What Jesus Taught about Marriage and Divorce

we're back in our series in the Gospel of Matthew that's called follow me following Jesus and the modern world and we're in Matthew chapter 19 and the title of my message is what Jesus taught about marriage and divorce you know two billion people watched Prince William marry Princess Kate this weekend did any of you watch that on TV I watched a little of it it was really amazing what pageantry you know you look at the way it was choreographed and put together and the ceremony itself and all the rest of it quite amazing I said that my wife it looks like something out of a Disney movie she says well what do you think the Disney movies got the idea since that thing when your point of reference is a Disney film but it really seemed like a fairy tale in many ways I mean here is Kate Middleton a commoner who was chosen by William to become a member of the royal family I mean it's sort of like a lot of little girl's dream come true isn't it so many little girls want to be a princess today and one article written about this wedding said and I quote the prince kissed his bride in front of 1/3 of the planet then he and his princess Hampton and Aston Martin and drove off happily ever after the act is that how it's going to win I'll tell you what this was one expensive wedding they spent forty million dollars on the wedding and by the way 32 million of that was spent on security alone they also spent 10 million of that on strange hats that women wore what's going on there I don't get it I mean some of these hats were something a couple of the hats I think it was the daughters of Sarah Ferguson it looked like they walked out of a Tim Burton film I mean and I mean that as a complete compliment of course it was but it was it was really quite the event and very impressive and and we wish them well and hope things go well for them of course we know there was another fairy tale wedding that took place and it was the the mother and father of Prince William and that did not turn out so well it ended up in adultery in and divorce and tragically Princess Diana died in a car accident so this is though not the way we hope it goes for these guys you know but actually people in England are already planning on the divorce in fact I read an article that said divorces among the Royals have become so common that shortly after the engagement was announced British bookies began taking bets about William and Kate's divorce and won it would take place I understand that having the deck stacked against you you know because they say if there's divorce in your home if your parents were divorced it chances are much higher that you yourself will end up divorced as well and my mom was married into war seven times and so the chances were that I could have end up ended up divorced but thankfully because we did it God's Way my wife and I have been married for 37 years Kathy my wife Kathy has never considered divorcing me murdering me yes divorcing Nina you know so how do you have a successful marriage well when a William and Kate were getting married a lot of the experts were chiming in actually the Buddha's head priests in London told them the secret to a happy marriage is to meditate daily that's what they need to do he says one celebrity said the secret to a happy marriage is her husband does Pilates with her that's a thought I read about a study that was done in The Boston Globe and they said now recent research has revealed that the secret to a happy marriage is are you ready delusion they said new research says if you're a bit delusional about your partner when you get married you'll be more satisfied with your marriage than those who see it as it really is a ruin okay so let's with it all together meditate do Pilates and be delusional then I read a statement from a well-known celebrity who gave her secret to a happy marriage he says keep it fresh and fun and have a really hot sex life okay problem is she just got divorced so that didn't work out so well for her so is it even possible to have a happy marriage reminds me of a Sunday school teacher that was talking to a class about four-year-olds and she said do any of you know what the Bible says about marriage and one little boy raised his hand she called on him and yeah what does the Bible say about marriage it says Father forgive them for they know not what they do and judging by the way a lot of marriages go we can understand why you would say that Oscar Wilde is quoted to say the world has grown suspicious of anything that looks like a happily married life end quote Jay paul Getty one of the richest men who ever lived said I would give my entire origin for one happy marriage one happy marriage is it even possible can a man and a woman fall in love and be married and actually live happily ever after or is that just a fairy tale well maybe we need to adjust the verbage a little bit and instead of saying they lived happily ever after we could instead say you can live happily even after but how do you do that well we need to get back to God's Word who tells us how we can have a successful marriage certainly we don't want to look to secular culture for our cues I mean if you look to celebrities in Hollywood as an example of how to have a great relationship you're going to be sorely disappointed these people can't keep a marriage together for five years some of them break up in weeks after they get married it's just constantly hooking up and breaking up and and on it goes now we need to look elsewhere culture certainly is not giving us the answers we need to look to the scripture so in this message I want to talk about singleness marriage and divorce quick poll how many of you are single today raise up your hand you're single you're not married okay good put your hand back up again just put up without having just look around a little just it's a little dark no the chick guys how many of you are married raise your hand up whoa okay lots of you very good that one person is happy only one okay how many of you are happily married raging and happily married interesting not as many hands no their work so we want to talk about how to have a happy marriage I don't think the answer is being delusional I think the answer is being practical and spiritual it was Benjamin Franklin who said quote keep your eyes wide open before marriage and have shut after words the problems a lot of people go into marriage or their eyes have shut they they don't want to know the truth about the person or they don't want to take the time to even get to know the person they're in a rush to get married and that is a big mistake marriage depends on two things finding the right person and being the right person was James Dobson who said quote don't marry the person you think you can live with marry only the individual you think you can't live without and quote I know it can be hard to be single because when you're single you may think a lot about being married and you might be surprised to know that sometimes married people wish they were single again marriage is like flies on the screen door the ones on the outside one in and the ones on the inside one out so here's what I would say to a single person today be content with where you are your contentment should come from your relationship with God let's be realistic no man or woman is going to meet the deepest needs of your life I think even little girls sometimes I are so enamored with their prints coming one day they love to dress up like a princess and and you don't know and I'll play with my granddaughters and and they'll say Papa you be the prince and and so they have all these little girl figures and dresses and everyone knows the princes and all the Disney films are pretty boring you know we have online high you know and then the girls are all ready to be married and they have their own song one day my prince will come right so I actually taught that song to Stella which was a little weird singing it to her but she had heard a little of it so I found it on YouTube and I played it from Snow White and but you know we actually all have that hope frilly art prints will come it's not a guy coming to a girl it's not even a girl coming to a guy it's the Lord Jesus coming into all of our lives so that's what we need to find our ultimate contentment in the prints of keys so that's where you start so if you're still single pay attention because you need to know what the Bible says about marriage because chances are you will be married at some point in your life studies show that 9 out of 10 Americans are married at least at some point in their lives but some would say well why even get married why not just live together and more and more couples are doing that today by passing marriage all together the number of unmarried couples living together soared 12 fold from four hundred and thirty thousand in 1960 to 5.4 million in 2005 I'm sure the numbers are even higher now the rationale of living together is well why you know go through a ceremony it's just a ceremony it doesn't really mean anything we'll just live together it's kind of like taking a car out for a test drive you know we'll see if we're compatible we'll see how it works out but this is wrong on so many levels let's just start with some interesting statistics did you know that living together actually will increase your chance of divorce more than eight out of ten couples who live together we'll break up either before the wedding or afterwards in divorce eight out of ten so instead of having a good test run to see how compatible you are you are effectively undermining your potential marriage by living together first it bears very little resemblance to what a marriage would look like one day in fact it actually undermines the marriage one person said quote statistically speaking living together is not a trial of marriage but rather a training for divorce and quote but the most compelling reason why you should not live together is because God says that is a sin Hebrews 13:4 says marriage should be honored by all and the marriage bed kept pure for God will judge the adulterer and the sexually immoral all right so with this said let's consider the of Jesus on the topic of marriage and divorce Matthew 19 starting at verse 3 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 then made them in the beginning made them male and female and he said for this man are excuse me for this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife and the two shall be called one flesh so they are no longer two but one flesh therefore what God has joined together let no man separate let's pause for a moment of Prayer father as we consider your words two husbands and wives and also two single people help us really pay attention I pray that you would bless every marriage represented here today with those who are listening and watching I pray that you bless every single person today and help them to wait patiently for that right man or woman that you will bring into their life so speak to us through your word we ask now in Jesus name Amen so the Pharisees testing Jesus not because they wanted a real answer from him but because they wanted to trap him say okay Jesus let's talk about the topic of divorce but Jesus avoids their question instead goes back to the original plan so instead of talking about divorce he talks about why god of God brought a man and a woman together in the first place and he references Genesis chapter 2 and that of course is the story of Adam there in the garden living a perfect life made in the image of God he was in the ultimate bachelor pad I mean he had it made in the shade it almost sounds like a fairy tale when we read of the Garden of Eden like Atlantis or Camelot's or never-never-land no this was a real place and this was a real man that God had created and his job description if you will was to discover all that the Lord had made and every day as the Sun was setting the Lord would show up and he would take a walk with his son Adam and the cool of the day you couldn't ask for a more perfect situation God asked Adam to name all of the animals and at first it wasn't that hard dog cat bird fish but then when he found out he had to name individual animals it became more complex okay fish with multiple names uh trout salmon mahi mahi mahi or maybe Huma Huma Luca Luca ha that's here on the screen this is the this is an actual fish named it's efficient Hawaii let's say it together uma uma naka Anika Kappa oh ah ah thank you very much I'm very fluent in Hawaiian you know that brah but as wonderful as all of this was something was missing in Adams life or more specifically someone was missing but that someone did not exist yet God created Eve out of the rib of Adam the Lord said it's not good for man to be alone so from his side he brought II God said in Genesis 2:18 I will make a helper comparable to him a more literal translation from the Hebrew would be someone who assists another to reach fulfilment it's used elsewhere in the Old Testament and it refers to someone coming to rescue another II was sent to rescue Adam she would provide what was missing in his life marriage it halves our sorrows it doubles our joys and a quadruples our expenses so what is the plan that God has for a man and a woman well they're in Genesis 21 we read the Lord caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam and as he slept the Lord took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh thereof and from the rib he made woman Adam said this is now bone of my bones flesh of my flesh she shall be called woman because she was taken out of man and now here's a statement that Jesus quotes therefore shall a man leave his father and mother and cleave unto his wife and they shall become one flesh eat made from the rib of Adam and one thing he may not know is he was suspicious of Adam and she accused him one day of being with other women he said either you out of your mind there are no other women on earth there's just you so that night he fell asleep and he was awakened to find Eve poking at his chest he said what are you doing she said just counting your ribs that's not a true story by the way that's kind of a lame joke what speaking about him and Eve someone has suggested they had an ideal marriage he didn't have to hear about all the men she could have married and she never had to hear about how well his mother cooked you see because the first service laughed at that I know what your problem is okay so here's the objective that God has and bringing a man and a woman together two very important words leave and clean for this reason shall a man leave his father and mother and cleave into his wife and the two shall become one flesh the word cleave means to glue or to cling leave and cleave sever and bond loosen and secure dapat detached from depart from rather and attach to so a successful marriage begins with a leaving in effect you leave all other relationships now the closest relationships outside of marriage is specified here implying that if it's necessary to leave your father and mother then certainly all lesser ties must be broken changed or left behind now that doesn't mean that when you get married you're no longer a son or a daughter to your parents or you're no longer a sibling but what it means is a new responsibility is started and your primary responsibilities as a married person is to your spouse yes you must still honor your mother and father but a leaving has taken place otherwise this can be extremely detrimental to the marriage you know and the wife says I'm going home to mommy you know wait a second you've made a commitment now you need to stand by it I heard about a guy who wasn't married yet he was trying to find the perfect girl and it was really hard to get his parents to agree to it so he brought a young lady home and his mother didn't like her he proceeded to bring home a second girl mother didn't like her either so he goes and finds a girl that looks like his mom that talks like his mom that walks like his mom and brings her home then his father didn't like her so that was a little bit of a problem there so leaving and cleaving are the two operative words leaving implies giving other relationships a lesser degree of importance I you can have friends still obviously but what about best friends well listen your best friend should be your spouse news flash you can have other friends and just on a practical note having friends who are members of the opposite sex can be problematic at best and potentially destructive at worst I mean let's get real you know for the guy to say well I like to hang out with this other girl even though he's married and we she's just a pal there's nothing more to it now come on understand the most adulterous situations happen through close contact and relationship not mere sexual attraction that usually comes later so be very careful and your best friend should be your husband and or your wife that's what the teaches uh you know going back to the beginning not good was the aloneness of man so God brought that person to you here's a key verse that emphasizes the importance of intimacy and friendship between spouses Malachi 2:13 the Lord has been witness between you and the wife of your youth to whom you have been faithless although she is your companion and why that word companion means ones you are when you are united with in thoughts goals plans and efforts are you united with your wife in that way husbands listen if you are not it's going to hurt you in many ways starting with your prayer life because we're told over in first Peter 3 husbands dwell with your wife with understanding giving honor to the wife as under the weaker vessel as being heirs together of the grace of life that your prayers may not be hindered your prayers can be hindered if you are not having this intimacy in your marriage with your spouse you might say well I'd well with my wife we live in the same house we say hello at breakfast and isn't that enough no actually it isn't because the word that is used therefore dwelt could be translated be aligned to and give maintenance to does it come as a shock to you then you need to give maintenance to your marriage to keep it strong you maintain your car right what happens if you don't maintain your car if you don't put oil in it or coolant in it well the car could potentially break down and what if you don't maintain your garden if you don't water it if you don't weed it well your garden could be overrun by weeds what happens to your marriage if you neglect it your marriage could have problems you need to give maintenance to your marriage do checkups on your marriage ask your spouse how am i doing how do you think our marriage is doing am I being the husband you want me to be am i being the wife you want me to be give attention to your marriage if you neglect it problems will begin to develop so this is what scripture is telling us that marriage needs to be that bond between the husband and the wife there is that leaving and then there is the cleaning now we hear the word cleave and we might think of a meat cleaver cutting meat well that's not doesn't mean that obviously the word cleave is from a hebrew word that speaks of adhering to or sticking together to be attached by some strong tie and the verb suggests a determined action so it's not that you're stuck together but you're sticking together so look if you were climbing a mountain you're holding on it's a determined action and that's what you're doing if your spouse you're holding on to each other like you know holding on to happily holding on to there's nothing passive about it when you come to the New Testament and the use of the word they use a word that means to cement together and stick like glue to be welded together so the two cannot be separated without serious damage to both and that is true when a marriage is broken apart there's damage but God has joined together let no man put asunder we hear it said when I was a kid I used to build models and I was really bad at it because I would get glue everywhere and so as I got older and I was in the dollar that I'm gonna go build a model I'll be much better now because I'm so much more intelligent and I'm as bad as always watch in a glue everywhere but then I discovered super glue which is you know simple you just you know a couple drops here and there and holds it together but they warn you don't get it on your fingers and I did and I glued my thumb and my finger together like this so for a week I walked around Greg how you doing okay okay I should have read the directions on superglue but the idea here is to be glued together but again it speaks that's something you're willingly doing and this involves constant communication before marriage after marriage a poll was taken among people who were divorced and they asked what was the number-one reason 86% said deficient communication there was a communication breakdown you need to learn how to share your heart you need to learn how to resolve your conflicts and there will be conflicts I've had couples come in for premarital counseling and they'll say oh we're so in love we want to get married how long have you known each other Oh for two months okay when do you want to get married in a week no you know that's probably too soon you need to get to know each other better let me ask you a question have you had a disagreement yet oh no we're so in love we never argue get out of my office enter the real world and go have an argument and learn how to resolve it because if you can't learn how to get through those you're going to be in for some rocky times I got to tell you every marriage is going to have its conflicts there's going to be the disagreements and so forth Ruth Graham once said a successful marriage is made up of two good forgivers you need to learn how to forgive what's the last time you told your wife you love her when's the last time you told your husband you love him sometimes even a hug will do it learn about a husband and wife that were having some marital difficulties so they went to see their pastor and after a couple of times he said I think I figured out what your problem is and he got up from behind his desk and walked out in front of it and asked the wife of the man to stand up and he gave her a good hobby and he turned to the husband and he said now that is what your wife needs each and every day so the husband found for a moment and then said well what time you want me to bring her back tomorrow yeah I can I miss the point there you see this cleaving together means putting the needs of your mate above your own sometimes people get bent out of shape because the Bible says wives submit under your husband's as unto the Lord I don't like that that's chauvinistic they'll say I'm not submitting to anyone really I heard that Princess Kate said that she wanted the word obey struck from the vows she didn't want to say that okay but here's the problem that very attitude says to me you're going to have problems in your marriage let me tell you why and I'm not picking on women here let me give you the big picture before a word is said in the Bible about wives submitting to their husbands or husbands loving their wife as Christ loves the church which is no small feat I might add it says you should submit yourself one to another in the reverence of God so let's not get all bent out of shape about why I'm submitting to husbands let's remember the Bible says husbands should submit to wise well what does that even mean well let's understand the meaning of the actual word it's a military word that means to rank in these and to rank under it doesn't mean that you're abdicating your responsibilities of leadership in the home it means that you are helping her fare her burdens you're getting underneath her and you're helping her and guess what she's doing the same for you how can I help you if you would go into the marriage saying how can i fulfill her and meet her needs and she went into the marriage saying how can i fulfill him and meet his needs it would make all the difference in the world but it said we go in said I won't do this and you took on Egypt routine Oh watch out man that's not the way it works or to submit one to another in the fear of God let's talk about divorce for a moment because that is the title of the message which Jesus taught about marriage and divorce let me see if the offset God doesn't like divorce let me take it a step further God hates divorce that's the actual verbage that he uses in Malachi 2:16 the Lord says for I hate divorce says the Lord it's as cruel as putting on a victim's blood stain coat says the Lord Almighty so guard yourself and always be loyal to your wife you know we say divorce is no big deal and it's so commonplace now and and everyone's doing it and it's not a bad thing well wait a second I think this divorce is one of the most destructive things in our culture today even our secular experts tell us this dr. Armand Nicola respected professor at the Harvard Medical School said quote the breakdown of the family contributes significantly to the major problems confronting our society today research data makes it unmistakably clear that there is a strong relationship between broken families and the drug epidemic and the increase of violent crime and the unprecedented epidemic of suicide among children and adolescents they also say that a broken home a home of divorce contributes to teenage pregnancy consider this statistic seventy percent of children in state institutions today came from broken homes it says it all yet in spite of this that divorce stats continue to rise last century it rose seven hundred percent you can get drive-through weddings in Las Vegas and now I read recently you can even get a drive-through divorce how about that so you can drive through order a hamburger fries have a divorce with that please that's the kind of culture we're living in today well Jesus did address a topic of divorce here in Matthew 19 drop down to verse 7 they said don't why then did Moses command to give a certificate of divorce and put her away he said Moses because of the hardness of your heart permitted you to divorce your wife but from the nina was not so 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 so having established a divorce is a bad idea when is it permissible okay when people get divorced today what is the number one reason that is sided that's right irreconcilable differences I'm so sick of hearing that I've had a reconcilable differences with my wife for 37 years they're irreconcilable she's neat and I'm messy she sometimes late I like to be early she's cute I'm fat it's irreconcilable what are we going to do we're going to work through it but there was a lacks attitude back in these days that was taught by the Pharisees were really a divorce could be given for any reason now it definitely favored the man not the woman the woman could not divorce her husband but the husband could divorce his wife for just about anything one very liberal rabbi of the day known as Hallel taught that incompatibility of temperament was grounds for divorce sounds a little bit like a reconcilable differences and that day a man could divorce his wife for such trivial things as burning his meal or embarrassing him in front of his friends even if a more attractive woman came along he could divorce his wife to go after that woman Oh back to the words of Jesus he allowed divorce for the sake of the woman that was in a relationship like this notice that they said commanded why did Moses command of or Jesus said excuse me he didn't command it he permitted it and he permitted it because of the callousness of your hearts because of the way you've treated women so here now is the reason for divorce or or the allowance for divorce I should say to that I see in Scripture neither one of them is irreconcilable differences number one verse nine I tell you anyone who divorces his wife except for sexual immorality and marries another commits adultery so an allowance is given for sexual immorality now what is that mean well it comes from the Greek word porneia guess what English word we get from that pornography pornographic and it's not an easy word to define because it has a lot of shades of meaning it speaks of extramarital sexual relations obviously adultery but it also includes incest prostitution homosexuality why is immorality a deal-breaker in marriage potentially because it violates the oneness between a man and a wife Paul even said if you have sexual relations with a prostitute you become one flesh with her what does that mean it means a bond is broken and another one is established so so much for the idea of a one-night stand or it didn't mean anything no it actually means a lot to God and this is a big deal to God but we live in a culture that not only gives allowances for it but in many ways encourages it there are websites set up that will help people that want to be unfaithful to their spouse to get away with it how to cover your tracks and so forth and so this is the kind of time we're living in right now so if adultery has been committed there's an allowance for divorce however that doesn't mean there should necessarily be a divorce I've counseled couples where there's been unfaithfulness and often it's a husband being unfaithful to the wife but more often these days we're hearing now about why is being unfaithful of their husbands as well and we will always encourage forgiveness is the adultery is not only grounds for divorce it's also grounds for forgiveness and I've seen marriages survive it I've even seen marriages flourish in the aftermath please don't think that means oh you know it was a good thing it's never a good thing Trust is broken and it takes years to get it back and it's very damaging but you can survive it now and no way am i rationalizing anything but sometimes you have to consider the circumstances if it was a one-time event and it came out and there's been repentance and a desire to keep the marriage together it's a little bit different than a man and or a woman who is a serial adulterer who has been unfaithful to their spouse for ten years consecutively or it's had multiple things going on and then it becomes more problematic doesn't it but Jesus certainly gave this allowance in morality unfaithfulness number two the second allowance I find in Scripture for divorce is if there's been desertion as your spouse basically leaves you 1st Corinthians 7 13 Paul says if a woman has a husband that believes not yet he is pleased to dwell with her let her not cook him away so the idea is look if you're married to a non-believer and he wants to stay with you stay in the marriage and I bring this up because I've had people come up to me and say you know what Greg I'm married to a non-christian and you know we weren't Christians when we got married but I've come to Christ and he doesn't love the Lord but I do and he doesn't want to go to church but I do so the Lord spoke to me the other day and the Lord said dump the heathen my child and marry the cute guy at church and so so Greg will you do the wedding for us okay wait a second there's a problem with that thing the Lord told you and that is the Lord didn't tell you that and the reason I say that is because the Lord says right here in 1st Corinthians 7 13 if your husband is willing to stay with you stay with him now your objective is to win him to Christ and so maybe this happened because you were non-believers and one came to faith and maybe you went on to married a non-believer thinking that you would bring her around and he didn't come around did he they usually don't and now you're thinking well how do I get out of this sorry you're in the marriage now you need to try to win him to faith and if you want some advice go read 1st Peter 3 and specifically to a wife and says you win him over by the way that you live it's hard it's challenging I know it's difficult and some of you are in that situation but let's just say that non-believer or even a guy or a girl who professes to be a believer just leaves you one day they walk out on you they abandon you they are gone now what you just stay married to them forever no because Paul goes on to say they're in first Corinthians 7 if the unbeliever departs they desert you a brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases so if this happens you're free to remarry again having said this let me also add this I believe that most divorces can be avoided most situations that I've dealt with and usually if they come to me for counseling it's big trouble because I'll say well we could just talk to Greg okay so I'll meet with them and they still get divorced I haven't been very successful at my attempts to try to save these marriages that have gotten so messed up but in almost every situation I can think back on I think think that marriage could have been saved if they would have just gotten back and done what God told them to do but they just got to a point where they were unwilling to try any more we need to be realistic about marriage now we don't need to be delusional as the experts tell us we need to be practical CS Lewis made this statement and I quote people get books our people get from books the idea that if you have married the right person you may expect to go on being in love forever as a result when they find they are not they think this proves they've made a mistake and are entitled to a change not realizing that when they have changed the glamour will presently go out of the new love just as it went out of the old one Lewis concludes in this department of life as in every other thrills come at the beginning and do not last but if you go through with it the dying away of the first thrill we'll be compensated for by a quieter a more lasting kind of interest and so basically lewis is saying yeah every marriage is going to hit that wall there's that excitement there's the passion and then there's the time will you just stand together and honor your vows and get through the rough patches and then the marriage gets deeper and stronger and you go through another rough patch and it gets deeper and even stronger but some people bail it the first time of conflict well I don't feel the love anymore and they marry someone else and guess what that happens then if they feel the same way after a few months or a year or two and that relationship and they remarry again and on this cycle goes and the tragic victims of all of this are the children that are born and I speak from experience it's devastating and experts have found that children go through their lives with a hole in their hearts they've said when parents have divorced don't think the children are resilient understand it's hard so here's what I'm saying if you are divorced I am NOT here to condemn you today because God will forgive you if you'll say Lord forgive me for that if you've committed adultery God will forgive you but here's what I'm saying to you this is sort of like an ounce of prevention today hopefully don't think about getting a divorce if you're having complex in your marriage get biblical marriage counseling get back and do what God has told you to do I've only touched it here I barely scraped the surface of what can be said about it but you get a sense of the commitment that you need to have see that marriage through that's the Lord to give me the strength to do it and don't consider adultery how many have you been thinking about committing adultery I didn't think you'd raise your hand okay how many of you have been ever tempted to commit adultery raise your hand up get your hands up you're lying you've never been tempted to commit it of course you have the devil's going to throw everything he has at every person out there don't be embarrassed to say you've been tempted so big demonstrates in being tempted in doing because the double Dingle zit in front of you doesn't mean it's you've done something wrong the fact that you resisted it is a glorious thing but you're going to be tempted you're going to be tempted to violate your vows you're going to be tempted to do the right thing the wrong thing don't entertain those thoughts instead work on keeping your marriage strong and leaving and cleaving and make your spouse your best friend the only way you can do this is with the power of God working in your life you know it's interesting to know that God uses marriage as a picture of his love for us Paul says husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it that's the picture and Christ did love the church listen one day there's going to be a true royal wedding it won't happen in England won't happen among humans on earth it will happen when we as the Bride of Christ are united with the king of kings and Lord of lords we were commoners we were commoners we did not have royal blood coursing in our veins and Jesus the Prince of Peace chose us to be his bride and one day we will see him and I ask you in closing have you put your faith in Jesus Christ you see Greg you've been talking about marriage and divorce oh you're talking to you that's right I'm talking to you do you have a relationship with God because the only way that you can love your wife as God wants you to is with God's power in you the only way you can submit under your husband as the Lord wants you to is with God strengthen you the only way you can live as a single person is with the help of a Holy Spirit we all need Jesus Christ and Jesus proved his love for us by going to a cross and dying there in our place and taking the sin of the world upon himself and then he rose again from the dead and now he stands at the door of our lives and he knocks and he says if we'll hear his voice and open the door he will come in

Channel: Pastor Greg Laurie

Views: 60,404

Rating: 4.7227721 out of 5

Keywords: Greg Laurie, royal, wedding, Kate, William, disney, princess, fairy tale, divorce, commoner, King, Prince, hats, happy marriage, husband, wife, pilates, delusion, submission, God, Bible, shacking up, cohabitating, adultery, cheating, temptation, Moses, Jesus, thoughts, sex, forgiveness

Id: ab7eBk7Nl5s

Length: 45min 53sec (2753 seconds)

Published: Tue May 03 2011