← ArchiveSunday, September 8, 2013DateSeptember 8, 2013SpeakerChris BurnsTextGenesisPassages in this sermonGenesis 11:03Genesis 21:03Genesis 2:1811:07Ephesians 224:22TranscriptClick any line to jump there.0:00amen amen and amen it's been good to be here let me make sure that you uh if you're a senior citizen and i guess that is uh about any age you want to call a senior said rick's a senior citizen now but anyway uh there's going to be a luncheon uh this coming tuesday uh september the 10th and you're invited to that and it'll be in our christian life center uh and uh hope you'll plan0:28on being here if you're uh retired and have an opportunity or just off and you're just one of those senior citizens that just won't quit you just keep on keeping on and you can come on uh and uh enjoy that you do not have to be as old as cecil uh to be a part of that senior citizens group uh you can actually still have uh working well let's just get on with that hey cecil0:55if you have your bibles with you i want you to turn with me to genesis chapter one and genesis chapter two we're going to look this morning we're going to talk about marriage and we're going to talk about the life of uh where it began and and and and how god sees it because we we live in a day when marriage1:18is being attacked from about every direction that you can imagine and you you know those directions we we we uh we've we've we've kind of allowed it in in christendom and in the church to to split the church uh there are biblical views and there are non-biblical views there there are views of what i1:44think and how i think and then there are views of what god says and what god's word says and then there are views about what i think god's word says and how i view what god's word says when sometimes i think if we just let god's word say it it's much better if we stay out of it i think that's what we're going to find out today you know because we live in a day that that marriage is being attacked from without the church and you know that when when we find a men2:12that want to marry one another and and uh have uh that opportunity to write and be recognized legally and then want the church to accept it and say well if you're loving and kind and and then it kind of pushes the church in a corner to say we are loving we are kind well how accepting do we have to become in this matter of of sin before we realize that we can be loving and kind and be firm and strong2:40in understanding truth that that's being attacked and sometimes we get caught up in that because we don't understand what the bible actually says and then how's the church being attacked from within well i think we've lost regard for marriage christians have lost regard for it i find over and over again there there are there are so many people that they just uh they they they they come to me and they3:08say you know brother chris we're in love and and you think well there's a difference from being in love and being in lust and sometimes i don't even think people really understand what love is because love is to a lot of people something that i like i want i must have instead of this is what i give you know god so loved the world he did what that's right so if you're in love you're wanting to give3:35not take and in our society and in the church we see this this taking rather than giving we we see that people can come up with all kinds of excuses and reasons to to to say well you know i i we just shouldn't have got married you probably shouldn't have but you did and there are times when you know4:04as as a pastor and i've said this from up here i don't i don't really do a lot of weddings maybe that's why some some of them there are reasons but it's because uh you know if if a man and woman come together a young couple comes together they come to me they talk to me and and we go through a matter of anywhere from three to six months worth of counseling before we do a wedding uh we got to be sure these these these guys know what it means and that they are truly willing to4:32give their life to one another because that's what the bible says we're going to talk about that this morning going to talk about where it begins why should marriage be more important than it is why should we look at our own marriages and think to ourselves next to god this is the most important relationship that i have next to god this is the most important relationship i have marriage we don't look at it that way now5:03before some of you get feeling bad saying man i've had a divorce brother chris you gonna pound me no because i believe in grace i believe in forgiveness but i want to tell you there comes a time though that we've got to understand even with grace and god's love for us when we choose to sin against god's direction and purpose there are going to be consequences5:30and those consequences are what hurt us the most let me tell you you're not going to hear this sermon in a lot of churches because a lot of churches don't want to hurt people's feelings and i'm not up here to hurt anybody's feelings i want to express truth today i want us to just look at what god's word says and how it began and let's take off from there and see where we land okay look with me at genesis5:53chapter 1 beginning in verse 26 and we have an overview of creation we don't have the first creation and then the second creation in chapter 2 we have an overview of how god did things and then we have a dissecting of that overview in genesis chapter 2 and a much more personal view as god demonstrates6:15his presence in creation i want you to note before we get started there are two places that man has no absolute word in in other words god does not go to man and say to man how should we do this one of them is in creation notice he creates everything and then he brings man on the scene6:43so thank god he didn't ask us what the mountains ought to look like thank could you imagine had he created man and woman and started creating we would still be creating or changing the creation wait a minute let's take it that and let's put that mountain over here and let's take this lake and put it over here oh this ocean needs to be a little bluer back here7:09man would be sitting there going you did it god a second place that man is not brought to bear in what god in what god should do and that's salvation god worked out salvation for man before he created man so man doesn't come in and say god this is how you ought to do it god said this is how i'm7:34going to do it and this is how you'll follow me so far by grace are you saved through faith not of works least any man should boast it is god's gift wow two things i'm glad i didn't have anything to do with creation and salvation all on god then god said let us make man now we've always wondered why the us7:58was there but if you look in the hebrew the elohim the word for god there elohim is plural so it's good to train and and we believe in the plurality of the godhead the father the son and the holy spirit we're there at the point of creation and he said in our image and there's been a lot of discussion over what that means in our image does that mean that god somehow well god wasn't flesh he was spirit but jesus8:26we know becomes incarnate does that mean he looked at jesus and no well that doesn't look does it mean that being made man relational or does it mean when he breathed in man and man became a living so he became eternal in the image of god in other words man is going to live forever you're going to live forever in heaven are you going to live forever in hell8:54you may not have this present body but you will but but there have been a lot of discussions a lot of commentaries a lot of differences of opinion according to our likeness he says and let them rule over the fish in the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth now that tells me god did not create teenager he created man9:19you know why because i don't want to do that i can i can i do this no he created man god created man in his own image in the image of god he created him male and female he says he created9:41them ish in isha and god blessed them and god said to them be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth and god said behold i've given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth and every tree which has fruit yielding seed it shall be food for you and to10:09every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and everything that moves on the earth which has life i have given every green plant for food and it was so god saw all that he made and behold it was good and there was evening and there was morning the sixth day and god looked out and he said man this10:31is good could you imagine god looking at his creation looking at man and saying it is good this is before man is marred by sin and i'm so glad that even after being marred by sin god still looks at me and loves me knowing i'm no good but but then we have a a breakdown of creation i call it not that god broke10:59down but that he breaks down creation look in genesis chapter 2 verse 18 we have a a a a little better rendering kind of a a magnifying glass of of genesis 1 and then the lord said excuse me the lord god said it is not good for man to be alone and we didn't see that up there but that's where woman comes in and11:25and he says i will make him a helper suitable for him now you may have a different version and it says help meet uh and it's important that you make sure that help meet suitable some verses have uh uh fit uh my english standard has fit the new american standard has suitable that's important we'll see why that's important because it's important in in understanding why in the world that the the homosexual movement in our11:52country would even bear to stand the argument of saying that homosexuality any right or way is all right with god when god in the very beginning in creating man and creating woman creates two people that are suitable and we're going to find out what that word suitable whether it's suitable fit meet12:19we're going to find out what that means here in just a minute and it has everything to do with you looking at your wife and saying wow amen i mean i won't look at your wife right now man and look at her and you go wow hey if that if he didn't do that good enough for you you look at him and say say it again big boy i12:45let me look wow i'm gonna tell you right now wow she's everything i need and if your wife's not everything you need you need to be at this altar until she becomes that and wife you look at your husband wife look at your husband13:16you go whoa all right now you're catching on that's what god did and he said hey i'm in i'm in this creative mode now how long had god been here before he got in that creative mode i don't know he's always been here you know it could have been a couple of trillion years no i don't believe in a trillion year world or13:43earth but i always believe god's self-existent has always been he gets his creative mode and he starts creating the earth and the universe and he creates all these beautiful things that are around us and sometimes we overlook them we don't see them we live right here at them i'll never forget living 10 years at the foot of the smoky mountains and often uh not often enough looking up there going wow14:06god what an artist you are but i'd go by a little paint shop or a little artist store and i'd go and i'd look at their paintings i'd go wow look at that and they'd say well that's just right up the road it was painted in this valley and i'm thinking god did that and so the lord said it's not good for man to be alone i'll make him a helper suitable for him14:32and out of the ground the lord god formed every beast of the field and every bird of the sky we've already read that and he brought them to man to see uh what he would call them so he gave man something to do and we saw that and whatever the man called a living creature that was his name and the man gave names to all the cattle and to the to the birds of the sky and to every beast of the fields but for adam14:54and and i want to tell you something you know is there anybody here named adam raise your hand because here's your name man so the next time you meet somebody named adam you just go man and they're going to look at you no my name's adam man because that's what adam means is man in the hebrew so you you know you're hebrew and so you name your15:20child adam you name your child man and somebody goes oh man yeah right here thought your name was adam it is but it's man and the man adam gave names to all the cattle fields and and and uh and to the birds of the sky and to every beast of the field but look at this look at this but for adam there was not found a helper suitable a helpmate fit mate a a a help meet for him15:50there's nothing out there like him he's all by himself he's a he's a man on an island and and some of you yeah who's out there says first happy man that ever existed i would never say that because i want to tell you something adam was created a little differently in that also adam was16:18created for relationship you know no man is an island no doubt there are times that we as men want to get along and be by ourself but for the most part women i'm talking to you as well when i say this is mankind we're we're created by god in his image and it has been said that that image is is that we would16:41be relational you know almost like the ants you know you never see a little have you ever ran across an ant bed with only one ant in it you know you kick it and there are trillions of them i'm sure god wants to kick the earth and just watch us all just run out of our holes and run around but that's what we'd do but he created adam and and he looked at adam and he was saddened17:11that that in his creation and i think that's let me let me remind you of something god knew he's going to create eve god knew that adam and eve were going to begin the trilogy of the fall and mankind because the bible tells us in revelation that even before the foundation of the world the lamb of god was slain so it would been then that we understand that god knew that he was going to send his son17:40before creation that he would die for the sins of man so he knows that but he wants us to understand that it's not good for man to be a recluse because god wants to fellowship with you god wants to meet with you god wants to talk with you18:07god wants you to set an appointment with him today god wants you to meet an appointment with him today god wants you to take a moment and spend some time with him today that's how he created us he created us relational that we are in his image that we would spend time you know i'm sure18:39that balaam's donkey made more sense to spend time with god than we do sometimes but he goes on so the lord god caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man and he slept and he slept then he took one of his ribs and i used to try to count my ribs and then19:03say where's that one missing from and closed up the flesh at that place didn't have a scars and my belly buttons what my mother told me early in life and i found out she's telling a story um the lord god fashioned into a woman the rib which he had taken from the man and he brought her to the man let's look at marriage part one creation19:30and we see that in what we just read god created marriage during creation of all things it wasn't an afterthought it wasn't a before thought it was when things were were winding down in all of creation he created man and he created woman and in in the creation of man and woman it is marriage it may not say that they got hitched it may not say that but what it does say is being the only19:55man and the only woman that god created man and he created woman and and this is this is why this is so important as we understand the creation of man and woman he created them to be relational and that they would converse with one another and that later on in chapter three at the fall we see that they would converse with god it was important for man and woman to get spend time together and it was important for20:20them to spend time with god together later on god does you know he commands man to be fruitful and multiply and he and he brings four children in the world and and man brings four children adam brought four children and and that you know and they're good and they're well and they're important to us and when they become grandchildren they even become more important to us and and you know what i'm talking about and and but20:45but they are never more important than the first purpose of creation and that is this that we would be relational with god and that we would be relational with one another because i want to tell you something you don't mess your marriage up if you're spending time with god21:16and so god saw that man was alone and not good and so god made created man a help me now this is where i want to get to that word help me to help make fit uh suitable here's what god didn't you can't tell me god doesn't have a sense of humor okay you're sitting next to your husband your wife or a woman or sitting around them now if you're sitting with women like these three guys over here you can't21:44do that just look at john and you look at john john you turn around and you look at them and you go there's a big difference here the that word means opposite so god in his creative sense of humor creates an opposite for adam to live with the rest of his life and for adam supposedly this opposite is opposite him is going to be with him22:09in the garden for eternity if he don't fall so why would god create options because that's how god saw man and woman being that's how god saw marriage being god you know people make fun and i don't want to make fun because i think we make fun of the wrong things but when god made man and he made woman he made them22:34absolutely different in every way physically that he could in every way emotionally that he could in every way that he could other than spiritually and woman has the same spiritual needs as a man does but a man does not have the same physical needs always as a woman does and a woman doesn't always have the same physical needs as a man does emotional needs as a man does we can't get into all that we don't have time today but but what we have here is understanding that when god created man and woman he23:03created two people that were absolutely different that fit perfectly together that's awesome they fit perfectly together the puzzle you know how many of you put a puzzle together and you got that blue piece and you got that blue piece over here and you go it's only a blue piece23:30left it's got to go put it there put it there ain't working do y'all follow me you with me so you finally take that blue piece you finished only to realize that that piece don't fit it's not supposed to go there it wasn't made to go there23:55when they cut the puzzle it was that piece was uniquely designed to go somewhere else now so what about the potentiality of homosexuality let me tell you what about the potentiality of adultery what about the potentiality of lying if you go back and you read in in ephesians chapter 224:22you find that in lost condition man lives and is darkness he lives in darkness he is darkness he's thinking on his own mind his own mindset his own way and you say well brother chris what about these other fates and religions out there that are giving in i'm just saying they can give in all they want to24:46but the bible says that when god created man and god created woman when god created adam and god created eve he brought them together as objects to fit perfectly together as man and wife and listen when adam saw eve the man said wow wow whoa this ain't no camel25:08he just woke up from surgery he just woke up from surgery he could have said anything i mean how many of y'all just woke up from surgery and you did say anything25:41only to have to explain yourself so he's awakened from surgery and this opposite him is standing before him and guys there's nothing here i want you to notice he's naked she's naked and they saw no wrong in that in their perfectness of being everything god he looked but i want to tell you something you don't say whoo to anybody but your own wife26:14and you young people don't say whoo until you find your own husband or wife because there's a lot of whoo's out there there's a lot of whoo's out there there's a lot of money you spent there's a lot of people spend a lot of money whoa you know you it's kind of like buying a ford now you go up to a woman i go up to a girl you go out with what are your accessories like26:43well i have power windows power door locks crews tilt what you see is what you get adam saw the perfect opposite of himself that he knew was the only thing that he had seen in all the time that he'd spent on the earth that completed him and look what the bible says is this is how god saw this is what adam said this is now bone of my bones27:13this is not a camel it's not a monkey it's not an ape she's not something from some other place she's bone of my bones she's flesh of my flesh she shall be called woman because she was taken out of27:35man and then god said let me add something to this for this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother now why did he say that there wasn't even a father and mother there yet and be joined to his wife28:03joined that puzzle that fits so perfectly well together is joined together and they can walk and they think how many of you know what your wife is thinking because of because of what you just said and you know what she's thinking before you said it you know what she was thinking when someone else28:32said it but you as a wife knew know what your husband's thinking you know i can't tell you how many times i've come home in 38 years and gail said okay what's wrong nothing's wrong oh yeah you don't tell me now you'll tell me later what's wrong i'd really rather not talk about it i knew it because we are so fit she knows me how many of you have ever seen people29:01that once they've been married a long time they look alike yeah if gail would just take the dye out of her hair she'd be the same color her mind is calm down that's not a bad thing i'm glad she uses it29:30oh dog i'm digging a hole aren't i guys29:46it's hot up here29:53yeah give the invitation and go to the house we we fixing to we fixing to guys i want to tell you something let's not let the world destroy what god created to be beautiful let's start fighting for what god created to be beautiful30:18and i know there are those out there that said brother chris you know i did a stupid thing and i and and my husband has left me or my wife has left me does that mean i'm no longer fit for happiness no no and and i'll share that quickly but i'll share it in in part two next week because i thought i'd get to it a little bit more than30:43this week but but jesus in his in his work tells us and and i guess he he jesus understands more and about this a lot more about this than we do and i'll i'll find it somewhere along the way but jesus got upset with the pharisees and the sadducees over their bill of divorce31:12and and he came in and and i can't help but think that even in jesus saying this he says there's but one reason that a man should leave or a woman should leave her husband or a man should leave his wife and that is in the event of an immoral adulterous relationship in other words and and the way i take that too is if a man has committed adultery in this beautiful relationship that god has given him he scarred it31:42he scarred what god saw was beautiful and why women do the same thing so we can't pick on one over the other but in that god allows us the opportunity to forgive and when we can truly forgive our spouse for what they've done to this covenant we have between32:07god and we'll talk about relation a covenant relationship next week but but in in god creating us and bringing us together that we should be together does that mean i can't never well sometimes it does you know sometimes there's just never anybody else that comes along but then sometimes somebody does come along and and god understand if if if your spouse was an immoral32:34man or an immoral woman and and the immorality was just pursuant in their life they were they were they were hooked on uh malicious sexual immoral lifestyle then you put them away the bible says because i'd rather i'd rather air as your preacher standing up here on the area of forgiveness32:59that god calls us to do everything we can to forgive our partners and and you know if gail hadn't been a forgiving person for 38 years of our marriage she and a christian and me being a preacher she would have kicked me out a long time ago but we knew 38 years ago this past friday that what god had joined together man could not put asunder33:28could never separate like it or not we're in it for life god saw that man was along and so he created and and and the very word niggad means opposite33:59means opposite and so god created the opposite for the woman and for the man and he brought them together and he made this fantastic statement for us to listen to and and and hear to for this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother be joined to his wife and they shall become one flesh outside the area of christendom outside two believers this is why it is not a good thing and and paul speaks against a non-believer marrying a believer or believer marrying a non-believer34:28because that non-believer lives and is controlled by the world of darkness that he is or she is and that believer is lived and lives in a world understanding the work of the holy spirit and it does not mesh now if you happen to be married to a lost person paul says you don't leave them because they're lost you stay with them and you let the glory and the love of god flow through you so much that your lost spouse sees jesus all over you and that's what they want and you hope that's what34:55happens you pray to god that that's what happens there here's the passage i was looking for earlier some pharisees came to jesus testing him and asking is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason at all and he answered and he said and you have you not read that he that he who created them from the beginning made the male and the female35:19and said for this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be joined to his wife and the two shall become one flesh and so they are no longer two but one flesh well therefore god is joined together let no man separate and they said to him why then did moses command to give her a certificate of divorce and send her away and he said to them because of your hardness35:44of heart because of your sin moses permitted you to divorce your wives but from the beginning it has not been that way notice he said but from the beginning it has not been that way and i say to you whoever divorces his wife except for immorality and that goes the other way as well for the man a woman as well and marries another woman commits adultery36:14there's not a such thing as recreational divorce where we just get tired of living with each other when god through his redemptive power and purpose has brought us together to be one flesh i saw a movie one time and i'm not even sure what it was but it had a man tied to two horses and and36:42it was a i think it was a biblical movie because he was a christian and they they beat the horses until and then it didn't show them but it literally pulled him apart and i thought good gracious how gruesome that is and i think how god looks from heaven when we decide37:12i'm not happy i guess it's just best we don't stay married god says you're pulling apart what i brought together and i know that even in this church this morning the average divorce rate in the church is higher than that in the world37:40percentage-wise 53 to 55 percent of the people in the church divorce and i'm not saying this to beat you up i'm saying this to these guys to have hope that god has a partner for life for them out there and i'm saying it to those who are struggling right now in your marriage to realize that god is fighting for you to stay together and that for those of you that are thinking that it would be easier to walk away than it would38:08be to put up with this idiot that god has placed me with that god can change that idiot he changed me and that no matter how hard it gets no matter how nasty life can become we fight to obey god and not man and we don't do what pleases us38:38we do what pleases god so it would matter let's build that hedge of protection around our relationships with our husbands and wives and let's dare hell to cross it for what god hath joined together man will not put asunder39:07and let me tell you your greatest help in this is your relationship to jesus christ your greatest help in this is you whether you're the husband here by yourself or the wife here by yourself or your husband and wife and you are here but you're not speaking or you're not happy it is god fighting on your side both sides to keep you together father forever39:36father forever okay let's pray father as we come today your word is your word is40:06clear no god how many times have we read your word even knowing in our own lives that none of us none of us are perfect creatures none of us have thought perfect thoughts but god we all have this age-old this age-old and a nature that desires personal pleasure over and against everything but god today we pray for the healing for the healing of homes in turmoil40:34of relationships in disaster of life of life in chaos i pray today for anybody here that's lost and does not know you as their savior i pray today god that your holy spirit would not honor what i have said but what your word has said and we would be obedient to you in jesus name41:05amen just stand for a hymn of invitation this invitation has several purposes one is if you don't know jesus christ as your personal savior we invite you to come forward we'd like to share with you how you can come to have a relationship with a living god through his son jesus christ because we're all sinners and falling away from god none of us none of us meet the mark or hit the target so christ has come that we may41:33please god by trusting in him today maybe you desire to join this fellowship and be a part of what god's doing here we invite you to step out and come and just maybe you're a husband and wife and you say you know i'm not ashamed we're struggling man it's just hard well can i tell you that gal and i have struggled in the last 20 years before you as well there have been some really struggles in our own lives that we thank god we've not been ashamed of42:01but that god has worked through i spent seven days with my wife this past week and we're still talking that's a miracle you want to spend some time grab your wife and come to the altar and spend some time here and go out of here realizing that neither one of you are perfect both of you have got problems and struggles42:32but you're going to fight to build that edge around your relationship and you're going to purpose in your heart to keep that covenant that you made with god and you're not going to let man separate you Thank you.43:02Thank you.More sermons on Genesis →
