Teaching #1
"You have heard that it was said, 'YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY'; but I say to you, that everyone who looks on a woman to lust for her has committed adultery with her already in his heart." Matthew 5:27-28
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Teaching #2
"You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife or his male servant or his female servant or his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor." Exodus 20:17
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Jesus states in unqualified terms that adultery starts in the heart. If this be the case, then purity is needed in the heart. Purity must go beyond abstinence which is speaking of only limiting physical contact. We must train ourselves to care for the needs of others rather than to use or abuse them for our own sexual excitement. |
God highlights another important command.. Those we might be sexually interested in do not belong to us. They are not ours. Greed and coveting are devious sins taking what is not our own. The word covet strikes right at the heart of this 'mind' problem. |