The Need For Purity Series

Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount Part 6

The need for Purity

Matthew 5:27-30

Introduction

I read a story of an older minister who was asked by a young man, "Pastor, when will I cease to be bothered by the sins of the flesh? The minister replied, Son I wouldn’t trust myself until I’d been dead for 3 or 4 days.

As I planned this message I realized that most of you are probably not going to run around on your wives, or cheat on your husbands. You’re not going to get involved with promiscuous men and women. In fact, many of you will never even be tempted to actually do those things.

For most of us, the battleground is going to be in the mind. The greatest temptation we face is the invitation to participate with our minds in a world of virtual reality where we don’t think we are actually cheating on our spouses. Instead we’re lured to do it in our hearts.

In our society, we are being bombarded by temptation in the area of sexual purity. According to an article in the American Family Association Journal, 88% of all sexual activity portrayed on prime-time TV occurs between people who are not married to each other.

Today we are going to see what Jesus has to say adultery. We will see that this is a drastic law, which requires drastic measures, but could also have drastic consequences.

Read Scriptures: Matthew 5:27-30

I. Drastic Law.

Vs. 27-28 “You have heard that it was said, ’Do not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”

This is one of Jesus antithesis statements, he starts out by stating the law, the seventh commandment, “you shall not commit adultery.”

But then he takes it a step further, and expounds on what the intention of the law actually is. “if you even look at a women lustfully you have already committed adultery with her in your heart.” This is addressed to men, but you do understand that it applies to women as well.

When Jesus says “look”, he is not talking about a glance, he is talking about looking with you thought process working, looking in such a way that you are desiring that person.

Listen, this doesn’t just mean desiring for sexual purpose, maybe ladies you see the way another man treats his wife, maybe he opens the car door for her, and your husband is about as courteous as a telephone pole, and you “look” and you say to your self, “I wonder what it would be like if I were with him.”

Of course this means exactly what we think it means, when we as men look at another woman and wonder in our own minds what it would be like to be with that women.

That is the idea that Jesus is trying to convey in this passage. It is not okay to look. Many people have the mentality you can look but don’t touch, but Jesus is clearly teaching us it is not okay to even look.

II. Drastic Measures

Vs. 29 “If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.”

What you need to understand about this verse is that Jesus is not condoning self mutilation. Jesus is using hyperbole. He is using an exaggeration to get his point across.

In a nutshell what he is teaching, “whatever it is in your life that is causing you to sin, then you need to remove it.”

I want to talk about drastic measures, these measures can be applied in every area of our life.

1. Stay away from places that cause you to sin, if you have a drinking problem, then don’t go where there is drinking, if you have a gambling problem then don’t go to the casino, not even to eat. You have a sexual addiction problem, put barriers in place on you computer or on your television to make it harder on yourself to view anything promiscuous. If you can’t trust yourself to be alone with your boyfriend or girlfriend then don’t be.

2. Make a covenant with yourself not to look at or think about anything immorally. Job says in Job 31:1 “I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a girl.” Make a covenant with your eyes, then keep it.

3. Learn to take captive every thought. Resist the first thought, process the thought, and if it doesn’t line up with God’s word discard it.

4. Guard yourself at all times. Remember who the real enemy is, and he wants to devour you. Stay on guard, never let it down.