Understanding Marriage, Divorce, and Singleness in Christ
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"Corinth was a very corrupt city. It was corrupt because of the worship that was involved in the city. The city had two really, really big temples there. Both of them were to pagan gods. One was Tobaccus, the god of wine. And the way they worshiped was interesting. They were to pagan gods and drunken orgies." [00:27:08]
"And then there was the god Diana that was the goddess of love. And there were over a thousand prostitutes, both male and female, in the temple worship there in Corinth. And so when Paul came to the city of Corinth and started the first Baptist church there, and when he started the first church, the first Christian congregation there, he established it on the ground. The bedrock of the Christian faith. But understanding the people that were being saved were coming from a very primitive and a very vile and a very terrible background." [00:27:30]
"So they came from the worship of Bacchus, the god of wine, who, when they worshiped, it was a drunken orgy. Or when they went to the temple of Diana, they went down and they paid for temple prostitutes, both male and female. So you see, when they come to Christ, they've got a lot of baggage. Along with that, there was slavery in the city. Along with that, there was a hierarchy of those who owned the slaves. They could do with the slaves what they wanted to. And you can imagine where that went." [00:28:10]
"In the city of Corinth, and in the culture of the day, there were three kinds of marriages. Number one, there was the common law marriage. There was that marriage where if they lived together for a year, they were considered in the community and by the government as man and woman. By the way, people are not aware of that in the state of Alabama. If you live with somebody for a year, you are considered by the state of Alabama to be married." [00:28:49]
"Now, Moses wrote, a bill of divorcement. And we're going to learn why in just a minute. But do you understand, we're just a few books over in the Bible. And man has already messed up God's plan. And when man gets involved, when we as human beings get involved in God's plan, a lot of times we mess that plan up. I was just thinking about this. He had 60 years." [00:39:04]
"Malachi, the prophet, reminds us this. For the Lord, the God of Israel said, I hate the putting of what? Putting away. I hate divorce, is what God says. That's what he read. The prophet, the very last book of the Old Testament, the Bible says that the prophet says about God's nature, although we're getting to the end of the Old Testament, God has not changed his mind." [00:39:38]
"Paul evidently did not because we believe that Paul was married and most likely his wife, he was a member of the Sanhedrin, and so he had to be married, one of the 70 rulers of Israel. He had to be married. That was a rule. And so since he was a ruler of the Sanhedrin, one of two things happened. His wife died or his wife divorced him." [00:47:47]
"Much of the writings in the first century says that his wife left after he became Christian because she lost the relationship of the man who was on the Sanhedrin. Now, it's good for a man not to have to have the physical relationship, but if you have the physical relationship, if you have to have the physical relationship, you get married to avoid sexual sins." [00:48:06]
"Now, the overriding principle is this. It's better to marry than to burn. Watch this. So what happens if I'm divorced and I'm the guilty person and I'm the one that sinned? And we have some folks in the room that way. Psalm 86 .5 says, For thou, O Lord, art good and ready to forgive." [01:06:21]
"And plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon him. All you can do is throw yourself on the mercy of God and his goodness and say, God forgive me. Watch this. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. All unrighteousness but being unfaithful. Is that what that says?" [01:06:41]
"Don't let your past define who you are. You determine I'm going to live for God. If people won't let you, you just listen. Here's my advice. If you're divorced, go through every door that God opens. Don't push any doors open. You go through every door of service that God opens, you will absolutely be amazed. We serve a God that's ready, willing, and able to forgive. Do you know what?" [01:10:39]
"If we just started talking about the people in the Bible who had really terrible relationships issues that ended in divorce or multiple marriages, we'd have a list of the who's who in Hebrews chapter 11. Did you know that? That's who we'd have. We'd have the Hebrews chapter 11 faithful. Don't let the devil count you out because of your spouse's failure or your own failure. Let's stand together for prayer." [01:11:08]
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"And then there was the god Diana that was the goddess of love. And there were over a thousand prostitutes, both male and female, in the temple worship there in Corinth. And so when Paul came to the city of Corinth and started the first Baptist church there, and when he started the first church, the first Christian congregation there, he established it on the ground. The bedrock of the Christian faith. But understanding the people that were being saved were coming from a very primitive and a very vile and a very terrible background." [00:27:30]
"So they came from the worship of Bacchus, the god of wine, who, when they worshiped, it was a drunken orgy. Or when they went to the temple of Diana, they went down and they paid for temple prostitutes, both male and female. So you see, when they come to Christ, they've got a lot of baggage. Along with that, there was slavery in the city. Along with that, there was a hierarchy of those who owned the slaves. They could do with the slaves what they wanted to. And you can imagine where that went." [00:28:10]
"In the city of Corinth, and in the culture of the day, there were three kinds of marriages. Number one, there was the common law marriage. There was that marriage where if they lived together for a year, they were considered in the community and by the government as man and woman. By the way, people are not aware of that in the state of Alabama. If you live with somebody for a year, you are considered by the state of Alabama to be married." [00:28:49]
"Now, Moses wrote, a bill of divorcement. And we're going to learn why in just a minute. But do you understand, we're just a few books over in the Bible. And man has already messed up God's plan. And when man gets involved, when we as human beings get involved in God's plan, a lot of times we mess that plan up. I was just thinking about this. He had 60 years." [00:39:04]
"Malachi, the prophet, reminds us this. For the Lord, the God of Israel said, I hate the putting of what? Putting away. I hate divorce, is what God says. That's what he read. The prophet, the very last book of the Old Testament, the Bible says that the prophet says about God's nature, although we're getting to the end of the Old Testament, God has not changed his mind." [00:39:38]
"Paul evidently did not because we believe that Paul was married and most likely his wife, he was a member of the Sanhedrin, and so he had to be married, one of the 70 rulers of Israel. He had to be married. That was a rule. And so since he was a ruler of the Sanhedrin, one of two things happened. His wife died or his wife divorced him." [00:47:47]
"Much of the writings in the first century says that his wife left after he became Christian because she lost the relationship of the man who was on the Sanhedrin. Now, it's good for a man not to have to have the physical relationship, but if you have the physical relationship, if you have to have the physical relationship, you get married to avoid sexual sins." [00:48:06]
"Now, the overriding principle is this. It's better to marry than to burn. Watch this. So what happens if I'm divorced and I'm the guilty person and I'm the one that sinned? And we have some folks in the room that way. Psalm 86 .5 says, For thou, O Lord, art good and ready to forgive." [01:06:21]
"And plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon him. All you can do is throw yourself on the mercy of God and his goodness and say, God forgive me. Watch this. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. All unrighteousness but being unfaithful. Is that what that says?" [01:06:41]
"Don't let your past define who you are. You determine I'm going to live for God. If people won't let you, you just listen. Here's my advice. If you're divorced, go through every door that God opens. Don't push any doors open. You go through every door of service that God opens, you will absolutely be amazed. We serve a God that's ready, willing, and able to forgive. Do you know what?" [01:10:39]
"If we just started talking about the people in the Bible who had really terrible relationships issues that ended in divorce or multiple marriages, we'd have a list of the who's who in Hebrews chapter 11. Did you know that? That's who we'd have. We'd have the Hebrews chapter 11 faithful. Don't let the devil count you out because of your spouse's failure or your own failure. Let's stand together for prayer." [01:11:08]
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