Hard Sayings of Jesus: Gouge Out Your Eye

and we deal with adult subjects. This morning is an adult subject. I think it's good for even those who may not be adults, but maybe a little more mature to hear the subject. We're going to talk about sex this morning. So get ready.

it's a good mother's day subject

thank god for sex right

well let me start this way when i think of god's grace when i think of god's grace i think first of jesus christ and what he's done for me through christ But I think secondly, of Louise. The great blessing he has given me to have a spouse like her and then through that relationship, children like Caleb and Kate. And when I think of God's grace, I think of godly parents like mom and dad. And today we celebrate moms. All right, all you moms, stand up.

If I could do something for us as a class, if I had my disability, I would open our hearts and minds and pour into them the truth of God's Word and have us just be reoriented so that we always live by what God says is best. God is never wrong. I care not what anyone says, even if they are on TV.

a second thing I would do if I could is I would pour into our hearts and minds the reality of God's grace and whenever I begin to approach a subject like the subject today I know I know that there are many hurts and pains

of the past When God's plan about sex has not been followed.

But let me say this. In God's kingdom, there are no second class citizens. And by his grace, by his mercy, when we come to him in faith and repentance, we are wiped clean. And we are healed.

So hear me. Talk about a subject today like we're going to talk to. Even if your past is tainted, if you are in Christ, it is now clean.

Amen. God's grace is amazing. So as Christians, when we come to this subject, I want to come with humility. We all have difficulty in the area we're going to talk about today, folks. if not outwardly, inwardly.

And we need to come with a measure of grace when we come to this subject. We need to speak the truth. We'll try to do that this morning, but we need to speak it in love. We go to the hard sayings of Jesus. We're going to talk about gouging out our right eyes and cutting off our right hands this morning.

Stick with me. One of the great passages of the Screwtape Letters, written by C.S. Lewis, is a short statement by Screwtape, the senior demon, who's giving advice to Wormwood, a junior demon, about how to get Christians to stumble and fall. And Screwtape says this, The safest road to hell is the gradual one. The gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.

You get them inch by inch by inch by inch. so take it slow but get them a step at a time I would submit to you ladies and gentlemen Satan and his demons have done a pretty good job when it comes to this issue of human sexuality in our culture and in our culture we have literally soft underfoot no signpost inch by inch walked to the edge of the abyss and we are now looking into it. The question is will we hear the truth that will set us free?

The biblical view of sex is stated by Scrutate. He's a senior demon. He's wise. He knows what the enemy he calls God the enemy. teaches about human sexuality and its proper role. And Screwtape says to Wormwood, the enemies, remember this is God now, the enemy is God from Screwtape's standpoint, the enemy's demand on human takes the form of a dilemma. Either complete abstinence or unmitigated monogamy.

complete abstinence if you're not married or

unmitigated monogamy relationship with a person of the opposite sex opposite sex, opposite sex, opposite sex opposite sex, in marriage in marriage is the only only only proper outlet sexual expression such as sexual intercourse according to scripture. That's the biblical truth. Is that plain enough? Is it clear enough? Our problem usually is not knowing the standard.

Is it? The problem is in obeying the standard. And I'm going to press us today to recognize that we have been sold the big lie. That somehow God's way is not best. It's a damnable lie.

It is from the pit of hell and it is destroying us.

Okay, let's read the text. Matthew chapter 5.

Verse 27. Here's what Jesus says. These are the words of Christ. I always like to talk about what Jesus says. Most people, even those who may not be of Christian persuasion, have usually a respectful view of Jesus Christ.

So let's see what Jesus says. Matthew 5, 27. He's talking to the crowds in the Sermon on the Mount, and he says, You have heard that it was said, Do not commit adultery. But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away.

It is better for you to lose one part of your body than your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, 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. Let's pray.

I ask for the right words today, Lord.

I ask that you guide us in our thinking. I ask you that you by your spirit persuade us in our hearts and minds to the truth and then I pray that you will empower us to live it we honor you for what you have given us in our human sexuality we praise you that you have our best interest in mind when you give us boundaries I pray that we will be those biblical, God-given boundaries, and enjoy the fullness of life that is found in you and you alone. For it's in Christ's name we pray. Amen. We're in the Sermon on the Mount.

Jesus is dealing with a number of teachings from the Old Testament that the Pharisees have twisted or not given their full meaning. There's six of these formula sayings where Jesus says, you have heard it said, and the implication is, you've heard it said by the Pharisees,

but I tell you, and then Jesus tells us the truth or the correct understanding of the particular Old Testament law. I want you to remember there's nothing wrong with the Old Testament law, properly understood, properly applied, but what Jesus is trying to do is to correct the twist or the inappropriate teaching that the Pharisees have given. And he does that with this command about you shall not commit adultery. And there are several truths that we should all know today about the idea of sex outside the context of marriage. That's adultery.

Sexual relationships outside the context of marriage. Here's the first teaching. the deed sex outside the context of marriage is sin

it's very plain do not commit adultery it's the seventh command

it's the command that when the King James was published the 1631 edition was published there was a little problem with the seventh commandment in the 1631 edition When the printers printed it, they had a printing error. They omitted a word. They omitted the word unintentionally. Not. So that in the 1631 edition of the King James, the text literally read, Thou shalt commit adultery.

I'm afraid some are still reading that edition. the king's printer's got a fine of 300 pounds for that error that mistake it was viewed as a very heinous mistake unintentional again but a very heinous mistake make no mistake about it the biblical teaching is clear that sexual relationships out of con outside the context of marriage or sin now there are other sexual sins that are identified in scripture besides adultery is a sexual relationship where if you are married, you have a sexual relationship with someone else. But let me hasten to add that there are other sexual sins. I had somebody tell me one time, and this was a Sunday school teacher, said, you know, I had my class looking up. I was trying to find out if there's anything wrong with having sex with someone if you're not married.

And he said, we couldn't find it. I said, it's all there, folks. The King James called it fornication. The NIV translates it sexual immorality. It's the Greek word porneia.

And porneia was the Greek word that encompassed all sorts of sexual sins, from prostitution to adultery to homosexual behavior. And Scripture clearly prohibits porneia, sexual immorality. That is, any sexual relationship outside of the context of marriage, In this particular passage, Jesus is dealing with the issue of adultery. But what he says about adultery, some of the lessons we're going to learn, will apply to other sexual sins as well. So we can hear his teaching to help us in these other types of sexual sins.

But here we're dealing with adultery. But Jesus goes further. Here's the twist the Pharisees were putting on this Old Testament commandment. Thou shalt not commit adultery. that to be true but the pharisees said all that means is you must not engage in the outward physical sexual act of someone and thus commit adultery they did not teach and in fact liked it sort of that they didn't have to worry about the inward part but jesus says the pharisees whole meaning of God's law. Yes, the outward physical act of adultery is sinful and wrong. But Jesus said the desire for adultery is also sinful.

You see what he says in the text in verse

28 But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

So Jesus says there is an actual physical type of adultery, but you can also have a sinful type of adultery that is the inward desire, the adultery in the heart, the imagining, lusting after someone even though you haven't actually committed the act. Everybody remember Jimmy Carter's 1976 interview? Playboy magazine. What a foolish thing to do. Why dignify a magazine like that by being interviewed by them?

In fact, an aside, I saw Hugh Hefner and his daughter, I can't remember her name now, Christy. She's now president of Playboy Enterprises. She runs the organization. They were interviewed by Charlie Rose, late night question and answer show. and Hugh Hefner said, when I started Playboy magazine, I wanted to advocate for free sex.

I wanted to advocate for reproductive choice. When I started Playboy magazine, I wanted to advocate for homosexual rights. And he says, when I started the magazine, I was in a distinct minority. He says, we have come a long way in accomplishing our original objectives in this culture.

but in the 1976 interview Jimmy Carter said this I've looked on a lot of women with lust I've committed adultery in my heart a number of times this is something God recognizes I will do and God forgives me for it and that adultery in the heart idea was coming right out of this passage of scripture we've taught and Jimmy Carter was being very truthful

about things many of us would have to confess if we were being honest about inward thoughts, inward desires, inward attitudes. But boy, did Playboy make a hay day out of this one. Whew!

Well, I guess I was hit with our culture's

perversity when I returned from Ethiopia in January. I guess it just hit me in a way it hadn't before. People are very modest. They dress modestly. You do not see magazines on stands with lurid photos or scantily clad people or innuendo and so forth.

And when I walk back into the airport in Newark, New Jersey, in the United States, after having been in Ethiopia for two weeks, insulated from some of that, you walk in and you go by the first newsstand bookstore, and what do you see? I mean, it's just all laid out there. Nothing left of the imagination. And it was just a reminder of the road to hell. It's one step at a time.

No miles. Post. No signpost. From Andy Griffith and the Andy Mayberry series to Sex and the City. Huh?

We've come a long way, haven't we? Christ is trying to turn us back to understand that outward acts begin with inward desires we sin not only by wrongful deeds but by wrongful desires the desire is the root of the deed now Jesus is not saying hear me that the physical outward act of adultery and the inward desire about adultery are identical and equal in all respects. He's not saying, well, if you've already had the desire in your heart, just go do the act.

He's trying to remind us that the act begins with the desire.

But make no mistake, acting on the desire has far-ranging impact. So while it may be wrong to have the inward desire, don't just go do the act. because you begin to really damage a lot of different people when you act on the desire. So don't mistake what Jesus is saying here, but he is trying to get at the root of the problem. So what is his solution?

This teaching is not hard, is it? The outward act is sinful. The inward desire is also sinful and wrongful. That's a simple teaching. So what do we do?

Jesus says we need some severe discipline or self-control,

pretty what sounds like a very severe formula. If your right hand causes you to offend or your right hand, gouge it out, cut it off. Some have taken this literally in church history. There was a guy named Origen who lived in the 3rd century AD. He was a great Christian scholar, but he was teaching a group of young women in the faith.

And his inward thought life got to be such that he was concerned about how he might react toward these women. So what did Origen do? He castrated himself. He took this teaching in a very literal sort of way. Well, I'm going to submit to you that's not what Christ intended.

Our bodies are temples of God's Spirit. They are not to be abused or harmed. And what Jesus is doing here is using what is called hyperbole. He is using an obvious overstatement to make a very strong and important point. And his point is this.

The meaning is this. That we are not to maim the body, but we are to rigorously root out and avoid those things that cause either wrongful desires in our heart or wrongful deeds. And we are to look for those things that cause these wrongful desires and wrongful deeds. And we are to root them out aggressively out of our lives so that we can have right desires and right actions.

There are a lot of biblical passages that talk about the importance of ruthlessly rooting out wrong desires and things that could lead to wrong actions. Colossians 3.5 says put to death therefore whatever belongs to your earthly nature. Sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed which is idolatry. 1 Corinthians 6.18 says flee from sexual immorality. Get in a situation that's a danger in terms of desire or action.

Run! Run! Get away. Get away. teaching uses the word if. It says if your right eye causes you to sin or if your right hand causes you to sin. And I think there's a recognition here. We're all different. Some things, some things in our lives may be a problem for some of us. It may be other things for others. So I'm not going to sit here today and give you an absolute black and white list of what you should read or not read, what you should watch and not watch, because for some of you, one thing may be a problem, but for others it may not be.

But the point is, if it is a problem, if it is, if something's in your life that is causing you to have wrong desires or is pushing you toward wrong actions, whatever it takes, however difficult, however painful, whatever it takes, get it out of your life.

It could be certain magazines, right? It could be cable TV. I know it's just astonishing that anybody could believe that anybody could survive, live life without cable TV. How can we get by? It's almost like food and water.

but trust me you can if it's a problem if it's a problem it may be before you go to the movies you need to do a little research to find out the content of the movie www.moviemom.com

www.moviemom that's all one word moviemom.com it will get very explicit about what you will see and hear in any movie We used it with Caleb and Kate growing up. We'd go check out the movies before they went to see them. Parents, check it out before your children go, not after.

It may be that there are certain novels you shouldn't read if they're a problem for you. One writer said, if you don't want the fruits of sin, stay out of sin's orchard. and sometimes we like to go wandering in the orchard saying I'm just looking I'm not going to taste I'm not going to pick the fruit I'm just going to look but why do we go to look? because inwardly vicariously we're sinners and we enjoy getting close to it even if we don't cross a line and do it we like getting close to it reality TV shows and some of the stuff we see on TV is so important. The reality is people love sin.

Sin sells. They like to get close to it. But think somehow they're okay because they haven't actually crossed a certain line. Jesus Christ says you cross the line when the desire, the wrongful desire is in the heart. And when you're seeking after it and getting close to it.

We need to stay away from it and do whatever it takes. My son Caleb has a good friend named Andy who has been his Bible study leader with Campus Crusade for Christ since Caleb went to Clemson. Great young man, valedictorian in his class, state wrestling champion his senior year in high school, and a tremendously solid Christian guy. He is going to get married the week after Caleb gets married. Andy had a contract with the father of his fiancée.

The father had a contract with Andy, and the contract listed the types of physical contact that were appropriate with the fiancé. Andy signed the contract. The father signed the contract. And after every weekend visit where Andy would go up to the household to visit his fiancé, He would meet with the father after, at the end of the weekend, and affirm whether or not he had lived up to the contract. But here's the interesting thing.

The contract was Andy's idea, not the father's. He drew the contract. He wrote it down. He said, went to the father and said, I want to live the way Christ wants me to live, your daughter enough will you enter into this contract with me and help hold me accountable that is a young man who loves Jesus Christ and is willing to do whatever it takes to walk the walk the way it's to be walked Caleb's fiancee Paige went to pick out her wedding dress and someone in looking at dresses suggested a possible dress that was an off-white dress.

Page looked and said, I have not waited this long to walk down an aisle in an off-white dress. You give me a pure white dress. And I'm going to tell you folks, it is very difficult in our culture for people who are in college or in high school, to walk the truth of God when it comes to this area. And even those who are walking the truth get the snide comments from their unbelieving friends, yeah, right, you're not doing it. You're saving yourself for your spouse.

Yeah, right, yeah, right. Well, I say, take whatever they want to throw at you, young people, and we've got a lot of college students here. You walk the walk. It will be a treasure you can give to your spouse that you stay pure before God. A treasure that no one can ever take from you.

Don't buy into the lie that somehow it's better if you don't walk in God's way. Let me go to the last thing, destiny.

Christ is going to really talk about our eternal destiny, but I want to talk a moment about our earthly destiny. because when we walk outside of God's path, we do run into the danger of devastation as the result of sexual sin. Let me just give you a few pointers about this devastation we've seen as the result of sexual sin in our society. April 24, 2001, the Greenville News, Suzanne Fields wrote an editorial, 1.3 million babies in the previous year had been born to unwed mothers. It was a new record.

she said unwed motherhood is bad for the child's health and it's not so good for mom's health either it's tough raising a child alone we've got to make it big and bad news when a study tells us that we've hit a record of babies born without fathers around we've got to remember where we left the outrage

on the altar of sexual freedom talking about devastation on the altar of sexual freedom Annually, mothers take the lives of 1.2 million children, often being pushed by the fathers to do so. What will we, the horror of going outside of God's parameters, I think is seen in what we will do on the altar of sexual freedom, even to sacrificing our own children. God's boundaries were not meant for our harm but for our good neither God nor the Bible is opposed to sex in the right context listen to the song of Solomon how beautiful you are and how pleasing oh love with your delights your stature is like that of the palm and your breast like clusters of fruit I said I will climb the palm tree I will take hold of its fruit May your breast be like the clusters of the vine, the fragrance of your breath like apples and your mouth like the best wine. May the wine go straight to my lover, flowing over lips and teeth. That's good stuff.

How about the Apostle Paul, 1 Corinthians 7? The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife. And likewise, the wife to her husband. The wife's body does not belong to her alone, but also to her husband. The husband's body does not belong to him alone, but also to his wife.

Don't deprive each other except by mutual consent and only for a time so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. But Paul says, husbands and wives, have at it. It's good stuff. This is what Screwtape said to Wormwood.

Never forget that when we're dealing with any pleasure in its healthy and normal and satisfying form, we are in a sense on the enemy's ground. It is his invention and not ours. And then Screwtape goes on to say, All we can do is to encourage the humans to take the pleasures which our enemy has produced at times or in ways or in degrees, which he has forbidden. The USA Today on February 11, 1999 talked about a report from the University of Chicago a detailed study about human sexuality the title of the USA Today article was called Revenge of the Church Ladies because this University of Chicago study had tested the sexual fulfillment found among women who had followed biblical norms themselves until marriage versus those who had not. And the University of Chicago study, now the University of Chicago is not a bastion of Christian thought, folks. So here's their study.

They found that lack of sexual experience before marriage leads to greater satisfaction within marriage. They found that marital fidelity and committed marriages increase sexual satisfaction. Why? Because there's an abstinence of concern about disease, out of wedlock pregnancy, there's no fear of rejection by one's mate or lack of trust in the mate. And the study also found that belief in God and that He created sex to be enjoyed within marriage increased sexual satisfaction.

A Christianity Today article writing about a new book called The Case for Marriage by Linda Waite said, Married people have more satisfying sexual lives, both physically and emotionally. They live significantly longer, healthier, happier lives and recover more quickly from illness.

Is it not the big lie that sexual fulfillment is found in a series of serial relationships that may not last long? That's where it really is. How many TV programs, movies, show that a marriage between a husband and a wife faithfully committed to one another is the place where the sexual fulfillment is best found? Virtually none. Maybe a few, but very few.

It's a lie from the pit of hell. But Christ is also concerned about our eternal destiny and the danger of devastation. we risk God's judgment when we flout his commands about sexual sin. Do you remember Sodom and Gomorrah? Jude writes, They gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion.

They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire. The reality is if you are in Christ and following him, you will obey his commands and receive the rewards of that obedience ultimately. Those who do not follow Christ and walk any way they wish when it comes to this issue of sexual freedom face judgment. Christ says, avoid the judgment. The teaching of Scripture is we must first come to Christ, but truly coming to Christ means we will follow his commands when it comes even to this area.

about money and sex because these two things are very close to our heart. And how we deal with money and sex says a lot about our relationship to the Lord. And Christ is pressing us to have the right desire and the right outward action when it comes to this area of sex. Here are my lessons for life. Mothers, unite and fight.

Mothers, unite and fight. You need to protect your children from the harmful influences of the world. in many instances are the gatekeepers. They are the ones who are sheltering the children from those harmful influences. Help your children stay innocent.

Innocence is a good thing. There are studies being done now and some of the studies are starting to show that our whole notion about sex education has been wrong-headed. It's showing that in many instances birth rates in school districts where they don't do sex ed as opposed to school districts where they do sex ed and if you begin to think about it that makes some sense when you start to talk about it let's talk about sex now y'all do the right thing but let's talk about sex now we want you to do the right thing but let's talk about sex now you you have the right attitude about sex but let us show you how it's done let us talk to you about condoms let us talk to you about these other things. Are we brain dead or what? I'm not saying there's not a right way and a right method to give the education. But folks, there is something to preserving some innocence.

Secondly, love your spouse and spend more time, energy, in developing and strengthening your relationship. Dads love mom. Moms love dad. There's no better home where mom and dad love one another. The best sex education is found in watching a loving mom and dad relate to one another while you're growing up. That is the best sex education. We need to fight for that relationship.

And moms and dads, let me encourage you. If you have children, you need to spend some time away from your children sometimes to be sure you're working on your relationship. Your children will survive a day or two without you. Trust me. Sometimes we can get so consumed with our children, we forget about the most important human relationship.

That's the relationship between a husband and a wife. Thirdly, let's not fool ourselves. we reap what we sow. And sort of the message of the culture that you can do whatever you want and there's no problem is a false message. Fourthly, recognize that we are at war with the enemy.

Do you hear me? Do you hear me? There is an enemy, if you listen to scripture, who hates you. And trust me, this enemy hates your children. enemy will do whatever he can to destroy you and to destroy your children. And one means he is using, I would submit in our culture, is perverting God's truth about what is proper with human sexuality. The devastation wrought in human families, and believe me, I've talked to a lot of folks who've been through marital strife in my legal career, often the marital strife because of unfaithfulness in the marriage.

And folks, trust me, it is no

bed of roses to go through that if you're in that situation. Whether you're the one who's been unfaithful or the one who has been harmed or wronged. It is emotionally devastating. It is financially devastating often. Marriages break up. Now you've got to support two households, two homes, children in different places.

it's physically debilitating.

The enemy wants to destroy. Fifthly, ask God by His Spirit to empower us to guard our hearts and ward off the attacks of the enemy. We need that help. Identify the weak points, folks, and then take preemptive action.

Take preemptive action. Do something now about the situation. speak up and support God's truth about human sexuality do you hear me we need to begin to be very clear about the truth don't let let's not buy into the lie of the culture about human sexuality teach your children the truth support organizations like the Greer Christian Learning Center that this semester taught those 8th graders about human sexuality. From God's perspective, support organizations like the Piedmont Women's Center that are teaching the truth about human sexuality. And in your conversations with your friends, speak up when they're casting a wrong view.

And sort of everybody just sits there silently and just listens. We need to quit just listening in the right way, speak up. Lastly, let's fill our minds with positive images and influences and root out those images that are destructive.

And I, this means I think taking a serious look at media and what we're letting filter through our minds, through the media, whether it be magazines, TV, movies, etc.

Okay. Sex is over. let's pray

Lord this day I pray that you will give us a new perspective and realize that you love us you care for us you want the best for us may we embrace your truth

forgive us where we have fallen short but Lord we thank you for the grace we have in Jesus Christ that today can be a new day were yesterday. May we embrace that truth and honor you for it. For it was in Christ's name we pray. Amen.