#7b - Mental Sex Series

For a CD of over 100 of sermons by Darrell Stetler II (most complete with handouts), please e-mail darrellstetler2@sbcglobal.net.

"You shall not commit adultery.” Exodus 20:14

"You have heard that it was said, ’YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY’; but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

"If your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. If your right hand makes you stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to go into hell.” Matthew 5:27-30 (NAS)

Facts facts you need to remember about adultery:

1. Adultery is not just the act – it’s also “looking with lust.”

“You have heard that it was said, ’YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY’; but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”

Matthew 5:28 (NAS)

George Jones wrote in one song, “We’re not exactly strangers you and I, because I’ve already loved you in my mind.”

3. Adultery in the mind is just as serious to God.

“...the LORD does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."

1 Samuel 16:7 (NKJV)

Mental adultery is serious because it sinful.

“For as he thinks in his heart, so is he...” Proverbs 23:7 (NKJV)

You might say, “I’ve never been unfaithful.” If you’re unfaithful in your mind, God says THAT’S what you’re really like. It’s not about how others view you, it’s about what God sees inside of you.

Just as adultery is sinful, so is mental adultery. Sin always separates us from God. Living in sin, instead of confessing and forsaking it will separate you from God, and destroy your relationship with Him. And people without a right relationship with God wind up in hell. . . you cannot get into heaven if you don’t have a relationship with God.

Let’s look at it from a spiritual standpoint.

You have a sworn enemy who you can’t see. His name is Satan, and the Bible says he is “like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” He’d love nothing better than to break up your marriage by sleeping around, and break your spouse and children’s hearts.

But adultery starts way before you hop into bed with someone you’re not married to. Jesus makes this very clear!

So long before an act of adultery, Satan is already attacking you. He’d like to get you to lust in your heart after a woman – and he can do that anywhere. At the mall. . . at work. . . on TV. . . in a movie. . . in a magazine. . . he will see to it that plenty of women pass by, wearing too little, too tight.

Mental adultery is serious because it is addictive.

How do things like this come about? Let’s look at it from two viewpoints.

First from the scientific standpoint. The body produces a hormone called adrenaline. When a person feels in danger, stressed or excited adrenaline is used by the body for a short time. This sometimes gives “super” power to an otherwise weak person. This is a normal function of the body, but this use of adrenaline is something that the body begins

to crave and becomes, in a scenic, habit forming. If you were to ask a race car driver why they drive their cars at the point of loosing control, they would tell you that they were just having fun. This “fun” as they call it, is the bodies craving for the “adrenaline rush” which gives the person a good or calm feeling.

This is basically what a person, who views pornographic material, does to their bodies. They get that “feeling good” caused by the adrenaline flow caused by excitement. This craving of the body makes the person’s desire for more, somewhat uncontrollable.

This addiction will make you a prisoner of your own making!

Prisoner of his appetite. Thomas Costain’s history, The Three Edwards, describes the life of Raynald III, a fourteenth-century duke in what is now Belgium. Grossly overweight, Raynald was commonly called by his Latin nickname, Crassus, which means "fat." After a violent quarrel, Raynald’s younger brother Edward led a successful revolt against him. Edward captured Raynald but did not kill him. Instead, he built a room around Raynald in the Nieuwkerk castle and promised him he could regain his title and property as soon as he was able to leave the room. This would not have been difficult for most people since the room had several windows and a door of near-normal size, and none was locked or barred. The problem was Raynald’s size he couldn’t fit through the door. To regain his freedom, he needed to lose weight. But Edward knew his older brother, and each day he sent a variety of delicious foods. Everyday he wheeled before Raynald on a cart, the tastiest foods. But instead of dieting his way out of prison, Raynald grew fatter from the food. When Duke Edward was accused of cruelty, he had a ready answer: "My brother is not a prisoner. He may leave when he so wills." Raynald stayed in that room for ten years and wasn’t released until after Edward died in battle. By then his health was so ruined he died within a year, a prisoner of his own appetite.