Once again we need to be reminded that the Lord is in no way altering or changing the teaching of the Old Testament. It is not the Law per se that is under consideration, but the carnal interpretation of it made by the Pharisees.
I. A DISCIPLINE THAT IS DECEITFUL
A. The Pharisees Insisted on External Obedience
1. As was the case with the sixth commandment, the Pharisees had reduced commandment number seven down to the mere physical act of adultery.
2. To their way of thinking, as long as the outside of the cup and platter are clean, that’s really all that matters (Matthew 23:25-26). However, they failed to consider that even though "man looketh on the outward appearance...the LORD looketh on the heart" (1 Samuel 16:7).
3. A person may appear to be upright and respectable as did the scribes and Pharisees, and still be guilty of awful, foul, ugly, filthy sin.
B. The Pharisees Ignored Internal Negligence
1. The problem with the scribes and Pharisees was that they had not fully studied the Law as it was given to Moses. If they had, they would have understood that the Law had always stressed the importance of the heart.
2. Exodus 20:14, 17
3. Covetousness is a sin of the heart. God had clearly condemned coveting or lusting after another man’s wife, yet the scribes and Pharisees had conveniently ignored that part of the Law.
4. Covetousness, and adultery, and anger, and all other such sins are but symptoms of a more severe problem. To treat these outward manifestations only, is to merely deal with the symptoms and not the root problem. The root of the problem is the heart. Jesus said, "For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:" (Matthew 15:19).
II. A LOOK THAT IS LUSTFUL
In no uncertain terms Jesus clearly explains to those listening that to abstain from the physical act of adultery does not necessarily mean that a person is guiltless. A person can commit mental adultery and be just as guilty of immorality as the person who actually commits the physical act.
While it may be deemed acceptable in our society today, adultery, whether it be physical or mental, is a breach of the wedding covenant and is still a horrible sin in the sight of a holy and righteous God. It brings an enormous amount of hurt and pain and destruction. It is a sin, that if continued in, indicates a lack of salvation, and results in eternal damnation.
A. Appreciating the Need for Love
1. The Lord’s words contained in this sermon are not a denouncement of what we would consider to be the instincts of human nature. It is quite natural for members of the opposite sex to be attracted to one another.
2. We were created for companionship. When Adam was created God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him" (Genesis 2:18). "And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;
And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man" (Genesis 2:21-22). When God brought Eve to Adam, she was accepted by him as "bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh" (Genesis 2:23).
3. Immediately upon Adam’s receiving Eve as a part of himself, God then instructed them to come together in a one-flesh union. His intention was for them to have a personal, intimate, pleasurable, sexual union in which they would find fulfillment and satisfaction. This union was also God’s plan by which Adam and Eve would fulfill His command to "Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth," (Genesis 1:28).
B. Understanding the Nature of Lust
1. Sex is a dynamic, driving force in the human life. It is a God-given gift to be used in the context of the marriage relationship. But instead of being used as God planned it, it is being terribly abused.
2. Love and lust are not the same, they are direct opposites. What the Lord is condemning in this passage is not love, but unbridled, uncontrolled, animalistic lust.
3. Lust, by it’s very nature, is one-sided. Lust is a desire to use another for our own pleasure. Lust is a perversion of sexuality, and if it is left unchecked it can, and will, become all consuming (2 Peter 2:14).
NOTE: It is not the involuntary "look" that is being condemned here, so much as it is the "purpose" for which we look. It is looking in order to lust or looking that leads to lust that is being condemned. If it was simply the "look" that was sinful, we would have to walk around with our eyes closed all the time.
C. Preventing the Nasty Look
1. This point is a plea to women for modesty.
2. 1 Timothy 2:9-10
3. Even the most godly man will find it difficult to resist the temptation to look lustfully at an immodestly dressed woman.
4. Women can help men avoid a lustful look by not wearing clothing that accentuates or reveals certain parts of the body.
5. A woman who dresses provocatively will not stand guiltless before God.
III. A PROCESS THAT IS PAINFUL
The actions described in verses 29 & 30 are not to be taken literally. If a person were to literally pluck out their right eye and cut off their right hand, what would keep them from sinning with their left eye and hand?
The key to understanding this passage is found in Matthew 18:7-9. The "eye" and the "hand" represent offenses. Offenses are stumbling blocks that cause a person to sin. The Greek word used for "offend" in the Sermon on the Mount means "to entrap, i.e. trip up or entice to sin."
The idea behind what the Lord is saying in these verses is that drastic measures need to be taken to rid our lives of those things that entice us to sin.
1 Thessalonians 4:4-5
2 Timothy 2:20-21
If each one of us is to "possess his vessel in sanctification and honour", and if we are to be "vessels unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use" there is a radical, sometimes painful, process that all of us must go through. Who in their right mind would refuse the amputation of a gangrened limb, regardless of how painful it may be, if it meant saving their life? By the same token, we should be more than willing to take whatever steps are necessary to ensure our spiritual well-being.
A. Realization
1. Romans 7:18
2. The first step in the process is coming to the realization, as Paul did, that there is nothing inherently good about us. Everything about our natural state is depraved, perverted, and sinful.
3. If there is anyone we should not trust, it should be us.
4. Galatians 5:17
5. There is a battle going on inside us everyday between the spirit and the flesh. There will not be one moment of peace until we are taken out of this life and are ushered into the presence of the Lord Himself. As long as we possess these sin cursed, fleshly bodies, we will battle with the flesh.
B. Subjugation
1. After we have come to the realization that in us, that is, in our flesh, dwells no good thing, and that as long as we are housed in these bodies of flesh we will have sinful desires to contend with and overcome, we must then learn to bring these desires into subjection.
2. 1 Corinthians 9:24-27
a. The words "keep under" are actually one word in the Greek which means to "to hit under the eye (buffet or disable an antagonist as a pugilist), i.e. to subdue one’s passions."
b. The Greek word for "temperate" in verse 25 means to "exercise self-restraint (in diet and chastity)."
c. The idea is that we must take control of our passions instead of letting our passions take control of us.
3. 2 Corinthians 10:5
4. Romans 6:11-23
5. Job 31:1
C. Mortification
1. Colossians 3:5-7
2. The word "mortify" means "to put to death, to deprive of power, to destroy the strength of." Through His death, Christ has broken the power of sin in the life of the believer. It is not the believer’s responsibility to maintain that liberty by putting to death those things which seek to enslave him.
3. The process of mortification is Intentional, Gradual, and Spiritual.
a. Intentional - Sin, left to itself, will not die out on its own. The believer must intentionally set out to destroy it.
b. Gradual - Paul often refers to it as a crucifixion. The process of dying by crucifixion is gradual. We must die a little more to sin each day.
c. Spiritual - Only in Christ, through the Holy Spirit, can we find the energy and power to conquer sin. Some men can discipline themselves to overcome some sin, but not all sin.
D. Starvation
1. Romans 13:14
2. 1 Peter 2:11
3. In the battle between the flesh and the spirit, the one that is the strongest is going to win, and the one that is the strongest is the one we feed the most. We must avoid those persons, places, and things which provide no nourishment for the spirit and only feed the flesh.
4. The key to starving the flesh is centering our life on Jesus Christ. As we aggressively follow Christ we will be strengthening our defense against all sin. When He becomes the center of our lives, His desires become more important than our desires.
E. Restoration
1. Romans 12:1-2
2. Philippians 4:8
3. Whichever controls the mind, whether it be the flesh or the spirit, the same controls the life.
4. There must be a daily renewing of our mind in order to avoid the trap of mental adultery.
