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Mark, chapter number 10, beginning in verse number 1, the Bible reads, And he arose from thence, and cometh into the coasts of Judea by the farther side of Jordan. And the people resort unto him again, and as he was wont, he taught them again. And the Pharisees came to him, and asked him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife, tempting him? And he answered and said unto them, What did Moses command you? And they said, Moses suffered to write a bill of divorcement, and to put her away. And Jesus answered and said unto them, For the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept, but from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife, and they twain shall be one flesh. So then they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. And in the house his disciples asked him again of the same matter. And he saith unto them, Whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry another, committeth adultery against her. And if a woman shall put away her husband, and be married to another, she committeth adultery. Now these are some really clear statements out of the mouth of Jesus Christ, condemning the practice that we think is completely acceptable in America, of people getting divorced, and then just marrying someone else. And it happens all the time, and it's considered normal. And even amongst Christians, the divorce rate is the same as the divorce rate out in the world. And you say, well how can that be? Well it's because most Christian churches do not teach this passage, or passages like this. And so therefore, divorce runs rampant, because this teaching has never even been heard of in many cases. I've talked to people who've been divorced multiple times, and they were Christians, and they said, well if I would have known that that's what the Bible taught, I never would have done that. But you know, my pastor condoned of it, or I never heard any kind of preaching or teaching like this, so I went ahead and did it. Another reason why the divorce rate is just as high amongst Christians as it is amongst the world, is the fact that Christians actually get married. Whereas a lot of people out in the world, they just don't get married, they just live together, and then they split up after a few years, move on to something else. But look, in verse 11 and 12, we have just a crystal clear statement here. Out of the mouth of Jesus Christ himself, he says, he sayeth unto them, whosoever shall put away his wife, and put away is another word for divorced, it says, any man shall put away his wife, and marry another, comitteth adultery against her, and if a man shall put away her husband, and be married to another, she comitteth adultery. Now go to Luke, if you would, chapter 16, Luke chapter number 16. This teaching is found two times in Matthew, one time in Mark, one time in Luke, and it's also found in Romans chapter 7 and 1 Corinthians chapter 7, but it says in Luke chapter 16, and verse number 18, it says, whosoever put away his wife, and marryeth another, comitteth adultery, and whosoever marryeth her that is put away from her husband, comitteth adultery. Now if you look at all these passages, the one in Matthew 5, the one in Matthew 19, the one in Mark 10, and the one in Luke 16, they're all worded a little bit differently, just to make sure that you understand how many different directions this goes. It's saying, you know, if you marry a woman who's divorced, you're committing adultery. If you divorce your wife, you're committing, if a woman divorced her husband, you know, she's committing adultery. He states it every possible which way, just to make sure that there's no misunderstanding about it. A lot of people will teach that there are a lot of exceptions to this, but did you see any exceptions in Mark chapter 10? Do you see any exceptions here in Luke chapter 16 verse 18? I don't see any. Now when you read it in the book of Matthew, both in chapter 5 and in chapter 19, the exception that's given is an exception that no one uses today. It's actually an exception that has to do with the Old Testament mosaic law. Go if you would to Matthew 5 and let's look at that. Matthew chapter 5, and by the way, this verse is changed in all the modern Bible versions to say something completely different to destroy this teaching. Now you say, Pastor Anderson, why is this exception found in Matthew and it's not found in Mark or Luke? Well that's simply because the book of Matthew is geared toward the Hebrews as the audience. Just like the book of Hebrews is toward the Hebrews. Now a lot of people will make too big of a deal about that because, you know, we know the book of Ephesians was written to the Ephesians, right? So what are you doing reading it? That's only for the Ephesians. And people will have this crazy idea that, oh, you know, if Matthew's written unto the Jews, you know, you don't learn from it or read it or follow it, no. The Bible is written, the whole New Testament is written to all of us. The whole New Testament is for all of us. Just because something is geared toward a Roman audience like the book of Romans or geared toward a Hebrew audience like the book of Hebrews or just because a book is geared toward the seven churches in Asia in the book of Revelation, it doesn't matter. It's the same God, the same Jesus, the same teaching. But I believe that the reason why God gives this exception in Matthew is because Matthew is the book of the Bible, or I'm sorry, the Gospel that quotes the Old Testament the most. You know, when you're looking at Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, Matthew, because it's written toward that Hebrew audience, is constantly quoting the Old Testament more than any of the other Gospels. Because it's written toward an audience that's familiar with the Old Testament law. So I think that's why he chooses to give that exception in the book of Matthew, because he's pointing you back to the law, that the reader of Matthew is more likely to know and be familiar with than the reader of Mark and the reader of Luke. Now look at Matthew chapter 5, where we get the same teaching here on divorce. It says in verse number 31, it hath been said, whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement. But I say unto you, that whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, so that's that exception there, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery, and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced, comitteth adultery. Flip over to Matthew 19. Matthew chapter number 19 will see the same thing. The Pharisees, verse 3, also came unto him, tempting him, and saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause? And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, and said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and they twain shall be one flesh. Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. But therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. Verse 7, They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away? He saith unto them, Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, suffered you to put away your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, that's exact wording of Matthew 5, except for fornication, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, commiteth adultery, and whoso marrieth her which is put away, doth commit adultery. You say, what is this talking about except it be for fornication? Because if that's the only exception that Jesus gives, he says, look, if it's not for fornication, and he doesn't even give that in Mark and Luke's account, but in the Matthew account he says, look, except for fornication, it's adultery if you get divorced and remarried. But what we have to do to understand this, and this is kind of what I was saying on Sunday night, when things are referred to in the New Testament or quoted in the New Testament, it's always good to go back and look it up in the Old Testament. So let's go back to the Old Testament and look up the Mosaic laws teaching of divorce. Because he says, hey, Moses suffered you to divorce your wives because of the hardness of your hearts, but from the beginning it was not. So let's go to Deuteronomy, and we're going to look at two things in Deuteronomy that will both give us the same teaching, Deuteronomy 22 and Deuteronomy 24. And we'll get this except fornication. But first of all, let's talk about the word fornication. What is fornication? Fornication is basically when people have the physical relationship that should be kept within marriage, they have that before they're married. So this is somebody who's going to bed with their girlfriend, or going to bed with their boyfriend. That is fornication. Now there's another sin in the Bible called adultery, thou shalt not commit adultery. The difference with adultery is that adultery is when you're married and you have that relationship with someone other than your spouse. So if I'm married and I go and am physically with a woman that is not my wife, if I lie carnally with her as the Bible says, then I've committed adultery. But if I'm a single man and I go out and lie with a woman that's not my wife, then I've committed fornication. Do you see the difference there? Now what the new Bibles do is they change this to instead of saying, except it be for fornication, they change it to except it be for adultery. That's not what the Bible says. You say, oh well, you know, you're just comparing two English versions. No, even if you look it up in the Greek, guess what, it says the same thing as the King James, and the NIV is wrong, and the NIV is corrupting the text. Because the word there is the same word for fornication that's used everywhere. It's fornication, folks, not adultery. And that's another bad thing about the NIV because it really changes the meaning. Now first of all, let me just say this. If it said adultery, the verse wouldn't even make sense. Because of the fact that in the Old Testament, what was the punishment for adultery? Death. So how do you divorce someone who's dead? Think about that. Remember, he's pointing them back to Moses and saying, look, well Moses commanded divorce, or Moses suffered you or allowed you to divorce your wives because of the hardness of your heart. And if we go back to the Mosaic law, the penalty on adultery was death. So how do you divorce someone when they're dead? That doesn't even make sense. But if we actually look at what the Mosaic law teaches, it actually fits together perfectly with what Jesus said, which makes sense because Jesus, just a few verses before he taught that in Matthew 5, said, think not that I'm come to destroy the law or the prophets. I came not to destroy but to fulfill. And he said, whosoever shall break one of these least commandments and shall teach men so, the same shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven. So it wouldn't make sense for Jesus just to teach something completely different than what Moses taught. Actually he's reiterating what Moses taught and strengthening it and really tightening it up for people to understand that, you know, hey, don't divorce your wife. And if you do, for any reason other than fornication, not adultery, fornication, then you're committing adultery. You say, well Pastor Anderson, how could a person divorce their wife because of fornication? You know, they're married. So it would be adultery. It wouldn't be fornication. Let's just change that. That's what the editors of the NIV say. We don't understand it. We're dumb. So let's just change it. No, because actually if you go back and read it, it is about fornication that took place before they're married, OK? Because let's read it. Don't take my word for it. But it says in verse 13 of chapter 22 of Deuteronomy, it says, if a man take a wife and go in under her and hate her and give occasions of speech against her and bring up an evil name upon her, I took this woman and when I came to her, I found her not a maid. Now maid is a word there for virgin. That's an old word that was used for virgin. So what he's saying here is that a person marries a wife who was put forth unto them as being a virgin. This isn't somebody who knew that his wife wasn't a virgin and that he was marrying someone who wasn't a virgin. This is a man marrying a woman who he thinks is a virgin, who he's been told by the father of the bride that his daughter is a virgin. And he is very angry and upset and even hateful of the fact that he marries her and finds that she's not a maid. Now let's keep reading. It says he bring up an evil name upon her and say, I took this woman and when I came to her, meaning when he went to consummate the marriage, he found her not to be a maid. Then shall the father of the damsel and her mother take and bring forth the tokens of the damsel's virginity unto the elders of the city of the gate and the damsel's father shall say unto the elders, I gave my daughter unto this man to wife and he hated her. And lo, he hath given occasions of speech against her saying, I found not thy daughter a maid and yet these are the tokens of my daughter's virginity and they shall spread the cloth before the elders of the city and the elders of the city shall take that man and chastise him and they shall immerse him in a hundred shekels of silver and give them unto the father of the damsel because he hath brought up an evil name upon a virgin of Israel and she shall be his wife, watch this, he may not put her away all his days. Then look what it says after that, but if this thing be true and the tokens of virginity be not found for the damsel, then they shall bring out the damsel to the door of her father's house and the men of her city shall stone her with stones that she die because she hath wrought folly in Israel to play the whore in her father's house, so shalt thou put away evil from among you. So in the Mosaic law, God does not put the death penalty on people just committing fornication, but he does place the death penalty if a woman is basically living in her father's house and dad is basically vouching for her virginity to a man and she's being given in marriage to a man to marry her and it turns out that she has secretly gone out and committed fornication when she was supposed to be keeping herself under that man and that's what she's basically saying and that's what her dad believes. So because of that, it says here that she would be stoned with stone. You say, well this is all just really harsh. Yeah, I know you. You probably think God's really mean. Maybe you should go find some other religion that has a cotton candy rainbow unicorn God up in heaven, but you know what? The God of the Bible is the true God. He's the God of the universe and the Lord Jesus Christ is the only savior and you know what? These biblical truths ought to shape our thinking and we ought to think to ourselves, hey, you know what? Fornication is bad. Adultery is bad. Somebody lying and saying that they're virgin and their dad think, I mean think about it. Parents raise their kids and they raise their daughters and take care of them and that they would deceive their father and deceive their mother and deceive their future husband and do this. It's sin. It's wrong. It's wicked and so that's what we see in this passage and whether you agree with it or not, you're wrong. The Bible is right. So get over it. So when we read this passage, it helps us to understand how a guy could basically divorce his wife or put away his wife as a result of fornication. But look at chapter 24 and remember, we just read that in chapter 22. This is only a few verses later in chapter 24 verse 1. Watch this. When a man hath taken a wife and married her and it come to pass that she find no favor in his eyes because he hath found some uncleanness in her, then let him write her a bill of divorcement and give it in her hand and send her out of his house and when she is departed out of his house, she may go and be another man's wife. And if the latter husband hate her and write her a bill of divorcement and giveth it in her hand and sendeth her out of his house or if the latter husband die which took her to be his wife, her former husband which sent her away may not take her again to be his wife after that she is defiled for that is abomination before the Lord and thou shalt not cause the land to sin which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance. So what does this say? It's saying a man marries a wife and she finds no favor in his eyes because he finds some uncleanness in her. It doesn't say, well, she finds no favor in his eyes because he just didn't like her or because, you know, she's just not a good cook or because they're just not compatible or not getting along. No, it says because he finds uncleanness in her and if you study the word uncleanness in the Bible it is synonymous with fornication. The proof is that in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 he says, for this is the will of God that she, even your sanctification, that she abstain from fornication that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor, not in the lust of concupiscence even as the Gentiles which know not God that no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter because the Lord is the avenger of all such even as we have forewarned you and testified. But listen to this, for God hath not called us to uncleanness but unto holiness. So he says abstain from fornication because God has not called us unto uncleanness but unto holiness. And uncleanness is listed in lists of sins, you know, right there with fornication, adultery, lasciviousness. You know, uncleanness doesn't just mean, you know, it turned out she didn't take a shower and here it is, it's the wedding night, that's it, we're divorced, you know, you haven't showered. No, when it says he finds uncleanness he finds evidence of the fact that she is unclean, you know, as a woman. And this could obviously refer to a lot of things, you know, I'm not going to go into great detail but anyway, you know, it could be STDs obviously or it could just be the fact that she was not a virgin. But either way, both passages, Deuteronomy 22 and Deuteronomy 24 have to do with a man basically finding out immediately upon marrying a woman and going to consummate the marriage, hey, this is not what I expected or this is not what I was bargaining for. Now flip over to Matthew chapter 1. And remember, when you're reading Matthew 5, you've already read Matthew 1, haven't you? Because you read chapter 1, then you read chapter 5, then you read chapter 19, okay? So watch how God, and God always gives us all the answers in the Bible because when you read in Matthew 5, you're scratching your head and saying, what's that mean except to be for fornication? Well, if you read Deuteronomy, you'd know. What's that mean except to be for fornication? Well if you read chapter 1, you'll see an example of this because in chapter 1, it says in verse 18, now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise. And as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, talking about before they consummated the marriage, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Then Joseph, her husband, being a just man and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away, privily meaning secretly. So Joseph is marrying a woman, whose name is Mary, and he expects her to be a virgin and all of a sudden she's found to be pregnant. I mean, imagine you're a man and you're basically marrying a woman and it turns out you find out she's pregnant. And you know you have not been with her. You know that you have not come together with her. And she's pregnant. Obviously, what are you thinking? She has committed what? Fornication. Fornication. She has committed fornication because it's found out that she's already pregnant with another man's child. So he doesn't want to make her a public example. But he is minded to put her away, privily. You say, well, why isn't she stoned? Well, because they're under Roman rule. They're not governing themselves. At this time, the Jews have been taken over by the Roman Empire and they were not allowed to put anyone to death. That's why the Romans had to execute Jesus, because the Jews said, well, we're not allowed to put anyone to death. So she wasn't going to be put to death, and he didn't want to just humiliate her and make her a public example. So basically, Joseph decided to just put her away, privily. He's going to divorce her. But the angel comes unto him and explains to him she is a virgin, but that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. So do you see how this is a perfect example of what we see in Deuteronomy of a guy who marries the woman, has not yet consummated the marriage, and finds out she's with child. Without fornication, he's going to divorce her, per Deuteronomy 22 and Deuteronomy 24. That's what Jesus is saying. So basically, none of this is saying, oh, you're married for years and then you divorce your spouse. Is that what any of this teaches? No. This is a thing of immediately divorcing your wife, immediately, because of the fact that, hey, this isn't what I expected. And by the way, we have that even in the legal system in America today. It's known as an annulment. Have you ever heard of people getting a marriage annulled instead of getting a divorce? An annulment is as if it had never happened, as opposed to a divorce. Now they give annulments for all kinds of other reasons and things like that, but usually when you're getting an annulment, you have to convince the judge to give you an annulment by saying that the person who you married put themself forth as something other than what they were. You find out something about that person that's really shocking, and it's not a lack of virginity in today's world, but what it is is it's just you find out something where you didn't realize who you're marrying, and so you get it annulled at the very beginning. And that's a throwback to this biblical teaching. So what I'm saying is that the Bible does not teach exceptions. For those of you who are married and you've already consummated the marriage and everything was fine and everything was dandy on that wedding night, you know what? Guess what? You're done. You're married. Till death do you part. And there's no exception to that. And if you divorce your spouse, just realize you can't get married to someone else or you're committing adultery. That's what the Bible teaches. And not only that, but I don't know if you caught it when we read it in Deuteronomy 24. I know we went kind of fast. There's a lot in Mark 10, and I'm spending a lot of time on this, but we need to spend time on it because the world we live in, it's so important. I don't mind spending time on this because it's an important subject. But I don't know if you caught it in Deuteronomy 24 because there is a false teaching out there that's going around that says if you're divorced and remarried, you've got to go back to the original spouse. Now that's not what the Bible says because the Bible very clearly said in Deuteronomy 24 that once people are divorced and she goes to be with someone else and marries a second she never goes back. Now here's the thing, if people are divorced and they're not yet remarried, then they should seek to reconcile that marriage. And that's a wonderful thing. You know, when people are divorced and then they can reconcile it and get back together and be remarried, that's wonderful. But here's the thing, once one of the people has already married someone else, that's no longer an option. And the Bible even says it's an abomination to go back to the original spouse after you've divorced and married someone else. You know, I've known people that are divorced and I've tried to encourage them, you know, you need to make things right, you need to make things work, you need to get back together. But once they get married to someone else, I'm not saying that because that would be wrong. That would be an abomination. So if this is your situation where you're divorced and remarried, you're supposed to stay true to the person that you're married to right now because that's a vow that you've made. See, the big sin of divorce is that you're breaking your vow because you get up and make a vow and say, for better or for worse, till death do us part. And when you break asunder while God is joined together, you're breaking that vow. Well, here's the thing, when you married the second time, you just made another vow and you can't break that vow, you know. So basically, if you're divorced and remarried, you need to just be faithful to the person that you're married to now and make that be till death do you part and not think, oh, you know, I'm going to go back. But I think the reason why this new doctrine that's been going around is popular, not because it's biblical, because Jeremiah chapter 3 makes it clear that it's not biblical. Deuteronomy 24 makes it clear that it's not biblical. But I think the reason it's popular is because a lot of times when people get divorced and remarried, a lot of times they're like, wow, my first spouse wasn't so bad. Because a lot of people who get divorced and remarried marry someone worse the second time or marry someone worse the third time or fourth or fifth or if you're Elizabeth Taylor, you know, the eighth time. So people a lot of times think, oh, I thought I had it bad the first time, you know, this one's even worse. I'll go back to that one. It's like, no. You know, you can't just twist the Bible to fit who you want to be with. No. You need to follow God's heat. First of all, you never should have got remarried in the first place because it's adultery. But if you did get remarried, you're stuck with the new person. That's who you need to stick with until death and at least not make the same mistake again of getting divorced again. Now go to Romans 7, Romans chapter 7. Now there's another false teaching out there called dispensationalism. And this dispensationalism teaches, well, Paul, this is what they say, Paul is our apostle. Have you ever heard this? You know, Peter's not our apostle. John's not our apostle. You know, Paul is our apostle. And when they say our, they mean the Gentiles, you know. Of course the Bible says in Christ there is neither Jew nor Gentile, but don't let that confuse you. But oh, you know, Paul's our apostle. And so here's what they say. All the rules that Jesus gives in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John don't apply to us. Any rules he gives when he tells us do this, don't do that, doesn't apply. Any rules that God gives in the entire Old Testament, none of them apply. Any rules he gives in Hebrews, James, 1 and 2 Peter, 1, 2, and 3 John, Jude, Revelation, none of that applies to us. The only thing that applies unto us in this dispensation, the dispensation of the church, the church age are the epistles that Paul wrote and that's it. There are a lot of people who believe that. And by the way, a lot of these dispensationalist preachers that people think, oh, yeah, listen to that guy. That's what they really believe, buddy. And sometimes you might not even know that that's what they believe. That's what they teach. You know, and it's funny how, you know, everybody knows that some of them teach that. But then guys like Sam Gipp, it seems like they come in under the radar. And Sam Gipp is preaching in all these fundamental Baptist churches. News flash, Sam Gipp is a hyper dispensationalist. You know, and even a church that I used to go to that would preach against this stupid dispensational garbage had Sam Gipp to come preach as a guest speaker. And I confronted the pastor, my former pastor. And I said, why do you have Sam Gipp coming as a guest preacher? He's a hyper dispensationalist. No, no, he's not. Look, Sam Gipp says there's three different gospels and Jesus preached a different gospel than Paul and Paul's our apostle and all this nonsense. Look, the Bible says all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine. Don't tell me that, oh, just throw out Hebrews, James, 1 and 2. But here's what they'll say, only the books that Paul wrote. Now I've noticed this too, that a lot, a lot of these dispensationalist preachers are divorced and remarried. A lot. In fact, a friend of mine, I don't believe that's the case with Sam Gipp, but a friend of mine, they're in this town. There are divorced and remarried Baptist pastors who are hyper dispensationalist. And the king of hyper dispensationalist preachers, Peter S. Ruckman, has been married over three times. At least three times he's been married and divorced. So he loves this doctrine of, hey, throw out what Jesus said. Throw out what Christ taught in Matthew 5 and Matthew 19 and Mark 10 and Luke 16. Just throw those rules out and let's just divorce for a lot of reasons. But look what the Bible says even in the epistle that Paul wrote, Romans 7. It says in verse 2, for the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth. But if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. So then if while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress. But if her husband be dead, she's free from that law. So that she is no adulteress, those she be married to another man. Now let me ask you something. Is that exactly what Jesus taught? Of course it is. Why would Paul be contradicting Jesus Christ on this key important teaching? No he teaches the exact same thing. And then the other thing the hyper dispensationalist will do, they don't want to talk about Romans 7, but they want to talk about 1 Corinthians 7. I don't have time to teach through the whole passage in 1 Corinthians 7, but they'll take the part that Paul said is his opinion. And he said, he literally says, I'm saying this, not the Lord. Not the Lord. Now here's the thing, who believes everything that the Bible says is true? Yeah I do. Okay, so if the Bible says that it's him saying it and not the Lord, then it must not be the Lord, right? Well some people are like, well he just thought it wasn't the Lord, but it really was the Lord. If it was the Lord, then the Bible was wrong when it said it was not the Lord. But here's the thing, what Paul taught, first of all in 1 Corinthians 7, is not even different than what Jesus taught. It doesn't contradict. What Paul taught is in perfect line with what Jesus said, but I just find it ironic that the passage that they choose to twist to make it sound like it's contradicting Jesus is a passage that specifically says it's not from the Lord. It's Paul's opinion. And even then, his opinion still jives with Jesus, of course. But it's just funny that they're like, oh well, 1 Corinthians 7, and then they quote the part of 1 Corinthians 7, we got to turn that, I'm sorry, go there. Nuts to the time. Nuts to the rest of it. You know, we'll just do it next week or whatever. This needs to be taught. You know why? Because if this were taught, you say, well you're just being hard on divorced people. No I'm not. God bless you if you're divorced. You know what? It's forgiven. It's under the blood if you're saved. Move on. Forget those things that are behind, reach forth on those things that are before. You know who I'm preaching this for? The people that are not divorced. Because you know why people get divorced? Because they think that these are the options. Stay with who I'm married to or go through a divorce and marry someone different. They think those are the two options, but these are really the two biblical options. Stay with who I'm married to right now or be single for the rest of my life until me or my former spouse dies. Now if those were the options, stay married or be alone until my spouse dies. People would probably think twice about getting divorced, wouldn't they? But if the options are stay with who I've got or trade up for someone else, that's a whole different ballgame, my friend. And that's why people are getting divorced so much because they think that they can divorce their wife. And the Pharisees, they thought they could divorce their wife for every god. They have all kinds of exceptions and all kinds, and they're stupid Talmud that condones divorce. But Jesus Christ rebuked it and said, no, if you do that, you're an adulterer. And we would definitely look at somebody who went to be with someone else as an adulterer while they're married, but God says even if you just keep divorcing and remarrying, that's an adulterous situation as well. But look at 1 Corinthians 7. He says this in verse, and I don't want to go through the whole chapter just because of time, but let's just start in verse 10. And unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord. So this he's saying is the Lord commanding it, right? Because he says I command, but he's like, wait a minute, not I, but the Lord. Let not the wife depart from residence. So what does the Lord command wives? Don't depart from your husband. Isn't that what it says? Let me read it again. And unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, let not the wife depart from her husband. Watch this, but and if she depart, because he knows that even though he said don't depart, some of them are going to do it anyway, right? But and if she depart, let her remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband. And let not the husband put away his wife. Now look, is that a clear teaching? Is that exactly what Jesus taught? It's exactly what he taught. He said look, don't leave your husband and if you do, you either remain unmarried or you go back to your husband. Why? Because if you married someone else, you'd be committing adultery. So look, is this any different than what Jesus taught? No, it's identical to what Jesus taught. Why? Because the Lord taught. Guess what another name for Jesus is? The Lord. Okay? And he says, let not the husband put away his wife, period. Exactly what Jesus taught, exactly what Romans 7 taught, okay? But look what he says next, but to the rest speak I, not the Lord. So who's talking now? Paul, not the Lord. If any brother hath a wife that believeth not, and she be pleased to dwell with him, let him not put her away. So he's saying, if a guy is married to an unsaved woman and she is happy to be married with him, don't divorce her. So what's this teaching? Don't divorce your spouse just because they're unsaved. Even if your spouse is unsaved, stay with them, okay? Then he says, and the woman which hath a husband, verse 13, that believeth not, and if he be pleased to dwell with her, let her not leave him. For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband. Else were your children unclean, but now are they holy. But if the unbelieving depart, let him depart. A brother or sister is not under bondage in such cases, but God hath called us to peace. For what knowest thou, O wife, whether thou shalt save thy husband, or how knowest thou, O man, whether thou shalt save thy wife? So this passage right here is basically saying, look, this isn't something that the Lord commanded. Here's what the Lord commanded, don't leave your husband. Here's what the Lord commanded, don't put away your wife, and if you do, you stay unmarried or go back to them and be reconciled, make things work. But then he says, well, here's, let me just give you my thoughts, not the Lord, this isn't from the Lord, this is just what I think, and he's just saying, look, if you're saved and your spouse is unsaved, you should stay with them because of the fact that you can still raise godly kids even if just one of you is saved and one of you is godly, you can still raise godly kids. Whereas people who get divorced, they share the custody, so then part of the time the kids are just completely out of their influence and could be in a really bad environment because that other spouse was unsaved. So he's saying, if they're pleased to dwell with you, just stay with them and don't put them away. But he says, but if the unbelieving depart, let him depart, a brother or sister is not under bondage in such cases, but God has called us to peace. So what they'll do, they'll take this verse right here, which is not from the Lord, it's just Paul saying, this is what I think, he says, if the unbelieving depart, let him depart, a brother or sister is not under bondage in such cases, but God has called us to peace, and they'll just take this gigantic logical leap that, oh, verse 15 said I can get remarried to someone else and it's not adultery. Is that what it says? Is that what this verse says? Does it, hold on, let's make sure all our Bibles say the same thing. Does it say in verse 15, get divorced and marry someone else and it's fine as long as they left you and they were unsaved. Is that what it says? Does it say anything about getting remarried? Does it have the word marry in it? Does it have the word divorce in it? Does it have the word remarry in it? Does it have the word put away in it? In fact, this verse says nothing even like that, and it's a verse that Paul said is his opinion. But this is the whole basis for why Christian churches all over America just look at the statement of faith of literally hundreds, no, not hundreds, thousands of independent fundamental Baptist churches that will say we oppose divorce and remarriage except in cases of adultery, that's from the NIV, and abandonment. That's from them perverting this passage. And they put those exceptions, adultery and abandonment, neither of which are found in scripture. Okay. Now here's the thing, when you get divorced, it's always abandonment. Somebody always leaves. That's what abandonment, I mean, that's just stupid, like, well, you don't get divorced except abandonment, which is always the case. It's like, what in the world? So then people say, well, no, no, no, they have to leave you, you just can't leave them. So then it becomes a contest of who can get the other person to leave. And look, you think I'm kidding. I've known people that are like, well, you know, I just got to get him to abandon me, so just treat him like dirt, make his life a living hell, and he's going to leave, and then I'm not under bondage. And then they'll, oh, but they also have to be an unbeliever. Well this is what they'll say. Well, I don't think he's really saved because of the stuff he does. I don't think she's really even saved because of the stuff that she did. Even though he's been, you know, a saved, born again, professing Christian for decades and gone to church for decades and loved the Lord in the past. Maybe he's backslidden now. Well, I just don't think he was saved. Just because you don't want to be saved because you want to twist this passage. But here's the thing. This passage says, you say, well, what does it mean then? If the unbelieving depart, let him depart. You know what it's saying? It's saying if you're basically married to somebody, just listen, this is what he's teaching. And again, remember, this is just his, like, his analysis, stuff he's observed, but he's saying this isn't coming from the Lord. And I think it says not the Lord, just to kind of make sure that people don't get confused and twist this. Sorry, it didn't work because they still did. But anyway, you know, what he's basically saying is, you know, if you're married to an unsaved person who's just a wicked person that just doesn't even want to be with you anyway, that basically it's okay for you to let them leave. You don't have to go running after them and beg them, will you please you wicked, unsaved heathen that doesn't even like me anyway, I'm going to come to you on my hands and knees and beg you to stay with me anyway, even though you don't want to. And just, he's saying you don't have to do that. Let them depart. You're not bound to sit there and go after and chase out, if they want to depart, you know, whatever. That's your option, to let them depart. It doesn't say you depart, does it? Let them depart. If the unbelieving person wants to depart, then let them depart. But here's the thing, you still stay single. It doesn't say let them depart and, you know, find someone else. Find a new one. Is that what it teaches? No way. It's garbage, folks. And by the way, any theology that throws out the commandments of Jesus, let it be accursed. When Christ gave us the great commission, go ye into all the world and teach all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost and teaching them to observe all things that I've commanded you. Is that what Sam Gibbs is doing? Is that what dispensationalism is doing? Are they teaching you to observe all that Christ commanded? No. They're telling you Christ's commandments are for a different dispensation. And they think that different dispensation started right around the time that we got the great commission. So according to these dispensationalists, by the time Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were even penned down, they were already obsolete. I mean when Matthew, the first time that Matthew literally put pen to page and finished the book of Matthew, here's my gospel. But guess what, folks? All these commandments of Christ, this stuff on divorce, by the way, it's all obsolete by now. Even though I just wrote it five minutes ago, it's already obsolete. And Christ is like standing on the mount, you know, saying to them, you know, teach them to observe all things whatsoever I've commanded you, but only until the day of Pentecost. Just teach them this stuff for a few weeks, guys, because then we're going to get into a new dispensation, Paul's going to come along and just change everything. So just teach them to observe what, no, he said it till the end of the world. Said teach it until the end of the world, okay. He didn't say, you know, in this dispensation that's just about to end. He said teach it until the end of the world. Look folks, anybody who says Jesus and Paul preached two different gospels, let them be accursed. Let them be anathema. Because you know what Jesus taught as the gospel? That whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life. Wasn't that what Jesus said? And didn't Jesus say verily, verily I say unto you, he that believeth on me has everlasting life? Isn't that what Jesus said? Well guess what? That's exactly what Paul teaches. By grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves is the gift of God, not of works of the same man should boast. Paul teaches that salvation is by believing in Jesus by faith. And what did John, the gospel of John show us that Jesus taught over and over? Believe, believe, believe, believe, believe, believe, believe, believe, believe, believe. Same gospel. Okay. So this dispensational teaching seeks to twist 1 Corinthians 7 to contradict that which is clearly taught in Matthew 5, Matthew 19, Mark 10, Luke 16, and Romans 7. Okay. False doctrine will often take one unclear scripture, one difficult scripture, and use it to confound or to just contradict really clear statements. Really clear. Look, let's just think logically for a second. Who thinks that 1 Corinthians 7, 15 is clearer than what Jesus said? It's clearer. No. Actually when you read 1 Corinthians 7 you kind of have to read it a few times to figure out what does he mean here? What's he saying? Now go to 2 Peter chapter 3, 2 Peter chapter 3. Now when you read the words of Jesus in Mark 10 where we're supposed to be preaching tonight and we're not, when you read the words of Jesus in Mark 10 is it confusing at all? Is it hard to understand? No. When you read it in Luke 16 is it hard to understand? No. You say, well Pastor Anderson how dare you call the stuff that Paul wrote hard to understand? Well let's see what Peter said. Now by the way there's another opposite extreme that's also starting to, and by the way be not carried about with diverse and strange doctrines. These Johnny come lately strange doctrines that come along. Dispensationalism is a strange doctrine when it tells us, hey Romans through Philemon is all we live by. That's a strange doctrine. When you're throwing out the commandments of Jesus you're throwing out the Great Commission. Teach him to observe all things I commanded. That includes his commands on divorce, friend, and everything else he taught. But there's another strange doctrine out there that's related to the Hebrew roots movement. And not everybody who's in the Hebrew roots movement is mixed up on this. You know the Hebrew roots movement is all of Satan but they're all different branches and varieties of it, okay, within it. But let me tell you something. I've heard a lot of these Judaizers and Hochflem Shalom kind of people that will basically come at you with this thing of rejecting the Apostle Paul. Have you heard this one? Where they say, oh Paul was a false prophet. And basically, so basically you've got one end of the false prophecy spectrum of people saying, oh it's only Paul. It's only Paul. And then you have other people that are saying, you know, oh throw out Paul. Throw out Paul was a Pharisee and he was, you know, nah. But here's the thing though, why don't we just believe the whole Bible and not be carried about with these strange doctrines. But look, this proves by the way, because they say, oh yeah Peter, James, and John are good to go, but reject Paul. But look what Peter says about Paul in 2 Peter chapter 3. It says in verse 15, an account that the long suffering of our Lord is salvation, even as our beloved brother Paul also, according to the wisdom given unto him, hath written unto you, as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to be understood. Now isn't the Bible clearly telling us here that some things in Paul's epistles are hard to be understood? Which they that are unlearned and unstable rest as they do also the other scriptures under their own destruction. Now what this passage is teaching, first of all, and when it says they rest the scriptures, what does rest mean? Twist. They twist the scriptures. So he's saying, look, there are things in the books that Paul wrote that are hard to be understood and that's what people twist. Why? Because things that are hard to be understood can be more easily twisted. Things that are easy, I mean, how do you twist things that are easy to understand? You can't twist them, right? Like here's an easy to understand verse. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Now that's a pretty hard verse to twist. How do you twist it? It says what it says, right? Here's another verse that's easy to understand that you can't twist. Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me has everlasting life. I mean that's pretty simple, right? I mean it's pretty easy to understand, very straightforward, very cut and dry. You know there are a lot of verses in the books that Paul wrote that are hard to understand. Let me give you some stuff in Paul's writing that's hard to understand. This is one of my favorite examples in Romans 5. I think this is one of the hardest, keep your finger in 2 Peter 3, but I think this is one of the hardest things to understand in Paul's epistles. Just compare this to some of the easy stuff. Now you know what the easiest book to understand in your English King James Bible is? The Gospel of John. That's why people will often say to a new believer, oh you just got saved? Read the book of John because it's easy to understand. Read the Gospel of John. It's really simple in its language. You know there was a man sent from God whose name was John. The same came for a witness to bear witness of the light that all men through him might believe. He was not that light but was sent to bear witness. It's this very simple language. And even the most famous verse that every child knows, right? John 3.16, right from the book of John. Because it's in your English King James Bible it's the easiest book to understand. But you know if you get a Greek New Testament and start reading your Greek New Testament, any Greek professor in seminary, he'll always tell you, hey start with John because John is easy to understand in the Greek New Testament. Now isn't it interesting that it's easy in English and it's easy in Greek? Makes sense, right? Now they'll always tell you, oh you know the hardest book in the Greek New Testament is Hebrews, which is written by Paul also. Well guess what? In English probably the hardest book in the New Testament is the book of Hebrews. Now here's what the modern versions say, oh the King James is too hard to understand. Let's make it easier. But doesn't the Bible say that some parts are supposed to be hard? And so what people often do, they'll take really hard passages from the King James and show you and say, see look how hard that is to understand. Yeah but Peter said it was hard to understand in the original. So if it's hard to understand in the original, wouldn't it make sense that the translation would also be hard to understand if it's accurate? See if it's hard to understand in the original and the translation makes it easy, it must not be an accurate translation because you've changed it. Look at this from Romans 5, tell me how easy this is to understand. Verse 14, nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come. But not as the offense, so also is the free gift. For if through the offense of one many be dead, much more the grace of God and the gift by grace, which is by one man Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift. For the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offenses unto justification. Now look, you say well I understand it, well you're very smart but you've got to admit this is a little harder to understand than some of the verses I was quoting a minute ago. Right? I mean you have to slow down and be like, wait a minute. What is it that was by one that sinned? So is the gift. You're like, what was that? And you have to really slow down and go over this. Okay, go back to 2 Peter 3. He said look, in Paul's epistles, speaking in them of these things, which are some things, it's not saying all of Paul's epistles are hard to understand, but he says some things in them are hard to be understood. And that's what people twist. That's what people can rest, and it says they do that. They rest, and look at the last phrase, as they do also the other, what? Scriptures. Now isn't this proving that the Apostle Peter is calling Paul's epistles, scripture. Scripture. Oh, that's just a letter that Paul wrote. No, it's scripture, and it says all scripture is given by inspiration of God. And look, Paul's epistles are scriptures, and they contain hard things in them that some people will twist, and it says they will rest them as they do also the other scriptures unto their own destruction, as they do the other scriptures, other than Paul's scriptures, to their own destruction, okay? So what I'm saying is, if you have a doctrine that has to ignore the whole rest of the Bible, you know, ignore Matthew, ignore Mark, ignore Luke, and just let's only look at what Paul wrote and then let's twist it, isn't that exactly what he said would happen? Think about that now. And so I'm going to cover the rest of chapter 10 next week, because honestly, this subject, you know, it's such a great subject in Mark 10, and it's a very important subject because we are living in a day of licentiousness, and we are living in a day where people are like, what in the world? Get married and you find out your wife's a virgin, does anyone get married to a virgin? You know, I mean, that would be the thinking out in the world. I mean, is anybody still a virgin, you know, but you know what, that's just an indication of a wicked society. And you know, we'd expect that from the world, right? We'd expect that from the unsafe. I mean, are you really shocked or horrified that unsafe people commit fornication? Go to 1 Corinthians 5 quickly, and I'll finish here. Are you shocked and horrified? You mean people in the world commit fornication, you've got to be kidding. Of course unsafe people commit fornication, and look what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 5. He says in verse 9, I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators, meaning don't hang out with fornicators, but he has to clarify. He says, yet not all together with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous or extortioners or with ideologies, watch what he says at the end of verse 10. For then much he needs go out of the world. He's saying, look, if I wrote unto you to just not company with any fornicators, including unsafe people, he's saying you'd have to literally leave the world. You'd have to literally go in some compound somewhere, or lock yourself up somewhere, or go live out in the woods somewhere, and just completely leave society, leave the world. Because what is he saying? The world's a bunch of fornicators. Unsafe people are fornicating. He said, if I told you not to company with fornicators, you'd have to leave the world. But you say, well, see, everybody's doing it. No, no, that's not what he says, because look what he says next. To clarify, he's saying, but now I've written unto you not to keep company if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator. So what he's saying is, I'm not telling you never to hang out with fornicators. I'm telling you never to hang out with a brother who is a fornicator, and that's a big difference, isn't it? Because the world, we expect to fornicate. The world, we know, they walk in the paths of disobedience. They're the children of disobedience. We know that they are in the flesh. They don't have the spirit. They're going to walk in the flesh, and they're going to fulfill the lust of the flesh, and they're going to walk in fornication. But he says, look, if somebody who's a brother is in fornication, he says, now I've written unto you not to keep company if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator. He lists the other things that I've preached about in other sermons. Look at the end of verse 11. With such an one know not to eat. For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? Do not ye judge them that are within? But them that are without, God judgeth, therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person. He says, look, a brother, someone who is called a brother who is fornicating, put away from among yourselves that wicked person. A brother that's fornicating with such a one know not to eat. Not to keep company. Cast them out. And this whole chapter is about a guy who was in fornication, and he had to be cast out. But then the good news is, according to 2 Corinthians, once the guy was cast out, that actually got his attention, and that tough love got through to him, and he ended up getting right with God, and coming back, and being restored to fellowship. Isn't that great? That's what you'd want to see happen. So you say, oh, you're not loving. Oh, you threw someone out. Oh, you called someone wicked. Oh, oh. No. What it is, is it's loving that person. Because a lot of times, you throw people out, and then they get right with God. Because that's a wake up call. Because think about it. Somebody thinks, oh yeah, you know, I still love Jesus, I'm still in trouble, but I'm going to be a fornicator. Then it's a wake up call. No, sorry, you're not welcome. And by the way, you say, you would never throw out a person who's living in fornication. Oh, really? I, about once per month, throw someone out of this church because of fornication, or someone gets married to get out of fornication. One of those things happens about once a month in our church. Did you hear me? About once a month. And if you're here, and you're living in fornication, and I find out about it, you'll be thrown out. Or you'll get married, or, you know, or you get out of fornication. I mean, those are the choices. Here's the choices if you are living in sin. Meaning that, you know, that's an old expression, but nowadays, what do you call it? Shacking up? Your concubine? No, that's not what they call it nowadays, but anyway, you know, look, and by the way, you say, well, how do you know people are fornicating, huh? If people are married, if people are not married and they're living together, they're fornicating. Well, how do you know? Well, because you know what, if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's a duck. And a man and a woman, they're living together, and they're not married, that's fornication. Okay, and here's the thing. I don't hate that person. I'm not mad at those people. I just tell them, I say, listen, you know, get right with God. I love you. Let's get this fixed. And these are the three choices. You can either get married, or you can stop fornicating, meaning stop living together, and also obviously stop fornicating both. You can either get married, get out of fornication, or leave the church, and those are your choices. So you say, well, I'm not ready to get married. Then, okay, now you're down to two choices then. Stop living together or get out of the church. Those are your two choices now. Well, I don't want to leave. Well, then you have two choices. If you don't want to leave, then you either have to get married, or get out. You know, and you say, if you know for sure that you love each other, then get married. But then here's the question. If you're going to get married, though, here's the first question. Have either of you ever been married before? And if it's like, well, yeah, I'm divorced, or yeah, she's divorced, I'm not going to perform the ceremony, because that's adultery. Oh, man, this is a hard saying. Who can hear it? But you know what? It's the truth. Oh, it's so harsh, it's so horrible. But yeah, if people grew up with this, they wouldn't do that, though. The reason people made these mistakes is they didn't grow up with this preaching. I'm not preaching this for people who've already made the mistakes. I'm preaching it for my children and your children, and for myself, and for my wife, and for you that are married, and for your wife, and for everybody who has not yet made the mistake to realize the seriousness of what we're talking about here. Very serious. You know, if fornication were not a serious sin, he wouldn't say cast them out. Because you know what? We're all sinners. Is anybody here without sin? No one. Every single one of us is a sinner, but guess what? We're not all fornicators. In fact, none of us are fornicators, as far as I'm concerned, and if they are, you're out. And let me tell you something. The three options, let me just recap. Three options. Get married, stop fornicating, which also means stop living together with someone that you're not married to, or get out of the church. Now here's the thing. This option over here, get married, this isn't six months from now. This is not a year from now. This is not, you know, we're going ring shopping, and we're going to send out, you know, we're going to go to Bed Bath and Beyond and start the bridal registry, and it's going to take about three months. No, no, no. This happens, here's my policy personally. If it's within seven days, all perform the ceremony. Because seven, there's no reason why it should take more than seven days to get married. That gives you time to have a day off, get the license, get it done. You know, I mean, seven days. That's it. That's your choice. And you know what? I don't make exceptions. Okay? It's just, it's seven days. That's the time limit. From the time that I find out about it, you know, and confront it, you have seven days to get married. And like I said, you know, a lot of people, they just leave. They take option number three, and they leave. Fine with me. Oh, you're losing people. So what? I'm also gaining other people. And you know what I'm gaining? God's blessing by actually obeying this book. But you know what? A lot of churches, they don't do this. A lot of churches, in fact, I got an email from somebody that goes to an independent fundamental Baptist church, and they said that they confronted their pastor about a couple that was just living together in fornication. There's no talk of them getting married. They just live together. And he said, and his pastor would do nothing about it, and said, oh, they just love each other. That's the day that we're living in, my friend, but not in this church. Not a faithful word. And we always try to help people and make it easy for them, and give them a nice wedding on short notice and everything like that. If they're, you know, because if people want to get right with God and do what's right, you don't want to make it easy for them. You know, as long as they've never been married before. Because otherwise we don't participate in it. But you know, some people, I don't think anybody's ever taken option two. It seems like it's always either option A or C. We've switched to letters now. Okay. Option A or option C is what, they either get married or they get out, is what usually ends up happening. But you know what? Either one of those options is acceptable to me. And let me tell you something. This should be happening in churches all across America. It should be, it's unheard of. I've never even heard of a church hardly at all. Well Brother Romero, he's doing it. You know, but here's the thing. I've never even heard of anybody that has this policy. It's in the Bible. Hello, wake up people. Are we going to obey this book or not? But that's why fornication abounds. And you know what else you don't hear very often? This teaching from Mark 10 on divorce and remarriage. And you know what? That's why divorce abounds. And you know what? Let me tell you something. You will have such a better marriage when you have security in that marriage. And you know how you have security in that marriage? When you both swear to each other that you're going to be with each other till death and you mean it. That provides a security there. And you can really, you know, be intimate with that person and really know that you can open up to that person because you know what? That is your mate for life. And it's a blessed relationship. It's a wonderful thing. And let's not destroy it with fornication and destroy it with adultery and destroy it with all these other, you know, divorce and all these things. Let's keep it undefiled. The Bible says marriage is honorable in all and the bed undefiled. But whoremongers and adulterers God will judge. Let's bow our heads in a word of prayer. Father, thank you so much for your teaching. And Lord, I thank you that what Jesus Christ taught is the same thing that Paul taught. And that Romans 7, it goes very perfectly with what Jesus taught, Lord. I just pray that we would study the whole New Testament and read the whole thing and believe it. And not be carried about with these trendy doctrines of the Hebrew roots, Judaizer movement. Also not to be caught up in this 19th century dispensational garbage, Lord. To help us just to stay true to your word and to stay true to our wives and to stay true to our husbands, Lord, and to be a people that is different than the world. And Lord, I pray that people would not just get angry or upset at the teaching of your word, but rather that they would, you know, realize that, hey, this isn't coming from Pastor Anderson. This was all in the Bible. And Lord, I pray that we would be a godly church that would honor you. And in Jesus' name we pray, amen.