The Letter and the Spirit: Adultery
Matthew 5:27-30
One of the most interesting stories in the Old Testament is that of Samson and Delilah.
It has been retold in Sunday School classes, in sermons and even in film.
The story captivates our imaginations, as it gives insight into just how far a man can be deceived when he is being driven by his lusts instead of his common sense and fidelity to God.
What many find so interesting about the story is that Samson is considered to be the strongest man in Hebrew history, at least physically.
He had the power to overcome the entire Philistine army by himself.
His might was without parallel among men.
Yet, he still fell.
Not by the sword of a more powerful soldier.
But rather by the lips of a deceiving woman.
It was Samson’s lust which ultimately lead this powerful man of God to his downfall.
And by that lust-induced fall he became the predecessor of many who would likely take a similar road toward their own failure.
The lust for the opposite sex has lead to the defrocking of pastors, the disbarring of judges, the removal of politicians and even the impeachment of a president.
It is clearly an issue which has been the thorn in the side of many men, and been the impetus for the destruction of many families..
Today, we are going to continue our study of the Sermon on the Mount.
So far, we have seen Christ begin to explain that there is more to the Law of God than the mere letter of it.
There is a spirit behind each of the laws.
In our text today, Jesus is going to show that simply keeping ourselves pure from the acts of sexual sin is not all that God requires of us... He also looks at the heart which covets ungodly sexual behavior as sinful as well.
Matthew 5:27-30
In this portion of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is examine the popular understandings of the Law of Moses and demonstrating that the leaders and teaches had often misinterpreted what the Law said.
As a result, the people were confused about how they were to behave.
They believed that as long as they had an external adherence to the letter of the Law, that what was in their hearts didn’t matter.
But Jesus condemns such teaching by showing that every law has an inherent foundation - a spirit - which must also be considered.
And often this “spirit of the law” changes how we seek to apply the law to our loves.
Last week, we saw how Jesus addressed murder.
The Law said, you shall not murder.
But Jesus said that the spirit of the law is that we should also not be unjustly angry and use words of abuse, because these too lead us to murderous feelings.
And the resulting application is that, instead of being angry, we should seek reconciliation in all of our relationships.
In our text today, Jesus addresses the subject of adultery.
The Letter of the Law - You shall not commit adultery
The Spirit of the Law - Lust is the root of sexual sin
The Application of the Law - Remove the things which feed your lusts
I. The Letter of the Law - You Shall Not Commit Adultery
Matthew 5:27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.”
The word translated “adultery” (Gr. moicheuo) and it means essentially the same in Greek as it does in English.
It comes from the root word “moichos”, which also can be used figuratively for an “apostate”, or one who has turned his back on his faith in God.
The person who commits adultery essentially is an “apostate” in their marriage relationship... they have turned their back on their vow of fidelity and traded it for sexual intimacy with someone else.
Now, why is this sin of adultery so important that it is named within the Decalogue?
Quite frankly because it is so very destructive and pervasive among people.
It’s destructive because it built on deception, creating barriers in relationships, heartache and trust issues, and opening doors for all kinds of damage personally, emotionally and even physically.
It’s pervasive because it is unfortunately so common among people.
It is a highly volatile sin; yet it is one that so many.
It is certain that the loss of sexual integrity has been the cause of many (if not the majority) of instances of apostasy in the history of the church.
I imagine we all know someone, if not many people, who have abandoned their fidelity to Christ in pursuit of fleshly satisfaction.
In fact, sexual indiscretion is so pervasive among people that the epistles address it with a great deal of specificity.
Ephesians 5:3-5 “But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. 4 Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. 5 For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.”
I Thessalonians 4:3-5 “For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; 4 that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, 5 not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God.”
1 Corinthians 6:13-20 “Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food”—and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. 14 And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power. 15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! 16 Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two will become one flesh.” 17 But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. 18 Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. 19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”
As we seen, the New Testament is replete with exhortations to guard ourselves from sexual sin; and the Old Testament is equally as exhortative...
Consider the words of Wisdom from Solomon...
Proverbs 5:1-6 “My son, be attentive to my wisdom; incline your ear to my understanding, 2 that you may keep discretion, and your lips may guard knowledge. 3 For the lips of a forbidden woman drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil, 4 but in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword. 5 Her feet go down to death; her steps follow the path to Sheol; 6 she does not ponder the path of life; her ways wander, and she does not know it.”
Throughout both testaments, there is warning, after warning, after warning in regard to the practice of sexual infidelity and indiscretion.
But there is a problem.
All of Jesus’s critics would have agreed that unlawful sexual acts were sinful.
Fornication and adultery were equally condemned by the scribes and pharisees.
This is seen in the way they treated the prostitutes of the day... as women not even worth touching (Remember: When one of them touched Jesus, they were offended by it).
Yet, though they taught that the Law commanded purity from fleshly participation in sexual misdeeds, they did not condemn the internal cause of external purity.... and that’s a huge exemption!
An EXTERNAL ADHERENCE to this commandment is not enough to maintain purity before God... So Jesus goes on to give...
II. The Spirit of the Law - Lust is the Root of Sexual Sin
Matthew 5:28 “28 But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”
There is something I want to point out about the verse before we continue:
Some people think this was a radical addition to the Law on the part of Jesus.
But the reality is that the statement of condemnation of Christ in regard to lust is nothing new!
It had simply been overlooked (or more likely purposefully ignored) by the Jewish leaders.
Lust is clearly condemned in the Old Testament.
The tenth commandment condemns the coveting of another man’s wife.
Exodus 20:17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.”
Likewise, in the prophecy of Jeremiah there is statement about the reason for judgment against the wickedness of the people of Israel, and noted among their wickedness is their lustfulness.
Jeremiah 5:7-9 “How can I pardon you? Your children have forsaken me and have sworn by those who are no gods. When I fed them to the full, they committed adultery and trooped to the houses of whores. 8 They were well-fed, lusty stallions, each neighing for his neighbor’s wife. 9 Shall I not punish them for these things? declares the LORD; and shall I not avenge myself on a nation such as this?”
So it is quite obvious that looking with “lustful intent” has been addressed as a sin by God even prior to these words of Jesus.
But, what does it mean to look with lustful intent?
Look (Gr. Blepon) is a present participle, denoting a continued look.
We would call it a “stare”.
This isn’t just a glance, or a passing notice of beauty, but a focused attention.
Woman (Gr. Gune) can refer to women in general or to a wife, since there is no ordinary word for wife in Greek.
As such, some have limited this to only those times when a man looks at another man’s wife.
However, this restriction on the text does not fit because even to look at an unmarried woman with lustful intent would be sinful because it would be desiring fornication or an illicit sexual encounter.
Lustful Intent (Gr. Epithymeo) to set the heart upon, long for. Covet, desire, lust.
QUOTE: B. Schwertely “Some have interpreted the expression “to lust after” as a strong, illicit desire coupled with the intent to carry out the physical act. While lusting after a woman can include the decision to actually commit the deed, lusting and fantasizing without a plan still involves adultery in the heart. The vast majority of men who are guilty of this sin are committing mental adultery, with absolutely no intention of attempting the physical offense.”
Best definition, Evangelist Ray Comfort: Mental Pornography.
QUESTION: What is NOT in view here?
(1) Jesus is not condemning thinking someone is “pretty”.
There is nothing wrong with seeing someone and considering that person to be beautiful.
It is possible to see beauty without it turning into lust.
Certainly Jesus could see beauty in people, and yet He never lusted after anyone.
(2) Neither is Christ condemning natural sexual desire.
The natural sexual desires which God has given to people is what helps us fulfill the command to “be fruitful and multiply.”
A man should have a healthy desire for his wife, and likewise the wife for her husband.
We see this beautifully described for us in the Song of Solomon.
Unfortunately, our culture does not try to feed the positive virtues of fidelity in marriage.
Instead, our culture glamorizes all sorts of illicit behavior in lieu of appropriate desire between a husband and a wife.
QUOTE: B. Schwertely “Our culture has degenerated to the point where this sin is celebrated in songs and movies. There are whole industries devoted to feeding this sin (e.g., the multi-billion dollar pornography industry). Unlawful sexual stimulation is used to sell everything from soup to beer to cars to shaving cream. Modern bathing suits are so skimpy and provocative that Christian men cannot go to the public beach or pool without immediately being confronted with many sexually stimulating sights. Many young woman today dress indecently, for the very purpose of causing men to lust after them. For men in particular, this is one of the most common and soul snaring sins around.”
We know that lust is a sin,
and yet opportunities for lust abound...
so what do we do?
III. The Application of the Law - We Need to Remove the Things Which Feed our Lusts
Matthew 5:29-30 “If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.”
Now, this is one of the most misunderstood passages in the Bible.
And it is one atheists love to attack, as they find it so foolish.
But, like many things, they find it foolish because of misunderstanding.
Certainly Jesus is saying something drastic about how we deal with sin, but He is not literally advocating self-mutilation.
I admit there have been some in church history who have taken this crassly literally.
Some in the early church even sought castration to avoid inappropriate sexual desires.
And though their level of commitment is amazing, I think their understanding of Christ was misguided.
It is obvious that Jesus is not advocating self-mutilation.
How do you know that pastor?
Because a man with one eye could still lust with the other. A man with one hand could still use it to sin. Even a blind man can lust in his heart!
The sin He is addressing is not the sin of the flesh... that is death with in the commandment against adultery.
He is dealing with a heart issue... an internal issue...
Cutting out an eye or cutting off a hand would not solve the internal issue.
What He is saying is that we have to identify those things in our lives that feed our urge to lust and get rid of them.
If can’t handle being at the beach without the bathing suits causing us to sin, we need to find a new place to go.
If we cannot have cable without engaging shows which entice our flesh, we need to have it removed or have the stations blocked.
If we cannot be responsible on the internet, we need get rid of it or set up accountability software.
Ultimately, we have to cut off the sources of our lusts.
This is what Paul means when He says...
Romans 13:14 “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.”
At this point, I was us to Consider a Biblical Illustration:
David and Bathsheba
2 Samuel 11:1-4 “In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel. And they ravaged the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem. 2 It happened, late one afternoon, when David arose from his couch and was walking on the roof of the king's house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful. 3 And David sent and inquired about the woman. And one said, “Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” 4 So David sent messengers and took her, and she came to him, and he lay with her. (Now she had been purifying herself from her uncleanness.) Then she returned to her house.”
This is one of the most infamous accounts of physical adultery in the Bible.
It results in a child being conceived, and a plot to hide the conception.
David tries to have Bethsheba’s husband believe the child is his by orchestrating a time for Uriah to lay with his wife, but Uriah’s love of his king and his fellow soldiers kept him from giving in to this comfort during a time of war.
As a result, David actually has him killed in battle, left to die by the very brothers-in-arms whom he loved.
He then goes on take Uriah’s widow as his wife.
Note: It is interesting that the Bible continues to identify her as “the wife of Uriah” even after his death and her marriage to David, as a perpetual reminder of this despicable act of adultery.
Now, most of us are familiar with this story.
It is one of those ones that encourages us regarding the truth of Scripture because the Bible does not hide the reality of its hero’s failures.
David failed in a very big way.
He stole a man’s wife; and worse, it was a man who was totally devoted to him as a soldier and a servant.
But the thing that is important, especially in regard to our subject today, was what started this who chain of events.
David did not simply wake up one morning and say, “Today, I plan to steal a man’s wife and then have him murdered!”
Such devilishness was not in David’s mind when he arose from his royal bed that day.
In fact, it probably would have been repugnant for him to consider such a thing.
However, when he saw Bathsheba, his heart was filled with lust for her, and that lust took control of him and he was lead away by it.
The man who the Bible describes as “a man after God’s own heart” had his heart stolen away and given over to his own fleshly lust.
Beloved, lust can lead us into areas where we never thought we could go.
What begins as a sinful activity of the eyes only can become so much worse.
Had David simply seen Bethsheba, and immediately turned away his eyes, perhaps the scene would have been very differently.
Yet, because of his unwillingness to “cut off” this sin at its root, he found himself eventually under a mountain of iniquity.
CONCLUSION: This teaching, like all of the Sermon on the Mount, should cause us to realize our complete dependence upon Christ.
Though most could say they have never formally committed an act of adultery, it is without doubt that all people - in particular all men - have been disobedient in this area.
The deeper we understand the requirements of the Law, the more we understand the absolute necessity to trust in Christ.
Only He has fulfilled the Law.
He never looked at any women with lustful intent; every thought He ever had regarding the women in His life was pure and holy.
He fulfilled the letter and the spirit of this law in every aspect of His life.
Thankfully, that obedience - that righteousness - is ours as a gift from Him. Where we have failed miserably, Christ has prevailed triumphantly.
This, of course, does not license us to continue to break His commands, but rather should inspire us toward conformation to His awesome example.
We should seek in every way to “cut off” those things in our life which give way to this area of lust, and seek to take every thought captive in obedience to Him (2 Corinthians 10:5).
Finally, I want to hearken back to something I said a few weeks ago as I draw to a close.
Christians are often accused of relaxing the Law of God, but the reality is that Christianity is the only understanding of Scripture which gives the Law its proper place.
We believe the Law must be fulfilled perfectly for a person to be in Heaven.
Have you kept the Law perfectly?
The issue of of lust is one place where I imagine we all understand our own failures.
If that is the case, if you know you have sinned against God in this area, why would you ever trust in your own righteousness?
If I asked you why you believer you are going to Heaven, what would you say?
Would you say you are a good person?
According to the standard of God’s law, you are not.
In fact, we are all wretched sinners in regard to God’s Law.
So what do you do?
Do you remain in your sins with a vain hope that God will go against His own righteousness and holiness and relax His Law on your behalf.
My friend, I guarantee, He will do no such thing.
So I encourage you, if you have never done so, to repent this day and trust Christ.
Only He fulfilled the Law.
Only He met all of God’s standards.
And only He offers the gift of His perfect righteousness to all who believe on Him.
The apostle Paul said that we have a righteousness which is not our own, but rather which comes from faith in Christ (Phil 3:9).
2 Corinthians 5:21 “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
If you have never done so, I urge you to fall on your knees and trust the Savior today.
Acts 4:12 “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
We are great sinners... But Christ is a greater Savior.
Call on Him today!
