0:00 Here we find ourselves again in the gospel of Mark where Jesus is somewhere, and you have a crowd flocking toward him. This has become common now. Wherever Jesus goes, it doesn't take very much time for people to hear about it and to make an event out of it. This Nazarene is here. The the rabbi from Nazareth has arrived in our neighborhood.
0:23 We must see him. We must receive something from him. And we have read enough of the Bible to know that crowds were always indicative of the right hearts. Many people in these crowds did not want the truth Jesus offered, did not want to submit to the radical call of discipleship. They wanted immediate relief.
0:43 They wanted benefit. They wanted miracles. And we know that. How much more the son of God even now. He knew what was in man's heart, and that's why he didn't trust them.
0:56 And we have studied Mark enough to know that these people were stubborn. They were majority unbelieving and unwilling to submit again to the invitation of believing on the son of God. But notice this again. Look at verse one. Look at the last sentence.
1:13 And again, as was his custom, he taught them. Despite all of that. Despite all of that. The mixed motives. The lack of desired response.
1:27 Jesus still, as his custom, taught them. I would love to use this verse among many other verses if I was preaching to a room filled with pastors or ministry leaders. But all of us here serve in some capacity. All of us here are transmitters of truth, whether that be to our children, our spouses, our friends, our coworkers. So this applies still.
1:47 Do you notice the model of Jesus as a minister? The absolute patience of the master. How compassionate. How compassionate knowing knowing that the majority are not there for the right reasons. He still teaches them.
2:01 He still dispenses his energy and time and efforts to give them the truth. He still goes above and beyond to help them and to provide still a way into the truth. I read that and I thought to myself, Lord, help me not lose patience. Help me believe that you are after faithfulness more than success, at least humanly speaking success. Help me help me just please you and honor you with what you've given me as a gift, what you've given me as opportunities, and to just do it unto you.
2:34 Believe it, if you're serving the Lord in any capacity and you're frustrated because you're not seeing what you wanna see or because people are not responding the way you want them to respond, look to Jesus. Look how faithful he is. Look how consistent he is. Look how stable he is. Do not be flimsy in your faithfulness.
2:51 Don't be tossed to and fro. Don't become absent or less committed to something just because you had a timeline of how things should go and they're not going the way you thought they should go. That's not the custom of Christ and you are a follower of Christ. So here's this crowd, massive crowd. And Jesus as was his custom teaches them.
3:10 But this was an opportunity for another group of people and not for a positive thing. Who comes out of the woodworks? The Pharisees. They just spawned on-site. And they saw this crowd and they saw a different opportunity.
3:25 This was their opportunity. It's become their custom to try to discredit the ministry of Jesus. To try to diminish his popularity and wound his name, his message, his ministry. And up to this point, they tried different things. One of their go to things was to slander Jesus, and to try to claim that his miracles were authorized by demonic powers.
3:53 And that didn't work. And so they tried to do for things like, ask Jesus to do a miracle on demand. Prove yourself. Do something here, right here, right now. Jesus doesn't budge.
4:05 He doesn't give in to their desires. And so now they're gonna resort to something else and they're gonna use it more than once. Now they're going to weaponize controversial doctrines and beliefs to put Jesus in a difficult position. You can just imagine the calculation. Right?
4:25 Because this was not spontaneous. There was thought behind this question that these Pharisees asked. How can we trap Jesus? How can we put him in a corner that no matter what answer he gives, he's gonna make some group of people very upset with what he says? And at this juncture, at this point, the topic of choice is divorce.
4:49 Divorce. That should do the job. Because a lot of people have a lot of opinions about divorce, not just in the world, even in the church. And you have to admit that this is quite clever. This is quite clever not just because of the subject matter that they chose, but because of the timing of things.
5:09 Do you remember what was on recent headlines in Israel? Can I remind you? Well, you're in Mark chapter 10. Go to Mark chapter six. Read here with me in verse 17 of Mark chapter six, and you'll see another layer of the conniving scheme of this pursuit from the Pharisees.
5:29 Mark six seventeen. For it was Herod who had sent and seized John and bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias, the bro his brother Philip's wife because he had married her. For John had been saying to Herod, it is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife. What happened to John the Baptist for saying that? He lost his head.
5:52 And this was in the airwaves. Right? The scandal of Herod and marrying his brother's wife. And the Pharisees understood that John Baptist got himself in trouble for speaking out against this. And so you can see where they're going with this.
6:08 Right? No matter what, surely what's gonna come out of this to our benefit is that when Jesus answers our question about divorce, this crowd is gonna split in half. And maybe maybe, Pharisee number two, Pharisee number three, come here. Maybe even if Jesus speaks out on this, word will get out, it'll get to Herod and he'll share John Baptist's fate. If John the Baptist paid a high price for speaking about the sanctity of marriage, oh, what do you think might happen to Jesus?
6:43 We know he's an uncompromising truth preacher. We know that he does not pull any punches. We know that he'll say it as it is, and that will be to his own demise. And you can just imagine them twiddling their fingers. They don't know who they're up against.
7:03 And I think it's safe to say today that divorce is still a sensitive subject. It's sensitive for many reasons because there's so much emotion attached to it. There's history attached to it. There's personal experience attached to it. And so some preachers today just avoid the subject altogether.
7:23 Why? Because they think like the Pharisees. If I speak on this issue, people will be upset about it. And so they rather hold on to their reputation than honor the truth. The truth, may I remind you, that no matter how hard it is, will set you free.
7:44 It will set you free. And the preacher's job is to be caught up and preoccupied with the pleasure of his Lord and not to be concerned about how the truth will be received, though it must be faithfully, lovingly, carefully, and wisely delivered. And so I hope to walk in the footsteps of my Lord. We see Jesus being concerned about what God's word has to say. Notice how Jesus answers after the Pharisees in verse two asked them if it was lawful for a man to divorce his wife.
8:18 He answered them in verse three, what did Moses command you? You know why that's important? Because there are many schools of thought in Jesus' time that had very strong and opposing opinions about divorce. They were like today, you had conservative interpretations and you had very loose and liberal interpretations about divorce. And if you wanna look on look more into this in your own time, look up the schools of thought from Rabbi Shammai and Rabbi Hillel.
8:45 Shammai and Hillel, who are prominent voices that spoke a lot about this issue of marriage, divorce, and remarriage. So that was prominent. That was there. That was prevalent. Everybody knew that and many people held to either one and maybe even some strange place in between.
9:04 But Jesus doesn't appeal to an authoritative figure. Jesus doesn't go to a camp. Jesus cuts through all of that and he asked, what did God say? What did God say? What did Moses command you?
9:16 And I love the way Jesus phrases that. He didn't say, what did Moses write? He didn't say, what did Moses command? He said, what did Moses command you? Do you know why that's significant?
9:30 I'll tell you why that's significant. Because Moses penned the law well over a thousand years before Jesus and this generation. And yet the way Jesus frames and relates to the scriptures is that it is binding on all time for all people across all generations. It applies. God's word is not shifting with the culture.
9:55 It's not pliable. It's not subject to change. And and not only is it binding for all time. Right? Not only is it relevant for all generations, it's supposed to be embraced personally.
10:13 What did Moses command you? You. And this is clear elsewhere. Let me show you this. This is fascinating.
10:20 This is this will hopefully rejuvenate your love and appreciation for the word of God. Go to Matthew chapter 22. This is Jesus dealing now with the Pharisees, with the Sadducees. And the Sadducees are also trying to do the same thing as the Pharisees. They wanna try to trap Jesus doctrinally.
10:36 And so they bring up this idea of the resurrection. And what do you have when you have a woman who has several husbands because each of them keep dying? Who whose husband will will be hers in the resurrection? And Jesus answers something in Matthew twenty two thirty one. After he answers that, dealing with the fact that there's no marriage in heaven, he now strikes at the core of their belief system.
11:04 The Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection. They didn't believe in life after after death. So look what the Lord says, and as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God? I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. He is not God of the dead, but of the living.
11:20 Powerful. Powerful for many reasons. One of the reasons why this is powerful is because Jesus, out of all the text in the Old Testament to prove the resurrection, goes to the book of Exodus. He could have gone to Isaiah. He could have gone to Daniel.
11:35 Very strong and obvious claims about the resurrection, but he goes to Exodus. You know why? Because the Sadducees only believed in the first five books of the Bible. So he met them at their level. Even what you claim to be pure scripture, the resurrection is there.
11:50 I mean, you're dealing with the God who authored this book. But more than that, read your Bibles slowly and carefully and with reverence. Let let's read again verse 31. And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God? You know why that's fascinating?
12:17 He quotes Exodus three six when he says, I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. God said that to Moses. Moses recorded a conversation that he had with the Lord. And yet, Jesus says here that although this was directly said to Moses, he's actually saying it to you. Even in the accounts of scripture that are narrative, even in the accounts of scripture that are not directly instructive.
12:54 You know what Jesus is saying here? God wants you to come to his word and embrace it and examine it as though he is saying something to you. He's speaking to you through his word. And that should excite you about the word of God. Even in ancient recorded conversations that don't immediately relate to you, that you might say, okay.
13:18 I'm just looking at this from a window with a screen separating me. You are to believe that God intended to reveal something to you in every corner of the word of God, every portion, every line. The Lord has something to say to you and to me. He says, what did God say to you? Do you remember what God said to you?
13:41 It's a conversation between God and Moses. Yeah. But God wants to speak to you through that. There are principles, there are truths that are transcendent and apply today for you in your walk with Christ now. That's why we study bible study in the old testament every single Friday.
13:57 Why? Because we believe God has something to say to the Christian now in Exodus, in Numbers, in Leviticus, in Isaiah and Micah. God wants to speak. And when you read what God has to say, that's him speaking by the way. In this moment, the transmission of the word, the word being declared, the word being expounded.
14:18 This is God's primary means of speaking. Are you listening? Are you in awe of that? That this is how he is prescribed to communicate with humanity through his word. And the Lord Jesus provides a wonderful example of how this works.
14:35 When you read something like Exodus three six and you look at God speaking to Moses, you are to say, okay, God. What does that have to say about me? What are you trying to reveal about yourself to me? Here. Here's how Jesus interprets it.
14:47 When God said that to Moses, I'm to interpret that today in 2023. God is the God of the living not of the dead. So, yeah, you can open this word and say, with total confidence and license, Lord, you you have something to say to me. And that's from one verse in the Old Testament. How much does God have to say with that giant library?
15:13 How much does God have to reveal to you? How much are you missing out on because perhaps you don't see the relevance of some portions of God's word? It only gets better. You're in Matthew 22, look at Matthew 19 for a second. This is the parallel account to Mark chapter 10, but there's another insight even in Jesus' teaching on divorce concerning the authority and the instrument of God's word.
15:40 Look at Matthew 19 verse four. He answered, have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female? Question, where is that from? What book is that from? You can answer it.
15:56 I'm not afraid. Genesis. Wow. All of you know it. Wonderful.
15:59 Verse five. And said, therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife and the two shall become one flesh. Notice the first two words of verse five. What are those words? And said.
16:15 He answered let me read this again. Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female? Who is he talking about? He, God. And then he's continuing in verse five, the same God who created male and female, he said something.
16:30 He said, therefore, a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. We say, okay, that's wonderful. We know that that's what God said. But it becomes more interesting when you actually look at the text itself where Jesus cites from. So look at Genesis two, the first book of the Bible, and I want you to see this with your own eyes in verse 24 of chapter two.
16:54 So when Jesus said in verse five of Matthew 19 and said, it means that he's quoting what apparently God said. God had said this at some point. But when you look at Genesis two twenty four where this quote comes from, you'll notice something interesting. Adam spoke in verse 23 and then there's a couple of verses left to this chapter and this is the one Jesus is alluding to. Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife and they shall become one flesh.
17:27 You know what's interesting about that verse? What is it? God didn't say it directly. Did it? Is it a direct quote from God?
17:37 No. He didn't. Some would say that it's actually Adam continuing his thought from verse 23. Most people say this is Moses narrating what just took place between Adam and Eve, the view to which I hold. So this is Moses writing and providing commentary and insight about the institution of marriage being initiated.
18:00 And yet Jesus says in Matthew 19 verse five, God said as though God spoke this but he didn't speak it when you go to the original account. What do we make of this? Well, even though God uses human agency and human authorship, he's the one who's ultimately speaking. That's what that means. So now only do I look at something like Exodus three six where I see God speaking to Moses and believe that there's something there for me, I could look at every portion of scripture, whether it's him saying something directly or narrator or anything else that deals with instruction or comments concerning the word of God and believe that God is speaking even there.
18:44 God is speaking. So all of God's word is God's voice. All of God's word is God's speech. All of God's word reveals God's mind. So even in a text like this, I am to believe God said it.
18:59 God said it. And we have to remind ourselves of that because some people make the innocent mistake of overemphasizing the human element to the Bible. Paul wrote this epistle, he wrote it at this time, and he probably wrote it because of this component and this aspect or this kind of situation. He knew this person, he knew that church. And and that's good, that's important, but do not forget who's the ultimate speaker.
19:22 It's God. He said. He spoke. Whether that be Genesis two twenty four or first Thessalonians five. God is speaking every single time.
19:32 So Jesus here is going back to the authority of the word of God. What did Moses command you? Then in verse four of Mark 10, look what he says. As a response to Jesus' question, they said, Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce and to send her away. So when Jesus said, what did Moses command you?
19:57 Based on the context, you know what Jesus had in mind? Genesis. Genesis chapter one, Genesis chapter two. What the Pharisees had in mind was a law in Deuteronomy chapter 24 and they summarize it, the first four verses. And based on what Moses gives us instructions there, they believe that this was a loophole into sanctioning divorce and allowing for divorce, or even worse, God commanding divorce.
20:31 And look how Jesus answered. We're gonna go to that text in a moment. Verse five, Jesus gives a quick explanation to their response. And Jesus said to them, because of your hardness of heart, he wrote you this commandment. This is not a part of God's desire.
20:43 This is not God's will, what you read there in those first four verses. In fact, you gotta read it deeper to see what God's heart really is. There is a command in those first four verses, but not a command that people tend to think is about. Can I show that to you? Deuteronomy 24.
20:59 Look at the first four verses with me. This is what the Pharisees had in mind. Deuteronomy 24 verse one reads, when a man takes a wife and marries her, if then she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some indecency in her indecency seems vague, seems ambiguous. Its root meaning means shameful. Anything that is shameful to do.
21:36 Some would say that it's strictly about adultery, but the problem with that is that there was a law about adultery. What was it? In the old covenant, the old law, if you committed adultery, you were stoned to death. Some indecency in her and he writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house and she departs out of his house. And if she goes and becomes another man's wife and the latter man hates her and writes her certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, or if the latter man dies who took her to be his wife, then her former husband who sent her away may not take her again to be his wife.
22:15 After she has been defiled for that is an abomination before the Lord, and you shall not bring sin upon the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance. So the Pharisees took this and they said, well, hey, Jesus. Didn't Moses make a way for us to divorce? And Jesus says, there is a command in Deuteronomy twenty four one to four. But by speaking about the hardness of heart, he already qualifies that what Moses is speaking about here is not God's heart.
22:49 Notice the language at verse one. When a man takes a wife and marries her, if then she finds no favor. Right? He writes her a certificate of divorce. So in some sense, what we're seeing here is that there is, as an act of mercy, God providing a way to assist the victims of this horrific development known as divorce.
23:16 And the primary person that he has in mind is the woman. The woman who would be left very vulnerable and susceptible to much harm and danger. This certificate of divorce to an extent would protect her reputation, and it would also, give her some kind of security in terms of potential events of future remarriage with someone else. But that's not even really the emphasis of these passages. If there's any command of those four verses, it's the last verse.
23:46 Look again at verse four. Here's the clearest expression of a command. Then her former husband who sent her away may not take her again to be his wife. That's the command. More than anything else, knowing the inevitable darkness that human sinfulness will lead to, God in his mercy provides some instructions to limit and to provide obstacles for this thing called divorce to go and run rampant.
24:26 So these people here clearly are finding the freedom to divorce with with just the cause of indecency. And what the Lord is saying is that if you send somebody away, know this, if she remarries, you can never have her back. That's the command. More than anything else, what the Lord is saying even here in Deuteronomy is that this is meant to discourage divorce. This is meant to actually prohibit it and limit it and not make allowance for it.
25:04 He is trying to let them know this decision that you make will affect you for the rest of your life, not just the person that you're sending away. Because the temptation was to play a game with marriage and to swap wives. So if you didn't like your wife anymore, you lost attraction to her or whatever the case may be, she's irritating. You can get rid of her and you can try another one. And if you didn't like her, maybe you can get the one that you liked before and you realize what you missed out on.
25:33 And God gives this command to say, you can't do that. Because a hardness of heart, you will send people away. That's not my desire. That's not my original attempt for marriage. That's not even part of the program at all in my mind.
25:47 But if you do, know this, you're making a decision that's irreversible if she remarries. You know what that's supposed to cause a man to do? Think very carefully if he really wants to do that. Do I really wanna make this decision? Remove that and you have people who will again trade wives, swap and treat marriage as though it is some cheap thing.
26:17 And Jesus here makes it very very clear that God's heart is not for this at all. There is allowance for it, there is permission for it, not that it was sanctioned by God. If anything those instructions surrounding divorce is to discourage people from even considering it from the beginning. And Jesus doesn't end his answer there, does he? For the rest of this passage, he will go on to explain God's true heart for this holy union known as marriage.
26:47 And I wanna take the rest of this time to speak about through these verses why it is that God hates divorce, because Malachi says he hates divorce. Why is it unlawful? Why is it wrong? Let's look at point number one. Verse five, and Jesus said to them, because of your hardness of heart, he wrote you this commandment.
27:10 Divorce is the fruit of hard hearts. That's where it's stemming from. That's the root. It's the fruit. It's the results.
27:18 The outcome of a hardened heart. One who has become insensitive, what Jesus again calls hardness of heart. Insensitive to what exactly? Primarily the will of God. The entertainment and the execution of divorce is proof that someone has no longer become responsive to God's desire for their lives.
27:38 Someone who pursues God's pleasure and delight will not at the same time tolerate a decision or a direction that he hates. And in this case, what he hates is divorce. So divorce is the fruit of a heart that's become a stone. It's unfeeling. It's not concern anymore about God's lordship, Jesus's lordship, the bible's authority in determining what they do even in the case of marriage.
28:09 They've lost all sense of that. And I'm aware that there is an exception clause that Jesus makes that we'll get to in a moment, but that's not what the Lord is speaking about here because this hardness of heart is not just vertical, it's also horizontal. That heart is also unconcerned about the effect that such a decision will have on the other spouse and on the children that are involved, the lifelong consequences that will come from a decision of severing something that was meant to last for a lifetime. What Jesus is speaking about here, the hardness of heart, is him explained that divorce usually is, like many other sins, a sin that focuses on self. It's about my convenience.
28:55 It's about my feelings. This is irritating me. It's really the fruit of unforgiveness and unwillingness to work very hard to redeem something that's been authored and sanctioned by God, even at the expense of other people being damaged. So this is really the fruit of a hard heart. It doesn't come from God's heart.
29:21 But secondly, we see here in verse six to eight, but from the beginning of creation God made them male and female. Therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife and the two shall become one flesh. So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Why is divorce wrong? Why is it unlawful?
29:38 Why does God hate it? Because it goes against his original design for marriage. Notice that Jesus appeals to creation. He goes all the way back to the garden. And in this conversation about divorce, Jesus speaks now in an indirect way about divorce, but through the explanation of the holiness and the beauty of marriage.
29:57 You know why? Because the fruit that leads to divorce is often the outcome of those who don't see marriage the way God does. Why do people divorce? Because they don't view marriage the way the creator of marriage sees it. And so Jesus quotes Genesis one twenty seven as a pattern for us to apply, as a principle for us to apply in this conversation.
30:23 Right? He made them male and female. As it was then, so it is today. What was it then? One man, one woman brought together for life.
30:34 Alright? So people say Jesus didn't speak about homosexuality, didn't speak about polygamy. He did. He did right here. One man, one woman for life.
30:44 But he's teaching about divorce here. And so in the same way think about it. In the in the same way that he he gives a snapshot of the garden where you had one man, one woman in that paradise. Was there any alternatives there for Adam and Eve? Was there any other options?
31:05 No. There wasn't. Likewise, when God brings you together with someone else, there are no other options. So you you know what you said, my brother, at that altar? You know what you said, my sister, on that altar?
31:23 My commitment to you, my faithfulness to you, my affections for you, my duty to you, my body for you above all other human relationships until death does us apart, until death determines that this covenant is nullified. That's what he's saying here. That's what it's supposed to be. Male and female together forever. No other alternatives.
31:53 No other options. It's you and that love of your youth. You and that person that you believe God brought you together to begin with. And Jesus goes on to say something so amazing about marriage. It creates a bond between people unlike any other human relationship.
32:11 Closer than a bond that a mother has with her child. Closer than that. Mothers, can you imagine the love that you feel, the sacrificial ambition that you have for that baby of yours? Fathers, you might feel the same thing for your son or daughter. And what Jesus is saying here is that when God brings together a man and a woman, that bond is closer than that of a parent and their baby.
32:35 And what's so amazing is that when one chooses to be wedded to another, notice the language. Verse seven, therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife. This union calls for a separation from dependency and priorities from all other relationship, including that of your mom and dad, emotionally, physically. You are withdrawing yourself from every other relationship and you are clinging to that person out of the billions in this world. And you know what's so sad today that what we're seeing more and more happening is that there are people abandoning the one union that was never meant to be forsaken.
33:12 The one relationship that you were not meant to abandon is what people are abandoning today. Sometimes because of fathers and mothers. May I add? You know, I was reading something years ago in Exodus, years ago in Exodus. It's a simple observation, but it warmed my heart and it came to mind when I was preparing for this.
33:31 I want you to see in Exodus 18, it deals with Moses's father-in-law. And hopefully, this will bless you as much as it blessed me. Go to Exodus 18 verse two. At some point between Moses leaving the wilderness to go and initiate his mission to deliver the people out of Egypt, there was some problems between him and his wife. You get it you get that impression early on in his ministry.
34:00 And we're told here, according to Exodus 18, that at some point, Moses sent back his wife and his two boys with her. K. Like, you gotta go. Right? I got a lot to do here.
34:10 I'm I'm dealing with 2,000,000 people and so you gotta go. And so there's something that happened there. And for some reason, the Holy Spirit saw it necessary for us to read about the reconciliation. I'm not talking about divorce. There's just a problem, like there are many problems in marriages today.
34:26 And the one who is initiating this is Moses' father-in-law. So look at this in verse two of Exodus 18. Now Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, had taken Zipporah, Moses' wife, after he sent her home. Look at verse five. Jethro, Moses' father-in-law came with his sons and his wife to Moses in the wilderness where he was encamped at the mountain of God.
34:50 And when he sent word to Moses, I, your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you with your wife with her two sons with her. Did you notice it? Maybe not. Verse two, verse five, verse six. How is Zipporah referenced?
35:09 Moses's wife. Even himself when he speaks and sends word to Moses, he says, I am coming to you. He didn't say with my daughter. Did he say with my daughter? It's his daughter.
35:21 But he didn't say with my daughter. He says, with your wife. She belongs to you. She doesn't belong to me. She's your wife.
35:33 She belongs to you. You are her head. So even this gentile, even this pagan understood the principle of Genesis, leaving father, mother, clinging to your spouse. And I saw that. I said, that's amazing.
35:49 Moses's wife, not my daughter, not my baby girl, not my princess. She's yours, and I've come to give you what belongs to you. So you guys gotta figure this out. I like Jethro for many reasons, including this one. When you go back to Mark ten seven, the word Jesus used when he says that one will leave his father, mother, and hold fast.
36:16 If you have a older translation, you'll have the word cling or cleave. You know what that translates literally in the Greek? You ready for this? Glue upon. You'll leave mommy and daddy and you're gonna glue to another person.
36:34 Now, I have a feeling Jesus is talking about strong glue. Very strong. He's like really tight glue. Right? Some of you contractors know really tough glue that can stick material together.
36:48 And I've seen material come together with glue and for whatever reason, if you try to separate those materials, it's not pretty. You know what the result of it is? Oftentimes, there's some kind of destruction that happens. Not just destruction, it's not a beautiful picture. Is it any different with divorce?
37:07 Is it ever clean? No. Something rips. Some pieces are shredded. And it's not just between two people.
37:24 Many people feel the effects of it. And look at this language again, this metaphor, the two shall become one flesh. That's true and physical to intimacy. There there's again this unique union and fusion that you're supposed to not have with anybody else. But if you take that metaphor further in light of divorce, if I become one flesh with someone, if now we're the two become one thing, what happens in separation?
37:52 Amputation. Amputation. You're cutting off something of you. This is not just a legal contract. There's something significant that takes place in marriage, and there's something that's significant that takes place in divorce.
38:09 There there's something that's amputated. There's something that's separated. There's something that's damaged. And what God intended to be a beautiful picture and reflection of Christ in the church is now marred, and Satan loves to do that. Do Do you know when the serpent came in the garden now?
38:23 When Adam was alone, it was after their wedding. When did the serpent appear on the scene in Genesis? Genesis chapter three after the two became one. And I use that often to tell young people who get married, hey, be careful. If you think that now you've come together and there's less temptation and less warfare, you got another thing coming to you.
38:42 The snake is waiting right there even at the beginning of your marriage to tear it apart. That's when Satan appeared in the bible. In Genesis three. You know what's so funny? If you look at the context, you're still in Mark 10.
38:58 Right? Look at the last verse of Mark nine. We talked about this last week. Remember when Jesus said this? Salt is good, but if salt has lost its saltiness, how will you make it salty again?
39:09 Have salt in yourselves and be at peace with one another. Isn't that fascinating how that's in the context? Immediately after this, we're talking about divorce. Why? Because there's something about not just union among believers, but among two believers coming together in marriage that is so needed in our society.
39:27 That has a testimony, that has healing, that has hope generated and motivated by Christ's word and lordship and love moving in their hearts and it's spilling over into the relationship with one another. And Satan will love to destroy the saltiness of your marriage. She's your partner in the gospel. It's better for you to be with her. It's better for you to be with him.
39:56 If you're a serious follower of Christ, you know what God's done in your life by providing that person? A very near and ever present sanctifying tool. Right? Who's gonna call you out more than her? Yeah?
40:14 Who's gonna who's gonna make sure that you don't go out of line more than him as he supervises you and as he follows the example of his lord? I'm here to sanctify you. And you also as a helpmate, I'm here to help you. Satan hates that. You're gonna be more sanctified in your marriage.
40:35 You're gonna be even saltier with her with him. I will not let it happen. No wonder the all out war on marriage. And that's why in this church every single Wednesday, we pray for the marriages of this church every single week. And we pray for the single people of this church that they would find somebody who has more than anything else, more than the good looks, more than the charming personality, more than the letters beside their name, a fear of God.
41:03 Because when you have no motivation humanly speaking to love that person, forgive that person, work for that person, work with that person, you know what will help you? God and your love for him. So Jesus here says that indirectly divorce is something I hate because it was not even closely a part of my plan, not even at a distance. Lastly, it's unlawful because it severs an institution that was divinely inspired. Look at verse nine.
41:40 What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate. Again, the Pharisees, the way they approached even Deuteronomy 24 or even though the way talking to Jesus about marriage, they saw it merely as a legal contract. Like, they approached the word of God to try to find loopholes. Didn't Moses allow this? And what Jesus is saying in verse nine is, no.
42:02 This is a spiritual institution, primarily because God is involved. Look what he says. What therefore God has joined together. Your marriage I want you to think of it this way now. I hope you never forget what I'm about to say.
42:24 Your marriage is an act of God. Your marriage is a work of God. He and his great providence took you, took her, joined you together. You know why he hates it? Divorce interferes with something that he's trying to work with, something that he created, and something that he longs to use to glorify his name.
42:55 So what you're dealing with here is not just two people and families and assets, you're dealing with a God who put these things together, who put these people together. And me, you, mere creatures would dare to interfere with that. Isn't that profound? Don't you feel the heaviness of it? Well, if there was anyone who felt the heaviness of it, it was the disciples.
43:27 Look at Matthew nineteen ten. You wanna know the reaction to the disciples? Maybe it's the reaction that you have right there. Sitting in that pew this afternoon, look what the disciples said after. Matthew 19 is a more complete picture of this conversation.
43:45 The disciples said to him, if such is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry. Don't you appreciate the honesty of the word of God? Translation, if that's the standard of marriage, if you're saying that when a man and woman come together they're stuck like that, Probably better not to entertain it to begin with. Maybe this marriage thing is really not for me. Maybe singleness is our calling.
44:20 Can you imagine? After a brief sermon on marriage, everybody's like, I think I'm called to singleness. And Jesus and the rest of that portion of scripture explains, this is not this is not for everybody, and he's talking about singleness. Then he goes on to talk about eunuchs. It's better to marry than to burn with passion and lust.
44:43 If you're able to people wanna know, how do I know if I'm called to singleness? How would I know Listen, do you wanna be single? No, I wanna get married. You're not called to singleness. Isn't that profound?
44:54 Do you desire to have a husband or yes. Because Jesus explains there that there are some who will refuse to be married and have the grace to not be in a sexual relationship for the sake of the kingdom. Some are made eunuchs by birth, some are made eunuchs by man, some are made eunuchs by their own will and volition, desire. I I wanna stay single so that I can dedicate myself more to the ministry. I'm not limited by these worldly affairs.
45:15 Paul uses that language concerning marriage. So if you desire to be married, okay, you're not called to singleness. Simple. As Jesus says, no. Listen, not everybody can accept this.
45:32 And I'm sure there's so many things that are coming to mind, so many scenarios, so many cases, and especially the exception clause that Jesus makes clear Matthew 19 verse nine. Look at the verse before, and I say to you whoever divorces his wife except honorable, so high is this view of marriage that Jesus explains when he says what, therefore God has joined together, let no man separate, that he gives one single exception clause to divorce and that's sexual morality. Paul adds to that by saying if you're married to an unbelieving spouse and that unbelieving spouse chooses to walk away from you, be at peace, let him walk away. And Jesus here spells out sexual morality. The word porneia there is not just adultery.
46:23 It speaks about the vast spectrum of sexual sin. So that goes to show how serious sexual sin is. There are some, maybe even here, who who don't believe that this is what Jesus meant. And in order to provide no open door for there to be divorced, there are some who even teach that, no, even if somebody does commit adultery or some gross sexual morality, you're not free to remarry if you divorce. I don't want to personally, as I come to the word of God, I don't want to deny somebody something that Jesus doesn't deny them.
47:02 And when you actually look at Matthew chapter one, you read about Joseph who is trying to understand how his young fiance got pregnant. And engagements then were much different than engagements today. Engagements then were almost like marriage. You know what it says there in Matthew one? Read it on your own time.
47:25 The Bible calls Joseph a just man. In some translations, a righteous man. And in that very same breath, we are told that Joseph, in order not to shame her, sought to divorce her quietly. You know what that says? That if there are grounds for divorce, you can be righteous even in that pursuit.
47:51 Does that mean that even something as painful and as betraying as sexual sin means that that marriage should be ended? Absolutely not. Absolutely not. We should fight for our marriages even after something like that takes place. We should fight for our marriages.
48:11 And so understand the heart of the Lord here that this is not about finding the reasons to divorce. This is a teaching about trying to fight for our marriages more than anything else. Not to result to divorce as a way out even in the face of sin like this. That's not what the Lord is getting at. At the same time, he understands he understands what a covenant is.
48:43 He understands what can nullify it. He understands the human hardness of heart. And so he speaks clearly, undeniably. There are a lot of people, a lot of people on both ends of this issue that do hermeneutical gymnastics to make their case. Just stick with what the Bible says.
49:07 Just see what the Bible says. And I know, I know, I know, I know, I know. There's so many other shades of problems in between that might cause a couple to say, I don't know if this is gonna work. And I don't have enough time here to describe those hypothetical scenarios, but I would say, come to the word of God. Please seek the counsel of your church.
49:30 If it's a biblical church and you trust your elders, get before them with your spouse. Talk, open, be honest, plead, pray, cry, weep, fight. And trust of the Lord and his grace and wisdom and spirit will lead and lead and lead and lead. But don't give up. Don't give up.
49:56 Jesus says in Mark ten ten, I already said it, but I'll say it again and just to honor our text. And in the house, the disciples asked him again about this matter. So after Jesus spoke to the Pharisees in front of the crowd, the disciples in a private session come to him and say, Lord, we gotta know more about this. And I wonder based on Jesus' answer if their question was about remarriage. He said to them, whoever divorces his wife marries another and marries another commits adultery against her.
50:24 And if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery. You know what that means? What that means? Humanly speaking, no matter what efforts you go through to try to dissolve a union, if it's not on the grounds, the righteous grounds for divorce, then it's still seen as marriage in heaven. So do whatever you need to do here.
50:46 You divorce somebody else for unrighteous reasons, for selfish reasons, for whatever reason, except for the reasons that the Bible presents, and you go marry somebody else. Jesus says it says though you are still married to that person that you think you divorced from and you're now with somebody else. That's adultery. And what happens for a person who might be in that situation? What happens for the person who's hearing this message today saying, I blew it with my marriage?
51:13 Or I I am on the other end, I didn't want this to happen and now here I am. Well, again, there are many ways to approach this. But let me say something here. Let me say something to those who might disagree with me. Maybe more on the liberal side that regardless of the reason for divorce, I should be free to remarry because I am lonely and I am burning and I need companionship.
51:40 Here's what I would say. You know what God's heart would be if there was an illegitimate divorce and each party is not remarried? The priority is not to find another spouse that's more compatible. That's not God's priority. You know what it is?
51:54 Reconciliation. And this this is this is what kinda hurts me because there are some who would say, yeah, this is an illegitimate divorce and, you know, in the name of whatever, mercy and compassion, find somebody else. Find somebody else. You know what that does? That cancels out the possibility of those two people coming together again.
52:16 Because if even after a dishonorable and ugly split, if you are with somebody else, if you even made that decision, the decision that Jesus condemns here, that marriage now is a standing marriage before God. Now you have to honor that marriage. You're saying, what do you mean by that? I'm saying years ago I received an email from somebody who divorced, not for a legitimate reason, remarried adultery and was told by other Christians, you need to divorce that person now and get back with the your original husband. That's not right.
52:53 Now that marriage is recognized. Now that marriage is standing before God. Now you have to honor that marriage and from that place, seek the Lord in repentance and seek to honor him in this new union. You don't divorce and then go back. That goes against what even Deuteronomy is speaking about.
53:11 So then what if, again, you're in that place and you're wondering, I I don't know what to do here. I'm still trying to put all the pieces together on my own thinking, in my own heart. Believe that even if that decision was made, even if you went to that courthouse, even if things seem to be set in stone, God can do a miracle. Do you know how I know that? There is a story that my father told me of somebody he knew, not even a believer.
53:50 Not even a believer. And seeking my father and mother for help concerning their marriage, his marriage with his wife who was sold on divorce. Sold on divorce. And she ended up making that decision. He didn't want it.
54:08 That decision was made and my dad lost touch with this individual. Years ago by, this individual connects with my father again. Still not a believer. But you know what I told my dad? I'm back together with my wife.
54:26 I I never remarried. She never remarried. She just realized what a stupid mistake that was. It took years, but she realized it. You know what stirs me in my heart?
54:35 If that could be true for an unbelieving couple, how much more for us who claim Christ? If that could be true for the world, how much more us who as believers believe that god can restore anything and reconcile anyone? I'm fully aware that this is a heavy message, not an easy message. But here's my desire and I end it here in preparing this and in praying for this and in preaching this. For those who are married in this place, that you would feel a fresh appreciation for the union that you're enjoying in God.
55:14 I want you to look at your spouse after this. I want you to get in that car, not argue about where you're gonna go and eat, but to hold her hand and say, God joined us together. God brought you into my life. God brought you and I to walk this journey hand in hand to glorify him. I'm sorry, honey, if I lose my temper sometimes.
55:37 Honey, I'm sorry if I don't listen to you sometimes. And let the word of God fuse you even closer together. And for those who might leave this place heavy hearted, because maybe you have a history of divorce, maybe right now you are in a limbo, not understanding what to do with your marriage and divorce is on the table. Well, if you have a history with divorce, know this. If you've repented about your past, today is a new day.
56:08 If you are not remarried, reconciliation is possible. If you have remarried, honor God in this marriage now. If you are struggling in your relationship with your husband, with your wife, I beg you, Take that thought of the divorce and throw it in the trash. If there is grounds for it, talk with your elders. Talk with believers.
56:36 Get wisdom on this. Pray about this. Not to dismiss your emotions or the pain, but to have God's word govern your next steps. If there's no grounds for it, I want you to hear me very carefully. Satan is at your front step.
56:55 He's waiting for that to happen, and he will rejoice when it does. Don't give him a chance to rejoice. See this as a trial. See this as a test, and see this as an opportunity to be triumphant and to prove that Satan could not get your marriage, and that you will honor god no matter what. Let's pray.
57:28 Lord, you know how hard our hearts can be, that we can even look at something as holy and pure and heavenly as marriage and have disdain for it and despise it and be unresponsive to it, forgive us. But we pray that for the every believer in this place, we would see the high call marriages, The great responsibilities, but also the great delight the grace of life that marriage really is. Lord, for those who are married, bless them, strengthen them, empower them for those who are struggling in their marriage, lord, rescue them. Rescue them with truth, Lord. If there's an innocent party involved, Lord, strengthen them.
58:15 If there's a guilty party involved, convict them and bring them to their knees to see the gross sin that unfaithfulness really is. For those that are just not getting along and they wanna tap out, may they hear your voice for them today, and may they find fresh motivation to keep fighting. For those who have a history, oh, lord, our prayer is not that they would be guilty or condemned, That they would still praise you in light of your word, and they would see wherever they are today as a new day with a new opportunity to love you and worship you. We thank you, Lord, that first John five tells us that when our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our hearts. Lord, as heinous and as destructive as divorce is, it is not a sin that you are willing not to forgive.
59:19 You will forgive. And so, Lord, we just pray that every person who might have had that past would be secured today knowing that you love them. Lord, we do love you, and we thank you, oh, God, that even with David and Bathsheba, even though the beginning of the relationship was based on immorality and unfaithfulness, when all was said and done, it was a new day, and you gave them Solomon. And you named Solomon Jedidiah, beloved of the Lord. And so for those who might be struggling, do I still have a future?
59:55 Do I still have a future with God because of my past failed relationships? May they remember that you gave us Solomon through a very, very, very interesting relationship. And so, Lord, no matter where we're coming from, we see the hope in this. We see your mind in this, your heart in this, and we wanna rejoice in you. And so we pray that we would do that now by your grace.
