Let us call upon the name of the Lord in prayer. Our Father in heaven, we draw before you. Gathered as your people in corporate worship for a second time this Lord's Day to bring our thanksgiving unto you. To exalt and praise your holy name. And also to hear your word read to us and preached. We pray that you will bless the preaching of the word And as we study this afternoon, the covenant of marriage grant us discernment and wisdom. Also, self-examination, that in all things we might acknowledge your goodness to us. We pray, Father, that you will keep us from distraction and sin and temptation. Though we continually sin before you, though we are not worthy to even receive or hear your word, forgive us for Jesus sake. Restore to us the joy of your salvation. Lead us according to your ways everlasting. We thank you, Father, that we gather here as sons and daughters of the King. We pray that you might minister to us now. Send your Holy Spirit softening hearts that they may receive your word. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. I invite you to turn with me now in the Word of God to Deuteronomy chapter 24. We'll have a number of scripture readings this afternoon, Deuteronomy 24. Matthew 19 1st Corinthians 7. And also Article 24 or sorry, Chapter 24 of the Westminster Confession of Faith and Marriage and Divorce. So 1st Deuteronomy 24. This is the passage that Jesus is dealing with when he says it has been written or it has been said by Moses. This is the passage Deuteronomy 24, the first four verses here, then God's Word. When a man takes a wife and marries her, and it happens that she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some uncleanness in her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house. When she has departed from his house and goes and becomes another man's wife, if the latter husband detests her and writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, Or, if the latter husband dies, who took her as his wife, then her former husband, who divorced her, must not take her back to be his wife after she has been defiled. For that is an abomination before the Lord, and you shall not bring sin on the land which the Lord your God has given you as an inheritance." Okay, there's a reading from Deuteronomy 24. We turn over to Matthew 19. Matthew 19 and we'll read on, read the first 10 verses. So once again, hear God's inspired word. Now it came to pass when Jesus had finished these sayings and he departed from Galilee and came to the region of Judea beyond the Jordan and great multitudes followed him and he healed them there. The Pharisees also came to him, testing him. and saying to him, Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason? And he answered and said to them, Have you not read that he who made them at the beginning made them male and female and said, For this reason, a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. So then they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God is joined together, let not man separate. They said to him, why then did Moses command to give a certificate of divorce and to put her away? He said to them, Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts permitted you to divorce your wives. But from the beginning, it was not so. And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality and marries another commits adultery. Whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery. His disciples said to him, if such is the case of the man with his wife, it is better not to marry. And therein God's reading to Matthew 19. Our third reading is 1 Corinthians 7. 1 Corinthians 7. We'll read the first 16 verses. 1 Corinthians 7 and verse 1. Now, concerning the things which you wrote to me, it is good for a man not to touch a woman. Nevertheless, because of sexual morality, let each man have his own wife and let each woman have her own husband. Let the husband render to his wife the affection due her. And likewise, also the wife to her husband. The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. And likewise, the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. Do not deprive one another except with consent for a time. You may give yourselves to fasting and prayer and come together again so that Satan does not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. But I say this is a concession, not as a commandment. For I wish that all men were even as I myself, but each one has his own gift from God, one in this manner and another in that. But I say to the unmarried and to the widows, it is good for them if they remain even as I am. But if they cannot exercise self-control, let them marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion. Now to the married, I command, yet not I, but the Lord, a wife is not to depart from her husband, But even if she does depart, let her remain unmarried or become reconciled to her husband. And a husband is not to divorce his wife. But to the rest, I, not the Lord, say if any brother has a wife who does not believe and she is willing to live with him, let him not divorce her. And a woman who has a husband who does not believe, if he's willing to live with her, let her not divorce him. For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband. Otherwise, your children would be unclean, but now they are holy. But if the unbeliever departs, let him depart. A brother or sister is not under bondage in such cases, but God has called us to peace. For how do you know, oh wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife? And there ends a reading from First Corinthians seven. We turn now to chapter 24, the Westminster Confession. You'll find this in your bulletins. This is our third out of four sermons in the series in the Westminster Confession of Faith, dealing primarily with those things that are not dealt with in detail in our own confessions. Westminster Confession was written in 1647. It is held as a doctrinal standards of Presbyterians. And also, by way of note, the seminaries that primarily United Reformed ministers attend Mid-America Westminster Seminary in California. Both of them hold to the Westminster Confession, along with the three forms of unity. The chapter 24 of marriage and divorce, six articles. Marriage is to be between one man and one woman. Neither is it lawful for any man to have more than one wife, nor for any woman to have more than one husband at the same time. Second, number two, marriage was ordained for the mutual help of husband and wife, for the increase of mankind with a legitimate issue and of the church with an holy seed and for preventing of uncleanness. Third, It is lawful for all sorts of people to marry who are able with judgment to give their consent. Yet it is the duty of Christians to marry only in the Lord. And therefore, such as profess the true reform religion should not marry with infidels, papists or other idolaters. Neither should such as are godly be unequally yoked by marrying with such as are notoriously wicked in their life or maintain damnable heresies. For. Marriage ought not to be within the degrees of consanguinity or affinity forbidden in the word, nor can such incestuous marriages ever be made lawful by any law of man or consent of parties. So, as those persons may live together as man and wife, the man may not marry any of his wife's kindred near in blood than he may of his own, nor the woman of her husband's kindred near in blood than of her own. Fifth. Adultery or fornication committed after a contract being detected before marriage, given just occasion to the innocent party to dissolve that contract. In the case of adultery after marriage, it is lawful for the innocent party to sue out a divorce and after the divorce to marry another, as if the offending party were dead. Six, although the corruption of man be such as is apt to study arguments, Unduly, to put asunder those whom God has joined together in marriage, get nothing but adultery or such willful desertion. This can no way be remedied by the church or civil magistrate is cost sufficient of devolved, dissolving the bond of marriage. We're in a public and orderly course of proceeding is to be observed and the person is concerned in it, not left to their own wills and discretion in their own case. So there is a reading of the Westminster Confession of Faith. Beloved congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ, the home that marriage establishes is the foundation of society. Unfortunately, there is not much written in our confessions on this important subject, and because of that, this has caused much confusion and disagreement among the reformed throughout history. The Westminster Confession is a clear testimony of the Bible's teaching on marriage and divorce. A few weeks ago, I was speaking with someone on this subject, and they said that if the church allows divorce and remarriage, then the church will continue to have broken marriages and high rates of divorce. And the fact is that the Christian church has, according to some stats, as high of a divorce rate as the world. Nearly 50 percent. One out of two marriages today ends in divorce. So then we might think if divorce is permissible, why don't young people go into marriage with the attitude that, you know what, if it doesn't work out, if we don't really get along. Then you just quit. No big deal, you can always get divorced and try it again, somebody else. Well, the reason why This is an ungodly attitude is because divorce is hated by the Lord our God. He says so in Malachi 2. The Lord our God hates divorce. Likely everyone here as family members divorced and ministers oftentimes shy away from the subject because it's very personal to some. But this is OK. So long as we deal with this subject with the word of God open. This afternoon, we'll be looking at a number of different passages of scripture, along with chapter 24 of the Westminster Confession of Faith. And we'll study these under the theme, Are God-established marriage to be a lifelong bond between man and wife? Are God-established marriage to be a lifelong bond between man and wife? First, we'll see God's purposes in marriage. Second, God's prohibition for marriage. And then third, God's permission of divorce. So first, God's purposes in marriage. Marriage was instituted by God in the Garden of Eden. He ordained it to be between one man and one woman. And by ordaining and instituting marriage in such a way where God brought Eve to Adam and said to them that even though they didn't have any parents, but that the truth and fidelity of marriage might be upheld, God said, A man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. That's the institution of marriage. And because of that framework that God gave us in instituting marriage in such a way, this forbids any same sex marriage. This forbids polygamy, having multiple wives. This forbids polyandry, having multiple husbands. This is also why Article One of the Confession says Neither is it lawful for any man to have more than one wife or for any woman to have more than one husband at the same time. Now, the question is often asked. If you can only have one wife or one husband. Why were so many saints in the Old Testament permitted to have multiple wives? What changed? After all, Solomon had 700 wives. God never sanctioned, however, nor condoned his people in the Old Testament to intermarry with foreigners or to have multiple wives. Each time this happened. It ended up being a curse to the people. Whether it was Rachel and Leah vying for their husband's love or the wives of Solomon, who we read about the first Kings 11, we reread, but King Solomon loved many foreign women. And he had 700 wives, princesses, and 300 concubines. And his wives turned away his heart. For it was so, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned his heart after other gods. And his heart was not loyal to the Lord his God, as was the heart of his father David. God indeed was long-suffering with his people, but he never condoned sin. It was by His grace that those adulterers with multiple wives were not struck down. God's design for marriage was the same then as it is now. And God designed marriage with several purposes in mind. Article two of the Confession says marriage was ordained for the mutual help of husband and wife. For the increase of mankind, the legitimate issue and of the church with the Holy See and for preventing of uncleanness. So first, the mutual help of husband and wife. It was not good that Adam should be alone, so God made Adam a helper. But notice the confession says mutual help. Mutual help the help the husband is to be help of his wife as well. And in this in this way, husband and wife become complements of each other. And together they jointly bear the image of God. And together they are given dominion over all creation. That's not just given to man. It's given to man and wife, husband and wife together. And we when we combine this. the mutual help with the fourth purpose of marriage, that of preventing uncleanness burning with passion. Then we see the importance of the intimate aspect of the relationship between husband and wife. The desire of man and woman of the physical intimacy is a natural desire, which is to find its outworking in marriage. G.I. Williamson says of marriage relations, quote, and within marriage, there is to be no failure on the part of either spouse to minister to this need and desire. And this is what we read from First Corinthians seven, three and four. We read there, let the husband render to his wife the affection, do her and likewise also the wife to her husband. The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. And likewise, the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. They need each other physically, intimately, as one flesh. And along with this, Williamson says, quote, The unilateral, one way, the unilateral denial of the sex relation is as sinful as it is dangerous. The reason why. Is because to deny this aspect of marriage is to give the devil the occasion to attack the weaker brother or sister. Unilateral one way denial of this intimacy is a sin against God. It must never be used as a punishment to the other one, etc., which is part of the reason why in marriage At least at the end of every single day, you have an opportunity to confess your sin to each other. That the sun does not go down upon sin unconfessed, and you reconcile daily, because you sin against each other daily, with each other and with God Almighty. With this in mind, we must be careful not to fall into a couple of extremes. The first of these extremes often called the Puritan or the Victorian view of sex, which views it as intrinsically evil. Because it involves such great desire, passion and enjoyment. Those who hold this wrong view even have to twist the Song of Solomon from its clear meaning that it involves the enjoyment of sex and marriage. That's one extreme. The other extreme we must avoid. And I don't think we're in danger of falling into this one, but nevertheless, this is what commentators deal with is that the only purpose of marriage is procreation. Having children. This certainly is a purpose in marriage, as the confession explains the increase of mankind. However, we must not. We must be careful not to limit intimacy in marriage to that one purpose. And the consequence of such a view are manifold and are evident to those who are married. We must not fall into these extremes in our own minds, in our own lives and in our own marriages. And the final purpose of marriage. Is to build the Church of Jesus Christ. Some people might joke about reformed churches growing by having more children. But it's not a joke, it's the truth. This is the primary way that God has designed an established church to grow. We can call this covenantal growth. We're not merely filling the church with children. We are filling the church with God's children. And the danger for us today is certainly not to limit sex and marriage to procreation. It's likely the opposite problem of viewing procreation as the greatest negative of sex and marriage. This is an ungodly attitude. God says the man is blessed who has his quiver full of children. And though Christians may use prudence. In determining as much as they are able, the timing and the size of their families. What is happening today is that people are viewing children more and more as an inconvenience. They're just in the way. And even people who love children can oftentimes view their children this way. I could say to my wife, remember when we had no children, you could just go off and do whatever you wanted. So what's happening today is young parents are waiting five, 10 years to have children, because if you wait 10 years to have children, then you have more money and you have a more secure job and then you have a nice house, etc. Much of the argument of why someone is not having children When they are able to is oftentimes selfish, not always, but oftentimes selfish. Children are a heritage from the Lord. And our congregation has been blessed with many young children, and each of them is a blessing. But we must be on guard not to allow the world's view of children and parenting to control our view of children and parenting. When a Christian mother with a large family was questioned by another Christian lady about why she has spent her whole adult life just having babies and raising children, the mother looked at the questioner with surprise and the questioner said, you know, you could be traveling, seeing the world or even going on mission trips. And the mother said, why would I go on mission trips? And the lady responded, so that you can do evangelism and the Church of Christ may grow. The mother responded and said, God has called me and blessed me in having children. And because of that, the church has continued to grow. And each one of my children are sons and daughters of the King. Brothers and sisters, let us ensure that we have God's view of marriage in the family and not the downcast eyes of the world. So therefore, purposes in marriage help procreation, church building and the prevention of uncleanness and burning with passion. Secondly, we see God's prohibition for marriage. Marriage for believers has guidelines in terms of who you are permitted to marry. Article three says it is lawful for all sorts of people to marry. who are able with judgment to give their consent. What does that mean? Well, national law, civil laws guide citizens by limiting the age of marriage. For instance, no one is permitted legally to marry a seven year old, even if a seven year old desires to be married. Clear enough, but also because of the proper judgment issue, Marriages that are not properly established, our government has said they may be annulled. For instance, no one may be forced into marriage. No one is permitted legally to enter into a binding contract, such as marriage, under the influence of drugs or alcohol. These things are what would make a marriage annullable, not legally binding. In his commentary in this confession, Williamson continues with this by looking at marriage from a broader perspective. And marriage is a hot button topic today. because of what is marriage in our society. It's an even greater debate south of the border when you're dealing with same-sex marriage, civil unions, legal unions, the rights of those who are married or common law or part of a civil union. What if I were to be asked by two unbelievers to perform their marriage? I would have to ask my elders if I was able to do this. After all, I am licensed by the province of British Columbia, and that sense, I'm a servant of the state. Williamson that argues that as a civil servant, Christian ministers may perform or sanction a marriage between unbelievers. So long as he is assured that they are unbelievers, if one is a believer, He may not perform sanction or in any way facilitate such a marriage. Now, why would he argue in such a way? His argument is that a marriage was ordained by God. For the development of the human race and society, you might say, yes, properly, so when Christians are married. But even when unbelievers are married, married, The greater evil is averted if unbelievers marry. And so, our society ought to allow unbelievers to marry. And Christians should support marriage laws limiting monogamous marriage to one man and one woman. For believers, they're also given the command of God's Word to only marry in the Lord. This is found in 1 Corinthians 7 39. What does that mean to marry only in the Lord? Well, the confession flashes this out for us. So true believers may not marry infidels, unbelievers, papists, Roman Catholics or other idolaters. This would make them unequally yoked. Now, this becomes more difficult. When someone is a true believer. But they're part of a false religion. or a member of a false church. What about that person? You might say, well, it doesn't matter so much what church they go to. I mean, some nice young United Reformed man can come and want to date your daughter. But if he's a rotten kid, you're not going to let him date your daughter because I don't care what church you go to. If you're not walking with the Lord, you're not going to date my daughter. And you could have a Roman Catholic come and he belongs to a false church. But he's serious about his faith, and he prays daily, and this and that. What to do in those situations? Well, Williamson argues that the person, a believer who's a member of a false church, is off-limits to Mary. Because, quote, a person's faith is not to be judged apart from his profession and walk. And in this case, the profession and walk would be contrary to the judgment. that he is a believer. So, the question remains for the young person. Which denominations or federations are permissible to marry a member thereof? Which denominations confess the true religion? Realize that there are errors of various degrees and seriousness. We ought to be assured that a believer who knows the true reformed faith should only enter upon marriage with someone so long as to do so would not compromise the truth of God's Word. They can only enter upon marriage with someone so long as to do so would require no compromise of God's truth. A believer who would seek to marry an unbeliever, if not repentant, would occasion church discipline. And since every date is a possible marriage, Christians are also not permitted to enter into committed courting or dating relationships with someone that they are not permitted to marry. And the young person might think, well, that's none of the church's business. Yes, it is the church's business, and it becomes even more so the church's business if you've made profession of faith. It becomes very much so the elders business. Do not play with fire. Or you will get burned. How many families can testify to an unbelieving daughter or son who fell in love with an unbeliever and they were dragged down because of that? And the young person might think, well, I'm not going to fall in love with the guy. I'm just going to go out for coffee with him for a few times and then I can make the guy reformed and then I can marry him. And how many times have we heard people say, It doesn't matter. I'm in love with Him now. And love is blind. If love truly is blind, then we had better be careful who we open ourselves up to to allow us to fall in love with. Realize what's taking place here. The decision of the person that you marry will be the most important decision you will ever make in your entire life. Think about that. The decision of the person you will marry will be the most important decision you will ever make in your entire life. Understanding that from a reformed Calvinistic perspective that God chooses us. Most important decision you will ever make in your life. Pray. For God's grace and leading in this. Well, the final prohibition we find in Article 4 here We read of consanguinity or affinity forbidden by the Word of God. What is consanguinity? Well, this is referring to close relatives by blood and marriage. And note here that there are some disagreements among Presbyterians on the affinity, that means through marriage, of marriage relationships. And so I think that when I wrote this sermon, The Westminster Confession of Faith I used had the second half of Article 4 knocked off. I didn't look when I put it in the bulletin, but I don't ever remember seeing that last line, that last sentence in there. So this is a bit debated. To do so, to marry someone who is your brother or your sister would be incestuous and sinful. With this fact comes the age-old question, But if God has forbidden such marriages and it's wrong to marry your brother or sister, who did Adam and Eve's children marry? Or who did Noah's grandchildren marry? There's only eight people alive on the face of the earth. Those couples had children and they had to marry each other. And after all, this is forbidden in the list of incestuous relationships in Leviticus 18 and 20. So how do we explain this? This must be explained by the fact that man's duty is conditioned by God's provision. It's an important phrase. Man's duty is conditioned by God's provision. It was Adam's duty to cleave unto his wife. But not until God first brought his wife to him. It was the duty of humans to marry beyond the degree of consanguinity and affinity But not before there was a wide enough development of human race to permit the operation of this duty. Once the human race had grown generationally, it was again the duty of man to marry beyond one's immediate family. Those are God's prohibitions of marriage. And then third, God's permission of divorce, you could say God's permission of divorce and remarriage. If God ever biblically permits a divorce, God biblically, therefore, permits a remarriage. There are two grounds for divorce in the Bible. Those grounds are adultery and willful desertion. We can find the ground of adultery taught by Jesus in Matthew 5, Matthew 19, in Mark 10. We read of willful desertion in 1 Corinthians 7. In both cases of a biblical divorce, Remarriage is permissible, not necessary, but permissible. Article seven or article five uses the language of remarriage after after a divorce caused by adultery, as if the offending party were dead. This means that the one who committed adultery. Is not permitted to remarry, only the offended party may remarry. If you have your Bibles open, turn over to Matthew 5. The word that Jesus uses in Matthew 5 and Matthew 19 is the biblical grounds for divorce. And the New King James Version is translated sexual immorality. The NIV has a poor and dangerous translation because it translated as marital unfaithfulness. Marital unfaithfulness. Many people have unbiblically divorced their wife because of unfaithfulness in marriage, even though adultery was not committed. They may have divorced their wife or their husband for physical abuse or mental abuse or verbal abuse or drug addiction by their spouse or a long term prison sentence for their spouse, etc. None of these things are biblical grounds for divorce. These things might be grounds for separation and some serious marriage counseling. Possible church discipline. But they're not grounds for divorce. The Greek word used here in Matthew 5 is the word pornea pornea. We get a word pornography from this. This is fornication. Which is having sex with someone who is not your spouse. It is the act. Not merely the desire. Even though lusting, flirting, etc. These are all simple. These are not grounds for biblical divorce. 1 Corinthians 7 speaks about someone being married to an unbeliever. Another this likely occurred then through conversion later in life. So two unbelievers get married. They live as unbelievers live and one of them is converted to the Lord. Then what? Well, the Christian is bound to that marriage. Even if their husband is an unbeliever. However, the unbeliever who deserts the marriage bond, the believer may let them leave. In verse 15 of 1 Corinthians 7, Paul says the believer is not under bondage in such cases. It's an important word bondage to be bound here is referring to being found in the institution of marriage. To be free from bondage is to be free from the institution of marriage. And therefore, the believer may remarry. However, there are some who argue against remarriage, maybe even some here. They got to know this isn't sounding right. Especially in light of Matthew five and Matthew 19. Well, let's look closer at those passages. I'll just take my word for it. Matthew 5, we're referring to verse 32. Matthew 19, we're referring to verse 9. In Matthew 5, the problem partly is with English. This is what the verse says. But I say to you that whoever divorces his wife for any reason, except sexual immorality, causes her to commit adultery. And whoever marries a woman who is divorced commits adultery. Well, there you go. Whoever marries a woman who is divorced commits adultery. Well, let's read this verse again and we'll take out that exception clause. The except for sexual immorality. But I say to you that whoever divorces his wife. Causes her to commit adultery. And whoever marries a woman who is divorced commits adultery. Now you add the exception clause back in there, but I say to whoever divorces his wife for any reason except sexual immorality. Well, what is that clause referring to? Just the first half of that verse or also the second half of that verse? It's referring to the whole entire verse. There is a sinful thing that can take place. A man divorces his wife and the reason why he divorced her was not because she committed adultery. And there's a simple type of remarriage. Whoever marries a woman who is divorced unbiblically. Commits adultery by marrying her. But if her husband committed adultery, she's not bound, but free and therefore she can be remarried. OK, so lock that in the memory bank. Let's flip over to Matthew 19. Will interpret Scripture here with Scripture. Matthew 19, by changing one word, makes it even clearer what's taking place. Matthew 19, we're looking at verse 9. Verse says, and I say to you, whoever divorces his wife except for sexual immorality and marries another commits adultery and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery. OK, let's read this without the exception clause. Thankfully, there's clear commas. Realize commas are not in the original Greek comma semicolons. All punctuation like that is added by an editor. They're helpful here. They weren't helpful back in Matthew 5. Anyway, verse 9 and I say to you, whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery. It's very clear when you take up the except for sexual morality. It's wrong every single time anybody who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery. Every single time. Except this one time, except for sexual morality. Then it is no longer adultery. In fact, it is permissible. And in the second half of the verse, and whoever marries her who is divorced, commits adultery. The word change there is with that word her back in Matthew five. It had the words all woman. It would have been better translated. The woman, not just talking about any woman, we're talking about that woman who was unbiblically divorced. She's off limits. But the the woman who is biblically divorced or her This is talking about a specific person now in Matthew 19. The her in verse nine is referring to the woman who was improperly divorced. Whoever marries that woman who left her husband because he verbally abused her. If you marry a woman who was married at one time and she left because her husband verbally abused her, you and she are both committing adultery. because she is to be legally bound in that original marriage. The things which occasion the severing of the bond of marriage did not happen. And that thing is adultery. Adultery. This is what is clear back in the Old Testament. And so flip back to Deuteronomy 24. And when you take these three passages together, Then it starts to become clear, hopefully for you as well as it is for me. Deuteronomy 24. We're not going to read this whole passage again. What is Moses talking about? Well, if you're married and the husband finds something unclean, call this adultery, in his wife, he divorces her. So that woman goes and marries another person, and the next guy she commits adultery on, he divorces her. She is not permitted to go back to husband a after she has been remarried to husband B. She's been with another man. In that text, she's not. She's not forbidden from even marrying a third guy, that's not the point of that text, the point is she can't go back to the first one. This isn't a forbidding of remarriage. It's a forbidding of remarriage to a person that you have already been married to after You have married another person. What is forbidden there is not remarriage, but remarriage to the spouse you originally had. After you had been remarried to another. When divorce occurs, the covenant of marriage is broken. Now, if divorce through adultery severs the marriage bond. Then repentance and reconciliation restore the covenant of marriage. Just as our covenant breaking with God is restored through repentance and faith. Broken marriages. Can be restored. But because of this idea of reconciliation, you might hear someone say that remarriage should not be permitted. So that there is a possibility of reconciliation. In light of Deuteronomy 24. If Lady A gets remarried, Then she can't go back to husband a. Reconciliation is no longer possible because she has married another. This is ideal. Reconciliation is desirable. And it's beautiful. What a beautiful thing would be for a marriage relations to be reconciled and restored after adultery. And God's grace is sufficient to work such restoration. However, as believers, we must be careful not to bind someone else's conscience to stay stay in a marriage that they are biblically permitted to leave. We may encourage them to seek reconciliation until it's impossible. But we cannot bind their conscience and to do so as elders to say, you may not leave after he cheated on her for the 12th time. To tell her that she may not leave would be sinful on the part of the consistory. She is permitted biblically or he is permitted biblically to leave. Reconciliation must be the goal, the desire, but it only goes to a certain point. Jesus makes it clear that God designed marriage for life. And that God hates divorce. It was because of the hardness of their hearts that Moses permitted divorce. And the fact is that each of us who are married here are married to a sinner. And it's only by God's grace that marriage can last for a lifetime. But it can only do so properly when husband and wife are committed to dealing with issues and conflict and sin in a biblical way. In marriage, as in life, let us flee to the cross, not only for forgiveness, but also the sanctifying Holy Spirit who makes Christian marriage into a beautiful and a God glorifying reality. Amen.