 All right. Today we're in Malachi chapter 2. We're looking at verses 10 through 17. We're looking at abominable marriages. Now somebody says, I already have that. Why do we have to talk about that? But we will be looking at that subject. And it really is a very important subject to look at. And so we'll be looking at verses 10 through 17. And the portion of scripture that we're looking at today, the Lord is going to emphasize that it's his desire to have godly offspring. And so let's begin reading together Malachi chapter 2 at verse 10. I'll read to verse 17 and we'll get into our study. Malachi chapter 2 beginning at verse 10, reading to verse 17. Have we not all one father? Has not one God created us? Why do we deal treacherously with one another by profanning the covenant of the fathers? Judah has dealt treacherously and an abomination has been committed in Israel in Jerusalem for Judah has profaned the Lord's holy institution which he loves. He has married the daughter of a foreign God. May the Lord cut off from the tents of Jacob the man who does this being awakened aware and who brings an offering to the Lord of hosts. And this is the second thing you do. You cover the altar of the Lord with tears, with weeping and crying so he does not regard the offering anymore nor receive it with good will from your hands. Yet you say for what reason? Because the Lord has been witness between you and the wife of your youth with whom you have dealt treacherously yet she is your companion and your wife by covenant. But did he not make them one having a remnant of the spirit? And why one? He seeks godly offspring. Therefore take heed to your spirit and let none deal treacherously with the wife of his youth for the Lord God of Israel says that he hates divorce for it covers one's garment with violence as the Lord of hosts. Therefore take heed to your spirit that you do not deal treacherously. You have worried the Lord with your words yet you say in what way have we worried him? In that you say everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord and he delights in them or where is the God of justice? As we've been going through Malachi we've noted that the priesthood, the Jewish priesthood has been radically condemned by God through the prophet Malachi. And as we've been going up to this point here from chapter one into chapter two we've seen how that the Lord has made it very clear that the priesthood has misrepresented God in a variety of ways and the nation is suffering because of what they've done. The ultimate result has been that God's true religion was transformed into a sham. Now interestingly enough today it's popular to speak down about religion. We in my generation we Jesus freaks the Jesus movement people. One of the things that we would say very clearly and quite often and very loudly was that we don't have a religion, we have a relationship. All of us as in one way or another probably said that. And you know the point we were trying to make was that we're not part of some system of religious belief. We don't simply identify ourselves by a particular denominational identification. We don't say that we are of this denomination or that. That's what we were trying to say at that time. We're trying to say that God isn't wanting us to have simply what would be called a religious faith because there is a true faith and there is a faith that is actually spoken of in the book of James as being what we would call devil faith. The demons believe in fear. You know James made that clear he said you believe in one God that's good but do you not know that the devils the demons themselves believe and they fear? So there is something that has been called devil faith or demon faith that's simply an acknowledgement the reality that there is a God and that demons are subject to him even as the scripture says every knee shall bow every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Now that includes everything created. That includes the angelic hosts you know that they acknowledge that Jesus Christ is the Holy One of God and you can read in your New Testament how that Jesus will encounter demon possessed individuals and the demon will say have you come to torment us before our time we know who you are the Holy One of God. So demons have an awareness of who God is and so when we were young and when we were saved we would say you don't want to have just a religion you want to have a relationship. But you need to remember also that there is a false religious belief but there is a true religion also. There is such a thing as true religion and I'm not talking about you know pants or a store or whatever. There is true religion. True religion is built on a solid foundation the solid foundation of loving God and obedience to his word. In Psalm 119 the Psalmist said blessed are the undefiled in the way who walk in the law of the Lord. You see God is loving and merciful and God reveals himself to us in the word as being compassionate and God desires us to also receive his kindness and when you have received the kindness of the Lord and when you are walking in his way it's revealed in how you treat other people it demonstrates that you really have been connected to the God of this universe who is rich in mercy who refers to himself as being kind. In 1 John in chapter 3 verse 17 John said whoever has this world's goods and sees his brother in need and shuts up his heart from him how does the love of God abide in him? In James 1 27 James said pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this to visit orphans and widows in their trouble and to keep oneself unspotted from the world. There was an occasion where the Lord Jesus Christ was asked a question the question he was asked is what is the great command in the law? We've all read that portion of scripture we all remember that and when this question was asked of him Matthew tells us in chapter 22 verses 37 through 40 that Jesus speaking to the one who asked the question said you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul with all your mind this is the first and great commandment the second is like it you shall love your neighbor as yourself on these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets what is the great commandment love God, love your neighbor love God on this all along the prophets will be fulfilled you need to love because that is a demonstration that you have a relationship with the God who is called love so God's true religion is a religion of compassion and love a religion of love of his word and a concern for people and it was being polluted this true religion is being polluted by an unfaithful priesthood their misrepresentation of the Lord has had a terrible effect on the nation because God himself is being ridiculed the offerings that were being offered to him are actually considered defiled and he's being held in contempt even as Malachi has been saying he's been held in contempt by the people of Israel now the priests according to verse 8 had corrupted the covenant of Levi they had done so by their false interpretation in teaching of the law and by their bad examples they corrupted the covenant through inattention to its demands and what they've been doing is bad enough but the Lord has even more that he needs to deal with now as we look at this just briefly let's remember something here let's remember that Malachi isn't making this up from his own heart this is not a message that Malachi just looking out there at the condition of the nation this isn't a message that he kind of sat down and invented saying now what would be the answer or the solution to this problem he wasn't trying to create a message of some sort simply because he had a burden for how people were acting and all of that because this message didn't originate in his own mind it wasn't something that he invented you see false prophets and false teachers will give stories to people that they have made up because they have intent to draw these people after themselves and therefore many times they'll say things that they think people want to hear in order that they might draw disciples after themselves you see that in the old and you see that in the new Malachi was not a person making up or inventing this he was actually giving a message that God had given to him but false teachers will say something to draw people to themselves you see it in Jeremiah 14 verse 14 where it reads the Lord said to me the prophets are prophesying lies in my name I have not sent them or appointed them or spoken to them they are prophesying to you false visions, divinations, idolatries and the delusions of their own minds God is saying they bring in a message to you that they're claiming this from me but I'm telling you I didn't say that you see that in the Old Testament you can actually multiply that many times you also see it in the New Testament in the book of Titus for example in chapter 1 verses 10 and 11 where Paul said there are many who rebel against right teaching they engage in useless talk and deceive people this is especially true of those who insist on circumcision for salvation they must be silenced by the wrong teaching they have already turned whole families away from the truth such teachers only want your money I know we don't have any teachers like that today this is just something that now Melachi Melachi was a genuine messenger of the Lord he was a genuine prophet of God when you look at verse 7 of chapter 2 verse 7 makes it clear that the priests were in reality God's messengers it says there Melachi 2.7 the lips of a priest should keep knowledge people should seek the law from his mouth for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts you should go to a spiritual leader expecting to receive spiritual insight he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts and so people ought to go to the priest who as we saw last time were together who keeps knowledge and I mentioned to you that the priest was supposed to protect or guard the knowledge of God that's what he did and the people when they came to him should be seeking the law from his mouth they should be seeking from him instruction concerning how to live in a way that pleases God that's the reason people should go in the church age that's the reason why people should choose a fellowship to attend it's so that they would hear the word of God and seek knowledge of the word of God when they go to church not everybody does that unfortunately today but that's what we're supposed to do you see the priests were God's messengers and they were intended to communicate clearly and soberly what it is that pleases the Lord you see that in the Old Testament book of Leviticus in chapter 10 verses 8 through 11 where it says the Lord spoke to Aaron saying do not drink wine or intoxicating drink you know your sons with you when you go into the tabernacle of meeting lest you die it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations that you may distinguish between holy and unholy and between unclean and clean and that you may teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the Lord has spoken to them by the hand of Moses you're not to be imbibing you're not supposed to be getting drunk and then going out there trying to present the things of God he said stay away from that you're supposed to be teaching them the things that God has said and so Malachi is a genuine messenger of the Lord of hosts even as we have seen it in the very first verse of chapter 1 when he spoke of the burden of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi so he was bringing God's word a messenger of the Lord of hosts and so what has happened is because the priests have been preaching the Lord God says I'm dealing with you and we saw that in verse 9 when he said to the priests I also have made you contemptible and based before all the people because you have not kept my ways but have shown partiality in the law and so he's making it very clear that because the priests were corrupt God humiliated them before the people they had degraded the Lord by their ungodly lives and he's humiliated them before Israel and so as we see this they're continuing this and so he now begins to speak in verse 10 by saying have we not all one father has not one God created us why do we deal treacherously with one another by profanying the covenant of the fathers Judah has dealt treacherously and an abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem for Judah has profaned the Lord's holy institution which he loves he's married the daughter of a foreign God may the Lord cut off from the tents of Jacob the man who does this being awake and aware and who brings an offering to the Lord of hosts so Malachi now begins to confront he begins to confront the nation concerning another sin and I want you to see this I'm going to be looking at this in some detail today it's a sin that is very grievous before the Lord this is a sin that has classically been referred to as abominable marriages now the term abominable marriage relates to what is recognized as unsanctioned and unholy marriages we need to remember let me lay a foundation for you here as we look at this together the marriage vow is one of the most sacred and holy promises that a human being can make the marriage vow is one of the most sacred promises that a human being will make it is a binding vow you see when you look at vows and all when you see oaths and oaths and a vow is the same basic word when somebody becomes a naturalized citizen in the United States this person will take a vow they take an oath of faithfulness to the country if somebody came from another country and they come to the United States and they go through the process to become a naturalized citizen after going through whatever it is that they need to do in order to be made eligible they ultimately are going to take an oath of faithfulness and this is what they will say they repeat this when the judge is bringing them into citizenship this is what they say this is the vow that they take I hereby declare on oath that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince potentate state or sovereignty of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen that I will support and defend the Constitution in laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic that I will bear truth, faith and allegiance to the same that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law that I will perform noncombatance service in the armed forces of the United States when required by law that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by law and that I will, that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion so help me God that's the oath that people take when they become citizens here in the United States they take an oath but here's something about that oath a naturalized citizen can legally renounce that vow and they become what is called an expatriate so even though they went through all of the various hoops and jumped through all those hoops and all and became an American citizen and even took an oath of faithfulness to the nation and at a certain point should they decide without any duress and understand the consequences they can renounce their citizenship they can renounce that oath even though they said so help me God the United States allows that that's a vow that is being made that the United States allows to be broken but a marriage vow is not a temporary vow a marriage vow is not to be renounced because when I was married I made a promise I made a promise not just to the minister who was officiating not just to the witnesses who were standing there making sure I didn't run away not just to the beautiful young lady who was holding on to me making sure I didn't run away not simply in front of the group of people who assembled that day in that backyard there in Norwalk when we got married at my parents house I know how to spend money on parties the chairs we got were from a place called Chapel of Memories which is a funeral home they let you have the chairs for free anyway when I made that vow it wasn't just to Marie it wasn't to the witnesses it wasn't simply to the minister it was to God it was to God I said to Marie as I vowed to God as I made a pledge in an oath as I made this statement I said I will be with you in sickness and in health for richer and for poorer forever that was the vow and I have to tell you when I took that vow I was very serious and I was very scared as much as I knew that I cared about this young lady that was such an oath that was so powerful it was so real that I actually stammered out I still remember I opened up the book of Ephesians chapter 5 I started to read to Marie and the words seemed to swim on the page in front of me as I was reading it it was such a powerful moment where it seemed as if the Lord was pressing upon me this is not simply something you're saying this is not going to be a marriage you try out and it doesn't work you're just better at the next one because today we have a term in our society called starter marriages and some of you have heard that starter marriages what that's simply talking about is well if it doesn't work this way it's our starter marriages like I'm going to buy two houses the first house I'll get so I just kind of break in and then I'll sell it make something and then I'll get the house that I really like and maybe well that's kind of how some people are looking at marriage today that's how many are it's this well if it doesn't make it I mean listen there are programs today where they're getting married at first sight I think that's the name of a program or something like that they're getting married without even knowing why because we have devalued marriage to the place that we make it into a reality TV program today that's what's happened in the United States you know I wish I could give you the source this is from memory and thus I don't remember the exact source though I do have it on file somewhere how that one of the people I was reading is it relates to marriage years ago now was pointing out that atheists have a less of a divorce rate than those who claim to be born again Christians atheists remain faithful in marriages at a greater degree than evangelical Christians think about that for a minute think about that for a moment someone who doesn't even believe the vow that they're making is to God is more faithful than the one who claims to have a relationship with God so what we're looking at is we're looking at how God speaks about and teaches us related to marriage marriage is not a temporary vow when I made my vow it was not a temporary vow it was a promise and it was to God in Numbers 30 verse 2 the writer says Moses said if a man makes a vow to the Lord or swears an oath to bind himself by some agreement he shall not break his word he shall do according to all the proceeds out of his mouth when you make a vow to God you don't break your word you do what you said in Deuteronomy 23 verse 23 that which has gone from your lips you shall keep and perform for you voluntarily vowed to the Lord your God what you have promised with your mouth you see the marriage vow is a vow made to God it's also of course made to a person it's made to that spouse and it's of utmost importance so to make the vow and then break it with little or no concern is condemned by God now in verse 10 Melachi asks have we not all one father has not one God created us so men and women have been created in the image of God as such they both stand in relationship with the God who created them now as Jews both male and female stood in a special covenant relationship with God in Isaiah 43 verse 1 it reads but now thus says the Lord created you O Jacob and he who formed you O Israel fear not for I have redeemed you I have called you by your name you are mine so they had a covenant relationship with God and this relationship that Israel had with their God was intended to be permanent and it's God who created this unity you see in allowing the divorce of Jewish wives the Jewish wife might marry a heathen Israel was bringing division into the nation and that violated God's requirement for them to remain separate from unbelievers as his people you see when God was beginning his dealings with the nation of Israel he gave them all these laws in the Old Testament you know sometimes we speak about the laws that God gave to Israel and we may think in terms of like 10 laws the 10 commandments but there were some 613 specific commands that God gave to the nation and when you think concerning those commandments and all that God gave to them he gave them a commandment for them to remain his special people unique people that were to have a relationship with him they were different than all the nations on the face of the earth and that's what you read in Deuteronomy 7 when it says in verses 1 through 4 when the Lord your God brings you into the land which you go to possess and has cast out many nations before you the Hittites, Gurgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Parasites, Hibites, Jebusites, Sagulites, Termites, Uptites and Adesites I just never can I just I fall into that temptation every time I read thoseites 7 nations greater and mightier than you and when the Lord your God delivers them over to you you shall conquer them and utterly destroy them you shall make no covenant with them nor shall mercy to them nor shall you make marriages with them you shall not give your daughter to their son nor take their daughter for your son why? they will turn your sons away from following me to serve other gods so the anger of the Lord will be aroused against you and destroy you suddenly why are you not to have a marriage with an unbeliever? God says because they'll turn your heart away from me and I will judge you for it you see God gave specific instructions regarding marriage and marriage was to be entered in into with only other believers Exodus chapter 34 verses 12 through 16 take heed to yourself lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land where you are going lest it be a snare in your midst but you shall destroy their altars break their sacred pillars cut down their wooden images for you shall worship no other God for the Lord whose name is jealous is a jealous God lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land and they play the harlot with their gods and make sacrifice to their gods and one of them invites you and you eat of his sacrifice and take of his daughters for your sons and his daughters play the harlot with their gods and make your sons play the harlot with their gods don't intermarry why? because they will take your heart away from me intermarriage is forbidden because it was safeguarding the nation of Israel against the importation of idolatry into the nation remember the wisest king in the Old Testament you remember his name King Solomon King Solomon God was speaking to King David's beloved son Solomon and paraphrasing said to him ask of me anything you will you can ask as high as the heavens and I'll give it to you what do you want do you remember how Solomon spoke to the Lord and said again paraphrasing he said I'm just a child I don't even know how to go out and come back in how am I going to be able to lead such a great nation that belongs to you if you give me anything give me wisdom give me wisdom and the Bible tells us that God was so pleased with the prayer of Solomon that he said you didn't ask for the life of your enemies you didn't ask for riches untold because you didn't ask for these kinds of things and you wanted wisdom I will give you wisdom as well as the things you didn't ask for and he became the legendary wisest man who ever lived and yet in 1 Kings chapter 11 verses 1 through 4 King Solomon loved many foreign women as well as the daughter of Pharaoh women of the Moabites, Amonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites the nations of whom the Lord had said to the children of Israel you shall not intermarry with them nor they with you surely they will turn away your hearts after their God Solomon clung to these in love he had 700 wives he's not that wise he had 700 wives, princesses and 300 concubines and his wives turned away his heart for it was so when Solomon was old that his wives turned his heart after other gods and his heart was not loyal to the Lord his God as was the heart of his father David he started out well started out well but as he grew older his heart was turned away exactly as God had warned them so the result was the importation of idolatry into the nation of Israel the Bible tells us in 1st Kings chapter 11 verses 7 and 8 Solomon built a high place for Chimash the abomination of Moab on the hill that is east of Jerusalem and for Molech the abomination of the people of Ammon and he did likewise for all his foreign wives who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods in Nehemiah in chapter 13, 25 through 27 you are not to give your daughters in marriage to their sons nor are you to take their daughters in marriage for your sons or for yourselves was it not because of marriages like these that Solomon king of Israel sinned among the many nations there was no king like him he was loved by his God and God made him king over Israel but even he was led into sin by foreign women must we hear now that you too are doing all this terrible wickedness and are being unfaithful to our God by marrying foreign women so in the Old Testament it is very clear that the children of Israel were not to intermarry with the heathens somebody says well that's the Old Testament well the command against that kind of marital relationship is still in effect Paul spoke of this in the New Testament in 2 Corinthians chapter 6 he says that verses 14 through 16 do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers for what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness what communion has light with darkness what is Christ with Belial or what part has a believer with an unbeliever and what agreement has the temple of God with idols for you are the temple of the living God as God has said I will dwell in them and walk among them I will be their God they shall be my people God in the old as well as the new forbids what he calls abominable marriages when Paul was being asked a series of questions in 1 Corinthians one of the questions related to if a woman's husband dies is she free to remarry and Paul answered that question in 1 Corinthians 7 verse 39 when he says if her husband dies she is at liberty to be married to whom she wishes only in the Lord so yes you have freedom to remarry but only in the Lord somebody said if you willfully disobey God and marry a non-Christian do not be gall yourself with the belief that you will be the cause of your husband or wife's conversion by the grace of God that may possibly happen but it usually does not mixed marriages usually end in great unhappiness or divorce and even if that is not the case you will certainly bring much unnecessary sorrow upon yourself by disobedience and that's true I remember a young woman who came into my office no she called me up and she said pastor I'd like you to pray for me she was in high school and I said what can I pray for and she says well I met this guy and I really like him and I'd like to have him for my boyfriend can you pray for me I said I'm not match.com I said I said you want me to pray that you might have a boyfriend she says oh yeah and I said may I ask a question she said yes I said is this young man that you want to date this young man that you want as your boyfriend is he a believer in Christ no he's not a believer no but you want me to pray that God will give you a relationship with this young man yes I said why do you think I should pray that she says because Jesus said if you ask anything I will do it so she knew enough Bible to be confused but you know what that is common I can multiply that story I have others that are very much the same very much the same where somebody wanted something contrary to what God's word actually says and they thought they could circumvent that that they were going to be the people who actually proved that that scripture wasn't saying what it actually did say God in the Old Testament and the New Testament refers to marriages where a believer voluntarily is marrying a non-believer he calls that abominable it's wrong it's not pleasing to him what does light have in common with darkness when a Christian is showing an interest in dating somebody who doesn't know the Lord they're revealing their real relationship with God they're revealing that what what in common does someone who is in love with Jesus have with someone who doesn't care that Jesus died on the cross for them something that was said many years ago that has stayed within me and I say it often is when we voluntarily enter into sinful relationship when we know that God's word has already said do not do that it is like kissing the tip of the spear that was driven into the body of Jesus that's what we're doing we're joining the crowd that said crucify him that's what we're doing because we don't care because what we want right now is much more important than what he has done for us and that reveals where I really stand with the Lord Jesus Christ I want you to notice in verse 11 that God refers to marriage as his holy institution it is his holy institution it is his holy institution marriage was not invented by men I remember something by a what we used to call a woman's liver now we just call them women but a woman's liver where she said that yeah men invented that because you license dogs, cars and women and that's all they thought you know marriage wasn't invented by a man to enslave women the bible says it very clearly that God refers to it as his holy institution it is a holy institution that God created and as such he loves this institution and so as he speaks concerning this this holy institution he goes on in verse 12 and he says may the Lord cut off from the tents of Jacob the man who does this being awakened aware and who brings an offering to the Lord of hosts so he says may the Lord cut off from the tents of Jacob this man this is a man who is described as being awake and aware that's an interesting phrase, awake and aware being awakened aware awakened aware is a term that was used to refer to a teacher and pupil awakened aware because they've been taught and they know better and because and here's the thing because they have been taught and they know better how accountable for what they know and the penalty is may the Lord cut them off may they be separated or excommunicated may the Lord cut off the tents of Jacob that means that their offerings will not be acceptable because they have an unrepentant heart the Lord isn't going to receive it and you bring your offering to the Lord and you remember you have a brother or you remember a brother has out against you you first go and reconcile with the brother then you bring your offering that's how it works even in the New Testament Jesus taught that so he says they have an unrepentant heart this isn't something that God is going to accept and then he goes on into verse 13 and he says and this is the second thing you do you cover the altar of the Lord with tears with weeping and crying so he does not regard the offering anymore nor receive it with good will from your hands they're not only guilty of divorcing in order to marry heathens but he says you're also acting as hypocrites they thought they could willfully and blatantly disregard God's word and still be blessed they brought offerings they wept at the altar they expected God to bless their sinful lives their insincere worship was not accepted by God because repentance had to come first I have had many conversations and so have you more than likely who say I don't understand why my life isn't being blessed anymore it was at one time it's not anymore and then when you begin to ask what's going on and they begin to share with you the things they've been doing and sometimes they've been practicing sinful lives and they're just not walking with God and but they don't understand why they're not being blessed be not deceived God is not mocked whatsoever a man so is that also shall he reap if you sow to the flesh from the flesh you will reap corruption the scripture says so do the spirit from the spirit you receive life but if you sow to the flesh from the flesh you shall reap corruption you are going to reap what you sow and people sometimes don't understand that they thought that their insincere worship at least we're there we're showing up he says no I'm not receiving it you need to repent he says in verse 14 that you say for what reason because the Lord has been witness between you and the wife of your youth with whom you have dealt treacherously yet she's your companion your wife by covenant but did he not make them one having a remnant of the spirit and why one he seeks godly offspring therefore take heed to your spirit and let none deal treacherously with the wife of his youth so you say verse 14 for what reason he says the Lord is a witness between you she is your companion she is your wife by covenant you can't discard her you can't discard her marry a heathen and then come back and expect to be blessed he says you have dealt with it treacherously the word treacherously speaks of deceitfully or faithlessly you have been deceitful and unfaithful now in verse 15 the question is asked but did he not make them one by having a remnant of the spirit did he not make them one there's one man there's one woman there's one couple in him did he not make them one the two shall become one flesh the original intent of the Lord obviously was one man Adam one woman Eve and one lifetime when he says having a remnant of the spirit what does he mean God could have created many women for Adam he had enough power to do that it wasn't that he was limited to only having the creative ability to create one man and one woman he said that's it I can't do anything else he created one man and one woman though he had the power to create 10,000 women had he wanted to he chose not to because what he wanted to do was to have the foundations of what a family actually is with the intent of producing godly offspring children who worship and love the Lord that's what God wants in verse 15 did he not make them one having a remnant of the spirit and why one he seeks godly offspring and the best way to have a potential for many children is to have a husband who loves the wife and remains together for a lifetime loving the Lord that's the best way I I want to make it clear right here at this point that I do not in any way and I don't think any of you think that I would but I'm saying it anyway just because I should I would never judge and do not judge any person who's ever to a horrible divorce of broken marriage and the broken heart that goes along with that forgive me if you even would think that I don't my heart goes out to people who got married made their vows and divorced it didn't just break your heart though did it it broke the heart of others it broke the heart of a mom who had prayed for you it broke the heart perhaps of a dad who had prayed for you and it breaks the heart of the children that were born to a union that was shattered through divorce I really believe very strongly the Bible teaches this very specifically that God intends to show us how great he is in our marriages and that God can give us the ability to to overcome with him we can why did Moses command that people should get a divorce and Jesus no he didn't command it he permitted it and he permitted it because of the hardness of your hearts not because that was God's design or God's will but because you have callous hearts and you didn't allow God's spirit to work or for whatever reason you weren't able to see that he could I have spoken to young people some very young people who have gone through divorce who have known me very well and I have said to them you may not have had a real good example when your mama and your daddy were together and divorced but I would encourage you I have said and this may be misunderstood but I have said this I would encourage you to use Marie and me as an example because we've gone through so many things together and with Jesus we've always made it through we can be an example to you we have been in love and worked at our marriage for a long time and we can say God is able and as much as as it could be misunderstood when I speak of marriage and people could think that I think I've got the greatest marriage I do but I have a great wife I have a great wife I've told Marie I've said you could have married a man like Hitler and you'd still been a great great woman and that's a fact that's a fact I mean I know that I'm very blessed and I say that with all humility I've got a great wife but she has a husband who loves her and together we can make it together we can make it and what has kept us together our faith in Christ our vows to God our desire to serve him and our awareness that our children need an example to follow on one occasion one of my sons approached me and he was speaking to me this was when they were in high school and they used a word that is a word I feel is an improper word it wasn't a huge terrible dirty word they don't swear in front of me but he used a slang word I didn't like and I looked at him and I said I don't like that word and he he was filling his oats that day I guess you know well so and so uses it so when you woke up we talked some the conversation continued so I said so and so uses that word he goes yeah I said is so and so your dad I said then you don't use him as your example do you you use me do I speak like that no dad you don't I said and neither do you because I am your example so I take these things very seriously my children growing up as I've said this before had devotions five nights out of the week five nights the other two nights they were in church they were on Wednesday night and when I was teaching Sunday nights they were in Sunday nights seven days out of the week my children had prayer when they would go to school in the morning little kids from kindergarten up into high school we would hold their hands I'd lay hands on them Monday through Friday as I went to school in Jesus name remember who you are may God be with you today my children that's the kind of dad I was but I still held on with all of my might through their teen years they decided they were going to form their own testimony and see how far they could go and still be Christians was it hard yes did we weep yes was our heart broken more than once yes I have awakened myself in tears for my children crying in my sleep why am I telling you this I'm going to take an offering in a minute for my kids because it's a battle it's a war all you need to do is think of your children when they were small if you're a parent or drive by a school I drive by the school here at the corner Monday through Friday you see these beautiful little babies about six years old riding their little bicycles and playing and I look at them I look at them I love those babies I really do I love those I love those little children there's something in my heart I see the precious sweet innocence of those babies and I realize in 10 years where will they be what will they be doing some of those kids those little precious little girls mama combs their hair so pretty and puts on that pretty little dresser outfit they're 13 they're going to be having sex they're maybe having a baby by the time they're 14 some of those little guys who are playing cowboy they're going to be carrying a gun someday and they're going to shoot somebody if somebody is going to do that they're going to kill somebody that's just a fact that's a stat so my heart gets burdened for them God loves our children he desires godly children and when a husband and a wife do not take the marriage about seriously their children will not take a relationship with God seriously they don't they do what daddy does not what daddy says so many times if you have a little girl little boy and a mama who loves Jesus and a dad who's kind of like so so they're going to be more like dad than mom that's what happens when a husband leads the home children know there's a strength there they know that there's a leader in that home they know that this matters and that mama that mama respects that man for his godliness God gave me an exceptionally godly woman that's a fact I don't say that with a weird boastfulness it's a fact I didn't make her that way but if you asked her she would tell you this because she just said it recently in a marriage thing that we did together she said what drew me to Jesus Christ she said this was the love of con that I experienced at the bible study that David was teaching they had love and I didn't and she said I married a man who loves the Lord and that's what makes me a strong woman it's a fact I didn't say that she did I'm just capitalizing on it to make myself look good tonight but it's a fact husbands we love our wives what we love them even as Christ loved the church and he gave himself for it God's desire in marriage is not just for the husband and the woman to have relationship but for them to give that relationship to their children so that their children would grow up and he's saying they would grow up to know him but if you're going out and divorcing there's just no future for your children and then he says in verse 16 and we'll move to a closing the Lord God of Israel says he hates divorce it covers one's garment with violence as the Lord opposed therefore take heed to your spirit that you do not deal treacherously you have worried the Lord with your words yet you say in what way have we worried him and that you say everyone who does evil is good in the side of the Lord and he delights in them or where is the God of justice notice the Lord God of Israel verse 16 says he hates divorce why? it covers one's garment with violence now it's interesting when you read the Bible the Bible actually says things that God hates you might find this interesting for example in Proverbs chapter chapter 6 verses 16 through 19 it says there that God hates certain things he hates hotty eyes a lying tongue hands that kill the innocent a heart that plots evil feet that race to do wrong a false witness who pours out lies and a person who sews discord among brothers isn't that interesting he hates people who gossip and divide he hates that and he says these things I hate these things I detest these six things I hate yeah he's seven these are destructive sins and he says I detest these things I hate these things but it's interesting he hates divorce why? notice he says it covers one's garment with violence now what do you mean it covers one's garment with violence a garment is a picture of protection it's a picture of security it can even be used as a picture of love in the book of Exodus in chapter 22 verses 26 and 27 it says if you ever take your neighbor's garment as a pledge you shall return it to him before the sun goes down for that is his only covering it is his garment for his skin what will he sleep in and it will be that when he cries to me I will hear for I'm gracious it's his garment for his skin what will he sleep in it's a picture of protection it's a covering he's saying divorce removes the symbol of love and protection that marriage was to have put in that relationship and it ends up destroying life that's what happens it destroys lives and then he finally says in verse 17 you've worried the Lord with your words you've argued that you could remain doing what you've been doing and still be blessed you don't even admit that you worry him but you have and you will be judged now when it says where is the God of justice just because he hasn't moved yet it does not mean he will not move I don't know how many parents I have in this room here but if you're a parent and your child's old enough perhaps you identify with this sometimes when my kids were small they do something that really deserved a quick response sometimes you should move quickly but other times they did something that I thought I'm going to give them a moment maybe a little time to think acting and reacting quickly I'll give them a little bit of time so they'll think just because I didn't move quickly didn't mean I wasn't going to move I just waited because who knows maybe they'll come to their senses and and I can unchain them from their wall I don't know maybe they'll wake up they're cruising they're moving in a direction they're not going to be happy when they get dealt with so you would wait but just because you don't move quickly doesn't mean you're not going to move and just because somebody does something seems to get away with it doesn't mean they will always get away with it because the Lord is patient he's long suffering he's not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance and sometimes he'll give you some time in Romans 2 verse 4 the question is asked not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance don't you realize that God hasn't come down hard on you yet because he loves you and he's giving you time so that you can actually come to your senses and turn to him and say God be merciful to me a sinner aren't you glad that God gave you however long it was until that day came that you said yes to him for me it was 20 years for me it was 20 years that's a lot of patience for others it's a lot longer others it could be 30 40 50 we had a man get saved in this church who was in his 80s that's a lot of patience that little old man that little old sinner man there's no sinner like an old sinner I promise you and God has patience and so they're saying well where's the God of justice he hasn't done anything yet if you say this is so wrong well that doesn't mean that he won't move just because he hasn't so you don't say that at all he's saying you won't even admit you weird him but you have and if you don't repent you will be judged well that's a sober warning from the prophet who's got a word from the Lord to the nation of Israel and he says you need to turn and you need to come back