Good morning and welcome in everyone. Today, we are going to take a look at a passage of scripture, but before we do that, I wanted to ask you a little question.
How forgiving and patient are you with your own children. If they drove your vehicle into a tree, would you kick them out of the house? If they ruined your new riding lawn mower by driving over a stump, would you pack their bags for them, citing irreconcilable differences?
This reminds me of the Christian Life.
As we discussed the other day, most of us care enough about our children to stand by their side through whatever mistakes they might make. We don’t condone their activities, nor do we participate in them, but as a loving parent, we try to turn them away from darkness to the light. At times it may require punishment, like getting grounded for the weekend. It’s not that we are better than them, because each of us were children at one time too. Each of us have our own weaknesses. The desire of a Christian should be to help others overcome any problems or difficulties that they might have. At times, many marriages happen between people who are very young, and are still children themselves. They have not fully grown into a state of maturity. If they are going to please God, they must abide in their marriage through thick and thin, through the good times and through the bad times. They need to be forgiving and merciful with each other, just as God is towards us.
Some people don’t require a lot of grace in order to correct the wrong things that they do, but for some of us, we need a bigger portion of God’s grace. Even a judge in a courtroom might be merciful and kind enough to give a defendant probation, rather than locking him up and throwing away the key. Sometimes when a judge shows mercy, his own community will claim that he is unjust. But the truth is that he kindly grants the offender grace, so that hopefully, the offender will correct the error of his ways. As a Christian, we understand that God will punish sin, both now and in eternity, but before punishment, he gives each of us the opportunity to repent. He grants us grace so that we can learn to do what is right. He sees our humble contrition, as we attempt to change direction in our lives. This is the same way that a loving parent treats their own child. God doesn’t want anybody to perish, and those who actually believe that are liars. He wants them to repent. Whether it’s Jews or gentiles, He offers each of us a free gift of his grace, so that we can eventually overcome the sinful nature, and inherit eternal life.
Each of us are called to extend merciful amounts of grace to others. Showing mercy is not always perceived as the just thing to do, but it is the right thing to do. This is because each morning, you will find a sinner looking back at you in the bathroom mirror. You will find somebody who needs God’s grace to eventually overcome their own problems. Obviously we are not supposed to receive God’s grace in vain, but use it as an opportunity to be an overcomer of sin and the difficulties that we each face in this life. Remember that if it wasn’t for God’s mercy, the Earth would have been destroyed 2,000 years ago when God’s Son Jesus was crucified on the cross. Each of us have received mercy,…because the Earth is still standing. God didn’t throw us into the ditch, but offers us a free gift of mercy instead. Each day that the sun rises high into the sky, you must thank God for the opportunity to serve Him, and to believe in the name of the one that He sent to save us, Jesus Christ, our Lord and theirs.
When we become a Christian, we want to be good stewards of the manifold grace of God. It hurts when we have to suffer, doesn’t it? It hurts when you get shot on a battlefield. It hurts when people speak evil about you. It hurts when you have to suffer because of your conscience towards the will of God. It hurts when people kick you down, and say such cruel things about you. It hurts when they joyfully twist a knife into your side. To serve Christ, we must learn to embrace sufferings. More often than not, it happens from the ones that you truly care about the most. But when people do these kinds of things towards us, we must always remember the one who suffered on the cross for our salvation. At times, there might be huge mistakes made in a marriage, but God allows repentance. Scripture is clear that those who decide to get married will suffer in the flesh. This is because your spouse might make poor choices now and then, sinning against you, or towards others in the community. But whatever indiscretions might happen in their own life, it doesn’t bring any disgrace upon you. What we are required to do, is to stand by their side, showing faithfulness and fidelity to God, through the bonds of Holy Matrimony, through whatever mistakes or misdeeds are committed. A spouse is to be a friend, to the very end. Men must never divorce their wives, and women must never leave their husbands. It was allowed in the old Testament as a matter of law, but Christians are not under the law. The New Testament is about the law of love, and divorce is a complete rejection of that commandment.
1 Corinthians 7:10 “And unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, Let not the wife depart from her husband:”
Divorce is forbidden to those who claim Christianity as their faith. Millions of other conservative Christians believe exactly what I’m telling you today. Those who reject this are calling all of them liars. Are any of you young people considering marriage? If so, listen very closely to what I have to tell you. I’m not going to write a lot to you, but please endure this short exposition. When you consider entering into a marriage, you are agreeing to abide with your spouse all the days of your life. Love is more than sexuality. It’s more than pretty brown eyes. It’s more than a handsome beard or a cute t-shirt. It’s more than toned muscles, or a good physique. It’s more than makeup, hairdo, or a pretty smile. It’s more than a fancy house or a sizable bank account. A Christian marriage is a lifetime ministry towards your spouse. It is about a lifelong commitment not only to the teachings of Christ, but to someone that you have devoted your life to. At times your spouse can become your undying affliction, (as spoken of by Alfalfa in one of the little rascals movie that I watched many years ago) Your spouse can cause you great agony, but love for them and the teachings of Christ is why you chose to remain by their side.
Whether you are married in a building, or by a tree on your property. Whether you are married in a city park by a river, or by a judge in a courtroom. As a baptized believer, once you decide to get married, there is no turning back. It’s no different than our service to Christ and our duties in the Christian church. You are choosing to abide with them all the days of your life. Up here in northern Minnesota there’s some beautiful sunny days, but occasionally there are some strong thunderstorms. In order for a marriage to endure, you will have to be strong enough to deal with the storms that arrive in your lives. When we first get married, nobody wants to believe things like these will happen to them, but I guarantee you, mistakes are made occasionally. It doesn’t matter what sins might be committed by your spouse. If they sin, it is their sin, not yours, and every man will bear his own burden. A woman is bound to her husband for the rest of his life, no matter what wrongs he may commit, or has committed.
Romans 7. ² For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. ³ So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress:
Moses suffered people to divorce in the Old Testament, but it was only permitted because of their hard and unloving hearts. It was because of a lack of love. In a marriage, people can be very unmerciful. When we try to convince a wife of the error of her way, they might completely reject your counsel and authority, but when they do, the husband is not responsible for her disobedient actions. She will bear the shame of her own wickedness, as she completely denies the teachings of our Christian faith. A Christian marriage it’s supposed to be filled with the virtues of the Christian Life. You are to possess patience, long suffering and mercy through whatever things you may have to endure, whether good or bad. Those who cannot display these virtues towards their spouse are not of God.
Jezebel actually promotes divorce as a godly virtue, but those who listen to her will enter into suffering and tribulation. Divorce is an act of impatience and hatred, a fair weather friend who betrays and departs you at the first sign of cloudy weather. It’s a refusal to show mercy to your spouse, even when they have been merciful with you throughout the years. Don’t ever divorce your spouse. To do so is to walk into a black hole of darkness thinking that somehow you will find the light on the other side, but the only thing that you will find, is pain, agony and punishment from God. God does not bless rebellion. He that loveth not, knoweth not God. Because divorce is a rejection of love, it is a sin which is no different than adultery murder or theft. Divorce in a marriage only adds insult to injury, and is an open display of the carnal nature.
Before we go, I want you to remember that as you age, you might find a need to care for your spouse. Nowadays instead of helping the one that they married, some people will throw your spouse into a nursing home and completely abandon them. This is one of the sickest and more immoral behaviors that you will find among people who profess to be Christian. They do this because they don’t have time to care for the one that they married. This behavior might not be divorce in the eyes of Earthly law, but it is one that is certainly written upon their immoral hearts. It is the abandonment of your spouse and their needs when they need you most. Instead of being there for them, they wait for their spouse to curl up and die, in a place where they’re surrounded by faces they don’t recognize, and surroundings that are completely different to the peaceful home that they have lived in all their lives. People who do such things are immoral wretches. I don’t doubt they would leave an infant on somebody else’s doorstep. In my opinion they are more wicked than murderers, and a cruel messenger will be sent to them. When they cry out to help, there will be none to help them. This is because they profess to follow the God of love, but abandon those who devoted their lives to them in a marriage. Instead of being there for them as a loving friend to the very end, they turn away from them. People such as these are no better than dog dung, or the manure that I shovel out of our chicken coop.
Divorce is a cruel and evil activity because it goes against everything that God is. Those who encourage it, are in a state of rebellion against God. Instead of promoting the gospel of reconciliation, they promote separation.
God is watching as they lead other people to commit sin. They might as well put a millstone around their neck and jump into a lake. I guarantee that it will be a cooler reprieve for them, than the one that is coming in the future.
Let’s think about these things for right now. We can be found on your web browser by searching, tlkjbc where you can find our diaries distributed through various platforms. We are not associated, nor affiliated with any other religious groups. You can get our entire podcast feeds directly, along with transcripts at tlkjbc.com or I suppose that you could find us somewhere up here, in the Great Northern Minnesota woods. Peace to you, and Lord willing, we will talk with you some more tomorrow. Till then, bye bye everybody. ❤️
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