Adultery of the Heart

Introduction:

There’s a scene in the tv show, the Office where Michael Scott, the bumbling, awkward, unwise, regional manager wants to get everyone in the office’s attention so he stand there and yells the word, “sex. Now that I have your attention.” There’s something about sex and sexuality that always peaks the human interest. Our culture is obsessed with sex. Our culture has a problem with sex. We have taken something that God gave us as a good gift to be shared within the confines of a biblical marriage between one man and one woman for life, and have used it to serve our own selfish desires. Jesus knew this about humans because he was one hundred percent God and one hundred percent human. He knew the proclivity of the human heart toward the idolatry of lust and its connection to adultery. And He knew what the solution was. He addressed this deep human sin in our passage for today, Matthew 5:27-30.

Matthew 5:27–30 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. 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.

This is the second of what scholars refer to as the six antithesis that come in this section of the sermon on the mount where Jesus gives some application of the heart and spirit of the law. It’s how He continually turns the religious thinking of the scribes and Pharisees and for that matter the people on its head. This was incredibly relevant to their day and it’s unmistakably relevant today.

The main idea I want to get across to you in the next few minutes is this:

Lust is adultery of the heart. We must guard against it and deal with it drastically so that it doesn’t lead to destruction in hell.

The righteousness that Jesus is teaching them is that which exceeds the righteousness of the religious leaders. It is what we have talked about as whole person righteousness. It’s not limited to actions but goes all the way to our heart and motivations.

Sexual sin is universal to our human nature and as we have mentioned, in our society as well.

This morning, Lord willing, I am going to address guarding your heart, protecting your eyes, and watching your hands.

Adultery is dangerous to all parties involved in it. But here we have Jesus pushing His followers to chase after something beyond simply avoiding adultery. It’s living a Christian lifestyle of killing lustful sin. Jesus calls us to heart level purity.

Matthew 5:8 ESV

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

This isn’t virtue signalling. It’s true purity of heart.

Sex sells:

Here are some statistics that may shock and sadden you, but that prove the point of where we are at in our culture and the dire need for the gospel to beat back the darkness.

In 2006, the sex-related entertainment business’ estimated revenues were just under $13 billion in the U.S., according to Paul Fishbein, president of the Adult Video News Media Network.2, 3 These estimates included video sales and rentals, Internet sales, cable, pay-per- view, phone sex, exotic dance clubs, magazines, and novelty stores.

In 2007, global porn revenues were estimated at $20 billion, with $10 billion in the U.S. The Free Speech Coalition estimated both global and U.S. porn revenues have been reduced by 50% between 2007 and 2011, due to the amount of free pornography available online.4

Free websites comprise between 70-80% of the adult material online, typically used as “bait” for pay websites, guiding viewers to premium pay services.

A conservative estimate places 32% of adult membership websites and 58% of free adult websites outside the United States.

90% of free porn websites and nearly 100% of pay porn websites buy their material rather than create it themselves.

Webroot Cybersecurity says:

– 28,258 users are watching pornography every second. – $3,075.64 is spent on porn every second on the Internet.

– 40 million Americans regularly visit porn sites.

– 35% of all Internet downloads are related to pornography.

Pornhub, the world’s most popular porn website, reports that in 2017, there were:

– 28.5 billion annual visits to the website.

– 81 million daily average visits.

– 25 billion searches performed.

– 50,000 searches per minute.

– 800 searches a second.

– 4,052,542 videos uploaded.

– 68 years worth of content uploaded.

– 3,732 pentabytes of information transferred (enough to fill the memory of every iPhone on Earth).

According to a survey conducted by the Barna Group in the U.S. in 2014 and 2016:

– The following percentages of men say they view pornography at least once a month: 79% of 18-30 year olds; 67% of 31-49 year olds; 49% of 50-68 year olds.

– The following percentages of men say they view pornography at least several times a week: 63% of 18-30 year olds; 38% of 31-49 year olds; 25% of 50-68 year olds.

– The following percentages of women say they view pornography at least once a month: 76% of 18-30 year olds; 16% of 31-49 year olds; 4% of 50-68 year olds.

– The following percentages of women say they view pornography at least several times a week: 21% of 18-30 year olds; 5% of 31-49 year olds; 0% of 50-68 year olds.

– 55% of married men say they watch porn at least once a month, compared to 70% of unmarried men.

– 25% of married women say they watch porn at least once a month, compared to 16% of unmarried women.

According to a survey conducted by the Barna Group in the U.S. in 2014:

– 63% of adult men have looked at pornography at least one time while at work in the past 3 months; 38% have done so more than once.

– 36% of adult women have looked at pornography at least one time while at work in the past 3 months; 13% have done so more than once.

Among Churchgoers

According to a survey by the Barna Group in 2016:

– 41% of practicing Christian boys 13-24 use porn at least once a month.

– 23% of practicing Christian men 25+ use porn at least once a month.

According to a survey conducted by the Barna Group in the U.S. in 2014:

– 64% of self-identified Christian men and 15% of self-identified Christian women view pornography at least once a month (compared to 65% of non-Christian men and 30% of non-Christian women).

“If you think you can’t fall into sexual sin, then you’re godlier than David, stronger than Samson, and wiser than Solomon.”

– Bill Perkins

According to a survey by the Barna Group in 2016:

– 1 in 5 youth pastors and 1 in 7 senior pastors use porn on a regular basis and are currently struggling. That’s more than 50,000 U.S. church leaders.

– 43% of senior pastors and youth pastors say they have struggled with pornography in the past.

– Only 7% of pastors report their church has a ministry program for those struggling with porn.

I. Guard your heart

This commandment and it’s teaching would have been well known to the Jews.

Exodus 20:14 ESV

“You shall not commit adultery.

Deuteronomy 5:18 ESV

“ ‘And you shall not commit adultery.

Christopher Ash gives us six reason who adultery is very serious and Tim Challies builds them out some for us. I thought these were fantastic.

Exalting Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount The Deadly Lure of Lust 5:27-30

Adultery is a turning away from a promise. . . . It is a turning away from one to whom promises were made in the presence of witnesses. Most importantly, it is a forsaking of promises made in the presence of God and, in that way, a turning away from God himself.

Adultery leads the adulterer from security to chaos. Because the adulterer has turned away, he or she enters into a life of torn loyalties. . . . Even when the adulterer remains loyal to that new partner, there is still the divided life, the divided family, the divided memories.

Adultery is secretive and dishonest. . . . It has to be because no one wants to trumpet that they are breaking a promise. Adultery loves the darkness and flees the light and for as long as it can it tries to remain a secret. “Whereas news of a marriage is broadcast by joyful announcement and invitations, news of adultery leaks out by rumor and under pressure.”

Adultery destroys the adulterer. Adultery does no favors to the adulterer. To the contrary, it undermines and erodes character and integrity. “Like all secret sin, it eats away like some noxious chemical at the integrity of the one who commits it.”

Adultery damages society. “Each act of adultery is like a wrecking ball taking a swing at the secure walls of the social fabric of society. It stirs up hatred and enmity. It encourages a culture which reckons marriage boundaries needn’t really be quite so rigid.” We love to think our sins are our own, that they concern only us. But no, our sin goes far beyond ourselves and impacts others.

Adultery hurts children. Adultery does grievous harm to an innocent party—children. . . . Children are harmed when adultery brings chaos and conflict and disunity. . . . No wonder, then, that the Bible contains such serious, repeated warnings against it: “Can a man carry fire next to his chest and his clothes not be burned? Or can one walk on hot coals and his feet not be scorched? So is he who goes in to his neighbor’s wife; none who touches her will go unpunished” (Proverbs 6:27-29). “He who commits adultery lacks sense; he who does it destroys himself” (Proverbs 6:32). “Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous” (Hebrews 13:4). (Challies, “Six Reasons”)

Yes, adultery is very dangerous. It’s harmful and leads to destruction. But then Jesus drops what amounts to a spiritual a-bomb on them. He tells them that it begins with lust in the heart and that is the real problem to be dealt with drastically.

I heard my old college roommate Greg McGhee say “the heart of the matter is the matter of the heart.” This is an undeniable truth.

A. Lust is self-centered.

It is interested only in sexual gratification of the self.

It treats others as things to be exploited and not the imago dei, people created in the image of God.

When lust is done with the object of it’s desire, it discards it and seeks another object to sate it’s desires.

Job 31:1 ESV

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

II. Protect Your Eyes (v. 29)

Jesus uses two illustrations that pretty vividly illustrate dealing with protecting yourself from the danger of lust. He ends both with a warning about hell.

Sinful lust will lead you down a dead end road. It will not deliver what it promised. It promises more than it can possibly deliver. You think it will make you happy but in reality, it leads to hell.

And so, we must take the necessary steps to deal with our sin.

Sinclair Ferguson tells us to act decisively, act immediately, and even if it is painful we must root it out. It’s not up for negotiation.

As I was preparing this message I was reminded of a movie scene. Now, I don’t typically like Christian movies because they generally are poorly acted and over the top cheesy, though they are getting better. Anyway, many years ago there was one called Fireproof about a fireman and his marriage that was falling apart. One of the issues was lust in his heart and his addiction to pornography. So one day he realizes that he can’t have the computer in the house anymore. He doesn’t sell it but he takes it outside and gets a baseball bat and starts bashing it and destroying it. It’s pretty funny because the old folks next door are outside watching him and he doesn’t realize it at the time.

I like the scene because it’s a vivid illustration of cutting off the thing that causes you to sin.

The phrase “causes you to sin” in Greek is literally “causes you to stumble.” It’s written in the present tense. So if your eye keeps on causing you to stumble into lust you’re better off to gouge it out than all of your body to be thrown into hell. If your facebook account continually causes you to stumble into lust then you’re better to sign out permanently than to be thrown into hell.

You see, the issue isn’t the eye itself, or in the case of the illustration, the computer is not the issue. The issue is your heart. Your heart has lust in it and the eye or the computer or the facebook account or whatever it is in your life is leading you into gratifying those sinful desires in your heart. Your heart is the issue and must be dealt with. Jesus told His followers that their righteousness must exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees. You don’t simply not do the physical action of adultery but you must deal with your heart issue. They key to it is a pure heart, a circumcised heart and you can not do this yourself. Only Christ can do this.

Deuteronomy 10:16 ESV

Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stubborn.

Deuteronomy 30:6 ESV

And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.

Jeremiah 31:31–34 ESV

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

Ezekiel 36:24–27 ESV

I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

A new heart gained by faith in Jesus and experiencing the new birth.

John 3:3–16 ESV

Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things? Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

III. Watch Your Hands (v. 30)

When we come to verse 30 we find that it reinforces verse 29 and parallels it. Radical surgery is required to remove anything that would cause us to be cut off from eternity. Good thing that our God is the Great Physician. This verse reinforces the idea that there are incredibly high stakes when we talk about lust and adultery.

A pure heart can only be given as a gift from the grace of Jesus Christ.

My favorite John Owen quote says, “Be killing sin or sin will be killing you.”

So what are some practical ways that we can be killing sin in us? What are some practical steps we can take?

Ferguson gives us four.

Exalting Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount The Deadly Lure of Lust 5:27-30

• Realize where yielding to sinful lust will lead you. Hell! Plant that in your mind and recall it again and again.

• Deal with the real cause of your sin. It is an impure heart that settles for God substitutes. This is simply idolatry. What is there in your life that you are putting in the place of God? That you desire and long for more than anything?

• Act decisively, immediately, even if it must be painful. And remember, “Obedience cannot be negotiated, nor can heaven and hell.” Now is always the right time to do the right thing.

• Realize your lust is not the whole of your life, even the main or most important part of your life. Think and understand what you gain by abandoning it. You get Christ and heaven thrown in! Sin is a cruel taskmaster and lust is one of its favorite instruments to keep you enslaved and in bondage. Jesus came to rescue you, to set you free from this never satisfied tyrant. Treasure Him above all else. What you gain will put to shame what you give up. You will wonder why you stayed so long at Vanity Fair in the first place. (Ferguson, Sermon, 89–90)

Conclusion

Only when we are in Christ we are able to guard our hearts from temptation.

We are drawn to Him and when our affections are filled for Him there is no room for that other stuff in our heart. In our hearts there is a place reserved only for Christ.

Jesus can guide our behavior but first he wants our hearts. He comes for our hearts. He bought them and owns them. What He bought should be gladly given to Him.

Treasure Him above all else in your heart and your eyes, hands, and computer will follow.

Build your affections for Christ. Do things that build your affection for Christ and avoid things that steal your affections from Him.

It’s time to make a decision and act.

Repent and believe the good news of the Gospel.

Pray.