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We will be in Mark chapter 10 this evening.

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encourage you to take your Bibles and open them to Mark chapter 10.

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And we'll begin with a word of prayer and then we'll get into our study.

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Gracious Father in heaven, we bow before your throne, grateful for the blessings that you
grant to us.

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We're grateful for the times and the seasons and the changes that we experienced
throughout the year and for all of the things that work together for the good that you

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produce in them to bring forth life, to bring forth the ability to sustain life on this
planet.

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But Lord, more than everything, we are grateful for your Son who came to bring true life,
to bring eternal life, that we might know you, the Father, and that we might be one with

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you as you, Father, are with Him and He with us.

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Lord, we pray that we might stand before you in holiness and in righteousness, that you
will forgive us when we sin and fall short of your glory.

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In all of this, we pray and ask in Jesus' name, amen.

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Mark chapter 10 begins, then he arose from there and came to the region of Judea by the
other side of the Jordan.

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And multitudes gathered to him again, as he was accustomed, he taught them again.

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The Pharisees came and asked him, is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife, testing him?

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Now in...

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Matthew's record of the question that the Pharisees present, I don't believe Matthew
specifically or explicitly states that the question was a test, but it's clear from what

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they're asking that this wasn't uh the Pharisees seeking Jesus's knowledge.

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This is the Pharisees putting Jesus in the scenario of having to

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disagree with somebody.

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And so they ask him, is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?

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Well, if someone came up and asked you that,

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What would be the first thought that comes to your mind?

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Why are you asking me?

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Second thought might follow right on that, whose law?

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Right?

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According to whose law?

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Now, given that these are Jews and they're asking a religious teacher, whose law might we
assume is being discussed here?

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Moses's law.

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So what did Jesus answer?

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He answered and said to them, what did Moses command you?

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Jesus, when confronted by a question where it's clear that the intentions were not
justified, that the actions were illegitimate in their asking of the question, Jesus just

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asked them in return.

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Well, does he say?

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They said Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and to dismiss her.

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Jesus answered and said to them, because of the hardness of your heart, He wrote you this
precept.

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

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They wanted to use what Moses wrote as a great big loophole that you could drive any
accusation through and get permission from the law and Moses to do whatever you wanted to

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to your wife by way of putting her away.

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What Jesus pointed out is

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that their actions in the past were the cause for the instruction to begin with, but that
their standards had fallen from God's standards.

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Jesus brings them back to the authority.

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True or false?

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Moses is the authority in religion.

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Even for a Jew.

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False.

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Whose authority did Moses have?

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God's.

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So when Jesus establishes God's standard on the matter, then you can assume one of two
things.

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You can assume that Moses is in disagreement with God, or you can assume that Moses is in
agreement with God.

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Right?

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But you only have one option or the other.

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Either he's in agreement with God or he's not in agreement with God.

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Right?

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Okay.

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There's a reason why we're going through it this way.

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There's a reason why we're talking about it this way and it's because when people get to
the issue of marriage and divorce, they throw all standards of reasoning out the door

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to argue for their position, which is the Jews did.

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Either Moses agrees with God or Moses doesn't agree with God.

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One of two options.

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Now, when Moses gave the command to give a writing of divorcement, as he gives there in
Deuteronomy chapter 24, which is what they're referencing, it is already founded upon

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God's standard for marriage.

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and God's standard of marriage and God's law for marriage not only preceded Moses's giving
of this precept,

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but it also was superior to Moses's precept.

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and it also happened to be that which was not in disagreement with Moses's precept.

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but they had manipulated Moses' precept because they had the same hard-hearted nature that
the Israelites did when Moses gave the precept.

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Jesus in answering them, accuses them of mishandling the law.

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of doing so in a hard-hearted way, of abusing what God had given them as an opportunity to
resolve a very negative situation.

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in a very upright way.

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and instead they had turned it into a way to abuse people who had no standing under the
law.

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So notice, in Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy chapter 24.

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Moses will make it clear that there must be some reason for the divorce.

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And furthermore, that there has to be more than just a reason, there has to be an offense
that has occurred that justifies the action.

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Deuteronomy chapter 24.

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When a man takes a wife and marries her, verse 1, and it happens that she finds no favor
in his eyes because he has found some uncleanness in her, there in verse 1, what does the

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word uncleanness mean?

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Anybody have a footnote or anything in regards to that word?

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Okay?

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That's quite an interpretation there.

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All right, anybody else?

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All right.

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So the literal translation of this is nakedness of a thing.

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All right?

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Literally it means he has seen the awareness or the visibility of a secret action.

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Something that had been covered up.

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Something that had been hidden.

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Okay?

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When something's clothed, you can't see what's hidden.

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When you see...

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The person without the clothes, you see what was hidden.

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It was laid bare, naked.

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The idea behind the term is he has become aware of an action after having been married
that had been hidden beforehand.

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As a result of this, now she finds no favor in his eyes because of what had been hidden.

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But now he's aware of it.

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Okay, now notice.

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If he finds some uncleanness in her and he writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in
her hand, and sends her out of his house.

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When she has departed from his house and goes and becomes another man's wife, if the
latter husband detests her and writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand,

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and sends her out of his house, or if the latter husband dies who took her as his wife,
then her former husband who divorced her must not take her back to be his wife.

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after she has been defiled, for that is an abomination before the Lord, and you shall not
bring sin on the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance." First

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thing to ask yourself is, is the law and the precept here about situation one or situation
two?

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Because there's two situations, aren't there?

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If the law was just about situation one, then what's the discussion about situation two,
therefore?

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Situation two was the reason for the loss.

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because what Moses was dealing with in this law is someone who was putting away a spouse

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And then after some time, taking them back.

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As if nothing ever happened.

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Moses says, no you don't.

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the action that is involved here actually assumes a violation of the marriage covenant so
great that it would be unthinkable that the first husband would then take the wife back.

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And yet, here were people doing it.

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So there was a law that was made.

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There was a precept that was given.

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Now, what had the Jews in the first century done?

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They had said, well, Moses didn't say why we could put one away so we can put one away for
any cause.

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because the precept didn't have anything to do per se with giving the limits on why you
could put a spouse away.

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Other than it said clearly there was a justification from it because of an action that was
hidden before the marriage.

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There was some action that was hidden that had it been aware

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They never would have entered into that marriage.

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And yet now that the husband realizes the situation, he's put her away for divorce, or put
her away and given her a writing of divorcement.

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Now some time passes by and you go, well, you know what, let's just forget the whole thing
and I'll take you back.

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Moses says, no, don't.

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because in doing so, you nullified the justification under the law for putting the spouse
away to begin with.

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Okay.

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Mo, uh, Deuteronomy 24.

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Number one, assumes an action by the wife that was justification under the law for writing
of divorcement.

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It assumes it.

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It already has built within it the precept that this woman has done something under the
law which justified being put away.

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And

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that the action was hidden from the spouse.

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It further necessitates that by this writing or certificate of divorce, all bonds and
separation between them has been nullified.

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which means true or false, they're still married.

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Once the writing of divorcement has occurred, true or false, they are still married.

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No, no.

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After the writing of divorcement, according to the law, are they still married?

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No.

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So can the husband take her back?

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No.

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Why?

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He's not her wife, or she's not his wife.

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Okay?

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Separation has occurred.

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The bonds of marriage are gone.

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That man has no right to take her back.

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If he does, he's committing an abomination.

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He's committing adultery by taking her back as if nothing happened.

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If she's put out by somebody else or if her spouse dies, you know, just come on back.

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No, no, no, no.

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You put an end to that.

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You put an end to that relationship.

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You can take her back.

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All right?

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So it's important to realize in Deuteronomy 24, a very specific situation is under
consideration.

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Number one, one that assumes already a justification under the law for the divorce.

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And number two, that says once that separation occurs under the law, you can't put it back
together.

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You can't just act as if it never happened and have that husband take that former spouse
back because that would be an abomination under the law, okay?

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Now, go back to Mark chapter 10.

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in the question that was asked.

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What was the question?

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All right, is it lawful for a man to divorce or put away his wife?

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Turn to Matthew chapter 19.

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Matthew words it slightly differently, though the import is exactly the same.

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Matthew chapter nineteen verse three the Pharisees also came to him testing him and saying
to him is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason

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the New King James translators add the word just for just any reason.

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eh So the import of the question is.

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Can a husband put away his wife for whatever reason?

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If you were to just take Mark's question, you would have, is there any justification for a
husband to divorce his wife?

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Now, think about the question as it's formed and as it's given.

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Is it lawful?

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When you ask someone,

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Do you want cheese on your burger or not?

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What are the options that they've supplied you?

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Yes or no?

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And if you ordered a hot dog, do you think you would look at them and go,

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Why did you ask me if I want cheese on my burger or not?

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I ordered a hot dog.

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This is what happens when someone supplies you with two possible options, a yes or a no.

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in order to entrap you into answering a question where they can then accuse you for your
answer.

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Jesus did not allow them to do that.

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Rather, He required them to stipulate the law.

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What did Moses tell you?

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Because the moment they start interpreting Moses...

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it's quite evident that they're interpreting Moses in a very particular way.

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Okay, so notice their reply.

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See if you can find this in Deuteronomy 24.

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Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and dismiss her.

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Did you find that in Deuteronomy 24?

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Yeah.

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Did they mention anything about the circumstance?

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anything about the reason, anything about the qualification in Deuteronomy 24?

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Nope, not a thing.

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just that what Moses allowed it.

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The law says this.

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When someone is being dishonest with their question and you provide them more rope to hang
themselves with, you do yourself a great favor because the more you make them explain

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their question, the more evident it is that their question is the wrong question.

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Jesus corrected the question by going back to the standard that Moses's law already
assumes.

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because Moses' law already assumed an action that met a standard.

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So Jesus doesn't wanna talk about the law that Moses gave, he wants to talk about the
standard that God gave.

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So notice what Jesus does.

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Jesus answered and said, because of the hardness of your heart, he wrote you this precept.

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

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For this reason, a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and
the two shall become one flesh, so they are no longer two but one flesh." Now, quick

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question.

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Where did Jesus just quote from?

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Genesis.

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Who was the penman of the book of Genesis?

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They said, Moses allowed it in the law.

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Jesus said, Moses recorded what God said.

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Now you've got Moses arguing with Moses, not Moses arguing with Jesus.

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Jesus goes back to the point that Deuteronomy 24 was never the first word on the subject.

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Moses gave supplementary information in Deuteronomy 24, but you must first discuss the
first thing Moses said on the subject.

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The first thing Moses said on the subject came out of the garden in Genesis chapters 1 and
2 where God said that I'm going to make them male and female.

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and that for this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his
wife." Moses' first word on the subject is, a man ought to be so devoted to his wife that

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he will leave behind his parents

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who gave birth to him, who nurtured him, who brought him into the world, who supplied his
existence and gave him everything that he has and also are the arbiters of inheritance.

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He ought to leave them behind to be joined to his wife.

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Here they are going, is it lawful to get rid of her?

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And here's Moses going, this is how important this is that a man will leave everything
that he has had to this point to be joined to her.

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Jesus points out you're talking about the wrong situation.

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You're asking the wrong question.

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You're dealing with the scenario backwards instead of the correct way.

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Then he says, verse eight,

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Not only is there significant verbiage from Moses saying, this is what marriage should be,

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He then quotes verse eight and says, or quotes from verse eight to say, and the two shall
become one flesh.

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Jesus points out...

222
00:25:22,924 --> 00:25:40,136
that the very description of a man divorcing his wife would be like Moses's terminology, a
man cutting himself in half.

223
00:25:42,338 --> 00:25:47,304
You ask the question, is it lawful or according to Moses for a man to cut himself in half?

224
00:25:49,112 --> 00:25:50,879
Sound like a ridiculous question?

225
00:25:53,016 --> 00:25:54,478
Sweet Cousin is.

226
00:25:56,608 --> 00:26:05,876
According to what Moses said, God has taken these two people and He made them one.

227
00:26:07,500 --> 00:26:13,109
Now notice the emphasis of where Jesus takes that to.

228
00:26:14,892 --> 00:26:17,157
So then they are no longer two but one flesh.

229
00:26:17,157 --> 00:26:22,208
Now, did Jesus say anything that Moses hadn't already said?

230
00:26:24,152 --> 00:26:24,935
No!

231
00:26:27,778 --> 00:26:33,770
Therefore, what God has joined together, let not man separate.

232
00:26:37,806 --> 00:26:41,066
Jesus has left.

233
00:26:42,646 --> 00:26:45,207
The questioners.

234
00:26:47,605 --> 00:26:49,129
No room to argue.

235
00:26:51,074 --> 00:26:56,716
because what he has done is emphasized the standard.

236
00:26:58,892 --> 00:27:09,982
And what they have wanted to do is take the standard and ignore it while creating
opportunity for the loophole.

237
00:27:12,172 --> 00:27:29,035
They have devalued God's command and God's action in the whole thing to assume that
they're the ones, that is the husband and the wife, who have power over the situation.

238
00:27:29,816 --> 00:27:32,288
They get to choose what happens.

239
00:27:36,352 --> 00:27:41,788
Jesus is going to question them as to whether or not they have more power than God.

240
00:27:43,714 --> 00:27:52,798
whether they have more authority than God, whether they have more influence in the
situation than God.

241
00:27:55,030 --> 00:27:57,504
They want the situation to be about them.

242
00:27:57,504 --> 00:28:00,114
He wants the situation to be about what God did.

243
00:28:02,126 --> 00:28:10,826
And Jesus emphasizes to them that what God has joined together, man is incapable.

244
00:28:12,086 --> 00:28:14,246
The idea of let not.

245
00:28:16,066 --> 00:28:24,084
It involves here the incapacity of man to do what God doesn't allow.

246
00:28:26,680 --> 00:28:41,404
There's four questions that I have always valued being taught back when we were in school,
more so four statements, but four statements concerning marriage, divorce, and remarriage.

247
00:28:42,786 --> 00:28:51,294
And they're fundamental where when you think about them, you go, yeah, well, that's kind
of a no-brainer.

248
00:28:52,812 --> 00:28:56,043
But when you realize the force of the statements...

249
00:28:57,686 --> 00:29:02,280
then you get the gist of why the questions are what they are.

250
00:29:03,854 --> 00:29:05,176
True or false?

251
00:29:05,660 --> 00:29:06,841
God.

252
00:29:08,635 --> 00:29:09,937
Sorry, true or false?

253
00:29:09,937 --> 00:29:14,145
Only God joins two people in marriage.

254
00:29:15,329 --> 00:29:16,180
True.

255
00:29:18,182 --> 00:29:22,424
Jesus makes it quite clear, God does the joining.

256
00:29:23,662 --> 00:29:24,986
True or false?

257
00:29:25,526 --> 00:29:32,010
God only joins two people in marriage in accordance with His marriage laws.

258
00:29:34,146 --> 00:29:40,492
Well, yeah, I'm pretty sure God only does it His way.

259
00:29:41,873 --> 00:29:46,298
There's not some law out there where God goes, well, my hands are tied.

260
00:29:46,298 --> 00:29:51,643
Some bureaucrat wrote a law, so I guess I gotta do it their way.

261
00:29:52,324 --> 00:29:59,040
No, God only joins two people in accordance with His marriage laws.

262
00:30:01,134 --> 00:30:11,990
Okay, well if Jesus is implying the impossibility of a person to undo what God's done,

263
00:30:13,868 --> 00:30:19,306
then who has the authority to disjoin two people in marriage?

264
00:30:21,506 --> 00:30:22,407
God.

265
00:30:22,909 --> 00:30:29,162
So, true or false, only God can disjoin two people in divorce.

266
00:30:30,830 --> 00:30:40,724
True or false, God only disjoins people in accordance with His laws for divorce.

267
00:30:42,296 --> 00:30:43,166
True.

268
00:30:44,349 --> 00:30:52,478
You know, when you said those four questions, you've answered almost every single argument
about marriage, divorce, and remarriage.

269
00:30:54,294 --> 00:30:57,816
because all you have to do is, okay, what did he say?

270
00:30:58,998 --> 00:30:59,978
Done.

271
00:31:01,300 --> 00:31:07,104
You've really got to mess something up to get past the question of, well, what did he say?

272
00:31:08,386 --> 00:31:20,146
It's the reason why in a number of debates, one specifically, uh between an individual in
the Brotherhood who held a false position on marriage, divorce, and remarriage, and

273
00:31:20,146 --> 00:31:23,054
Brother Garland Elkins, they got up to

274
00:31:23,054 --> 00:31:26,774
to have a debate they agreed upon the propositions.

275
00:31:26,774 --> 00:31:32,514
Guy got up and spent, I don't know, 8, 10, 15 minutes talking and making his argument.

276
00:31:33,754 --> 00:31:39,366
Brother Elkins got up and read Matthew chapter 19 verse 9 and sat out.

277
00:31:41,622 --> 00:31:46,847
And the guy got up kind of fluttled because Brother Elkins had like 15 minutes.

278
00:31:47,749 --> 00:31:49,070
Didn't use him.

279
00:31:49,411 --> 00:31:52,253
He got up and he spoke for another 15 minutes.

280
00:31:53,035 --> 00:31:55,957
Brother Elkins got up, read Matthew 19, sat out.

281
00:32:00,088 --> 00:32:04,121
By this point, the guy was a little put out.

282
00:32:05,043 --> 00:32:07,264
He got up and he spoke again.

283
00:32:07,686 --> 00:32:11,759
And he said, I don't want you to just tell me what Matthew 19, 9 says.

284
00:32:11,759 --> 00:32:16,913
Brother Elkin said, when you've dealt with the first passage, we'll go to the second one.

285
00:32:20,684 --> 00:32:26,505
Because the fact of the matter is, God's laws on marriage, divorce, and remarriage aren't
hard.

286
00:32:26,888 --> 00:32:28,311
They're not difficult.

287
00:32:28,311 --> 00:32:29,973
They're not ambiguous.

288
00:32:30,816 --> 00:32:32,118
Matter of fact.

289
00:32:34,220 --> 00:32:39,715
Verse 10, in the house his disciples also asked him again about the same matter.

290
00:32:39,915 --> 00:32:45,980
So he said to them, whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against
her.

291
00:32:47,082 --> 00:32:52,136
And if a woman divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.

292
00:32:55,565 --> 00:33:01,726
Jesus said, here's two people that have been joined by God.

293
00:33:05,258 --> 00:33:10,902
In order for adultery to occur, one party has to be bound to somebody else.

294
00:33:11,162 --> 00:33:12,983
That's the definition of adultery.

295
00:33:13,984 --> 00:33:28,094
When Israel committed adultery, spiritual adultery, by going after idols, had Israel not
been bound to God, it wouldn't have been adultery.

296
00:33:31,638 --> 00:33:35,225
but because Israel was bound to God.

297
00:33:37,816 --> 00:33:42,952
When they went and followed after idols, God says, you've committed adultery.

298
00:33:44,894 --> 00:33:57,460
If this party over here is bound to no one, and this party over here is bound to no one,
can they commit adultery?

299
00:33:58,802 --> 00:34:08,306
They can commit fornication, they can't commit adultery because it's no violation of a
marriage covenant.

300
00:34:08,827 --> 00:34:15,080
And that is part of adultery, is a violation of a marriage covenant.

301
00:34:15,340 --> 00:34:29,544
Well, Jesus has just said that if a husband divorces his wife and marries another, he's
committed adultery against the first wife.

302
00:34:31,534 --> 00:34:43,874
Now how could he have committed adultery against a wife by marrying someone else if in the
act of divorcing her he was no longer married to her?

303
00:34:44,474 --> 00:34:45,574
The answer is he couldn't.

304
00:34:47,534 --> 00:34:54,399
But what Jesus is pointing out is there's man's laws and then there's God's laws.

305
00:34:55,821 --> 00:35:04,007
And God only separates two people in accordance with his laws, not man's laws.

306
00:35:04,868 --> 00:35:12,374
So here's a man who gives his wife a writing of divorce and says, I'm putting you away.

307
00:35:12,555 --> 00:35:14,836
And then that same man goes and marries another.

308
00:35:14,836 --> 00:35:17,108
Jesus says, he's committing adultery.

309
00:35:19,854 --> 00:35:21,134
How do you figure, Jesus?

310
00:35:21,134 --> 00:35:22,614
He gave her a writing of divorcement.

311
00:35:22,614 --> 00:35:24,674
According to the law, she's gone.

312
00:35:24,714 --> 00:35:26,054
The union's been separated.

313
00:35:26,054 --> 00:35:27,234
Jesus said, no, it hasn't.

314
00:35:30,604 --> 00:35:32,659
because God didn't separate them.

315
00:35:33,705 --> 00:35:35,580
God didn't dis- join them.

316
00:35:37,804 --> 00:35:41,135
Well then, that only applies to the men, right?

317
00:35:41,135 --> 00:35:46,437
Because Moses only gave permission for the man to give a writing of divorcement.

318
00:35:46,618 --> 00:35:48,839
So it doesn't apply to the woman, right?

319
00:35:48,839 --> 00:35:49,639
No.

320
00:35:49,639 --> 00:35:57,342
Jesus says, and if a woman divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.

321
00:35:58,542 --> 00:36:07,976
Here's a woman who says, you know what, I'm a Roman, and under Roman law, I'm divorced my
wife, or my husband, I'm divorced my husband.

322
00:36:08,258 --> 00:36:11,521
So there you go, I'm gone.

323
00:36:12,103 --> 00:36:14,725
I like that guy, marries him.

324
00:36:15,527 --> 00:36:19,080
He said, nope, she's committing adultery.

325
00:36:20,984 --> 00:36:21,778
Now,

326
00:36:24,618 --> 00:36:38,028
Jesus does not spend the next 24 chapters going through every scenario in every
circumstance.

327
00:36:38,870 --> 00:36:44,724
As a matter of fact, in Mark's record of the text, Jesus gives no exemption.

328
00:36:47,490 --> 00:36:48,541
for the law.

329
00:36:50,070 --> 00:36:55,298
And the law was what God joined together.

330
00:36:56,221 --> 00:37:00,388
Man cannot separate.

331
00:37:01,311 --> 00:37:03,784
And man's laws can't separate it either.

332
00:37:06,144 --> 00:37:08,965
Now, over in Matthew chapter 19...

333
00:37:12,468 --> 00:37:15,826
in Matthew's record of the discussion.

334
00:37:15,826 --> 00:37:18,410
There's one more back and forth.

335
00:37:22,274 --> 00:37:32,038
Verse 7, Matthew 19, they said to him, why then did Moses command to give a certificate of
divorce and to put her away?

336
00:37:32,798 --> 00:37:41,202
He said to them, Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, permitted you to divorce
your wives, but from the beginning it was not so.

337
00:37:41,982 --> 00:37:51,346
And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality and marries
another,

338
00:37:51,917 --> 00:37:53,298
commits adultery.

339
00:37:55,628 --> 00:38:08,543
Now, if you pay close attention to Jesus' comments to the Jews about the law, this begins
way back in Matthew chapter five.

340
00:38:08,543 --> 00:38:12,484
Let's go back and read that real quick just to get the emphasis of it.

341
00:38:12,565 --> 00:38:14,585
In Matthew chapter five.

342
00:38:22,124 --> 00:38:33,341
You read in verse 17, do not think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets, I did
not come to destroy but to fulfill.

343
00:38:34,002 --> 00:38:44,188
For assuredly I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot and one tittle will
by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.

344
00:38:44,769 --> 00:38:46,452
Then go to verse 21.

345
00:38:46,880 --> 00:38:53,202
You have heard that it was said of old, you shall not murder, but whoever murders will be
in danger of the judgment.

346
00:38:53,244 --> 00:38:54,806
But I say to you.

347
00:38:56,812 --> 00:39:00,242
Then you go down to verse 27,

348
00:39:18,638 --> 00:39:28,498
Verse 33, again you have heard that it was said to those of old, you shall not swear
falsely but shall perform your oaths to the Lord, but I say to you.

349
00:39:28,498 --> 00:39:35,258
Verse 38, you have heard that it was said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, but
I tell you.

350
00:39:36,158 --> 00:39:44,258
Verse 43, you have heard that it was said, you shall love your neighbor and hate your
enemy, but I say to you.

351
00:39:46,666 --> 00:39:54,949
Jesus had a habit of correcting their understanding of the law and their abuses of the
law.

352
00:39:55,509 --> 00:40:08,214
Their abuses that not only had they participated in, not only had they taught, but they
had turned into their doctrines and traditions from their elders.

353
00:40:13,172 --> 00:40:15,530
over in Matthew chapter 15.

354
00:40:19,510 --> 00:40:29,059
You find verse 3, he answered and said, why do you also transgress the commandment of God
because of your tradition?

355
00:40:29,480 --> 00:40:36,056
For God commanded saying, honor your father and your mother, and he who curses father or
mother, let him be put to death.

356
00:40:36,056 --> 00:40:44,366
But you say, whoever says to his father or mother, whatever profit you might have received
from me, it is a gift to God.

357
00:40:44,366 --> 00:40:47,246
then he need not honor his father or mother.

358
00:40:47,246 --> 00:40:56,666
Thus you have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition."

359
00:41:00,746 --> 00:41:15,314
Jesus is pointing out not what the law said when he says you've heard of old, you have
heard that it was said, but rather how they have abused what the law said.

360
00:41:16,695 --> 00:41:25,340
And when he says, I say unto you, what he's telling them is what they should have known
from what the law said.

361
00:41:26,341 --> 00:41:28,578
Every time Jesus does that,

362
00:41:28,578 --> 00:41:31,279
He's correcting their understanding of the law.

363
00:41:32,200 --> 00:41:37,403
He's correcting them on what they should have been teaching instead of what they actually
taught.

364
00:41:38,103 --> 00:41:40,738
So now go back to Matthew chapter 19.

365
00:41:41,505 --> 00:41:50,700
He says, Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, permitted you to divorce your
wives, but from the beginning it was not so, and I say to you,

366
00:41:52,546 --> 00:41:58,358
Whoever divorces his wife except for sexual immorality and marries another commits
adultery.

367
00:41:58,358 --> 00:42:02,986
And whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery.

368
00:42:05,270 --> 00:42:12,202
Jesus said, here's what you should have known from what the law taught you.

369
00:42:14,178 --> 00:42:26,634
that the committing of fornication was the only standard the law recognized for God
separating a husband and wife.

370
00:42:28,898 --> 00:42:30,759
And there was no other standard.

371
00:42:31,240 --> 00:42:32,600
There's only one.

372
00:42:33,021 --> 00:42:34,982
And there had only ever been one.

373
00:42:35,583 --> 00:42:45,170
Moses simply told them how to do what God allowed them to do based upon infidelity.

374
00:42:46,658 --> 00:42:50,140
He said, you got to give her a legal document.

375
00:42:50,881 --> 00:42:53,863
You can't just say, be gone.

376
00:42:54,244 --> 00:42:58,687
You have to give her a legal writing of divorce.

377
00:43:00,088 --> 00:43:10,896
but by the way, when you divorce that wife who's committed fornication against you, and
then she goes and marries someone else, which by the way, Jesus said, the law also

378
00:43:10,896 --> 00:43:13,748
recognized that as adultery.

379
00:43:15,380 --> 00:43:19,901
Now that she's committed adultery twice, you can't take her back.

380
00:43:22,806 --> 00:43:29,469
No, God separated you and he's not rejoining you.

381
00:43:30,329 --> 00:43:32,350
That would be an abomination.

382
00:43:33,310 --> 00:43:38,312
You don't clean up a marriage by having an adulterous relationship.

383
00:43:39,313 --> 00:43:41,073
That's not how it works.

384
00:43:42,014 --> 00:43:51,628
And so when you find Mark's record, as we close, this whole scenario comes out of...

385
00:43:52,194 --> 00:43:54,036
They wanted to entrap Jesus.

386
00:43:55,459 --> 00:44:03,550
One of the most important lessons we need to get from this doesn't have anything
significantly to do with marriage, divorce, or remarriage.

387
00:44:05,068 --> 00:44:06,479
It has to do with this.

388
00:44:07,580 --> 00:44:15,166
Culture never has and never will dictate the laws of God.

389
00:44:17,258 --> 00:44:35,784
not Jewish culture, not Jewish tradition, not a thousand years of traditions from the
elders, not the writing of volumes by rabbis for generations, and not the way people have

390
00:44:35,784 --> 00:44:37,435
always done it.

391
00:44:38,857 --> 00:44:40,968
None of that changes the law of God.

392
00:44:42,912 --> 00:44:54,302
Jesus wiped every argument from everything that occurred from the time of Jesus to the
time of Moses away by saying, what did God say?

393
00:44:57,048 --> 00:45:08,658
And now all the other equivocations, all the other quibbles, all the other statements
about, wait a minute, you know, in Africa, Jesus said, don't care.

394
00:45:10,828 --> 00:45:13,031
But in this, don't care.

395
00:45:14,668 --> 00:45:17,241
Well, but what about not interested?

396
00:45:18,244 --> 00:45:19,075
What'd God say?

397
00:45:19,075 --> 00:45:22,269
Because it's the only question that matters.

398
00:45:22,531 --> 00:45:24,033
Why is it the only question that matters?

399
00:45:24,033 --> 00:45:30,262
Because He's the only one who binds two people in marriage.

400
00:45:33,718 --> 00:45:43,968
the disservice that individuals do, especially those within the body of Christ when they
ignore God's law on marriage, divorce and remarriage.

401
00:45:45,546 --> 00:45:55,956
is that they have now opened an entire loophole for every other abomination the world
wants to commit in regards to marriage.

402
00:45:57,986 --> 00:46:06,640
Because if you can't argue for God's standard for marriage for a man and a woman, you
certainly can't argue for it for a man and a man.

403
00:46:07,783 --> 00:46:09,465
Or a woman and a woman.

404
00:46:10,748 --> 00:46:12,500
Or a human and a dog.

405
00:46:15,469 --> 00:46:20,872
Because once you get rid of the standard, you don't have anything else to argue.

406
00:46:22,894 --> 00:46:30,577
The fact of the matter is, according to the Scriptures, there's only one individual who
joins two people in marriage.

407
00:46:31,538 --> 00:46:32,678
It's God.

408
00:46:33,938 --> 00:46:40,881
And there's also only one individual who disjoins them in divorce, and it's God.

409
00:46:42,142 --> 00:46:50,645
If you toss that out, you don't have anything left, except whatever culture decides.

410
00:46:51,566 --> 00:46:52,966
And that changes...

411
00:46:53,014 --> 00:46:54,296
almost weekly.

412
00:46:55,301 --> 00:46:57,766
So, thank you for your attention.