1.  THE “COVENANT” OF MARRIAGE Matthew 19:3-8

2.  Matthew 19:3-8 Some Pharisees came to Jesus, testing Him and asking, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason at all?“ 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, AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH'?

3. "So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate."“They said to Him, "Why then did Moses command to give a certificate of divorce, and to put her away?“ He said to them, "Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so.”

4.  Deuteronomy 24:1 "When a man takes a wife and marries her, and it happens that she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some indecency in her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out from his house…”

5.  Malachi 2:13-16 Please Turn in Your Bibles

6. This solemn ritual involved the death of animals and the binding of people to a promise. The persons making the covenant would sacrifice several animals and divide the bodies, placing the halves opposite each other on the ground. Then the parties would walk between the pieces of the sacrifices in declaration that, if they failed to keep their word, they deserved the same fate as the animals. Warren Wiersbe

7.  Genesis 15:7-18 “When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram and said, "To your descendants I give this land…”

8.  Exodus 2:24 So God heard their groaning; and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob… 19:5 'Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; 6 and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation…

9. 7 So Moses came and called the elders of the people, and set before them all these words which the LORD had commanded him. 8 All the people answered together and said, "All that the LORD has spoken we will do!”

10. 24:7 Then he took the book of the covenant and read it in the hearing of the people; and they said, "All that the LORD has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient!" 8 So Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people, and said, "Behold the blood of the covenant, which the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words."

11.  Jeremiah 34:18-20 The men who have violated my covenant and have not fulfilled the terms of the covenant they made before me, I will treat like the calf they cut in two and then walked between its pieces. The leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, the court officials, the priests and all the people of the land who walked between the pieces of the calf, I will hand over to their enemies who seek their lives. Their dead bodies will become food for the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth.

12.  Psalm 78:10 “They did not keep the covenant of God and refused to walk in His law…”

13.  “Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate”

14. The following is from Dr. James Dobson’s book Complete Marriage and Family Home Reference Guide. “Marriage succeeds only as a lifetime commitment with no escape clauses. This kind of determination was common for earlier generations.” Dr. Dobson shares a promise his father wrote out to his mother when she agreed to become his wife in 1935:

15. “I want you to understand and be fully aware of my feelings concerning the marriage covenant that we are about to enter. I have been taught, in harmony with the Word of God, that the marriage vows are inviolable (unbreakable), and by entering into them I am binding myself absolutely and for life.

16. The idea of estrangement from you through divorce for any reason at all (although God allows one – infidelity) will never at any time be permitted to enter into my thinking. I’m not naïve in this. I’m fully aware of the possibility, unlikely as it now appears, that mutual incompatibility or other unforeseen circumstances could result in extreme suffering.

17. If such becomes the case, I am resolved for my part to accept it as a consequence of the commitment I am now making, and to bear it, if necessary, to the end of our lives together. I have loved you dearly as a sweetheart and will continue to love you as my wife. And I pray that God himself will make our affection for one another perfect and eternal.”

18.  Communion

19.  Hebrews 6:13-14 For when God made the promise to Abraham, since He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, saying, "I WILL SURELY BLESS YOU AND I WILL SURELY MULTIPLY YOU."

20.  Isaiah 42:5-7 Thus says God the LORD, Who created the heavens and stretched them out, Who spread out the earth and its offspring, Who gives breath to the people on it And spirit to those who walk in it, "I am the LORD, I have called you in righteousness, I will also hold you by the hand and watch over you, And I will appoint you as a covenant to the people, As a light to the nations, To open blind eyes, To bring out prisoners from the dungeon And those who dwell in darkness from the prison.

21.  Ezekiel 36:25-27 “Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. Your filth will be washed away, and you will no longer worship idols. And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. And I will put my Spirit in you so that you will follow my decrees and be careful to obey my regulations.

22.  Luke 22:14-15

23.  Hebrews 13:20-21 Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord, equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.