1 00:00:00,440 --> 00:00:03,320 As we mentioned earlier, we're so thankful and grateful for all 2 00:00:03,320 --> 00:00:04,880 who were able to make it here this morning. 3 00:00:05,680 --> 00:00:08,920 We know there's a lot of illness going around and there's some 4 00:00:08,920 --> 00:00:12,080 that are here they're missing that we see normally that aren't 5 00:00:12,080 --> 00:00:13,680 here because of that. And then there's some that are 6 00:00:13,680 --> 00:00:16,280 traveling as well. So let's keep all those in our 7 00:00:16,280 --> 00:00:20,320 mind in our prayer and we're so thankful that you were able to 8 00:00:20,320 --> 00:00:26,440 make it here this morning. This is not a new lesson I gave 9 00:00:26,440 --> 00:00:28,560 this. It's been, I think about five 10 00:00:28,560 --> 00:00:31,680 years or a little over five years ago when I gave this and 11 00:00:33,200 --> 00:00:36,440 when I when I gave this then and it's the same now. 12 00:00:36,440 --> 00:00:39,440 I do not have anybody specific in mind when giving this lesson. 13 00:00:39,440 --> 00:00:41,600 There's no issues or anything like that. 14 00:00:41,600 --> 00:00:44,040 But I think we desperately need to hear from the word of God 15 00:00:44,040 --> 00:00:48,360 concerning these things. So if that unfortunate moment 16 00:00:48,360 --> 00:00:50,840 comes up that we're going to talk about today, which is 17 00:00:50,840 --> 00:00:53,400 specifically divorce is what we're going to talk about today, 18 00:00:53,400 --> 00:00:56,200 that we are prepared to deal with that based on what the 19 00:00:56,200 --> 00:01:01,720 scriptures teach us. And we need to, we need to, we 20 00:01:01,720 --> 00:01:06,120 need to be prepared, like I said, and be compassionate and, 21 00:01:06,360 --> 00:01:10,400 and understand what Jesus teaches us in the word of God. 22 00:01:10,960 --> 00:01:14,640 We're going to be in Matthew chapter 19 dealing with verses 23 00:01:14,640 --> 00:01:19,200 one through 12. And this was actually supposed 24 00:01:19,200 --> 00:01:21,560 to be Frank's week this week, but he and I traded. 25 00:01:21,560 --> 00:01:23,040 So he's going to be teaching next week. 26 00:01:24,320 --> 00:01:27,160 Just in case anybody was kind of curious what was going on with 27 00:01:27,160 --> 00:01:33,840 the teaching schedule as well. So in the, you know, we, we may 28 00:01:34,040 --> 00:01:37,400 think that we not, may not be touched by this subject that 29 00:01:37,400 --> 00:01:38,720 we're going to talk about this morning. 30 00:01:38,720 --> 00:01:41,640 But personally, we may not be touched with this subject. 31 00:01:41,640 --> 00:01:45,240 But those around us, those may be in the church or or out in 32 00:01:45,240 --> 00:01:51,440 the, the world that may come to experience this subject that 33 00:01:51,440 --> 00:01:54,840 we're going to talk about today. We need to be ready for it. 34 00:01:55,280 --> 00:02:02,640 We have a responsibility as Christians on multiple levels as 35 00:02:02,640 --> 00:02:06,560 we are living our Christian life with our, our, if you want to 36 00:02:06,560 --> 00:02:09,400 call it a church family or Philip brothers and sisters, we 37 00:02:09,400 --> 00:02:12,840 have a responsibility. We must care for one another 38 00:02:13,440 --> 00:02:16,120 with concern. This is what it means to be 39 00:02:16,120 --> 00:02:18,440 brothers and sisters. We don't just sit in a service 40 00:02:18,440 --> 00:02:21,280 next to each other, you know, once a week or twice a week or 41 00:02:21,280 --> 00:02:23,760 whatever it may be. That's not what the church is. 42 00:02:23,760 --> 00:02:26,120 The church is more than that. We care for each other. 43 00:02:26,120 --> 00:02:29,240 We look out for each other, we serve and we help each other. 44 00:02:30,040 --> 00:02:33,880 This means when a couple in the church is struggling in marriage 45 00:02:33,880 --> 00:02:37,680 in any way, even maybe contemplating divorce, we don't 46 00:02:37,680 --> 00:02:41,320 isolate them or ignore them during their struggle. 47 00:02:41,320 --> 00:02:47,000 We, we, we care for them as as our our nuclear family would. 48 00:02:47,000 --> 00:02:49,400 We would come close, we would draw near them, we would try to 49 00:02:49,400 --> 00:02:53,200 help them through whatever situation may be coming at them. 50 00:02:53,560 --> 00:02:56,520 Secondly was we must encourage each other with the truth. 51 00:02:57,080 --> 00:03:00,600 We don't just share our thoughts or our opinions on with each 52 00:03:00,600 --> 00:03:05,280 other in, in, in any matter. We share God's, God's word and 53 00:03:05,280 --> 00:03:10,200 what God teaches us and in the context of caring and concerned, 54 00:03:10,200 --> 00:03:13,000 we open up the Bible together, helping each other to see what 55 00:03:13,000 --> 00:03:16,720 God says for us. And everything that God says for 56 00:03:16,720 --> 00:03:20,320 us is for our own good. And we need to understand that. 57 00:03:20,320 --> 00:03:23,280 We need to look at what Jesus says about marriage and divorce. 58 00:03:23,280 --> 00:03:26,440 And we also because we want to be able to encourage one another 59 00:03:26,440 --> 00:03:29,440 with truth and not just with our opinions, not with not with 60 00:03:29,440 --> 00:03:31,560 Chris's opinions or anybody else's opinions. 61 00:03:32,200 --> 00:03:33,920 You know, the church is not based on opinions. 62 00:03:33,920 --> 00:03:37,040 The church is based on truth and that's what we hope to discover 63 00:03:37,040 --> 00:03:40,440 today. And 3rd, as we encourage with 64 00:03:40,440 --> 00:03:43,320 one another, in truth, we must also comfort one another with 65 00:03:43,320 --> 00:03:47,200 love. What we're going to dive into 66 00:03:47,200 --> 00:03:53,200 the next few minutes, it can be a sensitive subject to those 67 00:03:53,880 --> 00:03:55,560 that may be here. I don't know each and 68 00:03:55,560 --> 00:03:58,800 everybody's situation. I don't know to. 69 00:03:59,160 --> 00:04:02,640 I don't claim to know everything about everybody's situation, but 70 00:04:02,640 --> 00:04:06,880 I know it may be opening up maybe some old wounds or some 71 00:04:06,880 --> 00:04:10,480 sore thoughts or or or previous experiences. 72 00:04:12,000 --> 00:04:15,240 It may be a wound from the past, but maybe it's still open wound. 73 00:04:15,240 --> 00:04:17,160 I don't, I don't know. There's so many emotions that 74 00:04:17,440 --> 00:04:20,360 that people have experienced or maybe you're experiencing with 75 00:04:20,680 --> 00:04:23,640 maybe sorrow or loss, disappointment, anger, regret, 76 00:04:23,640 --> 00:04:27,120 guilt, maybe all the above or maybe so much more. 77 00:04:27,920 --> 00:04:30,520 So I hope to be sensitive. Today is my is my goal. 78 00:04:30,840 --> 00:04:34,480 The last thing I want to do is is to make matters worse or make 79 00:04:34,480 --> 00:04:37,800 wounds worse. We want to understand that the 80 00:04:37,800 --> 00:04:42,520 gospel words that are taught here are for our healing and for 81 00:04:42,760 --> 00:04:45,160 comfort. So we need to understand that 82 00:04:45,160 --> 00:04:49,360 moving forward, whatever the subject may be, it doesn't have 83 00:04:49,360 --> 00:04:51,120 to be the subject of divorce and marriage. 84 00:04:51,120 --> 00:04:54,000 It could be any topic that affects us here. 85 00:04:54,000 --> 00:04:57,640 The, the, the gospel is intended to treat every single subject 86 00:04:57,640 --> 00:05:02,520 that comes to us at life. We want to care for our children 87 00:05:02,520 --> 00:05:05,800 who are affected, of course, by marital struggle and divorce in 88 00:05:05,800 --> 00:05:09,440 a way that those children aren't pushed away from the church. 89 00:05:09,840 --> 00:05:13,800 So if there's a situation that's going on, we want to make sure 90 00:05:13,800 --> 00:05:19,680 that those children aren't rejected in any way or, or the 91 00:05:19,680 --> 00:05:22,360 way that the church handles a certain situation to where that 92 00:05:22,360 --> 00:05:26,920 that child is taught incorrectly of how we're supposed to handle 93 00:05:26,920 --> 00:05:36,200 these. We want to make sure that if 94 00:05:36,200 --> 00:05:38,320 there's anything being experienced right now in the 95 00:05:38,320 --> 00:05:43,040 congregation that you know, it's not necessarily it's something 96 00:05:43,040 --> 00:05:45,360 that we're afraid of or ashamed of. 97 00:05:45,920 --> 00:05:48,240 We need to make sure that we understand that the congregation 98 00:05:48,240 --> 00:05:53,400 here is not a congregation that shames people, that it's not the 99 00:05:53,400 --> 00:05:56,200 purpose of the gospel nor nor it's the purpose of us as 100 00:05:56,200 --> 00:06:00,160 members to to shame. We have all sinned we and we've 101 00:06:00,160 --> 00:06:03,880 all been sinned against and none of us are better than each other 102 00:06:03,880 --> 00:06:06,800 in any way. This means when we hurt, we hurt 103 00:06:06,800 --> 00:06:09,280 with those there's those that hurt with us. 104 00:06:09,280 --> 00:06:13,000 We weep with those who weep. And as we love and and Jesus 105 00:06:13,000 --> 00:06:16,640 loves, Romans 12 says rejoice with those who rejoice and weep 106 00:06:16,640 --> 00:06:20,440 with those who weep. This is our responsibility as 107 00:06:20,440 --> 00:06:24,280 Christians, and in light of the responsibility, our lives are to 108 00:06:24,280 --> 00:06:28,000 reflect our reflection of Jesus's love in the world where 109 00:06:28,280 --> 00:06:31,400 marital struggle and divorce are very, very real. 110 00:06:31,880 --> 00:06:35,000 It's very common. And quite frankly, quite 111 00:06:35,000 --> 00:06:40,080 frankly, every single marriage is under attack today. 112 00:06:40,880 --> 00:06:44,160 We need to understand that there is an adversary who wants to 113 00:06:44,160 --> 00:06:48,680 destroy the marriage relationship because it was 114 00:06:48,680 --> 00:06:51,920 created by God and designed by God. 115 00:06:52,160 --> 00:06:58,040 We know that Satan is doing everything he can to attack that 116 00:06:58,040 --> 00:07:01,360 marriage union. The Bible doesn't say ignore the 117 00:07:01,360 --> 00:07:04,760 devil and he will flee from you. It says resist the devil and he 118 00:07:04,760 --> 00:07:10,240 will flee from you in James 47. So Jesus's words for Matthew 19 119 00:07:10,480 --> 00:07:12,360 one through 12, we're going to read that. 120 00:07:13,080 --> 00:07:15,880 It says there beginning in verse one. 121 00:07:17,920 --> 00:07:20,960 Now it came to pass when Jesus had finished these things that 122 00:07:20,960 --> 00:07:24,520 he departed from Galilee and came to to the region of Judea 123 00:07:24,520 --> 00:07:28,080 beyond the Jordan, and great multitudes followed him and he 124 00:07:28,080 --> 00:07:31,200 healed them there. The Pharisees also came to him, 125 00:07:31,440 --> 00:07:35,200 testing him and saying to him, Is it lawful for a man to 126 00:07:35,200 --> 00:07:38,480 divorce his wife for any for just any reason? 127 00:07:39,440 --> 00:07:42,840 And he answered, And he said to them, Have you not read that he 128 00:07:42,840 --> 00:07:47,640 who made them at the beginning made them male and female, and 129 00:07:47,640 --> 00:07:50,200 said, For this reason a man shall leave his father and 130 00:07:50,200 --> 00:07:53,200 mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become 131 00:07:53,200 --> 00:07:57,400 one flesh. So then they are no longer 2, 132 00:07:57,400 --> 00:08:00,400 but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined 133 00:08:00,400 --> 00:08:02,880 together, let not not man separate. 134 00:08:03,640 --> 00:08:07,000 Then they said to him, Why then did Moses command to give a 135 00:08:07,000 --> 00:08:09,560 certificate of divorce and to put her away? 136 00:08:10,120 --> 00:08:13,720 He said to them, Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, 137 00:08:14,120 --> 00:08:17,000 permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning. 138 00:08:17,000 --> 00:08:19,160 But from the beginning it was not so. 139 00:08:19,360 --> 00:08:22,600 And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for 140 00:08:22,600 --> 00:08:26,520 sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery, and 141 00:08:26,520 --> 00:08:30,720 whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery. 142 00:08:31,640 --> 00:08:35,400 His disciples said to him, if such is the case of the man with 143 00:08:35,400 --> 00:08:37,520 his wife, it is better not to marry. 144 00:08:38,120 --> 00:08:41,760 But he said to them, All cannot accept the same, but only those 145 00:08:41,960 --> 00:08:45,160 to whom it has been given. For there are eunuchs who were 146 00:08:45,160 --> 00:08:48,760 born from thus, who were born thus from their mother's womb. 147 00:08:48,760 --> 00:08:52,280 And there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men, and there 148 00:08:52,280 --> 00:08:54,600 are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the 149 00:08:54,600 --> 00:08:58,080 Kingdom of heaven. Heaven's sake, he who is able to 150 00:08:58,080 --> 00:09:03,400 accept it, let him accept it. So I want to consider 3, three 151 00:09:03,400 --> 00:09:06,480 points as we go through this sermon today, and we'll talk 152 00:09:06,480 --> 00:09:08,920 about what Jesus's words mean for our lives. 153 00:09:09,320 --> 00:09:12,720 Truth number one, God created marriage. 154 00:09:14,320 --> 00:09:18,920 It starts with the creation. When asked about marriage and 155 00:09:18,920 --> 00:09:22,520 divorce in verses four and five, Jesus says, have you not read 156 00:09:22,520 --> 00:09:25,200 that He who made them at the beginning made them male and 157 00:09:25,200 --> 00:09:27,440 female? And he said, for this reason a 158 00:09:27,440 --> 00:09:31,320 man shall, shall, shall leave his father and mother be joined 159 00:09:31,320 --> 00:09:33,240 to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. 160 00:09:33,680 --> 00:09:38,040 So the man and the woman are no longer 2, but they're one flesh. 161 00:09:38,040 --> 00:09:40,760 What Jesus is saying here, Jesus takes us all the way back to the 162 00:09:40,760 --> 00:09:45,000 very beginning of the Bible in Genesis one where God created 163 00:09:45,000 --> 00:09:48,000 man and woman and brings them together in this union called 164 00:09:48,000 --> 00:09:51,080 marriage. And if we think about it, you 165 00:09:51,080 --> 00:09:54,520 know, God didn't have to create us in this way as men and women. 166 00:09:54,520 --> 00:09:56,560 He could create it as however he wanted it to. 167 00:09:57,600 --> 00:10:00,040 He didn't have to create marriage in this way, one man 168 00:10:00,040 --> 00:10:02,480 and one woman coming together in one flesh and one union. 169 00:10:02,480 --> 00:10:07,560 But he did. And by doing so, God defines 170 00:10:07,560 --> 00:10:10,200 marriage from the beginning for our good. 171 00:10:12,280 --> 00:10:18,160 And we know that we live in a country that officially denies 172 00:10:18,160 --> 00:10:22,240 this truth. If you want to say civilizations 173 00:10:22,240 --> 00:10:25,600 and millennia have accepted God's, you know, definition of 174 00:10:25,600 --> 00:10:28,360 marriage as an exclusive, permanent union of one man. 175 00:10:28,360 --> 00:10:31,240 We've seen that for for years and years and years and years. 176 00:10:31,240 --> 00:10:35,360 And about 30 years ago, it was reiterated that the definition 177 00:10:35,360 --> 00:10:40,000 of our country across all party lines, that it was called the 178 00:10:40,000 --> 00:10:44,320 Defense of Marriage Act, It was agreed upon that it's a marriage 179 00:10:44,320 --> 00:10:48,320 between a man and a woman. And if we remember, about nine 180 00:10:48,320 --> 00:10:51,320 years ago, the Supreme Court, of course, struck down key 181 00:10:51,320 --> 00:10:54,480 provisions of that act in a way that paved the way for the 182 00:10:54,480 --> 00:10:56,760 redefinition of marriage across the country. 183 00:10:58,320 --> 00:11:01,440 One prominent profession, Christian Church leader, if you 184 00:11:01,440 --> 00:11:06,080 want to say, said in response to this, this is a huge moment when 185 00:11:06,080 --> 00:11:08,680 lots of us are realizing that the old way of seeing things 186 00:11:08,680 --> 00:11:12,040 doesn't work. That was a quote UN quote 187 00:11:12,040 --> 00:11:17,280 Christian who said that. So even even Christian leaders 188 00:11:17,280 --> 00:11:19,840 in the past saying that the old way, the way that God defined 189 00:11:19,840 --> 00:11:23,000 marriage, it's basically antiquated, if you want to say, 190 00:11:23,640 --> 00:11:26,360 and it's appalling. It had, you know, people having 191 00:11:26,360 --> 00:11:30,640 the audacity to come along 1000 years, thousands of years of God 192 00:11:30,640 --> 00:11:33,560 creation defining marriage in the 2000 years after Jesus 193 00:11:33,560 --> 00:11:36,840 reiterated that definition. Then they say in the last, last 194 00:11:36,840 --> 00:11:39,320 nine years, OK, yeah, that's, that's not the way it should be. 195 00:11:39,320 --> 00:11:41,400 We're going to redefine our marriage here. 196 00:11:42,200 --> 00:11:45,840 It's appalling to say to say that from the beginning of 197 00:11:45,840 --> 00:11:48,320 creation God has defined marriage for our good. 198 00:11:48,600 --> 00:11:51,480 So we need to trust and submit to his word and see the beauty 199 00:11:51,480 --> 00:11:57,440 of God's definition of marriage. One man, one woman, both 200 00:11:57,440 --> 00:12:01,200 masterfully moulded by the Creator in the image of their 201 00:12:01,200 --> 00:12:05,280 Maker, with equal dignity and complementary roles coming 202 00:12:05,280 --> 00:12:09,600 together to form 1 flesh. You know, we don't need to look 203 00:12:09,600 --> 00:12:12,880 to a court, we don't need to look to the government's to 204 00:12:12,880 --> 00:12:17,280 define marriage for us. We have the word of God that is 205 00:12:17,280 --> 00:12:20,680 very clear on what marriage is and how we should go about it. 206 00:12:24,440 --> 00:12:28,080 God has also designed marriage intentionally. 207 00:12:28,920 --> 00:12:32,480 God's design of marriage is for the display of the gospel. 208 00:12:33,200 --> 00:12:37,920 This is on another level that we can think about this God's 209 00:12:37,920 --> 00:12:40,440 design of marriage is the unit between one man and one month. 210 00:12:40,520 --> 00:12:43,760 One woman is not random. God is not random in His ways. 211 00:12:43,760 --> 00:12:47,080 God is not reckless in His ways. God knows exactly what He's 212 00:12:47,080 --> 00:12:52,240 doing all the time and we need to understand that everything 213 00:12:52,240 --> 00:12:55,680 that He has done currently does or will do in the future is not 214 00:12:55,680 --> 00:12:59,000 random. When God made man and the and 215 00:12:59,000 --> 00:13:01,800 woman and brought them together a marriage, he wasn't just kind 216 00:13:01,800 --> 00:13:03,920 of, you know, just rolling the dice and hoping that this was 217 00:13:03,920 --> 00:13:06,200 going to work. And you know, that's not what 218 00:13:06,200 --> 00:13:10,600 God's, that's not what God does. God does this intentionally. 219 00:13:10,600 --> 00:13:13,560 He was painting a picture. And it's so important for us to 220 00:13:13,560 --> 00:13:16,320 understand, you know, some people view marriage merely as a 221 00:13:16,320 --> 00:13:21,080 means of self fulfillment, if you want to say, or self 222 00:13:21,080 --> 00:13:24,280 satisfaction. And our aim is to find a mate 223 00:13:24,280 --> 00:13:27,240 who completes us. And if we just have this view 224 00:13:27,240 --> 00:13:29,920 of, of marriage just as that, that's very limited. 225 00:13:30,520 --> 00:13:32,840 That's a very limited view of marriage. 226 00:13:33,160 --> 00:13:39,960 And it, it could be lead to some very poor, poor results. 227 00:13:40,880 --> 00:13:42,280 The Bible teaches differently, though. 228 00:13:42,720 --> 00:13:45,720 The Bible teaches that God designed marriage not as an end, 229 00:13:46,040 --> 00:13:49,760 but as a means to an end. God designed marriage to be a 230 00:13:49,760 --> 00:13:51,680 picture that points to something greater. 231 00:13:51,680 --> 00:13:56,920 If you want to say we see in Ephesians 3, Ephesians 531 and 232 00:13:56,920 --> 00:13:59,840 32, Paul quotes from Genesis 2 just like Jesus does. 233 00:13:59,840 --> 00:14:03,080 He says for this reason a man shall leave his father and 234 00:14:03,080 --> 00:14:06,000 mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become 235 00:14:06,000 --> 00:14:08,040 one flesh. And then he says this in verse 236 00:14:08,040 --> 00:14:10,880 32. He says this is a great mystery, 237 00:14:11,400 --> 00:14:14,800 but I speak concerning Christ and the church. 238 00:14:16,040 --> 00:14:19,880 The purpose of marriage is to point us to Christ. 239 00:14:20,960 --> 00:14:25,840 That is the purpose of it. We want to follow the logic here 240 00:14:25,840 --> 00:14:28,160 that's given to us. Marriage is a picture of Christ 241 00:14:28,160 --> 00:14:31,760 and and the Church on the camets of this earthly world. 242 00:14:31,880 --> 00:14:36,160 Ephesians 525 says Husbands love your wives, just as Christ also 243 00:14:36,160 --> 00:14:37,840 loved the church and gave himself for. 244 00:14:39,480 --> 00:14:43,400 So a husband is designed by God to be a picture to the world of 245 00:14:43,400 --> 00:14:47,400 Christ's love for the church, selfless sacrificial love. 246 00:14:48,000 --> 00:14:54,800 And Ephesians 524 says, Ephesians 5. 247 00:14:54,800 --> 00:14:58,720 I missed something here. Ephesians 524 says, therefore, 248 00:14:58,720 --> 00:15:01,920 just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wise be to 249 00:15:01,920 --> 00:15:05,360 their own husbands and everything a wife is designed by 250 00:15:05,360 --> 00:15:09,040 God to be a picture to the world of the church's love for Christ, 251 00:15:09,400 --> 00:15:11,720 a joyful, submissive love, if you want to say. 252 00:15:12,320 --> 00:15:14,360 And when this happens in marriage, the world will 253 00:15:14,360 --> 00:15:17,280 absolutely see a picture of the gospel. 254 00:15:18,640 --> 00:15:21,080 And when we use the word gospel, we want to understand what the 255 00:15:21,080 --> 00:15:25,160 gospel is. Of course, the gospel has been 256 00:15:25,440 --> 00:15:28,480 is the good news that every one of us has been created by God 257 00:15:28,480 --> 00:15:32,400 for relationship with God, the one true king forever. 258 00:15:33,240 --> 00:15:36,080 But we have sinned against God not just in our understanding of 259 00:15:36,080 --> 00:15:38,160 marriage sometimes, but in so many other ways. 260 00:15:38,480 --> 00:15:42,400 We have turned from God to all kinds of sinful acts. 261 00:15:42,400 --> 00:15:46,240 If you want to say we have rebelled against God and that 262 00:15:46,240 --> 00:15:53,880 has deserved separation from God in our sin, But the good news is 263 00:15:53,880 --> 00:15:55,800 that God loves us and he's not left us alone. 264 00:15:55,800 --> 00:15:59,000 Of course, in that separation God came to us in the person of 265 00:15:59,040 --> 00:16:02,560 Jesus. He is the long-awaited king in 266 00:16:02,560 --> 00:16:05,840 the flesh who came to live on a perfect life and a powerful life 267 00:16:05,840 --> 00:16:08,440 with no sin. And he laid down his life to pay 268 00:16:08,440 --> 00:16:12,240 the price for our sin, that Jesus died on the cross to pay 269 00:16:12,240 --> 00:16:14,920 the penalty for our sin against God the Father. 270 00:16:15,920 --> 00:16:17,720 And the good news, of course, keeps getting better. 271 00:16:17,720 --> 00:16:19,920 We know that Jesus didn't stay dead for very long. 272 00:16:20,160 --> 00:16:22,800 Three days later he rose from the grave in victory over sin 273 00:16:22,800 --> 00:16:26,080 and death. So that anyone anywhere who 274 00:16:26,080 --> 00:16:29,160 obeys the gospel of Jesus will be forgiven of the sin that and 275 00:16:29,160 --> 00:16:33,840 and brought back into a relationship with God as long as 276 00:16:33,840 --> 00:16:37,440 we remain faithful to him. So to be a follower of Jesus 277 00:16:37,440 --> 00:16:40,240 means that we renounce all of the gods and idols of our life 278 00:16:40,240 --> 00:16:44,200 and believe that Jesus is the Son of God and be baptized for 279 00:16:44,200 --> 00:16:49,240 the remissions of sins. We need to understand that God 280 00:16:49,240 --> 00:16:52,600 loves us and God desires a relationship with us. 281 00:16:52,600 --> 00:16:57,440 God has made it possible through Jesus to do so and when we do, 282 00:16:57,440 --> 00:17:00,920 we realize that this ultimate meaning of marriage to show the 283 00:17:00,920 --> 00:17:04,720 picture of the to the world. Marriage and mission are 284 00:17:04,720 --> 00:17:08,960 connected because God is a design marriage for display of 285 00:17:08,960 --> 00:17:13,880 the gospel. So we need to show his love to 286 00:17:13,880 --> 00:17:17,960 the world through our marriages. The husband should love his wife 287 00:17:18,240 --> 00:17:21,359 by laying down his life to love her, to lift her up with honor 288 00:17:21,359 --> 00:17:25,400 and dignity and beauty. And we gladly submit to follow 289 00:17:25,400 --> 00:17:28,800 Jesus, not because we have to because we because we love 290 00:17:28,800 --> 00:17:31,320 Jesus. You know, if any husband was to 291 00:17:31,320 --> 00:17:33,960 just do the things a husband ought to do because he felt they 292 00:17:33,960 --> 00:17:38,160 have to, you know, he's going to get a lot of Flack from his 293 00:17:38,160 --> 00:17:39,680 wife. I believe we. 294 00:17:39,680 --> 00:17:42,280 I have to tell you I love you. I forgot to tell you I love you, 295 00:17:42,280 --> 00:17:42,920 OK? I love you. 296 00:17:44,160 --> 00:17:46,520 I have to do this, OK? It doesn't work out that way. 297 00:17:46,520 --> 00:17:49,280 We know that we do things in our marriage because we love the 298 00:17:49,280 --> 00:17:56,240 other one, the other spouse. That's how it's pointed to us. 299 00:17:57,240 --> 00:17:59,640 You know, have we ever met a wife who didn't want to follow a 300 00:17:59,640 --> 00:18:02,520 husband who selflessly and sacrificially loved her? 301 00:18:03,320 --> 00:18:04,560 You know, this is how the picture. 302 00:18:04,840 --> 00:18:07,600 This is this is how the picture should be shown to the world. 303 00:18:08,160 --> 00:18:10,920 We as husbands, we need to realize that What's at stake, 304 00:18:11,240 --> 00:18:17,040 we're representing Jesus to a watching world with the way that 305 00:18:17,040 --> 00:18:20,240 we love our wives. So when we put that into 306 00:18:20,240 --> 00:18:22,640 perspective, when we understand it kind of changes how we go 307 00:18:22,640 --> 00:18:24,240 about our lives on a daily basis. 308 00:18:24,960 --> 00:18:27,440 Husbands, if we are harsh with our wives, we will show the 309 00:18:27,440 --> 00:18:29,960 world that Jesus is harsh with his people. 310 00:18:30,360 --> 00:18:33,040 If we ignore our wives needs, we're telling the world that 311 00:18:33,040 --> 00:18:36,560 Jesus ignores our needs. If we are unfaithful to our 312 00:18:36,560 --> 00:18:39,720 wives, we are showing that the Jesus is unfaithful to us. 313 00:18:41,080 --> 00:18:44,400 So we need to ask ourselves the question, what picture of Jesus 314 00:18:44,400 --> 00:18:47,600 are we giving to the world with the way that we love our wives? 315 00:18:47,920 --> 00:18:52,400 Similarly, wives, what picture are you giving to the world of 316 00:18:52,400 --> 00:18:57,040 what it means to follow Jesus? If we just, if you disrespect 317 00:18:57,040 --> 00:18:59,560 your husband, you're showing the world that Jesus is not worthy 318 00:18:59,560 --> 00:19:01,840 of respect. If you do not pursue your 319 00:19:01,840 --> 00:19:04,440 husband, you show the world that Jesus is not worth pursuing. 320 00:19:05,360 --> 00:19:07,960 If you're unfaithful to your husband, you show the world that 321 00:19:08,000 --> 00:19:11,120 Jesus is not satisfying enough for His people. 322 00:19:12,120 --> 00:19:15,000 God has designed marriage for the display of the gospel, so 323 00:19:15,000 --> 00:19:17,560 let's show His love to the world. 324 00:19:19,240 --> 00:19:24,040 Marriage by God's definition and design is very, very important 325 00:19:24,040 --> 00:19:26,160 for us to understand. This is why Jesus says what He 326 00:19:26,160 --> 00:19:30,600 does in verse 6 of Matthew 19. It says therefore what God has 327 00:19:30,600 --> 00:19:36,240 joined together. Let not man separate truth #2 we 328 00:19:36,240 --> 00:19:42,280 want to make point of here is that God hates divorce, God 329 00:19:42,280 --> 00:19:47,520 hates divorce, God created marriage, and God hates divorce. 330 00:19:47,520 --> 00:19:51,240 And we're using language here that we can read in Malachi 216. 331 00:19:51,800 --> 00:19:55,240 It says therefore the Lord God of Israel says that he hates 332 00:19:55,440 --> 00:19:58,920 divorce, for it covers 1's garments, one's garments with 333 00:19:58,920 --> 00:20:01,120 violence, says the Lord of hosts. 334 00:20:04,920 --> 00:20:07,280 It makes sense to us if we think about it. 335 00:20:07,320 --> 00:20:10,280 You know, if God created marriage to be the union of one 336 00:20:10,280 --> 00:20:13,160 man and one woman for our good and for the display of the 337 00:20:13,160 --> 00:20:19,040 gospel, then divorce fundamentally is at odds with 338 00:20:19,040 --> 00:20:23,280 the definition and design because it's going against what 339 00:20:23,280 --> 00:20:25,880 God designed. It's separate, making that 340 00:20:25,880 --> 00:20:27,720 separation. This and this leads to the 341 00:20:27,720 --> 00:20:31,520 question these Pharisees were asking Jesus about Moses and the 342 00:20:31,520 --> 00:20:34,520 law of the Old Testament. The whole conversation starts 343 00:20:34,520 --> 00:20:37,640 when these teachers of the law ask is it lawful for a man to 344 00:20:37,640 --> 00:20:40,280 divorce one's wife for just any reason? 345 00:20:40,280 --> 00:20:44,920 We see that in verse 3 of Matthew 919 and Jesus answers by 346 00:20:44,920 --> 00:20:48,200 pointing to God's definition of divorce and marriage. 347 00:20:48,680 --> 00:20:52,000 And then in verse 7, the Pharisees point to allowances 348 00:20:52,080 --> 00:20:54,760 for divorce way back in the Old Testament where it says in 349 00:20:54,760 --> 00:20:58,640 Deuteronomy 24, Moses gave instructions for certificates of 350 00:20:58,640 --> 00:21:03,680 divorce. But that's when Jesus says, of 351 00:21:03,680 --> 00:21:06,640 course, we see in verse 8, Moses, because of the hardness 352 00:21:06,640 --> 00:21:08,920 of your heart, permitted you to divorce your wives. 353 00:21:08,920 --> 00:21:10,560 But from the beginning it was not so. 354 00:21:11,640 --> 00:21:17,880 In other words, divorce was not definitively God's design to 355 00:21:17,880 --> 00:21:23,000 begin with. Divorce is always a result of 356 00:21:23,000 --> 00:21:25,480 sin. If there was no sin in the 357 00:21:25,480 --> 00:21:28,400 world, no hardness of heart, there would be no divorce. 358 00:21:29,160 --> 00:21:31,160 But there is sin. We understand that. 359 00:21:31,160 --> 00:21:35,640 We know that marriage is a uniting of two sinners. 360 00:21:35,640 --> 00:21:37,560 When we think about it, we're all sinners. 361 00:21:38,040 --> 00:21:40,080 So you have two sinners coming together in marriage. 362 00:21:40,840 --> 00:21:43,120 And people wonder why so many marriages struggle. 363 00:21:43,480 --> 00:21:46,320 Experts point out all kinds of problems that hinder marital 364 00:21:46,480 --> 00:21:48,640 happiness. Communication problems, 365 00:21:48,640 --> 00:21:51,720 compatibility problems, financial, financial problems, 366 00:21:52,320 --> 00:21:54,320 sexual problems, personality problems. 367 00:21:56,480 --> 00:21:57,960 You know, there's all kinds of problems. 368 00:21:58,040 --> 00:22:00,800 We see them all the time. And every single situation is 369 00:22:00,800 --> 00:22:04,560 unique to its own and, and we don't want to be over simplistic 370 00:22:04,560 --> 00:22:09,080 here, but but the majority of problem with every single 371 00:22:09,080 --> 00:22:11,720 marriage according to Scripture is clear. 372 00:22:12,360 --> 00:22:15,560 The major problem in every marriage is sin. 373 00:22:16,800 --> 00:22:19,440 The big problem in marriage that every husband and wife in this 374 00:22:19,440 --> 00:22:22,120 church is that we are sinners. It's simple and basic, but I 375 00:22:22,120 --> 00:22:25,800 think we tend to overlook it. We're imperfect people and 376 00:22:25,800 --> 00:22:27,680 things happen. We go through, we can go to all 377 00:22:27,680 --> 00:22:31,120 kinds of books, conferences, seminars, experts on marriage, 378 00:22:31,400 --> 00:22:34,000 as long as we try externally to make things work. 379 00:22:34,400 --> 00:22:39,160 If the, if the sin problem is not continually addressed in 380 00:22:39,160 --> 00:22:42,640 each of our hearts and we are putting band aids on broken 381 00:22:42,640 --> 00:22:47,520 limbs, you know, just the we need, we need to understand that 382 00:22:47,520 --> 00:22:51,400 sin is the root of the problem with failures in marriages. 383 00:22:54,240 --> 00:22:55,720 That's what Jesus is saying here. 384 00:22:56,720 --> 00:22:59,960 The last place we want to look to when it comes to problems in 385 00:22:59,960 --> 00:23:01,960 our marriages, of course, is within ourselves. 386 00:23:01,960 --> 00:23:04,280 Jesus calls it for what it is, and it's sin. 387 00:23:05,200 --> 00:23:08,040 It's the hardness of our heart that ultimately leads to divorce 388 00:23:08,040 --> 00:23:11,120 and almost any marital conflict. There's obviously two sides to 389 00:23:11,120 --> 00:23:14,160 the story. You know, while there are many 390 00:23:14,160 --> 00:23:17,760 situations when there are more fault, fault clearly lies on one 391 00:23:17,760 --> 00:23:21,480 side other than the other. The fact still remains that both 392 00:23:21,480 --> 00:23:25,360 are sinners, and any divorce is a result of sin. 393 00:23:26,800 --> 00:23:29,200 And this is true in two particular ways. 394 00:23:29,200 --> 00:23:32,280 First, God hates divorce, and there are only a couple 395 00:23:32,280 --> 00:23:34,720 exceptions where He allows it, and we'll talk about those in a 396 00:23:34,720 --> 00:23:37,080 minute. But outside of these exceptions, 397 00:23:37,600 --> 00:23:40,560 divorce in and of itself is a sin against God. 398 00:23:42,520 --> 00:23:45,520 And it's critical for us to hear it in the culture that we Live 399 00:23:45,520 --> 00:23:48,120 Today in the country that we Live Today, where the ability to 400 00:23:48,120 --> 00:23:52,000 divorce is so easy. And that's all that's needed is, 401 00:23:52,000 --> 00:23:55,240 is merely a statement of, you know, a simple irreconcilable 402 00:23:55,240 --> 00:23:57,760 differences. And that's enough for a divorce 403 00:23:57,760 --> 00:23:59,400 to happen in the state or in the country. 404 00:24:00,720 --> 00:24:05,040 And while, you know, I was putting this together back a few 405 00:24:05,040 --> 00:24:09,880 years ago, you can, you can go download an app, pay some money, 406 00:24:09,880 --> 00:24:12,560 push a button, and that starts the process. 407 00:24:13,320 --> 00:24:17,200 It's too easy. Our culture has made it too easy 408 00:24:17,960 --> 00:24:22,600 to go down the road of divorce. And This is why we desperately 409 00:24:22,600 --> 00:24:25,920 need to stop and ask, when does God allow divorce? 410 00:24:26,240 --> 00:24:28,960 And yes, he does. God allows it. 411 00:24:29,480 --> 00:24:32,840 Then secondly, even when God allows divorce, we must be aware 412 00:24:32,840 --> 00:24:36,200 that of course, going through a divorce, there's a temptation to 413 00:24:36,200 --> 00:24:41,560 sin while pursuing divorce, even on biblical grounds, it's 414 00:24:41,560 --> 00:24:43,360 particularly strong. We could think about it. 415 00:24:43,360 --> 00:24:46,400 It's very hard to go through a divorce process, even for 416 00:24:46,400 --> 00:24:47,800 biblical reasons without sinning. 417 00:24:47,800 --> 00:24:50,240 For example, your spouse may have committed adultery against 418 00:24:50,240 --> 00:24:54,520 you. I don't presume to know the, the 419 00:24:54,520 --> 00:25:00,960 hurt or the depth sense of betrayal, the emotions and, and, 420 00:25:01,040 --> 00:25:05,400 and how that can turn somebody to maybe have some malicious 421 00:25:05,400 --> 00:25:09,080 speech against somebody else during that period of time. 422 00:25:09,840 --> 00:25:13,680 You know, the devil looks for every single opportunity he can 423 00:25:15,120 --> 00:25:18,200 to take us away from God's design and what God wants us to 424 00:25:18,200 --> 00:25:20,520 do. We need to make sure that we 425 00:25:21,760 --> 00:25:23,840 guard against ourselves, guard ourselves against those 426 00:25:23,840 --> 00:25:28,080 temptations. It's hard to do and I would 427 00:25:28,080 --> 00:25:30,360 think it's actually impossible to do without Jesus. 428 00:25:30,960 --> 00:25:33,440 But we need to understand that that because of sin in the 429 00:25:33,440 --> 00:25:37,440 world, God designed means of divorce for a reason, so he can 430 00:25:37,440 --> 00:25:39,560 walk with us through those times. 431 00:25:41,120 --> 00:25:42,480 And we're very thankful for that. 432 00:25:43,880 --> 00:25:47,760 He knows how it feels, and He wants to help us avoid 433 00:25:48,400 --> 00:25:55,000 responding to sin with sin. Divorce is often sinful in many 434 00:25:55,000 --> 00:26:00,240 ways. Truth #3 God regulates divorce. 435 00:26:00,840 --> 00:26:03,480 So when is divorce non sinful not sinful? 436 00:26:03,480 --> 00:26:09,720 When does God allow as a result of sin and and and the world and 437 00:26:09,720 --> 00:26:13,040 the hardest of our hearts. Jesus teaches us that that God 438 00:26:13,040 --> 00:26:15,840 regulates divorce and we see that here. 439 00:26:16,240 --> 00:26:19,680 This means that although divorce was not part of God's design for 440 00:26:19,680 --> 00:26:23,960 marriage, passages like Deuteronomy 24, which is, which 441 00:26:23,960 --> 00:26:27,280 is referenced again in Matthew 19 and 1st Corinthians 7, it 442 00:26:27,480 --> 00:26:29,920 makes it clear that the Bible acknowledges that there is a 443 00:26:29,920 --> 00:26:32,400 reality of divorce that needs to be dealt with sometimes. 444 00:26:33,000 --> 00:26:36,120 And these are not, these are regulations. 445 00:26:36,120 --> 00:26:39,640 These are not suggestions. If you want to say this is not 446 00:26:39,640 --> 00:26:43,000 giving God, giving us truths that are open to be added to or 447 00:26:43,000 --> 00:26:46,400 taken away from by any congregation, teachers, 448 00:26:46,400 --> 00:26:49,160 evangelist, counselors, lawyers, whatever you want to say. 449 00:26:49,520 --> 00:26:51,960 These are not suggestions with things that can be added or 450 00:26:51,960 --> 00:26:56,520 taken away. These are hardline regulations 451 00:26:56,520 --> 00:27:02,960 that God gives us. God gives us in the Scripture to 452 00:27:02,960 --> 00:27:07,440 potential reasons biblical grounds for divert for divorce, 453 00:27:07,440 --> 00:27:10,480 one here in Matthew 19 and the other in First Corinthians 7, 454 00:27:11,840 --> 00:27:14,000 Matthew 19, the grounds for divorce. 455 00:27:14,760 --> 00:27:18,320 We see here we have this conversation between Jesus and 456 00:27:18,320 --> 00:27:20,440 the Pharisees who are trying to trap Jesus. 457 00:27:20,440 --> 00:27:22,400 It tells us that they were they were trying to trap them into 458 00:27:22,400 --> 00:27:27,360 something by using a quote from Deuteronomy 24 in the Old 459 00:27:27,360 --> 00:27:29,440 Testament. There were different schools of 460 00:27:29,440 --> 00:27:32,120 thought in the 1st century Judaism about what might be 461 00:27:32,120 --> 00:27:34,520 allowed for divorce. One school of thought believed 462 00:27:34,520 --> 00:27:38,040 that a man could divorce his wife is she had committed any 463 00:27:38,040 --> 00:27:41,000 type of immodest behavioral or sexual immorality. 464 00:27:42,480 --> 00:27:45,000 The other school of thought, which was more dominant, 465 00:27:45,680 --> 00:27:50,200 interpreted Deuteronomy 24 in a much more broader way, saying 466 00:27:50,200 --> 00:27:52,960 that divorce was possible whenever a wife did anything 467 00:27:53,360 --> 00:27:58,200 that displeased her husband. Then America divorce his wife. 468 00:27:59,400 --> 00:28:02,480 This led to men basically divorcing their wife for just 469 00:28:02,480 --> 00:28:06,360 about any reason that would that could have been what the 470 00:28:06,360 --> 00:28:08,800 Pharisees were thinking when Jesus said to them, I say to 471 00:28:08,800 --> 00:28:12,360 you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality and 472 00:28:12,360 --> 00:28:13,800 marries another, commits adultery. 473 00:28:14,440 --> 00:28:19,640 So in Matthew 19, Jesus put one ground for divorce on the table, 474 00:28:19,800 --> 00:28:27,720 and that is adultery. There's some debate even about 475 00:28:27,720 --> 00:28:31,000 what that means because of the world, because the word for 476 00:28:31,000 --> 00:28:34,640 sexual, sexual immorality that Jesus uses here is the word 477 00:28:34,640 --> 00:28:38,800 pornea, which is a word that refers to all kinds of sexual 478 00:28:38,800 --> 00:28:42,240 sin in the Bible. But in the context of the 479 00:28:42,240 --> 00:28:45,960 passage that we're reading here today, Jesus has referred to 480 00:28:45,960 --> 00:28:49,280 this as one flesh union of marriage. 481 00:28:49,560 --> 00:28:52,640 And the picture seems to be of a spouse who violates that one 482 00:28:52,640 --> 00:28:57,280 flesh union. And that is a serious violation. 483 00:28:57,440 --> 00:29:00,280 That is a direct violation not only against the spouse, but 484 00:29:00,280 --> 00:29:03,480 against God. And this exception makes sense 485 00:29:03,480 --> 00:29:06,360 in the light of what Jesus has already explained when it comes 486 00:29:06,360 --> 00:29:09,040 to the one flesh meaning of marriage. 487 00:29:09,840 --> 00:29:14,720 Adultery in defiance of God places another person within 488 00:29:14,720 --> 00:29:16,680 that union of one man and one woman. 489 00:29:19,360 --> 00:29:25,040 Adultery demeans adultery shames and abandons a husband or a wife 490 00:29:25,040 --> 00:29:29,920 for selfish gain and such sexual immorality. 491 00:29:29,920 --> 00:29:33,720 Jesus says it is extremely serious and it is grounds for 492 00:29:33,720 --> 00:29:37,920 divorce. We see stern warnings throughout 493 00:29:37,920 --> 00:29:42,040 Scripture against it. There may be some here today who 494 00:29:42,040 --> 00:29:45,160 in our mind have maybe a flirted with adultery, thought about 495 00:29:45,160 --> 00:29:49,160 adultery, stepped an inch toward adultery or may even be on the 496 00:29:49,160 --> 00:29:52,400 verge of adultery. And yes, that includes for not 497 00:29:52,400 --> 00:29:57,200 viewing pornography. If adultery is anywhere near you 498 00:29:57,200 --> 00:30:00,560 right now, even in the recesses of your mind in a way that have 499 00:30:00,840 --> 00:30:02,680 you've tried to cover up in some way. 500 00:30:03,520 --> 00:30:08,280 I want to read Proverbs 7. It describes a man wandering 501 00:30:08,840 --> 00:30:11,400 after a woman who was not his wife. 502 00:30:13,800 --> 00:30:17,720 Says this in Proverbs 7, starting in verse 21. 503 00:30:20,240 --> 00:30:23,240 With her enticing speech she has caused him to yield. 504 00:30:23,240 --> 00:30:25,680 With her flattering lips she seduced him. 505 00:30:26,240 --> 00:30:29,800 Immediately he went after her. As an ox goes to the slaughter, 506 00:30:30,200 --> 00:30:33,840 or as a fool to the correction of the stocks, till an arrow 507 00:30:33,840 --> 00:30:37,640 struck his liver as a bird. As a bird hastens to the snare, 508 00:30:37,960 --> 00:30:40,200 he did not know it would cost his life. 509 00:30:40,880 --> 00:30:44,560 Now therefore listen to me, my children, pay attention to the 510 00:30:44,560 --> 00:30:48,400 words of my mouth. Do not let your heart turn aside 511 00:30:48,400 --> 00:30:51,960 to her ways. Do not stray into her paths, for 512 00:30:51,960 --> 00:30:54,240 He is. She has cast down many wounded, 513 00:30:54,560 --> 00:30:57,000 and all who were slain by her were strong men. 514 00:30:57,520 --> 00:31:02,120 Her house is the way to hell, descending to the chambers of 515 00:31:02,120 --> 00:31:06,560 death. Do we hear what God is saying 516 00:31:06,560 --> 00:31:12,520 about adultery? And if you find yourself 517 00:31:12,520 --> 00:31:17,360 flirting with that, we need to absolutely turn the other way 518 00:31:17,360 --> 00:31:22,440 and run, run away from what is in front of us. 519 00:31:24,520 --> 00:31:26,560 We're like a cow going to the slaughter. 520 00:31:26,560 --> 00:31:33,560 It says when we're toying with adultery, Proverbs 3 or 632 says 521 00:31:33,560 --> 00:31:36,640 whoever commits adultery with a woman lacks understanding. 522 00:31:36,880 --> 00:31:40,240 He does. He who does so destroys his own 523 00:31:40,240 --> 00:31:44,000 stole soul. I mean, do we realize how stupid 524 00:31:44,000 --> 00:31:46,000 and dumb we are when we're flirting with that? 525 00:31:48,480 --> 00:31:51,680 It it, it's, it's like we're walking to our own death, 526 00:31:51,680 --> 00:31:55,040 convincing ourselves that it's that it's good and we need to 527 00:31:55,040 --> 00:31:57,560 run away from that. And this is the word of God. 528 00:31:57,560 --> 00:32:00,480 It's being very gracious of teaching us how to deal with 529 00:32:00,480 --> 00:32:02,240 this. We don't want to rationalize 530 00:32:02,240 --> 00:32:03,360 with it. We need to run from it. 531 00:32:03,360 --> 00:32:05,000 We don't want to flirt, flirt with it. 532 00:32:05,240 --> 00:32:09,880 We want to flee from it. And in back in Matthew 19, we 533 00:32:09,880 --> 00:32:12,680 noticed that Jesus does not say when adultery occurs that 534 00:32:12,680 --> 00:32:15,520 divorce is certainly required, certain or required. 535 00:32:16,120 --> 00:32:20,320 Instead, Jesus says divorce is permittable in that situation. 536 00:32:22,640 --> 00:32:26,760 The goal here is, or I should say, the Pharisees were 537 00:32:26,760 --> 00:32:30,080 searching for circumstances which it would be possible for 538 00:32:30,080 --> 00:32:33,360 them to divorce. And Jesus is saying here that in 539 00:32:33,360 --> 00:32:35,800 his response that we're not looking for reasons for for 540 00:32:35,800 --> 00:32:39,960 divorce, we're longing for reconciliation to occur. 541 00:32:41,600 --> 00:32:44,520 The goal here is not to look for the letter of the law, for a 542 00:32:44,520 --> 00:32:47,520 loophole that allows divorce. That's not how we should look at 543 00:32:47,520 --> 00:32:49,920 God's Word. Jesus and God, of course we see 544 00:32:50,120 --> 00:32:53,920 hate divorce, so we should do all we can to keep that union 545 00:32:53,920 --> 00:32:58,480 together. And his teaching in Matthew 19 546 00:32:58,480 --> 00:33:01,120 comes right after right on the heels of the parable of the 547 00:33:01,120 --> 00:33:04,200 unforgiving servant, if that makes any sense. 548 00:33:05,520 --> 00:33:06,880 I don't think it's a coincidence. 549 00:33:09,040 --> 00:33:12,360 Matthew 18 Jesus taught his disciples to forgive 550 00:33:12,360 --> 00:33:15,440 extravagantly. And the implication I think is 551 00:33:15,440 --> 00:33:18,360 pretty clear. We work towards reconciliation, 552 00:33:18,880 --> 00:33:21,520 pray towards redemption and restoration, not because it's 553 00:33:21,520 --> 00:33:24,400 easy, but because that is the heart of the gospel. 554 00:33:24,880 --> 00:33:27,080 Redemption is the heart of the gospel. 555 00:33:29,000 --> 00:33:32,840 It's not to make not to shame anyone or to make anyone who 556 00:33:32,840 --> 00:33:35,200 feel guilty who divorces after adultery. 557 00:33:35,720 --> 00:33:38,920 Jesus makes it clear here that that exception, exception is OK. 558 00:33:39,400 --> 00:33:44,280 He says the same thing in Matthew 5 S Divorce is possible 559 00:33:44,280 --> 00:33:48,200 after adultery, but it's not inevitable. 560 00:33:49,480 --> 00:33:52,720 So how can marriage survive, survive adultery? 561 00:33:53,600 --> 00:33:57,120 And the answer, I think is only by the power of the gospel. 562 00:33:57,120 --> 00:34:01,680 I think only when we have Jesus on our side is that possible. 563 00:34:02,840 --> 00:34:05,960 Forgiveness is only possible by the love of Christ and true 564 00:34:05,960 --> 00:34:10,719 repentance. This is the love of Christ on 565 00:34:10,719 --> 00:34:13,960 the cross, and this is the Christ who lives inside of us. 566 00:34:13,960 --> 00:34:17,159 And we want to be. I want to be careful even here. 567 00:34:17,920 --> 00:34:20,360 You know, there's so many different circumstances and so 568 00:34:20,360 --> 00:34:23,360 many different lives. There are circumstances. 569 00:34:23,360 --> 00:34:27,960 One spouse may commit adultery once and realize that their sin 570 00:34:27,960 --> 00:34:30,960 before God and and their spouse. They confess their sin, they 571 00:34:30,960 --> 00:34:34,440 hate it, they turn away from it, they make changes from it humbly 572 00:34:34,440 --> 00:34:38,199 and they do everything necessary to restore that relationship 573 00:34:38,199 --> 00:34:40,960 with the other spouse. We've seen that happen. 574 00:34:43,880 --> 00:34:47,080 There are circumstances when a spouse is perpetually adulterous 575 00:34:47,239 --> 00:34:50,080 or or sorry just because they got caught or is not turning 576 00:34:50,080 --> 00:34:53,639 away from their sin and is not working to restore that trust. 577 00:34:56,040 --> 00:34:58,680 When it comes to adultery, divorce is possible but is not 578 00:34:58,680 --> 00:35:02,680 inevitable. Even though we're in Matthew 19. 579 00:35:03,960 --> 00:35:07,680 I want to point put on the another point here, another 580 00:35:07,680 --> 00:35:10,480 reason for divorce. The Bible teaches that in in 581 00:35:10,480 --> 00:35:15,600 first Corinthians Chapter 7 and before we get into that I want 582 00:35:15,600 --> 00:35:18,760 to clarify something First Corinthians 7 is not a patches 583 00:35:18,760 --> 00:35:21,240 that we can use for grounds for divorce. 584 00:35:21,760 --> 00:35:26,600 My understanding this is a passage dealing with a believing 585 00:35:26,600 --> 00:35:29,280 spouse and an unbelieving spouse. 586 00:35:29,680 --> 00:35:32,520 This is not dealing with two believing spouses. 587 00:35:32,520 --> 00:35:34,440 It's not dealing with two Christians dealing with an 588 00:35:34,440 --> 00:35:37,320 unbelieving Christian and a believing Christian. 589 00:35:38,280 --> 00:35:42,080 There is no adultery present. They're the only biblical 590 00:35:42,080 --> 00:35:44,480 grounds we have for divorce is what was described in Matthew 591 00:35:44,480 --> 00:35:46,800 19. And this passage is stating that 592 00:35:46,800 --> 00:35:50,240 if one of the spouses is an unbeliever and chooses to leave 593 00:35:50,480 --> 00:35:53,480 the believing spouse, the believing spouse is free from 594 00:35:53,480 --> 00:35:57,040 the divorce bondage. We cannot divorce based on the 595 00:35:57,040 --> 00:35:59,160 fact that our spouse is an unbeliever. 596 00:36:01,120 --> 00:36:04,440 If that unbelieving spouse chooses to leave, then that's 597 00:36:04,440 --> 00:36:08,440 when we have that exception. Another circumstance where 598 00:36:08,440 --> 00:36:13,280 divorce is allowed in, in First Corinthians 712 through 14 is 599 00:36:13,280 --> 00:36:16,880 abandonment. It says in verse 12 of First 600 00:36:17,000 --> 00:36:20,440 Corinthians 7, if any brother has a wife who does not believe 601 00:36:20,440 --> 00:36:23,560 and she is willing to live with him, let him not divorce her. 602 00:36:23,960 --> 00:36:27,240 And a woman who has a husband who does not believe, if he is 603 00:36:27,240 --> 00:36:29,440 willing to live with her, let her not divorce him. 604 00:36:29,840 --> 00:36:33,240 For the unbelieving husband is sanctified, which is made holy 605 00:36:33,480 --> 00:36:36,360 by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the 606 00:36:36,360 --> 00:36:39,200 husband. We don't have time, of course, 607 00:36:39,200 --> 00:36:42,320 to dive into all that. This passes me, but the bottom 608 00:36:42,320 --> 00:36:45,680 line is that the believing spouse should not initiate 609 00:36:45,680 --> 00:36:47,680 divorce from an unbelieving spouse. 610 00:36:48,760 --> 00:36:53,280 That's the bottom line. But they should stay married, 611 00:36:53,280 --> 00:36:57,800 working, praying, loving toward it that unbelieving spouse for 612 00:36:57,800 --> 00:37:05,040 their salvation. But Paul continues to say in 613 00:37:05,040 --> 00:37:10,080 verse 15, but if the unbeliever departs, let him depart. 614 00:37:10,400 --> 00:37:14,360 A brother or sister is not under bondage in such cases. 615 00:37:16,240 --> 00:37:18,720 In other words, if an unbelieving spouse chooses to 616 00:37:18,720 --> 00:37:22,000 abandon a believing spouse Despite that believing spouse 617 00:37:22,000 --> 00:37:25,600 love for them, then divorce is preferable in that situation. 618 00:37:26,840 --> 00:37:28,240 That's what the Bible teaches us. 619 00:37:28,240 --> 00:37:32,320 In other words, if we don't initiate that kind of abort of 620 00:37:32,320 --> 00:37:35,800 divorce, but if it's forced upon you by abandonment from an 621 00:37:35,800 --> 00:37:39,720 unbelieving spouse, it says to let him depart. 622 00:37:41,840 --> 00:37:44,600 That's clearly what's taught in God's Word and here in the 623 00:37:44,600 --> 00:37:46,560 Bible. We have two reasons where 624 00:37:46,560 --> 00:37:54,800 divorce may occur, adultery and abandonment, and that's it. 625 00:37:57,040 --> 00:38:01,480 If we have a spouse that commits adultery against this, or if an 626 00:38:01,560 --> 00:38:06,080 unbelieving spouse leaves a believing spouse, those are the 627 00:38:06,160 --> 00:38:11,200 only two reasons. From my understanding, any 628 00:38:11,200 --> 00:38:15,400 divorce outside of these reasons taught by God's Word leads to 629 00:38:15,920 --> 00:38:22,040 adultery and remarriage. There's so much more that we 630 00:38:22,040 --> 00:38:23,520 could get into with these two ideas. 631 00:38:23,520 --> 00:38:26,480 We don't have time. Of course, that's a topic for 632 00:38:26,480 --> 00:38:30,120 another sermon or lesson. So practically speaking, the 633 00:38:30,120 --> 00:38:34,120 mean that means that the non adulterous spouse in the first 634 00:38:34,120 --> 00:38:37,720 exception for divorce can remarry according to these 635 00:38:37,720 --> 00:38:41,440 passages. But outside of this a man or 636 00:38:41,440 --> 00:38:46,360 woman is not free to remarry. Such remarriage would result in 637 00:38:46,360 --> 00:38:50,600 adultery. Before we move on, I want to 638 00:38:50,600 --> 00:38:52,760 briefly address one other thing that is not mentioned here 639 00:38:52,760 --> 00:38:55,680 specifically but is defined definitely a mention in the 640 00:38:55,680 --> 00:38:57,840 Bible and that is abuse in marriage. 641 00:39:03,000 --> 00:39:07,000 We don't have time to to dive deep into all the aspects of 642 00:39:07,000 --> 00:39:10,600 marriage and things that could and can't go on in a marriage 643 00:39:10,600 --> 00:39:17,920 relationship, but the Bible makes it clear that any type of 644 00:39:17,920 --> 00:39:22,760 abuse in marriage is an absolute sin period. 645 00:39:22,960 --> 00:39:29,360 Where there be physical or verbal, any type of abuse is 646 00:39:29,360 --> 00:39:35,760 specifically written against in the scriptures and is 647 00:39:35,760 --> 00:39:39,200 intolerable in marriage. No spouse or child should be in 648 00:39:39,200 --> 00:39:41,480 a home with someone who jeopardizes their safety. 649 00:39:42,160 --> 00:39:46,160 We as a congregation, if there's any spouse in any type of that 650 00:39:46,160 --> 00:39:48,880 situation, we pray that you would come to one of the one of 651 00:39:48,880 --> 00:39:52,120 us so we can help in any way. I don't know if there is, but we 652 00:39:52,120 --> 00:39:55,160 also, we always want to just say things like that. 653 00:39:55,160 --> 00:39:58,720 So we know that we're here to help in whatever it may be. 654 00:40:02,160 --> 00:40:04,000 We help each other. That's what we talked about 655 00:40:04,000 --> 00:40:07,240 earlier. There are so many different 656 00:40:07,240 --> 00:40:12,000 circumstances, but through law enforcement when it's necessary 657 00:40:12,000 --> 00:40:14,600 as well as church discipline according to the Bible, we must 658 00:40:14,600 --> 00:40:17,720 take abuse seriously when we just talk with each other and 659 00:40:17,720 --> 00:40:21,240 God's Word with God's Word through how abuse effects 660 00:40:21,240 --> 00:40:25,480 marriage and potentially divorce without diving, you know in more 661 00:40:25,480 --> 00:40:27,160 depth there. When a spouse continues in 662 00:40:27,160 --> 00:40:31,400 abuse, it becomes clear that that spouse is not actually a 663 00:40:31,400 --> 00:40:37,760 follower of Christ if they continue in that sin, which may 664 00:40:37,760 --> 00:40:40,560 show a picture of an abandonment that we saw in First Corinthians 665 00:40:40,560 --> 00:40:44,040 7. God created marriage, God create 666 00:40:44,160 --> 00:40:47,440 hates divorce, and God regulates divorce. 667 00:40:50,320 --> 00:40:53,040 The reason that God is so serious in His word about how 668 00:40:53,040 --> 00:40:57,960 marriage covenants with each other is is is is is so 669 00:40:57,960 --> 00:41:00,840 important is because God is so serious about his marriage and 670 00:41:00,840 --> 00:41:03,480 his covenant with us, with his church. 671 00:41:05,600 --> 00:41:08,240 If we have gone or if you've gone through difficulties in 672 00:41:08,240 --> 00:41:11,920 marriage for a variety of reasons, we need to know that as 673 00:41:11,920 --> 00:41:14,440 a follower of Christ, as a part of the bride of Christ, men and 674 00:41:14,440 --> 00:41:16,840 women, his bride, the body, the church. 675 00:41:17,920 --> 00:41:22,560 Whether we're offended by a spouse or even if or if our 676 00:41:22,560 --> 00:41:24,680 spouse offends us, for you offend our spouse. 677 00:41:25,120 --> 00:41:28,760 If we have sinned, we can of course find that hope in Jesus 678 00:41:28,760 --> 00:41:35,440 for reconciliation. Jesus has paved the way for us 679 00:41:35,440 --> 00:41:38,960 to be forgiven of our sins. Even if the marriage covenant 680 00:41:39,480 --> 00:41:43,440 was broken in the past because of your sin or your spouse's 681 00:41:43,440 --> 00:41:47,760 sin, we need to know that the the ultimate marriage covenant 682 00:41:48,240 --> 00:41:52,160 is still firmly intact. And when I say that, that is the 683 00:41:52,200 --> 00:41:55,200 picture that our physical marriage points to, which is the 684 00:41:55,200 --> 00:41:58,720 marriage of Christ in the church, that marriage will never 685 00:41:58,720 --> 00:42:04,040 be separated ever. Jesus will never commit adultery 686 00:42:04,040 --> 00:42:05,960 against us. He will never abandoned you. 687 00:42:06,160 --> 00:42:09,920 No matter what happens, Jesus will never forsake his bride, 688 00:42:10,280 --> 00:42:13,320 ever. And as as Christians, that 689 00:42:13,320 --> 00:42:16,720 really is a reality to us to to us here in this building. 690 00:42:16,720 --> 00:42:20,120 We are His bride and we can count on His love forever, and 691 00:42:20,120 --> 00:42:22,600 that is the gospel. So what does that mean for our 692 00:42:22,600 --> 00:42:23,800 lives? Know that there are all kinds of 693 00:42:23,800 --> 00:42:28,720 different circumstances. I want to kind of wrap it up 694 00:42:28,720 --> 00:42:31,840 with just a few general expectations that we see in 695 00:42:31,840 --> 00:42:36,040 God's Word. If you are single, a brother or 696 00:42:36,040 --> 00:42:39,600 sister, maximizing your singleness, we want to make sure 697 00:42:39,600 --> 00:42:42,600 that you maximize that for the advance of the gospel. 698 00:42:43,360 --> 00:42:46,240 It's interesting that at both Matthew 19 and 1st Corinthians 699 00:42:46,240 --> 00:42:50,920 7, we see Jesus and Paul commanding singleness for the 700 00:42:50,920 --> 00:42:54,960 spread of the Kingdom of God. Jesus says in verse 11 and 12 701 00:42:55,360 --> 00:42:57,760 here that singleness for the sake of the Kingdom is a good 702 00:42:57,760 --> 00:42:59,720 thing. Not it's not that marriage is 703 00:42:59,720 --> 00:43:02,240 bad, but marriage is not best for all people. 704 00:43:02,560 --> 00:43:05,120 And this is significant to hear because we sometimes have the 705 00:43:05,120 --> 00:43:08,520 idea that we need to be married in order to live a complete, 706 00:43:08,720 --> 00:43:12,240 full life, life for God. But that's not true. 707 00:43:12,240 --> 00:43:15,400 Jesus was the most complete man we know of, the most fully human 708 00:43:15,400 --> 00:43:19,120 person that we know of who was not married. 709 00:43:22,040 --> 00:43:25,920 So if you're single, use it for the glory of God and use it to 710 00:43:25,920 --> 00:43:30,400 pursue the spread of the gospel. Use the takeaways that we can 711 00:43:30,400 --> 00:43:34,840 see in Matthew 19 to maximize that for the Kingdom of God. 712 00:43:34,840 --> 00:43:38,640 If we are married, love your spouse in a way that it portrays 713 00:43:38,640 --> 00:43:42,120 the gospel. Let God's Word drive us, husband 714 00:43:42,120 --> 00:43:46,840 and wife, to love your spouse well today, this week, this 715 00:43:46,840 --> 00:43:50,720 month, whatever it may be. Love your wives with a 716 00:43:50,720 --> 00:43:55,640 sacrificial love #3 take responsibility for the glory of 717 00:43:55,640 --> 00:44:00,440 Christ in our marriages. Wives, respect your husbands and 718 00:44:00,440 --> 00:44:03,280 honor Christ through gracious support of his leadership in a 719 00:44:03,280 --> 00:44:14,070 way that shows the world the picture of the gospel there. 720 00:44:14,350 --> 00:44:19,550 I'm sure we we know of wives and husbands that could potentially 721 00:44:19,550 --> 00:44:23,560 feel neglected, disrespected, uncared for, unloved, maybe 722 00:44:23,560 --> 00:44:26,960 lonely some we could fill in the blank with any type of 723 00:44:26,960 --> 00:44:30,000 description that we want to. We're looking at marriages 724 00:44:30,000 --> 00:44:32,800 thinking and surely God didn't design it that way. 725 00:44:33,600 --> 00:44:35,520 You look at those two that man live. 726 00:44:35,520 --> 00:44:39,520 I don't want any part of that. There's so many things that we 727 00:44:39,520 --> 00:44:44,520 can we can think about and yes, God has designed it better than 728 00:44:44,520 --> 00:44:47,360 that. What we see sometimes we want to 729 00:44:47,360 --> 00:44:51,440 encourage ourselves to keep our eyes fixed on him, the only one 730 00:44:51,440 --> 00:44:54,120 who completely satisfy our soul draw. 731 00:44:54,120 --> 00:44:57,480 We want to draw near to Jesus, seek help from the Scriptures 732 00:44:57,480 --> 00:45:00,480 and, and and pray, read the word of God. 733 00:45:00,880 --> 00:45:05,280 And of course, like we mentioned before, having fellowship with 734 00:45:05,280 --> 00:45:07,840 one another is huge. Reaching out to a brother or 735 00:45:07,840 --> 00:45:11,120 sister that when you're down and out if you want to say and and 736 00:45:11,120 --> 00:45:16,360 asking for help is what we're supposed to be doing if we ever 737 00:45:16,360 --> 00:45:18,160 find ourselves considering divorce. 738 00:45:18,160 --> 00:45:21,840 Remember the preciousness and the power of Jesus love. 739 00:45:21,840 --> 00:45:24,680 If we ever start considering divorce, we need to 1st ask 740 00:45:24,680 --> 00:45:29,840 ourselves if we have biblical grounds to do so #1 if we don't, 741 00:45:30,920 --> 00:45:33,880 we need to consider how, in the context of our marriage and with 742 00:45:33,880 --> 00:45:36,720 the help of brothers and sisters, how that conflict can 743 00:45:36,720 --> 00:45:40,920 be resolved. Then, if there is biblical 744 00:45:40,920 --> 00:45:43,600 grounds for divorce, we still need to consider the 745 00:45:43,600 --> 00:45:46,320 preciousness and the power of the gospel with a view towards 746 00:45:46,320 --> 00:45:49,600 reconciliation in marriage. If that's possible. 747 00:45:50,200 --> 00:45:56,440 It may not be possible. It's only with the power of the 748 00:45:56,440 --> 00:46:01,480 gospel that it can change our lives and redeem most marriages. 749 00:46:02,040 --> 00:46:05,560 If you're divorced for a biblical reason and single, we 750 00:46:05,560 --> 00:46:10,480 can of course rest in Jesus's support in that just because you 751 00:46:10,480 --> 00:46:12,760 get divorced under biblical grounds doesn't mean that you 752 00:46:12,760 --> 00:46:16,800 have to remarry. We use that time as being single 753 00:46:16,800 --> 00:46:20,400 as like we said before, driving for, for the spread of the 754 00:46:20,400 --> 00:46:26,360 gospel, working towards doing all you can for God in his plan. 755 00:46:28,120 --> 00:46:30,400 There's so many different circumstances like we mentioned 756 00:46:30,400 --> 00:46:35,320 before, and, and I don't want to be so general, you know, So what 757 00:46:35,320 --> 00:46:37,680 if this, what if that, what if, what if this happens? 758 00:46:37,680 --> 00:46:40,720 Well, this and that, you know, you could get into some pretty 759 00:46:40,720 --> 00:46:44,680 deep weeds and have a hard time working out of things sometime 760 00:46:44,680 --> 00:46:46,400 We don't know. I don't claim to know that 761 00:46:46,400 --> 00:46:51,120 they're all is there's no on this subject, but I hope we just 762 00:46:51,120 --> 00:46:53,400 gain a fuller knowledge of the Bible considering this. 763 00:46:53,400 --> 00:46:56,080 So parents, it's important to teach our children about the 764 00:46:56,080 --> 00:46:59,040 good news of the gospel and also on the flip side, the eternal 765 00:46:59,040 --> 00:47:02,280 consequences of sin. So when we're raising our 766 00:47:02,280 --> 00:47:06,240 children, we we, we, we teach them that, you know, this is 767 00:47:06,240 --> 00:47:09,440 what God has designed, a marriage between a man and a 768 00:47:09,440 --> 00:47:12,480 woman. Any sexual activity outside of 769 00:47:12,480 --> 00:47:16,840 that is sinful, period. Cut and dry. 770 00:47:18,080 --> 00:47:23,560 People can say, well, yeah, this, you know, we can't twist 771 00:47:23,560 --> 00:47:30,520 the word of God to help us in our situation, but teach our 772 00:47:30,520 --> 00:47:38,840 kids, teach them moving forward what it takes to be a faithful 773 00:47:38,840 --> 00:47:43,960 husband and faithful wife and a Christian projecting and and 774 00:47:43,960 --> 00:47:46,880 showing a picture of the gospel, the marriage between Christ and 775 00:47:46,880 --> 00:47:48,520 the church. It's such a beautiful picture. 776 00:47:49,320 --> 00:47:53,600 A poem said something this morning that has benefited the 777 00:47:53,600 --> 00:47:56,920 congregation here in some way. Of course, we must come to 778 00:47:56,920 --> 00:48:00,200 Christ by hearing the word of God, believing the word of of 779 00:48:00,200 --> 00:48:04,800 God, believing that Jesus is the Son of God, confessing his name, 780 00:48:04,800 --> 00:48:08,480 turning away from our old way of life, going in a different 781 00:48:08,480 --> 00:48:09,760 direction. Now we're going to live for 782 00:48:09,760 --> 00:48:13,800 Jesus, live, live for God. And we've been we are baptized 783 00:48:14,040 --> 00:48:18,080 for the remission of our sins and they were baptized into 784 00:48:18,080 --> 00:48:20,520 Christ by the the immersion of water. 785 00:48:21,880 --> 00:48:23,440 Maybe we've done this. We've slipped in our 786 00:48:23,440 --> 00:48:25,280 faithfulness to God. Maybe we need to make a public 787 00:48:25,280 --> 00:48:28,160 confession in some way or just needs the prayers of the 788 00:48:28,160 --> 00:48:29,680 congregation. We ask you to come while we 789 00:48:29,680 --> 00:48:30,640 stand, while we sing.