Let Marriage Be Held In Honor

Hebrews 13 and the Cultural Crisis Over Marriage

With me once again please to the book of Hebrews chapter 13. We press forward in our studies and this evening certainly address a very very relevant text relevant to our day and to what we face in our society.

Hebrews chapter 13 let's ask the Lord to bless our time together. Our grace Heavenly Father once again as we open your word we ask that you would gather with us by your spirit. Lord as we consider a passage that speaks directly to what we must say to our society today we ask that you would give us understanding that you be with our memories that we might recall we might be able to be servants of yours in this dark dying land.

We pray in Christ's name. If I had begun to collect just the articles that I saw this week relevant to the fourth verse of Hebrews chapter 13 I could have taken the entire time that we have this evening just reading them.

I'm just talking about the articles that were published in this past week. We know that no matter how hard we try even if we are trying to avoid the subject for any period of time we cannot do so. We live in a day where our society is focused upon one particular subject.

I realize that it is but the tip of the spear. It is the result of a fundamental realignment of how our society thinks. It is the result of generations now, decades of secular thought, naturalistic materialism being enshrined within the educational system.

The fact that now about three-quarters of the young generation actually supports the redefinition of marriage which can only happen when there has been a moral and ethical revolution that has taken place not in the sense of compelling arguments that have been presented in any way but in fact I submit the result of an utter degradation of thought as far as how we view ourselves as human beings.

We now see ourselves as mere animals. We see ourselves as capable of redefining our own reality based upon our desires and our wants. The fulfillment of the personal desires of each individual is now the greatest good.

Since that has taken place, this subject is now being used and the conclusion that the world has come to that you have to hold a particular perspective, if you hold a different perspective on the subject, you are hate-filled, you're a bigot, you're backwards, you're behind history, on the wrong side of history, all these things are now a part of our daily experience.

We are seeing individuals, we just saw recently an individual, I don't get the feeling that the man's even a Christian, but we saw an individual who dared to give a small donation a number of years ago to a proposition that simply upheld historic morality in regards to the subject of marriage, could not function as the CEO of a major corporation, has to be punished for having been wrong, even back then, even when he was in the majority, this is the reality that we face today.

Of course we're told that the Bible doesn't have any relevance to this subject, that we're just simply holding to early Bronze Age morality when we look at what the Scriptures say, but the reality is that here in the midst of these commands, let brotherly love continue, show hospitality, remember those who are in chains.

The very next verse is about marriage. We read it this morning, let's read it once again, Hebrews chapter 13, the first four verses. Actually I may go just past it so we can see the entire context. Let love the brethren continue, do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it.

Remember the prisoners as though in prison with them, and those who are ill-treated since you yourselves are also in the body. Marriage is to be held in honor among all, and the marriage bed is to be undefiled, for fornicators and adulterers God will judge.

Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have, for he himself has said, I will never desert you, nor will I forsake you. So we may confidently say, the Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid, what will man do to me?

The Weight of Hebrews 13:4 in a Secular Age

Now once again I think because there are a number of commands that are put together in a short space here that sometimes people just sort of gloss over them, yeah okay there's that, there's that, because there's not an extended argument sometimes people do not put as much weight into these commands as they should, but the reality is that when you look at what is being said here, at the end of this particular verse, verse 4, there is a strong reassertion of a fundamental Christian belief that is no longer held within our society, and that's why we need to understand, for some of us that are on the far side of half a century on the planet, it's difficult to understand how any people could so purposefully beg for God's judgment to come upon them as our nation is begging for God's judgment.

It's hard for us to understand. I mean some of you may recall, I'm not sure how many years ago it was, but Pastor Fry brought his father's army issue New Testament that had been given to every soldier in World War II, and in the front there was a recommendation to the reading of these pages by some chaplain someplace?

No, but you can confirm for me, I think it was the Commander-in-Chief himself, the President of the United States. Now, there were calls for fasting and prayer after Pearl Harbor and at the invasion, D-Day that we just celebrated the 70th anniversary of.

It was a completely different context than today. Back then there was a desire, we want God's blessing upon our nation for survival. Now, it seems that the vast majority of our fellow citizens not only don't care about God's judgment, they don't care if they're begging that it come upon them.

What has happened? What has changed? But notice, after speaking of marriage for fornicators and adulterers, God will judge. I submit to you that the only way to understand the radical change, the revolution that we are seeing in front of us, is that that singular thought that there is a God and he judges righteously.

He has revealed his law. His law is known to us by the conscience. And there will come a day when every one of us, including presidents and senators and representatives and Supreme Court justices and circuit court justices, will stand before God and will be judged for what we did in the body.

That day is coming. And when God blesses a people, he presses the reality of that truth upon their minds and upon their hearts. When God is ready to turn a people over to their own destruction, they lose the recognition.

They become amused with things of the world. They don't think about eternity. They don't think about the fact that there will be there will be a day of reckoning. The vast majority of our fellow citizens, when they're pressed, will say, well, yeah, maybe.

But if it does not impact how you live your life, you really don't believe it. You really don't believe it. This is the final result of Darwinism. The rise of the religion of Darwinism. All we are animals.

When we die, that's it. What we did in the body, someone might record in a book someplace, but it's not going to matter to me because I'm going to be gone. I don't have to worry about the future. I don't have to worry about future generations.

I have no responsibility to anyone but me. That is the result of the religion of Darwinism. And it has massive implications all across the ethical and moral spectrum. A writer says, marriage is to be held in honor among all, and the marriage bed is to be undefiled.

Marriage as a Heterosexual Institution

Now, there was no one, no one in this day and age that believed what now the majority of the younger generation in our land believes to be true. No one. And so I guess young people today are the most brilliant people that have ever lived.

If you're less than 30 today, congratulations. The rest of us are morons in comparison to you. At least that's seemingly how they think. Most of them have never read any books on morality or ethics or even history or can even name maybe 30 out of the 50 states, but they're more brilliant than all the rest of us and all of mankind put together in history.

But the reality is there was no one, no one in this day pushing the things that we are hearing are moral and good and ethical. In our day and age, no one. And so when we talk about marriage, we know what it was.

All people say, no, no, no, no. There are all sorts of different kinds of marriage. There's one thing that has been absolutely consistent all the way down history. Marriage is heterosexual. Marriage involves male and female.

Was there polygamy? There was a step down from God's ideal. There's no question about that. Jesus taught what was God's ideal. From the beginning, this is the way it was. God created male and female, one male, one female.

That's the union that God blesses. It was always heterosexual. There has never been any variation from that. And so when you see people saying, yeah, but you know, you had polygamy, it's like, yes, but it was always heterosexual.

Never, never has man been so confused about the obvious as he is today in our land. Marriage is to be held in honor among all. Well, why would the writer, if there wasn't any same-sex marriage movement back then, and there wasn't, then why would the writer say this?

Church History, Celibacy, and the Degradation of Marriage

Well, historically, we need to recognize that there have been some rather odd movements, even amongst people who call themselves Christians, in regards to marriage. I've had the opportunity of teaching church history a number of times, and that's what I was doing in Kiev back in February, was teaching a church history class, and I had the opportunity of pointing out to the students there in the seminary that there have been a number of times when groups have arisen within the church that have, in essence, degraded marriage.

They have said that it's a lesser state, that celibacy is the highest state, and some have gone so far as to say marriage is not proper for Christians in any way. That it is inappropriate for a truly spiritual person to engage in carnal relations.

And there's one thing that church history tells us with great clarity. Every group that decides that marriage should be banned dies out fairly quickly. They all do. Oh, they keep rising. These groups keep coming up.

You've got the Montanists, and you've got various Gnostic sects and things like that. They arise, and they say, we have a higher way. And within a generation, they're gone, for some strange, odd reason.

Well, we can guess what those reasons are. But there have been those, even within modern Roman Catholicism, because of the concept of the priesthood. A completely unbiblical concept, utterly not to be found in the pages of the New Testament.

It develops at a later time. Because of that, and because of non-Christian influences coming into tradition later on, you have the rise of monasticism and all these things. And so, to this day, you have the celibate male priesthood.

Well, celibate in claim, anyways, but we know that's not really what ends up happening. We know, down to the history of the Roman system, that many, many priests, bishops, popes, had wives. And now, in this day, there's a tremendous amount of homosexuality amongst the priesthood, because it's an unnatural thing.

And the Apostle Paul addressed those who forbid marriage elsewhere in the New Testament. And so, we know that there are those who degraded marriage, because, well, you know, all the hoi polloi do that.

You know, all the lower people, the lower classes, they breed like rabbits. And so, that can't be a really high spiritual state. And there were various groups that would have two different levels of membership, for example.

You could be in the lower level and be married, and the higher level would be where you'd be celibate. And so, notice it says, marriage to be held in honor among all. Scriptures do not give us any room to create different levels of Christians based upon whether you engage in this or engage in that, whether you're married or not married, unlike what you have in so much of Romanism today and things like that.

Marriage is to be held in honor among all. Why? Because it is the very first divine institution amongst mankind. I mean, the population was really small when God took a rib from Adam and made Eve, made woman, and brought him to Adam, and Adam broke out in poetry, as we pointed out.

First thing he did when he sees Eve, he breaks out in poetry. That was a pretty small human population, and yet marriage was already established by God. He arranged, he was the original matchmaker. He arranged that marriage.

And because God made it, and because that changed the one not good in creation, everything was good, but it was not good for man to be alone. So, God creates a helper suitable corresponding to him. God establishes marriage, and therefore, if we're thinking creatures, we will honor what God honors.

And since God established, and it's amazing we have to say this today, but since God established heterosexual marriage, and that's the only marriage that can fit into this text, then the only marriage that can be honored by Christians is the marriage that God designed.

So, we need to understand, and we need to be expressing this with clarity to the world around us. When they say, you're discriminating, you're engaging in bigotry, you're engaging in hatred, you're engaging in bias, we need to turn the light of reason upon this insanity, and say, you are demanding that we stop believing what Christians have always believed.

You are demanding that we reject what the Scripture says, and you won't even give us meaningful reasons to do so. In fact, when we ask for meaningful reasons, all you do is yell and scream the louder at us.

Our Bible says, marriage to be held in honor among all, and the only marriage that could ever refer to is a man and a woman. That is an honorable relationship, and it is to be held in honor among all, because God ordained it.

That is the command. It's interesting, those individuals that I have debated over the years, and those individuals who said they would debate me and now are running and hiding because they don't want to debate this issue any longer, who put out books and things like that, those individuals that will say that there's only really six verses in the Bible about this subject.

They're wrong. There are six specific texts that make reference to the subject of homosexuality. Yeah, that's true, that are directly relevant. But there is so much more than that. And as I've said, the positive teaching of Scripture on the nature of marriage is our greatest bulwark and defense.

And this text should be right at the front of our thinking when we are considering this subject. Especially because it can allow us to give a positive presentation before we have to get into the negative material as far as the specific references to homosexuality and dealing with the Levitical code and things like that.

Marriage is beheld in honor among all. And there's a specific marriage that's in mind. There is nothing else. There is no scholar on the planet, not even the most radical homosexuals that I know of, can come up with any way of defending the idea that what is being referred to in that verse is anything other than heterosexual male-female marriage.

It's the only possible way. Only possible way to understand this text. And it is to be held in honor among all. And what the world is saying to you and I is, stop believing that. You must honor more than this.

And we say with the apostles, whether it's better to obey God or man, we leave that to you. We're going to obey God. That's the situation we're being put in. But it doesn't just stop there. It doesn't just stop there.

It literally says marriage is to be honored among all and the bed undefiled. And so various translations will try to smooth that out because it's not smooth in translation at all. Is it talking about different things?

No. I think what it's saying is, just as we saw in those groups that basically said, well, if you engage in natural relations between man and woman in marriage, everybody does that. That's sort of a lower thing and the higher thing is to deny these things and to exist on this higher spiritual plane.

The scriptures are saying the marriage bed is to be undefiled. And what does that mean? Well, two things. Let's talk about negatively, it's pretty obvious, given what follows afterwards, what the defiling of the marriage bed would include.

The Marriage Bed, Sexual Sin, and the Glory of God

Fornication, adultery. Now, there again is no possible way, exegetically, if we believe that the New Testament is the word of God, we want to hear what it says, there's no way to avoid the reality that under that terminology that is used here, when it uses pornoos, pornaya, that homosexuality would be included in that.

It's included in that, there's no question. Nobody for hundreds of years before or hundreds of years afterwards would have ever disputed the assertion that an individual engaging in homosexual relationships would be described as fornication.

That's a violation of God's will. No question about it. Every commentator, everybody. But you can't believe that anymore. That's hateful. That's bigotry. They didn't know back then. No, they were not nearly as stupid as we would like to think that they were.

They understood a whole lot more than we give them credit for. So the point is, that would be a defiling of the marriage bed. It would be a defiling of the marriage bed, just as adultery, unfaithfulness, any of the other sexual sins clearly laid out for us in the text of Scripture would likewise defile the marriage bed.

The marriage bed is to be honored because God ordained it. And so on the negative side, any of those activities that would violate that sanctity of the marriage bed, God will judge. God will judge. But positively, there is a positive statement here.

The marriage bed is undefiled. This stands completely against all of those systems of thought that developed that would in any way say that there is a diminishment of proper spirituality in a man who is married to a woman or a woman who is married to a man, in fatherhood or motherhood, which requires the relationships of the fexes.

There is a positive statement in Scripture that it is wrong, it is improper, it is against God's truth to relegate that special relationship, that becoming one flesh, to a lower spirituality. That is very common in the thinking of mankind.

But it is not Christian thought. And we know, we know in the history of the church that the farther people got away from biblical Christianity and more into tradition and being influenced by Greek philosophy and things like that, we know that eventually we had the amazing discussions about whether the woman really has the same worth as a man, whether the woman has a soul, all the rest of this foolishness that never would have entered into the history of the Christian church had the Scriptures and the soul sufficiency of Scriptures remained the focus of those individuals.

Sola Scriptura remains important for many, many reasons. But here you have the specific statement. The marriage bed is to be undefiled. The marriage bed is ordained by God. It is proper, it is good, and when a man loves a woman and they come together the way God has ordained them to relate to one another, God is glorified in that relationship.

And there is nothing, nothing to be embarrassed about in affirming that. Marriage is good. It's a gift from God. It's a gift from God. And let me tell you something else. When you don't say that straightforwardly in our day, when we have a secular world where we are nothing but evolved animals, there is no foundation left for honoring that relationship and seeing it for the special lifelong relationship that it is.

And you want to see why men are dumping their wives, looking for the new young thing, using their money, using their influence? You want to see why that type of thing is going on? Once you no longer see marriage as ordained by God, and that it's a proper thing, then you have no reason to not look for a new model.

You have no reason to honor that relationship. You have no reason to recognize why. Think of what it's like. You all have seen them. You've seen those couples. I am so thankful that I got to celebrate my parents' 50th wedding anniversary with them.

And to take them out. This was the first time my parents had ever been in a stretch limo. I rented one of those stretch limos and went down to the compass room. And we had a great night that evening. It was wonderful.

And we look at those people, and I just saw an article yesterday about what we think are the longest married couple in the United States. And they're still together. They're still alive. They're as old as dirt, but they eloped at a real young age.

And they're still together after 82 years? I think it may have been around 82 years, something like that. That was great to see. And we naturally look at that and go, man, that's fantastic. Why? Why is that fantastic?

You and I know why it's fantastic. We have the foundation to understand it. The world looks at that and goes, man, that guy certainly skipped a lot of fun. How else can they look at it? They have no foundation for truly honoring the relationship of one man and one woman together for life.

I'm saying to you, this younger generation, which no longer shares these foundations, has been robbed of their humanity and been relegated to the level of animals. In our society today, the promiscuous are honored and elevated.

The chaste are considered to be foolish. It is the fulfillment of Isaiah. They call white black and black white, good evil and evil good. But they are the ones who suffer the result. God did not make us to live as animals.

Judgment, Mercy, and the Call to Speak Truth in Love

Marriage is to be held in honor among all. All Christians, but all people. When marriage is not held in honor amongst a people, as it is no longer held in honor amongst our people, God will judge that people.

Did we not read in Proverbs this morning? Sin is a reproach to any people. So, we have the clear words of Scripture for fornicators and adulterers. God will judge. It's simply a given of the biblical revelation that there will be judgment.

That God will not allow inequity, injustice to continue on without remedy. The day of judgment is coming. It is assumed from Genesis to Revelation. We learn more and more about it progressively through Scripture, but we know about that day of judgment when those books will be opened.

And we have every promise that the one who sits in judgment upon the throne is just and righteous. There will be no inequity. But he is also absolutely pure and holy. There will be no place to hide for anyone.

No place to hide. And those who mock his law, mock the institutions that he has placed among men for their own flourishing and good, will be judged. And they will be judged according to a perfectly holy standard.

Not the grandpa sitting upon the throne who himself is a sinner and therefore he's going to wink at sin. This is the creator, the perfect holy creator, and he will judge. And he will judge all sin. That is why, as Christians, we understand, we proclaim, that we are guilty before God.

And if we were not in Christ Jesus, our own and soul hope, the wrath of God would wash us away. The wrath of God would find a place in us and we would be destroyed. But we confess, not because of any good in us, but because we are in him.

I've used the illustration many times, back from when I was first struggling with Romans chapter 5. This picture that I have of all of humanity on a beach, and there is a huge tsunami coming in. It's the wrath of God.

And yet in the middle there is one larger than everyone else. It's Jesus. And either you're in him, because when that wave goes by, he's the only one that's going to be left standing. Because there's no place the wrath of God in him.

Either you are in him, or you're going to be washed away. It doesn't matter how fast you can run. It doesn't matter how strong you think you can stand on that beach. There's only going to be one person left standing after the wrath of God flows through there.

And either you're in him, or you will be lost. God will judge, and the judgment will be perfect. There will be nothing missed. You either avail yourself of his self-giving mercy and grace in the person of Christ.

Or you stand and spit in his face. There is no neutrality. He has made it plain. He has made it clear. And what people need to understand is, well, that's too closed-minded. That's not inclusive enough.

What that is saying, we need to hear this. We need to be able to enunciate this to the world around us. What that is saying is, God lied in the resurrection of Jesus. Because see, what we say is, because Jesus rose from the dead, God accepted his work.

So either Jesus' death is a joke, a farce, and God has lied. Or Christianity is true. But there is no middle ground. There is no neutrality. I don't like forcing people that kind of decision. Well, God didn't leave us any choices.

There's something about a rock of stumbling, a stone of offense in the Bible. And God uses that offense. He offends the self-righteous man. Because the self-righteous man needs to be offended. That becomes a very healing balm of Gilead.

The marriage is to be held in honor among all. The marriage bed is to be undefiled. For fornicators and adulterers, God will judge. It's a given. It may not be a real popular message. It was a given to my parents and my parents' parents and to all the generations.

It was a given that that was the case. It isn't any longer. This lost and benighted generation needs to be shown love. They call it hate. We have a choice to make. Will we let God define what it is, or do we allow our society?

We have to speak the truth. It's the only way to show love. We know that ignoring these words brings death and destruction, pain and agony into the lives of people because we're made in the image of God.

And if they live in accordance with their new morality, they will never experience life. So do we love him, his gospel, and them enough to tell them the truth? To endure the looks? Maybe even lose the job?

That's the question. The biblical teaching is plain. God established marriage. Therefore, we're to honor it as his creatures. If we do not, God will judge. And his judgment will be just, but it will also be unjust.

Our thrice holy God, once again, your word has spoken with clarity to our hearts. We know these things are true, but we also live in a day where so many dishonor what you have established. So many have been deceived because of their love of their sin.

Lord, we don't know what the future is going to bring. We need your wisdom. We need your guidance. But we do know what your word says. And this is a bright light, a bright light that shines upon the sinfulness of man.

We know that man does not like that light, but we are called to be light. So give us boldness. Give us wisdom. When you place us in that situation where we must give testimony, may we do so with clarity, with the assistance of your spirit.

Help us, Father, to obey these words. May we honor marriage. May we pray for families. May we honor them even in our own experience. All to your honor and glory, we pray in Christ's name.