Latest / 1 Year Audio Bible Podcast / Unequally Yoked? | Biblical Answers on Marriage, Divorce & Remarriage (Aug 10)

Transcript

Unequally Yoked? | Biblical Answers on Marriage, Divorce & Remarriage (Aug 10) · 1 Year Audio Bible Podcast

• 0:00
  What is God's heart concerning marriage?
• 0:05
  Is it okay to get married to somebody who is not a believer in Jesus
• 0:09
  Christ? What if I'm already married and my
• 0:13
  spouse is not a believer? Should I divorce
• 0:17
  them? What if my spouse
• 0:22
  departs and abandons me, runs off into an adulterous affair,
• 0:28
  just abandons the marriage. What do I do?
• 0:31
  What are the scriptures? What is God's heart concerning
• 0:36
  all of these situations? Listen in as we do a
• 0:39
  deep dive into looking at marriage,
• 0:43
  divorce, and remarriage. Welcome to
• 0:47
  the Daily Audio Torah. Today is August 10th.
• 0:51
  Now let's continue our journey reading through the entire Bible in
• 0:54
  one year. This week we are reading from the New Living Translation
• 0:58
  for the Old Testament and for the New Testament.
• 1:05
  Deuteronomy 4:6-31.
• 1:09
  Obey them completely, and you will display your wisdom and intelligence
• 1:14
  among the surrounding nations. When they hear all these decrees,
• 1:18
  they will exclaim, how wise and prudent are the people
• 1:22
  of this great nation! For what great nation has a God as near
• 1:26
  to them as the Lord our God is near to us whenever
• 1:29
  we call on Him? And what great nation has decrees and
• 1:34
  regulations as righteous and fair as this body
• 1:37
  of instructions that I am giving you today? But watch out!
• 1:41
  Be careful never to forget what you yourself have seen.
• 1:45
  Do not let these memories escape from your mind as long as you
• 1:49
  live. And be sure to pass them on to your children and
• 1:52
  grandchildren. Never forget the day when you stood
• 1:56
  before the Lord your God at Mount Sinai, where He told me,
• 2:00
  Summon the people before Me, and I will personally
• 2:03
  instruct them. Then they will learn to fear Me as
• 2:07
  long as they live, and they will teach their children to fear Me also.
• 2:12
  You came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, while flames
• 2:16
  from the mountain shot into the sky. The mountain was shrouded
• 2:20
  in black clouds and deep darkness. And the Lord spoke to
• 2:24
  you from the heart of the fire. You heard the sound of His words but
• 2:28
  didn't see His form. There was only a voice.
• 2:32
  He proclaimed His Covenant, the Ten Commandments, which He
• 2:37
  commanded you to keep and which He wrote on 2 stone tablets.
• 2:41
  It was at that time that the Lord commanded me to teach you His
• 2:45
  decrees and regulations so you would obey them in the
• 2:49
  land you are about to enter and occupy.
• 2:53
  But be very careful. You did
• 2:58
  not see the Lord's form on the day He spoke to you from the heart
• 3:01
  of the fire at Mount Sinai. So do not corrupt
• 3:05
  yourselves by making an idol in any form,
• 3:09
  whether of a man or a woman, an animal on
• 3:13
  the ground, a bird in the sky, a small animal that scurries along
• 3:16
  the ground, or a fish in the deepest sea. And when you
• 3:20
  look up into the sky and see the sun, moon, and stars,
• 3:24
  all the forces of heaven, don't be seduced
• 3:27
  into worshiping them. The Lord your God gave them to all the
• 3:32
  peoples of the earth. Remember that the Lord rescued you
• 3:36
  from the iron-smelting furnace of Egypt in
• 3:39
  order to make you His very own people and His special possession,
• 3:44
  which is what you are today. But the Lord was angry
• 3:48
  with me because of you. He vowed that I would
• 3:52
  not cross the Jordan River into the good land the Lord your God
• 3:56
  is giving you as your special possession. You will cross the
• 4:00
  Jordan to occupy the land, but I will not.
• 4:03
  Instead, I will die here on the east side of
• 4:06
  the river. So be careful not to break the covenant
• 4:10
  the Lord your God has made with you. Do not make idols of any
• 4:14
  shape or form, for the Lord your God has forbidden this.
• 4:18
  The Lord your God is a devouring fire.
• 4:22
  He is a jealous God. In the future, when you have
• 4:25
  children and grandchildren and have lived in the land a long
• 4:28
  time, Do not corrupt yourselves by making idols of
• 4:33
  any kind. This is evil in the sight of the Lord
• 4:37
  your God and will arouse His anger. Today I
• 4:40
  call on heaven and earth as witnesses against you.
• 4:44
  If you break My covenant, you will quickly disappear from
• 4:48
  the land you are crossing the Jordan to occupy. You will live
• 4:52
  there only a short time. Then you will be utterly destroyed.
• 4:57
  For the Lord will scatter you among the nations where only a few
• 5:01
  of you will survive. There in a foreign land you will worship idols
• 5:05
  made from wood and stone, gods that neither see
• 5:09
  nor hear nor eat nor smell. But from there
• 5:13
  you will search again for the Lord your God, and if you search for Him
• 5:17
  with all your heart and soul, you will find Him.
• 5:21
  In the distant future, when you are suffering all these things,
• 5:25
  you will finally return to the Lord your God and and
• 5:29
  listen to what He tells you. For the Lord
• 5:33
  your God is a merciful God; He will not abandon you or destroy you or
• 5:37
  forget the solemn covenant He made with your ancestors.
• 5:46
  Ezra 10:1-44.
• 5:52
  While Ezra prayed and made this confession,
• 5:55
  weeping and throwing himself to the ground in front of the Temple of God,
• 5:59
  A large crowd of people from Israel— men, women, and children—
• 6:03
  gathered and wept bitterly with him. Then Shechaniah son
• 6:07
  of Jehiel, a descendant of Elam, said to Ezra,
• 6:11
  We confess that we have been unfaithful to our God,
• 6:15
  for we have married these pagan women of the land.
• 6:18
  But there is hope for Israel in spite of this. Let us
• 6:22
  now make a covenant with our God to divorce our pagan wives and
• 6:26
  to send them away with their children. We will follow the advice
• 6:30
  given by you and by the others who respect the commands of our God.
• 6:34
  We will obey the Law of God. Take courage, for it
• 6:39
  is your duty to tell us how to proceed in setting things straight,
• 6:43
  and we will cooperate fully.
• 6:46
  So Ezra stood up and demanded that the leaders of the
• 6:50
  priests and the Levites and all the people of Israel swear that they would do
• 6:53
  as Shechaniah had said. And they all swore a solemn
• 6:57
  oath. Then Ezra left the front of the Temple of God and
• 7:01
  went to the room of Jehohanan son of Eliashib.
• 7:05
  He spent the night there, but he did not eat any food or drink.
• 7:09
  He was still in mourning because of the unfaithfulness of the returned
• 7:13
  exiles. Then a proclamation was made throughout Judah
• 7:17
  and Jerusalem, that all of the returned exiles should come
• 7:21
  to Jerusalem. Those who failed to come within 3 days would,
• 7:25
  if the leaders and elders so decided, forfeit all their property
• 7:30
  and be expelled from the assembly of the exiles.
• 7:35
  Within 3 days, all the people of Judah and Benjamin had
• 7:38
  gathered in Jerusalem. This took place on December 19th,
• 7:42
  and all the people were sitting in the square before the Temple of God.
• 7:46
  They were trembling both because of the seriousness of the matter and
• 7:50
  because it was raining. Then Ezra the priest stood
• 7:54
  and said to them, You have sinned, for you have married pagan
• 7:58
  women. Now we are even more deeply under condemnation
• 8:02
  than we were before. Confess your sin to the
• 8:05
  Lord, the God of your ancestors, and do what He demands.
• 8:09
  Separate yourselves from the people of the land and from these pagan
• 8:13
  women. Then the whole assembly raised their voices
• 8:16
  and answered, Yes, you are right. We must do as
• 8:20
  you say. Then they added, This isn't something that can be done
• 8:24
  in a day or two, for many of us are involved in this extremely
• 8:28
  sinful affair. This is the rainy season,
• 8:31
  so we cannot stay out here much longer. Let our
• 8:35
  leaders act on behalf of us all. Everyone who has a pagan
• 8:39
  wife will come at the scheduled time with the leaders and judges
• 8:42
  of his city. So that the fierce anger of our God may
• 8:46
  be turned away from us concerning this affair.
• 8:49
  Only Jonathan son of Asahel and Joziah
• 8:53
  son of Tikvah opposed this course of action,
• 8:57
  and Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite supported
• 9:00
  them. So this was the plan that they followed.
• 9:04
  Ezra selected leaders to represent their families, designating each
• 9:08
  of the representatives by name. On December 29th,
• 9:12
  the leaders sat down to investigate the matter. By March
• 9:16
  27th of the next year, they had finished dealing with all
• 9:19
  the men who had married pagan wives.
• 9:23
  These are the priests who had married pagan wives: from the family
• 9:28
  of Jeshua son of Jehozadak and his brothers, Maaseiah,
• 9:32
  Eleazar, Jerubbabel, and Gedaliah. They vowed to divorce
• 9:36
  their wives, and they each acknowledged their guilt by offering a ram. As a
• 9:40
  guilt offering. From the family of Immer: Hanani and
• 9:44
  Zebediah. From the family of Harim: Masiyah,
• 9:47
  Elijah, Shemaiah, Jehiel, and Uziah.
• 9:51
  From the family of Pashhur: Eleni,
• 9:54
  Masiyah, Ishmael, Nethanel, Jozabad, and Elasa.
• 9:59
  These are the Levites who were guilty: Jozabad, Shimei,
• 10:02
  Kelaiah, also called Kaleida, Pathaiah, Judah,
• 10:06
  and Eleazar. This is the singer who was guilty,
• 10:10
  Eliashib. These are the gatekeepers who were
• 10:15
  guilty: Shallum, Tellem, and Uri. These are the other
• 10:19
  people of Israel who were guilty: from the family of Parush,
• 10:24
  Ramiah, Isaiah,
• 10:27
  Malkijah, Mijamim, Eliezer,
• 10:30
  Hashabiah, and Benaiah. From the family of Elam,
• 10:34
  Madaniah, Zechariah, Jehiel, Abdi,
• 10:37
  Jeremoth, and Elijah. From the family of Zattu:
• 10:42
  Eleni, Elishib, Madaniah,
• 10:45
  Jeremoth, Zabad, and Aziza. From the family of Babi:
• 10:50
  Jehohanan, Hananiah, Zabai, and Athli.
• 10:53
  From the family of Bani: Meshullam, Maluch,
• 10:57
  Adaiah, Jashub, Sheal, and Jeremoth. From the
• 11:01
  family of Pahath-moab: Adnah, Kelal,
• 11:05
  Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattaniah, Bezalel,
• 11:08
  Binnui, and Manasseh. From the family of Harim:
• 11:12
  Eliezer, Ishijah, Malkijah,
• 11:16
  Shemaiah, Shimeon, Benjamin, Malluch, and Sheremiyah.
• 11:20
  From the family of Hashum: Mattenai, Mattithah,
• 11:23
  Zabad, Eliphelet, Jerimah, Manasseh,
• 11:27
  and Shimei. From the family of Bani: Maddai,
• 11:31
  Amram, Yul, Benaiah, Bedaiah,
• 11:34
  Keluhai, Veniah, Meremoth,
• 11:37
  Eliashib, Mattaniah, Mattanai, and Jasu.
• 11:41
  From the family of Binnui: Shimei,
• 11:44
  Shelamiah, Nathan, Adaiah,
• 11:47
  Machnadebah, Shashai, Sharai,
• 11:51
  Azarel, Shelamiah, Shemariah,
• 11:54
  Shalom, Amariah, and Joseph. From the family
• 11:58
  of Nebo: Jeiel, Mattithiah,
• 12:01
  Zabad, Zebena, Jaddai, Joel, and Benaiah.
• 12:05
  Each of these men had a pagan wife, and some even had
• 12:09
  children by those wives.
• 12:17
  1 Corinthians 6.
• 12:22
  1-20. When you have something against another Christian, why do
• 12:26
  you file a lawsuit and ask a secular court to decide the
• 12:30
  matter instead of taking it to other Christians to decide
• 12:33
  who is right? Don't you know that someday we Christians
• 12:37
  are going to judge the world? And since you are going to judge the world,
• 12:41
  can't you decide these little things among yourselves? Don't you
• 12:45
  realize that we Christians will judge angels? So you
• 12:49
  should surely be able to resolve ordinary disagreements here on earth.
• 12:54
  If you have legal disputes about such matters,
• 12:57
  why do you go to outside judges who are not respected
• 13:01
  by the church? I am saying this to shame you.
• 13:04
  Isn't there anyone in all the church who is wise enough to
• 13:08
  decide these arguments? But instead, one Christian sues
• 13:11
  another. Right in front of unbelievers. To have such
• 13:16
  lawsuits at all is a real defeat for you. Why not just
• 13:20
  accept the injustice and leave it at that? Why not let yourselves be
• 13:24
  cheated? But instead, you yourselves are
• 13:28
  the ones who do wrong and cheat even your own Christian brothers and sisters.
• 13:32
  Don't you know that those who do wrong will have no share in the
• 13:36
  kingdom of God? Don't fool yourselves. Those who indulge
• 13:41
  in sexual sin, who are idol worshipers,
• 13:44
  adulterers, male prostitutes,
• 13:47
  homosexuals, thieves, greedy people,
• 13:52
  drunkards, abusers, and swindlers—
• 13:56
  none of these will have a share in the kingdom of God.
• 14:01
  There was a time when some of you were just like that, but now
• 14:04
  your sins have been washed away, and you have been set
• 14:08
  apart for God. You have been made right with God because what
• 14:12
  the Lord Jesus Christ and the Spirit of our God have done for you.
• 14:16
  You may say, I am allowed to do anything. But I reply,
• 14:20
  not everything is good for you. And even though I am
• 14:23
  allowed to do anything, I must not become a slave
• 14:27
  to anything. You say, food is for the stomach and
• 14:31
  the stomach is for food. This is true, though someday God
• 14:36
  will do away with both of them. But our bodies were not made for
• 14:40
  sexual immorality. They were made for the Lord, and the
• 14:44
  Lord cares about our bodies. And God will raise
• 14:47
  our bodies from the dead by His marvelous power,
• 14:51
  just as He raised our Lord from the dead. Don't you realize
• 14:55
  that your bodies are actually parts of Christ?
• 14:58
  Should a man take his body, which belongs to Christ, and join
• 15:02
  it to a prostitute? Never! And don't
• 15:07
  you know that if a man joins himself to a prostitute, he becomes
• 15:11
  one body with her? For the Scriptures say that 2 are
• 15:15
  united into one. But the person who is joined to the Lord
• 15:19
  becomes one spirit with Him. Run away from sexual
• 15:23
  sin! No other sin so clearly affects the body
• 15:27
  as this one does. For sexual immorality is a sin against
• 15:31
  your own body. Or don't you know that your body is the temple of
• 15:36
  the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by
• 15:39
  God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought
• 15:44
  you with a high price. So you must honor God with
• 15:49
  your body.
• 15:53
  Psalm 31:1-2. 9-18.
• 15:57
  Have mercy on me, Lord, for I am in distress.
• 16:01
  My sight is blurred because of my tears. My body
• 16:05
  and soul are withering away. I am dying from
• 16:08
  grief. My years are shortened by sadness.
• 16:13
  Misery has drained my strength. I am wasting away
• 16:17
  from within. I am scorned by all my enemies
• 16:21
  and despised by my neighbors. Even my friends are afraid
• 16:25
  to come near me. When they see me on the street, they turn the other
• 16:29
  way. I have been ignored as if I were dead,
• 16:33
  as if I were a broken pot. I have heard the
• 16:37
  many rumors about me, and I am surrounded by
• 16:40
  terror. My enemies conspire against me,
• 16:44
  plotting to take my life. But I am trusting
• 16:47
  You, O Lord, saying, You are my God. My future is
• 16:51
  in Your hands. Rescue me from those who hunt me down relentlessly.
• 16:56
  Let Your favor shine on Your servant. In Your unfailing
• 17:00
  love, save me. Don't let me be disgraced, O Lord,
• 17:04
  for I call out to You for help.
• 17:07
  Let the wicked be disgraced. Let them lie silent in the
• 17:11
  grave. May their lying lips be silenced,
• 17:14
  these proud and arrogant lips that accuse. The godly.
• 17:21
  Proverbs 21:3.
• 17:24
  The Lord is more pleased when we do what is just and right
• 17:28
  than when we give him sacrifices.
• 17:32
  I want to speak to you today from our reading from Ezra chapter 10.
• 17:36
  And in Ezra chapter 10, we find a very unique situation.
• 17:41
  The Israelites have returned to Israel, to Jerusalem,
• 17:46
  and they're in the process of rebuilding the city and rebuilding and repairing
• 17:50
  the wall and rebuilding the temple. And then they discover
• 17:54
  that quite a few of them have married pagan
• 17:58
  wives. And Ezra is just
• 18:01
  shocked and dismayed and upset, and the
• 18:05
  people have said, oh boy, we've blown it. We will do
• 18:09
  whatever you say to correct this situation. And so
• 18:12
  it's a very unique situation And
• 18:17
  basically Ezra demands that the leaders of the
• 18:21
  priests and the Levites and all the people of Israel would,
• 18:24
  um, put away their wives, to divorce them,
• 18:29
  not to be married to these pagan wives.
• 18:32
  Why? Because the pagan wives are going to lead them
• 18:36
  into the path of idolatry, to worship other false
• 18:40
  gods, and it's their downfall. The very reason why the
• 18:44
  children of Israel were put into exile and kicked out of the
• 18:48
  land was because of idolatry and sin and false worship
• 18:52
  of other gods. And so they do a mass
• 18:56
  community-wide divorce. They start on December 29th,
• 19:01
  and then 3 months later, by March 27th of the next year,
• 19:04
  they had finished dealing with all the men who had married pagan
• 19:08
  wives.
• 19:12
  And they are trying to basically stay
• 19:18
  pure and set apart and marry only women who
• 19:23
  are godly, God-fearing women, women who are going to follow the
• 19:27
  Lord and follow His ways and follow His Word.
• 19:31
  Now, what if you find yourself today
• 19:36
  and you are married to an unbelieving spouse.
• 19:41
  What do you do? Well, it is going to be tough.
• 19:45
  It is going to be tough to be married to someone who is not a
• 19:48
  believer and you are. How are
• 19:52
  we instructed to handle such situations? I want
• 19:56
  to share 2 passages with you from the New Testament that gives us some guidance
• 20:01
  about this. First of all, if you're single and
• 20:05
  you're not married, be aware of— don't
• 20:10
  get married to somebody who's not a believer. In 2
• 20:14
  Corinthians 6:14-15,
• 20:18
  it is written, do not be
• 20:23
  unequally yoked together with unbelievers.
• 20:27
  For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness?
• 20:31
  And what communion has light with darkness?
• 20:36
  And what accord has Christ with Belial?
• 20:40
  Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever?
• 20:45
  And so basically he is exhorting and instructing
• 20:49
  us, if you're single and never married, you're a young adult,
• 20:54
  Don't get married to an unbeliever.
• 20:59
  That's one of the most important decisions you'll ever make is
• 21:03
  what are you going to do with Jesus Christ? What work-life
• 21:07
  pathway, what career pathway are you going to follow with your life?
• 21:11
  And who you marry. The person you marry can bring tremendous
• 21:15
  blessing and favor and success and fruitfulness
• 21:21
  your life. Or if you marry the wrong person, if you marry an unbeliever,
• 21:24
  you can go through a lot of grief and suffering and
• 21:28
  even destruction. So don't become
• 21:32
  unequally yoked in the first place.
• 21:35
  That's the instruction to the single person who's not yet married.
• 21:38
  But now I speak to those people who are already married,
• 21:42
  and you're married to an unbeliever. Now what? We don't live
• 21:46
  in the days of Ezra. We're not living in a community where
• 21:50
  there's a community-wide decision that everybody in that community is
• 21:54
  going to divorce their pagan wife. That was a unique situation.
• 21:59
  So in 1 Corinthians chapter 7, here is how Paul
• 22:03
  instructs us on this situation. He says in
• 22:06
  1 Corinthians chapter 7, verse 10, now to
• 22:09
  the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord.
• 22:14
  A wife is not to depart from her husband,
• 22:18
  but even if she does depart,
• 22:21
  let her remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband.
• 22:26
  And a husband is not to divorce his wife.
• 22:30
  But to the rest I, not the Lord, say,
• 22:34
  if any brother has a wife who does not believe and she is willing to
• 22:38
  live with him, let him not divorce her.
• 22:41
  So he's saying, don't get your divorce. Don't get a divorce. If your spouse
• 22:46
  is pleased to dwell with you, then stay married. Verse 13,
• 22:51
  and a woman who has a husband who does not believe,
• 22:54
  if he is willing to live with her, let her not divorce
• 22:59
  him. So just because your spouse is an unbeliever
• 23:02
  is not a reason to get divorced.
• 23:07
  Verse 14, for the unbelieving husband is sanctified
• 23:12
  by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified
• 23:16
  by the husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean,
• 23:21
  but now they are holy. But here
• 23:25
  is the caveat. Here is the exception clause.
• 23:28
  Verse 15, but If the unbeliever
• 23:32
  departs, let him depart.
• 23:36
  A brother or a sister is not under bondage in such
• 23:39
  cases, but God has called us to peace.
• 23:43
  So if a flaky,
• 23:46
  deadbeat dad abandons the family, goes off
• 23:51
  and has an adulterous affair, or gets involved in drugs or
• 23:55
  whatever, and he departs, he abandons the family,
• 23:59
  that wife is no longer bound to him. God has called
• 24:03
  her to live in peace. And the same thing goes with the wife.
• 24:06
  If she abandons him, she wants a— she's
• 24:11
  fallen in love with the guy at work, or she wants
• 24:15
  a better life over here, so she abandons her husband. That husband
• 24:20
  is no longer bound. God has called him
• 24:24
  to live in peace.
• 24:27
  So it's complicated. Every situation
• 24:31
  is unique.
• 24:36
  God has not called a woman to live in a violent
• 24:40
  situation where there's an abusive, angry husband
• 24:44
  out of control who is verbally and physically abusive to her.
• 24:49
  She is to live in safety and in peace.
• 24:53
  And there may be times if that's the situation
• 24:56
  where the woman needs to leave for her own safety
• 25:00
  and for the safety and security of her children. So I
• 25:05
  guess what I would say is pray,
• 25:07
  seek the Lord, ask Him
• 25:11
  to guide you in this matter. It certainly
• 25:15
  was not His best and highest intention for
• 25:18
  there to be such a high rate of divorce.
• 25:23
  The rate of divorce in the church is really no different than the rate of
• 25:27
  divorce in the world. About 50% of all
• 25:30
  marriages end in divorce, both in the church and
• 25:35
  in the world. And that certainly was never God's highest or best intention.
• 25:39
  But sometimes you get married, and this is before you know Christ,
• 25:45
  and you perhaps make a poor decision. And you're not
• 25:49
  led by the Holy Spirit. And now
• 25:53
  you're married and the marriage is falling apart.
• 25:55
  Maybe now in this rough, turbulent,
• 25:58
  difficult marriage, you've come to know Christ and
• 26:02
  the marriage is falling apart at the seams. So every
• 26:06
  situation is unique and different. Pray,
• 26:10
  seek the Lord, let the Holy Spirit lead you and guide you, and let the
• 26:14
  Scriptures be your guidance as well.
• 26:19
  So what is God's heart concerning marriage?
• 26:24
  In Ephesians chapter 5, we read
• 26:28
  the following starting
• 26:31
  in verse 21: And further,
• 26:35
  submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.
• 26:39
  Verse 22: For wives, this means to submit to your husbands
• 26:43
  as to the Lord. For a husband is the head of
• 26:47
  his wife, as Christ is the head of the church.
• 26:51
  He is the Savior of His body, the church.
• 26:55
  So here we have a direct comparison of a
• 26:59
  husband and wife being married, that that is a picture of
• 27:03
  Christ and the relationship that He has with
• 27:07
  the church. He is the head of the church. The church is the body,
• 27:11
  and the church is the wife. And Christ is the husband.
• 27:15
  Verse 24, as the church submits to Christ,
• 27:19
  so you wives should submit to your husbands
• 27:22
  in everything. For husbands, this means love your
• 27:26
  wives just as Christ loved
• 27:30
  the church. He gave up His life for her to
• 27:34
  make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing
• 27:38
  of God's Word He did this to present her
• 27:41
  to Himself as a glorious church without a
• 27:46
  spot or wrinkle or any other blemish.
• 27:49
  Instead, she will be holy and without fault.
• 27:53
  In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as
• 27:58
  they love their own bodies, for a man who
• 28:01
  loves his wife actually shows love for himself.
• 28:06
  No one hates his own body but feeds and cares for
• 28:10
  it, just as Christ cares for the
• 28:13
  church, and we are members of his body.
• 28:18
  As the scriptures say, a man leaves his
• 28:22
  father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two
• 28:26
  are united into one.
• 28:29
  This is a great mystery but it is an illustration of
• 28:33
  the way Christ and the church are one.
• 28:37
  So again I say, each man must love his wife
• 28:41
  as he loves himself, and the wife must respect
• 28:45
  her husband. So Ephesians
• 28:49
  5:31 is actually quoting
• 28:52
  from Genesis 2:24. God invented
• 28:58
  the institution of marriage. He created the institution
• 29:01
  of marriage. And in Genesis 2:24,
• 29:05
  it says a man is to leave his father
• 29:09
  and mother and to be joined to his wife, and the
• 29:13
  2 become one flesh.
• 29:17
  This is why divorce is so incredibly
• 29:21
  painful and traumatic. Because literally the
• 29:25
  2 who have become one are being torn asunder.
• 29:30
  And God hates divorce. Why does He hate divorce?
• 29:34
  Because He wants godly seed, godly children.
• 29:38
  And the godly children thrive in a home
• 29:42
  where both the husband and the wife are followers
• 29:46
  of Christ, lovers of Jesus, and create
• 29:52
  a secure, safe, loving environment for their children.
• 29:56
  And when that's absent, when there's a divorce, when there's an
• 30:00
  absent father or an absent mother, no matter
• 30:03
  what you do to try to compensate, it's never enough.
• 30:08
  It's just, it's going
• 30:12
  to leave a trauma to the soul of the children when there's
• 30:16
  a divorce. So it's
• 30:20
  complicated. There's lots of different unique situations,
• 30:24
  and you got to seek the Lord and pray and ask
• 30:28
  Him to guide you in whatever situation you find yourself. If you're
• 30:32
  single, remain single and be content in Christ. If you're married,
• 30:37
  remain married. And if you're married to a godly,
• 30:41
  Christian spouse, that's awesome.
• 30:46
  Do things to try to grow your marriage and make it something that's
• 30:51
  good be even greater, even better. If you're married and you're
• 30:55
  unequally yoked, stay with your spouse. Pray for
• 30:59
  your spouse. Love your spouse, and perhaps your
• 31:03
  spouse might get saved. And if your spouse departs,
• 31:08
  Let him or her depart.
• 31:13
  That's all I have for today. Shalom, shalom, and we'll see
• 31:17
  you tomorrow.