Did God Command Polygamy? - [Genesis 4:16-24]

Bethlehem Bible Church

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July 20, 2014

00:01: Well, I actually have been thinking about doing this Not this topic, but I have a series in mind.
00:08: We'll see how that goes And it'll be along this line. Did God actually say?
00:16: Did God actually say? Why would I want to do a series called did God actually say?
00:30: See verse Scripture come to mind. Okay, Jesus temptation.
00:38: I Was going to go with a different temptation Genesis chapter 3 verse 1
00:48: Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made He said to the woman that is
00:55: Eve Did God actually say? Nice nice series.
01:01: I think you shall not eat of any tree in the garden. So here's my point or Where I'm going with it
01:07: There are a number of things that are coming along that people are making allegations about God saying or God commanding or God Commending and I thought
01:19: I might address some of those We know that Satan was lying in Genesis chapter 3 because what did
01:25: God actually say? He didn't say you shall not eat of any tree in the garden in Genesis chapter 2 he said this and the
01:35: Lord God commended the man saying you may surely eat of Every tree of the garden
01:41: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat for in the day you eat of it you shall surely die and Today's atheists have taken a similar tact to what
01:54: Satan did I think in Genesis chapter 3 In particular they attack the
02:00: God of the Old Testament and what's the difference between the God of the Old Testament the God of the New Testament there is no difference
02:08: You know, it's just they like they like Their own little quaint picture of Jesus.
02:14: They don't really like so much the God of the Old Testament But they accuse him of approving of or commanding or even committing slavery genocide rape
02:28: Infanticide and that's just for starters Why why why do you think atheists would attack
02:35: God like that? Russ Well, I think you're exactly right.
02:52: It gives them a platform from for which to Argue for their for their own social agenda but I think it even goes beyond that because if they can show you that the
03:05: God of the Bible is Evil that he is malicious
03:14: That he's ultimately unloving Then maybe you'll give up your faith which they think is a delusion anyway and become rational like they are
03:26: Listen what Christopher Hitchens who wrote the book? God is not great said we ought to be glad That none of the religious myths have or has any truth to it
03:37: That's a sick that none of the religious myths have any truth to them or in it
03:44: The Bible may indeed contain a warrant for listen trafficking in humans for ethnic cleansing for slavery for bride price in other words the selling of brides and for indiscriminate massacre let's go right after God and Here's a stunning or maybe not so stunning truth.
04:06: Not only are they wrong these atheists, but they abuse scripture in the process They are liars just like their father
04:14: Satan And maybe you think well mate. I don't know this topic doesn't seem too
04:20: Applicable to me doesn't seem too relevant to me So I have a few questions for you.
04:26: Do you have a child in public school? If so, he or she is being bombarded with messages that the traditional family is
04:34: Passe it's outmoded It's no longer Fashionable it's no longer what people do
04:41: Do you have a child who plays with those who attend public school because they're gonna get the same message
04:47: Does your child watch TV is? Your child older and going to university college
04:55: Because universities are full of professors and students who believe these things
05:01: Are you aware that there are already those who in light of their victories in the homosexual marriage arena?
05:08: Just like Russell's saying are seeking to push their advances. They want to take their win and push it even further into Polly I Practiced how to say this polyamory
05:20: And went and I'll discuss I'll define that in a moment after all what's the difference right if there's no difference between married being married to a person of the opposite sex and A person of the same sex which is what they're pitching right as long as two adults love each other
05:36: Why should there be laws to restrict them that's their argument well if gender is an artificial construct a social construct and by the way, that's the argument if Jen I mean it has nothing to do with our anatomy or anything like that.
05:53: Okay, I Mean the foolishness of this but if gender is an artificial construct then aren't numbers artificial constructs
06:04: Why two? Why not three four eight eleven Whole town's getting married to each other
06:12: Why not? Who are you to discriminate against? 14 people who love each other
06:20: I mean I'm making the argument that they're making and you say well nobody would make that argument. Oh Well hold on But I just a note it really is shocking how things have changed if we go back
06:36: Less than 150 years Utah was not allowed to join the United States why? They had to change their laws on polygamy that outlawed before they could join the
06:45: United States, and now it's like okay If you don't permit everything under the Sun You know you're a bigots
06:52: Listen to what that now this is a piece that I got from and I'll give you the link if you want it from slate anybody read slate calm kind of a
07:04: Liberal website This is a woman writing this a year ago one year ago
07:12: She says or the title is legalized polygamy. No. I am NOT kidding
07:19: That that's her that's her title Legalized polygamy no, I'm not kidding. That's the entire title now listen what she says
07:26: While the Supreme Court and the rest of us are all focused on the human right of marriage equality
07:33: I'm I'm perfectly willing to cede that right Every man has the right to be married to one woman and every woman has the right to be married to one man
07:42: There there's marriage equality She says everyone's focused on the right of marriage equality let's not forget that the fight doesn't end with same -sex marriage
07:53: We need to legalize polygamy to legalize polygamy in the United States is the constitutional
08:00: Feminist and sex positive choice, whatever that means I I really couldn't tell you more importantly it would help protect empower and strengthen women children and families
08:12: She says for decades the prevailing logic has been that polygamy hurts women and children that makes sense since in contemporary
08:22: American Practice that is often the case in many fundamentalist Latter -day Saints Circles polygamous communities
08:32: For example women and underage girls are forced into polygamous unit unions against their will
08:37: Some boys who represent the surplus of males are brutally thrown out of their homes and driven into homelessness and poverty
08:45: All these stories are tragic and the criminals involved should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law but legalizing
08:54: Consensual adult polygamy Wouldn't legalize rape or child abuse in fact it would make those crimes easier to combat so she's in favor of it and If you go to a lot of college campuses, you're gonna hear talk of this term called the patriarchy which is this idea that men have run the world and they've run it into a real fine hole a real fine mess and The only way to straighten it out is get rid of the patriarchy
09:23: We've got to overthrow. We've got to loosen things up and This goes hand in hand with it
09:29: What we are watching today is nothing less than a massive rebellion against God and his morality and I put his in quotation marks
09:38: I Mean it reminds me of Psalm 2 Listen to Psalm 2 verses 2 and 3 and tell me you know if I substituted peasants for kings
09:49: It'd be the same thing listen The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the
09:55: Lord and against his anointed Saying quote let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us
10:04: What was the psalmist writing about? He was writing about people not wanting
10:10: God to rule over them. They wanted to rebel against him They wanted to do things on their own and the whole point of this is of tonight is this is what we are watching right now
10:21: It's frightening to watch how rapidly things are unwinding And what
10:27: I hope to do in this series is as the occasion warrants answered some of these issues
10:33: Biblically now just a couple of definitions polygamy.
10:39: I think we understand that one one man many wives It's also the definition of insanity
10:46: Paul Polyandry one wife many husbands. I think probably some women
10:56: There might be good, you know they have such a long list of things to do that, you know take like five six seven husbands to do and then polyamory is this concept now of multiple men multiple women and They're all quote -unquote married.
11:14: I watched this little video clip of this little girl being all can well She was straight.
11:20: She understood what was going on, but it's it's confusing when you listen to her You know, she has a couple of different mommies and a couple different daddies and it's just a big mess
11:30: But for them that just seems perfectly normal So to the issue tonight did
11:36: God command polygamy because it's in the Old Testament did he command it did he approve of it
11:41: What do you say about it? It's that I want to look at the origins of polygamy In fact, I almost entitled it the first polygamist, but there just isn't enough material to carry a whole topic off on the one guy
11:53: So, you know the first polygamist And then try to examine
12:01: I'm gonna we're gonna look at some of the examples cited by Unbelievers to determine whether or not they actually mean what they say they mean
12:09: So first, let's look at it this way. I have like I think four questions and Then there are probably sub questions, but four questions overall
12:18: Number one question number one. Where did polygamy originates anybody know who was the first polygamist?
12:28: Lamech is correct. Yes Open your Bibles to Genesis chapter 4
12:35: Genesis is often called the Book of Beginnings or the book of origins.
12:41: And so here we have the origin of polygamy Lamech the father of polygamy.
12:47: There's something to you know be known for how'd you like that on your tombstone the father of polygamy? Probably not that great
12:55: We're gonna see this guy's a real he's a character Genesis chapter 4 I'm gonna start reading at verse 15
13:02: And this is the Lord talking to Cain and I and I will get back to this.
13:09: It is kind of important to look at this Then the Lord said to him to Cain not so if anyone kills
13:15: Cain vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold and The Lord shall put a mark on Cain lest anyone who found him should attack him
13:25: Then Cain went away from the presence of the Lord and settled in the land of Nod east of Eden Cain knew his wife and she conceived and bore
13:34: Enoch when he built a city He called the name of the city after the name of his son
13:39: Enoch To Enoch was born a rad and a rad fathered, etc, etc, etc
13:47: Because who wants to read all these names and Methuselah Methuselah That's what okay fathered
13:55: Lamech verse 19 and Lamech took two wives No command just and Lamech took two wives
14:04: Okay, the one the name of the one was Ada and the name of the other was Zilla It abhorred
14:09: Jabal or J Bal and he was the father of those who dwell in tents and have livestock
14:14: His brother's name was Jubal He was the father of all those who played the lyre and pipe
14:21: Zilla also bore Jubal Cain. He was the forger of all instruments of bronze and iron the sister of Jubal Cain was
14:29: Nema Lamech said to his wives and Here 23 and 24 all we really need to focus on Lamech said to his wives
14:38: Ada and Zilla Hear my voice you wives of Lamech listen to what I say, I have killed a man for wounding me a young man for striking me if Cain's revenge is sevenfold then
14:52: Lamech's is 77 fold first observation
14:59: Lamech has two wives and nothing negative said so Obviously God must be approving of polygamy true
15:08: What's the logical error there That's an argument from Silence doesn't say that the
15:16: Lord was pleased with Lamech. Oh No, it doesn't say that it's just an observation
15:23: Moses is just recording what happened Lamech took two wives. Okay Description is not prescription.
15:31: In other words describing the situation doesn't mean that everybody should do that doesn't even mean that it's right
15:39: We'll see some other examples of this later, but what sort of man was Lamech The father of polygamy the first polygamist what kind of guy was he
15:49: Just a regular neighborhood guy Somebody you like to see around the neighborhood. He was friendly
15:55: Well, not exactly Look at the end of verse 23. He was in a word.
16:00: He was a murderer. I Have killed a man for wounding me a young man for striking me some commentators see this and they think it's he's talking about one
16:10: Instance, but I don't think that's right and most commentators don't see it as one instance. It's two Separate individuals that he killed and in neither case
16:19: Was it self -defense? Because these weren't life -threatening wounds this wasn't
16:27: Some kind of attack on him where he had to defend himself And by the way by saying that he'd killed a young man
16:34: Most likely this is a boy He the emphasis is on his viciousness he's boasting about this
16:42: He wants people to know that he's someone who should be feared. He wants his wives to know that He's the kind of guy who would brag about kicking his own dog
16:51: He's bloodthirsty. I mean this is this is the kind of guy You know in the Old West the war the black hats and everybody, you know when he walked in the town
16:58: Everybody goes there. He is there's the bad guy. This is the bad guy. There's nothing good about him He's not commended he's not commendable.
17:06: He's not a good guy. He's a murderer Secondly, look, he's boastful.
17:12: Look at verse 24 if Cain's revenge is sevenfold then Lamex is 77 fold
17:20: Now again going back to Cain Well, let's back up into Genesis chapter 4 a little bit.
17:26: Look go back to verse 14 This is Cain kind of whining after he gets called out on murdering his brother
17:33: He says to God he says behold you have driven me away today from the ground.
17:44: Sorry For the ground and from your face I shall be hidden I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth and listen and whoever finds me will kill me
17:56: What does that sound like? Is that a boast?
18:05: What's Cain saying? What's that? He's a fugitive.
18:10: He's a frayed He's like I'm gonna be running around there's gonna be a price in my head, right basically everybody's gonna
18:17: I'm gonna be the guy that everybody wants to kill. I Avenged Abel, but again as we read in verse 15 earlier, then the
18:30: Lord said to him not so if anyone kills Cain Vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.
18:35: And so Lamex says Well Cain is afraid And and eventually he settles in Nod east of Eden But he only relaxes when he gets a promise from God that he's gonna be what protected
18:51: God says, you know what? You don't have to worry anybody who attacks you is going to suffer from me sevenfold
18:59: That's good enough for me. So he goes on his way now Lamech He's a he's gonna up the ante a little bit his vengeance is 11 times greater than not
19:13: Cain's Because who's gonna avenge Cain if anybody attacks him God, so Lamech says my vengeance is 11 times more than God's it's pretty tough guy
19:34: Cane knew that he had something to worry about and he was afraid Lamech Murders just what he does
19:43: Anybody comes after me they're gonna get it. I Mean he had to have a big chaw of tobacco in his mouth
19:49: You know and just kind of spit at everything and like three guns on him or something. I mean, he's just a bad guy
19:57: And that's the origins of polygamy. They're ungodly and wicked This is not somebody to be emulated.
20:07: So did I? Don't remember what the first question was now. But anyway, that's the first question
20:14: The origins of polygamy are ungodly and wicked second question. Did God command polygamy short answer is no
20:21: God commanded monogamy And right from the beginning as we'll see in a moment here One man wrote this he says for one thing the
20:29: Old Testament makes clear from the outset What God's ideal is an ideal built into creation if God designed us?
20:40: He also set up The way that we ought to live and here's what atheists and unbelievers generally want.
20:49: They don't like aughts They don't like moral aughts anyway, it's not
20:54: It's not so much that they mind aughts in some cases, but they don't want anyone telling them how to live
21:00: They don't want God to tell them how to live the unsaved the unregenerate heart hates
21:07: God They hate being told what is right and what is wrong? Another author says polygamy was not considered wrong in ancient cultures
21:19: But it was a Departure from the divine institution God ordained. Well, that's true, right?
21:25: It was really and we'll see this later It was a sign of power to have multiple wives that didn't make it
21:32: Okay, it was the pagan Kings who did this to show off But in the
21:38: Bible, there are 15 examples of polygamy from the time of Lamech to the first century 15 that are
21:44: Enumerated or spelled out in the Bible these men had enough power that no one can call into question the practice of polygamy
21:51: Nobody could hold them accountable except for maybe God, but Lamech Abraham Esau Jacob Asher Gideon Elkanah David Solomon Rehoboam Jehoram Joash Jehoiachin Belshazzar and Hosea Polygamy is mentioned in the
22:15: Mosaic law and made or and it's Basically part of the legislation and it was it continued to be part of the practice during Jewish history
22:24: But it was never approved where Abraham David and Solomon condemned
22:33: For practicing polygamy. No, but they paid a price for it What price do you suppose
22:39: Abraham paid for? Practicing polygamy Moses you mean
22:58: I'm thinking about Abraham what in other words Sarah says, you know What why don't you take your handmaid and and since we're not having a baby and we're obviously too old for it
23:08: You know take our servant here and have a baby with her What was the problem with that other than the fact that God hadn't?
23:16: Done that and showed a lack of faith in in God What what what was the long -term outcome of that what happened to that son
23:24: I mean what we see over there in the
23:32: Middle East right now is Ishmael against Yeah against Isaac right the the the son of promise versus the one who wasn't of promise the one that God blessed versus the one
23:46: God didn't bless and What do you think that was like for Abraham to just send Ishmael out into?
23:53: The deserts, I don't think that was probably that great David suffered
24:01: In fact, what do we know that you know his some of his wives were All the thing all the things that David suffered by virtue of his sons were because in part because of this
24:14: I mean if he hadn't committed murder if he hadn't committed adultery if hadn't done all those things
24:19: He would have had a lot less problems and Solomon will get to a little bit more. They certainly did not get blessed.
24:25: In fact, they were cursed in many ways They suffered in many ways because of it Scripture always commanded monogamy and I have a series of scriptures to list there, but it never condoned polygamy
24:40: But like divorce God allowed it to occur and did not bring an immediate punishment for disobedience
24:47: But God's design let's go back to Genesis 2 Genesis 2 24 was obvious from the beginning
24:53: God's design. Let's read Genesis 2 24 therefore a
25:00: Man shall leave his father and his mother and shall hold fast to his wives. Oh wait
25:08: Hold fast to his wife and they shall become multiple flesh. No one flesh
25:14: The idea is of two individuals coming together and being one Not multiple individuals coming together, you know
25:22: If a wife is to cleave to her husband who is to leave his father and mother that's what it's to be.
25:29: I Mean think about it this way when God determined, you know, he Was basically done with creation and what did he say?
25:36: It's not good for man to be alone so he said let's create a
25:42: Companion suitable for him. He didn't say companions He didn't make multiple, you know women well here you can have your choice between Eve and you know
25:52: Wasn't like that one man one woman. That was the creation The creation order that was his setup from the beginning and what's more?
26:05: God himself models that singular love that covenant love
26:11: And Kind of a husbanding love for whom for Israel all through the Old Testament So we have that picture to go along with it
26:22: Now let's look at Leviticus we're gonna be looking at a lot of different passages here tonight Leviticus 18 18
26:38: And you shall not take a woman as a rival wife to her sister
26:44: Uncovering her nakedness while her sister is still alive Now there are a series of prohibitions coming up here on right after a bunch of incest prohibitions
26:56: Why this one here? Well one man argues that the idea is Not so much a biological sister, but to prevent you from taking a second
27:05: Israelites woman and he says that it's reinforced by the term taking a rival wife and He points out the using the usage of that word elsewhere
27:18: But I think the point is it at least prevented It at the very least no matter how you interpret that verse at the very least
27:27: Prevented a guy from taking some his wife's sister as his second wife so there were limitations on it
27:35: Let's look at Deuteronomy 17 17 and this This really comes to fruition in the life of Solomon who will look at here and the history really of polygamy in Israel was one where strife competition and disharmony take roots but Deuteronomy 17 17
28:03: Talking about well in fact I want to back up I'll read verses 14 17 and I think the picture kind of comes to focus here when you come to the land.
28:12: This is God speaking to Israel When you come to the land that the Lord your God is giving you and you possess it and dwell in it and then say this
28:21: Is a prophecy I will set a king over me like all the nations that are around me in other words
28:27: Israel wants to be just like all the other countries You may indeed set a king over you whom the
28:33: Lord your God will choose One from among your brothers you shall set as king over you
28:39: You may not put a foreigner over you who is not your brother, which is common
28:44: I mean, it's interesting if you even in recent history It's not uncommon for the king of England to have been born in Germany or the king of Spain to be born in France or whatever and they there were just royal
28:57: Families and they would set them up on different kingdoms But God says you will not put a foreigner over you who is not your brother
29:05: Only he must not acquire again talking about this king must not acquire many horses for himself or cause the people who return to Egypt in Order to acquire many horses since the
29:15: Lord has said to you you shall never return that way again Verse 17 and he shall not acquire many wives for himself lest his heart turn away
29:25: Nor shall he acquire for himself excessive silver and gold Now one commentator
29:31: Eugene Merrill Says this he says foreign kings would tend to divert in other words if they put a foreigner in charge of Israel Israel's loyalty from the
29:40: Covenant's away from God a large contingent of horses would rekindle interest in returning to Egypt from which the best were obtained the best horses and Many wives listen with their diverse backgrounds and pagan religions
29:57: Would induce their husbands to follow after their illicit cults Samuel hinted that Saul would emulate some of these improprieties and of course
30:07: Solomon embraced many of them with unbridled enthusiasm That all this came to pass does not by any means prove that Deuteronomy That the
30:16: Deuteronomy text was composed after the event blah blah blah It is simply a statement of profound insight into the human condition one that understands the pride and predilections
30:26: Of those who would rule in ignorance or divine defiance of divine mandate. What's he saying here?
30:32: He's saying that it appeals to the flesh of men their pride to have many wives that apply appeals to them to Have a lot of horses to show how powerful and rich they are all these things, but listen what he says about Solomon having 700 wives and 300 concubines
30:55: Consider that Solomon at one time was considered the wisest man in the world Then he fell into this state
31:02: Listen to 1st Kings 11 verse 4 for it came to pass when Solomon was old that his wives
31:08: Turned his heart after other gods. It's exactly what it said in Deuteronomy if he had a lot of wives
31:16: This is what would happen and his heart was not perfect with the Lord as God as was the heart of David his father
31:23: Notice Solomon became a poly polytheist Because he was influenced in polygamy many many
31:33: One wife one God, that's all you need In his case many wives became many gods now again.
31:40: It was smart politics Really up until a couple hundred years ago
31:48: To marry somebody from foreign kingdoms, you know, they would often do that Why you know like the the king of France would try to get the king of Spain to marry his sister.
32:00: Why? Why would you do that? Strength of the
32:05: Alliance because it's pretty hard to say well We're gonna declare war, you know war on Spain when it's your sister.
32:11: Who's the Queen over there? And so in the ancient times they would they would sell off Of course, they had bigger families because if you have you know, 60 70 700 wives and 300 concubines you probably have a few kids, too and So, you know you could sell them off or sell them off you can marry them off to everybody right and thus have all kinds of In -laws as it were, you know places where you you were safe from attack and that was the whole
32:42: Rationale behind it and besides that like I said before everybody's doing it. Solomon looks around.
32:47: He goes look I've got a lot of money And look at all these other Kings and what they're doing, but spiritually it was suicide
32:57: It was deadly a third question Did God commend?
33:05: Polygamy did he say it was good? No, we never see that anywhere in Scripture Nowhere is it ever commended?
33:16: in fact quite the opposite is true turn to 1st Timothy chapter 3 and By the way, this is nothing new 1st
33:28: Timothy chapter 3 Beginning in verse 1 the saying is trustworthy if anyone aspires to the office of overseer that that is elder
33:38: Pastor presbyter He seeks a noble task Therefore an overseer must be above reproach the husband of one wife
33:48: Sober -minded self -controlled respectable hospitable able to teach not a drunkard nor violent
33:54: No, but gentle not quarrelsome not a lover of money. He must manage his own household
33:59: Well with all dignity keeping his children submissive. I like it better if it said keeping his wife's well, they're right
34:08: But Here's the point. It's a spiritual qualification being a one -woman man is a spiritual qualification
34:16: It's required for spiritual leadership and that same pattern goes way back
34:21: How many wives did Noah have? One and he was commended and he took his one wife into the ark and contrary to the
34:33: Quran she survived right, I guess All his sons all
34:40: Noah's sons took one wife God called Noah's family righteous If polygamy is ordained of God if it's commended by God It would have made sense that Noah and his sons would have taken additional wives with them to repopulate the earth faster
34:58: Right, you have this big flood you want people to be fruitful and multiply
35:04: Well, the more wives the more children But that's exactly wrong
35:12: Hebrews 13 verses 3 and 4 says marriage is honorable among all and the
35:18: Bed undefiled but fornicators and adulterers God will judge. Well, how can it not be adultery to marry a second wife?
35:27: Proverbs 5 15 says, you know in this context Solomon's talking about staying away from Sexual sin about this woman who's aggressive
35:41: What does he say what does he advise he says drink well from your own cistern Flowing water from your own.
35:47: Well, well, we know that that's euphemistic language. It's symbolic language having to do with your wife
35:54: Not drink from water from your own cisterns Of course then it starts sounding like more like I'm talking about plural sisters, but no
36:04: Just drink well from your own or water from your own cistern your own wife be faithful to one woman
36:14: And what's what do you suppose the biggest? Scriptural issue is with this whole idea of polygamy
36:24: What do you think the biggest problem would be if I just said, you know what the Bible says it's fine What would be the biggest issue for Christians?
36:32: There's a hint the biggest issue
36:37: I'm gonna suggest is the image that's developed in the New Testament of Christ and the church the relationship between Jesus and the church
36:53: Let's go to Ephesians chapter 5. I Mean we we could go to Revelation where what's the church called the bride, right?
37:02: Why is that because there's a bridegroom and There aren't bride grooms and there aren't brides.
37:09: There's one bride one unit and it is the church in totality Ephesians 5 beginning in verse 24
37:17: Now as the church submits to Christ so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands
37:24: Husbands love your wives. Listen as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her that he might sanctify her having cleansed her by washing with the word washing of water with the word so that he might present the church to himself in Splendor without spot or wrinkle or any such thing that she might be holy and without blemish
37:45: Blemish in the same way husbands should love their wives And by the way, that means each their own wife singular not multiple wives as their own bodies
37:56: You only have one body you have one wife he who loves his wife loves himself Moving down there a little bit further to verse 32.
38:06: This mystery is profound and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church However, let each one of you love his wife as himself and let the wife see that she respects her husband that whole picture breaks down if Polygamy is acceptable if it's biblical
38:26: Christ and multiple wives that That's wrong Again, this is 2 ,000 years ago when
38:33: Paul's writing this the Old Testament was studied. It was memorized They knew about polygamy
38:38: But if it was commanded if it was commended this would be kind of a shock to the churches.
38:44: Well, wait a minute Why is that a good picture when we know that it's better to have more wives?
38:51: It's just wrong question number four What should we make of the efforts to legalize?
39:01: polyamory polygamy polyandry these multiple pluralic
39:08: Marriages, what do we do about it? Well first we should remember that in every assault of unbelievers against the truth of God They are arguing from a position of hatred against God They hate
39:22: God. That's what the Bible says Psalm 5 for you are not a
39:28: God who delights in wickedness Evil may not dwell with you the boastful And I'm thinking about Lamech when
39:35: I say that the boastful shall not stand before your eyes you hate all evildoers You destroy those who speak lies the
39:43: Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man. God hates them They hate him. They are his enemies
39:51: Seconds we should remember that this world is going to get more and more sinful a couple of different passages
39:58: Romans 1 I'm just gonna read 28 to 32 and Since they mankind did not see fit to acknowledge
40:04: God God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness evil covetousness malice
40:14: They are full of envy murder strife deceit maliciousness. They are gossip slanderers haters of God insolent insolent haughty boastful inventors of evil
40:28: Disobedient to parents foolish faithless heartless ruthless Though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die
40:38: They not only do them but give approval to those who practice them. That's what we see today
40:43: It's not enough that these things are happening, but you actually are supposed to approve of them
40:50: Second Timothy 3 verses 12 and 13 Indeed all who desire to live a godly life in Christ.
40:56: Jesus will be persecuted While evil people and imposters will go on from bad to worse
41:03: Deceiving and being deceived things are going to continuously get worse and worse
41:11: Third the answer to rage and anger is not rage and anger
41:18: Second Timothy 2, I mean I I read some of the faith Facebook posts and I'm just like, you know
41:24: It's pointless to try to argue with people about morality Listen to 2nd
41:29: Timothy chapter 2 verses 24 to 26 and the Lord's servant Must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone able to teach patiently enduring evil
41:43: Correcting his opponents with gentleness God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth and They may come to their senses and listen
41:57: Escape from the snare of the devil after being captured by him to do his will
42:02: There are little Satan robots running around doing what they do They're his children.
42:08: They're programmed by him. They do what? Their master wants them to do we have to appeal to God By his word to release them to grant them repentance a change of mind
42:23: Fourth the government cannot save us politics is ultimately not the key.
42:28: Well, why not? Because we're gonna be outnumbered I Mean we can't impose the truth on people
42:38: Now does that mean that you cannot and should not try? You know that you shouldn't be involved in the political process.
42:44: No It just means that you're like the proverbial kid, you know When the the holes start popping up in the dam and you're just trying to stick your fingers in all the holes eventually you
42:54: Run out of fingers and that's what's going to happen too many problems and too little of you
43:00: You can't solve them all furthermore The natural man is the group pictured in Psalm 2 as I said earlier trying to cast off the restraining power or the fetters of God Their goal is unrestrained sin and there is no fear of God in their hearts
43:17: Therefore they just keep sinning and they want more and more and more Government cannot save us.
43:24: We can't even count on the Supreme Court Fifth arguing scripture with unbelievers is like arguing auto mechanics with me
43:32: It's a waste of time. I don't know anything and they don't know anything about scripture. Oh, they could say that they do
43:38: But they don't I read the fact I read this top 10 list of You know, you might be a fundamentalist if and it was it was written from an atheistic point of view
43:47: It wasn't very nice. And number one was, you know, if you're a fundamentalist Christian Basically atheists know more about the
43:54: Bible than you do and you don't care I'm like, I don't think that's true. I hope it's not true.
44:00: But here's what I do know about atheists They don't understand scripture rightly because they don't have the Holy Spirit They might be able to pick up some truths, but they don't they don't understand the
44:10: God of the Bible So they're never they can't believe it and they don't really trust it. They're looking for errors and not for the truth sixth the answer is
44:23: What do you do with these people you have to give them the gospel we can you know
44:31: Have all the protests we want we can we can think whatever we want. We can believe the Bible which is good, right?
44:37: We can think whatever we want about Polygamy and all these other things and be right, but we also have to understand that we're not going to change the governmental system
44:47: And we're not called to do that. We're called to honor the king no matter how unreasonable the king might be that's
44:55: Ultimately not the point. The point is we have to submit to these God placed authorities in our lives
45:01: We can't change the law or even if we can it won't change the heart Now one writer
45:08: I was reading I really like this he goes this is what their strategy is It worked for homosexual marriage, and now they're going to try it on other issues like polyamory
45:19: Stage one is to tolerate it in other words We need to be tolerance and and they're gonna preach tolerance and they're gonna push it and you know
45:26: We need to be open -minded stage two is to legislate it and we see it all over the place
45:33: Stage three is to make opposition to it intolerable Then he says wash rinse repeat
45:42: This is what we're gonna see over and over again, and I was reading something the other day about I think it was a judge who raised the idea of The the age of consent and whether that should be something else that's looked at you know and and so we're going to see this
45:59: It's now Homosexual marriage It's going to be polygamy polyamory
46:05: Polyandry, and we're going to see them pressing the edge trying to get pedophilia
46:13: The laws on that I think will probably be attacked here in the near future So what do we do preach the gospel
46:22: Teach our children the truth I mean really what you have to do is you have to equip them Because these things are gonna hit them and if they don't know the answers or if they don't trust the
46:31: Word of God They're gonna be in a lot of trouble We need to stand up against deception when we can a
46:37: Christian should never vote to legalize debauchery I don't really understand for example the idea of voting to approve different things that that the world wants because all these things have attachments with them and I don't care whether it's a
46:54: Casino or Whatever it is if you think that all that's happening is now that people who have extra money are going to spend it at the casino instead of you know on the lottery tickets you're deluded because other things attach themselves to that namely alcoholism
47:15: Prostitution all manner of sin and crime attends legalized gambling
47:22: We should also pray for our leaders for our governmental leaders, we should pray that they get saved
47:28: But above all we have to rest in the finished work of Christ We know that things are going to get worse and worse
47:34: This world is passing away and this world is not our home and that's the good news
47:41: But does God? Command polygamy. No, does he approve of polygamy?
47:46: No From the beginning it was always one man One woman period that was his design and that is his command.
47:56: Let's pray father we thank you for your word more sure than the changing opinions of the world the the wisdom of this age really nothing more than Better lies that the father of lies is disseminating through his children
48:20: Father guard our hearts against either participating in these evil deeds or even condoning them in any kind of way
48:29: But father, let us not be discouraged knowing that things are going to get worse and worse Let us focus instead on Christ on his finished work trusting in him and even saying
48:40: Lord Jesus come quickly because as we watch as we see we're just Vexed in our spirits and Lord, we long for you to come and set the world, right?
48:56: Father, I pray for each one here this evening that our hearts would be stirred to love and good works and just to be reminded that Whatever is going on you are on your throne.