TEXT: "You shall not commit adultery" (Exodus 20:14).

"And this is the second thing you do: You cover the altar of the Lord with tears, with weeping and crying; so he does not regard the offering anymore, nor receive it with good will from your hands. Yet you say, 'For what reason?' Because the Lord has been witness between you and the wife of your youth, with whom you have dealt treacherously; yet she is your companion and your wife by covenant. But did He not make them one, having a remnant of the Spirit? And why one? He seeks godly offspring. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously with the wife of his youth. 'For the Lord God of Israel says that He hates divorce. For it covers one’s garments with violence,' says the Lord of hosts. 'Therefore take heed to your spirit, that you do not deal treacherously' " (Malachi 2:13-16).

IDEA: A Christian marriage should be a covenant, not merely a contract.

PURPOSE: To help listeners appreciate the nature of a covenant.

The seventh commandment declares, “You shall not commit adultery.”

Does that tell you anything about the nature of marriage as God designed it?

I. In the last book of the Old Testament (Malachi), there is a passage that demonstrates how God looks at the marriages of His people. What can we gather from it?

"And this is the second thing you do: you cover the altar of the Lord with tears, with weeping and crying; so he does not regard the offering anymore, nor receive it with good will from your hands. Yet you say, 'For what reason?' Because the Lord has been witness between you and the wife of your youth, with whom you have dealt treacherously; yet she is your companion and your wife by covenant. But did He not make them one, having a remnant of the Spirit? And why one? He seeks godly offspring. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously with the wife of his youth. 'For the Lord God of Israel says that he hates divorce. For it covers one’s garments with violence,' says the Lord of hosts. 'Therefore take heed to your spirit, that you do not deal treacherously' " (Malachi 2:13-16).