Are You an Adulterer?
Matthew 5:27-30
(Sorry that the Video and audio recordings are not the quality that we usually have, but we have posted them to be helpful anyway).
In our verse-by-verse exposition of the Gospel of Matthew we are presently in the middle of Jesus’ teaching in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). As I told you at the very onset of this sermon, the theme of the sermon is the Kingdom of Heaven or the Kingdom of God. The recipients for the sermon are the disciples of Jesus.
He began with the beatitudes in Matthew 5:3-12—eight characteristics of a disciple of Jesus, of a kingdom citizen—eight qualities that we found are impossible to possess perfectly apart from the grace of God. Then in Matthew 5:13-16, Jesus gave two kingdom expectations of His disciples as they live in this world: to be salt and light, preserving the world from corruption and shining the light of truth to expose sin and bring the message of salvation. Again, we saw that apart from the grace of God we could never be the salt and light that we should be.
Because His teaching went against the grain of their current religious establishment, some may have thought Jesus was against the law of Moses. So, He makes it clear that He did not come to destroy the law or the prophets, but to fulfill them (Matthew 5:17). The main point of this section of the sermon is righteousness. Jesus had told His disciples that, “. . . unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 5:20). And then, He proceeds to explain the true intention of the law that the scribes and Pharisees had thought that they had kept. The teachers of the law had been giving the people a strictly external, “letter of the law,” interpretation of the commandments. If you had done what the law said in a strictly literal sense, they said, then you had ‘kept’ the law. And yet, they had missed entirely the true ‘spirit’ of the law that had been intended by the God who first gave it.
We saw last time that Jesus began by dealing with the commandment against murder. They though they had kept the sixth commandment simply because they hadn’t taken anyone’s physical life. But Jesus demonstrates that they broke the true spirit of that commandment each time they held on to their anger against someone, or insulted someone, or held someone in contempt.
Throughout the rest of this chapter, Jesus demonstrates the contrast between a true righteousness based on the “spirit” of the law, and a superficial righteousness based on the mere “letter” of the law. And He calls His disciples to a higher standard of righteousness than cannot be obtained by merely conforming to the outward “letter” of the law. Last time the issue was murder, this time it is adultery.
Let’s look at Jesus’ words in this morning’s passage, and consider some of the principles it teaches us. First, we see an important truth about sexual immorality . . .
1. Immorality begins in the heart (Matt. 5:27-28)[1]
Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery’ . . .” And taking those words at face value, strictly in terms of the superficial letter of the law, the scribes and Pharisees were able to say, “I’ve never committed ‘adultery’; therefore, I am righteous.” Apparently they hadn’t considered the seventh commandment in the light of the tenth. The tenth commandment, the one that forbids “coveting,” says that, “You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife . . .” Even if a man doesn’t actually touch his neighbors wife; if he gazes at her and wishes he could, or fantasizes what it would be like to do so, he is breaking the tenth commandment. Now Jesus says that he’s breaking the seventh commandment also—one in letter and one in spirit!
Jesus says that “adultery in the heart” is as serious a sin before God as “adultery in act”. And you can’t get off the hook just because you are not married either. Hebrews 13:4 says, “Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge.” (Heb. 13:4). The word “fornicators” includes all kinds of sexual immorality. So, we should understand that “fornication in the heart” is also as serious a sin in God’s sight as “fornication in act”. Whatever else we may think, the true intention of the seventh commandment is that the condition of our heart before God be pure and undefiled by thoughts of sexual immorality.
Listen to how Jesus teaches this. First, He corrects what the people had been taught by the teachers: “But I say to you . . .” Just as in Matthew 5:22, His words are emphatic; and can be translated, “But I myself say to you . . .” He is exercising His divine authority to correct the erroneous interpretation that those teachers of the law had passed on to the people.
Then, He says, “But I say to you that whoever . . .” The word “whoever“, in the original language, is in the masculine gender; and would naturally suggest that He is speaking to men. Men are most often inclined to sin with the eyes in this way, and are very often the instigators in acts of sexual immorality. But I believe it would be wrong for women to ignore the implications of His words. The implication of verse 32 is that Jesus is obviously concerned to instruct both women and men in His teaching. In that verse, He says, “But I say to you that whoever divorces his wife for any reason except sexual immorality causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a woman who is divorced commits adultery.” We will deal with the issue of divorce and remarriage next time. But for now, just understand this point: Jesus, in this morning’s passage isn’t thinking only of sin in the hearts of men, but also of women as well.
The man of God must guard his heart from the sin of hidden lust; but so also must the woman of God. If it is sinful for a man to “look” with lust in his heart, it is just as sinful for a woman to provoke that look. In Proverbs 6:23-25, Solomon warns the young man of God to carefully follow God’s instructions; which were useful “to keep you from the evil woman, from the flattering tongue of a seductress. Do not lust after her beauty in your heart, nor let her allure you with her eyelids.” Solomon describes the downfall of a young man who ends up in the arms of another man’s wife; “With her enticing speech she caused him to yield, with her flattering lips she seduced him” (Prov. 7:21).
Dear men and women of Christ; we all need to be holy in this area, don’t we? And we shouldn’t think that it doesn’t happen in church. The words of Paul in 2 Thessalonians 4 need to be applied to both men and women in the household of God; so that we keep from causing one another to stumble:
. . . This is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel (that is, one’s body) in sanctification and honor, not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God; that no one should take advantage of and defraud his brother in this matter, because the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also forewarned you and testified. For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness (2 Thess. 4:3-7).
We should love each other in Christ so much—and more importantly, love Christ who has called us together in holiness—that we would never do or say anything to take advantage of each other; that we would never dress or act in any way that would inflame lust in another believer. Jesus will say in Matthew 18,
6 “But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea. 7 Woe to the world because of offenses! For offenses must come, but woe to that man by whom the offense comes!” (Matt. 18:6-7).
Ladies, don’t suppose God would condemn a man for looking lustfully at your body but hold you innocent for trying to show it to him. But men, just the same, you cannot blame your lust on any woman, on how she dresses or acts. For if you were not already an adulterer in your heart, her seduction would not have appealed to you.
Jesus said, “. . . Whoever looks at a woman . . .” The Greek word for “looks” is one that is a present tense participle, suggesting that Jesus isn’t speaking merely of a passing, accidental glance. Rather, He is speaking of a lingering habit of “gazing”. The intention is shown in the phrase, “to lust for her . . .” (or literally, “in order to lust for her”). He’s describing someone who looks at a woman specifically in order to desire her or lust for her. The word for “lust” means to have a desire for, to long for, or to lust after. The word does not necessarily carry a sexual connotation. It simply refers to desire.
Do you realize that most affairs don’t begin with two people desiring to have sex with each other? Most affairs begin much more innocently than that. Oh, they may find each other physically attractive, but it goes beyond that. It stems from the desires of our hearts. The adulterer will think things like, “I wish my wife was as friendly as she is”; “I wish my husband was as attentive as he is”; “I wish my wife was as graceful as she is”; “I wish my husband listened to me like he does.” It may have nothing to do with sex initially, just a desire for the other person. That is where adultery begins.
Now obviously, we shouldn’t take this further than Jesus meant it to be taken. Jesus isn’t speaking of the accidental look. To have our eyes fall upon an attractive person, and to innocently recognize them as “attractive”, is natural. There is nothing wrong with appreciating beauty when we see it. It’s what we do with that initial look that makes the difference. A heart that is pure will turn its eyes away and say something like, “Thank you for making attractive people, God. Please help me to honor that person by preserving their beauty in holiness for their own spouse.”
But an adulterous heart will continue to stare and ‘gaze’ with desire and lust. That kind of gaze is designed by God only to be enjoyed between a husband and a wife. And it doesn’t matter if that ‘gaze’ is close-up in person, whether it is from across a room, or on a screen or a magazine page. Sexual immorality is found in the heart and is fed by the senses, by the eyes.
Jesus says that whoever so looks at a woman to lust for her “has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” By the time the gaze had begun, the adultery in the heart was already going on. The “look” is simply an outward expression of the sin that is already present in the heart. In Matthew 15:19, Jesus said, “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornication, thefts, false witness, blasphemies . . .” All of this underscores the point that sexual immorality begins in the heart; and that it is always a displeasing thing to God and a dangerous thing to us. How desperately evil our hearts are! How much in need of God’s grace we are!
Now, we may be prone to disregard the importance of adultery of the heart. We may be inclined to suppose that having ‘affairs’ in our hearts is no big deal, just so long as we don’t have them in actual experience. But clearly, Jesus is teaching us otherwise. Or, on the other hand, we may be tempted to think, “Well, I’m guilty of mental adultery so I might as well just follow through.” How foolish! You may be guilty of mental adultery, but it at that point it is an adultery that does not defile two people but only one. It does not produce illegitimate children, and it does not destroy others.
James says, “14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. 15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.” (James 1:14-15). If you allow that desire to brew, it’s headed to full blown adultery. Stop it!!” That is the next point that Jesus makes. Cut it out! Pluck it out! Stop it! Do not go there![2]
2. Repentance from immorality requires drastic action (Matt. 5:29-30)
Jesus teaches, “If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell” (Matt. 5:29-30).
Jesus here teaches us how seriously we’re to treat this sin and how drastically we are to remove it. Jesus’ words are hard to swallow. Is Jesus really advocating self-mutilation here?
I can confidently answer “No,” even though His words are pretty straight forward. The reason I can answer “No” is because of what Jesus just taught. Where does sin begin? Where does sin reside? In your heart. The real problem is the lust in our hearts. If you truly wanted to remove the sin of lust from your life, cutting off your hand or gouging out your eye would not do it. It would just make you a blind, maimed adulterer because the adultery is really in your heart. Instead, you would have to cut open your chest and remove your sinful heart. Our eyes and our hands don’t cause adultery, our sinful hearts do. Jesus is clearly speaking figuratively.
He speaks of our “right eye” as our most precious eye; and He speaks of our “right hand” as our most precious hand. He doesn’t speak of our left eye or our left hand; but only of the eye and hand that, traditionally, people consider most valuable. And the reason is because He’s giving us a principle: the sin of lust is so dangerous to our soul that we must take whatever drastic measures are necessary to rid ourselves of it – even if it means losing something very precious to us.
For example, if we struggle with lust from images that we find on the internet, we must get rid of our access to it. Yes, it would be hard to get in our world today without internet access; but hell is even harder than life without a computer or smart phone. If certain television shows keep causing us to stumble in sexual sin, get rid of it. It’s hard to get by without a television; but again, it’s not as hard as hell is. If certain friendships cause us to stumble, we need to sever them. If certain places cause us to stumble in lust, we need to keep away from them. We must sever anything from our lives, no matter how precious or convenient, that causes us to stumble in sexual sin. Those who have received God’s gift of salvation through Jesus Christ, will progressively sever themselves from things that cause them to sin. Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote: “No sacrifice is too great if it enables us to conquer a lust which cuts us off from Jesus.”[3]
Joseph from the book of Genesis is a positive example of this. Remember that he had been sold by his jealous brothers into slavery; and he was taken to Egypt and purchased by Potiphar, an officer of the Pharaoh and a captain of his guard. Joseph found favor in Potiphar’s eyes as a man of integrity; and so, he was given the task of managing all of Potiphar’s household (Gen. 39:4). But he had also become the object of immoral desire in the eyes of Potiphar’s adulterous wife. The Bible tells us that she “cast longing eyes on” him (Gen. 39:7). Day after day, she kept speaking to him and saying, “Lie with me”. But Joseph, in his integrity before God and his master, refused her saying, “How can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” (Gen. 39:9). He steadfastly refused to heed her offers; nor would he even allow himself to be with her (Gen. 39:10).
One day she arranged for all the house to be empty of everyone else. When he went into the house to do his work, she caught him by his garment and said, “Lie with me.” But he left the coat and ran out of the house. He, as Paul would say it, fled immorality.
You know the rest of the story. Potiphar’s humiliated wife concocted a lie about Joseph; and as a result of his refusal to sin, Joseph spent two years in prison. It was better to be thrown in prison than to sin against God. Eventually, as you know, God rewarded Joseph’s faithfulness.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, may God help us also to take drastic measures to keep ourselves from the soul-damning sin of adultery – whether it be adultery in action, or adultery in the heart. In the words of Paul, we must “put to death” whatever causes us to sin. Paul wrote to the Colossians: “Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them” (Col. 3:5-7). He wrote to the Ephesians, “But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints” (Eph. 5:3).
So why does Jesus give this graphic illustration of gouging out your right eye or cutting off your right hand? Because He is trying to make sure that you don’t just pass your guilt as an adulterer off as no big deal. We might begin to think that since everyone sometimes has lustful thoughts in their heart, that I’m not so bad after all. But Jesus wants us to deal drastically with sin.
Twice in these verses, Jesus tells us that the consequence of allowing sin to remain in our hearts is “for your whole body to be cast into hell” (Matt. 5:29, 30). He tells us that it would be better to gouge out our eye or cut off our hand than to go with both hands and eyes to hell. Revelation 21:8 says, “But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 6, “9 Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, 10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.” (1 Cor. 6:9-10).
Paul’s point, and Jesus’ point, is not to show that committing these sins will make someone lose their salvation and will send them to hell. Rather, Jesus is teaching that a persistence in the sin of adultery as a lifestyle habit, whether in act or in the heart, is manifest proof that such a person is not even saved in the first place. Paul shows that it is not just adultery, but all these ongoing sins. How serious it is to hold on to such sins! How dangerous it is to not repent! Persistence in doing so damns us to hell.
But praise God that there’s also hope for anyone who ceases to hold on to those sins and turns to Christ. Even after describing such a horrible list of sins, Paul goes on to say to the believers there in Corinth, “And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Cor. 6:11). The Corinthians had been adulterers, but they are not anymore. They are no longer called sinners, but saints (1 Cor. 1:2). How? By being washed, sanctified, justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.
This is the beauty of trusting Jesus. We are born again by the Holy Spirit. God makes us new creations. All our sins are forgiven. We have a new heart and a new spirit. We will increasingly desire to live a life that is pleasing to our Lord who rescued us from hell. So, if you are saved, rejoice in what Jesus has done for you and strive daily to walk in His righteousness. Deal drastically with sin in the heart before it takes hold of your body.
But if you have never submitted your life Christ, then realize what you are and why you need Jesus. You are a sinner, and you need a Savior. You have no hope, no power in yourself, to rid yourself of the sin in your heart. Get honest with God about the condition of your heart and find the only answer in Jesus Christ who died for your sins and was raised from the dead so that you could be made right with God.
Jesus is the only One who can make you righteous in the sight of God. He is the only One who can wash you, sanctify you, and justify you. He is the only One who can allow you to escape the sentence of hell. He is the only One who can grant your entrance into heaven.
[1] Greg Allen, https://www.bethanybible.org/archive/2004/101004.htm Copyright © 2004 Bethany Bible Church, All Rights Reserved. Used by permission on web site. I adapted Allen’s outline and drew from some of his points in this sermon.
[2] Bob Deffinbaugh, https://bible.org/seriespage/avoiding-sin-adultery-matthew-527-30
[3] Bonhoeffer, Dietrich, The Cost of Discipleship. P. 148. Quoted by Ray Fowler, http://www.rayfowler.org/sermons/matthew/how-to-ruin-your-love-life/
