13 August 2023 (am) – Matthew 5:27 – 32
 | Andy Bruins preaching from Matthew on Sunday 13th August 2023. |
Jesus continues, through this second half of chapter 5, to direct His hearers to a correct and full understanding of God’s Law. This is clearly very different form the way that the crowds had heard the Law explained by the Pharisees and Teachers of the Law! Having already unpacked the 6th commandment, Jesus now moves on to the 7th, and here again we see the utter folly of putting any hope in our own ability to keep God’s commands.
Q What are some of the signs that lust is a really big problem in our culture?
Q Read v27-28. How does Jesus show us the real intention behind the 7th commandment? How do you think those who heard Jesus say this would have reacted?
Q Read Romans 3:19-20. How is the way Jesus is applying the 7th commandment exactly what Paul is saying here?
What is our instinctive response to hearing a Law? …and what affect should it have on a self-righteous hearer?
Q Read v31-32. How does Jesus deal with another “loophole for lust” in these verses!?
Q Read v29-30. What point is Jesus making in these verses? – should we really cut bits off our bodies!?
Q Read Colossians 3:5-8. How do we put these sinful desires to death (v5)?
Q Tim Chester writes: ‘battling porn in our lives is not an exercise in denying pleasure. It’s about fighting pleasure with greater pleasure’ … ‘So with every false promise of porn there is a true promise of God. Whatever porn offers, God offers more’.
How can you and I become captured by a better vision than the deceitful pleasure that lust promises us?
