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EXODUS 20:14
(Readings: Matt.5:27-30: Lev.20:10-24)
The Seventh Commandment
Boys and girls…
I want to ask you a question about this verse.
The question is about the biggest word in this small sentence; the word "adultery".
And the question, boys and girls, is this: What do you think adultery means?
You think about that.
While you do that I'll tell you what one boy thought it meant when he first heard it.
He thought it had something to do with grown ups, because it has the word "adult" in it.
Well, it sounds like it - doesn't it?
Adult…ery.
And we could think that adultery is what adults do because whenever a movie or TV program is for adults only, or a DVD is classified MA, for Mature Audiences, it so often has sex outside of marriage.
It’s a strange thing, congregation, but what should be the very opposite of being an adult – the sin which goes against being responsible and committed - is called 'adult'.
Now, boys and girls, what did you think adultery means?
Let's see how right you are.
Let's look at what that word "adultery" really means.
By doing this we're going to understand a lot more about why so much adultery is happening now.
But also we'll start to realise the way things should be - the way that Christians should love them to be - because that's the way the Lord says they ought to be.
So, in looking at the seventh commandment this morning, we note three points.
Firstly we see … THE PRESENT SITUATION OF THIS SIN.
Secondly, there is … THE DIVINE RELATION WE WERE MEANT TO BE IN.
And thirdly, we realise … THE EARTHLY LOCATION WHERE IT WILL BEGIN.
Firstly, then … THE PRESENT SITUATION OF THIS SIN.
Now, just as that young boy looked at the word 'adultery', and thought it was about adults because that's what it looked like, so we can look literally at this word and see what it does mean.
You see, to adulterate something means to introduce an impurity into it – to mix it with something foreign.
So, it's not what it was originally.
In fact, it means it won't work the way it's meant to.
If you mix scrambled eggs with motor oil, you certainly won't be eating anything!
And it’s not good for the car engine either!
Spiritually, your relationship with God is adulterated with strong desires for money or power or position.
Those other things spoil what it was.
And so it is that marriages, in the same way, are adulterated by the straying of loyalty to a third party.
This is nothing new, of course.
There is a saying that prostitution is the world's oldest profession.
While this is not true, nevertheless it's been around for a long time!
Certainly in the world scene around the Israelites, when the Lord first spoke this commandment, the religious beliefs and practices were full of this adultery.
The temples of the Baals and the Asheroths all had their own prostitutes, with the major religious festivals characterised by wild orgies.
You only need to read further on in the Old Testament to see how the Israelites adopted those same disgusting practices when they left the way of the LORD and took on those other religions.
They certainly strayed in their loyalty!
And like the world of today it was all very naughty but oh so nice!
How often didn't God's people fall time and again into that sinful thrill-seeking!
So, why would people give up a lifetime of stability and peace for a moment of self-indulgent pleasure?
We can ask the same today as there is still rampant sexual freedom despite painful and deadly diseases.
In the New Testament, too, there is this sinful deviance.
Jesus strongly spoke out against the practice which Moses had allowed for with a 'bill of divorce' provision.
You see, originally that had clarified a divorced wife's status so that she could remarry.
But, over time, this had become a way through which the men could get rid of wives whenever they felt like it!
In complete contrast to that, Jesus says that marriage is for life.
As we read in Matthew 19 verse 9, "I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, and marries another woman commits adultery."
Yet the practice of easy divorce was so entrenched then that even Jesus' disciples exclaimed in verse 10 there, "If this is the situation between a husband and wife, it's better not to marry!"
Congregation, THE PRESENT SITUATION OF THIS SIN is that it's no different than other times in history.
In case, however, we would then be tempted to say it's always been like this, that's not true either.
During times of religious reformation, when a nation was gripped with biblical revival, it was quite different.
We shouldn't think, for example, of the Victorian age as some kind of repressive period - a time of apparently great unhappiness; believe me, the people were living in a stable freedom the Lord gave them through the revivals of the 18th and 19th centuries.
There was tremendous joy in knowing where you were going!
What a contrast with today.
Now, no one knows where they're going.
But if there's one thing becoming apparent it is the deep nature and extent of sexual sin.
For those times in Israel's history were no minor aberrations - they were major fall-outs with the Lord!
And although sins like lust, jealousy, pride and hatred are damning sins, and if unrepented they will justly send you to hell, the way they are shown on the outside - with adultery, fornication and murder - are much more terrible sins.
It was committing those sins which brought the Jewish people to the point of no return.
So why do these sins do this?
They do this, congregation, because they greatly damage God's Name and the character and lives of the people involved; and they bring devastating impact to the community the adulterer belongs.
You see, there is a difference between the thought leading up to the sin, and the sin itself.
For when the sin actually happens it impacts on others as well - it shatters a whole series of relationships!
And it's all very well to say, as many do today, "But let's not forget, all sin is equally bad before God … Sexual sin is no different … We're all sinners, and in God's eyes we're as guilty as our fallen brother or sister," but the effect of it actually happening is damaging.
Proverbs 6 speaks about the destruction that comes with adultery, the shame that won't ever be taken away.
The marriage contract has been broken.
This is the highest sort of theft, for a neighbour's own flesh has been taken.
This is no slip-up, but a massive, usually deliberately planned, rebellion against God's will.
The results are only too evident in the world we live in.
Thus we have … THE PRESENT SITUATION OF THIS SIN.
Now contrasted with this, is, in the second place … THE DIVINE RELATION WE WERE MADE TO BE IN.
For, congregation, if there is inevitably an effect from adultery, as for instance the words of Proverbs 6 say, "...for jealousy makes a man furious, and he will not spare when he takes revenge...," then how does God himself relate to us breaking the bond He meant for our good?
And here we’re not reflecting on any one in the world who commits adultery, but on those who are his chosen children.
So the Lord's commandment forbidding adultery has to be understood in the bigger context.
Despite whatever help this command may have been to the Israelites physically, and certainly it's been a real blessing to our western world later, it's really a part of the unfolding history of God redemption - of his saving his people for himself.
You see, it's not just sexual purity, and all those thoughts and words and actions which come with it – it is covenant devotion which is underneath all this.
Because of that covenant devotion - the spiritual connection - the apostle Paul, when he describes the jealous love that a man should have for his wife, can't help continually reflecting on God's jealous love for his people in Jesus Christ.
The great wonder and mystery for Paul isn't in married love, but divine love!
Our marriages at best are just little pictures of the really big picture!
Congregation, Paul is no longer Saul the legalistic Pharisee whom Jesus met on the road to Damascus.
He doesn't separate the commandments from the Lord who gave them or from his purposes in the salvation of his people.
Being faithful in marriage is how we serve God not just because he said so, but because it shows the love we have from God's redeeming love.
When we love others we show our love for him who loved us first of all!
As 1st Corinthians 6 verse 19 says, we are temples of the Holy Spirit - body and soul.
This is why the sexual act should lift us above this world - it's actually a sign post to what God is planning for all eternity with us.
The relationship which matters most of all is, in the words of C.S. Lewis, "the happiness of being freely, voluntarily united" to God, men and angels "in an ecstasy of love and delight compared with which the most rapturous love between a man and a woman on this earth is mere milk and water."
Of course, this is still the exact opposite of where the world is at.
Though there may no longer be the Baals and the Asheroths, those gods and goddesses of fertility whose worship was the most blatant promiscuity, there are today their modern representatives in the physical attractions of movie or modelling stars.
The lure of sexual fulfilment and excitement jumps at us from so many magazines.
There’s that constant search for the latest thrill.
The rash of male impotency advertisements are yet another example.
And yet none of that satisfies.
It doesn't last!
You see, it doesn't get to the heart of things - it's only the lust of things.
Dear believer, here is … THE DIVINE RELATION WE WERE MADE TO BE IN.
And this leads, by God's grace and guidance, in the third place, to … THE EARTHLY LOCATION WHERE IT WILL BEGIN.
The Heidelberg Catechism, as it puts our spiritual position in practice, says in Answer 109 that God "forbids everything which incites to unchastity, whether it be actions, looks, talk, thoughts, or desires.”
This is quite a comprehensive cover!
Nothing is allowed which in any way at all would go against how the Lord wants us to treat sex.
You see, like everything else in our lives, sex belongs in its place.
And its place is in the marriage bond, the place God has always meant it to be – the place God blesses in a most wonderful way.
Somewhere, people have got the strange notion that Christianity is anti-sex.
They say that the Bible thinks of sex as, at best, a necessary evil or, at worst, as a dark luring by the devil.
They often point at so-called puritanical times in history to prove their point.
But it's those times, congregation, which actually disprove their point.
Because then sex was kept in its place, and in its place it is a gift of God to be enjoyed in all of its ripe, sensual fullness.
Sex is an enrichment of faithful love – it's a fruit of commitment.
In its power to give birth to a new human being, a baby, it's a thing of great wonder.
And, yet, sex isn't only a thing of wonder, it's also a power.
We mustn't underestimate that.
It can be used to thrill or humiliate, to set free or to enslave.
It can take up a person's whole life, colouring his days, distorting all his relationships.
Sex, like fire and water, is a good servant but a bad master.
So, dear friend, what is sex to you?
In your marriage does it serve to make you delight in your spouse, and in your spouse alone?
As a single person, do you burn inside because of sex's cruel bondage?
Sex is one way the devil can walk right into the church family and cause the most devastating damage.
We've seen ministers and elders we so much looked up to, fall like dominoes under its withering power.
All because we're not keeping it in its place!
Boys and girls, perhaps a lot of this has gone straight over your heads.
Maybe it hasn't made all that much sense.
But you know Mum and Dad love each other - that's why you're here.
And that's why God gave this seventh commandment.
He wants your family to keep together because your family is a part of a much bigger family - his Church Family, the household of faith - the people his own Son Jesus died specially for, so that we can show we are God's family.
Boys and girls, I hope you know a bit more about why adultery is really not for adults at all.
I hope you've seen how precious your family is and how much we have to pray and work to keep it that way.
It's God's way after all, isn't it?
Our Lord Jesus, who lives in that glorious unity with his Church, wants husbands and wives to live the same way in their marriages.
He knows that's not easy; he knows we can't achieve this perfectly here below.
But how much doesn't he love to bring a little bit of heaven into the hell this world's becoming!
Amen.
PRAYER:
Let's pray…
O Lord, make us to rejoice in your gift, the gift which has its only true purpose in the place called a marriage.
Because you know, O Lord, how it's only there, in the place you put it, that we can be truly free from all fear and guilt.
And if there would be any among us now with wandering eyes and shifting interest, do stir them within that they may repent and, receiving your forgiveness, start to grow again in all things unto you, you our Lord Jesus.
You, dear Saviour, who by your love for the Church, through your sacrifice on the cross, proved the faithfulness of the ultimate true love.
In your saving Name, we pray.
Amen.
* As a matter of courtesy please advise Rev. Sjirk Bajema, if you plan to use this sermon in a worship service. Thank-you.
(c) Copyright, Rev. Sjirk Bajema
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