If you would please remain standing and open your Bibles to First Corinthians, chapter seven. First Corinthians, chapter seven, last week, we looked at the first portion of this chapter. Today, we're going to pick up in and focus on verse eight through 16, but I want to pick up and read starting in verse six. Paul writes now. As a concession, not a commandment, I say this. I wish that all were as myself am, but each has his own gift from God, one of one kind and one of another. To the unmarried and the widows, I say that it is good for them to remain single as I am. But if they cannot exercise self-control, they should marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion. To the married, I give this charge, not I, but the Lord. The wife should not separate from her husband. But if she does, she should remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband. And the husband should not divorce his wife. Now to the rest, I say, I, not the Lord, that if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever and she consents to live with him, he should not divorce her. If any woman has a husband who is an unbeliever and he consents to live with her, she should not divorce him. For the unbelieving husband is made holy because of his wife and the unbelieving wife is made holy because of her husband. Otherwise, your children would be unclean. But as it is, they are holy. But if the unbelieving partner separates, let it be so. In such cases, the brother or sister is not enslaved. God has called you to be for peace. For how do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband or how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife? Let us pray. Oh, Father, we come to you now. We ask first and foremost that you would speak through your word to us. We ask that you would send a spirit to work among us and that you would illuminate this text, that you would stir up our hearts, that you would give us ears to hear. And that we would want to serve and to follow you. Father, we ask that You would be honored and glorified through this time. We ask that where those of us need to be encouraged, that You would encourage us. When those of us that need to be rebuked, we ask that You would rebuke us for Your Word. And that You would conform us into the likeness of the Lord Jesus. And that first and foremost, we would look to glorify You in all that we do, even in this time. And Father, we ask that You would come meet with us. Speak to us today. We pray all this in Christ's name. Amen. Well, hopefully you guys all have been reading ahead, as we encourage you to do every week. And you're not surprised by the text at hand. And as I said last week in a text that some people would probably prefer to skip, we are not going to skip these texts. We're going to we're going to work our way through them and see what the Lord has to say. As we begin talking and looking at this text today, I want to let you know that I'm keenly aware of this particular subject and its sensitive nature based on just living in this world. And I'm also sensitive to the subject that that based on all of our backgrounds and family situations that we probably have some firsthand experience with with this topic of divorce and marriage. And it's likely that each of us here had been hurt personally in some way due to divorce over the years. Maybe it's not in our own marriage. Maybe it's in one of our families. Maybe it's our parents. possibly our children's marriages or friends around us. But the reality of it is, is we've all probably been touched and hurt by this this divorce situation that happens in our culture. And I've heard this topic discussed in ways that tends to forget that when we speak of marriage, we're speaking of two real people, two people that are involved in this relationship. And most likely, and I won't say most likely, and every time in my experience I've been around a couple who has either been divorced or going through a divorce, the two people are hurting deeply. I haven't met a person that hasn't been touched by a divorce in any of the mentioned ways that hasn't been hurt. Every single person has been hurt in some way. And most often deeply so, as we work through this passage today, and we possibly talk about it with our families later, we have discussions as we study through, not only last week and this week and the weeks to come, that we make sure that we seek the truth, that we speak and study it in a loving way. That we not marginalize those who have been divorced. That we not look at people as second-class citizens, but that we look at them in the way that the Lord Jesus looks at them, as redeemed people, if it's our brothers and sisters, and if not, people who need to hear the gospel. So as we approach this subject today, we're going to continue on. And Paul is continuing in his main idea that I said we were in last week, that marriage is good. And he's giving principles that build upon this idea that marriage is good. And so we're going to continue on in this passage where Paul is saying marriage is good. Therefore, you should stay married. And so we're going to look at the ways that he he has talked about this and then and then have some application at the end. So I actually want to begin where we left off last week. We looked at verses six and seven, and I want to go back there. Paul writes now, as a concession, not a command, I say this, I wish that all were as myself am, but each has his own gift from God, one of one kind and one, excuse me, one of another. So here's what Paul's saying here. I wish that all of you were single like me. It's good. It's good. It's OK if you're single. However, Paul says, I know that this is a gift from God and not everyone has this gift. Some will be like me and others will be gifted with marriage. And that is OK, too. So as we move forward and we talk about marriage to this section, I don't want you single folks out there to tune out. I don't want you to not listen to what has to be said here, because these things are going to apply to you also. Because for some of you, you have not been gifted with singleness. You're currently in that state, but one day the Lord will provide a spouse for you and you'll be married. And you need to be prepared for that. And the Lord has given us preparation in His Word for us to be prepared for that as much as we can without actually experiencing it ourselves. So it's important that you not tune out and listen to what God says. Now, for all of us here, married and unmarried, It's important for us to understand this marriage relationship because we will need to help others when they struggle in their marriage. Those of you who are older than some others that are younger here, those who have been down the road further than others of us, let me encourage you. to pay attention here and then be able to use also what the Lord has done in your marriage to encourage those that are younger, those who haven't been down the road as far in marriage. So we need to have a good framework so that we can help minister to each other in this local body, because the reality of it is marriage struggles are going to happen. We live in a sinful world and there's not anything we can do about that right now. The Lord Jesus will take care of that when He returns one day. But we need to see what he says and be ready and be prepared to help each other out. Now, Paul moves on from that. That sets us up. I think this is not only for marriage people, but the unmarried. And he says that singleness is good, but marriage is also good because it is a gift from God. And then he says is the second point that it is good, therefore, because marriage is a gift from God for widows and single people to marry. He said this in verse eight to the unmarried and the widows. I say that it is good for them to remain single as I am. But if they cannot exercise self-control, they should marry. For it's better to marry than to be a flame of passion. So after taking some length of time to discuss the marriage relationship last week, Paul has written, he says it's good to be single. All right. But it's also good to be married. And for some people, they're going to not be able to exercise the self-control and not fall into sexual immorality. So it's better to be married. Those people have been gifted with marriage and not singleness. I can't help but to think that Paul is either answering a question or expecting a question from the Corinthians. He's written all this stuff about sexual immorality. And I'm sure that he realizes the question has been or is going to be, what about those who are single? And so he answers that it's good to remain single, but. But if they can't exercise self-control, they should marry, it's good to be married also. You see, it's far better to be married and try to exercise self-control and futility. So instead of trying to live a single life that you see as far superior, which it isn't, I think there are some people that in this congregation and there are people even today that would say being single is a far superior situation than being married. Paul is saying instead of trying to live a life that you perceive as superior, it's better to marry than to fall into sin. He has not been gifted with this singleness. It is better to be married. So what should we take away from this little section here? This section on it's OK for widows and single people to marry single people. It's good to marry. It's really easy application here. If you're single in this room and you are struggling with whether you should you should stay single or be married. The Lord is saying through Paul, it is OK to be married. It is good. And the same goes for widows, too. If you desire to be remarried, you are free to do that. If your spouse has died, you can do that now. However, I do realize that this is a incredibly difficult thing to lose a spouse. I have not been through that. In fact, I don't like to think about that because just the thought of that is very painful. In fact, it's almost unbearable. And so if you are you or someone you know is widowed, I'm not telling you that after you lose your spouse, you must remarry. That is not what Paul is saying. And I'm not giving you some sort of timeline for that either, that you have to go about getting remarried. However, the Lord prepares your hearts and prepares you to the spot where you can remarry again. Know that the Lord says it's good. It's good. It's good to be remarried. Let me encourage those of you who are married and you have not lost your spouse to have this view now, even if you haven't lost a loved one, to think through these things now and to know what the Lord says about it so that if that happens one day, you'll be prepared to draw back to this area and find comfort in God's word to you. I think there's something else that we should learn from this when those around us are praying about marriage, either in their singleness or from the loss of a spouse. And we and brothers and sisters should partner along with them. Let us come along beside them and join in prayer with them and to help them through this. This is why the Lord has covenanted us together as a church body to help us to each other along in this. Some of you have maybe been down this road before. You've been down this road of losing a spouse or you've been down the road of singleness. And maybe for some of you, you've been down the road of singleness for a very long time. And you can help those others out that haven't been down that road quite as far, that are wondering with the unknowns. So. When we do these things, the reason I say we should do these things is that it brings glory to the Lord Jesus when we live out the gospel. When we take these words and we see that it's good to be single, but it's also good to be married when we take and we live that out and we help each other in that reflects the gospel. It brings glory to the Lord Jesus. And I know the reality of this world is this, because of sin in this fallen world, it is terribly difficult to navigate these waters alone. Terribly difficult. We need people to come around us. And to encourage us in the Lord and to remind us of the gospel and help us to rely on him and to make sure that we're not blinded by our own desires. So Paul has said in verse 6 and 7 that marriage is a good gift. Now he's saying that single people and widows, it's good for you to marry. It's not a bad thing. Now Paul's going to go on. The third thing he's going to say is marriage is good, therefore you should stay married. starts the more difficult part of our time today in God's word. We get to the part of the text that I say is difficult, not because of the words that Paul says, but because of the other parts of scripture that also address this same topic. And so here's how I want to proceed through this. I want to look at what Paul says here about divorce and remarriage. Then I want to examine the other scriptures pertaining to this same topic of divorce and remarriage. Then I want to look at the three main positions that that evangelicals hold regarding divorce and remarriage. And then I want to tell you where we as elders stand on this topic. And then lastly, I want to come back and I want to apply this text to our lives. We don't need a position paper or just a theological explanation. Those things are important, but we need to look and see how Paul's teaching actively affects all of us right now. So let's get into this, and I want you to hang with me for a moment as we walk through some of these passages that talk about this. Paul starts in verse 10. To the married I give this charge, not I but the Lord. And before we go any further, I want to clear up what Paul is saying here. Over the years, people have wondered if Paul is not speaking on behalf of the Lord and that this is not an authoritative thing, that he's speaking outside the bounds of himself as an apostle. And this is not the case. I, too, in my younger years, wondered why, excuse me, why Paul would put this in here. What Paul is saying is that this isn't a teaching that Jesus addressed. See, before this, he's addressed things that Jesus has specifically talked about. But here, Jesus hasn't specifically talked about all these things. And so it is still scripture and we should still see this as authoritative. He's just clarifying. So the folks in Corinth don't go try to figure out where Jesus talked about this. This is coming from Paul's authority as an apostle. This is what he says, the wife should not separate from her husband, but if she does, She should remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband and the husband should not divorce his wife. Paul clearly says here to the married in the room, I'm going to say he's those in Corinth in the same church body. He's speaking to the married couples in the room that they should not get divorced. They should not get divorced. Why is that? Because marriage is good. Marriage reflects the gospel. Marriage reflects the relationship between Christ and his church. This is good because it's the standard that's been set up from the beginning in Genesis. You see, in Genesis two, we read in the creation account that two are to be one flesh and hold fast to each other. Starting in Genesis chapter two, verse twenty four, we read, Therefore, a man shall leave his mother, his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife and they shall become one flesh. One flesh. And so what Paul is saying here is it's clear the normative action for Christians is not to divorce. Marriage is good and Christians are not to seek a divorce. That's very clearly taught here. Now, the reality of it is we live in a sinful world. Paul isn't naive to this fact. Paul, of all people, understands the sin in the world. He's been beaten. He's been kicked out of towns and almost drowns. He's fully aware of persecution on the church and the sin that happens. And he isn't naive enough to think that this will never happen in a church. We should not be naive about that either. We should realize that that no one is perfect and that divorces and sin and things around us do happen. So Paul says. that if a Christian woman divorces her husband, she should remain unmarried or be reconciled back to her husband. And then the husbands also, and I would add in there likewise, should not divorce their wives. And he's setting up the clear normative practice for Christians. We are not to divorce. That is the teaching of scripture to have become one and that we should we should stay in this marriage relationship. However. Paul says when this does happen. And the reality of it is, if you if you know and you look around your own life and the people you know, this does happen. That. There's a prohibition on remarriage by the one that is actively doing the divorcing here. It's clear that Paul is saying is that if the woman, and I would say also likewise for the husband, leaves their spouse, they should not be remarried to someone else, but stay married or be reconciled back. Now, before anyone gets upset with the words I've said, let us look at the full context and the full thing that Paul says here. This is the expectation that Paul puts forth for the Christian church in Corinth. And I would say this is the expectation for us. We should not divorce. That's clear. We see right after that that that Paul says something different to a different group of people, and we need to look at the full breadth of what he says here and also what the rest of scripture says so that we get a full understanding of the teaching and scripture of divorce and remarriage. Continuing on in verse 12, Paul says this now. So the rest, I say, I not the Lord, that if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever and she consents to live with him, he should not divorce her. If any woman has a husband who is an unbeliever and he consents to live with her, she should not divorce him. For the unbelieving husband is made holy because of the wife and the unbelieving wife is made holy because of her husband. Otherwise, your children would be unclean. But as it is, they are holy. But if the unbelieving partner separates, let it be so. In such cases, the brother or sister is not enslaved. God has called you to peace. Wife, how do you know whether you will save your husband and husband? How do you know whether you will save your wife? We see that Paul provides this one instance where divorce is not mandated. Nor is it expected, but where it can be consented to. And notice the difference there. Now, who is Paul talking to? He says that if to the rest of you, those that are married but don't have spouses in this church. He says to the rest of you that you're looking around and listening to my teaching, but you realize that my spouse is not here because they do not believe in the Lord Jesus. Paul says not to you. Don't be divorced. Don't leave your spouse. The clear Christian message is for us not to divorce. However, Paul says. Paul says that this will happen. But we should not want this to happen, we should try to stay married to our unbelieving spouses. And why is this? Well, marriage is good and it reflects Christ's relationship with the church. Marriage is good because we see in Genesis that a man and woman should come together and become one flesh. And then we read this somewhat confusing text where Paul says, for the unbelieving husband is made holy and the unbelieving wife is made holy. And people have tried to interpret that to mean all kinds of different things. It seems to mean that to me that Paul is pointing towards a couple of things. One, that if you stayed married to your unbelieving spouse, there's an opportunity for them to hear the gospel. To see the gospel lived out, to be loved by someone different, one that has become changed by the gospel. Also, I think in a marriage relationship where you have one believer and one that is an unbeliever, that believer brings in good to the marriage because of Christ's work. Now, there's a whole myriad of ways that this has been looked at over the years. Next week, we'll have a little more on on how this can be applied. I don't want to get bogged down and away from Paul's main points. He says you should stay married. And then and at the end, he says, wife, how do you not know whether you save your husband and husband? How do you not know whether you will save your wife? Stay in these marriages and maybe one day the Lord will use you to save your spouse. I can speak for people in my own life where I've seen this happen. There's been two married people, one has become a believer, one is not. They consent to stay together. And over the course, now hear me in the time frame, over the course of years, the Lord works through the believing spouse to present the gospel, to see the gospel lived out. And over time, the Lord regenerates the unbelieving spouse and they become saved. So let's look at this kind of step down that Paul has done here. It's like he's he's running through a course of action. He says, if you're single, it's good to be single, but if you can't, married is good, too. And he says you should stay married. But for those of you who don't, you should not be remarried if you're a Christian in the church there together. And he says, but. For those of you that are married and your unbelieving spouse wants to leave, then let it be so. So the ideal is that you should not divorce. And then within this last example, you should not divorce a pagan spouse. And then he gives the reason for they are sanctified in you. There's this idea of this goodness that comes from you being in this relationship. But then he gives an exception. They choose to leave and let it be so. And the reason for that is that God has called us to peace. So so far, we've seen that Paul has made his wishes very clear that he wished that all could remain like he is, but that marriage is good and that as Christians, we should stay married. And then Paul gives this example, and he realizes that we live in a fallen world and it isn't always going to be the case that people stay married. In fact, we read in verse 15. We go back to that, he says, in such cases, the brother or sister is not enslaved or you let let the other one go. And this can be interpreted in two ways. How should we interpret this? Paul is saying that if you're married believers and you and you get divorced, you should not remarry. And now he seems to be saying that if the unbeliever leaves you, then you're not enslaved. So how do we interpret this and then how do we apply that to our lives? Well, the majority view and evangelical interpretation is this. That if the believer is abandoned by their spouse, by the unbelieving spouse, they are no longer bound to that marriage and free to remarry and they are also free to remarry. Then there are also others who would look at this and they would say this view is also widely accepted that Paul is saying that the abandoned spouse is not bound to any relationship obligations. They can't contest the unbelieving spouse's intention to leave. They need to act in peace, but that they are not allowed to remarry. So we have to figure out what we need to do with this. And to do that, we need to look and see what else scripture says about this topic. So to fully understand this, let's from a Christian perspective, we need to look at at other scriptures and we've read Genesis 2 already. a man and woman come together and become one flesh. Then in the Old Testament, we have a teaching or a narrative passage in Deuteronomy 24 verses 1 through 4. And Moses says that he doesn't allow for divorce, but that he gives instructions based on how to deal with that situation when it happens, how to write the certificate of divorce. He's realizing that those things actually do happen in this world. And this, these two passages set the backdrop for what we read in Matthew chapter 19. We read there this morning that the Pharisees are asking Jesus about Moses' teaching on divorce. Jesus answers with Genesis chapter 2 saying, two have become one flesh. And then Jesus goes on to say that people, he says, people shouldn't get divorced. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate. And then, Then in this passage, Jesus gives what some have called the exception clause, that those who divorce their spouse because of sexual immorality don't commit adultery. I'll say this is very shocking for the Jews. This is very shocking. You see, the Jews interpreted Deuteronomy 24 to mean that because of immorality or displeasing actions. The husband, not the wife, the husband was required to divorce his wife. If he was displeased with her, he was to divorce her. And Jesus is completely changing this interpretation. He's saying that two people shouldn't get a divorce. But in the case of sexual immorality, why not ideal is the exception where you're not in a future adulterous relationship. That's how this is understood in the majority of evangelical thought. Matthew also records Jesus in Matthew chapter 5 saying this, starting in verse 31. It was also said, whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce, quoting Deuteronomy 24. But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the grounds of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery. And whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery. Here, Jesus is saying the same thing as he does in chapter 19, that divorce, except on the grounds of sexual sin, is adultery. And so there's this idea of an exception there. Now, Luke and Mark also record this same Matthew chapter 19 correspondence, but they don't have the exception clause. So what do we do with all this? How do we interpret what Paul is saying in 1 Corinthians, what Jesus has said in the Gospels, what has been taught to us in the Old Testament? How do we tie all of these things together? How are we to understand how we are to interact and deal with the sin and the divorce and the things that happen in this world? So that very brief overview done. I will admit that was an overview because of our time frame here. I want to give you the three major interpretations that happen in evangelical thought today. There's three major camps. And then I want to tell you where we as elders stand on this. And then finally, we get all of that disagreement out of the way. Let's come back where we can agree on how we apply this. And I'll tell you up front, I'm fully aware that we all in this church will probably have different understandings of these three views. And I'm going to give very broad, big umbrella understandings of these views. And you may be under that umbrella and have slightly different nuanced understandings. And I'm fully aware of that. So the first view understands the Greek word in Matthew that refers to sexual immorality to be referring to adultery or some other sexual immorality. And this view espouses the biblical legitimacy to the confession of divorce and remarriage for the innocent party of a spouse's adultery. And also tying into that from this first Corinthians passage, the abandonment by an unbeliever. Now, this is the majority view in evangelicalism. And within this view, people have slightly different understandings and and would nuance things differently and maybe even argue with each other in there. Now, I want to tell you some of the people who hold to this, so you don't think that that this is I'm just saying it's a majority view. Here's some people that hold to this. Surprisingly to me, I wasn't aware of this until a couple of weeks ago. The Westminster Confession holds this, espoused as a form of this view. This is the confession that many Presbyterian brothers hold to. Craig Bloomberg from Denver Seminary, D.A. Carson, which many of you know his name, John MacArthur, host of this, John Murray, Robert Stein was at Southern Seminary, John Stott, and Andres Kostenberger, who is at Southeastern, has written actually a very good book on marriage. I can come in to you later if you'd like to read it. The second view understands the Matthew chapter 19 passage to be a reference to some sort of sexual sin, but that Jesus was allowing divorce on this sexual sin, but not remarriage. They would say they would look at the first Corinthians passage and say in chapter verse 10 in chapter 7 and say, but there's not no way that you can remarry. And this same would hold true for abandonment by the unbeliever. This divorce is permitted, not good, but permitted, but that you are not allowed to be remarried. This was the view that was most popular in the early church until about the 16th century. This is a view that's been around for a long time. And this view would say that only after remarriage does sin occur. People who had hold of this, and names you might recognize, is Gordon Wynnum, Robert Gundry, Warren Carter, and Andrew Korns. These are some contemporary theologians that hold to this. Now, the third view of the Exception Clause allows for neither divorce nor remarriage. The interpretation says that while this is a reference to sexual sin, in that it would have made the marriage unlawful in Jewish civil law. For example, a Jew and Gentile mixed marriage, premarital sexual sin, I think to Mary and Joseph's story, maybe in that context, incest, or maybe a combination of those. Proponents of this view understand that people will go through divorce. They say it's not something that you want to allow. The scripture does not condone it. And they understand that people will be abandoned, but they don't think that Paul allows for remarriage. This is a thing that should never happen. And within this view, I will say that there is a lot of argumentation and people vary on that. It's a very high view of it. Now, some people who hold to this view, F.F. Bruce, James Montgomery Boyce, Joseph A. Fittmire, Dwight Pentecost, John Piper, and John Ryrie are people more contemporarily who have held to this view. Now, I've probably sufficiently made you all upset because I have not represented your view correctly. That's okay. This is a high level view. We can talk about the nuances all we want. What I'm trying to get at here is that these are general understandings of the teachings of marriage and divorce and how they relate back to what we're talking about here in 1 Corinthians chapter 7. I want us to bring it back now. And I will say that all of these positions have what I consider solid biblical argumentation. You may not agree with the view opposite of you, but they do come from Scripture. These are not just randomly made up. People can argue from Scripture on these views. And I would say that these views fall within orthodoxy. Are you not a not? They don't they don't determine your salvation. Now, some will say that one end of this spectrum is too loose in its understanding of divorce and remarriage, and they don't hold Scripture high enough. And I would be careful with those argumentations because they actually come from scripture. Others will say that some of the readings are reading in their own cultural desires of their own marriage relationship in and that and that they they are ignoring others clearly stated exceptions for this. I don't think that's a fair read. I don't think that's a fair accusation either. We must be careful how we discuss these things. We can discuss these all we want. We need to be careful how we work through this because the reality of it is, regardless of where we stand, people go through divorce. It is a very, very painful thing. May we not forget that as we talk through any of these situations, that we are talking of two actual people. Oftentimes, two of our brothers and sisters that are going through this and going through a situation that will scar them for the rest of their life. They may heal from that, but the scars will be there. Now, here's where. We as elders at GRBC stand on the topic of divorce and marriage, and then we'll put all this, this technical stuff behind us. And let's look and see how we can disagree, but then agree on how we apply this. Number one, we affirm that the biblical model of marriage is between a man and a woman. Number two, we affirm that marriage is good and that the Bible teaches that as God originally intended marriage, it is to be a permanent union. However, We do realize that we live in a sinful world and because of the hard heartedness of men and women, divorce does happen. We also recognize that both historically and in our day, there are a variety of positions about whether or not a Christian can in good conscience obtain a divorce and likewise, whether a divorced Christian is permitted to seek remarriage. Number three, we recognize that As elders of GRVC, we have slightly varying views on this, and we might nuance things differently at times regarding this matter. We also expect that many of you here in this congregation hold to differing views, and we agree that these differing convictions are deep rooted in scripture and have often come from much studying and wrestling with God's word. And I didn't put this in before. I will also add not only wrestling with God's word, but wrestling through this in a real life situation. And we also know that a Christian's view may change over time as more study is done. That being said. We consider these views of marriage, divorce, and remarriage as not being a first-tier doctrinal issue, that is, one that defines Christian orthodoxy, nor a second-tier issue, that is, one which defines the distinctive of our church body. Rather, we consider that brothers and sisters of this local body can have differing views on these questions. Therefore, we do not require for members of GRDC to hold to a particular view of divorce and remarriage. However, as pastors of this local body, When a couple expresses an intent to pursue a divorce, we will strive to work with them with the goal that they reconcile with one another. And we will encourage them that even when certain circumstances might permit a divorce, being permitted does not equate to being required to divorce, nor is divorce the best option. Divorce is a very painful experience for all those involved. For the spouse is separating. for their children, for their parents, for their friends, and for their church. We are very aware of the pain and the turmoil involved in divorce. We also understand from our own life experiences the devastation on families that come from divorce. And we are sensitive to the fact that many of you, if not most of you here today, have been touched by divorce in one way or another. And so we will endeavor to do as much as we can to seek reconciliation, if at all possible. And regarding the question of remarriage. Each situation will be considered on a case-by-case basis, and each elder will act upon his own convictions if asked to participate in a marriage ceremony involving a previously divorced member. Number four, lastly, we affirm that divorcing and remarrying, even in sin, is not an unforgivable sin. Scripture has clearly outlined that there is one sin that is unpardonable. We read that in Matthew chapter 12, 31 and Mark 3, 28 through 29, that that the blaspheming of the Holy Spirit is the unpardonable sin. Because of the mighty power of Christ's work on the cross, there is hope for all to be forgiven of our sins, even if in the past you have out of sin been divorced. That being said, God's grace should not be used as a license to sin in this area or any other. So I want to add personally in that. Don't use God's grace as a license to sin in any other area either. God's grace covers our sin, but it does not give us a license to sin so that God's grace will abound even more. Paul says, let it not be. Now, I probably sufficiently made you all unhappy. Every single one of you has been offended in your sensibilities at some point in this sermon, and that's okay. Some of you are unhappy because I'm taking too firm of a stance, and others because I'm too loosey-goosey on this passage. Let's put all that behind us for a moment. Let us not forget the reason that we've come here to hear God's Word proclaimed to us today. And that's to be changed and mold into the image of the Lord Jesus. And to apply this to our lives. I know many of you have been touched by divorce in one way or another. I can say for myself, my family has been touched by divorce. I've seen the scars that are long lasting years and decades later. I know some of you here today have been not only touched, but maybe been through a divorce yourself. Regardless of how any people, any of us interpret these scriptures, Know now that by trusting in Christ, your sins are forgiven. All of them. All of them. Trust in Christ. Confess your sins and repent of your sins and you will be saved. You see, the gospel is very clear. God created the world good. And the man sinned. And in his goodness of creating the world, God showed that he was holy. Men have fallen into sin, and because of that, we deserve God's full wrath and condemnation poured upon us. But in God's goodness, he has sent Christ. And Christ has gone to the cross, and he has bore the full wrath of our sin. All of it. Sin and divorce, sin and our hatred, sin and our lying, sin in every aspect. He has taken that and paid for it. And the Bible clearly states those who trust in him will be safe. If you have not trusted in the Lord Jesus today, why not? He's calling to you to be safe, to trust in him. Now, some of you here today may be struggling in your marriage, especially on a Sunday morning. I'm not deaf to the fact that for whatever reason, Sunday mornings is a time of attack upon Christians. You get a plate, can't find kid's shoes, can't find your wallet, your car keys go missing, even though you put them away the night before you thought. There's a flat tire. There's a wreck on North Park. You get frustrated. Maybe even more than that, there's something deeper going on in your marriage and you're struggling. And you see passages like this, and it's not what you want to hear. Because what you want to hear is that you can do what you want and that as a Christian, you're free to divorce whenever you want. And some of you may be struggling and not telling anyone, and you want out now. You don't want out tomorrow. You want out right this moment. Let me encourage you that the Lord has called marriage good. And even though your marriage might not be honoring to Christ right now, and it might be rocky, And it might be difficult. It is probably hard. That it can honor Christ again. That Christ has not only redeemed us as people, but He works in us where these things can be worked if we submit to Him. And we look to the cross and we work to know Him more and deeply. If you're struggling in your marriage today, know there's one who has died for your sins and made us new. And know that you will never fix your marriage on your own. It won't happen. You can try all you want and it will not happen. I'm convinced of that. This restoration can only be done through the work of the Lord in your life. But don't think that you're alone. Don't think that you're alone in this. There are people in this room who have been down that path before you. Come and find one of them. Come and talk to one of the elders and allow us to help you work through these difficult situations. Find someone that you trust to be able to pray with you and to help you apply God's Word to your life and see that marriage is good and it's worthwhile to save. It is worthwhile to stay in your marriage if you can. Allow this church body to help you. Now, single people, Don't tune this out either. You probably don't have a grasp on how marriage works. If you're like me, you think that it's just two people living together like roommates that have other benefits and other parts of marriage that you may not understand. It's more than that. And you probably won't have a full grasp on it until the day the Lord calls you to be married. But know that marriage works and it should be a reflection of the Gospel. And don't be dismayed that you don't understand that. Let me encourage you to search the Scripture, to spend time praying about if the Lord would have you be married. And don't jump into that blindly. Look around. There are married people in this room who have gone down the road before you and would be willing to help you understand marriage. There are those of us who have been married longer than you, and there are those of us who have been married longer than me. And we are more than willing to help you navigate through these situations. Find a married person and ask for help, and if they can't or won't help you, or don't feel comfortable, come find one of the elders and allow us to help you understand marriage now, and how it is to bring glory to God before you get to that point. So as I close today, Let me encourage you to continue on, as we saw way back in First Corinthians, chapter three, that we look at the world with rose colored glasses, gospel colored glasses, so to speak, and we interpret everything through that, including marriage, including marriage, that we would strive to have a view that honors and brings glory to the Lord Jesus. Let's pray. Father, we thank you that you have opened up your word to us. And that you have found it good to teach us the things that are difficult. Not just the easy things that we like, but the hard things. And Father, we thank you that. Through these hard things, you have you have provided all that we need to understand it. We ask that you would make our thoughts clear. That we would hold to loving biblical viewpoints and that we would see marriage as you see it. Father, we ask that for those of us in this room who have been touched by divorce in some way or another, that we would know and see that your power, your work on the cross is sufficient even for that. And that you can restore and redeem. And that while we may still carry scars, We can serve and worship and love you and have a relationship with you and you will one day return and make all things new again. Father, we pray all this in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.