Message 33 - What The Bible Says About Marriage & Divorce (Mark: The Untold Story Of Jesus)

hey North Coast we're so glad you're with us today my name's Shara and I work with the junior-high ministry on the Vista campus if you're looking for sermon notes or more information you can check us out online at North Coast church comm we are continuing our series in mark the untold story of Jesus so grab your Bibles as we jump into God's Word hope you enjoy [Music] north coast church how we doing we were any hope of encouraging me you got to do a whole lot better than that and I need it today and so started camera pause we're gonna edit that we're gonna begin right here bumper in fade to dark North Coast Church how you doing bunch of fakers I love it I love it hey glad all of you are joining from all of our campuses all of our venues I know if you brought somebody new you're not gonna like this guy he always starts with the story not today so now you're a liar with your friend I'm sorry I'm but there's like three family things I want to get through really quick and almost every one of our campuses all of our venues you should have heard the announcements that we asked for three thousand backpacks not just backpacks but completely filled with school supplies now not just to date the most backpacks we've ever collected from y'all and that's the Texas saying from the church from y'all is a 1,700 and so we came up with 3,000 just because and uh and you've collected to date 3,500 think 90 and they're still showing up but but here's what I want to tell you I wish we could have filmed every administrator every principal when they received what they were hoping for maybe 20 backpacks to help some of the most needy elementary kids coming to school but instead trucks pulled up and gave them hundreds Connor one of our community service guys he's actually a pastor over our community service told me the story about showing up to an elementary school where kids were in great need and the principal just saying you don't understand every year how heartbreaking it is to watch a majority of our kids show up empty-handed they will bring nothing the first day of school and on that day we had a giant u-haul truck waiting for them and as they got in line and got their backpacks this is the little brown eyed brown her kid down he goes I'd like a pokey man one please and Connor goes wait a second and he jumped into the piles of backpacks cuz he knew it and he goes you mean this one and the kids face just exploded he's all that's the one I just got to tell you how proud I am to be part of this church whether it's an instrument drive whether it's backpacks whether it's community service whether it's a church planning overseas every time we put something in front of you and say here's a need you rise up and say what's the need is this the need then we just want to do this and it is so humbling and yet so refreshing and so proud to be part of what you're doing here in North County and beyond secondly for the first time ever on a weekend I get to mention a group Palma Valley Community Church we've been having conversations with them over the past about 10 months for the past several months we've been hanging out there when I wasn't here I've been out at Palma Valley teaching and meeting with them their staff their elders and their church and two weeks ago after church their members stayed and they unanimously voted to become our next North Coast Church campus it's not amazing and basically said you can have all of our property all of our facilities we're done trying here can you guys do this we've seen enough of what you've done in North County we want to be a part of it now there's still some legalities there's still paperwork and transfers and all that that has to be done so stay tuned those of you that live out toward the palm valley area or those of you to have friends or family out there in the next probably month or so we will be announcing a date an interest night for those that want to see the campus and hang out but I tell you in the last few months I have fallen in love with those people out there so if I stop showing up here you know where I'm at but to Reuben and to William and to Tom their elders to the incredible team there and their leadership just amazing and then last but not least we have a thing called the daily dose where every day we give you a little three to five-minute okay it's usually five minutes um devotion just to encourage you we are starting a brand new book tomorrow called Philippians and tomorrow morning my hope is is to start you off with a story really not much scripture but the whole story behind this little town Philippi and who's writing this book and who they're writing it you so if you ever wanted to jump in on a daily depo you don't have to read all you have to do is click it'll be texted to you every morning around 6:00 or 6:30 all you have to do is text the word daily 251 451 400 it's of no cost to you and you will get a devotion every Monday through Friday and tomorrow we start a book Philippian so it's a great time to do that and that's all I have and really at this point I'm stalling because you've already read the title and you're like oh boy can I just say Chelsea I love that you're friends and some of your co-workers have told you about north coast I love that we were in your fine establishment this week and we got to meet you and you said you will come to church today for the first time if you're here today can I just say with my whole heart I'm sorry give us one more chance this is gonna be hard truth today if you're here for the first time to my neighbors who should be in the edge I love you dearly both of you incredibly cool people and buddy I know it is your first time ever in your life at church and you showed up this weekend we'll talk in the cul-de-sac afterwards if you're here for the first time I say this give us one more chance if you're here and in the next 20 to 30 minutes you want to get up and walk out I completely understand this is gonna be hard today this is gonna be hard here's what I ask don't write your communication card and don't leave until the end we have to do our vegetables first there is dessert at the end but I'm still telling you this is a topic today chapter 10 I have seen coming and kept an eye on since Chapter six and I've been thinking who's weakened is it gonna fall on who's weakened is it gonna fall on and I saw how last week Larry short changed his verses and then left town coincidence I don't think so you see we go verse by verse of the Bible here in north coast we would love to make the Bible say what we wanted to say we would love to just take verses that fit whatever we want to teach that day but instead we go verse by verse we teach the whole of Scripture for 10 chapters we've been diving back into history for 10 chapters page-by-page verse by verse we've been pulling bits and pieces out of the text we've been going through what happened around this little sea of galilee what took place that surrounded this man where even today our very dating system 2019 screams back to him it's been 2019 since this and this story he split time all things before in BC before Christ all things after AD Anno Domini in the year of our Lord he is Savior or he has swear word to many still today there is just power in his name what happened inside these walls of Jerusalem what happened one fateful night on a cross three days later with an empty tomb that has split humanity as we know it who was this man and his teaching and we thought as a church we owed it to ourselves and to you to go back and verse by verse look at this guy who's very birthday is our greatest holiday the empty tomb we will still do with bunnies and dyed eggs and chocolate rabbits but we cannot get his birth and his death off of our calendar and when it comes to his teaching we teach what he said and the tensions been building the opposition hates him the spiritual leadership hates him the crowd is split on what you do with this guy and by chapter 10 there's a price on his head they want to get rid of him and they found the absolute perfect trap and it comes revolves around marriage and divorce so if you got a Bible where in chapter 10 I know you're like you're just starting I thought you'd closed we've got a good three to four hours ahead of us here we go chapter 10 verse 1 in the book of Mark Jesus then left that place and went into the region of Judea across the Jordan and again crowds of people came to him as was his custom he taught them now in chapters 1 2 & 3 we hit that pretty hard we said over and over again jesus's main goal was to come on Karlsbad jesus's main goal was to teach and we taught he did miracles he helped people his compassion came out of him when he saw the brokenness of humanity but his main goal was not to come and fix your life his main goal is to come and teach you how to change your life and when we approach God just trying to get blessings we are going against the main goal of Jesus we said if we follow a God whose main goal is to teach then our main goal must be to learn to learn how many of our prayers our God give me vs. God teach me oh I know that one hits me into the core most of my prayers are God give me you want to encounter the heart of God start doing for as God teaches me what you want to teach me in the midst of this God instead of getting rid of my boss who's a jerk teach me how to work with jerks and show love and here God instead of getting rid of my spouse God instead of getting rid of this God said God teach me what you want to teach me in the midst of this we may be encountering the heart of God when Scott teach me not God get rid of this obstacles maybe for us to learn and once again as the crowd shows up he taught as was his custom now here it comes some Pharisees came and tested him by asking is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife dunked on John down what do you say about divorce and here's why they have the perfect test the perfect trap they have cross from the far side of the sea the jordan river they're heading toward jerusalem they're now in the area of judea this is the area that herod still controls for the roman government this is the area where just a few chapters ago another guy named John the Baptist spoke against Herod because he married his brother's wife and John the Baptist says you can't do that you can't marry your brother's wife even if you're more powerful than your brother it's not a good reason to marry your brother's wife that's not marriage you can't get divorced you can't do that and so what happens long story short they cut off John's head and they bring it out in a dinner party on a platter oh now do you see where this comes from now that you've stepped into this territory what do you say about divorce see we may just have Rome do our dirty work for us you want to speak against that do you know the history of John the Baptist I know you do what do you know you say and it wasn't just trying to get the Roman government against Jesus it was trying to get the populace against Jesus that there are two major rabbis teaching in this day on the area of marriage and divorce there's rabbi Hillel and Rabbi Hillel says you can divorce your spouse for anything you find unclean and Rabbi Shammai says no no you can only divorce your spouse if you find something unclean you know it Chris is not the same thing it's the same thing but the definitions they used see this goes all the way back to the beginning read on with me what did Moses command you jesus replied and they said well Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away it was because your hearts were hardened that Moses wrote you this law jesus replied you see this argument goes all the way back to a book called Deuteronomy fifth book in the Bible chapter 24 written about 1450 BC written by a guy named mo this and the first five books the books of the law they're called the books of Moses the Pentateuch or for a good Jewish man and woman the Torah this is the very foundation of your faith and this is what they're arguing about what did Moses command you and Jesus takes their trap and throws it right back on him they go well Moses permitted divorce that's right divorce is never commanded in the Bible there's permitted for a reason and it goes back in their law Deuteronomy 24:1 if a man marries a woman who becomes displeasing to him because he finds something unclean about her he writes her a certificate of divorce gives it to her and sends her from his house Thank You moe what is unclean yeah and Rabbi Hillel goes well if she if she makes bad food she if the fire alarm is her timer every time she bakes that's an unclean woman and of course in a patriarchal society this is actually in rabbinical law that they wrote if she displeases you as what she cooks you can find someone cleaner Bravo wait I'll go on if she is found to be a brawling woman let's define brawling woman if she raises her voice to the point where the neighbors can't hear her you can find her unclean a lot of us are in trouble on this one you're like I live in apartment shame on you those of you in Bonsall Fallbrook you got a couple acres you may be ok if you see another woman that is more pleasing to your eye your wife has become unclean to you and the culture is following rabbi hello we love your definition of unclean if she makes you unhappy if he makes you unhappy you have found them displeasing and unclean find something that is cleaner Bravo then there's Rabbi Shammai who says guys guys guys chapter 24 after chapter 23 22 21 20 and 19 chapter 24 in context is taken a book of a law saying what is moral and immoral and it spells out what is immoral its sexual impurity unclean is only if someone sexually has taken their wants their lust their desires their intimacy outside of the marriage bond that's in context well guess who culture follows yeah rabbi Hillel has crowds Rabbi Shammai has six dudes going I think that's the Bible kind of sucks but I think that's the Bible and in the first century checkmate Jesus you strike us as a man that tends to believe the Bible is true and literal what do you say about divorce if you answer how we know you're gonna answer hair it may just chop off your head and if we answer how we know you're gonna answer this crowd will turn on you culture will not stand for a biblical teaching of marriage and divorce do you see well I didn't want the teachers today so as I was studying as I was looking to this I wrote on my note sheet in my office be concerned with only one communication card and let me tell you north coast it's not yours it's not there will be a day because the responsibility I have taken I'm not better than any of you I'm not more spiritual than any of you and I am not held to a higher spiritual bar than any of you we're all held the same level I've just been given a gift of gab I have very few gifts maybe gift that's it and I've taken that and I'm gonna err in this passage on one side or another and so one day when I get to heaven I have to stand before the one who actually spoke in red letters and there's gonna be one or two sides he's gonna say Chris I clearly wrote this I clearly wrote this why couldn't you teach it as I said it and at that moment I don't think I can blame our culture or I'm gonna get to heaven and he's gonna look at me and say Chris you took my book way too seriously I can live with that I can live with that and so here's how I have chosen to go about our outline and what we do with this today I've chosen to see this as a missionary to Southern California it's a godless country it's a godless state it's a godless culture we don't live in a Christian nation a Christian state or a Christian culture so I'm gonna bring God's Word to a bunch of natives who have lived in a culture and they're gonna have to decide culture versus Kingdom on this and yet I'm just gonna do the truth and I'm gonna admittedly point out there are not hundreds but I believe there are at least a thousand or two of you here at north coast that over the next 15 minutes of this are gonna go no I don't know and here's what I beg you stay seated to the end stay see it to the end because I'm gonna tell you I don't want to teach the next 15 minutes either but that is my role and your role is to listen to it and decide what you want to do with it God did not command divorce Moses permitted divorce and it's because you guys didn't understand what was clean and unclean and the only reason Moses permitted divorce was because women were getting sacrificed in this culture not literally but emotionally relationally and socially it's because of your hardened heart Moses said okay because you refuse to do marriage God's way here's what you have to do with the wife if you are gonna abandon her you have to get her a writ of divorce in other words in that day and age unfortunately 1400 BC women were seen more as property than equals and even at that time God's work spoke and said not my girl if you're gonna treat her like that she's at least gonna have some paperwork that shows she is free she's not someone's trash she's not damaged goods she's not thrown out property she has her freedom that's why Moses wrote you this and then Jesus answers verse 6 but at the beginning of creation God made them male and female and for this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife and the two will become one flesh so they are no longer two but one therefore what God has joined together let no man separate Jesus says look I'm not gonna answer about what you can or can't get divorced he goes what I'm gonna tell you is you don't have the right definition of marriage let me go back and redefine marriage and I think that may answer most of your questions about divorce and he goes back to the very beginning page 1 and 2 of the Bible Genesis 1 and 2 for this reason God made man and woman and said you will leave your mother and father and cling to each other and you'll become one flesh that word flesh there in the Septuagint and the Latin is BIOS did you ever have to take a class in biology it's the study of life two will become one life two will become one sphere that this isn't just a spiritual thing it's not just a sexual thing it's not just intimacy he said for this reason this bond of marriage will become greater than any other bond in life including bond of parents and children those that gave you life and brought you into the world this will supersede that you will become one flesh spear physically socially relationally spiritually sexually the two of you will be fused together it is a one flesh Union therefore if this is what God has created in marriage for you don't separate it this that's all you're gonna say what about what about what about what about what about what about what about what about and even the disciples get this it says when they were in the house again the disciples asked Jesus about this in other words they're like excuse me can you I didn't want to say anything outside because I'm gonna look like an idiot and for the last five chapters I've looked like an idiot can you break this down 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 I'm sorry we asked for clarification and in Matthew 19 Jesus has the exact same story but Matthew being a tax collector writes a little more and in Matthew 19 verse 3 it says some Pharisees came to Jesus to test him they asked is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason this is a cultural thing can't we just get divorced for any and every reason this is the question he has answered haven't you read he replied in the beginning the creator made the male and female and said for this reason a man will leave his father mother just what we read why then they asked that Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away and jesus replied Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hardened but it was not this way from the beginning I tell you that anyone divorces their spouse except for sexual immorality and marries another commits adultery the disciples said to him if this is a situation which been husband and wife it's better not to marry I like that why in the heck would you put a ring on it who would sign up for that Jesus's reply not everyone can accept my words but only those to whom it has been given for there are eunuchs who were born that way there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others and there are those who choose to live like eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven the one who can accept this should accept it Jesus because I know what this teaching says this teaching for a lot of people it makes them eunuchs it means they're gonna live celibate if all sexuality is confined between male and female within this fusion of marriage what's that do for everyone else and what's that do when you get into a marriage that dissolved because you just knew you gave it your best and it didn't work and he goes let me tell you instead of trying to greed through everything that divorce creates and causes can I just redefine marriage for you and I love that he goes back to the very beginning he says in the very beginning God formed man in the in the very beginning God created Adam I don't know if he's gonna hold his head and in the very beginning he put Adam on earth and said you have me yay and in the Garden of Eden there is no sin there is no temptation Adam is given to rule over all Dominion he's the pinnacle of creation and he has God all to himself and God says this isn't good and Adam falls over and he lays there in the field and he says I'm done Lauren I'm lonely and God took from his side and created Eve not from his head not beneath him from under his feet from his side a helpmate in life that too will come together and become one and God said I will create her and he made Eve and he put Eve in the garden he took a little more time molding her as you can tell she is exquisitely made and together they will glorify God and Adams like that's what I'm talking about I love in the Hebrew man male/female it is ish and ishshah' he created ish and ish oh and it's got back up and went oh and they started a conversation there in the garden and he's like hey I know you're a senior and I'm a freshman and I'm two years older than you but I like the way you're molded and she's up yeah yeah you're funny and he's all I love that pink tan where do you get that from and she goes I'm Jewish and he's all no way I like Jewish people so much I'm studying them here because it was a school of theology hypothetically speaking and she saw you got an odd-shaped head but you're funny and he's like I'll take that that's the longest someone like yous ever talked to someone like me and they started walking together ish and ish and over the course of the next two years ish and the Shah realized we should put a ring on this and so he bought the best one he could find this is actually Amy's I borrowed it for today it's a it's a 76 carat diamond mm they put a ring on it and after two and a half years of amazing dating they got married and realized marriage there's nothing like the brochure to broken people that have been trying their best to fool each other for two years have now come together and real life happens and this isn't gonna work and after eight months they have to have a conversation on how do we explain to our friends were taking this off there's no hatred there's nothing being thrown it's just the reality that we gave it a best shot and it didn't work and he's like I don't like being married to you and she says I don't like being married to you he's all my needs aren't being met and she was what are they and he goes well sex okay my need isn't being met it's more singular and she said well my needs aren't being met either and he goes you mean need and she goes no I have a list used to just hold my hand when we walked used to write poetry used to bring flowers used to be so loving used to be so caring now you're all about your work you spend money on me and now you don't and he had an answer for all of it I spent all my money dating you you know I didn't have any I'm a youth pastor in LA with inner-city kids and and he says you know how when you go to the mall and you see those machines the claws and then there's a stuffed animal you really want and you put your dollar in and then you tried to get the stuffed animal you have to put another dollar in a dollar and finally you get your prize when you get your prize you stop putting dollars in and and he thought that was a brilliant way to explain the lack of poetry and flowers and romance you know that I won my stuffed animal and she said well if you won me that way that's how you also keep me and he thought I want a different stuffed animal but he was at youthpass heard about this church and and for the point of this illustration all you need to know about Baptists is if your youth pastor gets a divorce he's not your youth pastor anymore and he loved those inner city kids and and what you do in this situation is you take the ring off you serve a paper and you serve a paper and you begrudgingly sign and you thank God there weren't kids yet and you go your separate ways and the question is if we're trying to follow Christ and these circumstances where you're miserable and there's no love and you tried your best but it doesn't work can't you get a divorce and Jesus says before I talk about divorce can I redefine marriage for you and I want you to write this down you see God created in marriage so he gets to define it God created marriage so he gets to define it Jesus did not answer according to culture it's what we're doing today I'm not gonna give you answers today that our culture our state our country is going to agree with he went back to page 1 and 2 of the Bible for this reason man will leave his mother and father clean to his wife and the two will become one flesh see he created marriage this isn't something a construct we came up with this isn't something Western civilization this isn't an American institution this goes back to the garden the first two pages of the Bible he created it he made the pattern the blueprints he has the patent on marriage so he gets to define it and he says marriage number two is not just a commitment between two people it is the fusion of two parts to make one whole marriage is not a commitment between two people it is the fusion of two parts to make one whole one by us he goes look I'm glad you two came together I'm glad you got a ring I'm glad you put a ring on it I'm glad you sign papers but this is something God has created god knows how it works and it only works according to the way the Creator made it he said so it's not about your ring and it's not about the paper as you sign he said for this reason ish will see his sha and the two will come together in a union of marriage and God says here's biblical marriage the two now become one flesh they're no longer two they are now fused to be one and it looks like a two-headed monster and some of you're like there's our marriage so you can take the ring off and he said you can sign the papers but you're still a one flesh Union and nowhere in the Bible can you find rings or certificate of marriage or certificate of divorce you find a one flesh Union and and if we're gonna teach this we've now got at least a thousand or more here that go here Chris you're talking about nine years ago Chris you're talking about 14 years ago so you're saying every time I'm with my current spouse and we have three kids that's committing adultery because God still sees me as a one flesh Union yeah see the truth about divorce biblical divorce can only happen because of sexual unfaithfulness or desertion by a non Christian biblical divorce can only happen because of sexual unfaithfulness which Jesus claims right here or in 1st Corinthians chapter 7 Paul will write to a church in Corinth where people are becoming Christians the spouse wants nothing to do with them and deserts them he goes well if you're deserted by your spouse that's really not on you now is it see God only sees two categories of relationship there's not married single or divorced god only sees married or single God doesn't see divorce you're either married you're still in this one state union or you're single there's no such thing as divorce you say well I divorce the spouse because sexual immorality I divorced a spouse because he okay now God sees you a single not divorced I divorced the spouse because my unbelieving spouse got up and left or I was deserted okay then God doesn't see you as divorced now here's what you have to understand both Paul's answer to this and Jesus our response to questions that were currently happening no one in the New Testament ever walked up to Jesus or Paul or when the disciples and said hey this is my sister my idiot brother-in-law is bashing her around the house every other week you could still see the bruises Jesus never answered that Paul never answered that neither of them gave an exhaustive all-inclusive list of what you can and can't do probably because there isn't one what he went back to is let me give you a new definition of this so when Chris says I don't like being married and Amy says I don't like being married you either twenty four years ago they realize when I'm stuck so we can live miserable and we've done that for eight months about six the first two months were okay we're still fooling each other we can live miserable we can get a divorce which is unbiblical I can't divorce you just because I'm miserable and I married the wrong person we can try to fix this and we took our list of what we didn't like and each of us said that's work on the list and I knew I was gonna be stuck in a loveless marriage but hopefully it wasn't miserable for the next 40 years and I had no idea that in doing this I'm pulling off Ephesians 5 where God says because you are in a one flesh Union husbands when you love your wife you're actually loving yourself cuz cuz you're not she's your one you see Chris does that mean there's things that you do for Amy just to get your own way and get what you want yes of course I would say probably 80% of the stuff I do for a me I don't want to do it see that this is just dumb stuff like makes the bed I'm like we're using it again today today we're using it i minutes later but it's today no one's coming over noes walking into our room the bed has to be made man if I do this this goes better for me but if I point out how ridiculous this is why I ain't using the bed tonight my sides gonna be made yes and no one told me in doing this we are gonna unleash the fusion this intimacy of what God created us to be and do you see he created it he knows how it works and and if we can redefine this maybe we can be free from 80% of our questions on divorce you see my senior year in high school we had a Marine recruiter that would come by every so often and there was about I don't know eight or twelve of us that he was keying on those of us that were seniors for whatever reason we were all in sports we're all in football and none of us had a clue what we're doing after graduation the people that already have their college picked out or working in dad's business he left alone but us he saw us as easy targets I want to go play for Angelo State Rams in San Angelo Texas but I don't want to go through more work I'm just I'm lazy and so I kept hanging out with him for two reasons one he would buy lunch for us and secondly we could get out of fourth period if we met with the recruiter now I'm smart enough to know if you let me out a fourth period there ain't no fifth or sixth piece and my buddy Pat and I would hang out with this guy and Pat's like Chris we ought to try it I'm like what do you mean he goes we're to sign up and just try it I go Pat you don't try it now listen I realized we have some eight nine hundred families here that were camouflaged on a daily basis let me tell you it wasn't my knock against the Marines it's because of my utmost respect for the Marine Corps and what it takes to get in it and stay in it that I realized I didn't have coming from a family more a dad was in the military I realized man I think life and pass like Luke will go through it and if we don't like it we'll come home and I go it doesn't work that way Pat I go you know hell week two weeks before school starts we have two practices a day and 114 degree heat outside of El Paso Texas I gots the worst two weeks of life Pat they have three months of boot camp he goes yeah but if we get into it we don't like it I mean we can come home I got you don't work that way they own you he goes no Chris if we refuse and say we're coming home there's probably a bus to put us on we can come home well tell me how that works for you see Pat's view of signing up for the Marine Corps was we'll try it we'll get into it if it doesn't work for us peace my view was they own you they own you I don't want to be owned right now and he goes if you have this definition of marriage let's try it let's get into it let's work our best I mean no one goes in planning for divorce but we know if it doesn't we can come back home and God knows no no no no they own you because we didn't create marriage and decide on how marriage works we don't get to decide divorce and God goes you can go through all the legalities I get to approve of divorce and you were never divorced what do we do with this so Chris my divorce 17 years ago wasn't for sexual unfaithfulness as we couldn't live together we were young we were stupid now I'm married we got four kids am I supposed to leave them no but doesn't the Bible say yeah but are you can we just get back to the truth about all of us let's just end on the truth about all of us okay you see none of us will get to heaven because of what we have done none of us that's one of those statements that when I wrote it I realize that actually goes both ways Hey look none of you will get to heaven because of what you have done but that statement can also read Hey look none of you are gonna get to heaven because of what you've done you see that a little tone inflection makes all the difference and both are true none of us can get to heaven by what we've done and none of us can get to happen because of what we've done I want to put it this way all of us have at least one page in the Bible that we didn't get right all of us all of us have at least one page in the Bible that we can look in and go yeah and get that one right Oh may I be the first to say my pages make up chapters my chapters make up a book you want to take pages out of the Bible where I've blown it it's it's gonna be thick it is gonna be thick and so I realized when we do this topic we cannot point at them for those of you in marriage and go that's what we're working on that's what I have to do oh but man then they're on their second marriage or their and their third marriage there is no them when we read these pages it's just us I want to take you back last place we look as Romans chapter 3 if you're in mark go to the right Luke John acts Romans chapter 3 we did the book of Romans here a couple years ago verse by verse phenomenal study even if I do say so myself and the first three chapters spelled out six different ways why no one can get to heaven he is a holy God he is sinless we've all got some aspect of sin sin cannot be in heaven so when you die it's you and you've got no way to get rid of the sin that's in your life and there's no amount of good that you can do right now that takes away already the wrong that you've done and if God allowed a bunch of sinners in heaven we turn it into the Vegas trip within three months and God would have to move and find a new heaven sin had to be dealt with and by the end of chapter three actually we're going to pick it up in verse 9 Paul writes what shall we conclude then are we any better not at all we've already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin as it is written there is no one that is righteous there's no one that can stand in front of God and say I'm Pierre enough I'm holy not even one of us there is no one who understands no one who truly seeks God all have turned away they've all together become worthless that's the human nature without God there is no one who does good not even one talking about being perfect enough their throats are open graves their tongues practice deceit the poison of Vipers on their lips their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness their feet are Swift to shed blood ruin and misery marked their ways and the way of peace they do not know there is no fear of God before their eyes he writes look all of us in some way shape or form by what we said by what we came up with by the words I've used by the way I've cursed people by the way I've treated people all of us have pages against us to go yep that one was me I mean I was good on that and that blue number three just got me he saw none of us can stand before a holy God and say I'm good enough to be in your presence because we can and then it concludes with this now we know that whatever the law says it says to those who are under the law so that every mouth can be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law rather through the law we become conscious of sin no one can stand before God and say I did this good enough you have way too many pages against you no one and we're all on equal ground well if you hear this message or other messages here at North Coast and you're quick to sell somebody hey you're a sinner at North Coast we applaud that as long as it is followed by a high-five and a hug that says welcome to the club hey you're a sinner high-five welcome to the club no one is allowed here to take any verse any chapter that doesn't pertain to you but applied to someone else and go you're a sinner don't you call yourself a Christian and you love pointing out sin and people leave there's plenty of Christian churches that would accept you love you in heaven we'll see who was right not here not here the trauma and the consequences that this issue causes there's it's absolutely no coincidence at the very next verses in mark chapter 10 have little children coming to Jesus and the disciples pull them away and Jesus no you let the little children come to me it is no coincidence that on this harsha's teaching of divorce there's this next view of you better allow the children to be free and come to me because man there's a lot of consequences that are damaging with this issue and it cuts deep and all of us have pages against us and then Romans says this but now a righteousness being found right being made right from God apart from the Bible has been made known to which the law and the prophets testify this righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe there is no difference for all have sinned all fall short of God's glory but our justified are made right freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Jesus Christ can I tell you the truth about the cross the cross brings grace and mercy not what I deserve do you realize please church that Jesus has just turned he and his disciples to cross the Jordan to head Judea do to Judea why because he has just told his followers I am going to take the cross why because I have a really harsh stance on divorce and a really clear definition of marriage a lot of people aren't gonna get this one right and the cross is necessary you don't need more time and patience to figure out your life nope you're gonna keep screwing it up you don't need another chapter on marriage to make yours better nope you're an idiot just like me you don't need a little bit more God's instruction in your life to make you better it won't happen the instruction just shows us where we blown it what we needed was a cross what we needed was the God that said this is what I teach and I don't know how to straighten out where you are now and you can't go back and redo what if I bring forgiveness what if the Cross redeems buys back makes right not just your pass but your present what if the cross not only redeems sin but people and this is why I love Ephesians 5:17 therefore if anyone is in Christ the new creation has come the old you has gone the new is now here all this is from God who brought us to himself through Christ and now has given us the same Ministry of reconciliation that God was bringing the world to himself in Christ not counting people's sins against them and he has committed to us the same message of reconciliation and it's the only way I can stand here today a guy that used every relationship he had for about six years of his life for his own gratification a guy that was so arrogant and so prideful and prided himself on being a life of the party but just couldn't tell anybody he lived for the crowds because when the crowds left he hated who he is with and the only reason any of us can stand on any ground today and say well what makes you a good Christian I just pointed the cross and go him I couldn't do it I can't earn it I will never deserve it it's been freely given I surrendered to him and when it comes to a church in Corinth that is one of the most sexually charged environments in its day in the Greek and Roman world in the first century Paul writes in first Corinthians 717 so you've become a Christian now today you want to follow him each person should live as a believer in whatever situation the Lord has found them just as God now calls them this is a rule I lay down in all churches was a man already circumsized when he was called he should not become uncircumcised was a man uncircumcised when he was called he should not be circumcised circumcision is nothing uncircumcision is nothing keeping God's commands now is what counts each person should remain in the situation they were in when God has called them brothers and sisters each person now has a responsibility to God to remain in the situation they were in when God has now called them well Chris what do I do because my first marriage is in my second but today I don't here's what the cross brings the truth about the cross it allows obedience to start today I don't know what happened five years ago 10 years ago in 15 years ago in your life I don't know if you walked in here living together and realizing so all sexual intimacy less desires physical is between man and women and marriage for a lot of you go ball he goes yeah some are gonna be eunuchs some are gonna be celibate some were born to be single and Paul says that's a gift and there's a gift of singleness that you can do far more some of us divorce have chosen to be single some of you widowed you want to remain single here there's a gift to be all that you can be and do all that you want to do because the moment you get married your dreams are gone it's about somebody else not just you he goes this is a hard teaching I understand it if you want to teach this to a culture that doesn't agree with it good luck with that buddy but this is the Word of God and Paul says so if today you're in a marriage it's loveless and miserable there hasn't been any sexual unfaithfulness he says and you start with obedience today you make a list not to show where someone's wrong you make a list to say here's how I got to start meeting your needs and have them make a list say here's how I got to start meeting your needs and if you're in your second marriage or third marriage and if you're in a place where we've all blown this in ways you just go what does it look like today how do I start today because of grace and mercy or are there consequences sure you're living out those consequences you know them well but obedience starts today God says look I can't give all the answers about divorce what I can do is redefine marriage because you think you can just put this on and you think you can put this off and he goes that's just an outward symbol of what I fused together and you laid that ring down long ago I still see you as marrying and in Christ the old is gone the new has come I'm a new creation and the cross doesn't hold my sin against me oh there may still be consequences so today I start and say if this is who I am or if today you're single well let me just speak in closing those of you that are living together because we do kids sign ups we love that you are here and we don't want you to feel less than anybody else we all have pages where we're not doing right but I'm gonna say this publicly so I don't have to have those awkward phone calls or with you privately when we get names the volunteer in the Kids program and they're different last names same address we're gonna ask how are you guys living together and you're gonna hear these words there's other places you can volunteer or do stuff here not not in the kids area we don't want you to be an example in front of kids a boyfriend and girlfriends that can live together when that's not what we're gonna teach them and that's gonna be hard for you to hear and you're gonna feel like you're judged and can I say you are because all of us are we're all sinners and we're not gonna point at you without a high-five and a hug and say welcome to the club but if you want to be an example in front of kids and teach the Bible or be in the room and what it says then we're gonna ask you to live according to the Word of God we're not gonna apologize for that but we are gonna realize that it's hard that is difficult and for some of you that are single today you found new guidelines to hide you my singleness and I don't have the answer to all the questions that fill this room on this teaching here's what I know there's a God that says Chris you have screwed this up so much we are not gonna go back and try to untangle this I'm gonna give you grace and I'm gonna give you mercy I'm gonna give you what you can possibly under deserve and mercy is holding back what you really do deserve and instead today I'm going to teach you how to walk with me and let's start today Plan B because I don't know how to sort out plan a let's start today with Plan B and B is that's the cross and that's why we all need it father thank you for your word and the clarity of it especially in areas that we do not like in God we're gonna walk back into our culture today and wonder what we want to do with your book because it does not apply to what we think to what we know to how we live and so father I ask that you give us enough wisdom to realize we've done life on our own and it hasn't worked it's time to do it your way and today lay down and surrender that may mean celibacy in a lot of areas for us until we come together in a one flesh Union God may you be with marriages today that desperately want divorce and today gave them a new definition of I have got to work on this and it seems so unfair but God may we realize when we do that we are stepping into your grace your power your obedience and may you meet us there and give us what we need for the hundreds of questions that have been unanswered but just created by this message may you allow us to see what obedience looks like today and follow you because of how much you love us in Jesus name Amen well as always we'd love to connect with you online if you have a question a comment or even a prayer request you can send that to info at North Coast Church calm we also want to thank you for your continued generous support if you like to give you can donate through the North Coast Church app or the website at North Coast Church comm we hope you're challenged and encouraged by today's message we'll see you next week

Channel: North Coast Church

Views: 1,902

Rating: 4.4029851 out of 5

Keywords: north coast church, larry osborne, pastor chris brown, north coast, churches near me, christian, bible study, jesus, god, bible

Id: 2eDfq4JKVqM

Length: 55min 35sec (3335 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 18 2019