The Heart of the Matter – Adultery/Lust

1. Read: Matthew 5:27-32

2. About the Text:

1) Jesus is comparing and contrasting the traditions of the Pharisees with His teaching.

2) The Pharisees focused only on the letter of the law.

3) Jesus was looking not only at the letter, but the spirit of the law also.

4) Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 3:16, “who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.”

5) Jesus taught that we might understand God’s truths as they were intended to apply.

6) In this section of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus discusses the seventh commandment: “Thou shalt not commit adultery.”

7) Let’s look at what Jesus has to say about the problem of sexual lust and adultery.

3. Ref. to S, T, P, O, and A.

1. The Law of Moses said, “You shall not commit adultery” (Exodus 20:14).

1) The rabbis were only concerned about the legal requirements.

2) They agreed that extramarital sexual activity was adultery.

3) But they did not agree that divorce under any circumstances constituting adultery.

4) Some thought it did, and others thought it did not.

5) This was the source of the question asked of Jesus in Matthew 19:3, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason?”

2. Jesus redirected their thoughts away from the letter of the law and to the spirit.

1) Like murder, adultery is a problem of the heart.

2) It is a person’s lust that creates the situation.

3) “But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death” (James 1:14-15).

4) So, the solution to the problem of adultery is not the law, but the heart.

3. Christians must put lust away from their lives.

1) “Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy” (Romans 13:13).

2) “Now these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted” (1 Corinthians 10:6).

4. Is adultery of the heart the same as actual adultery.

1) It is not the same.

a. The act of adultery involves another person.

b. It is an act that goes beyond the mind and is instantiated in the world.

c. This does not mean adultery of the heart is not sinful; it is.

2) Why would Jesus say one has committed adultery?

a. He is speaking of a person’s identity.

b. If one practices unrestrained adultery within the mind, regardless of his external actions, he has established an identity before God as an adulterer.

c. God wants our identity to be in Him and His Son Jesus (Galatians 2:20).

1. Jesus gives some imperatives to prevent the deadly eternal consequences of lust and adultery.

1) The first has to do with the eye, representing the things that we see.

2) The second has to do with the hand, representing the things that we do.

3) These are to be brought under control and not allowed to control us.

4) “But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified” (1 Corinthians 9:27).

5) Self-control is one of the fruits of the spirit (Galatians 5:23) and Christian virtues (2 Peter 1:6).

2. Is Jesus talking about self-mutilation?

1) He is speaking in hyperbole – exaggeration for the sake of emphasis.

2) Do everything within your power to put the evil of lust and adultery away from you.

3) When one finds himself in hell for all eternity, one will have wished he had done so.

4) “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God” (Romans 6:12-13).

3. Jesus once again discusses the eternal place of punishment.

1) This is to be the main concern, not simply what other people think about us in this life.

2) The Pharisees were more concerned about appearances.

3) Jesus was more concerned about the person, their value, identity, and eternal destiny.

4) Nothing in this life is worth keeping compared to an eternity in hell.

1. Lust is the real problem.

2. One cannot avoid the problem through legal technicalities.

1) The Pharisees simply excused their sinful lusts with these technicalities.

2) They claimed that as long as one divorced and remarried, one was innocent.

3) Jesus is saying that this is not the case.

4) Compliance with law does not address the problem of the heart.

5) Moreover, one may use the law to rationalize one’s sin.

3. Indiscriminate divorce and remarriage does not remove the sin of adultery.

1) Unless one’s spouse is unfaithful, God expects married people to remain married.

2) “For the Lord God of Israel says That He hates divorce, For it covers one’s garment with violence, Says the Lord of hosts. Therefore take heed to your spirit, That you do not deal treacherously.” (Malachi 2:16).

3) Lust is no excuse for divorce and remarriage.

4) Those who practice such have done nothing more than rationalized adultery by virtue of legal technicalities.

4. God is the foundation of the marriage relationship, not lust.

1) His original plan for marriage is one man and one woman (Genesis 2).

2) Jesus reaffirmed this plan in Matthew 19.

3) Man’s desires do not change God’s purposes.

4) Malachi affirmed that God’s purpose for marriage was to produce godly seed.

5) “But did He not make them one, Having a remnant of the Spirit? And why one? He seeks godly offspring. Therefore take heed to your spirit, And let none deal treacherously with the wife of his youth” (Malachi 2:15).

6) Lust cannot fulfill these purposes.

7) Children will not be godly if marriage is not rooted in God.

1. The heart of the matter regarding adultery and lust …

1) Intentions – it isn’t just the physical act that is sinful, but the lust in the heart.

2) Imperatives – one must do everything possible to deal with the heart problem.

3) Implications – one may not use the law as an excuse to avoid the heart problems.

2. Invitation