The Building Blocks for the Family part 2

We'll take your Bible and turn back to Genesis chapter 2. We read quite a bit of scripture in our scripture reading. I know that might have taken a little more time, but I think we needed to do that. All of this comes together to form last week's message and this week's message. Now last week we started looking at the subject of God's design for the family, and that is the title of the series. We're going to be here for quite a few weeks. Now I'll give you a couple of disclaimers here. I'm not going to be exhaustive. Now what I mean by that is we could preach for weeks and years on what the Christian family should be. I cannot be exhaustive.

We will not be exhaustive. And I also gave you a disclaimer. I do remember this one. This could be six weeks, could be eight weeks. I'm just going to see how it flushes itself out. And then this will lead us to our new series that will start in the fall. But I'm going to address some topics. I'm going to address some passages, some truths that I feel like are much needed for us today. This comes out of prayer. This comes out of my study. And this really comes out of me being pastor and just the Lord leading me to preach and teach in a way in which you need it. Think about that.

The Lord guides me and guides the leaders of the church to teach you in such a way that He desires, so don't overlook anything that we're studying throughout this series. Now last Sunday we started off with a message that I called the building blocks for the family. And we went all the way back to the beginning, not just to the beginning of the family, but we went all the way back to the beginning of mankind. Isn't that right? We went back to Genesis 1 starting in verse 26. That was when God created man. And this morning in many ways we're really just going to pick up where we left off.

So the title of the message is really a part two, the building blocks for the family, the building blocks for the family. Now as we started this study of God's design for the family, I made a rather large assumption and then I issued you a challenge. I want to revisit this for you. And this has a purpose. First I addressed a big assumption. I am assuming that you do not believe in any form of evolution. Under that big assumption, I'm making four basic assumptions. I'm assuming that you believe in God. I'm assuming that you believe that God created all things. That would be seen and unseen.

More specifically I'm assuming that you believe that God created man. And then I'm assuming that you believe that the Bible is God's word and that it is the all sufficient, trustworthy record of all of these things. It's a big assumption. As a matter of fact, that assumption challenges many, many today. I hope that doesn't challenge you. But I also gave you a challenge. Now the challenge that I gave you last week is simple but it's hard. Simple but hard. As we're studying what God's word says about God's design for the family, if we discover that we do not measure up, will we adjust our lives to what God's word says? You see the challenge?

Will we repent and adjust our lives to what God's word says? Will we line up with the scriptures? And you know it could be like this. You might say, "Well, pastor, you know I've known this has been a sin in my marriage and in my home for quite a while." And you need to repent. If your life doesn't line up. But you know sometimes people will say something like this, "You know, pastor, I really didn't know that sin was in my family or in my marriage." Well, if that's the case, line up. No matter where you find yourself, line up with what the scriptures say.

And remember, we can take the medicine, even if it's bitter medicine, we can take the medicine that God prescribes or we can take that medicine and we can put it up on the fireplace mantle and we can lay in the bed and die because embracing sin and rejecting God's word always brings death. Now last week's message was very basic. I shared with you some fundamentals, but they are vital truths. And I want to share with you just how important it is. It was for us to embrace what we studied in chapter one, chapter two, and even over in chapter five. First that God created man. See that very basic and fundamental truth? Listen here folks.

Listen close. If we do not start with the fact that man was created by God, then man can be and man can do anything that he pleases. Isn't that what we see in our culture today? Simple observation? Isn't that what we see all around us? So keeping man and mankind bound to the fact that God created man keeps man bound to one vital fact and that is ownership. Write down that word, ownership. And then we saw that God not only created man, but God created man in his own image and in his own likeness. Although God created man from the dust to the ground, God did not create man like all of the other animals. Now what's the difference?

God literally, literally face to face breathed the very breath of life into man and unlike the animals, man became a living being created in the very image and likeness of God. Simply man is Godlike. As a matter of fact, the language even alludes to the fact that we're a little piece of God. See man has a soul, which means that he is an eternal being unlike the animals that are not eternal. So simply man is the crown of God's creation. And remember that one word, unique. Man is unique when compared to all the animals and all the creation. And then third or last we saw that God created man male and female.

We saw this reality first in Genesis 1.27, verse 26, verse 27 right there. Then in greater detail in chapter two, especially starting in verse 18. I like what the Bible commentator Albert Barnes says. He says that God created man in two stages. That might have surprised some of you. God created man and then God created man, male and female or Adam and Eve. Now I thought about it like this. Look at God's math. He took one and made two. We'll talk a little more about God's math later on in the message. But there's one word we've got to remember here and that is gender. Gender. Now why do I go back through what we looked at?

I want you to see how relevant this basic information is for our day. Do we not see men and mankind untethered from God and untethered from God's ownership and untethered from God's word? And folks, the number one reason lost humanity embraces the theory of evolution or rejects the creation of mankind by God is this. Man wants to be free from their responsibility to God. Man does not want to be accountable to God. In the very heart of sinful man, they want to govern themselves. Also just look at how our culture is trying to really, trying really hard to make man like an animal and even lower than an animal, lower than the creation.

The world is no longer telling us that man is just like any other animal in the world because of evolution, but the world is telling us that man is below the creation and man is even to be subject to the creation. That's what all of this climate change and that's what all of that is folks, making man subject to the creation and then gender. Folks, we are witnessing an all out demonic attack on gender. Just imagine how demonic it is for someone to deny their gender, but notice it's even more demonic because we have people trying to convince little boys and little girls to do the same. Folks, this is wicked. This is right out of hell.

It doesn't get any more demonic than that. This might surprise you. This level of wickedness is nothing new. Go back to Genesis, story of Lot. Y'all remember Abraham and Lot? Lot followed uncle Abraham into the promised land. Eventually, wasn't enough room for Lot and Abraham. Lot separated from Abraham. Remember Abraham was a very gracious patriarch and he said, Lot, you go wherever you want to go. You go to the right, I'll go to the left. Well, the text says that Lot moved near Sodom.

Then he eventually moved into Sodom and eventually he allowed the wicked culture of Sodom to have this disastrous influence on him, this disastrous influence on him and his family. And listen folks, Genesis 19 tells us that when the two angels of the Lord came to rescue Lot and his family from the destruction of Sodom, the men of Sodom came to Lot's door demanding those men inside who were actually angels of the Lord. Now why were they demanding those men? They wanted to have sex with them. Now right here folks, listen to your pastor. Take these three basic fundamental truths. What did we study last week?

Take them, ingrain them into your children, ingrain them into your teenagers. First that God created man, he owns mankind. Second that God made man in his own image and in his own likeness. We are God-like. We are created in the very image and likeness of God. We are totally unique. And then third, God created man male and female, only male and female. And gender is good. Gender is of God. And listen church, listen well. If we do not ingrain these basic vital truths into our children like our life depends on it, well then we may fall prey to what the world tells them.

And the world will come to the door and they will demand that our children come out to them just like the men of Sodom did with Lot and those angels. And also if we do not decide to fiercely believe these truths and work hard to teach them in our home and teach our children what God's word says about these things, you just may offer up your children to the men of Sodom just like Lot did. You need to go read the rest of that story. It ought to scare you to death. This is basic and fundamental but oh man this is vital. And so this is your assignment.

You go to go to Genesis 19 and look at the rest of that story and then let's get hard to work teaching these things to our sons and our daughters. Now in our message this morning I want to pick up right where we left off last week with God creating male and female. God creating male and female. We know that this ultimately was Adam and Eve. But before I share some specifics I want us to see what was taking place between the time when God created Adam and when God ultimately gave Eve to Adam to be his wife. We know the rest of the story. See there was a lot happening here. It was a lot happening more than you know. So just follow me here.

Notice that things were not good. This is going to surprise some of you. Go back to Genesis 2 verse 18. The text says, "Then the Lord God said, 'It is not good for the man to be alone.'" Think about that. Things are not good. Now all throughout the creation God has been stating that his work was good. But each day of creation from day one to day five God said that his creation was good. It's repetitive all through the days of creation. And then on day six God said that the crown of his creation, that's man, he says he is very good. But then in verse 18 we see that things are not good. Now why is that the case? Verse 24 gives us the answer.

Look on down. "For this cause a man shall leave his father and his mother and shall cleave to his wife." Now what am I wanting us to see? It was because there was no suitable helper found for Adam in all of the creation. Simply man was alone. Now let me explain what was taking place here. From verse 18 to verse 24, after God had created man, Adam, God brought the animals to the man to see what he would name them. We see this starting in verse 19 and also in verse 20. And we see several things here. First of all Adam was a very, very intelligent man.

The original language tells us that the names that Adam gave the animals corresponded to their function. These were not random names. Then second, all of the animals seemed, all of the animals seemed to have been created. They were ready to reproduce because God had commanded them to procreate earlier in chapter one. That would be the animals. This means that Adam saw the animals both male and female. But the third thing was the situation that was not so good. In naming the animals, Adam saw that nothing in the creation was suitable for him and nothing in the animal world corresponded to him.

That's why the text says that he was alone and it was not good. But notice how specific this loneliness was. Now remember, Adam had not yet sinned. So Adam was in perfect fellowship with God. He had a perfect home that would have been the garden. He had a perfect job that would have been tending the garden. And this was all capped off by a perfect relationship with God. But why was Adam lonely? Why was it not good enough for Adam to just have a relationship with God? Why would this loneliness, see? Adam did not have one that corresponded to him. He didn't have a wife. He didn't have a woman. He didn't have Eve.

And notice what happened in verse 18. Now God's speaking here. The Lord God said, "It is not good for man to be alone. I will make a suitable helper for him." Isn't that what the text says? Basically God says this, "I will complete my prized creation, Adam, by giving him a wife and ultimately her name will be Eve." Now here I want to zero in on what God is doing here. We're going to look at four realities, four truths that come out of these verses. And this is all a part of what I'm calling the building blocks for the family. So number one, I want us to see that God created Eve much different in a much different way.

God created Eve in a much different way. Go to verse 21 and 22. We're skipping over where Adam created or Adam named the animal, excuse me. That's in 19 and 20. Notice verse 21. "So the Lord God, he caused the deep sleep to fall upon the man, this was Adam, and he slept. And then he took one of his ribs and closed up the place, the flesh at the place. The Lord God fashioned into a woman the into a woman the rib which he had taken from the man and he brought her to the man." Now here we see that God is working in a very, very unique way. Well all of the animals and even with man, God creates them from where? The dust to the ground.

But here God creates in a totally new way. We have the very first surgery. Think about it. He opened up Adam and took a rib and he closed it back up. This is the very first surgery. This would have been divine surgery. Now question, what is the significance of how God created Eve in this way? It was all about her role. This is all about her role and her relationship to Adam. See she was created as a helper, not as Adam's slave or Adam's master. See she was an Adam's slave or Adam's master. She came from his body in that she was truly a part of Adam. She came from his side in that she was truly his helper, a helper that corresponded to him.

Matthew Henry describes her relationship to Adam in a great way and I'm quoting. She this would have been woman ultimately Eve. She was not made out of his head to rule over him nor out of his feet to be trampled upon by him but out of his side to be equal with him under his arm to be protected and near his heart to be loved. Now what must we see here? He was created much different whereas the animals were created from the dust of the ground. She came from Adam meaning she was of his flesh, of his bone whereas the animals and all the creation were created to be under Adam's dominion and control.

She was created for Adam meaning she was the helper, that helper that corresponded to him. Now an application, yes this is a very, very basic truth, yes but this applies to marriage to us in our day. See the female was created much different than the male and her role in marriage is much different as well. Men, I'm going to speak straight to you. Your wife was created from you and for you not as your ruler and not as your slave. Men, your wife was created for you and from you but not as a ruler to rule over you and not as a slave for you to rule over her.

Men, your wife was created to come alongside as your help mate, as your helper, the one that corresponds to you and she is to be protected by you, loved by you and nurtured by you. Listen wives, listen husbands, you see the role there? And see there's one word here, headship. Man is the head of the home. We see these same truths taught over in 1 Corinthians 11, 8 and 9. We're going to get to some of these verses a little later on in the series and also 1 Timothy 2.13 where Paul says that man was created first and because man is created first that's God's created order and man is the head of the home. It's all about the created order.

It's all about headship. Now our question, how does this relate to the building blocks of marriage? This is the title of the message, the messages from last week and this week. If we do not have the roles and relationships right in our marriage, we're in sin. If we don't have the roles and the relationships in our marriage between husband and wife, right, we are in sin and sin leads to dysfunction and dysfunction leads to more sin and sin and dysfunction continues to lead to more sin and dysfunction, you see? And look folks, some of you are only doing what was modeled before you.

Some of you are doing what your mom and your dad did, what your grandparents did and see you need to quit comparing yourself to the models and the examples that are around you and get into what the scripture say and look for models and examples in the life of the church and some of you need to step up and make sure you're a model for young couples and even older couples in the life of the church. So some of you men, you might want to rule over your wife. Some of you men, you might want to rule over your wife and you need to repent of that.

Some of you men, you won't lead your wife, you won't lead her, you need to repent of that and some of you wives, you won't submit in your role as helper and helpmate, you won't come alongside in that marriage and you need to repent of that. We could go on and on and we're going to deal with this more throughout the series. So at its basic level, we must see that God created woman, she is a unique creation, she is the unique creation unlike anything else in the creation and we must understand the proper roles in the marriage, otherwise sin and dysfunction, it doesn't work, it doesn't matter what others might say.

So number one, God created Eve, much different, it's all about roles. Number two, I want us to see that God presented Eve to Adam. We're just moving along, God presented Eve to Adam. Now we find ourselves right here almost at the end of verse 22, this is where we are in the verses, look at verse 22. The Lord God fashion he made into a woman the rib which he had taken from the man and then we're pausing right here, notice, and he brought her to the man. See where we are? I want us to see that God presented Eve to Adam.

Here we see that God had created the woman from Adam and then he closed up that place in Adam's side and then the next step he presented her to Adam. Now look at Adam's response, look at verse 23, and the man said, now your translation could have this verse italicized or in parentheses or it could just be noted differently, notice, this is now a bone in my bones, flesh in my flesh, she shall be called woman because she was taken out of the man. Now here we actually have a poem, that's why it's worded different or noted different.

We actually have a poem in the original language that is attributed to what Adam says about the woman who was to be his wife. Basically this is what happened. Adam was put to sleep by God, God formed woman from Adam's side and presented her to Adam and when Adam saw her he stepped up and he expressed how he felt in this beautiful, very expressive poem. Now question, what was Adam saying? First of all, he is stating that she had come from him. The name he gives her speaks to her source as being from man and we see this in the language.

And then also according to the language, Adam is expressing his great and wonderful delight at the sight of the woman. We can put it in our language like this and this is very accurate. Adam is basically saying, wow, wow, look what's before me. This reminds me of when I got married. I got married at Highland Baptist Church in Laurel, my home church. Quite a few people there on that day. I remember standing there on the platform in front of the church, you know how all that works. Stand on a platform like this and everybody's watching, isn't that right? My dad was there, he was my best man.

My home church pastor was there, Brother Dennis Sewell, he was officiating the service. Then Allen Woodward, my pastor that I was serving under in the ministry, he was there to participate in the service. All of my groomsmen were there. You know how it works out in our culture. You know when they play that wonderful music, here comes a bride. I think sometimes people change it these days. But I remember when that music was played and the back door of that church opened up and Christie stepped out of that wedding dress, I wanted to throw up. I did. You know why?

Instead of being like Adam, instead of bursting with delight, I wanted to throw up. See, to tell you the truth, I had a good reason. I had food poisoning. Some of you know that story. Yeah. For hours before I made it to the church, I was sick as a dog. I can't describe to you what was going on in my life. And not only was I sick with food poisoning, but two of my groomsmen were too. I remember before the wedding, we took pictures. I would lay down on the pew and go to sleep. And the photographer would say, "Wake up," and I would get up and I'd stand there for the pictures.

And the photographer would say, "Close your mouth and open your eyes." Listen, all of my wedding pictures on the color of this carpet. That's the truth. I'm not making that up. But listen, in application, this is basic. Really applies to us today. And look, the application is one word. Wow. I finally got over my sickness. And I was able to say wow. And I'm still saying wow. But listen, men, listen, husbands, there should be this wow element in our relationship with our wives. And not simply because of their looks, but because they have been presented to us by God. They have been presented to us by God.

I'll never forget one time I heard the testimony of a very famous pastor, a theologian, one of those men that just real serious. And when he preaches the word, you feel like there's nothing humorous about him and his life. You don't feel like you can relate. He talked about when he met his wife. He got real untheological. He got real unpreacher. And he said, "I don't know what it was about her. I just wanted to be with her." See, that's the wow factor. My question for you is this. How does this relate to the building blocks for marriage? Yes, there should be this wow element when you first get married. That's a part of it.

But what about when your wife gets older and you get older? What about when children come along? What about when difficulties come? I was talking with a man this weekend and his wife was going through some sickness, some serious sickness. And he said, "Man, it's about sickness and in health." He would tell you he hadn't lost the wow factor. And listen, folks, the world has told us that the wow factor is all about looks, but that's all un-Christian. Oh, it's a part of it because God did create our looks, but looks change and looks fade and things happen. It just doesn't stay the same. Things turn colors and fall out. Isn't that right?

And we got to divorce ourselves from what the world says. And we got to look at what God's word says. And look, folks, if we're Christian in our marriage, if we're Christian in our marriage, it doesn't matter what happened. We'll still have the wow factor. So at its basic level, we must have this wow in our marriage. Do we have tough times? Yes. But listen, if you have a marriage built on Christ Jesus and you're working hard to have a Christian marriage according to the word, I'm telling you the wow factor, it'll always be there. It'll always be there. Number three, I want us to see that God joined Adam and Eve. This is real simple.

I want us to see that God joined Adam and Eve. Now at this point in the verses, we have man, both male and female, Adam and Eve. And we definitely see that they were joined in the first marriage, although we do not see the actual marriage service in the verses. See it's almost like the service or the ceremony is between verse 23 and verse 24. Go back and look and see if you don't see it the way I do. Verse 23, the man said, Adam stepped up. He says, wow. Now this is bone in my bones, flesh in my flesh. She shall be called woman because she was taken out of me. And then God makes this declaration. We're going to get to this in a moment.

For this cause a man shall leave his father and his mother and shall cleave to his wife and there she become one. You see it's like the ceremony itself is like tucked in there between the verses. But notice what we have here. Marriage wasn't Adam's idea. It was God's. When Adam was alone, it was no surprise to God. When Adam was naming all of the animals and it became apparent to Adam that there was nothing that corresponded to him. It wasn't that this snuck up on God. It wasn't that God made a mistake. People knew all along this plan for Adam, this plan of marriage. Folks listen, there is no such thing as a plan B with God.

So we see that the plan for marriage was in the heart of God all along and God gives us this pattern that we see here in verse 24. And here in verse 24, God is implying that that happened to Adam and Eve. Now they didn't have an earthly father or mother to leave. We know that, but they did plead to one another as husband and wife. And it was God himself that performed that very first ceremony. It was God who made the two flesh one. See this is God's math again. One plus one equals one. Now notice what we must see in the marriage ceremony. It is actually God that joins husband and wife.

Although God uses men to perform the ceremony in our day, it is God who performs this ceremony. Because God created man, ownership. That's why it's key for us to get that. God made male and female. And God created marriage and he gave marriage to all of mankind. Of course this has all been affected by the fall. This is perfect right here in chapter two, but we're on this side of chapter three. It's all been affected by the fall. And we do know that non-Christian men and women marry. We know that men and women, even in pagan religions, marry. But in the beginning it wasn't the case. This was all Christian if I could use New Testament language.

Now an application for us as Christians, we must see that this, it is God. We must see that it is God who joins us to our wives. It is God who joins husbands and wives together. It is God who does this supernatural spiritual act through a man. And yes, this even applies to non-Christians and pagans today. Remember that all of mankind, they are accountable to God. They are accountable to the standards of God. And this applies to marriage as well. In one word here, God. But it's hard to stay with one word. I tried. I've been giving you one word applications all throughout this message in last weeks.

But actually it's a little more than one word. God joins man and woman. God does it. Now question, how does this relate to the building blocks for marriage for us today? You know I go back to that day that I wanted to throw up. Brother Dennis did not join me and my wife on that fateful day in November of 1996. God did it through Brother Dennis. See? Oh Brother Dennis read the words. Brother Dennis stood up there with his Bible. Brother Dennis led me to just nod and grunt. I don't know what I said. I don't remember any of it. I was doped up on fender bread. But it was God who did that word.

And look for you, it doesn't matter if you are married by the justice of the peace or your pastor. It doesn't matter if you had a pagan marriage ceremony or a very Christian ceremony. See it's God who joined you in marriage because this is all of God. So at its basic level we must see that God is the one who joins us in marriage. We must see our marriage as this supernatural gift and union created by God and for God. And it is sin and self that ruins it folks. So let's move on. I want us to see number four that God made a marriage declaration. God made this marriage declaration.

Now to see what I'm calling a marriage declaration we have to look at two places. We've got to look at chapter two and chapter one. We've got to look at chapter two verse 24 and 25. We've got to look at chapter one verses 28 on down. This is quite a bit of information but I'll go ahead and tell you we're not going to finish this this morning. So look at your clock and take a deep breath. We're not going to be too much longer. We're going to look at chapter two verses 24 to 25. I want us to see a few details here. First of all I want you to see they shall leave. Look at the verse. For this cause, remember God's making this declaration.

For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother. Here God says that the man and the woman coming into this marriage union shall leave their father and their mother. Now it is not that God is calling them to dishonor their parents. That would be a violation of one of the Ten Commandments. Isn't that right? He is calling them to leave their parents and their household and their care and even their authority to start a new union, to start a new family. They are leaving one responsibility. Remember their roles?

They are leaving one responsibility or their respective responsibilities according to their role to their parents and they are moving to their respective responsibilities to each other. So they are to leave. They are to leave. And then second they are to cleave. I'm reading from the New American Standard. For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother and shall cleave to his wife. Here God says that the man and the woman coming into the marriage shall cleave. The English Standard says hold fast to one another. The picture here is of this permanent union. A union which is not meant to be broken or not meant to be dissolved.

So they are to leave and then they are to cleave. They are to be bound together permanently. And then third they shall become one. For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother and shall cleave to his wife and they shall become one flesh. Now we see this great mystery. This is strange. I know. One plus one equals one. Here we have two parts coming together to form one part or making a new part a whole part. So they are mysteriously. They are supernaturally. This is a unique work that we cannot even describe. We have the one coming with one and making one. One flesh. One being. And then fourth verse 25.

They were naked and there was no shame. The man, this almost seems like a tag on. And the man and the wife were both naked and they were not ashamed. Now this is simple because there was no sin and no knowledge of sin. They were in a state of innocence, shamelessness, no shame. Of course Genesis 3 changes all that. Now I want to stop here and I want to make a few comments about these two verses. Here God himself seals the marriage bond folks. So this speaks to the spiritual nature of the union and the permanence of that union. So the two come together physically. That would be sexually yes. So this speaks to a physical union.

The physical nature of that union. And then last they are leaving their father and their mother for one another. So this speaks to the exclusivity of this union. So this is a permanent union. This is an exclusive union. This is a physical union. This is a spiritual union. This is an emotional union. And those of you who have been married for a little while, you just can't explain it all. Isn't that right? There is no sin right here and there is no shame. But an application for us Christians today, we must see that this declaration applies to us in our day. And we need to explore how these words and phrases apply to us today.

But folks listen, remember my challenge. The assumption is one thing, but the challenge is another. Will you adjust your marriage if you see that you do not measure up? Will you? So a couple of questions and application. How does this word leave apply to you? What does the text say? For this cause, a man shall leave his father and mother? I can't tell you how many times I've seen marriage troubles because one, just won't leave mama and daddy. Some of you need to cut the apron strings. Some of you need to cut the umbilical cord. Leave. Leave mama and dad.

Some of you need to leave and look, some of you are looking back and you're seeing some dysfunction and troubles and sin because you just haven't left like you should. But what about this word cleave? What does the text say? Will this cause? A man shall leave his father and mother and shall cleave? Look folks, you have a hard time cleaving if you're not leaving. If it's only you and your wife, ma'am, if it's only you and your husband and you close the door and you look at each other and say, "We've left. It's just me and you. I promise with the Lord's help you'll cleave to one another." And I'm not just talking about physical matters.

Sometimes folks can't cleave because they won't leave. Look folks, this phrase, "The two shall become one flesh." We must understand, seek to understand the great mystery and the great work that only God can do. And I'm going to bring up an example that will help illustrate and I hate this example. Some of you know more about what it means to become one flesh because you've been torn apart from a spouse. Some of you have been through this awful thing called divorce. It's awful. And you know the wounds. You know the hurt. And you know the pain. And words can't just describe. You just can't get it out.

You have a pain in the agony and you know what it's like to be torn apart from one that you have been made one with. But you know we can't forget verse 25. How does this apply? We're on this side of Genesis 3. Sin is ruined at all. Sin has ruined the human race. Sin has ruined all of creation. Sin has ruined even marriage. And folks do you realize that sin has ruined it all in such a way where it's all got to be made new one day. Everything's been affected by sin. Everything's been affected by the fall. Even marriage. But you know I thought about it like this.

There's this unique thing where when God brings a man and a woman together they leave and they cleave and they become one. There is this unique thing whereby there is no shame. But oh when sin comes between the two there's shame. When you let sin come between you and your spouse there's shame. Some of you know what I'm talking about. Now I question how does this relate to the building blocks of marriage. That's the title of the message. Honestly folks these verses I've already said it can be where some of the most difficult troubles come from. Some won't leave mom and dad.

You know sometimes you got to look at mom and dad and say you need to leave. You realize that? Sometimes moms and dads won't leave. Some of you need to cleave. You need to work on cleaving. Close the door and say it's me and you honey and nobody else. Me and you and the Lord in God's word. Oh and then we got to have the church. You see? Some of you have come to the place where you realize you've got to be closer to Christians in the life of the church more so than your own mother and father. So at its basic level we must accept and live up to God's marriage declaration. See why I call this a declaration?

For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother. They shall cleave to one another and they shall become one flesh and the man and his wife were naked. No shame. And I think that this has spoken to you more than maybe you know. Now remember last week I sought to illustrate this teaching and I tried to help us understand the ramifications in this teaching with a story. I told you of my construction days years ago when I worked for a building contractor. I've explained to you before that you know he kind of worked for the other half. He worked for the more wealthy folks who could afford those nice houses.

And you know we worked for an individual who was building his dream home. I told you about that. His masterpiece. Remember how I explained that he wanted the best. He was there every day almost every day. He wanted the very very best. And his motivation was this. He was building his masterpiece and he knew that he had the greatest of materials. No question about money. He had to have the best of the best of the best to create his masterpiece. I remember when that slab was poured. Just a slab. We had all of that framing material delivered on the job site. I think I spoke about this last week. We were grading lumber, cutting studs.

For the outside walls. Cutting studs. Grading lumber. And then we came to the step where you begin to build what's called corners and tees. Some of you don't know what I'm talking about. But when you look at a wall inside the wall, if it's a corner, it's a unique construction. A unique framing in there. You build that corner. And then there's a tee. You've got to build them just right. You know, we had one guy on the job who kind of just took over. And he started building corners and tees in a unique way, a different way. All the other guys confronted him about it.

But he began to talk about how when he was out west, when he was in California, he learned a new way to build corners and tees. Well when the foreman of the crew showed up, man, he was furious. He did everything but throw corners and tees. And he made us redo everything. He chewed us out. And he chewed the guys out on the job who should have known better. But you know, a few of those corners, a few of those California corners and tees ended up in one corner of the house. And folks, every time we got to that corner of the house, we had problems. Because it was out of plum and out of square.

Every time we went to trim out a door there, problems. Every time we went to hang crown molding there, problems. On the first floor and on the second floor, all the way up. Even when we were dealing with rafters on the second story, and I was the one on the top plate dealing with the rafters, it was problems. Now what's my point here? We're not building a dream home. We're not building a dream home but a marriage. And if we have one part that is below standard, below God's standard, we're going to have problems. We're going to have problems as we continue to build. You see? And that's why it's so important for us to evaluate as we go along.

Now remember the chorus of what we sung earlier. "Oh, to see you, Jesus." Now listen folks, we're in Genesis 1, 2. But we are seeing Jesus in his words according to marriage, even this morning. So this is all about what we are calling the building blocks for the family. We're building God's masterpiece. So let's start evaluating and examining and repenting and confessing and building and rebuilding and building and rebuilding according to God's standards. And one more thing before I pray. It's never too late. With God's grace and with God's help, it's never too late. Let's pray.