Mark 10:1-12

Turn to the Gospel according to Mark as we continue to look at Mark's account of the life, death, and resurrection of our friend Jesus.

! As you're turning, I'm discovering that this lectern is too steep to put a stack of books on.

Okay.

Turn to chapter 10 beginning in verse 1. We'll read 12 verses together.

And he left there and went to the region of Judea beyond the Jordan, and crowds gathered to him again, and again, as was his custom, he taught them.

And Pharisees came up, and in order to test him, asked, Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?

He answered them, What did Moses command you?

They said, Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce and to send her away.

And Jesus said to them, Because of your hardness of heart, he wrote you this commandment.

But from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female.

Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.

So they're no longer two, but one flesh.

What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.

And in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter.

And he said to them, Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her.

And if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.

This is God's word to us, written for his glory and our good.

We would all do well to listen to it in order to believe its promises and obey its commands.

Let's pray together.

Father, we do thank you.

We praise you this morning for your written word to us.

It is by your word that we have the salvation of our souls.

Your spirit combined with your truth and changed our hearts.

And I pray this morning, Father, you will give me ability to speak with care and with clarity about the issue of marriage, remarriage, and divorce.

And that you help us all to apply it appropriately to our hearts.

And we pray this in the name of Christ.

Amen.

So we're moving through the gospel according to Mark, verse by verse, as is our custom here.

And we see now that he has now left this region that he's been working in.

And he's moving through and gone to the region of Judea and beyond the Jordan.

We've entered now into kind of the second act, so to speak, of Mark's gospel.

He's moved from his primarily public Galilean ministry to now this journey on his way to Jerusalem where he's finishing off the disciples.

He's giving them the final teaching, the things they need to know to be devoted to him after he leaves.

And we've seen this series beginning in the second part of verse 8 where he heals a blind man at Bethsaida.

And he heals him in varying degrees, not because he didn't have the power to do it in one fell swoop.

But he's communicating, as Mark's recording it for us, that Jesus is the Lord of spiritual blindness.

And we see this to be the case with the disciples as they're coming to further dawning revelation of who it is that Jesus is.

We see Peter's confession in chapter 8 at Caesarea Philippi that Jesus is the Christ.

And then Jesus teaches them about the cost of discipleship, the surety of the coming kingdom.

And we see the transfiguration, the necessity of faith, the excellence of service, the radical nature of discipleship,

which Kyle so poignantly taught on last week.

And then we come to this teaching on the nature of marriage.

They're now in a region called Perea.

Perea, Mark and Matthew both skip over Jesus' Judean ministry.

Luke records it for us, but Mark and Matthew skip right over the top of it.

And he's now moved south of the Sea of Galilee and out to the east to this area called Perea,

an area that was full of Jews.

So he's moved from a primarily Gentile region now to a primarily Jewish region.

And again, the crowds are gathering to him.

And as was his custom, praise God, Jesus is teaching them once again.

And here we find again in verse 2, the Pharisees.

In order to test him, they ask him, is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?

This was the job of the Pharisees.

This is what they were all about as they surrounded Jesus, following him around, lurking around every corner,

hiding behind every bush, looking for a way for him to slip up as he was a man coming,

declaring to be the Christ, declaring to be the Son of God.

They wanted to do away with this understanding.

And so they ask him a question.

Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?

And we must ask at this point, why would that have been a test?

Why would they have asked this question in order to test him?

If you remember back in chapter 3 of Mark, verse 6,

we immediately see the Pharisees going out and holding counsel with the Herodians against him,

how to destroy him.

And if you recall in John chapter 6, we see John the Baptist arrested by Herod.

John 6 · chapter mention

So you see them holding counsel with the Herodians,

and then we see John the Baptist being taken prisoner by Herod.

Why?

The reason being, this group of Herodians were loyal to Herod the Great,

which was the father of Herod Antipas, which is the one who arrested John the Baptist.

And John the Baptist was telling Herod Antipas that it was not okay

for him to have left his wife and taken his brother's wife.

This was the circumstance, the situation that was going on.

The woman he married's name was Herodias.

She was the one that demanded John's head on a platter.

So remember that John the Baptist had been arrested and beheaded

for speaking against the situation that occurred with Herod.

And so they're trying to trick him into the same thing, this large Jewish population.

They're trying to get him to be also against what Herod had done

in order for him to be arrested and therefore put to death.

So this is a major loaded question.

For us, we just read it.

This was loaded when they asked the question.

But Jesus does not back down from the challenge.

But rather, he responds with a very bold proclamation about divorce and remarriage.

I hope you were wrapping your mind around it as we read it together.

He begins by asking them a question.

What did Moses command you?

And they said Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce

and to send her away, verses 3 and 4.

Now, it's important for us to understand what was going on culturally

around the issue of divorce and remarriage at the time.

The reigning opinion in the matter was given by a rabbi named Hillel.

And it was common in this day that rabbinic traditions,

rabbis that would interpret the scriptures,

make doctrinal statements about them, and people would follow those things.

In fact, to the degree that they no longer study the scriptures,

but they simply studied the teachings of the rabbi.

And Rabbi Hillel, having died 20 years previous,

this was his prevailing understanding about divorce.

And he had said,

For any reason, unload that woman.

That was his phrase concerning the matter.

And in this day, the religious understanding was that you could divorce a woman for any reason.

Any offense given to you.

Dinner's on the table a little bit too late.

She spoke out of turn.

Any reason that you found her unsatisfactory,

you were able to divorce her.

So this is the common thing that's happening in this day.

Now, we get some Old Testament reference.

And it's very important that we understand what is Jesus talking about

when he asks the question,

What did Moses command you?

And they respond,

Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce

and to send her away.

And Jesus says to them,

Verse 5,

Because of your hardness of heart,

he wrote you this command.

We have to get our minds around us.

We have to understand what's going on here.

And the first thing I want to point out to you

is that when Jesus says,

What did Moses command you?

And then in verse 5,

Because of your hardness of heart,

he wrote you this commandment.

That both the verb and the noun that he uses there,

the verb in the Greek for command

and the verb in the Greek for commandment

are much softer words than we would take them to be.

Command is a definite command.

You do the thing that you're commanded to do.

Many of you on this side saw me command Cademan

to sit still during Aletheia Way,

and he did it, right?

That's a command.

It's a softer form of that verb.

And we get a little bit of insight into that

in the same account,

the parallel account in Matthew,

Matthew 19 · chapter mention

chapter 19,

second half of verse 6 through 8.

Jesus says,

What therefore God has joined together,

let not man separate.

Verse 7,

They, being the Pharisees,

said to him,

Why then did Moses command

one to give a certificate of divorce

and to send her away?

And listen to Jesus' response.

Verse 8,

He said to them,

Because of your hardness of heart,

Moses allowed you to divorce your wives.

But from the beginning,

it was not so.

So you see the difference there.

Moses didn't, in fact,

command it,

but rather he just allowed it to happen,

and he put some parameters

on the result of divorce.

So let's go.

I want you all to turn

in your copy of God's Word

to Deuteronomy, chapter 24.

Deuteronomy 24 · chapter mention

Now remember in this day,

as it is in our day,

it was proper,

and it was common

to quote from the Old Testament

in a loose manner.

We do that all the time.

We talk all the time to each other

about biblical truths,

and we don't directly quote.

We'll say the scriptures say

in Ephesians,

and we'll make a loose quotation

of something.

This is okay,

provided that we can firmly back it

with the actual recorded Word of God.

They were doing this as well

in this day,

and when we see New Testament,

loose quotations,

citations of Old Testament,

we can also take those

as the inspired Word of God as well.

So often,

we get some clarity on things

when we look at the New Testament

as it compares to the Old Testament.

Sometimes,

the reverse is true.

We go to the Old Testament

to get greater clarity

about what they were talking about.

That's the case here.

Deuteronomy 24,

Deuteronomy 24:1–4

verses 1 through 4.

When a man takes a wife

and marries her,

if then she finds no favor in his eyes

because he has found some indecency in her,

and he writes her a certificate of divorce

and puts it in her hand

and sends her out of the house,

and she departs out of his house,

and if she goes and becomes another man's wife,

and the latter man hates her

and writes her a certificate of divorce

and puts it in her hand

and sends her out of his house,

or if the latter man dies

who took her to be his wife,

then her former husband

who sent her away

may not take her again to be his wife

after she has been defiled,

for that is an abomination before the Lord,

and you shall not bring sin upon the land

that the Lord your God is giving you

for an inheritance.

Okay?

So follow the logic through there.

If you couldn't stick with it,

that's okay.

It took me a couple of times as well.

If a man gets married,

and he finds for any reason,

this was Hillel's understanding of this,

for any reason,

some indecency,

some reason he no longer wanted her to be his wife,

and gives her a certificate of divorce,

and she goes off

and is married to another man,

and then that man does the same thing,

also finds some indecency in her

and gives her a certificate of divorce,

or he dies,

the only thing,

the only thing

that Moses is forbidding here

is for the first man

to take her again for his wife.

It's the only thing

that he's forbidding in this case.

And what he's doing here

is he's saying,

you can't on a whim divorce your wife

and then change your mind

and go back and remarry her.

Right?

She goes off.

She's married to another man.

There's another one flesh union happening there.

He can't go reclaim her for his own.

So back in our text today,

Mark chapter 10,

Mark 10 · chapter mention

Jesus clarifies this whole situation.

Jesus is clarifying it for them.

I think they got it in their context.

We have to do a bit more work.

But beginning of verse 6,

he says,

but,

but,

what did Moses command you?

They respond.

And he says,

but,

from the beginning,

he starts out with the very beginning

of the way God created things to be.

God made them male and female.

Therefore,

a man shall leave his father and mother

and hold fast to his wife.

Quoting there from Genesis 2.24,

and the two shall become one flesh.

So they are no longer two,

but one flesh.

What therefore God has joined together,

let not man separate.

Right?

Later on,

they're in a house,

the house.

The disciples asked him again

about this matter.

He says,

then whoever divorces his wife

and marries another

commits adultery against her.

And if she divorces her husband

and marries another,

she commits adultery.

A rather absolute statement

given by Jesus

concerning divorce and remarriage.

And if we stop at this point,

if we simply open Mark

and read this,

I don't think there's any wiggle room

in this.

Do you?

We just read this text.

I don't think that there is.

However,

there is a hermeneutic principle

that we let Scripture

interpret Scripture.

We look at the Bible

on the topic,

and there are some other texts

that certainly refer

to divorce and remarriage.

This has led to a spectrum

of views.

Not a couple of views,

but a spectrum

of views on this issue.

There are two widely held,

I'll call them conservative views,

views held by people

that we would respect

and that we align ourselves

with theologically

in other regards.

I'll give some detail

to these shortly,

but I'm going to call them

this morning,

number one,

the more permissive view,

and number two,

the more restrictive view.

Not to give any value

in the way I'm saying that,

but the more permissive view

and the more restrictive view,

these two commonly held views.

But before we get to those things,

I want to talk first

about some non-negotiables.

Things that both of these views

completely agree upon.

Things that if we're going to be

biblically faithful,

we must agree upon.

Five.

I'm sure there are more,

but five that I came up with

this week.

Number one,

God presided over the first marriage

and presides over every subsequent marriage.

End of Genesis chapter 2.

Genesis 2 · chapter mention

The first marriage happens.

Jesus quotes from it

in verses 7 and 8.

Genesis 2, 24.

What therefore God has joined together,

let not man separate.

We don't join ourselves together.

A priest or a pastor

does not join us together.

The state,

the federal government

doesn't join us together.

God joins us together.

And just as an aside,

let this bake your noodle.

God created marriage

before the fall.

Secondly,

God created marriage

to give us a shadow

of the blessed relationship

between Christ

and the church.

Right?

Creates marriage before the fall.

This is what it's created for.

This is the reason.

There are subservient reasons.

There are other reasons

that marriage exists.

But the primary reason,

the overarching reason,

this is the reason.

If we must put a reason,

God created marriage

to give us a shadow,

a glimpse

of what the relationship

between Christ

and the church

looks like.

What that kind of covenant,

committed love

looks like.

You can read more about this

in Ephesians 5,

22 through 33.

For the sake of time,

we won't go there today.

This is why, though,

marriage was created.

For these reasons,

thirdly,

God hates divorce.

God hates divorce.

Malachi 2, 16.

And this is in the ESV rendering of it.

Malachi 2, 16 says,

The man who does not love his wife

but divorces her,

says the Lord,

the God of Israel,

covers his garment with violence,

says the Lord of hosts.

So guard yourselves in your spirit

and do not be faithless.

Now, there's a lot of weight

to the way in which

we deal with our marriages

and the way in which

we deal with divorce

in Malachi 2, 16

in the ESV rendering.

However,

I think that they fell a bit short

in their rendering here.

If you read it from the NASB,

another translation

that I respect highly,

and most other translations,

it reads this way.

For I hate divorce,

says the Lord,

the God of Israel,

and him who covers his garment

with wrong,

says the Lord of hosts.

So take heed to your spirit

that you do not deal treacherously.

Now, I think both

are true statements,

but I think the other,

the NASB rendering of it,

has much greater weight to it.

God says,

I hate divorce.

And this is why we do too.

Like, I know that everyone

in this room,

there's not a single person

in this room

or in my hearing

in some later recording of this

that hasn't in some way

been touched.

I have divorced.

Whether you've been part of one,

your parents have been divorced,

you know people

that have been divorced,

it's a rampant issue

in our culture today.

We have all been affected

by this,

and no one loves it.

No one celebrates it.

Right?

We don't rejoice

in the breaking of unions

in this way.

God hates divorce.

Number four.

These are non-negotiables,

remember.

The marriage covenant

is temporal.

That means it exists

in this realm.

That is that death

breaks that covenant

and gives a remaining spouse

the ability to remarry.

Right?

So, marriage is

a lifetime commitment.

When somebody dies,

you're freed from that commitment.

Romans 7, 2 and 3.

Paul writes,

For a married woman

is bound by law

to her husband

while he lives.

But if her husband dies,

she was released

from the law of marriage.

Accordingly,

she will be called

an adulteress

if she lives

with another man

while her husband

is alive.

But if her husband dies,

she is free

from that law.

And if she marries

another man,

she is not an adulteress.

So, death frees us

from the covenant

commitment to our spouses

and we are then

able to remarry.

Don't take this

as an endorsement

of murder.

Number five.

Divorce

and or

remarriage

after divorce

is not

an unpardonable

sin.

Whatever stance

you or I,

we take

on this issue,

whichever camp

we decide to align with

in this matter,

right?

So, whatever you deem

in your convictions

in your reading of Scripture

as sinful

in this,

whatever it may be,

it's not

an unpardonable

sin.

In fact,

the only unpardonable

sin is the sin

of unbelief.

The sin of grieving

the Spirit,

which is to say

that we don't

respond to the

convictions

that the Spirit

brings on us,

that we don't

repent of sin.

Both views hold

that if someone

is wrongly divorced

and or wrongly

remarried,

that these are

acts of sin.

Not perpetual sin,

they're an act

of sin.

You're not living

in that sin,

but you've committed

a sin,

as so many of us

have committed sins,

as so many wrongs

have been issued up

against our Lord.

And that is that

they should be confessed

from the past

and should be avoided

in the future.

So, divorce and or

remarriage after divorce

is not an unpardonable

sin.

It does not separate

you from the love

of God in Christ.

Okay.

A few details

about the two views

to get your

theological minds

primed.

Firstly, a few details

about the more

permissive view.

The more permissive view

would say that divorce

is permitted

under three circumstances.

And you get into

some of the spectrum

of different

understandings here,

but I'm going to

present it to you

in this way.

Under three circumstances,

when a spouse

deserts the relationship,

when a spouse

commits adultery,

or when a spouse

is dangerously abusive.

They also believe

that remarriage

is permitted

to the non-offending

spouse

when divorce

has occurred

for the

aforementioned reasons.

So, the non-offending

spouse, the one

who didn't sin

in the severing

of the covenant

relationship,

they are then

free to remarry

in that case.

Secondly,

that was brief,

wasn't it?

The more restrictive

view would say

the divorce

is only permitted

when a believer

is married

to an unbelieving

spouse

who demands

a divorce.

Paul says

in 1 Corinthians,

for the sake of peace,

you grant it to him.

An unbelieving spouse,

being a person

who's not under

church discipline,

demands a divorce

and you grant it

to him.

And remarriage

is not permitted

under any circumstance

provided

that the spouse

is still alive.

Now, remember

that these things

are simply

an act

of sin.

It's not really

a super clear-cut

simple issue.

I have a typo

in my notes

that says

this isn't a clear-cut

smile issue.

It's not that either.

It's a rather

complex issue.

And it's an issue

that can't really

be weighed in a vacuum.

And it's so easy.

Some things in the scriptures

are so easy.

Some theological wrestling,

you can stand

way back

from any real circumstance,

any real consequence,

and you can muse

about it

and you can wonder

what did God mean

by this?

But this isn't that way.

It means things

for our living.

It means things

for the life

of our church.

It's a challenging one.

In addition to that,

it's a widely contested one.

The more permissive view

is held by modern pastors

and scholars

like John MacArthur

and Andreas Kostenberger.

You don't have to know

who that is.

It's the most widely held

evangelical view,

which is not necessarily

a reason to believe it.

It's historically held

by Protestants

like John Murray.

And in fact,

the Westminster Confession

of 1647 reads,

in case of adultery

after marriage,

it is lawful

for the innocent party

to sue out a divorce

and after the divorce

to marry another

as if the offending party

were dead.

The more restrictive view

is held by modern pastors

and scholars

like Votie Bauckham

and John Piper.

Historically,

the Baptists of England,

when they adopted

the Westminster Confession,

omitted the previously

read paragraph.

They just took it out

altogether in the

Second London Confession

of 1689.

So,

you've got,

this is just some examples

of opinions,

respected,

scholarly opinions,

on both sides

of this coin.

All of this

should cause us

to pause.

It should really cause us

to weigh these things out,

to give attention.

Some theological stances

you can just dismiss

altogether from the source

that it's coming from,

right?

You know,

that guy's crazy.

Don't listen to anything

he has to say.

But these are respected men

that are holding

varying opinions,

not only now,

but through history.

I have been vexed

by this issue

for the last

three or four weeks.

In fact,

I've spent a good deal

of my time

on this issue

over the past

three or four weeks.

I brought up here

the things I was complaining

about not stacking.

Just some of the books

that I've been reading

on the matter.

This doesn't include

the online resources

that I've been looking at,

trying to gather

and glean and listen.

Many of you in this room

I've had conversations with.

We've been talking at length

about what this means

and what the truth

could be.

I came to a great deal

of conviction

in the matter

because I have given

advice

concerning,

counsel concerning

divorce and remarriage

without first carefully

consulting the scriptures.

I realized

that whether,

whatever view

may be right

that I had just

wholeheartedly swallowed

the more widely accepted view

and had never really,

really searched the scriptures

myself on the issue.

What a great deal

of conviction

that brought for me

as a pastor.

It's possible,

it's possible

that I've been

partied to sin,

that I've actually

encouraged it

in some ways.

If not,

if not,

if I was right

in the counsel

that I gave,

the conviction

is still there

that I didn't really

give it from a biblical stance.

I hadn't planted

my foot firmly

firmly on the word

of God

as I gave

that counsel.

Much repentance

was necessary for me

on that part.

It's been a bit

of crisis of faith

for me

to be totally honest

with you.

It's caused me

to really look

at the word of God

on the matter

and wrestle with it.

To say,

if this is God's word,

am I willing

to submit to it

no matter what

it requires

of me?

No matter what

uncomfortable situation,

no matter what

apologies I may

have to issue,

no matter what

it says,

am I willing

to submit myself

to it?

Am I going

to put myself

under it,

be governed by it,

or put myself

over it to judge it

and to make my own

calls based on

the circumstances

in my life

and those

in the lives

of people

around me?

No.

No,

of course not.

Of course not.

This is the very

word of God

to us

and it's not ours

to piecemeal

and treat the way

we would like to.

God has spoken

to us

and we must

submit ourselves

to it

whatever

it may say.

I'm very thankful

this past couple

of weeks

for our

general habit

of verse-by-verse

exposition

because I've got

to tell you,

the temptation

for me would

have been

to skip over

chapter 10.

I just would

have gotten

really far away

from the teaching

on divorce.

We'd have just

gone,

yeah,

chapter 10,

it's a great

chapter.

We're going

to start off

in chapter 11

now just to

distance myself

from having to

wrestle

the issues

and the

outcome,

the outworkings

of such

issues.

I'm thankful

for it.

I thank you

that you put

up with slow,

careful,

verse-by-verse

exposition

for that

very reason.

So what

opinion

did I arrive

at?

I haven't.

I know you

probably would

like for me

to have arrived

at opinion,

but I haven't.

I haven't set

my feet firmly.

We can talk

later if you'd

like I'm leaning,

but I haven't

yet.

I'm still

working it

through.

I'm still

trying to

carefully search,

prayerfully consider

what it is the

Word of God

has to say to

us about

marriage,

divorce,

and remarriage.

But here's a

realization that I

came to

together.

It would be

arrogant of me.

It would be

an improper

abuse of my

position if I

stood up here

and told you

what I believed

and then expected

that you all

would believe

it too.

This is not

the way our

church is

governed.

I certainly

am entitled

to my opinion

and my

convictions.

There are many

cases in the

scripture I'm

going to tell

you what I

think it

means,

but often

those things

don't have

real implication.

They don't

work out in

any practical

way in our

living together.

Romans chapter

Romans 11 · chapter mention

11, the very

end is an

example of that.

What does it

mean by all

Israel will be

saved?

I presented

to you a

bunch of

options.

I told you

this is what

I think it

means,

but the general

point of the

text is that

we shouldn't

be haughty

towards the

Jews.

Right?

Acceptable in

this case.

I don't think

I have the

power, though,

to say this

is what our

church will

believe on

this particular

issue.

Let me read

to you from

our statement

of faith the

current statement

on the

family.

I'm going to

give you five

reasons why I

think we need

to make a

doctrinal stance

concerning divorce

and remarriage

as a church

together.

Let me read

to you first

what I

think needs

to be amended

in our

statement of

faith to

bring some

more clarity

to the

issue for

our church.

It says,

of the

family,

we believe

that marriage

is the

lifelong

uniting of

one man

and one

woman in

covenant

commitment,

that the

husband and

wife are

of equal

worth before

God,

being created

in the

image of

God,

and in

equal

measure,

dependest

on his

grace,

and that

the marriage

is God's

unique

revelation of

the union

between

Christ and

his church.

There's

some further

things about

the roles that

we play in

that relationship,

but that's

what it

currently says,

and it

leaves some

wondering.

It seems

actually to

be a fairly

restrictive

statement,

but are

there other

circumstances

in which

it's okay,

and how

do we deal

with remarriage?

It doesn't

say anything

about that.

Some people

may say that

this just

doesn't really

matter.

It's not

that important.

Let people

follow their

personal convictions,

but I say

to you that

it does

matter.

It matters

immensely.

How am I

to know

that's

true?

But on my

personal convictions,

what ceremony

should I perform

and not perform?

Someday,

if we have

leadership and

multiple pastors

and one holds

one view and

another holds

another view,

isn't that

going to be

horribly confusing

for someone who

comes and asks

the question,

I've been

divorced,

can I be

remarried?

Shouldn't we

have the same

answer to

that question?

I think we

should.

So let me

give you five

reasons that

I'm going to

lead us to

make a doctrinal

stance concerning

divorce and

remarriage.

Number one,

our church

believes in

a congregational

church polity.

That means

governance,

that the final

say in

matters of

doctrine and

in matters of

discipline belong

to the church,

not to elected

officials of any

sort, but to

the congregation.

It's one example,

Galatians 1.8,

Paul says to

them,

but even if we,

the apostles,

or an angel from

heaven,

should preach to

you a gospel

contrary to

the one we

preached to

you, let him

be accursed,

or cast out,

or separated

away.

Paul's saying

to the church

at Galatia,

hold everyone

accountable.

The apostles,

angels,

and anyone else,

hold them

accountable to

the truth of

God.

Secondly,

these matters

have bearing

on how we

function together

as a faith

family.

What will

permit,

what we

won't permit.

I mentioned

before,

how strange

would it be

if the

leadership

had varying

views on

something.

If one

person says

you need to

confess a sin

and the other

person says

it's not sin

at all.

How horrible

and confusing

that matter

would be.

Thirdly,

we must

contend for

the truth

in this

generation

concerning

marriage.

We must.

As the

people of

God,

we should

be set

apart

concerning

marriage.

There's a

lot of

statistics

running around

out there

and statistics

get skewed

in all kinds

of ways.

For many,

many,

many years

people have

said that

the statistics

outside of

the church

for marriage,

half of

marriages end

in divorce

and those

within the

church,

half end

in divorce.

They're the

same.

Some more

recent studies

have come out

and said,

no,

that's not

the case.

Actually,

people within

the church

are more

successful in

their marriages

but it's

still like

30%.

It's still

a dramatic

rate in

which people

are getting

married.

Whichever

one of those

shows that

we're not

setting

ourselves

apart

from the

culture.

We haven't

separated

ourselves

and fought

for marriage

and what

it's for.

If we have

a right

understanding

of it,

marriage is

not primarily

about our

happiness.

Marriage is

about the

glory of

God.

So whatever

the truth

may be,

we have to

contend for

it.

We have to

set down

firm lines

and stand

on those

things,

not let the

culture

influence

who we are.

We can't

let the

culture at

large define

truth for

us.

We must

let God's

word do

that.

Fourthly,

working together

through a

process to

make a

doctrinal

statement,

as I said,

I'm going to

suggest that we

just make a

change to the

statement of

faith.

We could

write a

paper.

There's many

ways we

could accomplish

this.

But to

form this

kind of

doctrinal

statement is

going to

be a

test,

I think,

a really

healthy

test of

our love

for the

truth.

Do we

love the

truth?

Do we

want to

walk in

the truth

regardless of

what it

says or

what it

means for

our living?

Are we

subservient to

the truth?

Let me read

from you again

from our

statement of

faith on

the scriptures.

We believe

that the

holy

bible was

written by

men divinely

inspired and

is a

perfect

treasure of

heavenly

instruction.

That it

has God

for its

author,

salvation

for its

end,

and truth

without any

mixture of

error for

its matter.

that it

reveals the

principles

by which

God will

judge us

and therefore

is and

shall remain

to the end

of the

world the

true center

of Christian

union and

the supreme

standard by

which all

human conduct,

creeds,

and opinions

should be

tried.

What a lofty

statement about

what we believe

about the

scriptures and

this will be a

test of that.

John 17

7,

Jesus is

saying a

high priestly

prayer and

he's laying

out his

hopes for

his apostles

and therefore

for us,

he says to

God,

sanctify them

in the

truth.

Your word

is truth.

Are we

going to

arrange our

lives by

common

philosophy,

by our

own

circumstance,

or on

revelation?

It will be

a test of

our love

for the

truth.

Fifthly,

it will be

a test of

our love

for one

another.

a test of

our love

for one

another.

If you're

a member,

and I know

that many

of you

right now

in this

room are

not,

but if

you're

a member,

you did

not

commit

to this

church

as a set

of programs

and presentations.

At least I

hope you

didn't.

I hope we

made it

very clear

to you

that that's

not what

you should

be

committing

to,

but rather

you committed

to a group

of people,

a group

of people

who love

Christ and

want to

pursue

the truth,

a group

of people

that you

can pursue

the truth

with,

even when

we don't

get it

exactly right

sometimes.

You want

to walk

through those

things together.

Doctrine

is not

something given

to us

that we

can hurl

at each

other

carelessly,

not giving

any respect

to situation

and what

people have

walked through.

We don't

use doctrine

to beat

each other

over the

head with

it,

but on

the other

side,

there's so

many churches

this day

that just

go along

to get

along,

right?

Peace at

any cost,

and they

dismiss truth

altogether,

right?

So there's

this false

sense of

unity in

the church

which typically

has to do

with a piece

of property,

the building,

and what

they've accomplished

together that

they can

physically see

and touch.

Shame on

them and

shame on

us if

that's what

we do.

A wise

man once

said to me

that there's

a great deal

of difference

between

compliance

and commitment.

I'm just

kidding,

dad.

My dad

said that.

I mean,

he's a

wise man.

Sometimes

I don't

think about

what I'm

going to

say before

I say

it,

and it

comes out

all wrong.

That's

right.

That's

exactly

right.

I often

plagiarize

my dad

unknowingly.

He says

things to

me a lot

that I

end up

repeating.

I knew

this one

that time.

Anyway,

a wise

man,

my father,

said to

me,

there's a

big difference

between

just

compliance

and

commitment.

Just going

along with

things,

right?

Taking a

look at

reports that

we give

and budgets

that we

vote on

and just

going along

because it's

easier to

go along

than to

raise your

hand and

ask a

question,

right?

It's easier

to go

along and

not search

the scriptures

yourself.

Beloved,

as members of

this church,

you have

doctrinal

responsibility.

You have

responsibility to

hold me

accountable to

the truth.

If I get up

here and say

something and I

err in some

way,

it's your

job to

tell me that

I erred,

right?

Not to be

arrogant,

not to say

you figured

something out

ahead of me

and I'm

the pastor

and you're

so smart

sitting in

the pew,

right?

But so that

we can

preserve truth

together,

we can walk

together in it

because it's

best for

all of us

when we do

this.

1 Corinthians

13.

2,

Paul says

if I have

prophetic powers

and understand

all mysteries

and all

knowledge and

if I have

all faith so

as to remove

mountains,

he's setting

up this

hypothetical

scenario,

right?

I'm the most

brilliant person

ever.

I can discern

from right and

wrong with

flawless ability.

I can move

mountains with

my face,

but have

not love.

I'm nothing.

I am

nothing.

Ephesians

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

chapter 4,

Paul writes

again to us,

verses 11

through 16.

And he gave

the apostles,

the prophets,

the evangelists,

the shepherds

and teachers

jobs given

to the church

to equip

the saints

for the work

of ministry,

for building

up the body

of Christ

until we all

attain to the

unity of the

faith and of

the knowledge

of the Son

of God

to mature

manhood

to the

measure of

the stature

of fullness

of Christ.

This is our

great goal

together,

so that we

may no longer

be children

tossed to

and fro

by the waves

and carried

about by

every wind

of doctrine,

by human

cunning,

by craftiness

in deceitful

schemes.

Rather,

speaking the

truth

in love,

we are to

grow up in

every way

into him

who is the

head,

into Christ,

from whom

the whole

body,

joined and

held together

by every

joint with

which it

is equipped,

when each

part is

working properly,

makes the

body grow

so that it

builds itself

up in

love.

love.

And what I

want you to

take away

from that

is that

we have

the capacity

to walk

in truth

together.

We've been

given the

scriptures,

we've been

given the

spirit of

God,

and we've

beheld

Christ.

We're being

built together

into his

body.