Sermon 6 ADULTERY IN THE HEART (Matt. 5:27-30)

Transcription

1 Annual Sermons Volume 1 (Part 1) Bob Marcaurelle Sermon 6 ADULTERY IN THE HEART (Matt. 5:27-30) The Bible and Christianity have much to say about sex. One of God s basic laws for man was, You shall not commit adultery (Ex. 20:14). Extramarital sex was so serious a crime in Israel that God decreed that it was to be punishable by death. Lev. 20:10 says, If a man commits adultery with the wife of his neighbor, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall be put to death. But adultery is practiced in forms other that extramarital sex. A second form is the legalized form where people have a succession of affairs with some legal trimmings. The Pharisees jumped from wife to wife, feeling that their divorce papers made it all right, and Jesus called it adultery (Mt. 5:32, 19:9). A third form of adultery is premarital sex, or what the Bible calls fornication. Technically, the word adultery does not apply to sex before marriage, but practically, it does apply. It is a betrayal of the covenant of marriage before the ceremony. Larry Maddox says, The misuse of sex, either before or after marriage, thwarts God s purest purposes. Thus the Bible comes down hard upon both adultery and fornication in verses like I Cor. 6:9.10 where it says neither fornicators nor adulterers will inherit the Kingdom of God. Why does God take so strong a stand on the misuse of sex? It is for the same reason we have referees and rule books and sidelines on a football field. It is to keep things under control and to keep people from getting hurt. What would happen if the rule books and referees were done away with and football players were allowed to carry chains and knives and to do whatever they wanted? The same principle applies to life. Within the boundaries of marriage sex is a beautiful tool we use to cooperate with God in His work of creating human beings. Outside, it is a weapon we use to hurt human beings. Inside of marriage it is an expression of love, because it is combined with

2 commitment and faithfulness and protection. Outside, it is an expression of lust. The Seventh Commandment, like all of God s Commandments, if for our own good. It is an expression of His love. He is not, as some of you think, trying to rob our lives of joy. He is trying to save us from untold sorrow. Sex outside of marriage hurts. It loads people down with guilt and drives them to mental breakdowns or further depths of sin or physical illness or an early grave. It strikes at the heart of marriage. Listen to Larry Maddox, (Adultery) is not like playing solitaire. You are trifling with human affections, loyalties, and lives. There is no hurt quite so deep as love betrayed. Sex outside of marriage degrades the other person for it makes them just a tool to satisfy desires. And sex outside of marriage threatens the welfare of the nation. It was one of the causes of the fall of the Roman Empire and it could well be the cause of the fall of America. And Jesus here, goes to the initial cause of this terrible sin- the lustful look. A. THE SIN PROHIBITED Jesus says, Whoever looks at a woman lustfully, has already committed adultery with her in his heart. (Matt. 5:28). The heart in Scripture, is the core of our character, the throne room of our soul, where we set priorities and make decisions. When Daniel refused to go along with Babylonian ways contrary to God s will, Scripture says, Daniel purposed in his heart not to defile himself. (Dan. 1:8, KJV). The Pharisees had a religion that was all on the outside, and not a matter of true character. They calculated how much they could get by with and not be in trouble with God. Therefore, they interpreted the Seventh Commandment to mean that if they did not engage in sex outside of marriage they had obeyed God. They felt they could look at and lust after other women and they could divorce their wives and run to new ones and still be guiltless. Undoubtedly they failed to notice the Tenth Commandment which says, You shall not covet your neighbor s

3 wife. President Jimmy Carter, years ago in his interview for Playboy Magazine, put this passage in the headlines. He said, I have committed adultery by looking at other women. Billy Graham responded, I do not believe Mr. Carter is guilty of this sin. What constitutes the lustful look that makes a man or woman adulterous? 1. It is not natural attraction. It has been well said that ladies, or men, can be admired but not desired. Billy Graham says the first look is normal, but the second look or the continued look is sinful. Another famous evangelist said, God saved me, but he didn t ruin me. I will worry about myself when I don t find women attractive. Another said, Looking at a pretty girl is normal, but driving around the block for another look is sinful. But even here it is dangerously easy to go from admiring to desiring. We should try to avoid even the first glance. 2. It is the look prompted by evil desires The English word to in the phrase looks upon a woman to lust is the Greek pros ta and it denotes purpose rather than result. This person is not caught off guard, he is a girl watcher. He has lustful desires and feeds his lust by undressing girls with his eyes. In other words he plans his looking. The phrase already committed adultery puts the adultery before the look. Lenski says, The man who casts a lustful look is an adulterer to begin with. The sin is already in his heart and only comes out in his lustful look. 3. It is persistent looking. The verb to look is a present tense verb and means to keep on looking. 4. It is pleasure seeking looking. The word lust actually means desire and can refer to normal desires, but in the Bible it is only used for forbidden and evil desires. This lustful looker is getting pleasure from the looking and, in his or her heart, is desiring to have forbidden sexual relations

4 5. It is pornographic looking. Every sin talked about here is committed by those who look at pornography and the horrible things about pornography are (1) Everyone is strongly tempted. (2) The lust is never satisfied and filthier and filthier levels are descended into. (3) It is addictive. (4) It harms normal sexual relationships in marriage. (5) It trivializes sex and makes it a bodily function rather than an act of love. (5) And when we put money into pornography, we keep the industry alive that leads many who practice it go out and rape, murder, kidnap and abuse children, and do all kinds of unimaginable evils. Every penny put into pornography will be held against the one who puts it in- at the Judgment Day. B. THE SURGERY PRESCRIBED So serious is this sin, Jesus tells us to pull out the eyes that look and cut off the hands that practice sexual sin. Drastic problems call for drastic measures. Realizing the power of the sex drive and its destructive results, Jesus says we are to avoid this sin at all costs. To illustrate this He uses the image of surgery. If a physician discovers a diseased part of our body, he says what Jesus said, Cut it out! This, of course, is not to be taken literally, as some misguided souls have done, to the actual act of mutilation. It is, however, to be taken seriously, and this involves several things: 1. Re-birth- Cut away the unsaved heart The sin, says Jesus, is in the heart. This calls the unsaved person to be willing to cut off his relationship to the world and to sin (repentance), and let Jesus change his character and goals in life. The Great Physician says, Be born again!. The Sermon on the Mount is not for the world-at-large, it is for Christians. It is for those who have been changed on the inside and the outside by God through faith in Jesus Christ. We miss the point altogether if we see this surgical cure as the cure for the problem of sin itself. If our watch breaks, we don t fix it by moving the hands but by fixing the insides. If a brain tumor causes headaches, we don t cure it with aspirin or hot towels. If our

5 water is polluted, we don t purify it by painting the pump. We don t cure adultery by putting out our eyes, but by letting God change our hearts. The biggest mistake religious people and moral people like the Pharisees make is dealing with sins instead of with sin. They work on their greed or their worry or their cruelty or their apathy and yet they refuse to give themselves to Jesus Christ who alone can get beyond the symptoms to the origin of their problems. My biggest problem before my conversion was cursing. Like Mark Twain I learned to curse before I learned to talk! Cursing was so natural with me that I did it without even realizing it. My guilty conscience made me try to quit but I never could. The reason was, I could not reach my curser s heart which gave birth to the curses. But when I gave my life to Jesus, He who changes the human heart, changed mine. If I stumble in the middle of the night, hit my head on the coffee table, break my toe, and break my wife favorite lamp, I might let out an old word that I shouldn t let out. But I would be ashamed, I would confess it to the Lord, and would ask Him to keep me from doing it the next time something like happens. Why? Because I no longer have a curser s heart, I have a Christian s heart that hates cursing, especially by me. 2. Remember- Cut away the harm we do to others. The words causes you to sin, literally mean, causes you to stumble or to be entrapped. The word is skandalon and was used for such things as the bait stick of a trap, a cord stretched across a path or a deep pit covered with leaves. Sex outside of marriage is appealing and enticing, but it is a trap. And when you and I are involved in it- we become the trap for others. Once we set out sights on sexual sins, we inevitably set our sights on someone to engage in the sin with us. From my own pastoral experience I could show you mountains of guilt, shame, misery and oceans of tears, caused by the misuse of sex. Sex outside of marriage leaves a trail of broken homes, broken hearts, venereal disease, unwanted babies and eternal ruin.

6 3. Run- Cut away the temptation. Our third step is to run. We should run for our lives, or more accurately, for our souls. Paul says in I Cor. 6:18, Flee from sexual immorality. Williams translates this, Keep on running from sexual immorality. J.B. Phillips has it, Avoid sexual looseness like the plague. A little boy who loved to steal watermelons was converted. Later his pastor said, How are you doing with you watermelon problem? The little boy answered, Preacher, when I walk past the watermelon patch I can t keep my mouth from watering; but I can run past the field. That is the Biblical formula, Joseph, in the OT did it, and Potiphar s wife grabbed his robe when he ran out the door. (Gen.39). How can we run? 1) Avoid Contact With Sin. Stay away from sin in its slightest forms. The Bible says, Avoid every kind of evil (I Th. 5:22). This means when an attractive member of the opposite sex draws that first glance from you, you refuse to take the second glance. This means when someone starts a dirty joke you leave the room. This means when a person on television stirs the wrong desires you either turn off the T.V. or find something else to do until that scene passes. This is not silly nit picking on my part. Little things like this feed our lower natures and give them strength. I have never known of a man or woman shaming their lives on a sudden impulse. It is always the result of a long, slow, secret process by which they feed their lower nature until that nature takes over in the actual act of adultery or fornication. 2) Be willing to give up things you love. To run we must often renounce. The right eye and the right hand in Jewish thought symbolized that which is especially dear and valuable. You may have to give up an unholy girlfriend or boyfriend to avoid this sin. You may have to give up you popularity with the folks in the school or office. You may have to give up many pleasures like movies or favorite television shows or music you

7 love. If there is any hobby that will make you curse- it is gold. One man asked a preacher if he cursed on the gold course, and the preacher said, No! But the grass does not grow where I spit!! I know a preacher who could not help cursing when he played golf. Nothing worked until he made a vow to God that if he ever cursed again, he would sell his clubs and give up the game. I asked him if he had cursed again, and he said no, but at first, he held his anger in so much that he was afraid he was going to have a stroke. Then he laughed and said, now it doesn t matter. My anger is almost gone and I m just thankful to have the health to be out there and miss a three foot putt. Non golfers laugh at this, but I believe we can apply it to all areas of life. When that man was willing to give up something he dearly loved for God, I believe God blessed him with healing from anger and frustration in golf and everywhere else. C. THE SERIOUSNESS PRONOUNCED Jesus, for the first time in His ministry, mentions the idea of hell. What we do and don t do on earth, determins where we will spend eternity. We will pay for hurting others. Southeast of the city of Jerusalem was a huge ravine called the Valley of Hinnom, or, in the Greek, Gehenna. It was a foul and despised place because in Old Testament times children were often burned there in sacrifice to the god, Moloch (Ps. 106:38; Jer. 7:31). To show their contempt, the Jews turned it into the city dump where they threw their garbage, their refuse and the rotting carcasses of animals. They cleaned the area by keeping it ablaze day and night. Worms and insects could be seen crawling in and out of it all the time. The Jews, between the Old and New Testament times (400 BC-1 AD) began using it as a fitting symbol of the fate of all who died unsaved. And Jesus, when He came, took their pictures of burning and darkness and used them to teach the truth of Romans 2:6, For He will render to every man according to

8 his works. Paul and the other Apostles, preaching primarily to Gentiles, did not use these pictures of the fire, but used the picture of the Law Courts and dungeons and chains. They told the world that as men stood before Governors like Pilate and before Emperors like Nero, they will stand before God, the Judge of all men.. The pictures and symbols change, but the fact remains - we will one day stand before God and answer for who we are and what we did with Jesus Christ. The loss of heaven is a terrible price to pay for the few fleeting pleasures of sin. But many do it. These lines tell us why: Sow a thought - and you reap an act / Sow an act - and you reap a habit/ Sow a habit - and you reap a character / Sow a character - and you reap a destiny.