God’s Design Of Marriage – Part 3 (Genesis 1,2)

Valley View Baptist Church                                                                 Pastor Curt Audet

6N656 Route 25                                                                                    April 12, 2026

St. Charles, IL  60174                                                                       vvbcil.com

“God’s Design Of Marriage” Part 3 (Genesis 1,2)

8th in the message series Harbors For Our Soul

BI: God designed marriage to bless Man and Woman with fruitful family life.

God designed humanity to thrive in the context of personal relationships. Our own human stories begin with relationships with loving parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings and cousins.  Each of these is a priceless treasure.   Add then to this, myriads of friends and neighbors. Further add the great value of close brothers and sisters in Christ.  The depth and riches of life are found in the relationship connections we build with family and friends.

The very first human relationship in Creation was between the first Man whom God made out of the dust of the earth and the first Woman made whom He made out of the rib of the Man.  God breathed (yah-weh) into the lifeless man and woman His own breath gifting human life.

“The Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. ⁸ And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there He put the man whom He had formed.

 ⁹ And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. ¹⁰ A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers. ¹¹ The name of the first is the Pishon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. ¹² And the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there. ¹³ The name of the second river is the Gihon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Cush. ¹⁴ And the name of the third river is the Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates. ¹⁵ The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.”  (Genesis 2:7-15)

In short order, God determined that Man—Adam—needed a relationship unique to him.  Adam had animals to look after and enjoy.   Adam had God—his heavenly Abba (=‘Daddy’)—in perfect relationship. Yet still God Himself declared something was ‘not good’ in the Garden Of Eden.

“The Lord God said, ‘It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.’ ¹⁹Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. ²⁰ The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. ²¹ So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. ²² And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. ²³ Then the man said, ‘This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.’

²⁴ Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. ²⁵ And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.” (Genesis 2:18-25)

Marriage is God’s idea.  Marriage is God’s design.  Marriage is ‘very good’. Marriage is God’s plan for intimacy in human relationships.  There is no confusion in the Bible what marriage is.

Marriage is an ideal harbor for the soul of any godly man and any godly woman.  It is the ideal.  If you are widowed, divorced or single and not seeking marriage for any reason, you can still be a faithful disciple of Christ and invest in, bless and strengthen the marriages closest to you.  Disciple others by elevating God’s design rather than your experience.

God’s first objective in creating marriage is to provide fulfilling companionship. He created a woman and brought her to the man. With the woman, Adam could experience a deeper kind of intimacy. Emotionally, sexually, and in close partnership. God created male and female bodies, DNA and souls to complement one another in such a way that they become “one flesh” in marriage (Genesis 2:24).

God’s Design To Bless Man And Woman With Marriage:

1. With fulfilling companionship (Covered on 3/22)
2. With fruitful family life
3. With faithful testimony to our Creator.  (We’’ll finish next week.)

II. God designed marriage to bless Man and Woman with fruitful family life. (Genesis 1:27-28; 2:24-25)

Two texts in Genesis 1 and 2 speak to this great blessing.

“God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. ²⁸And God blessed them. And God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” (1:27-28)

²⁴ Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. ²⁵ And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.” (2:24-25)

The blessing of sexual procreation (1:28). In Genesis 1, God blesses the human race by enabling a husband and wife to have children.  They are given a mandate too:  Be fruitful, multiply and fill the earth with offspring.  As of this week, the whole earth now has about 8.3 billion men, women and children.   Clearly, Adam and Eve—as well as the many generations that followed—have been blessed with children!

Obviously, any virile (vee-rill; non-sterile) man and woman can have children with any non-sterile person of the opposite sex.  Many humans live sexually just like the animal kingdom.  Instinct, plus urge, plus sexual desire.  With no self control.  Many engage foolishly, widely in sexual activity and often have children with more than the one married partner.

God’s design for marriage is that marriage be a unique covenant union between one man and one woman for a life-time. God’s design includes exclusive sexual consummation of that union, to be experienced only between the married couple.   Any sexual expression outside the marriage covenant is sexual immorality, or ‘sin’.

“This is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; ⁴ that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, ⁵ not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God.” (1 Thessalonians 4:3-5) 

Acts Of Sexual Immorality That Disciples Of Christ Must Avoid

Pornography

Adultery

Promiscuity / Social Sexuality

Non-consensual sexuality / rape or abuse

Prostitution

Incest

Pedophilia

Homosexuality

Polygamy

Bestiality

Our bodies are not designed for sexual immorality. Let these things not even named among us as we pursue honoring and glorifying Christ. 

“The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. ¹⁴And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by His power. ¹⁵Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! ¹⁶Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, ‘The two will become one flesh.’ ¹⁷But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one-spirit-with-Him. ¹⁸Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. ¹⁹Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, ²⁰for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.” (1 Corinthians 6:13-20)

The Bible teaches that our sexuality is exclusive for our spouse;  sex serves to cultivate relational intimacy and bring godly offspring in this world. Our relationship with God is enhanced as we avoid sexual immorality.

“You cover the Lord’s altar with tears, with weeping and groaning because He no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor from your hand. ¹⁴ But you say, “Why does he not?” Because the Lord was witnessbetween you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. ¹⁵ Did He not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union? And what was the one God seeking? Godly offspring. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth. ¹⁶ “For the man who does not love his wife but divorces her, says the Lord, the God of Israel, covers his garment with violence, says the Lord of hosts. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and do not be faithless.” (Malachi 2:13-16)

God calls us to raise and disciple ‘Godly offspring’. The absolute best way to reach the world for Christ is to live the principle of discipling our own children and grandchildren for the Lord.   Positively I can say, you have the greatest opportunity to live for the Lord and guide your children to the Savior.   Said negatively, if we neglect to help lead our families toward the Lord, then when they face the Lord in eternity, their blood will be on our head. 

“Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.” (Proverbs 22:6)

“Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ² “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), ³ “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.” ⁴ Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” (Ephesians 6:1-4)

⁴ “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. ⁵ You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. ⁶ And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. ⁷ You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. ⁸ You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. ⁹ You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. (Deuteronomy 6:4-9)

“Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. ² It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep.

³ Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. ⁴ Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one’s youth.
⁵ Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.” (Psalm 127:1-5)

God’s Design To Bless Man And Woman With Marriage:

1. With fulfilling companionship.
2. With fruitful family life
3. With faithful testimony to our Creator.

Marriage relationships are of high value.   Faithfulness in marriage is our tireless aim.  

• If you have engaged in sexual immorality of any kind, repent.  Turn from that sin.  Flee that sin.  Turn to the Lord for healing and restoring.

• If you have never considered God’s aim of our children being ‘godly offspring’ then begin today.   One month from today—May 10, Mother’s Day–we will host our 1^st annual Child Dedication Day.   We will mark the faith of the parents to raise and cultivate and disciple toward Godly offspring, and the faith commitment of the church community to partner in this.

• If you are together sexually, but not married.   You are living like an unbeliever.   Take the next step.   Get married and begin to follow Christ.

Next week we will see five ways that God designed marriage to bring the Gospel to the world in picture form.