In the second century, The apologist Justin Martyr in defending Christian truth claims. He pointed to the Christian ethic of chastity. as proof. Of the power of the gospel. No apologist in his right mind.
Today, whatever asked the critics of Christianity to examine Our sexual behavior. As proof. of the gospel. Chastity That's not a word we hear often these days. Sexual deviance is celebrated and it marches in our streets.
Yet Jesus' standard was high. Whoever looks at a woman to lust for her, he said. has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, Block it out. and cast it from you.
What did Jesus mean?
Well, I'm glad you're joining us to find out. on the Sunday edition of Renewing Your Mind. Today, we're continuing a short three-part series from the Sermon on the Mount as recorded in Matthew's Gospel. And that's why when you give a gift today, In support of Renewing Your Mind at renewingyourmind.org. We'll send you RSC Sprawl's commentary on Matthew.
Which includes his insights from his study in preparation for the sermon you'll hear today. But be quick. as this offer ends at midnight.
Well, here's R. C. Sproul in Matthew chapter 5, beginning in verse 27. on Jesus' view of adultery. You have 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 than for 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 then for your whole body to be cast Into hell.
Just as he did with respect to the Old Testament prohibition against murder. Jesus notes a contrast between the tradition of the rabbis And his own Understanding of the law. Just as he expounded the prohibition against murder to contain within it elliptically. The prohibition against anything. That harms, damages, or wounds our neighbor.
So at this point, Jesus also shows that the command. against adultery includes within it Every aspect that is part of the broader complex of this particular sin.
Now Again, he starts out by contrasting The views of tradition. With his own? saying, You have heard that it was said to those of old You shall not commit adultery. But that is, you've heard the tradition. You've heard the teaching.
of the authorities. of antiquity You know what they have said. But I Say To you.
Now before we Look at what Jesus says. Let me remind you. of the authority by which Mm-hmm. That elsewhere our Lord declares All authority. On heaven and earth has been given to me I speak nothing.
On my own authority But rather on the authority of the one. who has sent me.
So, the pronouncement that Jesus makes here. In Matthew 5. Is nothing less than the pronouncement of God Himself.
Now why do I stress that? Because we're living in a world In an age where God's opinion is considered merely that. A solitary opinion? That is canceled out. By a majority report.
that contradicts his. Opinion. And so we have gone through a crisis. In our culture. What has been called a moral revolution.
And has been linked to A decade. Of the 60s in the 20th century, in which American culture witnessed what was then called. The sexual revolution. And there were many factors involved in that particular cultural Revolution I was teaching the colleges and universities. During the decade of sixties, I remember teaching college students and we got to The book of Corinthians, and I talked about the biblical sex ethic to these young people.
I reminded them that their parents had told them that they were to be chaste and that they were to practice abstinence. And the reasons they had been given was that if they were involved in premarital sex. That they were exposing themselves to venereal disease? Or an unwanted pregnancy Or They cultural rejection For Shame. And I said to those students, You know and I know, That things have changed.
That the inhibiting factor of fear of Sexual diseases, this was before AIDS, of course. has been pretty much Been set aside by the advent of effective medical treatments. in antibiotics and so on. You also know now that you can prevent Your Unwanted pregnancy by various sophisticated forms of birth control, and if the event that you do become Pregnant with an unwanted pregnancy. Even at that time, we're rushing forward.
To that moment where it will be perfectly legal and acceptable culturally. for you to end that pregnancy with abortion. And of course, all of you know that the shame of Sexual activity among unmarried people. is no longer the social Scandal And taboo. that it once was.
So What is left? What is left to keep you? From being freely active. In premarital sex. I said, the only thing I can think of Is that it is an offence against the holiness of God.
And that the Lord God omnipotent Who has the eternal authority to command your obedience? Prohibits This behavior. It was like a lightning bolt hit that classroom. I had a busy schedule up to that point of counseling with students. My counseling load multiplied by a factor of 10.
I felt like I was involved in a Christian college where it seemed like every student in the school. was actively involved. In this sin The Sexuality Report of Mainline Denominations said it's okay. Doctor Kinsey said it was okay. But Jesus said, But I Say To you.
It's not okay. You've heard me say many times that I see that bumper sticker, I still see it. God said it. I believe it. That settles it.
I want to take a magic marker and cut out the middle phrase. Because if God said it. It's settled. Whether you believe it or don't believe it. Because God does not rule by referendum.
He doesn't care. What the social inclinations are. In your culture. His Word. Is A lot.
Now I want to say something. That we need to understand. as Christians living in a virtually godless society. I don't think there's ever been a time. In the history of Western Culture.
When people have been more radically bombarded With erotic stimuli. Then they have In this generation. Where can you go in your culture? And not be exposed. Too intense.
Suggestive Sexual erotic literature. and images. You know what it's like in Hollywood movies? You know what it's like on broadcast television? You know what it's like in the American novel?
And if you own a computer, You know what it's like. In the world Yeah. computers The church has never had to deal with the church. With the problem addiction to pornography among men. That is pervasive and epidemic now, not just in the secular culture.
And The church. But this is too much of my insight. I want us to look at what Jesus says. But I say to you. Whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
Oh, I've had guys say to me, Hey, I read what Jesus said. I've had the lust, so I might as well keep going. I've already committed adultery, and this goes back to what we were talking about last week. that Jesus is not saying it is just as evil To lust as it is actually to commit adultery. But what he is saying is that even if you have refrained from actual adultery.
does not mean you have fulfilled the full the mention of God's law. He said, I say to you, whoever looks at a woman has already committed adultery with her. In his heart, now here's where he gets radical. 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 for your whole body To be cast into hell. Why does Jesus focus here? On the offending I Because he understands how.
Adultery begins. It usually begins with a glance. With the look. Remember the story of David. In the Old Testament, this man who was after God's own heart.
David did not sit in his palace and ask his generals to go out and give him a list of the most. Beautiful and seductive women. in the kingdom so that he could go out and be involved with them. No, he didn't plan anything like that. Instead, he just happened to be walking outside on his roof, and he looked over in the next building, and he sees Bathsheba nude.
And from the look Okay, the last From the Lust Came the idolatry. That's why the visual dimension. Of graphic erotic stimulation.
So Crucial. Every marketer in America understands that sex sells. That's why the Seductive women are used as props to sell Everything from automobiles to Eskimo pies. It works. That's why so much attention is given to Erotic clothing.
And again, visual images on television. And in the movies And there is nowhere where this is more prevalent. Then On the Internet. What does Jesus say about it? He says, we have a problem here.
It's a radical problem. That will require a radical solution. If you're right eye. offend you. Get rid of it.
Pluck it out. Now what person? chooses to make themselves. Blind What person is so committed? to remain chaste that to prevent temptation will inflict upon themselves Blindness in one eye.
Now, beloved, Jesus is speaking hyperbolically here. He's not saying. If you have a lustful look, it's time to have eye surgery. No. What he's saying is that to preserve your chastity Is so important.
That we must do whatever it takes. To accomplish it. The story of Odysseus on his way home from Troy. Travelling This ship between the tempting sirens. Has himself lashed?
to the mast. Lest he veer off Coarse. And sail his sh shipped? and to ruin.
Sometimes that's what it takes, folks. We have to tie ourselves to the map. If you are a man or a woman, but Chiefly if you're a man. And you are addicted to pornography? Let me make a suggestion that you may think is absurd.
Either find a way to keep that stuff off your computer. And if you can't. Put the computer In the garbage. Don't tell me. That you cannot live in the 21st century without a computer.
I do it every day. I'm so blessed of God that I've never been tempted by. Computer pornography. Because I don't own a computer. And sometimes the benefits of technology.
have more peril. Then they have blessing. And what Jesus is saying here is for you to do. An evaluation. An evaluation.
To look at your values. What's more important? Your soul Or your computer. Your sanctity Or you're erotica. Because you can't have both.
Not preaching. But meddling. I was speaking at a Christian college about 30 years ago that had required chapel. And this college had already been secularized, but still the requirement was in vogue. And I had to speak at chapel at one of these things.
And I used to say the worst assignment a preacher can ever have is to have to preach at a required chapel in a school because the kids hate it.
So I came in there and When I started to speak, I looked out and I saw that three-quarters of the students who were there. had their heads looking down were reading or writing their homework assignments, and they certainly weren't paying attention to me. I started to speak and I was able to get about another quarter of them to pay attention, but it's still fully half. of the congregation were not listening at all. And so I paused for a second and I said, well, Speaking of sexual intercourse.
Every single head in that chapel. snapped to attention and I said, no. But I have your attention. I'd like to continue. We're jaded.
Folks, we're really jaded. Our consciences. have been seared. We have experienced what Jeremiah said to the people of Israel. That they had The foreheads of harlots.
They had lost. their capacity To blush. Luther said it this way. He was a man, every bitten man, and he said, I struggle with lust. He said, But I'm responsible to deal with it.
And he used this illustration. I can't help it if birds fly around my head. But I can keep them from nesting in my hair. I had another friend who was a minister, and he said whenever he saw a beautiful woman on the street. He would look at that woman and say, God bless her.
And forgive me. But we do. have ways to combat This And Jesus is saying, take every opportunity. To keep. your chastity.
Before marriage An aftermarriage As well. It's better to go through life maimed. Than to have your soul. Be delivered into hell, one theologian said. It is better to limp.
into heaven. Then the leap. Into hell. Probably the hardest. and most seductive enticement to overcome.
Is the fact that the fact That everybody's doing it. Is the fact that the culture No longer looks askance at this. Is the fact that if you want to seek to be a Christian in an un-Christian culture? You have to have the moral courage. To March Against the tide.
But it's Jesus. Who calls us to this? And he has never Rescinded That call in the second century. The apologist Justin Martyr, in defending Christian truth, claims. Against the critics of Christianity, he addressed his defense to the Emperor Antoninus Pius.
And part of his Apology was a brilliant exposition of philosophy. A teaching of The fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. And then in the midst of that, he said: if you really want to see visible proof. Of the truth of Christianity, observe. Our Chastity.
He pointed to the Christian. ethic of chastity. As proof. of the power of the gospel. No apologist in his right mind Today.
Whatever asked the critics of Christianity to examine our sexual behaviour. As proof of the gospel. If the word of God reveals that you have been in sin. Get it cleansed. Young women, if you're not married and you're no longer a virgin, you can become a virgin again in the sight of God.
Because when he forgives us our sins. He makes us clean. Here. The word of Christ. He does make his children clean.
Though your sins alike scarlet, They shall be as white as snow. This is Renewing Your Mind. I'm your host, Nathan W. Bingham. On Sundays, we feature the preaching ministry of R.
C. Sproul. And today was a message from a short series taken from Jesus' Sermon on the Mount as found in Matthew's Gospel. Last week we considered murder, and to day adultery. If you'd like to study these topics more or do a deep dive in Matthew's Gospel, Give a donation before midnight tonight at renewingyourmind.org and we'll send you Dr.
Sproll's hardcover commentary on Matthew. His theological insights and pastoral wisdom come together in this easy-to-read commentary. Respond now before this offer ends in just a few hours. And if you live outside of the US and Canada, the e-book edition is waiting for you at renewingyourmind.org/slash global. Thank you for helping take the truth of the seriousness of our sin.
And the greatness of our Saviour, Jesus. To the nations.
Next time, we conclude this series as RC Sprol looks at Jesus' view of anxiety.
So make plans to join us next Sunday here on Renewing Your Mind.
