Adultery Series

Evening Service for 4/27/2003

Adultery Exodus 20:14

Introduction:

Newsweek magazine did a series of articles on adultery in 1997. Not surprisingly, a majority condemned adultery as immoral. A handful of letter writers, however, suggested that the ethics of adultery were not so clear cut. One “church-going” woman reported that her five year affair with a married man was saving her marriage. “I am not sure which is the lesser of two evils,” she wrote, “adultery or divorce.”

WBTU:

A. Legally- Voluntary sexual intercourse between a married person and a partner other than the lawful spouse.

B. The Bible gives a more broad interpretation of adultery. Voluntary sexual intercourse between two people who are not married to each other.

C. The Bible indicates that sex is to be enjoyed between two people who are married to each other.

D. Marriage was set forth in creation in Genesis ch. 2. No sutiable helper for Adam was found so God make a woman.

E. Genesis 2:20-24.

F. It was this idea of one man, one woman living their lives together as husband and wife.

G. Deviation from God’s plan:

1. Lamech’s two wives Genesis 4:23- Followed by many Old Testament characters.

2. Homosexual acts in Sodom Genesis 19

3. Incest with Lot’s daughters Genesis 19

4. Forcible rape with Shechem against Dinah Genesis 34

5. Incest with father’s wife in the case of Reuben and Bilhah Genesis 35

6. Judah slept with a prostitute that turned out to be his daughter in law, Tamar and Tamar became pregnant through Judah. Genesis 38

7. The Old Testament is full of examples. Let not go over all of them.

H. This is why God gives commands to the Israelites against such practices. Levicitus 20 gives specific sexual practices that are wrong. Gives the penalties for such practices. Most of them carried the death penalty.

I. The issue here is purity. Purity of the body and purity of the mind. The mind controls the body.

J. No such thing as purity, everything is OK. The sacredness of sex is one of the primary areas that suffers as a result.

K. Examples in our culture.

1. Magic Johnson, Wilt Chamberlain, Rock Hudson.

2. Aids

3. Shows like Married by America, it is expected that couples will have sex before their wedding night. You are abnormal if you have not had sex before your wedding night. Got to see if you are physically compatable.

4. 90 % of sex on TV is between people who are not married to each other.

5. Recreational sex is great. Casual sex. Safe sex.

6. Someone has said, “It is always sex o’clock in America.

L. However, God’s design is a man and a woman come together for life to love, procreate, enjoy one another, etc.

M. Satan has deceived our society that sex has lost its specialness, it sacredness. It is just a thing that you do, like a dog that is in heat.

N. Newsweek in 1997 carried an article about a couple who boarded a subway train in London and proceeded to perform sex acts on each other. The other passengers kept on reading their newspapers or looking the other way. When the couple finished, they lit up a cigarette. This was too much for the passengers who complained to the conductor, “This is a non-smoking train.” When people are more offended by public smoking that public sex, something is wrong with society.

Thesis: There are many truths that support God’s seventh principle for living. Point out 3 of them tonight.

For instances:

1. At the heart of the issue is marriage.

A. God wants sex kept sacred, because marriage is sacred to God.

B. In a woman’s magazine, an article “Reasons to commit adultery.”

1. Adultery is exciting. If your life is dull…

2. Adultery makes you a well rounded person. A wide range of experiences. Improve technique, etc.

3. Adultery is fun.

C. In order to have a decent society, we agree that “You shall not kill,” You shall not steal,” etc.

D. But when we start talking about sexual values, the culture says, “Wait a second. That’s not public concern. That is a private issue.”

E. At the building block of a family is a marriage. The cement that keeps a marriage couple together is their differences. God made us different physically and socially for a reason. We need each other. However, when we go outside the marriage to explore those differences, it breaks down the family. IF we are concerned about the family, we must be concerned about marriage.

F. Stable marriages support a stable, healthy society. Unstable marriages give rise to a unstable, unhealthy society. Many of the problems we see today are caused by a breakdown in the marriage union.

G. Why does God forbid adultery? Not because he is denying us a chance to have some fun, but because he wants us to have happy families and happy lives, safe societies and safe families. Without good marriages none of this is possible.