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GREATEST OF ALL TIME | Week 6 | Sermon · Rewind

Rock Point Church

45 min

Pastor Daniel Goulding · Jun 3, 2024 · 4 min read · 45 min listen

The big idea

What you consume forms you or deforms you, and Jesus teaches that adultery starts long before the act — in the lust we let live in our hearts.

In this message

The big idea
Point 1 of 5Our culture's sexual revolution promised freedom but has produced enslavement
Point 2 of 5Jesus reveals adultery is a heart problem, not just a behavior problem

Point 3 of 5God is not anti-sex, He is anti-shame — sex is a gift meant to be protected, not repressed
Point 4 of 5Temptation left unchecked grows into sin, and sin left unchecked grows into death
Point 5 of 5Jesus' call to gouge out an eye or cut off a hand is hyperbole demanding drastic heart-level action, not literal mutilation
Take it into your week
Transcript

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Scripture in this message

Matthew 5:27
Proverbs 4:23
Matthew 15
James 1:14
Matthew 5:28
Matthew 5:29-30

Rewind AI drafted the Big Idea and some point headings shown here from the sermon transcript. Always trust the sermon itself over anything here. How Rewind uses AI

Pastor Daniel Goulding · Jun 3, 2024 · 45 min watch · 2 min read

GREATEST OF ALL TIME | Week 6 | Sermon

In this message

Big Idea
Key points
Application

Scripture in this message

Matthew 5:27
Proverbs 4:23
Matthew 15
James 1:14
Matthew 5:28
Matthew 5:29-30

Big Idea Key points Application

Big Idea

What you consume forms you or deforms you, and Jesus teaches that adultery starts long before the act — in the lust we let live in our hearts.

Jesus offers a way out of the sexual bondage our culture calls freedom. He teaches that the real battle isn't against adultery itself but against the lust that leads there, and He gives us the power, through His Spirit, to be tempted without being enslaved.

Key points

1
1Our culture's sexual revolution promised freedom but has produced enslavement
Pastor Daniel walks through statistics on pornography's reach today — from dollars spent per second online to how young the average age of first exposure is, even inside the church. He argues the data shows people are not flourishing under a consent-only sexual ethic; they're becoming enslaved without realizing it.
2
2Jesus reveals adultery is a heart problem, not just a behavior problem
Reading Matthew 5:27-28, Pastor Daniel shows how Jesus takes the seventh commandment against adultery and connects it to the tenth commandment against coveting. Using the image of an iceberg, he explains that lust is the massive unseen thing beneath the small visible tip of adultery, and it has to be dealt with first.
3
3God is not anti-sex, He is anti-shame — sex is a gift meant to be protected, not repressed
Pointing to Song of Songs, Pastor Daniel insists the church has wrongly treated sex as taboo when God designed it for pleasure and intimacy within marriage. He uses the illustration of fire — wonderful in a fireplace, destructive in the middle of a living room — to show sex is good in its intended context and harmful outside it.
Song of Solomon· related
4
4Temptation left unchecked grows into sin, and sin left unchecked grows into death
He walks through James 1:14-15 to trace the progression from desire to temptation to sin to death, noting that Jesus was tempted in every way yet never sinned, proving through the Spirit it is possible to be tempted without falling. He clarifies from the ESV's phrase lustful intent that noticing attraction isn't sin — dwelling on it and turning a person into an object is.
5
5Jesus' call to gouge out an eye or cut off a hand is hyperbole demanding drastic heart-level action, not literal mutilation
Pastor Daniel jokes about hosting an eye-gouging ceremony to make the point that Jesus is not prescribing self-harm but painting a picture of how seriously we must fight lust. He shares that couples in the grips of addiction would gladly trade a hand if it solved the problem, but the real fix has to happen in the heart.

A story from life

Preacher recounts his first exposure to pornography at age 10-11 at a baseball clinic and later online at a friend's house, emphasizing how vividly the memory remains

Application

Pastor Daniel frames it as waging war against lust so you can win even if you lose some battles along the way.

Admit your own brokenness
Stop hiding or pretending it's under control. Confess it to God for forgiveness, and tell another person — a friend, small group, spouse, or even the anonymous form on the church website — because healing comes through confessing to someone.
Flee from sexual immorality
Take drastic, practical action like Joseph running from Potiphar's house — get accountability, install software, or even trade a smartphone for a dumb phone if that's what it takes to remove temptation.
Fight for healthy intimacy
Married couples should intentionally pursue regular intimacy as a gift and a tool against lust; singles should cultivate relationships where they are truly known. If intimacy isn't happening in your marriage, raise your hand and get help.
Wage war with your flesh by feeding your spirit
Don't just white-knuckle change. Spend time with God in prayer, worship, and Scripture so the Spirit grows stronger than the flesh, and remember you are a new creation even when you don't feel like it.

Take it into your week

Rewind AI contributed study material from the sermon transcript; church-authored wording and verified sermon quotes keep their own source. Always trust the sermon itself over anything here. How Rewind uses AI

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Scripture in this message

From the transcript
“Matthew chapter five, here's how Jesus addresses this issue in verse 27. He says, you've heard the commandment that says, you must not commit adultery”
Read the whole chapter →
From the transcript
“He does it six times in the sermon on the mount. He tells a group of Jews who have the law, they have the old testament. He says, you have heard it said this, but I tell you this”
From the transcript
“Here's what Proverbs reminds us. Proverbs chapter four verse 23 says that above all else guard your heart for everything you do flows from it”
From the transcript
“Jesus will plainly tell us in Matthew chapter 15 that from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, all sexual immorality, theft, lying, and slander”
From the transcript
“James reminds us in James chapter one verse 14 that temptation, it comes from our heart, our own desires. They will entice us and drag us away. These desires will give birth to sinful action and when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death”
From the transcript
“Matthew chapter five verse 28 in the ESV says, but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intents has already committed adultery with her in his heart”
From the transcript
“Look at what Jesus says here in the very next verse in verse 29. Here's the solution. If your eye, even your good eye causes you to lust, gouge it out and throw it away”
From the transcript
“Remember what James said? James tell us that here's what we have to do as we admit our brokenness. We have to confess our sins to each other and pray for each other so that we can be healed”
From the transcript
“First Corinthians chapter six says this when it comes to winning the war with lust. It says, run from sexual sin. No other sin so easily and clearly affects the body as this one does”
From the transcript
“Here's what the scriptures tell us about cultivating intimacy. First Corinthians chapter seven verse three. It says, the husband should fulfill his wife's sexual needs and the wife should fulfill her husband's needs”
From the transcript
“Paul will say in Romans seven, why do I sit in messages like this? Why do I hear messages where I know what God's standard is, but I walk out of the door of church and I don't know how to do it”
From the transcript
“he concludes Romans seven saying, I just must be a terrible person. And then he goes to Romans eight. And he remembers that you and I in Christ are not just what we do”
From the transcript
“Look what he says in Romans eight verse 13. He says, for if you live according to that flesh, you will die. But if by the spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live”

Rewind AI contributed study material from the sermon transcript; church-authored wording and verified sermon quotes keep their own source. Always trust the sermon itself over anything here. How Rewind uses AI

7-day devotional

A personal reading plan from this message — scripture, reflection, and prayer for each day.

Sign in to track your progress through this devotional.

Day 1

Jesus had a way of pressing past the surface of things. In the Sermon on the Mount, He doesn't stop at the prohibition against adultery — He traces the sin all the way back to its source. 'Anyone who even looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.' That's a hard word, but it's also a merciful one. Jesus isn't trying to condemn; He's trying to diagnose. He knows that treating only the visible symptoms while leaving the root untouched guarantees the problem will grow back. Pastor Daniel pointed out that our culture sells lust as freedom — a path to fulfillment that doesn't hurt anyone. But Jesus sees it differently. Lust reduces a real person, made in God's image, to an object. It corrupts the imagination long before any outward act takes place. Recognizing this isn't cause for despair. It's actually the beginning of honest self-knowledge, and honest self-knowledge is where real change starts. You can't address what you won't name. Jesus names it here so we don't have to keep living in the fog of half-admissions and vague regret. He's inviting you out of hiding and into the light — not to shame you, but to free you.

For reflection

In what ways have you been treating the symptoms of lust in your life rather than looking honestly at the root?

Pray

Pray for courage to be honest with God about what's actually happening in your heart.

Day 2

'Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.' Solomon wrote those words thousands of years before smartphones and high-speed internet, yet they land with startling precision today. Pastor Daniel made the point that everything we take in forms or deforms us — we are not neutral consumers of content. What we allow into our minds and imaginations quietly shapes what we want, what we value, and eventually what we do. The heart isn't just the seat of emotion; it's the control center of the whole person. That's why guarding it isn't paranoia or prudishness — it's wisdom. This verse isn't a call to build walls around yourself and hide from the world. It's a call to be intentional about what gets through. In a culture where sexual content is almost impossible to avoid passively, guarding your heart becomes an active, daily discipline. That might look like the software Pastor Daniel mentioned, or the conversations you choose to stop having, or the content you decide to stop scrolling. Small decisions made consistently are how the heart's course gets redirected — not all at once, but steadily, over time.

For reflection

What is one specific thing you are currently taking in that you sense is deforming rather than forming you?

Pray

Pray for wisdom to see clearly which inputs in your daily life are shaping your heart away from God.

Day 3

James doesn't sugarcoat the progression: desire conceives, then gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings death. That's a sobering trajectory. But here's what Pastor Daniel surfaced in the sermon — the fact that Jesus Himself was tempted and did not sin means the chain is not inevitable. Temptation is not the same as failure. Being drawn toward something wrong is not yet sin, and the moment you notice the pull is actually the moment of greatest opportunity — the moment to choose a different direction. The danger comes in lingering. James uses the language of something being 'conceived,' which implies a dwelling, a nurturing, an agreeing. Temptation becomes sin when we stop treating it like an intruder and start treating it like a guest. Understanding this distinction is genuinely freeing. You don't have to be crushed by the fact that the pull is there. What matters is what you do in that moment. And the good news is that God has given you real resources — not just willpower — for exactly that moment. Today is a good day to think honestly about where in the progression from temptation to sin you tend to find yourself, without judgment, just with clarity.

For reflection

Where in the progression James describes — desire, sin, death — do you most often find yourself getting stuck, and what does 'lingering' look like for you?

Pray

Pray for heightened awareness in the specific moments when temptation first arrives, and for the grace to respond quickly.

Day 4

'Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.' Pastor Daniel drew a clear and important line here: confessing to God brings forgiveness, but confessing to another person is where healing begins. Those are two different things, and we often settle for only the first. It's easy to see why. Telling God feels safe — He already knows, He won't be shocked, and there's no social cost. Telling another person is a different kind of risk entirely. Shame thrives in secrecy. It tells you that if anyone really knew, they would walk away. Confession to a trusted person is the act that calls shame's bluff. It's not about public exposure or a dramatic confession to everyone you know. James is talking about the kind of honest, safe relationship where you can say the true thing and be met with prayer and grace rather than judgment. If you don't have that kind of relationship right now, that's worth paying attention to. Community that goes past the surface is not a bonus feature of the Christian life — according to James, it's part of how God designed healing to work. If you're not sure where to start, talking with someone at Rock Point is a real and good option.

For reflection

Is there someone in your life with whom you could be genuinely honest about your struggles — and if not, what has been keeping you from finding that person?

Pray

Pray for the courage to take one step toward honest community, and for God to provide the right person if that relationship doesn't yet exist.

Day 5

Paul tells the Corinthian church to 'flee from sexual immorality' — not negotiate with it, not manage it, not slowly edge away from it, but flee. The urgency matters. And then he gives the reason: your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you. You are not your own. You were bought at a price. That framing changes everything. The call to sexual purity isn't a list of restrictions handed down by people who want to control you. It's a statement about your worth and your identity. The God of the universe took up residence in you. Sexual sin, Paul says, is uniquely harmful because it is a sin against that body — the very place where God dwells. Pastor Daniel didn't present this as a reason for shame but as a reason for awe, and for action. The 'fleeing' is practical and sometimes drastic. It may mean different things for different people — new software filters, a different phone, stepping away from a relationship that keeps pulling you back into sin, or joining an accountability group. The drastic measures Jesus describes in Matthew 5:29 about removing what causes you to stumble are metaphors for this kind of serious, tangible response. The goal is freedom, and freedom sometimes requires hard choices.

For reflection

What is one tangible, practical step — however small or however drastic — that 'fleeing' might look like in your actual daily life this week?

Pray

Pray for clarity about what fleeing actually looks like for you, and for the resolve to take that step.

Day 6

Paul's instruction to married couples in this passage is striking in its directness: give to one another what is due, do not deprive each other, and be careful not to give the enemy a foothold. Pastor Daniel highlighted this as more than a permission slip — it's a call to intentional cultivation. Genuine intimacy in marriage is a God-designed gift that, when nurtured, actually serves as a weapon against lust. But that kind of intimacy doesn't sustain itself. It requires attention, time, and the willingness to keep choosing your spouse rather than drifting into distance. The enemy is patient. He doesn't need to blow up a marriage overnight. He's often content to let busyness and distraction slowly starve it of connection until both people feel more like roommates than partners. Guarding intimacy in marriage isn't just about the physical; it's about emotional honesty, shared prayer, laughter, and the small daily choices that say 'you matter to me.' If you are married, today is an invitation to ask honestly whether you are tending to that relationship with the same intentionality you bring to other areas of your life. And if you are single, these principles still speak to you — about the kind of intimacy you are building now and the habits of the heart you are forming.

For reflection

If you are married, where has drift crept into your intimacy — emotional, spiritual, or physical — and what would one intentional step toward your spouse look like this week?

Pray

Pray for tenderness, attentiveness, and intentionality toward the person you have committed your life to.

Day 7

'If by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.' Pastor Daniel landed the whole sermon here — not on striving harder, but on the Spirit's power and the orientation of your love. Romans 7 gives us Paul's anguished confession: I keep doing what I don't want to do. Romans 8 is the answer — not a self-help strategy, but a Person. The Holy Spirit living in you has the power to put to death what you cannot defeat on your own. But Paul also makes clear that this is a daily, active cooperation. You feed what you want to grow. A week's worth of reflection on this sermon has likely brought some things to the surface — places of honesty you hadn't reached before, tangible steps you've been putting off, a person you might reach out to. None of that adds up to earning God's favor. It adds up to falling more deeply in love with a God who already loves you completely. Pastor Daniel's closing image was exactly that: not striving harder, but loving God more — because only a greater love can displace the lesser loves that have had a grip on you. That's the invitation at the end of this week: not a new set of rules, but a deeper relationship with the One who already knows everything and calls you His own.

For reflection

Looking back at this week, what is the one thing — an honest admission, a practical step, a conversation, a habit — that you sense God is most clearly inviting you toward?

Pray

Pray for a growing love for God that is deeper and more real than the pull of anything that has been holding you captive.

Rewind AI contributed study material from the sermon transcript; church-authored wording and verified sermon quotes keep their own source. Always trust the sermon itself over anything here. How Rewind uses AI

Small-group discussion guide

For leading a group conversation about this message.

Open

This message takes a hard look at what Jesus actually means in Matthew 5:27–29 — and it turns out He is after something much deeper than behavior on the surface.

Discussion questions

1
In Matthew 5:27–28, Jesus moves from the act of adultery to the desire behind it. What do you think He is getting at by tracing the sin back to the heart rather than stopping at the outward action?
2
Proverbs 4:23 says to guard the heart above all else, because everything we do flows from it. Pastor Daniel built on that idea by saying everything we take in either forms or deforms us. What does it look like, practically, for a community of people to take that seriously together?
3
James 1:14–15 maps a progression from temptation to sin to death, but Pastor Daniel also pointed out that Jesus was tempted without sinning. What does that tell us about where the real battle is being fought — and what it means that escape is genuinely possible?
4
Pastor Daniel drew a distinction between confessing to God and confessing to another person — saying forgiveness comes through the first, but healing begins with the second, drawing on James 5:16. Why do you think the relational, human dimension of confession matters so much for actual healing, not just forgiveness?
5
Romans 8:13 says the Spirit has the power to put to death the deeds of the flesh. Pastor Daniel framed the whole four-part response — admitting brokenness, fleeing, fighting for intimacy, feeding the Spirit — not as striving harder but as falling more deeply in love with God. How does framing it as love rather than willpower change the way we think about lasting change?
6
Pastor Daniel challenged everyone in the room — wherever they are in the progression from temptation toward sin — to stop hiding and start fighting. As a group, what does it look like for us to be the kind of community where that kind of honesty and that kind of fight are actually possible?

Pray together

Ask God for the courage to stop hiding, the grace to love Him more deeply than anything competing for our hearts, and the Spirit's power to put to death what pulls us away from Him

Rewind AI contributed study material from the sermon transcript; church-authored wording and verified sermon quotes keep their own source. Always trust the sermon itself over anything here. How Rewind uses AI

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GREATEST OF ALL TIME

Week 6 · 8 messages

Where these passages are preached

Matthew 5 Proverbs 4 Matthew 15 James 1

Explore related topics

Breaking Free From Bondage Heart Change Through God's Love Lust and Sexual Purity Marriage and Intimacy Overcoming Temptation

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