Hebrews

Yes.

Our first reading is from Ephesians chapter 5. Versus 21 to 33, and then the second reading is from the beginning of Hebrews. But first ephesians chapter 5 verses 21 to 33. Submit to 1 another out of reverence for Christ. Wife submit submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the lord.

For the husband as the head of the wife, as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands at everything. Husbands love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy. Cleansing her by the washing with water through the word and to present her to himself as a radiant church without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies.

He who loves his wife loves them. No 1 ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body just as Christ does the church. For we are members of his body. For this reason, a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the 2 will become 1 flesh. This is a profound mystery.

But I am talking about Christ and the church. However, each 1 of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband. And now Hebrews chapter 13 verses 1 to 4. Chapter 13 1 to 4. Keep on loving 1 another, another as brothers and sisters, strangers.

For by so doing, some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it. Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are ill treated as if you yourselves were suffering. Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure. For god will judge the adulterer and all the sexual immoral. Thank you very much, Louise.

Good morning, everybody. If we haven't met before, my name is Tom. I'm 1 of the pastors here at Cornerstone. And, if you could make sure those 2 bible readings are open in front of you. That would be great.

Let's bow our heads and pray together. Father, we pray that you would, give us your help now as, we look at some of these areas of life, which are sensitive and which are personal to us all. We pray that you would give us your help that we would please listen and that where truth is present that you would help us to respond to it, willingly and gladly. We know it is a sad part of our human nature since the fall. That when our views and attitudes are challenged, it is so natural for us to drag our heels and to entrench ourselves in our own positions.

But we know from scripture that you give grace to the humble. And you resist the proud. And so help us, please, to be humble, help us to be teachable. We thank you for the spirit of Jesus Christ, who is amongst us and in us as your people, and we pray that by that spirit, you would please, please speak to every single 1 of us. Help me, please.

As I seek to bring these truths from your word, give me the help I need, to do so faithfully. And we pray all of this in Jesus' name, amen. 3 opening comments, about Hebrews 13 verse 4, and, then we'll get into it. Number 1, whenever we zoom in on a subject, like marriage, it can feel exclusive. In other words, it would be understandable if a single person after the readings we've just had said to themselves Oh, okay.

Here's here's that bit of another new testament letter, which doesn't actually apply to me. And so what I'm gonna do is sit and listen while other people are spoken to because this, this isn't for me. But if we'll look again at verse 4, it says marriage should be honored only by those who are married. Well, it doesn't say that. Does it?

It says marriage should be honored by or marriage should be honored by all, and we will, I trust see the ways in which this is just as applicable to those who are single as it is to those who are married. That's number 1. Number 2, whenever we focus in on a subject like marriage, And perhaps particularly on intimacy within marriage, we are speaking to some of the most personal issues in life. And in a room like this, There will be people amongst us who have those things, and it's great. And there will be people who have those things, and it's a real struggle for them.

And there will be people who don't have those things anymore, but did at 1 time. And there will be people who have never had those things, and for many, many years have longed to. And it's been a source of sadness for them. And there will be people who don't have those things and are very happy without them. And what is interesting is that the god who knows us, in all of that variety, gives the same instruction to us all.

Marriage should be honored by all. And all types of people within the all. But if I can put it to you this way, no matter what our personal situation with these things, it will not help any of us to ignore or belittle marriage in the way that our culture does, but rather we will all be helped when we agree with God that honorable things are worth honoring. And so this is for all of us, even though it is personal in its nature. That's the second thing.

Thirdly, whenever we zoom in on a subject like marriage, It is possible for us to lose sight of the overall context, but that would be a mistake. Chapter 12 verse 28, we saw this a few weeks ago, says, therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship god acceptably with reverence and awe for our god is a consuming fire. Chapter 12 ended on that note of, you are receiving a kingdom, therefore let us worship god acceptably. And then when we come into chapter 13, The author is answering the question, and here's what I mean by that. Here is what I mean by acceptable worship in the eyes of god.

And what is it? Well, verse 1, it is love for our brothers and sisters in the church. That's acceptable worship in the eyes of god who is a consuming fire. What else is it? It is extending that love to those who are not just within our immediate friendship circle, but even to those whom we might consider to be strangers to us, particularly in the church.

That's what he means by acceptable worship. What else does it mean? It means consciously remembering those brothers and sisters who are our family, but who are not with us now because of persecution. It will not be very acceptable in our eyes. If in our worship services, we never, for a moment, pause to consider brothers and sisters who are persecuted in the world.

And then as we come now to verse 4, what is acceptable worship in the eyes of god it is honoring marriage and the marriage bed. See, sometimes we can think that over here in this box is Sunday, and everything that I do on Sunday is worship. And over here in this box is my singleness, or my marriage, or my work, and that has nothing to do with worship. This is the worship day, and this is the non worship day. But that form of religion is very foreign to Hebrews 12 and 13, rather how we love 1 another in church, how we treat marriage and sex and intimacy, these are part of our worship, not just the theory of it or what we might say about it, but what we actually do in our lives is part of our worship.

So those are 3 opening remarks by way of introduction. This is not as exclusive as it might appear. It is for us all. This is personal and sensitive to every 1 of us, and yet all will be helped by an exalted view of marriage. Hope we see that.

And thirdly, as an opening remark, this is not just theory. This is connected to practical worship. It's an outflowing of acceptable worship. And so please keep those 3 things in mind. And with that in mind, we are going to look at 5 things about this verse.

This is a slightly muddled structure this morning. There's 3 and 5 and under 2, there's another 4. So I'm just gonna say that from the front. If you have a hard time following, so do I, okay? But that's how it's come together.

So 5 things about this verse. It's a beautiful verse It's a challenging verse. It's a practical verse. It's a sobering verse, and it's a help hopeful verse. And the first of these on the screen, if you want to jot it down, it's a beautiful verse.

Marriage verse 4 should be honored by all. You have probably heard phrases like, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, or 1 man's trash is another man's treasure. And, phrases like that remind us that in certain areas, beauty is subjective. We won't all agree that the same things are beautiful and worth treasuring in life. But when it comes to marriage, now there is something that we must all look at and say, That is very valuable.

That's costly. And we all corporately agree that marriage is something worthy of exaltation and honor. That's what the verse means. And why should that be the case? Well, because god made it It's god's design, it's god's idea.

If you go back to Genesis chapter 2, and then you go on to the teaching of the lord Jesus Christ, you understand that before there was sin and brokenness in the world. Before the fall had happened, marriage was a gift by god to the people he created, whereby the 1 man and the 1 woman, enter into a lifelong union, together in god's world, under god. And within the safety of that union, sex can be enjoyed, And children can be born. She's not a guarantee to us now after Genesis chapter 3, but it is the environment in which they were created to grow and flourish within the union and covenant of 1 man and 1 woman under god. And so right from the beginning, and this is gonna be quite a big deal today.

Right from the beginning, we see that covenant love and covenant promise go together. That's the design, covenant promise, and the intimate expressions of that covenant promise are bonded together. Right from the beginning. You see it in verse 4, marriage should be honored by all because it points us to god's design. But there is another reason.

Marriage should be honored by us all because of what it pictures. John Piper in his, book, this momentary marriage, which is a very, very helpful book, either for those who are dating and not yet married, or if you just want a theological refresher, on marriage and what marriage is all about. It's a very good book. This momentary marriage by John Piper, he puts it, this way in the book. Marriage is not mainly about prospering economically.

It is a it is mainly about displaying the covenant keeping love between Christ and his church. Knowing Christ is more important than making a living. Treuring Christ is more important than bearing children. Being united to Christ by faith is a greater source of marital success than perfect sex and dug up double income prosperity. Marriage should be honored by all because as we saw in Ephesians 5, it displays the sacrificial love of the lord Jesus Christ for this church, whether we are single or married or divorced or otherwise, if you trust in Jesus, you're married to a covenant bridegroom.

You're his bride, and you belong to him. And therefore, however, much a marriage on earth struggles and they all struggle from time to time, when a man says to a woman, and a woman says to a man, I will love you. And comfort you and honor you and protect you. And forsaking all others, I will be faithful to you as long as I shall live. They are taking us to Christ, who is faithful to his bride and who loves his bride and who died for his bride.

And is looking to comfort and protect his bride and who will not divorce his bride and who will not leave his bride. It is a beautiful verse because marriage points us to Christ who has married us all in grace. And therefore, whether we today are single or divorced or not or married or otherwise anything that reminds a Christian of Jesus is precious in their sight, and it's worth honoring. Even if they themselves don't have it on earth, if it reminds them of the love of their savior, they think that's worth exalting and honoring. Because of what god made it to be in design, but also because of what it pictures in the gospel.

Firstly then, verse 4 is a beautiful verse because of where it takes us. Secondly, it is also a challenging verse. I wonder if you, remember these scenes or this news story from about 6 years ago in, in Bristol. This was a time, when a a group of people, a large group of people in response to some of the things that were going on in the culture, went into the town and got hold of a statue choe of a man called Edward Colston. Now Edward Colston, was associated with Bristol in the seventeenth century and was very much involved with the slave trade at that time.

And as a response to some of the things, as I say, that were happening in the culture, this group got together and decided to topple his statue and to throw it into Bristol Docs. In protest. Now, I would imagine that if this group of people were able to get hold of the actual Edward Colston, they would have toppled him into the docks. But given that they couldn't get hold of him, The next best thing was to try to topple the image. And of course, in the world in which we live, if Satan had the ability to topple Jesus Christ off his throne, and to topple his love for us in the gospel, I think he would.

But given that he can't, and never will be able to, the next best strategy would be to try to topple marriage into the docks. Because if he can get rid of something, not the real thing, but if he can get rid of something which pictures his love for us, well, I would think he would consider that to be a success. Marriage has always been under attack because it pictures the gospel, and that is the world that we still live in. The average age that people get married today has gone up by 10 years since the 19 seventies. In other words, there is a long term trend of putting off and delaying marriage.

The fastest growing type of relationship in the UK is co habitation, where people come together to live like married people and to sleep like married people but they no longer see any value in bonding themselves together in promise. That's the fastest form of growing relationship in the UK. Of the 230000 marriages that take place in the UK every year, 44 percent of them will end in divorce, depending on which study. Some studies have it even higher at more like 50 percent. Of the 230000 marriages that there are every year in the UK, 44 percent of them.

Will end in divorce. And as you know, the word marriage, at least in our culture, has now lost its historical and biblical meaning. No longer just applying to the union of 1 man and 1 woman, but now applied to a variety of different types of relationships. That's the world that we live in. And I guess there are all kinds of reasons why that has happened reasons to do with the law and changes in the law, reasons to do with tax and finances But as we know, friends, the deepest reasons for these things are always theological, aren't they?

Last week, Pete was quoting from the anthem of self love. This is Whitney Houston's the greatest love of all, if you weren't here last week. And, as we saw in that song, what Whitney Houston has in mind is not the love of the gospel, or the love of marriage, or the love of parenting, or even the love of friendship or neighbors, the love that she has in mind in that song is the love of self. Here are the lyrics from Whitney. The greatest love of all is easy to achieve, learning to love yourself is the greatest love of all.

She gave us that to drink in 19 85, and we are still hungover in it. Yeah? And so what happens is when a culture honors the love of self and the love without laws and free love on my terms. When that happens, The long term sacrificial version of love, marriage goes down. I would suggest there is a clear correlation between those things.

The more that we breathe in the air of self love, the less interested we are in covenant love, where self love and love without law goes up in our estimation, hard work, faithful, lifelong love goes down in our estimation. Those things go together, and it's a theological thing. And as you know, and I think probably would agree, when that happens to a culture, self love, up, covenant, love down, it doesn't serve us very well. There are all kinds of studies which bear that out. When marriage is not honored in a culture, The family breaks down, and there are many, many more practical housing problems than there would have been.

There are less fathers around to be models and examples for their daughters and their sons. And above all, with the exaltation of self love and the diminishing of covenant love comes a dishonoring of Christ, and that's bad for us all. It's bad for us all when that happens. And so can you see the the command itself is easy to understand, but to live in this culture without absorbing its cynicism about marriage, is quite a challenging thing, which requires a lot of grace. Satan wants to topple it into the docks, and is challenging by grace as a church to take our stand.

On these things. So it's a beautiful verse. It's a challenging verse. Thirdly, it is a practical verse. In other words, and we can move on to this now, given the culture that we live in, In what ways can we as a church honor marriage as we are commanded to do?

Now, the main way from the passage is to keep the marriage bed pure and to keep it free from defilement. That seems to be the main way that marriage is honored by all in Hebrews 13, and we'll come to that. But there are some other important ways. Number 1, and this is the list within the list. Number 1, we can honor anniversaries.

In our church, we have people here that have been married for 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70 years. Now that won't have always been easy, but what a blessing it is for us, brothers and sisters, to have had these steady pictures of the gospel over the years lived out in front of us. And that's worth honoring, isn't it? We are a church family and celebrating birthdays is fun, but celebrating anniversaries has a deeper significance. And a deeper importance for us, not least for the sake of our children.

It's worth thinking about, isn't it? When it comes to marriage, will our kids grow up absorbing the same cynicism that is in the world from us? Or will they remember Cornerstone Church and their time within it to be a time when marriage was honored amongst us all? See, I don't know, but maybe 1 reason why marriage is on the decline in the culture is because we do not put before our children enough good examples of how joyful covenant love can be. I don't know if people like Les and Jean have ever been invited to the primary schools of our borough, but they ought to be they ought to be, and they ought to be interviewed about what it is like to have been bound in covenant for 70 years.

Maybe that would do something to reverse the trend that we see around us. We want we want to lift up examples and honor examples. Number 2, we can honor marriage by honoring our vows. Those of us who are married, these are some of the most significant words we will ever say. I will love her.

And comfort her. I'm not gonna neglect her when she's sad. I'm going to comfort her. I'm going to honor and protect her. And forsaking all others be faithful to her as long as I shall live.

Whenever we say that, and you're gonna say that, and this wasn't meant as a wedding sermon for you, but here it is. You're gonna say that in a week's time, or you might say a version of that, you, and we are agreeing to put this rock beneath us. And that matters a great deal because over time, our emotions and our passions are going to rise and fall. That's normal. That's what happens.

But it is why the emotions and passions can never sustain a marriage. They cannot be the deepest rock beneath the marriage. There has to be something firmer, and the Bible says it's covenant. When the rock of covenant and vows is beneath a marriage, Well emotions will rise and fall, but it's okay. It might need help sometimes, but it's okay because it's not what it's actually built on at its deepest level.

It's built on covenant, and the covenant will sustain the marriage. And that means even when things are very tough, I don't wanna be naive about these things, but even when things are very tough and feelings aren't what they used to be, as Christian people, we keep the d word off the table. Now I don't need to tell you that we are in a very sad and a very broken world. And in that world, there are a few occasions Not many, and always tragic, when divorce is permitted. Matthew 19 verse 9, sexual immorality would be 1 example that Jesus points to.

But the basic conviction of the Christian heart has got to be has got to be when things are tough, that word is staying off the table. Because we agreed before god to put a rock in there. A rock there. And that's what we built on. To honor marriage is to honor our vows.

Thirdly, we honor marriage when we honor other types of relationships. By which I mean, if a Christian couple and I'm not really talking about people outside the church here, I'm talking about Christian people If they decide to move in together and start living as if they were a married couple and sleeping as if they were a married couple, and if they say to themselves, we know, all of this is fine. Because if you look at it, we basically are married, or we 1 day will be, and so it doesn't really matter so much because we're planning to. And so why don't we just crack on with our marriage life, and we'll forget the paperwork. That is not what we're talking about in verse 4.

Because in that scenario, we've looked at verse 4, and we've actually said when you think about it, I am not persuaded that the marriage bed and the marriage promise have to go together. I think what god has joined together, covenant love, and covenant promises can actually be separated. And I'm going to do so. But from the other angle, if that same couple say, no. No.

No. We're we're we're not gonna settle for a pseudo marriage on our terms. We are gonna think about, and we're gonna work towards and pray for, and we're gonna save ourselves for marriage. Well, that's verse 4 in action, isn't it? That's verse 4 in action.

We're we're not married yet, but verse 4 says marriage should be honored by all, and there is a way that we can do that even as a not yet married couple in how we think about and plan for this relationship. And again, I don't wanna, you know, be naive on these things, and I understand there are freedoms on these things, and sometimes it may not work out in the dating phase. You know, you're dating, and you just it just may not work out. And that's okay. That kinda happens.

And There is something in this culture a bit intense about raising the subject of marriage on the first date. Yeah. I mean, it's it's a little weird in our culture at the moment. So you and I, we, you know, we understand these things. But the text says marriage should be honored by all.

And so the question is, as a not yet married couple, how does that verse impact what we do and how we plan? Or for a young single bloke in the church who's interested in dating and finding a girlfriend, marriage might be far off down the calendar, but verse 4 includes me. And so as I think about an approach dating, marriage should be honored by all, has got to impact the way I go about it. And what I say and how I say it and who I ask, and what I say to them, it's got it's got to because it is for all. And so we honor marriage by honoring other types of relationships.

Fourthly, we honor marriage by honoring single brothers and sisters. We honor marriage by honoring single brothers and sisters. See, if you think of it like this, when when a single person who loves the lord Jesus Christ says to themselves, I am not going to give in to the pressure of the world and enjoy sex outside of marriage, be it online, or be it in a relationship, what they're actually saying is I am not willing in my life to separate that form of intimacy from covenant. I'm not willing to do that. Because in my mind, covenant promise and covenant love belong together.

That's an amazing thing. That is an amazing thing. When a single person does that, they honor Jesus and they honor marriage in a way that they might not even have realized they were doing. See it would be a huge mistake to think. Marriage should be honored by all.

That means married people need to live in a certain way, and single people just need to watch them. That is not what he's saying. It's saying both married people and single people can say, covenant love belongs in the safety of covenant promises, and I'm not separating them. I'm not separating them in my singleness, and I'm not separating them in the marriage. And in that way, single people bring as much honor to marriage and Christ as married people do, because they won't divide the 2 in their lives.

And I think there are many, many, many wonderful examples in this church of people who've done that steadily for many years. So that's the fourth 1 or the fifth 1. This is the main 1 from the text. We honor marriage by keeping it pure, and that moves us onto our next main point. It's a beautiful verse.

It's a challenging verse. It's a practical verse, and it's a sobering verse. 1 thing the writer is doing in Hebrews 13 is connecting us to old testament stories. We saw that with hospitality. Do you remember be hospitable for some have entertained angels without realizing it?

And that was a nod back to the book of Genesis where Abraham and lot offered hospitality and angels came in, and they didn't know it, and then they knew it. And so the writer is just giving us these little hyperlinks. You know, if you click here, it will take you back to the old testament. The same is going on in verse 4. The word sexually immoral that is used here is only used 1 other time in the book of Hebrews and it's of esau.

It's of esau. It's the only other time it's used. So if you look back or rather it's on the screen, see to it that no 1 falls short of the grace of god and no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. See that no 1 is, here's the word that's used in 13 verse 4, see that no 1 is sexually immoral or is godless like esau. Who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son.

Afterward, as you know, when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he was rejected, even though he sought the blessing with tears, he could not change what he had done. And as we saw in the sermon on this passage, that is about more than just a bowl of food or an isolated sexual sin. Esaw is an example of someone who selected his appetites over covenant love. He looked at what he could have in the world, and he looked at his opportunity to be part of god's promised family, and he said, on balance, I want the world. And I don't want the covenant family.

I want the appetites of the world. And for that, the Bible tells us he was rejected by the lord. And so for you and I, whether we would call ourselves Christians here or not, That is quite a sobering thought, isn't it? The reality is that if we invite sexual sin into our lives, And if we give it the freedom to defile our marriages or our singleness, and if we refuse to battle it and do business with it, then we are saying no, to the covenant love of Christ. And remember, this is about more than just affairs and pornography.

The word marriage bed is very interesting here because it is not just about sex. It's also about a place of rest, and a place of intimacy, and a place of peace and contentment. And I think that is very, very helpful because as we all know, adultery does not begin with adultery. Where does adultery begin? Not in the act?

But when we begin to look for rest and understanding and intimacy and contentment outside of our covenant, I'm not talking about friendships with people of the opposite sex. I'm talking about those times when a friendship becomes a refuge from our marriage. Or when those fantasies come to mind about life with someone else? What would my life have been like if only I'd been with them? I wonder if this marriage was to end whether I'd have an opportunity with them.

I think that would be a lot better. I think that would be a lot happier. And we have these fantasies. When we feed those, we are starting to separate the rest and the intimacy from the covenant partner. And the biggest problem with that as we've seen is what that does to the picture of Jesus and the church.

Because brothers and sisters, the lord Jesus is not going to be unfaithful to us. He does not dream about life without us. He is not going to introduce defilement into whose love for us. And so when that happens in marriage, it starts to communicate something untrue about Jesus. That's the problem.

Now we need to hear all of this carefully because the writer is not saying to us that Christians will never struggle in this area. They do struggle in this area. And sometimes we Christians can fail terribly in this area. And sometimes there will be whole seasons of prolonged compromise in this area. But a Christian cannot make peace with defilement.

They cannot make peace with defilement. Several years ago, we took a trip to Bognar Regis. Then if you've ever been to Bognar Regis, I wouldn't recommend it from any things. But if you, have been or if you know about it on the south coast, you probably know that just like much of our coastline these days, it is now defiled by human waste. The picture on the screen was taken by a man who estimated that he could see a 2 mile stretch of human excrement, and human waste floating in the seas of, bogna regis.

I mean, it's quite awful, really. And that's just 1 example of what our coastline has become. And obviously, it goes without saying that no thinking person is going to find joy, splashing about in those sorts of waters. Yeah. No thinking person is going to look at that and run-in with their wet suit on and their, and their rubber ring and have a lovely holiday.

We're not going to do that. Well, here it is with us. A Christian believer might end up in defiled waters, but they can never be happy in defiled waters. Because even if they're in them, they know that there is a fresher water somewhere that they'd be happier in. They'd be happier if they were in fresher cleaner water, are not in this defiled water.

And so here's what you do find in the Bible. You find people who've been saved by the lord Jesus, people who battle against this type of sin, and they fail, and they turn back and it's hard, and they do end up in the in the bogna regus type water, but you do not find a Christian who delights in the defiled water and who prefers it. To the fresh water of Christ's covenant love. The point of esau is to say, you cannot say yes to defiled love and yes to covenant love and have them both, or sit easy with them both. And so we just need to pause and allow verse 4 to examine our hearts, honestly.

Now read it slowly for us. Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure for God will judge the adulterer, and all the sexually immoral. It's good for us with a sober mind to allow that verse to examine us. Where where are we with that? It's a sobering verse.

There's no getting around it. Fifthly, and lastly, it is a hopeful verse. Is a hopeful verse. The word pure is used just 1 other time in the book of Hebrews. And in that case, or in that usage, it is not describing what we must be It is describing who our lord Jesus is.

Here's the verse from Hebrew chapter 7. Such a high priest truly meets our need, 1 who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. And the main point of what we are saying is this, we do have such a high priest. Brothers and sisters, whether you are single or married or otherwise, here is my and your hope this morning. We have a savior who is blameless and pure, and who on the cross gave himself in death to make us like him.

Nobody in this room this morning is going to heaven because of the purity of their thoughts and actions. They will only be going to heaven. Because they have a priest in heaven who is pure in his thoughts and actions. And because by faith, that purity has been counted to us, not in some fiction. It's not as if that's just a sentimental idea to give us hope, but actually, and in reality, the blood of Jesus Christ shed on the cross was for such sins as we have seen.

We have been cleansed by the most powerful cleansing agent in the universe. The blood of Christ and we have now been clothed in his pure robes such that we stand before him if we are Christian people, and no matter what our record with these things, He looks upon us as 1 cleansed in his son and clothed in his son with the pure righteous clean robes of Jesus. Friends, that's not just fiction. I know sometimes we think of it and think, I think god tells us something like that so that even though it's not true, we might find comfort in it. No.

That's no gospel. That's a pretense. He tells us it because it's actually how he views us this side of faith in Christ. And we so need that, don't we? I need that and need that.

Because we all of us have battles in this area, whether we are men, or whether we are women, whether we are young, whether we are old. I know sometimes we have these battles to a greater degree, and sometimes to a lesser degree, and I know that there are gonna be people in this room who've got a lot of pain in this area. And this text gives us a warning that we must hear. But we must also see how verse 4, with the language of purity guides us to the savior. We have a high priest who truly meets our need 1 who is holy, blameless, and pure, and has made you that way through the lord Jesus.

And so in conclusion, the best way for us all to honor marriage is to look to the 1 that marriage points to, the lord Jesus, and to say, make me pure. Make me pure. I want you as my covenant husband, make me pure. When we do that, we honor an exalt Christ and marriage which pictures him. Let me give you a moment of quiet.

I know there are many, many things Some of them perhaps very personal. Some of them very current, encouraging, I hope, challenging. Please take a moment. You can respond in the quiet of your own heart in any way that seems appropriate. Given that what we've looked at, and then I'll lead us in a prayer.

Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure. For God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral. Father of all the things that we've looked at this morning, some of them very challenging, We thank you that ultimately, this is a hopeful verse, because it points us to our pure bridegroom, the lord Jesus, who, for all our battles and failures, has made us now his own. And has given us a purity that is not ours by nature, but a real actual purity that we now have in Christ. And we pray that what he has done for us would motivate us to honor marriage in this congregation, and as we have opportunity in the culture, and we ask these things in Jesus' name, amen.