Genesis 2

Speaker 1: Amen, thank you for that. Take your Bibles, you have them and turn one last time to Genesis chapter number two. Gen. Jeff, number two versus number twenty one. We're going to be this evening. To start. This is chapter two, verse number twenty one as you find your place, if you don't mind standing in honor of reading God's word. Read what should be familiar to us all now. Bible says the Lord God caused a deep sleep fall upon Adam. He slept. He took one of his ribs, closed up the flesh instead of the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man made, he a woman brought her unto the man. Adam said this is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman because she was taken out of man. Therefore, shall a man leave his father and his mother and shall cleave under his wife, they shall be one flesh. They were both naked, the man and his wife. We're not fishing. That's right. Lord, we thank you for this day, thank you for the opportunity we have to come together to help us now as we look into your word that you would give me the words you would have me to say with all the folks that are here to listen below to hear their lives, words in Jesus name, I pray. Imagine. We've seen it. As we're meeting here tonight, perhaps as you pray for the preaching taking place here, you would also pray for the preaching taking place just a couple of exits south of here at our side. Baptist Church brother Arnie Smith is there with me, Sharon. They are filling in for Brother Claude Slate, asking for the aunt who would be willing to come. Preach. I know I can ask him. And so I asked. But honestly, yes, I'd be happy to. And so they're down there, and that's why they're not here tonight, because you're afraid they might not be feeling well or something like that, and they're just out there ministering to that church there. And so glad that he can go and do that for them. There's only one eternal being. And that is gone. Everything else has a beginning. Many, many, many things have ended. Remember when you were doing math in elementary school and you learn about the different types of lines, you know, you've got a line that goes off forever in both both directions. Let's that's gone. It goes both ways. It's impossible to place him on a timeline because he is the timeline. You have a line segment, something that has a definite start and definite in. That's that's an important thing that we're going to look at here is that you have a ray array, has a different start, but then it has no end. We are, Ray. We have a beginning point. Every human soul does not have an end, will exist forever. But some things are lines line segments as a starting point, as an ending point. One of the beautiful things about the Old Testament is that numerous pictures of things existed that pointed to events which would take place in the New Testament. You think about the sacrifices there was a starting point for when the sacrifices were needed. But then when Jesus died on the cross and paid the final total penalty of our sins, those sacrifices had a lot. An ending point no longer necessary. You think about the pictures of the feasts and the different celebrations that the Jews would commemorate throughout the year. Some of those were pointing to things that that Jesus fulfilled. And you think of the clothing of the priest. You think of the Tabernacle, the temple, the way it was set up. All of these these pictures pointed to things that had not yet taken place. Once they had fulfilled their purpose, the picture would then be replaced with the real thing. And so then there was no more use for the picture. I remember when Alisha and I were dating and she gave me one picture to keep in my wallet and it was her senior picture. And I remember putting it in there. I still have it. It's not in my wallet anymore. It's it's in a box in my closet. But I was interning that summer at a church and I only got to see her on Monday. So all throughout the rest of the week, all I had to remind me of the real thing was the picture and you're like, Well, couldn't you have just looked on Facebook to see what she was up to? We didn't have Facebook. And you just scrolled through Google Photos or your smartphone from all the times you guys just hung out before had a flip phone. Plus, smartphone like wow, pastor, your old. I'm glad you think so. You know, you've been there when you're apart from your significant other and all you have to remind you of them is a picture when you are reunited with that person and the actual real thing is there, do you sit there staring at the picture or do you spend time with the real thing? The real thing. Realize that marriage is another. Thing it is a line segment. It has a beginning. And it has an in. Till death, do you part is that your. Thank God it's coming. Quick. Marriage is a temporary institution. We've looked over and over at Genesis Chapter two, where where God instituted marriage, but there will come a day where marriage between a husband and a wife no longer exists. You see, marriage is a temporary institution designed to picture any eternal relationship like the sacrifices it points to something that has not been fully realized. When we remain focused on the purpose of marriage, then we can see why this must be the case, why marriage must have a beginning point and an ending point. I want to remind you of a couple of things that we've looked at throughout this study, and this is our last message on the topic of grace in marriage and the title of the message is grace and the end of marriage, grace and the end of marriage. But when you think about going back to the beginning of our study, what is the purpose of marriage? Remember, we said, you know, marriage is not primarily for procreation. Marriage is not given to us solely for the purpose of replicating ourselves so that the the human race continues on. That is not marriage is primary purpose. Marriage is also not primarily given to us or our pleasure. Now are there moments of great pleasure in marriage? Yes, certainly marriage can be a taste of heaven on Earth, and that's one of the things that God intends for us to enjoy. But marriage is not primarily for our pleasure. Marriage, as we have said over and over again, is primarily a living drama depicting the gospel. It is our jobs, our roles as husbands and wives to demonstrate the gospel to not only our spouse, but also to our children and to anyone else that observes or witnesses our relationship. Marriage is a teaching and a witnessing tool. We don't often think of it as such. I hope after this, this series, you look at it, maybe a little bit different. You see, although it can be a source of pleasure, marriage should never be our primary source of pleasure. It can be very fulfilling. It can be very purposeful. But if your marriage is your primary source of pleasure, purpose and fulfillment, then you're missing out on what God has for you. Marriage is God's only sanctioned plan for procreation, but procreation is not necessary for a happy, successful marriage, is it? Oh. So what happens when there is no longer a need for sharing or teaching people about the gospel? What happens to marriage when it's primary purpose of depicting the gospel is no longer needed? You don't have to turn there. But in Revelation Twenty one twenty seven, we find out that there will come a day where everyone will have already either received or rejected the gospel and there will be no need to share it any more. Bible says there shall in no wise enter into it. That's heaven. Anything that defile it, neither whatsoever work is abomination or make it a lie. But they which are written in the lamb's book of Life, there will be a separation of those who had received Jesus Christ, those who had rejected Jesus Christ. Their decision will be locked in for all of eternity. There will be nobody that's kicked out of heaven and sent to the Lake of Fire, and there will be nobody in the Lake of Fire that is pulled out and placed in heaven on that day after the Great White Throne judgment, there will be no changing. There'll be no more need for preaching the gospel to the lost because that time of decision will be over. Will also be an unprecedented knowledge of God. So there will be no training of a new generation. You think about living the gospel. I aim to live the gospel for my spouses sake. She should see the unconditional love, the mercy and the grace of God in my life. But it's not just her that needs to see that it also is my children. Raising three three boys. The responsibility is on me to demonstrate for them what their Heavenly Father is like is my responsibility to demonstrate for them what they should be expected to do when they are husbands and fathers. But when we get to heaven. There will be no training the next generation. First, John 3:02 tells us this is his beloved now, are we the sons of God, and it does not yet appear what we shall be. But we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him or we shall see him as he is. My sons will not need to watch dad to learn what God is like if my children accept Jesus Christ as their savior. They're going to be in heaven. They can go and see God for themselves. So. What happens when the primary function of marriage is no longer needed? Well, that leads us to the passage that I want us to look at tonight, take your Bibles if you have them and turn to the book of Matthew. Matthew, chapter number twenty two. Matthew, 22, verse number twenty three. Bible says the same day came to him the sad receipts, which say there is no resurrection. That's him saying, Master Moses said if a man die having no children, his brother, some areas, wife raise up seed and his brother. Now there were with us seven brethren, the first when he had married a wife, deceased having no issue left his wife and his brother. Likewise, the second also and the third and the seventh last of all, the woman dials. Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife shall she be of the seven they all had her? He's answered and said of them, you knew heir, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God. We're in the resurrection. They neither marry nor are given in marriage, but our as the angels of God in heaven. But it's touching the resurrection of the dead. Have you not read that which was spoken unto you by God saying, I'm the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead. Love the living. The multitude heard this, they were astonished at his doctor. And Matthew, 20, to the verses that we've just read, the sadnesses are trying to make Jesus look like a fool by asking him questions they think he won't be able to answer. They concoct this situation where a woman is married to seven different men brothers, but has no children from any of them. This obviously sounds weird to us in our culture, but it was something that was common in their day. Man died without producing any children. His brother or next of kin was supposed to marry his wife and produce a child so that that child could inherit the father's the first husband's possessions. Like we talked about recently, inheritances were a very big deal to them. They wanted to pass on their possessions to the next generation. Now, in the sad Jaycee's story, this one single woman had seven times been married to different men. Each one of these brothers had each been married to the lady, and then she had died. And so the question is whose husband will she be in the resurrection scene that she'd been married to all seven of them here on Earth? The point that they're trying to make is that the resurrection is absurd, and they're using marriage to try and make their point. They're saying if there is a life after death, who will be this woman's husband when she is reunited with all of the previous men? Now you can imagine what an awkward situation this would be. But the question is based off of a false assumption, they are assuming that the conditions of this present life are guaranteed to continue in the afterlife. It's like if you tried to talk to some of our kids about heaven, you say, Well, what do you want to have in heaven? You know, they'd probably say, You know, I want a Nintendo Switch in my mansion. What are you going to do with your friends in heaven? Well, we're going to play football. Remember that song? A big, big house where we can play football? It's football going to be in heaven. We don't know. But I mean, they're talking here, and they're assuming that everything we know about this life will continue into the next life. Jesus very quickly shuts them down, so much so that in verse No. Thirty three, the multitude that are listening to this, they're completely astonished. The sadnesses are known for being super smart. You know, the Pharisees are there like the grunts of the Jewish leadership. There's more of them. They're really forceful. They're very passionate. They make up for some of their lack of education by being really loud. You know, they're kind of like a Baptist preacher. You in the left that much. But the suggestion is they are elite. I mean, these are the guys who don't say much, but you know, they're watching and listening and analyzing you and you love it when you know someone's analyzing you. It's a little unnerving. But when they do speak, they usually garnered a lot of attention. The high priest at this time was a sad U.S. We've talked about this someone in Paul's life, but the sadnesses were the majority party on the St. Hebrew. So even though there were fewer of them they had, they had they had elevated themselves to a higher place of power than the Pharisees had. So Jesus is going to come back on them, he's going to refute their question by billing, he's going to help them and by extension us get a little bit of a glimpse of the truth regarding what heaven and the resurrection is like. OK, and so, you know, everybody wants to know heaven is going to be like, I love talking about heaven. This is one of those things. And when you tell a bunch of teenagers that this is the way heaven is, like, they're like,

Speaker 2: would oh,

Speaker 1: they're like super disappointed. And probably some of you were me disappointed, too. But I guarantee you this is good news. Anytime Jesus lets us in on a little bit of what heaven is going to be like. You don't have to be bummed about it. It's always good. It's always better than what we have now. OK. And so Jesus knows that the Sadducees question here is based on a rejection of the resurrection. This is a view of joining us from our thirty. I'm twenty nine. I'm sorry. That is contradictory testimony of scripture like Jesus, says the verse number thirty two God says I am the god of Abraham, God of Isaac, the God of Jacob as present tense meaning Abraham, Isaac and Jacob must be still alive because God is not the god of the dead, he is the God of the living. And so by saying, I am the god of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, we are clued into the fact that there is a resurrection. And Abraham, Isaac and Jacob all died. Physical death. That God still considers them to be alive. That means there must be an afterlife of some kind. Not only is their view of a of no resurrection, contrary to scriptures, it's also detracting from the power of God. They're using this this story that they've just told the Jesus, there's a God. This is too hard for you to figure out. And so this idea, the resurrection is absurd because God, you could never make it work. Jesus is like, Are you kidding? The answer to your question is so obvious and easy. Whose wife will she be? None of them. They felt like the idea of marriage in the afterlife justified their unbelief in God's word, in power. So imagine their surprise when Jesus tells them that there is no marriage in the resurrection. Resurrection, Jesus says people neither marry nor are given in marriage. Instead, they're as the angels. You go. Joe, go back to verse number 30. All right. If I read this with me, please. That last phrase after the comma starting with that ready. But ah, as the angels go back to get ready, but ah, as the angel. Right now, this does not say but our angels. About this. They are not angels. Our dead loved ones are not angels. There as the angels in this way, we tell you this, if you think that your loved ones that are in heaven are angels. That is an insult to them because we are going to be better than angels. I won't be an angel. It's like a downgrade. I want my heavenly, glorified body. The angels look at us and our I don't know if they're jealous. But I mean, they're they're definitely interested in what we get because what we get is better than what they got. We look at angels right now or we're like, Oh, man. You imagine if you saw an angel. We get to heaven. The Angels is going to be like, Oh man. You see those humans. Don't don't insult our our friends and loved ones in heaven by saying they're angels, they are not. There are, as the angels in this way that they are not given in marriage. You to have are not married. They are not given in marriage. And so this means that the woman from this story would not be any of the men's wife. Jesus words you're in, Matthew twenty 20, to show us the temporary nature of marriage. Marriage will not exist in the resurrection because there will be no use for marriage in the resurrection. Everyone in heaven's already. Accepted Jesus. They don't need to be told the gospel or shown the gospel, they've already accepted the gospel. There are no children or are young people that are growing up that have to have a demonstration of the gospel. They've got direct access to God because they've already received the gospel of Jesus Christ, the gospel in the resurrection will have been fully realized. Therefore, the picture will be done away with. You don't keep holding on to the picture when you have the real thing there. All right. Now, let's let's talk about what this means, because this brings up an interesting problem slash issue slash comfort. Repeat. Now, there may be some people here tonight who view the marital status of the resurrection as a problem. I'm pretty certain that this is not new information. The vast majority of people here in this room, you've thought about this before. You've heard me preach on this before. You're aware of the fact that there is no marriage in heaven. So why would this be a problem? Well. If you had a good marriage, a happy marriage, you loved your spouse, but they passed away before you did. Then most likely, there's not too many things in this world that you want more than to be reunited with them and to be reunited with them in the same way that you enjoyed their company and relationship here on Earth. Right. And. Was it brother, any Bacon said to us when we were Carolyn, he said, you know, we've been married for twenty four years. I really can't think that's right, I think that a little more than that. Twenty four, what am I talking about? Seventy four years? Seventy four years, obviously, the vast majority of his life. He's been married to his best. I mean, when he thinks about his relationship, that's he baked the whole thing in his memory is wrapped up in the marriage relationship. And so it is hard for us to imagine being. Not knowing our spouse being reunited with our spouse, but then not having the same style of relationship that we had before, it's almost impossible for us to think in this way. But this is indeed what will happen for those that have received God's free gift of salvation. They will see their husband, they will see their wife again, they will be reunited with each other. But what will not happen is there will not be a return to the marriage relationship that was enjoyed during this life. S. Rather than a husband and wife relationship, they will enjoy a brother sister relationship in God's family. So for many, this is a problem. They don't like. They don't like that. You know, some people view the marital status of the resurrection as a comfort. The fact that there is no marriage in the resurrection is actually quite comforting to some people. Many of God's children have lived their entire lives as single people. They have endured. The unmerited pity of other well-meaning believers. So thinking about this today, how many times a single adult that does not ever get married, how many times must they have to hear from people? Oh hey, you ought to get with so-and-so. I've got such and such that would love to meet you. I'm going to set you all up. You know, you go to. Class reunions. Everybody is there with their significant other or their latest significant other. There you are by yourself. All the snide comments that must come. Still not married, huh? Any prospects? You know, Paul did not view singleness as a curse. Paul viewed singleness as a gift. It allows the believer to focus their attention more fully on their relationship with God. And this this this idea that in heaven there will be no marriage between a husband and a wife. We will have brother, sister relationships. A single person can can. And find comfort in the marital conditions of the resurrection because it shows that their condition is not abnormal. A single person's status as a single individual individual is not abnormal for every believer. It is inevitable.

Unidentified: Think about it.

Speaker 1: So for some, it's a problem. For others, it's a comfort. Can I say this? The fact that marriage is temporary is an evidence of God's grace on mankind. I believe the temporary nature of marriage is a demonstration of God's grace to us. Would you say that the world's view of marriage is too high or too low? Go ahead. What do you think? Hello. How big a deal is it when two people get married? It's a big deal. How big a deal is it for a church to call a pastor? So we want you to follow God, lead our church. We're going to trust you to stand up in the pulpit three times a week last Sunday school and have spent time studying and praying, having something spiritually nutritious for us to to consume every week. It's a big deal. I mean, not all of you were here when that decision was made for this church, but when you joined, you knew who the pastor was, so you had to make a pretty serious decision yourself. You don't enter into something like that lightly. I mean, that's why for our church, you know, we had the the policy committee, we had one does it, then we had a second visit. Then you voted, whether or not to call the guy back again for a candidate visit. So we came back again. Then you said, all right, let's take two weeks and we're going to pray about it and then we're going to have a business meeting and we're going to vote. Then again, not to have him come back as a candidate, but vote on him actually as the pastor and the percentage that he has to get is pretty high. It's a big deal. Why? Because communicating the gospel is a big deal. What is marriage? But the communication of the gospel. It's a heavy load. It's a serious commitment. I mean, you know, I don't know how many of you expect me to be here for the rest of my life. Oh, Matt, that's OK. I like the idea of retiring eventually. When you say I do. What is that commitment? Till death. It's a serious deal. The heavy load. For better or for. Worse. It's not all sunshine and roses isn't. Song Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows. That's not reality. There are mountaintops there, there's some valleys. Well, I've heard people say this. You can do anything. For a temporary time. You can put up with anything. For a certain amount of time. Marriage is temporary. You get one chance. You have to do this for all of eternity. I mean, just for the rest of your life, but. What is your life? It's a handwritten it's a vapor. We're like the grass. Blooms in the morning by evening. It's in the other. It's not a long time to commit to saying, Hey, this is the person that I want to proclaim the gospel with or the few days that God gives me on this Earth. We're going to show Grace to one another. We're going to show unconditional love to one another. We're going to show God's mercy to one another. We're going to demonstrate these things to our spouses and to the world, any children that God might bless us with. Knowing that one day this job will be over. One day I won't be the pastor of this church, I'll be relieved from my duties. One day. You'll be relieved your duty, your role has. Or as a white, I don't like the sound of that. I know. That's the reality. We do everything we can. To promote, preserve and protect our marriages, because we know. Now we only have them for a short period of time. The world has to love you a marriage. We want to have a high view of marriage. But we don't want to make a God out of marriage. Roy, a couple of years ago, we did actually 20, 20 year of COVID, our theme that year was on focus and setting the right priorities. Was our spouse number one on the list of priorities? Or was God number one on our list priorities? Should be God. Think about this. If marriage is a temporary arrangement. And human marriage will one day cease. How much greater importance should we place on our relationship with God? Our relationship, which will never cease? See, for those who have believed for those whose beloved spouse has passed on, I want you to consider this. Who was it that created the marriage that you enjoyed so much on this Earth? Who gave that marriage to? God did. Whose idea was it for a man and woman to leave their parents and cling to their spouses? Godzilla. Who designed the pleasures of sex and the look, the complement, complementary nature of the two differing genders? Whose idea was that? It got. And so if God was able to provide you with so much fulfillment and purpose and pleasure here on Earth, where you know, pride and greed and selfishness infiltrate every inch of our existence. Then how capable is he to provide us with even greater fulfillment, greater purpose, greater pleasure? When we get to heaven and are no more hindered by the curse of sin? You you think when I say that we're going to have a brother, sister type relationship. You think of an earthly brother, sister type relationship. Never had any sisters, brother Jim, did you have sisters? Now we're blessed. I believe. I've heard. That can be pretty contentious. Me and Joe, we are in a fight. We're duking it out. We wrestle and we get up. We're all good. Got that brother, sister thing going on. I don't know. Let's not be guilty of what the sadnesses were guilty of and thinking that everything that we have here on Earth is going to be just like, what's going to be in have? Don't you think it's possible that God could make the brother sister relationship in heaven to be much more fulfilling than even the husband and wife relationship here on Earth? I always love people to say, you know, God spent six days building the whole earth that we enjoy that intricacy and the detail and the beauty. He's been working on heaven for 20 years. What is it going to be like? Marriage is temporary. Marriage was always meant to point to a greater relationship. Our relationship with God. That relationship will forever. You're married here today. Demonstrate the gospel. Stay strong, protect your marriage. You only have it for a short time. You're single here today. Don't look at it as a curse. Grace, someday, you know, the right girl. All right. But until then, you focus on your relationship with God. That relationship with God is what will last all of its most important relationship we have. Marriage is just a picture of what God has planned for us. Heavenly Father, thank you for this day and for the people that are here this evening. What I pray that this series that we have concluded has been a blessing to people here and encouragement, or we do look forward to seeing our loved ones again in heaven. I pray that you would comfort those who have lost spouses. You would strengthen them for the remainder of their lives. Lord separated from the one they had loved so dearly. Well, I pray that all of us would rest in your plan. We would trust that whatever. Happiness and fulfillment, we received the relationships here on Earth. You intend to give us even more fulfilling relationships when we get to heaven. Aw, thank you for the good attention of your people. Rather, we would leave here, put these things into practice in Jesus name, I pray amen.

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