The Seventh Commandment (Q75-77)

Introduction

Connection:

Some of you might remember the 1960’s. And one of the things you’ll distinctly remember is the sexual revolution. This is it’s definition:

The sexual revolution, also known as the sexual liberation, was a social movement that challenged traditional codes of behavior related to sexuality and interpersonal relationships throughout the developed Western world from the 1960s to the 1970s.

What happened during the sexual revolution? The ethic of God’s moral law relating to sexuality was cast aside for the modern preference of sexual freedom. The forbidden fruit was desired rather than fellowship with God. And what has become of such a movement? Did sexual liberty bring its promised satisfaction and goodness to the world?

No. Today we are left in a world of sexual confusion, bondage, disease; the destruction of the family unit; the objectification of women; the fuel of lust in an over sexualized culture; and an avenue for sinful humans to enjoy the cravings of their lust and evil desires as they fuel the flames as men, women and children are abused in the name of ‘adult-sex-work’.

Satan opened up a world of pleasure for a world of sinners to bathe in—and we jumped in head first with no regrets.

And here is the scary thing: the sexual revolution has also impacted the church. Many Christians have fallen into its traps and snares and have been convinced by the father of lies rather than trusting and obeying the Father of Truth, Beauty, and Goodness. Many professing Christians have fallen from grace in unrepentant sin. Many genuine Christians are backsliding in such sexual sin. Many healthy Christians continue to be assailed by such temptation day by day.

One sample of data and research of Christians in North America notes that:

“The statistics for Christian men between 18 and 30 years old are particularly striking:

77 percent look at pornography at least monthly. 36 percent view pornography on a daily basis. 32 percent admit being addicted to pornography (and another 12 percent think they may be).

The statistics for middle-aged Christian men (ages 31 to 49) are no less disturbing:

77 percent looked at pornography while at work in the past three months.64 percent view pornography at least monthly.18 percent admit being addicted to pornography (and another 8 percent think they may be).

Even married Christian men are falling prey to pornography and extramarital sexual affairs at alarming rates:

55 percent look at pornography at least monthly. 35 percent had an extramarital affair.”

Satan has many strongholds in the global church which can only be brought down by the power of God in Jesus Christ, through the Word and Prayer in the Spirit. Maybe you are one of such people.

By God’s grace—my prayer is that through this sermon you will find Gospel grace, forgiveness, healing, and strength from the Spirit that we might walk in repentance, faith, holiness, purity, and obedience as we follow Jesus and the Father’s will for our sexuality.

Theme:

The Seventh Commandment (Q75-77)

Need:

We need to hear the voice of our Creator relating to his will for our sexuality. We need transformation and stability and sanity from the voice of our Creator and Father as to the purpose and holiness of our sexuality for the glory of God.

Purpose:

To refute modern ideas about human sexuality and freedom; to instruct the saints in God’s desire for our sexuality; to comfort the saints in the purity of our Lord Jesus Christ in our salvation; and to exhort the saints to be holy in their sexuality.

PRAY - PRAY - PRAY - PRAY

Q75. Which is the seventh commandment? A75. The seventh commandment is, Thou shalt not commit adultery (Ex. 20:14).

Last week we looked at the sixth commandment and how the Lord requires that we uphold the sanctity of life by honouring those made in the image of God as we avoid unjust violence toward any such people made in the image of God.

Here we see this principle applied to human relationships and sexuality. To sin against someone sexually is to do a form of spiritual violence against them and yourself, instead of loving them in grace, self-control, and purity.

Before we go any farther we must notice that the commandment against adultery assumes a standard for marriage. This standard is quite simply covenanted marriage between one man and one women for life, unless death parts them, or Christ returns.

Our churches new statement of faith summarizes it well. This is the BF&M, the CNBC statement of Faith:

Marriage is the uniting of one man and one woman in covenant commitment for a lifetime. It is God’s unique gift to reveal the union between Christ and His church and to provide for the man and the woman in marriage the framework for intimate companionship, the channel of sexual expression according to biblical standards, and the means for procreation of the human race.

This is seen and defended in Genesis 1-2 where God creates the institution of marriage and gives Adam a wife named Eve—and it is affirmed by Jesus our Lord when he said this in Matthew 19:4-6

Matthew 19:4–6 ESV

He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”

This is marriage, God-ordained marriage, and anything less than, or more than this, is sinful in the eyes of God. This is the context for sexual expression and faithfulness—which is made by God to be an allegory, a picture, a story of the Gospel of Jesus Christ who loves, redeems, and covenants with his bride, the church, in an everlasting marriage relationship of love, service, submission, and delight.

The Apostle Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, said this in Eph. 5:31-32

Ephesians 5:31–32 ESV

“Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.

The reason why marriage and sexuality is so important is that it is a picture of the Gospel—and to misuse and abuse marriage and sexuality is to misuse and abuse the God-given picture of Christ and the Church in this world.

Wyatt Graham says this:

Scripture begins and ends with a marriage. The first recorded marriage always pointed to and has its fulfillment in divine union with humanity when the Jerusalem above descends as the bride of Christ to marry the Lamb. That is why the virgin saints dress in white as we await our final vision of God. Marriage has always meant union with God in Christ—that is why God invented it. And this grand purpose gives weight and stability to the institution of human marriage rather than damaging it. Our marriage imitates divine marriage, and its stability and our faithfulness to our partners evince the faithfulness of God—the mystery of the Gospel. Marriage means the Gospel.

Because marriage and sexuality is rooted in such a grand and glorious theme we can understand why it is so important to honour and cherish, for it symbolizes nothing less than the Gospel of Jesus Christ, union with God in Christ Jesus; Jesus Christ our Redeemer and Husband, and the Church, his Prize and Bride.

As we unpack the seventh commandment, what it requires and forbids, we must remember that God’s goal for us in our sexuality is to be pure and holy in all our relationships (single, engaged, or married) so that our lives adorn the Gospel as they present a shadow of the covenant marriage of Christ and the Church in the lives of his new covenant of saints.

Let’s continue:

Q76. What is required in the seventh commandment A76. The seventh commandment requireth the preservation of our own and our neighbors chastity, in heart, speech, and behavior (1 Cor. 7:2, 3, 5, 34, 36; Col. 4:6; 1 Pet. 3:2).

Chastity is the action of refraining from all immoral sexual activity. The Seventh Commandment requires that we preserve our own sexual purity and that we preserve our neighbours sexual purity. The former in our own heart; the latter in how we treat others. The Apostle writes:

1 Corinthians 7:2–3 ESV

But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband. The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband.

Here Paul shows us that sexual immorality is the exercise of sexuality outside of marriage (fornication, sleeping around, casual sex, lust, homosexuality, pornography, adultery.)… He assumes that all expressions of sexuality that are given and taken outside of the marriage covenant are immoral, that is, they break the Seventh commandment, and they transgress God’s will for us in our holiness.

Why do such activities break God’s will for the seventh commandment? Because they rebel against the wise God’s character and voice, against the Lord’s creation of marriage, and against our own hearts, which, if we are Christians, are indwelt by the Holy Spirit. Hear from Paul in 1 Cor. 6:15-20

1 Corinthians 6:15–20 ESV

Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two will become one flesh.” But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

Dear beloved Christian—you are united to Jesus Christ the Lord and are intimately related to Him by the presence of the Holy Spirit who indwells us individually and corporately and makes us the Temple of God. We are so close to Jesus that when we sin we are bringing the presence of Jesus into our sinful acts. Paul is using hyperbole, but the point is made—if we are members of Christ and use our members for sin then we are bringing the Body of Christ (us) into a sinful place (sexual immorality). Paul says, this should NEVER be the case! NEVER should Jesus be associated with prostitutes in sexual immorality. As the Body of Christ we must be holy for the sake of our Lord, for he purchased us by the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ, we are not our own, but belong to Jesus—so we are to glorify God in our body.

We are to preserve our chastity—our sexual purity. We are to flee from sinful relationships, set up boundaries, get accountability, confess our sins and find grace in Christ, then strive with all of our effort in all that we do to maintain holiness and purity in our walk with Jesus. Job cried out: behold I have made a covenant with mine eye, that I would not gaze upon a virgin (Job. 31:1).

The Seventh Commandment requires that we preserve and pursue our sexual purity (in singleness and in marriage).

And let me make this clear—the Bible has no separate sexual category for dating. In God’s eyes, those who are dating are still singles and are still called to sexual abstinence as they wait for their wedding day.

But some say: that’s impossible! To which I respond: nothing is impossible with God. The man and woman who are committing to following Jesus and loving Jesus above all else, rooted in the grace of his Gospel, and empowered by the Spirit of God, have all they need to be holy in their chastity.

Is it easy? No. It’s one of the hardest things in life. Will they be perfect? No. But they are called to be faithful to the Lord, not giving in to the temptations of our hearts—and this applies to all of us. We must yield the Armour of God at all times to fight against the Devil and our sinful hearts. God help us to be mighty in battle! God help us to crush our sinful desires and to walk in Gospel freedom.

Now, there is another layer to this discussion that is often neglected. One of the reasons why God gave marriage was to give a healthy and holy avenue to pursue sexual pleasure and delight in the context of marriage, for the good of the couple and the glory of God. Thus, when a couple who are both believers in Jesus are struggling in this way—Paul says, if you desire to honour God and each other, when it is wise and possible, then get married and crush the Devil with purity and a God-honoring marriage. Paul says:

1 Corinthians 7:36 ESV

If anyone thinks that he is not behaving properly toward his betrothed, if his passions are strong, and it has to be, let him do as he wishes: let them marry—it is no sin.

Dating Christians are sinners who struggle with sin, though they are saved by grace and have power to crush their sin. Yet Paul is realistic and knows that sexual desires are strong and are one of the greatest battles in the hearts of God’s people. If someone is betrothed, engaged, dating, and their passions are strong and leading them to temptation, if they both want to get married then let them marry so that they are not continuing in sin and may use their passions in a honoring way. God gave marriage so that Christians couples could resist the devil and delight in each other according to God’s will for their holiness and joy.

The Seventh Commandment requires that we preserve our chastity and our neighbours chastity.

Likewise, the Apostle Peter says:

1 Peter 3:1–2 ESV

Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives, when they see your respectful and pure conduct.

Purity in Marriage and in Singleness is meant to be a picture of God’s grace and power in our lives so that unbelievers will see our respectful and pure conduct as we love and honour each other truly, from the heart, and seek to follow God’s plan for our sexuality.

Contrary to what the world tells us, consent is not the only requirement for our sexual expression—abstinence in singleness, and faithfulness in marriage is. One scholar adds:

When all is said and done, the Bible demands that men and women channel our sexuality into a single narrow path: lifelong commitment in heterosexual marriage.

Why is this so important? Because sexual sin is an assault on the image of God in us, and in others—we are violating and abusing our bodies and other humans who are given dignity in the image of God. And it is an assault on the Gospel that sexuality is supposed to be a picture of—the pure and perfect love of Jesus our bridegroom for his bride, the church.

It’s crucial that we know God’s will for us in this commandment, what he requires. It’s also important to know what he forbids, and to that we now turn.

Q77. What is forbidden in the seventh commandment? A77. The seventh commandment forbiddeth all unchaste thoughts, words, and actions (Mt. 15:19, 5:28; Eph. 5:3, 4).

Matthew 15:19 ESV

For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.

Here we see that Jesus, as usual, shows us the spirituality of the law—how it pierces into the depths of our hearts and souls and requires not only external holiness, but internal holiness as well; not just abstaining from outward sin, but also inward sin.

Jesus tells us that it is out of the heart, our sinful hearts that come adultery and sexual immorality. The solution to this problem is not a ten step manual. We need heart surgery. We need transformation. We need the grace of God. We need the power of God. We need the Spirit of God. We need the help of the people of God. We need God to restrain our sin, and give us the strength we need to say no to ungodliness and yes to righteousness. We need Jesus to be the King of our hearts, to rule in our hearts by his Word and Spirit.

Jesus reveals this even more when he preaches about lust:

Matthew 5:28 ESV

But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

We are to quick to try and assure ourselves that we are fine sexually. Dennis Prager, a popular conservative man, tells Christians to engage in lust and porn so that they don’t let their sexual expression go beyond that into fornication and adultery—but this is exactly what Jesus is saying here, that such lust and porn is absolutely forbidden as well! They both break the core of the seventh commandment which is sexual chastity and purity in all areas of life. There is no back door to a secret and sinful sexual life. One scholar says:

Jesus prohibits sexual desires and the habit of checking out that fuels desire. If you thought Jesus might leave a loophole, the option of watching porn in the privacy of your bedroom, you’re wrong. You watch pornography to do exactly what Jesus forbids, to look at a women or man to arouse lust.

Oh my friends—don’t listen to your sinful heart, don’t listen to the devil, don’t listen to the world: porn, lust, and sexual immorality kills the soul, robs us of communion with God, spits in the face of our Lord, and corrupts our Christian testimony. By all means flee from such sin! We should be so serious about fighting against sexual sin that it shouldn’t even be named among us. Paul says:

Ephesians 5:3–4 ESV

But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving.

God’s people are the temple of God and are called to be holy! Listen to 2 Cor. 6:14-7:1

2 Corinthians 6:14–7:1 ESV

Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you, and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.” Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.

Because of what God has done for us, giving us salvation and precious promises of eternal life, our only response is to cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit and to bring holiness to completion in the fear of God. Our sexual holiness is a pleasing aroma in the sight of God, who delights in his children who want to honour him in all of life.

Anything less than this, wether it’s fornication (sex outside marriage), adultery (unfaithfulness in marriage), homosexuality (the same genders in sexual expression), lust (inward sexual cravings and delight against other men or women), pornography (watching and viewing sexual content), or any other expression of sexuality outside of marriage, these all cross our good, and loving God’s plan for our sexuality and holiness as his creatures and children. Don’t let your heart be duped by the sinful world—listen to the loving and wise and gracious and beautiful voice of your God and Father, in Jesus Christ, by the Spirit, and run after him!

But there’s one problem here… we have all broken this commandment, probably daily, for our entire lives. Is there hope for sinners, for Christians, who struggle with sexual sin? Is there hope for those who seem to fail so often? Is there hope for forgiveness and new life? Yes, beloved, for Jesus Christ came to save sinners!

King David was a man after God’s own heart who sinned sexually against his Lord. But hear his Psalm of repentance and faith in the Gospel:

Psalm 51 ESV

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba. Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice. Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you. Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness. O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. Do good to Zion in your good pleasure; build up the walls of Jerusalem; then will you delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on your altar.

Oh beloved—there is more mercy in Jesus than there is sin in us. No matter how much sexual sin there has been in our past, the blood of Jesus washes us white as snow, and the Spirit of God gives us strength to kill our sin day by day:

1 Corinthians 6:9–11 ESV

Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

If you are a Christian your chief purpose in life is no longer sexual immorality, it is no longer idolatry, it is no longer adultery, it is no longer homosexuality, it is no longer stealing, it is no longer greed, it is no longer drunkeness, it is no longer slander, it is no longer deception, it is no longer sin. If you are a Christian your identity is not wrapped around such things anymore! Your identity is wrapped around Jesus Christ and His Gospel of pure grace. Notice Paul says that such were some of you! But, you were washed (you were Born-Again), you were sanctified (Cleansed of Sin), you were justified (forgiven and clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ), and you were given the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Holiness, who has given you a new nature, a new name, a new status, a new identity, a new hope, a new desire, and a new goal—to live and love for the glory of God.

Yes you are going to struggle with sin, yes even sexual sin, but you are not mastered by such things. The grace of God has set you free and you can continue to repent and draw near to God more grace upon grace and power divine to fight and put to death the deeds of the flesh. You can renew your faith in Jesus and pursue him in prayer and find mercy in time of need. You can fellowship with God’s people and find support and accountability and strength to live and love for Jesus the Lord.

For the Christian—our sexual sins are forgiven, and God gives us the Spirit of God to walk in newness of life, in sexual purity, as we seek to honour God in singleness, dating, marriage, separation, and even in the sad case of divorce. By the Gospel of Jesus Christ you are set free—and by the Spirit of Jesus Christ you have the power of God. This is the daily battle against sin—to crush our sin, and walk in the Spirit.

Galatians 5:16–25 ESV

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.

But Paul doesn’t end there. He says:

Galatians 6:1–2 ESV

Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

If any of you are living in sexual sin, repent, and find restoration in the Gospel, surrounded by the love and care of God’s people. Let us help you to follow Jesus—for we are one body and we need each other as we walk the Christian life. Kevin DeYoung says:

No matter how entrenched the patterns of sin, I tell you on the authority of God’s Word: your situation is not hopeless. With the gospel there is hope of cleansing. With the Spirit there is hope of power. With Christ there is hope of transformation. With the Word of God there is hope of holiness

The grace of God in Christ is the chief fuel and motivation for holy living and holy sexuality. May the Lord our God help us to follow Him in the paths of life, in the true ways of sexual purity, that He might get all the glory, and that our testimony before the world might be pure and undefiled.

Instead of living in the sinful ways of the sexual revolution—let’s live in the godly ways of sexual purity—so that the Gospel picture of Marriage and Sex might be a beautiful live-giving sermon before a world that need the Husband and Covenant love of Jesus Christ for Redemption and Salvation:

Sexual faithfulness in marriage and sexual purity outside of marriage aren’t mere demands of the law. Sexual faithfulness preaches the gospel. When a husband and wife are faithful to one another, sexually and otherwise, they become a created symbol of the covenant God who keeps his vows to Israel and the new Israel. By keeping the Seventh Word, we dramatize the good news of Jesus, the Bridegroom of the church, who gives himself in utter fidelity to and for his Bride.

God help us to be a lively picture of the Gospel—and as his Bride, may we live in faithfulness to Jesus our Bridegroom. The last word for tonight comes from another wise pastor who says:

Christian, don’t despair in the fight against [sexual sin]. Enslavement in the darkness is not your destiny. Lasting hope and real help can be found in the light of the gospel and in the fellowship of the church, where the blood of Jesus cleanses from all sin (1 John 1:9).

Amen?

Conclusion + Big Idea

Read the Q+A’s Again:

Amen, let’s pray.