(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

All right, well it's really good to be here. I just want to say thanks to Pastor McMurtry and Liberty Baptist Church, and the people that came out and visited, and just all the friendly faces that I've seen here. It's been a really wonderful day. The title of my message today is, True Love Through Marriage. Now usually when people see me going around and speaking, usually I talk about things like creation versus evolution, the dinosaurs, behemoth, the fact that explosions don't construct buildings, which are really simple things that people should understand. But we live in a nation today where free thought really isn't there, and I know I focus a lot on those things, but I've seen a lot of people that really struggle in this area of true love. We live in a generation that cries out, love, love, peace, peace, when really, frankly, there is no peace. There is no love. Do people look happy to you? Look out in the world today. We actually just went out and knocked some doors and tried sharing the gospel with people. They don't seem very happy. People have not really experienced the joy of the Lord, and I want you to know that there is true love that can be found in marriage. Marriage is a picture of the gospel. If you're open to Hebrews 13, the part of the chapter that I'd like to focus on is verse 4, where it says, marriage is honorable in all, in the bed undefiled, but whoremongers and adulterers, God will judge. Let's pray. Dear Lord, thank you for this opportunity to be here. I pray you bless this message. I pray that it would hit home with everyone, and that if anybody needs to be convicted of sin, that they would be convicted of sin, and that it would strengthen people's faith in the Word of God with the message that I'm about to preach. In Jesus name, amen. So I'm going to do something a little different. I actually wrote things down, because this is such a tedious subject. When we talk about marriage, it's very tedious. It's very important to get all the details. I don't want to leave any i's not dotted or t's not crossed here. So I want to preach a message tonight in honor of the fallen. There are many who have fallen spiritually in the area that I'm about to preach in, and they would give anything to go back. When I started working in IT, I started out at General Dynamics Land Systems in Sterling Heights, Michigan. I worked closely with three atheists on a team of four IT specialists, and I was the Christian. They would consistently tell me to play the field. I told them that at any point in time, I could be like them, but at no point in time could they ever be like me. These men live with their girlfriends. I would consistently hear stories of how their girlfriends felt insecure. They would always speak the phrase, why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free. Do you know what that tells you? That men that live with their girlfriends that speak that phrase, they're literally equating women to cattle, to a literal animal, but yet they say, oh we're so loving, we live in a generation of love. No, you don't. If you actually loved the person, if you actually cared about the person, you would put a ring on their finger. You know, really the only thing that's keeping people that are living together out of God's will is just the fact that they haven't done this. The gentleman hasn't gotten on his knee and said, will you please marry me? You know, many times these women, they beg their men, and I'm sure you've all heard stories, they literally sit there begging the person that should be their husband to marry them. I've seen it. I was at my job recently, and this lady came in, she says, I'm living with my boyfriend, we've been together for three years, and I'm just so insecure because he won't marry me. Do you know why he won't marry you? Because he doesn't actually care for you, because he's using you. If he loved you, he would marry you. If he loved you, he would pay your bills, he would take care of you. When people say, don't buy the cow, but get the milk for free, that is the most hateful thing you could say to a woman. You know what, Eve was taken from the man, so when a man degrades a woman, you're degrading yourself, men. The Bible says that he was taken, or that the woman was taken out of his rib, and it was Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve. You know, this whole transgender argument, they think that they can just change one little organ in their body, and all of a sudden, I'm a female now. I'm sorry, there's male chromosomes and female chromosomes. Just the fact that you think that scientifically there can be a change in the gender that we have, and you need to let people figure out their gender. It just shows me they don't even know science. Stop spewing your confusion with yourself on everybody else. We don't want it. We already figured out what we were when we were born. In fact, it was already determined for me by God. So, you know, it just shows there's male chromosomes, female chromosomes. What are you going to do? Go get a chromosome implant? That's not possible. Are you going to get, there's female bones and male bones? You'd have to literally get your bones changed. You would die. You can't change what God has made you to be. I need to get back on track here. I feel like I'm making too much sense. Let me slow down a little bit. We live in a nation where there's a lack of commitment, a lack of love. Everyone's always trying to find true love. These people, there are people everywhere looking for true love from someone, and I want to reiterate, it is hateful to live with somebody that you're not married to. You're wasting their time. They're wasting your time. In fact, they might say, well, someday I'm going to get married. That's hateful to their future spouse. They have to actually tell their future spouse, oh yeah, I lived with somebody for this such amount of time in my life. That's going to make them feel insecure. I mean, think about this. If I found out that my wife was hanging out with another man in an inappropriate way, that would make me feel very insecure. People are like, oh, I want to find, I want to have this deep connection. I want to have a deep connection with somebody. Look, if you want to be emotionally tied to somebody, the best way to do that is to marry them. That gives them the security so that they can come apart, feel more relaxed around you, but instead everybody's always uptight. You can't even go down the street without people just constantly flipping each other off. We live in an uptight and unsatisfied generation. Turn to Proverbs 18. Proverbs 18. And I just want to say, we need to cover what's proper. So there's a honorable thing to do, which is to pursue somebody in marriage. The Bible says, marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled, but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge. But here's the thing, it's actually an honorable thing to pursue somebody in marriage. Now there's a lot of parents that discourage their children from getting married, and people that say, oh you should just wait and wait and wait and wait and date and date and date and date. Look, if you've been dating somebody for two years, and you haven't figured out whether you're going to marry them or not, you need to get it figured out. The Bible says, don't put confidence in the flesh. The Bible says in Proverbs 18, I want to focus on verse 22, the Bible says, whoso findeth a wife, findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favor of the Lord. So when you actually find a wife, if you're a man, you have obtained favor of the Lord. The Lord is blessing you, that's a blessing. It's not a dirty thing, it's not a bad thing. I've heard people say, I've literally heard Christians say, oh it's just such a dirty thing. Well you know what, you have kids, you got married, so stop saying that it's dirty. You know what, intimacy in marriage is a wonderful thing, it's a gift from the Lord, but people have taken and perverted it today, and it's become so perverted in America that people have literally read into the scriptures and read into reality that intimacy is bad. No, intimacy is good, it's blessed, it's ordained of God. Look, if a man didn't want to have intimacy with a woman, we wouldn't be here. The human population would have gone extinct. We need that desire, that desire is ordained of God, but it's to be carried out in your marriage. Not with your live-in concubine, not with your live-in girlfriend, that you swap out every few years. The Bible says in 1 Timothy chapter 5 verse 14, it says, I will therefore that the younger women marry their children and guide the house. So young ladies, you may say, well what's God's will for my life? Get married, bear children, guide the house. That's what God wants you to do. It's really that simple. Now I have a friend of mine, one of my best friends, he fell in love with a young lady, the Fundamental Baptist Church, and she fell in love with him, and they were going to get married. And they were young people, and I thought, wow, praise the Lord. I actually go out of my way to congratulate people that are going to get married, or that are looking to marry and do it right. Amen. I congratulate them, I think that's awesome. But they were looking to get married, and the young lady, her father stepped in, and the father does have the authority. I respect the man to this day, but he said, no honey, he says, I don't want you to get married, I want you to go off to Bible college for four years. I want you to go and learn the Bible. Hello, she should have learned the Bible at home. You should have taught her the Bible. But no, she needs to go learn the Scriptures from somebody else. Okay, great. She goes to Bible college, she ends up hooking up with a bunch of different guys, and now she's miserable as can be. She is a wreck today, because she didn't do what God told her to do by getting married, bearing children, and guiding the house. That's what the Bible says to do. It doesn't say, you know, when God brought Adam to Eve, he didn't say, all right, Adam, let me give you a dating program, we'll see how it works out for a few years. He brought her to him and said, get married, be fruitful, and multiply. That's what the Bible says, folks. You know, parents always say, oh, my son's not ready, my daughter's not ready. Instead of saying that, the best thing I think to do, and I've only been a parent here for about a year, I've been married for a little bit, and I don't want to speak about things that I know not of, but I know what the Bible says. But I think that the wiser thing to do, instead of saying, oh, you're not ready to get married, is to say, you know what, let me help you get ready to get married. Sometimes we get so caught up with the don'ts that we don't end up doing the do's. That's the problem in America today. That girl is in a wreck today because she didn't follow God's will, she went into the way of the world, and if you notice the last part, it says that the younger women should marry, bear children, guide the house, and then it said, for some are already turned aside unto Satan. So some people that haven't gone God's route are already turned aside unto the devil. It's worldly. I just want to say, it's worldly to be in a relationship for years and years and years, and then say, oh, well, you know, I ask people, hey, you've been in a relationship for a couple years, some of my friends, you've been in a relationship for a few years, you guys looking to get married? Oh, no, not too quick, not so fast. Have you ever read the Bible? You know, anytime somebody says, not so fast, that's crazy. It either tells me that, A, they're worldly, or B, they're just not reading the scriptures. So, you know, people have been influenced to think that you have to have this long-term relationship. Look, I'm not saying to get married overnight, you know. Same thing with Isaac and Rebecca, you know. When Isaac saw Rebecca, and Rebecca saw Isaac and leapt over to meet him, it was a very exciting time for them, and they were getting married, but Isaac didn't go, well, let me, let me test the waters first, let me, let me date you for a while first. They got married. That's what we need. That's what America needs is marriage, and marriage is true love, it's commitment. When you live with somebody outside of marriage, you're showing them, I'm not committed. You're showing them, you know what, I can just up and leave at any minute. Marriage actually puts legal things in place, as well, to protect you from just up and leaving, on a moment's notice. Go ahead and turn over to Colossians 3 verse 18. And you know what, these women and these young men that go down this terrible path of living together before they're married, and they split up, they have to tell their future spouse all about that. And their future spouse, listen, if you mess up in this area, if you give your body, young lady, to a man that doesn't belong to you, and you don't belong to him, and if you give yourself away to him, your husband will be jealous of that someday. The Bible says that you should reverence your spouse all the days of your life, not just when you get married, not just when you meet them, all the days of your life. You should honor your spouse and be faithful. That's true love. People say Christianity is a sexist religion. They're sexist towards women. No, actually we care for women. We tell women that they should get married, that they should have security. What's better than that? You can't beat that. I'm sorry, God's model scientifically is superior. God's model biblically is superior. God's model is always superior, and people that sleep around before marriage, they're more likely to have a divorce than ever before. The statistics are off the chart. You say, well Brother Powell, we live in a nation where 97% of people have had physical relationships with people outside of marriage, and it's too late. No, it's not too late. You can actually set a date and say, okay, from this day forward, I'm not going to sleep around. I'm not going to look at pornography. I'm not going to do the things that I shouldn't be doing. I'm going to focus on what God has told me to focus on, and I'm going to invest in the person that God wants me to marry. And you know what really drives me crazy is, you know, women, and this is a good thing, this is something that God gave women and men over each other, is jealousy. There is good jealousy. Women are often so insecure they're like, they're always asking their husbands, why are you looking at other women in public? Or, oh, please don't look at other women. And all women do this just about. All women, even women that are not Christians, Christians, Muslims, Jews, whoever, they'll be jealous over their husband and his eyes or their boyfriend. Look, if everybody just dressed modestly, if everybody just clothed themselves, if everybody just did what God told them to do and not show off their bodies, we wouldn't have that problem. But it's because people have rebelled against God that we have these issues. The Bible says in Colossians 3 18, wives submit yourselves unto your own husbands as is fit in the Lord. Husbands love your wives and be not bitter against them. So we shouldn't be bitter with our wives. If they have insecurities with things, we should address those things. And wives, you've got to submit to your husband. This is what the Bible says. I'm just telling you what the Bible says. This is the formula for success. People say, well, you know, if I just have a problem in my marriage, I'll just find somebody else. Look, you're gonna have same problem with that person too. Because most likely the problem is you, not the other person. Because if you think, oh, there's a way out, that's not very loving. You know, when it comes to marriage, it's do or die. It's do or die. Till death do us part. In sickness and in health, in poverty and in wealth. People need to understand the importance. And you say, oh, well, the, you know, I don't think your, men, I don't think your wife appreciates that woman at your job that comes by, and your heart just flutters for her when she comes walking by. I don't think people appreciate that. I don't think women appreciate that. We need to have our heart protected and guarded for our spouse. That's what the Bible tells us to do. The Bible says, keep thy heart with all diligence. The Bible says, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not. You know, a long time ago, about six years ago, I was working at General Dynamics, my first IT job, and there was a company, Harlot. Now, the company Harlot was looking to get with pretty much anybody she could. Because I don't know what this lady's deal was. She had been indoctrinated by 2014 America, and by all the propaganda and the news media saying, dress like a whore. Look, if you dress like a, they're like, you won't attract a man unless you dress like a whore. Go ahead and dress like a whore. You'll attract a man all right. But it certainly won't be the one that's committed to you. The same man that came just for your looks to get you will be the same man that leaves just because your looks fade when you get older. Everybody's looks will fade. The Bible says that beauty is vain, and it's deceitful. What was the verse? She shall be praised. So that's the truth. So the Bible says that this is the will of God. Let not the wife depart from her husband too. If things get rough, look, we got to stick together. That's what it is. It's about family. Now I just, I want to make it clear, you know, we should wait till marriage to share intimacy. I have here written, physical intimacy is a gift from God. It's beautiful. It's ordained of God, but it is to be taken seriously. If you have a physical relationship with someone who you're not married to, you are being hateful, all caps, to your future spouse, whether you know it or not. When you do get married, your spouse will constantly wonder, did you like any of your previous partners more than me? Constant, constant fear, constant anxiety. Is that what you want your family to have? You say, well brother Powell, I've made the mistake. Set a date and say, okay, I'm not gonna, and think about this. I want to get back to the story of this lady at my job. She was the company harlot looking to get with pretty much everybody, and so I was working late one night, and she more or less had proposed that idea to me, and I told her, no, I'm waiting till marriage. I'm waiting till I find my wife to share intimacy with anyone. It's going to be my wife, and she responded back, well that's not very loving. Look, here's the thing. It wouldn't be, who here has seen like love come softly? These romantic stories, they're beautiful stories. My wife and I have been in tears watching these movies. They're beautiful. It wouldn't be a very good story if the lady on love come softly was just the company run around, beauty and the beast, beauty's just off hanging out with a bunch of men at the bar. That's not very loving. Nobody would ever buy that. That would be off of Hollywood market. That wouldn't even sell as a movie. God wired us to be touched emotionally when we see true love, when we actually see that. But this lady, she's like, that's not very loving, Matt. Well, here's the thing. I told her, number one, it's not loving for me to give away what belongs to my spouse someday, and number two, it would be very hateful of me to actually get with you, because if I do that, I'm hating on you and your spouse. It's hateful towards your future spouse. I don't want your future spouse to have to live with that. I love mankind. I want mankind to be able to do better. That's what we're about as Christians, and she looked at me and she actually teared up this woman, and she literally said, she said, I wish every man was like that. I wish every man was like that. Let me tell you something, folks. This book has the answer for everybody. That woman actually invited me to her wedding. She invited me to her wedding. I'm telling you, folks, if we follow God and do it His way, and not be hateful towards people by corrupting mankind and then chanting it with diseases, look, scientifically, because people are so illiterate scientifically today, my goodness, people in the atheist community, well, you know, if you go sleep around and you take the necessary precautions or whatever, look, if you even just kiss somebody, you are very likely, if that person has a disease, to get the disease. It gets transmitted just the same way. So here's the thing, nobody should in their right mind be taking chances like this, going outside of God's will and doing these things. The Bible says sin has pleasure for a season, so yeah, people say, you're saying it's not pleasurable. It may be pleasurable for some, but only for a season. Think about pornography. I have a lot of scientific papers I was going to get into, but I'm kind of trying to hurry here. There are scientific papers. The title of one is Viewing Porn Shrinks the Brain. People say, oh man, you know, I had these people at my job tell me, oh Matt, if you were really masculine, you would look on all these different women. That's what real men do. Look, when you view inappropriate images, you shrink your striatum. That's the part of your brain that experiences pleasure. You shrink it. The more inappropriate images that you view, the study says that the striatum, that part of the brain, for people that viewed inappropriate images more often, was smaller. Do you know what that means? Less satisfaction. Like I said earlier, people in the world, sin has pleasure for a season, for sure. You go down that road, if you start looking at inappropriate things, it may feel good for a moment, but then all of a sudden, your brain is fried. Your prefrontal cortex, which is there for decisions, is gone. It erodes the brain. The scientific paper says that from the eroding of the prefrontal cortex, a brain that is critical for impulse control to the damaging of the dopamine reward system. Well, that sounds real manly, all right. That'll make you into a wimp. You don't need to watch that garbage. That's a fake fantasy. Get married and have a relationship with your spouse. Be real. Don't be fake. But that's what we live in. You ask an atheist even, what's the meaning of life? Well, my meaning of my life is whatever I make up, I just make it up. You know they're admitting that they're making up or make believing a purpose for life. They don't think there is purpose, but they've decided to make believe. Oh, I'll just pretend there's purpose. Look, and they make it their purpose to tell everyone that there is no purpose. That's literally what they are. If I pretended to be a fighter pilot, sorry, it doesn't make me a fighter pilot. When there's no meaning to life, when there's no God, and everything magically spawned through the big bang, where nothing caused nothing to explode, and all that nonsense, doesn't make any sense. The Bible says that all men have not faith, and that there are wicked and unreasonable men who have not faith. So the people who don't have faith in Jesus, the Bible says they're wicked and they're unreasonable. So you could actually show them these scientific papers. You could sit down and you could play the science game with them. They won't listen. They don't care. And then when you actually do get in the ring with them, and you do pin them down, because you have a moderator, and you do pin them down, what do they do? They start crying. I literally had a guy a couple years ago, he cried. I brought this up to him. Started crying. I'm sorry, the facts are the facts. You got to get it right. That's all there is to it. And I just want to say, you know, the Lord loves us like, you know, as a, we are the bride of Christ. So what that means is that, you know, Jesus loves us in the same way that, in the same way that we should love our spouse. So here's the thing, Jesus said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. Once you're saved, you're always saved. Eternal security. Amen. But in the same way, you should never leave your spouse. Just as Jesus will never leave you, don't abandon the ship when your shipmate starts bleeding out. Help him up. The Bible says, who so findeth a wife, findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favor of the Lord. And people say, well, you know, these young men always say, well, I just don't understand why my wife just hasn't come into my life yet. I say, well, are you looking? Well, who so findeth a wife, findeth a good thing, so the Lord's just going to bring her. Who so findeth? I found it. That means you were looking. Okay, you gotta look. Seek and ye shall find, right? Knock and it shall be opened unto you. This is such basic logic, but people miss it because they don't read the Bible. People, we have to read the Bible. Pornography destroys your brain. It will fry your brain cells and take you down the darkest path that you never thought you would even go. You'll reach a point where you won't be satisfied with it anymore. These are my words I wrote down because I want this to be so clear. You'll need more and more and more. Before you know it, no amount of women or men on that screen will cut it for you. Not only that, it will wreck your marriage. You know the number one reason that people get divorced today? Pornography. Second reason is finances. These people that live together, they say, I have my bank account, he has his bank account. But we're together. No, you're not. Get married and get a joint account. You might want to start getting closer to your spouse with your finances. If it's the second cause of divorce, get that right. And we have to realize no matter what, because men are always going to struggle with lust. That's something that's a problem for us. It's because we've fallen. We're sinful creatures. But what we need to do is make no occasion for the flesh to provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust thereof. That means that if you struggle with wine and alcohol abuse, and you have a Jack Daniels in your fridge, that you need to get rid of it. You don't need to have it just sitting in there, oh I'm trying to give it up. Yeah right, it's sitting in your refrigerator. Get it out of there. Don't walk by the bar. I have an issue with sleeping with multiple people. The Bible says, come not nigh the door of her house. Don't even come near her house. Quit doing that. That's the silly stuff. That's what gets people in trouble. Being at the wrong place, with the wrong situation, at the wrong time. So when it comes to things like inappropriate images online, the best way to avoid it is if you have that problem, get rid of your method. Whether it's an iPhone, a computer, or put protection on that where your wife or husband can monitor you, this is important. Look, I want to help you. If you struggle in this area, I want God's word and I want these facts to be able to help you know the truth. People say it's not damaging to the mind. I'm sorry science says otherwise. These are even evolutionists that admit this. Big names in the evolutionary community. And I even had a Christian tell me, that's not true. It doesn't destroy brain cells. Did you even read the papers? What science are you studying? Science from like 50 years ago. Are you studying Darwinism? That's as dumb as Darwin. And these people that praise Darwin, they put the Darwin fish on their car. They think that Darwin was such a great scientific mind. Look, Darwin said and I quote, often a cold shudder has rung through me back in the 1800s and I have asked myself whether I've devoted my life to a fantasy. So Pastor McMurtry, if I got up here and I said, you know it's been really good giving this message brother, but I'm afraid that I'm living in a fantasy. Would you trust anything that I'm saying? Do I even really believe what I'm saying? So Darwin, when he said I'm afraid I'm living in a fantasy, but people go put the Darwin fish on their, they don't even know what Darwin said or what he was even about. But you know these people that claim to be free thinkers, a lot of times they are confined thinkers, they don't know how to free think. But then they think they know how to think when they've graduated, when they've only been told what to think instead of how to think. Before you know it, no amount of women on that screen will cut it for you. Not only that, it will wreck your marriage. It will destroy you. Over time it makes men physically dysfunctional in their marriage. Satan wants to destroy your body. The Bible says the body is the temple of the Holy Ghost. This is how he does it. He walketh about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour, the Bible says. A roaring lion. Who's ever heard of the lion's den? He walks about as a roaring lion. It's just right there in your face. It's of the devil. As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. Lack of satisfaction is running rampant. That's why people are angry. They're not being satisfied with their marriage. Turn over to Proverbs and this is probably where we'll end. Proverbs chapter 5 verse 15. I have written here, bragging about, because you know the world brags about this. They take pleasure in their sin and they brag to you about it. Bragging about sleeping with multiple people equals bragging about harming them. That's something that they have to live with. It's a shame and an embarrassment to those who have integrity about their body. If you sleep around, you are showing the world that you don't take your body seriously. You are showing your future spouse that you never took them seriously. People have mad respect for those who wait until marriage and even though people make make fun of you. I was made fun of, oh you're a virgin, you you know you haven't been with a woman. People would make fun of me for that. Then I got married. Praise the Lord. And that was a great thing. It's great to be married and to wait on the Lord. The Bible says those who wait upon the Lord shall shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall walk and not run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. And in this area of marriage, it's important to wait. Now I'm glad that my wife doesn't have to worry. Was someone so better? Constant anxiety. Women already have enough anxiety. That's the last thing that we need is that to happen as well. Marriage is already hard enough as it is. The Bible says, drink waters out of thine own sister in verse 15 and running waters out of thine own well. Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad in the rivers of water in the streets. Let them be thine only and not strangers with thee. Let thy fountain be blessed and rejoice with the wife of thy youth. Let her be as the loving hind and as the pleasant roe. Let her breast satisfy thee at all times and be thou ravished always with her love. Not somebody else's love. Don't look to be satisfied with somebody else. Be satisfied with your spouse. That's what the Bible says. I have it written here as well, listen to me young people. Satan wants to destroy your life. He wants to destroy your marriage before you even meet your spouse. He wants to handicap you. He wants you spiritually dead. People always say, oh I want this closeness with my significant other. Well if you want closeness, you need to stop cheapening yourself by hanging out with other people and having relationships with all sorts of different people. Don't cheapen your body. If you're a woman, your body is precious. If you're a man, your body is precious before the Lord. And the Bible even says that the adulteress will hunt for the precious life. Now people think that, you know, in the classroom they think that, you know, we need to have, you know, sex education. People need to be educated. No, people need to learn biology, basic anatomy. Are you sex education? That's the last thing that kids need to be thinking about. Biology, anatomy, cosmology, geology, those are the things that you should be learning about so that when it comes time to even defend your faith or talk to people, you're a literate person. People always say, Matt you just really aren't about education because you really preach a lot out of this book right here and this old book. Look, go on my channel sometimes. I'm all about education. I love education, but I think that everything that we do should be based on the Word of God. They say, well why do you believe the Bible's true? Because the Bible. It really is that simple. They say, well there is no truth. Is that true? Because if it's true that there's no truth, how could we be sure that that statement's true? How can we be sure that anything's true? And if there is truth, absolute truth, then truth proves itself. See if my words were the reason that you accept the book, then my words would be the final authority. The reason that you should accept the Bible is because the Bible proves its own authority. They say it's a circular argument. I don't care what shape the argument is. The Bible has power. Never a man spake like this man. Amen. You know divorce is running rampant in our nation right now, so you know people, they get fed up with their spouse, and then when their spouse starts having issues, they jump ship. When we shouldn't do that. Did Jesus jump ship on your salvation when you were a sinner? He paid for our sins past, present, and future. I was out soul winning with brother Austin Dennis today, and he made the point to this Catholic gentleman that Jesus died 2,000 years ago. That means he died for the sins that you were going to commit before you committed them. Once you are saved, you are always saved. You cannot lose your salvation. That is a done deal. You say, well brother Powell, you're just giving people a license to get away with all this sin then. Look, the people that have the license to get away with sin are the people who don't get saved, because they can get away with anything. I can't get away with sin, because God will punish me. The Bible says that the Lord punishes those who he receives as his children. He chastens every son that he receiveth. So he chasteneth all of us. So the people who can get away with sin are the unsaved. They get away with it all the time. We can't. Even though there's nothing we can do to separate ourselves from his love, there's nothing that we can do to undo what the cross did for us. You think you're more strong than God? He said that you're in my hand, and I'm in the Father's hand. No man shall be able to pluck you from my hand, from his hand. I really want to iterate this, that when you get divorced, and you've had children, that's very hateful towards the children. People don't always understand this. It's wrong. It's really hurtful for them to have several different sets, because likely you'll get a divorce again, and then they've got three different dads, five different moms. Like, it just doesn't make sense. Why would you want to do that to your kids? If anything, if you have a crazy spouse, stick with them for the sake of your own children. If you can't just, oh, I think the Bible teaches you can leave them. I think that, you know, the Lord's okay with divorce, even though the Bible says the Lord hated divorce, the putting away. I think that that's okay. What about your kids? I mean, I don't want my son having to see somebody else with my wife unless I died. If I died, I would want my wife to get remarried. People need a father and a mother. That's what helped me to grow up, and that's what's going to help you to grow up. Now, you may not have had that. My wife actually didn't have a father, and so that has really complicated things for her. It made her life tough as a child not to have a dad. They need dad and mom, and so when you get a divorce, and here's the thing, they say the grass is so much greener on the other side. Look, it may appear greener, but you're living in a fantasy if you go and get remarried, because you'll wish that you could have gone back. You'll wish that you could have gotten it right. You say, well, what if somebody's spouse, what if you have an abusive husband that beats up his wife? Then that man should be beaten not to death, but should be beaten. If you physically harm your wife, you should be whipped with a bunch of lashes. The Bible says give honor unto her. It's not a sexist religion. They have a sexist religion. Evolution is a racist religion, literally saying that we evolved from African Americans. What about the African Americans that are still alive today? That's rude. That's racist. They literally put African Americans in zoos back in the early 1900s and put them on display. They considered them to be the missing links. There was a man, his name was Ota Benga. They thought he was the missing link. He was fully human. This is all based in evolution, but they took and they had him in a zoo, and unfortunately, you know, it just wasn't a good scenario. The religion of evolution is what encourages people to act like animals. That's why I preach against it so much. That's why I actually will go and debate anybody on it. I'll debate any biologists, zoologists, geologists, cosmologists, any of them, and they can try and defend their position, but they'll fail every time because it's funny, the same people that think that dinosaurs farted themselves to death are the same people that want to tell you, oh, there's errors in your Bible. They literally teach that dinosaurs farted themselves to death. And then one guy says, well, you have misrepresented us. We believe that they they tooted and it warmed the environment. That sounds even more stupid. And that's why they died. They died from the global warming. And we covered a lot of that, brother McMurtry. We covered the squids in octopi that crash landed the earth. I mean, this stuff is just crazy, but this is the crowd that wants to tell you not to keep your purity. They think that they have the advice for life. They don't have the advice for life. Just last month, a rock fell from the sky and they said, there's the answer. It has the ingredients for life. There's the answer. That's lazy science. A rock falls from the sky onto somebody's driveway and they say, well, it contained the ingredients though, Matt. Okay, big deal. I could put a frog in a blender, blend it up. That is all the ingredients for life. But I don't expect the frog to put itself back together and start hopping around again. Folks professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. I just made that point to say that people that encourage you to do wrong, that make fun of you and say you're not masculine for looking upon different people or different women, folks, they don't know what they're talking about. They're professing themselves to be wise. They will become fools and here's the thing. Guard your purity. Guard your heart. The Bible says, keep thy heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of life. The Bible says that there's a way which seemeth right unto a man but the end thereof is the ways of death. Let's pray. Dear Lord, thank you for this opportunity to be in your house. I pray that this sermon will really hit home and I want to thank you for the friendship that I've had with Pastor McMurtry for the past few years. I pray you bless this church, bless him, bless his ministry. Thank you for his Christ-like character and thank you for the Christ-like character of this church body, this people that love you. I pray you bless all of us tonight. Keep us safe as we go our separate ways. In Jesus' name, amen. Blinded by her tears she didn't recognize the Lord she loved was standing right before her eyes. But then he said her name and the moment that she heard a flame was lit within her that flowed out in these words. I have seen the Lord. I can't keep it to myself. I'll testify that he's alive. What glorious news you tell my Savior lives. I have seen the Lord. How can I do less than share this now with you? The Lord I love is risen. I know that it's true. Because there's an empty grave and this heart of mine believes. The resurrection story has given life to me. I have seen the Lord. I can't keep it to myself. I'll testify that he's alive. What glorious news you tell my Savior lives. I have seen the Lord. I have seen the cross, the blood, the nails, the crown. I have seen them take his lifeless body down. I've seen the sun set on all the hopes and dreams. Oh, but let me tell you what these eyes of faith have seen. I have seen the Lord. I can't keep it to myself. I'll testify that he's alive. What glorious news you tell my Savior lives. I have seen the Lord. My Savior lives. I have seen the Lord. I've seen the Lord. The Lord. The first thing that people need to understand about the Gospel is that it's simple, it's easy. The Bible says, but I fear lest by any means as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your mind should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. So the Bible clearly tells us that there's simplicity in the Lord Jesus Christ and that there's simplicity in salvation. So salvation is not a complicated thing. No matter what any internet teacher might say, no matter what any person might preach out there, the Bible says that the Gospel is simple, that it's easy. The Bible simply even says just believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. And so the first thing that people need to understand before being able to be saved is that they're not saved and that they are condemned if they have not believed on the name of the Son of God. The Bible says for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. And so obviously all of us are sinners. None of us are exempt from that. And the Bible does say that sin is the transgression of the law. So when we break God's law we sin. And the Bible says that there's a penalty for sin. The Bible says that the wages of sin is death. And so because we're sinners, one day we're gonna have to die. Now you only have to do one sin to be a sinner. And the Bible says that all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. Now I know that everybody's lied before. I've lied before. You know, and if you say that you haven't lied before, you're lying right now. You're lying to yourself. And so everybody's committed sin. And we've all done stuff worse than lying. So according to God's word, we would deserve hell. The Bible says, but the fearful and the unbelieving and the abominable and murderers and whoremongers and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. And so that's what we deserve for our sin, is the second death. And without Christ the Bible says that we will go there. We will have to pay for our own sins and endure the second death, which goes on forever and ever. But the Bible says that God commended his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. And so even though we were sinners, even though we didn't deserve the gift of salvation and the opportunity to go to heaven, Jesus Christ took our place as a substitute. The Bible says that he was God manifest in the flesh. And so Jesus was basically God with skin on. And the Bible says that he did not commit any sin. The Bible says he was tempted at all points, like as we are, yet without sin. So Jesus was fully God and fully man. And Jesus went about doing many miracles. And Jesus would always tell the truth. And sometimes whenever you tell people the truth they get really offended. And they got so offended at the words of Christ that they took and nailed him to the cross. And the Bible says that while Jesus was on the cross it says who his own self bear our sins in his own body on the tree. So literally every sin I've ever done, every sin you've ever done, it was as if Jesus had done it himself. You know he was being punished in our place for our sins. And so he was the substitute lamb. He was the one who came and took our sins upon his own shoulders on that cross and bare them in his own body as the Bible says. The Bible even says that Christ died for us. And so Jesus took our place. He took my place. He took your place. And salvation is actually as simple as that. It's as simple as realizing that you can't save yourself and that you're a sinner and you deserve hell. But Jesus Christ himself came and took your place, took your sins and my sins, and bare them in his own body and wiped away that punishment and was the substitute lamb for us. Now obviously they took Jesus's body down and buried it, but three days later he rose again from the dead. And that's the gospel is believing that Jesus died for your sins, was buried, and rose again. The Bible even just simply says in Acts 16, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shall be saved. Now it doesn't say thou might be saved or thou could be saved or you might, you just might make it somehow. No, the Bible says that if you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ or you trust him and what he did on that cross, you shall be saved. There isn't any question about it. When you put your trust in Christ, he promises to hold on to you. And one of the most important things to understand is that once you're saved, you're always saved. The Bible says in John 5 24, Jesus said, verily verily I say unto you he that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation but is passed from death unto life. And so those are some pretty powerful words that tell us that once we trust Christ, once we receive that gift of salvation, that we are passed from death unto life. And he also says that you have everlasting life. Now everlasting by definition goes forever. And so if I had eternal life today and I lost it tomorrow, that didn't last forever. And just as you may have children of your own, nothing that they could ever do would be able to separate them from being your son or daughter. And it's the same way with God. Once you're born into his family, there's nothing that you can do to remove those genes. The Bible says that it's not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost. So when we get saved, it's not by our own righteousness but by the righteousness of Christ and by the washing of regeneration. The Bible also says that to as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name which were born. So you get born again into his family the moment you receive him as your Savior. Even the most famous verse in the entire Bible says, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. So notice how it says he gave his only begotten son, it's a gift. So when God gave Jesus as a gift to us, as a gift to mankind, a salvation, we just simply receive it. You don't work for a gift, you receive a gift. So if God gave his only son, that tells me and that tells anybody reading the Bible that you receive Christ as Savior. God makes a promise to everybody that trusts in him, that he will never leave them nor forsake them. He says, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. That's a promise. you