Let me begin reading in verse
1 and read down through verse 12. Matthew chapter 19 and beginning
in verse 1. If you have a few Bibles, you'll
find it on page 1060. Let everything get settled down
a minute. Matthew chapter 19 and verse
1. And it came to pass that when
Jesus had finished these sayings, He departed from Galilee and
came unto the coast of Judea beyond Jordan. And great multitudes
followed Him, and He healed them there. The Pharisees also came
unto Him, tempting Him, and saying unto Him, Is it lawful for a
man to put away his wife for every cause? And He answered
and said unto them, Have you not read that He which made them
at the beginning made them male and female? And said, For this
cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave
to his wife, and they too shall be one flesh. Wherefore, they
are no more two, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined
together, let not man put asunder. They say unto him, Why did Moses
then command to give a written of divorcement, and to put her
away? And he said 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, that whosoever
shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall
marry another, committeth adultery. And whoso marrieth her which
is put away, doeth commit adultery. His disciples said unto him,
If the case of a man be so with his wife, it is not good to marry.
But he said unto them, All men cannot receive this saying, save
they to whom it is given. For there are some eunuchs which
were so born from their mother's womb. And there are some eunuchs
which were made eunuchs of men. And there be eunuchs which have
made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake. And
he that is able to receive it, let him receive it." As I studied
this passage here and looked at it, I noticed the contrast
here between verses 2 and verse 3. You may have noticed it. as
I read it. It said there that great multitudes
came to Him and Jesus healed them. And then what a contrast
in verse 3, the Pharisees came and tempted Him. What a contrast
it always is, isn't it? Between poor needy sinners and
self-righteous Pharisees. Here you have this multitude
that was following our Master and it says He healed them there. Can you imagine the blind coming
to Him and He gave them sight? We have some coming to Him and
their leprosy was covered with their clothing and He cleansed
them. We have some coming on their crutches and some dragging
their limbs along with them. And the Bible says here that
He healed them. Some, no doubt, were possessed
of devils and He healed them. And you know another place says
He healed them all. I can't find any place in the
Scripture where any sick man ever came to the Lord Jesus Christ
and went away unhealed. Everyone who came to Him went
away healed. The multitudes. Well, He said
more than that, didn't He? Great multitudes followed Him
and He healed them Very. All of them. All of them. But
the self-righteous, legalistic, hateful Pharisee, he came to
fuss. And he came to tempt. And you
know something? Just as every poor sick soul
that comes to Christ goes away satisfied and goes away healed,
Every self-righteous Pharisee that comes to Christ to fuss
with Him goes away confused and disappointed. It happened every
time, didn't it? Oh, they thought, we've got Him
now. And in the end, they always went away confused. Wouldn't
you, rutch mother, this morning, wouldn't you much rather be a
poor, sin-sick sinner and come to Jesus Christ for healing of
your soul than to be a self-righteous Pharisee who lived for nothing
but the tempt of the Lord of Glory? Let me be found among
this multitude that followed Him. The Bible says the common
people, the poor people, the needy people, heard Him gladly
and He healed them. that had need of being healed. But not these Pharisees. They
were whole, weren't they? They had no need of repentance
or anything else. We have no sin. We don't need
a Savior. And therefore, they come to tempt
and to argue with the Lord. Wouldn't you rather live in this
world and be a nobody as a somebody? I want to live in this world,
brothers and sisters, and I don't want to be a nobody. I don't
want to be a anybody. I don't want to be a somebody.
I don't want to know anything but my need of the healing power
of the Savior. I'm content to know that. The
night the Lord Jesus was born into this world, there was a
man by the name of King Herod who lived in his mansion surrounded
with pomp and His guards and His men of war, and you know
something, angels passed Him by. There were Pharisees, probably
still in the temple, praying by candlelight. They loved to
hear themselves pray. Still bragging about what a fine
fellow He was and how different He was from everybody else. And
the angels passed them by. And there was a group of poor
shepherds working the midnight shift on the hills of Judea. Common people. And the angels
of the Lord appeared to them and said, Unto you is born a
Savior which is Christ the Lord. And they sang the praises of
God to them. I would rather be one of them
than you as these Pharisees who wanted to tempt and fuss with
the Lord Jesus. I tell you what I'll do this
afternoon is what I'll do just about every Sunday. I'll leave
this pulpit and I'll go home. On my way home, you know what
my prayer is? Lord Jesus, be merciful to me. Lord Jesus, I need a visitation
of your presence. I need to know you better. Do
you ever get above that? You leave here no matter if the
Lord has blessed you to preach or you feel like He's forsaken
you. You go home and you thank, Lord Jesus, have mercy upon me. I need you and nothing else. A friend of mine preached a message
one time. This is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptations that Jesus Christ came into this world
to save sinners. And he said, I want to tell you
two things. about this text. And he said,
you'll never get over these two things. One, he said, is this. Jesus Christ came into this world
to save sinners. Have you ever got over that?
Isn't that amazing in your sight? That the Son of God left heaven,
His glory and the comfort and the worship of that place, and
came to this world to save sinners. Have you ever got over that? And he said, the second thing
is this, of whom I am chief. I am chief. Someone came up with
this old saying years ago, and I think it fits me just well
and I hope it fits you. He said, I'm a poor sinner and
nothing at all. Oh, ain't it a wonderful thing
to be taught that? Some man says, that's not enough. My goodness,
what more would you want to know? If you know that, that's everything,
isn't it? How many do you talk to that
know themselves to be nothing at all? Every man thinks himself
to be something, but I'm a poor sinner and I'm nothing at all. I tell you what, if a man isn't
taught that, then he don't know enough, does he? He needs to
be taught. And the second thing is this,
Jesus Christ is my all and all. And if a man knows any more than
that, he knows too much, doesn't he? He knows too much. Some people
know too much, don't they? I'm a poor sinner and nothing.
That's enough to know about myself. And Jesus Christ is my all. That's enough to know about Him. These common people heard Him
gladly. See these multitudes following
the Lord Jesus. I see a man tapping his way along
with his cane because he can't see. And I see him throwing away
his cane because he can. Some are carried on couches because
they can't walk and they leave carrying their couches. Some
have their running sores and they leave with their skin, look
like a newborn child. Why? Because the Savior has healed
them. And here you have the stout-hearted,
you have the strong, you have those who need no repentance
and they have no faith, and they've come to fuss with the Savior
and tempt Him. Can you imagine that? And this
is said so many different places in the Bible. They tried Him.
They tempted Him. They tried to take Him in His
words. The Lord of glory trying to take Him in His words. But
here in verse 3 it says they came tempting Him. And how did
they do this? Well, they had this purpose behind
them. The Lord Jesus had obtained favor. He was obtained in favor with
the people. Multitudes were following Him
and listened to Him, and the Pharisees were so jealous of
that, so they thought to divide the affections of the people
against Him. Turn the people against His teaching,
and therefore turn the people against Him. Josephus, the great
Jewish historian, tells us that there was two schools of thought
concerning divorce in the days of our Lord Jesus. One was by
a man called Shimea, and he said that the only way to put your
wife away was because of fornication, adultery, whoredom. And there
was another school by the man of the name of Hillel. He said
you could divorce your wife for any reason if her cooking was
bad. If she didn't grow old with grace,
if she lost her attractiveness, or if you found somebody else,
just for about any reason, you could put your wife away. They
wanted to know which school Jesus of Nazareth come down with, so
they could turn the other side against Him. And there was another
thing too. They said this, if He forbids
any divorce at all, Then we'll say this, this man is in disagreement
with Moses because Moses allowed for divorce. Boy, they had it
figured out, didn't they? They had it figured out to tempt
him to say something to give an answer to turn people against
him. Here's what Deuteronomy 24 says
about the divorce, and here's where they took a lot of their
instructions from, and they twisted it. When a man hath taken a wife,
and married her, and it came to pass that she find no favor
in his eyes, because he hath found some uncleanness in her,
then let him write her a bill of divorcement, and give it in
her hand, and send her away out of his house." But boy, these
Jews! They put such a wide application
on that finding no favor in her eyes. And they put such a wide
application on that, if any uncleanness be found in her, they apply that
to everything. If she burns my cooking, there's
some uncleanness. If she had bad manners, I can
put her away. There was one rabbi, and he said
this, Rabbi Aqaba was his name. If any man saw a woman handsomer
than his own wife, he might put her away, his own wife away,
because it is said in the law, if she find no favor in his eyes. What a twist to that Scripture.
Josephus. I just mentioned, maybe you've
read about Josephus. He lived in the days of our Lord.
when our Lord was upon this earth. He wrote about the invasion of
Rome against Jerusalem. And this is what He said about
Himself. He said, About this time I put away my wife, who
had borne me three children, not being pleased with her manners. So I put her away. He was a Jew.
Had bad manners. Developed bad manners. What was
Christ going to answer to this? What was he going to say? How
was he going to answer to keep them turning one group against
him and make one group like him? You know something? He never
was concerned about being liked. He never was worried about turning
somebody against him. He was worried about one thing,
and you know what it was? What is the truth? And that's
the way he's going to answer this question. And look here
in verse 4. In verse 4, ain't this amazing? And He said, He answered and
said unto them, Have you not read? Ain't that amazing? Have you not read? How did Christ answer his questions? When somebody asked Him a question,
He was the wisdom of God. And yet, how did He answer the
questions of all the ways that He could have answered them?
How did He always answer them? Have you not read? Have you never
opened your Bibles? Have you not read? When Satan assaulted Him there
in the wilderness, when He fasted for 40 days and 40 nights, every
time Satan assaulted Him, He said this, It is written. It
is written. Boy, he got so much comfort and
instructions from his own Word, didn't he? It is written. I know
some of you are always concerned about when people ask you questions.
How do I answer them? I need some help. You know the
best answer you can give to anybody? It's not having some ability
to reason out. The best way is to find you a
verse of Scripture and turn the Bible around and put it under
their eyes and say, Read this! Read this! The best way to answer
people is not telling them what John Gill said, or Spurgeon said,
or anybody else said. Have you not read what God said? That settles it, doesn't it?
Even our Lord Jesus Christ said that Himself. Have you not read? A babe in Christ can answer questions
if you'll read His Bible. A babe in Christ can be wise
unto salvation and answer these questions. Our Lord Jesus defines what marriage
is. I want you to notice this. I
want you to notice this. He does it in several ways. He
begins here in verse 4, and look what He does. Have you not read
that He which made them at the beginning made them male and
female? What's the first thing He does
in telling us what marriage is? He goes back to the beginning,
and here's what He says marriage is. God instituted marriage in
the beginning between one man and one woman. Genesis 127, in
the beginning, God made them male and female. When He instituted marriage,
there was only one man and only one woman. If God had intended
for Adam to have more than one wife, or one wife at a time,
He would have made two women, wouldn't He? There was one man
and one woman. Listen, if God intended a man
to marry a man, instead of making Eve, He would have made Steve,
wouldn't He? One man and one woman. That's
the way God did it in the beginning. Man's laws do not negate or change
God's institution. I mean, the Congress of this
great nation can pass laws. The court can interpret the laws. The Jewish theologians can alter
all they want to, but they cannot change what God instituted in
the very beginning of time, what marriage was. In verse 5, notice
what he does here. This is something he does, and
he says, For this cause shall a man leave
his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife, and
they too shall be one flesh." But here in verse 5, he quotes
God. Ain't that amazing? He said, and he said, and he
said, and said. God said. Isn't that amazing?
Jesus was quoting God. That's amazing. And He said,
He created them and He said, look at the close intimate relationship
marriage brings. For this cause shall a man leave
his father and his mother and cleave unto his wife. You know marriage, the union
of marriage is closer and it's more vital than the relationship
between a son and his dad, or a mother and her daughter? That's
what the Lord says here. However much a man may respect
his father and love his mother, he leaves them to cleave unto
his wife. The relationship between the
husband and the wife is stronger than the bond between the child
and its parent. Would a parent desert his child just for any old cause? That
wouldn't be natural, would it? To take a little child out in
the crowd and the parent just desert it? That's not natural.
And for a child to desert its parent isn't natural. Is it natural for man to put
away his wife for any cause? The bond of this institution
of marriage is not only more sacred, but it's more binding
and it's stronger than the bond between the parent and the child.
Just as the parent would never forsake his child, our child
should never forsake his parent. How much more? should a man never
forsake his wife or a wife or a husband. Therefore, therefore,
he says, shall a man leave his father and his mother and cleave
unto his wife. Why? What would possess a man
to leave his dear father and mother that he loves? There is
this bond that is stronger than nature itself. And here in verses
5 and verse 6, the Lord Jesus does this. In the last portion
of verse 5, "...and shall cleave unto his wife, and they too shall
be one flesh. Wherefore, they are no more two,
but one flesh." Notice what else the Lord Jesus says here. This
is this union. They too shall be one flesh. They are no more two, but one
flesh. You know it's never said that
a father and his son are one. It's not even said the mother
and her son are one. But the husband and the wife
are one. They're one. See the wisdom of
God in this. I mean, He could have made Eve
out of the dust just like He made Adam. But He didn't. Where
did Eve come from? Out of Adam. He put Adam to sleep
and took a rib and made a woman and brought her to Adam and says,
this is now bone of your bone and flesh of your flesh. Adam
could not put her away and divorce her without putting away a part
of himself. She came out of him. He was only complete and whole
as he lived in union with his wife. My, what a sacred and precious
union marriage is. And this is why it represents
the church, isn't it? The believer in the Lord Jesus
Christ. They have this union. You know
what the Bible says? We're born of His bone. The believer
is flesh of His flesh. Christ and His church are one. He is in His church and His church
is in Him. And you know something? If Christ
ever put her away, just one member away, you know something? He'd
cease to be complete. He'd cease to be whole. What
a grounds for assurance for every child of God. Christ will never
put you away, dear child of God. If He did, He would not be whole. One of the most amazing passages
of Scripture is found there in Ephesians 1. where Paul was talking
about God raising Christ from the dead and setting Him at His
own right hand and put everything under His feet and made Him to
be head over all things to the church. Now listen to this, which
is His body? The church is His body, the fullness
of Him that filleth all and all. The fullness of Him? You know, he refuses to say that
he's full without his church. His church is what makes him
full. And he's the sovereign Lord of
glory. And he says, if you take my church
away, I cease to be whole. I cease to be complete. What
a union that is. And this is one of the reasons
marriage between a man and a woman is so sacred. It's a beautiful
picture of that union between Jesus Christ and His church. And in the light of this union
here in verse 6, what therefore God hath joined together, let
not man divide, part, or put asunder. No husband is allowed
to do it. No wife is allowed to do it.
No institution, no law of the man is allowed to divide what
God has joined together. Boy, divorce is a gross sin,
isn't it? It's a sin against God. It's
a sin against the institution, the first institution of the
Lord God Himself. So that was the question answered.
He answered the question. And he went to the Scripture.
Go back to the beginning and see where marriage was established
and that it was established of God. There was a union in it. God joined them together. And
what God has joined together, let not man put asunder. And
obviously, his answer was this. Is a man lawful to put away his
wife? No. No. That's His answer, isn't
it? And boy, you see these Pharisees
now, we've got Him. Man, we've got Him. We've got
Him. We knew this is what He's going
to say because we know Him to be a holy man. He's a moral man.
And we knew how He was going to come down on this. And now
He's contradicted Moses. Now we've got Him. See what He says here in verse
7? And they say unto him, why then did Moses command to give
a written of divorcement and to put her away? It's obvious
that you're contradicting Moses. Why did Moses then command us?
You're telling us one thing. Moses commanded us to do something
else. But notice how the Lord Jesus
answers them in verse 8. Moses, because of the hardness
of your hearts, suffered you to put away your wife. They said Moses commanded us. The Lord Jesus said He commanded
you no such thing. You're twisting the Scriptures
to get your own interpretation from it. Moses suffered you. He permitted you. He allowed
you to do it. And there's a vast difference
between the command and suffering somebody to do something. Why did He suffer them? Because
of the hardness of your hearts. Not only Moses, but God was always
confronting them with this, wasn't He? You stiff-necked and uncircumcised
in heart. You hard-hearted people. Moses
complained about them all the time. They were getting ready
to go into the land of Israel, and that land of promise, they
were all pumped up. And Moses said, God did not give
you this land for your own righteousness, for you are a stiff-necked people. And he said in another place
when he was ready to die, I know your rebellion and your stiff-neckedness. Behold, while I am yet alive
this day, you have been rebellious against the Lord, and how much
more after my death. And even Stephen when he was
preaching to them said this, you are a stiff-necked and uncircumcised
in heart and ears. The life that they had, the promises
of God in the Old Testament that they had, they had less excuse
for their sin and their damnation than the Gentiles had. They would
be more to blame because they had greater light. And yet they
were so hard-hearted. The Lord said about Moses, if
Moses had not have suffered you to put away your wife, You'd
have treated your wife harshly. You'd have treated your wife
with cruelty, and maybe even not only false accused them,
but had them stoned for all kinds of sin because of the hardness
of your heart. Brothers and sisters, you know
something? When we're hateful to our wives, when we mistreat
our wives, and when any man abuses his wife and deals with her harshly,
you know the cause of that. The hard heart. The hard heart. Boy, we live in a society today,
and I remember back in the 80s and 90s, they were just divorced
for any reason. It's all right. It's all right.
Don't worry about it. Don't worry about it. Just any
old reason. What's it done to our society?
I mean, we've become morally bankrupt in our society, have
we not? Look at the cost on the finances
alone in the state governments, in the county. Women leaving
their children and their husbands. Men running off with other wives.
No-fault divorce. It's all right. It's fine. All
right, if that's what you say. But boy, when we start suffering
for it, when we start suffering for it, don't raise your voice
and say, why is this happening to us? And you know what the
cause is? The hard heart. The hard heart. The last part of verse 8, notice
what the Lord does here. Moses, because of the hardness
of your hearts, suffered you to put away your wife. Now look
at this. But from the beginning, It was not so. You know what he did? He went
all the way back to the beginning to establish what marriage is. Don't we have to do that sometimes?
I mean, when we go for 2,000 years, 5,000 years, and everything
gets cluttered up, and everything gets corrupted because man had
his little input in it, what do we have to do? We have to
go all the way back to the beginning, don't we? And clear everything
up. You know what they call the Book
of Genesis? That's the Book of Beginnings, isn't it? And sometimes
we need to go back there and clear everything up just like
our Master did. About 1600 years or so after the Lord put man
upon this earth, He gave Moses the Law on Mount Sinai. And the
Jews had a habit of thinking, boy, that changed everything.
This is a new way now. God's going to save men different
now. Men's going to walk with God different now. Men's going
to heaven in a different way now. Now it's law. It's law. But you know something? We've got to go back before the
law. We've got to go back when we didn't have the law. when
Moses was not around. When we go back to the very beginning,
how does God save sinners? How do men walk with God? How
do men please God? How do men go to heaven when
this life is over? You won't find those answers
in the Law of Moses. You have to go all the way back
to the Book of Genesis. There was these two sons born
just outside the garden. And that's very, very significant
to remember. They were born outside the garden. That means they were born fallen
in the image of their fallen Adam. And their mom and their
dad told them, they said, sons, listen, God is a holy God. And if you come to Him to worship
Him and to be accepted of Him and to be declared righteous
of Him, you must bring a blood sacrifice. You must! You must come into His presence
by faith in that sacrifice. And you know what Cain said?
I don't believe no such stuff. I don't believe that. I believe
it's going to take more than that. I'm convinced in my heart
that I've got to work and do the best I can. God won't accept
me if I can't bring something of my own. So he planted him
a big garden. And boy, he worked and sweat
and got blisters on his hands. And he got all these beautiful
vegetables. And he put them in this big basket.
And here he came with a smile on his face and confidence in
his heart. God is going to be so pleased. And you know something? God wouldn't
even look at him. God frowned and turned His back. Why? God never intended to save
anybody by works. Never did. This is what teaches
us in the fourth and fifth chapter of Genesis. And Abel says, I
believe what my dad and mom told me. God is holy. And if I'm to
be accepted, I must bring a blood sacrifice. And here he got him
a lamb and cut his throat and come with that bloody sacrifice
and placed it between a holy God and his guilt. And God smiled. And God said, you're righteous.
You are a righteous man. And I accept your sacrifice and
I accept you in this sacrifice. And the Bible says this about
Abel. He offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain.
And how did he offer it? By faith. By faith he offered
unto God. And he obtained witness that
he was righteous. How does God make a man righteous,
brothers and sisters? Is it not through a sacrifice?
Is it not by the obedience of another? How does a man receive
that sacrifice? Is it not by faith? We go back to the beginning,
don't we? Oh, Bruce, why was the law even given? The Bible
tells us this about the law. It was given because of transgressions
till Christ should come to whom the promise was made. Wherefore
then serveth the law, it was added, that sin may abound."
It's good, isn't it? Because it shows us our sin against
God. But you know what don't save
a man? It don't justify a man. A sacrifice must do that. How
does a man walk with God? How does a man please God? Randy
talked about that this morning, didn't he? There was a man by
the name of Enoch, and the Bible says that Enoch walked with God,
and he was not, for God took him. And you go over to Hebrews
chapter 11, and they interpret that for us. There was a man
by the name of Enoch, and by faith In it was translated that
he should not see death. Before his translation, he had
this testimony that he pleased God. But without faith, it is
impossible to please God. How do we walk with God? How
do we please Him? By faith in His Son. The life
I now live, I live by faith in the Son of God. There is no other
way, brothers and sisters. We look to the law and all we
will see is our sin. We look to Christ and keep our
eyes upon Him, and we walk with God back to the beginning. From the beginning, from the
beginning, it was not so. This law of Moses was so far
from being able to save a sinner, it could not even motivate a
man to love his wife. It had to suffer him to put his
wife away. It's only the Gospel that gives
us what the Law commands. I don't want a salvation that
won't give me what the Law commands. And the Law commands love. Love. And boy, when Christ comes to
the heart and sheds abroad His love in our hearts, what do we
do? We love, don't we? We love. And for this reason,
a man won't commit adultery. He won't steal. He won't kill. He won't bear false witness.
And if there's any other commandment, it's briefly comprehended in
this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. And how is that law
fulfilled in us? We've got a new heart. We've
got a new spirit. And we love. And we love. Verse 9, right quickly. I'll
just keep you a few more minutes. Verse 9. And I say unto you,
that whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication,
and shall marry another, committeth adultery. And whoso marrieth
her which is put away, doeth commit adultery." Boy, I tell
you what, whatever misunderstanding they had of the law of Moses,
boy, it's cleared up right here, ain't it? I say unto you, I say,
This is my interpretation of the law of Moses and the law
of God and everything else. Verily I say unto you. Here's the lawgiver speaking,
isn't it? Here's the interpreter of the law speaking. I say unto
you. I tell you, everybody in this
room this morning, I mean every one of you that believe the gospel,
you are to rejoice in your heart. You are to leap for joy. because
there's not a one of us here this morning that's not guilty.
You say, Bruce, I've never, I've lived with my wife ever since
we was married, and I've never, you may have, and that's wonderful,
but who among us hasn't looked? Who among us hasn't thought?
And the Lord Jesus said, the very instant that the thought
of lust enters the heart, you're guilty. That Samaritan woman had five
husbands. Can you imagine that? And living
with one then that wasn't his. Don't you imagine she rejoiced
when she read this? And remembered how guilty she
was? And the blood had washed her
and cleansed her. Verse 10, quickly. And His disciples,
look at this. Oh, these poor disciples. You
think you don't have much sense. Look at these four disciples.
His disciples said unto him, If the case of a man be so with
his wife, it is not good to marry. They seemed so loath to give
up divorce, didn't they? They did. We don't want to give
up divorce. It seems if they couldn't have everything they
wanted on their terms, they didn't want anything. If they're not
allowed to put away their wives when they please, they don't
want to have a wife at all. It's not good to have a wife
if you don't have liberty to put her away. Ain't that what
they said? It's not even good to marry them if you can't put
your wife away. But you know something? You know what God
said? When Adam was alone in the garden and he was holy and
happy, God said it's not good for man to be alone. So he made
a help make for him. It's good, isn't it? Marriage
is good. Oh, corrupt nature wants no restrictions,
though, doesn't it? I want to get married, but I
don't want any restrictions. I want to put her away when I
want to put her away. You know the happiest Adam and
Eve ever was? When marriage, when divorce was
never thought of. When it was no option. It's only
when it's an option that people become miserable. When you marry
a woman and commit yourself to her for life and say, it's till
death do us part, then it's a happy marriage. It's only when corrupt
nature says, ah, this is awful. I can't put her away. And look
how she's got wrinkles. And she's put on some weight.
Oh, she's this and that. You've seen these guys. They've
got a belly that you can push around in a wheelbarrow, and
they're complaining how bad their wife looks. I want somebody younger. Can't
put her away. Matthew Henry said this, It is
a foolish, pevious thing for men to abandon the comforts of
this life because of the crosses that are commonly woven in with
them. Blessings of this life, but there's
crosses woven into it. That would be like saying, well,
I'd like to have a house. But you've got to paint it. I'd
like to have a car, but you've got to maintain it. Well, I'd like some food. I'm
hungry, but you've got to prepare it. I'd love some clean clothes,
but you've got to wash them. It makes no sense, does it? I'd
like to have a wife, but I can't divorce her. That's what these
disciples were saying. And the Lord Jesus said, All
men cannot receive this saying, save they to whom it is given." Marriage is good. Marriage is
good. But there are some men that do
not need to marry. And that is good too, isn't it?
Paul said this, I say unto the unmarried widows, it is good
for them if they abide even as I. And that is true for some
people. But not all people. All men cannot
receive this saying about marriage, the Lord said, but except those
to whom it is given. And then he goes on in verse
12 and explains that. Some men are born eunuchs. A
eunuch was a castrated person. And that did away with the desire
for a woman. Some people are born with no
need, no desire in their hearts for the marriage state. I know
people like that. I know people that's old, never
been married, had no need to be married. The Lord said some
people are born that way. And He said some people are made
eunuchs by men. That's a lot of what they did
during the days of slave trade and all that. They castrated
the men so they could be ministers and help their wives. That was
a cruel thing to do. And He said there are those who
have made themselves eunuchs, not literally or physically,
but in their minds. in their minds. They have made
themselves eunuchs. They have no desire for the marriage
state that they may give themselves wholly to the work of Christ. Paul said this, Are you bound
to a wife? Don't seek to be loosed. Are
you loosed from a wife? Seek not a wife. But and if you
marry, you've not sinned. If a virgin marries, she's not
sinned. But such shall have trouble in the flesh. But I spare you. But this I say, brethren, the
time is short. The time is short. Boy, it's
short, isn't it? It's short. The fashion of this
world and the world and all our physical relationships are passing
away. You guys have been married a
long time, Wayne and Colleen, but that's temporal. It's going
to end. All our temporal relationships
is going to end. Brother Fortner always says,
hold them loosely, doesn't he? Hold these things loosely. Well,
the time is short and we've got to let them go. Our hearts and
minds should be on that eternal relationship, our union with
Jesus Christ our Lord. Let's pray.