SERMON 166: MARRIAGE, DIVORCE, AND ADULTERY
Germaine Charles Lockwood

What does the New Covenant teach about marriage, divorce and adultery?
Each person living now will be judged according to the New Covenant. Jesus said in:

John 12:48: He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him--the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day. John 12:48.

Everyone living now will be judged according to the New Covenant of Messiah,
even those who reject Jesus. Matthew 28:18-20. Acts 17:30, 31.

What does the word of God teach about marriage and divorce? Jesus said in

Matthew 5:32: But I say to you that whoever divorces his wife for any reason except sexual immorality causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a woman who is divorced commits adultery. Matthew 5:32.

The only reason that a man can divorce his wife is for sexual immorality, fornication. If he divorces her for any other reason, then he is guilty of causing her to commit adultery, which is sin on his part. Jesus said clearly that whoever marries a woman who is divorced, commits adultery. 

Matthew 19:4-6: And He (Jesus) answered and said to them, “Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.” Matthew 19:4-6.

It is wrong to separate a man and wife. It is wrong for a husband and wife to separate. “Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.”
	
Matthew 19:9: “And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery.” Matthew 19:9.

The only reason that a man can divorce his wife is sexual immorality, fornication. If a man divorces his wife when she was not guilty of sexual immorality and marries another woman, he is committing adultery. Notice also that polygamy, taking a second wife, is adultery. It is also stated again in Matthew 19:9, that whoever marries her who is divorced is committing adultery.

Mark 10:11, 12: So He (Jesus) said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her. And if a woman divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.” Mark 10:11, 12.

So we have learned that if a woman divorces her husband and marries another,
she commits adultery. 

There is some additional information recorded. Jesus said in:

Luke 16:18: Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced from her husband commits adultery. Luke 16:18.

Notice, if a man divorces his wife and marries another, he commits adultery.

Consider the divorced wife. Her husband divorced her, married another woman and is living in adultery. Does that free the first wife to remarry? Jesus said: “whoever marries her who is divorced from her husband commits adultery.” What the husband did and is doing, does not free the first wife to marry another man, even though her husband has another woman and is living in adultery. Jesus said clearly, “whoever marries her who is divorced from her husband commits adultery.”

Romans 7:2, 3: For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband. So then if, while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she has married another man. Romans 7:2, 3.

This goes with what we have read. A woman is bound to her husband as long as he lives. If she marries another man while her husband is alive, she will be called an adulteress. The New Covenant does not say that a woman can divorce her husband and marry another man if her husband commits adultery.

1 Corinthians 7:10, 11 goes with this:

Now to the married I command, yet not I but the Lord: A wife is not to depart from her husband. But even if she does depart, let her remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband. And a husband is not to divorce his wife. 1 Corinthians 7:10, 11.

The Lord’s command is that “a wife is not to depart from her husband.” But if a woman departs from her husband, what are her choices? She can remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband. A third choice is not given.

1 Corinthians 7:39: A wife is bound by law as long as her husband lives; but if her husband dies, she is at liberty to be married to whom she wishes, only in the Lord. 1 Corinthians 7:39.

1 Corinthians 7:2: Nevertheless, because of sexual immorality, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband. 1 Corinthians 7:2.

A man is not to have another man’s wife, and a woman is not to have another woman’s husband. Notice that each man is to have his own wife, singular, one. Polygamy is not allowed under the New Covenant.

We need to obey and teach the New Covenant doctrine about marriage.

Hebrew 13:4: Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge. Hebrew 13:4.

There is a day of judgement coming. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, . . . 2 Corinthians 5:10. Each of us will be judged according to the New Covenant. John 12:48. Are you living in sin, in adultery, fornication, sexual immorality? Col. 3:5-7. Now is the time to repent.

1 Corinthians 6:9, 10: Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. 1 Corinthians 6:9, 10.

If you do not inherit the kingdom of God, where will you be forever?

Revelation 21:8: “But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” Revelation 21:8.

What will happen to those in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone?

Revelation 20:10: . . . And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. Revelation 20:10.

Do you want to be tormented day and night forever and ever?

The good news is that Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God, died for your sins according to the scriptures. He was buried, and He rose again the third day, according to the scriptures. You can believe in Him and confess him.

Acts 2:38: . . . “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Acts 2:38.

Baptism is a burial with Christ into death, then you will be raised up out of the watery grave to a new life in Christ.

Romans 6:3,4: Or do you not know that as many of us were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. Romans 6:3,4.

Romans 6:1, 2: What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Romans 6:1, 2.

Acts 17:30, 31: “Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.” Acts 17:30, 31.

Amen!