adultery

Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery - Part 2

Introduction:

Two Problems Jesus Has with Divorce (Matthew 5:31–32):

  1. Divorce TRIVIALIZES MARRIAGE. (Matt 5:31)

    Genesis 2:24Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

    Deuteronomy 24:1–4When a man takes a wife and marries her, if then she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some indecency in her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, and she departs out of his house, and if she goes and becomes another man’s wife, and the latter man hates her and writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, or if the latter man dies, who took her to be his wife, then her former husband, who sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after she has been defiled, for that is an abomination before the LORD. And you shall not bring sin upon the land that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance.

  2. Divorce RESULTS In ADULTERY. (Matt 5:32)

    Ephesians 5:24–25Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her...

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

Small Group Discussion
Read
Matthew 5:31-32 & Mark 10:2-12

  1. What was your big take-away from this passage / message?

  2. What are some beliefs you’ve heard Christians believe about divorce and remarriage? How do these line up with Scripture?

  3. Explain what Jesus meant in Matt 5:32, how someone’s divorce even leads to other people committing adultery.

  4. How exactly would you counsel a trusted Christian friend who is considering divorce?

Breakout
Pray for one another.

  • Matthew chapter 5, are you there?

    This section we are in on the Sermon on the Mount is about the heart of God's law.

    And we saw that Jesus said, "I didn't come to abolish the law or destroy the law."

    That's what we would call the Old Testament.

    Jesus said, "I didn't come to do away with the Old Testament."

    He said, "I came to carry out everything that was said in it."

    It's not irrelevant at all.

    And through this section you're going to see, as we've already seen many times, Jesus says,

    "You have heard that it was said, but I say to you."

    And when Jesus says that, what He's saying is, "You've lowered God's standard."

    And Jesus is correcting them, and He's correcting us when we take the Word of God and just make

    it purely external.

    God wants your heart.

    God wants your heart.

    That's what we saw a couple of weeks ago.

    Pastor Taylor taught us, Jesus said, "Murder isn't just the physical act of killing someone.

    It's a heart issue."

    We saw last week adultery is not just the physical act.

    It's a heart issue.

    And in these verses we're looking at today, Jesus is continuing His teaching on the destructiveness

    of adultery.

    And today we're going to talk about divorce.

    And look, there's so much controversy on this topic.

    And if we're going to be honest, the controversy doesn't come really from God's Word because

    the Bible is clear.

    The reason there's so much controversy is because if you are a divorced person, this

    gets very personal and it gets very painful.

    And look, I've done so many weddings over the past 20-some years, so many weddings.

    And I can tell you emphatically that nobody gets into marriage wanting a divorce.

    That doesn't happen.

    I've never seen the wedding ceremony where the vows include something like, "I can't

    wait to be done with you."

    Or "I love you today, but in six months I will hate you more than anybody on the planet."

    Nobody thinks that.

    Nobody expects that.

    And when divorce happens, it's always, it's just always so painful.

    And we get through a passage like, "Look, I know some of you are going to be tempted

    to tune out because you're going to think, 'Well, you know what, Jeff, you don't know

    my circumstances.'

    And you're right.

    I don't.

    I don't know your circumstances."

    And I'm certainly not trying to be dismissive of the pain that you've gone through.

    And I'm certainly not trying to be judgmental for what brought about your divorce if that's

    your situation.

    And I'm also keenly aware that I cannot exhaust everything that the Bible says on the subject

    in just one sermon.

    What I want us all to do, it's nothing new.

    I just want us to do what we do every week.

    We're just going to take a giant step back and we're going to see what our Lord says

    on the subject.

    And we're going to see Jesus speaks on divorce here.

    And I can't undo anything that happened in the past, nor can you as much as we might

    want to.

    It's gone.

    But I'm hoping with this message that we can prevent any future pain and hurt that comes

    from divorce.

    So let's look at Matthew chapter 5, looking verses 31 and 32.

    Jesus says, "It was also said, 'Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of

    divorce.'

    But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality,

    makes her commit adultery and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery."

    What is going on in these verses?

    Well, first of all, look at verse 31.

    Jesus says, "It was also said," what?

    Jesus gives a quote, "Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce."

    You're like, is that what the Old Testament says?

    Ish.

    Here's the problem.

    This statement was used by the scribes and the Pharisees as a gross misrepresentation

    of a passage in the Old Testament.

    So does the Old Testament say that?

    Yeah, it kind of does, but they took a direction that the Lord never intended it to go.

    The scribes and the Pharisees took a passage from Deuteronomy, we're going to look at here

    in a few moments, and they twisted it for their own purposes.

    Jesus says, "But I say to you," and this is one of the most difficult verses in your

    Bible.

    Jesus says, "I say, everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual

    immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits

    adultery."

    So here's the short version.

    See the scribes and the Pharisees, as I said, twisted this passage in Deuteronomy, and they

    reduced it to this.

    Look, divorce and remarriage is okay as long as it's legal.

    As long as you do the paperwork, it's fine.

    It's just fine.

    It is just fine.

    And I think it's obvious that Jesus did not agree with their assessment because He said

    divorce leads to adultery.

    That's the short version.

    So let's unpack that a little bit today.

    On your outline, excuse me, we're just very simply calling this "two problems Jesus has

    with divorce."

    All right, let's look at these two verses very intently, and we see there's two problems

    that Jesus has with divorce.

    Number one, write this down, divorce trivializes marriage.

    Divorce trivializes marriage.

    That's the problem.

    Quick review, marriage was defined once and for all to the first two people that God created,

    Adam and Eve.

    And I know there have been attempts to redefine marriage.

    It doesn't matter.

    God defined marriage once and for all.

    With the first two people that He created, Adam and Eve, and the most important verse

    in your Bible on marriage is Genesis 2.24.

    It says, "Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his

    wife, and they shall become one flesh."

    That's the most important verse in the Bible about marriage.

    And I can say that emphatically because when Jesus was asked about marriage and divorce,

    this was the verse He quoted, Matthew 19, Mark chapter 10, when the Apostle Paul was

    writing about marriage and divorce and husband and wife issues, this was the verse He quoted,

    1 Corinthians chapter 6, Ephesians chapter 5.

    God's plan in marriage is two people turning into one person.

    That's the plan.

    There's not a relationship on the earth like that.

    Not a business partnership.

    Not members of a sports team.

    There's nothing like the marriage relationship.

    This was God's intention of marriage in the very beginning.

    I want two people to turn into one person.

    And when you study Genesis, you'll see divorce was never part of God's original design for

    marriage.

    Like, "All right, well, if it wasn't part of God's plan, where did divorce come from?

    Where did this idea for divorce come from?"

    So allowance was made for divorce in the Old Testament law.

    I want you to look at this.

    We're going to put this passage on the screen.

    I want you to look at it very closely because this is the passage that's in question here

    where Jesus is confronting the scribes and the Pharisees.

    This is from Deuteronomy chapter 24.

    Because, again, Law of Moses here, when a man takes a wife and marries her, if then

    she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some indecency in her and he writes

    her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house and

    she departs out of his house and she goes and becomes another man's wife and the latter

    man hates her and writes her certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends

    her out of his house.

    Or if the latter man dies, who took her to be his wife, then her former husband, who

    sent her away, that's husband number one, may not take her again to be his wife after

    she has been defiled for that as an abomination before the Lord.

    And you shall not bring sin upon the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an

    inheritance.

    Now listen, it's a tough passage but we're going to get through this together.

    Here's what Moses was saying.

    Divorce had to have a cause.

    And here it's defined in the Law as some "indecency."

    It could have been a natural or a moral or a physical defect or whatever.

    It had to be something that they categorized as unclean, whatever that is.

    This limited the possible reasons for divorce.

    This was the purpose, understand.

    The reason Moses wrote this Law was so that a man couldn't just divorce his wife for any

    reason whatsoever.

    Just make up some excuse, something frivolous.

    I'm just divorcing you because I feel like it.

    I don't like the meatloaf you made or I don't like your new haircut or those shoes look

    horrible.

    You can't just willy nilly divorce your wife.

    Moses is saying, "Look, there has to be a reason for the divorce."

    So this was actually to emphasize the importance of marriage.

    Like, well why would he allow the divorce then?

    Why go through this?

    Don't miss this.

    The purpose of divorce in this case in Deuteronomy 24 was to protect the woman.

    You see, when you give her the certificate of divorce, that woman had legal proof that,

    listen, she was dismissed from the marriage but it was not because she was unfaithful.

    You see that certificate for the woman showed, "Look, I did not have an affair.

    My husband found something wrong with me and dismissed me but it wasn't because I was

    unfaithful."

    That's what's going on in Deuteronomy 24.

    But I want you to see here, listen, because this is where the Pharisees and the scribes

    missed it.

    In Deuteronomy 24, there is not a command to divorce.

    That passage is just simply describing a scenario.

    In that passage, if we're going to boil it down, we would say this, they were told to

    write a certificate of divorce if there was a divorce.

    The only command that you see in this passage, the only one in that passage is this, if you

    divorce your wife, you cannot take her back if she's rejected by her next husband.

    Or if he croaks, you cannot take her back.

    Again, the reason for this was to protect the woman.

    It was to keep women from being used and discarded.

    It was to keep men who are hogs admittedly, it's to keep men from saying, "You know what?

    I'm going to try out women."

    But you know what?

    My first wife was better than this one.

    So I'm going to get rid of her and I'm going to take the first one back because I preferred

    her.

    That's a horrible, horrible way to treat a woman.

    See, that's the heart of the law here.

    Like God's like, "No, no, no, no, no, you're not going to treat women that way, men.

    This isn't a high school relationship, boyfriend, girlfriend, on again, off again.

    No, no, no, no, no, no.

    We're not treating women like that.

    Marriage is a very serious covenant and you're not going to just have a woman on a leash

    where you let her go and you anchor back and let her go and you anchor back.

    No, you are not allowed to do that."

    That's the heart of the law here.

    Deuteronomy 24 was intended to stop divorce from happening willy-nilly.

    Everybody on board with me now.

    Okay, because now I want you to see how the scribes and the Pharisees twisted it.

    Look at verse 31 again in Matthew chapter 5.

    Jesus quotes them.

    He says, "It was also said, whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of

    divorce."

    What the scribes and the Pharisees did was through their twisting this passage, they

    actually made it say the opposite of what God intended.

    They used this passage to justify easy divorce, that you can get a divorce for any reason

    at all so long as the paperwork is done.

    That's what they reduced this to.

    Like, well look, you studied the Old Testament, it tells you very plainly.

    If you get a divorce, make sure that all the documents are filled out appropriately.

    That's really all that matters, right?

    That's all that matters.

    Just that we signed on the right line and we crossed our T's and we dotted our I's.

    That's really what matters.

    As long as you do the paperwork, as long as the divorce is legal, hey, everybody's good

    with that because everything's above board then, right?

    I mean, I'm not like one of those illegal divorcers, right?

    You know, that I get some janky, unofficial, illegal divorce document from online, from

    the dark webs.

    I'm not like that guy.

    You better be sure that when I get a divorce, it's done right.

    That was their mindset.

    The Law of Moses commands divorce to be done legally, so make sure that you do it right.

    And see, that's Jesus' problem with their attitude.

    He says your attitude about divorce trivializes marriage.

    And you have justified in your mind the mistreatment of women in the name of making sure the paperwork

    is filled out properly.

    That's not what the Law is about, Jesus is saying.

    Now, over the years, I have heard all kinds of unbiblical justifications for people wanting

    a divorce.

    And I don't even have time to get into all that today.

    And we're going to get to the biblical reason for divorce in a moment.

    But we need to stop here and say, listen, marriage should not be taken so lightly among

    God's people.

    The scribes and the Pharisees were so diligent to make sure that the divorce was done right.

    We church should be so diligent to make sure that the marriage is done right.

    So that's the first problem Jesus has with divorce.

    You trivialize marriage.

    You trivialize marriage.

    Not on board with that.

    But here's the second problem Jesus says I have with your attitude towards divorce.

    Scribes, Pharisees, church in 2025, divorce results in adultery.

    Look at verse 32 again.

    Like I said, this is a difficult verse.

    But this is what our Lord said.

    Jesus said, but I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground

    of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery.

    And whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

    So Jesus is saying, listen, with divorce, even when the paperwork is done properly, divorce

    leads to nothing but more and more adultery.

    And I think one of the troubling things about this passage is I could see in my mind that

    I make choices that cause me to be guilty and suffer consequences for my own choices.

    But it's very clear here in verse 32, Jesus is saying that a choice for a divorce results

    in other people being guilty of sin.

    That's a tough pill to swallow, but that's what He said.

    What does He mean?

    In Deuteronomy 24, that passage we just looked at, when the woman was divorced for something

    less than sexual immorality, which by the way, sexual immorality breaks the bond of marriage,

    but in the Deuteronomy 24 case, she was divorced for something less than that, right?

    Jesus said, even when you divorce for less than sexual immorality, that still makes for

    an adulterous situation.

    Jesus said the divorced wife moves on, she consummates a new union when there was no

    grounds to break the first one, and if you do that, if you divorce like that, you are

    now guilty of adultery, and whoever marries that woman is guilty of adultery, and whoever

    marries you is guilty of adultery.

    And Jesus is saying when you unbiblically break the marriage covenant and people go

    off and get remarried, He says now we've resulted in more and more adultery happening in other

    people.

    That's what He said.

    He says now everybody's guilty.

    So what Jesus is saying to the scribes and the Pharisees is that you could sit here and

    say, "Oh, I'm not an adulterer.

    I have never slept with another man's wife.

    I have never committed adultery."

    Jesus says you shouldn't think that way.

    Actually, you've made adultery worse because you have such a shallow view of divorce.

    Jesus said you lowered God's standard because all you're focused on is the external.

    I didn't commit adultery.

    Jesus said you did.

    You commit adultery when you look at a woman lustfully.

    It proves that you already had adultery in your heart.

    And furthermore, when you divorce without biblical grounds, which Jesus says is sexual

    immorality, Jesus said you have committed adultery and you've made her and you've made her new

    husband commit adultery too.

    Your sin not only affects you, but it affects so many more people than just you.

    And I really don't have to sell people who have experienced divorce how far reaching

    the damage goes.

    The pain is not limited to just the two people in the marriage.

    I mentioned biblical grounds for divorce.

    Biblically, now looking at the whole counsel of God, I believe that there is one biblical

    grounds for divorce and it's hardheartedness.

    Like wait, wait, wait, wait.

    How do you know when somebody is heart-hearted?

    Because it would be real easy, right?

    You're like, "I'm divorcing you because I think you're heart-hearted."

    Like how do you know that somebody is heart-hearted?

    Biblically, heart-heartedness in a marriage manifests in two ways.

    One is abandonment.

    I don't have time to get into all this today, but just jot down 1 Corinthians 7 verse 15.

    Abandonment.

    When you have a spouse who just walks out of the marriage, "I'm not willing to counsel,

    I'm not willing to reconcile, I'm not willing to consider anything, I'm leaving you, I don't

    care.

    I am done."

    Abandonment.

    My best understanding from Scripture is that is biblical grounds for divorce.

    When you've tried, but your partner is completely unwilling.

    That gives evidence that their heart is so hard, they're not willing at all to invest

    in a covenant.

    Abandonment.

    And the other evidence of heart-heartedness in marriage, well Jesus references here,

    and that's adultery.

    Your heart is so hard towards your spouse that you were willing to physically sleep

    with somebody else.

    It's evidence of a heart-hearted.

    I want you to listen very closely because even these conditions, even the issue of adultery

    does not obligate anyone to divorce.

    Because you study God's Word.

    God's Word never condones divorce and it never commands divorce.

    There is not one passage in your Bible where God says, "If this happens, I command my people

    to get a divorce."

    That it is legitimate in abandonment and adultery, but it's still not commanded.

    So if you're married, you should do everything that you can to avoid divorce.

    See the scribes and the Pharisees, they live their marriages with one hand over the eject

    seat button.

    It's like I'm not happy with you for any reason.

    I am done.

    Jesus said, "No, no, no, no, no, that's not how it should be.

    You should do everything you can to avoid divorce."

    You're like, "Well, what about abuse?

    What if I'm in a relationship where there's abuse that absolutely should not be happening?"

    And listen, if you're in an abusive situation, you need to let me know as soon as possible.

    Because we will protect you.

    We will get you out of harm's way.

    We will do everything to keep you from being abused.

    That should not be happening.

    Somebody else would say, "Well, what about neglect?

    What about detachment?

    What about my husband's a lazy bum?

    Do not be too proud to get biblical counsel.

    Because there's something else I've seen over the last two and a half decades or so.

    No marriage is beyond saving.

    I've seen couples come in hours away from filing for divorce whose marriage ended up

    in a better place than it ever has been through the result of the ministry of the Word of

    God.

    If both parties are willing, the marriage can be saved.

    And when we talk about, yes, abuse and neglect and things like that, we have to readily admit

    that there are extreme cases that require extreme action, 100%.

    But in our day, like in Jesus' day, the vast majority of divorces weren't because of that.

    The vast majority of divorces were motivated by sinful, selfish desires.

    The vast majority of divorces result from people treating people like used cars.

    Like, "Well, this one isn't working out for me.

    I thought I would like it, but I'm not really digging it anymore.

    I'm just going to trade it in."

    That's most divorces.

    And Jesus says, "Now, you've reduced the marriage covenant.

    You've trivialized it.

    You've made it purely external.

    And now, as a result, all kinds of adultery is happening because you're unwilling to take

    marriage seriously."

    That should not be among God's people.

    It's a hard passage.

    What I want us to do, just so I don't want anybody to think that this is some oddball

    passage, this is a one-off.

    Because I want you to turn to Mark chapter 10, because what I want you to see here is

    Jesus teaching the exact same thing, but in a different context.

    In Mark chapter 10, the context, you'll see they were testing Jesus.

    They were trying to trap Jesus.

    They were always trying to trap Jesus.

    And they thought, "Oh, we know how to trap Jesus.

    We'll ask Him about marriage and divorce.

    That'll get them for sure.

    Why?"

    Well, you know the story of John the Baptist.

    He objected to a marriage and divorce, and he lost his head.

    And I go, "We get Jesus on that.

    They'll get them for sure.

    We'll trap them."

    So I want you to see, now we have context, but I want you to see Jesus teaching the exact

    same thing, but in a different context.

    Mark chapter 10, verse 2, "The Pharisees came up and in order to test Him asked, 'Is it lawful

    for a man to divorce his wife?'"

    They're like, "We got them.

    We got them."

    Slam dunk.

    Because, see, if Jesus says no, we're like, "Oh, you disagree with the Old Testament,

    which tells us to get a divorce."

    If Jesus says no, you shouldn't get a divorce, rather.

    You're disagreeing with the Old Testament.

    If Jesus says, "Oh, yeah, you can get a divorce.

    Oh, now Jesus is taking marriage lightly, and we're going to get Him either way."

    You know, Jesus is disregarding the serious system of marriage, or He's disregarding what

    the Old Testament says about divorce.

    We got them.

    We got them.

    "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?"

    I love this.

    Jesus answered them, "What did Moses command you?"

    Jesus is like, "What's the Bible say?"

    Turned it back on them.

    They said, "Look at this.

    Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce and to send her away."

    Do you see?

    It's about the stinking paperwork again.

    That's all they were fixated on.

    Yeah, Moses said, "Fill out form A-27, and you're good."

    Jesus said to them, "Because of your hardness of heart," there it is, "because of your

    hardness of heart," He wrote to this commandment.

    "But from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female.

    Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the

    two shall become one flesh."

    Sound familiar?

    Genesis 2.24.

    And Jesus comments on it.

    He says, "So they're no longer two, but one flesh.

    But therefore God has joined together, let not man separate."

    Verse 10 says, "And in the house the disciples asked him again."

    That's controversial, wasn't it?

    Disciples asked him again about this matter.

    And he said to them, "Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery

    against her.

    And if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery."

    See, it's the same teaching.

    Same two points in this exchange that we see in Matthew chapter 5.

    Jesus says you've trivialized marriage, and it just causes more adultery.

    God takes marriage very seriously, especially to those who claim to be followers of Jesus

    Christ.

    Why is God so...

    Why does God seem so strict about marriage?

    Why is God seems so serious about marriage?

    It's because divorce ultimately misrepresents God.

    See God takes marriage seriously because there's a picture that's to be on display

    in the marriage.

    So when that picture is broken, God is misrepresented.

    Ephesians chapter 5 tells us what the picture is.

    It says, "Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything

    to their husbands."

    Husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her.

    See this, this is the idea behind marriage.

    The ultimate goal of marriage is the ultimate goal of everything else in the universe is

    to glorify God.

    And the way God is glorified in your marriage is by demonstrating the relationship that

    Jesus Christ has with His bride, the church.

    And in this picture, the wife represents the church following, submitting, honoring, and

    the husband is to represent Jesus loving, leading, laying His life down.

    And when you live this out, God is glorified and your marriage is blessed.

    But when you divorce, you're misrepresenting God.

    So my friends, what are we showing the world about God and the way we conduct ourselves

    in our marriages?

    Our worship team and communion servers would come up.

    It's only appropriate that we close by gathering around the Lord's table.

    Like, well, what does this have to do with marriage?

    The answer is everything.

    Because we gather around the Lord's table, we are reminded that Jesus Christ has a covenant

    love for us.

    This love that Jesus Christ has for us is forever.

    It's never going to change.

    And even when His bride fails Him, and we do.

    Oh, and we will.

    Jesus isn't going to give up on us.

    This is our reminder of what covenant love looks like.

    And this is a reminder of how covenant love is to be demonstrated in our marriages.

Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery

Introduction:

2 Kings 18:4 – He removed the high places and broke the pillars and cut down the Asherah. And he broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the people of Israel had made offerings to it (it was called Nehushtan).

Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery (Matthew 5:27-30):

  1. Adultery Is a DEVASTATING SIN. (Matt 5:27–28)

    Matthew 15:19For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.

    Titus 1:15To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled.

  2. Adultery has DIRE CONSEQUNECES. (Matt 5:29–30)

    1 Corinthians 6:9–10Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

  3. Adultery requires DRASTIC MEASURES. (Matt 5:29–30)

    Romans 13:14 - But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

    1 Corinthians 6:9–11And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

Small Group Discussion
Read
Matthew 5:27-30

  1. What was your big take-away from this passage / message?

  2. Explain Matthew 5:28 in your own words.

  3. What did Jesus mean by gouging out your right eye and cutting off your right hand (Matt 5:29-30)? What are some practical ways to apply this teaching?

  4. Is Jesus saying a believer who commits adultery will go to hell? Who exactly is “thrown into hell”?

  5. What would you say to a professing believer who confesses that they can’t break free from lusting?

Breakout
Pray for one another.

  • Open up those Bibles to Matthew chapter 5.

    If you're visiting with us today, we are going through the Sermon on the Mount verse

    by verse.

    And Happy Mother's Day, the title of today's sermon is "Thou Shall Not Commit Adultery."

    I, I, um, we go where the text goes, okay?

    That's what we do.

    We go where the text goes.

    So let's do that.

    I'd like you to bow your heads please and just pray for me to be faithful to communicate

    God's Word.

    And I will pray for you to have a heart open to receive what is an extremely challenging

    passage.

    Let's pray.

    Father in heaven, we thank You for Your Word.

    We're not going to shy away from it.

    We just heard two testimonies of the way that Your Word has transformed lives.

    We're going to hear at least four more in the next service.

    That's why we, um, we just want to go after Your Word, God, because we believe that Your

    Word does Your work because that's what You said.

    And that is certainly what we've seen.

    So Father, I pray for all of us here today, all those who are going to be listening, watching

    this stream or downloading the podcast.

    Father I pray that You would bring revival in each and every heart in a way that greatly

    glorifies Your name.

    We pray in Jesus' name.

    And all of God's people said, "Amen."

    Amen.

    Matthew chapter 5, are you there?

    In Numbers chapter 21, you have Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt to the promised

    land and Israel complained and grumbled against God, against Moses.

    And the Lord sent these fiery serpents who, and these serpents bit some of the Israelites

    and many of them died.

    Well they repented.

    And God told Moses to put a bronze serpent on a pole.

    And if the Israelites, when they were bitten by one of the snakes, if they looked at this

    bronze serpent, they would live.

    Well then fast forward, Israel in the land established and they had kings.

    Some kings were very bad and some kings were just not as bad.

    Right?

    Can you relate to that at all?

    And Hezekiah was a king who was not as bad and he brought a lot of reforms to Israel.

    Here's one.

    We put this verse up from 2 Kings chapter 18.

    Hezekiah says, "He removed the high places and broke the pillars and cut down the ashram.

    He broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made for until those days the people

    of Israel had made offerings to it."

    It was called Nahushdin.

    See what happened?

    You see what happened?

    People took a blessing that God gave them for their benefit and they turned it into an

    idol.

    That's exactly how it is with physical intimacy.

    It is a gift that God gave those in the covenant of marriage, but we have turned it into an

    idol.

    So on your outline today, this is it.

    "Thou shall not commit adultery."

    I want you to write some things down.

    Number one, write this down.

    Adultery is a devastating sin.

    Adultery is a devastating sin.

    Now just that statement alone, it's a hard sell because we are a sex-obsessed culture.

    You've taken this gift from God and we've perverted it and we worship it.

    Do I have to point that out at all?

    Look at all the homosexuality madness, all the transgender stuff.

    And you're like, "Yeah, you know what, Pastor Jeff, you're right.

    You're right.

    It's bad out there."

    And I would say, "Church, it's bad in here."

    I was reading some polls for what they're worth.

    But according to one poll, one half of self-identifying Christians believe that casual sex is okay.

    Consenting but not in a relationship.

    They believe that's okay.

    Half.

    Think that's alright.

    What?

    I read a poll about pornography use among non-Christian men.

    Non-Christian men, 65%.

    Like, yeah, that's pretty bad.

    Christian men, 64%.

    The same poll, lest you think, "Yeah, creepy men, right?

    Creepy men, same poll, 51% of women."

    And you know at this point, you could be like, "Well, look, Jeff, we're only human.

    Everyone does it.

    It's not hurting anyone."

    Well according to Jesus, it's a devastating sin.

    Look at verse 27, Matthew chapter 5.

    Jesus said, "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.'"

    Stop there.

    Adultery.

    What is adultery?

    Well the technical term is defined as intercourse with another person's spouse.

    But it's become a catch-all term for relations with anyone who is not your spouse.

    And you're going to see in this passage, it's very clear that that's how Jesus was using

    the term in the most general sense possible.

    You go to Exodus chapter 20 and verse 14, you see that it's the seventh commandment.

    You go to Deuteronomy chapter 22 and verse 22, you'll see that under the law in Israel,

    adultery was punishable by death.

    And I don't have time to get into it this morning.

    We've done whole sermon series on this, by the way.

    But I just encourage you, if you're ready to just brush it off as, "Oh, church people,

    just making a big deal out of nothing," read Proverbs 5, 6, and 7 sometime.

    And you will see that adultery is a devastating sin.

    I heard one pastor this past week call it a sin for fools.

    And I think that's a very good description.

    adultery is devastating.

    I mean, it wrecks you, destroys your reputation, affects your relationship with your spouse,

    relationship with your kids.

    Oh, and the other person, what about them?

    It affects, now if they're married, it affects their relationship with their spouse.

    If they have kids, it affects their kids.

    And what has done to their reputation.

    But the devastation of adultery is way deeper than that.

    Look at verse 28.

    Jesus says, "But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has

    already committed adultery with her in his heart."

    Do you notice verse 27, verse 28?

    Jesus said, "You have heard, but I say to you," what was Jesus doing?

    Pastor Taylor talked about this last week.

    Same thing with murder.

    Same thing.

    Jesus was contrasting their definition of sin with God's definition of sin.

    Because their definition of sin in Jesus' day was all about externals.

    So when they hear adultery, they're thinking only in terms of the physical act with another

    person.

    But that, not alone, is adultery.

    And Jesus says, "No, you're not taking it far enough.

    And you're understanding.

    It's a hard issue.

    Like murder.

    You don't have to actually kill someone to be considered a murderer in the eyes of God."

    Jesus is saying the same thing about adultery.

    You don't have to physically be with another person to be an adulterer.

    Look at verse 28 again.

    He says, "I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already

    committed adultery with her in his heart."

    Now you have to understand this looking with lustful intent, it's not an accidental glance.

    This is literally in the process of continuing to look.

    It's looking in such a way that you are fueling your sexual imagination.

    When that happens, the deed's already done.

    Adultery has happened.

    Now listen, I don't want you to misunderstand because it's even worse than you think it

    is.

    Listen, Jesus did not say that looking at a woman with lustful intent causes you to commit

    adultery in your hearts.

    Jesus said looking at a woman with lustful intent means you already committed adultery

    in your heart.

    Jesus is saying that you looked with lustful intent because it was already in your heart

    to commit adultery.

    I think this is where a lot of people get this mixed up.

    It's not, "Oh, I was going about my business and I just stumbled across this woman and

    I looked at her and that is what caused me to lust."

    That's not the extent of it.

    It's this, I have an adulterous heart that's looking for a woman with lustful intent.

    See the difference?

    The look did not cause the lust.

    It is the lust that caused the look.

    You see the difference?

    Look, look, I can't, there's no way I can overstate this.

    This is a real problem.

    And this is a real problem that people sitting here have right now and are not dealing with

    it.

    You're not an adulterer because of something you do, it's who you are.

    It's a heart thing.

    You see with adultery like murder, as Pastor Taylor talked about last week, before it's

    an act, even if it doesn't become an act.

    That is what is in your heart.

    This is the heart of the law.

    Jesus said in Matthew 15, 19, "For out of the hearts, out of the heart come evil thoughts,

    murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander."

    You see that?

    The sinful acts are symptoms of a sinful condition.

    Committing the act of adultery, those are the leaves on the tree that has the root of

    an adulterous heart.

    And if you're sitting here still somehow magnanimously saying in your head, "I would never commit

    the act."

    I did not and I would never commit the act of adultery.

    But if that sin is in your mind, if that sin is constantly in your imagination, you have

    a real problem.

    That's why pornography is such a big business.

    Why?

    Because sinful hearts are literally searching for it.

    And you have to understand that if that's your issue, the sin started even before you

    got online because it's in here.

    It's a devastating condition to live in.

    You're unable to live a holy and upright life because when your heart is full of adultery,

    it perverts everything.

    And consider Titus 1.15.

    Look at this verse.

    Paul says to the pure, "All things are pure."

    But to the defiled and unbelieving, meaning your heart is full of perversion and sin,

    to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure.

    But both their minds and their consciences are defiled.

    Do you know what that means?

    That means that when you're in that latter condition, you cannot look at another woman

    purely.

    You cannot see another woman as a sister, as a mom, as even just another human being.

    When this is where your heart is, every woman that you encounter, you're evaluating.

    And many become objects in your minds and hearts of fantasies.

    Lust just becomes all-consuming.

    And the people that live in this defiled state don't even see a problem.

    God's gift of marital intimacy has become an idol that you use to gratify your flesh.

    So see, Jesus is telling us out the gate, this is a devastating condition.

    And secondly, I shall not commit adultery.

    Not only is adultery a devastating sin, but adultery has dire consequences.

    Adultery has dire consequences.

    Look at verses 29 and 30.

    These two verses kind of saying the same thing, but this is some of the most startling stuff

    Jesus ever said, in my opinion.

    He says, "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 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."

    And you're like, "Man, gouge out your eye?

    Like cut off your hand?"

    Like, "Man, that seems awfully extreme."

    If that's the part you're focusing on, then you have completely missed the point.

    Because neither of those things are extreme.

    They're not extreme at all compared to hell.

    Notice twice Jesus says, "Thrown into hell."

    Thrown into hell.

    What's the obvious implication, right?

    We get it.

    We get what He's saying.

    Jesus is saying here that people with adulterous hearts go to hell.

    If you're still not convinced, Paul backs this up, verse Corinthians 6, verses 9 through

    10.

    He says, "Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?"

    Meaning go to heaven.

    Meaning go to hell.

    He says, "Do not be deceived, neither the sexually immoral nor adulterers nor men who

    practice homosexuality nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor revilers nor swindlers

    will inherit the kingdom of God."

    Your priority in this life, more than anything, should be preparing yourself for eternity.

    Are you doing that?

    Because the Bible says your decisions in this life matter.

    And someday you're going to stand before God.

    So if lust is a problem for you, if lust characterizes you, and look, I can't answer

    that.

    I can't answer that for you.

    But you know if this sin consumes who you are.

    And if it characterizes you, there are consequences.

    As we talked about before, here and now, apparently, obviously, easily seen, there are consequences

    for adultery.

    But Jesus says there's also consequences when you take your last breath.

    Adultery has dire consequences.

    So let's talk about the other big thing in these verses.

    Number three, adultery requires drastic measures.

    Look at them again.

    He says, "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 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."

    Weren't you just blessed by the obedience of those who were baptized today?

    Didn't you say obedience is a wonderful thing?

    Awesome.

    Who's first?

    I mean, didn't Jesus just say if your hand causes you to sin, to cut it off?

    Who's first?

    We're not going to do it over the tub because we get more baptisms in the next service.

    And you're like, "Yeah, what about the other verse?"

    Well, don't worry.

    We can take care of the eye, too.

    We'll get Pastor Taylor up here.

    We'll do them both at the same time.

    You won't know.

    You won't even know what's going on when both of them are happening at the same time.

    And you're like, "Man, gouging out your eye and cutting off your hand.

    Man, that sounds drastic."

    Oh, it absolutely is.

    Maybe even more than you think.

    Because you see, Jesus was speaking to Jews.

    And the Jews viewed the right greater than the left.

    Just as a general thing.

    If you're left-handed, I don't need any hate emails.

    Okay?

    That's just the way it was, right?

    Sitting at the right hand.

    My right hand, man.

    The idea was right is better than left.

    So your right eye and your right hand and the Jewish mindset, those were the two most important

    things that you own.

    What Jesus is saying is this, there is nothing that is too important to eliminate from your

    life if it is causing you to sin.

    Adultery is destructive, it's enslaving, it's condemning.

    We got to deal with that.

    We have to deal with it.

    Do you believe that?

    Whatever.

    Listen.

    Whatever it is that feeds the lust in your heart, no matter how important that thing

    is, it has got to go.

    It's got to go.

    If you're feeding your lust through your phone or maybe a tablet, smash them up.

    And you're like, "Pastor Jeff, I have the newest iPhone.

    I spent a lot of money for that."

    It's not worth hell.

    Is it your laptop?

    Smash it up.

    Or you know, take your laptop to the kitchen and only use it around your family.

    You're like, "Oh, Pastor Jeff, my family is really nebby."

    Good.

    So glad to hear that.

    It's not worth hell.

    Maybe for some of you it's your social media accounts where you're having inappropriate

    relationships, conversations with people online or looking at things through those that you

    shouldn't be looking at.

    Delete them.

    Delete those social media accounts.

    You're like, "But Pastor Jeff, that's how I stay connected.

    Join a small group."

    You're like, "Put Pastor Jeff, the social media, that's just my leisure time.

    Take up pickleball.

    It's not worth hell."

    You know what?

    Maybe we'll just take care of all this.

    Call and cancel your internet if it's a problem.

    If it's leading you to feed this lust, Jesus says, "It has to go."

    And you're like, "Well, Pastor Jeff, I need the internet for my job.

    Get a new job.

    I will find you a job where you don't need the internet because it's not worth hell."

    Maybe for some of you as we are approaching summer, maybe it's a membership in a public

    pool.

    Like, you know what?

    I go there, Pastor Jeff, and I look at the women there, and I get to tell you what did

    Jesus say.

    You've got to get extreme here, people.

    But Pastor Jeff, my pool membership, that's just kind of our thing like we do in the summer.

    Swim at home.

    And I don't have a pool at my house.

    Do you have a bathtub?

    It's not worth hell.

    And I know people are like, "Okay, Pastor Jeff, I hear what you're saying, but I'm going

    to be honest with you."

    It's going to be kind of embarrassing to have to explain to people why I smashed my phone

    and canceled my internet.

    It's going to, I'm going to have to explain to people why I did that.

    That's kind of embarrassing.

    I'll tell you what's going to be more embarrassing than that is you not cutting off your sin,

    and someday you're going to stand before God.

    And God's going to say, "Do you remember the strangest Mother's Day sermon you've ever

    heard?"

    Why didn't you listen?

    Why did you despise my word?

    Why did you think following me was not worth cutting off the stuff that keeps you from following

    me with your whole heart?

    Why did you find me not worthy?

    Notice Jesus says it's better.

    It is better to lose your eye, lose your hand.

    It's better.

    What's better than going to hell?

    Literally anything.

    Anything you have to lose for the sake of your soul is going to be worth it.

    Romans 13, 14, same thing.

    Paul's saying the same thing.

    Maybe not in as graphic terms as Jesus, but it's the same thing.

    He says, "But put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to gratify

    its desires.

    Make no provision.

    Take drastic measures to cut off anything that feeds the flesh."

    It's like that old story I heard, an old metaphor.

    Maybe you've heard about the guy.

    He had a white dog and a gray dog.

    And every time he put food out for them, the gray dog would whoop up the white dog, take

    all the food.

    The white dog would get none.

    After a while, the white dog, not eating, got weaker and weaker and weaker and the gray

    dog getting all the food, got stronger and stronger and stronger.

    The guy said, "I've got to do something about this."

    So he put both the dogs on a leash.

    And for a month, he only fed the white dog.

    This isn't a real story, by the way.

    Don't call it PETA.

    But he only fed the white dog.

    The gray dog barely surviving.

    But after that time of only feeding the white dog and not the gray dog when he let them

    off the leash, now the white dog was strong because it was the one that got fed.

    The gray dog was weak because it was the one that got starved.

    And I think you see the obvious application.

    The dog you feed is going to be the dominant dog.

    And the dog you starved was going to be the weak dog.

    See in this analogy, the white dog represents walking by the Spirit.

    The gray dog represents walking in the flesh.

    I think some of you are so weak because you're not feeding the Spirit, so to speak.

    You're not into Word.

    You're not worshiping.

    You're not praying.

    You're not in fellowship.

    You're not listening to good biblical podcasts.

    You're starving that.

    When instead you need to be starving the flesh.

    Make no provision for the flesh.

    Starve the adulterous heart by making no provision for whichever dog you feed is going to be

    the dog that is strong.

    And the dog that you don't feed is the dog that gets weak.

    And you're like, "Man, Pastor Jeff, this sounds impossible."

    Oh, it is.

    Absolutely.

    That's why we put Romans 13 back up there, please.

    It is impossible.

    Hence the first phrase in this verse, "Put on the Lord Jesus Christ."

    Reformation is not going to work.

    If your goal here is to just try to clean up your act, you're not going to get very far.

    You need transformation.

    You need the life of Christ in us to be able to make these choices.

    Oh, and by the way, earlier we read, well, 1 Corinthians 6, we read verses 9 and 10.

    I'd like to go back and I'd like to look at the very next verse.

    Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?

    Do you not be deceived, neither the sexually immoral, nor adulterers, nor adulterers, nor

    men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers,

    nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God?

    Look at verse 11.

    And such were some of you that you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified, you

    were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ by the Spirit of our God.

    I just want to ask you today, are you an R?

    Or are you a Wurr?

    Because today, today could be the most important day of your life because today you can become

    a Wurr.

    Like it about your heads as the worship team makes their way back up.

    Just like it about your heads.

    Close your eyes.

    Look, this is a between you and God thing here, alright?

    There's some of you that have been trapped because you don't know Jesus Christ as your

    Lord and Savior.

    You don't have the power or resources to overcome this sin because you're living in the flesh,

    not by the power of His Holy Spirit because you don't know.

    Today can be the day that you receive Him.

    And you know what?

    We're baptizing in the next service.

    Pastor Taylor would be thrilled to be able to baptize you because you've repented from

    your sin and turned to Jesus Christ.

    But if you, heads bowed, eyes closed, if you're sitting here and you're like, you know what

    pastors, I am a believer in Jesus Christ, but I'm honestly, I'm stuck in this sin.

    I just want to ask you, Christian, stuck in this sin.

    Why in the world would you indulge in a sin that Jesus died for?

    Today Christian, you need to repent.

    Today Christian, you need to do some cutting.

    Father in heaven, I just simply ask today that you open up the eyes of our hearts that we

    don't look at this sin from a worldly perspective because the world celebrates it.

    Father, let us see this sin from your perspective.

    It's a horrible sin.

    Father, let us see the consequences that Jesus laid out for us.

    There is eternal separation from you for the heart that chooses to live in lust instead

    of walking by the Spirit.

    Father, I pray that you would give us the wisdom, you would give us the strength, and

    you would give us the faith to be able to cut some things today.

    It's ultimately going to bless us to be free from this bondage, but the end goal of all

    things, Father, is for the glory of your name.

    Father, I pray that you would glorify your name through a work of your Holy Spirit, bringing

    people to you in repentance and bringing your people back from a willing bondage to

    sin.

    Please, Father, let our life, let our very life be an act of worship in the way we repent.

    We pray in Jesus' name, amen.

Knowing Jesus - Knowing His Grace

Introduction:

We All Need Grace (John 8:1-11):

  1. But we don't often Give it. (John 8:3-5)

    Leviticus 20:10 - If a man commits adultery with the wife of his neighbor, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.

Am I a gracious person?

  • Deep down, am I still angry with someone who wronged me, ever after they apologize?
  • Are there broken relationships in my life that I refuse to heal?
  • Do I believe certain people don't deserve forgiveness?
  • When someone messes up, do I prefer to criticizing their mistakes over praying for them to get to a better place?
  1. But we don't often Recognize our need for it. (John 8:6-9)
  2. But we don't often Understand it. (John 8:10-11)

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint:
Highlight blanks above for answers!

Small Group Discussion
Read John 7:53 - 8:1-11

  1. What was your big “take-away” from this passage / message?

  2. In John 8:7, Jesus said, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” People often quote this to mean “we are all sinners, so it’s never right to call out someone’s sin.”

    • Is this an accurate interpretation of this verse? Why or why not?

    • How and when IS it appropriate to call out someone on their sin?

  3. John 8:9 says the older ones walked away first. Why do you think that was? How does experience seem to temper inappropriate zeal?

  4. Jesus told the woman to “sin no more” (John 8:11). How does knowing Jesus motivate us to walk away from sin?

Breakout
Pray for one another to grow in Jesus’ grace - and being gracious to others.

Walk Wisely: Seduction Destruction.

Introduction:

How to Avoid Destruction by Seduction (Proverbs 6:20-35):

  1. Let God's Word direct you, not your Feelings. (Prov 6:20-24a)
  2. Watch out for Bait. (Prov 6:24b-25)
  3. Consider what it Will Cost you. (Prov 6:26-35).
  1. The consequences are Inevitable. (Prov 6:27-29)
  2. The consequences will get you no Pity. (Prov 6:30-31)
  3. The consequences are foolishly Self-Destructive. (Prov 6:32-35)

Proverbs 4:26 - Ponder the path of your feet; then all your ways will be sure.

Moral Fences:

  1. I will not ride alone in a car with someone from the opposite sex other than my spouse or immediate family member.

  2. I will not counsel the opposite sex alone– in a closed room or more than once.

  3. I speak often and publicly about my affection for my spouse, when s/he is present and when s/he is not.

  4. I will compliment the opposite sex on character, not appearance.

  5. I will give my spouse total access to my cell phone / computer.

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint:
Highlight blanks above for answers!

Small Group Discussion
Read Proverbs 6:20-35

  1. What was your big “take-away” from this passage / message?

  2. List the consequences this passage lays out that people will face by getting involved in a wrong relationship.

  3. If the danger is so obvious, and so devastating, why is this temptation so alluring?

  4. What “moral fences” have you implemented to protect yourself?

BREAKOUT
Is there an inappropriate relationship that you have been flirting with? What do you need to do to repent?