Go with me back to Mark chapter
10. Mark 10. Our Lord deals with
every instance. Every subject, every single subject
that man might face right here in his word. He deals with everything
right here in his word. This morning, our Lord is dealing
with the difficult subject of divorce. And I pray that he might open
our hearts to what he has to say. The title this morning is
a message for those considering divorce. It happens. It happens. And I pray the Lord might help
us and enlighten us and encourage us by His Spirit, through His
Word. May He truly speak to us this
morning in this. Verse 1, Mark chapter 10, verse
1 says, And He arose from thence, and
cometh into the coasts of Judea, by the farther side of Jordan,
and the people resort unto him again. And as he was want," the
word want means used to doing, as he was known for doing, as
he usually did, he taught them again. I thought about making
a message out of that verse alone. We could literally dwell right
there on the goodness and kindness of that forever. I mean forever. For the Lord to preach peace
to a sinner one time, that's just indescribable mercy and
compassion, isn't it? But that he would come back and
do it again. He came back. And he did it again. Our Lord truly is good. He is
so good, so kind. Verse one says, And he arose
from thence, and cometh into the coast of Judea by the farther
side of Jordan. And the people resort unto him
again. And as he was want, he taught
them again. And the Pharisees came to him
and asked him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife, tempting
him? They came to him and they said,
is it okay for a man to divorce his wife? And they were not asking
him for his wisdom. They were not interested in his
wisdom. They were trying to discredit
him by putting him in a position where he couldn't answer, tempting
him. Verse two, and the Pharisees
came to him and asked him, is it lawful for a man to put away
his wife, tempting him? And he answered and said unto
them, what did Moses command you? You want to talk about the law?
They said, is it lawful? He said, you want to talk about
the law? What did Moses command you? He's
about to preach law and grace to them. That's what he's about
to do. He's about to preach law and
grace. But he said, you want to talk about the law? What did
Moses say? Now, in the United States of
America. All right, in the United States
of America. Is it lawful for a man to put
away his wife? Is it lawful for a man to put
away his wife? If a man divorces his wife, will
the police come to him, take him away, and lock him up? No. So yes, it is lawful for
a man to put away his wife in the courts of this country, right? Verse 3, He answered and said
unto them, What did Moses command you? And they said, Moses suffered
to write a bill of divorcement and to put her away. And Jesus
answered and said unto them, For the hardness of your heart,
He wrote you this precept." Men started hating their wives and
they would abuse them and they would beat them and they would
kill them. So God mercifully allowed Moses
to write a bill of divorcement to spare the wives from the hardness
of man's heart. Verse five, and Jesus answered
and said unto them, for the hardness of your heart, he wrote you this
precept, but from the beginning. In Matthew's account, he said,
it was not so. From the beginning it was not
so, it was not allowed and there was no need for it, no need at
all. Verse 6 says, but from the beginning
of the creation God made them male and female. God made them for each other,
male and female. God made Eve from Adam. Adam said this is bone of my
bone. Isn't that what he said? Bone
of my bone. And God performed a wedding ceremony
for him. He made both of them and then
he performed a wedding ceremony for him and this was his message.
This was what he preached. in his ceremony before God. Verse
7 says, For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother,
and cleave to his wife, and they twain shall be one flesh. So then they are no more twain,
but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined
together, let not man put asunder. God made two people for each
other's happiness. He said it's not good that the
man should dwell alone, didn't he? And he sanctified that union. He caused that union to be holy
in his eyes. He views that still to this day. He still views the sanctity of
marriage in the same way. It's a holy union in his eyes. He said marriage is honorable. It's honorable. And the bed of
marriage, the bed of marriage is undefiled. Undefiled. Go with me over to
Genesis chapter 2. Genesis 2 verse 21, and the Lord God caused a deep
sleep to fall upon Adam and he slept and he took one of his
ribs and closed up the flesh instead thereof. And the rib
which the Lord God had taken from man made he a woman and
brought her unto the man. And Adam said, This is now bone
of my bones, and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman,
because she was taken out of man. Therefore shall a man leave
his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife, and
they shall be one flesh. And they were both naked, the
man and his wife. And were not ashamed. God performed
a wedding ceremony for them. They were both naked, the man
and his wife. He joined them together. And
they were not ashamed. They had nothing to be ashamed
of. Nothing. Marriage is a beautiful example
of God's love. That's what it is. He talked
about it all through Song of Solomon. A beautiful example
of God's love. In marriage, God causes two people
to become one. One flesh. One flesh. That is a beautiful thing. And
that's what true marriage is. True marriage is not just something
that has been filed down at the courthouse. It's not just a binding
agreement between two people. That's not what marriage is.
True marriage, this match that God makes in heaven, is two people
becoming one. Two people becoming one. True
marriage is one heart. When two people are vitally joined,
they have one heart, one mind, one desire for each other. Two people stand up in a wedding
ceremony and what they're saying is, I want you only. And the other one says, I want
you only. Same mind, same heart, same desire
for each other, for each other's good. A man lovingly says, she's
my better half. It's true. I mean, it's true. Men usually say that later on
in life, we start out trying to be macho, just too macho. But the fact of the matter is,
if I didn't have my wife, I'd feel like half me. I would, I'd
feel like half me. I need her. And I thank God he
gave her to me and I thank God for it. I need her. I truly do. God Almighty said, and I believe
Him, He said, true marriage is a man leaving his father and
mother, cleaving to his wife, and the two of them becoming
one flesh. One flesh. Go with me over to
Ephesians chapter 5. Ephesians 5 verse 25 says, Husbands,
love your wives even as Christ also loved the church and gave
himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with
the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself
a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing. but that it should be holy and
without blemish. So ought men to love their wives
as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth
himself." Now I can enter into, I can understand a little bit
about how much I love me. I can enter into that. I love
me. I do. I truly do. Everything that I do is somehow
for me. For my benefit. Every single
thing I do. I put shoes on to protect my feet and my toes.
I protect me. I care for me. I nourish me. I do. God Almighty said that's how
a man ought to love his wife. That's how a man ought to love
his wife. As he loves his own body, there should be no separation
there. One flesh. One flesh. Now, our Lord is dealing this
morning with the subject of divorce. The subject of divorce, so I'm
not going to take the time to go into all the ways that sinful
man has defiled his ordinance of marriage to two people, a
man and a woman coming together outside of the covenant of marriage. God will not. God will not bless
two people outside of His covenant. They will not find His favor
outside of His covenant. Men defiling His covenant of
marriage with other men. Women defiling that covenant
with other women. Romans 1, he's very clear on
how he's going to deal with men and women who have defiled their
God-given bodies in his sight. He's going to turn them over
to a reprobate mind and cast away, cast out. So it should be no shock. It
shouldn't be a this should not be a revelation to us that God
is against divorce. Right. Is that shocking to any
of us? that God is against divorce,
that he's jealous over his covenant, that he ordained this covenant
of marriage. Look back with me at Mark chapter
10. Mark chapter 10 verse 9 says,
What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. And in the house his disciples
asked him again of the same matter, and he said unto them, Whosoever
shall put away his wife and marry another, committeth adultery
against her. And if a woman shall put away
her husband and be married to another, she committeth adultery."
Now turn with me over to Matthew chapter 5. Matthew 5 verse 31 says, It hath been said, Whosoever
shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement.
But I say unto you that whosoever shall put away his wife, saving
for the cause of fornication. Now there are three things that
God has declared in His Word. that will disannul the marriage
in his eyes. The first one is fornication.
If one leaves the covenant and goes after someone else. The
second one is in 1 Corinthians 7, abandonment. If one leaves
and says I'm not coming back. Abandonment embodied by that
leaving. I believe abuse falls under the
same category. Abandonment of heart. The Lord
said a believer is not under bondage in such cases. The third
one is in Romans 7. He said death will do it. Death
will do it. But outside of that, our Lord
says in verse 32, I say unto you that whosoever shall put
away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth
her to commit adultery, and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced,
committeth adultery. Now look at Matthew 19 with me.
Matthew 19 verse 8 says, He saith unto them, Moses, because
of the hardness of your hearts, suffered you to put away your
wives, but from the beginning it was not so. And I say unto
you, whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication,
and shall marry another, Committeth adultery and whosoever marrieth
her which is put away doth commit adultery. In Matthew 5 he said
the wife commits adultery and whoever marries her commits adultery.
Right here he says whoever puts away commits adultery. What God has joined together
let no man put asunder. It's all adultery. That's what
God says it's all adultery. Well yeah but it's okay because
God forgives sin. No, he doesn't. I know he said not to do it,
but it's okay because God forgives sin. No, he doesn't. God punishes sin. He cannot clear the guilty. God
does not sweep sin under the rug. Well, it's alright. If we need proof of that, let's
look at the cross. Isn't that right? God does not just forgive sin. Christ had to pay for sin. He had to pay for it. Christ
had to hang there bearing that sin. Christ had to take that
actual sin off of me, lay it on Himself before God and say,
punish me. That's what had to happen. And
Christ did not pay for all sin. He did not just blanketly pay
for all the sin of the world. So I had better be careful about
my open rebellion against Him. Isn't that right? If Christ did not pay for my
sin it's still on me. That brings fear, I'm going to
tell you the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Look
with me at Luke 16. Luke 16 verse 15. And He said unto them, Ye are
they which justify yourselves before men. We'll say anything. We'll come up with anything to
justify ourselves before men. You are they which justify yourselves
before men, but God knoweth your hearts. For that which is highly
esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God. The law
and the prophets were until John. Since that time the kingdom of
God is preached and every man presseth into it. And it is easier
for heaven and earth to pass than one tittle." That means
cross of the T. A jot is a dot of the I. A tittle is a cross of the T.
It is easier for heaven and earth to pass than one tittle of the
law to fail. Whosoever putteth away his wife,
and marrieth another, commiteth adultery. And whosoever marrieth
her that is put away from her husband, commiteth adultery. Now why is our Lord so clear
on the fact that He hates divorce? Why is our Lord so clear, so
crystal clear on the fact that He hates divorce? The reason
is because He is good. He tells us over and He tells
us over and He tells us over because He is so good. He is
so, so good. He teaches us again because He's
so good. The fact that God hates divorce
is our gospel. The fact that that's who He is
The fact that that's his mind, the fact that that's his heart,
the fact that he keeps his covenant, that's our good news. That's
the gospel to a sinner. That's the gospel to a sinner. He said, if you do this, it's
going to make you a sinner. And that's the good news to a
sinner. Go back with me to Ephesians
5. Ephesians 5 verse 32 says, This
is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. He said everything I'm saying
is about Christ and the church. Every single bit of it. Christ
and His bride. Christ and His own. His own who
rejected Him. rejected Him, received Him not. He came to His bride and she
received Him not. Nope. His bride who has committed spiritual,
physical, mental, emotional fornication against Him, adultery against
Him. We have literally given ourselves
to everything but Him. everything. His church who cried
crucify Him, we just mentioned that. All of those people, most
of those people, or a great number of those people standing at the
cross crying crucify Him was His bride, His church. Peter
said you by wicked hands took Him to Pilate. Those were the
ones who fell down. His church, His own He had every
right, every right to put us away because of all of this rejection,
all of this fornication, all of this abandonment because of
our death. Death will disannul it. And we
died. And He had every legal right
to put us away. But thank God he hates divorce. He hates it. Verse 25 right here
in Ephesians 5 says, Husbands, love your wives even as Christ
also loved the church and gave himself for it, that he might
sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word. According to God's broken law,
his wife had to die for this cause. For that cause, the man, the
man left his father, cleaved to his wife, and they
too became one flesh. He became vitally joined to her
sin, and she became vitally joined to his blood. And He gave her
His life, and she gave Him her death. One flesh. And in becoming one
flesh, He redeemed her back to Himself.
Verse 26 says that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing
of water by the Word, that He might present it to Himself a
glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing,
us, but that it should be holy and
without blemish. So ought men to love their wives
as their own bodies, He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his
own flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord
the church. For we are members of his body
and of his flesh and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave
his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and
they too shall be one flesh." One flesh, for that reason. Now,
for any believer who is considering divorce, I'm so thankful that
if anybody in here is considering divorce, I don't know about it.
I love dealing with things when they're not an issue. But if
anyone hears this, on the internet or wherever, anybody who is considering,
any believer especially, who is considering divorce. If a
believing man is considering divorcing his wife, or if a believing
woman is considering divorcing her husband for any other reason
than fornication, abuse, which is abandonment,
Death is not divorce. It disannuls the marriage in
God's eyes, but it's not divorce. But if the divorce is for any
other reason than the ones that God has recognized, if it's for
the most common reason of, I'm tired of you. I'm just tired of you. I'm just tired of who you are.
Who you are sickens me. I'm tired of what you constantly
do. The things you do makes me want
to just put you away. I'm ready to be done with you.
I'm just ready to be done with you. I've had all I can stand. Dear believer, before we sever
ourselves from that person, let's take just a minute to consider,
what would be the end of me if God did that to me? What would be the end of me if
God did that to me? I claim to be the bride of Christ
and look at me. I weary him all the day, don't
I? Everything that my sinful flesh
is, is a stench in his nostrils. The things that I do, why do
I do the things that I do? They're not pleasing to him.
I don't go through my day pleasing my God, my husband. And what would be the end of
me if he divorced me? He has every right to, legally. Is it lawful for him to do that?
Yes, it is. Based on what I've done? Yes,
it is. But what would be the end of
me if God did the same thing to me? His long-suffering That
patience that he has is my salvation. The long-suffering of the Lord
is my salvation. I want to close with Jeremiah
3. Go with me over to Jeremiah chapter 3. Jeremiah 3, verse 1. This is,
oh may the Lord let us enter into this. Jeremiah 3, verse
1. They say, if a man put away his
wife and she go from him and become another man's, shall he
return unto her again? Shall not the land be greatly
polluted? But thou hast played the harlot
with many lovers, yet return again to me, saith the Lord. Isn't that sweet? Come on back. If any believer is considering
divorce, except for these reasons that God gave, For this cause. For this cause. Oh, our Lord
is so good. Our husband is so faithful to
us. For this cause. For Christ's sake. For Christ's
sake. What God has joined together,
let no man put asunder. If God joined it together, let
no man put it asunder.