Victory Over Lust

Matt 5:27-30 (NKJV) “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, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.

Introduction
- The second point of the Sermon on the Mount has to do with another part of ourselves that can go beyond our personal control. The first one being anger and the other is lust.
- Jesus is again stressing beyond the external but the condition of the heart. Have we wondered why our prayers remain unanswered?
Psa 66: 18 (NKJV) If I regard iniquity in my heart, The Lord will not hear.
To regard is to think highly of, in this Psalm it means that if we esteem iniquity our prayers will be unanswered
- The key heart matter of adultery is basically dealing with the issues of faithfulness and uncleanness
- The root Jesus was preaching is with regard to lust. Lust is an uncontrollable desire (mostly with regard to sexual desire, but can encompass things with regard to fulfillment of the flesh in any form). The respond to failing to have control over lust is to take action to fulfill the desire
James 1: 13-16 (NKJV) Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.
- Lust is being drawn away and succumbing to our desires. It becomes a trap or being enticed
- The entrapment brings life to sin and full-grown sin leads to death
- People trapped in lust may not see the issue or even be in denial, same with any form of addiction. The Apostle warns against self-deception

Feeding the eye
- Feeding is of the eye: Joseph's mistress (Gen_39:7 – casting her eyes. Like fishing casting a bait to entrap), Samson (Judges 16:1 – saw a harlot and went – action was taken to fulfill the desire), David, 2Sam 11:2 (saw Bathsheba washing herself)
- We can feed our eyes many ways through going to wrong/unhealthy places, window shopping, magazines, internet, etc
- Unstable souls fall prey to what they see. Unstable souls are people who can’t control their emotions, mind and will but easily yielding to desires uncontrollably by taking action
2 Pet 2:14 having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin, enticing unstable souls…..
- Controlling our wandering eyes. It is not that Jesus don’t want us to see but our focus must be right
Job 31:1 “I have made a covenant with my eyes; Why then should I look upon a young woman?
- We need a strong spirit to control the soul. Beyond looking at the opposite sex, there can be other objects of desire like food, fashion, cars, etc.
- Lust has to do with fulfillment of self without consideration of others, especially Jesus Christ

The remedy
1. Changing our focus to Christ, right focus take us out of our short term fulfillment
- Having a single focus on Christ will give light to us and we don’t walk in darkness
Mat 6:22 The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.
Heb 12:2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

2. Cutting off
- Jesus remedy is to simply ‘cut off’ which is profitable to us in the long run with regard to our destination: heaven or hell. This is not literal because He knows that wrong desires have to be dealt with at the root. Cutting off requires that we bring all the flesh into subjection of the spirit
Gal 5: 16-18 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

3. Changing our desire
- Desire for righteousness
Prov 11: 23 The desire of the righteous is only good, But the expectation of the wicked is wrath.
Matt 6: 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
Matt 5: 6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled.
- Know that the Kingdom of God is more than the essentials of the flesh
Rom 14: 17 for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
- Changing our desire shows our trust in Him to be our fulfillment. Fulfilling our wrong desires or lusts shows on mistrust in Him to fulfill us
Psa 34: 8 Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!

Faithfulness
- Adultery is about the question of our faithfulness. God if faithful and He requires us to respond in similar faithfulness
Duet 7:9 “Therefore know that the LORD your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments;
- He looks upon the faithful with favor, in fact He looks through out the whole earth to look for the faithful
Psa 101: 6 My eyes shall be on the faithful of the land, That they may dwell with me; He who walks in a perfect way, He shall serve me.
2 Chron 16: 9 For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him…..

Holy and unholy, clean and unclean
- Distinguishing has to be done soberly, God is looking beyond clean. It is holiness (separated unto Him), proof of our faithfulness to Him.
Lev 10: 8-10 Then the LORD spoke to Aaron, saying: “Do not drink wine or intoxicating drink, you, nor your sons with you, when you go into the tabernacle of meeting, lest you die. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations that you may distinguish between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean
- Clean is to be free from blemish or irregularities. There are those who say they are good, normally mean they are clean. That is why there are many good people who aren't Christians, Christians on the other hand has to be beyond good
- God is looking for beyond clean, which is holy or to be special, separated and belong to Him alone. Are are lives lived exclusively for Him and do our actions reflect that?
Exo 19: 6 And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ …..

Purpose of our body
- Glorify God in Body and Spirit. Our God given bodies serve a Godly purpose and part of Christ Body. If we have the revelation that we belong to Christ's body, we will have a clear perspective on holy living
1 Cor 6: 12-20 All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any. Foods for the stomach and the stomach for foods, but God will destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. And God both raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by His power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? Certainly not! Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For “the two,” He says, “shall become one flesh.” But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him. Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.
- There is fruit to show of the death of the flesh. Dead to the flesh but alive to the Spirit
Gal 5: 22-25 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
- No condemnation to those who live according to the Spirit! We need a strong spirit to overcome the unstable soul
Rom 8: 1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.

Our true satisfaction and eternal destiny
- Taking lust into our own hands by satisfying our own desire is not trusting God to satisfy us. We take matters into our own hands.
Psa 16: 11 You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
- God will personally show us or help us attain to abundant life. Jesus promised life in abundance and He doesn't mean after He returns, it can be realized now, but it is a life He will reveal to us by living in obedience with a knowledge that we are Holy unto the Lord
- Know our final eternal destiny
Col 3: 1-4 If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.

Cause and Cost of Anger

But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: ………….
(Mat 5:22)

The natural reaction when rights are violated upon, whether it is for themselves or others is to retaliate. Inevitably anger will be involved because the emotional part of our soul (mind, will and emotion) will be stirred demanding corrective action to make right what we deem as necessary. For example today we have many who form causes to fight world hunger, animal cruelty, global warming, political injustices, etc. Some of these causes have recently erupted in violence stemmed from anger and people get hurt, some mortally.

But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, .....
(Rom 2:29)

The ‘but’ in Jesus statement in the Sermon on the Mount seeks to beckon us to see matters from His Divine perspective. The teachers of the Law in His time were zealous forceful guardians of it, unfortunately focusing on the external more than the root of problem… the heart. We can fall into the same trap that Samuel did (1 Sam 16:7), to measure a man or a woman from the outward. So our righteousness or moral right-ness has to exceed that of the Scribes and Pharisees to consider what God looks at. Anything short of that will cause us to miss entering the Kingdom of Heaven.

Why Jesus did said that we cannot be angry without a cause? Surely anger is aroused for a cause? I believe Jesus meant that we can’t afford to be angry for the matters that He is unconcerned for. When we start evaluating the things we get angry over, how much of it concerns the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness? If it doesn’t, Jesus means that our anger is causeless having no basis to take the next retaliatory step.

Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: Neither give place to the devil.
(Eph 4:26-27)

Our anger if it doesn’t concern God’s cause can lead to the devil’s advantage. In Mark 3 is an account of Jesus being judged for righteousness sake and anger rose within Him leading to grieving for the hypocritical hardness of hearts and went on to heal the man with the withered arm. Righteous anger leads to grieving for what is sorely missed, mercy did prevail and the man was healed. Conversely the Pharisees sought to kill, clearly the devil already had his foothold on them (John 10:10).

For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity.
(Act 8:23)

The outcome of anger is usually bitterness which then imprisons us until the ‘last penny’ is paid (Matt 5:26). In other words, it will be very costly for us when we end up bitter. To avoid being a prisoner of bitterness Paul ask us to put away bitterness and forgive even as Christ as forgiven us (Eph 4:31, 32). The paradox of the Kingdom of God is first take the action to forgive and God will forgive us in return, just as mercy is experienced only by the merciful (Matt 5:7). We can’t afford to let causeless anger control our life.