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Amen. Such a good time this morning. At this time, we're going to dismiss our kindergarten through
second grade to head to kids' ministry, and so Ms. Dawn and Ms. Stephanie are back there at the
back, so you guys can make the way back there. Well, if you have your Bibles, and I hope you do,
I want to invite you to join me in Matthew chapter 5 this morning. If you do not have a Bible, we do
have some free Bibles that we would like to give to you as a gift from us to you. They're located at
our connections table, and so you can feel free to go back there and grab one of those. And then also,
I'd like to remind you guys about the Lord's Supper that we will be partaking at the end of
the service. And so, as we prepare our time in the Word, would you join me in prayer?
God, I thank you for this time and what a privilege it is to open up your Word this morning.
God, I pray that you would speak this morning, Lord, that it would not be my words, my thoughts,
my opinions, but it would be your truth that comes forward. And so, Lord, any part of this that is me,
remove it from my mouth. And God, I pray that if anyone here does not know Jesus Christ
as their Lord and Savior, that word today would be the day of their salvation. And it's in Jesus' name
we pray. Amen. Amen. Well, we are in Matthew chapter 5. We're going to start here in just a moment in
verse 27 as we read about in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus' words as he teaches about lust.
Now, Jesus has been doing some heart surgery as he's begun in the Sermon on the Mount.
The purpose of the Sermon on the Mount is Jesus is teaching about the kingdom. He's already called to
repent. And what he's saying is these are the characteristics of those who are in the kingdom
that Jesus is the king. And so he's going to begin to speak into not simply the actions that are at
fault, but the true heart of the matter. And only how Jesus can do, he is exposing, not publicly for
everyone to know at this point, but he's exposing privately of challenging at the core of the
individual, the matter and the issue that needs to be dealt with. There were people who wanted to fake
their love and fake their obedience for God. And Jesus says, well, I'm going to expose you by
dealing with who you really are. I realized a few years ago that I was getting old. Not that I was
getting older. We're all getting older. But that I'm getting old. Because I say things now like,
you know, back when I was your age, I began to say things like, that's just a little bit too loud.
And I really like to be in bed before the sun goes down. A few years ago, we were sitting at our
at the table, at our kitchen table having a meal. And we were talking to our kids just in general about
school. And one of them asked the question, what school was like when we were there? And so back
before electricity, we began to tell the stories that happened at the one-room schoolhouse.
I told a story, I said, I said, things were just different back then. Right? Y'all know that.
Like, those of us who were alive during the 80s, like, well done that any of us made it, you know?
And I said, you know, like right now, like right now in school, like, parents or grandparents,
you get this, like every day for our kids or grandkids is progress report day. I remember there
was eight days when I was in school that I was terrified of. Four progress report days and four
report card days. Because I knew on those eight days, something was being taken away. Something
was going to be taken away from me. And so, but now, like, you can get online, right? Oh, like,
we can, we can check. Like, right now. In fact, I can get on PowerSchool. Let me do that.
Let me throw them up on the screen. Just kidding. Just kidding.
We can get them right now and check their grades and check their attendance and see if there's any
special notes and all the things that are there. But other than that, like, their grades are private.
That was the conversation we had. Because I think I had to ask, like, they had taken a test and I
said, well, how did other people do in your class? And they're like, we don't really know how people
did in our class. Like, that's kind of a private. That's between the teacher and us and then the
teacher and you. Like, are you kidding me? Like, when I was growing up, I remember taking a test
test and you're done. You're supposed to turn it over. And when everybody was done and it was turned
over, you had to pass it to the person to the right of you. And the teacher would call out the answers
and they would grade your paper. And then they would hand it back to you. And as a student who
necessarily didn't apply themselves, that was a terrifying moment for me. Right? Or I remember
we'd go up and the teacher would have to show us the grades and the grade book. And so she would take
a piece of paper to block off the names that were under ours, but not the names that were above ours.
And so for Bradbury, I got to see what Christopher Alleman's grades were, but Christopher Alleman was a
genius. But my buddy, Patrick Zier, got to laugh at the rest of the class as he saw what we made,
which made him feel better about his grades. You see, the issue was, for me, even though I was a student
who didn't apply myself, I didn't want people to know that about me. Even in middle school, I remember
wanting to set myself as something different than what I really was. But yet, all it took
was that spelling test to be handed to Sammy Crawford. And Sammy didn't know that you could really misspell
words like that. Right? Jesus is dealing with a heart issue. He's exposing people, not in a way of got you,
but exposing to them of who they are. That it's not their works and their concept of self-righteousness
that's going to get them to heaven. In fact, what he's shared with them earlier in verse 20,
he says, you can't, you can't clean up all the acts, but there's still the heart of the matter
that we have to deal with. So in Matthew 5, he begins to give a list of topics from anger to lust to
divorce to oaths that challenge not just what we do, but who we are. So would you join me? I'm going to
read chapter 5, read verses 27 all the way through 30. Jesus says,
you have heard that it was said you shall not commit adultery,
but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery
in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away.
For it is better that you lose one of your members than your whole body be thrown into hell.
And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away.
For it is better that you lose one of your members than your whole body go into hell.
So Jesus comes in, in all of these. Like with anger, he says, listen, it's not just that you
don't murder. It's that you're not to have a heart of anger. But when anger does come in,
you forgive. But it doesn't even end just there. It's a call to reconciliation.
Over the next couple of weeks, what we're going to try to connect and thread through
in the narrative that Jesus has given us about lust and divorce, what Jesus is doing,
what Jesus is going to emphasize is the importance of God-designed marriage.
Of this is what it looks like. This is who I belong to because I belong to him.
But then on that day in that small country church in Jackson, South Carolina,
when I pledged my love and devotion to my wife, I became hers and she became mine.
And there's a beautiful picture that the gospel is painting when two people become one.
In Christ, in marriage.
And so we have to deal with the hearts that try to pull away from God's intent and God's design.
And so the first that we're going to see of this is the seriousness of sexual sin.
If you're here this morning and you're thinking, this isn't me.
If you're thinking, I don't have to worry about this.
I've got this under control.
I've got this figured out.
That's a struggle of a different gender or a different age.
I do want to read to you.
I read this quote this week from a pastor who passed away within the last year, a godly man by the name of Votie Bachman.
And here's what he said.
The wisest man in the Bible fell into sexual sin.
The strongest man in the Bible fell into sexual sin.
The godliest man in the Bible fell into sexual sin.
For me to think I'm above falling into this sin is to think that I'm wiser than Solomon, stronger than Samson, and godlier than King David.
The words that Jesus is going to give us of what we're going to see in verse 29 and 30 is dealing with the severity, the seriousness of this.
He's like, if you don't deal with it, what's going to happen is cast into hell.
So look back at me, verse 27 and 28.
You have heard that it was said, you shall not commit adultery.
Jesus is quoting the law, I believe, the seventh commandment.
But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
The Bible deals severely when it comes to matters of adultery.
In the Old Testament law, oftentimes it was punishable as a capital crime.
The seriousness of this.
And Jesus says, once again, he raises the call from do not do this physical act to the intent of the heart to where you have what he describes as lustful intent.
If you'll turn with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 6.
Paul, in dealing with this sin specifically within the church, remember this first word, okay?
Flee.
From sexual immorality.
Every other sin a person commits is outside the body.
Like, focus on these words.
Listen to these words.
But the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.
Or do you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit within you from whom you have God?
You are not your own, for you were bought with a price.
So glorify God in your body.
You see, the context of this sin deals beyond the physical.
It deals with the spiritual, the emotional, and the mental destruction that happens and takes place in the physical body of a person.
Because in Christ, we are not our own.
We are not our own.
We belong to God.
And specifically, we belong to God, as Paul tells us, and that the Spirit of God lives in us.
Did you not know that you're the temple of the living God?
The Spirit of God lives in you and I through the power of our profession of faith in Christ.
For personal sanctification matters.
But God lives through us as well.
For the work of the gospel as we go, as we share in obedience.
God wants to use you and I in our spirit, in our physical nature of who we are,
of the work that is happening in us, of the work that happens through us.
And Jesus, early on, deals with the devastating factor of this.
So we see the seriousness of it.
But then Jesus gives us a strategy over this sin as well.
The strategy over the sin.
What was the word that I told you to remember in 1 Corinthians 6?
Say it again.
Flee.
Exactly right.
What does it look like to flee from something?
Run.
Get out of there.
I don't care whatever it is that you're afraid of.
Picture that.
Now get away from it as fast as you can.
To flee from something means that you and I do everything in our power.
Everything in our power to remove ourself from the situation.
If you know me, you know that my greatest fear in the world is snakes.
It's snakes.
I don't like them.
I don't like them at all.
I don't like them when they surprise me.
And I don't like them when I know where they are.
My kids, when they were little, used to love to go to the zoo.
And we go to the zoo.
I love the zoo.
I ain't been to the zoo in a long time.
I love the elephants.
I don't think they're there anymore.
I love the giraffes.
I love feeding it.
I love the grossness of the tongue when it would come out.
And I feel like a 58-pound cat's tongue, you know.
Taking some spinach out your hand.
I love going and watching the chimpanzees and the gorillas.
I love going into the aquarium.
But there was one place that I wasn't going.
And if the kids wanted to go, then they needed to know that dad would be on the other side.
And that their mom and her boldness in Christ was going to walk through that with them.
But not me.
Not me.
Why?
Because I'd want to flee.
So why would I put myself in the situation to begin with?
Verse 29 and 30.
Jesus says,
If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out.
Throw it away.
For it is better that you lose one of your members,
that your whole body be thrown into hell.
And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off.
And throw it away.
For it is better that you lose one of your members,
than that your whole body go into hell.
Jesus uses two examples here.
And uses figurative language to his audience,
so that his audience will understand the depth of the seriousness of the matter.
And specifically, Jesus chooses the hand and the eye.
And I'd like to explain why I think why to help us understand the strategy over this.
Jesus says,
If your right eye causes you to stumble,
you tear it out,
you throw it away.
What we see that in these matters,
that in the eye,
the lust sees,
lust pursues,
and does so in the sinful way.
that when the eye of lust captures on to an object,
it creates within it a sinful desire that comes out,
and that the person that is looking upon it
is no longer looking in a godly manner,
is no longer looking in a way that brings glory and honor to God,
but is instead looking at it from the depths of the sinfulness of their heart.
Jesus says,
It's better to cut it out,
and to remove it,
and to throw it away,
than allow it to happen.
Because you see,
your eyes and my eyes
are not designed,
are not created in the purpose of God
to see others as objects
of our sinful consumption.
The Bible tells us
that you and me
were created
in the image of God.
That we are image bearers.
And so when I see you
through the power of the Holy Spirit,
what I'm seeing is not an object
to be had,
is not an object
to be lusted after,
but is instead
as one who is made
in the image
of God.
So Jesus says,
tear it out.
He also says,
if the hand causes you
to cut it off
and throw it away.
Again,
Jesus is using
figurative language here,
right?
Like I don't want next Sunday
to be eye patch Sunday,
right?
Like,
a bunch of people
walking in,
shaking hands
with the left hand.
That's not what we're looking for.
Here's what Jesus
is talking about.
During the ancient world,
during the ancient world,
if you were caught stealing,
how was that punishable?
Cutting off the hand.
You see,
lust
doesn't end
with just a thought.
Lust doesn't end
with just a glance.
Because even,
as Jesus says,
if something
physically
is absent
and doesn't happen,
here's what you're doing
in the mind,
in the thought
of lust,
you're taking
what's not yours.
You're abusing
someone.
You're objectifying
them.
You're assaulting
them with your thought.
So Jesus says,
you see,
lust
doesn't just end
in lust.
Lust continues
into stealing.
You see,
in the beauty
of marriage,
what Paul talks about,
we'll see this more
next week,
is that
this is important.
in my relationship
with my wife,
I am hers
in every way.
And she is mine
in every way.
And in our surrender
to the Lord,
a surrender
to one another,
it can only be explained
by the power
of the gospel.
it's the picture
that's being painted.
It's what it's
going
to point us to.
So,
the hand
is not intended
for believers
to take.
The hand
is intended
to serve.
And I want
to tell you this.
You cannot
serve someone
with a lust
in your heart.
You're taking,
you're taking,
you're taking.
So Jesus says,
figuratively,
cut out the eye,
cut off the hand,
throw it away.
It's better
to lose
one of these
than for your
whole body
to be thrown
into hell.
Now I'm going
to ask you
some questions.
If this sin
is as powerful
as Jesus says,
and you believe
Jesus
like you say
you do,
then is today
the day
to delete
an app?
Is today
the day
to cancel
a subscription?
Is today
the day
to take
different vacations?
Is today
the day
to hang out
with different
people?
Is today
the day
to get
a new job?
Is today
the day
to maybe
even end
an unmarried,
ungodly,
romantic
relationship?
And Jesus
says,
it's better
to cut off
your hand.
Why won't
you delete
an app?
Jesus
says,
it's better
to cut out
your eye.
Why won't
you quit
a job?
You see,
it's easy
to say
and to sing
I know
the Lord
will provide
and then
walk out of
here and
take control
of everything
in our life.
But would
today be
the day
for you
that we
don't have
to cut off
the hand,
we don't have
to cut out
the eye,
but that there
are things
in our
life.
And Jesus
is saying,
I can't
believe you
won't delete
it.
I can't
believe that
vacation is
so important
to you.
I can't
believe that
you won't
hang out
with someone
new.
I can't
believe you
won't get
a new
job.
I can't
believe you
won't end
that destructive
relationship.
It's better
to do that
than to have
your whole
body
thrown
into
hell.
so what's
the solution?
I mean,
I imagine
it was
pretty quiet
there too.
What's
the solution?
And Jesus
is going to
give us
a solution.
Not just
to sexual
sin,
but the
solution to
sin.
what do
you do
if you're
here this
morning?
If you're
here this
morning,
and you're
like,
man,
I failed
time and
time again.
And the
word
adulterer
rings true
in my life.
What do
you do?
What do
you do?
Well,
number one,
Jesus is
the
solution.
Jesus
is the
solution.
I want
to read
to you
in John
chapter 8.
In
John
chapter 8.
There's
a story,
a story
from the
life of
Jesus,
where a
woman
is brought
to Jesus
who's been
caught in
adultery.
Start in
verse 2.
Early in
the morning
he came
again to
the temple.
And all
the people
came to
him.
And he
sat down
and he
taught them.
And the
scribes and
the Pharisees
brought a
woman who
had been
caught in
adultery
and placing
her in the
midst,
they said
to him,
teacher,
this woman
has been
caught in
the act
of adultery.
Now in
the law
Moses
commanded
us to
stone
such
women.
What do
you say?
Now let's
pause right
there.
This is
not a
group of
people with
pure intent
and pure
motives.
They hate
this woman
and they
hate Jesus.
They see
themselves as
self-righteous.
If you feel
like you're
someone here
and you're
caught up
and you've
committed
the sin
of adultery,
guess what?
So have
the rest of
us.
Verse 6.
This they
said to him
to test him
that they
may have
some charge
to bring
against him.
and Jesus
bent down
and wrote
with his
finger on
the ground
and as
they
continued to
ask him
he stood
up and
said to
him,
let him
who is
without sin
among you
be the
first to
throw a
stone at
her.
And once
more he
bent down
and wrote
on the
ground.
But when
they heard
it they
went away
one by
one beginning
with the
older ones
and Jesus
was left
alone
with the
woman
standing
before him.
Now there's
a lot of
thoughts
and there's
a lot of
theories
about what
Jesus wrote
on the
ground.
We don't
know.
We don't
know.
But whatever
he wrote
was powerful
enough
to cause
a group
of men
to leave
in shame
because of
what was
in their
heart.
And so
now
it's
Jesus
and the
woman
caught
in adultery.
Let me
say this
about her.
She was
caught.
This is
not a
false
accusation.
This is
truth
about sin
in her
life.
verse
10.
You see
in our
sins
sometimes
we can
begin to
believe
that there
are certain
sins
that cause
us to
be
unlovable,
unredeemable,
unsavable.
That's not
how Jesus
works.
That's not
who Jesus
is.
So
Jesus
stands
up
and says
to her,
woman,
where are
they?
Has
no one
condemned
you?
She
said,
no one,
Lord.
And then
look at
what Jesus
says.
Neither
do I
condemn
condemn you.
Go
from now
on
and sin
no more.
Here's
what Jesus
does.
Jesus
doesn't
excuse
away
her sin.
Jesus
gives
her
grace.
where
are
they
who
condemn
you?
Where
have
they
gone?
And
she
says,
no one,
Lord.
It's
just
her
and
Jesus.
I'm
going to
tell you
right now,
right now
in your
life,
I don't
care if
it's
this sin,
I don't
care if
it's
any other
sin,
I don't
care what
sin that
you've
stacked up,
you're
holding
on to
that's
right there
and people
want to
call you
out and
you just
want to
hide from
it,
you want
to hide
from it,
you want
to hide
from it.
Here's
what I
want to
say,
right now
in this
moment,
you're
filled in
a room
with a
whole bunch
of
people,
but
right
now
it's
just
you
and
Jesus.
When
it all
matters,
when
it all
counts,
right now,
it's
just
you
and
Jesus.
And
he
offers
you
right
now,
right in
this
moment,
he
offers
you
grace.
He
offers
you
grace.
What
does it
mean
that he
offers
you
grace?
Number
one,
he
offers
you
forgiveness.
He
offers
you
forgiveness.
That
through
the work
of the
cross,
Jesus
offers
you
forgiveness
for
all
your
sins.
For
all
of
them.
All
sins
past,
all
sins
present,
all
sins
future.
That's
how
big,
that's
how
powerful,
that's
how
capable
he
is.
He
offers
you
forgiveness.
He
takes
all
of
your
sin
and
in
that
he
gives
you
your
righteousness
and
belief
and
faith
and
trust
in
Jesus
Christ
as
your
Lord
and
Savior
finds
when
you
acknowledge
that
you're
a
sinner
who
needs
to
be
saved
by
his
grace.
But
grace
doesn't
end
there.
Grace
doesn't
end
there.
Grace
continues
on
in
the
call
to
obedience.
this is
so
important.
This is
so
important.
What does he say
back at
verse 11?
Where are
they?
There's no
one Lord.
And
Jesus
said
neither
do I
condemn
you.
Go
from
now
on
and
sin
no
more.
You see
here's the
part of
this.
Here's the
part of
this that
we want
to
separate
we want
to
remove.
You see
we all
want
a
forgiveness
from
Jesus.
But
Jesus'
call
of
forgiveness
through
the
power
of
the
Holy
Spirit
that
dwells
in
us
moves
us
to
obedience.
Okay?
I forgive
you.
Here's
the
standard.
Stop.
Flee.
Run
from.
Cut
off.
If it
calls for
it.
And
in
that
in
the
fullness
of
Christ
he
is
your
Savior
and
he
is
your
Lord
and
that's
the
testimony
of
those
individuals
today.
I'm
going to
ask at
this time
if the
prayer
team
and
the
worship
team
would
begin
to
get
in
place.
This
morning
God's
call
and
his
response
for
you
is
to
respond
to
him.
This
lady
didn't
wake
up
this
morning
thinking
that
she
would
encounter
with
Christ
but
she
left
there
with
an
encounter
with
the
Messiah
and
just
like
her
he
offers
you
today
his
grace
he
offers
you
the
forgiveness
of
sin
he
offers
you
the
call
to
obedience
would
you
respond
to
him
today
as
the
Lord
and
Savior
of
your
life
would
you
pray
with
me
God
what
a
wonderful
and
beautiful
display
that
you've
given
us
in the
gift
of
yourself
and
who
you
are
God
how many
of us
have
fallen
short
all
of
us
every
single
one
of
us
none
is
righteous
not
one
so
you
offer
us
yourself
God
I
pray
today
that
there's
anyone
here
who
does
not
know
Jesus
Christ
as
their
Lord
and
Savior
God
that
today
would
be
their
day
of
salvation
God
I
pray
that
if
there's
any
sin
that
we're
holding
on
to
any
of
us
God
that
we'd
be
willing
to
lay
it
down
to
confess
Lord
and
to
experience
the
fullness
of
the
goodness
of
the
relationship
with
you
God
work
and
move
in
only
how
you
can
for
your
name
and
your
glory
and
it's
in
Jesus
that
we
pray
amen
that's
it
for
this
week's
message
be
sure
to
check
back
next
week
for
a
new
episode
and
in
the
meantime
you
can
visit
us
online
at
willowridgechurch.org
or by
searching for
Willow Ridge
Church
on
Facebook
Instagram
and
YouTube
thanks
again
for
listening