Guard Your Heart

Happy Sunday! Thanks so much for joining me today. Let me read to you from Matthew 5:27 to 30. Jesus said, "You've heard that it was said to those of old, you shall not commit adultery. But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish then from your whole body to be cast into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish than for your whole body to be cast into hell."

Last week, as we studied the Sermon on the Mount, we looked at murder, mur, and we saw that Jesus warned us of the danger of careless words and unchecked anger. Today Jesus warns us to avoid lust, and he even equated it with adultery. My, how our thoughts matter!

I imagine that everyone might agree that murder is wrong. It's likely that we do not know many who have committed that crime. Adultery is different, isn't it? Maybe all of us know someone who's actually committed that sin.

Jesus warns that it's a serious sin. You know it as the seventh commandment: "Thou shalt not commit adultery." In the Old Testament, the sin of adultery was punishable by death. Leviticus 20:10 says, "If a man commits adultery with the wife of his neighbor, both the adulterer and the adulterous shall be put to death." Deuteronomy 22:22 says, "If a man is discovered lying with the wife of another man, both of them shall die, the man who lay with a woman as well as the woman."

The Old and the New Testament warn of the danger of adultery. Jesus makes the point that adultery begins in the mind, in the heart. One commentator wrote, "Deeds of shame are preceded by fantasies of shame." Jesus tells us to watch out, to watch our eyes, to be careful what we see and what we touch.

He uses herbally when he says that we should poke out our eye and cut off our hand. This sin is in the mind, and surely those who are blind and those who have no limbs could be filled with lust and commit adultery in their mind.

In the Book of Job we hear these wise, wise words. In chapter 31, Job said, "I made a covenant with my eyes not to look with lust at had a young woman." Ain't that beautiful? "I made a covenant with my eyes."

I suppose everybody looks; we notice others. But there's a difference between appreciation and lust. Martin Luther, uh, put it this way: "We cannot stop birds from flying over our heads, but we can keep them from building nests in our hair." What he's saying, that we cannot let thoughts linger and consume us.

Sadly, adultery and all sorts of sexual sin are applauded in our society. People argue that whatever two consenting adults do in privacy is nobody's business. Jesus begs to differ.

In the Old Testament story of David's adultery with Bath-sheba, after his unprotected heart led to horrible action, David was confronted by the prophet Nathan. God sent Nathan to chastise David. When David knew that he was found out, he, he said this in 2 Samuel 12:13: "I have sinned against the Lord."

Adultery in the flesh or in the mind hurts God. Thank God there is forgiveness. Thank God there is hope. Thank God that his Holy Spirit can help our hearts from all sorts of evil.

Years ago I was sitting with a man who was about to leave his family for another woman. He looked at me and said, "I didn't guard my heart." I'll never, never forget that. I was so sad. It's that important: guard your heart.

I encourage you to pray for Israel during this time as well. I bet you are. Let us pray together.

Lord, there are wicked hearts in this world, wicked hearts about the flesh and about adultery, wicked hearts that devise horrible plots to murder and to kill. What this world needs is clean hearts. So we ask that you would create a clean heart in us, O God. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.

God bless you. Thanks for joining me today.