Matthew 5:27-30

Previously:

Jesus Informed His Followers that Their Righteousness Must Be Greater than the Righteousness of the Jewish Leaders or They Would Never Be Able to Enter His Kingdom

They, as Well as We, Have to Ask, “How Am I Supposed to Have Greater Righteousness than Them?

The Rest of His Sermon is His Full Answer to that Question

Last Time We Studied Jesus’ First Answer to that Question

It Had Everything to Do With Obeying God’s Laws from the Heart

Not Committing the Sin of Murder Starts in the Heart

Do Not Remain Angry/Hold Grudges With Others

Instead, Reconcile Broken Relationships and Make Friends With Your Enemies

If We Refuse to Do So, We Will Be Judged as Guilty By God in the Judgement

Introduction

I’m Going to Introduce Our Topic for this Lesson the Same Way I Introduced the Topic of Last Week’s Lesson

Question: (No Show of Hands)

How Many of Us Committed Adultery on Our Spouses this Past Week?

If You Didn’t, Then That’s Absolutely Wonderful!

But Jesus, Again, is About to Raise the Bar By Interpreting God’s Law the Way it was Intended to Be Interpreted

Question: (No Show of Hands, But Be Honest With Yourself)

How Many of Us Lusted After Someone Who Isn’t Our Spouse this Past Week?

If We Were Being Honest, Several of Us Would Probably Have to Raise Our Hands, Wouldn’t We?

Matthew 5:27-30

Matthew 5:27 (NASB)

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

Jesus Moves from the 6th Commandment to the 7th from Exodus 20:14

Interestingly, Under the Old Law, Adultery Seems to Be Defined By the Woman’s Marital Status, Not the Man’s:

A Man Could Be Married and Continue to Marry Other Women, and it Wasn’t Viewed as Adultery

He Would Only Be Considered an Adulterer if He Married/Slept with a Woman Who was Already Married to Someone Else

But a Woman Could Only Have One Husband, and if She Married/Slept with Anyone Else, She has Committed Adultery

This Kind of Thing Seems Outrageous to Christians Today

But God Allowed Polygamy to Take Place in the Old Testament

Why?

There’s No Absolute Way of Knowing, But Here’s a Good Speculation

Due to Things Like Women Having a Longer Lifespan and the Brutality of Ancient Warfare…

There was Likely More Women Than Men

This Would Leave Many Women in this Patriarchal Society Without a Protector and Provider

God May Have Allowed Polygamy as a Mercy to Women

One Man Could Protect and Provide for Several Women at Once

Of Course, That’s Just a Speculation

Regardless of Why Polygamy was Allowed, it was Never Prescribed

God Created 1 Man and 1 Woman to Become 1 Flesh in the Beginning

Elders and Deacons, Who are Supposed to Be the Best Among the Church, Had to Be Husbands of Only 1 Wife

If Having One Wife was Among Other Stringent Qualifications of Righteousness to Be a Leader in the Church…

Then Having Only One Wife Must Have Been Something God Viewed as Righteous and Good

Marriage is Supposed to Be a Picture of Christ and the Church

Christ Only Has One Bride and the Church Only Has One Husband

Anything Other Than that is Not What God Designed

Just Because God Allows Something Doesn’t Mean that is What He Intended

The Romans Believed Polygamy was Disgusting and Immoral

But They Allowed the Jewish People to Continue Practicing it, But Only in Palestine

Eventually, More and More of the Jewish People Began Practicing Monogamy

When Jesus Arrives on the Scene, He Agrees with the Romans

Paul, After Him, Taught the Idea of 1 Husband and 1 Wife

I Say All that to Say this, Jesus Has Come to Break Down the Barriers of Tradition that Had Been Long-Held By His People

The Rest of this Passage Shows Us that Men Could Just as Easily Be Considered Adulterous as Women

Jesus was a Liberator of Women from the Traditions that Had, for So Long, Oppressed Them

To the Jewish People, Adultery was a Very Serious Offense

Not Only is it a Sin Against God’s Law

It is Violating Another Person Who Doesn’t Belong to You

It is Severing the Marriage Covenant

The Marriage Covenant was Designed to Be a Reflection of the Relationship Between God and His People

And to Sever Something So Sacred Should Not Be Taken Lightly

Matthew 5:28 (NASB)

but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

Just Like Jesus Did with Murder Last Week, He’s Doing with Adultery Here

The OT Commandment Wasn’t Just Meant to Stop the Outward Action

It was Meant to Change the Inward Person

Adultery is a Sin that Begins in the Heart, Just Like All Other Sins

What Does it Mean to “Look at a Woman with Lust for Her”?

“Looks” in this Verse is in the Present Tense

This Indicates the Same Thing that it Indicated Last Week with Anger

It is a Continued or Sustained Action

Along with that I Like the ESV and the NET Translations of this Verse

ESV - “everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent”

NET - “whoever looks at a woman to desire her”

“Whoever Continues to Stare at a Woman with the Purpose of Desiring Her for Himself”

Jesus, Here, Seems to Be Combining 2 of the 10 Commandments (Which is the Proper Way to Keep Any List of Laws)

Exodus 20:14, 17 (NASB)

“You shall not commit adultery…you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife”

In the Greek OT (Septuagint), Covet is the Same Greek Word as Lust in Matthew 5:28

The Heart/Intention of the OT was:

“Don’t Commit Adultery, and Don’t Even Have a Lustful Desire for a Woman Who Doesn’t Belong to You”

Outward Purity is All the Scribes and Pharisees Were Concerned About

Matthew 23:25–28 (NASB)

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence.

You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also.

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.

So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.”

It’s Not Just About Being Pure on the Outside

It’s About Being Pure in Heart (One of the Beatitudes)

Jesus Tells Us that When Someone is Pure on the Inside, Their Outside Will Be Pure as Well

The Thing is, the Scribes and Pharisees Would Agree with Jesus’ Teaching Here

They Would Agree that it is Wrong to Lust After Someone Other Than Your Spouse

And Most Christians Today Would Agree with Jesus that it is Wrong to Lust After Someone Other Than Your Spouse

But the Problem We Find is:

The Scribes and Pharisees Didn’t Practice What They Preached

And So Many Christians Today Don’t Practice What They Preach

We Would All Agree that Adultery is a Horrible Scandal of a Sin

But We Don’t Often Hold the Same Disdain for the Mindset that Leads to Adultery and Fornication (The Text Encompasses Both)

To Commit Adultery in the Heart is to Commit Adultery in the Mind

Just Like Dwelling On Anger Will Lead to a Host of Violent Outbursts and Sins

Dwelling On Lust (Thinking About Adultery/Fornication) Will Lead to a Host of Sexual Sins

I Think It’s Interesting that Jesus Places the Responsibility for Lust on the Person Doing the Lusting, Not the Person Who is Being Lusted After

It is Important that Christian Women Dress in Modest Clothing, Not Showing Off Their Bodies

And I Believe Christian Men Should Live by the Same Code

Girls/Women Who’ve Grown Up in Bible Classes Have Probably Heard the “Modest Apparel Speech” More Than Any Other

But from My Experience, Boys/Men Aren’t Taught Nearly Enough on Guarding Our Hearts from Lust

That’s a Shame Because Our Christian Girls May Be Doing a Great Job of Dressing Appropriately

But Typically, It’s Not the Christian Girls that We Should Worried About

It’s the Non-Christian Girls in Their Schools, at the Park, at the Pool/Lake, and Literally Everywhere Who are Dressing in Alluring/Seductive Ways

What are Our Christian Boys to Do Then?

Walk Up to Them and Tell Them They Must Start Covering Themselves Up?

That’s Not Going to Go Over Very Well

Christian Boys Need to Be Taught How to Guard Their Hearts From Lusting After Girls Just as Much as or More than Our Girls Need to Be Taught to Dress Modestly

As a Man, I Will Be Frank with You Ladies in the Room

If I or Any Other Man in this Room Want to Lust After You, It Doesn’t Matter What You are Wearing

Men, We Need to Start Taking Some Responsibility for Our Thoughts and Our Actions and Stop Allowing All the Responsibility to Fall on the Women

Women, Try to Dress in a Way that Won’t Place Any Stumbling Blocks in Any Man’s Way

Men, Keep Your Eyes and Desire-Filled Thoughts Off of Any Woman Who is Not Your Wife

That Includes Women You Work With, Go to School With, etc.

That Also Includes Women You See on TV or on Your Computer or On Your Phone

Pornography is a Billion Dollar Industry

They Shouldn’t Be Making Any Money or Getting Any Views From Christians

The Lust that Jesus is Discussing Here is a Nasty and Horrible Thing

It’s the Very Opposite of Love

Lust Dehumanizes Other People and Enslaves Them as Prostitutes and Objects for Our Own Pleasure in Our Minds

Lust is Fueled by Selfishness and Sees Others as its Possessions

Adultery Usually Involves Considerable Amount of Rationalizing and Justifying One’s Behavior

Lust is the Demonic Force that Allows Human Beings to Justify Exploiting One Another Sexually

It Isn’t Just Adultery that God Condemns

Choosing to Lust After Another Person is Condemned By the Law and By King Jesus

Now Jesus is Going to Tell Us How We are to React to Lust

Matthew 5:29–30 (NASB)

If your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.

If your right hand makes you stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to go into hell.”

This Would Have Been the Part Where I Might Have Considered Getting Up and Leaving

This Guy Sounded Pretty Good Until This Part

Jesus Isn’t Calling for Self-Mutilation

Gouging Your Eye Out or Cutting Off Your Hand Isn’t Going to Stop You From Having Impure Thoughts Toward Another Person

He’s Calling for Drastic Measures to Be Taken in Order to Shield Ourselves From Temptation and Sin

Anything that is Getting in Between Me and Righteous, Grace-Filled, Christ-Like Living Needs to Be Cut Off

Sometimes that Means Cutting Off Relationships With Certain People

Sometimes that Means Cancelling Memberships at the Gym

Sometimes that Means Not Going to Waterparks, the Beach, the Pool, the Lake, etc.

Sometimes that Means Getting Rid of the Computer/Smartphone

Sometimes that Means Changing Up Your Day to Day Life

2 Timothy 2:22 (NASB)

Now flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.

I’m Speaking Specifically to this Context of Sexual Lust…

But this Principle of Cutting Off Things that Lead to Temptation and Sin Needs to Be Applied to Every Context

Jesus is Using Hyperbole to Shock Us With How Serious this is

If Literally Gouging Out Your Own Eye or Cutting Off Your Hand Would Keep You From Sin, We Must Be Willing to Go to Those Lengths

If There are People, Situations, or Things in Your Life that are Making it Easier for You to Be Tempted to Sin…

You Must Cut Those Things Out of Your Life

Take Drastic Measures if You Need to

I Have a Friend Who Took a Hammer to His Smartphone Because it was a Cause of Temptation in His Life

What Good is a Smartphone or a Relationship or Anything Else in Hell?

We Will Find in this Account of Jesus’ Life that He is Going to Call On People (Us Included) to Make Some Very Difficult Changes in Order to Be a Part of His Kingdom

If We Aren’t Willing to Make Those Changes, We are Not Worthy of His Kingdom…

And Hell is All We Will Have to Look Forward To

I’m Going to Leave You with a Quote from a 2nd Century Christian Named Tertullian

“The Christian husband has nothing to do with any but his own wife. Democritus, in putting out his eyes, because he could not look on women without lusting after them, and was pained if his passion was not satisfied, owns plainly, by the punishment he inflicts, his incontinence. But a Christian with grace-healed eyes is sightless in this matter; he is mentally blind against the assaults of passion.”

Christians Ought to Have Nothing to Do with Those Who Don’t Belong to Us in the Covenant of Marriage

We Don’t Look, Think, Talk, or Act Sexually Toward Them

We are to Have Eyes that Have Been Healed by the Grace of Jesus

Eyes that Recognize the Grace of Jesus and that Longingly Desire His Gracious Return

When Our Eyes are Focused On Jesus, Lust Will No Longer Be a Problem

What is it that We Have Set Our Eyes On

What is it that We Truly Desire

If it’s Not Jesus and His Kingdom, Then We Need to Make Some Drastic Changes

Only Then Will Our Righteousness Exceed the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees

Only Then Will We Be Accepted into Jesus’ Kingdom