“You have heard that it was said, Do not commit adultery. But I tell you, everyone who looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of the parts of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of the parts of your body than for your whole body to go into hell! “It was also said, Whoever divorces his wife must give her a written notice of divorce. But I tell you, everyone who divorces his wife, except in a case of sexual immorality, causes her to commit adultery. And whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery. (Matthew 5:27-32 HCSB)
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“You have heard that it was said, Do not commit adultery. But I tell you, everyone who looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. (Matthew 5:27-28 HCSB)
God says that angry name-calling is the same as murder to God. Lust is the same as adultery. Real righteousness eludes us. He doesn't give us righteousness by dumbing down the rules. He paid the price and gives us righteousness. We then go around not becoming righteous but being already righteous. Real righteousness is a heart event not an action. The heart of the Old Testament is loving God with all your heart and mind and soul. The Ten Commandments came hundreds of years after God established a relationship with man. True love for God and others causes us to keep God's rules. Sin is a heart issue just like salvation is a heart issue. The question is not IF WE ARE GUILTY it is WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT. Jesus does not blame outside influences, He blames inward sin. Women should dress modestly, but when a man looks at a woman with lust it is his own fault. This applies to everyone. It is a concept, not a strict one situation answer. Sexual attraction is not a sin, giving in to that attraction is sin. Our sin nature causes us to have a wrong inclinations, but a changed heart resists that sin with penitence calling to Christ for help. We must take sexual sin seriously. Jesus says that victory in this area is of extreme importance. No 123 points, no therapy just...
Are you giving in to the expectations of our day or are you fighting for purity? The expectations of our day are so far afield that it is hard to find the way back. We don't know what normal is, we are so steeped in perversion in our society.
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“It was also said, Whoever divorces his wife must give her a written notice of divorce. But I tell you, everyone who divorces his wife, except in a case of sexual immorality, causes her to commit adultery. And whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery. (Matthew 5:31-32 HCSB)
Some Pharisees approached Him to test Him. They asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife on any grounds? ” “Haven’t you read,” He replied, “that He who created them in the beginning made them male and female,” and He also said: “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, man must not separate.” (Matthew 19:3-6 HCSB)
We must defend the sanctity of marriage. Divorced people are not second class citizens because Christ has covered them in His righteousness.
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