Latest / The Salt Company Denver / Gospel Relationships | Matthew 19 | Jonathan Bunce

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Gospel Relationships | Matthew 19 | Jonathan Bunce · The Salt Company Denver

0:00
SPEAKER_00: What's up, subcompany?
0:06
SPEAKER_00: Let's go.
0:08
SPEAKER_00: Five minutes chance to meet you.
0:10
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, my name is Jonathan.
0:12
SPEAKER_00: I'm one of the residents on staff with the Sub Company.
0:16
SPEAKER_00: And so, come on now.
0:18
SPEAKER_00: You know that's right.
0:20
SPEAKER_00: And so tonight, uh last week, Colin talked about uh dating.
0:25
SPEAKER_00: This is part of our gospel relationship series.
0:28
SPEAKER_00: Uh next week, Katie and Colin are gonna be talking about singleness.
0:33
SPEAKER_00: And so tonight, as the the veteran of two and a half years of marriage, uh I get to talk about marriage.
0:39
SPEAKER_00: I get to teach a little bit about marriage.
0:42
SPEAKER_00: And so some of you guys probably know this if you know me at all, but I'm married to the lovely Katie Bunce in the back.
0:48
SPEAKER_00: You can wave, Katie.
0:49
SPEAKER_00: Can I wave at Katie?
0:50
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
0:51
SPEAKER_00: Uh and so, uh, did someone say that's my D-group leader?
0:55
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, let's go.
0:56
SPEAKER_00: Um and so uh Katie and I, we started dating our sophomore year college.
1:01
SPEAKER_00: We were both salt company students together, we both led Salt Company together.
1:04
SPEAKER_00: Uh we dated for about a year, and then uh I proposed in August.
1:08
SPEAKER_00: I actually had to wait to propose because Katie was on Salt Company Global in Guinea, Africa.
1:14
SPEAKER_00: Uh a little global plug.
1:15
SPEAKER_00: And so uh I proposed to Katie, and then we got married 10 months later on May 16th, 2024.
1:21
SPEAKER_00: I think we have some pictures uh I can show of our wedding.
1:24
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
1:25
SPEAKER_00: Very cute, I know.
1:27
SPEAKER_00: Um it's a debate, it's a debate whether the man bun or the buzz cut is a quarter life crisis.
1:34
SPEAKER_00: Uh and so it's one of the two.
1:36
SPEAKER_00: Um so that's uh so you can go to the next slide.
1:39
SPEAKER_00: Uh and these are this is a picture of my groomsman.
1:42
SPEAKER_00: You guys can tell David, Colin kind of mentioned last week, but we were best friends in college, played sports together, led Salt Company together, did the whole thing together.
1:50
SPEAKER_00: And so he he was the best man at our wedding.
1:53
SPEAKER_00: Um love David.
1:54
SPEAKER_00: Uh but uh if you're looking at the picture, can you notice anything a little bit off about David?
2:01
SPEAKER_00: Maybe something about his attire.
2:03
SPEAKER_00: I heard it in the front row.
2:05
SPEAKER_00: The pants.
2:07
SPEAKER_00: David's wearing the wrong pants.
2:09
SPEAKER_00: Uh him and Hope, actually.
2:11
SPEAKER_00: It's slightly different.
2:12
SPEAKER_00: You can see it.
2:13
SPEAKER_00: He's wearing the wrong pants.
2:14
SPEAKER_00: So during our wedding, we our ceremony was at 3.30.
2:17
SPEAKER_00: And it's it's 329.
2:19
SPEAKER_00: And I'm about to walk Katie's family down the aisle.
2:22
SPEAKER_00: And uh I see all my groomsmen like huddled up together, like right above I'm about to walk down.
2:28
SPEAKER_00: And so I'm like, wow, you know, they're so godly, they're praying for us.
2:32
SPEAKER_00: Uh they're, you know, beseeching the Lord on our behalf.
2:35
SPEAKER_00: And then uh I go, they you know, motion me over, I go into the circle, and it's like when you have your arms around each other, your head kind of like naturally goes to quad level.
2:43
SPEAKER_00: And so um, you know, I'm ready for the prayer.
2:46
SPEAKER_00: And uh Jalil, who you can see, the tall one on the right, uh, he's like, Bunts, look at David and Hope's pants.
2:55
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, for the first time that day, I don't know how much missed it, but David and Hope were wearing the wrong pants.
2:59
SPEAKER_00: And so immediately I'm like, well, if I didn't notice for five hours, then nobody else is gonna notice, so we're good.
3:05
SPEAKER_00: Uh but my second thought, to give you more context on my wife, is that she is a wedding photographer.
3:11
SPEAKER_00: And so what wedding photographers tend to love is wedding photos.
3:15
SPEAKER_00: And so the second thought in my head was, oh no.
3:19
SPEAKER_00: Oh no, tomorrow uh or the next day might be a bad day, but um, today's a good one.
3:24
SPEAKER_00: So we, you know, walked his parents down the aisle.
3:26
SPEAKER_00: Katie came down the aisle, it was an amazing day, beautiful wedding.
3:29
SPEAKER_00: Uh, and then the next day we're driving to our honeymoon, and you know, I'm I'm driving, uh, going 80 down the freeway.
3:36
SPEAKER_00: And Katie, the first thing she does before she even checks her phone is get the wedding photo sent from the photographer, and she's looking at them, and it takes five seconds for her to be like, David and Hope are wearing the wrong pants.
3:47
SPEAKER_00: Uh and you know, and they're bird their first marital conflict.
3:51
SPEAKER_00: So you can thank David for the conflict of uh Katie and I's marriage, um, not original sin.
3:57
SPEAKER_00: So um, but no, here's here's why I tell that story.
4:01
SPEAKER_00: One, just to give you a little bit of a background on me, uh, to roast David a little bit.
4:05
SPEAKER_00: That's two weeks in a row.
4:06
SPEAKER_00: Um, but most importantly is just to ask the question why do we care so much about the smallest details of a wedding?
4:14
SPEAKER_00: Why does it feel natural to wear the same outfit, same pants, and when there's something slightly off, uh it you know rises something in our heart?
4:24
SPEAKER_00: The reason is not because we love weddings, but it's but it's because we love marriage.
4:30
SPEAKER_00: Weddings, the value that we put into wedding time, effort, and money is meant to signify the importance of marriage.
4:38
SPEAKER_00: And so uh what I want to show us tonight is that from the beginning of every human civilization, marriage has been at the bedrock of human society.
4:48
SPEAKER_00: Marriage has been at the center.
4:50
SPEAKER_00: And so, sociologists would say there's five key characteristics uh of human flourishing.
4:56
SPEAKER_00: They're gonna be on the screen.
4:58
SPEAKER_00: Five key characteristics of human flourishing.
5:01
SPEAKER_00: They are friendship, intimacy, family stability, and maturity.
5:06
SPEAKER_00: Friendship, intimacy, family stability, maturity.
5:09
SPEAKER_00: And so in a pre-modern culture, we'll say pre-1960, I'll come back to that in a minute.
5:13
SPEAKER_00: Pre-1960, every culture has said that marriage is the bedrock of these five forms of human flourishing.
5:20
SPEAKER_00: Marriage is what provides these things.
5:23
SPEAKER_00: If you want to have deep friendship, intimacy, family stability, maturity, you build your society on marriage.
5:29
SPEAKER_00: And so in the 1960s, during the sexual revolution and the general culture revolution, uh America went what uh went underwent what we could call the marriage experiment.
5:41
SPEAKER_00: And the marriage experiment is really this it's is it true that marriage is the foundation of society?
5:48
SPEAKER_00: Is it really true that marriage is a good thing?
5:51
SPEAKER_00: Is it true that marriage is the cornerstone that we build our lives upon, or is marriage more of a capstone?
5:57
SPEAKER_00: Something that once you figure life out, you throw on top, or maybe even marriage is actually just rubble, that we'd be better off throwing it aside.
6:04
SPEAKER_00: And so uh the society starts to question and say, well, maybe I don't need marriage to have deep friendship.
6:10
SPEAKER_00: Maybe I can have a partner or uh a dating relationship that I can live with them and be with them and have this uh half-committal relationship, and I can have guys' nights.
6:20
SPEAKER_00: That's what I need for friendship or intimacy.
6:22
SPEAKER_00: I don't need marriage to have sex.
6:25
SPEAKER_00: I don't need marriage to have sex, marriage, sex within marriage was something that we came up with to control uh birth rates, and now that we have birth control, we don't need it.
6:35
SPEAKER_00: Family, kids are actually quite a nuisance, they're annoying, they're take sacrifice, they take a lot of time.
6:42
SPEAKER_00: You actually shouldn't have a kid, you should buy a golden doodle because golden doodles are the most human dog.
6:49
SPEAKER_00: Number four, stability.
6:51
SPEAKER_00: Marriage doesn't bring stability.
6:52
SPEAKER_00: What does?
6:53
SPEAKER_00: Money, a job, right?
6:56
SPEAKER_00: For me to get married, what I need is to be able to buy a$10,000 ring, uh, afford a wedding, three dogs, a beach house in the Bahamas, and might as well add another golden doodle on top.
7:07
SPEAKER_00: And then number five, maturity.
7:09
SPEAKER_00: Marriage is actually not uh a discipline that will free me, it's a straitjacket that keeps me confined.
7:15
SPEAKER_00: I want freedom.
7:16
SPEAKER_00: Marriage just brings pain and brokenness.
7:18
SPEAKER_00: Marriage is not a good thing.
7:20
SPEAKER_00: And so this is the cultural cultural waters that this room and our culture swims in.
7:26
SPEAKER_00: And so from the 1960s, people get married on average eight years later.
7:31
SPEAKER_00: Eight years later, the average family has two less kids, 3.65 of a birth rate to 1.6, and 24% less marriage-aged adults get married.
7:42
SPEAKER_00: If you're a stats major at all, that is unbelievable change in 60 years.
7:47
SPEAKER_00: That is crazy societal change.
7:49
SPEAKER_00: And so the question that we need to ask is has it worked?
7:53
SPEAKER_00: Has the undermining of marriage in our society worked?
7:57
SPEAKER_00: And I don't have time to go through all this, but every statistical measure of human flourishing, of anxiety, mental health, flourishing has said that it has not worked.
8:08
SPEAKER_00: We have we have looked at what American society had with marriage and said we want it without marriage, but what we've done is we've tried to get the cart without the horse.
8:17
SPEAKER_00: We've we've tried to get the goods of marriage without the the union of marriage itself.
8:23
SPEAKER_00: And so what I'm not saying right now is that if you're not married, you can't flourish, or that if you are married, then you automatically will flourish.
8:31
SPEAKER_00: That's that's not what I'm saying.
8:33
SPEAKER_00: But what I am saying is this the world view that marriage is a good and right thing designed by God, has been cut down at the roots in our society, and the tree that's grown in its place, the tree of radical individualism and freedom, hasn't actually produced fruit of joy in life, it's produced fruit of death, much like the tree in the garden of knowledge of good and evil.
8:55
SPEAKER_00: So uh my goal for tonight is to reorient our hearts around a biblical view of marriage, to look at the words of Jesus and say, what actually is marriage and is it a good thing?
9:05
SPEAKER_00: Is it something that we should desire, and is it something good?
9:08
SPEAKER_00: And so the three points for tonight are this marriage is beautiful, marriage is temporary, and marriage is simply a picture.
9:17
SPEAKER_00: Marriage is beautiful, marriage is temporary, and marriage is a picture.
9:21
SPEAKER_00: So turn with me to Matthew 19, verses 3 through 6.
9:26
SPEAKER_00: Matthew 19, verses 3 through 6.
9:28
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna jump around a little bit, but that's our our first text for the night.
9:32
SPEAKER_00: Let me just start us in verse 3 as you turn there.
9:35
SPEAKER_00: Give us some context.
9:37
SPEAKER_00: Quote Some Pharisees approached him to test him.
9:40
SPEAKER_00: They asked, Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife on any grounds?
9:45
SPEAKER_00: And so let me just pause for a second.
9:47
SPEAKER_00: Uh this is not uh this is a message on marriage and not divorce, but actually this question from the Pharisees on divorce brings out Jesus' teaching on marriage.
9:56
SPEAKER_00: But I just want to shepherd the room quickly to say, if you are a child of divorce, or if divorce has impacted your life in uh in a negative way or painful way, just I just want you to know that's my story as well.
10:09
SPEAKER_00: And so uh one of the most painful aspects of my life is that my parents' marriage uh has ended.
10:16
SPEAKER_00: And so if that's you, I want you to know two things.
10:18
SPEAKER_00: One, that's not God's design, his design was for marriage to be for life, and two, he can bring incredible healing from your story.
10:25
SPEAKER_00: That your parents' divorce is not the end of your story, but God can actually redeem that to bring healing.
10:30
SPEAKER_00: So that's one.
10:31
SPEAKER_00: And then two, what the Pharisees are not asking is this Jesus, are there any reasons whatsoever that someone could get divorced?
10:39
SPEAKER_00: Is it sexual harassment?
10:40
SPEAKER_00: Is it abuse?
10:41
SPEAKER_00: Is it abandonment?
10:42
SPEAKER_00: That's that's not what they're asking.
10:44
SPEAKER_00: What they're asking is this, Jesus, can I divorce my spouse for any reason I want?
10:50
SPEAKER_00: And so the reason we know this is because there's a clause in Deuteronomy chapter 24, back in the law, and the Pharisees were big law scholars, and the the clause said this it said that if a wife does something indecent, quote, something indecent, then a man can divorce his wife.
11:08
SPEAKER_00: And so the traditional interpretation of that has been something indecent means adultery.
11:13
SPEAKER_00: Something indecent directly means sexual morality.
11:16
SPEAKER_00: But what the Pharisees and the religious leaders of the day had uh influenced the culture to believe is that something indecent meant any inconvenience.
11:26
SPEAKER_00: Something indecent is any inconvenience.
11:29
SPEAKER_00: So this was a legitimate situation in the first century.
11:32
SPEAKER_00: If a wife cooked her husband a meal that he found less than satisfactory, it was legal grounds for divorce.
11:40
SPEAKER_00: Crazy, crazy.
11:42
SPEAKER_00: That was legal grounds for divorce.
11:43
SPEAKER_00: And so this group is coming to Jesus and saying, Do you agree with us about this interpretation?
11:48
SPEAKER_00: And so Jesus responds, Haven't you read?
11:52
SPEAKER_00: He replied, that he who created them in the beginning made them male and female.
11:56
SPEAKER_00: And he also said, For this reason, a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.
12:03
SPEAKER_00: So they're no longer two, but one flesh.
12:06
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, what God has joined together, let no one separate.
12:09
SPEAKER_00: And so, what's interesting if you caught it is that Jesus doesn't actually answer the question, at least directly.
12:17
SPEAKER_00: Jesus has the whole Bible memorized.
12:18
SPEAKER_00: He's well aware of them asking about Deuteronomy 24, but he doesn't answer it for a specific reason.
12:25
SPEAKER_00: Hear this, because their interpretation question was actually a worldview assumption.
12:32
SPEAKER_00: Their interpretation question was actually a worldview assumption.
12:35
SPEAKER_00: It's like if uh one of you came up to me and said, Hey, Jonathan, you know, that was the best sermon I've ever heard in my life.
12:42
SPEAKER_00: And I just, you know, I want to ask you some questions.
12:44
SPEAKER_00: What's the best way to rob a bank?
12:47
SPEAKER_00: And naturally, I think first you could go a dark night approach.
12:51
SPEAKER_00: You could go with the Joker and you increasingly tell people less and less, and you kill everybody, and so you get all the money.
12:57
SPEAKER_00: That's one.
12:57
SPEAKER_00: Or you could do Oceans 11, where you have a group, and it's more of like everyone has their different skills, and you get all, you know, group thing.
13:03
SPEAKER_00: And if you didn't get either of those movies, then you have a homework assignment for tonight, and you need to go back and watch the dark night and oceans 11.
13:10
SPEAKER_00: Um, but no, no, I'm not gonna answer the question that way.
13:13
SPEAKER_00: What I'm gonna say is, have you not read thou shalt not steal?
13:17
SPEAKER_00: And so answering the wrong question in the right way actually is still the wrong answer.
13:22
SPEAKER_00: And so Jesus wants to reframe the question because this is their assumption that the covenant of marriage is not a beauty to be enjoyed, but it's a cage to get out of.
13:34
SPEAKER_00: Their assumption is that marriage is not something to be enjoyed and lived in, but is a cage to get out of.
13:41
SPEAKER_00: And this is the same question at the heart of the American secular marriage experiment.
13:46
SPEAKER_00: Is marriage really a good thing?
13:49
SPEAKER_00: Or is it something that we should, can, and want to get out of?
13:53
SPEAKER_00: And I think Jesus' answer is very clear, no.
13:56
SPEAKER_00: Marriage is a God ordained covenant for human flourishing.
14:00
SPEAKER_00: Marriage is a God-ordained covenant for human flourishing.
14:03
SPEAKER_00: So let me just walk through Jesus' words quickly again.
14:06
SPEAKER_00: Haven't you read?
14:07
SPEAKER_00: First quote.
14:08
SPEAKER_00: This is like a this is a spiritual gut punch from Jesus.
14:11
SPEAKER_00: They have the the people he's talking to have the whole Bible memorized.
14:14
SPEAKER_00: So he's like, have you not read this thing that you say you know?
14:17
SPEAKER_00: Um, that he who created them.
14:20
SPEAKER_00: And later it says, what God has joined together.
14:23
SPEAKER_00: So marriage, he who created them and God joined them together, marriage is not a human institution.
14:28
SPEAKER_00: It's not something that we've came up with and built on our own.
14:31
SPEAKER_00: It's something that God has brought from heaven.
14:33
SPEAKER_00: And so the language here is actually fascinating.
14:36
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if anybody's here a language nerd, this is my thing.
14:38
SPEAKER_00: And so if I speak to you in the active voice, what I say is, I joined to Katie.
14:43
SPEAKER_00: To say I was married to Katie, I joined to Katie.
14:45
SPEAKER_00: That's active voice language.
14:47
SPEAKER_00: If I were to speak to you into the passive voice, it would be to say, I was joined to Katie by somebody else.
14:55
SPEAKER_00: Active and passive.
14:56
SPEAKER_00: And so the text here in the original Greek is passive voice.
15:00
SPEAKER_00: It's passive voice.
15:02
SPEAKER_00: So what is it saying?
15:03
SPEAKER_00: It's not saying that a man leaves his father to join to his wife.
15:06
SPEAKER_00: It's saying that a man leaves his father to be joined by God to his wife.
15:12
SPEAKER_00: And so God is the one who sovereignly connects and cements people in the covenant of marriage.
15:16
SPEAKER_00: It's not man creating it, it's God acting.
15:20
SPEAKER_00: So haven't you read that he who created them from the beginning?
15:23
SPEAKER_00: In the beginning.
15:25
SPEAKER_00: This is before sin.
15:26
SPEAKER_00: This was the original design, original plan.
15:28
SPEAKER_00: Marriage is actually not a mistake, but it's God's original plan from the beginning.
15:34
SPEAKER_00: Then he says he made them male and female.
15:37
SPEAKER_00: You in this room were designed for marriage.
15:41
SPEAKER_00: God created men and women to complement each other in the design and beauty of marriage.
15:47
SPEAKER_00: Your very bodies and life testify to that truth that God designed you in a specific way.
15:53
SPEAKER_00: And I know, I know this room.
15:55
SPEAKER_00: I know there's complexities to that in this room in a sin-sane world.
15:58
SPEAKER_00: So don't hear what I'm not saying, but just hear this as a biblical reflex.
16:03
SPEAKER_00: Male and female is not accidental to be thrown away.
16:07
SPEAKER_00: It's intentional to be lived in and gloried in.
16:10
SPEAKER_00: It is an intentional design for human flourishing.
16:14
SPEAKER_00: God made them male and female.
16:16
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus continues for this reason, a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.
16:25
SPEAKER_00: This is the definition of what marriage is to becoming one flesh.
16:29
SPEAKER_00: This is what the man is leaving his parents for.
16:32
SPEAKER_00: And so, uh, this is my last one of the day, I think.
16:35
SPEAKER_00: Language, uh, language nerd out moment.
16:38
SPEAKER_00: The Hebrew word uh in Genesis is debak.
16:42
SPEAKER_00: Debak.
16:42
SPEAKER_00: The reason that word's important is because it's not a romantic word, it's a political word.
16:48
SPEAKER_00: And so if you're a king in the ancient Near East and you're worried about your people getting invaded, you would debak to another king, covenant to that king for them to promise to protect you, and if they don't, you have the right to kill them.
17:00
SPEAKER_00: So it's a lifelong covenant.
17:03
SPEAKER_00: And so this is the word the Bible uses to talk about marriage.
17:06
SPEAKER_00: It is not a contract, but it's a covenant.
17:10
SPEAKER_00: It's why we say at the altar until death do us apart.
17:15
SPEAKER_00: It's not a contract that we leave when it gets inconvenient, it is a covenant that we stay in because that's where the flourishing is to becoming one.
17:26
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, therefore, what God has joined, let no one separate.
17:33
SPEAKER_00: This is Jesus' ultimate answer.
17:35
SPEAKER_00: This is the culmination.
17:36
SPEAKER_00: No, you can't divorce your spouse for any reason you want.
17:39
SPEAKER_00: Why?
17:40
SPEAKER_00: Because marriage is a God-designed covenant from the beginning for human flourishing.
17:46
SPEAKER_00: Marriage is a God-designed covenant from the beginning for human flourishing.
17:51
SPEAKER_00: Said another way, marriage is beautiful.
17:54
SPEAKER_00: It's where it's where sinners are made saints, it's where the broken find healing, it's where rebels are redeemed and reconciled.
18:01
SPEAKER_00: And from the beginning, this has been the bedrock of human flourishing.
18:06
SPEAKER_00: And God wants to reorient our heart to his beauty.
18:10
SPEAKER_00: So uh there's two practical ways.
18:11
SPEAKER_00: I just want to apply this tonight.
18:13
SPEAKER_00: Two practical applications.
18:15
SPEAKER_00: One, pursue union that leads to communion, and two, flee communion without union.
18:22
SPEAKER_00: So the first, pursue union that leads to communion.
18:25
SPEAKER_00: Here's what I know about most of the room.
18:27
SPEAKER_00: Most of you guys are scared to get married.
18:31
SPEAKER_00: A lot of you guys love romance and marriage and aren't fully afraid of it.
18:36
SPEAKER_00: But this idea of committing to a person for the rest of your life is frightening.
18:40
SPEAKER_00: Uh, and I know that because that is my story.
18:43
SPEAKER_00: Uh, the hardest part of Katie and I's story, our life together, was when we first started dating.
18:49
SPEAKER_00: I actually walked out on dating Katie for a season because I was so afraid of commitment.
18:54
SPEAKER_00: We were we were in the talking phase, Colin wouldn't be happy.
18:57
SPEAKER_00: We were in the talking phase, and I was like, well, I need to know by next time if we're gonna get married, because if I don't, then I'm gonna yeah, I'm gonna hurt her.
19:04
SPEAKER_00: And what if she's not the right person?
19:06
SPEAKER_00: What if it's not the right decision?
19:08
SPEAKER_00: What if I'm not ready?
19:09
SPEAKER_00: And so all these questions were pouring through my brain, and and I had this visceral fear.
19:14
SPEAKER_00: And so I almost walked out on the most beautiful girl in the world because of this fear.
19:18
SPEAKER_00: So I I feel you, if this is you, in the room, and I just want to ask you, what if the greatest joy of your life?
19:26
SPEAKER_00: What if the greatest joy you could ever step into is actually on the other side of your fear?
19:33
SPEAKER_00: It's on the other side of your fear and commitment to a spouse.
19:38
SPEAKER_00: One of the most beautiful things you can hear is this I love you.
19:42
SPEAKER_00: I love you.
19:42
SPEAKER_00: Hey, you know, we say it casually, I love you, bro, you know, whatever.
19:46
SPEAKER_00: Um there is no greater thing to hear than for someone to look you in the eyes and say, I don't just love you, I love you forever.
19:55
SPEAKER_00: That in your your darkest, deepest moments, the the most joyful moments of my life is when I have come to Katie and I've screwed up bad because you're gonna screw up in marriage.
20:04
SPEAKER_00: And I've screwed up bad, and I come to her and say, Hey, this is what I did, will you forgive me?
20:07
SPEAKER_00: And she looks at me and said, Hey, on May 16th, 2024, when we stood up and said our vows, I meant it.
20:13
SPEAKER_00: I meant I do forever, and I meant I'm gonna love you at your best and your worst.
20:17
SPEAKER_00: This is not a contract that I want to walk out on.
20:19
SPEAKER_00: This is a covenant where I love you.
20:21
SPEAKER_00: And guys, there is no greater joy than that, there is no greater healing than hearing that from another person and experiencing that from another person.
20:30
SPEAKER_00: That that might be the very joy that is on the other side of your fear of commitment.
20:37
SPEAKER_00: Pursue it, it's worth it.
20:39
SPEAKER_00: Two, flee communion, flee communion without union.
20:43
SPEAKER_00: And so Jesus says the words, what God has joined together, let no man separate.
20:48
SPEAKER_00: And so I'm actually not super worried about that command for this room because I don't think anybody's married besides the staff.
20:53
SPEAKER_00: And so, if I can take some creative liberties, what uh what I think Jesus would maybe apply to us today is not just that what God has joined we shouldn't separate, but it's what God has not joined, we should not bring together.
21:07
SPEAKER_00: What God has not joined, we should not bring together.
21:12
SPEAKER_00: So we ask questions like this can my significant other and I live together before we're married?
21:18
SPEAKER_00: Can we sleep in the same bed?
21:19
SPEAKER_00: Can we cohabitate?
21:20
SPEAKER_00: Can we have this casual but committed relationship?
21:24
SPEAKER_00: Guys, what what God has not joined in the covenant of marriage, let no man bring together.
21:30
SPEAKER_00: Or maybe it's hey, uh, I don't actually need C group because I have my best friend and my significant other.
21:37
SPEAKER_00: I I spend all my time with them, we talk about things.
21:39
SPEAKER_00: Do I actually need other friends?
21:43
SPEAKER_00: Guys, what God has not joined, let no person bring together.
21:49
SPEAKER_00: That is a boundary of that is a spiritual boundary that we should not cross.
21:54
SPEAKER_00: Or maybe even, hey, I I'm on board with no sex before marriage, I'm on board with this general.
22:00
SPEAKER_00: Think, but what about all the other stuff?
22:01
SPEAKER_00: Where's the line?
22:02
SPEAKER_00: Like, how far is too far?
22:05
SPEAKER_00: Guys, the answer is not in some uh legalistic definition of a boundary.
22:10
SPEAKER_00: This is the answer.
22:11
SPEAKER_00: What God has not joined, let no person bring together.
22:16
SPEAKER_00: We need to flee from communion without the union of marriage.
22:20
SPEAKER_00: It's uh to use an analogy, uh it's like you can't have the drink you want without a cup, right?
22:28
SPEAKER_00: You can't have a Starbucks pumpkin spice latte if you don't have a cup to hold it in.
22:32
SPEAKER_00: You can't have the beauty of marriage without a you can't have the beauty of marriage without marriage itself.
22:38
SPEAKER_00: Like I picture this day.
22:39
SPEAKER_00: Imagine you're driving through a Starbucks window and they just like have a bucket and just like throw you a hot latte, you know?
22:46
SPEAKER_00: Just brutal.
22:47
SPEAKER_00: You don't want it.
22:48
SPEAKER_00: Um, so what God has not joined, let no man bring together.
22:51
SPEAKER_00: And so I bet, I bet half of you in this room right now are be like, you know, I haven't heard a verbal amen yet, but they're quietly in your head, like, yes, yes, yes, I'm on board.
23:02
SPEAKER_00: I want to get married, I'm looking over the other side of the room for the person I want to marry.
23:05
SPEAKER_00: You're on board, okay?
23:07
SPEAKER_00: I know that's a lot of the room, you're on board.
23:09
SPEAKER_00: And and that's good.
23:10
SPEAKER_00: That's a good thing.
23:11
SPEAKER_00: I want you to hear that is a really, really good thing.
23:14
SPEAKER_00: But while one ditch is thinking, hey, marriage is just a contract to get out of, the other ditch is thinking that marriage is everything.
23:23
SPEAKER_00: Or even to say marriage is a lowercase G God to be worshipped.
23:28
SPEAKER_00: If the question the marriage revolution has has asked is, is marriage a good thing, the question the other side asks is, is marriage everything?
23:36
SPEAKER_00: Is marriage everything?
23:39
SPEAKER_00: So our next text, Matthew 22, verses 23 through 33.
23:43
SPEAKER_00: And so I'm not gonna read the whole story, but I'm gonna kind of paraphrase it a little bit.
23:47
SPEAKER_00: Verse 23 gives us a little bit of context.
23:50
SPEAKER_00: The same day the Sadducees came to him, who say there is no resurrection, and they asked him a question.
23:56
SPEAKER_00: Now, so the first group we talked about was the Pharisees.
23:59
SPEAKER_00: They were one of the ruling elite.
24:00
SPEAKER_00: The second is the Sadducees, and the text says it.
24:03
SPEAKER_00: Their main belief was that there's no afterlife.
24:06
SPEAKER_00: And so they come to Jesus, who actually was of the sect of the Pharisees, and they they want to test Jesus and basically make him look dumb.
24:12
SPEAKER_00: They're saying, How silly is this idea of the resurrection?
24:15
SPEAKER_00: And so they concoct this wild story to put him in a bind.
24:19
SPEAKER_00: And uh I don't even know if I'm allowed to say this, but uh, you know, don't, you know, hate the player, don't hate the game.
24:26
SPEAKER_00: You know, I love to ask a question that gets people in a bind.
24:29
SPEAKER_00: If you're in my D group, you know that.
24:30
SPEAKER_00: Um, but they're trying to get Jesus in this trap.
24:33
SPEAKER_00: And so they ask him this question.
24:35
SPEAKER_00: They say, okay, imagine there's a woman that marries a man, marriage, boom.
24:39
SPEAKER_00: Um, a woman that marries a man and the man dies.
24:42
SPEAKER_00: And so in the law, there's this clause that says, if a man dies and doesn't leave offspring for his wife, then that man's brother should go and marry her and raise up offspring.
24:51
SPEAKER_00: And so that sounds really crude to our ears, but actually is very kind to woman at the time, because as a woman, you couldn't make income or provide for yourself if you were widowed.
24:59
SPEAKER_00: So it was God's way of saying, I care and love about you.
25:02
SPEAKER_00: And so uh God uh has this in the law, and they say, okay, this one brother marries the wife again, and he dies, and then another brother and he dies.
25:12
SPEAKER_00: And altogether you have seven brothers that marry the one woman, and then they all die.
25:16
SPEAKER_00: It's a weird story, okay?
25:18
SPEAKER_00: It's a weird story, it's made up.
25:19
SPEAKER_00: They make it up.
25:20
SPEAKER_00: And their question is, whose wife is she in the resurrection?
25:24
SPEAKER_00: If she married all the brothers, then whose wife is she?
25:26
SPEAKER_00: It's kind of ridiculous.
25:28
SPEAKER_00: And so, I don't know how you picture Jesus usually when you read the Bible, but I like to picture him as like a Middle Eastern Yoda uh because he's just so smart and does not care about your feelings.
25:39
SPEAKER_00: And so uh he responds like this.
25:42
SPEAKER_00: I gotta start responding like this more.
25:44
SPEAKER_00: You are wrong.
25:46
SPEAKER_00: Uh because you know neither the scriptures nor the power of God.
25:51
SPEAKER_00: Why?
25:52
SPEAKER_00: This is what we're gonna sit on for in the resurrection, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like the angels in heaven.
26:00
SPEAKER_00: And so if we were to ask Jesus the question, is marriage everything, I think the answer he's given us here is no.
26:05
SPEAKER_00: Marriage is not everything, it's a temporary thing.
26:08
SPEAKER_00: Marriage is a temporary thing.
26:10
SPEAKER_00: But if I think I had a if I had an emotional meat thermometer, you know, and I could just pinpoint the room, I think that we would feel very differently than what Jesus is saying.
26:20
SPEAKER_00: Uh I don't think we would feel like marriage is a temporary thing.
26:24
SPEAKER_00: Let me just give you a couple stats.
26:26
SPEAKER_00: Romance is the number one highest-selling book genre in the world.
26:31
SPEAKER_00: It's 44 to 51 million books sold every year.
26:36
SPEAKER_00: 44 to 51 million books sold every year.
26:39
SPEAKER_00: That's double the next category, which is suspense and thriller.
26:43
SPEAKER_00: Okay, number two, the online dating market is valued.
26:47
SPEAKER_00: Listen to this, 3.2 billion with a B dollars.
26:52
SPEAKER_00: 3.2 billion billion dollars with a B because of the amount of eyes they can use for marketing and cut I'm cherry on top.
27:00
SPEAKER_00: There's over 10,000 books a year that are published on relationships.
27:03
SPEAKER_00: Think how many books that is?
27:05
SPEAKER_00: 10,000 books on relationships.
27:07
SPEAKER_00: And what I think these statistics show us is that relationships are not something we're healthily viewing, but is the weight of our lives being put on romance and relationships.
27:18
SPEAKER_00: And so when we put the weight of our lives on something that can't hold it, when we try to fill a God-sized hole with a romance-shaped idol, we're left single or we're left empty.
27:29
SPEAKER_00: And so whether we're single or in a relationship, we look for ways to be filled.
27:35
SPEAKER_00: And so sometimes we numb ourselves.
27:39
SPEAKER_00: We go to substances like alcohol, are we just hoping that they can take away a feeling of loneliness for a season, for a, for, for a moment?
27:49
SPEAKER_00: Or sometimes we go to pornography and we just hope that somebody on a sc somebody on a screen can fulfill the deep longing in our heart for relationship.
28:00
SPEAKER_00: Or sometimes we just go to doom scrolling and we just hope that by going taking hours and hours on our phone, we can take away this feeling of numbness that we have in our hearts.
28:10
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you don't numb yourself, maybe you condemn yourself.
28:15
SPEAKER_00: Maybe the internal thoughts in your head are just negative self-talk.
28:18
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you looking at yourself in the mirror and you just say, You're ugly.
28:23
SPEAKER_00: No one would ever marry you.
28:27
SPEAKER_00: It's not worth it for you to ask somebody out on a date.
28:30
SPEAKER_00: No one's ever gonna say yes.
28:31
SPEAKER_00: The only people that love you are actually the ones that are obligated to, like your family members.
28:36
SPEAKER_00: And I know those are the thoughts that come in this room.
28:40
SPEAKER_00: I know people have those thoughts.
28:41
SPEAKER_00: I have those thoughts.
28:42
SPEAKER_00: And it just hurts to even vocalize.
28:45
SPEAKER_00: But I just want, I don't know who, I don't know who needs to hear this.
28:47
SPEAKER_00: But if you need to hear this, you are loved and cared for by a father in heaven who knows and looks at you as beautiful.
28:55
SPEAKER_00: God loves you.
28:57
SPEAKER_00: But maybe we don't numb or condemn ourselves.
28:59
SPEAKER_00: Maybe we maybe we spend ourselves.
29:01
SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's through clothes or or makeup, or maybe it's a brand that promises status.
29:08
SPEAKER_00: It promises if I wear this thing, if I look this way, people will look at me as valuable, that people will want me.
29:14
SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's through hours and hours on a Pinterest board, making a design for a wedding that a relationship doesn't even exist for.
29:24
SPEAKER_00: And this is what I received from the lady staff in the room.
29:28
SPEAKER_00: But ladies, if that's you, delete it.
29:32
SPEAKER_00: Delete it.
29:33
SPEAKER_00: How are you gonna find contentment if you're spending hours and hours on the thing that doesn't even exist?
29:40
SPEAKER_00: Be content in the season you're at right now, or maybe it's just Instagram.
29:45
SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's looking like you want a relationship like them or a marriage like them or a romance or or or something like them.
29:54
SPEAKER_00: And again, maybe you delete it.
29:56
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you delete Instagram.
29:59
SPEAKER_00: Not because of some legalistic rule, but how are you gonna be content with your singleness or with your dating relationship if all you see is people's curated and fake versions of themselves they they post on Instagram?
30:12
SPEAKER_00: How are we going to be content?
30:16
SPEAKER_00: Here's the point you can't fill a God-sized hole with romance.
30:21
SPEAKER_00: And the ways that we have tried to fill it have left us more and more empty.
30:25
SPEAKER_00: That's because marriage is not everything.
30:30
SPEAKER_00: Hear the words of Christ again as compassion.
30:32
SPEAKER_00: For in the resurrection, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like the angels in heaven.
30:37
SPEAKER_00: Marriage is not an ultimate thing.
30:39
SPEAKER_00: It's it's amazing, it's beautiful, it's one of the greatest joys of my life, but it is not everything.
30:44
SPEAKER_00: And so let me just give one practical application.
30:48
SPEAKER_00: Open up in city group.
30:50
SPEAKER_00: Open up in city group.
30:52
SPEAKER_00: The the main place for you to heal the loneliness, loneliness in your heart is not to ask somebody out on a date, but is to look at a brother or sister in Christ and say, This is the way I've screwed up.
31:02
SPEAKER_00: Will you will you accept me and love me?
31:05
SPEAKER_00: That's what that's what city groups are.
31:06
SPEAKER_00: Lake talked about on Sunday.
31:08
SPEAKER_00: They aren't just friends, they're brothers and sisters in Christ who have said, I am with you not because of you, but because of the blood of Christ that washes over both of us.
31:18
SPEAKER_00: You now have the same blood in Christ Jesus.
31:22
SPEAKER_00: And so radically open up in Citigroup this week.
31:25
SPEAKER_00: What are the ways that you are looking for fulfillment in a relationship that a relationship can't bring?
31:31
SPEAKER_00: Because ultimately, culture's actually got it right.
31:34
SPEAKER_00: We do have a relational problem.
31:36
SPEAKER_00: The biggest need of our heart is actually a relationship.
31:39
SPEAKER_00: But what it's got wrong is that it's actually not with a human person, it's with God Himself.
31:45
SPEAKER_00: Marriage is beautiful, but it's a temporary thing.
31:48
SPEAKER_00: And ultimately, the purpose of marriage is to point to the ultimate thing.
31:52
SPEAKER_00: So, last chapter we're gonna go through today, Ephesians 5.32.
31:56
SPEAKER_00: So last text.
31:58
SPEAKER_00: So if you turn to Ephesians 5.32, I'm just gonna read one verse.
32:01
SPEAKER_00: But in the last 10 verses, Paul unpacks marriage.
32:04
SPEAKER_00: He unpacks the beauty and glory of marriage, and what he says at the end is the most profound statement of the whole thing.
32:10
SPEAKER_00: He says this Ephesians 5.32, this mystery is profound.
32:14
SPEAKER_00: And I'm saying that it refers to Christ and the church.
32:19
SPEAKER_00: Paul says that everything about marriage, from the beginning and the garden to how we practice it today, it's all about him.
32:26
SPEAKER_00: It's all about Christ and his church.
32:28
SPEAKER_00: This is the entire story of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation.
32:32
SPEAKER_00: From Genesis to Revelation, we see that God comes to marry his people.
32:36
SPEAKER_00: And so what I want to do is walk through a theology from Genesis to Revelation and see how the main story is how God comes to marry his people.
32:44
SPEAKER_00: So there's three things I need you to see.
32:47
SPEAKER_00: Every marriage ceremony has three things covenant, close, and communion.
32:53
SPEAKER_00: Has a covenant, clothes, and communion.
32:56
SPEAKER_00: So in Genesis chapter 2, Adam and Eve, the woman is created.
33:01
SPEAKER_00: Adam and Eve are naked without shame.
33:03
SPEAKER_00: They don't need clothes because they don't have shame to hide anything from, and they they have a feast.
33:08
SPEAKER_00: They have a communion where they can eat from any tree in the garden.
33:13
SPEAKER_00: And there's a covenant.
33:14
SPEAKER_00: God says, You can eat from any tree, but you must not eat from this one tree.
33:17
SPEAKER_00: If you want to remain in my presence and remain without sin.
33:22
SPEAKER_00: But we know the story in Genesis 3: Adam and Eve break the covenant vows.
33:27
SPEAKER_00: This is spiritual adultery.
33:28
SPEAKER_00: They have left the God of the universe for another God for themselves.
33:34
SPEAKER_00: And so they eat food from a different banquet.
33:36
SPEAKER_00: They take from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and what do they do?
33:38
SPEAKER_00: They cover themselves with fig leaves.
33:40
SPEAKER_00: They're no longer unashamed in what God has created in them, but they they they clothe themselves with fig leaves.
33:47
SPEAKER_00: Covenant, clothes, and communion.
33:49
SPEAKER_00: And so, what will God do?
33:51
SPEAKER_00: What will God do with a bride that has gone astray?
33:57
SPEAKER_00: God inserts a fourth theme.
34:00
SPEAKER_00: No longer will it just require uh a new covenant, new clothes, and new communion will require a cost.
34:07
SPEAKER_00: God will have to pray a price.
34:10
SPEAKER_00: And so, promising the one to come, God pays the price of an innocent animal to take away their fig leaves and has them sew on animal skin.
34:17
SPEAKER_00: And so Adam and Eve have sons, uh, they have a lineage, and eventually comes Abraham, and God promises, he says, I'm going to make a covenant with you, Abraham.
34:26
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to marry you, and you are going to bless the rest of the nations.
34:29
SPEAKER_00: And so Abraham has a son named Isaac, and Isaac has a son named Jacob, and Jacob and his twelve sons are called the Israelites.
34:36
SPEAKER_00: And the Israelites go and they're they go to Egypt to find food and they wind them, wind up in slavery 400 years later.
34:43
SPEAKER_00: And then the Israelites cry out to God and they say, God, will you free us?
34:46
SPEAKER_00: And God does.
34:47
SPEAKER_00: He reaches in, grabs the Israelites, and brings them out into the wilderness away from slavery.
34:52
SPEAKER_00: And so after God redeems his people, what's the first thing that he does?
34:56
SPEAKER_00: What's the first thing he does?
34:59
SPEAKER_00: He sets up a wedding feast.
35:02
SPEAKER_00: We're looking for clothes, covenant cost, and communion clothes.
35:05
SPEAKER_00: Exodus 19.
35:07
SPEAKER_00: God tells Moses to have the people, quote, wash their clothes before coming near the mountain.
35:15
SPEAKER_00: He says, wash your clothes, and then he says, Oh, there's going to be a cost.
35:18
SPEAKER_00: Moses sacrifices a bowl and he has the blood and he throws part of it on the altar and part of it on the people to say that these two people have become one.
35:27
SPEAKER_00: He says, and I quote, this is the blood of the covenant.
35:31
SPEAKER_00: And so they have new clothes.
35:32
SPEAKER_00: God has paid the cost, and then there's a new covenant.
35:36
SPEAKER_00: God gives them the Ten Commandments, say, If you obey, I will be your God, and you will be my people.
35:41
SPEAKER_00: And then and only then can the people come up to the mountain of God.
35:45
SPEAKER_00: And it says, They quote, beheld God, and they ate and drank.
35:50
SPEAKER_00: Communion, a meal with God.
35:52
SPEAKER_00: But then Israel, like Adam and Eve, continue to sin.
35:55
SPEAKER_00: Ezekiel says it this way He says, Israel, you adulterous wife, you receive strangers instead of your husband.
36:04
SPEAKER_00: And so the Israelites, like Adam and Eve, commit spiritual adultery against God.
36:07
SPEAKER_00: They leave the husband who loves them.
36:09
SPEAKER_00: And so Israel loses their clean robes.
36:11
SPEAKER_00: They lose their communion and feasting with God, and the covenant is broken, and ultimately they are the ones who pay the cost and walk into exile into Babylon.
36:21
SPEAKER_00: The question is still, what will God do?
36:24
SPEAKER_00: What will God do?
36:26
SPEAKER_00: God promises a new relationship with his people, he promises a new covenant.
36:32
SPEAKER_00: Listen to this Hosea chapter 2, verse 14 through 18.
36:36
SPEAKER_00: On that day, this is the Lord's declaration, you will call me, quote, my husband.
36:43
SPEAKER_00: And on that day I will make a covenant for them.
36:46
SPEAKER_00: And so the people of Israel, as the canon closes, are looking for someone to bring a new wedding feast, for a king who will come to bring a new covenant, to give the people new clothes, to restore a meal and communion with him at a cost of his own.
37:01
SPEAKER_00: We're looking for covenant, clothes, communion, and cost.
37:05
SPEAKER_00: And so who will be this king?
37:08
SPEAKER_00: John 13, chapter 13, verse 4.
37:11
SPEAKER_00: Listen to this.
37:12
SPEAKER_00: This is crazy.
37:13
SPEAKER_00: So he, so he being Jesus, got up from what?
37:18
SPEAKER_00: From supper.
37:19
SPEAKER_00: Jesus gets up from a feast of communion, and what does he do?
37:23
SPEAKER_00: He lays aside his outer garment.
37:26
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is out of meal with clothes, and he takes off his clothes and he leaves his meal to do what?
37:31
SPEAKER_00: He washes his disciples' feet.
37:34
SPEAKER_00: What is this?
37:35
SPEAKER_00: It's preparation for a marriage ceremony.
37:38
SPEAKER_00: It's Jesus preparing his disciples to be married.
37:40
SPEAKER_00: Look at this, Matthew 26, verse 26.
37:42
SPEAKER_00: It'll be on screen.
37:44
SPEAKER_00: As they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed, and broke it, gave it to the disciples, and said, Take and eat it.
37:50
SPEAKER_00: This is my body.
37:52
SPEAKER_00: Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks, he gave it to him and said, Drink from it, all of you.
37:57
SPEAKER_00: For this is the blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
38:05
SPEAKER_00: What do we see?
38:06
SPEAKER_00: We see the clothes taken off by Christ to clean his disciples.
38:09
SPEAKER_00: We see the communion, the feast left by Christ to give you a new feast, which is what?
38:15
SPEAKER_00: His body and his blood.
38:18
SPEAKER_00: And not the same covenant, but a new one.
38:20
SPEAKER_00: His Christ said, This is the blood of the covenant.
38:23
SPEAKER_00: This is the new covenant.
38:25
SPEAKER_00: The upper room is a marriage ceremony.
38:28
SPEAKER_00: Clothing, communion, and covenant.
38:30
SPEAKER_00: But I think there's one necessary question.
38:32
SPEAKER_00: Where's the cost?
38:35
SPEAKER_00: Where's the cost?
38:38
SPEAKER_00: Very next day, all four gospels show that Jesus goes to the cross.
38:44
SPEAKER_00: That he is, like Isaiah says, like a lamb led to the slaughter.
38:49
SPEAKER_00: He is killed, his body is broken, and his blood is spilled.
38:52
SPEAKER_00: So what's the cost?
38:53
SPEAKER_00: Jesus.
38:56
SPEAKER_00: He's the cost.
38:58
SPEAKER_00: He pays the price.
39:00
SPEAKER_00: And so from the beginning, when God gave Adam and Eve animal skin to cover their sins, it was never actually about animal skin.
39:09
SPEAKER_00: In that moment, God saw you in your chair tonight.
39:13
SPEAKER_00: And he said, I'm willing to pay the price of my own son for me to be married to you again.
39:19
SPEAKER_00: John 3.16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only son.
39:27
SPEAKER_00: Why didn't he simply divorce us?
39:29
SPEAKER_00: Why didn't he simply leave us to ourselves?
39:32
SPEAKER_00: Why?
39:32
SPEAKER_00: Because he loves us.
39:34
SPEAKER_00: He loves you.
39:36
SPEAKER_00: What kind of God is this that leaves his throne from heaven to love you?
39:41
SPEAKER_00: And watch this.
39:43
SPEAKER_00: The cost that the Son brings to provide provision is the very thing that gives us our clothes, our communion, and our covenant.
39:53
SPEAKER_00: Watch closely.
39:54
SPEAKER_00: Matthew 27, 35.
39:56
SPEAKER_00: This is the crucifixion account.
39:57
SPEAKER_00: What does it say?
39:59
SPEAKER_00: They divided his clothes by casting lots.
40:03
SPEAKER_00: Why does it mention clothes?
40:05
SPEAKER_00: As Austin said at Fall Retreat, perhaps it's because Christ needed to take on our nakedness so we could take on his clothing.
40:14
SPEAKER_00: Okay, communion, Matthew 27, 34.
40:19
SPEAKER_00: They gave him wine mixed with gall to drink, but when he tasted it, he refused to drink it.
40:25
SPEAKER_00: Why is that in there?
40:27
SPEAKER_00: Paper's expensive.
40:28
SPEAKER_00: Why is that in there?
40:30
SPEAKER_00: Perhaps because Jesus needed to go thirsty and hungry for you to be fed.
40:35
SPEAKER_00: Where's the covenant?
40:37
SPEAKER_00: Luke 23, 34, Father, forgive them because they don't know what they're doing.
40:43
SPEAKER_00: Because perhaps the covenant you need is not a covenant for you to work yourself to God, but is a covenant where God Himself has worked his way to you.
40:50
SPEAKER_00: Where God has spilt his own blood so you guys could be close.
40:53
SPEAKER_00: It's cost, close, communion, and covenant.
40:56
SPEAKER_00: Guys, the Bible is so beautiful.
40:58
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is the point of everything.
41:04
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is the point of everything.
41:05
SPEAKER_00: And it's not even just that Jesus provides for us, it's that he is the provision.
41:10
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is our clothing, he is our covenant, he is our communion, and he is our cost.
41:16
SPEAKER_00: Think of this.
41:17
SPEAKER_00: Watch this.
41:19
SPEAKER_00: Clothes.
41:20
SPEAKER_00: Galatians 3.27 says this.
41:22
SPEAKER_00: For as many of you as were baptized into Christ, you have put on Christ.
41:26
SPEAKER_00: What does that mean?
41:28
SPEAKER_00: It means that He is our clothing.
41:30
SPEAKER_00: And for you to put on His righteous deeds, you are now in Christ.
41:33
SPEAKER_00: How about communion?
41:34
SPEAKER_00: John 6, for my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink.
41:39
SPEAKER_00: This is what we long for, to be sustained by Jesus, not by food that perishes, but by food that lasts for eternal life and covenant.
41:47
SPEAKER_00: Jesus didn't come to just point us to another teacher.
41:50
SPEAKER_00: He says, I am the way, I am the truth, and I am the life.
41:55
SPEAKER_00: And so this is the hope that you were saved into.
41:59
SPEAKER_00: The hope that all things are in Christ, in Christ alone.
42:03
SPEAKER_00: And that one day what God, what Christ accomplished on the cross will be applied to all creation by his Holy Spirit.
42:10
SPEAKER_00: And watch this last one.
42:13
SPEAKER_00: The thing we look forward to is actually a wedding feast.
42:16
SPEAKER_00: Revelation 19, 7 through 9.
42:19
SPEAKER_00: Let us be glad, rejoice, and give him glory, because the marriage of the Lamb has come.
42:24
SPEAKER_00: And his bride has prepared herself.
42:26
SPEAKER_00: She was given fine linen to wear.
42:30
SPEAKER_00: Fine linen to wear, bright and pure, for the fine linen represents the righteous acts of the saints.
42:34
SPEAKER_00: Then he said to me, Blessed are those.
42:37
SPEAKER_00: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage feast of the Lamb.
42:41
SPEAKER_00: And so, in this room, our hope is not in finding a spouse.
42:45
SPEAKER_00: Our hope is not in finding some romantic pleasure or contractual pleasure.
42:50
SPEAKER_00: This is our hope.
42:52
SPEAKER_00: The consummation of our marriage to God.
42:54
SPEAKER_00: It's the marriage supper of the Lamb.
42:56
SPEAKER_00: That's what we look forward to.
42:58
SPEAKER_00: Where the true and better bridegroom gives us the true and better feast of his body and blood.
43:03
SPEAKER_00: And where he gives us clothes, not of silk or linen, but clothes of his own righteous deeds.
43:11
SPEAKER_00: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.
43:15
SPEAKER_00: Let me pray.
43:21
SPEAKER_00: Father, you're so beautiful.
43:25
SPEAKER_00: Your word is so beautiful.
43:28
SPEAKER_00: From the beginning, from the beginning, God, you created us knowing that you would have to pay the cost of your very own son to redeem us.