To God be the glory!

In the year 2000,

the United States Census Bureau predicted that

of all of the marriages taking place that year, 50% of them would

eventually end in divorce.

And this epidemic of divorce has caused such serious problems in our society

that everyone is touched,

even in the Lord's church.

You know, faithful elderships are constantly having to deal with this

heart-wrenching issue.

And Christians who are doing evangelism, sometimes feel like they've been hit by

a brick when the word "divorce" enters the conversation.

And maybe we don't teach on it, maybe we don't preach on the subject enough.

Seems like we preach on it a lot, but maybe it's not enough when you consider

how big this problem really is.

And so, today we want to present a very basic outline of what God has to say

on the subject of marriage, divorce and remarriage.

And then we're going to deal with some errors that relate to this subject.

Now, the clearest, most straightforward passage that I know in the Bible

on the subject of marriage, divorce and remarriage,

is in Matthew 19.

And so, that's where we're going to begin; and if you have a Bible in front of you,

you might want to follow along Matthew, chapter 19.

We're going to begin reading in verse number 1.

The Bible says: "Now it came to pass,

when Jesus had finished these sayings,

that He departed from Galilee

and came to the region of Judea beyond the Jordan.

And great multitudes followed Him,

and He healed them there.

The Pharisees also came to Him, testing Him, and saying to Him,

'Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife or any reason?'"

Now, I want you notice that the text says that the Pharisees came to Him,

tempting Him.

Now, immediately we learn that

the question these Pharisees were asking Jesus

was not from a pure motive.

They weren't asking because they sincerely wanted to know the answer to the question.

They were asking because they hoped to trap Jesus.

You see, amongst the Jews of that day,

the people were greatly divided on this question of marriage and divorce.

And you know, it's interesting that many people today are divided on this question.

But I think it's worth noting, as you will see, there was a right answer.

And still today, there is a right answer to this question.

Now, there were two schools of thought amongst the Jewish leaders.

One thought was from the school of Hillel, a Jewish rabbi.

And this school taught that a man could divorce his wife for any reason,

for the slightest offense, or even if he just disliked her person or manner.

And they based their opinion on Deuteronomy, chapter 24, in verse 1

which says:

"... that she finds no favor in his eyes..." then he may give her a bill of divorcement.

Now, the other school of reasoning was that of the school of Shammai.

Those who held to this line of thought,

believed that a man could only divorce his wife for adultery.

And they based their thinking, interestingly, on the same passage of scripture,

Deuteronomy 24, and verse 1,

but on the section which says:

"... because he has found some uncleanness in her..." he may put her away.

And they interpreted this "uncleanness" to refer to adultery.

And so, these Pharisees came to Jesus, not looking for the truth,

but hoping to trap Jesus.

They hoped to turn one of the groups against him. So they asked him,

"Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason?"

Now, the King James says, " for every cause."

Now listen to verse 4: "And He answered and said to them,

'Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning "made them male and female,"

and He said, "For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife,

and the two shall become one flesh"?

So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together,

let not man separate.'"

Now, I want you to the notice from verse 4,

that Jesus asked them the question,

"Have you not read...?"

They came to Him asking a question about marriage and divorce,

and Jesus went back to the source of authority.

Jesus did not say, "Well, I feel," or "I think,"

or... "You know, it seems to Me."

Jesus said, "Have you not read..."

He went back to the source of authority on marriage.

And, of course, that is the written Word of God.

And, you know, that seems like the obvious thing to do.

But many people don't do that today. Many people today

seem to turn to everything except the Bible to make decisions about marriage.

I had a man call the church building one time where I was preaching.

He wanted to know if I would perform his marriage.

He had been married two or three times previously,

and now he was getting married a fourth time and he wanted me to perform the ceremony.

And incidently, he'd been put away all three previous times.

And I told him that I could not perform his marriage

because he had no scriptural right to be married.

You know what he said to me?

He said, "You don't understand. This woman is a good woman." He says, "She's a good woman."

You see, apparently in his reasoning, the fact that she was a good woman

would make it okay.

But you see, Jesus did not appeal to emotions or strange reasoning or even his feelings.

Jesus said, "... Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning

'made them male and female...'"

"... At the beginning..."

I want you to go back with me in your minds to the beginning.

Adam is alone in the garden of Eden. Genesis 2:15 says,

"Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it."

Now verse 18:

"And the Lord God said, 'It is not good that man should be alone; I will make

him a helper comparable to him.'" Verse 21

"And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept;

and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place.

Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man and He made into a woman,

and He brought her to the man.

And Adam said: 'This is now bone of my bones And flesh of my flesh;

She shall be called Woman,

Because she was taken out of Man.'"

Now when Jesus said, "... Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning..."

Jesus was pointing back to this event. And he's going back to the beginning

when there was one man and one woman and they were joined together by God.

And so, when the Pharisees came to Him asking Him about divorce,

He referenced the very first marriage.

Alright, back to Matthew 19, and look at verse 6

He says, "... So then, they are no longer two but one flesh..."

You know, sometimes the question arises

when are two people actually married?

Are they actually married at the conclusion of the wedding ceremony,

or is it sexual union that constitutes marriage?

And absolutely, the answer to the question must be

when the ceremony is finished and the marriage license is signed, they are married.

Otherwise, you have a man and a woman going to spend their first night together

on their honeymoon, and they're not even husband and wife.

And it would also mean that everything leading up to the sexual act itself

would be sinful.

Well, Jesus said, "...they are no longer two but one flesh.

Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate."

You know, it's very interesting to me that the Pharisees came to Jesus asking,

"For what reason can a man divorce his wife?"

And Jesus answered, "Don't divorce."

He said, "... What God has joined together let not man separate"

Well, the Pharisees might have thought, "Alright, we've caught him.

He said, 'Don't divorce,' but Moses said it was okay."

Alright, here's the controversy, verse 7:

"They said to Him, 'Why then did Moses command to give a certificate of divorce,

and to put her away?" Verse 8:

"He said to them, "Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts,

permitted you to divorce your wives,

but from the beginning it was not so."

Jesus said that when God design the home and the institution of marriage,

He never intended for it to be corrupted the way that men have made it.

He never intended for men to get tired of their wives and to put them away.

He never intended for adultery to take place and for fornication to occur.

But men and have brought about this corruption.

And "... Moses, because of your hardness of hearts" suffered divorce.

But this was not the way it was from the beginning.

Alright, now the exception to the rule, verse 9:

"And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife,

except for sexual immorality..." the word here's "fornication,"

"... and marries another, commits adultery;

and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery."

Now, let me restate what Jesus is saying here.

He is saying, "He who divorces his wife and remarries commits adultery."

Now this is the rule: "He who divorces his wife for any reason and marries another

commits adultery." That's the rule.

And then He gives one exception to the rule.

That exception is, "If he puts her away for fornication."

Now the New King James says "sexual immorality,"

but that's not the best translation of the original Greek word.

Sexual immorality could refer to the viewing of pornography or lust of the heart.

But that's not the meaning of this word. The Greek word here is "pornea."

It refers to "elicit sexual intercourse."

The King James more accurately translates this word as "fornication."

This word includes a wide range of things.

Certainly it includes adultery and homosexuality and bestiality.

But this exception, fornication is the only one that Jesus made

that would allow a man to divorce his wife and remarry without sinning.

Let's apply this rule. Let's say that there's a man in the first century

and he marries a woman.

And a few years down the road, the man decides that he's going to divorce his wife.

And then later, after some time passes, he decides he wants to remarry.

How would this man know whether or not he has the right to get remarried?

He simply needs to ask himself,

"Do I fit into the exception of Matthew 19:9

Am I an individual who has put away my spouse for fornication?"

And if the answer is "no"

then that man cannot remarry or else he is an adulterer.

Now, what if the reason the man divorced his wife was "incompatibility."

What if he just said, "We just can't get along.

She's difficult and I don't enjoy being with her, and so I'm going to divorce her."

Could he remarry?

The answer is "no."

He did not meet the exception of Matthew 19:9.

Well, what if the man divorced his wife because he said,

"I just don't love her anymore."

You know, that's one of the popular reasons in our day,

"I just don't love her anymore."

Well, under these circumstances he could not remarry,

because he doesn't meet the exception of Matthew 19:9.

Now, somebody might say,

"Well, that sounds awfully strict. You know, that seems very, very difficult

for the Lord to be laying out something like that."

Well apparently, the Lord's disciples thought the same thing.

I want you to listen to verse 10, listen to their response:

"His disciples said to Him, 'If such is the case of the man with his wife,

it is better not to marry.'"

Now, the disciples were essentially saying,

"This is really strict. If this is the way it is,

maybe a man would be better off not to get married."

Now, for those people today who will say,

"I can't believe God's law would be that strict," or, as some people have said,

"I just can't believe the Lord would expect me to live the rest of my life unmarried,"

they need to go back and look at the comments of the Lord's disciples.

Because they recognized that God's law on marriage is very strict.

Now, listen to Jesus' response in verse 11:

"But He said to them, 'All cannot accept this saying...'"

Now what saying is He talking about?

Some people think He's talking about the law that He has just stated