Divorce (Part 3 of 4) — 03/11/2020

[Music] scripture makes it clear that God has designed marriage to be a lifetime covenant but are there circumstances in which divorce is an acceptable option for a believer today on truth for life Alistair beg addresses this important question as he continues our new study in the Gospel according to mark [Music] we're going to return again to the study we began this morning in mark chapter 10 but I would like first of all to read from proverbs chapter 5 my son pay attention to my wisdom listen well to my words of insight that you may maintain discretion and your lips may preserve knowledge for the lips of an adulteress drip honey and her speech is smoother than oil but in the end she is bitter as gall sharp as a double-edged sword her feet go down to death her steps lead straight to the grave she gives no thought to the way of life her paths are crooked but she knows it not now then my sons listen to me do not turn aside from what I say keep to a path far from her do not go near the door of her house lest you give your best strength to others and your years to one who is cruel lest strangers feast on your wealth and your toil enrich another man's house at the end of your life you will grow on when your flesh and body are spent you will say how I hated discipline how my hearts burned correction I would not obey my teachers or listen to my instructors I have come to the brink of utter ruin in the midst of the whole assembly drink water from your own cistern running water from your own well should your springs overflow in the streets your streams of water in the public squares let them be yours alone never to be shared with strangers may your fountain be blessed and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth a loving doe a graceful deer may her breasts satisfy you always may you ever be captivated by her love why be captivated my son by an adulteress why embrace the bosom of another man's wife for a man's ways are in full view of the Lord and he examines all his paths the evil deeds of a wicked man ensnare him the cords of his sin hold him fast he will die for lack of discipline led astray by his own great folly father help us now as we think these things through the clarity of your word is what we need the moving of your spirit is what we long for so that we might receive the Bible as it is the very word of God that it might correct rebuke restrain us constrain us and lead us each in the paths of righteousness for your name's sake Amen well I chose to read proverbs 5 as a cross reference to what we began this morning in mark chapter 10 proverbs of course is a wonderful book Derek Kidner refers to it as a book in which the writer Solomon seeks to put godliness into working clothes in other words there's an intense practicality about the way in which he writes concerning the nature of what we referred to this morning as a kind of holy worldliness and in the chapter we've just read he very clearly and very quickly warns his son or his sons about the seductress he points out the dreadful price that will be paid for infidelity he then encourages very clearly the enjoyment of marriage and he sets the enjoyment of marriage in direct contrast to the pathetic alternative which is to go down this path that leads to death and in the course of all of that it is perfectly clear that the Bible is discrete but not silent on the matter of sexual delight in marriage some have failed to understand this and as a result they have settled for a marriage which might be described simply as a kind of sensible businesslike arrangement only to discover that human passion inevitably seeks other outlets and the inherent warning that is contained in Solomon's words is both a warning on the one hand and an encouragement on the other hand to settle for nothing less than that which God has made our wonderful provision in the gift of marriage as he has established it and as he expects it to be enjoyed now that's enough on proverbs 5 we come back to mark chapter 10 let it suffice to for us to note that in responding to the question posed to him by the Pharisees here in mark chapter 10 is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife Jesus we have seen takes these individuals these religious leaders back to first principles and he makes it perfectly clear what we endeavor to understand this morning that marriage is not a human invention nor is it a social convention but it is as we said earlier a creation ordinance and because it is a creation ordinance it is relevant to and it is binding upon all of God's creation I start to make that clear this morning by making sure that we didn't fall foul of the idea that we were talking simply about marriage within the framework of Christian convictions there is a great wonder in that and a great enjoyment in that another kind of ecclesiastes concept of a cord of three strands is not quickly broken which is more often than not used in a marriage ceremony and is pressed into service as saying that we have the man we have the wife and we have the third party namely Jesus himself and that course is true but since marriage is a creation ordinance God is concerned about Muslim marriage he's concerned about Hindu marriage he's concerned about pagan marriage he's concerned about secular marriage he is concerned about marriage because it is built in to the very fabric of humanity and that marriage as we saw this morning is heterosexual it is monogamous it is lifelong and it is in that context and only in that context that men and women are enabled to discover the benefits of what it means to live in a one flesh Union therefore it is imperative that those who love the Bible and seek to live in obedience to it will then teach those under our influence what the Bible says concerning these things and need not least of all in this climate teach our children as soon as it is sensible and realistic that there is a right time for everything that there is a right place for the enjoyment of everything and when it comes to the issues of sexual fulfillment there is only one place and there is only one time that God permits all this to unfold and that is within the context of a relationship which is heterosexual monogamous and lifelong now the only thing I like to add to that before moving on is something that I'm assuming that you are with but just in case you're not let me state it namely that for a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ the Bible makes it clear that marriage should only be with someone who is also a believer and if you want to follow up your thinking on that you can read 2 Corinthians and you can tease it out from there but suffice it to say that I acknowledge what is a very important foundational principle when it comes again to the training and guiding and instructing of our children and those under our care we can acknowledge that those who have not followed God's plan and pattern and principle in this have sometimes being able to testify to the fact that God has overruled their disobedience but we must also be humble enough to acknowledge that in time without number such testimonies are not forthcoming because the protestation on the part of the believer about marrying the unbeliever which said but they will come around they've promised me that when I marry him that he will begin to listen that he will begin to read that he will begin to attend and I've always said to the girl if when he's trying to secure your hand in marriage he will not do these things for you there is very little likelihood that he will do so after he has got what he wants and sadly the truth is therefore our observation now we got as far as verse 9 this morning and Mark goes on to record the fact that there was further discussion when Jesus and the disciples got back to the house and what you have in Mark chapter 10 is a parallel passage to what is recorded for us in matthew's gospel in chapter 19 and you may just want to put a finger into Matthew chapter 19 so that if I make mention of it you can actually confirm that what I'm saying is there and in the Matthew record of these things Matthew tells us that Jesus followers when they heard what he had to say concerning this remark to him that it surely is a better idea not to get married at all because the striking nature of Jesus words made it sound as if it was virtually impossible to proceed along these lines and Jesus addresses that in his conversation with them and in the verses that we were left to consider verse 10 and 11 and 12 when they asked Jesus in the house he verse 11 answered anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her and if she divorces her husband and marries another man she commits adultery now what are to be obvious here is that Jesus is assuming as a matter of course that a divorce party will remarry otherwise there would be no adultery the assumption is that the divorce takes place and as a result of remarriage where there is no ground for divorce the result is adultery and what is most striking about this is the categorical nature of this statement and for myself I think it is very important that when we read our Bibles like this when we come to statements like this that we ought to sit quietly before them and allow them to register in our thinking and to settle in our minds in all of their bold simplicity in all of their telling clarity before we immediately begin to reach for clarifying passages of the Bible to help us to discover exceptions to this categorical statement the Lord Jesus understood that the stability of society that the security of family living that the enjoyment of relationships within a marriage was directly tied to the institution of marriage being upheld according to God's design so that when the institution of marriage is overturned when the creator's clear statements are rejected there are ramifications which follow as we said this morning and when we read the Bible and we read in the Old Testament we discover that God in a similarly categorical statement makes clear in the prophecy of Malachi that he actually hates divorce not that he hates it as a process but he hates it because of the sinful causes of divorce and because of the sinful consequences of divorce so our first concern in coming to a passage like this is to allow the passage to say what it says without equivocation and to realize that what Jesus has done here in this question posed by the Pharisees in going back to first principles is described for us is illustrate for us create a pattern for us of seeing that our first responsibility is to be about the business of sustaining marriage according to God's design rather than seeking to dismantle marriage according to our own human desires with that said it is clear that we must always interpret Scripture with Scripture and that's why I've said you should have your finger in Matthew chapter 19 because there in Matthew chapter 19 in that account Matthew makes explicit something which Mark and Luke simply assume and if you are looking there at the passage you will see just exactly what it is to which I'm referring it's verse 9 I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife and here is the exception clause except for marital unfaithfulness and marries another woman commits adultery now mark doesn't say that Luke doesn't say that in his passage some people say and that's you know they they go into all kinds of nations for it I'm a fairly simple soul and my observation is simply this that mark and Luke could leave it alone because this exception was already widely understood within the framework of Judaism in the Jewish context people knew that divorce on account of marital unfaithfulness was allowed was permissible and if you can only think of one place in the New Testament you'll be thinking of a helpful place where in the birth narratives in the story of Joseph and Mary and it says quite straightforwardly that when Joseph discovered the fact that Mary was pregnant he decided to put her away privily as the King James Version puts it why because he recognized that apparently a violation had taken place in the context of judaistic betrothal and therefore that it was permissible for him to do such a thing so what mark and luke presume matthew articulates that divorce was permitted on account of sexual immorality why well clearly because the one flesh Union has now been violated that which God has said love not man put asunder that which God has joined together that which God has said is to take place within a man monogamous heterosexual life long companionship has now been violated it has been broken it will never be the same again and so that marital unfaithfulness that immorality made divorce permissible permissible but not prescribed something that is permitted is not necessarily prescribed and that is why in contemporary experiences of that kind of marital break down our first concern must always be with repentance with forgiveness with restoration and with reconciliation because it is permitted it is not mandated and therefore it is not something that should be rushed to the pathway of reconciliation may be the hardest path but it's probably the best path now in the New Testament you only have one other exception we're not going to work it out tonight I'll point it out to you many of you will know where it is and that is the exception that Paul addresses in first Corinthians in chapter 7 and there he's making reference to the departure of the unbelieving partner in a marriage Paul says they're not that the believing spouse should be an initiator in that demise but that if that is the case with which they are confronted that the believing party may allow the unbelieving partner to go and in that context they offended against believing spouse is then free to remarry so you have this categorical statement by Jesus you have the exception and relationship to sexual immorality you have the exception in relationship to the unbelieving spouse the plain statement of Jesus is the plain statement of Jesus and we cannot set aside the clarity with which he speaks whenever someone divorces his wife or a wife divorces her husband without biblical grounds of which there are only two then to remarry is an act of adultery and if she divorces her husband and marries another man she commits adultery now inevitably in relationship to this question there are all kinds of legitimate considerations that need to be dealt with on an individual personal basis and it is impossible within the orb of a monologue like this for me or frankly for anyone else to articulate all the variable factors that are represented in the nuances of marital breakdown and infidelity and remarriage and everything else suffice it to say that as a personal team we spend a significant amount of our time trying to unravel many of these things and work the principles through our with men and women and some of you know that and there are good stories and there are not so good stories concerning it but of this we need be in no doubt and no doubt as to God's divine ideal in the marriage bonds an ideal which is clear and which is permanent [Music] reminding us of God's design for marriage you're listening to Alistair beg and this is truth for life Alistair will conclude this message on divorce tomorrow in the meantime don't forget you can catch up on previous messages or share today's program with a friend when you visit us at truth for life dot org or this is even easier you can simply follow truth for life with alistair beg on facebook and that way you can conveniently share your favorite messages with your facebook friends we're also on instagram search for alistair beg truth for life these resources are available free of charge because of the generous support we received from truth partners these are listeners who commit to regular monthly donations they provide the financial backbone for this ministry when you join that team today or when you make a one-time donation we want to say thank you by sending you a book titled the heart of the church wherever you live there are likely dozens of churches different sizes different shapes different styles but what are the essential elements of a biblical church how can you tell if the congregation you're a part of is staying true to God's design that's the subject of this brief but clarifying book request your copy of the heart of the church when you become a truth partner today or when you make a one-time donation go to truth for life dot org slash donate or call eight eight eight five eight eight seven eight eight four don't forget that as a truth partner you're able to request two featured resources each month at no additional cost this is a great way to build a personal library and to build your knowledge of Scripture of course your support ensures that these programs remain available as a source of solid Bible teaching for both you and for your fellow listeners all around the world once again our web address to sign up as a truth partner is truth for life dot org slash donate or call eight eight eight five eight eight seven eight eight four and thank you again for your essential partnership you're helping provide clear relevant Bible teaching free of charge we're so grateful I'm Bob Lapine hoping you'll join us Thursday as we continue our study about divorce and the hope that's available for everyone no matter your past the bible teaching of alistair Begg is furnished by truth for life where the learning is for living [Music]

Channel: Alistair Begg

Views: 2,333

Rating: 4.8987341 out of 5

Keywords: Truth For Life, Effects of Sin, Marriage, Obeying God, Repentance, Restoration, Sexuality, Alistair Begg

Id: lZ2zzWD-UTs

Length: 25min 0sec (1500 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 11 2020