MATTHEW 5:27-30 - A New Way of Being Pure

Introduction

On April 26th 2003, 27-year-old Aron Ralston was descending into a slot canyon in southeastern Utah, when a boulder he was traversing dislodged, smashing his left hand before pinning his right hand to the canyon wall. Ralston had not told anyone where he would be hiking, and had no way to contact anyone. For five days, he tried to free himself, but finally realized that the only way to avoid death was to find a way to amputate his pinned arm. Using a makeshift tourniquet and a dollar-store multi-tool, Ralston succeeded in freeing himself from the boulder ad rappelling down the 65-foot canyon wall to the ground. He hiked 6 miles toward where he had parked his car and was found by a family who had pitched a campsite in the area.

Aron Ralson considered that it was worth it to continue living with one hand rather than die with two hands. In the same way, Jesus says in the text before us this morning that it is better to live with one hand than be thrown into Hell with two. Verses 27-30 of Matthew 5 are the second of six “disputations” that Jesus has with the scribes’ and Pharisees’ interpretations of the Law of Moses. Once again, He is making a distinction between the Pharisee’s definition of righteousness and His. Once again, the Pharisees—the Jewish authorities on righteousness under the Law of Moses—had reduced the matter of righteousness down to physical actions. Verse 27 is a quotation of the Seventh Commandment in Exodus 20:14 - “You shall not commit adultery”. The Pharisees were content to say that as long as you don’t carry out the act of adultery—you never actually get into bed with someone else’s spouse—you have not broken this Commandment. Your actions determine your righteousness before the Law.

But Jesus puts it very differently, doesn’t He?

Matthew 5:28 (ESV)

28 But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

Once again, as we saw with the sin of anger last week, Jesus says that the actions that you carry out are determined by what has already taken place in your heart. You have not preserved your purity because you did not actually sleep with someone else’s spouse—your sin took place the moment you wanted to.

And Jesus says that escaping that sin is worth cutting off your own hand. He says that gouging your own eye out is a small price to pay to avoid lust.

And right away, we are confronted by Jesus’ description of how badly we should want to escape this sin. Because we simply don’t care that much, do we? As a society, we are simply flooded with every kind of enticement to sexual impurity, and even as Christians, we don’t even seem to notice. Jesus says that we should rather hack off our own hand than encounter sexual impurity, but we happily recommend movies to each other with nothing more than, “Oh, there’s a little bit of nudity in it, but it’s not that bad...” Jesus would have us gouge out our eyeballs rather than encounter sexual temptation, but we go home at the end of the day, turn on whatever streaming service we prefer, and gorge ourselves on whatever impurity the world wants to mainline into our eyeballs through the screen.

But there are others who have been so burned by sexual impurity; their lust has led them to do so many things and go to so many places and have so many encounters that they so deeply regret, that they have been crushed by their shame. It is too late for them; they have lost too much, they have gone too far. They look at Jesus’ words and say, “Yes—I would cut off my right arm if I could go back and undo the things I’ve done, the things that have been done to me… But it is too late...”

But when we look at what Jesus tells us here in these verses, when we come by faith to Him to receive the New Birth through the Gospel, we understand that

In Christ, you can be more PURE than you ever THOUGHT POSSIBLE

As Jesus is disputing the Pharisees’ works-righteousness interpretation of the Seventh Commandment, He presents three things about the sin of lust that you must understand in order to fight this sin the way He intends. Jesus intends for you to become, in Him, more pure than you ever thought possible. And so in verses 27-28 He calls you to

I. Understand the SIN that He calls you to FIGHT (Matthew 5:27-28)

Once again—the Pharisees were putting all their hedges around physical behavior. As long as you don’t do this with someone else, you are still pure in heart. But in order to understand the sin of lust, we need to look at the end result of it here in this verse, in the act of adultery itself. Jesus says:

Matthew 5:28 (ESV)

28 But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

Consider for a moment what is going on in this verse—a man commits this sin with a woman; in other words, she is also committing this sin. He is not performing adultery on her; she is joining him in this sin. But notice that while they are committing the same sin, they are both sinning in different ways.

This is a crucial distinction to make; men and women are different, and that means that they sin differently from one another. In the sin of adultery,

A man sins by TAKING that which has not been GIVEN to him (cp. 2 Samuel 12:9)

The sin of lust for a man consists in taking that which doesn’t belong to him. And yes, I realize that that statement is shockingly sexist, horribly insensitive (and is probably known to the State of California to cause cancer…) But it is entirely appropriate and moreover utterly Scriptural to speak this way of a husband’s ownership of his wife’s body. Eve was brought to Adam by God in the Garden (Gen. 3:22). And the Apostle Paul specifically says that a wife’s body belongs to her husband, and her husband’s body belongs to her:

1 Corinthians 7:4 (ESV)

4 For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does.

A man sins in adultery when he takes (or in lust when he desires to take) the body of a woman that has not been brought to Him by God in marriage.

This is part of he reason that Jesus associates the sin of lust with “cutting off your hand”. We will explore this more in a moment, but consider that the punishment for stealing is often associated with cutting off a hand. Jesus says that when a man “looks at a woman with lustful intent”, he is guilty. Note that it is not the mere sight of a woman that is the sin—to see and regard the beauty that God has given a woman is no sin—but the moment that appreciation gives way to wanting to take that beauty sexually, the line has been crossed. This was the sin of King David in 2 Samuel 12:9 - he looked at a woman he had no business looking at, and then took her as his own—and his kingdom suffered tragically as a result.

A man sins by taking that which he has no right to take. Whether the woman at the beach or the woman in the video or the woman on the movie screen--If she’s not your wife, she’s off limits. Period. You have no business looking at her with intent to take her. You have no business allowing your mind to craft a scenario where she fulfills your desires. You may not linger your gaze on her body—it is not yours to linger on.

In adultery, a man sins by taking that which doesn’t belong to him. But, as we noticed from Jesus’ words earlier that the man is sinning with a woman. If he were merely sinning against her in that act, it would be rape. But the difference between rape and adultery is the willingness of the woman to be taken.

If the sin of lust for a man consists in taking that which doesn’t belong to him,

A woman sins by GIVING AWAY that which she should GUARD (cp. Proverbs 7:10, 19-20)

In Proverbs 7 we have a warning from Solomon regarding an adulterous woman. Turn there with me for a few moments (it’s on page 531 of the pew Bible):

Proverbs 7:4–5 (ESV)

4 Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,” and call insight your intimate friend, 5 to keep you from the forbidden woman, from the adulteress with her smooth words.

Notice again the idea of a forbidden woman—a woman that you have no right to. Solomon goes on to describe this woman as deliberately giving herself to a man other than her own husband. She has dressed in a way to advertise her willingness to be taken:

Proverbs 7:10 (ESV)

10 And behold, the woman meets him, dressed as a prostitute, wily of heart.

And she specifically says that her husband is away:

Proverbs 7:19–20 (ESV)

19 For my husband is not at home; he has gone on a long journey; 20 he took a bag of money with him; at full moon he will come home.”

In the act of adultery, a woman is giving away what she should be guarding for one man—either the husband she has, or the husband she will someday have. This act of guarding is what is at the heart of the Apostle Paul’s exhortation to women in 1 Timothy 2:9:

1 Timothy 2:9 (ESV)

9 likewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire,

The sin of lust for a woman is in wanting to be wanted by someone who she has no right to give herself to. Men lust through the fantasy of taking that which is not theirs—watching videos of women being used sexually, using their imaginations on women they see around them.

But the sin of lust for a woman takes place in the desire to be desired—this is why the 50 Shades of Grey rape fantasies were such a wildfire among women a number of years ago. Paul sets out the two guide rails for a Christian woman’s warnings about lust—modesty and self-control. A woman’s sin of lust is apparent when she crosses the line between adorning her beauty and advertising her beauty. Wearing immodest clothing like leggings or tops so tight that they reveal anatomical features that only her husband should see, dressing specifically to be the center of attention, rather than dressing to compliment the beauty God has given her with dignity and respect.

A woman’s sin of lust takes place when she does not practice self-control, allowing relationships with men to drift into the types of intimacy or confidences where they ought not to go— “But Mark can help me understand what my husband is thinking—I need a good male friend so I can have a male perspective on my marriage!!” That is a woman committing the sin of lust... Whether through immodesty or lack of self-control, a woman commits the sin of lust when she desires to give away that which she should guard—her marriage, her purity, her dignity.

Jesus calls you understand the sin that He is calling you to fight. Lust is the sin that gives birth to the act of adultery—a man taking what has not been given to him; a woman giving away that which she should guard. As Jesus goes on in verses 29-30, we see the second truth about the sin of lust that we must understand—He calls you to

II. Understand the WAR that He calls you to WAGE (Matthew 5:29-30)

Jesus says in the next two verses:

Matthew 5:29–30 (ESV)

29 If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.

It is important to understand what Jesus is teaching here, because at first glance it seems as though this is just a grisly form of works-righteousness—stop sinning by removing your physical capacity to act on your sin. But what Jesus is teaching here is

Not a WILLINGNESS to MAIM your BODY

Think about it for a minute—Jesus has just said in verse 28 that the problem with lust is in the heart, not in the body. Would actually gouging out your eye stop your heart from wanting to take what hasn’t been given to you? If lust could be stopped in its tracks that way, then blind people would have no issue with lust! If cutting off your hand meant that you would no longer desire to take what hasn’t been given to you, then people born with no arms would not have any temptations to adultery.

Throughout history, there have always been attempts to “cure” lustful desires by finding some way of—if not mutilating, then at least subduing the body. Even as late as the 1830’s, Presbyterian preacher Sylvester Graham taught that his vegetarian diet (including his formula for home-milled “Graham Flour) would prevent its adherents from impure thoughts. This is where the Graham cracker came from, incidentally—the thought that eating graham crackers will prevent you from being tempted to lust is what Jesus is attacking in these verses!

There is no physical solution to a heart issue—cold showers, Graham flour, vegetarian diets—none of those things will help you fight the sin of lust. In order to understand what Jesus is getting at in these verses, consider again the story of Aron Ralston—his only choice was to live with one hand or die with two. And in the same way, Jesus illustrates here that in order to fight this war against this sin, you must have

A DESPERATION to ESCAPE with your LIFE (cp. 2 Timothy 2:22; 1 Peter 2:11)

Consider for a moment—Aron Ralston’s decision there on that canyon wall saved his life; but it was an irreversable decision. In the same way, Jesus is calling you, in your war against the sin of lust, to consider denying yourself in a permanent way. Are you willing to give up having a smart phone for good? Are you willing to say, “I will not go to the beach anymore; it is too hard for me to go there and not lust.” Are you willing to go back to your closet and make permanent changes to your wardrobe—are you willing to fundamentally and permanently alter your entire fashion sense in order to stop advertising instead of adorning?

In his commentary on this passage, John Stott likened these sorts of commitments to being maimed in a sense. To be the only one of your classmates or co-workers who does not use a smart phone; to go to all the extra time, expense and inconvenience of finding modest clothing; to be willing to be the only one of your friends who hasn’t seen that movie or watched that TV show because of the sex scenes—Jesus says here in these verses that unless you are willing to war against lust in ways that permanently and irreversibly change your life, you will not be victorious.

But at the same time, you must not pursue those irreversible changes in a way that reveals that all you are doing is adding another layer of works to your Christian life. Paul most definitely tells Timothy:

2 Timothy 2:22 (ESV)

22 So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.

And Peter warns his readers:

1 Peter 2:11 (ESV)

11 Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.

Flee from these temptations with all your strength; be willing to make that irreversible self-denial—but also understand that if you make this into a law, then all you will do is make the temptation worse. The combination of law and temptation is an explosive one, as Paul makes clear in Romans 7:7-8

Romans 7:7–8 (ESV)

7 What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” 8 But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead.

Among other things, this means that, while you should absolutely be ready to make those irreversible acts of self-denial, you must never trust in them for your righteousness. Your righteousness before God does not consist in whether or not you see tempting images or are confronted by desires to give away what you should be guarding—your righteousness before God consists in what kind of heart He has given you by faith in Christ.

For example—picture a husband and wife sitting in their living room while he works on his laptop. Suddenly a banner ad pops up featuring some airbrushed, Photoshopped teeny-bikini model. If he reacts as though someone has just dumped a pot of hot coffee in his lap—screams, throws the computer across the room and yells, “Gaaak-my eyes!!!”, she might think of how impressive his commitment to purity is. When in reality, his reaction has ratcheted up his temptation to lust by a factor of a hundred—telling himself “I ABSOLUTELY CANNOT LOOK AT THIS, I MUST NOT LOOK, I MUST FORGET I SAW IT, I MUST NOT THINK ABOUT IT” is making him want to look even more! Because Law brings sin to life.

But a husband who has one of those bouncy bikini babe ads pop up on his screen and can turn to his wife and say, “Darling, look! I have found incontrovertible evidence that we are a mammalian species after all!” and can then shut down the computer and put it aside without acting like he has just fought the principalities and powers in the heavenly places is a man who has begun to learn wisdom in this fight.

Jesus calls you to fight this war against lust with a desperation to escape with your life—not by trusting in your acts of irreversible self-denial, but by trusting in the perfect righteousness that has been given to you by Christ. This brings us to the final understanding that is necessary for us to have in this fight—

III. Understand he PURITY that He calls you to RECEIVE

Never forget that the purity that He calls you to is not created by your acts of self-denial. Your Covenant Eyes app, your flip phone, your VidAngel subscription, your conviction not to go to the beach, your careful choice of modest clothing and wise discretion in your relationships do not make you righteous before God. They are evidence of a heart that has already received that righteousness through the Gospel! The purity that you receive from Christ is not based on your attempts, but on His achievements. It is a righteousness and holiness that He has made possible for you because of His death, burial and resurrection.

And so we come back to where we started. Are you so crushed by the guilt and shame of where your lust has taken you in the past that you say you have gone too far, that it is too late for you? The things lust has led you to do, the things that have been done to you, the regrets and brokenness of your past burn in your heart, and if you really could restore your purity by mutilating your body, you would do it.

Beloved, this is the Good News of the Gospel for you! That Jesus Christ was mutilated and bruised and beaten and crushed in your place to pay for all of your lust. He suffered the penalty that you earned—and when you come to Him in repentance and faith

HE WASHES your PAST clean (John 8:10-11; Rom. 8:1)

In John 8, the Pharisees tried to trap Jesus by confronting Him with a case of adultery, bringing the woman caught in the act to Him. If anyone had the right to expect condemnation, it was her. She couldn’t deny that she deserved every one of the stones that the crowd had picked up. She had no defense; she had been in the middle of her sin when she was dragged into the presence of Christ.

But though she came expecting condemnation, Jesus met her with grace and mercy. When the crowd had dispersed because of His words to them, He said to her,

John 8:10–11 (ESV)

10 ...“Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” 11 She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”

With one sentence, Jesus wiped away the guilt of her past. “I do not condemn you...” When you come in repentance to Him, believing that He is your only hope of righteousness, He does not condemn you for your past; He does not hold your sin and shame against you—you are pure in His sight, because He has given you His purity! In Him you can be more pure than you ever dreamed possible, because you are clothed in His purity and righteousness!

And Christian, you have an even greater promise from your Savior—not only does He wash your past clean, but the Scripture says

He PROMISES your FUTURE glory (Ephesians 5:27)

One of the central themes of the entire Scriptures is how the whore is transformed into a virgin bride, how the filthy is made clean, the wicked made righteous, the worthless invested with glory and grace. The mercy of God to unworthy sinners is the great theme of every book of the Bible, from Genesis where God promises a Redeemer for Adam and Eve’s sin to Revelation when the pure and holy Bride of Christ appears

Revelation 19:8 (ESV)

8 it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”— for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.

Christian, the Son of God aims to have a pure and holy Bride on the Day that He celebrates His wedding feast. And as a faithful husband, He has given Himself up for you that He might sanctify you, having cleansed you by the washing of water with the Word

Ephesians 5:27 (ESV)

27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.

Christian—on that Day, you will be clothed in splendor, without any spot of lust or any wrinkle of sexual immorality or any such thing. You will be holy and without blemish on that Day because of the faithful work of your Savior to cleanse you. You will on that Day be utterly, completely, and eternally pure.

And that means that in the meantime, while you walk through the days appointed to you here on earth, He will continue to purify you day by day! You will fight this battle, and you will see victory. Fight with the intensity of one fighting for your life, but fight knowing that your life is safe in the hands of your Savior! Fight with the knowledge that even though you will sometimes fail, the outcome of this war is already decided! Fight knowing that, even though in this life you will never be able to completely remove the stains of your past the day will come when you will stand robed in the pure, spotless perfection of the purity of Christ, you will stand victorious against every lust that has ever pulled at your affections, you will be free once and for all of all of it—not because of how perfectly you have fought, not because of your self-denials and superior moral standards, not because you achieved perfect purity by your own efforts, but because you stand in the perfections of your pure and merciful Savior, Jesus Christ!

BENEDICTION:

Ephesians 3:20–21 (ESV)

20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION:

Why do you think teaching on this passage is often geared only towards men? How does the sin of lust manifest itself differently between men and women?

Jesus teaches that adultery is the end result of a sin that begins in the heart. Does adultery only damage lives when it is committed outwardly? What are some ways that adultery that is hidden in the heart can destroy lives?

Does maiming or subduing our physical bodies stop us from sinning? Why or why not? What was Jesus’ point in describing our struggle against lust this way?

What does it mean to carry out an “irreversible act of self-denial” in fighting lust? How might the intensity of your struggle against lust “cripple” you in this world?

Read Romans 7:7-8 again. How can you learn from these verses effective strategies for fighting for purity without succumbing to legalism, which only makes the problem worse?