“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:
SAMSON’S STUMBLE – Samson was a man of great physical strength & debilitating lustful weakness.
Judges 16 – Lust led to a forbidden relationship that eventually led to his torture & death. Yes, God vindicated him in the end, but his lustful adultery caused tremendous pain for him & so many others.
DAVID’S DOWNFALL – David & Bathsheba one of the most dramatic stories in the entire Bible – 2 Samuel 11-12
- Incredible circumstances – David stayed back when men were at war – Maybe had gotten prideful, slothful, took the blessings of God for granted – “…But David remained at Jerusalem” (v. 1)
- Incredible lust – v. 2
- Incredible decision – 2 Samuel 11:3-4
- Incredible sin – Lust – adultery – lying – murder - compromise
- Incredible deceit – Covered it up
- Incredible confrontation – “And the Lord SENT Nathan to David…” (2 Samuel 12:1)… “You are the man!” (v. 7)
- Incredible consequences – “But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord” (2 Samuel 11:27b).
o The Lord through Nathan – “…the sword shall never depart from your house, b/c you have despised me & have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife” (2 Samuel 12:10).
o David’s son, Amnon, raped his sister, Tamar
o David’s son, Absalom, murdered Amnon
o Absalom rebelled against David & was killed
SOLOMON’S STUPIDITY – Mentioned this last week. Solomon’s lust led to a blatant disregard & disobedience of Gods commands.
- 1 Kings 11:1, 3 – “Now Solomon loved many foreign women…He had 700 wives, who were princesses, & 300 concubines. And his wives turned his heart away from the Lord.”
- Idol worship – Ashtoreth & Milcom – sacrificed children
THE CORINTHIAN’S CRISIS – 1 Cor. 5
Here are 3 “Thou Shalts” to apply this teaching to our lives:
THOU SHALT REALIZE THE DANGER – Pretty obvious, both from Scriptural evidence & life experiences in our own lives & the lives of others that there is GREAT danger in this area! Don’t play w/ it!
o If you pick up a rattle snake, you’re going to get bitten.
o If you play around w/ this sin, you’re going to get messed up.
THOU SHALT RUN! – 1 Cor. 6:18 – “Flee from sexual immorality…” You don’t try to stand up against it. You don’t foolishly think you’re strong enough to handle it. You FLEE from it! Run for your life!
o Interesting that we are also told in 1 Corinthians 10:14 to “…flee from idolatry…”
o Remember how much God hates that sin? Remember that He also hates THIS sin just as much!
We run FROM this sin, & we also run TO some things:
- Run TO the Word for strength & encouragement
- Run TO God in prayer when temptation hits
- Run TO some other stronger brothers & sisters in Christ (men run to men – women to women)
THOU SHALT REST IN THE GRACE OF GOD – When you fall, rest in the GRACE of God. He loves you. He forgives you. He will restore you. There may be some consequences – some of them will be seriously painful! But God’s GRACE will see you through.
