Mark 10:1-12 - Marriage in the Shadow of the Cross

Here's a fundamental fact about reality and human nature.

And I can say this right now because Chloe's not right here.

She's feeding Jacks. I'm going right for this one.

Everybody, myself included, probably myself more included

than anybody. Everybody in life thinks that

they're going to be awesome at marriage until they get married.

Don't act like that's not you, Right?

Everybody thinks they're going to be awesome in marriage until

they get married. This was absolutely cold, Ike.

I remember as a young man being engaged to Chloe and finding

some counsel from some older, wiser men.

And they warned me that marriage was going to be difficult.

And like a good Iowa boy, I shook my head and smiled.

But deep down, you know what I thought?

I thought, yeah, it's probably difficult for you, maybe for

you. But but what you don't

understand is I've read John Piper's book on marriage

already. So what else is there to learn,

right? I've read.

I I've read Real Marriage by Mark Driscoll.

Chill. It was 2014.

You read it too. And by and after all, he's known

for his gentleness and tender getting Mark and I don't talk

anymore. Ever.

We did. Never.

Everybody, every everybody thinks they're going to be

awesome in marriage until they get married.

Because you get married and then the holidays come around, right?

Holidays come around. Then the disagreements start to

happen, and then the preferences get nudged to the side.

Then the sacrifices start getting made.

Then maybe the children come and everything changes.

And then for some of us, the seven-year itch comes around.

And it's then and only then, not when you're young, engaged in

reading piper on marriage, and have you all these ideals of who

you'll be as a knight in shining armor.

But it's then when everything hits the fan, that we find out

what our real view of marriage is, the real one, that you

really believe what marriage is for.

About a decade ago, I read an essay that changed my life.

I've referenced it once since preaching at Frontier, but that

was about five years ago, so I'm going to reference it again.

I don't like doing that, but the Lord just laid it in my heart

powerfully this morning. And I I read it about once a

year because it struck me so powerfully in.

In the essay, the writer was describing a situation he was in

where he was in a car with a buddy and they were driving on

the road and as they were driving back home from golfing

or whatever, they were driving behind this truck and through

the back window. In the truck, he could see the

silhouette of the mother and the father in the front seat and the

family of children in the back seat.

And suddenly one of the back wheels of the truck snapped off.

And here's how the writer describes the situation.

Quote Suddenly one of the back wheels of the track of the truck

snapped off and the truck veered sharply to the right and shot

off a 60 foot Cliff. My friend and I were the only

ones there, so we stopped our car and ran down the hillside.

We ran to the children doing what we could do, but all of

them were unconscious. The mother was seriously

injured. It looked as though she had

broken her legs and pelvis, but she she started crawling on her

belly to each child. We couldn't prevent her, but the

father was in the best shape of anyone.

But he stayed in the truck, and this scene is forever engraved

in my mind because it says something to me about the men of

our country. The children and women are lying

wounded, strewn throughout our cities, and the father needs to

get out of the truck. Father needs to get out of the

truck. So this morning we're talking

about divorce and the marriage. And as we wade into this subject

together, my central argument is going to be, and while this text

does speak to both men and women, I think you'll see in the

text that Jesus primarily puts the burden on men to get out of

the truck. Jesus wants men to get out of

the truck and join their wives in putting together the wreckage

of marriage. And as we wade into divorce and

remarriage, I know that some of you have sat through some awful

and guilt ridden sermons on marriage and divorce.

And so the mere mention of the subject maybe makes some of you

want to switch off. That's that's not going to work

this morning. And if that's you, I'm just

asking you to give me a shot and to open up your heart a little

bit this morning. Does that sound good?

Cool. Let's stand for the reading of

God's word. First verse one, chapter 10.

Jesus is on his way from his Transfiguration to Jerusalem,

where, as he's told us already, he will be crucified.

There's a cross waiting for him. And what's he talking about?

Verse one. And he left there and went to

the region of Judea and beyond the Jordan, and crowds gathered

to him again and again, as was his custom.

He taught them. But then the Pharisees came up,

and in order to test him, asked him, is it lawful for a man to

divorce his wife? And he answered them, What did

Moses command you? And they said, well, Moses

allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce to send

her away. And Jesus said to them, it's

because of guys like you. It's because of your hardness of

heart, that he wrote this commandment.

But from the beginning of creation God made them male and

female. Therefore a man shall leave his

father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall

become one flesh. So they are no longer 2 but one

flesh. What their God?

What therefore God has joined together, Let no man separate.

And later they wanted clarity. And in the house the disciples

asked him again about this matter.

And Jesus said to them, I'm not backpedaling.

Whoever divorces his wife and marries another, commits

adultery against her, and she divorces her husband, and

marries another. She commits adultery.

Jesus is for you and he is for your joy.

And this is his word. Go and have a seat.

OK, so context, historical context.

I already covered a little bit about this, but this is

important. There's Jesus with his

disciples. Like the text says, they're

traveling from Judea to Jerusalem.

And what's waiting for Jesus in Jerusalem?

The cross. So Jesus is essentially in the

middle of a slow death March to Jerusalem.

The shadow of the cross is hanging over him.

The shadow of the cross is present.

The shadow of the cross is there, and he knows it, and he's

talking about marriage. And so if there's anybody that

we should pine to listen to about marriage, it's somebody

who knows he's about to die. So as we talk about marriage

this morning, we need to know that this is not just anybody's

view of marriage. This is marriage under the

shadow of the cross. Verse, one verse by verse.

And he left there and went to the region of Judea and beyond

the Jordan. And the crowds gathered to him

again, and he kept on teaching them.

And the Pharisees came up, and in order to test him asked is it

lawful for a man to divorce his wife?

Pause for a second. Isn't that interesting notice

notice in the story in the text? I want you to notice that this

is, this is not genuine interest from the Pharisees.

They don't really care about what Jesus's view on marriage

is. And we know this because the

Bible provides the motive for the question.

They're not interested. They're not hungry to learn from

him. They are, quote, testing him.

So in other words, what the Pharisees are interested in

doing is either seeing Jesus contradict John the Baptist or

Jesus contradict the Old Testament.

So what they're trying to do is they're trying to lay a trap.

They've laid a trap for Jesus and Jesus hits some jujitsu on

him, right? Rather than walking into him,

Jesus turns the hunter into the haunted and he turns their trap

against them. Look at verse three.

Only Jesus. Jesus answered them.

Well what did Moses command you? And they said, well, Moses

allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce and to

send her away. And Jesus said, because of your

hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment.

Notice pause. Notice Jesus's language.

I I emphasized it as I read it there.

But but notice this, right? He asked.

He asked what Moses or we could say the Old Testament.

He asked what Moses commands them.

And they don't have an answer to that question because there is

no answer to that question. Because Moses never the Old

Testament never commands us to do such a thing.

But they do respond with what Moses allows them to do, which

is for a man to get a certificate of divorce on the

account of adultery and to send his wife again.

And then Jesus reveals why they love this so much.

They they love this allowance in the Old Testament because they

have A hardness of heart, and that's important.

You wonder why it's important. It's important because it forms,

it forms his tone in this text. We have to we have to see that

Jesus right here, he's not speaking to wounded spouses

who've been physically abused or cheated against.

He's speaking to men with the hardness of heart.

And these hard hearted men who are religious want to take

advantage of an exception clause in the Bible to essentially

spend their lives riding a carousel of women.

They're hard hearted, and what hard hearts need is not a

feather duster but a sledgehammer.

So Jesus's tone here is more like a sledgehammer to break

them open rather than a a feather duster.

So even though the rest of the Bible, the Old Testament, Jesus

himself in the account of Matthew on this, the New

Testament, they all provide biblical grounds for divorce.

They do. But Jesus doesn't give hard

hearted men right here in inch, right.

He's not. He's going to go play their

games with them. He's not going to give them an

easy out. They're there are no grounds for

divorce for hard hearted men who just want to throw away their

wives whenever they feel like that, because that was a problem

in Jesus's day. Divorce is not like a modern

phenomenon. This was a problem in Jesus's

day. So let me just prove this to us.

This comes from the Mishnah, which is not part of the Bible,

but it was written around 400 BC up until about the time that

Jesus was born, give or take a few years on both sides.

And it reflects the common religious thinking in Jesus's

day. And with the Mishnah it says is

you need to listen to this. It says, quote, a man may

divorce his wife because he hath found in her indecency in

anything, even if she spoiled a dish End Quote.

This was the religious thinking in Jesus day.

If she burns the toast, you're free bro.

This is what's polluting the air in Jesus day, Men were allowed

to get a divorce because of burnt toast.

And So what Jesus is interested in doing right here isn't giving

him an easy out. He turns their eyes up, not out

up to the glory of God. Look at verse six.

Look what God's doing. But from the beginning of

creation, God made them male and female.

Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast

to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.

So they're no longer 2, but one flesh.

That's biblical math for you. 1 + 1 equals what one.

As an English teacher, I love it.

Numbers never do what I want them to do.

I like words. What therefore God has joined

together, Let no man separate. End Quote So rather than playing

games with Pharisees and giving them an out of jail free card,

he commands them to see what God is up to in marriage.

And the thing that God is up to in marriage is his.

He's creating little new creations in the world.

That's what he's up to. He He takes 2 old people and

they come together in marriage and they become a new thing by

the hand of God to somehow become one.

The first time I really pondered this, I might.

I might be getting this this wrong.

Was Dirk and Emily's wedding. Maybe I'm getting this wrong.

Maybe it was somebody else's wedding.

I remember it as you guys. But the the pastor was up there,

and he said something to the effect of, all right, Derek and

Emily, the two of you are now one.

And so there is no longer any Dirk.

He's dead. There is no longer any Emily.

She's dead. And in their place now is a new

creation. Demily was that.

That was yours. Maybe it was a Merc.

No, that's the Hebrew version. A Merc.

Dimly. Somehow, with the mysterious

hand of God stirring the pot, the two become one.

And the disciples are like, wow, that's that's radical.

I bet he didn't really mean that.

And so when they get into private, they ask Jesus, hey,

can you bring a little bit more clarity to that?

And rather than backpedaling, what does Jesus do?

He double S down with his disciples, verse 10.

And in the house, the disciples asked him again about this

matter. And he said to them, whoever

divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against

her. And if she divorces her husband

and marries another, she commits adultery.

So this is, this is crazy because it it sees it, it shows

us that the reason why the disciples are asking about this

matter is probably because they're shocked about how

radical Jesus teachings are right here, right?

It goes against the grain of a burnt toast mentality, right?

They're probably shocked about Jesus view of the permanence of

marriage until death breaks the bond.

And that's interesting. It's interesting because we

think that marital problems are like a modern thing.

But even Jesus's disciples were shocked by this.

And in a culture where a man can divorce his wife over burnt

toast like ours, whose marriage? Whose view of marriage do you

really want? I think that's really the

question. Whose view of marriage do you

really want? The world's or Jesus's?

And so here's Speaking of John Piper's book on marriage.

Here's a quote from it. He says, Quote, There has never

been a generation whose view of marriage is too high.

The chasm between Jesus's vision for marriage and the common

human vision for marriage is gargantuan.

End Quote. And I'm telling you, you want

Jesus's view for marriage, not the world's vision for marriage.

Because the more that we begin to dig deeply into this text,

the more that we see that Jesus's gargantuan view for

marriage is a joy. Yes, though it comes through

death, but it's also a protection.

In particular, Jesus's view for marriage protects 3 particular

groups in his time. I'm going to walk us through

each of these. First, Jesus's view of marriage

protects the underprivileged spouse particularly, but not

only particularly women. So notice that where the

emphasis and the accent lands in the text.

Look at verses 2 through 4 and verse 2.

Jesus says or sorry, the Pharisees say.

Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?

Verse four they say Will Moses allowed a man to write a

certificate of divorce and to just send her away.

So why the emphasis on men divorcing their wives in this

text? Because who was doing it in

Jesus day? Who?

Who did divorces in the ancient world?

Who? Who did it favor?

Who did it benefit? And the answer to that is men,

right? In the ancient world, men were

able to bounce around from woman to woman as they pleased,

holding all the power in the marriage, particularly the power

to end the marriage over Burke toast if they so pleased.

And this, in an ancient world, did not leave a woman with the

freedom to bounce around from man to man.

She was stigmatized, ostracized, often unable to provide for

herself, and pushed to the margins of society.

In this culture, the remarriage rates for women in that culture

were not zero, but they were a lot closer to to 0.

And So what Jesus has in mind with this high vision is to

protect underprivileged spouses. And it's not just

underprivileged spouses. It's also us, right?

Because like, it's not just burnt toast.

You don't know what you're going to look like in 20 years.

You don't know what diagnosis is waiting for you in 30 years.

People change. They change.

And Jesus wants to protect people with his vision for

marriage who have diagnosis like that.

And so I'm pleading with you to see this, because if you can see

this, then you can see how tender, merciful, caring,

thoughtful and gracious Jesus's gargantuan view on marriage is.

He's protecting people, particularly woman, but not

exclusively from being discarded at the drop of the hat.

We could quote the old maxim that says a high tide raises all

ships and we could reform that and say a high view of marriage.

It raises all genders. So you want Jesus's gargantuan

view for marriage, not the world's.

It protects people. Secondly, Jesus view of marriage

protects vulnerable children. Surprisingly, in the ancient

world, unlike our own world, divorce law heavily favored the

fathers and it wasn't always that the children of the divorce

family ended up with the father, but they usually did.

In the historical examples we have of kids ending up with

their mothers are definitely the exception and and not the rule.

But nevertheless, I think it's worth stating that hidden in

this conversation about divorce is Jesus is passionate,

unbreakable, indefatigable love for children.

It's there. I don't think it's any.

I mean, when we turn to verse 13 next Sunday, what's he talking

about? Kids.

I don't think that there, there's a coincidence there.

There's one psychologist, and this blew my mind.

One psychologist, after decades of research, concluded that the

best predictor. Of adulthood.

Anxiety is growing up in an environment where, in formative

years, one has to constantly worry about whether or not Dad

and mom love one another. Though they don't have the words

to articulate it, they can't articulate it with words.

They can feel, at a gut level, that if something in this

relationship in this marriage goes S, they'll get torn in half

by the decisions of where to place their loyalty.

So the foundation goes, and since Jesus loves children,

since he loves children, he's the God who fights for

marriages, there there is no difference.

Categorically, there is no difference between fighting for

marriages and protecting children.

So. So I guess ironically, that this

is. I didn't pick this text for this

morning. You know I wasn't like man, what

would be a great way to ruin a fun morning of baby dedications?

I know, let's preach on divorce. Really, I didn't think that but

God did. So maybe ironically.

It's a perfect text for that protects children though and and

3rd and most importantly this comes through in our text.

Jesus's view of marriage protects the glory of God.

Notice in this text that when Jesus talks about marriage, he

emphasized the active agency and activity of what God's doing in

marriage. Verse 6.

God made him male and female. Verse nine.

God joins them together. It's God's idea.

It's God's plan. It's God's blueprint.

And this is because God, being a brilliant architect, has

designed marriage to display the glory of God to the world.

It's as if the Father, Son and and Holy Spirit from all

eternity gathered together and said OK, how could people ever

begin to glimpse how Christ in the church can become one?

It's such a mystery. How could the world ever begin

to glimpse how much God loves them?

How could they fathom that? And they said let's make this

thing called marriage that echoes these realities.

That's why God created marriage, to glorify himself and to show

the world what his love is like. I love saying this at the

weddings that I officiate. I love to say build the type of

marriage that when the world looks at IT, people wonder.

Huh. The way that he loves her, the

way that she loves him, is that the way that God loves us.

Awesome marriages put the glory of God on display to the

watching world. And so I'm just as your pastor,

I'm urging you to not buy into the modern myth that marriage is

some little trinket for personal happiness that you can throw

away whenever you get bored of it and upgrade to a new iPhone

whenever it comes out. Yes, it's for more than

glorifying God. It's for relational

satisfaction, sexual satisfaction, having kids

growing old together, enjoying inside jokes together, sending

memes to one another. Got you.

Building memories together, the extraordinary joy of aging

together and looking out at your grandchildren during the

holidays. It's for all of that.

But at the bottom of it, it's design is to put the glory of

God on display. To put the glory of God on

display so that the watching world rejoices.

And so Satan poops his pants. He hates great marriages.

Jesus loves great marriages. And so Jesus wants marriages to

be awesome. And so let me say five things

about marriage. I didn't plan on saying that

part about Satan poop in his pants.

I'm sorry, dude. That's going to be the title.

Kids don't talk like Pastor Cole.

Let me talk to let me talk to five different people really

quickly about awesome marriages. OK, I'm going to try and blast

through these quickly first. You're going to.

You're going to fit in one or two of these categories.

First, those who are married and loving their marriage keep it

up. That's all I got for you.

Second, those married and struggling.

You're not alone. We've all been there, and if we

haven't, we will get there. And I know that it's annoying at

best, and probably embittering at worst, to hear a message

about how God desires marriages to be awesome while yours is in

shambles. I understand that may embitter

you and and that's OK. It's it's OK to be a little

bitter towards me right now. But if you're going to be bitter

towards me, I only ask one thing in return from you, and that is

this. No matter what shape your

marriage is in, you must believe that your marriage can get

better. That's all I ask.

You don't like what I say this morning if you don't agree with

me, all I ask is that you hold fast to the belief that your

marriage can get better. OK?

Don't give up believing that your marriage can transform.

No matter how close your marriage is to death.

Don't give up believing that it can get better, no matter how

bad it's gotten. There's really just one question

that needs to be asked. Do you believe that Jesus was

raised from the dead? The answer to that is yes, you

do. And so your marriage can be

raised from the dead too. It's the pattern of Jesus's

life. It's the pattern of the cosmos

and creation, and it's the pattern of marriage.

You have to believe that your marriage can be raised from the

dead. It's what marriage is.

Jesus explains that the pattern of marriage is 2 old things

coming together as one new thing.

It's it's Dirk and Emily coming together as Demoli.

They're a new thing that can happen at the beginning of the

marriage and in the middle of the marriage.

Cole and Chloe come together and work, work.

Coley, who else can I do? Carlos and Caitlin come together

and they're Carolyn. That's not bad.

Carl and Judy Cooley. Carl was like, don't say it,

Catherine and Jaron. Karen.

More Jaron than you, Karen, Right.

This is the pattern of marriage, which is the pattern of

Christianity. Takes an old thing, makes it

new. God takes a dead thing and makes

it alive. And he can do it with your

marriage. Don't give up.

Third, let me speak to those who have been married and who have

experienced divorce. You too are also not alone in

this church. Some of some of the godliest

Christians I know are men and women who have gone through

divorce and God has been amazing to them.

And So what? However, the divorce happened,

if you sinned and irreparably broke the marriage, turn to

Jesus and receive his his forgiveness right?

But some some of you, some of you who have experienced

divorce, you you don't need forgiveness for your divorce

because you were abandoned or committed, adultery against

obstinately or physically abused.

And Jesus in the Bible has included an exception to help

protect you from the murderous hands of a spouse who wants to

hurt you. And you're safe in Jesus arms.

You are. And that's not me being squishy.

It's not me leaning in any direction away from the Bible.

That's in the Bible, right? That's me quoting Jesus to you.

It's in the Old Testament. Deuteronomy 24, it's in.

Jesus says that in this account, in Matthew 5, he includes

adultery as an exception. First Corinthians, Paul says if

the unbelieving partner deserts or separates, let it be so.

In such cases, the brother or sister is not enslaved.

And so when you've been the victim of adultery or

abandonment or physical abuse, you should never experience that

abuse multiplied by having the church pile on additional shame,

because Jesus doesn't do that, right?

What's Jesus do to the woman at the well who's been divorced

five times? He welcomes her and he reveals

himself to it. And so when churches don't do

that, you know who they're not being like.

They're not being like Jesus. And again, if you think I'm

being squishy on this, you need to hear me say that you can have

both of these elements present in one church.

You can be a church that's known for fighting for marriages and

be a church who's known for not stigmatizing those who have

experienced divorce. That's not squishy.

That's being what Jesus is like. So you're not alone.

Fourth, let me speak to those who are unmarried.

I think the historical context of this passage is really,

really important. The literary context of the

passage is really important. Remember that Jesus giving these

instructions for marriage in the shadow of the cross, right?

He's about to go to his marriage covenant with his bride and that

covenant is going to begin at a cross.

That's important. That should inform the type of

person you want to marry. So when it comes to marriage,

if, if you're unmarried, the culture wants to give you a lot

of weight. The culture wants you to give a

lot of weight to compatibility. Don't do it.

Don't give very much weight to compatibility.

It's cool if you guys are similar, right?

Do we like the same hobbies? Do we have similar

personalities? Do we have similar interests?

All those things are great, but they're essentially sand.

They change. When a person change, you know,

you know what changes? Hobbies, interests.

And so if you're not going to build it around interests and

personalities and hobbies, what should you build it around?

And the answer of course is the cross.

A way better question then is this person compatible with me?

A way better question than that is, is this person sacrificial?

This person get the cross and live the cross.

Because historically, when a couple gets married, this stage

they stand on is called a wedding altar.

It's an altar. What's an altar?

It's a place you go to die. That's what you're doing when

you're standing on a wedding altar.

You're dying and you don't want to go to the altar with somebody

who's not going to die with you. When you get married, you die in

the mystery of marriage. Is that in its place?

Right. Because what happens at an

altar? The animal's killed, but it's

transformed into a pleasing aroma to Jesus.

Jesus is killed on the cross, but he's resurrected.

So the mystery of the wedding altar is you die, but in your

place, a new and more beautiful thing is resurrected.

Because, like, I promise you, you know who's way better than

Cole Coley without her. It's just it's just better and

so. One of the most important

pastoral pieces of wisdom I can give to you, and this applies to

the unmarried and the married, is this.

Our church has a lot of imperfect but awesome marriages

in it, and so my biggest piece of encouragement would be when

you notice those marriages. And when you see those

marriages, ask the question, dude, I notice your marriage is

awesome. How do you do that?

Just try that question out, sister.

I noticed you have a healthy marriage in a world where

there's not a lot of healthy marriages.

How'd you do that, girlfriend? Just ask people that question.

How do you How'd you do that? There's great marriages all all

around. You ask them and when they

respond. Don't turn your nose.

Up at their response. No matter how.

Cliche you think it is. There's not a lot of joyful

marriages in the world, so listen to them.

There's not a lot of. Joyful marriages in the world.

But there can be. Because Jesus is real.

Amen and. He's on the move.

And he wants to make awesome marriages.

And so about a decade ago, I read that essay about the truck

accident for the first time. And ever since that moment where

I read that, it's just been so profoundly engraved into my

memory. Something about the visual,

Something about the truck wheel. Snapping off.

It's just so powerful. Quote We stopped our car and ran

down the hillside. We ran to the children doing

what we could do. It's just a mess.

All them are unconscious. The mother had broken her leg

and pelvis. She was crawling on her belly to

each child and we couldn't prevent her.

But the father was in the best shape of anyone, and he stayed

in the truck. This scene is forever.

Engraved in my mind because it says something to me about the

men of our country. The children and women are lying

wounded, strewn throughout our cities.

And the father, and in some cases the mother, if she's in

the truck too, father needs to get out of the truck, I think

one of the reasons why. This story.

Moves me is because I see my own failures.

I think 1. Of the reasons why this story

moves me is because I do deeply want to be part of a church

where men get out of the truck. When things get hard in the

marriage, they stay and don't run away.

When something gets broken, they fix it and fight for it.

When they want a way. Out.

They look for a way in. I do think it's that.

I do think it's that I want to be a part of a church where

people get out of the truck and start picking up the wreckage

together. But I think, more than that, at

the deepest level, why the story moves me.

Is because I know the. Gospel.

So when I hear that story, I think and I know Jesus got out

of the truck. That's the gospel when the.

World was destroyed by. Sin and you and I were thrown

about the hillside, hopeless and helpless.

Jesus didn't stay in the truck. Jesus didn't stay in heaven.

He put on flesh. He came from heaven and he

rescued us. He died on a cross.

He took away our sins. He covenanted us with us as a

husband does with the bride. Jesus got out of the truck.

That's the gospel You. You're no longer the wreckage

that he found you in. You aren't the wreckage of your

sin. You're not the wreckage of your

divorce. You're not the wreckage of your

failures. You're not wreckage.

You're redeemed. You're forgiven made.

Righteous declared holy, clothed in a white robe.

Beloved, you stand before him, perfect in his sight.

And when we constantly screw up the relationship and break off

the wheel and fail him, you know what he does?

He gets out of the truck again. The reason why Jesus is so

qualified to talk about this is because he lives it, bro.

Jesus did not send you away with a divorce certificate.

He did not seek an easy way out, and thank God Jesus didn't think

that the grass was greener on the other side or as he would

have gone. Instead, he holds us fast

because He knows the grass isn't greener on the other side.

The grass is green. It's where you water it.

So He sticks with us and He waters us so that slowly,

pouring his spirit upon us daily and consistently in his covenant

with us, our lives begin to slowly bear the fruit of the

Spirit. And this is This is why, when

you stand on the wedding altar with Him in eternity, what do

you get? You get a new name just like

Demoli and coldly. Jesus got out of the.

Truck Amen. And that's what makes him the

most qualified person to talk on marriage.

So let's pray. And then?

Let's have a blast with. Baby Dedications Heavenly

Father, thank you for your goodness.

Thank you for your goodness in protecting marriages.

Thank you for your goodness in protecting those who have been

wounded deeply in their marriages.

And thank you for protecting those who had to go through a

difficult divorce. You love all those groups of

people. And like a commentator once

wrote on this text, there is no instance of a person in the

Bible ever coming to Jesus asking for forgiveness and not

receiving it. And so, yeah, marriages should

be awesome. Yes, we should strive for that.

Yes, we should seek to. Not let anything break.

The bond besides death itself. But in all of these things may

we remember that we are beloved by you and forgiven by you and

treasured by you. Treasured not just dealt with,

but you look down at us, and you are in love with us.

And so I pray that we feel that, know that, and believe that this

morning in the precious name of Jesus we pray.

Amen.