Matthew 5:28 But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.

One of the most absurd comments I ever heard after this passage was read came from a man sitting in the pew next to me.

“Well if I am guilty anyway, I might as well go ahead and do it.”

That is tantamount to saying Jesus encourages us to sin. How absurd is that? Jesus was reaching into the hearts of men that felt pious because they had not acted on their deepest desires. Piety is not a matter of curbed desires, it is a matter of a pure heart. Any who think that they can escape justice just because they didn’t commit the crime do not understand the righteous demands of His justice.

Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Dividing by the sword is judgement and if thoughts and intentions were not important in judgement, then His Word would not have included them.

Who among us can stand up to that kind of scrutiny? I cannot, but that fact does not give me the right to act unseemly. We should view this in light of the righteous demand of that court.

Philippians 3:9-10 And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;

My Righteous Judge, find me in Christ.