Somebody Loves You

Raul Ries: God has given you the authority, men, to love your wife. And that's why in the book of Ephesians, it says this, it doesn't say anything about the wife loving her husband. And the only way that can happen is when the husband is loving the wife. Read your Bible. These are things that are important in marriages, very important.

Raul Ries: I am falling, I am falling in love. I am falling in love. I am falling in love with you. Welcome to Somebody Loves You Radio. The Bible teaching ministry of Raul Ries in Diamond Bar, California.

Well, it's good to have you with us for our study of God's grand design for marriage. Pondering the first union of a husband and wife. Raul will encourage us to pursue more in our relationship with our spouse. Our society views the marital vows as one that's easily broken. But today, you'll find that in God's eyes, the words you spoke on your wedding day sealed a lifelong binding commitment. Let's join Raul Ries with our study, God's Creation of Man and Woman.

So, this morning, let's go to Genesis, chapter 1, verse 26, 27, 28. Let's start with the beginning, with the beginning, as God speaks. We'll read the scripture in a moment. Let me give you a little introduction here. This is not the sixth day of creation. Sixth day. We know the number six is the number of man, imperfect. But this particular moment, God is going to create a perfect man and a perfect woman.

Man becomes imperfect when he sins against God, when he sins against God. And then I wrote this down, the account of the creation of the land creatures on the sixth day distinguishes two types, the living creatures that dwell on the land of humanity. And then in turn, the former are divided into three groups. Number one, livestock. Number two, creatures that move along the ground. And thirdly, and wild animals.

So, let me read the scripture. He says verse 24. Then God said, Let the earth bring forth a living creature, according to its kind, cattle, creeping things, beasts of the earth, each according to its kind, and so it was. It's incredible how God creates the world. But when He creates man, He gives him the power to name every animal. So awesome. Every animal.

People don't, a lot of times they don't see the power that God has given to us. Not only Adam, calling out to all these animals, but then he has no wife. And God sees the emptiness and the loneliness of man, how he needs a wife. How he needs a wife in his life. And that's why here in chapter 1, verse 24, he not only talks about the creation, but also the humanity's distinguished, notice, by male and female.

Male and female, verse 27. And God says, He created in His own image, the image of God created male and female, He created. We are going to see the divine, divine command of God and God said, that's a command. That's divine by God. And God said, which means we have to obey it.

When he prophesies, what do you do the prophets, and God said, how many times does the Bible say, Thus saith the Lord? Thus saith the Lord? More than 1900 times in scripture, the authors claim this message was from God, was from God, not from men, God.

The expression such as Thus saith the Lord appears approximately 500 times in the Pentateuch, the first five books of Moses, and more than 1,200 times in the prophets, in the prophets. Some 3800 times, the Bible declares God said or Thus saith the Lord.

Warren Wiersbe in his handbook, he says, The Old Testament claims that its pages record God's revelation. Over 4,000 times the Old Testament says, Thus saith the Lord, as it specified, makes clear that its origin is from God, not from men. And then he follows with a comment, God made. God made. What did he make? He made male and female. That makes him the creator of the universe, creator of the world.

And a lot of times people don't see him as the creator of the world. You know, a lot of times people they don't really believe in God. But as Christians, we need to understand that he's the creator. He made you and myself. And when he made us, he not only made us in the image of God, but he had a plan for our lives. And Adam and Eve blew it. They blew it in the garden.

Otherwise, we would be perfect for the rest of our lives. But they came to that place where Eve was deceived by the serpent. And then of course, Adam partook of it and both of them were kicked out of the garden. And we'll see that later to come in the next couple of weeks. But let me read again verse 26 and 27. He says, And the Lord said, Let us make man in our image according to our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. Notice we see the purpose of God's creation.

To be in God's image, to have dominion over the animal kingdom. For man to have a wife, and then to worship God. So, God has a plan for this world. And when God has a plan for this world, He was creating it and completing it by man ruling the world. By us ruling the world. But we sinned. Adam and Eve sinned.

Secondly, we see here the creation of men and women in God's image, verse 27 again. And God created men in His own image, the image of God, He created him, male and female, He created both of them. So, the privilege of men, God creating us in His image. I've never seen God, I've never saw Jesus Christ. I never have seen the Holy Spirit.

But it's incredible the purpose of God that he has for each one of us individually here. Be in male and female. Be in married or not married. Single guys here, single women. And then those of you that sin has really just come against you. He's come against you because He condemns you, because of what's taken place in your life.

And I will say to you this morning, you can start a whole new life. A whole new life in your marriage. So that your children, your children can see that. Children suffer, suffer tremendously. We've counselled with so many kids that have their parents have divorced. They don't know what to do, they're confused.

And I think that the privilege that we have as God's created each one of us in His own way, that the members of one sex or animals are forbidden, consider the abomination. So, we go back to the Old Testament because we talk about all these things that are going on in the world today. Like Leviticus 18:22. You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination. Nor shall you mate with an animal to defile yourself with it. Nor shall any woman stand before an animal to mate with it. It is perversion. There are people that do that today. It is perversion. I thought I'd bring that out. It's perversion.

First Kings 14:24, he says, And there were also perverted persons in the Lord, I'm speaking of homosexuals. They did according to all the abominations of the nations which the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel. And then of course, you know, homosexual lesbians, to me, I have no problem with them if they repent. No problem. I know that mothers and fathers suffer through this.

They teach kids today to be homosexuals, lesbians. And that's the work of the enemy, Satan. And if you find your son or daughter in this situation, pray for them. Don't condemn them. Don't condemn them, pray for them. And God's going to hear prayer. It takes maybe time like with Ryan coming to the Sean, coming to God of drugs and God saved them, and God uses them today. Same thing with your daughter and your son.

And then he says, the punishment that comes in Leviticus 20:13. If a man lies with a male, as he lies with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They shall surely be put to death. In that culture, any child that was coming against her parents or was a juvenile, they would not go to juvenile hall, they would be stoned to death. For disrespecting their parents.

When I studied that, when I first came to the Lord, I go, Wow, this is pretty heavy. He says, Their blood shall be upon them, not on you, upon them. And I think today it just really hurts you to see so many kids destroyed. So many kids. Being taken captive, homosexuality, lesbianism. Other things that are perversion.

And yet the world sees that not as evil. We see it as evil. Now this is in the Old Testament, we don't kill kids. We don't kill homosexuals or lesbians or anybody that's in sin. In the Old Testament they did. In the Old Testament according to the law, they did. But because the New Testament is the grace of God. The grace of God, He forgives. He forgives people.

Raul Ries: You're listening to somebody loves you radio with Raul Ries. Visit somebody lovesyou.com for resources to support you in growing closer to your spouse and to the Lord. And if you have prayer requests that you'd like to share with Raul, you can email him anytime at pastorraull@somebodylovesyou.com. Now back to more with Raul Ries and our study, God's Creation of Man and Woman.

Raul Ries: And then secondly, is rejecting the truth. Romans 1:24, he says, Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness in the lust of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for a lie or for the lie. And worship and served the creature rather than the creator, who is blessed forever, Amen.

And then he says, For this reason, God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise, also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burn in their lust for one another. Men with men, committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which are due.

And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting, being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness, they are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of that which is evil, disobedient to their parents, discerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful.

Who knowing the righteous judgment of God that those who practice such things are deserving of death. This is the New Testament. What happens? People go to hell. He says, Not only do the same things, but also approve of those things who practice these things. Who's that? Pastors, people that approve homosexuality, lesbianism, child molestation. All these things. God said you can't do that.

But I found it interesting in Romans chapter 1, he speaks about 30 sins. Which is to me, that he says backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to their parents. And it's so sad to see children disobey their parents, call them names, curse them, when they've been taking care of you all their lives. How can they do that? Well, I did the same thing. And that shows me the grace of God. That God can help. God can do, I've noticed, by His grace to save these people and forgive them.

But marriage is sacred between a man and a woman, sacred. What is the definition of marriage? Wetlock, the institution by which men and women are joined together and form a family. Form a family. We'll get to chapter two in a second. When he talks about men and women come together, it's like two by fours gluing them together. And if you really try next day to separate two by fours, there's going to be all kinds of splinters. That's what divorce does.

Biblical marriage is honorable according to God's Word. Hebrews 13:4, marriage is honorable among all, the bed is undefiled. But fornicators and adulterers, God will judge. And this is the New Testament. The institution of God, Genesis 2:18. And the Lord God said, It is not good that men should be alone. Notice. He says, I will make him a helper comparable to him.

And out of the ground, the Lord God formed every beast of the field, every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. Again, he's repeating that. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name. And Adam gave names to all the cattle and the birds of the air and every beast of the field. But for Adam, there was not found a helper comparable to him. Notice. And then he says, And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam.

God saw the loneliness of Adam. God saw that everything was perfect, but there's something missing in his life. And the Lord caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept. And he took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh in its place. And then the rib which the Lord God had taken from men, he made into a woman. Ish, Isha. Just said to the that Ish is man, Isha is woman. And he brought her to the man.

And Adam said, This is now bones of my bones, flesh of my flesh. She shall be called Isha, woman, because she was taken out of Ish, man. Therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother and be glued, that's the word, glued, to his wife. And they shall become one flesh, coming together.

Another thing I want to bring up. Be careful, those of you that are young. Don't run to your parents for your troubles. Make sure that Christ is in the center of your marriage. God has given you the authority, men, to love your wife, to take care of your problems. That's why you married her. And that's why in the book of Ephesians, it says this, it doesn't say anything about the wife loving her husband. And the only way that can happen is when the husband is loving the wife. Read your Bible. That's what the Bible teaches.

These are things that are important in marriages, very important. And then marriage is dissolved by death, by death. He says in Romans 7:2, For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband, so that if while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she has married another person, why? In the Lord.

You marry somebody, you know, after being a Christian, or in the truth, somebody that's not in the Lord, you're going to have major, major problems. And that's why we're here this morning. Because maybe some of you find in that area of your life that it's been a horrible marriage. But God can make it a very good marriage. If you repent, if you turn to the Lord, if you read your Bible, this is a perfect time in the next couple of weeks to get your marriage on track, so that God can bless you and use your life.

Verse 28, the creator of blessing to men and women. He says, And God blessed them, and God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth. The only way to be fruitful in your marriage again, is to submit to God. That's the only way. There's no other possible way.

In the scripture, we see the purpose. Man's happiness in Genesis 2:18. Remember, and the Lord God said, It is not good that men should be alone. And he made a helper comparable to him. God made this woman so that men could be not only fulfilled, but he would feel in his life, wow, I have a wife now. And then secondly, continuance of the human race. That's what God did.

Genesis 1:28 again, then God blessed them, and God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, everything that moves on the earth, it's yours. You take authority. And then the perversion comes. fornication. In First Corinthians chapter 7:2 it says, Nevertheless, because of sexual immorality, let each man have his own wife.

You see, God made it possible that you don't have to commit adultery. You can have a wife. The only thing is if God gave you the gift of being single, then there's no problem. God says, You don't need a wife, you don't need a husband, stay single. When a person that has been called to be single, to be, notice a virgin, to wait on the Lord for a marriage.

You see, I didn't do that. I was an unbeliever. My wife was a believer and we fell into sin. But I never left her. I never wanted an abortion. I got married to her. Maybe if God speaks to you and he says not to marry an unbeliever, and then if you have a baby, what are you going to do? A lot of young girls they put their babies up for adoption. A lot of women commit abortions too.

These are the things that God speaks about, the importance of being, notice, married to your husband or to your wife. And 7:9 of First Corinthians, he says, If they cannot exercise self-control, let them marry.