Mark 10:1-12:

[1] 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. [2] And Pharisees came up and in order to test him asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” [3] He answered them, “What did Moses command you?” [4] They said, “Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce and to send her away.” [5] And Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment. [6] But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ [7] ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, [8] and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh. [9] What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” [10] And in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter. [11] And he said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her, [12] and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”

Introduction:

Today we are moving into Mark chapter 10, and not unlike other portions of Mark, we are going to come to a teaching from Christ on marriage and divorce that comes in direct conflict with our self-centered, self-preserving, self-glorifying, sinful flesh. That is after all what the commands of Christ do, right? What does your flesh tell you when you hear the verses we studied last week about how serious the war against sin should be? It seeks to preserve itself, to provide excuses, and tell you that you do not need to go to such extremes.  It tells you to think about how valuable your hands are, how needed your feet are, or how precious your eyes are. We are in a war, beloved.  And that war is not always against things that are external, it is more often internal. Galatians 5:17 says “the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.” There is a war raging in your life between your flesh and the Spirit.  And It is constant. And the commands of Christ found in the bible are meant to be the razor sharp cuts that wound and weaken the flesh.  This is why the word is called the Sword of the Spirit. So, as you hear the words of Christ in Mark chapter 10, let me encourage you once again to strike another blow against your flesh. Don’t give it the opportunity to preserve itself. See the command of Christ in this text and desire to say a resounding Amen. My hearts desire is for us to see the amazing truth of God’s design in creation for marriage, to repent of the low views we often have (I myself have done this even in preparation) and then turn to look at the grace of Jesus Christ on the cross that covers our sin.  I want to walk the tight line of being sensitive and tender to those in this room who have felt the awful effects of divorce, proclaiming the overwhelming grace and mercy of our great God and Lord Jesus Christ; while not detracting from the bold and firm command of the scriptures we will examine.This is not a subject to tread lightly over.  As one pastor rightly said,

“Few things are more painful than divorce. It cuts to the depths of personhood unlike any other relational gash. It is emotionally more heart-wrenching than the death of a spouse. Death is usually clean pain. Divorce is usually dirty pain. In other words, the enormous loss of a spouse in death is compounded in divorce by the ugliness of sin and moral outrage at being so wronged.” (John Piper, sermon on Mark 10:1-12).

Divorce is detrimental to the body of Christ and it is happening at an alarming rate in our society’s do churches. Our flesh has found a strong way to preserve itself through our marriages. We need to right the ship. We also need to write the ship in understanding what marriage should be. Divorce is not the only way our flesh is winning, it is just the one blatantly staring us in the eye this morning. But, let me plead with you to take this away from this sermon as well… MARK 15 & 16 ARE COMING. The cross and the resurrection are ahead of us.  Jesus Christ has overcome and he stands before us this morning offering us forgiveness, restoration and POWER through His blood.

I want to break this text down in to 3 parts for us to examine this morning. We will look at

THE QUESTION ASKED,
THE REDIRECTION & ANSWER OF JESUS,
and THE EXPANDED EXPLANATION.

CONTEXT:

Before we get to these three parts it is important for us to understand the context we are given.  Look at verse 1 with me again, “And he left there and went to the region of Judea and beyond the Jordan,” By saying that Jesus “left there,” Mark is pointing immediately back to where Jesus was in the previous verses we examined. We see that Jesus has passed through Galilee in verse 30 of chapter 9 and he came to a house in Capernaum, verse 33. Let me give you a brief synopsis if you haven’t been with us.  In this house, Jesus has corrected the disciples selfish pride twice, first over their faulty view of greatness, and then in their unwarranted rebuke of someone who was not following them.  Then we listened to him teach on the radical, or as Pastor Sam pointed out, normal cost of discipleship to take a strong stance against sin.  Then Jesus leaves Capernaum.  And Mark tells us that, “he went to the region of Judea and beyond the Jordan, and crowds gathered to him again.”  Now, I didn’t notice this at first, but Mark actually skips 6 months of Jesus’ life.  He takes us from Capernaum straight to Peraea.  Peraea is what is beyond the Jordan.  Mark skips Jesus’ ministry in Judea.  We can read about that ministry in John 7-11 and Luke 10-18 but not here in Mark. Mark takes us straight to Peraea and this interaction with the Pharisees on divorce.  Let me pause for a brief lesson on studying the bible.   We talk about this often here at Sovereign Hope because we want you to be equipped to understand how to study the bible on your own.  What is one of the main things to keep in mind when you are studying the bible?…CONTEXT. Some even say, “Context is King.” Well, there are 2 types of context.  There is the historical context, that is, what is the context of the setting in which what you are reading is set.  And there is textual context.  What is the context of the letter surrounding the section of scripture you are studying? The second context specifically helps you understand authorial intent.  What does the author desire for you to see from this text?  So, when you think of context, you should think of these 2 things.

So, stop here and take a mental snapshot of the fact that Mark skips 6 months in the life of Christ to purposefully move us from Jesus’ teaching in the house in Capernaum, to this teaching on divorce and the subsequent teachings we will study in Mark chapter 10.

It is also worth noting that Peraea is home to Herod An-ti-pas. Do you remember him from our study in Mark? He is the Herod that beheaded John the baptist because of the desire of Herodias, who was upset that John was rebuking them.  And what was the sin that John was rebuking Herod for?  Look back to Mark chapter 6, in verses 17-18, “For it was Herod who had sent and seized John and bond him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, because he had married her. For John had been saying to Herod, ‘It is not lawful for you to have  your brother’s wife.'” This is the region where John The Baptist was behead for calling out the sin of Herod and Herodias of divorce and remarriage.  That is our historical context. And we see at the end of verse 1 that Jesus is teaching again about the kingdom of God.  This is the reason he came, as we learned at the beginning of Mark, and again we see him preaching about the kingdom of God and point to salvation.  Now lets look at the 3 parts to this portion of Scripture

Part 1: The Question Asked

Look with me at verse 2,

“And Pharisees came up and in order to test him asked, ‘Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife.”

Here are the Pharisees again coming to Jesus with another question, interrupting his teaching on the kingdom.  Look at the purpose of their question. Their question is not one coming from a sincere desire to know the biblically right answer. Verse 2 tells us it was in order to test him.  The word used for test is to tempt him.  It has the intention of proving someone evil.  You see, they knew exactly where they were and they knew exactly what they were doing.  They finally had Jesus.

If he answers boldly and firmly from scripture, Herod’s followers were there and word would get back to Herod and Herodias that Jesus was calling their marriage sinful.  Essentially he would be saying the same thing that John the Baptist was saying. But if he shied away from the truth and gave the allowance for divorce, they would prove him to be a fraud. Listen to the question again. “Is is lawful for a man to divorce his wife.” The same account is found in Matthew 19, there Matthew records that they were saying, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any cause.”  Notice the heart of the question beloved. The question is not, how is marriage viewed in the eyes of God? The question is, what cause allows a man to divorce his wife lawfully?  Beloved, let me ask you a bold question this morning, IS THAT HOW YOU IMMEDIATELY APPROACH THIS TEXT? If it is, pause for a moment to notice whose company you are in.  What is your desire this morning as you read this text? Is it to simply know what are the lawful reasons for divorce? Whether your marriage is strong, or rocky.  Whether you have been married 50 years or are single and longing for marriage.  Even if you are committed to a life of singleness, let me plead with you not to immediately approach these verses that way.  Because we will see that Jesus does not respond to this question directly. Instead he redirects them to the appropriate starting point.  This brings us to…

Part 2: The Redirection & Answer of Jesus 

The Pharisees think they have trapped Jesus into a corner.  They are sure they have him now, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” Oh, but Jesus is too wise for them.  He sees straight to the heart of their questions and he redirects the heart to the appropriate starting place.  Look at verse 3 again, “He answered them, ‘What did Moses command you?” Let me ask you, you know the law, you know the torah better than anyone here. “What did Moses command you?” Notice first, that Jesus does not shy away from the question.  He is not cowardly like the Pharisees. He is not redirecting to avoid answering. He is redirecting to set the perfect stage for the appropriate way we should think about this subject.  Now read with me verse 4 as the Pharisees respond, “They said, ‘Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away.'” Did you notice the subtle nuance of this response?  Jesus says, “What did Moses COMMAND you?” and they respond, “Moses ALLOWED a man to write a certificate of divorce.” You see, they know this is not a firm command of God.  They know the commands of God, but they are cowards and do not want to admit it out loud.  So they tell the truth but they do not tell the command. Moses did ALLOW a man to write a certificate but he did not command it. Now look at Jesus’ immediate response in verse 5, And Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment. But from the beginning  of creation, ‘God made them male and female.'” Oh beloved, that is a blow right to the gut.  What Jesus is saying is that even though Moses wrote a law that permits certificates of divorce, this was not so from the beginning of creation. It is only because the hardness of man’s heart that this law exists. Divorce is a product of the fall.  Divorce is not in the original design of God in creation. In fact, in Malachi 2:16, The Lord says “I hate divorce.” Divorce is due to hard hearts.  We all know this, but notice that even the giving of a certificate of divorce is a product of hard hearts.

Now before we move on, I think it is important to examine what the Pharisees and Jesus are referring to.  The law they are referring to is found in Deuteronomy 24, turn there quickly with me.

DEUTERONOMY 24:1-4:

[1] “When a man takes a wife and marries her, if then she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some indecency in her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, and she departs out of his house, [2] and if she goes and becomes another man’s wife, [3] and the latter man hates her and writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, or if the latter man dies, who took her to be his wife, [4] then her former husband, who sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after she has been defiled, for that is an abomination before the LORD. And you shall not bring sin upon the land that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance.

Let’s unpack this for a moment. First, Do you see the command in this text? The command is found in verse 4, “then her former husband, who sent her way, may not take her again to be his wife, after she has been defiled, for that is an abomination before the Lord.” So, the command of Moses IS NOT, to give a certificate of divorce.  The command IS…not to take a woman back after she has been given a certificate of divorce and married another man, even if that man dies.  Why? Because she has been defiled.

Do you see what this law is saying? A woman who has been given a certificate of divorce is defiled in remarriage.  This command of Moses was not meant to condone divorce, it was to deter divorce.  Because the Israelites were willing to divorce for any kind of indecency.  Now, some want to say this is referring to adultery and that is the reason the divorce certificate is allowed. That is simply not true though.  First, the word indecency does not mean adultery. Second, if you committed adultery, the penalty was death.  So, a divorce certificate would be silly.  Ok, but wait a minute pastor…doesn’t Jesus seemingly condone the certificate of divorce by saying Moses wrote this commandment?  Not at all. Go back to Mark 10 verse 5, Jesus says, “Because of your hardness of heart, he wrote you this commandment.” The hardness of hearts is referring then primarily to the Israelites hardness of hearts to get divorced. This is an early sign of mercy in the Bible beloved.  Jesus is saying, because of the hardness of mans heart, there was a commandment given to keep the Israelites from being an abomination by taking a defiled wife back.  God saw the hard hearts of man and how they were divorcing, and said, let me keep them from sinning even more by giving them a command to not remarry the divorced wife after married someone else because she is now defiled, and that is an abomination. So, this law was meant to get them to think before giving the certificate of divorce because of what they were choosing to do.  Why was a divorce certificate allowed at all then? Because, without it the woman would be put to death. The  certificate indicated that adultery was NOT the cause of divorce. It protected the wife who was frivolously divorced. So, this commandment of Moses in Deuteronomy should have screamed to those desiring to follow The Lord exactly what Jesus says in verses 6-9. Look closely with me at the words of Christ,

MARK 10:6-9:

[6] But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ [7] ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, [8] and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh. [9] What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”

What the Pharisees should have seen, in the Bible, and what we need to see is that marriage is a sacred union from God, through God, and for the glory of God. Jesus asked the Pharisees, “What did Moses command you?” and they went to Deuteronomy 24. But Jesus takes them back to the original command of Moses.  You see, they forgot who wrote Genesis.  They didn’t go to the command Jesus was referring to.  Jesus wants our minds to focus on what marriage was created to be by God at the beginning of  creation. That is where we should start, so that is where Jesus takes his listeners. I want to point out 5 things revealed to us about marriage in Jesus’ response.

Marriage is A HETEROSEXUAL, MONOGAMOUS, COVENANT KEEPING, LIFE ALTERING, UNION JOINED TOGETHER BY GOD.

MARRIAGE IS HETEROSEXUAL:

Verse 6,

“But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.'”

A more literal translation would read “from the beginning of creation, ‘God made the A MALE and A FEMALE.” Marriage is heterosexual. From the beginning it was meant to be between A MALE  and A FEMALE. When God made Adam in the garden,  He purposefully chose to make Adam the perfect helper.  He began walking all the animals  before Adam, not in some attempt to see if one was the perfect helpmate, but in order to show Adam that the animals were never intended to be that. God then puts Adam into a deep sleep and literally, yes literally. God literally pulls a rib out of Adam and literally forms Eve and Adam literally names this creation woman.  Men and women are design to fit perfectly together.

Now, 2 days ago we saw the supreme court rule that states could no longer ban same sex marriages.  Don’t be deceived beloved, this is a big deal because the supreme court is essentially trying to redefine marriage. Why  is the issue of homosexual marriage so important? Because, as we will see, God is the author marriage and “So Called Same Sex Marriage” is firmly against the design of God in creation. This now calls for the church to stand even more firm on the design of God in marriage.  But hear me beloved, we must be gospel oriented in our approach to this issue.  The media and the world is going to try to place everyone into 2 separate camps. Those that praise homosexuality and those that hate homosexuality. The church must stand in the middle. Listen to the words of Jonathan Parnell of Desiring God Ministries, who puts it better than I could,

“The current debate is plagued by this binary lens. Those on the left try to lump everyone who disagrees with them into that right side. If you don’t support, you hate. Meanwhile, those on the right see compromise and spinelessness in anyone who doesn’t get red-faced and militant. If you don’t hate, you support. But true followers of Christ will walk neither path. We have something to say that no one else is saying, or can say. Distancing ourselves from both the left and the right, we don’t celebrate homosexual practice, we acknowledge God’s clear revealed word that it is sin; and we don’t hate those who embrace homosexuality, we love them enough to not just collapse under the societal pressure. We speak the truth in love into this confusion, saying, simultaneously, “That’s wrong” and “I love you.” We’re not the left; we say, this is wrong. And we’re not the right; we say, you’re loved. We speak good news, with those sweetest, deepest, most glorious words of the cross — the same words that God spoke us — “You’re wrong, and you’re loved.” God tells us we’re wrong, that the wages of sin is death, that unrepentant rebellion means judgment, that our rescue required the cursed death of his Son (Romans 3:23; John 3:36; Galatians 3:13). And God tells us we’re loved, that even while we were sinners, Jesus died for us, that while we were unrighteous, Jesus suffered in our place, that though we were destined for wrath, Jesus welcomes us into glory (Romans 5:8; 1 Peter 3:18; Ephesians 2:1–7).”

2 Days ago, our nation decided to institutionalize sin. This will certainly bring many sorrows in the years to come.  We have lost sight of what marriage was designed by God to be in a big way. But we are not left hopeless and we should not be indignant. This is a time for the church to rise up, cling to scripture and proclaim the truth to a lost world around us. And this is a time to remember that the cross is more powerful than our sins.  We must weep over our sin, we must weep for our world. But after weeping, we must turn to Christ for forgiveness and salvation. We also must realize that this is not the only way that sin has damaged God’s design in marriage, though, and we want to be careful not to amplify this sin more than others. This is big today because there is now a nation celebrating what is against the command of God but what will solve that is not the church up in arms and full of hate.  The only hope for the world is the only hope for us, the forgiveness, reconciliation, and power of Christ give to all who call on His name .]    Marriage is Heterosexual.

MARRIAGE IS ALSO MONOGAMOUS:

Verse 7,

“Therefor A MAN shall leave HIS father and mother and hold fast to HIS WIFE.”

These are all singular nouns.  It does not say a man shall hold fast to his wives.  It does not say many men shall hold fast to their wife.  It says “A MAN (singular) shall leave HIS (singular) father and mother and hold fast to HIS WIFE (singular).” This is the beginning of creation, this is the original design. This means that all the polygamy that we see in the patriarchs lives in the Bible is man’s sinful flesh showing its ugly head.  Let’s be careful to not have an exalted blind loyalty in our view of fallen men.  They are all fallen men and they are meant to make us long for the perfect man, the true and better Adam, and the mercy and grace of God on the cross.  And oh do we see the mercy of God over and over again in the lives of the patriarchs. Marriage is monogamous.

MARRIAGE IS COVENANT KEEPING:

Verse 7,

“Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and HOLD FAST to his wife.”

The language used for “hold fast” here means to cleave, to glue, to adhere.  When you use adhesive on something the purpose is to attach 2 objects together permanently.  To cleave is purposefully, unwaveringly, clinging closely to something. This is what covenant keeping is.  It is making vows to unwaveringly keep.  One of the problems with modern marriage is the vows that we make hold no meaning.  We say in almost every wedding ceremony “till death do us part” yet 1 in every 4 marriage ends in divorce. Lack of covenant keeping love is a prevalent issue in our marriages. It seems like western culture will have a more serious commitment to a sports team over a spouse.  Marriage is firm, unwavering, covenant keeping.

MARRIAGE IS LIFE ALTERING:

Verse 8, “and the two shall become ONE FLESH.’ So they are NO LONGER TWO but ONE flesh.” Marriage is the joining together of 2 lives to become 1.  That is life altering! In marriage, a single man goes to the alter solely concerned about himself, and a single woman goes to the alter solely concerned about herself. Then, when the vows are said, and they are joined together, they are no longer to be solely concerned  about themselves as separate people but rather concerned about them together.  That is how it should be.  Part of the problem with our view of marriage is we  do not  see  what this means.  This means, you leave your parents and you cleave to your spouse.  This means you are concerned over the spiritual well being of your spouse just as much if not more than yourself.  This means that you no longer care for your own body and what it needs, but you are primarily concerned with the other person.  This thing called marriage is life altering.  And we aren’t even getting into what happens when you make a life together. Listen, when you see me, you should see me and my wife.  We are not 2 but 1.  This is the reason my wife gets nervous when I preach. Marriage is life altering.

MARRIAGE IS A UNION JOINED TOGETHER BY GOD:

Verse 9,

“What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”

Here it is beloved, this is the answer of Christ to the original question of the Pharisees.  “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife….What therefore God has joined together, LET NOT man separate.” This is the focal point of this text. This is where our minds need to make a bee line towards  if there is ever the slightest hint of entertaining the idea of divorce. You may say, that is tough. It is, and it is meant to be. Jesus said that divorce certificates were allowed because of man’s hardness of heart and from the beginning it was not this way.  This is meant to be tough.  Listen, it was so tough that in the parallel account given in Matthew 19 the disciples respond, “If such is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry.” They found this to be such a striking statement by Jesus that they concluded it was better not to marry at all.  They saw how strong  Jesus meant for this to be. So, at a minimum, THE BELIEVER should hear this is as strong as it is.  Our hearts of stone have been replaced with hearts of flesh that should desire to obey the Lords commands. Divorce should not be an option on the table.  I praise The Lord for his grace in teaching this to me at a young age through my parents (who celebrated 34 years of marriage last week). When I was young and saw divorce happening around me in my friends lives, I fearfully asked my dad about whether it could happen to them.  And I remember it vividly, he looked me straight in the eye and said, “Divorce is not an option in marriage son.”  Now, I know there are questions to address here but before we discuss those, stop for a moment and crucify your flesh with the words  of Christ in this text, “WHAT GOD HAS  JOINED TOGETHER, LET NOT MAN SEPARATE.” This should ring in our ears when we consider divorce and it should also ring in our ears if we ever consider anything that could cause a divorce.  Don’t separate the one flesh union through adultery, whether that is physical, intellectual, or emotional. Don’t separate the one flesh union through desertion or “falling in love” with someone else.

Marriage is heterosexual, monogamous, covenant keeping, life altering, and a union joined together by God Himself. This brings us to our final part.

Part 3: The expanded explanation

The next part of our text takes us to a further discussion between the disciples at Jesus. Mark writes in verse 10, “And in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter.” The natural response is to ask Jesus to explain this more and that is what the disciples did.  They asked him again about the matter. In verses 11-12 we see Jesus’ response, “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.'” This is the response of Jesus to the disciples providing an expanded explanation. Essentially, he is saying, if you divorce and remarry, you commit adultery.  Whoa.  That is heavy stuff.  Now, before we move on, let’s head the challenge of Alistair Begg regarding these verses, “When we read our bibles like this, when we come to statements like this…we ought to sit quietly before them and allow them to register in our thinking and to settle in our minds in all of their bold simplicity, in all of their telling clarity, before we immediately begin to reach for clarifying passages of the Bible to help us to discover exceptions to this categorical statement.” Our first concern in coming to this passage should be to allow the passage to say what it says, meditate and marinate on it, and seek to  understand the intent of the author. The primary concern of Jesus in this passage is to redirect hearts to see and savor the design of God in marriage. We will understand why when we circle back around to conclude this sermon.

After we set our minds to quietly sit before a text and understand what it is saying we do want to always interpret scripture with scripture.  I hope I have shown that this is not the main purpose of this text but lets take a moment to answer the question of, “Is there a cause in which divorce is lawful?” The scriptures clearly show us that divorce is not within the perfect commands of God.  But is divorce allowed? There are 2 well thought out and biblically faithful answers to this. If you would like to talk in more depth about these views one of the pastors here would be happy to point you to resources. For now, I will mention both briefly and let you know which one Sovereign Hope Church holds to.  The first view is that divorce is only lawful in the case where an unbelieving spouse wants out of the marriage due to the belief of the believing spouse (we see this taught in 1 Corinthians 7:12-16). And even in this case remarriage is not allowed until the death of the spouse. The second view, which is the more traditional view and the one Sovereign Hope Church holds to, and it is that divorce is permitted when a spouse deserts the relationship or commits adultery.  Desertion is seen as though an unbeliever is involved because they are not heading the command of God in marriage. This in seen 1 Corinthians 7:12-16 as previously mentioned and the parallel account in Matthew 19:9 where Matthew records Jesus saying, “And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery.” Let me say clearly though, that neither of these accounts give warrant to a lackadaisical view of divorce and call for forgiveness in the midst of sin and failure. The primary command in both portions of scripture is still “WHAT THEREFORE GOD HAS JOINED TOGETHER, LET NOT MAN SEPARATE.” Pray and strive for repentance and reconciliation. There are certainly many nuances and situations that cannot be faithfully addressed in one sermon and we are primarily looking for the intended teaching of the text in front of us.  In fact, in our text, in Mark chapter 10, there is no exception clause given at all.  The question must  be  asked then…Why does Mark leave this out?

Remember, the primary help in understanding this passage of scripture is context and  for us it is particularly textual context which reveals the authorial intent of Mark.  Remember that Mark skips about 6 months of Jesus’ life and ministry to take us straight from teach about the cost of discipleship to this teaching on divorce.  Mark did not forget about Jesus’ teaching on the good samaritan, The Lord’s Prayer, or The Prodigal Son. I think sometimes we just think this is done aimlessly in scriptures but the authors of scripture are being guided by the Holy Spirit to record what the Spirit desires to be recorded. Mark has a reason to skip these things and connect these two event together.  Mark moves us straight from teaching on the strong stance a disciple should take on sin, to the strong stance a disciple should take on marriage, to coming strong stance a disciple should take on his possessions with the story of the Rich Young ruler.  And what is the disciples question after that interaction, Mark 10:26, “The who can be saved?” To that Jesus responds, Mark 10:27, “With man it is impossible, bot not with God, for all things are possible with God.” Marks purpose is to 2 fold.  First to show us the high demands of God for marriage and to call us to pursue those demands. Second to show us the starting point of that pursuit.  Mark is making a bee line for the cross of Jesus Christ.  He is pushing our gaze constantly to see the crucified King.  He wants us to see the splendor of Christ as the perfect husband who keeps a perfect covenant with His bride, the church.  Jesus left His father in heaven to take on flesh. And through His blood He has washed His bride clean.  He holds fast to her and we are ONE in HIM! Why is the design of creation of marriage such a big deal for God? Because it was always intended to be the representation of the covenant keeping love of Christ for His church.  This is what is revealed to us in Ephesians 5:31-32. Do you remember this from our time in Ephesians? Turn with me quickly.

Ephesians 5:31-32

[31] “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” [32] This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. [33] However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

Oh beloved! This is one of the most foundational things we need to see that the Bible tells us about marriage. There are so many implications of this text on marriage but at the  most foundational level it reveals 2 things for us to see.

1. Marriage is designed by God to be the display of Gospel love, Gospel forgiveness, Gospel reconciliation and Gospel promised help.
2. You will only be able to live in Marriage the way God has designed if you first understand the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

In order for us to display this kind of love, forgiveness, reconciliation, and promised help we need to fully understand the Gospel of Jesus Christ. On the cross, Jesus died for sinners. And in doing this he forged a perfect covenant through suffering in our place. He made an self-glorifying, hard hearted, idol worship people his bride through the costly price of His own blood and covers His bride with the garments of His righteousness. He substituted His righteousness for our sins. Colossians 2:13-14 tells us that, “God made us alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This He set aside, nailing it to the cross.” Do you know the forgiveness and justification of Christ? If you do, do you realize that your sins were nailed to the cross and the record of the debt owed, subject to the wrath of God, was cancelled? If you don’t, hear the words this morning that the record of the debt owed or your sins can be cancelled if you trust in Jesus Christ. And as you rest in the reality of the grace of God, Look at the lengths Christ went to purify His bride and seek to purify your spouse through the word.  Look at the forgiveness over and over Christ gives to His bride who plays the harlot over and over again and seek to forgive your spouse. Live out forgiveness in this way, live our reconciliation, and live out promised help.   This heightens the call of the believer to view divorce as a non-option. There can be causes for separation for sure. There are evil things that are done.  But our first response to those evil things should be to seek to set our mind on the things of God and on the cross of Jesus Christ.

Conclusion:

To those who may have felt the sting of divorce and may even see your part in that sting in a new light, I say again to you, Jesus Christ paid the price for all of the sins of our flesh on the cross.  He stands before you as the perfect groom offering you life though Him. And he will stand forever with a perfect covenant keeping love for His bride that will never be broken.  Receive His grace and lean on Him moving forward, asking Him to give you eyes to see His design in marriage.

For those who are single this morning, I encourage you to see Christ as your all satisfying savior.  See the high priority of marriage and what it reveals to the world.  If you believe you will one day marry, begin to even now view that marriage in light of the word of God and refine yourself for that day.  Whether or not The Lord provides that, see the marriages around you as representations of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Seek to be an aid to that representation and not a cause for any stumbling.  Preserve the bond through your interactions.  Lift them up in prayer.

For the children in this room. Look at the marriages around you to see Christ and His church.  See the love of God on display before you. There are many good marriages for you to view in this room.  But know also that we will fail at times to be the perfect representation.  And when you see us fall look to Christ and see His perfect covenant keeping love.  Then pray for your parents to do the same.

And for those who are married or soon to be married, I end with the words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, “‘Welcome one another…for the glory of God.’ That is God’s word for your marriage. Thank Him for it; thank Him for leading you thus far; ask Him to establish your marriage , to confirm it, sanctify it, and preserve it. So your marriage will be ‘for the praise of His glory.'”