CHAPTER ONE

In Psalms 24:1 God tells us: "The earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof; the world and they that dwell therein."

Revelation 4:11 states: Thou are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created."

John 1:1-4: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men."

Then in Genesis 1:1 it is written: "In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth."

The above Scriptures proclaim that the world and every thing in it is God's property, with the exception of sin. He created the heavens and earth and the seas, and everything in them, except sin. As far as the facts are concerned, it matters not at all, whether mankind believes the Scriptural Record, the Holy Bible, or not. That is, Divine ownership is not predicated upon human approval. Nothing of human endeavor, or esteem or scorn can change the facts.

Bad results occur when people choose their own ideas in opposition to God's Word. Such unbelief also will incur God's judgment, but it cannot change or eradicate what God has established.

As noted in John 1:3, all things were made by God. In Genesis 1:31 God examined every thing that He had made, and declared that it was all very good. Consider the words "everything", and "all things" in these two Scriptures. In context, the earth would be a thing. An animal would be a thing. A human soul would be a thing. Marriage, I.e., the Institution, would be a thing. God made all THINGS, according to the Scripture.

Marriage is a thing that God created, examined, and called very good. He made it, and therefore, it is HIS Institution. That is the basis of His authority and claims for marriage. Marriage is not the idea of human beings. It is the Institution and will of God. He made it in order to carry out His eternal purposes, as we noted in Revelation 4:11, quoted above.

Since God made marriage, and instituted it for man, marriage is sacred. The human body, which God made in His Own image and after His Likeness, is sacred. The sex act between husband and wife, is holy and sacred, because God sanctified and blessed it. But a sex act between a man and a woman not married to each other, is a desecration of their bodies and of the Divine Institution. God forbids it, and calls any breach of His ordinance a sin.

Sex outside of the Divine Institution corrupts, decays, and ruins the partners who do it. It has no honorable objective of pro creation, or of honor to the Creator, or of honor to the parties concerned. It is strictly sinful lust gratifying itself at the expense of sacredness. It treats God's creation with contempt. It is useless to claim honorable intent in unmarried sex acts. If honor is intended, let the parties marry according to God's will. Else, let them totally abstain from all sex sins. People who commit sex sins anyway, will certainly receive the judgment which God has foretold. God said that such sinners shall not inherit the Kingdom of Heaven. He warns that those who commit sex sins will be cast into the lake of fire for eternity, unless they repent before they leave this world. There is not the remotest chance of escape, except through genuine faith in Jesus Christ, and repentance towards God.

The Theory of Evolution seeks to vitiate the Divine Record. Indeed, if there is no God, there is no case of sacredness. Rather, through such deception, any whimsy of human lust might appear acceptable. In vain do evolutionists declare that there is no God. They WILL receive a just reward for their error, unless they repent.

Notice Psalms 2:1-6: "Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. He that sits in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure. Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion."

Evolutionists often deny the sacredness of marriage and of human sexuality. God, by virtue of ownership of all things, sets "Bands and Cords" upon His Institution of Marriage. E.g., He imposed the Bond of Marriage.

God is the Creator. He who gave the power to procreate wasn't unjust to set boundaries upon its use. Human beings are obligated to God. We cannot choose to rid ourselves from answering to Him. We shall answer to Him for the legal, social, physical, moral and spiritual effects of our deeds. Those things form the required basis Divinely approved marriage. For their own good everyone should be taught the sacredness of marriage from very early childhood.

Whether people know their obligations, or consent to them or not, makes no difference to the facts. Revelation 20:12-15 states an awesome fact of personal, meticulous, judgment for sinners.

"And I saw the dead small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.

And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book was cast into the lake of fire."

That is the eternal consequence of disbelief and of disobedience to God. It is the result of casting away His bands and cords. Though God is not willing that any one should go into the lake of fire, that will happen to those who disregard His ordinances. God commands all men everywhere to repent.

"And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commands all men everywhere to repent: because He has appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom He has ordained; whereof He has given assurance unto all men, in that He hath raised him from the dead."

Therefore, we ought to always have sacred regard for marriage, for human sexuality, and for the family. God created and gave them to mankind. We ought to take heed to what God has about them.

God highly esteems Marriage and He has bestowed upon it great grace and privilege. He is so concerned for our welfare that He directed three of the Ten Commandments for the benefit of the human family. They are the "Bedrock" upon which moral human welfare rests.

God gave the commandments so that Israel first, and later Christian believers, might be kept from the corruption and ruin that comes from defiling marriage.

The Canaanites, among with other sins, defiled the sacredness of marriage. As a result the land of Canaan vomited them out. God also used Israel to execute judgment upon them due to their sins. They died for their iniquity. The record is given as an example for those who choose to sin against God. In the coming Day of Wrath, impenitent people will die the second death if they don't repent first.

Today, the family is being 'savaged' by perverts and other ungodly people, whose only joy is to indulge themselves in every form of sexual sin and perversion. There are woeful results for such sins. Millions are harmed and suffer from sexually Transmitted Diseases. many. There is a world wide epidemic of the deadly AIDS virus. It seems to be a unique penalty for sex sins that arose in the late twentieth Century. It seems to have been unknown previously.

Even so, any effort to restrain sexual sins brings protest from the workers of iniquity. Romans 1:32 describes them. Their damnation is just, and it WILL be executed upon them, whether they believe it or not. Revelation 21:8.

The three commandments that God gave to protect marriage are listed in Exodus 20:12-14: "Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee." The New Testament repeats this same statement, with an added notation. Ephesians 6:1-2. "Children, obey your parents in the Lord: For this is right. Honor thy father and mother, which is the first commandment with promise; that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth."

This commandment has its roots in Genesis 1:26-28. Marriage, family, society, and human welfare, all originate in God's decree and purpose. God provided a way for humanity to keep that welfare through obedience to His commandments. By disobedience, people open themselves to the results of rebellion and to every form of distress that rises in troubled families. Even the dominion that God gave Adam over all the earth, depended on honor and obedience to God. When Adam disobeyed God he lost his dominion and died. For the good of humanity, God Commanded: (1.) "Honor thy father and thy mother."

Exodus 20:13: "Thou shalt not kill." This commandment also has its source in Genesis 1:26-28. God commanded mankind to multiply on the earth. He created man in His Own Image and Likeness. Therefore, to kill a man is a transgression against the Image and Likeness of God. To kill a man, is to prohibit God's purpose for him. It presumes that evil self-will is more important than God's will. It expresses hatred and ill will towards the person. The one who hates his brother is identified as a murderer in 1 John 3:15. Also, the image of God who is love is marred in those who are ruled by hatred. Thus, murder mars God's purpose in many ways.

Specifically, God stated in Genesis 9:5-6: "And surely your blood of your lives will I require: at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man. Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made He man."

Without exception, God holds every person's blood as sacred, and demands just punishment for those who dare to shed man's blood. Notice that God ties judgment back to His creative act, and the fact that man is made in the Image of God. Those facts are to so impress us, that we will hold human life dear and sacred. Heathen, and criminals, who do not respect God or His Word, transgress God's Word, and strike His image! Because of sinful and willful disobedience, God instituted human government, that it might execute His judgment.

In Romans 13:1-4. God's Word states that rulers are God's ministers, established by Divine Decree, to punish evil doers. Thus, authority for civil government has its source in Divine decree.

Exodus 20:14: "Thou shalt not commit adultery."

Adultery corrupts God's standard and purpose. It is also a sin against one's own body. It breaks the marriage bond that was instituted by God. It is a breach that permits every ruin of human virtue, and corruption of the persons involved. It is a sin against God that demands vengeance. That fact is stated in Revelation 21:8, and in Galatians 5:19 & 21.

The Holy Bible reveals that God judged individuals and nations for sins which the Ten Commandments were intended to prevent. In Leviticus 18:24-30 God said that the people of Canaan, before Israel entered, practiced incest, adultery, idolatry, idolatry, disobedience, and disrespect for parents. Their sins were so vile that their land vomited them out!

The 12 spies reported to Moses that the Land devoured its inhabitants. It did so because of their sins against God. They did not have the Ten Commandments, but they had moral conscience, and knowledge regarding marriage and family life. But they disobeyed, and indulged themselves in their sins.

First the land vomited them out, and secondly, God used Israel to kill every man woman and child, in execution of His wrath and judgment upon them.

Today, people read of the conquest of Canaan, and think that God was fierce, and harsh. He was, and that fact should cause people to dread to break God's Laws and commandments. He has reserved another day in which also He is going to execute wrath upon evil doers. Rev. 20:12-15.

We ought not to think of God's Word as only a hard to obey demand. It is a gracious, loving provision of God for our welfare. It's not God's will for anyone to perish, but marital sins can cause people to perish.