Marriage is Sacred and Binding | Frank Brancato

Welcome everyone. We have a wonderful crowd here

today and we're so thankful we have visitors that are among us,

and we want you to know that you are our honored guest and we

welcome you back every time that we have an opportunity to

assemble and worship God in spirit and in truth.

As always is the case, I do consider it a privilege to speak

concerning the Word of God. And I will say this, it's even a

greater privilege to speak words that Jesus preached so long ago.

We're continuing our series on the greatest sermon ever

preached. It's called the Sermon on the

Mount, found in Matthew 5-6 and seven.

And you might remember the last time that I taught you.

Remember that Jesus said, you have heard that it had been

said, you shall not commit adultery.

But Jesus says, but I say to you that whoever looks upon a woman

to lust after her has committed adultery already in his heart.

We talked about what that means in great detail last time.

We'll not touch on any of that this morning.

When Jesus finished those words, though, is the next two verses

and he talks about marriage. And I want to tell you where I

got the phrase or I got the title, Marriage is sacred and

binding. I just got it from my Bible

right above these two verses. As the Bible was being printed.

Somebody wrote marriage is binding and marriage is sacred.

So I just put that on as the title.

That's where I got it. Let me say something about

marriage, please. Marriage is the most primary of

all relationships. And I have to tell you, if you

have a good marriage, there's nothing in the world that's

better. And perhaps if you have a bad

marriage, there's nothing in the world that's worse.

I get that. I will say this too.

It's all about who you choose. And that's not the topic we're

going to consider today. But you got to choose the right

one. Your happiness depends on

choosing the right one. The marriage relationship is the

greatest relationship in all the world.

When I think about that, I think about this, that God has

ordained the marriage relationship meaning this.

That somebody that knows me, every bit of me, with all my

weaknesses, still loves me enough to want to be with me no

matter what. That's great stuff.

What did Jesus say about this great subject a long time ago?

First of all, I'm going to say this about marriage.

A lot of times in the world, people don't view it as sacred

or binding. In fact, did you know I looked

at this up this morning? These are the latest statistics

as of 2022 in the United States of America in 2020, two, 50% of

all marriages end in divorce. That's first marriages In the

United States of America, 60% of all second marriages end in

divorce. You see a trend and 75% of all

third marriages end in divorce in the United States of America.

Marriage though is sacred and binding.

What did Jesus say in Matthew chapter 5?

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

Jesus says. Furthermore, it has been said

whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of

divorce. But I say to you that whoever

divorces his wife for any reason except sexual immorality or

adultery causes her to commit adultery.

And whoever marries a woman who is divorced commits adultery.

I have to say this before we go any further, please.

You're going to hear me use words like this old law, old

covenant, and you're going to hear me use words like new law

and new covenant. And this is what I'm talking

about when I say old law. I'm talking about the old law of

Moses and the old law of Moses existing before Jesus.

And when I talk about the new covenant, I'm talking about that

which is an establishment after Jesus died, after he was buried,

after he rose again the third day, ascended to his Father, and

after the church was established in Acts chapter 2.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

OK, So when I say old covenant or old law, I'm talking about

the old law of Moses before Jesus, before the church.

When I say new law, I'm talking about that which applies to

Christians in the church age that began in Acts 2 and it

exists even today. OK, that being said, Jesus

refers to the old part in the first part of this passage.

It's on here in verse 31 he said.

Furthermore, it has been said whoever divorces his wife let

him give her a certificate of divorce.

So in verse 31, it's basically a summary of what all the Mosaic

system legislated regarding divorce.

And what Jesus is doing is he's referring back to Deuteronomy in

the Old Testament chapter 24, beginning with verse one as its

basis. Notice when a man takes a wife

and marries her and it happens that she finds no favor in his

eyes because of some uncleanness in her.

Please hold that phrase uncleanness because we're going

to get back to what that means. Many people misunderstand that

this is going back to the old law of Moses, OK, because he's

found some uncleanness in her and he writes her a certificate

of divorce, puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house

when she has departed from his house and goes and becomes

another man's wife. If the latter husband detests

her and writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand

and sends her out of his house, or if the latter husband dies

who took her as his wife, then her former husband who divorced

her must not take her back to be his wife after she has been

defiled. For that is an abomination

before the Lord. And you shall not bring sin on

the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.

OK, remember, before we go any further, regardless of what

happened under the law of Moses, and we're going to get specific

about that, regardless of what happened, God hates divorce.

He hates it. It's always been that way.

We know these very beautiful passages.

I'm going to be very brief about the passage, but I want to make

a point that maybe we don't always make.

In the book of Genesis, when God created everything and He

created man. God looks down upon man in his

loneliness. What does he say?

It's not good for a man to be alone.

I'm going to give him a helper. We know the story.

I use this passage every time I marry someone, perform a

marriage ceremony. Absolutely, we all do.

Anyone that does that, He causes a deep sleep to fall upon Adam.

He took a rib from his side and made the woman.

He brought the woman to the man. Remember what he said.

You remember what the man said, he looked upon her and he said

she is now bone of my bones, she is flesh of my flesh.

She shall be called woman because she was taken out of

man. Then he said therefore shall a

man leave his father and his mother and shall be joined into

his wife, and they shall become or be one flesh.

OK, here's the point I want to make.

If you ever stop to consider the gift that God just gave to man,

the gift. It's not good for a man to be

lonely. It's not good for a man to be

alone. I wouldn't want to be that.

It's the greatest relationship in all the world.

And I'm going to tell you this, the marriage relationship is the

greatest relationship in all the world except for your

relationship with Jesus Christ. That's the only one greater.

That's it. And God gave you that as a gift.

He gave you a helper for life. He gave it for life.

But God hates divorce. How do I know that?

I didn't just speculate. The Bible says that Malachi 216

for the Lord God of Israel says that he hates divorce, for it

covers 1's garment with violence, says the Lord of

hosts. Therefore, take heed to your

spirit that you do not deal treacherously, OK?

In addition, did you know that God never authorized divorce

even under Mosaic Law? He didn't authorize it, but

because of Israel's heart being hardened, He regulated it.

How did He regulate it? He regulated it with a

certificate of divorce. I did a little research.

Historically, by the way, people were getting divorces for

everything, anything and everything.

I don't like you anymore. That's it.

Al, you bother me. I'm really glad you can't get a

divorce or leaving your clothes laying around.

I might have been kicked out a long time ago.

People were divorcing their spouse for ridiculous reasons.

It was never to be that. It was always to be man and

woman. And yes, one man married to one

woman and that was for life. That's always the way it was

supposed to be. But because of Israel's hardened

heart, God regulated it with a certificate of divorce.

You had to have your paperwork. And This is why there were two

reasons. Please consider the following.

Again, this is under the old Law of Moses.

It protected the woman from being sent away by an angry and

impulsive husband, number one. Number two, you had to have a

certificate of divorce because it prohibited the marriage of a

divorced woman to her first husband after she had been

defiled by the second marriage. In other words, a husband needed

to think twice. Do I really want to divorce my

wife? Because if I do and she marries

another, I can't take her back under the old law of Moses.

So it was regulated by certificate of divorce.

Here's another passage that supports what I just said.

Jeremiah 3 and verse one. They say if a man divorces his

wife and she goes from him and becomes another man's, may he

return to her again, would not that land be greatly polluted?

So to understand the meaning of Matthew 5 and 31 and what Jesus

is about to say in Matthew 5 and 32, we have to notice the

following please Mosaic law, please get this did not allow

divorce for the cause of fornication.

Remember when I said in Deuteronomy 24 and verse one

that that phrase uncleanness, we're going to get to what it

means. I'll make the statement 1st and

I'm going to prove it to you, OK?

Under the old law of Moses, divorce was not allowed for the

cause of sexual immorality or the cause of fornication or

adultery. It was not.

So what do we mean? What we mean is if that's true,

then Deuteronomy chapter 24 and verse one, that phrase some

Deuteronomy 24 · chapter mention

uncleanness is not referring to fornication.

It's not referring to adultery. Now what did Mosaic law address

or what did Mosaic law say about fornication?

There were actually 5 situations in the Scriptures regarding

fornication, but not one of these allows for a divorce.

I'm going to notice 5 things with you here.

They are #1 premarital impurity between a man and unmarried man

and an unmarried, unengaged woman results in marriage or a

fine, but not divorce, as the Bible says.

He may not put her away all his days.

Those passages are Deuteronomy 22 verses 28 to 29 and Exodus

Deuteronomy 22:28–29 Exodus 22:16

chapter 22 verses 16 and 17. That's number one.

Here's another one. Premarital unchastity between a

man and an engaged woman not engaged to him.

Get this? This is pretty rough.

Results in a death sentence for the man under the old law.

The woman's fate is dependent upon the location and

circumstances surrounding impropriety.

Deuteronomy 22, verses 23 through 27.

Deuteronomy 22:23–27

Here's #3 the post Marital discovery of a wife's premarital

unchastity resulted in the death penalty for the wife.

Deuteronomy 2213 through 21. Don't you?

Aren't you glad you don't live under the Law of Moses?

Adultery between a man and a woman not married to each other

results in the death of both Deuteronomy 22 and 22.

How about one more? Suspicion of adultery resulted

in the priestly administration of a divine bitter water test.

If found guilty, the woman suffers a slow and shameful

death from the Lord. Numbers 511 through 31.

Now I'm going to tell you something.

If you want to know about this bitter water test, read numbers

five 11231. Please don't do it now, then I

won't have your attention. It's very long reading.

But if you want to know what that bitter water test read that

after services. 5 situations of fornication.

In all 5 cases just mentioned, divorce is not an option even

though sexual immorality had occurred.

What resulted in those cases? Here they are, marriage,

monetary fines, or death, but not divorce under the law of

Moses. And why is that significant?

I'll tell you why that's significant.

Have you ever heard of the position no exception?

Sometimes people have a no exception position.

Now, by the way, Jesus is going to give an exception, but there

are those that believe in a no exception position.

It means that there's no exception.

There's never a case when you can be divorced and remarried.

Jesus is going to give the exception.

People that believe in that concept or that position say

that the only thing Jesus was doing is in Matthew 532.

He was reiterating what was legislated under the old law.

Not so fast, because under the old law, fornication was not a

cause for adultery. That's not the case.

Fornication never resulted in divorce under the Mosaic Law.

It resulted in marriage, monetary fines, or death, but

not divorce. OK, saying all that, this is

what Jesus says he says. But I say to you, So in other

words, he says, you've heard that it was said before this.

But now I say to you, you know what he was doing?

He was giving new authoritative law, just like he's done

throughout the Sermon on the Mount so far.

When he said, when he reached back and he said, you've heard

that he'd been said, you shall not kill.

But I say to you, if you're angry with your brother without

a 'cause you've committed murder in your heart, see the point?

You shall not commit adultery. But I say to you that if you

lust after a woman, you've committed it in your heart

already. Here's new authoritative law

regarding the marriage relationship, about marriage and

divorce, and it exists for the church today.

Then he says this, that whoever, and sometimes this phrase is

very much misunderstood and there's much confusion.

What does the word whoever mean? It's caused confusion among

Bible students and so forth. But here's the question.

Is this word a universal word? Some people believe that it is

meaning anyone, period. Here's my question.

Is this word whoever referring to everybody, even non

Christians? Does the laws that Jesus was

speaking here, does it refer to non Christians and marriages

that non Christians may have before they ever become a

Christian? The answer to that is no.

The word whoever is exclusive to what he's talking about.

Jesus was living under the law of Moses still because he had

not died, He was not buried, he had not raised from the dead, He

did not ascend to his father, and the church was not

established yet in Acts chapter 2.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

So Jesus, when he preached the great Sermon on the Mount was

preaching New Kingdom law, living under Old Kingdom times

or the Old Testament times. He was saying that whoever.

In other words, this is referring to Christians, this is

referring to church members in the future.

Jesus never dealt, by the way, with a marriage relationship in

the New Testament that wasn't Christian, Christian.

Now Paul did and 1st Corinthians Chapter 7 and that's a sermon

for another time. When Paul dealt with A2 people

and I think the context is they were both non Christians.

They got married and then one obeyed the gospel and the Bible

says that the marriage is sanctified by the believer and

so forth. And Paul gave some rules for

that. And that's another sermon.

Jesus was saying Christians here.

So whoever means Christians, members of the church baptized,

believers baptized into Jesus Christ, church members today.

OK. Notice this of why it doesn't

apply to people before they are baptized or before they're

Christians. As one scholar said.

If Jesus teaching applies universally and would not

include and would include non Christians as some believe, then

a Sinner or a non Christian who is previously divorced and

remarried for other than the specific cause of fornication is

duty bound to separate from his current spouse before he could

become a Christian. But nowhere in the New Testament

is such an action required or even implied now.

Simply put, Jesus was referring to Christians and this is what

he says regarding divorce. Whoever divorces his wife except

or for any reason except sexual immorality.

And then it goes on further. But the exception of our Lord's

instruction is here. But it doesn't diminish the rule

or the force of the rule. Remember when I said God hates

divorce? OK, It doesn't diminish the

force of the rule. It just shows under what

conditions that rule may be amended.

Let's notice what the rule is. Here's the rule in Mark chapter

Mark 10 · chapter mention

10, verses 11:00 and 12:00. So we said to them, whoever

divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against

her. And if a woman divorces her

husband and marries another, she commits adultery.

That is the rule. So Matthew 532 is the exception

to the rule. And I want to say something

about the state of California. I know California gets slammed

pretty hard, especially from people of other States and even

people in our state slamming California.

And I'm just going to be realistic with you.

And to you at this time, first of all, I want to be honest.

I love living in California. And I'm to be honest with you, I

wouldn't live anywhere else. My life is here, my work is

here, everything's here, my family's here.

So I enjoy and I love living in California.

Do I love everything about California?

No. Do I love liberal views and

liberal ideas in all aspects of California?

No. Do I love all the liberal laws

that exist in the state of California?

No. But I do love living in the

state of California. OK, all that being said, if you

want to get a divorce in the state of California, you can

only get a divorce for one real reason, under the umbrella of

irreconcilable differences. You cannot legally in the state

of California get a divorce for adultery as that cause.

They don't care. They just consider it whatever

whatever reason you call it. It's called irreconcilable

differences, and you can get a divorce for whatever reason if

it falls into the category of irreconcilable differences,

whatever that is. OK, I thought that's the way

that it was in all of the United States and all the other states,

too. But the other, well, a couple

months ago, I was holding the meeting in another state and I

heard of a case where somebody left a man, she left her

husband, and she wanted to get a divorce.

There was no adultery. She had no scriptural grounds.

They were just people taking it to the law.

And they went to the law and they went to a judge and they

tried to get, she wanted to get a divorce because she just

wanted to leave her husband. You know what they said?

It's illegal to divorce your spouse except for adultery.

I'm glad there's at least some states out there that want to

stick to the Bible. Jesus says there's one exception

in that sexual immorality. That is adultery for divorce.

Our state says whatever irreconcilable differences.

But notice what else Jesus says. What happens when you divorce

your wife for any reason except for sexual immorality?

Notice what Jesus said. Not me.

Jesus says you caused her to commit adultery.

If a man dismisses or divorces his spouse for reasons other

than sexual immorality, he makes her commit adultery.

Now, why is that? Here's the idea, by the way, if

the husband, and we'll get to why the husband's being

addressed so much here, but if the husband initiates an

unscriptural divorce from his wife, in other words, she's

innocent. She didn't cheat on him, she

didn't commit adultery and he wants to divorce her.

He is aiding in her immorality. Jesus says he's causing her to

commit adultery. Why is that?

Very startling words. The assumption is this because a

divorced woman will probably remarry and if she had an

unscriptural divorce, she had no right to remarry.

Please stay with me. It's going to get simple, I

promise. The idea is referring back to

maybe a culture that doesn't apply so much today about the

need to remarry. I know that in our cultures, we

have women that are educated, great.

We have women that are independent, able to take care

of themselves. So if a spouse of a husband left

a woman today, she wouldn't necessarily have to be married

to another man to be taken care of because she can take care of

herself. So maybe culturally, that

culturally may not apply that example so much today.

Back then, oh, it applied ancient Jewish cultures, women

didn't work. The man provided, the man went

out and worked. The man had whatever career, the

man had the job, the man provided and the woman was at

home. So if a man divorced a woman

unscripturally in those ancient societies, she would be all

alone, destitute, all alone, needing help and assistance.

She would actually have to be compelled to marry another man

to take care of her. What Jesus says is if he she has

been divorced for any other reason except sexual immorality,

you've just caused her to commit adultery because she'll marry

another man, be forced to remarry.

Here's some other things that might apply today, and don't

underestimate this one. How about loneliness?

I'll tell you what, loneliness is rough.

I'm fortunate I'm not lonely at all.

But I know people that are really lonely because they're

all by themself, and sometimes maybe we should be more

considerate of the feelings of others that are lonely and maybe

do more to come to their aid and support when they're lonely.

Loneliness might cause somebody to get remarried.

What else? Even today, How about

unfulfilled natural desire? You got to throw that in.

That's true. How about this, How about a

negative or trying to avoid a negative social stigma?

Now, it's not that big of a deal today, but there was a time and

some of you older folks, and I just say maybe a little more

seasoned than I am. You're older than 57.

That's my age. I'll just say it that way more

seasoned. Maybe you lived in a time like

maybe in the 50s when divorce came with a tremendous stigma.

Remember the phrase of the word divorcee?

There was a time when that phrase divorcee had a real

stigma to it. So maybe someone today might

want to be remarried because avoiding the social stigma of

being divorced. JW Mcgarvey said this.

A woman, when divorced by her husband, naturally seeks a

second marriage, if for no other reason than to vindicate herself

from being the imputation cast on from the imputation cast on

her by the divorce. So Jesus places the weight of

this teaching squarely on the man's shoulders because the man

has the role of or the responsibility of being the

family caretaker. But I will tell you this, though

I have to add this The rules apply to men and women both.

The divorce and remarriage rule and law of the New Testament

applies to men and women too, both.

The weight of the teaching now is falling culturally,

especially on the man, because he's the caretaker.

It's his responsibility He is to provide both physically and

emotionally by nourishing and cherishing his wife.

Ephesians 529 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but

nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church.

That's the husband's role, and to do otherwise violates God's

plan. I have to do it.

If you think that your marriage is difficult and you have to

work at it and maybe you're not happy, So what?

So what? Work it out and because you have

to work with your marriage and work with your spouse and your

relationship, it doesn't mean your relationship is bad.

Anybody that says I've never had to work something out with my

you're lying or something's wrong with you because that's

just part of it. Now, there is a reason there is

an exception, but I'm just talking about getting along.

I'm talking about working stuff out.

I'm talking about that I'm going to get to some other things

later. So hold, hold that thought.

I'll get back to you if I know what you're going through your

mind right now. I'll get back to some of the

things you're thinking about. Let's just continue on our our

flow here causes her to commit adultery and whoever marries a

woman who is divorced commits adultery.

The Lord's legislation, as one scholar said, if followed,

eliminates the immorality that results from an unscriptural

divorce. And when this the law is

rejected, all parties become entangled with guilt.

Please notice the following. Notice what happens in an

unscriptural divorce. Here's what happens #1 The

husband, because of an unscriptural divorce when he

marries, commits adultery. That's number one.

Number two, the second wife commits adultery because he's

ineligible to marry her #3 the first wife becomes a fornicator

when she marries another Romans 7 and two.

Number four, and her new husband is guilty too because he married

her. Wow.

What's the Lord saying here? What the Lord is saying here is

all four people are now involved in the sin, all because a man or

a woman unscripturally divorced his or her spouse.

Here's my point, folks. The impact of the Lord's

teaching is this, that one who does not have the right to

divorce does not have the right to remarry.

And again, we're talking about Christians in the Kingdom,

church members. We're not talking about

unbelievers. We're not talking about people

that have never been baptized by their mission of their sins.

We're talking about Christians. So any attempt to justify an

unscriptural divorce and subsequent remarriage is futile.

So remember this, God's plan for marriage has always been the

same. It's one man married to one

woman and that's for life. That's number one.

Number two, even under the law of Moses, remember God tolerated

divorce, but that was never His plan or His desire.

Matthew 19 and verse 8 says this.

He said to them, Moses, because of the hardness of your heart,

permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it

was not so. He gave the rule of marriage

that we've already established in Mark chapter 10, verses 11:00

Mark 10 · chapter mention

and 12:00. So we said to them, whoever

divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against

her. And if a woman divorces her

husband and marries another, she commits adultery.

That's the rule. Here's the exception, except for

sexual immorality. What am I saying, folks?

I'm saying this under the Law of Moses, adultery was not a cause

for divorce. There were other things we read

about what they were bad stuff, right?

Fornication brought marriage, fines and death.

What Jesus is saying is this, but I'm saying to you, if your

spouse cheats on you, commits adultery, you have a choice.

If you so choose, you can divorce that spouse for the

cause of adultery, and yes, you can be married to another.

That's the exception. That's the exception.

There's no other exception but that if that spouse decides I

don't want to divorce my spouse, I want to forgive my spouse, can

they do that? Absolutely.

Take them back? You bet, but it's up to the

innocent party or the one that was affected in it to make that

choice. They have the choice.

What Jesus was saying is I'm saying you to you.

This under new authoritative law under the Kingdom, when the

church is established, you got Christians that are married,

right? Two Christians don't get a

divorce. It's unscriptural except for the

cause of sexual immorality, fornication, which is adultery.

This is not the only time that Jesus mentioned this in Matthew

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

chapter 5. He also mentioned it in Matthew

Matthew 19 · chapter mention

chapter 19. That's the exception.

Again, except for sexual immorality.

Remember this as I draw my remarks to a close.

There's only two things that separate marriage in God's eyes.

Only two things. I don't care about

irreconcilable differences. I don't care about the courts.

When it comes to two Christians like Jesus was talking about,

there's only two things that separate marriage in God's eyes.

One is death. If your spouse dies, you are no

longer married. And by the way, Jesus even dealt

with that when the Sadducees questioned him.

There's no marriage in heaven. There's no marriage in heaven.

We're going to be like the angels of God in heaven.

No marriage, not going to be marriage or given marriage in

heaven. There's no marriage.

We're spiritual beings in heaven.

We're going to know each other, I think, as we were known.

But there's no marriage. OK.

So death separates marriage. That's number one.

So if your spouse has died, you're no longer bound to that

marriage law because your spouse is gone and it severs the tie,

right? You're not married anymore.

What's the other thing? Sexual immorality.

Fornication. King James calls it adultery.

That's the only other thing that separates that in God's eyes.

Maybe you were thinking when I was talking about this.

Wait a minute. I've been married to a creep.

Do I have to stay with him? I'm a Christian for, for

example, I'm I was married to an abusive man.

He was horribly abusive to me. Do I have to stay with him?

No, you don't. But there's only one scriptural

ground for scriptural divorce and that is sexual immorality.

You don't have to stay there, separate and get out of there,

but it doesn't give you the right to divorce that horrible

person and marry somebody else. Only one exception in Roman in

in first Corinthians Chapter 7. I told you when Paul dealt with

1 Corinthians 7 · chapter mention

the relationship 2 non Christians 1 obeys the gospel.

So now what? You have a Christian married to

a non Christian and as I said, it is sanctified in the eyes of

God by the believer. So God recognizes that marriage

in his eyes, right? OK, what happens when the

unbeliever wants to depart? Paul says let him depart.

You're not under bondage in such cases.

What does that mean? Some people believe that means,

oh, you're not under bondage means you can just go get

married to anybody else. Under bondage means you're not

under bondage of fulfilling your marital responsibility to that

spouse and making it work. Let him go.

But then what did Paul say? Here's your choice.

Remain unmarried Christian, Christian spouse or be

reconciled back to your spouse again, because there's only one

exception, folks, and that's sexual immorality.

If they do that, you can divorce them for that cause and you can

be married to another scripturally.

In conclusion, let me just say this, if you're contemplating

marriage, it's a serious matter. So don't enter into it lightly.

Don't you better make sure and make sure that the person that

you are going to marry or you want to marry is on the same

page that you are spiritually, where God is first and foremost

in your life. I'm going to tell you something,

a marriage that is based on that.

You can take anything that comes your way, man.

You can do it. You can handle it and even when

the hardest things in life come your way, it won't pull you

apart because you got God is number one and God is the focus

and the center of your life and your marriage is what it should

be because of it, man, you handle anything.

Choose the right one, get the right one.

Number two, don't enter into it lightly and understand this

marriage is for life. I'm finished.

Thank you for your kind listening.

These were the words of Jesus. I hope that something was said

that was edifying to you and explaining these passages that

Jesus spoke so long ago. If you have any questions about

what I have said in any way, please talk to me after

services. I'll do my very best to answer

any questions or clarifications that you might have.

But now we've come to the time when we extend an invitation.

We never preached from God's Word without extending an

invitation. Do you remember when I said that

the rules that Jesus was referring to refer to

Christians? This is what you have to do to

become a Christian here. It's very simple, and I know a

lot of people have different ideas, but this is what you have

to do to become a Christian. You got to hear the Word of God.

Romans 10/17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the

word of God. That's what generates faith is

the word of God #2 what do you got to do?

You got to make a choice. You got to believe with all your

heart. Hebrews 11:00 and 6:00 But

without faith it's impossible to please Him, for he who comes to

God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those

who diligently seek Him. What else Jesus says?

I got to change my life. I got to repent of my sins.

Acts 17 and 30. Truly these times of ignorance

God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent.

What else I need to be able to make the greatest confession,

say the greatest words ever stated, and confess that Jesus

Christ is the Son of God. Acts 837 And Philip said, if you

believe with all your heart, you may.

And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the

Son of God. Upon taking these steps, you are

now a fit candidate to contact the blood of Jesus.

And this is what washes your sins away.

It's the only thing that'll take your sins away.

You can't hear it away, believe it away, repent it away, or

confess it away. If you want your sins to be

washed away, you got to do this. Be baptized for the remission of

your sins. Mark 1616.

He who believes and is baptized will be saved, but he who does

not believe will be condemned. If you've never taken those

steps of obedience and you would like to, we, we are standing

ready to assist you. We would love to help you in

that. Maybe you have taken those steps

of obedience. Maybe there's something in your

life that's not what it should be.

Maybe you're a child of God and you've drifted away and it's

time to come back. If you want to be the class,

come forward while we stand and while we sing.