Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Matthew 5:27-28 "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."
LUST AND THE DAMAGE SIN CAUSES
The flow of thought in the verse above is this: If a man's eyes are moving toward a woman for the purpose of looking at her with sinful desire, the sin of adultery has already been done.
A man is sitting at an outdoor café and he sees a woman's foot pass by. He knows from the kind of shoe that this woman is wearing that she is not likely to be modestly dressed. Even before his eye finds its lustful target, God says, "The sin has been done." Even before the coveting look ever takes place, the sin has been done--in the heart.
Sexual sin is like an infection. Incubated in the heart, it moves out from there to the eyes, to the hands, to the whole body. But Jesus says, "God sees it the whole time, and it's sin from beginning to end."
One of the reasons why lust is so dangerous is that it damages and destroys relationships. Sometimes lust prevents relationships from ever getting started. Sometimes it destroys dating relationships. Sometimes lust damages and destroys marriages. The sin of lust also damages the faith relationship between a person and God.
Sin completely destroyed the relationship that Adam and Eve had with God in the beginning. But God said, "I still love you, and I'll fix this. I will send my own Son to suffer the punishment that YOU deserve. I'll restore our relationship by taking your sins away."
Jesus did just that. He suffered for our sins of adultery, our sins of lust. He suffered for sexual sins He never even thought of doing. Our record of sexual sin, whatever it has been, is forgiven and washed away in a flood of God's mercy through Jesus' cross.
