Kingdom Desires
Look for it, without any hope of it happening. Not as those who know they have done wrong, but stand before a judge who is Harsh. And unmerciful, we stand before, God, who is full of graciousness and mercy and we cry out to you and claiming your truth promises from your scriptures that say, when we turn to you and repentance, you will forgive us.
And so we respond in our hearts. Knowing that you have forgiven Us in the person and through the work of Jesus Christ in whom we stand it. When we come to you, and ask based on the blood of Jesus, we don't have to wonder
We just have to wonder at who you are and how you treat us, how you have given us yourself when we deserve condemnation. When you give us each other, what we deserve Solitude that you give us your word when what we deserve is so much less. So he cry out to you, that we may better know you. Will you have mercy on us because of our sin and help us to walk with Jesus and newness of life.
In the name of Jesus. We pray these things. Amen.
Well, happy Sunday, everybody.
It's a pretty exciting time of year. Summer Splash is coming up. I don't know if you guys know this. It's met in mid-may. People go on vacations and they sleep in. So if you look around in wonder where all of your friends are that aren't here are the answers probably in bed or Colorado. And so it's an exciting time. All the more important for us to communicate during the summer, when every once in awhile, we we missed church a little more often. And if we don't see people, we may have seen and used to seeing eye in the springtime kind of every week. And so, our patterns changed just a little bit during the summer. We don't have Sunday school for the kids or adults after today, until about August 9th, about August until August. And so it's a time for everyone who's teaching to be refreshed a time for the teachers were going to be gone. Anyway various places throughout the summer to not need more I substitute teachers a time for us to just be refreshed in the presence of Jesus Christ. I hope that you'll take advantage of that. Take advantage of it by going to each other's houses for lunch or going out to eat for lunch after church or maybe grabbing coffee before you come or or even in the foyer take really advantage of that cultivating belonging opportunities during the summer. Somersplash will be coming up later in the Summer. Vacation, Bible School, our neighborhood picnic in August. None of the plants have been finalized yet, but a couple of a couple have been idea eyes about some really exciting things that might be happening during the summer picnic. And so, just kind of put that on your calendar mid-late. August, kind of related to the the building project to out over my skiis here because it hasn't been decided yet but I'm pretty excited about it. So I hope I hope you are to the key thing here. Is if you have questions, ask questions, shoot a phone text, you the phone number? 665-1615 I you can always call there. Honestly, texting is the faster way to get a response, you can email the office, you can e-mail or text myself for Pastor, John Mark, anytime we want to communicate and be extra communicative. So help us with that, by asking good questions.
What would you call it if you took a car out of a car lot? That wasn't yours and you didn't have permission to take it.
Woohoo. Somebody said something stealing. I would call it stealing. We call it stealing right. Stealing taking something that isn't yours is actually universally historically and geographically.
Against law, right? It's is breaking the law. Ty of drought, all places in the history in history throughout all places in the world. It's it's something that you're not allowed to do. In the Old Testament. God, also affirms this in the eighth commandment of the decalogue. Are the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20:15, right? He says, you shall not steal, which means You shouldn't steal. You might go to jail. Or. Other things could happen, you know that you can get shot. Yeah, you can get beat up right. Like there's, there's, there's weird laws. I don't know if they're weird. There's laws. It said you're allowed to stop.
I can think of, that's a guess, what happens when you go off script? So yeah, don't steal, right? It's a bad thing. But how about just wanting things that aren't yours? Is that wrong? I want that red car. I want that new phone. You work for it. You're playing right into my hand. I appreciate that. Adam. How much is wanting things that aren't yours? Is that wrong? Is he, in many ways. Capitalism is based on the idea of wanting something that you don't have and therefore what do you supposed to do? For it. You work. As hard as you can, to get it to our cultural economics teaches us to go after things that we want that. We don't have. So this could become a challenge for Kingdom citizens to live in because sometimes it's inappropriate to desire. Something that is not ours. when you desire, something that you may not have, That is covetousness.
And covetousness like stealing and murder is forbidden in the tenth of the Ten Commandments. Exodus 20:17, says, you shall not covet your neighbor's house. You can't have their house, they lived there, right? You should not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife. You can't have your neighbor's wife at your neighbor's wife. You shall not covet your neighbor's male servant, or his female service, or his office, or his donkey, or anything else. That is your neighbors, you shouldn't have. It it because it's not yours. You are not to want to go get it. Not so much as a no I want to go and buy it. Work out a deal with my neighbor but Desiring something that isn't for sale Desiring. Something that is owned by someone else is forbidden in the law of God and the decalogue. Write up with you should love. You should have never the gods before me. You shall not murder. You shall not steal. So let's read. Matthew 5:27. 3:30. We're going to make it through three hole versus today. Let's stand for the reading of God's word.
You have heard, it said You shall not commit adultery. But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent, has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out, throw it away for it's better that you lose one of your members, then your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away for this better that you lose one of your members in the whole body, go into hell, this is God's word. I'd like you to go ahead and take your seats.
See, some people read ahead and they saw the we're going to be talking about less today, so they said I'm not coming to church today.
We're going through Matthew. We had our introduction. We had our opening narrative. And then this is the first of five teaching sections Drew Matthews, called The Sermon on the Mount. The Sherman County jail with the Beatitudes. Blessed are the poor in spirit for the word. Theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven, had this very poignant point that Kingdom citizens, people who believe in Jesus Christ, and want to walk with Jesus, living in his kingdom, Kingdom citizens, are to be salt and to be light or to work for salt, the betterment of the community, the flavor of Kirksville. So to speak and light, proclaiming the truth of God's word. The truth of the Gospel Salt and Light and then we looked at Christ being the one who came to fulfill the law. Not to replace it, not to say the law has ended but then all of the Lost points to Jesus Christ himself at the trajectory of the Old Testament. Is towards Jesus. And so as we look at Jesus, as we look at these laws that he gives us the goal is for us to realize that Jesus is the better and final interpreter of the Old Testament law. So what does God say in the Old Testament law? And what does God mean in the Old Testament law? And Jesus is here to explain it to us, easier to say, here's what it means. Because I was the one who wrote it. God the son Jesus Christ was there when the Old Testament was written. Enter Jesus is going through and he's, he's getting to the very heart of what the law intense is. The Law's intent, is to help people humans to live in a society that thrives a society that thrives doesn't have people murder each other. A society that thrives doesn't have thieves break in and steal from each other. A society that thrives doesn't have one man with five women or five women with one man and just kind of swapping it in and out because that breaks down in the family systems and God's teaching on sexual ethics. A society needs rules or boundaries to help us to understand how we are to live. And so Jesus is come not to replace the law, but to fulfill it to say, here is the intent, here is the Crux of the issue.
Last week, we looked at anger. Kingdom anger. Is anger that rarely. Reaches the righteousness of God's anger. When we are angry, normally, we are in sin when we are angry against our neighbor, until we talked about the the desire in the event accessory to look down underneath the surface, kind of looking it at the other Iceberg under the water and say, what's really underneath there and looked at some practical steps. And and now here we we get to this very personal Passage.
It helps us to understand. The depths of our own Souls. You've heard. It said You shall not commit adultery. Of course, this is the seventh of the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20:14. You shall not commit adultery. So Hear Jesus is teaching. This is what the law is. The law is that you've heard it said that you're not supposed to commit adultery and adultery is defined as a married person. Having sexual relations with someone who is not their spouse. That's what that's the standard. The Baseline if you will, the foundation is as you shouldn't as a married person, you shouldn't go around sleeping with other people.
Some of us read through the Ten Commandments. Before we said, I think I've got this, I haven't stolen much, you know, I haven't killed many people.
I haven't cheated on my spouse, you know? He's read everything, and we're pretty good at this. So do all that. We need to do to fulfill the law to do an in a Jesus, kind of way from feeling the law in ourselves. All the we need to do is avoid these 10 things. Not to mention the other 600-plus laws, and the Old Testament think we're good.
But the intent of God creating a society really, the whole world where we can Thrive it goes deeper than just the skin it goes deeper than our actions where we say, hey I'm not going to I'm not going to murder you.
Pretty low bar. Actually, you know, hey how was your day? Who is fine. Did you talk to your co-workers? Yeah, we're your interactions. Good dad, nobody died.
Well, that's good. You know, that's a pretty low bar. Nobody got killed intentionally murdered, you know, how was your day today? Well, somebody died, but it wasn't by my hand, they had a heart attacks and a pretty good day. That's a hard day to go through, right? Do we recognize that that it's deeper than just the actions but when we're giving a list of rules but we as humans tend to do is say I disagree with those rules. I'm gonna follow those rules. It was never about just your actions. It was always about your heart. Your heart. The Bible says in Jeremiah 17. That the heart, your heart, my heart is deceitful, above all things, and desperately sick, or another translation, says desperately wicked, who can understand it. When you and I are born, we are born with this. Then. Sickness, where born sin-sick. Our motivations our desires and in there for our actions are bent away from what God wants and towards anything that we might want. We're born rebels of God who made us. And so we're born with this decision. This just desperately sick and deceitful heart and so God is showing us as Jesus. He's showing us that what we need is, heart surgery and not just heart surgery. We need a heart replacement. We need Jesus to come in and he needs to do his work on us. And that's what we want to allow him to do. We want to invite him to do as followers of Jesus Christ.
You've heard it said do not commit adultery, but then Jesus says in verse 20. But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent, has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
I spent several years in, and I guess I still do in many extent, but I spent several years mentoring, a lot of young guys. 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22. That's kind of my sweet spot for probably good. A good decade in. And almost without fail, there was one. But, but other than that, without fail, one of the things that with that is you open up with young guys,
It's a struggle with my thought life.
Pornography. There's a joke that I used to tell still to do, I guess. Just a little less frequently. 90% of men admit to struggling with pornography in the other 10% are liars.
Because pornography is taking over our world in such a prolific way that it is almost inescapable. It's almost inescapable. And so I want this to be a time, or we can just kind of. There's a flow to the passage. There's narrative there's instruction. but I want us to just stop for a second and say, You were human and so you struggle. With this, you email struggle with lust. but you struggle with what we're going to talk about today because you're human So last week I said I have an anger problem. But really, I think what I have is a human problem. This week, it's the same, I have a lust problem but really what I have is a human problem and we're going to talk a little bit about that. We can have some good helpful tips for you. And so today, what I want us to do again cuz I want us to consider this passage was gospel Optics. Okay? Gospel Optics. In case you didn't get the first couple of weeks talking about it gospel Optics, is where we use the text of scripture and we hold it up to our own life and say
Who do I see? Looking back at me? Gospel. Optics is not where you do this.
And it's not where you get out of set of binoculars, again, Optics glass, right? And you look at other people. He's at
The texts of scripture where you're a horrible bad person. But what we really need is, we need to use the text of scripture, hold it up. And then we say, God, show me what's inside. So it's simultaneously a mirror and kind of like a spiritual x-ray machine that reveals to us what's in our heart. And that is what we call guilt that. The Holy Spirit wants to use in our lives to bring us to Jesus says, hey, you've got something going on inside and it's coming out in inappropriate way and it's causing you. In fact, it is itself a sin. Until then that thing that is in us that we don't like right thing or like an MRI. Now, we're going deeper into the imagery, write an MRI of a part of your body and you find a a Cancer and in what you want to do with Cancers, you want to get rid of it, right? You want to cut it out, you take some chemo, you take some radiation, you get rid of the cancer, what we want to do with the same in our lives, as we want to go before the scriptures, we want to look and see who is looking back at us. And then we want to not do surgery, not take chemo or radiation, but find the area that you need to surrender. Did Jesus say? Okay, Lord, hears that area in my life that I need to surrender and I need to give it to you because you are my king. You are the one that rules this place. You're the one that rules this person and God, will you help me to allow that little part of me to be ruled by you? So that's for the
Days weeks, months years decades, of finding new ways to surrender to Jesus Christ. But we often do is we use binoculars to help us feel better. We find this in another people. And then we use it as a bludgeon to hit people. And what state wants is to do is not use guilt, he wants us to shame. Shame is where we look in the mirror and what we see looking back at us as filthy and unlovable. And then we believe Satan, instead of God. and so we say, look at that unlovable person and we beat ourselves, we bludgeon ourselves of the texts of scripture instead of saying, hey,
God loves you. God loves that person. You better not hate them. And so that's kind of the. Like let's just have that conversation, right? Like we want to be a church that's full of gospel Optics. We're people are looking at the texts of scripture and saying here's what God is doing in my life less. Here's what I'm used to do in your life, right. There's a little bit of that too much of that going on in the Christian world.
We could talk about a couple of other passages 1st Corinthians 6:18 and 20 the Apostle Paul tells the church in Corinth flee from sexual immorality.
Every other sin, a person commits is outside the body but the sexually immoral person sends against his own body. Why is that a problem with the same reason that murders a problem, right? Murderer is destroying the image of God in a person cuz it's killing the person. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you who you have from? God, you are not your own. You were bought with a price, so glorify God in your body. So the call of scripture is paid live in your body's. This is not gnosticism where were trying to escape the physical and go towards this. Who sang. Hey why? We're here on this Earth and for eternity in our new bodies we're going to live in this fleshly in the slushie, kind of Realm, right? And we want to live for Christ in that way. here's a church in Corinth, in Corinth is one of those places that was Immoral. World places where you walk around the street and you find naked prostitutes selling themselves. Sometimes we talk while. I think it's fair we talked about the the prolificness of pornography in our culture, right? You see it on Billboard's, not full nudity. Right? But you see scantily clad men and women on billboards and Internet ads and sometimes it's even emailed you and you go. And then you have that guilt that shame that says, hey, you are a wrong person because you have sexual desires, but it's what we do with it. Can you imagine being a member of the church in Corinth and being told don't go outside? You like, hey, no, no, no, like a whole bounce. Your eyes thing. We'll talk about that later.
Flee from sexual immorality.
They're not your responsibility. What you do with them standing? There is your responsibility when you go into them. That's your responsibility when you dwell on them. That's your responsibility. So what is Paul safely? Get away from sexual immorality? Every other sin, a person commits outside his own body but the sexually immoral person sends against his own body. Remember that bitterness from last week. He talked about. Bitterness is a pill you swallow hoping someone else will die, right? I'm angry at this person and nurtured this anger for several weeks months years or decades. And and I'm really mad at that person. Still you like oh well like they don't care. They're not aware that you're still mad at them probably but it's eating you up on the inside and somewhat similarly sexual immorality is against your own body. And against the person that you are sexually immoral with either in it, even if it's just in your mind. 1st Thessalonians 4:3 through 5 says, for this is, the will of God, your sanctification. That's one of those Christian inside or terms that means being made into the image of Christ. For this is, the will of God, your sanctification are being made, holy that you abstain from sexual immorality. That each of, you know, how to control his own body and Holiness, and honor, not in the passion of less. Like the Gentiles do who do not know God. So do you see this enculturation that's happening in the New Testament scriptures, where Jesus and then the Apostle Paul. All under the guidance of the holy spirit is teaching the church. This is how your dad live. Driving. This is what kingdom desires are supposed to be, not a desire for your own pleasure but a desire for Jesus Christ.
I want to get super practical with us this morning. James 1, 14 through 15. And then we're going to put up a, a flow chart guys, like flowcharts. Easy to understand. James 1, 14th or 15th. Is each person is tempted when he is lured, and enticed by his own desire, then desire when it has conceived, give birth to sin and sin. When it's fully grown brings forth death, but let me just say this, chestnuts. Is the root of Lost. In Jesus day. the, the law interpreters, many of them interpreted the problem with adultery The problem of adult trees it's stealing and so they interpreted the seventh commandment.
Through the do not steal, right? So that's how they interpreted. So so the reason you can't go and sleep with someone else's wife is, it's stealing from them and that is not what Jesus does. Jesus reject that by replacing, that teaching with an interpretation of his own. As the final Arbiter of the Bible that the Old Testament law.
Jesus uses a lot of pain which is you shall not covet to interpret lost 7 which is you shall not commit adultery so that the route of adultery is covetousness Desiring. Something that is not yours to desire. And so here's the challenge in our capitalistic Society is we are constantly being told you don't have something. You should have something now, go get it. And so our brains are literally wired. So that when we see something that we want that, we don't have the we're supposed to go get it. So you something who I like that I want that. It makes my brain lighter than all the fun places. I want it now. Go get it. I see something. I want it, I don't have it now. Go get it, I see something. I want it, I can't have it.
I'm going to go get it anyway.
So, this is the challenge for us as 21st. Century. American Christians. Lewis said in his screwtape letters. This is him writing as the experienced Uncle screwtape writing to his nephew that young demon. You know, this is this is us to understand some things. This is the senior demon is riding to the junior deeming saying that God is the one that made the pleasure's, all our research so far, has not enabled us to produce one pleasure. All we can do, is encourage the humans to take the pleasures, which our enemy has produced at times or in waser, in degrees, which he has forbidden the other ways. In other words, there are expressions for sexual desires, right? And there are inappropriate expressions for a sexual desires for me. And what our own Hearts want is to realize those Desires in inappropriate ways and inappropriate times within appropriate people.
And it's so deep inside of us. It is so send deep our sexuality as as part of our ontology is part of who we are, is, is so profound we can't even understand it. Paul says that this is a mystery. Cuz he's talking about Christ in the church, which we won't get into today. And so is this deepest most profound thing? And Satan wants to take this wonderful gift of God called their sexuality and he wants to twist it up in every way possible. And I think he's doing a pretty good job at twisting us up.
So here's here's my flow chart for us today.
We begin with nobody read that.
If you can't come sit right up here. We start as humans with a desire for something legitimate, right? We need a car. Why do we need a car while I have to drive to making for my job and it's too far to bike, I need a car that's something. That's something legitimate. Then we have the deficit of that thing. In other words, we don't have the thing that we need to. Maybe I had a car and then a deer ran into me. I didn't run into the deer. The deer fights with me going. 75 miles an hour car is now totaled? No insurance. Not have a deficit of that. In my culture by the deficit of that thing because I started talking about a new car with my phone nearby, and my phone picked it up. And now, every time I pick up my phone, go on the internet, go on Facebook, on Instagram, text my friends, my family I get inundated by ads saying hey check out this car. You can't afford it, but you wanted anyway. And now we now we have the deficit of that thing and here's the challenge. In our culture has the deficit of that thing is exploited is exploited by big companies, buy small companies in the internet, just helps companies to advertise into Target us, right? So now, we want that car. We we need a car, we need a mode of transportation, and then, this is what we start to do.
God, can you really provide for me?
Cuz I've looked at this car and I can't afford it.
I don't think God. Loves me. I don't think he cares about me. I don't think he's aware of me. I don't think he's strong enough. I don't think he's powerful enough. I don't think he's present enough. Maybe he's not even really begin to doubt God. The first day of the deficit of the thing, then we doubt God, then we deserve it. We start telling ourselves I deserve it. You start talking to your friend and you say, man, wouldn't I look good in that red Ferrari? Now, you know why we can't afford it?
12 cylinders that sound about right? He's got twelve cylinders and it's supercharged and it goes 0 to 60 and you wouldn't even believe in your friend starts a man. Yeah you should treat yourself. You should treat yourself. You should really get that red Ferrari. And then you start telling yourself the story of I deserve it.
Where do you meet? Where did we go wrong? In this, in this Illustration, that's far.
Everywhere, right? But the first thing was is that we doubted God in the deficit of that thing, that thing we wanted was not ours to want. Okay, I'm not sending anything wrong with Ferraris, but I'd be kind of surprised if there's anyone in the room that can legitimately afford one without making undo sacrifices. Like I don't know what is that to $300,000 car? Betting on the model.
Billionaire. You buy a Ferrari, whatever. You know I kind of would question it anyway but you know whatever. You wanted something that probably shouldn't have been yours in the first place to start. Looking at a nice used Prius, you know what I'm talking about. That is something that would sufficiently meet your needs and if you're driving to making everyday is like, 55 Mi a gallon. Damn. But you said, hey, what I want, what I need is that Ferrari deserve it. And then, what is it happened? When you say I deserve it? Then you begin to demand it.
I deserve this. Give it to me. These are doing things like clapping while you talk and people like you are out of line, you know? And then after a while of demanding it without having, you can't afford it, there's no selling your house. There's no, there's no way you can afford that Ferrari and so, then you become desperate. Need of my mind is set on it. I just think about the Ferrari and I think about how fast you would run into that. I think about how fast
You get desperate for it and then it leads you to that horrible decision. Just go. Take it.
That's how you get away with it. You won't. Let's say you get away with it cuz you can outrun everybody, right?
ultimately, Ill-gotten gains, always lead to dissatisfaction.
So these are the eight D's leading to poor decisions desire for something, legitimate deficit for that thing doubt. God, I deserve it demand, desperation decision and finally dissatisfaction.
The problem is at its root is what we're exactly what Rebecca said is doubting God. That is where we went wrong doubting god. So let's put up the next slide. Here's where we can go right. Instead of doubting God, I have a desire for something legitimate and even if I start with a deficit of that thing, it could start from a desire for something legitimate or from the deficit, then the response that we are to have is to trust God for his time to provide God. I need a Ferrari. Do you really?
Let me amend my answer. You sure? This gets personal my my my trucks transmission died, right? In in in, I'm not worried about it. I really not. I was I'm not And it started out what I really need to get that fixed like right now should know. I don't I really don't get it fixed, get a replace whatever it's like in 97.
About to get to church, you have a minivan.
Okay, God, I'm just going to trust you to provide in your timing. Right. What do I need to? What do I need to say? What do I need to sacrifice? What do I need to sell? You know, get some save sacrifice, Alex preacher sermon on that, right? What do I need to do? So that I can wait on God for a super me right now. It's just a waiting on God's timing and then you find fulfillment in Jesus. This might sound like an overly spiritual answer, but it's the right answer. So, we have these desires that are legitimate. The problem is, we're meeting them an illegitimate ways. So, I have a desire for Safety and Security, what would I find Safety and Security in will Safety? And Security is going to bring me? All those Happy Feelings in my brain, all those happy chemicals. And so, when I experienced was happy, cuz I did happy, I can replace the right way to get those happy chemicals with something else. Pornography.
And that's where self-knowledge to use. Kind of the worldly term is so important. If you don't know yourself in your own proclivities to things that you need that God is hardwired you with Then you're going to find inappropriate ways of accidentally Meeting those needs intentionally.
and pornography is one that I think is universal that people used to meet needs, no matter their personality type Our world says feels good. Just do it.
They're going to find some filming in. Jesus were going to worship and then we're going to be satisfied in Jesus. That's it. We say, hey, I'm good. Then the advertisements come up the deficit of that thing. Hey, you need this, you know, the only thing that advertising does not have an answer for
satisfied. I'm satisfied with what I have. Wait a minute. What, you know, I'm good but what, you know, I'm really good but imagine yourself, I don't even want that. Do you see that? Oh, but a red, I don't even want to want a red Ferrari. Can you imagine the insurance?
Imagine the gas mileage. Can you imagine how terrified you would have being to hit a deer? I never take it anywhere, I don't even want one. That's the way we should be. When we find satisfaction in Jesus, it's easy to say it's hard to do because of the constant asking God to do. Heart surgery in us, get final flight here. The challenge of the right side, not the correct side. The right side here is this is where your community can make a big difference. Are you being told it's a good thing? Hey, I want the Ferrari. Yeah, you need that for you got and you steal it, then you get jailed. Then you come out, 10 to 20 years, you come out 20 to 40 years later and then what happens if you go back to your same friends and they go to jail. You need a Ferrari to go. Yeah. Okay. Are you being told that the thing that you're wanting it's inappropriate to good thing. It's not going to bring you all to my satisfaction. How do I know? I don't got does. He's the one that's telling us not to act in those ways into of course these are all euphemisms talking about sexual immorality, talking about inappropriate thoughts and desires were going to go through the text again, with these steps kind of in our minds, you've heard it said that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent. That's the same. Greek Fraser's, really a single word. That means thirsty or hungry, right? And then you want food. So, I'm going after water cuz I'm thirsty. I'm going after food cuz I'm hungry and in. So the the lustful intent. There's you're going after with intent. And so, who looks at a woman you're going after woman to eat, right? To drink that sort of language. That is I want to eat food. I want to drink water. You're going after this woman, if you already committed adultery, it was never just about the actions. It was always about the heart. so looking at a tick tock or Instagram, or a billboard, or a magazine, or a website, or an email, with a scantily clad man or woman and then just kind of
I was nice. Just a little nibble.
We shouldn't do it. What happens when we do do it? We can talk about that in a minute.
If your right eye causes you to sin tear down. Throw it away. This is Extreme language. Right? We're not literally supposed to cut out. Our gouge out her. I are cut off her hand. How do I know that? It wouldn't help. You cut out your right eye, you still haven't left eye, you cut off your right hand which is probably a euphemism for the the male, genital the right-hand probably a euphemism for the male genital, so you're cutting out the two things that are causing you problems. You cut out your right eye. You still have your left eye. The problem is not, your heart is not your eye, your hand. The problem is your heart. The problem is my heart. The problem is that I look in the mirror, and I see someone sinful staring back at me and our response then is to say Jesus. I Need You. And then, for those of us who are in Christ to say Jesus, I have you allow me to live from you and for you and to you the whole goal of the law used to point us to Jesus, so that we walk with him hand-in-hand yoked together like two oxen plowing a plow. And Jesus says in Matthew 11, that my burden is easy. And my yoke is light, take it upon you and learn from me. So, we are to do our life walking side-by-side with Jesus, the power of the spirit. God, the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity and dwells all who believe, and when he dwells you have powers you to live, holy lives.
so in our final, a flowchart that we had up there,
the Crux of the issue is to doubt God or trust God. How do we trust God? Three things real quick. Before we trust, what the Lord says, we must know and understand what he says. That's how we place. Such an emphasis on the study of the Bible. Hear the Bible is God's word to us, and if we want to trust him, we must know what he says about himself in about us. Right then, we believe that truth believe the true tell yourself the truth. Number 2. How do you trust God? Tell yourself the truth. Don't believe the lies that the culture, your friends, or your own deceitful, heart tell you especially when it lines up with your desires. You have contrary to God's word.
Feel so good. I desired this thing, whether it's a lust for a woman or a man or whether it's any other appropriate pleasure met in an inappropriate way.
3, walk with Jesus and find him faithful. Cry out to him. Jesus, I Need You.
John Piper says, You must direct your attention to some Superior promise. Jesus is better. Jesus is enough.
The main problem with humans, being human is that when we try to fill our lives with something besides Jesus, it lacks satisfaction. And then we just take an excess to try to make up the difference and that satisfies in the world's negative part of its economy. The central part of the economy doesn't have an answer for people who are satisfied in Jesus other than to just go find somebody else.
I'm going to post something on a online later today, if you want to read it, it's it's pretty extensive. It's it's like three paragraphs. Maybe 500 Words by Jim Van. Der spek. And he dresses kind of that idea of if you grew up in your about my age, give or take about 15 years, you probably heard the book. Every Man's Battle. Every young man's battle. And it Advocates bouncing your eyes, which is fine. But basically, what that does when you're you're looking at a woman, you're looking at, you know, something that arouses you you're supposed to look away, control your thoughts and and there's been some really good research done on this is called thought suppression thought suppression. It's kind of a little bit like saying in this is my experience rye bread, every young man's battle and it caused me to stumble more than it helped when I was 16.
This off, author, equates it to saying, don't think about a pink elephant.
How many were thinking about a pink elephant right now? Right. Don't think about sex.
Shocker.
And so, instead of suppressing, our wayward thoughts and desires, he says that we need to bring them into captivity, which is what 2nd Corinthians, 10:5 talks about, by denying them access to our hearts. Right behind them access to our hearts. And so this for many of us is going to be a lifelong struggle. Where it becomes a bad struggle is when it's hidden. We're going to talk about it. When we all pretend like it's going on. This is church. Nobody knows what p****** is. This is church. We don't we don't experience those struggles. This is church, my husband is never gone. There, this is church. My wife 67% of women. Okay. This is a pressing matter for us to talk about, not to excuse, okay? It's no big deal. It's adultery. Jesus says, it's a big deal.
But this is what we do. We say. Okay God, this is something I struggle with. and if there's people that are looking at me, They can see that I'm trying to see God. I see myself as God sees me, but we sometimes forget is that when we look at ourselves we need to see someone who's loved by God. So I want you to imagine taking up. Dry erase markers. I was going to do this, but I'm a horrible artist. And holding up the mirror and right here, you put a little crown on your head on the mirror cuz that's the way God sees you as a prince as a child of the King, right? And then and then you you have a little sun rays, come off you. Why? Because you have the Holiness of God, Jesus Christ, imputed to you and went to have looked at you. He doesn't see you he sees Christ in you, right? And and when you do you put a big a big of a kind of a picture of God in the corner. Looking down at you smiling on. You go. Why you doing that? You say because when God sees me he's abundantly please cuz he doesn't see me. Jesus Christ in me and then we live through that. We don't just use gospel Optics as a way to see ourselves. We also use it as a way to see forward. And so, we walk down and we turn around, we go through in our life, using the Bible as the way we see through life, using these gospel Optics to say, I never want to see me as the world sees me. I never I want to see me as I am, according to my own perspective, I want to see me as God sees me. So we walk around with our mirror, helping us to see a perspective of I am forgiven. I am loved. I am adored and I am Son of Jesus. God help us to live like we believe it. It's hard, it's real, it's harsh at times, it's so intrusive. Help us to choose Christ, help us to choose Holiness. Help us. To choose. We make those everyday gospel, Optics, decisions, recognizing that we need our savior that we shouldn't beat ourselves or other people up at the we are called to something better to something Holier, just something that blesses other people. As well as ourselves for the glory of God. That's in his name. We pray. Amen.
