Sermon Central
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The Covenant Of Marriage
Contributed by Joshua Brady on Aug 26, 2004 (message contributor)
Summary: A marriage is a covenant that we continue to work on and grow in. The biblical principals of marriage is till death do us part.
“The Covenant of Marriage”
Text
Illustration
“A young minister was preparing for his first wedding ceremony that he had ever performed. The young minister was a nervous wreck and asked an older minister what to do if he messed up. The older minister said that if you forget what to say you can always quote scripture to fill in. So, as the young minister performed the wedding ceremony he said “I now pronounce you husband and wife” and then for some reason his mind went blank. So he remembered what the older minister said and he started to quote scripture saying “Lord forgive them for they know not what they do”.
Marriage Statistics
Hebrew 13:4 “Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.”
1.) Households headed by unmarried people living together have quadrupled since 1970.
2.) According to recent polls, 73% of Americans, under the age of 45, believe that live spent with the same partner is both unusual and unnecessary.
3.) Six out of ten children live in a single parent household.
4.) One out of three marriages end in a divorce.
In America every 24 hours:
1.) 3,000 children see their parents divorced.
2.) 1,629 children are put in adult jail.
3.) 3,228 children run away from home
4.) 1,512 children drop out of school.
When commitment breaks down, so do families and marriages.
Marriages vs. Biblical Covenants
A.) We can read in the text God and Abraham entered into a covenant. We can also see that this biblical covenant is very similar to a marriage covenant between a man and a woman.
· God called Abraham to leave his land, his home country and to be willing to go wherever He wanted him to go.
· God changed Abram’s name to Abraham.
· There was an exchange made between God and Abraham to signify the covenant. God gave Abraham land and Abraham was circumcised.
· The children or descendents received the inheritance which was the land.
B.) We can clearly see that both covenants that where performed were done in the presence God. Even if we went back to ancient wedding ceremonies that did not believe in the one true God they still performed it before their pagan gods. Because in biblical times a very unique ceremony took place between a man and a women when they got married.
The fathers of the couples would take cows, sheep, birds, goats, and would cut them in half and put them ten feet apart. The couple would then walk bare foot through the bloody path saying with their actions, “May I pay with my life if this covenant is broken”. We can see that this and Abraham’s ceremony was almost identical. Therefore seeing that each ceremony was done with life long commitment and seen as a sanctified covenant unto God.
C.) Just as God entered into a covenant with Abraham, we need to also see and treat our marriage in that same regards, as a covenant. I hope that all of us including myself will always see marriage as a covenant that cannot be broken and that is sanctified by God Himself.
D.) In the beginning of our wedding the pastor started by saying, “Dearly beloved we are gathered together here in the sight of God, To join together here this man and woman in holy matrimony”. We made vows not only to each other but we made vows before God promising to fulfill the marital covenant every single day that live.
Not Only Conducted Before God…
A.) Not only did you make a covenant before God but also before witnesses. Just as the couple walked through the blood soaked soil, people watched. If two leaders that are against each other made a covenant there would be people there to watch. Why? This is so that the people that made the covenant could never deny that it never happened. Jesus stressed the importance of witnesses in Matthew 18:16.
Matthew 18:16 “But if he will not hear thee(or if he will not listen) then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.”
B.) Before you get married you have to sign a marriage certificate before your pastor and two witnesses. Then they sign the certificate as well. A
Pastor was challenged when a man came to him and said he was leaving his wife after six years of marriage. The pastor said, “Oh, no, your not. You made a vow to love your wife until death! I was there and I heard you make that vow the pastor said. Now you stay with her and work things out. He did and they are still married.
