If you want to go ahead and open your Bibles, we're going to be in Hebrews chapter 13 this morning. As most of you know, when I have the privilege from time to time to fill in for Pastor Steve in the morning services, I've been going through the book of Hebrews. It has been many, many years that I've been doing it, but I'm just going verse by verse through the book. I have loved the book of Hebrews because the centerpiece of everything in Hebrews is Jesus Christ. Jesus is front and center. It's all about Him. And it was originally written to individuals who needed that message. These were original recipients, were Jewish by birth, and they had come to faith in Christ, but they were still steeped in the Old Testament rituals and sacrifices, and the temple and the animal sacrifices. And for some of them, they wondered, did we walk away from something important? Should we have just added Jesus to what was there? Did we miss something? And the message of Hebrews is, no, Jesus is everything. He's the only means of salvation. His sacrifice was sufficient. The blood of bulls and goats can't do anything. Jesus did it all. If you have Him, that's all you need. And it's a rich theological work of many chapters with great theology showing who Jesus is and what He's done. Yet the goal of the book of Hebrews isn't just to teach theology. It matters what we think. It matters what we believe. But the goal of Hebrews is for us to be able to live out our faith. I've read it many times, but I think the ultimate purpose of what we're supposed to take away from all of the truth is found in Hebrews chapter 12. I'm going to read verses 1 and 2. Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus. the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." That summarizes the takeaway of everything. This is really describing our life of faith. We're in a long race. It's a marathon, not a sprint. And we have to keep pressing on with our eyes on Jesus, but also getting rid of anything that slows us down, that entangles us. That's really a description of what theologically is called progressive sanctification. It just means that as we live, the longer we live, we should be more like Jesus, more obedient, and we keep going. So with that brief background, I'm going to start off this morning asking you a question. How are you doing? It's a rhetorical question you don't need to answer, of course. How is your spiritual life? How is your spiritual health? Are you strong this morning or are you struggling? Are you doing well, setting aside the encumbrances and the sin which easily entangles us and slows us down, or are you getting tripped up? This morning, as we do every week, but particularly this morning because of the way I'm addressing the text, we have the opportunity to do some self-examination. It might not be self-examination in a way we would have thought, but it's a way for us to evaluate how we are doing. We're going to be studying Hebrews chapter 13, and we're specifically going to be dealing with verses 4 through 6. It was the end of what I read of the scripture reading, and I warn you in advance, this teaching may be painful. Some of the truths contained here are hard. In fact, as the nature of how I do things, when Steve told me I was going to have the opportunity to preach, at a certain point in time I start looking ahead and I preach verse by verse through Hebrews and the morning services, but I didn't remember the last verses, so I went back and looked, and then I read the verses that are coming up and I said, oh no, I don't want to talk about this. I looked at the text and I thought, marriage and sex and money. 2020's been hard enough. Lord, is this really what I've got to talk about? The fear of man is something I struggle against as well. I like to be liked. And there's a lot of opportunity for hurt feelings and conviction this morning. But that's one of the values of teaching verse by verse. I'm committed to get to the end of Hebrews, and I can't get there by skipping verses. So that's where the Lord has us this morning, and I trust that the Lord will use this however He wants to impact our church. So I'm going to read this portion of Scripture again, these verses, and then we're going to dive right in with the material. Follow along in your Bibles, beginning at verse 4. Marriage is to be held in honor among all, and the marriage bed is to be undefiled. For fornicators and adulterers God will judge. Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have. For he himself has said, I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you. So that we confidently say, the Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What will man do to me? I've divided a text up into a teaching outline. And it's this, two questions to evaluate your spiritual health. As we go through them, just apply them to yourself. Two questions to evaluate your spiritual health, and the first question is this. What is your attitude and practice towards marriage? What is your attitude and practice towards marriage? Verse four is relatively straightforward. Marriage is to be held in honor among all, and the marriage bed is to be undefined. And yet there's a depth here and there's a lot of layers of truth that we have to grapple with. It requires us to look at what we think, but also what we do. And I want to emphasize something very important. Certainly if you're married, this has direct applicability to you. But if you're single, don't think, well, I can tune him out. Because this is still God's Word for you and there are lessons for you and requirements of you, even if you're not married right now. Now, the first aspect of marriage being dealt with has to do with how we view marriage, the attitude of the heart. It says, marriage is to be held in honor among all. Now again, I'm sure if I did a questionnaire and I asked, do you like marriage? Everybody checks the box and said yes. But this goes deeper than that. The use of the word honor is actually emphatic the way it's set up here in Scripture. Marriage is supposed to be placed, so to speak, on a pedestal. It's highly prized. It's highly valued. It's supposed to be seen as valuable and precious, and it really matters to God how you view marriage. Again, we live in a society that this is no longer intuitive, meaning it's not just the natural way of things. Marriage is just one of many options in our society. You pick marriage, you pick just living together, you do whatever you want to do. In fact, in many ways, our country has made marriage almost irrelevant. Yet as Christians, we can't be sucked in by our culture's disdain for marriage. We have to realize for us, for the church, for our families, the significance of what is at stake. And if we want to honor marriage as God's children, We have to begin with the understanding that marriage is not just a cultural event. It's not just a man-made institution. It's not just a government-sanctioned relationship. Despite what our culture says, there is a real standard because God Himself created and ordained marriage. In Genesis chapter 2 verse 18, We read, then the Lord God said, it is not good for the man to be alone. I will make him a helper suitable for him. Going down to verse 23, the man said, this is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman because she was taken out of man. Verse 24, for this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife and they shall become one flesh. God has a definition of marriage and we're not at liberty to disregard that marriage. It is one man and one woman united forever. I always find it fascinating. A book that was very helpful for Debbie and I as we were a young couple trying to navigate these waters pointed out something about what I just read. That was God's standard before sin entered the world. Sin entered in Genesis chapter 3. This is Genesis chapter 2. This is God's standard. And then sin entered the world and it still got standard. Jesus said this in Mark chapter 10 verses 6 through 9. But from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female. For this reason, a man shall leave his father and mother, and the two shall become one flesh. So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate." That was God's standard before sin. That's still God's standard with sin. And it's no secret that society around us has completely rejected this standard. The laws of the United States now mandate by Supreme Court dictate that God's standard for marriage cannot be recognized by our government. America as a society now has to accept culturally that marriage has been redefined, but that does not change the standard for Christians or the church. Please understand, this is not negotiable before the Lord. If you entertain the thought in your view that maybe God doesn't care, maybe these other types of marriage are really okay, they're not. They defy what God said in His Word. And as a Christian, you cannot honor marriage by accepting a cultural redefinition and allowing it to influence how you think and act. Marriage, as God defines it, is between one man and one woman, and they're supposed to be united for life. It's a sad commentary on the state of many churches in America that churches have followed the culture, not God. And they've waffled, and they've redefined, and maybe we were too stringent. Yet that's a direct violation of the Scriptures. We need to believe God's Word And we need to honor marriage by believing God when He defines it for us. And can I stress to parents, teach this truth to your children. The world is vying for their hearts. There's a generation of young people I fear that because of cultural influences could be led astray by the world As parents, do everything in your power to teach them the truth of what God says about marriage. Honor it. But I've already hinted at my words at another major issue that I think radically impacts our testimony. I'll repeat it again. Marriage as God intended it is supposed to be a permanent relationship. Jesus words are very familiar What therefore God has joined together? Let no man separate Now I wasn't saved until I was an adult but I grew up in a small rural town and Most everybody claimed to be a Christian So I was always around churches the Bible belt culture And then I've been saved since 1993. And as I've mentioned before, Debbie and I have been a part of four different churches. So I've been watching for a long time the culture and I've been watching churches. And my observations and study of Scripture lead me to believe that the Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage wasn't what became the breaking point. It was a sad commentary on our society, I think, as a lawyer that it wasn't well-reasoned and it wasn't the right decision. Certainly it's indicative of the moral degradation of our culture. But it wasn't the beginning of dishonoring marriage as God created it. Sadly, I think the American church had already started redefining marriage by treating it as a temporary rather than a permanent institution. Because for decades, the church has tolerated and approved divorce in ways that Scripture does not condone. Again, it comes because we ignore at our peril the clear teaching of God's Word. In Matthew 19, Jesus said this, beginning at verse 6, So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate. They said to him, why then did Moses command to give her a certificate of divorce and send her away? He said to them, because of your hardness of heart, Moses permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it has not been this way. And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife except for immorality and marries another woman commits adultery." I think in many respects we don't have credibility as an institution broader than Lakeside, I mean in the culture, to say we're outraged by gay marriage because we're not outraged by divorce. It doesn't break our heart like it breaks God's heart. Even though Jesus specifically made clear there's only one reason a Christian can divorce another Christian, the church hasn't led, it's followed. And couples who both claim to follow Christ get divorced and they stay in church. Happens with pastors. Jesus said there's only one grounds, but people decide well, I'm not happier I don't fallen out of love or I love somebody else or I don't feel respected or I don't fulfill fulfilled. I'm not happy And on and on there's a justification after justification after justification except you won't find it in God's Word So, let me encourage you if you want to follow this command But also, if you want to evaluate your spiritual health, do you believe what God says about the permanence of marriage? I can't stress this enough. If you're married, stay married. Do not get divorced. Honoring marriage should mean eliminating divorce amongst Christians. Just because something legal doesn't mean it's godly. I've yet to see the outrage amongst Christians over divorce that I've seen over gay marriage. And they're both an affront to God. Now please understand, I understand and I know that there are many people at Lakeside who have gotten divorced. There are some here that did have a biblical grounds, I'm sure. I don't know everybody, and there's some that I'm sure didn't have biblical grounds. My goal here is not to make you feel miserable or condemned, but I would tell you this, if you've not repented before God, don't justify what you did if you've sinned. Ask Him for forgiveness. And let me be very candid with you, if somewhere in the recesses of your heart, you're not happy and you're thinking to yourself, maybe divorce is an option, Put that thought out of your mind today. Don't dishonor marriage with the deception that God really doesn't care. Again, this doesn't mask the reality that we are sinners and Christians struggle. It's one of the challenges of marriage is you unite two sinners and they're really stuck with each other. So don't hear me say, well, you're stuck. Tough it out. Because it doesn't honor God's view of marriage to tolerate mediocrity. Marriage wasn't given to you as your burden and cross to bear. It was given to you as a gift. If your marriage doesn't honor the Lord, then do something about it today. Change is possible if you know Jesus Christ. You've got His Word, you've got His Spirit, you can do something about it. If you are a husband here today, live as God intended you to live. Ephesians 5, 25, Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her. 1 Peter 3, 7, You husbands, in the same way, live with your wives in an understanding way. as with someone weaker since she is a woman, and show her honor as a fellow heir of the grace of life so that your prayers will not be hindered. Men, if you want to honor marriage, live with your wife as God commands you to. A lot of husbands, me included, need to stop being selfish and focus on your wife and her interests. Show her honor. Show her love. Don't be consumed with what she can do for you. Likewise, if you're a wife, hear me carefully, live out what Scripture calls you to live out. Ephesians 5.22, Wives, be subject to your own husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body. Verse 24, But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything. 1 Peter 3, 1 and 2. In the same way, you wives, be submissive to your own husbands, so that even if any of them are disobedient to the word, they may be won without a word by the behavior of their wives as they observe your chaste and respectful behavior. God's Word gives us clear direction. If you want to honor marriage, don't accept something less than God's standards. If you're struggling, do something about it. Ask forgiveness from your spouse. Ask forgiveness from the Lord. We have a counseling ministry at Lakeside with trained counselors that would love to meet with you and talk with you and help you. You've got twelve elders at Lakeside. Any one of us would be happy to sit down with you and your spouse and lovingly show you from the Scriptures how to honor marriage as God intends for two believers. I get it. We all fall short. We do. But do you hate your violations of God's standards? Does it bother you when you've sinned against Him and against your spouse? Let me encourage you. How do you really view marriage? Do you really honor it? Again, if you've sinned and you got divorced and you shouldn't have, just ask for forgiveness. Repent of it. The way to honor marriage is to acknowledge where you've gone wrong and turn from it. Don't pretend that your sin is really okay and that God really doesn't care because He does. Our marriages and our honor for marriage should be a testimony to the Lord Sadly, it's not always the case. But then the writer makes things a little more challenging for us. Not only does he challenge us to hold marriage in honor, but he talks about a specific way in which we can dishonor marriage. Look again at verse 4. Marriage is to be held in honor among all, and the marriage bed is to be undefiled. Now the marriage bed is just a figurative way of talking about the sexual relationship between a man and a woman in marriage. And he's saying it's supposed to be undefiled. This is just talking about the purity of the sexual relationship of a husband and wife. It dishonors marriage and it is sin against a holy God if anyone defiles the sexual relationship between a husband and wife. So what defiles the sexual relationship? The writer certainly tells us, and we'll cover in a moment, the idea of fornication and adultery, which is any sexual relationship outside of marriage. But I want to emphasize something implicit in the text that's very important for us. Because if we're going to honor marriage, we have to view these things correctly. And it's this. God intended a husband and wife to have a sexual relationship with one another. In Genesis chapter 1, we read in verse 27 and 28, God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him, male and female He created them. God blessed them and God said to them, be fruitful and multiply. The multiplication, of course, would occur through the sexual relationship of Adam and Eve and their subsequent offspring. And even as marriage was originally being defined by God in Genesis, sexual unity was a part of the equation. Again, rereading Genesis 2, verse 24, For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. Verse 25, And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed. Becoming one flesh is not only, but it includes the sexual relationship. And we see before sin entered the world that there was no shame between Adam and Eve. Christians must believe and accept and teach what Scripture teaches. Sexual relations in marriage are good and proper and necessary. There's nothing sinful in a marriage relationship between a husband and wife enjoying their sexual relationship. That's what God intended. Sadly, at different times in history, for a variety of different reasons, that's not always been the case in the church. There's been this notion at times that those are unspiritual things and that apart from having kids, the sexual relationship is somehow tainted. And really, that's just a lie from the pit of hell. The world has tainted and distorted and perverted something that God intended to be good and holy. God created men and women. He created our bodies. God was the one who not only made sex our means of procreation, but He also made it enjoyable. In fact, if you're married, and it's in my notes, I won't read it now for time's sake, but if you're married, it's considered your duty, husband and wife, to engage in regular sexual relations. 1 Corinthians 7, verses 2 through 5. You can look it up if you don't believe me. But it's not just supposed to be a grudging duty, it's supposed to be a joy. It's supposed to be a pleasurable part of the relationship between husband and wife. That's what God intended. That's why He made our bodies like He made them. It's more than I can cover, but if some of you have been here for a while, on a Sunday evening many years ago, Pastor Steve did a whole series on the Song of Solomon. And over and over, the sheer joy of intimacy between a husband and wife was on display. Not in a shameful, perverted way like our society does, but in a biblical and good way. He turned it into a book. It's called The Pleasures of Marriage. So we can't cede this ground to culture and society. A positive view of sexual relationship and marriage is a good part of God's plan. It's one of the ways that we honor marriage and it's one of the ways we keep from defiling the marriage bed. If you struggle in this area, again, we want to help you. We would give you counsel from God's Word. We would come alongside you, you as husband and wife. Pray together. Seek God's will for your life. Whatever you do, don't abandon God's plan for marriage, His good and holy plan. And again, parents, please be careful. Society is screaming at our children distorted lies about sex. Teach them the truth of God's Word. The fact that society is perverted, something that God made good, doesn't mean that what God created was bad. Teach our children. Sin takes a good gift and perverts it and defiles it. Don't allow that to be a part of our lives. So God says don't defile the marriage bed, don't defile the sexual relationship, We look around and that's all we see. Certainly it's out there in the culture, but if you're like me, over many years in many churches, you've seen it within the church. But when they're defiled, something God created as good becomes sin. And the writer specifically highlights two primary ways to defile that marriage bed. He mentions fornicators and adulterers. I'm going to deal with adulterers first. Despite the word order, I'll come back to fornicators. But we shouldn't be surprised to see that adultery is held out as something bad because in Exodus 20 verse 14, we see very clearly, you shall not commit adultery. In fact, in Exodus 20, the first part of verse 17, you shall not covet your neighbor's house, you shall not covet your neighbor's wife. These are commands of God that are still in force today. It always has been and always will be God's standards that adultery is sin and it defiles the marriage bed. What is adultery? It's any sexual act that occurs between a married person and any person that's not their spouse. If you're married, you can't have any sexual relations with anyone other than your spouse, period, ever. If your spouse is alive, you're bound before the Lord to stay sexually pure by confining your sexual activities to what occurs between you and your spouse. That shouldn't need to be said, but it needs to be said. Because we see that Christians have not been immune to this defilement. There have been countless scandals of prominent Christians or prominent pastors who fell in this area, both men and women. And for all of the scandals that we see in the headlines, there have been countless more heartbreak that nobody knows about. Now, it shouldn't surprise us that this is a struggle, because if we look back in the Bible, You can read 2 Samuel 11. King David, a man after God's own heart, a man God used to write countless psalms extolling His praise, looked and coveted another man's wife, and he committed adultery with her. And then he engaged in murder to cover it up. If it can affect a man like David, it can affect you and me. Don't let your guard down. Fight against temptation. Yet here's where things get challenging for us. This goes beyond just the physical act. Because it involves our heart. Jesus in Matthew 5, verse 27-28 said this, You have heard that it was said, you should not commit adultery. But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. I'll be honest, this is a challenging verse. Because it makes clear that we can't pat ourselves on the back that we didn't physically do anything. Because if you're allowing your imagination to run wild, and you're fantasizing, and you're thinking things about someone other than your spouse, you are sinning. You are committing adultery. It's an issue of the heart. And our society doesn't do us any favors. I remember as a young believer, Debbie and I had relocated from San Diego to Fresno for a job I had, and we were part of a church there. And I think I was around 30, so I'd probably been a believer for about four years. And I was learning and growing. I had been. But I knew lust was a struggle for me. It had been since I was a kid. And I hated the struggle, but I knew it was real and I knew I was supposed to fight. But I always held out hope eventually that would go away. And I went to a men's study. It was a men's group. And the church was larger than Lakeside, but it was a good-sized men's group. And I remember this man in his 80s gave his testimony. And I'm getting closer to 80, but I thought of him as just an old man. I'm a young guy, and the old guy is talking. And he was sharing different things. But what stood out to me was he shared of how he struggled with lust for women And my heart sank. It never goes away. And I thought, if I live to be his age, I've got to fight this for 50 more years? I'm still alive, which means I'm still fighting. I'm ready for heaven when the battle will be over, but we're not there yet. This is hard teaching. But we have to be honest with ourselves. We defile marriage if we allow our minds to fantasize about other people. And this is not just a male issue, this is a woman issue as well. Again, our culture makes this a challenge for us. Pornography is rampant, it's everywhere. Both men and women are ensnared by this evil. And I know many in our midst struggle. I'm not trying to condemn you. I'm trying with all my heart to help you to be honest with your struggles. Seek help. Don't accept that, well, I'm not actually doing anything. You are according to what Jesus said. It defiles the marriage bed. Jesus said, in those cases, take radical action. Pluck out your eye, cut off your right hand. Whatever you need to do to remove the temptation to get away from the source of evil. Paul summed it up. Flee immorality. This is hard. It's hard for all of us. We live in a promiscuous society. Satan attacks us relentlessly. But we have to recognize that any type of fantasy life with a person other than your spouse is sin. It defiles the marriage bed. If you're not married, don't think that none of this applies to you. Because that's where the word fornication comes in. It's the same problem, it's just not between people that are married. Fornication is any sexual activity by an unmarried person with an unmarried person. It's actually a prospective defilement of your marriage bed. Don't do it. And the things of the heart that apply to lust apply here as well. Fight against it. These are not minor issues. The writer emphasizes, for fornicators and adulterers, God will judge. For those who never turn to Christ, They'll get that judgment one day. But understand this, even for believers, the wrath of God is poured out on fornication and adultery. For us though, it was poured out on Christ when He died in the place of sinners like us for all of our sins. But as you think, it's not that big a deal. Or if you think, perhaps it's already forgiven, it doesn't matter. It does matter to God. You could almost hear the nails. For each time you step over the line, don't use God's mercy as a cover for sin. Understand, I don't want you to be defeated. I don't want you to despair. I don't want you to be despondent. I just want you to repent. Seek counseling. Talk to an elder. There'll be elders up here after the church service. Don't let this continue. But your view on marriage tells you a lot about how you're doing spiritually. So the first question to evaluate your spiritual health, what is your attitude and practice towards marriage? Second, what is your attitude towards money? What is your attitude towards money? The writer really does a one-two punch on America, dealing with what drives our culture. Verse 5, make sure that your character is free from the love of money. Character is all we are. It's certainly how we think, But it's our priorities. It's our choices. It's how we structure our life. And it's been pointed out by many other people over the years, and it's true, it's not money itself, it's the love of money that is the issue. A love of money is present when money and concerns about money and thinking about money drives everything you do. Money becomes the heart motivation for living and life. Jesus addressed this issue in Matthew 6, verses 19-21. Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in or steal. Verse 21, for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. It really goes back to something more basic. What's the greatest commandment? Love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and mind and strength. Idolatry, the worship of money, is condemned. Exodus 20, verse 3, You shall have no other gods before Me. That certainly includes anything like money. You should not make for yourself an idol or any likeness. The fact is, love of God and love of money are mutually exclusive. If you think that you are the first person that figured out a way to love God but also love your money, you're fooling yourself. You're deceived. Jesus said in Matthew 6, 24, No one can serve two masters, for he will either hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth. God wants our allegiance. He wants our hearts. Again, the world around us does not do us favors because it screams at us that all that matters is money. You have to have money. You need more money. Do this to make money. Do that to make money. Do this. Do that. It's all about money. That's not where God wants your heart. The allure of money is a deception. I can promise you, not because I'm smart, but because of what Scripture says, no matter how much money you have, if you love money, it's not enough. Ecclesiastes 5.10, He who loves money will not be satisfied with money. Nor he who loves abundance with this income. This too is vanity. Again, we can all struggle here. Money is what we do use to buy basic necessities, to deal with things of life. It's inevitable. We work and we get compensated in terms of money. The issue is not money per se, it's the love of money, the obsession with money that's being condemned. Jesus made it clear we don't need to worry, and yet we do worry. It's all symptomatic of a love of money. Matthew 6 31 to 33 do not worry then saying what will we eat or what we drink or what we wear for clothing? For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things for your heavenly father knows that you need all these things But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness And all these things will be added to you again, this isn't just for wealthy people because poor people can love money and wealthy people can love money and Having wealth isn't necessarily ungodly. Again, the condemnation is not of money. Abraham was incredibly wealthy and he was a godly man. Job was incredibly wealthy and God held him up as an example of a righteous man. Don't misunderstand. It's not having money. It's what the money does to you and to your heart. Again, America's obsessed with money. And I was there. The reason I went to be a lawyer wasn't because of a noble pursuit. I just wanted money. That was the easiest way for me to get it. I'm there. I understand. America's obsessed. Do you have enough money for this? Enough money for that? Do you have enough money for college, or for retirement, or for the kids, or this, or this, or this, or this? And pretty soon, it's scripted. And it becomes what drives us. And yet over and over we're warned, don't love money. It's one of the qualifications of an elder in 1 Timothy 3. You can't be a lover of money. But it's a temptation for all of us. 1 Timothy 6, 9 and 10. But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction. That's a snapshot of a lot of American history. Verse 10, for the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. So we need to make sure that our hearts and lives aren't consumed with money. We need to make sure that we examine ourselves. Are you consumed with thoughts of money? Are you covetous of people that have more money than you? Are you obsessed with worry about your retirement accounts or your college funds or your bank accounts or your stock investments? Again, in and of themselves, none of them are sinful. It's the obsession and the love of them and drawing your worth and security from your bank balance. Does money motivate all your choices? How do you examine your heart? Look at the flip side of the coin. Verse 5, make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have. That's the issue. Can you be content? Contentment is the opposite of covetousness and greed. Contentment says, God, I don't deserve what you've given me, but thank you. And what I do have is yours, Lord. If you call for me to use it, I'll use it. If someone else needs it, I'll give it. Contentment isn't easy. I'm not suggesting that every time you look at something you say, it would be nice to have that. That's not necessarily sin. It can be, but it's not necessarily. The issue is your heart. Is the motivating issue of your life just money? Are you discontented because you don't have enough? Or because you're afraid of losing what you have? Find it fascinating, a lot of the arguments about this election reveal that. Why? You see candidates being accused, they're gonna raise taxes. What does that really mean? It's my money, I don't want you to take it. Give it to me. Contentment is not easy. But look at your life, are you constantly grumbling? Are you constantly complaining? The heart motivation is supposed to flow from our theology. In fact, the question becomes, is God enough for you? Is Jesus really all you need? Follow along as he continues in verse 5. For he himself has said, meaning he's just using Old Testament Scriptures to show the authority. For he himself has said, I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you. so that we confidently say, the Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What will man do to me? That's where we're supposed to draw our security. These great truths about the God who loved you enough to send Jesus to die in your place. He didn't turn His back on you. He'll never desert you. He'll never forsake you. It's the promise of multiple places in the Old Testament. And it's the promise of God now to you today. The truths of God's faithfulness and His goodness and His care for His children are supposed to free us from that obsession with money. Even if your money disappears. Go back and re-read Job. I'm always drawn to the fact that he lost his children, but he lost every penny, and he was wealthy. If that happened to you tomorrow, is Jesus enough for you? I can tell you this, if he takes away all of your stuff, and if you lose all your money, or it's taxed away, or the stock market tanks, or whatever else happens, We have to believe God. He is our source of contentment, not our money. Whatever God's given you is enough, period. If He causes you to live day by day such that you're saying, give me today, Lord, my daily bread, we'll praise Him. Don't replace that with a love of money. And if God has blessed you, use your money for what He's given it to you. Bless others. Care for others. I get it, it's hard. In America, not having money is considered shameful. It's somehow your fault. And maybe it is, but maybe it's not. Either way, as a believer, you can't be consumed with the ways of the world. If you have nothing, and you have Jesus, you have everything. Reiterating in verse 6, this isn't supposed to be a grudging, just, okay, I'll believe it. No, this is confidence. so that we confidently say, the Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What will man do to me? The original recipients of this letter, some of them had had all of their goods confiscated. It's not a minor thing. But according to the Scriptures, they joyfully accepted the seizure of their property. Why? Because they had Jesus. Don't love your money. Love the Lord. So let me ask you, how are you doing today? These are hard questions. Are you honoring marriage? Are you avoiding the love of money? If you are, then I say praise the Lord. As the Bible says, excel still more. And if you're falling short, I don't want you to leave under a cloud of condemnation But I do want you to repent. Confess your sins to the Lord. 1 John 1.9 contains a precious promise. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Do that today. And if by chance, I dredged up bad memories in your mind of things that you have confessed, but you still feel condemned for them. Understand that if you've repented and you are in Christ, those past sins, be it divorce or defiling the marriage bed or anything else, are not the unpardonable sin. And if you've truly repented and come to Christ, understand this, you are clothed in His righteousness. And as Romans chapter 8 verse 1 says, Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. Let me encourage you. Evaluate yourself. Examine yourself. Please join me in prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, these are challenging portions of Scripture. Not so much, Lord, as to figure out what they mean, but looking at these issues forces us to confront the depths of sin that we're still fighting in our hearts. I pray for Lakeside, Lord. I pray for each person who's hearing my voice. Lord, I pray that You would work in their hearts so that they can honor marriage, so that they can keep the marriage bed undefiled, so that they can stay away from the love of money. Lord, society is relentless. Satan and this deceived world system do not let up. Help us stand firm. Lord, we are weak. Every one of us has failed. Pray that we can repent. And I pray, Lord, that we will understand that despite our sin, it's paid for. Lord, not so that that would be a cover for us to continue sinning, but so that we would understand that there's no condemnation for those in Christ. Lord, help us repent. Help us to turn from our evil ways, if they exist, and help us be a testimony to a lost and dying world based on our views and practices in relation to marriage and money. And Lord, there may be some here today who are in danger of judgment because they've never turned to Jesus for forgiveness of their sins. I pray that you would open their eyes, that they would understand that they are sinners before a holy God and the wages of sin is death. But Lord, help them understand that Jesus died in the place of sinners and there's still room at the cross if they will simply repent and believe Lord, we love you. We ask that you would work in our hearts to apply these truths in a way that would bring you glory. We ask all of this, Lord, in Jesus' name, amen.