'warning Against Adultery'

SERMON OUTLINE:

The involvement goes from sweetness to bitterness verses 1-6.

The involvement goes from gain to loss verses 7-14.

The involvement goes from purity to pollution verses 15-20

The involvement goes from freedom to bondage verses 21-23

SERMON BODY:

iLL:

• The Ten Commandments were given to Moses by God on Mount Sinai

• For all Jewish people to follow.

• They form part of the covenant, a formal agreement or promise,

• Between God and the Hebrew people.

• They have a wider implication and the Ten Commandments,

• The principles contained in the Ten Commandments,

• Are fundamental to the Western legal tradition.

Question:

• We know that there are 10 Commandments.

• We know they were given to Moses,

• We know where they were given - Mount Sinai.

• Trivia question: How many times did God give them?

Answer: Three times.

• The first time, the Ten Commandments were first spoken by God,

• (Exodus chapter 20 verses 1-17).

• These were given to Moses orally.

• At this point, they were not written down on a scroll or stone.

• The second time, the Ten Commandments were given to Moses on two tablets of stone.

• (Exodus chapter 31 verses 1-18).

• We are told they were, “written with the finger of God.”

• This set of stone commandments was broken by Moses,

• When he came down from the mountain & found the Israelites worshiping a golden calf.

• The third time, God gave Moses a second set of the 10 commandments on stone.

• (Exodus chapter 34 verses 1-4).

Question: Can you name the Ten Commandments (and in order)?

• The Ten Commandments are all about relationships.

• In fact, the whole Bible can be boiled down to one word, relationships.

• The commandments divide into two sections,

• Not five and five but four and six.

• The first four concern our relationship to God.

• Respect for God (they are upward).

• The next six concern our relationship with other people.

• Respect for others (they are across-wards).

Those last six Commandments are,

• ‘Honor your father and your mother’ – respect your parents.

• ‘You shall not murder’ – respect life.

• ‘You shall not commit adultery’ – respect your partner.

• ‘You shall not steal’ – respect people’s property.

• ‘You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor’ – respect the truth.

• ‘You shall not covet’ – respect what you have.

• Commandment number seven is our theme for today,

• So important is the sin of adultery, it makes it into God’s top ten list!

Now let’s be clear by what we mean by the term adultery.

• The dictionary defines “adultery” as,

“Voluntary sexual intercourse between a married person,

and a person who is not his or her spouse.”

• The Bible would agree with this definition.

• e.g., Leviticus chapter 18 verse 20, God told Moses,

• “Do not have sexual relations with your neighbor’s wife and defile yourself with her,”

• Remember that God established the institution of marriage,

• As being between one man and one woman (Genesis chapter 2 verse 24).

• And Jesus restated it in the gospels (Matthew chapter 19 verse 5).

Note: Adultery is wrong for a number of reasons:

• FIRST:

• Because it involves breaking one of the most serious promises a person can make.

• Most non-religious people as well as people of faith,

• Want an exclusive relationship with ONE another,

• Which includes abstaining from having sex with other people?

• SECOND:

• Adultery weakens the institutions of marriage and family.

• Quote: “Nobody sins in a vacuum.”

• Meaning that our actions affect others.

• It is the partner and the children that end up badly affected by the act of adultery.

• THIRD:

• When people put the wellbeing of their marriage above their personal "happiness,"

• They achieve more lasting happiness in the long run.

Quote:

• Michael W. Austin, Ph.D.,

• Who is a professor of philosophy at Eastern Kentucky University.

“There will be times when you sacrifice your own happiness for the sake of your spouse, and for the relationship itself. However, when we put the interests of our spouse and the well-being of the marriage relationship above our own pursuit of happiness, paradoxically we experience a deeper and more lasting form of happiness. This is the form of happiness that comes from having good character, and an enduring love relationship with the person we've vowed to be faithful to, 'til death do us part.”

Pause to say:

• If you think these verses are not really relevant for us,

• Think again!

(a).

• We have a new king, Charles III,

• Who in a 1994 interview admitted to committing adultery,