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I don’t think ripping out an eye or cutting off body parts is exactly what Jesus had in mind when He said in His sermon, (Matthew 5:29) "So if your eye--even if it is your good eye--causes you to lust, gouge it out and throw it away". He’s telling us, when it comes to controlling sexual lust, you must take extreme measures. Why? Because untamed lust destroys you, the people around you, and it’s an open invitation to adultery and divorce.

Jesus gets to the heart of the lust issue by challenging His listeners to look below the surface of physical adultery and discover what’s contaminating their hearts. Matthew 5:27-28 says, "You have heard that the law of Moses says, ‘Do not commit adultery.’ But I say, anyone who even looks at a woman with lust in his eye has already committed adultery with her in his heart." Jesus’ point is this: just because you’re abstaining from physical adultery doesn’t make you okay with God. It goes deeper than that. You must deal with your sinful, lustful heart where mental adultery occurs.

In the Bible the heart refers to the center of one’s thoughts, reasoning, conscious, intentions, purpose and will. It’s the control tower or the cockpit of your life. Jesus says that your heart—your thoughts—is driving your sinful behavior. Matthew 15:18-19 says, "But evil words come from an evil heart and defile the person who says them. For from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, all other sexual immorality, theft, lying, and slander." Jesus is saying, "You become and act what you think. So look inside your heart or mind and take a serious inventory of the lust and evil that drives your sexual sin, mental adultery and other negative behaviors."

So what is lust? Lust is mental promiscuity. The word Jesus uses for "lust" literally means mishandled or misdirected sexual desire, fantasy or intent—even if you’ve never committed physical adultery. Lust is a longing to have your sexual desire fulfilled with absolutely no responsibility to a relationship. Lust wants sex without love or commitment. It’s fueled by a pleasurable escape from reality.

After Jesus exposes the heart issue of unbridled lust and mental adultery, He offers us two key steps for battling untamed lust and sexual temptation. First of all… 1. Guard Your Heart.

Proverbs 4:23 says, "Above all else, guard your heart, for it affects everything you do." To "guard" means to pay careful attention to or exercise great care over your heart or mind by living within God’s boundaries. Author Max Lucado helps us understand the importance of looking inside our heart and mind by telling about the time when he and his family were leaving on a weeklong summer trip. Max accidentally unplugged the freezer and not the radio. When they returned home seven days later, Max’s wife opened the freezer to the putrid smell of rotten meat. It was decided by family vote that the one who unplugged the freezer would clean it out. Max writes:

So I got to work. What is the best way to clean out a rotten interior? Well, I knew exactly what to do. I got a rag and a bucket of soapy water and began cleaning the outside of the appliance. I was sure the odor would disappear with a good shine so I polished and buffed and wiped. When I was through, the freezer could have passed a marine boot camp inspection. It was sparkling. But when I opened the door, that freezer was revolting.

"No problem, I thought. I knew what to do. This freezer needs some friends. I'd stink, too, if I had the social life of a machine in the utility room. So I threw a party. I invited all the appliances from the neighborhood kitchens. This kind of party was hard work, but we filled our apartment with refrigerators, stoves, microwaves and washing machines. It was a great party. A couple toasters recognized each other from the appliance store. Everyone played pin the plug on the socket and had a few laughs about limited warranties. The blenders were the hit, of course. They really mix well. Then I opened up the freezer and the stink this time was even worse. Now what?

"I had an idea. If a polish job wouldn't do it, and a social life didn't help, I'd give the freezer some status. I bought a Mercedes sticker and stuck it on the door, I painted a paisley tie down the front, and I put a "save the world" bumper sticker on the rear, and installed a cellular phone on the side. That freezer was classy. It was stylish. It was cool. I splashed on a little cologne and gave it a credit card for clout and figured, hey, here we go. Then I opened the door expecting to see it clean inside. But what I saw was a putrid, repulsive interior.

"I could think of only one other option. My freezer needed some high voltage pleasure. So I immediately bought it some copies of "Play Frig" magazine, the publication that displays freezers with their doors open. I rented some films about foxy appliances (my favorite was the Big Chill). I even tried to get my freezer a date with the Westinghouse next door. But she gave him the cold shoulder. After a few days of super-charged, after-hours entertainment, I opened the door and I nearly got sick.

We must focus on the inside by guarding our hearts-minds so that they don’t become contaminated and stink up our lives. We must protect our hearts so that they don’t spoil and reek with lust. Jesus suggests two ways you can guard your heart. Look Away. Jesus said, "anyone who even looks at a woman with lust in his eye has already committed adultery with her in his heart."

The word Jesus uses for "looks" at a woman" refers to someone who continually looks with deliberate intent—not a quick glance. It’s what King David of the Old Testament did on his palace rooftop patio one evening when he noticed a beautiful woman bathing. At that point David had done nothing wrong, but we’re told that David looked intently at her—he didn’t look or walk away. Instead he fueled his lust to the point that before the night was over, David was in the sack with Bathsheba.

Jesus says that looking at someone lustfully is just as detrimental to your heart and soul as if you had physically committed adultery. Why is that? Primarily it’s because you look at person as an object of pleasure—their only value to you is how good they make you feel when you look at them. So in order to break the cycle of lust and guard your heart, you must look away.

You can’t live in this society without being confronted with provocative images and messages, but you don’t have to stare. You can look away. You can change the channel or walk out of the movie. You can stop reading the book or magazine or looking at porn web sites. It’s difficult to delete bad files in your brain’s hard drive, but you can restrict the number of new bad files.

If you’re trying to loose a little weight, don’t look at the dessert menu. The more you look, the more likely you are to order triple layered, devil’s food chocolate seduction. In the same way, the longer you look, the stronger the temptation becomes. So, look away or walk away otherwise something beautiful will become an object of fantasy and lust. Starve Lust!

A second step for guarding your heart against harmful lust and sexual temptation is a little more drastic or radical. Cut It Out of Your Life. Jesus says in Matthew 5:29, "So if your eye--even if it is your good eye --causes you to lust, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell."

As I mentioned earlier, Jesus is speaking figuratively here. Sin is not a matter of an eye or a hand; it’s a matter of the heart. Gouging out your eye won’t guard your heart; cutting off your hand won’t guard your heart. What Jesus is saying is: "get rid of whatever is putting you at risk for fueling lust. Do radical surgery on your lifestyle. It would be better to poke out your eye or cut off your hand if it would keep you from succumbing to the devastation of immorality, adultery, and promiscuity."

If cable programming puts you at risk and is fueling your lustful thoughts, cut off the cable and the TV. If you can’t keep your eyes off of porn sites, dump the Internet. Have your spouse trash the Victoria Secret catalogs and the SI swimsuit issue before you see them. If a fellow worker is flirting with you, ask for a transfer or change jobs. Whatever fuels your lust or sin, cut it out. Avoid situations or locations that are too tempting for you to resist. It’s always easier to avoid temptation than to resist it. So stop looking and stop putting yourself in the position to look.

Now, not only must you guard your heart, you must also choose to 2. Remain faithful to God’s purity standard and your marriage vows. You don’t dare break God’s rules for safe sex. You don’t cave into immorality. You stay faithful to God’s laws and to your spouse. You draw a godly, righteous line or boundary that you won’t cross under any circumstances. 1 Thessalonians 4:3 tells us that "God wants you to be holy, so you should keep clear of all sexual sin." Hebrews 13:4 says, "Give honor to marriage, and remain faithful to one another in marriage."

So what happens when you violate everything you know to be true, you cross the line, and you fuel your lust by looking too intently and embracing those lustful thoughts and opportunities? What will you forfeit? What will it cost you? What will you lose?

When King David was confronted about his unbridled lust, adultery and murder, he wrote Psalm 51:1–4; 7, "Have mercy on me, O God, because of your unfailing love. Because of your great compassion, blot out the stain of my sins. Wash me clean from my guilt. Purify me from my sin. For I recognize my shameful deeds--they haunt me day and night. Against you, and you alone, have I sinned; I have done what is evil in your sight. You will be proved right in what you say, and your judgment against me is just. Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow."

King David got a fresh start from God. Sure there were the regrettable consequences he had to live with, but he was right with God and never without God. In spite of his lustful track record, he became known as a man after God’s own heart. How did this transformation happen? It began when David asked God to clean up his heart so that he could again taste the joy—the delight—the enrichment that comes from a pure heart. Jesus said it in His sermon in Matthew 5:8 "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God". The transformation can begin for you too. Come clean with God and ask Him to do the same for you.