Symphony of Survival in the Key of C, Part 1

Today from Chuck Swindoll becoming one learn to become unit to hammer away at it. Although simple struggles and habits notwithstanding, you find a way to get there and you realize having slug it out through the hard times you realize in unguarded moments is your hit sinks into the pillow. Glad you made it work. Glad your partner didn't walk out for the last few the institution of marriage is been undersea. Some of those attacks are very deliberate.

Most are nothing more than negligence. But the result is the same.

Husbands and wives feel immense pressure to give up for all marriages too hard today on Insight for living. Chuck Swindoll presents an alternative, his convictions are rooted squarely on Scripture and the timeless wisdom of the Bible whether you're married, single, divorced or widowed or something for everyone in the message Chuck titled symphony of survival PFC in your worship folder you will find an outline for this message. Symphony of survival in the key of C as we shall see soon that C represents commitment which of course is as secretive a long-lasting marriage.

Genesis chapter 2 we have looked at before. Once again, please.

Chapter 2 verse 24 will glance into couple of other chapters briefly before our time in prayer and offering this morning. Genesis 224 for this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. The man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed. Verse one of chapter 4 please. Now the man had relations with his wife. Even she conceived and gave birth to Cain and she said I have gotten a man child with the help of the Lord again. She gave birth to his brother Abel. Abel was a keeper of flocks. Cain was a tiller of the ground, the cross page chapter 5 first few verses. This is the book of the generations of Adam in the day when God created man, he made him in the likeness of God, please take note of the last phrase when originally created man was made in the likeness of God. I watch closely. He created them male and female he blessed them and named them man in the day when they were created when Adam had lived 130 years he became the father of a son. Please note in his own likeness, according to his image. Note the difference now that sin has come.

Now the birth is in the image of the parents and he named him Seth. Then the days of Adam after he became the father of Seth were 800 years he had other sons and daughters so all the days that Adam lived were 930 years and he died while you thought you were old in the patriarchal Era.

They live long lives hundreds of years, but as sin took its toll. Life was finally decreased to a few score years and its past.

Join me in prayer. Please, thank you for your grace our father giving us what we don't deserve in reaching down and stooping to us in our needs. When you have no needs of your own. You of all things are moved with compassion over us in our pain and sorrow and grief and hurt and feelings of insecurity and lack of trust, fear, and on and on.

The list goes. Forgive us our father for forgetting that you were there.

Forgive us as a country for going our own way and ignoring what you have commanded and expected. Forgive us as a people for mishandling your truths and misrepresenting your son more often than we want to realize. Nevertheless, today graces a new brings a new day for us grace to forgive grace to go on guidance. Our father, even as the psalmist is written for this show.

Everyone who is godly praying to you in a time when you may be found Shirley in the floods of great waters, they shall not come nigh unto you. You are our hiding place.

You shall preserve us from trouble. You shall compass us about with songs of deliverance's then you have responded I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go. I will guide you with my eye upon you. May we be sensitive to the direction you lead us as a church family as individuals is people who work in a world that's lost its way among those who don't know your name. Give us authenticity of life and the grace to live honestly and openly before others, I Lord we are facing in challenge before us as we look into this passage of Scripture. I ask for your help as it unfolds. May we realize the relevance of your word and as we give a we remember you have first given to us because of that were able to do this in the name of the Lord Jesus we give and we express these needs and all of his people set a man speaking to a 21st-century audience trying hard not to sound like 1/19 century preacher that's interesting, isn't it. There's a name for guys like me of a preacher who still believes the Bible who thinks we need to adjust our lives to it rather than force it to adapt to us someone's over the other day. You know what they call you when you're not around said no dinosaur because it really yeah so I went home and checked Webster's and found the definition means out of date obsolete, impractical, extinct, but that's better than the first rendering which is carnivorous, oversized reptile is still another group of people lives in one of the men walked up as I don't feel badly.

One of our grandkids called me a Neanderthal's times change. There once was a day when a preacher was really determined worthy if he stood on the faithfulness of God's word that if you truly believe the Bible was God's word and if you believed in the discipline of hard study. And if you faithfully taught hit prepared well and delivered it regardless of the times that was that was a compliment, but in our day of great liberality.

That's not so. It ended fact.

How can God's word so ancient ever be considered a relevant message for a world like ours, full of tyranny and terrorism in and abuse in the kind of heartbreaking situations in which we find ourselves easy to get sort of lazy about the Bible, the words of GK Chesterton come to mind. He writes what we suffer from today is humility in the wrong place. Modesty has moved from the organ of ambition. Modesty has settled upon the organ of conviction or it was never meant to be a man was meant to be doubtful about himself, but not doubting about the truth. This has been exactly reversed. We are on the road to reproducing a race of men to mentally modest to believe in the multiplication table sometime.

It's nice to know there are fellow dinosaurs running around. One is Chuck Colson, whose work in breakpoint often makes us pause and listen closely in peace dated September 9, 2004, depending on your vantage point, you might look back in the summer of 2004 as the summer of hurricane Charlie or perhaps just the summer of the Athens Olympics, but will Haygood of the Washington Post has another name for the summer of 2004, the summer of bad husband's if you flipped on the news at all this summer.

Perhaps you've noticed it to Mark hacking's name appeared splashed across headlines in August with the reports that he shot his wife in her sleep and then disposed of his beloved in the Utah landfill. Subsequent investigation found hacking entangled in the supersized web of deceit, including a phony story about his acceptance into medical school. A story that he had his wife, family and friends all believing meanwhile we've heard ad nauseam about Scott Peterson trial this summer.

The phone conversations with Mistress Amber Frey days after pregnant wife Lisi's disappear. His break for freedom and be seen more than enough of the Kobe Bryant saga with his repeated line of defense. Yes, he cheated on his wife know he's not a rapist, and then in less violent but certainly no less scandalous news there is been New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey's resignation while gay activists looked on with pride at the governor's announcement. I am a gay American McGreevey's wife stood next to him with the dazed look of a woman twice betrayed.

One can only imagine the emotional fallout for his two daughters. While transponders can find a trend in just about everything the posts assessment of the pattern of events is intriguing. Halfway into Haygood's article is a priceless nugget. A quote from David Kohn, former Los Angeles prosecutor famed for prosecuting the notorious Menendez brothers his take on this summer's events. Quote I think it's just the loss of family values. Kohn said this, the narcissism of our age of people thinking only of themselves, not even of their family.

When you lose those values of morality. You suddenly have no footing and I think that's when these people think there's no problem with doing evil unquote. Colson adds exactly father were certainly varying degrees of evil. It's the bottom line and every one of these bad husband headlines and though we hate to be talking about these events at all in this age of relativism and anything goes. It's good to hear somebody calling evil from hacking to McGreevey by its rightful name. Kohn also hits the mark in seeing these trends. It is a sign of our narcissistic culture. Narcissism is at the heart of the erosion of marriage that we've seen in this country. Whether it's the no-fault divorce laws for the swelling movement to legalize same-sex marriage. The me first mentality bulldoze it's right over the most vulnerable stakeholders and Mary the children.

What better reminder of what's up for grabs in weakening views of marriage than the unborn child of Lisi Peterson or the devastated children of Gov. McGreevey. He closes with these words so maybe this summer a bad husband should come as a wake-up call to America, marriage in this country needs a biblical make over one where husband become synonymous with the kind of selfless love of Christ. Our ultimate model good writing.

It's an ancient book ancient ancient book this Bible fullest full of names that are hard to pronounce, and stories that are sometimes difficult to unraveling theology that is challenge the brightest of mines through the centuries. Originally written in Hebrew and Aramaic, and Greek put together in a period of hundreds of years by a variety of different people, all of them sinful and yet miraculously preserved for any era any time, any society, any culture, people of any age, in any status, rich or poor struggling middle-class married, single, divorced multiple divorced abuse broken terrorized hurting, struggling, fighting for survival, prosperous, happy, joyful, guilty, dying grieving when a book in all my years of study. I have never found a principal in it that's irrelevant. Never one never once, never found the truth never found the truth in it that turned against me when I needed help or worked against me when I decided to believe it and apply alive, fielded many times it's never failed me. We may tremble on the rock to rock never trembles under us so we come to the subject of marriage and and husband-wife relationship ultimately will get into children in the rearing of them in the joys and challenges of going through those rearing and then for them adult older years and and will find over and over how practical and in touch. This book is. It is an amazing amazing body of material that many look at the principles we've already dug out of verses 24 and 25 eat just remarkable how how these still touch our time's leaving father and mother, of course, there has to be a severance joining all partnering life. Of course, there has to be a bonding becoming one. Absolutely, there must be a cultivation of unity noticed become one flesh not automatically one flight when you are in God's eyes would not practically speaking, after you say I do you learn to become a unit you hammer away at it.

All those sinful struggles and habits notwithstanding, you find a way to get there and you realize having slugged it out through the hard times. You realize in unguarded moments as your head sinks into the pillow that you're glad you stayed, glad you made it work. Glad your partner didn't walk out a realist. I know there are occasions where there are reasons to walk out. I'll get to that, but let's establish the foundation before we go there were so quick to look for ways out that we forget to linger over reasons to stay in factors not only severance and impermanence and unity there.

There is even intimacy without shame. Klickitat Manor and his wife were naked and they were in Shane. The whole idea of close sexual intimacy, intercourse, all part of God's plan in innocence in this before there was ever sin he created the whole idea of it, knowing it would work best between husband and wife, knowing that was the place to cultivate such unashamed intimacy.

All of this brings up for questions that I I think are that they they have to be asked they are crucial questions that any thinking person would ask. The first is a question of relevance or biblical principles still relevant me.

Does this ancient book still address the complicated issues of our times group of small children in kindergarten were asked does God understand nuclear science. Over 80% said no as it wakes up one day and discovers is an invention that caught them by surprise.

Romans 15 fours says whatever was written in earlier times was written for our learning, that we through comfort and patience from the Scriptures might have hope for wonderful promises that whatever is written by Moses by the psalmists by the prophets by historians by apostles was written for our learning, that we in whatever era at whatever time in whatever culture, whatever the issue might have hope.

Yes, yes, is a resounding yeah it's I will guide you with my high on you. He promises some 32 eight how wonderful the promises that second question is a question of harmony.

Can two very different people make it work. Can two very different people make it work when a man of the woman come together in a marriage immediately. There is a challenge will not at that moment. There are many fights at the altar, but but often people will tell you amazing stories of Honeyman were it all gets going. There you you you thought there was perfection.

And you found there was not just enormous depravity. Someone, someone wrote this Adam and Eve had an ideal marriage, at least when things started didn't have to hear all about the other men. She could have married and she didn't have to hear about the way his mother cook far more teaching. We need to hear his message on marriage Chuck Swindoll titled his talk symphony of survival in the key of C and learn more about this ministry.

Visit us online@insightworld.org and if you're prepared to dig deeper into this topic remind you insight for living provides interactive study notes for every message.

Please take a few moments to review this popular resource effect. We were pleased to read a recent comment about searching the Scriptures it said I absolutely love the year-long study of Matthew was a little behind the daily broadcasts but finally finished it I cried when he came to an end. The writer continues.

I read the commentary on Matthew and did the STS for the entire series. I started and ended each day in the word I was drawn to it like a moth to a flame. Thank you Chuck and the team for these resources will you find the entire series marriage from surviving to thriving available right now in the searching the Scriptures section of our website.

There's no cost to access these interactive study notes.

If not, you can print them out and share them with friends, go to insight.org/studies. In addition, we are pleased to remind you insight for living offers a daily devotional from Chuck Swindoll. It's called wisdom for the way with this devotional are able to start or end each day with inspirational writings from Chuck timeless biblical wisdom will guide your steps and your thoughts throughout the entire year. Devotional title wisdom for the way he is available when you call us listening in the US dial 1-800-772-8888 or go online to insight.org/offer. We rely on your support to make these daily Bible studies, which are possible to give a donation today, listening in the United States dial 1-800-772-8888 or give online@insight.org/donate. Join is when Chuck Swindoll continued describe the symphony of survival and merit Wednesday insight for living in the preceding message symphony of survival in the EFC was inaugurated in 2004, 2006 and 2022 and the sound recording was copyrighted in 2022 by Charles R.

Swindoll. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited