|
||||||
| SERMON #79 And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell, MAT 5:29-30. The central theme Jesus is teaching in our text is that we cannot live a double standard. We have two eyes; we have two hands. If we have one eye on the world and one eye on Christ, we're living a double standard. The Lord Jesus is saying if that eye offend thee, if that eye starts going out after the things of this world, pluck it out; cut the hand off that strays to do the things of this world. We cannot serve Christ and the world. The central theme of MAT 5:13-48 is in MAT 5:20, "For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven," i.e., you cannot enter into His service with a divided heart. The scribes and Pharisees had a double standard. This is what the Lord Jesus is pointing out throughout these verses in Matthew 5. This double standard is not acceptable in the eyes of the Lord. Notice how Jesus begins each principle taught in V:21, 27, 33, 38, and 43 with the words; "Ye have heard that it was said of them of old time...But I say unto you." The Lord Jesus is revealing the traditions and doctrines of men that were taught by the scribes and Pharisees. In other words, He is saying the scribes and Pharisees teach traditions and commandments of men that are not the Word of God. What did they teach? They taught the strict letter of the law without the spirit of the law. Throughout this whole portion of Scripture, the Lord Jesus is teaching us the spirit of the law. He is teaching that we cannot live a double standard; we cannot live with one eye on the Lord and one eye on the world. We cannot have our hearts go out after the things of sin and obtain heaven by a legalistic letter of the law. With this introduction to these verses, the Lord is showing the hypocrisy of the doctrine of the scribes and Pharisees. The righteousness that exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees flows from a repenting heart [not a great achiever, but a humble beggar] and a forgiving spirit of love. Those were the two elements missing in the doctrine and teachings of the scribes and Pharisees. They did not have a repenting heart which is a heart full of remorse over sin, over having offended the loving, tenderness of God. They also had no love in their administration of the law. They had no love or forgiveness in their spirit; they had a judgmental spirit. When the Lord Jesus speaks about plucking out a right eye or cutting off a right hand, He is teaching us that we must take away that double standard. The gospel of Jesus Christ began with the need of repentance as we read in MAT 4:17, "From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Where does the gospel begin? Many people want to begin the gospel by saying God loves you; God has a great plan for you. This leads to complacency. This leads to settling down short of repentance. Others start teaching and preaching with the wrath of God. Oh, God's wrath is upon everybody; they start with Mount Sinai. This is not where Jesus began either. Many people start with a doctrine of predestination. They will teach you that if God elects you, you'll go to heaven and if God didn't elect you, you're going to go to hell. This works absolute fatalism. This is not where the Lord Jesus began the gospel. The gospel of Jesus Christ began with the need of repentance as we read in MAT 4:17, "From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." What does this teach us? It teaches us the wrath of God is upon sin, not upon the person, and that He sent His Son to appease that wrath. We must see how displeasing sin is, and we must repent. How many people really understand what Jesus meant when He said that "the kingdom of heaven is at hand"? It means the time is here to come into the service of the Lord and to start walking under the kingdom of Christ instead of walking under the kingdom of Satan and sin. It means to have Satan and his dominion uprooted in the heart and start walking in the service of the Lord. This call to repentance was a call to enlist mankind into the armies of Jesus thus becoming a soldier of the cross. In other words, our walk of life becomes amended, and we start to walk under the kingship of Christ. It means we no longer walk after the things of this world and sin. In times past, we have all had our conversation and walk according to the things of this world and the prince of the power of the air. Now Jesus tells us to repent, change, turn our way. If we do, we start walking under the Lordship of Christ and according to the kingship of Christ. "...the kingdom of heaven is at hand." This doesn't mean that we all are ready to slip into heaven right now. No, He is not talking about that. He is talking about changing our course and starting to walk under the Lordship of Christ. In that great day of Judgment, those who served under that kingdom will be divided from those who did not. On the Judgment Day, we will be judged by which kingdom we walked under in this world and who we served in this life. In MAL 3:16-17 we read, "Then they that feared the LORD [Those who fear the Lord are those who have a holy, reverent respect for the Lord and His will; those who have entered His service.] spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name...." The Lord made a Book of Remembrance for those who had a holy reverence for Him and His will. Who shall be His? They will be those who have served the Lord and walked in the service of the King of heaven, those who have served the Lord and not the things of this world, those who have plucked out that right eye which had been lusting after the things of this world, those who have cut off that right hand, and those who have not tried to serve a double standard. The text continues, " ....And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him." Will a man spare his son who does not serve him? No, he will not. Will the Lord spare those who do not serve the Lord? The answer is no! See this as we read V:18, "Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not." Now we are talking about the Day of Judgment when the Lord sorts out those who have served Him and those who have not. How do you sort out who is the righteous and who is the wicked? The righteous and the wicked are separated into two categories: him who "serveth God and him that serveth him not." We cannot serve the lust of the eye, the pride of life, the things of this world, and expect to be counted among those who served the Lord. In the Day of Judgment the sorting will be done between those who serve the Lord and those who serve Him not. See the connecting word For, in the next verse. MAL 4:1 says, " For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch." We must not come to the conclusion, as many do today, that salvation is based upon one narrow issue, which is to be justified by the blood of Christ. We must not think that salvation consists only of having the penalty of sin removed. That is a pharisaical, self-centered religion to think we can receive a pardon, and yet continue on in sin. The Lord is telling us in these verses that before we can be pardoned, we are to change our ways. ISA 55:7 says, "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon." We cannot go on living a double standard and still have salvation in the blood of Christ. Our text teaches us that we must cut off the right hand that is serving the body of sin and pluck out the right eye that lusts after the things of this world. People with a pharisaical, self-centered heart have no desire for repentance. They are satisfied within themselves; they feel they are doing the will of God. They have no sorrow or remorse over offending God by transgressing the spirit of the law, nor is there a desire to come to the fountain open for cleansing because in their own eyes, they are clean. They can stand in the temple and pray thus with themselves, "God I thank thee that I am not as other men." A pharisaical heart has no repentance, no remorse over sin; there is no self-knowledge which springs from the spirit of the law. Jesus Christ is teaching us in this text that this lustful eye, the sin of the heart, has to be plucked out. Even though they might be abiding the letter of the law, yet the heart is deceitful above all things and that lustful eye has never been plucked out. We read in ZEC 13:1, "In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem [i.e. the righteous] for sin and for uncleanness." The fountain of cleansing will be opened where the heart is to be cleansed. A pharisaical, self-centered heart is very judgmental against any person who has violated the letter of the law or any of their traditions or commandments of men. When we have a pharisaical religion, we have a two-fold folly. Not only are we not walking in the spirit of the law, we also have a tendency to be judgmental. A pharisaical person judges others by the letter of the law as understood by their interpretation. Notice when we read JOH 8:3-6, the Pharisees were judging a woman who was taken in adultery; they had no mercy for her. They did not bring her to the Lord to be cleansed; they did not bring her to the Lord to be healed. They brought her there so He might condemn her, and she might be stoned. Why? They did it because she had broken the letter of the law, and they were using her to lay a trap for Jesus. JOH 8:3-5 "And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst, They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?" They came with murder in their hearts. They were trying to get Jesus to say they should not obey the law of Moses so they could have Him condemned to death for breaking the law of Moses. They hoped to snare Jesus in His Words and be able to make Him out to be a hypocrite. They did not come seeking mercy. They came with the letter of the law to bring condemnation; they were judgmental. The Lord Jesus is illustrating this double standard in our text. Verse 6 continues, "This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not." Jesus was all-wise; Jesus did not fall into their snare. Instead He opened their eyes to see the sin in themselves. This is an illustration of how Jesus dealt with the pharisaical letter of the law. In their hearts, the Pharisees were filled with murder; they had no mercy. We need to understand that to obtain mercy, we must have a merciful heart for our fellow man. David had committed both adultery and murder, literally; these are the two issues Christ is dealing with here. How could David say in 2SA 22:20-23 that he had not departed from the law? "He brought me forth also into a large place: he delivered me, because he delighted in me. The LORD rewarded me according to my righteousness: according to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me. For I have kept the ways of the LORD, and have not wickedly departed from my God. For all his judgments were before me: and as for his statutes, I did not depart from them." We have something to ponder here, don't we? The Pharisees brought a woman that had done such a thing as David, and they thought she should be stoned to death under the letter of the law. Here David comes before the Lord praising the Lord for all He had done for him according to his righteousness. David says he never departed from God's statutes! Verses 24-25 continue, "I was also upright before him, and have kept myself from mine iniquity. Therefore the LORD hath recompensed me according to my righteousness; according to my cleanness in his eye sight." This is a distinction between a pharisaical righteousness and a righteousness that excels! David is not claiming a pharisaical righteousness of having kept the letter of the law. Yet, he is saying he had not departed from His statues. David fell in sin, but he did not live in sin; his heart was perfect with the Lord! We have to understand that the Lord is preaching a heart religion. David is saying that his heart had never departed from the Lord. He had fallen into temptation; he had fallen in sin, but he did not live it. his heart was grieved. Oh, how his heart mourned for having fallen in sin. His heart was so torn because he had offended God, because he had brought an occasion of blasphemy against his God. His heart was rent. David's heart had never wickedly departed from the Lord, David's heart had never turned aside, but he had fallen. David did as Jesus is teaching us in our text. He had plucked out that right eye; his heart had not gone after wickedness. The Lord removed Abijam, David's son, from being King because his heart was not right, as his father's was. In 1KI 15:3-5 we read, "And he walked in all the sins of his father, which he had done before him: and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father. Nevertheless for David's sake did the LORD his God give him a lamp in Jerusalem, to set up his son after him, and to establish Jerusalem." The Lord did this for David's sake because David's heart had never strayed from the Lord. The Lord Jesus is teaching us with the spirit of the law that we are transgressors of the letter of the law. We learn to see the corruption of our own heart. The Lord, however, is looking to see where the heart is. He is not pharisaically judging on the basis of the letter of the law, but He is looking at the sorrow and remorse of the heart for having broken His law. David did not depart wickedly from his God in the matter of Uriah, the Hittite. 1KI 15:5 says, "Because David did that which was right in the eyes of the LORD, and turned not aside from any thing that he commanded him all the days of his life, save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite." It says David "turned not aside," his heart was united with the Lord; in other words, he walked with a heart that was tender before the Lord. Even though David fell miserably, his heart was not turned aside like Solomon. In 1KI 11:3 we read about Solomon, "And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines: and his wives turned away his heart." This is the distinction between Solomon and David. Solomon's heart turned aside, but David's heart continued after the Lord. He mourned and grieved over his sin. Verses 4-6 say, "For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. And Solomon did evil in the sight of the LORD, and went not fully after the LORD, as did David his father." The Lord is looking for the spirit of the law with the plucking out of the right eye and the cutting off of the right hand. The Lord is looking at what David did as he cut off that lust, that right eye that was lusting after Bathsheba, his heart mourned before the Lord. David's heart was not turned aside, and the Lord asks for heart religion.
FOR OUR FIRST POINT, let's consider that plucking out right eyes, and cutting off right hands of the body of sin are heart matters; it is a matter of a heart religion. FOR OUR SECOND POINT , let us consider plucking out the right eye, and cutting off the right hand of that body of sin.
FIRST, let's consider that plucking out right eyes and cutting off right hands of the body of sin are heart matters. The heart, i.e., the will of man, is the seat of virtue or vice. The Lord looks upon the heart. What is in the heart? Does the heart yearn and long to do the will of God? Does the heart look to the Lord with a hungering and a reverent desire? Does it say, "Lord show me thy will! Lord lead me in the paths that are pleasing unto thee," or is the heart a nest of unclean birds? Is the heart turned away from God? Is it running after the things of this life? We have to take notice that the heart of man is either a place of virtue or a cage of unclean birds. MAT 7:16 says, "Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?" Who will you know by their fruits? You will know where the heart of a man is by his fruit. It will tell you whether a man has a heart's desire to do the will of God or whether he has a heart that is a cage of unclean birds. The heart is the root of the matter, and the root brings forth grapes or thorns but not both. It brings forth figs or thistles but not both. Verses 17-18 says, "Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit." Why? It cannot because the heart is the root, and it either brings forth from a heart that is tender for the Lord to do His will or from a heart that is serving the prince of the power of the air. Actions reveal the intention of the heart. We can tell people how much we love the Lord while we spit out bitterness and hatred against our brother; our actions reveal what's within the heart. If we tell everyone how we love the Lord and then slight and mock His commandments, we are a liar. Why? Our actions reveal the emotions of the heart. 1JO 1:3-6 says, "That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full. This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth." In EPH 2:2 we read, "Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience." This is what comes from the heart of a man that is unregenerate. The conversation reveals the emotions and lust of the heart. We can tell people that we are saved, we have accepted Jesus, and now we have salvation. We can tell people we have experienced a revelation from the Lord, and He has pardoned our sin, but our conversation will reveal if we still serve "the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience." EPH 2:3 says, "Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others." If our conversation is in the things of this world from morning till night, we must realize that what is in the heart is what comes out through our conversation. The Lord looks upon our conversation and actions which reveal what is in the heart. We must understand that the Lord will call us into judgment based upon who we serve. In 1SA 2:3 we read, "Talk no more so exceeding proudly; let not arrogancy come out of your mouth: [Our conversation reveals what is in our heart.] for the LORD is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed." The Lord is saying that in the great Day of Judgment when He sorts out the righteous and the wicked, those who serve Him and those who do not will be separated. He is going to weigh our actions; He is going to weigh our words. He is going to weigh the arrogancy that comes out of our mouth. Every act we perform demonstrates what is in the heart. We can tell someone how much we love them, but they can tell by our actions whether we do or not. Our actions speak louder than words; they are the publishers of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Actions are like so many channels through which the heart discharges its flow of various passions. A fountain reveals its content by that which flows out of it; if pure water flows out of a fountain, there is pure water within it. This is the way with our actions. They demonstrate the various passions of the heart. Through our actions, men can see if we are lusting after the things of this world. If our heart is always running after the things of time and sense, our actions demonstrates this is what is in the heart. JAM 1:14-15 says, "But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death." It is the lust within our own heart that draws us away. Many people say "Oh I was tempted by Satan." Hold it! Hold it! We might not be giving credit to the right place. We have to take a little blame ourselves. "But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed." In today's society when lust [Satan's counterfeit for love] has conceived, it brings forth mass murder. Satan perverts the meaning of love! He mixes up lust for love, people are making love out of lust; mass murder is the result. God created the womb as the safest place on earth. It was created as the place of safety for the unborn, and it has become the place of more murder than any other place on earth. The womb of a woman has become a most dangerous place. Why? It has become so because "when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death." Why? It isn't love; it is lust. There is no love for the seed of the womb, and it is murdered right in the womb. See how the counterfeit of Satan is such a travesty of truth. In every occasion Satan's counterfeit bears the fruit of death. Satan has a counterfeit for everything that the Lord brings forth as precious. Lust is a purely selfish desire. It is sinful, devilish, sensual, and covetous without regard for the damage it causes others. When this lust is conceived, it brings forth murder. We must stop and analyze this in our own hearts to be sure we love God above all and our neighbour as ourselves. What is it to love God above all? It is to sacrifice self for the honor and will of God. What is it to love our neighbour as ourselves? It is to sacrifice ourself for our neighbour. Love is the opposite of lust, so now when that evil eye begins to lust, it must be plucked out. That body of sin and lust must be cut off because it brings forth death. The fruit of such love centers in the motivation of the heart toward pleasing others through self-sacrifice. When true love is in the heart, the motivation is to edify, to help the other man not to hurt them. The word love today is as misunderstood as the word beauty. Think of the hours that are spent daily before the mirror with cosmetics for the body. What a blessing it would be if equal time were spent before the mirror of God's Word. We read in 1PE 3:3, "Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price." Wouldn't it be a blessing if our time were spent before the mirror of the Word adorning the heart with a meek and quiet spirit and preparing the hidden man of the heart with the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit "is in the sight of God great price"? What a blessing it is when the Lord works the work of regeneration in the heart, and God's Word becomes the mirror before which we spend our time. The heart, which is the source of all our actions, is naked and open before the eye of God. Therefore, lust harbored in the heart is equally as criminal in His sight as the very act before the spirit of the law. When we harbor lust in the heart, when our hearts are unclean and turned away from the Lord, it is equally criminal in the spirit of the law before the eyes of the Lord as though we had committed the very act of sin in a literal sense. MAT 5:28 says, "But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart."
FOR OUR SECOND POINT, let's consider plucking out the right eye and cutting off the right hand of the body of sin. The body of sin must be crucified for us to live in the likness of the resurrection of Christ. ROM 6:4-6 teaches us, "Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life [i.e., taking part in the resurrection of Christ]. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection [the turning of a new heart, the new desire to seek after the ways of the Lord is taking part in the resurrection of Christ and becoming a proper candidate for baptism.]: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin." The old man is crucified: destroying the body of sin with that lustful eye, the right hand that is swift to do evil, and those feet that run to shed blood. The body of sin has eyes filled with lust, proud hearts that are desperately wicked and deceitful above all things, and hands and feet that are swift to shed blood. Read how the body of sin is described in ROM 3:11-18, "There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.[The apostle says that by nature, we are all blind. The qualities of every unregenerate person are:] They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.[Now he gives the description of that body of sin.] Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: Their feet are swift to shed blood: Destruction and misery are in their ways: And the way of peace have they not known: There is no fear of God before their eyes." This is quite a description for the body of sin which has to be plucked out and cut off and crucified. Who can put his hand in his bosom and take it out without being leprous by nature. We need to use determination to see that each member of this body of sin is cut off and plucked out. JOH 15:3-5 says, "Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me, and I in you. [We are not going to be clean of ourselves. We must abide, i.e., to remain in , to endure, or continue, in Christ!] As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing." It is only when we understand what it is to live by the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ that we can pluck out these right eyes and cut off these right hands. We are branches of the vine that is Christ, and we cannot bear fruit of ourselves. We must abide in Christ. If you cut off a branch, it is going to die; if we are not able to abide in Christ, we are going to die spiritually. "...I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing." I heard a sermon preached once on just that last phrase "for without me ye can do nothing." It was the most fatalistic sermon I have ever heard. This sermon went on to show that you have to just sit complacent waiting for God to come with a miracle because you can't do anything of yourself. If you hold that phrase in context, however, He is saying abide in me. In other words, there is a determination that is needed. We must struggle; we must wrestle; we must be in spiritual travail waiting and looking, but waiting on our knees. Without Him, we can do nothing; therefore, we must travail in spiritual birth until Jesus is born in our hearts. We must not rest in the things of this world. We must not rest in a fatalistic atmosphere, but we must abide in Christ. Just as we need determination to exercise in order to stay healthy, we need determination to cut off and pluck out those members of that body of sin. If a person does not get physical exercise, his body will deteriorate; you will not stay healthy. It takes determination to exercise day after day to keep your body healthy. It takes determination to cut off and pluck out those members of that body of sin. It is something we must strive at; we must struggle and give every bit of our energy to it. We must have determination to struggle before the Lord; we don't sit back in complacency and say, fatalistically, it must be given. This is one of the most devilish attitudes Satan has ever conceived. MAT 5:28 talks about casting an eye on a woman to lust after her in the heart; "But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart." Then Jesus follows in the very next sentence with the admonition of our text to "...pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell." COL 3:5 says, "Mortify [i.e., to deaden, to deal the death blow, to subdue.] therefore your members which are upon the earth [What is the first member which needs mortification?] fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry." I want you to see the most common sin among men. Take note that the first sin that Jesus lists is fornication, i.e., sex between unmarried persons. We don't realize how common this sin is among men and how abominable it is to the Lord. Uncleanness is the second sin. Is there a difference without a distinction? It is one and the same is it not? The next is inordinate affection. Look how this adulterous eye, this lustful heart is fed by a lustful eye, this lusting after sex is so destructive in our world today. Next we read evil concupiscence. What is this? It is a lustful burning desire for inordinate sex. Then it names covetousness. Is this a different subject? No, it is not. It is coveting or lusting after something that isn't yours; sex outside of wedlock is idolatry. This is destructive, this is serving the idol of sex. The idol of sex is one of the most destructive things on the face of the earth. Lust, the counterfeit of love, is the most devilish thing on the face of the earth. Continuing on, we read in Col 3:6-10, "For which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience: In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them. But now ye also put off all these; [Now after due admonition against that lustful eye which must be plucked out, the apostle goes on to list those sins which are exercised by that right hand which must be cut off.] anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him." In other words, put off anger, etc. and walk in the image of Christ. The more we grow in grace, growing in the image of Christ, the more we see ourselves in the mirror of God's Word. As we grow in the knowledge of Christ and the blessedness of the love of Christ, we will learn to see as it says in JER 17:9-10, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings." As we grow in self-knowledge, we learn more and more the meaning of JAM 4:1, "From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?" As we grow in self-knowledge, we learn to understand why wars and fightings are in us. When we have such a defensive posture, when frustration becomes so easily ignited in our hearts, when tensions rise so easily, the root problem is those "...lusts that war in your members." As we learn to see the tranquillity of Jesus Christ by faith, we become more able to pluck out and cut off frustrations and tensions that rise up in our own hearts. Jesus demonstrated His perfect tranquillity when Judas came to betray Him; He was not frustrated, but He received it all as from the hands of His Father. When Peter stood cursing and denying that he ever knew Jesus, Jesus was not frustrated. He received it all as having been sent by God the Father. That was His trial of faith. What happened? He was hanging upon the cross, and He said, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do," LUK 23:34. There was no frustration in Jesus' heart. If we learn to see the beauty of the tranquillity of Jesus Christ, then we are not so defensive and so easily frustrated. By nature, we are always so defensive and protective of our own views, but as we grow in grace we become more Christlike. 1PE 2:23 says, "Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously." It is such a blessedness to understand the tranquillity of Jesus when we are being reviled and have people coming against us. Then we can just commit them into the hands of Him that judgeth righteously. We don't become the judge of their heart. Our text speaks of the right eye, and the right hand; this points to bosom sins, those with which we find it the hardest to part. I want you to understand the right eye and the right hand are those which we most commonly use for most of our labors in life. The reason He specifies the right is that He is pointing out that they are the bosom sins. This means we must put our Isaac on the altar. This is what Abraham had to do. He had to take his only son and place him on the altar. Abraham's salvation was tied up in Isaac! The promised Messiah was to come from Isaac! MAT 10:34-38 says, "Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man's foes shall be they of his own household." What is the purpose of the Lord sending these struggles? It is to purge out that old defensiveness that we read of in JAM 4:1, "From whence come wars and fightings among you?...." The Lord is sending these struggles to teach us the Spirit of Christ, so we come to the point where this defensiveness is gone, and we just commit them into the hands of the Lord who judgeth righteously. The Lord does not want us to be so defensive in defending our own rights and our own opinions. We must put our Isaac on the altar; we must look to the Lord. We read on in V:37-38, "He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me." The Lord is showing us that we must put our Isaac on the altar. If we are not able to crucify self, if we are going to always let frustrations and tension continually rise in our heart, then we are not worthy of Him. When true repentance has been wrought in the heart, serving Jesus as King takes first place in our heart. MAT 4:17 says, "From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." This is where the gospel begins; this is where conversion begins; this is where the work of regeneration begins and repentance is worked in the heart. How do we discover our bosom sin? Let us analyze this question. You can discover your bosom sin by the love you have for it. We nourish it; we cherish it. It is the sin that distracts you in worship. It distracts us from worshiping the Lord; it keeps us from prayer and from serving the Lord. You can recognize this sin by its commanding power over you. We have no might against it. It is the sin which is impatient of reproof. We have many weaknesses and if people reprove them, we'll admit that they are right; however, if it is really a bosom sin that is reproved, there is tension, frustration, a defensive posture; it is a bosom sin. It is a sin that makes you notoriously partial in your own case. You can see the same sin in another person and recognize it as a sin, but you defend it in yourself. It is the sin you wish were not sin. It is a sin you wish was acceptable by the Lord. It is that which occupies your mind in solitude. It is that which traffics your mind when you are by yourself doing routine things which are sometimes boring: when you are going down the field on a tractor, driving your car, sitting in your office, or when you are walking around in your kitchen doing your daily chores. Where is your heart? What is your heart meditating on? Is it always building on a bigger pile of dollars or a pet hatred? Whatever sin occupies our mind when we are in solitude then becomes idolatry. What measures must be taken to cut off and pluck out these bosom sins? We know we need the help of the Lord; we know we are not able to do these things of ourselves. We are not able to cleanse our own heart. So what measures must be taken to pluck out these bosom sins and cut them off? First, we must plead with the Lord for courage and resolution against our bosom sin. We must plead with the Lord to deliver us from the power of that sin because we see and realize it is displeasing to the Lord. We must struggle against that sin. Second, we must meditate upon how grievously it offends our Saviour who shed His life's blood to appease His Father's wrath upon that sin. We must learn to understand that sin is so grievous that the Father sent His Son, and the Son had to come to that hour in the Garden of Gethsemane where He was forsaken of His Father: where He had to step forward into death for that sin. We must see how grievously that sin offends the Lord. We must also beware of those things which occasion it. We must not walk near the harlot's door. This doesn't mean just literally a prostitute. The harlot, spiritually, is anything that has a place in our heart and comes between us and the Lord. It is anything in the form of spiritual adultery, anything that is tempting us to do what is displeasing to the Lord. We must not come near anything that is spiritual adultery. We must not roam the street where the harlot's house is; we must not do things that occasion that sin. The fourth thing we must do is pray daily the perfect prayer: "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from all evil." There are things compatible to your sin; we must learn to suspect them and cut them off, too. Next, we must labor to walk in the fruits of the Spirit which are contrary to our bosom sin. If one of the sins we have to pluck out is hatred, then we must labor to walk in love. If we see our bosom sin is one that is contrary to one of the fruits of the spirit, then we must cultivate the fruit of the spirit which is contrary to it. The way of sanctification or repentance is the way of the cross, living by the faith of the Son of God. When frustration needs to be plucked out, look unto the faith of the Son of God as the author and finisher of your faith. Just in such a time, look unto the perfect tranquillity of Jesus when Judas came to betray Him, Peter stood cursing and swearing, denying he ever knew Him, and when He was unjustly condemned to die. Remember what Jesus said in LUK 23:34, "...Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots." When temptation needs to be cut off or plucked out, look unto the faith of the Son of God as the author and finisher of your faith. HEB 4:15 says, "For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin." When temptation knocks on our door, we must lift our eyes unto our blessed Redeemer who was tempted. We must see how He understands our feelings and our infirmities. Then we will come to Him for cleansing. Amen. |
|
