The Question of Divorce, Part 1

Introduction: Setting the Scene for Jesus's Ministry in Perea

0:05 This sermon was preached on Sunday morning, December 7th, 1986, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey.

0:16 Mark chapter 10, beginning with verse 1.

0:21 Writing concerning the activities of our Lord, and obviously activities in which He has the Twelve continually with Him. And He arose from thence, and comes into the borders of Judea, and beyond the Jordan. And multitudes come together again unto Him. And as He was wont, an old English expression, for as He was accustomed, or as was His custom, or His practice, He taught them again.

0:52 And there came unto Him Pharisees, and asked Him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife, trying him? And 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. But Jesus said unto them, For your hardness of heart He wrote you this commandment.

1:19 But from the beginning of the creation, male and female made He them. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife. And the two shall become one flesh. So that they are no more two, but one flesh.

1:41 What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder. And in the house the disciples asked Him again of this matter. And He said unto them, Whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry another, commits adultery against her. And if she herself shall put away her husband, and marry another, she commits adultery against her.

2:11 Now let us seek the face of God in prayer and ask His help as we come to a passage obviously treating a very complex and delicate matter, but one which we believe to be the very Word of God. Let us pray.

2:30 Our Father, we have confessed in the hymn we have just sung that all our knowledge, sight, and sense lie in deepest, darkest darkness shrouded. And O Lord, we acknowledge that these words are not simply vivid poetry, but they do accurately reflect our pitiful state. Will you not come to us then and so move by the Holy Spirit through the Word that all of our native darkness and dullness and prejudice will be swept away by the light of the Holy Spirit. By the light of the Holy Spirit.

3:11 By the light of the Holy Spirit. By the light of your truth breaking in upon our minds in the power and in the gracious influence of the Holy Spirit. Send your Spirit upon us, we pray, and speak to us and give us hearts to run in the way of your commandments, we ask in Jesus' name. Amen.

Mark's Introduction to This Section of Jesus's Ministry

3:39 Now as we come to this tenth chapter of Mark's Gospel, it is very evident that the first chapter of Mark's Gospel is the first chapter of Mark's Gospel. The first verse of the chapter constitutes Mark's general introduction to this section of his Gospel. Mark purposes to make his readers know that there is a very definite transition taking place in the geographical area in which our Lord is ministering. And so in this general introduction to the section, Mark says, He sets before us three very simple things in a very succinct way.

4:21 First of all, he informs us as to the place of the next phase of our Lord's ministry. He arose from thence and comes into the borders of Judea and beyond the Jordan. Arising out of Galilee, most likely Capernaum, which is the last specific place mentioned in 9.33, our Lord says, The Lord and his disciples make their way southward and a bit eastward in Palestine into a section that is called by those that draw up Bible maps.

5:00 And you will see it if you have a Bible map on the eastern side of the Jordan River, right across from the area called Samaria, a place that is called Perea. Now it is not called such in Scripture, but it is called such, by one of the contemporary Jewish historians. And so the term Perea in usage in Bible commentaries and Bible maps is referring or is synonymous with that which is described in our passage as the borders of Judea and beyond the Jordan. And so if you remember in your basic outline of Palestine that you have the Sea of Galilee and then that is the Sea of Galilee. That thread, the Jordan River coming down into the Dead Sea and the Jordan separating Samaria on the west and this area of Perea on the east. And most Jews in making a trip from the north down to the area of Jerusalem in the south would make their way through Perea in order to avoid any contact with the Samaritans. And any familiarity with the Gospel records does, indeed, validate that general statement.

6:19 And so our Lord is found in company with his disciples making a journey that is not a haphazard journey. When he leaves Capernaum and goes into the area of Perea, it is with the distinct purpose that he will eventually arrive at Jerusalem. And this is made very plain by verse 3. And this is made very plain by verse 3.

6:44 And this is made very plain by verse 3. And this is made very plain by verse 3. And this is made very plain by verse 3. Remember verse 42 of this chapter, And they were on the way, going up to Jerusalem.

6:53 Up because of its elevation. That's why that terminology is used down in terms of its technical geographical location. And on the way they cross back over the Jericho, briefly verse 46 but again, it is with the end in view verse 1 of Chapter 11. That he will ultimately..

7:15 arrive at Jerusalem. And our Lord, in making His way in a trip that if He were to take a straight line in a little Cessna 150, would be a trip of about 80 miles, but in terms of the way in which He traveled was probably closer to 100 or 120 miles, He is not ignorant of what is awaiting Him at Jerusalem. For we read later on in this 10th chapter that as He goes up to Jerusalem, verse 32, verse 33, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man shall be delivered up. And so our Lord's mind is fully aware that in leaving Galilee for the last time in His earthly pilgrimage, though He would make a return to Galilee after His resurrection, the awful ordeal, and the baptism of His suffering and rejection and death awaits Him when He ultimately arrives at Jerusalem. And so in introducing this section, Mark, first of all, directs us to the place in this next phase of our Lord's ministry. But then secondly, he tells us something, at least in general terms, of the recipients of our Lord's ministry at this time.

8:42 He arose, comes from thence, and comes to the borders of Judea and beyond the Jordan, and multitudes come together unto Him again. Now we've emphasized again and again in our recent expositions that this section of Mark is often called the retirement section of the public ministry of our Lord.

9:09 Knowing that He has but a few more months to spend with His own, there are an increased number of concentrated, isolated situations in which our Lord is found instructing His disciples on basic matters relative to their own development as Christian men and with respect to their responsibilities in the work of His kingdom. But here we have an example demonstrating that we cannot in a blanket way describe this as the period of retirement as though our Lord no longer engaged in a ministry to the masses. Reading between the lines, the picture becomes clear. No sooner does it become known that Jesus has come out of that more northern area around the Sea of Galilee in the area of Capernaum down on the eastern side of the Jordan River into the area of Perea. But the fame of His presence or the knowledge of His presence connects to the fact that He is not connected with His previous fame results in what Matthew calls in the parallel passage in Matthew 19, 2 the coming together of great multitudes. Now Mark does not describe what that involves for we have already seen in the previous nine chapters what happened

10:36 when vast multitudes thronged around our Lord. There was the incessant demand upon Him in both His presence healing and preaching ministries. And in summarizing this section of His ministry, Matthew mentions His healing. Mark mentions, as we shall see in a moment, His teaching.

10:58 But the recipients of that ministry were the vast crowds with the full spectrum of spiritual appetite and non-appetite, spiritual perception, all that was ever present in the mixed multitude that gathered around our Lord were here again found pressing in upon Him. The curiosity seekers, those with deep needs, those with felt spiritual needs, those who didn't have a clue of what Jesus Christ had come to do, others for whom His ministry had begun, as it were, to dawn, or the purpose of His ministry had begun to dawn like the rising of the sun, here was the vast multitude, the great multitude's recipients of the gracious ministry of the Lord Jesus. And then having directed us to the place of this portion of His ministry and the recipients, Mark then says a word about the substance of our Lord's ministry at this time. And as He was accustomed, or as was His practice, He was teaching them His ministry. Again, as I've already indicated in Matthew 19, 2, Matthew puts the emphasis upon His healing.

12:23 So He was obviously engaged in a healing ministry, but as we have seen again and again in our study of the Gospel of Mark, the healing ministry was undertaken not primarily to meet immediate physical needs, though that was a vital dimension of it, but it was undertaken primarily to validate His identity as Messiah. And He would heal as much as was necessary to validate His identity, that having validated His identity, He might instruct people on the great issues of the Kingdom of God. And the tense of the verb that Mark uses underscores that it was His pattern to be engaged in a teaching ministry. Now remember, as we have studied the Gospel of Mark, our Lord, both in His healing and teaching ministry, never ministered in a mechanical, heartless, robot fashion. When He healed, He felt virtue going out from Him. When He taught, there was the engagement and the involvement of the totality of His humanity.

13:44 Mark, among all the other Gospel writers, gives us these rare strokes of insight to the emotional life of our Lord. And so in this period, once again, He knew that tremendous drain upon His holy humanity, the drain of that large-hearted empathy with men in their needs. Looking upon twisted, broken, and deformed bodies, the horrible monuments of the world, the graves of sin, our Lord never looked upon those scenes dispassionately. He was moved with compassion.

14:22 That vigorous Greek word that speaks of the stirring of the viscera, a movement that reached the very springs of His personality and His being. When He healed, virtue went out of Him. When He taught, there was that engagement of the hearts and minds of men. And so, and think of the sheer physical exhaustion of preaching to multitudes with no power packs and no speakers, with the jostling of the crowds, with the distractions of little ones.

14:58 And only someone who's attempted to say preach on the street corner to two or three hundred people with cars passing by knows something of the tremendous expenditure of mental and physical energy. Even preaching in a place like this ideally suited for the church, this is not a place for July. to preaching, and with a microphone and a voice assistance and all the rest, to truly preach, to look into your eyes and to seek to open one's spirit to what may be going on in your minds and to feel the impress of your own response to the Word, to allow your own spirit to feel the current of the truth you are preaching to others, running over your own humanity, a tremendously draining and exhausting exercise. But here is our Lord, with the dark, ominous cloud of Golgotha hanging over His head, on His way down to Jerusalem, about to feel hurled against His holy soul, a fatal wave of divine wrath, and yet He gives Himself to teaching and healing as though He had no other ministry in the world to perform. What a marvelous example of commitment to what He does.

16:17 And it is in this way, then, that Mark introduces this section of the ministry of our Lord Jesus. There is a beautiful statement capturing some of these thoughts in one of the commentators and I want to read just this brief paragraph to you. It is easy to read without emotion that Jesus arose from the scene of His last discourse and came into the borders of Judea beyond Jordan. But not without emotion did Jesus bid farewell to Galilee, to the home of His childhood and sequestered youth, the cradle of His church, the center of nearly all the love and faith He had awakened. When closer still to death, His heart reverted to Galilee, and He promised that when He was risen from the dead, He would go thither before His disciples. But now He had to leave it.

17:30 And we must not forget that every step He took toward Jerusalem was a deliberate approach to His assured and anticipated cross. He was not like other brave men who endure death when it arrives, but are sustained until the crisis. By a thousand flattering hopes and undefined possibilities, Jesus knew precisely where and how He should suffer. And now as He arose from Galilee, every step said, Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God.

18:07 As soon as He entered Perea beyond Jordan, multitudes came to Him again. Nor did His burdened heart repress His zeal. Rather, He found relief in their importunity and in His Father's business. And so, as He was accustomed, He taught them again.

18:28 These simple words express the rule by which He lived, the patient continuance in well-doing, which neither hostilities nor anxieties could chill. Let Him that says, He will. Let Him that says, He will. Let Him that says, He will.

18:51 Let Him that says, He will. Let Him that says, He will. Let Him that says, He will. Let Him that says, He will.

18:54 Let Him that says, He will. Let Him that says, He will. Let Him that says, He will. Well, then we come to verse 2.

The Vexing Problem of Marriage, Divorce, and Remarriage

18:57 And verse 2, obviously, is the first specific subject set before us in this section of Our Lord's ministry, there in Perea. And in it, a paragraph extending from verse 2 through verse 12, we have Our Lord taking up the very vexing and the very difficult tasks to perform Himself. Verse 2 is because He has one Emmanuel, and He and knotty problem of marriage, divorce, and remarriage. As part of his intensified training of the Twelve, as well as to expose the sin and the hypocrisy of the Pharisees, our Lord gives us one of his classic statements on this vital subject. Now, no sooner does a preacher mention the words marriage, divorce, and remarriage, but all kinds of emotional responses are set up in the hearts of his hearers. And I would be very confident that already some of those responses are churning in the spirits of not a few of you sitting here. What position will Pastor Martin take on the question of marriage, divorce, and remarriage?

20:18 Will it be a position that will make me feel uncomfortable in the light of my marital abnormalities? Will it be a position that will make me feel uncomfortable about a loved one whom I know has gone through the tragedy of a broken marriage and perhaps has remarried? Well, may I urge you to do everything in your power to put down all of the questions, all of the emotional heathens, and disruption that almost inevitably comes, and in dependence upon the Lord exercise a Herculean act of will to dismiss all of those questions and to come to this portion of the Word of God with this simple prayer, Open my eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law. And as we come to the paragraph, I want to say just a couple of things. This is my way of introduction that I trust will be helpful as we work our way through over the next two or three expositions. First of all, I want to state in as clear a way as I can state it that Mark 10, 2 to 12 is not the whole of our Lord's teaching on the subject of marriage, divorce, and remarriage.

21:43 This paragraph is not the whole. This is the whole of our Lord's teaching on the subject of marriage, divorce, and remarriage. God has wisely given us precisely as much Scripture as He knows we need to walk in a manner well-pleasing to Him. And in the parallel passage in Matthew 19, in a previous treatment of the subject in Matthew 5, and in subsequent revelation that the Lord Jesus would give to the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 7, valuable, necessary, additional teaching is given on the vexed subject of marriage, divorce, and remarriage. And therefore, no exposition of Mark 10, 2 to 12 is responsible if it assumes or goes against the teaching of Mark 10, 2 to 12. And therefore, no exposition of Mark 10, 2 to 12 is responsible if it assumes or goes against the teaching of Mark 10, 2 to 12. It gives the impression that this passage constitutes the beginning, middle, and end of our Lord's teaching on the subject of marriage, divorce, and remarriage.

23:00 It is not the whole of our Lord's teaching. You see, the great benefit of systematic theology is that it attempts to take the total witness of Scripture on any given subject, collate all of the materials, organize them, organize them in their basic categories, and then present the whole testimony of Scripture on that subject. But you see, I am not here to preach in the form of systematic theology a series of messages on the subject of marriage, divorce, and remarriage. I am committed to expounding Mark 10, 2 to 12.

23:41 But in doing that, I am not assuming that this is the whole of the teaching of Mark 10, 2 to 12. This is the teaching of our Lord on the subject, and you must not. Then the second thing I need to say, because there are some in our day who take this position, and I believe it must be attacked head-on and called what it is. Mark 10, 2 to 12 is not the overriding or supreme teaching on the subject of marriage, divorce, and remarriage.

24:15 Mark 10, 2 to 12 is not the overriding or supreme teaching on the subject of marriage, divorce, and remarriage. Mark 10, 2 to 12 is not the overriding or the supreme teaching on the subject of marriage, divorce, and remarriage. You see, some would acknowledge, oh yes, Mark 10 is not the complete teaching of our Lord. There is some teaching in Matthew 19 and in Matthew 5 and 1 Corinthians 7, but that teaching is so bound up by the peculiarities of those for whom it was given that for us, it is not the complete teaching of our Lord.

24:49 For us, in this day, in this set of circumstances, Mark 10 stands as king bringing all the other passages in subjection at his feet. And what they are really saying is that Mark 10 alone is canon, that is normative, biblical law for the people of God in all ages and in all circumstances, but Matthew is, is bound particularly to people living under Mosaic legislation and 1 Corinthians 7. Well, I won't tell you what they say about that. The opinions are varied.

25:30 However, I remind you that when Jesus gave the Great Commission, He said this, Make disciples of all the nations, baptize them, and teach them to observe whatsoever I have commanded you. In other words, the total witness of our Lord on any given subject is to constitute apostolic rule in the Church of Jesus Christ. And therefore, though I will not be giving a systematic theology of the subjects of marriage, divorce, and remarriage, I want you to know at the outset that I am not approaching the passage as though it were the only teaching of our Lord or that it is the only teaching of our Lord. is the supreme teaching which negates and cancels all other dimensions of biblical revelation. What then are we to do in the presence of such a passage, in which our Lord gives very clear and in one sense definitive statements on the subjects of marriage, divorce, and remarriage, and yet recognizing it is not the whole teaching or the supreme teaching, what are we to do? Well, very simply stated, two things.

26:51 We must not make it the full or the last or the supreme word on this delicate subject. We must not make it to be something God never intended it should be. And secondly, and this is our great danger, we must not neutralize or dilute the full weight of its own particular points of emphasis. There is a reason why the Holy Spirit guided Mark to record precisely what he recorded and to omit what he omitted.

27:32 And therefore, in our study of the passage, we must not neutralize or dilute the full weight of its own particular emphasis out of a desire to make it plain that it is not the final word on the subject. We can end up making it a very weird, sweet word when it is very far from that. Well then, with that introductory material conditioning our approach to the passage, let's at least begin and we'll see how far we have time to go this morning. First of all, the subject is introduced by what I am calling in verse 2, if you're taking notes as we come to this paragraph, Roman numeral 1 would be the insincere question concerning divorce.

The Insincere Question Concerning Divorce (Mark 10:2)

28:19 The insincere question. The insincere question concerning divorce. And there came unto him Pharisees, and asked him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife, trying him? Now, three things are said about this question.

28:39 Number one, who raised it? Well, we are told that there came unto him Pharisees, and asked him. Pharisees. These whom we've encountered again, and again in our study of Mark, who it seems dogged every step our Lord took, unless he deliberately almost evaded them, and who were continually there, watching, scrutinizing every action, listening to every word, seeking to entrap him, seeking to ensnare him, hearts full of nothing less but murder.

29:16 For Mark tells us they went into collusion with the Herodians, and were seeking to put him to death. This is the crowd who rather than rejoice that a paralytic man is healed and forgiven, accuse the Lord of being a blasphemer. Rather than rejoice that sinners are flocking to the Son of God and Messiah, and finding forgiveness, they nitpick because the disciples don't go through all the rubrics of their ceremonial washing. Mark chapter 7.

29:50 And we last saw them in Mark chapter 8 and verse 11. The Pharisees came forth and began to question him, seeking of him a sign from heaven, trying him or putting him to the test. Here they were saying, all that we've seen and all that we've heard, these are not enough credentials. Make the moon and the stars play leapfrog.

30:15 Do something in the celestial bodies that will disrupt their natural life. Then we'll believe that you are Messiah. Pharisees. These described by our Lord in those scathing words of Matthew 23.

30:33 Whitewashed sepulchers. People full of dead man's bones and all uncleanness. The essence of religious decadence and hypocrisy. Well, this crowd is found there in Perea.

30:49 Even as they were found up in the Galilean region, coming all the way up out of Judea. Many of them, as Mark told us. And now they are here. When the multitudes gather and word goes out that Jesus of Nazareth is present, it's as though they always heard in that news a summons to gather and to afflict and trouble our Lord.

31:15 Who raised the question? It was this crowd. Now, what was the question? Look at it.

31:20 Second thing about this insincere question of verse 2. We are told who raised it. And then, what was the question? They came and asked him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife?

31:37 It was a question about the lawfulness of releasing or divorcing a wife. In the parallel passage in Matthew's Gospel, we are told a little bit more about that question, and it's a helpful addition. In Matthew 19 and verse 3, And there came unto him Pharisees trying him, and saying, Is it lawful to put away a wife for every cause? They posed a question with respect not just to the legitimacy of divorce in general, but the legitimacy of divorce in general.

32:20 The legitimacy of divorce for every cause. Now, thirdly, why was this question raised? Mark tells us it was not a sincere question. They did not come as people longing to please God at the ethical level and coming to Jesus as God's final prophet, asking him to make a pronouncement that they might know and do the will of God.

32:48 No, they're like many people in our day who love to find a preacher and ask questions. Not because they have any desire to know the will of God and do it. They just want to know whether or not the preacher's got it straight according to them. Many a time I've had to deal with such people.

33:05 Pastor Martin, what do you think about this? What do you think this means? And all they're doing is listening to see if you agree with them. There is not that pliable, teachable spirit.

33:16 I long to please God. There's a vexed area I don't seem to know His will. Can you help me discover His will out of the Scriptures? That wasn't their posture.

33:27 Mark tells us that the motive for raising this question was one of putting Jesus to the test. They were trying Him. Now, precisely what did that mean? Well, rather than go into a lengthy explanation, I think the best thing I can do is just read a couple of paragraphs in which one commentator, as far as I'm concerned, has captured the essence of the issue and has brought together what one could pick out over many hours reading many commentators, and this is what he says.

34:03 In order to understand the question they asked, we should know that already before the time of Jesus, there were these two major schools of rabbinical thought and tradition. You had the school of Shammah, and of Shammai, and of Hillel. And they differed on the interpretation of a key passage in this whole discussion, Deuteronomy chapter 24. And since this is so pivotal, let me ask you to turn with me to Deuteronomy chapter 24, verse 1.

34:40 When a man takes a wife and marries her, then it shall be, if she shall find no favor in his eyes, because he has found some honor or some unseemly thing in her, that he shall write her a bill of divorcement, give it in her hand, and send her out of his house. And the whole debate between the school of Shammai and Hillel was over the phrase, some unseemly thing. Now, the school of Shammai said, the man is not to release his wife except he has found something indecent in her, something of sexual impurity in her, a very limited interpretation of what it meant, some unseemly thing. But the school of Hillel allowed as a charge that in cooking, the wife had burned her husband's food. And Rabbi Ahiva, using Deuteronomy 24, 1, the words, she find no favor in his eyes, allowed the woman to be released whenever the husband found a better looking woman. So here this woman burns her husband's roast on a Sunday.

36:03 He says, I have found in you no favor in the way you prepared my meal. As soon as I find a better looking woman, I'll write a bill of divorcement, and you've had it, woman. You're gone. So Shammai was the stricter school, and you can always remember it by SS.

36:20 Shammai strict, and Hillel the lax or liberal school on the question of divorce, marriage, or marriage, divorce, and remarriage. Now the Pharisees are laying Hillel's teaching before Jesus. And that becomes clear from Matthew's account. Is it lawful to release one's wife for every charge, for any and every reason a man may allege?

36:46 Since it is easier to be lax than to be strict, to go downhill rather than uphill, the school of Hillel was followed by the Jews. And Josephus, the Jewish historian, could write these words. He that desires to be divorced from his wife for any cause whatsoever, and many such causes happen among men, let him in writing give assurance that he will never use her again as his wife anymore, for by these means she may be at liberty to marry another husband, although before this bill of divorce be given, she is not permitted to do so. So the question is whether Jesus agrees with the school of Hillel.

37:31 He agrees with the rabbinical tradition that was current in that day, that for any cause, really at the whims of a man, a woman could be divorced. And you see they ask this question, putting him, in other words, trying to get an answer, which would in some way enable them to say that Jesus compromised himself. For example, if he should agree with Hillel and the common Jewish practice, the Pharisees would side with the school of Shammai and would reproach Jesus as being overly liberal and too lax. So they would stand with the school of Shammai in their interpretation and call Jesus excessively liberal. If he sided with Shammai, who contended that only actual shameful conduct could be a cause for divorce, Jesus would then be reproached because he was friendly in his treatment of sinners. You remember what he said to a woman who had had four husbands and was living with a man who was not his husband, her husband? He said, I don't condemn you.

38:46 He opened up the avenues of his grace, and so if he takes the stricter side, then, they're going to reproach him for his evident welcoming of those who had uncultured marriages and irregularities in their marital experience. This choice would also involve Jesus in the Jewish party dispute. If, however, as the Pharisees most likely expected, Jesus should reject both the school of Hillel and Shammai and declare himself against all divorce, then they could say, Aha! You're against Moses!

39:26 Because Moses commanded the bill of divorcement to be given. Therefore, Moses permits divorce. All along we've been saying, You're out to cancel Moses. We've got the goods.

39:38 So they thought they really had him in a corner. They came tempting him. They came taut, as in other situations that we've seen and shall yet see, God willing, in the exposition of Mark. They had it all figured out.

39:54 We've got him backed in a corner. We'll ask a question. Any answer he gives is going to give us what we need to nail him. The Pharisees were sure they had a question which Jesus could not answer without great hurt to himself.

The Devastating Response of Our Lord: Counter-Question and Answer (Mark 10:3-4)

40:14 Well, there's the insincere question concerning divorce. Now then, and we believe we'll only have time to take up this next heading, the devastating response of our Lord. The devastating response of our Lord. And we'll try to catch the overall thrust of that response as it unfolds.

40:36 It begins with verses 3 and 4 in which we have the counter question and its answer. The first part of our Lord's devastating response to their insincere question was his counter question and their response. And he then said unto them, What did Moses command you?

41:04 Moses was offered or permitted to write a bill of divorcement and to put her away. The question was this. What is the precise nature of the Mosaic legislation in Deuteronomy 24? No.

41:24 He said, What did Moses write? Just the book of Deuteronomy? No. Genesis?

41:35 Exodus? Leviticus? Numbers? Deuteronomy?

41:39 It could well be that our Lord was testing which part of Moses they were prepared to concentrate upon. Legislation given as we shall see for hardness of heart that was in contradiction to God's original intention as revealed in the first book of Moses. But their assumption is and it may be that this was our Lord's intention we cannot say for certain that he is referring to the Mosaic legislation having to do with the bill of divorcement. And that is given to us as I've indicated in Deuteronomy 24 and if you'll read the first four verses of that chapter it's clear why this legislation was given. When a man takes a wife and marries her then it shall be that if she find no favor in his eyes because he's found some unseemly thing in her that he shall write her a bill of divorcement and give it in her hand and send her out of his house. And when she is departed out of his house she may go and be another man's wife and if the latter husband hate her and write her a bill of divorcement and give it in her hand send her out of his house or if the latter husband die who took her to be his wife her former husband who sent her away

43:05 may not take her again to be his wife after that she is defiled for that's an abomination before the Lord and you shall not cause the land to sin which the Lord your God gives you for an inheritance. What was God doing? He was protecting women from being divorced and left vulnerable by the whims of evil men. So he says that if you're going to put a woman away don't leave her in the mercy of your whims think long enough and be prepared to write out a formal statement of your putting her away that will cause you to reflect furthermore remember that this is an irrevocable decision if you put her away and five years later you get comparing her with what you took in her place and you say man I'd like the good old days I mean I thought I had it rough back with wife number one but wife number three no no it's irrevocable it must be deliberate it must be written out and it is irrevocable what was God doing? God was protecting women restraining in the natural tendency

44:35 of their evil a woman would have a bill of divorce meant to make it plain that she was eligible to marry and in the whole discussion of divorce and remarriage this passage is crucial Jesus does not at all question here the right to remarry in terms of one who has been put away according to the word of God. that's not the issue at stake here now but here again is a protection of that woman so that people don't say oh well you tell me you've been put away but how do I know you haven't simply left your husband and in a sense you'll make me an adulterer by joining myself to one who is still properly married to him she could produce her bill of divorcement and a man could take her to be his wife knowing that she was properly released from the tie of that previous marriage so there's our Lord's counter question what was commanded by Moses and their response is verse four Moses suffered to write a bill of divorcement and to put her away now then we have the explanation of the root cause for the Mosaic legislation in verse five our Lord stating answers

The Root Cause for Mosaic Legislation: Hardness of Heart (Mark 10:5)

46:02 begins with his counter question and the answer of the Pharisees then secondly we have his explanation of the root cause for the Mosaic legislation but Jesus said unto them for your heart that is Moses wrote you this commandment our Lord for this Mosaic legislation which we've read from Deuteronomy one to four and briefly explained and he says the root cause is this subsequent to the creation of man there was a radical intrusion into the human experience the intrusion of sin and sin of a man the very word which is used in modern medical terminology when you want to speak of hardening of the arteries sclerosis legislation what is he saying he is saying because of the prevalence of sin

47:32 that has caused such a disruption of this intimate glorious God ordained relationship of marriage a disruption so pervasive that you would abuse the marriage institution and pick up a wife and drop her just as quickly because of the hardness of your heart Moses had to give this legislation under the direction of Jehovah to put a restraint upon the horrible abuse of divorce and remarriage practice this was not a reflection of God or God's intention for the marriage institution it was temporary accommodation to the hard sinfulness of the human heart to restrain from hasty divorce and to protect a woman's right to remarriage and to protect her from being put in the posture of a slave who is hired on Monday released and sold to another on Friday and taken back the next Monday our Lord explains the root cause for the Mosaic legislation indicating that when they were concentrating their attention upon that legislation as though it constituted the ultimate word

49:00 on marriage, divorce and remarriage whether in the school of Shammai and Hillel he says you are concentrating on that which is a revelation of the horrible sinfulness of the human heart and then he brings his devastating answer to a climax in the third place by the declaration of the divine intention for the institution of marriage but but from the beginning of the creation for this shall a man leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife and the two shall become one flesh so they are no more two but one flesh what therefore God has joined together let not man put asunder and here Mark's account of our Lord's response comes to its climax in what I've called this declaration of the divine intention for the institution of marriage and that declaration has obviously three parts look at them number one the fact of creation from the beginning of the creation male and female

The Declaration of Divine Intention for Marriage (Mark 10:6-9)

50:28 are lords them all to Genesis 1 and 2 Genesis 1 which says he made them in his image male and female created he them Genesis 2 which gives us an expanded account of the precise way in which the man was made and in which the woman was made from the man and brought to the man and then given this glorious union so he goes back to the creation and what did God create originally he created mankind male and female so that in all of our thinking about the institution of marriage we must think creationally what did God originally do he made a male incomplete without the female he made the female to be the complement and the completer as well as the partner of the man he says if you start thinking in those terms you will not be sitting around debating about the nitpicking details of the school of Shammai and Hillel for that whole school of thought eight years away from the original institution created the situation

51:55 we see them brought together leading very naturally into the next statement the divine interpretation of this fact of creating the male and female for the institution of marriage for this cause if he made them male and female the man without the woman the woman made for the in creation a man shall leave his father and mother quoting from Genesis 2 27 and cleave or be glued attached to his wife and the two shall become one flesh in the institution of marriage here's the divine interpretation of what happens the two created by God individuals are in marriage constituted one by divine design and a relationship is established more intimate than the parent child that's why the parent child established the marriage relationship do you see it? a man shall leave his father and mother

53:22 and be attached to his wife and they too shall be one flesh and though a child's intimate recesses of its mother's womb can never in the way that mother is one flesh with her husband the more intimate the more mysteriously one relationship is that of marriage and so from the fact of creation our Lord moves on to quote from Genesis the divine interpretation of this fact for the institution of marriage and now here's the climactic statement it's what I'm calling the magisterial pronouncement of our Lord on the implication of all this verse 9 what therefore and this is not quoting from Genesis or Exodus or any other part of scripture here is our Lord in the plenary authority he possesses as the final prophet to his church listen to his magisterial pronouncement regard the implications what there together let not man put asunder

54:46 two to them one flesh God's pronounce that the one flesh union is of such a nature that it warrants even the severing of those intimate ties with mother and father in order to establish it and he says what therefore God has so joined together by creative design and by divine interpretation don't let any puny little man come along and rip it apart it is between the activity and purpose of God and the activity and pronouncements and rules and regulations and legislation of men what therefore God has joined together let not man put asunder and what does our Lord do in that magisterial pronouncement well he sets before us that the divine ideal the divine standard the divine law for marriage is one of monogamy and unsurrupted permanency a man father and mother

56:14 and cleaver his wife not his wives or one wife at a time in sequence his wife monogamy and in that cleaving that attaching that being glued to that person the two shall become one flesh intimacy sacramentally and tangibly and in a very real sense we may use the term physically manifested in the two one flesh union of sexual relations but surely involving more than merely intercourse with another person there is the leaving of father and mother there is that detachment that there might be that thorough psychological emotional as well as physical attachment so then they are no more two one flesh there is a permanent intimacy they are now constituted by God's act one flesh and therefore what God has joined to sunder by writing his little bill of divorcement by taking his hand and waving it over his wife and saying I find some unseemly thing in you you've got too many

57:43 crow's feet by your eyes you've got too many sagging bulges in other parts of your body you are unseemly to me away with you write a bill of divorce no God is joined together let not man put us under now we've not taken up the question legitimate ground away for us what about the one who has been put away those are not questions to entertain now we will of necessity entertain them when we come to verses 10 through 12 because this whole question of adulterous relationships in connection with remarriage is introduced by the text but the text covered this morning doesn't touch the subject and I'm not going to touch it and I want you to focus your attention upon this one thing God's for the marriage institution is that which he established at creation and follow this carefully though God holistically accommodated himself to the hardness of men's hearts in that period of preparation under Moses and though our Lord Jesus has made it very plain that that legislation no longer obtains in the realm of his church and has given subsequent revelation

Application: Commitment to God's Ideal for Marriage

59:11 to show what principles do obtain that accommodate themselves to the reality of men's sin that can disrupt the marriage in spite of all of that we must understand that the divine norm and ideal standard is monogamy intimacy and permanency and the relationship in the marriage relationship and who needs to understand that every married person in this place it's when you are committed to your marriage with the conviction either this marriage becomes more and more enriching and fulfilling in obedience to the law of God and in the power of the spirit of God suffer with this until I it is only work of mentality and work at a marriage to make it a continually enriching satisfying relationship under God when two sinners share the multi-level intimacy of marriage you can't have a happy harmony without work energy looking over your shoulder or looking under the rug or looking

60:40 for a crack somewhere to see if you can get out of it and that's a word in terms of conflicts of temperament and perspective and all in the beginning it is God's intention that two shall become one and what God has joined let not man put asunder but then it says a word to you young men and women and not so young men and women who are not married to those who have come through a fractured marriage but are free in the Lord to marry those who are widowers as well as a word to you young men and you teenagers and some may think it ridiculous but right up until within a week or two of marriages and there are couples here who bear witness to this my own daughter would bear witness to it I always keep emphasizing are you sure you want to make this commitment it'll be embarrassing to have to get the word out that the marriage has been cancelled there'll be a lot of eating crows made up but once you walk that aisle say I do and go to that marriage bed

62:00 you'll end with irrevocable commitment and if you can't back cannot be contracted in faith I beg you I entreat you things than being single you don't believe me I'll bring the witnesses right out of my own study of married people who would love the luxury of singleness because the marriage has become

63:23 a horrible experience but in many cases you've heard the old saying marry in haste repent at leisure that leisure may be a life there's no way out what God has joined let not man put asunder and though the current statistics are that 45% of all first marriages end in divorce 55% of all second marriages end in divorce all of all it's cannot scrub out the words of Jesus spoken in magisterial let not man put in strength to take seriously his word and God willing next week we'll take up verses 11 and 12 that will bring us into the vexed question of divorce remarriage the teaching of our Lord of necessity we'll have to bring the light of Matthew 5 and 19 1 Corinthians 7 but I plead with you at least for a week put all those questions to one side and pray in the divine standard what God has joined together let not man put asunder

64:51 let us pray our Father we are so thankful that in a world filled with men's own folly bringing upon themselves horrible fruits the disruption of the family the tragedy of divided homes and one parent families and confused children by the millions oh how we pray that you would make your people to be light and salt not only in their ordinary ethical dealings with worldlings about them but particularly oh Lord in our view of the sanctity and permanency of the marriage bond we thank you for your grace that has been upon us as a congregation that over the years so few of our number have gone through the tragedy of a broken marriage you have been good to us Lord but we know that the world will place its increasing pressure upon us and that people all around us marry as others buy cars and if they do not like them trade them off for another oh our God will you not help us to stem that tide of our life together our determination to take the creation ordinance of marriage and all of its nobility and purity

66:21 and to live by its standard in the strength and in the power of your spirit we pray especially for the unmarried among us oh Lord write these things upon their hearts in the time of temptation bring these things back to them keep them by your grace until commitments are made with permanence that will bring enrichment to them and glory to yourself hear our cry and write your word upon our hearts we ask in Jesus name Amen