Christians ought to have the best marriages; however, today it seems divorce rates among Christians is as high, if not higher than the divorce rates among unbelievers. Satan has had many people deceived into thinking their marital problems are unique, that no one else is experiencing the problems they are, and that they will not find anything from the Word of God to help their marriage.

There are no new problems to God. It's the same old devil who causes the same old problems, but we can thank God the answers were provided in the Word of God long before the problems ever existed.

When you teach faith, you cannot hide grace. Faith and grace work together. Ephesians 2:8-9 says, "For by grace are ye saved through faith." Romans chapter 4, telling of the faith of Abraham says, "...it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be secure to all the seed. "Grace and faith work hand in hand throughout the Word of God. Faith has often been taken to the extreme and so has the teaching on grace. Grace is not a license to sin, it is a license to serve.
With grace you understand the goodness of God - the fullness of God. You recognize that all of the blessings in your life come from Him, therefore, you want to serve Him. Without grace you cannot serve.

First John 1:9 is not an excuse to sin now and pray later. The purpose of 1 John 1:9 is to deter you from sinning. In 1 John 2:1, John says, "These things write I unto you that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." Thank God, if we sin we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, who is anxious and willing to pull us up. He doesn't want to pull us up so we'll run out and sin again - that's not the issue.

Titus 2:11 says, "For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men." Notice, it is the grace of God that brings salvation. Grace brings healing, deliverance, soundness, and wholeness. But, notice what else grace brings. Verse 12 continues, "Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world." Grace is a teacher. The Word of God and the grace of God is sent to teach us that we are to refrain from sin, turn from sin, and follow after godliness and holiness.

Acts chapter 1 and verse 8 is a very familiar verse of Scripture. It says, "Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses." Most people today think witnessing is preaching or talking to somebody about Jesus. Jesus didn't say after the Holy Ghost is come upon you, you shall do witnessing. He said when the Holy Ghost is come upon you, you will be a witness. My friend, you are a witness whether you are witnessing or not. Everything you do is a witness. Your lifestyle is a witness, how you handle yourself on the job is a witness, and in the same way, your marriage should be a witness to the whole world.

The first chapter of Genesis tells us where marriage began but I want to recap the chapter. When God originally created the earth, it was a long time ago. Man was put on this earth (as we know him today) approximately six or seven thousand years ago, but the earth is much older than man.

Satan was Lucifer at the time the earth was originally created. He was in heaven until he rebelled against God. Because of his rebellion, he was cast out of heaven to the earth below. As a result, the earth became without form and void.

In chapter 1 and verse 2 of Genesis, God recreated the heavens and the earth, and He did it in six days. I want to break down the six days of recreation.

On the first day, God created light (verses 3-5). This light was literally His presence - His glory.

On the second day, He created the heavens and the clouds (verses 6-8). The "heavens" refers to the atmosphere around the earth. He divided the firmament. Literally, He took the mist right out of the ocean and made clouds. He made a canopy around the earth and then made the air that is between the ocean and the clouds.

On the third day, He created dry land, and on the dry land He created all of the vegetation and plant life (verses 9-13).

On day four, He created the sun and the moon (verses 14-19). He called them "the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night." (verses 16).

On day five, He created the fish and the birds (verses 20-23). Then on day six, God created all creeping animals (verses 24-25). This is when God created the horses, the cows, the lions and the tigers, the elephants, and all of the creatures that walk on the face of the earth. He also created another creature who walked - man. Man is the last creature God created. Even though man was a totally different species, he was created on the same day as all of the animals mentioned in verses 24 and 25 of Genesis. This is because his body was molded out of the dust of the ground in the same way as were the animals' bodies.

In verse 26 of Genesis, God is creating man. It says, "And God said." The Hebrew word for "God" in this verse is "elohim." It is plural and refers to all three members of the Godhead - the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Although they are separate and distinct personalities, they function as one. Think of the word "team." It is "many that function as one." The same is true of the word "army." Think of the word "God" as many that function as one. God consists of three personalities and in Genesis 1:26 they are all working together in the creation of man.

Again, verses 26 and 27 say, "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image,in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them."

In verse 26 we have the making of man's body and in verse 27 we have the making of man's spirit. Notice, in both cases it says man is created in the image of God. We know God is not a body. God is a spirit, but even spirits have form. God is not a cloud floating around and He is not some nebulous being. I believe when we get to heaven and see God sitting on the throne, He will have the form of a man.

Again, looking at verses 26 and 27 of the first chapter of Genesis, notice the words "make" (verse 26) and "created" (verse 27). The Hebrew word for "make" is the word "asah." This means" to manufacture or make something out of something" or "to make something out of material that already exists." Notice the word "created" in verse 27. The Hebrew word for this word is "bara" and it means "to create something out of nothing."

Man's body was made of the dust of the earth from materials that already existed. Therefore, man's body inverse 26 is "asah." However, in verse 27, God created in man "something out of nothing" and that is the spirit of man. It was not made out of something that already existed. When a person is born into this earth, his body comes from pre-existing material but his spirit is created out of nothing by Jesus Christ and the life of God is suddenly implanted into that man.

Looking again at verse 27 we read, "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them."

This is the institution of marriage. Marriage was instituted before redemption. Redemption was not even brought out until chapter three. Historically, God created man and woman to be married before redemption was here. Therefore, marriage is not for believers alone; it is for the whole human race - both believers and unbelievers.

God did not create marriage to be a bondage. He created it to be joyful - to be happy. If anyone was miserable being married, it was Solomon. Solomon married 1,000 women and still wasn't happy.

In Ecclesiastes 9, Solomon is reflecting. He observes that some sinners are very happily married. These are marriages in which there is one husband and one wife. Solomon began to think, "I'm rich, I know God, and I've got 1,000 wives and I'm still not happy." He began to notice that marriage to one wife brought happiness.

In verse 9 of Ecclesiastes, chapter 9, Solomon says, "Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity." The Hebrew says, "your vain life." This verse is not talking about a believer, rather, it is referring to an unbeliever. Notice, an unbeliever can live happily on the earth in marriage. God has ordained marriage to give you happiness in this earth. Marriage was not meant for bondage.

When everything is going wrong in the world and problems are facing you, when people don't like you, God has designed marriage as a refuge where you can come home to someone who cares for you, who loves you, and who wants to take care of you.

Again, Ecclesiastes 9:9 says,"Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity, which he hath given thee under the sun" or literally, "as long as you live on this earth - all the days of your futility."

If a person never comes know Jesus as his or her Savior, God has designed one thing for happiness on this earth: marriage. Verse 9 continues, "...for that is thy portion in this life and in thy labour which thou takest under the sun."

God does not bring cursing and unhappiness. His portions always bring happiness. Marriage does not come easy. It is labor. It is work, but it is very, very rewarding work. Even sinners have found this to be true. If you work on your marriage, it's fantastic - the rewards are tremendous. God has designed something that gives you a hundred-fold return for the amount of work you put into that husband or wife. They will give back multiplied blessings upon multiplied blessings so that in later years your marriage will be better than it's ever been before. God has designed phenomenal rewards and love gets better and better. Even though the outward man perishes, the inward man can be renewed and love can get stronger every single day. We find in that verse marriage is designed for the whole human race, not just for believers. But, believers who know the Word of God and know where marriage began should have the strongest marriages of all.

We know God created Adam on the sixth day; however, we don't know when woman was created. She was not created on the sixth day. On the seventh day God rested. After the seventh day, God began bringing all of the animals, the birds, and the fish to Adam, and Adam began naming them.

I imagine Adam must have been there for weeks or months or perhaps years naming all of the animals on the face of the earth. When Adam was finished, God caused a sleep to come upon him, took the rib out of him, and created woman.

Look again at verse 26 and 27 of Genesis 1: "God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them." Why does this verse shift from the word "him" to the word "them"?

It is very simple. Inside of "him" was "them." Adam was complete. Inside Adam was the woman also, but it wasn't her body; it was her spirit, her personality, her soul. Everything Adam would need in a mate was inside him and by himself Adam was complete. He was not two bodies walking around in each other. He had the essence of the man and the essence of the woman inside him.

Genesis chapter 5:1-2 says, "This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him; male and female created he them; and blessed them and called their name Adam,in the day when they were created." Notice, He "called their name Adam."

It was more than a rib God took out of Adam. He took out the woman - the whole personality - the spirit of Eve. God took woman out of man and he was no longer complete. Then God began to manufacture and build a woman from the rib. This is why when a man and woman meet and become married, they are complete again.

God has instituted marriage so man and woman can be complete. That does not mean singles are not complete. Many people are called to be single. The greatest people who ever lived were single. Jesus was single. Paul was single. If you are called to be single, God will be your portion. God has ordained many people to be single, but God fills the deficiency. If you're not called to be single, God has arranged for someone to come into your life: they will fill that deficiency in you, you'll fill the deficiency in them, and the two of you will become complete again. Glory to God!

Notice Genesis chapter 2. This is finally when God said, "Now it's time to manufacture the woman." Verse 18 says, "and the Lord God said." We've shifted from God Elohim to Jehovah Elohim. Jesus is Jehovah.

"And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him." Notice the emphasis: It's not good that man should be alone. I will make him a help meet.

The word "help meet" is a compound word. It means "a helper of his own species." What is actually being said is, "It is not good for man to dwell alone. Therefore, I will make for him a helper of his own species."

Why did God say that? When God created every creature, He created them in twos. I want you to get this mental image: I want you to see Adam in the garden by himself and suddenly God says, "I am going to bring every creature in front of you and I want you to name them, alright?" So he begins to name them. Adam is standing in front of thousands upon hundreds of thousands of creatures for perhaps days, weeks, months, or years, naming all those creatures, and every time they come up to him--robins, gnats, bears, etc.-- there's always two. Adam is one and they're two. Finally, after all the naming is over, God said, "Man should have a help meet, too."

That is when the deep sleep came upon Adam. God took that rib out of Adam and suddenly he woke up one morning feeling a little deficient. When he opened up his eyes, guess what was standing in front of him? His rib - glory to God! And what a rib she was! She was worth waiting for after all the work!

Bob Yandian

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Copyright 2009 by Bob Yandian Ministries.
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