Let me start by saying what a huge blessing you are to me. Words cannot describe how excited I am that more than 100 people are reading the New Testament together in 2013. 100 people connected to Out Of The Box through membership and others who know us and appreciate what God is doing here at OOTBWC. I stand amazed in HIS PRESENCE.
This week the major question that came was on the matter of “DIVORCE.”
By the time you finish reading this, some of you will write me off as a heretic, some will laugh and say that I am crazy, some of you un-friend me and never speak to me again, some of you will weep, some of you will finally get it – “THE GRACE OF GOD.”
I only ask that you read it all the way through. The Bible says that you will know the TRUTH and the TRUTH will SET YOU FREE, that is John 8:32. BUT, if you know me, you know that I always say, it can set you FREE but it may just make you MAD!
If what you believe isn’t true, wouldn’t you want to know? If you believed something because someone told you it was true and then someone else proved different, wouldn’t you want to know? The fact is, some people do not want to see truth and some never will. Some of you will read this and cast it aside because you don’t want to face what I have to say.
I will make you a deal. If you read my work here and it makes you mad, I want to hear about it. If you read my work here and it sets you free, I want to hear about it. If you read my work here and can prove by the Bible that I am wrong, then I will apologize, I will write a blog post and tell the world that you proved me wrong. BUT REMEMBER, you need to prove it by scripture and drop your preconceived ideas, drop what you have been taught if you have been taught wrong.
Do you want to know the truth? Can you handle the truth? Here goes.
Mark Chapter 10 verses 10-12 TNIV
10 Jesus then left that place and went into the region of Judea and across the Jordan. Again crowds of people came to him, and as was his custom, he taught them.
2 Some Pharisees came and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?”
3 “What did Moses command you?” he replied.
4 They said, “Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away.”
5 “It was because your hearts were hard that Moses wrote you this law,” Jesus replied. 6 “But at the beginning of creation God ‘made them male and female.’ 7 ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, 8 and the two will become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one. 9 Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”
10 When they were in the house again, the disciples asked Jesus about this.11 He answered, “Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her. 12 And if she divorces her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery.”
Question #1. Is it sin to get a divorce? Yes and if one marries again it is ADULTERY!
Mark 10:11-12, Jesus said, “Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her. 12 And if she divorces her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery.”
It does not matter what you call it, it does not matter if the divorce was your fault or not. #TRUTH
Now, let’s do a little homework…
Genesis 2: 20b-24
But for Adam no suitable helper was found. 21 So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. 22 Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.23 The man said,
“This is now bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called ‘woman,’
for she was taken out of man.”
24 For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.
This is the 1st instance in the Bible of what we call “marriage.” The uniting of a man and a woman, the two become “one flesh.”
There is no marriage ceremony handed down to us from God in the Bible.#Truth
There is nothing wrong with such a ceremony, in fact they are quite nice and they are a tradition that scripture mentions several times. We get some outstanding teaching from the Hebrew tradition marriage ceremony. BUT, the marriage ceremony is not what makes a man and woman married.
Take another look. Genesis 2: 2-4a TNIV
2 so she said to Abram, “The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my servant; perhaps I can build a family through her.”Abram agreed to what Sarai said. 3 So after Abram had been living in Canaanten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian servant Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. 4 He slept with Hagar, and she conceived.
There is no mention of a marriage certficate or a minister to perform a ceremony. Abram had sex with Hagar. #Truth
Take another look. Genesis 2: 64-67 NRSV
64 And Rebekah looked up, and when she saw Isaac, she slipped quickly from the camel, 65 and said to the servant, “Who is the man over there, walking in the field to meet us?” The servant said, “It is my master.” So she took her veil and covered herself. 66 And the servant told Isaac all the things that he had done. 67 Then Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent. He took Rebekah, and she became his wife; and he loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.
He “TOOK” Rebekah means that he had sex with her. #Truth
What constitutes a biblical marriage? The sex act! #TRUTH
Take another look. I Corinthians 6: 15-20 NLT
15 Don’t you realize that your bodies are actually parts of Christ? Should a man take his body, which is part of Christ, and join it to a prostitute? Never!
16 And don’t you realize that if a man joins himself to a prostitute, he becomes one body with her?
For the Scriptures say, “The two are united into one.” 17 But the person who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with him.
18 Run from sexual sin! No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does. For sexual immorality is a sin against your own body. 19 Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, 20 for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.
God says in Genesis that the two will become ONE FLESH. #Truth
Paul says that if you have SEX with a Prostitute, you become ONE FLESH with the prostitute. #Truth
WHAT on earth am I saying here?
I am saying that by biblical standards, you are MARRIED to every person you have ever had SEXUAL INTERCOURSE with.
Go back and read it again, this is where many will laugh, cry, get mad, un-friend me, and call me a heretic, but I invite you to prove me wrong.
What does this have to do with adultery and sin? The Bible says that adultery is sin and if you are married to one and then marry another (have sex with another) then you commit adultery. Those who have believed or want to believe they have never committed the sin of adultery yet they have had multiple sexual partners, you are guilty! I know, I hear you screaming through the computer, the truth has made you mad. You still think that you can get to heaven by being good. I know, I know, it stinks, it hurts, you thought you were better than the person who had been legally married in a ceremony in our culture, multiple times. You thought you had sex with someone other than the one but that wasn’t adultery but it was and it is. #GUILTY
Take another look, just one more and you can write me mean letters…
Matthew 5: 27-30 NLT
Jesus said, 27 “You have heard the commandment that says, ‘You must not commit adultery.’ 28 BUT I SAY (Jesus says), anyone who even looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 So if your eye—even your good eye—causes you to lust, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30 And if your hand—even your stronger hand—causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.
Now wait a minute, it’s not the same. JESUS says it is! #Truth
I don’t care what you say, it’s not the same and I am not guilty just because I had the thought. BUT JESUS says it is the same.
I love you and that is why I am real and raw when it comes to telling you the truth. I am guilty! Everybody, almost without exception is GUILTY! This is Jesus point, we are GUILTY people. Our hearts are deceitfully wicked. You have no right to look down on anyone. One day in heaven we will be so ashamed that we judged people for what we are guilty of.
BUT THERE IS GOOD NEWS
Jesus came and died for my sin and your sin and the sin of the whole world. You can be forgiven and if you have asked for forgiveness then you are FORGIVEN! You do not have to wallow in your sin and this is not a license to sin, as Christians we are supposed to be getting better. Don’t you dare go out and say I’m guilty anyway so I will just have fun, shame on you. You have been forgiven, be thankful and walk with God now.
Titus 2:14 NLT
14 He (Jesus) gave his life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us his very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds.
I love you but more than that, Jesus loves you. If you are guilty and all of us are, come running home to Him.
Pastor Ronnie
I concur Ronnie!
I concur Ronnie! I have always thought that made sense. Modern marriage tradition was not around then so consummation of marriage was obviously the act of sex.