Adultery and Lust

Introduction:

Connection:

*Just one look*. *Just for one second*.*Just one glance*.

These are the words that Satan shoots into our minds in moments of temptation to lust and its fruits. People don’t get addicted to something overnight. It always starts small—with just a bit of compromise—but then it slowly grows and grows and takes over your life.

Just one look at pornography can lead to a monster of an addiction; and seven headed monsters are’t easy to kill—unless you go for the heart. The heart is where the source of the temptation comes from—and where the fight for victory begins. This is the emphasis that Jesus gives us in our text this AM, as he calls us to the beauty of holiness in our battle against sin.

Theme:

Adultery & Lust

Need:

To mortify and destroy the lust of our hearts, and we need to be deadly serious in our battle against sin and temptation.

John Owen once famously said: We are told to mortify our sin. Do you mortify? Do you make it your daily work? You must always be at it while you live; don’t ever take a day off from this work; always be killing sin or it will be killing you.

Purpose:

To expose the piercing depth of the 7th commandment; to rebuke the lust of the heart and eyes; to exhort the saints to fight against their sin with devout seriousness; to warn the unrepentant of the punishment of hell to come; and to comfort the truly repentant that in Christ, His mercy is more.

Recap:

Last Lord’s Day we looked at how Jesus preached on the 6th commandment. We saw that Jesus proved that the commandment against murder also prohibits sinful anger in the heart. Jesus requires purity of heart and relationship for our public worship to be acceptable in God’s sight. And we saw that Jesus exposes our guilt, and warns of the wrath to come. Here Jesus continues his sermon on the Law of God with the 7th commandment. This morning we come to hear the Lord of Glory preach against Adultery & Lust.

Read Text:

Matt. 5:27-30 ESV

PRAY - PRAY - PRAY - PRAY - PRAY - PRAY - PRAY - PRAY

(1) Literal Adultery begins with Heart Adultery- v. 27-28

Matthew 5:27–28 ESV

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

(1) Literal Adultery begins with Heart Adultery- v. 27-28

By way of reminder, Jesus is not giving a new law—but exposing the spiritual depth of the old law. As we’ll see throughout this text.

Calvin: He has already told us, that he did not come as a new Legislator, but as the faithful expounder of a law which had been already given.

Our righteousness must exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees. And so Jesus begins his exposition:

27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’

In order to understand Jesus here, we need to biblically understand adultery. Adultery, according to Scripture, is engaging in sexual union outside of one’s marriage with their spouse. Adultery is something that can only be committed by a married person. Adultery is a breaking of the marriage covenant of faithful love between one man and one women (Gen. 2:24; Ex. 20:14; Deut. 22:22; Jer. 31:31-32; Mal. 2:14-16; Matt. 5:31-32; 19:9; Rom. 7:3).

Therefore, all adultery is sexual immorality; but not all sexual immorality is adultery. Adultery is specific to breaking the marriage covenant of loyal love.

But Jesus doesn’t only talk about adultery, he talks about lust—which is a sin that anyone can commit (married or unmarried). And so with that in mind, Jesus continues and shows that the source of adultery (and all sexual immorality for that matter)—is lust in the heart:

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.

As we’ve been learning thus far, Jesus who searches mind and heart, is showing that the holy law of God doesn’t just require external obedience, but also internal obedience. The Pharisees were content with the motions—but Jesus shows that what really matters is the heart.

Matthew 15:19 ESV

For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.

Jesus is showing that God’s law requires heart-level-purity-and-obedience. We must love the Lord our God with all our heart. And so the 7th commandment doesn’t just forbid the bodily act of adultery—it also forbids the heart act of lust. The 7th commandment doesn’t only forbid literal adultery—it also forbids heart adultery. Lustful intent makes us guilty of sin, and sin is breaking the righteous law of God, and rebelling against the Lord of glory & all his goodness.

Poole: We must so interpret the commandments of God, as not to extend them only to forbid or command those acts which are plainly mentioned in them, but the inward pleasing of our hearts with such things as are forbidden, the desires of our hearts after them, or whatsoever is a probable means to give us that sinful pleasure of our thoughts, or further inflame such unlawful desires in our souls.

*Just one look*, says Jesus, breaks the 7th commandment—meaning that we’ve already committed the sin that leads to adultery; and therefore our hearts are guilty, corrupt, and condemned.

Jesus doesn’t say that as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone that it’s okay. Jesus doesn’t say that it doesn’t matter what happens behind closed doors. NO. Jesus says that every glance, every look, every image—every ounce of lust commits adultery in the heart.

In the Gospel of Luke, a Pharisee boasts of his self-righteousness in thinking that he had kept the 7th commandment:

Luke 18:11 ESV

The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.

This Pharisee thought he was righteous because he hadn’t committed literal adultery, but in our text he’s condemned by Jesus because he’s commited heart adultery. And only if he’d paid closer attention to God’s law, would he have realized that lust is itself forbidden in the Decalogue.

Exodus 20:17 (ESV)

“You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife”

What does it mean to covet your neighbor’s wife? it means to lust after her, to wish she was yours, to long for her beauty—which in principle rejects the beauty and goodness of the wife God has given you. God’s law is spiritual—it forbids the sin of the heart, as well as the sin of the body. And Jesus here shows that we’ve all fallen short of the glory of God.

This might just be the greatest sin of North America in the last 50 years. We live in a hyper-sexualized culture. Lust is the air our society breathes. Sexual immorality is the banner we fly. Pornography addiction is destroying 100’s of millions of lives. Parents are teaching their children to masturbate instead of learning self-control. Marriage has been thrown aside as a thing of the past. Cohabitation has defiled the marriage bed. LGTBQ activists have won in their woke agenda. Movies and commercials steal away the cravings of men with immodestly dressed women. And most “Christians” today dress objectively worse than a 1st Century Prostitute. And it’s in this wicked and adulterous generation that we must heed the words of our Lord and Saviour: BUT I SAY UNTO YOU: everyone who looks with lustful intent has already committed adultery in their heart.

Our society is a cesspool of adultery. But not just them. Jesus isn’t speaking to the atheists or agnostics. He’s speaking to his disciples and the crowds gathered around him. Jesus is saying that the people of God have the exact same problem. We are sinners, and therefore, we sin. Our hearts are corrupt, and therefore we are defiled. Our lust is enflamed, our eyes wander, our hands go where they shouldn’t, and we transgress the perfect law of liberty. We are like Esau—selling our liberty because of a bodily passion and craving of the flesh. The devil tells us that sin will free us—but really it only enslaves us.

The Apostle Paul writes these words of exhortation for the people of God:

Ephesians 5:3–5 ESV

But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.

Colossians 3:5–6 ESV

Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming.

Even people in the church need to hear this, because people in the church can be deceived and deluded. Jesus will separate the sheep from the goats, the wheat from the chaff, and the good fish from the bad fish on the last day. He will remove all lawless men and women from his kingdom when he returns. Those who have secretly lived in unrepentance, in sexual immorality, with sinful addictions that have not been mortified, and are not being battled against in faith—all such people will come under the wrath of God. And not just those out parading at the Pride events—all those within the Christian church that are indulging in the lust of the flesh without repentance and new life.

This is why Jesus said unto Nicodemus—you must be born again! There is good news for sinful wrecks—not good news for those who remain in their sin—but good news for those who repent of it, and trust in the mercy of Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 6:9–11 ESV

Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

But such were some of you! Have you been born again? Have you received the power of the Holy Spirit? Have you mortified your flesh with its passions and desires? Have you been granted repentance to hunger and thirst after righteousness, to follow Jesus Christ from the heart? Have you been washed, not only with the waters of baptism—but with the baptism of the Spirit? Have you been cleansed by the blood of Christ? Have you been redeemed, delivered, justified, and saved by Jesus? Are you fighting the good fight of the faith? Are you battling against your lust, with a desire to please your Father who is in heaven?

Then take heart, beloved—blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. If your heart has been purified, and is being purified—then you have been washed, you have been saved, you are being sanctified, and you will be glorified. You are safe in the arms of Jesus—if you are a new creature in Christ.

But if this isn’t you, if you are living in unrepentance, if you are living in unbelief, in you are secretly indulging with a lustful heart—then you need to come to Jesus, you need to be born again, you need to find true salvation, you need to confess that Christ is Lord, not only with your lips, but with your heart as well—repent and believe, and you shall enter the kingdom of heaven with life forevermore! His mercy is more!

1 John 1:7–9 ESV

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Put your only hope in the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ (who forgives all your iniquities)—and let him, by the power of His living Word, cleanse you from unrighteousness, as you walk in the fruit of the Holy Spirit, to put to death the lust of the flesh which so easily weighs us down.

(1) Literal Adultery begins with Heart Adultery- v. 27-28

And what do we do now that were Christians? We deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Jesus:

(2) Lustful Eyes must be Torn Out and Thrown Away - v. 29

Matthew 5:29 ESV

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.

(2) Lustful Eyes must be Torn Out and Thrown Away - v. 29

29 If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away.

Spurgeon: Better a blind-saint than a quick-sighted sinner.

Calvin: for you ought rather to part with your eyes, than to depart from the commandments of God.

This is hyperbole, obviously. Jesus is not saying that you should physically harm yourself. That is forbidden by God’s law—self harm is akin to self murder (Eph. 5). But what Jesus is saying is that you should be that serious in your fight against sin. You should be so devoted to the Lord in purity, that you are ready to take the most extreme measure to mortify the lust of your eyes. If your eye causes you to sin—get rid of it.

If your facebook causes you to sin—get rid of it.

If your TV causes you to sin—get rid of it.

If your smartphone causes you to sin—get rid of it.

If your monthly magazine cause you to sin—get rid of it.

If your stroll downtown causes you to sin—don’t walk there!

If your friends are causes you to sin—find new friends!

If your isolation is causing you to sin—plug into church!

If your laziness is causing you to sin—get to work!

When you are tempted to sin—flee like Joseph!

And say with Job, the man of God:

Job 31:1 ESV

“I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I gaze at a virgin?

Luther: We cannot stop birds from flying over our heads, but we can keep them from building nests in our hair.

Jesus is saying—whatever it takes—that’s what I’m calling you to as my disciple. If you are mine—saved by radical grace—then live in radical holiness. Fight for purity—fear God, and keep his commandments. Love me, becuase I’ve first loved and saved you. Find your delight in the eternal pleasures that are at God’s right hand—not in the fleeting pleasures that are in sexual immorality. Why?

For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell.

If you don’t pluck your eye out, then you value sin over your Saviour—and if you are living in unrepentant sin, in the lust of the flesh—if your not fighting against it by faith and repentance; then be warned, your entire body will be thrown into hell.

God’s judgment, his justice, his anger, and his wrath will be poured upon sinners in full. We saw this last week. The hell of fire is for sinners who don’t repent and believe, and bear fruit as evidence of their salvation.

Oh how foolish it is for a man or women to reject salvation and holiness now—and to choose damnation and torment then. Keep eternity on your eyeballs! Sin isn’t worth it. But oh Jesus is!

Christ is altogether lovely, and worthy of every ounce of faith and obedience—and he will bring us all the way home, to the heavenly Canaan, to the promised land—where righteousness dwells, and sin and lust and temptation will be destroyed forevermore. Look to Jesus, persevere in the obedience of faith, and enter into the kingdom of glory which has been prepared for you before the foundation of the world.

(2) Lustful Eyes must be Torn Out and Thrown Away - v. 29

And Jesus repeats this warning one more time.

(3) Impure Hands must be Cut Off and Thrown Away - v. 30

Matthew 5:30 ESV

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.

(3) Impure Hands must be Cut Off and Thrown Away - v. 30

In this last point, I want to focus on practical ways to help us fight against sin and temptation. ANd the first thing we must realize is that we are completely helpless in ourselves. No 12 step program, of self-help, can fix the heart of our problem—it’s much deeper.

MLJ: If we realize the power and the true nature of sin; if we realize the awful grip it has on man, and its polluting effect; then we shall realize that we are poor in spirit and utterly feeble, and we shall plead constantly for that power which the Holy Spirit alone can give us. And with this power we shall proceed to ‘pluck out the eye’ and ‘cut off the hand’, ‘mortify the flesh’, and thus deal with the problem.

We are powerless in ourselves to fix this problem. We need the power of the Holy Spirit. And what we need to do in our battle against sinful lust and temptation—is to stop shooting at the symptoms and start shooting at the cause. Jesus is proving that adultery is rooted in lust—so we would be foolish if we tried to stop temptation to adultery and not temptation to lust. The way to beat this sin, is by getting the victory over our hearts—by being filled with the power of the Holy Spirit—to walk closely with Jesus in the means of grace and the discipline of godliness. The heart is where the source of the temptation comes from—and where the fight for victory begins.

2 Timothy 2:22 ESV

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

We need to flee from sin, pursue Christ by faith, and do it with God’s people. This is why the communion of the saints is so crucial. We need each other to live the Christian life. We need godly brothers and sisters, men’s and women’s groups, and the fellowship of the church to live for the glory of God. We are one body in Christ. In order to cut off the sinful members of our flesh—we need to be with the godly members of Christ’s church. Confession, accountability, and the power of prayer. Christian brotherhood in the Gospel: this is our key and secret to victory!

James 5:16 ESV

Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

Watson: “How may we abstain from this sin? (1) Come not into the company of a seductive woman, (2) guard your eyes, (3) guard your lips, (4) guard your heart, (5) guard your dress and attire, (6) take heed of evil company, (7) beware of lustful temptations, (8) take head of lustful entertainment, (9) take heed of excess in diet and drunkeness, (10) take heed of idleness, (11) let every man have a pure love for his spouse, (12) get the fear of God in your hearts, (13) take delight in the Word of God, (14) remember that God sees and knows each thought and desire of your soul, and [15] look unto the true beauty, glory, and joy that is in Jesus Christ alone.

And in all of these practical helps toward purity—we need to set our minds on the things of the Spirit:

Romans 8:5–6 ESV

For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.

And we need to put to death everything that is contrary to His leading:

Romans 8:12–14 ESV

So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.

Oh what joy, what peace, what assurance, what hope, what strength is found in those who live by faith, and walk in step with the Holy Spirit—for they are sons of God, they are coheirs with Christ, they are forgiven of their sins, they have peace with God, they have eternal life and joy—the Lord is their portion, and eternal pleasure is coming our way in the heavenly Zion.

Jesus tells us how much better it is to suffer now in our battle against sin, than to suffer forever in hell because were friendly with our sin. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied—when we see Jesus face to face, every bit of the struggle against sin will have been worth it—as we hear those words: well done, my good and faithful servant. Let not your whole body be thrown in hell due to your unrepentant sin—let your whole body be welcomed into heaven due to your Saviour who has saved you from your sin: from its penalty, from its power, and one day… from its presence. Oh for that day when all the ransomed church of God, will be saved to sin no more. Maranatha! Come, Lord Jesus.

(3) Impure Hands must be Cut Off and Thrown Away - v. 30

But pure hearts, redeemed and purified by grace—will enjoy the eternal kingdom. So hear now our conclusion for this morning:

(C) Lustful Hearts must be Torn, Cut, and Thrown Away—Lest our Entire Bodies End up in Hell.

And if we are commanded to forgive seventy-seven times—how much more is God ready to forgive us seventy-seven times when we repent, confess, and return to the Lord by faith in Jesus Christ. His mercy is more. It’s never too late to pluck out our eyes, our cut off our hands—even if they’ve somehow grown back. Resolve today, to plug into a brother and sister, to confess, to be accountable, to pray—come to your Elders if you need shepherding. And together, let’s fight the good fight of the faith—for the eternal weight of glory that is coming our way.

(C) Lustful Hearts must be Torn, Cut, and Thrown Away—Lest our Entire Bodies End up in Hell.

Beloved, be killing sin or it will be killing you—don’t grow weary in doing good—for in due time we will reap eternal life through the Spirit of Christ.

Amen? Let’s pray.

Discussion Questions:

(1) What is Jesus doing with the 7th Commandment? How is he proving that the Pharisees read it superficially?

(2) Why does lustful intent in the heart also break the 7th commandment if it’s not literal adultery?

(3) Why does Jesus use the picture of self-mutilation about our right eye and right hand? How does this apply to us?

(4) How does this passage transform the way we approach our battle against sin in general, and not just lust in specific?

(5) What is the warning Jesus gives to the unrepentant? And how can we find deliverance from it?