In our world today this is not an uncommon thing. Divorce is almost as common among those who say they are Christians as it is among those who make no profession of faith. Many times, the cited reason is adultery. In Exodus 20:14, God gave this commandment to Moses to give to the people, “Thou shalt not commit adultery.” No one would question how wrong it was to commit a sexual act with someone other than your spouse. However, It is a sin that has been accepted in our society. It may cause a lot of gossip at first, but soon the divorce occurs, and the husband and wife move on to start a life with another. It may even be said “they don’t love each other anymore,” and that seems to be justification for their actions. Let me remind you that love is a choice. In God’s eyes, it is still a horrible sin, His view has not changed nor has the hurt this causes changed. Because of the frequency that adultery happens, we have been desensitized to God’s view of this sin. In Matthew 5:27-32, Jesus takes the sin a step further than what the law said. Jesus wants them to understand that all sin is a matter of the heart and the will. As we dissect these verses think, and ask yourself “are you guilty?”
Matthew 5:27-32 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: But I say unto you, That whosoever looks 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 writing of divorcement: But I say unto you, that whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causes her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced commits adultery.”
If you ask the average person if they were guilty of adultery, they would be appalled and reply with a resounding no! Yet many think because they have not committed the actual sexual act that constitutes adultery, that they haven’t sinned. Jesus changes that thinking when He says in verse 28 “that whosoever looks on a woman to lust has committed adultery in his heart.” In the world we live in today it is not uncommon for women or men to want to dress to look sexy. They believe it’s ok to look, but not to touch, or to advertise, but not sale. These attitudes are not of God and need to be repented of and forsaken. They teach their little girls to dance in a provocative way. They dress them in sensual clothing while they are still too young to understand the implications of their actions. Our world has gone sex crazy, and it is sinful. God will hold us accountable for our sinful actions. My question to you is why would we want to do something that our Father says is wrong? Why would we want our little girls to think they are only beautiful because they look like the world?
Jesus said in verse 29 that it would be better to pluck your eye out rather than use it to promote sinful desires. Another way Jesus said that men were committing adultery was to divorce their wives, or “put them away” unless they had committed fornication. If he divorces her without scriptural cause and she marries again he has caused her to commit adultery.
If you study these scriptures, you will see that God is concerned with the heart above everything else. Why? Because the heart controls the actions. The Pharisees were good at keeping the letter of the law, but not the spirit of the law. We need to be careful that we don’t fall into the same trap of thinking everything is fine when we are not guarding our hearts and minds against lustful thinking, or our eyes from a lustful look. If we are determined to please God, it will cause us to turn off the tv, change the radio station, and determine our reading will be books that do not promote things contrary to scripture. In other words, if Jesus wouldn’t do it, we shouldn’t either.
Don’t cheat yourself out of God’s best for your life. He wants you to stay pure, to avoid all sexual sins. The joy and peace you gain from living life God’s way rather than the world’s way will far exceed any pleasures the world offers. If you have been guilty of adultery either from lusting or activity, seek forgiveness and God will restore you and help you.
