Scripture reading this evening is from a number of different passages. We begin with our text in Matthew chapter 19. Matthew chapter 19. We'll read the first 12 verses, the text being verses 3 through 12. And then after that, we will read from three other passages, both of the Old and New Testaments. This is God's Word in Matthew 19. And it came to pass that when Jesus had finished these sayings, he departed from Galilee and came into the coasts of Judea beyond Jordan, and great multitudes followed him, and he healed them there. The Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, and saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause? And he answered and said unto them, have ye not read that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, and said, for this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and they twain shall be one flesh. Wherefore, they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. They, that is the Pharisees tempting him, they say unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement and to put her away? He, Jesus, saith unto them, Moses, because of the hardness of your heart, suffered you to put away your wives. But from the beginning it was not so. And I say unto you, whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery. And whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery. His disciples say unto him, and before I go on, I want you to notice that paragraph marker at the beginning of verse 10, ought not be there. That's not, of course, part of the inspired Word of God. chapter divisions and paragraph markers. The editors put that there, assuming that this is a different subject now in verse 10. But it's easy for you to see that this is not a change of subject. It's the same subject. In verse 10, his disciples say unto him that is in response to what he just taught, His disciples say unto him, if the case of the man be so with his wife, it is not good to marry. But he said unto them, All men cannot receive this saying, save those to whom it is given. For there are some eunuchs which were so born from their mother's womb, and there are some eunuchs which were made eunuchs of men, and there be eunuchs which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it. That's how far we read Matthew 19. Now let's look at that passage that the Pharisees appealed to in Deuteronomy 24. When they tempted Jesus, Jesus taught what he did. They said, but what about Moses? Verse 7. Why did Moses command to give a writing of divorcement and to put her away? Here's the teaching of Moses that Jesus said don't appeal to. Chapter 24 of Deuteronomy, the first four verses. Notice the two little words, let, and may, let and may, in these four verses. When a man hath taken a wife and married her, and it come to pass that she find no favor in his eyes, because he hath found some uncleanness in her, then let him write her a bill of divorcement, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house. And when she is departed out of his house, she may go and be another man's wife. And if the latter husband hate her, and write her a bill of divorcement, and giveth it in her hand, and sendeth her out of his house, or if the latter husband die, which took her to be his wife, Her former husband, which sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife. After that, she is defiled. For that is abomination before the Lord. And thou shalt not cause the land to sin, which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance. That's the reading of Deuteronomy 24. Now, two passages in the epistles. First of all, Romans chapter seven. The first three verses, and if you wonder why is the Apostle Paul in Romans 7 talking about marriage and divorce, the answer is he's using it as an illustration to make something that isn't clear, clear. It's a principle of teaching. If you're teaching a difficult subject, use something that everyone understands in order to make that difficult subject clear. Paul is teaching the difficult subject of the church's relationship to the law. What is that relationship that we have to the law, now and formerly? He uses marriage and divorce as an illustration of that. Everyone understands the illustration. Romans 7, 1 through 3. Know ye not, brethren, for I speak to them that know the law, how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth? Well, here comes the illustration. For the woman which hath a husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth. But if the husband be dead, she's loosed from the law of her husband. So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress. But if her husband be dead, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man. And then finally, in 1 Corinthians chapter 7, 1 Corinthians chapter 7. We'll just read two verses here. Before we read those verses, though, notice that the chapter begins by Paul saying, I'm going to answer questions you sent to me. Now concerning the things whereof ye wrote unto me. And now he's going to give answer to a list of questions they had asked. And it's important to notice, before you look down now, that Paul is dividing his answers into two categories. The one category has to do with questions that Jesus in his earthly ministry never addressed. Of course, there are questions that you might ask that Jesus in his earthly ministry never addressed. He never considered among the Jews the possibility of two non-Christians getting married and what the law of God might apply to them as if one of them became a Christian. Jesus didn't have that in view when he was in his earthly ministry. So one category of instruction, Paul is giving answer to questions that Jesus did not address. And the other category of answers is giving answer to questions that Jesus had addressed. And Paul is now making very clear. Verse 10. To the married I command, and yet not I, but the Lord." What he's saying there is that this is what the Lord Himself had addressed in His earthly ministry. Listen clearly. This is what the Lord said in His earthly ministry. I'll read verse 10 and 11. And to the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord. Let not the wife depart from her husband, that is, divorce. but and if she depart that is divorce let her remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband and let not the husband put away or divorce his wife the text as I indicated is Matthew 19 we won't reread that but let's pray before we hear the sermon Our Father which art in heaven, we have before us this evening a very difficult teaching, not for our minds, Father, but for our hearts. The requirements of the teaching of our Lord Jesus are difficult, but we pray that we may receive this word and obey it, for Thy glory and the good of marriages and the covenant children in those homes. For Jesus' sake we pray, amen. We are in the last month of the year 2025, which was the 100th anniversary year for the Protestant Reformed Churches. founded by the goodwill of God in 1925. The year 2025 makes us 100 years old. We've been celebrating. We pray humbly and carefully the fact that God has preserved us for a hundred years, and we paid attention especially to the teaching of grace and our opposition to common grace, which becomes a very precious treasure to us. The speeches that have been given last year and in this past summer at the 100th anniversary all focused on the doctrine of sovereign particular grace. We mustn't lose that. But the anniversary of our churches ought also to resurrect in our minds other treasures that the Lord has given us, one of which is the teaching of the Bible with regard to marriage and divorce and remarriage. That's what Jesus is teaching here. Marriage, divorce, marrying again. The Lord has led us through our history to see what the church in the ancient days taught about marriage and divorce and remarriage. It's not what the majority of the churches today teach, but it is, as I pray I will show you tonight, what Jesus teaches. And I want to preach this in all of our churches, and I've preached this in a few of them already. In order that, we may remind ourselves of a very important dimension of being a member of the Protestant Reformed Churches. We've had in the past five years or so a number of our family members and friends leave our churches. over accusations of false teachings with regard to grace and law and works, and many of them have scattered, and scattered into other denominations where they have landed now, and I'm not judging any motives. I'm only asking us to ask the question, did they, and if you are tempted to leave, will you ask yourself the question, does that denomination teach what Jesus teaches with regard to marriage and divorce and remarriage? You need to ask that question because when you join a denomination, you are responsible for what that denomination holds, and the presence at the Lord's Supper with you of those who may be, contrary to Jesus' teaching, divorced and remarried. The question you face is, does this church, now not the other churches, but does this church teach what Jesus taught with regard to marriage and divorce and remarriage? So let's look at that under the subject divorce and remarriage. What does Jesus teach? In the first place, let's teach it. In the second place, let's defend it, because Jesus had to defend it. And then, in the third place, let's receive it, because Jesus said not everyone can receive this saying. So, first of all, let's see what Jesus taught. Let's see how Jesus defended what He taught and how we defend it. And then, in the third place, make the application how we ought to receive this teaching. What Jesus taught about divorce and remarriage, of course, is in defense of the main teaching of marriage. Marriage. He's making sure that we understand what we may and may not do with regard to divorce. What we may and may not do with regard to remarriage because he has determined that we understand carefully the doctrine and preserve the reality of marriage, marriage. And see in this passage that there are four things I can put together in one sentence that he teaches about marriage. Marriage is a bond formed by God between one man and one woman that lasts forever. That is, until one of them dies. That's not forever. I misspoke myself. Marriage is a bond made by God between one man and one woman as long as they both live. Let's start where we ought not have to start and remind ourselves that marriage is not between one man and another man, between one woman and another woman, but between one man and one woman. This is God's prescription for marriage. Male and female, verse 4 says. Two, marriage is a bond between them that comes out all over the passage that we read. One flesh is the result of God's joining one man and one woman together so that they are, as it were, by a yoke where two animals are joined together and can't get apart. That's the loosest figure. Or, as it were, by a glue where they are stuck together, and there the Lord uses the word cleaves, the man cleaves to his wife, the result of which is that they're one. No longer two, a man and a woman separately, but now a man and a woman who are one. That's a bond that's close. There are other bonds that are close, of course. You mothers who have children understand the closeness of the bond between parents and children, especially between a mom and her children. We who have good friends understand the importance and the closeness of a bond between friends, but there is no bond like this bond that God makes when He says, these two are no longer two, but one. Third, this is a bond made by God, what God has joined together. And that's the mistake that everyone makes today. They consider marriage a proposal that men came up with and evolutionary development that society believed was good and profitable. And in the evolutionary development of mankind, maybe that reality of marriage is no longer useful. But they forget or willingly ignore that this is what God did. And that's why Jesus twice refers to at the beginning, verse 4, and from the beginning, verse 8. Marriage relationships are not what this conservative group thinks or this liberal group thinks. Marriage relationships are what God made. Fourth, marriage is a lifelong bond. You might not see this quite so easily in the text, but it's there. What you find in this text not quite so easily, the apostles saw very clearly, which is why Paul wrote what he did in Romans 7, verse 2 that we read. The woman is bound by the law as long as her husband lives. Lifelong bond. And what Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 7, verse 39, the wife is bound by the law as long as her husband lives. Lifelong bond. But that is in the text and very clearly in the text when Jesus said, if you marry a woman who's already been married, and her spouse is still living, you are committing adultery, and so is she. Why? Because marriage is a lifelong bond. No matter what man may do, no matter what the state may say, The marriage exists as long as they live, but when one dies, it's finished. And that's almost as important to see tonight, too. Our marriages are temporary. 40, 50, 60 years perhaps, and then they come to an end, and we open ourselves up to eternity where the marriage appears between us and the Lord Jesus Christ. Our marriages end. There aren't marriages in heaven. That's what Jesus said when another group of heretics tried to tempt him. and used an example of a woman who was married once, twice, thrice, four times, five times. They asked Jesus when she gets to heaven, whose wife is she? Man one, two, three, four, five. And Jesus said to them, you don't understand. When we get to heaven, there aren't going to be any marriages, and there aren't going to be any weddings. We aren't married or given in marriage in heaven. We're like the angels. Because the marriage that we have is the reality of our relationship to Jesus Christ. Point being, these marriages that are earthly end to give way to that marriage. And these earthly marriages are little pictures of that marriage that's going to last into all eternity. Which is why when we teach catechism to the young people, and I do to the young people, regularly, when I ask them to define the covenant, the biblical truth of the covenant, I have them say that it is a relationship of friendship between God and His people through Christ. And then I say, what's the best earthly illustration of that relationship? And their answer is, a good Christian marriage. And I tell them that if they witness to someone who's not a Christian, and that non-Christian asks them, what is the covenant? Then the best thing they can do is say, come and have supper at our house, and I'll show you an illustration of what is the covenant. And if their parents are godly in their relationship, that might just be the best way to illustrate to them what is our relationship with God. Watch how Dad and mom, my father and my mother, relate to each other. And you will learn something about the permanent marriage of Christ and his church. That's why we sang Psalm 45, O royal bride, give heed, and to my words attend, for Christ the King forsaked the world and every former friend. Thy beauty and thy grace shall then delight the king. He only is thy rightful Lord, to him thy worship bring." Marriage is a picture of that. And so two brief applications, one general, the next one leads back into the text. The first application is people of God don't make too much of marriage. That's the temptation that I face. Don't idolize your marriage. Don't say you would not be able to be happy without your present spouse. That's the temptation I face. The Lord has given me a marriage for 47 years now that I can't imagine how any other marriage could be happier than the one God graciously gave to me. My temptation to sin is that I put that relationship above the relationship between me and Christ. Don't make too much of your marriage, which means that you must not despair if the Lord does not give you an earthly marriage. Or if the Lord ends your earthly marriage far, far sooner than you ever could have imagined, He would end it. Don't despair. Don't make too much of your marriage. But the second application is be careful. Be oh so careful what you do with these marriage because others are watching. Our children are watching. Our neighbors are watching. And they know implicitly that how we relate in our marriages has something to do about our Christianity. Be careful what you do with these marriages. Now, it's for the sake of that marriage that Jesus teaches what He does about divorce and remarriage. And what he teaches about divorce and remarriage can be stated very simply. Divorce is impermissible with one exception, adultery. And remarriage is impermissible with one exception, the death of the spouse. Don't divorce unless there's adultery, then you may. And don't remarry if you divorce unless your spouse dies. Now you understand the context here. We read it, I explained it then, Jesus had been asked in order to trip him up, whether it was permissible for every cause for a man to divorce his wife. And what the Pharisees were trying to do is have Jesus take either the liberal view or the conservative view. The liberal view said you may divorce for almost any reason, and the conservative view said you may divorce for only a few reasons. Jesus, may a man divorce for every cause. Will you take, Jesus, the liberal view? And Jesus refused to take sides, simply quoted the scripture and said, this is my teaching about divorce and remarriage. Well, the Pharisees said we can do that too, and they quoted scripture as well. Deuteronomy chapter 24. Why did Moses then permit this? And Jesus' answer is the heart of our text. In verse 9, I say to you, whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery. And whoso marrieth her which is put away, doth commit adultery. Notice very briefly, because this is not the main part of the teaching of the text, that divorce is not required. If there's unfaithfulness in marriage, it's permitted if the marriage cannot be healed. Ideally, repentance, restoration, reconciliation, if possible. What a beautiful example that a man and a woman could give that which examples you've seen before in your church life. Divorce is permitted, not required, and for one cause, not many, the unfaithfulness of one. Today, of course, divorce is permitted for every cause. Pastors and elders will discipline no one anymore. who divorces their spouse for just about any reason, desertion, and not now just physical desertion that they move out and never come back, but emotional desertion and spiritual desertion and incompatibility. Everything becomes the ground for divorce and for remarriage. The Lord Jesus says, only for adultery, That's the one thing that can so damage a wedding, a marriage, that permits a man to put away his wife or a woman her husband, which also requires application. And that is, do you realize and do I what sexual sin does to a relationship? It's the only thing Jesus says permits divorce because it, like nothing else, damages, sometimes irreparably, a marriage. Do you realize, men, and maybe the women need to be addressed, too, what looking at things you ought not look at is? and does, and if you aren't married, young men, what that may do to your future marriage, what you are doing now. If Jesus said, if your eye offends you, pluck it out, or your hand offends you, cut it off, using hyperbole to make a very, very important point. then it's not extreme of me to say to you, if you are caught in that sin, you may have a phone. You may not use a computer. And if you do, you ought to give it to another so that they can see everything that you see on that phone and on that computer, and you can't get around it. But all other divorce except for fornication is permitted, is forbidden. And then what Jesus teaches, and we come to the end of the first point here, is that all remarriage is forbidden unless the spouse dies. What Jesus teaches, marriage. What he teaches is no divorce with the exception of fornication, adultery. And number two, no remarriage unless the spouse dies. No one who has divorced is permitted by God to marry another. Only when the spouse has died are they freed to do that, and all who do That is, all who marry someone who is divorced live in continual adultery because they're living with the spouse of another person. The bond lasts till death. Now we need to defend that teaching, and Jesus defended it. Now we study that part of the text. How do we defend this teaching that marriage is protected by these two prohibitions, each with one exception? No divorce except for adultery, and no remarriage except for death. Of course, that stand is challenged by almost the whole church world today. Formerly, only fornication was the ground. Only the innocent party may remarry. Now divorce for every cause and remarriage, not just to the guilty and not just to the innocent, but to the guilty party. That's the prevailing and commonly accepted position in almost every denomination. Even ministers in conservative denominations are married again or married to someone who's been divorced. And it's come to such a pass that the number of marriages that broke and new marriages made while spouses are still living is equal numbers in the churches and in the world. That ought not be. But those positions are defended, and we want to look at how those positions are defended. And they are, in the first place, with practical arguments, emotional arguments, which are very, very compelling. And the first emotional argument is that if they were married and divorced in unbelief and now become Christians, you wouldn't expect them to abide by the laws of God for that now, would you? To which you're tempted to say, if two men married before they became Christians and had children, and now they became Christians, you would not expect them to separate, would you? Be careful what you try to argue practically and emotionally. And the second more practical argument is that Jesus wouldn't expect his people to suffer so. Would he? To require of anyone a life of singleness? After they were married so briefly and their spouse abandoned them for another, now the rest of their life, as long as that former spouse is living, you expect them, really, would Jesus, the merciful Savior, expect them to remain unmarried? Those are the practical arguments that are very real and very powerful. But the biblical arguments are more important. They appeal, first of all, to 1 Corinthians 7, verse 15. You may look that up later. Where Paul is talking about two non-Christians who got married, and one of those became a Christian, and the non-Christian isn't pleased to live with that Christian any longer, Paul says about that Christian, she's not under bondage any longer. And they take that to mean she's not bound to the husband anymore, she's free to marry. Or Romans 7, they would say, that we read with the illustration, church's relationship to the law, man's relationship to his wife. They say, the death of this spouse is not physical death, it's spiritual death. So if two Christians are married and the one shows himself or herself not to be a Christian any longer, the Christian may regard the other one as dead and therefore be free to remarry. That's their defense. And then lastly, they appealed to Deuteronomy 24 where Moses said, they may. Let them, that is, permit them. You can't remember all of those reasons? but let's try to address them first of all mostly those other texts around our text and then we'll go to our text what is the defense that we give and Jesus gave to his teaching no divorce except fornication and no remarriage except death number one Romans 7, anyone who appeals to Romans 7 ought to be ashamed of himself or herself. No one ever understood that to mean spiritual death. Everyone who saw the illustration that Paul was using knew that meant physical death. We don't even need to say more about that. Number two, 1 Corinthians 7, the woman in a marriage that used to be two non-Christians, now it's a Christian and a non-Christian, and the non-Christian leaves. She's not under bondage in that case. Does not mean that she's not bound to him. There's a big difference between being under bondage and being bound. I can assure you that in my marriage I consider myself bound to my wife, but I'm not under bondage. And so, when Paul says that Christian woman whose husband left her isn't under bondage, she mustn't consider herself a slave to pursue him around the world, and of a guilty conscience that she's not with him. God has called her to peace, is how the text continues. Third, All the other passages in the Gospels, I won't take the time to read them now, Mark 10, Luke 16, Matthew 5, 32, all teach very clearly what we are saying tonight. And Matthew 19, verse nine, is the only passage that has you put a question mark behind it. What really is Jesus saying? So let's look at this text now. It would be good for you to open up your Bible to Matthew 19, verse 9, and see. There are three reasons why Matthew 19, verse 9, does not permit a divorced spouse to marry again, even when there was adultery. Number one, the word order. Read 19 verse 9, whosoever shall put away his wife, there's divorce. Number two is the exception, accept it before fornication. Number three is, and shall marry another. And part number four in the sentence is commits adultery. Notice where the exception is placed. After, put away his wife. That is, you may not put away your wife with one exception, fornication, and you may not marry again if you've divorced. Let me make that plain. The young people can understand something like this. If your parents prohibit you on a Saturday night to go to Berlin Raceway Unless you have an adult along with you, you understand very clear that you may not go to the races, but there's one exception that permits you to go to the races. You take an adult with you. Good. The exception applies to the prohibition. You may not unless. That's what Jesus is teaching here. The may not for Jesus is, you may not divorce. But there's one exception to divorce. You may not divorce with one exception. That is, if there's adultery in that marriage, then you're permitted to. A prohibition with an exception. That's clear. What is also clear is that Jesus has made two prohibitions. You may not divorce and you may not remarry. Where does the exception clause come? It comes after the first prohibition and not after the second. He didn't say you may not divorce and you may not remarry unless there's fornication. He said, you may not divorce unless there's fornication, and you may not marry, remarry, period. Let's use the Berlin Raceway illustration again. Now let's add your parents' instruction to you, young people. You may not go to Berlin Raceway unless you bring an adult along, and you may not take alcohol. Everyone understands the importance of the placement of that exception. You may not go to the races with one exception. You bring parents along, and you may not bring alcohol. Now, take that exception and put it at the end of both, and you have something completely different, don't you? You may not go to the races and you may not take alcohol unless you have an adult with you. Now you say, ah, I can both go to the races and I can bring alcohol as long as I have an adult with me. And your parents would say, don't you dare move that exception. You know very well what I was saying to you. And so the word order in our text is very important too. Don't move the exception clause. You may not put away your spouse unless there's fornication, and you may not remarry when you do. Don't move the exception clause. Reason number one, word order. Reason number two, is the Apostle Paul's inspired interpretation of this passage. And that's why we read 1 Corinthians 7. We all know that when Jesus died, right before he left, he said to his disciples, you now take the teaching I gave you, and you spread it over all of the world. Teach the people to observe everything that I commanded you to do. So the Apostle Paul did that, Matthew did that, Mark did that, John did that, Peter did that, and they wrote what they taught in the epistles. Romans, Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Peter, John, and so forth. Everything they wrote was simply an explanation of what Jesus taught. 1 Corinthians 7 that we read together is one of those places. And now let's go there again, 1 Corinthians 7. I remind you that Paul is addressing two categories of questions. One category of questions had to do with things Jesus never addressed. And another category of questions dealt with things that Jesus had addressed, and that's what we're dealing with in verse 10 of 1 Corinthians 7. I speak to the married now, verse 10, I command, and yet it's not I. But the Lord commanded. He's putting them on notice. He's simply explaining what Jesus taught about marriage and divorce and remarriage. Here it is. Don't divorce. That's what verse 10 says at the end. Let not the wife depart from her husband. But, here comes the exception, if she does, And everyone understood the only permission to divorce is fornication. If she does depart, she has how many options? You count them. Let her remain unmarried. That's option one. Or be reconciled to her husband. That's option two. She doesn't have a third option. Find another good Christian husband. She has just two. Stay unmarried or go back to your spouse. If Jesus had taught what most people think today that Jesus taught in our text, Matthew 19, Paul would have been completely irresponsible here not to have given the divorced woman another option. But Paul knew very well what Jesus taught, and he's simply underlining it. Don't divorce except for fornication, and when you do, you either stay alone or you go back to your spouse. Reason number three. that we teach what we do and explain what Jesus taught as we do is the context. Now, back in Matthew 19, go to verse 10. I remind you of that improperly placed paragraph marker. You may leave it there if you like. But this isn't a new subject. What Jesus taught permitted a spouse to get married again while their spouse was still living. The question that the disciples brought would make no sense. Listen to what the disciples say to Jesus' teaching. I'll paraphrase it, but you'll see I'm doing it properly. His disciples say unto him, Jesus, if that's true, If the case of the man be that way with his wife, it would be better not to marry. It's good not to marry. What in the world would the disciples say that for if Jesus had said you have three options? You may go back to your spouse, or you may remain single, or you may find another good Christian spouse. That would have been easy. The disciples didn't understand Jesus' teaching that way. The disciples understood Jesus' teaching the way I have been explaining it, and that's why they come with that stunning response as they did. Jesus, if that's what you require, then it would be good that we just never experience the joy of marriage, and then listen to what Jesus says to them. Not all men, verse 11, can receive this saying, except those to whom it's given. In other words, this teaching is so difficult that only grace will allow a man or a woman to receive it. We'll come back to that in the end of the sermon. And then Jesus brings up the subject of eunuchs, which also would not make any sense unless you understand the passage to be so strict and difficult as we've been explaining it. Here's the subject of eunuchs. Verse 12, there are some eunuchs which were born that way, so born from their mother's womb, and there are some eunuchs which were made eunuchs by men, And there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake. Why is Jesus bringing up the subject of a eunuch? That is, of a man, especially, who engages in no sexual relationships, period. That's a eunuch. No sexual activity at all. Jesus says there are three kinds of eunuchs. Eunuch number one, they were born that way. Some physical deformity does not allow them to have any sexual relations. Or maybe some makeup of the emotional character of the person is such that they have no sexual desire. Was Paul in that category? He remained single. He didn't desire to be married. He had no need to be married. That's not like most of us. Some eunuchs were born that way. There are other eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men. That's not an easy subject. Just think of a farmer who wants a bull to become a steer, and you understand what a eunuch is who is made a eunuch by men. Kings who had harems of beautiful women. needed men servants to take care of his property, but he didn't want those men servants to have any physical attraction to his beautiful women, so he made them eunuchs. Eunuch number one born that way, eunuch number two made that way, eunuch number three is the point of the text. A man willingly refrains from all sexual activity for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. No sexual relations. Married maybe a year, this has happened, and the spouse abandons them. and lives for 50 more years. And that young man or that young woman, for the sake of the kingdom of heaven, becomes a eunuch, makes himself or herself a eunuch. Not everyone can receive this saying, save those to whom it's given. Why would Jesus say that if this weren't one of the most difficult things you could ever imagine that Jesus would require of a child of God? But very briefly before the third point of the sermon, and I won't make that long, if anyone in the debate with you about your view on marriage and divorce and remarriage appeals to Deuteronomy 24, say two things to them. Say, number one, read the passage in any other Bible translation besides the King James, and you'll see that there's not permission given there with that word may. Moses is not giving them permission with that word may. The word may in the Old English is like our use of that word may. When I tell the catechism students before catechism, if you're gonna play ball out there, hit that way because if you hit this way, you may hit the ball through the window. Was I giving permission to them to hit the ball through the window? Of course not. I'm simply recognizing that if they're not careful, the ball may come through the window and they need to pay for it. hit that way, because if you hit this way, you may hit the ball through the window. That's the use of the word may in Deuteronomy 24. But all of that is not important. What's important is what Jesus said about Deuteronomy 24. Don't use it. Don't appeal to it. It doesn't apply to us. There was a little period of history in the time of the Israelites when things were so bad that Moses had to adopt certain regulations for that bad, bad time. And Jesus now said, but from the beginning it was not so. And I tell you, go to the beginning and let the beginning law of God apply to what we have today. Don't appeal to Moses in Deuteronomy 24. And that's our defense. That's the Bible's defense. of the teaching that we have given tonight. And now pray that God will enable you and me to receive it. All men cannot receive this saying. Verse 11, he that is able to receive it, let him receive it. At the end of verse 12, receive means open the door and make room. That's the word that's used here, Jesus uses. It's the word used in the history of Jesus' earthly ministry, when that house was so crowded with people, listening to Jesus teach, hoping he would do a miracle, that no one could come in. They couldn't receive anymore, which is why those who had the lame friend went up on the roof and let him down. The house was so full, they couldn't receive anyone more. It's the word that Paul uses when he writes to the church at Corinth. As he's absent, I'm coming, please prepare to receive me. That is, open your door, make room for me. And now Jesus uses that word and said not everyone is able to make room for this teaching. Receive it, though, as the Word of God. Make space for it. Yield to it. Don't get in the way of it. Believe it as the very Word of God. Teach it to your children and your children's children. Make sure your minister preaches this from the pulpit, teaches it in the catechism room, and when the elders receive young people to make confession of faith, this is one of the questions that they ask. Do you believe? what is taught here in this Christian church about marriage and divorce and remarriage to be the truth of the Word of God and permit them to make confession of faith if they say yes. Preach it, teach it. Number two, receive it by living godly in your marriages. This is the application we made at the very beginning. Let me and my wife and you and your spouse live in such a way that your children are not offended by what they see in your marriage. that they don't stumble when they see what goes on in your marriage. Live in such a way that your children say, I pray to God that someday I have a marriage like Dad and Mom's marriage. It's not perfect, but it's a good marriage. May my marriage, our children will say, when we live as we ought, I want to have one like that. And then third, be willing to suffer for Christ's sake. That's really what was behind all of this in the disciples' response. We can't imagine living that way. Does Jesus really require such suffering of His people of God? And if you and I are tempted to say, no, Jesus does not require suffering of His people, then you haven't seen that young woman whose husband died when she had five children, and she never married again because nobody wanted to marry her. Don't say Jesus would not require his people to suffer. He does, and he'll give grace. He will give grace to all of us who for the sake of the kingdom of heaven suffer. Marriage. temporary, 40, 50, 60, maybe more years, and then marriage, eternal. Listen to what Jesus taught about marriage and divorce and remarriage to his glory. Amen. Let's pray. Our Father which art in heaven, the teaching of thy word is very difficult. It is painful for us. We pray that we may receive it, that we may live according to it, and that we who have not been required to suffer will have great sympathy for those who are. Forgive us, Lord, of all our iniquities. For Jesus' sake, amen. Now let's sing Psalm 45 again, except now 45.