Today is our 45th Anniversary. What I've learned about marriage.

Mark 10:9
“What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”

Romans 7:2-3
"For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband. So then 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 man."

We were young back in 1977. I used this above photo because it has our wedding picture and a recent picture. As of today we have been married 45 years. We kinda grew up together. Neither of us had anything so, we had less than most to fight about. As time went by we acquired everything together. What we won, we won together and what we loss, we loss as one. In the last forty five years we have been through so much. Acquiring our first home, then losing everything to a house fire. Our first pregnancy and then losing our daughter at the tender age of sixteen days. Life has a way of shaping us by the choices we make. We have always chosen to see one another as a helpmeet and gift. We are one anothers comrade in battle. We genuinely like one another, and consider one another friends.

This is the way Christ and the Church are to be--that's us and Jesus Christ.  (See above scripture)Death severs the law of marriage. Such severance enables the living one to enter into a new marriage. So if the husband dies, the wife can now remarry. Death cancels one’s obligation to the dead person. Marriage is a lifelong relationship for God’s people; only death should break the marriage bond.

Verse 4 of Romans chapter 7 is the key verse in this chapter, because it applies the illustration of marriage, death, and remarriage to our Christian position: “Therefore, my brothers, you also were put to death to law through the body of Christ that you might be joined [married] to another, to the one raised from the dead, that we might bear fruit for God” (author’s translation). Paul is saying that when we were unbelievers, we were under sin, law, and death. We were married to the law, which said, “The soul who sins is the one who will die” (Ezek. 18:4) and “The wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23). Therefore, a sinner, having violated God’s law, must die. But thanks be to God! In God’s plan, another could keep the law and die in our place. Paul writes, “But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son-born of a woman, born under the law-to redeem those under law” (Gal. 4:4). This Son is “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). He is the one who died, the just for the unjust. “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Cor. 5:21). Paul says, “For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God” (Gal. 2:19).

Jesus Christ honored, established, and fulfilled the law in our place. So through Christ’s keeping of the law we died to the law so that we might live for God. We are not justified by observing the law but by faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Paul states, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me” (Gal. 2:20). How can a sinner be released from his bondage to a law he cannot keep? The answer is by his death to the law in the death of Christ, which the law dictated and our sin merited. Simply, it is by faith in the gospel.

It's not easy to stay married, happily for 45 years and counting. The secret is to die. We become self-less not self-ish. We don't give one another fifty/fifty to keep the marriage going, we give 100% and other times the spouse gives 100%. Why? Because sometimes, one or the other has nothing left to give.

ACTION STEP:  

We are set free from law and are now married to Christ. When we married to the law in Adam, we were barren, incapable of bearing fruit to God. But now through the ability of our new husband, we can bear fruit to God, which is the ultimate purpose of this new marriage relationship. (PGM) This fruit is the fruit of the Spirit, the fruit of holiness. Therefore, if a person is living in sin, he is not a Christian because the ultimate purpose of our union with Jesus Christ is to bear fruit consisting in holiness.
Let’s look at some scriptures to demonstrate this truth that we must bear fruit to God.

1. “What [fruit] did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the [fruit] you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life” (Rom. 6:21-22). When we were wicked, we had fruit-the fruit of evil. But now we bear the fruit of holy living.
2. “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers” (Rom. 8:29). Paul is speaking about holy brothers.
3. “Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. The commandments, ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not covet,’ and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law” (Rom. 13:8-10).
4. “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight” (Eph. 1:4).
5. “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions-it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:4-6).
6. “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Eph. 2:10).
7. “For the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth” (Eph. 5:9).
8. “To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy-to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen” (Jude 24-25).
9. “Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.” (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.)” (Rev. 19:7-8).
10. “The king is enthralled by your beauty; honor him, for he is your lord. . . . All glorious is the princess within her chamber; her gown is interwoven with gold. In embroidered garments she is led to the king; her virgin companions follow her and are brought to you” (Ps. 45:11, 13-14).

Are you holy and blameless? Or are you wallowing in the mud while pretending to be a Christian? How can we know that we have died to law and sin and are married to Jesus Christ? The proof of our marriage is fruitfulness of holiness. We are married to Jesus Christ, the Mighty One, who enables us to keep the law as evidence of our salvation.

Justification is evidenced by sanctification of the Spirit. Arrayed in beautiful garments, we who are the bride of Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit, obey God’s law that is now written not on a stone but in our hearts. We delight in God’s law. It has become our nature to love our Lord and keep his commandments. We are new covenant people of God. Our God is in us. We know and love God. Our sins are forgiven and now we have a new heart of flesh, a new spirit, and the Holy Spirit of God dwelling in us, teaching us and empowering us. We have new life, a new relationship with Christ, a new purpose of bearing fruit to God, and new power to do God’s will.

Jesus said, “Apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). Paul said, “I can do everything through him who gives us strength” (Phil. 4:13).

What a wonderful, blessed life it is to be married to Christ! We were nothing. But we married up as we married into Christ, and as a result, we have great privileges.

1. We bear his name. Our old name is gone now. We have a name that is above every name, the name of our royal bridegroom, Jesus Christ.
2. We have the privilege of standing. Ruth was a nobody, but she married up to Boaz, who was described as a man of standing. Like Boaz, our Lord Jesus Christ is a man of great standing. We had no status, but now we are seated with Christ in the heavenly places.
3. We have access to God the Father. We could not approach God before because of our sin. Now in Christ we can come into his presence with confidence to pray, fellowship, and enjoy wonderful sweet communion with the Father.
4. We have provision. We are heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. Paul says, “My God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:19). He also says, “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us” (Eph. 3:20). This is abundant provision. “So then, no more boasting about men! All things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future-all are yours, and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God” (1 Cor. 3:21-23).
5. We have protection. Jesus promised, “Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matt. 28:20). Elsewhere he declared, “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand” (John 10:28-29). Do you need protection? Come to Christ!
6. We have the service of angels. Angels serve believers as they served Jesus Christ. “Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?” (Heb. 1:14). See how they took care of Lazarus: “The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side” (Luke 16:22).
7. We reign with Christ. Paul inquires. “Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases? Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life!” (1 Cor. 6:2-3).
8. We enjoy the very presence of God. How many people miss out on this fellowship when they do not spend time in Bible reading and prayer! As we read the Song of Solomon, we notice that above all else the beloved desires, not material objects but the presence of her lover. In daily fellowship with our heavenly husband, we enjoy special communication of his love to us. Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones speaks of this great joy:Do you give Him an opportunity to tell you [of his love]? Do you put everything on one side in order to look into His face and listen to Him? Or is it that, when He comes to you, you are busy with other things? Or, like the bride depicted in the 5th chapter of the Song of Solomon, have you gone to bed and put off your clothes, and when you hear Him at the door, you say to Him: “I have put off my coat; how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet, how shall I defile them?” Then you suddenly realize how foolish you have been, and you get up and you open the door. But He has gone and you have nothing left but a smell of the myrrh that has been dropping from His fingers. And you do not know what to do with yourself; and you seek Him. If you would know the love of Jesus “what it is,” give Him opportunities of telling you. He will meet you in the Scriptures, and He will tell you. Give time, give place, give opportunity. Set other things aside, and say to other people, “I cannot do what you ask me to do; I have another appointment, I know He is coming and I am waiting for Him.” Do you look for Him, are you expecting Him, do you allow Him, do you give Him opportunities to speak to you, and to let you know His love to you? We are married to Him.​

I believe in you and you need to believe in yourself.

Much of this was taken from an article by Biblical teaching from Reverend P.G. Mathew.