The Question of Divorce, Part 2

Driving home: Divorce is contrary to the divine institution, contrary to the nature of marriage, and contrary to the divine action by which the union is effected. It is precisely here that its wickedness becomes singularly apparent. I…

Martin quotes Professor Murray to emphasize that divorce is contrary to divine institution, nature of marriage, and God's action, highlighting its wickedness as man sundering what God joined.

And all of this was because of the moral perversity of the Jewish nation. For your hardness of heart, Moses wrote this commandment. And do no better than to quote these three sentences of Professor Murray. Divorce is contrary to the divine institution, contrary to the nature of marriage, and contrary to the divine action by which the union is effected. It is precisely here that its wickedness becomes singularly apparent. It is the sundering by man of a union which God...

10:44 - 11:44 Read in full sermon

The point: Hold down practical questions about fractured marriages and unwarranted divorces until they can be addressed in a topical message.

Compares the disciples' good motive for asking about divorce to the Pharisees' evil motive, showing that the same question can arise from different heart conditions.

You see, the question raised by the Pharisees with an evil and devious motive is now raised by the disciples with a good motive. The word again can refer to being in the house again or to asking the question again, and exegetes differ as to which it ought to be attached. But in either case, it's plain. That when the disciples...

13:17 - 13:48 Read in full sermon

Driving home: For the simple reason that God will not accommodate His institution and His reckoning to man's willful folly and sin. That's it.

Uses the analogy of a public sermon followed by private clarification at the door to explain why Jesus' private teaching to disciples doesn't cancel His public statements, especially regarding exceptions.

When the disciples come into the house with their Lord, they bring with them the full deposit of what He had previously said in a public discourse. And therefore, they never would have understood, they never would have understood, they never would have understood His private reiteration of the central issue as cancelling anything He had already declared by way of exceptions to that general principle. You follow the reasoning? If I say something in public, in preaching the Word of God, and then someone comes to me at the door at the end of the service, or two or three people, and say, look, I'd...

17:38 - 18:47 Read in full sermon

Driving home: For the simple reason that God will not accommodate His institution and His reckoning to man's willful folly and sin. That's it.

Illustrates that man's decrees (like divorce certificates) do not overturn God's rights or institutions, just as children's decrees don't change a father's house rules.

What God has done, let no man the creature think to put asunder. And therefore, when men for slight causes would put away their wives with impunity and often the very purpose was to marry another as it is in our day, they may obtain whatever decree of divorce they desire, but in the eye of God, the newly consummated relationship is an act of adultery because God does not reckon the severance of the two shall become one union. A decree from a court of man does not overturn God's rights any more than six kids in a family getting together in one of the bedrooms of the children deciding they're go...

23:37 - 24:48 Read in full sermon

Driving home: If divorce under any circumstances is sin, God is a sinner.

Cites God's divorce of Israel in Jeremiah 3:8 as evidence that divorce is not always sinful, challenging the notion that divorce under any circumstances is sin.

Now, if you want to live with that kind of exegetical and theological nonsense, then hold the position propagated by certain prominent, prominent people even in our area, that divorce under any circumstances or divorce and remarriage is automatically against the will of God. You say, Pastor, that's strong language. You make God a sinner. Yes, because God divorced Israel. He did?

32:36 - 33:23 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Sin is always present as the cause of divorce, but not every divorce is sinful.

Uses Joseph's intention to divorce Mary (Matthew 1:19) as an example of a righteous man considering divorce, further countering the idea that all divorce is inherently sinful.

And in the Hebrew culture, betrothal was as it were the preface and binding commitment, sort of the prelude to the whole orchestration of marriage, considered in many ways as binding as marriage, so that a man's betrothed friend could be called his wife, though they did not cohabit. Notice what is said in, Matthew 1.19, And Joseph, her husband, being a righteous man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to divorce her privately. A righteous man was minded to divorce her. Now isn't it strange? If divorce is in all cases sin, that God uses it as one of the indications of the ...

34:49 - 36:00 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Sin is always present as the cause of divorce, but not every divorce is sinful.

Martin shares his personal background where 'divorce, devil, and hell were almost synonyms,' illustrating how he had to unlearn unscriptural perspectives on divorce through God's Word.

I came out of a background that took that position. Divorce, devil, and hell were almost synonyms.

36:02 - 36:10 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Sin is always present as the cause of divorce, but not every divorce is sinful.

Compares sin as the cause of sickness (but not every sick person is sinning) to sin as the cause of divorce (but not every divorce is sinful), clarifying the distinction.

Sin is present as the cause of every sickness. And if there'd been no sin, there'd be no sickness. But are you prepared to say that every sick person is sinning? And that his sickness is sin?

36:42 - 36:55 Read in full sermon

The point: All thought and conduct concerning marriage must be dominated by the perspectives of its original institution in Eden.

Quotes Wayne Mack's book title 'One plus one equals one' to beautifully capture the essence of marital oneness, emphasizing that in marriage, two become one flesh.

The two shall become one flesh. Wherefore they are no more two, but one flesh. As Wayne Mack is so beautifully captured in the title of his book, One plus one equals one. A manual, unmarital oneness.

49:01 - 49:19 Read in full sermon

The point: All thought and conduct concerning marriage must be dominated by the perspectives of its original institution in Eden.

Uses the contrast between math (1+1=2) and marriage (1+1=1) to humorously illustrate the unique, supernatural oneness of the marital bond.

One plus one equals one. Now don't you kids do that in your math class. The teacher will put a red pencil and say you're wrong. One plus one equals two.

49:19 - 49:29 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The first application prong emphasizes that all thought and conduct concerning marriage must be dominated by the perspectives of its original institution in Eden, contrasting this…

Uses the common secular phrase 'When the glow goes, why be hung together by a piece of paper?' to highlight the unbiblical, evolutionary-driven views on marriage's impermanence.

No such thing as distinctly assigned roles. Therefore, the fact that males and females can find fulfillment in marriage, fine, if that's your thing. But when the glow goes, why be hung together by a piece of paper? Ever hear that before?

51:53 - 52:10 Read in full sermon

The point: When there is illicit sexual intercourse (porneia), our Lord permits, but does not command, the dissolving of the marriage bond, while reconciliation and forgiveness should always be sought where expedient.

Shares a personal family story (not himself or siblings) of 40-45 years of agony caused by Pharisaic handling of Scripture that denied the Matthew 19 exception, illustrating the destructive impact of partial biblical teaching.

If you've tried to bind up the conscience, bound up the conscience of some dear child of God, who either through the fault of a perversely wicked mate or through the deceitfulness of his or her own heart has gone through the tragic breakup of a marriage and wonders where do I stand before God and see the torture that comes from Pharisaic handling of Scripture. It would not be unto edification to tell you how this is touched. Some in my own family circle, I'm not referring to myself nor to my siblings, but in a very close family circle, I have watched literally the agony of 40 or 45 years in th...

57:15 - 58:31 Read in full sermon

The point: When there is illicit sexual intercourse (porneia), our Lord permits, but does not command, the dissolving of the marriage bond, while reconciliation and forgiveness should always be sought where expedient.

Poses a rhetorical question about a woman whose husband openly intends to visit a lover, challenging the idea that she must remain in such a relationship, and arguing for a 'gracious, merciful kindness, an honorable way out'.

But are you prepared to tell a woman whose husband without shame says, I fully intend to visit my lover once a week. I'll be content to live with me and you if you want me. Am I to say yes? Be used as his Monday to Friday whore while he uses his other whore on Saturday and Sunday?

58:57 - 59:21 Read in full sermon

The point: If an unbelieving spouse makes it evident they do not wish to dwell with a believer (due to faith), the believer should let them depart, with a broken heart but a good conscience, viewing themselves free from that marria…

Poses a rhetorical question about a woman whose husband is in love with another man, challenging the idea that she must give him marital rights, and arguing that such a view turns Christ into a tyrant.

Yes, sin has caused the disruption. Yes, but it is not sinful to seek out of that relationship according to the rule of Christ. what do you do with the woman who says my husband consorts with men and he's not ashamed to tell me he's in love with another man do you tell her that she must go and give him the rights of bed and the influence over her children that turns our Lord into a tyrant and then what do you say to the person who says look I don't know why grace came into our household terminated upon me bypassed my husband or wife and when grace came the sword that Jesus promised came and th...

59:44 - 61:13 Read in full sermon

The point: For those in difficult marriages, the Holy Spirit can subdue pride, irritability, and selfishness, heal broken circuits, and restore relationships; commit to making the marriage work rather than seeking an 'out'.

Shares a personal anecdote about early marital adjustments, emphasizing that a commitment to 'no way out' can lead to God's help in making a marriage blissful and satisfying.

and where sin abounds grace does much more about you have the Holy Ghost dwelling in you you know what he can do subdue your pride subdue your irritability he can sanctify your selfishness he can mend the broken circuits where you're afraid to be open with anyone where you feel threatened by the vulnerability of true love the Holy Spirit can heal and mend and restore don't look back over your shoulders some of us can testify that in our most difficult periods of marital adjustment in the early days what helped us to get on with it was we had a fixation in our neck bones and muscles we never lo...

64:05 - 65:33 Read in full sermon