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AfterThoughts: March 24, 2019

March 24, 2019

“Purity In Today's World”

Matthew 5:27-32

This week, Pastor David continued the “Sermon On The Mount” series. Re-read those verses as you consider these questions.

  • Of pornography, Pastor David said “Let’s call it what it is: this is spiritual warfare- a targeted Satanic attack on the purity of young children, the purity of students and singles, and the purity of married couples.” How does thinking about this issue in terms of “warfare” affect your perspective? Your strategy in dealing with it?
  • Think about a time in your life when your actions did not accurately reflect your thoughts/beliefs. How does Jesus warn against “doing the right thing for the wrong reasons”?
  • In order to flee the sin of impurity, what do you need to cut off? How are you setting yourself up for failure in this area? Are you willing to use whatever means necessary to flee?
  • What is your motivation for remaining pure? How can you maintain that motivation? Who can you ask to help you be accountable in this area?
  • Understanding divorce is not God’s ideal for any marriage, how should you proceed if you are considering divorce? How can you support someone struggling in a difficult marriage or going through a divorce?

In your time with God this week,

1. Thank God for loving you, even when you are involved in the sin of impurity.

2. Ask God to show you the areas of your life where you are allowing impurity to survive and grow.

3. Commit to take a step toward cutting yourself off from the sin(s) of impurity.

 

RESOURCES:

 

ADDITIONAL DISCOVERY:

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’  28  But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.  29  If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell.  30  And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.”
Matthew 5:27-30
 
“It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’  32  But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.”
Matthew 5:31-32:  
 
“When a man takes a wife and marries her, if then she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some indecency in her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, and she departs out of his house, 2  and if she goes and becomes another man's wife… “
Deuteronomy 24:1-2
 
“Now when Jesus had finished these sayings, he went away from Galilee and entered the region of Judea beyond the Jordan. 2  And large crowds followed him, and he healed them there. 3  And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause?” 4  He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, 5  and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? 6  So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” 7  They said to him, “Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away?” 8  He said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. 9  And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery.” 10  The disciples said to him, “If such is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry.” 11  But he said to them, “Not everyone can receive this saying, but only those to whom it is given. 12  For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let the one who is able to receive this receive it.”
Matthew 19:1-12
 
To the married I give this charge (not I, but the Lord): the wife should not separate from her husband 11  (but if she does, she should remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband), and the husband should not divorce his wife. 12  To the rest I say (I, not the Lord) that if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she consents to live with him, he should not divorce her. 13  If any woman has a husband who is an unbeliever, and he consents to live with her, she should not divorce him. 14  For the unbelieving husband is made holy because of his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy because of her husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy. 15  But if the unbelieving partner separates, let it be so. In such cases the brother or sister is not enslaved. God has called you to peace. 16  For how do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife?
1 Corinthians 7:10-16.