WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.940 We are working our way through the Ten Commandments, 00:00:02.940 --> 00:00:04.799 and we come tonight to the Seventh Commandment. 00:00:04.799 --> 00:00:06.919 You shall not commit adultery. 00:00:06.919 --> 00:00:10.439 And then Jesus picks up on that commandment 00:00:10.439 --> 00:00:14.880 in Matthew chapter five and expands it to include lust. 00:00:14.880 --> 00:00:19.160 So we tonight are gonna talk about adultery and lust. 00:00:19.160 --> 00:00:22.440 We sent a message about the fact that they were talking 00:00:22.440 --> 00:00:23.879 about this in the Wednesday email, 00:00:23.879 --> 00:00:24.760 so you may have seen that. 00:00:24.760 --> 00:00:26.800 But if you're a visitor tonight, you won't have seen that. 00:00:26.800 --> 00:00:28.679 So welcome to St. Columbus. 00:00:28.679 --> 00:00:31.079 Tonight we're gonna talk about adultery and lust. 00:00:33.000 --> 00:00:36.840 Now, it's important. 00:00:36.840 --> 00:00:39.399 It's the Seventh Commandment, and it's important. 00:00:39.399 --> 00:00:42.159 Let me give you two reasons why it's very important 00:00:42.159 --> 00:00:44.399 that we talk about this, of course, 00:00:44.399 --> 00:00:47.120 across all centuries, but especially today. 00:00:47.120 --> 00:00:49.640 One is that the culture, the Western culture, 00:00:49.640 --> 00:00:54.120 a culture and a city like Edinburgh looks at Christianity 00:00:54.120 --> 00:00:57.100 and especially the sexual ethics 00:00:57.100 --> 00:01:00.679 that Christians have espoused for 20 centuries now. 00:01:00.679 --> 00:01:05.680 And they say what I see is rules, rules, rules. 00:01:06.320 --> 00:01:11.120 I see a religion that calls us to avoid the taboo. 00:01:11.120 --> 00:01:15.560 And people will say Christians on the issue 00:01:15.560 --> 00:01:19.640 of sexual ethics are outdated and prudish 00:01:19.640 --> 00:01:22.719 and traditionalists unnecessarily. 00:01:22.719 --> 00:01:26.079 And it's important to say that even for us as Christians, 00:01:26.079 --> 00:01:29.679 as one author puts it, we can have a frail devotion 00:01:29.679 --> 00:01:34.679 to the rules driven by duty and not by desire. 00:01:36.640 --> 00:01:39.359 And when we think of the ethics of Christianity, 00:01:39.359 --> 00:01:41.480 especially as it pertains to sexuality, 00:01:41.480 --> 00:01:45.560 as simply the rules, just trying to conform to the rules, 00:01:45.560 --> 00:01:48.120 then we're in a position where the more and more 00:01:48.120 --> 00:01:51.560 we relate to people outside and the culture all around us, 00:01:51.560 --> 00:01:53.159 we can get to a place where we don't really know 00:01:53.159 --> 00:01:54.439 why the rules are the rules. 00:01:54.439 --> 00:01:56.319 Why the law is the law. 00:01:56.319 --> 00:01:58.879 Why the seventh commandment says what the seventh commandment 00:01:58.879 --> 00:02:02.239 says and then start to ask, does the Christian vision 00:02:02.239 --> 00:02:05.599 for sexual ethics really work in the modern world? 00:02:06.719 --> 00:02:09.800 And so we've said week after week that, 00:02:09.800 --> 00:02:11.879 and this is one of the big reasons for looking at this, 00:02:11.879 --> 00:02:15.180 is that it's so important to see that the 10 commandments 00:02:15.180 --> 00:02:16.919 are not about rules. 00:02:16.919 --> 00:02:18.680 They are not rules. 00:02:18.680 --> 00:02:21.159 They are rules, but they're not rules. 00:02:21.159 --> 00:02:25.359 They're not merely about addressing what might be taboo. 00:02:25.359 --> 00:02:27.120 The 10 commandments are here to tell you 00:02:27.120 --> 00:02:29.879 how to live a life of joy and peace. 00:02:31.079 --> 00:02:34.759 And they're here to say that God made the world 00:02:34.759 --> 00:02:38.359 and that God designed the world in a specific way, 00:02:38.359 --> 00:02:40.639 and that if you wanna live a life of joy and peace, 00:02:40.639 --> 00:02:44.159 you actually have to walk along the grain of reality, 00:02:44.159 --> 00:02:46.680 the way that God really did make things. 00:02:46.680 --> 00:02:49.120 And when you don't do that, when you push against 00:02:49.120 --> 00:02:52.360 the grain of reality, it pushes back. 00:02:52.360 --> 00:02:55.719 That a lot of pain comes from pushing against this, 00:02:55.719 --> 00:02:58.960 and this is especially the case when it comes to sexuality. 00:02:58.960 --> 00:03:03.000 Now, the second reason that comes right along with that 00:03:03.000 --> 00:03:06.040 is that because the modern world pushes against 00:03:06.040 --> 00:03:09.319 the grain of reality so often on this topic, 00:03:09.319 --> 00:03:12.200 most of us, most people come tonight 00:03:12.200 --> 00:03:14.800 on a topic like this with so many scars. 00:03:14.800 --> 00:03:19.800 You know, sexuality has such power, such power, 00:03:20.000 --> 00:03:22.920 power in the right context to fulfill and power 00:03:22.920 --> 00:03:25.360 in the wrong context to destroy. 00:03:25.360 --> 00:03:30.360 And in the modern world, sexuality expressed 00:03:30.560 --> 00:03:34.800 is essentially taken to be existentially meaningless, 00:03:36.000 --> 00:03:38.480 to not really have meaning built in, 00:03:38.480 --> 00:03:41.600 to treat it as if it's just another part of the marketplace. 00:03:41.600 --> 00:03:44.360 And for that reason, there is pain 00:03:44.360 --> 00:03:46.400 and there are scars everywhere. 00:03:47.720 --> 00:03:49.640 There have been no winners. 00:03:49.640 --> 00:03:52.400 No winners have come from the sexual revolution. 00:03:52.400 --> 00:03:53.760 Only losers. 00:03:53.760 --> 00:03:57.200 It's only caused hurt and pain and scarring. 00:03:57.200 --> 00:03:59.920 And that means that many of us tonight, 00:03:59.920 --> 00:04:02.520 some of us tonight will come to a topic like this 00:04:02.520 --> 00:04:06.760 with guilt and shame and regret and hurt and pain 00:04:06.760 --> 00:04:09.880 or maybe a lack of fulfillment and loneliness 00:04:09.880 --> 00:04:12.360 or feeling that you have nowhere to be honest 00:04:12.360 --> 00:04:14.140 about temptation. 00:04:14.139 --> 00:04:16.680 And nobody to talk to about the struggles, 00:04:16.680 --> 00:04:18.399 the temptations that are really there in your life. 00:04:18.399 --> 00:04:19.599 And so it's so important we come tonight 00:04:19.599 --> 00:04:22.159 and recognize how honest the Bible is 00:04:22.159 --> 00:04:23.680 and how honest we have to be. 00:04:24.879 --> 00:04:27.039 Jesus, the Bible comes tonight and says, 00:04:27.039 --> 00:04:30.319 "'Thou shall not commit adultery or lust." 00:04:30.319 --> 00:04:32.120 Jesus takes it that far. 00:04:32.120 --> 00:04:36.079 And the initial way we might look at it as human beings, 00:04:36.079 --> 00:04:37.919 even as Christians, is to cower and say, 00:04:37.919 --> 00:04:42.919 oh, it's so difficult to read that. 00:04:42.920 --> 00:04:46.420 And we need to know, we need to hear 00:04:46.420 --> 00:04:48.640 that when Jesus gives us these commands, 00:04:48.640 --> 00:04:51.920 he comes right alongside human beings and says, 00:04:51.920 --> 00:04:54.860 I came for those in need of a physician. 00:04:55.800 --> 00:04:59.120 He comes and says, I came not for the well, 00:04:59.120 --> 00:04:59.960 but for the sick. 00:04:59.960 --> 00:05:02.800 I came not to call the righteous, 00:05:02.800 --> 00:05:04.160 but to call the center home. 00:05:05.120 --> 00:05:07.240 And so Jesus Christ comes tonight to say, 00:05:07.240 --> 00:05:08.480 there is a way to heal. 00:05:08.480 --> 00:05:09.520 There's a way to be forgiven. 00:05:09.519 --> 00:05:13.199 There's a way for hope on all of these issues 00:05:13.199 --> 00:05:15.680 that Jesus Christ came to help us on this. 00:05:15.680 --> 00:05:17.959 And so let's think about two things together. 00:05:19.000 --> 00:05:23.519 And the first is negatively why lust is wrong. 00:05:23.519 --> 00:05:26.639 And the positive side of that is we need a bigger vision 00:05:26.639 --> 00:05:28.919 for sexuality, why lust is wrong, 00:05:28.919 --> 00:05:30.359 with a bigger vision of sexuality. 00:05:30.359 --> 00:05:33.439 And then secondly, then a path to healing. 00:05:33.439 --> 00:05:35.399 So just those two things. 00:05:35.399 --> 00:05:38.240 First, why lust is wrong? 00:05:38.240 --> 00:05:40.280 All right, we've been most weeks looking 00:05:40.280 --> 00:05:42.040 at the Ten Commandments and saying 00:05:42.040 --> 00:05:43.840 that the Westminster Confession of Faith 00:05:43.840 --> 00:05:48.000 and its catechisms gives you the commandment 00:05:48.000 --> 00:05:49.759 and then says, now you can think about it 00:05:49.759 --> 00:05:51.960 as what is forbidden in this command 00:05:51.960 --> 00:05:55.040 and then what is required of me in this commandment. 00:05:55.040 --> 00:05:56.600 So let's think about it like that. 00:05:56.600 --> 00:05:58.439 What is forbidden in this commandment? 00:05:58.439 --> 00:06:00.040 What is forbidden is adultery. 00:06:00.840 --> 00:06:05.319 Okay, adultery, the word that's used here 00:06:05.319 --> 00:06:09.759 is by definition a reference to being unfaithful 00:06:09.759 --> 00:06:12.279 to your spouse in the midst of marriage. 00:06:12.279 --> 00:06:15.040 But when you read across the Bible on this, 00:06:15.040 --> 00:06:19.159 you realize that it has implicitly embedded within it 00:06:19.159 --> 00:06:21.279 a reference simply to sexual sin. 00:06:21.279 --> 00:06:24.560 So Paul uses the word fornication most of the time 00:06:24.560 --> 00:06:25.959 across, we translate it that way, 00:06:25.959 --> 00:06:28.120 it's the word porneia in Greek, 00:06:28.120 --> 00:06:30.920 from which we get the word pornography. 00:06:30.920 --> 00:06:33.439 And here we learn immediately that built 00:06:33.439 --> 00:06:35.399 into this word in the Seventh Commandment 00:06:35.399 --> 00:06:38.959 is the idea that sexual sin is a spectrum 00:06:39.879 --> 00:06:43.759 that it exists in degrees and that the base level 00:06:43.759 --> 00:06:48.759 of that sin, the foundation, where it begins is lust. 00:06:48.920 --> 00:06:53.920 And people come to something like the Seventh Commandment, 00:06:54.159 --> 00:06:55.920 modern people, Western people, 00:06:55.920 --> 00:06:57.480 people in the city of Edinburgh. 00:06:57.480 --> 00:06:59.000 And of course they look at the command, 00:06:59.000 --> 00:07:00.920 now shall not commit adultery 00:07:00.920 --> 00:07:03.840 and nobody really has a problem with that. 00:07:03.840 --> 00:07:07.040 Just like coming to the command, now shall not murder. 00:07:07.040 --> 00:07:10.400 Because the essential ethic of the modern West is 00:07:10.400 --> 00:07:11.840 do no harm. 00:07:11.840 --> 00:07:14.080 So do whatever you want as long as you don't cause 00:07:14.080 --> 00:07:17.040 any harm and everybody knows that adultery, 00:07:17.040 --> 00:07:20.319 being unfaithful to a spouse breaks hearts, 00:07:20.319 --> 00:07:24.520 it breaks homes apart, it causes a lot of pain. 00:07:24.520 --> 00:07:26.800 And so it's generally the case that most people 00:07:26.800 --> 00:07:28.319 still today look at this commandment and say, 00:07:28.319 --> 00:07:29.800 okay, that makes sense. 00:07:29.800 --> 00:07:30.960 Don't commit adultery. 00:07:31.759 --> 00:07:35.960 But Jesus picks up on this command and says, 00:07:35.960 --> 00:07:39.079 let me take it further and say that the foundation 00:07:39.079 --> 00:07:40.840 of adultery is actually lust, 00:07:40.840 --> 00:07:42.720 that it begins with lust in the heart. 00:07:42.720 --> 00:07:43.840 And so Jesus comes and says, 00:07:43.840 --> 00:07:46.280 well, thou shall not commit lust. 00:07:46.280 --> 00:07:49.960 And the modern world comes and says, wait a minute, 00:07:49.960 --> 00:07:51.800 lust doesn't harm anyone. 00:07:52.800 --> 00:07:57.800 Lust doesn't happen in any way outside of the self. 00:07:57.800 --> 00:08:01.040 We get thou shall not commit adultery, 00:08:01.040 --> 00:08:04.079 but Jesus takes us so far all the way to the base, 00:08:04.079 --> 00:08:06.160 all the way to what's going on deep down at the bottom 00:08:06.160 --> 00:08:08.160 of the heart and says thou shall not commit lust. 00:08:08.160 --> 00:08:12.000 Now, this is what he says about it in Matthew 5, 27. 00:08:12.000 --> 00:08:15.319 He says, you've heard that it was said to those of old, 00:08:15.319 --> 00:08:17.840 you've heard it said, thou shall not commit adultery. 00:08:17.840 --> 00:08:21.199 Now, what Jesus is doing here is not just repeating 00:08:21.199 --> 00:08:25.480 the seventh commandment, he's talking about how people 00:08:25.480 --> 00:08:28.720 in his own time in the first century had interpreted it. 00:08:28.720 --> 00:08:29.879 That's what he's referencing there. 00:08:29.879 --> 00:08:34.879 And so in his day, Pharisees had taken the seventh commandment 00:08:35.600 --> 00:08:38.039 like every other commandment and they had essentially said, 00:08:38.039 --> 00:08:40.519 it's very easy to be sexually pure. 00:08:40.519 --> 00:08:43.000 It's very easy to follow this commandment. 00:08:43.000 --> 00:08:44.399 You know, there's only one condition 00:08:44.399 --> 00:08:46.519 in which you can break the seventh commandment. 00:08:46.519 --> 00:08:49.039 You have to be married and you have to be unfaithful 00:08:49.039 --> 00:08:50.680 to your spouse and that's the only way 00:08:50.680 --> 00:08:52.039 that you could possibly break it. 00:08:52.039 --> 00:08:53.840 And so you see the Pharisees were saying, 00:08:53.840 --> 00:08:57.560 it's actually quite easy to keep the seventh commandment. 00:08:57.560 --> 00:09:00.080 The way is broad to being faithful 00:09:00.080 --> 00:09:01.920 when it comes to this particular commandment. 00:09:01.920 --> 00:09:04.639 The way is narrow to actually break it. 00:09:04.639 --> 00:09:06.160 They were coming with that mindset. 00:09:06.160 --> 00:09:11.160 Now, that is incredibly similar to the way modern people think 00:09:11.920 --> 00:09:13.480 about sexuality. 00:09:13.480 --> 00:09:17.840 They say that most ways of expressing sexuality are fine. 00:09:19.320 --> 00:09:21.540 That lust is normal. 00:09:21.540 --> 00:09:22.840 That lust is good. 00:09:22.840 --> 00:09:24.519 That's the modern ethic. 00:09:24.519 --> 00:09:26.879 That as long as you're not causing harm to anybody else 00:09:26.879 --> 00:09:28.720 then sexual expression is okay. 00:09:28.720 --> 00:09:32.440 And Jesus comes and he comes and says something to us 00:09:32.440 --> 00:09:34.080 that is so meaningful. 00:09:34.080 --> 00:09:36.560 Remember last time, if you were here 00:09:36.560 --> 00:09:39.440 for the sixth commandment, Jesus had said, 00:09:39.440 --> 00:09:41.800 you know, you think Pharisee that you've kept the law 00:09:41.800 --> 00:09:43.040 not to murder. 00:09:43.920 --> 00:09:47.040 And he said, but I tell you that if you've been unjustly angry 00:09:47.040 --> 00:09:49.879 at the bottom of your heart, if you've had disdain 00:09:49.879 --> 00:09:52.620 for another human being, if you've rolled the eyes 00:09:52.620 --> 00:09:55.240 of your heart in utter annoyance at somebody else 00:09:55.240 --> 00:09:58.679 unjustly, you have committed murder of the heart. 00:09:58.679 --> 00:10:01.840 So he goes from the sin that happens externally 00:10:01.840 --> 00:10:05.320 and he brings it all the way back by degree, by spectrum 00:10:05.320 --> 00:10:07.539 down to the base level of the soul. 00:10:07.539 --> 00:10:11.080 And he says, this is an issue of distorted desires. 00:10:12.000 --> 00:10:14.720 You have a problem deep down inside of you with desires. 00:10:14.720 --> 00:10:16.960 Your desires are broken. 00:10:16.960 --> 00:10:19.039 And he says, so if you have disdain for somebody, 00:10:19.039 --> 00:10:20.419 you've murdered them in your heart. 00:10:20.419 --> 00:10:22.480 Now he comes the next time and says, 00:10:22.480 --> 00:10:25.840 the very same thing about the seventh commandment. 00:10:25.840 --> 00:10:27.960 He says adultery is not merely something 00:10:27.960 --> 00:10:28.960 that happens externally. 00:10:28.960 --> 00:10:31.480 He says, when you go down to the bottom of your heart, 00:10:31.480 --> 00:10:34.940 if you have improper desire, 00:10:34.940 --> 00:10:36.639 that's where you find the root of it. 00:10:36.639 --> 00:10:37.480 And he talks about it. 00:10:37.480 --> 00:10:40.000 He says that if you've looked at another person 00:10:40.000 --> 00:10:42.279 with lustful intent, you've already committed adultery, 00:10:42.279 --> 00:10:43.120 adultery of the heart. 00:10:43.120 --> 00:10:46.480 So he says the exact same thing here. 00:10:46.480 --> 00:10:48.399 Now, where's the line for Jesus? 00:10:48.399 --> 00:10:52.559 Jesus says the line in sexual ethics is lust. 00:10:52.559 --> 00:10:54.120 That's the line. 00:10:54.120 --> 00:10:56.159 And that means we've got to think about 00:10:56.159 --> 00:10:58.840 what lust really is. 00:10:58.840 --> 00:11:00.959 What does this word mean? 00:11:00.959 --> 00:11:05.000 Lust, Jesus uses a word for lust 00:11:05.000 --> 00:11:07.240 that means deep desire in Greek. 00:11:07.240 --> 00:11:09.159 So the word translated very literally 00:11:09.159 --> 00:11:12.480 just means deepest desire. 00:11:12.480 --> 00:11:15.439 But when you read this word in the context, 00:11:15.439 --> 00:11:17.919 the reason they translate it as lust 00:11:17.919 --> 00:11:19.799 is because he's clearly referencing 00:11:19.799 --> 00:11:23.740 what other commentators have called over-desire. 00:11:23.740 --> 00:11:26.919 So lust is over-desire. 00:11:26.919 --> 00:11:31.819 Another way to say it is that lust is desiring good things 00:11:31.819 --> 00:11:35.079 in the wrong ways for the wrong reasons. 00:11:35.079 --> 00:11:39.120 So lust happens when you desire something good 00:11:39.120 --> 00:11:42.360 in the wrong way for the wrong motivation, 00:11:42.360 --> 00:11:43.360 because of the wrong motivation, 00:11:43.360 --> 00:11:46.000 because of the wrong thing going on deep down in the heart, 00:11:46.000 --> 00:11:46.839 deep down in the soul. 00:11:46.840 --> 00:11:49.000 What Jesus is doing here, we have to be careful, 00:11:49.000 --> 00:11:51.840 is he's not condemning sexuality. 00:11:51.840 --> 00:11:53.759 He's not being prudish. 00:11:53.759 --> 00:11:57.680 He's not being negative about human sexuality, not at all. 00:11:57.680 --> 00:12:01.320 The Bible is not negative about human sexuality. 00:12:01.320 --> 00:12:02.560 The Bible is not prudish. 00:12:02.560 --> 00:12:05.759 If you have the sense that it is, read it again. 00:12:05.759 --> 00:12:06.600 Read it again. 00:12:06.600 --> 00:12:07.639 Read the Song of Songs. 00:12:07.639 --> 00:12:09.480 The Bible is not prudish at all. 00:12:10.720 --> 00:12:12.320 Or negative on human sexuality. 00:12:12.320 --> 00:12:15.320 But it's negative on sexual sin. 00:12:15.320 --> 00:12:18.240 And Jesus says, lust is the line. 00:12:18.240 --> 00:12:21.520 And lust, again, is desiring good things in the wrong ways. 00:12:21.520 --> 00:12:22.920 Now let me explain that. 00:12:23.840 --> 00:12:28.440 And give you two ways in which lust takes desire 00:12:28.440 --> 00:12:30.080 and distorts it or bends it. 00:12:30.080 --> 00:12:31.160 Makes it wrong, okay? 00:12:31.160 --> 00:12:32.000 And here's the two ways. 00:12:32.000 --> 00:12:34.520 The first is that when we lust, 00:12:35.800 --> 00:12:40.520 we're desiring in a way that's fundamentally selfish. 00:12:40.520 --> 00:12:41.720 So this is surprising. 00:12:41.720 --> 00:12:43.960 But when you read the old authors about lust, 00:12:43.960 --> 00:12:45.920 one of the things that they regularly say 00:12:45.920 --> 00:12:49.639 is the problem with lust is that lust is selfish desire. 00:12:50.879 --> 00:12:54.440 Lust is greedy, the old writers will say. 00:12:54.440 --> 00:12:57.720 They'll say that it's trying to satisfy an appetite 00:12:57.720 --> 00:12:59.440 with a selfish motive. 00:12:59.440 --> 00:13:01.780 So they say the first issue with lust is that at the base, 00:13:01.780 --> 00:13:05.280 there's a selfish, self-centered motivation in the heart. 00:13:05.280 --> 00:13:09.639 Whenever we lust, whenever we have these over desires, 00:13:09.639 --> 00:13:10.480 why? 00:13:10.480 --> 00:13:12.240 And here's the reason. 00:13:12.240 --> 00:13:15.799 Because lust seeks physical union, 00:13:15.799 --> 00:13:19.759 it wants physical union without any other kind of union. 00:13:21.000 --> 00:13:23.799 So lust is selfish because it wants physical union 00:13:23.799 --> 00:13:25.600 without any other kind of union. 00:13:25.600 --> 00:13:28.279 It seeks the easy path to fulfillment. 00:13:29.360 --> 00:13:30.560 C.S. Lewis talks about this. 00:13:30.560 --> 00:13:34.240 He says that the real damage of lust 00:13:34.240 --> 00:13:37.120 and of any sexual expression outside of marriage 00:13:37.120 --> 00:13:39.779 is he says it makes us more and more selfish. 00:13:39.779 --> 00:13:43.500 And he says that the reason for that is because we were not 00:13:43.500 --> 00:13:46.659 made for physical union, sexual expression, 00:13:46.659 --> 00:13:50.220 without or apart from total union, total union. 00:13:50.220 --> 00:13:53.639 So this is what the Bible calls being one flesh. 00:13:53.639 --> 00:13:56.740 So Lewis says we were made for relationships 00:13:56.740 --> 00:14:00.179 that have emotional union, spiritual union, 00:14:00.179 --> 00:14:02.899 and only physical union when there's legal union. 00:14:03.899 --> 00:14:06.620 And some have talked about it, union total, 00:14:06.620 --> 00:14:10.139 complete union, that that's the, when physical union 00:14:10.139 --> 00:14:12.940 is appropriate is when there's complete and total union. 00:14:12.940 --> 00:14:16.940 And the modern world comes and says lust is harmless. 00:14:16.940 --> 00:14:19.060 It doesn't harm anybody. 00:14:19.060 --> 00:14:22.220 And the Bible comes and the wisdom of the past comes 00:14:22.220 --> 00:14:25.620 and says actually lust in a surprising way 00:14:25.620 --> 00:14:28.960 makes you more and more and more self-centered. 00:14:28.960 --> 00:14:32.820 The more and more and more you give in to over desire, 00:14:32.820 --> 00:14:35.340 the more and more it makes you actually focus on the self. 00:14:35.340 --> 00:14:36.580 It makes you self-centered, it makes you greedy. 00:14:36.580 --> 00:14:40.379 Now here's the second way, the second issue with lust is, 00:14:40.379 --> 00:14:42.060 and this is the more theological reason, 00:14:42.060 --> 00:14:43.980 the more, the reason that we see very clearly 00:14:43.980 --> 00:14:44.980 in the Old Testament. 00:14:46.540 --> 00:14:51.540 Lust treats other people as less than whole people. 00:14:52.100 --> 00:14:56.500 Or lust treats another person as less than a whole person. 00:14:56.500 --> 00:14:58.300 All right, so let me explain this. 00:14:58.300 --> 00:15:01.700 It's slightly tricky, but God tells us in the very beginning 00:15:01.700 --> 00:15:05.780 that he made every single human being in the image of God. 00:15:05.779 --> 00:15:07.659 So every single one of us tonight, 00:15:07.659 --> 00:15:10.259 made in the image of God, we are the image of God. 00:15:10.259 --> 00:15:12.819 We bear the image of God and the image of God 00:15:12.819 --> 00:15:15.899 is a multiplicity of realities. 00:15:15.899 --> 00:15:18.699 We are the image of God in our bodies and our souls 00:15:18.699 --> 00:15:21.860 and our ideas and our ability to speak and communicate 00:15:21.860 --> 00:15:24.179 and our ability to love and have habits and hobbies 00:15:24.179 --> 00:15:26.179 and a mind and a will and emotions 00:15:26.179 --> 00:15:28.220 and to make art and to build things 00:15:28.220 --> 00:15:30.699 and the list goes on and on. 00:15:30.699 --> 00:15:33.579 The image of God is so complex. 00:15:33.580 --> 00:15:36.020 It comprises everything that you're capable of. 00:15:36.020 --> 00:15:37.740 Every good that you could possibly seek, 00:15:37.740 --> 00:15:41.100 that's what it means to be in the image of God. 00:15:41.100 --> 00:15:43.820 And so the old writers say that lust 00:15:43.820 --> 00:15:48.180 reduces a person to their physical attractiveness. 00:15:48.180 --> 00:15:51.860 It actually reduces a person and makes them less 00:15:51.860 --> 00:15:54.259 the fullness of the image of God 00:15:54.259 --> 00:15:57.620 in all of its complexity than they really are. 00:15:57.620 --> 00:16:00.660 Now, listen, there's a reason. 00:16:00.660 --> 00:16:02.020 Go back to the second commandment. 00:16:02.019 --> 00:16:04.539 You remember the second commandment? 00:16:04.539 --> 00:16:06.980 Don't have any other gods before the true God. 00:16:06.980 --> 00:16:09.460 Don't make a graven image of the true God. 00:16:09.460 --> 00:16:12.620 Now, there's a reason in the prophets 00:16:12.620 --> 00:16:14.819 that when you try to take the wholeness 00:16:14.819 --> 00:16:19.819 and fullness of God's being and you reduce God 00:16:19.860 --> 00:16:24.139 and you put Him in your mind inside some little statue, 00:16:24.139 --> 00:16:27.100 some little idol, you craft an image and you say, 00:16:27.100 --> 00:16:30.100 that's the thing that gets me to God. 00:16:30.100 --> 00:16:31.579 What did the prophets say? 00:16:31.580 --> 00:16:32.580 What did God call that? 00:16:32.580 --> 00:16:33.700 Through the mouths of the prophets. 00:16:33.700 --> 00:16:38.139 He said that is committing adultery against the Lord. 00:16:38.139 --> 00:16:40.740 You see, anytime you take the image, 00:16:40.740 --> 00:16:43.020 God who He really is and you try to reduce Him down 00:16:43.020 --> 00:16:46.740 to some microcosm of the reality of who He is, 00:16:46.740 --> 00:16:49.460 the Bible says that's committing adultery against the Lord. 00:16:49.460 --> 00:16:50.820 It's breaking the second commandment. 00:16:50.820 --> 00:16:52.259 And then the Bible comes around and says, 00:16:52.259 --> 00:16:55.100 anytime you reduce a person in lust 00:16:55.100 --> 00:16:57.500 to just their physical attractiveness, 00:16:57.500 --> 00:16:58.660 you've done the exact same thing. 00:16:58.659 --> 00:17:01.939 You've actually desecrated the image of God. 00:17:01.939 --> 00:17:03.139 You've committed adultery of the heart 00:17:03.139 --> 00:17:03.980 against the image of God. 00:17:03.980 --> 00:17:05.579 You commit adultery against God 00:17:05.579 --> 00:17:07.819 by trying to reduce Him to an image. 00:17:07.819 --> 00:17:12.139 You commit adultery of the heart by reducing a person 00:17:12.139 --> 00:17:13.539 to simply their physical attractiveness. 00:17:13.539 --> 00:17:14.779 It connects those two. 00:17:14.779 --> 00:17:17.180 The second commandment and the seventh commandment, 00:17:17.180 --> 00:17:19.059 incredibly deeply. 00:17:19.059 --> 00:17:20.579 Now, that's the negative. 00:17:20.579 --> 00:17:21.700 That's what's forbidden. 00:17:21.700 --> 00:17:22.779 Here's the duty. 00:17:22.779 --> 00:17:24.180 Here's what's required. 00:17:24.180 --> 00:17:26.019 What we're being invited to then tonight 00:17:26.019 --> 00:17:31.019 is instead to see that we are made for love, not lust. 00:17:33.299 --> 00:17:35.180 The counterpart to this commandment 00:17:35.180 --> 00:17:36.220 is that we were made for love. 00:17:36.220 --> 00:17:38.940 Love is commitment. 00:17:38.940 --> 00:17:40.940 Lust is temporary. 00:17:40.940 --> 00:17:42.500 Love is covenantal. 00:17:42.500 --> 00:17:47.420 Lust happens in consumerism, in the marketplace. 00:17:47.420 --> 00:17:49.940 That's why here in Matthew 5, 00:17:49.940 --> 00:17:53.660 Jesus says two times it's better to cut off, 00:17:53.660 --> 00:17:55.619 pluck out the eye, cut off the hand 00:17:55.619 --> 00:17:56.939 than to be cast into hell. 00:17:56.939 --> 00:17:58.539 Now, He goes so extreme. 00:17:58.539 --> 00:18:01.659 He says it's better to lose eye and hand 00:18:01.659 --> 00:18:03.979 than to be cast into hell because of lust. 00:18:03.979 --> 00:18:06.179 And what He's saying there hyperbolically 00:18:06.179 --> 00:18:08.859 is that lust is really serious. 00:18:08.859 --> 00:18:09.739 That lust is really serious. 00:18:09.739 --> 00:18:10.579 Why? 00:18:10.579 --> 00:18:11.859 Louise Perry, one recent author, 00:18:11.859 --> 00:18:15.619 she points out that the modern culture teaches the myth 00:18:16.859 --> 00:18:19.979 that sexuality and its expression 00:18:19.979 --> 00:18:23.539 is just a leisure activity invested with meaning 00:18:23.539 --> 00:18:27.339 only if the participants choose to give it meaning. 00:18:29.019 --> 00:18:31.099 And the Bible comes and says, 00:18:31.099 --> 00:18:34.019 human sexuality is meant to be expressed 00:18:34.019 --> 00:18:37.139 in the context of true love, commitment to tell, 00:18:37.139 --> 00:18:40.019 deep abiding commitment why. 00:18:40.019 --> 00:18:43.019 And it's because it's so powerful. 00:18:43.019 --> 00:18:45.700 You can't choose when or when not to give 00:18:45.700 --> 00:18:46.859 sexual expression meaning. 00:18:46.859 --> 00:18:47.940 It is so powerful. 00:18:47.940 --> 00:18:49.539 And so the Bible comes and says, 00:18:49.539 --> 00:18:53.019 love requires a total commitment, a legal commitment, 00:18:53.019 --> 00:18:55.779 not a feeling, not a mere desire, 00:18:55.779 --> 00:18:58.940 not a mere physical desire, but a complete commitment. 00:18:58.940 --> 00:19:00.980 And you see the point that Jesus is not here 00:19:00.980 --> 00:19:04.339 to be prudish about it, but to protect. 00:19:04.339 --> 00:19:06.980 When Jesus comes and He gets so serious about lust, 00:19:06.980 --> 00:19:09.059 He's actually trying to come and say, 00:19:09.059 --> 00:19:10.539 I want to protect you. 00:19:12.139 --> 00:19:15.299 Because this is very, very powerful stuff. 00:19:15.299 --> 00:19:19.539 It can leave many, many scars and lots of, lots of pain. 00:19:19.539 --> 00:19:21.579 When you push against the grain of reality, 00:19:21.579 --> 00:19:24.379 as God designed it, it pushes back. 00:19:24.379 --> 00:19:25.899 And so Jesus says, I want to protect you. 00:19:25.899 --> 00:19:27.299 Now here's the better vision 00:19:27.299 --> 00:19:28.619 and we'll move to the final thing. 00:19:28.619 --> 00:19:31.819 The better vision, the Christian vision, why? 00:19:31.819 --> 00:19:33.220 Why are these rules here? 00:19:33.220 --> 00:19:34.859 Why are these commands here? 00:19:34.859 --> 00:19:39.059 And here it is that relationships that God made us for 00:19:39.059 --> 00:19:40.960 are theological realities. 00:19:42.259 --> 00:19:44.339 And let me just give this to you very quickly 00:19:44.339 --> 00:19:45.419 in a few ways. 00:19:45.419 --> 00:19:48.500 The first is this, when God comes and says, 00:19:48.500 --> 00:19:52.180 thou shall not commit adultery, thou shall not lust. 00:19:52.180 --> 00:19:56.099 It is because physical union is meant to take place 00:19:56.099 --> 00:19:59.579 in the context of total union, which includes 00:19:59.579 --> 00:20:02.940 an enduring legal commitment, a spiritual vow 00:20:02.940 --> 00:20:05.460 between a man and a woman forever in marriage. 00:20:06.579 --> 00:20:10.480 And the reason for that is because that's real love. 00:20:12.019 --> 00:20:16.019 Real love is not an expression of desire. 00:20:16.019 --> 00:20:17.740 It's not an expression of feeling. 00:20:17.740 --> 00:20:20.819 Real love is a commitment of the will. 00:20:21.859 --> 00:20:25.019 It's a decision to sacrifice yourself 00:20:25.019 --> 00:20:27.779 for the need of another in total commitment. 00:20:27.779 --> 00:20:29.440 That's merit of love. 00:20:29.440 --> 00:20:31.039 And the Bible comes and says, 00:20:31.039 --> 00:20:33.620 the reason adultery and lust don't work 00:20:33.620 --> 00:20:35.299 is because we were actually made 00:20:35.299 --> 00:20:37.059 for that kind of a relationship. 00:20:37.059 --> 00:20:41.299 Commitment, true love, love that is self-sacrificial 00:20:42.259 --> 00:20:43.339 in all circumstances. 00:20:43.339 --> 00:20:45.120 Now the second thing is this, that God tells us then, 00:20:45.120 --> 00:20:46.620 this is the next layer down. 00:20:46.620 --> 00:20:47.539 Let me give you three layers. 00:20:47.539 --> 00:20:48.379 That's the first. 00:20:48.379 --> 00:20:51.659 The next layer down, God tells us that physical union 00:20:51.659 --> 00:20:53.000 is for the marriage context. 00:20:53.000 --> 00:20:54.200 Why? 00:20:54.200 --> 00:20:56.500 And we learn something even more deep. 00:20:56.500 --> 00:20:58.139 The theological reality. 00:20:58.139 --> 00:21:01.180 Ephesians chapter five comes to us and says this, 00:21:01.180 --> 00:21:03.779 Paul calls it in Greek, the mega mystery, 00:21:03.779 --> 00:21:05.980 the big mystery, he says. 00:21:05.980 --> 00:21:10.059 And he says that marriage, being one flesh, 00:21:10.059 --> 00:21:12.619 refers to Christ and the church. 00:21:12.619 --> 00:21:14.399 Now we don't have time tonight to unpack this, 00:21:14.399 --> 00:21:16.940 but what he means by that is he says that 00:21:16.940 --> 00:21:18.740 in the beginning of human history, 00:21:18.740 --> 00:21:20.820 in Genesis chapter one and two, 00:21:20.820 --> 00:21:25.820 God created marriage to point as a foretaste, 00:21:26.340 --> 00:21:29.220 signpost and analogy to the love 00:21:29.220 --> 00:21:31.320 that we experience in the gospel. 00:21:32.460 --> 00:21:35.740 That the whole reason marriage exists on planet earth 00:21:35.740 --> 00:21:37.380 is to be a walking illustration, 00:21:37.380 --> 00:21:40.420 a living signpost of the kind of commitment 00:21:40.420 --> 00:21:43.380 that God has for us in the gospel. 00:21:43.380 --> 00:21:44.460 That's the reason it exists. 00:21:44.460 --> 00:21:46.860 It's a deep, deep reality with a deep, 00:21:46.859 --> 00:21:48.379 deep meaning. 00:21:48.379 --> 00:21:51.299 And that's why it's to take place in total commitment. 00:21:52.339 --> 00:21:54.939 Marriage love is a sign and symbol of the greatest love 00:21:54.939 --> 00:21:57.339 that we actually need and that's the love of God. 00:21:58.659 --> 00:22:01.059 Remember, we have an ultimate groom, Ephesians chapter five 00:22:01.059 --> 00:22:03.459 says, we the church are his bride. 00:22:03.459 --> 00:22:05.019 And so at the end of all of history, 00:22:05.019 --> 00:22:07.299 the ultimate hope every single human being has 00:22:07.299 --> 00:22:10.740 is in a wedding, the marriage supper of the lamb. 00:22:10.740 --> 00:22:14.339 And that wedding gives meaning to every other wedding 00:22:14.339 --> 00:22:16.000 in all of human history. 00:22:16.000 --> 00:22:17.339 That's the reason for marriage. 00:22:17.339 --> 00:22:19.099 That's the reason it exists. 00:22:19.099 --> 00:22:21.299 Total love and marriage is a living illustration 00:22:21.299 --> 00:22:22.339 of God's total love for us. 00:22:22.339 --> 00:22:24.500 Now here's the third layer in the final one. 00:22:25.380 --> 00:22:28.819 That's why therefore, neither marriage 00:22:28.819 --> 00:22:31.660 or any sexual expression is necessary. 00:22:32.500 --> 00:22:34.359 Marriage is not necessary for us. 00:22:36.619 --> 00:22:37.460 Why? 00:22:37.460 --> 00:22:40.420 Because it's actually not the thing we really need. 00:22:40.420 --> 00:22:42.619 And so Christianity came in the middle of history 00:22:42.619 --> 00:22:44.700 and revolutionized the world by saying, 00:22:44.700 --> 00:22:47.180 you can be married or you can be single. 00:22:47.180 --> 00:22:48.740 And both of those are good. 00:22:48.740 --> 00:22:51.460 If you're married, then you have an opportunity 00:22:51.460 --> 00:22:54.340 to be a living signpost of the beauty of God's love 00:22:54.340 --> 00:22:57.380 for us in the gospel, a total union, complete commitment 00:22:57.380 --> 00:23:00.299 with the Old Testament called acid love, steadfast love. 00:23:00.299 --> 00:23:02.819 If you're not married, you have the opportunity 00:23:02.819 --> 00:23:06.259 to show forth the sufficiency of the marriage 00:23:06.259 --> 00:23:08.380 you were actually made for. 00:23:08.380 --> 00:23:10.420 The one that's coming at the end of history. 00:23:10.420 --> 00:23:11.420 You see, none of us need, 00:23:11.420 --> 00:23:14.019 none of us have to have marriage in this life 00:23:14.019 --> 00:23:17.019 because the marriage we all really need, 00:23:17.019 --> 00:23:18.700 the fulfillment we all really need 00:23:18.700 --> 00:23:21.420 is the marriage that's coming at the end of history 00:23:21.420 --> 00:23:23.980 when we get to have the love of God in full for us 00:23:23.980 --> 00:23:25.940 and see God face to face. 00:23:25.940 --> 00:23:28.059 That it's all ordered, the whole thing is ordered 00:23:28.059 --> 00:23:28.900 to that reality. 00:23:28.900 --> 00:23:32.700 You see, we have a why, why the Seventh Commandment. 00:23:32.700 --> 00:23:37.279 Why is Jesus saying that we shouldn't lust? 00:23:37.279 --> 00:23:40.700 And here's the why because all of it is about the fact 00:23:40.700 --> 00:23:45.700 that we are ordered to the total love of God in the gospel. 00:23:45.940 --> 00:23:48.500 That that's what makes sense of everything. 00:23:48.500 --> 00:23:51.740 Now, without that big vision, and I've got to hurry, 00:23:51.740 --> 00:23:56.740 without that big vision, we will turn our lusts 00:23:57.740 --> 00:23:59.319 into salvation hopes. 00:24:00.819 --> 00:24:03.420 Look, you can lust after anything in this life. 00:24:05.100 --> 00:24:09.700 You can lust after money and sex and power and relationship 00:24:09.700 --> 00:24:11.140 and so many good things you can take 00:24:11.140 --> 00:24:13.380 and you can over desire them, desire them in the wrong way. 00:24:13.380 --> 00:24:15.940 And that happens when we lack the big vision 00:24:15.940 --> 00:24:18.900 for what the goods of life are really for. 00:24:18.900 --> 00:24:20.539 And it's all about the gospel. 00:24:20.539 --> 00:24:23.299 God, this is the key, this unlocks the key 00:24:23.299 --> 00:24:25.340 to the Christian life, the key to true joy. 00:24:25.340 --> 00:24:30.039 God is the true fulfillment of all your unmet longings. 00:24:31.259 --> 00:24:33.059 The living God, Father, Son and Spirit 00:24:33.059 --> 00:24:37.700 is the true fulfillment of every single unmet longing 00:24:37.700 --> 00:24:39.059 in the human heart. 00:24:39.059 --> 00:24:43.419 Now, lastly, quickly, Jesus comes to us, 00:24:43.419 --> 00:24:45.779 the path to healing, that's what we're talking about now. 00:24:45.779 --> 00:24:48.099 Jesus comes to us and says, 00:24:48.099 --> 00:24:49.779 lust is adultery of the heart. 00:24:51.019 --> 00:24:52.539 That you can lust after anything. 00:24:52.539 --> 00:24:54.700 This word applies to anything that you can take 00:24:54.700 --> 00:24:58.419 in the creaturely world and long for it 00:24:58.419 --> 00:25:00.299 in the wrong type of way. 00:25:00.299 --> 00:25:03.379 So Jesus is saying to us very clearly, 00:25:03.379 --> 00:25:08.139 the Pharisee said, the way is broad to remaining free 00:25:08.140 --> 00:25:10.660 of committing a sin against the seventh commandment. 00:25:10.660 --> 00:25:15.460 Jesus comes to say, oh no, no, no, none is righteous. 00:25:15.460 --> 00:25:19.060 Lust, all of us struggle with the problem of lust, 00:25:19.060 --> 00:25:21.700 of over desire, of desiring good things 00:25:21.700 --> 00:25:23.540 in the wrong ways with the wrong motives. 00:25:23.540 --> 00:25:25.060 All of us struggle with that. 00:25:25.060 --> 00:25:27.940 Now, let me close with three things that means for us. 00:25:27.940 --> 00:25:28.820 Three applications. 00:25:28.820 --> 00:25:29.820 The first is this. 00:25:31.780 --> 00:25:35.180 When it comes to lust that Jesus is talking about here, 00:25:35.180 --> 00:25:39.180 lust in the domain of human sexuality, 00:25:39.180 --> 00:25:41.420 it may be the case that some of us come to this and say, 00:25:41.420 --> 00:25:45.299 you know, I'm relatively okay. 00:25:46.420 --> 00:25:49.460 This is not something I struggle with very much. 00:25:49.460 --> 00:25:53.340 I see here that Jesus does universalize the sin of lust, 00:25:53.340 --> 00:25:55.820 but in comparison to other people, 00:25:55.820 --> 00:25:57.740 this is something that I'm not struggling with. 00:25:57.740 --> 00:26:02.740 Now, one thing that's so important is to see 00:26:02.740 --> 00:26:07.740 that Jesus Christ comes in this passage for the sick, 00:26:07.740 --> 00:26:08.579 not for the well. 00:26:08.579 --> 00:26:12.620 He comes to be hope in the midst of struggle. 00:26:12.620 --> 00:26:15.220 He comes to deal with a problem and say, 00:26:15.220 --> 00:26:17.620 I come to bring something that you need, 00:26:17.620 --> 00:26:19.299 forgiveness and healing. 00:26:19.299 --> 00:26:22.339 And all of us, no matter what it is in our life 00:26:22.339 --> 00:26:25.140 that we struggle with lusting after, 00:26:25.140 --> 00:26:28.740 we have to be very, very aware that the church 00:26:28.740 --> 00:26:30.660 is a place for people who are struggling. 00:26:30.660 --> 00:26:33.740 The church is a domain for people who are struggling 00:26:33.740 --> 00:26:36.460 with this exact issue that Jesus is talking about. 00:26:36.460 --> 00:26:38.940 It's so important to protect the church community 00:26:38.940 --> 00:26:42.100 from ever becoming a place where those searching 00:26:42.100 --> 00:26:45.980 for healing and hope come and feel more and more 00:26:45.980 --> 00:26:48.100 and more unnecessary shame. 00:26:49.100 --> 00:26:50.540 And that's not what Jesus came for, 00:26:50.540 --> 00:26:52.900 and that's not what the church exists for. 00:26:52.900 --> 00:26:56.900 The church is the hospital for those in search of healing. 00:26:56.900 --> 00:27:00.019 On this issue and every single other type of little 00:27:00.019 --> 00:27:02.740 idolatry that you can have that you can lust after. 00:27:02.740 --> 00:27:04.140 This is a place, in other words, 00:27:04.140 --> 00:27:07.180 where we should never be surprised by sin. 00:27:07.180 --> 00:27:08.019 Never. 00:27:09.019 --> 00:27:10.340 Because why? 00:27:10.340 --> 00:27:12.900 Jesus says, have you looked at your own heart? 00:27:12.900 --> 00:27:14.300 Have you looked at your own heart? 00:27:14.300 --> 00:27:16.620 Have you looked at the things that you overdesire? 00:27:16.620 --> 00:27:18.340 We can never be surprised by sin. 00:27:18.340 --> 00:27:21.660 Second, of three, how do you find hope then 00:27:21.660 --> 00:27:26.660 in the midst of shame and guilt and regret and pain? 00:27:26.940 --> 00:27:29.460 Of things that have happened to you, 00:27:29.460 --> 00:27:31.060 things that you've done, 00:27:31.060 --> 00:27:34.060 all sorts of different ways we can experience problems here. 00:27:36.060 --> 00:27:37.340 Here's the design for marriage. 00:27:37.340 --> 00:27:41.380 Remember, Moses gave it to us in the words of Genesis 2 00:27:41.380 --> 00:27:42.380 at the very beginning, 00:27:42.380 --> 00:27:45.620 a man, a woman shall leave their father and their mother 00:27:45.620 --> 00:27:47.660 and cleave to their spouse. 00:27:48.860 --> 00:27:50.300 Where do you find hope? 00:27:50.299 --> 00:27:53.980 Where do you find hope when it comes to the sin struggles 00:27:53.980 --> 00:27:54.819 in this issue? 00:27:56.139 --> 00:28:00.180 Jesus Christ left his father's home above, 00:28:01.180 --> 00:28:06.180 so free, so infinite his grace to cleave to his bride. 00:28:08.019 --> 00:28:09.539 You see, the beginning of history, 00:28:09.539 --> 00:28:11.819 and God says marriage is between a man and a woman, 00:28:11.819 --> 00:28:13.859 where a man and a woman leave and cleave. 00:28:13.859 --> 00:28:16.659 Jesus Christ, the meaning of history is that Jesus Christ 00:28:16.660 --> 00:28:20.420 came and left his father's home above and cleaved, 00:28:20.420 --> 00:28:23.500 held fast to his bride. 00:28:23.500 --> 00:28:26.500 And if you believe in the gospel tonight, that's you. 00:28:26.500 --> 00:28:30.380 And we see this amazing moment in John chapter four, 00:28:31.300 --> 00:28:34.779 where Jesus is meeting with the woman at the well, 00:28:34.779 --> 00:28:37.940 and he says to her, I have water 00:28:37.940 --> 00:28:40.540 that will satisfy your thirst forever. 00:28:40.540 --> 00:28:43.100 And she says, where do I get that kind of water 00:28:43.100 --> 00:28:45.100 that will satisfy my thirst forever? 00:28:45.099 --> 00:28:47.699 And he says to her, go and get your husband. 00:28:47.699 --> 00:28:50.019 And she responds by saying, I don't have a husband. 00:28:50.019 --> 00:28:52.219 And he said, I know, you've had five different husbands. 00:28:52.219 --> 00:28:53.899 Now, why does he say that? 00:28:54.899 --> 00:28:57.179 And it's because he's saying to her, 00:28:57.179 --> 00:29:00.059 you've been looking to physical partners 00:29:00.059 --> 00:29:03.819 to give you satisfaction, and you've never found it. 00:29:03.819 --> 00:29:04.899 You have unmet longing. 00:29:04.899 --> 00:29:07.859 You've been looking for this particular expression, 00:29:07.859 --> 00:29:10.899 one of the goods of life, to meet satisfaction, 00:29:10.899 --> 00:29:12.819 and it's never gonna work. 00:29:12.819 --> 00:29:13.659 It's never gonna happen. 00:29:13.660 --> 00:29:15.900 It could be this, it could be anything else in life 00:29:15.900 --> 00:29:17.340 that you might be lusting after. 00:29:17.340 --> 00:29:19.940 He's saying to her, don't you know that you were made 00:29:19.940 --> 00:29:23.820 for something so much greater, true, living water 00:29:23.820 --> 00:29:26.180 that would actually satisfy you. 00:29:26.180 --> 00:29:28.180 And that means that if you're a Christian tonight, 00:29:28.180 --> 00:29:29.340 if you believe the gospel tonight, 00:29:29.340 --> 00:29:31.100 two things are true for you. 00:29:32.259 --> 00:29:36.100 God comes and says to you that every time you lust, 00:29:36.100 --> 00:29:40.060 you are saying to God over anything, anything, 00:29:40.060 --> 00:29:41.500 you can't really fulfill me. 00:29:41.500 --> 00:29:46.220 And Jesus comes and says, I've come to be your physician 00:29:46.220 --> 00:29:49.299 and show you, show you that that's not true. 00:29:49.299 --> 00:29:51.980 Show you that there is hope and there's healing. 00:29:51.980 --> 00:29:54.420 Show you that in Jesus Christ, 00:29:54.420 --> 00:29:58.460 there is forgiveness and true fulfillment 00:29:58.460 --> 00:30:01.539 for every single unmet desire, for every single place 00:30:01.539 --> 00:30:03.220 we are looking for in our lives 00:30:03.220 --> 00:30:05.299 that will not truly give us the satisfaction 00:30:05.299 --> 00:30:07.059 that we really need. 00:30:07.059 --> 00:30:09.579 Jesus Christ really did become our sin. 00:30:09.579 --> 00:30:11.140 We sang that at the beginning of the night. 00:30:11.140 --> 00:30:13.820 He became our sinful desires. 00:30:13.820 --> 00:30:16.740 He became our misplaced desires. 00:30:16.740 --> 00:30:21.340 He became our lust and they died with him as he died. 00:30:22.940 --> 00:30:25.780 Remember that Adam in the Garden of Eden, 00:30:25.780 --> 00:30:29.380 let his bride commit the great sin 00:30:29.380 --> 00:30:30.980 that threw the world into chaos. 00:30:32.300 --> 00:30:35.180 He let Adam let her, but the second Adam came and said, 00:30:35.180 --> 00:30:38.340 but I will take you back, I will rescue you. 00:30:39.180 --> 00:30:40.940 I will show you the path to forgiveness 00:30:40.940 --> 00:30:42.700 and real satisfaction. 00:30:42.700 --> 00:30:45.059 He said to the woman at the well, I am the living water. 00:30:45.059 --> 00:30:46.500 You see, when he said that, he's saying, 00:30:46.500 --> 00:30:49.220 I came to forgive you and fulfill you, 00:30:50.740 --> 00:30:53.860 to heal the wounds and give you real hope. 00:30:53.860 --> 00:30:56.700 Show you really where you can find deep satisfaction. 00:30:56.700 --> 00:30:59.019 Now, third and lastly, as we close, 00:31:01.660 --> 00:31:04.580 we all therefore need to recognize in our lives 00:31:04.580 --> 00:31:06.580 the places in which the objects 00:31:06.579 --> 00:31:10.939 to which we have misplaced desire, overdesire, lusts. 00:31:11.899 --> 00:31:15.099 We desire, we all struggle with desiring 00:31:15.099 --> 00:31:20.099 so many good things in this life more than God himself. 00:31:21.460 --> 00:31:24.019 And so let me leave you tonight with just this. 00:31:24.019 --> 00:31:26.699 If you're able tonight to say, 00:31:26.699 --> 00:31:31.699 this is that which I know I struggle with desiring too much 00:31:32.179 --> 00:31:33.220 in the wrong ways. 00:31:33.220 --> 00:31:35.420 Just a few practical tips. 00:31:35.420 --> 00:31:37.660 One, run to confession. 00:31:38.940 --> 00:31:41.660 Confess your sins as soon as they happen. 00:31:42.660 --> 00:31:44.220 Take it straight to the Lord. 00:31:45.220 --> 00:31:47.819 Be honest with the Lord about your struggle, 00:31:47.819 --> 00:31:50.900 about your pain, about the things that you can't get past. 00:31:50.900 --> 00:31:52.819 Be honest, take it straight to the Lord. 00:31:52.819 --> 00:31:55.819 Secondly, the book of James tells us explicitly, 00:31:55.819 --> 00:31:57.660 confess your sins to one another. 00:31:58.660 --> 00:32:00.779 When it comes to recurring patterns of lust, 00:32:00.779 --> 00:32:03.379 whatever the object of that lust might be, 00:32:03.379 --> 00:32:07.980 it is nearly impossible to tackle without help, 00:32:07.980 --> 00:32:12.460 without somebody in your life that you can really trust. 00:32:12.460 --> 00:32:15.420 To be confidential, but to also come alongside you 00:32:15.420 --> 00:32:17.899 and love for you and help you. 00:32:17.899 --> 00:32:19.180 We all need that. 00:32:19.180 --> 00:32:21.740 And the Bible tells us to do that really explicitly. 00:32:21.740 --> 00:32:24.139 Start where you are, be honest. 00:32:24.139 --> 00:32:26.899 Secondly, get active. 00:32:26.900 --> 00:32:31.140 Get active. This is a simple idea, 00:32:31.140 --> 00:32:34.820 but if you are passive when it comes to your struggles 00:32:34.820 --> 00:32:38.220 of overdesire, then they will overtake. 00:32:38.220 --> 00:32:40.060 And so you actually have to make a determination 00:32:40.060 --> 00:32:42.860 in your life to be active on whatever it is 00:32:42.860 --> 00:32:44.340 that you're struggling with. 00:32:44.340 --> 00:32:47.780 And to really say, I'm going to tackle this. 00:32:47.780 --> 00:32:49.220 I'm gonna fight this. 00:32:49.220 --> 00:32:51.140 I'm going to do Psalm 119, 11, 00:32:51.140 --> 00:32:52.740 and hide the word of the Lord in my heart 00:32:52.740 --> 00:32:55.340 that I might not sin against him when the temptations come. 00:32:55.339 --> 00:32:57.740 Now, the way to think about this in one minute 00:32:57.740 --> 00:33:00.099 is in the analogy of fitness. 00:33:01.699 --> 00:33:03.379 When you want to become fit, 00:33:03.379 --> 00:33:06.299 you have to lift weights. 00:33:07.179 --> 00:33:08.779 You have to run. 00:33:08.779 --> 00:33:12.019 You have to push your muscles beyond their boundary. 00:33:12.019 --> 00:33:13.899 You have to have resistance in your life. 00:33:13.899 --> 00:33:15.859 The first step to getting fit 00:33:15.859 --> 00:33:18.859 when it comes to inordinate desire and proper desire 00:33:18.859 --> 00:33:21.500 is to say, I need resistance in my life. 00:33:21.500 --> 00:33:22.939 I need to put things in place, 00:33:22.940 --> 00:33:25.700 be very active about resisting the things 00:33:25.700 --> 00:33:27.460 that I overdesire. 00:33:27.460 --> 00:33:29.460 And there's all sorts of specific ways to do that. 00:33:29.460 --> 00:33:30.779 The second step then is to say, 00:33:30.779 --> 00:33:33.660 not only do I need to resist, I need weightlifting, 00:33:33.660 --> 00:33:35.860 I also need the right foods. 00:33:35.860 --> 00:33:37.299 If you want to get fit, you got to lift weights 00:33:37.299 --> 00:33:39.019 and eat the right foods, right? 00:33:39.019 --> 00:33:41.580 And that's the same thing with the heart, 00:33:41.580 --> 00:33:43.019 with the deep, deep desires. 00:33:43.019 --> 00:33:46.860 You resist, you put boundaries in place, confession, 00:33:46.860 --> 00:33:48.140 and all sorts of other things. 00:33:48.140 --> 00:33:49.779 Then you eat the right food. 00:33:49.779 --> 00:33:54.259 And the right food is ultimately to fill your heart 00:33:54.259 --> 00:33:56.139 with better desires. 00:33:56.139 --> 00:33:58.420 And those better desires are ultimately culminate 00:33:58.420 --> 00:34:03.420 in learning and praying and longing to love God 00:34:03.899 --> 00:34:05.220 more than anything else. 00:34:06.180 --> 00:34:08.699 And if you can find it yourself in a place 00:34:08.699 --> 00:34:10.019 where you grow and you grow and you grow 00:34:10.019 --> 00:34:12.699 and you love God more than anything else, 00:34:12.699 --> 00:34:13.980 then lust will go away. 00:34:16.139 --> 00:34:17.659 That's called glorification. 00:34:17.659 --> 00:34:18.980 It's coming. 00:34:18.980 --> 00:34:20.059 But now's the time. 00:34:20.059 --> 00:34:23.139 Now's the time to make a plan, to be active. 00:34:23.139 --> 00:34:25.659 The most important thing, and this is the last word, 00:34:26.619 --> 00:34:29.579 is that Jesus Christ himself has to become 00:34:29.579 --> 00:34:32.980 the apple of your eye, the real object of your desire, 00:34:32.980 --> 00:34:36.980 the one to whom you long for and long to see 00:34:36.980 --> 00:34:40.699 above all else, to be in the presence of God. 00:34:40.699 --> 00:34:44.219 No matter how dark or how broken things have gotten 00:34:44.219 --> 00:34:48.780 in the past or in the present, confess and seek 00:34:48.780 --> 00:34:51.460 fulfillment in the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:34:51.460 --> 00:34:54.700 He will forgive and he will fulfill 00:34:55.780 --> 00:34:57.220 all of your deepest desires. 00:34:58.300 --> 00:34:59.860 Let's pray together. 00:34:59.860 --> 00:35:03.900 Lord, we come tonight on such a hard and difficult topic 00:35:03.900 --> 00:35:06.260 and we know that some of us, so many of us, 00:35:06.260 --> 00:35:11.260 come tonight with unfulfilled longings, unmet desires 00:35:11.340 --> 00:35:13.220 that are deep down in our souls. 00:35:13.220 --> 00:35:17.740 And we know that ultimately, that without you, 00:35:17.739 --> 00:35:21.099 those cannot be met, that we can't look to our spouses. 00:35:22.059 --> 00:35:25.659 As our ultimate hope, we can't look to the physical 00:35:25.659 --> 00:35:30.659 for our ultimate hope, to money, to power, to any of it. 00:35:30.659 --> 00:35:32.419 So Lord, many of us have been there. 00:35:32.419 --> 00:35:36.979 We confess before you, we have chased and chased and chased 00:35:36.979 --> 00:35:38.439 and we've been left empty. 00:35:40.139 --> 00:35:42.299 But Lord, you tell us that when we seek your face, 00:35:42.299 --> 00:35:43.739 everything else becomes clear, 00:35:43.739 --> 00:35:47.779 that all the goods of the world become goods again. 00:35:47.779 --> 00:35:50.179 So we pray tonight that you would help us to seek first 00:35:50.179 --> 00:35:53.579 the kingdom and that we would let everything else fall 00:35:53.579 --> 00:35:54.579 in its place. 00:35:55.939 --> 00:35:59.539 Lord, we long tonight to taste and see the beauty 00:35:59.539 --> 00:36:02.419 of the forgiveness we have in the cross, 00:36:02.419 --> 00:36:07.419 where Jesus, you really did swallow, eat and drink 00:36:07.739 --> 00:36:11.659 our over desires and destroy them in your death. 00:36:11.659 --> 00:36:14.139 We thank you, thank you, thank you, 00:36:14.139 --> 00:36:17.599 that our sins in this area of lust really are forgiven. 00:36:18.940 --> 00:36:21.259 And now we long, Lord, to grow. 00:36:21.259 --> 00:36:23.940 So we know that we're called to sanctification. 00:36:24.859 --> 00:36:28.339 So help us, Lord, to tackle, to address, to resist 00:36:28.339 --> 00:36:31.259 and to be nourished on better things. 00:36:31.259 --> 00:36:32.920 And we pray for these hearts, Lord, 00:36:32.920 --> 00:36:35.099 by the Holy Spirit tonight in Christ's name. 00:36:35.099 --> 00:36:42.099 Amen.