Good morning and welcome in everybody. Today, we are going to take a look at a passage of scripture, but before we do that, I wanted to tell you a little story.
Many years ago I took the family out four wheeling in the woods, but eventually we decided to pull over and take a break on that beautiful sunny afternoon. We had parked right next to a fast-flowing stream that had been created due to some heavy rainfall that we had received the day before. We had nothing better to do at that exact moment, so I began grabbing a bunch of rocks to dam up the flow of the river. I piled up so many of them that it eventually came to a complete stop. But after a while I decided to reach down into the water and pull out one of the smaller rocks that was wedged in the wall. As soon as I did this, the water pressure that was created began the process of knocking a bunch of the other rocks out of the way until the strong flow of the current ripped apart the entire dam.
This reminds me of the Christian Life.
All I had to do was take one rock away from the dam, and before you knew it, everything else came tumbling down to the ground. Sin does the same type of thing in people’s life, because one little sin can result in many others. The Apostle Paul taught that divorce is forbidden in the Christian Life, but if people are going to begin that process watch out, because all kinds of other sins are going to result because of it.
1 Corinthians 7:10-11 (KJB) And unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, Let not the wife depart from her husband: But and if she depart, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband: and let not the husband put away his wife.
The Apostle Paul teaches that the married are commanded by the Lord Jesus not to divorce each other, and the Word of God cannot be broken. This means that whatever bad behavior they might display during the marriage, if you claim to be a Christian you must abide with them out of obedience to Christ Jesus. As a sincere follower of Christ, marriage becomes more of a commitment towards Jesus than to your own spouse. This is because we are concerned about doing the things that are required on our part to obtain eternal life, and divorce for any reason is outside of the will of God.
Grievous mistakes and sinful behavior can and will happen throughout a marriage, but if people cannot accept that, then they should never have gotten married in the first place. Perhaps the wife slept with another man, or the husband was dishonest with her. Maybe he got really upset when she over cooked and burned the backstraps from his latest deer hunt. The point is that there are going to be numerous things that a spouse does that upsets you or ticks you off, but to obey Jesus, you must abide in your marriage through thick and thin by patiently enduring the faults of others. Mark my words that some of the most grievous things you will have to suffer are going to come from the hands of your own spouse.
Proverbs 21:9 (KJB) It is better to dwell in a corner of the housetop, than with a brawling woman in a wide house.
Marriage is a commitment to Christ Jesus until death parts you, but I do believe from the bottom of my heart that people who do not understand the permanence of a marital commitment will never truly understand the Christian Life. This is because suffering with the wrongs that your spouse commits against you, is exactly what Jesus did for each of us when He died for us on the cross for our sins. So how is it then that somebody who claims to be a Christian completely abandons their marriage simply because they don’t want to suffer? That’s completely shameful, compared to what Jesus did for them. Jesus shows us the qualities of longsuffering and mercy from the cross, but within the covenant of marriage, certain people won’t show Mercy to their own spouse? Everybody is a sinner who has come short of the glory of God, and yes, that includes your own spouse. But Jesus laid down His life for us all, even while we were yet sinners! Would you lay down your life for your own spouse? Do you love them that much, even when you have to suffer? Would you be as merciful and patient with them as Jesus has been towards you, or will you be cruel and merciless and walk off and divorce them?
There is zero Mercy in a spouse who abandons their marriage. not to mention that it is also absolutely forbidden, per the command of Christ. I understand when unbaptized unbelievers do this, but a Christian? How loathsome. Someone claims to have received Mercy from God but they cannot be merciful with their own spouse? Those who do that will be outside of God’s mercy at the judgment, which is very serious, because Jesus warned that those who don’t show Mercy will receive no mercy from the Heavenly Father as illustrated in the parable at Matthew 18:23
Divorce is an act of complete rebellion against the will of Christ Jesus, but that is not always going to prevent people from doing it because they have no fear of God. Why did Moses write up a law of divorcement? Because one spouse, or both, bitterly hated each other, that’s why! If a wife is going to start throwing dishes at you when you come home from work, and is threatening to leave you because she hates you with a passion, well, it is for that reason, and that reason alone why Moses suffered divorce. It was a way out for people who chose not to love the other person. But can a husband commit adultery and the wife still abide in the marriage? Absolutely! Can the wife have an episode of fornication and the husband still abide in the marriage? Certainly! But the only way that this will happen is when you choose the path of love and suffering, towards the one that you truly care about. Love will endure this kind of treatment. Love will endure these types of offenses. That’s because love covers a multitude of sins. If you truly love your spouse you will never divorce them no matter how many times that they sin against you.
Again, it is only because of people’s hard and unmerciful hearts did Moses allow papers of divorce. I mean, you cannot force somebody to stay in a marriage when they absolutely revile you. Even the Apostle Paul suffered it, and said that if the unbelieving depart then let them depart. If they are going to openly sin against Christ by filing for divorce, then the sin abides on them when they leave the marriage. Sorry, but there is zero justification in the Christian Life for divorce, not even fornication because you are just as big of a sinner as they are. If they hadn’t been merciful towards you over the years and continued to stand by your side when you were a handful, then they would have left you in the dust long ago, but they didn’t. That is because they are a merciful spouse, one who is filled with the qualities of long-suffering and patience and the other virtues of the Christian Life.
Genuine charity doesn’t come easy does it, because it requires suffering at times. Those who divorce their spouse must understand that there are going to be consequences with God for what they are doing. He is not mocked, and those who treat the covenant of marriage with derision are going to face His wrath. Departing the marriage for any reason in the Christian Life is a sin against Christ, and once you pull that one little boulder out of the bottom of the dam, all types of other sins can result because of it. For example when a wife divorces her husband, she can no longer scripturally obey his commands. She can no longer scripturally reverence him. She can no longer scripturally be his helpmeet. She can no longer be educated in his Christian faith. She can no longer be a perfect example of submission to the children. She can no longer be a role model of how to love your husband. She can no longer provide for the sexual requirements of her husband. She can no longer produce children from his seed. She can no longer be a chaste keeper in his home, and the list goes on and on and on. The downside of divorce is so terrible that I can’t imagine why anybody would actually pursue it!
When children are involved it is even worse, because they expect to grow up in a home where their mom and dad are always there for them, and are united in their love together for them. But because of divorce, the bitter spouse will use these precious children as a weapon, by ripping them away from the love and affection of their other parent. This is evil in the sight of God, and is emotional child abuse to these precious children who had nothing to do with it at all. Those who divorce their spouse cause years of needless emotional suffering which is heaped onto the backs of these little ones, a burden that was never meant by God for them to carry. The one who is ultimately responsible for this is the one who left the marriage. All it does is produce orphans at the hands of a wicked spouse who chose to reject marriage and make innocent children go through something that I wouldn’t wish upon any child in this world. It is sick, immoral and perverted.
A wife who does this becomes one of the worst role models that a daughter could ever have growing up, teaching them by her actions that they don’t need to love and abide by their husband’s side, which is an absolute and outright lie according to the teachings of the Christian faith. Because of her own bitterness, she may even instruct children not communicate or maintain a relationship with their loving dad, which is the perpetuation of hatred not charity. I’ve always said it on this website that divorce is a hate crime and anybody who says otherwise really does not understand the Christian Life. Personally, I could never divorce a wife, no matter what they put me through. That’s because in a marriage God wants you to love your spouse, even at times when they can’t seem like your worst enemy.
The other point I wanted to make is when you divorce your spouse you forfeit any opportunity that you might have in the future to save them. A Christian spouse is put in a home for a reason by God, and divorce eliminates that reason. God wants you to stay in that home in order to win your spouse and children to the teachings of the Christian faith. I hope I’m not scaring people out of getting married, but I’m just letting you know you had better be ready and prepared to endure any difficult times in the future. Divorce does not help things, it wrecks things, and rather than being part of the problem, a Christian must be a part of the solution. Abide in your marriages, because I command you in the Name of Christ to do so. If your spouse files the paperwork, then let them go just make sure that you never leave them!
Well, I got a little wordy today but families are very important. Marriages that stay together are a firm foundation for the future of young children who are growing up in this world and watching you as their example. Don’t ever open up the can of worms of divorce, otherwise a flood of innumerable sins can result because of it, and all it’s going to do is make things a whole lot worse, just like pulling out one of the stones, from underneath,……..
……The Rock Dam
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 all, and Lord willing, we will talk with you some more tomorrow. Till then, bye bye everybody.♥️
https://tlkjbc.com/written-sermons/
https://www.buzzsprout.com/2055335/episodes
https://www.facebook.com/share/14RHGVBBHbG/
tlkjbc.com
Note: Any copies may be printed and freely distributed among those who have no internet service. There is no AI creative involvement in my writings, and must be left intact because they are very personal to me. These are not to be sold, and are made public only for the free benefit of Spiritual knowledge to those who are genuinely seeking the will of God.
Teufer Lake King James Bible Church 