It’s All Fun and Games Until Someone Loses An Eye- by Pastor Vern Hall
Matthew 5:29, Hebrews 11:23-26
Introduction:
Tonight as we look into these scriptures I want you to go with me on a journey. Just let your mind take a walk through your life and consider the sights and sounds of this dreadful disease called sin. We’ve all encountered it, we’ve all been effected and infected by it, and we all have seen its consequences. I see its results each day I go to work. It’s gripping the lives of the children I encounter…..children who should have responsible adults in their lives to care for them and guide them in the way, but instead they drift deeper and deeper into an existence which glorifies sin and portrays it as the fun and fashionable thing to do. And people are consistently reinforcing the glamorization of sin either directly or indirectly. As I look around this world we live in and I consider society’s stance on self-indulgence, fornication, excessive living, friends I think the Author of Hebrews was spot on accurate when he told the Hebrews in the Word of God, “There IS pleasure in sin for a season.” But my how we need an awakening in the Land! We need to be willing to sacrifice whatever aids these desires to cling to a sinful existence. When we get to the point where we are sincere enough about a relationship with Lord Jesus that we can say, “Lord whatever it is that is hindering my growth and my relationship with you, I’m willing to give up in order to enjoy more of you,” then we are truly getting sincere. After all, it’s all fun and game until someone loses an eye. Now I’ve heard several sermons preached on Matthew 5:29 and similar verses and they’ve always been about viewing pornography. But I’m going to go another way tonight and I desire your prayers because I’ve been swimming up rive all week in preparing for this message. There are few points I would like to bring out tonight as we consider this topic…..it’s all fun and game until someone loses an eye.
I. First of all, now I realize that Jesus was speaking to the Jews of the day who thought they were righteous, but here his stance on sin is made crystal clear to me. This is where I part company with the vast multitude of Bible commentators and theologians who state that Christ was speaking in hyperbole here. As I was studying for this message I read commentary after commentary where many writers were in agreement in saying that Jesus was using exaggeration here for a greater affect. Many times since Sunday as I read those commentaries and studied a multitude of theologians, Bro. Greg’s message from Sunday night resonated over and over in my mind, “Who are you? Who are you to part company and disagree with these intellectual minds? Who are you to part company with men who have given their entire lives to the study of the scriptures? Who are you to dare say they missed it?” But then I think about my Lord on the cross with a crown of thorns on his precious head, and a soldier’s spear in his side. He deemed sin to be so horrible that he died to pay that debt. Our sinless savior didn’t need to give an eye or a hand, he gave his whole life to kill sin. The Bible said that he came to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. For this cause came he into the world to destroy the works of the devil. Thank God, his blood made the atonement. But how serious is sin. We’ve got so many today kicking up their heels and loving their sinful lives, and it seems they don’t think very seriously of it. To them, it’s all fun and games, and to them I say it IS all fun and game until someone loses an eye!
A. Paul knew the gravity of a sinful existence. He said to the Colossians, “Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth.” It’s true that a line has been drawn. We need to be found on the side that opposes worldly impulses to the fullest extent.
B. There is too much soft line approach when it comes to sin today. So many today are using their liberty for a cloak of maliciousness. Sin has ravaged their lives. People dear to me are caught in the clutches of drugs and alcoholism. Some of you have family members who lead pitiful existences in this world today because of sin. And many will say that because they say they are saved and they have a man living on the inside that cannot sin, and that may be true. I don’t disagree with that, but I get sick of people that I care about flirting with sin and justifying sin. I get tired of folks wrecking their testimonies. It seems like a large part of humanity today is more interested in seeing how close they can get to sin and still have Jesus, instead seeing how close they can get to Jesus and far away they can get from sin. They say, “Well, I’ve prayed that if the Lord wants me to stop drinking that he’ll take the desire away.” Friend, the Bible commands us in Hebrews chapter 12 to “lay aside the weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us.” Friends, I realize that we draw our strength from God but too many people today are wasting too much time praying to God to take things away when His word tells US to lay them down!” You lay it down!
II. Now, I realize where the theologians and Bible commentators are coming from. I understand the point that they are trying to make when they say Jesus wasn’t speaking literally when he said pluck out your eye. I agree that Spiritual surgery IS definitely more important than physical surgery. You can pluck an eye, or even both eyes, and severe every limb you’ve got and not do anything to the heart. It is our hearts that are deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. To that I wholeheartedly agree. It’s true that it is not necessarily the limbs and the eyes that are fault, but it’s that evil desire that needs to be dealt with. It’s true……this is the root of the whole problem. It is also true that there have been some lunatics who have mutilated themselves because of these scriptures in mistaken efforts to pursue religion. They didn’t consider that there IS at least one problem with a literal interpretation of these verses and that’s the fact that a literal interpretation of these verses doesn’t always go far enough! Even if you did pluck out an eye or chop off a hand, you could still be left with sin in your heart. That is where we need to address sin first of all. But when Jesus says It is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell: he simply stresses the point that one must be willing to sacrifice to be obedient. I realize that he is speaking to jews here who thought they were righteous, but If part of our life is given over to sin, we must be convinced that it is more profitable for that part our life to "die" rather than to condemn our whole life. REGARDLESS OF WHAT IT COSTS! This is the one thing many are unwilling to do, and that is why they remain trapped in sin, or never come to Jesus. They never get beyond a vague wish to be better. So they would rather yield to sinful excesses and desires than to make the needed sacrifices necessary to come into a more perfect fellowship with Jesus.
But I want to say today that when we are willing to do whatever is necessary to lay aside that sin and step closer to God we will begin to know unspeakable pleasures that sin cannot offer. Sin offers pleasure for a season but thank God, at His right hand are pleasures forever more. You may be listening tonight and you’re playing those sinful games out there in the world, but when you see the gravity and dreadfulness of sin as it really is, it ought to drive you to the point of saying, “Lord it truly would be more profitable for me to sacrifice an eye than continue on this destructive path.” Your fun time with sin might come to an end once your sacrifices are made, after all, it IS all fun and games until someone loses an eye, but then what God has to offer is joy everlasting that never runs out!
III. This is how we are to deal with sin. We are to understand that sin is a violation of God’s Holiness. God will not tolerate sin. In the life of the unbeliever, sin ultimately leads to spiritual death. In the life of a believer, our relationship with God will be hindered if we do not deal with the sin issue. Now I know the judgment for our sin took place on Calvary. Effectiveness for God’s Kingdom is what we are talking about. One day we will be judged even as believers for the works that we have done here on earth. “ Therefore, we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body according to what he has done, whether good or bad.” (2 Cor 5:9-10.) I do not believe that the Bible teaches that we will be judged as believers because of our sins, because that judgment took place on the cross, Christ paid our sins. However, I do believe our effectiveness for Christ will be judged, and we must take very seriously the things in our lives that cause us to stumble before God. We are to give it our best as the statement of Jesus indicates in order to get out of our lives the things that cause us to fail. We need to recognize the things that cause us to fail, and address the root of the sin.
God would have you and me to be effective for his kingdom. As believers we are children of his kingdom and with rights come responsibility. God expects us to examine our lives to see and find the areas that cause us to stumble and then pluck those areas out. It is not enough for us to know that sin exist but we are to root the sin out. This can only be done by conforming our thought process to God’s standard which Philippians 4:8 so clearly defines for us. We are to understand that if we do not take this area in our lives seriously we run the risk of being disqualified in service to God. One day we as believers we will stand before the Judgment seat of Christ not to give an account our sins for they have been paid for, but rather to give account for our effectiveness for God’s kingdom in this life. We must seek to honor and glorify him with our lives and in doing so allow him to use us.
IV. Application:
We need to identify areas in our lives that cause us to stumble. As I prepared for this message today I examined my own life to find what areas had I not subjected to God. After prayerfully considering I determined there were things that God wished for me to pluck out. I would encourage you to do the same. This should be something that you spend time on as you prayerfully consider what God would have you to pluck out of your lives.
We need to captivate our thoughts to God’s standard. It is not enough to just identify the area of your life that causes you to stumble, but is vital that you plan a course of action to see that the sin is rooted out. In my own life I had to develop some steps that I would follow in order to see these habits become God conformed. Of course we must always remind ourselves of Philippians 4:8 as we focus our attention on changing our thought processes.
We must pursue an effective witness in our lives. For the believer who allows sin to be rooted in their lives, it will bring about a life of disappointment and discouragement. Paul tells us that we are sealed by the Holy Spirit thereby encouraging us in position with Christ. We also learn that we are indwelt with the Holy Spirit; he is working in our lives to make us more like Christ. If we do not deal with the sin issue than the believer will lose their effectiveness. However, if a person does not care about dealing with the sin issue, then the natural question that must be asked is, Are you really saved?
Conclusion:
Now we get back to the issue at hand. Why did Jesus say these words? It is apparent this is an admonition to withstand the first springs and occasions of evil desires by sacrificing what is most useful and dear to us. Jesus grounds his precept of the most rigid self denial on the consideration of the truest self interest. It would be more profitable for one to pluck out an eye and enter into life, than to have two eyes and be cast into hell. I just don’t think he’s exaggerating here. I’m sorry theologians. I’m sorry commentators. This preacher just can’t go along with it.
After all An eye plucked out will be restored in the resurrection, but many people have been destroyed by neglecting the mortification of one member.
People love sin because there is pleasure in it, but they need to realize that it is serious enough to merit the Lord giving these words. Be willing to sacrifice what is necessary to avoid sin in your life. There is pleasure in sin for a season, but see the gravity and seriousness of the issue. Consider what Jesus said. Take the necessary steps now to deal with sin, sacrifice whatever is necessary now before it gets to this point. While you still have two eyes, and are able to keep them. Now I’m not counseling you all to go out of here and pluck your eyes out, but I am saying don’t be so quick to downplay this serious admonition from our Lord. It’s all fun and games until someone loses any eye. Forget about the fun and games lifestyle of sin, and sacrifice it for more of God. You’ll be giving up temporal pleasures in those fun and games, but you’ll gaining pleasure forevermore.
