Good morning. I'm going to make
a few announcements first. They have found that his father
is doing much better, much better. certainly seems to have answered
her prayers but uh he might possibly get to go home in the middle
of next week we uh spoke with him on the phone the day before
yesterday up to that point he was very very bad and uh but
he answered the phone and it was he sounded like his old self
it's wonderful to hear him uh sounding like that Brother Todd Nyberg had those
tests run a few days ago and received about the best report
that he could have received. He does indeed have cancer of
the throat. However, the doctor that he saw,
who is probably the leading throat specialist in the country, Cleveland
Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio, The doctor was very, very optimistic
about it, so much so that he was going to put the surgery
off for a while. But he said, humanly speaking,
he said he did not see that the cancer would be a great problem. However, for Todd's past problems,
health, history, Being as it is, he's had many, many complications. As you know, he has Hodgkin's
disease, which is another form of cancer, years ago. And he's
had several operations to remove his spleen and on and on it goes. He told me he spent... How many
months was it? Four months in the hospital. One time it was six to eight
weeks straight and he did not go home. At any rate, for that
reason, his body has been ravaged and damaged, and the surgeon
wants to run many, many more tests in order to ascertain how
best to treat him. He'll just about have to be a
doctor to understand where he's coming from. But anyway, he received
as good a report as he could. Todd and Lynn are both very relieved. And they're going to put off
the surgery until September. So we'll continue to remember
him in prayer. Brother William Hodges did not
have tests run that he said were going to happen, which is a good
report. Also, they told him that they
want him to take some medication for a while, and the regulated
blood, and then they'll run some more tests. That was good, we
did not receive bad news on that. He said Gladys' mother, this
is what I was doing before, let's remember her, she's only 82.
I said only? In light of my mother being at
that age now, I don't think of her as being too old. Kelly Pendridge's
father, I've got to remember him. It's difficult to remember
everybody when you're praying, you know, your mind goes blank. But the Lord knows. And others
of you have parents that are not well. Brother John goes to
speak to his mother in Baltimore all the time. She's healthy. She's 95. And no matter what
age they reach, it's your parents, you know. You don't want to part
with them. You don't want to see them suffer,
certainly. But let's remember all of these in prayer, even
though we may not remember to call your name. Garnet and another. Okay, let's ask the Lord's blessing. Our Heavenly Father, we thank
you for this wonderful day. Thank you for the sunshine, fresh
air, the green grass, food we eat, water. that sustains our
bodies, our homes and families and all things, Lord. Every good
and perfect gift comes down from the Father of life, in whom there's
no variableness or shadow of turning, because you have promised
to provide for your people always. You're true. You have been true
and will yet be true, we promise. We thank you. We give you the
honor, glory, praise of all things, everything we have in receipt
of your hands. And we have so much and we thank
you. Thank you for good health. Thank you for making us be in
our right minds. Thank you for bringing us here
today to hear a joyful sound to hear the gospel, to hear your
word, which is both joyful and yet convicted. We need both.
We need our Heavenly Father to both encourage and rebuke us,
comfort and chase us. If we'd be without it, we're
bastards. So we come to hear your word,
hear what we need to hear, all of it. Pray that you'd send your
Holy Spirit to anoint the speaker and hearer alike. They need the
same spirit to preach or hear. Pray for the teachers downstairs,
that you would bless them. And bless our children, Lord.
Open their ears and their hearts. Deliver them from this present
evil world. Restrain them. And with hope
and praise, according to your will, you would reveal yourself
to them in due time. We pray for these we've mentioned.
We give you thanks for answered prayer. We give you all the honor
and glory. No means are used. Men and hospitals
and so forth are used, yet thou art the first cause of all things. We give you all the honor and
glory. Thou art the Lord that healeth us. And we thank you
for hearing us and raising up some. We continue to ask your
healing hand upon others. Pray for Garnet. And these that
we've mentioned, Lord, we pray for them. Brother Kelly's father,
we ask that you have mercy upon him. Others, Gladys' mother,
thank you for everything. Now, forgive us of our sins,
and we want to be like Christ. Make us willing by your power
to be like him. That's in his name we pray, amen. Matthew chapter five. Matthew
five, as you know, we have been studying through the gospel of
Matthew, but we have reserved it generally for Wednesday night. But this morning's subject I
thought best to use at this time. The Lord is dealing with the
law that he wrote. Now remember, he's the one that
wrote this law. When he says, thou hast heard
it said of them of old time, thou shalt not. Well, he's the
one that wrote that. Scripture says in Isaiah 42 that
when the servant of God shall come, who is Christ, he will
magnify the law. That means make it large. and
blow it up so that you can see it more clearly. And He will
make it honorable. He will magnify the law so that
we will really see what it's saying. And He will make it honorable. He will do it Himself. And our Lord did that. He's doing
that. And the Lord makes no allowances
for breaking His law. Brother Dale, dealt with this,
I know, in chapter 5, verse 19. This is how he begins before
he begins to magnify the law. You see, verse 19, he says, Whosoever
therefore shall break one of these least commandments and
shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom
of heaven. So the Lord is not making any allowance whatsoever
for the breaking of any law of His. Scripture says, the law
is good, the commandment is holy. David said, I love thy law. Now, the Lord is talking about
here in these verses that we're going to deal with, verses 27
through 30. He's talking about adultery and
adultery. While it may be a difficult subject
to hear, it is not difficult to understand what the Lord is
saying here, very much. Let's read it, verses 27 through
30. You have heard it, that it was
said by them of old time, thou shalt not commit adultery. Now remember, the Lord is the
one that said that, wrote that. But I say unto you, and he's
magnifying it, telling us, blowing it up, that whosoever looketh
on a woman or man, you know that this lies to women looking at men. Whosoever
looketh on a woman or a man to lust after her or him, hath committed
adultery with her or him already in his heart. Read on. And if thy right eye offend thee,
or cause thee to offend, that is, offend someone else, if thy
right eye offend or cause to offend, pluck it out. and cast
it from the. It is profitable for the at one
of our membership parish and not that the whole body should
be cast into hell. And if I write him and the. Cut it off and cast it from the. Possible for the one of our members
should perish and not that the whole body should be cast into
hell. Now We give our children dire
warnings concerning the consequences of their actions. Do we not?
Certainly we do. What kind of parents would we
be if we did not give them dire warnings about the severe consequences
of their actions and their choices, right? And so does our heavenly
father. Any sin And our Lord does not excuse
any sin. He's holding. Nor does he call
any sin little. We do. A white lie? Our Lord does not call any sin
little. The Lord knows human nature and how weak it is. He knows the flesh. And he knows
that just to look upon something. Or someone. With illicit. Desire. Can easily. Lead to. Touch. And then actual middle. And it's that. Her with me to
James chapter one book of James chapter one the Lord blessed
his disciples apostles to expound upon. found more fully upon the
things that he said. Remember, Scripture says, if
all that the Lord said or did were written in books, the world
could not contain the book. So he had his apostles briefly
expound upon most things that he said, and certainly they expounded
on all that we needed to study here. James chapter one, look
at it, he puts it very very clearly, verse fourteen and fifteen, every
man is tempted, or woman, when he or she is drawn away of his
own lust, that is, that which dwells within us, this aptitude
to sin, and entice. And when lust, verse fifteen,
illicit desires have conceived, that is, actually Expressed itself carried itself
out it bring it forth sin the committal of sin and sin If it's
not checked if it's not Something's not done about it when it's finished The consequences of death And
our Lord said in another place well through the Apostle Paul
he said for these things say Can you mention fornication,
adultery and so on and so forth, drunkenness and all that? And
he said, for these things sake, come at the wrath of God upon
children of disobedience. So the Lord does not excuse these
things. And so, as James said, often
the end of a mere look is the actual committal of that sin. And the law, now he says before
God, our Lord, go back to the text. Our Lord says before God,
the look is, you're guilty. You're guilty. Our law cannot convict someone
for their faults. Can it? God does. So that's why the law is called
spiritual. That's why the law is called
spiritual. God looks on heart mode. And that's why it says
everyone on the law is guilty on all counts that we have not
actually committed certain and we are guilty of them because
we have. Going to go on to talk about
murder and if you just hate somebody without you feel. And it's only
by God's grace we did not we weren't given the opportunity
to do so. But we're guilty. All right the Lord. Says and
gives a very harsh seemingly. Harsh remedy. Verse twenty nine
he says if I ride I offend they pluck it out better one member
of your body perished and the whole body cast into hell the
Lord. Dealt with spoke of hell more than anyone. And he's talking about the dire
consequences of these things. He says, pluck out the eye, or
if the hand offend thee, cut off the hand. Now you know, you
know this without me telling you, that the Lord is not telling
us to maim our bodies. You know, only a utter fool would
think that. That still would not cure the
problem, would it? A blind man can lust after someone,
right? A person with no hands can want
to do such and such a thing. Chapter 6, verse 3, look at this. Chapter 6, verse 3, he says,
When thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right
hand doeth. You know good and well the left
hand cannot do anything without the right hand knowing it. Now,
the Lord often spoke in parables. types metaphors he used things
like I am the door. I am the bread I am the vine
I am the water of life he spoke of the fowls of the air coming
and taking away the word of thorns and thistles choking them out
no those are just metaphors what those are. So now he's speaking of the severe
consequences of sin allowed and the end of sin. And he says it's
the damnation of the soul. This is what our Lord came to
deliver us from the damning effects of sin. And to actually deliver
us from our sin, from the reign and rule of sin in our mortal
bodies. Yes, he did. He'd be a mighty
poor Savior if he did not deliver us from that reigning and ruling
power. And our Lord is saying here,
let me just put it, try to put it very plainly. It's better
to part with whatever it is, though it be very, very dear
and close to us. Whether it be a thing or a person,
that which causes us to offend, or to offend someone else, than
to go to hell for it. Better to part with it. Better
to part with it. Our Lord once asked this question,
this all revealing question. He said, what will a man give
in exchange for his soul? What would a person give in exchange
for their soul? They would give very little. Many people would take a one
night stand. And they often do. Anything and everything. What
would men and women give in exchange for their souls? Anything. Everything. And so our Lord says why, if
you understand how he's saying it, why would you Go to hell for something such
as death. Listen to Matthew Henry, he puts
it, and you have to listen carefully, I'll paraphrase him. He says,
the severe operation that the Lord prescribes here for the
preventing of these fleshly lusts, the right eye, pen D, and palsy
to a pen, If your eye offends by wanton glances or wanton gazings
upon forbidden objects, if thy right eye offend thee or cause
thee to offend, and if it were impossible, he
said, if it were impossible, as some think, to actually govern
your eye or your hand. Because it's so used to, I can't
help it, I can't help it, that's what people say, we might say
at times. If there were no other way to
restrain it, it'd be better to cut it off. You understand what he says?
It needs Why go to hell for something such as that? It would be better
to do the most drastic thing you could. But, he said, if it
were impossible to govern. But our Lord said in His Word
that we can do all things through Christ which strengthens us.
Right? Without Him, we can do nothing.
Without Him, we cannot resist the slightest temptation. And
this is why we're told by the Lord Himself, pray without seeking.
He tells us to pray in this manner. After this manner, pray, Father,
lead us not into temptation, because we can't stand before
the slightest temptation. Lord, don't put me in this situation,
this circumstance. Help me. I'm weak. And he knows that.
He knows that. So, he says, you understand what
he's saying? It would be better to do the
most drastic thing of all than to go to hell for such a thing
as this. Cut off the hand or pluck out the eye. And Brother
Henry, Matthew Henry, goes on to say, The Lord tells his ministers,
as he did, to warn people to flee from the wrath to come.
And there are some sins which Scripture says we need to be
saved with fear, particularly fleshly lusts, which are as natural
brute beasts, Scripture says. They cannot be checked except
by like a flaming sword in the garden kept Adam and Eve from
the tree of life. A flaming sword, severe, something
severe. So he said, Brother Henry says,
if we, when we're tempted to think it hard to deny ourselves
or crucify love, we ought to consider how much harder it would
be to lie in the lake of fire forever. That's the way we need
to look at things. This is deceitful. This is deceiving
me into thinking this is just the pleasure of something for
a season. This is a temporal pleasure.
This is a moment of pleasure, but the consequences are far
reaching. Why would I do that? So the Lord is very plain in
his word about these things. Now, the Lord is very plain about
the subject of adultery and divorce. And now this is what he's going
to deal with here. Very plain. You know, only someone,
listen to me, only someone who does not like what the Lord says
here, or does not want to do what he says, only someone like that would
pretend to not understand what he's saying. You hear that only someone who
does not like it. Does not want to do, as he said,
would pretend that I don't understand. It's very plain. It's like any truth of God election. It's not hard to understand.
It's just that men and women don't like it. And it's the same
here with divorce. Verses 31 and 32. It hath been
said, whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a
writing of divorcement. But I say. This is the one who
gave the law. And whosoever shall put away.
That's the key word right there. Put away. Super divorce. Powerful. Instigate. His wife or husband. Saving for
one reason. One reason. Because of fornication. Causes
her. Causes him to commit adultery. That is, whoever they get with
afterward, after the divorce. And whosoever shall marry her,
that is divorced, committed adultery. Is that hard to understand? Certainly
not. Put away. That means to instigate
or file for the divorce. Save for one cause. Now the word
fornication here includes any and all sexual wickedness. And unclean. Foremongering, adultery,
homosexuality, incest, and other things. Adultery. The word fornication takes in
all of those things. A person who openly and actively
commits such things, the Lord makes this one allowance. This
one allowance. for the actual filing for and
the putting away of one's fat. That's very clear, very clear.
And that's the goodness of God. You know, the mercy and goodness
of God. Our Lord said in another place,
Moses gave you a writing of divorcement because of the hardness of your
heart. The Lord allowed it to happen. It was never meant to
be that. The Lord said, let what Let not man put asunder what
God hath joined." He said, Moses gave you that
writing because of the hardness of your heart, knowing that men
might abuse their wives whom they were not pleased with. He'd
allowed them to just put them away. But not just for any old
reason. I'd make it like today. I don't
like the way you cook or the fact that you don't cook, or
I don't like the way you look, or this and that and the other.
I want out. The Lord gives this one this
one. And even at that person. Has an affair commits adultery
the believer is like his Lord. And should. Make an attempt at
least to forgive. if the spouse if the one is willing
to. Repent you know turns from that
now remember the Lord is talking to the site all right he's talking
to his. Those who profess to believe
those who profess to love what he says those who profess to
want to do what he said that's who the Lord is speaking to get.
This is the fact that believer can sometimes can and does sometimes
commit adultery. But it is inexcusable. It's inexcusable. And it's unacceptable
behavior to God Almighty. It can happen. David. David. And the consequences are very, very severe. Ask David. I know he wishes that
he had better contact. And the fact is, a believer can
and does sometimes get a divorce. And with the exception of that
one rule our Lord gives, it is inexcusable. and unacceptable
behavior to God Almighty. And the consequences are always very severe, especially
if there are children involved. It is never, ever good concerning
the children, ever. I told you one time, Brother
Tom Harding, His parents divorced when he was just a young, young
boy, just a young boy. And he said it would have been
better had his parents died. His dad was the one that filed
for it. He said he wishes that his dad
had died. Go with me to 1 Timothy 6, and
I've got to close this. As I said, this doesn't really
need much comment, does it? It doesn't need explaining. What
our Lord said is very plain. It doesn't need explaining. It's
not difficult to understand. And He did not go in great depth,
did He? I mean, He did not. In one line, He spoke. And as I say, this fact is a
sad fact that believers can and do sometimes commit adultery
and get a divorce and so forth. But the consequences are always
bad. And for a professing believer
to blatantly reject God's Word and commit or live in an adulterous
relationship, we know what adultery is, a premarital sex. To blatantly
do that, reject God's word, it's very clear, and blatantly live
in such a fashion before God and men. For a person to do that, or for
a person to simply walk out of a relationship in order to marry
someone else. Is usually a sign of possible.
Or reprobate. And this is the truth which the
apostle Paul told young Timothy. to preach first Timothy six verses
three through five said any man that is any man or woman anyone
teach otherwise. And consent not to hold somewhere. Even the words of our Lord Jesus
Christ and to the doctrine which is according to God. He's proud,
he knows nothing, doting about questions, strife of words, that
is, trying to make it say what it's not saying, whereupon with
envious strife, railings, evil surmising, perverse disputings
of men of corrupt mind, destitute of the truth, supposing that
gain is godliness, from such withdrawal. That's it. There's this certain behavior
that the scriptures war says warrants breaking fellowship. Recently I heard someone say
that what could cause us to break fellowship? What is there anything
that would justify us breaking fellowship?
I can give you four or five in the scripture. This is one of
them. And it does, because it brings
great reproach upon the truth, and the truth which is according
to God's plan. And so we show our, someone who,
it's a difficult subject, it's tough for you to sit here and
listen to it, it's much tougher for me to deal with it, but the
Lord's very plain. Well, I'm out of time. Thank you.