Consenting Adultery
Exodus 20:14
http://gbcdecatur.org/sermons/ConsentingAdultery.html
The 1631 edition of the KJV had a misprint. Some would call it minor...just one little word accidentally missed by the typesetter. He left out the word ‘not’ in our text today, reading “Thou shalt commit adultery.” As a result, that edition is known as ‘The Wicked Bible’...but it seems to be the version our world has chosen to claim!
The 7th commandment has never been more dismissed than it is today. No generation has ever been so sex crazed as ours is.
This commandment stands guard over the sanctity and chastity of marriage, and even the preservation of our society. Violation of this command results in broken homes, wrecked lives, disease and death.
The sexual revolution of the 60s has only snowballed since, and our senses are dulled down so we don’t recognize it so much. It’s an all out assault on the 7th commandment. It is scorned, ridiculed, and belittled. It’s considered outdated and archaic...so old fashioned. We hear so much about ‘consenting adults’ that if we’re not careful we will begin to consent to it and accept it. The church no longer speaks out against it like we should. We should all be taking a stand. “I stand alone on the Word of God” ... the word ‘alone’ is becoming more and more realistic, but still we should take our stand!
Who will take a stand if we don’t? Will the TV shows and movies kicked out by Hollyweird, CA? Will porn websites suddenly be shut down? No, they have proven that they cannot be policed sufficiently except by parents. Will advertisers suddenly begin to be responsible for their actions, or will they continue to capitalize on the fact that sex sells? They appeal to mankind’s baser instincts. Hugh Hefner says we’re just another animal, w/ instincts and desires that must be satisfied. To him, women are just pets, bunnies, and we’re all just animals! As kids we were taught evolution in the classroom…and now we are acting like it. If you tell a teenager that they are an animal for long enough, he will eventually prove you right!
Ill.— “Everybody’s doing it.”
This is a common phrase used today to excuse our behavior, but it is no excuse. We were shocked a decade ago when youth ministries guru Josh McDowell did an extensive survey of Bible believing church teens that showed that more than half of them were sexually active, even as they attended their youth groups. Today that number has only increased. Among teen boys something inconceivable has happened by polling standards. You’ve heard of the ‘margin of error’ + or – a certain %. When asked anonymously if they looked at porn teen boys answered yes at the rate of 98% w/ a margin of error of 2%...meaning that 100% is a possibility. It used to be that they would see this in a magazine or on TV, but they answered that it is on their cell phone...and on the internet! So, if you have 100 kids somewhere between 0 and 4 of them AREN’T looking at porn...and still some parents will say, well, my Johnny is one of those 0-4...I’m just sure of it!
“Everybody’s doing it” is the phrase we hear so often, and it’s pretty close to true, but that does not make it right. Today’s surveys have had to go to the next level. I’ve recently seen anonymous surveys of pastors...with over 50% of them admitting they look at porn. And that’s the ones who will admit it! You don’t have to be a very negative person to bow your head and say, yeah, everybody’s doing it...and just give in.
Well, what we need is some to rise up and say, “Well, I’m not gonna do it!” Indeed, not everyone is living together before marriage. We’ve seen that. And some who are are getting saved and fixing that problem, and they are to be commended for that! Not every kid is allowed an unsupervised tv or pc in their room...many parents are wising up! Many are learning that they can easily monitor this as well as cell phones, and many are realizing the importance of accountability, not only of their kids, but of one another. I’m accountable to my wife for where I go and what I do, where I surf online and what I watch on TV. Is this because she doesn’t trust me? No! It’s because I don’t trust myself, and neither should you trust yourself, nor put yourself in a position of no accountability. I have someone in the church w/ the password to my office pc, and they can see what I have been looking at. Forget privacy, there’s a wonderful freedom in accountability! [We’re supposed to be accountable to God, but today we blow Him off easily and for some reason we fear what our family knows about us more than what God knows!]
We are a brainwashed generation.
Ill.—The movie Titanic is a good example of this. That movie had people believing that you can fall in love in a matter of hours, have sex with them, and then regard them in your heart as the love of your life for the rest of your life. That is silly. Now I know some claim love at first sight, but I also hope the young ladies here will realize that love at first sight is usually cured by taking a second look!
The good news is from the same McDowell youth survey that showed a majority were sexually active, the minority who were not, when asked why not, said it was because of a commitment they had made to the Lord Jesus Christ! That tells me that we must do more than just tell them to ‘just say no’...we need to lead them to a meaningful relationship w/ the Lord, and teach them about commitment by making some commitments ourselves. Adults, we need to make some changes in our homes and our habits, and then we can ask our kids to.
Don’t just roll over on this one and say w/ the masses, “just be safe.” Or, “If you can’t be good, then be careful!” There is no sex safer than sex within God’s plan!
God’s version of safe sex is abstinence until marriage,
I Peter 2:11
Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul…
You know it and I know it...there is something stronger than sinful desire.
A Senator in Washington once said, “today’s teens are just hormone hurricanes, and you can’t stop a hurricane.”
I’m thankful for a power greater than a hurricane, He’s the Creator of that hurricane, He’s the One that kept my wife and myself pure for each other, He’s our powerful God!
Ill.—some say sex is just a natural God given appetite that we need to fulfill. I’m here to remind you that it is an appetite from which you will not die if it goes unfulfilled! Stop eating and you’ll die. Stop drinking and you’ll die. Stop having sex and you will not die. [you may feel like you’re going to, but you won’t]
I need to pause to tell you to relax and not get up tight when we talk about this subject of sex...you’re here because of it! Your kids are hearing lies about it every day and today they will hear the truth. (There has been only 1 virgin birth and you’re not it!)
Heb. 13:4 (on screen) “Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled.”
Our society has discovered that there are certain penalties attached to sexual immorality. But instead of conforming to God’s plan, they say, let’s see if we can get around the consequences. If there’s a danger of getting a disease, that’s ok, just use protection. And then they have the nerve to say, after all, they’re 95% effective! [imagine 100 of you get on an airplane and the flight attendant says the bad news is we’re going to crash, the good news is that only 5 of you will die!]
If you get pregnant, that’s ok, we can destroy the evidence! No consequences, no problem.
God’s plan for sex includes 1 man and 1 woman, within the marriage relationship.
3 Words:
SEXUALITY / IMMORALITY / PURITY
1. Sexuality
Listen carefully: When a man and a woman enter into a marriage contract, the seal of that covenant is their union physically. To give away your virginity before marriage is far more serious than you ever thought possible…as you give away the seal to your marriage contract.
Someday you will fall in love for real with someone and marry them, and you will wish with all your heart to give them the most wonderful gift you ever could, your purity, but I remind you today you can only give it away one time!
Married couples: Just as the physical union w/in marriage seals the covenant of marriage, so a union outside of your marriage w/ anyone else is what breaks the covenant. This is the crux of the 7th command.
Any blurring of the sexual distinction is wrong. Girls are wearing guys clothes and guys are decorating themselves up like women.
My wife and I drive around town and have to ask each other, is that a male or female? Is it a Mr., and Miss, or a mistake? The girl walks like Tarzan, the guy is walking like Jane, and they both smell like Cheetah!
Like the preacher who stood before the couple at their wedding and couldn’t tell bride from groom, he said, “will whatever you are take whatever that is to become whatever you’re gonna be!”
God made us different for a reason, and any blurring of that difference is wrong.
1st word: Sexuality…
2. Immorality
We looked earlier at Heb. 13:4…here’s the rest of the verse: “but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge!”
I Thess. 4:3 “for this is the will of God…that ye should abstain from fornication.” (pre-marital sex)
5 Dangers of pre-marital / extra-marital sex:
1. Counterfeit love
Relationships based on sex do not last!
You start w/ the physical and then find out you don’t even like each other. You never grew together intellectually, emotionally, or spiritually!
You stand there w/ nothing but a handful of whipped cream, and it gets old, and you throw that away too!
But…if you start the physical after marriage, the other 3 parts just keep on growing! Then you have more than a sexual partner, you have a best friend who really loves you.
Real love is patient, pure, and unselfish.
Danger of counterfeit love…
2. Emotional consequences
Young ladies:
Studies show a direct correlation between pre-marital sex and personal emotion problems…
Guilt / anxiety / loss of self-respect
Guilt is the most destructive emotion we can have.
It leaves you shattered, uncertain, and unproductive.
And you lose that “glow” that always accompanies sexual purity.
Hear this ladies, and I’ll tell you how men think…
…there’s something mysterious about the unknown. There’s something very attractive about the unknown.
And often, once you reveal yourself to the guy:, once the mystery is gone, so is he…he’ll drop you like a hot rock! And that won’t feel like just another break-up, it will feel like a divorce.
3. Physical consequences
Wages of sin is still death!
Drunkard—in danger of cirrhosis of liver
Smoker—cancer in the lungs
Glutton—cardiovascular disease
Sexually impure—in danger of diseases w/ no cures. There are 7 diseases besides aids, which have no cure, and all carry long-term consequences, and all are spread around thru a crowd of people willing to have sex outside of the protection of marriage!
You say, he’s only willing to be w/ me, she’s only willing to be with me. Don’t be so sure! If they’re willing to do it w/ you then they’ll do it w/ others and probably already have.
When you go to bed w/ someone, you go to bed with their entire sexual history, and w/ everyone who THOSE people have been with.
The wages of sin is still death.
Danger of counterfeit love, Emotional, Physical consequences…
4. Marital consequences
I’ve counseled w/ people who say, “it’s ok for her and me to do this, because we know we’re gonna get married.” No, it’s not ok. Why?
Because God said it’s not ok…who are you to rewrite the rules? You may not marry them!
The average teen falls in love 10 times before they get married.
Even if you do marry them, you have reduced your chances for a happy marriage because you have chipped away at the foundation of trust. In the back of your mind you will always know that the person you married is capable of immorality. They were willing to sin w/ you before marriage and they’re capable of sinning against you now that you are married.
Then there’s…
5. Spiritual consequences
But, Bro. Jerry, don’t you believe that God forgives? YES I DO!
But forgiveness and consequences are 2 different animals.
David sinned w/ Bathsheba, then committed murder…and in 2 incredible passages of scripture we see an awesome forgiveness that David requested and received--but let me ask you, were there still consequences?
Yes. God said, “David, you will live in a valley of tears the rest of your life. The sword will not depart from your house.”
He buried a baby that died. Then one of his sons raped his daughter. And God said it was direct results of his sin.
Sexuality, Immorality…
3. Purity
How to stay pure:
1. Protect your mind
The eye-gate and the ear-gate are so important…the pathways to the mind.
II Pet. 2:14 (on screen) “eyes full of adultery”
Men, protect your eyes. The Bible says, “I will set no wicked thing before my eyes.” Claim that verse.
Job said, “I have made a covenant w/ my eyes, why then should I THINK upon a maid?”
Get away from music whose theme is predominantly lust and sex. (difference between the sex spoken of in rock music and country music is one is easier to understand!)
2. Don’t accommodate sin
If you can’t walk into the video store and stay pure, then don’t walk in!
If you can’t flip around the channels w/out looking for something dirty to look at then cut it off! (John R. Rice: HBO / Cinemax / Showtime!)
If you can’t be alone together in that car then don’t be.
“Make no provision for the flesh.”
3. Decide in advance
Make a pre-determined decision to stay pure, and that you won’t date anyone who hasn’t made the same commitment.
Words of a fool: “He’ll change after we’re married.”
You say:
“It’s too late for me, preacher.” (I’ve already given it away)
Good news! One day a woman was brought to Jesus, taken in the very act of adultery. She expected to be condemned, but Jesus said, I don’t condemn you, go and sin no more!
You can’t change the past, but your future is spotless!
http://gbcdecatur.org/sermons/ConsentingAdultery.html
