May it please God to bless us
together this evening as we continue our meditation on the Sermon
on the Mount. And this evening we'll consider chapter 5 and
from verse 26 to verse 32. So the Gospel of Matthew chapter
5 and reading from verse 27 rather to verse 32. ye have heard that it was said
by them of old time thou shalt not commit adultery but I say
unto you that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her
hath committed adultery with her already in his heart 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. It hath been said, whosoever
shall put away his wife, let him give her a bill of divorcement. But I say unto you, that whosoever
shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication,
causeth her to commit adultery. And whosoever shall marry her
at his divorce, commiteth adultery. Well, these verses that we've
read here this evening really continue from the verses that
we thought upon on Friday, which was of course from verse 21. And the truth is that the Lord
speaks here really to awaken people to not that which is just
outward, but that which is inward. that which affects the heart. And so the Lord directed us in
those previous verses and in these verses very clearly and
particularly because He brings our attention to the commandment,
Thou shalt not commit adultery. You have heard that it was said
by them of old's time, Thou shalt not commit adultery. And of course,
it's one of the commandments, and we are, I'm sure, familiar
with it and aware of it. And it's recorded clearly in
Exodus 20 and verse 14. But having made that statement,
the Lord then comes and again says, but I say unto you, there's
something more to say. It's not just the basic statement
of thou shalt not commit adultery, but the Lord goes a lot further. And he says, but I say unto you
that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after hath committed
adultery with her already in his heart. Well, we know what
the hearts of men and women are and how easy it is for us to
be lustful towards the other sex. And yet how clearly, and
we know it's wrong, and yet you see left to ourselves how easily
our heart goes after such things. And therefore the Lord draws
us to this attention so that we cannot be like a Pharisee
and say, well, I haven't done this and I haven't done that.
Because when the Spirit of God points and shows us what's in
our heart we then have to confess what sinners we are what unworthy
sinners we are and how of course we're aware of that great commandment
that thou shalt not commit adultery and yet you see there we possess
an evil sinful heart and so the Lord draws our attention so clearly
to this statement again remembering that he's speaking here to our
innermost being, to our heart. Nobody sees, do they, what's
going on in our heart. But God sees. Everything the
Lord sees. He knows everything. Nothing
can we escape from. And so the Lord then, he goes
on further, in the same vein really, but altering the figure
and directing us to a different situation. And he says, and if
thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out and cast it from thee. You see how easy it is for our
eyes to wander, our eyes to look on those things that we should
indeed not look at. And he says, 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. It doesn't actually mean, of
course, that it means that we have to pluck out our eye. But
it does mean that we should stop our eye, looking on things which
are lustful, remembering that all these things are sinful. And how condemning such situation
is and how condemning it is and if we might think we're a good
person well when the Spirit of God directs us to these things
we have to cry out perhaps can ever God dwell here in such a
heart as mine and the Lord gives us this very clear statement
he says that it's better for our members to perish and not
that thy whole body should be cast into hell. You see, it's
not just perhaps one element of our body, one part of our
body. But if we follow this pattern and turn from God, then you see
the result is that our whole body will be cast into hell. And that surely is a most terrible
consideration. And then the Lord moves on and
says, 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. And so here you see the Lord
directs us further in this matter by saying that we should not
therefore touch or embrace the other sex in a wrong way. There
is of course a right way to do this, but not in a wrong or a
sexual way that we should be attracted in a wrong way and
that's why the Lord directs us to such wise instruction so that
we do not allow ourselves to be involved in such a situation
and that we should therefore cut it off as it were cut off
those desires and the temptations perhaps to touch or to embrace
which would not be in a conformity with a true Christian life and
that which may bring us into further temptation. See, all
these things lead down a wrong road, a wrong path, not into
a godly way, but to an ungodly way. And what a mercy it is if
God therefore directs us in a right way, to therefore turn away from
these things. And don't forget, the devil's
always there at our shoulder to tempt us in so many ways. And we should never think that
we are exempt from such a temptation. We should never think, well,
I would never, of course, get involved like that. It's the
most dangerous statement to make, because how weak we are left
to ourselves. And therefore, we should Pray
that prayer, which I mentioned last week, of course, which is
so, so true. The Lord's prayer, lead us not into temptation and
deliver us from evil. The Lord might not leave us to
these situations, which may be so tempting to the flesh. And then there are so many statements,
which we read one in the in the Colossians and there's another
one in the Paul writes to the Romans and when he wrote to the
Romans he said this in the 8th chapter which of course is a
familiar chapter no doubt to most of us but the Lord tells
us in the 13th verse for if you live after the flesh and that's
what these are alluding to these statements we've just read if
you live after the flesh ye shall die. But if ye through the Spirit
do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. And to mortify
means to put to death. What a good thing that the Lord
gives us grace, which it is, to put to death those things.
And we read, of course, in that third chapter of the Colossians,
similar words where the Lord came and said, mortify therefore
your members which are upon the earth and he lists them fornication
uncleanness inordinate affection evil concupiscence and covetousness
which is idolatry And therefore the Apostle tells us to mortify
ourselves, to put to death those thoughts, those looks, those
actions which will not be of any benefit which will bring
us into bondage and will bring us into dishonoring the name
of our God. So we should be thankful that
we have these statements in the Word of God. And then the Lord
goes on to speak about divorce and he says, it hath been said,
whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing
of divorcement. There was of course under the
Old Testament there was that situation where if a husband
didn't like his wife he could push away by just writing out
a bill of divorcement and then that marriage was of course disannulled. Well that's not really the way
that we read of in the Word of God and in the ninth chapter
of the Gospel of Mark, the Lord speaks here to us very clearly,
using the same, perhaps, thoughts, and it comes like this, And whosoever
shall offend one of these little ones, that believe in me, it
is better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and
he were cast into the sea. And if thy hand offend thee,
cut it off. It is better for thee to enter
into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into
the fire that never shall be quenched. Where there worm dieth
not, and the fire is not quenched and it follows on in that vein
again to direct us to turn away from these things which are wrong
but also in the Gospel of Matthew in the 19th chapter the Lord
speaks and says he says the Pharisees also came unto him tempting him
and saying unto him is it lawful for a man to put away his wife
for every cause and the answer him and said have you not read
that he which made them at the beginning made them male and
female and said for this cause should a man leave father and
mother and shall cleave to his wife and they twain shall be
one flesh Wherefore, they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined
together, let not man put asunder. You probably know those are familiar
words which are spoken in the marriage service. They say unto
him, why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement
and to put her away? He saith unto them, Moses, because
of the hardness of your hearts, suffered you to put away your
wives, but from the beginning it was not so. And I say unto
you, whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication,
and shall marry another, committeth adultery. And whoso marrieth
her which is put away doth commit adultery. Of course, the very
similar words, not quite so lengthy, are quoted by the Lord when He
spoke on the Mount. He says, But I say unto you that
whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of
fornication, that's the only reason why there can be divorce,
causes her to commit adultery, and whosoever shall marry her
that is divorced, committeth adultery. Well, it's good to
have the analogy, of course, of the great and glorious marriage
of a husband and a wife, and greater than that, of course,
the great and glorious marriage of the Lord Jesus Christ. as
the heavenly bridegroom to his bride. And we're thankful, of
course, that that marriage can never be dissolved, and how wonderful
it is to think that we have such a great and glorious Savior,
the Lord Jesus Christ, who has not put us away, as we deserve
to be put away, because of our sins and because of the evil
of our heart. But can we not thank and praise
God for his mercy, for his favor, and for his love toward us? Well, may God instruct us and
bless us from his word. Amen.