Hey everybody! Thank you for taking the time to join me in daily Bible reading as we seek to glorify Jesus, know Him more, and interpret the truth of His Word.
If this is your first time going through the Bible, I am incredibly excited to have you here. If this is your 5000th time, I am humbled that you are here and hope you grow in your relationship with Jesus along with me. May we all seek to know Him more and apply what we learn to further our mission of spreading the gospel. If you missed a day and want to catch up, you can visit the archives page HERE! But there is no shame if you start today! Today, we continue Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount! Day 43, Matthew 5:29-30 — The Sermon on the Mount Matthew 5:29-30 (NASB1995) “If your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30 If your right hand makes you stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to go into hell.” Discussion Jesus has been providing further context about how He fulfills the Law and Prophets (5:17-19). Many religious leaders criticized Jesus, claiming He was blaspheming the Law by abolishing or altering it. Jesus rebukes them by confirming the authority of the Law. His coming establishes the Law—it does not abolish or alter it. Jesus first reestablishes the sixth commandment against murder (5:21-22), expanding its consequence from those who commit the crime to those who have spite or seek the demise of a person. It is both our actions and our attitudes that are sinful. Yesterday, we read about His reestablishment of the seventh commandment against adultery (Ex. 20:14; Deut. 5:18). The religious leaders perverted the commandment against adultery by teaching it only entailed intercourse outside of marriage. This was a complete perversion of God’s Law, violating the sacredness of the marriage covenant. Jesus corrects their false teaching by saying that even just looking at a woman lustfully is adultery. It is not just the act of sexual relations outside the marriage covenant that is sin, but the intent, desire, or thought of adultery as well. So, how can we resist the constant pressure to engage in adultery when it is pervasive in the media we consume? In books, movies, music, advertisements, etc.? In today’s passage, Jesus provides insight into how we can avoid falling into sin. He tells us to pluck out our eye or cut off our hand if either makes us stumble, as “it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.” But does Jesus mean we should literally gouge our eyes out or cut off our hands when we struggle with lust? While extreme, the LORD takes this matter seriously because He is serious about sin. Jesus gave His life and was brutally executed to save us from sin, so what’s an eye or hand to keep us from it? Right? As extreme as this example is, the context is that the LORD wants us to get to the root of the issue and understand the severity of it. What is it that tempts us? What is it that permeates lust? How can we avoid it? Why is it important? Jesus wants us to eliminate the desire for lust and adultery at its root. By doing so, we cut such temptations and dispositions from our lives entirely. If the LORD tells us it would be better to lose vital parts of our being to avoid being in hell, then shouldn’t we take Him seriously? Shouldn’t we obey to avoid lust and going to hell? The severity and oppression of adultery are so substantial that Jesus teaches we must cut it at its root. But what is that root? There are many examples in our modern times. Social media? Delete it. Film and TV? Shut it off. Music? Erase it. Why even tempt ourselves when we know the severity of it? We should be constantly cutting things out of our lives that can tempt us to sin—especially lustful things. We need to take adultery seriously. Jesus does. He died to save you from its eternal consequence. If He says to flee at any cost because of its deadly influence, we should listen. We will read about divorce tomorrow. Application I think we now understand how seriously God takes adultery. It is a sin that leads to hell and includes more than just physical intimacy outside of marriage—it includes any sexual relations outside of marriage between a man and a woman. There are steps we can actively take to avoid lust. Some of us may need to take a more radical approach, while just cutting the root will probably help. Regardless, we need to listen to the conviction of the Holy Spirit when He tells us something is sinful. He is doing it to protect us from further temptation and from falling into sin. Whether it be deleting Instagram or Twitter, which are littered with porn and sexual pervasion, we should act against the root of lust and its temptations. If lust is something you struggle with, then I hope you take it seriously. God takes it seriously because of its danger of leading us into sin and hell, but also because He cares about our heart. We should be active in setting boundaries to avoid the temptations of lust and sexual desire for anything or anybody other than our wife or husband. Even though the temptations can be in our face at times, God promises to give us a way of escape so we can avoid falling into sin. May we listen to His voice and obey our convictions. May we flee from sexual immorality. May we be holy as He is holy. Thank you, LORD, for providing a way for us to flee from sin. Thank you for your Holy Spirit. May we praise, worship, honor, and glorify Jesus every day in all that we do while continually pursuing righteousness, holiness, and forgiveness as He forgave us. Looking Ahead Thank you for joining today’s daily Bible reading! Tomorrow, we read Matthew 5:31-32. I hope you join me! I have made commenting available, so please please please feel free to discuss the reading and ask questions. If you do not want to discuss publicly, please reach out to me privately. We are on this journey together!
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