The Fourth Commandment of Marriage:
Remembering
Today, we look at the fourth of the ten
commandments of Christian conduct in the thirteenth chapter of Hebrews. This
commandment is inseparably connected to the fifth command, to imitate. It is
also inseparably connected to the object of the command, namely your former
spiritual leaders. The “how to” of this commandment is contained in the next
command, and we shall study it at that time.
In spite of this intimate connection
between the two, we are going to separate them for the purpose of our study
today. We are looking at marriage through the window of Christian character or
conduct. We are narrowing the commands here for Christian behavior in the
marriage relationship. In so doing, we are going to take the principle of
remembering and extract it from remembering our spiritual leaders and apply it
to remembering our spouse.
The subject of remembering is a very, very
important biblical term. The meaning of this term and its importance, as we shall
see today, cannot be overemphasized. It is a word that is locked into time and
space. It cannot appropriately be applied to God, as we understand it. It
requires a yesterday. It requires forgetter space. When God buries our sin in
the sea, it is not so that He cannot find it any more. It is so that it is gone
from the view of the finite. Nobody has a sea shovel large enough to dig up our
sins; once God has buried them, they are gone!
When the term memory is applied to God, it
becomes an action word. God will not act judgmentally against His children once
their sins have been forgiven. We may experience temporary consequences for our
sins, but our eternal destiny is locked safely under the blood of Christ.
Nothing can extract us from His loving grasp! Nothing!
“Remember” for us is an action word as
well. For us, however, it has two stages: recall and reaction. Now, the good
part begins. God has good plans for His children. He is mysteriously working
all things together for the good of His children. For this reason, we can look
back and believe with confidence that everything that we have experienced has
been placed on the positive developmental side of the ledger.
Often, when we look back, we see mistakes
that we have made. “Mistakes” like “remember” is a time-trapped word. There are
no mistakes in heaven. God never “misses” an opportunity. He never rolls the
dice or draws straws. He orders the steps of a righteous man. His orders are
followed. His actions accomplish what they set out to do.
The apostle Paul instructs us to trash the
past and treasure the future (Phil.3:13). The reason for this is that the
future holds where we want to be; our past failures are gone and forgotten in
the
The Fourth Commandment of Marriage:
Remembering
Hebrews 13:7
The Call to General Compassion
A. The Traps
B. The Trauma
C. The Task
D. The Truth
The Responsibility of Thanksgiving
A. The Consequences
B. The Call
C. The Convincing
D. The Carry
The Secret of Conquering Negative Memories
A. The Peace
B. The Power
C. The Purpose
D. The Pleasure