Our Culture’s Attack On Marriage

Introduction

Let me begin this evening by saying once again what a pleasure it’s been to get to be with you and to be home again. Because this really does feel like home in a lot of ways. And it’s good to be reassociated with so many of you whom we’ve known and loved for a long, long time. And a special word of thanks to those who’ve had me to eat. You know how to feed a fellow. But the best part has been the association together with all of you to find a little time for closeness and get connected and be reminded of who you are and who your families are. Appreciated that so much. And you know you’re blessed to have Greg and Ken working with you in the capacities that they’re serving.

And I know you’re holding up their hands in the work that they do as evangelists here. And beyond all of that, to have the men you have serving as elders with their wives and families is a blessing beyond measure. Please pray for, lift up, and make their jobs easy as they give answer for your souls. So thank you for this wonderful time together. By the way, I’ve talked to Marilyn every day this week. She came over on Sunday, and we’ve had conversations every day, and she sends her love and uh thanks you for the hospitality that you’ve shown to me this week. And in a very special way, the privilege of staying here in a motel during the week. That’s been very helpful. If you hadn’t noticed, I’ve had a little problem with my voice and been fighting a cold and having that relaxing time this afternoon and the other afternoons has been really helpful.

So we come to our closing lesson this evening.

And I’m not finding the clicker up here, guys. Is it here? Have I missed it?

It is hidden. There you go. Okay. Good. Very good. As you know, this series has been entitled Christians Facing a Corrupting Culture. And I want to start again this evening with the passage that’s been our theme passage all the way through, Philippians chapter 2, if you would be opening there with us as a beginning place. The passage says in verse 14, do all things without murmuring and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world. Holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither labored in vain. And so we are charged in this crooked and perverse generation to shine out as lights, to be sure that we hang on with all that’s in us to the word of life.

The picture there, if you don’t mind, is if you were hanging over the edge of a cliff and holding on to a rope, and that is your only salvation before you fell a thousand feet to certain death. I think that’s part of the picture being portrayed here. You hang on as if this is life or death. And it is. Because in a crooked and perverse generation, there are many things working against us as we try to stand for Jesus. Not the least of which are things that have to do with marriage and family. And that’s what we want to talk about tonight. So let me start in Hebrews chapter 13 and remind you of what the scriptures say about marriage. Unlike what our society is saying.

1. Marriage Is Honorable: God’s Original Intention

There are an awful lot of folks in our culture who are saying that marriage, as it has commonly been practiced, first of all, should not be the only way you can have marriage, but secondly, it doesn’t work. Well, folks, if it doesn’t work, it’s because we’re not making it work. It’s not because God’s plan was in any way flawed. Hebrews 13 and verse 4 says, marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled. But fornicators and adulterers, God will judge. And please understand, that has not changed since Hebrews 13 was written. The same God will still judge those who defile marriage and who bring in things that God in no way has authorized. He calls them fornicators and adulterers. You talk about something that’s out of step with the modern day culture, is even using those terms.

Because that means there’s something wrong with what somebody’s doing. And we live in a culture in which nothing is wrong. Doesn’t matter what position you take on hardly anything. To say that somebody’s wrong about something does not fit with modern culture. But Hebrews 13 4 says marriage is honorable in all and the bed undefiled. And then would you turn with me to Matthew 19? Because here we hear in the words of our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, God’s original intention. The question that was raised in verse 3 of Matthew 19 is Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason? And so I’m not going to ask you to answer out loud, but let me ask you.

For just about any reason, our laws will allow you to divorce. And in our state, we call it no fault divorce. So nobody’s at fault. And you can divorce for all kinds of reasons. Let’s listen to Jesus’ answer back in the first century. And he answered and said to them, Have you not read that he who made them at the beginning made them male and female? Can I pause there a moment? Jesus said, when you read the Old Testament, and we know that’s in the book of Genesis, in the beginning God made male and female. That’s two different genders. Are we confused about that in the modern age? On college campuses in our age, it is being openly said, there is no such thing as gender.

You define yourself who you are.

Let’s read on. And he said, For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. So then they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, let not man separate. Now, did he directly answer the question can you divorce for just any cause? Not directly. But he certainly answered the question. It was never God’s intent for there to be divorce at all. And when God joins a couple together, a male and a female, it was his intent for that to last for life.

2. Things Have Degenerated in Our Culture

Matthew 19 3 through 9. Or 3 through 6. So let me share with you some statistics that are very disturbing. Because part of the reason for this series of lessons is that things have degenerated in the United States of America in our culture over the last 50 to 60 years. They just have. The statistics support it. So in the 1960s, the percentage of divorces compared to marriages was 16%. In the 1980s, it had jumped to 50%. In the 1990s, it dropped down to 45%, and there was some rejoicing and celebration over that. The problem was at the same time, the amount of people that are just living together without ever marrying was increasing dramatically as it still is. It is the most common thing now in our society, so much so that laws are changing at both local, state, and federal levels to favor couples living together instead of being married.

But it’s back up to 49% in the 2000s. I don’t have the very latest figures. But those numbers are astounding.

Marriage, the way you describe it, especially in the Bible, doesn’t work. Another greatly disturbing set of statistics is that the percent of children who had to witness divorce in their own family, 25% in the 60s, 40% in the 80s, 40% in the 90s, and up to 50% of children had to witness divorce in their families in the 2000s. Divorce is horrendously impactful upon children. It is the greatest sadness to see their own mother and father split apart. And that is what’s happening in our society. Well, there are lots of other things that could be said. Many other statistics could be put up here. I just made a few notes. The increase in unfaithfulness in marriage, as people leave each other even after they do marry in all kinds of ways.

Living together without marriage, the redefinition of marriage, we talked about it on the Lord’s Day, one of the saddest days in our culture in this age, was when our Supreme Court ruled that our constitution not only supports but undergirds the marriage of two people of the same sex.

3. God’s View on Marriage, Divorce, and Remarriage

If they thought somebody interpreted our Constitution to support such as that. We’re only changing the definition of something that’s been defined since the beginning of time. And by God himself. And when human beings in their culture take what God says and turn it on its head, that will not be done with impunity. And that’s what’s happening. So I thought it was important for a few minutes tonight. Obviously, what I’m going to talk about for the next few minutes deserves much more time than we can give it tonight. But may I give you a summary of God’s view on marriage, divorce, and remarriage that has not changed in all these centuries. We already read to you from Matthew 19. Let’s look briefly at Romans chapter 7. Because it lays down the broad principle that God Himself established when He established marriage.

He says in Romans 7, verse 1, or do you not know, brethren, for I speak to those who know the law, that the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives? For the woman who has a husband is bound by law to her husband as long as he lives. May I pause there a minute? When a man and a woman marry, they are bound by God’s law as long as they live. That’s what God intended. Then it goes on to say, but if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband. So if a man and a woman are married and one of them dies, the other one is now free from that marriage and can go on and marry someone else if they choose.

But, verse 3 says, so then, if while her husband lives she marries another man, she shall be called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is no adulteress, though she has married another man. So the general principle of Scripture is you stay married for life. If you marry somebody else while your husband or wife is alive, you’re an adulteress or an adulterer. That’s the general rule. Now, here are three of four passages up here that I don’t intend to turn to all of them. Matthew 9, 5, 31 and 32, Matthew 19, 3 through 9, Matthew 10, Mark 10, 11 and 12, and Luke 16. Those are the passages in the Gospels in which Christ speaks about this subject.

So what I’d like to do this evening is summarize those four passages for you. And please go study them for yourself. Don’t take what I’m saying. But here’s a chart that kind of summarizes what is taught in those four passages. The general principle taught here is that divorced people who remarry are committing adultery.

That’s the general principle taught in those passages. Now, does Jesus provide an exception? I believe he does. There’s one exception taught by Christ. And that is people who put away their spouse for the cause of sexual immorality and remarry do not commit adultery. But I don’t know another exception to that, beloved. Jesus taught adulterer, pardon me, divorced people who remarry are committing adultery unless a spouse puts away his spouse for the cause of adultery. Other than that, God does not recognize the marriage of those who are divorced. God does not want divorce. And I don’t believe those teachings have changed in 2,000 years any more than anything else taught in Scripture has changed. I also understand this. There are lots of folks that disagree with what I just said and take other positions about this.

4. Husbands Who Follow Love’s Lead

So please don’t rest your soul salvation on what I just said. You challenge what I said. You go look at Scripture for yourself. But I’m convinced this is exactly what God teaches. So what do we do about this, beloved? In our culture, almost everything there is about marriage has been turned on its head. So what does a Christian do about that? Well, you can be very depressed and think, my, my, how are we ever going to get over this? And here’s what I have to tell you tonight. And the rest of my time tonight is going to be positive. Because a Christian can live in any culture and overcome with the power of God. So I’m here to tell you tonight that husbands who follow love’s lead and follow what God says can overcome a culture that is corrupting.

And they can have a wonderful family the way God designed it. And then we’re going to say the same thing about wives. So don’t get impatient with me. I’m going to talk about husbands first, partly because I am one. And I know more about us. But I’m also going to talk about wives for a few minutes. And the theme for both is this. When husbands and wives follow what God says, it doesn’t matter what culture’s doing. We can defeat culture and win in our families. In the name of the Lord Jesus. So let’s go to Ephesians chapter 5, please. And let’s look at how the Lord himself is our perfect example. The Lord, who, while he was a human being, never got married. But he still sets the perfect example for all married people, husbands or wives.

He’s the perfect example. So let’s look at his glorious plan. Ephesians 5, verse 25. Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify it and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word. That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish. So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no man ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it just as the Lord does the church. His commitment to his bride, beloved, is the perfect example for us as husbands. He wanted to present it to himself a glorious church, holy and without blemish.

His thought was for her and not for himself. Our Lord Jesus came to give himself on behalf of his bride, not for her to serve him, but for him to serve her. And to present her to himself blemishless because of his own personal sacrifice.

Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, taking on himself the form of a servant and coming in the likeness of men, and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death on the cross. Would you think with me a moment? He went from the glories of heaven, equality with God, to the death of a common criminal on a cross. Why did he do that? For no other reason than the love he had for his bride, for whom he would sacrifice everything. Dear God, I’ll never live up to even an iota of the closeness to what you did for your bride.

Please help me to be more like you with my Marilyn. I love these two expressions in verse 29 of Ephesians 5. He nourishes and cherishes. Those are not manly terms. But God expects manly men to treat your wives this way. What does nourish mean? Well, it means to provide for, to feed, to supply the needs, to promote health and strength. It’s bountiful and overflowing provision. That means for all aspects of what our wives need. And I don’t know about your experience, but mine is I’ve had to learn a lot through the years on how to nourish my wife. Because I’m not her, I can tell you that. And this whole business of genderlessness is ridiculous. We are gendered from the time we are conceived. Can I throw in a little chemistry here free of charge?

It’s possible at conception to determine if you’re male or female. Because your chemistry is different. It’s through your whole system. It’s not just certain parts of your body, your entire system’s different. And men, if you and I could learn that our wives are significantly different from us, and therefore they can complete us and help us in ways we don’t stand a chance without them. I’ve seen too many husbands fighting who their wives are instead of letting them help them. The differences are profound. And my job is to learn how to nourish who my wife is physically, spiritually, mentally, to help her grow in all those areas by the proper nourishment. Now one could look upon that as a huge task, or how about an exciting journey?

As you learn something new every day. I like to tell Marilyn I’ve lived with four different wives. All in the same body. And about the time I figure out how to nourish, it’s time to learn some more. Because the dramatic changes that take place in a woman’s body over the period of her lifetime. It’s incredible. Much more so than us. And my job is to figure out how do I nourish that? And then cherish goes even beyond that. The word literally means to soften by heat. And in 1 Thessalonians, the apostle speaks of his being like a nursing mother to those disciples. Think of that vision of a nursing mother. Can a man be like a nursing mother? Well, Paul was to those brethren. That means cherish.

Cherish. He warms her and is warmed by the thought of her. Husbands, your wives ought to feel warm and cozy because you’re there. Protected and cared for, tenderly, guarded. And when that’s the case, it’s the most beautiful thing. And I know you may get a little tired of my personal references tonight, but I know my situation better than I know anybody else’s. Can I tell you, folks? We’re working on year number 54. And I feel warmer and more devoted to my Maryland than ever in our lives. So, you young people in this audience, don’t you get discouraged by listening to this culture you live in. Marriage is the best thing God ever did except send his son to die for us. And when you function in your marriage the way God wants it gets better and better and better and better.

Because you learn better how to love better. And then let’s turn to 1 Peter 3, would you? 1 Peter 3 and verse 7. Verse 7 is directed especially to the husbands. It says, likewise, you husbands, dwell with them with understanding, giving honor to the wife as to the weaker vessel, as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered. So you’ll notice that first expression.

In the Bible. Does that mean she doesn’t have to be understanding of us? No, but I think we’re easier to understand. Now you can take that a lot of different ways. But I do think, having had three daughters and a wife, that my ladies are considerably more complicated. Surely there’s no one in this audience who would disagree with me about that. So my job is to learn how to dwell with my wife with understanding. That means I’m going to have a harder time with it. That means I’m slow, for one thing. And I’m not the same as she is, and she’s more complicated. So can I give you an example? Took me 20 years to figure this out. I work a lot. Most of my life I’ve had three jobs.

So I went for a period of time, and of course, we had four children also. Three in two years. Very bad planning. We had a daughter, and then we had two daughters. And then seven years later we had a son. But my wife was inundated with three girls in two years. And I’m working three jobs. And I’m not nourishing Maryland like I should have.

And tennis was my choice of how to get exercise. And when you’re working so many jobs, guess when you play tennis on Saturday. And of course, one of my jobs was preaching on Sunday, so the rest of my Saturday was taken up getting lessons ready and preparing for Sunday, which took the whole of Sunday, of course. So, where’s my time with Maryland? Well, I will tell you at our house on Sunday, pardon me, on Saturday mornings, is when our kids slept in, and when they got up, they watched cartoons. These are nice cartoons.

You better watch out for cartoons anymore. But they would sleep in and watch cartoons. Guess where I was on Saturday mornings? On the tennis court with Harry Pickup. Nothing wrong with Harry Pickup. I beat him in tennis most of the time. But as I was out playing tennis on Saturday mornings, getting my exercise so I could be a better daddy, right? And husband? While my wife was at home wondering, when do I get my time?

It took me way too long, folks, to figure out that part of understanding my Maryland was making certain that I made her know that she was more important than tennis. I remember the Saturday morning when I stayed home. And we had some tears.

The kids were all taking care of themselves. And I will tell you, from that morning on, we didn’t miss a Saturday morning where we could be alone together and bond with each other as husband and wife. So I’m asking you, husbands in this audience, does your wife still think that she’s very important to you? Do you still make time for things to be really special between the two of you? I will tell you, and I don’t think I can be uh contradicted on this. Wives are romantic. They like nice romantic things. They like to be considered special. I don’t care how long it’s been. And your job is to dwell with them with understanding and cherish them. My the opportunities are unlimited. Get created. And if you can’t figure it out, ask her.

What do I need to do to help this get better? And then it says in this passage, he gives her honor as to the weaker vessel. Now, what in the world does that mean? Well, I’ll tell you one thing, it means in the average fist fight and wrestling match, you win, men. My Marilyn thought she could take me down when we got married, and she learned different. But I do not believe that’s the primary thrust of this passage. In fact, there’s some women I wouldn’t, women I wouldn’t want to get in a wrestling match with. Because probably I’d lose. So that’s not a hundred percent. What’s he talking about here? So I’ve tried to come up with something to illustrate. So I had some help with my illustrations here tonight.

Y’all seen one of these? This is a mason jar, right? Pretty tough. Thick glass. Did it break? Not at all. It’s tough stuff. I’m afraid too many men think of their wives like this. She’s not like this. She’s more like this. I wouldn’t dare throw this over my shoulder. Because this belongs to her. This is fragile. It’s easily broken. It’s a treasure. It’s something you want to take care of. Protect. I’m convinced that’s exactly what he’s talking about in this passage. Because husbands, you have the capacity to break your wife. You do. And she’s more easily broken than you are. Don’t you even go there? This passage says you’re to give her honor as the weaker vessel? Look at it again. What are the next words say there?

5. Godly Wives Can Overcome Corrupting Cultures

As being heirs together of the grace of life. I’ll tell you what it means when you protect her as a weaker vessel. It’s respect because of worth. It’s to adore and to prize because of value this weaker vessel. What do you do with this? You put it in a safe place. You’re very careful when you use it. You protect it. You cherish it. Unlike this. I think that’s a good illustration of how a man should think about his wife. And if we would, godly husbands can overcome a corrupting culture. So now let’s talk a few minutes about godly wives. Would you go back to Ephesians 5 again? Because it has something to say to them as well in verse 22. Wives, submit to your own husbands as to the Lord.

For the husband’s the head of the wife, as Christ is the head of the church, he’s the savior of the body. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. Now you talk about being out of step with our culture. I’ll illustrate it this way. I did a wedding some years ago, in which I used Ephesians 5 and all the other passages we typically use about a woman’s role. And it included this notion of submission and obedience. And I was standing outside the door as people were passing out of that wedding, and a couple of ladies dressed in rather modern attire came to me and said, What century are you from?

They said, even the Roman Catholic church has quit using this obey and submit stuff. And I was rather calm in my response that the scriptures still read exactly the same way. And if men and women would carry out their roles the way God intends, there would be no issue whatsoever. Because the fact is, beloved, everybody is to submit to somebody. In fact, the very verse before this, verse 21, submit to one another in the fear of God. All you Christians in this audience, you’re supposed to be submitting to each other. It’s not a unique thing for women to have to submit. Men have to submit. Elders have to submit. Did you know that? So this idea of submission is throughout the scriptures. And in the husband and wife role, the wife’s role is a role of submission.

And I will tell you, that is the primary, that’s the largest emphasis that’s given. You go read those scriptures. But folks, it’s voluntary. You don’t have to get married, ladies. But if you choose to marry, you are choosing voluntarily to place yourself under the headship of your husband, which means submission. Now would you turn back to 1 Peter 3 with me? And you will notice in 1 Peter 3, there are six verses devoted to a woman’s role and one for a man. Do you think I’m going to make anything out of that? I’m not touching that. Not touching it. But verse 1 says, likewise, you wives, be submissive to your own husbands, that even if some do not obey the word, they without a word may be won by the conduct of their wives.

When they observe your chaste conduct accompanied by fear.

The incorruptible ornament of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God. So I have a couple of points to be made about this. Do you notice how God says it’s the gentle and quiet spirit? Submissive, adorned by the very principles of Christ Himself. And did you notice also that it says, which is in the sight of God, very precious. So I have an assignment for you, class. I’d like for you to look through the scriptures and find everything in the scriptures where it says this is precious to God. No fear doing it right now, even if you have your computers with you. I would like for you to take some time and do that. And I will tell you, there are not very many of them in Scripture where it says this is precious to God.

But here’s one. A gentle and quiet spirit in a wife. Look at me. Do you know what this spirit is today? Stand and fight, women. I’m going to have my rights. That’s the spirit of our age. Anything you can do, I can do better. I can do anything better than you. The spirit that’s precious to God is a gentle and quiet spirit.

And did you know that Jesus is your perfect example too? He was never a wife in a family. But Jesus, remember what it said about him in Philippians 2? He was on an equality with God and did not consider it a thing to be grasped. Look, are you just as good as any man ever made? Of course you are. You’re equal to him before God. Your joint heirs. That doesn’t mean your roles are the same. And think about what Jesus did. He was on an equality with God, and he humbled himself to the point of death for someone else. Voluntary submission to the will of his Father. Perfect example for everybody, and in particular for wives who voluntarily submit to their husbands, even if they’re not Christians.

Titus 2, would you go there with me for just a moment? Probably the most unpopular passage in 2018 in our culture. Verse 3 says the older women likewise that they should be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things, that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed. How serious is this? Obedience to your husband, loving your husbands and your children. It’s so God’s word be not blasphemed. Listen, beloved, in this corrupt age, when a husband and wife fulfill their roles the way he wants, it’s like a testimony to the world of the beauty of what God designed.

And when it’s the opposite, it is a blasphemy. Because it’s as if we’re spitting in the face of God. It doesn’t have to be that way. Voluntary submission includes obedience. Unless, beloved, as in Acts 5.29, your husband tells you to do things that God says don’t do, or tells you not to do things that God says to do. You can’t obey your husband in that instance. And by the way, neither do you have to put up with abuse from him when he violates everything God says as a husband. You also have some authority there to let that be known.

When it says, if your brother sins against you, go to him and try to get it straightened out. If that doesn’t work, take somebody with you. And may I recommend wives in this audience? If you’re suffering abuse at the hands of your husbands, there are elders in this church to help you. And if they won’t listen to you and them, then you take it to the whole church.

Obedience does not necessarily mean you’re putting up with ungodly, abusive behavior from your husband. You obey God rather than men.

Proverbs 31 speaks about how she is such a woman that his heart safely trusts in her and she will do him good and not evil all the days of her life. There’s no way to describe, folks, the over you cannot overstate the power of a woman in the home. Think about Sarah. Think about Jezebel. Notice I have it in red. Think about Priscilla. And think about Solomon’s wives who are able to twist the wisest man that ever lived around their fingers and get him to worship idols. There’s no way to properly describe or to overstate the power of a woman in the image of Jesus Christ. So I want to end these comments with an example that was shared with me recently from a brother in Christ who asked me not to use the names.

But I have to share this story with you. It’s current. Last night I commended you on your illustration. He’d heard me preach a sermon. And what you illustrated was very much like my sister’s life.

And you asked me to send you the story, so here it is. I’m changing the names, folks. My sister Sue and her husband Fred have been married 40 years at the time this was written. And he has never indicated any interest in spiritual things. In fact, he often ridiculed the idea of God and those who believed in God. Through all those years, Sue remained faithful and tried to be a faithful Christian, a subjective wife, and a nurturing mother. Shortly after their marriage, Fred moved them to a small community that had only a very small and very liberal congregation. And much of the time through the years, Sue and her four kids were the majority of the congregation. A couple of years ago, Fred developed prostate cancer.

And when it became apparent the cancer resisted all treatment and spread throughout his body, he was given about three years to live. He sporadically attended church services with Sue, and by this time the children had grown up and moved away from home. The church in town quit meeting. And Sue began driving to a town some 30 miles away. Fred heard good lessons, but he didn’t like the idea of a God that meddled in man’s affairs, and he didn’t like all the rules and regulations. After a few months, Fred was told by the doctors the cancer had spread throughout his body and expected to live months, was optimistic. One day he asked Sue, Do you really believe all that stuff about there being God? And she said, I sure do.

And Fred agreed to talk with a local preacher who was also being treated with prostate cancer. After several visits, Fred’s next step came when he told Sue one night, it doesn’t seem right. I’ve lived 65 years not believing in God, and now he’s willing to forgive me. He didn’t talk to Sue much about it, but after a few more visits with that preacher, he was baptized two weeks ago. Sue had a difficult life. Often living on egg shells about religion around Fred. But she never gave up and never lost her faith. There were challenges to her faith, and there were times when she called and wrote me for a sympathetic year. But she never gave up. She’s the strongest Christian I knew, I know, and even though she’s my little sister, she’s the example and encouragement that I often look to.

There’s no telling the power. Now, a couple of years later, I got another email. And he said, Brother Payne, I want to tell you the rest of the story.

During Fred’s illness, he remained faithful and continued to study God’s word. One day he was studying about the contribution and giving as we’ve been prospered. Let me ask you, class. Could you tell me where that is? I hope you can. 1 Corinthians 16, 2 Corinthians 9. He asked Sue how much they were giving to the church, and she told him. He was confused because it was so little in comparison with the income and blessings they had, and he asked her why. And Sue said, all those years, knowing how you felt, I never used your money. I only gave from the money I earned on my job. This broke his heart. And he immediately increased their contribution accordingly. But Fred grieved about that the rest of his life.

Fred’s influence over the years had an effect on his sons who quit going to church as soon as their mama couldn’t tell them no anymore.

His influence more recently helped one son and two daughters to study, and all three were baptized the same service three weeks ago. I got to talk with Fred shortly before he died. Since we were both going through similar experiences, we were able to talk frankly without euphemisms and tiptoeing around the subject. I told him I was amazed at his turnaround and coming to God, and he just grinned rather shyly and said, the lesson is never give up on anyone. And thank God for my suit. You see, godly wives can overcome corrupting cultures. Even inside families. After 40 years. And don’t you ever give up on it? Because marriage in God’s design always overcomes corrupting cultures. And that’s the lesson for tonight. Thank you for your wonderful attention for the wonderful week we’ve been able to share together.

Conclusion

And it is our tradition at the conclusion of a service like this to have an invitation. Are we doing that now? Or are we bringing the kids back in? Oh, they’re all in here anyway, aren’t they? Okay. Can I just say a word about that? It is a tradition, you know, that we stand up and sing a song at the end of the service and invite people to come up. That is not, that’s in 2 Jude 3. You do know there’s no 2 Jude. There’s no scripture that requires us to do what we’re about to do. And I’m telling you that because if you ever go to Bucharest, Romania and worship with the church over there, they don’t do that, so please don’t have a heart attack.

They close the service with a prayer and they’re dismissed. That’s it. And by the way, they’ve baptized a few people. So it’s not a requirement to do what we’re about to do. It’s a tradition. It’s a good tradition. I’m not opposed to it, and I certainly don’t try to fight it when a local church does that. It’s a good thing. And why do we do that? Because we’re hoping that if somebody’s in the audience who’s ready to become a Christian or who needs to confess something and have the prayer, the brethren pray for them, that they’ll do that, and that a song will help maybe put them over the edge to do what they ought to do anyway. So that’s what we’re about to do. And if you’re here and you need the gospel of Jesus Christ in any way, won’t you come while we stand?

As we sing.