Smooth Words and the Way to Sheol

Have you ever noticed just how significant marriage is throughout the Scriptures? From the very first account in the garden, to the very last feast in the new heavens and new earth, and all the way in between, marriage is one of the most important concepts and pictures we see in God’s Word!

And why is that? Well it’s because it’s very design is to act as a pointer, an image of something deeper! Marriage paints a picture like nothing else in this life, of the relationship of God towards His people! Christ and His church as Paul tells us in ......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.

That’s the imagery we see throughout the Scriptures...

For your Maker is your husband, the Lord of hosts is his name; and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer, the God of the whole earth he is called. ()

For your Maker is your husband, the Lord of hosts is his name; and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer, the God of the whole earth he is called. ()

In marriage we see these 2 separate, yet complimentary beings, brought together as one flesh. They’re different, and yet they fit together, they’re like 2 pieces of a puzzle that make up the full picture. And as they’re brought together there’s a commitment, a covenant, a ‘till death parts us’ nature to it! Because that’s what God is like with us! When He enters into relationship with His people, nothing breaks that covenant, that commitment that He’s made! He doesn’t walk away, He doesn’t give up, He doesn’t lose interest!

But as we all know, in this broken world this picture that marriage is to paint, it gets blurred, the image becomes distorted, and we can see time and time again how the enemy seeks to destroy it all together! That which is meant to proclaim a message to the world of the gospel of Jesus Christ, unfortunately proclaims a very different message! Marriage can become oppressive, it can be treated as light and temporal (as long as I’m happy), it can be devalued so much that it’s held off for as long as possible or just avoided altogether! It’s redefined so that the picture is no longer recognisable, and the 2 pieces of the puzzle don’t fit, and don’t show forth the glory of 2 becoming 1! The enemy knows the significance of marriage, and He hates the glory it’s designed to reflect, because He hates God, He hates the gospel of grace, He hates the thought that God would save and love, and remain faithful to His church!

In our passage today we see one of the most devastating abuses of that marriage covenant! One of the worst distortions of it! Adultery! Now I release that there will be people here today that have suffered from the pain of this, both as victims and perpetrators! And the wounds may still be raw, so I want to be sensitive to that and in it all emphasis the grace and hope that is found in the person and work of Jesus Christ!!

So here is how we’ll look at this, we’ll take v.20-35 and seek to build a foundation for our fight in this area. Then we’ll finish by just visualising 7:1-27 and allowing that to grip us and move us, as it’s intended to!

A Deadly Desire

As I looked at this passage over the last week, there was one word that really gripped me! And it’s found in v.25 Speaking of this forbidden woman it says…Do not desire her beauty in your heart...

There is something so unique about the Christian life, something that sets it so far apart from everything else that we encounter as we search for ways to change! And it’s this, God wants the heart! He doesn’t just go for behaviour, He’s not content in simply getting us to tow the party line, act in a certain way! He goes for the heart!

And He does it over and over again! 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. ()

Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart, because of the abundance of all things, therefore you shall serve your enemies whom the Lord will send against you, in hunger and thirst, in nakedness, and lacking everything…()

We’ve seen already in Proverbs and as we journeyed through Mark that it’s the heart that everything springs from, and therefore it’s the heart that needs to be changed! If we focus on behaviour then we become just like the Pharisees, but Jesus said our righteousness must exceed that of the Pharisees, it must be from the heart!

And so it is here with adultery, and with every sin! The battle lines are drawn in the heart! Do not desire her beauty in your heart… Doesn’t that echo what Jesus said in ...But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart...

All sin, all temptation can seem beautiful! ‘If only evil were always ugly life would be much simpler’! But it’s not, its so often attractive, enticing, tempting! And here is the astounding thing about it, it can still look beautiful even when we know how deadly it is! Look at what we’re told from v.26-35...

It’s Cost is more than we can pay! (v.26)

Once we go outside that marriage covenant, or we break into another’s marriage covenant, the price will be more than you could ever imagine in your wildest dreams! The hurt, the damage, the devastation, it hunts down a precious life! It tears apart the very fabric of family and society and life!

That’s why the enemy loves it so much, and loves it especially within the church, because he knows it’s maximum devastation for such minimal effort! In a moment, a life can be destroyed, in a moment a whole family left in ruins!

It’s Cost is Unavoidable (v.27-29)

What a vivid image the wise Father paints here! You don’t carry fire against your chest and not leave a mark! You don’t walk bare foot over hot coals and not feel the burn!! This is something you can’t, you don’t get away with!! But the crazy thing is, often people are fooled into thinking they will, or they have! But there’s no escaping the cost! God is not mocked, and His eyes are in every place keeping watch over the evil and the good!

Think about it for a moment, if I painted a beautiful picture and then gave it to you to display for all to see and enjoy. But you took that picture and defaced it, would I sit back and say nothing? Would I allow that just to go unnoticed? No! I’d expose it, I make clear that this is not what the picture was to display!

And so it is with God! He is jealous for His glory! He doesn’t take lightly those who would mar the image that He has designed! Those who break this marriage covenant will not go unpunished! The cost is unavoidable no matter what anyone tells you! When you choose to carry fire, you will get burnt!

It’s Cost will not be wiped out (v.30-35)

The act of adultery is compared here to a thief stealing a loaf of bread. Both acts are wrong, both acts violate the law. But one can be viewed with a sense of compassion, the other can’t! If someone is starving and has no money to buy food, then although them stealing food is still wrong! You can at least understand their actions! You can sympathise with them in their desperation, and see why they’ve done what they’ve done, even though it was still wrong!

If they’re caught they’re still going to have to make amends! They’ll still have to pay back and compensate for what they’ve taken! But at least there is the opportunity to do that! There is a means to repay!

With adultery there isn’t! This is a type of theft that can’t be re-payed, or compensated for! It brings no sense of compassion, rather it brings destruction! v.33...

All sin is an offense before a holy God, but not all sin carries with it the same consequences! If you imagine the significance of marriage with 2 becoming one flesh! There is a joining together at the most profound and fundamental level. An intimacy that nothing else in this life can match. Now think about what happens when that is broken! It’s a tearing apart of flesh! Can healing come, yes praise God it can and so often it does!! But the scares remain! You’re forever changed.

The word here for wiped away is used when you talk about wiping clean a plate, or wiping your mouth after eating. It carries the thought of blotting something out! And again praise God that in Christ all our sin can be blotted out, cast into the sea of His forgetfulness, paid for in full! But unfortunately there is a sense in this life where there will forever remain a stain, a mark, a scar!

Listen, God speaks truth to us, that we won’t hear elsewhere! He tells us like it is, and everything He says is right and true! You turn on your T.V. and adultery is the draw for programme ratings! It’s the lure for the exciting new storyline in those pathetic soaps! The world makes it look so appealing, so satisfying, so easy! But it fails to show us 30 years down the line, when the disgrace is still there! When the wounds and dishonour still cling!

Let me plead with you this morning, if there is someone in this congregation and you are on the verge of this! Run!! Run fast and run far! Do what Joseph did when confronted with Potipher’s wife! Seek God for a means of escape! No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. ()

If you are here and you’ve already fallen in this area, you must confess and turn for this! And although the pain will be great! By God’s grace He can bring good, it may be years before you could ever see anything that resembles good! But we can trust Him! Jesus is the One who on the cross bore the weight of all the adultery of His people! He satisfied the wrath of God for us that we might go free! But don’t mock Him, don’t play games with Him!

I said at the beginning that even though we know how deadly certain things are, still we can desire them! Most people who smoke know that they’re killing themselves, they know they’re breathing in chemicals that are destroying them! But desire is a powerful thing! So let’s look at how we wage war with our desires...

A Superior Beauty (v.20-24)

If we’re to do battle at the heart level, then we need something that is powerful enough to change us at the heart level! And praise God He has not left us to fumble in the dark, but rather He has spoken words of life, words that His Spirit takes and uses to shape us, change us, re-create us!

…the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. ()

We’ve seen this time and time again in Proverbs, and I hope we’re getting it! As Christians it is as we bind God’s Word on our hearts always, tie them around our necks! It’s as we listen to, internalise, believe, trust in, memorise, meditate on, obey God’s Word that He by His Life giving Spirit changes us! And He does it at the deepest of levels!

It’s not just about hearing a verse that says we shouldn’t commit adultery, it’s about something so powerful that it is able to change the very desires of our hearts!

On Tuesday evening at our Men’s meeting Pastor Johnny McCloughlin was speaking and he mentioned a paper written about 200 years again by a Scottish Professor & Preacher called Thomas Chalmers. Chalmers was hugely influential in the Spiritual and political landscape of Scotland. But one of his most celebrated works was a paper called ‘The explusive power of a new affection’.

The basic jest of this paper is, that to defeat (or expell) one affection, the means of doing it is not by saying how bad that affection is, or forbidding it, but rather showing the heart something even more to be desired! An affection that is superior! Think about it, our desires always run after the next superior thing!

Young people love playing the X-box, it’s addictive! But when the new x-box comes out it’s replaced! So often people who have an unhealthy affection for food, replace it with an unhealthy affection for exercise! We constantly replace one desire for another! Our hearts are made for desire, they’re made to long after, to hunger for!

All things are full of weariness; a man cannot utter it; the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. ()

But the thing that they’re made to long after is only found in one place, it’s a person! Jesus Christ, as He is revealed in the Scriptures! Now look at the picture we see in v.22...

God’s Word reveals to us the person of Christ, the One our hearts can affectionately run to and not be burned! And He speaks to us throughout our days! When we walk, they will lead you…Throughout the day we’re faced with thousands of temptations, but God speaks to us, No good thing will I withhold from you if you walk uprightly (). In Christ that promise is ours, He bought it for us! Therefore Christ is to desired more!

When you lie down, they will watch over you; You put your head on the pillow at night and you fear! Why did I do that today, I’m made such a mess, I have so many regrets, I should have, I shouldn’t have! But God speaks…There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ…He will not let your foot be moved, behold he who keeps you will not slumber! That’s true for you in Christ, He is the One in whom these things become ours, and therefore our hearts desire Him! It’s a greater affection!

and when you awake, they will talk with you…You’re eyes open and as soon as they do, even before they do the voices start! How will you mange today, how will you get through this. Remember you have to do....you have to see...., today’s the day when....

But God speaks…I will not restrain my mercy from you, my steadfast love and faithfulness will preserve you! (). And it’s yours in Christ, He is the One who lived, died, and rose again to guarantee that mercy, steadfast love, faithfulness would be for you!!

God goes after our hearts, our affections, our desires! His Word gives us light, because it shows us the one who said I am the light of the World, who follows me shall not walk in darkness but have the light of life! His Word is the way of life, because it shows us the One who said I am the Way, the truth and the life, no one come to the Father except through me!

Sin is deadly, whether it be adultery, or any other sin, and the battle must be fought in the heart! We need the expulsive power of a new affection! And in God’s Word we’re shown One who is worthy of our affections! One who can stir them, demand them, hold them, deepen them, and satisfy them, in part now, and in fullness, in the days to come!

As I said I want to finish by simply reading from Ch.7, it’s such a powerful picture, so vivid, so moving, so troubling, so imagine it your mind! See what happens when v.22 is not our portion! And be stirred to seek the One who is worthy of all our desire! 7:1-27...