Honoring Marriage: A Call to Holiness and Faithfulness

Devotional

Sermon Summary

Bible Study Guide

Sermon Clips

For this is the will of God, your sanctification and holiness which he now applies to our sexuality, that you abstain from sexual immorality, that each one of you know how to take his own vessel and I argued that that means take his own wife in holiness and honor, not in the passion of desire like the Gentiles who do not know God. [00:31:16]

So what are the reasons that Paul gives for why a husband should take his own wife and keep her for himself and her alone, without infringing on anyone else? Why such a premium on faithfulness to one's own wife? Argument number one, because if we don't, we will be out of step with holiness that is out of step with our harmony toward the infinite worth of God. [00:31:16]

Likewise husbands live with your wives in an understanding way showing honor to the woman and then he gives two angles on how this honor will be expressed. She's the weaker vessel so there's a special kind of care and protective honor since they are heirs with you, the wives are heirs with you of the grace of life. [00:31:16]

This woman is to be honored as one who is inheriting with you the grace of eternal life. So this calls attention to her need for your special care and attention and protection and this calls attention to her equality with you as one who will inherit with you the highest standing in the universe. You live with a queen, therefore, honor her. [00:31:16]

If you don't take her that way, you will be simply acting in the passions of desire. Now there's nothing wrong with sexual desire indeed sexual desire that's very passionate. The Bible's really clear that a husband should delight in his own wife sexually, but what's opposed here is that when this desire is untethered from this holiness and this honor, it is going to wreak havoc. [00:31:16]

If you untether your desire and passion from honoring your wife and holiness towards God, God's infinite worth and your wife's worth, you are going to go haywire and argument number three, you will become like Gentiles who do not know God. That's an amazing statement. If you give way to the passions of desires untethered from honor and holiness you act like a person who doesn't have any knowledge of God. [00:31:16]

Since they did not approve to have God in their knowledge, 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, and the context in the preceding is homosexuality and sexual sin because they didn't approve they didn't want to have God in their knowledge. [00:31:16]

They didn't want to bring their mind into conformity with the reality, the most important reality in the universe, namely God. Paul describes that mindset like this just a few verses earlier in Romans, claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory, exchanged they didn't want it, they wanted something else instead of the immortal God. [00:31:16]

If you give way to untethered passions and desires and act like a person who doesn't have any knowledge of God, you will wind up wronging your brother because think of it, this passion if you marry just for this untethered by this then if this gets strong enough for a brother's wife, nothing will stop you because if this is all your control, there you go. [00:31:16]

The fourth argument is it will wreck the church, it will wreck relationships, it will wreck other marriages and the last argument is the Lord is an avenger in all these things. You don't want to encounter the wrath of God against untethered passions that reflect ignorance of God that bring down misery upon marriages by showing no holiness no honor. [00:31:16]

The Lord is an avenger in all these things as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you lots more to be said about that and what follows here but let's stop there and take very seriously that we take our own wives in holiness and honor. [00:31:16]

Ask a question about this sermon