Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery

Driving home: For I say unto you that except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and of the Pharisees, ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven.

Martin compares Jesus' reinterpretation of the law to an 'Emancipation Proclamation,' breaking the shackles of narrow, truncated Pharisaical interpretations to reveal its full, broad, and holy glory.

We saw in verses 21 to 48 in the way of general view that our Lord Jesus, is breaking the shackles from off the holy law of God placed there by the scribes and Pharisees. I thought perhaps we could call this section the Emancipation Proclamation of the Holy Law of God. For the Pharisees had chained up God's law into a very narrow and truncated interpretation. And our Lord Jesus comes to break the shackles from off that law that we might see it in all of its exceeding glory.

4:56 - 5:32 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin introduces Matthew 5:27-28, acknowledging the difficulty of the text. He explains that the prevailing understanding of 'Thou shalt not commit adultery' among the Jews was…

He draws an analogy between the scribes and Pharisees speaking to Aramaic-speaking Jews and the Roman Catholic Church speaking Latin to common people, where the average person only knew the law through the priests' interpretation.

Our Lord is contradicting the shackled interpretation of Moses, which describes, The scribes and Pharisees had given to Moses. So our Lord is saying, Ye have heard that it was said. Tradition of the scribes and Pharisees, and this is all the people had to go on. The people were speaking Aramaic in our Lord's day, and many of them did not read the Hebrew, and so the scribes and Pharisees, much like the Roman church at the time of the Reformation, where the priests spoke in a dead language, and all the people knew was what the priests told them in their common tongue, all the average Jew, knew a...

10:02 - 10:44 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin introduces Matthew 5:27-28, acknowledging the difficulty of the text. He explains that the prevailing understanding of 'Thou shalt not commit adultery' among the Jews was…

Martin recounts being sickened by an article in Time magazine quoting Protestant leaders re-evaluating moral standards, using it to highlight how far modern religionists have departed from even the Pharisees' external morality.

Now notice carefully, that they were true as far as they went. The seventh commandment does condemn all breaches of the marriage bond. They went a lot further than a lot of our religionists go today. I was sickened in reading this article in Time magazine on the sex revolution on the American campuses to see quotations by Methodist bishops and other Protestant leaders stating that we must re-evaluate our time-honored standards of morality.

11:28 - 12:02 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin introduces Matthew 5:27-28, acknowledging the difficulty of the text. He explains that the prevailing understanding of 'Thou shalt not commit adultery' among the Jews was…

The example of John the Baptist confronting Herod for taking his brother's wife is used to show that the commandment unequivocally condemned actual breaches of the marriage bond, without psychological excuses.

That's why John the Baptist could say to Herod of his day, when he took his brother's wife, it is not lawful for thee to have her. Period. He didn't say, well I don't think it's lawful, but come let me psychoanalyze you. You just may have deep psychic problems that are just overpowering you and your sin may not be quite as bad as it looks on the surface.

12:36 - 13:02 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin introduces Matthew 5:27-28, acknowledging the difficulty of the text. He explains that the prevailing understanding of 'Thou shalt not commit adultery' among the Jews was…

Jesus' description of the Pharisees as 'whitewashed sepulchres' is used to illustrate their external beauty masking internal corruption, emphasizing God's concern for the inward state.

It nowhere in any shape or form touched the heart and the motives and the thoughts of the mind. That's why Jesus could say as he did in Matthew 23 to the very ones who taught this to the people, Ye are like unto whitewashed sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful unto men, but inwardly are full of dead men's bones and all unclean. You see, at least they kept the external requirement and their moral lives from the outside looked beautiful. Jesus said, ye appear beautiful unto men, but inwardly ye are.

13:39 - 14:23 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Sin lies in the consent of the will to the suggestion of evil.

The story of Eve's temptation in Genesis 3 is used to illustrate that sin occurred not when she ate the fruit, but when her will consented to the devil's suggestion.

You remember in Genesis 3, the tempter came to our first parents, came to Eve and suggested evil. Suggested that she disregard the commandment of God who had said, thou shalt not partake of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And he came saying, oh, thou shalt not surely die. Now, when did Eve sin?

23:18 - 23:38 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Sin lies in the consent of the will to the suggestion of evil.

Jesus' temptation in Matthew 4 is used to demonstrate that the suggestion of evil is not sin; rather, His lack of consent to the devil's suggestions shows His sinlessness.

The Bible says he was what? Tempted in all points like as we, yet without sin. What happened when the tempter came to our Lord Jesus in Matthew 4? He said, look, you're hungry.

24:11 - 24:23 Read in full sermon

The point: The moment in your heart you say, all right, it's worth it to me to break God's law to get a good grade, even before you put your eyes on Susie's paper and get the answer. The minute your will consents to cheat, you've c…

An example of a student considering cheating on an exam is used to illustrate that the sin of cheating is committed in the heart the moment the will consents, even if the act is not completed.

Whenever the human heart looks upon an object, man to woman, woman to man, and that look becomes desire and the will consents, adultery has been committed in the heart. For sin lies in the consent of the will to the suggestion of evil. Young people, listen to me. You sit in that class and you're not doing so well on that exam and you say, boy, I know Susie across the aisle, she always does well.

26:40 - 27:17 Read in full sermon

The point: The moment in your heart you say, all right, it's worth it to me to break God's law to get a good grade, even before you put your eyes on Susie's paper and get the answer. The minute your will consents to cheat, you've c…

An example of a child wanting money and consenting to steal from their father, only to find the drawer locked, illustrates that the sin of stealing is committed in the heart by the consent of the will.

See it? Suppose you need some money, you fellows and girls. There's something you want real bad. All the neighbor kids are getting a certain trinket or a certain kind of toy or something.

28:03 - 28:12 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Whoso looketh to lust hath committed adultery already in his heart. There are three or four verses that I want all of you in this congregation to know and to know well.

Martin contrasts sociologists' attempts to solve delinquency by cleaning up slum areas with Jesus' teaching that sin proceeds from the heart, showing the inadequacy of environmental solutions.

I beg to differ with the sociologists of our day and those grappling and thank God at least there are some people concerned enough who are grappling with the problems of delinquency and moral laxness. And they say, if only we can clean up the slum areas and get people in a good environment, all will be well. No, beloved, it won't be well, for from within, out of the heart, proceed adulteries and fornications and thefts. And the poor sociologists have no answer.

31:15 - 31:44 Read in full sermon

The point: The heart I've described this morning is the heart of that sweet little baby that you hold in your arms and don't you forget it. You passed on to that child an Adam heart.

He challenges parents to recognize that their 'sweet little baby' inherits an 'Adam heart,' emphasizing the need for regeneration rather than assuming inherent goodness.

Listen to me, parents. The heart I've described this morning is the heart of that sweet little baby that you hold in your arms and don't you forget it. You passed on to that child an Adam heart. Oh, not my little darling.

38:11 - 38:27 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin explains that understanding the heart's sinfulness reveals the profound need for God's grace for forgiveness, His power for regeneration, and His ongoing preservation to…

Martin quotes his 'dear brother Riesinger' praying, 'Oh God, don't take your hand off me for a moment today, for the moment you did, Lord, I'd go back to the hand pens,' illustrating the recognition of one's own heart's potential for betrayal and the need for God's keeping power.

because though the heart is broken that wicked heart would rise up and betray you. My dear brother Riesinger said and I'll never forget as we prayed together in one morning he said oh God don't take your hand off me for a moment today for the moment you did Lord I'd go back to the hand pens. He recognized that principle. That's why the Bible says kept in the realm of evil.

40:12 - 40:48 Read in full sermon