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Good afternoon, everyone. It's
good to see you today on this Lord's Day, another day that
the Lord has made and that we will rejoice and be glad in it
because we are glad in him. So we're going to come together
and we're going to get ready to go before the Lord in prayer. Those who can stand, stand with
me. Oh, gracious Father, we come to you today, Father, giving
your name, glory, and honor and praise because it belongs to
you, Father. We thank the Lord God for waking
us up this morning and starting us on our way, Lord. and allowed
us to come together in your name, Father, to worship you, to adore
you, to love you, Father. So we come, Father, casting all
our cares, Lord, upon you, because you care for us, Father. And
we ask you, Lord God, for forgiveness of our sins, because we have
many, Father. And we need you to wash us and
cleanse us from all unrighteousness, Father. We thank you, Lord God,
that you're the only one and only living God, Father. Thank
you for your Son, Jesus Christ, who sits at the right hand of
the Father, who is limited to make decisions for us day and
night, who never sleeps nor slumbers, Father. But he is praying, Lord
God, for us, Father. We come praying, Lord, for every
family that is here today, Father, and those who are online, Father,
that you will move, Lord, by your spirit, Father, for those
who are going through afflictions in their bodies, Lord, that you
would heal, because you are Jehovah Rapha, our great healer, our
great position, Father. Pray for every child, Lord, in
the womb, outside the womb, Father, that you would have your way,
Father. We bless you, Lord God, for your
Holy Spirit, as moon upon the earth, committing men of their
sins, Father, which we are guilty, Father. So, Lord, have your way,
Lord, in this service, Father. We bring all distractions unto
you, Father, that you will have your way, Father. You see, everything
that has breath, let them praise the Lord, Father. So God, that
is what we are doing today, Lord. We are praising your holy name,
Father, because you are good, Lord. You are kind. You are merciful. You are long-suffering. You are
God alone, all by yourself, the Father, the Son, and the Holy
Spirit, Father. So, Lord God, we thank you, Lord,
for this great salvation that you have given us, Father. Have
your way, Father. Save, Father. Pray, Lord God,
for our government across the land, Father. Pray for every
church, Lord, that's opening your name, that is preaching
the gospel of Jesus Christ, Him crucified, Him buried, and Him
risen, Father. So, Lord, we thank you, Father. Just for this day. Someone didn't
make it today, Lord, but we did, Lord. And we're grateful. We're
grateful and we're thankful, Father. So Lord God, have your
way, Lord, in this place, Father. Pray for the songs that will
be sung today, Father. Pray for the musicians, Father. For the greeters, Lord. Just
have your way, Father. So Lord, we thank you, Lord. And truly, God, we are in need
of thee, Lord. We are in need of you, Father.
You're our only hope. You're our only help, Father.
So Lord, be glorified in this place, Lord. So this is our prayer
that we pray. And we thank you, Lord, for this
assembly, Lord. And thank you, Father God, that
you are our God and we are your people. So this is our prayer
we pray. We pray this all in Jesus' name.
And we say amen and amen. Now we're going to give it together.
It should be Psalms 27. I will read it in my Bible. The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is
the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? When
the wicked, even my enemies and my foes, came up upon me, did
my flesh, they stumbled and fell. Though a host should encamp against
me, my heart shall not fear, though war should rise against
me, in this will I be confident. One thing have I desired of the
Lord, that he will seek after, that I may dwell in the house
of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of
the Lord, and to inquire in his temple. One thing have I desired
of the Lord, One thing have I desired of the Lord that he will seek
after that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days
of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in
his temple. For in time of trouble, he shall
have his pavilion. In seeking of his tabernacle,
shall he hide me. He shall set me upon a rock.
and now shall my head be lifted up above my enemies round about
me. Therefore, we are offered in
his tabernacle sacrifices of joy. I will sing, yea, I will
sing praises unto the Lord. Hear, O Lord, when I cry with
my voice. Have mercy also upon me and answer
me. When thou saidest, seek ye my
face, my heart said, unto thee, thy face, Lord, would I seek. Hide not thy face far from me. Put not thy servant away in anger. Thou hast been my help. Lead
me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation. When my father
and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up. Yes. Teach me thy way, O Lord, and
lead me in a plain path because of my enemies. Deliver me not
over to the will of my enemies, for false witnesses are risen
up against me, and such that breathe out cruelty. I have fainted,
and as I have believed, to see the goodness of the Lord in the
land of the living. Wait on the Lord and be of good
courage, and He shall strengthen thy heart. Wait, I say, on the
Lord. Hallelujah. Thank you, Father.
Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. At this time,
we're going to get ready for praise and worship. Praise and
worship. Praise the Lord, everybody. Praise
the lord. Praise the lord, everybody. Praise
the lord. And again, I say rejoice. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. It's interesting when you when
you face the situations that always make you feel like rejoicing,
right? And then you read stuff in the Bible. It's like rejoicing
the lord always and again, I say I'm standing here uh if I could
just be honest with y'all uh I could use a little encouragement
today. Um and um but I'm going to rejoice. My family is going
through some things but I'm going to rejoice in the lord because
he promised he will We're going to start with... Hallelujah. How many of you came
to serve the lion of the lamb this morning? Hallelujah. We
came to serve the king of glory on today. I encourage y'all to
stand to your feet. He's coming on the clouds. Kings and kingdoms will bow down. ♪ And every chain will break ♪
♪ As broken hearts declare his praise ♪ ♪ For who can stop the
Lord Almighty ♪ ♪ Our God is a lion, the lion of Judah ♪ ♪
He's roaring with power and fighting our battles ♪ ♪ And every knee
will bow before him ♪ ♪ Our God, our God is the lamb ♪ The Lamb
that was slain, for the sins of the world. His blood breaks
the chain. Every knee will bow before the
Lion and the Lamb. Every knee will bow before Him. How many came to celebrate the
King of Kings today? Hallelujah! Open up the gates. Make way before
the king of kings. Yes. Hallelujah. The God who comes to save is
here to set the captives free. For who can stop the Lord Almighty? Our God is the Lamb, the Lion
of Judah. He's roaring with power and fighting
our battle. And every knee will bow before
him. Our God, our God is the lamb,
the lamb that was slain for the sins of the world. He would break the chain. Every
knee will bow. And every knee will bow before
the lion and the lamb. Every knee will bow before him. Our God. Our God is the Lion,
the Lion of Judah. He's roaring with power and fighting
our battle. Every knee will bow before the
Lion as well. Our God. Our God is the Lamb,
the Lamb that was slain for the sins of the world. For the sins
of the world. Hallelujah. We come to For who can stop the Lord Almighty? Who can stop the Lord Almighty? Who can stop the Lord Almighty? Help me say, who can stop the
Lord Almighty? Sing it over your battle. Who can stop the Lord Almighty? Sing it to your heartache. Who can stop the Lord Almighty? Sing it to your disease. Who can stop the Lord Almighty?
Nobody, nobody, nobody, nobody. Who can stop the Lord Almighty? Nobody can stop him. Who can
stop the Lord Almighty? Who can stop the Lord? Who can stop the Lord Almighty?
Nobody, nobody, nobody. Nobody can stop the lord almighty. Nobody can stop him. Who can stop the lord? Our god is the lion. Our god
is the lion. It's a lion. Our God is the Lamb, the Lamb
that was slain. For the sins of the world, His
blood is the chain. And every knee will bow before
the Lion and the Lamb. And every knee will bow before
Him. And every knee will bow before
the Lion and the Lamb. Give god some glory in this place. Hallelujah. I know I've needed
him to fight my battle on more than a few occasions. Hallelujah. Thank you god. Thank you god. I'm just grateful to have somebody
that can do something about some of the things that I have to
deal with. Hallelujah. Some of the things that we The Bible says angels bow before
him. Heaven and earth adores him.
Hallelujah. The earth is filled with the
glory of the lord. Hallelujah. Yes. My life is filled
with his miracles. Hallelujah. Thank you. Is your
life filled with his miracles? Hallelujah. Thank you god. Oh god. So and he will never give up on
you. He will never throw you away. And he sees everything. He knows all about it. Even the
stuff you ain't told nobody about. Jesus. Tell Jesus. Cuz he knows
about it anyways. He just wants you to come to
him. He just wanna know that you know that he's the one. Thank you. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.
Hallelujah. Hallelujah. I just thank god
to serve. A kind of god like that. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. My grandma used to say, y'all
know God sits high and he looks low. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Oh, I just thank
God I can't never be too low where he can't find me. Hallelujah. Thank you, Lord Jesus. Hey. Angels, they bow before you. Yes, they do. Heaven and earth
adore you. The earth is filled with your
glory. The earth is filled with your
glory. Help me say angels, angels, they
bow before you. Yes, they do. Heaven, heaven,
and earth adore you. The earth is filled. The earth
is filled with your glory. Yes, it is. Oh, thank you, Lord. The earth is filled with your
glory. Because you are a mighty. You
are a mighty. Friday, you are the Friday, Friday
You are the mighty God. You sit high. You look low. You are with us wherever we go. No more fear. No more fear. You're in control. You're in
control. Things may change. Things may
change. But we know. But we know. You are a. You are a mighty. Mighty. Mighty. You are a. You are a mighty. Mighty. We serve what a mighty God. You're the mighty God. We serve what a mighty God. You're the mighty God. We serve what a mighty God. Oh, yeah. You're the mighty God. We serve what a mighty God. You're the mighty God. Jesus. Yes, you are. You are
faithful. You're the mighty God. You are true. You're the mighty
God. We are so in love with you. You're the mighty God. What a mighty God. You're the
mighty God. Jesus. What a mighty God. You are my day. You are my day. You are my day. You are my day. You are my day. You are my day. You are my day. You are my day. You are my day. Oh, oh, oh, oh Oh, oh, oh, oh
Oh, oh, oh, oh Oh, oh, oh, oh What a mighty God Oh, oh, oh,
oh Oh, oh, oh, oh You've got some glory in this
place. Hallelujah. We lift you high
in the heavens. Oh god. You're so majestic lord. How many know we serve a mighty
god? He's a mighty god. Yes, you are. You're everything. You're everything to me. Everything. You're everything to me. Yes, you are. We worship you, God. Nobody like
you, Lord, in all of the heavens. Oh we give you glory. Oh we give you glory. Oh we give you glory. Welcome, welcome, welcome. That was, let me see. Maybe it's just me. Can you guys
hear me now? Yes, welcome. That was awesome. Certainly needed
that today. We need it every day. But sometimes
we feel like we need a little more on one day than another.
But we definitely need it every day. So welcome to Transforming
Love Christian Center. So glad to be here today. So glad to be here. So glad to
see you all. So glad to see you all. It's been a week. But the wonderful
thing is that we're all here. We are all here. So whether or
not you're joining us for the first time here or online, we
are happy to have you to be a part of our transforming love family. want you to know that you matter
to us and you matter to god. That is that is the important
thing. We're deeply grateful for every contribution that helps
us to carry on the mission that god has placed on our hearts
and to further his kingdom and to spread the love of Christ
and as I've said before, We certainly need to have that love spread
and sometimes I think that is probably the hardest thing to
do especially when you have people who wrong you or other things
that is so hard to do that. So that is probably one of the
greatest accomplishments and the greatest things that you
can do to carry on Christ's love. Okay? So if you feel the need
to give today, you can find details at transforminglovecc.org. Okay? You can also use the envelopes. I think there was some placed
on the seats. And as Pastor Jamie said, we're
trying to do some things. So coming soon, we're going to
have a new way of giving. It's going to be a simpler way
of giving. So stay tuned for those details. And we're also working on a potluck. Now isn't that a wonderful thing?
We are working on a potluck so we can all get to know each other
better. That's going to be awesome. And in addition, we wanna invite
you to connect with us at our virtual Bible study every Thursday
at seven, where you can also stay connected on what's going
on. And before we move on, I wanna
kindly ask that you silence your phones, okay? So that we can
fully engage in the message that Pastor James is gonna bring to
us. And once again, welcome to Transforming Love Christian Church,
where love is transformed and renewed through Jesus Christ.
Praise God and thank God. Yes. So we'll now hear from Pastor
Jamie. Amen. Can you hear me? Can you
hear me? Amen. Let's go ahead and stand
and greet each other. I see some faces that I haven't
seen in a while. Come on in, Brother Richard. Still enough
time. Let's say hello to everyone and greet each other in Jesus. Amen. Go ahead and greet each
other. Say hello to everybody. Amen. So, Yeah. so Yeah. Yeah. Amen. Amen. All right. Praise the Lord, everybody. It's good to see everyone. I'm going to get into the word
today, but I would covet your prayer that would ask that you
would really hold your pastor up this morning. some challenges. One is, I did my very best to
study yesterday, but I had an interruption in my study, which
is okay, because that happens. But I need all of you to pray
for Sister Jonetta. I went to go and see her yesterday
and serve her communion. Please keep the family in prayer. Janetta, she became very close
to me, not just because of our history with my dad's church,
but also because of... She stepped into our home during
a time when we really needed it. My children and I were alone
and Miss Janetta would come and hang out with the kids and do
laundry for them and she can no longer do that. And that is
weighing very heavily on my heart. One of the things that is It's hard for a pastor, especially
like me, because I'm kind of hands-on. I don't send people
out to do the care of the sheep. I like to do it myself. It's hard to see when people are preparing
to possibly go see Jesus. Since I've been pastoring, it's
been one person after another that
has known me since I was a kid. And some of my father's people
are now with us and have been with us, and it's a lot of history. It's hard to see when things
change. But I want you to know that in
spite of how I feel, Ms. Jonetta is excited. She's like, woo! She's like,
any moment now. So, you know, it's just a reminder
that this place is not our home. And we are, by instinct, we decide
to try to stay here. But this is not heaven. Jesus is coming back. And one
way or the other, those that believe in Him will see His face
in ways. So we rejoice in that. Amen.
But hold me up this morning because I'm dealing with that and a great
many other things that are pressing on my heart today. Since I started
preaching a sermon and I'm out, I knew this was going to happen.
Things have been a little tough. But I trust the Lord. He will do what He can do and
what He will always do every time I step up here. So keep
praying. Amen. All right. Father God,
You know where my efforts cease and come
to an end and where Your power takes over. You know, Heavenly
Father, what this passage is talking about, this subject.
You know what you sent your precious and holy son, Jesus Christ, to
convey to us. You know what's in your heart. He knows what's in your heart. The Holy Spirit knows what's
in your heart. And I am asking today for grace
and mercy and anointing. In spite of my best efforts,
Father, I pray that you just completely take over this sermon. I'm in a little tough shape today,
Lord. But I lean on you because I know
you're a God and I trust you. So take these
words and shape them in such a way, Father, that it will shape
the hearts of your people so that we will see things the way
you see them and come to trust and rely on your son. He is our
only hope. He is our only hope. We trust
you, Jesus. Help us in our fallen state to
do your will and to appreciate what you've done for us. In Jesus'
name we pray, amen. All right. We're in Matthew. Still the fifth chapter, starting
at the 28th verse, 28 through 30. Matthew, the fifth chapter, starting at the 28th verse through
30. Let's all stand. Thank you, Son. Thank you so
much for playing. Appreciate you. Stand for the reading of the
Word. Matthew 5, 28. Amen. Let's start at 27. I'm sorry. 27, my fault. Matthew
5, 27. Let me make that correction.
There's a typo here. There we go. All right. The Word of God
says, you have heard that it was 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 and throw it away. For it is better that
you lose one of your members than that your whole body be
thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes
you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that
you lose one of your members than that your whole body go
into hell. May the Lord add a blessing to
the reading of his word. I want to speak to you today
from the sermon titled, Cheaters. Cheaters. You may be seated. I am not going to get through
this whole entire passage. There's a lot here. There's a
lot to uncover. So I'm just going to, just like we did with the
sermon when it came to anger. and the series in anger, I'm
probably going to be on another little series here. Amen? Because
there's a lot here and I don't want to try to cram it into one
sermon. But just like the series in anger
that we preach, the first sermon of it is going to be a little
rough. Amen? So hang with me and be praying. Amen? I want to start off this
sermon by saying that some Sundays ago, I can't remember, it was
some time ago, I can't remember exactly what it was, but I know
it was maybe the early part of this year. I made a statement
in a pulpit that was very, very transparent about myself. And
the statement went something like this. One day I was sitting
in my room and the Holy Spirit revealed to me some things in
my own heart. And I believe that he said this
to me, and I just kind of paraphrase what I believe he said. He said,
Jamie, for most of your life, you've been seeking a relationship
with a woman. To the point to where you don't
know who you are, but outside of that quest. I was like, oh God. Now I fully believe, I got your
attention, amen, that it's okay for people to desire a relationship
in marriage with the opposite sex. Amen. In fact, I believe
that God himself, he puts that desire in the hearts of some
people. Amen. I personally do not believe this
about myself. I do not believe I have what
the Bible has called the gift of singleness. So speaks the married woman in
the back. But I believe this with all my
heart, even though there are people that are gifted with singleness
and there are people like me who are not gifted with that.
I believe this with all my heart. A relationship with Jesus Christ
is so much more satisfying than any other relationship that you
will ever have. Amen? Amen. And because of sin, this is what
I also believe, and the influence of the world system that we've
been in, your flesh is pre-programmed to do everything it can to prevent
you from experiencing that. And I'm going to say this again
next Sunday, because it's going to tie into the end of the last
few verses. There's nothing more satisfying
than a relationship with Jesus Christ, and because of sin, our
flesh will be pre-programmed to make sure that we do not actually
experience that relationship, that satisfaction with Jesus.
Amen? Amen. Jesus is not against marriage,
nor does he condemn the desire for marriage. Jesus is not against
sexual intercourse, nor does he condemn the desire for sexual
intercourse. But he knows that desire, key
word, must be kept within holy boundaries. Not just sexual intercourse. Not only must that be kept in
holy boundaries, but even the very desire must be kept within
holy boundaries. Now remember in our series with
anger, Jesus, what transcends the law? Amen? He makes the law
clear. Where there is misunderstanding
or incomplete revelation of the law, Jesus gives deeper, clearer,
full revelation of what's in the heart of the Father when
he gave the law. Amen? And the revelation that
Jesus gives, as we saw in the series of anger, to the Israelites
who believed that they were doing just fine with religion was rather
shocking. They couldn't believe it. The
law, as I said before, can take you to a certain point, a certain
limit. And when we think that that limit
is good, and we believe, most of us will believe that limit
is good, along comes Jesus and he takes you past that limit
because he knows that our good is not good enough. Murder, as we learned in our
last series, not just the physical act of murder, but murder is condemned and punishable by
death. Anger, as we learned in that
series, anger that is in the heart is also murder. Anger in
the heart that you put in storage is murder, right? So now Jesus is preaching the
Sermon on the Mount to his disciples, those who would follow him. And Jesus is, even though we're
on the second part of this or another section of this, it's
the same sermon being preached on the same day. Okay? It's not a different day. So
just a few seconds after Jesus gets through dealing with anger,
he deals with adultery. But the context is the same. Amen? It's not a different sermon,
not a different day. Amen. So back to our text, Matthew
5, 27. Matthew 5, 27. Jesus said, you
have heard it was said you shall not commit adultery. Verse 28 says, but I say, transcending
the law. I say that everyone who looks
at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery
with her in his heart. Let's underline some words, okay? Lustful intent, verse 28. The word already, verse 28, and
the last part of it, heart. Okay? So, here we go. I, no, let me put it on you. I'm sick of using myself as an
example. You can be married and say to yourself that you have
been faithful the whole time. That you have never, ever, since
you've been married, stepped out on your spouse. Therefore,
you can never be labeled as a cheater. And Jesus is saying, that ain't
true. This had to be very hard for
the Israelites to hear. They're walking around, you know,
feeling good about their religious selves. And Jesus, the walking,
talking lie detector, comes to the church and he's looking at
the people like this. Girl, please. Bro, come on now. Come on now. So let's just examine
this text and let's see what's under the hood here. Again, I'm
not going to get through all this. I hope I don't leave you
on a cliffhanger, but I don't want to rush this. Amen? Matthew
5, 27. You have heard that it was said
that you shall not commit adultery. That word, adultery, Before we
move on, I need to make a clear distinction. This word adultery
is not the same as the word fornication. I've taught on fornication before.
I actually don't know if I've taught on the subject of adultery. Amen? This passage is focusing
on the word adultery. And I believe that Jesus is focusing
on this specific word for a very specific reason that hopefully
we will uncover next week. So come back next week and we'll
see what's happening there. But adultery is to be married
and have intercourse with someone that is not the person you are
married to. Okay? Now I know we're living
in modern times and people will say that adultery only happens
in the context of marriage. But in biblical times, even in
the Jewish culture back then, the people that Jesus was talking
to, which means we cannot superimpose our modern times on top of the
Bible. It's actually the opposite way
around. Okay? In those Jewish times or biblical
times, adultery could also take place between two people who
were betrothed, or as the word we use, engaged. Okay? So you're married and you're
stepping out. You're spoken for and you're
stepping out. Okay? So none of this modern,
you know, bachelorette, bachelor party kind of thing that we have
decided is okay and as long as I didn't do it when I was married.
No! You're spoken for, God takes
that seriously. Your marriage, God takes that
seriously. Amen. So unlike today, folks who step outside of their
covenant by having intercourse with other people, adultery is
punishable by death. Amen? Leviticus 20 and 10 says
this, Leviticus 20 and 10. This is the law that they knew.
If a man commits adultery with his wife, I mean with the wife
of his neighbor, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely
be put to death. Now we have different laws nowadays,
but this is how it was back then. I did some research somewhere
around 1969, 70, the laws of adultery got changed. It used to be that if you, I
don't know, some time ago, it used to be that if you actually
were found to be cheating on your husband or your wife while
you were married, then the law actually would have some consequences
against you. People don't know that because
we, you know, it's been so, you know, we've moved along and kind
of moved that needle, you know. But there was a point in time
where that actually came with legal ramifications, not just, you
know, I want half. You know, you'd be in trouble
with the law. Back then, the law was you and your side chick, you die. Okay? Exodus 2017, this is, before
I do that, before I do that, Exodus 2014. Yeah, there we go.
Thank you, Holy Spirit. Slow down, Jimmy. The Word of God says, you shall
not commit adultery. Now, that's the law written in
the Ten Commandments, we know that. Watch this, just three
lines down to verse 17, there's something that they had heard
before, but they got so comfortable in their ways that they forgot
that God was judging them beyond just their actions. Exodus 20.17
says this, you shall not covet your neighbor's house, you shall
not covet your neighbor's wife. You should not covet the male
servant, the female servant, or his ox, or a donkey, or anything
that is your neighbor's. To covet means to, here's that
word again, desire. You shall not desire your neighbor's
wife. And ladies, we're talking about
you too. You should not desire your neighbor's husband. Amen? Amen. The desire is desire
someone or something that does not belong to you. To have a
desire for someone or something that actually belongs to someone
else. Okay? So back to our text. Verse
27 again. Matthew 5, 27. We're just going
to kind of be pivoting a little bit from it. You've heard that
it was said you should not commit adultery. Jesus says, but I say
to you, you've heard this before, you've decided to minimize what
I said. Remember back in the other series
where we learned about Jesus transcending the law, but also
saying that if you relax the law, you minimize the law and
teach others to do so, you shall be called the least in the kingdom.
You remember that? So anyone who relaxes the law
and teaches others to do so, you are considered the least
in the kingdom. This is exactly what's happened here. They knew that
this was the law, but they relaxed it. I feel good because I've
never cheated on my wife. You liar. You know the rest of the law.
But I say to you, anyone who ever looks at a woman with lustful,
next verse, with lustful intent. Thank you, Elijah, for pointing
that out. He's like, get this, saints. Take that. I love it, son. One of the theologians I really
like to listen to, Barclay, he says this, it is necessary that
we understand what Jesus is truly saying here. He's not speaking
of a natural, normal desire, which is part of the human instinct
and human nature. In other words, he's not saying
that if you notice that someone is attractive, that that is sin. No, no. For example, a woman
sees a man and she's like, I want you to help me lift this box
because it's heavy. You know, and she notices in the process,
you know, you're kind of nice, bro. You know, okay, we haven't
sinned yet. So far, we're okay. Jesus is
like, yes, he is kind of nice, praise the Lord. But then you
start traveling down the road a little bit, and you start making
statements like this, gee, you're really strong. Right? Right? And then you keep going
down that road. It's like, here we go for lustful
intent. So which gender do you work out
at? See how we're going? We went from you're cute. So
now I'm setting you up. I went from a compliment to hunting. Ah, thank you Holy Spirit. Okay,
here we go. Lust here, lustful intent means
to crave a person sexually. Not just look at somebody, not
just notice they're beautiful, but to crave that person sexually. If you ever look at somebody
and you say in your mind, mm, mm, mm, Cross the line. Okay? Even though no one's heard it,
but if you sonically in yourself, feel like, feel yourself going...
Okay? That is lust. Okay? Help us, Jesus. Any guilty people in the church
today? Oh, come on now. Now, the context of what Jesus
is saying here is that you're doing this in your marriage,
so that's adultery. You've got somebody already.
Okay? All right? This is in the context
of marriage, not just fornication broadly. You've got somebody
already. So here's the question. Are you being faithful to your
spouse but thinking about someone else sexually? Baby, what's on your mind? Nothing. Nothing to no one. Jesus is saying to be faithful
to your spouse with your body and not your mind is a sin. Okay. Okay. Come on. Just kind of just setting
it up here. Verse 29. Let's go a little bit further. Yeah, we're not going to get
through all this. Okay. If your right eye causes you to sin,
tear it out and throw it away, for it will be better that you
lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown
into hell. Someone said, in a tempting world,
there are many things which are deliberately designed to excite,
here's that word again, desire. Books, pictures, plays, advertisements. Right? There's a stoplight near
my house. And then the stoplight near my
house, there's a billboard that kind of faces this way. And so
sometimes I get stuck at the light. Sometimes I drive straight
through it. Sometimes I get stuck at the light. And sometimes there's
anything on there from lawyers and accidents, you know, trying
to get an accident lawyer to, you know, politicians and stuff
like that. And every now and then there's somebody on there like
this, you know, who left, who took a picture and left all of
their outfit at home. You know, just barely remembered
whatever, you know, you didn't take hardly anything with you,
you know, and you took a picture, and there, you know, and so here's
the thing. I have to, in my mind, notice, because it's there. Can't
help it, notice it. What do I do with it, though?
That's the question. Okay, so here's the thing. Jesus condemns the man who deliberately
uses his eye to stimulate his desires. See that? The billboard is there, I see
it, can't help it, there it is. But when I start to use my tools,
my members, my eyes, to deliberately decide that now I'm gonna make
a movie. And you are the star. You hear
what I'm saying? Now we've flipped from noticing
into lust. Woo! Things can excite deliberate,
forbidden desires. Amen? So let's just say that
Tremaine Hawkins is at a grocery store. with her little son, Jamie,
who's about 10 years old. And she gets all her food and
she ends up at the checkout lane. one of the ladies behind her
notices who she is, and so she starts talking about songs and
says, you know, that really blessed me, I know who you are. And then
she starts having a conversation with Tremaine, and Tremaine's
got me by the hand, and I'm just kind of, you know, just in the
aisle, just kind of, you know, being a 10-year-old. And then the checkout
clerk, she goes, By the way, yeah, that's right, I know you
are too. And they start having a conversation, and while she's
distracted, back in the day, I don't know if they still do
it now, they would have little things in the checkout area just
in case you forgot something. So you got your gum, you know,
just in case your breath is fouled. Don't forget that. Put some mints
in your mouth before you leave. You know, because you didn't
pick them up in the other areas. So don't forget this. They got,
you know, Time Magazine and blah, blah, blah. And every now and
then they would have these romance novels. And the romance novels
are, back in that time, I don't know if they still have it now
because I haven't looked, but they're in the aisle as you were leaving. And so while she's distracted,
you know, receiving praise for, you know, all her album work
and whatever God has used her to do, I'm in the aisle looking
around at all the things that we could forget before we leave
the store. And what I see there is a romance novel, and I open
it up, and I'm like, well, my God! Is this what the folks are
reading? Now, I haven't seen any person,
but my eyes are reading the story, and now my eyes are being used
as a tool for excitement! So she's getting praise and I'm
like, woo! Are you seeing what I'm saying?
You know, it's like the grocery store saying, just in case you
haven't gotten any in a while, don't forget your book. Don't forget your nasty little
book with all your stories. Fabio, remember him? His white
hair is blowing, shirt is way down here. And he's just, right? Oh, I'm just reading a
book. No, you're not. That's lust. Your eyes are being used as a
tool to sing. Wow. If your right eye, which
is considered the more stronger eye, If that I causes, that word
causes, some people may have in their Bibles stumbling block,
okay? That word in the Greek is called
skandalon. Skandalon means a bait that was
attached to a thin stick that operates as a trap when moved. Interesting. So here we go again. Remember, it's the same sermon
in the same context. Jesus is making a very similar
point, but using a very different example. Okay? Your eye, your
right eye, your good eye, is being used because of the sin
in us to lead us into a trap. He says, what do you do, and
we're going to go a little bit more into this next week, but
he says, if it's causing you to sin, scandalon, tear it out
and throw it away. Amen? 2 Peter 2.14 says this, 2 Peter
2.14 says this, they have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice
souls. They have hearts trained in greed,
accursed children. Another translation says they
commit adultery with their eyes. And there, here's that key word
again, desire for sin is never satisfied. Right? So here's the thing, saints.
Give me verse 32. Yeah, let me just line this up.
Verse 29 is talking about the eye. Then verse 30 is talking
about the hand. If your hand, your right hand,
your good hand, causes you to sin, the hand that you depend
on, most folks are not left-handed, right? If your good hand causes
you to sin, throw it away, for it's better that you lose one
of your members than that your whole body go into hell. Do you
see the progression? He's saying that your eye sees
something. And it's not long before your
hand touches something. See what's happening here? There's
a sinful progression. Amen. We move from the I, I noticed,
now I'm lusting, now I'm touching. Okay? We've gone from touching
to doing the act. Sex starts in the mind. He's
basically saying, keep your eye and your mind and your hand on
your own husband and your own wife. Are you hearing me? It starts here, but it's taken
in by the eyes, right? You don't just go outside and
fall into sexual sin. You don't just, you know, walk
off your porch and then just like, oops, look at what I'm
doing. Doesn't happen. It happens in the brain, which
means you've had some time to think about it. How did we end
up here? After we're doing what we're
doing, now we're smoking cigarettes looking at each other. What happened? Well, it started
somewhere. There was a progression. I noticed. I looked too long. I didn't put
Jesus in the middle of that. Now I'm staring. Now I'm contemplating. Now I'm thinking about it. You're
on my mind, baby. Now we're texting. Now we're
talking. For you know it, I'm touching. And he's saying, Jesus is saying,
if you know what's good for you, you catch this thing at the door.
Very similar to what we learn with anger. Are you seeing it? Right? You know, you don't just
let anger sit there and do nothing about it. You can't have a casual
attitude about anger. It'll destroy your soul. You
can't have a casual attitude about lust. It'll destroy your
soul. You see it? Very practical teaching here.
Discipline your eyes. Get control of your mind before
you end up touching somebody that doesn't belong to you. That's
what he's saying. Job 31 and 1, Job 31 and 1, he
says this, I have made a covenant with my eyes. How could I gaze
at a virgin? In other words, I've made an
agreement with my eyes. I've disciplined my eyes. I look,
I notice, but I don't look too long. I'd be in trouble, okay? Back to Matthew 5, 28. Almost
done. And again, I'm just touching
this a little bit. There's a key word in 28 that I wanted to kind
of extract. Okay, he said, you've heard that
adultery It's sin, right? You shall not commit adultery.
And then in verse 28 he says, but I say that everyone who looks
at a woman with lustful intent has already, already committed
adultery in her heart, already. The key word here to unlocking,
I believe, this whole passage is that word already. What he's
saying is that you've already blown it. Right? Your righteousness and
your good feeling or understanding of yourself is no good, right? You've already failed because
once again, God is not looking at whether or not you have the
power to abstain from sleeping around as a married person. He's
looking at the fantasies that you're building in your head
about somebody. Okay? He's looking at the fantasies
you feed on in your own heart. Amen? The heart is really here
the mind. Okay? It's not your physical
blood pumping organ. It is your thought life. Amen? So he said, even though you say
you have not committed adultery, if you're looking at a woman
or a man with lust, you've already committed adultery with this
person in your heart. Some of us saints of God have
blamed our spouses for cheating on us, not realizing that we
were the ones that were cheating too. I got rid of that no good so-and-so
because he was a cheater. I got rid of that no good so-and-so
because she was no good, she was a cheater. Jesus is a saint
and so are you. Yeah, you got the idea. Some of us have had prideful,
you know, we've pridefully worn our faith badge, you know, like
I've been faithful. We wear it like it's some kind
of honor badge. And some of us think we deserve
some kind of religious reward, not realizing that Jesus' standards
are much higher and much deeper than ours. Okay? Jesus came to church and he told
everybody in the church, listen, by the way, you are all cheaters. And adultery is punishable by
death. Here's the thing I want you to
see, saints. That's why we ought to be grateful for the blood
of Jesus. That's why we ought to be grateful
for the grace of God. If we were still under the law
and trying to do this without grace, everyone in here would
show up to heaven and at heaven's gates looking like we was okay
and God would be like, no, you've missed it. You've blown it already. Huh? We wouldn't even get in. Thinking that we've never physically
committed adultery, we would not realize that we were already
guilty. Huh? We would all be on our way
to hell. But thank God for the perfect
righteousness of Jesus Christ, the righteousness that we could
never earn, the righteousness that says he lived a perfect
life that we could never live, huh? Because the truth is, is
I've already messed up and the scary news is I didn't even know
I messed up. That's what this passage is showing
us here. He's saying, basically, you think you're okay, but you
have no idea how much you need Jesus. You have no idea how grateful
we ought to be for the blood of Jesus that washes us clean
from our sin, because I'm thinking I'm okay by the law, and Jesus
is saying, you don't even understand the law. And that's why I came
to save you. That's why when you say that
God doesn't love you, no, no. This is how you know God loves
you. If you can get a good look at yourself by His standards,
by His dictates, if you can just see what He sees without Jesus, then you'll be grateful to God
for saving your soul. He did not leave us there. He's looking at these religious
people, the disciples, the crowd, the Pharisees who have taught
incorrectly. He's saying, you all have relaxed
the law and that's why I'm here. You cannot please God without
me. That's why I came. to administer
grace and mercy to those who think they're okay and don't
know they're not. Oh my goodness. So here's the thing, saints.
Over and over again, he's telling us, and I'm through, he's telling
us that we think we understand the law. We've been angry, and
we thought that was acceptable. We've never stepped out on our
spouses, and we thought that was acceptable. And Jesus is
saying, very simply, I'm here, look at me. I'm the only one
that's acceptable. And I'm the one that makes you
acceptable. That's the clincher of what he's
saying. I'm the one that makes you acceptable. So now that we've
talked through the hard part, if you want to know some practical
things, because it's not like he's giving us excuses to just
go ahead and lust after everything we see. Oh, I can't wait to come
to church next week and look at somebody. That's not what
he's saying. we are still accountable to our
king. And he wants us to live a certain
way because that scandal on trap prevents us from something that
is glorious that we don't want to miss out on. And if you want
to hear about that and get some practical steps to keep you away
from that, come back next week. Let's stand. Is it okay just to get some practical
teaching this morning, huh? Amen, amen. Father God, we thank you
so much for this revealing word. But we thank you also, Father,
that you have given us grace. We thank you, Lord, that you
desire even to be in a relationship with us, God. We thank you that
you desire to save us from ourselves. I don't know where everyone is
here when it comes to belief, God. Some of us may be feeling
like the crowd and the disciples and the Pharisees that they don't
need to be cleansed from sin. They may be feeling like they
have done righteousness at a certain level to where you will find
them acceptable. Father, I pray against that spirit. I pray against any spirit that
is blocking your truth, blocking your gospel. Break the proud
heart today, Father. Soften that heart. Break up the
hard ground, Father, so that we can receive your seed and
trust in you. Pride keeps us, Father, from
leaning and depending on Jesus. We come here with this understanding
that we're okay. not realizing that if we were
okay, you would have never sent your son. But you did, which
is proof that we're not okay, God. Help us to lean on Jesus. Help us not to lean to our own
understanding, but to trust and rely on Jesus. to deliver us
from our wrong thinking and to deliver us from our wrong living
so that we could actually find out what you have in store for
us, God. Deliver us from this trap, I
pray. And help us to think about these
things during the week so we can come back ready to receive
Not with proud hearts, but with soft hearts, ready to receive,
realizing, God, that we need your help. Practical steps to
escape the things that are deep down inside of us, that without
your help we will not escape. We pray these things in your
son Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. You are dismissed.
CHEATERS
Series Cheaters
The truth of our being is not necessarily won't merely be identifiable in our actions. Christ looks at the heart. This teaching explores the profound implications of Jesus' teachings on lust and adultery, challenging the notion that mere outward obedience to the law is sufficient for righteousness.. Think you're ok, since you never slept outside of your marriage or even your engagement? Please listen to this powerful message taught by Pastor Jamie.
| Sermon ID | 713252255284860 |
| Duration | 1:20:26 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday Service |
| Bible Text | Matthew 5:27-30 |
| Language | English |
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