Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
The problem of divorce is a massive one. Over the
last fifty years, divorces have gone up seven hundred percent.
One out of every two couples now gets divorced. Fifty
percent of all marriages and in divorce, as are some
(00:24):
high statistics. By the year two thousand, half of all
the American children will have not been raised in a
traditional home, and in the minority community.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
We've already passed that statistic.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
This has all been exacerbated and made worse by a
court allowance of divorce called no fault divorce. Divorce is
always somebody's fault, but no fault is the way for
(01:07):
the legislature to not have to worry about it. So
both of you agree to the terms, both of you
agree to how the property to be divided.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
They say, we don't need a headache, pay.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
A lawyer, ninety dollars, file the papers, divoice granted, no
questions asked.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
And so we are.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
In a day when divorce is easy. So commitment is
not necessarily that important. Well, I'm gonna give you what
the Bible says. Before we can talk about divorce and remarriage,
(01:53):
we need to talk about marriage. What you're getting divorced
out of I would like to submit that when I
share today becomes the foundation for.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Everything I'm going to share over the next three weeks.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
And so your understanding of today is critical for your
own life, for your own family, and for what you
tell your buddies, because a lot of this mess is
being stimulated by what you think your buddy ought to do.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
And the advice you give them. We will look at.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
Two passages, Malachi chapter two and Genesis chapter one and two.
So turn the Malachi and hold your finger in Genesis.
Malachi is our issue at hand. Genesis is our illustration.
(02:56):
So Malachi will give the data, Genesis will give the illustration.
Please note verse thirteen of Malachi two. And this is
another thing you do. You cover the altar of the
Lord with tears, with weeping, and with groaning. A lot
(03:17):
of serious worship going on because he no longer regards
the offering or accepts it with favor from your hand.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Yet you say, how come for what reason?
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Because the Lord has been a witness between you and
the wife of your youth, against whom you have dealt treacherously,
though she is your companion and your wife by what covenant?
Everything I say today and the next three weeks wrap
(03:56):
around your understanding of one lulo. It's a bitsy Hebrew
Old Testament word covenant.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
It is your.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
Ability to understand that, or your inability to accept it,
that will govern your life from here on out. Before
I get started, if you want to leave now, and
(04:26):
that sounds unius, but I'm halfway serious, because once you
learn it, God holds you accountable to it.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
But even leaving won't help, because if.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
You could have learned it and didn't learn it, God
will judge you for it. So actually you're in trouble
both ways already. He says, she is your wife by covenant.
(05:03):
Before we can talk marriage, we must talk covenant. What
is a covenant? All of us in this room have
entered in the contracts before. A contract is an agreement
between two parties about a certain issue in which stipulations
(05:25):
are given. Agreement is reached, ratification of the document both
party signed, and then you become legally bound to the
stipulations of the contract.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
That's a contract.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
A covenant includes a contract, but it is more than
a contract. What makes a covenant more than a contract
is that it is tied to relationship, not just to
the formal issue.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
You don't need a relationship to do business.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
I don't have to like you to sign a contract.
I just have to like the deal. But in a covenant,
it's more than how we relate to this thing contract.
It is also how we relate to the persons involved
in the contract, which kicks it up and makes it
(06:28):
a covenant.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
So a covenant is a.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
Contractual arrangement between two parties or two groups that are
tied together by virtue of arrangements and relationships. The Bible
has three covenental institutions, that is, institutions that God created
(06:57):
to carry out his contractual arrangement with this planet. Covenant
number one Family, well, we're gonna talk about today, so
I won't spend time there.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
But Family.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
Covenant number two Church his redeemed people. He has an
agreement with them, it's called the New Covenant, where he
makes an arrangement with them based on the relationship that
through them he is going to express his concern in
the world.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
Three. Government.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
The government is the third covenantal institution through which God
operates the world organizationally. So he bears a relationship to
all three of those. And that's why my Bible says,
even the governor and the president Romans thirteen is a
minister of God. Okay, Now, let's go back to the
(07:59):
first Covenant. The first Covenant is marriage and family. Why
did God create marriage? There are three reasons why God
created marriage, and only one of them have anything to
(08:19):
do with you being happy. Okay, there are three reasons
God created marriage. One of them has to do with
making you happy, but the other two don't have anything
to do with you directly.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
Let me go through to them.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
The first reason God created marriage is pro creation having babies. Now,
this is a whole nother sermon, and I don't have
time to go into it, so let me just summarize.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
It because it's critical.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
Okay, the Bible makes grand statements about having babies.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
In fact, the Bible.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
Says, the more Themaria keep on having them. Okay, But
why why the big deal about having kids? Remember God
told Adam and even Genesis be fruitful and multiplied so
that you will have dominion over the earth. The reason
(09:26):
why God wanted married couples to make babies wasn't just
so that they could have people who look like them
running around the house.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
That wasn't it. It had to do with the theology
of dominion.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
Dominion meant reproduce yourself and spread out all over this planet,
so that all over this planet there will be somebody
ruling every area of the globe under my rulership. Other words,
babies are the way to make sure the name of
God gets perpetuated throughout the whole earth.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
See, I'm de raised my kids.
Speaker 3 (10:10):
So that whether one moves to Baltimore, or one moves
to la or one move to New York, when they
disseminate and leave my house, the mark of God relocates
in New.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
York, in Los Angeles, and in Baltimore.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
That God is disseminated worldwide. That was the purpose of
having babies. It was so that there would be divine dominion,
God's rule everywhere through the babies that were disseminated everywhere.
And so the Bible says, blessed is the man who's
quiver is full of them. So, honey, you're ready to
(10:43):
go one more round? I didn't hear an amen. See,
it is the perpetuation of the divine name.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
Now most of us have babies that carry our name.
God just had babies that carrying my name everywhere.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
Secondly, is self realization, and that's the happy part. He
told Adam. He says, I will make a helpmate for you.
That was another way of saying, boy, you need help.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
You are.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
Incomplete when it is time to marry, and you don't
as long as you're supposed to be single. God is
your completeness when it is time for marriage. That means
God is now bringing somebody along to fix up the
(11:50):
rest of you that's lacking. The reason that Adam was
given a wife was to come complete the lack. The
reason why God gives you to make He doesn't give
you somebody just like you, for if both of you
were the same, one of you would be unnecessary. He
(12:14):
gives someone who is different than you to make up
the difference so that you can fulfill the complete purpose
of life as God has ordained it. So self realization,
the realization of all God created you to be at
the point that He calls you for marriage self realization. Finally,
the third purpose of marriage is divine illustration. You are
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a type of Christ in the church. The Bible says
the church is the bride. Christ is the bridegroom. In
a marriage, the husband is the bridegroom. And the wife
is the bride. And so you are to illustrate a
greater reality, and that is the reality of God to
his people. So bad marriage means a bad illustration, because
(13:03):
an illustration is supposed to do.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
One thing, illustrate.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
And so when you get divorced, you're saying something very
bad about God. Now, when God wanted to form marriage,
he established an agreement between a man and a woman
in which they would covenant under him, this contractual relationship that.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
We call marriage. And it's at this point if.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
You haven't buckled up your seatbelt, you need to, because
at this point we want to break down the ingredients
of a marriage covenant.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
I've told you what a covenant is.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
I've told you what the purpose of marriage is. So
now let's you look at the marriage covenant. We'll look
at it in principle Malachi two, and then in illustration
in Genesis one and two.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
Principal number one.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
About the ingredients of a marriage covenant. The first thing
you need to know and the most important, it is
a legal relationship established by God. It is a legal relationship.
(14:31):
Please note he says in verse fourteen, for what reason?
Because the Lord has been a witness between you and.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
The wife of your youth. The Lord has been a witness.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
We do not have to take a lot of time.
I'm sure to prove to you that marriage is God's idea.
God told Adam, I will make a mate suitable for you.
It's all his idea. Therefore, it is a divine covenant,
not a human covenant. Not only is the God's idea,
(15:13):
it's God's legal idea. Notice, he says he has been
a witness against you. The Hebrew word for witness means
a legal accuser. He has legally seen what you have
done and taken the stand against you. He has entered
(15:34):
the heavenly courtroom and is rendering a verdict against you
because you are divorcing your mate. Now, that's why when
people tell me, you know, Pastard, I don't see why
we have to go through the ceremony.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
A piece of paper doesn't mean anything. Oh no, no, no, no,
that's not it.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
It's already legal in heaven, so you shouldn't have a
problem of making it legal on it.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
It's a legal declaration. Here is a witness.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
And the reason you know with legal is because when
they got a divorced, they had to get a bill
of divorcement just couldn't walk away. You got a bill
of divorcemn you had a piece of paper. Okay, so
paper did have something to do with it, and it
was legal, a legal declaration of a relationship, because a
covenant includes legality.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
Now grab on to your neighbor for this one.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
This is a rough one coming there, because marriage is
a divine covenant and not a human covenant.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
Only God can break the covenant.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
That explains Jesus' statement in Matthew six, what God has
joined together?
Speaker 2 (16:56):
Let know what man put asunder?
Speaker 1 (17:00):
Why? Because it's not man's covenant, and you can't let
a man overrule a divine covenant. And even people know
it's a divine covenant, so they recognize God has something
to do with this. Well, he has a more to
do with this than you'll care to want to know,
he says. At the moment you and your mate say,
(17:20):
I do stamped in heaven, legally certified marriage. Five years later,
you don't go to judge God for the divorce. You
go downtown and you say, mister judge, we have agreed
we can't live together anymore. Both of us have signed
(17:40):
on the dotted line divided the property, and therefore.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
We wish a divorce.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
The judge says, man judges a man, divorce granted. Got
a problem. The man gave you a divorce from a
divine covenant.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
He can't do that. So God sees the judge say
divorce granted.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
God picks up his pad and says, divorce not granted.
So God doesn't grant the divorce, at least a no
fault divorce. We'll go into what kind of voices he does. Granted,
he does grant some Once God stamps no divorce. That is,
it's a non covenantal based divorce. It's one only man
(18:32):
gave you. God holds a position. You're still married, which
explains what Jesus meant when he.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
Said that if a man puts away his wife.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
Goes and marries another woman, he is now committing adultery.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
And the reason this adultery is because God still sees
the first marriage is valid.
Speaker 1 (18:59):
Because it's a divine covenant, and only he can break
divine covenants.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
Men can't break divine covenants.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
So here's what we want. We want God to marry us,
but men to separate us. Come on, now, God to
bless the marriage. But God not to bless the divorce,
and God says, if I bless the marriage, the only
way you can get out.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
Of it is if I bless the divorce. So if
I don't bless the divorce, you're still married.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
If you're still marriage, you're an adultery.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
The penalty for adultery is death.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
Therefore, anybody living in adultery dies.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
I told you, I told you, He said.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
Wait a minute, but I'm still alive. Not necessarily, and
you'll see in a moment. Covenantal death precedes physical death.
So what I am saying to this point is this
marriage is a divine covenant. If you came together with
a recognition that God had something to do with this,
(19:57):
that means that you entered a covenant God.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
And when you go to the divorce.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
Court and a man breaks the covenant, God says, unacceptable.
It's acceptable for a society, it's not acceptable for God.
Number One, marriage is a legal relationship established by God,
and therefore only God can break it. You have to
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understand that only God can break it. Now some of
you are wondering, well, yeah, but for what can I
get it broken for? Because some of you getting worried
and so don't worry about it because I know for
many of you is the first time you're hearing this.
And how do you get dead people alive? You have
to resurrect them. So if you've had covenental death, you
need covenental resurrection. And we'll explain what covenental resurrection is
if you have died covenentally. Okay, Divorce is breaking covenant.
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Marriage is entering into covenant point two principle two, which
ties in the principal one.
Speaker 2 (21:02):
It functions under authority.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
There is always a hierarchy in how covenants operate under authority.
Let me quote to you first Corincians, chapter eleven.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
It says.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
God is over Christ. Christ is over every man. The
man is over the woman. He gives a hierarchy. Everybody's
under somebody. That's what he That's what hierarchy means submission
on some level.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
In marriage. Catch this, both parties are.
Speaker 1 (21:45):
Under God and the woman is to submit to the
leadership of the man.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
Hierarchy.
Speaker 1 (21:51):
Children are submit to the authority of parents. And when
you don't have authority, you have chaos. So covenants always
include authority. Now, if God is the ultimate authority in
a marriage, and he is because it's a divine institution.
If God is the ultimate authority, he calls the shots.
That's what bosses do. He calls the shots. Now he says,
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do you want to end into my covenant marriage? The
man says yes I do. The woman says yes I do.
So the next question God wants to know is do
you agree to operate covenantally in the marriage? And the
marriage doesn't occur unless you say I do. He said,
Wait a minute, I don't remember agreeing to no covenant.
(22:37):
Oh yes you did, because I think the preacher said
something like do you promise to love, honor, cherish and
sickness and in health for richer or poorer, for better
or worse. You made a covenantal agreement because he ended
the statement with so help you God, or in accordance
with God's word.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
Come on and think back. Can you remember that? All right?
What you did? See?
Speaker 1 (23:00):
You weren't thinking about God. You were looking into her eyes,
and she was looking in your eyes. You said, yeah,
I do anything.
Speaker 2 (23:05):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, you.
Speaker 1 (23:07):
Know you weren't thinking about God.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
Tough.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
God was thinking about the covenant. See, God knows that
you have honeymoon in your eyes. God's got covenant in
his and God is thinking, agreement stamped, ratified.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
That's it.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
You've already signed, and you can't go back any race.
I didn't know what I was saying at the church.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
Can't do that.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
Government ratified by God in heaven, settled yah in a man.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
That's it.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
And now he says, my authority. So as you exit
the church, God.
Speaker 2 (23:48):
Leaves with you to become the authority over the relationship.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
Now, the tragedy is most relationships, when they get in trouble,
never consult the authority. And so what they consult is
the judge has nothing to do with this marriage. He
wasn't there when you got married, don't know what you
said to one another, have nothing to do with it.
He's just the quickest person in town who's been given
legal authority to do something God and never authorized them
to do, except in certain situations, which we'll talk about.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
Functions under authority. So you must understand that when you.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
Get married, it's not just what you and your wife wants,
it's what God tells you and your wife you can
have or not have.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
Thirdly, this is a heavy one.
Speaker 1 (24:54):
Now covenants are only entered under the penalty of death.
In other words, when you break any covenant of God,
you die immediately, I mean on the spot death. Now,
(25:19):
he said, wait a minute, hold it, I have gotten divorced.
I am not dead. Oh yes, you are, most certainly.
It's called covenental death.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
You die. Let me illustrate what I mean. Are you thinking?
Speaker 1 (25:36):
Malachi turned back to Genesis. Now you're gonna need your
Bible for this series. Genesis chapter two, verse sixteen, and
(26:03):
the Lord God commanded the man, saying, from any tree
of the garden you may eat freely. But from the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall
not eat. For in the day you eat from it,
you shall surely die. When was he gonna die the
day he ate from it? Did he drop dead the
(26:23):
day he ate from the tree?
Speaker 2 (26:25):
Not? Most certainly. No.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
What happened the day he ate from the tree? He
was excommunicated out of the garden. That's what happened. He
was removed from the presence and the fellowship of God.
That's what happened. Guess what happened when he was excommunicated?
His world crumbled. He didn't die, or he did die,
but that was long term death.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
That was immediate death. For this day, not tomorrow, not
the day after tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
You pray covenant back death immediately, because what's the definition
of death? Remember this death is separation. That death is
you never are non extinct once you're born. Even when
you die you go to heaven or hell. Death is separation.
When you break covenant with God, you are immediately separated
from him. And when you are immediately separated from him,
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that's death. With death comes demise. If you are covenantally dead,
there is no person you can talk to, no place
you can go to get covenantal life other than the
author of the covenant. There's no place you can go.
(27:38):
You are in trouble. So what happened when Adam got
kicked out? He and his wife fought, had to work
eight hours a day. By the sweat his brows. Every
time men you sweat at work, think of Adam. What
happened with the woman? Listen this, ladies, when it was
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covenantally dead, Look, two things happen.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
Number one pain and childbirth. But number two a very
interesting statement says, your desire shall be for your husband.
Speaker 1 (28:10):
Does that mean it means you're gonna pain for him,
You're gonna want him, You're gonna need him, and he
more often than not, will not.
Speaker 2 (28:22):
Be there for you.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
Any of you relate to that. He needs your husband
to understand. He just doesn't seem to understand. You need
him to stand with you. He just doesn't seem to
stay with you. You need him to support you. He just
doesn't seem to support you.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
You have a.
Speaker 1 (28:34):
Desire for it, but it just never seems to come.
You can never get this guy to turn around. Why
Because he's dead and the relationship is dead.
Speaker 2 (28:45):
That's why.
Speaker 1 (28:47):
And death means that there is no life. Nothing gets
this thing cooking again. And that's why when you're covenantally dead,
life falls apart. No matter how much money you make.
When your covenant's broken. If you blong to Jesus Christ
and if it in the covenant with God and break
covenant by divorce, God removes his hands a protective blessing
from you, and life demises around you.
Speaker 2 (29:09):
Doesn't marry who you marry next, it's covenant death.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
Roman seven says that a wife is bound to her
husband for as long as her husband lives, but when
her husband dies, she is no longer bound, but she
is free to marry another as long as the covenant
is at work in spiritual life or in physical life.
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You are bound to the covenant. When the covenant dies
because the mate dies physically, or when the covenant dies
because God kills the covenant spiritually, because there's a biblical
basis for the divorce, then you're no longer bound. You
are now free to remarry. So the issue is is
it a biblically based divorce? Now I get in all
(30:06):
kinds of trouble. And let me preface my statement here
that I'm not talking about any particular couple in this statement.
But I get in a lot of trouble because I
get people mad at me because I have to ask
them questions when they come for counseling about marriage, and
one person gets you got really ticked off at me.
(30:28):
You know who's not here now, but they just got
really ticked on me. Why you gotta know all that
or don't even know? Is I want to get married?
Speaker 2 (30:35):
No? No, because I don't want to help kill you.
I don't help you. I don't help you die because
once you break covenant, God kills you. Bang, it's over.
Speaker 1 (30:46):
And the only way to deal with the dead person
is you gotta resurrect them.
Speaker 2 (30:50):
The covenant kills, and it kills immediately.
Speaker 1 (30:54):
So once you get divorced for a non biblically based reason,
that is other than a reason for which God allows
the covenant to be broken, God kills you, allows you
to die on the spot, removes his hand from you.
Speaker 2 (31:07):
You're out there on your own.
Speaker 1 (31:09):
And just like any Old Testament, when you remarry, if
you go out and you remarry a person, you committed adultery.
So when you commit adultery, you killed physically in the
Old Testament. Well when you do that in the New Testament,
you're killed spiritually.
Speaker 2 (31:24):
You die. And so that's the nature.
Speaker 1 (31:32):
That's why Paul says, listening First Corinthians, chapter six, let's
do what he says.
Speaker 2 (31:36):
He says, don't you know he's all you?
Speaker 1 (31:38):
And why you shouldn't live it morally that a man
who gets together with a prostitute becomes one flesh with her.
He marries her. When a man's sleep of the prostitute,
don't you understand he says that when he goes down
to that bed with the prostitute, he gets married. Because
marriage is one flesh. These two become one illustrated in
(31:59):
the sexualion. When you're gover to prostitute. You get married,
he said, I didn't know I was doing that.
Speaker 2 (32:08):
It's what you're doing.
Speaker 1 (32:09):
You're committing the marriage vow, which is an illegitimate marriage vow.
Speaker 2 (32:13):
Therefore it's death. It's death.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
And so what happens is God and death. God removes
his life from you. And when God removes his life
from you, you exist.
Speaker 2 (32:25):
That's it.
Speaker 1 (32:26):
So some of us can never get our lives together
no matter what we do, because we've broken covenant. And
the only way to solve that is to get back
and covenant.
Speaker 2 (32:36):
Fourthly, here's a doozy.
Speaker 1 (32:41):
It includes ethical responsibilities that have a cause effect relationship.
Speaker 2 (32:47):
You know what cause effect is. Because of this cause,
something will have it.
Speaker 1 (32:50):
If something will be the outworking of it, therefore it
will be called the effect. Look at the cause effect
relationship in Malachi.
Speaker 2 (32:58):
Then we'll turn the genesis. But look at Maliki behind time.
But I need to really get through this because it's
critical and Malca. Here's what we have. He says in
verse thirteen, you can't coming.
Speaker 1 (33:16):
You're groaning, you're crying because I don't accept your offering.
But you want to know why don't you accept our offering?
Verse fourteen. Because the effect is you don't accept the offering.
What's the cause. Because the Lord has been a witness
between you and the wife of your youth verse fourteen.
Speaker 2 (33:33):
What does he say? You know what he's saying because
of how you treat your wife in divorcing her.
Speaker 1 (33:41):
If cause, the effect will be Listen, your worship is
a waste of time. Your church attendance won't do you
any good your divorce. Your wife might just want to
say home from church.
Speaker 2 (33:56):
Say you've been crying, asking me to bless you. You've
been crying. I ain't asking me to help you.
Speaker 1 (34:01):
You've been crying, asking me to take care of you.
And I say, I do not accept your offering. You
say you're gonna give me more money, You're gonna give
me more time. I do not accept your offering. Why
Because I've been living in your home. I've not only
watched you when you come to church, I watch you
when you wake up, and I see how you dealt
with your wife of your youth, how you've dealt treacherously.
Speaker 2 (34:23):
And for that reason your efforts are canceled. It's heavy,
he said. Wait, man, I hear with some of your things.
Speaker 1 (34:30):
You said, way a man, pastor, wait man, I said, oh,
hard old Testament stuff.
Speaker 2 (34:34):
That's not for the New Testament, or isn't it.
Speaker 1 (34:37):
First Peter, Chapter three, verse seven, Husband's well with your
wives according to knowledge, as with a week of vessel,
for she is a woman, and grant her honor as
in joint air, so that your prayers may not be stopped.
Speaker 2 (34:54):
Got that?
Speaker 3 (34:55):
He got it.
Speaker 1 (34:55):
God says, oh, you wanted to divorce your wife. Get
up off your knees. You're divorce in your wife. Get
up off your need I'm not listening to you today.
You're mistreating your maid. Get up off your knees. We
don't have anything to talk about. Don't ask me to
answer your prayer.
Speaker 2 (35:14):
Don't ask me.
Speaker 1 (35:14):
You're misusing your maid. You're mistreating your maid. You want
to divorce your maid. Don't tell me how spiritual you are.
You have a lot of spiritual people who are messing
up on their maids. That's not spirituality. God says you're dead.
Dead people can't contact him. Says, don't even bother the prayer. Ladies,
don't feel too comfortable. In the first six verses, he
tells you the same thing, same thing, same thing. This
(35:40):
stuff is hard because it's his covenant. And men of
milk taking his covenant and turned it in the milky way.
Speaker 2 (35:48):
He's covenant.
Speaker 1 (35:55):
Look at this in Genesis again, real quick, Genesis chapter two.
Now look at this cause and effect. Remember verse seventeen
of the Tree of Knowledge. Good neh, But you shall
not eat well in the day that you eat of it,
you shall surely die. Okay, So he says, this cause
will bring this effect. You're gonna die if you do
(36:17):
this thing, if you eat. But look at my man,
my man Satan. Look at he is cool, smooth. He
comes in chapter three, comes on, slithers on up to
the lady.
Speaker 2 (36:34):
And says verse four. And the serpent said to her,
you surely shall not die. You know what he's saying.
Speaker 1 (36:43):
You don't have to worry about the effect, even if
you do produce the cause. If you do eat, don't
worry about dying. God says, if you eat, you're gonna die.
Satan says, eat, you're not gonna die. And he's been
tricking a lot of folk for years. He's got the
believing you can break God's covenant and not die when
the definition of covenant is death.
Speaker 2 (37:06):
So if you break God's covenant, and you think.
Speaker 1 (37:09):
You can just ease on up to a judge and say,
now we have a no fault divorce here, and we
already agreed on the property. And you say, I'm not
gonna die. You bitten the lie of Satan. And you wonder,
how come your life still falling apart? Now that's your
single again. You wonder, how come you can't get rid
of this depression?
Speaker 2 (37:25):
How come you.
Speaker 1 (37:25):
Can't stabilize your existence. How come you can't solidify your
life even though this person's died in your life anymore?
Because now God killed you, he said, but my husband
is killing me. Now God's killing you because you die.
See the day you eat, you die.
Speaker 2 (37:42):
That's all.
Speaker 1 (37:42):
This day isn't eaven, any discussion about it. That day
eat you die, You just die. God removes and separates
himself from you in the area of fellowship.
Speaker 2 (37:55):
You die, so Satan wants to change the cause of effect.
Speaker 1 (38:01):
Finally, the last thing you need to know about the
marriage covenant is that it is the means of transferring blessing.
Covenants guarantee inheritance. Covenants guarantee the transfer blessings. When you
keep covenant, you transfer blessings. I was having devotions with
(38:23):
my kids last night. I was reading to them Deuteronomy
twenty eight, powerful chapter dividing the two halves. Here's how
it goes, if you will be careful to do all
the things that are in my word, then blessed shall
ye be in the city.
Speaker 2 (38:37):
Blessed shall you be in the country. Blessed shall the
wife be in the kitchen?
Speaker 1 (38:41):
And then it goes on, blessed, blessed, blessed, blessed, blessed,
And then it gets the verse fifteen. It says, but
if you do not obey and are not careful to
do all that is written in this book of the law,
then he says, curse it, shay ye be in the country,
curse it, shay ye be in the city. And then
he goes then he curses them. He says, now it's
up to you. Do you want blessings that do you
want cursing?
Speaker 2 (39:01):
Right? Why?
Speaker 1 (39:03):
Because attached to God's covenant are God's blessings. If you're
in the covenant, you get the blessings. If you're out
of the covenant, you lose the blessings. And marriage is
one of those covenants. So if you have a biblical
basis for divorce, then you can get out of the
covenant and still be blessed. If you have a non
(39:23):
biblical basis for the divorce, then God curses you for.
Speaker 2 (39:28):
Leaving the covenant.
Speaker 1 (39:32):
He said, whatever, that's the Old Testament, No, no Jesian
six children, obey your parents in the Lord and look
at this, and it shall be well with you.
Speaker 2 (39:47):
That you may live long upon the earth. He says.
Speaker 1 (39:50):
If you obey covenant, children, and obey your parents, you
have a quality of life and a quantity of life.
Speaker 2 (39:55):
So you know what I explained to my kids.
Speaker 1 (39:57):
I said, the benefits that you kids have is because
of the covenantal faithfulness of my father and my wife's father.
You see, both of them are committed Christians and have
been covenantally faithful in marriage.
Speaker 2 (40:11):
And so that was passed down to me.
Speaker 1 (40:13):
So that if I made and my wife made the
same spiritual commitment that my mother and father made, we
get the benefits of their covenantal marriage relationship working in
our family. So the kids living in our family get
the benefits of our continued covenantal relationship with God.
Speaker 2 (40:31):
But I told them, if.
Speaker 1 (40:33):
They break covenant with God by not obeying their parents,
then what they do is remove themselves from the blessing
that is operating in this covenantal family, so that they
will have nothing to transfer to their family, and so
their inheritance is cut off and it does not continue
(40:54):
the beautiful thing about family and the reason why getting
our families together. Look, let me show you what broken
covenort it's due. You see them out here in the
streets all day long, children who were raised up by children.
The single parent problem has become an inheritance and becoming
the perpetual lifestyle, and that is cursing. Blessing is when
(41:17):
parents operate and covenant children obey the covenant, then the
blessing that the covenant or.
Speaker 2 (41:22):
Passed to the children so.
Speaker 1 (41:23):
They can have that same blessing the past.
Speaker 2 (41:25):
To their children.
Speaker 1 (41:26):
So if one of my four children leaves the covenant,
then they have no continuity of blessing. Only the three
kids that stay in the covenant do. The other one
dies unless he repents. So you say, what's the bottom
line here? Pastor very simple? Verse sixteen the Malachi I
(41:47):
hate divorce. You see that hate is a strong word.
Speaker 2 (41:52):
I hate it.
Speaker 1 (41:53):
You know why he hates it because it's covenant issue.
He hates the vorce, not because you two are gonna
be living in the same house anymore. He hates the
vorce not primarily because of what we're gonna do with
the kids. He hates the voce, not primarily about how
we're gonna work out with the finances.
Speaker 2 (42:07):
He hates the vorce.
Speaker 1 (42:08):
Because you have dealt treacherously with your wife, who is
yours by covenant. That's why I hate it. He hates
it because you broke covenant with him regarding your wife.
When you break covenant with him, he doesn't think that's
small thing, just like you don't think it small. Somebody
breaks the contract with you. God don't think it small
if you break covenant with him. I hate divorce, and
(42:29):
you are to hate it too, unless and you still
hate it. But in terms of following through on it,
there is a biblical ground. I hate divorce, and so
this church ought to do everything it can to fight
against divorce, to stop it, to mediate it, to do
whatever it can because God says it stacks.
Speaker 2 (42:50):
Not primarily because of the kids. It's thinks, primarily because
of the covenant
The problem of divorce is a massive one. Over the
last fifty years, divorces have gone up seven hundred percent.
One out of every two couples now gets divorced. Fifty
percent of all marriages and in divorce, as are some
(00:24):
high statistics. By the year two thousand, half of all
the American children will have not been raised in a
traditional home, and in the minority community.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
We've already passed that statistic.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
This has all been exacerbated and made worse by a
court allowance of divorce called no fault divorce. Divorce is
always somebody's fault, but no fault is the way for
(01:07):
the legislature to not have to worry about it. So
both of you agree to the terms, both of you
agree to how the property to be divided.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
They say, we don't need a headache, pay.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
A lawyer, ninety dollars, file the papers, divoice granted, no
questions asked.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
And so we are.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
In a day when divorce is easy. So commitment is
not necessarily that important. Well, I'm gonna give you what
the Bible says. Before we can talk about divorce and remarriage,
(01:53):
we need to talk about marriage. What you're getting divorced
out of I would like to submit that when I
share today becomes the foundation for.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Everything I'm going to share over the next three weeks.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
And so your understanding of today is critical for your
own life, for your own family, and for what you
tell your buddies, because a lot of this mess is
being stimulated by what you think your buddy ought to do.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
And the advice you give them. We will look at.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
Two passages, Malachi chapter two and Genesis chapter one and two.
So turn the Malachi and hold your finger in Genesis.
Malachi is our issue at hand. Genesis is our illustration.
(02:56):
So Malachi will give the data, Genesis will give the illustration.
Please note verse thirteen of Malachi two. And this is
another thing you do. You cover the altar of the
Lord with tears, with weeping, and with groaning. A lot
(03:17):
of serious worship going on because he no longer regards
the offering or accepts it with favor from your hand.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Yet you say, how come for what reason?
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Because the Lord has been a witness between you and
the wife of your youth, against whom you have dealt treacherously,
though she is your companion and your wife by what covenant?
Everything I say today and the next three weeks wrap
(03:56):
around your understanding of one lulo. It's a bitsy Hebrew
Old Testament word covenant.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
It is your.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
Ability to understand that, or your inability to accept it,
that will govern your life from here on out. Before
I get started, if you want to leave now, and
(04:26):
that sounds unius, but I'm halfway serious, because once you
learn it, God holds you accountable to it.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
But even leaving won't help, because if.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
You could have learned it and didn't learn it, God
will judge you for it. So actually you're in trouble
both ways already. He says, she is your wife by covenant.
(05:03):
Before we can talk marriage, we must talk covenant. What
is a covenant? All of us in this room have
entered in the contracts before. A contract is an agreement
between two parties about a certain issue in which stipulations
(05:25):
are given. Agreement is reached, ratification of the document both
party signed, and then you become legally bound to the
stipulations of the contract.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
That's a contract.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
A covenant includes a contract, but it is more than
a contract. What makes a covenant more than a contract
is that it is tied to relationship, not just to
the formal issue.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
You don't need a relationship to do business.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
I don't have to like you to sign a contract.
I just have to like the deal. But in a covenant,
it's more than how we relate to this thing contract.
It is also how we relate to the persons involved
in the contract, which kicks it up and makes it
(06:28):
a covenant.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
So a covenant is a.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
Contractual arrangement between two parties or two groups that are
tied together by virtue of arrangements and relationships. The Bible
has three covenental institutions, that is, institutions that God created
(06:57):
to carry out his contractual arrangement with this planet. Covenant
number one Family, well, we're gonna talk about today, so
I won't spend time there.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
But Family.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
Covenant number two Church his redeemed people. He has an
agreement with them, it's called the New Covenant, where he
makes an arrangement with them based on the relationship that
through them he is going to express his concern in
the world.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
Three. Government.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
The government is the third covenantal institution through which God
operates the world organizationally. So he bears a relationship to
all three of those. And that's why my Bible says,
even the governor and the president Romans thirteen is a
minister of God. Okay, Now, let's go back to the
(07:59):
first Covenant. The first Covenant is marriage and family. Why
did God create marriage? There are three reasons why God
created marriage, and only one of them have anything to
(08:19):
do with you being happy. Okay, there are three reasons
God created marriage. One of them has to do with
making you happy, but the other two don't have anything
to do with you directly.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
Let me go through to them.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
The first reason God created marriage is pro creation having babies. Now,
this is a whole nother sermon, and I don't have
time to go into it, so let me just summarize.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
It because it's critical.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
Okay, the Bible makes grand statements about having babies.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
In fact, the Bible.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
Says, the more Themaria keep on having them. Okay, But
why why the big deal about having kids? Remember God
told Adam and even Genesis be fruitful and multiplied so
that you will have dominion over the earth. The reason
(09:26):
why God wanted married couples to make babies wasn't just
so that they could have people who look like them
running around the house.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
That wasn't it. It had to do with the theology
of dominion.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
Dominion meant reproduce yourself and spread out all over this planet,
so that all over this planet there will be somebody
ruling every area of the globe under my rulership. Other words,
babies are the way to make sure the name of
God gets perpetuated throughout the whole earth.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
See, I'm de raised my kids.
Speaker 3 (10:10):
So that whether one moves to Baltimore, or one moves
to la or one move to New York, when they
disseminate and leave my house, the mark of God relocates
in New.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
York, in Los Angeles, and in Baltimore.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
That God is disseminated worldwide. That was the purpose of
having babies. It was so that there would be divine dominion,
God's rule everywhere through the babies that were disseminated everywhere.
And so the Bible says, blessed is the man who's
quiver is full of them. So, honey, you're ready to
(10:43):
go one more round? I didn't hear an amen. See,
it is the perpetuation of the divine name.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
Now most of us have babies that carry our name.
God just had babies that carrying my name everywhere.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
Secondly, is self realization, and that's the happy part. He
told Adam. He says, I will make a helpmate for you.
That was another way of saying, boy, you need help.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
You are.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
Incomplete when it is time to marry, and you don't
as long as you're supposed to be single. God is
your completeness when it is time for marriage. That means
God is now bringing somebody along to fix up the
(11:50):
rest of you that's lacking. The reason that Adam was
given a wife was to come complete the lack. The
reason why God gives you to make He doesn't give
you somebody just like you, for if both of you
were the same, one of you would be unnecessary. He
(12:14):
gives someone who is different than you to make up
the difference so that you can fulfill the complete purpose
of life as God has ordained it. So self realization,
the realization of all God created you to be at
the point that He calls you for marriage self realization. Finally,
the third purpose of marriage is divine illustration. You are
(12:41):
a type of Christ in the church. The Bible says
the church is the bride. Christ is the bridegroom. In
a marriage, the husband is the bridegroom. And the wife
is the bride. And so you are to illustrate a
greater reality, and that is the reality of God to
his people. So bad marriage means a bad illustration, because
(13:03):
an illustration is supposed to do.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
One thing, illustrate.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
And so when you get divorced, you're saying something very
bad about God. Now, when God wanted to form marriage,
he established an agreement between a man and a woman
in which they would covenant under him, this contractual relationship that.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
We call marriage. And it's at this point if.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
You haven't buckled up your seatbelt, you need to, because
at this point we want to break down the ingredients
of a marriage covenant.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
I've told you what a covenant is.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
I've told you what the purpose of marriage is. So
now let's you look at the marriage covenant. We'll look
at it in principle Malachi two, and then in illustration
in Genesis one and two.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
Principal number one.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
About the ingredients of a marriage covenant. The first thing
you need to know and the most important, it is
a legal relationship established by God. It is a legal relationship.
(14:31):
Please note he says in verse fourteen, for what reason?
Because the Lord has been a witness between you and.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
The wife of your youth. The Lord has been a witness.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
We do not have to take a lot of time.
I'm sure to prove to you that marriage is God's idea.
God told Adam, I will make a mate suitable for you.
It's all his idea. Therefore, it is a divine covenant,
not a human covenant. Not only is the God's idea,
(15:13):
it's God's legal idea. Notice, he says he has been
a witness against you. The Hebrew word for witness means
a legal accuser. He has legally seen what you have
done and taken the stand against you. He has entered
(15:34):
the heavenly courtroom and is rendering a verdict against you
because you are divorcing your mate. Now, that's why when
people tell me, you know, Pastard, I don't see why
we have to go through the ceremony.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
A piece of paper doesn't mean anything. Oh no, no, no, no,
that's not it.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
It's already legal in heaven, so you shouldn't have a
problem of making it legal on it.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
It's a legal declaration. Here is a witness.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
And the reason you know with legal is because when
they got a divorced, they had to get a bill
of divorcement just couldn't walk away. You got a bill
of divorcemn you had a piece of paper. Okay, so
paper did have something to do with it, and it
was legal, a legal declaration of a relationship, because a
covenant includes legality.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
Now grab on to your neighbor for this one.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
This is a rough one coming there, because marriage is
a divine covenant and not a human covenant.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
Only God can break the covenant.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
That explains Jesus' statement in Matthew six, what God has
joined together?
Speaker 2 (16:56):
Let know what man put asunder?
Speaker 1 (17:00):
Why? Because it's not man's covenant, and you can't let
a man overrule a divine covenant. And even people know
it's a divine covenant, so they recognize God has something
to do with this. Well, he has a more to
do with this than you'll care to want to know,
he says. At the moment you and your mate say,
(17:20):
I do stamped in heaven, legally certified marriage. Five years later,
you don't go to judge God for the divorce. You
go downtown and you say, mister judge, we have agreed
we can't live together anymore. Both of us have signed
(17:40):
on the dotted line divided the property, and therefore.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
We wish a divorce.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
The judge says, man judges a man, divorce granted. Got
a problem. The man gave you a divorce from a
divine covenant.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
He can't do that. So God sees the judge say
divorce granted.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
God picks up his pad and says, divorce not granted.
So God doesn't grant the divorce, at least a no
fault divorce. We'll go into what kind of voices he does. Granted,
he does grant some Once God stamps no divorce. That is,
it's a non covenantal based divorce. It's one only man
(18:32):
gave you. God holds a position. You're still married, which
explains what Jesus meant when he.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
Said that if a man puts away his wife.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
Goes and marries another woman, he is now committing adultery.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
And the reason this adultery is because God still sees
the first marriage is valid.
Speaker 1 (18:59):
Because it's a divine covenant, and only he can break
divine covenants.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
Men can't break divine covenants.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
So here's what we want. We want God to marry us,
but men to separate us. Come on, now, God to
bless the marriage. But God not to bless the divorce,
and God says, if I bless the marriage, the only
way you can get out.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
Of it is if I bless the divorce. So if
I don't bless the divorce, you're still married.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
If you're still marriage, you're an adultery.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
The penalty for adultery is death.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
Therefore, anybody living in adultery dies.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
I told you, I told you, He said.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
Wait a minute, but I'm still alive. Not necessarily, and
you'll see in a moment. Covenantal death precedes physical death.
So what I am saying to this point is this
marriage is a divine covenant. If you came together with
a recognition that God had something to do with this,
(19:57):
that means that you entered a covenant God.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
And when you go to the divorce.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
Court and a man breaks the covenant, God says, unacceptable.
It's acceptable for a society, it's not acceptable for God.
Number One, marriage is a legal relationship established by God,
and therefore only God can break it. You have to
(20:26):
understand that only God can break it. Now some of
you are wondering, well, yeah, but for what can I
get it broken for? Because some of you getting worried
and so don't worry about it because I know for
many of you is the first time you're hearing this.
And how do you get dead people alive? You have
to resurrect them. So if you've had covenental death, you
need covenental resurrection. And we'll explain what covenental resurrection is
if you have died covenentally. Okay, Divorce is breaking covenant.
(20:52):
Marriage is entering into covenant point two principle two, which
ties in the principal one.
Speaker 2 (21:02):
It functions under authority.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
There is always a hierarchy in how covenants operate under authority.
Let me quote to you first Corincians, chapter eleven.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
It says.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
God is over Christ. Christ is over every man. The
man is over the woman. He gives a hierarchy. Everybody's
under somebody. That's what he That's what hierarchy means submission
on some level.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
In marriage. Catch this, both parties are.
Speaker 1 (21:45):
Under God and the woman is to submit to the
leadership of the man.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
Hierarchy.
Speaker 1 (21:51):
Children are submit to the authority of parents. And when
you don't have authority, you have chaos. So covenants always
include authority. Now, if God is the ultimate authority in
a marriage, and he is because it's a divine institution.
If God is the ultimate authority, he calls the shots.
That's what bosses do. He calls the shots. Now he says,
(22:16):
do you want to end into my covenant marriage? The
man says yes I do. The woman says yes I do.
So the next question God wants to know is do
you agree to operate covenantally in the marriage? And the
marriage doesn't occur unless you say I do. He said,
Wait a minute, I don't remember agreeing to no covenant.
(22:37):
Oh yes you did, because I think the preacher said
something like do you promise to love, honor, cherish and
sickness and in health for richer or poorer, for better
or worse. You made a covenantal agreement because he ended
the statement with so help you God, or in accordance
with God's word.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
Come on and think back. Can you remember that? All right?
What you did? See?
Speaker 1 (23:00):
You weren't thinking about God. You were looking into her eyes,
and she was looking in your eyes. You said, yeah,
I do anything.
Speaker 2 (23:05):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, you.
Speaker 1 (23:07):
Know you weren't thinking about God.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
Tough.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
God was thinking about the covenant. See, God knows that
you have honeymoon in your eyes. God's got covenant in
his and God is thinking, agreement stamped, ratified.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
That's it.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
You've already signed, and you can't go back any race.
I didn't know what I was saying at the church.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
Can't do that.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
Government ratified by God in heaven, settled yah in a man.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
That's it.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
And now he says, my authority. So as you exit
the church, God.
Speaker 2 (23:48):
Leaves with you to become the authority over the relationship.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
Now, the tragedy is most relationships, when they get in trouble,
never consult the authority. And so what they consult is
the judge has nothing to do with this marriage. He
wasn't there when you got married, don't know what you
said to one another, have nothing to do with it.
He's just the quickest person in town who's been given
legal authority to do something God and never authorized them
to do, except in certain situations, which we'll talk about.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
Functions under authority. So you must understand that when you.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
Get married, it's not just what you and your wife wants,
it's what God tells you and your wife you can
have or not have.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
Thirdly, this is a heavy one.
Speaker 1 (24:54):
Now covenants are only entered under the penalty of death.
In other words, when you break any covenant of God,
you die immediately, I mean on the spot death. Now,
(25:19):
he said, wait a minute, hold it, I have gotten divorced.
I am not dead. Oh yes, you are, most certainly.
It's called covenental death.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
You die. Let me illustrate what I mean. Are you thinking?
Speaker 1 (25:36):
Malachi turned back to Genesis. Now you're gonna need your
Bible for this series. Genesis chapter two, verse sixteen, and
(26:03):
the Lord God commanded the man, saying, from any tree
of the garden you may eat freely. But from the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall
not eat. For in the day you eat from it,
you shall surely die. When was he gonna die the
day he ate from it? Did he drop dead the
(26:23):
day he ate from the tree?
Speaker 2 (26:25):
Not? Most certainly. No.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
What happened the day he ate from the tree? He
was excommunicated out of the garden. That's what happened. He
was removed from the presence and the fellowship of God.
That's what happened. Guess what happened when he was excommunicated?
His world crumbled. He didn't die, or he did die,
but that was long term death.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
That was immediate death. For this day, not tomorrow, not
the day after tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
You pray covenant back death immediately, because what's the definition
of death? Remember this death is separation. That death is
you never are non extinct once you're born. Even when
you die you go to heaven or hell. Death is separation.
When you break covenant with God, you are immediately separated
from him. And when you are immediately separated from him,
(27:16):
that's death. With death comes demise. If you are covenantally dead,
there is no person you can talk to, no place
you can go to get covenantal life other than the
author of the covenant. There's no place you can go.
(27:38):
You are in trouble. So what happened when Adam got
kicked out? He and his wife fought, had to work
eight hours a day. By the sweat his brows. Every
time men you sweat at work, think of Adam. What
happened with the woman? Listen this, ladies, when it was
(27:58):
covenantally dead, Look, two things happen.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
Number one pain and childbirth. But number two a very
interesting statement says, your desire shall be for your husband.
Speaker 1 (28:10):
Does that mean it means you're gonna pain for him,
You're gonna want him, You're gonna need him, and he
more often than not, will not.
Speaker 2 (28:22):
Be there for you.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
Any of you relate to that. He needs your husband
to understand. He just doesn't seem to understand. You need
him to stand with you. He just doesn't seem to
stay with you. You need him to support you. He just
doesn't seem to support you.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
You have a.
Speaker 1 (28:34):
Desire for it, but it just never seems to come.
You can never get this guy to turn around. Why
Because he's dead and the relationship is dead.
Speaker 2 (28:45):
That's why.
Speaker 1 (28:47):
And death means that there is no life. Nothing gets
this thing cooking again. And that's why when you're covenantally dead,
life falls apart. No matter how much money you make.
When your covenant's broken. If you blong to Jesus Christ
and if it in the covenant with God and break
covenant by divorce, God removes his hands a protective blessing
from you, and life demises around you.
Speaker 2 (29:09):
Doesn't marry who you marry next, it's covenant death.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
Roman seven says that a wife is bound to her
husband for as long as her husband lives, but when
her husband dies, she is no longer bound, but she
is free to marry another as long as the covenant
is at work in spiritual life or in physical life.
(29:41):
You are bound to the covenant. When the covenant dies
because the mate dies physically, or when the covenant dies
because God kills the covenant spiritually, because there's a biblical
basis for the divorce, then you're no longer bound. You
are now free to remarry. So the issue is is
it a biblically based divorce? Now I get in all
(30:06):
kinds of trouble. And let me preface my statement here
that I'm not talking about any particular couple in this statement.
But I get in a lot of trouble because I
get people mad at me because I have to ask
them questions when they come for counseling about marriage, and
one person gets you got really ticked off at me.
(30:28):
You know who's not here now, but they just got
really ticked on me. Why you gotta know all that
or don't even know? Is I want to get married?
Speaker 2 (30:35):
No? No, because I don't want to help kill you.
I don't help you. I don't help you die because
once you break covenant, God kills you. Bang, it's over.
Speaker 1 (30:46):
And the only way to deal with the dead person
is you gotta resurrect them.
Speaker 2 (30:50):
The covenant kills, and it kills immediately.
Speaker 1 (30:54):
So once you get divorced for a non biblically based reason,
that is other than a reason for which God allows
the covenant to be broken, God kills you, allows you
to die on the spot, removes his hand from you.
Speaker 2 (31:07):
You're out there on your own.
Speaker 1 (31:09):
And just like any Old Testament, when you remarry, if
you go out and you remarry a person, you committed adultery.
So when you commit adultery, you killed physically in the
Old Testament. Well when you do that in the New Testament,
you're killed spiritually.
Speaker 2 (31:24):
You die. And so that's the nature.
Speaker 1 (31:32):
That's why Paul says, listening First Corinthians, chapter six, let's
do what he says.
Speaker 2 (31:36):
He says, don't you know he's all you?
Speaker 1 (31:38):
And why you shouldn't live it morally that a man
who gets together with a prostitute becomes one flesh with her.
He marries her. When a man's sleep of the prostitute,
don't you understand he says that when he goes down
to that bed with the prostitute, he gets married. Because
marriage is one flesh. These two become one illustrated in
(31:59):
the sexualion. When you're gover to prostitute. You get married,
he said, I didn't know I was doing that.
Speaker 2 (32:08):
It's what you're doing.
Speaker 1 (32:09):
You're committing the marriage vow, which is an illegitimate marriage vow.
Speaker 2 (32:13):
Therefore it's death. It's death.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
And so what happens is God and death. God removes
his life from you. And when God removes his life
from you, you exist.
Speaker 2 (32:25):
That's it.
Speaker 1 (32:26):
So some of us can never get our lives together
no matter what we do, because we've broken covenant. And
the only way to solve that is to get back
and covenant.
Speaker 2 (32:36):
Fourthly, here's a doozy.
Speaker 1 (32:41):
It includes ethical responsibilities that have a cause effect relationship.
Speaker 2 (32:47):
You know what cause effect is. Because of this cause,
something will have it.
Speaker 1 (32:50):
If something will be the outworking of it, therefore it
will be called the effect. Look at the cause effect
relationship in Malachi.
Speaker 2 (32:58):
Then we'll turn the genesis. But look at Maliki behind time.
But I need to really get through this because it's
critical and Malca. Here's what we have. He says in
verse thirteen, you can't coming.
Speaker 1 (33:16):
You're groaning, you're crying because I don't accept your offering.
But you want to know why don't you accept our offering?
Verse fourteen. Because the effect is you don't accept the offering.
What's the cause. Because the Lord has been a witness
between you and the wife of your youth verse fourteen.
Speaker 2 (33:33):
What does he say? You know what he's saying because
of how you treat your wife in divorcing her.
Speaker 1 (33:41):
If cause, the effect will be Listen, your worship is
a waste of time. Your church attendance won't do you
any good your divorce. Your wife might just want to
say home from church.
Speaker 2 (33:56):
Say you've been crying, asking me to bless you. You've
been crying. I ain't asking me to help you.
Speaker 1 (34:01):
You've been crying, asking me to take care of you.
And I say, I do not accept your offering. You
say you're gonna give me more money, You're gonna give
me more time. I do not accept your offering. Why
Because I've been living in your home. I've not only
watched you when you come to church, I watch you
when you wake up, and I see how you dealt
with your wife of your youth, how you've dealt treacherously.
Speaker 2 (34:23):
And for that reason your efforts are canceled. It's heavy,
he said. Wait, man, I hear with some of your things.
Speaker 1 (34:30):
You said, way a man, pastor, wait man, I said, oh,
hard old Testament stuff.
Speaker 2 (34:34):
That's not for the New Testament, or isn't it.
Speaker 1 (34:37):
First Peter, Chapter three, verse seven, Husband's well with your
wives according to knowledge, as with a week of vessel,
for she is a woman, and grant her honor as
in joint air, so that your prayers may not be stopped.
Speaker 2 (34:54):
Got that?
Speaker 3 (34:55):
He got it.
Speaker 1 (34:55):
God says, oh, you wanted to divorce your wife. Get
up off your knees. You're divorce in your wife. Get
up off your need I'm not listening to you today.
You're mistreating your maid. Get up off your knees. We
don't have anything to talk about. Don't ask me to
answer your prayer.
Speaker 2 (35:14):
Don't ask me.
Speaker 1 (35:14):
You're misusing your maid. You're mistreating your maid. You want
to divorce your maid. Don't tell me how spiritual you are.
You have a lot of spiritual people who are messing
up on their maids. That's not spirituality. God says you're dead.
Dead people can't contact him. Says, don't even bother the prayer. Ladies,
don't feel too comfortable. In the first six verses, he
tells you the same thing, same thing, same thing. This
(35:40):
stuff is hard because it's his covenant. And men of
milk taking his covenant and turned it in the milky way.
Speaker 2 (35:48):
He's covenant.
Speaker 1 (35:55):
Look at this in Genesis again, real quick, Genesis chapter two.
Now look at this cause and effect. Remember verse seventeen
of the Tree of Knowledge. Good neh, But you shall
not eat well in the day that you eat of it,
you shall surely die. Okay, So he says, this cause
will bring this effect. You're gonna die if you do
(36:17):
this thing, if you eat. But look at my man,
my man Satan. Look at he is cool, smooth. He
comes in chapter three, comes on, slithers on up to
the lady.
Speaker 2 (36:34):
And says verse four. And the serpent said to her,
you surely shall not die. You know what he's saying.
Speaker 1 (36:43):
You don't have to worry about the effect, even if
you do produce the cause. If you do eat, don't
worry about dying. God says, if you eat, you're gonna die.
Satan says, eat, you're not gonna die. And he's been
tricking a lot of folk for years. He's got the
believing you can break God's covenant and not die when
the definition of covenant is death.
Speaker 2 (37:06):
So if you break God's covenant, and you think.
Speaker 1 (37:09):
You can just ease on up to a judge and say,
now we have a no fault divorce here, and we
already agreed on the property. And you say, I'm not
gonna die. You bitten the lie of Satan. And you wonder,
how come your life still falling apart? Now that's your
single again. You wonder, how come you can't get rid
of this depression?
Speaker 2 (37:25):
How come you.
Speaker 1 (37:25):
Can't stabilize your existence. How come you can't solidify your
life even though this person's died in your life anymore?
Because now God killed you, he said, but my husband
is killing me. Now God's killing you because you die.
See the day you eat, you die.
Speaker 2 (37:42):
That's all.
Speaker 1 (37:42):
This day isn't eaven, any discussion about it. That day
eat you die, You just die. God removes and separates
himself from you in the area of fellowship.
Speaker 2 (37:55):
You die, so Satan wants to change the cause of effect.
Speaker 1 (38:01):
Finally, the last thing you need to know about the
marriage covenant is that it is the means of transferring blessing.
Covenants guarantee inheritance. Covenants guarantee the transfer blessings. When you
keep covenant, you transfer blessings. I was having devotions with
(38:23):
my kids last night. I was reading to them Deuteronomy
twenty eight, powerful chapter dividing the two halves. Here's how
it goes, if you will be careful to do all
the things that are in my word, then blessed shall
ye be in the city.
Speaker 2 (38:37):
Blessed shall you be in the country. Blessed shall the
wife be in the kitchen?
Speaker 1 (38:41):
And then it goes on, blessed, blessed, blessed, blessed, blessed,
And then it gets the verse fifteen. It says, but
if you do not obey and are not careful to
do all that is written in this book of the law,
then he says, curse it, shay ye be in the country,
curse it, shay ye be in the city. And then
he goes then he curses them. He says, now it's
up to you. Do you want blessings that do you
want cursing?
Speaker 2 (39:01):
Right? Why?
Speaker 1 (39:03):
Because attached to God's covenant are God's blessings. If you're
in the covenant, you get the blessings. If you're out
of the covenant, you lose the blessings. And marriage is
one of those covenants. So if you have a biblical
basis for divorce, then you can get out of the
covenant and still be blessed. If you have a non
(39:23):
biblical basis for the divorce, then God curses you for.
Speaker 2 (39:28):
Leaving the covenant.
Speaker 1 (39:32):
He said, whatever, that's the Old Testament, No, no Jesian
six children, obey your parents in the Lord and look
at this, and it shall be well with you.
Speaker 2 (39:47):
That you may live long upon the earth. He says.
Speaker 1 (39:50):
If you obey covenant, children, and obey your parents, you
have a quality of life and a quantity of life.
Speaker 2 (39:55):
So you know what I explained to my kids.
Speaker 1 (39:57):
I said, the benefits that you kids have is because
of the covenantal faithfulness of my father and my wife's father.
You see, both of them are committed Christians and have
been covenantally faithful in marriage.
Speaker 2 (40:11):
And so that was passed down to me.
Speaker 1 (40:13):
So that if I made and my wife made the
same spiritual commitment that my mother and father made, we
get the benefits of their covenantal marriage relationship working in
our family. So the kids living in our family get
the benefits of our continued covenantal relationship with God.
Speaker 2 (40:31):
But I told them, if.
Speaker 1 (40:33):
They break covenant with God by not obeying their parents,
then what they do is remove themselves from the blessing
that is operating in this covenantal family, so that they
will have nothing to transfer to their family, and so
their inheritance is cut off and it does not continue
(40:54):
the beautiful thing about family and the reason why getting
our families together. Look, let me show you what broken
covenort it's due. You see them out here in the
streets all day long, children who were raised up by children.
The single parent problem has become an inheritance and becoming
the perpetual lifestyle, and that is cursing. Blessing is when
(41:17):
parents operate and covenant children obey the covenant, then the
blessing that the covenant or.
Speaker 2 (41:22):
Passed to the children so.
Speaker 1 (41:23):
They can have that same blessing the past.
Speaker 2 (41:25):
To their children.
Speaker 1 (41:26):
So if one of my four children leaves the covenant,
then they have no continuity of blessing. Only the three
kids that stay in the covenant do. The other one
dies unless he repents. So you say, what's the bottom
line here? Pastor very simple? Verse sixteen the Malachi I
(41:47):
hate divorce. You see that hate is a strong word.
Speaker 2 (41:52):
I hate it.
Speaker 1 (41:53):
You know why he hates it because it's covenant issue.
He hates the vorce, not because you two are gonna
be living in the same house anymore. He hates the
vorce not primarily because of what we're gonna do with
the kids. He hates the voce, not primarily about how
we're gonna work out with the finances.
Speaker 2 (42:07):
He hates the vorce.
Speaker 1 (42:08):
Because you have dealt treacherously with your wife, who is
yours by covenant. That's why I hate it. He hates
it because you broke covenant with him regarding your wife.
When you break covenant with him, he doesn't think that's
small thing, just like you don't think it small. Somebody
breaks the contract with you. God don't think it small
if you break covenant with him. I hate divorce, and
(42:29):
you are to hate it too, unless and you still
hate it. But in terms of following through on it,
there is a biblical ground. I hate divorce, and so
this church ought to do everything it can to fight
against divorce, to stop it, to mediate it, to do
whatever it can because God says it stacks.
Speaker 2 (42:50):
Not primarily because of the kids. It's thinks, primarily because
of the covenant
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