Marriage Is Not Optional

Good morning. We're gonna be continuing our series on basic truths today and the basic truth that we're going to be learning from God's Word is the truth. That marriage is not optional. So if you do have a Bible turn to Genesis 2 18 through 25, and we're going to be reading Genesis 2 18 through 25 and we'll pray.

When you have it, please stand for the reading of God's Word. Genesis 2 18. And then the Lord God said it's not good that man should be alone. I will make a helper fit for him. Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to The man to see what he would call them.

Whatever the man called every living creature that was its name. The man gave names to all the livestock and to the birds of the heaven and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him.

So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man and while he slept He took one of his ribs and closed it up in place with flesh. And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man. He made into a woman and brought her to the man.

Then the man said this at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman because she was taken out of a man. Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife and they shall become one flesh and The man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.

This is the Word of the Lord.

Let's pray.

The Lord we thank you for the scriptures that you've given to us which are life to us. We know that you are there and that you have spoken and you have not left us into the dark. Help us to learn great things from your word today.

Help us to learn your purposes for humanity as centered on marriage and how it points to Christ and his relationship with the church. We thank you for all you do in your son's name. I pray and You may be seated now if the person Were to open up the Bible and read the opening chapters of Genesis for the first time.

And if they were to conclude that the God the creator of the universe is saying to them that marriage is not optional you know, they would be perhaps forgiven for coming to that conclusion and I do I do say forgiven somewhat ironically because that seems to be exactly what the Bible is saying at that point.

And so therefore there's nothing that should be forgiven. You know, I grew up In the kind of church where pastors would talk about These words that we see here. It's not good for a man to be alone. They would do so without apology and they would do so without qualification.

This this is early on in my life and early on in my Christian experience. And so they would say these things and they would leave them out there hanging Without really feeling the need to make all the qualifications that men seem to think that we need to make today they would just say these things as if they were perfectly normal perfectly natural perfectly Good to say so they would say that it's not good for a man to be alone a Lot of the concerns that the preachers were preaching against early on in my Christian experience with the concern of feminism as it was encroaching upon the church and so I would hear pastors preaching on these topics the opening chapters of Genesis as Truths that we need to call people to and they didn't seem as I said They didn't seem to make all the qualifications that were made by pastors later on in my life they were working out of a Reformation tradition that Upheld the goodness and the sanctity of marriage over and against the society who was Basically rejecting marriage at every single point.

And so I mean as you know Martin Luther when You know, he cast off his monk garments. One of the first things that he did was he married a nun Katerina von Bora and they began to have children because they realized that there was a distortion in the Catholic Church over against the nature of singleness and the relationship between God's teaching on marriage as a general good for humanity and the Catholic Church's stance of prohibiting marriage among individuals In general like whole classes of individuals, you know I as I said I grew up under the kind of preaching where frequent quips were made about the nature of the formation of orphanages as the natural outcome of taking a bunch of single men and putting them in And preventing marriage and putting them in close proximity to a bunch of single men women who were prohibited from marriage also As I said things begin to change over time.

So as you read through the opening chapters of Genesis one of the things that is almost inescapable to come away from reading through the opening chapters of Genesis with any other thought than the thought that marriage is not optional.

And.

Then if you turn to the end of the Bible and you think about the nature of the ending of the Bible one of the Things you'll realize is that all of human history is pointing towards a marriage, right? So God in Christ has come to win a bride for himself.

That's the whole story of Jesus and in his incarnation He came to earth to win to purchase a bride for himself he's gone in his inner and bento period to prepare a place for that bride and then when he Returns, we will be united with him and there will be a great marriage supper of the Lamb.

So the Bible starts with marriage the Bible ends with marriage. If you read the opening chapters of the Genesis you read through the book. You read through the Bible in a fairly straightforward way you're going to come to this conclusion that marriage is not optional and I as I said I grew up under a lot of teachers early on in my life who just presented this truth in a pretty natural normal straightforward way without Apology and I internalized that you know as a young man growing up that there was some duty that I had some Responsibility that I had to pursue marriage.

It wasn't just something that was about my own personal happiness and My own personal fulfillment it wasn't something that you know I could choose if I want to but there's many different paths that people could choose.

I mean, I saw myself as a Car right and so you think about like analogies like natural analogies at this point like cars are meant to drive, right? You look at the human design. You see that human beings are meant to marry.

It's the obvious overwhelming and inescapable reality. I thought of this subject in The same way that you might think of a car that sits eternally in a driveway. It never goes out to drive you would think well, that's a waste of a good car, isn't it?

That's the way I was trained to think about marriage because that seems to be what Genesis is saying and that seems to be the Storyline of the Bible, but as I said when you look at the world, you realize that marriage is deeply unpopular.

There was a generation of preachers who preached against this for a while and then as The situation began to decay in society it seems like they shifted tactics away from preaching on marriage as a duty a Responsibility in the way that most people thought about it throughout the history of the world even pagan people thought about it as a you know a duty to propagate the species right they thought about that kind of way, but as I said over time as Feminism encroached upon society as marriage rate.

The ages of first-time marriages began to rise the tone of pastors began to change and there's There's a lot of evidence to point to this fact so in the 1950s The age of first-time marriages, right?

So the age of first-time marriages among people among men was 22 .8 years old and among women it was 20 .3 years old. Okay, so that's in the 50s average age of first-time marriage by 1990. What do you think it was?

But 1990s meant the average age of first-time married for men was 26 years old, right? 26 years old. 26 .1 years old for women. It was 23 .9 years old. 2022 to 2023 the recent data is the average age of first-time marriages for men is 30 .4 years and for women is 28 .7 years and obviously as the world goes so goes to church.

The tones of pastors have changed on this if you look around at the broad Kind of teaching that's put being put out there today. There are endless articles on the idolatry of marriage and family today.

The church seems to have rediscovered Paul's instruction on singleness. Almost like as if it's a silver bullet that removes all sense of obligation with respect to marriage. Returning to like a new variation of the Roman Catholic era that the Reformers Cast off and I do plan on talking about what Paul is saying in 1st Corinthians 7.

But we're still in the intro at this point. And so I'm not going to give you the full discussion of that right now. But you are living in a church environment right now that seems to have totally redefined the sense of obligation Towards marriage and seems to present, you know Singleness as not a trial that people have to that the vast majority of people have to endure but almost a good good state.

An alternative lifestyle the church sounds just like the world at this point. And as I said, I mean there's endless articles and books that are being written on this topic asking us to totally rethink our basic intuitions at these basic points.

Totally rethink the basic intuitions that the God of the universe has produced in us as he's given us these this opening chapters of the Bible on the basis of Verses that we always knew were there and knew how to understand but no longer understand anymore.

So here's some quotes. Here's Matt Hodges from the Gospel Coalition. Without meaningful involvement of single brothers and sisters our churches will suffer. So notice with these quotes. There's like good things that are smuggled in there with with conclusions that are pretty extreme.

So without meaningful involvement of single brothers and sisters our churches will suffer. We would do well to teach the dignity of singleness and its unique blessings and then and then to structure our ministries in such a way that shows we believe our words and so the author is very concerned about the nature of Churches being so centered on marriage and making that the foundation that we have to totally reinvent the church.

Restructure all of our things to accept this new permanent class of single people. So, what do you where do you think these words are coming from? We'll think about the statistics that we just pointed to so as the Average age of first-time marriages rise then we need to totally think what we're doing.

Restructure everything that we're doing, you know rethink our basic intuitions at these point teach the dignity of singleness as a As a good, you know as a good In of itself right as an equal good in contrast to marriage.

Here's some other quotes. This is Elizabeth Woodson. From the gospel coalition. We need to dethrone our idol of marriage and learn to define our identity the way God does he views singleness and marriage as equally Blessed gifts to be stewarded for his glory.

So there's If you think about the nature of That quote that's obviously there's a lot in that quote there may be some things in there that you might agree with but then there's a lot that's being smuggled in and a lot of Expectations that are being smuggled in and I would say that the main point of these kind of quotes is is to basically overturn the normalcy of marriage.

Chris Nowney wrote a book single woman had challenged to the church. Instead of Instead of Helen Wilcox. Writing a familiar review that's critical of this book. There's a glowing praise of this book that is written in her article.

So here's the summary. She argues from these scriptures that the gift of singleness is not a calling for a select few. But all who are not married need not be permanent. But viewed this way singleness becomes more than a period of waiting for a marriage partner.

This also means the church must repent of any idolatry of marriage and the unthinking encouragement of people into pairs. That's pretty extreme isn't it repent of any unthinking encouragement of singles into pairs, huh?

Marriage she argues was the order of creation, but singleness is the order of the new heavens in the new earth. I think they missed the book of Revelation at that point. I don't know what to tell them.

She suggests that one of the reasons why God allowed this for a large number of single women is not their rebellion Against the created order their rejection of God's purposes has nothing to do with Feminism.

It's that's nothing to do with the sin on the part of passive men. Nothing like that, right? They're one of the reasons why God has allowed this for a large number of single women in the church is to redress a lost Balance between the past and the future, right?

In fact, she goes as far as saying perhaps so many Christian single women exist in order to depict correctly to the world this tension Between creation where the pattern is married and childbearing women womanhood and recreation where the pattern is single womanhood.

In neither marriage nor childbearing exists. So both marriage and singleness must be supported by the church, right? So you look at these quotes and you see that there's a radical change in our intuition about the basic nature of what God has Said in his word, you know is is the New Testament as the New Testament God pit himself against the Old Testament God.

You know, what are we to make of Genesis like the opening chapters of Genesis where God seems to present marriage as a duty. Right back in the language of duty and the language of obligation in the language of normalcy.

Like what do we do with that with the Old Testament God who's presented that has Christ come to fundamentally reorient? Reorient our basic intuitions and it calls us to reread all these things. I mean those are some of the things that we're going to be talking About today and we're going to look to God's word to see what God has to say about this subject.

And it seems that what he has to say about this subject is very clear. Is very very very clear. Even though it seems much more complicated today to us than it should be. Now as you look at the opening chapters of Genesis.

I first want to Give you some indication about what God's perspective on man and his single state is. So what are some ways in the opening chapters of Genesis. That God teaches us that marriage is not optional.

So we're going to look to the scriptures and we're going to see God's perspective on these things. So the first of these reasons like what are some of the ways that God teaches us that marriage is not optional in Genesis.

First one is that God describes man's single state as not good. You can't read the opening account of Genesis and not come away thinking that God describes Adam in his single state as not good. So this not good is a very significant not good, right?

So in Genesis 2 18 the Lord God said it is not good that man should be alone. I will make a helper fit for them. You need to read that not good in context when you read that not good in context. What you're going to realize is that as you read through the opening chapters of Genesis over and over and over again God creates and declares it to be good right.

God saw that it was good. God saw that it was good. God saw that it was good like over and over again. That's repeated in God's created act when he gets to man. He says it's not good that man should be alone I will make a helper fit for him.

God describes man's single state as not good and By not good. He's not saying it's morally evil. He's saying it's incomplete man is not designed to be alone. That's the point now right now we live in a society where You can see the dramatic results of this very principle.

So porn use is relatively ubiquitous among young men. For young women today, it's almost impossible to find a man who's never looked at porn before. That's the problem, isn't it? It's becoming a significant problem among young women to this used to be a man problem like only a man problem this is now becoming a Significant problem among young women to fornication is basically universal at this point in 2021 there were approximately 6 ,000 or 600.

Well.

I'm missing a comma here. Six million seven hundred twenty five thousand nine hundred and seventy eight reported abortions. This translates to approximately one-fifth of pregnancies excluding miscarriages.

There are temptations that are common to single men if you want to understand some of the temptations common to single men. Look to the book of Proverbs. Solomon warns his son about the dangers that he's going to face as a single man.

So Proverbs 110 through 19 Solomon says my son if sinners entice you do not consent if they say come with us. Let us lie wait in blood. Let us ambush the innocent without reason like shale. Let us swallow them up alive and whole like those who go down into the pit.

We shall find all precious goods. We shall fill our houses with plunder throw in your lot among us. We will all have one purse. My son do not walk in the way with them. Hold back your foot from their paths for their feet run to evil.

They make haste to shed blood for in vain is a net spread in in the sight of any bird. But these men lie in wait for their own blood. They set an ambush for their own lives. Such are the ways of everyone who is greedy and just gain it takes away the lives of his possessors.

And men typically or Man in his single state the temptations He generally faces, you know as a single man are to go and he has an excess of strength. He's gonna go and blow things up and destroy people, right?

Those are the nature of some of the temptations men face. Women face similar temptations like as a man his temptations are towards external destruction. Often a woman stepped temptations like single women's temptations are to destroy relationships.

So first Timothy 5 11 through 15 Paul says refuse to enroll the younger widows. For when their passions draw them away from Christ. They desire to be merry and so incurred condemnation for having abandoned their former faith.

Besides that they learn to be idlers. Going about from house to house and not only idlers but also gossips and busybodies saying what they should not. So I'd have the younger widows marry their children manage their household and give the adversary no occasion for slander for some have already strayed.

From Satan you see how those are kind of contrast to each other men's. Destroy destruction is like outward women's destruction is relational in general. The point here is just to say that God describes man's single state as not good.

There's entailments to that. There's ramifications for that. So part of that is there are temptations that both of them face. But in the language of Genesis when God's saying it may it's not good for man to be alone.

He's speaking the language of design. Man is designed for a particular purpose. Isn't he so man is designed for a particular purpose. He's been given particular responsibilities. He's not going to be able to fulfill those responsibilities on his own and that's true the opposite way, too.

This isn't just like man is incomplete without woman as his corresponding helper. But woman is perfectly fine and in no need of a man kind of thing. This is both of them are incomplete on their own. Woman is made for man.

Man's not made for a woman. Man is incomplete without his corresponding helper and woman is incomplete in the same way without Her corresponding leader you understand God describes man's single state as not good as incomplete men and women can't.

As.

A general rule like as a general rule when women men and women are designed for a particular purpose and particular function that we're going to talk about at some length and On their own they're not going to be able to fulfill that function.

So first What are some ways God teaches us that marriage is not optional in Genesis. First God describes man's single state as not good ie incomplete. Second God reveals marriage as his general plan for the human race.

Where do you see that? Genesis 2 24. So Let's read it again. Okay, so Genesis 2 24 Starts after we get to just 218 then the Lord God said it's not good that man should be alone. Make a helper fit for him.

We talked about this last week how God paraded all the animals and there was no helper for man found from among the animals. Right, but so what does God do verse 21? The Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on the man and while he slept he took one of the ribs and closed it Up and in its place with flesh and the rib the Lord God had taken from the man He made into the woman and he brought her to the man.

Then the man said this at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. So Adam names woman exercising authority over woman just as he exercises authority over the man over the animals. She shall be called woman because she was taken out of man and notice what said there.

Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife and they shall become one flesh. That doesn't sound like the language of suggestion, right? Does it read it again therefore?

Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother hold fast to his wife. They shall become one flesh and the man and his wife were both naked not ashamed. That doesn't sound like a suggestion.

Yeah.

I think that the way that we're tempted to read this is therefore a man shall leave his father and mother assuming he wants to. So many doesn't have something better to do assuming he's able to write.

I mean assuming he's able to find a wife. Assuming that maybe that's what God's called him to you know, like we don't read this with any hint of Normalcy, right? So one of the things that's happened is we're living in a time where generalities have fallen on hard times.

I started out the sermon with the generality. Marriage is not optional when I say that generality. What you're predisposed to do mentally psychologically you're predisposed to reject it, right? So what you're going to do is you're going to say well, I mean doesn't he call some people to singleness, right?

So therefore you can't make a statement like that. So we're very hostile to generalities. We don't like the notion of generalities at all. We think that like pointing out a rare Exception is sufficient proof to overturn a rule.

But look if I were to look at you and say cars are made to be driven. Does it do any good to point out the fact that maybe there's a model car out there that Exists solely to stay on the lot forever so that people can look at what the car is like.

Well, no, I mean cars are made to be driven. They're obviously made to be driven. Cars are designed to be driven, right? Hammers are designed to be to hit nails, aren't they? So you think about the nature of a hammer hammer is designed to hit nails.

If you look at me and say well, I mean, I guess you know You could hit a screw into a wall too or something like that. It's like well, I guess you could but that isn't what it was made to do. What's it made to do?

Right? So you think about the nature of these these Principles that are found here. God is very comfortable speaking the language of generalities in the Bible. God says it's not good for man to be alone.

Like you don't want to be the kind of person who's looking at God and saying well God, you know Paul talks about gift of singleness later. I don't know how you can talk like that. Isn't that kind of pastoral irresponsible God to talk like that to say?

It's not good for man to be alone because you know what about people who were born eunuchs and what about people who have been made eunuchs by men and You know, what about people who made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom?

You see so God very naturally talks in the language of generalities. And a generality is good if it's true in a significant portion of the people you look around the world you say hey. Porn use among young men is relatively ubiquitous.

Fornication among young people is relatively ubiquitous. What should you what should that tell you? That like what should that tell you that should like that should tell you that the vast majority of people who are alive today have sexual desires that they need to Express in the context of marriage and if you look around you see the chaos that's happening because they're not pursuing marriage.

What that's telling you is that people are designed for a particular purpose. When the Bible says a barren womb is never satisfied. That's a generality too, isn't it? Is God not aware of feminism? It's got not aware of the women's rights movement.

It's got not aware of the fact that like one simple temptation might be that women come along and totally reject the idea of motherhood. Give themselves over to shouting their abortions. Is God not aware of all those things?

No, he got it's obviously aware of all those things. Sin distorts everything. But God has made man in a general way for a general purpose. So you look at this verse it says therefore a man shall leave his father and mother hold fast to his wife.

This is a general instruction to humanity about God's will for humanity. This is what you're designed to do. This is what you're designed to do if you're a human being in this statement the form of the Hebrew verb Yeah, Azab is functioning as a declarative statement that describes what typically happens or is expected to happen.

It expresses a general principle or normative behavior. After the creation of woman, this wasn't just one act. It wasn't just that God said to Adam like here's your wife. It's not good for you to be alone, but everyone else, you know, it's up to them.

That's not the way it's presented. That's not the way it read it reads the way it's presented. The way it reads is that God presents Adam his he looks at Adam in a single state. He says it's not good for you to be alone.

You need a corresponding helper. Therefore the rest of humanity should follow suit. That's what it's saying. That's what it's saying as a general statement, which obviously there are exceptions, but the exceptions don't disprove the rule in that way.

So God reveals marriage. Here's the point God reveals marriage as his general plan for the human race and. Also third God blesses mankind with the responsibility for procreation so why is it not good for man to be alone because he's been given a Blessing by God and a responsibility by God.

So Genesis 128 God blessed him. God said be fruitful multiply fill the earth and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea over the birds of the heaven and over every living thing that moves on the earth.

What how do you read that? Like how are we supposed to read that brothers and sisters? Be fruitful multiply if you want to. If you have said if you don't have anything better to do if you think you'll I'll be fulfilling to you.

We don't do that with the rest of the verse and have dominion over the fish of the sea over the I mean if you want. Right like have dominion over the fish of sea over the birds of heaven over every living thing that moves in the earth.

Well, I mean I. You wouldn't want to say it's a command to have dominion over The birds of the heaven and in everything else I mean, it's it's just a blessing. You can choose to have a blessing if you want.

That's not the way it reads. Is it this is what man is made to do you understand? Man is made to be fruitful and multiply fill the earth and subdue it to have Dominion over the fish of the sea over the birds of heaven over every living thing that moves on the earth.

This doesn't read like an optional suggestion and everyone knows it. It does not read like an optional suggestion. It's formed in the language of a command, right? And the command is given as a blessing and that tells you a lot about the nature of what God's commands actually are.

They're not curses. They're blessings. They're the way to life right there. I'm not saying that you can pursue the commands as a means of Making yourself right before God, but God's commands are blessings.

Satan comes along and tells you that God's commands are curses. Don't listen to them. God's withholding something that is needful for you. But this is a this is a blessing that takes the form of command.

This is you're meant to you're meant to look at the opening chapters of Genesis. You're meant to do what I did growing up and just say well, it's not good for man to be alone. Huh? Therefore man shall leave his father and mother hold fast to his wife's who shall become one flesh.

Oh, okay. All right. Be fruitful multiply fill the earth and subdue it. Maybe maybe I'm made. Maybe I'm a human being that God has made For the purpose of pursuing marriage like maybe maybe that's what God wants for me.

Maybe maybe this is not just some optional thing that I'm gonna passively wait around until it happens. Maybe this is actually a duty and a responsibility and do you not think that? When when the ages of first-time marriages Were more like 22 and 20.

Do you not think that people looked at marriage and Appropriation as more of a duty and a responsibility in less of an optional pursuit. If you looked at it at here's but if you looked at it today as a duty and a responsibility.

Would that give you more urgency to enter into that Union and more confidence to pursue? That Union if you thought that there was a real notion of responsibility here that not only that this is just this not just about like self-fulfillment and Your own personal desires and what you want, but the continued existence of the human race even right.

Like we used to think in those terms that not just man was a isolated person pursuing his own self-interest. And you know, he's looking for a wife so that he can be psychologically made whole, you know.

And no longer be lonely, you know and that she's going to be his everything for him, right? She's gonna meet all of his emotional needs. That's the way we're taught thought to talk about it now but the way we used to think about it was through the language of duty the language of Responsibility and those terms have fallen on hard times at this point obviously and we're no longer allowed to talk that way but God is presenting these things to the human race as Created purposes for humanity.

This is God's general plan. And what you'll realize is that you're living in a world that's rejecting those plans. The church is trying to soften the blow reject a church is trying to soften the blow.

Okay.

But what you're what you're looking at when you look around the world you look at the abortions you look at the porn use you. Look at the fornication. What you're seeing is people are made inescapably for a purpose.

They're trying the best they can to suppress an unrighteousness, but they can't escape it. Do you know that even despite all that? 85 of people. Despite the war that's being declared on marriage 85 of the people will get married at one point like in America will get married at one point in their life.

They can't escape God's plan. Even if they don't call it marriage. They enter all these pretend like serial pretend marriages like they call dating relationships. Over and over and over again where they're trying to pretend like they're married.

Why are they doing that right? It's not because they're called to singleness is because God has made he's designed them, right? It's like you make a car cars designed to be driven, right? If if you have a bunch of people who refuse to drive on the roads.

They're gonna drive around the dirt right and that's what we're doing. You understand like we're it's inescapable. We know what we're made to do. How does the rest of God's revelation teach us that marriage is not optional?

It's not just here. I want you to think about these verses and think about how strongly they're worded. Because they're not worded in the language of suggestion. 1st Corinthians 7 2. This is in the passage that you know, Paul talks about his discussion of singleness.

But look at no one ever points this out. It was there the whole time the Reformers knew was there is there the whole time. 1st Corinthians 7 2. But because of the temptation to sexual immorality each man Should consider whether or not he wants to have his own wife.

Is that what I mean? Is that what it says? It's not what it says. Is it it says but because of the temptation to sexual immorality each man should have his own wife. And each woman should have her own husband.

1st Timothy 5 14. So I would have the younger married widows consider whether or not they want to be married, right? That's what it says, right? Consider whether or not that might be for them that might might help them out, right?

No, it says I would have the younger woman widows marry their children manage their household give the adversaries no occasion for slander. That's Paul. Like I don't Paul. What are you doing? I thought you said something else.

First Timothy 3 2. Therefore an overseer look qualifications for elders and deacons overseer must be above reproach the husband of one wife if he wants. First first Timothy 3 12 let deacons each Consider getting married maybe if they want to.

No, let each Let the deacons each be the husband of one wife managing their households and their children's. Well Titus 2 3 older women likewise are the be reverent to behavior. Not slanderers or slaves.

Too much wine there to teach what is good and so train the young women who want to have merit who want to be married and Have kids to have it and then also to train the single women how to be the best single woman possible.

Is that what it says. No, it says it says there to teach what's good so train the young women to love Love their husbands. What if they don't have a husband? What are you talking about? To love their husbands and Children children like are you saying that woman is a baby maker?

That's all she is. She's just a baby. Maybe white. What do you mean? She she. Some God calls some women to have children some women not to have children. It's all optional, isn't it? Right. Well, no, what does it say?

Train the young women to love their husbands and children to be self-controlled pure working-at-home kind submissive to their own husbands. The Word of God May be revolved but what about Jesus right?

Right. So right now you're screaming at me. You probably screaming at me in your mind your whole time. What about Jesus? Right? What about Jesus. Wasn't he single what about him? Jesus has a bride. The church doesn't he if he's since 531.