All right, so Mark chapter 10, and we'll begin reading at verse one, and we'll take our text all the way to verse 12. Mark chapter 10, beginning verse one, said, and he arose from thence, cometh into the coasts of Judea by the farther side of Jordan, and the people resort unto him again. And as he was wont, he taught them again. And the Pharisees came to him and asked him, is it lawful for a man to put away his wife, tempting him? He answered and said unto them, what did Moses command you? And they said, Moses suffered to write a bill of divorcement and to put her away. Jesus answered and said unto them, for the hardness of your heart, he wrote you this precept. But from the beginning of the creation, God made them male and female. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, cleave to his wife. They twain shall be one flesh. So then they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let no man put asunder. And in the house, his disciples asked him again on the same matter. And he saith unto them, whosoever shall put away his wife and marry another, committeth adultery against her. And if a woman shall put away her husband and be married to another, she committeth adultery. We are starting a new chapter in our series on the Gospel of Mark, and right away, if you've been around church or churches very long, you know this is a very controversial subject and text. The title of my message this morning is Jesus on Marriage and Divorce. Jesus on Marriage and Divorce. While it is a fact that this subject is one of great controversy amongst many good brethren and many good churches, it is also a fact that not Not every pastor, not every preacher preaches through books like I like to, that's a fact. But as we've gone through the different books of the Bible that we've gone through since I've been here, one thing you'll notice, and one thing that I've noticed, because I've been around a lot of different preaching, I've been around a lot of different churches, Baptist churches I'm talking about, the Lord's churches. There are some texts which get more traffic than others, and this is one that gets a lot of traffic. This is a text that gets a lot of traffic. Whether you're on the side which is in full opposition to divorce and remarriage, or whether you're on the side that is okay with it, this text gets traffic. I'm not here today to enter into the debate about divorce and remarriage. All I want to do today is preach the text. And I know that even trying to preach the text, once this goes out on the internet, I may be accused of being too soft by one group and being too hard by another group. I don't know, but at the end of the day, all I want to do is preach the text in a way that is pleasing to God. I believe that we can do that here with this passage and be able to rejoice in the teachings of our Lord, even on a controversial text like divorce, even on a controversial text like marriage. Just remember, While this text was controversial 40 or 50 years ago, even, about divorce and remarriage, in our day, it's controversial because of marriage. You know, the world has redefined what marriage is. I'm here to tell you that the definition of marriage has not changed. And while it's, sadly, has entered into some Baptist churches, in fact, maybe you saw it on the internet, I noticed it right away. There was a church in Moorhead, Kentucky. They had a celebration for Gay Pride Day. It attracted my attention because Moorhead, Kentucky is just down the road from where I grew up. But that church is an old church. As a matter of fact, it's the church where Buell-Kazin used to pastor. It's been around for a long, long time. And Buell-Kazin and some of those older, all of those older fellows, they would have never dreamed that we'd be living in a country where There's even a question as to what marriage is. And they surely would have never dreamed that there would be Baptist churches that would follow along with this nonsense, this rebellion against God. And so it's good to remind ourselves, what is the teaching? that is given here in the scriptures so that we don't become too loose on these subjects, whether we're talking about divorce or whether we're talking about what is marriage. There is a biblical teaching that we need to stand on and we need to stand firm on these things. So as we pick up the text, We find the people crowding around Jesus once again. And as was his custom, he began to teach. We read there that the Bible tells us in verse one, he arose from thins. And and cometh into the coasts of Judea." First of all, he rose from thins. That's got some significance there. Jesus had been teaching in chapter nine, and while we might read this and say, well, he got up to leave, It's significant because oftentimes in their culture, the preacher or the teacher would often sit down to teach and to preach. And so we see he gets up to go. It's different than what we have in our culture, where the preacher or the teacher will often stand, whether it's in the church or in the college or high school or whatever. But he arose from fence. And he went from where he was into the region of Judea and beyond the Jordan. He will minister in this area from this point going forward until we get to right at the edge of where he's taken to be crucified. So he spends a lot of time here in this area where he's at now, chapter 10. And the people resorted to him again, and as he was wont, he taught them again. As he was want, he taught them again. If we read this too quickly, we might miss this, but it is significant. That word want is not a word that we use very often in our regular vernacular, not here in Southeast Georgia, not up in Northern Ohio where I'm from. It's a word that means that it was his custom. It was his custom to teach. These people started coming in around him. And so what did he do? Well, it was his custom to teach them. It was his custom to teach them. This was our Lord. This was his ministry. This is what he was. He was accustomed to teach. I think that that's very, very good to consider. When we look at the life of Christ, we see him teaching the disciples. We see him teaching the multitudes. He is the great shepherd. He is the chief shepherd. One of the requirements, qualifications for a pastor is that he be apt to teach. We follow in his footsteps with this. It should be the habit of teaching when it comes to the office of the pastor. And we see that lived out in his life. This was his custom. So don't miss that there in this text. As he was want, as he was accustomed, he was preaching. I believe that's the way that they, or as he was accustomed, he was teaching. I believe that's the way the New King James puts it. According to his custom, some of the other translate it that way. But this is an important thing to notice about the life of Jesus. And so as he's teaching there, some of the Pharisees show up in verse two. The Pharisees came to him and they asked him, is it lawful for a man to put away his wife, tempting him? Now, why were the Pharisees interested in divorce? Why were they interested in the putting away of wives? Well, this was, controversial in their day too. There were two schools of thought among the Jews. There were some Jews who thought that they were able to divorce a wife or whatever. So your wife burnt your food. Divorce, right? Your wife is in a bad mood the last couple of days. Divorce, right? That was kind of their way of thinking with one extreme. But then there was another extreme. These guys said, well, you all are wrong. You shouldn't divorce for these petty things. And they're right. You shouldn't divorce if your wife cooks you burnt food or comes home in a bad mood and all that. But there was another extreme. They said, well, divorce is wrong no matter what. So, your wife is out playing the harlot, no divorce, right? Your wife, your husband rather, is beating you, beating his wife, no divorce, right? They were the opposite extreme, okay? And so, it was a controversial thing. Isn't that the way it is sometimes in our day? I mean, our country has gotten to the point you can go down and get a divorce for being incompatible or whatever. It seems like you can get a divorce for just about anything. But there may have been more at play here as well. Remember, John the Baptist had gotten his head cut off because of his involvement with Herod. And so they may have been asking this question to try and get Jesus into some trouble. Well, are you of the same opinion as John, you see? They weren't really interested in learning. These were Pharisees. They thought they knew everything. And the Bible even says here that they were tempting him. They were trying to get him involved in a controversy of some sort. They were essentially doing the devil's work. Now, there's a time and a place to ask questions to see what a person believes, but we should also ask questions to learn and to grow. And so we need to guard our own hearts that we don't become like the Pharisees, that we're just all the time thinking we already know all the answers and just trying to cause controversy. We need to be careful about that. They had an agenda, an agenda that is brought out here. No doubt Jesus knew what their agenda was. Verse three, he answered and said unto them, what did Moses command you? And we might read this and say, well, why was Jesus worried about what Moses said? Well, it's not that. You see, this is deeper. He was pointing them to Scripture. When he says, what did Moses command you? He means what's written in the law, what's written in the first five books of the Bible, what we would call the Old Testament, particularly Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Those are the books of Moses. He's pointing them to the writings of Moses, which is the inspired word of God. And this ought to be our answer as well. When controversy comes up, whether it's about divorce, remarriage, or marriage itself, as it is in our day, there's a lot of times emotion that gets involved, but let us put aside all the emotion and let us stand on the word of God. That's where we need to stand. He says, what did Moses command you? Standing on the word of God is the best place that you and I can stand. We learn from Jesus. His example is, it was his habit, his custom to teach. And when he's asked these questions, even from people who had a bad agenda, they were out to get him. It was very obvious. These were Pharisees. And he says to them, what did Moses say? What does the Bible say? Let's look at the Bible. It's got to be the standard. He didn't say, well, what's the consensus amongst the Jews? He doesn't say, let's get a poll going. No, no. What says Moses? And they said, Moses suffered to write a bill of divorcement and to put her away. Moses suffered. Notice the wording here. This is an omission from them. Moses suffered for a man to write a bill of divorce and send her away. Now that word suffered is another way of saying that Moses permitted. It wasn't a command. It wasn't law. It was permission. Understand something, right away, whatever your situation is this morning, whatever it may be five days from now or 20 years from now, if you're ever in a situation where even if you have grounds for divorce, You don't have to divorce, right? There are ways that you can work those things out, and if there is a way to work it out, you should. It's not command. You don't say, well, my wife cheated on me, or my husband cheated on me. I have to get a divorce. Maybe you don't. Maybe you don't. Maybe it can all be worked out. You say, well, you don't know how terrible this is. Well, and we'll get to this in a moment, but remember, Ephesians chapter five tells us that marriage is a picture of Christ in the church. You know, one of the most profound things I ever heard on this subject. Paul Washer said it. He said, he said, you men, and I'm not picking on the women, I'm just telling you what he said. He said, you men, you've got a wife who isn't perfect and she gives you a rough time and you know, she's not everything that The Bible says that a wife should be, your marriage is on the rocks and all, whatever you're doing. He said, stop, quit wishing for a perfect wife. Because you know what? If you had a perfect wife, you wouldn't know the picture of Jesus in the church. And furthermore, on the flip side, you wives, and I'm going by memory, it's been a while since I heard that sermon, but furthermore, you wives, you've got to remember, and you husbands, we gotta remember this, the picture's not perfect. We're not Jesus. How much do churches put the Lord through, and yet he still loves them? Go through the New Testament. From the very first church all the way up until our present day, you'll not find a perfect church. And I dare say, you'll not find a perfect wife. But all through the New Testament, you say, well, what about the first church? It was a really good church. Was it? Was it really? Jesus had left them, told them what they were supposed to do. He said, he said, stay here until the Holy Ghost gives you power and then go out into all the world. What did they do? The day Pentecost came, thousands of people were saved. That church swelled up great big and what happened? They stayed in Jerusalem. They were a racist church that did not want to go out and evangelize into the world the way that they were supposed to. They were disobedient. And they didn't even get obedient until the fires of persecution came. That shouldn't have never had to happen, but it did. And then on you go. the church of Corinth, the churches of Asia Minor. One thing they all had in common, they were still the Lord's churches. He loved them. Loved them. I just got way off my notes, but They admitted, these Pharisees did, that Moses suffered for a man to write a bill of divorce and send her away. Jesus said, verse five, for the hardness of your heart, he wrote you this precept. Let's keep reading. But from the beginning of the creation, God made them male and female. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife. And they twain shall be one flesh. So then they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let no man put asunder. You want to know something about the heart of man when it comes to divorce, here it is. Divorce came about as a result of the hardness of man's heart. Hear me and hear me well, this is important. Divorce always involves sin. Always. There's not ever a marriage, although sometimes you'll hear it. Two perfect people coming together and those two perfect people getting a divorce. That's not how it works. It's not how it works. There may be, and oftentimes there is, an innocent party when it comes to divorce. But the reality is there is never, ever a time when there's a divorce and both parties are innocent. It just don't happen. It just doesn't happen. Somewhere, somehow, somebody messed up and messed up bad. Otherwise, there wouldn't be a divorce. Because of the hardness of your heart, he wrote you this precept. But from the beginning, so that's the heart of man, but now we see the heart of God as Jesus lays it out here. From the beginning of the creation, God made them male and female. For this cause shall the man leave his father and mother, cleave to his wife, and they twain shall be one flesh. So then they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let no man put asunder. He says from the beginning, it wasn't like this. There wasn't divorce in the beginning. And he quotes from them Genesis chapter one. If you want to go back in there with me. Genesis chapter one. Verse 27, it says, so God created man in his own image, and the image of God created him, male and female, created he them. And then if you go to chapter two, verse 18, and the Lord God said, it is not good that man should be alone. I will make him and help meet for him. Out of the ground, the Lord God formed every beast of the field, every fowl of the air, and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them. Whosoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. And Adam gave names to all cattle, to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam, there was not found and help meet for him. The Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept. He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh instead thereof. The rib which the Lord God had taken from man made he a woman and brought her into the man. And Adam said, this is now bone of my bones, flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman because she was taken out of man. Therefore shall the man leave his father and his mother, shall cleave unto his wife, they shall be one flesh. They were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed. Jesus, by quoting from Genesis chapter one and chapter two, he proves a couple of things. He proves, number one, that creation was in six literal days and not in millions of years or billions of years. Look at it again. He says, from the beginning of the creation. When was Adam and Eve created? Well, if you believe what Jesus is saying here and take him literally, they were created at the beginning of creation, during the first literal week. Jesus didn't believe in a gap theory or a day-age theory or evolution. This is fact. He knew what would happen. We can take him at his word. He was there. Like I said, if multiple times from this pulpit and from other places, you will either believe God's word or man's word. And the Bible is clear. Jesus brings that out here in Mark chapter 10, from the beginning of the creation. But he also defines marriage. Marriage is between a man and a woman, male and female. Regardless of what the world says, there is only one kind of legitimate marriage. It's not a man and his dog. It's not a woman and another woman. It's not a person and an AI. Things are getting weird, folks. And there's stuff happening in our culture that just does not make sense. But the further a nation sails away from the Bible, the weirder it's going to get. There's only one kind of legitimate marriage, and that is between a man and a woman. That's the only kind that I recognize. That's the only kind that you should recognize, because that's the only kind that God recognizes, a man and a woman. It's not a man and a child. It's not a woman and a child. It's not two children, right? It's a man and a woman. And why is this? Because God said so. God instituted. This is the way it is. Marriage is His. In fact, marriage You ready for this? Marriage is a relic that has survived all the way from the Garden of Eden. And what happened on day six, at the end of that day? What's he saying? Genesis 1 and verse 31, God saw everything that he had made and behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day. Very good. That includes the man, the woman, the marriage. And on this side of the fall, What's happened is sin has entered in and destroyed God's very good world. We're reminded of that. Some of y'all were talking about working in the garden. You had to sweat to get there. You know there's thorns in the garden, and you know that it takes a lot of work. You know. And today's Mother's Day. You mothers, you know that there's pain in childbirth. All of those things, they're reminders that we're on this side of the fall, that sin has done something to God's very good creation. And indeed, we're all sinners. I'm short of the glory of God. And even those of us who are saved, we still struggle with that old sin nature. We meet Mrs. Wright, or Miss Wright, rather, and she meets Mr. Wright. They get married. It don't take long until we realize Miss Wright, and she realizes Mr. Wright is a depraved sinner, and there's trouble. There's trouble. In fact, I dare say that most marriages probably have their first argument before they're ever even done with the honeymoon. And if they don't have it in the honeymoon, they're gonna have it before the first year for sure. Most of what happens between a man and a woman can get worked out. But because of the hardness of heart, divorce entered into the scene. What does God think of divorce? Well, Malachi chapter two, Malachi 2, verse 16. For the Lord, the God of Israel, saith that he hateth putting away. For one covereth violence with his garment, saith the Lord of hosts. Therefore, take heed to your spirit, and deal not treacherously. God hates the putting away. Now understand something. While we can say of a certainty that divorce is not part of God's very good creation, we can say that divorce is not a command of the law, it is permitted, and we can say that God hates divorce. Let me say, he does not hate people. He does not hate everyone who has been through a divorce. There's a difference. And we've got to be clear about that. We've got to be clear about that. These are just the realities of him. We live in a fallen world, and because of that, divorce is gonna be a part of life. Hopefully not your life, my life, but it's gonna be a part of life in general. Until that time comes, when God cleans all this up, And so he deals with it here in Mark chapter 10. And as he reminds them, it wasn't always this way from the beginning, which by the way, remind you that the next time you're witnessing to somebody, or the next time you're at the dinner table with somebody, and they try to say, well, Jesus never addressed homosexuality. They say, no, Jesus never addressed the gay question. That's the way they talk in our world. As if the words written in red are more important than the words written in black when it comes to the word of God, but they'll bring that up. You can take them to Mark chapter 10 and point this out to them and say, yes, he did. He said from the beginning, it was male and female. He did address it. And that settles it. That settles the question. But what should our marriages be in this present time? Should it be a reminder of the creation? Well, yes, it should be that. Should it be obedience to God? Yes, it should be that. And we ought to encourage people to get married. Living together, even Even boy and girl is not the best solution. The best solution is marriage, husband and wife. Let's not get so caught up in the world that we live in and say, well, at least he's not queer. No, no. We need to look at it through biblical eyes and say, if you're living together without being married, you're living in sin. You need to get married. We have to encourage people to get married. We have to celebrate marriage. I mentioned a while ago, Ephesians chapter five. Ephesians chapter five. We have verse 22. Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, and he is the savior of the body. Therefore, as the church is subject unto Christ, so that the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church. gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spod or wrinkle or any such thing, but that he should be holy and without blemish. So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the Church. For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, shall be joined unto his wife, and they too shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless, let every one of you, in particular, so love his wife, even as himself, the wife, see that she reverence her husband." There's a lot here that we could unpack. Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands. That's a double subjection. Necessary, the subjection of order going all the way back to creation, but also voluntary, the subjection of duty. As unto the Lord. This is a rule of reason of wives' subjection. The wife is to obey her husband as he obeys the Lord and no further. The husband is to be the Lord's representative, bearing his image and having fellowship with the Lord. But then as we get on down here, we see the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church. He is the savior of the body. The husband's authority is very large. His authority and power have no restraint but God's command. And so she must not do anything against God's will. She may do many things against her own will if her husband requires it. And what we see in this is that marriage is a reflection of the relationship between Christ and his church. What church is this? Well, I wouldn't want a universal, invisible bride, would you? No, no, this is the local, local, visible church. In the very context, he's writing to a church at Ephesus. As I said, your spouse may not meet all of your expectations, but how else will you learn unconditional love of God? In this, as we think about and consider that our marriage, my marriage, your marriage is to be a picture of Christ in the church, we think about his love for us. How often, how often we have failed, how often we have come short. And yet, he still loves us, doesn't he? Unconditionally. And oh, how we ought to consider these things. Mark chapter 10 should not be thought of as a way out. simply a way out of a marriage. Mark chapter 10 should be considered as a passage that solidifies what God intended for marriage to be. Did, is there biblical reasons for divorce? Absolutely, absolutely. And if, and, and, and, and, and, you know, if, if, if you're going through those things or whatever, you know, talk it out, seek counseling, whatever you can do, um, you know, uh, for those sorts of things. Get help. Don't just run. I mean, remember this passage isn't the only passage. First Corinthians chapter seven. If you go there, verses 12 through 16, Paul says this. Well, let's start with verse, you know what, let's start, Let's start with verse seven. For I would that all men were even as I myself, but every man hath his proper gift of God, one after this manner and another after that. I say therefore to the unmarried and widows, it is good for them if they abide even as I, but if they cannot contain that to marry is better to marry than to burn. And unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, let not the wife depart from her husband. But if she depart, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband, and let not the husband put away his wife. But to the rest speak I, not the Lord. If any brother hath a wife that believeth not, and she be pleased to dwell with him, let him not put her away. the woman which hath a husband that believeth not, and if he be pleased to dwell with her, let her not leave him, for the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife sanctified by the husband, else were your children unclean, but now they are holy. But if the unbelieving depart, let him depart. A brother or sister is not under bondage in such cases, but God hath called us to peace. There are those who, especially in our world, they get bored, you know. We live in a society and they get bored. Bored with things, bored with people, bored with whatever, and they just give up and leave. Paul wrote to this, you know, if a spouse departs and how to handle those things. There are grounds for divorce in all of this. But the bottom line is this folks, marriage is a beautiful thing. There are biblical grounds for divorce and there are biblical grounds for remarriage. Matthew chapter 19, it gives us some more background information as to the context here in Matthew chapter 19, verse 3, the Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause? You see, they were thinking more along the lines of the loose fellows who want to just divorce for everything. Verse nine, I say unto you, whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, marry another, commit adultery. Whoso marries her which is put away, doth commit adultery. It's a very complex issue, but the Bible does make it clear, at least clearer than what people do sometimes. Sometimes we overcomplicate it. We don't divorce for everything. Work things out. It'll get messy. Sure, it'll get messy. But that's okay. Making up's a lot more fun than getting divorced. And As for controversies like, well, is a preacher able to preach if he's been divorced and remarried and all that? Well, you know what? I believe those things ought to be determined on a case by case basis. You know, if a man is guilty in his divorce, and he's been divorced five, six times and remarried five, six times, that might be a pattern that really be a red flag for whether he should be in the pulpit. It's not so cut and dry as what we'd like sometimes. There have been people who married and their wife left them They tried to save the marriage and weren't able to. And so their wife left and cheated on them and whatever. And there was a divorce and they got remarried. And you know what? Those men became great pastors and, and, and, and, you know, their marriage, their second marriage was great marriage and all of that. You know, no reason why those folks shouldn't be pastors. We stand on the Word of God and look at it through the lens of the Scripture and examine a man based on what's actually going on. Don't make quick judgment and all that sort of thing. May we be the kind of husband, kind of wife, kind of father, the kind of mother that we ought to be. To the glory of God, as we represent in this world, a marriage that should give him the glory. To live in obedience to God's word, to the glory of God. in this world that has done...