Well, this morning, I'm continuing a series that we've been embarked upon some few months now in that part of the Bible in Matthew chapter five, which we call the Beatitudes. The Beatitudes. Works, attitudes, heart attitudes. approaches to life which God declares are blessed. That's where beatitude comes from. It means that that is blessed, and blessed of God at that. And we're actually in Matthew chapter 5, so just a few paragraphs before that passage we read a moment ago in Matthew 5. And this morning, where we've actually reached, we've traveled along, we've now reached to verse 8, where it says, Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. And the title of the sermon is this, Having Purity in an Impure World. Having Purity in an Impure world and we coupled that with that other reading from Matthew chapter 5 that we read about the eye and where it looks and looks wrongly and we'll be coming to that in due course to consider that in parallel in tandem with this particular verse that is before us today so if you're visiting us apologies that we're kind of well on into this series but I hope it'll make sufficient sense for you picking up at this particular point here. Because one of the things we've been saying is actually there's a kind of progression of thought, a development of thought as you go through the Beatitudes. So beginning with being poor in spirit, a recognition that in the eyes of God, we have nothing, no good works, no right heart attitudes that we can offer to him. We followed along a bit further and further, and we saw last time that God pronounces a blessing upon being merciful. Why? Well, because that is so chiefly his own character, to be merciful, to extend kindness to those who do not deserve it. And the word mercy, well, you can tie that up with the love of God, you could tie that up with grace, which is a very important word in the whole kind of Christian vocabulary, that is showing kindness to those who don't deserve it, to undeserving people. Whereas by nature, we offend God, we're found in rebellion against him, and justice would dictate, well, condemnation, let the justice of God, let his penalty fall upon them. But God says, no, I will extend mercy. I will forgive. I am willing to have my anger not spent on them, but spent instead upon my son. That's why he died upon the cross. And so as there's mercy in the heart of God, mercy with a capital M, writ large, well then no surprise, God then pronounces that any that are like him in that regard and show mercy will know his blessing. So it follows on from there. Next we come to this matter of purity. Purity in heart. And this takes us right down to something fundamental in who we are. This is asking us questions about ourself. It's talking about our hearts. It's not just a kind of superficial, something that you kind of just put on and, well, you're a bit pure, you know, but well, actually not that pure, but nevermind. No, it's asking us, ask yourself, here we go again, questions. Look at yourself carefully. Say to yourself, well, who am I at heart? Am I this? Am I pure in heart? And indeed, what does it mean? We'll come to that in due course. Because what is asked of us here is something very, very fundamental. Some people have said, who know more about the Bible than I do, that this really is one of the key verses in the Bible, what it is expressing, what it is asking of us. This is absolutely fundamental because that purity is meant to be something all pervasive. It's not just, we're careful with our language. Sure, we should be, and we don't use some of the profanities that are out there in the world and that people kind of readily and easily use. Oh, we shouldn't do that. That's sure, being pure in our speech. But it's asking us much more than that. And something that goes much deeper into the people that we need to be in the sight of God. So my first heading really reflects that. Something we bring into everything. Purity of heart is something that we are to bring into everything. Now it includes, and actually second heading is going to take us there, it includes, wait for it, probably got that from the other passage in Matthew 5 we read, but sexual matters, sexual purity. And we'll come to that in a moment and actually have A two-part on this, I think it's because it's so important that we're going to be actually looking at this verse again next week. But just looking at it in a more general sense and trying to just get our heads around, well, what does this mean? Well, what is purity? Where is that to be found? What is it going to look like? Well, here's some thoughts on that. It means that fundamentally, who we are, that we're straightforward people. that we are an open book, that there is about us something that is just very honest, very straightforward, very sincere, that there's not a sort of crookedness about us, that it's simple in that way. If you like what you see is what you get. That who we are fundamentally, and who we are, and we'll come to this in due course, towards each other, is straightforward. That there is something pure, honest, straightforward, plain, simple, no kind of hidden complexities. And that that is what we're looking to be. Because that's what God is looking to us to be. That's not to say that we become sort of naive. We're just saying to the children, that's not last. That's not going to get us in the Christian life far at all. It won't help us. It will hinder us. And we need to be very wise and very careful. And this is one of the ways in which we have to be wise and careful. Because in the human heart, there's a lot going on. There's a lot going on. There are hidden depths, there are councils we have, some of which we don't even know about. That we're being influenced, we're being affected, we're being swayed, who we are, what we're saying, what we're doing, the choices we're making are being swayed. Hidden influences, hidden forces. And to be pure in heart doesn't mean that you and I, this side of heaven, are going to get all of that right. But it means that we're aware. what's going on inside and that we're on the job, we're on the case, we're looking to grow away from certain things and go to grow towards the things that God loves and that God approves of. So that's where it's at with us of what complex creatures that we are. And for sure, it's not as if to be pure means we'll let everybody know everything. Well, that's the kind of Prince Harry approach there, isn't it? And the book comes out this Tuesday, apparently. Don't know how they got hold of it in Spanish, but it's out there in Spanish. And so you're getting the headlines at the moment. What's coming up? Oh, dear. All the ins, all the outs. Family life there. You mean the royal family? Are they there like every other family? It looks like they sure are. And is that a surprise, really? So there it is. And all the lurid details are going to be there. Sad. Sad. There are things which remain, should remain, private. There are things that remain within families and should be private, rather than something that you're obliged somehow to tell, and you can find Oprah Winfrey and she'll give you time a day, you'll be able to tell her all to your heart's content. Well, that's not what's looked for here in this, no. But it does mean that when we are relating to each other, relating to each other, and we relate to each other in different ways, that we're parents to children, children to parents, employees to employers, employers to employees, whoever we are, we're in a series of relationships. And it's not appropriate to talk to your employer as you would talk to your husband or your wife, for instance, or to talk to your grandparents as you would talk to your grandchildren, for instance. So we understand that. We have to, in some ways there, be thoughtful, careful, giving thought to our ways. But whatever relationship we're in, whoever it is we're speaking to, whatever the kind of place in that relationship there, you're talking to your teacher at school or college or you're relating there to your parents, that there's gotta be that purity, that it's straightforward, that you're not sort of in that relationship hiding something, which is wrong to hide, that is inappropriate and that should actually be shared or should be something that we're aware of and that, putting it that way, the cards are there upon the table in that way. We're not concealing something. Because God promises a blessing, actually, to those who are pure in heart. blessing. They will see God. Now, if you're attentive, you might remember our first hymn, immortal, invisible, God only wise, invisible. And yet you're saying you will see God. Well, you won't see God in as much as in the immensity of his being that you will see him because you wouldn't survive the experience. I wouldn't survive it. You wouldn't survive But we will see, with the eye of faith, more of his character, more of his reality. We will see more of what Christ is, and that will grip us. And God will be pleased to clear away some of the misunderstandings and give a greater clarity to us. Because the best thing to take to God is a clear conscience. And those who are pure in heart will have the clear conscience, or the clearer, conscience, and in our openness to God, and this will come in more next week, our openness to God, those secrets here, we unburden ourselves to him, then he'll be pleased to show us more of himself, more of who he is, to answer our prayers, to make vital and key interventions in your life and in mine, we'll see God, we'll see Him in our circumstances, we'll see Him at work in our hearts, we'll see Him at the work in the hearts of those that we love and that we pray for. And we'll come away from that seeing God, seeing His power at work, seeing the reality of why Christ died on the cross, what difference it's made, huge difference. And we'll comprehend that better and better. So in that sense, we will see God. Well, I've already hinted There's an opposite to purity. So here are some of the words though it's opposite. Being deceitful. That's the opposite of purity. That's not being an open book. That's being anything but. Being manipulative. Using people for some end or other. We'll come back to that in a moment. being devious, being crooked. That's, hey, we're a bit slippery to deal with here. You don't really know who you're dealing with. You don't really know. And of course, then issues of trust come into play. You're not really sure, who is this person? Just heard recently then, not anybody that you'd know, but oh dear, relationship came crashing down. Why? Because the man turned out to be a liar. It wasn't pure in heart. There was something else going on here. And when that something else is unearthed, oh dear, you can't trust them anymore. End of relationship. All the hopes and all the expectations of that come crashing down. Purity means that we look upon people, if you like, with an innocence. That we're not looking upon them to think, what can I get out of this? What can I get out of them? How can I use them? It's always sort of step back and have a good look at them and think, right, I can kind of push the buttons here and get this response or some need that I haven't told them what their need is, but I think I can kind of manipulate and get that out of them. That's not being pure in heart at all. Looking at people as a means to an end. looking at them as an object, as some stepping stone to gaining something that's really about us. So it happens, isn't it? People look at people as a theatre, a place, an arena for them to display their power. Some people really enjoy this stuff. They loved to have power over people, get them to do things. And they finished the day, it would seem, pretty happy at the thought, well, I made this happen. I made day a day. I broke their heart. Well, that's not pure in heart. That's manipulation. Always people are objects of our pleasure. And that we're just looking at them through a means to an end in that way. we want some sexual favour, or we want some money from them, or we're looking to get some preferment, some advantage from them. That's not pure in heart. It's been the innocence of purpose. That we're not coming to people there and thinking those kinds of thoughts. What can I get out of this? How can I finish the day ahead on this? That is not to be pure in heart. Or sometimes, of course, We're using people to get their approval. We're there to impress them. We're aiming there to get some kind of sense of their approval and that kind of reflects back on to us and we get some satisfaction from that. Well, that's using them as well, actually. You're using that person to gain some status in your own eyes, or maybe in the eyes of others, some approval. And that is actually a form of manipulation again. So it asks of us, as I said at the beginning, some fundamental questions. What's going on in here? What's going on in my heart, down in the deeper recesses of who I am? Do you ever stop to ask yourself that? Do you ever think to yourself, what is going on here? Why am I thinking like that? Why do I look at people like that? Are they looking at me like that? It asks us, what's our purpose? What are our aims, relationships? What are we looking for in this relationship? If looking for is the right word to use, indeed. What is it that we are aiming at? Well, in the Bible, there are plenty of instances of people who who are one thing here, but they're actually another thing there, who are fronting up, sounded pretty religious, actually. You may know Judas Iscariot, who eventually betrayed the Lord. There was an occasion when this woman was actually with great foresight, seeing that the Lord Jesus was going to his death. And she, as it were, reflected upon that. And she had some costly oil, spikenard, it's called. She poured it over his feet. And the Lord said, it's a beautiful thing that she has done. And it will be spoken of her as a testimony in years to come, for she is preparing me for my burial. But old Judas Iscariot complained about it. Yeah, this is a great waste here, he says, great sort of indignation. Why, this could have been sold, and we could have got 300 denarii, currency of that day, a fair bit of money, and we could have then given the money to the poor. How noble it all sounded, except for the fact that scripture then says, He didn't say that because he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief. And he had control over the money box, that kind of common purse, and helped himself to it. That wasn't purity there. That was manipulation. And that was fronting up for his being a great caring soul, sort of virtue signaling that. Well, actually, he was helping himself to the money. There was a man called Ahithophel. In the Old Testament, this, and he was an advisor, firstly, to David. King of that time, godly, great King David. But oh dear, soon as there was a chance of rebellion, and it was David's son, sadly, one of his sons, Absalom, who was in charge of this rebellion, and now they wanted to kill, wanted to kill his father, imagine that. And Ahithophel was all on side with that, giving shrewd advice to Absalom how we can get David killed. Do you mean all that time that that man was there advising David, somewhere in his heart, He was looking, how can I get some advancement here? What's, what's the best? He wasn't so dope, he was serving himself, and as soon as Absinthe appeared, and he thought, that's the winning, that's the winning horse there, if you like. That's my ticket to something good here. He was all signed up with him. So purity, how we look upon people, how we relate to them. Well, we can see it's not just perhaps the big topic which we're coming to next, but sort of sexual purity. It touches on everything. And in fact, all the issues to do with sexuality and the rest, all of them are actually there resolving to this. How do we look on people? What are we looking for from them? What are our expectations there? And are those good? Are we acting innocently here? What have we got, secret counsel? Something going on inside, there are means to an end. So we come to our second heading, last heading this morning too, only two headings, but it's this, purity and sexuality. There we are, purity and sexuality. and we've got visitors here with us today so this is the Bible and this is where we've been and that's Matthew chapter 5 verse 8 and we read also those verses they're challenging verses just aren't they Matthew 5 27 you've heard that it was said to those of old you shall not commit adultery and that's in the 10 commandments given a mountain called Mount Sinai God said seventh commandment you shall not commit adultery And the people thought, that's good, we don't do it, that's fine, you just keep to your wife, keep to your husband, we're sorted on that commandment. But the Lord said, no, actually, you're not. And there he goes to the heart. What does he say next? He says, but I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. In his heart, or in her heart, something's already happened there which is not pure and not good. And then he goes on to say some very strong things, not literally pluck out your eye, not literally saw off your hand, but just to almost recoil from your hands or what your eye is doing and to be indignant about it and say, that's done with that, cast it away. No, we're not going to do that again. But there is a kind of recoil, a sense of response there. It's what it talks there. things that I'm not going to go into this morning about divorce and our Lord sort of sets the standard high there. I know some of us there, we've suffered from sad marriages in the past or relationships that haven't quite happened, whatever, whatever else it might be. The Lord isn't saying there, well, that's it, final and out, because there's some happy stories of better endings and Friends who've been disappointed in marriages and found happiness in a Christian marriage. Amen to that. And that's not actually what this is speaking against here. In fact, it's nearer to what we're going to speak about now. That impurity, that discarding and using of people in order to gain some, and here we go, sexual advantage, some sexual experience. Now, I have to say this, and not that I'm some great expert on culture and can tell you what the latest things are that younger people are talking about. We've got some young people here. They'll tell me better than I can tell you. But I would sum up in this way, that this is an area of huge cultural failure. And that's not a novel thing. That's not to say, never been here before. The world's never known the like of this. Well, some ways technology makes certain things happen easier, sadly, but it's always been there. Why else was our Lord saying this? Why else was he talking about this? Oh, what's happening in the heart and desires for somebody else there and fantasy life in the mind. Why else would he be saying it unless it was happening there in that generation, in that society 2000 years ago. And so much in the Bible is talking about these issues, failures, failures in the church on these matters. Why would it be talking about it? unless it was a reality. So there we are, nearly 2000 years ago, and it was the same problems, same cultural failures that we have as we have today. And it's not just the men, it's the women as well, which are all contributing to that general environment of failure. Well, we can be very, very frank here, and I'm no Biologists are great qualifications on this, but I tell you this, you can work this out for yourselves, you soon will as you grow up, but these are powerful desires. Sexual desires are very powerful desires. And I wonder with that sort of powerful engine room of, in the right place, in the right time, the right thing, but how it can just overcome the will. and how it can just capsize reason. Do you ever wonder when you look at people and oh they've suddenly left their family and gone off here with somebody else and what happened there? What were they thinking? And you look at this and you're probably wise to say it's not going to last long that you know and blow in the hole it doesn't last long that and you wonder what What capsized their reason? And there's nothing like the power of sexual desire to overcome sounder judgments, to discard, as it were, a relationship there, and all the investment and children are kind of thrown under the bus, proverbially speaking, there. I mean, marvel how? How could all kind of clearer thinking and loyalties and faithfulness and those bonds that should hold it? How could it all just be thrown in like this? And in a way, sort of unrealistic hopes entertained as though that relationship would work. And that comes crashing down. And then another one. And that comes crashing down. Well, these are powerful things, and the temptations out there, well, they're more subtle these days, and there are more of them, and this technology has brought all of this stuff so easily accessible. So in this, we end up on the wrong side of what the Lord is looking for here. We're looking at the wrong people in the wrong way. We're looking at the wrong person and in the wrong way. And so often it is, and here we do, sound as it were, so, so out of tune with culture, so, so kind of against the flow of what perhaps you might've heard elsewhere that sexual fulfillment is the thing, anywhere, however you have it, and however you want to identify, and whatever you want to do, it's all there. Be the real you, be authentic. And we were saying, We say that doesn't work anyway. And so much sadness, so many broken families, so many relationships that have gone wrong and come a little bit more to the results of that. And they're not happy results. They haven't made us happier people. Because God is saying, no, all right, person. And they're in a sort of sexual relationship. Let's be as clear as we can without being overly into the detail, but sexual relationship within the place of marriage. where there is a commitment, where there is a relationship, promises have been made, what we call a covenant, a promise done before people, and if we believe in God, in the eyes of God as well. So we're holding ourselves to those promises and those pledges, and that is what God intended. That's the place for sexual union, and that's fine. God is not frowning on that, and sadly that has become burden, a sense of guilt to Christian people, but that's not what we read in the Bible there. That's the place for that. But anything outside of that, anything that's traveling along towards some kind of sexual gratification, whether actually actualized in the actual act of adultery, where our Lord is speaking about it here, it's happening in the heart. And God says both equally in his sight are our fit and worthy punishment. They are all of them breaking his law. They all of them are defeating the purposes of holiness and are nothing what purity in heart should look like. Battles there are, and friends, you know, in this way here, sometimes I guess the church has come over unsympathetic, but it's a hard place if you're single. Yeah, if you're single, it's a hard place to be in. all the temptations, all the pressures from outside conform to our culture, go in this direction there. You'll be happy. You'll be fulfilled. You'll find that real you, some extra dimension of pleasure and delight. And the pressures are strong, especially if we're feeling lonely. There's a lot of loneliness out there for a culture that is so connected and people communicating with each other. Actually, no, there's an awful lot of loneliness, and loneliness can be such a burden, such a wearing thing that we might be ready as a result of that to throw ourselves into perhaps an unwise relationship. I would say take care. We're married people. We know that, we've said it, haven't we there? Divorce and breakdown in relationships, because there, somebody in the marriage, if not both the people in the marriage, breaking their promises, breaking that covenant. And they're looking at the wrong people in the wrong way. They're looking at somebody else, another married person or an unmarried person. And things are happening, which the Bible says, no, it's wrong. Because something is happening in that, that is lust in the heart. And that is taking the sexual desire and decontextualizing it. It's meant for relationships. It's meant to be within marriage. It's meant to be something special and something exceptional and something wonderful to be kept there. But instead, it's being lavished here, being lavished there. That's where this carelessness in divorce, just to make a brief reference to it, that's where our Lord is hunting down an attitude. Don't you just end the marriage? If there's some problem there, you don't like the person, whatever, you've seen somebody else, discard, move on. No, not to do that. That is actually to create more issues, break more commandments, lead other people into breaking commandments. bring more guilt, more trouble upon the conscience. No, not doing that. And so there's the sadness of so many marriages. It breaks down because there is now a relationship, which is not a proper relationship, being established with somebody else. Some people are texting, or they're meeting up in clandestine ways, or they're kind of running a double ledger. They're here one moment, but actually, it's so wretched when it's been happening years. They've got another relationship. some other kind of out of the context of marriage relationship. And that is either then rendering their marriage then a total and utter sham, really an effect of forming de facto in the actual reality, a marriage with somebody else, which the Bible would actually say is adultery. But what an impure offering to you, to me, fulfillment here. And there's a whole entertainment industry bombarding us with that message. There are friends who say, yeah, that's fine. Come on in here. Fortunately, there are schools telling you, yeah, fine. Get on in there. Here's how you keep safe. Here's how you manage some of the downsides as culture would call it. The internet does. I won't, uh, I won't sort of go on a rant on that. You could supply all the details and the time and the place in the pulpit to supply them. all the things that are on the internet. So easy to access, so easy to enjoy, not the word property use, but enjoy a fantasy life there. Where again, you're taking hold of people, people actually, women, men, whoever these people are. And there's a story, isn't it? That you're using them for your sexual gratification. You're taking them, you don't even know their names, you don't know their history. She's got a drug problem, has she? She's actually trying to feed her family and this is the only way she can find to do it. Oh, she was from Eastern Europe. She was trafficked across here. Told that it was a great job waiting for you there. Gave her passport to some horrible man and the rest then some wretched history. Applying the trade of prostitution there on the slots of our towns and cities. You're using her. You're actually dismissing her as a human being and grabbing your sexual pleasure from her. And so we can see the deadly effect of this and I just want to draw your attention here and I say sorry if these things are unfamiliar to you in terms of where the Bible is and what it's teaching us, but I'm just going to one of the letters that one of the chief kind of leaders in the church, the Apostle Paul wrote. And he wrote it to a church, modern-day Greece, called Corinth. And this is the first of his letters, 1 Corinthians 6, and a few verses from there, verses 15 to 20. Anyway, it says this, and I can't explain all of this now, Just something I want to pick out from these verses in a moment. The apostle says to a church, which is actually getting it pretty wrong. Corinth was a, like our culture today, sex everywhere, everywhere. Oh, it's just available on tap. And he says, do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ, speaking to Christians? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make the members of a harlot? Certainly not. Or do you not know that he was joined to a harlot who's one body with her? For two, he says, shall become one flesh, and he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with him. For he, sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you're not your own? Talking to Christians here, he says, for you are bought at a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. Did you notice that he makes a particular case about sexual sin? He says every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. There's something extra. There's a dimension here whereby you're doing something actually to yourself in sexual immorality. So are the commandments there that the sins outside the body It's not to make these lesser sins, as it were, theft or in some kind of way of deceitfulness and lying. Well, all of that is wretched and God would condemn it. But here the apostle is saying, yes, all condemn those sins, but they're outside the body. There's somehow not the same impact washing back onto you as in sexual sin, because there's something more. And while the world would say, oh no, it's just easy, you just do this, you just meet up with somebody and the next moment, there you are. Paul is saying, no, it's not there you are. You're sinning against your own body. Whether we admit it or not, and here comes the dysfunction, we don't like to admit it, and so we actually produce turmoil in our conscience. We're actually doing something back upon ourselves, because we're in our own thinking. We're making a distinction here. Now the world is saying, no, no, there's nothing special here, nothing special, just do these things. Something inside it says, no, it isn't. Something inside it says, this is something fundamental that I'm doing here with this man, with this woman, that is different. There's something extra. There's something, if you like, special about it. And you can't just walk away from it cost free. You can't come away from it there without having actually introduced into your conscience great difficulty, great turmoil, Great unhappiness. That's why so many people are unhappy. They've been promised happiness, but no, they're actually sinning against their own body. They're doing something to their conscience in this, moving on to somebody else, or that didn't work, move on to somebody else. But you don't just move on. You carry something with you. And it has such a fundamental effect upon who we are in the very depth of our being that those things actually can produce havoc. in our conscience can make us feel defiled, can make us feel kind of unclean, worthless, as though we're not worthy of respect, that we're nobodies, that because of something we've done in that way, we can just leave under a cloud of that kind and lost our dignity, lost some honor in it. And instead of perhaps seeking out how we can recover from that, we may actually just deaden ourselves to it. and actually make ourselves more defiled by just trying to kill our conscience. And the turmoil, havoc, depression, sadness and grief and difficulty making relationships and a host of things can follow from it. And there's much more that I can say. We can become cruel. We can become violent. We can become kind of warped inside and really just learn a whole life of deceitfulness. And that's a horrendous outcome. What a wreckage. that we've made of who we are, men, women, made in the image of God, with such rich potential. If we can be forgiven our sin and have His Holy Spirit working in our souls, all of that, all of that can find the right person in the right place, can be tidied up there and not be unkind to our wife, our husband, whatever, in those relationships. So I finish. Purity of heart. Oh, how difficult. In this age it is to cultivate that. How difficult. How much that there is in culture that is actually making us sin against our body. Introduce into your conscience trouble. Bring hardships there and anguish that will make difficulty in your life ahead. Purity actually is all about right relationship. Relating to people in the right way. Bringing here not a manipulation, false hope or expectation, but an innocence of purpose, a willingness there to express love, which means that you want the best for that person. How can one use a prostitute and want the best for that person? You can't. Poor woman's not in that trade there, despite what some would try and tell you, because they love it. They don't. I'm sure they hate it. And I'm sure for many of them, it's introducing into their own soul such profound sadness. No, we relate to people with love, focused on one another and what's best for them. Not best for me, but best for them. And there are some things there, aren't there, where no way, in no conceivable situation can anything good come to that person by the kinds of actions that our society is encouraging and that we sadly sometimes fall for. So very briefly, the Bible says, step back. It says, for thee, sexual immorality. Don't sort of parley with it. Don't sort of come to some compromise and accommodation. Flee it, the Bible says. Leave it. It's dangerous and you will produce such difficulty for yourself if you go down that path. Expose all those things, the temptation. Don't look on that website if you find yourself drifting there. And may God help us in this difficult age where we all feel weak and where we're all flawed. And friend, if you're not a Christian, I have to say, you haven't got the help of God, you haven't got the imperative of the Bible, and actually the help of the Holy Spirit. If I could say to you, I haven't set out to do what might be a particular gospel sermon, but to say to you, friend, trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. Here is the one. Somebody can take your guilt, and somebody can take failure in relationships, somebody can deal with impure people, and can offer a sacrifice on your behalf and my behalf to the person that counts the most in this, God himself, and that his sacrifice, his death, will mean that you won't have an eternal death when you come to his judgment throne after death. We don't just die and that's it, friends. There's an accounting, there's a reckoning, and I warn you of that. but actually you will find grace, forgiveness. You will find mercy. There it is, blessed are the merciful, because God is merciful. And you'll have a fresh start in life. And here's the one little thing, many people can testify to this. Well, they became Christians, they've come from a past. Oh, what a past they come from. God had helped them, helped them to restore them, to find peace in their conscience, to come to terms with things done and find healing and repair. be able to remarry, be able to be on a totally different footing. I'm not saying perfect now, still struggles and still battles, but moving in a much, much different direction. So I commend Christ to you and God willing next week, if you're here next week, we have part two and we're looking a little bit more at the general principles of purity and perhaps applying those carefully to our circumstances. Let's sing our closing hymn. 784. Take my life and let it be 784.