The Wounds of Adultery
Notes
Transcript
Our Old Testament lesson this morning Exodus 20:14:
“You shall not commit adultery.
Our Epistle lesson is 1 Corinthians 6:9-11:
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.
Finally, our Gospel lesson is taken from the Gospel According to Matthew 9:9-13:
As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him.
And as Jesus reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”
In these three passages we can learn three things:
God’s Standard for Sexual Purity
The Consequences of Violating This Standard
How Christ by His Wounds Heals Us
We Begin with...
God’s Standard for Sexual Purity
God’s Standard for Sexual Purity
The prohibition against adultery includes any sexual desire or activity outside of a one woman, one man marriage. When asked about the Old Covenant laws concerning divorce, Jesus answered :
He said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so.
Two very important things are found in this brief statement by Jesus:
The moral standard we are to interpret the Ten Commandments by, is not found in the Old Testament, but in the moral perfection found in the Garden of Eden prior to the Fall.
The New Covenant restores this original standard.
Contrary to popular thinking, Jesus and the New Testament do not lower the moral standards found in the Law, but they raise them! For example:
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
Moreover, the New Testament reveals to us a mystery that was previously unknown, marriage was designed the way it was in the perfection of the Garden of Eden, because marriage is designed to point us to Christ and His relationship with His church.
In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. “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. However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.
There is so much moral confusion and controversy today about human sexuality and practice; Scripture cuts through all this and provides us with crystal-clear certainty.
Now that we have set the bar, what are the consequences for violating this standard?
The Consequences of Violating this Standard
The Consequences of Violating this Standard
The consequences are found in epistle reading from First Corinthians:
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.
The person who commits sexual immorality will not inherit the kingdom of God!
This means two things. First, it means that we will not inherit the kingdom of God in the life to come. Second, it means we will not experience the kingdom of God in this life. Through Christ, God’s kingdom has already broken into this world. God gives us the Ten Commandments because He wants us to live the best and happiest life possible.
In 1934, J. D. Unwin publish a book entitled Sex and Culture. Dr. Unwin spent a lifetime examining 86 societies and civilizations to discover what makes for a happy, healthy and flourishing society. What he discovered is this, the strongest two indicators of a flourishing culture and society were:
1. Strict Chasity before marriage, and…
2. Absolute Monogamy, in marriage.
Since that time, other studies have confirmed that not only societies, but individuals are happiest when they follow biblical sexual morality.
The Devil wants us to believe that God is a “kill-joy,” but reality teaches us that God is a “give-joy’!
At this point some of you may be thinking, “I see the truth in what you are saying pastor Keith, but for me it is too late. I have broken God’s standards and even now I have to eat the bitter fruit of my past sin.”
If this is the way you are feeling, I want to give you hope—By His Wounds We are Healed!
How Christ By His Wounds Heals Us
How Christ By His Wounds Heals Us
This is probably the most controversial point of this sermon, for the world categorically denies we can be healed sexually.
On one hand, you have those who hold to the “spoiled flower” theory. Those who hold to this line of thinking are usually conservative and religious. This was the viewpoint of the Pharisees in our Gospel lesson and was once the dominate viewpoint of our society. This line of thinking says that once sexual purity is lost, it can never be regained.
The second group that deny that Christ can heal us from sexual immorality are those who claim sexual immorality is normal and is a part of our identity as human beings. This is the dominate view of our culture today. Those who hold to this view consider any attempt to change someone’s sexual practices and identity is not only misguided, but dangerous.
Jesus’ death and resurrection stand squarely against both these worldly viewpoints. By taking our sin upon Himself, Jesus paid the penalty for our sin and opened the door to not only forgiveness, but also justification and sanctification. I want to highlight a verse from our epistle reading that you might have missed the first time through.
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.
Three things Paul says happens to a person when they place their faith in Jesus:
They are washed.
They are sanctified.
They are justified.
Washing refers to what we commonly call forgiveness. Jesus died on the cross to pay the penalty of their sins. The punishment that was due us, fell upon Him. In paying that price, the guilt of our sin is “washed away.” Some like the Pharisees in our text will never stop reminding you of your sin. Even if people stop, the Devil never will, but when their accusations fly, if you have faith in Christ, you have a ready answer and a sure defense!
Sanctification refers to the process by which God removes our sinful desires and replaces them with godly desires. This is a process at takes a lifetime, but even now we are no longer slaves to sin. Notice that in our text is says, “this is what some of you used to be.” The Christian no longer finds their identity in their sin, but in Christ!
Finally, we come to justification. Justification is one of the most beautiful words in the Bible. As important as forgiveness is, by itself, it does not restore purity. Justification takes forgiveness to the next level. In justification, God does not simply declare the debt paid, but He actually declares the sinner “righteous”!
On another occasion, a woman with a past marred by sexual immorality anoints Jesus’ feet with her tears and expensive oil and we read this:
Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner.”
It was not Jesus who was blind to who this woman was, it was the Pharisee! In God’s eyes she was no longer the woman she once was, because of her faith in Christ, she was declared righteous! She was now so pure, she was able to anoint Jesus’ feet with her tears and wipe them dry with her hair!
We have been hearing a lot in recent days about “social distancing.” The Old Testament law was designed to teach us how important “social distancing” is when it comes to sinners and a holy God. We are the infected ones and the danger is not that we can infect God, but that God’s holiness is so great that it would kill us instantly!
However, now under the New Covenant, it is possible for us to “draw near to God, by the blood of Jesus.” (Hebrews 10:19-22)
If there is ever a time for us to draw near to God this is it. Because of sexual immorality, millions feel excluded from fellowship with God. This is why we as a church cannot water down God’s standards and abandon Christ’s gospel. We need to hear that “By His Wounds We are Healed,” and the world needs to hear it as well!