The Greatest Sermon Ever // Lust, Divorce, and Oaths // Matthew 5:27-37 // Pastor Josh Evans

Our Lord. Well if your heart has been blessed today, can you say Amen? And I hope that that is true for every single one of you here today.

And I'll tell you, I don't know where you're at today and every one of us come in here with a different story and a different testimony of what brought you here today. But I'll tell you this, if you're trusting in anything else but the Lord, you're not going to find what you're looking for. You're not going to find it. It's not there. It's not in money. It's not in any of those things. It's not even in our nation.

It's not in those things at all. The Lord is our salvation and He is our hope and He is our treasure and we are so, so very thankful for that here today. Well listen, it is so good to see you here at church. I'm so thankful that you are here and such a good crowd on this warm, warm day. All these hot days. I tell you, it is middle of the summer and it is just blazing hot.

I blame all of you people that complained a few months ago when it was a little cold and I blame you for how I feel every time I walk outside nowadays. But no, it's been some beautiful weather and we praise God for that. Well if you have your Bible today, I'd love to invite you to go to Matthew chapter number five.

Matthew chapter number five. And I know that today many of us, as we watch some things unfold last night on the news, many of us come in here today possibly even with heavy hearts. We are going to take a moment at the end of our service intentionally just to pray for our leadership, pray for our nation, pray for everybody involved as we watch things like that unfold.

And so we are going to take some time here at the end of the service in order to do that. But such a fitting song right before we're looking. The Lord is our salvation and He's the hope of the world and that's what we trust in and that's what we believe for. Well listen, we are in week number four of a series that we are calling the greatest sermon ever. If you're a guest in this room here today, I want you to know and I assure you that the sermon you are going to hear in this room today, it's not going to be the greatest sermon ever.

The reason why we're calling this series the greatest sermon ever is we are slowly working through and unpacking Jesus who is the greatest teacher ever and we are unpacking His sermon on the mount, the most famous sermon that Jesus ever delivered. And as He's on this mountain, He is teaching the scribes, the Pharisees, the disciples and all these different people about what the kingdom of heaven should look like. Now the kingdom of heaven is something that all of us you know fantasize about and we dream about, we sing about. In fact you know the last verse of that song that we sang talks about that day and and we're looking forward to seeing Him and experiencing the kingdom of heaven and we'll live forever there with Him and His kingdom. But what Jesus is saying in Matthew 5 through 7 in this sermon on the mount is how the kingdom of heaven can come from heaven and it can come down here on this earth and we can actually live it out through the gospel of Jesus.

I want to be very clear that His kingdom looks nothing like our kingdom. In fact you can imagine everything that we talk about in this sermon and in Jesus sermon on the mount I want you to understand that there's a lot of things that Jesus is going to direct intentionally and is a reminder that we are fleshly and we are broken and that our kingdom that we draw up for ourself and our world looks nothing like the kingdom that He is one day going to establish. We call this the sermon on the mount but I'll tell you this and today's sermon is a real reason why I feel this way. We probably should change the name from sermon on the mount to a mountain of a sermon.

In fact Jesus He's going to address so many different things. He starts out and we looked at this at the very beginning is where joy and happiness comes from. You know the Beatitudes and and we look at that in verses 3 through 12 and what makes us happy, what makes us joyful, how you can be blessed and we got to see that and and we can receive that as followers of Jesus and and we're good and and then He goes on beyond that to talk about the church's difference in the world in which we live. We are salt. We are light and so when we go out here He's telling us we should salt up the earth.

We should light up the up the world that we live in. All Christians agree. We're like yes amen. We're excited about about that and then Jesus kind of changes His narrative just a little bit and He starts to talk about the law. He brings up and we mentioned this last week He brings up the law and He starts to say this that those who you know can fully keep the law they're the ones you know that everybody's sitting there in the audience and in the crowd and they're thinking wow I'm never going to get into the kingdom of heaven because it's impossible for us to keep the whole law right everybody would agree for that if the law is what saved you every single one of us is going to do what scripture says we're all going to fall short because every single one of us is guilty and so Jesus is going to kind of change and He's really going to mention six things about the law. He's going to mention and when we refer to the law if you're newer to church here's what we're referring to the old testament you know the first five books of the old testament and when God gave the law to Moses on on mount Sinai and he mentions all of these rules there's over like 600 commandments in the old testament and Jewish tradition as they needed to try to keep all of those things and and the only thing the law does is it shows us our need for a savior but the law in and of itself cannot save and so Jesus is going to take six things that he's going to look at from the law and he's going to show that what matters is not the activity and the behavior of the law that we get so wrapped up in it is what is found beneath it is the heart of the matter so his first thing we looked at it last week was anger was anger and he says you know what the law said about anger and and how it's impossible to not be angry in our heart every now and then right every single one of you you might have been angry in the last 24 hours right you see things that make you mad and you're filled with anger and you have feelings and things like that we're humans we're broken people and he tells us that that you know thou shalt not kill we know what the law says but then he says but in your heart if you have hatred you're already a murderer and they're thinking whoa you know and so now he's going to go into a couple more things about what the law said i'm going to go ahead and tell you what we're going to talk about here today and here's what it is i'm going to put it up on the screen lust divorce and oaths are your word all right lock the doors let's don't all jump out of here all right that's there's a reason when i i like for our church i like to kind of prep our church with what we're going to talk about so a lot of times i'll send out an email i'll kind of let the church know maybe a phone call a text sometimes all of the above and i'll do that and and here's what what's funny i'll kind of say hey we're talking about this prepare your heart there is a specific reason why i didn't tell you what we're going to talk about today because if i had of you'd all left in fact i told my daughter this morning i said i told her what we're going to talk about today and she literally responds she said can i go back to kids church today so she said listen i'm just going to be very direct with you today this is a sermon that i as a pastor have wrestled with more this week than any other and i can truly testify to this i've wrestled with this sermon more in the last week than any sermon that i have preached ever in my life especially in the last three years uh i want you to know that this is a hard topic and so when we kind of decided we're going to start to look at jesus sermon on the mount and we're going to slowly work through this i must not have thought this thing all the way through right because there's passages of scripture it'd be easy for you to skim over and i'll be straight with you is that i've grown up in church my whole life and i've not really heard i can't remember a sermon that i heard on the issue of divorce in my lifetime so i had to go searching for stuff and things like this and i want you to know i'm going to say some caveats before we jump into what jesus has to say about this first i want to talk specifically to the guests that are in the room if you are a guest and this may be your first time or possibly your second visit with us i want you to know we do not address topics like what you see up on the screen every single every single week but here at union grove i want to be very direct and you're going to learn a little bit about who we are is that here's what we believe when we are working through scripture we are willing as a church to tackle even the most controversial and difficult passages that we come to we start where scripture starts and we stop where scripture stops and this just so happens as we're working throughout scripture it just so happens to be a passage that is a little bit uncomfortable and i want you to know that as you receive what i'm going to proclaim through the power of jesus here today i want you to know you're uncomfortable and i'll be very honest and transparent as your pastor i'm a little bit uncomfortable to deliver this if i'm honest we do not skim or we do not skip over difficult passages in fact we go through them and we work through them understanding that god is the author and that the person you see up here is just the mailman to deliver what he has already authored okay so i want you to understand that to union grove i want to specifically i feel like i'm giving like an address here today okay uh members here at union grove i want you to know many of you have been impacted by some of the things that we're going to talk about here today and i can assure you and this has been true in my spirit all week that i love you and i'm going to tackle some of these difficult topics with as much love as i possibly can without losing the truth of god's word in the middle of it and so if you've been impacted personally with this please do not get upset at me we're going to tackle this with as much grace as we possibly can and as we work through this today wherever you are here today here's what i want you to know romans chapter 8 verse number 1 says there is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in christ jesus and so wherever you fall with some of this don't let the voice of condemnation rear its ugly head in your heart here today okay so jesus you guys good everybody good all right so i expected when i was reading a couple things to look up and half of you have left and most of you have stayed and so i appreciate that and uh but jesus is saying this give us context i mentioned this a second ago he's saying that if your righteousness does not exceed the pharisees you cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven that's what he says in verses 17 to 20 whereas everybody in the audience in the crowd of this sermon would all be confused because here would be the response to that well then there is no way i'm getting in so jesus mentioned six things that the mosaic law said and he is going to explain to them that the law is not an activity matter it is a heart matter it is a heart matter and so we're going to dive right into it verse number 27 we looked at anger uh last week so verse number 27 says this ye have heard that it was said by them of old time thou shalt not commit adultery now he's referring straight to uh to the law and uh looking straight back to that thou shall not commit adultery it's very clear in the old testament but i say unto you that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart and if thy right eye offend thee pluck it out and cast it from thee for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell and if thy right hand offend thee cut it off and cast it from thee for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish and not that thy whole body should be cast into into hell so we're gonna tackle these verses for just a few moments I don't have a whole I don't have points today usually I'm a traditional Baptist pastor and so I'm gonna give you a few you know practical points things I have no points today so if you take notes it's gonna be a very difficult thing for you to kind of write and work through together I just want to dissect what Jesus is trying to say and give you as much as I possibly can to help you here's what he's talking about in verses 27 through 30 he's talking about lustful intent lustful intent in other words people in the in the congregation they would be you know for Jesus's Sermon on the Mount when he says and refers to the law I love Jesus remember he's the master teacher he says hey have you have you read thou shalt not commit adultery and and everybody in the congregation would say yes I don't think we're gonna get if we went around the room and said do you think it is wrong to commit adultery I don't think there'd be anybody in here that would say no that's not wrong we would I said that like a real country Davidson County boy didn't I and here's what I'll tell you every single one of us would agree and for them their entire audience would agree that day oh yeah we got that and remember Jesus is turning the Mosaic wall on its head saying and he goes deeper that it's not about your behavior it's not about your activity it's about your heart and so he goes a step forward or a step further and he says no no no whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery already in his heart now the first one thou shalt not commit adultery I can imagine in a congregation of Jesus size there might have been if they said amen I don't know you know like or said something in response they might have said amen we agree with you good preaching but when he starts to talk about their heart and things that nobody can see on the outward appearance then they're thinking oh boy he's talking to us he's talking directly to us let me tell you what lustful intent is and I'll tell you this every single person before you get nervous every single person in here has violated this commandment there ain't a person in here who hasn't you got somebody sitting next to you and they're trying to convince you that they've never violated this you just look at them and said one day I can be a Pharisee like you that's a good response for you okay okay probably not we probably shouldn't say that I want you to know I'm not saying that to be ugly my point is is this every single one of us can agree that we've all at one point struggle with this here's what lustful intent is I want to be very honest and very direct for a moment lustful intent is when you see someone as an object for your own personal matter in other words I want you to understand what he's saying here is not if you've ever you know looked at a girl and said wow she's pretty it's not what he's saying if you ever you know looked at a guy and said he's good-looking kind of like when Abby saw me for the first time it's like you know it's a joke I want you to know that's not lustful intent okay lustful intent is when you look at someone to be used by you and for you and by the way it is plaguing the society in which we live if you don't believe it you turn on TV for just a few moments right it's everywhere pornography we don't talk about this a whole lot right pornography it devalues women and it sees them as objects and I want you to know it is sin and it is wrong it is sin and it is wrong and I'll tell you this is that porn is such a private sin and that's why Jesus is addressing it that's why Jesus is addressing it but I'll tell you this as a pastor I've done a lot of reading on this statistics would show that the majority of people in here struggle with this now you don't want anybody to know but what Jesus is trying to do is he's trying to tug at your heartstrings here today it is sin and it is wrong it is violence against women these are daughters of the Most High King made in the image of God how dare us look at women this way and men I want to be very straight with you listen if you're involved in this I want you for a few moments today to allow God to convince you and get the help that you need because here's what Jesus would say you're an adulterer now I know that's not not friendly and stuff but he's saying that we are adulterers we justify things all the time we say things like wow I've not I've not had an affair I've not had an affair so so I'm good I just I just look at a video or I look at a magazine or I watch a show or whatever Jesus is speaking directly to us and he's saying you've already committed adultery in your heart in other words just to be fully direct with you today you're as guilty as if you did have the affair is what Jesus is saying so so what do you what do we do with that what do we do with that that I get it that's a heavy way to start a sermon right so so what do you do maybe you're in here and you're thinking what do we need to do well what does Jesus say verse number 29 29 if thine right eye offend you and by the way that's usually where it starts kind of see things pluck it out cast it from you for it is profitable for thee that one of my members should perish and that not that thy whole body should be cast into hell thy right hand offend you cut it off cast it from me for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell let me tell you this if you think I'm a hard preacher you would not have lasted under the preaching of Jesus if you think what you get at Union Grove is a man I pastor he steps on my toes whatever you would have never lasted as a follower of Jesus in the early church you wouldn't he's saying you know if I'm right I offend you pluck it out if you struggle with something with your hands cut them off now we're reading that and and if you're like me you're thinking at some point Jesus as a as the master preacher is gonna say I'm just kidding with you you know what never comes never happens here's what I think he's saying I want to be honest with you Jesus is showing the seriousness of what lustful intent is and the direction of where it lands if you look at verse 29 and 30 what's the last word of both verses the path to lustful intent is hell it is a road that leads there it is that serious and what Jesus is saying is this I think he goes to extreme measures with lustful intent because he wants everybody to understand the severity of what that is and so he goes to the extreme but you know what we like to try to do from time to time you struggle with lustful intent here's what you like to do and what our society does we're gonna manage it ourselves aren't we like hey we'll figure this out if I just come to church and and and you know you know God's gonna speak to me and I'm gonna get it all or just more church or more whatever and I'm not gonna tell anybody my struggle and we're just gonna it'll eventually work itself out you know I'll get tired of whatever I'm looking at and things like that here's what I'm going to be honest with you here's the here's what Jesus would tell you today I believe this because of what I read in Matthew chapter 5 don't try and manage it kill it don't try to manage it kill it get rid of it you say what exactly does that mean Jesus is telling me to cut my my eyes out cut my hand off like is that my next step you know do I need to come next Sunday we're gonna bring us all to church and every person that had this problem you're just gonna leave here without your eye no no but here's what I am telling we're very direct with you if you struggle with lustful intent your next step might be to add some program like covenant eyes to all of your devices it'll protect you it'll eliminate some of the the going to different sites on your phone or sites on your your computer maybe put some protective measures on your device by the way parents I want and want to be very honest with you if you have a young child with a phone I'd highly encourage you to put some protective measures on that phone they're out there you just got to do it you just got to start it and here's all I'm telling you I'm not saying that to be legalistic I'm not I'm telling you that because the world in which we live in loves lustful intent so much that they are throwing it at us everywhere we look they're putting it on your kids phones whether you like it or not they're putting it on your phone whether you like it or not they're putting it on TV shows you know when I was growing up you know you watched a show on TV and and most of the time you know I might have some words and stuff like that but for the most part you didn't have to worry about different things popping up that you're not prepared for right nowadays you can't watch a show on Netflix without seeing this you can't watch a show on max or whatever streaming service you have without seeing this and if Jesus was here today I believe this he would tell us this because he told us he told his congregation to pluck your eyes out and and not and cut off your hand he's telling us don't manage it kill it for some of you you might need to delete your next Netflix account you might have to delete whatever streaming service you have get rid of a TV take your kids phone get an accountability partner come forward with your struggle if the problem that you see at your job is somebody else that you work with and you're tempted listen be willing here's the extreme measure be willing to quit your job to find another job out of protection for yourself that's what he's saying he's saying don't try to manage it ah man I just look the other way fast forward right no he's saying don't try to manage it cuz you're not gonna win that battle kill it get rid of it young person get rid of it the best thing if you're a young person in here let me speak to you for a moment if you're a young person and you struggle with lustful intent let me tell you this the best thing that you could do today is to tell somebody get some accountability in your life get some accountability people that can put some protective measures in your life so that you can avoid the end result of where this leads don't manage it kill it kill it mortify the deeds of the flesh that's what the Apostle Paul said that means put them to death when I was growing up here's what that would mean you struggle with it like I remember this like seriously there was like moments where the pastors would tell I was always sitting in the crowd as a kid and and and they would you know pastor would preach on something like lust or whatever and he'd say parents best thing you can do is get ready to the TV in your house I'm thinking Oh mom and dad please don't do that please don't do that right but here's the thing like here's what I've learned you're not if you try to manage it yourself you're not gonna win you need to come forward and seek the help and put the protective measures that you need in order to protect yourself everybody with me okay that's the first one all of us struggle with it here's the second one this where it gets kind of a doozy of a sermon verse 31 he goes on and he says another thing it had been said remember the Mosaic law whosoever shall put away his wife let her let him get for a writing of divorce meant but I say unto you that whosoever shall put away his wife saving for the cause of fornication causeth her to commit adultery and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery now he goes on verse 33 again you have heard that it's been said by them of all time thou shalt not forswear thyself but shall perform unto the Lord thine owes talking about the word and the vows that that you give I know listen this is where it gets kind of difficult for me I know many of you have been impacted by divorce and things like that so I want to kind of be as careful as I can I know that you're gonna wait and listen to me to try and justify what Jesus was just saying and try to explain that this is not this does not mean what it says right listen I want to try to do my very best I've committed to this when I stand before God I don't want him to to judge me and to for me to have to say you know Jesus I skipped over some passages because I love people so much that I did not want to offend them so I avoided it you know the things that are in your word I'm not gonna do that and so I want to answer a couple of questions I feel like that's the best thing because we all have questions around these ideas that he's talking about and every single one of us have been impacted to some degree with what he's what he's saying okay so I did a lot of study this week so that I can try and deliver this because as a pastor I've never had to think about this I've never had to really preach on this in youth ministry you don't talk about this a whole lot right when I was youth pastor so this is the first time I've ever addressed a topic like this and so I want to do it in the form of questions here's probably the first question you have when does God say it is okay to divorce when does God say it is okay to divorce to divorce I want you to go to Matthew 19 if you can it'll be up on the screen and I want to kind of speak to this for just a moment Matthew chapter number 19 this is a good passage that kind of parallel with Matthew 5 Matthew 19 I'll go ahead and start reading verses 1 through 10 I says this and it came to pass that when Jesus had finished these sayings he departed from Galilee and he came into the coast of Judea beyond Jordan great multitudes followed him and he healed them there the Pharisees came unto him verse number three tempting him and saying unto him is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every calls and he answered and said unto them have you not read that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female and said for this call shall a man leave father and mother and shall cleave to his wife and the twain shall be one flesh let me say this because I think it's worth saying in our culture and society here today the Supreme Court does not define marriage the ultimate supreme ruler of the universe is the one who defines that can we all agree there okay and so I want you to understand that that's what Jesus is saying he gets this difficult question from the Pharisees and they're like hey is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for for every calls and and what Jesus does is he goes back to the very beginning of how things were created and he begins to talk about the way that things were created they were created as a covenant that a man one woman one man and a covenant for life verse five and said for this call shall man leave father and mother and shall cleave to his wife they twain shall be one flesh we read that verse six wherefore they are no more twain but one flesh what therefore God hath joined together let no man us put asunder so they responded back to Jesus they said unto him why did Moses think command to give a writing of divorcement and to put her away this is a directive you want to read it Deuteronomy 24 verses 1 through 3 maybe 4 and and this was a thing that Moses allowed when a spouse was unclean and so he mentioned a a writing of divorcement and to put her away and he saith unto them Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives were allowed but from the beginning it was not so in other words the way it was created that was not the divine moment but because of the hardness and brokenness and sinfulness of our hearts Moses made allowance for it verse 9 and I say unto you whosoever shall put away his wife except to be for fornication and shall marry another commit adultery and who's married marrieth her which is put away death commit adultery his disciples came to unto him if this case and then they go on with dialogue for the sake of time I want to mention a couple things to answer this question when does God say it's okay for divorce because we all have this question okay and let me say this up front Jesus doesn't command divorce but he does make exception and and that's what what I'm going to show you and it's proven here the first thing is adultery okay the the first thing is adultery and and and I want you to know we've all been impacted that that happens from time to time and here's what I'll tell you I have seen some glorious reconciliation stories of people that this happened in their life and they got restored back into relationship and we praise God for that but what Jesus is saying here is that that is an exception for it for fornication adultery it is the first thing that that we see that that is an exception for the second thing is this is found in 1st Corinthians chapter 7 we're not going to take the time to turn there but here's what I'll tell you is abandonment I'll say this at every one Jesus doesn't command divorce and and if any of these things have happened in your life I think he could potentially reconcile that if both parties are willing to be reconciled so he doesn't command it he doesn't say if if your spouse cheated on you you have to divorce he's just making allowance for this and I want you to know I've never been personally impacted by this and if you have I want you to know my heart goes out to you like as your pastor I want you to know I could not imagine I cannot empathize I cannot begin to understand the emotional hurt and deep pain and it is a shame on somebody to ever do something like this and so I want you to know that God can work that out but if he can't that's an allowance for it the second exception is this abandonment Paul in 1st Corinthians 7 he's speaking about marriage and if your spouse wants the divorce and wants to walk away it appears that he gives an exception in other words if you're in a relationship and and and the spouse just leaves you doesn't want anything to do with you and abandons you he encouraged believers to try and initiate reconciliation before it comes to that but abandonment the third thing is found in Malachi chapter number two abuse abuse in Malachi chapter number two it says this verse number 16 it says that God hates divorce God hates divorce and despises someone this sort of says he despises someone that covers in other words the marriage that covers the marriage with violence in in Jewish weddings they would have a covering over the bride and groom it was called a Shupa and it would cover them and what that would signify in Jewish tradition is that when God looks down on it there's only one it's one flesh one household for life that's the that's the desire that's what God has created for marriage to look like and he talks about when the the covering of violence kind of overtakes that he mentioned so I'll tell you this I believe that that if you are being abused I think that is a reason for you to to leave for you to get out and abuse can come in a lot of different ways abuse we always think physical it can come verbal it can come mental it can come emotional and so I would say this is that in those situations you know you think adultery abandonment and abuse it appears that scripture I'm not an expert on this but after studying it would appear that that God even though that's not his desire for you that's not the way that marriage was set up to do but it looks like from his word that that would give you an allowance to be able to do that okay and by the way where God allows divorce he allows remarriage so I hope you're with me after that and we can talk afterwards we can disagree a little bit on it and I'm okay with that I'm not in you know perfect and I don't think my interpretations are always the the perfect thing and you might see things differently that's okay and I hope that we can still love one another but that's what I would say to the question of of when does God say it's okay to divorce so here's another question that you might have today what do I do if I'm divorced and remarried like what I do like that's a real question right and that plagues a lot of us in this room today and Jesus you know he speaks directly about this and and here's what I want you to know I don't know your story I don't know your situation I don't know what you've been through and things like that you may and perhaps this is true and maybe you've never done this you may need your next step and if remember there's voices in our head all the time the conviction of the Holy Spirit is a voice we need to listen to the voice of condemnation is the voice of the enemy make sure you can decide which one speaking in your heart today perhaps maybe your next step is to call your ex not that you're getting together and just say I'm sorry and by the way here's what I'll tell you he just got talking about anger when you have anger in your spirit for somebody else he tells us when you have all to reconcile that that's not just a marriage advice that's life advice and that's relationship advice perhaps that is your next step just send him a text call and maybe that's your next step I don't know your situation but maybe that is what it is okay but here's what I want you to know if this is where you're at today I want to assure you that Jesus forgives that Jesus restores and that Jesus reconciles and my challenge to you is to make your current marriage the best picture of the gospel that it possibly can be I don't care what other churches have told you about this if you've showed up at a church and and you're divorced and you have a situation that happened and a church kind of told you we're terrible about this and churches are bad about getting these things wrong from time to time if a church responded to you and acted like you were damaged goods because of that that church was wrong and I'm glad you found your way out of that church because that is not the message of the gospel if you are in this and you feel like man I'm damaged goods and everybody there's no way God can use me let me tell you this that is so far from the truth of the gospel as anything we could ever say today our God restores us and he forgives us and he reconciles us and he can still use you regardless of what people say about this he can still use you and he wants to here's what I want maybe you're in a situation today you're married and and you're wondering I kind of want a divorce but maybe it's not one of those things that he mentioned we just aren't working and it's not working out and things and by the way let me say this to married couples in here we all have disagreements arguments and things like this don't jab below the belt and threaten divorce don't do it it's hateful and I'll tell you this it's abuse it's abuse don't do it but here's what I'll tell you it's my challenge to all of us okay I'm sweaty by the way up here right now never felt so hot on this platform in my life my challenge to you is this don't make divorce your first option make it your last resort don't make divorce your first option make it your last resort here's why God made a cup God made the covenant of marriage all the way from the bat in the beginning when it talks about you leave your father and mother you become one and that's a covenant relationship here's what divorce is divorce is like amputation divorce is amputation you got here you sprained your ankle what do you do you go through the healing process you don't amputate your foot right I sprained my ankle and a few times playing sports and stuff like this never one time did I go to the doctor and say hey what do you want me to do hey just cut that thing off no they're like hey here's what you need to do you need to go through the healing process right here's what I want you know if you're in a marriage and things are struggling my advice to you is to be willing to go through the healing process now it might get to the point where you know they abandon you there's abuse adultery possibly and I believe God can give an exception to that but here's what I'm begging you to do is be willing to go through the healing process because when you think of the gospel that is what he has done for every single one of us he Ephesians chapter 5 husbands love your wives how as Christ loved the church how many times have you been unfaithful to him more times than we could count right if you just tried to count you've already ran lost count right that's how I am I've been so unfaithful to him and he's telling us to love our spouse the way that he loved us right and so he's never he's never forsaken me and so not once in fact there's a whole you know in the book of Hosea a whole book about this Hosea and Gomer right he tells Hosea to go marry Gomer and anytime God tells you to go marry somebody named Gomer you know it's probably not gonna work out well and he says go marry Gomer who's a prostitute and here's what he says when the prostitute Gomer goes out and does what she does what prostitutes do he says you take all your money tells Hosea this read it it's wild he says Hosea take all of your money and go back to the auction block and go there and buy her back why to give us a picture of the love and commitment that he has for us and then he tells us to go and do that to other people verses 33 through 37 of our text he talks about our word we're not gonna read it he talks about our oaths and keeping your word it comes on the coattails of what he just talked with adultery because you make a covenant when you stand before them or before your spouse and you guys are looking at each other it's supposed to be a covenant for life in fact if you're thinking about marriage now you're young and you're dating or whatever I want you to know it is a serious for life commitment that's the way God designed for it to be in fact I'd say it this way marriage is not a contract it's not a contract it is a covenant that is ordained by God between one man and one woman think about it this way contracts and I'll be done I know I'm going long and we still got prayer at the end it's not a contract okay it's not a kind of like think about this I have a contract with spectrum and it doesn't always go the way that I want it right so when things don't happen the way that I want you go find another solution go find another thing that's what a contract is they don't meet your need you go somewhere else whatever and here's what I'm saying is that all of us are guilty to some degree with what he mentions here in these ten verses that we have looked at us every single one of us including your pastor has stumbled and fallen short but I want to give you three things I know you're like man pastor you said you're almost done like ten minutes ago my daughter tells me that all the time I want to give you three stories of scripture to give you the hope that you need wherever you are with what he just told us the first one is found in John 4 you don't have to turn there we know the story Jesus and the woman at the well the woman at the well shows up she shows up in the middle of the day and here's why is because she was so deep in her sin of adultery that she was shamed by it she was shamed she was sinful and broken and messed up so she would go get her water in the middle of the day there sits Jesus and he miraculously saves her he asked about her husband's and or her husband and and he knew the answer to it she's had five husbands messed up right and you know what Jesus did for her he meets her where she is forgives her saves her loves her and sends her out on mission for him that's what Jesus wants to do with wherever you are in this story here today John chapter 8 few chapters later woman caught in adultery the religious crowd they bring this woman that was caught into adultery they bring her before the crowd isn't that what religious people love right they bring her before the crowd and they want to make a public spectacle of her sin to make them look so good and her to look so bad in other words they come and they're saying Jesus you know what the law said let's throw some stones at her let's get ready to stone her for her sin so Jesus respond okay good idea we know what the law says the perfect people that have never made a mistake you are the first ones throw your stone and it probably sounded just like it sounds in here nothing why because every single one of them fall short I love what one pastor said about this story he said and as she prepared in the middle of the crowd probably clenching her body when Jesus said that to get stoned and hit with stones she gets ran over by the overwhelming grace of God that's the point that's what I want you to so wherever you are by the way church people are the worst at forgiving people for their sin we love screaming and singing all about our forgiveness but when somebody else does wrong we are a lot of times like the religious crowd that's not the gospel no the gospel is looking around and stop the judging and looking around saying we're all guilty but we all have received the grace of Almighty God in our life David we know the story remember he's on his porch when he should have been in battle he sees a woman bathing he had lustful intent he sends a guard to get her he sleeps with her she gets pregnant so he puts her husband after that what are we gonna do I'm gonna put your husband Uriah on the front line of battle and he dies here's what David did David lusted he committed adultery and then he became a murderer God could never use someone like that could he Psalm 51 David repents of his sin and he cries out for God to restore him to the joy of his salvation and you know what God did God did God redeemed him he called David a man after his own heart and by the way out of that messed up story in that terrible right lustful intent adultery just a terrible situation and then became a murderer I don't know anybody in here who fits that world right but you know what Jesus or what God did after he restored David you know what even comes out of David's lineage the redemptive Savior of the world for you and for me if God could use an adulterer and someone who struggled with lust and struggled with a murderer let me tell you this nobody is out of the reach of the grace of God and by the way if you're a church person man I feel like an old Baptist pastor right now let's go right listen if you're a church member or a follower of Jesus and you'd love to put people down because of their sin I'd go as far to say I don't think you understand the grace of God that's the point it's all about the grace of God listen I don't know where you're at today and quite frankly I don't need to know and I don't care here's all I'm gonna tell you there's a path forward for you say this has ruined my life there's a path forward I've been impacted by this there's a path forward I'm struggling with lust today there's a path forward God can restore he can he can forgive he loves you and my challenge is for you today wherever you are to repent and ask God to restore you husbands let me tell you lead and love your spouse you are to be the spiritual leader of your home I don't know how else to say it that's your role that's your job when you say your vows I it's it's your responsibility to be the spiritual leader of your home my prayer for you is that you would have the courage and power to wake up every single day and lead your spouse and if you're involved in any of this sin listen we are not going to condemn you what I'm inviting you to do is come to me or one of our pastors and just say I'm struggling with this maybe it's lustful intent and nobody knows about it listen the best way is not for you to manage it come forward with it so that we can squash it and kill it and get rid of it in your life that's what we need to do would you bow your heads with me I know Bob we were gonna sing we're not gonna sing for the sake of time at the end I just want to just invite our musicians to come they're just gonna play Sarah Grace I don't want anybody looking around this was a heavy sermon and you're receiving it in a bunch of different ways and I feel you I just want to invite you to stand nobody's looking around and all I'm gonna say is I don't know where you're at here today maybe it's lustful intent maybe it's divorce maybe it's not keeping your word I don't know listen all I'm saying is that we serve a God not of condemnation not of judgment and by the way if you're in here today and maybe this isn't the sins you're struggling with but you are deep in your sin right now something else that nobody knows about let me just say this listen the grace of God is available for you all you got to do is come and rest in it he can forgive you he can restore you he can save you he loves you don't live in the sin don't try to manage it don't try to control it kill it young person the best thing you could do is let somebody know if you're struggling I know that's embarrassing nobody wants to admit stuff like that right let somebody know dad if that's you listen you're never going to know how to love your spouse by a video up on a screen or by movie or by a show the best way you can know how to lovingly lead your home is found in the truth of God's Word not in any of those things so stop looking for it there come forward and get the help that you need I know that this place we have an altar and I don't know where you're at here today you can come down front and pray but if you feel more comfortable after this service I would love to spend a few moments talking with you helping you getting you connected we love doing that if I've ever made you feel guilty for a sin that you've committed when you came to me listen God forgive me and I repent of that but I'll tell you if you're struggling with something we would love to help you and get you plugged in with somebody that can help you I want to give you just a few moments to do business with God you can look this way hey just before we leave we reference this early Sarah grace you can continue to play I just want to speak to this like I know last night you like me you know you get the notification I saw on social media so I turned on the news we're watching it just like you here's what I want you to know I want to make a statement about what's happening in our world we don't always talk to these things but I think it's necessary with with the climate of where we are I'll say this our world is in an absolute mess is it not we are in a mess and and this is not a political thing this is an outright war and the scripture tells us in his word I want you to know this we do not wrestle with flesh and blood and if you're in here today and you watch things unfold and you think the enemy is a political party or you think the enemy is a political figure you think the enemy is them or they or whatever let me tell you this you've missed the truth of Scripture it is not a political anything here's what the war that we are facing here's what you saw yesterday and here's what we've seen in our world it's this it's against evil it's against the demonic it's against darkness it's against evil and the level of hate and I'll be honest with you it's both sides wherever you fall on the political spectrum it's both we are hateful they are hateful right we are also hateful and I want you to know it is it is evil but the scripture here's why I don't know why we're so surprised I said this to my Bible fellowship class we're so surprised when these things happen and the scripture tells us this what's gonna happen so don't be surprised by it says there's gonna be a lot of things that as Jesus gets closer to come back that are gonna be happening and I don't know when he's coming back I mean if somebody predicts those kind of things you need to run somewhere else I have no idea I don't know if it's gonna be another thousand years I do not know but here's what I'll tell you we're living in dark times and what we need is found in 2nd chronicle 7 we know the passage says this if my people would humble themselves and pray but then there's also one thing after that and turn from their evil ways here's what I want you to know that passage of scripture we love citing it we love reciting it came right after with Solomon after he dedicated the temple and here's what I want you to know tons of people are there and he has this conversation with Solomon and you know what he's glad that they're there dedicating the temple but here's what God cares about more than anything else it's what we've been talking about in the Sermon on the Mount God cares more about the hearts of the people and here's the problem that our world finds itself in there's a lot of people with wicked hearts that have never been changed by the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ you see that is the problem and I'll tell you this you want to know what my answer is to the world is this it's the church it's not a political figure it's not what happens in November it's not any of those things and listen I'm a citizen of this great country I don't care what anybody says I love this place I love living here I'm grateful that I live here but I'll tell you this my hope is not what happens in November my hope is not in a person my hope is not in a party my hope is built on nothing less than his blood and his righteousness and I'll tell you this is that I believe that during these days the church is the answer here's what I want to challenge our church to do you need to be on your knees and you need to be praying David mentioned it and I appreciate him saying this because I struggle as well we sometimes don't pray enough about where our world is we forget you disagree with a leader we don't pray for when was the last time and I'm gonna be very direct was last time you got on your knees and you prayed for our current administration those are the things we need to be doing because the scripture I don't care if you don't like him the point is we are called to pray for the leaders of our country I want to tell you this church pray love listen it's easy to get mad and what do we do we go to Facebook right I don't know why Facebook's the first thing it's like man I got to say this got to say this listen I just want you to be patient as a church and more importantly not as a church member as a follower of Jesus Christ whatever you do when you engage with people that are different than you I want to challenge you to love you can do that and still disagree I don't care what the world says you can I want to challenge you to pray to love to share when was the last time you went out of your way listen a Facebook post about the way that the world does it's not going to change anybody's mind but you know what my a simple invitation to the gospel to hear the gospel of Jesus that might change their life and so I want you to pray to love to share and then for us as church members to turn to repent remember in 2nd chronicle 7 here's what who God was talking to he was talking to Solomon his king right and here's what I'll tell you he told him to repent you know where it starts in these walls it doesn't start with who you're voting for and who you're putting on a ballot it doesn't start there it starts here with Christians followers of Jesus who claim to know Jesus it starts with us in here our hearts being changed and leaving out there and being salt being light in the world that we live in that's what we need to do I want to invite you to have a word of prayer you can stay where you are if you want to come forward you can this is the last thing we're doing today let's pray though for our world father God sometimes with things like this we don't even know how to pray we're confused we're angry we're frustrated and God we don't know what to say here today except for God we are thankful for the grace of God that has been displayed to each one of us and as we watch things unfold in our world God it's just a reminder of how broken how evil how hateful that sin is and how our enemy is and how we are in a battle in a war every single day with the enemy and God we know that you are the victor we know that you've given us the victory not in Washington but in a relationship with Jesus and God we're praying that you would use our church to minister to our community as it's hurting that you would use our church to share the good news of Jesus with a lost and dying world so that the hate and evil God that's the only answer for it the hope is not a political thing the hope that can change somebody from hate to love is only found in the message of Jesus Christ God we need the church to be at its best during this time we need Union Grove to be at its best in our community I pray God that you would use us but father we do pray for our leadership I pray for President Trump and his family God I can't imagine the hurt that they experienced today the trauma that they've experienced in the last 24 hours I pray God that you would provide healing and direction and recovery and that you would help his heart to turn to you and to follow you not his own agenda and then I pray father for for Biden for President Biden and all the other administrators that we have across the world God I pray for them God I lift them up God I pray that every single one of them just like Trump I pray that every one of them would turn their hearts to you and that they would find new life in Jesus Christ that's what we desire God that's the only difference that it's gonna make in our world God we lift them up that you would provide each one of them wisdom clarity direction guidance peace as they lead our country God we love you I love our church I love what you're doing here your word is alive it speaks to us I pray father that we can implement your word and that we as a church would repent from our evil ways and we would turn to you with our life God you're so good to us and all God's people said amen hey listen thank you for being here if you're a guest services are not always like this and so if you're a guest come back next week you'll get a little something different and but listen I want to thank you for being here if you didn't take a new here card fill that out you can do so on your way out here today but thank you so much for being here you are dismissed today