Welcome to Form Now. I'm Tim Gray, president of the Augustine Institute. And joining me is Dr. Michael Barber,

professor of scripture here at the August Institute. And we're going to continue our ongoing Bible study in the

Gospel of Matthew. So whether this is your first time or you've been with us through the long journey,

open up your Bibles to the Gospel of Matthew chapter 19. We're getting close to Jerusalem. So we've been slowly moving our way closer and closer

to Jerusalem. And we're on the cusp and on the gates of Jerusalem here as we enter into chapter 19.

Jesus is getting close. He's going to be coming from Galilee into the region of Judea,

beyond the Jordan. So we're getting closer and closer to Jerusalem. And then the

Pharisees are going to come up to Jesus and they put him to the test. So Michael, you want to

take up the text there where they're putting Jesus to the test? They're seeking to entrap our

Lord. And they think they've got a good question to do that. That's right. And in fact, they know they've got a winning strategy.

So they come down and we see when Jesus had finished these sayings,

he went away from Galilee and entered the region of Judea beyond the Jordan.

We've been here before, folks.

We've been in the region of Judea beyond the Jordan.

And Matthew 3, verse 1, this is where John the Baptist preached, if you'll remember. And, you know, John the Baptist is now dead.

You remember how he died? He died because he got in trouble for his teaching on divorce and

remarriage, right? He was he was rankling the king and the queen by explaining that Herod

should not have this woman as his wife. This is his brother's wife. Right. And so the Pharisees certainly remember that.

And so we read that large crowds follow Jesus down from Galilee. They're probably all going up to

Jerusalem for the feast of Passover. And Pharisees came and what do they do? They test him. So the Pharisees aren't interested in a genuine

question. They don't have a genuine theological inquiry here. They're coming to Jesus to entrap him.

And how do they entrap him? Is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause? Aha. If he says it's ever lawful to divorce someone's

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