WEBVTT 00:00:08.960 --> 00:00:22.800 So I was recently bit by a rat in my own house in Fairfax, well, the greater Annandale metropolitan area. 00:00:23.440 --> 00:00:24.079 A rat. 00:00:24.719 --> 00:00:30.719 I was minding my own business and uh it bit my finger. 00:00:31.839 --> 00:00:34.000 Can you I didn't know I'm not from New York. 00:00:38.240 --> 00:00:39.119 Come on. 00:00:39.759 --> 00:00:47.920 But in mitigation, in the rat's defense, as it were, uh it was my rat. 00:00:49.600 --> 00:00:53.200 In fact, I have photographic evidence of my rats. 00:00:54.240 --> 00:00:56.399 I think they're cute too, don't you? 00:00:56.880 --> 00:00:59.200 Uh yeah, yes, I heard a few yeses. 00:00:59.439 --> 00:01:04.879 Um I was training it to walk across a rope by putting food in front of it. 00:01:05.040 --> 00:01:09.760 And uh it didn't bite out of like anger, it just bit like I think it thought my finger was the food. 00:01:10.159 --> 00:01:12.319 Um so I I'm excusing the rat. 00:01:12.400 --> 00:01:13.359 Plus, I like the rats. 00:01:13.439 --> 00:01:14.879 They're they're my friends. 00:01:15.280 --> 00:01:23.120 Uh I won't tell you which rat it was that bit me because I don't want to embarrass him or her if she is listening this morning. 00:01:26.719 --> 00:01:53.680 If a person had it as their goal in life to not get bit by a rat, which is a noteworthy and a worthwhile goal, that person should not turn around and buy two of them and house them in their own house and feed them and let them hang out on their shoulder if it was that person's goal to not get bit by a rat. 00:01:54.560 --> 00:02:09.759 And if you were to tell me that your goal was to remain rat-bite-free all of your days, and then you turn around and bought two of the previously aforementioned rats, I would question your commitment to your goal. 00:02:10.159 --> 00:02:19.039 I would make some assumptions that maybe you aren't actually that concerned about being bitten by a rat if you, after all, you own two of them and play with them. 00:02:20.400 --> 00:02:25.120 This is the basic point of the passage before us this morning. 00:02:25.360 --> 00:02:36.800 And it is a point that is made more complicated by people trying to excuse their own sin, more complicated by people trying to downplay the point of this passage, or incorporate it into it, hey, all sins are the same kind of attitude. 00:02:37.039 --> 00:02:40.159 Jesus' point this morning is pretty clear. 00:02:40.479 --> 00:02:46.080 If you don't want to get bit by a rat, don't buy some and keep them as pets. 00:02:46.560 --> 00:02:48.240 Let me read the text before us. 00:02:48.479 --> 00:02:50.960 Verse 27 of Matthew chapter 5. 00:02:51.199 --> 00:02:55.199 You have heard that it was said, Do not commit adultery. 00:02:55.599 --> 00:03:03.120 But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 00:03:03.520 --> 00:03:06.479 If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out, throw it away. 00:03:06.560 --> 00:03:10.800 It's better you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. 00:03:11.039 --> 00:03:15.199 If your right hand causes you to sin, cut cut it off, throw it away. 00:03:15.360 --> 00:03:20.639 It's better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell. 00:03:23.199 --> 00:03:30.080 This is a passage that is teaching you the dangers and the depravity of adultery. 00:03:30.319 --> 00:03:36.319 I'll give you an outline this morning, and the outline begins with the word outline, sin's outline here. 00:03:36.479 --> 00:03:41.520 Jesus starts just by giving you the outline of what the sin is he's talking about. 00:03:41.599 --> 00:03:43.919 He's talking about the sin of adultery. 00:03:44.719 --> 00:03:48.240 I'm saying the word outline here because he's going to move into the heart in a second. 00:03:48.400 --> 00:03:53.840 He's going to move into the life that's behind this sin, but he's starting just at the very surface level. 00:03:54.080 --> 00:03:59.039 So the first way Jesus enters this discussion, verse 27, is on the surface. 00:03:59.199 --> 00:04:00.560 This is on the outside. 00:04:00.800 --> 00:04:08.960 Jesus is talking about the external act of adultery, about somebody who is having sexual relations with somebody with whom they're not married. 00:04:09.039 --> 00:04:11.439 That's what the word adultery means in the Bible. 00:04:11.919 --> 00:04:16.000 Being sexually intimate with someone other than your wife or your husband. 00:04:16.079 --> 00:04:19.600 And this is just the bare minimum standard here. 00:04:19.759 --> 00:04:26.720 The outside standard, the connect the dots picture of holiness here is don't commit adultery. 00:04:26.959 --> 00:04:28.639 That's where he starts. 00:04:29.199 --> 00:04:31.759 And I say like the connect the dots outline here. 00:04:31.839 --> 00:04:34.720 I'm talking about like entry-level ethics. 00:04:34.959 --> 00:04:37.120 I'm talking lowest shelf here. 00:04:37.279 --> 00:04:39.040 I'm talking externals even. 00:04:39.199 --> 00:04:40.399 We're not to the heart yet. 00:04:40.560 --> 00:04:46.160 Just on the outside, Jesus is saying, do not commit adultery. 00:04:46.399 --> 00:04:54.399 My wife used to teach second grade, and I remember that a bunch of her students would, when they were drawing, the boy students in particular would draw spaceships. 00:04:54.480 --> 00:04:56.240 They constantly doodled spaceships. 00:04:56.399 --> 00:04:58.560 You know why little kids draw spaceships? 00:04:58.800 --> 00:05:02.160 Because it's a triangle with two little lines on them for lasers. 00:05:02.319 --> 00:05:03.920 Okay, don't forget the lasers. 00:05:04.160 --> 00:05:06.720 The easiest thing possible to draw. 00:05:07.199 --> 00:05:12.800 When Jesus is talking about adultery here, that's the level in which he's sketching right now. 00:05:13.040 --> 00:05:15.279 Do not commit adultery. 00:05:15.439 --> 00:05:18.319 Connect the dots, the triangle, and put two lines on it. 00:05:18.639 --> 00:05:19.600 Basics here. 00:05:19.839 --> 00:05:22.240 Don't commit adultery. 00:05:22.639 --> 00:05:24.240 This is the seventh commandment. 00:05:24.319 --> 00:05:29.680 He's not saying this command as if it's a bad command, like you've heard it said, but I'm telling you something totally different. 00:05:29.839 --> 00:05:31.600 No, this is the seventh commandment. 00:05:31.839 --> 00:05:34.000 This is ethics in the Old Testament. 00:05:34.160 --> 00:05:36.319 Jesus is endorsing this commandment. 00:05:36.480 --> 00:05:37.759 He's underlining it. 00:05:38.639 --> 00:05:39.600 He's teaching it. 00:05:39.759 --> 00:05:40.800 He's preaching it. 00:05:40.879 --> 00:05:42.959 He's going through it and explaining it. 00:05:43.279 --> 00:05:44.560 He agrees with it. 00:05:44.879 --> 00:05:46.000 God made marriage. 00:05:46.240 --> 00:05:50.240 He made marriage before the fall, before sin entered the world. 00:05:50.399 --> 00:05:52.240 He said it wasn't good for man to be alone. 00:05:52.399 --> 00:05:54.959 He created a helper suitable for him. 00:05:56.000 --> 00:05:58.000 Adam and Eve then joins together. 00:05:58.079 --> 00:06:04.000 For this reason, Moses says a man will leave his father and his mother, cling fast or hold fast to his wife. 00:06:04.160 --> 00:06:06.079 The two of them will become one flesh. 00:06:06.240 --> 00:06:10.480 This is how they fulfill the commands to go into all the earth to be fruitful and multiply. 00:06:10.800 --> 00:06:13.519 God invented and designed marriage. 00:06:13.759 --> 00:06:15.279 Marriage is designed to be good. 00:06:15.360 --> 00:06:16.560 It's designed to be a blessing. 00:06:16.720 --> 00:06:18.480 It is the cornerstone of society. 00:06:18.639 --> 00:06:23.839 It's how all everything else in society grows out of marriage, so to speak. 00:06:24.079 --> 00:06:26.319 Again, marriage was invented before the fall. 00:06:26.560 --> 00:06:29.040 Sexual intimacy was invented before the fall. 00:06:29.199 --> 00:06:33.199 For a husband and a wife together, they would be naked and not ashamed. 00:06:33.360 --> 00:06:34.560 That's how God designed it. 00:06:34.720 --> 00:06:42.800 Sin, of course, affects that and sin attacks that, but the idea of monogamy in marriage is not a post-fall concept. 00:06:42.879 --> 00:06:52.240 And I've heard people argue that, oh, you know, monogamy is something just because we're such sinful people and we live in a sinful world, God gives us that to kind of rein us in. 00:06:52.399 --> 00:06:53.199 That's not true. 00:06:53.360 --> 00:06:56.879 Monogamy was designed before sin entered the world. 00:06:58.399 --> 00:07:00.959 Adam and Eve were told to be fruitful and multiply. 00:07:01.120 --> 00:07:03.040 They needed marriage for that. 00:07:03.199 --> 00:07:04.560 They had to be able to multiply. 00:07:04.639 --> 00:07:07.120 So children are designed to come from marriage. 00:07:07.360 --> 00:07:11.199 And that's why it's marriage is referred to as the building block of society. 00:07:11.920 --> 00:07:19.279 In a sense, everything good and livable about this world comes through that conduit of marriage, like your own life, for example. 00:07:19.519 --> 00:07:22.800 And everything else you enjoy is predicated on you having life. 00:07:22.959 --> 00:07:30.399 Life comes to you through the concept of family, through sexual intimacy, through your parents, bringing you into this world. 00:07:30.560 --> 00:07:37.120 So a family comes from this, and a home comes from this, and a home should be, as I said, the cornerstone of society. 00:07:37.279 --> 00:07:38.959 Your home is your safe place. 00:07:39.120 --> 00:07:41.279 Your home is your place where you're raising your kids. 00:07:41.439 --> 00:07:42.560 Kids should want to come home. 00:07:42.720 --> 00:07:44.160 Kids should delight in the home. 00:07:44.319 --> 00:07:46.560 They should make good memories in the home. 00:07:46.800 --> 00:07:51.040 This is the way God designed the world for it to be, again, a safe place. 00:07:51.199 --> 00:07:54.639 Of course, the home is where children are disciplined, also, by the way. 00:07:54.800 --> 00:07:58.959 And discipline drives foolishness out of the heart of the child. 00:07:59.120 --> 00:08:06.959 The rod of discipline or the rod of correction teaches children to work hard and to demonstrate self-control and to flee sin. 00:08:07.040 --> 00:08:09.040 That makes children a blessing to society. 00:08:09.199 --> 00:08:13.839 A child who's not disciplined is not going to be a blessing to their own family, much less society, right? 00:08:14.000 --> 00:08:22.959 A child who's selfish and you know stealing and throwing fits and insisting on his own way all the time will be a curse to his parents, Proverbs says, and a curse to society. 00:08:23.360 --> 00:08:33.600 But in the home, the child is disciplined and he grows up to get self-control established and to get his foolishness out of him, a blessing to his family. 00:08:33.759 --> 00:08:38.320 The husband is providing for the family, the wife is nurturing the children in the family. 00:08:38.480 --> 00:08:41.360 This is, again, God's basic outline designed for marriage. 00:08:41.600 --> 00:08:43.120 Blessing comes to that. 00:08:43.279 --> 00:08:52.639 When you have a family that functions at that level, where there's provision, where there's nurturing, where there's discipline, then there is joy. 00:08:53.679 --> 00:08:56.480 Children have good memories of the home. 00:08:57.200 --> 00:08:58.159 They have a life there. 00:08:58.240 --> 00:09:01.039 You know, throwing a pet or two and you're rocking. 00:09:04.559 --> 00:09:06.799 This is not an income statement either. 00:09:06.960 --> 00:09:10.559 It's not that you have to be wealthy to provide a happy home. 00:09:10.879 --> 00:09:16.320 A person a very poor person can live in a small house and have a happy home. 00:09:17.200 --> 00:09:21.600 A very wealthy person can live in a very large house and have a happy home. 00:09:21.840 --> 00:09:29.360 Or a very wealthy person can live in a large house and neglect his children and live for himself and have an unhappy home. 00:09:31.039 --> 00:09:36.320 A very poor person could neglect his children and have a very unhappy home. 00:09:36.559 --> 00:09:38.480 It's not contingent upon income. 00:09:38.799 --> 00:09:43.600 It's contingent upon obedience to God's design for marriage and family. 00:09:44.639 --> 00:09:49.840 He designed marriage to protect children and be the building block of society. 00:09:50.000 --> 00:09:53.200 Now, adultery attacks that. 00:10:12.399 --> 00:10:14.559 All that represents the things the devil hates the most. 00:10:14.720 --> 00:10:17.440 This is why he attacks Adam and Eve at the point of marriage. 00:10:17.679 --> 00:10:22.639 He attacks Adam and Eve at the point of the way God designed them to function together. 00:10:22.799 --> 00:10:26.080 This is why the devil today continually attacks children. 00:10:27.679 --> 00:10:37.360 But God designed marriage to be kind of the stabilizing force in this world and in our fallen society. 00:10:37.919 --> 00:10:43.679 Adultery devastates that by inserting a lack of trust into the marriage. 00:10:43.840 --> 00:10:49.120 Adultery devastates that by tearing the fabric that should be what unites you together. 00:10:49.279 --> 00:10:52.399 You know, your family knows you best and loves you best in this world. 00:10:52.559 --> 00:10:53.519 And especially the kids. 00:10:53.600 --> 00:11:02.320 I know there's a lot of the high school kids who are in here second hour, and sometimes you might not believe that as a high schooler, but I'm telling you, your family loves you more than anybody else in this world. 00:11:03.440 --> 00:11:04.879 That's just the reality. 00:11:05.120 --> 00:11:15.120 Adultery attacks that and introduces doubt into that and shows that there's people in this world your parents love more than themselves. 00:11:17.120 --> 00:11:22.080 Adultery, by the way, as I said earlier, is first a sexual activity outside of marriage. 00:11:22.320 --> 00:11:26.080 With somebody, it can be a married person having an affair on their spouse. 00:11:26.240 --> 00:11:31.120 It could be a single person being sexually intimate with someone with whom they're not married. 00:11:31.440 --> 00:11:35.279 People try to dilute that command, but I'm telling you, in the Bible, it's a very broad word. 00:11:35.360 --> 00:11:37.919 They try to dilute it and say, oh, single people can't commit adultery. 00:11:38.000 --> 00:11:39.120 Oh, yes, you can. 00:11:39.519 --> 00:11:40.320 Yes, you can. 00:11:40.480 --> 00:11:44.639 People want, this is why adultery, even for single people, is an attack on the family. 00:11:44.960 --> 00:11:50.879 People want the gratification of sex without the commitment of marriage. 00:11:50.960 --> 00:11:52.639 And so they act on it. 00:11:52.799 --> 00:11:59.600 They say, you know, God designed marriage to be the uh sphere in which that happens. 00:11:59.759 --> 00:12:02.559 And somebody says, I don't want marriage, it's a lifelong commitment. 00:12:02.639 --> 00:12:08.080 Marriage involves me committing myself to one person and raising children and having a family for my life. 00:12:08.240 --> 00:12:09.440 I don't want that. 00:12:09.600 --> 00:12:11.360 I want sexual intimacy without that. 00:12:11.440 --> 00:12:13.600 All I want is to gratify my own desires. 00:12:13.679 --> 00:12:15.759 I don't want like a lifelong commitment or anything. 00:12:15.919 --> 00:12:20.720 That's the excuse that ends up attacking family and attacking marriage. 00:12:21.039 --> 00:12:27.120 As people pursue satisfaction apart from the means in which God designed them to have it. 00:12:27.279 --> 00:12:34.080 A society that channels people towards sexual intimacy outside of marriage is a society that will be marked by divorce, of course. 00:12:34.320 --> 00:12:41.840 It will be marked by abortion, it will be marked by sexual brokenness, it will be marked by families that aren't cohesive. 00:12:43.120 --> 00:12:46.639 Adultery literally dismantles society. 00:12:47.440 --> 00:12:49.440 It is good to want intimacy. 00:12:49.600 --> 00:12:51.360 It's good to want sexual intimacy. 00:12:51.679 --> 00:12:52.639 God designed that. 00:12:52.799 --> 00:12:57.039 That's a motivating fact that drives people towards marriage, 1 Corinthians 7 says. 00:12:57.759 --> 00:13:01.440 You have passion, you're burning with passion, get married, the Bible says. 00:13:02.720 --> 00:13:12.320 But if you act on that outside of marriage, you're diluting marriage, diluting family, attacking the way in which God made the world. 00:13:13.679 --> 00:13:21.519 Now, it is very popular today to say to downplay sexual sin and say, you know, sexual sin is like every other sin. 00:13:22.080 --> 00:13:23.120 But no, it's not. 00:13:23.279 --> 00:13:24.799 It's not like every other sin. 00:13:25.039 --> 00:13:27.279 Sexual sin is in kind of its own category. 00:13:27.440 --> 00:13:28.799 Paul says this to the Corinthians. 00:13:28.960 --> 00:13:33.279 He says, every sin a person commits is outside of his body, except for sexual immorality. 00:13:33.440 --> 00:13:37.279 The person who commits sexual immorality joins his own body to somebody else. 00:13:37.440 --> 00:13:40.720 It brings the reputation of the church and the body of Christ into it. 00:13:40.879 --> 00:13:45.840 It is an attack on holiness and on the way God made the world differently than other sins. 00:13:46.000 --> 00:13:52.879 And even today, people get so defensive about sexual sins because they say, you know, I identify, they identify themselves. 00:13:52.960 --> 00:13:56.080 They get their own self-identity from their sexual desires. 00:13:56.399 --> 00:14:00.879 They say, I identify this way, so that can't be a sin because that's who I am. 00:14:01.679 --> 00:14:05.200 And the response to that is always, no, that's exactly why it's a sin. 00:14:05.360 --> 00:14:07.919 It's who you that's what makes it such a serious sin. 00:14:08.240 --> 00:14:10.399 It's so close to you, you identify with it. 00:14:10.480 --> 00:14:11.279 You won't repent with it. 00:14:11.759 --> 00:14:13.120 You're making it part of your identity. 00:14:13.200 --> 00:14:15.120 That makes it worse, not better. 00:14:15.919 --> 00:14:17.759 That makes it more severe. 00:14:18.559 --> 00:14:19.600 More severe. 00:14:20.879 --> 00:14:25.200 And ultimately, ultimately, it becomes ironic. 00:14:25.759 --> 00:14:27.759 Person says, I don't want to be married. 00:14:27.919 --> 00:14:29.919 I want to fulfill my sexual desire this way. 00:14:30.080 --> 00:14:31.039 Marriage defines you. 00:14:31.120 --> 00:14:31.919 I don't want that. 00:14:32.080 --> 00:14:33.360 I want this to define me. 00:14:33.519 --> 00:14:36.320 But they end up defining themselves by their sexual desires. 00:14:36.639 --> 00:14:39.279 There's a way to get around marriage, which would define them. 00:14:40.320 --> 00:14:43.759 It's ironic and it's circular and it attacks society. 00:14:43.840 --> 00:14:46.480 And so this is why God says, Don't do it. 00:14:46.720 --> 00:14:48.240 Do not commit adultery. 00:14:48.399 --> 00:14:53.919 It'll ruin your life, it'll ruin your world, it ruins society in a very literal sense. 00:14:54.639 --> 00:14:56.480 It leads to all kinds of other sins. 00:14:56.639 --> 00:14:59.679 This is why the seventh commandment, sixth commandment, don't kill someone. 00:14:59.919 --> 00:15:01.840 Seventh commandment, don't commit adultery. 00:15:02.000 --> 00:15:02.720 They go in order. 00:15:02.879 --> 00:15:06.000 On the sixth day, God made mankind, made Adam and Eve. 00:15:06.159 --> 00:15:10.399 On the seventh day, God rested, and society launches. 00:15:12.159 --> 00:15:17.440 Proverbs 23, verse 27 says it this way: A prostitute is a deep pit. 00:15:18.000 --> 00:15:20.080 An adulteress is a narrow well. 00:15:20.559 --> 00:15:22.799 I just think about that word picture for a second. 00:15:23.039 --> 00:15:23.679 A deep pit. 00:15:23.840 --> 00:15:25.519 You fall in it, you're not getting out, man. 00:15:25.759 --> 00:15:30.639 You fall in it, you're s- There's no tactical team of the Jerusalem fire department in Solomon's life. 00:15:30.720 --> 00:15:32.639 You know, you fall in a pit, you're stuck. 00:15:32.879 --> 00:15:33.840 You're there. 00:15:34.240 --> 00:15:35.759 It's a narrow well. 00:15:36.720 --> 00:15:38.000 It's a narrow well. 00:15:39.759 --> 00:15:44.159 I remember when when I was a kid anyway, there's always these news stories about little kids falling in wells. 00:15:44.320 --> 00:15:48.159 I don't know what it was about like the 1980s that wells are swallowing kids. 00:15:48.240 --> 00:15:50.879 I haven't seen those kind of stories ever since then, but it was a big deal back then. 00:15:50.960 --> 00:15:51.840 Do you remember? 00:15:52.480 --> 00:15:52.799 Man. 00:15:54.240 --> 00:15:57.279 It was so hard to get them out of wells in the 80s. 00:15:59.840 --> 00:16:02.080 You fall in, you're not getting out. 00:16:02.720 --> 00:16:05.519 You know, you're n it's narrow and it's trapped. 00:16:05.840 --> 00:16:07.360 It leads to all kinds of other sin. 00:16:07.440 --> 00:16:08.399 This is what Solomon means. 00:16:08.480 --> 00:16:11.360 You know, adultery could be a one-time act, but then you're stuck there. 00:16:11.519 --> 00:16:16.879 You may move on, you may go back to your home and back to your family, but all of the other, the fabric is there. 00:16:17.120 --> 00:16:18.480 It leads to deception. 00:16:18.639 --> 00:16:22.399 There's probably deception going into adultery, but there's certainly deception going out of it. 00:16:23.200 --> 00:16:25.919 It leads to stealing, leads to murder. 00:16:29.440 --> 00:16:32.720 You get caught committing adultery, you could get killed. 00:16:34.080 --> 00:16:39.039 The person whom you're sleeping with, their spouse catches you, he might murder you. 00:16:40.159 --> 00:16:42.080 Very typical outcome. 00:16:42.720 --> 00:16:47.279 Leads, even if you don't get murdered by the person who is wronged, you may go home and lie to cover it up. 00:16:47.440 --> 00:16:49.200 It leads to all kinds of other sins. 00:16:49.279 --> 00:16:52.240 This is why David, you know, commits adultery with Bathsheba. 00:16:52.480 --> 00:16:57.919 That produces other lies, that produces a military blunder that kills Uriah, but who knows how many other people died. 00:16:58.399 --> 00:17:03.200 David commits murder, he commits lying, he lies to cover up the murder, he lies to cover up the lying. 00:17:06.400 --> 00:17:09.839 A person who lies about adultery will lie about anything. 00:17:10.400 --> 00:17:11.599 Or let me say it differently. 00:17:11.759 --> 00:17:14.799 A person who lies about adultery will lie about everything. 00:17:15.200 --> 00:17:16.240 That's the outline. 00:17:16.319 --> 00:17:17.440 That's where Jesus starts here. 00:17:17.519 --> 00:17:20.559 You've heard it said, don't commit adultery. 00:17:20.880 --> 00:17:24.160 And I definitely don't want to downplay that command. 00:17:24.319 --> 00:17:26.640 That's the outline of sin, adultery. 00:17:26.799 --> 00:17:30.720 But the heart behind sin, this is where Jesus goes, is lust. 00:17:30.880 --> 00:17:31.920 The heart is lust. 00:17:32.000 --> 00:17:42.799 And if you've had any level of biblical counseling, if you've been counseled or you've read any books in biblical counseling, you understand the most important way to deal with sin is to get to the heart issue behind it. 00:17:42.880 --> 00:17:46.000 You don't want to deal with surface issues or superficial issues. 00:17:46.079 --> 00:17:47.440 You want to get to the heart issue. 00:17:47.680 --> 00:17:51.519 Adultery, by calling it a superficial issue, sounds like I'm diminishing it. 00:17:51.680 --> 00:17:52.880 I'm not diminishing it. 00:17:53.039 --> 00:17:56.240 It's obviously very, very extreme, but it is superficial. 00:17:56.799 --> 00:18:02.880 The heart that's behind adultery, that's where the battle is, that's where the war is, that's what God is concerned about. 00:18:03.039 --> 00:18:07.200 Adultery, as I said, devastates society, but God is after the heart. 00:18:08.000 --> 00:18:21.119 And so he says in verse 28, a contrast, I say to you, everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 00:18:22.640 --> 00:18:24.799 Now, the eye is the window to the heart. 00:18:25.039 --> 00:18:29.359 You know from what we read earlier, if your eye causes you to sin or your hand causes you to sin, cut them off, throw them away. 00:18:29.519 --> 00:18:35.279 Jesus is targeting the eye and the hand here because the eye and the hand are windows into the heart. 00:18:35.359 --> 00:18:38.079 Jesus calls the eye the lamp to the soul. 00:18:38.319 --> 00:18:40.079 Your eye is not a free agent. 00:18:40.160 --> 00:18:42.240 Your eye doesn't look at whatever it wants to look at. 00:18:42.480 --> 00:18:44.480 Your eye looks at what you're interested in. 00:18:44.640 --> 00:18:46.240 The heart directs the eye. 00:18:46.400 --> 00:18:48.880 You could say this way: the mind directs the heart. 00:18:49.680 --> 00:18:52.160 In a mature person, the mind directs the heart. 00:18:52.319 --> 00:18:53.759 The heart then directs the eye. 00:18:53.920 --> 00:18:55.200 The heart directs the hands. 00:18:55.359 --> 00:18:56.880 The hands represent what you do. 00:18:57.119 --> 00:19:00.400 The eye represents what entertains you, what you watch, what you study. 00:19:00.559 --> 00:19:02.960 They're all reflections on the heart. 00:19:04.400 --> 00:19:06.640 If you're an author, your hands type. 00:19:07.039 --> 00:19:10.079 If you're a contractor, your hands build. 00:19:10.559 --> 00:19:16.640 If you're a contractor, you're not going to wake up one day and find that your hands typed a book last night while you were sleeping. 00:19:17.119 --> 00:19:23.599 If you're an author, you're not going to wake up one day and find that your hands, you know, took the afternoon off and went outside and built a shed. 00:19:24.720 --> 00:19:27.759 Your hands do what you are. 00:19:29.039 --> 00:19:30.319 That's the point. 00:19:30.640 --> 00:19:33.680 Your eyes watch what you love. 00:19:35.680 --> 00:19:40.400 So you're feeding your heart through your eyes because your heart is steering your eyes. 00:19:40.480 --> 00:19:42.400 It's circular for sure. 00:19:43.200 --> 00:19:48.240 So again, Matthew 6 in the Sermon on the Mount, this very same sermon, Jesus says the eye is the lamp to the body. 00:19:48.400 --> 00:19:49.680 It's like riding a bike. 00:19:49.920 --> 00:19:54.000 You teach your little kids to ride a bike and they bike into the curb or they hit the car. 00:19:54.079 --> 00:19:56.480 You know, it's a wide open cul-de-sac I live in. 00:19:56.640 --> 00:19:59.440 One car is parked, they have the whole cul-de-sac, they hit the car. 00:19:59.680 --> 00:20:00.799 Like, how do you hit the car? 00:20:00.960 --> 00:20:01.920 Well, I'm looking at it. 00:20:02.000 --> 00:20:04.000 You know, okay, take your eyes off of it. 00:20:04.079 --> 00:20:06.480 You're gonna bike into what you're looking at. 00:20:06.720 --> 00:20:08.240 Okay, we'll do. 00:20:09.119 --> 00:20:09.519 Dunk. 00:20:12.480 --> 00:20:15.119 This is what Jesus is talking about here. 00:20:15.440 --> 00:20:19.839 If you're looking at the person with lust, you're going to bike into it. 00:20:19.920 --> 00:20:20.880 You will hit it. 00:20:21.119 --> 00:20:24.400 Now, why are you looking at a person with lustful intent? 00:20:24.559 --> 00:20:26.000 I love the ESV translation here. 00:20:26.240 --> 00:20:27.119 It's so good in this verse. 00:20:27.279 --> 00:20:29.599 Why are you looking at someone with lustful intent? 00:20:32.160 --> 00:20:34.480 Because your heart is lustful. 00:20:35.119 --> 00:20:36.720 That's the root issue. 00:20:36.960 --> 00:20:42.079 That's the root ball here that you need to deal with is lust in your heart. 00:20:43.039 --> 00:20:48.720 You pull a weed, you know, if you're doing weeds, you're not just snipping off the leaves of the weeds with scissors. 00:20:49.200 --> 00:20:52.000 You're trying to pull the weed out by the roots. 00:20:52.240 --> 00:20:56.559 Adultery comes from the root ball in the heart of lust. 00:20:58.480 --> 00:21:00.480 It comes from something wrong inside of you. 00:21:00.640 --> 00:21:04.480 Misplace affections inside of you, misplace desires inside of you. 00:21:04.640 --> 00:21:06.960 And that pours out through the eyes, of course. 00:21:07.279 --> 00:21:08.400 That pours out through the eyes. 00:21:08.480 --> 00:21:09.839 And you see this all over the Bible. 00:21:09.920 --> 00:21:10.960 It's from the first sin. 00:21:11.119 --> 00:21:13.279 The devil comes to Eve and says, Did God really say? 00:21:13.440 --> 00:21:14.160 And do you remember? 00:21:14.319 --> 00:21:22.000 Eve starts questioning it, but then everything turns when the text says, Eve then looked at the fruit. 00:21:24.640 --> 00:21:25.279 Wow. 00:21:26.240 --> 00:21:28.960 And then she saw that it looked tasty. 00:21:29.279 --> 00:21:31.119 She knew what God had commanded her. 00:21:31.279 --> 00:21:33.200 She knew very well what God had said. 00:21:35.920 --> 00:21:44.160 But she looked instead to her own heart and to her own desires and thought, I know God said no, but man, that looks good. 00:21:47.680 --> 00:21:55.440 Joseph, when he was seduced later on in Genesis by Potiphar's wife, Potiphar's wife is coming after Joseph. 00:21:55.599 --> 00:21:58.880 And it says she set her gaze on him. 00:21:59.279 --> 00:21:59.599 She 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:07.119 Kept feeding her own lust by staring at Joseph, filling her heart with lustful intent before she goes after him. 00:22:07.279 --> 00:22:08.000 Samson. 00:22:08.079 --> 00:22:10.160 You know the thing of Samson and Delilah? 00:22:10.319 --> 00:22:12.240 That's a story of sexual immorality. 00:22:12.400 --> 00:22:19.599 You know where it started back in Judges 16, it started with Samson seeing Delilah and watching her, following her with his eyes. 00:22:19.759 --> 00:22:21.920 That preceded everything else. 00:22:22.160 --> 00:22:27.920 And of course, again, David was on his roof, and he was staring at Bathsheba. 00:22:29.519 --> 00:22:32.559 What a contrast with Job, Job 31, verse 1. 00:22:32.880 --> 00:22:35.680 Job says, I made a covenant with my eyes. 00:22:36.000 --> 00:22:36.799 Made a deal. 00:22:37.039 --> 00:22:40.400 Job says, Eyes don't look at a woman with lust. 00:22:40.720 --> 00:22:43.039 Heart, don't feed the eyes, eyes don't feed the heart. 00:22:43.200 --> 00:22:44.400 Shake hands, break. 00:22:45.279 --> 00:22:46.240 That was their plan. 00:22:46.400 --> 00:22:50.319 Job made those two, made his heart and his eyes get a deal together. 00:22:52.799 --> 00:22:57.440 Psalm 119, verse 37, turn my eyes away from looking at sin, O Yahweh. 00:22:57.519 --> 00:22:59.279 Just think about that prayer for the psalmist has. 00:22:59.440 --> 00:23:01.279 Turn my eyes away from looking at sin. 00:23:01.599 --> 00:23:02.559 The sin's happening. 00:23:02.640 --> 00:23:04.640 Okay, so sin's outside of the psalmist here. 00:23:04.720 --> 00:23:06.240 Sin is on the stage over here. 00:23:06.559 --> 00:23:08.240 Psalmist is minding his own business. 00:23:08.400 --> 00:23:09.680 Sin is on the stage. 00:23:09.920 --> 00:23:11.119 The sin is happening. 00:23:11.359 --> 00:23:13.279 God sees the sin happening. 00:23:13.519 --> 00:23:15.920 Why does the psalmist not want to see the sin happening? 00:23:16.000 --> 00:23:20.319 Why is it a big deal where the psalmist would pray, God, keep me from looking at it? 00:23:21.519 --> 00:23:22.480 What's the danger? 00:23:22.640 --> 00:23:24.000 That he would see it. 00:23:24.640 --> 00:23:26.000 God sees it. 00:23:26.400 --> 00:23:29.359 The danger is that it would fuel his lust. 00:23:30.079 --> 00:23:32.480 It'd be an overflow of his own heart. 00:23:32.799 --> 00:23:37.279 So obviously, like the most basic practical level here, watch what you watch, you know? 00:23:38.160 --> 00:23:40.720 Pay attention to what you're feeding your eyes. 00:23:41.039 --> 00:23:44.240 Pay attention to what you're putting in your mind and into your heart. 00:23:46.079 --> 00:23:47.599 You don't want to commit adultery. 00:23:47.680 --> 00:23:49.200 Don't feed your heart lust. 00:23:51.680 --> 00:23:54.720 Pay attention to what you're paying attention to. 00:23:56.960 --> 00:24:00.000 A week ago, there was a fire on my street. 00:24:00.240 --> 00:24:08.880 I know this because we were sitting at our table for dinner, and one of the kids said, There's 50 firks on our street. 00:24:09.200 --> 00:24:12.720 I look outside, and lo and behold, I don't think 50 was even an exaggeration. 00:24:12.880 --> 00:24:17.119 It was like every fire truck in northern Virginia came to my my little cul-de-sac. 00:24:17.440 --> 00:24:25.519 And uh there was a fire like four houses up from us in the chimney, and they called 911 and they sent everybody. 00:24:26.160 --> 00:24:27.680 And they laddered the house. 00:24:27.759 --> 00:24:32.559 I I went out to see if I could help because I'd seen a movie about a firefighter once, so I was I was ready to go. 00:24:33.200 --> 00:24:36.880 No, I I went out because I was super curious. 00:24:37.119 --> 00:24:40.000 And they laddered all of the windows. 00:24:40.240 --> 00:24:43.039 The fire department got there, put ladders on every window in the house. 00:24:43.119 --> 00:24:47.279 They put two of the big ladder, you know, trucks up to the ceiling. 00:24:47.440 --> 00:24:48.480 They ran hoses. 00:24:48.559 --> 00:24:50.000 We have three fire hydrants in our street. 00:24:50.079 --> 00:24:51.519 They ran hoses from all three of them. 00:24:51.680 --> 00:24:52.960 They charged all the hoses. 00:24:53.119 --> 00:24:54.160 They didn't need any of it. 00:24:54.240 --> 00:25:03.200 You know, there was a fire in the chimney, and they sprayed like a chemical down the chimney and it put it out in like a minute without using a drop of water. 00:25:03.279 --> 00:25:04.319 It was kind of incredible. 00:25:04.480 --> 00:25:06.000 Uh, but they had set everything up. 00:25:06.160 --> 00:25:09.200 The hoses were charged and the trucks were there and the ladders were up. 00:25:09.440 --> 00:25:16.799 And the weirdest thing happened because of that, because they charged all the hoses from the hydrants, the water line on our street broke. 00:25:18.079 --> 00:25:20.400 And water started spraying up. 00:25:20.480 --> 00:25:24.799 And I am not exaggerating, like two feet up out of the asphalt. 00:25:24.880 --> 00:25:29.920 Like not even a hole in the asphalt, just water shooting up from the asphalt. 00:25:30.640 --> 00:25:38.559 Fire department came back by our house like an hour later, knocking on all the doors, saying, Do not go outside, do not drive on your road because it's a sinkhole danger. 00:25:38.720 --> 00:25:42.559 Anyone who steps in that can't, the if you drive a car in there, they say that you'll fall in. 00:25:43.200 --> 00:25:46.720 So they roped everything off, roped off all the driveways and everything. 00:25:47.039 --> 00:25:50.240 The guy's house, by the way, totally fine. 00:25:50.799 --> 00:25:52.160 Totally fine. 00:25:52.799 --> 00:25:54.400 I asked him, you need to play Satanite? 00:25:54.480 --> 00:25:57.920 He's like, I don't know, no, it doesn't even smell like smoke in here anymore. 00:25:58.240 --> 00:25:58.640 Great. 00:25:58.880 --> 00:26:07.279 We can't drive for the rest of the week, but this is what lust in your heart is like. 00:26:08.559 --> 00:26:13.920 You think you can feed your heart lust and it's not but you're okay because you don't actually commit adultery? 00:26:14.400 --> 00:26:16.400 Great, you didn't actually commit adultery. 00:26:16.559 --> 00:26:17.200 Good job. 00:26:18.160 --> 00:26:20.240