Synoptic Gospels - Matthew 19:1-12

All right, we are back in the synoptic study if you wish to Find These synoptics over there.

We are in section 251 after having gone through John chapter 10

We have been working through the synoptic Gospels at least from what I'm feeling here were

We're a lot closer to the end in the beginning now Let's put it that way in fact from page 215 it ends on 338 that's and part of that's

John's so We're we're getting toward the end believe it or not. I Realized that some had felt that this was going to be a lifetime study from this point on but That's okay

We have a transition then In Matthew chapter 19

Now when Jesus finished his things he went away from Galilee and entered the region of Judea beyond the Jordan and large crowds

Followed him and he healed them there so Judea beyond the

Jordan if you have your Your maps in your mind or most people don't unfortunately

But if you have your Bible maps in your mind Then we would probably be talking about beyond the

Jordan would almost always in in biblical geography Jerusalem is the center and so everything's seen from Jerusalem you go up to Jerusalem even if you're going down to Jerusalem Jerusalem's the center so beyond the

Jordan to be on the eastern side of the Jordan River and this is the context then of The discussion in Matthew 19 and Mark 10

Matthew 19 and Mark 10 on the subject of divorce and celibacy and I don't want to rush through this too much because I do believe that especially in our day

This Is one of the key texts in regards to the understanding of marriage

We have as we think of the Opportunities of bearing witness to gospel truth in our society

Probably one of the most commonly raised questions today has to do with the nature of the family and marriage and so as our society moves farther and farther away from its foundations from its roots and Embraces more and more of an anti -christian perspective

This creates all sorts of difficulties as the law Was created on the basis of a

Christian worldview And therefore its view of the family marriage property and all the things that relate to the the family and husband and wife and Medical issues related to that and just just the whole plethora of things associated with that as as You change the culture's view of those things.

There's going to be a lag. There's going to be a chain a period of Contradiction between the remains of the law that reflect

The views the past generations and the current views and we're all told that the younger generation

Represented by our front row here excluding the far ends. Sorry Well, I could have said the whole front row and it would made both

George and Ed feel good but we are we are told that the The younger generation has a massively changed view of such things as marriage

Sexuality homosexuality, especially I mean we all can just trace the

Frontal assault that has been made by homosexual activists over the past 30 years a lot of us are old enough to remember when

You could actually watch television without being assaulted by constant positive presentations of Homosexuality, of course

That has been willingly aided and abetted by the media Which almost never shows us the actual practice of and and public

Revelation of homosexuality in places like San Francisco anyone who has actually watched at least unedited video of a gay pride march

They don't want that thing. They don't want that thing because there is a natural revulsion to the behavior that is shown there

Anyway in light of all these things we have all sorts of opportunities now

Where in essence we will be being challenged By our society and We will either be silent or we will speak the truth and if we want to speak the truth

We need to be prepared to speak it in such a way that's understandable to our society and also speaks to the misapprehensions

They might have concerning the Christian faith One of those is the the constant statement will

Jesus never addressed and then fill in the blank Sometimes we hear that when

Jesus did directly address it But often that is just simply based upon abject ignorance as if The recording of Jesus's ministry and teaching is meant to be an encyclopedic exhaustive mp3 based

Complete Discussion of everything she has ever said and did and of course as we've already seen in the synoptic gospels

We've already seen in comparing Matthew with Mark that Matthew frequently would give us less of what she has said than Mark did

For his own purposes, so it clearly they're not attempting to provide us with a

C -span type coverage of Jesus's ministry Which is one of the reasons why no one watches

C -span as well when you think about so they also seem to be ignorant and we tend to be ignorant as well the fact that To say well

Jesus never addressed that subject therefore The the default is if Jesus never addressed a subject

Then whatever the scriptures had already said about it is enough

Given his own teaching as we saw in the Sermon on the Mount Where he does not do away with?

the moral law of the Old Testament he expands upon it and Personalizes it and closes down the loopholes

That the Jews had created to allow them to on the one hand say I have followed the commandments and on the other hand

Entertain in their hearts and by their practices the very concepts the moral law was saying don't do

You think about the the young man who comes to Jesus what must

I do to have eternal life and Jesus goes through the second portion of the

Decalogue Do not commit murder do not steal

Etc. Etc. It's interesting. He didn't go through the first part Which is about idolatry?

he did that purposefully and The young man says all these things

I've kept from my youth up now Jesus knew that wasn't true

And when you look at the Sermon on the Mount That's what Jesus is saying there as well

When when a man says oh, I've I've I have kept those laws

From my youth onward that person is either

Lying through his teeth or has no meaningful insight into his own heart and That's what the

Sermon on the Mount is about do not commit adultery But I say to you if you look after look at a woman to lust after you've committed adultery in your heart in other words

Shine that light not just on the outward actions, but on the thoughts and intents of the heart

That wasn't some radical new thing. It wasn't like everybody in the Old Testament was going. Well, I hadn't thought of that before Uh -huh,

I've been lusting after my my neighbor's wife all along, but I didn't do it all for this.

I'm fine now You can't read Psalm 51 or Psalm 32 and and get away with that kind of thinking but the externalism of the pharisaical

System had come into full bloom At this point in time and so Jesus closes down those loopholes well

When you think of what Jesus's view then is when someone says well Jesus never talked about homosexuality didn't have to He said anyone who teaches you to lose

Any of the law of Moses I've come not to destroy it, but to fulfill it

But anyone who teaches against the least these things we call the least the king of heaven so There wasn't any question about what the law was there wasn't there really isn't even though people certainly try to say that there is

There's no question about what the scriptures say about things like homosexuality Um, but we have to be prepared for The fact that they are prepared to deal with us now.

We've talked about this before and I could go into the whole Homosexual thing right now. We may need to do that again because it's been a number of years since we addressed it

But they have their own arguments. They have their apologetic argumentation. The same is true in regards to marriage getting this back to the text here

I saw a quote yesterday I Don't know how it reflects the individual who said it to be honest with you

But I found it somewhat humorous. It was attributed to the outgoing governor of California governor

Schwarzenegger But I think the quote was something along the lines of How now it's now it's not going to work for me basically he was saying he was saying oh

I I think gay marriage should be available for Any man and woman couple or something along those lines he was making his basic basically saying marriage

Is is a man a woman and therefore if you whatever whatever word you want to attach to it should be available for everybody who's a man a woman to get married and Not a man a man a woman a woman

We know that in our society and it's not when I say our society I don't just don't just mean the United States of America.

I think you're probably aware of the fact that this is sweeping Europe as well And that formerly extremely conservative nations are adopting as the rule of law the application to female female and male male relationships the concept of marriage and And we know in light of what happened with Proposition 8 in California That's those who are pushing this kind of radical revolutionary change in society are tireless in not only their prosecution of their cause but in the prosecution of those who would stand against them or shall we say the persecution of Those who would stand against them

This is their life It's what defines them the rest of us have lives this for them is life and As a result we sometimes wonder at their willingness to sacrifice

Well, if this is all you've got then you sacrifice for it And especially in the area of homosexuality

The rest of us have kids Homosexuals generally don't unless they steal ours and So they tend to have a whole lot more discretionary income

To contribute toward various political causes the result is that when this subject comes up?

Many on the other side are willing to invoke the name of Jesus Well, Jesus never addressed gay marriage.

Well. He never talked about space aliens either. He never talked about GPS's I mean the whole the whole mindset of that kind of thought should immediately strike us as As absurd as it really is

But we need to have response especially we want to use this as an opportunity of Witness, and I think

Matthew chapter 19 is probably one of the best places in the world to go now You know and I know That in our society it is politically correct to say

Jesus approved of something But it is politically incorrect to say Jesus disapproved of anything

Jesus can always be a positive thing but we don't like the Jesus who disapproved of anything and While you can get away with Summarizing your views of Jesus Listen to a radio talk show and what's going to get you shut down faster than anything else in the world quoting scripture

Going to the Bible because the vast majority of people don't want to hear don't want to hear it

Have no interest in it whatsoever so The opportunity of actually going to this text sitting down with someone might require

Some ingenuity on your part to be able to actually say well, you know

Are you when you say that that Jesus did not address this subject?

Could we look at what Jesus actually did say because I think it's really important He he did address this subject and he addressed it with great clarity

And I don't hear many people talking about you. Do you know where Jesus addressed it? That's what I like to try to do in a conversation type thing you can use

In legal terms, they're called leading questions Their their setups is what they are and I'm not talking about being dishonest.

I'm talking about controlling a conversation I'm talking about dealing with people who are ignorant of our scriptures and yet are behaving as if they are not and In a situation like that if you want to try to open a door long enough to get something accomplished

You might want to sort of put the responsibility upon them, you know, you've made a statement you've said something about Jesus Are you aware that he actually did address that?

I've found extremely effective in witnessing situations like with Mormons the way to get into the text and to and to purchase

The patience of the person you're talking to long enough to get there Is to utilize something they've said and put them under sort of an obligation to allow you to do that Now, you know, it only buys you a certain amount it doesn't give you time to read all of 2nd

Timothy or something, but when a when a Mormon comes up to me and says so you think we can just we can just send all we want and go to heaven

I'll say, you know Did you know that the Apostle Paul addressed that very thing

But he said that his enemies falsely accused him of that You want to see where he said that because you just said that I think you might want to see where the

Apostle refuted you Okay, I think I sit there say no I'm not gonna sorry.

Well, I've had some do that. But you know, they weren't gonna get anywhere with those and those folks anyway But you've opened up the opportunity so you might have to maneuver your way into it

But this is where I would go Matthew Chapter 19 some Pharisees came to Jesus testing him and asking is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason at all?

I'm just gonna read it and I could comment We'll go back and comment on it as we as we have time to 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 the two shall become one flesh

So they are no longer two but one flesh What therefore God is 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 wife except for immorality and marries another woman commits adultery

Disciples said to him of the relationship of the man with his wife is like this it is better not to marry But he said to them not all men can accept this statement

But only those to whom it has been been given But there are eunuchs who are born that way from their mother's womb and there are eunuchs who are made eunuchs by men

And they're also eunuchs who made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven He who is able to accept this let him accept it now

Couple of things the background and by the way

Again and I'm just being very practical here Because I do think this is an area where?

We can have a lot of conversations these days because this is the kind of the things discussed in our society very frequently

I have found that a second way to expand that window to get

Some more time to control the conversation to get where you want to go whatever terminology you want to use of that One of the ways to do that is when you explain a text if you provide background and context

You demonstrate to the person you're talking to that you're not just Sitting here as an ideologue, and this is the only text all the

Bible You know and you're just repeating a pre -memorized approach You know I mean honestly if if you're sitting there with a an index card, and you're going

So we see in this text that G that that that Jesus teaches how far you're going to get

I Mean someone comes up to you in the airport. You know I Hi, my name is

Bhagwan Shri Rajneesh, and I would like to tell you about Transcendental meditation yeah,

I mean you're gonna be going excuse me late for my flight even though your flights three hours from now And you know you're gonna be heading down Concourse a when you actually have to get

Concourse D. You're gonna do anything you can to get away from this person and People can tell that they can tell when you're flipping to the back page your

Bible and okay So the next first thing to look at is not smudge judges that they can tell when you're just going through a program or when you actually know the text and Can can handle it and say well now you know we know the background here of?

Why these these men are coming to Jesus the Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking is it lawful divorce one's wife

For any cause because that was one of the major conflicts today here was a situation Where there was a major argument between the two?

leading rabbinical schools of the day hello, and Shema and They had differences of interpretation of the traditions and the scriptures as to how and Why and upon what grounds divorce was to be handled?

One was very can was more conservative one was more liberal One would allow you to divorce your wife or burn the toast

One did not and so this was one of the major Discussions going on at that time.

It was a cultural conflict just as it is today and So Jesus was willing to address these issues and notice what they're trying to do

Because it knows they were testing him They were testing him and so They were trying to in essence pigeonhole him to push him into one side or the other so that one side

We go hey is that I said it's not and then you can just start all the old arguments all over again a Lot of the questions that were asked of Jesus were along the same way the same thing they were attempting or testing

Jesus when they talked about paying the poll tax and all the rest that stuff and Jesus answer is

Completely outside the realm of the current argumentation Notice he does not say well rabbi so -and -so

Is said to have said to rabbi so -and -so who told this to rabbi so -and -so this however rabbi so -and -so

Interpreted the third word of that to mean this and therefore this that's what that's what the

Mishnah is That's what the the codification the collection of the traditions of the

Jews about 200 250 years after Christ Which sometimes reflects what was going on then sometimes doesn't we have to look but?

that's the mission I was like that's reading the Mishnah is I Mean you got to do it to you know to dig through and find the stuff that is relevant to the backgrounds in the

New Testament, but sometimes it's just like I'm really tired of rabbi so -and -so and rabbi so -and -so and rabbi so -and -so

That's not Jesus response, and we know that was never Jesus response That's why the crowds saw him as one who had authority not like the

Scribes and Pharisees because the Scribes and Pharisees were always answering questions by saying well The opinion of some people is this and the opinion of some people is this the opinion of some people is this what's your opinion?

well That was that and that's still a lot of rabbinic

Judaism this day And so They saw him differently because he was different and he answered in a different in a different fashion and very clearly

Jesus's answer here is not one of a tradition bound individual

Because his response the very first words of his response

Have you not read? Not have you not heard?

From rabbi so -and -so or have you not heard this from this traditional source or heard that from that traditional source?

But Jesus goes directly to the scriptures, and I hope you're always noting and one of the things

I The New American Standard Bible Which I was reading from there

It's great in reading, but it's a pain in citation electronically because you can always see

Old Testament citations and the NASB Because they're in all caps

So they just stick out to you, and you're going I'm reading the Old Testament here. That's very important You always need to note that That should be one of the first things you're noting as you're reading the text of Scripture What I say at the pain in electronic form is it's also a pain to quote the

New American Standard Electronically on your blog or in your books because it's all in caps. It looks like you're screaming

So it's like that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female and said for this reason

You know Hey No, no, it's just the

Old Testament so You know so it's I frequently use the

ESV because you know that I don't have to Retype everything into large letters and small letters as I like that, but it is good to notice and you'll notice

Starts in verse 4 all of verse 5 and then again you have verse 7 are all citations from the

Old Testament and Specifically from law of Moses and so Jesus's answer to a modern question about marriage is to say

Marriage is defined by God First institution he goes back to what's called a creation ordinance

There are those things that God establishes in the creation of man

That then become foundational To all of man's

Activities from that time forward and there may be you know changes and modifications in practice

But the foundations remain the foundations from the beginning onward because they reflect a creative purpose of God That is one of the first things that we have to realize is completely missing

In the mind of that 20 -something person we're talking to in our society today because the 20 -somethings today

Are the first generations that have been raised within a context where that concept of creator?

Transcendent law and transcendent meaning has been not only wiped from the vocabulary of their entire education

But more importantly from their parents Entire education worldview as well.

We're now dealing with true secularists Who have had it?

Pounded into their brains in every possible way not just from the boring guy in the front of the of the lecture hall or in high school or junior high school

Telling them that they are the random result of random mutation over time and blah blah blah That's not the only way it's come to them it has come to them through their music and through art and through television and movies and the internet and YouTube and Tapped out in the 100 trillion text messages that they've produced over their lifetime and so You need to realize and hence need to enunciate and Explain even though it's part and parcel of your own thinking this is hard to do

This is this is this takes effort on our part, but you can't just assume

Those commonalities now at the same time What is the connection we have with any?

unregenerate person religious non -religious postmodern New Age whatever

What is what its connection we have with them? It's not Some neutral moral ground there is no such thing as neutral moral ground not from a biblical perspective not from a

Christian perspective If anything is a fact it is a fact because God made it a fact because it's created by God There's no there's no neutrality in that sense.

What is the what is the common ground? We have what's the the connection point the connection point is the fact they are made in the image of God and While they may be a true secularist in their thinking they can't not live consistently

With that because God has revealed himself to them. They're suppressing that knowledge Now they think everybody else is doing the same thing so it's easier for them to do when you live in a completely secular

Society and everybody around you is doing it That's an aid and assistance to you in that suppression

But you still got that conscience in there And if you listen carefully as they speak if you watch them carefully as they act there are so many times when they give silent testimony to their suppression of the existence of their knowledge the existence of God Watch them when they experience death

They say things you know when they really think it through they try to be good secularists

But many times they will say things that that give telltale signs that they recognize that That their friend who died is not just a bag of randomly produced protoplasm.

There's something more to this And so They're not consistent

So when you're speaking to them as soon as you start here Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female there's an immediate

Disconnection I submit to you that the entirety of the of The perversion of marriage and that's what it is

God defines marriage you change it as a perversion the perversion of marriage That is taking place in Western society could never have happened before Darwin Could never happen before Darwin Because as long as you have a transcendental creator as long as you have a creator

Then you have a creation that has purpose Meaning order law and regularity you have to have a creation

That is purposeless and without meaning To allow you then to apply whatever meaning you want

To creation Because don't tell me these folks don't know that they are engaging in revolutionary activity in the redefinition of marriage they know that But what they have to do is you have to implant in the minds of people that all the generations before mine were a bunch

Of closed -minded bigots anyways They weren't nearly as smart as we are. They were not nearly as intelligent as we are and So we have the right to change all this stuff because we're so much better modern man's hubris every generation does that and So it gets old enough to realize that it was foolish all along But you normally have to get to a certain age to come to that realization

So the person you're talking to there's an immediate disconnection so somehow and I don't think that there's a

You know you know a plan that I can give you to do this I know how I would do it, but you have to this has to come from your own conviction

This has to be something you've thought through somehow you have to communicate What it means to you and what it should mean to them that there is such thing as a creator and hence

There is such thing as a creative purpose because that's what Jesus says now you might want to if they've shown some kind of Respect for Jesus, which of course we would find to be somewhat inconsistent if you actually respect

Jesus you really respect him Why don't you really take the time to find out what he said? It's it's an odd thing, but if there's been some expression of some willingness to hear what

Jesus has to say Then you might say you know it's so clear that in all of Jesus's disputations not only does he believe that God has spoken and Spoken with finality and clarity and Authority in scripture the gods are communicating

God But that it's not just a New Age woo -woo communication

It is an objective revelation that we can he can hold men accountable to have you not read

You can give other examples of this have you not read Have you not gone to the scriptures and seen?

What God has said and what God has done so you might want to point out, you know if we're concerned about what

Jesus said we got to start where Jesus started and Jesus started by the recognition that God's the creator of all things and That he had a purpose in how he created and if you and I are his creation

Then you and I should Be first and foremost first and foremost concerned about in essence living in accordance with the owners manual

You know we we know how dangerous it is to ignore the owners manual

We've heard the stories of of people and I'll admit all the stories I've heard about this have been about the ladies

But I know some guys that could just pull a stunt like this who you know call up the the car dealership after they buy a new car and You know well my car just stopped running and I I need you to you know

I've got this warranty thing and they get out there and the engines just absolutely seized and You know it's got you know 24 ,000 miles on it and They start looking around and there's not a drop of oil left in this thing because oil

I Just thought you put gas You know and we think there's actually people that would be that naive about the the ownership and operation of a motor vehicle

Yes, believe it or not there are They ignored the instruction manual well

God's provided us with an instruction manual If God created us he knows how we are to operate and what's good for us, and what's bad for us

Driving your Jeep into the middle of Lake Pleasant will not be good for it ask rich It doesn't have to be like pleasant it can be under passes under i -17 it can be all sorts of things like that that require extensive

Replacement of all fluids in the vehicle once you get done doing things like that there are things you do and don't do

And the same way there are things you do and don't do as human beings if we're created now if we're not created

All that stuff goes out the window not only is there no owner's manual But who cares if you abuse your body?

Who cares if you shorten your life by two decades or three decades or five decades or anything else

I? Mean just taking up your natural resources that way and we all want a green planet

So you start where Jesus was and I would suggest that in almost a couple decades ago a couple generations ago

The simple citation the text was enough because there was a latent Respect for the

Bible as a divine revelation in our society. That's gone You might still find it among some people you might in talking to Hispanic people with a

Roman Catholic background. There's a religious veneration for the Bible as almost a superstition and So you might find some of that But in most of Western society

They've seen enough Bart Ehrman to to go So don't care

Some ancient guy said some words doesn't matter to me, and so you have to start where Jesus starts if you just simply read the text and Then don't make application to the person you're talking to Right I can get very far

I mean you might be able to explain why you believe that but then you need to be prepared to explain well So why why do you care about what some guy is supposed to have said?

in a book written after he died By someone Bart Ehrman says never even saw him blah blah blah.

There's all the objections that go that direction But even the person who hasn't been poisoned to that level there's still the idea that yeah, but you know the

Muslims They have their thing and the Buddhists they have their thing and the Hindus they have their thing and you know it doesn't seem very scientific and la la la la la and So obviously we're not get very far today because we're almost out of time, but He answered and said have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female

Let me just make a few comments on that and then we'll wrap up and come right back to this

When we have opportunity to be together again this citation is

From the very section of the Old Testament That is such a football today in Debates and dialogues and discussions the not only the

Pentateuch, but especially the first chapters of Genesis I have come in for a tremendous amount of scrutiny and Reinterpretation and as such in our society when there's much controversy about a particular text we tend to shy away from putting much weight upon a nail longer but Controversy over text should not impact our utilization of it

The only thing it should impact our utilization of any Old Testament text is if we really aren't sure what it's talking about There are you know for example flora and fauna in the

Old Testament There are a number of texts. We're just not sure a rock badger. We sure about that You know a certain kind of flower

You know Certain practices a few things we can't find any parallel Lang use of languages and other okay that you know if it's the terms only use once the

Old Testament We're not really sure okay fine, but none of that has anything to do with Genesis 1 and 2 the language isn't difficult

The context isn't difficult the problem is the meaning is difficult in our society

That's what the controversy comes from you got it. You've got to differentiate between meaningful controversy because we need to do more work on a subject and The fact that there's controversy because what the

Bible saying conflicts with a societal norm Huge difference between those two things huge difference between those two things

So we will pick up with that assertion that that male and female is God's intention and purpose

And we're completely out of time, so we'll need to Need to wrap up. Let's let's let's pray

Father we are thankful for this time we asked as we go into worship now that you will lift up our hearts and minds we might

Understand your truth and Lord that you would be glorified and honored and what takes place during this next hour.