Luke 16:18

It’s my privilege to speak once again from the book of Luke, and I’ll direct your attention this morning to Luke chapter 16. I begin with 18, 16, 18. Whosoever putt away his wife and marrieth another, committeth adultery, Whosover Marrieth Her that is put away from her husband, committed adultery. May God bless to us His sacred word this morning. I was reading about the high cost of divorce in Indonesia. In a western Java village of Indonesia, they have a unique law relating to marriage. marriage and divorce. In order to control the rat population, the government has resorted to a rat tax when it comes to marriage and divorce. It costs 10 rats to get married, but divorce is twice as expensive. Divorce is common in Indonesia as it is around the world, and so they resorted to a rat tax that make it somewhat more difficult to obtain. Divorce, In our country, it is the norm rather than the rare exception. And over one million people get the worst every year. The seriousness of the marriage vow is ignored. Somehow or other, we forget about till death do his part. What therefore God hath joined together, let no man put asunder as we saw from Matthew 19. 6 when Russell read it for us. Christ has been teaching on the permanence of the moral law in his kingdom. He has spoken in general terms about the law, but in verse 18 he provides a concrete example for us of what he means. He saw the law’s regulations regarding marriage and marriage. and divorce being flagrantly violated by the Jews of his day. And so Christ rebukes the scribes and the Pharisees for so lightly violating God’s law in this regard. The prevailing view is this, that you could get a divorce for any reason and put away your wife. Let’s just put it this way for almost any reason. reason. If she lost her attractiveness because of her age, if she burned the dinner, if she had a poor attitude, if she gained too much weight, you know, all these things, they could say, well, that’s the reason to get rid of her. Christ’s purpose is to correct the common view, which was so prevalent in his day. in his age. Now, what did the law actually teach about divorce? If you would, turn with me the book of Deuteronomy chapter 24. Deuteronomy chapter 24. I want to read here verses one to four. When a man had taken a wife and married her and it come to pass that she find no favor in his eyes, because he had found some uncleanness, 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 is 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 give it 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 that is abomination before the Lord, and thou shalt not cause the land to sin, which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance. Now, what we see here in this passage of scripture in the law is that the law controlled divorce. The regulation is rather vague. If there is be some uncleanness in her. The word uncleanness here in the Hebrew means a matter of nakedness. It could mean any blemish, something foul or corrupt, it could be moral, deformity, it could be physical, but if there were some loathsome disease that plagued the body, something like this maybe, would make her unclean. And so we not told exactly. It doesn’t say anything about adultery specifically, and there’s a good reason for that. Adultery, if discovery, if discovered was punishable by death, according to the law. So the marriage would come to an end, but not by divorce. It would come to an end because the woman would be guilty and be put to death. But the object of Deuteronomy 24th was to regulate and control divorce in the Israelites society. There’s a difference between regulating. divorce and establishing a practice. What you regulate is already in existence. There was always a common practice being undertaken that God had to regulate. A divorce in scripture appears to be a full-blown problem in the Israelites society. And so God saw the problem and he regulated it here in Deuteron 24. Now we have to remember that the people came out of the land of Egypt. It was a heathen land. And they had all kinds of practices in that land that were not godly. And so their customs and ways would not be pleasing to the Lord. It appears that the Jews picked up on these customs and evil practices, and therefore they treated divorce lightly. And so God needed to regulate this matter of divorce, which was not based on something, and make it so that it was not based on something trivial like burning the toast. Deuterotomy 24 establishes three great principles. One, the law limited divorce to certain cases. Divorce was only permitted divorce. When, divorce was only permitted. some uncleanness. In other words, it involved, some uncleanness involved regarding the wife. The Hebrew word here indicates something repulsive. It’s not very clear. It could be moral, could be physically, we mentioned. This defect had to be present, or no divorce would be possible. Therefore, the mosaic law, far from giving a, number of excuses for divorce actually limited it to a great extent. So all superficial and frivolous reasons for divorce would be limited. So the law limited divorce to a certain case. Secondly, the law required a bill of divorcement. You know, before this law was given, a man could merely tell his wife, you know, get out. I don’t want you anymore in this house. that placed a woman in a very difficult position. She tried to establish a new relationship with another man. She could be charged with unfaithfulness or adultery and stoned. A bill of divorcement required a legal procedure, which ended up protecting the woman. The bill would state the reason she was dismissed. some uncleanness, and be handed to her in the presence of two witnesses. This legal procedure impressed upon your mind that divorce was not to be taken lightly. You know, it was a solemn step. So we required a bill of divorce. And then three, the law made divorce a permanent step. A man who divorced his wife, was not permitted to remarry her again if she married another man in the meantime, as Deuteronomy 24, 3 and 4 tell us. Suppose John and Sue are married. John divorces Sue. He gives her a bill of divorcement. She decides that she’s going to remarry a man named Rick. And later, Rick, let’s say, divorce is Sue also. and she wants to go back to John and they wish to remarry, and this is forbidden by the law of God. You could not do that. You can’t jump in and out of marriages as you pleads. Often it is a permanent separation, which may not be able to be restored. In 1 Corinthians 7, Paul talks about a husband and wife being separated and tells them, you know, they’ll get back together. As long as one doesn’t remarry, there’s a possibility of that. And he pushes for that and tells them that’s what they should do as Christians. So this is what the law of Moses actually did teach about divorce here in Deuteronomy 24. Now, what were the scribes and the Pharisees teaching about divorce? Well, Russell read it for us in chapter 19. of Matthew versus 3 to 10. Let’s take a look at that once again. I’m just going to reference a few things. Matthew chapter 19. Now divorce, we were told by the scribes in the paris was commanded. And they, you see that in verse 7. They say unto him, why did Moses then command to give a… writing of divorcement and put her away. The scribes and Pharisees said the law of Moses commanded a man to divorce his wife under certain circumstances. Now the law never commanded anyone to divorce his wife. It said if you want to divorce your present wife, you can do so under certain circumstances. There has to be some uncleanness. divorce was never mandatory, merely permitted under this condition. As I have been stressing here as we’ve been going along. Now, divorce was allowed for every cause by the scribes and the Pharisees. Look at verse 3 of chapter 19. Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause? The scribes and the Pharisees were teaching. You could put away your wife for almost any reason. She was too talkative. She had bad breath. She flirted. If she over-salted the roast, if she was unpleasing sexually, whatever, these are all reasons. This was the cause. common prevailing view from the school of Hillel, who was a rabbi, famous rabbi, on divorce, that most people accepted this popular view is clear from the disciples’ reaction to Christ’s answer in verse 10. They were shocked when he told them that they, you know, there shouldn’t be this separate. that God has put these two people together and they shouldn’t be separated. His disciples said unto him, if this is the case of the man with his wife, it’s not good to marry. Boy, it’s going to be tough getting out of the marriage. Once again, the scribes and the Pharisees were twisting the law of God, bending it to allow their own ideas. Divorce was allowed to allow their own ideas. Divorce was allowed to. for every cause. Divorce was proper as long as you gave them a bill of divorcement. As verse 7 indicates here, he says here, why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement and put her away? Well, as far as they were concerned, as long as you followed the proper procedure, you could divorce your wife. Matthew 531 says, it hath been said, by scribing the Pharisees, whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement. The only factors that mattered to these men was proper procedure. Make sure you get all your legal papers in order. As long as you were careful about your legal procedures, then all was well. You complied with the law. They were not concerned about why you divorced your wife. Just to make sure the divorce papers were correctly filled out and served. But they certainly missed what Scripture taught about marriage. That is a sacred thing. And we’re not to break it up so lightly. And so lightly. see their clever interpretations allowed divorce for every cause. We find that they felt that men were commanded the divorce. They were only concerned about proper procedure, legal aspect of it, not the moral. And the result was it nullified the laws teaching about marriage. Now, what is our Lord teaching here? marriage and divorce back in Luke chapter 16 and verse 18 whosoever put away his wife and marrieth another committed adultery. And whosoever marrieth her that is put away from her husband committed adultery. Christ emphasized the permanency of marriage of marriage. And you read it. recall from back in Matthew 19, in verses 4 to 8, what Christ said here, as he laid this out for us. Let’s look at that once more. 19, 4 to 8. 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 a man leave his father and his 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 divorcemen and put her away? And he said, unto them, Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, suffered you to put your wives, put away your wives. But from the beginning, it was not so. What he’s saying here is, we look at the law, and remember the law, it really is the first five books of Scripture. It’s not just the writings from Sinai that, like Deuteronomy 24, but the law includes the book of Genesis. And Jesus goes back to the institution of marriage and says, now look, how God established marriage. And this is the way it should be. But because of man’s wicked heart, God had to regulate it further because man was already involved in very evil practices that had to be regulated and controlled. So God created a woman to be a lifetime companion to the man. Indeed, a permanent unity was emphasized. They twain shall be one flesh, it says. Christ says, in effect, these are the words of Moses you should be concerned about. God did not create marriage so that divorce would be so commonplace. Far from God, commanding divorce, the only people, the only person, permitted divorce, he suffered it because of the hardness of your hearts, as he says in Matthew 198. What we have to understand is that marriage was meant to be a permanent institution, a lifetime commitment. The scribes and the Pharisees were taking Deuteronomy 24, which was meant to restrict divorce, and make an irregulation which allowed for an easy divorce for almost any reason. So he emphasizes the permanency of marriage. Christ provides the biblical basis for divorce. In Matthew 199, he says here, and this is one thing it’s not listed in Luke, Luke’s Gospel here, but it is in Matthews. And so we have to look at the fuller passage. whosoever shall put away his wife except it be for fornication and shall marry another, committed adultery, and whoso marrieth her which is put away, doth commit adultery. He gives the exceptional clause here in Matthew 19. The Bible allows divorce under only two specific circumstances if we look through the whole new Testament very clearly. One was fornication. If there was sexual sin, which is mentioned here, that is a possibility for divorce. The other is something that Christ did not specifically address, and that is if you would be married to an unbeliever, such as Paul encountered when he went out and preach the gospel. One of the members of the marriage, one of them would get saved and the other would not. But if the unsaved spouse deserted the saved, the believer, 1 Corinthians 7 talks about what to do under those circumstances. There is no contradiction here. is speaking about professing believers who adhere to the Word of God. Paul’s teaching deals with an area that Christ did not take up, and that is the desertion of an unbelieving mate. He spent in 1st, 7.12, he talks about a wife that believeth not. We see here that scripture uses the term fornication, fornia, to refer to various kinds of sins. If you look up this word and you see how it’s used in Bible, it’s used for incest, 1 Corinthians 5.1. It’s used for adultery, 1. Corinthians 6, 15, to 18. It’s used for premarital sex in 1. Corinthians 7, 2. And it’s used for homosexuality in Jude 7. Therefore, fornication is not just adultery, but takes in that wider, broader range of sexual sins. So he provides the biblical basis here for divorce. Christ doesn’t require divorce for fornication. It only permits it. The husband and wife may forgive the guilty part. You know, whatever the case may be, it’s possible if they repent, that then reconciliation could take place. by brother trespass against, he rebuke him, and if he repent, forgive him. It’s possible. And I think it’s best to try and preserve the marriage. But you have a right to divorce, if you wish. I ended up counseling someone one time. The problem he had was he had cheated in his wife more than once. She forgave him. twice. The third time, she said, I’ve had enough, and she left. And she wasn’t going to stay with him any longer. And, you know, he was, you know, all upset. And I said, well, she, you know, she’s given you several chances and you have not behaved properly. Well, Christ teaches adultery occurs if fornication is not the basis of divorce. The husband, by putting his wife away for an unbiblical reason causes her to commit adultery regardless of being given a bill of divorcement or not. This coincides with Deuteronomy 24-4. She is defiled. And the bill of divorcement didn’t prevent the defilement from taking place. So Jesus makes the meaning of defilement. clearer by calling it adulterity 24 never says a bill of divorcement makes one free to remarry. It simply records that she does. The woman would not be stoned if she remarried because she had the bill of divorcement. But still, it led to defilement. And so this is the Lord’s teaching here on the subject. Now let me close with just a couple of thoughts with regard to you and I. And I’ll begin with this. Do you recognize the binding nature of your wedding vows? Before God, you and your spouse made a solemn covenant by a vow, and God made you one vow, and God made you one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put a under. You vowed before God to live his husband and wife till death, and you’ve had plenty of witnesses to this when you were married. And so young people should look upon marriage is a very serious commitment. You know, don’t enter marriage lightly. It is a serious matter before God. Let me also say this. Do you understand? Do you understand? I understand marriage is a lifetime commitment. As a husband, you must be faithful to your wife. Even if she loses her youthful beauty and attractiveness, even if she doesn’t satisfy you sexually as you expected, even if she doesn’t cook very well and burns the pork chops to crisp, and she doesn’t cook like your mom cooked, doesn’t matter. she’s still your wife. She spends maybe too much money too freely, runs up the credit card, whatever the case may be, that’s still not a reason to divorce her. Now, as the wife, you have promised to be faithful, even if your husband balloons into a 300-pound person, maybe you should start burning the dinner then. that he isn’t very dependable. He’s not the breadwinner you had hoped he would be. He’s poor at upkeeping the house. You know, he cannot even fix the kitchen towel rack, as he promised, whatever the case may be. And so you need to realize the seriousness of the marriage relationship. Notice here that sexual sin alone is the basis for divorce. for you as professing Christians. You have to face your marital problems and seek God’s help in resolving them. You know, running away through divorce may result in adultery. It’s not an easy way out. The state may allow divorce for incompatibility. It may allow divorce for irreconcilable differences. But God does not. Accept it be. Anything else is flying in the face of this express command and declaration of the Son of God. But, Pastor, they will give me divorce papers and make everything nice and legal, perhaps, but it’s not biblical. The state isn’t doing us any good with these laws for incompatibility and irreconcilable differences. It’s not the state that has the right to, Make those decisions. God’s laws must govern you and not man’s. So Christ said except it be for for fornication. Sexual sin alone is the basis for divorce as professing Christians. What if you are guilty of breaking God’s marital laws? The difficulty is that sin cannot always be undone or reversed. Remember the divorce. wife could not go back to her first husband. You can’t unscramble an egg. I was talking to one of the dialysis texts one day and talked about her first husband and they got a divorce and now she’s with someone else. She said, you know, we were pretty young and naive. She says, I think we could have worked it out. I think we could have worked it out. But now it’s too late. With God, there’s always forgiveness. And it may be possible to restore the marriage. Even the woman taken in the very act of adultery in John 8 heard Christ’s tender words of forgiveness, neither do I condemn thee, go and sin no more. The worst sins are forgiven by Jesus Christ. But there’s often consequences that you must bear when you sin against God. Confess your sin. Try to reconcile with your mate and pray for God’s mercy to rest upon you. Marital trust must be earned. You know, it can’t be demanded. So rebuilding a marriage can take time. to do and we have to be willing to commit that time and do it. So this is Christ’s teaching here on marriage and divorce and hopefully we got a rounded teaching on the subject this morning. May God bless this to us.