Adultery In The Heart
Basis=Matt 5:27-30
Intro:
(1) The Scribes and Pharisees had a way to make God's laws
convenient for them.
-- they made light of disobedience to parents, Mt 15:3-
9
-- yet they strictly kept the penalty for adultery when
convenient, Jn 8:3-6
(2) Adultery is a serious sin, even more so than the
Pharisees thought, as we will discuss in our text, Mt
5:27-30
I. Key Terms In This Passage
(1) Adultery
-- adultery was particularly abominable to the Jews,
Job 24:15, 31:9-11
-- prophets and teachers repeatedly unbraided their
generation for lax morals.
(1) Nathan confronted David, II Sam 12:7
(2) Jeremiah, Jer 23:10,14; 29:23
-- why is it such a heinous crime?
(1) it destroys the beauty and purity of marriage
(2) it damns the soul, Prov 6:27-32, Job 31:12, I
Cor 6:9,10, Heb 13:4
-- Our society almost expects unfaithfulness on
the part of one or both
(1) it is glamorized on TV and movies, note current
statistics
(2) it is being accepted as a way of life among many
major denominations (some try coverup)
-- Jesus not only teaches that it is still a damnable
sin, but carries the guilt of adultery even deeper
than the actual act.
(2) Lust
-- not "whoever looks", but "to lust after her", Mt
5:28
-- Barclay quote: "Jesus is not speaking of natural,
normal desire which is part of human instinct and
nature (man's physical or "animal" instinct and
nature). According to the literal meaning of the
Greek the man who is condemned is the man who looks
at a woman with the deliberate intention of lusting
after her. The man who is comdemned is the man who
deliberately uses his eyes to waken his lust, who
looks in such a way that passion is awakened and
desire deliberately stimulated. Jewish Rabbis well
knew the way in which eyes can be used to excite
and stimulate wrong desire. They said, "The eyes
and the hand are the two brokers of sin". "Eye and
heart are the two handmaids of sin." "passion
lodges only in him who sees". "Woe to him who goes
after his eyes for they are adulterous". Someone
has said, "There is an internal DESIRE of which
adultery is only the fruit".
-- examples:
(1) Potipher's wife, Gen 39:7 "cast her eyes upon
Joseph".
(2) David, 2 Sam 11:2, "saw a woman washing
herself"
-- "not an involuntary glance...but when evil thoughts
are thereby prompted by our deproved natures",
Arthur Pink, II Pet 2:14
-- Lust can result from
(1) pornography..movies...books...thought
fanticized to real people
(2) those who dress so as to incite lustful
thoughts (are just as guilty)
Prov 6:25, II Kin 9:30
(3) lustful places: dances, swimming pools.
Quote: Nelson Smith's, "The Sermon on the
Mount", pg 66: "In a tempting world there are
many things which are deliberately designed to
excite and stimulate desire. There are books,
pictures, plays, even advertisements, which are
deliberately calculated to awaken, stimulate,
and inflame desire! The man Jesus condemns is
the man who finds a strange delight in things
which awaken desire for forbidden things (this
is the attraction and the evil of pornographic
material). The defiled heart is one that can
look at such things, sometimes even innocent
things, and use them for occasion to titillate,
stimulate and excite the wrong desire."
-- Eph 5:1-7, Ps 119:37
-- are you free from evil desires, impure
imaginations? Ps 101:2,3
3. Heart
-- the adultery Jesus is condemning takes place, not in
the bed, but heart.
-- Remember Jesus is teaching Christianity inside-out,
not just externals are sin.
(1) I Sam 16:7, the Lord sees things differently
(2) world is concerned with outward appearance; God
judges the heart, Prov 4:23, Ps 66:18
-- While one may never physically commit adultery, he
may in his heart, Mt 5:27-28
II. How Can We Avoid Adultery?
(1) Fill your mind with good thoughts
-- obviously if evil materials incite evil thoughts,
good materials will cause good desires (Bible;
good gospel literature; inpiring fiction; etc)
-- if bad company corrupts good morals, good company
will establish good morals (true for young and old)
-- Phil 4:8, 2 Cor 10:5, Rom 12:2
(2) Fill your life with doing good
-- one reason David got in trouble with Bathsheba was
because he "tarried still at Jerusalem" while the
army was in battle...idleness!
-- Jesus went about "doing good", Act 10:38; 1:1
-- Doing good helps keep you out of mischief, II Thess
3:10-13
(3) To empty your life of evil fill it with good..thoughts
and deeds.
Conclusion:
(1) Adultery in the heart is a serious matter
(2) You should do whatever is necessary to see that it is
not practiced (literally if it would save your soul)
Mt 5:29,30
(3) Good doesn't want you to commit adultery...physically,
mentally, or spiritually.
(4) But if you have, He will forgive if you will let Him.
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