Sermon On The Mount - Part 6

Greetings in Jesus' name. Jesus said, fear not little flock, it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Let's, I'd like to continue on this teaching in the Sermon on the Mount today, and so we're going to be in Matthew 5 again and continue with the next section. Why don't we stand for a word of prayer before we go on? Our Father in heaven, we thank you for another opportunity to gather and thank you for this day and for good health for those of us who could gather and the hope that those will be healed who couldn't be here, and we just be with them today and minister to their needs and to their hearts, and I ask you Lord to help me with this message and I'll pray for your for your spirit to help us through this and to give me wisdom and give us all ears to hear and hearts to understand. Thank you for the Lord Jesus and the words he's given us in Jesus' name. Amen. I'm a little bit nervous about this subject today. It's not uncommon for me to be a little bit nervous to get up and preach, but it's for sure not because we have a big crowd. Sometimes that can make me extra nervous, but it's a subject that is real personal. It's a real sensitive subject that pertains to all mankind. I'll try to be as honest and as thorough as I think is needful while trying to be trying to use discretion and be considerate of of the fact that there's children here. There can be an awkwardness surrounding this subject, but let's take a look. Let's take a look at what Jesus said here in Matthew 5. I've been working through this sermon on the mount. We've been going through it slowly. I hope it's been a blessing to others as it's been to me to just consider all these things in a real thorough way. If you would, let's go back up the mountain here to the mountain of the Lord where the Son of God is speaking. He's presenting to us the words of life that are eternal and universal. They are the will that the Father had from the beginning. Let's also remember the setting where there was this audience who is gathered there with him. They are processing this thing that Leroy talked about this morning. Is this the one that we've been waiting for? Should we believe that he's the one? It's been ingrained into us that there's a promised one coming. Could this be him? Is this the one that'll liberate us and make us free? Free men instead of slaves? We're ready for verse 27 here in Matthew 5. He says, you have heard that it was said you shall not commit adultery, but I say to you but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out and throw it from you. For it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand makes you stumble, cut it off and throw it from you. For it is better for you to lose one part, one of the parts of your body than for your whole body to go into hell. It was said whoever sends his wife away let him give her a certificate of divorce. But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife except for the reason of unchastity makes her commit adultery and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery. So Jesus does not refrain from touching on our innermost life, on our very personal feelings, on our very secret thought life. He, in what we see today, he's touching that. In the old covenant, God was legislating the lives of hard-hearted people. He was taking the descendants of Abraham by the hand and pulling them into the land he had promised to Abraham. But most of them, though they desired this liberty, they did not desire the responsibility that goes with liberty. And in their hearts they turned back to Egypt. So here in Israel, in their departure from Egypt and in the wilderness, God and Moses are partnering together and and they're regulating the life of slaves. And they end up with hundreds and hundreds of laws, hundreds and hundreds of do's and don'ts to keep the people in check and from becoming like pagan and heathen nations. And one of these laws was thou shall not commit adultery. It's the seventh commandment of the Ten Commandments. When God made humanity, he made them male and female, and he created in man a desire to be with and to love and to be loved by a woman. And he created in a woman a desire to be with and to love and to be loved by a man. This desire that God made was carefully and beautifully constructed by God and it's a gift. And like all good gifts, it comes from above. This desire, unlike some desires, this desire affects our whole body from the crown of our head to the sole of our foot. This desire affects it all. It affects our sense of seeing, it affects our hands, our sense of feeling, it affects our feelings, it affects our emotions, and a lot of this in the very, very, very most deep way that can possibly be affected. And because these desires and this emotion is easily and intensely stirred, God from the beginning gave clear and solid perimeters. He gave very clear confinements wherein the circumstance can be where it is right for these feelings and this relationship to be fostered. We can find that in the first two chapters of our Bibles. It's when God has has joined together a man and a woman and they become one flesh and we call it marriage. Within those confines, it is not only permissible, but it's good and it's godly to look at each other, to admire each other, to desire each other, to make physical contact with each other, because they've become one and they no longer belong to each other. They are no longer their own. But outside of those bounds, outside of those single bounds, there is no one, and I repeat, no one, who is created for the purpose of our pleasure. And if we do, if we take our pleasure in anyone else besides our legitimate spouse, we adulterate things from how God had designed it, which means to adulterate means to make something impure by adding an ingredient that doesn't belong there. That's what it means to adulterate something. And hence we have the word adultery, which means to mingle together, the mingling together of two people who do not rightfully belong to each other. Two people who God has not joined. And so I think it's maybe the Hebrew writer who says, the marriage bed is undefiled, but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge. So the marriage bed, it's pure, it's undefiled, that is right in the eyes of God, but anything outside of that is adultery and God will judge this. So way back here on Mount Sinai, when Moses was on Mount Sinai and the children of Israel were there with him, he gave this commandment, thou shall not commit adultery. And the way that was enforced is by punishing any man or any woman who went to bed together with someone that wasn't their legitimate spouse, who wasn't their husband or wife. But now let's go way forward and we're no longer on Mount Sinai with Moses, but we're up on this mountain with that prophet who Moses said would come and who would really tell us the real words of God. And Jesus does the same thing he did in the last message we talked about. He lays a teaching right beside one of the laws that was given there on Mount Sinai. And he says, you have heard that it was said you shall not commit adultery. He's quoting out of the Ten Commandments. And then he says, but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. When we take a serious look at what Jesus just said, when we lay these two beside each other, where Moses said, thou shall not commit adultery, and Jesus says, if you look at a woman with lust, you have committed adultery in your heart, what happens to the law that Moses just gave? It really just kind of disappears. It's not destroyed in that it's not valid, but if we have the one that Jesus said, we don't even need this one. If we heed the one that Jesus gave us, we don't even need this one. It's taken care of. It's filled to the brim. In every case, I doubt that there's hardly ever an exception. In every case where the act of adultery is committed, long before the bed, long before any physical contact, long before any of those things, there was a desire that had been fostered and entertained, and there was a desire to seek pleasure from someone that is not ours. And this issue starts in the heart. Just like Jesus said, he has already committed adultery in his heart, and no one can make a law about this. We can't legislate someone's heart. Yet, that's where Jesus comes and lays the axe at. He comes and lays it to solve this problem, to get to the root of this problem called adultery. He comes and lays the axe right there. So, how would you like for your thought life to be displayed for everyone to see? How would you like it if all the thoughts you process in your mind would come up on a wall, written out, or the things you fantasize and envision would all be there in a picture way that anybody and everybody can see it? That would not be very nice. And praise God that it isn't, and yet that is how much God knows exactly what goes on in here. And Jesus said, the kingdom of heaven is within you. This new covenant that he's going to make is for people who have given their hearts to him. It's a covenant that is not like the old covenant where he takes people by the hand, willing or not, and he drags them out somewhere and tries to do something with them. That's not the new covenant. The new covenant is with a people whose heart is turned toward him. Therefore, it's important to him that our hearts, our thoughts, and our minds are right with him and not merely our actions. Irenaeus wrote, we will give account to God not only for deeds as would slaves, but even for words and thoughts as those who have truly received the power of liberty. Clement of Alexandria says, Christ is forever skillful in cutting out the very roots of sin. He commands, you shall not lust. And to safeguard the previous commandment, you shall not commit adultery. Adultery is only the fruit of lust. Lust is the evil root from which adultery grows. Oh, be careful little minds what you think. We can't, we can't necessarily always control a thought that comes into our mind. But we can, we can control whether we're going to foster that thought, whether we're going to entertain that thought. We also have some level of control in what kind of environment we put us in that will create the thoughts that pop into our heads. I know, I know Martin Luther is hardly worth quoting because he's, he's, he's a false teacher, but he said something really neat one time. He said, I think it's him. I think, I think this, this quote is attributed to him that we can't, we can't help it if a bird flies over our head, but we can help it if he wants to build a nest in our hair. Brothers and sisters, we dare not take this lightly. I know it says, it says anyone who looks upon a woman with lust has committed adultery. And I, I think it is implied the other way around. I think there's a reason why it's said this way. I think that, I think the problem about this subject is more, is, is, is more severe for men. And, and I think there's a difference between men's, men, men's bodies and women's bodies and all those things. But, but it applies the same way around. And for a woman to lust at, look at a man to lust after him is adultery. When we stare at a person with lust and with the intent of pleasure, we are degrading their sacred humanity. If you remember in the last message, we talked about how humans are, are bearers of God's image. And to look upon them with lust is to treat them as someone less than that. We, we as fathers would be indignant if someone would do that to our daughters, wouldn't we? And so, and so why do we think, or could we think that we have any place to do it with anyone else's daughter? It would be my goal, and I hope we can make it all our goal, to view every human being as someone in need of the same Savior that we needed. When Jesus saw people, he was moved with compassion, for they were as sheep without a shepherd. He had, he had no thought whatsoever of, of seeking pleasure in that person. And I don't, I don't want you to take that to mean that, that we should somehow not, we should somehow not need, or that we somehow don't have a need to turn our eyes away from immodesty or scantily clad people. We need to. That is not the mark of a carnal man. That is the mark of a godly man. Of all the things that attack us and tempt us, this one is one we must flee from. When Joseph was being tempted by Potiphar's wife, he fled. He did not, he did not stand there and, and try to have enough courage and enough strength to resist this one, and to look it in the eyes, and just to conquer it, and, and like to put on this armor of God and face it. That was not the approach that Joseph took. He fled. He got out of there. And, and Paul says, flee fornication. And then he says, every sin that a man commits is outside the body, but he that commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. And it's, it's not really clear to me what Paul is saying there, except that the thing that's clear to me is he's putting this sin in a category of its own. And I think that's just the way it is. I think there is somehow, somehow this is a sin that is in a category of its own. When an immodest sin comes before our eyes, we can choose to gaze at it, or to look the other direction. Whether it's on a screen, whether it's on paper, or whether it's in reality. And if, if we gaze on it, it is for a moment's pleasure, but at that moment we are estranged from God. We, we know it. We can feel it. Immediately after this, immediately after this momentary pleasure, one feels utterly defeated. He feels worthless, and cheated, and dejected. Somehow he knows that he has just beheld a fantasy and not a reality. But if that moment, if at that moment of choice, and this is, this is what I want us all to remember, if, if at that moment where we have that choice to either, to either gaze or to look away, we turn our eyes from it, we sense a connection with Christ. There was something about, there was some realization in that moment that the grace of God was upon us. In Job 31, Job says, I have made a covenant with my eyes. Why then should I look upon a maid, or a young woman? In the Wisdom of Sirach, Chapter 9, Sirach says, Do not associate with a dancing girl, lest you be caught up in her schemes. Do not gaze at a virgin, lest you stumble and pay damage for her. Do not give your soul to prostitutes, lest you destroy your inheritance. Do not look around in the streets of a city, and do not wander about in deserted sections. Turn your eyes away from a woman with a shapely figure, and do not gaze at beauty belonging to another. Many have been led astray by the beauty of a woman, and erotic love is like burning fire. Never dine with another man's wife, and do not share in parties with her over wine, lest your soul turn aside to her, and you slip, and with your spirit fall into destruction. We can hardly understate the severity of this. And Jesus, knowing that the onslaught of this temptation is severe, He matches it with telling us to take severe measures to avoid it. He says, If your right eye makes you stumble, just rip it out and throw it away, because it would be better for you to just to enter life without that eye, than to be cast into hell without it. And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off, cast it out, throw it away. It would be better for you that you enter life than to be cast into hell, than to have both hands and be cast into hell. What Jesus is saying here is, I don't think Jesus is giving this as a command that we should actually do this, but He's saying there is no sacrifice that is too great to make in order to flee from this sin. Think about how important our eyes and our hands are to just our function. Imagine all of a sudden not having eyes and hands. We would be so severely crippled, and nearly everything we do in life, we cannot do. Almost everything that we're used to doing. And Jesus is saying it would be better, if that were, if that would help, it would be better to have that crippled condition and yet enter life, than to have those things and lose it. If, He says, if that were the cause, but it never is the cause. Okay? He just got done saying that this is a sin of the heart. He just got done saying that when someone does that, he commits adultery in his heart. Notice also that He says, if your right eye offends you, cast it out. We, Origen said something like this. He said, when there are two eyes that see, you can, how can you then blame, how can you then, how can that blame be laid upon the right eye alone? Who is there, who condemning himself for having looked upon a woman to lust after her, would rationally transfer the blame to the right eye alone and throw it away. Okay. So Jesus is using, Jesus is using strong language here to show us just how serious we need to take this. He uses similar language in, in Luke, when he says, if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and cast it away. Now, what do you think? Are we, are we less likely to stumble if we cut our foot off? No, we would probably be more likely to stumble. It sure wouldn't help us. The answer is to just be careful where we place that foot. The answer is not to cut it off, but to be careful where we place it. And I think the same thing applies to our eyes. There's certainly no guarantee that, that if we, if we, if we tear out both of our eyes, that we would not have lustful thoughts in our heart. When the men of Sodom, what, when those men of Sodom wanted to be with lots of visitors and they wanted to do indecent acts with lots of visitors, God struck them with blindness. But did that change their hearts? No, they spent the whole night groping around, looking for the door and finding a way to get to these people. It changed nothing in their heart. Any, any sacrifice is a small price to pay to conquer this temptation. I didn't know how much I want to even get into this, but like, the day and age we live in is shockingly dangerous and dreadful. I, when, the, the, the, the, the internet is, is, was invented, it was, and it's driven, for sure it's driven by, by the, the, the spreading of, of immorality, immodesty, and indecency. And, and I use it. I use the internet too. I, I think, I think most of us that are my age or older, who, who grew up and, and, and started our, our, and started a, a, a, a radical life with Jesus before the coming of cell phones and smartphones and stuff. If at that time, if 20 years ago or even less, if, if somebody would have told me that the time is going to come when it's just going to be this common thing and people, people are going to carry a device around and it's, it's gonna, it's gonna be the way they communicate and call and, and, and send messages and so forth. But it's, it's literally like a television in your pocket. It's very affordable. I would have said, I ain't doing it. There ain't no way. You can cut off my right hand, but I'm not doing that. And I'm not sure that, I'm not sure that that thinking was right, but I'm just telling you where I would have been and where we are now. And the truth of the matter is that we, we are comfortable with what we grew up with, and our children grow up with this, and, and they will be comfortable unless, and, and, and we just have to be real, real serious about it. No sacrifice is too great. And I, I don't, one thing I'd just like to tell you is don't, don't think, though there is some truth in the fact that, that if we're, if we're strong, we can, we can, we can, we can do things that we can't do if we're weak. That, that is very true. But, but, but, but, but cutting, cutting yourself off, turning your eyes away is not the mark of a weak man. It's the mark of a godly man. And, and, you know, there's that, I've wondered about all the meaning of this, but there's that story that Elisha, in, in, in 2 Kings, I think chapter 13, where Elisha, Joash comes to Elisha, and he tells Elisha, I haven't read it in a long time, but something like this. Joash tells Elisha about, about a battle that he's about ready to go in, or maybe there's some people going to, going to attack him. And, and I think Elisha gives Joash a handful of arrows, and he says, strike the ground. And, and Joash takes these arrows, and one, two, three, and gives them back to Elisha. And Elisha was grieved, and he said, you should have done it five or six times, and then you would have utterly destroyed them. But now, because you only did it three times, you're only going to strike him three times. And I, I don't know where all that could go, but I just think, I just think we have to take radical approaches against hard attacks. Paul says, no temptation has overtaken you, but, but as, but such as is common to man. These, these onslaughts are common to men, okay? Nothing has overtaken us, but it's, but it's common to man. And God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able. But with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it. Never convince yourself that you are powerless, and that you are helplessly addicted, or that you are unable to resist. Never persuade yourself of that, because I can tell you something. At that moment, at that moment when that choice is before your eyes, whether you want to look at something or turn away from it, depending who walked in the room, you could resist. A lot of it is just what Leroy talked about this morning. A lot of it is what we believe will be the actual consequences of the choice we make. And the fear of the Lord is great, is a great aid in conquering this one. Most people in their hour of temptation don't think about the consequences, and they don't think about how it will make them feel afterwards. It's, it's exactly what happened with Ammon in the Old Testament. He thought he couldn't help himself. He thought his love for Tamar was so great that he couldn't help himself. And as soon as he had committed the sin, he says his hatred for her was greater than his love was before. We must always consider what the end of our choice will be. No one, no one afterwards, after having, after having viewed or looked at bad things like that, no one afterwards thinks, that was a great idea. I'm going to have a better day today. No, we feel defeated, rejected, and worthless. But he has provided a way for escape. And it is, it is my belief that Jesus was tempted in these areas, like we are, and he didn't sin. What we feed will grow, and what we starve will die. And the, the victory over these kind of things is hardly ever just this immediate thing that we have, that, that, that our struggle ceases with. It's been a long time ago, but I read, I once read one of Zach Poonen's books, maybe, maybe The New Wine and New Wineskins, or something like that. And I don't know if I'm, it's been so long ago, but I, I remember this part that really, like, I could relate to. And he, he said, he said that our, that, that, that a man, a man in his carnal and his sinful life, his selfish life, when he's just living for himself, is, is as if, as if he has a box full of snakes. And, and every time a temptation comes, it's like a snake that sticks his head out of, out of the hole, out of the top, and you've, and if you give in to the temptation, you feed it. And, and the temptations that you give into, those snakes get the strongest, and the biggest, and the vigorous. And so, and so if you give in to lust continually, that snake of lust just becomes real strong and real vigorous. If you give in to the one of anger, that one becomes real strong. And, and then he says, when a man repents, and he turns to God, it doesn't mean that that box of snakes somehow is gone. But it means, it means the attitude toward him has changed. And now, instead of, instead of feeding that snake when he sticks his head out of there, we, we've got to stick to, to give it a whack over the head. Our attitude has changed. And those, especially those really strong snakes, they'll, they'll keep coming. They'll keep coming. But every time you knock it over the head, it gets a little weaker, and a little weaker, and a little weaker. And every time, if you, if you start, if, if you start not doing that, and feeding again, it'll grow big again, and strong again. Our attitude about this thing has to radically change. What we feed will grow. What we starve will die. Just a few more things on this, before we get into the next part. My experience, and this is just, this is just for us, especially young men, not, no, I shouldn't say especially young men, everyone. This has just been my experience, as I've dealt with a number of people who've struggled with this, who've, who've, who've, who've just confided in their, in their struggles. And maybe, maybe to some level, my own experience, there's certain times, and certain states that we can be in, that make us exceptionally vulnerable. One is, when we're discouraged. And these, these are not, these, these don't justify anything. These are things for us to remember, like, ooh, in this state, I gotta be extra careful. Okay. When we're discouraged, we're extremely vulnerable. When we feel rejected, we are extremely vulnerable, vulnerable. When, when, when there's a broken relationship that we went through, we're extremely vulnerable. And one of the really bad things about this is, is then we're really vulnerable. And, and, and, and then if we do this thing, it makes us feel even more rejected. And we become more vulnerable. And we see this really vicious cycle in a downward spiral. Just be really careful in these times. Another one is when we're idle. When we just have an idle mind. This is what happened with King David when he lusted after Bathsheba. The others were all out in battle, fighting. But David was at home, and he just got done taking a good afternoon nap. And he goes up to take a stroll up on the roof of the king's house. And it got him. He saw something that he lusted at. He saw someone that he lusted after. These conditions make us, make us extremely vulnerable. And the answer, the answer and the solution is not found in focusing on not doing this thing. If we, if that's the only thing we're going to focus on is not doing this, it's, it's kind of like trying to, it's, it's kind of like trying to hold a heavy object out here and just hold it there and hold it. Finally, your arm gives out. You can't do that. But rather, we have to, we have to focus on, we have to avoid it. And remember to avoid it. But unless we set our mind on the things that are godly, and the things that are right, and the things that are pure, we'll probably just continue to live a life of defeat. After what Paul said there in 1 Corinthians, when he was talking about this, and he's talking about sexual immorality and how God has given a way of escape, he ends that by saying, you have been bought with a price. Therefore, glorify God with your bodies. Okay, we are no longer our own. We've been purchased. Therefore, glorify God in your body. The second part of this message today is, is very closely related. Verse 31 and 32, when he says, it was said, whoever sends his wife away, let him give her a certificate of divorce. But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except for the reason of unchastity, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery. It's another very tender and sensitive subject for any man or woman, especially for any man or woman who's in an unlawful relationship. It's a highly controversial subject among Bible believers, and it's sad. I mean, here's one of Jesus's core teachings in the New Covenant. And in our country, who's supposedly a Christian country, nearly 50% of marriages end in divorce. And the average marriage lasts eight, around eight years. And the rate doesn't change very much when you go from unbelievers to professing Christians. That's really, really bad. You'd think that, you'd think by the fruit or by the, by the statistics, that this must be a subject that Christ didn't care much about. And yes, he cares greatly about this. But even, even among us or among the churches that we would find some, some degree of fellowship with in, in, in so much of what we believe about the kingdom, even there we, we disagree on certain details. And I'm not going to explore every passage and every possible scenario of this subject, but, but I hope to shed a little bit of light on this subject. So, so let's remember, Jesus is establishing a new kingdom. He's, he's revealing the heart of the Father. He's explaining the will of the Father. He's got more authority to speak than, than any of the prophets, any servants. He's got more authority to speak here than Moses. You know, when Moses or the prophets or any, any of the servants God sent, when they came with a message, it often started like this, Thus says the Lord. But when the Son came, He said, I say to you. When, when the Son of God Himself comes and He says, I say to you, it's the surest word of God that we can get. There's four, there's four main time, four main places that Jesus recorded in the gospels that Jesus spoke about this subject of divorce and remarriage. And at all four times, it's in a context where, where Jesus is changing what's contained in the Torah. Here in, here in Matthew 5, He says, it was said, and then He quotes Deuteronomy 24. He says, it was said, whoever sends his wife away, let him give her a certificate of divorce. But I say to you, and then He, and then He quotes His teaching. The same applies, well, no, I think, I think in Mark and Luke's account, no, in Matthew 19 and in Mark's account is when the Pharisees came testing Him and said, and, and made reference to Deuteronomy 24 and say, what do you say? And then He says, and, and Jesus does what He does. He goes to the beginning and says, well, this is how it was from the beginning. And that one, I think it's really helpful that Jesus said this, but He said that one, that one that you're talking about in Deuteronomy 24, it was given because of the hardness of your hearts. And even the passage in Luke, though it's really brief, Jesus in Luke 16, Jesus says, before He talks about divorce, right before He talks about divorce and remarriage, He says, the law and the prophets were proclaimed until John. Since the time the gospel of the kingdom of God has been preached and everyone is forcing his way into it, but it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one stroke of the letter of the law to fail. And then He says, everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery. And who, and he who marries one who is divorced from a husband commits adultery. So why don't we, because He's referencing Deuteronomy 24, and why don't we go back there and just, just look at those few verses. So this is, this is what Moses says, chapter 24 in Deuteronomy verse 1. If a man takes a wife and marries her, and it should be, it should be, she finds no favor before him because he found something shameful in her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hands and sends her out of his house. And she departs from his house and marries a different man. And the latter man hates her and writes her certificate of divorce and puts it in her hands and sends her out of his house. Or the latter man dies and takes her as, who took her as his wife. Then her former husband who divorced her cannot take her back to be his wife after she was defiled, because that is an abomination before the Lord your God. And you shall not defile the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance. That's, that's where Jesus is quoting from when he says, this is what, this is what you've heard. Here, here Moses is permitting a restricted level of, of separating the, the one flesh union of a husband and a wife. If, if a man and a woman had become, had come together and they had become one flesh in marriage and, and this man finds something shameful, or in some translations it says some uncleanness in her. He, he, he is permitted to write a bill of divorcement, put it in her hand, send her away, and that, and that union is dissolved. The man, the man was not pleased with her. But, but then, but then here's the consequences. Here's, he, he gives you this permission, but then here's the consequences. Here's the follow-up to that. If, if that woman goes out and another man decides he'll take her, but he after a while doesn't like her either and sends her out, that first man can't just take her back, okay? I, it, um, I think it's a law that was protecting women from being tossed back and forth as just mere objects for someone's pleasure. It's a law that, that was put, that, that put some level of prevention from just, from just using women for, for man's arbitrary happiness. This, uh, this passage caused, it, it's, it caused some different schools of thought among the Israelites. What does it mean to find some uncleanness? What does it mean to find something shameful? Now, you know, some people, it's a pretty broad term, some people, some people thought it was quite, it meant something quite specific, and others said anything. If you dislike her, if there's something about her you, you dislike, you, you send her away. And that, that was, I've heard, that was the prevailing thought that, that existed among the people in the days of Jesus. And so, as we read in Matthew 19 and also in Mark's account, the Pharisees come to Jesus testing him and want to know, where do you stand on this? And Jesus does what he so often does. He goes all the way back to the beginning, and he says, what, what was God's design and purpose originally? This, he, he says, let's read, let's read there in Matthew 19. The Pharisees come to Jesus testing him and asking him, is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason at all? And he answered and said, have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female and said, for this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. So there are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate. And they said to him, why then did Moses command to give her a certificate of divorce and send her away? And he said, because of your hardness of heart, Moses permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not, it has not been this way. And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife except for immorality and marries another commits, woman commits adultery. And the disciples said to him, if the relationship of a man with his wife is like this, it is better not to marry. Okay, we'll just, we'll just stop right there. That, that entire precept, what, what, what, what, what, what, sorry, what we had read in Deuteronomy 24, it was given because the people had hard hearts, they had selfish whims and desires. So what, and Jesus is saying here that what God has joined together, let no man put asunder. It, it doesn't matter how many bills of divorce you can write up. It doesn't matter how many men's signatures you can get there. It doesn't matter how many men sit in a judgment seat and, and rule this thing. Like, what God has joined together is followed by this command, let no man put asunder. The disciples' response, think about this, the disciples' response makes it really clear that Jesus was changing something from what was previously thought. He is changing something from what the people, from the way the people thought. There was something really weighty about it, and they said, you know, whoa, if this is the case, it might be better not to marry. Because, because this thing is not, this thing does not hinge on, on, on whether we're pleased, whether we're happy. The original idea that God had for marriage still stands. There were things that God in times past winked at, but now he calls all men to repentance. This time of concession and allowance for people's heart's heart, that, that time is over. That does not pertain in the new covenant. The new covenant is not made with such people, not with such hearts. And so to the, to the broad circle of professing Christians, I would like to say let's, you know, stop and take a very serious look at this, at this whole teaching of divorce and remarriage. And, you know, we, there's a lot of, just in the, in the broad circle of professing Christianity, there would be, there would still be a lot of professing Christians who would up and down insist that the LGBT community is wrong. But they, they're not, they're not, they don't have a voice there. Because, because they're, they're not adhering to, to God's original plan for, for the union of one flesh either. But to us, and people like us, that, that, that, that believe this and take it seriously, but, but still hold to this, to this thing in Deuteronomy 24 that forbids reconciliation, I would just like to encourage us, us, them, whatever, I would like to encourage people like, what, what are you thinking? Can we, can we not see that this, this precept of not returning to the former spouse is, is the consequential law of a permission that was given and this permission has been taken away? It's been taken away in Christ. How is it that, that we, that we think the consequence, the consequential law, if the permission was, was taken away, the consequential law after that should still somehow stand? I don't think that's, I don't think that's sound. And God, not only that, I think God has given us a sure clue of how he feels about it and how his heart is. In Jeremiah chapter, chapter three, and this is, remember there's this, there's this, there's this really great mystery. Peter, Paul maybe, calls it a great mystery when he talks about the relationship of a husband and a wife and the relationship of Christ and the church. And he says this is a great mystery. And, and, and here God is talking about his relationship with Israel. And he 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 the land be greatly polluted? But you have played the harlot with many lovers, yet return to me, says the Lord. And, and then in the next some verses he, he, he goes on to talk about all the, the bad things, the wickedness that Israel did. And then, and then he picks up in verse seven again and says, and I said, after she had done all these things, return to me. But she did not return. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it. Then I saw that for all the causes for which backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I had put her away, God speaking to Israel, and given her a certificate of divorce, yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but went and played the harlot also. So it came to pass through her casual harlotry that she defiled the land and committed adultery with stones and trees. And yet for all this, her treacherous sister Judah has not turned to me with her whole heart, but in pretense, says the Lord. Then the Lord said to me, backsliding Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah. Go and proclaim these words toward the North and say, return backsliding Israel, says the Lord. I will not cause my anger to fall on you for I am merciful, says the Lord. I will not remain angry forever. Only acknowledge your iniquity that you have transgressed against the Lord, your God, and have scattered your charms to alien deities under every green tree. And you have not obeyed my voice, says the Lord. Return, oh backsliding children, says the Lord, for I am married to you. I will take you, one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion. So as we try to understand the will of God about marriage, about divorce, about remarriage, let's do what Jesus did, first of all, and go way back to the original design. And then in that original design, we see that God created the male and female, and when a man leaves his father and mother and cleaves to his wife, that little union of one man and one woman becomes one flesh, and when God's joined together, let no man put us under. That's the original plan. Okay, now sometimes things happen, right? Sometimes there's one of these who is just not faithful, and he just doesn't want it anymore. And there's this one, the faithful one tries what he may to plead and to love and to teach, and it doesn't work. The other one leaves. Okay, so that can happen. So now what? So I think the best thing we should do is figure out, how would God work in this? How is his heart in this situation? We've already been told that the commandment that was given there in Deuteronomy was because of the hardness of your hearts. This was not God's will at any time. This was not God's will. He gave that thing as a protection to some level to a people with hard hearts. But when we get to Jeremiah, we really start seeing the heart of God. He says, I know, I know you've all said and you've been told this is defilement, it pollutes the land, and yet I tell you, return to me and I'll take you back, because I'm merciful. We have all violated what God designed for us. We've polluted the land, we've gone astray, and yet he waits, wants us to return and to be reconciled. And remember this, that I can't, I can't say that like I can, I know what somebody goes through because I've been in those shoes. No, I haven't been in those shoes, but this is my impression in most cases where there's any level of seriousness and care about holiness and righteousness, that like for a man or a wife to receive back a spouse who's been unfaithful is not like some liberal, oh, I get my way type of thing. No, it's like, it's a cross bearing approach. It's not easy to reconcile back with someone who's just really wronged you so badly and committed adultery against you, and yet, and yet God is, God is that kind of a merciful God. Not only that, that, the idea of, of, of a believer, the idea of someone receiving back someone who had rebelled against them or, or someone who had committed adultery against them and, and, and receiving them back in reconciliation is not even what Deuteronomy is talking about. This, this, this, this passage in Deuteronomy is talking about the scenario where a man dislikes his wife and ditches her and then later thinks, oh, I'll take you back after all. That's what he's talking about there. So, so what about the exception clause? So if we go back, let's go back here to Matthew 5. He says various translations, translate it in different ways. In this one, it says, but I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife except for the reason of unchastity makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery. That exception clause has caused a lot of people, lots of people to interpret these things in a whole host of ways, but some years back, a brother explained to me what he thinks the exception clause means, and when it sunk into my mind, I just felt like it made everything else about this subject click into place, and the whole thing looked very consistent, and I'll try to explain that. I think it's probably what most of us believe. So, the Greek word here for wife is goun or gouni, and it's the same word whether you're saying wife or woman. In fact, if you look in the concordance, that Greek word is more often translated woman than it is translated wife, and so the context itself has to determine whether it's talking about a married woman or a single woman. Now, I think this could be reasonably translated to say adultery, but I say to you that everyone who puts away his woman and marries another, sorry, anyone who puts away his woman with the exception of fornication or sexual immorality and marries another commits adultery, and so maybe to even make it more understandable, we already talked about what a God-sanctioned union is, but there are situations where a man and a woman are together in a relationship that is not God honoring. It is based not on God joining them together, but it's based on sexual immorality. That might be unmarried couples living together. That might be a man or a woman living with another man and woman who either that one had been divorced and belongs to someone else, or this one had been divorced and belongs to someone else, and now they're living together. They might have marriage papers or whatever. Any kind of union like that that is not what God had joined together in his design from the beginning. So, in any such case where there's a union of a man and a woman that is not legitimate, not a one-flesh marriage by God, it is right to put that away, but that's the one exception. Any of this people being together that are not married or being with someone that's divorced, if you're in that situation, it is right for you to put your woman away, and that's the only exception. Any other exception or any other case where it is a God-joined thing to put away and to marry another is adultery. If it is a God-joined, God-sanctioned, putting together one-flesh union and it breaks up because one person is unbelieving or unfaithful or leaves, there's only one option in God's kingdom, and that is to remain single or, if possible, be reconciled. The exception clause, and this is the point that I think we should really get, the exception clause is not a privilege, it's a responsibility. The exception clause is there like, with this exception of something that ought to be put away, with that exception, we have no privileges to put away our spouse. In the Apostolic Constitutions it says, and the Lord says, what God has joined together, let no man put asunder, for a wife is the partner of life, united by God into one body out of two. Therefore, after they have become one, he who divides that body back into two again, he is the enemy of God's original creation. Origen writes, according to the declaration of our Savior, while her former husband is still living, a woman is an adulteress. Even though she seems to be married to another man, it is similar for the man who seems to be married to a divorced woman. He does not so much marry her as he commits adultery with her. There's another writer early in the church, not early early, but he says, he does not allow the divorced woman to remarry. The man she lives with must suffer the consequences of an adulterer. For even if, to all appearances, she is separated from her husband, in spiritual reality, she remains his body. At the beginning, she was joined and fitted by God to her husband as one flesh. For the same reason, neither is the man able to marry another woman. I think most of us are probably familiar with... I'll just skip that. Athenagoras, around AD 137, wrote, a second marriage is only a specious adultery. Or that word would be like, a second marriage, what it really is, what it is, is just a fair-looking or appearing right marriage. Or adultery, I mean. It's an adultery that makes people think it's right, or look that way, but it's not. It's still adultery. Okay, let's try to kind of wrap up here. Jesus' sermon that he gave here on the mountain is full of grace and truth. It's weighty, it's powerful, and as we saw today, it's real personal. This portion that we've been looking at today is especially sensitive and personal. And I think, I just want to say to us, when we take this word out to a world full of unbelievers and false Christians, let's be both firm and gentle. Let's not expect that someone who's been in a marriage relationship with someone else's spouse, and maybe they have children together, let's not expect that we can give him these sayings, and he's immediately like, oh yeah, I'll go put her away tonight. That's just not the way these kind of relationships work. But let's not give them any assurance either. It's a deep, deep, it just affects our whole body. And you know, in the book of Ezra, when Ezra came to realize that there's a whole bunch of unlawful marriages among them, what did he do? He mourned a deep and grievous mourning and pulled all the hair out of his head. It was so grievous to him. And because he mourned and he grieved, and it struck him so deeply in the heart, it affected the other people. And they realized, this is really serious. He didn't just take a cold, hard, mathematical, logical approach to it. Jesus touches the very inner parts of a man. You know, an external wound is not as concerning as an internal wound. If we start bleeding on the outside, what do we do? We just bandage it up. We kind of can see what's going on, and we take care of it. But when we find out that we're bleeding internally, it's like, oh, how long do I have? What's going on? What can I do? It's deeply concerning. And it's very similar when Jesus comes and He touches these things of the inner man. And they're like, oh, please help me. How much time do I have? I don't know. And what we find out is neither impractical idealism nor a collection of unbelievable moral precepts. It is a superb analysis of right action in the light of things as they really are and not as they appear to be. It's a blessed sermon. But remember that in the end, this blessing is pronounced on he that hears these things and does them. And the curse is pronounced on he that hears and doesn't do them. Let's be like Job. Let's make a covenant with our eyes. Let's flee immorality. Let's learn how to possess our own vessels. Let's glorify God with our bodies. And I'll close with the words of the psalmist in 119 verse 9. He says, how can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to your word. And the Lord had his blessing. We can open it up for comments and corrections. In some form or fashion, you already said this, Duane, but I wanted to reassert it more specifically concerning Deuteronomy 24, having had a conversation with someone about it recently, that it's clearly about the land of Israel. And trying to apply this to the church today, there is no Christian state. You know, the New Testament says we're like pilgrims and strangers in a foreign land waiting for the kingdom or a homeland that we would one day possess. But we don't have that. And so the people that try to assert Deuteronomy 24 for the sake of letting a lawful marriage, two people being reconciled to one another, it has no application. It was one of the things that pertain to order in that land, period. Which if a person became a Christian, they could not apply to their life anymore. I also wanted to say concerning these things, you know, like that would provoke a person to want to engage in a dysfunctional relationship, even if they were just a single man that didn't have the rational judgment to choose a good woman. It's usually, they think they can control something that is dysfunctional, but they cannot. And then it just leads their entire life into total disorder. You know, like the end result of two young people that have a crush on each other, and the woman gets pregnant and has a child, it ends in just battles in court over custody and money. And that man, like Proverbs warns, will never likely spend most of his days with that child, raising them. He forfeits this child that could have been profitable for him when he was older. And they will also likely grow up with this other dysfunctional person, raising them without sound judgment, not likely granting any glory or good reputation to the person that they are related to, as God intended. Somebody told me in Colorado that was actually like a dating site for adultery, even seeing a television commercial for it on regular cable TV, and there were people that participated in it that were in high-ranking positions. And someone hacked it and exposed the people that were involved in it. And some people were in high positions, even committed suicide because it destroyed their public reputation to such a degree. Like most of these things, these warnings, a lot of it has to do with what will happen to a man, like how he can possibly recover after doing these things, bringing such shame upon himself. Yeah, I would just say amen. It's a blessing to be here. And nothing to add to that. I was reminded something Dwayne said about depends, you know, who would walk into a situation, he guarantees like we can make a different choice. That reminded me of another thing I had thought of and didn't write down as far as believing that there would be consequences, consequences, even something as simple as the traffic laws that are put in place. If we knew every time we went over the speed limit, we would just automatically get a fine. There would be consequences. However, that could occur. It doesn't. But if it would, we would stay under the speed limit unless there'd be an emergency or something maybe. Right. But being as we know, there aren't always consequences only when you're caught. We may drive over the speed limit or some other thing. Thank you, brother, for the message today. I appreciate it. A lot of thoughts went through my mind and often thought of you mentioned a couple of times about Job. If we consider him, he already had in his age when he said that he already was like probably in his 60s. He could be like he had his children were all growing up and they were together in a house that time. I'm just saying that it's for all of us that we need to make those choices to have a sound heart or have a sound heart and practice it and just encourage young people. Don't think that when you grow old, you don't have any temptations. They'll continue to go with you as long as you live. We have to have choices. We need to make choices, same as everyone else, to live a pure life. My testimony is that it is possible and to live a life that God is pleased. I'm not saying that I don't feel sometimes maybe, but it is possible to live a life that God can be pleased with. In Revelations, it says he created us for his pleasure. So are we a pleasure to the Lord? That's the question that we should think about and think about our end like was mentioned. I just appreciate what was said today. Lord bless. Thank you, Brother Duane, for expounding on a simple and uncontroversial topic. Probably the most difficult one and heartbreaking one, I guess there is. Just two comments I wrote down that, you know, we're bombarded, like you said, with the technology. It's just, it's just, you know, just think back in the 1600s with Cromwell, 1650, or even in the, where I grew up in Boston, well, and just say the Puritans and the, you know, the Mayflower Compact and Bradford and that, I mean, no immodesty at all could be shown. I mean, there was very little immodesty back then. If someone showed an ankle, for example, a girl, that could be stalks. I mean, you don't, it was nothing like it is today. Even 100 years ago, if a woman walked down the street in a bathing suit, she'd be pulled over for indecent exposure, or they would put her in jail. But the internet and technology, as Brother Duane pointed out, it just bombards you with things. Even if you're listening to a sermon or something, they'll have a message will come on, and then you just got to hit the skip ad, at least I do. The thing, it just, it comes right at you. And I was talking to my wife the other day, or yesterday, or two days ago, and I said, how Satan is so much more powerful and intelligent than us. And, you know, one of the brothers mentioned that one angel could kill like a hundred thousand men or something like that. And I said, how Satan is so much more intelligent than we are. And my wife took a little, she took exception on that and saying, oh no, well, you know, they couldn't, things that angels longing to look in the gospel. And I said, okay, but Jesus did say in Matthew 24, that, you know, on a certain day, I said, destruction, Jerusalem, that things that even angels don't know the answer. And of course, the wise woman of Tekoa said that you're like an angel of God. And so angels to me, and I could be corrected and wrong, they're way more powerful, and they're so much more intelligent than us human beings. And, you know, Satan disguises himself as an angel of light, or just how he puts the immodesty in all over. He bombards us, the billboards, you know, the billboards are bad enough. And, and just, just the way people dress, not just women, but the men too. And, you know, the men have their bodybuilding magazines and things like that. And it's just, we're in, we're in spiritual warfare. I did listen to a sermon, I don't know if Brother Dwayne or anyone else did listen to, on sexual sins by Dean Taylor. It was, it was by Follows the Way, oh, about a month ago. And Dean Taylor's 57. And he said, just like Brother Joe Yoder, he says, I'm not too proud that I can follow. And he says, no, he says, it works in his age. And he's young to us, 57. But he's saying, no, you have to still put on the armor of God, watch, flee, as Brother Dwayne, flee, get away from it. Because it's, you're surrounded by it. There's no, there's no end to it. Who could ever go to the beach? Or, you know, when they're just, the immodesty like that. And one other comment, and I don't know how true it is or something like this, but Dean Taylor mentioned about origin. And some people said he did go so far to castrate himself, but so denies it. But most, most, most scholars say he did do it and he regretted it. And Dean Taylor was a medic in the military for so many years. And on his little sermon there, he mentioned that there was one man that did castrate him. So he'd cut the knife, he'd cut his testes off or something like that. And what they had to do, Dean was into anesthesics, anesthetics, where they knock them out. They had to knock them out, but in order to protect him, want to protect him, to restore his health, they had to give him lots and lots of testosterone. And so there you go again, as soon as you get the testosterone, it works in your brain. So it's, he started back to square one. By him castrating himself, the sin of sexuality of that is in the mind and it's not in the body. And so, as Brother Duane was saying, if you cut your foot off, you're still going to stumble. And if a man cuts part of his sexual organs off, he still is going to stumble. And Dean Taylor was just saying that we had to inject him with testosterone. And there he goes, he's back to square one. The Lord be magnified. Thank you Duane and my brothers for your comments on the thing that Brother Duane said. I, you know, he didn't really expound that much on it, but you know, they did have exceptions that the father could break up the marriage, but then they would have to pay. And there was a dowry with Matthew 22. And if she marries another, he, she would be forced to commit adultery. No woman's right back there. It was all about money back then. I mean, in the sense a woman didn't have the woman rights and the freedom to work as she did today. And so that was the provision that I think Brother Duane was alluding to. A woman that, you know, causes, how does it say in Matthew, he causes her to commit adultery. How's she going to survive? She has to marry a man. I think unless I'm corrected in that, she, she had to marry a man. And so she's causing that man to commit adultery because she was married before. It's very obvious. To save and strengthen, guide and feed. Strong in his dreams, in joys to share. His frozen hope is crowned to wear. Faith to the conscience whispers peace. And as the morner sun exceeds, by faith the children's writing lay. And all aboard our fathers came. Such faith in us, O God, imbued. And to our prayers, thy favor grant. In Jesus Christ, thy saving Son, here is our prayer, God help our Lord. Amen. Hallelujah, praise Jehovah. From the heavens praise his name. Praise Jehovah in the highest. All his angels praise proclaim. All his hosts together praise him. Sun and moon and stars on high. Praise him, O ye that are in heaven. Then he burns above the sky. Let them praise his dear Jehovah. For his name alone is high. And his glory is exalted. And his glory is exalted. Far above the earth and sky. Let them praise his dear Jehovah. They were made at his command. Them forever he established. His decree shall ever stand. From the earth, O praise Jehovah. All ye floods, ye dragons, all. Fire and hail and snow and vapors. Stormy winds that hear him call. Let them praise his dear Jehovah. For his name alone is high. And his glory is exalted. Far above the earth and sky. All ye fruitful trees and cedars. All ye hills and mountains higher. Three kings and beasts and cattle. Birds that in the heavens fly. The kings of earth and all ye people. Princes, greaters, judges all. Praises name young men and maidens. Aged men and children small. Let them praise his dear Jehovah. For his name alone is high. And his glory is exalted. Far above the earth and sky.