Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev19960107.htm

MATTHEW: JESUS AS ISRAEL'S MESSIAH AND HIS MESSIANIC KINGDOM
Part VII: Discerning True Kingdom Righteousness From Mere Religiosity
C. Christ's TRUE Righteousness As Contrasted With Religiosity's Bankrupt "Morality"
2. Contrasting TRUE Avoidance Of Immorality With Religiosity's False Concept
(Matthew 5:27-32)
  1. Introduction
    1. When Jesus presented the Messianic Kingdom, he entered a post exilic Jewish community that had a strict psychological allegiance to the Mosaic Law that had been forged by the discipline of Babylonian Captivity.
    2. However, the best of man's righteousness is inadequate, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God according to Romans 3:23. Well, since Paul counters Israel's belief that Israel was truly righteous, did Jesus agree with Paul? If so, how could Israel's religious or any religious group today fail to be upright?
    3. Matthew 5:27-32 shows us the spiritual bankruptcy of all men when it comes to the sin of adultery:
  2. Contrasting TRUE Avoidance Of Immorality With Religiosity's False Concept, Matt. 5:27-32.
    1. Jesus claimed not to undermine the Law, but to fulfill it, Mtt. 5:17-18.
    2. Well, since not even the religious conservatives of that day, the Pharisees, could obey Moses' Law THAT rigidly, Jesus claimed that unless one's heeding the law exceeded their obedience, they could in no way enter into the kingdom of God, Mtt. 5:19!
    3. As a case in point, Jesus contrasted His treatment of adultery with the Pharisees' treatment of it, 5:27-32:
      1. The Mosaic Law forbade adultery: "Thou shalt not commit adultery" was the Ex. 20:14 rule, Mt. 5:27.
      2. The Pharisees believed that adultery was wrong, but they permitted legal divorce and remarriage. However, they were divided on what constituted an acceptable divorce to break a legal marriage contract so that one would be innocent of adultery if he joined in marriage with another partner!
        1. Rabbi Hillel said that one could divorce and remarry for even trivial reasons, B.K.C., N.T., p. 63.
        2. On the other hand, Rabbi Shammai felt divorce was valid only in cases of sexual infidelity, Ibid.
      3. However, Jesus broadened this definition of adultery to include not only the act but also its attitude:
        1. Jesus knew that adultery did not begin with the act itself, but with the lustful thought preceding it. Thus, He condemned merely looking upon another forbidden party with lust on his mind, Mtt. 5:28.
        2. So terrible was this sin of the mind that were it possible to stop it by removing his eye that looked in lust, it would be worth removing the eye to escape Hell for adultery, Mtt. 5:29-30. Obviously, even blind people can have lustful thoughts, so Jesus is not proposing a literal plucking of the eye as that would not do away with lustful thoughts. What He is emphasizing is the truth that all have committed adultery if they have had a sexual desire for one whom they cannot righteously marry!
      4. Jesus even taught God did not permit divorce, meaning the Pharisees who practiced it sinned, 5:31-32:
        1. If one divorces except in cases of Jewish cultural "fornication", he makes his partner an adulterer, 31: (1) This exception clause cannot allow for general adultery or Mark 10:11-12 would be a logical contradiction with Mt. 5:32 as the same order is given there minus the exception clause. (2) Yet, Mark was written for the Gentile Roman where Matthew is for the Jew, so we look for a resolution in a Jewish explanation for the Matthew 5 "exception" clause. (3) Now, the Jews called three things "fornication" that were not general adultery: (a) infidelity during engagement was called "fornication", Hendricks, Chr. Couns. For Contemp. Probs., p. 112; (b) marriage in the prohibited Levitical degrees to close cousins was "fornication", Ibid. and (c) marriage to unbelieving Gentiles under the Law was "fornication" that required a divorce, Ibid., p. 113. (4) Thus, aside from the special Jewish requirements under the Law and culture, Jesus did not permit divorce for adultery!
        2. If anyone marries her who has been divorced, he commits adultery. This is all true because technically, God does not recognize divorce, for all marriages are indissoluble unions! (5:32)
Lesson: To be saved, one must be guiltless of adultery. This sin includes not only the act of sex in violation of a marital union, but harboring the thought of adultery, lusting with the eyes on a wrong partner or going through a divorce and remar riage to another partner for any of today's non-Jewish reasons! Thus, all men, even the most religious, are adulterers, and need God's salvation, Mtt. 5:27-32 with Romans 3:19-20, 23-26.