The country music world received and celebrated a new song. The song was a hit on the pop charts, and I won't break your hearts with all of the lyrics, but the title was very simple. D-I-V-O-R-C-E. And as the culture of the 60s was breaking free from the traditional values of the pre-50s generation, popular culture like television and radio, was representing and promoting non-traditional values, further encouraging the rejection of truth which we find and know and love in God's Word. But this is what the natural man does, isn't it? The world justifies itself, a worldly man justifies himself by being loud and celebrating his sin. There's singing of divorce, There's desiring to be inclusive and to love those who are in sin, and this theme is continued today. We see it in those around us, particularly of the transgender movement, those who are speaking lies about themselves, and then they're requiring others to agree to those lies and to further promote and speak those lies, as if somehow by speaking them enough, They could turn them into truth. But we know that only God speaks things into existence. And so we see the same types of things happening today that were happening in the late 60s. Divorce being promoted and celebrated. We sing it out loud and it'll be okay. But we know that divorce isn't new. We know that the religious leaders of the Old Testament were dealing with it as well. not just in the lives of their people, but in their own lives. And I'm sure that many of you will remember very clearly that I was here in April of 2023, and we dealt with the first 14 verses of chapter 16 of the Gospel of Luke at that time, where Jesus is teaching his disciples And he teaches them about how they cannot serve God and serve earthly mammon at the same time. And those Pharisees were there, they heard this teaching, and they had a response to this teaching. They derided Jesus, they ridiculed, they mocked Jesus in verse 14. And so beginning with verse 15, Jesus is rebuking the Pharisees. And the reason that He's rebuking them? They justify themselves before men. The illustration that Jesus gives concerning their self-justification is divorce. But even before we read this text, I should say that divorce is not the only sin that evidences self-justification. For self-justification shows itself in any and all sin. It is simply that Jesus points to the Pharisees' self-justification by pointing at their treatment of marriage. The hearts of the Pharisees were given to adultery. And they justified it by twisting the law. And Jesus didn't waste any words. He didn't speak needlessly. He spoke wisely. He spoke perfectly with no breath wasted. He was intentional as he spoke to the disciples, or as he spoke to the tax collectors, or as he rebuked the Pharisees. And when he rebuked the disciples, or the tax collectors, or the Pharisees, it was intentional. His rebuke of the Pharisees here in verses 14 through 18 is a continuation of the rebuke that Jesus was giving throughout Luke, and it continues in the latter in the latter parable in this chapter, chapter 16. But today we want to deal specifically with verses 14 through 18. So if you will, turn with me to the Gospel according to Luke, chapter 16, beginning at verse 14. Hear the word of the Lord. Now the Pharisees were lovers of money. Excuse me now the Pharisees who were lovers of money also heard all these things and they derided him and He said to them You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts for what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God and The law and the prophets were until John. Since that time, the kingdom of God has been preached, and everyone is pressing into it, and it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one tittle of the law to fail. Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and whoever marries her who is divorced from her husband commits adultery. This is the word of the Lord. Let's ask his blessing on our time together in it. Our Heavenly Father, this morning we are keenly aware of our need before you, how we need your Holy Spirit to come and to teach us, to give us energy, to hear the truths of scripture, to shake us awake so that we can hear and rejoice with your word. We pray, Lord, that the Lord Jesus would be glorified today, that we would not be like those Pharisees walking away from the speech of the Lord Jesus unchanged, angered, hardened, but instead we would be softened, that we would love the Lord Jesus and that we would know that we love him. We pray this for the glory of your church and for the glory of our Savior. In his name we pray. Amen. So as we look at verse 15, we see what Jesus says to the Pharisees. Jesus says to them, You are those who justify yourselves before men. But how are they doing that? How are they justifying themselves? Well, they're justifying themselves according to the letter of the law. See the letter of the law and within the Pharisees there's this great knowledge of the letter of the law, but the knowledge that they hold causes them to be puffed up. What were the Pharisees leaning on? What was their scriptural rationale concerning divorce? Well they're looking to Deuteronomy chapter 24 verses 1 through 4, which says, When a man takes a wife and marries her, and it happens that she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some uncleanness in her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house, when she has departed from his house and goes and becomes another man's wife, if the latter husband detests her and writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house, or if the latter husband dies, who took her as a wife, then her former husband who divorced her must not take her back to be his wife after she has been defiled. For that is an abomination before the Lord, and you shall not bring sin on the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance." The interpretation of this passage is at the root of Jesus' rebuke of the Pharisees. We can see this brought to light a little bit more in Matthew 19. If you want to turn to Matthew 19, beginning in verse 3, we see this passage where the Pharisees come to Jesus and they're dealing specifically with divorce. Matthew 19 verse 3, the Pharisees also came to him, testing him and saying, is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason? Now, why would they ask this question? Doesn't it sound like they're phrasing this question in a way that they're trying to get away with something? You know, I dare say that we've all done this to some extent. We can recognize what's going on here. We all at some point have tried to ask a question a certain way or we've considered the truths of scripture in a way that we could say, well, where exactly is the line so that we know how close we can get to the line without stepping over? So we understand this point of view. And really, our hearts reveal that truth to us when we evaluate them. But Jesus responds here in Matthew 19, verses 3 through 6. He says, Have you not read? In the beginning, he created them male and female and said, For this reason, a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. So then, They are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, let not man separate." But the Pharisees respond, showing us their interpretation of Deuteronomy chapter 24. In Matthew 19.7, the Pharisees say, why did Jesus command to give a certificate of divorce and put her away? But Jesus corrects this. Jesus says in verse 8, Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because of the hardness of your hearts, but from the beginning it was not so. Jesus goes on in verse 9, and I say to you, whoever divorces his wife except for sexual immorality and marries another, commits adultery. And whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery. So Jesus corrects the Pharisees. Moses did not command divorce as we see here in Matthew 19. The point of the command in Deuteronomy 24 is that the divorced wife was not to return to her original husband after having had a second husband. And ultimately, Deuteronomy 24 gives us the reason for divorce's uncleanness. It's sin. But the Pharisees had a personal interpretation of the law. They were thinking only of what they want right now. they get to decide what the law means. So as Pharisees, they are taking the law and interpreting the law as they see fit. Here in Deuteronomy 24, the Pharisees see that as Moses' command. But Jesus says no. Moses permitted divorce, and he permitted divorce because of the hardness of their hearts. See, personal interpretation of the law will turn ifs and whens into dos. And it's interesting that it's not always the case, only when it's convenient. For example, Deuteronomy 23, verse 25, the verse right before the chapter 24, the first four verses that we read earlier, the very last verse says, when you come, into your neighbor's standing grain, you may pluck the heads with your hand, but you shall not use a sickle on your neighbor's standing grain. Now the Pharisees did not hear this may as a must, Instead, they use it to condemn Jesus when he walks through the fields, he and his disciples, and they pick the grains and eat on the Sabbath day. Now, if they had applied the same rule to both sections of scripture, they would have said, well, of course, Jesus had to do this because he must take some of the grain as he enters into his neighbor's field. But that's not what they did. That's not what they did. The Pharisees here are guilty of this personal interpretation. And personal interpretation of the law always self-justifies. It always lifts us up while condemning everyone else. But God sees and judges the heart. So let's go back to chapter 16, looking at 15, our section of scripture, our passage this morning. We see that the Pharisees were holding a position of power. They were holding knowledge, but their knowledge was puffing them up. They were always puffed up and proud. Have you ever wondered why, in all of the dealings between Jesus and the Pharisees, that the Pharisees were always so prideful? Jesus again and again rebukes them. Jesus, if I could use the word clever, is often more clever than they are explaining things concerning the coin, whose likeness is on this coin. Render unto God what is God's, but render unto Caesar what is Caesar's. They marveled at his wisdom, but yet they still are so prideful. Why are they so prideful? I think the answer is simple. It's because they were able to interpret the law and condemn and justify. They would reinterpret the law of God so that they could meet it. And then they would interpret the law so that they could condemn everyone else. Now, who would they condemn? Well, tax collectors were condemned, and Gentiles were condemned, and of course, Samaritans were condemned. And ultimately, Jesus. Ultimately, Jesus is condemned by the Pharisees. And who was it that they would justify? Themselves. The Pharisees were justifying themselves before men, but God sees the heart, as Jesus shows us in verse 16. In verse 16, Jesus says that the law and the prophets that basis for self-justification for the Pharisees. The law and the prophets were until John. Then the kingdom was preached with great results. Everyone is pressing into the kingdom as a result of the preaching. Hearts are being changed. Hearts are being changed before God, not simply men. Not like these Pharisees who justify themselves outwardly and strive to appear holy. No, the salvation that is coming is a true justification of the heart before God. Verse 17, Jesus says, and that law is not passing away. It's easier for heaven and earth to pass away. Even though the Pharisees are misinterpreting, they're perverting the law of God, the law of God doesn't change. God isn't changing. His law isn't changing. God is the same. His holiness, his requirement for righteousness, his condemnation of sin, his general love for his creation, and his perfect love for his own name all remain. And so his law remains. It's still in effect. It's not abolished. It's not diminished. No matter how we may put it, how we may twist it, how we may try to change it or reinterpret it, his law remains. Again, we must remember that Jesus doesn't waste words here with the Pharisees. He's intentional. So it's important when we arrive at verse 18, because in verse 18, Jesus says, here is the sin of your heart, adultery. And so your self-justification is manifesting itself in divorce. We see this here in Luke, we saw it in Matthew 19, we can also see it in Matthew chapter five and Mark chapter 10. And all of these things are showing us a correction of pharisaical thinking. And it points us to a right understanding of divorce. What about other places in the Bible? Well, in the Old Testament, we can see in Isaiah chapter 50, verse one, God says to the people, Who gave your mother a certificate of divorce? And the answer here is that no one gave their mother a certificate of divorce. Instead, they sold themselves into slavery. So it's an image of God and His people. This divorce is an image of God and His people. Jeremiah 3, verse 8. It's again the imagery of a God and His people. We have the image of a saving God who is redeeming His bride but his bride is a harlot running to sin. Israel and Judah are both described as adulterous wives. We come to the New Testament, 2 Corinthians 11, 2. Paul uses divorce as an illustration saying that he is jealous for the church, that he has betrothed her to one husband presenting her as a chaste virgin to Christ. This is the ideal. This is the ideal, not divorce, not the separation, but the unity, the bringing together. You see, permission of divorce under Moses provided an understanding, a picture of God's holiness, the extent to which man was expected to go in order to preserve the holiness that was given to him through his God. and the holiness of a God and the separation of a people to that God. So Deuteronomy 24 shows us the grounds for issuing a certificate of divorce. It says uncleanness, unholiness, that is, sin. Not a whim, not a dislike, not irreconcilable differences, not even falling out of love, but sin. the preservation of God's holy people through the removal of sin. Studying through this has brought me to a very unsettling question. Based on this understanding of Christ, based on this understanding of divorce, based on this understanding of the holiness of our God. Should Christ divorce his bride? I think the answer, I think the answer is absolutely. He has every ground for divorce. His bride continues on unfaithfulness. Are we not all struggling in remaining sin, often not struggling enough? A little too content? in our remaining sin. But God is not like the Pharisees. We, his bride, may be wayward and rebellious, holding on to sin, slow to obedience, obstinate, unclean, unholy, but God is not like the Pharisees. God says, husbands, love your wives like I love you. like the Lord Jesus who gave his life for her while she was not faithful, while she was like Gomer. She was content in her sin and uncleanness, desiring that. But Jesus, the perfect Hosea, came and purchased her at great price. and delivered her from her sin and established her as the mother of children, fruitful and profitable in his home. But again, we're unfaithful. The Lord Jesus seeks us out again and again and again. Does Jesus have grounds for divorcing his wife? Ah, but that is not his character. He does not have hardness of heart. which is why Moses permitted divorce. Instead, we see God's view of divorce in Malachi 2, verse 16. It says God hates divorce. It covers garments with violence. I get this picture in my mind of a bloody butcher's apron. Just garments, just completely covered in violence. Because divorce is a self-justifying business. It's a murderous and hate-filled resolution with pride at its root, because we're unable to humble ourselves to the biblical requirements of serving and loving our spouse. Which brings me to some very basic applications. For those of us who are married, I'll offer you a quote that I've heard attributed to Vince Lombardi. The best defense is a good offense. So let's switch from thinking about divorce and the wrongness of divorce and switch instead to divorce prevention. Let's work to strengthen our marriages and exemplify the love of Christ for the church in our homes. So we'd start with intentionality with your spouse. We would turn to 1 Peter 2, verse 3. It says, wives, like sheep, be submissive to your own husbands, that even if some do not obey the word, they without a word may be won by the conduct of their wives when they observe your chaste conduct accompanied by fear. First Peter 3 says husbands likewise dwell with them, that is your wives, with understanding, giving honor to the wife as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered." Sometimes we get excited about that statement about living with your wives as with a weaker vessel. I know that sometimes that sets the hair on the back of our necks to stand up a little bit. We kind of bristle at that a little bit. But if you were going to live in your home with a priceless vase, would you run around with it in your hand and see how close you can hit it with your hammer? No, because husbands are much more like hammers and wives are much more like priceless vases or vases, if you prefer that pronunciation. Right? They're to be handled with care and protected, of great value, set apart. Have you ever noticed that our affections follow our actions? So if you're struggling with affections for your spouse, then I would encourage you to increase your actions for your spouse. Pray for one another. Give of yourselves to one another. Consider one another. Defer to your spouse, putting them above yourself. And even if it's one-sided, as 1 Peter 2 tells us, pray. Be diligent in praying for and loving your spouse. Much of this battle that is taking place within our marriages today, it's in our minds. And so we need to remember that we're walking in the flesh, that we're walking in this physical world, but we do not war in the flesh. Our marriages, like every other part of our lives, it's spiritual. And so we fight and war in and against our own minds. So we need to be casting down arguments that exalt themselves against God. We need to be bringing every thought into captivity. We need to bring every thought into the obedience of Christ. And so we don't entertain thoughts of other men or women. Oh, I wish my husband were funny like so-and-so. Oh, I wish he was a spiritual leader like Stuart. We can think all of these crazy things, but we cannot let our minds live in those places. We don't entertain thoughts of being single. Oh, if I were single or when I was single. Instead, turn your mind through prayer to a God-honoring view of your marriage and even service. I remember hearing I remember hearing a story once of a woman who was in a very difficult marriage. Her husband was very unkind, very harsh with her, often hurting her even intentionally. She was resolved to honor the Lord in her marriage. And so she came up with a plan. Every time her husband would hurt her, she would go into the kitchen and she would bake his favorite pie. She would do a great kindness in response to being treated in a way that she didn't think she deserved. She would put down her own pride and she would exalt her spouse. She served him that way. The marriage passages that we see in 1 Peter and Ephesians, they teach us of marriage. And these are not if statements. They're not if your spouse is holy or if your spouse is fulfilling the biblical requirements. These commandments are listed directly for you and for me. So we must do them. They're not dependent on anyone or anything else. We must do them. Now, for the children in our congregation. Maybe you're like I was when I was at a younger age, which may be hard to believe, but I was younger once. Maybe you're fearful that your parents may divorce. I know that I was fearful of such things. So I would say to you what the angels would say when they would come and visit men. They would say, fear not. Instead of fear, trust in God, because maybe you already know your parents will let you down, but you're commanded to honor your parents. And so honoring your parents is more than simply doing what they say. It's honoring them in your intents. And so how intentional are you in loving your parents? Are you respectful to them? Are you respectful to other adults? Wanting what is best for your parents? Are you praying for your parents? I would encourage you to pray for your parents. Pray for their marriage. Pray for your home. Do you have a happy home? Do you have brothers and sisters? Do you get along with your brothers and sisters? Get along with them now because when you're older, It's going to be a lot harder. Some adults are learning that the hard way now. And finally, I would say to those of you who are single, Matthew chapter 19 verses 10 through 12 give us some different reasons why people are single, why men and women are single. Some, some choose to be themselves and some it is chosen for them to be single. This is what I would say to you. There is no shame in being single. Paul in First Corinthians 7, 8 says to the unmarried and to the widows that it is good for them to remain even as he is. Paul viewed singleness as single mindedness unto the Lord. Exhibiting self-control, being free to service, free to delight yourself in the service of the Lord, not seeking fulfillment in a spouse, which is a word for all of us. I do not know what is best for you. I do not know what God has planned for you. But right now, if you're single, may you strive for and seek contentment in Christ. Be careful not to make an idol of marriage. And that's true for the single and for the married. I will say that sometimes, it seems especially in churches, there are those good-meaning souls who will press others continuously concerning marriage. They see those who are single and they desire very much to see them being married. And so they encourage them in love, encouraging them toward marriage, pointing out singles, encouraging others towards marriage. And I would encourage you instead to encourage your brothers and sisters who are single toward love and contentment in Christ because ultimately he is the greatest husband that a person can ever have because everyone else is going to let you down. So let us be careful and mindful about those in our midst, in our congregations that are single. They're already dealing with marriage in and of themselves. Let us not make that more difficult for them. Let us not put an undue pressure on them. So back to the Pharisees. The Pharisees had a great symptom, and that symptom was divorce. But at the root of this rebuke from Jesus was their self justification. So let's consider self justification. Brethren, we must be careful to take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. There are two things here in chapter 16 that are in the heart of the Pharisees. First is the love of money. We saw that in Luke 16 verses 1 through 13. But the second is an exaltation of self. And we're seeing that here in Luke 16 verses 14 through 18. The love of money was expounded through the parable of the wicked servant that Jesus was teaching his disciples. He said that they could not serve God and earthly mammon. And the Pharisees heard this teaching and they derided Jesus because they were lovers of money. But within exaltation of self, here in this section that we're looking at this morning, Jesus calls the Pharisees those who justify yourselves. Self-justification is taking the law of God and twisting it so that we can self-medicate with it. It's sort of a spiritual ABC store, if you would allow that analogy. the dulling of pain of the spiritual reality so that we reduce ourselves to a religious stupor. Jesus answers these Pharisees with the words of Moses because the Pharisees have convinced themselves that they are acceptable to God because they are children of Moses. Luke 3, 8, Jesus says to them, you say to yourselves, we have Abraham as our father, but for I say that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. Jesus answers them with the words of Moses. He answers them with the law, the law that they are supposed to be teaching. but instead they are taking the law of God, they're twisting it into something that can be kept, they're diluting it until it is fleshly and it is carnal. In the case of marriage, the Pharisees are celebrating the exception to the law, divorce. And so they justify themselves before men. And there's a real danger in self-justification. An example of this, I remember watching a television show with my family where there was this conflict between the husband and the wife because the wife wanted her husband to go to church. She wanted him to be baptized. He wouldn't go. When eventually he does go, there's an evangelist visiting the church and he yells from the pulpit. He comes down and he walks the aisle and he gets right in this man's face and he yells in his face, about Jesus, about repentance. The man is offended by this. He gets up and he walks out of the church. The show ends with the narrator saying that this man continued to keep the Sabbath in his own way, enjoying the creation of God while hunting and fishing. Now, I know it's a TV show, so it's not real. But we know these arguments. We've heard these arguments. Maybe we've made these arguments before. But we're communing with God in the great outdoors. And that's our church. That's self-justification. That says, I can do what God is commanding me to do, but I'm going to do it in my own way and be okay. I'm justifying myself before men. Self-justifying is seeing yourself as better than others and setting your own rules for piety. But justifying yourselves before men denies the simple truth of Christianity. Christ died to save sinners. So if you are justified apart from Christ, then you're justified to a lie. You do not believe yourself to be a sinner. You lie to yourself and you believe that this world, this day, this moment, this is all there is to live for. You lie to yourself and you believe that there is no final judgment. You're believing that God is not just, that he does not require perfection and sinlessness, which is found only in Christ. Now you can believe that. but it doesn't change the truth of God. Jesus rebuked the Pharisees. Does He rebuke you today for self-justification? Do you twist and change the law? Do you change it? Do you change the words of God so that you can meet it? You can meet its requirements on your own? If you do, He will rebuke you at the final judgment. So instead, let us run to Him. Let us run to Christ and cling to Christ. And ask God for the forgiveness that can be found only in Christ. Because Christ died to save sinners. And that sacrifice of Christ not only justifies us to God, but it keeps us. It keeps us to God. so that we cannot be lost. If we're trusting in ourselves, then we're forfeiting the grace that is given to us through the Lord Jesus. So let us ask God for the forgiveness that is found only in Christ, because Christ died to save sinners. Will you pray with me? Our Heavenly Father, this morning we are grateful for the truths of Scripture that though we may naturally bent toward justifying ourselves, seeing our sin as as minute or choosing to look away from it at all, that the Lord Jesus's sacrifice on our behalf is sufficient. We ask for your forgiveness as we have not viewed your word, your law correctly, and we still struggle with that remaining sin that desires so desperately for us to justify ourselves instead of resting fully on the Lord Jesus. Please forgive us, Father. Please forgive us, even in the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus, who draws us to you. We thank you this day for the truths of Scripture. We thank you for the true justification that comes to men and women, to sinners, through the Lord Jesus. Please help us to fellowship and rejoice in this day, in that finished work, honoring our Savior. To his glory and honor we pray, asking that he be exalted, even in our speech and in our thoughts today. Amen.