(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Matthew 19, there's a lot of information in this passage, but what I'm going to be preaching on today is not a politically correct sermon. It's not a sermon that a lot of people are going to like, but it's actually about marriage and divorce in the Bible. And this is a very timely sermon because this is something that all America is dealing with and has problems with because I was looking up statistics, and again these statistics I'm not saying this is scripture here as far as statistics, but they say about 40 to 50 percent of all marriages end in divorce. So if it's 50 percent, that means out of two marriages one's going to fail in divorce. And I was trying to look up in Christian realms, but that's so vague because they link Catholics and Protestants, everybody in that, and even in that they don't really know. I'm just going to assume it's 50 percent across the board, whoever you are, because I would say most of America in general, a lot of them, the majority of people claim to be Christian. Don't listen to the media to tell you to say everybody's an atheist now. It's not the case. Not unless you go into these big cities and they have a little more of a percentage of these atheists and agnostics. But when we knock these doors around here, most everybody claims to be Christian. And that's the case in most of America. So all that to say is that this is a big issue. But I first want to talk about what marriage is. Because right now there's confusion on this as far as what marriage is in general, and then I want to get into the divorce aspect and more so the remarried aspect is what the Bible gets into on this. So I'm going to talk about that. Next week I want to preach a sermon on how to have a good marriage. So this is more just like what's the nuts and bolts when it comes to marriage and divorce and all this stuff. This is a very timely message and it's something that needs to be preached. And you need to look at this. I'm not against anybody in this room because I know people have been divorced. I know people have been remarried. I know all these different things that in a room I'm not preaching against anybody here. This is all just what the Bible says about this subject and if anything that you need to take away from this you need to say whatever the children need to hear. If you made this mistake, if you've done this in the past, I'm not against you. But this is what the Bible teaches on this. So first what is marriage? So Matthew 19, go there in the very beginning there, Jesus is laying out what marriage is in general and then they ask him a question, they're tempting him. Now what people are going to claim to me, they're going to say that I'm a Pharisee for what I preached today. But isn't it interesting that what were the Pharisees actually saying? They were saying that you should get a divorce for any cause. The Pharisees, so you call me a Pharisee, define irony because they are completely opposite of what they're saying when they say you're a Pharisee. If you're saying, hey, there's only one cause for divorce and that's what Jesus says here. We'll get into that but I first want to get into what the Bible teaches about marriage. So he first starts off with that. They're saying can you divorce your wife for any cause and he backs it up and says well here's what marriage is in general right here. And in verse four there it says, and he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female and said for this cause shall man leave father and mother and shall cleave to his wife and they twain shall be one flesh wherefore they are no more twain but one flesh what therefore God had joined together let not man put asunder. Now he's going way back because he's going back to Genesis 1 and 2 with Adam and Eve. So he's showing that from the very beginning marriage was instituted. With Adam and Eve that was the first marriage. That's how it was instituted. But you don't have to necessarily turn there but Genesis 1 27 it says so God created man in his own image and in the image of God created he him male and female created he them. And this isn't a sermon against gay marriage you know because I could care less if they get married because that's not what the Bible teaches about the queers. You know it talks about them being put to death so you can marry them and then stone them right after that. That's fine with me. Now what I'm saying here is that marriage obviously is between a man and a woman unless you're an idiot or you're a pervert you know that that's the case right. But what he's saying with this is that at the very beginning it was two that became one flesh. There's a lot in this. First of all the fact that you should only have one wife you know and one husband you know you shouldn't have this. We don't believe in polygamy although people in the Bible did have multiple wives that doesn't mean that it was right. And so at the very beginning they too should be one flesh that's the institution of marriage and it says don't let man put asunder what God had joined together. So from the very beginning it was that way in Genesis 2 24 it says therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother and shall cleave unto his wife and they shall be one flesh and they were both naked and the man and his wife were not ashamed. So we know that marriage is honorable and all and the bed undefiled but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge. So that means that you know that God has blessed that and for man and woman to be together in that relationship and one flesh to come together that is godly. There's nothing wrong with it there's nothing perverted about it. That's what God has instituted. And so but today there's a lot of there's a lot of weird stuff out there as far as I don't know if you've heard this that you know you don't need the government needs to stay out of marriage and you know basically it's wrong to have a marriage license and you don't need a marriage license you don't need the state to be involved in your marriage. Well that's not what the Bible teaches. Go to Romans chapter 7. So I kind of want to just lay this down because there's some weird doctrines out there of like the fact that you can just like basically if you and if a man and a woman come together and they commit you know you know the act that married people do that they're automatically married. No. No. And so what we'll see is that there's actually multiple elements to marriage. It's not just the vow and it's not just the consummation. It's everything together okay. And so but in Romans chapter 7 I've had people say this you know well you don't need a you don't need a law you don't need it to be law binding right right. And so in Romans 7 verse 1 it says know ye not brethren for I speak to them that know the law. How that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth. For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth but if the husband be dead she is loosed from the law of her husband. So then if while her husband liveth she be married to another man she shall be called an adulteress but if her husband be dead she is free from the law from that law so that she is no adulteress though she be married to another man. So there's a couple things in this. First of all it's till death but it's bound by the law and notice some people have this weird idea too that like if your spouse died you couldn't get remarried. No it's till death okay. And you know someone asked that weird question the question they asked Jesus they said what about this woman that like she married a guy he died and then she married his brother and then he died seven you know she married all seven brothers right through the course of time and he said well in the resurrection whose wife shall she be you know and he's saying you know you do greatly err not knowing the scriptures because in heaven you're not given a marriage you're not married. So as much as I love my wife when we die you know and let's say we you know let's say we're here for the tribulation and the rapture happens we're not going to be married anymore okay and so that's just the fact of marriage some of you are really happy about that some of you are sad about that no I'm just kidding so but anyway so but it's law binding and it's not just going into the you know to your mother's tent so to speak. Now I'll show you a verse on this and this is where people go and say well see there was no like ceremony and there's no law binding action here go to Genesis chapter 24 and this is where you're going to pull this from. So I just want you to know that I will never do a marriage I'll never do a wedding where there's no license from the state or the government I won't do it because first of all if they say that listen ladies if a guy wants to marry you and they say you know what I don't want to I don't want it to be law binding you should run away from that relationship okay because what does that tell you that tells you that they're not serious about that commitment and so that's something that you know it just in itself even let's say the Bible didn't say you need to be law binding that in itself should be like what you know like why would you care if it's law binding if you're going to be with me till death but in Genesis 24 this is the story of Isaac and Rebecca and in verse 67 so Genesis 24 verse 67 it says and Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah's tent and took Rebecca and she became his wife and he loved her and Isaac was comforted after his mother's death now Sarah had already died and so basically this is describing the consummation and the fact that that's when they were officially you know that's everything's complete they were married at that point but see they say well you just have to consummate and that's what makes you married well Romans 7 clearly throws it out but you may ask why is it need be law binding because adultery was punishable by death and in the Bible so go to Leviticus chapter 20 now if it's not law binding how in the world are you going to give capital punishment on something that does that's not on the books right so Romans chapter 7 clearly states that it is binding by the law but now obviously in the United States and in most countries this isn't you there's there's not capital punishment for adultery but in the Bible that's what it was and so therefore it needed to be bound by the law and so in Leviticus 20 verse 10 Leviticus 20 verse 10 it says and the man that committed adultery with another man's wife even he that committed adultery with his neighbor's wife the adulterer and the adulterous shall surely be put to death that's Bible that seems harsh right but that's Bible I believe it I believe everything in the Bible anybody ever comes up to me and tries to give me some passage about dealing with servants and slavery you know like the Bible doesn't say slavery but if you were to say well they sold this person and they did this if if God says to do it it's right period I don't care if that's not socially acceptable this is not wicked and there's preachers today Baptist preachers today that will say look at a society that stones adulterers and stones homosexuals or queers and they'll say it's inhumane and wicked and it's just like have you not read the Bible are you telling me that that that God is inhumane in Leviticus 20 are you saying that he's wicked in Leviticus 20 and at the very least to say well we're not only Old Testament well was it was it right at least back then you know you'd have to say well it was right back then now it's wicked which wouldn't make any sense because we're talking about morality we're not talking about customs of the law and what you wear and what you eat so but you may even think of the woman you know that was caught in adultery and this isn't in my notes but John chapter 8 is where you'll find that story and they'll say well see in the New Testament Jesus is against the capital punishment no he's not he said that if a child curses father and mother let him die to death that's out of the mouth of Jesus Christ okay and that's one that the atheists and libtards and the phagnostics and all them they they mock those verses but Jesus actually quoted it okay and so they'll say well you know in Leviticus it says this yes it does and amen to it and so but Deuteronomy that there's a couple things when when Deuteronomy 17 I want to kind of just talk about that capital punishment just for a second because it's not like they just they would just kill people willy-nilly I mean it had to be according to the law and it had to be under two or three witnesses so notice though in Leviticus 20 so you're going to Deuteronomy 17 Leviticus 20 and in verse 10 it says the adulterer and adulteress shall surely be put to death now in that story when they brought her did was the adulterer there with them well there's one portion that didn't get right they need to be both put to death together and it needs to be under two or three witnesses not only that but it wasn't the law of the land and even the Pharisees when they were wanting to put Jesus to death they said according to law he must be put to death but we are it's not lawful for us to put him to death so you know that that's why they were tempting him with that because they wanted to see if he'd go against the government and so that shows me you know today in our lives you know our government doesn't put queers to death doesn't put adulterers to death that means that we need to go with that even though that's not what the perfect law of liberty says we need to go with the law of the land and just you know try to live peacefully with all men now them not going by that is going to be the downfall of our country but you know that's just the way it was in Jesus day they didn't put to death adultery or they if they did it had to be by their hands it couldn't be by the Jews or by Israel itself but in Deuteronomy 17 verse 6 this this coverage is capital punishment in general but notice what it says in verse 6 it says at the mouth of two witnesses or three witnesses shall he that is worthy of death be put to death but at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death the hands of the witness shall be first upon him to put him to death and afterward the hands also of all the people so shall so thou shalt put the evil away from among the people so we see that it has to be at least two witnesses that's why when they were going against Jesus in the judgment they were saying you know they were trying to find two witnesses that agreed to each other but you know do you know it also says that if you if you witness against somebody and you lie that you were to get the punishment that you were pronouncing against them you know those false witnesses that came against Christ should all been put to death the hypocrisy and and the wickedness that was going on in Jesus's trial is amazing when you look at the law and how that should have went out they said they didn't agree to each other all those people should have been put to death because that's what they were trying to do Jesus and so anyway with with that that's why it needs to be law binding that's why the Bible teaches that is because if it's if it's an ordinance to where it would be capital punishment to commit adultery then it needs to be law binding and so anyway all that to say is that I will not perform a wedding unless there's a marriage certificate okay because I'm not gonna be a part of some shack up and that's what that would be is some shacking up and then basically they can just get out of it whenever they want with no problems so it should actually be hard to get out of it so here's the touchy subject is divorce okay so we all kind of understand what marriage is is that you get married you stay married until until death right most people I think understand that most people wouldn't disagree with that as far as just that that logic and that understanding in the Bible here's where it comes in and this is where the Pharisees say can we get a divorce for any cause and so and I'll show you why they were tempting him because of what the law actually says in Deuteronomy about the Bill of Divorcement and why they're like trying to like sneak this in there and so but but first go to Malachi chapter 2 so I want you to see first of all what is what does God think about divorce in general I'm going to show you what all the places that that divorce is mentioned in the New Testament as far as what Jesus said we already covered Romans chapter 7 and I'm going to mention all that then I'm going to mention this this the exception and talk about what that's talking about and but first I want you to see Malachi chapter 2 and verse 16 Malachi chapter 2 verse 16 it says for the Lord the God of Israel said that he hateth putting away for one covered violence with his garment said the Lord of hosts therefore take heed to your spirit that ye deal not treacherously so it says here now putting away what we see and especially when you look at all the scripture in the New Testament putting away and divorce are the same thing if you put away your wife you're divorcing your wife and and we'll actually see a verse where the wife puts away her husband so even back then ladies that the women can put away they were divorcing their husbands and all this stuff so it was going both ways and so but why why is this so timely because I know people that have gotten divorces and particularly with children this is where I get enraged when it comes to divorce is because I know people that have children in the broken homes and the children that suffer for this and in the excuses that that people have to get a divorce well I don't have the butterflies anymore you know I I'm just not feeling loved anymore I don't care I really don't care you know if you don't feel the butterflies anymore you know what grow up I mean the fact is is that we're not going to feel butterflies anybody's ever been in a relationship knows those butterflies don't last forever and so you're not gonna be in that honeymoon stage forever and that's the stuff that you hear today and in the spiritualization of it okay there's a guy I think I mentioned this in a sermon before his name is Pastor Greg Locke and he's like this he used to be an independent Baptist and then he went off into this new evangelical garbage where he's like swaying to a rock band he's wearing the skinny jeans and he's you got all the trendy clothes and all this stuff he divorced his wife and is marrying the secretary or is dating the secretary I don't know if they're getting married yet or not and he didn't step down and so he and what he tried to do is justify it and all these people that get divorced now here's the thing if you got a divorce and if you're remarried if you just got a divorce that's yeah I'm not against you and I and I understand there's a lot of situations where it's inevitable and you can't control it right you can't change somebody to your house right I don't think that's legal but basically I don't think so anyway but all I'm saying is that these cases though where people are in a spiritual leadership if my wife divorces me or if I divorce my wife take it to the bank I will not be the pastor here do you know how embarrassing that would be anyway like first of all I'm not I wouldn't be qualified if I'm not ruling on my own house well and my wife leaves me then then there's no way that I would stand up here try to do this anyway but there's so many people that are pastors that are being divorced and getting remarried and they think it's fine you know what that tells everybody is that all I can do it too the pastor's doing it I can do it too and so there's a lot of this stuff and all I see is the children's lives being destroyed by all these people that just want to have a better life for themselves how selfish and how just wicked that is if you're in a relationship and you have children and I don't care if my wife hated my guts chewed me out every single time I came home I would stay with her for my children's sake and obviously she wouldn't be doing what she's doing right but it doesn't matter I mean you need to stay married for the children's sake if anything because I just I know people that are going through this and I know I see that the signs of it and what it comes down to I think a lot of times is that they're not the people aren't saved so they're not getting biblical preaching but a lot of times these people are in these watered-down liberal churches where they're just going to tell you what you want to hear they have itching ears and as much as I don't want to preach this sermon because it's not popular because people have made mistakes I'm not going to be that itching ear and that scratching of the itching ears preacher and so the Bible is very clear on this subject and so we don't need to be wondering about it people make mistakes and I'm not against people that make mistakes but I'm not going to justify it just to be popular and the dead sure I'm not gonna justify it if I were the one that got into that situation or I was the one that made a mistake or something happened like that take it to the bank if I were to ever get a divorce god forbid I will not be pastoring ever again and if you see me doing it take this sermon and shove it down my throat that doesn't mean that I couldn't still serve the Lord doesn't mean I still can't go soul-winning doesn't mean I still can't live a godly life but I guess you're not gonna pastor a church if I'm doing that but the excuses that people have for a divorce and what makes me more angry than anything is when they try to use the Bible to use that excuse where they try to spiritualize it well I've had the spiritual awakening and I just heard from my girlfriends over here that I'm just too good for you honey I'm just too good for you and I'm too spiritual for you you're beneath me therefore we're gonna get a divorce and what you find is that they're not obeying their husband they're not giving them due benevolence therefore they're completely wicked and not right with God but somehow they're filled with the Spirit and somehow they're godly more godly than their husband when they're they're disobeying the major commandments of God when it comes to marriage give me a break and this goes for the men too the men that want to trade out their wives when they get a bunch of money or they come into a bunch of money and they're like you know what I want a prettier wife and so I'm gonna I'm gonna you know not I'm gonna not you know give her due benevolence and cause her to commit adultery against me therefore I'm gonna go and find some other wife men that don't support their families men that don't do what they're supposed to be doing they just go home sit on the couch drink a beer and and then they wonder why their wives don't want them and so next week we're actually gonna get into a lot more details as far as like how do you have a good marriage and here's the thing if you do have a husband that sits on on the couch drinks a beer and doesn't do what they're supposed to be doing you need to stay married to them and if you have a wife that doesn't do what they're supposed to be doing even if they're not giving you due benevolence not doing any of that stuff you need to stay married to them and so that's what the Bible is teaching you now go to Matthew chapter 5 so Matthew chapter 5 touches on this we already read Matthew 19 but we will go to that too but I want to go through all the gospel places where where Jesus is talking about marriage and talking about divorce and just see what we're dealing with here because people basically the pastors and I blame the pastors I blame the church house I blame the weak leadership for not preaching the Bible for what it says because a lot of these people that have gotten divorces and they realize you know what it was actually better with that first wife a lot of people have said that and then they wish that they had someone that would have told them you know what I should have stayed with them and so anyway so Matthew 5 verse 31 we get it you know this is the the Sermon on the Mount and so Matthew 5 verse 31 says and it and it has been said whosoever shall put away his wife let him give her a writing of divorcement but I say unto you that whosoever shall put away his wife's saving for the cause of fornication causeth her to commit adultery and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committed adultery so now we see this again the saving for the cause of fornication so we saw except for the cause of fornication we'll read that go to Matthew chapter 19 and so we see here that he's talking about this divorcement and he said there's basically only one case for this there one cause for this Matthew 19 verse 7 he says it again it says they say unto him why did Moses then command to give a writing divorcement and to put her away he said unto them Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives but from the beginning it was not so and I say unto you whosoever shall put away his wife except it be for fornication and shall marry another committed adultery and whosoever marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery so in both these cases but notice here he says Moses for the hardness of your hearts but it was not from the beginning you know what I believe about this is that there was no case for divorce up till the Old Testament up till Moses's law here he's saying from the beginning it was not so what was not so the writing of divorce meant okay and so now this is this is something that would have to be in another reason why it had to be by law because how in the world do you have this like a law of divorce meant if there's no law of you even being married okay so that's another reason why you need to have that certificate so in both these cases is saying except for the for cup fornication and saving for the cause of fornication now go to marks I want to show you these other places those are the only two places that give you an exception that's the same it's saying the same exact thing but it's only in Matthew and mark and Luke it doesn't give you that exception it just says straight out you marry another you commit you commit adultery now mark chapter 10 verse 2 it says and the Pharisees came to him and asked him is it lawful for a man to put away his wife tempting him so notice these guys are tempting him and he answered and said unto them what did Moses command you and they said Moses suffered to write a bill of divorce meant and to put her away and Jesus answered and said unto them for the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept and he goes into at the beginning he made a male female verse 11 it says and he says unto them whosoever shall put away his wife and marry another committed adultery against her and if a woman shall put away her husband and be married to another she committed adultery so see it's giving you both directions but notice it didn't say for safe fornication the reason I'm saying this is not I'm not saying that negates the safe fornication I'm saying that there's a reason why Matthew says it and the other ones don't because I think Matthew gives us a perfect example what that's talking about but in Matt and Luke chapter 16 so this is the other place Luke chapter 16 is obvious the story of the rich man and then there's another parable in front of that and there's just one verse where he just says this okay so he's just you know here's where here's what he has to say about putting away and Luke 16 and verse 18 Luke 16 verse 18 whosoever putteth away his wife and marrieth another comitteth adultery and whosoever marrieth her that is put away from her husband comitteth adultery period now is there any question that that's a pretty hard line and even his disciples said if this be the case it's not good to marry so his disciples were saying this and you may be saying that to me well that's what his disciples said so that's that's what he's preaching here is that it is a hard line it is something that's very serious and what I want you to see here so we're going to talk about this safe for fornication or except for the cause of fornication now this is where people are gonna have different views and opinions I'm gonna give you what I believe this is talking about if you don't agree with me it's not I don't it it's not like this is a make or break like you can't be in the church unless you agree with me on this okay but I'm gonna preach this and and tell you what I believe it's talking about notice that it doesn't say say for the cause of adultery now other versions of the Bible put adultery here I believe there's a reason why it says fornication now some people believe that fornication only deals with with people that aren't married like two people that aren't married that can make the act of what married people would do coming together or lying with somebody right I believe fornication is actually a broader term that encompasses all sexual sins okay and so go to Galatians chapter 5 I'll give you I'm gonna give you a reason why I believe that and I don't believe it negates what I believe either but you know there's there's a case with them in 1st Corinthians 5 where there's fornication among you and such as should not be named among the Gentiles that one should have his father's wife so there's a case where fornication is used where he sleeps with his father's wife okay so obviously that would be adultery now the idea that that could be just the fact that his father died and his wife was still you know and then but to me there's other scripture in that to where it says you know we're going to talk about in 2nd Corinthians where he's talking about reconciling with people and reconciling with that guy that they threw out it says you talking about the one that was harmed it's like who else would be harmed besides the husband you know so anyway all that to say is that that could be the case because navel's wife Abigail's mentioned after navel dies so I can see people saying that but I want to this is what I believe I believe fornication is a very broader term with all sexual sins adultery is only in the confines of marriage meaning that you can only commit adultery is if one of those people is married okay or both but it and Galatians chapter 5 verse 19 it says now the works of the flesh are manifest which are these adultery fornication uncleanness lasciviousness and it goes down through this list I believe actually this list is given it's given a progression that adultery is more of a fine-tuned like this is this is between people that are married this sexual sin fornication would be be any sexual sin and then uncleanness can include sexual sins but it's even more broad than that because uncleanness could just be that you didn't take a bath okay or you know other things that the Bible talks about touching a dead body is unclean like there's all these different things uncleanness so what I believe is that adultery and fornication are all unclean so that would all be under uncleanness adultery would be under fornication but fornication is not necessarily adultery does that make sense and uncleanness isn't necessarily fornication or it isn't necessarily adultery doesn't make sense so you have this really big broad term where there's uncleanness which could even just be talking about things that aren't dealing with the bedroom fornication is dealing with the bedroom because if you think about Sodom and Gomorrah was given over to fornication and went after strange flesh so fornication is implying sexual sins that are dealing with men and men and women and women okay and so but adultery adultery is a sin that's dealing with married couples okay so two people that aren't married they come together it is sin and it's fornication but that's not adultery okay and so there's a reason why I believe it uses the word fornication but we're going to look at because fornication is a broader term but I believe it's using that not adultery for a reason because I don't believe it's something like you've been married for five years they commit adultery therefore you can get a divorce I don't believe that now that's where people are going to go with that and I don't believe that especially when you look back at these passages in Deuteronomy chapter 24 I believe that the case for where you can get a divorcement is more like an annulment okay and we have that even today where it's an annulment it's like at the very beginning of marriage you find out something okay and then you're like I'm done with I know and so we'll see what that's talking about but the reason I went through that whole uncleanness stuff is because when you go back to the bill of divorcement it uses the word uncleanness and not fornication so Jesus is actually giving you a little more light on what that's dealing with it's not just the fact they didn't take a bath okay and that's where you if when we see this you'll see why the Pharisees are saying oh can't you he can you divorce them for any cause you know they're not clean they touch the dead body I can divorce them you know and that's where they're gonna go with this okay but in Deuteronomy 24 this is where the bill of divorcement is in verse 1 Deuteronomy 24 in verse 1 it says when a man had taken a wife and married her and it come to pass that she find no favor in his eyes because he hath found some uncleanness in her then let him write her a bill of divorcement and give it in her in her hand and send her out of his house and when she is the part out of his house she may go and be another man's wife and if the latter husband hate her and write her a bill of divorcement and give it in her hand and send it her out of his house or if the latter husband died which took her to be his wife her former husband which sent her away may not take her again to be his wife after that she is defiled for that is abomination before the Lord and thou shalt not cause the land to sin which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance so there's a lot of information here but first I want you to see is that it says it comes to pass that she find no favor in his eyes and this is where that I think the Pharisees are underlining that and saying see I don't like her so I can divorce her okay I don't have the butterflies anymore you know therefore I can divorce her no it says because he hath found some uncleanness in her okay so this is where I believe the fornication comes in and where the fact that if you were getting married and let's say you know and then the only way that you're going to know that's uncleanness in her is if you're like about to come together or you're coming together okay this is this is that where you're going to consummate the marriage here and you find some uncleanness in her and for sake of children I'm not going into details on this type of stuff but obviously if you commit fornication there are recompenses to be paid for committing fornication there's STDs there's all this uncleanness there's all kinds of stuff and stuff that you could have for the rest of your life because you commit that act of fornication I'll preach a whole sermon against fornication probably soon as far as just the fact that we're supposed to flee from it and not have anything to do with fornication but obviously there's something here to where he knows that she committed fornication or something happened to where he knows that this is this is you know not what he signed up for so to speak and so the fornication I believe this is dealing with something that she she did before they came together and as they were coming together he's finding this out now you could say that you know well when is this did they already consummate the marriage it's possible that they did but my take on this and I'll show you there's only one case in the Bible where it says that divorce was just and they hadn't consummated it that doesn't mean that it that that's but that's the only thing I got to go on okay so when I when I say this is my opinion is what I believe I'm just going off what I see in the Bible and that's what I'm going with and so anytime there's a gray area I always take the harder line does that make sense and that's the way I deal with issues when there's a gray area I'm just like that's a gray area it's kind of like hair length you know when I when it comes to hair length you know there's not like a measurement in the Bible as far as here's long here short I just make sure that there's no doubt when someone looks at me my hair is short okay you don't need to have a buzzed head okay to be short obviously there's nothing wrong with a buzzed head but the thing is is that and being long you could say well is touching my my shoulders long or whatever you know I would just take a harder line to it I mean I'm not saying it is wrong you know if you have hair that comes through the shoulders or whatever but all I'm saying is that I usually take a harder line when it's not specifically telling me exactly what it is so in this case he didn't find favor she didn't find favor in his eyes because he found some uncleanness in her okay so this could very well be after consummation but it seems to be very at the very beginning okay at the very beginning of the marriage so that's why I believe this is more like an annulment what in our day and age where you you you get married and then you're and then you're just like you know what now and obviously I'm not saying annulments are always right either you know people go to Vegas and they get married and then they get an annulment the next day I'm not saying that's right but all I'm saying is that in this case it's more like an annulment it's not like two years down the road you're like I found out that you like had this relation with somebody back then no okay that's not what we're talking about here where we're bringing up dirt from years ago and saying you can get this is something where you're finding out at the very beginning but notice too now this is something interesting because this is something that people are doing today and they'll say well I got a divorce and I got remarried now I need to I need to divorce that husband and go back to or divorce that wife and go back to the original the Bible actually says explicitly against that right here right what did it say it says in verse 4 it says her former husband which sent her away may not take her again to be his wife after that she is the five for that is abomination before the Lord so what now you're supposed to be reconciled let's say you get a divorce and if you can be reconciled together but they marry someone else or you marry someone else now there's no reconciliation after that that's actually an abomination to come back together but it does say in this passage so this case of divorce it says that she may go and be another man's wife so in this case they can be remarried because it was it was this this case of finding uncleanness in her finding this fornication that and it says in the case of our saving for the cause of fornication so you can see that it's giving clarification how did this person this uncleanness it wasn't just through natural causes okay this is something that it wasn't just because she didn't bathe okay this is something to deal with something she did in order for this to be the case but step back to Deuteronomy 22 and I'm gonna give you this is a belief given a little more light on this so in in the actual bill of divorce men it says uncleanness in her and then in this case it's actually talking about that she wasn't a virgin which would be the case in that with finding uncleanness but this is more so the fact that she lied about that she was a virgin okay so you can see though where this would be where he said you know for the hardness of hearts you did this because if you really are a loving and forgiving person you could forgive it does that make sense I'm not saying that you have to you know I'm not saying but I'm just saying the hardness of your hearts is why I wrote this preset because in honesty you can say you know what I'll forgive you for doing that let's move on from here and you know stay faithful you know and so but in Deuteronomy 22 in verse 13 notice it talks kind of about the same things about about the wife here in verse 13 says if any man take a wife and go unto in unto her and hate her and give occasions of speech against her and bring up an evil name upon her and say I took this woman and when I came to her I found her not a maid now not a maid that's talking about being a virgin meaning that she hadn't been with anybody else so he's basically saying I came in unto her and I found out that she had been with someone else that's pretty much what he's saying now it goes through this whole thing I'll read the rest of this because it in in Israel this is what they had to do to figure out if this was true or not but it says then shall the father of the damsel and her mother take and bring forth the tokens of the damsel's virginity unto the elders of the city in the gate and the damsel's father shall say unto the elders I gave my daughter unto this man to wife and he hateth her and lo he hath given occasions of speech against her saying I found not thy daughter a maid and yet these are the tokens of my daughter's virginity and they shall spread the cloth before the elders of the city and the elders of the city shall take them that man and chastise him and they shall immerse him in a hundred shekels of silver and give them unto the father of the damsel because he had brought up an evil name upon a virgin of Israel and she shall be his wife and he may not put her away all his days but if this thing be true and the tokens of virginity be found for the damsel then they shall bring out the damsel to the door of her father's house and the men of her city shall stone her with stones that she die because she hath wrought folly in Israel to play the whore in her father's house so shalt thou put evil away from among you so in this case we see here that if it's true they're actually gonna put her to death if it's not true then he needs to pay out he's gonna pay a fine and he can't put her away okay and so these are the two things that I see in Deuteronomy when it's dealing with a divorce or putting away somebody and to me it seems like it's at the very beginning I'm not saying it's before consummation although in the one case that we have as far as an actual situation it is before consummation okay so to me you know I guess you could find out before you consummate but it's it's something that I don't know I don't it doesn't necessarily give you a timeline like this is five days after this is whatever but the thing you got to understand about marriage is that it's about is now what we call when we give our vows okay we're making a vow that we're gonna stick with this person till death and there's a plenty of people that have made some stupid vows okay like Jephthah and just other people in the Bible that put themselves between a rock and a hard place where there was no way out but the sin and that was Jephthah he either had to break his oath with God or not kill his daughter I ended up killing his daughter and I'm just like that's not what I would have done okay but I'm not you know I'm not Jephthah and you know that's just a weird story in itself but that's the seriousness of keeping a vow that he actually sacrificed his own daughter to keep his vow okay and so it doesn't say God approved of what he did but that's just the seriousness of the vow and Ecclesiastes 5 in verse 4 says when thou vows the vow unto God defer not to pay it for he hath no pleasure and fools pay that which thou has vowed better is it that thou shouldest not vow than that thou shouldest vow and not pay I think about this when Jesus said you know when they when his disciples said it is not good to marry and he basically saying not all men can receive this because basically you got to take that into account when you're going to get married that hey this is this is still death I'm making a vow to God that I'm going to stay with this person but the one case okay there is that one case of cause for fornication or you know saving for the cause of fornication but it's interesting that those two times it says saving for a cause of fornication or except for fornication it's in Matthew and in Matthew chapter 1 is the only place in the Bible that I can find that gives us an example of someone that was going to get a divorce and God said that they were just for doing that they would have been just for doing it okay and it has to deal with Mary and Joseph and so and there is no doubt that they hadn't consummated okay and that's why I that's why I take that that hard line stance on that I'm not saying that it that it couldn't necessarily apply if you consummated and then you say hey there was uncleanness in her or she had committed fornication or or whatever then that wouldn't be the case either but Matthew 1 Matthew 1 is where I want you to go so Matthew 1 this is the the story obviously about Joseph and Mary and the birth of Jesus but I don't think that's a coincidence okay that in Matthew 5 and in Matthew 19 is talking about this this exception and before you get to Matthew 5 and Matthew 19 you probably read Matthew 1 so you kind of should have that in your mind and it kind of brings you back to it so Matthew 1 verse 18 it says now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise when his mother Mary was a spouse to Joseph before they came together she was found with child of the Holy Ghost then Joseph her husband being a just man and not willing to put her away or make her a public example was minded to put her away privily so we already see that put away is talking about divorce and he's saying that he was being a just man this is the narrator speaking so that's what what are you saying that though here is that let's say you take out the fact this is Jesus and this is a virgin birth right in any other case he would have been just because what is that that shows you that she committed fornication now they had already their spouse meaning their husband and wife now back then though they would have they would not consummate the marriage until later sometimes so they'd be married technically they'd be husband and wife but it wasn't consummated until later and consummation just means to basically it's like the completion of a deal so to speak and so everything you know is completed at that point you say well you know it does it does it actually happen I was actually listening to a sermon of Pastor Roger Jimenez and he was in the Air Force and he brought up this case and I never even thought of it because I wasn't in the military and never thought about it but in the military if you're married you get a lot more money okay so sometimes people do he's like I'm not saying this is right but this is what they would do is that they would find somebody marry them so they can make more money while they're in the military and then when they got out of the military they divorce them now in that case I'm not saying it's right to do that okay but what I'm saying in that case that would be a case where your husband and wife but you hadn't consummated the marriage so it wasn't like pleaded so to speak even if it was years that went by and so that's a case in the modern you know world today of where that would technically be the case I'd say you're still sinning though because now I would say that you wouldn't be an adulterer if you remarried okay but that would still not be right okay you're committing fraud okay because you're cheating the system first of all and you're saying you're marrying somebody knowing that you're gonna divorce them okay now what I'm seeing what I'm saying when it would be right is if they committed fornication right now they didn't commit fornication then you need to consummate that marriage right you can't get out of that just because you want out of the relationship so that's a case where that would be applicable but this case here they obviously hadn't come together yet and there's no doubt you know if this wasn't the virgin birth obviously this is a case where you know the angel comes to him and says hey this is not the case she didn't like sleep with someone else but the reason why I say that fornication could encompass adultery what if she slept with somebody that was married wouldn't that be adultery all I'm saying with that is that that's why I believe he uses the word fornication and why fornication doesn't necessarily mean is that that it's only between that because if that was the case what if she slept with someone else that was a married man then you would say well that's adultery though therefore it doesn't constitute for this so fornication would encompass that as well you know as far as if she committed adultery with another man therefore you know it would still constitute as fornication therefore you can divorce that person and so anyway that's the one case there that I see the where is it's just okay and so that's my hard line that's why I take a hard line on this issue as far as that's the case that I would say yeah that's okay but there are arguments against that as far as well you know I think that if if you're married and then your spouse commits adultery then you can get a divorce and get remarried and and go to Jeremiah chapter 3 this is where they go to and here's the thing though I want you to know this if you got remarried after you're a divorce I don't believe you're in a perpetual state of adultery okay I do believe that you commit adultery when you get remarried to somebody and you consummate that marriage and that's a sin right that says it's a big sin but it's not like okay you're married to someone else now you know no no if you're married to someone else and you've been a divorce and you've been divorced you need to stay with that person and it would be wrong for you to leave them okay it'd be wrong for you leave them love that person and and go on from there you've committed that sin you know ask for forgiveness it's a it's over okay and and when people do that it's not like I'm like looking down on them I have an extreme amount of pity and an extreme amount of sympathy for people that do that what I don't have a big amount of sympathy for is when people justify it and say this is an example that we should follow and people have done that a great guy that I had a lot of respect for Ken Hovind did that and it breaks my heart that he did that but it needs to be said that that is not right what he when he got remarried and everything I understood and I sympathize with them and I you know if I was in the same situation who knows I probably done the same thing because I'm a man I'm flesh you know and you have those desires but to come out and say I hope every divorced person looks to me as an example that's wrong that's where I get angry and that's where it infuriates me especially if you're spiritual leader okay and so all that to say is that I'm not I'm not like mad at people that do that I'm not against people that have done that you know or whatever but what I'm saying is is that don't try to tell me it's right though don't try to justify it to me don't try to say that that's a good example that we should follow okay and especially for the kids and if anything else just thinking you're thinking the kids that are in the church right now they need the clear as crystal example of what marriage should be and the fact that there's no way out that's what I would tell you me there's no way out I'm married there's no way out for me besides death so if she murders me then that's fine she can go marry someone else but she's still got to deal with that murder sin right but all I'm saying is that that's the mentality you need to go into it and so Jeremiah 3 so I'm going to cover a case here that people use Jeremiah 3 and verse 8 Jeremiah 3 verse 8 it says and I saw when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away and given her a bill of divorce yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not but went and played the harlot also so in this verse is where they go to and it's funny to me too because people that that have their doctrines that are usually wrong they never go to the verses that they have to defend right this one actually is a verse that you can say well man that it says adultery he gave him bill of divorcement because of it now what you have to understand first of all is that this is a spiritual adultery right he didn't literally they didn't literally commit adultery on God okay so when you're dealing with adultery when you're dealing with like Israel and God and stuff like that you're dealing with idolatry now likens it to adultery so it's taking a physical aspect and and to explain a spiritual aspect right Jesus always did this you know he explains spiritual things with earthly things that's what he did with the parables as we did with other things now go back to verse 1 though so with that in mind that this isn't like a literal a literal like adultery that's being done here I want to show you something first is in verse 1 notice what it says they say if a man put away his wife and shall go from him and become another man's she shall he return under her again shall not the land be greatly polluted but thou has played the harlot with many lovers yet return again to me said the Lord now he's actually he's talking about that law that we just read in Deuteronomy 24 of the bill of divorce meant anything does not say that if if if someone leaves and then they marry you know they're with another that they can't return but he says yet return again unto me you know what he's saying is that that's what the law says about the in the physical sense of adultery and in the physical sense of divorce that you can't come back and he's saying yet return unto me he's basically saying but I'm making an exception here when it comes to the spiritual aspect so he's giving the physical debt to represent the spiritual but he's not holding it to a T right so this isn't a good example to pull out to say yeah if someone commits adultery on me my wife commits adultery I can divorce her it's not a good example because he's automatically the very beginning setting a precedent that this isn't to the T as far as Deuteronomy 24 because he's saying hey it does say this but I'm saying to you come back to me okay because doesn't he say you wrote him a bill divorcement and then he didn't bring him back this is in Jeremiah 3 and he completely decimated Jerusalem but didn't he bring him back after 70 years and so they returned back to him and so he's saying you know this isn't exactly like that and so it's not a good example I believe to say you know to prove that adultery you know if you've been married for five years ten years whatever then you know you have that out and so that's one of the big ones will go to I don't believe it pans out but the other one is where people say well what if they abandon you okay go to 1st Corinthians chapter 7 so this is the big passage where people are going to go to they'll say well you know they'll say well if someone commits adultery well that's not what the Bible says this is fornication so let's first say that but then they'll say well also abandonment if they if someone abandons you you know then you can get remarried well let's see what that if that's what it says now well this is the funny part about this is that the abandonment when it talks about this is dealing with the fact that your spouse is an unbeliever and every single especially spiritual leader they're like oh you know my wife is one of the best Christians I know and all this stuff and as soon as they get a divorce it's like she's an unbeliever it's like okay you know like did you not know that whole time I mean so anyways that's what's funny to me about that whole aspect is like as soon as they want to get a divorce they automatically become unsaved now all of a sudden okay and so I'm not saying that people can't a lot of times you got to think about the fact that let's say you get saved and you know after you've already been married this is a lot of times the case where you get saved after you've been married you can marry unbelievers you know like say people can marry unbelievers and that's not right but sometimes you you're you're already been married you've been married for a long time you get saved and your and your spouse isn't saved and that's what this is dealing with but first let's start in verse 10 so 1st Corinthians 7 verse 10 that's what it says it says and unto the married I command yet not I but the Lord let not the wife depart from her husband but an if she depart let her remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband and let not the husband put away his wife now this is a hard line it's saying basically to he's saying if you're both believers he's saying don't put them away and if they do if she depart then remain unmarried or be reconciled those are those are your two options now now what's funny about this is in verse 12 notice what it starts off saying but to the rest speak I not the Lord now this is where everybody's just like honing in on this is what I need to do it's like is that the person that you would hone in on you know like the first party says I'm speaking this but not I it's the Lord this is a commandment from the Lord now I do believe this description I do believe this is something that that is right to do that can be done so I'm not saying that Paul was wrong here but it'd be like me giving my opinion on hair length or giving my opinion on what you should do in this or that right and and God God wouldn't be against it but it's not a commandment does that make sense like it's not a commandment so what he's about to say here is not a commandment it's not like you have to do this if you're in this case but he's basically saying this is allowed and so that's why he's saying I'm giving I'm speaking this not the Lord so it's not a commandment saying like this has to be done so in verse 12 but to the rest speak I not the Lord if any brother hath a wife that believeth not and shall be pleased to dwell with him let him not put her away and the woman which hath an husband that believeth not and if he be pleased to dwell with her let her not leave him for the unbelieving husband sanctified is sanctified by the wife and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband elsewhere your children unclean but now are they holy notice the reason the one of the big reasons why he's saying stay together is for your children and that's what I have to say to most these people that are thinking about getting a divorce is think about your children think about your children so in verse 15 but if the unbelieving depart let him depart a brother or sister is not under bondage in such cases but God hath called us to peace for what knowest thou a wife whether thou shalt save thy husband or how knowest thou old man whether thou shalt save thy wife so notice though this is what people say well they're not in bondage therefore they can get remarried did it say they can get remarried no what you got to understand here is that what he's saying is that if you have an unbelieving partner and they leave you you can let them leave that's what he's saying basically he's saying we're called on to peace meaning that you don't need to like badge them and try to get them to stay and it says a brother sister is not under bondage in such cases not saying that you're not under the bond of marriage meaning like that you you know as far as like you're you're let go that you can get remarried if you reach in the very beginning of the chapter there in verse three you're not in bondage to this so i'll say this in verse three there it says let the husband render unto the wife do benevolence and likewise also the wife unto the husband the wife hath not power over her own body but the husband and likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body but the wife defraud ye not one the other except to be with consent for a time that you may give yourselves to fasting and prayer and come together again as satan tempt you not for your incontinence what i believe that's saying is you're not under bondage is meaning that you don't have to give them due benevolence they leave you you don't have to do their laundry you don't have to give them due benevolence you don't have to do anything for them okay that's where you're not in bondage they don't they just come back to you and be like hey you know here i am you got to do what the bible says due benevolence we need to come together no not if they leave you and so but you're supposed to be in peace now what it ends with it says oh wife it says how knowest thou oh wife whether thou shalt save thy husband notice it's still calling them husband and wife after they depart so basically what this is talking about is you you want to get your husband or wife saved okay and you need to do it in a peaceful manner okay so obviously if they're pleased to dwell with you and they know you're a believer and you're trying to get them saved and all this stuff then you know what then that's the case you need to be in but if not let them depart so you know maybe in that time that you can get them saved okay but at the end of the chapter it doesn't say you know well you can get remarried if they leave you because what i see with this is just i can see christians just making them miserable for those unbelieving spouses and then they leave and be like all right got my ticket time to get remarried and so but in first corinthians seven verse 39 so at the end of the chapter this is how he ends the chapter pretty much and so that there's no doubt that he didn't change his mind from romans chapter 7 where it says that it's till death notice in verse 39 it says the wife is bound by the law as long as her husband liveth but if her husband be dead she is liberty she has had liberty to be married to whom she will only in the lord because obviously we want to be married to believers and so this is this is the case that even in first christian seven it never said that you could be remarried with the believers is saying don't even let them depart okay don't don't you know divorce them don't leave them and if they leave be unmarried or be reconciled with the unbelievers you're you're basically saying okay you know i'm not going to fight you on this you know but you know you're trying to win them back you're trying to win them back and it doesn't say to get remarried so this whole idea of you know first corinthian seven teaches that if they leave you you know therefore everybody starts declaring their spouses unsaved now in a very case this could be the case now think about this i'm not saying that if you're in an abusive relationship and your children are at risk to like stay with that person okay think of think of the case of navel and abigail now here's an extreme example but think about this you're married to a reprobate that's a case where i would say get out get out you know get your children away from that person okay and obviously they're unbeliever but that that case is where you're dealing with the fact that there's no reconciliation you're not going to be winning that person but you need to get out of relationships so i'm not saying you know if there's an abuse of abusive relationship going on and i'm not talking about someone hitting you with a pillow okay i'm talking about a real abusive relationship um i'm not talking about verbal you know abuse and stuff like that i'm talking about like your kids are in danger you're actually in danger for your life okay that's a case where obviously you need to you need to get away from that kind of person and if they're not a reprobate you need to try to get them saved and try to reconcile but if they're a reprobate like abigail you know i'd just be praying that god would you know set his heart to stone and that he would die okay that's my that's what my prayer would be okay if the person's a reprobate let them die quickly let them go quickly down into hell and then you get remarried and so in the end that is the case i mean if if the spouse dies then you're free to marry whom you will only in the lord and so uh but his disciples say this to him okay so in matthew 19 so we're coming full circle i know this isn't a popular sermon i know this isn't a sermon where i'm going to get a lot of love from a lot of people as far as like man you know we really stand by you on this one but this is what i believe the bible teaches on this and this is something that our country is failing at as a whole our country is failing at marriage and in the christian realm we're failing at it too there's there's many christians that have been divorced remarried and all this stuff but we need to take this to heart we need to try to turn this around and maybe if some preachers stand up and say the truth about this that hey it when you're thinking about getting divorced think about the fact that you're not getting remarried and or that there's going to be consequences to that and so that's the type of stuff that we need to be preaching so that people will beware beware of fornication young ones beware fornication because 23 people died in one day because of it so the bible puts the death penalty on adultery so you got to understand that that's a pretty major sin and obviously with the case of the woman that was caught in adultery god you know jesus said i don't condemn you go and sin no more so he's not saying you know like go ahead and do what you've been doing you know he's basically saying you're forgiven but don't do this again okay so if you've done that obviously there's forgiveness and if you're still breathing there's forgiveness but it's just like one of those things when someone like has an abortion i'm not gonna be like oh you know it's okay god doesn't care you know no god hates that you know ask for forgiveness get it right forget about it you know god forgets about those sins ask for forgiveness forget about it move on that's all that's you know and i'm not gonna judge you for it i'm not gonna come down on you i'm not i'm not against people that do it in the fact of like them trying to you know go on with their life but i am against people justifying it so matthew 19 and verse 10 this is what they say after this his disciples after he says this hard saying it says his disciples saying to him if the case of the man be so with his wife it is not good to marry but he said unto them all men cannot receive this saying save they to whom it is given and he goes into the eunuchs and then at the end of verse 12 it says he that is able to receive it let him receive it so in first corinthian seven we'll get into this next week probably when i get into like having a good marriage and like just just keys on trying to have a good marriage um is the fact that just because you're unmarried if you're a widow or if you're you're married unmarried you can serve god today so you know basically what jesus is saying here is that you know if this is something that you struggle with or you're like i can't i don't know if i can do that you know as far as being married and stay married for the rest of your life you don't have to you know and so that's what paul was preaching he said paul was unmarried and he's one of the greatest christians to ever live and he's saying you know there there's actually a lot of advantages to being unmarried okay married people say amen no i'm just kidding uh the fact is is what he's preaching about that is that you have a lot more time to do a lot more for the lord okay now obviously i'm not saying that being married is causing me not to do i i'm doing a lot for the lord and there's other things that i can do that that i couldn't do unmarried but what i'm saying is that there's a lot of things i could go more soul-winding if i didn't have children to take care of and have you know like the home to take care of i could do a lot of different things i wouldn't be able to pastor i wouldn't be able to lead the charge on that but all i'm saying is that there's other things to do and you can do just as much as someone that is married for the lord so don't get hung up on this fact of like oh i made a mistake or i you know i need to you know obviously uh you know we have to deal with our mistakes we have to move on and we have to go forth from there and so and i don't know everybody in here i don't know everybody's situation and here's the thing i don't necessarily want to know okay um and especially when it comes to the bedroom stuff i definitely don't want to know and so uh all i'm saying with that is that i'm not against you if you've done that if you've if you've been divorced or been remarried i'm not against you i'm not even against somebody that if they were divorced and then they got remarried it's not like i'm against that person but i'm not going to be for it i'm not going to be for that act in itself okay does that make sense and so that's where i stand on this issue it's a hard line it's a hard saying and so even his disciples are like who can hear this you know who can you know it's not good to be married if this is the case and so and it's funny because back then it's almost like that it's like reading a newspaper because that's exactly what people are thinking today isn't that exactly if i were to preach this in a big auditorium of people in just the world today and i preached this day but think i was nuts and they would just be like you're crazy to say this and so jesus said if you're divorced and you get remarried you commit adultery the only case that the divorce was made for was for the fornication it was at the very beginning and that was the only case it's not when you've been married for a year two years three years and or five years ten years whatever and then you're just like you know what or she commits adultery or something like that according to the law she should have been put to death okay and so then you wouldn't have that just get remarried and so there's other cases in the bible i didn't go into as far as like the jealousy off the jealousy thing where the woman if you thought your wife had committed adultery this is it's interesting you think numbers is boring go to numbers and read this passage i think it's in numbers five it's in one of the early chapters there and basically if you thought your wife committed adultery they call it like a jealousy offering or something like that and she drank this uh this bitter water or something like that and if she was guilty her belly would swell and her thigh would rot and if she wasn't then nothing happened okay so interesting because obviously two or three witnesses to put someone to death so there's not always a case where someone would be put to death but you know back then you had to worry women you know if if you ever were to do something like that then you know you got to drink that bitter water and the truth we find out but anyway all that to say is that obviously we're not in that realm we're not in the realm where someone's gonna be put to death we're not in that realm so it's even more of a big deal the fact that you're getting into marriage because the state's not going to recognize like any of that stuff and so it's a it's a hard saying it's it's definitely not popular it is what the bible teaches on this and if you don't agree with me on this it's not the end of the world but i want you to know where i stand at least you'll know that hey you know he preached the bible he told me exactly what it says and you know let the chips fall where they may and so um that's what the bible says about uh marriage and divorce next week i'm going to preach a sermon on basically you know just tip i mean i say tips but i'm really saying what the bible teaches as far as like what we should be doing is men and women in a marriage and why marriages are failing so you may ask you know well you you answer the fact that marriages are failing i'm going to give you some of the number one reason i'm going to give you the number one reason next week why i believe marriages are failing and then we'll go into different aspects and i don't believe it's finances okay that's what everybody will tell you that it's finances and obviously that can play a role but i'm excited to preach about that and so you know stay married that's that's what i'm saying stay married don't get a divorce okay let's end with a word prayer dear heavenly father we thank you for today and thank you for your word and lord just prayed you'd be with us and and lord if any of us have committed any types of sins like that well we just pray that you would forgive us of it and lord that that you'd help us to live for you and we know you're merciful and gracious and lord we just thank you for that and lord just pray to be with us throughout the rest of the day in jesus christ's name amen