Matthew pt. 11 - Anger, Lust, Divorce

Matthew chapter 5 So we need to keep saying what we've been

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

saying. I'll just say it more quickly

this time. Jesus is preaching 2 disciples

the Sermon on the Mount. In our context now it should be

concerned, considered as a sermon to Christians rather than

hey, everybody everywhere. This is the list of stuff you

got to do to make it. No one could make it.

If this was a list of stuff you had to do to make it, there

would be no body making it. But this is a this is a

description of Hey, my people. This is what it looks like.

These are some particulars. These are some details of what

it looks like You you've been made new in Christ.

Yeah, Well, what does that new Kingdom life look like?

Well, we're not going to murder anybody.

Well, lots of people don't murder people, but in my

Kingdom, that looks even different.

The standard is way higher than what these Pharisees have told

you to do. Well, we shouldn't commit

adultery. Well, lots of people don't

commit adultery. But I want to explain to you the

standard is something more clear and more pure than what the

Pharisees ever told you. So now he's starting to get into

the details. So today we're going to look at

anger, we're going to look at lust, and we're going to look at

divorce. It seems like this is kind of a

random sermon. You know, as modern preachers,

if we were going to do a sermon, we're going to do a sermon

series on anger. You know, it's a three-part

sermon series on on anger. And we're going to talk to you

about getting really practical and and how not to be so angry.

Or we're going to do a three-part sermon series on

lust. And like, you know, here's where

lust comes from. And these are the behaviors you

need to avoid. And I don't think any of that

would be wrong. Or we're going to do a sermon on

divorce and we're going to answer some of those questions

that seem to be so tricky and sticky.

And how does this work? Or what about remarriage and and

what about this context? When would that apply?

We're going to it. We would typically be tempted to

get really specific in each of those things.

How in the world does Jesus lump these together?

How does that make sense? Well, it makes perfect sense

when you see what he's doing. He's, he's pointing to the heart

issues. He's going, hey, everybody wants

to measure the externals. He's going all this stuff has a

deeper heart motive behind it, he says.

And that's the thing that that you should have always been

targeting instead of, hey, what are the rules I need to follow?

So I look good for everybody. It's more more than that.

It's what's going on in here. This is always going to to show

up externally out of the overflow of my heart.

My mouth is going to speak. So rather than don't say that

word or don't say that word, don't say that word.

Well, have a pure heart, and then my mouth will respond

appropriately to what's already in my heart.

My mouth is, generally speaking, going to always be revealing

what's in my heart. Now, I might be able to fake it

in front of you here and there, but ultimately my mouth will

reveal what's going on inside my heart.

That's true of my whole life. It's true of your whole life.

We can't escape that truth. My life in general is preaching

the sermon that that's already met.

That's already the meditation of my heart.

So whatever is going on externally, it's a

manifestation. Well, could I nitpick?

Because you find exceptions? Probably so.

But generally speaking, it's definitely true that my life is

revealing what's in my heart. So this sermon is to encourage

us from Christ. It is to correct us from Christ.

It is to instruct us from Christ.

But it's not intended to just crush us, except in the sense

where we said yes. The message of Jesus crushes you

only for the motive of making you poor in spirit and making

you mourn over your sins so that you would run to the cross.

So the Lord would crush us only in the way that we would say I

can't do this and he would go. Finally you've arrived at all I

ever wanted you to arrive at. Anyway, now depend upon me,

actually need me instead of think I'm a supplement, right?

I take vitamins, I take supplements.

I don't know if I really need them.

You know, like every morning I take them.

I'm like, I feel like I'm a better person now because I did

this. I took my fish oil, I took the

vitamin D. But do I really need it?

I don't know. Maybe.

Maybe not. This is not Jesus.

He's not the supplement. Maybe he makes a difference, or

I feel a little better when I take my magnesium.

Jesus is a Jesus is a great supplement to my life.

That's not it at all. Jesus is more like your food and

your water. You're going to die for sure,

without Christ. So he's not a supplement.

He is actually our life. And now let's keep going into

his sermon. So we're in verse 21 where he's

talking about anger. You have heard that it was said

to those of old you shall not murder and whoever murders will

be liable to judgement. But I say to you that everyone

who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgement.

Whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council, and

whoever says you fool will be liable to the hell of fire.

So if you're offering your gift at the altar and you remember

that your brother has something against you, leave your gift

there before the altar and go first be reconciled to your

brother, and then come and offer your gift.

Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you're going with

him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and

the judge to the guard, and you to be put in prison.

Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have

paid the last penny. So Paul is just here for a

moment and we're going to look back now at verse 20.

Remember the context of where what he's saying?

He said don't think I've come or verse 17, he says don't think

I've come to abolish the law. Why would he say that?

Well, because then he starts to say something.

Is that at first glance look like he's abolishing the law

like hey, you've heard it said this, but I say don't do that.

But but he raises the standard. He doesn't lower it.

He clarifies the standard. And then in verse 20 he says for

I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of

the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the Kingdom of

heaven. What was his point there?

Well, it's he's doing multiple things because he's brilliant

and he's wise and he's perfect. But one thing that's very

obvious that he's doing and he's saying the scribes and the

Pharisees, they don't even have righteousness.

So on one hand the listeners go, my righteousness has to be

better than the scribes and the Pharisees.

And she says yes, also fun fact, they don't have any

righteousness. They're doing exclusively

external things with the heart motive not in the right place,

which reveals that there is no righteousness.

So then he starts to get into the details.

So we have to keep coming back to verse 20, and then we can

look at what he teaches. Go back to verse 20.

Your righteousness has to exceed that of the scribes and the

Pharisees. Not just the minimum standard of

the of the interpretation, but the maximum standard of the

interpretation. Verse 27, he continues.

You have heard that it was said you shall not commit adultery.

But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with

lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in

his heart. If your right eye causes you to

sin, tear it out and throw it away.

For it is better that you lose one of your members than that

your whole body be thrown into hell.

And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw

it away. For it is better to lose one of

your members than for your whole body to go into hell.

What has to happen? Our righteousness has to be

greater than what we currently have.

Why? Because we don't have any

righteousness in ourselves. Verse 31.

It was also said whoever divorces his wife, let him give

her a certificate of divorce. But I say to you that everyone

who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality,

makes her commit adultery. And whoever marries a divorced

woman also commits adultery. Let's pray again God, thank you

for your word and thank you for your wisdom as you cut through

the clutter as you clarify where man would want the rules that he

can accomplish so that he can be the hero.

You say that nobody is the hero except for Christ, and we have

to have a righteousness that's far greater than our own.

And still you have teaching. You have instruction to grow us

when it when it comes to crucifying anger, crucifying

lust, and holding high the standard of the marriage vows in

the marriage covenant, because they represent Christ in His

church, mature us, grow us, and prune us.

Today. In Jesus name we thank you.

Amen. So Jesus is quoting Old

Testament law, and these are, as we talked about, there's some

law that has been fulfilled in Christ that we no longer are

obedient to. And then there are other things

that still continue. And if you want to know how do

you know which is which? I talked about that quite a bit

last week. So go back and listen to that

sermon. But God's commands, we have to

remember, are always a blessing to us.

God's rules are not just rules for rules sake.

God gives us rules and standards for a couple of reasons.

But first of all, because sin is actually objectively bad for

you. It's bad for you.

Why can't I eat this? Because it will kill you.

Well, I just wish I could have it.

Well, I guess technically you can, but you shouldn't because

it's bad for you, objectively bad for you.

It will produce bad outcomes for you.

This is why sin is the sin that it is.

It's not because God was like, eeny meeny miny MO.

Some stuff is OK, some stuff isn't.

No, some stuff is like him, and that's good.

That's righteousness, that's holy.

And that also leads to goodness and human flourishing.

So all the things that fit in the Kingdom, he goes, this is

in. Nothing has to be changed or

adapted and anything. It's not like that go well

that's it's actually bad, objectively bad.

Not in my opinion, not subjective, but objective.

Plainly and clearly it will lead to bad outcomes.

Sin leads to bad outcomes in my life.

Sin leads to bad and destructive things in my soul.

It might not always show up instantly.

Oh, and one time I did this thing and, you know, and I I

didn't instantly get struck by lightning.

Correct. And yet still damage has been

done in my soul, and yet still something has been broken inside

of me. I've gotten farther from the

Lord as opposed to closer from the Lord.

Therefore, it's objectively bad that reveals that his presence

is wholly this is, this is a departure from who he is and

what he wants. So I've just taken a step away

from the Lord. My only reason for existing,

anyway, was to walk with him. That was why he invented you.

And I was to be with him. So anything I've done to walk

away from that. So remember, when we think about

law, when we think about rules, when we think about the king and

his standards is our temptations go.

It's a heavy, heavy load, but I'm going to press into it.

No, it's a good load. Jesus yoke is easy, thankfully,

and his burden is light. But there is a yoke.

There is a burden, but it's goodness.

It's goodness. Sin is bad not just because it's

disobedient to the Lord's command, but also because of

what it produces. Breaking God's law brings the

curse. The law of God is good, and it's

still in effect for Christians, except, like we said, for the

parts that have been fulfilled. So here Jesus is correcting what

the Pharisees have taught. The Pharisees took the law of

God. Imagine it's like just this

beautiful, rich mahogany wood. Well, the Pharisees come along

and they put a coat of paint over it, and then they come and

put another coat of paint over it, and they put another coat of

paint over it. They put all these layers of

paint on top of the wall and they made it say something other

than what God was saying. You can still see the shape of

the object that they painted, but you can't really see it.

They pretended that they've made it now more, but instead they've

made it less. Have you ever seen somebody

paint over wood? And you thought you made, you

know, like, oh, look at this beautiful paint.

Like, you made it less. You know, there have been people

who moved into houses and they, they pull up the carpet and

they're like, this is gorgeous. This is gorgeous.

Wood floors, like, Oh yeah, we put carpet on it.

I don't know why, because the 90s were a thing and we thought

you were just supposed to put carpet on everything, You know?

I think we've repented from that somewhat in our culture, and

we're we're recognized that wood is more beautiful than carpet.

But but they've come. They've pretended to make it

more with their paint job, but they actually made it less with

their paint job. With the paint job of the

Pharisees, you can hate as long as you don't stab somebody in

the chest with a pitchfork. With their paint job, you can

lust after someone as long as you don't go to bed with them.

But Jesus reveals that the will of God goes, He goes actually

always for the heart issue. And Jesus is coming and he's

stripping away these coats of paint and he's revealing the

beautiful original wood that's good for everybody.

Although the standard is high, it's actually also good news for

everybody. So us being sinful people, we

hear these standards in the Sermon on the Mount and we feel

just stop and he gives another example go, it's heavy, it's too

much. And yet, when you look at the at

the fruit of what he's describing, it's this is the

life that is truly life. Instead of being at odds with my

brother, we live in restoration. Come on, who doesn't want that?

Instead of, you know, being tempted in every direction and

committing adultery in my heart, having the richness of marriage

and sexual fulfillment in the marriage bed, this is the best.

This is the highest. It's not that God only hates

sin, but he hates sin because of what he loves.

We love the good, the true, and the beautiful.

Therefore, we're willing to hate sin.

It's not that we just go, oh, divorce, that's a crushing

burden. So many of us have been divorced

or or so many of us are currently divorced or whatever

the case may be. But instead we can go man who

do? Who wouldn't want the ideal?

That's what we all hoped for and wanted on day one at the at the

at the altar when we exchanged vows.

That was the thing that we were hopeful for.

So God is, again, not just crushing us with you're doing it

wrong, but God's also saying look at the pure thing.

The standard is high, but the reward is great.

The fruit is delicious. So we shouldn't only see this is

heavy. We should see who this is.

Good. Are there challenges?

Well, yeah, because of sin and the fall and my temptations.

Yeah, those challenges are there.

And yet there is something that I should contend for as I

crucify the flesh, as we're going to talk some about.

But let's look here first at anger and murder.

You have heard it said to those of old you shall not murder and

whoever murders will be liable to judgement.

But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother

will be liable to judgement. Whoever insults his brother will

be liable to the council. So the council referencing like

the Jewish leadership of the day.

So depending on what kind of insult you might use against

somebody, you could actually have to answer to Jewish

leadership for this accusation for what you said to them.

And then he goes on, he says, and whoever says, you fool, will

be liable to the hell of fire. Now, our English language can't

do justice for the phrase that Jesus used there.

The the language that he used there was probably even

scandalous for him to use it in his sermon as he's sharing it

with his disciples. Kind of like last week I

scandalized everybody because I kept saying circumcised and I

went a little too far there. So just like you were

scandalized last week, Jesus's listeners, you knew I was going

to slip in circumcision again today.

Jesus's listeners were probably scandalized by the very word

that he used because it was such a graphic and detestable insult

that would have been used against somebody.

It was a hatred. It was a deep hatred.

It was AI wish I'll for you, not just.

I don't care for you. And I would like to not spend

time with that person because they're obnoxious.

But, you know, God bless them, but I just don't want to be

around them. But this is AI Wish I'll for

you. This is I want bad for you.

That's hatred. Hatred goes beyond just they're

not my cup of tea. I'd like to not hang out with

them this weekend. There's plenty of people that

you don't want to hang out with this weekend.

Fair enough. No problem.

But then there's people who you're like, oh, if you heard

bad news about them, it would call.

It would bring you delight. If you're.

If I heard bad news about them would it bring you delight.

If you heard bad news about the president today would it bring

you delight? Oh, Pastor, don't be going there

now. Was the last time you prayed for

him, by the way, praying that God's best would happen in his

life. Man, you thought I was just

going to go to your neighbor and to your spouse today, right?

But we went. I went, I went somewhere else on

you. Or you know what?

I I like the president. I voted for the president.

OK. The other one then.

Yeah. Which other one do you mean?

It doesn't matter. You know who I meant.

Doesn't the, the one you have somebody in mind that you don't

like? There's there's that politician

where if you heard I'll of them, you're like, yes, like that's

they had it coming, right. So anyway, back to the point

here. There is there.

There are degrees of insult, their degrees of hatred, and

Jesus is bringing it back all the way to the highest standard.

He's saying it's not only that I don't want you to just not

murder, but I'm saying you can commit murder far before the

physical act. And he's saying my standard was

always higher than that. The Pharisee said.

We'll just paint over it. Scripture said the law said you

shouldn't murder, but the Lord had a bigger interpretation than

what we did. We just said, ah, we're not

allowed to take another life without just cause.

And God said that's not what I said, That's not what I meant.

I had something higher in mind. The whole law reveals that, and

it and the whole law is fulfilled, of course, by loving

God and loving your neighbor. Why?

Because the whole law shows that all laws were love your neighbor

laws, all laws were to protect you, to care for you, to make

sure that you were going to be well taken care of because of

migrate, care for you. So just like we know that a tree

doesn't just show up out of nowhere, I get to be like Jesus

now. I get to reference nature right

around me. I can't reference exercise bikes

all the time. But that tree didn't just come

from nowhere fit. The act of physical murder

doesn't just come out of nowhere, right?

That tree didn't just get fully grown overnight.

That took time. But you know what it started

with, right? You know what went into the

ground some years ago? What was it?

It was a seed. A seed went into the ground.

A small seed went into the ground many years ago, right

there in that spot. And that's where it all started.

That was murder. The rest is history.

The the rest is just the passage of time.

But when the seed got into the ground, the rest is there.

When hatred gets into your heart, the rest is history.

Well, you can root it up. Yes, you can.

That's called repentance. Praise God for it.

That's what we want to do. That's what we must do.

We go. That's man I'm.

I want. Well, that's the beginning.

It's just that's where murder starts.

Murder doesn't start here. Murder starts somewhere else.

And this is what Christ knows about all of our sin.

Like we were saying earlier, everything that comes out of my

life, it started somewhere else. Murder has a seed and the seed

is anger. And God is after pure hearts,

not just after people not being physically killed.

He's after the higher standard, not just don't hate, but love.

And that's where he goes on to in his sermon.

He says you've heard it said love those who love you and hate

those who hate you and hate your enemies, he says.

But I say love your enemies. Like what?

That's crazy. We're used to it.

Now we've got 2020, so we know, you know, y'all got all the

spoiler alerts for the Sermon on the Mount.

That's amazing. And again, who can do this?

These are hard sayings. Only a person who's been made

righteous by God. Only a person who's been made

new. You don't even have the inkling.

You don't even have the unction. You don't have any desire to any

of this. You just go, just dismiss it.

No thanks, no thanks. But whenever we have hatred in

our heart, he's saying that's when we're in the risk of the

Hellfire. So a quick side note here, there

is such a thing as righteous anger.

How do you know? Well, it's obvious because Jesus

was angry, right? We see Jesus getting angry.

We see the apostles getting angry.

So we see that. And we know that was done

without sin. You can get angry with sin, but

you can get angry without sin. Typically, you know the

difference because you're angry by You're angry without sin

whenever you're angry for the Lord.

And you're saying that is not right.

That is an injustice against someone else.

But typically, whenever it's been done against me, typically

my threshold for what's right and wrong is really small.

Like, I bring it down to minor traffic infractions.

And now I'm really angry with this person.

I'm like, I can't believe they did that.

Like, don't they know the almighty John Michael is in this

vehicle? And they've like, that's what I,

you know, it's me. Now my standards are even more

extreme. My standards for you.

I can't believe they did that to you.

I'm really sorry about that. That was wrong.

But my standards for me are way different.

Like, you can't do anything wrong against me.

I'm easily offendable in every single way.

Why? Because because that's my flesh,

That's my fleshly temptation is to hold myself, to to hold you

to a standard in the way that you interact with me.

That I would never hold myself with anybody else.

But there is a righteous anger. There's a time and a place for

that. But we won't spend a lot of time

talking about that. We're talking about the

unrighteous anger that's most common to us.

The unrighteous anger that that leads to my what what I say I

just got a quick temper. So is that my get out of jail

free court? I I got a quick temper.

So you just have to bear with me.

I just tell it like it is. No.

It's just in your heart. It's in your heart.

There's something that's there. And maybe it's been there for a

long time. Maybe it's a sapling.

Maybe it's a mighty tree at this point.

And so that would be what we would call a stronghold.

This is a massive pillar. This thing's going to take some

some axing and it's going to take more than one swing.

There's there's more that's going to go into it than just,

you know what, I'm going to try and do better.

Oh, that was. That might have been easier when

it was just like, remember the in the kindergarten we drew the

we grew the things in the cup. You could have plucked that

thing up, no big deal. There's an ease that comes with

that. It's too easy for the Lord, but

it requires real surrender. It requires real brokenness of

spirit and real willingness of mourning.

And then the Lord can do that. But that is, there's a

difference between a tree that his roots can extend 50 yards in

every direction around him, and it goes down 30 feet and you're

going, well, I repent like absolutely you can.

And when that's real, it will be, it will be.

The Lord can pluck that thing up and rip it up and and he can

cast it into the sea. But murder, sin, and again, like

this ties in with lust. This ties in with everything

we're talking about. That's his point.

His his point is the hard issue. He just happened to get

specific. His point is what you name the

sin that it started in seed form.

The external thing that everybody sees, it started

somewhere else. So I'm sorry I stole.

Well, I'm sorry you stole too. But really, there's a heart of

greed there. There's a heart of envy.

There's something else. Like you've been meditating on

that thing for a while. You didn't just see my my

wallet. And just impulsively.

Just like I've never done this before in my life.

I've never thought about this before in my life.

But I can't help myself. That's not how it works.

You see my wallet fall on the ground.

You go. Hey, Joe.

Michael, here you go. Why?

Because you can't even relate to that.

You can't identify with that because you haven't lived that

way or you haven't thought that way or you haven't meditated on

that particular sentence. Some of you going, hey, I would

take your wallet And again, that's just, that's fine except

in the example. But that just reveals like

that's in the heart. It's that envy or it's that

greed or it's that jealousy. Or it's that fear.

But there's some seed there that's been growing and now it

manifests in the physical thing. Whereas the Pharisees go, I

haven't done this wrong. I haven't done this wrong.

No one has seen me doing this. No one has seen me doing that.

The Lord says to you and I both. I see everything.

I see your every thought. I'm with you when you're

thinking it. I'm with you when you're

meditating on it. I'm with you when you're

considering it as you're pondering it.

I search the inward most being. That's where I'm at.

That's that's my house. That's why sin is so intolerable

for the Lord. Because you're it's always with

him. Whenever I sin, I'm bringing

that into my inner man first. That's where I begin and and I

bring this guest into the Lord's house.

And Lord goes, who is this? The Holy Spirit goes, I'm

grieved by this. And I go, well, you know, it's

not that big a deal. They can just come in and stay

for a while. The Lord's school, this is.

We got division here. Who's running the house?

Is it Christ? Or is it something or someone

else? But these two can't be together.

How can two walk together unless they be in agreement?

So I'll clarify. I'll I'll even say this This

idea of this heart issue is not a new idea to the New Testament.

That's a common misunderstanding.

Is the Old Testament. The Lord just made it confusing.

It just said external, external, external, external.

That's not true. There were many external laws

that were given and particular things they had to do.

But all throughout the Old Covenant, God constantly is

correcting his people through his prophets and he's always

going after their motives. So this isn't just something

that newly showed up by the way and go Oh well in the Old

Covenant, he really didn't give him a chance.

He did. He constantly was making

reference and we'll get to this later.

He's constantly making reference to a husband and wife he would

treat. He would call Israel.

We'd say you're an adulterous wife.

And like how can you, how can a nation commit adultery if

adultery is just this one particular physical act?

He's so it's the heart, it's the heart thing.

He kept going after the heart over and over and over.

Let's look at verse 22 and get a little more specific here.

He references if whoever says you fool.

So let's just say we could let's say we could summarize that

Aramaic word or that Aramaic phrase, which we can't in

English. It would take us a paragraph to

be like you low down dirty rat. You know it'd be worse than

that. But if we could do that, Is name

calling going to send me to hell?

The answer to that question is no, but it might.

Name calling might reveal that you're already on your way

there. So it's not that saying the

thing, it's like you broke the rule, but he's pointing out it

came from somewhere else. It comes from your heart.

And then yes. So if you say that you're in

danger, the hell of fire and the Pharisees would go, aha.

So I'll make sure I never say that phrase again and Christ is

going, no, I wasn't. My point wasn't just the phrase.

My point was it's revealing what's in you?

I can't say the blank word. We all have different language

guardrails, probably for our own life and our own standard.

We're like, OK, I don't say this, I don't say that.

I do say this. That one's kind of OK.

It's funny how we justify we have lines and boundaries.

Like, in this context, I'll say this, I'll say certain things in

front of Mom that I, you know, I won't say in front of mom that I

might say with my brother. So we've got this, all all these

rules around language that somehow we've all come up with,

each our own standards, each our own ideas.

But what's the big deal? The big deal is the heart.

The big deal is what's going on inside of me.

Where did that come from? How am I processing it?

How am I using this language in a way that glorifies God?

And the standard, of course, is actually love.

And Jesus is showing us that That is God's standard.

And the standard of love gets violated long before it's fully

grown. Murder and you kill somebody.

That's not the moment that that the standard of love was

violated. The standard of love was

violated long before it ever became a fully grown tree.

And then of course he tells us what to do, even if we have a

strained relationship. So he gets specific and he gets

practical. But there's two surprising

things that happen here right away.

The thing that jumps out to me is he says stop what you're

doing if you're if you're making a gift at the altar or or if we

were to bring that into the new covenant context.

Because even though this is the New Testament, what we're

reading, the new covenant had not yet been established in his

blood. So if they would have been

bringing sacrifices to the altar, let's say you and I are

getting ready to receive communion together, and you

remember that your brother has something against you.

You pause the sacred sacrament of the Lord's table to go seek

reconciliation. Which is interesting because he

was just talking about me being angry with others.

And now he says if someone's angry with me, I should go seek

reconciliation. What's his point?

Again, the heart is so much bigger than just me taking

ownership of me. I'm also trying to go to you.

I'm also trying to go to my brother.

I'm going. Hey, Isaac, man, I want to make

this thing right. I know that you're upset with me

about what happened. Maybe I owe Isaac an apology,

and if so, I bring that fully and completely.

Maybe I don't. And maybe Isaac is just truly

offended about something that I haven't sinned against him

about. That's typically the case with

this guy. He's always getting offended

over nothing. So I come to my brother and I

say, Isaac, man, I want to make this right between us.

I love you. I want there to be unity again.

Yeah. I don't want there to be any,

any challenges or any disunion. That's an awkward conversation.

That's a difficult thing. And this is the standard that

Christ brings to his church. The standard of love is high.

I'm not going to murder anybody. Congratulations.

Will you love somebody? Because that takes a lot more.

That's a lot more righteousness than the Pharisees.

Pharisees death count 0. We've killed no people.

Which isn't true, because at least Christ, but the most

important person. But instead the standard of love

Way beyond. Or are you mad at Isaac?

No, I'm not mad at him. I forgive him.

Is he mad at you? Yeah.

Well, have you tried to talk to him about it?

Well, no. That's his business.

Is it? Is it?

Or should you actually give him a call?

Hey, man, I'd love to meet you and and just catch up.

I know it's been a few weeks. Or you know, I let it.

I let it go too long. I wasn't supposed to let the sun

go down on on our anger. I shouldn't even let it go 24

hours. But now years go by and I and I

hear the rumors of gossip and I'm taking the high ground but

still refusing to speak to the man instead of, hey, I want to

make this right to the degree that I am able stop doing what

you're doing. This is a massive priority.

And then so that's the first surprising thing.

And then the second surprising thing I just mentioned is it's

not just if you've got something against someone else, but who's

got something against you, man. This Christian stuff is it's

almost like you need to be a new person to be able to live this

way. So are you worshipping, are you

praying? Are you reading the word of God

with unforgiveness in your heart towards somebody or does someone

have unforgiveness towards you? We should keep short accounts is

what Jesus is teaching and we should seek to obey Romans 12/18

which says if possible, so far as it depends upon you live

peaceably with all. Well, it's not always possible.

That's absolutely true. I might go to Isaac and be like,

dude, no that that doesn't sound like an apology.

I'm like going to be like, well brother, I want unity.

No, I'm can't. I have to I would be lying if I

was to apologize for the thing that happened or the way it went

down or in the other case maybe I can And then it's really easy.

We bring quick resolution because I'm truly sorry for

something that I've done. But if possible, to the degree

that you're able, you want to live at peace with everybody.

So go quickly when you hear that person is gossiping about you.

Go quickly when you suspect something's off.

Not in a way to corner them and to accuse them.

Hey, is there a problem? I don't think that's the spirit

with Witch Christ. Because again, why?

That's me being offended again. I'm angry at your anger.

I'll beat you at the anger game. No, I'm going to beat you at the

love game. Hey, hey, man, it seemed like,

Hey, can I speak to you privately?

Always. Private.

Hey, can I speak to you privately?

Is everything OK? It seems like something's off.

Am I missing something here? No, man.

No, it's fine. It's fine, bro.

Man, it doesn't seem fine. Come on, talk to me.

What's going on? Like something's off here.

I want to make it right, and I don't know what it is.

Oh, you don't know what it is, huh?

I don't. But if you'll help me, we can

process this. What does this take?

This is love. I actually love him or her, and

I really want reconciliation. And I'm really looking to move

things forward in a way that glorifies God and brings

reconciliation. It's awkward.

It's difficult. It's following Jesus.

So go today. If you're holding unforgiveness,

send the text message today, the e-mail, the phone call, ask to

meet in person, whatever is needed.

But the priority is high. Let's keep going.

Y'all are listening slow today so we got to y'all got to pick

it up now. Lust.

You've heard it said, you shall not commit adultery.

You're like, Yep, I have never done that.

OK, great. But I say, anyone who looks at a

woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with

her in his heart. What?

You can commit adultery in your heart.

Yes, If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and

throw it away. For it is better that you lose

one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into

hell. If your right hand causes you to

sin, cut it off and throw it away.

For it is better that you lose one of your members then your

whole body. Go to hell.

We know Jesus. I'll answer something obvious

here. We know Jesus wasn't talking

literally about the eye and the hand.

Why? Because I could gouge out my

right eye. But guess what?

There's still a left eye and I still have the capacity to lust.

And you know what? If you gouge out both of my

eyes, I would still have the capacity to lust.

Because I still have a mind and I still have an imagination.

You cut off both of my hands. OK, now I'm nubs and I'm blind.

But now do I still have the capacity for lust?

I do. I can still.

Why? Because lust happens in my

heart. So you can continue to cut off

all the members that you want. We won't go too far there.

But I would still have that capacity because it's in my

heart. So, well then why would he say

that? Well, he's pointing out again

that we we should go do extreme measures.

He's using hyperbole because he's showing we want to go to

the degree possible to root these things out, to actually

get rid of sin and to take it seriously.

Again, the Pharisees painted over the law, but the Lord

always intended to include the motive of the heart in his

commands. This is shown even by the 10th

commandment. We think of the 10 Commandments

as all the externals. But you look at the 10th

commandment and it's it's longer.

It's you shall not covet your neighbor's house or his wife or

all these other things, but essentially you shall not covet.

That's a heart motive. That is a heart issue.

You shall not murder. And they're like, all right,

I'll never kill anybody. You shall not steal.

That's an external thing, but the Lord's revealing with the

10th commandment. This is all heart based.

You shall not covet. So that covered stealing, didn't

it? That covered adultery, didn't

it? That covered greed.

It covers all kinds of things. Because I'm not coveting, I'm

not wanting what you have. Oh man, man, if only my wife.

This, if only my husband. That, and then I.

Careful, careful. You might be going to the store.

You might not have bought the seed yet, but you're getting

closer to 1. It's my desire that begins and

desire when it's satisfied. It gives birth to sin and sin

when it's fully grown. How'd this tree get in here?

Where'd that come from? Well, it didn't happen

overnight. Trees don't grow that fast.

Thank God for it. That's a mercy of God that these

things take time. But because I've meditated on it

now, over time it has grown. So the devil and our own flesh

may try to make all nine of the other 10 commandments an

exclusively physical thing, but you can't do that to the 10th to

the 10th commandment. God gives a commandment directly

to our will, our inner life, because that's what all the

commandments were pointing to in the 1st place.

So again, Jesus is showing sin comes from the heart and that

you should be ruthless in protecting your soul from sin.

And he's also pointing out that, OK, go ahead and do that, then

go ahead and go to those extremes.

So he he's not talking out of both sides of his mouth.

He's reemphasizing his point. You could do those things, but

those things still won't actually protect you.

We know he's not being literal there because, again, in his

ministry, he didn't gouge out anybody's eyes.

He didn't cut off anybody's hands.

So he's showing us you need a new spirit.

Our attitude towards sin must be ruthless, physical.

Sin is the birth of something that was conceived in the heart.

It's not a sin to see a woman and know that she's beautiful.

Women are beautiful. God made them beautiful.

But it is a sin to decide to desire her sexually because that

is an act of the will. Now I'm choosing and now I'm

meditating and it's adultery in particular when you desire her

sexually and she's not your wife or vice versa.

Obviously it's not a sin for a woman to beautify herself, but

it is when her motive is to create sexual attraction for

someone other than her husband. Often times the lust of men

wants to look upon, but the lust of women often wants to be

looked upon. And this is a point that's

pretty easy to illustrate. But I'm going to move on because

of our wide audience present. So as Christians wanting to keep

ourselves holy, we know that eyes aren't responsible for all

sin. We know that my eyes are not the

the the source of all sin, but it comes from somewhere else, my

flesh. As a born again believer, our

spirits are made new, but our flesh, our unrenewed mind, still

has these temptations. So as I give it new prompts, as

I give it new things to listen to and new things to look at,

yeah, I can cultivate something that doesn't belong there.

So we know. So we know our eyes are not

responsible for all sin, but we also know that our eyes are not

separated from our spiritual life.

So I don't mean to imply that our bodies are just our spirits

and our bodies are two totally divorced things.

They're not. That's not a biblical idea.

They are connected in deep, inexplainable ways that we can't

even begin to understand yet. So they're deep connections

here. So we're not, we're not

minimizing the physical. We're recognizing that there is

a connection and how one could sometimes lead to the other.

So we recognize that the physical life matters.

So This is why we reject all forms of lust.

We reject pornography in all of its forms.

In images and in literature, we guard the shows that we watch

and the music that we listen to. Why?

Because we're the prudes who have all these rules?

No, because we love the good, true, and beautiful expression

of the marriage bed. That's why we have a higher,

better thing. We've talked about this before.

You can have the the amazing, rich, gorgeous Thanksgiving

feast, or you can run up to 711 and get you a burrito that's

been on the roller for three days.

Like, well, they're both food. Technically, I guess

scientifically, that's probably true, but they're not equal. 1

is better than the other, although one might seem

convenient, although one might be able to be displayed in an

enticing way. Although that food does not

entice me like the little churros on the roller.

They're like, hey, you can get four of these for $0.25.

I'm like Nah, I'd rather starve but it.

But sin? But sin often is very enticing.

I mean that's why it's entice. Like I wouldn't be tempted if it

was never enticing. It would just be like, no,

gross, gross, gross. But instead, that's not how sin

hits, is it? That's not how lust has ever hit

any one of our hearts. And I know I'm talking to human

beings. Salt Church is made-up of

humans, so I know it's safe to say that we've all done this.

So that's not how it happened. We didn't just go.

Gross, gross, gross. We go, oh, hey, something in

your heart goes interesting. Beyond just wow, he's great.

Beyond just wow, she's great. But I want to grab his

attention. I'm going to come back to this

coffee shop. There's nothing wrong with

getting coffee. No, there's not.

But I could go to the wrong coffee shop for the wrong

reason. Well, there's nothing wrong with

having, you know, Netflix. Nothing wrong with having a

smartphone. That's true.

But my heart and my motives are going to show up in different

places and in different ways, and the realities are going to

keep coming through. So it wasn't wrong that David,

it's not wrong to take a census of your people and to count the

people of the nation, right? I'm.

I'm a ruler. I want to understand things.

I want to know are we taxing properly.

Want to. There's all kinds of good

motives that you could do that. But that wasn't David's motive.

David had an evil motive. It was David's own pride and

David's own glory that he was seeking after so much so that

his own men corrected him. Said, O king, may our people be

multiplied 1000 times, but don't do this wicked thing.

Why? I'm just counting.

David could have even stood on script.

The word of God says you're supposed to know the state of

your flocks like you could. And you can do that, right?

You can pretend. You can pretend righteousness.

I'm doing this thing for this reason.

That's great. You're a perfect Pharisee.

Unfortunately for us, and fortunately also the Lord lives

in our hearts, and that's where the work is happening.

That's where the seed is starting to take root and his

first little root comes out of him.

But that's also where the Holy Spirit is.

And He can say, hey, you don't want this here and go, well,

I'm. I'm doing it for this reason.

But the Lord protects us, so this will make us look

different. Because, you know, adultery

doesn't start in a bed. It starts by going to that place

for the wrong reason. It starts by this conversation.

It starts by this other thing which started somewhere else,

which started somewhere else. And if I go back, there was a

safe place. There was an easy place where

the Lord said you have the power to walk away from this right

now. But when it gets here, I might

not have the power to, it might actually overpower me, and I go,

I couldn't help myself. That's true, Joe.

Michael, you couldn't. But it's because of the past

five years that you got to the moment of not being able to help

yourself. Five years ago you could have

been safe had you actually walked in repentance, humility,

and in the confession of your sins.

But because this time, whether that was 3 minutes or five years

or or 4 decades, whatever the sin is, the anger, the lust, the

greed, it doesn't matter. But I don't just decide to rob a

bank because it's a Friday morning and I'm short a few

bucks in the budget, right? That started somewhere else.

It started somewhere earlier. This will make us look

different. This will cause your life to

look entirely different. And this is good news.

This is a good thing because the Lord has blessing connected to

all of it. There's not only a don't, there

is much of A do. I'm going to speed along here.

I know we're short on time. We're going to go to verse 31.

It was also said whoever divorces his wife let him give a

certificate of divorce. But I say to you that everyone

who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality

makes her commit adultery. And whoever marries a divorced

woman commits adultery again. What are these?

Anger, lust, divorce. So random.

Not at all. He's just heart, heart, heart.

He's going for the heart of the thing over and over and over.

Hey, it's just the heart. That's the lesson here.

The message is the heart. But yes.

Does he give us specific instructions on some other

things that are very helpful? Absolutely.

The he could have, he could have pulled any examples he wanted to

with sin and said, hey, here's a hard example versus the versus

the visible example, but he does it with divorce now.

So I'm also going to read to you from Matthew 19 where he talks

about divorce again and verse 5 through 9, to give you even more

context, he's answering them about marriage and remarriage,

talking about divorce. Where am I here?

Verse five he said therefore a man shall leave his father and

mother and shall hold fast to his wife and the two shall

become one flesh. So they are no longer 2 flesh.

So there are no longer 2 but one flesh.

What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.

And then he goes on to and then they said to him.

Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce

and to send her away? So Moses gives the command and

gives the allowment to divorce. Of course they frame it as like

we're commanded to. I have to divorce my wife.

Moses said to as opposed to what actually was done.

Jesus said, because of your hardness of heart, Moses allowed

you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not

so. And I say to you, whoever

divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality and marries

another, commits adultery. Then his disciples said to him,

if such is the case for a man with his wife, it is better not

to marry. They sound very American right

there. It's better to not get married.

If you can't just divorce over nothing, if you can't just call

it quits for no reason whatsoever, it's probably better

to just never even start right? And then he goes on into

teaching, he says. But he said to them, not

everyone can receive this saying, but only to those whom

it is given For their eunuchs who have been been so from

birth, and their eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men,

and their eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake

of the Kingdom of Heaven. Let the one who is able to

receive this, receive it. I can't unpack all that.

And I'm sure that after last week's talk about circumcision,

you're happy. I'm not going to talk a lot

about eunuchs today, so we'll just continue back into our

context of divorce here. Why did God allow divorce in the

old covenant? It's similar to the same way he

allowed Israel to have a king. I don't want you to have a king.

I'm your king. The nation of Israel didn't have

any kings FYI, until they had soul.

And they're like we want a king, other nations have a king.

And the Lord's like I'm not giving you a king.

And Samuel's like Samuel the prophet at the time.

You don't need a king. God's our king.

And finally the Lord said they can have a king because of their

hardness of hearts. And he said, but you're not

going to like it. But you know what?

Still, in my grace and goodness and kindness to you, if your

king does well and you do well meaning obedient, then

everything will be well. Still God's grace and his

kindness there, That's the same thing he says to those of you

who already wondered. Because that's the question that

comes up right away. What about what if I have?

What if I have divorced? What if I have remarried and it

wasn't on the grounds of my my spouse was unfaithful or

committed adultery? We'll get to that.

We'll get to that. I'm going to answer all that.

But I want to talk more about, again, the heart of the issue.

Why does God hate divorce? Because God loves marriage?

Because marriage is a picture of Christ in the church.

He loves the good and true and beautiful that produces A hatred

for something else. I love my family, so that

produces A willingness to defend them and protect them, to use

any means necessary to do so. Why?

Not because I hate anyone, but because I love someone so

deeply. So this idea of this hard

hearts, which is what Jesus pointed out, He says Moses

allowed that because of your hard hearts, your heart hearts,

the Lord made an allowance. That is not his ideal.

It is not what He wants. This is how we got to our wicked

moment in our day, What we now refer to as no fault.

Divorce. That's clever, isn't it?

It's nobody's fault. It's just poof.

It's just surprise. I don't know where this came

from. We just fell out of love.

Or I finally met my soul mate. We we got married too young.

It's nobody's fault. It's not true.

It's both. It's everybody's fault.

In a no fault Divorce. But God hates divorce because he

loves marriage. He loves what it represents.

Doesn't God want me to be happy? Our culture would say God wants

you to be happy with your spouse, which is why he commands

in the Song of Solomon. He says delight in the wife of

your youth. So in saying all this, Jesus is

essentially saying you're not divorced just because you got

divorced, which is why it's actual adultery if you remarry

after divorce. What?

The government said it is. And I thought we were allowed to

divorce. Yes, that certificate of

divorce. But Jesus is plainly saying if I

were to divorce Natalie and she hadn't been unfaithful and I I

cannot remarry, I couldn't have divorced, first of all.

But now I cannot remarry. And if I do, I've committed

adultery. Why?

Because I'm not divorced. But you are divorced.

Yes, but again, the Lord's pointing to the heart of the

issue instead of just what do the legal documents say?

Thank you, Pharisees, for the legal documents.

We know that. And still the Lord is targeting

the thing behind the thing. Well, on paper it says, if only

that paper could make it to the throne room and the King could

see. Oh, I didn't realize a judge

signed off on it. Turns out I'm wrong, you guys.

Oh, a justice of the peace. Wow, this one's over my head.

Is this to condemn us? No.

But it's to point to the good, the true, and the beautiful.

So we would cherish that the Church would cherish what God

cherishes. That we would contend for what

the Lord contends for. That we would value what the

Lord values, and that we would not let the leaven of the world

impact us. That we would not let the yeast

of the Pharisees get into our hearts.

Beware the yeast of the Pharisees.

A little bit of yeast leavens the whole lump.

I'm not much of A cook. I don't know much about kitchen

and fooding, but I do know you put yeast in dough and then it

swells, right? I'm smart.

So we're always looking at the outside.

God is still always looking at the heart.

So what If I divorced for reasons other than the

unfaithfulness of my spouse? Then you're not to marry.

All right, So what if I already remarried?

Then you are to pray. You are to repent of the sin

with your current spouse and then move forward in the grace

of God. Like Israel.

When they asked for a king, God did not want to give them one,

but he eventually said you can have what you're demanding but

you're not going to like it. But then in his mercy and

kindness, he said if your king does right and if you do right,

it will be well. And he says the same thing to

the remarried after divorce. Wow, does that bring relief and

clarity? Am I supposed to divorce again?

No, no. Move forward in the grace of God

with repentance. And the Lord says do well, do

right, I will be with you. This is God's kindness for His

name's sake for our good. Why?

Because the Lord is not after rules for us to break.

That was not his motive. How many trip wires can I put in

front of these humans I created? How many barriers can I make for

them? How many burdens can I crush

them with? His whole point was I want to

lift these people up to me. I want them to be up with me.

I want them to walk with me. So no matter what your reason,

no matter what your past the Lord says, there is a path

forward from this moment. The Lord is always having to

adapt to my sin. We have the whole gospel because

the Lord adapted to our sin in the garden.

So there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are

in Christ Jesus, no condemnation for those who are in Christ

Jesus. We are a free people.

We are a rescued people. We are a delivered people.

And I'm going to read to you, we're going to close with this.

Am I going to read to you Ezekiel 20, Ezekiel 36.

To show you the Lord's heart again, Old Testament here,

Ezekiel 36, verse 24. I will take you from the nations

Ezekiel 36:24

and gather you from all the countries, and bring you into

your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on

you, and you shall be clean from your own cleanness and from all

your idols. And I will cleanse you, and I

will give you a new heart and a new spirit I will put within

you. And I will remove the heart of

stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

And I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my

statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your Father's, and you

shall be my people, And I will be your God, and I will deliver

you from all of your uncleanness.

This is the word of God for the people of God.

This is his promise to the very people who said you, wicked and

adulterous people. Why do you keep cheating on me?

Why do you keep sinning against me?

And then he comes back to the says, I'm going to, I'm going to

fix it. Why?

Because I know you can't. I know you can't.

You can't do it. I'm.

I'm overwhelmed, As you should be.

And yet I will restore you in repentance with the blood of

Jesus. I will restore you.

I will renew you with the blood of Christ.

What is our answer? What is our hope?

What is our salvation? It's back to verses, back to

verses two and three, or back to verses three and four.

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of

heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for

they shall be comforted. God, I ask that you would

comfort your people today, as we have seen both the high standard

of your holiness. God, I pray that you would also

refresh us and bless us with your extreme goodness as we see

the standard of love and we know that we fall short.

We're also encouraged to know that you love us deeply, that

you restore us, and that you have You promised Israel that

you would do it in the future, but for us we rejoice that

you've already done it in the past.

You put a new spirit within us, and that's why we love you.

It's why we seek to please you. It's why we seek to obey you

now. Help us to crucify the deeds of

the flesh and to be filled with the Spirit.

If we're not filled with your spirit, then we're going to

constantly defer to what our flesh would want anyway.

Protect us, root out those things inside of us, God, that

you don't want there. That we would be safe.

That we would enjoy the highest and the best.

That we would enjoy the feast. That you prepare the table that

you have set for us even in the presence of our enemies.

That you would make our cup to run over, keep our eyes set for

you. Help us to be a people like you,

slow to anger, quick to forgive, holding high the standards that

you have for marriage. Because they represent Jesus's

love for His church and the vow that you have made to us.

We love you, Lord. We thank you for your love and

your compassion in Jesus name. And now the Lord bless you and

keep you. The Lord make His face shine

down upon you and be gracious to you.

The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you great

peace. In Jesus name.

Amen.