Matthew 5:27-30
"Lust in the Kingdom of Heaven"
Lust is like a match in the midst of a forest. All it takes for the forest to burn down is for someone to light the match and throw it into the grass. Do you realize that our whole world is under a curse because a man and his wife lusted after a piece of fruit? How many marriages have been destroyed; how many people's lives have been destroyed because of the sin of lust? Our passage points out that many will be cast into hell for lust.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is describing the ethics of his kingdom; the kingdom of heaven. All Christians are members of Christ's heavenly kingdom. Their sins have been forgiven and they have been accepted as members of heaven. In this section of the sermon Jesus is explaining how his redeemed people should live before God in heaven.
In vv. 27-30 Jesus addresses the sin of lust. Where dies lust fit into God's heavenly kingdom? Vv. 27&28 - You have heard it said, you shall not commit adultery; but I say to you, whoever looks upon a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
The Law of Moses only punished actual adultery. But you live in the presence of God in heaven. Lustful looks do not belong in heaven. The Israelites may have gotten away with lust before their earthly courts, but now you stand before the heavenly court. As far as the heavenly court is concerned, both the outward act of adultery and the lustful look is worthy of judgment.
Now remember, Jesus is not saying to you that if you lust you are not a Christian, or that you will be judged. Jesus is showing you how he wants you who have been redeemed to live in his presence.
Christ redeemed you to make you holy on the inside. What you need to take from v. 28 is that Jesus takes the sin of lust very seriously, so you need to take the sin of lust very seriously. We will see in a moment that Jesus also provides the remedy for this sin.
Now we must stop and ask the question, what is so sinful about lust? After all, someone could argue that unlike anger, lust is only responding to natural desires God has given us. Does God expect that we would never think about fulfilling those natural desires?
Well, lust is not desiring something good. Lust is desiring something that God has declared off-limits. It was not wrong for Adam and Eve to look upon all the different fruit in the garden and desire their taste. They might have imagined how good each different fruit tasted before they partook. Adam and Eve's sin was lusting after the fruit that God said was off-limits.
There is nothing wrong in desiring sexual intimacy with a wife or husband. But it is wrong to look upon someone God has not given you and desire sexual intimacy with him or her.
But even with a correct definition of lust, one might still wonder why God takes lust so seriously? After all, what can it hurt to simply look at another person lustfully? As long as you do not go out and commit the act, what's the big deal?
I am going to give you three reasons why the Lord takes lust so seriously, and then we will consider our Lord's remedy for this sin.
The first reason God takes lust so seriously is that he knows man's sinful nature; God knows that sinful man is never satisfied with only inward lusts. Unchecked lust begins a chain reaction that results in outward sin, and if not dealt with; spiritual death. James 1:14 says, "Each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire, when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death."
There is something about fallen human nature that is never satisfied. You lust after something for years, but when you finally get it, it wasn't quite what you imagined it would be. Because you are not satisfied you think you need more.
Inward lust is only the beginning of a viscous cycle. Lust eventually moves on to outward sin, and from there to more sin, and soon you find you are destroying yourself, your family, and your relationship with God.
Some Christians balk at the idea of sexual addiction, but sexual addiction is real. Sexual addiction enslaves non-Christians and Christians alike. Now when we use the term "addiction" we do not mean that a person is not responsible for his behavior. We mean that there is something about sin that is addicting. If you begin to rely on a certain sin to meet your needs, you become more and more dependent upon that sin. This doesn't mean you cannot stop sinning in that area. But the more reliant on that sin you become, the harder and harder it is to stop, and the more help you will need in overcoming that sin.
So if you are enslaved to pornography, and it is much more common than you may realize, you need to tell someone. You not only need to admit your addiction to God, you need to humble yourself and admit your sin to someone who can help you solve the problem. Too embarrassed to ask for help? Ask yourself the question; is your pride worth destroying your relationship with God and those dearest to you?
So the first reason God takes lust so seriously is that lust is only the beginning of a dangerous road that eventually leads to spiritual death. The second reason God takes lust so seriously is that lust is a sin against the person you are lusting after. Lust is the opposite of love.
Notice in our passage that the sin of lust involves looking at another person the wrong way. There is a victim in the sin of lust, and the victim is the one you are lusting after.
What caused Jesus never to lust after another woman? Jesus never lusted because Jesus possessed perfect love. Love looks at another person and cares for what is best for that person. Lust looks at another person as an object to gratify our desires.
A Christian may say; I can look at pornography because it doesn't arouse me. Now, it is true that not every picture arouses everyone. But pornography is not only sinful because of what it attempts to elicit from the person looking at it. Pornography is sinful because it is a sin against the person in the picture.
Pornography treats human beings made after God's image as pieces of meat. Pornography should offend you regardless of whether it arouses you or not. It should offend you because it is offensive when people are used as objects of self-gratification. Lust is offensive to God because it is the opposite of love; because it treats his image-bearers as objects; as animals.
This brings us to the third reason lust is so serious. Lust is a serious sin because it is a betrayal of our heavenly husband, Jesus Christ. In v. 27 Jesus compares lust to adultery. Adultery is the most serious of sexual sins, because it is a direct betrayal of your spouse. So who are you betraying when you lust after people?
Well, you know the answer. Lust is a sin against God, our heavenly husband. Jesus came to earth to marry a bride. He came and saw a very unattractive woman, that is you and me, and he brought us to himself by dying for us. He committed himself to us forever. Earthly marriage is only a picture of the glorious union between Christ and his bride, the church.
To lust after others is to say to God that you are not satisfied with him as your heavenly husband. You are not satisfied with his love or his gifts. When a wife finds a stack of pornography in her husband's drawer, she grieves because she knows that her husband is not satisfied with her. When we lust we are expressing our dissatisfaction with our Savior, he who loves us better than any earthly husband.
Now that we have considered the seriousness of lust, let us consider our Lord's remedy. It would not be enough for our Lord simply to declare how much he hates a sin. That would only drive us away from him in despair, for all of us are guilty of lust.
But our heavenly Father is our provider; he provides what we need to fight against the sin of lust. And here is his remedy. VV. 29&30; If your right eye or right hand causes you to sin, cut it out and cast it away. Better to lose your eye or hand than to have your whole body cast into hell. There you go!
Of course the Lord is using hyperbole here. Literally cutting out an eye or cutting off your hand would do nothing to curtail your lustful thoughts. This language reveals to you that lust is so serious to God that it would be better for you to suffer in this life than to fall into the hands of unchecked lust.
Here is the remedy for lust. Value your relationship with God more than all your earthly desires. Better to lose a member of your body than to turn away from the Lord and be thrown into hell.
Living for the Lord and not falling into sin is more important than your well-being in this life. That really is the choice Christians are faced with every day. You may be tempted to commit adultery or fornication. But the question comes before you; what is more valuable to me, my relationship with God, or meeting a temporary desire?
Jesus says to his people, value your relationship with God more than your earthly desires. As believers you make daily choices to serve God rather than fulfill sinful desires.
Now, this is usually the time when preachers begin to lay out the practical steps you must take to avoid lust, such as warning you against certain movies or music. But the Bible doesn't take this route. Obviously if you are watching something that is causing you to lust you should stop. But only you know your limits, no one else can set limits for your conscience.
Lust is a spiritual problem, and spiritual problems call for spiritual solutions. You may stop watching movies all-together, but that will not really stop you from lusting in your mind, nor will it stop you from treating others as objects.
Our culture bombards you with sexual images everywhere you go. But you know, in cultures where women are required to cover themselves from head to toe, lust is still rampant. There is just as much rape and adultery in those cultures as in ours. Lust is a universal problem since the fall of man.
The remedy for the sin of lust is the Lord Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul says as much when he writes in Rom 13:14: "Clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires."
Lust is overcome when we have something more lasting and important to replace the lust. When wives are always dreaming about other men, that signals a marriage problem. Maybe there is a lack of intimacy in the marriage. When the marriage is intimate, there is usually not a problem with lust. The same is true with our lives spiritually. If I am growing in my knowledge and love of Christ, I am less likely to seek satisfaction from a forbidden source.
The answer to lust is to grow in the Christian faith. The only way you will be able to avoid thinking of the opposite sex as objects is if you love them with God's love. Lust begins to die as it is replaced by love, and love comes from God.
As you grow closer to God you grow in your love for him; and you grow in your love for others. Lust grows dim as you hear and believe God's word and as you pray for spiritual growth. You also grow closer to God as you fellowship with other Christians, who encourage you with the love of Christ.
So God not only shows you the seriousness of the sin, he provides the remedy also. No, in this life you will never completely overcome the sin of lust. But as you grow in the knowledge and love of Christ, you will be more and more satisfied with your heavenly husband, and you will not desire to betray him with the desires of the flesh. And as you grow in Christ you will become more offended at how this world uses people as objects to satisfy their own cravings. Instead you will treat people with love and respect, as Christ treats you.
Let me close with one more observation. Our culture, as you are well aware, is becoming more and more sexually perverse. This means that you must be ready to embrace people coming into the church who have been affected by lust and sexual perversity. You must get that idea out of your heads that the church should consist of cultured, upstanding citizens.
The Lord redeems people from all kinds of perverse practices and addictions. And even though they become Christians it doesn't mean they will never again struggle in these areas.
If we want to be an effective, Christ-honoring church, we cannot be afraid to put our arms around homosexuals, prostitutes, or sexual addicts. Do you really think you are any better in God's eyes? If the sin of lust is as the sin of adultery, then you have all committed adultery multiple times. But Jesus loves to save people bound in the worse types of sin.
So Beloved, because Jesus died in your place, you are citizens of heaven. Lust does not belong in heaven. Do no let your lust go unchecked. Confess it to God. Remember that all of us lust, none of us is worthy to be saved.
And God provides the remedy to help you overcome lust. As you grow in your knowledge of the gospel and of Christ's love for you, you will see your desires become more directed to pleasing the Lord than pleasing your flesh. As you grow in your understanding of Christ's love, you will be more offended when people are looked upon as objects, and you will treat them as human beings made in God's image.
Most importantly, as you grow in your knowledge of Christ's love for you, his bride, you will grow in your satisfaction with God's love, and the sinful pleasures of this world will grow strangely dim, for what earthly pleasure can compare with the eternal love of God in Christ?