Today we begin continuing our sermon series, the Sermon on the
on the Mount that Jesus taught, Matthew chapter 5 and 6:00 and
7:00. As I mentioned early on in the
sermon series, some of these things that Jesus teaches are
very difficult. They're hard, and the passages,
they add weight to what was said in the Old Testament.
It never diminished, never decreased from that.
Last Sunday's sermon was, in a way, maybe a difficult sermon,
but so is today's as well. And the reason it's hard is
because we as human beings, we are, we're sinners and we are
weak and we find it hard and impossible, in fact, to live up
to it. But today's title is moral and
Marital Boundaries. Someone might right off the bat
here say, well, I'm not married. This is not for me.
Well, this is for everyone. Moral boundaries exist for
everyone and for everybody. And marital boundaries exist for
people who are married. So nobody's exempted from this,
from this, this theme, from the title alone.
Somebody might be thinking, OK, well, here we go.
Another list of do's and don'ts. Well, the Bible has do's and
don'ts, and our job is to align ourselves with God, to follow
his commandments, which of course we won't fully keep and
can't fully keep up. Through God's grace we can.
And where we fall short, there's there's forgiveness.
There's a fictitious little story.
It's not a true story, but it's an interesting one of the
children of Israel, they're wandering through the desert and
they come to this mountain of God where God calls Moses to go
up to the mountain and God is going to give him the
commandments. Moses goes up and he's gone for
a long time. And finally Moses comes down and
he meets the congregation of Israel and says, I have good
news and bad news. Which do you want first?
Well, the congregation says, well, let's have the good news
first. Moses says, OK, the good news is
I got God down from 20 commandments down to 10.
So good news. OK, they say, so what's the bad
news? Bad news is the commandment
against adultery stays just the fictitious little story, but it
illustrates a point. People do not like to be told
not to do what they want to do. That's who we are.
We do not like to be told not to do what we do want to do.
So many people want to just always adjust and tweak and bend
and chisel away the rules to make it more tolerable, more
convenient, more pliable. That's not the Bible.
We adjust ourselves to the Bible, not the Bible to us.
We got to have that straight. And yet so often we read it.
We want something. Or what does it really say?
With the question in mind, can we somehow accept and make it
work? Well, let's read today's
passage, Matthew 5, verse 27 and on.
You've heard that it was said of to those of old, you shall not
commit adultery. But I say to you that whoever
looks at the woman to lust for her has already committed
adultery with her in his heart. If you're right, I causes you to
sin, pluck it out and cast it from you.
For it is more profitable for you that one of your members
perished than for your whole body to be cast into hell.
And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast
it from you. For it is more profitable for
you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body
to be cast into hell. Furthermore, it has been said,
whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of
divorce. But I say to you, whoever
divorces his wife for any reason except sexual immorality causes
her to commit adultery. And whoever marries a woman
who's divorced commits adultery. Here Jesus again doing what he
does earlier in the sermon, Jesus taking something everybody
knew, everybody knows, and everybody understands.
And he sheds new light on it and he explains it in a way that has
never been done before. Jesus takes the law and explains
it from the standpoint of the heart of God.
All other people knew the law. They knew don't commit adultery.
They have the 10 commandments they knew was clearly outlined.
But here in this sermon, Jesus changes not the commandment of
adultery. He adds something else to it.
So the first thing we want to look at this morning, lust is a
violation of God's moral boundary.
We have numerous passages in the Old Testament that clearly
outline the sin of physical adultery.
But to the people whom Jesus preached to, they had never
heard this before, not this way. They had heard it said don't
commit adultery, but they've never heard it said this way.
There's a man I've watched on YouTube and he has some good
ideas, but and some of the things are just he's not a
Christian, he's Jewish and he doesn't like this idea here in
Matthew chapter 5. In fact, I heard him talk on
YouTube once and he said that's not how Jews understand it.
He said you don't commit adultery by looking, just
looking at a picture or looking at a woman.
That's not adultery. So adultery is when you do it,
that's adultery. 10 commandments don't commit adultery.
That's his understanding, that's his, his, his perception and and
in so far as he would fit in right in with the people of
Jesus day. And according to Exodus 20 verse
14, it does say that you shall not commit adultery.
It's simply meant for men not to have sexual relations with
another woman or for women with another man they're not married
to. It doesn't say don't look.
It doesn't say that, it doesn't address the thoughts, only the
ACT itself. But if the ACT did happen,
punishment was severe, in fact, death penalty.
Look at this. Look Leviticus 20, verse 10.
The man who commits adultery with another man's wife, he who
commits adultery with his neighbor's wife, the adulterer
and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.
There was punishment for that. And again, this does not refer
to thinking, this does not refer to looking.
It's when it happens. The penalty was death.
What would happen in North America if every man and woman
who committed adultery, physical adultery, got stoned?
Think about that for a moment. Reduced the population by quite
a bit, wouldn't it? There's so many who've done it,
and our culture has very little problem with the next to no, no
problem. It's two consenting adults.
What are you going to do? Our culture has lowered the bar
not only from the 10 commandments, even lower than
that. Here Jesus takes the 10 commands
and raises the bar. Think about it.
Jesus is not happy or just OK. Just don't do it and you're
fine. Jesus said no, no, no, keep your
thoughts pure, keep your thoughts clean.
If you don't, then you're in it already.
And our society is no, no if you, if you're doing it, it's OK
if you both agree to it. That's our culture.
So Jesus is not satisfied to just leave it where it was.
He strengthens it. He buttresses it with with a
comment. He raises the bar.
A writer by the name of Richard Gardner in his commentary in
Matthew, writes this. He says, as understood in the
Old Testament, adultery was an act in which a man had sexual
relations with another man's wife.
The law prohibited adultery to protect marital rights and to
preserve the stability of marriage itself.
Jesus own words on the subject. Verse 20 to 32 once again
expands the law. Adultery does not begin in the
neighbour's bedroom, Jesus says, but in the craving in one's
heart to possess the neighbour's spouse.
When Jesus preached this and he's looking at the crowd, he's
talking, I wonder what their facial expressions might have
been. They knew don't commit adultery.
They knew that. If we could go back in the past
and rewind some video of ancient times and look at the crowd.
I can just imagine their eyes open, their jaws drop.
You say what? Lust is adultery.
Yes, even though nothing has happened.
Let's go back to verse 28 one more time.
But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her
has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
Our problem is we fail to see sin as God sees sin.
See, it's so inviting, so attractive, so tempting, but I,
I dare say if we could see the other side of it from God's
perspective, through God's lens, the way he sees it, the moral
coded violence and the pain and hardship and hard to get brains,
I believe we would recoil and shock and horror and flee from
it. Paul writes the first
Corinthians 6 verse 18. Flee sexual immorality.
Every sin that a man does, it's outside his body.
You steal something that's outside your body, things like
that. But he who commits sexual
immorality sins against his own body when making God's image, to
honor God's image. The temptation to sin, the
temptation to lust, That alone should cause us to fear just
knowing who God is and what God will do with those to reject
him. That is a sobering thought.
Came across an article online this last week and the writer
mentions 2 stories. One is in the book of Isaiah and
how Isaiah the prophet responded when he had a vision of God and
his glory. Isaiah was shocked.
He was frightened when he saw himself in comparison to God.
Let's read Isaiah chapter 6 verse one to five.
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on
a throne high and lifted up, and the train of his robe filled the
temple. Above it stood seraphim.
Each one had 6 wings. With two he covered his face,
and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew, and
one cried to another, and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of
hosts. The whole earth is full of his
glory. And the post of the door were
shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was
filled with smoke. So I said, woe is me, for I am
undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the
midst of a people of unclean lips.
From my eyes have seen the king, the Lord of hosts.
Isaiah had a vision of God and His Majesty, His Holiness, and
it shocked him what he saw in comparison to what he saw.
He was an unclean person. He was not an adulterer.
He said I have unclean lips. And then if you read the story
further, there's an Angel that takes a live coal from an altar,
touches his lips and says you're clean.
And then he gives the command, go and preach to the nation of
Israel and teach them to repent of their sins.
Unless you and I see God for who God is, and unless we see
ourselves for who we are, and unless we see sin for what sin
is, we will justify it, we'll rationalize it, we'll downplay
it and OK it. It often takes a very powerful
experience in life to see ourselves for who we really are.
The other story in this article, the story of a man named Malcolm
Muggeridge, and I've read the story elsewhere, but the way he
shares the stories. Malcolm Muggeridge was a British
journalist back in his days, passed away years ago.
One day Malcolm Muggeridge was an assignment as a journalist in
Indian Was evening and he went for a walk by the river for a
swim. Daylight was fading.
In some distance away he saw a woman in the water bathing.
He couldn't see her well, she was turned away from him, but he
had this lustful temptation to go for her, to go out, go after
and and see what he could do. He knew better than that.
But he pushed his conscience aside and got in the water and
swiftly swam to where she was. He got close to her and he came
up out of the water and the woman turned, looked at him, and
it was then that he saw her face and he was shocked.
This woman had an ugly, hideous, toothless, disfigured face
ravaged by the disease of leprosy.
A shock to look at. Malcolm was shocked as this
powerful truth hit him all at once.
He knew in a moment that this woman with this hideously
disfigured face, because of what he saw, he realized in a moment.
That's the face of my heart. As ugly as she looked in the
face, he realized his heart was uglier than that.
He realized in that moment who he was and how wrong he was.
Needless to say, he didn't fulfill his heart's desire, but
it was a lesson to him. He saw his heart for what it
was, a heart diseased by the craving and hunger for lust.
You see, lust comes dressed up and polished, beautiful,
attractive, on display. What could go wrong?
What's wrong with this? And if we don't have solid
convictions, if we don't set boundaries for ourselves, we
will fall for the sin of lust. This is a battle every man and
woman has to fight in their own lives.
And where there's a lack of boundaries, temptation will find
an easy Rd. in. And from there, it's no telling
what may happen. When the heart is disfigured and
ravaged by sin and lust, it impacts, effects and shades
everything else. Just think the billions and 10s
of billions of dollars of the porn industry in the world.
How many men, and now increasingly women to fall for
it and get drawn into the trap? We don't need to be in judgement
of these people. We need to be in prayer for
them. But we must look at ourselves.
Do we have boundaries? Let's read again how strongly
Jesus commands this. Back to verse 29.
If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it
from you, for it's more profitable for you that one
member of your one of your members should perish than for
your whole body to be cast into hell.
And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast
it from you, for it's more profitable for you that one of
your members perish than for your whole body to be cast into
hell. What Jesus saying?
Spare no effort in winning the battle over lust.
Spare no effort in freeing yourself from the sin of lust,
from this trap. We cannot afford to lose this
battle. Granted, the sin of lust does
not affect all people equally. Everywhere.
Generally it's more men than women who deal with this.
But in recent decades, the increase in women struggling
with lust has dramatically increased.
And true, our society is not helping.
But this is not about our society here this morning.
This is about us, but us as a church.
How are we responding? Jesus is actually saying get rid
of whatever it is in your life that's causing you to sin.
If your eye cause you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from
you. We're thankful Jesus speaking
what's called hyperbole, meaning he's making exaggerated
statements in order to get the truth He's not telling people Go
chop off your hands and gouge out your eyes.
That would make most men blind and most men armless.
What He is meaning is you go to whatever length you need to to
stay pure. Our first allegiance must be to
Jesus, not the stuff we watch indulge ourselves in with.
And if we tolerate these things in our lives that cause us to
sin, He's warning us the price to pay.
He actually says it's more profitable to go to heaven one
eye having one eye and missing or missing one eye and missing a
limb than to have everything and go to hell.
What are some things that we need to be mindful of today that
are causing us to sin? Well, let's look at the heart.
Or we can look at technology. I'll make a few comments about
it, but technology is not the root of the problem.
It is a problem, but it's not the root.
We should be so intentional, so careful how to guard our hearts.
And yes, for some people may mean get a different device.
If the smartphone is too dangerous for you, get a flip
phone and if the computers, if Internet is too dangerous, go
offline. The truth is, if we do not have
strong moral boundaries in the hearts, if we, we have no idea
what will happen. Boundaries are not optional,
they are a must for every man and woman.
We have a story in the Bible. I want to spend a few minutes on
that story this morning. It's a very powerful story that
illustrates the truth about the danger of lust and what does
happen when the boundaries are compromised and the cravings of
lust are followed after. The stories in Second Samuel,
Chapter 11 and 12. Won't read the chapters this
morning. The story of King David.
He was for the most part a good king, but he struggled with lust
and it happened one day when his army was out to war.
Job was fighting a war some distance away and he's in the
evening time and he's walking out on the roof and cool of the
day and she's a woman, a beautiful woman having a bath.
He sends somebody quiet. Who's that woman to tell me
she's Bathsheba, wife of Uriah the hitt tight.
Uriah was not at home. He was in the war fighting
David's David's battles. David sends for Bathsheba and
she comes to his house and has an affair with with her and
sends her home and sometime later she sends words saying I'm
pregnant. Well, now David goes to damage
control. He quickly sent word to his
army. General Joab, the war says, send
Uriah home, we need him home. Uriah comes home and David asked
him how's the war going and so on.
And Uriah gives the report and David gives him a gift and sends
him home. And have a good time with your
wife. And Uriah won't go home.
He sweeps at the King's gate with the King's soldiers.
The next day David asked him, so why didn't you go home last
night? Uriah says, well, the ark of God
and Israel's intense. My Lord Joab and the general are
in the battle open fields. I won't go home and drink and
lie with my wife. I won't do it.
Well, David's carefully cooked up plan to cover sins failed.
He's hoping your rabbit go home and then when the babies come,
watch your eyes baby. Well, David says stay here till
tomorrow, I'll send you back. David writes a letter to General
Joab and tells him in the letter put your eye where the fighting
is the worst and just go back and let him die in battle.
Well it happens. Your eye goes back with his
death warrant in his pocket and Job reads the letter puts you
right in the frontline. Your eye ends up dead as David
ordered It's word back from Joab.
Well, your eyes dead and we find out how.
David then takes Bathsheba and marries her.
Well, God's not happy. God sends Nathan the prophet to
David and tells him that there's a rich man who had large flocks
of sheep and the poor man had only 1 little lamb.
Visitor comes and visit the rich man and the rich man instead of
taking one of his many sheep, takes the poor man's little lamb
and kills it for his visitor. David's angry when hears the
story. Nathan prophet says to David,
you're that man. Then he goes on to explain to
David what he's done and I want to read that part.
Second Samuels 12 or 7 to 14. The Nathan said to David, you
are the man. Thus says the Lord God of
Israel, I anointed you king over Israel.
I delivered you from the hand of Saul.
I gave you your master's house and your master's wives into
your keeping and gave you your the House of Israel and Judah.
And if that had been too little, I also would have given you much
more. Notice how God says I, I, I in
this passage. I did, I did, I did, I would
have done more. He says.
Now let's look at the next part, verse 9 and on.
Why have you despised the commandment of the Lord to do
this evil in the sight? You have killed Uriah the
Hittite with a sword, you have taken his wife to be your wife,
and have killed him with a sword of the people of Ammon.
Now, therefore the sword shall never depart from your house,
because you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah the
Hittite to be your wife. Thus says the Lord Build I will
raise adversity against you from your own house, and I will take
your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and
he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun.
For you did it secretly. But I will do this thing before
all Israel and before the sun. Wow.
Humiliating, embarrassing, catastrophic, tragic, tragic.
And this literally did happen as a consequence for him.
Following the sin of lust, he removed the boundary and it led
to adultery. He looked at a woman instead of
learnt, turning away. He lusted, turned into action,
acquired who she was, took her and had sexual relations with
her. She became pregnant.
He tried to kill her husband. He did kill her husband.
He did deserve the death penalty, but David's response is
what spared him. So David said to Nathan, I have
sinned against the Lord. The only way out of this, the
only way out of lust, the only way out of a daughter is
repentance. I have sinned.
Those 3 words against the Lord. I have sinned is the starting
point. And God was merciful.
He was gracious, it says, and Nathan said to David, the Lord
has also put away your sins. You shall not die.
However, because of this deed. You have given great occasion to
the enemies of the Lord to blasphemy.
The child also who was born to you shall surely die.
Harsh judgment, consequences, difficulties, all this did
happen. Every last little bit that God
said would happen did happen. Yes, David lost, almost lost the
Kingdom. His own son out of his own house
rebelled against him. His own wives were ravaged.
It was his concubines, but it was broad daylight.
He repented, but he couldn't escape the consequences.
And so many men and women do that, and they wonder, why is my
life so messed up? Well, repentance does not erase
the consequences, doesn't necessarily build trust right
away. He humbled himself.
And if you want to read further about how David felt about what
he did, read Psalm 51. I would encourage you today
something read Psalm 51 that tells you how he felt about what
he had done. The torrent of evil that Dave
had opened the door to, not only in his life but into his family
and to the nation. Because of his one sin.
He had broken trust. He had violated God's commands
and he would lose the respect of those close to him.
Even his son rebelled Absalom. Death brought his own family.
You see, actions have consequences.
Let's go back again to Matthew chapter 5, verse 29.
If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it
from you. For it's more profitable for you
that one of your members perish than for your whole body to be
cast into hell. And if your right hand cause you
to sin, cut it off and cast it from you.
For it's more profitable for you that one of your members perish
than for your whole body to be cast into hell.
Again, it's hyperbole, but spare no effort.
In summary, Jesus saying there's nothing in this world that's
going that's worth going to hell over.
For many people that means putting boundaries that will be
very uncomfortable on devices, maybe getting rid of some
devices or changing devices. I know of a man years ago told
me he says he can't go to the beach in the summer because of
his last issue struggle with it. One guy one time friend of mine,
he part was way before about years ago.
Anyway pulled up to 711 want to go buy some said I won't go in
and says so why won't you go in? Well I know what they sell in
that store, the porn books and the shelves.
I used to be an addict so I don't go in there.
Oh good for you. I said awesome that's good.
But this is not finished. He's not done.
Let's keep going. Now he addresses adultery, he
says. Furthermore, it has been said
whoever divorced his wife, let him give her certificate of
divorce. But I say to you that whoever
divorces his wife for any reason except sexual immorality causes
her to commit adultery. And whoever marries a woman who
is divorced commits adultery. Back then, in these days as well
as now, there were very hard, very difficult conversations on
this subject. Different religious leaders had
different opinions. Jews did not all agree with each
other. In Jesus day.
Divorce was allowed under the law of Moses for specific
circumstances. But here in the Sermon on the
Mount, Jesus narrows it down again.
Not only the standard that they had under the law, Jesus raised
it. And our culture goes down from
there. Lower yet, so we're further
apart. But here's what I want to say.
When divorce happens, it is always, now repeat.
Always. Because somewhere sin is in the
equation. Sin is never out of the question
when a divorce happens. It's always mixed in somewhere.
Always. When divorce happens, somewhere
some repenting needs to happen, and if it doesn't, freedom won't
come in. Matthew 19 is a fairly lengthy
teaching on the divorce and remarriage subject when it comes
out. What comes out in all of the
teachings of Jesus is that marriage is intended for as long
as both partners live. It's not created with an expiry
date. We do know that people do break
their marriage vows and he spoke to it.
But what we have to be careful for is to protect the boundary
of marriage. If a person tolerates lust in
their lives and if person does not equip themselves to fight
this battle to stand against lust, the boundary of marriage
may very well be compromised. Doesn't always happen.
They're still married and not divorced.
But when lust becomes part of the equation and Jesus is
adultery is saying he was 32. If a man divorces his wife for
any reason except sexual morality.
Is accept sexual morality? He causes her to commit adultery
and whoever marries a woman who's divorced commits adultery.
These 3 words except sexual immorality have been the words
of countless hours of debate and arguing about how do you
interpret that? My question is, why do those two
words become the focus point? Is it because we so desperately
want an escape hatch? A loophole in a bad
relationship. The Bible does not teach.
That a person who's living in an abusive environment has to stay
in the relationship. Paul writes about that they can
separate, but he always, and he follows that up with the intent
to reconcile. You find that in Corinthians.
Where it becomes a problem. Is when it becomes more like oh
thank God at least my spouse cheated.
I haven't out. I can remarry.
Here, Jesus. Again, I see so many times he
raises the bar. If marriage in God's eyes before
was serious, Jesus revealed to his audience just now it's more
serious than they thought it was.
I do want to. Draw attention to something in
this passage that many people miss when they read it.
And I think it's a very important detail, he says.
To this, I'll just just paraphrase a bit.
He says if the man's wife has been faithful, if she has not
been promiscuous, she has not been sexually immoral, then the
man divorced her. He is forcing her to commit
adultery because she's going to have another man, because she
has to have another man to provide for her.
He is forcing an innocent woman into a sin.
That's what he's saying here. That's what seriousness is.
Let's just stop for a moment. If a man's divorcing his wife
and she's been faithful, been true, and she gets remarried,
why is her second relationship now adultery?
She's innocent. She's the innocent party.
Why is that? Why is that adultery?
Because in Jesus eyes. The first marriage is still
intact. Adultery is the sin of a married
person. If it wasn't that way, it would
be fornication. She's been victimized,
pressured. Now she's forced into a relation
if she doesn't want, and she's now marrying a guy or being with
a guy and someone might say, jeez, how cruel can you get?
She's innocent, of course she is.
But. Then she's forced into this.
Sinful relationship. I know this is.
Hard. I've had connections with people
who've gone through this and it's very painful.
Women in those days didn't have the social networks and safety
Nets and job opportunities that women have today, so they were
in a very hard position. If divorce dissolved.
The marriage, then that second relation would not be adultery.
But now even though she's innocent from sexual immorality
and she goes after another man, she is committing adultery.
And then Jesus says, and he who marries a divorced woman,
innocent or guilty, is not qualified, commits adultery.
I'm not making this up. This is what it is saying.
I know in my mind I can what about if and what if and what
how about. I know I get that.
In my years of ministry, I've had many hard conversations with
people about these things. What I try to do is always,
first and foremost, try to point them back to Jesus and back to
the cross. He's merciful, He's gracious.
And yes, there are circumstances and situations where things are
so messed up, so intertwined, so tangled up that that you can
never unravel it. And to try to makes it worse.
So what to do? There is grace for those who
look to Jesus and surrender to Him.
Does this mean everybody now separates?
I'm not going to go there. I, I'm not in their shoes.
I do believe there's forgiveness.
At the same time, it can't be called right.
And there's mercy and there's grace.
I believe it's this way. All manner of immorality can be
forgiven, but the damage of morality cannot be undone or
fixed. In many cases.
When people commit immorality, they just have not paid
attention to the boundaries they've caused themselves and a
lot of others so much pain. You see, the path forward is
always to the cross, to surrender to Jesus, give him the
mess, whatever it may be, and then ask other believers who are
unbiased to seek the Lord's face and from that point of reference
come to a decision. And the decision won't always be
what everybody agrees to or agrees with.
My focus and my sermon here this morning is not so much how to
resolve and restore broken marriages as it is to outline
the boundaries that keep marriages intact and together.
For some people, their marriages.
Have suffered much, some of broken marriages and some are
planning to get married and sadly some are planning to get
divorced. Let me ask you what?
Boundaries are you putting in your place that protect your
marriage and avoid shipwrecking your marriage and.
This principle. Of abiding by boundaries and
morality. This for everyone married or
single doesn't matter. Young and old we must be in
guard at all times. Matthew chapter 5 verse 8 we
read blessed are the pure and heart for they shall see God.
Do you want to see God? Well then let's keep our hearts
pure. The church has always had to
fight this struggle. It is not new.
In 2nd Corinthians 6, verse 11 to 18, Paul writes all
Corinthians. We've spoken openly to you.
Our heart is wide open. You're not restricted by.
Aspect you're restricted by your own affections now in return for
the same I speak as to children, you also be open.
Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers.
For what fellowship has righteousness?
With lawlessness, what communion has liked with darkness, and
what accord is Christ with Belial?
Or what part has a? Believer with an unbeliever.
And what agreement has the temple of God with idols?
We are the temple of God, for you are the temple of the living
God. As God has said, I will dwell in
them and walk among them. I'll be their God, and they'll
be my people. Therefore come out from among
them. Be separate, says the Lord.
Do not touch what is unclean. I will receive you.
I'll be your father to you, a father to you.
You shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord
Almighty. The moral boundaries.
God has put in scripture are for our benefit, for our protection,
for our safekeeping. They're not there to restrict
us. They're there to set us free.
When Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount, he knew what he
was saying. He knew it was different than
what people were used. To our call is to.
Not even lust, never mind the physical part.
How will this what we heard? Today make a difference in our
lives. This week Are there some people
who need to disconnect from people who they become involved
with? Are there?
People who are looking. At pictures or watching stuff
online or wherever it may be that's damaging their
relationship with Jesus. Or maybe you're here this
morning in courage, walking in peace and victory with the Lord.
Praise God for that. Wherever you are today, my
prayers, you will experience the closeness in the fellowship of
Jesus. He died for the sins of the
world. We can be part of his family.
And when we turn from sin and learn to live with Him, we're
part of that. May God's Word bring fruit in
our lives. Let us pray.
Lord, we're grateful. For your word to us, we live in
a very broken, corrupt world where there seems to be almost
no moral compass left anymore anywhere.
Help us, Lord, as your people, to repent of our carelessness.
Our lukewarm hearts. Help us to be diligent, to
watch, and to guard our lives with the moral boundaries you've
put in place. Give us wisdom how to navigate
the culture of our time. May we be faithful, obedient to
you. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.