Stay Faithful, Stay True
Notes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
The 7th Commandment
The 7th Commandment
14 “You shall not commit adultery.
This is a foundational commandment throughout biblical history.
Adultery is still a crime (thought rarely prosecuted) in several states.
It is still a felony in 5 states.
So obviously the 7th commandment has stood the test of time.
But it isn’t just concerned with actions.
Jesus says the 7th commandment is more concerned with the heart:
27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.
27
Reveals God
Reveals God
1) Reveals that God is COVENANTAL.
1) Reveals that God is COVENANTAL.
Marriage is a covenant relationship.
A man and a woman come before God and witnesses and make a covenant (a big and powerful promise) with one another.
We say “as long as I live, you will be my one and only.”
Marriage is a reflection of God’s covenantal relationship with His people.
God makes promises throughout Biblical history.
Adamic covenant
15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”
Abrahamic Covenant
1 Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
Mosaic Covenant
8 “You shall therefore keep the whole commandment that I command you today, that you may be strong, and go in and take possession of the land that you are going over to possess, 9 and that you may live long in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers to give to them and to their offspring, a land flowing with milk and honey.
The New Covenant
31 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. 33 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
Jer 31:31
This is the Christ Covenant, which is connected to the Adamic Covenant and the other covenant.
In Christ, God fulfills all His promises.
20 For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory.
Following the 7th commandment is a reflection of God as He ALWAYS fulfills the commitments He makes to His people.
2) Reveals that God is FAITHFUL.
2) Reveals that God is FAITHFUL.
The covenantal nature of God displays His faithfulness.
God chose Abraham’s family to bless and to multiply and He did not turn His back on them even when they were disobedient.
Paul says the work that has started in those who trust in Christ will be brought to completion.
6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
Keeping the 7th commandment reflects the faithfulness of our great God as we remain faithful to the one we have committed ourselves to.
This is not just for married people, but for those who will one day marry, remain faithful to the person whom will be your spouse one day.
3) Reveals that God is a GIVER of GOOD GIFTS.
3) Reveals that God is a GIVER of GOOD GIFTS.
2)
New flash: God created sex and desires for it to be enjoyed WITHIN the boundaries He has created.
17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.
Sex is a gift from our generous God to mankind for enjoying our spouse.
God created sex to multiply and fill the earth, but He made is enjoyable and infused deep, spiritual purpose behind it.
Perversion of God’s good gift distorts its purpose and robs it of the true pleasure it brings.
Confronts our Sinfulness
Confronts our Sinfulness
1) Confronts our DEVALUING of sexuality and marriage.
1) Confronts our DEVALUING of sexuality and marriage.
God created marriage.
1) Confronts our TRIVIALIZATION of sexuality and marriage.
1) Confronts our TRIVIALIZATION of sexuality and marriage.
In God says to Adam “It is not right for man to be alone. I will create a helpmate for you.”
Eve is created from Adam and he declares:
He makes the case that we treat marriage like a consumer relationship, focusing more on what we get out of it rather than the importance of the relationship.
23 Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.”
There is a natural, “creation connection” between Adam and Eve.
The next verse introduces the marital covenant:
24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.
gen 2 24
The ONE FLESH union of marriage means at least 2 things for marriage.
The marital union is more than a legal contract. It is the merging of two lives in all aspects: physically, spiritually, emotionally, financially, and socially.
Marriage is not something we can throw away when it doesn’t meet our needs anymore.
Tim Keller says:
In a Covenant relationships the good of the relationship takes precedence over the immediate needs of the individual.
Sociologists argue that in contemporary Western society the marketplace has become so dominant that the consumer model increasingly characterizes most relationships that historically were covenantal, including marriage. Today we stay connected to people only as long as they are meeting our particular needs at an acceptable cost to us. When we cease to make a profit—that is, when the relationship appears to require more love and affirmation from us than we are getting back—then we “cut our losses” and drop the relationship.
The ONE FLESH union is talking about sex.
This is God’s introduction to sexuality.
The act of sex and the results of sex point to this ONE FLESH union.
homosexual marriage is a distortion of the ONE FLESH union.
both anatomically and reproductively
Sex outside of marriage is a perversion of the ONE FLESH union.
There is no commitment that made between the man and women, so the physical union is outside of the created purpose.
Pornography is perversion of the ONE FLESH union.
Our eyes, our hearts, our brains, and our other body parts are all a part of this union.
Pornography degrades the ONE FLESH union of marriage.
The 7th commandment confronts our trivialization of marriage and sexuality.
It has lost its purpose and power in our modern culture, and has become a simple physical exchange between people.
2) Confronts our PROMISCUITY.
2) Confronts our PROMISCUITY.
As marriage and sexuality increasingly become more and more devalued in our culture, sexual activity is increasingly becoming more and more casual.
But there is a reality to sex that we often fail, or refuse to understand.
Sex unites us to another person in a deeply spiritual way.
15 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! 16 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.” 17 But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. 18 Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. 19 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,
I heard a story this week about a person who mistakenly put super glue in their eye thinking it was eye drops.
When you use super glue for what it was made for it is incredibly helpful.
But when you put it in your eyes it is quite a different story.
Sex unites us to another person in a very permanent sort of way that should only be reserved for your spouse within a marriage covenant.
The 7th Commandment is a warning to avoid the pain of gluing your eyes shut.
Confronts our
3) Confronts our SELF-CENTEREDNESS.
3) Confronts our SELF-CENTEREDNESS.
Tim Keller, in his book on marriage, compares consumer relationships with covenant relationships.
Consumer relationship are concerned with an exchanging of goods and services. You provide me with a good or service and I pay you what it is worth.
Covenant relationships are more concerned with the health of the relationship than what a person gets out of it. (think about a parent/baby relationship).
Keller says:
Tim Keller says:
Sociologists argue that in contemporary Western society the marketplace has become so dominant that the consumer model increasingly characterizes most relationships that historically were covenantal, including marriage. Today we stay connected to people only as long as they are meeting our particular needs at an acceptable cost to us. When we cease to make a profit—that is, when the relationship appears to require more love and affirmation from us than we are getting back—then we “cut our losses” and drop the relationship.
The 7th commandment is concerned with our posture.
Sex in our modern culture has become more about serving MY needs than serving the needs of my spouse.
3 The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband. 4 For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. 5 Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.
1 cor 7 3-
there is purpose behind sex in marriage, and it isn’t just about your getting yours.
The 7th commandment confronts our self-centeredness.
Instructs our Living
Instructs our Living
1) Instructs us to be HUMBLE and SELFLESS.
1) Instructs us to be HUMBLE and SELFLESS.
1 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? 2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.
James teaches us the root of our conflict in marriage.
“you desire and do not have, so you murder, covet, fight, and quarrel.”
The heart of adultery is “I desire but I do not have, so I will go and find it!”
the 7th commandments instructs us to be humble and to not think so much about ourselves.
2) Instructs us to pursue FAITHFULNESS and FIDELITY.
2) Instructs us to pursue FAITHFULNESS and FIDELITY.
Marriage is used throughout the bible as God’s analogy for His relationship to His people.
The significance of marriage goes beyond our wants and needs, it puts on display God’s relationship to His people.
This commandment is instructing us to pursue faithfulness so that God’s love and commitment to His people is seen for what it truly is.
Be faithful to the promises you make as God is faithful to the promises He has made to you.
3) Instructs us to embrace and enjoy GOD’S DESIGN.
3) Instructs us to embrace and enjoy GOD’S DESIGN.
If you ever need to grasp the importance of marital sex in God’s plan, read through the Song of Solomon in a modern translation.
We made a joke a dinner the other night about how The Action Bible (comic book bible) fails to depict the imagery of the Song of Songs.
God designed sex to be enjoyed within marriage.
We Christians can so often think of sex as a dirty, unholy practice that must be done in moderation, but that is not God’s design.
The 7th Commandment is commanding that we have Good, God-glorifying sex in our marriages.
Not sure I need to talk about anymore promises...
Promises us Eternal Hope
Promises us Eternal Hope
The promise of the 7th Commandment is illustrated in the book of Hosea.
English Standard Version Introduction
God instructed Hosea to marry a “wife of whoredom” (1:2), whose unfaithfulness to her husband would serve as an example of Israel’s unfaithfulness to God.
The reality is that everyone of us IS an adulterer to God, our creator.
We give ourselves to other gods and vain pursuits, but just like Hosea toward Gomer, God, our husband, comes after us, ransoms us, redeems us, and restores us. All through faith.
His love for His people is an everlasting love.
1) Promises us EVERLASTING LOVE.
1) Promises us EVERLASTING LOVE.
8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?
romans 8
38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
romans 8 3
The love, acceptance, intimacy that we long for in another person is just a glimpse, just a taste of the true love offered to us in Christ.
2) Promises us ENDURING INTIMACY.
2) Promises us ENDURING INTIMACY.
6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.
We need to see ourselves as Gomer in this story.
12 While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
20 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word,
The great hymn “Come Thou Fount” has a line that says “Prone to wander, Lord I feel it, Prone to leave the God I love.”
Gomer was chasing intimacy in man after man, when true, enduring intimacy was her’s to receive in Hosea.
Jesus’s words sound harsh in
29 If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.
But Jesus is saying “embrace a better way. run after a better intimacy. do whatever it takes to grab a hold of the true joy and intimacy found only in Jesus.
3) Promises us ETERNAL SALVATION.
3) Promises us ETERNAL SALVATION.
In chapter 3 the Lord send Hosea after Gomer saying:
1 The Lord said to me, “Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another man and is an adulteress. Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes.”
So Hosea goes after her:
2 So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a lethech of barley. 3 And I said to her, “You must dwell as mine for many days. You shall not play the whore, or belong to another man; so will I also be to you.”
hosea
He bought her back out of her adultery and debauchery.
He brought her back to his home, redeeming her.
He promised her that he would always be true to her.
This is the promise of the Gospel.
No matter how wayward you have gone, there is hope fore restoration in Christ Jesus.
There is redemption in Christ Jesus
And there is eternal hope in His glorious salvation.
6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.
12 While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.