For What Sayeth the Scripture about Divorce - Gerald Birky

Good morning, bringing greetings this morning, and in the name

of Jesus and the name of Jesus Christ, I have

been I have I have been impressed this morning with

the kind of the con the continuity of the continuity

of thought, I guess is what I would call that,

I guess before I before I go into it this

any farther, I'll just I'll add one announcement kind of

my wife and myself and the two two youngest children

we planned to leave this week go down to Mexico

Portobayarta and next well, this this week Saturday, a few

of the youth are coming down to join us, Mindy

Natalie Hans sire Kent about a half a dozen of them.

They're going to spend a couple of weeks down there

as well, so you can remember us in prayer as

well as we do some work, do some projects there,

language learning, orphanages, but most of all being being salt

and light where we find ourselves. This morning for a

sermon I had and I find this a little bit interesting.

I keyed this in as an introductory thought. I was

going to give this before I gave the title, So

I just will but what I had down here was

this quest just a question how does God speak to us?

And are we prepared to hear his voice? It's much

what Dan was just saying. Then I have a three

point A three point I mean's something that I've heard often.

I think there's some safety in this three ways that

God speaks through his written word, through his Holy Spirit,

and through his people, the church that I've carried with

me for quite a while. And well, a threefold chord

is not quickly broken. Ecclesiastes said that wrote that the

writer what to what to preach about? I was given

an assignment. I was given assignment a couple of weeks ago,

well two months ago, maybe assigned a topic and I

gave I studied this and I gave it at our

friends up north at Hope Well their Bible they called

their Bible conference. But the title that it was given

to me to spend thirty minutes on was this question

for what saith the scripture about dot dot dot divorce.

So you can turn in your bibles to mark chapter ten.

I'd like to read read that read a passage there

that was the text given for what saith the scriptures

about divorce? And so as as we think about this,

this concept of God's spirit. We have God's written word,

we have the Church that speaks into our life in

the form of people talking to us. Mark chapter ten,

beginning with verse one. Read this slight introduction here. I'll

interrupt myself a few times. Mark chapter ten, verse one.

And he talking about Jesus arose from Thence and cometh

into the coast of Judea by the farther side of Jordan.

And the people resort unto him again. And as he

was wont whereas he was accustomed to doing, he taught

them again. And the Pharisees came to him and asked him,

is it lawful for a man to put away his

wife tempting him? And he answered and said, unto them?

What did Moses command you? So let me just pause,

pause right there this and give you just a little

bit of a little bit of background. This question, this

question that was tossed at Jesus was kind of a

not really a trick question, but probably more of a

trap question. Apparently there was more than one. There were

two different, two different schools of thought, two different I

don't know if they were colleges of the day. I

read some read a few articles about it. Didn't try

to wrap my mind all the way around what it was.

But it came down to a discrepancy or a difference

in how to interpret what Moses wrote. Now, Moses had written,

Moses had written in one language, most probably it was Hebrew,

the common language on the ground in the country of

Israel then two thousand years ago. I don't believe that's

what they were speaking. There was there was another language.

So they had they had, they had room for room

for question here, and it was it was a technicality,

and if you agreed with you, you would tend to

agree with one side or the other. Let's let's read.

Let's read, Let's read on through what Jesus answered. So

the trap question, let's get let's get Jesus tangled up here.

Is it lawful for a man to put away his

wife tempting him? Verse three? And he answered and said,

unto them, what did Moses command you? And they said,

Moses suffered or allowed or permitted us to write, to

write a bill of divorcement and to put her away.

And Jesus answered and said, unto them, for the hardness

of your heart, he wrote you this precept. But from

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

For this cause, shall a man leave his father and

mother and cleave to his wife, and they twain shall

be one flesh. So then they are no more twain,

but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, Let

not man put asunder? And in the house I take it. Later,

his disciples again asked him of the same matter, and

he saith under them. Whosoever shall put away his wife

and marry another, committeth adultery against her. And if a

woman shall put away her husband and be married to another,

she committeth adultery. So that's the scene, that's the that's

the backdrop, that's the that's words of words of Christ.

So this morning of what I'd like to do is

go through here that we're going to look at this

question to Christ and some concepts that we can extrapolate

or take out of that. I'm going to read scripture

concerning divorce, and then we're going to move into marriage

from what it symbolizes, and then some practical some scriptures

pointing us down some practical living. And so Moses Moses

law back to this question, and in one of the

other passages that we'll read when when we read down

through these, the term or the phrase for any cause

or for every cause comes up. And the question here

by these pharisees was what is the permissible way? How

what what's the permissible criteria for a man to divorce

his wife? Moses law, as interpreted by the most liberal side,

made for an almost do as you please situation. Apparently

a man could could could get tired of his wife

in a divorcer for any cause. And as humans, as humans,

we we we gravitate toward those do as you please interpretations.

In fact, I was this is a this is a

bit of a side trail. But I was brought up

kind of face to face with that probably two years ago,

and it was actually in in part of my port

of art to Mexico talking to a Buddhist man. He

was a Buddhist chiropractor, and he asked me a couple

of questions about you know, what do you We went

into his office and he very quickly angled towards the

spiritual or the spiritual religious questions. He's a Buddhist, but

very learned, very very well read. He could almost tell

me as much about Christianity as I could though he didn't.

That wasn't his practicing faith. But I said, no, I

would like to see a I would like to see

a Bible believing Christ teaching following group here in Puerto

BYRTA at some point in the future. He just he stopped.

He said, Oh, that's a tough sell. That's going to

be a really tough sell. You know that, don't you.

He said, Listen, these guys, these Catholics here, they've they've

got they've got it just the way they want it.

Live like you want all the time, and weekly, monthly, annually,

whatever it went on your schedule, get to the priest,

take care of your take care of the past year,

and do what you want for the next year. How

are you going to compete with that? That's what a

Buddhist man asked me, like like, well, yeah, that's that's

one way of looking at it. On the other hand,

Christ's words are the words of life. Christ teaching has

a better has a better outcome generally. And he quickly

agreed with that. Yeah, that's that's that's right. So these

men back to the back to this question to Jesus

and this this exchange, What concepts do we find in

this exchange bill of divorcement. That was that was a

legal document. They said, Moses suffered verse four, write a

bill of divorcement, put her away. The bill of divorcement

apparently was a was a legal way under the law.

It was a legal document. It was not just simply

drafted by the by the disgruntled husband, but it was

it was via the via the city elders, or yeah,

the city elders draft the document, and it was it

was his, it was his legal document. But there had

to be And then then then you had the criteria

for the document. What what what would qualify? What? How?

How bad would this have to be? The other phrases

here concepts put his wife married to another, those are

all phrases we find in there. Adultery, Jesus said in

verse eleven. There who's who'll put away his wife and

marry another committed adultery against her. That's that's we understand

what that would be. And then the why it's not

in this it's not in this passage, but Jesus Jesus

stated that, yeah, Moses allowed that, but you simply wouldn't

have it any other way. Your your hard hearts, your

sighting of irreconcilable differences. Another fact, another fact that made

this this thing really tangly when when they were when

Jesus referenced or told these flipped the question on them

and said, what did what did Moses command you? To?

Actually put these people a little bit in a in

a quandary, but in a way it was a quandary.

They didn't mind. You See, capital punishment is not a

is not a fun thing. Capital punishment everyone shrinks back from.

But that is actually what if you want to read

the entirety of Moses, Jesus would have indicated that Moses

allowed this, allowed to build a divorcement for adultery. But

if adultery was verified, there was going to be a killing,

There was going to be a stoning. There was going

to be capital punishment. These folks when Jesus, when they

were trapping Jesus here, they had it kind of kind

of good because they couldn't do that the room it

was it was on, I mean the Romans. The Romans

said you may not. And so to have followed moses

commands explicitly would have gotten them in trouble with Rome.

They would have they might have lost their head, and

so thinking about the the time when when Jesus the

woman taken an adulter that was brought before Jesus. Jesus

ended that saying, neither do I can condemn you, go

and send no more. I think part of the reason

why no man wanted to pick up the first stone

was he was worried about his own neck. He didn't

he couldn't and survive. So thus, in a way, Moses law,

by taking part of it but not the full of it,

was kind of a means to an end for their

own purposes. Let's move to these scriptures. I'm going to

read from Deuteronomy, Matthew, and I'm going to turn to

those Deuteronomy twenty four. Let's go to the Old Testament.

We're going to look at at what the scripture says

about this subject. And this subject the subject of divorce, marriages,

husband and wives not getting along, husband and wife having

committed to each other and then quote changing their mind.

This is something that's been well, I'll get to a

statement about that. But remember sin came into the equation.

I mean, dude, only five and I want her to

be In twenty four Deuteronomy twenty four, first five verses

when a man hath taken a wife and married her,

and it come to pass that she find no favor

in his eyes, because he hath found some uncleanness in her,

then let him write her a bill of divorcement, and

give it in her hand, and send her out of

his house. And when she has departed out of his house,

she may go and be another man's wife. And if

the latter husband hate her, and write her a bill

of divorcement and giveth it to her hand it in

her hand, and sendeth her out of his house. Or

if the latter husband die, which took her to be

his wife, her former husband which sent her away, may

not take her again to be his wife. After that

she is defiled, for that is abomination before the Lord.

And that shall not cause the land to sin, which

the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance. When

a man hath taking a new wife, he shall not

go out to war, neither shall be charged with any business,

but shall be free at home one year, and shall

cheer up his wife which he has taken. Some so

some straight direct over the front directives here the law.

We don't understand all of the the situations. And I guess.

I guess the reality is that in there there were

times in history where where for a man, for a

woman to be outside of the protection of her father

or her husband, put her in a very vulnerable situation,

possibly even possibly even a deadly situation. Romans or Deuteronomy

twenty two back up two chapters, a few more versus

here twenty two Verses twenty two through twenty four. This

is law concerning well. The capital punishment comes comes into

play here. If a man be found lying with a

woman married to an husband, then then they shall both

of them die, both the man that lay with the

woman and the woman. So shalt thou put away evil

from Israel. If a damsel that is a virgin be

betrothed into an husband, and a man find her in

the city and lie with her, then you shall bring

them both out under the gate of the city, and

you shall stone them with stones, that they die, the

damsel because she cried not being in the city, and

the man because he hath humbled his neighbor's wife. So

thou shalt put evil, evil, put away evil from among you.

Not pretty pictures, not a nice not a nice thing

at all. And I find it a little bit just intellectually.

I find it interesting today, and so I was gonna

throw this thought out there at some point or this question.

Do you think Jesus time was especially Was this an

especially sensitive issue then? Was it a defining issue of

his day? Apparently it's also defining issue today. There are

many people who who profess Christianity in this country who

don't much like what Jesus had to say about this subject,

and I find it intriguing or interesting. These these folks

referred back to the Law of Moses and someone and

the justification for the justification used in some Christian circles

today harks back to the law of Moses. But I

never hear of anyone advocating for the full dose of

moses law, and that includes capital punishment. Moving on, turn

to Matthew nineteen. Matthew nineteen is is Matthew's Matthew's recording

of I believe the same exchange Matthew nineteen, Verses one

through twelve explain this way. Matthew was a personal attendant

of Jesus, he would have been closer, probably recorded a

little more mark where we started that that he was

probably writing recording things secondhand or from a little from

a slightly different vantage point. So let's read this Matthew nineteen,

verses one through twelve. Another well, Jesus, Jesus close close disciple,

wrote this, and it came to pass as the verse

one of nineteen, that when Jesus had finished these sayings,

he departed from Galilee and came into the coast of Judea,

beyond Jordan, and great multitudes followed him, and he healed them. There.

The Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, saying, unto him,

is it lawful for a man to put away his wife?

For every cause? And he answered and said, unto them,

have you not read that he which made them at

the beginning made them male and female? And said, for

this cause, shall I man leave father and mother, and

shall cleave to his wife, and they twain shall be

one flesh. Wherefore they are no more twain but one flesh.

What therefore God hath joined together? Let not man put asunder?

They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to

give a writing of divorcement and to put her away?

He saith unto them, Moses, because of the hardness of

your hearts, suffered you to put away your wives. But

from the beginning it was not so. And I say

unto you, whosoever shall put away his wife, except it

be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery. And

whoso marrieth her which has put away, doth commit adultery.

His disciples say unto him, if the case of the

man be so with his wife, is not good to marry.

But he said unto them. All men cannot receive this saying,

save they to whom it is given. For there are

some eunuchs which were so born from their mother's womb,

and there are some eunuchs which were made eunuchs of men,

and there be eunuchs which have been made themselves eunuchs.

For the Kingdom of Heaven's sake. He that is able

to receive it, let him receive it. Words of Christ

that were as stressful, you could say, is as stressful

to those disciples as they are to us today. Luke

sixteen eighteen. Doctor Luke, here I suppose with his doctor's

handwriting he got this condensed down into a single verse.

Luke sixteen eighteen. Who's whoever puteth away his wife? And

marrieth an other committeth adultery. And whosoever marrieth her that

is put away from her husband committeth adultery. That is that,

That is what Luke recorded of Jesus words. Matthew five

turned to that chapter, and Matthew five is one of

the is the sermon on the Mount where Jesus is talking, talking, preaching,

teaching to these people and introducing something new, introducing what

I'm gonna call upgrades. You've heard that has been said

by them of old time. But I say unto you,

Jesus said that a number of times. Verses thirty one

is where Jesus addresses this. Actually, if you jump back

to verse twenty seven, you've heard, but you've heard that

it was said by them of old time. Now shall

not committed altery. But I say unto you. You know

that Jesus took it from the from the purely physical definition,

brought it to a spiritual brought it to a sirittual

application as well. But I say unto you that whosoever

looketh on a woman to loss after her hath committed

adultery with her already in his heart. You see the

upgrades or the change. He also said that in verse well,

verse twenty, verse twenty, he said that accept your righteousness

shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you

shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.

So Jesus was talking here to a group of people

with a point of reference and a point of reference

that he said, and know that one that's not good enough.

Matthew five thirty one. It hath been said, whosoever shall

put away his wife, let him give her a writing

of divorcement. But I say unto you that who whoever

shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication,

causeth her to commit adultery. Whosoever shall marry her that

is divorced, committeth adultery. Very direct, very direct teaching. And

it's nestled here in the middle of in the middle

of this chapter, that that we or this sermon that

we use, and we love, and we love your enemies,

bless them that curse you. The teachings of non resistance.

There's there's there's a lot. There's there's lots, including the

Lord's prayer. But back to this subject of divorce, one more,

one more reference. Back up about five pages in your

Bible to Malachi, the prophet Malachaia two Malachaia two, verse

beginning of the verse fourteen. So this is this is

from this is a prophet writing from four hundred and

four hundred and twenty five years before Jesus was teaching,

approximately verse thirteen. You know, he's talking about the problem

of Judah, Judah and Israel dealing treacherously. They're not playing fair,

they're not doing it right. And you've come here and

you've covered the altar of the Lord with tears, with

weeping this verse thirteen, with crying. You're in a position

where God's not not noticing the tears, the tears on

the altar. He's not looking at your offering anymore. He's

not receiving it with goodwill at your hand. Yet ye say, wherefore,

or why wherefore? Verse fourteen. Because the Lord hath been

witnessed between thee and the wife of thy youth, against

whom thou hast dealt treacherously. Yet is she thy companion

and the wife of thy covenant? And did not he

make one? Had he the residue of spirit? And wherefore

one that he might seek a godly seed therefore take

heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against

the wife of his youth. For the Lord, the God

of Israel, saith that he hateth putting away, for one

covereth violence with his garment, saith the Lord of Hosts. Therefore,

take heed to your spirit, that ye deal not treacherously.

Ye have wearied the Lord with your words. Yet ye say,

wherein have we wearied him? When ye say, everyone that

doeth evil is good in the sight of the Lord,

and he delighteth in them. Or where is the God

of judgment? He asked the question, and then he answers

it you're making him tired. But verse fifteen, let none

deal treacherously. And that word that phrase is also translated

in the dealing treacherously is a lot the same phrase

as as putting away or what we would what we

would call divorce the wife of his youth, the wife

of his youth, generally referring to the to the first

the first wife. Why why does God set it up

that way? And I'm not going to go into a

lot of that, but that's that's where your mind, your

mind goes, and we we know, we know, we can

look around us in the world and see the problems,

the the well, the downside. So let's look at let's

continue withus, continue looking at scripture here and and flip

it a little bit to marriage and what it symbolizes.

I couldn't. I couldn't hardly just stay with the stay

with the negative. From the beginning. It was not so

that in Jesus mind, and I think in his disciples

mind and in the Church's mind, in our mind, we

know what God's ideal is, and that is that is

one man, one woman until death. Turned to Ephesians five,

I'm gonna read there, We're gonna we're gonna read these

passages that that that demonstrate or describe marriage and what

it symbolizes Ephesians five, twenty eight. If you would have

asked Jesus, if if part of the question for Jesus

would have been, what does marriage symbolize? When when these

Pharisees asked, is that you see to us? To me, well,

the symbology or the symbols or the what what marriage

makes us think of? I mean, we have we have

these these words verse thirty two. But this is a

great mystery. But I speak concerning Christ in the church.

One of the apostles here wrote and put this together

to say, Yeah, that's that's what that that's what that

looks like. Jesus didn't have that. Jesus didn't have that comeback.

So what did it symbolize in Jesus day? What did

marriage symbolize? Well, just I'll just leave you hanging with

that question a little bit. How would you have described

it without the rest of these epistols. But let's let's

read this Ephesians five twenty eight. So men so ought

men to love their own their wives as their own bodies.

He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man

ever yet hated his own flesh, but nourish and cherish

with it, even as the Lord of the Church. For

we are members of his body, of his flesh, and

of his bones. For this man cause shall a man

leave his father and mother, and she'll be joined unto

his wife, and they too shall be one flesh. This

is a great mystery, But I speak concerning Christ and

the Church. Nevertheless, let everyone of you, in particular so

love his wife even as himself. And the wife see

that she reverends her husband. That well, it's actually just

just before that in this is it. In another passage

we have the picture of Christ. Christ and sacrifice comes

comes into into into mind, into our pictures, into our

mental images, marriage and marriage and its symbols and its

symbols in Jeremiah, in the Old Testament, Isaiah and Jeremiah.

We're not going to turn to those passages and read them.

But this this concept of of Israel, the nation Israel

or Israel, and Judah and and the and God his

relationship with them. He they paint that in the in

the you know, in a marriage type picture, because they

were no longer faithful to God, they were no longer

faithful to their promises. They they were the ones who

were ditching God for a different God. He at one

point he called them a backsliding heifer, which is a whole,

a whole row of a whole, a whole batch of

pictures come into my mind having been on steep enough

country trying to chase cattle and seeing a full grown

cow sliding backwards down a hill. It's, I mean, the

way cow's hoofs are made. They they jab in and

when they're going up a hill, their legs are angled back.

But at once if if they start sliding down a

steep slope. A cow has a very poor set of brakes. Anyway,

that's that was that was the picture God had of

of Israel in that in that stage in that time

Jeremiah three. You can read that back to the question

why why divorce? I'm gonna read you a a a

few sentences here that I picked out of a commentary.

It says termination of the marriage relationship is caused not

by God but by sin that entered the world after

Genesis two. Death itself, which terminates marriage, came by Adam sin.

Because of sin, divorce Arose Moses sought to regulate it.

Divorce is not instant or ordained by God. Rather, it

is generated by sin and is contrary to God's ideal

for marriage. But I believe in my looking at this,

thinking about that question of what would Jesus if, if

Jesus didn't have the type in his mind, marriage is

a relationship of Christ of the Church. I think marriage

and I read this this as a quote somewhere I

enlarged it a little bit. But marriage, marriages in some

ways is the original type or representation of the of

the relationship that God wants with each one of you.

God wanted a relationship with man. And if you think

about that, the what God was looking for in a

relationship with man. He set up man and his wife

to operate in that type of a in that type

of a relationship, a relationship of of give and take,

of physical communication, mental, spiritual. You can say one in

one in body one and soul one in mind. In

other words, the two become one. Is how he finally

it was it was phrased. But that's what God wants

with you as well. And an earthly marriage. Yes, there's

there's problems, and there's difficulties, and our relationship with God

takes work, takes constant effort, takes constant attention to to

maintain a relationship with God. It's that way in marriage

as well. But an earthly marriage that is characterized by

give and take, love, harmony, unselfishness, the golden rule. Do

you even so to them whatsoever you would that men

should do to you. If that's actually happening, it will

be a representation of the of the relationship that God

wishes to have with you. And when you bring into

that that that concept, the concept of adultery. Adultery is

to take this relationship and breaks it. Adultery, the ultimate,

the ultimate selfishness will necessarily break the relationship. And that's

that that that applies to a relationship with God or

espousal relationship. A few verses here on practical living. First Corinthians.

So these Christians from two thousand years ago, they they

had real life to deal with as well. First Corinthians seven.

Read you what the apostle Paul wrote to these to

a church concerning concern this. And this is one of

these neat passages where he kind of moves from what

the Lord commands to what he would like to see,

back and forth. One Corinthians seven, verse seven. For I

would that all men were even as I myself. But

every man hath his proper gift of God. One after

this matter or another after that. I say therefore to

the unmarried and widows, it is good for them if

they abide even as I. But if they cannot contain,

let them marry, For it is better to marry than

to burn. And unto the married I command yet not I,

but the Lord, let not the wife depart from her husband.

But and if she depart, let her remain unmarried or

be reconciled to her husband, and let not the husband

put away his wife. But do the rest speak I

not the Lord. If any brother have a wife that

believeth not, and she be pleased to dwell with him,

let him not put her away. And the woman which

hath an husband that believeth not, and if he be

pleased to dwell with her, let her not leave him.

For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and

the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband. Else were

your children unclean? But now are they holy? But if

the unbelieving depart, let him depart. A brother or sister

is not under bondage in such cases. But God hath

called us to peace. For what knowest thou, o wife,

whether thou shalt save thy husband? Or how knowest thou,

o man, whether thou shalt save thy wife? But as

God hath distributed to every man, as the Lord hath

called everyone, so let him walk, and so I so

ordain I in all churches. Fossil Paul just simply giving

his practical advice. Do your best to work it out. No,

you don't have to, You don't have to leave just

because there's a difference of belief. Conversion. Conversion may conversion,

may happen, may come of that Galatians five. Let's turn

to that one Galatians five fourteen, Latians five fourteen to

twenty one. Wherefore he saith awake, thou that sleepest, and

arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.

See then that ye walk circumspectully, not as fools, but

as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will

of the Lord is me not drunk with wine where

is excess, but be filled with a spirit, speaking to

yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and

making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks

always for all things unto God and the Father, in

the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting yourselves one

to another in the fear of God. And I'm an Ephesians,

not Galatians. That's what that's where I'm wrong, because we've

been here Galatians five. Though it's Galatians five fourteen some

of the same same thoughts. Walk in the spirit, not

in the flesh. For all the law, for all the

law is fulfilled in one word. Even in this, thou

shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. But if you bite

and devour one another, take heed that you be not

consumed one of another. This I say, then, walk in

the spirit. You shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.

For the flesh lusted against the spirit, and the spirit

against the flesh. And these are contrary the one to

the other, so that you cannot do the things that

you would. But if you be led of the spirit,

you are not under the law. Now, the works of

the flesh are manifests. Which are these relatry, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strifes, seditions, heresies, envyings, murderers, drunkenness, revelings,

and the such like of which I tell you before,

as I have told you in time past, that they

which do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of

God that instruction to walk after the spirit. Not after

this long and negative list talking about thinking about this

subject of divorce and the related word adultery, the fact

of the matter is we we look at that and say, well, no,

I want I want nothing to do with that. But

thankfully we can, we can know the sin of that,

these sins can indeed be forgiven. I've got a funny

little question written down here. I I read through these

these verses. We're we're, we're somewhat programmed to think of

some sins as as bigger than other sins, emulations, wrath, strifes,

seditions that's put in the same list as adult refornication, uncleanness,

with the same penalty. You don't you don't get to

inherit the kingdom of God. But the upside continue reading

there with me verse twenty two. But the fruit of

the spirit, this is the converse side. This, this is

the side that makes that makes life work. But the

fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.

Against such there is no law. And they that are

Christ have crucified the flesh with the affections and loss.

If we live in the spirit, let us also walk

in the spirit. Let us not be desirous of vainglory,

provoking one another, envying one another. So in closing, as

you think about these, these these concepts, the question to Jesus,

can we do what we want? Can can can we

just can we just simply have it our way? We

know we we We see in society around us, the

emotional cost of broken homes, the damage to children, the

damage to society, the completely decimated picture of the relationship

that God wishes to have with you. But remember the

fruit of the spirit. The Either or Christ have crucified

the flesh, and they can walk in the spirit. I'm

thankful that God gives us the power and the grace

to do that. Let's have a clothing song, HM.