The Seventh Commandment

A man is walking home from work and lusting after the woman approaching him on the sidewalk. He slows down his walk to get a longer look, and he turns around and watches as she passes. (And she walks passed with a smile for her lust of being lusted after was met) Think with me again about the godlike posture of this man (and woman). First, they is treating this moment as if it belongs to them. It's as if they are sovereign and she and he are on the sidewalk according to their will and for their pleasure. They are the self-appointed deities of the moment … The world has shrunk to the size of their desires, and they rule it for their pleasure. … He will have what he will have, even if it is the only the right to stare at body parts and imagine having them for his pleasure. And she will have what she will have, even if it is the only right to present herself in such a way to have the man stare at her and know that she is desired. But there is more. For that moment they are both stealing God's creation and taking it as their own. He has no right to this woman. She does not actually belong to him in any way, but he takes her with his mind and his eyes. … He's ripped this woman out of the hands of God and claimed her as his own for whatever momentary pleasure he can achieve … He has denied God's existence. He has set himself up as God. She has no right to this man. He does not belong to her in anyway, but she takes him with her seduction and indiscretion and ripped the heart a desires from this man and out of the hands of God claimed it for her own for whatever momentary pleasure of attention she can achieve. She has denied God’s existence. She has set herself up as God.

What's the solution to this godlike delusion of lust?

Recognition of and living for the community with God for which I was created keeps my sexual life pure. There is no other way. Heart-controlling love for God protects my heart from wandering to all the places it could wander in this sexually insane world.

Pretty vivid and disgraceful when you see the descriptions of this encounter that happens all around us. But the interesting point of the matter… they never touched. Actual physical contact did not happen between the two, but it is hard to escape just how wrong this is. I know of couples who are not Christians who do not like their spouses looking lustfully at other women. But its ok to look at the menu, but you just cannot order. NOPE I don’t want him or her even thinking about the menu. Many will accuse them of being insecure or being overly jealous. Now I am not saying that this may play a part, but it is something that tends to at least bother people. Husband lusting after a girl or wife feeling good because other guys are lusting over her. The spouse reacts that way, because they are partaking in something that does not belong to them.

Especially, the 7th commandment, it is very clear that it goes deeper than just a physical act. Both wives and husbands feel deep cut betrayeal when their significant other is caught having phone sex, computer cam sex, sending naked pictures in text, watching pornography, sexting, and others… none of this involves physical touch or physical engagement but it still feels like adultery. So this has got to be more than just the physical.

But over the years more and more the standard keeps getting further and further away from the truth of the 7th commandment. Job made it clear what we are to do…

Job 31:1 NLT

“I made a covenant with my eyes not to look with lust at a young woman.

Don’t even look. But society says… look but just make sure its a quick one. No harm done. Tik Tok is telling us, you can look but you just cannot order. Only fans is telling us order, but just don’t eat. Tinder says its ok to eat just don’t spend the night. Ashly Madison says spend the night, just keep it a secret. What then is the standard. Jesus makes it clear.

There is no mistaking the reality of the deeper affection of sin deep down in our hearts. And just how much it matters to our stance before a Holy God. Lets check our Jesus’ commentary on the 7th commandment.

Matthew 5:27–30 NLT

“You have heard the commandment that says, ‘You must not commit adultery.’ But I say, anyone who even looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. So if your eye—even your good eye—causes you to lust, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your hand—even your stronger hand—causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.

The grass withers the flower fades but the Word of our God stands forever.

Lust in Heart

Saved From Hell

The first insight we will look at today is the reality of real adultery in the heart. Second, we will see how we can be saved from Hell.

Thesis: Though sin and the pattern of this world cause us to become tolerant and redefine sin, it is the power of God and the truth of the scriptures that will cause us to see the reality of depravity and the hope that we can have in the gospel of Jesus.

I. Lust in Heart

-Actual adultery can happen in the heart.

A. Forget about all the redefinitions of sexual engagement and all the moving lines that sets the boundaries. Jesus makes clear what is to be understood here. You have heard the teachings of the scribes and pharisees that in order to keep the 7th commandment all you gotta do is to not physically commit adultery.

Dr. John Stott, “In their view they and their pupils kept the seventh commandment, provided that they avoided the act of adultery itself. They thus gave a conveniently narrow definition of sexual sin and a conveniently broad definition of sexual purity.”

B. Again another way for the scribes that pharisees to limit the stretch of the commandment to make it easier to keep and or make it possible to keep. It can’t be any more than that. That would be impossible for any man to keep. God must mean just the physical act. And things pertaining to anything more is just simply ignored or explained away. These guys were not stupid. The 10th commandment put them in a tight spot. Thou shall not covet thy neighbors wife. Not much is said about how they delt with this othere than the lack of emphasis and connection betweent the two commands. It could have been explained away. I could see myself coveting my neighbors wife, not for sex, but because she is a good cook.

C. The scribes and pharisees stressed the physical act. but Jesus said that it is soooo much more. Jesus said that we can commit murder by speaking. Now he is saying that you can commit adultery by looking. Sparing you the details of the greek it is a simple looking at a woman to experience any kind of pleasure has in fact committed adultery. It is not just looking at a woman. It is looking at a woman with the intent of lusting (I gotta have her). We used to say this in high school. Shane why you looking at her. I saw you checking her out… are you lusting. No. I’m just admiring. Yes it is possible to look at a woman in an admiring way, but we gotta be honest with ourselves. Jesus is not condemning the neutral look.

D. So you all seem to think that as long as you didn’t commit the actual physical act of adultry, you are not an adulterer. Even commentators like to shy away and gloss over the other clear statement that Christ makes. Just because you committed adultery in your heart does not mean that you did not actually commit adultery. The reason you have no right to look lustfully upon a woman is because to do that is to commit adultery with her. And the lust of a woman is to desire men to dires to commit adultery with you which is also adultery. Lusting after to be lusted after is still adultery in our heart. You want something from a man that does not belong to you. Do not be deceived with this. This is real adultery.

E. To spare you the greek … the aorist shows a past action or more a completed action, which brings our understanding of this passage into something vivid. Some of you might be thinking that its not a good idea to lust after a woman, because this is what will lead to the actual act of adultery. Jesus is saying that the lusting is adultery. Well I havent committed physical adultery. No you PAST COMPLETED action already committed adultery when you looked with lustful intent.

Stine, Neuman, and Barclay, “Jesus does not say it as if he were guilty, but affirms that he is guilty already. Thus the sin of adultery is not in the act but in the lust or desire to do so.”

F. And again… it is adultery. It is actual adultery. All the teachings we get about you gotta control all the fantasies before it leads you to actual sinful acts. This is the modern way we replicate the teaching of the scribes and pharisees. Boy you gotta stop fantasizing about that girl. Take your thoughts and desires captive. If you don’t it will lead to fornication and adultery. Girl you gotta stop fantasizing about all the guys desiring you and lusting after you, because if you don’t, it will lead to you fonicating and committing adultury. This is how in the modern day do we redefine the law so that we could actually keep it. It is the law light phenom. It is how we can fulfill the law.

G. Jesus is comdeming this… You better stop the lusting or else you gonna commit adultery. NO If you look and lusted, you committed adultery already. Actual adultery. Not almost adultery. Figurative adultery. Actual adultery… If you think you are not guilty of adultery just because you did not commit the physical act of adultery you are mistaken. Any looking with lustful intent is adultery. This is the full intent of the 7th commandment. Well Shane then that includes all of us. That is the point of what Jesus is saying… your righteousness need to exceed that of the scribes and pharisees.

H. The Heidelberg Catechism helps with this…

108.Q. What does the seventh commandment teach us?

A. That all unchastity is cursed by God. We must therefore detest it from the heart and live chaste and disciplined lives, both within and outside of holy marriage.

109.Q. Does God in this commandment forbid nothing more than adultery and similar shameful sins?

A. Since we, body and soul, are temples of the Holy Spirit, it is God's will that we keep ourselves pure and holy. Therefore he forbids all unchaste acts, gestures, words, thoughts, desires, and whatever may entice us to unchastity.

I. This makes something clear… and I’ll let Dr. Hugues say it.

“Few male and female believers have not crossed the line from attraction to lust at some time. We are all adulterers by this standard. The great eighteenth-century commentator Albert Bengel knew this well and wrote, “Thus God looks upon the heart, in which, alas! what is not committed?” The realization of this ought to deliver us from all judgmentalism and pious condescension toward those who have fallen to adultery. And it should instill within us a poverty of spirit and a humility that realizes we are spiritually bankrupt and makes us amazed that God loves us as he does.”

II. Saved From Hell

-Salvation Belongs to our God.

A. We have got to understand again the purpose of the law. If the law seems impossible for us to keep. It is because it is.

Romans 3:20 NLT

For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are.

Romans 7:7 NLT

Well then, am I suggesting that the law of God is sinful? Of course not! In fact, it was the law that showed me my sin. I would never have known that coveting is wrong if the law had not said, “You must not covet.”

Galatians 3:21–22 NLT

Is there a conflict, then, between God’s law and God’s promises? Absolutely not! If the law could give us new life, we could be made right with God by obeying it. But the Scriptures declare that we are all prisoners of sin, so we receive God’s promise of freedom only by believing in Jesus Christ.

B. So we see if we look at the law and realize that it is impossible to keep it. It is doing its job. If the law is lightened as the scribes and pharisees did and just like some are doing today, we won’t come to the reality. We cannot keep the law. We cannot do what it commands. We cannot stand righteous before God because we kept the law. Because we did not keep the law. The Lord knows this…

C. The scriptures say all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. There is no one righteous no not one. There is no one on earth who always does good and never sins. We are all by nature children of wrath.

D. The wages of sin is death. And Christ warns us here in this passage about Hell. The place of weeping and gnashing of teeth. The eternal darkness. The eternal fire. Eternal torment. The place reserved for the devil and his angels.

E. Christ warns us of this being the consequence for breaking the law. But Christ came to fulfill and confirm the Law of God and he came to seek and to save that which was lost. Jesus died for our sins according to the scriptures and he was buried and he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners.

F. And it is Faith… Faith in Christ. Life and Life more abundant. Believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of the living God and you will have life in His name. If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead you will have life in His name. All who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

G. It is the power and strength of the law that will show us our sin and drive us to Christ. And now empowered by the Holy Spirit, we have the power and the grace to truly fulfill the demands of the law.