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Text: Matthew 5:27-30
The law (vs 27)
- Thou shalt not commit adultery (Exodus 20:14) is the seventh commandment.
- These first two laws cited by the Lord Jesus Christ are capital offenses under the Old Testament.
- Leviticus 20:10 And the man that committeth adultery with another man’s wife, even he that committeth adultery with his neighbour’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.
- Adultery is one of those things people know about without being told about the law.
- Genesis 12:17-19
- Genesis 20:1-9 – Now, this is a king and a people without light from the scriptures. God shows up in a dream to warn Abimelech.
The interpretation (vs 28)
- The world’s interpretation
- The worldly interpretation is “look but don’t touch.” But it’s even more slack than that because in the case that you did commit adultery, if it’s because you have a bad wife or bad husband in your eyes, then your adultery is alright according to the world.
- The rudiments of the world and religion will take a work of the flesh like adultery that is against the law of God and justify it.
- Or people will use the law against God as in John 8. (Pastor James Knox has a great sermon on this text.) Numbers 5:15-17 for why Jesus is writing in the dirt.
- The Lord’s interpretation
- But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her…
- Now, did you think it was hidden from God because you only did it in the chambers of your heart? You took it in with your eyes so your adulterous heart can enjoy it anyone seeing it.
- Adulteries of the heart are manifest by people who walk by sight.
- Guys usually addicted to what they see, girls usually addicted to what they hear.
- Matthew 12:38-39 Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee. 39 But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas:
- Matthew 15:10-20
- This is real heart trouble.
- Proverbs 4:23 Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.
- Ezekiel 28 …heart lifted up…
- The law is to make all guilty before God. So for those of you who tell others about the Lord, using the Lord Jesus Christ’s interpretation of the law is a good way to help people understand their guilt before God.
The solution (vss 29-30)
- This next couple of verses will reveal your belief about sin and hell.
- If a doctor said to you we’re going to need to cut off this part of your arm because the infection is spreading and it can’t be stopped, you’d agree to have a limb removed in order to keep the body alive.
- Now, you’d do that on the basis of a fallible doctor who may or may not have the diagnosis right, but who you’ve chosen to trust.
- And you do it based on a fallible doctor for a failing body. Not that it’s wrong, but it reveals what little concern you have for sin and hell. And it reveals that your assessment of sin and hell is so inconsequential that it’s no wonder Jesus Christ means so little to you.
- Jesus Christ preached a literal hell. And he warned those here you better address anything that would be an offence and come between you the Father. And this is so serious you better be willing to give up your own flesh to get rid of sin.
- Mortification of the body through the Spirit
- Romans 8:12-14 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. 13 For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. 14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
- The Spirit is the knife, you don’t need a scalpel, you need to be led by the Spirit.
- Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
- Galatians 5:16-19 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. 17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. 18 But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
