What Does The Bible Say About Marriage And Divorce Series

“What Does the Bible Say About Marriage and Divorce?”

Introduction:

For decades, we have heard of couples that run off to Las Vegas to obtain the equivalent of fast-food marriages. You just walk in, put your money down and they pronounce you man and wife. The results of a rash decision are not usually good results.

I was saddened to hear of a recent article in the “Sacramento Bee” about three wedding chapels in Los Angeles that not only offer quickie marriages, but also are now providing instant divorces.

According to the article, some couples get married one day and divorced the very next! Needless to say, the so-called “wedding chapel” makes its money at ‘both ends’. And, I don’t think that’s something to be proud of.

The topics of marriage and divorce are hot topics in our society. We have heard a lot of talk in our world lately about what constitutes marriage and also we see the divorce is very prominent in our society. It seems that almost everyone is touched somehow by divorce. It is estimated that almost half of all marriages end in divorce and that figure is not any different among Christian people. This morning if you have not been affected by divorce in some way then you are in a minority of people. People today need to know and understand what the Bible says about marriage and divorce. We as Christians need to know what stand to take on marriage and divorce and we need to know how to teach people what God’s Word teaches on these subjects.

Satan does not want man to be happy or the will of God to be fulfilled so He has worked diligently to destroy the institution of marriage, which God established for man.

I hope that out of this message you catch the value of marriage more than anything. I do not know what any person here’s marriage is like. I do not know what goes on inside your home – only you, your spouse and God know those things. I hope though that through this if you are struggling you will not throw up your hands and call it quits. I hope that through this message that we as Christians can seek to have a Biblical view of marriage and divorce. I hope that through this wounds might be healed that may have come as the result of divorce. I hope that if your marriage is in jeopardy this morning that both parties will work diligently to preserve that sacred relationship. Most likely if we are all honest we will all be able to admit that marriage is not always easy and many difficulties may come, but giving up is not the right answer.

Henry Ford was asked at his fiftieth anniversary what his secret was to a long marriage, he said, “the same as in the automobile industry, just stick to one model.” I hope that we can follow that advice. Let us look at what Jesus had to say about marriage and divorce.

Text: Matthew 19:3-9

I. Marriage

Marriage may be the most important institution that God established and also the institution of God that is under the most fire. It seems that in our society marriage is not valued like God intended it to be. In the Bible God makes some things clear about marriage. We learn in the Bible what God’s plan was for marriage.

1. God has an Ideal For Marriage

God’s plan for marriage is for a man and a woman to be in a life-long relationship together. You may remember when God created man, he looked down at his creation and said, “It is not good for man to be alone.” That is when God made woman, and as God looked down upon his complete creation he could now say, “it is very good.” The reason it was very good was that we were created to be people of companionship. God is our creator and knows us better than ever we know ourselves. Marriage was a remedy for man’s loneliness. Man in many instances has destroyed the plan for marriage. God’s plan is for man and woman to be together. This has been destroyed by those who would have us believe that marriage can be a relationship between a man and a man or a woman and a woman. This was certainly not the way that God intended things to be. We can see that God disapproved of the sins taking place is the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah because they were violating God’s ideal for marriage. We can also see that as Paul says it Romans 1 that the wrath of God is coming against such sins because they are un-natural. God’s ideal is also that marriage is a lifetime arrangement, but through divorce God’s ideal is again becoming less and less a reality. In our culture divorce is more common and marriages dishonored. People look for any and every reason to escape their marital agreement.