The Sinfulness of Sin

Matthew 5:27

INTRODUCTION

A. The Teaching of Our Savior

In the fifth chapter of Matthew, our Lord answered the question in the forefront of the minds of the people who had seen His miracles and heard His teaching: "Was this miracle worker the Messiah who would bring God's Kingdom?" There were certain elements in the teaching and ministry of Jesus that made them think He might be the One. They also wanted to know what the standards were for His Kingdom, and whether or not they conformed to the law of God and the teaching of Moses. Therefore, Jesus summarized His message to them in Matthew 5:17-20 with the following words: "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets; I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no way pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever, therefore, shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven; but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say unto you that except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven." In other words, He was saying, "I am the Messiah and My message is the same message that Moses gave you...not any different. I will not change or destroy it, because I came to fulfill it. However, the standards for My Kingdom must exceed the standards that you are now living by."

1. Reestablishing the Standard

Now, there was the basic standard that Jesus gave. He required a righteousness beyond that of the scribes and Pharisees, who supposedly were the most righteous people in the Jewish society. Jesus was demanding more than they asked, but not more than Moses asked. The standard of the law demanded more than even the most seemingly righteous Jews were giving. Consequently, this was a difficult statement for the Jews to understand. It did not make sense to them how He could accept the law and still require a higher righteousness than that of the scribes and Pharisees, who appeared as though they lived the law of Moses to the hilt. For this reason, the question in the minds of the people was, "If You believe in the law of Moses, how can You require a greater standard than the scribes and Pharisees who teach us that law?"

Though the scribes and the Pharisees sat in the seat of Moses, claiming to be the proponents of the law of Moses, in reality, they themselves had lowered the law of Moses to their own design and, as a result, were not even keeping that which God originally intended. This is why Jesus comes to lift the standard back to where it was in the beginning. In doing this, Jesus gives His listeners several illustrations of how the religious leaders and the people fell short on every aspect of God's absolute standard. He wants them to see that the people were not living up to God's standard, which they had lowered, and so He must raise it back to where it really should be. In effect, what He does here is to destroy any system of self- righteousness.

God, Created in the Image of Man

What man tends to do is this: If he doesn't want to come God's way, he creates his own god as well as a compatible religious system so that he can say, "This is what is required. Therefore, this is what I'll accomplish so that I can be justified." Man drags the law of God down to something he can do, does it, and then convinces himself he's okay. A typical response today to the question, "What are you going to do when you die?" would be, "Well, I hope I'm going to heaven on the basis that I am a pretty good guy. God certainly will take me to heaven." In other words, man invents the kind of god he wants with the kind of standards he can keep so he can consider himself righteous. But what we can say to a person like that today is, "That's not the way it is. The standard of God is too high...you can't keep it." This is exactly what Jesus is saying.

2. Rebuking the Self-Righteous

The scribes and the Pharisees invented a standard lower than the divine one, figured out how they could keep it, and kept it the best they could, convincing themselves they were righteous. But Jesus says, "Not on your life! Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and the Pharisees, you'll never enter into My Kingdom. Rather than violating the law of Moses, in terms of adding to it or changing it, I am simply reiterating where Moses put it in the beginning. Let's get it back where it belongs!" So Jesus reestablishes God's original standard so that He might destroy the people's false sense of security in their own self-righteousness. Contrasting the righteousness they thought they had with the true, divine standard, He literally strips all men and women stark naked spiritually speaking, before God, until they realize that they have no claim of self-righteousness left. Let's see how He does this by briefly looking at the illustration in verses 27 to 30:

a. The Proclamation of the Illustration

"Ye have heard that it was said by them of old, Thou shalt not commit adultery; But I say unto you that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart" (vv. 27-28). In other words, Jesus is saying, "Your tradition taught you by the scribes and Pharisees says that if you just don't commit adultery, you are righteous. But that standard is too low...let's put it back where God intended it. God never was solely concerned about the act, but rather primarily the attitude behind it."

Then, in verses 29-30, Jesus gives them a hyperbolic solution for meeting the divine standard: "And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee; for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee; for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell." In other words, you are a lot better off to cut off your arm or to pluck out your eye if it leads you to sin, which includes not simply what you do, but also what you feel and think in your heart.

b. The Purpose of the Illustration

With this second illustration of adultery, Jesus is confronting the self-righteous, saying, "You can't say that because you didn't actually carry out the sin, that you are all right, for if you ever thought it, you have committed it in God's eyes. If you ever lusted, desiring to commit this sin, then you are a sinner who cannot claim to be righteous. It is no different than if you were angry with your brother: Even though you didn't actually murder him, you still would be guilty."

Now, whereas His illustration in verses 21-22 dealt with the Sixth Commandment, the illustration in verses 27-28 deals with the Seventh Commandment, their underlying principles being the sacredness of life, and the sacredness of marriage, respectively. Using these two illustrations, Jesus says, "You are not righteous before God if you've ever been angry or if you've ever thought of committing adultery." He is trying to show them how really sinful they are, no matter what their outside behavior may be.

c. The Power of the Illustration

Anger and sex are two very powerful elements that really reach deep down into human experience. They aptly illustrate the sinfulness of man, cutting to the very core of the issue. We've all experienced the common temptations of anger and lust, which reach deep into the basic sinfulness of man. And those Jews who were sitting on the hillside in Galilee hearing the Lord Jesus Christ confront them about the anger and lust in their hearts, would have to admit by virtue of their own consciences that they were indeed sinners. The fact that they never killed anybody or committed the act of adultery didn't exonerate them from the sinfulness which reigned in their hearts. Jesus wants to go right to the heart of man and show them that no matter what they have or haven't done, they can't fit into His Kingdom, thereby exhibiting God's unattainable standard.

Are sexual temptations worse in our society?

The fact that Jesus says that anybody who looks on a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart, is a tremendous statement to somebody living in our society today, when the temptations are so vast. Temptation has always been around...it didn't matter whether a woman was covered from head to foot in a long robe and a veil, the temptation would still be there. There have always been those things which the devil would use to generate lust and which the flesh would pounce upon to initiate the temptation. However, it seems to me that in the day in which we live, the temptations are so much more rampant and so much more visible around us, because of the virtueless society that we live in.

B. The Trends of Our Society

1. The Evaluation of Its Sexual Preoccupation

I believe that sex in marriage, in the beauty of which God has designed it, was meant to be a very personal discovery--not something plastered all over billboards and taught in classes and presented in books. I think it's something very private, special, and unique. The fact that we incessantly teach and talk about sex only serves to elicit evil responses out of the hearts of evil men and evil women. It doesn't do anything to help the situation. For example, we find explicit sex seminars and books. There are people constantly preaching on the subject, advocating this and that. I have even heard the strangest kind of counseling coming from men of God that boggles my mind. I heard one man who is a minister saying that couples ought to take a shower together before they get married so that they will know what they're getting into. That kind of counsel is just exactly the thing that Jesus is saying is so wrong and is nothing more than a manifestation of sinfulness. I don't think ever in the history of the western world since the death of Greek and Roman paganism have we seen the unbridled indulgence of sexual passion so encouraged and so elicited and so praised as we do today. You might be interested to know that the American Civil Liberties Union, which takes up all kinds of civil rights causes, was seeking to remove restrictions on X-rated movies so that children can attend them.

It won't be long until you're going to have to take your television and put your foot through it, frankly. Mass media lures with sex to sell its products and glamorizes illicit pleasure. Sex crimes are at an all-time high. Divorce, infidelity, and perversion are being praised and are subjects for humor in our society. The "pleasure first" philosophy of hedonism is rampant and in full force. Monogamous marriage is threatened, and marital fidelity is ridiculed and mocked. We could cite numerous examples of the decline of morality in our society, but that is not necessary, because you can clearly see its effects all around you. I even have to avoid looking at a magazine rack, because I don't even want to bombard my mind with what is there on the cover, let alone on the inside.

A new morality has been espoused by church men such as Bishop Robinson in England and such philosophers as Joseph Fletcher and Harvey Cox with their situation ethics, which basically says that right is relative, and whatever feels good you ought to do as long as it doesn't hurt anybody else. Our whole society is so preoccupied with sex that it's just beyond belief. An illustration by C.S. Lewis shows how ludicrous it is: He says that you can get a large audience together for a strip-tease act--that is, to watch a girl undress on a stage. And if that doesn't indicate how warped our view of sex and womanhood is, imagine if you went to a country where you could fill a theater by bringing in a covered plate on the stage and then slowly lifting the cover so as to let everyone see, just before the lights went out, that it contained a mutton chop or a piece of bacon. Wouldn't you think that something had gone wrong with their appetite for food? Should we not think that it's just as ridiculous for our society to be so infatuated with somebody taking off their clothes? The playboy philosophy is nothing but a mutton chop mentality--it's a perversion. Hugh Hefner comes along and says that we shouldn't get all upset about sex, because it's only "a biological necessity like eating, drinking and sleeping." That kind of philosophy is not new, though, because it comes right out of Greek and Roman paganism.

2. The Evaluatoin from a Scriptural Perspective

a. The Perversions of Sex Condemned (1 Cor. 6:13-18)

1) The Explanation of Paul

The Apostle Paul reiterates that philosophy as he confronts the Corinthians about their preoccupation with the wrong perspective of sex. Essentially, they were saying, "Foods for the body, and the body for foods..." (v. 13a). In other words, the Corinthians used this proverbial response to prove that sex is only a biological thing, like eating, sleeping, or drinking. However, Paul responds to their indifference, saying, "...but God shall destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body" (v. 13). Because the body belongs to God, you can't just give it over to indulgence and say, "It's only biology." That's the mutton chop- playboy philosophy. Continuing his rebuke, Paul says, "Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? Shall I, then, take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid. What? Know ye not that he who is joined to an harlot is one body?...But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit" (vv. 15-16a, 17). In other words, if you enter into an adulterous situation, you join the Lord to that sin. There are spiritual implications with what the Christian does with his body. This is why Paul so adamantly says in verse 18, "Flee fornication... [Gk. porneia = `evil sexual behavior']."

2) The Effects of Perversion

The view that sex is only a biological urge and you need to live it up and enjoy the present regardless of the consequences is the logical result of situation ethics: "Don't be restrained and inhibited--live it up with whoever you want. It's just biology anyway." That philosophy is drowning our society in a sea of sexual perversion. It has bombarded us with a barrage of propaganda that is shattering families and ruining individual lives, by destroying the capability of an individual to do what is right unless he has completely committed himself to Jesus Christ. Relationships have been replaced with perversions, concern with concupiscence, and love with lechery. That's the way it is in our society.

On the other hand, whenever you talk about sex, you not only have the people who sit up in their chair because it's their favorite subject, you also have the people who grab their Bible and head for the door. The latter are considered rather prudish because they hold the Victorian view, which goes to the opposite extreme of saying that sex is shameful and less than holy. Such a reactionary view has been practiced in the present as well as in the past. But that's not the answer either. You can't go to the extreme of saying that sex is purely a biological function, and you can't go to the other extreme and say that castration will solve the problem. One is just as much a perversion as the other, because God has wonderfully designed sex as a part of human life.

b. The Purpose of Sex Confirmed (1 Cor. 7:3-5)

The Apostle Paul discusses God's design of a physical relationship, saying, "Let the husband render unto the wife her due; and likewise also, the wife unto the husband. The wife hath not power of her own body, but the husband; and likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body, but the wife. Defraud ye not [or `stop depriving'] one the other, except it be with consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again, that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency [or `lack of self control']." In other words, he says that you have every right and responsibility to give your body to your husband or wife in the fulfillment of sexual desire.

God has designed the physical relationship and has sanctified and blessed it, as is apparent from the Song of Solomon, which describes the beauty of human love in a marital situation. So it is that sex is pure and right, but our world has made a mutton chop mentality out of it. It has been degenerated into a twisted, jaded, and lecherous perversion that appeals to the hearts of sinful, evil men.

Now, as we come to this passage in Matthew 5:27-32, we need to recognize that it is a very fitting word for the society in which we live. Let us discover what it is teaching about...

I. THE STANDARD OF GOD'S LAW

A. Lowered by the Jews

Now the Pharisees had their own viewpoint about not committing adultery: They felt that because they didn't do it they were righteous; they thought they'd go right into the Kingdom and have the chief seats. Maybe you're like that. Maybe you say to yourself, "I'm not so bad. I've never actually gone out on my wife and committed adultery." But Jesus says if you ever look on a woman to lust after her you've done it in your heart, and that's enough to damn you to hell forever. That is the implication of verses 29-30. Your self-confidence is shattered here, because the external system of law is unable to meet God's standard, which takes your attitude into account.

Jesus wants to show His listeners that they can't help themselves, in spite of the fact that they can control their actions. They could avoid committing adultery, but they couldn't do anything with the inside about which they were essentially powerless to change. This realization should have driven them in desperation to seek God, who alone can change the heart. They desperately wanted to believe they were okay, but Jesus shows them they weren't.

Now, because the standard of God's law had been lowered by the Jews, it had to be...

B. Lifted Back Up by Jesus

Notice the contrast between the beginning of verses 27 and 28: "Ye have heard...but I say...." This same formula is used in verses 21 and 22, 31 and 32, 33 and 34, 38 and 39, and 43 and 44. It points to the Jews' misunderstanding of God's law, which Jesus addressed in this fashion: "You have heard from the rabbis, who interpreted the law; but I'm telling you the truth of the law--the standard you have is not right, nor is it sufficient. Your teachers of tradition have reduced the law of God to a simple external, and consequently, they haven't given you the whole story. They have told you that if you don't commit adultery, then you're okay; but I'm telling you there's more to this than just that. You have merely invented a system that you can live up to and then convinced yourself that you are righteous."

The self-righteous who were listening to Jesus teach could avoid committing adultery, but they couldn't do anything about their secret life. They had missed the whole point of the Old Testament, where God had said, "Thou shalt not commit adultery" (Ex. 20:14). And when God gave any other precept in the Old Testament, He was talking about far more than the deed itself, which is what Jesus wants them to understand. Let me show you what I mean by discussing...

II. THE SUMMARY OF GOD'S LAW

The basic revelation of God's message to man came through Moses in the form of the Pentateuch, which essentially is the core of the Old Testament. The Prophets and the Writings that follow the Mosaic writings are simply explanations, commentaries, or elaborations of what is contained in the law of Moses. Many times as you read through the Prophets, you find the various prophets indicting the people because they had failed to keep the law of Moses. It is the Pentateuch that sets the pace and contains, as it were, the gospel of God given through Moses. The rest of the Old Testament elaborates on that law of God laid down through Moses. God revealed His basic requirements through Moses, elaborated on them in the Prophets and the Writings, and consummated them in Jesus Christ, who came not to change anything, but to clear up the issue that the law of Moses hadn't changed.

Now, the essence of the law of Moses is...

A. Expressed in Deuteronomy

In Deuteronomy, the fifth and last of the five books of Moses, we have a summary of the law of God. I believe that Deuteronomy is the most important book in the Old Testament. It was the reiteration of the law (hence, its Greek name which means "second law") given by God to Israel as the nation was about to enter and take possession of the land He had promised them. It served as a summarization of all the standards for living in God's Kingdom. The centrality of the book of Deuteronomy is supported by the facts that the Ten Commandments are repeated in the fifth chapter, and that Jesus and the New Testament writers quoted this book more than any other from the Old Testament. This critical book is the summarization of the entire Old Testament, because essentially all that follows it comments upon the Pentateuch, of which Deuteronomy is the key. In fact, I believe that the summary of the entire Bible is contained in Deuteronomy, which stresses the importance of...

1. The Relationship of Love

a. Emphasized

Deuteronomy 6:5 says, "And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might." That principle, which is the pinnacle of the whole Bible, is complemented with a secondary principle also conveyed in Deuteronomy, though more explicitly stated in Leviticus 19:18: "...thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself...." Now there you have the consummation of all of God's truth. Jesus verified this when He said, "Thou shalt love the Lord, thy God, with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets" (Mt. 22:37-40).

b. Explained

The Old Testament is not building a relationship on law; it is building a relationship on love. So many people do not understand this. They think the Old Testament economy was an economy of law--it is not. It is an economy of love. It is a relationship that God is after. Love is the key to a relationship with God, which is made clear all throughout Deuteronomy, where God continues to say, "I want you to love Me. I want a wholehearted commitment of true devotion."

Besides the re