"you Shall Not Commit Adultery" Series

“YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY” Ex. 20:14

FBCF – 7/17/22

Jon Daniels

INTRO – I’ve seen lots of different ways fires have started over course of my years as a vol firefighter – electrical, lightning strike, candle left burning, stove fire, chimney fire, etc. Worst of all – Arson – deliberate setting of a fire by someone. Destructive. Leaves wake of destruction & possibly death behind. But long before the match was struck that started the actual fire, someone had a thought. Maybe just a fleeting thought. Might have even dismissed it at first, or even multiple times.

But the moment finally came where the decision was made, the match was struck, the fire was started, & there was no turning back. Flames began to grow. Might have thought it would stay small or be contained to just the house that the arsonist wanted to burn down. But the fire quickly got out of control. Caught a field on fire beside house. Fire raced across the dry field to a school where children were inside. Caught school on fire – children hurt & killed. Then spread to a nursing home next to the school where vulnerable senior adults were inside – many of them injured, burned, & killed. The smoke drifted across a busy highway & caused drivers to run off the road or crash into each other – some injured & killed. So many other people affected, impacted, & hurt than the arsonist originally thought about or considered.

That’s the picture of adultery.

EXPLANATION – Exodus 20:14

Simple dictionary def “adultery” – “voluntary sexual intercourse between a married person & someone other than their lawful spouse.” Just like that Commandment just before this one, the specific act of adultery is very clear. It is physical unfaithfulness to one’s marriage vows. It’s going against what you said “I do” to after the preacher asked if you would “keep yourself only unto her/him so long as you both shall live.”

For many people, that specific physical act of unfaithfulness is relatively easy to avoid. Many of us are so head over heels in love w/ our spouse that we’ve never even considered going to bed w/ anyone else other than them. We understand completely that God’s plan for marriage is one man with one woman for life. That’s what marriage is supposed to be, & anything less than that is outside of God’s plan & falls short of the Scriptural ideal.

Interesting that the Heb word for adultery also refers to idolatrous worship. We’ve already established in Commandment #2 that God hates idolatry. Commandment #1 – “You shall have no other gods before me” – clarifies who we are to worship – the one true living God. Commandment #2 – no idols – tells us how to worship God. We worship HIM alone w/out anything or anyone else as a substitute. Edwin Louis Cole – “Idolatry is a value system that we create, in which we esteem something to be worthy of our devotion than devotion to God.” (Maximized Manhood, p. 24)

Idolatry is substituting someone or something for God in your life. Adultery is substituting someone for your spouse in your life. And they both are sinful. And they both cause great pain & struggle.

How does God feel about adultery? The same way He feels about idolatry – He hates both of them. He classifies adultery as one of the worst sins a person can commit. Hollywood, soap operas, & Lifetime movies may glamorize it as an exciting forbidden encounter, but God thunders His disapproval of it & His judgment against it all throughout His Word. It deserves its bad reputation. Name a marriage made stronger, a home made stronger, children made happier, or a reputation made better b/c of it. You simply will not find one positive benefit of someone breaking their marriage vows. It wrecks – it ruins – it harms – it destroys - & it all starts in the mind.

APPLICATION – As Christ-followers, we must guard against adultery of the heart AND body.

THE TEACHING OF JESUS – “You have heard that it was said, ’Do not commit adultery,’ but I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” (Matthew 5:27-28) Adultery is much more than the physical act, or perhaps we should say it is much less than the physical act. It is the lustful look, the leering glance, the furtive thought, the imagined act.

Lust is more than just seeing a pretty woman or a handsome man. It is when we fixate on that person, whether they are physically right in front of us, or on a TV screen, computer screen, or on our phone screen. Lust is, as Ray Pritchard says, a “slippery sin,” because even mentioning it can cause someone to fall into it, even while sitting in a church service. The actual physical consummation of adultery starts in a lustful heart way before the act happens. Look at some biblical proof of this: