Flipped Righteousness (Part 3)

“Flipped: Faithfulness Starts in the heart”

We’re continuing our series called Flipped, where Jesus turns our assumptions upside down—or really, right‑side up.

Before Jesus ever preached the Sermon on the Mount, He launched His ministry with one clear announcement in Matthew 4:17: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Repent means rethink everything. Turn around. Flip your assumptions. See life the way God sees it. That’s the lens for the entire Sermon on the Mount.

Then Jesus began with the Beatitudes, redefining what it means to be blessed. We’ve been using this definition throughout the series:

Blessing is the deep, settled joy of knowing you belong to God, are approved by Him, and live under His favor—no matter what your circumstances look like.

Blessing isn’t about circumstances changing. It’s about relationship changing—identity changing—standing with God changing.

Jesus then told us we are salt and light—people whose lives reflect God’s character in a dark world. He said He didn’t come to abolish the Law but to fulfill it, and that true righteousness goes deeper than external behavior.

And last week, Jesus showed us the pattern He’s using. • Murder is the outward act • Anger is the inward root

Why? Because the command “You shall not murder” flows from God’s character. God is the giver, protector, and sustainer of life. So when we harbor anger, contempt, or hatred, we are acting out of a heart that contradicts God’s character.

This week, Jesus applies the same pattern to adultery. • Adultery is the outward act • Lust is the inward root

Because God is faithful, pure, holy, and covenant‑keeping. Jesus is after faithfulness—faithfulness that reflects the faithful heart of God.

Pray

Matthew 5:27–30 ““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. 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. 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.”

STORY A Modern Hosea

There was a man—let’s call him Daniel—who loved his wife deeply. They had built a life together, shared dreams, and made promises before God and their families. But one day Daniel discovered something that broke him. His wife had been unfaithful. Not once. Not accidentally. Repeatedly. He found messages. He found lies. He found a trail of betrayal that made his heart sink.

Everyone around him said the same thing:

“Leave her.” “She doesn’t deserve you.” “No one would blame you.”

But Daniel did something no one expected. He pursued her. Not to punish her. Not to shame her. Not to control her. But to restore her.

He sat across from her at the kitchen table, tears in his eyes, and said, “I’m not giving up on you. I made a covenant. I’m staying.”

He didn’t excuse her sin. He didn’t pretend it didn’t hurt. He didn’t minimize the damage. But he chose faithfulness in the face of unfaithfulness. And slowly—slowly—his love changed her. Her heart softened. Her shame lifted. Her wandering stopped. Their marriage healed. People who knew their story said, “I don’t understand how he could stay.” But Daniel would say, “I stayed because God stayed with me.” This is a picture of faithfulness—the kind of faithfulness God shows to His people.

This story matters because it shows us something Jesus is highlighting in Matthew 5:

And hear me when I say this because it’s important! God takes faithfulness seriously.

The 7th commandment—Exodus 20:14 “You shall not commit adultery”—is not just about protecting marriages. It’s about revealing the character of God.

God is faithful. God keeps His covenants. God never wanders. God never betrays. God never looks for another.

And because God is faithful, His people are called to be faithful. But what is it that I mean when I say God calls his people to be faithful?

Faithfulness is believing what God says is true and living in a way that shows you believe it.

Faithfulness is not passive. It is not accidental. It is not merely avoiding the big sins. Faithfulness is active, intentional, lived‑out belief. And that’s exactly what Jesus is pressing into in Matthew 5. And beginning with the familiar command, Jesus says: “You shall not commit adultery.”

Everyone in His audience agreed with that. No debate. No controversy. No confusion. But then Jesus flips it: “But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”

Jesus moves the command from the bedroom to the heart. He’s showing us the same pattern we saw last time:

Murder is the outward act

Anger is the inward root Now:

Adultery is the outward act

Lust is the inward root

Jesus is not lowering the bar. He’s not even raising the bar. He’s showing us where the bar always was—the heart. Jesus shows us that righteousness begins in the heart.

And notice the word he uses to describe who this is applicable in vs 28 : everyone. This is not a male issue or a female issue. It’s a human issue. Men lust. Women lust. Men commit adultery. Women commit adultery.

Jesus is showing us that unfaithfulness begins long before the body acts. It begins in the heart—where belief lives. Because lust is not just a moment of weakness. It is a moment of unfaithfulness. Lust is the selfish desire to use someone—whether in your mind or with your body—for your own pleasure outside of God’s design. Its a heart level sin of distorted desire, a counterfeit form of love and a step toward unfaithfulness and adultery. Lust is not noticing beauty. Lust is choosing to dwell on it in a way that dishonors God and dehumanizes the other person. It is the heart saying:

“I want something God has not given me.

“I want pleasure without covenant.”

“I want intimacy without faithfulness.”

Lust is the seed. Adultery is the fruit. And Jesus loves us too much to let the seed grow.

Before we go any further, we need to be clear about what Jesus means when He uses the word adultery. Adultery is any sexual act that is permissible in the marriage bed between a consenting husband and wife, but is pursued outside that covenant union. Note that I said 1 husband and 1 wife. That means 1 man and 1 woman. They are joined together in the bond of marriage and are consenting. Acts of adultery includes:

physical sexual acts

emotional or romantic entanglements

intentional pursuit of sexual connection

lustful imagination directed toward someone who is not your spouse including images and videos

Adultery is not just a physical act. It is a relational betrayal. A covenant violation. A failure of faithfulness.

Let me pause here for a moment, because that’s a lot to take in. Jesus isn’t just talking about behavior — He’s talking about the heart. Adultery begins long before the body acts. It begins with a belief, a desire, a direction of the heart.

And here’s the key: Adultery destroys because it contradicts the character of God. We need to hear the heart behind this though, Jesus isn’t trying to shame us — He’s trying to show us the seriousness of unfaithfulness so He can lead us back to faithfulness. He exposes the wound so He can heal it.

God is faithful. God is covenant‑keeping. God is loyal. God is steadfast. God never wanders. God never betrays. So when we commit adultery—physically, emotionally, or in the imagination—we are acting in a way that is opposite of God’s heart.

This is why Jesus presses the command down into the heart. Because adultery doesn’t begin with the body and an action. It begins with a belief. A desire. A direction of the heart.

Now that Jesus has shown us the root of adultery, James is going to show us the progression — how a wandering desire becomes a destructive reality

James 1:14-15 “Each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire, when it has conceived, gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is fully grown, brings forth death.” James gives us the progression:

Desire is the conception. A thought that drifts from Gods design.

Lust is the gestation. Pushes this thought past a thought to a need and to rationalization.

Adultery is the birth

Death is the outcome

This is exactly what Jesus is teaching in Matthew 5. Lust is not harmless. It is not neutral. It is not “just in your head.”

Jesus has shown us the root of adultery. James has shown us the progression of adultery. Now Jesus shows us the response to adultery. And His words are shocking on purpose:

Matthew 5:29-30 “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. 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.”

What Jesus says is intentionally strong — not to terrify us, but to wake us up. Jesus is not calling for self‑harm. He is calling for radical amputation.

He is saying:

Deal with sin decisively.

Deal with sin aggressively.

Deal with sin immediately.

Deal with sin before it deals with you.

Why so extreme? Because the danger is extreme. Lust is not a small thing. Adultery is not a small thing. Unfaithfulness is not a small thing. Jesus uses extreme language because the consequences are extreme.

So He says:

If it leads you toward unfaithfulness—remove it. If it feeds the seed of lust—remove it.

If it opens the door to adultery—remove it. If it distracts your heart from God—remove it.”

Not manage it.

Not negotiate with it.

Not hide it.

Not excuse it.

Not minimize it.

Remove it.

Because Jesus knows something we often forget: What you refuse to remove will eventually ruin you.

This is not cruelty. This is mercy. This is protection. This is the heart of a faithful God guarding His people from unfaithfulness.

Jesus is not trying to take something good from you. He is trying to keep something precious in you—

your faithfulness

your integrity

your marriage

your soul.

Radical amputation is not about losing something. It’s about saving something. It’s about saving what matters most.

Jesus has just told us to tear out the eye and cut off the hand—not literally, but decisively—because the stakes are eternal. And Scripture reinforces this with sobering clarity. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 6:9–10 “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.”

Paul shows us that those who persist in sexual immorality, adultery, and other unrepentant sins will not inherit the kingdom of God. He warns the church and us not to be deceived—sexual sin is not light, not harmless, not casual. It is soul‑destroying. But Paul doesn’t stop there. He says one of the most hope‑filled lines in the entire New Testament: 1 Corinthians 6:11 “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.”

In other words:

Some of you were sexually immoral.

Some of you were adulterers.

Some of you were enslaved to impurity.

Some of you were trapped in shame.

Some of you were defined by your past.

But then Paul says:

You were washed.

You were sanctified.

You were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”

This is the gospel. Jesus doesn’t just call us to radical amputation. He offers radical transformation.

He doesn’t just tell us to remove what leads us to ruin.

He removes our guilt.

He removes our shame.

He removes our condemnation.

He doesn’t just tell us to cut off what destroys us. He heals what was broken.

He restores what was lost.

He makes new what was dead.

The severity of sexual sin shows us how desperately we need a Savior. The grace of Jesus shows us how completely that Savior rescues.

This is the flipped kingdom:

You are not defined by what you’ve done.

You are not defined by what was done to you.

You are not defined by your past unfaithfulness.

You are defined by His faithfulness. You were washed. You were sanctified. You were justified.

Not by your effort. Not by your purity. Not by your performance. But in the name of Jesus and by the power of the Spirit. This is the invitation of the gospel: Come to the One who is faithful even when you have not been.

As we close tonight, I want to speak to two groups of people in the room.

TO THE UNBELIEVER

If you’ve never trusted Jesus— never surrendered your life to Him, never turned from sin, never believed that His way is better than yours— hear this clearly:

Your past does not have to be your future. Your sin does not have to be your identity. Your shame does not have to be your story.

Sexual sin cannot save you. Pleasure cannot satisfy you. Guilt cannot cleanse you.

But Jesus can. He can wash you. He can forgive you. He can make you new. Today can be the day you say: “Jesus, I turn from my sin. I trust You. I surrender. Make me new.” He will not turn you away. He will not shame you. He will not reject you. He will wash you. He will sanctify you. He will justify you. Come to Him.

TO THE BELIEVER

Some of you love Jesus— but your heart has drifted. Your eyes have drifted. Your imagination has roamed. Your desires have strayed. You’ve carried guilt you were never meant to carry. You’ve hidden things you were never meant to hide. You’ve tried to manage sin you were meant to remove. And Jesus is calling you back. Not to condemn you. Not to embarrass you. Not to push you away. But to restore you.

He is saying: “Cut it off. Tear it out. Remove whatever is leading you toward ruin. Come back to Me. Walk in the light. Walk in faithfulness. Walk in freedom.” You are not fighting for purity to earn God’s love. You are fighting from purity because you already have God’s love. You were washed. You were sanctified. You were justified. So come home. Come clean. Come back to faithfulness.