Last Sunday Bill Diaper shared about the 7th commandment: “Do not commit adultery”. Here is the sermon page for you to check that out, here’s the follow up blog post:
As we have been going through the commandments we have seen that God only wants the best for his children. We have seen him share his wisdom with us. Wisdom that says: “if I was on earth this is how I would live because it is the way of blessing”. So when we turn the 7th commandment “thou shalt not commit adultery” we see the same thing: God only wants the best for us.
He created marriage to fulfil his plans for fruitfulness (Genesis 1:28) and to be a blessing to those involved, as they remained faithful to each other and God. Right from the beginning of the Bible it is obvious that God’s plan is for male and female to become one through marriage and that consummation of this covenant relationship is through sexual intimacy. Also, Genesis 39 shows us that breaking that covenant through sexual relationships with another person was considered to be a sin against God. The 7th commandment makes this clear, regardless of what the culture around might say, we need to keep to Gods clear plan for sexual intimacy, one man, one woman for life.
Now Jesus, in Matthew 7 clarifies this commandment by saying that even looking at a member of the opposite sex with lust is breaking this commandment. Jesus encourages us to always be on the alert against falling into this sin, by avoiding any areas of temptation and finding ways to kill these desires in our hearts. In our context that might mean, putting child locks on our television or PC, avoiding reading certain books, or going to certain places. It might mean talking honestly about these things with your partner, without being judgmental knowing that both partners in a relationship are sinners. Jesus says it’s worth it, walking in obedience to his word brings life both now and eternally, whereas disobedience leads to broken relationships and all the pain that this brings, and also a break down in our relationship with God all the pain that this brings.
There is nothing positive in adultery
But there is also an amazing positive outcome of staying pure and truly working at marriage with your partner even through the hard times. Ephesians 5 tells us we show Christ and his love for his church, we show Christ giving himself for his church, in other words, we reveal the gospel to the world through our committed, sacrificial love for each other. This is simply amazing, and we should be greatly motivated by this truth, and it should create in us a desire to run from sexual sin because it would blur and distort the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. And it should create in us a desire to stay pure, washing each other feet so that our marriage might lead others to saving faith in Christ
– Bill
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