Matthew 5:27-29 reveals a unique characteristic of the New Covenant taught by the Lord Jesus Christ. Under the old covenant of the Mosaic Law, a person could not be accused of sexual immorality, such as fornication or adultery, unless he or she was caught in the art by at least two or three witnesses. This was the strong basis on which the scribes and Pharisees called for the execution of the woman caught in the sin of adultery in John 8:2-11. John 8:4-5 says:
“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?”
Those who follow the Lord’s teaching with an open heart will understand His answer to this question posed by the scribes and Pharisees. Indeed, Jesus came not to condemn but to redeem those under the yoke of sin. Nevertheless, His standard says that one can be guilty of sexual immorality even without sleeping with someone other than his or her spouse. In fact, according to Jesus, one need not be caught in the act of immorality before being declared guilty of it. By the Lord’s standard, what is refereed to in common parlance as “mere looking” is enough to be adjudged to have committed sexual immorality! This is food for thought for us in the Body of Christ today. When we promote the lust of the eyes by allowing immoral dressing in the church, we are actually exposing members of the Body of Christ to sexual immorality, even when they don’t engage in the act physically. A member of the choir dressed seductively to lead praise and worship will definitely leave the congregation worse off than before they came to church. This is not a question of legalism but following divine principles established by the Lord Himself.

The sin of sexual immorality and perversion is prevalent in the world we live in today because of the ease of access to the virtual world of the internet, where pornography is common place. Nowadays, people can have a voice or video chat with a member of the opposite sex a world away, committing all manner of immorality with them. In the world today, we even have the perversion called sex dolls of various makes and models meant to further promote a terrible kind of self-delusion. In a nutshell, Satan and his agents have devised various ways of luring people into sexual immorality without having any contact with a real human being. As children of God living in these perilous times, we must not become victims of this evil. As instructed by our Lord in Matthew 5:29, we must be ready to give it all it takes to mortify our bodies to sexual immorality. You need to “pluck out the eye”, represented by internet websites, TV programmes and social gatherings that make you susceptible to sexual immorality internally. May God honour your sincere efforts by giving you strength of character in your inner man in Jesus’ Name.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.