The Lord exposed the lengths a sinful heart will go to disguise its lies.

If the Lord's teaching on divorce and remarriage sounds hard to receive, you aren't alone. That was the very response of the apostles. But God's grace is sufficient to do right in the marriage you are in or remain single in His will.

Jesus declared that a man could violate the 7th commandment by divorcing his wife - with one exception. The stated exception is fornication - the broadest term for all intimacy outside the bounds of marriage. Other Scripture texts help to give clarity what Jesus intended by the expression in this context.

The Pharisees taught that Moses gave encouragement to get a legal divorce when a man's wife didn't please him. Jesus taught God's plan is permanence and Moses' "allowance" was on account of the hardness of men's sinful hearts.

The 7th commandment is not only violated by physical intimacy that breaks the marriage covenant but by the passions of the heart.

When Jesus expanded on the 6th commandment and directed to matters of the heart, he declared that the presence of an angry spirit and the uttering of insulting words can make men guilty of the law that forbids murder. The time to deal with unresolved conflict is now because delay has the potential of carrying a heavy price tag. True citizens of Christ's kingdom apply the gospel to personal relational conflicts again and again.

Though the Pharisees were regarded as the scholars and guardians of the law and the most religiously devout of their day, Jesus said that to enter heaven men would have to have a righteousness that exceeds theirs.

Contrary to some expectations Jesus affirmed the continuing significance of the Old Testament, through direct statement, through promising its written preservation, and by attributing greatness to those who honor even parts some might suggest are not a big deal.

The elite of our society describe our culture as enlightened. The Bible declares that it is actually prevailing darkness. The believer, because of his relationship to Christ, is to shine as a light to dispel the darkness in this world and proclaim the light of the glorious gospel of Christ to sin darkened hearts.

Christ's citizens are to impact the world as salt does; as a preservative. If we retreat into cloistered communities we won't impact our culture. If we become what the culture is we lose our saltiness.