INTRO.- People commit adultery in various ways. Our world is notorious for committing adultery. It seems to happens in Hollywood often.
ILL.- Remember actress Sandra Bullock in the award winning movie, “The Blind Side”? And do you remember to whom she was married? She was married from 2005 to 2010 to TV personality and CEO of West Coast Choppers, Jesse James.
Sandra Bullock was awarded the Golden Globe Award for best actress for her part as Leigh Anne Tuohy. While accepting her award, she said of her husband, “I love you. You are so hot.”
Yes, he was hot all right. He was hot enough that while they were married he had several women on the side. And there went another Hollywood marriage down the drains. Sandra Bullock divorced him a hurry. She was and is a spurned woman and probably won’t marry again very soon. How sad, because she gives the appearance of a nice woman who would be very committed to her mate and she was to Jesse James.
But there is another type of adultery that takes place even more often than marital adultery. It’s spiritual adultery. It’s when Christians are supposed to be married to Christ spiritually, but they often cheat on Him by worshiping idols. Whoa! This is something that we don’t like to own up to, but it happens to most of us.
ILL.- Bob Stacy wrote: ADULTERERS? Not a pretty word -- Not a word most of us would want applied to us. And yet it is a word that James applies to Christians who are "friends of the world." The church is the "bride of Christ," and as such she is to be loyal and true to Him, pure and holy in His sight.
Could James have made it any plainer? Do you prove your faithfulness to God by your daily life, or do you prove your "friendship with this world"? I fear that many Christians spend more time with their "mistress," the world, than they do with Christ. They spend more money on their "mistress," the world, than they do on Christ. They are more at home with their "mistress" than they are with Christ. And what could be sadder than that?
PROP.- What does spiritual adultery mean? Several things according to this text.
1- Spiritual adultery means friendship with the world
2- Spiritual adultery means opposition to God
3- Spiritual adultery means giving in to the devil
I. SPIRITUAL ADULTERY MEANS FRIENDSHIP WITH THE WORLD
4 You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God?
ILL.- A little boy asks his mother if he could go out and play with Timmie. “You know you don’t like Timmie,” his mother said.
“All right,” replied the youngster, “then can I go out and fight with him?”
What’s wrong with being friends or having friends? Well, it depends on who your friends are. Jesus was a friend to publicans and sinners. Why did He do that? Because God wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. And because Jesus came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.
Jesus could associate with sinners in order to give them life but he didn’t allow them to influence Him. He could go to weddings and not get drunk. He could be alone with a woman who had five husbands and was living with another man and not be inclined to lust after her.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with associating with people who are not Christians as long as we don’t allow them to drag us down. The idea is for us to present a witness to them, however, some Christians may find themselves being influenced by those around them and do things they wouldn’t normally do at other times.
I Corinthians 15:33 “Do not be misled: Bad company corrupts good character.”
ILL.- When I was living and preaching in the small town of Iberia, MO, one of my good friends was a fishing buddy. Even though he smoked and drank beer that never affected me in a negative way nor did he ever offer me a beer or a cigarette. We were just fishing friends. He’d called the house at times and say, “Let’s go fishing!”
If I could get away I’d grab my fishing rods and tackle box and head around the corner where he managed a service station. He’d have his Ranger bass boat hooked up and ready to go. We had a good time together, fishing together.
Also, there were times when the beer crowd assembled at his service station. It was generally around 5 p.m. each day. Guys would come in, stand around and talk and drink beer. And there were times when I go to the station at the same time. And that never bothered me at all. I may have bothered them but they didn’t bother me. They may not have talked the way they normally would. And I didn’t drink beer!
My relationship to my friend worked out fine and today, he is a Christian and going to the church where I use to preach, but not all relationships turn out that well. In fact, sometimes the reverse is true.
Some people influence others to leave their church. It may be a gradual thing but it happens.
I knew of a nice young married couple in a church who started to run with the wrong crowd. They started frequenting bars. Somehow or other, the wife ended up in a relationship with another man and she and her husband divorced. They were such a nice young people with cute little girls. That’s the example of how the wrong crowd can cause people to lose their faith, etc. Sad indeed.
Having non-Christian friends is not a bad thing, but if we get too involved with the things of this world, even if these things seem to be ok, they can cause us to commit spiritual adultery. Anything in this world that comes between you and your relationship to the Lord and keeps you from worship, or serving or giving is a matter of spiritual adultery.
4 You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God?
II. SPIRITUAL ADULTERY MEANS OPPOSITION TO GOD
4 You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. 5 Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely? 6 But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
ILL.- A small boy was sent to bed by his father...[Five minutes later] "Da-ad..." "What?"
"I’m thirsty. Can you bring me a drink of water?" "No. You had your chance. Lights out." [Five minutes later] "Da-aaaad..." "WHAT?" "I’m THIRSTY...Can I have a drink of water??"
"I told you NO! If you ask again I’ll have to spank you!!" [Five minutes later] "Daaaa-aaaAAAAD."
"WHAT??!!" "When you come in to spank me, can you bring me a drink of water?”
When you were a small child whom did you fear the most; mom or dad? Fear has a place in our lives whether we like it or not. If we don’t learn to fear some people or certain things we could easily find ourselves in trouble and maybe, a lot of trouble.
If a person doesn’t fear and/or respect authority they could have all kinds of trouble. A lack of fear for teachers could land a kid in the principal’s office or maybe even booted out of school. A lack of fear for the law could land a person in court and maybe in jail.
ILL.- When I was small we had old well that was covered up with some old boards. As best I remember, mom and dad warned us not to walk on those boards or even go near that old well because they said it might cave in and we’d cave in with it. The fear of falling into an old well was somewhat frightening but respecting mom and dad should have been a greater respect and fear for us. Why? Because if dad ever got mad you could feel the furry of his anger at the end of his belt!
But there is something worse than making your mom and dad mad. It’s making your heavenly Father angry!
Job 4:8-9 “As I have observed, those who plow evil and those who sow trouble reap it. At the breath of God they are destroyed; at the blast of his anger they perish.” We don’t want to make God mad!
Psalm 7:6 “Arise, O LORD, in your anger; rise up against the rage of my enemies. Awake, my God; decree justice.”
Psalm 27:9 “Do not hide your face from me, do not turn your servant away in anger; you have been my helper. Do not reject me or forsake me, O God my Savior.”
Psalm 30:5 “For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.” What a promise!
Psalm 38:1-3 “O LORD, do not rebuke me in your anger or discipline me in your wrath. For your arrows have pierced me, and your hand has come down upon me. Because of your wrath there is no health in my body; my bones have no soundness because of my sin.”
4 You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.
Apparently, we can get so absorbed in the things of this world that we actually become an enemy of God. WOW! I don’t believe I want that to happen. This tells me that we MUST NOT get too involved in the things of this world.
Does this mean we can’t go on trips? No. Does this mean we can’t go shopping? No. Does this mean we can’t go see a movie or go to a ball game? No. Does this mean we can’t buy something new? No. Does this mean we can’t eat out? No.
But it does mean that we need to limit how much we do in this world. If we get to the point where we all want to do is live for pleasure, fun, going and doing, and acquiring more and more material things, then we could well meet with the anger of God.
God wants, demands and desires our devotion to Him. After all, does He not deserve it? He gives us life, breath and every good and perfect gift in this world. And He alone gives us the promise of eternal life. Don’t you think this qualifies Him for more devotion than we give Him?
III. SPIRITUAL ADULTERY MEANS GIVING IN TO THE DEVIL
7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
ILL.- One bright, beautiful Sunday morning, everyone in tiny Jonestown wakes up early and goes to their local church. Before the service starts, the townspeople sit in their pews and talk about their lives and their families.
Suddenly, at the altar, Satan appears!! Everyone starts screaming and running for the front entrance, trampling each other in their determined efforts to get away from Evil Incarnate. Soon, everyone is evacuated from the church except for one man, who sit calmly in his pew, seemingly oblivious to the fact that God’s ultimate enemy is in his presence. This confuses Satan a bit. Satan walks up to the man and says, "Hey, don’t you know who I am?" The man says, "Yep, sure do."
Satan says, "Well, aren’t you afraid of me?" The man says, "Nope, sure ain’t." Satan, perturbed, says, "And why aren’t you afraid of me?" The man says, "Well, I’ve been married to your sister for 25 years."
I don’t believe anyone has married the devil’s sister because I don’t think he has a sister. He does have a lot of followers, however, and many of them don’t even know they are following him.
Ephesians 2:1-3 “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.”
ILL.- C. S. Lewis: "There is no uncreated being except God. God has no opposite. . . . The proper question is whether I believe in devils. I do. That is to say, I believe in angels, and I believe that some of these, by the abuse of their free will, have become enemies to God. . . . Satan, the leader or dictator of devils, is the opposite, not of God, but of Michael."
Lewis is correct. Even though Satan or the devil is powerful, he is not all-powerful. Only God is all-powerful. He is the only uncreated being there is. The devil, however, is a created being, apparently, originally created as a good angel until his arrogant pride got the best of him and he got booted out of heaven. What will happen to the devil?
Revelation 20:10 “And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.”
It sounds like the devil is not someone we want to keep company with and yet, we do keep company with him when we get too involved with the things of this world.
Instead of running with the devil, we need to resist him. And the only way I know to resist the devil is to submit to God. We seek His face, do His will, obey His word and in this way, we will resist the evil one in life.
CONCLUSION--------------------
Adultery is a bad thing, but spiritual adultery is or can be far worse. Adultery can cause a divorce between a husband and his wife, but spiritual adultery, if engaged in long enough, could end in a divorce of sorts between God and man.
The only cure I know for adultery, spiritual adultery or any sin for that matter, is to humble ourselves before the Lord and HE WILL LIFT US UP! He’ll lift us up out of our sin and into His loving arms of mercy and grace!
Steve Shepherd, Jonesboro Christian Church, AR
jonesborochristianchurch@suddenlink.net
