The main point of the message this morning is this. God desires and wants his church and his bride to be pure, committed wholly and totally to him with no impurity. We are continuing our sermon series on marriage, divorce, and remarriage due to the blanket statement that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ made in Luke chapter 16, verse 18. We are technically in a sermon series in Luke, and now we're in a sermon series within a sermon series, which I will occasionally do whenever I think it's necessary or when I suspect that you as Bereans want more. I had said last week that I'm going to plan on spending three weeks in this sermon series, and I suspect that many of you rolled the eyes of your heart thinking that it was more than three, and you were right. It looks like it's going to be four, and those of you right now who are rolling your eyes and saying, yeah, right, that means six, I'll wait to the end of the message and we'll have a better idea. of where we are. I'll wait to the end, because you may be correct as well. And I want to remind the parents this morning that we're going to be biblical, just like we are every week. Amen? And we're going to be spending 99% of our time, maybe a little bit less, in the Old Testament, because Jesus' audience were Jew. Were Jewish, weren't they? And we have to go back to a Jewish mindset. We have to understand what the first century and even before would have understood it so that we can make correct and proper application to today. And we must be a people who do not shy away from the Old Testament. The Old Testament is just as inspired as the new. Jesus did not come to abolish the law and the prophets, but to what? Plero to fulfill them. Everything we study is going to be from the Bible, especially what we study this morning. There's more in the Bible than God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. If a Christian, you will come across many of these texts, and I'm going to empower you and equip you and explain to you what they mean and if they have any implication for today. Every blacksmith knows his hammer, every musician knows his instrument, every teacher knows its subject, and every Christian must know their Bible. That being said, the nature of the study of this text concerning the chuppah will be detailed because it has to. Now, we all have different parental philosophies. I'm not going to allow, though, the different parental philosophies that you have with little children. to impact what we do when we're gathered in as adults. But in light of that, I'm gonna do my best to keep it as appropriate as possible, depending on your child's age and depending on your parental philosophy and opinion, we can agree to agree and agree to disagree and everything in between. But the main point is this, whether your child is in the service or is out of the service, you as a parent must be the first to your child. You understand that? you must be first to your child. Because what we discussed this morning, your child will find out about in various degrees and in various progression. Now, you as a father, as a mother, need to meet your child where they are, what is appropriate. But either you will teach your child, or their phone, their tablet, Their computer or their peers will. Be first to your child, be second, be third, be fourth, and revisit it. That being said, I'm going to be using medical terms because doctors use medical terms. That was a joke. I'll try a different one. I'll do my best to keep it rated PG, as best as I can. But in all seriousness, I do have to balance the full palette of your tongue, and I want to reveal the full vibrancy of scripture. Apparently, the human eye can see 10 million different colors, and I want to show you as many of them through scripture. You're thinking, perhaps, looking at the text, that I can leave it out. I'm not convinced I can. The equivalency of that would be like me asking you to paint the American flag on a white canvas only with the color blue. You need red as well, don't you? This is essential to our study. You cannot understand the New Testament apart from the old. And I want to thank all of you as my last remark for the encouragement. I've received many emails and texts encouraging me to press on. I even had a precious congregant email me a link to a song called Preacher, Tell Me How It Is. And amen to you. I also had a congregant, after last week's sermon, come up to me, shake my hand, and I don't know whether this was a compliment, whether it was a statement, but with a big smile on this congregant's face, the congregant said, I just want to let you know, you'd be fired by now in 75% of the congregations. I said, well, thank you very much, but I think it's closer to 90%. But we aren't like most churches, are we? Our lamps are burning, right? And they must burn bright. We're hungry for the truth. We must pant and we must thirst after righteousness. May his lamp stand never be taken away from Crossway Church. And may the spirit of Christ never write on the doorposts right over there, Ichabod, the glory has departed because it happens. It happens. And the glory will not depart if we hide God's word in our heart. And may we be not merely hearers of the word, but doers as well. May the Lord catch your heart and your mind on fire. And may you leave this morning with a purity about you and a fire to live for him. Please turn to Matthew chapter 19, please, Matthew chapter 19. We'll have a very brief summary of last week. Look at verse 3, Matthew chapter 19, verse 3. And the Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause? He answered, have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female and said, therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife and the two shall become one flesh. So there are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate. They said to him, why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away? He said to them, because of your hardness of heart, Moses allowed you to divorce your wives. But from the beginning, it was not so. Verse nine, and I say to you, whoever divorces his wife except for sexual immorality and marries another commits adultery. We saw last week that marriage is God-instituted, God-ordained, God-described, and God-prescribed. Second, marriage is a monogamous relationship that is in the form, listen, not of a contract, but of covenant. It is a heterosexual relationship. Fourth, it involves leaving and holding fast to or cleaving. Fifth, is a one-flesh relationship according to God's design that binds husband and wife in one flesh. And sixth, It is a divine covenant, institution, and vocation. You see here in verse 7, the Pharisees are asking, well look, if this whole marriage thing is supposed to be a one flesh thing, why did Moses then give the nation of Israel a certificate of divorce? Why? Jesus says it is because of your hardness of heart. Do you see it? God provided the Mosaic law to the nation of Israel as a concession. Do you understand that? As a concession to sinful Israel to punish wickedness and to reward righteousness. He did it as well to protect women. The Mosaic Law was never intended to be permanent, and it was given because of transgression. That's what Paul says in Galatians chapter three, verse 19. He asks a rhetorical question, why then was the law given? The answer, it was given because of transgression. So, it was a concession to sinful Israel and set the parameters. And part of these parameters is what you see here in verse 7 of Matthew chapter 19, a certificate of divorce. We won't turn to Deuteronomy chapter 24 right now. But we saw last week that there were several elements of a certificate of divorce. That is, if a husband wanted to divorce his wife under the Mosaic Law, he literally had to write her and have it assigned by a judge or by the elders, by the magistrate, the reason for the divorce. And oftentimes, witnesses were required. The second thing was that a certificate of divorce released his wife from all domestic activities. It means that you can't just divorce your wife and then make her serve you. The third is that the husband is not allowed to be involved in the future of the wife's marriage, future marriage. He has to stay away from that. Fourth, he's not permitted to remarry her if they ever come across tracks again. The concession and the giving of the Mosaic Law, listen, it is not the prescriptive will. It is the descriptive will. It describes and sets parameters on sinners that God otherwise would want something different, so to speak. He could have just started all over again. He didn't, so he set parameters. So, look at verse 9. I say to you, whoever divorces his wife except for sexual immorality and marries another commits adultery. Turn back a couple pages, please. Look at Matthew chapter five. The title of the sermon is Marriage, Divorce, and Remarriage, Part Two, Except for Porneia. This is really gonna be part 1A of part one, part two, but the division doesn't matter. Matthew chapter five, verse 31, it was also said, whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce. Do you see that? But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife except on the grounds of sexual immorality makes her commit adultery. To whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery. I need several weeks for this, but I'm gonna give you this week and next week, Lord permitting, the four most popular views on this particular verse, except for porneia. I've given you this on your outline, this noun. It's used in 24 verses. And the root word means to sell. It means to sell. It means to offer one's body for a price. It can refer to sexual elaborations like homosexuality, or it can also refer to incest as well. And what's interesting, and we'll get to this Lord willing next week, is that there is a Greek word for adultery that is not used in this text. It's unique. Jesus uses pornea, not moikao, which is adultery. Enough with the appetizers, I don't want to give you any more. Cornea generally was used to refer to sexual behavior by single people, but this word here refers to a broad brush for any kind of sexual immorality. So, let's get to our text please. Turn to Deuteronomy chapter 22. So what we're doing is we are looking at a very narrow view. This is a very narrow view. So the first excuse or the first reason why people believe that there can be divorce and remarriage is unfaithfulness during the betrothal Before or during? I'll get to that. We need to understand the Jewish culture of today. Look at Deuteronomy chapter 22 verse 13. If any man takes a wife and goes into her and hates her and accuses her of misconduct and brings a bad name upon her saying, I took this woman and when I came near her, I did not find in her evidence of virginity than the father of the young woman and her mother shall take and bring out the evidence. for virginity to the elders, the city of the gate. The father of the young woman shall say to the elders, I gave my daughter to this man to marry and he hates her. And behold, he has accused her of misconduct saying, I did not find in your daughter evidence of virginity. And yet this is the evidence of my daughter's virginity and they shall spread the cloak or your translations may say cloth before the elders of the city In order for you to understand this, we need to go back and to get in the mind of a first century and even prior to that Jew. We need to understand their, we can call it, organization or the way that they viewed the betrothal and marriage. I've given this to you on your outline. The first part of what is called a marriage contract is the signing of the ketubah. The ketubah is called a contract. And the soon-to-be groom and the father of the bride would meet together and they would enter a contract, a contract, or a prearrangement of the details of what was expected from each parties prior to the consummation. And the Ketubah, or the contract, was legally binding. And so the bride and the father of the bride would know what was expected of the soon-to-be groom, and the groom would know what was expected to be of the bride whom he's going to marry. The groom expected his bride primarily to be chased. And the groom was expected to provide at least two to three years, often it is called the bride price, two to three years of gift. You think like 100 to $150,000 worth to the father of the bride to compensate him for the loss of wages of his daughter who he's about to give away, do you see it? And this is something that I appreciate. And again, listen, I'm describing, I am not suggesting it, but I think there's some wisdom in this. Fathers, let's think about this. This is a principle that all fathers need to have. I'm not saying either that the men who marry your daughter need to sign a contract. You can deal with that on your own. But you fathers should have certain expectations that you have for the man who is marrying your daughter. Now, I understand why fathers of the world in this culture will just allow their daughters to do anything with anyone at any time. I understand why they would allow that. But for the fathers here concerning their daughters, you cannot have a hands-off approach while they live under your roof and your authority. Now, this is not popular because the world will tell you, you know, just look, you set up too many parameters, they'll rebel. When they get older, they'll just go off the deep end. Well, they're already in rebellion. Do you see? The goal of you, father and mother, is for you to explain to your daughter what it is she's looking for. And you must set as many parameters as you can around her and explain it to her. Tell her why you're doing what you're doing, that you want to protect them. You need to make sure, father, mother, The man who is seeing your daughter is born again, emotionally strong, who can support your daughter, and who has demonstrated himself to be financially responsible. The reason is because, as we saw last week, when you hand your daughter over in marriage, that man becomes your daughter's authority, but of a different kind. And that man now is in your life. He's in your family. He's married to your daughter. Family functions, vacations, holidays, interactions. You inherit that man, but you have no authority either over your own daughter or over that man. Do you see? Be wise, be diligent, pour in to your daughter. And it will take time. And it will be many discussions over and over and over again. And there will be times in which you will be discouraged. Press on. Don't be discouraged. You are doing a good work. And even though she may not agree, she doesn't have to. Tell her and love her. Father, Your son, have you been teaching him and showing him what it is to be a man? Doesn't matter whether they're four, whether they're 14, or whether they're 20. You've been showing him and explaining to him. You've been inviting him in to you. You allowed him to see the way that you treat your wife. Husbanding is both taught and caught. You realize that? Your sons, your sons need to see what it is for a man of virtue and hard work who is upright and responsible. Show him what it means to be a man. A man who's worthy of another man's daughter. Do you see? The Jewish ketubah or the contract was this very expectation. See, today, think about it, a man may talk to the bride's father and say, oh, I just, I want your hand in blessing. Now, my understanding is that in this world today, that even very rarely happens, which is very sad. But most, most couples that I know of will be something like this. I want to set up a time to talk to the father of the bride, and basically the man wants the blessings of the father before he marries or proposes, right? But in this first century, it was actually the opposite. The father would meet with the young man. and would discern and determine whether the young man was ready. Do you see it? Included in this meeting would be all of the details that the groom would have to meet in order to be, for the betrothal period to start. You understand? He had to come in already with something. At this time, there was no, well, they're just in love and they'll just figure it out kind of thing. Boy, the young man has to be worthy, do you see? And so when the soon-to-be groom and the father of the bride would meet, listen very carefully, the father would disclose to the groom everything about his daughter. And the daughter would know that if she was unchaste, it would bring dishonor upon her family, upon her God, upon her village, upon her community. It was a dishonor. And it was very important to the groom for he to know that his future wife was chaste. And the father would include this on the ketubah, on the contract, yes. And the father would know what this young man was like. So tell me, do you have a job? How much do you make? What will my daughter have? Where will you live? He would be very familiar with the man's family, with the clan, with the community. He would know the man. And there would be certain arrangements that the soon-to-be groom would have to meet in order for the betrothal period to begin. The young man would typically ask one question, is she chaste? The father would have to disclose this. This was very important to the young man. Now, I am not encouraging the ketubah or the contract fathers, but I'm simply telling you and encouraging you to think through the handing off of your daughter, not just to anyone. You should be talking with your wife about what kind of standards you would like for your soon-to-be-in-law. Do you know them? Be good for you to discuss it. So the betrothal period is not the same, listen, as our engagements today. Legally they're married, but they have not consummated the marriage bed yet. The second part and element of the Jewish betrothal and marriage, and I've provided this to you outlined and I will do my best to keep this rated PG, is the chuppah. The chuppah is another word for the cloth. Please look at verse 13. Benny Mann takes a wife and goes into her and hates her and accuses her of misconduct and brings a bad name upon her saying, I took this woman and when I came near her I did not find in her evidence of her virginity. then the father of the young woman and her mother shall take and bring out the what? The what? The evidence. What is that? The consummation, which happened typically before the actual wedding feast, So first is the ketubah, the contract. Second, once stipulations were met, then you would have the chuppah, the consummation. Typically, there would be a bridal room or a bridal bed, actually, at the bride's house. Could be at the groom's, but for all intents and purposes, there'd be a cloth that would be laid down, and they would have copulation. And when the hymen was broken, the sheets would be stained. And remember, the groom entered an official contract, a ketubah, didn't he? With the father understanding, presumably, that she was chaste. And after the consummation, after the copulation, once the hymen was broken, the groom would be overjoyed because that was oftentimes the final condition that had to be met. And you know what he would do with that cloth, with the chuppah? Well, sometimes he gave it to a groomsman. Imagine that being a best man's job. And the groomsman, the whole party would rejoice. This is a good thing. And the groomsmen, or perhaps someone else, and by the way, they are close to actually the bridal chamber, because they're waiting for the news, because they want to rejoice with the bride and the groom. And so the chuppah would be handed to perhaps the groomsman, but the whole point of it is it needs to get in the hands of the father. The father of the bride will actually have the chuppah and he'll put it in his digital safe, have it for safe keeping. Now, you may be thinking to yourself, all right, pastor, that's great historical Jewish ceremony details. Thank you so much for sharing that with me. I'm just a better Christian for it. Thank you. Well, you're welcome. But do you see where I'm going? Do you see where I'm going in the text? Let me read it again, verse 13. If any man takes a wife and goes into her and then hates her and accuses her of misconduct and brings a bad name upon her, saying, I took this woman and when I came near her, I did not find in her evidence of virginity, then the who? Who? Father of the young woman and her mother shall take and bring out the what? They'll bring out the what? What is the evidence? It is the chuppah. That is the evidence. So they present it. And according to the Torah, two or more witnesses are needed for a case to be settled, correct? And so you've got the father, you've got the mother, but you also may have other people in the wedding party who actually witnessed that and the result of it that night. And you know what? Any kind of man who wants to do this to his virgin wife and wants to dismiss her, well, and accuse her of misconduct, guess what? The father of the bride has the evidence. And additionally, there are witnesses. What would happen to the man? Well, great question. Look at verse 18. The elders of the city shall take the man and whip him and they shall find him a hundred shekels of silver and give them to the father of the young woman because he has brought a bad name upon a virgin of Israel and she shall be his wife. He may not divorce her all of his days. Do you see that? The husband who's bringing this false accusation against his wife doesn't have any witnesses. The case is dismissed. But not only is the case dismissed, you know what happens? This guy gets a beating. You know why? Because he has violated the ninth commandment. What is that? Do not give false what? Witness or testimony. Do you see that? That husband is beaten. It's probably by the father of the bride. You know, thinking about today, and just so you're clear, I'm not a theonomist. But today, if there's false witness, if there's slander, if there's libel, what happens? Oh, nothing. You just go to some other news network. To today where nobody actually knows what to believe because there's constant false witnessing. But I wonder if we had a society where people who were intentionally deceptive, intentionally manipulative, intentionally sought to cut the legs under someone else, whether there would be some kind of civil consequences. I wonder if that would discourage this kind of behavior. As a side note, Have you ever been to a wedding where there was a canopy and the white sheets were hanging from it? You ever been to that before? Do you know where that's from? This. The white sheets under a wedding canopy is a far removed iteration of a chuppah. You see? White symbolizes purity. Happens often in Jewish weddings. Some of you have been part of that. But as the bride and groom today are standing under the canopy with the white sheets there, it is a symbol of purity. So you have the ketubah, the contract. You have the chuppah. You have the stained garment. Oh, and by the way, I almost forgot this. This is not in your notes. But the shedding of blood is part of a covenant, isn't it? This is why under the Mosaic law, typically, you married your first. So we have the ketubah, the contract, the chuppah, and then third is the wedding feast. After the consummation, the celebration would continue, but there were exceptions. If you notice in Deuteronomy chapter 22, you'll notice that actually the large parts of the Mosaic law is what is known as Kosuistic and Apodictic. It basically means that it's all in the if-then sense. So moving forward, beloved, Moses here, throughout the wanderings in the wilderness, Moses has all of these cases coming to him that are a byproduct of the 10 commandments that were given to him. So he, in the wilderness, Moses here, he's writing the Torah. People are coming to him wanting to know, hey, what happens if this happens? What happens if that happens? So this is not, this is, it is prescriptive, but it is also descriptive. What am I saying? I'm saying this, that if the father's daughter was not a virgin, it was disclosed to the soon-to-be groom. Now, you ready for this? Mary, Joseph's betrothed wife, under the Torah, could have been stoned. Let me show you. Please look at verse 22. Man is found lying with the wife of another man, both of them shall die, and the man who lay with the woman and the woman. So you shall purge the evil from Israel. If there is a betrothed virgin and a man meets her in the city and lies with her, Then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city, and you shall stone them to death with stones, the young woman because she did not cry for help, though she was in the city, and the man because he violated his neighbor's wife. So you shall purge the evil from your midst," verse 25. But if in the open country a man meets a young woman who is betrothed, and the man seizes her and lies with her, then only the man who lay with her shall die. But you shall do nothing to the young woman. She has committed no offense punishable by death. For this case is like that of a man attacking and murdering his neighbor, because he met her in the open country, and though the betrothed young woman cried for help, there was no one to rescue her. So, verse 22, the death penalty under the Mosaic law was, for adultery, death. Verse 23, if there is a betrothed virgin and a man meets her, notice where he meets her. He meets her where? In the city, do you see that? He meets her in the city. You shall bring both of them out to the gate of that city. What does it mean? It means that it's fully consensual. Both verse 22 and 23 through 24 is consensual. There was no cry for help. But look at verse 25. But if in the open country a man meets a young woman who's betrothed, notice that in verse 23 and 25 there is a woman who is betrothed. Do you see that? But notice what the man does in verse 25. He seizes her. Now you can't see it in the English, but in the Hebrew, it is chazak. And chazak means to forcibly seize someone. It means to impose oneself on someone. That is the man who was stronger imposed himself on the woman, He took his God-given strength that God had given him and imposed himself on her. He usurped the innocency of the woman. Under the law, the rapist deserves the death penalty. Now, I may be the only one who says this. This is not a position of Crossway Church or the elders. This is my own opinion. My own opinion is that rapists, if it could be shown, that they have used their God-given power and strength and muscle mass and bone density to impose themselves and seize a woman against her will, that man should receive the death penalty, period. I want to protect the life of the woman. Do you? And I suspect that some Christians will shy away from this. And I want to ask you, don't answer it out loud, just think to yourself, what should happen to that man? Should he just be fined? Should he just go to jail? Keep in mind, she's a betrothed virgin. I mean, any woman is bad enough. This is a woman who's betrothed to a man. The man has already met with the father. The ketubah has already been signed. And the man imposes himself on her. What if it was your daughter? What if it was your wife? What would you want? It's real interesting. Oftentimes, we're okay with it happening to other people. But as soon as it hits home, well, Now we want justice. See, today, listen to this, today, if the woman gets pregnant, the innocent child is murdered, but the rapist goes free. No, not death penalty for the rapist, death penalty for the child. Is that justice? Is that love? Don't murder the child for the sins of the father. It's unjust. The rapist deserves death penalty, not the child. In this scenario, justice is served to all three parties, is it not? It is served to the innocent woman because she is protected, she's justified. Second, the child who's innocent of that sin, who's alive in the womb, is not murdered. And third, the actual offender receives a death penalty. You know what's fascinating about this in verse 25? Notice in verse 26, you shall do nothing to who? Look at the text. You shall do nothing to who? Yeah, nothing against the woman, do you see? Mosaic law, it protected the women. She's not to be stigmatized. And by the way, if this did happen, if this did happen, then on the ketubah, on the contract, the groom would know that, do you see? He would know it. We complain about the policy, what am I getting at? I'm getting at this. Christians complain all the time about how bad this country is going, about the policies, and all they do is they just whine, but they offer no practical solutions. Right? This is a solution, and I will guarantee you it will discourage men. If they know they're going to receive a death penalty for imposing themselves on women, I will guarantee you it will curb the kind of behavior that happens today. But you have to take hard positions like this. And if you disagree with me, I'd be interested to hear from you after the sermon on what should happen to a man like this. And as a side note too, By the way, in verse 28, the man meets a virgin who's not betrothed, sees her, and lies with her, and they're found. The man who lay with her shall give to the father of the young woman 50 shekels of silver and shall be his wife because he has violated her. He may not divorce her all of her days. If you look at the parallel account, which we won't, In Exodus 22, verse 16, it basically means that if a man takes a woman's virginity, the father has to deal with him. Now, the text here makes it seem like now the woman has to marry the man, but if you actually look at the parallel text in Exodus 22, the father actually decides whether or not the man marries his daughter. And, by the way, the man is fined. And you know what happens if this young man can't pay? Guess who he works for? The father, oh my. You think that would encourage purity? I think so. Keep a finger here in Deuteronomy 22. Let's turn to Matthew chapter one. Matthew chapter one, this is fascinating. Matthew chapter one verse 18. Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way when his mother Mary had been what? Interesting. Mary is betrothed to Joseph before they what? Before they came together, do you see it? for copulation. She was found to be with a child from the Holy Spirit, and her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to what? Yeah, do you see that? That's the certificate of divorce. He resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. Joseph almost handed Mary a what a certificate of divorce didn't he? But he would have been required on the certificate of divorce to provide witnesses and a description and justification for the divorce She's betrothed. She's pregnant, but the child ain't his It's no man's It's a miracle So he finds out she's pregnant, and what do you think he wants to know? Who's the father, right? Who's the father? Tell me. Mary, who's the father? There is none. Yeah, right. Who's the father? There is none. He set on divorcing her. Why? Listen very carefully. Because the ketubah, the contract, was violated. Do you see it? He was gonna put her away. Joseph has three options. Option number one, divorce her quietly, which is what the text says that he was thinking about. The quietly means that on the certificate he makes an excuse. He just throws something together. She burnt his toast. But he protects her. There's no witnesses to her burning his toast. She's pregnant, Joseph knows. And there's no witnesses because presumably Mary is upright. So in the eyes of the society now, this Joseph guy, he looks pretty low, doesn't he? But Mary's pregnant. The child is not his. So perhaps maybe he can write her a bill of divorce, a certificate of divorce, send her to her father's house. Her father now learns that she is pregnant, but he doesn't have to really deal with any of the drama and the fallback that comes from it because she will say that Joseph is not the father. But Mary's father wants to know who the father is, but guess what Mary would say? There is no father. So it's a lose-lose situation for Joseph as well. Listen, because Joseph will not receive the bride price back. And additionally, according to Torah, he would have to pay money to Mary's father because he's violating the contract. You see? So just send her away. I'm not, I'm not, I'm not dealing with this Mary on the certificate of divorce. I understand. I will be stigmatized. I will be stigmatized. I, I, I will take, I will take the frowns. I will take the, the, the shaking of the head of the community. I will lose a lot of money, but you know what? I love you. And here, Mary would go back to her father's house and now her father has to deal with this fallout. Option number two, he puts on the bill of divorce, listen, adultery. I told you to keep a finger in Deuteronomy chapter 22. Look at Deuteronomy chapter 22. Verse 23, if there is a betrothed virgin, who's that? Who is that? That's Mary, do you see that? There is a betrothed virgin. If a man meets her in the city and lies with her, then you shall bring both out to the gate of the city. You shall stone them to death with stones. So, Mary, was this a planned thing? Tell me, Mary, was it planned? Joseph, you don't understand. There is no father. Well, how can you possibly be pregnant? Joseph, I'm chaste. That's impossible. Verse 25, in the open country, a man meets a young woman who is betrothed and the man, Hazak, seizes her and lies with her. Then only the man who lay with her shall die. Joseph wants justice. That's what he wants. Mary, who's the father? Was it consensual or did he impose himself? There is no human father, you see. And if Joseph puts on the bill of divorce, listen, adultery, what would happen to Mary? Death penalty. Do you see it? You know what's even fascinating? Who gave the law on Sinai? God. Who does Mary have in her womb? God incarnate. Doesn't it just blow your mind? Wisdom and the brilliance of God. And this situation was so unique. Joseph was so perturbed that an angel had to be dispatched to keep him on the right track. Please look at verse 20. As he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. Oh, thank you, Lord. You see? So Joseph does not write Mary a certificate of divorce. He knows the child is not his, knowing Mary is a virgin. And Joseph, as a result, will keep the child. He will be stigmatized and have reproach from the village, because in the village's eyes, that child is his, and it occurred before the chuppah. Do you see? So let me bring everything together. We've examined one position this morning, except for porneia, which the first century would have viewed as sexual immorality during the betrothal period. So, summary. The chastity and purity of the woman is part of the ketubah. And if the groom discovers any part or any element of the ketubah or contract is incorrect, the marriage can be nullified. What is the problem with this view today? I've given this to you on your outline. Jesus is not referring to the betrothal period, but after the husband and wife have already entered the covenant of marriage. They are already married. Second, the traditional Jewish ketubah and progression of the betrothal marriage have no parallel in our country. Today, if you think of the order of the proposal, the engagement, the ceremony, and then the consummation, the Jews had a different order. And so we have to understand it according to the context. And fourth, Jesus does not allow for discovered sexual promiscuity after marriage to be retroactive. I wanna give you two points of application. The first point is this. Regardless of your past, Regardless of it, you need to know that in Christ, all is forgiven. Past, present, and future. It has drowned in the depths of the sea, and he remembers them no more. If you are in Christ, your past is forgiven. And the second point is this. If you're in Christ this morning, He is worthy of your purity, is he not? Purity of heart, purity of mind. We are to be committed to him alone. Unlike the ketubah, which was a contract, the new covenant was inaugurated by the shedding of his blood. Do you see it? His blood. And if you are in Christ, he's entered a covenant with you. And though we are oftentimes unchaste, unfaithful, he doesn't send us away. And it ought to melt our hearts. And the question this morning is this, he'll never abandon you, but will you abandon him? Will you be committed to him? Will his kindness lead you to repentance? My prayer as a congregation is that we will be a chaste bride. Do you understand me? A chaste bride who is faithful to our head, the Lord Jesus Christ. May we be pure before him. He is worthy. He shed his blood to win us. And may his kindness lead us to repentance. I'm out of time. Let's pray. Father, we long to be a bride that is committed to you, wants to love you, be faithful unto you. We realize that you're not fickle. that you don't give up on us, though oftentimes we are not committed. We have pursued others, and we know that it does not satisfy our soul. So may you bring conviction and repentance to this congregation this morning. May you open up any eyes if there's any kind of impurity, any kind of way in which the men or women and the professing Christians here are impure in your eyes. May you open up blinders and allow us to see it. May we not just acknowledge the iniquity of the thing, but repent of it, turn of it, and to walk in thanksgiving toward Christ, who has paid it all. In Jesus' name, amen.