Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 1348 | The Chilling Meaning Behind Jesus’ Warning About Adultery

Episode Date: June 4, 2026

Uncle Si enters his renaissance era with new teeth, new eyes, and a perfectly timed drop-in for a deep dive into the book of James. Jase connects James to the Sermon on the Mount as the guys explore why Jesus traced murder, adultery, and sin all the way back to anger, lust, desire, and the condition of the heart. Si calls James the “action book” and warns that the little things we excuse, from careless words to devaluing others, can grow into something far more serious than we realize. In this episode: Matthew 11, verses 16–19; James 1, verses 13–15; Matthew 5, verses 21–22; James 3, verses 5–6; James 3, verse 9; Genesis 2, verse 24 “Unashamed” Episode 1348 is sponsored by: https://myphdweightloss.com — Find out how Al lost 80+ pounds. Visit the website or call 864-644-1900 and mention "AL" to get 2 weeks free in the program! https://unashamedgold.com — Get a free 2026 Gold & Silver Guide and a no obligation consultation! https://meetfabric.com/unashamed — Join the thousands of parents who trust Fabric to help protect their family. https://vanman.shop/unashamed — Get 15% off your first order with code UNASHAMED http://unashamedforhillsdale.com/ — Sign up now for free, and join the Unashamed hosts every Friday for Unashamed Academy Powered by Hillsdale College Check out At Home with Phil Robertson, nearly 800 episodes of Phil's unfiltered wisdom, humor, and biblical truth, available for free for the first time! Get it on Apple, Spotify, Amazon, and anywhere you listen to podcasts! https://open.spotify.com/show/3LY8eJ4ZBZHmsImGoDNK2l Listen to Not Yet Now with Zach Dasher on Apple, Spotify, iHeart, or anywhere you get podcasts. Chapters 00:00 Jase & Cole Both Lose Something 03:15 Uncle Si Enters His Renaissance Era 11:20 Wisdom is Proved by Actions 17:08 How to Live an Anxiety-Free Life 23:05 The Process That Leads to Sin 29:00 What is Gehenna? 35:55 The Tongue, Dehumanization & God’s Justice 44:30 Jesus’ Warnings About Lust, Adultery & Divorce 48:00 Uncle Si Says the Little Things Matter Most — Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I am unashamed. What about you? So welcome back to Unashamed. We have Uncle Si in the house, Jays. Zach still parts unknown. We don't know where he is. If he ever comes back, we'll welcome him back. Well, we needed a break. Yeah. You know, we won't go through the, it's not you, it's me. but somebody needed a break. And so I think he's actually celebrating a week with his lovely wife

because they've been married, was it 25 years? 25 years. 25 years. Yeah, and Jay, so I don't know if I told you this, but he, so at his wedding, which I officiated. Did you really? 25 years ago. I wasn't aware of that.

I was one of the officiants. it was another guy too that had been one of Jill's preachers in her past, and so it was two of us that did it. Was I there? I don't think so, because it was in North Carolina. You don't really travel well. Probably send him a letter. I'm sure you congratulate. The North Carolina, I think I'd have remembered that.

So Zach forgot his wedding ring. He's a bit absent-minded. He's a little bit, you know, he's just kind of the way he is. He has to have people around him. And at the wedding of his son and his daughter-in-law now, he forgets her vows. He was in charge of having her vows, and he forgot it. And so it was kind of a callback for 25 years, which I thought was appropriate, you know, for Zach. That's so funny.

Well, I can never make fun of somebody being absent-minded because I just got off vacation. and we went, me and Cole, which there's only two of us, you'd think there's not as many distractions. We went and played at the Peninsula Golf. And so when we got back, Cole was like, you can't find my wallet.

I was like, well, you probably left at the golf course. He's like, no, no, I know I had it. So everybody looked around, never could find it, but he was convinced. He did not leave it there. He's like, no, I had it after that. And so I'm making fun of him, you know. I'm like, dude, you're pretty young.

I mean, you've been married a couple months, and you already losing your wallet, you know. So when we get there, we walk into the clubhouse, and this woman behind the counter said, oh, have you been missing this? But she held up a wallet and my range finder. I wasn't even aware I had lost that. Oh, boy, well, aren't we a pair?

Like father, like son. So, Sa, what have you been up to lately? Same old thing. Podcasting and then, yeah. So,

so when I go on the road, I mean, the most off-to-asked question is about you now because you are our patriarch of our family. You're the oldest living member now. So everybody asks about you how you're doing.

And I tell people now, I was like, look, Saia is in a renaissance era because he's got, new teeth, new eyes, because you had surgery. You don't wear glasses anymore. So it's like you're just a completely new person, you know, in your late 70s,

which is pretty amazing, really. That is pretty wild when you think about it. You reinvented yourself in the Lord. Well, look, I'm a big, what I've learned, I mean, we, you know, we're fixed to study James. That's why I didn't know you were going to be here at this hour. You just walked in and sat down. So I thought, okay. We're never quite sure when size is going to show.

I've long. I'll poppy in any time. Yeah, exactly. I'm not sure you're supposed to be here, but okay, let's go with it. But you knew we were studying James, because you just did the duck call. Yeah, I've done podcasts, you know, the mine, and I started out, you know, a couple weeks ago I had Dr. Lee on. We don't know. He's a therapist, okay?

Okay. He's really... Was that for you? Is that your personal therapist? Well, no, no, because I was telling J.D. He'd come up with this idea of J.D. He said, well, let's get a therapist on here. I said, that's a good idea.

People have tried... They've been trying to get inside your mind for years. I know. But I told him, I said, oh, Emily was the first one. And I told her, I said, hey, I want you to give me the test. You all give people. And she said, oh, no, we can't do that. And I said, darn, I'm willing to go through it, okay?

I'd like to go through it just to see. Is this the test to see if you're sane? Well, no, no, just to figure out what's wrong. Oh, well, I thought they've been doing that for years. Well, no, no, great. So we had a lot of fun, but the thing about it is, it's all the human racist problems, guess what? It's your fault.

I'm not laughing because it's not true. Well, no, no, but see, that's what. And when we got into it and started, because he wrote a book. Well, before you get into that, what did they deem you, so if they did the test? What was their conclusion? Well, no, they wouldn't do the test. Oh, so it was in conclusive. They, you know, they kind of ruined my deal there that I wanted to do.

Well, everybody asks us, are you as crazy as you've seen? That's the question. And I thought, I always say the same thing. That's yet to be determined. I've got an answer for all the fans. I said, look, I tried to be noble, 10 minutes, way back when. When you were two? Look, and it liked to drove me insane, so, hey, I just went back to being crazy.

It's a lot easier, a lot more fun. You know, and since we're in the book of James, okay, I call it the, this is the action book. Yeah, I think. Because if somebody asked me, I'll say, hey, don't give me any lift service. tell me or show me what you're going to do what's your solution to this problem how are we going to fix it yeah don't give me no blah blah blah blah I don't want to hear

well we made the point in the last couple of podcast we've just kind of been thinking about James and talking about how we studied the book Al and I to launch into it and we were kind of waiting for Zach because we wanted to hear his take but one of the points I made, which, because we kind of both concluded that, because James was the most common name in that era,

so you're like, well, which James is this? And we kind of landed on what most scholars believe that it's the brother of Jesus. And I'm like, when you caught it the action book, I'm like, yep, and I know where he got that. And I made reference, but I didn't read this, but I think I'll read it now. this is in Matthew 11 and Jesus you know when people

the biggest problem he had from the religious leaders is they looked at him and said no you can't be God because from where he was from he didn't have the pedigree he didn't even have a house plus that didn't have any money

nothing to draw you to him yeah and so uh and he tells this little little story in Matthew 11 in verse 10, no, 16. Because John the Baptist had the same problem. When you're like, this is the guy, John the Baptist, preparing the way for the Messiah. But if you just looked at him and judged on mere physical appearance, you'd think,

this guy's a wilderness man, almost, you know, a caveman, long beard, eating bugs. You know, most people would think like they do with you, they'd say, that's a crazy man. Yeah. He's uncivilized. That can't be anything from God. Yeah, he's been out in the wilderness too long. So it's amazing to me that in Matthew 11,

Jesus, he gives a little take on this. And it says, in verse 16, it says, to what can I compare this generation? They are like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling out to others. And he quotes this little. song that says, we played the flute for you and you did not dance, you sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.

And you're like, what's his point? Well, he gets to it. He says, for John, talking about John the Baptist, came neither eating nor drinking, because he lived out in the wilderness, was kept the laws, you know. Nazarite, Val. Nazarite, Val. And they said, well, he has a demon. Just because he lived in the woods, he did a lot of hollering.

and he didn't shave. And then it says, the son of man, so speaking of himself, came eating and drinking, and they say, well, he's a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners. But then this little line is the line I was wanting to get to. But wisdom is proved right by her actions. So, Zach, do you remember when you hit the metabolism wall?

Probably about 40. I think I was about 45-ish. I started realizing that I couldn't just eat what I wanted. So I started trying these like fad diets. I wasn't really getting to the core, which was understanding metabolism. And that's what our good friends at PhD weight loss have taught me. They work and focus on restoring your metabolism so that your body works with you, not against you. That's where the real change happens.

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You'll get two free weeks. They'll pay for the cost of your food, which is a $1,500 value. All you got to do is call 864-644-1900. That's 864-644-1900, or you can go to my PhD-WatLoss.com. The goal isn't just to lose weight, is to never have to start over again. So if you've been on that cycle, now's the time to change. Again, that's 864-6-4-4-1900 or go to my PhD weightloss.com. So Jesus was just saying, watch me.

Well, no, no. Watch him. Watch what we do, not what we look like. I'll fix it because, hey, I ain't going to give you lip service. Yeah. And what's the whole, and I made the points about James. And at that point, this was more an oral tradition of reciting the sermon on the Mount, but he has a lot of quotes from the sermon on the Mount.

And so I think what you just said is one of the pillars of the sermon on the Mount. because Jesus was saying there's a lot of groups of people who are pretending to be a certain way, which is what really the word hypocrite means. Oh, no. We tend to think in our English translation of that is that a hypocrite is somebody that's out there, you know, cutting up, but then showing up. But it's more about from the biblical view of hypocrite. They're doing the right things.

They're doing them. But it's all an act. It's concealed. It's a performance. Yeah, it's a performance. It's like when he gets into the, they'll pray. Thanks, sermon on the mount. You know, when he gets into fasting, praying, and what's the other one?

Matthew 6th. To bring this into the focus. Oh, and given to the needy. They do it so other people will say, oh, you, you, you, you, must be something with God. No, no, to bring this into today's perspective our politicians

or a prime example. That's a great example. No, no, I'm serious. That's a prime example. We have a lot of politicians in the name of the Lord. Yeah. The Bible calls them hypocrites, but it's your acting a certain way. But it is still about you. That's why

what you said is true. Because you want people to look at you and say, ooh, they must they must be special. See, that's why, and, you know, when Jesus appeared here and started talking to people, that's why they said, no, you can't be who you say you are. Yeah. Well, especially because he was being so. His resume or whatever else you want to call it, it doesn't fit their ideal of what God should be.

Yeah. Well, I think the backdrop was in the scriptures, which it does say there's only one God worship and serve him only. You know, Deuteronomy says that. And so now when a human is claiming to be the Messiah, even though that was promised all over the place, they just had their idea of what that's supposed to look like. Their perspective, their view. It's no different today in the name of the Lord. a lot of people serve the Lord according to their view of what they think the Lord should be, which would be a dangerous position to be on.

He is what he is. And that's why I said, if you study the book of James, you're going to have to read the sermon on the Mount, which is probably the most hard to wrap your head around speech in the entire New Testament. I'm throwing out a blanket statement there, But because it's like Jesus is taking things that they knew to be true. And then all of a sudden making some application that they're like, wait, what? I mean, I'll give you an example.

When you read the book of James, there's a lot in there about anger, about how to handle money. Because you said actions. I mean, y'all can name a few other things. But I know there's a lot in there about anger, the tongue, you know, what you say. Yep. Not being, we mentioned a few, what were the few we mentioned now? Not being double-minded. Double-minded.

And having wisdom, I mean, true wisdom, which means living truthfully, which is a big part of this. You think about it, because you, Sal, you mentioned politicians, you know, politicians just lie about stuff. You know, they just make stuff up. And then they have to then defend the lies. And if you think about the more you do that, the harder it is just to live a normal life. How do you live when you lie all the time? Well, that goes to what James is talking about, double-minded.

Yeah, exactly. They tell so many lies that they can't keep up with them, and they're always trying to redo it, okay? And once you start it and lied as much as they do, you don't have any idea what the truth is anymore. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, the double-mindedness leads to the double life. And it's exhausting.

I mean, to live, and I did it at one point in my life. When you live like that, you never know every time you talk to somebody, you have to be so careful. That's exhausting. I mean, it's much easier to just be truthful in who you are and what you believe and, you know, how you go about your business. I mean, it's a much. That's why you talk about anxiety. and which James deals with a lot, this idea of less anxious life. And, Jace, you're right.

When you look at Jesus laying it out in Matthew 5 through 7, he really, because right in the middle of it, he has this whole section in there about worry and anxiety in your life. And what happens is when you live a kingdom life, you remove so much anxiety because, you know, you're just, you're, you're, you are who you are who you are. are, which is exactly who Jesus was, even though they didn't recognize it. So I just think that's like a linch bin, you know, for this whole conversation.

Well, I want to give an example from, and we'll just, this is a sample since we're just kind of introducing the book on how the sermon on the mount does that and how James kind of views it. I'll give you an example. And I'm picking one of the more complicated ones, but I think I had a lightball moment doing this, because James is real big, and so is Jesus, about this process that happens and understanding that process. And you said, what process are you referring? And I'll read one said process from the book of James.

This is in James chapter one, when he says, when tempted, no one should say God is tempted. Remember that where he starts off of that? So that's James 113. is after about, you know, talking about trials and all this. And he had just said, you know, if you're poor, you should take pride in that position, you know. If you're rich, you need to humble yourself. So, which is also, thank sermon on the Mount. You know, Jesus started that whole sermon, all from blessed are the poor in spirit, but blessed

are those who mourn. But these were, this picture of these kinds of people, where the people gathering around listen to it. He's telling him be poor in spirit, but they were probably poor people. That's why they're looking for some kind of answer. You see? So when James gets through this process, it says in verse 13, it says, when tempted, no one should say, God is tempted me, for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone. And what you said was so profound, because here it is, James 114. But each one is tempted when by his own evil desire. for me on the side.

You're the problem. Now there is an evil one that is addressed who's aiding and abetting and fueling the lie, not mentioned here, but it will be mentioned later in James. But it says he has dragged away and enticed. Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin,

and sin when it's full grown. Gives birth to death. So you see this process. Well, you see that all over the place in the sermon. on the Mount, just in various ways, and I'm going to give you one. So when Jesus says in Matthew 521, he says, you have said,

I mean, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, do not murder. Now, you know, in the English translation, that seems kind of like sarcastic. I mean, that is one of the Ten Commandments. You know what I'm saying? You've heard it said. It's pretty well written on stone.

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Learn how diversification may help protect your retirement savings. But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother, will be subject to judgment. So you're like, well, that kind of seems like he's diminishing. I mean, that is a serious. Murder is pretty much the worst thing you can do on the planet. Even our laws show that.

If you're convicted of murder, we're either, you know, the courts are either going to kill you or you're probably going to spend the rest of your life in prison. Would you agree? Yeah. So then for him to bring that up, Which is a, what are you trying to say? That doesn't seem fair.

So it's like, well, how do you wrap your head around what he's saying? But if you really think about and where he goes with this, well, think about when someone commits murder, there's a process that happened in their life that led to this. Well, no, no. You see what I mean? He went to, Jesus went to. Jesus went to the beginning.

Well, you're talking about like Genesis 4. Remember when, well, just think, Kane, right after, here's the evil one in the garden, man falls. Next chapter. What happens? We have two brothers out there and a process happened. One of them gets jealous because the other seems to have God's favor, and he doesn't.

So then what's he do? Well, he gets mad. Well, this process, festers. And what does it lead to? Murder. To murder. No, no. That's why I said, okay, Jesus looked at it, because I think about it all the time, about how hard it would be for God to step on this earth in flesh. And now, hey, it's been prophesied for 500 years.

Yeah. Which is another process, is what I'm getting at. That's what the beginning of the process. this, okay, hey, we prophesied about him coming. He's coming. Well, when he actually arrives, the reason they couldn't recognize him is because they've got their own little view in their head of what God should be. Yeah. Okay, because when you say king of kings, if you think about a king, you're looking to

talking about, oh, my goodness, this leader, one that holds life and death in his hands. Well, this king is not like that. This king didn't come to be served. He came and does just the opposite. Yeah, he served. He served. Which is another theme of the sermon on the mouth when it talks about turning the other

cheek, loving your enemies. And so that's why I think they had a real problem. It's like they didn't want to hear this. They wanted somebody who's going to come and bulldoze. all their oppressors. All their enemies. Days, I like your, I like the way you're going with that, though. The idea that sin is not accidental.

You know, there are people that die every day by accident. I mean, things happen. And even though it may even be criminal, but it's accidental. But murder is not accidental. Someone planned that. Someone thought about that. Someone was angry. They were jealous.

They had all these feeders that led into that. there was envy there was something that led to the process planning out and you're right james you know he he highlights that just in this sinful behavior and then jesus gives you several specifics that being one of them does this not accidental which is why we know we'll say it was premeditated you know was the words we use you know premeditated murder the idea that you think that through and that's what sinful behavior is thought through you think about it you want it you desire it and then you do it. And the idea is you try to blame it on someone else, but it becomes your problem and your process. And that's exactly the point Jesus was making. And the bad part of that is, okay,

is that when you're planning all this, you're doing it and you know it's wrong. And you're also trying to figure out how not to get caught, right? Yeah. And that's the only thing you're doing. You're trying to figure out how not to get called at it. Yeah. Well, okay. Yeah. Well, I think what's fascinating about this, I didn't finish reading that paragraph, but when he said, I'll tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. And then he's like, again, anyone who says to his brother, Raqa, which I've looked that up before, which means just like an empty person. Right. Well, I've heard people describe it as like a good for nothing. is answerable to the Sanhedron.

What's fascinating about all this is he takes, first of all, murder saying, okay, you're subject to the courts, but then he takes, you just viewing a person and calling them a good for nothing, that goes to the Sanhedron, which is the higher court.

But then he says, but anyone who says you fool, which is just, I think the Greek word for that was where we get the word moron. So, mora, I think. Yeah, which my translation, and I'm guilty of this, I'm just telling you right now. Like somebody cuts you off in traffic. I'm like, idiot!

I mean, I have said that so many times. After I read this, I'm working on it because, look, Al, he goes, this is what I want to get out, because it's hard to see this unless you get into the weeds here. It's like he tells this, I don't even know how to describe what he's doing here, this illustration, where you have the most severe crime is dealt with at the court, which is true. Then you have a lesser crime, which is you just viewing humanity as good for nothing, which in the grand scheme of things is just as important to God because you're devaluing people. You're not looking at people as image-bearable.

of God. They were created by God. Then he takes just an insult, like calling someone an idiot, and watch what he puts on that. You go from the court to the Supreme Court to, but anyone who says you idiot or you moron will be in danger of the fire of hell. He goes past the courts. Now we're getting into punishment. Yeah. Well, and so So you see what he did.

He took the most extreme, and he took the lesser way that justice would be served, which you went court, you went Supreme Court, to a lesser degree of consequences on how you view people. And then he took the, just calling people someone a name, and he goes to the fire of hell. Now, which led me to understanding that that word translated hell there, is it's actually this word Gahena. And I don't know if we've ever gone into that, but I've studied this for the last few days. And because the reason I want to bring this up,

because the only place that that word is used, Gahanna, is in the Gospels by Jesus and once in the book of James, 3-5. Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, It makes great boast. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. I'm not sure that's worth. You keep reading it, verse six.

So verse six, the tongue also is a fire. A world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of its life on fire. And there it is. So what is that? James 36. And is itself set on fire? by, and here's this word

Gahena. So some translators will put a shihol or the realm of the dead. They'll translate that hell also, but it's a different word than this.

And Gahanna was an actual place. It was a... It wasn't just an actual place. You can go over and look at it today. Well, I guess it'd take you a while to get to Israel. But I pulled up a picture of it. And it's a valley. There's cars parked there. They use it as a site. So, Al, the first time

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what I learned was that happened in like 1,300 in medieval times. Yeah. So that wouldn't make sense for Jesus using this analogy. So what was this analogy? But I stumbled up on some people, but some of these scholars have been reading their Bible. And I'll give you just the thumbnail of it. But there's an instance that happened in this valley,

which is also known as, is it, let's see what that valley is called. I think it's Hanam Valley, yeah, Valley of H-I-N-N-O-M, Hanam, Gahena. Well, it's brought up in the Old Testament. And so here's why I think Jesus was using this. I'm going to give you the thumbnail, and if you want to read this in your own time, it's easy to look up. But in Second Chronicles, there's this king who lost his way with God, serving, and he's king of Israel, he lost his way and serving other gods,

and somehow in the process of these false idols, he thinks it's a good thing to sacrifice innocent children and burn them in this valley, the same valley. Now, I think that's in Second Chronicles, it's in the 20s and in the 30s, the two, the stories this shared. Well, later on, Jeremiah and Ezekiel, they make some prophecies about this same valley. They're like, remember that time when the kids were sacrificed? And look, the reason I don't want to even read it, it's just morbid to read in the Bible, because I read the Chronicles' passages. I mean, it makes you angry that some guy would do this to kids in the name of following God, you know? And so I don't want to get sidetrack.

I think here's the point of why Jesus was doing this. Jeremiah prophesies, I remember this in chapter 7. And he's like, remember when all that happened in this valley? Well, we're fixed to fill that valley up with those leaders and the people who are following those false gods and who think it's a good idea to sacrifice children. And basically the prophecy is they're going to be given over to the Babylonians. which happened in history.

Yep. And that valley was filled up with those people who committed those crimes at the hand of the Babylonians because God allowed it to happen. And so my point is, the reason he brought up this judgment of the fire of Gehenna, because in a way, your logical conclusion is there, there's consequences with God when you do these kinds of things. and those consequences in that valley was the very thing that they did to all those kids happened to them and they were burned in the same place and so I think you see that why he's attaching

and why people translated that to hell because that's when this injustice gets made right there's a god you will stand before and give an account of what you've been doing and the consequences will be that. It's real scary, and people when they hear that, because all of a sudden you think, well, I need to make sure what I'm doing is within what God wants me to do. And I think that's the picture of the final justice being revealed when it comes to, you know, God's justice.

And that's the way he depicted it. So I don't know. I just wanted to get y'all's thoughts about that. But I think that the fact that James used this with the tongue, because it's in the context of you just viewing people as idiots, that first part of that process could later on get you to a point where you're actually looking at innocent babies thinking they're idiots and devalue and would burn them.

And that's what he's portraying. I look at that as this, this is a warning. Your tongue can get you into so much trouble, okay, by what you say. Especially if you talk a lot like we do. Well, no, no. But it's just, you know, I looked at when Jesus was walking its earth, He's told stories in a lot of parables, okay, because you think about it, you know,

and the one I'm thinking about is he said, how do I tell you about heaven when you can't even understand the basics of what you can see right here on this earth? Mm-hmm, exactly. All right, I found those passages, if you want to read this, Sac Chronicles 28 and then St. Chronicles 33. and it's described as the valley of bin Hanam, which, by the way, when you look up the history, it was some dude that owned the land. That's where the name come from.

And then when they translated it over into Greek, they just used English letters, and it came out Gehenna, which was this fire. I don't know. Have you ever heard that, Al? Yeah, I have. And you're right. You're right.

I mean, that's a great way to look at it. Because I think people have this kind of larger narrative about heaven and hell where it was something very specific that Jesus was dealing with. And think about how offensive it was to him, the creator of all beings and the creator of all humanity, that this era existed. And so his point is, how do you get there? Because I love it what you described. I mean, it seems like it's an extreme. But then he goes on to say, therefore, if you're offering your gift, of the altar and remember that you have a brother here and you got something against him,

leave your gift there and first go and be reconciled to the brother. So he gets like a real practical example of being the sort of person that wants to make amends with people. In other words, you would never even get to a place where you'd want to take someone's life if you were just the kind of person that reconciled. It's like, oh, we have a problem. Let's deal with that problem. Let's deal with that issue. That's why the Bible talks so much about forgiveness and Jesus spent so much time talking about how God treats us and how then, therefore, that should be how we treat one another. And so that's the mindset of dealing with it. And you're right. It begins with a thought of dehumanizing people. And if we see anything else in our society and what we see today, it is the

dehumanization of people. In other words, you look at people and they're a race of people, they're a political party, they're this, they're that, they're whatever. And you see the anger that comes forth, then the violence, and here we go. And you start seeing exactly how this happens. I mean, you know, we were that long ago. We had a civil war in our own country where people of the same mindset and country lined up across the field from one another and killed each other over things that they just couldn't, you know, have a political discernment and come up with an answer for it. So, I mean, definitely you see it starts small, but it ends big, which is kind of the whole point that you're talking. Have you ever looked at the ingredient label on something that you use every day and you realize that you have no idea what's in it?

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com slash unashamed. Use code unashamed for 15% off your first order. Van Man, real ingredients, no exceptions. Well, just think. You said, how could we get to a place in our culture where people are cheering at the death of unborn infants. Yeah. But the United States is there.

You see what I mean? Yeah. The United States is there right now. Yeah. That's what I'm saying. Okay. You have a group of people cheering. Someone's dead.

Yeah. The death of an unborn child. Innocent death. Well, that process, you're looking at somebody who's gone down a long process to get to that point, where they're not acknowledging that person having any value whatsoever. Well, I think that's why I take this as a warning from Jesus when he's talking about all this because, hey, you know, the process is, okay, you go from thought to do it.

Yeah, desires. Yeah, that's right. The desires and then, because there's a process that you go through. okay and the whole time it's searing okay it's scarring your your body where you don't feel it nothing matters to you anymore you'll do anything you know and that's where sin comes into plague then sin when it's full-blown grown comes to turn to death you know and with god the thing I'm getting out of this is there's a lot of warnings here because with God, justice is going to be done. Exactly.

Okay. You're not, you're not, you may think you got away with it. But one of these days, you're going to stand too in account for what you've done. And then the punishment that goes along with whatever you've done will be, will be administered. Yeah. So that's why he said out of that verse that we talked about. on our last podcast. So right after James said, you know, that tongue is a fire,

and it set itself on by the fire of Gahena, just doing unspeakable things to humans and thinking that you're not going to have any consequences for that. Oh, you're wrong. God will, he will bring all things under his justice. But then he later said in verse 9, And so with the tongue, we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men who have been made in God's likeness.

So he made the same point that Jesus was making, which is why when the sermon on the Mount started, you know, Jesus gave this indication of, okay, the kingdom is at hand. It has come near. And that's the phrase, it has come near because I'm here. I'm the king. and he lays out basically what he is representing in the character of God by he went through the testing from the evil one, you remember?

That's in chapter four. But then he goes around and he's preaching to the kingdom and he's healing diseases. He's making all these wrongs right. He's taken on the spiritual forces of evil, casting out demons, doing all this. And then he makes that statement about he didn't come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it, to fill it up. And you start seeing his whole point because you see what was behind the law, which is basically a love of God and doing the right thing, as God sees it, and loving people. So that's why he's using these illustrations because he's trying to stop that process that gets to a point where someone, anyone dies, but especially the innocent. And you're cheering about it?

Or you're causing that to happen? What are you crazy? No, that can't be. So I think that's why it's so powerful. And when you said that this book is about action, it's so true. because God wants us, and he created us, to image him. And you're like, well, how do I know exactly what he's like? Well, that's why Jesus came, and that's why he did these speeches,

which there's five of them in the book of Matthew, these long speeches. And when you start wrapping your head around it, you're like, oh, I see why we're going around killing each other and mad and angry. We're just going down this road. of evil. And he's like, here's the way to stop that. You stop it way back at the point the first time that you're looking at another human, no matter what they did, and thinking they're worthless,

thinking they're just trash that needs to be discarded. It's like, it's like then he goes to the next segment, which is about adultery, the same exact way. Because, you know, every one of these examples, it's just getting more in the kitchen of the people he's talking to because it affects us all. someone says, oh, I can't imagine murder. But you might look at someone, you know, with eyes full of adultery. So he goes right there next.

But it's the exact same concept. When I was in ministry full time, I was always so careful in how I dealt with other people that were in vulnerable situations because I realized that people were coming to me with problems and I'm trying to help them. But the last thing I wanted to do was take that trust and then turn it into something wicked. And that's exactly what's happening here. He's like, you know, it's sad that do not commit adultery, but when you look at people and begin to devalue them, that that's not someone's daughter and someone's mom and someone's

wife, and you begin to then think about what you want to be doing with them, then that starts you on the process of possibility. And that's the whole idea of James I. Oh, I'm so glad you brought that up. And we'll have to go through this on the next podcast because I was prepared to go through that one. He then goes to adultery, which you're right, but I think the underlying principle is, because what's going to happen is then he goes to divorce and what happens with divorces.

I mean, he's just taking on all the issues. Well, the one he does on divorce causes a firestorm. You say, hey, you know that. Because in Matthew 19, a group of people come up to him and say, hey, and they ask him about what he said on the sermon on the mouth. And if they didn't, I think we would be really confused based on what he said here, Matthew 5, about divorce. But Matthew 19, he basically then goes to the ideal, which is back to the garden, about, hey, God created a male and a female, and they will be united and become one flesh. He literally quotes Genesis chapter 1 and 2 about male and female.

And my point is, that then makes sense about the lust, because it's like, she's not yours. she's not yours you have one yeah you already have one you have one and that's it all you put everything in that basket and i mean everything and keep it in that yeah and she's not she's not yours and so if you just thought like that well that would that ought to do it that that that clear it up but i think what's so funny about the it's not funny but i'm i'm using that as in like crazy that ironic he brings up this adultery and don't even even if you look lustfully just as bad and then he launches into this if you have any body parts which he doesn't name the one that first comes to your mind that's causing you to sin cut it off but he names all the other body parts

in your life wait what i mean i'm sure there were there were smoke coming off people's heads thinking what in the world but he actually was so clever because you think about lust and adultery, he starts off talking about your eyes. It all started there, and we're getting back to this process. You see? And you're like, ooh, oh. Yeah, here we're back at where we started.

The process, okay, is what's going to get you into trouble. All right, well, decide we're out of time. Can you believe it? Yeah, I believe it. It always goes this fast. It always goes fast. Well, we're going to keep this discussion going. So glad you have your own unashamed as always.

So we'll see you next time. I look at Jesus and, you know, he had a rough time when he finally arrived and then no one recognized him. And this is with 500 years of all the religious leaders proclaiming he's on his way. Yeah. That's just, that history being in, and talking about it, but it's the human race. What you should get out of this little study is, you know, the little things that you think are not important are way more important than you think. Yeah, and just later to see.

They're waylier and more profound than you think. Yeah, well, just think how many crimes have been compromised. where somebody gets cut off in traffic, the next thing you know is road raids and people die. Somebody's dead. Yeah. And there was a mental mindset

that wasn't prepared for trials and when somebody does you wrong. And here's the thing. It always comes back, okay, to you. Yeah. You can, you, yourself, can only control you.

Yeah, that's right. that was good we got into some deeper things of that's just kind of where it went hey that's where it's at thanks for listening to the unashamed podcast help us out by leaving a rating and review on Apple Podcast

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