The Fatal Attraction of Adultery
Notes
Transcript
Intro; In 1987, Michael Douglass starred with actress Glen Close and Anne Archer in a grammy nominated film where a married man's one-night stand comes back to haunt him when that lover begins to stalk him and his family. She came into the house and killed the family pet [boiled a rabbit], and even came into the master bath while the wife was bathing and tried to kill her. In the end the stalking woman was killed but the family was torn apart. All this begin with one look of lust from the man. The name of that film was “Fatal Attraction”.
This morning I want us to look at “The Fatal Attraction of Adultery”
Text; Mt. 5:27-30
Matthew 5:27–30 (NKJV)
27 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’
28 But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
29 If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.
30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.
1. Adultery; 27
1. Adultery; 27
Jesus has been dealing with the issue of our relationships with other people and what ruins those relationships. He has mentioned murder, commandment #6, now he he moves to adultery, commandment #7.
Adultery- moicheia [moy-khi’-ah] sexual intercourse/relations of a man with a married woman other than his own spouse. Marital unfaithfulness. [Willful sin, intentional]
Sex: the Bible does not teach that sex is wrong. But the Bible does teach that sex can be used wrongly, and the wrong use of sex is sin. Sex has been given by God for at least three reasons.
1. Sex causes a person to be attracted to another person. Sexual attraction is one of the major tools that brings about marriage (Ge. 2:18, 21–25).
2. Sex is a tool with which to love. Sex, properly rooted and expressed in God, is one of the deepest and richest involvements and expressions of love (Ep. 5:28–32).
3. Sex creates life. God has given man the privilege of being a sub-creator of life—under Him (Ge. 1:29).
Leadership Ministries Worldwide. (2004). The Gospel according to Matthew: Chapters 1:1–16:12 (Vol. 1, p. 85). Leadership Ministries Worldwide.
The seventh commandment was given for respect and protection of families and neighbors, to keep one from judgment and perishing in hell, and to protect man from sinning against his own body. [Commandment #10 goes hand in hand with #7]
“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.”
The Pharisees’ teaching was concerned only with the outward act. They said the only way one could commit adultery was through an act of sexual union. They correctly quoted the commandment, but they missed its point.
The heart is the soil where the seeds of sin are imbedded and begin to grow!
2. The Look of Lust; 28
2. The Look of Lust; 28
Jesus is saying that “the look of lust is to adultery what anger is to murder”, you’ve already commited the act in your heart!
Lust- to strongly desire to have what belongs to someone else and/or to engage in an activity which is morally wrong.
Jesus is not condemning natural interest in the opposite sex, or even talking with one of the opposite sex, but the deliberate and repeated filling of one’s mind with fantasies that would be evil if acted out.
Look- from the Greek word [ble’po], is a present participle, and refers to the continuous process of looking. It begins with the eyes and moves to the heart. A glance turns into a continued look, and that turns into lustful thoughts and desires.
Looking at a woman lustfully does not cause a man to commit adultery in his thoughts. He already has committed adultery in his heart. It is not lustful looking that causes the sin in the heart, but the sin in the heart that causes lustful looking. The lustful looking is but the expression of a heart that is already immoral and adulterous. Remember that the heart is the soil where the seeds of sin are imbedded and begin to grow. [John MacArthur]
25 Do not lust after her beauty in your heart, Nor let her allure you with her eyelids.
26 My son, give me your heart, And let your eyes observe my ways.
27 For a harlot is a deep pit, And a seductress is a narrow well.
28 She also lies in wait as for a victim, And increases the unfaithful among men.
12 But these, like natural brute beasts made to be caught and destroyed, speak evil of the things they do not understand, and will utterly perish in their own corruption,
13 and will receive the wages of unrighteousness, as those who count it pleasure to carouse in the daytime. They are spots and blemishes, carousing in their own deceptions while they feast with you,
14 having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin, enticing unstable souls. They have a heart trained in covetous practices, and are accursed children.
15 They have forsaken the right way and gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;
16 but he was rebuked for his iniquity: a dumb donkey speaking with a man’s voice restrained the madness of the prophet.
17 These are wells without water, clouds carried by a tempest, for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.
Adultery is a “Fatal Attraction” that will destroy your family and make you a victim of empty desires!
“How can we live a life of purity in such a sex-saturated society like ours today?”
3. Flee the Temptation of Sin; 29-30
3. Flee the Temptation of Sin; 29-30
When Jesus said to get rid of your eye or your hand, he was speaking figuratively. He didn’t mean literally to gouge out an eye because even a blind person can lust. And cutting off a hand will not resolve the issue with your heart. Jesus is saying we need to have a “spiritual amputation” of temptation in the heart!
Remove items of temptation from your life. Things that make you stumble and fall. That could be things in the home [magazines, certain TV shows, internet sites], breaking off of certain friendships that are bringing you down spiritually. Stop going places that could cause you to sin like beaches with skimpy bikini’s, or even hanging around church members that aren’t dressed appropriately!
27 But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.
18 Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body.
22 Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
Getting rid of harmful influences will not change a corrupt heart into a pure heart. Outward acts cannot produce inner benefits. But just as the outward act of adultery reflects a heart that is already adulterous, the outward act of forsaking whatever is harmful reflects a heart that hungers and thirsts for righteousness. The outward act of removing corrupt influences is the start of effective protection from a fatal attraction.
A popular proverb goes, “Sow a thought and reap an act. Sow an act and reap a habit. Sow a habit and reap a character. Sow a character and reap a destiny.”
When we remove the corrupt influences from our lives we must replace that void with good influences or you will be worse off the second time around.
[Illus.]
Matthew 12:43–45 (NKJV)
43 “When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none.
44 Then he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order.
45 Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first. So shall it also be with this wicked generation.”
What would be the good influence to replace the fatal attraction of adultery?
15 Drink water from your own cistern, And running water from your own well.
16 Should your fountains be dispersed abroad, Streams of water in the streets?
17 Let them be only your own, And not for strangers with you.
18 Let your fountain be blessed, And rejoice with the wife of your youth.
19 As a loving deer and a graceful doe, Let her breasts satisfy you at all times; And always be enraptured with her love.
Turn to Song of Solomon chapter 7 [read entire chapter] The Song of Solomon exalts the joy of love in marriage and teaches that physical beauty and sexuality in the marriage relationship should not be viewed as bad or evil, but exciting and wonderful! With an intimate relationship like that between a married couple, why would anyone desire anything else!!
[29b-30b] Jesus says the cost of adultery [continual adultery without repentance] is the fires of hell!
5 Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.
6 Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience,
Close;
Returning from Sunday School one day, where the Ten Commandments had been the topic, a young son asked his father, “Daddy, what does it mean when it says, Thou shalt not commit agriculture’?” There was hardly a beat between the question and the father’s smooth reply: “Son, that just means that you’re not supposed to plow the other man’s field.”
Keep away from the “Fatal Attraction of Adultery” and quit thinking the grass is greener in your neighbors field. That’s just Satan’s sewer line!