As we continue in our ongoing study of the Sermon on the Mount, we are now in the middle of an exposition which Jesus is giving concerning the law. Jesus has said that rather than diminishing the law, or abolishing the law, He has actually come to accomplish it and fulfill it. And in regards to our responsibility to the law, He has said that unless our righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees then we cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.
So to that point, in regards to how we must exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, He gives six illustrations of the law, in which He contrasts the teaching of the Pharisees with His own teaching, which of course is the intent of the law from God’s perspective.
Last week, we looked at the second law which Jesus interpreted, which is the law concerning adultery. And closely related to adultery is the next law which Jesus expounds upon, which is the law concerning divorce. And we will also look at the one which follows divorce, which is the law concerning vows, which, of course, is closely related to divorce.
I want to say by way of introduction, that this teaching concerning divorce is not one that many preachers want to deal with in today’s culture. If the statistics concerning divorce are correct, then even within the church the divorce rate is about 50%. So at the very outset, I risk offending half of the people here today.
But the fact that we preach through the Bible verse by verse, expositionally, means that sooner or later we will get to all the doctrines in the Bible, whether they are popular topics or not. If I were interested in being popular, I would probably find a way to avoid having to speak on this topic. But if we are to be true to the teaching of Christ, then we must deal with this subject. I will say this in my defense however, the teaching that you hear today is the teaching of Jesus Christ. It is not my teaching. My job is not to correct Jesus or reinterpret what He said. I am going to tell you to the best of my ability exactly what Jesus taught. So if you have an issue with the subject matter today, then I urge you to take it up with Him, not me. I’m just the messenger.
Now as I have said previously, Jesus is not disputing the law of Moses, but rather the interpretation of the Pharisees in regards to these laws. Let’s read again what Jesus is saying. Vs. 31 "It was said, 'WHOEVER SENDS HIS WIFE AWAY, LET HIM GIVE HER A CERTIFICATE OF DIVORCE'; but I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except for [the] reason of unchastity, makes her commit adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.” So first Jesus says what the Pharisees were teaching concerning divorce, and then He contrasts it with His interpretation.
Now we know that Jesus was accusing the Pharisees of misinterpreting the law, but perhaps it would be helpful for us to review the law of divorce as Moses gave it. In Deut. 24:1-4 Moses said, "When a man takes a wife and marries her, and it happens that she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some indecency in her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce and puts [it] in her hand and sends her out from his house, and she leaves his house and goes and becomes another man's [wife,] and if the latter husband turns against her and writes her a certificate of divorce and puts [it] in her hand and sends her out of his house, or if the latter husband dies who took her to be his wife, [then] her former husband who sent her away is not allowed to take her again to be his wife, since she has been defiled; for that is an abomination before the LORD, and you shall not bring sin on the land which the LORD your God gives you as an inheritance.”
The purpose then of this injunction was to regulate divorce. The situation in Israel had become one in which men were divorcing for all kinds of reasons, even because the wife may have burned their breakfast. They could get a divorce because the wife burned their toast. And in that society, women didn’t have a lot of rights, nor did they have a lot of options. And so the injunction of Moses was so that there would be some order restored to the sanctity of marriage, and also to provide some protection for the women who were being treated unfairly.
So the law limited divorce to only those cases in which there was some sort of unfaithfulness. He spoke of something he calls uncleanness or indecency. It means a moral defect. It also required that she be given a certificate of divorce, upon the testimony of two witnesses. So the law made divorce a legal matter, and a very serious one. It was given to reduce the trivial reasons for divorce which had become the norm in society.
Another thing that is indicated in the law was that a man who had given a writ of divorce is not allowed to marry her again, if she had been remarried and divorced since their original marriage. Again, the purpose of the law was to limit the type of divorce that was so commonplace in that society, and to make them realize that it wasn’t something to just wander in and out of, but it’s a permanent thing. So that’s the law of Moses.
Now consider what the Pharisees said. They taught that Moses commanded a man to divorce his wife under certain conditions. But that was not what Moses had said. Moses had put certain restrictions and limitations on divorce, but he had never commanded it. Furthermore, they took the word “uncleanness” and applied it to all kinds of things that were never intended in the original law. The main thing the Pharisees were concerned about was giving the writ of divorce. They were only interested in the fact that if you wanted a divorce, you had to give the wife a certificate of divorce. They weren’t interested in the reasons for it, just accommodating it.
So what does Jesus say in regards to divorce? Jesus says, “but I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except for the reason of unchastity, makes her commit adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.” He gives them God’s intention concerning divorce. Jesus says that there is only one legitimate reason for divorce and that is sexual immorality. All the other hosts of reasons that were popular were against the law of God, and furthermore to divorce on other grounds did not annul the marriage at all in the eyes of God. In God’s eyes, they were still married, regardless of what the writ of divorce might say. So then Jesus says an illegitimate divorce gives place to adultery because God doesn’t recognize the divorce. It is possible for a person to have a divorce that is recognized by the state, but not by God. If that person goes on to marry someone else, God considers that relationship adultery because He sees them as still married.
Listen, what that teaches us is that marriage is a sacred contract between the two people and God. Whether or not the state recognizes it, or even defines it is irrelevant in the eyes of God. Marriage is determined by God and authored by God and is entered into as a vow unto God, which is binding as long as they shall live. The only exception is that of immorality, and even that is not commanded by God. God permits it, but does not command it.
Turn in your Bibles to Matthew 19 and let’s look at another time when Jesus answered this question concerning divorce and I think you will see there the heart of God concerning this matter. Matt. 19:3-9 “Some Pharisees came to Jesus, testing Him and asking, "Is it lawful [for a man] to divorce his wife for any reason at all?" And He answered and said, "Have you not read that He who created [them] from the beginning MADE THEM MALE AND FEMALE, and said, 'FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER AND BE JOINED TO HIS WIFE, AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH'? "So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate." They said to Him, "Why then did Moses command to GIVE HER A CERTIFICATE OF DIVORCE AND SEND [her] AWAY?" He said to them, "Because of your hardness of heart Moses permitted you to divorce your wives; but from the beginning it has not been this way. "And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery."
First of all, notice that Jesus clearly defines marriage as the union of a man and his wife, male and female. That’s God’s definition of marriage. Secondly, Jesus said, What God has joined together, let no man separate. So marriage is a sacred union and a covenant between God and man. And if you break that covenant between male and female, you still have the covenant with God to deal with.
Listen, why does the Lord care so much about marriage? Why does God hold us to such a high standard in regards to marriage? It’s because marriage is a symbol of God’s relationship to us. Paul said in 2 Cor. 11:2 that he betrothed us to one husband, who is Jesus Christ. The church, that is the people that are born again, that have entered into the kingdom of heaven, are described in scripture as the bride of Christ. Our reunion with the Lord at His coming is described as the bridgroom coming for His bride. The consummation of the kingdom at His second coming is called the marriage supper of the Lamb. So in our salvation we have become one flesh with the Lord. He has entered into us. We have committed our life to Him, and He has committed His life to us. And God will never divorce us.
In Malachi 2:16 God says, “For I hate divorce.” The Lord said numerous times in scripture, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” He will never forget His covenant with us. 2Timothy 2:13 says, even “If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.”
Now this standard of God in regards to marriage is applied to us, that we might be like God. That is the purpose of our sanctification, to become remade in the image of Christ, to mirror the nature and character of God. And that is the intent of the law, that we might know the nature of God so that we might be like Him.
The purpose of the law is that we might be holy, even as He is holy. It is to raise our level of love to the standard which God has for us; a sacrificial, unwavering love, a love rooted in forgiveness and long-suffering. A love that never fails. And so rather than diminish that law as the Pharisees had done, Jesus raises the standard of marriage to the standard of God.
Then building upon that law regarding divorce, which is really a law pertaining to marriage, Jesus then restates God’s law concerning oaths. I think that it especially applies to the vows of marriage, but it also has a much broader application as we will see. Let’s consider again what Jesus says in vs 33, "Again, you have heard that the ancients were told, 'YOU SHALL NOT MAKE FALSE VOWS, BUT SHALL FULFILL YOUR VOWS TO THE LORD.' "But I say to you, make no oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is the footstool of His feet, or by Jerusalem, for it is THE CITY OF THE GREAT KING. "Nor shall you make an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. "But let your statement be, 'Yes, yes' [or] 'No, no'; anything beyond these is of evil.”
Now if we use the same formula as in the preceding exposition of the law, then we would first ask, what did the law of Moses say? Well, the 10 commandments does not state this explicitly. What it does say is that “you shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.” That certainly applies to the taking of an oath, if you are using God’s name as a guarantee of your word. There is another reference however, which is found in Leviticus 19:12, which says, “You shall not swear falsely by My name, so as to profane the name of your God; I am the LORD. So out of these two commands the Pharisees had extracted their teaching which was “YOU SHALL NOT MAKE FALSE VOWS, BUT SHALL FULFILL YOUR VOWS TO THE LORD.”
So what had evolved out of this teaching of the Pharisees was that they supposed that as long as they did not swear by the Lord, they could still swear, but swear by things of less importance. They had reduced the law of God to just the matter of perjury. As long as you didn’t perjure yourself, then you were fine. They could swear by heaven, or by the temple, or anything that they thought gave their word weightiness. But the other aspect of this practice, was that they attributed more weight to one oath above another. If they swore by the temple, then that was not really binding. If you swore by the altar in the temple it was not binding, but if you swore by the sacrifice on the altar then you were absolutely bound. And so out of this interpretation of the law they had come up with a sliding scale in regards to truthfulness and making oaths.
Now how did the Lord contrast the correct teaching of the law? Notice He says, “but I say to you.” He is the authority, He is the law giver. And He says, “But I say to you, make no oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is the footstool of His feet, or by Jerusalem, for it is THE CITY OF THE GREAT KING. "Nor shall you make an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. "But let your statement be, 'Yes, yes' [or] 'No, no'; anything beyond these is of evil.”
Some people have taken this injunction of the Lord quite legalistically to the point that they do not feel that they can take an oath at all. For instance, in a court of law they cannot make an oath. But if we examine the Bible, we find many examples in which oaths were taken and there was no rebuke from the Lord. For instance, Abraham extracted an oath from his servant when he went to find Isaac a wife. Jacob extracted an oath from Joseph, and Joseph from his brothers. Jonathan asked an oath from David.
One of the best examples is one which we looked at last Wednesday in our Bible study. The Gibeonites came to the nation of Israel under false pretenses, having disguised themselves as coming from a far country because they knew that God had prohibited the Jews from making alliances with the Canaanites. So they came under disguise and after hearing them out, the Israelites decided to make an alliance with them. Joshua 9:15 says, “Joshua made peace with them and made a covenant with them, to let them live; and the leaders of the congregation swore an oath to them.”
When after three days they found out that they had been deceived, the Israelites still kept their oath. In fact, later when the Gibeonites were being attacked by the Canaanites, they sent word to Israel and asked for help. And Joshua and the leaders of Israel came to their defense because of not only their oath to them, but the spirit of the oath. And God blessed their commitment to that oath. They could have let them be attacked and perhaps gotten the burden of them off their backs and been free from the oath. But because they understood the principle behind the oath, they went to their defense.
There are New Testament examples of oaths as well. It might be argued that Jesus responded to an oath by answering the high priest at His trial. He responded when He was adjured by God to answer whether or not He was the Christ. He did not rebuke the high priest, but He answered him in the affirmative. And Paul on a couple of occasions gave an oath, in Romans 9:1 he says, “I speak the truth in Christ, I lie not.” And again in 2 Cor. 1:23, “ I call God to witness for my soul…”
Another example is given in Hebrews 6:16, this time speaking of God HImself taking an oath. “In the same way God, desiring even more to show to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of His purpose, interposed with an oath, 18 so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us.”
The conclusion that we can draw from this is that oath taking should be restricted, realizing that all oaths are binding, all promises are binding, and that while the need for oaths should be rare, there are times when a solemn oath is not only legitimate, but lends an authority which nothing else can give. And Jesus clearly teaches that oaths that are given in such a way that they are not intended to be binding, are really a form of lying. He teaches that speaking the truth is always a solemn matter and a necessity before men and God.
One of the greatest tragedies in modern society is the breaking of oaths in regards to marriage. As I said at the beginning of the message, the law of divorce is closely related to the law of oaths, and I believe the Lord deliberately placed them next to one another in His message. Marriage is a sacred covenant between God and a man and woman. And the fact that people today so casually break these oaths is a matter of grave concern to God, and it has grave repercussions to His people. I gave the Gibeonites as an example while ago of a people who came under false pretenses and made a covenant with Israel. Israel could have tried to use the excuse that they had made a mistake in making a covenant with them. They could have used the excuse that it was made under false pretenses. But two wrongs do not make a right. Even thought that was true, they still considered their oath as binding, even to the point of going to war to keep not just the letter of the oath, but the spirit of the oath.
And God gave the Israelites a great victory because they kept their word. God puts a high value on keeping oaths, and He will hold us accountable when we break them. Many years after this event, King Saul acted unfaithfully towards the Gibeonites. He had put some of them to death in his zeal for Israel. Though his zeal for Israel was a good thing, yet God punished Israel for Saul breaking their oath to them to protect them. It happened many years later after Saul’s death, during the reign of King David. God sent a famine in the land, and it lasted for three years. David finally came to God and asked why He was sending a famine upon them. And God answered in 2Samuel 21:1"It is for Saul and his bloody house, because he put the Gibeonites to death.”
The point I want to make is this. The fact that you may have broken your vows, whatever they may be, might have resulted in you having a famine in your life. David had to go to the Gibeonites and make things right with them. It wasn’t an easy thing to do. It required a great sacrifice to set things right. And that might be what God requires of you concerning your vows. Some things you cannot undo. But you can still repent and try to make things right.
Listen, if you are a Christian today then you are the children of God, citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven. If we have been born again then we have become partakers of His divine nature. We are to conduct ourselves with fear on the earth, lest we sully the name of Christ. Peter said in 1Peter 1:17-19 “If you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each one's work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay [on earth;] knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, [the blood] of Christ.”
God sees our hearts, He hears every word we speak, every promise we make. He witnesses every action that we do. Let us be obedient even as Christ was obedient, let us love even as God loves, and let our conversation be true even as God is true. Praise God that He keeps His promises. Thank God that He will never divorce us. Thank God that we can trust in His word and His enduring love for us.
Listen, the law was given to be a tutor to show us our sinfulness and our need of a Savior. I urge you today, if you have not been born again, to confess your sin to the Lord, and repent, and believe in Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord, that you might become one with Christ and receive His Spirit within you. Today is the acceptable day of salvation. The Lord has paid the price for your sin, and He extends His invitation to enter into His kingdom. I pray that you will accept Him and trust Him as your Savior today.
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