God’s Standard For Marriage

Transcript

GR 1725
05/18/2014
God's Standard for Marriage
Hebrews 13:4
Gil Rugh

We're studying the book of Hebrews together and we've come to the last chapter of this great letter, so turn to Hebrews 13. Many people find the book of Hebrews difficult and in some ways it is because it is tied so much to the Old Testament and what God had revealed in the covenant and the Law He had given through Moses on Mt. Sinai, the Mosaic Covenant or the Mosaic Law. The portion with which we are the most familiar probably are the Ten Commandments. He has been demonstrating in Hebrews that Jesus Christ, God's Son, is the climax of God's revelation and He fulfills all that was pictured in the Old Testament priestly and sacrificial system. He has accomplished what nothing else could. By His own death on the cross He has offered the sacrifice that is sufficient to satisfy the requirements of God's holiness and righteousness and made possible the forgiveness of sins, made possible for lost sinners to become children of the living God.

As you work through the details that he has unfolded through this extensive letter, we can't forget that the impact of this is to be felt on our lives in the way in which we live. He has stressed this. Hebrews 11 in particular gave examples of those who had trusted in the promises of God for their salvation and lived in light of what God had promised. When we come to Hebrews 13 as the writer concludes his letter, he is drawing attention to some of the things that will characterize us as God's people if we have truly been redeemed by God's grace. There is a difference between professing to be a believer and truly possessing the salvation that God has provided in Jesus Christ. And the evidence of having truly experienced the power of God that brings salvation to a life is the changed life—we live differently.

In Hebrews 13:1-3 he talked about family love, “let love of the brethren continue. “ And we noted that love referred to there is family love, it's love of the brethren, love of fellow believers. We are to continue in that love for one another as God's people, and that manifests itself in a variety of ways—showing hospitality to other believers, and verse 3, identifying with believers going through difficult times, trials, suffering. Here being imprisoned. Never forget, even as God's children we are still living in these physical bodies and we are susceptible to the trials and difficulties that comes, and particularly when persecution and opposition come because of our testimony for Christ, we will be glad and encouraged to have other believers come alongside and encourage us.

It's in this context when we come to verse 4. We see the writer has not changed his focus or his emphasis. He says, “marriage is to be held in honor among all, and the marriage bed is to be undefiled. For fornicators and adulterers God will judge.” Now he has not really changed the subject matter. What he is talking about is another way in which those who have truly trusted Christ are to manifest their new life in Christ, a life that sets us apart from the world, its thinking, its standards, its behavior. Marriage is a foundational relationship. It is the supreme and most important relationship we have in the physical realm.

So he starts out by saying “marriage is to be held in honor by all.” When he says here among all or by all, he's talking about believers in particular. What God says about marriage, all people are going to be held accountable for when it comes to the day of judgment, but in particular he is concerned for believers. Romans 12, the chapter opens up, “do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the making new of your mind.” And the pressure is always there for us to adjust to the thinking of the world, the standards of the world, the practice of the world. We need to be reminded we are not to be conformed to the thinking of the world and its behavior. We are to be transformed as those made new in Christ so we think differently, have different standards, we behave differently. Marriage is to be held in honor among all. We as believers ought never to lower the standard that God has established in marriage. That word to be held in honor means to be held in highest esteem, as of utmost importance, worthy of greatest honor. It is of utmost importance that we recognize the value of honor and honor that is due marriage because it is the plan of God for His creation. And within that there will be sexual purity and faithfulness to the marriage bond and the warning of judgment for those who function contrary.

We are going to have to go back to Genesis 1. We go back to the beginning. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth,” and part of that creation in the beginning was the creation of man as male and female. We are talking here what will be God's plan for His creation. Now there will be exceptions, there is a place for the single life. It is an honorable place. It is a place of great value and importance. Paul addresses that in his letter to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 7. But that is an exception. The general pattern and rule is marriage.

So as you come to Genesis 1:26, “then God said, let us make man in our image, according to our likeness and let them rule over the rest of creation.” Man will be made in the image and likeness of God. He is distinct and separate from the rest of creation. He is not part of the animal world. He is unique. He is in the image of God. So verse 27, “God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him.” And then note, “male and female He created them.” We've noted in previous studies, uses the word man here, it is the general term. But within that there is the breakdown, man as male, man as female. God blessed them and said to them, “be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it.” So part of God's plan in creating them male and female is that they will reproduce in their likeness, which is in the likeness of God, the image of God. “Be fruitful, multiply and fill the earth.” The propagation of children, the beauty of the sexual relationship between the man and the woman is clearly set forth here. This is before sin comes into the world. This is part of God's sovereign plan.

When you come to Genesis 2 you are going to have the breakdown, the details of how God created man as male and female. Genesis 1 is just the summary, you'll note chapter 1 ended, “God saw all that He had made and behold it was very good.” Then Genesis 2:4 begins, “this is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created.” And so God is going to break down the details of the most important aspect of His creation—man as male and female. So you have the account of man being created, verse 7,”formed of the dust from the ground.” He didn't descend from a previous creation, not part of the animal creation. He is a unique and direct creation of the sovereign God. Any other teaching is a denial of the truth that God has revealed. God “breathed into His nostrils the breath of life,” man became a living being, placed in the Garden and so on.

Then you come down to verse 18, “then the Lord God said, it is not good for the man to be alone.” You see, we have the details being unfolded of what he said back in Genesis 1:27-28, because at the end of chapter 1, “God saw everything that it was good.” But in Genesis 2:18 he says “it is not good for man to be alone.” So what we're unfolding here is how God created man as male, then how He created man as female and what His intention is in this. So man as male is not the completion of God's intention here. “So it is not good for man to be alone, I will make a helper suitable, fitted to him, suitable for him.” So He made the woman out of the side part of the man. That is foundational to the rest of Scripture, the basic relationship—a man and a woman.

Down at the end of the chapter, verse 22, “God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man and brought her to the man, the man 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. And you'll note verse 24, for this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, be joined to his wife, the two shall become one flesh.” That's the establishing of the plan of God for His creation—man, male and female. It's not good for man to be alone. Again, there are exceptions, but God plans for it. Just like there are couples that get married and for whatever reason in the plan of God are not able to have children. But the general plan of God still stands overall. Let a man be joined to his wife, that is the basic unit, God has established it, a man and a woman joined together. And it is indicating they belong together because the woman was made out of the man. And without the woman the man is not complete unless in the plan of God He has provided for singleness, 1 Corinthians 7. We need to be careful we don't lose the focus—marriage is the plan for the overwhelming majority and the marriage is a man and a woman.

Come over to Mark 10, it's included in Matthew as well. In addition to propagation of children there is the companionship. God didn't intend man to be alone and by being alone it mans without that helper fitted for him that brings him completion. In Mark 10 Jesus is being asked a question, testing Him to see if these supposedly clever and smart people could put Him in a box. So they ask about the issue of divorce, and is divorce lawful. And Moses had made provision for it in the Law, but Jesus said in verse 5, “it was because of the hardness of hearts that God had Moses write this command, that rebellion against God, heart hardened toward God's perfect plan.” Then note what Jesus says, “but from the beginning of creation God made them male and female.” That has ongoing ramifications. Those who deny God as the creator and the revelation He has given, of course they are on a sea of confusion. But for those who believe the Word of God, have their faith in the living God, there are no questions. God made them in the beginning male and female. That tells you something about His purpose. “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother, the two shall become one flesh.” They are no longer two but one. “What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.” This is the sovereign plan of God. Jesus doesn't say I am telling you something new, or things have changed. I'm taking you back. There is no reason for you to have any misunderstanding or any confusion. This is clear as can be. Go back to the beginning, what did God do? He made a male and He made a female and then He brought the woman to the man and they are joined in marriage. That's God's plan, established it in the beginning and it has gone on and on and on down to our day. That is the plan of God.

Come over to Ephesians 5, instructing those who are living under the authority of Christ, the head of the church according to the end of Ephesians 1, and living under the control of the indwelling Spirit of God. That's why he gave the command in verse 18 to “be filled with the Spirit,” be controlled by the Spirit. And the result of that, He produces the fruit of the Spirit in our lives and that means we live according to God's plan. Verse 21, “being in subjection to one another in the fear of Christ.“ And he explains some of the details of that—“wives are to be in subjection to their husbands, the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is head of the church. As the church is subject to Christ, so the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her. So husbands,” verse 28, “ought to love their own wives as their own bodies.” Remember they have become one. He who loves his wife loves himself. No one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it as Christ does the church because we are members of His body.”

What does he do? Quotes from the beginning, verse 31, “for this reason a man shall leave his father and mother, shall be joined to his wife, the two shall become one flesh.” Verse 33, “nevertheless each individual among you also is to love his own wife even as himself and the wife must see that she respects her husband.” Nothing has changed in the plan of God. It has not changed down to this very day. We either can submit to the truth of God's Word or reject it, but we cannot change it. It is clear, God's purpose with man, the woman, the marriage relationship and the roles within the marriage relationship. We live in a world as was characteristic when this was written that is in rebellion against God. That's why Paul had to write to the Ephesians, the church in Ephesus and address this matter. It's not the way the world chooses to live. We are in a world that rejects the idea that God created us in His image, that He is the sovereign authority in marriage, that He has a role for the husband and a role for the wife. But we who have been redeemed by God's grace are part of God's family and now live under His authority. By the power that He provides in the indwelling Spirit we live according to His instructions. That brings His blessings.

Come back to 1 Corinthians 7. So many passages that deal with marriage and the issues related to marriage, and yet the pressure of the world constantly presses in to change us, to soften us first—I don't want to act like we have too narrow a view on these things, and pretty soon they become acceptable. 1 Corinthians 7, “now concerning the things, verse 1, about which you wrote.” The Corinthian church, the church in Corinth had written to Paul asking him questions to clarify certain issues. One of those was it is good for a man not to touch a woman, what about sexual relationship? You know so much of what goes on in the world in the sexual area has a dirtiness about it and believers can begin to think, maybe this would be better if we led a pure life even as married people not being sexual. Just appreciating one another and loving one another. There may be physical issues that come into marriage relationships that that is required. God makes provision. But what Paul says here, note verse 2, “it is good for a man not to touch a woman.” Paul sees the advantages of the single life. He says it can be preferable if God has gifted you for it. And Paul was one of those so gifted. He recommends it. But he says be careful because of immoralities. This is what we are talking about in Hebrews 13:4, the warning about immorality and adultery. “Because of immoralities each man is to have his own wife, each woman is to have her own husband.”

This is God's plan for sexual fulfillment, marriage. It is a good reason for marriage because one thing you cannot do outside of marriage is have a sexual relationship with someone, not if you are going to be obedient to God. You can have friends, you can have companions and so on, but there is one thing that is limited to the marriage relationship and that is the sexual aspect.

The husband has a responsibility, a duty to his wife in this area, and the wife to the husband, verse 3. And the wife is to be concerned about pleasing her husband and the husband about pleasing his wife. And then verse 5, “stop depriving one another,” withholding this aspect in our marriage relationship, sexual expression, “except by agreement for a time so that you may devote yourselves to prayer and come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.” That's an amazing verse. As God created us, He created us to have sexual fulfillment. That was expressed in Genesis 1, be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. How do you do that? Don't answer, but we all know, it's obvious. That's God's intention, He intends that that fulfillment in the expression of the oneness that they have as husband and wife, that it only be expressed between the husband and the wife. And he says here that should be regular. I take it regular here, must have some, not once a year idea, because he says you can have a break for a time but only if there is something so significant that you need to spend some time, extensive time in prayer. “Then come together again,” renew your sexual relationship. If you don't, Satan will tempt you. When we disobey God in this area, we open the door to the devil and you don't want to do that, you must not do that. We're not ignorant of the devil's schemes, we know how he works. And husbands and wives end up with divisions between them and differences and then the old joke, we're tired, we have a headache. But for whatever reason we let that drift, then we wonder what happens.

You realize every man is basically the same, we'll leave it there. Every woman is basically the same, we're going to leave that there, too. What can you do as a man with this woman that you can't do with this woman? Or this man that you can't do with that man as a woman? So why are we constantly being drawn outside of our marriage to someone else? We started marriage, this is the person I want to be with. Then pretty soon we have roving eyes. Do you know the solution to that? Don't want your husband's eyes to wander? Don't want your eyes to wander? Don't leave any energy for anyone else. We'll leave that there. I know some of the men are saying, they just would love to shout out, amen. And we joke about that but it is serious here. Look around, it has just become common. I mean, this is serious, God warns us if you don't the devil will tempt you. Even prayer is not a good excuse, except maybe on a special occasion. I take it that means a husband and wife are going to be taking care of one another pretty regularly. Again, I realize each marriage has to deal with this for one another between the husband and the wife. There is not enough attention given to this. Why are we having the problem, a husband wandering off here into this and the wife looking here? It shouldn't happen. In marriage sex is beautiful. Go at it, be creative, read the Song of Solomon. They have something of a fantasy life with one another. It's not wrong, it's not dirty. It's not too much trouble.

I'm thinking because there are times when I should think more before I say. I told Marilyn, if you don't want to cook, we'll go out to eat; if you don't want to clean house, hire somebody to come in. But there is one thing we can't get from anyone else—S-E-X. My dear father who is now in glory heard me preach on this in 1 Corinthians many years ago and he called me on the phone and said, I'm surprised anyone is coming to that church. But it's true, isn't this what God says? We wonder, how did this happen? What happened? If you don't, Satan will tempt you. We haven't done what God says. The wife should spend more time thinking, what could I do to please my husband? What would he like? And the husband should be thinking, what could I do for my wife? What would she like? This is all good in marriage.

This is what we are talking about in Hebrews 13:4, marriage is to be held in honor and there can be no fornication or adultery, fornication dealing with sex outside, apart from the marriage relationship, adultery a married person. This is God's plan. We try to act like what is wrong here is the sexual desire. No, it isn't. What's wrong is the failure to fulfill those desires within the bounds God has provided—marriage between a man and a woman.

Recognizing that marriage is between a man and a woman, you think this is common sense. I brought some newspaper articles. Some of you have seen the morning paper, I just happened to open the first section of the Omaha World Herald and here is a full page article on gay marriage, it covers the whole page. Because this is the tenth year from when gay marriage was made legal in Massachusetts and then how it has spread. Incidentally, most of you have read probably by now, the word homosexual is no longer acceptable, it is a pejorative term, a negative term, offensive. So anyone who is using the term homosexual is indicating they are biased, dislike and disdain. Not an acceptable word anymore. At any rate whatever you call it, it is the same. Just showing how it spreads, how it plays out, the people's plan, all of this that goes on. And one of the things that helps them, starts out supporters and activists routinely ask gay couples to meet with reluctant lawmakers to put a human face on same-sex marriage. They file lawsuits, they use unexpected allies, in some cases churches, to spread their message. Once we reject the authority of God's Word we are open to anything. There is no such thing as homosexual marriage. There is fornication, sexual activity outside of marriage. That is not a relationship recognized or honored by God. The fact that the state declares it to be so, still falls under the category of what God says it is. It is not now sanctified. I say this because I realize it's going on in the world, and we're not surprised at that. But as the world makes it more and more acceptable, and they have the statistics in here of the change that has occurred even since 2004. In 2004 only 30% of the people surveyed thought that homosexual marriage was acceptable, now it is the majority. Now this begins to impact the church and we begin to readjust our thinking—we don't want to be viewed as homophobic, we don't want to be viewed as unloving. And pretty soon we don't want to call sin, sin. Now we are no longer being biblical and representing God and His truth. Now we are in disobedience to Him.

Some of you saw, this was in the paper two days ago, the Omaha paper. A trailblazer reaches the end of one trail. And it's a big picture, the whole thing is on this except the top part, and then three columns on the back. It's all about a teacher, used to be “Wally” and now it's “Meridith” because he decided he wanted to be a she. So he is transgender. And “Meridith” formerly known as “Walter” is believed to be the first transgendered person in America elected as a college or university faculty leader. This person is the faculty senate president at the University of Nebraska-Omaha, now retiring after 38 years. This is a person to be honored, a trailblazer. They were married to a woman but they decided, I feel like I'm a woman. This becomes normal, it gets honored, it is worthy of oh, this person would get his picture in the paper, talking about that they are a trailblazer. And one of the things this person does is speak out at times on behalf of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered citizens, advocating anti-discrimination laws at the local, state, federal level. This is great. Try to go to the university, be a professor there in position and speak against such activity. This person says, being part of a university was a great place. The easiest place to transition publicly as a transgendered person is a college or university campus; it is a marketplace of ideas and it is tolerant. Try the tolerance, go down there and speak against homosexuality, transgenderedness. There is an intolerance.

Some of you follow sports. Cal Thomas had an editorial in the local paper this week. There is a professional football player, he is the first professional person to be drafted by a professional football team who is openly homosexual. And another professional football player, playing for a different team, when he was pictured kissing his boyfriend live on the sports network, he tweeted out, horrible. His tweet was quickly taken down, he has been fined and suspended, he is being forced to attend educational training to get his mind right. This is the tolerant society we live in. Isn't he free to express his opinion? To say this is a horrible thing? Repulsive? No. We are tolerant. All this unbiblical behavior but we are intolerant. I'm not saying that the person who tweeted that was doing it from a biblical perspective.

I've shared with you what is going on in Christian colleges and universities where at one school a person who had come out of the homosexual lifestyle gave a testimony in chapel at Wheaton about the transformation that salvation in Christ brought about in her life. The students at Wheaton picketed and protested that that is unfair that they would come and give that kind of testimony. You can't come and give testimony that by God's grace you were saved from a life of sin and depravity any longer in a Christian university? The best the president could say is we are open to various ideas and it's good for students to be debating these things. It is not good. I mean, we don't want to teach the students? You send your student to a Christian college, you think they'll be learning Christian truths. You find out it's just an open debating society with a variety of views. Part of the depravity.

Marriage is to be between believers, that's a settled thing. We don't have time to go into this because I want to conclude with some other notes. Paul wrote to the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians that believers and unbelievers have nothing in common, the end of chapter 6. What fellowship has light with darkness? Don't be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. He's not particularly focusing on marriage but marriage is the closest of those human relationships. You are going to become one with someone. One commentator put it this way, you understand that if you as a believer marry an unbeliever your father-in-law is the devil. Think about that, it's true. Jesus said you are of your father the devil to unbelievers. Believers dating unbelievers, where is this going? We lower the standard. And we as Christian parents need to be careful because sometimes we get more concerned, he has a good job, he'll be a good provider or they are great people. All of that has nothing to do with anything. Are you going to take a member of God's family and join them to a member of the devil's family? There will be times when that happens because you have two unbelievers get married and one gets saved. Paul addresses that matter in 1 Corinthians 7.

Come back to Romans 1, we have to come here and then to Revelation and then we have to be done. The difficulty with this is that there are so many passages that deal with this subject. It is a serious matter. In Romans 1 Paul talks about the power of the Gospel in Romans 1:16-17, “it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. And then the righteousness of God that is revealed and there results in a life of faith,” verse 17. Why is this necessary? “Because the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness.” This is crucial. Sinful practice, they know it is wrong. We say they don't know any better. They do. How do you know? God says they suppress the truth, they are unwilling to recognize and submit to the truth.

The end of verse 20, they are “without excuse.” Creation all around them is clear but they reject it. “Even though they knew God they didn't honor Him as God.” Now be careful here, they don't know Him as their Savior but they know just observing His creating work that there is a sovereign, Almighty God to whom they are accountable. They “are unwilling to acknowledge Him, they suppress it.” When you reject God and His truth you proceed to all kinds of ungodly, depraved, godless activity, a godless lifestyle.

I thought last night, working on stuff for the sermon, I always have to have a snack. I'll turn on something innocuous while I eat my snack, I'll turn on “House Hunters.” Who can go wrong with “House Hunters?” And who is it? Two homosexuals looking to buy a house together. It's everywhere. No embarrassment, we'll promote it.

“Even though they knew God they would not honor Him as God or give thanks. They became empty in their speculation, their foolish heart was darkened. They profess to be wise but they became fools. And they worship the creation, not the Creator. Verse 24, therefore God gave them over in the lust of their hearts to impurity, to dishonor their bodies.” You see where he starts. They have rejected Him as the God who has created all things so they reject His purposes and plans for them, and the place he starts as a manifestation of that is sexual depravity and immorality. God turns them over. He doesn't cause them to do it, He just lets them go. “They refuse to acknowledge Him, they refuse to bow before Him so He turns them over to their own desires. They give over to their lusts, to impurity, their bodies are dishonored. They exchange the truth of God for a lie.” They don't want God's truth, I read you some examples. They don't want to hear what God says. That's not acceptable, that's intolerance, that's narrow, that's bigoted. We will have it our way. We are not open to hear that, that's not acceptable today, that's homophobic. And who are you to judge them for living together without being married and so on.

“For this reason,” verse 26, “God gave them over to degrading passions.” He turned the unbeliever over to his selfish, lustful desires. And where does that go? It starts out, “the women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural. The same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman, burned in their desire toward one another.” Even Christians get caught up and say, maybe they were born this way. Why? Because they have a desire? Scripture says “they have a burning desire.” That doesn't mean it is acceptable or right. Well, we shouldn't judge them. No, God already has. Do we believe the Word of God? We claim to be Bible-believing Christians, we submit ourselves to God, His salvation and His truth, but we don't want to come across as unloving. No, we love them, that's why we present to them the Gospel “because the greatest demonstration of God's love is that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.” The demonstration of love is not that I empathize or sympathize with the sinner, but I present to him God's remedy for his sin. It's like going to see someone who is dying of a disease and I have the cure in my pocket but they would feel better if I just empathize with them, they don't want me to tell them they are dying, they don't want me to tell them there is only one cure. But they really like me when I empathize with them and sympathize with them and let them know . . . Foolishness. If the church doesn't stand for truth, who will stand for truth? We're studying Timothy, the church is the pillar and support of the truth. So the devil keeps working to dig the foundation out.

The word here “degrading passions” in verses 26-27, then he uses the word, “the women exchanged the natural for the unnatural, and men do the same thing” in verse 27. The word natural, that which is according to nature, what we were created at. Do you know what? We have become the first nation, and other nations join with us, in the history of the world to have declared that homosexual marriage is something natural. You see sin always degrades down. Some of you are looking for summer reading—Marriage and Family in the Biblical World by Campbell, he's the editor. Each chapter is written by a different person. The chapters are “Marriage and Family in the Ancient Near East,” “Marriage and Family in Ancient Israel,” “Marriage and Family in Greek Society,” “Marriage and Family in Roman Society,” “Marriage and Family in Second Temple Judaism,” “Marriage and Family in the New Testament.”

Let me just read you some things. Marriage and family, because we think of the Greeks and Romans, they were really bad, and immorality was rampant. But some things they were clear on. “Marriage and Family in Ancient Greek Society,” in one sense the Greek family is nothing special—a man, a wife, some children and maybe an aged parent, at the end of their lives. These aspects of Greek family are common to families in all cultures and hardly worth extended treatment. A Greek family began with the marriage of a Greek man to a Greek woman. Now I'm aware of homosexual practices that was never considered a marriage. We move on to another statement around the Greeks. Greek marriage was monogamous. It doesn't mean they were necessarily faithful sexually, but it was monogamous—one man with one woman, one woman with one man.Poly Androus as well.

Then we come over to the Romans and we think the Romans were really bad. We have the Neros and everybody else. Greek and Roman theorists saw marriage and the procreation of children as fundamental to human society. Then he quotes from Cicero who died in 43 B.C., just prior to the New Testament time. Augustus Caesar, he was the Caesar on the throne when Christ was born, he established certain marriage laws. Augustus and his marriage legislation offered incentives and prescribed penalties that encouraged women to be mothers by age 20 and men to be fathers by 25. And the whole idea by definition a marriage was formed by two people of the opposite sex. And we can't go into the details. And there was homosexuality but it doesn't even appear that two men and the same with two adult women. They had degrading practices but they had certain guidelines.

All this to say we have even gone beyond what they do. Now we declare that marriage, these laws have changed since the Supreme Court said that you can't define marriage as between a man and a woman. This couple that is in one newspaper article said, we got married and nothing happened. People acted like the sky was going to fall and disaster was going to come. Nothing happened. Well, they fail to understand that one day with the Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. Judgment delayed is not judgment canceled. Remember in Genesis 15 God told Abraham that He was going to give him and his descendants the land of Canaan. He said it's going to take 400 years because the iniquity of the Canaanites is not yet ripe. In 400 years it will have ripened and I will bring judgment.

The end of Romans 1 concludes with this, “although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same but give hearty approval to those who practice them.” Is there no end to this? Here is a statement from the attorney general, the Iowa attorney on women. The Iowa Supreme Court said you couldn't ban homosexual marriages. This is a great day for civil rights in Iowa. They know this is wrong, it's not natural. God made us a certain way, this is contrary to nature. This has become the acceptable thing from everyone to the President down to promote it. You understand, they know this is wrong. God said, in their heart of hearts they know.

You come down to Romans 2:4, “do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance. But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourselves in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.” And we can't go on any further.

“You know those who practice such things shall not be part of the kingdom of God.” You get to Revelation 21-22, you find out that those who practice immorality are in the lake of fire. Judgment will come. He gives people opportunity to repent. “Those who practice such things shall not be part of the kingdom of God.” You can claim to be a Christian, but if you are practicing such things you reveal that you are really not. Doesn't mean a Christian can't fall into sin. It is your life and lifestyle, you manifest clearly you don't belong to God, you are not a member of His family. You are on your way to an eternal hell. They say, I've never been so happy, I've never enjoyed myself so much. There is pleasure in sin for a season. Be not deceived, God is not mocked, whatsoever a man sows he shall reap. Those who practice such things shall not be part of the kingdom of God. You must be born again.

Let's pray together. Thank You, Lord, for the riches of Your Word. Lord, we live as lights in the midst of darkness and sometimes even we as Your children become intimidated, become fearful. Lord, sometimes we fail to be obedient to Your Word and we find ourselves entangled and entrapped in the snares of sin. Lord, the only solution is to turn back to You, by Your grace restore our fellowship with You, our walk with You. Lord, You know our hearts, You know the secret sins, You know the pattern of our lives. We want to be faithful to You, demonstrate the righteous character that is ours in Christ. May we live accordingly. In Christ's name, amen.