All right, Matthew, Chapter five.
The title of the lesson this morning is the true meaning of
thou shalt not commit adultery. And this portion of what we call
the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord is teaching us what true
righteousness really is. He's showing us that righteousness
is not the best that we can do. Righteousness is perfection.
Righteousness is the best that Christ can do. The Lord is also
teaching us that the law is spiritual. Now this was something that would
have been a shock to these scribes and Pharisees who were there
listening, that the law requires more than an outward obedience.
The law requires inward obedience in the heart. And that's a real
problem for you and me, because we're born with a sinful disobedient
heart. So before we even get started,
we're all lawbreakers. We're all guilty before we even
realize it because of our nature. So what the Lord is doing here,
he's using five or six examples to show us what the true meaning
of every commandment of the law is. The purpose of the law is
not so we have something we can keep in order to earn a righteousness
by what we do. The purpose of the law is to
show us we can't keep the law, that it's impossible for us to
keep the law, So the real purpose of the law is to drive us to
Christ, to go to him, to him who did come to keep the law
for his people, him who does forgive his people of their sin.
The first example we looked at a couple of weeks ago was thou
shalt not kill. The second example the Lord uses
is adultery in Matthew chapter five, verse 27. He says, you
have heard that it was said by them of old time, thou shalt
not commit adultery. Now this is the seventh commandment
of the Ten Commandments. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
And whoever broke this law was to be put to death. Now every
commandment of God is just and holy and good. Each commandment
is good for us. God did not give us a commandment
that's bad for us. Every commandment of God is good
for us. And that's obvious in this commandment.
Thou shalt not commit adultery. And it is a shame. I mean, I
hate to sound like a grumpy old man to write word, but it's a
shame that adultery and other sexual sins are so accepted in
our society today. I mean, it's almost like you're
celebrated for it, you know, going out and doing what's good
for you. And that's not so adultery ruins. ruins marriages, it ruins
families, it ruins the lives of children, it ruins trust between
a husband and a wife that often cannot be won back. And we have
to remember, now what is it that we're looking at here? Why is
it such a serious thing? Well, because marriage is given
to us as a picture of Christ, as a picture of the union between
Christ and His bride. And the Lord Jesus Christ is
always the faithful and true bridegroom. Committing adultery
violates that picture of redemption in Christ, but of the union between
Christ and his bride. And you might think, someone
might, I don't think anybody here is thinking that, because
you already know what the meaning of this is, but someone might
think, well, you know, I haven't snuck around to the no-tell motel
and committed, you know, been unfaithful to my spouse, so here's
one I'm not guilty of. Well, no, that's not so, because
look what the Master says in verse 28. But I say unto you,
and here is the true interpretation of this, that whosoever looketh
on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery, with
her already in his heart. See, the law is spiritual. The
law prohibits the act of sin, but the law also prohibits the
desire to sin. So sin is not an act that we
commit. Sin is a nature that's in us. Do you know why we commit acts
of sin? It's because we have a nature
and all it can do is sin. And some of them might think,
well, no, wait a minute. I can't help what I think. I mean, I can't
help these thoughts that just fly through my mind. Exactly
right. Exactly right. You know why that's
true? We can't stop those thoughts.
We can't help those thoughts that fly through our mind that
are so sinful and awful. It's because we have a sin nature.
That is what the law, that is what the Lord is telling us that
the law, the purpose of it is, is to show us we've got a sin
nature and we're powerless against sin. I mean, we're utterly powerless
against it. Not only do we usually not stop
an act of sin that we desire, but we can never, no matter how
hard we try, we can never stop the sinful thoughts and sinful
desires that are in us. That's why the law was given.
To show us we desperately need Christ. We need him to come and
do something for us we cannot do for ourselves. We need him
to come and keep the law for us. To make us righteous. And
we need him to give us a new nature. A righteous nature in
the new birth. A nature that God will accept.
And the Lord tells us how serious this is. Verse 29. 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. Now, the Lord's not teaching
us here if we maim our bodies, we'll commit less sin. That can't
be true, can it? Because of what he just said
before that, that the thought of sin, the desire for sin is
what makes us guilty, not the physical act itself. So if you
cut off your right hand so it can't steal something or can't
do something wrong, you're not committing less sin. It's not
the act of sin that makes us guilty. It's the desire of it.
And cutting off your hand or plucking out your eye is not
going to stop us from having these sinful desires. What the
Lord's teaching us is it's better to give up these carnal fleshly
pleasures than to expose the whole man to hell. But we already
saw we're powerless against sin. We're powerless to stop it. Plus
sacrificing some pleasure of the flesh or sacrificing some
part of your body. That's not going to pay for sin,
is it? Now the only sacrifice that will pay for sin is the
sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. So please everybody understand
the Lord's not saying, go maim your body and somehow you'll
be in a better spiritual state. That's not what he's saying at
all. Look at verse 31. It has been said, whosoever should
put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement.
But I say unto you that whosoever should put away his wife, save
for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery.
And whosoever shall marry her that is divorced, committeth
adultery. Now, the law. We're going to
come back to this thing of maiming in just a second. God's law provides
for divorce. But not because divorce is a
good thing. Not because that's something
that we ought to do. Turn over a few pages and look at Matthew
chapter 19. The law provides for divorce because of the hardness
of men's hearts. Matthew chapter 19 verse three. The Pharisees also came unto
him, tempting him and saying unto him, is it lawful for a
man to put his, put away his wife for every cause? And he
answered and said unto them, have you not read that he which
made them at the beginning made them male and female and said
when he made them, For this cause shall a man leave father and
mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and they twain shall be
one flesh. Did you ever read that? Wherefore,
they are no more twain. They're not two anymore, but
they're one. That married couple is one flesh. What therefore
God hath joined together, let no man put asunder. They say
unto him, why did Moses then command to give a writing of
divorcement and to put her away? And 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 whosoever marrieth her which
is put away, doth commit adultery. Now husband and wife become one
flesh. They become one body when they're
married to picture the union between Christ and his bride.
The apostle Paul tells us that so beautifully in Ephesians chapter
five, talking about marriage. He said now, but I speak, this
is what I'm really speaking of here concerning Christ and his
church. So here's what the law says.
Now, a couple married, they're free to divorce if they want
to, but they can't remarry. except the divorce happened because
of adultery. A man can divorce his wife for
any little reason. Boy, that was the case here with
the Jews at this time. I mean, a man for any little
reason. I mean, she didn't put the dishes
away right. I mean, just did something completely
inconsequential. He could divorce her and put
her away. Now, it's wrong, but he can do it. But this is what
the Lord tells us. If she was faithful to him when
he divorced her and he remarries, he's committing adultery. And
the same thing is true of his wife. If if if she was faithful
to him and he divorces her and she's got to remarry at this
time, she couldn't just go out and support herself. She get
remarried to have somebody support her. Well, he's forced her first
husband is forcing her to commit adultery with their second husband.
Now, that's what the law says. That's the law. And you can hold people's feet
to the fire about that if you want to. I would say that's wrong, too,
wouldn't you? And you can just hold people's
feet to the fire about that if you want to. Say, oh, no, you
shouldn't be remarrying, is it? Well, aren't you thankful God
don't hold your feet to the fire? I mean, I still don't think we
ought to be holding each other's feet to the fire about this thing.
But this is what the law teaches. And if one spouse is unfaithful,
then the other can divorce and remarry, and the law holds them
blameless in that. They're not guilty of committing
adultery. But this is interesting. This writing of divorcement,
those words that the Lord uses, the writing of divorcement, you
know what those words mean? It means a book of cutting off.
That's what it means, a book of cutting off. It means to remove
and separate. You know what a writing of divorcement
does? Mames one flesh. The husband and wife are made
one flesh and a writing of divorcement mames that one flesh and separates
them. And I believe this is in keeping
with scripture. This is certainly my opinion.
It's better to forgive than to mame that body. It's better to
remain one flesh and not mame that marriage. if it is at all
possible, even in the case of adultery. I'm not saying in that
case, y'all have to, you know, stay married and, you know, everybody's
gonna be mad at you. I'm not saying that at all. But
if it's possible, it's better to forgive and not maim that
marriage. Now, it may not be possible.
Certainly God's law does not require it in the case of adultery. And if you're in that situation,
you're free to remarry, divorce and remarry. And it just, it
may not be possible. You know, it's like what I said
earlier, it's almost impossible to win back somebody's trust
once you lost it. And we ought to remember that.
It's almost impossible to win back somebody's trust. Don't
violate it. Don't violate it with your spouse.
Don't violate it with your friends, your family, your children. Just
be trustworthy. You know, if you find yourself
in this situation, your spouse has committed adultery, separating
may be your only option. I don't know. But I'm pretty
sure it's better to forgive and repair the marriage if it's possible.
If it's possible. All right. I felt like all that
needed to be said because this is what the law is teaching.
But we got to remember what's the main point here. Let's not
stray. And that's what people do. They
get all caught up in this and want to tell everybody what they
can and can't do, you know, in their marriage and divorce and
remarriage and all that. But that's not the main point
that the master is making here. So let's not stray too far from
the main point. This is the main point. The law says we're guilty.
Every married person here knows you're guilty. Even if you haven't
committed the physical act, every married person here knows. While
I may not have broken the letter of the law, I've broken it in
thought and desire. And I'm guilty before God. Worse yet, We're all guilty of
spiritual adultery. Now, what is adultery? Adultery
is finding comfort and pleasure outside the marriage covenant.
Well, spiritual adultery is finding spiritual pleasure and spiritual
comfort outside God's covenant of grace, outside of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Free will religion, where I get
saved if I decide to. Well, that gives me comfort and
pleasure in myself and my decision. Legalism, where I'm saved because
I act better than most of the rest of the world, that gives
me comfort and pleasure in my rags of righteousness, not in
Christ my righteousness. Religion that's all ceremonial. I had a boss one time that was
like this. Just, I mean, he had to have
a religion that had a bunch of ceremonies candles and incense
and chanting and all the kind of singing, you know, that puts
you in the right mood, makes you feel so good religiously.
Well, that gives me comfort in my feelings, not in heart worship. Religion that's all experience,
speaking in tongues and seeing signs and wonders and doing all
these, you know, seemingly miraculous religious thing. Well, that gives
me comfort and pleasure and experience not in the person of Christ.
See, that's spiritual adultery. And by nature, we're all guilty
of it because by nature, that is the religion that we're born
loving, the religion of the flesh. And by nature, we hate to hear
the message of sovereign grace in Christ Jesus. And if you're
here this morning and you love it, the only reason you love
it is God's given you a new nature. So we're guilty of this adultery
on two counts, aren't we? In the physical realm and in
the spiritual realm, we're guilty on two counts. All right. Is there any hope of forgiveness
and salvation for an adulterer? Is there any hope? Yes, there
is. And this is the true meaning
of the commandment, thou shalt not commit adultery. The true
meaning of that commandment is look to Christ. Look to Christ
for the forgiveness of your sin and look to Christ for a new
nature. If you look in John chapter eight, this is illustrated in
John chapter eight. I love to read this story and
see this illustration in John chapter eight, beginning in verse
one. Jesus went under the Mount of Olives and early in the morning,
he came again into the temple and all the people came unto
him and he sat down and taught them and the scribes and Pharisees. I mean, you just imagine here
is the Lord himself. in the temple, sitting and teaching
the people. Wouldn't you just love to have
been there sitting in on that? Hearing the master himself teach. And somebody's always got to
ruin it. Here they come, the scribes and the Pharisees. Interrupted
him, brought unto him a woman taken in adultery. And when they
set her in the midst, they say unto him, master, this woman
was taken in adultery in the very act. Now Moses in the law
commanded us that such should be stoned, but what sayest thou? This they said, tempting him
that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down and
with his finger wrote on the ground as though he heard them
not. Now, this woman was taken in the very act of adultery. She's guilty. There's absolutely
no denying it. She's guilty. But as is normally
the case with religious folks, guilt and innocence aren't the
issue here. The Pharisees are not concerned
about guilt and innocence. Notice they didn't bring the
man. If they're, if they're really
concerned here about guilt and innocence, they'd have brought
the man too, didn't they? But they didn't. They just brought this woman,
both of them, both man and woman are guilty and they didn't even
bother bringing the man. I mean, if you're going to try
to set the Lord up, you probably ought not be so transparent about
it. You know, you bring the main to Jonathan says this about people
in false religion. He said, all they are salesmen
and they're bad ones. He said, they'll at least be
a good salesman. They're bad ones. This is just, I mean, so
transparent. I mean, if you're going to try
to, you know, appear to be all holy and righteous, y'all at
least make a better show of it. And this was a setup. I mean,
this was a setup from the beginning. These guys are a bunch of peeping
Toms. They probably set her up with one of their buddies so
they have her to accuse to the Lord. Guilt and innocence is
not what they're interested in. What they wanted to do was trap
the Lord. And boy, they thought they had,
I mean, the dead human mind thought they had wisdom personified trapped. I mean, they thought they had
him. They throw this poor guilty woman down at his feet And if
he says, now let her go, then they're going to say, you don't
care about the law of Moses. Well, you're a lawless man. How can anybody listen to somebody
so lawless as you? And if he said stone her, then
they say, well, you're not merciful at all. What about God's mercy?
I thought you're the friend of sinners and you're saying stone
this sinner. How can these publicans and sinners
keep wanting to come to you? Well, you probably stoned one
of them. They thought they had him. And our Lord just ignored
him. He just ignored him. He stooped
down, and with his finger, he wrote on the ground. Now, verse
7, so when they continued asking, he just ignored them, they just
continued peppering him with questions about this issue. When they continued asking him,
he lifted up himself and said unto them, he that is without
sin among you, Let him first cast a stone at her. Now, you know, when the Lord
said that, that went right to their heart. You know, every
one of these men were probably guilty of breaking the letter
of the law. of adultery. That was a thing
that was very rampant in Israel and in that part of the world
at that time. More than likely, every one of
these men are guilty of breaking the letter of the law. They knew
it. And when the Lord said, well, if you haven't committed this
particular sin, you cast the first stone at it. Verse eight. And again, he stooped down and
wrote on the ground, just ignoring them. I don't care what you do.
Whatever you guys want to do is fine. And he just ignored
him, stooped down and wrote on the ground with his finger again.
Now, who knows what the Lord was writing here? But I think
I got a pretty good idea of what he was writing based upon other
scriptures. Can you think of another time
God wrote with his finger? God wrote the 10 commandments
on those tables of stone with his finger, didn't he? First time the Lord stooped down,
he could have been writing the law. Could have been writing
the Ten Commandments, could have been writing the law, could have
been writing some explanation of this law, thou shalt not commit
adultery. And the second time he stooped. Can you think of
another time the Lord wrote this finger? Remember when those fingers
appeared at Belshazzar's party? Belshazzar's having a big party
and he said, Bring all those golden vessels that we took from
the Jews down there in their temple. Bring all them up here.
We're going to drink wine out of them. We're going to have
a big old party. We'll put jello in them, and fruit, and meat, and
stuff we're going to eat, and wine. We're going to drink wine
out of those golden vessels. They're going to have a big old
party. And the hand of a man appeared, and with his finger
wrote on the wall, thou art weighed in the balance, and you're found
wanting. Could be the second time the
Lord stooped down. He wrote, thou art weighed in
the balances and found wanting. He started writing names and
dates and those men saw what he was writing and thought, that's,
I committed adultery with that woman on that day. Could be that's
what he was writing. I don't know. I don't know for
sure, but I do know the response to what he was writing. Verse
nine, they which heard it. being convicted by their own
conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even
unto the last. And Jesus was left alone and
the woman standing in the midst, the best place any person could
ever be is alone with the Savior. Now, the Pharisees were there
with the Savior, weren't they? I mean, they were with the Savior. the one who can forgive sins.
And they left the Lord's presence. They left the Lord's presence
because they were convicted by their own conscience. Now there's
a difference in feeling bad about my sin, feeling bad I got caught
about it. That's not Holy Spirit conviction.
That's just, you know, we've got a conscience that tells us
right and wrong. It's just a guilty conscience that doesn't want
to be exposed any further. So they left the Lord. They left
the Lord's light. They left his perfection that
exposes their guilt and their imperfection. That kind of conviction
just made them leave the Lord. That woman didn't leave, did
she? The Lord stooped down. All these men left. She could
have just vanished off into the crowd, didn't she? But she didn't. She stayed right there by the
Savior. Verse 10, when Jesus had lifted
up himself, and saw none but this woman. He said unto her,
woman, where are those thine accusers? Hath no man condemned
thee? And she said, no man, Lord. And
Jesus said unto her, neither do I condemn thee. Go and sin
no more. Now here is a picture of the
salvation of a guilty adulterer. Remember I asked the question,
is there any hope of salvation for a guilty adulterer? Here
it is. Here's this poor woman. She's
guilty. She got nothing to say. She can't
say anything in her defense. She cannot deny that she was
guilty. She can't even say, well, you know, this was a set up because
she did it. She guilty. But here she stands
with no accusers. That's what happens when God
saves his people. They're guilty. They're guilty
of every sin. But they have no accusers. And
you know why they have no accusers? Because the Lord Jesus Christ
took their sin away from them and he paid for it with his precious
blood. There's nothing left to accuse.
Even the Lord, the judge of all, did not condemn this woman. He
said, I don't condemn you. Do you know why he didn't condemn
her? Because in a very short while, he's going to stand condemned
in her place. so she can go free. Now that's
how the Lord forgives sin, a guilty sinner. It's by paying for their
sin with his sacrifice. But the Lord didn't stop there.
Then he said, go and sin no more. There's the new birth. That's
when we're given a new nature that cannot sin. And that is
the only way guilty adulterers like you and me can be saved.
This is the true meaning of the commandment, thou shall not commit
adultery. The true meaning of it is you're guilty. Now run
to Christ. Run to Him who forgives your
sin. Run to Him who will look at you
and say, neither do I condemn you. Run to Him who can give
you a new holy nature that God requires that cannot sin. That's
the commandment. Run to Christ for that double
cure to forgive your sin and give you a new holy angel. All
right, I hope the Lord bless that to you.