Divorce Is Not An Option – Married For Life Sermon Series Part 2 of 3

Today, we are talking about divorce. So if you weren’t with us last week, feel free to check out that sermon. It was called “Unequally Yoked Marriage.”

You can find it on our website, or it’ll be in a card up here on our YouTube channel. But go to our website, type in “Marriage”, and that sermon will come up. Watch it, learn from it, and then continue on.

You can either do that before watching this one or after, another time. Watch it, listen to it, whatever. In addition, take advantage of those share icons and the like button wherever you’re watching or listening because that will help us reach more people with the Word of God, the Gospels, the Bible. That’s what we want.

We want more people to know and understand, and be able to interpret the Scriptures in the Bible. That is very, very important. That is the mission behind Social Media Ministries. We want to use social media to share the Word of God and help them to understand and interpret the words and the Scriptures in the Bible.

So if you can help us do that, that would be awesome because we want to reach the entire world for Jesus. Help us do that by sharing, supporting in any way you can. Now, today we’re talking about divorce.

We’ve got a lot of Scripture. Hope you got your Bibles. If not, come back later. All of the Verses will be referenced in the description below exactly like they have for the past several years.

I think we’re over 200 sermons now, so praise God for that. This might be our 211, actually, so yes, praise God we’ve continued to do that. Today, divorce, let’s get at it. Matthew 19:3-9, so right away we got some Scriptures.

19:3 to 9, “Some Pharisees came to Him to test Him. They asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?” “Haven’t you read?”

He replied, “That at the beginning the Creator made them male and female, and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? Therefore, what God has joined together, let no one separate.”

“Why then,” they asked, “did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?” Jesus replied, “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning. I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.”

All right, all right, there’s a lot there, so we’re going to break it down Verse by verse. We’re going to pull in some writings of Paul where he breaks it down, and we’re going to really dive into this and decide whether or not divorce is for you. Is it right? Is it wrong? What does God have to say about this? Let’s break this Verse down quickly.

First thing, “for any and every reason,” they ask Him, so “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” Now, a recurring theme in this Chapter is a man and a wife.

Nowhere does it say, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce another man? Is it lawful for a husband to divorce a husband, for a wife to divorce a wife, for a lesbian to divorce a lesbian, a gay guy to divorce a gay guy?” No, none of that. We are talking marriage between a man and a woman.

Now, if you do not believe the Bible, then you will disagree with me. But if you disagree with me, you do not believe what God is saying. God is saying from the beginning, a male and female, a man and woman, a husband and wife, that is it. They were created male and female.

God created them. And you might say, “Well, what about if a man had a surgery and became a woman and then marries a man?” No, we don’t do that. If you were created male or female, God created you male or female, end of story. That is the end of the story. That is how God created you. That is what He intended for you.

Now, some people, yes, have been out there. They have had a sex change operation. They were a man, they became a woman. Now, as a woman, if they marry a man, it would seem like that is a heterosexual relationship. However, God created that person as a male, and if they marry a male, even though are disguised as a woman, that is still a homosexual relationship.

They are now simply disguised as a woman. They are a wolf in sheep’s clothing. They are dressing or crossdressing as someone of the opposite sex. They’ve dressed their body that way physically, and probably their clothing that way externally. Internally, though, the organs and the design that God made them is still the same.

Yes, they could take hormone pills and all of this kind of stuff, chemicals to try to change as much as possible. But a person that God made as a male will always be a male on the inside.

They will never be able to have a womb and a baby and all of that kind of stuff. Yes, fine, maybe someday they’ll figure out how to genetically change people’s DNA, but that’s not God designing them that way.

That is humans perversely hurting the creation of God. We do not agree with that. That is not what the Bible says. So if you disagree, then you are not believing what the Bible says. Believe the Bible—male and female, God created them. Marriage is between a man and a woman.

All right, now for those of you out there who want to argue that, you can argue all you want. I’m just saying we’re not going to argue this. We believe in the Bible, and the Bible says male and female, God created them, and marriage is between a man and a woman. There is nothing for us to discuss, nothing to talk about. That is the way it is. We are accepting that as truth.

John 17:17b, the second half of that Verse says, “Your word is truth.” There are other Verses in the Bible: “I have put my hope in Your word,” “I have put my faith in Your word,” “I have put my trust in Your word.” Those are in Psalms. That’s what we believe.

If you have a different belief, you have the ability to believe that. You have the ability and the free will to believe something that is not what the Bible says. You would be wrong.

You have that ability. All right, I know that might sound harsh, but as Christians, as believers in Jesus Christ, as followers of Yahweh, the one true God, this is what we believe.

If you are not on board with that, you can disagree, and you will probably disagree with many of our messages. Now let’s continue on. That is the recurring theme: male and female. We’re getting that straight.

The Pharisees asked Him, “Is it lawful for someone to divorce their spouse, a man to divorce his wife, or a wife to divorce her husband, for any and every reason? Any and every?” Jesus says, “No, it’s not.” Very simply put, no, it’s not.

And they said, “Well, why did Moses allow it then?” Moses did it because you guys were ignorant, because your hearts were hard, because you wanted to argue over everything, because you didn’t understand, because you were haters, because all you wanted to do was contradict whatever He said. So He said, “Fine, I’m not putting up with it. I’ll allow it.”

That’s what Jesus is saying. He’s saying your hearts were hard, so He allowed this to happen. But anyone who divorces for any, any, and every reason, except for sexual immorality, and marries someone else commits adultery. Why? Because if you are married to someone, that someone is your intended partner from God.

That means you are able to have sexual relations, husband with wife, and wife with husband, together. God designed that. There is no immorality in that relationship because the two have become one flesh. Now, if someone pulls away and commits some type of infidelity, then that’s fine, that can be separated, but it’s not right. It’s not what God says.

So, of course, there needs to be repentance and forgiveness and continuing on because it’s how did God designed the marriage to be. So God says, “No, anyone that divorces and marries another commits adultery.” Why? Because you’re supposed to be married with that person. Let’s continue on and go into Paul for a little more explanation and a little more light.

1 Corinthians 7:10 to 11, “To the married I give this command (not I, but the Lord): A wife must not separate from her husband. If she does, she must remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband. And a husband must not divorce his wife.”

Okay, so Paul is saying if you’re married, you can’t separate. If you do separate, you must remain unmarried. Why? Because if you get married to another person, you are committing adultery against the person to whom you were supposed to be married, even though you’re separated. That’s what Paul says.

However, if a man and woman end up divorcing each other and find someone else to love, so they get remarried under a new relationship, then they are never to get back together again. You say, “Wow, this is kind of confusing.” Well, let’s go to Jeremiah 3:1.

If a man divorces his wife, so the man divorces his wife, and she leaves him and marries another man, okay, so the wife is remarried, the man is not, should the man return to her again?

Now, in this instance, “return to her again” means return to her sexually again. Should they have a relationship? Would not the land be completely defiled?

“But you have lived as a prostitute with many lovers—would you now return to Me?” declares Yahweh, declares the Lord. Let’s read that again.

Jeremiah 3:1, “If a man divorces his wife and she leaves him and marries another man, should he return to her again? Would not the land be completely defiled? But you have lived as a prostitute with many lovers—would you now return to Me?” declares the Lord. Jeremiah 3:1.

Two things going on there. Number one, Jeremiah is using the marriage, God is using the marriage as an example, saying if a man and wife separate and they remarry, would they get back together again? No, they wouldn’t, because it doesn’t make sense. It wouldn’t, because you’re already having relations with another person. You’re not going to go back to them.

If they did, would it not be completely defiled? He’s using that as an example for what is going on with the people of God. Would not the land be completely defiled? God is telling the people, you guys have lived as prostitutes with many lovers. Would you now return to Me?

Why? What is going on here? Because they have turned from God, worshiped other gods, defiled themselves, intermingled with other cultures. Would they now go back to God after they have done that and lived as prostitutes with many lovers? That’s what He’s saying.

No, you need to repent and renew yourself and then turn back to God, and He will hear and then heal your land, and the land will no longer be completely defiled. That’s the context of that situation.

In marriage, if you have a marriage together and they separate and go out and have relationships with other people, are they not committing adultery? Because they were supposed to be married with that person.

Now you may say, “What happens if people get married and they marry the wrong person? Can they be divorced and then get married to the right person, and now are they committing adultery?”

So let’s give an example, because the answer to that is no. So if, all of a sudden, let’s say you’re an unbeliever, you find this girlfriend in high school, whatever, you guys get married real young.

You’re great, and then you realize this is not the person God wanted you to marry because you guys maybe both become believers, or maybe one of you becomes a believer and the non-believer leaves, as we talked about last week.

And so now you, as a believer, are alone, and then you get married to another believer. Are you committing adultery with your former partner? No. Against your former partner, are you committing adultery against them? No, because you were not meant to be with them. You were meant to be with a believing person God had for you.

You just got married prematurely, and you were living in sin. You were living in fornication. You were not in right relationship with God, and you chose the person that you wanted, not the person God wanted for you, not the person God designed for you.

So you could argue that, like, if you are unmarried, can you have sex? No, you can’t. When you are unmarried, having sex, guess what? You are committing adultery against your spouse, wherever that person may be.

So if I am unmarried, if a person is a male and they are unmarried and they are in sexual relationship with other partners, they are committing adultery against, wherever, against their spouse, against their wife, wherever she may be, even if they haven’t met her yet.

Because God has that person picked out from the day of your birth. He knows. He’s got the right person for you. He has your partner picked out. So you need to seek Him on who that person is going to be.

Because if you find out whoever you want it to be and you get married with them, even though you’re married and having sex and you’re like, “Oh, it’s okay, I’m married, I’m having sex, I’m not committing any adultery, I’m not living in sin, I’m not living in fornication,” guess what?

If it’s not the person God wanted you to be with, you are committing adultery against that person that God wanted you to be with. So you need to know that your marriage is from the Lord. How do you know that? That marriage will be both on Earth and in Heaven.

And you say, “Well, wait a minute, in Heaven God said that we are not taken in marriage or given in marriage, but that we are all spirits.” Yes, but He still ordains our steps and directs our path here on Earth as it is in Heaven. That’s a topic for another time.

But the point is, divorce is not to happen unless there is a believer and an unbeliever, and the unbeliever chooses to leave the marriage. The believer is to allow them to leave, but the believer must not leave. Why? Because it is through the believer that the rest of the family is sanctified, not salvation, not saved, sanctified.

Because the way that they can be saved is through the believer. They can lead them to Christ. Jesus will save them, but it is through the believer that they can be saved. How? From an introduction. How can they meet Jesus if the believer leaves? They can’t.

So God is saying that once you marry, you are only to have sex with your opposite-sex spouse. If you have sex with more than one partner, you are living as a prostitute. You are living in sin.

Of course, you can be forgiven. We have an entire sermon series on forgiveness. Check it out. It’ll be in a card up here, or go to our website, type in “Forgiveness”. It’s a four-part sermon series, excellent.

So if something happens, if there is marital infidelity, you can come back together. You can be reunited. You can be forgiven. But if there is to be a separation after that, Jesus says, “Anyone who divorces, except for sexual immorality.”

Now, there could be some argument: what happens if you marry someone, you both become believers, and you decide, “Look, we’re not right for each other, we need to divorce”?

Is there sexual infidelity there? Well, if you were having relations before you were believers, and now it’s been revealed that you aren’t to be together, there could be some argument for that.

However, I would argue that God would say if you were married as unbelievers and you became believers, He led the both of you into Christ to be together, to stay together, to become that power couple on fire for God together.

So if you are an unbeliever and you are married to a believer, or if you are a believer married to an unbeliever, your goal is to get them to be a believer. You gotta be together, equally yoked, working together, and then stay strong in the marriage. Stay together.

Remember, if you were unbelievers having sexual relations and you believe that there was some issue there, some immorality there, or you had multiple partners before you were a Christian or before you were married, then repent.

Break those soul ties, get some deliverance, repent, and be united with your spouse, with your opposite-sex spouse. Become one flesh. Now remember, Matthew 19:9, “I tell you, anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.” Matthew 19:9.

So God is saying if there is a divorce and there is a remarriage, that is sexual immorality, that is adultery. However, if there was a problem beforehand and you divorce and remarry, then you’re in the clear. Why? Because the act had already been committed. It had already been separated. Now you can remarry clean.

You want to understand more about that? I encourage you to dive into the Word. You can comment below. You can get on Discord and comment in our sermon discussions. We’re not going to get into all of that today. But basically, what God is saying is that when there is a male and a female and God brings the two to become one, they become one flesh.

What God has joined together, let no man or woman, no one on Earth, separate. If, for some reason, there is a separation, then the other person is free to go and remarry and become one with someone else. Why? Because this other person already made the choice. They already separated it for them.

Now, if this other person has this separation, repents, comes back, there is forgiveness. That marriage can be restored, and that’s what God wants. He wants people to forgive and live together in unity as He has designed it to be. But that needs to be both ways.

Of course, there has to be forgiveness. There has to be repentance. They have to be equally yoked. There can be situations where believers are unequally yoked because one person might be on fire for Christ, and the other person might simply be a regular churchgoing Christian, and that’s all they are.

Well then, that person needs to get on fire. Let’s go. They have to be equally yoked. And if there’s an unequally yoked marriage, that can create a lot of strain and could potentially cause some type of reason for divorce. Is it right? Is it wrong? That’s between them and God.

The point is, when God puts people together to become one, that is for life. We’re going to talk more about that next week when we get into “Till Death Do You Part.” So stay tuned for that. But for now, we have a couple of Verses that I want to check out. It is Matthew 19:8.

So, same Chapter, we’re just going to keep going. Jesus replied—remember, Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning. It was not that way. God designed two to become one, one flesh.

Flesh does not naturally separate from itself. If my face started falling off, we’d have a problem. We’re going to talk more about that next week. Two become one. Let’s go to Genesis 2:24. Genesis 2:24 says, “That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.”

God wants them to be joined together. He wants you and your spouse to be joined together, working hard, hand in hand. Matthew 19:6, “So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, let no one separate.”

Divorce is not an option. If it should happen, yes, there is repentance, there is forgiveness, there is rebuilding. Get into right relationship with God. Find the person God wants you to be with, and yes, you can be equally yoked in marriage, working together, on fire for Christ, building the kingdom.

It may not be easy, but it’s what God has designed for you. Take heart in that fact. Make the change, make the sacrifice, and make it happen.

Let’s pray.

Father, thank You so much for this powerful series. I ask that You would give strength to the believers out there who are in a situation that may not be easy.

that You would help them be on fire for You, living as an example, that the unbelievers or that the passive Christians who call themselves Christians, that they would wake up.

That they would change, that they would be led to You, that they would be on fire for You, that they would repent of their wrongdoing, of all the hurt that they may have caused, and that they would live for You each and every day.

That You would unite the marriage together as it was designed, male and female. That two would become one flesh, that they would stay married for life.

Divorce is not an option for Christians, that true Christians would seek and lean into You, that the cord of three strands would not be quickly broken. They have husband, wife, and the Holy Spirit uniting them together as one flesh.

That they would lean into You for guidance, and God, that You would strengthen, revitalize marriages across the US, across the world. That Christians would be an example of Your church, exactly like You are an example for us.

In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Thanks for staying with us. One more week of this series. Hit that subscribe button, hit the bell icon, hit the like button to stay tuned, and we hope to see you next week. Have a great week, and God bless.