Sermon on the Mount — Lust & Divorce

This message opens by clarifying what biblical forgiveness is and is not: not forgetting, not justifying what was done, not easy, but not optional for followers of Jesus. It then turns to a difficult section of the Sermon on the Mount. From Matthew 5:27-32 , the teaching argues Jesus traces adultery to the lustful look and uses deliberate hyperbole about the eye and hand to show the radical measures worth taking to avoid temptation, the Forrest Gump method of fleeing rather than testing the line. On divorce, it contends Jesus is recovering God's original intent for marriage rather than issuing new rules, pointing back to Genesis and the image of God. The recurring principle returns: focus on the command and you create loopholes; focus on the commander and you recover the heart, and the church's own house must be in order first.