Adultery????

When we look at the sermon on the mount, we are likely to think the Jesus is trying to establish a new ethical standard for us. But he is not when we look closely at these we see that they are a deeper expression of the law, and in fact, I rooted in the very beginning, in page one and two of the Bible.

They can be summed up in two Commandments;

A man came to Jesus once and asked about the law. He wanted to know what the greatest Commandment was Jesus didn't specifically answer that question, which one was the greatest, but send them all up to two primary Commandments.

“Thou shall love the Lord that God with all my heart with all my mind with all that soul, and love thy neighbor as thy self.”

When we come to the sermon on the mount, Jesus is not creating new Commandments. He summing up God's intention for mankind, and the intent of creation. 

Matthew 5:27-30 pg. 786

 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.  If your right eye causes you to stumble, 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 right hand causes you to stumble, 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 go into hell.

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

Again, Jesus is not here at this point contradicting the Old Testament. What is going to address is the misapplication and perhaps we could say the shortsightedness of the Pharisees interpretation of this. Because remember earlier, he said our righteousness should exceed that of describes in the Pharisees. There was external the righteousness of the kingdom of God is internal.

God is reclaiming his world from what we have done with it and what we have done to it. He is establishing his kingdom and he's calling these followers to himself

Jesus does not undermine the law, but he goes back to the first two pages of the scripture and route a lot of his teaching in what man was created for, the original purpose of God in creation.

And throughout the Old Testament, we see that man violated God's original purpose, and when God gave the law man was unable to keep it, and Jesus promised a savior who would come and reclaim God's world and set up a new kingdom with changed hearts

God is promised to give man a new heart and a new spirit.

A man came to Jesus one time and asked him what is the greatest Commandment? Jesus answer was to give two laws. In other words, you really can’t have one without the other. He said it is to love God with all your heart with all your mind with all your soul, and all your strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. The last time we talked about murder and Jesus took us to the roots of murder. And even though those rude thoughts and rude ideas and the bitterness and anger didn’t come to actual murder. The judgment for or the deserved judgment, for it was the same as murde A similar situation here where he’s talking about adultery and the roots of adultery and the failure to love as God has loved us. When he says you have heard it said he’s not Contradicting the law. He’s taking us back to the original purpose for the law.

“These beings who are one humanity to get distinct and different, and they reflect the image of the creator and something powerful and profound happens when those two others make a covenant commitment to one another and out of that covenant there’s a union of heart and mind and body and out of that covenant life is created nurtured in families, communities neighborhoods, and the vision about human life”

Being a part of the kingdom isn’t just about modifying your behavior and like you get religion it’s it’s about allowing Jesus himself to begin to work on these core issues in our lives the root issues that result in us behaving and doing stuff that fractures our relationships with other people and degrading our humanity and the humanity of other people

Jesus begins where the Bible begins with page in one and two. The purpose for creation, the purpose for creating man, male and female, and telling them to multiply and fill the Earth and reflect the image of these these beings who are one humanity yet distinct and different, and they reflect the image of the creator and Happens when those two others make a covenant commitment to one another and out of that covenant there’s a union of heart and mind and body and out of that covenant created nurtured in families, communities neighborhoods, and division one and two about about human life

So he notes this command about maintaining a purity of relationship with your covenant partner. About not having inappropriate relationships with someone who is not your covenant partner. That is a distortion of what it means to be a human created in the image of God.

What does this get near enough to the core of the issue because what Jesus came to do was to give us new hearts and new spirits. So that we obey and follow him from a changed heart.

What is that look like in this case?

Moving from covenant commitment to betrayal. It just doesn’t happen in a moment. It is a slow process that begins in the heart. Jesus takes us there to the core of the issue. This is where it begins. This is where sin begins and this is where a renewed heart is important.

Matthew 5:28 “But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”

Look

It is an ongoing sustained look, stare.

Awkward stare and staring for what purpose with what goal

NIV : Anyone who looks at a woman lustfully

NASB: Anyone who looks at a woman with lust for her

NRSV; Anyone who looks at a woman with lust

NIV : Anyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent

“Anyone who stares at a woman in order to feel sexual desire for her”

He’s not talking about looking at someone and noticing that they’re attractive.

The deepest issue that is looking at here is the stair that is used to fuel the movie in our head and we end up committing adultery with others in our heart.

We choose to generate the movie in our minds

Martin Luther; says we should not make the bow string of Jesus teaching to taut here as if anyone who is merely tempted to look at another l is eternally damned. I cannot keep a bird from flying over my head, but I can certainly keep it from making a nest in my hair,Orphan, biting off my nose

Don’t do anything about it. It’s just a movie in your head and you know maximize pleasure minimize pain.

When God created the heavens and the Earth each day of creation afterward, he said it was good. But on the day he created mankind in his own image, created both genders created them with the ability to be fruitful and multiply he didn’t say it was good he said it was very good.

God has created us with abilities and desires, and says they are good,

There is a book in the Bible that celebrates covenant relationships, and all that it entails

Song of Solomon 8:6–7 “Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm; for love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave. It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame. Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot sweep it away. If one were to give all the wealth of one’s house for love, it would be utterly scorned.”

He describes this love, the love that happens in a covenant relationship as a blazing fire

There are good purposes and results of fire

Cooking

Heat

Light

Warmth

Guidance

Ambience

Is good when it’s in the right environment when it’s directed and protected

But fire out of control and in the wrong place is one of the most destructive things there is.

Love is a complex purpose, the purpose of love within the biblical vision within the covenant commitment, vision, sexual desire, and passion has the ability to become an expression of that covenant commitment that it’s unparalleled because it’s not just about saying these vowels in front of witnesses it’s not just about like signing a piece of paper, marriage certificate it’s a unifying and binding of heart and mind and body and out of that passion and power new life is generated and created and it is a great good, but the moment the protective environment of the covenant is absent then this power can well to human being together and then one piece is out and it’s the deepest emotional scarring that humans undergo remorse and the regret of bad sexual decisions.

Jesus knows the destruction and damage of inappropriate sexual relations, and he speaks very strongly about it.

And so he makes this radical statement:

Matthew 5:29 “If your right eye causes you to stumble, 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.”

Why so radical. because humans are created in the image of God?

“Huge deal because it tells of what you think other humans exist for that action, whether you would say it like this or not with that action is other people exist to play a role in my story of maximizing pleasure and minimizing pain other people exist so that I can gain pleasure from their body parts. That’s what other people are when you stare and you generate the movie it’s a degradation of their Humanity”

My mind to an object is to degrade their humanity when we do that to each other whether it sex whether it’s anger whether it’s Jesus is intolerant of behavior that fractures relationships, and abuse other human beings because were made for

Crime against humanity to objectify them and degrade them in your imagination.

Who is Jesus addressing?

This is a large crowd of men and women

But he seems to be addressing men

Are men the only one guilty of that?

in the history of the human race which gender has turned sexual desireinto a tool of violence, subjugation, and oppression of the other gender. Do we need to vote on?

Look at his remedy

Matthew 5:29–30 “If your right eye causes you to stumble, 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 right hand causes you to stumble, 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 go into hell.”

No, obviously he doesn’t want us to take this literally self mutilation isn’t the answer. Obviously, the mind the heart, even if we mutilate ourselves is still active.

eye: How you see the world?

hand ; Your life’s path in the world

If there is something in your world that is that close to you that seems that important to you or that indispensable and yet it’s ruining you, the best thing you can do is get rid of it.

It will destroy your mind, your relationships and especially your relationship with God you’re better off without it.

Pornography Is a destructive disease in our culture, although not recognized as such probably as destructive as most other addictions. And just as powerful a bondage.

Beyond The Porn Phenomenon, published in 2024 by The Barna Group and Pure Desire Ministries, provides the most current data we have about Christians and porn use compared to the rest of the United States.2 According to this study:

61% of the general population (aged 13 and up) watches porn compared to 54% of practicing Christians.

75% of Christian men view pornography, compared to 78% of the general population.

40% of Christian women view pornography, compared to 44% of the general population.

Two-thirds of pastors (68%) have struggled or currently struggle with pornography.

Beyond The Porn Phenomenon asked participants how they felt about their own porn use. Christians were more likely to dislike how much porn they used. The numbers indicate increasingly permissive attitudes about pornography.

49% of practicing Christians were comfortable with how much porn they used vs. 61% of nonpracticing Christians and 75% of non-Christians.

21% of practicing Christians would prefer not to use porn at all. Only 18% of nonpracticing Christians and 12% of non-Christians wished they did not watch porn at all.

67% of practicing Christians believe that watching pornography is either very bad or somewhat bad for society vs. 45% of nonpracticing Christians and 32% of non-Christians.

Apart from being born again and filled with the spirit of God, there’s not much hope of deliverance from such bondage. The first step, of course, is to know Jesus Christ as savior and be filled with his spirit.

If need be trade in your smart phone for a stupid phone. It’s inconvenient.

Find someone to be accountable to. There are numerous apps and programs for phones and computers.

Pure Desires Covenant eyes, (Victory Shield)