A High View of Marriage | Genesis 2:18-25

Scripture

• Genesis 2:18–25

About this sermon

Introduction: According to one source: In 1920 there was one divorce for every seven marriages in our nation. In 1940, one divorce for every six marriages. In 1960, one divorce for every four marriages. In 1972, one for every three. By 1977, one for every two. In a 57-year period, divorce went from something uncommon to something very common. Another source says that: Almost 50 percent of all marriages in the United States will end in divorce or separation. It is estimated that 41 percent of all first marriages end in divorce. 60 percent of second marriages end in divorce. 73 percent of all third marriages end in divorce. Apparently, you don’t get better with practice! And if you ever wondered about the power of INFLUENCE on divorce: The number of people getting divorced after age 50 has roughly doubled since 1990. For those aged 65 and above, the divorce rate has tripled. People with a friend who got divorced are 75 percent more likely to get divorced themselves. If they know a divorced friend of a friend, the risk of divorce goes up 33 percent. A culture that is in moral decline has produced more divorces, and with that decline has come more and more people encouraging others to divorce. If you know someone who encourages you to divorce, you are much more likely to do it. One key factor in this horrible uptick in divorces has been a sexual rebellion. In our nation we have witnessed a sexual revolution (one that embraced the murder of millions of babies by abortion). That sexual revolution led to a homosexual revolution. That homosexual revolution has reached to a point of moral madness where now in VERY PUBLIC and HIGH REACHING governmental conversations (approval for the Supreme Court), people are afraid to define what a man or a woman is. You can’t embrace these sexual sins — this new amoral worldview — without rejecting a biblical worldview. When you reject a biblical worldview, you devastate generations of people. You devastate a culture’s marriages and families. As men abandon God, they become morally insane, and the result is that marriage is no longer held in high regard. THIS is the real problem when we talk about divorce. As we said this morning, the starting place for understanding the commonness of divorce is not that we don’t treat divorce seriously. The real problem is that we don’t treat marriage as seriously as Scripture does. Tonight, I want us to focus on two specific statements made in the 24th verse of this passage. The 24th verse is often referenced throughout the Bible. The first statement has to do with a husband holding fast to his wife, and the second has to do with the one flesh bond. ESV Malachi 2:15 aDid he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union?1 And what was the one God2 seeking?3 bGodly offspring. So guard yourselves4 in your spirit, and let none of you be tfaithless to the wife of your youth. ESV Matthew 19:5 and said, ab'Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and bthe two shall become one flesh'? ESV Mark 10:7 a'Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife,1 8 and athe two shall become one flesh.' So they are no longer two but one flesh. ESV 1 Corinthians 6:16 Or do you not know that he who is joined1 to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, a"The two will become one flesh." ESV Ephesians 5:31 ab"Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and bthe two shall become one flesh." It is obvious, then, that the biblical writers understood this to be a significant statement in Scripture that is fundamental to our understanding of marriage. It is the only statement on marriage that you’ll find repeated that many times. What do we learn from this? • MARRIAGE IS A COVENANT RELATIONSHIP The first statement I want us to consider is that the man shall leave his father and mother and “hold fast to his wife” (ESV). “Be joined to his wife” (NASB). “Hold fast” translates the Hebrew word דָּבַק The basic meaning of that word is to cling to, to hold on to, to stick to someone. דָּבַק S1692 TWOT398 GK1815, דָּבֵק S1695 TWOT398 GK1816 vb. cling, cleave, keep close It is used in the book of Job to refer to clods of dirt that had clung together when they became wet. It’s used of armies that made a pact with one another — to cling to, to hold on to, to stick to someone. What’s interesting, especially in this context, is that it’s also a word used in Old Testament passages dealing with covenants.

Topics

• Marriage
• God the Father