III- SERMON ON THE MOUNT - Purity of Heart
III – SERMON ON THE MOUNT – Purity of Heart
Matthew 5
Preached by: Pastor Carolyn Sissom
Sunday Evening Service
April 25, 2010
“God extracts from us in times of war what we promise him in times of peace.”
Psa. 24:3-4: “Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who shall stand in His holy place? He that has clean hands, and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.”
Matt. 5: 27-30: This principle deals with sexual impurities = Lust. (Greek- means ‘to set the heart upon, long for, covet, desire, lust after; the root talks about breathing hard in passion’). This principle needs to be broadened out to cover any and all areas of desire (lust of the flesh). The Old Testament concept was “don’t do it!” = legalistic restraint and self effort. The New Testament concept is “Don’t think it!” = we can now use will power, or do the drastic action of Matthew 5:27-30:
“You have heard that it was said by them of old time, you shall not commit adultery: But I say to you, That, whosoever looks on a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart. And if your right eye offend you, pluck it out, and cast it from you, for it is profitable for you that one of your members should perish, and not that your whole body should be cast into hell. And if your right hand offends you, cut if off, and cast it from you: for it is profitable for you that one of your members should perish, and not that your whole body should be cast into Hell.”
Let me be clear, let no one even consider this drastic action to your body to deal with your sin. Jesus covered all of our sins at the Cross. Satan looks for footholds in our lives. There was no foothold in the life of Jesus, for He is pure. John 14:30: “Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world comes, and has nothing in Me.”
The heart produces the act of sin. What is in the heart? In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus deals with the heart. He specifically notes the eye (what we see) and the Hand (what we do). This is far more than just external self-discipline. It will take more than that for we are in the days of Gen. 6:5 as I shared this morning.
“And God saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”
God is aware of our inner desires and wants to remove those things that are impure.
Heb. 3:12: “Take heed brethren, less there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.
Heb. 4:12: “For the word of God is quick and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”
There are some Pentecostal denominational cultures that turn a blind eye to fornication, incest and adultery especially in the male species. Some of these cultures actually believe that as long as you speak in tongues, everything else is covered by Grace.
If your right eye offend you – here offend means put a snare or sumbling block in the way; hindrance; serves as a trap. Pluck – means to take out or root out; cast, throw, hurl.
This drastic and definite action of plucking out the eye and cutting off the hand means we must get rid of the desire! Some way say, “I’ll keep my foot on this desire.” No! We cannot contain sin (Satan) by will power and self-determined effort.
“Woe to you blind guides!” These blind guides compromise the
People of God there are no compromises with a pure heart. The Lord wants to expose the basement of the heart (bacteria, bugs, spiders). (Rom 1:21: “Because that, when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.”
We need to expose these dark areas to the Lord (or to his delegates, like a parent or a pastor) and confess that “I need help!” Expose satan’s foothold.
We must see the importance of this definite and drastic action because under the right circumstances these desires will act!!! If you think it in your mind, then you will commit the sin unless you cast down your imagination and every high thing which exalts itself against the knowledge of God.
Matthew 5: 31-32: “It has been said, whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement: But I say to you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, except for the cause of fornication, causes her to commit adultery; and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced commits adultery.”
It was very easy in Jesus’ day to obtain a divorce and remarry. It is also very easy to get a divorce today. People do not have an understanding of the covenant relationship of marriage. It is not my purpose today to exhaust what the bible says about marriage and divorce. I was teaching a group of people who were standing for the marriage in 1989. The Lord spoke to me concerning one of the women. He said, “Your marriage is dead.” From that, I believe the Lord can declare a marriage dead. However, he is the only one who has the power and authority to do that.
I want to stay on the Spirit of what Jesus’ teaching here concerning being faithful (committed) in all areas:
- The sole ground for divorce is fornication (Matt. 1(: 3-12; Mark 10:2-12; Luke 16:18). However, in the case of mental, physical or emotional abuse, I would never subject a woman or man to that in the name of submission. Nor does the Word of God ever teach that a woman should stay in an abusive situation.
- Marriage is an example of the covenant = an agreement between two parties requiring a faithfulness and a commitment rather than the “in and out” and “up and down” experience of so many. There must be a faithfulness of keeping the marriage vows. A man and a wife may fall in and out of “like” with each other, but that does not mean they are to stop loving one another. However, if the unbelieving one wants to depart, then let him depart.
- Many times we make hasty vows in times of difficulty to relieve the pressure, such as:
- “Lord, do this or that, and I’ll serve you.” I prayed this prayer when Kelly was born. She had an injured nerve in her upper arm. If the nerve had not regenerated itself, she would have had a tiny arm. Today she has two arms swinging and the Lord is allowing me to serve him. (Smile) This worked out fine for me, but it is not the way we should pray.
- “Lord, I’ll give you 50% of all my income.” Lord if you give me a million dollars, I will give the Kingdom half of it. Ha!!! If you won’t tithe out of $10.00, you won’t tithe out of a million dollars much less give away 50%.
We do not make deals with God. The first person to collect any missed payments will be the accuser of the brethren. Rev. 12:9-10: “And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceives the whole world; he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.”
Faith (Greek is faithfulness) is a fruit of the Spirit. (Gal. 5:22-23). There are no excuses for faithlessness.
Matthew 5: 33-37: TRUTHFULNESS (Honesty) “Again, you have heard that it has been said by them of old time, you shall not forswear yourself, but shall perform to the Lord your oaths; But I say to you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God’s throne; Nor by the earth; for it is His footstool; neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King. Neither shall you swear by your head, because you can not make one hair white or black. But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay; for whatsoever is more than these comes of evil.”
This principle deals with our speech. The Orientals of Jesus’ day were profuse in their vulgarity and swearing. One could note here the use of profanity (cursing or vulgar language). An interesting concept would be to note that any words which are contrary to the Word of God are profane, such as words filled with negativism, defeat, or doubt:
Some may take verse 34 by the letter in an extreme sense and won’t swear on the bible in court. However, the Spirit of what Jesus is teaching is to be noted. All four things mentioned here (heaven, earth,
- “I swear this on a stack of bibles.”
- “I swear this on my mother’s grave.”
- “Cross my heart and hope to die.”
- “This is the God’s honest truth I’m telling you.”
Such oaths should not be coming out of the mouth of Christians. There are those who have a reputation of being dishonest, so they have to add the oaths to be credible.
In the
Jesus the King is the truth. John 14:6: “Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man comes to the Father, but by Me.” His nature is within us. A man is no better than his word; that is, his name hinges upon his word and his consistency in keeping that word. Truth is an attribute of our Heavenly Father. We can stake our lives upon his Word! Psa. 128:2: “I will worship toward Your holy temple, and praise Your name, for Your loving kindness and for Your truth; for You have magnified Your word above all Your name.”
If we speak falsely constantly, it is difficult for others to trust us. Ministers should not exaggerate their ministry and its “results”.
The Christ in us is to be released through the spoken word. God is going to have a community of prophets to stand in the earth and proclaim His word. This many-membered voice is going to shake heaven and earth (Heb. 12: 26-29) “Whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.” When the Lord speaks, we can rest in the performance of what He has said---so it is with those under His rule and dominion.
Preached by: Carolyn Sissom, Pastor
Eastgate Ministries, Inc.
Scripture from K.J.V. Bibliography: The Sermon on the Mount by: Kelly Varner
Comments and conclusions are my own.