Sexual Desire: Godly and Ungodly

Continuing this study of the Sermon on the Mount, today we come to the Lord Jesus' second example of how our righteousness must be better than that of the Scribes and Pharisees: ungodly sexual desires.

The first part of this sermon focuses on why the Lord Jesus singles out men in terms of sexual lust. It analyses the nature of sexuality in males as over against females and points to analogies with mammals, such as lions and dogs, and the role that scent plays in their brains, as over against the way that visual stimuli impact the human brain.

There is such a thing as godly sexual desire. Sex is good within the bond of marriage, and Scripture commends sexual desire for ones spouse: "Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe; let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; and be thou ravished always with her love" (Proverbs 5:19 and the whole of the Song of Songs).

Sexual temptation is not the same as indulging in sexual fantasy: our Lord was tempted in all the ways we are, but he never sinned and he did not have a fallen human nature (Hebrews 4:15).

Sexual sin begins when we fail to push the eject button in response to sexual temptation. The Lord Jesus never entertained temptations. But, sadly, all of us have.

Furthermore, the Lord Jesus Christ makes it clear in this passage that those who do not bridle unlawful sexual desires are in the gravest danger of eternal damnation.

If we truly understand the Law as Jesus expounded it, none of us could ever imagine that we can stand before a holy God on the basis of our own faithfulness.