Last week we heard God’s call to RETURN to His Way because His Way is Good! This week God calls us to return to Him because He is Faithful unlike any other kind of faithful person ever! Before we dig into Scripture, a prayer: Lord, strengthen us by the truth; your Word is truth. Open our eyes to see what you want us to see; our ears to hear what you want us to hear and our hearts to believe what you would have us believe. Amen.

I. Hosea’s Strange Choice for a Wife

Background of Hosea. Last week we read a section from 2 Kings that took place around 600 B.C. This week we are in the book of Hosea which takes place about 120 years earlier. It also doesn’t take place in country of Judah and Jerusalem, but in a sister country up north called --Israel.  
 
A little bit about the climate of 8th century B.C. Israel. The people had gotten very into worshipping a statue called “Baal.” Baal was a ‘god’ of the neighboring nations. People worshipped Baal in a much different way than we worship the Lord today.

Instead of visiting the temple to worship the Lord, they visited Baal’s temple to worship a statue. 
Instead of adopting the Ten Commandments, they had adopted the magical practices of fertility cults.
Instead of being intimate in prayer with God, they were “intimate with Baal” by being intimate with Baal’s shrine prostitutes.

Hmm…Seems like yet another situation where God needs to call his people to RETURN to Him.

Enter Hosea.
Hosea is a prophet.
Hosea works for the Lord.
Hosea goes wherever God tells him to go.
Hosea does whatever God tells him to do.

Hosea is also a single young man.
He is a single young man who understood God’s plan for marriage:
That one man marries one woman and be united to that one woman for a lifetime.
He knew that such unity would be proclaimed via a public marriage ceremony and practice with exclusive intimate relations.

So…I doubt Hosea took marriage lightly.
He looks at ancient papyrus dating profile and swiped RIGHT on the women he was interested in knowing.
He took them out for dinner and watched to see if they ordered a BLT or respected his religious wish not to eat pork.
He made sure to ask them his make or break question: “Do you worship GOD or BAAL?”

And up to this point in his life --- Hosea did not have a wife!

Imagine Hosea’s excitement…when the long arduous process of finding a faithful wife for himself came to an end.
God called out to Hosea.
God had found a wife for Hosea.
God had found the perfect woman for Hosea.

Hosea came.
He fell to his knees.
He said, “Yes, Lord! I can’t wait to meet her.”

And the Lord said:

“Go, marry a promiscuous woman and have children with her.” (1:2a)
 
QUESTION:
Would you marry someone who is promiscuous? That’s a kind Bible word from someone who is sexually intimate with lots of people. Would you marry the woman who kisses 12 other boys on your first date? Would you marry the man that has text messages from 6 of his exes on his phone? Would you marry a spouse that made you think: “There’s no way that person will ever be faithful.”

You might date them.
They might be fun.
BUT...! They are NOT marriage material.

Yet the Lord told Hosea told Hosea to seek out a woman just like that.
It wasn’t his bad judgment.
It wasn’t even a few too many gin and tonics in Law Vegas.

The LORD told Hosea to marry a promiscuous woman.

Why?

Check out the answer in verse 2:
“For like an adulterous wife; this land is guilty of unfaithfulness to the Lord.” (1:2b)

Hosea’s life is a living, breathing parable.
It’s a lifelong illustration.
It’s a picture of God’s relationship with his people of Israel.
By extension…
It’s a picture of God’s relationship with his people of the Triangle.

II. The Unfaithful One 

What do I mean? Take a look at chapter 2. Chapter 2 gets into the nitty gritty about how the people’s relationship is going with God. Pay attention -- Chapter 2 is going to reference a wife and a husband. At no point is it ever a reference to an actual wife and an actual husband. It is a reference to God as the husband, and his wife as his people. Look at verse 2:

“Rebuke your mother,” and mother is a reference to Israel…God’s wife. “Rebuke her, for she is not my wife, and I am not her husband.” (2:2a)
 
Why would God say that?
Why would God break his covenant?

A new study published in The Journal of Social and Personal Relationships surveyed 232 people who had been cheated on. The study showed that those who were cheated reported “experiencing great bouts of depression, anxiety, and distress.” (Psypost.org)

Why is it so damaging? I think the Bible answered that a long time ago:

The Bible says that marriage is a very special relationship.
There is a very emotional promise of faithfulness at an engagement.
There is a very public commitment to faithfulness in front of family and friends.
There is the physical promise of faithfulness that exclusive sexual intimacy implies.
 
The promise, the commitment, the exclusivity of intimacy bonds the two together as one!
One incredible being.
What the Bible calls “One flesh.” (Genesis 2)

To break the marriage bond with unfaithfulness is to sever the marriage bond – and leave spiritual, emotional blood of that one flesh all over the floor.

Keep that in mind and listen to God’s heart for those who are unfaithful:  
 
“Rebuke her, for she is not my wife, and I am not her husband. 
Let her remove the adulterous look from her face and her unfaithfulness.” (2:2b)
 
It wasn’t God who stopped being a husband.
It was his people.
 
Let her remove her adulterous look! Because God’s people have been flirtatious. They have been looking for other gods.

“Baal, you are so cute! And not as oppressive as the God of Israel!”
“Asherah pole, you are in style. Not stuffy and old fashioned like the Lord.”
“Dear money, you really care about me and let me do what I want. God is always lecturing me.”
“Oh pornography! You are the best thing for me; so much better than God. I wish I was with you”
“Oh lovely beer bottle. I come to you and you make everything better – unlike God – who makes me feel so uptight.”
“Mmmm. Pride. I always knew that the perfect one for me, is me!”
 
And these adulterous looks lead to actual unfaithfulness.
It’s not just flirting with the idea of other gods.
But being intimate with them.

The intimate desires of a heart revealed in prayer to Baal.
The intimate time of worship spent in the temple of Asherah. 
The intimate trust that all will be ok – placed in a few dollar bills.
The intimate need for value discovered in digital photos where the woman gives you whatever you want when you want it.
The intimate need for comfort looked for in a bottle of PBR – and another 16 or so.
The intimate need for acceptance found in the callous embrace of one self.  

Brothers and sisters, this is unfaithful Israel.
Brothers and sisters, this is unfaithful us.

And that’s harsh.
Because…

Look at what happens to those who are no longer a part of God’s family. The Bible calls them…  

Stripped. Verse 3 says: I will strip her naked and make her as bare as on the day she was born. Because God is the one who brings home the bacon in the relationship with his people. God is the one who provides all the physical blessings! And in the settlement between God and the people who have been unfaithful to him? He gets everything! He gets the house. He gets the home. He gets the clothing. He gets the 401K. He gets the Jaguar. He gets the Xbox. He gets it all, because He is the one who has been providing everything to begin with!
 
And the unfaithful? They are naked. Everyone can see their sin. Everyone can see their shame. Everyone can see their guilt.

Parched. Verse 3b says: “I will make her like a desert, turn her into a parched land, and slay her with thirst.” For Israel, it meant that God was going to send a drought on the land of Israel. They would no longer receive rain. Without rain, their crops would die. Without crops, they would no longer receive nourishment. Because God is the one who nourishes us all and God stopped nourishing them.

And…So…Consider this: What if God didn’t provide for you? Where would you be?
 
Food stamps?
A soup kitchen?
Eating the old dog food at the bottom of the dumpster behind the local kennel?

TRUTH: If God didn’t provide for you, you would not be nourished.
And why would he provide for those who aren’t part of his family?
And why would He keep the unfaithful as part of His family?

Blocked. Verse six says this: “Therefore I will block her path with thornbushes; I will wall her in so that she cannot find her way.  

When I read this verse, I get this picture of this high-ranking jaded spouse. They are high up in government. They have been scorned and publicly humiliated.
And they will get revenge.
They talk to the city officials and make it impossible for their spouse to find a job. They make it impossible for them to find a living. They see to it that – you never work in this town again! 

God’s Word says that if you are unfaithful to God, you will be against him.
And He will be against you.
And there’s no way that you will win.
 
And to be fair, you can turn to your other lovers!
You can turn to money.
You can turn to porn.
You can turn to alcohol.
You can turn to pride.
You can turn to whatever it is that has led you to be unfaithful to God.
You can Look for your lovers…but the unfaithful one will not find them.   

Do you know why?

Because these “lovers” don’t care about you.
Not at all.
And you left the only One who did love you to go after them.

And now…
You’re alone.
 
(And now…I’m alone.)

The Unfaithful one.

III. The Faithful One

Then…the only thing left…is despair.
Despair and return.
 
The unfaithful spouse will say, ‘I will go back to my husband as at first, for then I was better off than now.’

I will go back to God.
I will return to my husband.
I will return to the One who really loves me, who always provides for me and who will never leave me!

I will return to the faithful One.

And they return.
And they fall on the floor. 
And with tears in our eyes, they beg for God to take us back.
They beg for one more change.
They beg for forgiveness.
 
And…

God…

Who has been wronged.
Who has been wronged repeatedly
Who has been hurt.
Who has been betrayed by the One He loved most…says:

“I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, In love and compassion. I will betroth you in faithfulness.” (v.19-20)

Wow.

If you have been unfaithful to God and you seek reconciliation with your faithful husband, hear his promise of betrothal again:  
 
He will betroth in righteousness. Remember earlier when it talked about being without clothes and sin exposed? Not anymore! God covers up your sin and your shame. He clothes you with the impenetrable beauty of His forgiveness and the gorgeous fashion of His righteousness.
 
He will betroth in justice. He defends his spouse. He brings justice on his enemies. He defeats the devil. He defeats sin. He defeats death for the sake of his beloved wife.
 
He will betroth in love. Not just emotional, flighty Disney love, but real, tested, unconditional action love. Love that sends him to the cross. Even when we’ve been unfaithful.
 
He will betroth in compassion. Not lashing out – as would be understandable and as He should – but speaking…With kindness, gentleness, and forgiveness: whispering sweet nothings of HIS divine love.

He will betroth in faithfulness. Never getting “back” at you. Never getting revenge. Never being unfaithful.

Always, always, always faithfully loving you.
Every day of this life.
Every day of eternity.

Friends, hear God’s call to you today. If you have been unfaithful to Him, RETURN. Return to THE Faithful One. Amen.

I was standing in line at Kroger the other day and there it was – right next to the package of Certs and Three Musketeer King Size bars that are about the size of an actual king’s scepter.

Improve your Intimacy Now! --  5 Rules for Better Sex -- Secrets of the Bedroom: How to Connect with Him Better.

I’m not alone in this, am I? There’s at least one of those assertions on the front of every Cosmopolitan. As if intimacy could be achieved by a quick top ten list or the $3.99 magazine that I was going to use on a bag of Doritos.

Fear not. The truth about intimacy is not found on the grocery store aisle shelf. It’s found on the little shelf in the back of the pew in front of you. (Or on your shelf at home.)

I. True Intimacy isn’t about You 

The section of God’s Word that we’re looking at today starts in 1 Corinthians 6. It begins in verse 12 by helping us to understand the attitude of the times. This is kind of the way that Corinthian society viewed sexuality and unfortunately it’s the way that many in the Corinthian church viewed sexuality. In fact, it’s in quotation marks in your Bibles because scholars are pretty well convinced that this was a catchphrase of the 1st century day. If there would have been hashtags back then, there would be all kinds of people hashtagging the first part of verse 12.

“Everything is permissible for me.” #EverythingIsPermissable
 
The idea is pretty simple. If it’s legal in Corinthian culture, then why not do it? Stop being burdened by moral laws and start doing whatever makes you feel good. What do you think? Does that sound familiar? 

But listen to the Bible’s objection:

Everything is permissible for me, but not everything is beneficial. In other words, “Just because it’s legal, doesn’t mean it’s good.”

Just cause it’s legal to sleep with a cactus in bed, doesn’t mean it’s a good idea.   
Just cause you won’t go to jail for emailing your boss that he’s a no-good-scuzzer-muffin, doesn’t mean you should call him a no-good-scuzzer-muffin.  
Just cause you won’t be arrested for drinking the Kool Aid made by your preschoolers with 9 more times the amount of sugar than normal, it does not mean that you should do it!

Just cause doing something sexual with someone you aren’t married to feels good, does not mean it is good.

For you.
For them.
For your relationship with God.

Look at the next reason that the Bible has for not just doing whatever you want sexually. Paul says, “Everything is permissible to me, but I will not be mastered by anything!”  

Thing is: It’s so very easy for sexuality to become your master.

That guy’s no good for me. He beats me. He bad mouths me. He hates that I’m a Christian. But…I really love sleeping with him. So I’ll stay with him.
That was nice looking at porn. Now to spend hours making sure that every bit of it is deleted from the internet history.
I could put my marriage and my job in jeopardy by flirting with this coworker. Oh well. I’ve gotta obey my desires.

That’s the problem. When you’re obeying your own desires, than the only one you’re intimately connected with…is yourself.

Let me say that again. If you are only obeying your own sexual desires, then you are becoming most intimately connected with yourself. 

Not with God.
Not with your spouse.  
Just yourself and your sin.

One more passage: 16 Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.” That’s what we read last week in Genesis 2:24. It’s the blueprint for marriage that husband and wife become one together. That they become so intimately connected that you can’t tell where one starts and the other ends.

What’s it like to become one with sin?
What’s it like to introduce people to porn as your spouse?
What’s it like to run all your decisions through your own sexual addiction?  
What’s it like to be so connected with adultery that when you look in the mirror that you don’t see anything else but that?

Lonely.  Guilt filled.  Far outside the kingdom of God.

II. True Intimacy Starts with God

Kind of like the woman in the Gospel Lesson: 

That’s what the men called her. That’s what they were shouting at her. “Adulterous!” “Sinner.” “Death.”

With tears in her eyes, she fell to the ground. A cloud of dust hit the air. It’s what she deserved though. She had sinned. She had broken up someone else’s marriage. Everyone would now. She might be better off dead.

She heart them shouting in the background! “Jesus! Get over here.” “Jesus, join us!” “Jesus, she sinned…won’t you help us condemn her!?!”

Then, it was quiet. She heard whispering, but she didn’t dare look up. She waited. Waited for her impending doom. But it didn’t come. She waited and waited and waited. Nothing.

Then, she felt a gentle voice beckon to her. She looked up. “Woman, has anyone condemned you?”

She looked around. All the angry men were gone. Nowhere to be found. “No. I don’t think so sir.”

Then Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you.”

If you have been like the woman. If you have let your desire get the best of you. If you have sinned, sexually. Fall at his feet and hear his voice: “Neither do I condemn you.”

And understand this: You were meant for so much more than that. Take a look at 13-14: “The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.”

Do you get that? You were meant for the Lord. You were meant for the divine Creator of heaven and earth. He wanted you to become intimately connected with him. He didn’t want you connected with a momentary high OR the excitement of a glance combined with the guilty aftermath. God wanted you connected with his divinity, with his holiness, with his wisdom, with his incredible, love!

When we have failed to give up our bodies for the Lord, that’s about the time that He gave ups his body for you.  In fact, take a look at this truth:

Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you? Whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore, honor God with your body.

Have you heard of the Antilla? It’s a 27 story high skyscraper owned by Indian business tycoon Mukesh Ambani. It’s huge. It has a garage with room for 168 cars. The lobby alone has nine elevators. It’s estimated at 1 billion dollars!

That’s nothing compared to what God paid for you. He paid his eternal blood.

Do you get that? It’d be as if you went on Zillow or were searching in the real estate ads and there was your Facebook picture. With a list of all the qualities you have – disgusting sinfulness, awful sexual sins from the past, up in the attic are all kinds of skeletons, and what’s under the carpet? Don’t ask.

And God said. Yes. I’ll have that! I will make an eternal, infinite, everlasting deposit of my holy, precious blood so that I can put my name on the deed and she will be mine forever.

That’s how much God loves you.

It means whatever your past – whatever your struggle with sexuality – whatever your devotion to your own public intimacy – God still paid for you. He paid to free you from that master’s clutches. He owns you and that sin doesn’t.

You are forgiven.

III. WHAT NOW? 

The more you understand God's forgiveness, the more confidence you will have in God’s love. You’ll stop worrying about yourself and what you need to feel good about yourself and instead… you will start to give over every aspect of yourself – to your spouse.

(1) Reserve Yourself for Your Spouse.

Take a look at 1 Corinthians 7:2-4:
Since there is so much immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband. 3 The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. 4 The wife’s body does not belong to her alone but also to her husband. In the same way, the husband’s body does not belong to him alone but also to his wife.

Focus in on marital duty. What’s that? Are we talking about the Honey-Do-List? Are we talking about doing the budget? Are we talking about cooking meals? Are we talking about refusing to call the plumber, because ‘they cost too much and all I need to do is YouTube it and I’m sure I can figure it out!”

Nope. Marital duty is Paul’s polite term for sexual intimacy. The beautiful, physical, literal expression of two becoming one.

I know. What the Bible is proposing here is the exact opposite of what our world proposes. Because it is so common for sexual intimacy to be all about when I feel like it and when I want it. But God is telling us to be all about your spouse or your future spouse. Isn’t that something? It means you keep your spouse in mind when temptation comes.

I’m sorry. I can’t do that. That will harm my future spouse.
Honey, I’ll stay away from that guy since he makes you uncomfortable.
I will not look at my coworker like that, because I want to reserve that kind of look for my wife.

(2) Become an Expert In Your Spouse

Guys love to be experts in sports. We love to quote batting averages and drop the names of players from over 40 years ago, just to show off. In fact, I remember back in grade school – trying hard to fit in—and spending each day trying to memorize the stats in the Watertown Daily Times just to be an expert in whatever sport was going on at that time.

What if we put the same effort into learning about our spouse? What if we learned about their likes and dislikes? What if we asked them about their favorite color, favorite ice cream flavor and favorite Backstreet Boy? It’s what God has called us to do! To know them and learn them intimately.

But, pastor, what about my needs? Doesn’t God care about them?

Don’t worry about it. Because in the perfect version of this—guess what? The husband is thinking about his wife’s needs. The wife is thinking about her husband's needs. And their needs are both—taken care of—because God is taking care of them through each other.

God’s smart, right?

He’s smart and he loves you. Which is more than just a witty conclusion to this whole sermon. It’s the truth. He loves you more than you. He loves your spouse more than you do. He knows you more than you. He knows your spouse more than you.

He know you’ll be happiest when you’re intimately connected to him and one another.

Amen.

It happened not that long ago in Philadelphia. March 26th the newspaper headlines were “4 people, 1 Dog Killed in Carbon Monoxide Poisoning.” Apparently, a gas pipe had broken up and the gas made its way up into the apartment overnight and silently took their lives.

The people didn’t see the gas because it’s colorless. They didn’t smell it because it’s odorless. 

In other words – while it seemed completely tame, the air was deathly toxic.

Today we are continuing our series called BREATHE. We’ve been talking about how breathing in the truth of Jesus’ resurrection gives us peace when we are afraid and lifts us out of grief and sadness. But today we’re heading in a different direction.

​As positive as breathing in Jesus’ resurrection is – God’s Word also warns us about the spiritual equivalents to carbon monoxide. Some things that appear fine, but are deadly toxic to our souls.   

I. Spiritual Toxins

This message is found in the book of Ephesians. That’s a letter written by one of Jesus’ disciples named Paul to a group of Christians that lived in a place called Ephesus. Listen to what he tells us brothers and sisters. He says we are to “Follow God’s example and walk in the way of love.” 

That sounds nice, doesn’t it? In fact, I don’t know of any Christian who wouldn’t agree with those two statements. They sound so nice in that positive sense. But when you reverse it and put it in its negative form, it immediately becomes a lot more difficult to hear.

Brace yourself.

Among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking which are out of place.

I have a friend who is allergic to gluten. She was gluten free long before gluten free was cool. She is allergic. Gluten would make her so sick that just a hint of it would make her stomach sick for a whole day. One time we went out to McDonald's and she ordered very specifically, “I need to have a hamburger patty, but only a patty please. No bun.” So that’s what they gave her – by simply taking it off of a bun.  No more than an hour later, her body reacted violently to the hint of gluten – the few crumbs left on the patty had made her very sick.  

This is how much of sin makes God sick. His Being can’t stand even a hint of it. It’s also how toxic sin is to his people. Even a hint of it, can infect us – and put us in grave spiritual danger. This is true of all sin, but in this section he gets very specific about a few sins.
 
(1)     ….of Sexual Immorality.

What’s sexual immorality? In order to define it, we first have to define sexual morality. 

That takes us back to the Creation of the World. God had just finished creating human beings. He loved them. He created them and He wanted more of them so he gave them the ability to reproduce. Then, God did something really clever. He wanted them to actually fill the earth, so God made human beings attracted to one another. He created a very special, a very intimate act that two people share with one another – sexual intimacy.
 
Take a look at this passage from Genesis. It says, “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife and the two, the husband and wife, will become one flesh.” (Genesis 2:24)

Think of it this way: How many people have you high fived in your life? Quite a few, I imagine. It’s a nice gesture, but it’s not all that intimate. We high five friends, associates, coworkers, even a random stranger at the bar after your favorite basketball team makes the winning shot.

But sexual intimacy? God meant that to be between two people and only two people. He wanted it to be a special connection between a husband and a wife that only the husband and the wife shared with one another and no one else.

Sin? Sin poisons it. Sin takes the gift of intimacy and ruins it. It links you to a third person, a fourth person, someone who isn’t your spouse. It divides. It conquers. It leaves one feeling guilty, heartbroken, and defeated.

If you’ve ever sinned in this way, you probably know what I’m talking about. Sexual immorality poisons relationships.

Back to our Ephesians passages. God tells us to avoid the poison of sin by avoiding sexual immorality. If sexual morality is “Sexual intimacy between a man and a woman in a marriage covenant,” immorality is intimacy in anything else.

Anything else.

Some of you are thinking, “Aha! Homosexuality is wrong then.” You’d be right. That’s not compatible with God’s definition of marriage. But understand this – God is not just talking about that.

He’s says, "Not even a hint..."

…if you are heterosexual, but you aren’t married to the person you’re sleeping with, that needs to stop.
…it means if you are dating a girl, you aren’t plotting ways to touch things that are reserved for the marriage bed.
…it means you aren’t flirting with that guy at work who is married to someone else, while you are married to someone else.
…it means you aren’t just glancing through the Victoria’s Secret website in your spare time.  
…it means if that one show on HBO gets you thinking thoughts that should be reserved for your wife, about someone who isn’t, stop watching it!

God says not even a hint, because even these "smaller sexual immoralities” are poison. They hurt your relationships with others. They hurt your own perspective. They hurt your relationships with God. Every time.
 
(2)     Not Even a Hint of Greed.
 
The second toxic sin – is fairly similar. Greed. It’s similar because both greed and sexual immorality are extremely selfish. One says “Give me my sexual desire, I want it! ” the other says, “Give me that money, thing, stuff, because I want it.”

Greed just like sexual immorality poisons relationships.
 
I was in the preschool this past week. One of the kids was having their very last day. So she brought in some treats. Little cookies for the others to eat. I was in there celebrating because – cookies are great – and one of the little kids started complaining – “Where are the sprinkles? This one should have sprinkles. I’m mad this doesn’t have sprinkles.” She started crying. The kid who brought them heard her making fun of the sprinkle-less cookies and she started crying too. They didn’t get along very well for that five minutes.

Greed poisons relationships.

A lot of you are thinking, Great! I love this message. Let’s go storm Wall Street right now! Don’t get me wrong. I am sure that Wall Street has greed on it. Absolutely it does.

Not even a hint means more than just “Let’s get Wall Street.”

…it means you aren’t adding a few extra miles to your mileage reimbursement on your taxes because “I really want those extra $10.” 
…It means you aren’t refusing to buy your wife a vase of flowers because I really want that bag of Doritos.
…It means you aren’t holding back on your offering to church because they aren’t doing the things in church that I want them to.
…it means you aren’t arguing with your spouse over the budget because “I want to spend the money this way.”

Even these seemingly smaller greeds are poison. It poisons relationships. They poison relationships with others. They poison your own way of thinking. They poison your relationship with God.
 
(3)    …Sinful Talk.

One more toxin: There shouldn’t be any coarse joking, foolish talk or obscenity.” It’s a couple of different sins, all wrapped up in one phrase: “Sinful Talk.” 

There’s an old saying that the tongue is the most powerful muscle in your body. That doesn’t mean that the tongue will literally what wins the next World’s Strongest Man competition. Far from it. It’s a reference to just how much poison the tongue can inflict. James 3:8 say this, “The tongue is a restless evil, it is full of deadly poison.”

Maybe you’ve experienced this.

Raise your hand. Have you ever heard anyone say that they hate you? How’d that feel? Not good?
Ever heard anyone use a racial slur against you? How’d that feel? Not good?
Ever heard anyone refer to you as a four letter word? How’d that feel? Awful?
Ever heard anyone whispering about what you did at church? How’d that feel? Terrible? Me too.

The phrase is “Stick & stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me.” That’s a nice sentiment – it’s just not very true. It does not give us the right to verbally assault one another.

Sinful talk is poison. It will poisons your work environment. It will poison your relationships. It will even poison a church!!! We’re getting very close to embarking on some very awesome ministry together. One of the biggest things that can halt us in our tracks? It isn’t money. It isn’t architectural plans. It isn’t even bad weather.

It’s sinful talk. Even small, seemingly insignificant sinful talk – a little bit of gossip here – some grumbling and complaining there – that can poison a church. It can poison God’s kingdom.
 
And here’s the thing about God’s kingdom.

Do you remember a few years ago when you could smoke a cigarette in just about any bar and restaurant? Recently, just about everywhere is now a SMOKE FREE ZONE. What’s that mean? It means that cigarettes were deemed toxic  -- even as second hand smoke. Therefore, these areas were to remains completely free of the toxins.

This is how God feels about sins. He wants his Kingdom to be a sin free zone. He wants his people to actively seek to destroy it. Eventually…eventually he plans on doing it himself. 

"Of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a person is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of God and of Christ. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient.”
 
II. The SIN Antioxidant

Wow. God’s really serious about sin? If you’re like me, you’re feeling pretty low right now. I’ve let all of those things into my life. Sexual immorality, greed and foolish talk – they have all infected me. What hope is there for me? In fact, sometimes these things infect me so much that I struggle to stop myself from continually hurting others.

I’m poisoned. I need help.

You too?

Read verse 8. 

You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. 

Light versus darkness is an age old story. In Star Wars there’s the light side and the dark side of the force. In Harry Potter, there’s light magic versus dark magic. But here’s something for thought – all of these dark versus light battles come from the language found in the Bible. Language right here. Language that says “Darkness is bad. Darkness is what we were. The Lord made us light.”

Think about it: You can’t fix darkness with more darkness. Try it. Next time you fall asleep, wear black sweatpants and a black sweatshirt to bed. When you wake up at 1am because you’re sweating hot, notice how it is completely dark in the room.

Darkness plus darkness leads to more darkness.
Sinful humans trying to correct sinful human tendencies leads only to more sin.  

But Jesus? Jesus is the light of the world. He is completely devoid of all the dark poisons we have been talking about.

Sexual Immorality? No way. Yet he came to this world and made a more intimate connection to you and me than anyone ever had or will – he took our sinful dark, disgusting moments to the cross. He linked himself to you and died for you.

Greedy? He was greedy for only one thing – you! He gave up the divine glory of heaven, exchanged it for a crown of thorns, your sins, and a painful death on the cross.

Sinful words? Sure – he hates sin. But he had no such harmful words to speak to you. In fact the only words He speaks in Scripture are, “I love you. I died for you. You are forgiven.”

This then is what this passage means. “You are light in the Lord.”

It means – the poison of sin is not fateful.
It means Jesus is the antidote.
It means by faith in Him you are now saved.
 
III. What Now?

(1) Get rid of the Poison.

We were talking about carbon monoxide earlier. One of the ways we fight carbon monoxide poisoning is to get a carbon monoxide detector. But when the detector goes off – beeps really loudly – it does no good to sit on the couch and say, “After this episode of House of Cards is over!” You have to do something. Get out of the house. Call 911. Get the leak fixed.

We just learned how poisonous even the ‘seemingly small’ sins are. It will do no good if you go back home and make no change in your life.

Instead, get rid of the poison. Put a filter on your Internet. Stop watching that TV show. Get rid of that friend on Facebook. Don’t talk about that one person. Increase your giving at Gethsemane. Do whatever it takes to make sure that not even a hint of sexual immorality, greed or sinful talk is found in your life.

(2) Evaluate Relationships.

This one is hard. Because sometimes the poison – is your friends. Yes. God does say “be in the world.” He says that we aren’t to be hermits. We need to be in and among unbelievers in order to share the message of Jesus.

But when spending time with your friends starts to lead to sin…when you find yourself saying, “I have to sleep with that girl in order to convert her to Christianity…” Stop. You aren’t converting them. They are infecting you.

Take a break. Recharge. Reconnect with God. Reinvest in Bible Study and reinforce your spiritual armor before you return to these people.

(3) Shine.

After all, we are light in the Lord. Therefore, shine! Shine where it’s needed most.

I’ll tell you what. It’s so easy to feel like shining here at church. You can sing really loudly. You can say a prayer with a crowd of Christians. You can down talk all these sinful things as sinful.

But it’s already pretty bright in here. You need to shine where it’s darkest. Out there. In the world.

When you are breathing the fresh air of Jesus’ resurrection, the pure teachings of his Word and you aren’t breathing in the poison of sin, you will be shining at your brightest. May God enable us to do so. Amen.

ADULTERESS.

 SINNER. 

WORTHY OF JUDGMENT. 

They were right. She felt the shame. She had been feeling it for months now. Secret rendezvous. Hidden moments. Lies. To her husband. To his wife. To her own children.

Now it was at the forefront. She’d been caught. The secret she had worked to protect was now public knowledge. What would everyone think of her? What would her husband think? What would his wife think? What would her own children think?  She wanted to die.

Then, there was a commotion. The men were distracted.  Someone was joining the mob.

It was Jesus. 

The mob was excited, “Join us! This woman is guilty of adultery. Join us! Let’s give her what the Law deserves. Let’s rid the earth of her.”

The woman shed another tear.

Jesus responded calmly. “OK – why doesn’t the person without any sin, throw the first stone.”

It was quiet. The men looked at one another. They looked at the woman. They looked at Jesus. Then someone threw the first stone…on the ground. 

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Today we’re going to continue our series on Counter Culture by talking about Purity. The heart of purity is found in the Sixth Commandment. Anyone? “You shall not commit adultery.” Some might call it a no fun commandment. Or that God is a prude.

But God made us sexual beings. God made us to reproduce. God gave us the gift of sex as a special blessing to connect to human beings together in a special way that they won’t connected with anyone else. It’s a lot different than a handshake. It was aimed to seal and connect you intimately to your spouse.  

But the greater the blessing, the greater the pain when it is abused. There is pain, hurt feelings, guilt, and shame. (They are a lot worse than when you steal someone’s pencil when they aren’t looking).

And unlike many other sins – this one affects your own body. It changes the chemical reactions in the brain. It reprograms you to have a connection with someone you aren’t married to. It confuses you. It makes you feel icky. It makes you avoid contact with someone else because they make you feel guilty.

God didn’t want you to have any of that. So God made this command for your good. God wanted to protect your purity. I guess you could say, "You shall not cause yourself and your neighbor all kinds of pain, shame, and terrible heartache."

What then does it take to be pure? Let’s discuss definitions.

I. Defining Purity

 1)      The World’s Definition

When I first started working on this sermon, I thought the best way to define the world’s definition of purity might be: “Do whatever you want.” That’s what we tell each other. It’s what the media preaches. It’s what the Facebook videos with the sappy music teaches us. Just let people feel, love, and do what they want.  

Then, a certain Vanity Fair magazine cover came out.

And people had opinions. People like Chris brown. Chris Brown who, in his music, proclaims to have slept with hundreds of women and in his Instagram photos is grinding and twisting against all kinds of scantily clad women, tweeted very negatively about Jenner. In his mind, Jenner was the definition of sexually impure.  

Then, Chris went right back to rapping and partying and sleeping around. 

Chris Brown embodies the world’s definition of purity. It’s the definition that the Pharisees had. Sexual purity is “not doing the sexual sins that I don’t do.”  If that’s the definition of purity, guess what? You’ll always pass! Because you’ll always have not done the sins you have not done.

Be careful that you don’t fall for the world’s definition of purity. It can happen while you watch TV. Suddenly, the TV portrays a homosexual encounter. You look away “That’s sinful! I can’t believe they show that on TV.” Then, you change the channel and settle on the TV show where the nice young detective is falling in love with the burly cop. They aren’t married, but it’s ok...who hasn’t done that?

TIME OUT! Where’s the outrage? That’s a sin too!

But maybe we don’t have the same outrage, because if we did, we’d have to outrage our own sins.

And we don't want to. 

So we fall into the trap of defining purity by the world's standards. 

2)      God’s Definition

Brace yourself for moment. Then, when you're ready take a look at God’s definition of purity in Ephesians 5:3. “Among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality…”

Listen again and write it down. God’s definition of purity means not even a hint of impurity. Among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or any kind of impurity, or greed -- because these are improper for God’s holy people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking which are out of place!”

If purity were food, God wants his wholly organic! He doesn’t want even an ounce of a contaminate in his selections. He doesn’t want anything, not even a modified Food Starch here OR a bug repellant there to have ever touched his tomatoes.

God doesn’t want any kind of sexual immorality to ever touch his children.

When you compare your life to that definition, how does it match up? Can you really tell God that you haven’t ever had an action, a motive, a word, or a thought that is impure? 

If you can’t, if even an ounce of impurity has ever touched you then…you are impure! Remember God's a stickler so even a 1 night stand or 1 explicit lyrics rap song or 1 inappropriate website on your browser history ruins the whole shebang!

********************************************************************************************************

Maybe you now understand what the woman was feeling a little better. 

She was bracing herself with her eyes closed because she knew her punishment was coming. She knew she was about to face her Maker in all of her sin!

She closed her eyes and waited.

 And waited.

 And waited.

Then she opened her eyes. The crowd was gone. The only thing remaining was a pile of stones and Jesus. 

“Did no one condemn you?” he said. “No one sir,” she breathed.  

“Then, neither do I condemn you. Go and leave your life of sin.”

If you have left an impure life in the past and are seeking his forgiveness, then hear Jesus’ words to you. God’s Word says to you, “Neither do I condemn you.”

How does that work? All who have hope in Jesus purify themselves, just as he is pure. (1 Jn. 3:3) It’s just like that children’s lesson we did. God’s power is like Clorox bleach. It destroys and rids our souls of all impurities from before God. It’s God’s promise in Baptism. In your Baptism. Baptism is like God’s permanent divine Clorox bleach that remains running throughout the soul veins of your body. It purifies you from all sin!

Do you believe this? Then you are pure…Live in purity.

II. Why Live in Purity

But you might be wondering – what’s the point? Our world is so sexually driven – it’s everywhere. You get very little judgment for sexual escapades. Guys get a high five and women get a giggle from a friend. Why should we strive for this “not even a hint” definition of purity!?! It’s darn near impossible!

Here are 5 reasons to strive for purity from Ephesians 5.

1) You are God’s Child

Check out verse 1. It says, “Be imitators of God, as dearly loved children.”

Did you ever want to be like your parents? I think that’s pretty natural for children. Girls want to wear dresses like their moms. Boys want to throw the baseball like their dads. One of the reasons I became a pastor was to be like my dad.

Spiritually speaking, God is your dad. He’s an awesome role model. He’s holy. He’s good. He’s never evil.

Do you want a good role model? Don’t make it some reality TV star who gets a bunch of girls or that woman from 50 Shades of Grey. Make it your heavenly dad and don’t let even a Hint of Impurity be in your life!

2)  Christ Loves You

Verse 2 says this, “Live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us…”

Did you hear how much Christ loved you? He was willing to give himself up for you. He suffered extreme pain on the cross so that you won’t have to suffer any pain in eternity.

Porn -- doesn’t love you. That steamy romance author? Just wants your money. That television show? Just wants ratings. Your boyfriend…may love you…but not selflessly…in the moment…he may just want to use you.

Jesus always loves you and has your best interest in mind. Follow him and his direction. Don’t let even a hint of impurity be apart of your life.

3)       Lust is Idolatry.

Check out verse 5. “An immoral, impure person…such a man is an idolater.”

Idolatry is a first commandment issue. In it’s simplest form, it refers to worshipping a small statue as a god.

But it doesn’t have to be a small statue. If you run to the internet for relief...if you run to the sights of the gym for enjoyment…if you study your romance novel more than God’s Word – who is really your God?

Don’t worship your own sinful desires. Worship God. Don’t let even a hint of impurity be a part of your life.

4)      There’s No Impurity in Heaven

This is probably the scariest and most difficult reason for a pastor to relay to his people. But it’s also the most obvious reason and I’d be a pretty terrible interpreter of the God’s Word, if I failed to mention this one. Read verse 5 in its entirety: “Of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a man is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.”

You’re welcome to object. “No way that’s true.” But verse 6 continues, “Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such impure things, God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient.”  

Brothers and sisters, I want you in heaven. God wants you in heaven. Don’t let even a hint of impurity be a part of your life.

5)      You are Light.

As scary as verse 6 is, verse 8 is filled with comfort. It says this, “You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.” In other words, you were once surrounded by the darkness of sinful lusts. Your lives were filled with erasing your internet browser, sneaking to hotels, making sure no one saw you looking at that magazine in the magazine aisle, and hoping no one noticed that you slept over at your boyfriend's house last night.

But now you know Jesus. Now you know the light. Now you are surrounded by the light of His presence. Now you are forgiven. Now you live for God. 

Don’t let even a hint of impurity be a part of your life….Live as children of the light.

III. How to Live in Purity

So…how do you do it?

In America, we often approach these issues in the same way: “OK God…How far can I go?” How far is too far with my boyfriend? How long is too long for me to stare at the woman on the side of the road? How short is too short for this sexy shirt I’m wearing? How steamy is too steamy for this television scene I’m watching?

Stop asking how far you can go from God, but how far you can go in serving Him.  

How can I stay pure as I go about dating? How can I serve my boyfriend with the way I dress? How can I serve my girlfriend with where I spend the night? How can I serve my spouse with the way I look at the internet? How can I serve my husband with my reading choices? How can I serve my children with the televisions shows that I choose to watch in their presence?

In short – Start asking how can I rid my life of impurity? Ephesians gives us three guidelines to keep in mind:

1)      Come into the Light.

Look at what Ephesians says next, “Live as children of light…Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness…Expose these dark deeds. 12 It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. But everything exposed by the light becomes visible—and everything that is illuminated becomes a light.”

Isn’t it true that these kinds of sins often take place in the dark? Or at least when others are in the dark about that? Behind closed doors, when others are away, when the kids are in bed.

Jesus is saying here – stop hiding your struggle. Share it with a friend.

Yes – it’s a scary thought to ask another Christian for help. It’s humbling. But it’s also freeing. Ask someone for help. Ask an elder here. Ask me! Ask for help and---if someone asks you for help, don’t hold their struggle against them. Don’t be the Pharisee – “Ugh, Ugh, you struggle with that?” Don’t belittle them. They are coming to you for help – so praise God they are struggling and help them!

2)      Be Wise.

In the book of Proverbs, King Solomon talks about a time he looked out his window and saw a young man walking down the street. As he was walking down the street, he saw a prostitute waiting for him. King Solomon thought, “Walk on the other side of the street. Get away from her! You’ll be safer away from the temptation.”

Instead, the young man walked right by her. She seduced him. He went with her.

Foolish.

Ephesians 5:15 says, “Be careful, then, how you live—not as unwise, but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.”

If this is a struggle for you, don’t be foolish. Use common sense.  If you struggle when you’re alone, make sure you aren’t alone. If you struggle when you go to the gym, don’t go to the gym. If you struggle with a certain kind of book, don’t get that book at the library. If you struggle with a certain kind of television show, don’t watch that. If you struggle with a certain kind of website, don’t go there. In fact, block it! Use internet software to police yourself. If you are more prone to struggle with all of this when you’re drunk, don’t get drunk. Don’t spend the night alone with your girlfriend if you can’t control yourself.

Be wise and God will bless you with victory after victory.

3)       Be Filled with the Spirit.

 All of this serving God and struggling against sin takes energy. It's like a battle. An athletic context of divine proportions. 

That means you're going to need to replenish your spiritual electrolytes. Therefore, you need to keep yourself hydrated with the time tested, proven, spiritually reenergizing Gatorade: 

God’s Word.

"Instead, be filled with the Spirit, 19 speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, 20 always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

If you want to live a pure life, you need to be filled with the pure Word of God. You need to be filled with his pure law for guidance. You need to be filled with His pure Gospel for the pure comfort of having a Savior who purified you from all sins.

Come back to our Gospel scene one more time that woman had heard Jesus’ precious words of forgiveness. She was filled with the Spirit as Jesus spoke words of forgiveness. She knew of God’s love when she didn’t deserve it.

Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go and leave your life of sin.”
You are not your sin. You are not an adulteress. You are my child.

Jesus changed her identity with one awesome sentence of Gospel. 

Hear the same thing that God is speaking to you:  You are not perpetually stuck in sin. You are not a sex addict. You are not disgusting. You are not a pornographer. You are not a homosexual. You are not an adulteress.

You are not your sin. 

You are God's child. You are loved. You are forgiven.

You are PURE. 

Amen. 

 
​Valentine’s Day was a week ago. Many men showed their love with flowers, a nice Hallmark card, some chocolates, maybe even a night out. Some really romantic individual may have spent months collecting photos, downloading music, and editing video software in order to get his love a ‘movie’ about their time together. 

Sweet, right? At least, I bet you’d consider him more sweet than the guy watching Olympic curling, drinking a beer, who, when asked about Valentine’s Day, simply says, “Yeah, I didn’t do anything for you, but I did think about you. That counts, right?”

Thinking is not the same as doing.  

It doesn’t work in our world to say, “Honey, I thought about picking the kids up from school.” “Boss, I thought about finishing the project before the deadline.” “I thought about getting groceries, that’ll keep you from starving, right?”

Thinking is not the same as doing.

And yet, today Jesus says that when it comes to morality, God views our thoughts to be the same as our actions. In other words:

Thinking wrong is the same as doing wrong.

 Look at Matthew 5: 21-22, “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, “You shall no t murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment. But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment.” Again in verse 27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.” But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” 

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This is not what the world thinks. Society believes that thinking bad things is not the same as doing bad things.

We don’t put people on trial for thinking about  stealing.We don’t scold kids for thinking about taking a cookie. We don’t write someone up at work for thinking about touching a coworker inappropriately. 

We don’t and (consequently) we can’t. We have no proof about what they are actuallythinking, until it becomes action.

Consequently, because there aren’t immediate societal consequences for thinking, a stigma has developed that “as long as I don’t actually do it, I haven’t sinned.”

•  “Yes, I have thought about kissing that person. But I would never actually do it. I won’t cheat on my spouse! Unlike some other people I know.”
• “Yes, I have thought about telling my boss off. But that would be foolish. I have enough self control.”
• “Yes, I look at pornography. But it’s just looking and thinking. I don’t see what the harm is. It's certainly not as bad as all those people out looking for sex at the bars!!” 
• "Yes, I hate going to church. It's boring and when I'm there I don't listen at all. But at least, I go. I know others who don't!"

 In other words: “Yes, I have sinful thoughts. But I haven’t acted on them. Aren’t you impressed, God?”

Society believes – and I fear that we believe – sinful thinking isn’t really sinful at all!

But God says differently. He treats evil thoughts in the exact same manner as evil actions.Take a look at His first example from the 5th commandment. In Matthew 5:21 Jesus say, “You have heard that it was said, “You shall not murder,” and that  murderers are subject to judgment, and then in the same breath, anyone who is angry with another will be subject to judgment."

You might say, “Well, this judgment must be different. Death penalty for the murderer, a slap on the wrist for the hater.” But Jesus goes on to describe that judgment in verse 22, “Anyone who says ‘you fool,” will be in danger of the fire of hell!”

God says the same thing about the 6th Commandment sins. He says, “You have heard, ‘Don’t commit adultery.” –That’s having sexual relations with anyone that you aren’t married to in a God pleasing one man and one woman marriage. 

Then he says, “If you look lustfully at a woman (or a man, or anyone you aren’t married to for that matter) then, you have committed adultery." The penalty for adultery? Well, it’s so bad that Jesus says, “You’re better off losing your eye than suffering the punishment for lust!”

In other words:
God treats bad thoughts the same way that he treats bad actions! As sin.

Why does God treat them in categorically the same way? From Scripture, I think we see three reasons for this:

 1)       Bad thoughts lead to bad actions.

In Matthew 15:19 Jesus says this, “out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.” This makes sense. If you do something bad, you have to first think about doing something bad.

• If you bad mouth your boss with your coworkers on instant messenger, the problem started in your heart.
• If you run to a steamy romance novel for an intimate encounter, the problem started in your heart. 
• If you bring someone you aren’t married to home from the bar to have sex with, the problem started in your heart!

1)       Bad thoughts lead to bad actions.


This even happened to the great King David. He saw a woman from the roof top of his palace. Instead of averting his eyes, he began to think about her. He began to lust after her. He thought it would be nice for him to sleep with her.

So guess what he did? He acted on his thoughts!

Then, when it came out that she was pregnant. He thought it would be nice to not be embarrassed by his sin. So, he sent for her husband. He tried to get him drunk. He tried to make him sleep with his wife. (This was before the days of paternity test results on Maury.) When that didn’t work, he sent a letter to his general. He ask for this man to be left alone in the fighting. The man was killed and David had committed murder. 


2)      Bad thoughts ruin relationships.

Another reason that sinful thoughts are treated with hatred by God is that these thoughts ruin relationships! This is why Jesus says in verse 23, “Settle matter quickly with your adversary. Go and be reconciled to him!” Because without reconciliation, hatred will ruin your relationship! It festers. It causes distrust. It prevent relationships from growing. It hardens your heart and ruins a relationship OR stops one from starting. 

Lust is similar. It literally, chemically, rearranges your brain’s neurons. Suddenly, you rewire yourself to find sexual happiness, not in your beloved spouse, whom you promised to only have that special happiness with, but with the secretary down the hall, the pixelated image on the screen, or the character written about in a steamy romance novel! 

That doesn’t improve your relationship with your spouse. It ruins it! It’s not like it should be and at worst non existent. 

Sinful thoughts ruin relationships!

 3)       Sinful thoughts, are in and of themselves, sin.

This is the biggest reason of all. Sinful thinking is appalling to God. It’s a open rebellion against Him.  

And you can figure this out simply by doing some simple math. If A = B, then C.

• If sin deserves hell, and hatred deserves hell, then hatred is sin.
• If sin deserves hell, and lust deserves hell, then, lust is sin.
• If sin deserves hell, and any evil thought deserves hell, than evil thoughts are sin.

PERIOD.

Sin is nothing more than open rebellion against God. Consider that. When we think contrary to how God would have us think, we are in essence saying, “Get out of here God! You can have and be anywhere in the whole universe, but stay out of my head. I want to think about what I want to think about it. I want some privacy. I want to hate and lust and be greedy without your stupid rules! Leave me alone.” 

The truth? 

If we continue to choose our own thoughts over God, he will leave us alone. 
Forever. 
That's hell. 

But now I'd like you to combine what we've learned from this portion of Scripture with a few thoughts from other parts of Scripture. It is clear from this section that God hates sinful thoughts. It is clear from other portions of Scripture that God also knows all of our thoughts. Jesus revealed this in Matthew 12:25 when he said that people were thinking that he was the devil. (and he was right!) In John 1:48, He impressed Nathan by revealing that He knew Nathan had been under a fig tree across town before coming to meet him. He told the disciples to toss their net overboard, because he knew that a ton of fish would be caught at his direction. 

The point? Jesus preached our portion for today on a mountaintop surrounded by people. He must have known that these people struggled with what was common to humanity-- evil thoughts. 

So...in math terms again. 

• Jesus knew the people's thought sins. 
• Jesus hated the people's thought sins.
• These thought sins deserved hell.

But JESUS didn’t destroy them, he warned  them. 

And you know what else? As we read scripture here today, we do so as people plagued by the human condition of sinful thought. Yet God hasn’t destroyed us. Instead, he has brought us here today and through the words of Scripture he has warned us! Why? 

Because while God thoughts were filled with hatred for sinners, at the same time, his thoughts were consumed by an even greater thought:

“God our Savior wants all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”

In other words, his thoughts were consumed with love for humans…for you.

But God didn’t sit back on his divine couch, pop a can of Pringles and simply say, "I am thinking about how much I love you." No way! God actually acted on it.  

• He gave up the only begotten Son that never thought him any harm to death!
• He dealt with the hatred of an entire group of people that hated him for his comments such as the ones we read today. 
• He suffered a hate induced crucifixion at the hands of the very people he came to save!
• Worse, he suffered God’s hate-filled wrath against all of our evil thoughts. (i.e. That wrath-filled judgment for your hateful thoughts and the better-to-lose-an-eye than suffer in hell punishment for your lustful thoughts.) 

To put it simply: Jesus thought it was better for him to die than for you to. 

This means that God, in Christ, forgives you for your hate filled thoughts. It means that God, in Christ, forgives you for your lust filled thoughts. It means, that God, in Christ, forgives you for all your evil thoughts!

And thank God Christ knows all your thoughts! This is scary at first, because you can’t get away from his knowledge, but the comfort is that he didn’t miss one of your evil thoughts. God won’t do an autopsy of you before letting you into heaven, where he says, “Ooops. We missed a lustful thought for his high school classmate in the upper corner of his heart. Guess he can’t go to heaven.” 

No! Jesus knew all of your sin –even your thoughts – and he died for all of your sin – even your thoughts. He didn't miss paying hell for even the deepest, darkest, most awful secret thought that you might have. 

What an awesome thought! What an awesome action! What an awesome love!

May this love motivate you to act–against thought sins. Instead of continuing in your evil thoughts, do what it takes to prevent those thoughts!

If hatred, go and talk peacefully to the one you hate. Go reconcile with your brother. Go speak kindly to your sister. Get what’s bothering you onto the floor (and do it peacefully). Do what it take, however hard, in order to not have hatred in your heart. 

If your problem is lust, then cut out what causes you to lust! Put a filter on your internet. Cancel the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue. Stop paying for cable. Put all of your steamy romance novels into the recycling. Do what it takes, whatever it takes, to not have lust in your heart.

Now you might be thinking, but if I don’t have this hatred what will I filled my thought life with? If I don’t have this lust, how will I go on? What will I think about?

The Apostle Paul wrote,  “Whatever is noble, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is God-pleasing, my brothers, think about such things.”

Brothers and sisters, there is nothing nobler, purer, more lovely, or more God pleasing than the work of our Savior Jesus Christ. Fill your hearts and fill your thoughts with him – the one who filled His thoughts with you.

This is my prayer for you this week and always. Amen.