Eye Faithfulness - Matthew 5:27-28 Series

Matthew 5:27-30 "You have heard that it was said, 'Do not commit adultery.' 28 But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 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. 30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.

Introduction

Questions

Matthew 5:28 anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

What constitutes a lustful look? Is it adultery every time a man looks at an attractive woman and likes what he sees? If you see someone who is attractive, and you are attracted to them – is that adultery? We know it is not a sin to be tempted, and yet it is sin to have certain desires, so where do you cross the line into sin? Is it wrong to appreciate the beauty of a beautiful woman?

And what if you are not married or she is not married? Or what if she Is not even real – just an image on a piece of paper (or in your mind)? And why do we all still have both hands and eyes? Is it because none of us struggle with looking with lust?

The two “easiest” commands condemn us

We are studying verse by verse through the Sermon on the Mount and in this section Jesus is indicting the Pharisees and Scribes on six counts of inadequate righteousness, and the first two are from the Ten Commandments. And they are the two that most people naturally think of as the biggest ones– commandments # 6 and 7 – Thou shalt not murder and Thou shalt not commit adultery. Both are capital crimes in the Old Testament – they get the death sentence. And even in the world - almost everyone agrees those are two of the worst sins you can commit.

And not only do most people think those are some of the worst sins, but most people also think they are completely innocent of them. Very often people will use these two commandments as examples of their goodness and innocence. "I’m a good person. I never killed anyone; I never committed adultery…"

So Jesus takes two of the most wicked sins, the two we are so proud of ourselves for not committing, and indicts us on those very sins. He exposes the fact that all our innocence on the outside is a sham. He peals back the covering over our heart and exposes the truth – that inside our hearts the sins of murder and adultery are rampant. King Jesus extends the scepter of His awesome authority over our desires and motives and innermost thoughts and attitudes and inclinations. He regulates not just our sexual actions, but also the way we look with our eyes and the way we feel and what we want and even why we want it.

Internal righteousness

In the last section we saw that the sixth commandment not only forbids physical murder; it also forbids mouth murder and heart murder (being angry and calling names). And here Jesus is going to show us that the seventh commandment not only forbids physical adultery but also eye adultery and heart adultery (looking in order to lust). Adultery is a sin that is located in the heart, and it is carried out physically by the eyes.

What is it? Clinging to forbidden desire

What is the difference between godly enjoyment of beauty and sinful enjoyment of beauty?

But how, exactly? It is OK to look at a woman. And it is OK to look at a woman and regard her as attractive. You can do all that without committing any sin at all. But the moment you look in order to lust you have already committed adultery. So where is that line? If we cannot answer that question we will never have victory over this sin, because we do not even know what the sin is.

The word translated lust is the same word for “covet” in the tenth commandment. It refers to any forbidden desire – desire for something that God said you cannot have. It is a desire that resists and strains against God’s will. God says, “That’s not yours. You can’t have that – I don’t want you to have that.” And you respond by saying, “OK, I won’t take it” – but at the same time your soul is saying, “I don’t like this.” You have no plans to seize it or take possession of that forbidden thing, but your soul continues to cling to the idea of having it. In your heart there is not acceptance of God’s will. You do not embrace it and love it – you just kind of knuckle under it in a kind of grudging way. Physically you will not lay hold of that thing, but the arms of your soul are wrapped around that desire tightly, and will not let go.