Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Simple Instructions on Serious Issues │ Msg 514 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living

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Simple Instructions on Serious Issues │ Msg 514 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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  Speaker 1: There is no more telltale sign of a society's moral
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  Speaker 1: erosion than the breakdown of integrity in domestic settings. This
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  Speaker 1: breakdown reveals itself most dramatically in marital infidelity. In the
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  Speaker 1: personal lives of individuals. It evidences itself most clearly in
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  Speaker 1: verbal dishonesty. When partners cheat on each other, When people
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  Speaker 1: lie to one another, a community's moral fiber weakens and
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  Speaker 1: deteriorates very quickly. Such things should not characterize those who
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  Speaker 1: claim to belong to Christ. In his greatest of sermons,
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  Speaker 1: Jesus addressed both these issues. As he did, he went
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  Speaker 1: deeper than the letter of the law. He made it
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  Speaker 1: clear that marriage requires absolute faithfulness and personal relationships require
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  Speaker 1: absolute truthfulness. Faithfulness and honesty are two of the character
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  Speaker 1: qualities at the foundation of the good life in God's Kingdom. Therefore,
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  Speaker 1: Jesus turned the focus of his Sermon on the Mount
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  Speaker 1: to these two critical issues, which continue to touch our
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  Speaker 1: lives and our communities today. Jesus really up the ante
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  Speaker 1: by teaching that the commandment against adultery has the holistic
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  Speaker 1: intention of keeping a person from falling into sin broadly
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  Speaker 1: as well as specifically. Therefore, followers of Jesus are not
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  Speaker 1: simply supposed to avoid adulterous relationships. We must also avoid
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  Speaker 1: even looking at someone with lust. Listen today, as I
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  Speaker 1: read a startling account of Jesus' words, as found in
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  Speaker 1: Matthew Chapter five, Verses twenty seven through thirty seven. I'll
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  Speaker 1: be reading the passage from the New Living Translation. You
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  Speaker 1: have heard the commandment that says you must not commit adultery.
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  Speaker 1: But I say, anyone who even looks at a woman
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  Speaker 1: with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
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  Speaker 1: So if your eye, even your good eye, causes you
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  Speaker 1: to lust, gouge it out and throw it away, it
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  Speaker 1: is better for you to lose one part of your
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  Speaker 1: body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.
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  Speaker 1: And if your hand, even your stronger hand, causes you
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  Speaker 1: to sin, cut it off and throw it away, it
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  Speaker 1: is better for you to lose one part of your
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  Speaker 1: body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.
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  Speaker 1: You have heard the law that says a man can
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  Speaker 1: divorce his wife by merely giving her a written notice
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  Speaker 1: of divorce. But I say that a man who divorced
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  Speaker 1: is his wife unless she has been unfaithful. Causes her
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  Speaker 1: to commit adultery, and anyone who marries a divorced woman
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  Speaker 1: also commits adultery. You have also heard that our ancestors
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  Speaker 1: were told you must not break your vows. You must
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  Speaker 1: carry out the vows you make to the Lord. But
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  Speaker 1: I say, do not make any vows. Do not say
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  Speaker 1: by heaven, because heaven is God's throne. And do not
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  Speaker 1: say by the earth, because the earth is his footstool.
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  Speaker 1: And do not say by Jerusalem, for Jerusalem is the
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  Speaker 1: city of the great King. Do not even say by
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  Speaker 1: my head, for you can't turn one hair white or black.
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  Speaker 1: Just say a simple yes I will or no I won't.
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  Speaker 1: Anything beyond this is from the evil one. There is
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  Speaker 1: a major difference between a good sermon and a great sermon.
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  Speaker 1: I think the difference would be the great sermon is
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  Speaker 1: really never forgotten. The good sermons come and go, but
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  Speaker 1: rare are those great ones that stay stuck in our minds.
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  Speaker 1: Often the great ones are not those that are longest
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  Speaker 1: or most tedious, but those that speak with relevance and
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  Speaker 1: to the point. It's easy for those of us who
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  Speaker 1: preach to substitute length for strength. I read this past
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  Speaker 1: week about a minister who asked his wife on Sunday afternoon,
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  Speaker 1: do you think I put enough fire into my sermon?
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  Speaker 1: She very honest said, sweetheart, to tell you the truth,
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  Speaker 1: I didn't think you put enough of your sermon into
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  Speaker 1: the fire. Just as cleanliness is next to godliness and
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  Speaker 1: a home brevity is next to accuracy in a sermon.
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  Speaker 1: A sculpture was once asked how he could possibly shape
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  Speaker 1: a lion out of stone without a model to follow. He,
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  Speaker 1: perhaps with tongue in cheek, responded, I just chip away
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  Speaker 1: whatever doesn't look like a lion. People who preach need
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  Speaker 1: to remember to deal with that which is pertinent, and
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  Speaker 1: to guard against rabbit trails that only make a talk
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  Speaker 1: longer but not more effective. Good advice. An old woman
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  Speaker 1: who would listen to John Owen, the great Welsh preacher
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  Speaker 1: who often would preach for well over an hour, was
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  Speaker 1: once asked about his sermons. She said, well, sometimes he's
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  Speaker 1: so long spreading the table, I just have lost my
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  Speaker 1: appetite for the meal. Interestingly, Jesus is never criticized for
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  Speaker 1: how long he spoke, always, however, for what he said.
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  Speaker 1: He drilled into issues that were sticky, controversial, tough. He
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  Speaker 1: talked straight. He used plain language. You didn't have to
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  Speaker 1: be a rabbi to grasp what that great Jewish teacher taught.
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  Speaker 1: The common man could understand just as readily. His sermons
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  Speaker 1: were pruned so severely. There wasn't a wasted word. His
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  Speaker 1: sermon on the Mount isn't a good sermon. It is great,
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  Speaker 1: so great it has been remembered for over twenty centuries.
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  Speaker 1: There isn't a waste word. Often those words are monosyllable words,
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  Speaker 1: and they are placed with such skill by this mastered
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  Speaker 1: genius communicator that the people must have been literally on
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  Speaker 1: tiptoe waiting for the next one to come. I'm impressed,
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  Speaker 1: for example, with how he begins. You read nothing in
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  Speaker 1: Matthew five of I'm glad all of you are here today,
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  Speaker 1: or it is a pleasure to be with you this morning.
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  Speaker 1: Blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are those who mourn.
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  Speaker 1: Blessed are the gentle. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst?
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  Speaker 1: Blessed are the merciful. Blessed are the pure in heart?
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  Speaker 1: Blessed are the peacemakers. Blessed are those who are persecuted
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  Speaker 1: for righteousness sake that gets attention that's what an introduction
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  Speaker 1: is all about. Paul O'Neill wrote for many years for
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  Speaker 1: Life magazine. He's the one who came up with the
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  Speaker 1: O'Neal law. Maybe you've heard it. Always grab the reader
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  Speaker 1: by the throat in the first paragraph, sink your thumbs
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  Speaker 1: into his windpipe in the second, and hold him against
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  Speaker 1: the wall until the tagline. That's the O'Neal law. Jesus
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  Speaker 1: practiced it before there was such a thing. He grabbed
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  Speaker 1: your attention, and he pushes you against the wall, and
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  Speaker 1: he places those thumbs on the wind pipe and says, now,
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  Speaker 1: I dare you to ignore what I'm saying. After committing
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  Speaker 1: them to blessings and encouraging them with the thought of
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  Speaker 1: being blessed for their life of faith, he said to them,
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  Speaker 1: make an impact. And he said, it is no scribe
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  Speaker 1: or Pharisee had ever said it. Your salt verse thirteen,
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  Speaker 1: you are light verse fourteen. Now shake the salt, spread
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  Speaker 1: the light. Be different. And then for the balance of
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  Speaker 1: this fifth chapter, he talks about deepening their walk with
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  Speaker 1: God by having a righteousness that surpasses that of the Pharisees.
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  Speaker 1: The Pharisees great on garb, poor on quality, great on impression,
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  Speaker 1: poor on substance, great on exterior, poor on interior. Lot
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  Speaker 1: of talk, a lot of rules, a lot of you shoulds,
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  Speaker 1: very few things regarding the inner life the inner man.
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  Speaker 1: So Jesus camps on that as he developed several subjects.
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  Speaker 1: In fact, there are six of them in the balance
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  Speaker 1: of chapter five. We've looked at one that talks about
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  Speaker 1: anger and committing murder. In verse twenty one, we've talked
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  Speaker 1: about the importance of forgiveness. That's related to that subject
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  Speaker 1: of anger and rage. Next he talks about adultery and divorce.
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  Speaker 1: Following that he talks about vows and verbal integrity. Some
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  Speaker 1: preachers avoid sticky subjects, as though they are tiptoeing around
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  Speaker 1: puddles of hot tar. Jesus never did that. He waited
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  Speaker 1: right in. The issue we're looking at today is not
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  Speaker 1: a first century issue only. It is an every century issue.
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  Speaker 1: Ever since there has been marriage, there has been dissatisfaction,
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  Speaker 1: there has been germony, and there have been desires to
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  Speaker 1: get out of it. The Pharisees seem preoccupied with how
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  Speaker 1: to make that happen. Jesus, however, talked about how to
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  Speaker 1: stay at it and how to make it strong. So
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  Speaker 1: the marital fidelity that comes into the subject of verse
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  Speaker 1: twenty seven down through thirty and then leads into the
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  Speaker 1: subject of divorce is an issue that is as relevant
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  Speaker 1: as as this morning's paper. You have heard that it
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  Speaker 1: was said you shall not commit adultery. He quotes the
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  Speaker 1: sixth commandment. They have heard it. They knew it from
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  Speaker 1: a child, They had quoted it. They had heard it
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  Speaker 1: preached on, I'm sure by the scribes and the Pharisees.
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  Speaker 1: But I say, must have gotten their attention. You see,
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  Speaker 1: the Pharisees and scribes stopped with the quote of the
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  Speaker 1: law and left it there. But since verse twenty his
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  Speaker 1: goal was that they have a righteousness that surpasses that
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  Speaker 1: of the Pharisees. He goes to the heart, if you please.
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  Speaker 1: He had deals with adultery in the head, not just
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  Speaker 1: adultery in the bed. But I say to you that
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  Speaker 1: everyone who looks on a woman to lust for her
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  Speaker 1: has committed adultery with her already in his heart. That
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  Speaker 1: was a revelation. We have heard it all of our lives.
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  Speaker 1: They had never heard such a thing before. This sermon
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  Speaker 1: is revolutionary. They never forgot it. Before going any further
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  Speaker 1: let me say that probably there has been as much
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  Speaker 1: ink used up on this subject as any other. And
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  Speaker 1: if we include sex in general, there no doubt has
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  Speaker 1: been no subject written about more or thought about more.
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  Speaker 1: There were various alternatives in the days of the Lord Jesus,
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  Speaker 1: just as there are in our day. Let's begin in
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  Speaker 1: our day. If I were to push the two philosophies
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  Speaker 1: to either extreme, I would say there is, on the
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  Speaker 1: one hand, the false philosophy of Victorianism as it relates
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  Speaker 1: to sex. Victorianism says sex is shameful, it is something
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  Speaker 1: nice people do not do. It is depraved, it is degrading,
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  Speaker 1: and it is distasteful. That is an unbiblical position. Anyone
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  Speaker 1: who reads the Song of Solomon in pictures that married
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  Speaker 1: couple in intimate love will deny the Victorian mentality. And
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  Speaker 1: if you will allow me, listen to the words of
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  Speaker 1: Proverbs five. In case you wonder God's opinion about the
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  Speaker 1: joy of marital sex, drink water from your own cistern,
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  Speaker 1: fresh water from your own will. Should your springs be
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  Speaker 1: dispersed abroad, streams of water in the street, let them
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  Speaker 1: be yours alone, not for strangers with you. Let your
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  Speaker 1: fountain be blessed and rejoice in the wife of your youth,
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  Speaker 1: as a loving hind and a graceful doe. Let her
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  Speaker 1: breasts satisfy you at all times, be exhilarated always with
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  Speaker 1: her love. For why should you, my son, be exhilarated
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  Speaker 1: with an adulteress and embrace the bosom of a foreigner?
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  Speaker 1: For the ways of a man are before the eyes
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  Speaker 1: of the Lord, and he watches all his paths. Beautiful words,
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  Speaker 1: not just fine Hebrew poetry, but truth to live by.
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  Speaker 1: And every married couple who reads that kind of passage,
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  Speaker 1: and there are several of them in the Proverbs, as
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  Speaker 1: well as other points of a scripture, will know that.
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  Speaker 1: But sex in marriage is to be an absolute delight.
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  Speaker 1: It is to be, if I may say so, worked at, cultivated, developed,
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  Speaker 1: and thoroughly completely enjoyed. Not all Christians believe that a
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  Speaker 1: taught of Bible class years ago in another city, and
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  Speaker 1: a lady in that Bible class happened to have had
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  Speaker 1: several children. As I recall five or six, she believed
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  Speaker 1: that sex was part of the curse that came from
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  Speaker 1: the days of Adam and Eve. She was almost shocked
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  Speaker 1: when I showed her that sex was born before sin came.
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  Speaker 1: That God in the innocent garden of Eden addressed Adam
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  Speaker 1: and Eve and said to them to multiply and to
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  Speaker 1: be fruitful, and to fill the earth. I don't know.
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  Speaker 1: Maybe because she had five or six children she had
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  Speaker 1: come to that erroneous theological position. I often thought how
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  Speaker 1: happy I was that I was not her husband. Husbands
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  Speaker 1: and wives need to remember that the philosophy addressed in
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  Speaker 1: scripture is not a Victorian philosophy. There's another extreme, and
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  Speaker 1: that is hedonism. The hedonistic position says that sex is
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  Speaker 1: a fun and games thing. It's the playboy mentality. We
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  Speaker 1: are sexual beings and we have sexual drives, and our
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  Speaker 1: drives need to be gratified. Gratify them. If it feels good,
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  Speaker 1: do it. Who you do it with is not important,
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  Speaker 1: but that you do it is. This philosophy has given
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  Speaker 1: an openness to premarital sex, extramarital sex, homosexual relationships, incest, bestiality, pornography,
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  Speaker 1: sadistic masochism, and a dozen other perversions that don't satisfy.
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  Speaker 1: They in fact need to increased curiosity, boredom, and frequently suicide.
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  Speaker 1: Look at how forthrightly Jesus handles the issue of marital fidelity.
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  Speaker 1: He talks directly to people, whether married or not, and
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  Speaker 1: he gives us guidelines to follow. You shall not commit adultery.
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  Speaker 1: He stands by that position, but he drives the principle deeper.
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  Speaker 1: I say to you, everyone who looks upon a woman
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  Speaker 1: to lust for her has committed adultery with her already
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  Speaker 1: in his heart. If the right eye makes you stumble,
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  Speaker 1: tear it out, throw it from you, for it's better
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  Speaker 1: for you that one of the part of your body perished,
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  Speaker 1: then for the whole body to be thrown into hell.
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  Speaker 1: And while they were believing, he added, if you're right
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  Speaker 1: hand makes you stumble, cut it off and throw it
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  Speaker 1: from you, it's better for you that one of the
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  Speaker 1: parts of your body perish than for the whole body
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  Speaker 1: to go into hell. I have a number of things
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  Speaker 1: I would like to say, not only about this, but
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  Speaker 1: about the subject of marriage and divorce in general. I
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  Speaker 1: have to limit my comments, and I shall. One thing
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  Speaker 1: I do want to remember to say today is that
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  Speaker 1: many people who come seeking the council of a minister,
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  Speaker 1: or a counselor or a therapist often come looking for
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  Speaker 1: grounds for divorce. Very few come saying, help me know
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  Speaker 1: how to make my marriage stronger. We're having a few struggles.
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  Speaker 1: They're really bothering our relationship. Help us both know how
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  Speaker 1: to get it back together. We don't want to break up.
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  Speaker 1: That's rare. Frequently individuals will come wanting to know does
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  Speaker 1: this qualify for divorce? Is this situation bad enough for
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  Speaker 1: me to get out of this marriage? Let me remind
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  Speaker 1: you that Jesus begins with the quoting of a commandment,
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  Speaker 1: you shall not commit adultery because lust is a major
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  Speaker 1: battle for marriage partners. Jesus talks about the lust factor.
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  Speaker 1: Anyone whom who is married can tell you and knows
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  Speaker 1: for sure that just because you've married, you are not
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  Speaker 1: solving your battle with lust. In fact, marriage can at
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  Speaker 1: times fuel the fire. So Jesus does not deny the commandment.
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  Speaker 1: He in fact goes deeper than it. I took some
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  Speaker 1: time while reading through the the Bible, along with many
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  Speaker 1: of you this year, to make special note of those
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  Speaker 1: passages in the law that addressed the issue of sexual intimacy,
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  Speaker 1: and I noticed in every case how serious God was.
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  Speaker 1: Just listen, if you will, to a passage out of
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  Speaker 1: Leviticus twenty. You talk about straight writing. If there is
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  Speaker 1: a man who commits adultery with another man's wife, one
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  Speaker 1: who commits adultery with his friend's wife, the adulterer and
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  Speaker 1: the adulteress shall surely be put to death. If there
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  Speaker 1: is a man who lies with his father's wife, he
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  Speaker 1: has uncovered his father's nakedness. Both of them shall surely
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  Speaker 1: be put to death. Their blood guiltiness is upon them.
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  Speaker 1: If there is a man who lies with his daughter
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  Speaker 1: in law, both of them shall surely be put to death.
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  Speaker 1: They have committed incest. Their blood guiltyiness is upon them.
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  Speaker 1: If there is a man who lies with a male,
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  Speaker 1: as those who lie with a woman, both of them
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  Speaker 1: have committed a detestable act. They shall surely be put
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  Speaker 1: to death. Their blood guiltiness is upon them. If there
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  Speaker 1: is a man who marries a woman and her mother,
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  Speaker 1: it is immorality. Both he and they shall be burned
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  Speaker 1: with fire. That there may be no immorality in your midst.
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  Speaker 1: If there is a man who lies with an animal,
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  Speaker 1: he shall surely be put to death. You shall also
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  Speaker 1: kill the animal, and one more. If there is a
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  Speaker 1: woman who approaches any animal to mate with it, you
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  Speaker 1: shall kill the woman and the animal they shall surely
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  Speaker 1: be put to death. Their blood guiltiness is upon them
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  Speaker 1: Leviticus twenty ten to sixteen. That's why Jesus took it seriously,
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  Speaker 1: because such acts create confusion and perversion, and because they
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  Speaker 1: do not solve themselves, they only lead into deeper issues,
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  Speaker 1: not the least of which is the spread of diseases.
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  Speaker 1: The Lord God, as soon as he got his people together,
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  Speaker 1: set forth a plan for emotional and physical hygiene that
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  Speaker 1: would keep them happy, wholesome, and fulfilled. Marriage was the
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  Speaker 1: place for there to be sexual freedom, and only marriage.
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  Speaker 1: But lust occurs, and Jesus, being the realist that he is,
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  Speaker 1: talks straight. I think, not just to men, but to
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  Speaker 1: men and women. Because the day in which he lived
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  Speaker 1: things were like they were. Addressing men was appropriate in
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  Speaker 1: our day, it could just as easily be applied and
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  Speaker 1: should be to the woman. So he goes further than
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  Speaker 1: the commandment if you look on one to lust for her.
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  Speaker 1: It does not say if you simply look at a woman,
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  Speaker 1: but you look to lust. There isn't a mand hearing
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  Speaker 1: me now who doesn't know the difference. There isn't a
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  Speaker 1: woman who doesn't know the difference. For women, lust as well,
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  Speaker 1: there can be a conversation that can last for hours,
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  Speaker 1: and never once could there be lust. In certain situations,
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  Speaker 1: there can be a glance and lust without even a
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  Speaker 1: conversation going on, and not a person could disagree with
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  Speaker 1: me in that. So we understand what he means by
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  Speaker 1: a look of lust. Some have taken his words about
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  Speaker 1: plucking out the eye and cutting off the hand, and
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  Speaker 1: they've taken it literally. Back in the early centuries AD,
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  Speaker 1: monks and hermits literally lived in caves and dens, many
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  Speaker 1: of them him starving themselves and torturing themselves and doing
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  Speaker 1: without sleep and praying for hours at a time. The
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  Speaker 1: asceticism that they represented was extreme. Saint Anthony, for example,
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  Speaker 1: lived thirty five years in isolation, but testified that all
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  Speaker 1: of those years he was tortured and tormented with lustful thoughts.
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  Speaker 1: Isolation does not keep one from lusting. Origin of Alexandria
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  Speaker 1: went to extremes and asceticism, renouncing the comforts of his day.
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  Speaker 1: He also made himself a eunuch. About three twenty five AD,
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  Speaker 1: the Council of Nicea passed an edict against such barbarous practices,
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  Speaker 1: and the Church forbade such things Jesus is not teaching,
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  Speaker 1: obviously that we care out an eye. If he were,
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  Speaker 1: every man I know would be blind. He is not
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  Speaker 1: literally teaching cut off your hand, for after all, the
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  Speaker 1: body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. Then what
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  Speaker 1: in the world is he saying. I think it's obvious
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: when you read through the passage and you and you
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: read it in light of other references. Jesus is saying,
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: lustful temptations can come through the eyegate. Do not look
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: to lust. Lustful temptations can be encouraged by the use
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: of a hand or by feet that move you to places.
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: And you know, all of these things are done from
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: the heart, from the thoughts, from the mind, from the
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: inner being. And he's saying, do not go, do not touch,
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: do not encourage such things. If you cannot handle the
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: magazine racks, stay away from the magazine rack. Doing so,
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: you pluck out your eye. If you cannot handle the
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: touch of another opposite sex person, then don't touch them.
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: Cutting off your hand. To use the colloquialism of our day,
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: just say no. If that didn't work, then Jesus Christ
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: mocks people. And you and I know he never did that.
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: It works but it isn't fulfilling, it doesn't satisfy, and
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: it certainly doesn't applaud the hedonism and playboy philosophy of
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: our day. When surrounded by that, it is very easy
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: to lower one's standard and to say, with the shrug,
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: everybody does it. No, that isn't true. By the way,
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: an inevitable law of human nature is that one of
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: the best ways you can set yourself up for failure
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: is just to say to yourself in the morning, I
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: am not going to think evil thoughts. That never works.
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: So what we must do is replace evil thoughts with wholesome, healthy,
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: righteous thoughts. That's why I am such a firm believer
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: in scripture memory. That's why I'm such a firm believer
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: in wholesome activities that give our bodies something to do
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: and give our minds something to think on, so that
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: the empty spaces will not be filled with evil thoughts.
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: I have the capacity, just like every other man I know,
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: to lust to the limits I can if I wish.
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: Jesus is saying don't, and so I say to you,
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: on the authority of his sermon, don't. There are terrible
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: consequences that follow when you do and you haven't the
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: power to stop them once once the ball gets rolling.
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: Now he gets to verse thirty one here in Matthew five,
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: and he addresses the subject of divorce. It was said,
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: of dismissal. But I say to you, before we look
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: at that part, look at the certificate. It's described literally
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: for us in the first three verses of Deuteronomy chapter
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: twenty four. No reason to turn unless you would just
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: like to look right now. But in that passage Deuteronomy
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: twenty four one to three, he describes. Moses describes, because
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: of the hardness of the hearts of the Israelites, how
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: they can deal with a marriage that isn't working. It
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: was never a command you must divorce. It was a permission.
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: It was a concession. Jesus says. You have heard it said,
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: of dismissal. But I say to you, and he describes
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: his position. In Jesus' day, there were opposing philosophies based
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: on two different rabbinic schools, the Shamai position and the
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: Healale position. Rabbi Shamai and his followers taught that it
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: was the most rigorous kind of austere position one would adopt.
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: There simply would not be divorce, not only in the
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: cases of the most indecent kind of acas regularly performed.
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: Wouldn't even consider such a thing that is a partner.
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: This severe position was the Schemai position. The Hilalo school
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: was another. The Hilalo School had a more lax position.
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: To quote Josephus, they applied the Mosaic provision to a
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: man who desired to be divorced from his wife for
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: any cause whatsoever. I'd say that's pretty liberal, wouldn't you.
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: I did a little research and found out for the
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: most trivial of reasons, a person could leave his wife
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: if she spoilt his dinner by adding too much salt,
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: if she burnt his toast, if she went into public
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: with her head uncovered, if she talked with other men
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: on the street, if she spoke disrespectfully to her husband's parents,
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: if she became plain looking compared to another woman who
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: had become more beautiful in the husband's eyes. I don't
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: know of a marriage that would last beyond the honeymoon.
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: We I've got a friend whose wife burnt the toast
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: and burnt the toast, and burnt the toast and burnt
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: the toast, and she finally convinced him toast is better burnt.
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: Now he can't eat it if it's not burnt. Pressure
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: does wonders, doesn't it? Over In Matthew nineteen, you will
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: see these pharisees being a little testy with Jesus. Turned
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: from Matthew five to Matthew nineteen, and you will see
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: that they want to know if he is a Shamai
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: man or if he's a Hilale man. I sometimes have
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: young theologians pull up next to me and want to
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: know if I'm a Fuller man, or if I'm a
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: Westminster Man, or if i agree with Dallas's position on something,
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: or if I'm more in the reform tradition as in
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: Jackson or one of the other reform schools. Do I
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: believe this about this or that about this? In the
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: same way they approached Jesus with these With this question
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: of Matthew nineteen three, some pharisees came to him testing him.
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: Don't miss that testing him. Is it lawful for a
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: man to divorce his wife for any cause at all. Now,
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: where'd they get that from? Well, Hilale. They had heard that,
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: they had heard it taught, and they wanted to know
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: is he leaning toward the Hilale position or is he
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: more a SCHAMAI Interestingly, he never answers their question, and
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: that is not directly. He is the master when it
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: comes to dialogue, seeing their hearts, he goes right to
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: the issue. And if you will allow me getting some
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: of these thoughts from John R. W. Stuf, but I
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: want to point out three areas where he differed in
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: philosophy from the Pharisees. Now don't want you to miss these.
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: You can read Matthew nineteen on your own anytime. You
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: can work your way through it. It's very clearly stated.
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: What I want you to see is underlying this the
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: difference between jesus position and the Phariseic position. One. The
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: Pharisees were preoccupied with grounds for divorce. Jesus was preoccupied
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: with the institution of marriage. Remember they went back to
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: Moses and said he allowed a bill of divorcement, He
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: commanded it Verse seven. Jesus goes beyond that and goes
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: to the days of the garden of Eden. It wasn't
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: that way at the beginning. At the beginning, it was forever.
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: They were preoccupied with grounds for divorce. He was preoccupied
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: with the institution of marriage. Second, the Pharisees called moses
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: provision a command. Why then, verse seven did Moses command
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: to give her a bill of divorcement? Wrong? Verse eight,
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: because of the hardness of your heart. Moses permitted you
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: to divorce. Jesus called it a concession, a permission. He
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: gave them a permission. Slip that is Moses. They said
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: he commanded us. Jesus say, no, he gave you a permission.
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: I'll say more about that in the moment. Third, the
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: Pharisees regarded divorce lightly. Jesus took it seriously. I don't
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: like making statements that are overly obvious, but this is
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: the time to do that, and to run the risk
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: of it. This is my statement. We two must take
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: it seriously. Not because of the it creates, not because
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: of the loneliness that follows, not because of the rejection
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: you feel, not because of the misunderstanding that will occur,
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: not because the children will suffer, not because you will
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: have to ultimately find a group to identify with. You
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: have to take it seriously, because God takes it seriously,
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: you know, men and women. It occurred to me that,
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: in light of the context of Matthew five, I'd like
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: to have you turned back Matthew five, where he begins
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: with a wonderful list of beatitudes. Now hear me out
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: on this. Those beatitudes ought to apply to the subject
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: of marriage. Blessed are the humble in spirit. Blessed are
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: those who mourn over their spiritual bankruptcy. Blessed of the gentle.
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful,
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: and you can read on even the peacemakers. I think
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: Chris Sistom is right my quote. He that is meek
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: and a peacemaker, and poor in spirit and merciful, How
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: shall he cast out his wife? He that is used
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: to reconciling others, How shall he be at variance with her?
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: Who is his own? Back to Jesus' sermon verse thirty one,
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: it was said, whoever divorces his wife, let him give
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: her a certificate of dismissal. But I say to you
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: that everyone who divorces his wife, except for the cause
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: of unchastity makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: divorced woman commits adultery. This exception clause is probably the
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: most popular exception clause in all the scriptures, except for chastity.
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: I take it to mean what it says. The grounds
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: for divorce would occur when there is a continuation of
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: sexual intimacy with someone outside the marriage bond, same sex
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: or opposite sex. When there is intimacy outside the marriage
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: bond and it is continued, and it is continued as
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: a habit or as a lifestyle. Why because that clearly
• 37:49
  Speaker 1: destroys the bond. This isn't the only place where divorce
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: is addressed in scripture, and I would of course be
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: the first to admit that. But this is the place
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: where we're looking, so I'll limit my comments to this passage.
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: Let me put it this way. That may give you
• 38:09
  Speaker 1: the right to seek divorce, but you're not obligated to
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: exercise that right. It's a permission, it isn't a command.
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: You have the right to sue whoever you wish, But
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: most of us live our entire lives and never sue anyone,
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: though we swallow hard and take it on the chin
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: and even live with mistreatment. We would rather do that
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: than sue. I think it's remarkable that some will divorce
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: quicker than they will sue. I know this is a
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: very heated subject, I realize, and I can just feel
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: the vibes coming back from this microphone right now. I
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: can just feel you wanting to stand and ask a
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: question or two. And I'm sure there'll be a couple
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: of letters in the mail waiting for me. That's fine,
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: but understand I'm not dealing with the subject of divorce
• 39:13
  Speaker 1: in total. I'm dealing with Matthew five in the Sermon
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: on the Mount, and I'm attempting to read what Jesus
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: has taught in a few words and to explain them
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: so that there isn't a misunderstanding. I want us to
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: have as much breadth as Scripture provides, and not one
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: microcosm more. I want to be as broad and as
• 39:36
  Speaker 1: narrow as this book. You have to deal with these things,
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: You have to come to terms with them. May I
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: remind you one more time? You did take a vow
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: You did include in those vowels if I had anything
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: to do with your marriage, and probably of anyone, for
• 39:59
  Speaker 1: better or for worse. Going through the worst is not
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: grounds for divorce. Going through the worst requires that you
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: get before God, and if at all possible, you get
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: your mate before God and you come to terms with
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: what's going on. Please, I know it's a thorny issue
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: and it can be very complicated. Remember, I'm a pastor.
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: I'm not a distant faculty member of some seminary delivering
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: some sermon on you. I'm a shepherd. I am deep
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: in people's lives, and so is our staff. You can't
• 40:49
  Speaker 1: just quickly pass this off and do its service. Do
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: it justice. Speaking of ows, the passage continue with verbal honesty. Now,
• 41:02
  Speaker 1: let me encourage you to get beyond what we've just heard. Okay,
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: because I can see some of your minds just turning,
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: and you're going to stay in verses twenty seven to
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: thirty two, and you're not going to follow on with
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: us thirty three to thirty seven. But the sermon does
• 41:17
  Speaker 1: go on, so allow it to do that. Okay, let's
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: talk about let's let him talk about verbal honesty. These
• 41:28
  Speaker 1: verses may seem confusing when you read them, but they're not. Again,
• 41:32
  Speaker 1: verse thirty three, you have heard that the ancients were
• 41:34
  Speaker 1: told you shall not make false vowels, but shall fulfill
• 41:38
  Speaker 1: your vows to the Lord. But I say to you, remember,
• 41:45
  Speaker 1: if your righteousness is going to surpass the righteousness of
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: the Pharisees Verse twenty, then I say to you, it
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: goes deeper than that. And look at what he says.
• 41:58
  Speaker 1: Make no oath at all, either by Heaven, for it
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: is the throne of God, or by the earth, for
• 42:05
  Speaker 1: it is the footstool of his feet, or by Jerusalem,
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: for it is the city of the Great King. Nor
• 42:11
  Speaker 1: shall you make an oath by your head, for you
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: cannot make one hair white or black. Let your statement
• 42:18
  Speaker 1: be yes, yes or no no, And anything beyond these
• 42:27
  Speaker 1: is of evil. I read that a dozen times before
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: it made sense, So be encouraged. I'm a slow learner.
• 42:40
  Speaker 1: Sometime oaths have to do with taking vows for the
• 42:46
  Speaker 1: purpose of adding veracity to our statements. I borrow a
• 42:53
  Speaker 1: book from you, I say to you, I'll give it back.
• 42:55
  Speaker 1: I promise. That's a vow. That's an oath. Borrow money
• 43:00
  Speaker 1: from you, I say, I promise, hand on a Bible,
• 43:04
  Speaker 1: I'll get that money back to you by such and such.
• 43:09
  Speaker 1: Our president, when he takes office, puts his hand on
• 43:12
  Speaker 1: a Bible and makes a vow to uphold the Constitution
• 43:15
  Speaker 1: of the United States. Individuals who are ordained into ministry
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: take vows that relate to the ministry and commit themselves
• 43:24
  Speaker 1: to a life of purity and devotion to Jesus Christ
• 43:29
  Speaker 1: and his word. Vows are common. You go to a
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: courtroom to be a witness, you swear to tell the truth,
• 43:35
  Speaker 1: the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. It doesn't
• 43:38
  Speaker 1: keep you from perjury, but it makes you liable if
• 43:42
  Speaker 1: you commit perjury because you vowed to tell the truth.
• 43:47
  Speaker 1: Jesus says, don't make an oath, don't make a vow.
• 43:55
  Speaker 1: He's he telling our president not to put his hand
• 43:57
  Speaker 1: on a bible and swear that he'll uphold a constitution. No, oh,
• 44:00
  Speaker 1: I don't think so. Jesus' comment has to do with
• 44:04
  Speaker 1: vowels that are added to a statement thinking that they
• 44:08
  Speaker 1: will make the statement trustworthy. They don't. Point, is your
• 44:15
  Speaker 1: word ought to stand when a monosyllable will do? Why
• 44:20
  Speaker 1: waste our breath on polysyllables. Yes, no, you say, that's
• 44:27
  Speaker 1: no big deal. My goodness, anybody could do that. Well,
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: let me ask you. You promised you'd pay off your
• 44:35
  Speaker 1: debt every month? Do you pay it on time? Every month?
• 44:41
  Speaker 1: You promised that you would return something that you borrowed.
• 44:45
  Speaker 1: Have you you promised that you would stay true to
• 44:49
  Speaker 1: your mate? Did you? Are you you promised your lord
• 44:56
  Speaker 1: you would stand up for him? Do you you see?
• 45:04
  Speaker 1: Some people think that by adding words they will make
• 45:07
  Speaker 1: their statement believable. Instead of saying I'll meet you here
• 45:11
  Speaker 1: tomorrow afternoon at two, we think we can say I
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: meet you here tomorrow afternoon at two, I swear on
• 45:17
  Speaker 1: the authority of Heaven, the throne of God. That doesn't
• 45:20
  Speaker 1: do any good, that isn't needed. Don't do that. Just
• 45:25
  Speaker 1: be sure you're here it too. That's the point. Yes
• 45:29
  Speaker 1: auto mean yes, No, auto mean no. Sometimes your statement
• 45:34
  Speaker 1: of truth can be a motivation for many people around you.
• 45:38
  Speaker 1: Evangelist Billy Kim Korean Evangelists tells a wonderful story of
• 45:43
  Speaker 1: an illustration that beautifully represents this. After the Great War,
• 45:50
  Speaker 1: the Communists swept down into South Korean began to gather
• 45:53
  Speaker 1: up Christian groups. They would back their demands with torture
• 45:57
  Speaker 1: and threats, trying to get these people to renounce their faith,
• 46:00
  Speaker 1: and many of them did. One by one, the leaders
• 46:05
  Speaker 1: would be brought up, and the Bible would be open,
• 46:08
  Speaker 1: and the tormentors would say, denounce your faith and spit
• 46:11
  Speaker 1: on the pages of this book. Several did till they
• 46:15
  Speaker 1: got to one young woman. She looked into the eyes
• 46:18
  Speaker 1: of her tormentors and said, you can hammer me into
• 46:21
  Speaker 1: a pulp, you can beat me into extinction, but I
• 46:23
  Speaker 1: will never, never, never, deny my Lord. May God have
• 46:29
  Speaker 1: mercy on you. And then she began to sing, and
• 46:33
  Speaker 1: if you can believe it, the entire little church group
• 46:36
  Speaker 1: began to sing with her. Following her example, her tormentors
• 46:42
  Speaker 1: let the woman free. Now, not all occasions are that dramatic.
• 46:52
  Speaker 1: Our words can lack truthfulness in several ways. Our words
• 46:56
  Speaker 1: let me give it to you, so remember it easily.
• 46:58
  Speaker 1: Our words can be words of perjury, where we say
• 47:03
  Speaker 1: we're telling the truth but we're lying. Our words can
• 47:06
  Speaker 1: be words of profanity. Our words can be words of pretense.
• 47:11
  Speaker 1: We can sing a lie by singing a hymn. We
• 47:15
  Speaker 1: can tell a lie by exaggerating. We can cover up
• 47:19
  Speaker 1: a lie by committing plagiarism, giving the appearance that our
• 47:24
  Speaker 1: words are our words and not someone else's, when in
• 47:26
  Speaker 1: fact we've gotten even the source of them from someone else,
• 47:30
  Speaker 1: and we are almost quoting them verbatim. We can hedge
• 47:34
  Speaker 1: on the truth by calling in and saying I'm sick today,
• 47:39
  Speaker 1: when we're not sick enough to miswork. Let your yes
• 47:43
  Speaker 1: be yes, let your no be no. Yes stand and
• 47:48
  Speaker 1: your know as well. I didn't tell you all I
• 47:53
  Speaker 1: believe about divorce, and I haven't said all I believe
• 47:56
  Speaker 1: about vowels and about our words. But I have taught
• 48:00
  Speaker 1: Matthew five, which was my assignment before God, and it
• 48:04
  Speaker 1: seems to me that these two thoughts ought to be
• 48:08
  Speaker 1: brought to some kind of conclusion. So let me do
• 48:11
  Speaker 1: it this way. First of all, having to do with marriage,
• 48:15
  Speaker 1: marry for all of life or do not marry for
• 48:18
  Speaker 1: all your life, whatever state you're in right now, make
• 48:25
  Speaker 1: that a vow before God. Oops. Tell the Lord you
• 48:28
  Speaker 1: want to do that, Okay, make it a statement for
• 48:33
  Speaker 1: the rest of my life. Lord, I don't want to
• 48:35
  Speaker 1: marry unless I can marry for all of my life.
• 48:39
  Speaker 1: Let's just start from here. Never too late to start
• 48:44
  Speaker 1: doing what is right. Let's start today. Second, say what
• 48:50
  Speaker 1: you mean, and mean what you say. Jesus's Sermon on
• 48:58
  Speaker 1: the Mount is a great sermon, and when preachers like
• 49:03
  Speaker 1: I deal with it. We always feel like we may
• 49:09
  Speaker 1: have missed something or said more than we should have.
• 49:14
  Speaker 1: But before God, I believe that's what he is teaching.
• 49:18
  Speaker 1: Let's about together, just quietly, before the Lord. I would
• 49:26
  Speaker 1: like for you to examine your heart today. A sermon
• 49:31
  Speaker 1: that's lasted this long has said a lot of things,
• 49:34
  Speaker 1: one thing to one person and something altogether different to
• 49:37
  Speaker 1: someone else. Some of you reflect anger on your faces.
• 49:41
  Speaker 1: That's between you and the Lord. I understand. I've felt
• 49:45
  Speaker 1: angry when I've heard things before. Some of you reflect shame.
• 49:49
  Speaker 1: Some of you reflect pleasure and appreciation. Some of you
• 49:54
  Speaker 1: look like you're in turmoil, confused. I do not judge you.
• 50:01
  Speaker 1: I simply remind you that, as a child of God,
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  Speaker 1: you must come to terms with your life before him.
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  Speaker 1: There's not a thing I would retract, as God knows
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  Speaker 1: my heart. This is the truth. According to Matthew five,
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  Speaker 1: are you really right before him? Or is he getting
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  Speaker 1: some of the leftovers of your life? Is he really first?
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  Speaker 1: Do you really want to glorify him? You really want
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  Speaker 1: to please him? Are you really listening first and foremost
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  Speaker 1: to his word? Not only, but first and foremost? Or
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  Speaker 1: has the word of someone else, kind of taken the
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  Speaker 1: place of the word of God, maybe some fine author
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  Speaker 1: or some excellent counselor, or some preacher or some family member.
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  Speaker 1: Do you know that Christ really lives within you? You
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  Speaker 1: died right now, you know that you'd be with Him
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  Speaker 1: in heaven. Your being with Him in heaven has nothing
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  Speaker 1: to do with divorce, has nothing to do with vows,
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  Speaker 1: has everything to do with the Cross. I invite you
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  Speaker 1: to the place of the Cross, where sins are forever
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  Speaker 1: washed away. Come to him today. Father, thank you for
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  Speaker 1: your word that lives and abides forever. Help us to
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  Speaker 1: hear what you have said and to adjust our lives accordingly.
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  Speaker 1: I pray for that for myself more than any person
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  Speaker 1: I will ever Minister to keep bringing the truth to
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  Speaker 1: my attention, keep rebuking me with error, keep reproving me
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  Speaker 1: through lessons in life. And Lord, I promise to keep listening.
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  Speaker 1: I promise to stay open. You have my word and
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  Speaker 1: the word of many of us. Today. Father, we're listening
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  Speaker 1: to you. Minister to us and direct us through the
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  Speaker 1: troubled waters of our lives. Through the precepts and principles
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  Speaker 1: of your word and the unseen presence of your spirit
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  Speaker 1: for Jesus' sake. Amen. The preceding message, Simple Instructions on
• 52:49
  Speaker 1: Serious Issues, was copyrighted in nineteen eighty eight, and the
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  Speaker 1: sound recording was copyrighted in twenty fourteen by Charles R. Swindall, Inc.
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  Speaker 1: All rights are reserved worldwide