TEN COMMANDMENTS
THOU SHALT NOT COMMIT ADULTERY
DR. JIM DIXON
EXODUS 20:1-20
MARCH 29, 1992
Human sexuality is one of the most powerful forces in human society. Sex has the power to raise Nielson ratings. It has the power to sell products in advertising. Sex has the power to draw men and women towards marriage, family, childbearing. Sex has the power to tempt men and women away from marriage. Sex has the power to destroy political and ecclesiastical careers, careers in counseling. Sex has great power. Psychologists and theologians agree that human sexuality needs boundaries. Now they do not agree on where to place those boundaries, but they do agree that human sexuality needs boundaries for the sake of individuals and for the sake of society as a whole. In the Bible, God has given sexual boundaries, and this leads us to the seventh commandment ‘Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery.” This morning I have three teachings and Pm hoping that we will have time to explore them. all The first teaching is this. God is pro-sex. You see, a lot of people, a lot of Christians, a lot of people in the world are surprised to hear this God is pro-sex. God thinks that sexual relationships in marriage are absolutely beautiful I mean it was His idea God created us as sexual beings. Now, unfortunately, sex and even sex within the context (74 marriage began to be viewed with suspicion during the Monastic Movement which arose during the 3rd and 4th centuries AD, following the teachings of St. Anthony. From the sixth century to the 18th century, the Monastic Movement was big, and men and women went into monasteries. In monasteries, they took three vows. The first vow was the vow of poverty. In this vow, a man or a woman pledged that they would own no earthly possessions. The second vow was the vow of chastity. In this vow, the man or woman pledged that they would abstain from all sexual relations. The third vow was the vow of obedience, obedience to the regula, the rules, which generally were based on the teachings of St. Benedict or perhaps the teachings of Rt. Basil Now all three of these vows produced distortions of biblical truth, but the vow I want us to take a look at this morning is the vow of chastity.
You see, the word chastity and the word chaste literally means “pure.” The word for chaste, is the word “hognos” which is part of a family of Greek words, the root meaning of which is “holy.” In these monasteries and in this Monastic Movement, it was believed that if you would be holy, if you would be utterly holy, then you must abstain from all sexual relationships. Sex within marriage would keep you from being perfectly holy. Therefore, they took the vow of celibacy. You see, even though, in the Monastic Movement, they agreed that sex in marriage was not a sin, they still viewed it as somehow tainted, and if you participated in sex in marriage, even that would somehow make you less than holy.
This is contrary to the Bible. In the Bible, the word “hognos,” this word that means “chastity” or “chaste” is applied equally to Christians in marriage or Christians in celibacy. You can be lust as holy married, enjoying sexual relations in marriage as you can be single and celibate and abstaining from sexual relations. Now unfortunately, this. Monastic view of sex came to America, not through the Puritan Movement but through the extreme fringe of Puritanism, Through the centuries, this view of sex as somehow tainted has been furthered by some of the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church. Now there’s a story that is going around now about the Pope. It is not derogatory, so it’ll preach! It seems that the Pope came to Chicago, right here in the United States, in the midst of ecclesiastical service. He had various duties to perform, and when he had rendered them, he was ready to go to New York. However, he was running late. He went out into his limousine, and he said to the chauffeur “I’m going to be late for my plane. You have only got 20 minutes to get me to the airport. You need to drive fast.” The chauffeur said. “Well you know, I’ll do all I can” and he began to race on the highways. of Chicago towards O’Hare International Airport. He was making pretty good time, but the Pope was restless in the back seat and he just felt like they weren’t moving fast enough. He said to the chauffeur “Pull over.” He said, “I can drive faster than this You sit in the back, and I’ll drive.” The Pope began to drive, and he began to race over the speed limit there on the highways of Chicago. Finally there were blinking red lights and a policeman pulled the limousine over. The cop got out of his police car, walked up to the limousine and the Pope rolled down the window. The cop looked at him and the cop was just absolutely stunned. He went back to his patrol car, and he radioed to headquarters. He said, “I don’t know what to do.” He says “I’ve pulled over this limousine. I was going to give a ticket for speeding. But the Pope is driving” The ‘ person at headquarters said “Well, you know, the law is the law. It does not matter who it is. If they’ve violated the speed limit, give them a ticket.” The policeman said You do not understand. I mean this is REALLY a special person.” The voice on the other end of the phone said “Well, you mean, it’s like the President of the United States?” The cop said, “I don’t know who it is but whoever it is, he has the Pope as the chauffeur!” Now that story has absolutely nothing to do with our sermon this morning, but it does introduce the Pope and the papacy. I must say I have no ax to grind with the Pope. I have no ax to grind with the papacy. In fact I believe the current Pope John Paul is truly a very good man, and frankly I believe that the Vatican, in recent years, has done a much better job in taking a biblical stance regarding moral and ethical issues confronting society than Protestant leaders have. I must say, however, that through the years, the Vatican has had a somewhat tragic view of sex, and sometimes, through the papal office, theological proclamations have been made which would bring into question the holiness of sex even within marriage. There have been statements made through the centuries which would imply that nuns and priests are somehow more holy because of their celibacy, Now I do not have any problem with celibacy. I mean I don’t feel called to it. I do not have a problem with it. Certainly, if celibacy can serve a purpose… If someone needs to have singularity of focus on the things of Christ and more time for the service of Christ… but to say that celibacy produces more holiness as opposed to marriage brings the whole institution of marriage into question. It also takes sex within marriage and puts a stain upon it. There have also been statements within the Roman Catholic Church through the years that would imply that sex and sexual relations are solely or at least primarily for the purpose of reproduction and procreation. This too, is not a biblical view. In fact, when you see God’s gift of sex and you look to the Bible you turn. to Genesis and you see how God gave sex to men and women, the context would not take the view that sex was primarily for reproduction or procreation.
In fact, in the context, when sex was given as a gift to men and women, it is primary purpose seems to have been intimacy because, in the Bible, we’re told that “man was feeling alone. He was feeling lonely, and he cried out to God and God made woman.” When man saw woman, his response, to paraphrase it, was WOW! I mean that was his response, and it’s in that context where God says, “Man shall leave and cleave and the two shall become one flesh,” It was meant for pleasure as well as reproduction and procreation, but it was meant for marriage. Physical union. Meant to be Joined with the spiritual and emotional union of marriage. “A. man shall leave his mother and father and cleave unto his wife and the two shall become one flesh.” You see, sex is like fire. Fire., in the fireplace., is warm and wonderful and something to cozy up to, but when fire leaves the fireplace. when it leaves the hearth, it be Comes uncontrollable and destructive. So it is that sex within marriage is wonderful but when it leaves that context, destructive, dangerous. This leads to our second teaching this morning. God, though He is pro-sex, God hates adultery. God hates adultery. Now God does not hate adulterers. God does not hate people. God loves all people. You may have committed adultery. According to national statistics, 31% of the married people in America have committed adultery. If you have committed adultery, God still loves you, but God hates adultery. You might say “Well, doesn’t God hate all sin?” And yes, God does hate all sin but this sin of adultery, biblically, seems to be particularly grave. You know a few months ago, our daughter, Heather was taking a pre-SAT test at Littleton High School. On that test, she was asked to identify the definition of various vocabulary words. One of the vocabulary words was the word “cuckold” c-u-c k-o-l-d. She did not know the meaning of that word. She had never seen the word before. She came home and she said, ‘What’s the meaning of the word / cuckold ‘?” I did not know. Barb did not know. We got out the dictionary and we looked it up. We found that the word “cuckold” was a word that was used to describe a husband whose wife had committed adultery. The husband’s wife had committed adultery and the husband was called a “cuckold.” It is an old English word that comes from an old French word the old French word “cuckoo.” The word “cuckoo” means “idiot” or “fool” and that, of course, is what a husband feels like when his wife commits adultery.
It is what a wife feels like when her husband commits adultery. Nothing is more degrading. Never do you feel more devalued, less human, less appreciated than when your mate, your spouse, commits adultery. Adultery destroys self-esteem, destroys marriages. It takes away the security of the children. It destroys the family. For these reasons alone, God hates adultery but all the more so, God hates adultery because it’s a violation of a sacred covenant. I mean marriage, biblically, is a sacred covenant, a sacred covenant not only between a man and a woman in the presence of many witnesses but a sacred covenant between a man and a woman. When we commit adultery, we violate that sacred covenant. God hates adultery. I do not think we realize in this culture and in this time how much God hates it In fact, in the Old Testament, there were various penalties for various sins some sins being more grave than others. Adultery was linked with murder. In the Old Testament, the penalty for adultery was death by stoning serious sin and yet, I hope you understand, forgivable.
God is willing to forgive adultery. The cross of Jesus Christ makes all sin. forgivable. The only sin that is now not forgivable is ultimate and final rejection of Jesus Christ and His gospel, but adultery is forgivable” If you’ve committed adultery, God wants you to know that, and surely if you’ve committed adultery, the story of the woman caught in the act of adultery in John, I mean, it must be precious to you This woman was caught in the very act of adultery and she was brought by the Jewish leaders to Jesus Christ. They said, “The law commands us to stone such What do you say?” Jesus said, “Let he who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Jesus showed her mercy and grace. Jesus said to her “Are there none to condemn you?” She said “None, Lord.” He said, “Neither do I condemn your Go and sin no more.” He forgave her but he called her to obedience. If you are committing adultery today and it’s very possible that there are people in this room, right now who are in the midst of committing adultery in their lives who might be contemplating adultery. God wants you to repent. He wants you to turn back to your marriage and seek His forgiveness and His grace. It’s a dangerous thing to contemplate adultery and think “Well, I’ll just go ahead, and do it because God can forgive it.” Do you realize how dangerous it is to pervert the grace of God, the license, to cheapen His grace? I once had a man come into my office years ago, I had known him for a number of years, and in fact, he was in my Koinonia group at another church. He said, “You know, I’ve got something that’s really hard to tell you He said, “I’m having an affair.” I was stunned because I knew him, and I knew his wife and I thought that things were great. He said “No, I’m having an affair,” He said “I’m really captivated by this woman at work.” He said, “We’ve not yet had sex, but I think about her all the time Right now it’s an affair of the heart, but I’m really tempted to go ahead and commit adultery.” I said “You know the Bible. You know what God wants you to do. God wants you to repent. God wants you to turn back to your wife. God wants you to seek His forgiveness and His healing.” He nodded his head and he said “Yeah. I know that but I do not know whether I really want to do. that.” He left my office, and he did not turn back to his wife. He did not repent. I remember he said to me, “What if I go ahead and commit adultery? Will God forgive me?” And certainly God is always able to forgive but the question you must think about is “Are you able to repent?” You see if you do something in such a premeditated way. If you say, “I’m going to go ahead and commit adultery and I just trust that God will forgive me.” you might not be able to find forgiveness later because you might not be able to repent. Premeditated sin like that produces a hardness of heart, and even though you might know intellectually it’s wrong, having committed adultery in such a premeditated way, you might not really be able to find repentance in your heart and the forgiveness of God might be far from you God wants you to know adultery is serious business. Serious.
I have a third teaching this morning, briefly. Adultery begins in the heart. It begins in the heart. Of course we have this teaching in Matthew, Chapter 5, in the Sermon on the Mount where once again our Lord. Jesus Christ takes one of the Ten Commandments, and He brings it home to us. He said “You’ve heard it said of old. You should not commit adultery. But I say to you, anyone who looks upon a woman with lust has already committed adultery in his heart.” This is a hard teaching. Who is free of sin? Who is free of lust? The Greek word for It is the word. “epothumia.” It means “excessive desire.” It is hard to know what sexual desires were like prior to the fail isn’t it? We’re a fallen world and each and every one of us are fallen people. It’s hard to know what sexual desire was like before sin entered the world what God meant for it to be like what’s natural and what’s excessive. That is hard to know. I do not believe that it is lustful to feel attraction for the opposite sex. Obviously, that is natural. I don’t believe it’s lustful to feel attraction when you see somebody that has a beautiful face or figure. That is not lust. It is natural attraction. But, you see, if you go home and, in your mind, you begin to play with that image, if you go home and in your mind, you begin to unclothe that person, you begin to seek to imagine what it would be like to have sexual relations with that person, you’ve moved into lust and you’ve moved into sin.
You see, David committed adultery, but sin began long before the act of adultery. He entered into sin before he ever summoned Bathsheba to his palace. He entered into sin before he ever “hatched the plot.” Sometime after he saw Bathsheba in the nude on that housetop, he began to play with it in his mind. He entered into lust and into sin. Now I know this is a sensitive subject and a difficult one Jesus said, “You’ve heard it said of old “You shall not commit adultery. I say to you whoever looks upon a woman with lust has already committed adultery in his heart. If your right eye offend thee, pluck it out If your right hand offends thee, if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off.” Jesus did not mean for us to take that with some kind of a crude literalism. He is simply saying “Whatever causes you to lust, separate yourself from it.”
The Greek word for stumble or offense is that word “scandalon.” It was used to describe a pit that was dug in the ground and then covered up with camouflage so you could fall into it unsuspectingly. Whatever causes you to fall into lust whatever that trap is for you separate yourself from it, cut it off. If it is magazines, do not take those magazines. If it’s certain types of movies, don’t go to those movies. If it’s a private lunch with someone at work, don’t have a private lunch with that someone. God has called us to holiness. It begins in the heart. We live in a world that is increasingly fallen. The darkness is growing. It is hard to live for Christ. Jesus Christ is trying to raise up special people in whom the light shines brightly.
In the Bible-, there are three kinds of sin sexual sin. Three sexual sins that are listed. Adultery, fornication, homosexuality. The world we live in no longer views homosexuality as sin. They view homosexuals as an ethnic group deserving special protections. They have bought the lie. The world we live in no longer views fornication as a sin… Fornication means sex prior to marriage before marriage. Most people, the overwhelming majority of people in this fallen world no longer view fornication as sin. Most people in the world still view adultery as sin but who knows how long they’ll view adultery as wrong? I mean once marriage and the family has crumbled, they won’t view adultery as wrong anymore. If you’re a Christian, you don’t receive your morals and ethics from the world but from God’s word. God’s called us to be strong and to seek faithfulness that you might be committed to Him, head to toe, that you might be His men and women. There’s going to be times when we fall, certainly in the heart, perhaps in our actions. God wants us to repent whenever we fall and “seek to fight the good fight” again, that we might be His people in action and in thought. Let us close with a word of prayer.