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Grace to you and peace from God our father in the Lord Jesus Christ.

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Amen.

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You know I have to be honest with you this morning.

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This is a really uncomfortable text.

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When I first got the assignment to preach on this text after reading

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it through my first reaction was

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really, I have to preach on this text the day before Valentine's Day.

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Thanks, Dr.

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Burreson.

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On the surface

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this is a text which seems to be primarily concerned with adultery

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related to divorce.

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So you may find yourself thinking

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why should this text make me feel uncomfortable?

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The reality is though when we dig deeper into this text we discover that

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there's a lot more going on.

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See Jesus turns a simple question about divorce into a moment of

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reflection on the goodness of God's design for marriage from the very

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beginning.

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A design that humanity has devalued for a long long time.

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That's really what makes this text

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so uncomfortable because when we hear text like this you and I are

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confronted with the ways in which we have devalued marriage in our own

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lives.

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We're flooded with feelings of guilt and shame memories from our past

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may be dug up, memories that we would really like to forget about.

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Maybe it's a memory

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like that one time in high school.

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You probably know what I'm talking about.

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Or maybe it's that habit that you tried so hard to break but put the

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memories and the images still haunt you.

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Or maybe it's that horrible childhood memory.

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I mean, you know, it wasn't your fault but

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can't help but blame yourself.

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We're Christians here

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we all we know in our heads that we've been forgiven by the blood of

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Jesus. But test like this.

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They're still uncomfortable because they arouse within us emotions

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that we have tried

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so desperately hard to keep buried.

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And we've allowed calluses to form within our hearts.

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And underneath those calluses

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it's raw its

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painful, it's easier not to confront the pain.

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But Jesus,

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Jesus never shies away from confrontation with the hard calloused

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human heart.

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In fact in our text for today

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he seeks it out knowing full well that doing so was going to lead him

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closer to Jerusalem and ultimately to the cross.

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So in our text the the Pharisees are ready for another showdown with

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Jesus.

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They devised this malicious scheme to try to trap Jesus by asking him

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about a loophole in the law about divorce.

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But what's really going on underneath

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the surface is the Pharisees are trying to justify themselves.

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They're trying to keep the calluses of their own hearts concealed by

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bending and reinterpreting God's will.

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And underneath

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those calluses

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it's raw

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it's painful,

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it's easier not to confront the pain.

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But Jesus knows the true healing can never come by by bending God's

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law to accommodate or to hide

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our sin. Sin has to be addressed in order for True healing to come.

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That's why Jesus said to the Pharisees.

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It's because of your hardness of heart than Moses allowed you to

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divorce your wives, but but from the beginning it was not so.

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Jesus words,

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they confront the hard callus heart

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of those Pharisees, but

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his words also offer a hope of healing.

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Because these words recalled an Old Testament promise that the Lord

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had made through the prophet Ezekiel a promise which Christ came to

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fulfill.

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I'd like to invite you now to take out the pew Bibles that are in front

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of you and turn to this promise in Ezekiel chapter 36 verses 26 and 27

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and I'd like to encourage you to continue meditating on this promise

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in the silent reflection time at the conclusion of this homily.

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In Ezekiel chapter 36 verses 26 and 27 says this:

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And I will give you a new heart and a new spirit

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I will put within you.

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And I will remove the Heart of Stone from your flesh and give you a

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heart of flesh.

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I'll put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes.

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An be careful to obey my rules.

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Christ has come

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to turn your hard calloused heart of stone

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into a heart of flesh to make it whole again.

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You remember that one time in high school?

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Christ says to you today.

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You are forgiven.

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You are loved and my word and spirit will always be with you to

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continue to heal your guilt and shame.

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Or there's that habit.

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Christ says to you today.

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You are forgiven you are loved and my word and spirit will always be

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with you to continue to heal your guilt and shame.

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Or there is that horrible childhood memory.

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Christ says to you today.

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You are forgiven you are loved my word and spirit will always be with

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you to continue to heal your guilt and shame.

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See underneath the calluses, it's raw,

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it's painful,

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it's easier not to confront the pain, but Christ has come to confront

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that pain for and

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with us.

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You confronted that pain for us when he suffered and died on the cross

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to take away all of your sins and he continues to confront that pain

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with us by the power of His Spirit who is at work within you daily to

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heal your calloused heart.

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My Lord Jesus Christ keep us all in his word and spirit until that day

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comes when he returns and glory to fully and finally make our hearts

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whole once again.

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In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.