Genesis 2:24 NKJV  Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

You may be seated

• Now I know it has been a couple weeks since we have been in Genesis so let’s just recap a little bit.
  • In chapter two of Genesis, we have talked about the importance of taking a Sabath rest… how God rested on the Seventh day and how God created us to rest.
    • And if I am honest, I still struggle with finding rest. If you ever feel the urge to pray for your pastor, pray that I would find rest.
    • And it is why I thank God for the command to take a Sabath, because without it I don’t think I would ever take a day off… It’s like God knows what’s good for me better than I do!
  • We then talked about God’s formal name, YHWH Elohim, the great I AM, the All Sufficient God.
  • Then a couple weeks ago we went over the one thing in creation that was deemed “Not Good”, that man was alone.
    • So God created woman for man, out of man’s side, God created woman.
    • Matthew Henry says this about the creation of woman
    • [We see] that the woman was made of a rib out of the side of Adam; not made out of his head to rule over him, nor out of his feet to be trampled upon by him, but out of his side to be equal with him, under his arm to be protected, and near his heart to be beloved.
      -Matthew Henry
  • Man, I love this quote so much that I use it when I preform weddings… and speaking of weddings, today’s key verse, Genesis 2:24 is all about marriage.

• The title of Today’s Sermon is “The Perfect Marriage”.
  • And no, I am not going to promise you that you will leave this sermon and your marriage will magically become perfect… but married couples I hope to show you a marriage to aspire to, to grow towards… and single people looking to get married, I hope to help you have a great marriage from the get go.
    • And more importantly, church, I hope to help us all have a better relationship with Christ Jesus… but more on that in a minute, first let’s pray and then get into the first point.

• My first point this morning is all about Adam and Eve, I have title my first point “The Perfect Marriage – Man and Wife”.

Point One – The Perfect Marriage – Man and Wife

Genesis 2:24 NKJV  Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

• Church I really believe that God cares more about marriage than we do, we probably need to care more about marriage… we probably need to honor marriage more than we do as a society and as a part of Christian Culture.

Hebrews 13:4 ESV  Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.

Proverbs 18:22 NKJV  He who finds a wife finds a good thing, And obtains favor from the LORD.

Genesis 2:18a NKJV  And the LORD God said, “It is not good that man should be alone…”

Proverbs 31:10-11 ESV  An excellent wife who can find? She is far more precious than jewels.  (11)  The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain.

• I mean listen, there is not a lot of things that God specifically says He hates… but dealing deceitfully and treacherously with your spouse… and that treachery leading to divorce… GOD HATES THAT.

Malachi 2:16 NKJV  “For the LORD God of Israel says That He hates divorce, For it covers one’s garment with violence,” Says the LORD of hosts. Therefore take heed to your spirit, That you do not deal treacherously.”

• Why does God hate divorce? Because Mariage is holy as unto the Lord.
  • Listen church, God created marriage before there was sin.
    • Before there was the need for redemption, there was marriage.
    • Before there was need for Salvation, there was marriage.
    • Before there was the 10 commandments, there was marriage.
    • Before the Law, there was marriage.
      • Marriage predates almost all of what we know.
      • In fact before the fall of man, before sin entered into the world, there was only two ordinances given, only two ordinances for man to observe… a Sabath Rest, and Marriage.
        • Everything else, holidays, baptisms, tithing, reading and studying the Word of God, worship services, baby dedications, preaching, prophecy, the gifts of the Spirit, the ordination of the church, gathering together weekly for church services…
          •  all of this came AFTER the fall, and most of it came after the Law, and some of it came after the Resurrection…
          • but before it all, there was two ordinances, Marriage and Sabath Rest.
  • So the perfect life, life in perfection, in the Garden, how God intended it, before there was sin or temptation…
    • The perfect life looked like this:
      • Six days a week you work tending the garden and taking care of the animals, a fulfilling Job that is not laborious or hard.
      • On the seventh day you rest and enjoy your rest.
      • You are married to one woman for eternity.
        • You love her and she loves you.
      • You have lot’s of babies and grow a huge family.
        • Everyone in your family loves God and each other.
        • There is no separation between God and man, we have perfect access to God.
          • There is no sin, there is no sickness, there is no death, there is no pain, there is no mourning.
          • Everything is perfect.
          • A married couple, having kids, serving God, walking with Him daily.
            • It’s perfect.
              • This is the perfect marriage.
• Yet we don’t live in the Garden, any more, do we church?
  • We don’t live in a sin free world.
  • We don’t live in a world free of temptation.
  • Death, and pain, and sickness, and sorrow, and persecution, and enemies… they surround us.
    • Work is difficult and painful.
    • And the enemy is always crouching at the door.
      • Yet marriage remains… it remains just as important as it was in the Garden… Just as holy, just as ordained by God…
      • And I am fairly positive you don’t have the perfect marriage, I pray that your marriage is AMAZING, but it is probably not perfect… so what can we learn from Adam and Eve’s perfect marriage to help us in our own?
• Well, first let’s talk about how their marriage was put together, Single people, this one is for you.

Genesis 2:18 NKJV  And the LORD God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a variety of woman for him to date and chose from and hope that he picks a good one? NO! I will make for him a  helper comparable to him.”

• The first step at having a perfect marriage happens before you are ever married… it is to humble yourself and realize that God is better at picking out your spouse more than you are.
  • Single people, listen intently and humbly this morning… GOD IS BETTER AT PICKING OUT YOUR SPOUSE THAN YOU ARE.
    • Whoever you date, you better be SURE that this is who God has made for you… that God has joined you together.
    • You need to hear from the Lord “Yes this is from me, marry this woman”
    • Your pastors and church family should be in agreement “Yes, we believe God has put you two together”.
    • The Bible should be in 100% agreement with your marriage… that means not being unequally yoked, not marrying an unbeliever… it means not having premarital sex, it means not fooling around, it means not getting married for any other reason than GOD SAYS SO.
    • “But Pastor, I LOVE HER SO MUCH! I don’t care what the Bible says, this LOVE is too strong to ignore”.
      • Listen single people, I have seen people who are in just as much love as you… who are head over heels in love… I have seen many couples who get married not because God told them to, but because the are “in love”… and I have watched time and time again as those couples in love have ended in divorce, hatred, and vitriol.
        • I am not saying you shouldn’t love the person you are going to marry, you should! Of course! You should love them more than anyone on the earth other than God… but you should Love and trust God even more, and if God says no, then the answer is no… further, if God doesn’t say yes… then the answer is no.
          • The three biggest decisions you face in life… the three that will dictate how happy and fulfilled you are, are these three things in order:
          • Decision one: The decision to be saved.
          • Decision two: Who to marry.
          • Decision three: How many kids to have.
            • The Bible says that no one can be saved without the Holy Spirit drawing him first.
            • Let the Holy Spirit also guide you on who to marry and how many kids to have.
              • If you do, it will go well with you and you will be blessed.
• So the first step in the perfect marriage is to marry the person God wants you to marry.
• The Second Step to having a perfect marriage is to consider each other equal.

Genesis 2:23 NKJV  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.”

• The word for woman in Hebrew here is “Ishaw” which means literally “She-Man”.
  • Adam saw Eve as the same as Him. Bone of His bone and Flesh of my Flesh.
  • Adam looked at eve and said “this is ME but female”.
  • He did not think of himself as better than her, she did not think of herself as better than him… they thought of THEMSELVES together as being one being, one union, together, equal in rank but different in roles.
    • Let me say that last part again, because it is an important Biblical truth.
    • Man and Woman are equal in rank, but different in roles.
      • Man is not more important than woman, woman is not more important than man, both are needed to form the image of God.
      • But they have different roles, we talked about this two weeks ago.
        • Yes the husband is the head of the household, but get this… oh this is good… yes man is the head… but what does proverbs 12:4 say?

Proverbs 12:4 NKJV  An excellent wife is the crown of her husband, But she who causes shame is like rottenness in his bones.

• Man is the head and the woman is the crown! Where does the crown go? ON THE HEAD.
  • Listen a Crown without a head is just a fancy bookend, it is a pretty paperweight…
    • And a head without a crown is just peasantry!
    • But put the crown on the head and now you have turned the peasant into royalty!
      • We need each other church, men and woman are different, yes, but one is not more important than the other… and I have seen more than one marriage sank because the crown thinks herself better than the head or the head thinks herself better than the crown. Guy’s, you need each other, act like it!
• Step three to a perfect marriage should go without saying… but this is America and we love ourselves some divorce… Step three, take divorce off the table.
  • Divorce is now a BAD word in your marriage, you don’t say it, you don’t threaten it, you don’t joke about it.

Genesis 2:24 NKJV  Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

Matthew 19:2-6 NKJV  And great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them there.  (3)  The Pharisees also came to Him, testing Him, and saying to Him, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason?”  (4)  And He answered and said to them, “Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning ‘MADE THEM MALE AND FEMALE,’  (5)  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’ ?  (6)  So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.”

• What happens if one flesh is separated? It causes major scars…
  • You know what we call it when your flesh fights against itself? Skin Cancer!
    • That is what cancer is, when your cells fight against themselves.
    • That’s not perfection.
      • Maybe you didn’t pray about who to marry, maybe you did not get married the Bible way. BUT YOU ARE ONE FLESH NOW, and one of the steps to getting your marriage on track is to treat divorce like CANCER.
  • Jesus gave one reason that divorce would be permissible, and that is in the case of Adultery… so ladies, if he doesn’t have a side chick, you can’t divorce him without sin.
    • And fella’s, if she ain’t stepping out, you can’t divorce her without sin.
      • Now, you might need to be separated for a time.
      • I don’t want anyone staying in an unsafe situation… but divorce is not an option, and we need to start treating our mariages like they are literally “to death do us part”.
        • And when we do that our mind’s shift, and instead of thinking “I want out” or “I want a different spouse” we start to think “God I need this to be fixed… help me fix this, help my spouse be healed, help me be a better husband or a better wife…”
        • When you take the D word off the table, you suddenly open yourself up to a lot of better, Biblical resources to help your marriage…
        • And if you keep the D word off the table from the get go, it helps your marriage stay on a healthy foundation.
• So, three steps to a perfect marriage from the example of the only perfect marriage we see in the Bible:
  • Step one, let God chose your spouse.
  • Step two, treat your spouse as an equal.
  • Step three, take divorce off the table.
    • Now this is not a marriage seminar, there are hundreds of other things you can be doing and should be doing to make your marriage better, but this is a good starting place.
    • If you need more help, reach out and we will get you into some marriage counseling… because we want your marriage to be successful.
      • I am done seeing divorces… I want to see generations of happily married coupled raising generations of beautiful children who all love Jesus.
• Now, let’s talk briefly about why God sees marriage as so holy and so important… it is because marriage is an earthly example of a heavenly truth…
  • Point one was “The perfect marriage – Man and Wife” point two is “The Eternal Marriage – Christ and the Church”.

Point Two – The Eternal Marriage – Christ and the Church

Genesis 2:24 NKJV  Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

• You know this verse is quoted four times in the New Testament. Matthew 19:5, Mark 10:7, 1 Corinthians 6:16, and Ephesians 5:31.
  • Four times, this verse is quoted directly in the New Testament… making it one of the most quoted Old Testament Scriptures… why?
    • Well because marriage is important to pretty much everyone, except the few who God calls to remain unmarried…
    • But two, because I believe that marriage is ETERNALLY important.
      • Listen, all the way from the creation of Israel, God has been referring to His people, the people of Israel, as His bride.
        • In Ezekiel 16, God describes how He entered into a covenant with Israel and made her His bride.
        • In Jeremiah 3, God says that He divorced Israel because of her harlotry, but He still calls her to return to Him.
        • In Isaiah 54:5 God declares that He is Israel’s husband and Redeemer
        • In Revelation 21:2, John sees the new Jerusalem coming down from heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
      • God is the husband of Israel, and as I have preached many times, if you are born again you are a part of Israel, you are grafted in, you are considered a child of Abraham, and heir to His promise… so if God is the Husband of Israel, and you are born again, thus a part of Israel, then you are a part of God’s bride.
    • And the New Testament expands on this… and we see that the church is indeed the Bride of Christ.
  • Going back to having a perfect marriage, Ephesians gives us some instructions…

Ephesians 5:22 NKJV  Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord.

• Wives, how are you supposed to submit to your husbands? The way the church is supposed to submit to it’s husband, Christ.

Ephesians 5:24 NKJV  Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.

• This means, by the way, if you are not being Christlike, husbands, I don’t think your wife has the obligation to submit to you.
  • Husbands you must lead like Christ if you expect your wife to submit like the church submits to Christ…
• Speaking of husbands…

Ephesians 5:25a NKJV  Husbands, love your wives…

• Well how are we supposed to love our wives? Like Christ loves His wife, the church!

Ephesians 5:25 NKJV  Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her,

• Husbands, you ought to love your wife unto death! You should be willing to DIE for her, after all, that is what Jesus did for His bride… Jesus died for her!
• In these instructions we get the very clear understanding that Christ is the Groom and the Church is the Bride.
  • But it is not just here…
    • In 2 Corinthians 11:2 Jesus is called the husband of the church.
    • In John 3:29 born again believers are called the bride of Christ.
    • Revelation 21:9 refers to the church as the bride of Christ.
    • In Matthew 22 Jesus compares the Kingdom of heaven as a wedding feast.
    • Speaking of wedding feasts… look at Revelation 19…

Revelation 19:6-9 NKJV  And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, “Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns!  (7)  Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.”  (8)  And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.  (9)  Then he said to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!’ ” And he said to me, “These are the true sayings of God.”

• Man I want to be at the marriage supper of the Lamb, don’t you guys want to be there?! Don’t you guys want to be there? It is a marriage supper for a reason, because we are the Bride of Christ.
• You see earthly marriage is supposed to be a temporary relationship that shows our eternal relationship with God.
  • In fact, the Bible says that in eternity we will no longer call God our master, but instead we will call God “My Husband”.

Hosea 2:16-19 NKJV  “And it shall be, in that day,” Says the LORD, “That you will call Me ‘My Husband,’ And no longer call Me ‘My Master,’  (17)  For I will take from her mouth the names of the Baals, And they shall be remembered by their name no more.  (18)  In that day I will make a covenant for them With the beasts of the field, With the birds of the air, And with the creeping things of the ground. Bow and sword of battle I will shatter from the earth, To make them lie down safely.  (19)  “I will betroth you to Me forever; Yes, I will betroth you to Me In righteousness and justice, In lovingkindness and mercy;

Conclusion

• So let’s conclude this thing…
  • First, we need to be treating marriage like we treat our relationship with God.
    • God is never going to leave me or forsake me, and Amanda, I am never going to leave or forsake you.
    • Jesus laid down His life for me, and Amanda, I will lay down my life for you.
    • Amanda I may be the head of the household, but you are my crown, and together we make royalty. Thank you for always being there for me my love…
  • Men, love and serve your wives like Christ loved and served the church.
  • And women, make it easy for your husband, submit to his headship and serve alongside him.
    • Couples, never think about divorce again.
    • Singles, seek the will of God for who you should be married too.
• And church, all of us, single or married, if we are born again, we need to treat Jesus as our eternal husband.
  • Which means these vows that we took temporarily, should be eternally true…
    • I take thee Jesus as my Eternal savior, God, and Lord
      • For better or for worse, Jesus, I will stick by your side… (pro tip, with Jesus, it is always for better).
      • In sickness or in health, Christ, I will worship and serve you.
      • Whether I am rich or poor, I will always trust you to provide for me.
      • In good times, and in times of trials and persecution, I will always worship and adore you.
      • Lord I make these vows till death brings us together and for eternity hereafter. Amen…