Open up your Bibles to the book of Mark chapter 10. Mark chapter 10, we're gonna begin a new chapter this morning as we have been preaching through Mark's gospel. And as we move here into chapter 10, the very first part of it, first 12 verses, deals with a difficult topic, and that is marriage and divorce. And incidentally, this is one reason why, among several, that I like to preach verse by verse through the Bible, or through a book of the Bible. Preaching this way means that I can't skip any of the hard text. You can kind of pick and choose and dance around those topics that are difficult sometimes to preach. But you know what? When we talk about divorce and marriage, we need to acknowledge that there are a lot of difficulties, realities in the world that we live in. And one of those things is we need to acknowledge that divorce, for just about any reason at all, has become common. And that the assault upon marriage being between one man and one woman has become a major deal. There is an assault on the family that has been undertaken in our society here in the United States of America. Now, when we talk about divorce, I understand this topic can be very uncomfortable for some. And all we can do is look to the scriptures and see what the scriptures have to say. And that's what we're going to be doing here. So let's read what will be our text. This is going to be a multi-part message on this topic. In fact, we're going to read Mark chapter 10, 1 through 12. for this morning, but then we're gonna go to some other scriptures, and we're gonna lay a foundation for what marriage is. So the title of the message this morning is, What is Marriage? And again, this is gonna be part one, and I'm not sure how many messages this'll take. I'm anticipating three or so. but we'll see. Last time I did this a few chapters ago when we broke off for a time and we preached about the humanity of Jesus and the divinity of Jesus, I anticipated that being about a three or four week message. It ended up being about three months instead, but we'll see where the Lord leads us in this. But our text, Mark chapter 10, and starting at verse one. And he rose 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, 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? And they said, Moses suffered 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, his disciples asked him again of the same matter. And he saith unto 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. Let us pray. Our kind and most gracious Heavenly Father, we come to you this morning seeking your mercy and your forgiveness of our sins. We come to you seeking your Holy Spirit to teach us as we look here at your scriptures. And Lord, help us to understand them and understand what you say, O Lord, about marriage and about divorce. Lord, I just pray that you would open up our eyes to this and that we might be strengthened in what we believe about this so that we might stand against those in this world who would attack this very precious thing, this precious institution. Lord, I just pray all of these things in Jesus' name and for his sake, amen. Now we will look at the first two verses that we just read, verses one and two, and kind of set the circumstances that we're dealing with here, what's going on exactly, and then from there we're gonna shift into other passages in the Bible. Some of these are lengthy, and so I would urge you to turn to them as we look at each one. But first, go back to verses 1 and 2. Verse 1 says, So what we see is, we've been talking over the last several verses there in chapter 9 about how he and the disciples had gone north of Galilee To the to where he was transfigured upon the mount and then they leave that place and come back to Capernaum on their way to Jerusalem And this is the last journey Jesus will be making to Jerusalem But they they slip away for a time so that he could spend time just with the disciples and not have the crowd of Around them they get to Capernaum and stop there and then from there they're resuming now that journey verse 1 when it says and he arose from this then we're talking about Capernaum and Then we see cometh unto the coast of Judea. That's the King James way of saying the border of Judea so they're traveling south towards that border and And then the latter part of the verse says, and the people resort unto him again. That means the crowds resumed following him. And so whether it be those from Galilee or others they meet along the way, once again, a big crowd forms around Jesus. And then it says and as he was want he taught them again In other words that word what means is as was his custom That's what he always did when crowds gathered around him. He taught them the word, okay And we should teach the Word of God when we gather together. We ought to share Scriptures and talk about those scriptures and look at the Word of God That's what Jesus does in verse 2. I And the Pharisees came to him now, we know the Pharisees have already been stirred up quite a bit So much so that they have already been looking for ways to get rid of Jesus. They've already been trying to trick him and trap him into saying something that would harm his standing with the people and the affection of the people for him. And so here they come again. The Pharisees, plural, came to him and asked him, is it lawful for a man to put away his wife? So they're asking him about divorce. Now, you need to understand in this day in which Jesus is doing his ministry here, when he is on this earth, there are basically two schools of thought among the Jews, among the Pharisees and the various Jewish teachings. The more conservative school followed after Rabbi, I'm not sure how to pronounce this, Shammai or Shammai, and they said that the only ground for divorce was adultery. The other more liberal school followed after Rabbi Hillel and said divorce could be granted for any indecency. In Jesus' day, Surprise, surprise, most Pharisees followed Rabbi Hillel, which made divorce easy, and they wanted it to stay that way. And so they're coming to Jesus kind of for two reasons. One, maybe he will say something they can use against him, or two, they're probably looking for him to confirm what they, their practice, easy divorce. So they basically throw Jesus into the middle of a debate in their day that is pretty similar to the debate going on in our day about marriage. There's much in common. So their desire, let's understand this, was to justify divorce for any reason. So Jesus, and by the way, notice it says tempting him. Again, they're trying to trap him or trick him into some answer that would hurt his standing with the people. So the, Jesus, rather than deal with divorce directly, he asked a question, we'll see this when we go on into these verses, maybe next week. Rather than deal with them directly, he really turns the issue to that of marriage. And what he does is teach on marriage. So what we're going to do is go back and look in the Old Testament and other places and see what the Bible says about marriage and divorce. So turn to Genesis chapter two, verse 18. We'll begin there. Genesis chapter two. And verse 18. So what we're doing is laying a foundation for what marriage is. And the very first thing we need to look at, the very first point along these lines that I wish to make is, we need to understand that God instituted marriage. And he is the only one who gets to define it. Public opinion does not get to define what marriage is. The whims of man do not get to define what marriage is. No court of law and civil government can decide what marriage is. Governments have to make decisions about that and declarations about that, but they don't get to define what marriage is It is defined by the one who made it and that's what we're going to read about here in Genesis chapter 2 of course, we're at the very beginning of Genesis here and God is in the process of creating everything that we know to be in the world and He has created the earth. He's created land and water. He's created the herbs of the field. He's created birds in the sky. He's created various animals. And that's where we're going to come in at on verse 18. And the Lord God said, it is not good that the man should be alone. I will make him and help me for him. Those words help me is you might think of a helper that was fit for the man, a mate in other words. Verse 19, and out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every fowl of the air and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them. And whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. And Adam gave names to all cattle and to the fowl of the air and to every beast of the field. But for Adam, there was not found and help meet for him. And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam and he slept. And he took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh instead thereof. And the rib which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, this is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman because she was taken out of man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed. Now, a few things about these verses. Number one, when we look at verse 18, we see that God knew that Adam would need someone Like him someone who would be suitable for him to be a help to him so that he would not be alone God sees this he knows this before Anything is done and in the genesis 2 creation account We see then that the lord forms every beast of the field And rather than God himself name them, he brings them before Adam so that Adam can name them. Adam gives them their names. Why does he do this? Well, first of all, he's created these animals, male and female. And he wants Adam to ponder this situation and see for himself that he had a great need. And that need was for a helpmate, someone, a wife, a mate, someone who could help him. He's looking at these animals and he's seeing male and female. And he begins to think about this. And as he ponders it, he does indeed come to this understanding that he is alone, that there is no other creature like himself. All these animals have male and female, but there's just him. And he sees this. And I believe God wanted him to see this because God wanted Adam to understand God is the one who grants our needs who takes care of us and provides for every need that we have Another point God Creates the woman from the man if you'll remember he created Adam from the dust of the earth He formed it up formed a body, breathed life into that body, and Adam lived. In this case, he doesn't do the same thing with the woman. Instead, he takes a rib from Adam, puts Adam to sleep, takes a rib from him, and forms a woman from that rib. And there's a nifty little saying about, you know, didn't take it from his head so that she could lord over him or him, her, didn't take from his feet so he could trample on her or whatever, took it from a rib near his heart so that they could be close. And I butchered that really good, but I think you might get the sentiment there. The idea is he creates Radom, someone, so that he's not alone and someone that can help him in God's creation. Adam calls her woman, isha. The Hebrew word for man is ish, one word for it is ish. That's Adam, he calls her isha, meaning she came from me. Another point, and this is a very important one. The principle of marriage is designated here as a man and a woman cleaving together to become one flesh. They're being united together as one. A man and a woman. That's what God says is marriage. Nowhere in the scriptures do you find God permitting or saying that marriage can be between a man and a man, or a woman and a woman. Nowhere does scripture say that it is okay, legal, for a man to be married to multiple women. Now, as we know in the scriptures, there will be that. Polygamy, there will be that practice. It will arise. But the scriptures nowhere condone that. So the principle here is that it be a man and a woman. The beauty of marriage is demonstrated here as they are together, they are naked, and they're not ashamed. Now the fall and the entrance of sin into the world will alter the human perception of this, but it does not change the God-established beauty of marriage between a man and a woman. Marriage is a good gift from God. And it is one to be enjoyed. Again, sin alters that. Sin can sometimes make marriage very difficult. But the marriage itself is very beautiful. And there's a reason for that, as we shall see in a moment. This greatest of human to human relationships is built on the emotional and physical bonding of a man and a woman. Now turn to Romans. We'll go to the New Testament for a moment. Romans chapter seven, verse one. God's design is for one man and one woman to be united for a lifetime, unless one of the parties dies. And that's what we're gonna see here in Romans 7. Romans 7, verse 1. Know ye not, brethren, for I speak to them that know the law, how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth. For the woman which hath a husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth. But if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress. But if her husband be dead, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man. So if a spouse, one of the spouses dies, the principle set forth here, then the other is free to remarry, and that's not adultery. But if both remain alive, and then going to this issue of divorce, a divorce occurs, it is quite possible for one of them to be committing adultery if they remarry. And that principle is being laid forth for us here. A third thing. Marriage is more completely defined as the joining of two bodies, two wills, two minds, and two sets of God-given emotions. So this is something that God does when he brings together a man and a wife There is a bonding in all these different areas where they are united together. A term you might use here is cemented together. And the idea again is one of permanence, okay? Permanence, it's not meant to be ripped apart. The ripping apart of a marriage can be one of the most difficult things two people can go through in this life. That's one of the very real consequences of divorce. Fourthly, turn now to Ephesians chapter five. Ephesians chapter five. In verse 21. We're given insight in this passage as to the purpose of marriage, a purpose that goes above and beyond the two people getting married. You see, marriage is sacred, and thus it must not be altered by man. It is sacred because it reflects the spiritual union of Christ and his church. Verse 21, submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God, wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, and he is the savior of the body. Therefore, as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself, a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish. So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church. For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall 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 every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself and the wives see that she reverence her husband. Here's what we need to understand, but first of all, there is very good teaching there about what marriage is between a man and a woman, and how each one has roles, and how each one has a place, and that God has established all of this, and if you wanna have a good, healthy marriage, follow God's word, and follow his scriptures, and follow his directions, and that will help you get a long ways towards that, okay? But the overall thing he's doing while he's teaching about marriage, Paul here is inspired by God to record this, as he's teaching about marriage, he also wants them to understand that on a higher level, he is speaking of Christ and the church. And just as Jesus would never and will never divorce his bride, a spouse should never divorce his or her mate. The ultimate meaning of marriage is bigger than the two who are married. The ultimate meaning is the pure and perfect covenant-keeping love between Christ and his bride. To remain married, to stay together for a lifetime, reflects what Jesus has promised us in his union with us. And that is a precious promise. And a marriage reflects that. Now as we're going to, we're gonna get into this further. There are times when divorces are gonna occur. There may even be justified reasons, according to the scriptures, for divorce to occur. But our mentality when we go into a marriage, into a marriage union, must be that I am intending to do this for life. Because that marriage is a reflection upon Christ and his marriage to his church, to his bride. And it is very important for us to uphold that. I wanna say this at this time. In recent years, it's become very, well, it's become very much of a debate. Sadly, in churches, among people that call themselves Christians, there's been a debate over homosexuality, okay, sodomy. And people have taken sides on this issue and made a big deal out of it. We have taken a solid stand here as this church against homosexuality. The Bible clearly states that it's a sin. And that's our stand. We should be honest and say, though, we can take that stand more easily than some because we're not as directly affected by that issue as some are. I'm not justifying taking a different stand. I'm just saying it's easy for us to, yeah, homosexuality is a sin, shouldn't be. And here's where I'm headed with this. We should take the same stand where adultery is concerned. We should take the same stand where fornication is concerned. We should take the same stand where divorce is concerned. and speak of it just the same way the scriptures do. We should see one just as bad as the other, and why is that? Why is the scripture filled with commandments concerning sexual purity. It is because that union is what God has seen fit to describe the union of Christ and his church as. Just as Christ will never commit adultery on us or divorce us, and we shouldn't him, obviously, then the same should apply to our human relationships. We must set a high standard of purity in regards to these matters. That's why it's important to take a scriptural stand on these issues. Not to the point where we beat someone up over it, but to the point that we are very clear about where we stand and about what the Bible says. And when people accuse us, well, you believe this, you do that. No, what we are saying is what the Bible says. I don't say it, the Bible says it. And that should be our objective. The fifth point I wanna make this morning, And last one is this. In speaking about divorce, the Bible does not condone divorce, but it does recognize the reality of divorce. There are some times when that in the sinful world in which we live, where everything is disrupted and it is made unclear because of sin, there are times where divorce is the best course of action. What we must do is be very careful that we follow the Bible's instructions concerning this. and that that be our guide. Turn to Deuteronomy chapter 24. In our original text that we read this morning in Mark 10, When Jesus asked them, and he knew what they would say, when Jesus asked them, what did Moses command you? They said, Moses suffered to write a bill of divorcement and to put her away. This is a passage that Jesus, that they're probably referring to and that Jesus knew they would go to. Deuteronomy chapter 24, verse one. We're gonna read the first four verses there. 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 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 giveth 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 thou shalt not cause the land to sin, which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance. And there's a lot here, we're not gonna be able to get into all of it by any means. A couple of things I do wanna bring out. One, when it says, back in verse one, because he hath found some uncleanness in her, this is where the debate really begins. What is this in reference to? I will uphold that it is referring to sexual immorality of some type. that kind of uncleanness. The Jews in Jesus' day were falling back. Well, in reality, if a woman put too much salt in the meals she prepared for her husband, the Jews said the husband could divorce her. Okay? Methinks they're taking it too far, okay? And that is not the intention of granting a divorce. What I believe is we should go to the other, we should flip to the other side of the spectrum and be much stricter in our definition of what uncleanness is. Secondly, the Old Testament law allows for the issuing of a divorce certificate. in order to provide regulations and order for circumstances that will arise because we are sinful creatures living in a fallen world full of injustice. By that I mean divorce is a concession in the scriptures, not a commandment. And it is a concession to this difficulty of being sinful creatures in a sinful world full of injustice. And the idea of divorce here is a means to provide for the protection and welfare of an innocent party, okay? In the case of a man putting his wife aside, giving her a bill of divorcement, that bill of divorcement is not to justify the man, It is to protect the woman. Because she is being put out of the house, she will have no means of support. If she remarries, then she will have support. And therefore is a concession made there, okay? And so that is why it was conceded or permitted to occur to protect the innocent party and not to protect the one who probably is bringing about the wrong. I mean, let's be honest and let's be real. Why is that man putting her out of the house? Most likely because he has his eyes on someone else. There may be a justified reason, okay, to put her out. But again, we live in a very imperfect world. So this shouldn't be seen as a means to help someone who is violating God's design for marriage. One more passage of scripture, turn to Malachi, last book in the Old Testament. So if you get to Matthew, you've gone too far. Back up a page or two. Malachi chapter two, Verse 13. Malachi 2 verse 13. And this have ye done again, covering the altar of the Lord with tears, with weeping, and with crying out, insomuch that he regardeth not the offering any more, or receiveth it with good will at your hand. Yet you say, wherefore? Because the Lord hath been witness 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 he not make one, meaning Adam, yet had he the residue of the spirit, and wherefore one, that he might seek a godly seed. So this one really is the one marriage between Adam and Eve so that children could be produced, and from that would come the Lord Jesus Christ. 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. So, where divorce is concerned, we need to understand it to be a means by which an innocent party can be protected. And this idea of a man just, of a whim putting aside his wife, or even worse, being treacherous in his dealings with the wife of his youth, is looked down upon by the Lord, and the scriptures say that he hateth putting away. The Lord does not look kindly upon that. So we should walk very carefully where divorce is concerned. So for this morning, what I've wanted to do is just lay a foundation for marriage and for divorce. And if the Lord is willing, next Sunday when we return together, next Sunday morning, we will build upon that foundation some more and continue this teachings and looking at what the scriptures say about marriage and divorce. For this morning, I'll leave you with a few questions. One, who determines what marriage is? The answer to that is God and God alone. What makes the institution of marriage sacred and holy? The fact that it represents the union of Christ and his church. Why is marriage important? Because it is God-ordained and is meant for our good in his glory. Marriage is a precious and wonderful thing. that we should not take for granted, and that we should not treat treacherously, but we should look at it as a way to bring honor and glory to God. May we do so, and may we honor marriage. And I'll probably repeat this at some point, and in case I don't, young people who are not married, understand how important it is that you choose a godly spouse, one who reverences the scriptures, and one who understands what the scriptures say about marriage and divorce. If you go by what the world is teaching today, and so many of you are getting exposed to already, and if not, you will soon, You're gonna be confused about what marriage is and what its purpose is. The scriptures are clear. Look to the scriptures. Let's bow our heads for prayer. Our kind and most gracious Heavenly Father, oh Lord, we thank you for this day. We thank you for these precious verses about marriage, Lord, and help us to understand them and to look at marriage the way you look at marriage and to look at divorce the way you look at divorce. and then to make wise and careful choices where the two are concerned. Lord, help us in this day of an assault upon marriage and what it means. Help us, Lord, to stand firm upon your word. And bless that stand, O Lord. And we pray, O Lord, for revival to sweep this land that will restore among other things, what marriage and what divorce really are, and what you say about them, and that that would be the standard of the land. Lord, I just pray for those who are troubled by this topic that you would touch them and that you would minister to them, Lord, and may they find grace and mercy in your eyes, encouragement, O Lord, and strength And I just pray these things in Jesus name, amen. Let's all stand.