"Divorce"

Good morning.

There is almost no unhappiness so poignant as the unhappiness of an unhappy marriage,

and almost no tragedy so great as the disintegration of what God meant for love and fulfillment

into a non-relationship of bitterness, discord, and despair.

So writes commentator John Stott as he begins his commentary on our passage this morning.

Today we will be looking at something, a topic that for some will be difficult, painful, and personal.

Jesus' view on divorce and marriage.

And it is a weighty one.

It is one filled with many, even conflicting, emotions.

And I, as your pastor, stand here with not a little fear and trepidation in preaching about this.

My hope in prayer is that I will bring clarity and compassion to this topic.

My hope is that we might not merely have an academic discussion, nor merely an emotional response,

but that the glory of the kingdom of God might shine through this passage to us this morning

and might bring healing and hope into your lives.

We are continuing in our sermon series in the Sermon on the Mount this morning.

It is page 760 in your pew Bible.

We are looking at Matthew chapter 5, verses 31 to 32.

Matthew 5:31–32

And as you turn there so we can look at it together, just let me remind you,

the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is painting a picture of the kingdom that He is proclaiming

that He is going to bring and that it is at hand.

The kingdom that He is, our Savior King, will be establishing through His life and death and resurrection.

And the immediate context of this verse is in a series of applications after verses 17 through 20,

where Jesus said, I am the fulfillment of the law and the prophets,

and now I want you to obey Me as I instruct you about how to live in this kingdom driven by the gospel.

Verse 20 there says, you must have a righteousness that is greater than the Pharisees.

You must have a distinctively Christian view of these topics.

And so with this, let's ask God's help as we look at God's Word this morning.

Lord, there are some whose heart rates just jumped, whose blood pressure rose because of what we're talking about this morning,

because these things are deep and meaningful.

Lord, I pray that Your comfort and Your peace and Your truth would be with us.

Lord, help us together to sit under the teaching of Your Word.

Let it refine us.

Lord, perhaps this morning You will bring conviction of sin.

Perhaps this morning You will bring a healing balm and comfort.

Certainly, Lord, this morning may we be reminded of hope

and of Your great love with which You have loved us.

Lord, I ask for Your help this morning

that I might speak the words that You want me to speak

and that together we might see the truth of Your Word.

We pray this in Jesus' name.

Amen.

So Matthew, chapter 5, starting in verse 31.

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

It was also said, whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.

But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality,

makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

My friends, as we look at this passage this morning, it's fairly straightforward.

Jesus calls us to uphold a distinctively kingdom view of marriage and divorce.

What does that look like?

Well, let's look at it together.

I think we're going to look at it in three stages.

Here's your outline if you're an outline person.

We're going to look at the context, both cultural and biblical, of this passage.

Secondly, we're going to look at the content of Jesus' call, the prohibition and the exception.

And then we're going to look at the gospel glory that comes in the call of Jesus.

So first, the context of Jesus' call to us, cultural and biblical.

Verse 31, it was also said, whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.

Jesus is referring to and quoting what the Pharisees would have based their view on divorce and remarriage on

in Deuteronomy 24, verse 1, where it says,

Deuteronomy 24:1

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 it goes on.

It's a longer passage.

We're not going to look at all of the details,

but what you want to see clearly is that there was established in the Old Testament

a basis of divorce for, quote-unquote, some indecency,

and we will just explore that in just a minute.

This divorce required the husband to give the wife who he was divorcing a certificate

that would authenticate this so that it was known that she was not merely abandoning the marriage,

but that she was free then from the constraints and free to remarry

because in the ancient Near East, a woman without a husband and a home

was in a very perilous and vulnerable state,

and so there was a protection that came from this.

It also served, if you read through Deuteronomy 24 carefully,

it served as a warning that when he relinquished claim on this marriage by divorcing her,

there was no going back.

This was a permanent action.

You can read through Deuteronomy 24 more if you want to see it,

but this was the biblical basis upon which the first century Pharisees understood marriage and divorce.

Now, in the first century, there were two schools of Pharisees.

There were the followers of Rabbi Hillel and the followers of Rabbi Shammai,

and both of them saw marriage as a covenant with promises to provide food and clothing,

love and fidelity, that is, faithfulness in sexual activity to the marriage covenant,

and they saw that if there was a violation of these things,

there was some grounds for divorce, for they would break that covenant agreement.

Both saw that remarriage was possible when a divorce was given.

So this was a common first century understanding.

Now, there was a major disagreement between these two schools,

for the Hillel school thought that some matters of indecency

actually meant any matters or indecency.

And so, if a wife burned the toast, or if the husband saw a woman that he found more attractive than his wife,

he could divorce her because clearly that was grounds.

There was something there that he found unacceptable.

The Shammai, on the other hand, had a much more narrow view of understanding

that this was on the grounds of moral unfaithfulness or infidelity

in the way that we typically think of it with sexual activity some way outside of marriage.

In fact, they were strong enough that they said,

if you commit this, then the husband must divorce the wife on that grounds

because of the broken covenant agreement.

Now, here's the third interesting historical piece that comes together.

In the first century, over 90% of divorces were granted by rabbis in the school of Hillel.

90% over 90%.

That meant that everybody went to the easy lenient judges if they wanted to get a divorce.

Right?

And the Shammai school said,

well, we don't judge whether the legitimacy of the divorce is there or not,

so they're all legitimate.

So, remarriage, for anybody, divorce, for any reason,

functionally, was the first century culture in which Jesus is speaking.

The Jewish context in the first century was a for-any-cause divorce culture.

Friends, it's not hard to see that we are not so different in our culture today.

The no-fault divorce is firmly planted in American culture and law at this point

without the misogyny of the first century where the husband was initiating it

and the wife was the victim of it.

But we've given more freedom, so anybody can do that.

I'm not sure that's progress.

It's an interesting question.

Our culture today often views marriage as contractual, not covenantal.

We see it as a 50-50.

You do your part, I'll do my part, and hopefully that'll get to something worthwhile.

It is a mutual benefit as long as it continues to be mutually beneficial.

And as soon as it's not, we abandon it.

It's a shockingly self-centered view of marriage.

It's shocking to think about marriage as something that is for my happiness,

and if I'm not happy, I will leave it.

To lay it bare, we end up using marriage for self-fulfillment.

This is not God's view, as we will see in a minute.

And even when we are married, we find ourselves saying,

I think I've grown apart.

We're going in different directions.

I've developed new interests.

And this gives us, it seems, grounds to abandon the divorce.

So Jesus speaks not only into a first-century context of for any reason,

but in the 21st-century context of no-fault divorce.

Jesus, however, is not merely speaking into that cultural context.

He is also speaking with the weight of a biblical narrative about marriage

that we need to understand for us to get these two verses clearly.

Turning to Matthew 19, because if you want to turn there,

we're going to spend a few minutes there,

because in Matthew 19, Jesus ends with a discussion with the Pharisees,

with almost the exact same words he says here.

But he has a much longer conversation with them,

because the Pharisees come in an attempt to trap him and say,

can you get divorced for any cause?

And they're trying to provoke him so that one of the two schools

will be angry with Jesus for how he responds.

And Jesus responds by saying,

if you're asking about the grounds of divorce,

you're in fact asking the wrong question.

When they ask him this question about,

for what reason can we divorce someone,

Jesus says,

do you remember where it began?

Do you remember what God established in creation?

Go back to the beginning of what God intended.

And so he goes back to Genesis,

and he says,

let us make man in our image,

male and female he made them,

and let them be fruitful and multiply.

And then he goes on in chapter 2,

where he retells the story of creation

in a way that brings man and women together

to be partners in a marriage.

When Adam wakes up and sees Eve,

and he says,

this now is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh.

And says,

therefore a man shall leave his father and mother

and join to his wife,

and they shall become one.

And in this picture in the Old Testament,

there's this mysterious but real union

of two lives becoming in God's eyes,

and in fact a oneness of body, mind, spirit, and life

shared together that is meant to be

permanent and exclusive.

The language of leaving and cleaving in Genesis 2

is covenantal language

of this wholehearted agreement

and commitment to the other party.

This is the basis of the traditional church vows

that maybe many of us know,

to have and to hold from this day forward

for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer,

in sickness and in health,

to love and to cherish until death do us part,

forsaking all others.

This is the marriage covenant.

This is the vows.

And this is a good creation pattern

that Jesus points us to.

And he says,

this is a goodness that's made

not just for the church,

like baptism or communion,

but for the whole world.

And fascinatingly,

there are sociological studies out there

that say it's true.

Marriage really is good.

As broken and as difficult as it is,

it is actually better where there is marriage

than where there is not.

So Jesus says,

from the beginning,

there was a goodness

that you need to be considering

before you start talking about divorce.

And so in verses 8 and 9 of Matthew 19,

he says,

because of the hardness of heart,

Moses allowed you to divorce your wives.

But from the beginning,

it was not so.

Because we know that in the original creation,

this marriage was a beautiful thing.

But then as sin entered the world,

sin entered marriage

and made it hard

and made it difficult.

And you can read through the Old Testament,

and there is case after case after case

of marriages

that violate the covenant,

that don't show the beauty of it.

Over and over again,

you see consequences of broken marriages

where they weren't always permanent and exclusive.

Jesus says,

why then does the New Testament give this?

Because of sin.

Because hardness of heart does enter in.

And there are times when divorce may need

to be accommodated or allowed.

Remember, though,

that divorce was never commanded

in the Old Testament,

in contradiction to the Shammai school

that said that you must.

But it was always an accommodation

where rather than provision,

companionship, union, fidelity,

there was abandonment, brokenness.

So in this,

in responding in Matthew 19

to the question of the Pharisees,

Jesus upholds a beautiful picture of marriage

and says,

this is where we need to start

as we're talking about these things.

So friends,

the first thing I want to say

to us this morning

as we're talking about this passage is,

how can we grow

in our faithfulness to marriage?

How can we hold fast

to our spouse?

And listen,

it's not easy.

Every married person here

will tell you

there's lots of wonderful things

about marriage,

but it is hard work

when two sinners

live on top of each other

every day,

all day.

When they entwine their lives

irrevocably

in the covenant of marriage,

you're stuck.

And it's hard.

And you realize

how sinful you are

and how selfish you are

and how unkind you can be

and how easily you imagine

that there might be

something else out there

that might be better,

that the grass might be greener

on some other side.

There is great blessing

and great opportunity

for growth

in marriage,

but it's worth fighting for.

If you are married,

fight for your marriage.

Be defensive in it.

Guard your heart

and guard your marriage.

Don't give in

to the temptation

to wander

with your eyes

or with your imagination

or with your actions.

When you are tempted

to long for another,

when you see someone else

starting to fill those spaces

in your heart

that your spouse needs to fit,

you need to flee.

You need to run away

like Joseph

running from Potiphar's wife

saying,

how could I sin against God

in this way?

In your relationships,

make sure that you put

your spouse first

before others.

If you're married today,

I want to ask you,

how are you investing

in your marriage?

How are you making time

and heart space?

How are you creating

the opportunities

to share joys

and sorrows together?

How are you seeking

to lay down your life

to serve the other?

To love and to cherish

till death do us part.

And listen,

if you're here

and you're single,

what is your call

in this?

First,

it's to see

the original goodness

of marriage.

I know in our church

some of you

are 20-somethings

who've not been married

and maybe you're

looking around

and wondering,

do I even want that?

Because it seems

pretty broken.

It seems really hard.

Right?

Some of you

are later in life.

I know some of you

have been divorced.

Some of you

are widows

and widowers.

Some of you

have never been married.

First and foremost,

uphold,

uphold

the ideal of marriage

that God has called

us to value

as a church.

Think about how

you can encourage

your married friends

to stay married

and to love

and to serve them

in the ways

that you have.

But also,

take advantage now.

Maybe God will call you

to marriage in the future.

Prepare for that now.

Learn the hard work

of relationships.

Learn how to resolve

conflict with your roommates,

with your coworkers,

with your bosses.

Learn how to serve others

selflessly.

Not selfishly.

Develop the basic skills

that God will want

to call you into

if God calls you

into marriage.

And know,

and we'll come back

to this at the end,

know that at the end

of the day,

friends,

being married

or being single,

these are not

the pinnacles of life.

They are contexts

in which God

has called you

to live out

your calling

to follow Christ

and to let Him

be the lover

of your soul

and the bridegroom

who loves you

with an everlasting love

and for you

to respond to Him

with love

and devotion

and fidelity.

So marriage,

it's a good thing.

It's what God

has given us.

And Jesus brings

this whole vision.

He's assuming it

as He's teaching

these verses

in 31 and 32.

So here we go.

Let's look now.

Having looked

at the context,

let's look at the content

of Jesus' call.

This is in verse 32.

This is following

the pattern that Jesus

has been doing

in this section.

You have heard it said,

but I say to you.

Jesus is taking it further.

He's saying this is now

the kingdom imprint

on how to handle

these issues.

And He says,

but I say to you

that everyone

who divorces his wife

except on the ground

of sexual immorality

makes her commit adultery

and whoever marries

a divorced woman

commits adultery.

There are two parts

of what Jesus

is saying here

and I want them

both to carry

the appropriate weight.

There is a strong

prohibition

and then there is

an exception clause.

The strong prohibition

is this.

If you take out

the exception clause,

if you ever were

a grammar nerd,

this is a subordinate clause.

So you just remove

the subordinate clause

and here's the main clause

of the sentence.

Don't commit adultery.

Do not divorce

because you are

committing adultery.

Now that's a very stark

way of saying it

but that's what Jesus is,

that is the main phrase here.

Don't divorce

because it's a violation

of this vision of marriage

that God has given us.

Interestingly,

when you look at Luke

and when you look at Mark

in Mark 10 verses 11 and 12

Mark 10:11

and in Luke 16, 18,

they both summarize it

just by saying this.

If you divorce,

you commit adultery.

Now, the assumption in this

is that everyone remarried

in the first century.

That men couldn't live

without a wife

in the first century

and that women were vulnerable

and unprotected

and so they needed to remarry

in order to be a part

of a household

to be provided for.

That was a cultural assumption

that Jesus is making.

So he equates divorce

with adultery

because there's a remarriage

assumed in that.

Jesus is saying,

because marriage

is permanent

and exclusive,

when you divorce

and remarry,

you are committing adultery.

Maybe it's helpful

to think about it this way.

Sometimes we think about

divorce as

we want to change

our context.

It's kind of like

we want to change

our clothes

or we want to move

to a new house

or get a new job.

We want to change

the context

in which we're living

our daily lives.

Tim Keller says,

divorce is better thought of

as an amputation

because God has brought

two to become one

and if you are divorcing,

you are breaking,

you are rending

this oneness

like you'd have to cut off

limbs

to do so.

It is,

as the old phrase says,

tearing asunder

what God has joined

together.

We need to let this sink in

because our culture

just doesn't think about it

this way.

There is so much divorce

that we've become

numb to the severity

that Jesus puts

on what divorce is.

Divorce violates

the original design

of marriage

and broadly

it should not be so.

Having let that sink in,

Jesus then says,

except for

there is a provision,

there's an understanding

that there are

some places

except for

in a context

of sexual immorality,

there is then

a place for divorce.

Why would that be?

Well, what is

sexual immorality?

Some of your versions

may read

that it's

marital unfaithfulness.

It's a very poor

translation of the word.

The word that's used

there is a much

broader word.

It's broadly

sexual immorality

of all sorts of kinds.

In other parts

of the Bible

it would include

things like

homosexuality

and bestiality

and incest

and all sorts

of things.

So, let's just,

let's assume

it's a broad term

here, right?

Any sexual activity

outside of the

healthy and proper

boundaries of husband

and wife.

And the logic

behind this

seems to be

that where

sexual unfaithfulness

has been,

the covenant

has been fundamentally

broken by that

violation.

And because of that

it says divorce

could be allowed

in those contexts.

And we need to

understand that

it's,

that as we look

broader,

as we pan out

a little bit

from just this verse,

we see that

in fact

there's another

place in Scripture

in 1 Corinthians 7

that suggests

that Jesus

isn't making

a comprehensive

statement on

all the grounds

by which divorce

may happen.

But he's giving

one very important

one.

Remember the

rabbi said

food,

clothing,

companionship,

fidelity.

And he was

dealing with

the fidelity

one as he

was addressing

this in this

context.

But what we do

see is that

in 1 Corinthians

7, 15

Paul addresses

an abandonment

of companionship.

This is where

in the context

of 1 Corinthians

believing,

people who have

come to faith

in Christ

who are now

married to someone

who's not a

believer,

the believer

is thinking

wait,

am I unequally

yoked?

Am I married

to someone

who doesn't

share my

faith commitment?

And if that's

true,

should I

abandon the

marriage so

that I can

go marry

someone who

shares my

faith commitment

now?

And Paul says

no,

you're married

to this

person,

stay married

to them

and love

them.

But then he

goes on

and he says

but if

your unbelieving

spouse says

you know what,

I'm done

with this,

you're not

the same

person I

married,

I am not

here anymore,

and that

person says

I'm gone,

then you

as a

believer,

that marriage

covenant has

been broken

by that

abandonment.

And so you

are then

free,

and I

believe that

freedom is

freedom to

remarry in a

similar way

because the

covenant has

been broken

in that way.

Okay?

So this is

how we

understand

divorce and

remarriage

at

trinity,

or divorce.

I want to

speak briefly

to remarriage,

and I'll

talk a little

bit more

about this

in application

in just a

minute,

but recognize

that divorcing

in the spirit

of the age

today,

divorcing for

any cause

whatsoever,

puts you

exactly in the

crosshairs of

what Jesus

is saying.

If you

divorce and

then you

remarry,

and that

divorce has

not been

legitimate,

you are

violating

your original

covenant

by marrying

someone else.

Now,

we'll talk

about how

to deal

with that

in a

minute,

but that's

what Jesus

is saying,

and he

challenges

us how

we think

about it.

So what

then,

how then

do we

respond?

First,

it means

we should

have hearts

to stay

faithful to

our marriage,

not to

ask how

can I

get out,

but how

could I

invest and

build?

Not for

what reason

can I

divorce,

but how

can we

stay

together?

Some

people ask,

if a box

can be

checked,

he committed

adultery,

she was

unfaithful,

does that

mean I

can just

go ahead

with divorce?

And I

think as

we look

at this,

Jesus would

recommend a

different

pattern,

a different

approach,

because he

would say

first,

wait your

marriage

through the

eyes of

redemption

and seek

for

reconciliation

first.

Now listen

carefully,

I do not

mean a

cheap

papering

over,

I do

not mean

a quick

just forgive

me,

we'll

get back

to normal,

no problems.

The work

of repair

in times

of betrayal

and unfaithfulness

is massive

and huge,

and the

rebuilding

of trust

will be

a year

long or

life

long project,

but it's

worth it.

Explore

it,

seek

it,

pursue

it,

and in

the midst

of it,

be careful

with your

own heart

that you

don't allow

bitterness

and contempt

to be the

fruit of

the hurt.

There is

appropriate

grieving,

there is

appropriate

setting of

boundaries and

even consequences,

but seek

to rebuild

the marriage

first.

And in

that,

my second

advice is

to be

patient,

not rash,

and to

give the

Lord time

to work.

Now again,

here's a

major caveat,

not to

stay in an

abusive

situation

where you

are in

danger.

If you

are in

a dangerous

situation,

it is

right for

you to

remove

yourself

from that

and to

seek

appropriate

help

from the

church,

from the

police,

from

counselors,

wherever

it is

needed.

Reconciliation

can only

happen in

the context

of physical

safety,

and that

would be a

prerequisite of

any pursuit.

But friends,

give it

time.

Wait on

the Lord.

Wait on

the Lord to

work in

your heart

to process

the hurt

if you're

the betrayed

spouse.

Wait on

the Lord to

work in

the heart

of the

offending

spouse for

them to

see the

depth of

their sin

so that

their

repentance

will be

real and

deep and

genuine.

Separation

might be

an appropriate

step, but

for a season

and with a

purpose, not

as an off-ramp,

but as a

purpose of

saying we

need space

to do our

own work so

that we can

try to come

back together

and reconcile.

Know that it

can take

time for

this to

happen.

Thirdly, do

this in

community.

Friends, it

is so hard

in the midst

of these

things because

shame rises

up on

every side.

The betrayer

feels shame

and they just

want to hide

and they

don't want to

tell anybody

that they've

done this

thing that

is so

hurtful to

their spouse.

The betrayed

spouse often

feels guilty.

What did I

do?

Did I deserve

this?

How could I

have done

better?

And isolation

is our

response so

often to

these things.

Friends, fight

that response.

Take it to

your friends.

Bring it to

the elders

and to the

older members

of our church

so that we

can walk

with you

through this.

Find friends

who won't

merely be

your cheerleaders

and say you

were wronged,

but who will

speak grace

and truth

to you,

who will help

you see your

own hearts.

And friends,

then, if

having involved

others,

pursued

reconciliation

with patience,

when it is

clear that

the other

person has a

hard heart

and is

unwilling,

unable

to take

the steps

to rebuild,

then there

is an

exception.

then there

is a

place to

say this

marriage has

been broken

and this

person who

I'm married

to has

hardened their

heart to

not rebuild

it.

This is

where there

is freedom

and it is a

real freedom.

There is a

real sense

of this

marriage is

done in

these contexts.

but friends,

let me say

this,

even when we

get to

that point,

no marriage

should end

in divorce

without broken

heartedness

in the heart

of a

Christian.

Even if

you feel

relief from

abuse or

serial infidelity

or emotional

hurt and

pain,

even when

it is the

appropriate

step within

the scriptural

boundaries,

if you have

not grieved,

you're not

ready to

divorce.

There should

be brokenness

and mourning

for what

God designed

to be good,

even when

it is allowed

and it is

an appropriate

step.

Now,

there are

many situations

that I

can't address

specifically.

What constitutes

sexual immorality

or abandonment?

What about

pornography?

What about

emotional abuse?

What about

failure to

provide?

What about

a spouse

who says

one thing

but does

the other?

Friends,

this is where

time and

discernment

and community

are all part

of God's

design to

help you

walk through

what that

looks like.

thing.

I do want

to address

one other

situation

that some

of you

may be

thinking

about

or

maybe

in

and

that

is

you may be

sitting here

this morning

and you

have

divorced

and as you

look back

on it

you think

I didn't

divorce

under these

conditions.

I didn't

divorce in

the spirit

that God

would have

wanted me

to.

What do I

do now?

Maybe you're

married again,

maybe you're

not.

Here are a few

thoughts for you

who are

divorced

and are

recognizing

that it's

not God's

plan.

It wasn't

part of

what God

would want.

First,

recognize that

you can

repent.

Repent

of the

divorce.

Recognize

that it

was done

in sin

if it

was.

There is

forgiveness

for you.

Grant

Osborne

in another

commentary

says,

the present

tense

commit

adultery

in no way

means that

a couple

will live

in perpetual

adultery.

It is not

the unpardonable

sin.

It means

that the

present act

and consummation

of remarriage

is adulterous.

The couple

should admit

that and

then begin

to live

by God's

standards.

So this

is a

recognition.

If you

have remarried,

then you

should stay

in that

marriage.

And that

is the

marriage

that God

has called

you to

in a

redemptive

way,

live out

the calling

that He's

called you

to,

to uphold

the beautiful

picture of

marriage

that we

talked about

earlier.

So if you're

remarried,

stay there.

If you're

not remarried

and your

spouse,

your ex-spouse

is not

remarried,

consider

reconciliation

if it would

be possible.

It may or

may not be.

And it may

be that in

even exploring

that you

realize

wherever we

were then,

where we

are now,

is irreconcilable.

That is

possible.

You can't

control that.

But at

least consider

it.

Friends,

I say all

these things

with fear

and trembling

because I

know some

of you have

walked this

road already.

And what I

want you to

know is

that Jesus

sees you

where you

are.

Some of you

have been

deeply

betrayed

and hurt.

Some of you

have perpetrated

harm

on others

and have

been unfaithful.

And some

of you are

in marriages

now,

but you're

at a place

where you're

wondering,

how can I

get out?

the gospel

is our

only hope.

You see,

the gospel

of glory

and the

call of

Jesus,

this is our

third point,

is that

God

has called

us to a

marriage

that is

even greater

than the

marriage

between a

man and

a woman.

God,

in the

Old Testament,

God uses

marriage language

to describe

the relationship

between him

and his

people.

God is a

loving,

faithful husband

who pursues

his people.

And do you

know what

Israel is?

An unfaithful

bride who

abandons the

covenant to

go after other

lovers,

who worships

other gods

and serves

other masters,

who

devotes

themselves

to others

rather than

God himself.

This is what

was read

earlier by

Carolyn,

Jeremiah 2.2.

Go and

proclaim in

the hearing

of Jerusalem.

Thus says

the Lord,

I remember

the devotion

of your

youth,

your love

as a

bride,

how you

followed me

in the

wilderness

in a

land not

sown.

Jeremiah

goes on

in chapter

3,

verse 20,

and he

indicts

Israel.

Surely

as a

treacherous

wife leaves

her husband,

so you

have been

treacherous

to me,

O house

of Israel,

declares

the Lord.

In fact,

the abandonment

of the

covenant

relationship

was so

deep that

God brought

the judgment

of exile

upon Israel,

and he

uses in

Jeremiah 3.8

divorce language.

She,

and this

is referring

to Judah,

this is

technical,

the southern

kingdom

watching the

northern

kingdom.

The northern

kingdom had

already been

judged for

its unfaithfulness.

The southern

kingdom is

wondering,

what do we

do?

And Jeremiah

says,

she saw

that for

all the

adulteries

of that

faithless

one,

Israel,

I had

sent her

away with

a decree

of divorce.

Yet her

treacherous

sister,

Judah,

did not

fear,

but she

too went

and played

the whore.

Old

Testament

language

is so

poignant,

isn't it?

But along

with this

thread of

unfaithfulness,

we see

unfaithfulness

by God's

people,

we see

the thread

of God's

redemptive

faithfulness

for his

people.

In grace,

he pursues

us in

our unfaithfulness

and promises

a restored

relationship.

So in

Isaiah 62

Isaiah 62:3–5

verses 3

through 5,

looking ahead

past the

exile,

God is

saying,

there will

be a day

that is

coming when

I will

restore my

relationship

with my

people.

He says,

you shall

be a crown

of beauty

in the hands

of the

Lord,

and a

royal diadem

in the

hand of

your God.

You shall

no more

be termed

forsaken,

and your

land shall

no more

be termed

desolate,

but you

shall be

called

my

delight

is in

her,

and your

land shall

be called

married.

For the

Lord delights

in you,

and your

land shall

be married,

for as a

young man

marries a

young woman,

so shall

your sons

marry you,

and as the

bridegroom

rejoices over

the bride,

so shall

your God

rejoice over

you.

And friends,

if you

haven't,

if you

weren't here

when we

preached through

Hosea a

couple years

ago,

if you

haven't read

the book

of Hosea,

it is

all about

this picture.

So in

Hosea 2,

the Lord

says this,

in that

day,

declares the

Lord,

you will

call me

husband,

and no

longer will

you call

me my

Baal,

for I

will remove

the name

of the

Baals,

Baals were

Old Testament

gods other

than the

God of the

Bible,

I will

remove the

names of

the Baals

from her

mouth,

and they

shall be

remembered

by name

no more,

and I

will betroth

you to

me forever,

I will

betroth you

to me

in righteousness

and in

justice,

in steadfast

love and

mercy,

I will

betroth you

to me

in faithfulness,

and you

shall know

the Lord.

And friends,

as we trace

this theme

in the Old

Testament

through the

coming of

Jesus,

and His

life,

and His

death,

and His

resurrection,

and we

see how

great a

love with

which God

has loved

us in

this.

And Jesus,

the risen

one,

is not only

called the

Savior,

and the

King,

and the

Lamb of

God who

takes away

the sin

of the

world,

but He

is also

the Lamb

who invites

us to

the wedding

feast,

where we

will be

His bride,

and He

will be

our

bridegroom.

And so

we see

in Revelation

19,

John saying,

then I

heard what

seemed to be

the voice

of a

great

multitude

like a

roar of

many

waters,

and the

sound of

many

mighty

peals

of

thunder

crying out,

Hallelujah,

for the

Lord our

God,

the Almighty

reigns.

Let us

rejoice and

exult and

give Him

the glory,

for the

marriage of

the Lamb

has come,

and His

bride has

made herself

ready.

It was

granted her

to clothe

herself with

fine linen,

bright and

pure,

and the

fine linen

is the

righteous deeds

of the

saints.

And the

angel said

to me,

write this,

blessed are

those who

are invited

to the

marriage

supper of

the Lamb.

And He

said to me,

these are

the true

words of

God.

Friends,

do you

see that

this is

the good

news of

the gospel

in

marriage?

That

Jesus has

come to

us to

win us

out of

our sin

and our

unfaithfulness

and our

infidelity,

out of the

stain and

the brokenness

of our

lives,

God's

to make

us to

make us

His

perfect

bride.

If we

came to

Him,

we would

all be

the

adulterous,

wayward

spouse,

because our

faithfulness

is never

pure and

perfect,

because our

unfaithfulness,

our hearts

are prone

to wander.

But Jesus

comes and

He takes

hold of us

by His

love and

by His

Spirit.

He convicts

us of

sin and

brings us

to repentance

and faith

and by

union with

Him,

we are

now His

bride.

And how

blessed are

we who are

invited to

the marriage

supper of

the Lamb.

This is the