“A Christian’s Righteousness” – Part 3 – Matthew 5:27-30

You know how it is when you hear somebody bad-mouthing your friend or family member. It may be the truth but you get mad at them for saying it. It’s okay for you to say it but you don’t want anybody else too, right? I was in a Bible study the other day at Cates Street Baptist and this happened to me but my friend who was being bad-mouthed has been dead for thousands of years.

I’ve told you lots of times that I grew up reading about David in the Old Testament. I always loved reading about him and the story of David and Goliath is still my favorite story in the Bible. When I was a boy, I read about David as a boy and as I grew up, I read about David growing up and I have just always felt a connection to David, even what I call a friendship.

I’m sure when I get to Heaven, I’ll run up to David and say, “Hey, it’s me, Todd!” And he’ll call security on me or something. But, I still think of him as my friend and when my other friend, Ron, (a friend that actually knows me) starting telling about David and his sin with Bathsheba, I felt myself getting bothered, even mad – not because Ron was saying anything untrue and it was stuff that I have actually preached on - but it hurt me never the less.

I think it hurts me because when anybody talks about the life of King David, you can’t help but remember his sin with Bathsheba. Of all the great things David did, of all the battles he fought and wars he won, of all the good things he did and taught and the wisdom he showed, and I know he wasn’t perfect but it still hurts me to have to talk about that incident. God forgave him and even called him a man after God’s own heart and he is still recognized today as a man of great honor and will even be honored in the next life but he will forever be tagged with the sins he committed.

It all started with just a glance; a quick look. You know the story. (2 Samuel 11) For David’s sake and for my sake, I won’t go into details but the defining incident of David’s life – an incident that changed a lot of people’s lives and ended more than one life could have been avoided if David had just bounced his eyes. That’s what I was taught as a young man. You can’t keep from seeing some things but when you see them, you can bounce your eyes off them and onto something else.

I didn’t say it was easy but with practice and motivation, it can be done. We will talk about some other ideas to help with that in a few minutes but let David’s legacy be at least part of that motivation for you. Learn from his mistake because I’m sure David didn’t wake up that morning and decide to do something that would ruin his life. He didn’t walk up onto the roof of the palace and think, “Today is the day I mess everything up.”

Now, let me ask you a question. Did all of that happen to David (and Bathsheba, and Uriah and the baby and everybody else involved) because God is a big ol’ meanie-head? Did all of that happen – the loss of life, the shame, the pregnancy, the loss of David’s witness and respect – did all of that happen because God hates sex and is a prude and needs to get with modern times? No. Of course not. It happened as a consequence of sin.

As we have been going through the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter 5, Jesus has been saying some things that are difficult. They are difficult for some to believe, difficult for some to accept, difficult for some to do because they go against what the world teaches. “Blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are the meek, blessed are the persecuted.” That’s crazy talk if you ask the world’s opinion.

But Jesus is telling us all these things because He wants us to be blessed. He wants us to be happy. He wants us to live a full and abundant life (John 10:10) and we live that way as a consequence of doing what He says to do. You live with the consequences of sin when you live the way the world thinks is right. It’s that simple. Remember BOOCOD? There are blessings of obedience and consequences of disobedience.

Yes, Christian and non-Christian alike face trials of all kinds. We all get sick. We all suffer. We all die. But Jesus is telling us in this sermon of His how to make it the best that it can be. This is how to live with blessings instead of consequences in this life and how to be eternally blessed in the next life. This is most definitely not a prosperity Gospel kind of message. Far from it. But Jesus is telling us how to live in right standing with God and when we have that righteousness, we may still suffer in this life, but at least we won’t have to live with the horrible consequences of our sin.

Jesus continues to blow people’s minds in verses 27-30 of Matthew 5. He continues to take the 10 Commandments and make them personal and private instead of outwardly religious. He continues to say things that I just imagine had His followers of the day saying, “What did He just say?” Look at Matthew 5:27-30 with me and you too might be saying, “What did Jesus just say?”

Jesus said, "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.' 28But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.”

I’m quite sure that every society since Noah has thought their world could hardly become any more sexualized. I wasn’t there for the flood. You’ll have to ask Troy. But I would say that our society is at least as sexualized as any before and the opportunities to commit adultery or lust are more numerous and easy as ever. And our society is paying the price for it. Through porn and lust, Satan has attacked our homes and churches and mutilated our blessed nation and so Jesus is telling us today to mutilate ourselves to keep it from getting worse. Do you believe that?

No, of course not. Jesus is not seriously advocating for us to chop off our hands or gouge out our eyes. If that was the case, most people wouldn’t have any hands or eyes at all. His point is that we are to do whatever it takes to cut that sin out of our lives and sever anything that leads us to it. But if Jesus were being literal here, it would still be worth it. Would you rather lose your hand and eye and be right with God? If that is a hard question for you to answer, then you don’t know God very well.

To be righteous – to be right with God – is the best, safest, most pleasurable, most rewarding place in the world. If you are right with God, you have no fear, no doubt, no worries. You have everything you need plus rewards in Heaven and that sounds great but first we have to get past lust.

Lust is a huge barrier for some people because it is a God-given drive that is mandated biblically to only be manifested in a one man, one woman, biblical and legal marriage. I know I just said a mouthful right there but if you study all of scripture and not assume anything or take anything out of context, it is obvious that sex was God’s idea and He only blesses it in the confines of marriage between a man and a woman.

But Satan knows how horrible the consequences are of sex outside of marriage and so he puts temptation in our way constantly. And while this can apply to any kind of lust, it is obvious Jesus is talking about sexual lust. If you want to be right with God and not punished by God and not have the natural consequences of lust, sever anything that leads you to it.

Paul said something helpful in Romans 13:14. I like the way the King James words it. “Put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.” First, put on the Lord, Jesus Christ, not like a mask that you put on and take off when it suits you but more like clothes that protect you and cover you. You put on Jesus by abiding in Him and being right with Him and focusing on Him.

Next – and this is so good. It helps with any kind of temptation. Next, you make no provision for the flesh. But what in the world does that mean? Well, what is a provision? You provide for something. You give it what it needs to continue and, in this case, you provide Satan a toehold to come into your life. And you do that by not severing anything that leads you to sin.

If porn is your problem, then you make no provision for it by doing away with the internet. And I know in this day and age, that sounds crazy but that is just the kind of crazy Jesus was talking about when He said to sever your hand or gouge out your eye. You can live without the internet. Do not buy a smart phone. Save your money on the phone and internet and get a good old flip phone.

I told you it works for any sin. If alcohol is your problem, don’t keep it in the house and don’t let anybody else. Don’t even drive past the liquor store if you can help it. Take the long way home because here is what’s going to happen. You are going to be doing really well. Every day on your way home from work, you are going to pass the liquor store and say, “No way! Not today, Satan.” Except one day when you’ve had a long week and the boss was crazy and your wife is already yapping about something and you just got paid and you look over and see that liquor store and think, “Just a small bottle. Just a six-pack.” And pretty soon, well, you know how it ends.

It’s that way with any sin. Sever anything that leads you to do it. It may mean selling the TV, losing some friends, changing jobs or even moving. I know that sounds drastic but that was the point Jesus was trying to make. Do whatever it takes because there is nothing worse in this world than sin.

I want to go in another direction with this for a while. We will talk more about some ways to avoid sin, especially the sin of lust tonight at 6 pm and I really encourage you to come tonight. You may have some things that will help us as well as being helped, so please come tonight. This is a perfect example of the church needing you and you needing the church. I know not everybody will be able to make it tonight and don’t worry if you can’t. We understand…that you are backslidden and you are not really concerned about being right with God. We get it.

But I want to talk about another aspect of what Jesus has been talking about and what He will continue to talk about in the Sermon on the Mount. I railed last week, like a good Baptist preacher should, against abortion and homosexuality. I will say again that those issues are biblical and should make us mad that they are even being debated. We are on solid footing biblically when we go against those things.

Porn and lust and adultery are the same way. It is easy to find biblical justification for our anger against those sins. And Jesus has more to tell us in His sermon of things that some people do that should righteously anger us. Sin makes God angry and it should make us angry. Sexual sin is worse because the consequences are worse so it should make us angrier to see that temptation taking root, especially in our own lives.

The problem is, it’s much easier to see that sin and any other sin as a problem in somebody else’s life than it is in ours. It’s easy to get angry about it in somebody else, but in us, it’s not that big a deal. Christians love to say that God hates sin but loves the sinner and that’s true but when it comes to Christians, we sometimes get a bad rap about hating the sinner as well. Oh, we would never admit it and we don’t think we do but, just as one more difficulty in this world, we have to go above and beyond in our love for the sinner. And that shouldn’t be a problem…because we are that sinner.

Oh, we have a zero-tolerance policy for sinful lifestyles and Matthew 18 says there is a point where we are to tell the unrepentant sinner to leave and not come back. But when somebody is struggling with a porn addiction or a meth addiction or alcohol or an adulterous relationship or same-sex attraction or any sin, I want them to know that Christ Fellowship is still the church that helps people. I want them to know without a doubt that this church is full of sinners saved by God’s ridiculously amazing grace and if they are struggling but repentant that we will never leave them no matter how bad it gets.

And it will get bad. It always does. Sin always takes you further than you intended to go and takes away more than you expected. That’s why Jesus said it is better to sever all ties to anything that leads you to it. You’re not going to be appreciating the great wireless connection you had when you’re in Hell. Nobody in Hell is going to be proud of how much alcohol they could drink.

And there really is a Hell and there really is a Heaven and you have to decide right now where you want to go for all eternity. When you die it will be too late. Decide now to have treasure in Heaven. Decide now to be blessed in this life and also the next. Satan is prowling around like a roaring lion looking to kill you dead (1 Peter 5:8) and he wants you to think that a little porn is okay. He wants you to think that homosexuality is just finding love where you can. He wants you to think that since your wife isn’t interested, it’s okay to mess around with that other lady. And he wants you to hate people that sin differently than you do.

I’ve never been in a more loving, grace-filled, forgiving church in my life and I know God has blessed that. I think you truly understand that you have been shown grace, have been loved and forgiven by God and want to show that same grace and love to others. I know that a lot of people here have struggled and may still struggle with addictions and I believe that is at least partly why we have been called to minister specifically to the poor, the addicted and the incarcerated. We don’t have a lot of resources. We don’t have a half-way house here or an NA  group that meets here every week (at least not yet) but we have a church full of people that have been there and want to be support for those that struggle.

Whatever your struggle, whatever your sin or your addiction, there is almost no chance of beating it if you don’t have a personal relationship with Jesus. Some people might read this passage in Matthew 5 and think Jesus was a prude and that He doesn’t want us to have any fun but I hope you see now that He is trying to protect us from the horrible consequences of living that sinful lifestyle. It may take making some decisions that the world thinks are crazy but that’s okay. It is more than worth it.

Start today by bowing your head and going to God in prayer and like my friend David did, ask God to search you and try you and see if there is any wicked way in you (Psalm 139). Don’t leave here the same way you came in. We aren’t guaranteed another breath. Ask God to forgive you of your sins. Repent of those sins, which means to turn away from that lifestyle. Ask Him to be Lord of your life. All you have to do is believe and allow Him to change your life. He will help you with that. All you have to do is ask. Do it now as the music plays.