oh well this is a very happy occasion for our brother and sister it's good that everybody could come out this this afternoon to celebrate this wedding to celebrate this Union of John and Melena well I'm going to open an award of prayer and then we're going to sing praises to our god so let us pray our blessed and holy father we gather together on this day and we confess that you are most high that you are glorious and wondrous and worthy to be praised we acknowledge your handiwork in the created order as we see a day like this it truly does demonstrate your majesty and your glory and your righteousness as well as we reflect upon the ordinance of marriage we see your goodness as Creator we see your kindness in providing companionship to us and giving us that help and assistance that Mutual Aid that is so so necessary for life in this world we rejoice in our brother John and Malena we give thanks to you God for bringing them together first and foremost father we pray that this glad hour would be a time of of worship to you and as well that would bring them together as one and that you would just bless this Union and cause them to glorify you together in their marriage and not only do we have the blessing of creation but we as your people get to celebrate Redemption we praise you for the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ for his life his death his resurrection we praise you for his current session at the right hand of God most high and we look forward to his returning glory to judge the living and the dead we pray God that you will just cause each of us to reflect this this afternoon upon your goodness and upon your mercy we pray that you would forgive us for all sin and transgression we pray God that you would be glorified and worshiped As we sing as we pray and as we consider the Holy Scripture and we ask these things through Jesus Christ Our Lord amen well you can take your handbooks we'll stand together and sing number 227. number 227 will stand as we sing [Music] I see the Jesus Christ [Music] let's take my soul my savior my dreams [Music] foreign [Music] I'll break down [Music] soon [Music] very very high [Music] price of my soul my [Music] life that sings my soul my savior [Music] how great now [Music] praise [Music] and therefore [Music] I'll break down heart and save my soul my savior foreign [Music] [Music] from a passage of Holy Scripture and then make a few observations that passage is Genesis chapter 2. I'll begin reading in verse 18. and the Lord God said it is not good that man should be alone I will make him a helper comparable to him out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them and whatever Adam called each living creature that was its name so Adam gave names to all cattle to the birds of the air to every beast of the field but for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him and the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam and he slept and he took one of his ribs and closed up the Flesh in its place then the rib which the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and he brought her to the man and Adam said this is now bone of my bones and Flesh of My Flesh she shall be called woman because she was taken out of man therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and they shall become one flesh and they were both naked the man and his wife and were not ashamed amen well John has endeared himself to this particular church we get to see our little boy grow up today so we're very thankful for this the only problem Shane was supposed to be the ring bearer but he's not feeling well so he's relegated to the back there we're very thankful that Milena is here we're thankful that God brought you to our brother just like we see in this passage the Lord brought the woman to the man and when we reflect upon creation we see as I mentioned in prayer God's goodness God's kindness this is a tough World especially after what happens in Genesis chapter 3 and God in his goodness provides for marriage he gives us those that are our helpers those that are our lovers those that we have companionship with so that we can Traverse the this world together so we bless God for that and as we reflect upon this passage it wasn't Adam's intention or it wasn't Adam's desire desire Adam didn't say you know I really like a wife no it was God God instituted this God gave it it is in fact a gift in the creational order of course the emphasis in this particular section there's various reasons as to why there is marriage but the the main accent or main emphasis here is on companionship it is not good for the man to be alone and so God rectifies that God solves that God provides redress in the creation of Eve and in bringing Eve to the man as well when we consider the rest of the scripture we know that God's ordained not only the blessing of marriage but the responsibilities in marriage as well I didn't have the chance with John as I've had with the younger guys that get married to really exhort him and to tell him you need to love her and lead her in the way that Christ commands you and if you don't then camel take take good care of you but uh but you know your responsibility you know you're to love her you know that you're the leader Milena you're supposed to submit to and respect and love your man and I am very confident that you guys are convinced of this biblical requirement and I'm very confident that God's blessing will be upon you do want to quote from Matthew Henry concerning the the woman when God makes Eve out of man and then brings Eve to man there's not a subservience there it's not sort of a second-tier citizenship or Humanity but Matthew Henry says the woman is not made out of his head to top him nor out of his feet to be trampled upon by him but out of his side to be equal with him under his arm to be protected and near his heart to be beloved I love that and then Meredith Klein says the woman was made for the man yet not as his slave girl but his Queen like that one too now in terms of the narrative we're all very conscious it's good to preach to the church uh very conscious as to what happens in Genesis chapter 3. if all that we had in the Bible was this particular event the creation of Adam the creation of Eve Eve their happy Union together that would be uh the end of it but we know from chapter 3 that there is sin uh there is a fall into sin according to chapter 3 verses 1 to 13 and essentially God made things in such a way that the man would lovingly lead his wife and that together they would exercise dominion over the created order well as you get to Genesis chapter 3 you see an inversion of that the devil is about chaos God is about Cosmos and Order and decency the devil introduces chaos so at the very beginning of the chapter we then find the animal speaking to the woman who then takes the fruit and gives it to the husband so everything God ordains in chapter two is turned over on its head in chapters three but thankfully God doesn't leave us in that mess and it truly is in fact a mess the the scriptures are very clear the day that you eat dying you will die was a a great punishment a great penalty or sanction imposed upon the man for having rebelled against his God but on the heels of this fall we have the introduction or rather the statement concerning Redemption from fall and in chapter 3 at verse 14 the Lord God said to the serpent because you have done this you were cursed more than all cattle and more than every beast of the field on your belly you shall go and you shall eat dust all the days of your life and then God says I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed he shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel we typically refer to this as the proto-evangel the First Gospel the first statement concerning the promise of redemption by the man the Lord Jesus Christ and interestingly there are those three specific things indicating it in this brief verse first he would be a man born of a woman we know that to be the case with reference to our Lord and the fullness of the time God sent forth his son born of a woman born under the law to redeem those under the law so the first announcement does concern a man that would be the deliverer a man that would be the the Savior or the Victor notice secondly he would accomplish Victory through suffering and death God says I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed he shall bruise your head you shall bruise his heel so the bruising of the heel refers to the suffering of the Savior and ultimately the death of the Savior what does a serpent do a serpent bites and a serpent is venomous and that serpent introduces that Venom into the person he bites so that they die and so we have that correspondence between the bruising of the Hat with the bruising of his heel so Christ accomplishes Victory and Conquest through his suffering and death and then the final statement is that he accomplishes total Victory so notice he shall bruise your head you shall bruise his heel certainly his heel is bruised he does suffer he does die but he's raised again and in that specific act at the cross he bruises or crushes the head of The Serpent and the rest of the Bible unfolds This Promise the rest of the Bible expounds Upon This Promise and think Herman Bob ink was right he says in principle Genesis 3 contains the entire history of humankind all the ways of God for the Salvation of the Lost and the victory over sin in substance the whole gospel the entire Covenant of Grace is present here all that follows is the development of what has been germanally planted here so the goodness of God is seen in the created order Genesis chapter 12 Genesis 1 and 2 God made all things by the word of his power in the space of six days and all very good the one time he announces that something isn't good it's when man is alone that's not a good thing so God makes Eve he brings Eve to Adam and the two are one flesh after that we fall we have this fall into sand but then the remedy provided the answer of God in the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ and that's precisely what we find here he shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel so you not only have the benefit of being creatures under God who have been given this blessed gift of marriage but you're also Redeemed Christian creatures under God who've been given this blessing of marriage and as we turn to the New Testament the book of Ephesians specifically chapter five is very very clear on how good it is to be married again it points out the responsibilities it points out the duties but it points out that in a Christian marriage the husband and the wife they image or emblem or emblems of or symbolize the relationship between Christ and his church so as a Christian couple that's a high prerogative and a high responsibility and we encourage you you to carry it out in a manner that is consistent with the entirety of scripture and for any and all who have not come to the Savior that's revealed here in Genesis chapter 3 15. seems a bit shadowy it seems a bit mysterious to some degree he shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel when you turn to the pages of the New Testament is clear clear as the blazing sun on a beautiful day like this Christ came from the father to live obediently to the law of God that law that none of us obeyed that law that all of us broke and transgressed so he lives that perfect life and then he dies on the cross as a sacrifice and a substitute and then he's raised again on the third day and when we ask the question what is the significance of this it's not simply an example some people teach that Christ and what he did is just an example just be like Jesus well we need to trust in Jesus we need to believe on Jesus because it wasn't just an example it was in the first place substitutionary atonement the life that he lived was for us men and for our Salvation the death that he died was for us men and for our Salvation that Resurrection from the dead is for us men and for our Salvation so that when we by Grace believe on him we receive the Forgiveness of sins as a result of his death on the cross and then we receive his righteousness it's given to us and it's received by faith alone that's why it's the gospel that's why it's good news that's why we rejoice in it and that's why we celebrate and we sing and we praise and we glorify and we come to church and when we engage in the act of of weddings or marriage we rejoice in the goodness of God Who provided the son of his love who would crushed the head of the serpent so that you and I could have everlasting life so rejoice and be thankful and glad in the Lord and may you live every life as if it's celebratory I was just looking at their marriage license I always go through them with a fine-tooth comb I've made it known that I'd give 10 unbox to anybody who can fill it out correctly right here I guess age and wisdom do go hand in hand but I noticed that our brother is 15 years older about 14 or 15 years older than I am but yesterday they were like giddy little kids when they they came to see me and uh it's just encouraging to see that it's a blessing to see that and we're very thankful brother not only for this day but for your time in our church you really have endeared yourself to us and we love you and we are here for you and and Milena and we're thankful that God has given you to our brother we'll all pray and then we'll sing another song in praise to God our Father in heaven we thank you for what you do for what you have done what you accomplish and what scripture tells us concerning your goodness your abundant grace and loving kindness Lord you didn't leave man in that Fallen State you didn't leave man and that that desperation and destitution but you promised the Savior you promised the Victor you you promised the champion and our blessed savior came in the fullness of the time he was in fact born of a woman and born under the law he lived a life of perfect obedience to that law he died as a sacrifice on that cross and he was raised again the third day so that all who look to him in faith will have everlasting life we just pray father that you would encourage and strengthen our hearts as we consider these truths we pray God that you would be merciful to anybody perhaps hearing these things for the first time should open their hearts to the reality that it's not our goodness that gets us to heaven but it's the goodness of God most high revealed in and through the person and the work of our blessed savior the Lord Jesus Christ watch over John and Milena I pray this would be a day of Celebration a day of Joy a day of Thanksgiving to our gracious God and your kind provision to them and may they reflect each and every day upon that goodness and may they find great joy in serving you and serving one another in the the context of a Christian marriage May our brother love his wife just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her and may our sister submit to and and honor her husband and in this may they reflect that Gospel of our Salvation that relationship that intimacy between Jesus Christ and his church and we pray these things in Jesus name amen well you can take your hymn books again and we'll sing number 245. 245 of them in the stand as we say [Music] this is [Music] without changes [Music] praise is [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] last days [Music] thank you [Music] my faithfulness Lord [Music] please be seated you too can come stand over here all right at this time I'm going to lead you in your in your vows you've got the Rings you have the Rings all right we'll start with you John I John Curry aye John Curry take you Milena valladeris thank you I'm Elena I was working on the last name sorry to be my married wife and I in the presence of God and before these Witnesses and I in the presence of God and before these Witnesses promise and Covenant promised in Covenant to be a loving and faithful husband to you to be a loving and faithful husband too For Better or For Worse For Better or For Worse for richer for poorer in sickness and in health until God shall separate us by death and kill God shall separate us by Death I Milena viaderis Take You John Curry thank you John to be my married husband and I in the presence of God and before these Witnesses promise and Covenant to be a loving Amazon and Covenant to be alone faithful and obedient wife to you For Better or For Worse for richer for poorer in sickness and in health until God shall separate us by Death the ring is a symbol of God of your undying and eternal love for one another yeah first few okay all right and now we're going to sign the marriage license this is a covenant transaction before God in the presence of witnesses a very solemn event we have two witnesses that they uh if they would come up at this point as well so we'll come up here Molina you can go first and I'll show you right here right there and then right here as well there and then right there if you guys want to just stand right over there Steve and that thank you no you can stand up just yeah right here is good was the minister of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus and as one who's been given that uh Authority or ability by the province of British Columbia here in Canada I Now pronounce you husband and wife you may kiss the bride and I introduce Mr and Mrs John Curry all right no just yeah head on back and then we'll go on upstairs [Applause]
