If you would turn in your Bibles to Matthew 5, we're in the Sermon on the Mount, which
remember is the inaugural address of King Jesus.
And he tackles the very controversial subject of divorce this morning.
So would you open to Matthew 5, 31 and 32, and let me read.
It was also said, whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.
But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality,
makes her commit adultery.
And whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
If this morning you've come into this building wondering if you should divorce your spouse,
I'm glad that you're here.
You need to hear what Jesus has to say this morning.
If you've come into this building this morning, and when you hear the word divorce for only
the grounds of sexual immorality, and you realize that you've divorced for something other than that,
and then remarried, you may be coming here, and you've got this huge lump in your throat.
Your heart's dropping.
You need to hear what Jesus is saying here.
If you're single, and you're thinking about getting married, hoping to get married,
you need to hear what Jesus is saying here.
Because Jesus is talking about marriage in a way that we don't hear in our culture.
He's got something to say about marriage, and He's got something to say about divorce.
And so this morning, Jesus is speaking to us, and He's saying, let me clarify this divorce thing.
What we're going to see this morning is that marriage is an exclusive, lifelong, one-flesh union
between one man and one woman joined together by God Himself.
Marriage is sacred.
The way I want to help you see this this morning is by introducing you to a debate that was taking place in first century Palestine.
It gives some backdrop to the situation historically that Jesus was speaking into.
And so, I want to help you to understand the debate.
We're going to go way back to Deuteronomy 24 to help you see that.
And then, I want to help you see where the Pharisees came down, these teachers of the law in Jesus' day,
where they came down on this very debate.
And so, in order to help you see that, we're going to go to Matthew 19, 3-9.
And then, we're going to bring it all together back in Matthew 5.
And we're going to learn what Jesus has to say about all things.
We're going to spend a lot of time in Matthew 19 this morning.
I'll explain why in a little bit.
But Jesus puts on a clinic.
He has something to say about marriage, and He's got something to say about divorce.
You know, just let me pray one more time as we turn to what Jesus says here.
Lord Jesus, we're here to listen to what You say.
And as Your followers, we are coming not to weigh what You say, decide whether we should obey,
but we're coming to obey.
We're listening so that we can obey.
Lord, this is part of the teaching with which we are to instruct all the disciples
when we make nations, disciples of the nations,
instructing them in all that You have commanded, and this is part of that.
And so, Lord, would You help us to not only hear,
but to hear with hearts eager to obey, eager to understand.
And it's Your name I pray once again.
Amen.
Alright, you guys ready to go back to first century Palestine?
Here we go.
If you'd open up your Bibles all the way back to Deuteronomy 24.
Deuteronomy is the fifth book of the Old Testament.
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.
Why are we going there?
In Matthew 5.31, Jesus says this,
It was said, whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.
He's not talking about something in the Ten Commandments.
He's raising something that was an issue out of Deuteronomy 24, 1-4.
And so, I want to bring you there so that you can see what the debate in the first century was over among Jewish religious leaders.
And so, let's go there now.
Deuteronomy 24.
And we read this.
When a man takes a wife and marries her, if, then, she finds no favor in his eyes because he's found some indecency.
Those two words are going to be the center of the debate.
If, then, if, then, if she goes and becomes another man's wife, and the latter man hates her and writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house,
or if, the latter man dies who took her to be his wife, then, her former husband who sent her away may not take her again to be his wife after she has been defiled,
for that is an abomination before the Lord.
And you shall not bring sin upon the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance.
There's a lot there.
A lot of ifs.
Did you notice the ifs?
A lot of ifs.
And then the word then shows up in verse 4.
This passage is there really to establish the point of verse 4.
And the specific situation it's addressing is if a guy divorces a woman, that woman remarries, and for whatever reason that second marriage dissolves,
the first husband can't take the wife again.
That's why this is here.
It doesn't say whether divorce is right or wrong.
What it's getting at is what if this happens?
It's known as case law.
And so it's addressing a specific situation.
That's kind of the background on Deuteronomy 24, the passage itself.
Now let's look at the issue of the debate.
The debate wasn't about verse 4.
The debate was over something in verse 1.
And it was those two words, some indecency in the ESV.
And so here's what was going on.
There were two camps, two schools of rabbinical thought, of the teachers of the law of the day.
And the first school was the school of Shammai.
And Shammai would interpret those two words, some indecency, very narrowly, very rigidly.
And they would say the some indecency is adultery.
It's some grave, marital, physical, sexual event.
That is the some indecency that allows for divorce.
And so that's the school of Shammai over here.
The other school is the school of Hillel.
And the school of Hillel interpreted some indecency not narrowly, not rigidly, but very broadly, very generally.
So what that meant was some rabbis would say some indecency would include divorcing a wife because she spoiled her husband's dinner.
It's there.
Or because a husband has found someone fairer than his wife.
Those would become grounds for divorcing her and handing her a certificate of divorce.
Now, if you're a woman in the room and you're like thinking, I could not believe living underneath something like that.
You know what?
I just might spoil this guy's dinner so he would hand me a certificate of divorce.
But whether you believe we're part of the school of Shammai, the rigid approach, or part of the school of Hillel, the loose approach,
both would say you have to give a certificate of divorce.
And what a certificate of divorce was at that time was a way to protect a wife from a husband who was just very capricious,
just like whatever, on a whim, get out of my face, you spoiled my dinner,
or without having to give her some kind of legal protection.
And so a certificate of divorce set out the right for a wife to remarry.
And so the background of what's happening in Matthew 5 is this debate.
And the question's going to become, where does Jesus come down?
Is he school of Shammai or is he school of Hillel?
Where does he fall down?
Where does he come to?
Before we get there, we've got to see where the Pharisees come down,
because this is setting the whole thing up.
And so if you would, knowing that the debate is over some indecency,
and knowing the sides of the debate, would you now flip your Bibles to Matthew 19?
Matthew 19.
And we're going to be looking at 3 through 9.
And just to give you a little help in understanding, this passage.
In Matthew 19, 3 through 9, Jesus takes up the issue of divorce again.
But there's a difference.
It's in who he's talking to.
In Matthew 5, it's his inaugural address.
He's speaking to his disciples.
In Matthew 19, he's speaking to Pharisees.
They've asked him, what do you think about Deuteronomy 24.1?
And so in Matthew 19, 3 through 9, we're going to spend most of our time there,
because it reveals Jesus' mind on the matter more.
It's more expansive.
He explains more in Matthew 19, 3 through 9, on marriage and divorce,
than he does in Matthew 5.
So what we're going to do is we're going to use Matthew 19 to help us understand Matthew 5.
And so what we see is what Jesus thinks about marriage and divorce.
And we also learn where the Pharisees come down on Deuteronomy 24.
Look at verse 3 of chapter 19 in Matthew.
And Pharisees came up to him and tested him, which I always think is pretty funny,
because they're testing the incarnate God of the universe.
And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking,
is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause?
Do you know why they're asking him the question?
So what's the background of that question?
Deuteronomy 24, 1 through 4.
And so they want to know where Jesus is coming down on this whole divorce thing.
Is it biblical?
Is it okay that a husband divorces his wife for pretty much any cause?
Jesus, where are you coming down on this debate?
Now, what this kind of shows is the Pharisees' hand, where they actually are.
And so what we'll see is that the Pharisees actually adhere to the school of Hillel.
That they are holding to a position on divorce that is broad and loose.
And so this should be somewhat of a surprise, because so far, on the issue of murder,
and on the issue of adultery, they've been rather tight.
Because it suited their purpose.
And now when we get to this issue of when can you divorce,
they go loose, because it served their purpose.
And so Jesus is going to speak right into that.
And all week long, I've been like, Jesus, you are so awesome.
To speak like this.
So Matthew 19, 3 through 9, what I'd like you to do,
just to walk through each verse to help us understand what's being said,
so that we can see what Jesus means.
What Jesus is saying.
So that we can hear our Savior and King speak.
So we can walk after His ways.
We can live in the light of His teaching.
So, 19, 3, is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause?
The any cause is back to 24-1.
This any kind of sense, any kind of reason,
any kind of spoiling your dinner, anything like that.
They're asking for a no-fault divorce.
Some indecency.
Jesus, do you agree with us?
Would you just quickly flip back to 531?
I want to help you understand what's being said in 531.
Jesus says it was also said,
and what you need to hear there is,
it was also said by the Pharisees who've been teaching on this in our culture,
that whoever divorces his wife for any cause,
let him give her a certificate of divorce.
And so Jesus is addressing the present teaching and understanding of this issue of divorce of the day.
And so these dovetail very nicely.
What, just for a little background,
what had happened at this point is,
the Pharisees were more concerned about getting the legal writing correct on the certificate of divorce.
They wanted to make sure it was accurate,
rather than asking,
is the grounds right?
And so what they were doing is they're asking,
they want justification for no-fault divorce,
a divorce that they can declare for any reason they want,
but the wife really has no say in the matter.
What we're looking here at is a sad situation.
Heartbreaking.
Difficult for a woman.
It'd be a very difficult place to live and feel like you have a voice.
So the Pharisees were adherents to the school of Hillel,
the sum and decency that they thought about when they were interpreting loose and broad.
And so they're asking Jesus in verse 3,
hey, are you for us or against us?
And this is where I want to turn to Jesus now,
and I want to occupy our time with what does Jesus say?
The first thing I want you to notice is in verse 4, 4 through 6,
is where Jesus begins.
Is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause?
Our Savior King says,
have you not read that He who created them from the beginning
made them male and female and said,
therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife
and they shall become one flesh?
So they're no longer two but one flesh.
What therefore God has joined together,
let not man separate.
Did you notice where Jesus starts?
He doesn't start in Deuteronomy 24.
He starts in Genesis 1 and 2.
In the beginning.
Jesus goes back to the very start
when God established marriage.
That's where Jesus goes.
And so in 19.4 when He says,
have you not read that He who created them from the beginning
made them male and female?
He's talking about Genesis 1.26 and 27.
God created man in His image.
Male and female He created them.
They are of the same value,
but they're distinct in who they are physically in their roles,
but the same value.
God created them male and female.
And then in verse 19.5 we read this.
Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother
and hold fast to his wife
and thou shalt become one flesh.
He's talking about Genesis 2.24.
The divine institution of marriage
where God gives Eve to Adam
and declares them,
you're one flesh.
It was the divine institution of marriage.
Did you notice the one flesh language?
Jesus is emphasizing that for a reason.
Verse 6.
So they are no longer two,
but one flesh.
What therefore God has joined together,
let not man separate.
Jesus is making explicit
what's implied in Genesis 2.24
in that it is God
who is joining the first husband
and the first wife.
That's God at work.
And so essentially what Jesus is saying here is,
hey, divorce wasn't part of the original design.
Wasn't part of the original design.
In the beginning,
God created,
then joined one man and one woman
in an exclusive,
lifelong,
one flesh union.
And so the case that Jesus is making here
is that marriage is sacred.
And what the Pharisees were doing
were they were trivializing marriage.
That's the culture we live in today.
You remove God from the equation
and everything trivializes.
You've got a lot more options.
Jesus is returning God to marriage.
And what He's saying is,
what is normal and binding
from the beginning
is an exclusive,
lifelong,
one flesh union
joined by God.
Here's what Jesus is doing.
It's very helpful.
He's saying,
let's not start with the exception.
Deuteronomy 24.
Let's start with the norm.
Let's understand the norm
so that we can understand the exception.
And what He's making out to be the norm
is Genesis 1 and 2.
That marriage is sacred.
It's a joining of one man and one woman
by God Himself.
He is fulfilling the intent of the law here.
He's saying this is what it really means.
The Pharisees had trivialized marriage,
but Jesus is returning God's design
and intent to marriage.
He's returning the sacredness,
the divine design of marriage.
I know I've said it a lot,
but marriage is God
joining one man and one woman
together exclusively for life.
And so He answers the question
by saying,
you're not starting in the right place.
You're not starting.
Divorce is never part of the design
to begin with.
And then look at verse 7.
They, the Pharisees, said to Him,
why then did Moses command one
to give a certificate of divorce
and to send her away?
It's kind of like,
but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but,
but what about this?
What about this?
What about Deuteronomy 24, Jesus?
The Pharisees were seeking to trap Jesus
by pitting one part of the law
against another.
And Jesus just totally dismantles them.
He says, you guys are misguided.
You're misguided.
You've got misguided notions
of Deuteronomy 24.
And so let's turn to verse 8.
There's, there's some things in it
that are really important to see.
Let me read it.
He said to them,
because of your hardness of heart,
Moses allowed you to divorce your wives,
but from the beginning,
it was not so.
So, he starts with this phrase,
hardness of heart.
Jesus is, is essentially saying this.
Deuteronomy 24, 1 through 4,
wasn't written to the humble of heart.
That was written for the calloused of heart.
And so, this was a problem
that was rising because
husbands with callous hearts
were divorcing their wives
any way they saw fit.
And so this was,
this is there to slow it down,
to protect wives.
And so, what the Pharisees were doing
and what Jesus is exposing is,
you're basing your whole system of divorce
on a passage that assumes
hardness of heart.
You'd think that they would be suspect
that this passage was being used
to address a sin problem.
But they were using it to justify
what they wanted.
And so, it was written
not to soft hearts,
but to calloused hearts.
Those with a hardened heart.
And Jesus is going after the Pharisees.
Because of your hardness of heart,
Moses allowed.
That's the second thing in verse 8
I want you to notice.
Moses allowed divorce.
He never commanded it.
Look back in verse 7.
The Pharisees said to Him,
why then did Moses command one
to give a certificate of divorce
and to send her away?
Jesus, because of your hardness of heart,
Moses allowed you to divorce your wives.
What Jesus is saying is,
Deuteronomy 24 is there
because of hardness on heart.
And it's not a command.
It's a concession.
And so, these Pharisees were building
a whole misguided view of divorce
on this vague concession
pertaining to a specific situation
that was actually about
a husband's hardness of heart.
Do you follow what's going on here?
And then Jesus,
the last thing,
He says,
it's not so in the beginning.
He returns us to creation.
He returns us to Genesis 1 and 2.
You shouldn't be building your view
of divorce off a concession,
but on God's clear and obvious,
normal and binding word on marriage.
It's exclusive and it's for life.
It's a union that God joins.
Marriage is sacred.
You see Jesus?
He's dismantling them.
Isn't it so helpful to see Him doing it?
Verse 9,
we read,
And I say to you,
and I say to you,
whoever divorces his wife
except for sexual immorality
and marries another commits adultery,
and I say to you.
It's emphatic.
Jesus is saying,
this is what the Word says,
and I say to you,
Pharisees,
let's get this thing right.
Now,
that,
and I say to you,
should ring a little bit of a bell.
If you flip back to Matthew 5.32,
we read,
And it was also said,
whoever divorces his wife,
let him give her a certificate of divorce,
but I say to you,
disciples,
that everyone who divorces his wife
except on the ground of sexual immorality
makes her commit adultery,
and whoever marries a divorced woman
commits adultery.
Jesus is saying the same thing
in chapter 5 and chapter 19.
In chapter 19,
He just simply expands.
That's why it's so helpful
to see 19
explaining chapter 5.
That little phrase in 5.32,
if you would just turn there now,
chapter 5.32,
But I say to you
that everyone who divorces his wife
except on the ground of sexual immorality
makes her commit adultery.
Did you see that?
Here's what you need to realize
in the first century.
It was assumed
that a divorced woman,
in order to survive,
would have to do one of two things.
She would either have to go back
to her father's house in shame,
or she would have to find someone else to marry
regardless of why she was divorced.
Neither was a good option.
And so what Jesus is saying is
if you divorce your wife
for any other reason
besides sexual immorality,
and I'll get to that in a second,
but if you do that,
you make her commit adultery.
This was a time when a single woman,
a single mom,
was not a viable economic unit.
She didn't have many choices.
And so what Jesus is getting at is
you've got to slow down
if you're thinking about divorce.
You've got to realize
there's a lot at stake.
The sacredness of marriage.
God has joined two together as one.
And if you do this step,
you're going to cause your former wife
to commit adultery.
Which is incredibly ironic
because the Pharisees
were trying to get around it.
And so what Jesus is doing here
is given the sanctity of marriage,
it's exclusive, lifelong,
one flesh, joined by God.
If you divorce your wife
for a reason other than sexual immorality,
you make her commit adultery
by marrying another.
And so what is behind this
is what God is thinking about a marriage.
Remember this language of one flesh?
If there's a divorce
without grounds of sexual immorality,
that remarriage takes place
and God is still thinking about
that first marriage
as a one flesh union.
That's why the second marriage
becomes an act of adultery.
And the weight of what Jesus is saying here
is not on the wife
who's being made to commit adultery.
It's on the husband
who's causing her to do that.
Jesus is saying,
don't make this about her.
This is about your hardness of heart.
Let's look at this exception clause.
The exception clause
is the clause
that begins with the word accept.
In 532,
accept on the ground
of sexual immorality.
In 19.9,
accept for sexual immorality.
So for us,
what this means is this.
There's other passages,
1 Corinthians 7,
that raise other possibilities
of separation
and possibly remarriage.
But what I want to do this morning
is focus in
on what Jesus is saying here
so that we're all clear
on what Jesus is saying.
So we're not covering
the whole waterfront
of what the Bible says,
but let's just get
what Jesus is saying here.
And so what Jesus is saying
is the only exception
He allows for,
for divorce,
is in the case
of sexual immorality.
So the question
we need to ask is,
what does that mean?
What is sexual immorality
and what is a cover?
And so the Greek word
behind sexual immorality
is the word porneia.
And it's a word
that includes all kinds
of physical,
sexual irregularity.
Things that would grieve God.
And so,
in the case of a husband
being unfaithful to a wife,
whether that husband
is sexually,
physically unfaithful
with someone else
who is married or unmarried,
it's still porneia.
Whether it is someone
who is of the opposite sex
or same sex,
it's porneia.
So whether it's another adult
or a minor,
it's porneia.
So whether it's another human
or an animal,
it's porneia.
And so what Jesus is doing
is saying sexual immorality
covers the gamut,
porneia,
of sexual,
physical wrongdoing
in God's eyes.
And Jesus is saying
that becomes grounds
for divorce.
and it's the sole exception
that Jesus allows
here in the book of Matthew.
I
have been weighing
whether or not
I should raise this point,
but I think it would be helpful.
Because I'm guessing
some of you are in your pew
asking,
well,
why just sexual immorality?
Why not physical
or verbal abuse?
Surely that was a horrific event
in the first century Palestine
as it is in 21st century Kenosha.
Well,
I just want to humbly say
here's my best understanding
of why
Jesus limits
the grounds for divorce
to just sexual immorality.
Physical and verbal abuse
are horrific in a marriage.
But there seems to be
a difference in our Savior's mind
between that kind of wrongdoing
and the kind of breach
that is wrought upon a marriage
through porneia.
And so,
all are wrong.
But Jesus seems to say
that there is something
to this physical sexual act
that has a unique
devastating effect
on a marriage.
Sexual immorality
disjoins
the one flesh union
God has joined together.
What God has joined together.
Let not man separate.
Jesus is being very specific.
If sexual immorality takes place,
a marriage has suffered
a kind of physical unjoining
that can actually end
a marriage
in God's eyes.
That's how serious
Jesus sees
sexual immorality.
It's not to diminish
the sinfulness
of physical
and verbal abuse,
but it's heightening
this issue of sexual fidelity
in a marriage.
So if there is sexual immorality,
God allows
for the one
sinned against
to remarry
without being
an adulterer.
Without committing adulterer.
The sinning spouse
has already
committed adultery
because of their
sexual immorality.
So what we see
in chapter 5
verse 32
in 19.9
is a kind of warning
that divorcing
without biblical grounds,
the grounds
of sexual immorality,
causes the remarriage
of the
divorcing husband
and wife
to start
as an adulterous act
because that marriage
in God's eyes
is still one flesh.
So let me try to summarize
what Jesus is saying here.
And it's really instructive
for us.
Jesus starts
in the beginning.
Jesus starts
with what's normal.
God's design
and creation.
Genesis
chapter 1
and 2.
Much of our lives
depend on Genesis
chapter 1
and 2.
It is
vital
scripture
to our everyday living.
What's normal
is to see a marriage
as an exclusive,
lifelong,
one flesh union
joined together
by God.
It's normal
and binding
and it's where
we must start
in our everyday
conversations
in the 21st century.
Jesus starts
with the norm,
not the exception.
John Stott,
his pastoral practice,
when a couple
who was considering
divorce
would come to him,
he insisted
that before they
talk about divorce,
they first talk about
the nature of marriage
and the nature
of reconciliation.
Good practice.
The second thing
I want to help you see here
is that
nowhere does God
require divorce.
Nowhere does He
command divorce.
Divorce,
both in
Deuteronomy 24
and even here
in Matthew 5
and 19
it's
a concession,
it's provisional.
It's not a requirement.
It's not a command.
And what we saw
in 19
is that Jesus
totally dismantles
the Pharisees'
false understanding
of it being a command.
God allowed for it,
not required it.
Do you know what's
baked into
Genesis 1 and 2?
This is what I love
about my Bible.
God took that example
of one man
and one woman
and He ran it
through your Bible.
From the beginning
God had an idea.
He says,
I'm going to use this
to communicate
my relationship
to my people.
And so all throughout
the Old Testament,
you see it in Ezekiel 16,
you see it in the book
of Hosea,
God takes on the role
of a husband groom.
And His people
take on the role
of the bride,
the wife.
And then when we turn
to the New Testament,
what we see is
Jesus takes the role
of the groom.
And the church
takes the role
of the bride.
And what we see
over and over again
used in this picture
throughout the whole Bible
is a faithful husband
who lovingly forgives
and reconciles
with his wayward wife
over and over
and over again.
Our God is a faithful husband.
And it informs
how we are to approach
this issue of divorce
even when
the requirements
are met.
You see,
above all,
we're peacemakers.
Blessed are the peacemakers.
And so if I were
to be approached
by a person
who was considering
divorce
and that person
had biblical grounds,
do you know
what I would say?
have you considered
making peace?
Have you considered
forgiving the sin?
This is good news
for struggling marriages.
What this essentially does
is it removes divorce
from the equation.
It says we're going
to work things out
regardless how hard it gets.
So if there's no grounds,
there's no grounds.
God has joined you together.
There's work to be done.
Another thing I want you to see
in just kind of summary
is that sexual immorality
is the only grounds here
that Jesus makes
as an exception
for divorce.
So a spouse
who has been sinned against
sexually
through this physical
act of immorality,
Jesus would allow you
to end the marriage.
It is provision.
It is real.
But once you choose
to stay,
if you choose to stay,
the way forward
is to forgive
and to reconcile.
And so you're
no longer choosing
to hold that sin
over your spouse.
You can't reclaim it
in five years.
You've forgiven him.
Forgiven her.
Now,
if your spouse,
that spouse,
was to be
sexually unfaithful again,
you would need to weigh
the same provision again.
But it's a real provision.
And we would love to help you.
We'd love to help you
navigate these hard waters.
Back to this issue
of physical abuse
and verbal abuse.
If it's not
grounds for divorce,
according to what
Jesus is saying here,
then how do we
think about it?
We've got to
take it seriously.
We've got to
take steps of separation
if need be.
We've got to
involve the authorities
if required.
But we're going to
pursue reconciliation.
We're going to
seek to be peacemakers
despite how
hard and
heart aching
it becomes.
We've got to
be wise.
We've got to
live in what
God allows
and does not allow.
And I would
only humbly
recommend that
if you find
yourself in a
situation
where you don't
have grounds
but it is hard,
seek help.
Ask for help.
The elders of our
church would love
to help.
We have people
that can help
as well.
Seek help.
If you are in
the room and
you have been
divorced and
you got a
divorce without
the grounds
Jesus allows for
here and then
you got remarried,
what Jesus is
saying is that
that was an
act of adultery
because in God's
eyes this first
marriage, your
first marriage
marriage was
still a one
flesh union.
But you've got
to see, Jesus
chooses his words
very carefully.
In both
chapter 5, 32
and 19, 9,
Jesus talks
about whoever
marries someone
who's been
divorced without
grounds.
It's a real
marriage.
The second
marriage.
Your second
marriage is a
real marriage.
And Jesus
doesn't call the
one who does
that an
adulteress or
an adulterer.
He says they
commit adultery.
And so though the
second marriage
started on
illegitimate grounds,
it's still a real
marriage in God's
eyes and it's
not the
unforgivable
sin.
God has grace
even for that.
And I would
just suggest
this.
If you find
yourself in that
situation,
just simply
go to Jesus,
call it what
he calls it,
and then call it
forgiven.
Because your
faithful husband
died for it.
Jesus did.
And then what
you want to do
is move forward
in your present
marriage for
his name's sake.
You don't need
to divorce the
person you're
presently married
to.
Stay as you
are, but
faithfully live
out your
vows before
God and your
spouse.
What God
has brought
together, let
not man
separate.
If you're
thinking about
getting a
divorce, you
need to slow
down.
You need to
ask some really
important questions.
What does
Jesus say?
Do you have
grounds?
Do you need
help?
If you need
help, help is
available.
I'd be glad to
help you.
Rick, other
elders, other
godly people of
this church will
be glad to help
you.
I'd only suggest
this.
You go to
someone who's
going to tell
you what you
need to hear
instead of what
you want to
hear.
Go to someone
who's going to
direct you to
the scriptures
and all of what
they say, not
what you just
want them to
say.
There's a last
group of people
that I want to
address this
morning.
Single people
thinking about
marriage.
Please
realize
the sacredness
of what you
desire.
That this
is a union
joined together
by God.
It's not to be
entered into
lightly.
So if you've
never been
married,
do you
understand
marriage as
Jesus understands
it?
Exclusive,
lifelong,
one-flesh
union that God
unites,
that God
joins.
Marriage is
sacred.
Let me end
by saying
this.
We live in a
culture that
has trivialized
marriage and
made divorce
very easy.
When we live
out our lives
in marriages
as Jesus
called us
to, do you
know what we're
going to be in
this culture?
we're going
to be salt
and light.
We're going
to stand
out.
And our
marriages are
going to reflect
that relationship
between God
and His
people.
God be
praised.
This is what
marriage is
that Jesus
calls an
exceeding
righteousness.
A
righteousness
that fulfills
the law and
the prophets.
Let's pray.
ин
going