Aug. 21 2016 Afternoon Service: Beatitudes Part 7 by Pastor Josh Sheldon

Matthew 5:27-30 and the Danger of a Lazy Sermon on Sin

Let us turn to the book of Matthew, in chapter 5. Our text this afternoon is verses 27 to 30. Matthew 5, 27 to 30, is the words of Jesus Christ, our Lord. You have heard that it was said, You shall not commit adultery.

But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 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. Now this is, in fact, a preacher's dream.

I mean, I need to do no more than read my text, remind my hearers of how often they violate this text in their heart, of how easily and how often you willingly commit this fraud against the wife of your youth, call you to repent, and then we can all go home, crushed by the law, and ever so much more grateful to God for the gospel of His forgiveness.

And so often we hear a message from these verses, and we say to one another something like this as we leave, Wow, pastor, sure was fired up today. Did you hear how he exposed my sinful heart? When his gaze scanned us, it was like he was just boring into me with the Scripture, and God spoke to me through these convicting words.

Why doesn't he preach like that all the time? Others would leave with bruises on their side from the jabs from their wives' elbows. And she would leave here smugly triumphant that his sin was uncovered, and this time he couldn't squirm away.

Praise sweet Jesus, she would say to a friend during their fellowship time. He finally had to sit there and hear just what a curmudgeon he's been. I'm so glad God put it on pastor's heart to expose his heart.

That message was for Leonardo, if it was for anyone. And, of course, I used the name Leonardo because no one here is named Leonardo. But if I preached like that, I would undoubtedly get a lot of congratulatory handshakes.

Husbands would come to me and thank me for turning up the heat and forcing them to admit their transgression. Wives would barely be able to contain their adulation. And we'd all come away unchanged. We'd all come away unchanged, having missed the point of what our Lord Jesus has to say here because sin would really have gone unchallenged.

The Kingdom Perspective on Sin and Eternity

It's an easy thing for a pastor, any preacher, to pick up this passage, read it, and with no exposition whatsoever simply leave those words of conviction upon you and know that I've hit every heart at some level.

And we would all leave here as we came. And the reason we would leave here as we came, unchanged by the word of God, is because we would have heard from something, Lord willing, and I say this with no arrogance or boastfulness, something which, Lord willing, I am not, because we all would have heard then a lazy preacher.

A lazy preacher. Lazy people would remain just that, lazy. I know none of us are actually lazy in our day-to-day work. Most of us work very hard at home and away with children and in offices. I've seen the incredible effort that can be put out to help others in need in this place.

So I don't mean lazy in its totality. I mean spiritual laziness, which is what it would be for a preacher simply to hammer you with these words, to crush you with them as if Jesus is preaching only law and let us go.

Honestly, a message like that could be whooped up in just a few moments. That'd be easy. That'd be lazy. And it'd be lazy about what is really at the core here, which is sin. It'd be laziness about our sin.

People remain lazy because they tolerate a man who panders to their easy acquiescence of being reminded of how depraved they are. As we preach to a Reformed church, we know the depravity of man. And so I could pound this pulpit, and I could hammer you with that, and I could make you feel just as lousy as is possible.

And you'd say, well, I am depraved. I deserve to feel badly. I deserve to feel awful. God should only condemn me because I am depraved. And by the way, I'm a Calvinist, and that's why I believe these things.

We know it from the Bible, and it's just laziness. It's laziness. It's too easy. And I hope you'll see at the end of this short message, it's too small a view of sin. It makes sin too easy to deal with if we look at it this way.

Jesus allows no such lackadaisical response to something so serious as sin, as iniquity, here pictured as that man whose heart leads his eye to rest longingly, lustfully, upon a woman, not his wife. But rather than leave here this afternoon with our eyes cast down in shame, which would be a terrible result since we take the Lord's table after the preaching, and to leave like that after remembering the Lord's sacrifice for us would be a terrible thing, rather than leave here like that, rather than once more being humbled by our depravity, let's deal biblically with our sin.

Let's deal with it as Jesus says to. And by our faithful obedience, let us make real strides against it, which, brethren, strides against sin is not drumming ourselves into the ground. The Scripture doesn't do that to us.

Jesus doesn't do that to us. I believe in the total depravity of all men. I believe in that firmly. But understand that the Scripture doesn't pound us with it. It doesn't bludgeon us with it over and over and over again.

It says it clearly. But simply falling back on that, I would argue, is not a good way to deal with our sin. It almost becomes an excuse, almost becomes as insipid as, well, the devil made me do it, so let's not leave here like that.

Remember where we're at here in Jesus' sermon. The Beatitudes in the earlier part were the royal pronouncement of God's blessing upon certain persons. A blessing conferred upon those who are poor in spirit, mournful over their sin, on the meek, the one who hungers for God's righteousness, and the rest of those.

And after that, He said His disciples were the salt of the earth and the light of the world with the responsibility to affect our sphere by rightly representing God in our spheres. Permeating as salt permeates.

Illuminating as light illuminates. And then He upheld the law of God that came through Moses. And the hinge between all of that and what follows here in these six antithetical statements, you have heard but I say to you, you have heard but I say to you, the hinge between the Beatitudes and what Jesus says about salt and light and what Jesus says about the law of God through Moses, that whole section and what we're in now, these six antithetical statements, the but I say to you's, those are hinged by verse 20 in this chapter.

For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. The last part bears repeating. You will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

And after Jesus says that, come these six examples of Pharisaical sub-kingdom righteousness. Each followed by the standard of righteousness that befits the kingdom. You have heard but I say, you have heard I say, and which one will we attend to?

Which one is going to affect our lives? Which one are we going to get rid of? You have heard. And which one will we leave here on the forefront of our minds and in our spirits leading our daily walk? Clearly, but I say to you.

See, it's a matter of values that we have here. These six examples. This one especially. It's a matter of values. It's a matter of what we cherish. Hand and eye, literal hand and eye, are not worth the pleasure of sin.

That's not a message just to men. That's not just for the male believer. For any of us, hand and eye are not worth the pleasure of sin. It's a matter of eternity. Hell is at stake just as heaven is if righteousness falls beneath the kingdom standard.

And Jesus is speaking here of eternity. Not just the pain or the discomfort of not having that member with you here and now, but of forever. So put it all together. What is he speaking of here? It's a kingdom perspective.

It's a worldview that compares this life to eternal life. And only by that mindset can we see sin in its proper place. This is the perspective Jesus gives us. See your sin as emanating from your pharisaical and inferior minimizing of sin because that's what that sub-kingdom, that sub-standard, that inferior righteousness does.

That's exactly what it does. And see your sin in view of eternity. See what it is you're grasping after now. How many times does Scripture tell us that this life, this whole span of living, it's just a hand's breadth.

It's a vapor. It's a mist. It's gone, but the word of God endures forever. Everything we do here needs to be examined in the light of forever. Whatever that means. What is forever? It's incalculable. It's bigger than your biggest number.

By how much? By forever. And that is the context in which we must view our sin. You have heard, said Jesus. What have they heard? Jesus refers them to the law, to the seventh commandment. You shall not commit adultery.

And this, of course, is true. This is exactly what the law demanded in a negative sense. You shall not. But why repeat it? Why repeat it here? No one argues that adultery is wrong. No society, no matter how primitive, condones adultery.

Though they have some funny definitions of marriage as our modern society is beginning to or has had recently. But it's true that adultery is wrong. The problem is the one Jesus is arguing against is a religion that affects only the outer man but does nothing to the inner, to the heart of the issue.

What they said was don't do it. What Jesus says here is don't want it. Don't want it. The one from the law says behave properly. The other one says be properly. The word Jesus uses for lustful intent is the same word used for covet in the tenth commandment.

The one that says you shall not covet. So here in this, in chapter 5 verse 27, in this antithetical statement you have heard but I say, Jesus brings the two together, the seventh and the tenth. You shall not commit adultery is connected to you shall not covet.

And of all the ten commandments, the tenth is the only one that speaks of something inward. It speaks of something inward. Paul in Romans 7, he remembers how the law awakened his knowledge of sin and he hearkens back to this one.

He says you shall not covet. Now I would have known not to covet. I wouldn't have known this sin had the law not told me this one. Coveting, the first of those that's of the heart, requires no outward action though it will lead to outward action.

But coveting, without reaching out your hand to take what it is you desire is a sin already in the inner man. Now it's true that what the heart desires whether it's lust or greed or fame through deceit or whatever it is, the heart will usually find a way to direct the hand to reach out and take it.

But coveting, but lustful intent until they blossom into action they're known only to you. If you'll admit it, which is often even in the privacy of our prayers, we don't like to expose this or speak of it even to God.

The Pharisees taught that you were in compliance if only you refrained. If only you didn't do it, you're okay. You've got the righteousness you need. You've satisfied God and the law. But that message, that has no power to change us.

That leaves us really where we are in our sin, most likely, but more importantly that it leaves us relying on ourselves and our own resources, our own discipline, our own spiritual strength which is pretty minimal.

You see, most of us can keep from doing something by sheer willpower. Maybe fear of exposure will keep us on the right path. The Pharisaical way would commend you for that. Jesus says, no, the heart has had no change, so it's not enough.

It is sub-kingdom to just not do. That's inferior to kingdom righteousness. Do we understand that? That's a sheer outward piety. And the Lord Jesus Christ wants ever so much more. He's telling us what it looks like to be one of those blessed in the Beatitudes.

Don't forget the Beatitudes as we go through these. You have heard, but I say to you. You have heard, but I say. Who's he saying it to? But I say to you, the poor in spirit, the meek, the humble. I say to you, who thirst after the righteousness that Jesus is proclaiming.

I say to you, the peacemaker, who's called the Son of God. Those are the ones he's saying. You've heard from them, but I say to you. Keep this in mind. Why does he speak about tearing out eyes or cutting off hands?

Well, there's a couple of reasons. And I've preached on this before a few years ago. But in that day, there was a teaching that eternity would be lived out in the exact form in which you died. However you left this earth, that is how you would spend eternity.

So if without a hand, then forever without a hand. If without an eye, you get the picture. What this meant for people who, for example, might have died in fire, I can't even imagine. But there's no one there to ask, so I'll just let the question stand.

But this is the idea the Lord is picking up on. His perspective is both here and now and it's eternity. The here and now is without these things, you're not as badly off as entering eternity with this sin resting on you, with this bad heart, if you will.

So for the here and now, for this life that we live now, the kingdom perspective is that sin just isn't worth its price. This is what we have to assimilate. And I know it's the men who are always getting the jabs when we get to chapter 5 and verse 27 of the Beatitudes or of the Sermon on the Mount.

But this is all of us. We all have to understand that sin just isn't worth the price. Imagine a hawker at a carnival and as you pass by him, he's enticing you to buy his wares. You say, what do you have?

And he says, well, I have lust for sale. And if that doesn't suit you, I have some idols at a good price. And here, let me see. Yes, here it is. Here's a brand new factory fresh set of new and exciting ways to take the Lord's name in vain.

And would you stop and pay for such a thing? Would you not have walked away as soon as you saw where he was heading? You might think not. You might say, well, no, I would leave that immediately. But sin does have its price.

And his purveyor is not as honest as my carnival man. He hides the cost. He makes it seem to have only benefit and only pleasure and no price whatsoever. Jesus says the price of sin is so great that even losing limbs in this life is a small price for its avoidance.

Do we see how big this is? Looking back at verse 520 though, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and the Pharisees, you shall never enter the kingdom of heaven. We're reminded that the gates of heaven are closed to those whose righteousness is not superior to the exterior-only Pharisaical righteousness.

Now, do we plead that, well, I am but a worm. I am worthy of nothing but eternal punishment. God's grace alone has saved me. And these are all true statements, but are they helpful to us? Do thoughts like these work to expunge our sin?

I think not. I think that this might be as false a righteousness as what Jesus is speaking of here. It's one that ultimately takes sin lightly because it refuses to do anything about it. It falls back on our reformed doctrines, our theology.

Tulip, beginning with T. You see, Jesus doesn't use this to beat us down, so let us not use it that way either. Let's take his view here, and by that, let's take an even more severe view of sin than those derisive things that we might say about ourselves.

Jesus shows that lustful intents are far worse than we ever imagined. But notice the resource he gives here to deal with it. And we can't say here, I can't deal with my sin. Only God can do that. Left to myself, I'm only going to sin more and more.

Only by God's gracious intervention do I avoid gross sin at this very moment. Don't say things like that. It's too weak. It's just an excuse. It's ignoring the responsibility Jesus lays on us to deal with these matters.

I mean, if all the gospel does is tell you how rotten you are, if it stops there, I'd say it's a useless gospel. If all God has done in the gospel of his son Jesus is expose our depravity, then it's a gospel that is incomplete.

It's a gospel without answers. But the gospel does expose our sin. It does expose our depravity. And a gospel that is preached that's all feel-good, ooey-gooey stuff that everybody's nice and love and that kind of thing, that's no gospel either.

Because ultimately, neither one answers the problem, which is our sin. Berating yourself is a waste of time. Look, you know it's bad. You already know it's bad. Does anyone think it's okay to look at a woman not his wife?

I've heard from women that they could be standing across the room with their back to somebody and they can tell when the eyes are on them in a wrong way. Just have this sixth sense, if you will. We know it's bad.

The women who are subject to this know it's bad. We men who are doing it know it's bad. And if we take this idea of adultery of the heart and expand it just a little bit the way Jesus seems to tie it to covening, well, now we're all included.

Are we not all together? Hasn't this equalized everything for us? We don't need to beat ourselves up over this. We already know it's bad. We know it's bad, and only bad people do it. And I'm bad because I was conceived in sin.

Except for the Holy Spirit's help right now, I'd be lusting at this moment. And all this might be true, but it's not helpful. None of this is what Jesus says. It ignores what God gives us to carry out our personal responsibility to stop sinning.

Jesus says, but I say to you. And it's not just that they're prognosticating to us. He's not just saying, well, the Pharisees told you not to do this, and you better be good by not doing this. But I'm saying to you, well, you better not do this other thing.

And it's a harder thing not to do than they had you not do. And because mine's harder, it's better. We'll just end up in the same mess as before. That's not what he's saying. He's not saying so much don't do it.

There is don't do it, and I'm not saying go out and do any of these things that are wrong. We know that. That'd be a silly way to take this. But I say to you, Jesus Christ, he's not just a preacher the way Moses was, bringing the law of God from Sinai to the people.

You see, Jesus Christ does more than expose our sin. He does more than cause us to put our hands over our head and confess ourselves to be depraved. It's a good place to start. The gospel does begin with acknowledging our sin, because what else do we repent of?

Christ answers our sin. I mentioned just two ways very quickly. What it means when he says, but I say to you, we're coming to the table in a few moments. When the Lord Jesus Christ died for our sin, he paid the penalty for all of our lustful looks at anything not ours.

Whether you're a man or a woman, Jesus Christ took God's wrath upon himself. That's the bread and the wine that's before us, which we will celebrate in a few moments. Excuse me. After his resurrection, which again we will remember in a few moments, Lord willing, after his resurrection, he ascended on high, returned to his father.

We spoke about that in the morning message. And when he went down, or excuse me, when he went up, God again came down. When Jesus returned to his father's side, God again came down. The spirit of God, which Jesus promised, was sent.

If you've repented of your sins, if you are one who follows the Lord Jesus Christ, you've followed him in obedience to baptism, you've joined yourself to the church, you believe the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, and you're going to partake with us in a few moments, then his Holy Spirit is yours.

And when he says, but I say to you, that has two sides to it. One is, but Jesus, the Lord, is saying, don't do this. But he's speaking to the heart. Doesn't he say right there in verse 527, adultery in the heart?

It's the Holy Spirit who inhabits us. It's the Holy Spirit who has changed your heart and allowed you to believe in Jesus Christ. It's the Holy Spirit who indwells you and gives you the power and the resource and everything you need for your heart not to lust after that which is not yours.

Oh, it's ours to do. Or better said, it's ours not to do. We have that responsibility. Jesus is giving law. And obviously he's saying here, don't do that. But he doesn't leave us there. He answers the problem.

The problem is the heart. And the gospel is a change of heart. The gospel is an indwelling power of the Holy Spirit putting on God, the new man, excuse me, the new man created by God in true righteousness and holiness.

The resource is not your discipline. It's not your abilities. It's not your strenuous spiritual effort. The resource is Christ. The responsibility is ours. But he gives us all that we need to obey his commandments, to take refuge in our right, our correct, our biblical doctrine of depravity makes too little of our sin.

Don't hide out there. Our doctrines are right. They are correct. Tulips stand supported by the Bible. I believe that with my heart and soul. But don't hide behind it. Don't hide behind it. Jesus gives us all that we need to accomplish his will.

Most fundamentally, most primarily, most gloriously, he gives us himself. And that, dear ones, that, he, inside, answers our sin. Amen? Heavenly Father, we thank you again for bringing us back together for continued time in worship.

Let's pray, Father, that we would follow the leading of the new heart that you have given us. That all manner of sin and iniquity would be seen by us through your eyes with a perspective that compares what we hope to gain now to eternity.

But most of all, Lord, that we keep your pleasure in the forefront of our mind. Guide and direct our hearts, Lord. We thank you for the regeneration of the Holy Spirit. We thank you, Father, for Jesus Christ, who says, but I say to you, and he doesn't leave us there, but he comes to us and makes us able to do what he requires.

For all these things, Father, we give you thanks, praise and much glory in this place. In Christ's name, amen.