In this sermon, Brother Denny discusses the importance of having the King Jehovah abiding in our breath. He emphasizes the need for believers to separate themselves from negative influences and worldly behaviors. He quotes from 1 Corinthians 7, highlighting the importance of understanding the betrothal period and the different responsibilities of married and unmarried individuals. He also emphasizes the importance of paying attention to the headings in the Bible, particularly in 1 Corinthians 7, to avoid misinterpretation of doctrines such as divorce and remarriage.

Hello, this is Brother Denny. Welcome to Charity Ministries. Our desire is that your life would be blessed and changed by this message. This message is not copyrighted and is not to be bought or sold. You are welcome to make copies for your friends and neighbors. If you would like additional messages, please go to our website for a complete listing at www.charityministries.org. If you would like a catalog of other sermons, please call 1-800-227-7902 or write to Charity Ministries, 400 West Main Street, Suite 1, EFRA PA 17522. These messages are offered to all without charge by the free will offerings of God's people. A special thank you to all who support this ministry. I love that song. I'm thinking of our King, our God, being in those places. Wait a minute, let's start with prayer. Look into this troubling issue again today. Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, Eternal Father, to Thee we want to bless, O God. Dear Father, it is You who gave us this challenge to go into all the world. It is You who gave us a challenge to be the kingdom of God here in the midst of an evil and perverse generation. It is You who told us to leave family, relationships, lands, anything it would take to be able to follow You and to exalt Your name. So, dear God, I pray for grace today as we can look at this issue that's one of those things that are coming against Your kingdom. We pray that You give us grace, O Father, to look at it properly. In Jesus' name, Amen. Amen. Well, today we're going to look at divorce and remarriage again. Why would we spend two days on this subject? Well, for one thing, as Brother Denny ended the session yesterday, it is something that is vexing the church very, very poorly. It's very bad. It is, as he said, 50% of evangelicals as we look at this have had some extent involved with divorce and remarriage. It's going on and it's increasingly going on more and more. And it's one of those things that if you were to just take a look at it, you're looking from the outside and you're looking into the evangelical church and you're going to say, okay, what did Jesus say about divorce and remarriage? I think you would just assume today, well, He really didn't say anything. I mean, there is nothing really in today's church that would restrict someone to feel, okay, now I'm going to have to go through the rest of my life and be celibate. Thank you, David. This doesn't happen. There's nothing that makes a person say, okay, I've made these commitments, I've made these things. Yes, I will say this, at least people would come up and ask to be faithful and we all see and many churches see that there's problems in the marriage and they have courses on marriage and better marriages and all that. But these teachings of Jesus on divorce and remarriage, they are, for the most part, hardly ever spoken of in the church in general today. And you know, when we look at it again, this is a theme that's been through all the different messages and why I started with church history before I hit these issues. It's because I was trying to show the difference of how the church has so-called progressed or digressed through the ages into what we have today. But as everything that has happened through church history and everything has come along, it's now come all the way down to us. And here it is, it's your turn. It's your turn. How are we going to respond? We can't continually just blame those people who made mistakes or blame it on Constantine or blame it on Luther or whoever we're going to blame it on. We can't. It's our turn now. And I believe that we'll be held responsible for the full gospel no matter what people did before us. Yes, we have some different challenges now because of some particular heresies or particular trends that have happened in the church. But nevertheless, we're still, I believe, held responsible for what Jesus told us. That if anyone annuls the least of these my commandments, he said, and so teaches others, he shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven. And at the end of that Sermon on the Mount, he gives some very shocking words about people who don't build their house upon the rock, which he explained there as his teachings. You end up building on the sand, and he says, and great is your fall. So as we look at this kingdom of God, sometimes we look at it just negatively. We don't go to war. We don't go to these things. And sometimes we do look at things negatively. We don't listen to bad music, and we don't dress foolishly. And it's good to be looking at, when we look at the views of separation from the world, it is good to look at the negative things, the things that we don't want to be part of. We don't want to be like the world. But hear also that Jesus did not just leave things in the negative, did he? He also gave us some very beautiful and revolutionary and radical positive attributes of the kingdom of God. And as we explain this, and as you go out to planning little churches or little missions or whatever you end up doing, and you're there, and you're representing a city in the kingdom of God. You're there to bring in, to usher in the kingdom of God. And you're there, and you're representing it. You are there in its fullness, representing what Jesus wanted it to be. That's what you're supposed to do. And so we are a radical representation of the kingdom of God. And when we take this issue, this is what we're saying. It's not just the negative things. We don't believe in divorce and remarriage. And yes, you can't join our church unless you do this or that. It's the wrong way to look at it in some ways. We need to look at this radical views of Jesus on divorce and remarriage like this. We believe that in the kingdom of God, that our Lord Jesus has brought out a radical, thank you, David, a radical example of what it is to have a covenant relationship with one man and one woman. And it is a radical thing that we are wanting to live out in the kingdom of God. Amongst our people, we believe that down to everything. And we would gladly spend the rest of our lives celibate if that relationship was destroyed, or somehow our wife left us. We believe that, and we'll hold to that. We hold to that commitment, and we hold to that covenant relationship. And it's a radical representation of the kingdom of God. And when you come amongst us, that's what you're going to see. A radical representation of the kingdom of God. And you know, as I look at, and I studied divorce and remarriage, and as your pastors, when you become pastors and things, and you start to counsel with people about their divorce and remarriage, and you lift up this kingdom manifesto, as I call it, in the Sermon on the Mount, and you explain it to them that this is the kingdom of God, and this is what we're wanting to represent. Jesus presented this beautiful picture. You know, it does convict you to live the rest of the Sermon on the Mount. It does convict you. And if we are just saying we're going to be very scrupulous about this, and yet we're all storing up huge treasures, we're a big hypocrite. A big hypocrite. And so it does convict me when I read over these Scriptures, and I realize how scrupulous I'm being with them. Check your heart, I hear from God. It's whoever annuls the least of these. These are one of the things that Jesus came... Here is a radical new kingdom. That marriages are going to be so sacred that I'm going to form these together in one, and you're going to be one man. They say, well, when do you divorce, Jesus? What do you mean, when can two people split up? You don't understand, Pharisees. They're one. I've made them one. They can't be split up. And Jesus went through all those different teachings, and we talked about that yesterday. So just to summarize those three teachings that we have there. The words of Jesus. So someone comes to you, or you're spreading the Gospel in a certain area. You're planting a church somewhere. What do y'all believe about marriage? It's a powerful and revolutionary thing. Revolutionary thing. Here it is. We believe this, that whoever shall divorce his wife and marry another, you can't do it, because you commit adultery against her. And if a woman shall put away her husband and be married to another, she commits adultery. We find that in the Gospel of Mark 10. We also believe, very simply put, that anybody who divorces his wife, Luke 16 verse 17, anyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery. And whoever marries her that's been put away, been divorced from her husband, commits adultery. That's just the way it is. And I realize some of these things are hard. You know, some of you have made some sacrifices. I'll never forget the night the first time I read, Love Your Enemies. I was there laying in bed. Some of you have read that. I was laying in bed. We were reading. My wife and I said, well, honey, what do we do with this? What says Love Your Enemies? It's in the Sermon on the Mount. It took a lot of decisions in our life and losing a lot of relationships and a lot of friends and a lot of securities that we had to do because the Bible said this is what it is. And so we wanted to obey that. God gave us the grace to obey it. Many of you, I hear your testimonies have come from Amish homes or Hutterite homes or something like that. And some of the ostracizing, some of the rejection that you've received from your families, it's very hard to go through. It's very, very painful. And especially of you from the Hutterites, and many times it would be, you've lost everything. You leave there with a shirt on your back from what I hear in these testimonies. And that's hard. And the world doesn't understand those kind of commitments. And so here we are. You're going out somewhere and you're planning a church. And you're coming up front with divorce and remarriage. And you will. But we must see ourselves not again. If we have the idea that the church is this invisible church and all you're doing is spreading a little creed or a little few doctrines or something like that, and everybody just happens to meet on Sunday and here you are and we all agree to this and we go around in that way, you're falling into that line of that church that never worked with the Reformers. But that's not the church that Jesus planted. He said, go, the Kingdom of God is at hand. And here it is. One radical statement after another. And we as a fellowship when we come together, we try to encourage each other to be that very thing by the grace of God. And believe me, it takes a lot of grace. The Kingdom of God. And this is one of those radical statements that Jesus made. And they're hard. And some people have to make some serious decisions in their life when they come up front with this one. Especially with our attitude. We have a very poor attitude about people living in celibate lives and living single lives. It's an amazing thing. And I can't do it. When you read the early church, even the married people and the early Christians, you talk about them. Clement of Alexandria speaks of many of them. Just to dedicate their life to service and to planning the Kingdom of God in all different places. They say, we left the rest of our lives celibate. Even married people. Now, they weren't the type to say that it was, as the Bible warned about it, being celibate in the sake of against the rules or something. Making some new law. But just to totally sell themselves out for the Gospel and dedicate themselves. People were living in this kind of a kind of a behavior. And it's odd when you read it. You say, those people just thought a different way than I do. And they do. I have to admit. I'm inspired by them. I don't want to give you the impression that I'm right there with them. But I'm challenged by it. But here we are in our society that's so wrapped up in these things that we can hardly see past. Marrying and giving in marriage. Buying and selling. Living your life. Jesus gave a very revolutionary and radical way to look at life. In the total. Not one thing in isolation. In the total. And it's radical. As we looked at the different things people would say with the exception clauses. And we see that in the early church and with Jesus, they did allow one reason for you to separate from your wife. You had one exception and that was if she committed adultery. But then the Scriptures went on to say that that person that separated from their wife also cannot commit, I mean cannot get married again. Because why? Why? Because the union cannot be broken. So let me ask you a question. So why, if I, I'm coming to you Ryan, why if I am married a woman who was legally divorced, I saw the divorce papers, she was legally divorced from her husband before and now I'm married to her, why are you calling that adultery? Why? Because she's still married. Why are you saying that I can't get married again even though I've been divorced? It's because you're still married. Yes, the state, this world has given you legal papers that we're going to see even in the early churches. Isn't it some weird view that for 1,500 years the church held to this view and to Erasmus and the reformers took this and changed it. So let's look at this. Let's get right into Paul now. And so if we look at the words of Jesus and we look at the different exception clause we see that they did allow one reason to separate, but we're going to see just the way Paul understood, yes, in cases of extreme nature, like adultery, you could separate from your wife, but Paul's going to make it very clear what Jesus made very clear. You must remain the rest of your life single. But it's not a have to to the early church, it's a get to. I'm going to pour my life out to God. And there's promises and Jesus was very tender hearted. He was. He was very kind to us. You don't say this to people in a very flippant way. If you leave lands and if you go through these great sacrifices and family as many of you have done, he's promised us hundred fold blessing on this earth and in the life to come. Eternal life. And I'll tell you what, from my testimony, I have found it. I have found a family amongst you. I have found riches that I would have never known if I wouldn't have went on those courses of my life and made some of those decisions. It's been a blessing hasn't it it is I have found the truth of that hundredfold here on this earth I honestly have so let's look at the the Apostle Paul Paul turn your Bibles to 1st Corinthians 7 and we'll make um, we'll make our dear brother Very proud of us this morning. We're going to go basically expository Lee 3 Corinthians 7 1st Corinthians 7 All right Which he did there a little bit. I was like, all right, this is great All right, 1st Corinthians Chapter 1 verse 7 Paul is absolutely essential for understanding of divorce remarriage in the way that Jesus Taught it because of this we have an infallible Interpreter to the words of Jesus. I mean some people can say Jesus meant this some people can say Jesus meant that I Say he interpreted this way They say interpret it that way and you go back and forth and you back and forth but we have the Apostle Paul who inspired by the Holy Ghost gave us the way to Interpret Jesus's words on divorce and remarriage and it's precious and it answers all the questions for us He even gives us the little remarkers to make us Understand like it was brought up in your expository class 1st Corinthians 7 is a model as it was used today a model for sections And now we're going to talk about this and now we're going to talk about that now You concerning this now concerning that 1st Corinthians 7 is the most clear book in the Bible I dare say of having little sections that go to each section of this and one of the biggest reasons that I see is of Misinterpretation of the doctrines of divorce remarriage are people that just totally ignore these little headings That make it very clear that we're talking about something totally different now and you're going to see that as we go through It's really very clear. So let's look at 1st Corinthians chapter 7 in chapter 6. Sorry after I just said that In chapter 6 we just got through rebuking Paul just got through rebuking Men for going to prostitutes in the church. He's he reminds them that That in verse 8 of chapter 6 that those who commit adultery and fornicators are going to hell He's very serious with this thing. He's not mincing his words with him and as he comes to chapter 7 It's almost as if he's also blaming the wives a little bit for their very strict Chastity standards these women just like some of those in the early church They're going too far with this whole kingdom thing and Paul's bringing him back said now you're married and there's some Responsibilities with being married and he talks about those but he's it's almost as if he's he's he's rebuking them a little bit For their part and their husbands doing this nonetheless. He does not leave them As an excuse because he tells them that they're going to hell if they continue to be adulterers But whatever the case we're dealing with some hard issues in a remnant church like we've never seen right? I mean he's facing reality. He's not this isn't a sterile church of of hybrids this is a this is a church where he is dealing with things and it's in the in the in the Gritty knitting, you know, the dirty gritty whatever the things are that he's deals with let's look at verse 1 now Concerning the things where am you wrote into me and most people consider this a quote from the letter that he received It is good for a man not to touch a woman in verse 2 nevertheless To avoid fornication let every man have his own wife and let every woman have her own husband So he says, okay, you said this statement then most every commentator as a matter of fact I've ever read that considers that a quote from her letters. It doesn't really change that much from their letter, but then he says, okay That's what you're saying But I'm saying to avoid fornication what we just had here Let every man have his own wife and every woman have her own husband But 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 and that right there is a radical statement to this time period you understand Verse 5 but I mean from the man's perspective from the woman's no, but the man I mean, you know that the man did not have authority over his own body But the wife we don't have time to go into that verse 5 He fraud you 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 That Satan tempt you not for your incontingency But I speak this by permission and not by commandment interestingly enough For I would that all men were even as I myself But every man hath his proper gift of God one after his manner and another after that he say I'm not commanding you to come back to But I'm certainly making it Understood that you're supposed to if you're going to be off in the sin He said I'd prefer everyone to just to live stuff a bit like me But I understand there's callings and he backs us up at the end of this chapter as well But he says there's callings for this But now listen to this I say therefore unto the unmarried and widows It is good for them to stay even as I abide even as I but if they cannot contain let them marry for it is Better to marry than to burn Now here we go to verse 10. It's pay special attention and into the married Category and into the married I command yet. Not I but the Lord now stop there just for a minute What we're having here in this verse down to the next to verse 12 we have Paul's interpretations of the teaching of Jesus It's essential and he makes it clear even though we take part of the Apostle Paul as as the gospel anyway I mean are you know inspired anyway? Nevertheless here we have Paul's interpretation of Christ and then he starts to say in his interpretation under that again we believe they're both inspired but it does show us specifically what he got from Jesus and Then what he got from the Holy Spirit and it's essential because we see how he interpreted those Gospels that we just read yesterday And then to the married I command yet. Not I but the Lord listen Let not the wife depart from her husband do not divorce Remember if you divorce even for any other reason other than Adultery already that in and of itself is a sin. He says I got this from Jesus. Let not the wife depart from her husband But if something happens, well, then what do you do? Well, yeah, that's that's all we need to know Paul But and if she depart if she's divorced let her remained unmarried or be reconciled to her husband and Let not the husband put away his wife end of his summary of Jesus teaching You see that That's the way he's called Jesus. You cannot divorce Absolutely cannot divorce But if you do for some reason something happens there's left you there's all the millions of scenarios that are out there if that happens Here's what you do you remain? Single or you reconcile to your husband? That's the way it is clear enough clear enough That's it Now he goes on Now he's going to address those who are unequally yoked. Okay, but apparently they're saying but Paul you don't understand We've got people who the wife got converted. The husband's a loser. He's all this and we hear these stories all the time What do you do with that Paul? Okay, I've got we've got one for you. Now. This isn't your norm You're not back in Jerusalem. You're here at Corinth. And here's the situation now. He's addressing those people but to the rest speak. I'm I Not the Lord in other words, I'm going to apply this under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit This wasn't specifically taught by Jesus Understand the difference again to us. It's been wholly inspired, but it's important for this reason It's how he interpreted Jesus and now what he's saying by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit but to the rest I not the Lord if Any brother has a wife that believeth not and she'd be pleased to dwell with him Let him not put her away and the woman which hath a husband that believeth not and if he be pleased to dwell with her Let her not leave him for the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife and the unbelieving wife is sanctified By the husband or the Greek there can be in the wife or in the husband either way else were your children unclean But now they are holy But if the unbelieving depart let them depart a brother or sister is not under bondage in such cases But God hath called us to peace Now the King James uses a good interpretation here and uses the phrase is not under bondage But when you're speaking to people a lot of them are going to have the NIV and the NIV reads there is not bound Okay, and it seems to be what the writers of the NIV are trying to get across is Can comparing it to being bound to a wife which we're going to hear later or being bound in marriage now if your wife Departs if she leaves you if you are deserted is the official word for this You are no longer bound in marriage, but it is a completely different word I have in your notes. I don't have time to get in it today, but John Piper has a very good Exposition there on the the difference of the words used there for bound and not under bondage. They're completely different in the Greek every time consistently that Paul is talking about a a a Bound that can never change like in Romans 7 and and in here at the end of Corinthians 7 where he says the woman is Bound as long as she shall live He consistently uses a very legal term that just and a bound a bond a binding that cannot be moved But here in this sense, he just tells it to the way that it's it's a bondage for him In other words, it's trouble. You don't need to be troubled now. Remember Jesus teaching These people are very scrupulous. Obviously, they had some problems, but this Corinthian Church, they weren't pressed They were trying with everything they had. I mean and here they're saying, okay, we're married with these people. Do we stay with them and Jesus said that if I divorce my wife, I mean even the I'll be held Responsible for her and so they're very concerned about even if they're unbelieving wives leave them Are they going to be held responsible for that? Are they some way guilty from that and should they chase after him and try everything they could to get this unbeliever to stay in? the house and and you know and and and and stay there so they're not guilty of adultery Paul makes it very clear you're not under Bondage and and then Piper says this next verse makes it clear the interpretation. He says How do you know? 16 For what knoweth thou wife whether thou shalt save thy husband or how knoweth thou old man whether thou shalt save thy wife Let him go and live the rest of it, but now but what about the question of what if they but depart We just talked about it. How in the world can you forget? What how was it four or five verses back up or G where he made it very clear if she'd depart. What should you do? remain single or Be reconciled. So how in the world can you end up with a turbot interpretation now? And that was maybe even dealing with fornication, but how in the world can you now end up with an interpretation? Well now she left and you're suddenly free to go get married again He just made it completely clear what to do if that happens remain single or get reconciled again now He's going into those people if you have all this contention. Hey, just be at peace You're now free to serve Jesus without all that strife That's what he's saying and then Piper thinks and I agree with them that that context makes it very clear The next section from verse 17 to verse 24 is talking about contentment again It gives credence to that application of being content and they give he gives several analogies of being content with the state to where you're at You're single be content If your marriage be content Quit trying to be if you're one of the married people quit trying to be one of the celibate people and if you're one of The celibate people quit trying to be I mean be content with where God has called you and in People usually don't debate over these next passages from 17 to 24 It's just about this this process of being contentment and he gives those analogies now we come to verse 25 I'll back it up to verse 24 just for a context brethren. Let every man wherein he is called there and abide with God Verse 25 now concerning virgins does this sound like a new topic to you? I mean, I mean how you can't get much more clear. This is a new topic right and now concerning virgins, okay What we were going into here until all the way up into the last two verses of this passage is a some very precious teaching particularly good teaching for you of what to do with people who are either in a betrothal and a Arranged marriage and with all the persecution he says because of the present distress because of all that's going on Many of you have these arranged marriages since you were a child many of you who had this courtship going on and y'all are Pressing on young men. You're saying I I don't know I just want to serve God and they're actually dealing with these issues about should I serve God with everything? I have or should I get married and it's precious I think that just to see how this Corinthian Church, which we knock all the time How seriously these young men and young women were taking this I think it's it It's an example and he gives some good teaching into it But people have taken this category which is very clearly and now I'm talking to the virgins and turned it into a freedom to get Remarried again, and I'll show you what which word they use verse 25 now concerning versions I have no commandment of the Lord in other words I don't have a specific teaching from the Gospels to give you about this. Okay Which again gives credence to what he said before what I told you before was a direct application of the words of Jesus Now I'm which now I'm going to give you the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, but nevertheless you can do you see the point? I'm trying to make there now concerning versions. I have no commandment of the Lord yet I give my judgment as one that hath obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful. Amen, Paul. I Suppose therefore that this is good for this present distress. I say that it is good for a man. So to be Art thou bound unto a wife seek not to be loosed art thou loosed from a wife seek not a wife But and if thou marry thou hath not sinned and if a virgin Mary she hath not sinned nevertheless Such shall have trouble in the flesh, but I spare you Okay the interesting word here that throws the confusion is art thou bound unto a wife what people like to do and I This one and some of the ones I can say, okay Perhaps you could interpret it one way or the other and I give a person a little okay All right, maybe you could interpret that a different way. I believe this this interpreting this scripture here is verging on dishonest I really do Here it says the wife and they try to say what says here Are you bound or are you loosed from a wife? And he just said a few verses before there in the other category that if you're you're not under bondage So now he says, you know, if you marry you don't sin. It's very dishonest wording of this watch this Let's go to verse 27 aren't thou bound unto a wife now in English you could perhaps make that kind of an argument, but in in Greek in German French and about every other language It's just simply the word for a woman or a damsel as a matter of fact If you look up in your if you want to write on your margin or everything I have here in Matthew 1 121 excuse me, Matthew 120 and Luke 2 5 and both those situations Mary I'll reach the one Matthew 120 is The exact word in Greek used here Somebody else read for me Luke 2 5 open up Matthew 120 but while he Thought on these things behold the angel the Lord appeared unto him in a dream saying Joseph Thou son of David fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife For that which is conceived in her is the Holy Ghost. He was betrothed unto her. That is the exact word here used by Paul Now someone looked up. Did someone have Luke? Luke 2 5. Okay, just His espoused wife, okay again the exact word so to try to say what says wife it does wife It's a woman. It's a damsel It's a and so to say that is is really not fair and then considering that we've just made it very clear This is the new category now into virgins and then when you look at the context of all these verses it reads very obvious That it's talking about a betrothal period with these young men and young ladies There's three now art thou bound unto a young woman Seek not to be loosed art thou loosed from a young woman seek not to be seek not a wife But and if you marry if you go ahead with this arranged marriage if you go ahead with this betrothal if you go ahead You haven't sinned and if a virgin Mary she has not sinned nevertheless such shall have trouble in the flesh But I spare you real quick Interestingly enough that word and if a virgin Mary Some people have tried to pick that word up and say we're talking about two different categories the virgin and that married person It's if the virgin marriage which even makes that more of a couple if you marry you haven't sinned and if the virgin Mary Which is the the virgin Mary's which is the way they would speak of the young lady in that courtship They haven't sinned and so again it's it's a small little difference there a or the but it does it does again give credence to the whole aspect of That being a couple there and I have that all spelled out in your handout as well 29 but this I say brethren the time is short. Oh If we could get this spirit But I say brethren the time is short it remaineth that both they that have wise be as though they had none and they that weep as though they weep not and they that rejoice as though they rejoice not and they that by as though they possess not and they that use this world and Not abusing it for the fashions of this world passes away, but I would have you without carefulness Understand this you again look how the context is all this betrothal period He that is unmarried cares for the things that belongeth to the Lord how he may please the Lord But he that is married careth for the things that are of the world how he may please his wife There's a difference also between the wife and a virgin the unmarried woman careth for the things of the Lord that she may be holy Both in body and in spirit But she that is married care of the things that are in the world how she may please her husband and this I speak for Your own profit not that I may cast a snare upon you. The word in Greek is like a noose But for that which is comely and that you may attend upon the Lord without distraction I want to press you on young men now. I don't want to give a noose to you and make everybody Here I'm with who's going to be celibate here today, you know And I write your names down and I and then I really just cast a noose over your head when you all fought fail He said I don't want to do that I don't want to give any kind of burden or law or or get you all into that kind of a thought I'm just trying to get you to give everything for the kingdom of God and he says that now he said but you know Let's let's understand that Now if you think that this is two different categories this next verse I don't know how in the world you can interpret it. But again in the betrothal period it makes perfect sense verse 36 But if any man thinks that he behaved on himself Uncomely towards his virgin if she passed the flower of her age and needs to require let him do what he will he sinneth Not let him marry Somehow if you if you don't see these as a betrothal period how what you do with that scripture I seriously don't know it gets kind of scary because if that's a if that's a Some I've heard people explain that as a parent view or something. It doesn't match at all. It's obvious We're talking about a whole betrothal period through all these scriptures Nevertheless, he that standeth steadfast in his heart having no necessity But have power over his own will and that's so decreed in his heart that he will keep his virgin doeth well So then he that giveth her in marriage doth well, but he that giveth her not in marriage and doeth better Now we started out 1st Corinthians 7 with a very clear dictum. Did we not a Man should not divorce a woman should not divorce her from her husband. And if she does she should do what that's right Remain single or be reconciled We've gone through all this explanation now about the betrothal period and all these things about what to do if you're if your bad husband or wife leaves you and Now we've talked about all these things But now just in case anybody through all the ages of time should ever be confused of where I was going with this Let me come back and summarize right here and right now Here it is The wife is bound by the law as long as her husband lives But if her husband be dead She is at liberty to be married to whom she will only in the Lord And again, he gets a dig for celibacy But she is happier if she so abide after my judgment and I think also that I have the Spirit of God He makes it clear Okay. Now, where do you where do you hear that passage picked up one more time? Anybody remember? Romans 7 now the Romans 7 is curious, isn't it? Let's turn there Romans chapter 7. I don't like to turn to Romans 7 and say well Here's what it says because it is he's using it as a side point his is his his point is the law and he's using this as an example to back up his his his Totality of what happens when the law is dead and you're alive in Christ And he wants to give he wants to dig and grit and give a beautiful analogy to explain that and he uses this So I wouldn't use Romans 7 by itself But watch how closely it is related to 1st Corinthians 7 if 1st Corinthians 7 what we just read was not there well, maybe we couldn't quote 1st Romans 7 at all, but it is there and It makes it very revealing what he says here in Romans chapter 7. He says now No, you 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 and husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth But if the husband be dead, she is loose from the law of her husband nearly a direct quote from 1st Corinthians 7, right? It gives a little more explanation So then when it's obvious deduction, so then if while her husband lives She be married to another man She shall be called an adulteress But if her husband be dead, she is free from that law so that she is no adulteress though. She be married to another man powerful stuff He's not mincing his words He's talking about this stuff of commitment and this the stuff that Jesus brought marriage to be in this new kingdom of God and He's saying this is the way it is it's it's um It's hard. I admit it's hard But if we understand that God will give grace to things that he's called us to I believe God will give grace in this situation as well Now let someone just say okay. These are All right You know, these are bizarre interpretations of the scripture. I mean, I've been Baptist my whole life I've been in hundreds of different churches and I have never heard someone come up with these this Conservative or strict view of these words of divorce or marriage. I mean y'all are just making something up That's never been made up before in the history of the church. Oh, yeah, let's look Let's look now let's turn to the early church the first time that we get it Explicitly said to us Here it is spelled out just like we would have it Let's say you're out planting a little remnant City of God in in Detroit and you've got somebody in there and here's the case Let's bring it up to a modern situation. Let's say that this woman was married to a man and the man Became a homosexual. I mean anybody would say okay, come on her husband became a homosexual and then this church now wants to come and say they would like to have Communion and fellowship with us here in Pennsylvania and so they're saying we have this situation here What do you think we should do about it? And so this exact issue actually came up and it came up to Jerome and 398 and guess what Jerome said You know what? I'm gonna say. He said very clearly. Here's what I advise for this woman to do She needs to immediately cease from any kind of relationships with her husband immediately. She is living in adultery she needs to separate from her husband and live the rest of her life in celibacy and That's the first record we have of this very clearly stated hard words But he didn't you know, it's interestingly enough She did it at the end of his life And so in fact, there's a letter From this woman about her faithfulness and how she did these things and how she poured her life out for God and was used of God and it's a beautiful testimony of someone saying alright, I'll do anything that Jesus is calling me to do Was this something that Jerome made up? Let's back up and take a look And look at some of these early Christians The early Christian I don't like to make much to you know I would never talk about this issue and start with the early church I think it's a very dangerous thing for any of our doctrines to say well the early church did this so let's do that the early church did this and But nevertheless the early church gives us a very interesting commentary and one of the most interesting commentaries they have is The fact that they spoke and they thought and they lived in ancient Greek Speaking and thinking in ancient Greek they dreamed in ancient Greek. Okay, so it's funny Sometimes when you read some of these fancy guys with doctor's degree and Zodiac and all these people and and they say well this means this and this means clearly that because of the Dejorative sense of the passive regard and you know, they go through all this such and then you read back the early church They get something completely different the guys who actually spoke the ancient Greek matter of fact one time early on I wrote down spear of Zodias and it was about the head covering and I said, you know, I've read in your Commentary commentary on the bottom of your section here in Corinthians 11 that you you mentioned all this stuff about the meaning of it And you also talk about this history of Corinth and all that, you know And I've been reading the early church and I'm getting something completely different about the head covering Could you just tell me where you got that? I Didn't expect to get a reply, but I did I did get a reply He wrote me back and I'd mentioned I was reading the ancient I seen father's name and I also that I said that was blessed By his key study Bible and it is I like having the the the Strong's concordance in the back of that and all that He said well, thank you for you know, locking my book in our mind, you know on all this and he said ask for Mike's source. I Took that source from one of my 80,000 books And that was it yours truly. So he's here always and so I you know You know, you're gonna put if you're right something along in a Bible I think you should I mean if there's any time you should be quoting your sources. I think that's it But nevertheless, you know, you can come up with all these imaginary things of what these guys mean It is very instructive to go back and say, okay What did you guys think you ancient Greek guys and see what they think? Let's look at some of those we've learned that as we've been reading the Interpretation of the Greek that we believe that Jesus allowed an example that you could leave your wife if she was committing adultery But that you had to remain single and then anybody who got married after that one Flesh union was considered to be living in adultery That's the interpretation that we're taking that somebody may today say is novel. Somebody's new. Let's see. Let's go to the early church here Right. All right Interestingly enough that happen when I was in this book here He has an interesting quote. He says to lift those who hold that remarriage after divorce is Contrary to the gospel teaching is to call a role of the best-known early Christian theologians and all 25 individual writers and two early church councils forbid remarriage after divorce period period when the early earliest sources in the early church, which was Put in a very high regard was even quoted by some of the other early Christians in and a very high regard Says this he gives up this imaginary scenario They did this back in ancient writing maybe the Greek writers would have done this to you have an imaginary dialogue It's actually a nice way to write and then in your dialogue you have back and forth talking to get your point across and here's The dialogue sir, permit me to ask thee a few more questions. They on said he sir Say I if a man who has a wife that is faithful in the Lord detects her in adultery That the husband's sin in living with her so long as he is ignorant said he Said he he sinneth not but if the husband know of her sin and the wife repent not but continue in her fornication And her husband live with her. He makes himself responsible for her sin as an accomplice to her adultery I don't want to debate that point, but just hear it out What then sir say I shall the husband do if the wife continue in this case continues to commit adultery Let him divorce her said he and let the husband abide alone But if after divorcing his wife, he shall marry another he likewise commits adultery if then sir say I after the wife is divorced she repents and Desired to return to her own husband shall she not be received Certainly said he if the husband receives her not he sinneth and bringeth great sin upon himself For this cause you were enjoyed and enjoined to remain single this is why you were told to remain single Whether husband or wife for in such cases repentance is possible Here it should be noted that Paul this Hermas is quoting the first Corinthians 7 as support for this, you know people who interpret that in a different way a martyr speaking around the word the year a d 2130 very early a just a martyr of a philosopher who had turned who had become a Christian Was speaking about this interpretation. Do you remember Matthew 19? How did I interpret it? How would we interpret? How do we interpret as a church? We saw that that again is we harmonize it with Matthew chapter 5 We give credence to that that the context that right after Matthew 19. These apostles aren't saying Jesus Wait a minute and this is what they were they were saying wait a minute if this is this fell with a man with a wife who could Get married. Jesus didn't soften It said well if it's for adultery you could get marriage or if it's for a desertion you can get marriage or if you don't Get along you can get marriage or if there's you know, it's emotional abuse. You can get marriage or he didn't go through all that What did he do? well There's some eunuchs for the kingdom of this world And there's some eunuchs for the kingdom of God The context would seem very clear that the answer to the Apostles is yeah, you're right You're gonna live the rest of your life. So of it you get it Now it's obvious people although different people at modern interpreters, but a big line between that discussion Say this is a totally different subject. We're talking about eunuchs now The early church got it. This is just anybody else. I think is honest. We'll get it Justin Martyr says it this way Concerning the eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven after discussing the problem of lust Justin brings up Jesus words on remarriage saying and Whosoever shall marry her that is from another husband See how he interprets that commits adultery and there are some who have been made eunuchs of men and some who are born eunuchs and some Who have been made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake but all cannot receive this saying So that all who listen so that anyone who by human law are Twice married are in the eyes of our master Sinners and those who look upon a woman to lust after her See that word twice married that word twice married is the word bigamy Even though the law has divorced them and remarried them and now there is this he uses a word that that gives the word bigamy They are twice married Athenagoras speaking around the the year ad 177 speaking a plea for the Christian in writing He says that a Christian quote should either remain as he was born or Be content with one marriage for a second marriage is only a fair seeming adultery For whosoever puts away his wife says he and marries another commits adultery Not permitting a man to send away her away whose virginity he has brought to an end nor to marry again Notice what he says Yes, I realized it looks good. It's a fair seeming adultery. It's still adultery Yes, the state has given you a divorce and yes, you remarried No, you either remain in the state to which you were born or you you suffice to have your one marriage Clement of Alexandria speaking in like what's a early Christian catechism class Instructing the early believers and remember these are pagans These are people that are going out, you know Worshipping idols and they're taking the kingdom of God to them and being persecuted while they're doing it coming of Alexandria Says this speaks out strongly about marriage saying this Now the scripture counsels marriage and allows no release from the Union No released from the Union is expressively contained in the law quote thou shalt not put away thy wife except for the cause of Fornication and it regards as fornicate and he regards as fornication the marriage of those separated while the other is alive He that taketh a woman that has been put away It is said commits adultery and if one puts away his wife He makes her to be an adulterer That is he compels her to commit adultery and not only is he who puts her away guilty of this But he who takes her by giving to the woman the opportunity of sinning For did he not take her she would return to her husband He goes on concerning the words not all can receive this saying notice how he sees the context Concerning the words not all can receive these saying there are some eunuchs who are born so and some who are made eunuchs by men and Some who have been made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let him receive it who can receive it These heretics they say they don't realize the context. Yes, they sure don't do they Clement after his words about divorce some asked him whether if That if that is the position in relation to woman It is better not to marry and it was then that the Lord said not all can receive this saying But those to whom it is granted what the questioners wanted to know was whether when a man's wife had been condemned for fornication It is allowable for him to marry another Very clear Clement and these heretics don't understand the context. They're saying okay. Well, what do you do with? Okay, what happens if that woman who did commit fornication then? Okay. Now is that one innocent party free? He's saying well, that's what was I was the obvious question that they asked Jesus and that Jesus's answer was There's eunuchs in the kingdom of heaven But note also though To such it is given Andrew Korns has a beautiful section on there and I don't have time to go into it When God gives us these things and some things in heart life are very hard notice what Jesus said there's some men who because with the way they were born went to some sort of birth defect and they spend The rest of their life a eunuch. There's some men who were Brutally made eunuchs by other men. I mean whether they were You know attached cut whatever but they were made eunuchs for the king for further for by men by other men and Some are eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven, but to each case he says And to such it is given It's a very Compassionate if you if you understand this heart of Jesus and understanding suffering that to some things in life We were given some very very very very hard things And I'll tell you why it's the same thing when you speak to a homosexual and and I've talked to some That it breaks your heart some, you know, you think okay, they're not even trying but some I've talked to I say, you know What I believe they're trying very hard and they're struggling and the life that I'm saying you need to live the rest of your life So it's hard what I'm telling him But in that I have the I have the promise of Jesus that this is given it's given to you God's grace and compassion will see you through these things It's hard and some of the things that we're asking people to obey these radical teachings of Christ They are hard, but to such it is given God will give the grace to see it through Origin says Just as a woman is an adulterous even though she seems To be married to a man while a former husband yet lives So also the man who seems to marry who has been divorced does not marry her But according to the declaration of our Savior, he commits adultery with her. He commits adultery with her So here we are We're planting churches We're going out and we're representing the kingdom of God You see how it's so much bigger than just a little sinner's prayer when you go forth to all the world and You see how the only way that you're going to really grab the whole kingdom of God is like you said the Nicodemus if you're born again These things are spiritually discerned and and when we try to to preserve the self or preserve our own Skin or if we try to preserve our treasures or if we just try to preserve our own integrity The gospel just simply doesn't make sense. It doesn't make sense It is from the beginning to the end a theology of martyrdom and in this way as we go forward we have to go forward as a kingdom of God in advance a kingdom of God that's really living this Jesus kingdom manifesto and and and if we are just inconsistent as I said earlier, it's really a very poor testimony a very poor testimony so that's what I have on on divorce and remarriage and again, I I find it a a Something I don't like to talk about but it's something we absolutely have to talk about and I'll tell you this too. I Recommend that you be upfront in your fellowships about this be very upfront I Would recommend even if you in particularly those who are dealing with this a lot We're a little bit insulated here in Lancaster County, but we still get some but we're a little bit insulated That you that you even have something written out to make it very clear You don't need to be ashamed of this because God's grace is there and I'll tell you this too. I Think that we need to be really thinking of ways to make this To bring forth this teaching of Jesus Christ. And here's what I'm trying to say by this. I Do believe that we are guilty in many of our circles men and I included That we'd all prefer that these people just go somewhere else. You find out the divorce remarriage is a oh We'll start going we'll stop going over there we'll stop inviting them over and that's wrong It's wrong and I have to confess it in my own heart. You know, you think oh I have such a mountain now with this family I have such a mountain but it's Jesus and it's the kingdom of heaven And so I don't know I I'm disappointed somewhat with some of the examples that I've I've seen we have some beautiful successes here at charity We have a one that's come through here at charity And now she's come with us also at living hope and we support her completely as a fellowship We take the responsibility to support her like a widow and it's been a blessing and now to see her children start to raise up And follow the Lord and have a close relationship with God. It is a treasure to see that she's been faithful to it And there's some beautiful examples But as you're as a church Understand if somebody's coming to your church and they're having to go through this and they're looking at the advice that Jerome gave to his people you need to be making sure that you as a church are really coming behind that and Offering the grace there needs to be something done You can't just say this stuff and leave it if we have sealed Houses and all we're doing is saying all these strong words and just kind of you know Hoping someone goes the other way. Oh, I believe the judgment of God is on us We need as a brotherhood to be able to walk through these Hard needs with these people the Andrew Korns who wrote one of the books there about divorce He has a he's an Anglican priest for crying out loud in England Who teaches this stuff and he has a support group that he does not let anybody who gets divorced get remarried And so he has all these singles now that are living the rest of their life celibate He actually has a support group where they go and encourage one another to this life of celibacy in this life and to encourage each other of the words of the gospel Wow, I Would like to see that more in our circles I would like to see Families that are in a creative way brought into homes and and help through some of these things the needs and the emotional trauma that some Of these people are going through to walk through this or like many of you who left many your homes It's it was hard when I left the army even and what a pale comparison to what these people are going through So I just want to make sure that I say that I believe that everything that Jesus tells us to do He will give us the grace to do it if we follow him faithfully Everything let's not erase anything. Let's not put any Anesthesia on anything in the Sermon on the Mount anything in the words of the Gospels anything in the Bible if the Bible says it Let's be crazy enough to believe it and to usher in the kingdom of God Let's pray dear Heavenly Father You said I will build my church and the gates of hell would not prevail Dear Lord, we believe that hell is fighting against us on this issues and many others But again, we're coming back again and again and again to your promises. You said that if anyone teaches Lives and teaches these things they would be called great in the kingdom of heaven God give us the grace to do it Give us the grace in this age Lord that this seems impossible to take your radical teachings and live them in real Communities of brothers and sisters living out the light of the gospel in the glow of Jesus Christ in our life And God in this way we pray Fill us with your Holy Spirit. Give us an anointing and strength to do it. It's in Jesus name. We pray. Amen