Jesus on Sin
Jeffery Anselmi / General
Jesus on_________ / Sin / Matthew 5:27–30
Jesus teaches us to avoid sin.
INTRODUCTION
• Sin, when you hear the word, what comes to your mind?
• Do you think the concept is old and outdated?
• Do you think it denotes anything that is fun?
• Do you see the word as restricting your freedom?
• Is sin something we need to take seriously in this day and age, or do we even need to think about it?
• Do we think we can ignore what God says concerning sin because our situation is so unique that God will change His mind and make special exemptions for us?
• Is sin such an outdated concept that we no longer have to take it seriously?
• The more important question for us today is what does God think of sin?
• Is it something that God blows off like it is no big deal, or does God see sin differently than we see sin?
• In our text today, in the Sermon on The Mount, Jesus will speak on adultery.
• In the Old Testament, adultery was understood to involve sexual relations between a man (married or single) and another man’s wife or a virgin engaged to be married to someone else (Lev 18:20; 20:10; Deut 22:22).
• The primary concern in the command against adultery was violating or defiling another man’s wife.
• This sin was punishable by death.
• Both the adulterous man and woman were viewed as guilty, and the punishment of death was prescribed for both (Lev. 20:10).
Leviticus 20:10 NET 2nd ed.
10 If a man commits adultery with his neighbor’s wife, both the adulterer and the adulteress must be put to death.
• I share this so we can understand what Jesus is speaking of.
• However, in today's message, we will use this specific teaching of Jesus to unveil how Jesus views sin.
• In the Sermon on The Mount, Jesus seeks to move His followers and us to a deeper level of commitment than the Old Testament required.
• We are speaking of the move from the eternal control of oneself to internal control.
• Jesus expected his followers to take responsibility for managing their sinful habits rather than relying on the elders or religious leaders to monitor them on their behalf. So he called people to a different set of standards.
• The people of the day were used to having external controls placed upon them, like, don’t lie, cheat, steal, among many other don’ts.
• Our society is getting so out of line that external controls control us more and more.
Big Idea of the Message: Jesus teaches us to avoid sin.
• Let’s turn to Matthew 5:27-30, we will begin with verses 27-28.
Matthew 5:27–28 (NET 2nd ed.)
27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’
28 But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to desire her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
SERMON
I. Guard your thoughts.
• Jesus uses the statement “YOU HAVE HEARD IT SAID,” which ties back to the Old Testament commands.
• When Jesus breaks this new line of thinking to His followers, it is a revolutionary thought.
• When one is externally controlled, as the Law of Moses did for the people, life was pretty straightforward; you either obey or do not obey.
• The external system was a pass/fail test.
• You either passed the test or failed the test.
• It did not matter why you failed; failure is failure.
• One could not explain away or make excuses for their failures.
• When you are externally controlled, you do not have to worry about your thoughts; you must obey.
• You can obey and have a terrible attitude about obeying so long as you are obedient.
• Regarding adultery, so long as you did not act hypothetically, you could lust all you could get away with.
• Some people would feel comfort in that system because there are no gray areas; nothing is up to interpretation.
• Here is a for instance.
• We allow children in public and many private schools to dress how they want.
• The supposedly are dress codes, but those seem to be pretty gray.
• When your kids have to wear uniforms to school, they do not have to think about what to wear, or some teacher is not put in a position to tell a young man or lady that their clothing doesn’t fit the school’s dress code.
• Then parents fight about whether the said outfit violated the school dress code.
• With uniforms, you are wearing the uniform, or you are not.
• There is no gray area because the uniform specifications are spelled out.
• When Jesus seeks to shift people from an external control system to an internal one, now what you think matters.
• Concerning adultery, not doing the act is not the standard, but even thinking about it is wrong.
• Think about this: if you do not desire another person, you will not commit adultery!
• Jesus tells us that if we look at a woman with lust, we have already committed the sin of adultery with her in his heart.
• Wow!
• Another way to translate this passage is to say that when a person looks so that he may lust or looks to stimulate his lust.
• This is not noticing another person but fixing your eyes and thoughts on them.
• You are playing out the deed in your mind.
• The word that we translate as “look” indicates a continued action. The word also denotes purpose.
• Lust is an over-mastering desire for something that is not ours.
• Jesus tells us that if we allow ourselves to be driven by an overmastering desire, then we have crossed the line.
• If we want to defeat sin, the battle is in the mind, and the mind is where we need to win the battle.
James 1:14–15 (NET 2nd ed.)
14 But each one is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desires.
15 Then when desire conceives, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is full grown, it gives birth to death.
• When are desires go unchecked, those desires will destroy us.
• How do we guard our minds and thoughts?
Psalm 119:11 (NET 2nd ed.)
11 In my heart I store up your words, so I might not sin against you.
• We keep the Word stored in our minds and hearts.
2 Corinthians 10:5 (NET 2nd ed.)
5 and every arrogant obstacle that is raised up against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive to make it obey Christ.
• We need to take our thoughts to Jesus!
• The standard that Jesus sets for us is not easy because there is a steady stream of immorality in everything from books to magazines, TV shows and commercials, movies, music, and the Internet.
• These streams are constantly calling for us to "look lustfully," as Jesus put it.
• We must guard our thoughts.
Philippians 4:8 (NET 2nd ed.)
8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is worthy of respect, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if something is excellent or praiseworthy, think about these things.
• Let’s turn to verse 29.
Matthew 5:29 (NET 2nd ed.)
29 If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away! It is better to lose one of your members than to have your whole body thrown into hell.
II. Guard your eyes.
• The eyes have been called the windows to the soul.
• The phrase “causes you to sin” means to cause to fall, but in the form used here (makes … sin), it was often used of the bait stick that springs the trap when an animal touches it.
• It can also speak of a stumbling block.
• Anything that morally or spiritually traps us, that causes us to fall into sin or to stay in sin, should be eliminated quickly and totally.
• Jesus tells us that if our eye causes us to sin. We are to tear it out!
• The “right eye” is considered more important of the two; it was considered more serviceable than the left, particularly in battle; if it is the cause of one’s stumbling, it must be destroyed.
• Jesus is not telling you to literally rip out your eye and later cut off your right hand; they are hyperboles and deliberate exaggerations to make a point.
• Jesus takes sin seriously.
• Many times, what we see leads to what we want.
• Look at the progression that happens with David.
2 Samuel 11:2–5 (NET 2nd ed.)
2 One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of his palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. Now this woman was very attractive.
3 So David sent someone to inquire about the woman. The messenger said, “Isn’t this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?”
4 David sent some messengers to get her. She came to him and he went to bed with her. (Now at that time she was in the process of purifying herself from her menstrual uncleanness.) Then she returned to her home.
5 The woman conceived and then sent word to David saying, “I’m pregnant.”
• David saw Bathsheba was attractive, he inquired about her, and then he sent for her.
• David was not at fault for seeing Bathsheba bathing. However, he could not help noticing her because she was in plain view as he walked on the palace roof.
• His sin was dwelling on the sight and willingly succumbing to the temptation. Instead, he could have looked away and put the experience out of his mind.
• The fact that he had her brought to his chambers and committed adultery with her expressed the immoral desire already in his heart.
• Job got it right in Job 31:1
Job 31:1 (NET 2nd ed.)
1 “I made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I entertain thoughts against a virgin?
• The images your eyes take in can last a lifetime, so we must guard what we see.
• Keep your eyes on Jesus; keep your thoughts on Jesus.
• When you are tempted to let that look linger, think of the person as a brother or sister.
• Jesus tells us to remove the thing that entraps us.
• Another way we can do that is to FLEE from sin.
• Jesus takes sin so seriously that He says we would be better off without the eye (or later hand) that would cause us to sin than to see the whole body end up in hell.
• Let’s turn to verse 30 for a final thought.
Matthew 5:30 (NET 2nd ed.)
30 If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away! It is better to lose one of your members than to have your whole body go into hell.
III. Guard your actions.
• A final area of our life we need to guard is our actions.
• Jesus employs the same hyperbole concerning the eyes when speaking of the right hand.
• This speaks of actually sinning.
• The good news is that guarding our actions becomes much easier if we guard our thoughts and our eyes!
• Aaron Ralston cut off his arm to survive a hiking accident in Utah’s Bluejohn Canyon.
• Ralston accidentally loosened an eight-hundred-pound rock in a narrow area, causing his hand and forearm to be hopelessly pinned beneath it.
• He remained there with little food and water for five days until he had to take the option of last resort.
• Search and rescue volunteer Rex Tanner says, “I think the number one thing is that he kept his head.
• Ralston is experienced in the backcountry, and that experience builds confidence.
• In an emergency situation, confidence builds a stable mental frame of mind” (quoted in Cliff Ransom, “Did Climber Have to Cut Off Arm to Save Life?,” National Geographic, July 23, 2003, https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/climber-ralston-amputate-arm-utah).
• (Of course, if Ralston had made wiser choices, to begin with—such as telling someone where he was going—he wouldn’t have had to resort to such an extreme solution.)
CONCLUSION
• Make good choices, don’t cut off your arm!
• Jesus takes sin seriously and expects his followers to do the same.
• Therefore, we must keep ourselves from the things that cause us to sin and help others avoid the things that cause them to stumble.
› Application Point: Jesus provides a hyperbolic illustration, telling us to avoid sin so strongly that we would rather cut off our sin-causing limb than risk sinning again.
