"Adultery Is Not Grounds For Divorce ..."

Mark 10:2-4, 11-12 (ESV);

Hosea 3:1 (ESV);

John 8:10-11 (ESV);

Matthew 18:15-16,21-22 (ESV)

04 October 2009

U.S. Army Chaplain (MAJ) Ken Harris

504th Compound’s Multi-Purpose Facility

C.O. B. Adder

Tallill, Iraq

Big Idea: Push past justification and reasoning for divorce to peek at God’s Grace and Forgiveness through Hosea and the woman caught in the act of adultery.

REFERENCES: Note: In the English language an Ellipsis is when there is an unfinished thought and three dots are used, such as "Adultery is not grounds for divorce ...";

Matthew 18:21-22 (NIV) Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?" Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times; Hosea 1-3 (ESV); Hosea 1:2-3 (ESV) When the LORD first spoke through Hosea, the LORD said to Hosea, ¡Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the LORD.¡¨ So he went and took Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son; John 8:1-11 (ESV) The Woman Caught in Adultery; Deuteronomy 22:22 (ESV) "If a man is found lying with the wife of another man, both of them shall die, the man who lay with the woman, and the woman. So you shall purge the evil from Israel; Deuteronomy 24:1-5 (ESV); Mark 10:1-12 (ESV); Matthew 19:1-12; Matthew 19:9 (NIV) I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, and marries another woman commits adultery."; Romans 7:1-3 (NIV) Do you not know, brothers¡ for I am speaking to men who know the law¡ that the law has authority over a man only as long as he lives? For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage. So then, if she marries another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is released from that law and is not an adulteress, even though she marries another man; Matthew 5:32 (ESV) But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery. And whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery; Leviticus 18:6-18 Prohibited marriages within certain degrees of kinship - (ESV); Leviticus 20:10 (ESV) If a man commits adultery with the wife of his neighbor, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death; Ezekiel 16:40 (ESV) They shall bring up a crowd against you, and they shall stone you and cut you to pieces with their swords; James 4:1-10 (ESV) Warning against worldliness; Genesis 2:18-24 (ESV); Man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife;

I. ANNOUNCE THE PERICOPE: Mark 10:2-4, 11-12 (ESV); Hosea 3:1 (ESV); John 8:10-11 (ESV); Matthew 18:15-16,21-22 (ESV)

II. READ THE PERICOPE: Mark 10:2-4, 11-12 (ESV); Hosea 3:1 (ESV); John 8:10-11 (ESV); Matthew 18:15-16,21-22 (ESV)

III. READ THE TEXT: Hosea: 3:1 (ESV) And the LORD said to me, "Go again, love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, even as the LORD loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins; John 8:10-11 (ESV) Jesus stood up and said to her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" She said, "No one, Lord." And Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more." Matthew 18:15, 16; 21-22 (ESV) "If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. Then Peter came up and said to him, "Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?" Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven.

IV. PURPOSE: To motivate the hearers to move past justification and reasoning for divorce to peek at God’s Grace and Forgiveness through Hosea and the woman caught in the act of adultery.

V. SERMONIC THEME: "Adultery is not grounds for divorce ..."

VI. INTRODUCTION:

Good morning Task Force 504. I want to send out some SHOUTS of praise to our Soldiers for expressing very strong opinions about our topic today! It’s great to see that your leaders are passing on the information from the BUB; while others aren’t deleting the chaplain emails.

Some Soldiers have even come over to my office to express their feelings; and to see if I was okay.