The Christian life..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. OK, so Genesis chapter 2. Tonight, as I said, we're going to continue with our study on this topic of the Christian life.

And tonight is going to be the first Bible study that we're going to be getting into the life of the Christian family. We have spoken now extensively about the life of the Christian, the individual Christian. And tonight, we're going to be starting now with our study and with our meditations on the Christian family. And the topic that we're going to be addressing tonight is singleness in marriage, and then we're going to be speaking about the family. By God's grace, we're going to be speaking about a biblical husband, a biblical wife, a biblical children, raising children, family worship, all of those very practical details of i-Christian family that we should not only understand from the Scriptures, but also by God's grace and by His Spirit, I hope.

that we will be moved into living our lives in the light and in the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ, all together, for the glory of the Father. So I'm just going to call your attention to Genesis chapter 2. Genesis chapter 2, and we are going to be focusing on verse 24 tonight, but let's perhaps read a little bit from The context, let's perhaps do it from verse 15. Verse 24 is going to be the verse, if you pay attention there in Genesis 2, verse 24. It says, Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother, and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh."

Hence the topic that we're addressing of singleness and marriage. In that verse, you have the transition of a person being in union, if you want, or attached to their parents, and then leaving, it says, the parents, and then getting into or inserting into another union, which is with the wife. the transition from being a single person, and then into being in the status of being married to someone else, in this case, the spouse. So, let's read together, brothers and sisters, those of you who are online, and those of you here, let's read together from verse 15, chapter 2, and then we will pray together, and then let's see how the Lord helps us and guides us tonight, as we meditate upon this topic. So, let's read together, Genesis chapter 2, verse 15 onwards.

The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. And the Lord commanded the man saying, you may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat. For in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die. Then the Lord God said, it is not good that the man should be alone. I will make him a helper fit for him.

Now out of the ground, the Lord God had formed every beast, every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds and to the head of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam, there was not found a helper fit for him. So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept, took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh.

And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman. and brought her to the men. Then the men said, this at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman because she was taken out of men. Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife and they shall become one flesh.

And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed. That is the word of the Lord. May he bless us as we meditate, and let's pray together, brothers and sisters. Lord Jesus, help us, please, tonight. Help us, Lord, to have clarity, to speak your words, to have your heart, to have your mind.

Help us, Lord, to be humble. Help us, Lord, and protect us in our hearts from having hearts that are guarded With pride, help us, Lord, with minds that are guarded, Lord, with pride and self-exaltation. Destroy all of those things by Your Holy Spirit and make us humble, Lord. Make us humble and help us to love one another, to love You, to love Your Word. Help us to condescend in our hearts.

and to love one another in the community of the saints, to edify one another, Lord. Help us, Lord, as we meditate upon this topic, and guide us in truth, guide us in love, and guide us in grace. And help us, Lord, as a church, the congregation, so small and weak that we are, Lord, that we may grow in understanding of Your will, we may grow in understanding of Your heart, we may grow in understanding of Your Holy Spirit, and we may indeed be led by it. led by Your Holy Spirit, led by Your commandments, led by Your structure, Your Scripture, and everything that You have given us, O Lord. Do not leave us, nor forsake us to our own, to our flesh, and to the desires that are within us, but rather, Lord, guide us in love and in grace.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Very good, beloved of Jesus Christ. As I said, we continue tonight with this very important study on the Christian life. And the goal of this study is just that we will come, as I said now many times, that we will come to doctrinal unity and also to practical unity.

Not only that, we will have doctrines in our head that we know how to break down, but very importantly, that each one of us will be genuinely concerned before the Lord that those things that we say, that we believe, they will be a reality in our hearts and that we will live them. Religion, you know, fleshly religion is just having thoughts and ideas in your head that you're not able to put into practice because your heart is cold and dull and indifferent to those truths that you say that you hold. And we don't want to be in that place individually, and we don't want to be in that place as a church. That is the power of the Holy Spirit that brings the truth from the mind into the heart and makes us live. So when we're addressing all of these very practical topics from the individual life and also into the family and also into the life of the church, it's very important not only that we will have those doctrines in our heads, but we will have the power of the Spirit to move us into action.

And then when we are doing these studies in the Christian life, the family, and the church, the goal is that we will not only know how the Christian and the family and the church will actually the truths that pertain to their behavior and their life, but also that we will come to unity of practice, individually, as families, and as a congregation. The more that we grow in understanding in our head individually and in our heart to the Scriptures, there has to be conformity in the body. That is the principle that is found in Ephesians chapter 4, that the Lord has provided everything that the church needs, So because the Lord has provided everything that the Church needs, then the body can grow in unity, in maturity, speaking in love, the truth in love, being joined to one another, not being tossed by the wind from doctrines that are deceitful, or things that are not according to the Scripture. But the expectation is that because the Lord has provided all of these things to the congregation, to the Church, that the Church will be able to move. from truth to practice and into conformity to Christ in maturity and in likeness with the Savior.

And that is His truth, and that is His love in our hearts, guiding us in everything that we do, so that we may never lose perspective as we come on a Thursday, or we come on the Lord's Day, that we may not just fall into the trap of the flesh or just simply going through emotions and just observing information and perhaps even forgetting information and not being concerned about the reality of our hearts individually, as families and also as a church. The goal, like the battle, brothers, is a battle or a war of truth. That is actually the battle and the word of Christianity. From the very beginning, it was a battle of truth, the truth that only comes from the mouth of the Lord, and that the rest of the world and the system of the world is always trying to oppose. This is going to be the great challenge and the great conflict that the church has always had and will continue to have.

And then in the days that come, if the Lord does not come before, that the church will continue to have. And that is how we stand on the truth. It's not so much what Satan is doing in the government, or not so much what Satan is doing in the lost and in the system of the world, because the Scripture speaks to that. But what Satan tries to do is attack that which is the foundation of the growth of the Church, and that is the truth of the Scriptures. So Satan will always try to either affect our faith or affect our truth, because both of them are connected to one another, right?

Faith comes by hearing and hearing the words of God, the words of the Lord. So we stand upon the truth of what we believe from this book. And life in Christian life is absolutely not possible if we do not hold what it is written in this book from our hearts. I've said this in the men's meeting and to everyone, when I have the opportunity, this should be the goal of our hearts, to grow in faith for what the Lord has done and for what the Lord says, so that we will stand, even if we have just to stand on our own, to stand alone. If we are standing in faith in what the Lord has said, then we will be able to stand alone.

We will not depend on systems and we will not depend on anyone else, but the faith that the Lord has given us. That is the one that empowers. That's what satan is always in the business of bringing doubt, condemnation to our mind and doubts about the certainties that we can have in the gospel and even the certainties of the very important truths that the Lord has given us, even from the very beginning of the scriptures. Because brother, sister, dear friend, young person, everyone who is within the sound of my voice, every time that you open your Bible, especially from the beginning, and when you go to Genesis 1, verse 1, and you start reading the scriptures, you are now not confronted with the stories and how the world started, but you are confronted with a very important question, and it is, do you believe? but it is written there.

So you believe that this is actually the Word of God, and that the things that you're going to be reading through the book is actually the Word of God. That it's not just a religious invention of something that happened, but you are confronted with that in the heart. And that is an answer to a question that every heart should answer in the secret place and before the Lord. I can say to you that I believe what is written, you can say that to me also with your mouth. But it's deep in your heart with the substance of that faith for what you read, that the Lord knows and that you know.

So we are confronted with that from the very beginning. We open God created the heavens and the earth. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And we are to take that as a fact or not. Because the system of the world and Satan and even many sectors of camps, if you want, or I don't know what the word in English is, of Christianity, fractions of Christianity, will put that in question.

will question the initial words of the book that we have here. And they are not questioning so much how the world started, they are questioning the word of God. And I do not understand if they actually understand, if they see what they are actually doing, they are shaking their foundations. Because if we question what the Lord has said, then we don't have foundations to believe what is going to be said through this book. So when we open the book of Genesis in Genesis chapter 1, we are confronted with that reality that is to be answered from the heart.

Yes, this is the word of God. And not only that, but then when he has started and when he starts to speak in this book in Genesis chapter 1 and 2 and 3, that we can clearly know and see there that there is a clear distinction. He is. and we are created. He is the Creator, and He has condescended to create all of this, but we are not Him, and we are not in the category that He is.

He is the One that creates heavens and earth and everything that is in them, and He is the One that rules, and we are confronted with that. And that, when once a person arrives to the certainty that he is, he's the one that creates, he's the one that rules and we are not, then that places immediately and genuinely in a position of humility and submission to him because he's the one that created all of these things. And then in that submission and in that humility that is meant to be genuine in our hearts, then we go through the book and then we start to receive what he says in genuineness and in reality. Okay, yes, men is the pinnacle or the climax of creation, everything is created. All of us, we are creatures, but men and women are the climax of what He has created.

And then we also take from the Word of God that He has made them male and female. that there is no other option, that it does not matter who He says it is, and it does not matter who is behind a different doctrine, the Lord Jesus, through His Word, has revealed what happened in creation, and that is that God created everything that is in heaven and earth, and that He created men after His likeness, His own image, male and female, He created them. That is the truth that is contained in this book and those foundations should never be taken and should never be removed. And the reason why I'm saying that is because you, of course, all of you know that Satan and in the system of the world and this spirit of disobedience that is working in the men and everyone that is outside of Jesus Christ is trying to move and to shake the foundations of our life. These are the foundations.

Who is the Creator? Who are we? What is man? What is a woman? What is marriage?

What is the family? All of these things belong and are defined by the Scriptures. And the world will try to bring doubt into our mind and questions into our mind, just to go with the things of the world. Now, brothers and sisters, and especially young people, it's very important that we have certainty in the heart, because young people, one day, they will not be young people anymore, and they will be adults, and then they will have to live in the world, and they will have to live their lives. And if the certainty that we have in the heart is not given by the Holy Spirit, then the system of the world, and Satan, and the spirit of disobedience, and all of these things, they have power to carry and to move.

So we ought to believe and to make sure that we are not holding things just as a religious system, but rather that we have been indeed instructed by the Lord, that He is the one that is instructed, that has revealed Himself as the Creator and the one that governs all things. And praise the Lord that He is not only in charge of revealing Himself, but He's also the one that is in charge of building up the church. because we can have the certainty that it does not matter how powerful the system of the world is, and it does not matter how powerful Satan is, and even the sectors and fractions of Christianity seem to be moved and taken by all of the deceitfulness of the world and the doctrines opposed to the Scriptures, it does not matter, God in Christ will build the church. and the system will never, ever prevail against the church, and the church will be built upon the truth of what is contained in the Scriptures, will be structured and constructed upon these truths. But because we are to give an account before the Lord individually and collectively, we need to make sure, brothers and sisters, that we hold to these things in our hearts.

And we're going to be addressing a topic that perhaps for us is very simple, just we understand what is a person that is single and a person that is married, and we hold that sometimes very easily. But as I said, there are many people out there that are questioning all of these teachings and all of these doctrines in a very powerful way. and even we are going to find ourselves even perhaps being opposed by supposedly Christians when we hold to certain beliefs of what the Scripture says, what is a person, what is marriage, male, female, the distinction of gender, God as the Creator, we may face even persecution, not so much from the world and atheists and the whole system, but sometimes even from professing Christians, and we should be always ready to take the sword, and then just to stand firm to what the Scripture says, not only just because I hold to this system, but from the heart, right? From the heart. So as I said, tonight we're going to be dealing or addressing this topic of singleness and marriage from that verse 24.

And I'm just simply going to tell you from the very beginning, my goal is that we as a church will have a very exalted view of marriage. that we will have a very exalted view of marriage, because having a very exalted view of marriage is what protects the single person, the Christian, the single person, and what protects the one that is in the covenant of marriage. It's just having an exalted view of marriage. Perhaps I'm going to say many things, but at the end, if you can just put your heart before the Lord and your mind, that you will get whatever words correspond to truth that will indeed exalt that. Because the one that is not in marriage is protected him or herself by indeed having an exalted view of marriage, and as they prepare themselves and as they walk towards that marriage that is so holy and that is sacred.

And the one that is in marriage, in a marriage covenant, will hold that as precious and holy because of the exalted view that they have of that marriage. And for us to have an exalted view of marriage, we just need to ask the Lord, because He's the one that has instituted this glorious covenant of marriage. And the purpose of that is, as we know, it is just to point to the person of Jesus Christ. So the glory of marriage is just a temporal glory that points a greater glory. That is the glory of Christ of just being an institution that points towards our Savior, where to hold it so dearly and so holy.

either if we are young or if we are married, that we will live either towards that moment or that we will live in holiness as we are married. Now, of course, I'm just going to be assuming that we're speaking about the single who is i-Christian, right? And I'm going to be assuming that we're speaking about marriage, the Christian marriage. Because this will not apply, in a sense, for the single who is not a Christian, simply because that person is dead in their trespasses, and they will not understand many of the things that we say. And in a sense, it will not apply to the marriage that is for the non-Christians, right?

It will not apply to them because of the same thing. They will not receive the Word of the Lord by faith, they will be blind to the things that I'm saying. And also, I'm just going to leave out many of the providential circumstances by which a person may be single, but not in the covenant of marriage. After the fall, many providential circumstances happen, right? That will place a person either as a widow, a person that never married because of particular circumstances, and so on and so on.

So we will not be able to address every single detail. That's why I'm just simply trying to go to the main principle in which we can exhort the view of marriage. You have that verse 24 there in front of you, beloved of Christ. And then I just simply want us to meditate and to depart from there. I sent an outline.

I don't know if you have it. I forgot the outline, so I hope that I remember what I put there in the outline. But let me just simply read that verse 24 again, and let's just meditate there together. It says, verse 24, Therefore, a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. The design of the law was that a man or a woman will leave that unity, the unit of the family that they belong to.

And as they depart from it, they will enter into another union, into another covenant, into another unit that that is marriage. I think I provided to you in the template three different translations. one of the New King James, and another one of the CSB, they use different words to speak of this union. The ESB says, hold fast. The New King James says, join too.

And the CSB says, bond with. So the person leaves father and mother, he leaves his father and his mother, and they will join, or they will enter into this bonding with the spouse, in this case with the woman, And it says gloriously there, they shall become one flesh. Now, pay attention. It's very interesting as I was meditating about this, because the first woman was, of course, not united to parents, because Eve had not parents, right, in that sense. But she was united to Adam because she was taken from the body of Adam.

Yet the union that Adam and Eve will have after they become one flesh in marriage, is now greater than the union that she had when she was part of his body, because now she was created out of it, and now she's distinct. Distinct is the word that you have, right? She's different, she's distinct. from men, but now they are made one flesh, as creatures that have been created by God. They become one flesh, they are created in that particular way.

Now, you can see this transition with parents, living parents, and then moving into this union of one fleshness with the wife and all the translations are very good because you see that it does not use the word there woman it says leave his his father and his mother and will join to his wife. That is the word that is used there now. All of the three translations that I gave to you, they're in Galilee, and it says that you will be now joined to the wife. Now the question that arises from there, and that which is the question that I wanted to think about, is how does one fleshness become a one flesh? Because I want you to see there the progress of the verse.

It says, therefore, a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast or join his wife. And then he says, and they shall become one flesh in the ESV. And I think he says the same in the New King James. They will join and then they shall become one flesh. Now, what I'm just going to submit to you and then just present to you, and I hope that that is very clear from the Scriptures, is, brothers and sisters, if you can pay attention to this, is that from the moment in which a single person, a woman or a man, from the moment that that person enters into a genuine and open commitment from the heart to join another one in the covenant of marriage, And that both, of course, are intentional from the heart.

And this is known, this is visible, that this is just not a secret intention that I just want to marry. But now, once a man and a woman had made from their heart their intention and commitment before families, before parents, and before the Lord, that now that they're going to be joined together, that from that point now it is considered that they are joined because now they have manifested a commitment now to be joined in marriage. However, that commitment of the heart is not fully consummated up until the point in which the both of them will come into union in sexual intimacy. That is that they consummate their union as one flesh in one body. that they become together.

Let me just point, show you that from Matthew chapter 1, I think it is, Matthew chapter 1. If you go there, to Matthew chapter 1, Now, remember that what I'm trying to do here is just trying to exalt our view of marriage. Now, I don't want us to think of marriage just as that moment in which husband and wife are just, you know, in the ceremony. and that particular moment. But that moment happens there because the heart of men and the heart of the woman were moved by the Lord, Christian husband and Christian wife, were moved by the Lord to accept the other as the one with whom they were going to spend the rest of their lives.

A commitment in the heart, public commitment, and also before the Lord, and passes or goes through this whole process in which they marry and then they enter in consummation of that union. Now, Matthew 1, I think, is going to show us some of those principles in Matthew 1, verse 18. Now, many people will say, you know, but what we're going to be reading here is just cultural stuff that belongs only to the people of Israel. And while there might be a lot of truth in that, the thing is that this is the Scriptures. And even though there's, of course, we can see a lot of cultural stuff in the people of Israel that might not be the way that we culturally behave, we should be very careful with just bringing perceptions, external perceptions of culture, into the Scriptures, and then define the interpretation of the Scriptures with external culture.

We should be always very, very careful about that. Now, the Lord providentially chose the people of Israel and, of course, gave them certain ways of behaving culturally. But even in those providential ways given to the people of Israel, we can see the desire of the Lord. Plus, here we have an angel of the Lord that is speaking these words, and, of course, we take them as truth. Now, this is in relation to the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, I don't know how confusing I'm going to be or if I'm going to be clear, I don't know the things I'm going to be saying, but just have in your mind that what I really decide to do and for us to have is just an exalted view of marriage. Now it says in chapter 1 in verse 18, Now, the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way, when his mother, Mary, had been betrothed to Joseph before they came together. The coming together now is a sexual intimacy. I don't know what the word that you have in English that doesn't sound offensive to the ears is, sexual intimacy? So it says, you know, they had been betrothed to Joseph before they came together.

So she had been betrothed to Joseph, and that happened before they came together. This is in sexual intimacy. The ESV, we have the ESV gives us a footnote that helps us to understand that being betrothed, it says, at least in my Bible, that is legally pledged to be married. So that means that even though they had not come together in sexual intimacy, which is the word that I'm going to be using to relate to that from this point onwards, so even though they have not come together in sexual intimacy, the fact that she was betrothed to him now is considered as something that was accepted and that was approved by those around as they were going to get married. And now, we don't confirm that only just from the cultural behavior, but just simply from the Scriptures, because of the words that are used after that.

It says, before they came together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And the Scripture says, and her husband, right? So they have not consummated the union yet, right? But it says, but her husband, Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her. quietly, right?

So they have not joined in sexual intimacy yet. But here we have the scriptures that is acknowledging the power of that commitment that they have made, the women and the men, before that even took place, that the scripture uses the word husband and uses the word divorce. And you can divorce only when you are husband and wife, right? However, the scripture here is going to still teach us that there is a process that needs to follow. It says, if you continue, verse 20, but as he considered these things, the possibility of divorce in Mary because she was found with child, but as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream saying, Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife.

Now he says, basically, implicitly, you are supposed to take this woman as your wife, even though the scripture says that she's already kind of like her wife, right? But do not fear to take her as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. That is, Joseph, you had made this public commitment in your heart, and everyone knew that you were going to marry to this woman. And even you are considering to depart and not to take her in the final consummation as a wife.

Don't worry, because what happens with her is from the Lord. So take her as wife. If you go there to verse 24, then we know that the prophecy of the Lord Jesus Christ and that He's the one that is going to save us from our sins. In verse 24, it says, from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him. Now we know that the angel of the Lord speaking from God, right, is the word of the Lord.

So he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him. And then he says he took his wife, that is, that he accepted to continue with her. But he knew her not until his wife, he knew her not until she had given birth to a son, and he called his name Jesus. Of course, he was not to known her, when he says known her, he is speaking about sexual intimacy. But that is that he carried on with the heart commitment to be united to this woman, And then it's after the prophecy of the Lord is fulfilled and is completed, that now he consummates this relationship with Mary in the act of sexual intimacy.

Now, sexual intimacy is just this glorious moment in which men and women are indeed going to consummate this union. But this union is precious not because of that moment alone. but it's because of the seriousness and the weight of the commitment of the heart of the woman of God and the men of God that before the Lord have decided to unite to another before Him for the glory of God. That to me is just so beautiful. It's just so beautiful that the commitment, the one fleshness, the union that we can have with our wives or with our future wives or with our future husbands is something that has to start in the heart.

A certainty that I'm going to be with that man, I'm going to be with that woman, and that is going to be before the Lord. And of course, then when sexual intimacy comes in this gift and in this a blessing that the Lord gives to men and women, they consummate this union. And then as we will note, and as we perhaps will read it in 1 Corinthians chapter 6, the coming together in sexual intimacy of men and women is now just the consummation of this one fleshliness. And now just remember the commandments that God gave in the beginning of creation to Adam and Eve, be fruitful and multiply. This was a blessing.

This was a blessing that husband and wife will come together and multiply, and that will be for the glory of God done in God. It's so sad that this will be done outside of the will of the Lord. that a person will marry, not for the glory of God, but that they will enter into this union with another person, another woman, another man, just because that's what people do. That is the glory of marriage when it's done in the Lord. And that moment, brother and sister, single or married, that moment of sexual intimacy then is something, if it's going to consummate, if it's going to be the climax of this heart commitment, imagine how special that moment is precious, reserved, set apart, that moment in which men and women are going to come together to consummate externally and physically the union that they have that is started before the Lord, not in that moment, but when they made that commitment in their heart.

How is someone going to take that glorious, special moment and then just give it to anyone? Or just to do it without care? Or just to do it not before the Lord? Precious and holy. Let me just simply show you the power of sexual intimacy as it consummates the union that men and women have.

If you come to Leviticus chapter 18, Leviticus chapter 18. Now, Leviticus chapter 18 is a difficult chapter, because it's actually speaking about loss against sexual immorality. But of course, we're not going to speak about sexual immorality quite yet. We are going to speak now about, I just want you to see this concept there. In Leviticus, not Numbers, Leviticus 18.

If you read just these words there, repetitive, it says, and Dolores spoke to Moses saying, They speak to the people of Israel and say to them, I am the Lord your God. You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived. And you shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan, to which I am bringing you. You shall not walk in their statues." Now, it's saying he's going to give laws about sexual immorality.

And then he's saying, all of this sexual immorality that I'm just going to prohibit, if it's the word, or that I'm just going to not allow you to do, All of these practices that are going to be lost, this is what the people of Egypt, and this is what the Canaanites are given into. They are just practicing a lot of these things. And for us, it's like these brothers and sisters, young people, is that the world are given themselves to things that are against God. And the Lord says, we're not to give ourselves to those things. But that's not the important thing.

Now, verse four, it says, You shall follow my rules and keep my statutes and walk in them. I am the Lord your God. You shall therefore keep my statutes and my rules. If a person does them, he shall live by them. I am the Lord.

None of you shall approach any of his close relatives to uncover nakedness. It says, so it's going to speak about this moment of sexual intimacy with a person, another person. It says, uncover nakedness. That's how it's going to be spoken of, as uncovering someone else's nakedness. I am the Lord.

You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father, which is the nakedness of your mother. She is your mother. You shall not uncover her nakedness. You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father's wife. And it continues, continues and continues and continues.

The nakedness of Adam and Eve. in which, before the fall, they had freedom to see each other being naked. A nakedness that was only permissible to see to the husband and to the wife, and a nakedness that was only seen by God and by the other spouse. When sin comes into the world, then they are covered from that nakedness in which they freely were, And now that nakedness is reserved, according to this passage here, just for the moment. The uncovering of that nakedness is just for the moment in which husband and wife consummate their union.

Do not uncover your nakedness to any of those others except for that which the Lord allows. So that is that the nakedness, the privateness of men and women is reserved and is kept holy for that specific moment in which the one who has been granted by the providence of the Lord has the right, by God given, allowing one person to the other to have access to the nakedness that is only seen by the eyes of the Lord. In the private moment, union between the men and between the women. If you come to Genesis chapter 4, the Bible uses even more words to speak about this moment of intimacy between men and women. He's not only uncovering that nakedness, but it's also A word that shocked me when I read the Bible for the first time.

I had never understood... Of course, nobody else speaks this way. I suppose the people in Israel perhaps speak that way. But chapter 4, verse 1. Now, Adam knew Eve, his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain.

Now, the knowing of Eve, or she was known by him here, is clearly sexual intimacy, that because of that, he or she conceived and bore Cain. It's just very simple to understand, but see the power of that word. Uncovering her nakedness, or his nakedness, one, but now knowing her, It is this intimate relationship between men and women, knowing her, that which is unknown, in a sense, is now being made known by the consummation and the coming together of the husband and the wife. And it's not only that, brothers and sisters, as we have just read there in verse 24 in Genesis, just becoming one flesh. And what I want you to sense is just the power and the importance and how holy it is in the mind of God, this particular moment, how sacred it is.

because the world is just trying to diminish, to diminish, to diminish, and just to make it something that is not holy, and something that can just simply just be thrown and just done. This is what everyone does, but for the Lord, this is precious and this is holy. Come to 1 Corinthians chapter 6, in which the Apostle is going to speak to us and connect for us the acts of sexual intimacy and the one fleshness of husband and wife. Of course, he's also going to take it here from a negative point of view, but the principle is going to teach us there that when there is sexual encounter, sexual intimacy, then there's going to be this one fleshness. Now, it is chapter 6.

If anyone has the... I don't remember exactly what it is. Twelve. Yeah, thank you. 1 Corinthians chapter 6.

It says, all things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be dominated by anything, for food is meant for the stomach, and the stomach for food, and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is not meant for sexual immorality. but for the Lord and the Lord for the body. And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power.

And then he says, implicitly, we can see the teaching here. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? You're speaking to Christians, right? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never!

Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute that is in the flesh, in sexual interaction or sexual intimacy, becomes one body with her? Very strong words, right? Speaking of sexual immorality and the union with Christ that we have. For as it is written, the two will become one flesh, quoting Genesis chapter 2 there. He who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.

That is the power of being united. Now here, not of course with a prostitute, but this is the sacredness and the power of indeed being united a man to a woman. And you know people try to give sometimes and to explain how God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, that they are just one being and they are three persons. How are they united? And at the same time, they are distinct.

How are three persons and then just one being? And then people try to come up with different analogies and different ways to explain how the Trinity works in a three persons, one being. And they come with all of these type of illustrations in order to understand that concept. Always fail. But if there is something biblically given to us that comes a little bit closer to what it is to have those, at least two in this case, that are separate, distinct from each other, but united in a spiritual sense that is powerful from God, that is what happens in marriage.

In marriage you have, yes, you have husband and wife, but at the same time you have one flesh. apart, very far away from the Trinity, of course. I hope that you understand what I'm just simply just trying to say. But this union that has husband and wife, as they have made that commitment to be united together, and then as is consummated in the coming, in the exposing of that which is sacred for me, my nakedness, in coming and knowing one another, and being united to one another, not in that particular moment, but united in the heart, powerful and sacred and holy, to the point that the husband is not his own anymore, and the wife is not of her own anymore, but they belong to each other, right? That's what Paul says in Romans chapter 7, even as he's addressing other sins and other difficult situations.

If you bear with me as we read that scripture, let me just point that to you, please. There, in the following chapter, it says, Now concerning chapter 7 of 1 Corinthians, concerning the matters about which you wrote, it is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman, quote, that's perhaps what they had written to him, asking, but because of the temptation of sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband. Now, it was a simple situation that was being addressed, but I just want again to see the principle in verse 3. The husband, because he's going to come for my principle, right? The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband.

Verse 4, for the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise, the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. Brother, sister, if anyone listens to this audio in a month that is not a Christian, an atheist, you know the level of offense that this causes them, because we live in a system of the world in which it's me, me, me, me, me, me, me, and I relate to you insofar as whatever you are contributes to who I am, but it's about me. You have authority over my body. That is, I think, the opposite is the argument of abortion, right?

I think they say, he's my body, he's my body, I do whatever I want with my body. Husband, wife. The wife has authority over the body of the husband, and the husband has authority over the body of the wife, his wife. Glorious union. Surrender, surrender of self in the coming together of one flesh, and not surrender of who I am because you're so precious and you're so holy and you're so good, my dear wife or my dear husband, but rather surrender because when I hear the words that my God, your God has uttered and given us in the scriptures, then there is pleasure in obeying the One who made us and the One who set us apart to be united in the covenant of marriage.

Pleasure and satisfaction in giving oneself, in surrendering authority to one another, not because of the pleasures of being even united one with the other, but because this is what the Lord has said. I said to you, your Christian life cannot be lived out experientially if you don't believe what He says. And pleasure in obedience and joy in obedience is only found when we obey for Him, and when we do the things for the Lord, and not for the people for whom we are actually doing the things, but for the Lord. glorious pleasure and satisfaction and joy and freedom and union and power in the union between husband and wife, to the point that he says in verse, I think it's verse four or verse five, do not deprive one another except perhaps by agreement for a limited time that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Warriors in the hands of the Lord.

united as they have commanded me to be together, but there's times in which separation of the pleasures of the flesh has to take place so that we will devote ourselves to prayer. Why? Because there's one that is meant to be pleased before, and he's the one that carries us and gives us the self-control. But not for very long, he says, that Satan might not tempt you. Now, come with me to Mark, please, because now the Lord, as He's expounding the teaching, Mark, I think it's Mark chapter 10.

Yeah, Mark chapter 10. The Lord Jesus Christ, under the authority of who He is, He's even going to go deeper with this. And then in chapter 10 of Mark, he says, upon the hypocritical and satanic questioning of the Pharisees, he bursts in and says, Let's just read from verse 2. And Pharisees came up, and in order to test him, asked, Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife? He answered them, What did Moses command you?

They said, Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce and to send her away. And Jesus said to them, Because of your hardness of heart, he wrote you. But from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female, right? What we are reading in Genesis 2, 24, God made them male and female. Therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother and will fast to his wife, exactly from there.

and the two shall become one flesh. So they are, then he adds, so they are no longer two, but one flesh. What Paul said in 1 Corinthians chapter 6, and the authority that they have on each other in 1 Corinthians chapter 7. And then he says, what therefore God has joined together, let not man separate. Becoming together of a human being with another being, just because they live in the same house and they experience these things.

This is the union established by God, joined together by God. It's not only sacred, that is my nakedness, that is only to be exposed and given to my wife or to my husband. It's not only that I'm supposed to know her and to be known to each other in that intimate place. And it's not only that we are one flesh, but that this union is the union that has been made by God. God is the one that has joined the husband and the wife and what God has joined together.

He says, let not men separate brother and sister and whoever is within the sound of my voice. And even if perhaps by God's providence will be within the sound of my voice. We cannot live properly our single life if we don't have an exalted view of marriage. Because in a sense, everyone is a man and a woman of one man, or let's say a man of one woman and a woman of one man. And that is either our wife when we are married or our husband when we are married, or it's either your future wife or your future husband.

But we are to be a man of one woman and a woman of only one man, because when the consummation of that union comes is the consummation that happens by God's will for the Christian, of course, and then He is the one that is bringing and joining those two together. And we are to exalt that, brother, sister. We can read all of these verses, and I don't know how this speaks to your hearts, because these are truths that we knew them, and that we had read them, and that we had studied them, perhaps. But how exalted these truths are in our hearts, that is a reality for each one of us, independently. How much the Lord has spoken to us through the Scriptures, to our hearts, is independently of the preaching of the Word, of the exposition of the Word, of the Bible study of what we read.

The exaltation of that glorious union is only given by what we believe. he says, and if we actually believe when he gives us that in his word. Exalted view of marriage is going to empower the life of the single. How is the single going to give him or herself to sexual immorality? How is the single going to deviate from the ways of sacredness?

How is the single going to just simply dismiss the word of the Lord when it speaks of the sacredness of the marriage and the sacredness of sexual intimacy if they truly believe what the scripture says? They don't believe if they do, and they don't have that in their hearts if they do. Because if a single person then holds these treasures as the words of the Lord, then that moment of marriage that is coming ahead is not only an expectation of something that I want to accomplish in my life, but it's rather I'm expecting to glorify God as I come together with the person that He has providentially appointed to be my spouse, to be my husband, and to be my wife. And in that, then the life of the single is lived towards glorifying God in that particular moment, giving themselves to pray for the one that is going to be the husband or the future wife, keeping themselves in sacredness and holiness for that particular moment in which they are going to be united to that husband or to that wife. given their lives for the service of the Lord, when they have the time and the ability to do it, according to 1 Corinthians 7 onwards, using the time to grow in Christ's likeness, so that when they are united in marriage to a Christian husband or to a Christian wife, it's not something that is done in the flesh, but it's glorifying to Christ and to God, because they are doing it in the Spirit.

They are going to be nourishing one another, they are going to be encouraging one another, they are going to be members of this glorious covenant and members of the new covenant in Christ. How is a single person who, by grace through faith, has been genuinely rescued from debt, genuinely rescued from saying, I'm not going to uphold these things as a treasure, and then wait patiently for the providence of the Lord, as the Lord provides for him or for her, the right and specific moment to glorify Him? That's why, for the single, it's not so much thinking about, I'm a single and what I'm going to do, but it's rather, I want to grow in appreciation of the sacredness of marriage, even if I'm not married, so that I will give my life to live towards that. Singleness and being married is defined by this union, by this union of being in one flesh. And now, when it comes to marriage, to the married person, to the husband and to the wife, Brother, sister, come to Hebrews chapter 13.

This is what the scripture says, and I don't think that I put this verse there, but come to Hebrews chapter 13. Verse four. I said 13, right? Hebrews 13, verse 4, Honor, sacred, holy, if the moment, if the commitment of husband and wife when they come together and they marry to one another, if that is holy, how much more it will be the union that they are supposed to preserve, to keep their union and their marriage holy and held in honor. And that means that they are to remove now completely from any type of sexual immorality that will attempt with the union that they have as husband and wife, but not for the sake of each other, but for the sake of the God that they profess to believe and to serve.

Because as we know in Ephesians chapter 5, the marriage is only a shadow of the union that the Lord Jesus Christ has with the church. It is just a reflection of that union, this glorious union in which Christ condescended to enter into a union with a bride that in the eyes of the world, and even in the objective speaking, is a prostitute. It is a bride that has sinned against Him, a bride that has defiled herself in many ways, a bride that has disobeyed and has done many things against Him. Yet He condescended to come and to dwell among sinners and to give His life to rescue this bride and to rescue and to purify and to cleanse her so that He will present her to Himself. verse 24 and 25, with much joy, keeping her without a stumbling, without falling, protecting her without blemish, without a spot, the consummation will be joined.

They will be eternally consummated and joined to the perfect husband that is the Lord Jesus Christ, a husband to all in a sense, the head of all in a sense, yet the husband of the church. Eve was removed from the sight of Adam in the garden, in a sense, in a spiritual sense, the church was in Jesus Christ, according to Ephesians chapter 1. She was in Christ. We were united in Christ before the foundation of the world. And it's from Christ that the saints were taken and then were inserted and put into this time frame of creation, the saints, the church.

not to live, to fall, to offend the Lord so that He will come and rescue her and then will be a consummation of a union that did not start when we first had faith, a consummation of a union that started before the foundation of the world. united to Christ, not to be fully consummated. I was just thinking, meditating, why the Lord decided that Jesus Christ will not marry? That's perhaps many of the questions that people ask. I don't know the answer, but the only thing that I can say is because he was engaged.

He was already to a bride to the church that he's going to come to the end and then be joined to the bride. He was given, he came to rest. He was in the process and in the mission of rescuing He's bright, He's people and to do everything that was needed to rescue these people from every tribe and from every nation and to be united because this is the glorious union that the marriage is supposed to speak and that the marriage is supposed to portray the union of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, so we can learn much of the union of Christ and the church for the desire of the union that God has for husband and wife. That's the whole argument of the Apostle Paul in Ephesians chapter 5, that just as Christ has loved the Church, we are to love our wives, that just as Christ has sanctified and purified the Church, we are to purify and to love our wives as we love our flesh.

Great is the mystery, he says, not the mystery of husband and wife, but the mystery of the Church, which is that which husband and wife are pointing to. Now, if nothing can separate us from the love of Christ, if nothing will separate the bride from the husband, then it's, of course, understood even from the Scriptures, from what the Lord says in the Scriptures, that it's not the desire that husband and wife will be separated. It's the desire of God that the husband and wife will be, as they have been joined together, not be separated by men, because it's God the one that has joined them together. And brothers and sisters, we have to address that because Now, the great danger that, or the great question, to be honest, even just the fact that Christians have this question in their mind, I don't know, you know, at least it's just for me, it is just heartbreaking that we will ponder and have the question in our minds of if Christian husband and Christian wife are allowed to separate. And this comes from the parallel passage of Mark chapter 10 that is found there in Matthew chapter 19.

If you go to Matthew chapter 19, it seems there that the Lord Jesus Christ gives an allowance for a marriage to be dissolved. And I just want to briefly address that, because I think I've been speaking now for a while. We started at 7? 7, right? So let me just briefly address this.

I think in the In the outline that I sent you, I just wrote a little bit of a paragraph because I don't know if I'm going to be able to explain it properly or not, but then you will have it there in your outline, something that I wrote about this. Now, let us read together this passage of Scripture in Matthew chapter 19. Is it 19? Yeah, 19. Now it says, it's the same parallel passage of what we read in Mark chapter 10.

It says, verse three, and Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause? I don't know if you see just even in the question, you know, like even in the question, he's going to accuse them of the hardness of your heart. But you can know a lot of the state of a person by what they say, and very importantly, by the things that they ask. So it says, is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause? He answered, have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female?

And he said, therefore, a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. So they are no longer Two by one flesh, what therefore has joined together, let not man separate. Though we read in Mark chapter 10, now it continues in verse 7. They said to him, why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away, which is found in Deuteronomy? He said to them, because of your hardness of heart, Moses allowed 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. You know, Christians will then come to this passage and say, okay, there is an allowance there. That means that if in a Christian marriage, there is a case of sexual immorality, so it seems that the Lord has given us an allowance for us to break the union between husband and wife and then to divorce. Even though that position is even debated among Christians, let me just simply just read verse 10, just to see and to learn what would have been the genuine impression from the audience that is the ones who actually heard that, what would have been the impression of those who were there, and who were the ones that received the meaning of what he was actually saying, and not us, away from the moment, interpreting, trying to interpret what he said?

Because then the question of the disciples is, the disciples said to him, if such is the case, amen, of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry. And the reason why they're asking is because when they come together, which I think that the Lord was implicitly saying there, is that they are supposed to remain together, that they are not to separate. So it is better not to marry if we are not going to be able to give the certificate of divorce, as Moses allowed us in Deuteronomy, and that we can be separated for certain reasons, then perhaps it's better not to marry, because what you're saying is telling us that we are to remain together. Now, brothers and sisters, many things could be said about that particular question. But the only thing that I just want to say is just speak to us as new covenant members.

And if you read what I wrote there, that is precisely the main and most important thing. That when we deal as Christians with an offense, Even if the offense has been caused by our wife or by our husband, or even if the offense has been caused by a brother or by a sister, when we are confronted by an offense, even if we are innocent and the other person is clearly guilty of whatever offense, whatever thing that they have done, We are called by the Scriptures extensively, you know, Galatians chapter 5 and 6, Colossians chapter 3, Ephesians chapter 4, we are called to deal with an offense always in the same way that Jesus Christ dealt with our offense. Just as He has forgiven us, we are to forgive one another. It is always very troubling to me when a Christian brother or a Christian sister, that they're married, and even if there's the case of sexual immorality, that their heart will be immediately taken to the possibility of taking an allowance, that supposedly allowance of separation, before considering what the Lord Jesus Christ says we ought to deal with the offenses that are committed between husband and wife, whatever that offense is. Because brother and sister, I'm just telling you that the scripture clearly teach that if a Christian person sins, that person does not lose their status before Christ.

I think we agree with that, right? And now if that person now is moved by the Spirit of Jesus Christ to genuine repentance, then Jesus Christ is the propitiation for our sins. Of course, I'm not saying that we should commit sexual immorality, but brother or sister, when a person comes to genuine forgiveness or genuine repentance, they have committed a sin. And when that person has genuinely sinned against another person, then there has to be a very strong reason why the other person will not forgive the person that is asking for forgiveness in genuine repentance. So we are not to deal with the offenses, even our wife or our husband.

with a supposed allowance that was given under the Mosaic covenant. But it seems to me that it's more naturally and more clear to take the clear teachings of the new covenant, which is that which is supposed to regulate how we behave as Christians, and to take the law of Christ, which is love, to deal with the offense. Why am I going to take something that is uncertain, because we cannot say 100% that the Lord Jesus Christ has given allowance there for divorce, and not take the path of certainty in which the Lord says that we are to deal with offenses and where to deal with sin in a particular way. If there's no repentance, if there's unrepentant sin, there's examples in which a person is removed from the context of the church, a person is excommunicated, and there might be instances in which the sin that is committed one with the other is putting a person in so much danger and so much oppression that perhaps it's good for them to be separated. But when it comes to Christian husband and Christian wife, we expect that generally the spirit of the Lord will be operating in both of them.

Of course, if sexual immorality is committed, there are so many questions about the spiritual state of the one who has committed sexual immorality. Right? And one has to discern why all of these things have happened, because the fact that a person says that I'm a Christian is not necessarily the reality in their heart. But brother and sister, we are to deal with the offenses just as the Lord Jesus Christ has dealt with our offenses, always in the Spirit and in the light of the Lord Jesus Christ, just as He has forgiven us. we ought to forgive one another.

When genuine repentance takes place, whatever is necessary to do in order to bring clarity, if it's genuine repentance, then there has to be a very good reason for me not to forgive my brother. Just think about that. If someone causes an offense against me and that person is genuinely repenting, why would I hold forgiveness? There's no reason. And if I do, then that speaks more of sin in my heart than in the heart of the other person.

The other person could have committed a sin against me. But if for some reason I'm offended so much that his or her repentance before the Lord, and he's coming to me and asking forgiveness, he's not moving me to forgive that person. then there's something in my heart, because then that means that I'm not able to forgive someone who has been forgiven by Christ, and that I have not experienced the forgiveness that He had for me. because it's not that anyone is perfect before the eyes of the Lord. May the Lord give us wisdom, brothers and sisters, not only for marriage and in these particular things, but also as a church and as a congregation, because remember that repentance and asking for forgiveness is how we deal with sins under the new covenant.

That's it, we don't have to, we don't need works. We don't need to, of course, there might be certain things, fruits of repentance, right? Or genuine repentance, but forgiveness, asking for repentance will move on always to a genuine forgiveness. And what does John say in 1 John about His blood, the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, that cleanses us from all sin and all unrighteousness. And I think that all sins that a person can commit there are incorporated into all of those sins that can be forgiven by the Lord.

May we have an exalted view of marriage, brothers and sisters, for the single and for those who are married. Because I think that it is the mission and it is the task of the local church at times to help brothers and sisters that are struggling in their marriage with these type of questions, or even these type of offenses, of brothers and sisters coming together to bring light to particular circumstances that otherwise they will just end up in separation just because of the confusion and the things that are going to happen. Now, I know that this causes discomfort, you know, and people prefer to have their lives in their house and then, you know, like nothing else. But the life of the church is meant to be a life in which we are nourishing and we are helping one another. And there might be times in which you're going to have to deal with that happening in our church, in our congregation, And it's not the practice of a genuine church to simply ignore that brother and the sister are struggling with a scene of sexual immorality that's perhaps going to cause divorce, you know, just to ignore so that I just don't get involved into it.

That speaks a lot of the heart of a person. And is the mission, or is the task, or whatever word we want to use of the church, and brothers and sisters, to bring clarity, to discern, that is a genuine repentance, to speak the words of the Lord into the ears of those who have been offended, or those who are struggling in their hearts, so that Christ will be exalted, and Christ is the one that can restore everything, and that can reestablish all of these things. So, brothers and sisters, an exalted view of marriage. that we will pray for that, that we will have an exalted view of marriage. Because if we do, then the marriage of my brother and my sister is precious in the same way.

Then I will be moved to pray that they are walking in Christ. that they are loving one another in Christ, that the marriages of the church will be strengthened, that they will be dealing with one another in the light and in the power of Jesus Christ, that our church, the life of our church and the health of our church depends on the health of marriages, of husbands being biblical husbands and wives being biblical wives, and then loving one another, and that the Lord preserves and keeps them from satan, from temptations, from the flesh, from ourselves. because I think that's the final exhortation that I wanted to give you. Even though perhaps we cannot conclude an allowance, or at least I cannot conclude an allowance for divorce in these passages, and I will prefer to deal with that with the principles of the new covenant, in love and in forgiveness, in all of those things, we do have to acknowledge that the Lord sees sexual immorality as something that attempts against the covenant of marriage in a very serious way. So imagine if marriage is sacred and holy because husband and wife are coming together in intimacy and one flesh, then the opposite to it and doing it against that, then it's also very detrimental to that marriage.

So we have to take sexual immorality very, very, very seriously, very seriously, in the eyes, in the mind, in the heart, we are to keep ourselves, we are to protect ourselves and to walk in holiness. That is what Job says, right? A covenant I have made with my eyes that I will not see a virgin, or that I will not see a woman. Perhaps speaking of lust of the eye, but also perhaps speaking of other religious things going on there. But it is, I have made a covenant with my eyes.

That my eyes will not be drifted to lust. in the heart, because you remember what the Lord Jesus Christ said about that, right? He called it sexual immorality. He called that sexual immorality lust of the eyes. Just to look at a woman, to look at a man, and to lust after them in the heart, or reconsider sexual immorality, is better for us to see the seriousness of what sexual immorality is, what it causes to marriage, rather than just to see, you know, but that is just something that happens in the eyes, or something that happens in the mind.

covenant with us, protecting and keeping our hearts. How can a man keep his way pure? by storing and treasuring up the words of God into his heart. That is for the young and that is for us. That is the way that we keep our way pure.

That is the way that we keep ourselves holy, not only unto the Lord, unto our wife and to our husband. That is that we preserve the holiness and the honor of marriage. What is a prophet if I'm a good person externally, but when I have the opportunity, I look at things privately and secretly, and I do things to myself that are against nature. no benefit and no glory in that for God, and no glory in that for marriage. So, brothers and sisters, we are to keep this glorious view of exalting marriage in our eyes and our midst, that we will decide that the ones that are single among us, that they are married in the Lord, and that we will decide the ones that are married among us, that their marriages will be strengthened and will be empowered for the glory of the Lord.

that this world will not have an accusation against the authority of the word in marriage, saying, you see, it does not work. So marriage is now three people, or four people, or incorporate a dog. all of these things that are against nature, but that the church will characterize herself by having the workings of the will of God in husband and wife coming together and loving one another. And I think I had a passage there in 1 Thessalonians, if you come with me to that one. I think it's 1 Thessalonians chapter 4.

It's 4, right? You know this verse that says, for this is the will of God, your sanctification? Let's just read the context of that passage there. This is the will of God, your sanctification. But let's just read the context of what the Apostle is saying in chapter 4 in 1 Thessalonians.

Finally, then, brothers and sisters, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you receive from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more, for you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus, for this is the will of God. your sanctification, and in a very good translation, I think that every translation will do something like that, you put the little colon, I think you call it in English, right? The little two things. Because this is the will of God, your sanctification, that you abstain from sexual immorality. that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God, that no one transgresses and wrongs his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you.

What is the will of God? Our sanctification, that you abstain from sexual immorality. We could do a whole theology of sexual immorality because the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians divides two types of sins. Sins of the flesh and sins of the spirit. He speaks of that in 2 Corinthians chapter 7 verse 1.

Purify yourself of all wickedness of the flesh and of the spirit. And then he says in 1 Corinthians chapter 6, every sin that you commit against the flesh, which is sexual immorality, is against the flesh. All other things are against the spirit. Sexual immorality is so detrimental to our life, to our work. And remember, it's not sexual immorality of, I'm going to join to a prostitute, or I'm going to do this, or I'm going to...

It's the eyes. is our ears, is what we see, what we observe, what we give ourselves unto, and even evil practices. The church is to be holy before the Lord, protecting themselves from sexual immorality, giving themselves unto the Lord Jesus Christ, so that by giving themselves unto the Lord Jesus Christ, they will be able to give themselves, their passion, their love, their time, their efforts to the spouse, husband and wife, because that is the power of God unto salvation, the gospel. And it's in that glorious gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, in which the love of God is manifested in forgiving our sins, that when we see ourselves as needing the forgiveness of God, that the power of this gospel is manifested in us. in pointing us to God, making us love Him when we cannot love Him, and making us love others as we are not able to love others, but just as we love Him, because our love to others is a reflection of the love that we have for God.

And that is the only way that we can keep our way pure. We need to turn our eyes and we need to cover and we not need to, of course, we need to do all of those things. We do need to do all of those things. But the most important thing is that our heart is taken by Christ. That when we are in a place where there are people that otherwise our eyes would be taken to see them and to cover after them, that we are there, but we are not there.

that the Lord Jesus is the one that is teaching us, moving us, and that we are able to be in the midst of a crooked generation, knowing that we belong to the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. That is the power of the Gospel that empowers us to keep ourselves holy. brother or sister who are not married yet, have an exalted view of marriage in the Lord Jesus Christ. Please, your Lord Jesus Christ, as you approach and as you move towards that particular moment, brother or sister who are in the covenant of marriage, what a glorious privilege you have been given so that you can glorify the Lord in that marriage, portraying the union of Jesus Christ and the Church. brothers and sisters who providentially are not in a covenant of marriage, are not moving towards being united in marriage, pray.

Pray that your brothers and sisters that you're supposed to love will be kept and protected from sexual immorality, that the marriages of the church will be so empowered that the love of husband and wife will be such that the love of Christ will be the one that is communicated. Pray for the keeping and the protection of the young, pray for the purity of the church that sexual immorality will not even knock into our doors, because it's not through the door of this church that sexual immorality knocks and enters. It's through this door. And we cannot close the door of our hearts on our own. So we need the intercession of the saints and the power of the Spirit and the love of Christ clearly in ourselves, so that we will glorify God as we are single and as we are married.

Amen?