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Voddie Baucham - The Permanence View of Marriage · Voddie Baucham Sermons

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  Speaker 1: Well, as we continue in the Sermon on the Mount,
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  Speaker 1: come to Chapter five, verse thirty one, Verses thirty one
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  Speaker 1: and thirty two.
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  Speaker 2: We looked on last week at this.
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  Speaker 1: Issue of adultery, the question of adultery, and if you remember,
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  Speaker 1: as we examine the issue of adultery, we recognize the
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  Speaker 1: same pattern that Jesus continues throughout these six antitheses. After
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  Speaker 1: he's given us the sort of key to understanding the
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: law of God in light of the Kingdom, he gives
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  Speaker 1: us these six antitheses so we can see what that
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  Speaker 1: looks like and how it works itself out. We saw
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  Speaker 1: as it related to murder, then we saw as it
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  Speaker 1: related to adultery, this pattern that Jesus said, you've heard this,
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  Speaker 1: but I say this. In other words, he's speaking to
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  Speaker 1: two groups of individuals. On the one hand, he's speaking
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  Speaker 1: to those individuals who are without the law, of course,
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  Speaker 1: those individuals who are disobedient to the law, of course,
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  Speaker 1: calling them to God's law which is perfect, which is timeless,
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  Speaker 1: which is applicable, although it is insufficient to say. But
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  Speaker 1: he is also speaking to those individuals who are keeping
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  Speaker 1: the law and who believe that it is their keeping
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  Speaker 1: of the law. In and of itself that justifies them
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  Speaker 1: before God. And he says, it is as wrong to
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  Speaker 1: keep the law, believing that that will justify you as
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  Speaker 1: it is wrong to not keep the law. Therefore, this statement,
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  Speaker 1: again and again and again, you've heard it said. But
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  Speaker 1: I say to you, well, here we continue with the
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  Speaker 1: seventh commandment. This commandment related to adultery. And we learned
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  Speaker 1: on last week that not only do we see adultery
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  Speaker 1: there or the seventh Commandment. Rather, when we look at adultery,
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  Speaker 1: we also see the tenth commandment coveting your neighbor's wife,
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  Speaker 1: and we also see a violation of the first commandment,
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  Speaker 1: because ultimately this is an act of idolatry. The second
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  Speaker 1: or the third antithesis is inexorably linked to the second.
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  Speaker 1: Jesus is actually continuing his discussion of the issue of
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  Speaker 1: adultery with this antithesis, just like he was on the last,
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  Speaker 1: but he brings into it a completely different issue, and
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  Speaker 1: that is the issue of divorce and remarriage. It's a
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  Speaker 1: statement I want to start with from a book, Divorce
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  Speaker 1: and Remarriage A Permanent View. Listen to this statement by
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  Speaker 1: the authors, divorce and wrongful marriage are forgivable sins. We
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  Speaker 1: want to start here at the heart of our faith
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  Speaker 1: in Christ. When Jesus died, he did not fail to
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  Speaker 1: atone for the misdeeds of his people in this critical area.
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  Speaker 1: Even the person who has acted as wrongly as possible
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  Speaker 1: in this matter may be fully forgiven and may have
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  Speaker 1: a fulfilled life of service to God after repentance. Also,
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  Speaker 1: God mercifully blesses many second marriages that begin sinfully. This
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  Speaker 1: is a mystery for which we can all be extremely grateful.
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  Speaker 1: I think it's important that we start right there. Oftentimes
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  Speaker 1: we talk about divorce within the context of the church
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  Speaker 1: almost like we do leprosy, you know, as though divorced
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  Speaker 1: people need to you know, walk around, you know, holding out.
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  Speaker 2: Their hand and saying unclean, unclean.
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  Speaker 1: That's actually not the case, especially when you understand it
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  Speaker 1: in the context of what Jesus is teaching here in
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  Speaker 1: the Sermon on the Mount. The goal here for Christ
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  Speaker 1: was not to condemn individuals who had experienced divorce and
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  Speaker 1: or remarriage. His goal was to make a statement about
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  Speaker 1: marriage itself, in spite of the way it's often viewed culturally.
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  Speaker 2: Let me say also that as we look at this issue,
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  Speaker 2: we're looking at it from a permanence view.
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  Speaker 1: I'll explain more about the permanent's view as we go along,
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  Speaker 1: but just know that the overwhelming majority of people in
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  Speaker 1: modern American Christian circles do not hold to the permanent's
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  Speaker 1: view that we hold. Here's our test It was also said,
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  Speaker 1: whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate
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  Speaker 1: of divorce. But I say to you that everyone who
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  Speaker 1: divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immrality,
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  Speaker 1: makes her commit adultery. And whoever marries a divorced woman
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  Speaker 1: commits adultery. Matthew five thirty one and thirty two. There's
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  Speaker 1: the statement, the shortest of all these antitheses. It's very
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  Speaker 1: concise and to the point. You've heard it said referring
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  Speaker 1: to what referring to the Old Testament law. But here's
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  Speaker 1: what's interesting. Before we've kind of referred to the sixth
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  Speaker 1: the sixth Commandment, you've heard it said you shall not murder.
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  Speaker 1: Then we refer to the seventh Commandment. You've heard it
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  Speaker 1: said you shall not commit adultery. Here we sort of
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  Speaker 1: go indirectly, and we're not in the ten Commandments. We're
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  Speaker 1: actually in the case law. So Jesus is actually referring
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  Speaker 1: here to the case law, not necessarily directly to the commandments.
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  Speaker 1: This is related to the seventh commandment, you shall not
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  Speaker 1: commit adultery. But Jesus here makes a direct link to
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  Speaker 1: the case law in Deuteronomy chapter twenty four.
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  Speaker 2: What is he referring to. I'm glad you asked here.
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  Speaker 1: It is Deuteronomy chapter twenty four, verses one through four.
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  Speaker 1: When a man takes a wife and marries her. If
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  Speaker 1: then she finds no favor in his eyes, because he
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  Speaker 1: has found some indecency in her, and that's the critical
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  Speaker 1: phrase there.
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  Speaker 2: Indecency in her.
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  Speaker 1: A lot of disagreement about what that meant, even in
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  Speaker 1: Jesus' day. And he writes her a certificate, certificate of divorce,
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  Speaker 1: and puts it in her hand, and sends her out
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  Speaker 1: of his house, and she departs out of his house.
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  Speaker 1: And if she goes and becomes another man's wife, and
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  Speaker 1: the latter man hates her and writes her a certificate
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  Speaker 1: of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends
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  Speaker 1: her out of his house, or if the latter man
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  Speaker 1: dies who took her to be his wife, then her
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  Speaker 1: former husband who sent her away.
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  Speaker 2: May not take her again to.
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  Speaker 1: Be his wife after she has been defiled, for that
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  Speaker 1: is an abomination before the Lord. And you shall not
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  Speaker 1: bring sin upon the land that the Lord your God
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  Speaker 1: is giving you for an inheritance. That's the case law
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  Speaker 1: and Dude Army twenty four to which Jesus is referring
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  Speaker 1: when he makes his statement here in Matthew chapter five.
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  Speaker 1: And it's parallels that we shall also look at. Also
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  Speaker 1: his statement in Matthew chapter nineteen, which we shall also
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  Speaker 1: look kat momentarily.
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  Speaker 2: But this is the case law in question.
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  Speaker 1: Remember, the case law in Leviticus and in Deuteronomy is
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  Speaker 1: basically an outworking of God's moral law. There are also
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  Speaker 1: issues there of God's ceremonial law, but it's an outworking
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  Speaker 1: of those laws. How do we apply the law of
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  Speaker 1: God to these particular situations? And this is case law
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  Speaker 1: applying the law of God to the particular situation of
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  Speaker 1: the worse and remarriage. Now, there are two schools of
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  Speaker 1: thought during Jesus' day. Now this is more important for
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  Speaker 1: us when we get to Matthew chapter nineteen, because he's
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  Speaker 1: being questioned directly by the Pharisees. But there are two
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  Speaker 1: schools of thought. There is the school of Shamai and
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  Speaker 1: the school of Hillel. Shamai and his followers interpreted the
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  Speaker 1: expression some indecency in her to refer to gross indecency,
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  Speaker 1: though not necessarily adultery. So this was the more conservative
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  Speaker 1: school of thought. They believe that a woman had to
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  Speaker 1: be guilty of some gross indecency, some gross immorality in
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  Speaker 1: order for Deuteronomy chapter twenty four to be applied. Helleal
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  Speaker 1: was a little more, shall we say, generous in his
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  Speaker 1: interpretation of Deuteronomy twenty four.
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  Speaker 2: He extended the meaning of some kind of.
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  Speaker 1: Indecency beyond sin, to all kinds of real or imagined offenses,
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  Speaker 1: including an improperly cooked meal.
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  Speaker 2: Well, well, I guess you could say that was.
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  Speaker 1: A bit of a broader interpretation of the case law there.
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  Speaker 1: So these are the schools of thought that predominate in
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  Speaker 1: Jesus' day, the Shamai school in the Helleal school. Again,
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  Speaker 1: this will come into play more directly when we look
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  Speaker 1: at the parallel in Matthew nineteen on this issue, because
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  Speaker 1: there he's being questioned directly by the Pharisees. Remember these
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  Speaker 1: principles of the barren mind. We've talked about these already.
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  Speaker 1: But as we go through these antitheses and the Sermon
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  Speaker 1: on the Mount. Remember, if we're going to understand what
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  Speaker 1: Jesus is teaching and the Sermon on the Mount, the
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  Speaker 1: Law of God is perfect, timeless, and relevant, yet insufficient
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  Speaker 1: for our salvation. That's the first principle that we hold
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  Speaker 1: on to as we interpret every one of these antitheses. Secondly,
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  Speaker 1: Jesus is our key to interpreting the Old Testament in
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  Speaker 1: light of the Kingdom. He's our key to interpreting the
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  Speaker 1: Old Testament in light of the Kingdom. Remember, we were
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  Speaker 1: asking ourselves, what do we do with these Old Testament laws?
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  Speaker 2: How do we.
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  Speaker 1: Apply these Old Testament laws? How do we obey these
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  Speaker 1: Old Testament laws? Again, not in order that we might
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  Speaker 1: be justified, but in order that we might walk in
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  Speaker 1: the righteousness to which.
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  Speaker 2: We have been called. How do we do that?
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  Speaker 1: How do we interpret that? There's difficulty there? Here in
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  Speaker 1: the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus gives us the key
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  Speaker 1: to understanding and interpreting the Law of God and light
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  Speaker 1: of the Kingdom. Finally, our righteousness must exceed the righteousness
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  Speaker 1: of the Pharisees. That principle as well here in the
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  Speaker 1: Sermon on the Mount, our righteousness must exceed the righteousness
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  Speaker 1: of the Pharisees.
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  Speaker 2: And we'll say this again because it bears mentioning.
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  Speaker 1: Again, we hear that word Pharisee, and our automatic knee
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  Speaker 1: jerk reaction is these are rotten, stinky, nasty people. They're
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  Speaker 1: just they're hypocrites, They're everything realized to the original hearers.
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  Speaker 1: When they hear Jesus say, your righteousness must exceed the
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  Speaker 1: righteousness of the Pharisees, they hear him saying, your righteousness
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  Speaker 1: must exceed the righteousness of the most righteous people you
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  Speaker 1: or any of your friends know, because the Pharisees were
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  Speaker 1: understood to be the most righteous lawkeepers in all of Israel,
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  Speaker 1: period bar none. By the way, it doesn't make sense otherwise,
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  Speaker 1: does it. If the Pharisees are these just sort of rotten,
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  Speaker 1: nasty people, and.
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  Speaker 2: Jesus says, your righteousness.
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  Speaker 1: Needs to exceed the righteousness of those rotten, nasty people
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  Speaker 1: that we all know are not righteous, what.
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  Speaker 2: Sense does that make?
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  Speaker 1: It makes no sense at all if we look at
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  Speaker 1: Phariseeism through our contemporary lenses. Only when we look at
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  Speaker 1: Phariseeism through the lens of the original hearers, do we
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  Speaker 1: understand the magnitude and significance of the statement that Jesus
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  Speaker 1: just made. He basically says, think about the most righteous
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  Speaker 1: people you can imagine, and the righteousness to what you
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  Speaker 1: are being called in this Sermon on the Mount must
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  Speaker 1: exceed their righteousness. But Jesus, they have six hundred and
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  Speaker 1: thirteen laws that they strive to keep every day.
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  Speaker 2: I know they do.
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  Speaker 1: Your righteousness must exceed theirs, Jesus. They've got a law
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  Speaker 1: for everything I know they do. But your righteousness must
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  Speaker 1: exceed theirs. Jesus, they have laws to protect them from
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  Speaker 1: laws I know. But your righteousness, if you're going to
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  Speaker 1: be a kingdom citizen, must exceed theirs. And through these antitheses,
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  Speaker 1: Jesus goes on to make it clear that what he's
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  Speaker 1: calling us to is not a lifestyle that says they
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  Speaker 1: have six hundred and thirteen laws, will have six hundred
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  Speaker 1: and fourteen laws.
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  Speaker 2: Now he's talking about the righteousness of the inner man.
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  Speaker 1: That only comes as a result of being a citizen
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  Speaker 1: of the kingdom. So major divorce and remarriage camps. Here
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  Speaker 1: are the major views. One the permanent's view, No divorce,
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  Speaker 1: no remarriage under any circumstances. No divorce, no remarriage under
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  Speaker 1: any circumstances. Second, the semi permanent's view allows for divorce
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  Speaker 1: but doesn't allow for remarriage, allows for divorce but doesn't
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  Speaker 1: allow for remarriage. And then there is the permissive view,
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  Speaker 1: allows for divorce and allows for remarriage. These are the
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  Speaker 1: three basic views. Okay, there are nuances within each of
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  Speaker 1: these views, but these are the three basic views when
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  Speaker 1: it comes to the issue of divorce and remarriage within
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  Speaker 1: the church. Either one of these views, the permanenten's view,
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  Speaker 1: the semi permanent view, or the permissive view. No divorce,
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  Speaker 1: no remarriage allowed. Semi permanence, you may divorce, but you
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  Speaker 1: may not remarry. Permissive view, you may divorce and you
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  Speaker 1: may remarry.
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  Speaker 2: By the way, if.
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  Speaker 1: You think this is sort of clear cut, look at
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  Speaker 1: this list of individuals. On the permissive side, you have
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  Speaker 1: guys like John MacArthur, John Frame, Andrea's Costa Murder, d
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  Speaker 1: A Carson. How about on the permanent's view, well, Dwight Pentecost,
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  Speaker 1: James Montgomery, Boyce, Abel Isaacson, John Piper. This is so again,
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  Speaker 1: can we stand here and argue that there are certain
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  Speaker 1: people who just don't handle the scripture as well, and
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  Speaker 1: therefore they.
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  Speaker 2: Have this view.
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  Speaker 1: There's other people who just no, no, not at all,
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  Speaker 1: not at all. So we're not arguing that we have
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  Speaker 1: a corner on the market here. We're not arguing that,
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  Speaker 1: you know, we break fellowship with individuals who don't hold
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  Speaker 1: to the Permanent's view.
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  Speaker 2: That's not our position at all.
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  Speaker 1: In fact, you know, we use andress Costenberger's book, God,
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  Speaker 1: Marriage and Family for our course on Biblical manhood, womanhood marriage.
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  Speaker 1: We love Costenberger's book. It is wonderful, even though he
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  Speaker 1: holds a different view on the issue of divorce and
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  Speaker 1: remarriage than we do. It's not a deal breaker. Doesn't
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  Speaker 1: mean that we can't have fellowship with him. It's not
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  Speaker 1: a deal breaker. Doesn't mean that people can't be members
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  Speaker 1: of this church. There are members of this church who
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  Speaker 1: have experienced divorce and remarriage. Okay, So our position is
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  Speaker 1: not our way or the high way, our way, or
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  Speaker 1: you're not right with God. That's not our position. Our
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  Speaker 1: understanding of the Permanent's view. Will share with you how
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  Speaker 1: it's derived and why it's the position to which we
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  Speaker 1: hold but we don't argue that everybody else is hot
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  Speaker 1: in the weeds. Okay, but we have to have a
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  Speaker 1: position here. Permissive views, the one clause permissive view. This
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  Speaker 1: is withindults who say you can have divorce and remarriage.
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  Speaker 1: There are those individuals who say, yes, you can have
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  Speaker 1: divorce and remarriage in the case of adultery. Only in
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  Speaker 1: the case of adultery, only, not in the case of abandonment,
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  Speaker 1: and not for anything else. It's two clause view. You
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  Speaker 1: may divorce and remarry in the case of adultery and
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  Speaker 1: in the case of abandonment of a believing spouse by
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  Speaker 1: an unbelieving spouse. Okay, abandonment of a believing spouse by
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  Speaker 1: an unbelieving spouse. They find that, for example, in First Corinthians,
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  Speaker 1: chapter seven.
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  Speaker 2: Okay, So they.
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  Speaker 1: Argue that you can divorce and remarry if the reason
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  Speaker 1: for the divorce was the abandonment of a believing spouse
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  Speaker 1: by an unbelieving spouse. Finally, the liberal view divorce and
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  Speaker 1: remarriage for adult three, for abandonment, and for just about
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  Speaker 1: anything else as well. Okay, And here's what people often argue.
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  Speaker 1: They often argue that you know you permanence views guys.
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  Speaker 1: You permanence view guys have difficulty from a pastoral perspective
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  Speaker 1: because I mean, it's difficult to have a position that
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  Speaker 1: says you don't allow for divorce and remarriage under any circumstances.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, you're gonna have people who you know are
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  Speaker 1: in bad situations and you're gonna say no, they can't
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  Speaker 1: get divorced. You're gonna have people who are divorced because
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  Speaker 1: they were in bad situations and you're gonna say no,
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  Speaker 1: you can't get remarried.
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  Speaker 2: But here's what I want you to understand.
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  Speaker 1: There's difficulty regardless of what your position is. Most of
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  Speaker 1: the church, and I'm speaking conservatives here, especially those who
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  Speaker 1: are conservative reform.
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  Speaker 2: Kind of in our camp.
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  Speaker 1: Most of those people who have a one clause or
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  Speaker 1: two cut position, they still have difficulty here because they
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  Speaker 1: say you can only divorce and only remarry for adultery
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  Speaker 1: that must be the cause of it, or only when
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  Speaker 1: a believing spouse is abandoned by an unbelieving spouse. They
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  Speaker 1: still have difficulties. And there's still people who they have
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  Speaker 1: to look in the eye and say no, you may
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  Speaker 1: not divorce. And there are still people who may have
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  Speaker 1: to look into the eye in the eye and say no,
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  Speaker 1: you may not remarry. Can I give you a few
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  Speaker 1: examples abandonment by a believer. If you're a two cause person,
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  Speaker 1: you cannot authorize a divorce if the abandonment was by
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  Speaker 1: a believer. That's not what description teaches, even if you
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  Speaker 1: hold that position. Next, abuse two cost people who disagree
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  Speaker 1: with us. There's a person who's in an abusive marriage.
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  Speaker 1: That is not biblical grounds for divorce and remarriage. Neglect,
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  Speaker 1: he's neglecting me. That's not biblical grounds for divorce and remarriage.
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  Speaker 1: Incompatibility not biblical grounds for divorce and remarriage. Fiscal irresponsibility.
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  Speaker 1: He spent all of our money where broke. We have nothing.
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  Speaker 1: Every time he gets his hands on our money, he's
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  Speaker 1: off to the track.
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  Speaker 2: And he loses it all.
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  Speaker 1: That's not a biblical grounds for divorce, even if you
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  Speaker 1: don't hold to our position. Idolatry not biblical grounds for divorce.
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  Speaker 1: Blasphemy not biblical grounds for divorce. Lying in deceit not
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  Speaker 1: biblical grounds for divorce. And again I'm talking about people
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  Speaker 1: who hold to the one clause or the two clause position,
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  Speaker 1: not just permanent folks. These are the difficulties that they
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  Speaker 1: run into. Refusing to have children not biblical grounds for divorce.
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  Speaker 1: Drunkenness or drug use not biblical grounds for divorce. Lengthy incarceration,
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  Speaker 1: husband or wife goes to jail, it's got a twenty year,
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  Speaker 1: fifty year sentence. I'm gonna get divorced so that they
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  Speaker 1: can be free to go and marry again. Small problem.
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  Speaker 1: That's not biblical grounds for divorce. And again I'm not
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  Speaker 1: talking about just our view, of course, it wouldn't be
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  Speaker 1: in our view. I'm talking about even if you're a
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  Speaker 1: two clause person. If you're seriously a two clause person
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  Speaker 1: and you believe only adultery and only abandonment of a
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  Speaker 1: believer by an unbeliever, none of these would be circumstances
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  Speaker 1: under which you would allow a person to divorce and
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  Speaker 1: or remarried. Finally, unbelief in prior marriage. For example, when
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  Speaker 1: this happened, I was an unbeliever. That's not biblical grounds
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  Speaker 1: for remarriage.
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  Speaker 2: Yet.
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  Speaker 1: Yes, I experienced divorce before, but I was an unbeliever
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  Speaker 1: when that happened. Now I'm in Christ. All things have
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: passed away, all things are new. Not a small problem.
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: Being an unbeliever is not a biblical grounds for divorce. Therefore,
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: it's not biblical grounds to allow for remarriage. A lot
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: of people have difficulty with that one, But let me
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: explain it to you this way.
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: Imagine if you will, that here.
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: Today there's a couple, and the couple is here, and
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: the couple is having tremendous difficulty. God's been really working
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: on them. They come today, they're unbelievers, and they get saved.
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: They come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: Right here today, radically saved, completely and utterly transformed. How
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: many of you think that what we're supposed to do
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: at that point is say, well, actually your marriage is
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: null and void, your children are all illegitimate because you
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: were unbelievers when you got married. Of course, we're not
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: going to say that, why because we recognize the legitimacy
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: of marriages, even of unconverted men and women. Therefore, the
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: fact that someone was unconverted when they experienced a divorce
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: is not biblical grounds for remarriage.
• 21:31
  Speaker 2: Only. And again, this is.
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: Not our position. This is the two class position. And
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: my point here is those individuals are saying our position
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: causes undue difficulty because you're going to have so much
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: trouble with people who are in difficult situations that you're
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: not going to allow to divorce, or people who got
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: out of difficult situations by divorce that you're not going
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: to allow to remarry. And I'm saying, even if we
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: take their position the two class position aligned for divorce
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: and remarriage only for adult and only for the abandonment
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: of a believer by an unbeliever, all of these issues
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: are difficulties for them and probably a thousand other circumstances
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: that we could come up with. The only difference between
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: the permanent's view and the permissive view as it relates
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: to difficulty in working it out in the church is
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: that we have two more difficulties that they don't fix
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: it thousands of possible difficulties over this issue. The only
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: difference between the permanent's view and the permissive view is
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: that we just have two more difficulties.
• 22:50
  Speaker 2: Adultery an abandonment of an unbeliever.
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: And for those who hold to the one clause position,
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: who'd argue that first printance Chapter seven, though it says
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: the believer is not bound if an unbeliever leaves them
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: doesn't give permission for remarriage for those individuals. We've only
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: added one difficulty for our position, and that's adultery. My
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: spouse committed adultery. You mean to tell me that it's
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: more difficult to look someone in the eye and say,
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: your spouse committed adultery. But we still got to hang
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: in there and work through this. That it is to
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: look at someone who says, my spouse just got a
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: hundred year sentence and it is offering me a divorce
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: so I can continue with my life. You mean to
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: tell me it's less difficult to look that person in
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: the eye and say, sorry.
• 23:46
  Speaker 2: It's not biblical grounds for divorce and remarriage. Now, it's difficult.
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: It's difficult regardless of the position that you hold. But
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: it's still a point because we don't hold one position
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: or another because of potential pastoral difficulties. Permanent's view, here
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: are the principles. Number one, the one flesh union created
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: in marriage is permanent until death. The one flesh union
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: created in marriage is permanent until death. Number two. Initiating
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: the divorce is never lawful. Initiating a divorce is never lawful.
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: Number three Remarriage after a divorce is an active adultery
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: if a former spouse is living. Remarriage after a divorce
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: is an active adultery if a former spouse is living.
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: These are the three points that mean, these are the
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: three principles, and we'll look at these one of the time.
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: Let's look at the first one.
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: The one flesh union created in marriage is permanent until death.
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: Now I think about this. Usually we go to Matthew
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: units and for the exception clause. But before you get
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: to the exception clause, here's what happens. And pharisees came
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: up to him and tested him by asking is it lawful?
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: By the way, why are they coming up to him
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: testing him? Because in the Sermon on the Mount, this
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: is his third antithesis. So in Matthew chapter five, Jesus
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: preaches his coming out sermon, and in his coming out
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: sermon he addresses the issue of divorce and remarriage. So
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: now the Pharisees are questioning him about a number of
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: things that he's preached on, and he preached on this
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: issue of divorce and remarriage. So they press him and
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: they questioned him. But remember the first point, the one flash.
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: Union created in marriage is permanent until death. It's unbreakable.
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking,
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause?
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: Is there any circumstance under which it's lawful for a
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: man divorce his wife? He answered, have you not read
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: that He who created them from the beginning made them
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: male and female, and said that a man shall leave
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife,
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: and the two shall become one flesh. So they are
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: joined together? Let not man separate. Here's what I want
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: you to understand. We usually go here and we look
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: for the exception clause except for sexual immorality. Now, this
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: is an exception clause that when we keep reading, we're
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: gonna look at the next part of this passage. But
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: here's what I want you to get, and this is
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: what we often miss. Jesus only gives the exception clause
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: after he's asked another question. This question is asked and answered,
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: and there is no exception clause in it. Is it
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: lawful for any cause for a man to divorce his wife?
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: Jesus says, no, not under any circumstance. No, unequivocal. No,
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: they two are one flesh. You can undo that.
• 27:13
  Speaker 2: It's like trying to separate a man from his heart.
• 27:16
  Speaker 2: You can't do it.
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: No, The question is asked and answered, there is no exception.
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: Now I know and won't belave me. And if you
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: keep reading, there's the exception clause. Yes, but it's after
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: another question. Don't miss this point. They ask him a question,
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: he answers the question. He's finished answering the question, they
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: ask him another question, and we get an exception clause. Okay,
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: and we're gonna deal with the issue of the exception
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: clause in a moment. Mark Chapter ten, verse nine. What therefore,
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: God has joined together, Let not man separate. God joins
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: individuals together in marriage. Man cannot unjoin what God has joined.
• 28:04
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: The one flesh union created in marriage is permanent until death.
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: By the way, that's why in our vows, what do
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: we say? And here's if I weren't a permanent view God,
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: I'd have to find a way to change wedding vows.
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: Because the wedding vows are permanent view vowels for richer,
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: for poorer in sickness and health, for better or worse.
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: Let me ask you something is adult thy better or worse?
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: It's worse, and it's covered in the marriage vow, forsaking
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: all others.
• 28:45
  Speaker 2: Until when.
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: Until my partner doesn't do this, No, until we are
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: parted by death.
• 28:54
  Speaker 2: That's the marriage vow. Folks, here's what's interesting. Antitheses that
• 29:01
  Speaker 2: Jesus addresses and the sermon on the Mount is vows oaths.
• 29:08
  Speaker 2: Isn't that interesting?
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: Right after this he goes to the issue of oaths
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: and vows and breaking oaths and breaking vows. We enter
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: into marriage through oaths and vowels, and the oaths and
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: vows that we take are permanence oaths and vows, we say,
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: only separated by death, forsaking all others, forever and ever,
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: until one of us is no longer alive. Next, initiating
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: a divorce is never lawful. Initiating a divorce is never lawful.
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: But when he continues, they said to him, why then,
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: remember this is the next question. Okay, Jesus, They asked
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: him a question. He answered it. They go, okay, fine,
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: you've got a problem with the case law. Why then,
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: and to send her away.
• 30:07
  Speaker 2: He said to them, because of your.
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: Hardness of hearts, Moses allowed you to divorce your wives.
• 30:12
  Speaker 2: But from the beginning it was not so.
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife except
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: for sexual immorality and marries another commits adultery. Now here's
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: what's interesting. He says, you're reading the case law wrong.
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: They say, why did Moses command one to give a
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: certificate of divorce? Did Moses command Israel to give certificates
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: of divorce? No, he says, when a man takes a
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: wife and marries her, if then she finds no favor
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: in his eyes, and because he found no favorite or
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: insufficiency in her and writes her certificate.
• 30:46
  Speaker 2: Did he just make a command?
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: The case law in deuteronmy chapter twenty four is not
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: about writing certificates of divorce. It's about remarriage.
• 30:59
  Speaker 2: Moses assume us the issue of the certificates, because that's
• 31:02
  Speaker 2: something that was already happening in Israel.
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: He's not writing about the certificate of divorce. He's writing
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: about the issue of remarriage. He's saying, you've sent your
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: life away the marriage that she entered into was adulteress.
• 31:19
  Speaker 2: She gets out of that when you can't marry her again.
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: Moses is making a statement about remarriage, not making the
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: statement about divorce in Deuteronomy chapter twenty four. That's not
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: what the case law is covering. It's not covering the
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: issue of divorce. It's covering the issue of remarriage. He's
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: addressing the divorces that are now rampant among the people,
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: and he's actually putting restrictions on the practice. Pharisees say,
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: why did Moses command us to give up? But Jesus says, no, no, no, no,
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: Moses didn't know commands you to give her certificate of
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: divorce because of the hardness of your hearts. He allowed
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: that stuff to continue. But he addressed the issue of remarriage.
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: And I say to you, whoever he divorces his wife,
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: then there's the exception clause causes her to commit adultery.
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: By the way, that's what Moses says, you caused her
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: to commit adultery. Moses is not saying that it's lawful
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: for you to divorce your wife. The Bible has never
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: said that it's lawful for you to divorce your wife.
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: Not one place in all of the Bible Old Testament
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: New Testament does it say that it's lawful for you
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: to divorce your wife. One seventeenth through eleven To the married.
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: I give this charge, not I, but the Lord. The
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: wife should not separate from her husband. But if she does,
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: she should remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband.
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: Those are the only child, and the husband should not
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: divorce his wife. Don't get divorced. What the Bible teaches.
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: Don't get divorced. It is never lawful to pursue a divorce.
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: Verse nifteen seven twelve through fifteen. To the rest, I
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: say I, not the Lord, that if any brother has
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: a wife who is an unbeliever, and she consents to
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: live with him, he should not divorce her.
• 33:26
  Speaker 2: Don't get divorced.
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: If any woman has a husband who is an unbeliever,
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: and he consents to live with her, she should not
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: divorce him.
• 33:32
  Speaker 2: Don't get divorced.
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: For the unbelieving husband has made holy because the wife,
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: and the unbelieving wife has made holy because of her husband.
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: Otherwise her children would be unclean. But as it is,
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: they are holy. But if the unbelieving partner separates. Let
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: it be so. In such cases, the brother or sister
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: is not enslaved. God has called us to peace. It
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: is never lawful to pursue a divorce. Never so, this
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: one flesh union creating marriage is permanent until death, and
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: initiating a divorce is never lawful. Thirdly, remarriage after a
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: divorce is an act of adultery if a former spouse
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: is living. In the Romans Chapter seven, verses two through three,
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: and I want you to notice two and none of
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: these phrases, and none of these passages do we have
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: anything resembling an exception clause. Only in Matthew do we
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: have these exception clauses. That's important to hold on to.
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: Romans Chapter seven, verses two and three. For a married
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives,
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: but if her husband dies, she is released from the
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: law of marriage. Accordingly, she will be called an adultress
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: if she lives with another man while her husband is alive,
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: but if her husband dies, she is free from the law.
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: And if she marries another man and she is not
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: an adulteress. Only death. If there is remarriage under any
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: certainstance while the previous spouse spouses alive. It is an
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: act of adultery. And notice that he always says it's
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: an act of adultery because some people believe that it's
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: perpetual adultery forever. We'll get to that momentarily, Mark ten,
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: ten through twelve. And in the house, the disciples asked
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: him again about this matter, and he said to them,
• 35:31
  Speaker 1: whoever divorces his wife and marries another, commits adultery against her.
• 35:36
  Speaker 2: And if she.
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: Divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery. Notice
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: no exception clause. Everyone who does this commits that, no exception.
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: Whoever does this commits that, no exception.
• 35:58
  Speaker 2: Luke sixteen.
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: The other pairent ll everyone who divorces his wife and
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: marries another commits adultery. And he who marries a woman
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: and divorced from her husband commits adultery. Again everyone, and
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: then our passage today, it was also said, whoever divorces
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: his wife, let him give her a certificate a divorce.
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife,
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: there's the accepting clause except on the grounds of sexual immorality,
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: makes her commit adultery. And whoever marries a divorced woman
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: commits adultery. Here's what I want you to see from
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: the Matthew five passage. I say to you that everyone
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: who divorces his wife, then there's his excepting clause, except
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: on the grounds of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery.
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: What's this a statement about. If you're not divorcing her
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: on those grounds, she made herself commit adultery. In other words,
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: if she's committed this act, she's made herself an adultress.
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: You haven't made her an adulteress. But if you divorce
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: her for some other reason, you've made her an adulteress.
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: When she goes and remarries. Whoever marries an divorced woman.
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: Notice there's no exception clause here. Whoever marries a divorced woman,
• 37:29
  Speaker 1: He doesn't say, unless her divorce was a lawful one.
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: You notice that Jesus doesn't say that there's no exception
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: clause for the marriage to a divorced woman none. Whoever
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: marries a divorced woman for any reason, under any circumstance, Again,
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: as long as her previous spouse is still alive, it
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: is an act of adultery. There is no exception clause
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: on this one. Which again raises questions about the exception
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: clause on the first one. Let's look at the exception
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: clause number one. It's found only in Matthew's Gospel, Matthew
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: chapter five and Matthew Chapter nineteen. Everywhere else the statement
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: about divorce and remarriage is unequivocal. There are no exceptions.
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: Only here in Matthew chapter five and in Matthew chapter nineteen.
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: Do you have this clause except for the cause of
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: sexual limorality? Most difficult passage on divorce and remarriage to interpret.
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: There are seven different interpretations offered by commentators and scholars
• 38:36
  Speaker 1: on the issue of the exception clause and what the
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: exception clause refers to. By the way, five out of
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: those seven don't allow for remarriage. Matthew used the term
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: sexual limorality or pernia instead of the word for Adulphrey
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: more Kia. This is very important. Those people who believe
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: that divorce and remarriage is lawful, they argue that it's
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: lawful in the case of adultery, but that's not the
• 39:02
  Speaker 1: word that Matthew uses. That's why all the interpreters say
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: sexual immorality, unchastity, fornication, because the word that he uses
• 39:16
  Speaker 1: is not the word for adultery. It's not the same term.
• 39:22
  Speaker 1: Why doesn't he use the same term anyone who divorces
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: his wife unless it's for the cause of adultery causes
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: her to commit adultery.
• 39:32
  Speaker 2: Doesn't it make sense if adultery is.
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: The cause that would allow you to divorce and remarry,
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: that he would use the word for adultery and not
• 39:39
  Speaker 1: the broader term Pornia parnia is associated with Jewish betrothal law,
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: not consummated marriage. The term that he uses there is
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: a term used to refer to breaking a betrothal, not
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: to breaking a consummated marriage. Now, and I know nothing
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: of this, because we know nothing of betrothal. We even
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: if we use the word betrothal, we use the word
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: to refer to people who are actually engaged to be married.
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: Let's say, break off the engagement. It's no big deal.
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: In Jewish culture, first century Jewish culture, the betrothal was
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: actually a covenant.
• 40:22
  Speaker 2: It was a legal binding.
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: Document, and in order for you to get out of
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: the betrothal and not follow through with the marriage, you
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: actually had to go before the authorities and demonstrate that
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: there is proper reason for you not to follow through
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: with your marriage contract. By the way, what would those
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: reasons be. Those reasons would be things like, we're too
• 40:51
  Speaker 1: closely related, we just found that out. She's guilty of adultery,
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: she's guilty of you know, fortifications, she's guilty of. It
• 40:59
  Speaker 1: would be of it against eighteen stuff, sexual immorality. So
• 41:10
  Speaker 1: this word pornia that he chooses to use here is
• 41:13
  Speaker 1: a word directly related to the issue of breaking a betrothal.
• 41:17
  Speaker 2: Now here's what's interesting. Matthew's the only one who has
• 41:22
  Speaker 2: the exception clause.
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: He's the only one who uses pornia as a reason
• 41:26
  Speaker 1: that someone can put away a wife. He's also the
• 41:30
  Speaker 1: gospel writer who wrote to a Jewish audience who would
• 41:34
  Speaker 1: have known about.
• 41:35
  Speaker 2: The Pornia clause.
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: And he's the only one who mentions the fact that
• 41:39
  Speaker 1: Joseph was going to put Mary away.
• 41:45
  Speaker 2: For what pornia.
• 41:50
  Speaker 1: Joseph would have to have gotten a legal document in
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: order to divorce Mary during their betrothal period because.
• 41:59
  Speaker 2: She was found to be with child.
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: Matthew's the only one who mentions that speaking to his
• 42:07
  Speaker 1: Jewish audience, and he's the only one who mentions the
• 42:10
  Speaker 1: exception clause.
• 42:13
  Speaker 2: Nobody else mentions it. Nobody else mentions it.
• 42:18
  Speaker 1: I mean, if it's the crucial key to unlocking why
• 42:21
  Speaker 1: a person could be allowed to divorce and remarry, don't
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: you think that Mark would have mentioned it, that Luke
• 42:26
  Speaker 1: would have mentioned it, that Paul would have mentioned it
• 42:28
  Speaker 1: either in seven or in Romans chapter seven. But there
• 42:32
  Speaker 1: is no mention of it anywhere else in the New
• 42:34
  Speaker 1: Testament where divorced and remarriage is spoken of, not once,
• 42:41
  Speaker 1: and even in the places where Matthew uses it, it's
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: only in the.
• 42:47
  Speaker 2: First half of the statement and not the second.
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: Again, the one flesh union created in marriage is permanent
• 42:59
  Speaker 1: until death. Initiating a divorce is never lawful. Remarriage after
• 43:06
  Speaker 1: a divorce is an act of adultery if a former
• 43:08
  Speaker 1: spouse is living.
• 43:10
  Speaker 2: We did this with the other passages. Stood with this one.
• 43:13
  Speaker 1: Think about divorce and remarriage in the context of the
• 43:17
  Speaker 1: Biblical purposes for marriage, procreation, sanctification, illustration. Remember those are
• 43:24
  Speaker 1: the three purposes that God gave us marriage. Think about
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: divorce and remarriage from the standpoint of procreation. Well, Malachi
• 43:31
  Speaker 1: chapter two, where God says he hates divorce, he connects
• 43:35
  Speaker 1: it directly to the issue of procreation. You've been faithless
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: with the wife of your youth, and what was God?
• 43:41
  Speaker 1: What was God seeking? He was seeking godly offspring procreation.
• 43:47
  Speaker 1: God hates divorce for, among other things, interfering with the
• 43:51
  Speaker 1: procreative purpose of marriage. Second Sanctification fresh MiNet, Chapter seven.
• 43:56
  Speaker 1: We see that God gives us marriage for the purpose
• 43:59
  Speaker 1: of sanctification, specifically, that the desires that we have for
• 44:03
  Speaker 1: physical intimacy can be fulfilled within the context of a
• 44:07
  Speaker 1: God ordained covenant marriage. The problem with divorce and remarriage
• 44:12
  Speaker 1: is that it inevitably violates the sanctification purpose for marriage itself,
• 44:18
  Speaker 1: because doing so is an act of adultery and finally, illustration.
• 44:25
  Speaker 1: Marriage is an illustration of the relationship between Christ and
• 44:27
  Speaker 1: his Church. Divorce and remarriage is a perversion of the
• 44:33
  Speaker 1: picture of the relationship between Jesus and his bride, whom
• 44:38
  Speaker 1: he died for and would never ever, ever divorce under
• 44:47
  Speaker 1: any circumstance. It is unthinkable that Christ would divorce the
• 44:53
  Speaker 1: bride for whom he died. Our marriages are living, breathing
• 44:58
  Speaker 1: illustrations of the relationship with between Christ and his Church.
• 45:01
  Speaker 1: It is unthinkable that in that context, God would allow
• 45:07
  Speaker 1: for divorce. Remember this also, Jesus says, your righteousness must
• 45:12
  Speaker 1: exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees. Okay, to Sales school,
• 45:16
  Speaker 1: you can divorce for anything, she cooks the meal wrong.
• 45:18
  Speaker 2: But look at this one.
• 45:19
  Speaker 1: SHAMAI and his followers interpret you'd army twenty four to
• 45:22
  Speaker 1: refer to gross indecency, though not necessarily adultery. So here's
• 45:27
  Speaker 1: basically what Jesus is saying. If we buy the exception
• 45:31
  Speaker 1: clause not being not referring to the betrothal period but
• 45:36
  Speaker 1: referring to actual marriage itself, Jesus says, your righteousness must
• 45:40
  Speaker 1: exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees. But what about in
• 45:43
  Speaker 1: the issue of divorce and remarriage. Well, the Pharisees say,
• 45:46
  Speaker 1: you can divorce and remarry for gross immorality, But I
• 45:50
  Speaker 1: say to you.
• 45:52
  Speaker 2: The same thing. Huh. Yeah.
• 46:01
  Speaker 1: If we interpret the exception clause as meaning that divorce
• 46:06
  Speaker 1: and remarriage are allowable in circumstances of adultery, then basically
• 46:12
  Speaker 1: Jesus has just said you've heard it said. But I
• 46:17
  Speaker 1: say to you exactly what the Pharisees say. I've just
• 46:23
  Speaker 1: told you that your righteousness has to exceed their righteousness.
• 46:26
  Speaker 1: But on this one they're right. You don't have to
• 46:29
  Speaker 1: do any better than they do. Makes no sense whatsoever
• 46:37
  Speaker 1: in the context of a sermon on the Mount. Pastoral implications.
• 46:42
  Speaker 1: Number one, we will always encourage you to stay married.
• 46:50
  Speaker 1: Your elders here will always encourage you to stay married.
• 46:55
  Speaker 1: In fact, when people come talking about the possibility of
• 46:58
  Speaker 1: leaving their marriage, and they want to come and give
• 47:01
  Speaker 1: all the reasons why, you just might as well keep
• 47:04
  Speaker 1: them to yourself, because there's nothing you could say that
• 47:09
  Speaker 1: would bring us to a place where we would encourage.
• 47:11
  Speaker 2: You to get a divorce. Nothing. Nothing.
• 47:18
  Speaker 1: We will always encourage you to stay married, to keep
• 47:23
  Speaker 1: your vows. Secondly, we will always walk with you through
• 47:29
  Speaker 1: difficult marriage situations with a view toward repentance and reconciliation.
• 47:34
  Speaker 1: Always with a view toward repentance and reconciliation. Here's the
• 47:40
  Speaker 1: other thing. Just think about this for a moment. We
• 47:44
  Speaker 1: hold to the exception clause and we say that God
• 47:46
  Speaker 1: allows for divorce and remarriage in the case of adultery. Now,
• 47:51
  Speaker 1: there are two people in the church, two couples in
• 47:53
  Speaker 1: the church. Couple number one comes and says, there's been
• 47:57
  Speaker 1: adultery in our marriage. Pastor, we need you to walk
• 48:01
  Speaker 1: with us, We need you to pray with us. We
• 48:04
  Speaker 1: need you to help us as we go through the
• 48:06
  Speaker 1: healing process and as God restores our marriage after this
• 48:12
  Speaker 1: devastating experience of divorce. Other couple comes and says, hey,
• 48:17
  Speaker 1: there's been divorce. We're checking out because we found a
• 48:20
  Speaker 1: loophole in Matthew chapter five and Matthew chapter nineteen.
• 48:23
  Speaker 2: We're done.
• 48:30
  Speaker 1: You mean to tell me that we believe those two
• 48:32
  Speaker 1: things are equally righteous.
• 48:38
  Speaker 2: Because of a loophole.
• 48:42
  Speaker 1: There was adultery. Says it right there. I can check out.
• 48:45
  Speaker 1: Because of that, I'm gone, and I'm completely righteous in
• 48:50
  Speaker 1: being gone because the loophole is right there in the text.
• 48:57
  Speaker 1: You can't get there from here, folks, you can't get
• 49:02
  Speaker 1: that from here. No, the picture we will always call
• 49:05
  Speaker 1: you to paint is the picture of reconciliation, the picture
• 49:12
  Speaker 1: of repentance. We will not perform wedding ceremonies for those
• 49:22
  Speaker 1: seeking the second marriage while the first stous is living.
• 49:29
  Speaker 1: We're just we can't do it. We can't do it.
• 49:37
  Speaker 1: Go be reconciled. That's our only counsel. Go be reconciled. Well,
• 49:40
  Speaker 1: I don't want to be reconciled. Well, okay, but go
• 49:44
  Speaker 1: be reconciled. But I don't feel like being reconciled. Go
• 49:49
  Speaker 1: be reconciled, sir, Go love your wife. No, I'm not
• 49:54
  Speaker 1: gonna go love my wife. I've divorced my wife. So
• 49:57
  Speaker 1: what the Bible commands you to love your wife? Go
• 49:58
  Speaker 1: love your wife because you've been commanded to. Well, I
• 50:04
  Speaker 1: don't even get She's not my wife anymore. I've divorced her. Well, fine,
• 50:07
  Speaker 1: love your neighbor as yourself. Go over because she's your neighbor.
• 50:10
  Speaker 1: She's not my neighbor anymore. I divorced her. She lives
• 50:12
  Speaker 1: in a whole other state. Okay, we'll find. The Bible
• 50:16
  Speaker 1: says that by this all men will know that you're
• 50:18
  Speaker 1: my disciples, that you have loved one for another. Go
• 50:20
  Speaker 1: love her because she's your sister in Christ. Well, I
• 50:22
  Speaker 1: don't even think she's saying. Fine, the Bible says, love
• 50:25
  Speaker 1: your enemies. Whichever reason you need, Go love her. Go
• 50:36
  Speaker 1: love her. She's already married to somebody else. Then spend
• 50:40
  Speaker 1: the rest of your life keeping your vow to her
• 50:43
  Speaker 1: even though.
• 50:46
  Speaker 2: She's gone and done that, and carry with you for the.
• 50:52
  Speaker 1: Rest of your days if necessary, the testimony of having
• 50:56
  Speaker 1: kept your vow even though she left you and went
• 51:00
  Speaker 1: and married another honor Christ. With that, well, it's easy
• 51:06
  Speaker 1: for you to say, I'm forty years old, been married
• 51:09
  Speaker 1: for twenty years, you know nothing about being alone, you
• 51:15
  Speaker 1: know what?
• 51:16
  Speaker 2: There's truth in that. But I would hope two things.
• 51:22
  Speaker 1: Number One, that we would not endeavor to say that
• 51:28
  Speaker 1: only those who have experienced certain sins have the moral
• 51:32
  Speaker 1: authority to speak to them. Or two, Pastors can't call
• 51:40
  Speaker 1: people to hard things unless they've experienced the exact same
• 51:44
  Speaker 1: hard things.
• 51:47
  Speaker 2: Is that a hard thing? Yes, it is a hard thing.
• 51:52
  Speaker 2: Is it fair? No way? No, how, But it.
• 51:57
  Speaker 1: Is a beautiful illustration over the relationship that Christ has
• 52:02
  Speaker 1: with his bride, and that's what we're called to. Does
• 52:10
  Speaker 1: this mean that we ask people to stay in a
• 52:12
  Speaker 1: situation and be beaten and brutalized and have their money
• 52:16
  Speaker 1: spent recklessly in all? No, not at all, not at all.
• 52:23
  Speaker 1: We believe part of our pastoral responsibility in the midst
• 52:26
  Speaker 1: of a situation like that would be to protect a
• 52:28
  Speaker 1: person who was being abused. But we still couldn't advise
• 52:38
  Speaker 1: them to get a divorce because those are not biblical grounds.
• 52:42
  Speaker 1: And that's whether we had a permanent view or not.
• 52:47
  Speaker 1: We will fight for every marriage no matter what. Well,
• 52:53
  Speaker 1: here's what this does not mean. This does not mean
• 52:56
  Speaker 1: that divorce and remarried people are committing new acts of
• 52:59
  Speaker 1: adultery with every instance of marital intimacy. This does not
• 53:04
  Speaker 1: mean that the Bible clearly says that to do this,
• 53:08
  Speaker 1: the act of divorcing and then the act of remarrying
• 53:12
  Speaker 1: is an act of adultery. What we don't see in
• 53:15
  Speaker 1: any of those passages is that every act of intimacy
• 53:18
  Speaker 1: thereafter is another fresh, new guilt ladened act of adultery. No,
• 53:26
  Speaker 1: it's not what the Bible teaches, it's not what we teach.
• 53:28
  Speaker 1: This does not mean that divorced and remarried people are
• 53:30
  Speaker 1: guilty of perpetual polygamy or polyandry.
• 53:36
  Speaker 2: Does not mean that.
• 53:39
  Speaker 1: Polygamy a man with multiple wives, polyandry a woman with
• 53:42
  Speaker 1: multiple husbands. Interesting in John chapter four, woman, where is
• 53:46
  Speaker 1: your husband? Well, I don't have a husband, you've said, Well,
• 53:52
  Speaker 1: because you currently have five husbands, because you've been divorced
• 53:56
  Speaker 1: and remarried and you're still married.
• 53:58
  Speaker 2: To all of it.
• 53:59
  Speaker 1: Noah Jesus says, you have had five husbands. He does
• 54:06
  Speaker 1: not say she's guilty of polyandry of multiple continual marriages.
• 54:14
  Speaker 2: He doesn't say that.
• 54:16
  Speaker 1: This does not mean that divorce and remarried people should
• 54:18
  Speaker 1: divorce their current spouse and return.
• 54:20
  Speaker 2: To their previous one.
• 54:21
  Speaker 1: Some people teach this, your divorce and your marriage was
• 54:25
  Speaker 1: an active adultery.
• 54:26
  Speaker 2: Well you need to get divorced.
• 54:27
  Speaker 1: No, no, you don't recommit a sin in order to
• 54:34
  Speaker 1: demonstrate your repentance for the first time.
• 54:36
  Speaker 2: You did it.
• 54:40
  Speaker 1: Amen, Now you know most important thing. Divorce them. Remarried
• 54:46
  Speaker 1: people can do. Grab a hold of the permanent view
• 54:49
  Speaker 1: and don't let go confess your sin for what happened before.
• 54:56
  Speaker 1: But look your spouse in the eye and say, I
• 54:58
  Speaker 1: know my previous track record. It says to you that
• 55:01
  Speaker 1: I'll leave you if you don't live up to what
• 55:03
  Speaker 1: I consider. You're into the bargain. But I don't believe
• 55:06
  Speaker 1: that it was wrong when I did it before. It
• 55:08
  Speaker 1: would be wrong if I did it now. I will not,
• 55:11
  Speaker 1: under any circumstances do that again. It is unpermissible. I
• 55:18
  Speaker 1: do not believe in it. Homicide maybe divorce never and again,
• 55:31
  Speaker 1: I really believe Oftentimes divorced and remarry people when they
• 55:34
  Speaker 1: hear a message like this. If they don't persist and
• 55:37
  Speaker 1: they don't press through, all you leave with is just
• 55:40
  Speaker 1: sort of guilt and condemnation, and you know all these
• 55:42
  Speaker 1: other sorts of things. We miss the point. If divorced
• 55:46
  Speaker 1: and remarried people try to hold on desperately to their
• 55:50
  Speaker 1: righteousness in spite of what happened to them previously, what
• 55:54
  Speaker 1: they're saying to their current spouse is, under the right situations,
• 55:57
  Speaker 1: i'd leave you too.
• 56:00
  Speaker 2: I was completely just.
• 56:01
  Speaker 1: In what I did, and if you put me in
• 56:04
  Speaker 1: the same situation, I'm out of here. That's what you're saying.
• 56:07
  Speaker 1: That's what you're saying. Don't say that to your current spouse.
• 56:11
  Speaker 1: Say to them it was sinful when it happened before.
• 56:16
  Speaker 1: I am broken over and crushed over my sin. And
• 56:22
  Speaker 1: because I recognize that it was wrong and that it
• 56:25
  Speaker 1: was sin, hear me what I say to you. Never,
• 56:29
  Speaker 1: under any circumstances will I violate my oath and my
• 56:33
  Speaker 1: vow to you. I meant what I said when I
• 56:36
  Speaker 1: said till death do us part. Finally, this does not
• 56:43
  Speaker 1: mean that divorced and remarried people are second class citizens
• 56:45
  Speaker 1: in the Kingdom of God.
• 56:49
  Speaker 2: They are not.
• 56:53
  Speaker 1: And this is one thing that saddens me about the
• 56:55
  Speaker 1: way people view our position on the issue.
• 56:58
  Speaker 2: Of divorce and remarriage.
• 56:59
  Speaker 1: Oh well, then you think the world and remarried people
• 57:00
  Speaker 1: or second class citizens.
• 57:02
  Speaker 2: Absolutely not, because here's the other thing.
• 57:09
  Speaker 1: Remember, between us and a two class person who believes
• 57:13
  Speaker 1: it's okay for adultery and it's okay for abandonment of
• 57:17
  Speaker 1: a believing spots by an unbelieving spouse, the only difference
• 57:20
  Speaker 1: between us is two circumstances. Out of the thousands of
• 57:23
  Speaker 1: possible circumstances, there are two under which there's different And
• 57:27
  Speaker 1: you're saying me, those two make us evil people who
• 57:31
  Speaker 1: think that all divorced people are second class citizens. Come on, now,
• 57:40
  Speaker 1: come on, that's not the case. Let me say this
• 57:49
  Speaker 1: to you ween where we began divorce and remarriage. It's
• 57:57
  Speaker 1: not a sin that Jesus forgot to pay for on
• 58:00
  Speaker 1: the cross.
• 58:04
  Speaker 2: Amen. It's not.
• 58:11
  Speaker 1: It's not the end of the world for the individual
• 58:14
  Speaker 1: who's experienced it. But hear this also, Just because it's
• 58:20
  Speaker 1: not the end of the world for the individual who's
• 58:22
  Speaker 1: experienced it, doesn't mean that we can have this attitude. Well,
• 58:26
  Speaker 1: since it's forgivable and I'm really unhappy. Let you go
• 58:32
  Speaker 1: ahead and do it, and then I'll be for Don't
• 58:35
  Speaker 1: you mess with God like that. Don't you dare mess
• 58:40
  Speaker 1: with God like that because you know better. You mean,
• 58:46
  Speaker 1: you're gonna sit there and know that it's sin and
• 58:50
  Speaker 1: presume upon the grace of God and do it just
• 58:55
  Speaker 1: because you know it. It's like one of your kids
• 58:57
  Speaker 1: coming in your face saying, hey, you know what. I
• 59:00
  Speaker 1: know that you're against me having the keys to the
• 59:04
  Speaker 1: car right now, but I also know that you are
• 59:08
  Speaker 1: my father and you have to forgive me so because
• 59:12
  Speaker 1: I want the car real bad right now, even though
• 59:15
  Speaker 1: you've said no, I'm getting ready to go out here
• 59:17
  Speaker 1: and get it. You just sit here and when I
• 59:21
  Speaker 1: get back, we'll make this all right. Don't you dare
• 59:28
  Speaker 1: presume upon God's grace like that? When it comes to marriage,
• 59:34
  Speaker 1: we're in it to win it.
• 59:34
  Speaker 2: Amen. Those of you who know me, you.
• 59:39
  Speaker 1: Know that just about every place I go when I
• 59:42
  Speaker 1: talk about this issue of marriage and divorce and remarriage,
• 59:45
  Speaker 1: I always say this phrase that my kids get sick
• 59:47
  Speaker 1: of hearing, and I'm so happy that they get sick
• 59:49
  Speaker 1: of hearing it. That means I'm almost saying it enough.
• 59:53
  Speaker 1: I tell my wife all the time. If you leave me,
• 59:55
  Speaker 1: I'm going with you.
• 1:00:02
  Speaker 2: It's not an option. People.
• 1:00:05
  Speaker 1: Here's the other thing that you need to understand. Marriage
• 1:00:08
  Speaker 1: is not difficult because of the person you happen to
• 1:00:12
  Speaker 1: be married too. Let me let you in on a
• 1:00:15
  Speaker 1: little secret. You're the problem.
• 1:00:21
  Speaker 2: I can't say a man.
• 1:00:22
  Speaker 1: You want to say, Ops, you're the problem. Yeah, well
• 1:00:28
  Speaker 1: you don't know my spouse, so you're the problem. You are, well,
• 1:00:34
  Speaker 1: yeah they have problems too, Yeah they do, but that's irrelevance.
• 1:00:38
  Speaker 1: You're the problem. And if you leave this marriage and
• 1:00:42
  Speaker 1: go and get into another one, guess what you take
• 1:00:44
  Speaker 1: with you, you who happened to be the problem. There's
• 1:00:54
  Speaker 1: not some green pasture out there called a marriage beyond
• 1:00:58
  Speaker 1: difficulty and without conflict. If you could be a fly
• 1:01:02
  Speaker 1: on the wall in every home in this church, you
• 1:01:05
  Speaker 1: would discover things in every home represented in this church that,
• 1:01:11
  Speaker 1: at one moment or another, apart from the grace of God,
• 1:01:15
  Speaker 1: could lead to Splitsville. And if you've never gotten that
• 1:01:21
  Speaker 1: frustrated in marriage, you're not doing it right. That's what
• 1:01:30
  Speaker 1: happens when two broken, sinful creatures come together and say
• 1:01:36
  Speaker 1: I do there's a synergy there, and we multiply our
• 1:01:42
  Speaker 1: brokenness and multiply our sinfulness. But here's the good news,
• 1:01:47
  Speaker 1: there's also a synergy wherein we multiply our ability to
• 1:01:52
  Speaker 1: overcome by the grace of God that abides within us.
• 1:01:59
  Speaker 2: Now.
• 1:01:59
  Speaker 1: Instead of one broken, sinful individual who's walking out this
• 1:02:03
  Speaker 1: Christian life with the power that raised Christ from the
• 1:02:05
  Speaker 1: dead and me, there is another broken sinful individual with
• 1:02:10
  Speaker 1: the power that raised Christ from the dead in them
• 1:02:13
  Speaker 1: as well. And God has made the two into one.
• 1:02:24
  Speaker 1: And He's given us the unbelievable privilege of representing before
• 1:02:29
  Speaker 1: a lost and hurting and dying world this relationship between
• 1:02:34
  Speaker 1: Jesus Christ and his Church, and it is awesome in
• 1:02:39
  Speaker 1: the true sense of the word. We are absolutely not
• 1:02:44
  Speaker 1: up to the job, but praise God, he is able.
• 1:02:53
  Speaker 1: And here's what I want you to see. Am I
• 1:02:57
  Speaker 1: most like Christ when my bride is meeting all of
• 1:03:01
  Speaker 1: my needs and satisfying all of my desires.
• 1:03:04
  Speaker 2: And I am really not having to.
• 1:03:07
  Speaker 1: Do much sacrificing or enduring at all? Or Am I
• 1:03:13
  Speaker 1: more like Christ on the hard days when I'm having
• 1:03:18
  Speaker 1: to dig deep? Those are the days when I realize
• 1:03:25
  Speaker 1: how utterly dependent I am on the power of Christ to.
• 1:03:32
  Speaker 2: Do and be what He's called me to do and be.
• 1:03:36
  Speaker 1: Especially when I realize that the overwhelming majority of the
• 1:03:40
  Speaker 1: times what I'm having difficulty with is my own failures
• 1:03:45
  Speaker 1: bearing fruit. Amen, somebody, hang in there by the power
• 1:03:55
  Speaker 1: of Christ. Hang in there. After all, I believe every
• 1:04:01
  Speaker 1: last one of us, when it comes to our children,
• 1:04:05
  Speaker 1: are a lot more prone to sit down and talk
• 1:04:08
  Speaker 1: to them about the permanent view when we talk to
• 1:04:12
  Speaker 1: them about their marriage. None of us sits there and goes, hey,
• 1:04:18
  Speaker 1: but then work out you can always just go do
• 1:04:20
  Speaker 1: it again. It's not our attitude, nor should it be.
• 1:04:28
  Speaker 1: Those of us who have experienced the pain of divorce
• 1:04:31
  Speaker 1: and remarriage embrace the grace of God and his forgiveness
• 1:04:36
  Speaker 1: and the wholeness that he brings. Those of us who
• 1:04:41
  Speaker 1: have not experienced the pain of divorce and remarriage, don't
• 1:04:48
  Speaker 1: think so highly of yourself just because you haven't followed.
• 1:04:52
  Speaker 2: Through on what you've wanted on a number of occasions.
• 1:05:00
  Speaker 2: We are no better. We've just been spared, and it's
• 1:05:04
  Speaker 2: the grace of God that has spared us.