Dealing with Marriage, Divorce, Remarriage and Celibacy•
A Sermon by Dr. Bob Griffin, Teaching Elder at Sovereign Grace Church
I. SUBJECT OF MARRIAGE/DIVORCE
A. QUESTION
1. EXCHANGE, 19:3a And Pharisees confronted Him with this test by asking,
2. EXAMINATION, 19:3b “Is it lawful to divorce one’s wife for any reason?”
B. ANSWER
1. EXPLANATION, 19:4 He responded, “Haven’t you read that the Creator from the beginning of time made them male and female”
2. EXAMPLE, 19:5a and said, ‘On this account a man shall leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife’
3. EXHIBIT, 19:5b-6a ‘and thus two become one flesh’? So they are no longer two but one flesh.
4. EXPECTATION, 19:6b ” Therefore, what God joined together, let not man separate.”
II. SUBJECT OF REMARRIAGE/DIVORCE
A. QUESTION
1. EXPESSION, 19:7 They said to Him, “Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away?”
2. EXPLOITATION
B. ANSWER
1. EXCESS, 19:8a He said to them, “In view of your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives”
2. EXTENSION, 19:8b “but from the beginning this was not the case”.
3. EXCEPTION, 19:9 And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for her sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery.”
III. SUBJECT OF MARRIAGE/CELIBACY
A. QUESTION
1. EXTRAPOLATION, 19:10 The disciples said to Him, “If such is the case of a man with his wife, it’s not profitable to marry!”
2. EXPOSITION
B. ANSWER
1. EXTENUATING, 19:11 But He said to them, “Not everyone can complete embrace this word, but only those to whom it is given.
2. EXTREME, 19:12a For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven.
3. EXHORTATION, 19:12b Let the one able to receive this embrace it.”