In the past month, I’ve been extremely blessed and humbled to witness God working in the lives of two of our newest FAM Fellowship members in such great and mighty ways! Yet I’ve experienced a great deal of anger, frustration and heartache as well, because it just breaks my heart to hear such horrendous and outrageous testimonies from troubled men and women who at their greatest time of need sought biblical counsel from their pastors; only to be grievously misled and sent on a path that brought so much harm and destruction to their lives and the lives of so many others, especially their children. But the GOOD NEWS is that GOD’S WORD NEVER RETURNS VOID (Isaiah 55:10-11) AND NO WISDOM, NO INSIGHT AND NO PLAN CAN OR EVER WILL SUCCEED AGAINST THE LORD (Proverbs 21:30)!!!

Despite the anger and frustration of seeing how much harm and destruction resulted from totally unsound and unscriptural guidance and counsel from their pastors, I’m in complete awe and amazement as I’ve also been blessed to witness God upholding and fulfilling the amazing kingdom principle revealed in Genesis 50:20, where Joseph told his brothers; You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. So I want to share a little of these amazing testimonies, which very powerfully illustrate and confirm that God’s grace is NEVER a license to sin and that while adultery is by no means an unpardonable sin, the Bible NEVER IN ANY WAY, SHAPE OR FORM relegates it to a unique category of sin that we’re not required to DISCONTINUE in order to receive God’s forgiveness through the grace Jesus died to give us. So those who might still be inclined to believe the false teaching that once you confess and “repent”…your adultery, it is forgiven by God and then it’s okay to continue in it, please read John 8:1-11. And please note that the woman was CAUGHT IN ADULTERY and that Jesus did NOT tell her that He intervened and spared her life so she could return to her life of adultery. No, in verses 10-11, we in fact see that Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” “No one, sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.” That sure doesn’t sound like God thinks it’s okay for us to continue in our sin once we “confess and repent” and are not condemned because of the grace of God. And for those who think repentance means something other than recognizing and acknowledging our behavior as sin and then DISCONTINUING it; just read the non-biblical definition of repent!

So it’s exceedingly offensive, disgraceful and disheartening that the very people men and women look to for spiritual and biblical guidance when struggling with sin in their lives fail to step up to the plate and teach them what the Word of God says instead of twisting it to soothe their guilt ridden consciences by justifying and rationalizing their sin while perverting and misappropriating the meaning of grace based on God’s Word. But then that should come as no surprise since that’s exactly what Jude 1:3-5 warned would happen; it says Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints. For certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord. Though you already know all this, I want to remind you that the Lord delivered his people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe. And that’s strongly confirmed in Hebrews 10:28-39, where verses 28-29 warn that Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? So perhaps those of us in a position to counsel and help guide men and women concerning God’s grace need to be a LOT more concerned about whether or not our counsel encourages men and women to trample Jesus Christ under foot and ignore the Holy sacrifice of His blood, and insult the Spirit of grace, especially since we are held to a much higher level of accountability!

A little over a month ago, a lady joined the FAM Fellowship and when I read her Member Profile, I realized immediately that I would be tested to see if I would speak the truth of God’s Word to someone in desperate need of it or if I too would cave in and set aside very strong convictions about what I believe the Word teaches about marriage, adultery, divorce and remarriage. She got involved in an adulterous relationship with someone at work during her first marriage, and she and the NCP (non-covenant person) divorced their respective spouses and married each other; but she NEVER felt totally right about it. She was a Christian and knew what she had done and was continuing to do was wrong, so she went to her pastor to seek his counsel. Unfortunately, instead of speaking the truth of God’s Word to her with the confidence that it had the power to deliver her from the sin that had ensnared her and set her free based on John 8:31-32, he just compounded the problem by telling her that adultery was not the unpardonable sin and that once she repented, it was behind her and that she should stay true to her new vows; that the past was the past and that she needed to let
Go! BUT WHERE WAS THE REPENTANCE?! That’s the problem with the unfortunately prevalent teaching in churches today that God’s grace permits men and women to continue in their adulterous relationships by virtue of divorce and remarriage to their adulterous partner. What happened in the eyes of God to change their adultery to anything else but adultery? NOTHING! Yet, despite the assurance of her pastor that what she had done was okay with God; she knew better because her spirit was never at rest. But she didn’t have the courage or a strong enough conviction about the sin in her life to DO something about it; even though she never stopped thinking of her covenant husband. Through events that only God could orchestrate, it was her non-covenant husband who was finally convicted that their marriage was wrong and said that they had to separate and go back to their respective spouses if that was possible; that he just couldn’t continue in the marriage knowing that it was wrong. So she began more seriously trying to understand God’s Word about their situation and pretty much came to the same conclusion, but she was still very confused. In fact, when she completed her Member Profile, she said that she didn’t know which marriage she was supposed to stand for. So what a wonderful experience and blessing it was to talk to her and see how she responded so positively to the confirmation of what she already knew and wanted in her heart. But how sad it is to know that the same thing might well have happened when she first went to her pastor IF only he had relied on the wisdom, power and promise of God’s Word when counseling her. But I’m very pleased to share that her adulterous marriage has since been annulled and that she and her first husband are indeed working on the restoration of their marriage; and her second husband and his covenant wife are now working on the restoration of their marriage and family as well! What a powerful testimony for the glory of our Lord and Savior! His truth and Word ALWAYS reigns and prevails, and God will ALWAYS do WHATEVER it takes to bring it to pass as He declared in Isaiah 46:10-11!

After being so much in awe of MNO’s (member name omitted) powerful testimony and how the Lord has been working so mightily in her life, her family and her second husband’s family, just try to imagine my amazement when the Lord brought a man to the ministry with an almost identical testimony and situation! He too had become involved in an adulterous relationship with someone at work, divorced his wife and married the NCP. He too was a Christian and never had a moment’s peace so he went to his pastor for guidance and counsel. And he too was told that adultery is not the unpardonable sin; that it was a “one time thing” and that once he had repented, it was forgotten and forgiven…all things were made new. But he too found absolutely no solace in that counsel because it didn’t bring him any peace or comfort. God’s still small voice was speaking to him so much louder than the lies spewed out of his pastor’s mouth! He ultimately turned to alcohol and ended up in a treatment center, and while he was there, his second wife filed for divorce. And even though he was amazingly familiar with everything the Word says about marriage, divorce, adultery and remarriage, when I called him after reading his Member Profile, the level of confusion that remained was almost hard to believe. He actually came to the ministry to stand for the restoration of his second marriage, but just as soon as we started discussing the Word, it was like the scales fell away from his eyes and he had the clarity to see the TRUTH and was set free! And I’m please to share that he too realizes that God wants to restore his covenant marriage; and that his wife is already open to that too!

In addition to these amazing testimonies, in the past few weeks I received calls from two of the earliest FAM Fellowship members who had given up on the restoration of their marriages once they ended in divorce! BUT GOD!!!

The first one called to let me know that out of the blue, after not hearing from her husband for months, he called to ask if they could go out for coffee. And when they went out, he told her that he regretted his unwillingness to give their marriage a second chance as she had asked and that he wanted them to start seeing each other because he wanted to “work things out!” And I am ever so happy to announce that they will be getting married again in a few weeks! Praise God! What a wonderful testimony of just how perfectly God works EVERYTHING out when we get out of the way and let Him!

About a week later, the other woman called to share how God had orchestrated some pretty amazing events that led her husband to come back six months after their divorce and announce that he wanted to marry her again! It’s an utterly amazing testimony and I fully expect to hear that they’re getting married again soon as well!

In both of the above situations, both the husbands and wives ultimately became involved in adulterous relationships, but they never found what they were looking for in all of the wrong places and had absolutely no peace, which is what led them to finally realize that God’s way truly is the ONLY way! Obviously, God’s Word can never be perverted, ignored or twisted enough to override what God has written on the tablets of our hearts; which is that adultery is wrong in the eyes of God and that He will NEVER condone, bless or forgive it as long as we continue in it. And no amount of grace will ever change that!

There are no words to adequately express or portray the pain, heartache and absolute destruction brought to the lives of so many men and women and their children because they sought what they expected to be godly counsel, only to be misled by nothing but lies and distortions concerning God’s wondrous and amazing grace. How unfortunate it is that our culture has indeed become a reflection of the warning found in 2 Timothy 4:3, which clearly warned For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. But anyone who truly wants to understand and experience the grace of God should read and heed Isaiah 55; particularly verses 7-9, which says Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

While preparing for this post and doing a topical Bible study on grace, I was actually surprised to discover that there is absolutely NOTHING in the Word that even comes close to the explanation of grace so often used to validate and promote the claim that God’s grace means that He no longer sees adultery as adultery once man “legalizes” it through marriage. In fact, everything I read said the exact opposite; such as Romans 6:1-2, which says What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? And Romans 6:14-15 very definitively declares For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! The following verses are just a few I found particularly interesting and revealing when studying grace, because they reveal that God’s grace is a lot more about having the strength, wisdom and favor of God to act according to His Word and will and to DO what He calls us to do…such as turning from our sinful ways instead of continuing them; the total opposite of what so many Christian leaders teach and promote when it comes to adultery:

2 Corinthians 9:8 – And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.

2 Corinthians 12:9 – But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.

Hebrews 13:9 – Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings. It is good for our hearts to be strengthened by grace, not by ceremonial foods, which are of no value to those who eat them.

James 4:6 – But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

1 Peter 1:13 – Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed.

Sadly, too many men and women in positions of Christian leadership lack understanding and confidence in the power of God’s Word to realize that without it, their counsel is totally worthless and only leads to further pain and devastation in the lives of those they counsel and so many others affected by their actions. They either don’t understand or don’t believe what Jesus taught in John 8:31-32, which says To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” And they obviously don’t understand or believe what He taught in Luke 6:46-49, where he said; “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? I will show you what he is like who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice. He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.” But this too was foretold in 2 Peter 2:17-21, which says These men are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them. For they mouth empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful desires of sinful human nature, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error. They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity—for a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him. If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them.

Anyone who still believes that God’s grace means that He turns a blind eye to adultery when man (or woman) attempts to put asunder one marriage to legalize adultery by entering into another should read Jeremiah 2-3 because God makes it very clear that HE considers that remarriage nothing more than adultery based on His subsequent response to the question He posed in Jeremiah 3:1 (NKJV), which says “They say, ‘If a man divorces his wife, And she goes from him And becomes another man’s, May he return to her again?’ Would not that land be greatly polluted? But you have played the harlot with many lovers; Yet return to Me,” says the LORD. This is a very significant passage of scripture because it reveals that God didn’t even recognize or acknowledge what they considered “marriage” as anything other than unfaithfulness and adultery, and because many use Deuteronomy 24:1-4 to justify staying in adulterous marriages or for not returning to covenant spouses, or even as a reason not to take an adulterous spouse back. Yet it’s clear in this passage of scripture that God intends the marriage relationship to portray and illustrate our relationship with Him, just as He made clear throughout the book of Hosea. That’s confirmed again in Ephesians 5:31-32, where Paul wrote “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. So whether or not we believe it or understand it, God is very serious about adultery and upholding HIS HOLY COVENANT OF MARRIAGE, which is undeniably clear in both Malachi 2, Hosea 2 and many other passages of scripture. And Jeremiah 2-3 is another powerful example of God making it unmistakably clear that HIS law, plan and purpose ALWAYS supersede the law of man, because He was clearly contradicting and setting aside the Mosaic law as stated in Deuteronomy 24:1-4; the same way Jesus did in Matthew 19:1-9. The bottom line is that God is the same yesterday, today and forever, and NOTHING man does can or ever will change that.

Unfortunately, it is the men and women (and their loved ones) who experience the conviction of the Holy Spirit and then seek sound godly counsel from their pastors and other Christian leaders who are deceived and misled to think that all is well and then end up suffering the devastating consequences of the continued sin in their lives. Seeing that devastation up close and how the Word of God brings such amazing healing and restoration is what motivates me to write this post; because I’ve now seen firsthand that the ONLY way men and women can ever be set free of all the devil meant to steal, kill and destroy is by confronting their adultery with the power and promise of God’s Word, and that IF they BELIEVE IT AND HOLD TO IT, they will know the truth and be set free! So when we know the devastation adultery causes in their lives and the lives of their loved ones, we have a duty to God and them to share HIS view of adultery based on HIS Word and not the world’s, with love and compassion and not with self-righteousness, judgment and condemnation.

I thank and praise God for His promise and faithfulness to ALWAYS cause ALL THINGS to work together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose, because I’ve certainly seen that in every one of the above situations! And I just wish that every man and woman now standing for marriage restoration with a spouse involved in an adulterous relationship could hear the testimonies I’ve been blessed to hear and witness, because they would be very reassuring and encouraging. None of these men and women had a moment’s peace; even the ones who were not saved were aware that what they were doing was wrong. Just as Isaiah 48:22 says, “There is no peace,” says the LORD, “for the wicked.” And they were never at rest; just as Isaiah 57:20 says, But the wicked are like the tossing sea, which cannot rest, whose waves cast up mire and mud. The spouses who now wait and stand on the power and promise of God’s Word for marriage restoration have great reason for hope too, because as all of the above testimonies and so many others prove, the Lord will ALWAYS go after His lost sheep and bring them back to the safety of His shelter; as Luke 15:4 states, “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And for those now caught up in adultery, don’t buy the devil’s lie that you’ve made such a mess of things that there is no hope, because there’s ALWAYS hope and a future with Jesus Christ! All you have to do is turn from your sin and to the Lord and He will be ever so faithful to fulfill every wonderful promise made in Isaiah 55, and He will bless you with so much more than you could ever ask or imagine! And when you’re tired and weary and your burdens are heavy, you can rely on Jesus’ promise in Matthew 11:28-30, where He said “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” So may we all be blessed and encouraged by knowing the truth of God’s Word and understanding the power of His amazing grace and that it is not a license for adultery!

Dear Lord, may the truth of Your Word go forth with supernatural power to bring healing and restoration to the heart, mind and spirit of every man, woman and child suffering the devastating consequences of adultery. Set the captives free by the mighty power of Your Holy Spirit, Lord Jesus, as You draw them into right relationship with You and their spouses. Be Thou glorified in their lives today and every day as You work to bring restoration to their marriages and families. And we thank You that everything the devil meant for harm and destruction, You ALWAYS meant for good and for the saving of many lives! We praise and honor You as we ask this in the name and authority of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Posted Tuesday, September 30th, 2008 at 3:56 pm in Seeds Of Faith.