00:10:04] They found out a little bit later that the Gideonites had tricked them, but still they knew we can't go back on our covenant.
[00:10:10] We cannot go back on our oath that we swore to the Gideonites before the Lord.
[00:10:15] And so they didn't.
[00:10:16] The Gibeonites became subservient to Israel, but they didn't annihilate them or wipe them out.
[00:10:20] They let them live because of the covenant they had made.
[00:10:24] And to show you how seriously God takes the covenant, hundreds of years later, after the period of all the judges, which if you wanna hear a crazy time in Israel's history, anti-right John, go read Judges.
[00:10:35] It says every man was doing what was right in his own eyes and it's crazy.
[00:10:40] But after the period of all the judges, so hundreds of years later, Israel's first king, King Saul, comes along.
[00:10:47] And at some point, while King Saul was the king, he decided to take out some of the Gibeonites and to try to destroy them.
[00:10:59] And then during King David's day, so you got Solomon and then King David, not Solomon, Saul, and then King David right afterwards.
[00:11:07] During King David's day, there's a famine in the land.
[00:11:11] And King David inquires of the Lord and says, why don't we have any food?
[00:11:16] And God says it's because of what Saul did in trying to destroy the Gibeonites.
[00:11:22] And then David had to make restitution for Saul's iniquity in order for the famine to go away.
[00:11:28] Now, if you're like me, I actually have the question, why did God have that happen in David's time and not Saul's time, since Saul's the one that committed the offense?
[00:11:36] And I'm really not sure.
[00:11:38] But the point of the story is that Joshua and the leaders of Israel made a covenant with the Gibeonites.
[00:11:45] Hundreds upon hundreds of years later, King Saul violates that covenant.
[00:11:51] And then there's real consequences for that violation of that covenant to which David has to repay.
[00:11:57] God takes covenants incredibly seriously, incredibly seriously.
[00:12:09] And so you have to understand marriage is not a contract.
[00:12:14] Marriage is not this thing where, hey, we're gonna get into it.
[00:12:16] And if you do the things that I like and I do the things you like, then we're gonna keep this thing going.
[00:12:21] And if not, we've grown apart or we've fallen out of love or we just don't really go together anymore.
[00:12:28] We've drifted apart.
[00:12:30] So it's just better that we go because we don't feel like either one of us are holding up our end of the deal or I don't feel like you're holding up my end of the deal
[00:12:37] so I'm gonna leave.
[00:12:40] Marriage is not a contract.
[00:12:41] Marriage is a covenant.
[00:12:44] And I wanted to kind of deep dive a little bit into just comparing and contrasting a covenant with a contract this week.
[00:12:55] And so I asked ChatGPT.
[00:12:56] Now, the sermon's not ChatGPT.
[00:12:58] If I did that, I'd have to tell you that this whole thing is from ChatGPT.
[00:13:02] It's really good, but it's not mine.
[00:13:03] That's not the case.
[00:13:04] I just wanted to know the difference between a contract and a covenant.
[00:13:07] And it gave me some really great things.
[00:13:09] But the one thing that I wanna share, it was a line at the end of it.
[00:13:15] And it says, a contract, think of like a contract you would have in business or anything else.
[00:13:21] A contract protects my interests.
[00:13:24] Hey, we're gonna lay this thing out.
[00:13:27] These are the terms we're gonna sign to.
[00:13:29] This is what I agreed to do.
[00:13:30] This is what you agreed to do.
[00:13:31] If there's a breach of this contract, well, then maybe we part and we go our own ways.
[00:13:36] A contract protects my interests.
[00:13:38] What do I get out of this?
[00:13:41] A covenant gives my life.
[00:13:47] It is not a contract.
[00:13:51] The vows you made before your spouse and before God with a portion of his spirit joining you in that union where you become one flesh with your partner.
[00:14:03] It says, for better or for worse, in sickness and in health, till death do us part.
[00:14:10] It didn't say until you got a little bit older and you ate too many bun buns and you snore loud.
[00:14:17] It doesn't say that.
[00:14:21] It doesn't say until you don't do the things I want and now you're annoying and we just don't really get along and we feel like two roommates passing the night that it's time to call it quits.
[00:14:31] It doesn't say that.
[00:14:36] Marriage is a covenant with another person before God and his spirit joining you together.
[00:14:43] It is not a contract.
[00:14:45] It's a place where we're meant to lay down our lives for our partner.
[00:14:52] And I want you to see the fact that marriage is not something you and I have ever created.
[00:14:59] It's God's design from the beginning.
[00:15:01] In Genesis chapter two, after Adam names all the animals, which I have to imagine just took forever.
[00:15:09] Like you think he gave mosquitoes the name mosquito?
[00:15:11] I don't know.
[00:15:12] Who's to say?
[00:15:13] Maybe.
[00:15:14] But can you imagine?
[00:15:15] I mean, I just, it seems like that would take so long.
[00:15:18] But nonetheless, after Adam had named all the animals, Genesis would say in Genesis chapter two that it was not a helper found fit for Adam.
[00:15:28] And so God calls the deep sleep to come over Adam.
[00:15:31] It says in the rib, because he had taken a rib out of him while he was asleep, it says in the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man, he made into a woman and brought her to the man.
[00:15:42] The man said, this at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.
[00:15:47] She shall be called woman because she was taken out of man.
[00:15:51] Therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife and they shall become one flesh.
[00:16:00] This is God's design in the beginning before the fall, before Adam and Eve sinned.
[00:16:05] And then if you go to Mark 10, you see Jesus talking about marriage and referencing back to Genesis 2.
[00:16:12] And so in Mark 10, the people had come to him and basically asked him what were Jesus's thoughts on divorce.
[00:16:20] And you have to understand that during this day and age, there was one kind of sect of Israel and people that viewed it more seriously and you couldn't just divorce over anything.
[00:16:33] But there was another group that was pretty dominant that like if your wife cooked a bad meal, you're gone.
[00:16:41] You're just out.
[00:16:42] Or if you found somebody more attractive, she's gone.
[00:16:45] You could divorce her for that.
[00:16:46] Or you're out in public and she makes you look bad, boom, divorced, you're gone.
[00:16:50] You could basically divorce her for anything.
[00:16:52] You could just make up your mind and be like, ah, you're out of here, all right?
[00:16:55] And so Jesus has to address this in his response.
[00:16:59] And one of the things I ask him is, why is divorce allowed in the Levitical law?
[00:17:06] And Jesus says, well, Moses put it in there because of your own hardness of heart.
[00:17:10] and then we pick up right here mark 10 starting in verse 6 says but from the beginning of creation god made them male and female so jesus is referencing back to genesis chapter 2 to explain
[00:17:24] the proper order of creation in the covenant of marriage therefore a man shall leave his father mother and hold fast to his wife quoting genesis 2 and the two shall become one flesh so they are
[00:17:36] no longer two but one flesh what therefore God has joined together who joined them thank you Jason what therefore what God has joined together let not man separate and that joined literally means to be like glued together if you look it up in Greek it says it pictures the action of being
[00:18:00] glued or fastened to someone or something so firmly that separation would damage the whole And so Jesus is saying, that's what God has done in marriage is that joining together of husband and wife in a union with a portion of God's spirit so closely
[00:18:20] that to rip them apart would damage the whole thing.
[00:18:25] And for those of you who have been through divorce or you're the child of somebody who goes through divorce, you know that's incredibly true.
[00:18:33] And that doesn't mean that Jesus always excludes divorce and that you never can.
[00:18:37] He gives specific instructions in the New Testament when he's talking, he says, except for in the case of sexual immorality or infidelity.
[00:18:45] He doesn't say you have to, but you do have permission to.
[00:18:49] And I want you to know that doesn't water down the significance of the covenant.
[00:18:54] It elevates the significance of infidelity.
[00:18:57] The covenant's still incredibly serious.
[00:19:01] And if you want more on marriage too, you can go read Paul's letter to 1 Corinthians, specifically chapter seven, because we don't have time to get into everything today.
[00:19:13] But not only is marriage a covenant and not only is it the way God established the created order from the beginning.
[00:19:19] And one of the cool things about when Jesus references Genesis 2, he's giving credence and authority to the Old Testament scriptures in saying that they are also true.
[00:19:31] But it's also a reflection of God and his people in the Old Testament.
[00:19:37] If you read all through the prophetic books, God constantly describes himself as the husband and Israel, the nation of Israel as his wife.
[00:19:46] And in the New Testament, Paul would say in Ephesians 5, verse 31, he quotes Genesis 2 again.
[00:19:53] He says, therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.
[00:19:59] And then verse 32, he says, this mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.
[00:20:07] So the union of husband and wife gets its origin in the relationship of God to his people and Christ to the church.
[00:20:18] Again, it's not a human institution.
[00:20:20] It is incredibly serious and it mirrors, it's supposed to mirror that relationship.
[00:20:26] It's supposed to mirror that covenant fidelity of God and his people, Christ and the church is meant to be what my marriage is to my wife and yours is to your wife or your husband.
[00:20:37] It's that significant.
[00:20:39] Now, I've made the mistake before of thinking that because something is significant or serious, that means somber.
[00:20:45] And that for you to really value your marriage, you need to just be really serious about it all the time. All right. Well, that doesn't sound very fun. Okay. You can laugh and you're meant to
[00:20:54] enjoy each other. Some of my wife's favorite time is when we send reels back and forth and I find something funny. I'm like, oh my gosh, this reminds me of you. And she's like, this reminds
[00:21:03] me of you. All right. Mine's normally when like the husband leaves clothes on the floor for four days straight. Actually, what I do is I put them on the bed at nighttime. Where do they go? It's
[00:21:12] nighttime. We can't put them up. It's too late to the floor where they go the next morning. They need to be off the floor. Where's the bed? Right there. Back to the bed. Three or four days of that,
[00:21:24] she's like, are any of these clean? I'm like, your guess is as good as mine. Who's to say?
[00:21:30] You know, but the fact that it's serious and the fact that there's a lot of weight and gravity to the covenant of marriage doesn't mean that it shouldn't be joyous and fun, but it is very
[00:21:42] serious. The oath that you took before the Lord to love and cherish and value one another is very serious. And you see that all throughout Israel's history, they were faithless. God always kept his covenant. God always kept his covenant. Christ came as fulfillment of that covenant. And so we
[00:22:13] have salvation. We're standing here 2000 years after the death of Christ, because our God is a God who honors his covenants. So covenants are incredibly serious. And I want to talk about to today what marriage is not. Because I feel like we can't go on in this series and really
[00:22:43] understand God's heart and design for marriage. Because remember, in the beginning, it was a man and it was a woman. A portion of God's spirit joins them in that union, and it's a covenant.
[00:22:52] And it's meant to be a lifelong one. But what is not biblical marriage is if you have two men or you have two women.
[00:23:14] And I wanna read in Romans chapter one.
[00:23:19] This won't be on the screen.
[00:23:24] Paul talks about in Romans chapter one, the fact that men have suppressed the truth by their unrighteousness.
[00:23:36] And he says, because we as humans have not seen fit to honor God as creator.
[00:23:44] It says, for although they knew God, if you're looking with me, this is Romans chapter 1 verse 21. It says, for although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking and their foolish hearts were
[00:24:02] darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools. And it says, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. So it says that God
[00:24:18] gave them up to the lust and the impurity of their own hearts. And if you go down a little further, starting in verse 26, it says, for this reason, because humanity rejected God and did not see
[00:24:33] fit to honor God and exchange the glory of God for images of mortal man. It says, because they did that, and they said, we know who you are, but we reject you. It says, for this reason,
[00:24:48] God gave them up to dishonorable passions.
[00:24:51] For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature.
[00:24:56] And the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another.
[00:25:02] Men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.
[00:25:10] 1 Corinthians chapter six, starting in verse nine.
[00:25:18] he says or do you not know this is Paul writing that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God do not be deceived neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who practice homosexuality nor thieves nor
[00:25:38] greedy he doesn't just single out homosexuality listed a bunch of other stuff nor thieves nor greedy nor drunkards nor revilers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
[00:25:51] And such were some of you, but you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ by the spirit of our God.
[00:26:09] So you may ask, am I saying that homosexuality exists because man as a whole rejected God?
[00:26:17] Yes, that's what I'm saying, because that's what Romans says.
[00:26:22] and I want you to understand when Paul reads this list, sexually immoral, idolaters, adulterers, homosexuality, thieves, greedy, drunkards, revilers, swindlers, he says, and such were some of you, but you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified
[00:26:45] in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the spirit of our God.
[00:26:50] Christ did not die to give you freedom to sin.
[00:26:56] Christ died to give you freedom from sin.
[00:26:59] And there's a big difference.
[00:27:02] There's a big difference.
[00:27:03] Christ didn't die to give you freedom to sin.
[00:27:09] Christ died to free you from sin.
[00:27:13] Paul would even say in Romans, he says, where sin abounded, grace abounded all the more.
[00:27:17] He goes, well, if that's the case, should we not continue in sin that grace may abound?
[00:27:22] He says, by no means.
[00:27:25] He says, how can those who have died to sin still live in it?
[00:27:31] The baptisms that we watch from first service, it's symbolism of death to your old self and new life in christ and you may you may ask like if you're in this room and you struggle with homosexuality or you're in a homosexual
[00:27:49] relationship or you're at home and you do or you have a loved one that does you may want to say but i'm born that way they were born that way that may be true that very well may be true
[00:28:07] I got two and a half year old twins they were born swindlers and they were born little thieves they were born greedy they're not drunkards yet but based on the way they eat my ice cream they would be daddy bite I mean guys it's like
[00:28:31] having vultures in the house it's crazy but they very well you may be born that way we're born into sin I wasn't born wanting to be monogamous I was born wanting to sleep with multiple people.
[00:28:54] We're born in sin, which is why in John 3, Jesus says you have to be born again.
[00:29:02] Following Christ isn't about fixing up the old you, it's through salvation and through faith in Christ, there's a new you born.
[00:29:16] And I want you to understand the fundamental problem at its root isn't necessarily homosexuality.
[00:29:32] The fundamental problem is a lack of submission to Jesus.
[00:29:37] That's the fundamental issue.
[00:29:40] It's, is he worthy?
[00:29:42] Is he worthy of my life?
[00:29:46] Because nobody will ever convince me that if you read through scripture, that Jesus or anybody else that is a writer of scripture ever remotely condones homosexuality.
[00:29:55] It's not in there and you won't find it.
[00:30:00] Does that mean God hates people who are homosexuals?
[00:30:03] No, because God hate people who are sexually immoral?
[00:30:07] No, does God hate idolaters, adulterers, Thieves, greedy, drunkards, revilers, or swindlers.
[00:30:15] He hung on a cross naked to save them from their sins.
[00:30:19] He loves them.
[00:30:22] He loves you no matter what category you fit into.
[00:30:27] But he loves you enough to save you from those things, not to save you to be able to still live in those things.
[00:30:32] And they're very different.
[00:30:37] The band can join me.
[00:30:42] The fundamental problem is, is Jesus worth my life?
[00:30:47] What does he say?
[00:30:48] He says, take up your cross, deny yourself, and follow me.
[00:30:54] Now he says, take my yoke upon you, for my burden is light.
[00:31:00] He says, in me you'll have abundant life.
[00:31:02] Both are true.
[00:31:05] That we take up our cross and we say, Lord, you can crucify my flesh and death to the old me that does not line up with the way you say that I ought to live.
[00:31:16] But in that, and in that death to self, there is an abundant life that christ has for you both are true both are true you know and i i heard somebody say one time that heterosexuality is not a fruit of the spirit meaning i understand
[00:31:43] the gravity of what i'm saying that i've seen people who have simply remained celibate and i've seen people who have ended up getting married and having kids even though they were formerly in in a homosexual lifestyle, but I'm aware of what I'm saying to you and to you at home is that to
[00:32:06] really follow after Christ and make him Lord and him being worthy means a death to this.
[00:32:17] And it may mean you spend your life without a partner. It may mean that. And that's a big deal.
[00:32:31] It's a very big deal. It is no small thing, but it's worth it. The fundamental question you have to ask yourself whether you're straight, gay, or anything else is, is Christ worth it? Is Christ
[00:32:52] worth it? Maybe I've been a lie and a cheat my whole life because I felt alone and like no one will take care of me. Is Christ worth it for me to give that up and to be honest and to walk in
[00:33:09] truth? Maybe I've been coming to church, but I still sleep with my girlfriend or boyfriend all the time. Is Christ worth me giving that up? Because sexual immorality is listed right along with the rest of it. Maybe I've had this idol in my life of security. Is Christ worth the death
[00:33:41] of that thing? Because at some point we have to say either Christ is worth my life or he's not.
[00:33:51] Now I can confidently say from this stage, objectively he is. Christ is worth your life.
[00:33:59] He unequivocally is worth your life. But that's the fundamental thing we all have to answer.
[00:34:05] no matter where you are, is will I submit to Jesus as the Lord of my life? Will I really do it?
[00:34:17] Because this is what it means. Because if he's Lord, he's the one that gets to control the show. Now, is he mean? Absolutely not. Is he harsh? Absolutely not. Jesus is kind.
[00:34:35] He loves you. He hung on a cross and despised the shame, but did it out of obedience to his Father and love for me and you. But what we have to ask ourselves is, is he worth it? Or am I going
[00:34:53] to reject, ultimately reject God's Lordship in my life and say, I'm going to do my own thing?
[00:35:07] Or are you going to say, Jesus, I want you, I really want you to be the Lord of my life.
[00:35:12] Not, I don't want to, because it's easy to even to walk around and be able to say that, but to live, it's a changed life. So I want you to know marriage is a sacred union.
[00:35:26] it's a covenant between a man and a woman and it's a reflection it's a reflection of Christ and the church of God and his people it is a mirror here on earth of the relationship that
[00:35:42] we should have with our creator that's why this mutilization and perversion of all sexuality is a marring of that image and it's wrong it's wrong that doesn't mean God doesn't love you And it doesn't mean that he didn't die for you because he did.
[00:36:08] But if we really want to follow him, we got to pick up our cross and do it.
[00:36:13] So your question is, is he worthy?
[00:36:16] Is he worthy of my life?
[00:36:19] Is he worthy of it?
[00:36:20] And so as we get into this series of marriage and the covenant and how to make it something that we actually enjoy, I couldn't help but feel that we needed to start it off with understanding
[00:36:30] both what is and what is not marriage.
[00:36:33] The sanctity of it, what it represents between heaven and earth.
[00:36:38] the joy and the gravity of it.
[00:36:43] But the question is, is he worthy?
[00:36:45] I know he is.
[00:36:50] But for you, you have to answer that for yourself.