2005-10-30 Communion Dedication - Baldwin Christian Church 

Matthew 5:31-32

It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement:  But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery. 

This is where the vow, "Until death do us part" came from.  When two become one, it is a lifetime covenant before God, and the union can only be broken by death or unfaithfulness, which is a form of death in itself.  Jesus is again teaching that sin reaches far beyond outward appearances.  If I divorce my wife for any reason other than the one given, when she remarries I have caused not only her, but also her new husband to commit adultery.  It's like the old snowball rolling down the hill; it just keeps rolling and getting bigger.  When children are involved in the divorce, the snowball of pain, suffering and sin gets even bigger.  These words are hard to hear for those of us who've been divorced, but they are true words. 

Leviticus 20:10 And the man that committeth adultery with another man's wife, even he that committeth adultery with his neighbour's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death. 

John 8:3-11

And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst, They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act.  Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?  This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not.  So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground.  And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.  When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?  She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.

It was sin; Jesus asserted this when He said, "go, and sin no more".  Therefore, the law is righteous, and Jesus isn't changing the penalty.  God's intention was for His People to be kingdom of priests, and a holy nation (Exodus 19:6), but their hearts were hard, and for this reason divorce was allowed under certain conditions (Deuteronomy 24:1-4).  Just because God allowed it, that doesn't mean He condones it.  Maybe there was less divorce back then, because immediately after these conditions were spelled out in Deuteronomy 24, the very next verse says, "When a man hath taken a new wife, he shall not go out to war, neither shall he be charged with any business: but he shall be free at home one year, and shall cheer up his wife which he hath taken".  As the saying goes, "Happy wife, happy life".  Maybe if we went back to the old way, it might cause more marriages to succeed.  It has to be better than how we do it nowadays; we get married, and immediately go out and spend more money than we have, causing the husband to be immediately charged with business, and having to go to war with his credit card bills.

Isaiah 53:6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

The LORD laid on Him the iniquity of us all, and yet we hear Him tell the woman caught in adultery, "Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more".  In more than one sense, the people who wanted this woman prosecuted and executed were the ones who brought her to Christ.  The law said she must die, the law picked up stones to throw at her; the law was right, and the law would not give her another chance, but Jesus did.  At the feet of Jesus, she found her throne of mercy.  Jesus said "go":  In the light of the grace you've received this day, get on with your life.  Love and live according to that understanding of grace.  He didn't tell her to dwell on her past, on her sin of adultery: He said "go".  Move on, you have a life to live.  Sin no more.

When we look at this communion, we know Jesus took that woman's sin upon Him, and we know that He's able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.  We know that we are betrothed to Him, but all we like sheep have gone astray; so in a spiritual sense, we've all committed adultery against God the Father.  We should all remember this whenever we think about picking up a stone to throw at someone (Romans 2:21-23), and we should rather pick up the bread of life, and the blood that covers all sins.