Chapter 9
Conclusion
If you’re called to preach the whole counsel of God, and you preach the Word of God uncompromisingly, God will honor you!
The resistance against this biblical truth has become extremely strong. So strong, in fact, that many believers who say they believe marriage is for life and only death breaks the marriage covenant, are being ridiculed and persecuted.
Pastors and Christian leaders, we challenge you to remember, the work of God’s watchmen is not to delight, pacify, or titillate those under your care. Your task is to let His Word reverberate like a trumpet, a clear, articulate alarm whenever the enemy appears. The trumpet call must not infer uncertainty or doubt, but rouse the city to definite action. If the watchman fails here, the blood of the city will be on his hands and the shame of his failure will never leave him.
Oh watchman, sound the warning. The Trojan Horse is already in the city.
Son of man, I have made thee a watchman… therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from Me. Ezekiel 3:17
Isaiah said;
Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I, send me. Isaiah 6:8
The Lord seeks leaders who fear Him more than men, denominations, traditional thinking, or financial security. God desires leaders who treasure His approval more than the approval of men; those who are willing to forsake everything, to be His disciple.
We refer again to Francis Schaeffer, who wrote a book in 1976 entitled, How Shall We Then Live? Schaeffer laid out two worldviews, the secular and the biblical, and contrasted them, declaring we must all decide how we will live in the light of these two worldviews.
As we stated in the introduction, today, we are faced with a similar dilemma. We are confronted with a secular (humanistic) worldview which Joel Belz, Founder of the well known World Christian news magazine; calls “nominalism, and you might well conclude as being practical secularism.” If we are to hold to a biblical worldview concerning divorce and remarriage, the question must still be answered; Whom shall we then believe? Should we believe Jesus, Paul, and the earliest Church Fathers or should we believe Erasmus and the Reformers? It was Paul who commanded Timothy, “Follow me even as I also am of Christ,” I Corinthians 12:1. This critical question must be answered because of the devastating consequences the present day teaching has brought upon the Christian community.
Paul received his message directly from Jesus Christ and passed it on to Timothy so he could pass it on to “faithful men.” II Timothy 2:2
The position of the earliest Church Fathers and the position of Erasmus and the reformers are in total opposition to each other, so both cannot be right.
Whom shall we then believe? That question must be answered by each of us individually.
Every verse of Scripture relating to marriage and divorce when properly exegeted, comes into total harmony historically, hermeneutically, exegetically and doctrinally. It is imperative for us to see how far the Church has strayed in its present day teachings from God’s eternal purpose for marriage. Study it with your Bible open. Get its truth down into your heart and lovingly warn others before it is too late.
We must remember:
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom…”
Psalm 111:10 and, “The fear of man bringeth a snare.” Proverbs 29:2