1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:07,000 after Matthew as we are still working our way through this great book. 2 00:00:07,000 --> 00:00:14,000 This great book. 3 00:00:29,700 --> 00:00:34,020 The word Jesus says in Matthew 5 beginning of verse 27 ending of verse 30. 4 00:00:34,020 --> 00:00:37,340 He says you have heard that it was said to those of old 5 00:00:37,340 --> 00:00:40,340 you should not commit adultery. 6 00:00:40,340 --> 00:00:43,420 But I say to you 7 00:00:43,420 --> 00:00:47,820 that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her 8 00:00:47,820 --> 00:00:51,220 has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 9 00:00:51,220 --> 00:00:55,900 If your right eye causes you to sin pluck it out and cast it from you. 10 00:00:55,900 --> 00:00:59,380 For it is more profitable for you 11 00:00:59,380 --> 00:01:04,740 that one of your members perish than for your whole body to be cast into hell. 12 00:01:04,740 --> 00:01:07,940 If your right hand causes you to sin 13 00:01:07,940 --> 00:01:11,500 cut it off cast it from you. 14 00:01:11,500 --> 00:01:16,860 For it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish 15 00:01:16,860 --> 00:01:20,740 than for your whole body to be cast into hell. 16 00:01:20,740 --> 00:01:25,420 Would you join me in praying? 17 00:01:25,420 --> 00:01:31,100 Father would we come again to a very sobering passage of scripture Lord. 18 00:01:31,100 --> 00:01:35,260 Earlier we read that those who practice such things do not inherit the kingdom 19 00:01:35,260 --> 00:01:36,100 of God and 20 00:01:36,100 --> 00:01:39,180 Father here must we radically 21 00:01:39,180 --> 00:01:43,900 make war and wage war against our sin or we don't enter the kingdom. 22 00:01:43,900 --> 00:01:47,220 Father our bodies cast into hell. 23 00:01:47,220 --> 00:01:50,500 Father help us look to Jesus. 24 00:01:50,500 --> 00:01:56,260 Help us to celebrate grace and help us to take seriously the warning that your 25 00:01:56,260 --> 00:01:57,060 son gave 26 00:01:57,060 --> 00:02:00,180 on this glorious day and we thank you for that and 27 00:02:00,180 --> 00:02:04,860 Lord I pray for the aid and the help, the comfort of your spirit, 28 00:02:04,860 --> 00:02:10,060 the conviction of your spirit. Lord lead us to Christ today and help us to see 29 00:02:10,060 --> 00:02:10,740 him as an 30 00:02:10,740 --> 00:02:15,300 all-glorious Savior who alone can deliver. It is in his name we pray. 31 00:02:15,300 --> 00:02:19,460 Amen. 32 00:02:19,460 --> 00:02:23,180 One of the early Christian martyrs, his actual name was Justin Martyr, 33 00:02:23,180 --> 00:02:26,460 when he was standing before the Roman Emperor and he was giving a defense of the 34 00:02:26,460 --> 00:02:27,380 Christian faith, 35 00:02:27,380 --> 00:02:30,860 one of the arguments that he put forth for the proof 36 00:02:30,860 --> 00:02:34,420 or authenticity of the Christian faith, he said simply 37 00:02:34,420 --> 00:02:37,820 look at our chastity. Look at our 38 00:02:37,820 --> 00:02:41,300 sexual ethic and he's talking against the Roman Empire there 39 00:02:41,300 --> 00:02:44,380 and see that our faith is real and living. 40 00:02:44,380 --> 00:02:48,140 But I wonder today if we were to stand before the President or if we were to stand 41 00:02:48,140 --> 00:02:49,820 before some high-ranking official 42 00:02:49,820 --> 00:02:53,180 if we could point to the church's purity in sexual 43 00:02:53,180 --> 00:02:56,820 conduct as an evidence of our faith. 44 00:02:56,820 --> 00:03:00,020 See in verse 20 of chapter 5 the Lord said this, 45 00:03:00,020 --> 00:03:04,740 unless your righteousness exceeds, goes beyond that of the scribes and Pharisees, 46 00:03:04,740 --> 00:03:08,460 you don't enter the kingdom of heaven. His words not mine. 47 00:03:08,460 --> 00:03:11,900 You don't enter the kingdom unless somehow you are more righteous than 48 00:03:11,900 --> 00:03:13,020 scribes and Pharisees. 49 00:03:13,020 --> 00:03:17,180 Now that is a very sobering thought. It's attention-grabbing. 50 00:03:17,180 --> 00:03:21,140 It was meant to be that. So now in verses 21 51 00:03:21,140 --> 00:03:25,580 all the way through verse 48, the Lord is going to give six examples 52 00:03:25,580 --> 00:03:28,780 of what kingdom righteousness actually looks like. 53 00:03:28,780 --> 00:03:32,940 And as he's giving these examples he's actually going to clarify 54 00:03:32,940 --> 00:03:37,180 the internal righteousness that is needed of those who enter into the 55 00:03:37,180 --> 00:03:37,900 kingdom 56 00:03:37,900 --> 00:03:42,460 and he's going to also contrast that with the hypocrisy 57 00:03:42,460 --> 00:03:47,500 of the Pharisees and leading religious officials. So as the Lord Jesus who's the one 58 00:03:47,500 --> 00:03:48,540 who gave the law, 59 00:03:48,540 --> 00:03:52,220 he's looking at the law of Moses holistically. That is to say 60 00:03:52,220 --> 00:03:56,380 he's interpreting the law comprehensively showing how 61 00:03:56,380 --> 00:04:02,060 the differing commands are interrelated. It is one law because it's one lawgiver. 62 00:04:02,060 --> 00:04:05,980 Now last week we looked at the first example he gave 63 00:04:05,980 --> 00:04:09,980 that dealt with the sixth commandment. You shall not murder. 64 00:04:09,980 --> 00:04:14,140 So now everyone thinks okay if I've not committed homicide I am then 65 00:04:14,140 --> 00:04:17,900 innocent or blameless of the sixth commandment. 66 00:04:17,900 --> 00:04:22,060 The Jesus showed how it was truly to be interpreted. He said the law 67 00:04:22,060 --> 00:04:27,820 not only forbids homicide but it also forbids that murderous anger that 68 00:04:27,820 --> 00:04:32,060 resides in your heart. So the sixth commandment was given by 69 00:04:32,060 --> 00:04:36,940 God because life is so precious. He wanted to protect life. Now today we 70 00:04:36,940 --> 00:04:40,300 come to the second of six examples and he refers now to the 71 00:04:40,300 --> 00:04:45,420 seventh commandment. You shall not commit adultery. Sixth 72 00:04:45,420 --> 00:04:48,300 commandment given to protect life. Seventh commandment to given to protect 73 00:04:48,300 --> 00:04:50,940 marriage. So once again we're going to see this 74 00:04:50,940 --> 00:04:53,420 morning that the Lord he's going to dive past 75 00:04:53,420 --> 00:04:57,020 the surface of the commandment to reveal the inner 76 00:04:57,020 --> 00:05:03,820 purity that it enshrines and demands. If you are to keep this commandment 77 00:05:03,820 --> 00:05:07,500 fully it is not simply to avoid the act of 78 00:05:07,500 --> 00:05:11,100 adultery but it is also to rid yourself of the 79 00:05:11,100 --> 00:05:16,060 consuming lust in the heart that precedes the act. 80 00:05:16,060 --> 00:05:20,860 If you do not break the letter of the law but you want to in your heart 81 00:05:20,860 --> 00:05:24,780 Jesus said you're still guilty before the tribunal of God. 82 00:05:24,780 --> 00:05:28,300 Adultery is a violation of the marriage covenant. 83 00:05:28,300 --> 00:05:31,820 It was taken very seriously in Jewish law taken very seriously in the law of 84 00:05:31,820 --> 00:05:35,740 Moses. We see that in Leviticus 20. The man 85 00:05:35,740 --> 00:05:38,620 who commits adultery with another man's wife, 86 00:05:38,620 --> 00:05:41,980 he who commits adultery with his neighbor's wife, the adulterer and the 87 00:05:41,980 --> 00:05:46,620 adulteress shall surely be put to death. Just like 88 00:05:46,620 --> 00:05:52,140 murder adultery was a capital offense under the law of Moses. Now no doubt the 89 00:05:52,140 --> 00:05:55,980 religious leaders of Jesus day they took this very seriously. 90 00:05:55,980 --> 00:05:58,780 The problem wasn't they took it too seriously the problem is they didn't 91 00:05:58,780 --> 00:06:02,300 take it seriously enough. They didn't go deep enough because what 92 00:06:02,300 --> 00:06:04,700 is prohibited here in the seventh commandment 93 00:06:04,700 --> 00:06:07,980 again it's not just a physical act of adultery 94 00:06:07,980 --> 00:06:11,980 that is forbidden is the lust that lies in the heart 95 00:06:11,980 --> 00:06:17,020 of the man or the woman that will lead to the act. 96 00:06:17,020 --> 00:06:20,700 These scribes and Pharisees they were walking in pride 97 00:06:20,700 --> 00:06:24,300 self-righteousness and they were bragging about how they adhered to the 98 00:06:24,300 --> 00:06:29,500 law of God and so they assumed they really assumed 99 00:06:29,500 --> 00:06:33,660 that they were blameless before God because they thought that they had 100 00:06:33,660 --> 00:06:39,180 kept this law. Yet our Lord in mercy is showing they had 101 00:06:39,180 --> 00:06:43,020 not kept it. Jesus in this discourse in the sermon on 102 00:06:43,020 --> 00:06:45,660 the mount he's speaking to a large crowd of would-be 103 00:06:45,660 --> 00:06:48,300 followers. There's a large crowd at this time 104 00:06:48,300 --> 00:06:49,980 following him they're hanging on every word 105 00:06:49,980 --> 00:06:53,420 but also present that day are the religious leaders not because they would 106 00:06:53,420 --> 00:06:56,300 be followers of him they want to listen to see if they 107 00:06:56,300 --> 00:07:00,940 might gather something to entrap him. So Jesus then is revealing 108 00:07:00,940 --> 00:07:05,260 and warning against the hypocrisy of the religious leaders who loved to 109 00:07:05,260 --> 00:07:11,100 look good on the outside. They loved to look holy and righteous 110 00:07:11,100 --> 00:07:15,420 and inwardly they were corrupt. They were very good at pretending 111 00:07:15,420 --> 00:07:19,740 to be righteous very good at pretending to look holy 112 00:07:19,740 --> 00:07:23,500 but they were hypocrites and they had reduced the law 113 00:07:23,500 --> 00:07:27,340 they'd reduce the whole law to commands that they could keep 114 00:07:27,340 --> 00:07:31,500 or felt that they could keep but they never stopped to look at the spirit or 115 00:07:31,500 --> 00:07:36,460 the intention that lie behind the law. Now what is interesting is they 116 00:07:36,460 --> 00:07:39,740 held the respect of the people the people that they would have looked 117 00:07:39,740 --> 00:07:42,220 to the scribes they would have looked to the Pharisees 118 00:07:42,220 --> 00:07:47,100 as respectable people that were worthy of emulation. 119 00:07:47,100 --> 00:07:51,100 Bruce Hurt says this external respectability 120 00:07:51,100 --> 00:07:55,180 is no guarantee against internal impropriety. 121 00:07:55,180 --> 00:08:01,100 So in other words real reputation is not always indicative of your character. 122 00:08:01,100 --> 00:08:05,500 What others think of you is not necessarily what God knows of you in 123 00:08:05,500 --> 00:08:09,180 private. Recently there's a man that many of 124 00:08:09,180 --> 00:08:12,540 us would have esteemed and followed and listened to his preaching and 125 00:08:12,540 --> 00:08:16,460 he was found out to be really a hypocrite for the past five years 126 00:08:16,460 --> 00:08:19,820 having an illicit relationship with a young lady and the whole time preaching 127 00:08:19,820 --> 00:08:22,380 on righteousness. But everyone would have thought this man 128 00:08:22,380 --> 00:08:27,420 was respectable but God knew him to be a hypocrite 129 00:08:27,420 --> 00:08:31,820 because God sees the heart he sees what's in the heart 130 00:08:31,820 --> 00:08:35,500 and that will be the basis of our judgment before him. 131 00:08:35,500 --> 00:08:38,860 So he knew so the Lord there that day he knows these men they're full 132 00:08:38,860 --> 00:08:43,100 of self-righteousness he knows that they're actually full of adultery 133 00:08:43,100 --> 00:08:46,700 but the same time they're using the law of God as a 134 00:08:46,700 --> 00:08:51,420 weapon to bludgeon others. They're pretending to love God and to boast in 135 00:08:51,420 --> 00:08:55,180 the law but the truth of the matter they love to boast in it to make 136 00:08:55,180 --> 00:08:59,580 themselves look superior. They loved having an edge 137 00:08:59,580 --> 00:09:02,940 over other people and we see this clearly in John 138 00:09:02,940 --> 00:09:06,460 chapter 8. In John chapter 8 there's one example 139 00:09:06,460 --> 00:09:10,220 where these men they're going to use the law of God as a tool 140 00:09:10,220 --> 00:09:15,020 to further their own evil agenda and you all know the passage it's of the 141 00:09:15,020 --> 00:09:19,020 woman caught in adultery beginning in verse 3. Then the scribes 142 00:09:19,020 --> 00:09:22,380 and Pharisees same group of people he's talking about in Matthew 5 143 00:09:22,380 --> 00:09:26,700 brought to him a woman caught in adultery. When they sat her in the midst 144 00:09:26,700 --> 00:09:30,140 they said to him teacher this woman is caught in adultery in the 145 00:09:30,140 --> 00:09:33,660 very act. Now Moses in the law commanded such such 146 00:09:33,660 --> 00:09:39,020 should be stoned that's what it was 2010. But what do you say? This they said 147 00:09:39,020 --> 00:09:42,460 testing him that they might have something of which to 148 00:09:42,460 --> 00:09:47,180 accuse him. These people don't love the law at all. 149 00:09:47,180 --> 00:09:51,100 If they love the law so much this situation would have been handled much 150 00:09:51,100 --> 00:09:54,780 much differently. In fact their actions are a terrible 151 00:09:54,780 --> 00:10:00,460 abuse of God's law. So they're not upset about the law being violated. 152 00:10:00,460 --> 00:10:03,820 They want to catch Jesus saying something wrong something that can pit 153 00:10:03,820 --> 00:10:06,220 him against the law. They want to bring something that's going 154 00:10:06,220 --> 00:10:09,500 to find something that's going to bring Jesus down if you will. 155 00:10:09,500 --> 00:10:13,580 And furthermore these men were not even consistent with the law itself. 156 00:10:13,580 --> 00:10:17,020 You remember back in Leviticus 20 verse 10 we read it. It's that those who 157 00:10:17,020 --> 00:10:20,300 commit adultery it says the adulterer and the adulteress 158 00:10:20,300 --> 00:10:23,740 shall be brought forth and both will be put to death. 159 00:10:23,740 --> 00:10:27,100 So I ask you of course where's the man here in John 8? 160 00:10:27,100 --> 00:10:33,020 Why not bring him? The law demanded that both the man and the woman be put to 161 00:10:33,020 --> 00:10:37,740 death. And by the way why were they watching the act? 162 00:10:37,740 --> 00:10:41,980 Why didn't they step in before the act took place? 163 00:10:41,980 --> 00:10:47,420 See their hypocrisy and their false piety were on full display and by the way 164 00:10:47,420 --> 00:10:50,540 it angered our Lord. It sickened our Lord. 165 00:10:50,540 --> 00:10:56,940 So these so-called experts were failing to pull the righteous demands 166 00:10:56,940 --> 00:11:03,100 that God's law commanded. The point that Jesus is making is that the 167 00:11:03,100 --> 00:11:07,420 law of God has always always been more than simply 168 00:11:07,420 --> 00:11:12,940 external or outward compliance. Always. The scriptures are clear. Murder 169 00:11:12,940 --> 00:11:16,540 and adultery they don't begin in the hand but rather in the heart. 170 00:11:16,540 --> 00:11:20,380 That's the problem. The problem with man is not outside of him 171 00:11:20,380 --> 00:11:24,140 and we can say this and say this and say this but I still think we get it wrong. 172 00:11:24,140 --> 00:11:27,820 Man's problem is not outside but man's problem is inside. 173 00:11:27,820 --> 00:11:30,940 We are corrupt and our internal corruption 174 00:11:30,940 --> 00:11:35,180 shows itself in external acts. Matthew 15 verse 19. 175 00:11:35,180 --> 00:11:39,100 Jesus said for out of the heart, out of the heart of man, 176 00:11:39,100 --> 00:11:43,740 proceeds evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, 177 00:11:43,740 --> 00:11:47,740 thefts, false witnesses, blasphemies, the list can go on. 178 00:11:47,740 --> 00:11:51,740 It's the same thing that Paul said in Galatians 5. The works of the flesh are 179 00:11:51,740 --> 00:11:54,700 evident but all those works of the flesh 180 00:11:54,700 --> 00:11:59,340 begin in the heart. God is not simply concerned with outward 181 00:11:59,340 --> 00:12:03,900 deeds although he is but he's concerned with the heart. 182 00:12:03,900 --> 00:12:11,820 Let me say this. Our external piety must first begin with our inner purity. 183 00:12:11,820 --> 00:12:16,540 We have to have those match up. It's not enough to have the externally pious. 184 00:12:16,540 --> 00:12:19,740 There must be inner purity. Psalm 51 verse 6. 185 00:12:19,740 --> 00:12:24,940 Behold, you desire truth where? Where do you want truth, God? 186 00:12:24,940 --> 00:12:30,540 And then we're parts in the heart. The problem is all of us, we can look 187 00:12:30,540 --> 00:12:33,260 good outwardly and inwardly we can be full of lust and 188 00:12:33,260 --> 00:12:36,780 deception and idolatry and this is an affront to God and it's 189 00:12:36,780 --> 00:12:41,740 affront to his law. Martin Lloyd Jones says far too often 190 00:12:41,740 --> 00:12:45,420 there have been people who have been smug and glibly satisfied with themselves 191 00:12:45,420 --> 00:12:49,420 because they are not guilty of certain things, adultery for example. 192 00:12:49,420 --> 00:12:53,500 And therefore they think they are all right and this happens in the church by 193 00:12:53,500 --> 00:12:57,100 the way but they've never examined their heart. 194 00:12:57,100 --> 00:13:01,820 Here we see holiness as a matter of the heart and not merely a matter of conduct. 195 00:13:01,820 --> 00:13:06,060 It's not only a man's deeds that count but his desires. 196 00:13:06,060 --> 00:13:10,300 Not only must we not commit, we must not even covet. 197 00:13:10,300 --> 00:13:13,820 It's not enough to not just not do it. We shouldn't even want 198 00:13:13,820 --> 00:13:17,900 to do it. So what is the real application of the Seth commandment? 199 00:13:17,900 --> 00:13:20,940 Let me ask you, who is guilty of breaking this law? 200 00:13:20,940 --> 00:13:25,180 Who would stand condemned before God? Verse 28, I say to you Jesus said, 201 00:13:25,180 --> 00:13:29,260 whoever looks at a woman to lust for her in his heart, he's already committed 202 00:13:29,260 --> 00:13:34,860 adultery with her in the heart. Jesus once again 203 00:13:34,860 --> 00:13:38,860 he's given the true interpretation, he's given the true intention of God's 204 00:13:38,860 --> 00:13:42,780 law. It's not just clean hands the Lord desires but 205 00:13:42,780 --> 00:13:49,820 actually pure hearts. Pure hearts, clean hands, that's how we worship him. 206 00:13:49,820 --> 00:13:56,060 Dr Constable says fantasized immorality is just as simple to God as physical 207 00:13:56,060 --> 00:13:59,020 immorality. The fact that fornication just takes 208 00:13:59,020 --> 00:14:02,380 place in the brain and has fewer bad consequences than fornication that takes 209 00:14:02,380 --> 00:14:06,620 place on a bed does not mitigate this truth. 210 00:14:07,500 --> 00:14:12,140 Do you see what Jesus is getting at here? Now the word's interesting, he said 211 00:14:12,140 --> 00:14:15,580 whoever looks at a woman. The word looks it's from the Greek word 212 00:14:15,580 --> 00:14:19,100 it's bleppo and it's actually in a present participle which means 213 00:14:19,100 --> 00:14:23,420 it is continually looking, the continual act of looking. 214 00:14:23,420 --> 00:14:27,420 So you have not broken the law because there's a casual glance 215 00:14:27,420 --> 00:14:31,820 but this is the man who can't stop staring. The idea is not an involuntary 216 00:14:31,820 --> 00:14:35,980 glance whereby you see someone it's an intentional and repeated looking 217 00:14:35,980 --> 00:14:39,420 or gazing. I put this word down I don't know if it 218 00:14:39,420 --> 00:14:44,300 really stands I would say gawking. He's standing there mouth agape and he 219 00:14:44,300 --> 00:14:49,100 is just not turning away. So this is not someone who notices beauty 220 00:14:49,100 --> 00:14:52,300 or someone who notices someone might be attractive 221 00:14:52,300 --> 00:14:55,420 but it's meditating on the beauty or the attraction of another 222 00:14:55,420 --> 00:15:00,220 and you're beginning to fantasize about it. It's a desire of an illicit 223 00:15:00,220 --> 00:15:06,540 encounter with that person and we know we have a biblical example. 224 00:15:06,540 --> 00:15:11,340 It's David, King David he sees Bathsheba bathing while walking on that spring day 225 00:15:11,340 --> 00:15:14,780 upon his palace roof. So here you have a man, much powerful 226 00:15:14,780 --> 00:15:18,060 man at the time he's the king. He sees an attractive lady she is 227 00:15:18,060 --> 00:15:21,980 unclothed at that moment and he should have turned away right 228 00:15:21,980 --> 00:15:25,100 then. You're saying well that would have been a strong 229 00:15:25,100 --> 00:15:28,300 temptation regardless of how strong the temptation may have been 230 00:15:28,300 --> 00:15:32,940 he had the responsibility to turn away and look no longer. 231 00:15:32,940 --> 00:15:38,300 He didn't have to continue but he chose to and he continued to gaze he continued 232 00:15:38,300 --> 00:15:42,780 to look blep pose what Matthew 5 would say and this is 233 00:15:42,780 --> 00:15:45,900 why eventually led him to commit adultery with her in 234 00:15:45,900 --> 00:15:49,900 the act. He had already committed adultery in his 235 00:15:49,900 --> 00:15:56,300 heart. He liked what he saw he didn't turn away from it and his 236 00:15:56,300 --> 00:15:59,020 lust unrestrained led him to take another man's 237 00:15:59,020 --> 00:16:02,860 wife into his own bed. But friends this is what the law of God 238 00:16:02,860 --> 00:16:08,380 would say to David. Your adultery only confirmed what was 239 00:16:08,380 --> 00:16:13,180 already in your heart. This is what Jesus is driving at. Had 240 00:16:13,180 --> 00:16:17,020 David never slept with Bathsheba he still would have been guilty 241 00:16:17,020 --> 00:16:22,060 before God of adultery in his heart for the continual gazing upon her. 242 00:16:22,060 --> 00:16:25,660 He said whoever looks at a woman to lust epithumeo 243 00:16:25,660 --> 00:16:28,860 is the word. It means you're setting your heart upon that you're coveting 244 00:16:28,860 --> 00:16:32,860 you're desiring a good word to be craving you have this craving for something. 245 00:16:32,860 --> 00:16:36,300 We use this with food and you can use it in the context of food but it comes from 246 00:16:36,300 --> 00:16:41,820 two words you have a preposition epi and it means above or over and then 247 00:16:41,820 --> 00:16:45,740 you have thumas. Thumas is passion and it can be passion 248 00:16:45,740 --> 00:16:48,940 for anything. The idea of something breathing hard like 249 00:16:48,940 --> 00:16:51,900 if you ever get really angry and you're steaming you're breathing hard that's 250 00:16:51,900 --> 00:16:54,620 passion but it can also refer to sexual lust. 251 00:16:54,620 --> 00:16:57,420 So it could be in the sexual arena it could be anger it could be fear it could 252 00:16:57,420 --> 00:17:00,700 be a lot of those things but the what the word is driving out 253 00:17:00,700 --> 00:17:07,580 here this is a forceful over the top passion. It's lust. 254 00:17:07,580 --> 00:17:11,900 It's like an animal in the heat that simply wants to be satisfied. 255 00:17:11,900 --> 00:17:16,220 There's a craving. You crave pizza you're like I have to have pizza you're like oh 256 00:17:16,220 --> 00:17:19,500 I love it. This is a craving for the forbidden 257 00:17:19,500 --> 00:17:25,740 and they want their lust satisfied. Craig Keener says lust is antithetical 258 00:17:25,740 --> 00:17:29,100 to true love. This is the problem this is what's so 259 00:17:29,100 --> 00:17:32,860 wicked about it. It dehumanizes another person into an 260 00:17:32,860 --> 00:17:36,140 object of passion leading us to act as if the other were 261 00:17:36,140 --> 00:17:41,100 a visual or emotional prostitute for our own use. 262 00:17:41,100 --> 00:17:48,300 And this is what fuels the porn industry unrestrained passions. 263 00:17:48,300 --> 00:17:51,340 There are documentaries there's tons of evidence those people who are involved 264 00:17:51,340 --> 00:17:54,380 in the pornography industry it's incredibly dark it's incredibly 265 00:17:54,380 --> 00:17:57,900 sad. There is so much drug use because the 266 00:17:57,900 --> 00:18:01,260 people just can't do it not being high because that's what's fueling it and 267 00:18:01,260 --> 00:18:04,060 that's what led them to end the industry many times. 268 00:18:04,060 --> 00:18:07,660 There's sexual abuse there's sexual trafficking 269 00:18:07,660 --> 00:18:10,780 and yet there are people who name the name of christ 270 00:18:10,780 --> 00:18:14,780 who will continue to indulge their lust and dehumanize another person 271 00:18:14,780 --> 00:18:20,780 because they want their flesh gratified. Do you see how evil it is? It's the very 272 00:18:20,780 --> 00:18:25,420 opposite of love. It is antithetical to the kingdom of God. 273 00:18:25,420 --> 00:18:29,340 Those who give themselves over and over to lust 274 00:18:29,340 --> 00:18:33,340 not only do you learn to be selfish you will soon not be able to properly love 275 00:18:33,340 --> 00:18:36,220 another person because you're training yourself in the 276 00:18:36,220 --> 00:18:42,220 wrong way. This is what's a problem and it's happening all across our country. 277 00:18:42,220 --> 00:18:46,380 Again I want to quote Keener here. Lust demands possession. 278 00:18:46,380 --> 00:18:51,420 I've got to have its mind. Love though values respects and seeks to serve other 279 00:18:51,420 --> 00:18:54,380 persons with what is genuinely good for them. 280 00:18:54,380 --> 00:18:57,820 Lust is always incompatible with acknowledging God 281 00:18:57,820 --> 00:19:03,100 as the supreme desire of our hearts because it is contrary to his will. 282 00:19:03,100 --> 00:19:07,500 Jesus never came seeking his own. He always walked in love seeking the 283 00:19:07,500 --> 00:19:11,180 welfare of the other and yet many through the use of tv 284 00:19:11,180 --> 00:19:14,300 movies and internet allow themselves to be entertained by things you 285 00:19:14,300 --> 00:19:18,620 wouldn't personally do. You'll watch other people do them and 286 00:19:18,620 --> 00:19:23,180 you'll be entertained and you'll laugh. You do it by proxy perhaps your 287 00:19:23,180 --> 00:19:26,620 imagination or watching some illicit image or 288 00:19:26,620 --> 00:19:31,260 reading a book that speaks of it. Friends this is what is called hypocrisy. 289 00:19:31,260 --> 00:19:34,060 It's the same thing the religious leaders were guilty of. Oh they weren't 290 00:19:34,060 --> 00:19:37,180 doing the act but they're full of adultery inside. 291 00:19:37,180 --> 00:19:41,900 They didn't get a pass. See when you sin sexually whether it be in your heart 292 00:19:41,900 --> 00:19:46,300 in your mind or in your imagination our lord says you've broken the seventh 293 00:19:46,300 --> 00:19:51,420 commandment and you're guilty of adultery. That's what he's saying. Now 294 00:19:51,420 --> 00:19:54,700 growing up I have heard Matthew 5 28 preached a lot. I've 295 00:19:54,700 --> 00:19:58,220 heard many messages and most of them unfortunately were directed at ladies 296 00:19:58,220 --> 00:20:02,300 for being a temptress by the way they dress or act. 297 00:20:02,300 --> 00:20:06,380 Sadly so many people place the onus for purity only upon the woman 298 00:20:06,380 --> 00:20:11,740 and yet our lord here is directing his warning to the man. 299 00:20:11,740 --> 00:20:15,260 Now there's a question. Do women have a responsibility to dress in a way that 300 00:20:15,260 --> 00:20:19,900 would not arouse lust in another? Of course. 301 00:20:19,900 --> 00:20:25,020 Absolutely they do. If you know sister what you're doing is causing others to 302 00:20:25,020 --> 00:20:28,940 sin you have a responsibility before god to stop. 303 00:20:28,940 --> 00:20:35,660 Arthur Pink is very he spoke very very clear on this. He said if 304 00:20:35,660 --> 00:20:40,220 lustful looking is so grievous a sin and it is then those who dress and expose 305 00:20:40,220 --> 00:20:42,700 themselves with the desire to be looked at and lusted after 306 00:20:42,700 --> 00:20:47,500 are not less but perhaps more guilty. In this matter it is not only too often 307 00:20:47,500 --> 00:20:50,540 the case that men sin but women tempt them to do so. 308 00:20:50,540 --> 00:20:53,660 How great then must be the guilt of the great majority of modern Mrs. who 309 00:20:53,660 --> 00:20:57,020 deliberately seek to rouse the sexual passions of young men 310 00:20:57,020 --> 00:21:00,220 and how much greater still is the guilt of most of their mothers for allowing 311 00:21:00,220 --> 00:21:04,060 them to become lascivious temptresses. 312 00:21:04,620 --> 00:21:07,900 Now let me just say this our lord doesn't allow men to escape. 313 00:21:07,900 --> 00:21:11,100 He's not softening the matter and he's not blame shifting. 314 00:21:11,100 --> 00:21:14,620 He's not seeking to shift the blame. I will say this even if a woman were 315 00:21:14,620 --> 00:21:18,780 dressed scandalously the man who belongs to christ, the man 316 00:21:18,780 --> 00:21:23,020 who's in the kingdom of god has an imperative a moral responsibility 317 00:21:23,020 --> 00:21:27,740 to turn away regardless of how strong the temptation may be. 318 00:21:27,740 --> 00:21:32,220 You must do it. There is no wiggle room. There's no much blame shifting. You can't 319 00:21:32,220 --> 00:21:37,660 say well she was dressed a certain way. You sir take care of you. 320 00:21:37,660 --> 00:21:42,460 King David didn't get a pass because Bathsheba was bathing in plain view. 321 00:21:42,460 --> 00:21:47,340 He didn't say well man men are just men and boys are just men boys. 322 00:21:47,340 --> 00:21:51,180 Yet I would also say to young sisters here if you belong to the kingdom of god 323 00:21:51,180 --> 00:21:54,700 you do have a moral responsibility before god 324 00:21:54,700 --> 00:21:58,540 to dress in a way that avoids scandal. Absolutely you do. 325 00:21:58,540 --> 00:22:04,620 It is incongruent to try to dress to seek male attention sexually as a woman 326 00:22:04,620 --> 00:22:08,140 of god. Paul told the Christians in Rome and you're 327 00:22:08,140 --> 00:22:11,500 like well is there a chapter and verse? He told the strong Christians in Rome he 328 00:22:11,500 --> 00:22:15,820 said if you know that eating meat causes your weaker brother to sin 329 00:22:15,820 --> 00:22:20,060 then he said you don't eat meat. So I would say this young lady if you know 330 00:22:20,060 --> 00:22:24,300 that how you dress or how you behave is causing a brother to stumble you must 331 00:22:24,300 --> 00:22:31,340 stop doing so and learn to walk in love. He had at the same time men 332 00:22:31,340 --> 00:22:37,980 kingdom men you have to learn to deal radically with the temptation to lust 333 00:22:37,980 --> 00:22:41,020 and not to blame shift and blame the woman. 334 00:22:41,020 --> 00:22:46,140 You will stand before god for your own lustful heart. 335 00:22:46,140 --> 00:22:50,540 This is a serious matter because we live in an over sexualized society. 336 00:22:50,540 --> 00:22:55,020 It's terrible shameful much of our society is 337 00:22:55,020 --> 00:22:57,500 we talk about things that people wouldn't even blush to talk about years 338 00:22:57,500 --> 00:23:01,660 ago. It's a horrible disgrace so we have to 339 00:23:01,660 --> 00:23:06,620 deal seriously with it. We live in Rome just like the time this was written. 340 00:23:06,620 --> 00:23:11,180 Now do not misunderstand what Jesus is saying. He's not saying a lustful thought 341 00:23:11,180 --> 00:23:15,100 is identical to a lustful deed. Well if I've already had it in my heart I 342 00:23:15,100 --> 00:23:18,300 might as well go ahead and commit the adultery right? It's the same. No. 343 00:23:18,300 --> 00:23:21,660 The desire and the deed are not identical but spiritually speaking they're 344 00:23:21,660 --> 00:23:24,780 equivalent before God. That's what he's saying. 345 00:23:24,780 --> 00:23:27,980 Dave Guzik and his commentary I thought this was worth saying. 346 00:23:27,980 --> 00:23:31,180 Jesus is not saying the act of adultery and adultery in the heart are the same 347 00:23:31,180 --> 00:23:33,740 thing. No. More than a few people have been 348 00:23:33,740 --> 00:23:36,620 deceived on this point and say well I've already committed adultery in my 349 00:23:36,620 --> 00:23:39,020 heart so I might as well do it in practice. 350 00:23:39,020 --> 00:23:42,140 The act of adultery is far worse than adultery in the heart. 351 00:23:42,140 --> 00:23:45,980 Jesus' point is not to say they're the same thing but to say they're both sin. 352 00:23:45,980 --> 00:23:49,500 They're both prohibited by the command against adultery. 353 00:23:49,500 --> 00:23:53,420 Some people only keep from adultery because they're afraid to get cut 354 00:23:53,420 --> 00:23:57,180 but in their heart they commit adultery every day. It is good that they keep from 355 00:23:57,180 --> 00:23:59,740 the act but it is bad that their heart is filled 356 00:23:59,740 --> 00:24:03,500 with it. This principle applies to much more than men looking at women. 357 00:24:03,500 --> 00:24:07,020 It applies to just about anything that you and I can covet with the eye or the 358 00:24:07,020 --> 00:24:09,980 mind. Friends, God just doesn't allow any 359 00:24:09,980 --> 00:24:12,940 wiggle room. Man, he paints us into a corner. 360 00:24:12,940 --> 00:24:15,740 So you're saying okay I get it so I understand the intention. I understand 361 00:24:15,740 --> 00:24:18,860 God's desire. So how do we deal with this temptation? I 362 00:24:18,860 --> 00:24:22,300 live in a sexually saturated culture. What's the answer? 363 00:24:22,300 --> 00:24:27,180 Like verse 29 and 30. If your right eye causes you sin, 364 00:24:27,180 --> 00:24:31,340 pluck it out. If it's your right hand, cut it off. 365 00:24:31,340 --> 00:24:36,620 Go into heaven maimed than to hell whole. Now there were some in church history who 366 00:24:36,620 --> 00:24:39,340 took this command literally. The early church father Origen 367 00:24:39,340 --> 00:24:43,180 is said to have castrated himself in order to be obedient to the Lord's 368 00:24:43,180 --> 00:24:48,860 command here. Obviously our Lord is using hyperbole 369 00:24:48,860 --> 00:24:55,260 to illustrate a point that is radical. What is the point? You must do 370 00:24:55,260 --> 00:24:59,100 whatever is necessary to remove the temptation that would lead you to lust 371 00:24:59,100 --> 00:25:03,260 in your heart. If the problem is in your heart, well 372 00:25:03,260 --> 00:25:05,980 then you're saying how does removing an eye or hand help? 373 00:25:05,980 --> 00:25:09,900 Because then you're still left with the same heart, right? The same less of heart. 374 00:25:09,900 --> 00:25:13,660 Why right eye? Why right hand? In Jewish culture the right eye and the right hand 375 00:25:13,660 --> 00:25:17,740 represented a person's best and most precious faculties. Jesus said at the 376 00:25:17,740 --> 00:25:23,180 right hand of the father. Why about the eye? Because the eye is 377 00:25:23,180 --> 00:25:26,860 the gateway through which temptation comes. 378 00:25:26,860 --> 00:25:30,300 He does mention right hand. Now I will say studying for this, I've not heard 379 00:25:30,300 --> 00:25:33,180 this before, but there are many people well versed in Hebrew thought and 380 00:25:33,180 --> 00:25:37,580 culture and they say that this word here, the right hand, is actually a 381 00:25:37,580 --> 00:25:41,900 Lord, our Lord speaking euphemistically referring to the man's sexual organ. The 382 00:25:41,900 --> 00:25:45,180 right hand in this case would that's what it would refer to. 383 00:25:45,180 --> 00:25:50,140 So what does he say? Pluck out your eye, cut off your hand, castrate yourself, 384 00:25:50,140 --> 00:25:54,380 do whatever is necessary. Now he's not advocating mutilation. 385 00:25:54,380 --> 00:25:58,380 That's the easy low-hanging fruit here. Mutilation does not cleanse your heart, 386 00:25:58,380 --> 00:26:03,420 it doesn't purify your heart. You can be blind and handless and still 387 00:26:03,420 --> 00:26:08,700 commit lust in your heart. So what is he saying? Anything 388 00:26:08,700 --> 00:26:13,260 that would morally or spiritually entrap us or trip us up in a walk with Christ 389 00:26:13,260 --> 00:26:18,300 in holiness has to immediately be eliminated. 390 00:26:18,300 --> 00:26:22,780 You cannot young man, young lady, old man, old lady, middle-aged woman, middle-aged 391 00:26:22,780 --> 00:26:26,860 lady, you can't fool around with sexual temptation. 392 00:26:26,860 --> 00:26:31,100 The Bible says flee from lust, flee from youthful lusts 393 00:26:31,100 --> 00:26:36,940 that wage war against your soul. Lawrence Farley says in a choice between 394 00:26:36,940 --> 00:26:40,780 losing one member now and losing all members later in the age to come, 395 00:26:40,780 --> 00:26:45,420 it would only make sense to sacrifice one member to save oneself. 396 00:26:46,060 --> 00:26:50,380 When you commit adultery, it only reveals the lust that was already present in 397 00:26:50,380 --> 00:26:54,700 your heart. So when you are willing to radically 398 00:26:54,700 --> 00:26:57,660 deal with your sin and you're willing to do whatever it 399 00:26:57,660 --> 00:27:03,340 takes, that reveals a kingdom heart, that reveals a person who is hungering 400 00:27:03,340 --> 00:27:08,300 and thirsting for righteousness. Do you understand the worth of your 401 00:27:08,300 --> 00:27:12,140 soul? Jesus is saying it is so important, so 402 00:27:12,140 --> 00:27:15,180 valuable, that it'd be better to go through life maimed 403 00:27:15,180 --> 00:27:20,540 than to enter hole into hell. Whatever is leading me to sin has to be done away 404 00:27:20,540 --> 00:27:25,020 with, even if it's good in and of itself. Right hand, right eye. 405 00:27:25,020 --> 00:27:28,140 So I'd say to young people, if every time you're on the computer 406 00:27:28,140 --> 00:27:32,060 you are led away by your lust to sin against God, get rid of the computer. 407 00:27:32,060 --> 00:27:34,780 And you're like, well that's an impossibility. You don't understand school 408 00:27:34,780 --> 00:27:39,260 and we live in a technological age. What, how could I do that? Well get 409 00:27:39,260 --> 00:27:42,060 rid of your computer, gouge out your eye, you choose. 410 00:27:42,060 --> 00:27:45,980 Which is more radical? Which seems more radical? 411 00:27:45,980 --> 00:27:48,540 And I would ask the question, which is more important, your soul or your 412 00:27:48,540 --> 00:27:52,940 computer? See we have to learn to hate sin, hate 413 00:27:52,940 --> 00:27:57,020 it in all its form, and do all that we can to kill it in life. 414 00:27:57,020 --> 00:28:00,220 Frederick Bruner said it is better to go limping into heaven than leaping into 415 00:28:00,220 --> 00:28:04,220 hell. You said that sounds drastic, that 416 00:28:04,220 --> 00:28:08,220 even sounds violent. But our Lord is speaking here of the 417 00:28:08,220 --> 00:28:12,540 righteousness that the kingdom of God demands. 418 00:28:12,620 --> 00:28:17,020 And such righteousness was earned by the violent, 419 00:28:17,020 --> 00:28:20,220 bloody death of the Son of God. 420 00:28:20,540 --> 00:28:25,500 Seeing friends, listen, seeing the righteousness that God's law demands 421 00:28:25,500 --> 00:28:30,060 ought to humble us. Knowing that we have fallen, 422 00:28:30,060 --> 00:28:36,780 fallen far short, that ought to produce a profound humility and poverty of spirit. 423 00:28:36,780 --> 00:28:41,740 Lord if this is your demand, I can't get in the kingdom. 424 00:28:41,740 --> 00:28:45,740 If this is what you're saying, I can't do it. 425 00:28:45,740 --> 00:28:50,540 I'm guilty. And Jesus said that's exactly right. You are guilty 426 00:28:50,540 --> 00:28:54,940 and all humanity is guilty, there's none righteous. 427 00:28:54,940 --> 00:28:58,380 This in and of itself should be enough to destroy any form of 428 00:28:58,380 --> 00:29:01,900 self-righteousness. If this is the standard, do you really 429 00:29:01,900 --> 00:29:05,660 think that your poultry works are going to earn favor? 430 00:29:05,660 --> 00:29:10,300 But what we learn from this passage, and I think this is one of the big points, 431 00:29:10,300 --> 00:29:15,900 is the exceeding need for Christ atoning blood to save us. 432 00:29:15,900 --> 00:29:21,980 We need Jesus. J.C. Ryle says what man or woman upon 433 00:29:21,980 --> 00:29:24,620 earth can ever stand before such a god as this 434 00:29:24,620 --> 00:29:27,660 and plead not guilty? Is there anyone here after hearing the demand says yep, 435 00:29:27,660 --> 00:29:32,780 I'm completely innocent? Who is there that has ever grown to years 436 00:29:32,780 --> 00:29:38,300 of discretion and not broken the command thousands of times? 437 00:29:39,580 --> 00:29:44,940 You're guilty and you cannot make yourself clean. 438 00:29:44,940 --> 00:29:51,900 You cannot make yourself free from sin. So what do you do? 439 00:29:51,900 --> 00:29:56,060 You plead for grace and mercy from the throne of the most high. 440 00:29:56,060 --> 00:30:01,260 You look to Jesus. You understand what you couldn't do, he did. 441 00:30:01,260 --> 00:30:05,100 And where you failed, he succeeded. And the only way that you will ever enter 442 00:30:05,100 --> 00:30:07,900 the kingdom of God is by the righteousness of another 443 00:30:07,900 --> 00:30:12,540 who died and rose again for you. I close with this. Martin Lloyd Jones says 444 00:30:12,540 --> 00:30:16,780 we must listen to the teaching of the blessed son of 445 00:30:16,780 --> 00:30:21,260 God and examine ourselves, examine our thoughts, our desires, and our imagination. 446 00:30:21,260 --> 00:30:24,860 And unless we feel that we are vile and foul 447 00:30:24,860 --> 00:30:28,940 and need to be washed and cleansed, unless we feel utterly helpless with a 448 00:30:28,940 --> 00:30:32,140 terrible poverty spirit, and unless we are hungering and thirsting 449 00:30:32,140 --> 00:30:37,100 after righteousness, I say God have mercy upon us. 450 00:30:37,100 --> 00:30:39,180 Friends, if you are listening this and you're not moved and you're not 451 00:30:39,180 --> 00:30:45,580 convicted, I say God have mercy upon you. He says I thank God that I have a 452 00:30:45,580 --> 00:30:48,380 gospel which tells me that another who is 453 00:30:48,380 --> 00:30:53,980 spotless and pure and utterly holy has taken my sin 454 00:30:53,980 --> 00:30:59,740 and my guilt upon himself. I am washed in his precious blood and he 455 00:30:59,740 --> 00:31:03,820 has given me of his own nature. And when I realized that I need a new 456 00:31:03,820 --> 00:31:09,260 heart, I found that God, that he had come to give it to me 457 00:31:09,260 --> 00:31:15,420 and he has given it. What a gracious God we serve. Today in just a moment we're 458 00:31:15,420 --> 00:31:18,940 going to come to the table of the Lord and we're going to partake in the 459 00:31:18,940 --> 00:31:24,620 sacrament of communion where God has sealed his promise of forgiveness 460 00:31:24,620 --> 00:31:29,020 in this precious sacrament. Today we feast upon Christ and we understand the 461 00:31:29,020 --> 00:31:33,420 only grounding of our righteousness and entrance into the kingdom of God 462 00:31:33,420 --> 00:31:36,940 is through the death, through the flesh and blood of the Son of God 463 00:31:36,940 --> 00:31:40,300 that was given for us. And I would say to you believers 464 00:31:40,300 --> 00:31:48,140 take, eat, rejoice, exalt, be jubilant. Your Savior has died 465 00:31:48,140 --> 00:31:51,420 and he has risen and he has received you into his kingdom 466 00:31:51,420 --> 00:31:55,420 by his own merit. Praise God for that. And if you're here today and you don't 467 00:31:55,420 --> 00:31:58,300 know Christ and you think that by somehow of your 468 00:31:58,300 --> 00:32:01,900 own works you will earn a place in the kingdom of God, you are deceived and I 469 00:32:01,900 --> 00:32:04,780 pray for God's mercy. And if you're saying no I understand, I'm 470 00:32:04,780 --> 00:32:08,860 hopeless, I'm in despair, absolutely would please and I'm begging 471 00:32:08,860 --> 00:32:11,500 after the service would you come and talk to me. 472 00:32:11,500 --> 00:32:15,260 Let me show you what Christ has done for sinners. 473 00:32:15,260 --> 00:32:19,580 But today, right now, we end with the climax of Christian worship 474 00:32:19,580 --> 00:32:23,820 which is his communion with the risen Lord, our risen Savior. 475 00:32:23,820 --> 00:32:27,740 Today, not corporately but spiritually, we will feast upon the body and blood of 476 00:32:27,740 --> 00:32:31,580 Christ to the nourishment of our souls and to the satisfaction of our hearts. 477 00:32:31,580 --> 00:32:34,780 I'm going to ask in just a moment, that's after we pray, if deacons, if you'll come 478 00:32:34,780 --> 00:32:38,700 forward. Let's pray. Father, thank you this morning 479 00:32:38,700 --> 00:32:43,660 for the precious word of God. Lord, I thank you for the law of God, 480 00:32:43,660 --> 00:32:48,300 for its exactness, its preciseness, its precision 481 00:32:48,300 --> 00:33:15,260 that allows us.