Matthew chapter 5 and verse 28. But I say unto you that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. There is somebody in this congregation struggling with lust. Do you know something in particular, Minister? No, but I know human nature and it would be almost unbelievable in a congregation this If there wasn't somebody, there'd be many who are battling against or even losing to lust. In the past, it was not so necessary to speak about such things. Until recent times, there were generally accepted standards and values which were accepted widely in the church and in society. And everybody knew the unspoken rules. Everybody was aware of where the boundaries were. But such is not the case today. We live in a very different world. What was once condemned became tolerated. What was tolerated became accepted. What was accepted became promoted. And what was promoted has become preferred. And so it is necessary for us to speak on these things, to listen to these things. I realise that such a topic may cause some here, especially the older ones, some discomfort. However, I would ask you to consider this. that if we do not speak on these things, there may be some here who will know eternal discomfort. And I would ask you to try and suffer temporarily a little discomfort in order to prevent perhaps A poor soul here, suffering eternal discomfort. This was Jesus' first sermon, and he tackled this subject. He didn't think it beneath him. He saw it as absolutely vital. It's interesting because today the church is accused of being old-fashioned and traditional, concerning matters of morals and ethics. And Jesus' first accusation to the church of his day was, you're too old-fashioned and you're too traditional. Because you'll notice When he begins to expound the law, he says in verse 21, you've heard that it was said by them of old time that thou shalt not kill, but I say unto you. And then again in verse 27, you've heard that it was said by them of old time thou shalt not commit adultery, but I say unto you. You think there is an old-fashioned message and there's a traditional message that you've heard and you've believed. And I'm here to modernize. I'm here to bring you right bang up to date. But unlike today, when the modernizing involves a liberalizing and a loosening, Christ's modernizing, Christ's updating involves a tightening. and internalising of the law. Because up to this point, the religious teachers of the day had only been concerned with outward acts and words, things that could be seen and heard. And Jesus comes and says to us, I'm going to update, I'm going to modernise this. And the way he does it is, instead of making it much easier, he makes it much, much harder. Instead of loosening and lowering standards, he raises the standards and tightens the law, because he intensifies and internalizes it to deal not just with outward actions, but with inward motives and desires. Regarding killing, he says, it applies also to hating. Regarding adultery, he says, it also concerns desiring and not just doing. I'd like to look first of all tonight at two times of looking and then at two times of losing. two kinds of looking. Jesus says in verse 28, I say unto you that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. There is a right kind of looking and there is a wrong kind of looking. The Lord is not saying here to all men Go around with a blindfold on. Go around with blinkers on. Go around and, as it were, put a burka over your eyes and make sure you never look on any woman whatsoever. That would be impossible. It is possible for a man to look on a woman in a right way, to appreciate her heart, beauty in her face, to appreciate a sweet character, to appreciate spiritual holiness, graces. Yes, a man can look on a woman in a right way without sinning, to appreciate what God has given to a person by nature and by grace. And I think we should remember here that although this is addressed here in this instance to the man looking on the woman, it's also true vice versa. It may be that the man has more problems with this than the woman, but the women are not without their own difficulties either. And what he's teaching here is a principle that applies to all relationships. And he says there is a right way to look, but the greatest kind of looking, the most common kind of looking, is a wrong kind of looking. It's a looking, he says, to lust after her. It's a looking at the wrong part of a woman. It's a looking at a woman in the wrong manner, in the wrong way, with the wrong motivation, and for the wrong ends. What is it to look with a view to lust? It's to look with a desire to imagine, to see, or to touch the parts of the body which God in his mercy has covered up. I'll say that again. It's a desiring to imagine, to see or to touch the parts of the body which God in His mercy, knowing our fallen nature and condition, has covered from our eyes and from our minds. We all know what it's like to live in this day and generation and it's almost impossible to stop our eyes or to stop images and sights coming to our eyes and sounds to our ears. We may be a bit better off here on the island where we don't have billboards and posters, but we also have televisions with magazines, with the way people dress today. And all these things make us sometimes feel absolutely helpless in the face of a flood of images, sights and sounds that stimulate all kinds of senses and feelings in the body and in the mind and in the soul. It's so hard, isn't it, to stop the looking becoming a lusting. It's so hard, you sit down to watch the news and television and what comes up immediately before but some advert for another programme and of course they choose the imagery that will most appeal to the modern man and woman and it usually involves acres of flesh And it's there in an instant before you. You read your newspapers, you're reading about affairs that are going on in the world, and you turn your pages, and suddenly in front of your eyes there's an image, and no matter how quickly you try and avert your gaze, it's gripped, it's grabbed, it's insinuated itself into your mind and heart. It was Professor John Murray who said, the gap between vice and virtue is not a chasm, but a razor's edge. It's a matter of split seconds. A look can mutate into a lust in a split second. There's a saying in the world today, I'm sure you've heard it, it's okay to look, just as you don't touch. It's okay to look, just make sure you don't touch. Really? There's nothing wrong with looking, they say. There's everything wrong with certain kinds of looking. Jesus here is not talking merely about touching, but about looking too. Why is that? Well, for example, in 2 Peter 2 verse 14 we read of those who having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin. Eyes full of adultery cannot cease from sin. It's an automatic link almost. If you fill your eyes with these images, with these pictures, with these films, with these adverts, if you have eyes full of scenes of adultery, it is inevitable. The look will become a touch. The look will become a lust. The eyes full of adultery will become a life full of adultery. There are two kinds of looking. What kind of look do you have? Why is this so important? Well, this is emphasised to us by the Lord speaking about two kinds of losing. He contrasts losing the eye and the hand with losing the soul. He says in verse 29, If thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out and cast it from thee, for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. And so on with the right hand too. The look that turns into a lust can so soon turn into a loss. A temporary look and a temporary lust can turn into an eternal loss. Notice what it says, if you look on a woman to lust after her, you have committed adultery with her already. Not in your bed, but in your heart. Not with your body, but with your soul. That's why He says, if that eye offend thee, and that means to ensnare thee, to trap you, if that eye causes damage to you, if that eye makes you to be captured, to be ensnared by sin in any way, He says, pluck it out and cast it from thee. The eye, how powerful it is. Oh, how much can enter through the eye into our souls. The eye here is put for what is most precious to us. The eye is so valuable to us, isn't it? We treasure it. We value it. And then it speaks of the hand. Why the right hand? Because that's what's most useful to us. What's most helpful to us in life usually. And so he takes here the eye for what's most precious and the hand for what is most useful. Or else he takes the eye as a token, as a symbol for all the other senses. The hearing, the tasting, And he takes the hand as a token, as an emblem, as a symbol of all the other members of the body. And he's basically saying, whatever it is, no matter how valuable it is to you, no matter how useful and helpful it is to you, no matter what sense it is, no matter what member of the body it is, causes you to stumble. If it is entrapping you and ensnaring you and causing you to damage your soul and even damn it, what does he say? He's saying it doesn't matter what it is. It might be a TV programme. It might be a film. It might be an internet site. It might be a magazine. It might be a novel. It might be a person. It might be a place. But he's saying, whatever it is, if it is gripping you, if it's turning looks into lust, into adultery, he says, gouge it out. Tear it off and throw it away. If thy right hand or if thy right eye be the guilty culprit, if it's the eye pluck it out, if it's the hand cut it off. Now of course it's not meaning this literally in most cases. What it's speaking of is Whatever is most valuable and helpful to you in your life, if it becomes a cause of sin to you, take drastic measures to get rid of it. Throw it away. He is saying destroy sin before it destroys you. This isn't so much about the eye and the hands, it's about the heart. Because there are people who are blind and they still lust. And there are people who have no hands and they still lust. You don't need eyes and hands to lust and commit adultery in your heart. He's saying here, whatever your heart is attached to, no matter how valuable, no matter how precious, if it's causing you to commit adultery in your heart, you can't get far enough away from it. What he's emphasising here is that in this area of life. There's no room for half measures. There's no room for dilly-dallying. There's no room for procrastination and putting it off. He's saying this is urgent, this is vital, this is critical. People go to the extremes of carelessness with what they look at in this life. They sail as close to the wind as they can. They look as much as they possibly can without, as they think, committing sin. But what Jesus is saying here is go to the extremes of carefulness. He is saying you can't be serious enough in dealing with this. great problem of the human heart. He's saying it's better to lose even a part of your body temporarily than to lose your soul eternally. That's right. If you lose your eye and you go to heaven, you'll get it back again. If you lose your hand and you go to heaven, you'll get that back again too. But if your eyes and your hands make you an adulterer, you'll lose your soul. It is better to lose a part of your body temporarily than to lose your soul forever. Do you not agree? Better to lose a girlfriend or a boyfriend who makes you sin like this than to lose your soul in hell forever. Better that you lose street credibility with your friends than you lose your soul forever and forever. Better that they think you an ignoramus about the celebrities and the pop singers and the footballers of this day than your knowledge of these leading you into heart adultery. Better that you know nothing of the lyrics of the songs and the storylines of the movies. And you get to know about them and you become an expert in them and you can discuss them and you can look good and lose your soul in hell forever. Better that you know nothing about East Enders and nothing about Coronation Street and nothing about all the soap and all that fills our media. You have to lose your soul forever. Better to smash your computer and your television in pieces than to have your soul smashed in pieces through what you see on these screens. What Jesus is saying here is, what you look on here will determine what you look on forever and forever. What you think about, what you enjoy, what your senses experience here will determine your eternal destiny. You say, but I enjoy these things. These things make me feel good. They may well do. But if that's all you want, a few minutes, a few hours, a few years of pleasure, oh prepare yourselves for an eternity of pain. Is the look worth it? Is the touch worth it, is the stimulation of a few nerve endings for a few moments. I'd like to address some words especially to the young men here. Of course they have wider application as well. We are taught by your friends, by the media, by the stars of this day, to treat women like a piece of meat. Something just to satisfy your own senses. Something you can do what you like with. How do you look in women? How do you look at the girls in your classroom? How do you look at the girls in your college? I think what the Lord is saying here is keep your eyes above the neckline. That's what he's saying. Keep your eyes above the neckline. Avoid all suggestive jokes, stories. Avoid all innuendo in your speech. Paul says this, but fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not be once named among you. Ask, become a saint, neither filthiness nor foolish talking nor jesting which are not convenient. Go nowhere with no body at any time if that person, if that place will stimulate your eyes to lust and lead to your soul being damned. Do you know what Job said in chapter 31, verse 1? He said this, I made a covenant with mine eyes. Why then should I think upon a maid? He made a deal. He made a bargain. He struck an agreement for the good of his own soul that he wouldn't look in that way upon a maid, in such a way as to make him think sinfully about a woman. Is that not a good example? Will you not make a bargain tonight? Will you not go home and go on your knees before God and say, I'm going to strike a deal tonight. I've been sinning with my eyes. I've been looking at women in a way I shouldn't. I've been looking at images. I've been reading books. I've been seeing things I should never have seen. I treated women in a way that is wholly God dishonouring. And I'm going to make a covenant. I'm going to make an agreement with God and with my eyes that that behaviour is over. I'd like to speak a few words to the young woman here tonight. Again, it applies to men too, and older women, in different proportions, but I think we all realise that these things are especially a problem for the young. How many times they are told, flee youthful lusts which war against the soul. By what means shall a young man learn his way to purify? young women, women in general. There is an implication from this. The men aren't always to blame for looking on you with lust. Sometimes it's your own fault. And you have a responsibility to dress and move in such a way as will not lead a man to lust. You have a responsibility to ask yourself when you dress every day, are these clothes I'm putting on going to stimulate lust, inflame lust in a young man? We live in a day when We could say necklines are plunging and hemlines are rising and clothes might as well not be there for all that they cover of the shapes and the parts of the body which God has given us clothes to cover them with. You have a responsibility to ask yourself, is this item of clothing, is this tight top, Are these tight trousers? Is this neckline? Is this hemline going to make somebody fall into heart adultery? That's your responsibility. You may say, well, I'm free. I'm a Christian. I'm free from all these strictures. Well, notice what Paul says in 1 Corinthians chapter 8. He says this, Take heed, lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to them that are weak. And ladies, men are weak. They are. Be assured of it. Probably weaker in this area than you are. Take heed lest your Christian freedom, your Christian liberty become a stumbling block to them that are weak. I was speaking here about offering food to idols or eating food that's been offered to idols, but the same principle applies in whatever area of life. If we can paraphrase this and apply it to this situation, we would say this, and if any man see thee which hast knowledge, which hast liberty, who knows so much, wearing these kinds of clothes, moving in that kind of a way, looking, flirting, fluttering the eyes in that kind of way, shall not the conscience of him which is weak be emboldened? Will not that man, that young boy, be encouraged to sin? And through thy knowledge shall the weak brother perish for whom Christ died." That's how serious it is. But when ye sin, now that's serious enough. To sin in such a way as to bring a destruction, a judgment upon another Christian. That's an awful thing. But it gets worse. Paul says, but when ye sin so against the brethren and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. That's what you're doing. It's a sin against the Lord. What did Paul say then? He said, wherefore, I will paraphrase again, If my clothes, if my appearance, if my movements make any brother to offend, I will never wear these things again. While the world stands, lest I make my brother to offend. That's the Word of God. And I know that there will be men in this congregation who have stumbled through what another Christian war. They will have had their souls damaged. What's more important? Keeping up with the fashions or being a blessing to a brother in Christ? What about those of you who are married here? The Apostle Paul says marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled, but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge. He's saying any sexual activity or desire outside the marriage bond will be judged. They'll be judged. Be absolutely sure of that. You may think, well I'm married now, these things aren't a problem to me. No. Let him who thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. You remember the wicked woman of Proverbs 7. What does Solomon say? She hath cast down many wounded. Yea, many. strong men have been slain by her. Oh yes, even the strong. It is your responsibility to do all that you can to protect and preserve and promote the marriage bond, both yourselves and that of others. And it's your duty if you have children to try and counter that than the huge influences that are coming upon them to contradict these truths. We see the state and many schools saying through their teaching this, this immorality. It's inevitable. There's no point in telling people don't do it, they're going to do it and you might as well tell them how to do it safely. And the great message has been communicated, this is automatic. This is inevitable. This is going to happen. And then you have to counteract the great message of the media. As people, as your children perhaps, watch things on television, read things in magazines, they see the lifestyles of the rich and the famous. And what's it saying? Every single programme. You go through it, you don't even need to watch it. Just look at the TV schedules. 7.30, adultery. 8 o'clock, adultery. 8.30, adultery. 9 o'clock, adultery. Non-stop, night after night after night after night. And what's it saying? What's the message that's being communicated? This is so glamorous. This is so easy. This has no consequences. And you have to counteract the influence of the friends. We're saying this is a macho thing to do, this is a modern thing to do. These are huge influences on young people today, and all the time it's echoing. explicitly and implicitly in their minds, this is inevitable, this is safe, this is glamorous, this is easy, this carries no consequences, this is the modern thing to do. And you have to bring the Word of God and say this, be not deceived. 1 Corinthians 6 verse 9, be not deceived. Don't be taken in by these false messages. Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be ye not deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind shall inherit the kingdom of God." Don't be deceived. Don't be taken aback. When Christ preached His first sermon, what's He saying? He wasn't saying, I've come first and foremost as a friend. He wasn't saying, I've come first and foremost as a comfort. He's saying, I've come first and foremost as a warrior against sin and as a saviour from it. And this is the glorious message of the Gospel. It not only calls you to war against lust and all kinds of sin, but it promises salvation even if you've fallen. And you may be sitting there tonight thinking, I'm finished. I'm done for. There's no hope for me. I'm guilty, guilty, guilty. I'm an adulterer. I'm a fornicator. I'm a luster. I've looked and I've lusted and I'm lost. What does Paul say to these Sancorinthians? Yes, he says you were fornicators, you were adulterers, you were effeminate. He says such were some of you. But you are washed. You are sanctified. You are justified. in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of God. Oh, what welcome words. I'm filthy, but there's a washing. I'm guilty, but there's a justification. I've looked, I've lusted, but I'm not lost. May God bless His Word to us, let us pray. O Lord, thou great warrior against sin, fill us with thy militant spirit and enable us to fight within, to war against the flesh O Lord, turn away our sight and eyes from doing vanity and be pleased to quicken us in thy good and holy way. For Jesus' sake.