Keep Your Wedding Vows! Ecclesiastes 5:1-5 Marriage in our day is under attack Homosexual agenda, of course, but more concerning: Sexual Promiscuity (Waitress at restaurant/knew she was talking to preachers) Divorce The vows you make in marriage are not only to one another, but to God as well! (Ecclesiastes 5:1-5) READ

Your Marriage Vow To God To Spouse Honors and obeys God’s arrangement of marriage (Genesis 2:23-24; Hebrews 13:4) To Spouse God approves of the commitment made by those who have the right to do so. (Proverbs 2:16-17; Mark 6:17-18) (Genesis 2:23-24), “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. 25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.” (Hebrews 13:4), “Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge.” [Discretion and Understanding will preserve you and keep you, vs. 11] (Proverbs 2:16-17), “To deliver you from the immoral woman, from the seductress who flatters with her words, 17 who forsakes the companion of her youth, and forgets the covenant of her God.” (Mark 6:17-18), “For Herod himself had sent and laid hold of John, and bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife; for he had married her. 18 Because John had said to Herod, "It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife."

Accepted Obligations Husband Wife Both: Fidelity! (Matthew 19:9) Love her as Christ loved the church (Ephesians 5:25-29) (23, 25, 33) Wife Love and honor him (Ruth 1:16-17) Submission (Titus 2:5) Both: Fidelity! (Matthew 19:9) (Ephesians 5:25-29) READ Note: 23 – Headship of man establishes responsibility Note: 25 – Love equals selfless giving Note: 33 – Care for her is exactly like the care you show for yourself! If not, SELFISH! [Ruth’s devotion to husband seen in her faithfulness to his mother!] (Ruth 1:16-17), “But Ruth said: “Entreat me not to leave you, or to turn back from following after you; for wherever you go, I will go; and wherever you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God, my God. 17 Where you die, I will die, and there will I be buried. The Lord do so to me, and more also, if anything but death parts you and me.“ [Older women to teach younger women] (Titus 2:5), “to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed.” (Matthew 19:1-9) READ and discuss, esp. 9 (Adultery so destructive! Allows for exception)

A Lifetime vow ! Until “death do us part” (Colossians 3:12-15) NOT until you “fall out of love” or “find someone else” Strengthen and honor your marriage by keeping your vows! (And, be thankful) (Ecclesiastes 9:9) (Colossians 3:12-15), “Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; 13 bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. 14 But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. 15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful. Primary application – Members of the church But, applicable: LOVE is the PERFECT BOND If husbands and wives treat one another with these attributes there will be few broken vows! (Ecclesiastes 9:9), “Live joyfully with the wife whom you love all the days of your vain life which He has given you under the sun, all your days of vanity; for that is your portion in life, and in the labor which you perform under the sun.”