Commands of Christ

Sermon # 6

Do Not Lust 

We are now in our sixth sermon in our series based on Christ’s Commands. The study itself is suggested by the words of Christ recorded as a part of the Great Commission in (Matt 28:20), “to teach all those things Which I have commanded you.”

But since three weeks has passed since the last sermon in this series perhaps we should review for a moment.

            The first command to “repent”  (Matt. 4:17) tells us how to restore fellowship with God and become qualified to enter his kingdom. The second command to “follow me” (Matt 4:29) calls for a total change in goals and priorities so that we can become “fishers of men.” The third command to “rejoice” in persecution (Matt. 5:12) is the secret of becoming bright lights so that people will be able attracted to our love and God’s truth. After passing the test of persecution, reproach and having evil spoken of us, we will have the brightness of light to be noticeable to others. Which brings us to the fourth command to “let your light so shine” (Matt. 5:16) which is the translation of a single Greek verb (lampsato) which is an imperative, meaning that it is a command.

The fifth command found in Matthew 5:24 was that we are commanded to “reconciled” this means “to change thoroughly” and it involves restoring a relationship that was broken.

        Now continuing on in the Sermon on the Mount the next command is found in verse twenty-seven through thirty. “You have heard that it was said to those of old, You shall not commit adultery: (27) 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.” 

What is the Scope of this Command?

    So what is the command in these verses and this may surprise and momentarily horrify you; the command is in verse twenty-nine, “If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you…” - THE COMMAND IS TO PLUCK IT OUT!! In fact the words translated “pluck out” (v. 29) and “cut off” (v. 30) are both imperative command’s in the Greek.

    The first question that comes to mind in connection with these command is obviously, “What did he mean by that?” On the surface this command is startling, “pluck out the offending eye.”  A few Christians down through the centuries, whose zeal out stripped their wisdom, have taken this command literally and have mutilated themselves.

The command to rid ourselves of the offending eye is an example of the Lord’s use of dramatic figures of speech. So what does this command really involve? Jesus teaching, “If your eyes causes you to sin because temptation comes to you through your eyes them, pluck them out, that is behave as if you have plucked them out and can no longer see that which is tempting you. In other words “don’t look!”

    One wonders if there has ever been a generation to which this teaching of Jesus were more needed or more obviously applicable than our own. Today there is a steady stream of sexual immorality pervading every avenue possible, from books, to movies, Internet, to Television; in fact it has been calculated that “88% of all sexual activity portrayed on prime-time TV occurs between people who are not married to each other.” [ Donald E. Wildmon. AFA Journal - July 1995]

 What Is the Setting Of This Command?

Just as a prohibition of murder included the angry thought and insulting word (Matt 5:22), so the prohibition of adultery included the lustful look and imagination.

The Pharisees gave a conveniently narrow definition of sexual sin and a conveniently broad definition of sexual purity.

    According to Old Testament law (Deut 24:1) divorce could be granted  ”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.”

        The crucial phrase was what constitutes “uncleaness.” By the time Jesus came on the scene this was the big debate, with conservatives saying, that uncleaness meant adultery or discovery that the woman was not a virgin at marriage. Others said that it meant she had made her husband unhappy in some ways. It could be that she couldn’t have children; that she not submissive, that she was a nag or burnt the dinner or just that found someone else that he preferred over her. Sounds very modern doesn’t it?

 What are the Applications to This Command?

Are there ways that we can safeguard ourselves from this sin?   

1.    Set A Standard on what you will allow into your Mind.

If the heart-adultery is the result of eye adultery (the eyes of the heart being stimulated by the eyes of the flesh), then the only way to deal with the problem is at its beginning, which is our eyes. Deeds of shame are preceded by fantasies of shame.

Everyone should consider having a filter put on their Internet service. Everyone should have a standard of what rating of video’s or movies you will watch. Everyone should be careful of what they read. 

2.    Don’t Even Start Up the Ladder of Affection with anyone Other than Your Mate.

“Can a man scoop a fire into his lap and not be burned? (28) Can he walk on hot coals and not blister his feet? (29) So it is with the man that sleeps with another man’s wife. He who embraces her will not go unpunished.”

If you are engaging involved in any stage of

expression of affection with anyone but your mate you are playing with fire.  Beware of “emotional adultery” – which is getting your emotional needs met by someone other than your mate. A counselor once defined adultery as “an attempt to find a little bit of paradise on the side, pursuing the belief that if one finds just the right … partner there will be instant happiness and everything will fall into place.. An affair is often able to fulfil this myth, until itself becomes a relationship that has to be worked at and looked at in the long term light…” [Denn Guptill. “Affair Proofing Your Marriage.” Sermon on (Matt 5:27-32) www.SermonsCentral.com] 

3.    Listen to Your Spouses Advice.

This one is especially for the men. God seems to have given women a special ability to identify a strange woman on her turf. When your wife tells you to watch out for a certain woman, don’t write it off as just jealousy. You had better listen. 

4.    Ladies You Have An Obligation to Dress Modesty.

Perhaps this would be an appropriate moment to refer in passing to the ways women dress. It is one thing to make yourself attractive and it is another to deliberately make yourself seductive. You women know the difference and so do we men. If lustful looking is so grievous a sin, then those who dress and expose themselves with the desire to be looked at and lusted after… are just as guilty.

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