In the sermon 'What God Has Joined Together', Jason Dohm explores Matthew 19:1-6, emphasizing the sanctity and divine intention of marriage as established by God in Genesis. The sermon underscores how Jesus, when questioned by the Pharisees about divorce, redirects the conversation to focus on marriage, highlighting its original design as a union created by God. Dohm discusses the Pharisees' attempt to trap Jesus by asking about divorce, noting the two prevailing schools of thought at the time. Jesus' response points back to Genesis, emphasizing that marriage is a divine institution and should not be broken by man. The sermon further connects marriage to the gospel through Ephesians 5, where marriage is depicted as a sacred reflection of Christ's relationship with the church. This connection underscores the idea that the way marriage is conducted has profound implications on the understanding and representation of the gospel. Dohm encourages listeners to view marriage as a reflection of the gospel, urging them to uphold it as a sacred, lifelong union that glorifies God and expands His kingdom.

Our sermon text this morning is Matthew 19 verses 1 through 6. Let's go to Lord in prayer. Lord God we do just father just come to you. Father just just helpless. Lord of our of our position.

Lord knowing that you have provided for us in so great a way. Lord, you've given us everything. And finally, we come to you now, Lord, opening up our hearts and our minds and our souls, Lord, to hear Your word, Lord, the message that you've you have so graciously and faithfully provided for us. Lord, we lift up this time, Father, speak to us as we read your word, as we hear your messenger, Lord. Father, as your trumpeter blows this morning, Lord, let us let us hear your word and act and respond.

Father we love you, we thank you, we pray all this in Jesus name. Amen. Now it came to pass when Jesus had finished these sayings that he departed from Galilee and came to the region of Judah Beyond the Jordan and great multitudes followed him and he healed them there The Pharisees also came to him testing him and saying to him Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason? And he answered and said to them, Have you not read, He who made them at the beginning made them male and female? And he 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 then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, let not man separate." In 2 Timothy chapter 1, a grandmother is named. Her name is Lois. And then a mother is named. Her name is Eunice.

And it's said there in 2 Timothy 1 that they were women of genuine faith. They were faithful women in the true sense of the word, in that their faith was in Almighty God and in Jesus Christ His Son. And a couple of chapters later in 2nd Timothy 3, we learn that these women imparted the Scriptures to a little boy named Timothy. So they had the deposit and they imparted the deposit to Timothy. 2 Timothy chapter 3, I believe that verse 15 says, and that from childhood you have known the holy scriptures which are able to make you wise for salvation.

So they had genuine faith and they just kept passing it. Lois passed it to Eunice and they both together labored to pass it to Timothy and Timothy became a mighty man in Paul's ministry. I just want to take a minute to give public thanks for the mothers that we have in the room. As I think through the mothers that are here, it's such a devoted group of mothers, not devoted to their children, but devoted to the Lord. And that has all sorts of outpourings and blessings as husbands of you and as your children.

And so it's right. It is good to give thanks for that. You know, I'm sure you're like everybody else in the room. I'm sure the mothers from an insider's point of view, you know your weaknesses. You wish you'd do better here and here.

But from an outsider's point of view, I just want to say you're exemplary. You're a blessing to your husbands. You're a blessing to your children. You have genuine faith. And you are laboring to pass that to your children.

Proverbs 31 is about the Faithful woman, the godly woman. And it ends this way, Proverbs 21, 28-31. Her children rise up and call her blessed. Her husband also, and he praises her. Many daughters have done well, but you excel them all.

That's what the children of the godly woman and the husband of the godly woman say. Many daughters have done well, but you excel them all." That's what the children of the godly woman and the husband of the godly woman say. Many daughters have done well, but you excel them all. Charm is deceitful, Beauty is passing, but a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised. Give her the fruit of her hands, and let her own works praise her in the gates." Mothers, thank you so much for being faithful to the Lord and for laboring to be a blessing to us and to impart that to our children.

The fruit of your hands should, you should have the fruit of your hands. Thank you. We're in Matthew 19 today, verses 1 through 6. And this is about what God has joined together. This is a sermon about marriage, about God joining together.

And so we have a whole week just to revel in marriage and to give thanks to God that He has created this institution and then given it to us because He loves us, because He is blessing people through this institution that He's created. And He's joining people together for His glory. This comes on the heels of all of chapter 18, which was a single discourse. And we divided so the first verse of our text today says that when Jesus had finished these sayings, when Jesus had finished this discourse, finished preaching this sermon, then the things that we'll cover today happen. But all of this discourse, all of chapter 18, really was under the heading of greatness in the Kingdom.

Everything in the whole chapter is related to what it's like to be great in the kingdom of God. And all of it flies in the face of greatness in all the other institutions. It flies in the face of selfish ambition where you want something to be great, to look good, to be appreciated by men. And so Jesus was teaching us how to be great in His kingdom. Here's something wonderful about the chapter.

You can go for greatness by this definition. You don't have to worry about being too proud. You don't have to worry about advancing just your own agenda and being self-centered. But you can go for greatness as Jesus defines it in chapter 18 with all your heart and not worry about am I being sidetracked in self-centeredness. No, go for it.

Go for greatness as Jesus defines it in chapter 18 with all your heart and not worry about am I being sidetracked in self-centeredness. No, go for it. Go for greatness as Jesus defines it in chapter 18 because it has you being humble, totally dependent on God, going the extra mile to gain your brother, it has you full of forgiveness because you understand the magnitude of the debt that has been completely wiped away through Jesus Christ and it just makes you humble and ready to be free with the things that you've been freely given. So the message coming out of chapter 18 is go for greatness. Go for it with all your heart.

And when we define it as Jesus defines it in chapter 18, we can go for it for greatness with all our hearts, with no guilt, with no reservation about whether we are leading a self-centered life because Jesus completely takes us away from that in the way that He defines greatness. Now for this week in chapter 19, the original plan was just to take 1 through 12 and do it all together and do it in a week and keep moving. One of these parts, though, of 1 through 12, there's a lot of controversy surrounding it. And that's the part on divorce and remarriage and whether it's ever lawful or not. And that absolutely must be fully developed because it's a hot topic.

And so because of that, we just felt like if we take 1 through 12, we'll have to devote the amount of time it will take to fully develop divorce and remarriage. And we'll end up cheating the vision of marriage that God puts in front of us today. And we'll end up cheating singleness for the sake of the kingdom. So we've split it in three. And actually There's been some rumblings about splitting it up more than that.

So we'll have to see whether it ends up being three or not. So let's pray and then let's go to our text. Our Father, please preside over this time. Please be God Almighty over this time, Helping the speaker, helping the hearers, helping the words be so faithful and accurate and true to the text, and helpful according to your word. And, O God, please help the hearers.

Please help the ground of hearts to be plowed up ready, soft, prepared for the seed. And may there be a watering of the seed and may there be a mighty increase from Your Word, fruitfulness. We pray for the work of the Holy Spirit to come and be completely unfettered among us that You would come and do all that is in Your heart to do among us today. In Jesus' name, Amen. So verses 1 and 2, Jesus begins His journey to Jerusalem.

And this is really significant because The whole record of his ministry that Matthew has set before us, all of it has been in Galilee. The last time we saw Judea was in chapters 3 when he was baptized and chapters 4 where he was tempted in the desert. And everything since the very beginning of his public ministry has all been in Galilee, has all been to the north of Judea, in his homeland, Nazareth, Capernaum, Bethsaida. He's been operating completely in and around Galilee. And so this is a significant shift in a couple of ways.

One, just the geography is shifting for the first time. And he's going to be in Israel central. He is going to be in the capital. He is going to Jerusalem. But he is going to actually fulfill what he came to earth for.

So This really begins Jesus' march to the crucifixion where he is going to go and lay down his life to purchase a people. Something really significant is happening here in verses 1 and 2. Everything has been in Galilee, and now he is going to Jerusalem for a very specific purpose, and that is to give his life as a ransom for many. Here is what MacArthur says about the geography that is being described here in verse 1. Perea was the name of the region just east of the Jordan River.

It was not technically part of Judea, but the territory ruled by Herod the Great had included both regions. And it was commonly referred in this way. In other words, when you look at the map and you see that Jesus is going from Galilee to Judea, but then it says it's on the other side of the Jordan. If you look in your book of maps, you're going to find that when you go to the other side of the Jordan, it's Peria. So MacArthur is just explaining that.

Because that was the entire region where Herod the Great had rulership. The whole region, even where Jesus is going on the other side of the Jordan, is commonly referred to being part of Judea in that day. So Jesus is there. He's on the other side of the Jordan. And He's very near actually where He was baptizing.

This is right where John the Baptist was receiving people and baptizing. Huge multitudes of people. So we're right back here in this same region. And When we read the first two verses we say this is just the same old wonderful story. This is just what we've been seeing throughout Jesus' public ministry.

Multitudes, Large crowds are gathering to Jesus and He is healing them. He is just full of mercy among the crowds that are gathering together. And in Mark 10, which we are not going to spend hardly any time in Mark 10 today, but next week We are going to spend a lot of time in Mark 10 because it is our parallel passage in Mark. It talks about the same events. And in Mark 10 it says that he was teaching.

So this is just what we have seen. Large crowds gathering to Jesus and he is full of acts of mercy. He is healing them and he is teaching them. And this is exactly what's happening in a new setting. One of the things that we learn here is that there's this broad-based awareness of Jesus and what He's been doing.

Because He changes geography, but the circumstances don't change. Large multitudes, large crowds of people are still gathering to Him even though He's going where He hasn't really been before in his public ministry. Listen to Matthew 4.25. So this is right at the beginning of his public ministry in Matthew 4.25. Great multitudes followed him from Galilee and from Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond the Jordan.

And we've seen a couple of summary verses just like that between Matthew 4 and now that said essentially the same thing which is people have been gathering from all over. These aren't just, These haven't just been crowds of people exclusively from Galilee, but people have been coming from Decapolis, which was outside of Galilee, from Syria, which is outside of Galilee, from Judea, which is outside of Galilee, from Jerusalem. We've seen Pharisees that have been sent from Jerusalem to question Jesus. And so Jesus' fame has certainly not been isolated to Galilee, but people have been watching Him from afar. So when Jesus comes into Judea, The crowds continue to gather.

Now look at verse 3. The Pharisees also came to him along with the crowds, testing him and saying to him, is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason? The Pharisees test Jesus with a question. They are not coming to learn from Jesus. The multitudes are coming to be healed and they are coming to be taught.

The Pharisees aren't coming to be taught. The Pharisees are coming to lay the trap and to test Jesus and to trap Him if they can. And this is nothing new. We've been seeing the Pharisees about every other chapter. They come and they are laying the trap for Jesus.

There's a thousand things to love about Jesus in the Gospels. But one of those things is that the wisest that the world have to offer keep coming to Jesus and keep laying the trap and he keeps completely laying them low. He keeps completely confounding them. We're going to see this over the next several weeks. We're going to see this play out before our eyes for the, I don't know, it's probably the fourth or fifth time in Matthew.

But the wisest can throw their best at Jesus Christ, Bring all the worldly wisdom you can in opposition to Jesus Christ, and you'll find that you're laid low. Because Jesus is always about 100 steps ahead. And that's what we find again in Matthew 19. Here's the question. Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason?

And almost all of the best translations capture the same sense in the verse. And here's the sense. Can you divorce, King James Version renders it for every cause. Can you divorce for every cause? NASB renders it this way.

Can you divorce quote for any reason at all? NIV renders it this way. Can you divorce, quote, for any and every reason? And that's coming from the Greek word that just means some of all types. Can you divorce for a reason of all types?

Just lots of categories of reasons for legitimate divorce. Is that what's allowed? Can you just indiscriminately divorce? Now there are two things that are going on here. At least two things.

There might be more. Here are the two that I noticed. First is that there is a dust up among the Pharisees. There's two camps among the Pharisees that are at odds with each other. Now listen to this from the Mishnah.

The school of Shammai says, Shammai was a prominent Hebrew rabbi and he had a school of thought, a school of disciples, a school of followers. So the school of Shema says, a man may not divorce his wife unless he has found unchastity in her. And so you've got a school of thought, a school of disciples from this famous rabbi, Rabbi Shammai, and really narrow basis for divorce. Only unchastity. That's the school of Shammai.

And then the school of Hillel says he may divorce her even if she spoiled a dish for him. So you've got another famous rabbi, Rabbi Hillel, who was actually the grandfather of Gamaliel. You'll remember that Paul studied under Gamaliel. And so, Rabbi Hillel was Gamaliel's grandfather. So there's a line of famous teachers here, stemming from Rabbi Hillel.

And he's got a group of disciples too. And they have a very different view of divorce. She spoils your meal, you give her a certificate of divorce and send her on her way until she learns how to cook, I guess. But just down to that level, one of his followers, one of Rabbi Hillel's followers, Rabbi Akiba says he may divorce her even when he found another fairer than she. So if you just find one prettier, if you can find a woman prettier, then you can divorce for that reason.

So that comes out of this branch, the school of thought of Rabbi Hillel. And so there are two pharisaical camps. And they're at odds with each other. And the Pharisees don't really care which one Jesus is in, but they want to draw him into the fray, knowing that a bunch of people will be alienated no matter which way he answers. And so they simply want to draw Jesus into the controversy.

And Jesus is happy to jump in And we'll find that he's actually not perfectly aligned with either one of these. Jesus has his own thoughts. And as the lawgiver and the perfect law interpreter, we want to fall in right behind Jesus and his thoughts. But the Pharisees are coming and they're drawing him into the fight. They want him in the fight so a group of people is going to be alienated by Jesus with his answer.

Here is one of the things I want to say just from this. It is an implication of this. Watch out for people who have an overwhelming appetite for controversy. Just watch out for them. When people are always veering into controversy, now we have to teach the whole counsel of God.

We need to be present in the controversies of the day. But when people love controversy, when all they want to talk about is controversy, watch out. That is not the spirit of Jesus Christ. To always want to be in controversy. What about the beauty of the Kingdom of God.

Can we spend some time on the beauty of the cross and the work of the cross and not spend every waking moment trying to parse out the last nuance of a controversy? The Spirit of Jesus Christ would have us prioritizing the things that he prioritizes. And a lot of that is just the beauty and greatness of the king and his kingdom. So that's one thing that's happened. There are two camps and men are trying to draw Jesus into the controversy.

That's the first thing. The second thing is this. In Matthew 14, 4, John the Baptist has said to Herod, it is not lawful for you to have her. Now he's speaking about his wife Herodias, who used to be his brother's wife. And John the Baptist said, It's not lawful that she divorced your brother and she married you.

And it cost John the Baptist his head. And to me, undoubtedly, one of the things that is happening here is the Pharisees would love to get Jesus mixed up in that. They would love to have a repeat of that. Yeah, Here is my opinion on divorce. And by the way, Herod, it is not lawful for you to have her.

Geographically, they are about 5 to 10 miles away from Machaerus, which is the palace fortress where Herod lives. They are closer than Jesus has been to where Herod is in all of his public ministry. They are right here on the doorstep of Herod's palace. And here come the Pharisees with a question. Is it lawful to divorce for just any reason?

I do not think that is coincidental. John the Baptist has lost his head for what he said about divorce and remarriage. And I think the Pharisees would love to have a sequel to that movie. Now moving into the meat of the text, which is Jesus' response to this question in verses 4-6. So let's read verses 4-6 and then speak of them.

And he answered and said to them, Have you not read that he who made them at 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 then they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate." Jesus in these verses teaches from the first occurrence in marriage. It's the very first time marriage is mentioned. So Jesus is fielding a question and He's going to the first occurrence in the Bible.

The first occurrence in the Bible is always really significant. The first time things show up in the Bible, the design of God is apparent. And so Jesus takes the questioners back to where the design and intent of God in marriage is apparent. And that's why Genesis is so foundational and so important. It's because in Genesis we have first occurrence after first occurrence after first occurrence after first occurrence.

If we're ever to know what the mind of God is, then we need to understand the first time something is mentioned and what God says about it. The Pharisees want to talk about divorce. Jesus wants to talk about marriage. So Jesus doesn't accept the ground that has been laid for the discussion. And he wants to have the discussion on completely different grounds.

The ground that had been laid by the question was, what do you think about divorce? Can you do it for any reason? And Jesus completely rejects the grounds and he says no, this discussion is to be had over here on the ground of marriage. You want to talk about divorce, I want to talk about marriage. And he's saying that the question starts in the wrong place.

The question starts in the wrong place. A discussion can't begin at the point of total breakdown, at the point of disaster recovery. That's not where teaching on anything in any category should begin. In talking about when failures have already happened, sin has already entered in and we're in disaster recovery mode. Wrong place to begin the discussion.

This reminds me so much of what we've seen over the last couple of months. Several of us went up to Washington D.C. For the Reason Rally and were engaging with atheists there. Several of us last weekend were in Out Rally, which was an event hosted by homosexuals in downtown Rally. At both of these events, engaging with atheists, engaging with homosexuals at OutRaleigh, these people wanted to start, every one of them wanted to start with individual human rights.

That's where they want to begin the discussion. And when you do that, when you accept having a discussion, starting there, having the discussion based on those grounds, then you've already accepted the creation of a man-centered universe. Where the individual is at the center of it, and you're going to discuss how everything ought to relate to this man, this center of the universe. And so in conversation after conversation after conversation, you just have to say, no, we have to back up. We have to back up to did you make yourself?

Did you make yourself? You're the center of the universe? Okay, did you make yourself? Oh, I didn't make myself either. Can we talk about who made you and what rights come along with being the creator of something?

And so the ground for the discussion needed to shift. You can't talk about whether gay marriage should be, is responsible or irresponsible should be or should not be until you've established things that are way upstream from that. And this is exactly what Jesus is doing. He's saying, you see how far downstream we are? We can't start this discussion here.

We need to go a mile upstream and see what God has done. What is the mind of God on these things? So Jesus does back up. Jesus does go a mile upstream. Furthermore, he accuses the Pharisees of ignorance.

They had to have liked the way Jesus began his answer. Have you not read? Have you boys read Genesis? Ever? Have you not read Genesis?

You have to just put yourself in the mind of a Pharisee and say, how would that ring in your ears when you've spent your life pouring over these things, memorizing these things, and then Jesus comes on the scene and says, have you never read Genesis? Have you never read the first book in the Bible? Ever? And He's already done this. In chapter 12, the controversy was over the Sabbath.

They are drawing him into a controversy and they are saying that it's unlawful for you to walk through the grain fields on the Sabbath and to eat. And Jesus started his response the same way. Have you not read what David did? Have you guys never heard of King David? Have you not read what David did?

And then a few verses later, he's back to it. And he's saying, have you not read that in the temple the priests profane the Sabbath, and yet are blameless. Have you ever read about the temple guys? Have you ever read about David and he's doing the same thing here? And he's just throwing the whole bucket of water, the whole bucket of cold water in the face to say, wake up, you guys are so far off the beaten trail with your questions.

That it's like you've never read Genesis, it's like you've never read about King David, it's like you've never read about the temple. And it's a full frontal counter attack on the question they've given. Haven't you guys read this? So, let's go to Genesis 1 and 2 where the first occurrence of marriage is. Genesis 1 and 2, Turn to your Bibles here.

So he quotes two verses. He quotes a verse out of chapter 1, Genesis 1, 27, male and female. And then he quotes a verse out of chapter 2. Genesis chapter 2 verse 24, leaving and cleaving and becoming one flesh. So We see two things here that Jesus is establishing.

The first thing in chapter one is that God is creator. And secondly, He is the creator of man in chapter one. And then in chapter two, we see that He is the creator of marriage. So in both instances, God is saying, I made this. I made you and I made the institution that you are asking the question about.

Now First, in Genesis chapter 1, Jesus quotes verse 27, but we're going to set it in its context. So let's read chapter 1 starting in verse 26, extending through 28. Genesis 1, 26. Then God said, Let us make man in our image according to our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.

So God created man in his own image. In the image of God, he created him. Male and female, he created them. Then God blessed them. And God said to them, be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it, have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.

Genesis 1, 26-28 establishes that God Himself and only God is the creator of every man, woman, child that has ever lived. God has created them all and He has put an imprint on them. He has made all the men, women, and children in his image, in his likeness. And so there's a likeness of God that has been imprinted on these people that he has made and that he has made them male and female. It only says that here.

There is the creation and account of the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the creeping things, the cattle, all these categories of creation. And did he create them all male and female? Yes. Does he ever mention it in any of the other categories? No.

Only here with mankind does God say, I created them male and female. That's significant. And Jesus is pointing to the fact that it's significant by quoting male and female in Matthew 19. And we get the bigger picture that he's created them because he's giving them a mission for his glory. That's why he made mankind.

That's why he made men and women. He's setting them on a mission for his glory. And it's a mission to fill the earth, to multiply, and to subdue it, to have dominion over this earth that he created for the glory of God, to expand the borders of his kingdom, and to take over plots of ground and add them into His Kingdom through the dominion of the people that He's created. Here's the point out of Genesis 1. We are God's idea.

We are God's creation. And it was God's idea to make male and female. He didn't have to do that, but he wanted to do that. He thought it was a good idea to do that. And in that, he made us fit for marriage.

He made a head and a helper, and he made them different and complimentary and he made them fit for marriage in making them male and female. And so now marriage is in its context. Marriage just isn't a convenient arrangement that we engage in because it's good for the finances and I like her. And it's not for the secondary reasons that are all valid, but the primary reason is that God is putting them into a mission for His glory, for the expansion of His Kingdom. This is what we have in Genesis 1.

Mankind, Men and women, male and female, is God's idea and God's creation. Now to chapter 2. And again, Jesus quotes verse 24, but we are going to set it in a larger context. So we will begin in Genesis 2 verse 18. And the Lord God said, by the way, this is a repeat of what has happened when He created man, but with more detail in chapter 2.

2.18 And the Lord God said, It is not good that man should be alone. I will make him a helper comparable to him. Out of the ground, the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. Whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name. So Adam gave names to all the cattle, to the birds of the air, to every beast of the field, But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him.

And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept, and he took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh in its place. Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from the man, He made into a woman and He brought her to the man. And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man. Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh." And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and they were not ashamed.

So in Genesis 1 we have that man is God's idea. Man is God's creation. In Genesis 2, marriage is God's idea. Marriage is God's creation. And so it's not an institution fought up in the brain of man, it's an institution actually given to us by God to accomplish His own particular purposes.

God made marriage and He actually intended it to be the predominant state, the normative state. Most people, when they grow into adulthood, are going to get married. And that is by the design of God. It's not the exclusive state. And in two weeks we'll be talking about Singleness for the sake of the kingdom.

But most people are not going to be in that state. Most people are going to come into the institution that God has given us of marriage. We are here right here in this text. It is not good that a man should be alone. I will make him a helper comparable to him." And that's the state most people are going to find themselves in.

Because we'll find out what God already proclaimed that it's not good for a man to be alone. And that will be the normative state. Then in Genesis 2, we see that there is a beginning state, which is this. You are born, you are a little baby, you are not married as a little baby. You have parents, you have a father and a mother, and you are part of a household.

But that is just the beginning state. That is not the end state. That is the beginning state. And that at some point, for most people, a man is going to leave his father and his mother, he's going to leave that household that God put him in, and he is going to cleave, he is going to be joined to his wife. And so the beginning state is a baby in a home and the end state is a leaving of that, Leaving a father and a mother, being joined to, cleaving to a wife.

And God describes this in a very interesting way. He says it's one flesh. When a man leaves his father and mother and he is joined to his wife, it actually creates not two people but one person in a sense, one flesh. And Jesus is actually going to come back to that In Matthew 19, our text for today, it says it's not two, it's one. They cease to be two separate individuals and they become a household, an entity for the glory of God.

The Greek, so Matthew 19 is not in Hebrew. Matthew 19 is in Greek. And so, when Jesus says this and when Matthew records what Jesus has said, it's not being quoted in the Hebrew, which Genesis is in the Hebrew. So they had to pick a Greek word. What's the most like joined to?

What's the most like cleave? What's the most like this Hebrew word that's used in Genesis 1? And in Greek, the word most like it, the word that it's translated from the Hebrew into the Greek is glued together. Glued together. You leave your father and your mother, and you're glued together with that woman.

Stuck. You're stuck. For the glory of God, you're stuck together. That doesn't sound right, does it? You're stuck.

You're just stuck. That's true. You are stuck. For the glory of God, you're glued together. That's the Greek word that was chosen.

The closest Greek word to what the Hebrew means. And so now in Genesis 1 we know that man was God's idea, Male and female was God's idea. Genesis 2, we learned that marriage is God's idea. And so therefore, marriage has now been defined. We might need to amend the Constitution to line up with that and agree with that.

But man doesn't get a vote on what marriage is. God gets the vote on what marriage is. And it's A man, his wife singular, Genesis 2. A man, his wife singular, one flesh for life, marriage. God just defined it for you.

God could have taken two ribs, made two women. Have multiple wives or have a backup plan. It's got more than one rib. God didn't even need the rib. God didn't have to make one man or one woman, but this is a first occurrence.

This is incredibly significant that God makes one man and one woman and brings them together and then says, for this cause, therefore, a man will leave his father and mother and be joined and cling to his wife and the two shall become one flesh." God didn't need a separate gender. God could have just made one gender. Didn't. Didn't. It Wasn't a helper, comparable.

Two genders. But one of each gender being joined together. This is the purpose of God expressed in the first occurrence. Jesus, when he wants to teach on marriage, goes to the first occurrence. He just says, this is the heart of God, boys.

Have you not read the heart of God on the matter of marriage. It's right here. When Jesus made man, when Jesus made woman, when Jesus made marriage, He told you what the heart of God for marriage is. So Jesus takes him to Genesis where God is making things. He's making male, he's making female, he's making marriage.

And he's making it so evident, Jesus is making it so evident that God has a claim on us. Did you make yourself? Did you invent marriage? Al Gore invented the internet. Did you invent marriage?

Because He made us, because He made marriage, He's Lord. He's King. You don't want your knee to bow to Jesus too bad. You might have a say in timing. You have no say whether your knee will bow.

He is Lord. He's not running for king. He is king. Your knee will bow. He has a claim on you.

And so what he wants must be paramount and he told us what he wants in Genesis. He told us what he wants. And then Jesus just drives it home in Matthew 19. Therefore, what God has joined together, let no man separate." God joined together, that's what he wanted. That's what Genesis 1 and 2 proves, that God wanted a joining together.

And if God wants it, let not man separate. That's the punchline. That's the punchline of the whole text. Whatever God wants is what should happen. Whatever God wants is what should happen.

Not what you want, or what you want, or what I want, or what you want, what God wants. He is Lord. He is King. And therefore when God joins together, Men should not separate. Let no man separate.

In the first occurrence back during Genesis, we have the positive law. A positive law. Not a prohibition, but not telling you what you shouldn't do, but telling you what you should do. Man, at some point, at the time God ordains, leave your mother and father and cleave to your wife. That's what you should do.

That's what a positive law is. It tells you what you should do. God has told most men that they ought to leave their mother and father at the appointed time and cleave to their wife. We have the mind of God on the matter, and now it's ours to conform to His mind. When God shares His mind with His people, it's just ours to conform ourselves with Him, To learn to love the things that He loves, to learn to hate the things that He hates.

God loves marriage. God hates divorce. We're coming to Malachi 2 next week. We'll go ahead and preview Malachi 2. God loves marriage.

It's His holy institution. God hates divorce. So we have to love marriage. So we have to hate divorce so that we'll be conforming ourselves to what God loves and what God hates. Listen to the Expositor's Bible commentary.

If God has joined them together according to the structure of His own creation, Divorce is not only unnatural, but rebellion against God. If God made it that way, and God joined together, then the breaking of it isn't just unnatural. It's actually rebellion against God. And to fold in some language from next week, it's hard-hearted rebellion against God. Maybe that doesn't need to be said, but that's what Jesus says it is.

It's because of the hardness of your hearts. Now, there are two things nowhere in the text, but they are incredibly important to understanding the text. And they are both related to the identity of Jesus Christ. And if you lose sight of these two things about the identity of Jesus Christ, even though they are not in the text, you miss so much of what is in the text. Here is the first thing.

Jesus isn't teaching about His creation as a detached intellectual. Jesus isn't teaching about the creation of man or of marriage as a detached intellectual. Now let us have our lesson upon marriage. This is not Jesus or about man and the making of man. Jesus created man.

It's the creator lecturing on creation. When Jesus speaks of Genesis 1, Jesus was there in Genesis 1. When he speaks about man being created, marriage being created, he created man. He created marriage. Genesis 1, let us make man in our image.

Jesus, the Holy Spirit, God the Father, there in plurality deciding what would happen and then executing. Listen to Paul in Colossians 1, verses 15 and 16. The Apostle Paul says, He, Jesus Christ, is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.

So we learn in Genesis 1 through the use of a plural reference, let us make God in our image. And He was there. He was creating. And then Paul tells us, all things created by Him, through Him, for Him. And then if we were to keep reading, that He may have the preeminence.

That He may be top dog on every organization chart in the history of the world. The top Jesus Christ because He made it all. Jesus, when He speaks about the making of man, when He speaks about the making of marriage, could not possibly speak more authoritatively, because He is the author of all about which He is speaking. Secondly, Jesus isn't teaching about marriage as a detached intellectual. Let us now embark upon our lecture on marriage.

That's not what Jesus is doing. Jesus is the bridegroom. He's not some egghead giving a lecture on marriage. He's the bridegroom. And he's been just beginning to pull back the veil just a little bit.

Pulling back the curtain just so you can just see a glimpse. Listen to Matthew 9 verses 14 and 15. Then the disciples of John came to him saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast? And Jesus said to them, can the friends of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.

Life revolves around the bridegroom. Everything about life revolves around the bridegroom. Whether you should fast frequently or not during this period of time revolves around how are you related to the bridegroom. So Jesus began teaching this in verse 9. And He hasn't unfolded very much of it yet.

It's just a little peek, a little peek through a corner of the veil that's been lifted through the curtain that's been lifted for just a second. But Jesus Christ is announcing Himself as the Bridegroom. And what we have here is progressive revelation. Marriage was given to us in Genesis 1 and 2. And there's a lot about marriage through the Old Testament, but now the Messiah is here.

Now the Son of God is here. And He announces Himself as the bridegroom. He's got friends. And life ought to revolve around your association with the bridegroom. And there is a mystery that is being revealed.

Now this is Mystery in the New Testament sense. In a normal sense, maybe a mystery is something that we just can't fathom or we just can't understand because of the complexities. That's not how mystery is used in the New Testament at all. Mystery in the New Testament means that God has built something in and He's kept it hidden and He's going to reveal it at the appropriate time for His glory. He's been hiding something.

And for His glory, He's getting ready to spring what he's been hiding, what this is all about, and he'll receive praise on it. It's hidden on purpose. The mysteries of the New Testament are things that have been hidden on purpose So that in the fullness of time, when Jesus comes to fulfill the law and the prophets, He can just pull back the whole veil. In Matthew 9, He just gave you a little peek. Little peek through the curtain, through the veil.

He's getting ready to throw back the curtain and all those mysteries, all the things that have been hidden on purpose are going to be in full daylight for His glory because Jesus has come to fulfill the law and the prophets. Turn to Ephesians 5. We're going to end in Ephesians 5. Not because the disciples had any hope of understanding Ephesians 5 at this point in time, because again, he's just pulled back the curtain just a little bit. They never would have seen this, but we can see it.

So we're going to look at this text through the lens of Ephesians 5. Let's begin in verse 22. Ephesians 5.22. Now we are finding out why marriage. These Pharisees who came and asked the question knew that marriage had been given.

But Paul explains why marriage for the first time in total completeness in Ephesians 5 beginning in verse 22. Wives submit to your own husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, as Also Christ is the head of the church and he is the Savior of the body. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for her.

That he might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word. That he might present her to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. So husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church.

For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones." Now, the tie-ins to Genesis 1 are coming fast and furious as of verse 30, right where we've been in Genesis 1 and 2. Verse 30, For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother, and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This is a great mystery, But I speak concerning Christ and the church. There goes the curtain.

There goes the curtain. There goes the veil. The whole thing pulled back. Why marriage? As a sacred reflection of Christ and the church.

Why marriage? Because the gospel, because in the fullness of time, a groom would come and pay a tremendous price to pay for the bride, just the bride that he wanted. The bride that perfectly selected and he would pay the price to have this bride. Why marriage? That's why marriage.

Marriage equals gospel. So anytime now in the New Testament age, having the whole council of God with the cannon closed, anytime we hear marriage we think gospel. Anytime we think about our marriage we think about the gospel. Because Paul has told us what it is. Marriage equals Gospel.

That's why it's so important. Marriage is designed to be a sacred reflection, a sacred reflection of Jesus Christ and His Church. It's always and only been a shadow. When we think of shadows, we're thinking ceremonial law, we're thinking things that point forward to Christ, there's still a shadow. The ceremonial law is gone.

The sacrificial system is gone. There is still a shadow. It's your marriage. Jesus Christ and His Bride the church are the substance of that shadow. Which means when you mess with marriage, you mess with the gospel.

That's what makes this question so important Because messing with marriage messes with the Gospel. That's why redefining marriage is such a big deal. People can't understand why are you Christians so hung up on this? Why can't people just do what they want? Because when you mess with the definition of marriage, you're messing with the definition of the gospel.

And a perversion of marriage is a perversion of the gospel. And we can never, ever, ever, ever, ever allow that to happen, ever. That's why breaking marriage is such a big deal because it's saying something about the gospel. It has gospel implications. That's why How we conduct ourselves in our marriage is such a big deal.

Because it has gospel implications. Because God has given this as a shadow. You know what? One day we won't need even this shadow. Even this shadow will pass away.

There won't be any marriage in heaven, but for now marriage is very useful because we need some shadows of the gospel. We need some very hands-on, practical, nuts and bolts ways to understand the gospel. God has given us this shadow. It helps us to understand the gospel, but it means we ought to protect it. We ought to be so careful with how we conduct ourselves with our marriage, because to the extent that we warp the vision under the roof that God has given us, we are warping the Gospel.

So Jesus isn't teaching about marriage as a detached intellectual. He's teaching about marriage as the bridegroom, as the substance that this little shadow has always pointed to. It's always been shadow, and he's the substance, and he's on the scene to teach about his own institution that he loves. A few concluding remarks. Just a couple.

All things were created by Jesus Christ. All things were created through Jesus Christ. All things were created for Jesus Christ, our Lord. You were, and you were, and you were, And you were, and you were, and you were, and you were. And marriage was created by him, through him, for him.

And consequently, we're his, you're his, you belong to him. Your marriage is his. It's his institution and both parties to the marriage are his. And this obliterates the man-centered world. It comes around with the question, When can we get divorced?

Just obliterates the ground for the question, can we get divorced now? Can we get divorced now? Did Jesus make you? Is this Jesus' institution? Is that the right question?

Can we get divorced yet? It reminds me of last week. How many times do we have to forgive again? How many times? Are we at the number yet?

Wrong question. Wrong question. Man-centered world bringing forth these questions that we're seeing in these texts. We've got to get out of this world. We've got to come up.

We've got to come up where God is so we start asking the right questions. So the question is not, What is the edge of lawfulness when sin is running rampant? I'm translating their question. Jesus, what's the edge of lawfulness when sin is running rampant? This is not the question we should be asking.

The questions that we should be asking are, what is the mind of God on the matter? What's the mind of God? What would please the Lord? Isn't that always the question? What would please the Lord?

Not, where do I hit the line so I can finally get over the line? But what would please the Lord? We need to be training ourselves every day to think that way. Stop thinking the other way that has a pathetic little speck of dust man in the center of the universe. And come up where God is with a big view of the glory of an almighty God who's redeemed a people.

And start asking those questions. Lord, what would please you, since you've redeemed me, since you forgave my $6 billion debt, my 200, 000 year debt, what would please you? Finally, in the category of marriage, The mind of God has been given to us. What would please the Lord has been given to us. It's that a man would leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife for a lifetime.

But that's not enough. In other words, We're not going to put up the mission accomplished banner if we're just able to persevere with each other till death. Are we going to call that victory? We made it. We just didn't kill each other in this life.

Marriage is a sacred reflection of the gospel. That's victory. When our marriages begin to become conformed in a greater way to the gospel, to Christ's love for the church, to the church's submission to Christ, coming alongside Christ as a helper and fulfilling the mission that God has given us. When our marriages start to look like that, then we'll talk about hanging banners. Be that for the glory of God.

Be the man that leaves his father and mother and is glued on to that woman, that wife, for a lifetime, but not just for its own sake, but for the glory of God, for the expansion of His Kingdom, for filling the earth and subduing it, for having dominion, and expanding the boundaries for our king. That's what marriage is about. Be that for your children. Don't you dare put a perverted view of the gospel before the eyes of your children and teach them falsehoods about God and about Christ and how he relates with his church. How dare you?

Or the church and how the church should relate to Christ. How dare you? How dare I? For your neighbors, for your coworkers. Be this for your neighbors and your coworkers.

You know, they don't understand a lot, but they do understand a marriage that functions. They do understand a husband that will lay down his life for his wife. They do understand a wife who will submit to her husband when it's hard. We want just the right words to say so that people will be converted, just the right turn of phrase. How about a Christ-like, Gospel-like marriage?

How about we set aside the turn of phrase for a minute and live in our marriages like Christ towards His church and like the church ought to be towards Christ. God has given us a sacred reflection And we should cultivate this in our homes for His glory. Let's pray. Father, I thank You that You have made me, given me a life, and I thank You that You have made an institution that is such a blessing as a shadow of greater things still. How we need this shadow, But we need the substance a thousand times more.

I thank you that the day is coming where the last of the shadows will be swept away. And even marriage will have passed away except for one great and mighty marriage. And your betrothal to your people will be consummated and we'll be with you forever. How we long for the day, God, when we think of what it will be like to be without sin or any inclination to sin, any struggle with sin, to see you face to face as you are, to behold your beauty and your glory forever, and to be around the throne praising you and whatever else it is that we'll do in heaven. We long for the day.

We long for it. Come quickly, Lord Jesus. That just rings in our souls. Come quickly. Claim your bride.

Thank you for our text in Jesus' name, Amen.