LUKE 16:16-18

Luke 16:16-18

As we have seen in our study of Luke’s gospel, the Pharisees were Jesus’ most ardent and vehement opponents. Which is interesting – they were undoubtedly one of the most spiritual sects in Israel at the time. Which tells us, spirituality, religiosity, tradition, legalism does not necessarily translate to truth, nor ensure righteousness.

Some of the Pharisees’ biggest problems with Jesus were these: He was not from one of their approved rabbinical schools, nor was He a disciple of one of their esteemed rabbis. In fact, it seemed this carpenter-turned-itinerant teacher from Nazareth had no training at all. As such, He was always crossing the lines, pushing the boundaries – He seemed to intentionally violate their most closely-held beliefs, called the traditions of the elders, particularly as it related to the Sabbath. He would teach in their synagogues with His own authority, things that did not agree with their system. In fact, we’ve seen almost everything He said flew in the face of their teachings. Further, He often healed people or drove out demons on the Sabbath. There were six days on which to be healed – the seventh day was not one of them.

Sometimes, Jesus had the audacity to forgive people of their sins – who could do that but God? And His followers were largely not from any esteemed religious establishment – no, they were Galileans, fishermen, tax collectors, formerly diseased and possessed people, women, sinners – they were from the lower crust. He actually hung out with them – partied with sinners the Pharisees despised. The list of His offenses was long – so many irritants. Of course, let’s not forget He often blasphemed, suggesting God was His Father, calling Himself I Am. They weren’t confused, these were clear claims to deity, words worthy of stoning. They didn’t like Him at all.

But, to be clear, the conflict went both ways. Jesus reserved some of His harshest criticisms for the Pharisees. This list was long, too. He told His disciples to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which was hypocrisy. They were proud, arrogant, superior to everyone. Everything they did was to be seen by men. He accused them of tying heavy burdens on people – burdens they themselves could not nor would not lift. They tithed on their seeds, but ignored the weightier matters of the Law, like justice and mercy. They were blind guides, leading others into the ditch. He accused them of being white-washed tombs – pretty on the outside, full of dead men’s bones on the inside. They were a hot mess.

Here was the big one, though. Jesus accused them of setting aside the commandments of God by their traditions. They claimed to be protecting the Law of Moses – but they really set it aside. You see, these traditions were their fabricated way of keeping the Law – thereby justifying themselves and making themselves acceptable to God. Remember that harsh verse from last week? This is Jesus, “You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts; for that which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God.” Strong words.
Remember, Luke had just said the Pharisees were lovers of money, so they were scoffing when Jesus said you cannot serve two masters, that is, you cannot serve God and money. But you see, by their made-up system of self-righteousness, they thought they were doing just that. Pleasing God and pleasing themselves. And justifying themselves through these traditions. But they weren’t. Understand, they were setting aside the commandments of God by their traditions. And so, Jesus said these words as He continued the conversation in Luke 16:16-18.

The Pharisees had missed the entire purpose of the Law. Yes, the Law God gave to Moses was good and expected to be obeyed. The problem was not the Law – it was broken humanity and our total inability to keep the Law. And that was never the purpose of the Law anyway. Nobody could keep the Law, except Jesus. You see, we read things like this in Romans 3:

19 Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God; [it makes us guilty]
20 because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.
21 But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets,
22 even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction;
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
24 being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus;

27 Where then is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith.
28 For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law.
29 Or is God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also,
30 since indeed God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith is one.
31 Do we then nullify the Law through faith? May it never be! On the contrary, we establish the Law. [That is, the purpose of the Law.]

I don’t have the time to cover all that, but from this we see the Law was never intended to justify anyone – you see, through the Law came simply the knowledge of sin. The Law said don’t, and we did; the Law said do, and we don’t. The Law was given to expose, even magnify our sin – show that we are exceedingly sinful – and then, it drives us to our knees and to faith in Jesus Christ. Don’t miss it, the Law and the Prophets, that’s the entire OT, point to Christ and the righteousness of God He would bring through the gospel. There will be no one justified by the Law because no one can keep the Law – salvation comes solely by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. The Pharisees missed it.

What about the Law then? Jesus has come with the gospel of the kingdom, so, is the Law done? Oh no – notice the last thing Paul said, “Do we then nullify the Law through faith? May it never be! On the contrary, we establish the Law” and its purposes. So, this is the context of what Jesus was saying to these Pharisees in Luke. You cannot justify yourself. You can’t make up a system by which you think you’re good – you’ll make it. You won’t. You need the gospel. But what about the Law then? Is it done, useless? Oh no. That’s what verses 16 and 17 are about. I suppose I should remind you of the outline from last week:

I. The Pharisees’ Love of Money (14)
II. Jesus Condemns Their Self-Righteous Justification (15) – seems disjointed, but He’s taking them to task. [you don’t even see that in your love of money, you’re not justifying yourself]
III. Which leads to The True Purpose of the Enduring Law (16-18) – to continue to crush, and drive us to the gospel, and faith.

That’s the general flow of the argument here. Yes, the chapter deals with rich people, and a proper handling of wealth to prove our salvation and prepare our entrance to heaven. The Pharisees, of course, were opposed to this teaching on money. So, Jesus exposes them. And now, He takes up the nature and enduring purpose of the Law – the Law the Pharisees were using for self-justification; the law they were abusing and violating – condemns them. Not only in the love of money, but in their view and practice of marriage.

So, what we have is Jesus briefly establishing the Law and the gospel – and how they fit together. The third point of this outline could be further divided:

A. The Enduring Law and [its purpose in] Sanctification (16-17)
B. The Example of the Enduring Law (18), which the Pharisees egregiously broke. Understand, the commandment in verse 18 still abides. It will not fail.

In verse 16, Jesus compares and contrasts the Law and Gospel. Basically, we could say the Law was the OT, and the gospel is the NT. Now, to be clear, salvation has always been by grace through faith – never through the Law. For example, have you ever noticed after God gave Moses the Law, He also gave the sacrificial system for when they broke the Law? Faith in the promises through that sacrificial system brought justification – not through keeping the Law you couldn’t keep. And of course, the sacrificial system ultimately pointed to Christ, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world – through His one sacrifice. All those OT sacrifices were types pointing to Jesus.

And so, we note the Law and the Prophets, the OT, were proclaimed until John – that is, John the Baptist. Since that time, the gospel of the kingdom of God has been preached. We remember John was the forerunner – the one promised to announce the coming of the Christ – Jesus – who brought the gospel through His preaching and through His work. There was an OT economy that through the promises always pointed to Christ. And Jesus was the fulfillment of those promises in the NT economy through the gospel. Now, there’s lots of discussion about whether John was in the old economy or the new – I think he was the linchpin that tied the two together – he had a foot in each era. He was the last of the OT prophets; the first of the New. Remember, it was John who prepared the way for Christ – it was Jesus who preached the gospel of the kingdom.

Now, there’s also lots of discussion about the end of verse 16, “and everyone is forcing his way into it,” that is, into the kingdom. What in the world does that mean? Well, there’s some Greek grammar that comes into play, namely, is this forcing into the kingdom in the middle or the passive in the Greek. Meaning, are people forcing themselves into the kingdom, or are they being forced into the kingdom? I’m not going to get into all that other than to say, there are lots of solid arguments for both positions. I’m simply going to suggest entering the kingdom through the gospel is God’s sovereign work, and yet, we’ve seen that to enter, the believer must make significant sacrifices. God-enabled, yes, but sacrifices, nonetheless. So are we forcing our way in, or being forced in – you pick – I think it’s both.

What I want you to notice is verse 17, which speaks of the enduring nature and purpose of the Law. It is easier for heaven and earth to pass away – which is going to happen at the end of time when we see the new heaven and new earth. It is easier for all creation to pass away than for one stroke of a letter of the Law to fail. Jesus said it this way in Matthew 5:

17 “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.
18 “For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished.

Jesus came to live a perfect life that we could not so that His righteousness could be imputed to us through the gospel. Further, Jesus came as the fulfillment of all those promises regarding the coming of the Christ. So He came, not to do away with the Law and its purpose to expose our sin, but to fulfill the Law and drive us to Christ.

But there is another aspect to notice in Matthew and Luke. Not one stroke of the pen [Hebrew], not the smallest letter of the Law will pass, will fail, until God’s full plan of redemption for this creation is accomplished. Right now, we’re still groaning for the sons and daughters of God to be revealed at the second coming of Christ. Until then, the Law still fulfills its purpose to expose our sin, drive us to Christ, and to sanctify us – that is, make us holy. You see, there are different aspects of the Law – namely civil, ceremonial and moral. Jesus fulfilled all those aspects – but know this, the moral nature of the Law still applies. What do I mean?

Well, almost all the Ten Commandments are repeated in the NT. It’s still right to worship the Lord only; to honor our parents. It’s still wrong to take God’s name in vain, to have any graven images that we worship. It’s still wrong to lie or bear false witness; to steal, to murder, to covet, to commit adultery. And as followers of Jesus who have been saved by His atoning work, through the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, we still seek to obey those moral laws – what some call the Law of Christ. Of course. Believers in Jesus are not sinless – but we should sin less. We seek to obey God’s good moral law. We have the Spirit of God within us to help us.

Jesus is making a point, which brings us to our second point in verse 18. Understand, He is still pegging the Pharisees, and frankly, many today, even in the church. Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries one who is divorced from a husband commits adultery. I know, it’s hard to hear. But Jesus cites this as an example of the enduring nature and purpose of the moral law and is also taking the Pharisees to task. Now, this isn’t an isolated verse. Jesus said the same thing in Matthew chapters 5 and 19:

31 “It was said, ‘Whoever sends his wife away, let him give her a certificate of divorce’;
32 but I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except for the reason of unchastity [or infidelity], makes her commit adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

3 Some Pharisees came to Jesus, testing Him and asking, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason at all?”
4 And He answered and said, [it’s very interesting to note, they ask about divorce, and Jesus talks about marriage] “Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female,
5 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’?
6 “So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.”
7 They said to Him, “Why then did Moses command to give her a certificate of divorce and send her away?”
8 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.
9 “And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.”

Mark 10 says basically the same thing, except he adds, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her; and if she herself divorces her husband and marries another man, she is committing adultery.”

I want you to notice several things here. In both Matthew and Mark, it was the Pharisees who brought up this question, and in Luke, Jesus was speaking to the Pharisees. Why? Because, the Pharisees were guilty of breaking this commandment. There were two schools – Hillel and Shammai. The latter taught as Jesus said, you could only divorce your wife in the case of adultery. But, the other prominent, Hillel school said you could divorce your wife for any indecency, that they defined as just about everything. Their understanding of divorce was based on a faulty understanding of Deuteronomy 24:1 which says a man could divorce his wife if he found some indecency in her, whatever that was.

So, while Deuteronomy doesn’t specify what some indecency was, the Hillel Pharisees decided they knew. They had a whole list of indecencies which would qualify for divorce. Some of the reasons went like this. If she messed up your meal – if she put too much salt on it, if she burned your food – you could divorce her – that’s indecent. Incredibly, indecency was eventually interpreted to mean if you were looking around one day and saw someone you thought was prettier than your wife – then of course, your wife becomes indecent – and you can divorce her. Then, you’re free to go after someone prettier.

There’s more. If she talked to a man in public, divorce. If she spun around in the marketplace so that her dress raised up to show her knees – divorce. If she let down her hair in public, divorce. If she was infertile, didn’t bear children, divorce. If she had children, but didn’t give you a son, like it was her fault, divorce. What it all came down to was what we call no-fault divorce – just about any reason you could come up with was fine. Not only that, Moses commanded divorce – if she was displeasing to you in any way, you had to send her away – give her a certificate of divorce. Just make sure you do it right.

The fact is, it was so bad even during the time of Moses, he commanded a bill of divorcement be given to the wife to protect her under such circumstances. But notice also, from the beginning, this was not God’s intent. His intent was a life-lasting marriage between one man and one woman – notice, man and woman, not same-sex unions, and it is God who created and defined marriage and gave its parameters. He intended it to be a life-lasting covenant made under God. He said further, what God has joined together, no one should separate. So I say this gently, but divorce for any reason other than being the innocent victim of adultery is breaking a God-ordained covenant. Breaking the command of God. Yes, I Corinthians 7 also indicates you may divorce if your spouse abandons you because of your faith.

Now notice Jesus says – certificate of divorce or not – anyone who gets divorced and marries another commits adultery. He even says, if you marry a divorced person, you are committing adultery. And Jesus is saying, the moral law still applies. People want to offer lots of excuses and extenuating circumstances. What about grace – God extends grace for my first sin of an unbiblical divorce, doesn’t He? Of course He does. But that does not give permission to commit a second sin of marriage without biblical grounds. To do so is to commit adultery. Your argument is not with me; it is with God’s Word – even the words of Jesus. Forgiveness of the previous sin does not give permission to sin again. I say this gently, but that is presuming on grace and is a very dangerous thing to do.

I know you have questions, like, what are my options? There are two: stay single, or Paul says in I Corinthians 7, be reconciled to your spouse. You say, no way. Not possible. Doesn’t God want me to be happy? Yes, but He is not supremely concerned with your happiness – He is supremely concerned with your holiness. And as we saw last week – those are not mutually exclusive. Godliness with contentment is great gain.

Let me finish with a few painful thoughts. According to the National Center for Health Statistics, the latest available numbers reveal in 2023, there were just over 2 million marriages with about 670,000 divorces in that same year. But, that only covers the states which count divorces; apparently five states do not. That means our country has one of the highest divorce rates in the world. If we conservatively increase the divorce number by ten percent for those that don’t count, every year, over three-quarters of a million families are affected by divorce and go through the deep emotional pain of marital dissolution.

A few more numbers. Statisticians argue about the numbers, but it seems around 30% of marriages end in divorce. Several other things were clear: first, the divorce rate goes higher with successive marriages. Second, most alarming, according to Barna, the numbers inside and outside the evangelical church are basically the same.

Mind-numbing statistics, but we’re not really interested in numbers. The questions we have are not how many, but who? Who gets divorced? Not only who, but why? Why do people get divorced? The experts tell us there are usually one or more of four factors contributing to divorce. The first is unhappiness (which usually sounds like: we don’t get along, he doesn’t talk to me, she expects too much, I’m not content in the relationship, I don’t love him, I don’t love her anymore.) The second factor is financial stress, said to contribute to almost 80% of all marital breakups. The third is infidelity, and the fourth is abuse; verbal, emotional, physical.

Who and why do people get divorced? Those are the questions. Not only that, for us, what about Christians? When is it okay for Christians to divorce? What about George and Sally, Ralph and Suzy? I know their situations, should they divorce – is it okay?

Let’s bring it a little closer to home. What about my marriage – will I make it? And perhaps, that’s not really the question – you’re past that – I don’t want to make it anymore. It’s too much work, it’s too painful. Most days, I don’t like my wife, I don’t like my husband. For some of you, those days have stretched into months, even years. And so, this is what you want to know: is it okay if I leave him, or her?

It may be those factors are putting tremendous stress on your marriage right now. They’re contributing to your discontent – you feel like you can hardly get out of bed in the morning. You’re a Christian, you don’t want to be a statistic, so you’re keeping it together. But, if it wasn’t for what people would say, if you were like everyone else, if it wasn’t for the kids, you’d get divorced right now. Because you’re unhappy. You put on the happy face – few, if anyone know your misery. And you have a little piece of paper that says you’re married. I said the words, “till death do us part.” But, you say, you have no idea what my life is like. So, my only question is, can I bail? This is a touchy subject, but I would gently and simply say, it is not God’s will for you to divorce – it is your will – a rebellious will against the plan and mind of God.

If you find yourself in that miserable state in marriage, I want you to know that we care, and we want to help. We have a ministry called Reconcile led by Tim Sellers and his well-trained group of volunteers who will meet with you for the purpose of restoration, not dissolution. Let us know so we can help.

Notice a couple things about this verse. First, everyone who divorces his wife, who breaks the covenantal union designed by God, and marries another commits adultery. Not only that, Mark says, if she divorces you and marries another, she also is committing adultery. A woman divorcing a man was unusual, but not unknown. Do that, marry another, and you commit adultery as well. And Jesus adds further, if you marry one who is divorced, you commit adultery.

These are hard words, I know. Especially when everyone else does it and justifies it. We are to be counter-cultural, even within the church itself. I’m out of time, but what do you do if you find yourself divorced, and perhaps remarried without biblical grounds? Let me offer several pastoral thoughts as we close. It’s not my intent to beat you up with the Scripture today. But, I must faithfully declare truth. There’s really no wiggle room here. Yes, I believe there are possible exceptions – infidelity, abandonment because of your faith, but even then, I don’t they should be used as get-out-of-marital-jail-free cards. And so, I would say the following four things:

1. First, if you are not married, enter the covenant of marriage very carefully and seriously. It is God’s design that it be a lifelong covenant. If and when you marry, divorce is not an option.

2. Second, if you are married, God intends for you to stay that way (Tana). While our society allows for divorce for any and every reason, that is not an option for a follower of Jesus. Whatever difficulties you’re facing – it is God’s intent that you work through the issues to resolution – to remain married, and to bring Him great glory in the process. I want to graciously remind you of the words of Malachi 2 – God hates divorce.

3. Third, if you have been divorced without biblical grounds, I would encourage you to be reconciled to your spouse or remain single. You need to understand, according to this passage, without biblical grounds for divorce and remarriage, you will commit adultery by being married to another.

4. And finally, if you have been divorced and remarried unbiblically, God’s grace is sufficient to forgive. Let me make this clear. Some of you this morning have been divorced and remarried. Your first marriage dissolved for some painful reasons. But, you know they were not biblical reasons. And you wonder – am I committing adultery now? The answer may be, no, if you recognized and confessed your sin for leaving your first spouse, dissolving the one-flesh union, and for remarrying without biblical grounds. If you have found repentance, then y are is forgiven – it is under the blood of Jesus Christ. If you’re remarried, remain as you are. God can forgive – in fact, He wants to forgive you. If you find yourself in that situation, I want to pastorally encourage you to repent. Divorce and remarriage is not the end of the line. God’s grace, healing and forgiveness is enough.