Western society is completely comfortable talking about sex. Most people think a lot about sex. Especially men. The Bible talks a lot about sex too.
Most preachers, however, do not like to talk about sex.
When preachers preach on the Sermon on the Mount, they talk about the Beatitudes. There are lots of blessings there! But Jesus quickly gets down to the nitty-gritty of what HE requires of US. He talks about things like lust. Preachers don’t talk so much about that.
There’s a website called Sermon Central which is a huge library of sermons. There are 1,500 sermons on the Beatitudes. But there are fewer than 300 sermons on the section of the Sermon on the Mount about lust.
Preachers may not like to talk about sex. But it’s a subject that must be talked about.
I’m going to divide this talk into four parts.
Perhaps an illustration will help.
Imagine this talk as the earth. At the centre of the earth is the inner core. Around that is the outer core. Around that is the mantle. And around that is the crust.
In my talk, the inner core is the physical act of adultery.
The outer core is a broader understanding of adultery. Adultery isn’t just the act. Adultery happens in our hearts.
Around that is the mantle. This is a set of attitudes that relate to adultery, that help us to deal with lust.
Outside all of that is the crust. The crust is Jesus’ teaching on how to apply God’s law.
So, let’s get started!
THE INNER CORE: THE PHYSICAL ACT OF ADULTERY
Jesus starts this section by saying, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’”
We know what adultery is. Or we think we do. Adultery is voluntary sex between a married person and another person who is not his or her spouse. When we hear the word adultery we probably think of the act of adultery.
Adultery is a serious issue. ‘You shall not commit adultery’ is one of the Ten Commandments! And the fact that Jesus is talking about it in the Sermon on the Mount means it must be important. But why is it so important? Why does God prohibit adultery?
God established marriage soon after he created the world. Marriage is a central part of his plan for human flourishing. In the Bible a marriage relationship is incredibly deep. Once a man and woman are joined together, they become ‘one flesh’. They’re a single entity! They function as a unit.
In fact, the marriage relationship is so deep that the Bible likens the relationship between Jesus and the church to a marriage between a man and a woman.
What happens when a person commits adultery? You might think that he or she has simply spent a night with someone else. What’s the big deal?
But by having a sexual relationship with someone else, the person has broken their marriage vows. They made a promise, a commitment, to their spouse. Now, they’ve broken it.
Marriage is based on promises the couple made to each other. With the promises broken, the relationship is broken. Jesus says that sexual immorality is the ONLY legitimate basis for divorce. Any other kind of unfaithfulness doesn’t count. So, adultery is a VERY serious matter.
THE OUTER CORE: ADULTERY IN OUR HEARTS
We’ve looked at the inner core, the act of adultery. Let’s turn now to the outer core, adultery in our heart.
Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”
What is Jesus saying? What do we notice?
I’d like us to notice three words especially. The word ‘lustful’. The word ‘heart’. And the word ‘his’.
Let me start with the word ‘his’.
Jesus says, ‘But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in HIS heart.’
Jesus finishes his sentence with, ‘in HIS heart.’ He’s addressing MEN! Maybe we men think, that’s not fair! Why is Jesus picking on us? I’ll come back to that.
Let’s go on to the word lustful. We’ve established that Jesus is talking to men. He’s talking about a man who looks at a woman with lustful intent. ‘Lustful intent’ means that the man is looking and thinking, I want to have sex with you.
The third word is heart. Jesus is saying that adultery doesn’t only happen in a bedroom. It can happen in a person’s heart.
OK, we’ve got the bare bones of what Jesus is saying. Let’s look a bit closer.
Why does Jesus pick on MEN?
The simple answer is that lust is an area of sin which particularly affects men. I am NOT saying that women can’t have sexually impure, lustful thoughts. But lust is much more of a problem for men than for women.
One statistic is enough to show this. The UK Ministry of Justice states that in the UK and Wales in 2019, 98% OF SEXUAL OFFENCES were committed by MEN. Wow!
What leads to those sexual offences? Sexual offences come from sexually impure thoughts. If 98% of sexual offences were committed by MEN then it’s clear that MEN are entertaining sexually impure thoughts much more than women.
Before we move on, I’d like to make another point. Jesus is a man and he’s speaking to men about an issue which needs to be spoken about. I, as a man, need to do the same. I need to speak to men on this subject. In fact, all Christian men need to speak up. Sexual offences against women is a huge issue all around the world.
Note that Jesus isn’t saying that lust LEADS to adultery. He’s saying that lust IS ITSELF adultery! He says, ‘…everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent HAS ALREADY COMMITTED ADULTERY with her in his heart.’
Jesus is talking about lust and adultery, not about sexual offences. But the two are related. Lust is a form of adultery. And lust leads to sexual violence.
Here’s the story of someone who found that was true.
There was a serial killer and rapist in the United States called Ted Bundy. He was caught and convicted and given the death sentence. The day before he was executed – this was in 1989 – he gave an interview to a pastor, James Dobson, who has a special interest in marriage and the family. Bundy told Dobson that his crimes started with pornography.
He said, ‘I would keep looking for more potent, more explicit, more graphic kinds of material. Until you reach a point where the pornography only goes so far ... where you begin to wonder if maybe actually doing it would give that which is beyond just reading it or looking at it.’
Bundy’s offences started with pornography. They started in his mind.
Thoughts are not harmless at all. We have to deal with sexually impure thoughts. If we do, we get off the road to adultery and we get off the road to even more unpleasant sexual offences. We – and I’m especially talking to men – MUST keep our thoughts under control.
THE MANTLE: MANAGING OUR THOUGHTS
We’ve looked at the outer core. Adultery happens in our hearts, in our thoughts. Thoughts are not at all harmless. A man can be unfaithful in his mind a long time before he is unfaithful in his acts.
We can’t just apply God’s commandment, ‘You shall not commit adultery’ to the act of adultery. That’s too late. Adultery starts with the lustful thought.
We need to apply God’s law as much to the initial thought as to the final act. In fact, if we apply God’s law to the initial thought then we won’t get anywhere near the final act.
Jesus knows it isn’t easy to control our thoughts and offers some advice. His advice won’t be easy to follow. But following it has a much better outcome than not following it.
Jesus says, ‘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. 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.’
Jesus does NOT mean that we should literally maim ourselves! He’s talking about dealing with things that lead us into sin. We need to cut them out, get rid of them.
Lots of people look at pornography on their computers. How can you cut that out? Our computers at home are set up so we can’t access pornographic websites. Some people buy pornographic magazines at a newsagent. If you go to a newsagent, don’t go near the shelves with those magazines.
What about films? Lots of films have explicit sexual content. So, don’t watch those kinds of films. Check what kind of film it is before you start to watch it.
What about going to the beach in the summer? We can’t avoid seeing a lot of flesh! If that causes lustful thoughts then, don’t go to the beach when it’s full of scantily-clad young women. Go another time.
You might think, ‘I have lustful thoughts and I can’t deal with them.’ Jesus is saying, ‘Yes, you can.’
We CAN take steps to control what we’re seeing and we need to take those steps. Perhaps we want to watch the movie with the titillating content. But Jesus says, ‘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’ [Matthew 5:29]. Being thrown into hell is NOT a good result. Saying no to the titillating movie is a much better option.
THE CRUST: GOD’S LAW
We’ve looked at the outer core: Jesus’ instructions on how to manage our thought lives. We now come to the mantle.
Jesus’ teaching on adultery is one of a set of five things Jesus talks about, all of which start with, ‘You have heard that it was said.’ At the start of this section, Jesus has talked about the law – God’s law, as recorded in the Old Testament. Jesus has said, about as clearly as it’s possible to say it, that God’s law stands. But not only does the Old Testament law stands, it stands to a degree that most people in his day never imagined.
This is Jesus’ big message. His teaching on murder and adultery and oaths and retaliation and love for enemies are all illustrations of that major, over-arching truth. We have to put God’s law into practice in our hearts and souls.
God has ALWAYS required that. Before he died, Moses expected that in the future the people of Israel would fall away from God. But he told them that if they returned to God and obeyed him in all that he commanded them … then Moses said, ‘WITH ALL YOUR HEART AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL’ … then God would restore their fortunes and have compassion on them [Deuteronomy 30:1-3].
In Jesus’ day, religious groups such as the scribes and Pharisees had forgotten that. They thought they could just observe God’s law at the minimum level. They kept the LETTER of the law but they didn’t keep the SPIRIT of the law. Their righteousness was skin-deep. It was external, not internal.
Jesus said that the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees wouldn’t get them to heaven.
He called his disciples to do what Moses said, to obey God in all that he commanded them, with all their heart and with all their soul.
Jesus’ instructions about adultery showed what he meant. It’s an example of putting God’s law into practice in our hearts.
We need to remember that it’s an example! Jesus is showing us the attitude we need to bring to ALL of God’s commandments.
At the end of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells his disciples, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord’, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” [Matthew 7:21].
As Christians we say – and often sing! – ‘Jesus is Lord’. ‘Jesus is Lord’ is the earliest Christian creed. It’s at the heart of our faith. But we have to make ‘Jesus is Lord’ a reality. And that has a whole lot to do with how we approach God’s commandments.
Talk given at Rosebery Park Baptist Church, Bournemouth, UK, 11th February 2024, 4 p.m. service.
