Men so the title of this morning's sermon is marriage is temporary marriage is temporary
Now don't get don't get concerned with a title like that. Okay. I'm not saying that
You know i'm going to get up here and start condoning divorce or anything like that
But uh, you know, we we still believe that you know a man and a woman once they're once they're married or to be
You know, it's till death do us part. Okay, so it's not that kind of a sermon
But marriage is temporary in the sense of it's temporary in light of eternity
You know, I want to just talk a little bit about marriage what it is what it isn't and kind of debunk some false teaching around
Around this topic of marriage that's out there today
But marriage is temporary. It's not something that we're going to experience throughout all of eternity
You know the you know, and I could just see like a a collective sigh throughout the room right? I was you know
You're all worried about that. I'm kidding. But you know, that is something that it's a relationship that is is going to come to an end
You know, it is until death do us part, you know, and when death parts us, that's it marriage is over
But marriage, uh, you know to start out, of course, we understand it
But it seems like even in this day and age, especially we have to even go so far as to find what marriage is
You don't even want to bring up the topic of marriage without at least taking a minute to explain what it even is
And it means just start out by saying that marriage is the union of one man and one woman for life
One man and one woman. Okay, it's not two dudes. It's not two chicks
It's not multiple people. It's one man and one woman biblically speaking, you know, whatever the standard the world wants to form
Whatever definition of marriage they want to make up, you know, you know, good luck with that. They're they're so backwards
They can't even figure out what bathroom to use anymore
but we understand here because we have the word of god to guide us that
Marriage is something as between one man and one woman if you look there in genesis chapter 2
It's one of the first things the bible talks about in verse 18
It says the lord god said it is not good that the man should be alone
I will make and help me for him
and out of the ground the lord god formed every beast out of the field and every fowl of the air and brought them onto
Adam to see what he would call them and whatsoever. Adam called every living creature
That was the name thereof and adam gave names to all cattle to follow the air and every beast of the field
But for adam there was not found and helped meet for him
The lord caused a deep sleep to fall upon adam and he slept he took out one of his ribs
And closed up the flesh instead thereof and the rib which the lord god had taken from man made
He woman brought her unto the man and adam said this is now a bone of my bones flesh of my flesh
And she shall be called woman because she was taken out of a man verse 24
Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother and shall cleave unto his wife
And they twain shall be one flesh and they were both naked the man and his wife and they were not ashamed
So what we have here is one man cleaning onto one woman and if you would go over to mark chapter 10 mark chapter 10
So we see first of all that you know, it's between a man and a woman, you know one of each
That's what makes up a marriage today
And you know that seems pretty, you know elementary but again the world is confused on the subject
Another thing i'll just touch on here real quick
You know, i've talked about this in the past even in this last year preached a whole sermon on this. We'll touch on it again tonight
But polygamy is not condoned in scripture
You know, I know there's a lot of new folks in here that are new to bible reading you're going to come if you're reading
You're going to come if you're reading your bible faithfully
You're going to come across passages in the old testament where it see where you if you didn't understand
You might sound like maybe god is okay with polygamy. Well, he's not
You know, I don't want to get up into this morning's or this evening's sermon too much
But sometimes god just you know makes allowances for what man is already going to do despite
Uh what god commands so he makes allowances but make no mistake about it. God's perfect
Will is that it's one man and one woman he does not condone polygamy, okay
Look at deuteronomy or you're in mark chapter 10 there
It says in verse eight and they twain shall be one flesh so they are no more twain, but one flesh now twain is two
Okay, not not trace not quattro not cinco, right? That's as high as I can get but
That you know twain meaning two only two people are going to be one flesh not me and my wife
And another woman and another woman and i'm going to have multiple wives, you know
It's not going to be us four or one flesh
It's going to be one man and one woman are going to be one flesh the twain shall be one flesh
So polygamy is not condoned in scripture
In fact in deuteronomy 17 if you recall just a few weeks ago
We preached but we went through that chapter and there was a commandment given to the kings that said neither shall he multiply wives
That his heart turn not away neither shall he great multiple greatly multiply him to himself silver and gold
So god is saying look he's forbidding kings in the old testament to say they're not going to have a multitude of wives
It's forbidden
And why you know, we'll say well that's for the king. Yeah, but the king is an example, right?
People follow their examples and it was important to god that the man that was lifted up
The man that uh of the whole nation was going to be looking to set the right example
And that's why he said look don't have multitude of wives because what the king does a lot of times people just they say oh
This must be okay
And we understand that
Now god does dick does give in the old testament he gives clauses right to allow for the fact that polygamy is going to happen
Despite of his disapproval and that's where people get confused because you read verses like exodus 21 10, which says if he take him another wife
Her food her raiment and her duty of marriage shall not shall he not diminish
So he's saying look if a man has a wife and he marries another the first wife is not going to be despised
He's still going to perform the duties of marriage under her her food her raiment are still going to be given under
He can't just treat her, you know, like like the old model and just you know
I'm, just going to let it go sit out in the yard and and rust. He's still got to take care of her
And provide for her, okay
So that's I don't want to spend a lot of time on that because again i've i've preached all sermons on that
But what I want to preach about this morning is the fact that marriage is a special relationship because of the fact that it is temporary
And that's not to say again as I started out that marriage is not a permanent union because it is
If you're there mark, did you stay in mark?
If you haven't you can just listen along but in mark chapter nine or chapter 10 verse 9
We see that marriage is a permanent union on earth, you know while we're living this life
You know marriages are not something we should just be in and out of during our life
You know god's perfect will is that one man marries one woman and they stay together for life
And again, I know there's folks that have divorced in the room, you know
And i'm not trying to pick on anybody this this this morning. That's never my intent is to hurt people's feelings
But you know, there's a lot of folks in this room that have not
Have not uh gotten divorced
There's a lot of folks that haven't gotten married and they need to understand these things out of the word of god
And there's a lot of folks in here that have already gotten divorced that would say hey if i'd known that I would have made
A more effort to stay married
You know, so let me just you know educate the others in the room that have not made that mistake
So that they can they can go into marriage understanding what's required of them
The bible says in verse 9 what therefore god hath joined together
Let not man put asunder he's saying look when you get when you take your vows before god
And you swear to give yourself under this person in sickness and in health and poverty and wealth and forsaking all others
You know that is a vow before god that god has brought you together and you are supposed to keep that
Until death do you part he says let not man put asunder don't call the 200 divorce lawyer
Don't go to the judge and get the no-fault divorce. Don't let man put that asunder
He says and in his house his his disciples asked him again in the same matter
And he saith unto them whosoever shall put away his wife. That's divorce. That's what that means to put away your wife
Whosoever shall put away his wife and marry another committed adultery against her
And then so he's saying look if a man puts away his wife and marries another woman. That's adultery against her. That's what god calls it
And then he flips it he says and if a woman shall put away her husband
And be married to another she committed adultery
You know, and that's not something I want to spend a lot of time on
But what I do want us to understand is that marriage is a permanent union here on earth
And it's a very special one
But it's also temporary when we look at it in the whole of eternity. It's not something that's going to last throughout all of eternity
Now there's probably nobody in this room. I don't know if anybody in this room maybe had that impression that
Somehow
They're going to get to heaven and you're still going to be stuck with them, right? Just kidding
You know, you're you're you're thinking oh man great. We're in this forever, you know
Um now I don't think that you're going i'm not saying I don't think you're going to get to heaven forget who you were married to
You know, although the bible does say you shall wipe away all tears. So maybe you know
Maybe it's what kind of marriage you had. Maybe the lord will just be like you don't you don't want to remember that
You know i'm kidding, but you know, I think you will still know your spouse in heaven
But they're just obviously there won't be that relationship there's no need for that relationship in heaven
But there is you know, most everyone in this room probably understands that or gets that you know
But there is an entire group of people out there that have a complete false doctrine built around the fact that
They think that marriage is somehow going to go on forever in eternity
And that women are that heaven to them is women just perpetually giving birth forever
That's not heaven ladies, you know, you probably have to you know, I probably have to explain that to you, right?
That's that's not that's their idea of heaven. It's just you up there just giving birth forever and married to the same guy, you know
That's not that's not something that you want for yourself
But who are these people the mormons the mormons teach this doctrine?
Of celestial marriage who's ever heard of this celestial marriage?
And this is something that they they they teach in their doctrines and I want to kind of just look at what they teach here
for a minute
so
To the to the mormon the marriage relationship
Uh, it will will continue on in heaven and you know
But what we understand from the scripture is that it will not is that it is temporary
And that that is contrary to mormon doctrine what the bible actually teaches
So celestial marriage according to the mormons also called the new and everlasting covenant of marriage eternal marriage
Temple marriage or the principle so they've got all these different names for the same doctrine
To try to keep it as confusing as they can
You know you you talk to these people you try to get to the bottom of things and it's just this big, you know
web of of just deceit and terms
He says that celestial marriage is a doctrine that marriage can last forever in heaven. It says that it can okay
Not that it will so not every mormon thinks that they're going to be that they're going to experience eternal marriage with their spouse
And uh what what they get into here a little bit in a minute is the fact that
This is something that's only given to certain people having a sealed marriage in the temple
You know the the mormon church, you know, and I called a mormon church
I called three because the first two their numbers didn't even work off of google
You know if I taught some of the things they taught I'd probably try to make it hard to get a hold of me, too
But I finally got a hold of a secretary nice lady, you know as all mormons usually are very polite and she was able to
She said I say hey i have a question about your some doctrine about marriage and she said well
I'm not really authorized to answer those questions. I said well
Tell me what your question is and i'll see if that's something I can I can take care of and I just asked her
You know, hey who can get married, uh in the church do all mormons have to get married in the temple
And because it used to be that they that they did that civil unions were not recognized by the mormon church
But they've just recently changed that
So this doctrine of celestial marriage only applies to mormons that seek what's called a sealed marriage within the temple
So if you're a mormon and you go down to the courthouse and get married the church will say oh, yeah, you're married
You know, the church will recognize that you know as of late that's a recent development. Okay, that wasn't always that way in their church
But they'll say but you know, the celestial marriage is not for you
That's something you actually have to go into the temple and you have to we'll read it here in a minute
There's all these things that have to go on before you can get there
But it says here that the celestial marriage is a doctrine that marriage can last forever in heaven
This is a unique teaching of the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints
This is an article from Wikipedia and you know anytime you have a unique teaching
That's unique to your church
You might want to step back and say am I in a cult?
You might want to step back and say is this even right?
Because every every every cult has some weird strange teaching and look and you can take the bible
And you can pull things out of context and you can make up all kinds of weird doctrines as long as you take that one passage
Out of you know, that's why they get baptized for the dead, you know, because because of what they read in the bible
And you know, they're going to take some they're going to take some uh, uh, scripture out of context here
As well in order to promote this false doctrine of celestial marriage
So beware of you unique teachings, you know that cult charge is something that sometimes we have leveled against us at faithful word
You guys are a cult. Okay, what's our unique teaching?
What's the teaching that only we teach?
There isn't one
Now the the post-trip rapture millions of people believe that
the reprobate doctrine millions of people
Generate that for generations before we even came to exist. I believe that there is no one unique teaching here at faithful word baptist church
You know, but there is a lot of biblical teaching and that's that's the thing no matter what
You know name you want to put on the door. You have to let the bible be your final authority
And let everything else line up with that
So this unique teaching of celestial marriage
Is an ordinance again, this is from the article associated with a covenant
That takes place inside temples by those authorized to hold the sealing power
Okay
This is why people get into this stuff because it's just all the secret people love secret, you know
Special club stuff, you know, they want to know the handshake
Do you want to you know, what's the secret password to get in?
You know people are into that because it makes them feel important and exclusive to others
You know and uh, so they have you can only get the celestial marriage in the temple and it has to be a ceremony conducted
By those who are authorized
To hold the sealing power so not everybody can conduct this marriage
The only people allowed to enter the temple be married there or attend. These weddings are those who hold an official temple recommend
So if you have a good mormon friend and you're not mormon and he's getting married in this temple going through this process
You're not invited
You know, you can't go because you don't have the temple recommend
Okay
Obtaining it to say well, I want to go, you know, I want to be I want to celebrate this joyous day, right?
Well obtaining a temple recommend requires one to abide by lds church doctrine
And be interviewed and considered worthy by their bishop and stake president
So there's this whole internship process or an interview
Uh process that you have to go through you got to talk to the bishop this other guy the stake president, whatever that is
You know and you have to be deemed worthy to even go there even if it's not your wedding
I mean, especially if you want to get you know, have a sealed marriage you have to be allowed this access
You know, they're going to sit you down and ask you some questions. I don't know what goes on in that interview
I'm sure they grill you about all their their strange teachings
But they want to make sure you're you know, you're not just you're fake
You're not faking it that you you've been fully persuaded that the mormon church is right
So a prerequisite to contracting a celestial marriage in addition to obtaining a temple recommend
Involves undergoing the temple endowment now
These are whole things that I I don't even have time to go into and i'm not even sure I want it
This involves making of certain covenants with god
So before you can make that, you know covenant with your spouse before god
You've got to figure out all these other covenants before god and keep all this doctrine and be interviewed and get in there
Also that you can have your marriage sealed for eternity
In particular one is expected to promise to be obedient to all the lord's commandments including living a clean chase life
Good luck with that
That's one vow. I'm not going to make I mean that's something i'm a purpose in my heart to do
But i'm not going to get there get up there and say i'm going to obey all the lord's commandments
From here on out i'm going to obey every last one. I'm never going to break another commandment again
You know, you're setting yourself up, you know for a for a fall
There's nobody can do that
I mean you can try and we understand we want to live by the commandments, you know
We want to do those things. We want to love our neighbors ourselves and so on and so forth
But to sit there and to say i'm going to keep all the lord's commandments folks. It's just not even possible
Including living a clean and chase life abstaining from any impure thing willing to sacrifice and consecrate all that one has for the lord
So, I mean you really got to just be you know neck deep in the mormon church in order to even get uh,
Into this this marriage ceremony
In the celestial marriage ceremony a man and a woman make covenants to god and to each other
And are said to be sealed as a husband and wife for time and all eternity
Right. I mean, it's it's just they're gonna you're that's it. You're stuck with them. No, I don't know who would go
I'm gonna get myself in so much trouble after this. This is this one here
But uh, you know, maybe not what I mean is maybe we should do that. I don't know
That's uh, I would sure like that. All right
I get some brownie points up here
But uh, there's so you got to go through all this and then it goes on it says mormonism
Now you say where do they where are they getting this? Where do they even come up with this stuff?
You know the swearing to keep the commandments and marriage is going to last forever and
And we're going to seal ourselves together in the temple and we're never going to part
You know, it's it's beyond death to us part. There is no parting
Uh, well, they cite some some passages of scripture
And if you would go ahead and turn over to matthew chapter 16
Okay, these this is where they get it because again every unique teaching
You know in so-called churches, they're going to take a passage of scripture
And twist it or misinterpret it or not preach it in the context or compare spiritual things with spiritual things
They're not going to read a certain passage of scripture
And then make sure it's lining up with the bible as a whole they like to pull things out and just
Focus on that one verse one part of a verse and teach their false doctrine
So we see first of all in matthew chapter 16
It says there in verse 17
And jesus answered and said to him blessed art thou simon born jonah for flesh and blood hath not revealed unto thee
But my father which is in heaven
And I say also to me that thou art peter upon this rock
Will I build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it
And I will give unto the key the the keys of kingdom and of the keys of the kingdom of heaven
And whatsoever thou shall bind upon earth a bind on earth shall be bound in heaven
And whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. So saying see right there
If we bind we're the church if we bind this on on earth, it's going to be bound in heaven
And there he says he says whatsoever
But here's the thing that this is this passage deals with a very he's talking about a very specific thing that the church has authority over
And it's church discipline
It's not talking about marriage. He's talking about the fact that whatever we bind here on earth regarding church discipline
Is what is going to be that god's going to honor that from heaven, you know?
Uh that in that authority is is clarified in first christians five, you know
The church only has so much authority as to who it is allowed in and out of here, you know
There are there, you know certain if you get into certain sins
It's the boot, you know and so that you'll go out and get it right and come back
But we do not have the authority to say lord these people this married couple is going to go to heaven
And that's the way they're going to be from now on
even though in spite of some other, you know passages in scripture that clearly teach that and we'll get here in a minute, but
That there is neither giving a marriage or they're neither married nor given a marriage in heaven
So what this is talking about in matthew chapter 16 is the fact that the church has authority to discipline its members
If they get into certain sins and by the way, those sins are limited to first corinthians chapter five
Okay, and if you were curious what those are go read first corinthians chapter five. Okay, that's what it's limited to
And as well as matthew 18 go ahead and turn over to matthew chapter 18
And this kind of expands on this idea that hey, you know, what's bound in heaven or bound on earth is bound in heaven
It's referring to church authority
When it comes to the subject of church discipline not marriage as they're misapplying it
And says in matthew 18 verse 15 moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone
If he shall hear thee thou hast gained thy brother
But if he will not hear thee then take thee one or two one or two more
And the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established
And if he shall neglect to hear them tell it under the church if he but if you neglect to hear the church
Let him be as a heathen man and as a publican
Verily I say unto you
Whatsoever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatsoever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. So
that's what he's talking about when he's talking about binding on earth and
Binding in heaven and loosing on earth and loosening heaven is there's regards to church discipline
Because this is another thing that'll get you kicked out of church
Not just first corinthians five if there's an offense between brethren and i'm not just talking about, you know, they looked at me funny
I'm saying if there's like, you know, we're not to go to law with our brethren
You know if if we go out there and somebody backs into somebody else's car
And puts a huge dent in it and then squeals out of the parking lot. We all watch you drive out
And you're saying oh it wasn't me and you're trying to get insurance claim
You know that kind of a thing. We're supposed to settle that in-house like no we saw you, you know
First the guy you hit he would go to you and say hey man, let's make this right
No, no, you're talking about then he's going to grab two or three witnesses and say hey
He's not making it right and if he still doesn't want to do it
Then the church says hey, you either need to make that right or get out
You know now you're going to be as a heathen a republican unto us
So that's what it's talking about and but notice how he ends it there when he's talking about this
You know making things right with your brother, you know
If there's not going to hear you bring some witnesses go to the church this process that you go through
But what is how does he close that passage verse 18?
What say we shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven once you shall loose on earth shall be loose to heaven
These aren't two separate teachings. Jesus isn't just teaching, you know verses 15 through 17 and then just jumping over to something completely different
There it's it's in context so now you can see in context
What he's referring to when he says whatsoever is bound on earth is bound in heaven and it's not marriage
It's not celestial marriage. It's not us binding two people together for all eternity
That might be a form of church discipline. I don't know
There I go again. Anyway, uh
So we're going to continue on in the article
But now you understand that, you know
There's one passage that they take and twist to preach this false doctrine and it doesn't jive. It doesn't come together
It doesn't work. It's wrong
This article goes on
And it says in the lds church today
Both men and women may enter a celestial marriage with only one living partner at a time
That's kind of surprising for the lds church, you know, they were big proponents of uh, so we don't do that anymore
No
Only the real hardcore mormons do it only the ones that actually follow the teachings of their founders actually practice polygamy
All these non-polygamist, you know mormons are the watered down version just keep that in mind
A man may be sealed to more than one woman if his wife dies
He may enter into another celestial marriage and be sealed to both his living wife and deceived wife or wives
Many mormons will believe that all these marriages will be valid in the eternities
And the husband will live together in the celestial kingdom as a family with all whom he was sealed
So they're you know, they're still trying to get that polygamy in one way or another, you know
Hey, maybe you can't have a multitude of wives here's but if she kicks the bucket you can you can have a few more up there
You know
You can practice polygamy in heaven. That's what this teaching here
So again, but this this is wrong. Okay, you're saying look they're gonna these marriages will be valid forever for all the eternities, right?
He's going to live together forever in a celestial kingdom with all of these these people that he's married
but and they and they they turn to
Matthew chapter 22 go over to matthew chapter 22
matthew chapter 22
And this is what they cite they turn to this passage and cite this as proof for this doctrine
Well now they don't start in verse 23, you know, they start a little bit later, but we're gonna we're gonna back up
You know, that's a good thing to do whenever you run into a a scripture you don't understand
Or it's not making sense or somebody's trying to teach you some false doctrine
Sometimes it's good to just read the passages around that that that uh that scripture, you know, go to the chapter before
You know go to the chapter after
You know, sometimes the answer to your question is on the next page or the next chapter the next book
You know
That's another principle not to get hung up in your bible reading when you're running something
You don't understand don't just park it there and try and figure out just keep reading. You'll understand it the next time
The answer just might be on the next page
So that's what we're going to do here
We're going to back up a little bit from where they start into verse 23 and say where the bible says, excuse me
the same day
Came to him the Sadducees which say there is no resurrection and asked him saying master. Moses said if a man die having no children
His brother shall marry his wife and raise up seed unto his brother
Now there were with us seven brethren and the first when he had married a wife deceased and having no issue left his wife unto
his brother
Likewise also the second the second also, excuse me and the third unto the seventh and last of all the woman died also
Therefore in the resurrection whose wife shall she be of the seven?
For they all had her so they think they've really got jesus here. They're like, haha if there's a resurrection, you know
Who is she going to be married to in heaven, right?
and of course
We know the answer in verse 29 and this is where they like to pick it up and he answered and or they start in
Verse 30, but it says and jesus answered and said to them he do err not knowing the scriptures nor the power of god
for in the resurrection and either mary
Nor are given in marriage but are as the angels of heaven. Okay
Now the way they interpret that is is this they say
They refer they know that this is a passage that could pose some problems to their false doctrine
So what they say is that when jesus is asked
About the continuing state of marriage after death
That's the question that the sadducees which by the way were unsaved people that don't even believe in the resurrection
Are posing this question
That when that when they ask that question about continuing marriage. Hey, who is she going to be married to in heaven?
Right this question of marriage continuing on in heaven
He said they they the jesus says people will neither marry nor be given in marriage. They will be like the angels in heaven
Mormons do not interpret jesus's statement as meaning that marriages will not exist after the resurrection
But that marriages will not be performed after the resurrection
For all questions of marital status must be settled before that time. That's what they teach
He's not saying. Oh look, there's not going to be marriage in heaven
It's just that after once we get to heaven nobody's getting married anymore and everybody that already is married
You know that they're going to stay married
So, you know if you're counting on heaven to get married
You might want to scratch that off the list and hurry up and take care of that
But that's what they teach. That's how they interpret that now
No spirit-filled believer is going to read that passage and walk away thinking that marriages continue in heaven
I mean before I even knew about this doctrine, you know
The first time I ever read that I never put down the bible and said wow once where i'm married
I'm gonna be married forever in heaven. No one's ever thought that no saved person has read that and thought that
What they walked away from thinking was the correct interpretation which you get when you have the holy spirit when you're actually saved
And can understand spiritual things
Is that there is no there is no marriage in heaven
That they are not given in marriage in heaven that they are that they are as the angels of god in heaven
And angels aren't married, you know newsflash. They're not angels aren't that's marriage is a unique relationship between a man and a woman on earth
Human beings it's not for the angels in heaven
Because there's no purpose for it
So no spirit believer spirit-filled believer reads matthew chapter 22
And says wow marriages go on forever, but these lost unsaved people who are you know leaving this cult
They just want to teach all these strange things to people
They believe this kind of stuff
And really when you look at their interpretation, okay their interpretation of oh jesus is just saying that uh marriages
Uh, don't they they no longer. Uh
We there is no more getting married in heaven, you know that they're not performed in heaven
We don't perform and that's all he's saying is that we don't perform heaven's marriages in heaven
Well, if you take that interpretation of the mormon church, that means jesus is avoiding their question. I mean think it through here
Okay, stay with me and think this through if that if their interpretation is correct. That means jesus just avoided the question altogether