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The Twelfth Sunday After Trinity
Sermon on the Mount, Seventh Sermon
August 18, 2002
 
TEXT:  NKJ Matthew 5:27 " You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not commit adultery.' 28 "But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 "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. 30 "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.
 
Last week Jesus taught us about the proper understanding of the Fifth Commandment
 
This morning He will enlighten us as to the proper understanding of the Sixth Commandment—the Commandment prohibiting adultery
 
Let’s begin with a look at the Commandment as originally presented by God—and we will include the supporting verses that will help us to understand
 
NKJ Exodus 20:14 " You shall not commit adultery. 15 " You shall not steal. 16 " You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. 17 " You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's."
 
The Pharisees and the scribes interpreted this Commandment on adultery to be strictly a civil matter
 
God told the Jews that if a man and woman were caught in the act of adultery—they were both to be killed for the act
 
NKJ Deuteronomy 22:22 " If a man is found lying with a woman married to a husband, then both of them shall die -- the man that lay with the woman, and the woman; so you shall put away the evil from Israel.
 
Over the years the state of morality of the Jews deteriorated to the point that even the prophets were guilty of adultery
 
NKJ Jeremiah 23:14 Also I have seen a horrible thing in the prophets of Jerusalem: They commit adultery and walk in lies; They also strengthen the hands of evildoers, So that no one turns back from his wickedness. All of them are like Sodom to Me, And her inhabitants like Gomorrah. 15 "Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts concerning the prophets: 'Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, And make them drink the water of gall; For from the prophets of Jerusalem Profaneness has gone out into all the land.' "
 
The prophets and the teachers and leaders of the Jews justified their actions by confining the Sixth Commandment to being a civil law
 
The Pharisees and scribes even tested Jesus with the woman caught in the act of adultery
 
NKJ John 8:3 Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst, 4 they said to Him, "Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. 5 "Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?" 6 This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear. 7 So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, "He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first." 8 And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. 9 Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. 10 When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, "Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?" 11 She said, "No one, Lord." And Jesus said to her, "Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more."
 
Jesus forgave her sin—and instructed her to sin no more—that’s a lesson we must take away this morning
 
Adultery in the church has always been a problem
 
Luther speaks of condition of the church in his day as not being much better—the priests and church leaders were actually discussing whether it was a sin for a married man to have relations with a prostitute
 
Our world today has many religious leaders who have been caught in the act of adultery
 
Jesus’ teachings are clear—even to look upon a woman—or a man—with lustful eyes is a sin—as He tells us in our text
 
TEXT:  28 "But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 "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.
 
Jesus uses a similar example latter in Matthew’s Gospel
 
NKJ Matthew 18:7 "Woe to the world because of offenses! For offenses must come, but woe to that man by whom the offense comes! 8 "If your hand or foot causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you. It is better for you to enter into life lame or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet, to be cast into the everlasting fire. 9 "And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you. It is better for you to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes, to be cast into hell fire.
 
It seems like such a ridiculous example—but then—it makes Jesus’ point quite nicely
 
If you have an appetite for evil—either control your appetite to eliminate the problem of lusting at its source—pluck out your eye to eliminate the end result of lustful looking upon a person you are not married to
 
Jesus’ lesson is that adultery is a sin of the heart—and when we look upon another with a lustful heart—the sin has already taken place
 
You would be plucking out your eyes for nothing—notice the tense of the verb in the text
 
The sin took place in the heart—as many sins do
 
NKJ Matthew 15:19 "For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.
 
When Adam and Eve sinned—they brought upon all men from that day—a situation where we have to endure with the sinful of the world
 
            Just as there are weeds among the crops—there are evil people among God’s faithful
 
NKJ Genesis 3:18 Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, And you shall eat the herb of the field.
 
Paul taught us that we cannot let the world conform us to their ways
 
NKJ Romans 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
 
Paul also reminds us that sin lives within each of us—and he tells us how he has to struggle constantly to maintain a righteous path in his life
 
NKJ Romans 7:14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. 15 For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. 16 If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. 17 But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. 18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. 19 For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. 20 Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.
 
If Paul—who experienced the most dramatic conversion experience I know of—had difficulty avoiding sinful behavior—is any wonder that we might also have difficulty?
 
Applying all this to the teaching of our text—Jesus is saying that adultery enters our heart through the window of the eyes
 
TEXT: NKJ Matthew 5:31 " Furthermore it has been said, 'Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.' 32 "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.
 
The Jews treated adultery so lightly—that Jesus proceeds with a related discussion on divorce
 
The Jews of the day were pretty much doing what they wanted—they would sleep with women who were not their wives—and then marry them
 
They would divorce their wives—because they saw another woman they wanted instead
 
The Jews used and abused the Law concerning divorce to fit their selfish needs—let’s look at the Law
 
NKJ Deuteronomy 24:1 "When a man takes a wife and marries her, and it happens that she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some uncleanness in her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house, 2 "when she has departed from his house, and goes and becomes another man's wife, 3 "if the latter husband detests her and writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house, or if the latter husband dies who took her as his wife, 4 "then her former husband who divorced her must not take her back to be his wife after she has been defiled; for that is an abomination before the LORD, and you shall not bring sin on the land which the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance.
 
Jesus teaches more latter in the Gospel of St. Matthew—when He is questioned by the Jews
 
NKJ Matthew 19:3 The Pharisees also came to Him, testing Him, and saying to Him, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason?" 4 And He answered and said to them, "Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning 'made them male and female,' 5 "and said, 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'? 6 "So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate." 7 They said to Him, "Why then did Moses command to give a certificate of divorce, and to put her away?" 8 He said to them, "Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so.
 
A Christian wife or husband is surely a gift from God—marriage is to be taken very seriously—and the only reason for divorce is as the Law states—adultery
 
Paul further explains the proper interpretation of other circumstances of divorce
 
NKJ 1 Corinthians 7:13 And a woman who has a husband who does not believe, if he is willing to live with her, let her not divorce him. 14 For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband; otherwise your children would be unclean, but now they are holy. 15 But if the unbeliever departs, let him depart; a brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases. But God has called us to peace.
 
Love your spouse—treat him or her as a gift from God—because they are a gift—keep your heart right—and may the Lord bless your marriage
 
If any among you is contemplating marriage—it would be appropriate that we examine these Scripture verses again—and we certainly will