The Heart Is The Matter

Transcript

GRM 1030
5/17/2009
The Heart Is the Matter
Matthew 5:21-32, 15:18-20
Gil Rugh


We're in Matthew 5 in your Bibles. We're studying the Sermon on the Mount, so named because Jesus gave it on a mountain side. Matthew 5-7 is the Sermon on the Mount given to prepare the nation for the kingdom that the Messiah was offering. Jesus has begun His public ministry, He's been introduced to the nation, Israel. Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Been baptized by John, the Spirit of God has come upon Him like a dove, anointing as the Messiah. The Messianic ministry has begun. Jesus has been proclaiming, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand; prepare your heart for the kingdom. Because what will happen as the Old Testament prophets had announced and prophesied, when the Messiah comes to set up His kingdom there will be a judgment, sifting out the ungodly from the godly, the saved from the unsaved, the redeemed from the unredeemed. The unsaved will be judged and sentenced to hell, the saved will go into the kingdom. So when Jesus announces as John the Baptist did, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand, they are announcing the imminent arrival of the kingdom because the king is present on earth, offering the kingdom to the nation Israel.

What Jesus is doing in Matthew 5-7 in this Sermon is basically describing those who will be part of the kingdom. Or another way to put it, He is saying what is required for a person to be part of the kingdom. In chapter 5 verse 20 He said, for I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Then He is going to give six illustrations or examples of what He means by a righteousness that supersedes the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees. Then He'll conclude that section in chapter 5 verse 48 saying, therefore you are to be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect. That is what is required to go into the kingdom—a righteousness that supersedes the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, who tried to keep the Ten Commandments, the Mosaic Law as scrupulously as they could. That's not enough. What God requires is perfection, you must be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect. The problem is we are sinners.

Come back to Jeremiah 17:9, the heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick, sick with sin. It is spiritually sick, it is corrupted, it is defiled. Who can understand it? I the Lord search the heart, I test the mind to give to each man according to his ways, according to the results of his deeds. Now you'll note He is testing the heart, He is examining the heart and the mind, the inner person in His judgment. And it will be a just judgment because it will include the motive of the heart as well as the action that is carried out. Our difficulty is the heart is deceitful, it is desperately sick, and yet God says we must be perfect as He is perfect.

Back to Isaiah 1:18, come now and let us reason together, says the Lord. Though your sins are as scarlet, they will be white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool. Here God says to a people who are defiled by their sin, who are stained with sin within, you can be cleansed and clean in My sight. You can be perfect as I am perfect, you can have a greater righteousness than man can attain by his efforts. You can have My righteousness, but it is on His terms, through His salvation. That's what the Old Testament is preparing the Jews for in anticipation of the coming of the Messiah, so that when John the Baptist came on the scene and said repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand, when Jesus began His ministry and said repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand, you with defiled hearts and minds, turn from your sin and place your faith in God alone so that you can be washed clean and made white as snow.

Come over to Matthew 15:18. Jesus is speaking, the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart. The heart refers to what is within. Those defile the man. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slander. These are the things which defile the man. You see it is that heart which is deceitful and desperately wicked, it is the source of all kinds of sin and sinful behavior. Keep these things in mind when we look through the section we're going to be looking at in chapter 5. Where does murder come from? The heart. Adultery, fornication? The heart. False witness, slander? The heart. Theft? The heart. The problem is the heart but men always want to move it to external. We see the manifestations of the sinful heart in sinful behavior and we think, if we stop sinful behavior we'll correct the problem. If we become religious, if we go to church, if we get baptized, take communion, be good, then God will be pleased. You understand we haven't touched the heart, it is superficial.

Come over to Matthew 23. Speaking to the most religious people of His day, the people who tried their hardest to conform their behavior to what God required with the 613 commandments of the Mosaic Law—the scribes and the Pharisees. Pick up with verse 13, woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. And that is a repeated refrain. Verse 14, woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. Verse 15, woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. Verse 16, verse 23, verse 25. Verse 27, woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you are like white washed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful but inside they are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men but inwardly you are full hypocrisy and lawlessness. You see God is looking into the heart. People do their best to clean themselves up externally as the scribes and Pharisees have done. They were very religious, very righteous in their own sense. But to appearance, these are good people, religious people. God looks into the heart, I the Lord test the heart. What did He see? Defiled, sinful beings. Look good on the outside, corrupted on the inside. This is the hardest thing for people to grasp today. I go to church, I've been a good person. Again, I was baptized, maybe right here, I give my money, I take communion, I try to be a good husband, a good wife. Why would God not accept me? Because He is looking at your heart and it is deceitful and desperately wicked. We look at the Pharisees and scribes and say, at least they are good, moral people. We need those in this day. They needed them in that day. The corruption and open decadence, revolting. And here are the good moral people and Jesus says, you are hypocrites. Inside you are like a grave filled with dead men's bones.

So when you come back to Matthew 5 and Jesus says in verse 20, your righteousness must surpass the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees or you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Remember Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3, you must be born again or you will never see the kingdom, you won't be part of it. That's the point. You will be sentenced to hell before the kingdom is established. You won't go in, you'll be excluded.

Now what He does beginning with verse 21 as we've noted in our previous study is give six illustrations of what He means about having a greater righteousness than the scribes and Pharisees, a righteousness that goes beyond external behavior, a righteousness of the heart. Until the sin of the heart has been dealt with, you've done nothing but put on a good front. That's what the illustrations show. He's going to use the Mosaic Law which the Jews claim to believe, the Pharisees and the scribes were the experts in the Mosaic Law. He's not going to undo the Mosaic Law. The Mosaic Law never was a way of salvation because the Mosaic Law couldn't change and cleanse a heart. The only way your heart can be cleansed is by recognizing you are a sinner and placing your faith in the provision that God made for you. Now as a result of that faith the Jews were to do what God told them, which involved obedience to the Mosaic Law. But trying to keep the Mosaic Law when your heart hasn't been cleansed by faith is worthless. The same as going to church today, being religious, trying to be good. It is worthless unless your heart has been cleansed by faith and the provision God has made for us.

So six examples. They are marked out by the statements as we have already noted so we won't go through all six again, we'll take them as they come. But look at the pattern. Verse 21 starts out, you have heard; then verse 22 says, but I say to you. Down in verse 27, you have heard; verse 28, but I say to you. Six times that is repeated through here and He is addressing the issue of the scribes and Pharisees.

Let's pick up with verse 21, you have heard that the ancients were told, the old-timers, back in bygone days of Old Testament times. You shall not commit murder, and that is one of the Ten Commandments, thou shalt not kill. And whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court. In various times under the Mosaic Law there were instructions given. If somebody did commit murder, how they were to be tried, how the sentence was to be carried out and so on. So nothing wrong with that, that is true. But that's not the end of the matter. Just because you don't commit murder doesn't mean you are not a murderer in God's sight. Remember Matthew 15, what did Jesus say? Where does murder come from? Out of the heart.

So in verse 22 Jesus said, but I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court and whoever says to his brother, you good for nothing shall be guilty before the supreme court, and whoever says you fool shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell. Serious matters here. Jesus picks out certain sins here that are recognized by all. And any religious person in Israel would acknowledge these are things you shouldn't do. Murder. I mean if we were going to list what are some of the worst sins, well murder has to be up there, doesn't it? So Jesus starts with this. You don't commit murder. But are you angry with your brother, and there is an emphasis on brother in this section, it is mentioned twice in verse 22—angry with his brother, whoever says to his brother; down in verse 23, there remember that your brother; then again in verse 24, be reconciled to your brother. His focus here is on fellow Israelites, fellow Jews. By application for us today it would be fellow believers in the current application of it to us. Is angry with his brother, who calls him Racca. It's an Aramaic word, not a Greek word, not a Hebrew word. It means empty headed, we have it translated good for nothing. Or you fool, moron. You are worthless. Anger and the expressions of it are reflecting an attitude toward that person, they are worthless, they are of no value. Angry with them. You know how that builds, pretty soon, they don't deserve to live, I'd be happy if they got killed. And you see we progress and pretty soon we have many examples where people take it into their own hands and they kill someone. But what if you don't? Jesus said you are still guilty because God is looking at the heart and He sees the heart of a murderer, if it hasn't been carried out. Because the desire is there, the attitude is there. And God is judging the condition of the heart as well as the external action.

Come over to I John, the Apostle John writes this much later than when Christ is speaking here, still during the lifetime of John but after Christ has been crucified and so on. He writes instructions to believers. Look at verse 10, by this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious. Anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, the one who does not love his brother is not of God, either. For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another, not as Cain. Remember Cain and Abel, sons of Adam and Eve? And Cain rose up and killed his brother, Abel. Not as Cain who was of the evil one. He was a child of the devil, he slew his brother. For what reason did he slay him? Because his deeds were evil and his brother's were righteous. And that antagonized him, irritated him, made him seethe with anger and resentment against his brother that led to murder. So what does verse 15 say? Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. So a person hating a fellow believer. That happens in the church, churches are noted for these kinds of things sadly. We sit, we come, we think we worship, but I can't stand him, I wouldn't want to sit in their section. I hope I don't have to pass him in the hall, I despise him. And yet you claim to have eternal life? You'll note what the scripture says, no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. Well I never killed anybody. Well let's read the first part of the verse—everyone who hates his brother is a murderer. God sees murder as just the result of hate in the heart. So what does He see in the heart? He really sees a murderer. Maybe hasn't carried it out but the condition of the heart is the same as one who does. They are both murderers.

So you are angry, hate your brother and you express the fact that you think he is worthless, of no value. You are in serious trouble. Don't think you are going to the kingdom just because you don't kill someone. Now be careful, don't say, I might as well kill him. I'm going to get blamed for it anyway, I'll get the joy of doing him in.

Go to James 1. We see the pattern here. Verse 13, let no one say when he is tempted, I am being tempted by God, for God cannot be tempted by evil and He does not tempt anyone. So you never were lured into your sin by God. I've heard people say, well I think God must have wanted me to do that. He never wants you to sin, He never leads you to sin, He never encourages you to sin. But each one is tempted when he is carried away by and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived he gives birth to sin, and when sin is accomplished it brings forth death. There is a pattern in sin and every step in sin we take puts us in a worse condition. So it's true I can be a murderer in my heart, but then to take the next step and put it into action puts me in a more serious condition. But God is evaluating the heart, He looks and sees the desire was there, the hate was there, the despising of that fellow believer was there, the viewing of them as worthless. You have the heart of a murderer and I must judge the heart. We want to be careful here that we see what Jesus is doing. He is looking at the true condition.

Come back to Matthew 5. People say, why wouldn't God accept me? I never did anything that bad, I never killed anybody. Did you ever hate anybody? Did you ever have that attitude to despise someone and view them as worthless? Well, everybody gets angry. Now there is certain acceptable anger. Interesting, Jesus doesn't elaborate, He gives these concise, direct statements. Over in Ephesians 4:26 we'll be commanded, be angry and sin not. There is a right kind of anger, an acceptable kind of anger, but not the anger that despises a person and views them as worthless. That puts us in the class of murderers.

He goes on to further illustrate this first example in verse 23. Therefore, if you are presenting your offering at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother and then come and present your offering. The brother here again is a fellow Jew, but is application for us as fellow believers. If you're going to come to church, you're going to worship, wait a minute there is something between my brother and me. He has something against me. I first have to make that right. For the Jew sacrifices were important. Well this fellow Jew has something against me. That's all right, I'm going to go do my sacrifice and his problem is his problem. No, it's my problem. If I've done something I want to go and get reconciled to him. How many people go to church and they are upset with another believer or other believers, but they think they go through worship. They didn't worship, God is looking at their heart. You see the condition here, they are unacceptable to God, their worship is unacceptable. There is something more important than worship—make it right, get it right. Now again it may not be humanly possible for you to make it right because there are two people involved here, the offended and you. But to the best of your ability you take that initiative, then you come and present your offering. If that were the case some of us might have to be busy through the week, before we came to worship the Lord. Right? It becomes a mockery, hypocrisy. God is looking at our heart and we're sitting here looking like we are here to worship. And we really have an offense with someone else, another believer that we are not willing to deal with. God is looking at your heart and saying your worship is worthless. First get that settled, again, as much as possible. If the person is unwilling to be reconciled you can't do anything about that, but you can do everything you can to make it correct.

Verse 25, second example of this point. Make friends quickly with your opponent at law while you are with him on the way so that your opponent may not hand you over to the judge and the judge to the officer and you be thrown into prison. Truly I say to you, you will not come out of there until you have paid the last cent. You know in both of these examples it would seem that the person is guilty of having done something to offend the brother. Because in verse 23, you remember your brother has something against you, you have wronged him. Here your opponent, somebody beyond the brother now. You obviously are guilty of having done wrong because verse 26 says, truly I say to you, you will not come out of there until you have paid the last cent. You have incurred an obligation against them and you haven't properly fulfilled it. Well you ought go to court over it, go make it right; don't ignore it, don't hide from it, make it right. That's the point. You are guilty. By ignoring it, by trying to cover it up doesn't excuse it. So the point here is you recognize the importance of this other person and your responsibility and accountability to do right. You know what happens is, we don't do it so we begin to dislike them. We have to make it right, everything we can do to make it right. My attitude toward him must be correct. Let’s stop and think, do you have the wrong attitude toward? Well then how can I worship God until I have made that right.

So you see what Jesus has done, He has gone into the heart. Here are people coming with their offering, they look so good, so religious, so spiritual. He says you ought to leave your offering, the Jew here, and go get that right. Then come and make the offering. Well then, I say, I won’t make the offering. Then you won't be acceptable to God. That's the attitude of a person who doesn't care what God says. But unless the heart is right, you can't be acceptable to God.

That's the first example, you've heard that you shouldn't commit murder. I tell you there can be murder in the heart. That has to be dealt with.

Second example in verse 27. You have heard that it was said, you shall not commit adultery. Again that is a true statement. Some people as they are evaluating the Sermon on the Mount say, Jesus is talking about the abuses of the Jews of the Law. Well some of that may be involved, but He is talking about what the Law said. The abuses they were guilty of was stopping with just external activity. And again, it's not so hard to understand. People think that if they go to church, that will make them acceptable before God. The Jews thought if they tried to keep the Law, that would make them acceptable before God. People think if they get baptized that will make them acceptable before God. I mean, it is external things, but that's not so.

So here, you have heard it said that you should not commit adultery. That's true, it's one of the Ten Commandments, part of the Law. You shall not commit adultery. Jesus is not going to change that at all, anymore than He changed the command, you shall not kill. But you understand there is a heart issue that has to be dealt with here. What did He say in chapter 15? Where does adultery come from? The heart. So until you've dealt with the adultery of the heart, you haven't dealt with the issue. I pride myself, I”m a righteous man. I've never committed murder, I've never committed adultery. Why wouldn't God accept me? Because that's just whitewashing a tomb. On the inside it is filled with dead men's bones and the Jews could understand that meant you were totally corrupted and defiled because as a Jew all you had to do was touch a dead body and you were defiled and prevented from your religious activity until that was corrected.

You shall not commit adultery, but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. The lust of the heart is adultery. Pure and simple. He's not changing the commandment, He's not adding something that wasn't there originally because the condition was always the condition of the heart. So you understand the Mosaic Law, remember we looked at Deuteronomy 30, there God said He needed to put a new heart in them. That's what He promised with the new covenant, the provision there would be for the new heart. He has always required a new heart. External activity alone, that's why Isaiah 1 says, don't bring these sacrifices anymore, they are revolting to Me. But he did say, come now and let us reason together, says the Lord. Though your sins, as we read in Isaiah 1. If you read the first part of Isaiah 1 He'd be telling them, don't bring those sacrifices anymore. You are trampling My courts, it's an act of sacrilege for you to come and pretend to worship Me in your sinful condition, unrepentant condition.

So here Jesus is saying, yes, the commandment was to not commit adultery. But I want to tell you that if you commit adultery in your heart, you looked and lust and you carry out the action in your heart, you are an adulterer, even though you never did it externally. He has committed adultery with her in his heart. Now this isn't the natural appreciation, there is a very beautiful woman or a very handsome man. That's one thing. But now if you sit and look at that woman and all of a sudden in your mind you are carrying out sexual activity, you've just become an adulterer in your heart. You don't have the courage to do it physically, but you have the desire in your heart to do it. Right? What's God looking at? He's looking at the heart. What does He see going on in that heart? Adultery. But we parade around, I thank you, Lord, that I am not a sinner like other men. I never committed murder, I wouldn't commit adultery. But God is looking at the heart and says, what do I see? Lust, adultery.

Now again that doesn't follow through. I've already done it in my heart, I might as well get the satisfaction of indulging. No, because every step of sin moves you along. You don't say, I sinned here, therefore the next step in sin will be all right. You understand you're on the path to death. So that kind of excuse, Jesus doesn't even mention it. It's so obvious, as though you are going to pull something over God. You've already said I'm guilty in my heart, I might as well just throw myself into it. Well you are throwing yourself into judgment, condemnation. That's the attitude of an unregenerate person. The point is, where does adultery begin? Matthew 15, it begins in the heart.

So He goes on now in verses 29-30 to give two examples of how we must deal with sin. This is in the context of what He is talking about, the adultery and the condition of the heart. Remove all excuses. If your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out, throw it from you. It is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body than for the whole body to be thrown into hell. If your right hand makes you stumble, cut it off, throw it from you. It is better for you to lost one of the parts of your body than for the whole body to go into hell. Now if you are reading the context of what Jesus has said up to this point, you know He is not saying the solution to the problem of lust is get rid of your eye. Or get rid of your hand, therefore you won't be able to touch another woman. Because the point He is making is the problem is a heart problem. And you know what? You could be blind and still have lustful, sinful thoughts. Right? The point is the hyperbole here drives home the point—don't make excuses for your sin. There are no excuses, deal with it. He'll use the same examples over in Matthew 18:8-9, removing your right eye, cutting off your right hand. That extreme example to show you don't stop short, do what you have to do but cutting off the physical part of your body wouldn't help because it's a heart problem. It's what is going on in the heart. The point is deal with it, stop making excuses for your sin. We are always going to work on dealing with our sin. No, we stop our sin. That's the point. Deal with it, tear our that eye, cut off that hand. It's a way of saying do whatever it takes to deal with the sin, get it done.

But you've misunderstood the whole point of the Sermon on the Mount if you think removing a physical part of the body will correct the problem because the problem is in the heart, which is deceitful and desperately wicked. That's where adultery starts. Obviously you would cut off your right hand and still be guilty of adultery. You could pluck out your right eye and be lusting with your left eye in your heart. I mean, put it in the context of what He is saying.

No excuses for sin. We don't take it this way. You know there are always two options, no third but we like to make a third. People are in sin, we're using adultery, they are in an adulterous relationship. I'm a Christian but I can't help it. I say you're a liar. How do you know I'm a liar? You just said two things, you said you're a Christian and you can't help it. You are either lying, you are not a Christian, or you are a Christian and you're lying because you say you can't help it. There are no excuses. We say, I can't help it. Yes, you can, unless you are not a believer and then you are a slave to your sin and controlled by you sin and doing the will of your father the devil. And that's not surprising. You're right, you can't help it. You are controlled and dominated by your sin. No, I know I'm a Christian. Well then you can help it. We make excuses. That's what Jesus is dealing with. There are no excuses here, it has to be dealt with. Sin, I don't work my way out of sin, I stop it today; I don't stop it this afternoon, I stop it this morning. I mean we want to understand what Jesus is saying here about sin. We have to deal with the heart. Where does adultery start? In the heart. What happens? We find a person, I want, I love them,............. Where does that come from? The heart. Then what happens? Over time something happens in my heart. Now what? Drawn away. Where did it start? My heart, what's going on in my heart or my mind. Sometimes I talk to people who are going through marriage problems and they're thinking of divorce where we are going next. And I say, isn't there anything you liked about this person? Why would you have married a person that you so dislike? I mean everything about this person gets on your nerves and you don't want to be around him. Why did you marry him? Well, he wasn't like that when I married him. You know what they are really saying, I didn't think about him like this when I married him. Where did it go? My mind. Now I've found a person I really love. What has happened? My heart, it's going on in the heart. Deal with it. That's His point. Make no excuses and don't think any excuse gets by because He just says, tear out the eye, cut off the hand. But really what you have to deal with is the heart, that's the point of the hyperbole here.

The third example or illustration He's giving to show your righteousness must supersede the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees is divorce. Verse 31, it was said, whoever sends his wife away, let him give her a certificate of divorce. But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife except for the reason of unchastity makes her commit adultery. And whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery. Some people say He is really overruling the Mosaic Law here. The Law does say, whoever sends his wife away, let him give her a certificate of divorce.

As you are aware there were two major camps in Israel at this time centered around two major rabbis, the one being very conservative and the one being very liberal. The conservative view of course limited divorce to immorality. The liberal, you could get divorced for any reason. We have that today, we have conservatives, we have liberals. They had the group that said it's a no fault divorce, just divorce, you can get divorced for any reason. If your wife made dinner you didn't like you could declare yourself divorced. If you just didn't enjoy her anymore, you could be divorced, and so on.

So Jesus is saying here, the Old Testament said if you are going to divorce your wife, you give her a certificate of divorce. I'm telling you if you get divorced for any reason except fornication, immorality, then you are in an adulterous situation.

Well we ought to go back and see what the Old Testament said. Let's go to Deuteronomy 24. And it's interesting, this clear instruction on divorce, and it's the only clear instruction like this on divorce in the Law, isn't really as much about divorce as it is to a related problem. If you divorce our wife and she goes and marries another man and the other man she marries divorces her or he dies, can you return and get remarried to your previous husband. Absolutely not. So you'll note the whole sentence goes on for the first four verses. When a man takes a wife and marries her and it happens that she find no favor in his eyes, now note this next statement, because he has found some indecency in her. Not just for any reason. She finds no favor in his sight, and that's where the liberal party stops. So if you find no favor in my sight I divorce you. But the reason she finds no favor in his eyes is because he has found some indecency in her. So the Mosaic Law just didn't give the right of divorce for a willy nilly reason that a man had. I mean, it was for some indecency. And even there, he writes her a certificate of divorce, pus it in her hand and sends her out from his house. She leaves his house and goes and becomes another man's wife. Then her former husband who sent her away is not allowed to take her again to be his wife since she has been defiled. That is an abomination before the Lord, you shall not bring sin on the land which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance.

So you see what the point is in the context here. There is no going back to the previous spouse. That certificate of divorce indicated that. But the certificate of divorce was to be given only because there had been some indecency. Now when Jesus addresses this back in Matthew 5 He says, I say to you, whoever divorces his wife except for the reason of unchastity, fornication. Now under the Mosaic Law when it said some indecency, that did not include adultery because you didn't give a certificate of divorce for adultery. The penalty for adultery was stoning. So this would be some other kind, I take it a sexual unfaithfulness. We have to be careful. Some people try to do away with any allowance for divorce in the Bible. I think they do injustice to marriage. Marriage is to be held in honor by all, and adulterers and fornicators God will judge because they have violated the sanctity of the marriage bond which God has established. We're not saying there has to be divorce when there has been marital unfaithfulness of one kind or another. But it does allow for that, it is of that level of seriousness. And that's the only reason. So in that sense Jesus hasn't changed the Law, He has just made clear what the intention of the Law is. And where does this desire for divorce come from? The heart, right? Unless we're dealing with some cause here of fornication and in this case fornication would be broad enough to include adultery. But they would understand here that adultery is its own issue and fornication a kind of sexual infidelity. But other than that there is no cause for divorce.

Why did they get divorced? I don't like them anymore, I don't enjoy them anymore, I've found someone else, I've ................ We've already dealt with the sexual sin, that comes from the heart. Where does the desire to divorce a person you've committed yourself to for life, been bound together by God for life, where does that come from? The heart. I mean, there was at one time in my heart and mind this was the person. That's why I married them. Something has changed in my heart and mind. Well, I'm responsible for that. A prominent couple that just got married was in one of the sports magazines. They both left their current marriage partners and married each other. And the lady said, you can't control your heart. That was the reason for leaving her husband to marry this guy, why he had to leave his wife to marry her. You can't control your heart. Well you understand, God says you must control your heart because if you divorce your spouse for any reason but sexual unfaithfulness of one kind or another you are guilty before God.

Turn over to Matthew 19. This matter is not over. Isn't it interesting? Such an explosive issue, and it was in Jesus' day, He deals with in such a concise way and moves on. We say what about this, what about that? Here is what He says. Look at Matthew 19, it comes up, the scribes and Pharisees again. Verse 3, some scribes came to Jesus testing Him, asking Him, is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason at all? You'll note what they are trying to do, put Him on the horns of a dilemma. You have Shimmei and you have Hillel, the two rabbis that their teaching became the two factions. Shimmei was the conservative, Hillel was the liberal. Now however He answers it, He's going to alienate one party or the other. Jesus doesn't take sides on the party, He said, let's go find out what the scripture says. And He really rebukes these Pharisees who pride themselves in being scriptural experts, experts in the Law. He says, have you not read? Now that's a slap in the face for a Pharisee. What do you mean, have I not read, I'm an expert in the Law. Well then why do you ask such a dumb question? Have you not read? He who created them from the beginning made them male and female. Well back in Genesis 2. And for this reason, furthermore in Genesis 2, a man shall leave his father and mother, be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. Have you ever read that? Well, of course. So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together let no man separate. What's the problem? God has done it.

We have a lot of discussion going on now about homosexual marriage. You understand biblically there is no such thing. Now our court may say yes, but you know God's view hasn't changed. How do I know? Have you not read? What did He make in the beginning? One male, one female. And then He said for this reason a man shall leave his father and mother, shall cleave to his wife. The two shall become one flesh. Verse 6, what God has joined together. Well then why did Moses command to give her a certificate of divorce and send her away? Because of your hardness of heart Moses permitted you. You know they want to make it a command, you have to. There can be forgiveness and go on. But there is the allowance, there is the permission. Because of the hardness of the heart divorce the wife, send your wife away. From the beginning it has not been this way. So whoever divorces his wife except for fornication, immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery. You would think the disciples here, they are the standards here. You realize how pervasive the thinking has become.

The disciples said to Him, if the relationship of the man with his wife is like this, it is better not to marry. And that's ......... You know we really look up to these giants of the faith, don't we. If you're telling me when I marry that woman I'm stuck with her for life, I'd rather stay single. This is Peter, James, John, Matthew. You see the thinking had come to be so pervasive, I don't know if I want to live with her forever. But Jesus said that's the way it is, there is an allowance—sexual unfaithfulness. The marriage bond is serious before God and sexual violation of that marriage bond is a very, very serious matter. You understand God said adulterers and fornicators He will judge. Instead of running around thinking, everybody thinks it's all right, it's acceptable today, it's okay. It's not okay with the only One who matters. You understand God's view is still the same. And you understand that no adulterers and fornicators will be part of the kingdom. I mean, these are clear matters.

Turn over to I Corinthians 6:9, do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? What do we mean by the unrighteous? Do not be deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, covetous, drunkards, revilers, swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. I mean, could God be any clearer? And such were some of you. The beautiful thing is people going into the kingdom are not going into the kingdom because they are better people. They are just as vile as anyone else. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the spirit of our God. So down in verse 18, flee immorality. Verse 19, do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God. That you are not your own, you've been bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body. This is a serious matter. We're talking about divorce, the reason for divorce, immorality is a reason, sexual infidelity of any kind permits for divorce. Does it require it? There may be repentance, there may be forgiveness, but it does allow for divorce. Marriage is a serious relationship joined by God. You understand any other divorce makes you party to adultery. Well I divorced them, they didn't have to remarry someone else. But you know what? Jesus said in Matthew 5 if you cause your wife to commit adultery when you divorce her, you are accountable for this with the unbiblical divorce. We do not escape our responsibility for our sin.

You say what do I do? I'm sitting here now in my tenth marriage. The Lord picks us up where we are, I can't go back and undo what I did and you can't go back and undo what you did. I take it that's true in marriage and divorce. I can only pick up where I am with the Lord. May have been a murder, I can't go back and undo the murder. I may have been an adulterer, I can't go back and undo the adultery. The Lord picks me up. But be very, very careful about thinking we can put God in a box and I'll go ahead and sin and get what I want, then I'll repent and you'll have to forgive me. We never put God in that kind of box. He never says, what am I going to do? If you've sinned, repent, but understand there are consequences that are ongoing. And a person who has that kind of attitude is revealing a heart that has never been cleansed. To think that I would have that kind of attitude toward the living God if I really belong to Him—I'm saved and I know God will forgive me so I go ahead and do it. Be not deceived, God is not mocked.

So serious matter. What is He saying? Why does He bring up marriage and divorce here? How does that have to do with the heart? Because where does divorce come from? It comes from the heart, right? I mean, why did you marry them, why didn't you marry someone else? Because I liked this person, in my heart I was drawn to them, I wanted them to be my spouse. That's right, it starts in the heart. That's why we want to keep our hearts warm all the time toward our spouse, not to allow distance to develop. Now all of a sudden my heart is not where it was, my mind is not where it was. I'm committed to this person and this relationship no matter what. Sexual unfaithfulness provides an occasion where the marriage will have to be ended, but that is serious, serious business because God has joined us together.

So the heart is the matter. So you deal with the heart, don't run around telling unregenerate people that they shouldn't be getting a divorce, they shouldn't be committing adultery. They shouldn't. I just use that as an example of your sin. But you understand if you've never been divorced, you've never committed adultery, you've never committed murder, you still are not acceptable to God because your heart is deceitful and desperately wicked above all things. You are not righteous, I'm not righteous. God has to come in and cleanse us within, give us a new heart, a new mind, make us a new person. If any man be in Christ he is a new creature, a new creation. Old things have passed away, behold new things have come. That's what God does in His salvation.

We're not out preaching a message, clean up your life. We preach a message, allow God to clean up your heart by recognizing your sin, recognizing His Son is the Savior, turn from your sin, place your faith in His Son who died and was raised from the dead and who will cleanse you from within and make you new. Now your behavior will change because you have a new heart and a new mind.

Let's pray together. Thank you, Lord, for your Word. How easily we are drawn to the externals which are important. They reveal what we are internally. Lord, may each of us be honest before you. You know the condition of our hearts, we know if we are but whitewashed tombs—look clean on the outside but are filled with defilement on the inside. It is easy for us to be smug, be self-confident, delude ourselves into thinking we are good people. Lord, may your Spirit bring conviction so we ourselves as we are. May we as your people understand the importance of holiness and godliness in every area of life. Use as a testimony for yourself in these days. We pray in Christ's name, amen.