God's Design for Marriage and Christian Ethics

"Marriage is a good, wonderful gift from God but at the same time it's fallen in a fallen world and we need to realize if we're going to deal with marriage we need to deal with it through the grace of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and so yeah I think Christians have mistaken views of marriage just like the world has mistaken views of marriage." [00:51:59]

"Marriage is ultimately not about us as an end point, it's ultimately about Christ and his church and how he loves the church and gave himself up for the church in other words marriage is about the gospel so what advice would I give to someone who's newly married is that you got to have the gospel message at the center of what you're doing." [00:53:26]

"Christian ethics we're of course speaking of the standard that God has set forth in his word as how we should govern our lives and all Affairs uh for human beings uh so it's a standard a standard set by God and it's a standard that is the underg guring foundational rubric for how we do what we do why we do what we do and ultimately not simply for the sake of humanity but for the sake of God and His glory." [00:54:25]

"I think a lot of a lot of us all Christians we need to be more deeply convicted by our sin and more more aware of the reality of where we are not meeting the mark either by sins of commission things that we're actively doing or by things that we're leaving undone sins of commission and I think that's actually one of the greatest sins that uh we have as Christians today is our sins of omission." [00:55:22]

"While I think that is entirely appropriate we also have to step back for a moment and consider the words themselves but more importantly than that the the biblical theme of the sanctity or the Dignity of life as it applies not only to children not yet born but to all Humanity so we'll be talking about that looking at several passages and really trying to help uh the church in our day particularly as we we really do need to declare and remind the whole world of evangelicalism really what the Bible does say." [00:57:48]

"James 2 and verse one my brothers show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ the lord of Glory for if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say you sit here in a good place while you say to the poor man you stand over there or sit down at my feet have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts." [01:03:59]

"Listen my beloved Brothers has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and hes of the Kingdom which he has promised to those who love him but you have Dishonored the poor man are not the rich the ones who oppress you and the ones who drag you into court are they not the ones who blaspheme The Honorable name by which you were called." [01:04:55]

"James says in verse four you have become judges with evil thoughts well let's take a note of the way James um exposes this sin and in verses five and six and and and just the first half of verse six he points to the way that this goes against the attitude of God himself towards the poor and needy God is not like this our wonderful God is not like this." [01:17:00]

"God makes provision for the poor telling farmers in the extraordinary Book of Ruth for example telling Farmers uh to leave the edges of the crops so that they might glean and and survive famine conditions Mary uh in The Magnificat he has filled the Hungry with good things and the rich he has sent empty away God isn't like that it flies in the face of the very gospel itself because who is the gospel for well it's not for the rich it's not for those who who think that they're important in their own estimation or even in your estimation or my estimation." [01:18:59]

"James is saying that's the perspective that you must judge others by I don't view them I don't see them according to the Flesh and following that indicative he gives us the imperative the need to actively and purposefully walk in obedience to what he calls in verse 8 the Royal law the king's law Jesus's law and he cites from Leviticus 19:18 to love our neighbors as ourselves that Jesus says was the second half half of the greatest commandment to love your neighbor as yourselves it's the king's law." [01:29:28]

"Your neighbor is whoever God brings into your life it may be a waiter at a restaurant it may be a person sitting next to you at a football game it may be the beggar at the stoplight with a cardboard and a message and I always think is that an angel testing me right now you know that awkward moment when you stopped and and he's just standing there with a card and you're trying don't make eye contact just don't make eye contact." [01:35:07]

"Live gospel El shaped lives in your conversations and actions with others whoever they are whoever they are exit the gospel to them in the manner in which you speak to them and in the manner in which you behave before them and all of us are condemned by that there isn't N A righteous person here who isn't Smitten by that Royal law of Christ but it is where he has brought us he has brought us down on our knees and to say nothing in my hands I bring I have no importance in myself my importance only lies in my union and communion with Jesus that is my essential identity." [01:44:51]