Marital Purity

Matthew 5:27-30

July 21, 2002

 

Kingdom citizens display a distinct character and lifestyle. Unlike the world about them, kingdom citizens value purity as a reflection of their King, and a mark of relationship to Him. Most prominent in this arena is sexual purity.

 

The subject almost seems strange - though desperately needed in our world. Sex has become commonplace in almost everything we see and hear. I recently read that advertisers have intentionally tried to use sex as a means of selling their products - admittedly that is no surprise to us! But as it has turned out, their ploy has not worked. Instead they found that the target audience spent their time thinking about sex and not about their products. It seems rare to find movies or television shows that do not toss in at least one sensual scene to tilt the ratings and titillate the imaginations. Talk shows have built their empires on discussing every angle of human sexuality without any consciousness of building it on truth. For years music has been a tool of promoting sexuality outside of marriage. Some genres also commonly promote rape and all manner of sexual perversions. The pornography industry is one of the largest in the nation, selling billions of dollars worth of smut, and simultaneously wrecking homes, destroying minds, and increasing criminal activity by quantum leaps in our culture.

 

Unfortunately, most of the talk and portrayal of sex that goes on in our society lacks the qualities of purity and truthfulness. God originated the whole idea of sex as a gift to married couples for expressing their oneness and love for one another, and for the experience of marital pleasure. The world has distorted this God-given gift. Instead of sex being reserved for the marriage relationship alone, it is treated as though marital sex is an exception, even an oddity.

 

But should we be surprised at the downward spiral of morality? Man is not becoming increasingly better by changes in his environment and through better education but rather he is thoroughly sinful - in every part of his being. Instead of pursuing God he pursues his own lusts. Paramount in our society is man's rejection of the divine prohibition against adultery, and his headlong plunge into moral and spiritual destruction. The demand of Christ for moral purity is radical in our fallen world but the norm for kingdom citizens. Jesus expounds the meaning of "pure in heart" as He explains the nature of the seventh commandment, and its implications for us. How does purity in heart work out in relationships and daily life?

 

I. Why moral purity?

 

We know the seventh commandment, "You shall not commit adultery." But why is it given? The man of the world would say that God is a cosmic killjoy that wants to deny men and women any pleasure. But because of their love for sin and hatred of God, they do not know Him who is infinitely good and beautiful, and who delights in goodness and beauty for His creation.

 

Our views of sex have often been colored by the culture. So when we hear, "You shall not commit adultery," we wonder what God is withholding from us simply because society has bombarded us with an unbiblical view of sexuality. We struggle to think sanely about sexuality. But I believe that the prohibition and instruction that Jesus Christ has given to kingdom citizens regarding sex contains a needed remedy to the confusion and distortion about us.

 

1. The nature of marital love

 

To begin with, if we are to understand the divine prohibition we must consider first what the commandment is promoting. "You shall not commit adultery," affirms the sanctity of marriage. It is a statement - in negative, prohibitive form - that declares the only relationship of sexual relations blessed by God is within a monogamous relationship between a man and a woman in matrimony. Anything outside this is summarily prohibited.

 

Genesis 2:24-25 helps us to see this as we peer into that first marriage. "For this cause a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed." Leaving all other relationships behind or making them secondary so that the husband and wife give the priority of their lives to each other's benefit and happiness in the Lord characterizes the marital relationship. After leaving other relationships, the husband and wife are joined together, cleaving to one another in physical, social, emotional, and spiritual union. The sexual union is clearly meant by the joining together. Added to this is the union described as "one flesh." Paul calls this a great mystery in Ephesians 5:32, and indeed it is. Leland Ryken explains that this marital union is more than merely a physical act. "It is part of a total union of two persons, including their minds, emotions, and souls as well as their bodies" [Worldly Saints: The Puritans as They Really Were, 45]. The divine model for marriage establishes fidelity and oneness between the husband and wife that is to be inviolable. It is the model or pattern that is set for all humanity. Marriage is intended to be the only sphere of sexual relations, and that union is to be the most intimate, delightful, and exhilarating experience of human relations. To tamper with the design, to attempt to find the same satisfaction and exhilaration outside of marriage can never be blessed by God.

 

As I pondered this text, I was deeply impressed by the fact that it is not only a prohibition but also an exhortation to find sexual satisfaction within the sphere of God's design. But throughout the ages, marital infidelity, promiscuity, pre- and post-marital sexual liaisons have been part of the social fabric. In some cultures it is accepted as the norm. The reason in many cases is low or distorted views of marriage. One historical exception was the Puritans. I know that they've been slighted in our day as though they were dour, stiff, morose people. But that is a caricature. They had a profoundly healthy view of marriage, viewing marital sex as not just the only legitimate place of sex but they intended to be exuberant about it. William Gouge "said that married couples should engage in sex 'with good will and delight, willingly, readily, and cheerfully'" [Ryken 44]. In the area of marriage and sexuality in marriage, one writer calls it "Puritanism's greatest and most admirable cultural achievement" [Ryken 40]. Their contributions affected the English world, even bringing change in their romantic songs and poetry. Puritan pastor Thomas Hooker described the kind of love that ought to characterize the marriage relationship and will surely safeguard marriage from infidelity.

The man whose heart is endeared to the woman he loves ... dreams of her in the night, hath her in his eye and apprehension when he awakes, museth on her as he sits at the table, walks with her when he travels... She lies in his bosom, and his heart trusts in her, which forceth all to confess that the stream of his affection, like a mighty current, runs with full tide and strength [Ryken 40].


2. Adultery - the antithesis to marital love

 

Unfortunately, the Puritan idea of marriage and marital sex seems to be eroding quickly in our culture. The bent of human nature is to rebel against all that God has commanded, and to find satisfaction in all that God has forbidden. God has therefore given man over "in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them." He has given them over "to degrading passions" and the perversions that go with that (Rom 1:24-27). So God has spoken, "You shall not commit adultery." Thundering from Sinai, the divine voice commands restraint on the sinful passions of the human heart. The command was given because the propensity for sexual impurity abides in every bosom. The Creator has spoken, "You shall not commit adultery."

 

There is something arresting in knowing that God has spoken such a command. It causes us - at least it should cause us - to reflect upon the pure character of the God that spoke this command. Unlike the gods of Greece and Rome that had the same sinful, lustful tendencies of mortals, only with godlike proportions, the Eternal God is infinitely pure so He commands moral purity in His creation. His command restrains our lusts.

 

If there is within any of you the temptation to be unfaithful to your spouse, or the temptation by a single person of engaging in sexual immorality, then hear the divine word, "You shall not commit adultery." The term is not limited to infidelity in marriage but in this case is used of any type of sexual behavior outside of the divine design within marriage.

 

The Pharisees and scribes heard that command, and outwardly seemed to adhere to it. But they found ingenious ways to reinterpret it so that they might pursue their lustful desires. The commonly held view was that men could be involved in sexual forays as long as it did not involve a woman married to another Israelite. That would have trampled on the other man's rights, so they drew the line at that point. Women were expected to be chaste before and after marriage. Sexual relations with female slaves or with Gentile women were acceptable practices. Ironically, adultery for the Jewish man "involved infringing the rights of another Israelite male," but it provided no rights or concerns for women [Leon Morris, The Gospel According to Matthew, 118]. Sinclair Ferguson adds, "For all practical purposes, the scribes reduced this law to 'You shall not be found guilty of committing adultery'" [The Sermon on the Mount, 86]. As long as one was not caught and did not infringe on another Israelite man then he was considered to be practicing the seventh commandment.

 

Then Jesus Christ - that fulfills the law - enters the scene!

 

II. Design for moral purity

 

What the scribes had taught ("You have heard that it was said") gave the appearance of conformity to the law. But Jesus explains that they completely missed it. He interprets the command, "But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart." Just as with the sixth commandment, Jesus demonstrates that the intention of the law is not just to appear righteous externally, but also to inwardly pursue righteousness.

 

1. Serious intent of Jesus Christ

 

Adultery begins in the imagination. That is the point at which it must be recognized and dealt with. Jesus Christ's statement was no less radical then as it is now. Some of you might remember when Jimmy Carter naively gave an interview with Playboy magazine during his 1976 presidential campaign. He had been very open about being a "born again Christian," and suddenly opening the country to that evangelical phrase. But they asked him a series of questions and somewhere in the course of the interview he admitted that he had lusted in his heart after women. The news media picked up on the story as though Jimmy Carter was some weird, slobbering pervert. What he stated was true - he just stated it in the wrong circles. The fact is that every one of us has broken the seventh commandment in our imaginations, even as we have the other commandments.

 

What does Jesus mean by "lust"? Don Carson explains that lust "is not the normal attraction which exists between men and women, but the deep-seated lust which consumes and devours, which in imagination attacks and rapes, which mentally contemplates and commits adultery" [Sermon on the Mount 44]. It is not simply looking at someone of the opposite sex but a look that begins to devour in the imagination, one that moves into the realm of impure desire. Martyn Lloyd-Jones reminds us, "Sin is not merely a matter of actions and of deeds; it is something within the heart that leads to the action" [Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, 237]. Lust must not be cultivated and nurtured. Like toxic waste in the water system or flammable liquids near the fire, lust must be addressed or it can come full circle in destructive action. The severity of lust is such that Jesus declares that lustful imagination is "adultery with her in his heart." The action has taken place in the heart, and receives the divine condemnation.

 

There is a union of imagination, thought, conscience, and ultimately the deed, taking place in "lust." This does not minimize the deed but it shows its foundation in the imagination. Therefore we must guard our imaginations. "Imagination is a God-given gift," writes Don Carson, "but if it is fed dirt by the eye, it will be dirty." He adds, "All sin, not least sexual sin, begins with the imagination. Therefore what feeds the imagination is of maximum importance in the pursuit of kingdom righteousness" [151]. Jesus Christ calls upon kingdom citizens to make a radical shift in our thinking and imagining so that we do not fall prey to adultery in the heart.

 

2. Exposure of the heart

 

There is certainly a difference between a look and lust. Lust is the desire to have what God has forbidden. It circumvents the divine order to satisfy one's desires. Ultimately, lust is dissatisfaction with God and His provision. Lust turns away from contentment with God's gracious providential working in our lives to pursue selfish, covetous desires.

 

Don Carson points out that the Greek text of verse 28 can be translated with a bit different slant. It could be that the man looks at a woman "so as to get her to lust." Carson adds, "The man is therefore looking at the woman with a view to enticing her to lust. Thus, so far as his intention goes, he is committing adultery with her, he makes her an adulteress." So "the heart of the matter is still lust and intent" [Expositor's Bible Commentary, 151]. Regardless of how it is pursued, or who is initiating the pursuit, the intention to bring another person into sexual activity apart from the bonds of marriage is called "adultery."

 

The text uses the example of a man lusting after a woman. But the reverse can happen and is equally sinful in the eyes of our Lord. This is where all of us - men and women of all ages - must guard our motives and intentions with the opposite sex. If a woman dresses in a provocative manner then she is culpable in affecting men's imaginations that lead to adultery in the heart. It is not that the man bears no responsibility for his lusts - he does. But the thrust of our text reminds each of us to assume responsibility for moral purity by guarding the kind of attention we draw to ourselves by attire or by actions or by what we are feeding our imaginations.

 

III. Correctives for moral purity

 

Because of the use of hyperbole in verses 29-30, some have skipped over these verses as answers to the practical issues of moral purity. But I must insist that the way to correct and guard against moral impurity is found in the austere commands of Christ. "If you right eye makes you stumble, tear it out and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. If your right hand makes you stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to go into hell." The repetition of the language insists on the effective nature of what Christ prescribes to deal with the problem of lusts. Another Puritan, Henry Scougal, wrote, "There is no slavery so base as that whereby a man becomes a drudge to his own lusts, or any victory so glorious as that what is obtained over them" [The Life of God in the Soul of Man]. The only way to deal with slavery is radically.

 

1. Recognize root problems

 

Notice the suppositional nature of what Christ commands. "If your right eye makes you stumble... If your right hand makes you stumble." It may be that you do not have a severe problem with your eyes like the person next to you. But your right hand could suggest something of thievery, for adultery is theft of virtue, honor, wholeness, and peace in life. So while your eye may not be the problem, your right hand may be. What each of us must do is to recognize and acknowledge before God the root issues that inflame our lusts or that lead us to moral impurity.

 

Kent Hughes rightly observes, "There is probably no area in which Christians fail more than in what they allow to enter their minds through the media" [The Sermon on the Mount: The Message of the Kingdom, 109]. Let me mention two specific ways that we are affected through the media. First, and most obvious, are those times that we indulge our eyes and minds in sexual impurity or nudity or coarse talk on the television or movie screen. It is shocking (I hope you still feel some shock) to see what comes across the television screen in our day. There is no sense of shame in the things that have become a regular part of many Christians' entertainment. It is almost as though since the images are carried on television or on the movie screen that they are neutral and appropriate for viewing as long as we do not touch. But this is precisely where we lose the battle in our imaginations, for the images we see find a niche in our thoughts, awaiting the time to be dredged up to pollute the imaginations with lust and impurity.

 

Second, by too much television or movie viewing we begin to de-sensitize our minds to thinking upon holy things. Even when the things we watch are not morally evil, too much of that type of entertainment can dull our senses, cut our thinking off from the real world, and decrease our ability to develop our own healthy imaginations. So I caution you to guard the amount of time that you spend in this sort of entertainment. I have never seen anyone wounded by limiting his time in front of the television. God has given us imaginations to use properly and to be rightly excited by the things of beauty and honor that He has created in the world. We are told to think upon "whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise" (Phil 4:8).

 

Another area of grave concern is pornography, and especially that found in thousands of Internet sites. Thursday night I heard Dr. Joel Beeke state that last year 4000 evangelical ministers fell through Internet pornography. How many more are involved in pornography among both teenagers and adults outside the ministry? There is no room for hedging or dabbling. Pornography affects the mind the way that heroin affects the chemistry of the body. In a sense it is a drug that is easily accessed unless rigid safeguards are put into place. Let me call your attention to this text again in verse 28. If you are viewing pornography then you are an adulterer. There are no innocent looks. John Stott has pointed out,

Pornography is offensive to Christians (and indeed to all healthy-minded people) first and foremost because it degrades women from human beings into sex objects, but also because it presents the eye of the beholder with unnatural sexual stimulation. If we have a problem of self-mastery, and if nonetheless our feet take us to these films, our hands handle this literature, and our eyes feast on the pictures they offer to us, we are not only sinning but actually inviting disaster [Christian Counter-Culture, 90].


I do not want to be na�ve about our own congregation. Some of you may be having a problem in this area. It is a critical problem that requires immediate attention. The longer you wait to deal with it the more callused you will become. You must flee to Jesus Christ and His cross for deliverance.

 

2. Acknowledge severity

 

The warning is of the right eye and the right hand "that makes you stumble." There are temporal falls in our lives through giving in to the temptations of lust. But our Lord warns of an even greater danger: "your whole body to go into hell." The great danger in dealing with this subject is that it may hit home to our pet sins. We nurture those sins and cherish them when we ought to cast them aside as though a rattlesnake has fallen into our laps. The danger comes by hardening our minds and hearts to the truth of Christ, which ultimately leads to hardening ourselves against the gospel and against the grace of God for sinners. The enchantment of sin that spurs us to vigorously pursue it leaves us ignoring divine warnings and plunging headlong into eternal catastrophe. Remember that Jesus is calling for kingdom citizens to live like it, or else they reveal the true nature of their heart - not that of a kingdom citizen and one that ends in "hell."

 

3. Take radical action

 

Jesus was not kidding. Though we do not take the tearing out literally, we are to embrace it with as much sensitivity as if it was literal. "If you right eye makes you stumble, tear it out and throw it from you... if your right hand makes you stumble, cut it off and throw it from you." The term that the older writers used to describe this is "mortification," or putting to death the deeds of the flesh. Lloyd-Jones was a help to me in this, so I want to give you four actions he discusses that we must take in light of this radical demand of Jesus Christ [The Sermon on the Mount, 249-251].

(1) "We must never 'feed the flesh'." Paul put it so plainly, "Make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts" (Rom 13:14). What are you feeding your imaginations that give rise to lust? Is it what you are watching or reading or the conversations your are having or some relationships in which you are engaged? If you are a kingdom citizen, then you must take action against them. Others might misunderstand you - but that is not your problem at this point. You must answer to the Lord of the Church, Jesus Christ. He that died for you demands that you not feed the flesh but instead, "put on the Lord Jesus Christ." Clothe yourself in Christ.

 

(2) "We must deliberately restrain the flesh and deal with every suggestion and insinuation of evil." Like the disciples, we must "watch and pray" so that we do not enter into temptation. Or like Paul, we are to discipline our bodies to keep from giving into lusts (I Cor 9:24-27).

 

(3) "We must realize once more the price that had to be paid to deliver us from sin." Let us think upon Jesus Christ dying for us! Paul tells us why He died, "Who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds" (Titus 2:14). He died to deliver us from sin - not so that we can frolic in sin but maintain a stake in heaven.

 

(4) We must "see our absolute need of the Holy Spirit." The power to deny the flesh and restrain the flesh and to deal with the suggestions of the imagination comes by the Holy Spirit enabling us. In a passage that Paul explains assurance for the believer, he tells us that Christians have a new obligation to live unto Christ by the Spirit. "So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh-for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live" (Rom 8:12-13).


Conclusion

 

Our refuge from the slavery to sin that afflicts us is in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Run to Him if you are lost in sin. Run to Him if you are tempted as a Christian to give in to the flesh. Let us walk in purity before Christ and the world. 

Permissions: You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that you do not alter the wording in any way and you do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction. For web posting, a link to this document on our website is preferred. Any exceptions to the above must be explicitly approved by South Woods Baptist Church.

Please include the following statement on any distributed copy:

Copyright South Woods Baptist Church. Website: www.southwoodsbc.org. Used by permission as granted on web site. Questions, comments, and suggestions about our site can be sent here.