What do we mean by "Adultery"? The seventh commandment is very simple. Sex outside of marriage is forbidden. It means to keep sexually pure. Jesus gave His concept of marriage in Matthew 19:5-6, saying, "For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife". The two words you should catch here are "Leave" and "Cleave". It's easier to leave your mother after marriage in Jesus' generation. She didn't have a cell phone or a fax or an e-mail or two cars in the garage to track you down and follow you on your honeymoon.
Fact one, the only marriage God will ever recognize is between a man and a woman. The combination is Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve.
Fact two, Jesus said, "For this cause". What cause? For the cause of sexual union, for the cause of creating a family, for the cause to be fruitful and multiply. Don't get married and raise cats and dogs. Have children too. That's God's primary purpose in marriage. Radical feminists are attacking marriage, women and children, as empty-headed people, meaningless and dysfunctional people. That's absolutely wrong. There's nothing more holy. There's nothing more sacred. There's nothing more precious in the sight of God than a godly mother taking care of her children. God bless every mother committed to her children and to her husband. You are the hope of America. Solomon states that your worth is far above rubies: that you are precious and priceless. Abraham Lincoln said, "The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world". May God bless every righteous mother caring for her husband and her children today in the United States of America.
Fact three, they two shall come and be one flesh. "One flesh" means sexual union. Sex is the seal of the covenant. In the Bible, the most binding element of the covenant required the shedding of blood. Go with me to the scene where God is bequeathing to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and their descendants, meaning the Jewish people, forever the land of Israel.
In Genesis 15:9-21, Abraham took a heifer, a ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon, and split them in half. It was a bloody scene as the carcasses were split. And God walked between the carcasses, reciting the contents of the covenant. The smoking lamp and the burning furnace was the symbolic form of God Himself passing between the pieces, reciting the contents of the covenant. Basically, God gave the Promised Land to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and to their seed forever by blood covenant.
And when the dust settles in the Middle East, Israel will own all of the land that God promised. Iran cannot stop that. The United Nations cannot stop that. Russia cannot stop that. Israel belongs to the Jewish people completely and forever! So, what does the blood covenant have to do with marriage? When a man marries a virgin, the rupturing of the hymen is the shedding of blood. It's the seal of the covenant, and it's binding for life. "What God has put together, let no man put asunder". The sexual union seals the covenant. Marriage is a lot like making mashed potatoes.
Think about a man and a woman who are dating today. They're individuals. They're sovereign. They have their own opinions. They think everything is hunky-dory in their own universe. And then they agree to get married. And shortly after they are married, she says, "All you want to do is play golf three times a week and ignore me. My mother told me this is exactly how you were going to be. My friends tried to warn me about you. If that's how you're going to be, I want you to pack up and move out, because I'll never be able to stand you". He comes back, "All you know how to fix for supper are what you can stuff in the oven. And by the time I eat it, it's not good enough to feed the dog. That's all you can do. Why did I ever marry you? My momma told me you were no good".
That keeps going until you look like a freshly peeled potato. All the skin and hide have been stripped off of you. At least that's how you feel at the time. And then you're thrown into hot water where you are pulled out and you get mashed, just thoroughly, thoroughly mashed. And then after about ten years, you look like you've been through the fires of hell itself. You've been mashed together just like 2 potatoes. You can't tell one from the other. You lose your identity. You think alike. You talk alike. You are alike. That's marriage. It's not easy. Matthew 5:28, Jesus said, "Whosoever looks on a woman and lusts after her, has committed adultery with her already".
Now think about that. In the Old Testament under the law of Moses, you could look at a woman and lust and lust and lust. As long as you didn't have sex with her, you were alright. Now comes Jesus of Nazareth, Who is putting the constitution and bylaws of the church in Matthew 5:6-7, and He makes this statement: "If you look at a woman and lust after her, you've committed adultery already". Do you read pornographic magazines? Do you watch porno on the internet? Jesus said you're committing adultery. Under the law of Moses, you could look and lust. But Jesus said that's out. Jesus raised the bar in Matthew 5. If you want to, if it's in your heart, you've done it. And on that basis, most of the churches in America need to recognize they are not pure because God says so, not because I say so, but because the Word of God says so. And you will answer for that when you stand in front of God.
Get pornography out of your life. Get those magazines you have hidden under the bed out of your life. Why is adultery forbidden? I repeat, because it destroys the family. Why is America coming apart at the seams? Because the traditional family is falling apart. It has been for 50 years. Why are gangs in the street ruling our cities? Because the children of America suffer from the phantom father, the father who abandoned them, the father who was never there, the father who released them to the thugs in the street. And now, they're the ones that are burning down the cities. They're the ones that are shooting the cops. They are the ones that are looking for guidance. They found it. They found it in the dope culture.
Feminists attack marriage and childbearing as slavery and bondage. The government subsidizes fornication. Have an illegitimate child, and the government will give you a monthly check. The tax laws punish those who marry and reward those who shack up. By the way, if you're living with someone that you're not married to, one of you move out, and move out today! You're living in adultery! Why is adultery forbidden? Because it destroys self-esteem. It destroys fellowship with God. And when you're cut off from God, life is not worth living. The true story from a Washington newspaper, tells of a young morally emancipated couple, who defied the seventh commandment. They were found locked in each other's arms in a gas-filled apartment.
On the table was a letter that had been written by the woman. The letter said, "We have been accustomed to laugh, Fred and I, at the moral code as a set of manmade rules to frighten timid people into being good. But we now have learned through our own experience, 'the wages of sin is death'. Yes, many times worse than death. It's actually hell on earth". They pried their dead bodies apart and buried them after they committed suicide. Adultery is forbidden because it produces a child that will never know its father, who will live life with a hole in its heart, an emotional cripple that will live all the days of its life. America's streets are asphalt jungles. They are filled with millions of children who do not know their father. And that's why there's this rage loose in the world today. That's why cities are being burned to the ground. That's why stores and businesses are being robbed. That's why our policemen are being shot down in the streets. If there was ever a day for these major cities to reconsider their sanity. Rehire every policeman and give them a raise.
Hello, singles. Listen up. Adultery is forbidden because it drastically reduces your chance of marriage. Sweetheart, the more you give yourself sexually to that clown you're living with the less your chance to capture Prince Charming. He will dump you and go on to new conquests. The unknown is fascinating. Throw that away, and you're out of the game. You're just garbage. Young lady, if some hormone hurricane has the urge to merge with you and tries to get you to sacrifice your virginity to prove your love, slap his face until his ears ring like chapel bells, and call your daddy.
Adultery is forbidden, because sexually transmitted diseases will kill you. "The wages of sin is death" is not an illusion: it's a reality. God didn't command us to stay sexually pure because He didn't know how much fun it is. He knows! He also knew sexual impurity could kill you. That's love. It's not legalism. Statistics reveal that 60% of high school girls by the age of 15 had sexual intercourse. Statistics also show that 70% of boys the same age have also had sex. Remember, when you get into bed with someone, you're going to bed with perhaps several hundred people.
Recently, CNN carried a report that 40% of America's high school students admitted to having sex with four to six partners. That's how sexual diseases are spreading like fire, immorality. And you can't get a shot for immorality. God's cure is the seventh commandment. Stay sexually pure. Be moral. Abstain. What's wrong with that? Nothing! The Bible's position on adultery is very clear. Moses didn't write it down, and then forget the rest of the Bible. Solomon wrote in Proverbs 6:27, "Can a man take fire to his bosom and his clothes not be burned"? Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 6:9, "Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God"? "The unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God". That means you're not going to heaven, unless you repent!
Now here are the people he considers unrighteous. The Holy Spirit is saying this through Paul. "Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor the effeminate, or abusers of themselves with mankind...Shall inherit the Kingdom of God". According to saint Paul, and the Holy Spirit, the third member of the Trinity, if you were sexually impure and have not repented of that impurity, you're not going to heaven. John wrote in Revelation 21:8, there are eight groups of people that will spend eternity in outer darkness. I'm going to read them. I'm asking you, "Are you on this list"? "But the fearful". Who are "The fearful"? "The fearful" are people who were afraid to confess that Jesus Christ was Lord.
If someone ever asks you, "Is Jesus the Lord of your life"? You look them in the eye and say, "Absolutely. How about you"? Be bold. Be strong. Stand up. You believe in something: speak it out. Certainly, the ungodly are not afraid to tell you what they believe. "But the fearful, and unbelieving, the abominable, murderers, whoremongers, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake of fire that burns with brimstone. This is the second death". That's very clear! The Old Testament' reactions to adultery. Let's compare the actions of Joseph in Egypt and king David. Both were mighty men of God. Joseph was a slave in Egypt. He was seduced by Potiphar's desperate housewife. "Come lie with me," she says.
Now here are reasons why Joseph could have easily said, "Yes". One, he was a slave. There was no moral code for slaves. Two, he was out of town. No one knew him. And yet he was strong every time. What did it cost him? It cost him 12 years in the penitentiary. You say, "Society would have looked at him and said, 'you are a stupid boy'". But God looked down and said, "That's my champion. I am going to promote him from that penitentiary to being the second in command in the greatest nation on the face of the earth". Joseph went from the pit to the palace, from the prison to the penthouse in one day. He became the second most powerful man in all of the earth, because he was loyal to God's moral code.
What about king David? King David was driven to murder, and the sword of sorrow never departed from his house. His daughter was raped. His son, Absalom, was a rebel, who was slaughtered, hanging by his hair by one of David's generals. David was forbidden to build the temple because God said, "You are a bloody man". Why? Because he killed the husband of Bathsheba, because he had impregnated her. God did not allow him to build the temple, which is what he considered his top priority in life. His top priority in life was lost because he violated the law of God. God didn't stop loving him. But God did not allow him to accomplish his destiny.
How can we keep clean? Face the fact that the seventh commandment is given to save your life, your marriage, your emotional and mental health, and your soul. Keep it! Don't date anyone you wouldn't marry, because you will marry someone you date. "Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers". If you hadn't dated her to start with, if you hadn't dated him to start with, you wouldn't want to marry that person now. Here's what you do, young person. Tell him or her, "Change now or get lost". "Stop drinking now or get lost". "Get a job now or get lost". "Go to church now or get lost". "Find Jesus now or get lost. Bye".
Remember that you belong to God, and you are far more precious to Him than you know. I think one of the great things that we're going to discover in heaven is how much God loves us and how much He wants to do for us if we would just have obeyed the things He asks us to do. The Bible says, "Know you not that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit". The Holy Spirit is living in you, allegedly, if you're submitted to God. One day in South Africa, a man stopped to watch young boys playing marbles. He noticed that the marbles flashed and sparkled in the sunlight. His curiosity was aroused. Upon investigation, he discovered to his amazement that the boys playing marbles were playing marbles with diamonds. Those diamonds were worth millions of dollars. They had no idea their real value.
The point is, I believe we have no idea just how precious and valuable we are to God. You are God's child. He sent His son to this earth to die for you: that you can have eternal life. You are God's treasure. He wants to show you His love. He wants to show you His miracle-working power. The miracle power of Jesus Christ should be manifested in the church, because God desires for you to have His very best. We are the bride of Christ. The ministry of Jesus Christ was a ministry of miracles. The Bible is a book of miracles. Christians should live their lives expecting a miracle. The Bible says, "Nothing is impossible to those that believe". Jesus said, "Whatsoever you ask the father in my name, he will do it". Say that with me. "He will do it".
John 2:23, "Now when Jesus was in Jerusalem at the Passover... Many believed in His name". Why? "Because of the miracles which He did," not what He spoke, not what He taught, but because of the supernatural power of God that was demonstrated in His life.
Now think in these terms: the Bible says, "When just two or three of you get together, you have the power to say to a mountain, 'be removed and cast into the sea'". That, my friend, is power. So, I'm saying to you right now, if you need a miracle in your body, a miracle in your marriage, your emotions, fear, anger, resentment, you need a miracle in your family because there's a lack of unity, there's division and there's bitterness, or you're a businessman and you need God's direction in a business opportunity, America, as a nation, needs a spiritual and moral revival. And that's going to require a miracle. If you need a miracle and you believe that Jesus will give it to you, I believe He loves you enough to give it to you today. I want to pray that God will give you that miracle. For the next couple of minutes, I want you to raise your voice and lift your hands, and you ask God for the miracle that you need.
Heavenly Father, see the people who are reading this and praying to You for a miracle right now. They are talking to You about the miracle that they need in their lives. Right now, I believe marriages are being saved, families are being reunited: fear, anger, and resentment are being conquered. The miracle of unity is coming to families. Businessmen, who need God's direction in a business opportunity, are experiencing that right now.
The miracle of a spiritual awakening in America can be a reality, because where two or three of you have gathered together, Jesus said He is there. Therefore, the Lord of hosts is here right now. And every word we speak is being recorded in heaven. And every barrier is being broken. And every form of resistance is collapsing, because the Kingdom of God will endure. Righteousness will conquer evil. Good will conquer the bad, because the Lord of hosts is in the house! Give Him praise where you are today!
