8 MIKE MAZZALONGO Divorce and the Gospel of

8 MIKE MAZZALONGO Divorce and the Gospel of Grace

DIVORCE = FAILURE = BURDEN

PERFECTION Genesis 1 …………………. God + Creation Exodus 20 ………………. . . God + Man Matthew 5 -7 ……………. Man + Man Genesis 2 …………………. Man + Woman

PERFECT MARRIAGE 1 Man + 1 Woman Life

ACTUAL SITUATION Romans 1: 24 -32; 3: 23; 6: 23 “All have sinned and are condemned to death”

IMPERFECT MARRIAGE Man (f/h/a) + Woman (f/h/a/ab) Divorce (s)

GRACE John 1: 17; Romans 5: 6 -11; I Peter 2: 24 “Jesus suffers the punishment due for our sins” The cross is a symbol of perfection through grace.

THE GOOD NEWS Actual Situation + Grace = Perfection i. e. Man (f/h/a) + Woman (f/h/a/ab) Divorce (s) + Grace = Perfection

REPENTANCE 1. Legal Repentance • Restitution/punishment • Something done to you

REPENTANCE 2. Repentance from Grace • A changed heart • Something comes out of you

How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, Whose sin is covered! How blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity, And in whose spirit there is no deceit! When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away Through my groaning all day long. - Ps. 32: 1 -3

For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; My vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer. Selah. I acknowledged my sin to You, And my iniquity I did not hide; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord”; And You forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah. Therefore, let everyone who is godly pray to You in a time when You may be found; Surely in a flood of great waters they will not reach him. - Ps. 32: 4 -6

You are my hiding place; You preserve me from trouble; You surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah. I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go; I will counsel you with My eye upon you. Do not be as the horse or as the mule which have no understanding, Whose trappings include bit and bridle to hold them in check, Otherwise they will not come near to you. - Ps. 32: 7 -9

Many are the sorrows of the wicked, But he who trusts in the Lord, lovingkindness shall surround him. Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, you righteous ones; And shout for joy, all you who are upright in heart. - Ps. 32: 10 -11

Then summoning him, his lord said to him, ‘You wicked slave, I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave, in the same way that I had mercy on you? ’ - Mt. 18: 32 -33

God is more interested in a changed heart than punishment.

REPENTANCE IS A MUST • God will punish the unrepentant

REPENTANCE IS A MUST • Repentance is necessary to avoid the slavery of sin

REPENTANCE IS A MUST • Repentance glorifies God

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. - Romans 6: 23

SUMMARY 1. Imperfection + Grace = PERFECTION

SUMMARY 2. Imperfection + Grace = PERFECTION (Faith, Repentance, Confession, Baptism, Faithfulness)

SUMMARY 3. Imperfection + Grace = PERFECTION (Repentance/Prayer)

More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, - Phil. 3: 8

and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, - Phil. 3: 9

that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. - Phil. 3: 10 -11