A MARRIAGE MADE IN PARADISE.doc

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A MARRIAGE MADE IN PARADISE

Gen. 2:18-25

Intro: We have all heard the expression "a marriage made in Heaven." But,does such an animal exist? Is there such a thing as a perfect marriage?Probably not! However, there was, at one time, a marriage that was made inparadise. In the text we have just read, we are given the details of the veryfirst wedding. When this took place, there was no sin in the world andeverything was perfect. The marriage rate was 100% and the divorce rate was0%. Then the fall came and sin entered the world. With sin came all theproblems and wretchedness of the curse. With these problems, came trouble athome. One would spend a long time seeking the perfect marriage. Oh, thereare many who claim that they "never speak a harsh word." Either they arescreaming too loud for the words to be coherent, or they are just plain liars!The truth is, in many cases, marriage resembles a battlefield more than it doesa union of 2 lovers.

Consider these facts. In this century, the divorce rate has risen over 700%. In1960, there were 393,000 divorces. Now, there are over 1.2 million per year,and the rate is rising! Now, there is one divorce for every 1.8 marriages. Overone million children in America will be involved in a divorce case. Of course,there are some sociologists who say that we can expect to see a decline in thedivorce rate in the near future. Is this because people are developing bettersocial skills and are learning how to communicate and work through their

problems more productively? No! They just aren't getting married. They areliving together instead. Either way, it is a far cry from what the Lord intended!

Tonight, I want us to look into these verses and think for a while about AMarriage Made In Paradise. In this passage, God reveals His intentionsconcerning marriage and His goals for the married couple. The principlestaught here will go a long way in helping to divorce proof our marriages. Let'stake a few minutes this evening to look into this text and see for ourselveswhat makes a marriage made in paradise.

I. V. 18 THE LORD'S INTENTION

A. The Lord's Concern - Ill. The Garden of Eden was a place ofunspeakable beauty and wonder. It was a perfect place where God,man and the animal kingdom enjoyed perfect peace and harmony.It was a good place. In fact, looking back on the Lord's creativeefforts in chapter 1, it is clear that the Lord thought it was good aswell. (Ill. 1:4; 10; 12; 18; 21; 25; 31.) When God looked at Hishandiwork, He declared it all good until He looked at Adam and sawthat Adam was the only one of his kind. This, God said, was notgood. Man had no counterpart. The word "alone" carries the idea of"being cut of, of being a piece which is isolated from the whole."


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(Ill. Lest anyone who is single should get the wrong idea, it is notalways God's will for everyone to be married - Ill. Jesus - Matt.19:11-12; Paul - 1 Cor. 7:7. There are times and circumstanceswhen God has determined that He can better use someone whenthey are unattached and single - 1 Cor. 7:32-33. Therefore, insteadof being upset with the Lord and doing everything in your power to

attract a mate, perhaps the correct response would be to realizethat the Lord might have a better plan for your life.)

B. The Lord's Conclusion - When the Lord surveyed the situation,His decision was to produce a "help" for Adam. This word means,"One who assists another to reach fulfillment." It speaks of the ideaof a "completer". The word "meet" refers to one who "is suitable to,or corresponds to." In other words, God is going to give Adamsomeone who will fill up that which is lacking in his own life. Onewho makes him complete.

(Ill. This is one of the benefits of marriage. The husband and thewife compliment one another. Men are right brain creatures. Welike to analyze things and come to conclusions about stuff. We liketo figure it out. I mean just call it like it is and never for one minutetry to see any other side of the story. If we are going to look atsomething from a left brained approach, we have to stop using theright side of the brain and we are left without any reasoning abilitywhatsoever. Women, on the other hand, have been gifted by Godto be able to use both sides of their brains simultaneously. Theycan see both sides of the coin at the same time. A fact that makes

them very helpful in figuring out things, but very frustrating andconfusing to live with. If there were only men, there would be littlecompassion, little understanding and little caring. Women make upthat which we too often lack. When they come along with their leftbrains firing on all cylinders and point out how narrow we are andwhat we are refusing to see, then, it become clear that they havemade us complete and given us an insight that we otherwise wouldnever have had.)

(Ill. God's intention in making woman was to compliment andcomplete the man. By the way, it still works that way today.)

I. The Lord's IntentionII. V. 19-22 THE LORD'S INTERVENTION

A. V. 19-20 A Desire Shaped By God - In these verses, God hasthe entirety of the animal kingdom pass before Adam. He tellsAdam to look at them and to give them names and whatever Adamcalled them, that was the name. Now, God's intention here is fardeeper than a mere intellectual exercise. He isn't trying to giveAdam's brain a workout. The real goal here is awaken a desire inAdam for companionship.


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As Adam saw all these animals pass before him. Surely he musthave noticed that everyone of them had a mate. It must havedawned on Adam that he was the only creature who seemed to bealone.

(Ill. That desire that awakens in us that causes us to begin to look

on the members of the opposite sex with interest is natural andGod given. There is in the heart of mankind a deep seated desirefor companionship.)

(Ill. Some parents have a problem with this interest. Even someyoung people who are feeling these desires have a problemadmitting that mom and dad just aren't going to suffice forever. Iwant to say that this is a natural part of the transition fromchildhood to adulthood. There comes a time in every normal, welladjusted life when a person begins to feel a yearning to "settledown" with someone they love. It is a normal part of life.)

B. A Desire Satisfied By God - (Ill. The Lord never awakens adesire that He isn't prepared to fulfil in His own way and in His owntime. Our problem is that we have these desires in us and we setabout satisfying them on our own, and in our own time. When wedo, we have short-circuited the plan of God and are on thin ice.When this desire came to the surface in Adam's life, God set aboutmeeting that need. There were three things involved in providingthis help meet for Adam.

1. It Involved Sleep - When it came time for God tomake a helpmeet for Adam, He caused Adam to go tosleep while He did His work. In other words, Adam wastotally uninvolved in the selection process. It, likenearly everything else in life, fell to the sovereignchoice of God.

(Ill. There is a lesson here for those of you who arelooking for that future spouse. The best thing you cando is just let that area of your life go to sleep and trustthe Lord to bring that person into your life in His time

and in His way. But, that isn't what we are told to do.We are told that one must be pro-active, that one mustmake things happen. You gotta go out there and grabhold of the one you choose and use any means in yourarsenal to see that they do not go to someone else.What a lack of faith! If God can be trusted to save yoursoul from Hell, do you not think that He can also betrusted to bring you the mate He wants you to have?May I remind you that the "just are to live by faith,"Hab. 2:4.)


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2. It Involved Surgery - While Adam was asleep, Godperformed surgery on Adam, opened him up and tookout a rib. It was from this rib that God made thewoman.

(Ill. Surgery always involves pain. Often, finding a mate

involves pain and even after a mate has been securedand vows have been exchanged, there are still painfultimes. However, we must learn to trust the Lord duringthe difficult times and to remember our commitmentmade to our spouse. We must fight for our marriages.One Christian marriage counselor said, "The only thingthat I have ever seen will make a marriage last is thatthe couple wants to be married to each other morethan they want to divorce.")

3. It Involves Symbolism - Notice where the womancame from. In taking her from the side of man, God waspainting a picture that speaks volumes about what themarriage relationship should be. Matthew Henry put itthis way, "Eve was made by God not out of Adam'shead to rule over him, nor our of his feet to betrampled upon by him, but out of his side to be equalwith him, from under his arm to be protected and fromnear his heart to be loved."

I. The Lord's Intention

II. The Lord's InterventionIII. V. 23-25 THE LORD'S INVENTION (When I speak of the Lord's invention, Iam not talking about woman, although that is pretty remarkable. I am referringto the institution of marriage. These verses constitute what was the firstmarriage ceremony. There are three aspects that were involved in that firstmarriage ceremony that will go along way in helping our relationships thisevening.)

A. V. 23 Marriage Involves A Response - Ill. When Adamawakened out of sleep, the first thing he saw was this brand new,absolutely beautiful, absolutely perfect woman there with him.

Adam's response is to say, "Now this is one like me." Quite literally,Adam said, "Yes!" Or, as one great theologian put it, "Hot diggety!"What Adam meant was that finally here was one that he just didnot want to live without. Here was one who was compatible withhim, one with whom he could carry out the Lord's directive, of Gen.1:28.

(Ill. The lesson here is that in any marriage, there must be thatelement of heart felt love and the sure knowledge that this is THEperson God has created just for me. Folk, marriage is notsomething to be entered into lightly. It should be prayed about and


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strictly observed according to the Lord's commandments. If HisWord is ignored, there can be nothing but trouble in the marriagerelationship! It involves a response and that response is to say yesto that person that God has picked and prepared just for you.)

B. V. 24 Marriage Involves A Responsibility - Adam goes on to

say that a man is to "leave" his parents and "cleave" to his wife.This is a two step process that many couple would do well toconsider this evening.

1. To leave means to place every other relationship at alower priority than the marriage relationship. Excluding,of course, one's relationship with God. Your husband orwife is to be more that just a spouse. They are toliterally be your best friend - Mal. 2:14. Leaving meansthat every activity outside of the marriage relationshipmust take a backseat. This includes things likebusinesses, hobbies, friends, careers, sports, evenchurch work. Outside of one's relationship with God,there is no other relationship as important as the oneyou have with your spouse!

2. To cleave means to "adhere to, to stick to, to bebound together by some strong bond." Cleaving isn't aninstant thing. Rather, it is a lifelong pursuit. It begins atthe marriage altar and continues to the deathbed. Itspeaks of total and absolute commitment. This is a

word that is lacking in our modern society, especiallywhen it comes to arena of marriage. The modern mindset says, "Well, we'll try it for a while and if it doesn'twork, then I'll just find me a new one." That is a far cryfrom what God intended in the beginning! You see,"cleaving" is not a passive endeavor. In other words, itdoesn't just happen, it comes about as the result ofeffort. I say that any marriage is worth whatever effortis required to save it! By the way, the New Testamentword for cleave means, "to stick like glue, to be weldedtogether so that the two cannot be separated without

serious damage to both." If we really believe that 2become 1 flesh when they are married, then we wouldalso believe that anything that tore that apart was aserious matter.

(Ill. Every married couple in this room needs to realizethat they have been made one. You are not really acouple, you are a single unit. Declared by God inHeaven to be joined together until death rips you apart.If we really lived with this assurance, it would transformour homes, our churches and our nation! Then, divorce


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would not be an option, but just like we would spare noexpense or effort to save a member of our own body,we would everything in our power to safeguard ourmarriages.)

(Ill. I know this is hard for some of you who have been

through divorce. Please do not think that I am withoutcompassion for you this evening. In a later message inthis series, I am going to address your situation as well.For now, suffice it to say that divorce is a sin, Mal. 2:10.However, it is no greater sin than any other that can becommitted by men. If you have repented before theLord and made that right with Him, then it if forgiven, 1John 2:9. Again, I will say more about this matter in afew weeks. Just know tonight that the Lord does notcondemn you and neither do I.)

C. V. 25 Marriage Involves A Righteousness - This verse tells usthat Adam and Eve were naked, but that they were not ashamed intheir nudity. This verse simply drives home the truth that the onlyvalid arena for sexual expression is within the marriagerelationship. Do not be mislead by this world and its twisteddefinitions of what constitutes sex. In my opinion, one which I thinkis backed up by the Bible, anything that goes beyond holdinghands and a simple kiss is sexual activity and dishonoring to theLord and demeaning to you and your relationship with anotherperson. It may be old fashioned, but I believe the Lord will bless it!

(Ill. Heb. 13:4)

Conc: If you were honest this evening and you were to take your marriage andlay it alongside this passage, would your marriage stand as one that was madein paradise? Or, would you have to say that there is some "leaving andcleaving" that needs to take place in our relationship? Is there some activity orpursuit that is coming between you and your spouse? Do you feel that you areone flesh this evening? What I am asking is that husbands and wives take along hard look at their relationships and then respond together, before the Lordand allow Him to have His way in your marriage. Are there needs in yourrelationship this evening? Maybe you are married to an unbeliever, why not

bring them to Jesus and talk to Him about that need? Maybe the sizzle hasbegun to fizzle, why not come before the Lord and ask Him to rekindle theflames that once burned so passionately. Bring you marriage to Jesus and letHim fix it if it is broken, let Him strengthen it if it is weak and let Him make iteven better if it is already good this evening.Maybe your not even married, but you are concerned about the future and theperson you will marry, why not bring that need to the Lord. Singles and singlesagain, are there areas of your life that need to be brought under the Lord'scontrol this evening? Please understand that God has a plan for everyone here.Part of that plan includes salvation, that is a constant for everyone. Beyond


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that, God has an individual plan for your life. I am asking you tonight to comebefore Him and find out what it is. Will you do that?If we learn nothing else, let's learn how to keep the home fires burning!Alan Carr - Gilead Baptist Church

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