Marriage is from GOD not from man or a court
Recommended: the CD “How to Think Like a Christian.” This CD is or should be a reminder to all Christians!
I suggest you check out the following website if you are a policy holder of Farmers Insurance Group or thinking about having them insure you in any capacity: www.farmersinsurancegroupsucks.com
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https://affiliates.visionforum.com/idevaffiliate.php?id=367
The above link is for a company—Vision Forum—that provides unique products for the family. I am an affiliate for the company and receive a small commission whenever someone uses this link and then makes an unreturned purchase while using the link. Check it out. I think you might like the products offered. I do. See my more complete explanation on my post of February 1, 2008 entitled “Affiliate program with Vision Forum.”
Based upon past historical data: 3,287+ UNBORN BABY MURDERS have occurred in the last 24 hours in the United States. See my post “BABY HOLOCAUST” posted January 22, 2008.
I’ve been involved in a problem one of my clients has with Farmers Insurance Group. My previous posts in relation to this problem were:
September 10, 2007 post: “Beware of Farmers Insurance Group”
September 11, 2007 post: “Farmers Insurance Group’s response”
September 18, 2007 post: “Farmers Insurance Company received the requested list”
September 19, 2007 post: “Farmers Insurance Company’s response to the list”
October 16, 2007 post: “Farmers Insurance Group and my request for information”
November 27, 2007 post: “Farmers Insurance Group does not respond to my request”
January 11, 2008 post: “Farmers Insurance Group latest stall”
January 12, 2008 post: “Farmers Insurance Group is sent a response”
January 14, 2008 post: “Farmers Insurance Group pays some money”
January 19, 2008 post: “Farmers Insurance Group continues to be obstinate”
January 26, 2008 post: “Farmers Insurance Group receives another request”
February 11, 2008 post: “Farmers Insurance Group shows how low they will go?”
February 12, 2008 post: “Farmers Insurance Group: If I were going to respond to the final letter”
I will not be continuing my Creationism posts today. I do plan to return to them soon.
Then, I plan to answer the response about Iraq. I am sorry for the change in plans. Plans, in reality, often are altered for one reason or another. “The best laid plans … often go astray.” Thank you for your understanding and patience.
How many unborn toddlers were murdered today because of the humanistic, paganish, barbaric decisions of the United States Supreme Court?
Stop the
Murder of
Unborn
Toddlers
“Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.” James 4: 17 (NIV)
www.farmersinsurancegroupsucks.com
www.childpredators.com
www.lifedynamics.com
www.libertylegal.org
www.alliancedefensefund.org
www.searchtv.org
The Vision Forum book sale:
“Normally, each smythe-sewn, hardback book in the Ballantyne Christian Adventure Library retails for $22. If you were to purchase each of these books individually, the total price would be $440. However, for one week only during this one-week special offer, Vision Forum is offering the entire twenty-volume set for $220, plus shipping. That’s just $11 apiece for these beautifully bound, substantial, hardback, collectible books.
Also available are the ten titles just released this month, the Ballantyne Adventure Library—Set 2, available for a 35% savings, at a price of $143. Offers expire at midnight on Tuesday, May 20 (CDT), and are good only while supplies last.”
“Marriage is Honorable Among All
Hebrew 13: 1-6
A page one story in The Oklahoman newspaper, on December 5, 2007 read ‘Single Moms Adding Strain for Department of Human Services.’ The article said, ‘Out-of-wedlock births near 41% in the state.’ The report also suggests some possible causes. We believe the Lord has the best solution to this problem yet—and, a better way of life than that. We’re In Search of the Lord’s Way; and we are glad you have joined us today.
My friend, it gives me great joy to welcome you to another program in search of the Lord’s way to become a Christian and to live the Christian life. I’m greatly honored that you have chosen this program from among all the many choices you have. I also feel a tremendous personal weight of responsibility to speak the truth—the whole truth—the truth of God’s word—and to speak it in genuine love. Oh! I want never to guide anyone wrongly about the word of God. And, I always want to speak encouragingly and lovingly. I’m encouraging you also to search the Scriptures to see whether what I am teaching is true. It’s written of the people of Berea in Acts chapter 17, verse 11 that they were more ‘fair-minded’—that is the New King James Version; the old King James says they were more ‘noble’ than some to whom Paul preached. ‘They received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether’ the things that he was saying were true. Well, I pray we will all be blessed by our study today. We have given it the title: ‘Marriage is Honorable Among All’
If you think you might want a free CD or audio cassette tape or even a printed free copy of the message, let me suggest you jot down our address and our telephone number now. Our address is In Search of the Lord’s Way, P.O. Box 371, Edmond, OK 73013. Our e-mail address is searchtv@searchtv.org. Our toll-free telephone number is 1-800-321-8633. And, you may see, or hear, or read the text of the message at searchtv.org. There is a lot more at that website, too. Pay us a visit there; will you?
According to the newspaper article I mentioned earlier, thirty-five years ago ‘out of wedlock births’ in Oklahoma numbered fewer than 10%. In 1976 they were 12% of the total; in 1986 they were 18.6%; in 1996 they were 31.1%; and in 2006 out-of-wedlock births numbered 40.9% of the total number of babies born in Oklahoma. Virtually 41 out of every 100 babies born in our state in 2006 were born out of wedlock. Now that is slightly, but only slightly, higher than the national average. Please don’t misunderstand; we are not castigating or damning anyone here. We are looking at a really difficult condition and we are searching for the Lord’s way out of it. And after Ken Helterbrand leads us in a Hymn, I’ll be back. We will read God’s word together and we will pray together.
We are reading today from the book of Hebrews, the 13th chapter, and we will begin at verse one. ‘Let brotherly love continue. Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels. Remember the prisoners as if chained with them, and those who are mistreated, since you yourselves are in the body also. Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge. Let your conduct be without covetousness, and be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you. So we may boldly say: The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?’
Now let us go to God in prayer. Holy Father, we are thankful to You for the brief admonitions and the many instructions that you have given us in this short reading so that we can victoriously and triumphantly live the Christian life and get the most out of living here on this earth. We pray Your blessings upon our study today and the application of these things to our life. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen!
Such news reports as we have just cited have proven beyond all doubt that the sexual revolution of the sixties has come to full fruition in our own day. Absolutely nothing is forbidden—pornography, adultery, fornication, homosexuality, lesbianism, incest, pedophilia, bestiality—there is no such thing as deviancy anymore or depravity—if it gives you pleasure, just do it. Who is to say it’s wrong for you anyway? It is an axiom that two opposing cultures cannot exist in the same society. The Woodstock culture of free sex, drugs, flag burning and rejection of all decency and propriety has now become our culture. The ‘flower people’ now occupy the highest places in our government, our judiciary, entertainment, television, news media and all the arts. Under the claims of personal liberty, the moral foundations have been jerked from under our feet and we are left with nothing on which to stand.
And we are reaping the whirlwind. The family, so essential to existence of any society, has disintegrated before our eyes. There are half as many divorces in America every year as there are marriages; resulting in children being born to single moms, thus becoming ‘one parent children,’ latch-key children, or suffering child abuse and child crime. Sexually transmitted diseases have increased to epidemic proportions in our day. Unwanted pregnancies are terminated by just legally killing the unborn (or partially born) infant—more than a million a year. Abortion is our national shame, my friend; it really is. As a consequence, child abuse is rampant. Practically every issue of any metropolitan daily newspaper carries some kind of report of the most gruesome crime against children—even infanticide. Our popular music, movies, television and literature depict and advocate a kind of sexual morality that’s wreaking havoc on our society. Premarital and extra-marital sex have not only become commonplace, but even respectable.
Marriage is honorable in all, because God is the author of it. When God had completed the creation He said, ‘It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him. .....And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man. And Adam said: ‘This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.’ Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.’ That is Genesis chapter 2, verses 18, and verses 21 and 24. Jesus believed all that. I know He did because He referenced it when the Pharisees tested Him with what they thought was a difficult question. They asked Him, ‘Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason?’ Well, they were doing that in His day, too. And He answered them, ‘Have you not read’ (in the Bible, of course, in your own Bibles) ‘have you not read that He who made them at the beginning made them male and female, and said, for this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh? So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate. They said to Him, ‘Why then did Moses command to give a certificate of divorce, and to put her away?’ He said to them, ‘Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery.’ ’ (Matthew 19) Well, I started to say what verses, but you read all the verses through verse twelve, and see if you don’t get that message.
Again, in 1 Corinthians chapter 7, verses 1 and 2, the Bible teaches that marriage is God’s divinely authorized arrangement for meeting the sexual needs of man. It says, ‘It is good for a man not to touch a woman.’ In other words, it is alright if you don’t want to marry. If you want to live single and be sexually inactive all your life, there’s nothing sinful about that. ‘Nevertheless,’ the Scripture says, ‘to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband.’ What could be plainer than that? If you are going to be sexually active (using modern terminology), have your own wife or your own husband. God proceeds in the following verses to say that the married man does not have total freedom of his own body, nor the married woman, but each is responsible for fulfilling the sexual needs of his or her own companion. So they are to submit to one another.
Adoption of God’s arrangement—to keep the marriage undefiled—would solve a lot of the problems of our modern society, wouldn’t it? First to come to our minds right now, is the AIDS crisis. If what we are being told is true, that AIDS is transmitted mainly through the sexual intercourse with multiple partners, God’s plan would halt it in its tracks, wouldn’t it? Then, why not let’s try the Lord’s way: a lifetime monogamous relationship? Or, think of the epidemic of venereal disease, of the increasing numbers of unwed mothers, and unwanted and abused babies. Marriage is honorable among all people. Or consider the soaring divorce rate. And, what of the stigma of adultery and fornication, and the guilt of promiscuity? It seems to me that just from the pragmatic point of view, it’s good to marry and to stay married. My friend, the Lord never teaches us to do anything that isn’t for our own good. The limitation on our sexual activity to the marriage relationship is just one excellent example of that. When a person applies the moral principles that God gives us to live by, he or she will be much less guilt-ridden and they would be much happier by far than if he—or she—sets out on a course of behavior that allows them to do what feels good to them at the moment. The people who know most about the real meaning of love are the man and the woman who hold their marriage vows in honor. And they honor and respect marriage before their marriage and they continue to do it after their marriage. They don’t hop into bed with every Tom, Dick and Mary Jane that makes themselves available before their marriage, and they haven’t done so since their marriage.
Young people, God has always forbidden sex outside of marriage. The seventh of the Ten Commandments says, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ That is Exodus 20: 14. To disobey that command is to sin, friend; because that’s what sin is. The Bible says that sin is a transgression of God’s law (1 John 3 and 4). Our only problem with that, then, is to determine what is meant by ‘adultery’ in that verse. The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia says that ‘in the seventh commandment (adultery) is made to include all manner of fornication.’ One reason for that understanding is that the 10th commandment speaks to a man’s coveting another man’s wife, and would therefore be a duplication or a repetition if ‘adultery’ in the seventh commandment were given its usual definition. Transgression of the seventh commandment was such a grievous sin before God that in Leviticus chapter twenty beginning at verse ten, the death penalty is called for every form of fornication, adultery, incest, homosexuality, bestiality, and so on.
Jesus himself said, ‘You have heard that it was said to them of old, You shall not commit adultery: But I say to you, that whosoever looks on a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart’ (Matthew 5: 27-28). Jesus not only denounced the overt act of adultery in those words, but He went right to the heart of the problem. In another passage, Matthew 15: 19 and 20, He said that ‘out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornication, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man...’ The defilement of God’s arrangement for sexual activity within the marriage relationship is so serious, friend, and it is the only cause, that it is the only cause that He gives for divorce with the possibility of remarriage (Matthew 5: 32; 19 and 9). I believe these principles are noble enough to honor and by which we are to live.
Of course, because of the immeasurable grace of God, there’s always the possibility of forgiveness. If yours has been a life of sexual immorality, and you now realize the fallacy of that course, you can seek and obtain pardon from God. We are not here to give you a guilt complex; we’re here to show you the way that is better for you to live than any other way—the Lord’s way. With the help of God, you can change your lifestyle in repentance. And Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God slain at Calvary, can wash away the guilt of your sinful life, when you repent and are baptized for the remission of your sins as we read in Acts 2: 38, and other passages. Oh, I hope you will do that very promptly; will you do that? And let us help you, if we may. We may be able to find somebody in your local community who would be able to help you and study with you farther and talk with you, encourage you and give you hope; and also baptize you into Christ.
Young people—and older ones too—I pray you will think seriously about what we have discussed today. Don’t you buy the devil’s bromide that religious convictions about these things develop guilt-ridden attitudes toward sex? It isn’t so. The Bible recognizes the dignity of the person and gives legitimacy to all our needs. But it does prescribe the parameters in which these needs are to be properly met. To exceed those divinely established boundaries always results in disaster and regret. ‘Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.’ Now that is the reading of Galatians chapter 6, verses 7 through 9.
Some people who are ‘supposed to be in the know,’ tell us that it is preferable for young people to ‘live in’ before their marriage. They come up with a list of supposedly good reasons for that, but the reality of it isn’t so, friend. Young people, approach your marriage with honor, and keep it honorable. Will you? You’ll never live to regret it. If we are to save the American family; if we’re going to reverse those statistics that we gave you from the newspaper earlier in the program, we must restore honor and respect and dignity to our marriage vows. And that in spite of what some of our heroes, our sports and music, movie idols, role models do to the contrary.
Perhaps the attitudes of some people in the past generations were erroneous. For youth to have to learn about sex in the back alley or in the school restrooms was inexcusable to be sure. The biblical perspective should have been presented openly and without shame. We don’t have to feel guilty about teaching anything that the Bible teaches, that the Bible addresses. But, the open-discussion perspective of the present generation may be even farther from the biblical view than that of our previous generation. It isn’t a question of who is right, but acceptance of what is right. We can’t accept the Lord’s way for other people, but we can for us in the present, and pass that on to the next generation. One thing is certain; no person is going to want to live on higher ground until he becomes discontent with where he is. If we have made you discontent with a life of sexual immorality and sin and desirous of trying the better and more noble way of the Lord, we’ve achieved our purpose here today. Let’s thank God! Father, we are so thankful that we had this means of talking to so many people and we can do it person to person within the privacy of their own homes by means of radio, or television, or the Internet. And we are thankful that we may study these difficult questions of life and give them the Lord’s way and the Lord’s teaching without fear of contradiction or failure. Bless them, Father, as hearers. We pray You in Jesus’ name, Amen!
The birth of babies to unwed mothers is of more grave concern to us than it is to the Department of Human Services. It's freely admitted that some good-intentioned policies of government have turned out to be serious contributors to the growth of this problem. However, the silence of American religion and religious leaders about the sanctity of the family and the collapse of the moral order just has to be the major cause.
Well, it has been a joy and a blessing to be with you today. Thank you for inviting us into your home. Our program is a presentation of some churches of Christ in the broadcast area of this station. We would like to invite you to worship with them, a congregation near you at your very first opportunity. We really do believe the Bible is the inspired word of God and we accept it as our only rule of faith and practice. Well, we know of others who make that claim, but we would like you to check us out. Some of the others do a lot of talking about it and waving their Bible around, but when it comes to faith and practice, they’re guided more by feelings than they are by what the Scriptures really do say. Come and see us and study with us; will you?
If you can use an audio cassette tape or a printed transcript of today’s program, we would like you to have it free, and we will send it to you immediately upon receiving your request. Please ask for it by name, ‘Marriage Is Honorable in All.’ Our address is In Search of the Lord’s Way, P.O. Box 371, Edmond, OK 73083. By the internet, our address is searchtv@searchtv.org. We hear from people all over the world who are receiving the program by the Internet. They can read it or they can listen to it or they can see it again. Please be sure to tell us whether you want the CD, the cassette tape or the printed copy, though. If it’s more convenient for you to call, our toll free telephone number is 1-800-321-8633.
Well, it has been good to be with you today in the study of these things. Sometimes it may seem a bit difficult but I hope you will take heed; and be with us again next week. God bless you. We love you.”
Recommended: the CD “How to Think Like a Christian.” This CD is or should be a reminder to all Christians!
I suggest you check out the following website if you are a policy holder of Farmers Insurance Group or thinking about having them insure you in any capacity: www.farmersinsurancegroupsucks.com
https://affiliates.visionforum.com/idevaffiliate.php?id=367
The above link is for a company—Vision Forum—that provides unique products for the family. I am an affiliate for the company and receive a small commission whenever someone uses this link and then makes an unreturned purchase while using the link. Check it out. I think you might like the products offered. I do. See my more complete explanation on my post of February 1, 2008 entitled “Affiliate program with Vision Forum.”
Based upon past historical data: 3,287+ UNBORN BABY MURDERS have occurred in the last 24 hours in the United States. See my post “BABY HOLOCAUST” posted January 22, 2008.
I’ve been involved in a problem one of my clients has with Farmers Insurance Group. My previous posts in relation to this problem were:
September 10, 2007 post: “Beware of Farmers Insurance Group”
September 11, 2007 post: “Farmers Insurance Group’s response”
September 18, 2007 post: “Farmers Insurance Company received the requested list”
September 19, 2007 post: “Farmers Insurance Company’s response to the list”
October 16, 2007 post: “Farmers Insurance Group and my request for information”
November 27, 2007 post: “Farmers Insurance Group does not respond to my request”
January 11, 2008 post: “Farmers Insurance Group latest stall”
January 12, 2008 post: “Farmers Insurance Group is sent a response”
January 14, 2008 post: “Farmers Insurance Group pays some money”
January 19, 2008 post: “Farmers Insurance Group continues to be obstinate”
January 26, 2008 post: “Farmers Insurance Group receives another request”
February 11, 2008 post: “Farmers Insurance Group shows how low they will go?”
February 12, 2008 post: “Farmers Insurance Group: If I were going to respond to the final letter”
I will not be continuing my Creationism posts today. I do plan to return to them soon.
Then, I plan to answer the response about Iraq. I am sorry for the change in plans. Plans, in reality, often are altered for one reason or another. “The best laid plans … often go astray.” Thank you for your understanding and patience.
How many unborn toddlers were murdered today because of the humanistic, paganish, barbaric decisions of the United States Supreme Court?
Stop the
Murder of
Unborn
Toddlers
“Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.” James 4: 17 (NIV)
www.farmersinsurancegroupsucks.com
www.childpredators.com
www.lifedynamics.com
www.libertylegal.org
www.alliancedefensefund.org
www.searchtv.org
The Vision Forum book sale:
“Normally, each smythe-sewn, hardback book in the Ballantyne Christian Adventure Library retails for $22. If you were to purchase each of these books individually, the total price would be $440. However, for one week only during this one-week special offer, Vision Forum is offering the entire twenty-volume set for $220, plus shipping. That’s just $11 apiece for these beautifully bound, substantial, hardback, collectible books.
Also available are the ten titles just released this month, the Ballantyne Adventure Library—Set 2, available for a 35% savings, at a price of $143. Offers expire at midnight on Tuesday, May 20 (CDT), and are good only while supplies last.”
“Marriage is Honorable Among All
Hebrew 13: 1-6
A page one story in The Oklahoman newspaper, on December 5, 2007 read ‘Single Moms Adding Strain for Department of Human Services.’ The article said, ‘Out-of-wedlock births near 41% in the state.’ The report also suggests some possible causes. We believe the Lord has the best solution to this problem yet—and, a better way of life than that. We’re In Search of the Lord’s Way; and we are glad you have joined us today.
My friend, it gives me great joy to welcome you to another program in search of the Lord’s way to become a Christian and to live the Christian life. I’m greatly honored that you have chosen this program from among all the many choices you have. I also feel a tremendous personal weight of responsibility to speak the truth—the whole truth—the truth of God’s word—and to speak it in genuine love. Oh! I want never to guide anyone wrongly about the word of God. And, I always want to speak encouragingly and lovingly. I’m encouraging you also to search the Scriptures to see whether what I am teaching is true. It’s written of the people of Berea in Acts chapter 17, verse 11 that they were more ‘fair-minded’—that is the New King James Version; the old King James says they were more ‘noble’ than some to whom Paul preached. ‘They received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether’ the things that he was saying were true. Well, I pray we will all be blessed by our study today. We have given it the title: ‘Marriage is Honorable Among All’
If you think you might want a free CD or audio cassette tape or even a printed free copy of the message, let me suggest you jot down our address and our telephone number now. Our address is In Search of the Lord’s Way, P.O. Box 371, Edmond, OK 73013. Our e-mail address is searchtv@searchtv.org. Our toll-free telephone number is 1-800-321-8633. And, you may see, or hear, or read the text of the message at searchtv.org. There is a lot more at that website, too. Pay us a visit there; will you?
According to the newspaper article I mentioned earlier, thirty-five years ago ‘out of wedlock births’ in Oklahoma numbered fewer than 10%. In 1976 they were 12% of the total; in 1986 they were 18.6%; in 1996 they were 31.1%; and in 2006 out-of-wedlock births numbered 40.9% of the total number of babies born in Oklahoma. Virtually 41 out of every 100 babies born in our state in 2006 were born out of wedlock. Now that is slightly, but only slightly, higher than the national average. Please don’t misunderstand; we are not castigating or damning anyone here. We are looking at a really difficult condition and we are searching for the Lord’s way out of it. And after Ken Helterbrand leads us in a Hymn, I’ll be back. We will read God’s word together and we will pray together.
We are reading today from the book of Hebrews, the 13th chapter, and we will begin at verse one. ‘Let brotherly love continue. Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels. Remember the prisoners as if chained with them, and those who are mistreated, since you yourselves are in the body also. Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge. Let your conduct be without covetousness, and be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you. So we may boldly say: The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?’
Now let us go to God in prayer. Holy Father, we are thankful to You for the brief admonitions and the many instructions that you have given us in this short reading so that we can victoriously and triumphantly live the Christian life and get the most out of living here on this earth. We pray Your blessings upon our study today and the application of these things to our life. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen!
Such news reports as we have just cited have proven beyond all doubt that the sexual revolution of the sixties has come to full fruition in our own day. Absolutely nothing is forbidden—pornography, adultery, fornication, homosexuality, lesbianism, incest, pedophilia, bestiality—there is no such thing as deviancy anymore or depravity—if it gives you pleasure, just do it. Who is to say it’s wrong for you anyway? It is an axiom that two opposing cultures cannot exist in the same society. The Woodstock culture of free sex, drugs, flag burning and rejection of all decency and propriety has now become our culture. The ‘flower people’ now occupy the highest places in our government, our judiciary, entertainment, television, news media and all the arts. Under the claims of personal liberty, the moral foundations have been jerked from under our feet and we are left with nothing on which to stand.
And we are reaping the whirlwind. The family, so essential to existence of any society, has disintegrated before our eyes. There are half as many divorces in America every year as there are marriages; resulting in children being born to single moms, thus becoming ‘one parent children,’ latch-key children, or suffering child abuse and child crime. Sexually transmitted diseases have increased to epidemic proportions in our day. Unwanted pregnancies are terminated by just legally killing the unborn (or partially born) infant—more than a million a year. Abortion is our national shame, my friend; it really is. As a consequence, child abuse is rampant. Practically every issue of any metropolitan daily newspaper carries some kind of report of the most gruesome crime against children—even infanticide. Our popular music, movies, television and literature depict and advocate a kind of sexual morality that’s wreaking havoc on our society. Premarital and extra-marital sex have not only become commonplace, but even respectable.
Marriage is honorable in all, because God is the author of it. When God had completed the creation He said, ‘It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him. .....And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man. And Adam said: ‘This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.’ Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.’ That is Genesis chapter 2, verses 18, and verses 21 and 24. Jesus believed all that. I know He did because He referenced it when the Pharisees tested Him with what they thought was a difficult question. They asked Him, ‘Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason?’ Well, they were doing that in His day, too. And He answered them, ‘Have you not read’ (in the Bible, of course, in your own Bibles) ‘have you not read that He who made them at the beginning made them male and female, and said, for this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh? So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate. They said to Him, ‘Why then did Moses command to give a certificate of divorce, and to put her away?’ He said to them, ‘Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery.’ ’ (Matthew 19) Well, I started to say what verses, but you read all the verses through verse twelve, and see if you don’t get that message.
Again, in 1 Corinthians chapter 7, verses 1 and 2, the Bible teaches that marriage is God’s divinely authorized arrangement for meeting the sexual needs of man. It says, ‘It is good for a man not to touch a woman.’ In other words, it is alright if you don’t want to marry. If you want to live single and be sexually inactive all your life, there’s nothing sinful about that. ‘Nevertheless,’ the Scripture says, ‘to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband.’ What could be plainer than that? If you are going to be sexually active (using modern terminology), have your own wife or your own husband. God proceeds in the following verses to say that the married man does not have total freedom of his own body, nor the married woman, but each is responsible for fulfilling the sexual needs of his or her own companion. So they are to submit to one another.
Adoption of God’s arrangement—to keep the marriage undefiled—would solve a lot of the problems of our modern society, wouldn’t it? First to come to our minds right now, is the AIDS crisis. If what we are being told is true, that AIDS is transmitted mainly through the sexual intercourse with multiple partners, God’s plan would halt it in its tracks, wouldn’t it? Then, why not let’s try the Lord’s way: a lifetime monogamous relationship? Or, think of the epidemic of venereal disease, of the increasing numbers of unwed mothers, and unwanted and abused babies. Marriage is honorable among all people. Or consider the soaring divorce rate. And, what of the stigma of adultery and fornication, and the guilt of promiscuity? It seems to me that just from the pragmatic point of view, it’s good to marry and to stay married. My friend, the Lord never teaches us to do anything that isn’t for our own good. The limitation on our sexual activity to the marriage relationship is just one excellent example of that. When a person applies the moral principles that God gives us to live by, he or she will be much less guilt-ridden and they would be much happier by far than if he—or she—sets out on a course of behavior that allows them to do what feels good to them at the moment. The people who know most about the real meaning of love are the man and the woman who hold their marriage vows in honor. And they honor and respect marriage before their marriage and they continue to do it after their marriage. They don’t hop into bed with every Tom, Dick and Mary Jane that makes themselves available before their marriage, and they haven’t done so since their marriage.
Young people, God has always forbidden sex outside of marriage. The seventh of the Ten Commandments says, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ That is Exodus 20: 14. To disobey that command is to sin, friend; because that’s what sin is. The Bible says that sin is a transgression of God’s law (1 John 3 and 4). Our only problem with that, then, is to determine what is meant by ‘adultery’ in that verse. The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia says that ‘in the seventh commandment (adultery) is made to include all manner of fornication.’ One reason for that understanding is that the 10th commandment speaks to a man’s coveting another man’s wife, and would therefore be a duplication or a repetition if ‘adultery’ in the seventh commandment were given its usual definition. Transgression of the seventh commandment was such a grievous sin before God that in Leviticus chapter twenty beginning at verse ten, the death penalty is called for every form of fornication, adultery, incest, homosexuality, bestiality, and so on.
Jesus himself said, ‘You have heard that it was said to them of old, You shall not commit adultery: But I say to you, that whosoever looks on a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart’ (Matthew 5: 27-28). Jesus not only denounced the overt act of adultery in those words, but He went right to the heart of the problem. In another passage, Matthew 15: 19 and 20, He said that ‘out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornication, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man...’ The defilement of God’s arrangement for sexual activity within the marriage relationship is so serious, friend, and it is the only cause, that it is the only cause that He gives for divorce with the possibility of remarriage (Matthew 5: 32; 19 and 9). I believe these principles are noble enough to honor and by which we are to live.
Of course, because of the immeasurable grace of God, there’s always the possibility of forgiveness. If yours has been a life of sexual immorality, and you now realize the fallacy of that course, you can seek and obtain pardon from God. We are not here to give you a guilt complex; we’re here to show you the way that is better for you to live than any other way—the Lord’s way. With the help of God, you can change your lifestyle in repentance. And Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God slain at Calvary, can wash away the guilt of your sinful life, when you repent and are baptized for the remission of your sins as we read in Acts 2: 38, and other passages. Oh, I hope you will do that very promptly; will you do that? And let us help you, if we may. We may be able to find somebody in your local community who would be able to help you and study with you farther and talk with you, encourage you and give you hope; and also baptize you into Christ.
Young people—and older ones too—I pray you will think seriously about what we have discussed today. Don’t you buy the devil’s bromide that religious convictions about these things develop guilt-ridden attitudes toward sex? It isn’t so. The Bible recognizes the dignity of the person and gives legitimacy to all our needs. But it does prescribe the parameters in which these needs are to be properly met. To exceed those divinely established boundaries always results in disaster and regret. ‘Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.’ Now that is the reading of Galatians chapter 6, verses 7 through 9.
Some people who are ‘supposed to be in the know,’ tell us that it is preferable for young people to ‘live in’ before their marriage. They come up with a list of supposedly good reasons for that, but the reality of it isn’t so, friend. Young people, approach your marriage with honor, and keep it honorable. Will you? You’ll never live to regret it. If we are to save the American family; if we’re going to reverse those statistics that we gave you from the newspaper earlier in the program, we must restore honor and respect and dignity to our marriage vows. And that in spite of what some of our heroes, our sports and music, movie idols, role models do to the contrary.
Perhaps the attitudes of some people in the past generations were erroneous. For youth to have to learn about sex in the back alley or in the school restrooms was inexcusable to be sure. The biblical perspective should have been presented openly and without shame. We don’t have to feel guilty about teaching anything that the Bible teaches, that the Bible addresses. But, the open-discussion perspective of the present generation may be even farther from the biblical view than that of our previous generation. It isn’t a question of who is right, but acceptance of what is right. We can’t accept the Lord’s way for other people, but we can for us in the present, and pass that on to the next generation. One thing is certain; no person is going to want to live on higher ground until he becomes discontent with where he is. If we have made you discontent with a life of sexual immorality and sin and desirous of trying the better and more noble way of the Lord, we’ve achieved our purpose here today. Let’s thank God! Father, we are so thankful that we had this means of talking to so many people and we can do it person to person within the privacy of their own homes by means of radio, or television, or the Internet. And we are thankful that we may study these difficult questions of life and give them the Lord’s way and the Lord’s teaching without fear of contradiction or failure. Bless them, Father, as hearers. We pray You in Jesus’ name, Amen!
The birth of babies to unwed mothers is of more grave concern to us than it is to the Department of Human Services. It's freely admitted that some good-intentioned policies of government have turned out to be serious contributors to the growth of this problem. However, the silence of American religion and religious leaders about the sanctity of the family and the collapse of the moral order just has to be the major cause.
Well, it has been a joy and a blessing to be with you today. Thank you for inviting us into your home. Our program is a presentation of some churches of Christ in the broadcast area of this station. We would like to invite you to worship with them, a congregation near you at your very first opportunity. We really do believe the Bible is the inspired word of God and we accept it as our only rule of faith and practice. Well, we know of others who make that claim, but we would like you to check us out. Some of the others do a lot of talking about it and waving their Bible around, but when it comes to faith and practice, they’re guided more by feelings than they are by what the Scriptures really do say. Come and see us and study with us; will you?
If you can use an audio cassette tape or a printed transcript of today’s program, we would like you to have it free, and we will send it to you immediately upon receiving your request. Please ask for it by name, ‘Marriage Is Honorable in All.’ Our address is In Search of the Lord’s Way, P.O. Box 371, Edmond, OK 73083. By the internet, our address is searchtv@searchtv.org. We hear from people all over the world who are receiving the program by the Internet. They can read it or they can listen to it or they can see it again. Please be sure to tell us whether you want the CD, the cassette tape or the printed copy, though. If it’s more convenient for you to call, our toll free telephone number is 1-800-321-8633.
Well, it has been good to be with you today in the study of these things. Sometimes it may seem a bit difficult but I hope you will take heed; and be with us again next week. God bless you. We love you.”
posted by Christian Gunslinger at 9:31 PM
2 Comments:
Excellent lesson. I worry how prevelent these attitudes about marrage are on TV and seem to be everywhere. It is almost "normal" to live with someone before marrage and yes, a lot of people are single parents now. I hope I can teach my son to go against these socal attitudes.
I’m responding to both your comments with one. You recognized the direction my posts are taking. I hope to conclude with comments concerning the horrendous California Supreme Court decision. Unfortunately, I think Christians have been silent too long and have allowed the forces of evil to gain increasing control of our culture.
Every Christian needs to “bring them (our children) up in the training and instruction of the Lord.” Ephesians 6: 4b (NIV) I’m afraid we have failed to do this and it shows in our society today. Fortunately, it is not yet too late. WE NEED TO GET INVOLED AND TRAIN OUR CHILDREN IN THE LORD. Certainly, our State run schools will not!!!
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