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IntroductionIn our previous message we looked at man being created in the image of God, brought into a relationship where he’s created in the image and glory of God. Thus, man is important to God; and what he does is important to God. Now, are we expecting the right answers while not doing the right things? are we expecting the right conclusions without stopping to consider that God’s Word expresses exactly how He feels? Know that God doesn’t feel very good about people turning His glory around to shame. God gave you men a glory when He made you. You’re made in His image, like Him: in His image and in His glory. He put an image in you that is there as an identity that He can see. We see Jesus, the express image of God - and we see ourselves. How we should always want to live in a manner where we are ever becoming more and more like Him, that His image is shown in and through us! In this message I want to deal with things that would point us to where we find some of our greatest errors and some of our greatest problems - and where we may need to be dealt with. We want to look into the Scriptures and follow what they have to say, letting God deal through His Word. If He deals with you about something, then take it to heart, Lord, this is where I need help in making some changes. | ||
| A Man's Body Is For The Lord That
their hearts might be comforted, This speaks of our godly relationship. God wants our hearts to be knit together unto Him - and then knit together unto one another as brethren. . . . to the acknowledgement. There are some things you can acknowledge without understanding, and this is probably one of those cases: to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ; in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. We were created in His image, brought forth to be His. Man was created to have fellowship with God, to have a relationship with Him. So God made something special in His own heart and mind. The Scripture, in speaking of the creation, says of all the things God made that He saw they were good. He was satisfied with what He had made. When He made man, He made something that was satisfying to Him. Adam was the apple of His eye. Adam was a treasure unto God, something that was maybe altogether new to God: God bringing forth sons.
Adam was the son of God - not THE Son of God, but the son of God. That’s what he was made to be. And, so, through him we are all brought into a relationship as children of God. Though we may not understand everything about the greatness of God, we ought to take our relationship seriously. Let’s look further in the Scriptures now concerning our relationship to God:
When you start to look at this type of teaching you may think it hard, sometimes, to forget the shame of your youth - or, the shame of the life you are living today.
Here the Scripture brings this forth as a teaching to give us understanding. When God created our body, He had more of a plan than to just have a stomach where we could put meat; or to have a body for which our only thought was some type of gratification. God says this in such a way that there must be a close line here. Meat is for the belly, and the belly for meat. We each have a stomach, a place where our food goes to nourish up our body when we eat. … but God shall destroy both it and them. A lot of people, after the many times they pulled up at the table to eat and went on to live their daily life, went on to be destroyed. Their life added up to nothing. It didn’t bring forth anything. | ||
The Body Is Not For FornicationNow the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body. The body is not for fornication. That’s not a hard thing to conclude. The body is not for sin. That’s not what the body is for. The body is for the Lord. So, it’s clear that the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord. Doesn’t that go along well with the fact that we were created in the image and glory of God? There’s a purpose in our body. It’s for the Lord. What a solemn purpose that is! We ought to always hold that purpose high. Now, it’s OK to eat. We need meat to nourish up our body, and we have a belly to receive it. But we have no place in our body for fornication (which is sin). That, surely, would bring shame. God is speaking to us on this wise, and He is saying it very clearly: He says the body is for the Lord; and the Lord for the body. We can see the areas very clearly that open the door to shame. In God’s eyes it is a shame for us to commit fornication. It’s a sin, a shame! We are shaming our glory, bringing it to shame. Please learn one thing out of this passage of Scripture: the body is for the Lord. Your body is for the Lord. Is that clear enough? That’s the purpose of your body. It’s for Him.
God is looking for that day when, as He raised up the Lord, He would raise us up by His own power and for His own purpose. There’s a purpose in this world for the body we now live in; and a purpose for the new body we will one day receive. Don’t we want to be raised up? Some of the things that we would do that bring shame now may be the very things that cause us to be unacceptable to God, to be a cast away. So you have to be careful what you do with your body. You have to be careful! Your body is not just for you. Your body is spoken of here as being for the Lord; and the Lord for the body. It’s a place for Him.
God’s answer is quick - God forbid! God wants us to know and understand that our bodies are the members of Christ. We are part of His body: the Church, members of the body of Christ. The Church is the Body of Christ. What a sacred place! Your members, now, are members of the body of Christ. Does that sound like something serious? something sacred? like a special relationship, a place where you can be really close to Christ? If our body is a member of the body of Christ, then we’d best be careful what we do with our body. We can’t just do anything we want to do with our body, and stand in good grace with the Lord. . . . shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? That’s going into fornication, taking a member of the body of Christ and lowering it down into such a realm where one would commit whoredoms. What are we doing to this body, then, when we commit fornication? Isn’t that bringing great shame? Isn’t that why God asks, How long will you turn My glory into shame? Why should we want to be a person, then, that’s bringing shame - bringing shame to ourselves, yes: but also bringing shame unto God. How long will you turn My glory into shame? I made you in the image and glory of God - and you are taking it and bringing it down to being the member of an harlot!
A person who knows the Lord and goes out to be joined to an harlot! what on earth would that bring about? He says it for us: he which is joined to an harlot is one body. That’s a recipe for disaster! for two, saith He, shall be one flesh.
Mankind is all of one blood, no matter who we are or where we come from. We might have different blood types, but we are all one blood. Each of us can be traced all the way back through our ancestry to the first one of our ancestors, Adam. We are all of that one same blood. Now through Jesus Christ it is not only a blood matter (where He shed His blood for us) but it is a matter of spirit. We are all of one spirit. We’ve all been made to drink of that one, selfsame spirit. We who are saved were born of the Spirit of God. We were filled with the Spirit of God. We have a deep relationship. Flee fornication.
You’ve got to grasp that. This is a verse that should work in your hearts to always put up a big brake pedal for you to put your foot on so you can stop right there, before you proceed into a mess and do this to yourself. When you commit fornication you sin against yourself, against your own body. If you needed a bath, would you jump into someone’s filthy sewer? No, you’d want to use clean water in a clean place. Now, He’s saying to us to flee fornication. A good example of fleeing fornication is the account of Joseph in Genesis 39. He had the occasion, but he fled. He left his coat right in her hand, and ran. He had courage, and he did not defile himself that day. He had something deep in his heart. Yes, Joseph had a love for God; and he knew it would be a terrible thing to commit such a great sin against Him. Every sin that a man does is without the body; but he that commits fornication sins against his own body. Here it speaks about the use of your body to sin. If someone who is in the body of Christ committed fornication he would be doing something altogether different than what his body is meant for. Fornication is not a legitimate relationship between people. It’s not a marital relationship. It’s a sin relationship, where people who should not be together are dishonoring their bodies. If someone beat you up, he would be sinning against you. But think of a sin that you willfully do! This is not a Scripture that deals with rape. This Scripture deals with something done voluntarily. Committing fornication is a sin, and a sin against your own body. | ||
The Temple of The Holy GhostWe were created in the image and glory of God. Our body is not our own. That’s why fornication is such a sin to us. 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? Look at where your experience has brought you: out of the miry clay; off the slippery slopes of sin - and into a relationship. Only God could lift you up and wash you and cleanse you. It speaks well of the cleansing, sanctifying power of God that He could take us out of that pit, and wash us clean, and set us on a straight course, putting something real in our life, enabling us to walk in a right relationship with Him. We now have the distinct purpose of loving and serving God. And our body is now the temple of the Holy Ghost. And, saints of God, if you’re out of sin’s prison - don’t ever walk up to that gate again! don’t ever allow yourself to be drawn back into that place. If you do, the same old bars will be there; the same old bondages; the same old sinfulness. So our body now is called the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in us. Doesn’t that put you in an awkward position if you’re running down the road with fornication on your mind. Is God going to consent to that? We have to stop and realize how quickly we can bring shame. There was the day when God took His Holy Spirit from king Saul, and left him to be a depressed, wretched man. He was tormented day after day, turned to be something else than what he had been - all because the sweet Holy Spirit departed! When Samuel poured the horn of oil upon David, the Spirit of God left Saul and came upon David. God wouldn’t have two anointed kings at the same time! In God’s eyes, from that day on David was king. He may have had to live in exile for a season, but he was still king. He was the one the anointing was upon; whereas Saul became a miserable man. Saints of God, you would become a miserable person if God took His Holy Spirit from you! If you don’t want that to happen, then guard your relationship with all of your heart. If you don’t want it to happen to you, why go indulging yourself. Your body is the temple of God. Knowing that, then, don’t indulge yourself with someone else. Don’t go down the road of fornication. I’m not my own - are you? We have the Holy Spirit which was given us of God. God has claimed us, bringing us into a deep relationship with Him. He has claimed us to be His very own. We’ve been redeemed, and are no longer our own. He’s Lord and Master to us now. And we’re to go all the way with Him. We get in trouble when we start getting these temptations on our mind, to want to go back; always wanting to step out of bounds to take up with something we used to do. We’ve got to keep ourselves in line. The Christians life is a beautiful life. But you can’t have your cake and eat it too. You can’t have this beautiful experience with God, while having one foot in the church and the other out there in the world. You’ve got to stay clean and pure before God. I’m glad He lives with me. I don’t know what I’d do without Him. I’m glad He’s there. He helps me every day. I respect the fact that this body is not mine any more, but it is His. I’ve got to yield it up. And, if I committed fornication I would be sinning not only against my own body, but also against Christ. For ye are bought
with a price: Our duty now is to recognize that we’ve been bought with a price. we’re not our own. We are part of the inheritance of Christ. We have a living relationship. We are His inheritance. God has given us unto Him. That’s His inheritance in the saints. We are bought with a price. We’re bought back, a redeemed people. When the Scriptures speak about redemption, they speak of how you have been bought back with a price. What was the price? The price that was paid was a tremendous price: God laying the sins and the iniquities of us all upon His own dear, holy, without-sin Son. The guilt and the shame of all our reproaches Jesus took upon Himself to bear them to Calvary. He even descended to the lowest hell for every one of us, that we could be saved. Consider in your heart - we can’t bring shame to His Name! That’s not in light at all with the glory of God. We were created in the image and glory of God. It’s a straight walk, now. It’s a straight gate and a narrow way that leads unto life. So, it’s nice to say, then, that we were bought with a price. That makes us possessions of His. That makes us like servants who were bought and paid for. And in the realm of His inheritance, He has given us the earnest of the Spirit, which is like the down payment unto the day of redemption when our bodies will be redeemed, and we will have a new and glorified body that’s pure and altogether holy, having no stains from the past. Thank God for His grace and His sanctifying power that He can bear up with us in this present time. Know, then, that we’re to glorify God in our body and in our spirit, which are His. That’s a duty and that’s a pleasure. That’s living in Christ, living in truth and righteousness - and living in the holiness of God. Yes, that’s the beauty of holiness. We’re not harlots. We’re not whoremongers. We’re holy people, brought into the relationship with the Lord where we can see the beauty of holiness. It’s a holy life, a holy walk. We’re His. He lives and abides with us. It’s a holy way. I thank God for holiness. Do you understand you were bought with a price? Do you understand that you’re not your own? You can’t do with your body all that you may want to do with it. You just can’t! It’s not yours to do with as you please. For this is
the will of God, even your sanctification, Notice that this is written to a different church - but it’s the same message. Different church, same message. Here it’s expressed in a very positive manner: this is the will of God. You want to know the will of God. What is the will of God? Well, put it in context with this particular subject: the will of God for you is spelled out in that Scripture. The will of God here is that you should abstain from fornication. It is the will of God for you to abstain from fornication, to have nothing to do with it. It is the will of God to keep yourself clean from that, separate from that. This is the will of God: and, if you do what He said, it is even your sanctification. We’re sanctified, separated unto God. Therefore, we’re not going to put ourselves into that compromise, bringing ourselves down to shame and disgrace. | ||
Know How To Possess Your Vessel That every one of you This speaks directly to you: that every one of you should know. This should be common knowledge, knowledge that’s ingrained deeply down in our hearts. We should desire that, to be in the realm where we would know how to possess our vessel in sanctification and honor. Joseph knew how. As a young man, he knew how. He beat down the temptations every day. This woman was after him. This woman was chasing him. This woman was going to have him! she was infatuated with him. She couldn’t see there was anything else in life other than having this young man. So she tried and tried, until one day she got so desperate in her trying that she tried to drag him - and he ran and fled. In his running and in his fleeing, we can see that Joseph knew how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor. He did the right thing, and brought honor to himself. We are honoring him tonight. We never saw him. We don’t know what he looked like, but we know that spiritually he had a deep relationship in his heart with God. God loved Joseph. He was close to God. So this was his sanctification. He abstained from that temptation. It was his sanctification. Yes, he knew how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor. Not in the lust
of concupiscence, There was a day when we were out amongst the Gentiles in that wicked lifestyle that was out there. We should feel ashamed of what we did out there, never wanting to be brought back down to that way. Our life had been just one continuous shame. We were created in the image and glory of God; that predates to the creation. Every man was brought into that relationship; but every man has not done well with it. But fornication,
and all uncleanness, or covetousness, Notice the very tight knit teaching of the Word of God. It’s very clear and plain. We are not to let these things be named among us, as becometh saints. Don’t let fornication, or uncleanness, or covetousness have any place in your life. That’s the old nature: carnal, fleshly - all from down in the old way of sin and death. It holds no good thing, brings no good thing into your life. Rather, it brings shame. If you involve yourself in it it’s going to bring you shame - and it’s going to bring shame to God. Here you are, another vessel turning to bring shame. He asks the question, How long will you turn My glory into shame? Neither filthiness,
nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving
of thanks. Filthiness! Foolish talking! Jesting! These things have no place in our experience with God. This text has listed six things already that have no place in a child of God: fornication, all uncleanness, covetousness, filthiness, foolish talking, and jesting. These things are not convenient for us as Christians. There’s a realm that is just not a part of Christ. We can’t allow our life to be brought down into these things.
For this ye know. This should be known! All those things that are mentioned are brought into the place to say to us that those who do these things have no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. So how can we do these things as Christians? How can we live unsanctified like that as Christians? We can’t. How can we be ready for heaven, and be caught up in fornication, or uncleanness, or covetousness? How can we go about in filthiness? How can we? How can we go about always talking foolishness and jesting, which are not convenient? Why aren’t these convenient? Because we’d best occupy ourselves to the giving of thanks. God’s Word is pretty straight in that text to say, if all of those wicked works (or any of them) are part of your life - you don’t have any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God! You can’t have it both ways. If we want this inheritance in Christ, if we want this relationship with God - realize we can’t go on bringing this kind of shame. We can’t go on turning His glory into shame. We can’t go on that way. We have to stop and change our course. If you’re dabbling along the road in sin and ungodliness, you’ve got to stop and ask yourself, How long am I going to bring shame unto my Master? How long? How long am I going to have this relationship with the Lord, while, at the same time, I bring shame to Him? Let not man
deceive you with vain words: The works that we read about in verse 3 through 5 are spoken of here in a manner we can understand: for because of these things they bring the wrath of God upon the children of the world. Out in the world they live by this rule. They live by this carnality. They live by the vileness of the flesh. They go that route. That’s the way of the world. But, remember this: one day what they’re doing is going to bring the wrath of God upon them. They’ll be caught up in the wrath of God. If they don’t meet it in this world, they’ll meet it at the judgment. They’ll meet it when they hear those words, Depart from Me ye cursed into the burning lake of fire. Then they’ll understand that they offended. Then they’ll know there is no way out any more. They had a way out, but they wouldn’t take it. They could have cleaned up, but they didn’t. Don’t let anybody deceive you with vain words. It’s easy enough to be deceived. What about a person naming Jesus who is doing these works? It puts them in jeopardy, doesn’t it. Does God have two classes? the sinners who go to church; and the sinners who live in the world. No, the people in the church who do these things, and the people in the world who do these things - they’re all in one class. These things have no place in one who is sanctified. They have no respect for these things any longer. They don’t want those things.
Whose glory is in their shame. What a shame to live an evil and ungodly life! We lived that way once - and it’s about time we stop, and get hold of ourselves, and say, There’s got to come a true change. I relate these things to you, not out of my own mind. I relate them to you out of the Scriptures. Give heed! We don’t want it to be said of us, then, that our end would be destruction. Now, it says their God is their belly. We don’t want to be in that realm. To some their whole life is tied up with their belly. We’d best watch this body, and what we do with it. Whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame. They glory in the things that they do. They glory in the shameful practices of their life. They glory in it. That’s their glory: how many women they’ve had; how many men they’ve had; how many, how many, how many; how much; how often - no end to it’s shame. Let’s note some Scripture that will help us look up, and recognize one of the things we would look for and wait for: For our conversation
is in heaven; Our conversation is in heaven! Our life is in heaven. Our relationship is in heaven. Our manner of life is heavenly. This old body God said is not fit for heaven: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. We’ve got to be redeemed the second time. And this time it isn’t for our spirit (our spirit has been saved, our soul has been saved), but this time our bodies will be redeemed. And we will be given a new body, a body that never once indulged; a body that will be eternally clean and pure before God. Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body. Won’t it be nice? We’re created in the image and glory of God; but won’t it be nice when we’re brought into a full relationship, where we will be fashioned like unto His own glorious body. This is the body that Christ has now. He took the form of man, took flesh and blood for the suffering of death. We look beyond and see Him raised from the dead, glorious and victorious. Jesus was not just raised, that is, to bring Him back from the grave. He came from the grave in a spiritual body. He was different. All the encounters with the disciples would tell you that He was different. It was a glorious body. And we want to be like Him. The disciples saw Him. They knew Him. They saw the nail prints in His hands. Yes, they saw Him - but, then, in a moment He could be out of their sight. To whom God
would make known A mystery! What is the part of this that is a mystery? It’s Christ in you, the hope of glory. We hope for that life. We hope in the blessed hope that Jesus will come and change us from our vile bodies. We hope in the resurrection. But what He is saying to us in this Scripture is that this mystery is Christ in you, the hope of glory - the fact that He’s in you; the fact that you’re born of God, born of His Spirit, filed with His Spirit. We are surely a treasure unto Him. Why would He reach out so far for us? Because He’s very careful that we’re redeemed and brought to Him in that day. So Christ in us is really the hope of glory for us. As He was glorified, so shall we be glorified. | ||
Warning Every Man
What was Paul’s ministry? preaching Christ, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom. Warning and teaching: trying to bring every man into a solid relationship with Christ that would stand and be there in the day of Christ - that that soul would be caught up, and brought into the kingdom. I don’t like all those warnings. We’re always being warned of God not to do certain things: and we have to be careful in our experience that we’re not doing those things. That hasn’t changed - so I would warn you. We need to warn every man, and teach every man. And I would do more than warn you of what could happen: I would also teach you that you don’t have to have that happen to you. If it’s Christ in you, the hope of glory; and you follow on to listen to Him, He is able to present you blameless before the throne of God. . . . and teaching every man in all wisdom. Is there a wisdom that would help somebody be ready, brought into that relationship where he was saved and sanctified? Let’s be careful. We can’t be turning God’s glory in to shame, going down that road and thinking that, somehow, that will get us to heaven. Paul would desire to present every man to God perfect in Christ Jesus. Do you think he succeeded in getting every man thoroughly saved? He put forth an effort to do that. He purposed to do that. He gave himself that the elect might be saved. He warred a good warfare for their sake. And we do, too. We preach Christ. We warn every man. We teach every man in all wisdom. We warn that you can lose it if you’re not careful. You don’t want to lose your relationship over some foolish indulgence of this body, which was created in His image and glory. You don’t want to lose out by taking that sinful route, abusing your body with sinful things. Whereunto I
also labour, There was the mighty hand of God upon Paul. It was working in him to labour and strive to present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. It’s good to know that someone was putting a real effort in this. This should be a help to us. Let’s be warned. Some say, But I heard all that before! Just because you saw a railroad crossing before doesn’t mean all the crossings will be taken down tomorrow. After all, you don’t need them anymore - you saw one? No, they’ll still be there - even though you don’t pay any attention, they’ll still be there. Even though you might try to get by when one gate is down - and get hit by a train. It will still be there! You were warned - but you weren’t warned. You didn’t take the warning seriously. Let’s be warned. We need to be warned. When Christ,
who is our life, shall appear, We’re waiting for Christ to appear. We’re looking for the day when He would appear. Let’s, then, put ourselves in the place here where we recognize that we’ve got to be ready for that day. One day He will appear for those who have heard Him, who have listened to Him, who participated with Him, who took Him seriously, who took His teachings to heart. When He comes we are also going to appear with Him in glory. We’ll be glorified together with Him. Mortify therefore
your members Notice how the same things are mentioned again, the same indulgences - those things that can bring you down if you get involved in them, things that can destroy you. Here it is warning us again, and telling us that for which things’ sake the wrath of God comes on the children of disobedience. My mind would say, if that is what is going to happen to the children of disobedience then I would certainly want to be obedient. It’s important that we learn to obey God and obey His Word. How easy it is to go on and on in the same old way without learning anything, even from the last mistake we made. We need to learn from every experience, so that we’ll be quick in our own heart and soul to see the dangers that ever lurk out there. The devil is active in this last day, very active. There are deceivers out there by the multitude. People are brought into a relationship which they chose themselves, demanding for teachers who would tickles their ears. And their hearts are being turned away from the truth. We’ve got to be careful. We’ve got ears, and we’d best hear God. And we’ve got to take seriously that these things get down in our heart. Let the word
of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom: Let the word of Christ dwell in your richly in all wisdom. Let it! That’s your obligation. Then we are told to teach and admonish one another. We should ever admonish one another. You shouldn’t be past that. You shouldn’t be offended if someone admonished you about something you were doing that’s against the Scriptures. The chip jumps out of your jacket onto your shoulder, and you’re ready for a fight: don’t tell me! Yet, God says to admonish one another. Now, we’re not out to find fault. But if we see someone sinning, we who are spiritual ought to do our best to restore such an one in the spirit of meekness. And we should consider ourselves, lest one day we be tempted. And whatsoever
ye do in word or deed, This includes all we do and all we say - do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him. We’ve talked about our bodies being members of Christ. We’ve talked about being filled with the Holy Ghost, and our bodies being the temple of the Holy Ghost. We’ve talked about being created in His image and glory. And we’ve talked about our relationship being brought in somehow under this: so that we don’t offend; so that we won’t sin; so we won’t put ourselves in a bad fix. | ||
Men Who Deal Treacherously
We need to hear. You may have already heard this, but it’s safe to hear it again. In this Scripture we see an area where they did exactly what we’ve been talking about: they turned the glory of God into shame. God is dealing with the children of Israel by Malachi the prophet because they had gone off into error. They didn’t think they had any problems! Why was this being brought up? Wherefore? Where have we offended? Where have we done wrong? God proceeds to tell them where they did wrong: because the Lord has been witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have dealt treacherously. Did you ever think of God as a witness? The eye of the Lord is in every place, beholding the evil and the good. What about His ear? His ear is always in tune, even to the faintest cry of the righteous. He sees. We don’t know what good vision is! God sees everything. I’m not like God in that. There are too many things to see. I don’t have the ability to see hundreds of things at one time, and keep them all straight in my mind. The problem God was dealing with here in Malachi was the mistreatment of the wife of their youth. The glory of their marriage is washed away: the gold is now tarnished. It’s about time I do her in! about time I write her a paper, and throw her out of the house! don’t ever come back! They were doing that, not considering that the wife of their youth was to have a long duration with them - till death do they part. So they were dealing treacherously with her. . . . against whom thou hast dealt treacherously: yet is she thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant. Notice that even back in the days of Malachi there was a covenant relationship between a man and his wife. And this still holds today: we call it getting married. In other generations, they had their way of getting married. It wasn’t always the same from one era of time to another. When you get married God is a witness between you and the wife of your youth. Years later, you no longer want her. Years later, you look for someone youthful. You don’t like the old woman any longer, so you have to find some reason to dump her. Think of treacherous dealing, then. Each of us who are married should look at our marriage very seriously. Marriage is a very serious matter: what God joins together let no man put asunder. Isn’t that enough to say that marriage is serious? The wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives. The husband and wife are bound to one another until one of them dies - then that is the end of their marriage. Marriage is only broken by the death of one of the partners. But - but - but, she’s old. She’s a nag. I don’t want her! There are a lot of reasons that have no merit whatsoever. Now, why is God chiding with Israel? They were putting away their wives only because they were now up in years, and they wanted to find another who was young to take her place. It wasn’t necessarily that she wasn’t a good woman, or that she didn’t love her husband. God says, yet is she thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant. They were covenant breakers. They were like those spoken of in II Timothy - covenant breakers, truce breakers. They didn’t hold to that, didn’t consider it sacred. Aren’t some things sacred? Why should we profane sacred things? If you’re a person who doesn’t think you want to have a marriage to someone from her youth all the way to her old age and to her death - then you’d better stay away from marriage. That’s what marriage is about. It’s permanent. You have no power to change it. You’re married until death. You can’t duck in and duck out. You can’t just toss it aside. And, if you do, all you’ll do is bring shame to His glory. How long will you turn My glory into shame? that’s what they were doing. | ||
God Made Two Into OneAnd
did not He make one? That’s a pretty strong statement from God! And did not He make one? And wherefore one? Why would He want one? one going back to the garden, to the day when God gave Eve to Adam: therefore shall a man leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife, and they two shall be one. One flesh. One flesh before God. Folks, if you want to take the sin out of a relationship - then get married. Marriage will make you one. Now you’re not running with someone else - you’re running with the one you’re one with. And, being one together now, it falls into a whole different category. The marriage bed is undefiled because you’re made one. So you’re only one with one person there. What is God’s plan? Doesn’t He have something to do with our having children? Isn’t He still the giver of life? What is God interested in? Why would He want there to be a marriage where two are made one, where they are made to stay together from beginning all the way through till death has separated them. Why would God have an interest there? Why? That He might seek a godly seed. Out of good, godly marriages God finds a godly seed for Himself. This seed is a people. We see this in what Paul told Timothy. He said he’d seen this faith in Timothy’s grandmother, and also in his mother, and now in Timothy. That’s a godly seed right there: three generations that brought a seed unto God. We bear in mind, now, that God looks for a godly seed. Some people’s children make you wonder what kind of a seed they will turn out to be. How hard it is to do anything with them. From the cradle up they’ve learned that if they scream they’ll get their way. Screaming kids! Screaming adults! Where does God get His godly seed from? It comes from a godly marriage. It comes from spiritual people in whom the Spirit of God lives and dwells, in whom dwells Christ. A people whose body is the temple of the Holy Ghost. It’s out of this that God would find a godly seed. It makes a lot of difference. Thank God that He reaches out in the world to save, and change. But in the day He spoke these words it didn’t seem there was any godly seed there. God warned them, Take heed to your spirit - take heed to yourself. Take a look at what you’re doing, and realize that great consequences will come. One of the hardest things for humans to go through is the undoing of a marriage. Why should it be hard to just divorce your wife or husband? Why shouldn’t that be an easy matter? Just call the lawyer, draw up some papers, and get a divorce! But how are you going to tear yourselves apart? God said He made you one. How are you going to take that one apart? You’re going to tear it apart with heartaches and hurt! You’re going to tear it apart by tearing a family apart! You’re going to tear it by destroying yourself - and destroying your wife - and destroying your children. You’re going to tear it up like tearing up paper and throwing it in the garbage. What shame! In this American nation what shame! All this shame of divorce and breaking up homes. Look at what’s happened to millions of children who’ve been brought up in these kind of situations. Now they’re in a home where it’s the next face, the next face. Mom may not get married again, but there’s a new boyfriend every month or two. And what becomes of all those children? They’re hurt - and who’s to blame? Man is the head of the family, and Christ is the head of man. But, remember, in the judgment day when God deals with families you know who is going to get the brunt, don’t you? Who is He going to start with? the little children who were the fruit of the marriage? or with the man who was at the helm at the time? It was his marriage. They were his seed, and he didn’t care for them. And look what happened to them. Yes, we see this picture all over America. One of the biggest problems in America today is trying to find and drag down men who have turned God’s glory into shame. They try to find them so they can get some money to buy the bread and milk for his baby. He brought that baby into the world, and then ran off and left him! He doesn’t care. He thought that woman was everything, and then look at what he did to her. We see that divorce is a criminal act, and a spiritual crime. And who is it against? an act against the wife of one’s youth, dealing treacherously with her. That’s what Israel was doing. And it can go the other way, too. Now, God wants a godly seed. We should be glad for marriage that’s honorable in the sight of God. God will gain out of that. He’ll gain a godly seed. That’s His purpose. So your children are important to God. God looks at every child that’s born to your marriage. He desires those children, and instructs you to bring them up in the admonition of the Lord that they may grow up to love Him. God takes an interest in them very young and very early, because He would draw them unto Himself. He seeks for a godly seed. He wants that. I’m glad He would want our children. For the Lord
God, the God of Israel, For the Lord God says that He hates putting away. I told you my opinion of putting away, and now let God tell you His opinion. He says He hates divorce. Divorce is evil and divisive. Jesus taught us that Moses suffered the children of Israel to put away their wives because of the hardness of their hearts. Sometimes it was the man the wife couldn’t live with; and sometimes it was the woman the man wouldn’t live with. They were so carnal and hard of heart. They were so destitute of fruit. Moses suffered them to put away their wives - but Jesus came along and shut that door almost tight. Now we see that God hates divorce. He hates the putting away. For one covereth violence with his garment. There’s such an evil jealous spirit among men today. How many have beaten their woman to death! She left him for another, and in jealousy he goes after her - and the one she now lives with. But I suppose he was vicious to her when they were together. We live in an age when man says, Might is right! Get out of my way! and he bangs her and knocks her down. He’s rough and abusive to her. His big mouth is cruel towards her. It’s very hard for marriages to stay together these days. Men and women alike. Something has to change. Hopefully it will be the coming of the Lord. | ||
Keep Your Marriage SweetConsider your marriage. Hold deep in your heart that it’s a sacred union. I heard a story recently of a devoted man. He had been devoted to his wife all the years of their marriage. They shared their lives together. Later in life she took sick and it got to be impossible for him to care for her by himself. He took her to a place where she could be cared for properly, and he moved to be closer to her. He lived a mile from where she was - and he walked over to see her at least four times a day! The amazing part of this story is that this devoted husband was 103 years old! Keep your marriage sweet. Keep the hatchet out in the woodshed where it belongs, for the kindling. And treat each other with the love and respect that God expects of you both. Marriage is honorable, and the bed is undefiled. The relationship can be one of love and trust, of honesty and sincerity. And it can be a good place for God to take unto Himself a godly seed. Don’t profane your marriage. Don’t make it an evil thing. Do everything in your strength to have a loving relationship. It’s not always easy to get people to put away their hot heads, to put away their quick temper, to put away their striking back with harsh words. Today I would encourage you that God would want you to put yourself in that place where you respect what He has given you. It’s something you went before God to join together. It’s something that the preacher, standing in that stead for God, pronounced you man and wife. You walked away from that altar to live together. And you were as innocent in living together as Adam and Eve were before they fell into sin. It’s nice to be innocent, and in a sacred marriage you are innocent. God sanctifies a couple in a marriage because He has made them one flesh. It was a literal thing with Adam and Eve (where Adam fell asleep, and God took His rib to make Eve). It shows that this first marriage was of God. Did you ever read where Adam and Eve had a divorce? where they had a breakup? Did it last until death parted them? You won’t find any record to the contrary! God made them one. Eve was said to be bone of Adam’s bone, and flesh of his flesh. She was part of him. A relationship that was meant to be. It’s a good relationship. So why should we exchange it for a sinful, adulterous one? Can’t go that route. Now He said that the woman was given to the man, and she is that man’s glory. How many turn that glory to shame? Every day there’s another marriage breaking up - over here, and then over there. It used to be just in the world that you saw this! Today there’s much of it in the church world. It’s a big problem out there. Many churches are in a mixed up mess - all because they forgot God’s Word. Ye have wearied
the Lord with your words. People in that day had stout questions to ask of God. He knew their hearts, and addressed them about this. He warns us about being quick to say, Where is the God of judgment? The Bible tells us that judgment must first begin in the house of God. His judgment will go to the churches before it reaches city hall. How can God judge another’s house, until first He judges His own? One day God will judge His house. One day He will also come to take those who are His unto Himself. We encourage you to listen to a series of companion audio sermons preached in anointed revival meetings. |
