Just like those Pharisees in John 8, we should probably all slink away from this place tonight without another word being spoken. There is not a man here who is not guilty, and who could honestly point his finger at anyone else. There is probably not a woman here who is not guilty as well, although I’m not an expert in that. I’m not referring to physical adultery, but of its spiritual and emotional counterpart. Perhaps I should refer to the physical aspect of this sin, but that was not Jesus’ intention or mine. Lurking in the shadows of adultery, are the sins of lust, covetousness and wishfulness. These are sins to be feared as much as physical fornication and adultery – perhaps even more.
Before we get to this scripture, since I cannot conscientiously avoid it, there is another aspect to introduction. I don’t know why, but the first three books of the New Testament are often called the “Synoptic Gospels.” The word “synoptic” refers to a general summary of something – in this case – of the life of Christ. Those three books recount many of the same events in Jesus’ life – three times. The fourth Gospel – the Gospel of John – contains some, but not all, of the same materials, and then it includes other things which are not mentioned by the “Synoptics.” Is there any significance in the fact that the “Synoptics” do not talk about this adulterous woman? Could it be that like those Pharisees, the whole subject was too delicate and difficult especially in the light of our scripture this evening? Could Matthew and Mark have skipped over the Adulterous Woman because they were spiritually guilty of the same sin – and they knew it? The next time that you accuse anyone of adultery, remember that you may be equally as guilty. Should we even dare bring that woman to Christ and accuse her? Remember that we stand before Christ in His omniscience and in His absolute holiness.
These four verses do not give a single person over ten or twelve any grounds to accuse anyone else of sin. But they do give us ample reason to accuse ourselves. Let’s think of these verses under four headings: exposition, admonition, solution and conclusion.
An EXPOSITION of the text.
When the Lord Jesus says, “Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery,” it is natural for us to think that this is a reference to the Ten Commandments. While this is true in part, notice that Christ doesn’t refer to the written word which those people had. Throughout this sermon, the Lord was referring to the Rabbis’ interpretations of the scriptures. It will be the Pharisees interpretation of divorce which the Lord will attack in the next few verses. And here it is their narrow, exact definition and application of “adultery” which Jesus addresses. At times this kind of precision is important, and at other times it is abused to the point of ridiculousness.
“Adultery” is the sin of immoral relations between people who are not married to each other. “Fornication” which may be the same sin physically, is committed between people who are not married. This scripture shows us that adultery is far more than the physical act, and the same can be said of fornication. They also include pornography, homosexuality, incest, sodomy – the whole gamut of sexual sin. Sometimes the word “adultery” is strictly restricted to one or two married people. But in other scriptures, I think that we would miss the point if we didn’t apply the principle to “fornication.” And these four verses are a perfect example of that. Not to include unmarried people in Jesus’ condemnation here, would be a sin on the part of the preacher. No one should be excluded from this message of the Lord Jesus.
“I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.” If that “whosoever” is married, then that looking and lusting is “adultery.” If that “whosoever” is unmarried, then technically, that looking and lusting is “fornication.” But for all intents and purposes, there is no difference between the two. They are interchangeable in this case.
Something to constantly remember throughout Christ Jesus’ comments on the Rabbis’ comments on the law is that Christ Jesus was the original author of those laws. He has the authority to expound and even to expand their meaning. No rabbi, and no pastor, has any right to either expand or to restrict what the Lord originally said – or what He says here.
With that in mind, our Saviour says that to lust after a woman is internal, emotional, spiritual adultery. What if neither that man nor that woman are married – then that sin is to be understood as fornication. Don’t say that this doesn’t apply to you, because you aren’t married – that is precisely the sort of thing that the Pharisees were doing – restricting the Lord’s intent. And while we’re at it don’t say that this only applies to men – women can be just as guilty. Don’t press the words so tightly that they loose all personal importance or impact.
But while I say that, make sure that you do look at each of those words in their given context. For example, “I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.” Am I mistaken in understanding Christ to say that not only is it adultery to lust, but it is adultery even look toward a woman with the intention of lust? Can not this mean, “Whosoever looketh on a woman (in order) to lust after her hath committed adultery or fornication with her already in his heart”?
As an illustration – at what point did David commit adultery with Bathsheba? It was not when he was casually walking around the roof garden of his palace in the cool of the evening. But it was before she was brought to his bed room. It was even before he began to leer across the distance between his house and hers. According to the words of Jesus, it may have been when he first saw her, and began to stare even before there was any desire aroused in his heart.
Was Bathsheba guilty of the same sin? Her sins were, at least initially, not the same as those of David, but at some point she was definitely in sin. To be washing herself in a place where she could have been seen by David or others, may have been silly; may have been stupid, and it may also have been deliberate sin. We don’t have enough information to say for sure about her intention. Without accusing women of actual adultery, they are still guilty of some sort of sin, when they dress, or undress, in order to be looked upon by men in this sort of way – they are complicit in the men’s sin. When women and girls dress and make-up themselves up in order to catch men’s eyes, they are encouraging adulterous thoughts and therefore are guilty of sin themselves.
After the Lord’s extrapolation of His original law, He gives two extreme examples of its seriousness. “For it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.” I will come back to verses 29 and 30 in a couple of minutes.
Let’s move on to the implied ADMONITION.
The Lord doesn’t need to tell Christian young people not to commit fornication. He doesn’t have to tell Christian young married people, or Christians married for thirty years, that they must not commit adultery. These things are fully understood and assumed, even though the temptations are real and sometimes hard to overcome. “Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” “The works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness” and so on.”
The Lord doesn’t need to admonish the Pharisees about these things, because they should have know them. But that to lust, and to even think about lusting after someone else, this is an important admonition. It is important because it is not so obvious. We have to be reminded; we must be told – don’t do it. We should know not to put our hand behind a rock from which we hear the rattle of a Diamondback snake. But what about taking a 50 gallon aquarium and transforming it into a terrarium into which we put a couple of rattlesnakes? We are completely safe with nice thick glass between us and a snake which could kill us. Oh, what a beautiful creature – the way it moves, its colors, its very different eyes – entrancing. Just having that thing in your house is an invitation to disaster – if not to you, then to someone else. And if that snake escapes and strikes someone – you should be held responsible for that man’s death. You are as guilty as if you held it up to that man’s throat and urged the snake to strike.
Isn’t it interesting that Jesus doesn’t bring up the 10th Commandment here in this context? Isn’t it interesting that the Pharisees, can see the sin of the 6th commandment, but not the sin of the 10th? “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s.” I can understand coveting someone’s nice house, when we live in a shack. That covetousness ought to be condemned, but at least I can understand it. And I can understand the sin of coveting a man’s car – his transportation – his horse or his ass. The sins here are obvious. But the sin of coveting the neighbor’s wife, or husband is a sin of a different variety. Apparently the Pharisees could understand and condemn the adultery, but not the coveting.
Thou shalt not commit adultery, and thou shalt not covet, because in coveting the neighbor’s wife, the sinner has already committed adultery. Just as hatred is to be considered as the act of murder, lust should be considered the act of adultery. Don’t lust, because in the sight of God it is equivalent to the actual sin.
Is there a SOLUTION for this problem?
“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.” If I passed slips of paper around this evening, asking everyone to truthfully, and anonymously, declare whether they had ever been guilty of lust, I would guess that the vast majority would say that they had. And if we did the same among the Lord’s first disciples, I’d guess that we’d get nearly the same percentage of positive answers. And yet, as far as we know there was not a single one-handed, or one-eyed disciple or apostle. The reason is that the Lord Jesus was not suggesting this as an actual solution to the problem. I have over the years, read several dozen commentaries and sermons on this passage of scripture. Not one of them ever suggested that Jesus was telling us to pluck out our eyes or cut off our hands.
The reason for not plucking out our lustful eyes should be obvious. A man born blind and having never seen a beautiful woman can still be filled with sinful lust. A twenty-five year old man, who falls off a horse, breaking his neck and becoming a quadriplegic, may still be guilty of the sin Christ is condemning. Having hands or no hands is not going to stop the sins which the heart commits.
I agree with those many commentaries which say that Christ Jesus was only trying to point out the very, very serious nature of those roving eyes and lustful hearts. If it were possible to stop the sin by cutting off the hand, then that drastic step would be worth the loss. But cutting off the hand or plucking out the eye will not stop the covetous, lusting heart.
What is the easy solution to sins like these? There is NO easy solution, or if there was this room would be filled with one-eyed cycopses. The solution is not easy, but there are steps which we can take. Turn to Galatians 5:19 – “Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.” Notice that Paul repeats what the Lord Jesus says, “they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.” “It is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.” What can be done about these works of the flesh? Do you have any help for us Paul? Look at verse 16 – “This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.”
How does one walk in the Spirit? First of all it must be a deliberate choice on our part. “Get thee behind me Satan. I will not listen to you. I want to do the will of my Saviour.” This kind of person wakes up each morning renewing his covenant with Christ to eschew evil and to practice righteousness. And throughout the day, he returns to God’s throne of grace – not as a victor – but as a potential victim, asking the Lord for more strength and more spirituality vitality. Walking in the Spirit requires a walking in the Word of God which the Holy Spirit has given to us. It means knowing God’s Word, and praying over God’s Word. It means a willingness to learn, implement and live God’s Word. And walking in the Spirit means a never-ending stream of admissions of weakness and defeats. It entails constant repentance with humility and faith.
The old Patriarch Job makes a statement which directly relates to Matthew 5. We should picture Job as one of God’s Old Testament heros. As such you might expect that he never had the same problems that we have today. Think again. He was far from perfect, but in his striving to be what the Lord wanted him to be, he has much to teach us. Listen to what he said in the first verse of chapter 31 – “I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid?”
How can I deal with this problem of “looking on a woman to lust after her”? Walk in the Spirit and make a covenant with yourself. Be very, very careful about making vows. Never promise God something that you cannot keep, and this may be something difficult to keep. But why not make a promise to yourself that with God’s grace and strength, you will not willingly sin with your eyes. When the temptation comes along, remind yourself of that personal covenant – that promise. Pray once again, even if it is the seventy-seventh time that day, “Lord help me.” And on those occasions when you’ve sinned again, don’t pluck your eye out, or cut off your hand. Remember that it is really a sin of your heart, not your eye. Start over afresh at that moment – reaffirming that personal covenant. It’s one hour at a time, one day at a time, one month and so on.
God give us the victory.
This leaves us with one more point – the cataclysmic CONCLUSION.
“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.” The Christian, that one saved by the sovereign grace and power of God, cannot be cast into hell. There are no sins and no number of sins, which can defeat the Lord’s choice and decree to save you.
Well, then what is the Lord saying in this verse? First, like the rest of these verses, He is pointing out the absolute seriousness and deadliness of sin. The hideousness of the largest, or even the smallest of sins, cannot be overemphasized. If by cutting off your heel, your hand, or your head, you could guarantee salvation, then it would be worth the sacrifice. But those kinds of sacrifices only illustrate the seriousness of sin, and cannot make atonement for them. We are Christians not Mormons or Muslims.
Listen to the Lord Jesus’ wider definition, and remember, implementing it at every necessary moment – “Thou shalt not commit adultery.” If and when you do, because the likelihood is great, remember to bring your filthy heart back to the Lord for re-cleansing and forgiveness.