Adultery With An Immoral Society Series

We got a kitten this week. It is the most energetic, curious thing I have ever seen. As some of you know, our little Yorkie is almost blind now. It only took this kitten a couple of days to figure this out. She knows if she doesn’t move he can’t find her. So she lies real still until he gets past her and then bolts knowing he will not catch her. It is a cat playing chicken with a dog. It is something to see.

Sometimes we play chicken with the world. We want to see how close we can get to being worldly without being burnt by the world. To us it maybe just playing a game but to God its adultery.

Most of us would define adultery as voluntary sexual relationship between a married person and someone other than his or her lawful spouse. The Hebrews spoke plainly for those who would engage in a relationship with a married person. They were called prostitutes.

However, God referred to the nation of Israel as adulterers around 30 times. See, in the eyes of God, adultery is being unfaithful to him by having illicit relationships with other Gods. The nation of Israel was guilty of this and so we can be at times if we are not careful. The world offers us so many alternatives to serving God. We would do well to heed the wisdom that I am sharing today.

1) Adultery begins as a stroll.

Proverbs 7: 6-9 “While I was at the window of my house,

looking through the curtain, I saw some naive young men, and one in particular who lacked common sense.

He was crossing the street near the house of an immoral woman, strolling down the path by her house. It was at twilight, in the evening, as deep darkness fell.”

The writer is watching a group of young men when one catches his attention. There was a house where a woman with a bad reputation lived. It’s dark. He feels that no one is watching him. He’s just going to stroll by her house to see if anything happens.

This is the enticement of the world. The world offers us all types of temptations that God finds displeasing. Proverbs 6:17-19 lists those things.

“haughty eyes,

a lying tongue,

hands that kill the innocent,

a heart that plots evil,

feet that race to do wrong,

a false witness who pours out lies,

a person who sows discord in a family.”

Anyone watch “Big Brother” on TV? As I was preparing this picture of the world, I came to realize the parallel between this “reality” show and the world.

The world tells us we must look a certain way. We can become in constant pursuit of dressing, styling, and even smelling the way world projects success in commercials. We can begin to imitate those stars and sports figures that radiate a certain look. As we do so we can be haughty, another word for prideful, and look down at others who have not achieved our standard of dress.

The world tells us it’s okay to lie in order to benefit ourselves. We can lie about our possessions, our jobs, our knowledge, and the list goes on and on. The world says it’s okay to lie to promote yourself. After all, a little white lie never hurt anyone.

The world tells us it’s okay to stomp on and destroy others as we climb the corporate ladder to success. We are taught that its how all truly successful people get to the top. It’s necessary for success.

The world tells us its okay to plot evil in our hearts. We prepare ourselves to extract justice on for those who snub us, lie to us, and stomp on us. We set yourselves to be the executioners of those who have done us wrong. Most movie dramas promote this get even scheme highly.

The world says it’s profitable to follow the crowd. We don’t want to be the one who stands out from the crowd. It’s easier to go along with the crowd but not necessarily participate in their endeavors. That way we don’t really have any dirt on our hands.

The world says it’s okay to taint someone’s image by telling a falsehood as long as they don’t find out and we profit from it. In fact, maybe we know the truth but it’s for our benefit for people to believe what they want to believe.

The world says it’s okay to create problems within a group if by doing so it will promote our cause for advancement. When it happens, we can casually set back and watch others destroy each other.

The world declares these acceptable. God says their not. But we must be on guard that we do not carelessly stroll toward the things that the world offers. We must not open those doors to temptation. We must realize that what we do in darkness will one day be exposed in the light.