WEBVTT

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All right, so we're gonna get started tonight.

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You guys, we're gonna talk about divorce and remarriage.

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This is a really important subject.

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So many people have asked for this session

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ever since the beginning of just what we do

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with this movement, people have asked for a session on this.

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So many people have so much confusion around this topic

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and a lot of people have a lot of shame.

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They have a lot of shame around this topic.

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They have a lot of guilt around this topic.

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They have a lot of fear around this topic.

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In fact, many people have come to me and said,

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hey, when people find out that I'm divorced

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and they don't want to talk to me on the dating app

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because they don't believe in remarriage,

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they don't believe that people are allowed to remarry

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and therefore they don't wanna talk to me

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because in their mind, I'm not allowed to remarry.

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I have to stay single for the rest of my life.

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A lot of the people that come to me and ask about this

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are people that have been divorced

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because of the reason of abuse.

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Some kind of physical, mental, verbal, emotional,

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spiritual abuse was happening in their marriage

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and they had to get out.

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It wasn't a divorce, it was a rescue mission.

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They had to get out of that marriage

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and it is a hard pill to swallow to believe

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that you had to leave pretty much to save your own life,

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mentally, emotionally, spiritually, physically

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but now you're never allowed to be happy ever again.

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You're never allowed to have another love story

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because you chose wrong the first time

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because that's difficult.

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And then of course, a lot of different denominations

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teach this and they perpetuate this that,

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oh yeah, you can get divorced if you want to

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but you're gonna have to stay single

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for the rest of your life.

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You're gonna miss out on the promises of God for your life.

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You're basically gonna be disqualified from a lot of things

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and that keeps a lot of people

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in abusive situations, doesn't it?

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It keeps a lot of people from getting divorced

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because there's so many churches and denominations

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that are completely against divorce.

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They have hung their hats on the hook of God hates divorce.

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They have built their buildings

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on the rock of God hates divorce

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and so that equals God also hates divorced people.

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That is kind of the insinuation that they give out

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and so yeah, you can do it if you want to

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but you're gonna be in disobedience to God's word

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because under any circumstance,

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God wants you to stay in the marriage, okay?

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That's what they're teaching.

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That's what they're insinuating.

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That's what they're preaching

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that no matter what it is, you just need to pray harder.

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You need to fast more.

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You need to love them.

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Some very misogynistic men,

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we're not saying this to hurt your feelings

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but it's just the truth.

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Some very misogynistic denominations

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will actually ask the woman,

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well, what are you doing wrong?

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Why aren't you making him happy?

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Why is he treating you that way?

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You must not be a good wife.

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I mean, I've heard everything you can imagine from people

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when it comes to this subject, okay?

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And let's see the hands of the people.

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I would assume that everyone that's coming to this session

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would be people that are divorced

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but maybe you've come

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because what if you meet someone who's been divorced?

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Maybe you just wanna hear this teaching for that reason.

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So no matter why you're here, I'm glad you're here

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but let's see the hands of the people

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that are actually divorced that are here.

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Can we see the hands?

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Keep them coming.

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Go ahead and put them up, please.

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Okay, it looks like about half,

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maybe a little bit more than half.

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All right, all right, all right, all right.

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Okay, great.

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So for all of you that are divorced,

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go ahead and put in the chat any version

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of what I just talked about that you heard

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when you were considering divorce.

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Anything that well-meaning,

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once again, I believe that those people are well-meaning.

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I believe that they're only telling you

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what they've been taught

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but people have been taught wrong, okay?

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That's what I'm gonna prove to you in the word of God today.

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People have been taught wrong when it comes to divorce, okay?

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They really have.

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And so it's really important

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that you know the truth about this

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because some of you are gonna be freed from shame tonight.

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You're gonna be freed from your personal disqualification

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because you're divorced.

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You're gonna be freed from any guilt

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that you've been carrying.

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You're gonna be free from the fear that if you remarry,

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you're gonna be perpetually living in sin and go to hell.

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You're like, that's crazy talk, Jackie.

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No, I felt that way when I got remarried.

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I was scared all the time, like, oh my gosh,

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am I like living in adultery?

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And like, am I living in adultery

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that I can never be forgiven of

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because I'm willfully committing it now

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in marriage for the rest of my life.

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And then when I die, I'm gonna go to hell.

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I mean, seriously, if you think that's crazy talk,

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I'm telling you, I was brainwashed

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with that old type of teaching to the point

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where I was scared that I wasn't remarried legally

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in God's eyes, and that he didn't honor my marriage,

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that he wasn't in my marriage,

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and that I was just basically living in sin.

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Cause I've heard lots of people say that

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about remarried people.

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Lots and lots and lots of things.

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You said, I do, you have to keep the promise.

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Once married, it's for life.

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If you get divorced, you're not following God.

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Everything that you just said has been said to me.

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You would have been put under church discipline

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if you would have stayed in that church.

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Yes.

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Once people knew how bad my situation was,

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they didn't blame me.

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Okay, that's great.

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My pastor told me to let my husband divorce me

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cause he was acting as an unbeliever

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and he was abusing me and cheating.

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Okay.

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God hates divorce, you're a Christian.

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So really what people are,

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the message that people are sending,

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even though once again,

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I don't feel like people are doing this maliciously.

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I want to be very clear about that.

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I think that people, this is just what they know.

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This is what they believe.

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And this is, they're trying to help you in their mind.

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Like, oh, don't do that.

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That's sin, that's bad.

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You can't do that.

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But they do believe this and then they push it on us.

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And the problem is, is it causes a lot of problems.

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And so the message that it's sending

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is that God hates divorce more than he hates abuse, right?

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He hates divorced people.

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He isn't going to allow you to have the same type

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of promises or access to him

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if you are constantly living in a perpetual state

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of disobedience to his word.

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And so we want to debunk that stuff tonight.

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I was told I would never be under God's protection

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without a husband.

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Yeah, there's a lot of stuff, a lot of stuff.

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All right, so get ready to take some notes.

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Once again, I will tell you that I was rowing this boat.

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For those of you that have been afraid of these things,

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you've been really worried about,

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you haven't been remarried, obviously you're single

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and that's why you're in here,

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but you've been afraid of remarrying for these very reasons.

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And you've just, like I said,

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you've just been feeling a lot of shame over this area.

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I believe you're going to get a lot of freedom tonight.

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I really do.

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I know you will.

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And you'll get the same type of freedom that I have gotten.

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And that is why I'm going to teach this to you tonight.

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My pastor, I had an amazing pastor

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when I lived in Columbus, Ohio.

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Some of you might know him, Jim Baker.

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He's an incredible guy.

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He's not the guy that stole all the money,

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totally different Jim Baker, all right?

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Just want to make sure for all you old school people,

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it's not the same guy.

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But he did, he does, he teaches a lot on kingdom

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and he did an amazing,

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he did an amazing teaching on divorce and remarriage.

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And so, so it really set me free.

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And I want to teach you guys that same,

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that same sermon tonight,

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that same, those same lessons tonight,

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because once again, I believe that it's time,

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it's time for you to get out from underneath

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all of that wrong teaching

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and get free and walking fully in God's kingdom.

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So Father God, we thank you for your kingdom.

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We thank you that your kingdom is vast, God,

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and it's yes and amen.

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We thank you that Jesus came

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to establish your kingdom on earth.

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We thank you that we have been invited to live

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in the finished work of the cross.

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The law of the prophets has been fulfilled, Lord.

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We are able to walk in freedom.

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Jesus died, he died on that cross for us

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and he died on that cross as us.

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We died with him that day

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and now we are seated with Christ in heavenly places.

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We no longer are under the law.

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We are only under the law of love

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and that we are able to freely live in your kingdom.

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And so I pray tonight that any idols of religion,

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any false teachings,

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anything that's going to keep your sons and daughters back

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from the abundant life that Jesus talks about

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in John 10, 10, anything,

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that it would come to the surface,

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that it would be revealed, that it would be healed,

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that they would truly be able to access the freedom

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that Christ died for and shed his blood for.

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And that we ask right now, if there are any,

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there's any shame, that there's any guilt,

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that they would be able.

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clearly see what's rooted, where it's rooted, so that they can repent of that, repent of believing

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those ideologies that keep them from feeling fully loved and fully accepted in the beloved,

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and that they could absolutely be able to talk to other people about this exact same thing, Lord,

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and just perpetuate the truth on this subject to others. In Jesus name, amen.

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Jack, excuse me, it's Christy. Before we go any further, we are not recording to the cloud. Should

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I do that? We're not going to record to the cloud, Christy. We're live streaming on Facebook.

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Just wanted to make sure. Thank you. Thank you.

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And you're muted. Yep, I'm aware of that. All right, ladies and gentlemen, there's going to be

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a lot of teaching tonight. All right, a lot of teaching, and we have a short amount of time to

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get it in. And so I'm going to ask that you save all of your questions, all of your comments,

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all of your unmuting until the end, so that we can get it all in. It's really important that we do.

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You can watch this and replay. You can take more notes and replay. I will try to save a few minutes

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for Q&A at the end, but I really, really want to make sure that we get all this in. Does everyone

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understand that? Is that cool? All right. All right. All right, guys. All right. Nobody says,

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when I grow up, I want to be divorced. You guys didn't say that when you were little, did you?

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Oh, when I grow up, I want to be divorced. No, that was not a dream of our hearts.

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Everyone that has your hands up, you can go ahead and put your hands down. A lot of little hands

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up right now. I want to make sure, because I probably will ask you a few questions. I want

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to make sure that those responses are authentic and not just from before. So that's nobody's dream

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of anybody's heart to be divorced. But the problem with modern Bible teaching, and it's not just on

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this subject, you guys, the problem with modern Bible teaching is that a lot of times it's out

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of context. It just is. It's out of context. First of all, people don't understand the Jewish customs,

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the deeper meanings of the things that are mentioned in the Bible, the symbolism that is,

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that is behind a lot of things that are mentioned in scriptures, because we're not Jews.

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Okay. Most of us are not Jews. Now there might be a few Jews in here. You know, I found out

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through one of those, those lineage, like 23andMe and Ancestry, that I do have some Jewish blood,

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which is not surprising because I'm a very shrewd person. But at the same time, I was not raised

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with any type of Jewish customs, no Judaism. So I don't understand any of that stuff. I do have

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some really amazing Jewish friends that have explained a lot of stuff to me, and I really

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appreciate that. And if you don't have a Jewish friend, find yourself one. Ask God to give you a

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Jewish friend. You want to know why? Because Jewish, Jewish people that have been raised in

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Judaism, not secular Jews, people that have been raised, you know, religiously in Judaism,

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they can fill in a lot of blanks for you. A lot of, a lot of blanks about what things meant and

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why things were done this way and not that way, because we just don't know. We don't, you guys.

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And it's really important that we have those blanks filled in because there's so much of

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that is being taught by Gentile white people in America, and it's out of context. It's not

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taking into account the audience, the time period back then, the customs of the time period, the

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deeper meanings of the words that are being used, which by the way, were not English. They were

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Hebrew or Greek, the questions that are being asked in those scriptures or the questions that

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are being answered. Does everyone understand that? Basically, I'm telling you something that's going

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to hurt your feelings. A lot of what you've been taught from the Bible is probably not quite correct.

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That's scary, isn't it? Because you're like, well, I built my life on that. Well, that's where Holy

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Spirit comes in. Remember when Jesus met the woman at the well that was Samaritan, and he said,

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there's coming a time when you have to worship in spirit and in truth. Remember that little

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conversation? Well, that's why we need Holy Spirit, because Holy Spirit has one job. His job is to lead

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us into the deeper teachings of Jesus, to finish the work that Jesus started when he brought the

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kingdom to earth. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it already is in heaven, right?

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And so Holy Spirit's job is to lead us into deeper truth.

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He is the counselor, he is the comforter, he is the teacher.

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And so if you're not leaning into him

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when you're reading scripture,

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when you're reading the Bible,

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actually reading the Bible

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could be a dangerous thing for you.

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Yep, I said it.

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Reading the Bible without the help of Holy Spirit

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actually could pull you further away from God.

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Not draw you near, but actually separate you from him.

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Because there's a lot of things in there

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depending on how they've been taught to you

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and how they've been translated to you

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that could actually keep you from really being able

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to receive grace and mercy and kingdom ideologies and ideas

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and really have that abundant life.

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Does everyone get that?

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And unfortunately, this topic is one of those topics.

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And it's been a very important topic

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ever since the beginning of time.

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Marriage, divorce, remarriage

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has been one of the biggest topics

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talked about in religious circles

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since the beginning of time.

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And I'm gonna show you that tonight, okay?

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Really important.

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So we have the Old Testament,

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us, like I said, us Gentile Christians

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know that as before Jesus.

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And then the New Testament is Jesus' time, right?

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And so the Old Testament can be very confusing.

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If you read the Old Testament,

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there's a lot of weird stuff

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that happened in the Old Testament.

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A lot of stuff that could make you think,

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God is just not that nice.

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There's a lot of bad, scary stuff going on back here.

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People getting eaten by bears

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because they made fun of Baldy because, you know, whatever.

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And then fires falling down from heaven

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and consuming people.

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And then over here, you got this sister,

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she's turned into a pillar of salt

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simply because she looked behind her shoulder.

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And then women are treated terribly, right?

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Everyone's like, oh, Esther, I love the book of Esther.

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Do you?

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Because it actually seems to be about human trafficking

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in one way, shape or form.

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Yeah, there's a lot of things.

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And that's why we can't just read the Bible.

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We have to read the Bible.

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We have to read it with Holy Spirit

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and with an understanding of, like I said,

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once again, the deeper meanings

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and the symbolism behind things, right?

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We do, we have to.

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So I want us to start focusing

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for a few minutes on Matthew 5.

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So go ahead and go there.

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You can read it in whatever translation you want to,

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but we're gonna talk about the kingdom of God tonight.

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The kingdom of God that John the Baptist announced it.

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Okay, he preached the kingdom.

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He said, hey, there's a new dawn coming,

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a new era coming.

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There's a new thing that's coming.

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Come on and get ready for it.

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Come and let me baptize you into it.

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You know, he was preaching that.

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He said that there would be one that came after him

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that's sandals he was not worthy enough to unloose.

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He was talking about Jesus.

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He basically said, I'm gonna tell you about this kingdom,

351
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but this guy is gonna demonstrate it.

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He's gonna show you what it looks like, right?

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He's gonna bring it with him.

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I'm gonna tell you that it's coming,

355
00:18:16.640 --> 00:18:18.480
but he's gonna actually bring it.

356
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Amen?

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It's talking about Jesus there.

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And so this, Matthew five has a lot of times

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we call it the sermon on the Mount.

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It's like, basically, if you watch that,

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if anyone watched that show, The Chosen,

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it's part of Jesus's big debut of his teaching.

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It's like one of his first like put on, you know,

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where he's announcing this kingdom that John was preaching.

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He's beginning to tell people what it looks like.

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He's beginning to teach about what does it look like?

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Remember, all of these people

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have been living under the law.

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Whether they were Jews or not Jews,

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there was the law of the land.

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Then there was the law of the Jews, Judaism,

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the law of Moses is what they called it.

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There was all of those laws coinciding.

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There were the Romans lived under a certain law,

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the law of the land.

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And then there was the law of Moses

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that the Jews lived under the Roman law

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and they lived under the law of Moses.

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But Jesus was coming

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and he was preaching something completely different.

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And you guys, I don't think that we appreciate

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how different the Sermon on the Mount was

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from what was being taught to people

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or the law that they were living under at the time.

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You guys, this was crazy talk that this man came

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to talk about.

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00:19:36.440 --> 00:19:38.040
We read it and we're like, oh yes,

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blessed are the merciful because they will obtain mercy.

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We think it's great.

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00:19:41.960 --> 00:19:44.680
But you have to understand how different it was

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to the hearers back then.

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Can you appreciate that?

393
00:19:49.960 --> 00:19:51.760
Okay, all right.

394
00:19:51.760 --> 00:19:55.080
So let's go ahead and just take a quick look at Matthew 5.

395
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So if you start there at verse one,

396
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you see that.

397
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that he went on the mountain side and he began to teach the crowds.

398
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And then he has the Beatitudes, blessed are the poor in spirit,

399
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blessed are they that mourn, blessed are the meek.

400
00:20:09.080 --> 00:20:11.360
Let's go ahead and skip on down through all of that.

401
00:20:11.880 --> 00:20:14.800
Then he talks about how your salt and light in the earth.

402
00:20:15.440 --> 00:20:17.960
He starts talking in these parables and these riddles.

403
00:20:17.960 --> 00:20:21.160
He starts talking about all these different things, but I want you to

404
00:20:21.200 --> 00:20:24.000
skip all the way down to verse 17.

405
00:20:25.000 --> 00:20:29.520
And in the translation that I am reading from here, which is the new

406
00:20:29.520 --> 00:20:34.240
international version, the NIV, this little segment of Matthew five

407
00:20:34.240 --> 00:20:35.920
is called the fulfillment of the law.

408
00:20:36.880 --> 00:20:40.880
Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets.

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00:20:41.200 --> 00:20:45.240
I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them.

410
00:20:46.000 --> 00:20:50.400
For truly, I tell you until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest

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00:20:50.680 --> 00:20:56.200
letter, not the least stroke of a pen will by any means disappear from the

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00:20:56.200 --> 00:20:58.760
law until everything is accomplished.

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00:20:59.960 --> 00:21:03.600
Therefore, anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and

414
00:21:03.600 --> 00:21:07.440
teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of God.

415
00:21:07.720 --> 00:21:11.000
But whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called

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00:21:11.000 --> 00:21:12.320
great in the kingdom of God.

417
00:21:12.800 --> 00:21:17.320
For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the

418
00:21:17.320 --> 00:21:20.520
Pharisees, those were the religious folk of the time.

419
00:21:20.800 --> 00:21:25.080
They were the professional religious people and the teachers of the law.

420
00:21:25.120 --> 00:21:28.520
You will certainly not enter into the kingdom of heaven.

421
00:21:29.080 --> 00:21:30.240
Whoa.

422
00:21:32.240 --> 00:21:33.760
Them's fighting words, Jesus.

423
00:21:35.120 --> 00:21:36.320
You see what he's saying here?

424
00:21:36.760 --> 00:21:40.560
He's saying, if your righteousness just comes from the law of Moses, if it's

425
00:21:40.560 --> 00:21:44.040
just religious righteousness, like the Pharisees and the teachers of the law

426
00:21:44.040 --> 00:21:46.440
of Moses, you're not going to come into the kingdom.

427
00:21:47.000 --> 00:21:48.280
I came to bring the kingdom.

428
00:21:50.160 --> 00:21:51.480
You can't come into the kingdom.

429
00:21:51.720 --> 00:21:54.800
If you're still going to live under these laws, the way they are.

430
00:21:56.080 --> 00:21:58.960
And then let, and then he starts talking about this.

431
00:21:59.360 --> 00:22:01.960
You have heard that it was said to the people long ago.

432
00:22:01.960 --> 00:22:02.800
What's he talking about?

433
00:22:02.800 --> 00:22:05.560
The law of Moses, you shall not murder.

434
00:22:05.600 --> 00:22:06.760
Do you guys know that?

435
00:22:07.280 --> 00:22:09.400
You, we always talk about the 10 commandments, right?

436
00:22:09.440 --> 00:22:12.280
The law of Moses, but you guys, the law of Moses is so much

437
00:22:12.280 --> 00:22:13.760
more than the 10 commandments.

438
00:22:14.040 --> 00:22:16.000
Do you guys know that right now?

439
00:22:16.640 --> 00:22:21.800
Modern Jews, modern Jews in Israel or anywhere else where they're

440
00:22:21.800 --> 00:22:29.200
practicing modern unorthodox or orthodox Judaism, they have 661

441
00:22:29.200 --> 00:22:31.160
statutes that they have to follow.

442
00:22:34.880 --> 00:22:36.160
That's a lot of rules y'all.

443
00:22:37.280 --> 00:22:38.880
They got rules about rules.

444
00:22:39.720 --> 00:22:41.120
Their rules have rules.

445
00:22:41.640 --> 00:22:42.200
Okay.

446
00:22:44.200 --> 00:22:47.200
Cause that's just like, that's just, that's the human nature, right?

447
00:22:47.480 --> 00:22:50.920
God says one thing and then we add like 15 things to it.

448
00:22:53.640 --> 00:22:54.440
That's what we do.

449
00:22:55.000 --> 00:22:57.920
And so he says, you've heard it said you shall not murder.

450
00:22:58.120 --> 00:23:00.400
Well, I don't know about you guys, but this has not been a

451
00:23:00.400 --> 00:23:02.040
real hard one for me to keep.

452
00:23:02.720 --> 00:23:04.240
I've never murdered anyone.

453
00:23:04.240 --> 00:23:06.400
I don't plan on murdering anyone.

454
00:23:06.840 --> 00:23:09.240
You know, I'm not, you know, I'm not a murderer.

455
00:23:09.240 --> 00:23:10.680
I'm not going to murder anyone.

456
00:23:11.000 --> 00:23:13.040
And so for a lot of people, they're like, Hey, I got it.

457
00:23:13.280 --> 00:23:15.160
Whoa, I'm not going to murder anyone.

458
00:23:15.320 --> 00:23:16.560
I can check that box.

459
00:23:16.640 --> 00:23:18.480
I am definitely for sure.

460
00:23:18.480 --> 00:23:19.800
Not going to break that rule.

461
00:23:20.360 --> 00:23:24.480
But he says, but I tell you, remember, this is the kingdom.

462
00:23:24.720 --> 00:23:29.400
He just said in the verse before, unless your righteousness surpasses

463
00:23:29.400 --> 00:23:32.040
that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, because they're

464
00:23:32.040 --> 00:23:35.280
just telling you all you have to do is keep from murdering someone.

465
00:23:35.280 --> 00:23:35.720
Right.

466
00:23:35.960 --> 00:23:40.400
But he's saying, I'm telling you that if you're angry at your brother or

467
00:23:40.400 --> 00:23:42.920
sister, then you've murdered them.

468
00:23:43.640 --> 00:23:46.360
If you say Raqqa, which is fool.

469
00:23:46.960 --> 00:23:52.080
If you call your brother or sister a fool, you will be in danger of hellfire.

470
00:23:52.400 --> 00:23:53.080
Whoa.

471
00:23:53.760 --> 00:23:54.640
What is he saying?

472
00:23:54.640 --> 00:23:58.040
He's saying murder is more than just this.

473
00:23:58.440 --> 00:24:00.440
It's it's a, it's a matter of the heart.

474
00:24:00.920 --> 00:24:04.720
We could actually call this passage of scripture, the heartwork you guys.

475
00:24:05.280 --> 00:24:06.280
Cause that's what it is.

476
00:24:07.280 --> 00:24:08.120
Next verse.

477
00:24:08.640 --> 00:24:11.760
Therefore, if you're offering your gift to the altar and you remember that your

478
00:24:11.760 --> 00:24:15.240
brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of

479
00:24:15.240 --> 00:24:19.840
the altar and go and be reconciled to them and then come and offer your gift.

480
00:24:20.760 --> 00:24:22.840
Settle matters quickly with your adversary.

481
00:24:22.840 --> 00:24:24.080
Who is taking you to court?

482
00:24:24.440 --> 00:24:27.200
Do it while you are still together on the way.

483
00:24:27.520 --> 00:24:29.600
We're on the way, walking to the court.

484
00:24:30.680 --> 00:24:31.160
Okay.

485
00:24:32.160 --> 00:24:35.960
Adultery 27 verse 27.

486
00:24:36.160 --> 00:24:40.840
You have heard it said you shall not commit adultery, but I tell you that

487
00:24:40.840 --> 00:24:45.080
anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed

488
00:24:45.080 --> 00:24:47.360
adultery with her in his heart.

489
00:24:47.960 --> 00:24:51.000
You guys, are we serious here?

490
00:24:51.800 --> 00:24:56.520
Everyone's committed adultery according to Jesus, especially in the porn, the

491
00:24:56.520 --> 00:24:59.520
porn era that we live in good grief.

492
00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:08.460
You know, you can't even walk down the street without seeing half naked people, right?

493
00:25:08.460 --> 00:25:12.740
And then he goes on to say, if your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and

494
00:25:12.740 --> 00:25:13.740
throw it away.

495
00:25:13.740 --> 00:25:17.740
What are you talking about, Jesus?

496
00:25:17.740 --> 00:25:21.080
It's better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown

497
00:25:21.080 --> 00:25:22.080
into hell.

498
00:25:22.080 --> 00:25:26.260
And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away.

499
00:25:26.260 --> 00:25:31.580
It is better for you to lose one part of your body than your whole body to go into hell.

500
00:25:31.580 --> 00:25:32.860
You guys, what is he doing?

501
00:25:32.860 --> 00:25:35.880
He's raising the standard to heart stuff.

502
00:25:35.880 --> 00:25:39.140
It's not just about you following the letter of the law.

503
00:25:39.140 --> 00:25:40.980
It's not about ritual.

504
00:25:40.980 --> 00:25:43.340
It's about your heart.

505
00:25:43.340 --> 00:25:48.800
You could be righteous in your following of the law and be unrighteous in your heart.

506
00:25:48.800 --> 00:25:54.800
He's like, he's basically telling everyone the kingdom is about your heart.

507
00:25:54.800 --> 00:25:56.280
It's about your heart.

508
00:25:56.280 --> 00:26:01.000
Remember, he told the Pharisees, you're like, you're like tombs.

509
00:26:01.000 --> 00:26:06.120
You're white, you're washed white on the outside, but inside of you is dead man's bones.

510
00:26:06.120 --> 00:26:10.760
Doesn't matter if you're crossing every T and dot and every I on the outside, what does

511
00:26:10.760 --> 00:26:12.760
your heart look like?

512
00:26:12.760 --> 00:26:17.760
And then you guys in the same vein, you can't separate the next scripture from what Jesus

513
00:26:17.760 --> 00:26:22.940
is talking about because it's the very next thing he says.

514
00:26:22.940 --> 00:26:29.740
He says, it has been said, anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.

515
00:26:29.740 --> 00:26:30.740
That's the law of Moses.

516
00:26:30.740 --> 00:26:31.740
You guys.

517
00:26:31.740 --> 00:26:39.020
But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife except for sexual immorality makes her

518
00:26:39.020 --> 00:26:46.220
the victim of adultery and anyone who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

519
00:26:46.220 --> 00:26:51.300
Now you guys, this is the scripture that lots of churches and denominations take out of

520
00:26:51.300 --> 00:26:57.180
context and they say, if you didn't get divorced because your, your person was cheating on

521
00:26:57.180 --> 00:27:01.860
you, then you are, you are, you are committing adultery.

522
00:27:01.860 --> 00:27:07.420
If you get married again and anyone who, anyone who marries you is committing adultery.

523
00:27:07.420 --> 00:27:08.460
Okay.

524
00:27:08.460 --> 00:27:12.300
And so we're going to debunk that tonight because I'm going to tell you the history

525
00:27:12.300 --> 00:27:16.300
of what Jesus is saying right now, who wants to learn about it?

526
00:27:16.300 --> 00:27:20.620
All right, I'm excited.

527
00:27:20.620 --> 00:27:22.540
You guys want to learn about it?

528
00:27:22.540 --> 00:27:23.540
Okay.

529
00:27:23.540 --> 00:27:30.420
So Jesus is saying at all, all of Matthew five, Jesus is doing what the sermon on the

530
00:27:30.420 --> 00:27:34.900
Mount, all of the teachings about the law that he's doing.

531
00:27:34.900 --> 00:27:41.260
He is establishing the difference between the, the law, the righteousness that comes

532
00:27:41.260 --> 00:27:48.540
from the law, legalism, and the righteousness that comes from the heart kingdom.

533
00:27:48.540 --> 00:27:50.180
That's what he's doing here.

534
00:27:50.740 --> 00:27:52.660
He's contrasting old righteousness.

535
00:27:52.660 --> 00:27:57.860
That was all about your works and keeping the law and new righteousness, which is all

536
00:27:57.860 --> 00:28:01.700
about your heart, religion versus kingdom living.

537
00:28:01.700 --> 00:28:10.900
Does everyone see that he's contrasting that who is that someone, someone right there is

538
00:28:10.900 --> 00:28:11.900
just smiling.

539
00:28:11.900 --> 00:28:15.620
I can't see your name, but you're like, yeah, yeah, I like it.

540
00:28:15.620 --> 00:28:17.180
All right.

541
00:28:17.180 --> 00:28:22.060
So in the first contrast that we just read, Jesus says, you may have obeyed the command,

542
00:28:22.060 --> 00:28:26.980
do not murder, but you can still have a heart full of anger, contempt, and malice, right?

543
00:28:26.980 --> 00:28:33.180
And in the kingdom, you can be free from anger.

544
00:28:33.180 --> 00:28:34.620
You can be free from anger.

545
00:28:34.620 --> 00:28:38.500
You can't come into the kingdom with a heart full of anger, contempt, and malice.

546
00:28:38.500 --> 00:28:42.300
He says, you know, you might have obeyed, do not commit adultery, but you can look at

547
00:28:42.300 --> 00:28:47.220
a person with a lustful, with a lustful heart, with lustful intent and commit adultery in

548
00:28:47.220 --> 00:28:49.500
your heart.

549
00:28:49.500 --> 00:28:52.540
But I'm coming to give you a heart free from lust, right?

550
00:28:52.540 --> 00:28:54.620
That's what he's saying.

551
00:28:54.620 --> 00:29:01.140
And so right now we're going to talk about the last contrast that I want to really, really

552
00:29:01.140 --> 00:29:02.380
get into tonight.

553
00:29:02.380 --> 00:29:10.220
And that's Matthew five verses 31 and 32, write it down.

554
00:29:10.220 --> 00:29:15.060
And it was said, whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.

555
00:29:15.060 --> 00:29:18.700
Now a lot of you don't realize this because once again, you're not a Bible scholar and

556
00:29:18.700 --> 00:29:25.700
you're not a Jew, but Jesus is quoting from Deuteronomy 24, write that down.

557
00:29:25.700 --> 00:29:29.940
That's what Jesus is quoting from y'all.

558
00:29:29.940 --> 00:29:34.300
Remember a lot of times during Jesus's speeches, especially in front of religious folk, he

559
00:29:34.340 --> 00:29:40.180
is quoting the laws of the prophets and the laws of Moses.

560
00:29:40.180 --> 00:29:42.340
Okay.

561
00:29:42.340 --> 00:29:48.060
But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality

562
00:29:48.060 --> 00:29:49.660
makes her commit adultery.

563
00:29:49.660 --> 00:29:53.460
And whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

564
00:29:53.460 --> 00:29:59.940
Now once again, you have to see the order that Jesus addresses these.

565
00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:04.640
It's very important, you guys, we can't just read the Bible, we have to read the Bible.

566
00:30:04.640 --> 00:30:09.600
And we have to take into account the audience, the time period, the deeper meaning, the questions

567
00:30:09.600 --> 00:30:12.200
that are being asked and the questions that are being answered.

568
00:30:12.200 --> 00:30:13.200
Amen.

569
00:30:13.200 --> 00:30:14.200
Very important.

570
00:30:14.200 --> 00:30:15.640
Jesus doesn't mince words.

571
00:30:15.640 --> 00:30:16.640
Okay.

572
00:30:16.640 --> 00:30:17.720
He's crazy like a fox.

573
00:30:17.720 --> 00:30:22.760
You got to believe that he's talking about these things in order for in this order for

574
00:30:22.760 --> 00:30:25.760
a reason.

575
00:30:25.760 --> 00:30:28.060
Okay.

576
00:30:28.060 --> 00:30:33.460
So he says, if you had a heart that was free from anger and free from lust, how many divorces

577
00:30:33.460 --> 00:30:34.780
do you think would occur?

578
00:30:34.780 --> 00:30:35.780
Whoa.

579
00:30:35.780 --> 00:30:38.060
Do you guys see that he's talking about?

580
00:30:38.060 --> 00:30:42.620
If you weren't so angry, if you weren't so lustful, and then he's talking about divorce

581
00:30:42.620 --> 00:30:45.220
right after that, he did, he did that on purpose.

582
00:30:45.220 --> 00:30:48.560
You guys, very important that we see that.

583
00:30:48.560 --> 00:30:54.060
So before we fully unpack that verse, Matthew 5 31 and 32, I want to give you some history

584
00:30:54.060 --> 00:30:55.820
leading up to that verse.

585
00:30:55.820 --> 00:30:56.820
Okay.

586
00:30:57.580 --> 00:30:58.580
We're going to walk through a lot of information.

587
00:30:58.580 --> 00:30:59.580
I'm just going to warn you.

588
00:30:59.580 --> 00:31:00.860
I need you to be patient.

589
00:31:00.860 --> 00:31:05.420
I need you to roll up your sleeves with me and listen really hard.

590
00:31:05.420 --> 00:31:07.380
Okay.

591
00:31:07.380 --> 00:31:10.940
So 1700 BC, you guys, we'll go all the way back.

592
00:31:10.940 --> 00:31:18.140
We're going to kick it old school to 1700 before Christ, way back in the ancient world.

593
00:31:18.140 --> 00:31:19.500
This is before Jesus.

594
00:31:19.500 --> 00:31:22.380
It's before the old Testament.

595
00:31:22.380 --> 00:31:27.300
The ancient East was pretty much governed by the Hammurabi code.

596
00:31:27.300 --> 00:31:32.100
It's H-A-M-M-U-R-A-B-I.

597
00:31:32.100 --> 00:31:36.260
Some of you heard about this when you were in high school, you were taught it in history.

598
00:31:36.260 --> 00:31:43.180
The whole world, the ancient near East, especially was governed by this code.

599
00:31:43.180 --> 00:31:47.300
This was kind of like the law back then, all of you that live in America, we're governed

600
00:31:47.300 --> 00:31:48.780
by the constitution.

601
00:31:48.780 --> 00:31:51.540
The old ancient world was governed by this code.

602
00:31:51.540 --> 00:31:52.540
Okay.

603
00:31:52.540 --> 00:31:54.660
Remember, this is not a religious code.

604
00:31:54.660 --> 00:31:55.660
Why?

605
00:31:55.660 --> 00:31:57.740
Because the old Testament hasn't happened yet.

606
00:31:57.740 --> 00:32:01.620
The, you know, Moses hasn't happened, Jesus, none of that stuff.

607
00:32:01.620 --> 00:32:02.620
Okay.

608
00:32:02.620 --> 00:32:03.620
There's no old Testament.

609
00:32:03.620 --> 00:32:04.620
All right.

610
00:32:04.620 --> 00:32:12.020
So if you were, so I just want to let you know, if you were a wife under that code,

611
00:32:12.020 --> 00:32:17.380
your husband could divorce you at any time for any reason, just by walking out of the

612
00:32:17.380 --> 00:32:26.460
house, what you guys, all your husband had to do to divorce you was just walk out of

613
00:32:26.460 --> 00:32:27.460
the house.

614
00:32:27.460 --> 00:32:28.460
Just leave the house.

615
00:32:28.460 --> 00:32:32.620
I mean, and obviously not come back, leave the house.

616
00:32:32.620 --> 00:32:38.460
That was the signal to you and to everyone else in the community that your husband just

617
00:32:38.460 --> 00:32:39.460
divorced you.

618
00:32:39.780 --> 00:32:41.780
And if you had any kids, guess what?

619
00:32:41.780 --> 00:32:43.860
They'd be there with you still.

620
00:32:43.860 --> 00:32:47.460
You'd have no money because the men were the ones that made the money back then.

621
00:32:47.460 --> 00:32:49.420
You'd have kids, no money.

622
00:32:49.420 --> 00:32:51.220
And your husband's allowed to do this.

623
00:32:51.220 --> 00:32:53.140
He's allowed us to leave you.

624
00:32:53.140 --> 00:32:57.020
So let's say you are able to somehow make some money.

625
00:32:57.020 --> 00:33:00.540
Maybe you have some sons that are older and they're going to work the farm.

626
00:33:00.540 --> 00:33:02.340
They're going to turn a profit.

627
00:33:02.340 --> 00:33:03.340
Okay.

628
00:33:03.340 --> 00:33:04.340
Great.

629
00:33:04.340 --> 00:33:05.340
Wonderful.

630
00:33:05.340 --> 00:33:07.600
You're going to, you're going to live to see another day.

631
00:33:07.600 --> 00:33:11.920
You're going to have enough money or food to get by, even though your husband has done

632
00:33:11.920 --> 00:33:12.920
this.

633
00:33:12.920 --> 00:33:18.360
But here's the problem, you guys under this code, your husband could return any time he

634
00:33:18.360 --> 00:33:25.640
wanted to and reclaim you reclaim the farm, reclaim the money, reclaim the kids.

635
00:33:25.640 --> 00:33:30.200
So if he went off and he was gallivant with other people and he heard that, you know,

636
00:33:30.200 --> 00:33:33.680
Oh, you know, Sarah, she, she made good on that farm.

637
00:33:33.680 --> 00:33:35.280
She's, she's pulling it down.

638
00:33:35.280 --> 00:33:38.800
She's got all kinds of crops and money and she's doing good.

639
00:33:38.800 --> 00:33:42.560
Or if he just got out there and there just wasn't anything better out there for whatever

640
00:33:42.560 --> 00:33:48.380
reason he left for, he could come by, he could come back and lay his claim to you.

641
00:33:48.380 --> 00:33:54.920
And for that reason, you guys, if a man left a wife and walked out of the house and left

642
00:33:54.920 --> 00:34:00.560
her, no, one's going to touch that woman with a 10 foot pole.

643
00:34:00.560 --> 00:34:03.220
She could not get remarried.

644
00:34:03.220 --> 00:34:08.139
And the reason why is because no one's going to remarry you unless your husband's dead.

645
00:34:08.139 --> 00:34:13.340
Unless they know that your husband's dead and there's no way that he can come back and

646
00:34:13.340 --> 00:34:15.980
claim you reclaim his property.

647
00:34:15.980 --> 00:34:17.820
Basically you're his property.

648
00:34:17.820 --> 00:34:21.100
If, if there's no way that he can reclaim you, then maybe you could get remarried if

649
00:34:21.100 --> 00:34:22.260
you were a widow.

650
00:34:22.260 --> 00:34:26.300
But if you were not a widow and your husband was just alive out there somewhere, you're

651
00:34:26.300 --> 00:34:31.739
in big trouble because you're destitute now and you have no way of remarrying because

652
00:34:31.739 --> 00:34:33.699
no one is going to remarry you.

653
00:34:33.699 --> 00:34:38.940
So in that day, divorce involved a lot of contention because there was no livelihood.

654
00:34:38.940 --> 00:34:42.580
You had no money, you had no finances, none at all.

655
00:34:42.580 --> 00:34:45.900
So women were very vulnerable in the ancient world.

656
00:34:45.900 --> 00:34:48.380
You guys very, very vulnerable.

657
00:34:48.380 --> 00:34:49.380
So let's move forward.

658
00:34:49.380 --> 00:34:52.260
So that's 1700 BC.

659
00:34:52.260 --> 00:34:59.340
Let's move forward to 300 years guys to 1400 BC.

660
00:34:59.340 --> 00:35:00.180
One of the most.

661
00:35:00.000 --> 00:35:04.740
Spiking aspects of the law of Moses compared to that law,

662
00:35:04.740 --> 00:35:07.780
that code we just talked about of the ancient Near East,

663
00:35:07.780 --> 00:35:09.880
was its concern for women.

664
00:35:11.380 --> 00:35:12.940
I know we feel like the Old Testament

665
00:35:12.940 --> 00:35:14.980
is totally against women, didn't care about women,

666
00:35:14.980 --> 00:35:16.900
but I'm gonna tell you right now

667
00:35:16.900 --> 00:35:19.060
that the law of Moses,

668
00:35:19.060 --> 00:35:23.900
one of the contrasting aspects of it

669
00:35:23.900 --> 00:35:26.660
from the law of the land before,

670
00:35:26.660 --> 00:35:29.640
the code of the land was its concern for women.

671
00:35:30.280 --> 00:35:33.280
It was clear from Genesis that God's intent for marriage

672
00:35:33.280 --> 00:35:35.780
was that it be permanent commitment

673
00:35:35.780 --> 00:35:37.080
between a man and a wife.

674
00:35:38.760 --> 00:35:41.340
And if it did break up, Moses said,

675
00:35:41.340 --> 00:35:44.720
when a man, this is Deuteronomy 24 one,

676
00:35:44.720 --> 00:35:46.540
this is what Jesus was referring to

677
00:35:46.540 --> 00:35:50.800
when he was talking in Matthew five, Deuteronomy 24 one,

678
00:35:50.800 --> 00:35:53.280
when a man takes a wife and marries her,

679
00:35:54.800 --> 00:35:57.080
and then she finds no favor in his eyes

680
00:35:57.080 --> 00:35:59.540
because he has found some indecency in her,

681
00:36:00.380 --> 00:36:02.460
he writes her a certificate of divorce

682
00:36:02.460 --> 00:36:05.600
and puts it in her hand and sends her out of the house.

683
00:36:07.580 --> 00:36:10.780
You guys, that certificate was a way of protecting the woman

684
00:36:10.780 --> 00:36:12.740
because it meant that her first husband

685
00:36:12.740 --> 00:36:14.900
could never come back and reclaim her.

686
00:36:17.580 --> 00:36:20.280
It meant that she could remarry.

687
00:36:21.140 --> 00:36:23.220
She would not be accused of being an adulteress.

688
00:36:23.220 --> 00:36:25.100
She would not get stoned to death.

689
00:36:25.100 --> 00:36:28.180
That certificate was a merciful thing for women.

690
00:36:28.180 --> 00:36:30.260
It gave them the right to remarry.

691
00:36:30.260 --> 00:36:31.860
I want you guys to hear this.

692
00:36:31.860 --> 00:36:35.140
In ancient Israel, the certificate of divorce

693
00:36:35.140 --> 00:36:38.340
gave you the right to remarry.

694
00:36:38.340 --> 00:36:40.840
That's what it was for.

695
00:36:40.840 --> 00:36:43.780
Without the certificate under the ancient code,

696
00:36:43.780 --> 00:36:45.140
you just had to sit there destitute

697
00:36:45.140 --> 00:36:47.780
for the rest of your life because no one would marry you

698
00:36:47.780 --> 00:36:49.820
because your husband could reclaim you.

699
00:36:49.820 --> 00:36:53.020
Under the law of Moses, God commanded Moses

700
00:36:53.020 --> 00:36:54.980
because of the hardness of their hearts

701
00:36:54.980 --> 00:36:57.740
that they would give a certificate of divorce

702
00:36:57.740 --> 00:36:58.580
doing what?

703
00:36:58.580 --> 00:37:01.580
Freeing the woman to remarry, you guys,

704
00:37:01.580 --> 00:37:03.440
so that she could once again be married

705
00:37:03.440 --> 00:37:04.420
and have a livelihood.

706
00:37:04.420 --> 00:37:06.920
Do you see the law of ancient Israel?

707
00:37:08.000 --> 00:37:12.160
So why is Christianity saying we can't ever get remarried?

708
00:37:12.160 --> 00:37:14.400
Ancient Israel said we could.

709
00:37:14.400 --> 00:37:15.620
Come on, y'all.

710
00:37:15.620 --> 00:37:16.940
All right, can't just read the Bible.

711
00:37:16.940 --> 00:37:18.280
You got to read the Bible.

712
00:37:18.280 --> 00:37:21.000
So the certificate, you guys need to know this.

713
00:37:21.000 --> 00:37:24.340
That certificate had a phrase on it.

714
00:37:24.340 --> 00:37:26.340
Do you want to know what the phrase was?

715
00:37:27.340 --> 00:37:30.700
You are free to remarry any Jewish man

716
00:37:30.700 --> 00:37:33.260
or any Jewish woman that you wish.

717
00:37:33.260 --> 00:37:35.420
That's what the certificate said.

718
00:37:40.060 --> 00:37:42.340
Holy mother of Pete, said Marie Finney.

719
00:37:44.060 --> 00:37:45.100
Everyone take a drink break.

720
00:37:45.100 --> 00:37:45.940
I need a drink.

721
00:37:45.940 --> 00:37:46.760
I'm talking a lot.

722
00:37:46.760 --> 00:37:51.760
All right, so Deuteronomy mentions

723
00:37:59.560 --> 00:38:01.480
on the grounds of indecency.

724
00:38:01.480 --> 00:38:03.160
That's what it says.

725
00:38:03.160 --> 00:38:05.840
So it was interpreted, indecency was interpreted

726
00:38:05.840 --> 00:38:10.560
to mean for the cause of sexual immorality, okay?

727
00:38:10.560 --> 00:38:13.760
Now this raises the question, what about other causes?

728
00:38:14.600 --> 00:38:16.400
Was there provision for divorce

729
00:38:17.040 --> 00:38:18.540
because of abuse or abandonment?

730
00:38:19.920 --> 00:38:22.960
Those cases were covered as well in a roundabout way.

731
00:38:22.960 --> 00:38:26.320
And here's how, in Exodus 21,

732
00:38:26.320 --> 00:38:30.960
we find another classic text on divorce, right?

733
00:38:30.960 --> 00:38:34.280
And in this text, the law here covers the question,

734
00:38:34.280 --> 00:38:37.840
what happens if a man takes a second wife?

735
00:38:39.320 --> 00:38:42.320
All right, and I want you to see how much God loves women

736
00:38:42.320 --> 00:38:44.060
and how much he's protecting women.

737
00:38:44.060 --> 00:38:46.460
First of all, he told Moses to give them

738
00:38:46.460 --> 00:38:47.820
the decree of divorcement,

739
00:38:47.820 --> 00:38:49.700
because remember, they don't want to reconcile.

740
00:38:49.700 --> 00:38:50.860
They have hard hearts.

741
00:38:50.860 --> 00:38:53.500
And he's like, well, have them do that certificate

742
00:38:53.500 --> 00:38:55.900
of divorce to protect vulnerable women, right?

743
00:38:55.900 --> 00:38:57.300
So we can get remarried.

744
00:38:57.300 --> 00:39:01.700
And then once again, in Exodus 21,

745
00:39:01.700 --> 00:39:04.420
he wants to protect the interests of the first wife

746
00:39:04.420 --> 00:39:06.540
if a man decides to take a second wife.

747
00:39:06.540 --> 00:39:08.020
Look how good our God is.

748
00:39:09.740 --> 00:39:11.340
Look at how good.

749
00:39:11.340 --> 00:39:13.900
Exodus 21, nine through 11.

750
00:39:14.620 --> 00:39:16.300
If he takes another wife to himself,

751
00:39:16.300 --> 00:39:19.260
he shall not diminish the first wife.

752
00:39:19.260 --> 00:39:21.980
He won't diminish her food, her clothing,

753
00:39:21.980 --> 00:39:24.020
or her conjugal love.

754
00:39:24.020 --> 00:39:27.260
If he does not provide her with those three things,

755
00:39:27.260 --> 00:39:31.320
she is free to go without payments of money.

756
00:39:31.320 --> 00:39:34.100
Once again, the law is seeking to protect the woman.

757
00:39:34.100 --> 00:39:36.580
In this case, the husband takes a new wife,

758
00:39:36.580 --> 00:39:38.380
and because human nature is what it is,

759
00:39:38.380 --> 00:39:41.500
the new wife tends to get the good stuff, right?

760
00:39:41.500 --> 00:39:44.260
So the law said when the husband remarries,

761
00:39:44.260 --> 00:39:47.780
if he not remarries, but takes a second wife,

762
00:39:47.780 --> 00:39:50.220
he's got to treat his first wife right.

763
00:39:50.220 --> 00:39:51.620
He made a vow.

764
00:39:51.620 --> 00:39:54.420
He made a vow to her to provide support,

765
00:39:54.420 --> 00:39:56.300
food, clothing, and love.

766
00:39:56.300 --> 00:39:58.440
And so if he breaks that vow,

767
00:39:58.440 --> 00:40:00.340
then the first wife is free to leave.

768
00:40:00.000 --> 00:40:03.120
free to get a divorce, free to get a certificate, free to remarry.

769
00:40:04.960 --> 00:40:06.560
That's what this scripture is saying.

770
00:40:08.400 --> 00:40:13.200
Now guys, over time, the rabbis, which were the theologians of the day, those were the

771
00:40:13.200 --> 00:40:18.960
professional religious guys of the day. They looked at those two passages

772
00:40:21.440 --> 00:40:26.560
and those two passages became the classic text in the scriptures that govern divorce.

773
00:40:26.560 --> 00:40:32.960
You guys, in Judaism, in the ancient times with the Jews, those two scriptures

774
00:40:34.080 --> 00:40:39.120
are the two scriptures that base everything they believe about divorce and remarriage on.

775
00:40:39.680 --> 00:40:45.840
That's it. Those two. All right. So over time, the rabbis looked at these two scriptures and

776
00:40:45.840 --> 00:40:52.720
they began to form their opinions about those. And the rabbis decided this, that based on those

777
00:40:52.800 --> 00:41:00.480
two pieces of texts, marriage involves a vow. It's a covenant, right? And that covenant includes

778
00:41:00.480 --> 00:41:06.720
three primary promises. Write these down, please. This is what the rabbis decided. You guys,

779
00:41:08.080 --> 00:41:15.520
according to scripture, the rabbis decided that that covenant that you make when you get married,

780
00:41:15.520 --> 00:41:20.160
it includes these three primary promises, the promise to be faithful.

781
00:41:20.960 --> 00:41:26.320
That includes no sexual unfaithfulness. That's Deuteronomy 24, the promise to provide

782
00:41:27.280 --> 00:41:33.040
that includes food, clothing, and so on. That's Exodus 21 and the promise to love

783
00:41:33.680 --> 00:41:40.480
that includes sexual intimacy and affection, honor, respect. That's Exodus 21. You guys,

784
00:41:41.920 --> 00:41:45.520
the promise to be faithful, the promise to provide the promise to love.

785
00:41:46.080 --> 00:41:50.480
When these vows are broken, the victim of the broken vows has a right to get divorced.

786
00:41:54.080 --> 00:41:56.800
This is according to Judaism, male or female.

787
00:41:58.080 --> 00:42:03.680
And that always includes, please listen, that always includes the right to be remarried.

788
00:42:06.400 --> 00:42:12.720
If any of these vows are broken, the covenant is broken. And that person, the victim of the broken

789
00:42:12.720 --> 00:42:18.240
covenant has the right to get divorced. And that would include that certificate of divorce,

790
00:42:18.240 --> 00:42:26.720
which would give them the right to be remarried. Am I going too fast?

791
00:42:29.680 --> 00:42:32.640
I know it's a lot guys, but you can come back and listen to the replay.

792
00:42:32.800 --> 00:42:38.640
Of course, when you're divorced, you, you have the ability to be remarried, Rachel.

793
00:42:41.280 --> 00:42:47.120
There was no such thing in Judaism, you guys, as a divorce that did not include the right to remarry.

794
00:42:48.160 --> 00:42:52.160
That was the entire idea behind the certificate in the first place.

795
00:42:52.720 --> 00:42:56.480
That was the entire idea behind the certificate in the first place.

796
00:42:59.680 --> 00:43:04.480
Now the rabbis would debate what constituted the breaking of these vows.

797
00:43:06.160 --> 00:43:11.360
Okay. Because they're taking this very seriously. So how much food was included in the promise to

798
00:43:11.360 --> 00:43:16.880
provide food? You know, what kind of clothing did you have to provide in order to not break this

799
00:43:16.960 --> 00:43:23.040
vow? How about conjugal love? How many times do you have to have sex a week to be showing that

800
00:43:23.040 --> 00:43:30.000
person the proper amount of affection to, to, to, uh, to be, you know, being intimate. And that's

801
00:43:30.000 --> 00:43:34.480
the kind of thing that rabbis do. You guys, they came up with rules around the idea of physical

802
00:43:34.480 --> 00:43:40.320
intimacy. Remember the Jews have 661 statutes to kind of try to do. They love rules. And so

803
00:43:40.320 --> 00:43:46.560
they started to come up with rules around these three promises. The husband had to offer to be

804
00:43:46.560 --> 00:43:51.280
physically intimate with his wife at least twice a week, or she had the right to divorce him if he

805
00:43:51.280 --> 00:43:57.520
didn't. Now you guys, I'm not, I'm not making this up. These are the actual rules. Listen,

806
00:43:58.240 --> 00:44:02.240
the husband had to be physically intimate, or he had to offer at least to be physically intimate

807
00:44:02.240 --> 00:44:06.880
with his wife at least twice a week. And if he didn't, she had the right to divorce him. Now,

808
00:44:06.880 --> 00:44:11.440
there's some, some exceptions and you guys are going to laugh at the exceptions. If he was a

809
00:44:11.440 --> 00:44:21.440
donkey driver, he only had to offer it one time a week. Cause that's like being a trucker, right?

810
00:44:21.440 --> 00:44:26.240
You're not at home that much you're out on the road. So guys, if he drove to, if he rode a donkey,

811
00:44:26.240 --> 00:44:32.400
if he was a donkey driver, he only had to offer to have sex once a week to be physically intimate

812
00:44:32.400 --> 00:44:39.280
once a week. Now, but if he was unemployed, this is real, you guys, these are real rules.

813
00:44:39.280 --> 00:44:45.360
If he was unemployed, the husband had to make the offer, at least make the offer of physical

814
00:44:45.360 --> 00:44:51.920
intimacy every night, seven nights a week, or his wife could divorce him. Cause I, you know,

815
00:44:51.920 --> 00:44:59.760
he doesn't got nothing else to do, right? He's not working. I'm not making that up. You guys.

816
00:45:00.000 --> 00:45:06.880
All right, so did the rabbis believe that biblical grounds for divorce could include

817
00:45:06.880 --> 00:45:09.400
things like abandonment and abuse?

818
00:45:09.400 --> 00:45:11.680
Of course they did, you guys.

819
00:45:11.680 --> 00:45:13.640
Of course they did.

820
00:45:13.640 --> 00:45:19.600
Abandonment would simply be the extreme form of breaking the vow to provide.

821
00:45:19.600 --> 00:45:22.960
Abuse would be the extreme form of breaking the vow to love.

822
00:45:22.960 --> 00:45:30.520
In Israel, you guys, in ancient Israel, those would be grounds for divorce.

823
00:45:30.520 --> 00:45:33.800
Now that doesn't mean that anybody thought that divorce was a good idea.

824
00:45:33.800 --> 00:45:37.800
It doesn't mean that anybody thought that God was okay with divorce.

825
00:45:37.800 --> 00:45:43.300
But this was a way of preventing worse injustices and suffering.

826
00:45:43.300 --> 00:45:46.800
When those vows are broken, suffering happens.

827
00:45:46.800 --> 00:45:50.120
So I just want you guys to see that this is the framework for marriage and divorce in

828
00:45:50.120 --> 00:45:51.120
ancient Israel.

829
00:45:51.920 --> 00:45:53.280
Now I want us to skip forward.

830
00:45:53.280 --> 00:45:56.760
We went to 1700 BC, we went to 1400 BC.

831
00:45:56.760 --> 00:46:03.440
Now we're going to skip forward to 5 BC, just about the time of the birth of Jesus.

832
00:46:03.440 --> 00:46:05.840
Guys ready?

833
00:46:05.840 --> 00:46:10.320
So right around the time of the birth of Jesus, there was a new development, you guys, and

834
00:46:10.320 --> 00:46:11.480
you know what it was?

835
00:46:11.480 --> 00:46:13.960
We started worshiping our pastors.

836
00:46:13.960 --> 00:46:15.960
It's like, oh, I follow Stephen Furtick.

837
00:46:15.960 --> 00:46:18.480
Oh no, no, I follow Joel Osteen.

838
00:46:18.480 --> 00:46:20.120
I like what Joel Osteen teaches.

839
00:46:20.120 --> 00:46:22.680
Oh no, but I like what Stephen Furtick teaches.

840
00:46:22.680 --> 00:46:23.680
All right.

841
00:46:23.680 --> 00:46:26.360
That happened in ancient Israel around 5 BC.

842
00:46:26.360 --> 00:46:33.200
Two of the most famous rabbis, and they lived just decades before Jesus, and they're the

843
00:46:33.200 --> 00:46:36.560
ones that dominated the rabbinic teachings back then.

844
00:46:36.560 --> 00:46:41.840
Their names are Hillel and Shammai.

845
00:46:41.840 --> 00:46:46.480
Those were the Joel Osteen's and the Stephen Furtick's, or you just put in whatever pastor

846
00:46:46.480 --> 00:46:47.480
you guys like.

847
00:46:47.480 --> 00:46:49.520
You like Bill Johnson, whatever.

848
00:46:49.520 --> 00:46:56.680
These were the two rockstar rabbis of the times, and because they were the big dogs

849
00:46:56.680 --> 00:47:02.960
among the rabbi's schools, you know, the religious schools, the synagogues were founded around

850
00:47:02.960 --> 00:47:05.000
them to interpret the law.

851
00:47:05.000 --> 00:47:10.120
So basically you were either a Hillel guy or you were a Shammai guy if you were a rabbi.

852
00:47:10.120 --> 00:47:14.440
You either follow the teachings of Shammai or you follow the teachings of Hillel.

853
00:47:14.440 --> 00:47:17.280
Does everyone get it?

854
00:47:18.040 --> 00:47:20.320
Okay.

855
00:47:20.320 --> 00:47:27.680
So Hillel looked at the law in Deuteronomy 24.1 where Moses says a man can divorce his

856
00:47:27.680 --> 00:47:35.440
wife for a cause of sexual immorality, and he reflected on that text, and he said Moses

857
00:47:35.440 --> 00:47:42.200
could have said that a man could divorce his wife for sexual morality, but he included

858
00:47:42.200 --> 00:47:46.980
the phrase for the cause of sexual immorality.

859
00:47:47.680 --> 00:47:49.060
So why did Moses include that phrase?

860
00:47:49.060 --> 00:47:53.420
This is what Hillel reflected on, because, you know, I'm just going to tell you, rabbis

861
00:47:53.420 --> 00:47:56.820
love to sit around and hear themselves talk, all right?

862
00:47:56.820 --> 00:48:02.140
They loved words, they're word guys, and they believe that no word was random or redundant.

863
00:48:02.140 --> 00:48:10.020
So Hillel reasoned and decided that the word, that this word, cause, in that writing of

864
00:48:10.020 --> 00:48:20.580
Moses, that word cause must refer to another cause, not just sexual immorality.

865
00:48:20.580 --> 00:48:28.140
So since it was the word cause, Hillel concluded that it must mean any cause.

866
00:48:28.140 --> 00:48:29.140
That's what he decided.

867
00:48:29.140 --> 00:48:32.540
He's like, oh, you know, what Moses really meant was this.

868
00:48:32.540 --> 00:48:39.980
I know he said this, but what he meant was any cause, any cause at all.

869
00:48:40.940 --> 00:48:44.020
So in other words, Hillel said that Deuteronomy 24 meant that a man could divorce his wife

870
00:48:44.020 --> 00:48:51.420
for two reasons, sexual immorality and any other thing he wanted.

871
00:48:51.420 --> 00:48:54.740
You guys, seriously.

872
00:48:54.740 --> 00:48:59.180
Now Hillel was a man and the rabbis in his school were men.

873
00:48:59.180 --> 00:49:01.220
So that works for them, right?

874
00:49:01.220 --> 00:49:09.060
So they decided that this any cause divorce would be available to only one gender, men,

875
00:49:09.060 --> 00:49:13.060
husbands, any cause.

876
00:49:13.060 --> 00:49:19.620
Hillel said that cover just about any fault you could conceive of, right?

877
00:49:19.620 --> 00:49:23.180
And so rabbis would list different faults they believed a husband could divorce his

878
00:49:23.180 --> 00:49:26.780
wife for under this any cause provision of divorce.

879
00:49:26.780 --> 00:49:30.780
And they listed things like if a wife burnt the food, he could divorce her.

880
00:49:31.340 --> 00:49:34.540
If she walked around with her hair unbound, he could divorce her.

881
00:49:34.540 --> 00:49:38.620
If he considered her improper in any way, shape or form, she smelled bad.

882
00:49:38.620 --> 00:49:40.220
He didn't like having sex with her.

883
00:49:40.220 --> 00:49:41.380
He could divorce her.

884
00:49:41.380 --> 00:49:46.260
If she argued in a voice loud enough for the neighbors to hear, he could divorce her.

885
00:49:46.260 --> 00:49:47.580
All right.

886
00:49:47.580 --> 00:49:52.740
If she wanted to watch a chick flick, he could divorce her.

887
00:49:52.740 --> 00:49:55.540
Anything you guys, any reason at all.

888
00:49:55.540 --> 00:49:59.980
And I'm sure that you guys kind of are catching on that if he saw someone better than he wanted,

889
00:50:00.000 --> 00:50:05.840
than her, he could divorce her. Any cause means just what you think it means. It means any cause.

890
00:50:06.960 --> 00:50:14.320
So there is one drawback to the any cause divorce that Hillel was saying that, uh, Deuteronomy 24

891
00:50:14.320 --> 00:50:22.400
meant, and that was, it was expensive. You guys. Okay. Because if the husband could prove now,

892
00:50:22.400 --> 00:50:26.880
if the husband could approve that his wife committed adultery in court, then he could get

893
00:50:26.880 --> 00:50:35.280
the adultery divorce. But if he wanted the, any cause divorce, he had to give back the,

894
00:50:35.280 --> 00:50:42.080
the inheritance that he got at the wedding for the wife. Okay. It was called the, um, the Keteba.

895
00:50:44.800 --> 00:50:53.600
I think it's pronounced Keteba, Keteba, K E T U B A H Keteba. So if he was just getting the

896
00:50:53.600 --> 00:50:59.920
regular old, the regular old, any cause divorce, he had to give that back. And so that made it

897
00:50:59.920 --> 00:51:05.440
more expensive, right? So Hillel was saying, there's a new divorce option available. It's

898
00:51:05.440 --> 00:51:10.640
never been before available in the history of Israel. It's the, any cause divorce available

899
00:51:10.640 --> 00:51:16.480
to any husband, not to wives, only to husbands. Very important that you guys understand that.

900
00:51:16.480 --> 00:51:20.720
So as you can imagine, it became the most popular form of divorce in Israel. Do you know how many

901
00:51:20.720 --> 00:51:24.320
men just decided to go ahead and divorce their wives? It's kind of like the seventies in America,

902
00:51:24.320 --> 00:51:30.160
you guys divorce became, uh, no contest divorce. I don't know if you guys know this, but before the

903
00:51:30.160 --> 00:51:35.680
seventies, you had to prove you had to prove stuff in court. You you're the judge could decide

904
00:51:35.680 --> 00:51:39.360
whether or not you could get divorced. You couldn't just get divorced. If you wanted to,

905
00:51:39.360 --> 00:51:43.200
you had to prove that that person was unfaithful. They were committing adultery that they've done

906
00:51:43.200 --> 00:51:48.000
something else heinous to you that would cause a judge to side with you and allow you and grant

907
00:51:48.000 --> 00:51:53.600
you a divorce. But in the seventies, basically we got no cause divorce. Didn't we? We got fast

908
00:51:53.600 --> 00:51:57.680
divorce. We got microwave divorces. And then what did people do? Everyone started divorcing each

909
00:51:57.680 --> 00:52:02.640
other. And that is what happened in ancient Israel. Men started leaving their wives and

910
00:52:02.640 --> 00:52:09.200
divorcing them for the any cause divorce, because now it's super easy. There is a case of an any

911
00:52:09.200 --> 00:52:13.760
cause divorce, or at least one that was being considered in the Bible to kind of give you an

912
00:52:13.760 --> 00:52:18.400
example. Do you guys remember the story in the new Testament where Joseph finds out that Mary is

913
00:52:18.400 --> 00:52:25.360
pregnant and he doesn't, he doesn't know is by the Holy spirit yet. Remember that story, Matthew

914
00:52:25.360 --> 00:52:33.760
one 19, it says, because Joseph did not want to expose her to public disgrace. He had in mind to

915
00:52:33.760 --> 00:52:40.240
divorce Mary quietly. You guys, the word quietly is not just a vague adjective. It's a technical

916
00:52:40.240 --> 00:52:45.840
term. What Joseph decided was he would not take Mary to court and prove that she was guilty of

917
00:52:45.840 --> 00:52:50.080
adultery. And he could, because she was pregnant y'all. And once again, he didn't know it was by

918
00:52:50.080 --> 00:52:55.440
Holy spirit yet. So it'd be very easy for him to take her to court and get a divorce based on

919
00:52:56.080 --> 00:53:00.960
sexual immorality. But he didn't want to do that because he, this is how good of a man, this man

920
00:53:00.960 --> 00:53:05.520
was. And that would have led him off the hook. You guys, he wouldn't have had to pay that.

921
00:53:06.080 --> 00:53:12.800
Back, but he would rather pay the Ketubah than embarrass her publicly. So he decided he was

922
00:53:12.800 --> 00:53:16.960
going to put her away quietly. Meaning he was just going to get in any cause divorce,

923
00:53:16.960 --> 00:53:22.640
no proof of adultery and no scandal. Look at how good of a man Joseph was. You guys, wasn't he good?

924
00:53:23.520 --> 00:53:30.000
Come on, let's hear it for Joseph. Let's hear it for the boy. Come on. All right. I saw someone

925
00:53:30.000 --> 00:53:33.680
give the boy hand. That was perfect. All right. Cause that's the next verse of that song.

926
00:53:34.640 --> 00:53:38.160
So this means that he was going to have to swallow the financial cost. He was going to

927
00:53:38.160 --> 00:53:43.040
have to support the child. That's exactly the situation that is referred to in the story of

928
00:53:43.040 --> 00:53:48.240
Mary and Joseph. This was the innovation of Hillel. He was able to get an any cause divorce.

929
00:53:48.240 --> 00:53:55.920
Now let's go on and talk about the other rock star, the rockstar rabbi, Shamai. Shamai disagreed

930
00:53:55.920 --> 00:54:03.120
about what Deuteronomy 24 said. He wasn't for the any cause divorce. He said that Deuteronomy 24 one

931
00:54:03.280 --> 00:54:10.560
refers only to divorce being allowed for sexual immorality. Of course, Shamai would have agreed

932
00:54:10.560 --> 00:54:16.320
that divorce could also happen on the basis of Exodus 21. Can't, you can't separate those two.

933
00:54:16.320 --> 00:54:22.560
You guys, the vow for provision was broken. The vow for love was broken. So what he was saying

934
00:54:22.560 --> 00:54:28.480
is that divorce can only happen when adultery has been committed on faithfulness. The vow for

935
00:54:28.480 --> 00:54:34.480
provision is broken or the vow for love is broken. Those are the only reasons that you can divorce

936
00:54:34.480 --> 00:54:39.760
your spouse. And, and obviously he's not just speaking to men only, but to women as well,

937
00:54:39.760 --> 00:54:46.640
where Hillel was saying men could do this. Shamai is saying men and women can only get

938
00:54:46.640 --> 00:54:53.680
divorced for these three reasons. So he's, he, he said that an any cause divorce is wrong,

939
00:54:53.680 --> 00:54:58.960
that it's a bad interpretation, that it's not correct. So in Jesus's day, you guys,

940
00:55:00.000 --> 00:55:02.240
So let's fast forward to Jesus.

941
00:55:02.240 --> 00:55:04.880
Let's fast forward to the Sermon on the Mount,

942
00:55:04.880 --> 00:55:07.760
all the things where Jesus is asked by who?

943
00:55:07.760 --> 00:55:09.840
By the Pharisees, by the religious folks,

944
00:55:09.840 --> 00:55:11.160
his opinion on things.

945
00:55:11.160 --> 00:55:14.400
Remember, because Jesus was supposed to be a rabbi.

946
00:55:14.400 --> 00:55:17.320
And all the rabbis either followed Hillel's teachings

947
00:55:17.320 --> 00:55:18.920
or Shammai's teachings.

948
00:55:18.920 --> 00:55:20.640
So basically they're asking Jesus,

949
00:55:20.640 --> 00:55:23.840
are you a Hillel guy or are you a Shammai guy?

950
00:55:24.800 --> 00:55:28.080
Rabbi, which teachings are you following?

951
00:55:29.080 --> 00:55:31.520
So this was a big debate, you guys,

952
00:55:31.520 --> 00:55:33.840
Deuteronomy 24, Exodus 21,

953
00:55:33.840 --> 00:55:35.800
between the rabbis that followed Hillel

954
00:55:35.800 --> 00:55:37.800
and the rabbis who followed Shammai.

955
00:55:37.800 --> 00:55:40.360
And everybody wanted to know exactly

956
00:55:40.360 --> 00:55:43.120
where every rabbi stood on this subject.

957
00:55:43.120 --> 00:55:44.880
It's like politicians.

958
00:55:44.880 --> 00:55:46.760
Everybody wants to know where they stand on abortion.

959
00:55:46.760 --> 00:55:48.200
Everyone wants to know where they stand

960
00:55:48.200 --> 00:55:51.480
on capital punishment, right?

961
00:55:51.480 --> 00:55:53.520
So this was the debate of Jesus's time.

962
00:55:53.520 --> 00:55:57.720
Where do you stand on Deuteronomy 24 and Exodus 21?

963
00:55:58.520 --> 00:56:00.840
So that brings us back to Matthew 19, three.

964
00:56:00.840 --> 00:56:02.440
Let's read this now.

965
00:56:02.440 --> 00:56:04.120
You guys, let's read the scripture now

966
00:56:04.120 --> 00:56:06.160
in the light of what we just learned.

967
00:56:07.720 --> 00:56:11.360
Some Pharisees, who are the Pharisees?

968
00:56:11.360 --> 00:56:15.200
They're the religious guys of the day, right?

969
00:56:15.200 --> 00:56:19.200
It says they came to Jesus to test him and trap him.

970
00:56:20.640 --> 00:56:25.640
They asked him, is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife

971
00:56:25.760 --> 00:56:28.040
for any cause?

972
00:56:30.120 --> 00:56:32.040
They're trying to find out.

973
00:56:32.040 --> 00:56:33.240
Are you a Hillel guy?

974
00:56:33.240 --> 00:56:34.600
Are you a Shammai guy?

975
00:56:35.680 --> 00:56:37.200
Now they're not asking him,

976
00:56:37.200 --> 00:56:40.280
rabbi, is divorce always against the law?

977
00:56:41.200 --> 00:56:44.400
Because you guys, that was never debated.

978
00:56:44.400 --> 00:56:46.320
That was not part of the debate.

979
00:56:46.320 --> 00:56:48.520
Divorce was part of Moses's law.

980
00:56:48.520 --> 00:56:50.520
No rabbi would have ever asked,

981
00:56:50.520 --> 00:56:53.560
is it lawful for us to follow Moses's law?

982
00:56:53.560 --> 00:56:55.000
It was in the law.

983
00:56:55.000 --> 00:56:59.200
They're asking Jesus, how do you interpret Deuteronomy 21?

984
00:56:59.200 --> 00:57:03.000
Do you agree with Hillel or do you agree with Shammai?

985
00:57:03.000 --> 00:57:06.440
And they're not even interested in Jesus's answer.

986
00:57:06.440 --> 00:57:07.360
You know why?

987
00:57:07.360 --> 00:57:10.240
Because it says that they came to test or trap him.

988
00:57:10.240 --> 00:57:11.760
Now I wanna give you a little background here

989
00:57:11.760 --> 00:57:13.920
that might help you with this.

990
00:57:13.920 --> 00:57:16.800
In the time when they're asking this question,

991
00:57:16.800 --> 00:57:20.120
the man that was in charge, his name was Herod.

992
00:57:20.120 --> 00:57:24.040
The ruler of the day during this timeframe is Herod.

993
00:57:24.040 --> 00:57:26.840
And Herod had been married to his first wife,

994
00:57:26.840 --> 00:57:28.720
but while he was married to his first wife,

995
00:57:28.720 --> 00:57:32.800
he fell in love with another woman, Herodias.

996
00:57:32.800 --> 00:57:36.800
Unfortunately, Herodias was married to his brother.

997
00:57:38.600 --> 00:57:39.560
Scandal.

998
00:57:42.520 --> 00:57:44.280
So guess what Herod did?

999
00:57:44.280 --> 00:57:46.400
He divorced his first wife

1000
00:57:46.400 --> 00:57:49.200
and he got a no cause divorce, you guys.

1001
00:57:49.200 --> 00:57:51.000
He divorced his first wife

1002
00:57:51.000 --> 00:57:54.280
and he talked Herodias into divorcing his brother

1003
00:57:54.280 --> 00:57:56.240
so that he can marry her.

1004
00:57:56.240 --> 00:57:58.720
That must make Christmas really awkward, y'all.

1005
00:57:58.720 --> 00:57:59.600
I don't know.

1006
00:57:59.600 --> 00:58:01.840
Very awkward holidays for this family.

1007
00:58:02.720 --> 00:58:05.080
You guys, if you're not putting two and two together,

1008
00:58:05.080 --> 00:58:07.560
this is what John the Baptist lost his head over.

1009
00:58:08.800 --> 00:58:10.880
John the Baptist was beheaded.

1010
00:58:10.880 --> 00:58:13.680
He was beheaded because he called Herod out.

1011
00:58:14.520 --> 00:58:17.240
He said, it's not lawful for you to have Herodias

1012
00:58:17.240 --> 00:58:19.440
as your wife because you got

1013
00:58:19.440 --> 00:58:21.680
an any cause divorce to get her.

1014
00:58:21.680 --> 00:58:22.840
That shows you right there

1015
00:58:22.840 --> 00:58:25.520
that John the Baptist was a Shammai guy, wasn't he?

1016
00:58:27.240 --> 00:58:28.560
Wasn't he?

1017
00:58:28.560 --> 00:58:29.480
Yes.

1018
00:58:29.480 --> 00:58:31.040
And that's Mark 6, 18.

1019
00:58:31.040 --> 00:58:32.880
If you guys wanna see the little speech

1020
00:58:32.880 --> 00:58:35.360
where John the Baptist calls him out.

1021
00:58:35.360 --> 00:58:37.280
And we already know that he put John in prison.

1022
00:58:37.280 --> 00:58:41.600
He was so ticked off that John called him out like that,

1023
00:58:41.600 --> 00:58:45.200
that he put John in prison and he took his head off.

1024
00:58:45.200 --> 00:58:47.400
He beheaded him.

1025
00:58:47.400 --> 00:58:48.240
Okay.

1026
00:58:48.240 --> 00:58:50.920
So you guys, the Pharisees are trying to trick

1027
00:58:50.920 --> 00:58:53.680
and trap Jesus because they already know

1028
00:58:53.680 --> 00:58:58.240
that Herod did the no cause divorce.

1029
00:58:58.240 --> 00:59:01.760
And if they can trick Jesus into saying he's a Shammai guy,

1030
00:59:01.760 --> 00:59:03.360
they have charges against him

1031
00:59:03.360 --> 00:59:05.240
that they can bring before Herod

1032
00:59:05.240 --> 00:59:07.360
and Jesus can lose his head too.

1033
00:59:08.360 --> 00:59:09.360
You guys see that?

1034
00:59:10.280 --> 00:59:12.680
That's what they're trying to do here.

1035
00:59:12.680 --> 00:59:14.160
So that's a very loaded question

1036
00:59:14.160 --> 00:59:16.480
and that's why they pose it to Jesus.

1037
00:59:16.480 --> 00:59:20.000
So Jesus answers, cause Jesus ain't afraid.

1038
00:59:20.000 --> 00:59:21.240
He's not afraid.

1039
00:59:21.240 --> 00:59:23.800
He's gonna say exactly, he knows what they're up to.

1040
00:59:23.800 --> 00:59:24.880
He knows their hearts.

1041
00:59:24.880 --> 00:59:27.720
Remember, Jesus always knew people's hearts.

1042
00:59:27.720 --> 00:59:29.400
And so what does Jesus do?

1043
00:59:29.400 --> 00:59:32.520
He takes them all the way back to the first book

1044
00:59:32.520 --> 00:59:35.560
that Moses wrote, Genesis.

1045
00:59:36.600 --> 00:59:39.360
So this is Matthew 19, verses four and five.

1046
00:59:39.360 --> 00:59:41.920
Jesus answered them and said,

1047
00:59:41.920 --> 00:59:43.600
have you not read Genesis?

1048
00:59:44.040 --> 00:59:47.920
You guys, I just love Jesus.

1049
00:59:47.920 --> 00:59:50.000
He is the goat.

1050
00:59:50.000 --> 00:59:53.120
He is the OG.

1051
00:59:53.120 --> 00:59:55.280
He is.

1052
00:59:55.280 --> 00:59:56.880
If you guys don't think he's spicy,

1053
00:59:56.880 --> 00:59:59.600
then you just got it all wrong, right?

1054
00:59:59.600 --> 01:00:00.440
Cause he's.

1055
01:00:00.000 --> 01:00:01.840
talking to the religious leaders of the day.

1056
01:00:01.840 --> 01:00:04.500
And he's like, did you not read Genesis?

1057
01:00:05.880 --> 01:00:09.000
Have you not read in Genesis that he who created them

1058
01:00:09.000 --> 01:00:12.440
from the beginning made them male and female and said,

1059
01:00:12.440 --> 01:00:16.200
therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother

1060
01:00:16.200 --> 01:00:18.360
and hold fast to his wife.

1061
01:00:18.360 --> 01:00:21.200
And the two shall become one flesh.

1062
01:00:21.200 --> 01:00:24.640
You guys, you got to see what Jesus just did right there.

1063
01:00:24.640 --> 01:00:27.800
The original text in Genesis, you guys only says,

1064
01:00:27.800 --> 01:00:30.480
and they shall become one flesh.

1065
01:00:30.480 --> 01:00:32.320
A man shall leave his father and mother

1066
01:00:32.320 --> 01:00:35.720
and hold fast to his wife and they shall become one flesh.

1067
01:00:35.720 --> 01:00:38.040
But Jesus added the word too.

1068
01:00:38.040 --> 01:00:40.280
And the two shall become one flesh.

1069
01:00:40.280 --> 01:00:41.760
What was he doing?

1070
01:00:41.760 --> 01:00:45.060
He was saying polygamy is not God's plan.

1071
01:00:48.960 --> 01:00:51.480
Don't you love how Jesus gets it all in you guys?

1072
01:00:51.480 --> 01:00:52.960
He gets it all in there.

1073
01:00:53.960 --> 01:00:57.180
And the two, not the three, not the four,

1074
01:00:57.180 --> 01:00:59.500
not your harem over there, brother.

1075
01:00:59.500 --> 01:01:03.220
The two, one and two, male and female,

1076
01:01:03.220 --> 01:01:06.000
the two shall become one flesh.

1077
01:01:08.840 --> 01:01:13.040
All right, and so he's saying God's purpose for marriage

1078
01:01:13.040 --> 01:01:15.440
is a husband and a wife making a permanent

1079
01:01:15.440 --> 01:01:17.560
intimate commitment.

1080
01:01:17.560 --> 01:01:20.480
And so the Pharisees ask, this is Matthew 19,

1081
01:01:20.480 --> 01:01:24.960
verses seven and nine, why then did Moses command

1082
01:01:24.960 --> 01:01:27.880
that the man give his wife a certificate of divorce

1083
01:01:27.880 --> 01:01:29.100
and send her away?

1084
01:01:30.240 --> 01:01:31.960
And Jesus said to them,

1085
01:01:31.960 --> 01:01:35.080
because of the hardness of your heart,

1086
01:01:35.080 --> 01:01:38.320
Moses allowed you to divorce your wives,

1087
01:01:38.320 --> 01:01:41.360
but from the beginning, it was not so.

1088
01:01:41.360 --> 01:01:44.960
And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife,

1089
01:01:44.960 --> 01:01:49.200
except for sexual immorality, once again,

1090
01:01:49.200 --> 01:01:52.240
that's Exodus 21, that includes the three vows,

1091
01:01:52.240 --> 01:01:56.780
unfaithfulness, abandonment, and lack of love,

1092
01:01:58.200 --> 01:02:01.200
and marries another, commits adultery.

1093
01:02:01.200 --> 01:02:03.360
Jesus is saying that if you divorce someone

1094
01:02:03.360 --> 01:02:06.800
with one of these any cause divorces and remarry,

1095
01:02:06.800 --> 01:02:08.780
you are committing adultery.

1096
01:02:10.040 --> 01:02:12.120
Why? Because it was an invalid divorce.

1097
01:02:12.120 --> 01:02:15.800
There was no biblical reason in Deuteronomy 24,

1098
01:02:15.800 --> 01:02:18.300
and that's the passage that they're debating here,

1099
01:02:19.360 --> 01:02:21.920
that you can be divorced in besides the breaking

1100
01:02:21.920 --> 01:02:24.480
of those three promises in the covenant.

1101
01:02:26.880 --> 01:02:29.800
You guys, Jesus was saying, I'm a Shammai guy.

1102
01:02:33.520 --> 01:02:36.280
Now, every single one of you guys that have been divorced

1103
01:02:36.280 --> 01:02:39.120
have been divorced because the breaking of your covenant.

1104
01:02:41.420 --> 01:02:43.260
Every single one of you,

1105
01:02:43.260 --> 01:02:45.640
whether it was physical unfaithfulness,

1106
01:02:45.640 --> 01:02:49.480
whether it was the abandoning of supporting you emotionally,

1107
01:02:49.480 --> 01:02:52.720
physically, in material possessions,

1108
01:02:52.720 --> 01:02:55.540
whether it was some sort of verbal abuse,

1109
01:02:55.540 --> 01:02:57.480
whether it was the withdrawal of love,

1110
01:02:57.480 --> 01:03:00.760
every single one of y'all is divorced

1111
01:03:00.760 --> 01:03:02.600
righteously under the law.

1112
01:03:05.240 --> 01:03:06.880
Every one of you.

1113
01:03:06.880 --> 01:03:08.140
All right, moving on.

1114
01:03:10.200 --> 01:03:11.880
All right, so let's summarize some points

1115
01:03:11.880 --> 01:03:14.720
from the passage in Matthew 19, okay?

1116
01:03:14.760 --> 01:03:17.560
Divorce was never God's original intention.

1117
01:03:17.560 --> 01:03:19.820
Jesus said it wasn't from the very beginning,

1118
01:03:19.820 --> 01:03:22.320
but it's because of the hardness of hearts.

1119
01:03:22.320 --> 01:03:24.800
God allows divorce because people's hearts

1120
01:03:24.800 --> 01:03:29.800
can become so hard and so unrepentant and stubbornly sinful

1121
01:03:30.360 --> 01:03:33.080
that a divorce would be a more loving option

1122
01:03:33.080 --> 01:03:34.280
than to live like that.

1123
01:03:35.940 --> 01:03:38.440
And just because a man or woman has given their spouse

1124
01:03:38.440 --> 01:03:41.600
a certificate of divorce and done everything legally right,

1125
01:03:41.600 --> 01:03:43.840
it does not mean that he or she has done right

1126
01:03:43.840 --> 01:03:46.840
or has been a good person with respect to the relationship.

1127
01:03:48.040 --> 01:03:49.880
A person is forced into adultery

1128
01:03:49.880 --> 01:03:52.400
because the any cause divorces were not valid

1129
01:03:52.400 --> 01:03:54.040
from God's perspective.

1130
01:03:54.040 --> 01:03:58.240
It was a groundless divorce, okay?

1131
01:04:01.160 --> 01:04:03.860
Now, a lot of, like I said, a lot of churches

1132
01:04:03.860 --> 01:04:05.360
that don't understand these scriptures,

1133
01:04:05.360 --> 01:04:07.840
they don't understand the history of these scriptures

1134
01:04:07.840 --> 01:04:12.240
or even what's being talked about

1135
01:04:12.240 --> 01:04:14.400
in these conversations between Jesus

1136
01:04:14.400 --> 01:04:17.360
and the religious leaders of the day.

1137
01:04:17.360 --> 01:04:21.440
Because of that, a lot of people have been told

1138
01:04:21.440 --> 01:04:23.520
a lot of things that are not true.

1139
01:04:23.520 --> 01:04:25.600
And it's really hurt people's feelings

1140
01:04:25.600 --> 01:04:28.320
because people are like, well, if my husband beats me

1141
01:04:28.320 --> 01:04:30.480
and beats our children, is addicted to drugs,

1142
01:04:30.480 --> 01:04:33.480
but he's never gone out and had sex with someone else,

1143
01:04:33.480 --> 01:04:34.800
I have to stay married to him.

1144
01:04:34.800 --> 01:04:37.240
And for you guys, same thing.

1145
01:04:37.240 --> 01:04:40.480
If my wife goes out and she spends all the money

1146
01:04:40.480 --> 01:04:42.240
and she gets us into terrible debt

1147
01:04:42.240 --> 01:04:45.380
and she goes and she stays with her mom

1148
01:04:45.380 --> 01:04:48.720
and she abandons me and doesn't talk to me anymore

1149
01:04:48.720 --> 01:04:50.640
and or she's verbally, physically,

1150
01:04:50.640 --> 01:04:52.120
mentally, emotionally abusive,

1151
01:04:52.120 --> 01:04:53.900
but she's not having sex with another man,

1152
01:04:53.900 --> 01:04:55.000
I have to stay married.

1153
01:04:56.120 --> 01:04:57.800
And the church, the modern church

1154
01:04:57.800 --> 01:05:00.160
and a lot of denominations would tell you yes.

1155
01:05:00.000 --> 01:05:06.000
But it's not true. It isn't. It's not true at all.

1156
01:05:06.000 --> 01:05:13.000
So, remember when Jesus is talking about.

1157
01:05:13.000 --> 01:05:28.000
When Jesus is talking about the being divorced for that reason of sexual immorality. He is talking about all of Exodus 21, all the vows of Exodus 21 provision and love faithfulness, every single one of them.

1158
01:05:28.000 --> 01:05:30.000
That's really important.

1159
01:05:30.000 --> 01:05:34.000
All right. So,

1160
01:05:34.000 --> 01:05:42.000
I want to see what else we're already at 810. I want to see what else I want to.

1161
01:05:42.000 --> 01:05:52.000
All right, I think that I'm going to really quickly just go over Paul's teaching on the same scripture. So let's move forward to 55 ad.

1162
01:05:52.000 --> 01:05:57.000
Now you know Apostle Paul.

1163
01:05:57.000 --> 01:06:01.000
He's writing to the church at Corinth you guys.

1164
01:06:01.000 --> 01:06:09.000
And you guys need to know what was happening during the time of his epistle to Corinth, a lot of people don't know what was happening in Corinth.

1165
01:06:09.000 --> 01:06:20.000
During the time, people don't know what was happening in the Roman world. During 55 ad. So first of all you need to know that marriage as an institution in the Roman world was not in great shape.

1166
01:06:21.000 --> 01:06:29.000
During 55 ad. The Emperor at the time Caesar Augustus had seen that Roman men were avoiding marriage.

1167
01:06:29.000 --> 01:06:32.000
Roman men were not getting married you guys.

1168
01:06:32.000 --> 01:06:42.000
So they could engage you know in multiple relationships, sexual debauchery sexual relationships affairs all the things they were not getting married.

1169
01:06:42.000 --> 01:06:55.000
And so he wanted them to get married because under Roman law, you couldn't have a legal son unless it was born within a marriage. And so there was no legal sons being born in the Roman households.

1170
01:06:55.000 --> 01:07:06.000
And so Caesar actually established a law in 18 BC, making it compulsory for Roman citizens to get married.

1171
01:07:06.000 --> 01:07:12.000
And I want to tell you guys, if you got divorced, you had to get remarried within 18 months.

1172
01:07:12.000 --> 01:07:20.000
It was the law. If you got divorced, you had to get remarried within 18 months was the law that Caesar put into place back then.

1173
01:07:20.000 --> 01:07:25.000
And why is that, because it was easy to get a divorce in Rome.

1174
01:07:25.000 --> 01:07:33.000
They had the no cause divorce, or any cause I'm sorry divorce. In fact, it was called divorce by separation.

1175
01:07:33.000 --> 01:07:43.000
It goes way back to that early early code from 1700 BC, you could just divorce someone by walking out the door.

1176
01:07:43.000 --> 01:07:46.000
And so that world.

1177
01:07:46.000 --> 01:08:02.000
It faced all of the problems of that. Okay, the early church that was there in Corinth, they faced all of that, you know all of that law of the land that was around them wide scale sexual immorality compulsory marriage laws where you have to get remarried within

1178
01:08:02.000 --> 01:08:11.000
18 months, and divorce was as easy as walking out the door so you guys can see that marriage was a disaster in the world that the that the early church in Corinth was living in.

1179
01:08:11.000 --> 01:08:14.000
Do you guys see that.

1180
01:08:14.000 --> 01:08:26.000
Okay, so Paul writes to that little church, that little church plant in the middle of this big bad gross nasty culture that it's living in. And he says don't live like that.

1181
01:08:26.000 --> 01:08:31.000
Don't break your marriage vows. Don't sink down to the Roman bar.

1182
01:08:31.000 --> 01:08:40.000
Live up to God's standard okay, even if you're married to an unbeliever, and you've become a Christian, you know, seek to honor your promises to that person.

1183
01:08:40.000 --> 01:08:45.000
Guys, this is this is first Corinthians seven.

1184
01:08:45.000 --> 01:09:00.000
This is not an accident. This is the same scriptures where he talks about staying single, and the gift of singleness, and he wishes that people had the gift of singleness and you can see why now right because marriage was just a hot disaster.

1185
01:09:00.000 --> 01:09:10.000
It was a train wreck, where they were living in the culture that they were part of, because you guys remember these people started following Jesus but they were from the Corinth culture they lived in Corinth.

1186
01:09:10.000 --> 01:09:23.000
This church plant was in Corinth these people were raised up in this culture under Caesar Augustus under all this crazy stuff, all the sexual immorality and walk out the door divorces and all the crazy stuff.

1187
01:09:23.000 --> 01:09:31.000
Mark is saying Corinth was also a sailor stop known for incredible sexual debauchery. There you go. There you have it.

1188
01:09:32.000 --> 01:09:38.000
So, he goes on to teach you guys but even if you're married to an unbeliever and the unbeliever. This is important.

1189
01:09:38.000 --> 01:09:48.000
First Corinthians 715 this kind of shows you that that any cause divorce thing that was happening. But if you're married to an unbeliever and the unbeliever leaves.

1190
01:09:48.000 --> 01:09:52.000
Remember in the Roman world that was considered a divorce.

1191
01:09:52.000 --> 01:09:55.000
It says let them do so.

1192
01:09:55.000 --> 01:10:00.000
A believing man or woman is not bound in such circumstances, you guys please I want you to

1193
01:10:00.000 --> 01:10:03.480
to see the teaching here. Even though Paul was definitely a

1194
01:10:03.480 --> 01:10:06.960
Shema guy, meaning that you could only get divorced for the

1195
01:10:06.960 --> 01:10:11.480
three reasons of unfaithfulness, abandonment, and withdrawal of

1196
01:10:11.480 --> 01:10:17.840
love. Okay. He was saying, if, if your if your unbeliever,

1197
01:10:18.440 --> 01:10:22.120
spouse decides to divorce you for any cause, meaning they just

1198
01:10:22.120 --> 01:10:24.960
walk out the door for just any cause, you haven't been

1199
01:10:24.960 --> 01:10:26.960
unfaithful, you haven't withdrawn your support or your

1200
01:10:26.960 --> 01:10:30.840
love, go ahead and let them go. Because even though under the

1201
01:10:30.840 --> 01:10:33.200
old law, that would mean that you are now going to commit

1202
01:10:33.200 --> 01:10:35.840
adultery, because any cause divorce is not lawful. Remember,

1203
01:10:35.840 --> 01:10:39.280
guys, it's not someone has to break that covenant. It says

1204
01:10:39.280 --> 01:10:43.240
that you're not held to that, because you're not bound in

1205
01:10:43.240 --> 01:10:46.560
those circumstances, because that person's not a believer.

1206
01:10:46.720 --> 01:10:51.240
They're not under the kingdom of Jesus, right? Do you guys see

1207
01:10:51.240 --> 01:10:55.920
that they're not under the kingdom law? In other words,

1208
01:11:13.480 --> 01:11:16.840
Jackie is not here right now. And it made me she's back

1209
01:11:17.120 --> 01:11:22.520
and I'm back. Can't keep me down. I don't know. I don't

1210
01:11:22.520 --> 01:11:26.920
know. Lord help us. Okay. So in other words, if your spouse

1211
01:11:26.920 --> 01:11:29.440
abandons you, then the marriage is over and you're free to

1212
01:11:29.440 --> 01:11:33.040
remarry in the Lord. Paul adds that a little later to a

1213
01:11:33.040 --> 01:11:36.800
believer. He said, Okay, look, if you just became a believer,

1214
01:11:36.880 --> 01:11:39.320
and your unbelieving spouse divorces you by walking out the

1215
01:11:39.320 --> 01:11:41.800
door, they're doing the whole any cause divorce things, you

1216
01:11:41.800 --> 01:11:45.280
are free to remarry. Go ahead and let them go. But this time,

1217
01:11:45.360 --> 01:11:49.040
make sure you marry a believer. Make sure you marry a believer,

1218
01:11:49.040 --> 01:11:54.680
you're free to remarry in the Lord. So Paul, you guys, it's

1219
01:11:54.680 --> 01:11:57.920
really important that you understand that this is for all

1220
01:11:57.920 --> 01:12:05.360
you guys as well. Do not marry an unbeliever. For all of you

1221
01:12:05.360 --> 01:12:09.080
that asked me, do they have to be a believer? Do not marry an

1222
01:12:09.080 --> 01:12:14.080
unbeliever. Do not marry an unbeliever. Okay, don't date an

1223
01:12:14.080 --> 01:12:19.880
unbeliever. Don't court an unbeliever. Don't marry an

1224
01:12:19.880 --> 01:12:29.120
unbeliever. All right. So let's go through the divorce, the

1225
01:12:29.120 --> 01:12:33.520
justifiable reasons for divorce, again, adultery, unfaithfulness,

1226
01:12:34.440 --> 01:12:43.600
abandonment, and abuse. And that is abandonment is abandonment,

1227
01:12:44.120 --> 01:12:46.160
all different forms of abandonment, someone can

1228
01:12:46.160 --> 01:12:48.640
financially abandon you, they can mentally abandon you, they

1229
01:12:48.640 --> 01:12:52.600
can emotionally abandon you. Abuse is an extreme form of

1230
01:12:52.600 --> 01:12:58.960
breaking the vow to provide or to love, you know. And remember,

1231
01:12:59.800 --> 01:13:04.440
divorce is okay, because divorce is not okay. But the decree of

1232
01:13:04.440 --> 01:13:09.000
divorce that was given to, to God's people was because of one

1233
01:13:09.000 --> 01:13:13.680
reason. And that is the hardness of hearts. Remember, the

1234
01:13:13.680 --> 01:13:17.000
religious leaders asked Jesus, why did Moses command us to get

1235
01:13:17.000 --> 01:13:20.240
divorced? And Jesus said, Moses did not command you to get

1236
01:13:20.240 --> 01:13:22.880
divorced, he permitted you to get divorced because of your own

1237
01:13:22.880 --> 01:13:26.920
hard hearts. So the idea here is that even if a marriage vow is

1238
01:13:26.920 --> 01:13:31.720
broken, if the spouse is repentant, if they're soft

1239
01:13:31.720 --> 01:13:34.440
hearted, if they're willing to reconcile, then seek to rebuild

1240
01:13:34.440 --> 01:13:38.960
the marriage, you guys. Right? Even if even if someone breaks

1241
01:13:38.960 --> 01:13:44.160
one of those vows, one of those promises, but they're not hard

1242
01:13:44.160 --> 01:13:46.720
hearted, they're repentant, they're soft hearted, they're

1243
01:13:46.720 --> 01:13:49.880
willing to reconcile, then we seek to rebuild the marriage.

1244
01:13:50.360 --> 01:13:54.880
But if that spouse refuses to repent, if they're stubborn, if

1245
01:13:54.880 --> 01:13:57.920
they're hard hearted, if they're defiant, if they reject

1246
01:13:57.920 --> 01:14:01.680
reconciliation, if they reject intimacy, if they reject God,

1247
01:14:02.160 --> 01:14:07.120
they reject his ways, they reject reconciliation. And

1248
01:14:07.120 --> 01:14:09.240
there's no there's nothing else you can do. Like I said, it's

1249
01:14:09.240 --> 01:14:12.080
not a divorce. It's a rescue mission. Guys, I had a student

1250
01:14:12.080 --> 01:14:15.200
once, you know, she found out in the first year of marriage that

1251
01:14:15.200 --> 01:14:19.120
her husband fathered a child with someone else. She was

1252
01:14:19.120 --> 01:14:23.760
willing to forgive him. She was willing to co parent with that

1253
01:14:23.760 --> 01:14:29.160
other woman, that child, she was willing to, to reconcile the

1254
01:14:29.160 --> 01:14:33.800
marriage. He didn't want to he had a hard heart. He didn't want

1255
01:14:33.800 --> 01:14:35.840
to he didn't want to be with that woman he impregnated

1256
01:14:35.840 --> 01:14:37.480
either. He didn't want to be with anyone. He wanted to go

1257
01:14:37.480 --> 01:14:41.760
back to his philandering ways and go sit at bars on barstools

1258
01:14:41.760 --> 01:14:44.520
and flirt with women and have sex with whoever he wanted. He

1259
01:14:44.520 --> 01:14:48.480
was unrepentant, his heart was hardened. And so she had no

1260
01:14:48.480 --> 01:14:52.320
choice but to divorce him. He didn't want he didn't want to be

1261
01:14:52.320 --> 01:14:57.440
forgiven. Sometimes people don't want to be forgiven. Do

1262
01:14:57.440 --> 01:14:58.280
you guys get that?

1263
01:15:00.000 --> 01:15:10.000
Okay.

1264
01:15:10.000 --> 01:15:14.000
So hard hearts make divorce necessary a lot you guys.

1265
01:15:14.000 --> 01:15:26.000
They do. And it's necessary to go ahead and divorce when when one or both people's hearts are hard because it, it avoids greater harm, because when someone's heart is hard, they're capable of anything.

1266
01:15:26.000 --> 01:15:29.000
And that's why God made it permissible for us.

1267
01:15:29.000 --> 01:15:32.000
Kingdom hearts are not hard you guys.

1268
01:15:32.000 --> 01:15:34.000
Kingdom hearts are not hard.

1269
01:15:34.000 --> 01:15:36.000
Our hearts are soft.

1270
01:15:36.000 --> 01:15:46.000
They are. And so it's really important that we understand that as we head into these marriages that we want to keep those vows of the covenant. We want to make sure that we have a soft heart.

1271
01:15:46.000 --> 01:15:50.000
We want to continue to soften our hearts towards each other.

1272
01:15:50.000 --> 01:15:53.000
It's not about divorce being okay.

1273
01:15:53.000 --> 01:16:02.000
It's about how can I use the resources of the kingdom of God to resolve difficulties with my spouse to make our union rich and good before God.

1274
01:16:02.000 --> 01:16:10.000
I'm not coming on here to let you know hey don't worry about it. You know if you get into one of these bad marriages you can always get out God's okay with it.

1275
01:16:10.000 --> 01:16:13.000
No, it's not about divorce being okay.

1276
01:16:13.000 --> 01:16:24.000
God doesn't want you to live under the shame of divorce or the guilt of divorce but he also wants you to be able to fully step into the kingdom.

1277
01:16:24.000 --> 01:16:38.000
If I have a kingdom heart full of love, full of concern for the honest good of all involved in the marriage, then guess what, that's the best divorce proof I can have isn't it.

1278
01:16:38.000 --> 01:16:50.000
If after divorce, ladies and gentlemen, I'm living proof of that I've been remarried for 15 years. My marriage is not perfect but I can honestly tell you guys that we come against difficulties with each other with softened hearts.

1279
01:16:50.000 --> 01:16:54.000
We do. We talk through things we forgive each other.

1280
01:16:54.000 --> 01:17:00.000
David I've had to forgive him more than anyone I've ever had to forgive in my entire life and vice versa.

1281
01:17:00.000 --> 01:17:04.000
We've heard each other a lot. We've also helped each other a lot.

1282
01:17:05.000 --> 01:17:16.000
Because when you're when you get married, you're going to hurt that other person because you know there's a lot of trauma that's going to come to the surface, and the more hard work you can do before the marriage, the better, but you are going to hurt them.

1283
01:17:16.000 --> 01:17:27.000
It's ridiculous and unrealistic for us to think we're not going to hurt each other we are going to hurt each other whether overtly or covertly, but the bottom line is, is that you're going to have to have a soft heart with each other.

1284
01:17:27.000 --> 01:17:30.000
If you want to make marriage work.

1285
01:17:31.000 --> 01:17:35.000
And you guys I want you to know that God got a divorce.

1286
01:17:35.000 --> 01:17:42.000
I know a lot of people are like what are you talking about. Yeah, so I want to tell you about one more divorce in the Bible.

1287
01:17:42.000 --> 01:17:52.000
Before we end tonight, and that's God's divorce. So the most striking picture of what the prophets are describing

1288
01:17:52.000 --> 01:17:54.000
with God's relationship to Israel.

1289
01:17:54.000 --> 01:17:57.000
Okay. Is that it was a marriage.

1290
01:17:57.000 --> 01:18:07.000
The most striking picture of what the prophets described God's relationship to Israel, as was a marriage. God made a covenant with Israel, because he loved her.

1291
01:18:07.000 --> 01:18:22.000
And what did he what did he vow, the same thing that we vow when we get married you guys he vowed to be faithful to her to provide for her to care for her to love her to be intimate with her, and she was to love God in return wasn't she.

1292
01:18:23.000 --> 01:18:44.000
But God's people Israel were unfaithful to him. And if you go through the Old Testament. If you read through it, you're going to see that that Israel was very adulterous very unfaithful took other lovers other gods, so to speak, so often as a form of adultery, if you will, of unfaithfulness.

1293
01:18:44.000 --> 01:18:52.000
This leads to one of the most amazing and heart wrenching statements in all of scripture you guys, Jeremiah three eight.

1294
01:18:52.000 --> 01:18:55.000
I gave faithless Israel.

1295
01:18:55.000 --> 01:19:04.000
I gave that adulterous, I gave her her certificate of divorce, and I sent her away because of all her adulteries.

1296
01:19:04.000 --> 01:19:07.000
Wow.

1297
01:19:07.000 --> 01:19:10.000
Do you understand what God is saying.

1298
01:19:11.000 --> 01:19:21.000
God said I went through a divorce, God went through a divorce for all of you that have been divorced. I want you to really take that to heart. God knows what it's like to be divorced.

1299
01:19:21.000 --> 01:19:27.000
And that's why in the book of Malachi God says I hate divorce.

1300
01:19:27.000 --> 01:19:33.000
You guys that's why he says it is because he experienced it. He's been through it.

1301
01:19:34.000 --> 01:19:43.000
If you don't hear the anguish if you don't hear the anguish in God's heart in Jeremiah three eight, then you don't know God's heart yet.

1302
01:19:43.000 --> 01:20:01.000
God says, I've been through all the humiliation of being rejected. I know all about the pain of betrayal. I know all about the anguish of broken vows from hard hearted people, some of you guys need to get ahold of this.

1303
01:20:00.000 --> 01:20:08.720
it. I know what that feels like. So God invented the first

1304
01:20:08.720 --> 01:20:12.480
divorce recovery program you guys at a place called Calvary.

1305
01:20:18.400 --> 01:20:22.760
And the price for the course was one blood stained cross. And

1306
01:20:22.760 --> 01:20:26.160
Jesus paid the price for all of us for you for me, for our

1307
01:20:26.160 --> 01:20:29.660
hard hearted spouses that were no longer married to for all of

1308
01:20:29.660 --> 01:20:33.140
us. God was the first one to go through it. Maybe you were the

1309
01:20:33.140 --> 01:20:37.060
hard hearted spouse, he paid, Jesus paid the price for all of

1310
01:20:37.060 --> 01:20:44.020
us. And in Hosea 219, you get to hear about that. In that day

1311
01:20:44.020 --> 01:20:47.740
declares the Lord, I will betroth you to me forever.

1312
01:20:48.100 --> 01:20:52.300
Forever, I will betroth you in righteousness and justice in

1313
01:20:52.300 --> 01:20:56.860
love and in compassion. You guys, God did divorce Israel.

1314
01:20:56.860 --> 01:21:01.820
But guess what? He has engaged all of us now even us wild

1315
01:21:01.820 --> 01:21:06.420
branches that are grafted into the vine. As the we are the

1316
01:21:06.420 --> 01:21:10.900
bride of Christ, aren't we? We're engaged again. We're the

1317
01:21:10.900 --> 01:21:14.260
bride of Christ that happened after the finished work of

1318
01:21:14.260 --> 01:21:18.260
Calvary. So there's love and compassion at the cross for all

1319
01:21:18.260 --> 01:21:22.420
of us. All of us hard hearted vow breakers. All of us have

1320
01:21:22.420 --> 01:21:26.660
fallen short of the glory of God. All of us when it comes to

1321
01:21:26.660 --> 01:21:29.180
this divorce that God had, we're all on the wrong side of

1322
01:21:29.180 --> 01:21:31.820
it. You guys, we've all been unfaithful to God. And this is

1323
01:21:31.820 --> 01:21:34.740
why any church that divides people up into superior

1324
01:21:34.740 --> 01:21:38.580
non-divorced people, first class Christians, and inferior beat up

1325
01:21:38.580 --> 01:21:43.060
divorce second class Christians is theologically errant. And

1326
01:21:43.060 --> 01:21:46.460
it's spiritually destructive because we're all divorcees. We

1327
01:21:46.460 --> 01:21:49.860
all are. We've all been unfaithful. We all need the

1328
01:21:49.860 --> 01:21:54.420
cross. All of us. All of us need that reconciliation plan.

1329
01:21:57.180 --> 01:22:01.260
All of them do. All of us do. And our future marriage is

1330
01:22:01.260 --> 01:22:03.860
needed as well. The only way that you're going to have a

1331
01:22:03.860 --> 01:22:07.420
successful finished future marriage is if the cross is in

1332
01:22:07.420 --> 01:22:10.780
the middle of it. Amen. Amen. All right, you guys, that's all

1333
01:22:10.780 --> 01:22:13.460
I have for you tonight. I know it was a lot. I hope you enjoyed

1334
01:22:13.460 --> 01:22:15.980
it. Once again, I'm very thankful to Jim Baker for

1335
01:22:15.980 --> 01:22:18.900
teaching me this. I know that he got some of his teachings from

1336
01:22:18.900 --> 01:22:22.980
others as well that studied out all of this. He break law over

1337
01:22:22.980 --> 01:22:26.620
the years, and I'm thankful that we get to stand upon the

1338
01:22:26.620 --> 01:22:29.100
work of all of those teachers that have come before. Father,

1339
01:22:29.100 --> 01:22:32.300
thank you. Thank you for people who are willing to take the time

1340
01:22:32.300 --> 01:22:35.180
to rightly divide the word of God. Thank you for people who

1341
01:22:35.180 --> 01:22:38.580
are willing to take the time to make sure that people are not

1342
01:22:38.580 --> 01:22:41.980
believing things that are not true about your word, Lord. We

1343
01:22:41.980 --> 01:22:44.740
thank you, God, that we can live in the finished work of the

1344
01:22:44.740 --> 01:22:47.620
cross. We can live in the kingdom. We don't have to live

1345
01:22:47.620 --> 01:22:51.900
underneath the pressure and the burden of shame and guilt and

1346
01:22:51.900 --> 01:22:56.140
sin any longer, that we can step into everything that you

1347
01:22:56.140 --> 01:22:59.340
have for us, all of your mercy, all of your grace, and that

1348
01:22:59.340 --> 01:23:02.140
grace is not just a saving power, but it also is an

1349
01:23:02.140 --> 01:23:05.780
enabling power for us to have amazing relationships with each

1350
01:23:05.780 --> 01:23:09.700
other and with our future spouses, to have softened

1351
01:23:09.700 --> 01:23:13.380
hearts, kingdom hearts that forgive, kingdom hearts that

1352
01:23:13.380 --> 01:23:16.620
have grace, kingdom hearts that have mercy, kingdom hearts that

1353
01:23:16.620 --> 01:23:20.460
see not just what people do, but why they do it. Father, I thank

1354
01:23:20.500 --> 01:23:23.380
you for a kingdom heart. I thank you that you're releasing

1355
01:23:23.380 --> 01:23:25.940
kingdom hearts. Your word says that you would take our hearts

1356
01:23:25.940 --> 01:23:29.340
of stone and that you would make them hearts of flesh again. I

1357
01:23:29.340 --> 01:23:32.300
declare that over each and every one of my brothers and sisters

1358
01:23:32.300 --> 01:23:35.780
and myself, that we would not have hardened hearts, that we

1359
01:23:35.780 --> 01:23:41.820
would have soft, supple hearts, God, that you could mold and

1360
01:23:41.820 --> 01:23:45.660
shape after your own heart, Lord, that we become more and

1361
01:23:45.660 --> 01:23:49.100
more and more and more like Jesus, that marriage and family

1362
01:23:49.100 --> 01:23:51.980
is your maturity process for us, that marriage and family is

1363
01:23:51.980 --> 01:23:56.420
your sanctification process for us. Let it be so in Jesus name.

1364
01:23:56.660 --> 01:24:02.700
Amen. So does anyone feel free, more free that's been divorced?

1365
01:24:02.700 --> 01:24:07.020
Does anyone feel like you're finally beginning to understand

1366
01:24:07.060 --> 01:24:09.860
some of these scriptures in the Bible? Hopefully I taught it

1367
01:24:09.860 --> 01:24:15.140
well, I tried my best. I know it's a lot to digest. And I

1368
01:24:15.140 --> 01:24:22.340
really, really want you guys to be free. Free like me, baby. Oh,

1369
01:24:22.340 --> 01:24:29.620
I'm so glad, Rachel. Thanks so much, you guys. Okay, so I have

1370
01:24:29.620 --> 01:24:36.660
time for just a couple questions if we want to go ahead. I can

1371
01:24:36.660 --> 01:24:39.100
ask, I can answer like two or three questions if we want to go

1372
01:24:39.100 --> 01:24:41.540
ahead, but I have to jump off here soon.

1373
01:24:41.700 --> 01:24:44.260
I sent you a couple of questions, but I'll ask them

1374
01:24:44.260 --> 01:24:47.860
here if you like. Yeah, I'm looking to see as well. Go

1375
01:24:47.860 --> 01:24:51.740
ahead. Someone asked, does the non victim also have the right

1376
01:24:51.740 --> 01:24:57.220
to remarry to the person they adulterated with? Are you guys

1377
01:24:57.220 --> 01:24:59.980
that's going to cause a lot of logistical problems in

1378
01:25:00.000 --> 01:25:04.960
family. And I know a lot of people, even people in this group where their spouse that cheated

1379
01:25:04.960 --> 01:25:10.080
actually remarried that person that cheated, they actually maybe even impregnated the person

1380
01:25:10.080 --> 01:25:14.560
they were cheating with. And then they divorced you and they married that person. And now they

1381
01:25:14.560 --> 01:25:20.080
have a child together. And now the children that you had together now have to go over to that house

1382
01:25:20.080 --> 01:25:25.120
and be with that other parents and those children that are born, you know, from that adulterous

1383
01:25:25.120 --> 01:25:29.760
affair. And you guys, it gets very complicated. And that's where grace has to come in. We have

1384
01:25:29.760 --> 01:25:35.360
to have a lot of grace, only the supernatural power of God will help you to forgive such a

1385
01:25:35.360 --> 01:25:42.640
thing and be able to live continuously in a situation like that. Right? Right, guys, for sure.

1386
01:25:43.360 --> 01:25:48.480
And so, but I believe that God can do that for you. I really do. I believe that he can do that

1387
01:25:48.480 --> 01:25:55.120
for all of us. And so the short answer to that is don't have a hardened heart. Yes, that person is

1388
01:25:55.120 --> 01:25:59.600
free to remarry. They can marry the person they cheated with. God can redeem all things. The

1389
01:25:59.600 --> 01:26:04.320
finished work of the cross can redeem all things. But are you going to be able to live in harmony

1390
01:26:04.320 --> 01:26:11.280
and in peace? That's up to you. Remember, the Bible says live, live in peace with all men

1391
01:26:12.720 --> 01:26:18.240
as it's in your control to do so. Meaning control your responses. You can't control

1392
01:26:18.240 --> 01:26:25.120
anyone else. You can only control yourself. And let's be Holy Spirit controlled. All right,

1393
01:26:25.120 --> 01:26:28.720
so that answers that question, hopefully. Once the certificate of divorce is given,

1394
01:26:28.720 --> 01:26:35.520
you guys, both people are free to remarry. You can remarry. What do we got? Any other questions?

1395
01:26:36.480 --> 01:26:41.360
Yes, I'm getting ready to send you one if I can find my chat. Sorry.

1396
01:26:50.400 --> 01:26:56.560
You see that one? It says, I'm slightly confused. Why did Jesus say sexual immorality if that

1397
01:26:56.560 --> 01:27:02.000
included all three of the things, lack of love, faithfulness, and providing?

1398
01:27:02.960 --> 01:27:08.240
So first of all, you have to understand because that is, first of all, Jesus is just answering

1399
01:27:08.240 --> 01:27:13.840
the Pharisees question. And so it's like, it's the same as asking, do you believe,

1400
01:27:13.840 --> 01:27:19.840
do you believe that it's okay for a 16-year-old to drink? Now, I didn't say to drink alcohol. I

1401
01:27:19.840 --> 01:27:23.520
just said, hey, do you, Christy, do you believe that it's okay for a 16-year-old to drink?

1402
01:27:24.880 --> 01:27:28.240
You do, you know, back, they used to have near beer, used to be able to drink at 18. Hey,

1403
01:27:28.240 --> 01:27:31.920
do you think it's okay for an 18? Do you think that you think it's right for an 18-year-old to

1404
01:27:31.920 --> 01:27:36.000
drink? I mean, they are an adult, you know, do you think it's all right for an 18-year-old to drink?

1405
01:27:36.000 --> 01:27:39.920
Now, Christy, because of the culture that she's been raised in, she's already going to,

1406
01:27:40.480 --> 01:27:43.280
she's already going to surmise that I'm talking about alcohol,

1407
01:27:45.920 --> 01:27:50.800
right? I don't have to say drink alcohol because she already knows because of our culture that

1408
01:27:50.800 --> 01:27:55.440
that has to be what I'm asking. Same thing with the Pharisees question and Jesus's answer.

1409
01:27:56.000 --> 01:28:03.440
Any first world Christians, any first world people, not just Christians, but any first world

1410
01:28:03.440 --> 01:28:10.320
Jews, okay, would know what the Pharisees were asking. They were asking, what's your stance on

1411
01:28:10.320 --> 01:28:20.000
Exodus 21? What's your stance on Exodus 21? And remember, sexual immorality in Exodus 21 had

1412
01:28:20.880 --> 01:28:28.880
already been decided and translated into abandonment, unfaithfulness, and abuse.

1413
01:28:31.520 --> 01:28:35.040
So Jesus didn't have to re-spell that out. It was already,

1414
01:28:35.600 --> 01:28:41.120
it's already surmised, it's already inferred, if you will. Does that make sense for everyone?

1415
01:28:50.000 --> 01:29:00.000
Does anyone else have any other questions? I see another one. Someone said,

1416
01:29:02.080 --> 01:29:06.720
it's been amazing and biblical, but I'm curious about one thing. I hear that it is acceptable

1417
01:29:06.720 --> 01:29:12.480
for a variety of good reasons for someone to divorce their spouse, but what about those of

1418
01:29:12.480 --> 01:29:18.960
us who were divorced properly because they were adulterous or abandoned their spouse,

1419
01:29:18.960 --> 01:29:24.160
or one of the other two items, can they remarry without committing adultery?

1420
01:29:25.360 --> 01:29:26.960
I already answered that question.

1421
01:29:42.560 --> 01:29:46.160
There's another one. With marriage being a maturing and refining process,

1422
01:29:46.160 --> 01:29:51.200
if someone in their 40s has never married, does that mean they're not yet fully matured and

1423
01:29:51.200 --> 01:29:57.440
refined, or does lifeline singleness also help someone become matured and refined?

1424
01:30:00.000 --> 01:30:13.760
You guys be very, very careful in your own minds and hearts that you don't make, you know, you don't become like, you know, rigid in your thoughts and your ideas.

1425
01:30:14.120 --> 01:30:27.840
Sometimes we do that as we get older, you know, don't make hard, fast rules for something, you know, we always, we can always mature more, you know, God provides us with all kinds of opportunities to mature, not just marriage and family.

1426
01:30:28.680 --> 01:30:34.640
Okay, so don't don't don't make everything into a formula.

1427
01:30:39.520 --> 01:30:40.320
Any more questions.

1428
01:30:43.360 --> 01:30:50.080
there's one that i'm looking for, and that will do it, but this has been wonderful according to everyone, so thank you from everyone.

1429
01:30:58.840 --> 01:31:05.720
Okay, this says it's your teaching so in no way, do I want to disrespect that, but I believe in.

1430
01:31:05.920 --> 01:31:06.960
But I believe in.

1431
01:31:08.560 --> 01:31:33.280
agonize a GUNH apostrophe s and that the New Testament divorce passages are wrongly translating a polio a P o l u o as divorce when Apollo Leo to a Hebrew Jewish audience only means separation, but divorce is actually the biblia apostasy and excuse me for.

1432
01:31:33.320 --> 01:31:33.720
Okay.

1433
01:31:35.960 --> 01:31:42.800
I thanks christy I see that whole thing so first of all, like I said once again not my teaching fully.

1434
01:31:43.040 --> 01:31:50.560
It is my teaching i'm teaching it i'm adding you know little bits here and there, but these teachings are some from some of the best Bible teachers.

1435
01:31:50.920 --> 01:31:59.720
And some of the best theologians and so you know you can agree to disagree, and if you don't agree with this teaching then you're free to just move on and believe whatever you want.

1436
01:32:02.760 --> 01:32:03.800
we're not here to debate it.

1437
01:32:04.800 --> 01:32:09.360
So that's the end of that alright, so what else we got.

1438
01:32:11.080 --> 01:32:12.440
that's all of it thanks.

1439
01:32:13.160 --> 01:32:22.320
All right, I appreciate you guys bless you guys, I hope some people got free tonight, I know when I was first taught.

1440
01:32:23.280 --> 01:32:37.680
All of these all the historical meanings and all of the true translations and definitions and especially the history behind the rabbis and behind this like I said very, very important subject in ancient Israel.

1441
01:32:37.960 --> 01:32:46.000
It was very, very freeing for me, and you know I knew deep deep down in my heart somewhere that God was not going to leave everyone out.

1442
01:32:46.440 --> 01:32:54.400
That got married to someone who mistreated them and that he wasn't going to hold that against us because God is a good God and he's a good daddy you guys.

1443
01:32:55.040 --> 01:33:03.120
You know, and there are so many reasons that people get divorced there's so many things that cause hardness of heart, but let's just make let's make a.

1444
01:33:05.320 --> 01:33:13.960
Not a vow but let's make a decision tonight that we are going to continually allow God to soften our hearts, so that we can be kingdom people.

1445
01:33:14.280 --> 01:33:31.000
We want to be kingdom people all right in everything that we do not just in our marriages and so let's make a decision now that we are going to allow God to continue to lead us further and further and further into his kingdom by the power of his spirit amen.

1446
01:33:32.200 --> 01:33:37.400
Amen alright everyone have an amazing night, and I will see you soon bye.