Sermon Tone Analysis

Matthew 5:27-30

She was built Like a Brick Pizzeria

 

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.[1]

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ou can't keep the birds from flying over your head, but you can keep them from building a nest in your hair!

This saying is attributed to Martin Luther, who is said to have recited these words whenever assailed by negative thoughts.

Similarly, a healthy, normal male cannot help but notice a beautiful woman.

However, what he does with the information entering his brain through the channel of the eyes becomes his responsibility.

Especially is this true in the case of any man who is a Christian.

As we continue our study of the application of the law of Christ in the life of the believer, we have come to the second of six specific applications which serve to illustrate the radical transformation which accompanies salvation.

New birth into the Kingdom of God changes the heart of the one so redeemed.

Indeed, the law of God is no longer a series of rules, but it is written in the heart of the saved individual, even as Scripture states: The Holy Spirit also bears witness to us …saying,

 

“This is the covenant that I will make with them

after those days, declares the Lord:

I will put my laws on their hearts,

and write them on their minds.”

[*Hebrews 10:15, 16*]

 

Jesus dealt with the danger of unchecked anger in the heart of a man, and now he deals with the consequence of lust, desire which is permitted to continue unchecked.

The Master is not attempting to steal joy from the heart of His disciples, but He is insuring that joy is their lot.

Join me in exploration of the teaching of the Master concerning the danger of unconfessed lust.

The Seventh Commandment — You have heard that it was said, “You shall not commit adultery.”

We live in strange days.

Sexual infidelity in particular and sexual looseness in general, has become a major form of contemporary entertainment.

We are informed that those who go to movies, watch television or listen to music demand such immorality.

Society tacitly acknowledges the validity of the seventh commandment, even if we dissent from maintaining its integrity for ourselves.

Moderns still expect their spouse to be chaste, though they are willing to be excused from the same standard.

God anticipates that His people will be a holy people.

This is the consistent teaching of the Word of God.

Listen to a few such instances of this divine instruction.

As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy” [*1 Peter 1:14-16*]

Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.

See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal [*Hebrews 12:14-16*].

This is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honour, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God; that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you.

For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness [*1 Thessalonians 4:3-7*].

The seventh commandment [*Exodus 20:14*], sets a standard which was ignored even by the kings of Israel throughout the years of the Jewish Kingdom.

There is no excuse for multiple marriages (which are tantamount to serial adultery) or for unfaithfulness in the marriage relationship.

There is a strong correlation between unfaithfulness in marriage and idolatry, which is unfaithfulness to the reign of Holy God.

The United States had a President who was able to avoid prosecution as a liar and an adulterer by parsing the word “is.”

Because of this indelible blot on the honour of the American political system, it has become necessary to clearly define terms.

I have had at least one young women attempt to demonstrate to me that immorality is not immoral, just as a young man not so long ago endeavoured to evade responsibility for immorality on the basis of redefining terms.

Adultery [μοιχεύσεις (verb: second person, singular, future, active, indicative)] refers to the violation of the marriage contract through sex with a person other than your spouse.

Sex is not limited to physical copulation, but may include all the variations of achieving sexual gratification with another individual.

This is the general meaning of the term *adultery* or μοιχεύω as used in the Greek tongue.

On some select occasions, the Greek term could imply seduction or violation.[2]

However, it should be clear that the manner in which Jesus used the word was to imply precisely what we hear—*adultery*.

I confess that as a pastor I am particular about conducting wedding ceremonies.

The marriage ceremony is an act of worship in the course of which a man and a woman make vows before Holy God.

The two vow their fidelity to one another and to Him.

This is the basis for my refusal to perform a wedding ceremony for those who are unsaved.

Let the couple find life in Christ the Lord, and they have in truth the possibility of building a strong marriage on that foundation.

If they fail to be born into the Kingdom of God, it is impossible for them to maintain a vow before God whom they refuse to acknowledge or worship.

Likewise, the union of a believer to an unbeliever is an affront to Holy God, for there is an unequal yoke which can only ensure that the believer will always be in a position of compromise and which must ultimately lead to spiritual defeat.

In the text is recognition of the sacredness of marriage, through which the race is to be propagated and trained.

Campbell Morgan has well stated that “God’s first circle of society is not the Church, it is the family.

Races are to be made or unmade as the family is made or unmade.

Nations are to rise to progress, to power; or to pass, to perish, in proportion as they obey or break this Divine law.”[3]

Though the entire world ridicule marital fidelity and speak ill of faithfulness to one’s spouse, we who are children of the True and Living God are constrained to hold to this standard of faithfulness.

Our faithfulness in marriage is a reflection of our faithfulness to our God.

The Divine Imperative —I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

“Other Jewish teachers also looked down on lust; some even went as far as Jesus in regarding it as adultery.

The issue is thus not the doctrine of Jesus’ hearers but their heart.

The Greek word here is the same as in the opening line of the tenth commandment in the Septuagint (the Greek version of the Old Testament): ‘You shall not covet your neighbour’s wife” [*Exodus 20:17*].’”[4]

Lust is condemned as a terrible sin throughout the Word of God.

The term to which Keener referred is the Greek term ἐπιθυμῆσαι (verb: aorist, active, infinitive)].

The root verb, ἐπιθυμέω, is a rather common verb meaning *to desire* or *to long for*.

It is constructed of a word which implies that one is consumed or to burn with desire.

This is not, then, an instance of noticing that an individual is attractive or well-proportioned.

This is a deliberate act in which an individual not only looks, but begins to undress the individual, longing to possess the individual and to gratify the lust which even now consumes the heart.

Dr.

Warrn Wiersbe states of this verse, “The man Jesus described looked at the woman *for the purpose of feeding his inner sensual appetites* as a substitute for the act.

It was not accidental; it was planned.”[5]

Spurgeon, the great Baptist divine of another era, cogently wrote of this verse, “Whereas tradition had confined the prohibition to an overt act of unchastity, the King shows that it forbade the unclean desires of the heart…  What a King is ours, who stretches his sceptre over the realm of our inward lusts!”[6]

Indeed, the Master holds us accountable for what where we permit our mind to rest.

Spurgeon continues his observations with these words.

“If sin were not allowed in the mind, it would never be manifest in the body: this, therefore, is a very effectual way of dealing with the evil.

But how searching, how condemning!  Irregular looks, unchaste desires, and strong passions are of the very essence of adultery; and who can claim a lifelong freedom from them?

Yet, these are the things which defile a man.”[7]

When I yet lived as part of the world, I was influenced by other sinners such as myself.

We would notice a nice looking woman walk by, and privately we would comment on her attributes.

It was thought to be innocent, until I became a Christian and discovered the mind of the Saviour.

Knowing the will of God, I am ashamed of my past conduct and have since endeavoured to honour God.

There is nothing innocent in lust.

Why is lust so destructive?

Why does God so soundly condemn lust among His people?

First, lust charges God with withholding his best for you.

Whatever you have, you are complaining that God has not given you what is good.

To see another person and to desire to have that person is a complaint against the goodness of God.

As fitting for those who are born from above, we are taught to be content with what we have [*Philippians 4:11*; *Hebrews 13:5*], and especially is one to rejoice in the spouse of his youth [*Proverbs 5:18*].

Lust is destructive because by treasuring our lusts we permit someone other than Christ to become our satisfaction.

We buy into the satanic lie that if only we possessed someone other than the one whom God has given us, we could be happy.

By revelling in our lust, we deny the sufficiency of Christ and deny that we are happy and thus we enthrone someone other than Christ as Master of our life.

At that moment, we have become for all practical purposes an idolater.

Lust is destructive because it reduces a fellow being to a mere object—a piece of meat.

Seldom does one gratify lust except that later that same lust later turns to hatred.

No more pointed example of such lust turned to malice can be afforded than the example found in the Word concerning Amnon following the rape of Tamar.