Deuteronomy 5:18

Reading

[READING - Deuteronomy 5:6-21]

Deuteronomy 5:6–21 NASB95

6 ‘I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 7 ‘You shall have no other gods before Me. 8 ‘You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. 9 ‘You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, and on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, 10 but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments. 11 ‘You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain. 12 ‘Observe the sabbath day to keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. 13 ‘Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 14 but the seventh day is a sabbath of the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter or your male servant or your female servant or your ox or your donkey or any of your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you, so that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. 15 ‘You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out of there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded you to observe the sabbath day. 16 ‘Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God has commanded you, that your days may be prolonged and that it may go well with you on the land which the Lord your God gives you. 17 ‘You shall not murder. 18 ‘You shall not commit adultery. 19 ‘You shall not steal. 20 ‘You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. 21 ‘You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, and you shall not desire your neighbor’s house, his field or his male servant or his female servant, his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor.’

Prayer

Introduction

Previously on ‘The Ten Commandments’: We talked about murder, and tonight we talk about adultery.

Taken together, these two commands describe two of our society’s greatest fixations—murder and adultery.

Just as we are entertained by murder, so we are entertained by adultery.

Just as we find ways to excuse murder (e.g., in the form of abortion), so we find ways to excuse adultery (e.g., in the form of no-fault divorce).

And just as we engage in murder in the heart through unrighteous anger, so we engage in adultery in the heart through lust.

But just as God says, “You shall not murder,” He also says, “You shall not commit adultery.”

Tonight, in order to better understand and more faithfully obey this commandment, we want to answer a few QUESTIONS related to adultery. Questions like…

What is adultery and where does it come from?

How serious does God take the sin of adultery and what has He done about it?

And what do we do to fight against adultery?

We want to have an accurate understanding of what we are talking about so let’s start with what adultery is.

Major Ideas

Question #1: What is adultery and where does it come from?

One definition of adultery is “sexual intercourse between a married person and someone to whom that person is not married.” According to the letter of God’s Law, this is what is forbidden by Exodus 20:14 and Deuteronomy 5:18, both of which say, “You shall not commit adultery.”

It’s easy to see why God would forbid this among His people, especially among this generation of Israelites entering the Promised Land here in Deuteronomy. If stable societies depend on stable families and stable families depend on stable marriages, the adultery attacks not only the stability marriages and families but also society itself.

This Joshua and Caleb generation of Israelites who will enter the Promised Land cannot function stably as a society if adultery is allowed to run rampant.

No society can function stably if adultery is allowed to run rampant.

[Illus] Adultery is like algae or whatever that gunk is that grows on sidewalks and the sides of houses—that gunk that requires a pressure-washer to remove.

The other day I was pressure-washing at our house and went down by the curb in front of our house. I knew it was dirty. All the water from up the street flows down in front of our house, and they recently paved our street, so it was also black from the new asphalt.

But only when I began to clear some of the dirt and gunk away did I realize just how dirty it was.

You see, it didn’t happen all at once, but slowly over time the gunk built up turning the curb darker and darker. It happened so gradually that I didn’t notice until I started to clean it.

Adultery has been around since before the birth of our country, but slowly over time our nation has been made darker and darker by the gradual buildup of adultery.

But in order to understand this gradual buildup we must understand where adultery comes from; Jesus tells us and then expands the definition of adultery beyond the shallow letter of the Law to the deeper spirit of the Law.

In Matthew 15:19 Jesus said…

Matthew 15:19 NASB95

19 “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders.

So adultery comes out of the heart. It doesn’t come out of the loins. It doesn’t come out of convenient opportunity. It comes our of the heart.

Listen to Jesus, in Matthew 5:27-28 Jesus said…

Matthew 5:27–28 NASB95

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 lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

So, how does Jesus reveal the true definition of adultery? It’s not just an act of the body; it’s also an act of the heart. If we’ve looked at a woman or a man with lustful intent—even if we didn’t follow through in the body—then we’ve committed adultery in the heart.

Now, consider the gradual buildup of adultery in our society.

Adultery comes out of the heart, and isn’t it true that secular entertainment specifically and secular culture in general is increasingly filled with content aimed at making us lust?

If so, then it is filled with content aimed at making us commit adultery. It is filled with content aimed at making us break this seventh commandment.

[Illus] When I was in high school, my friends and I like to go to the movies. There were a few different theatres in our town, but one was in the mall with all the other stores and their advertisements.

One particular night when we went to the mall to watch a movie, I had been convicted about lust in my own heart; trying to fight this sin, I opened the door to mall and was immediately greeted by a lust-inducing advertisement. Walking past that advertisement and going around the corner, one store had floor to ceiling advertisements of people in various states of undress—advertisements that previous generations would’ve considered criminal.

I felt surrounded by this lust-inducing content even though I wasn’t searching it out. It was just there and was somewhat unavoidable as society filled up with lust-inducing, adultery-inciting content.

That kind of content is still here and is even more unavoidable.

Don’t get me wrong, we ought to avoid this lust-inducing, adultery inciting content as much as possible, but at some point you’re going to see an inappropriate billboard going down the interstate or a shameful magazine cover as you stand in line to buy groceries.

Adultery is not only cheating on your husband or wife; it’s lust in the heart.

And our world is increasingly full of stuff that aims to feed your lust; stuff that aims to make you break this seventh commandment.

[TS] Next question...

Question #2: How serious does God take the sin of adultery and what has He done about it?

God takes adultery very seriously. In fact, He takes it so seriously, the punishment for committing adultery in Israelite society was death. Leviticus 20:10 says…

Leviticus 20:10 NASB95

10 ‘If there is a man who commits adultery with another man’s wife, one who commits adultery with his friend’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.

To death!? Why does God take adultery so seriously?

Well, we’ve already spoken about the destabilization that occurs within a society that permits adultery with no penalty, but God also takes adultery seriously for at least a few other reasons.

As creatures created in the image of a faithful God, we were created to be faithful.

When we commit adultery, we operate against our making. We were made to present the members of our body to God as instruments of righteousness. We were not make to present the members of our body to adultery as instruments of sin (cf. Rom. 6:12-13).

Furthermore, God sees physical adultery as symbolic of spiritual adultery.

God often described Israel’s idol worship in terms of adultery. For example, the prophet Hosea was a faithful husband to his adulterous wife, Gomer. Gomer’s physical adultery was symbolic of Israel’s spiritual adultery as it turned away from worshipping the Living God to worship deaf, dumb, and mute idols.

God also sees the breaking of this seventh commandment as rebellion against His holy character. This is true of all the commandments, but that includes this commandment forbidding adultery. James makes this point in James 2:10-11…

James 2:10–11 NASB95

10 For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all. 11 For He who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not commit murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but do commit murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.

James says, “If you don’t commit adultery, but you do commit murder, you’re still a transgressor of the law.” You’re still a rebel against the holy character of God just like the adulterer is.

Of course, the same is true the other way around. If you don’t commit murder, but do commit adultery, you’re still a rebel against the holy character of God just like the murderer is.

Finally, God takes adultery so seriously because it is an attack against neighbor and against self.

In Romans 13:8-9, the Spirit of God says…

Romans 13:8–9 NASB95

8 Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. 9 For this, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Now, this means that if we break any of one of these neighbor commands—including this one forbidding adultery—then we are not loving our neighbor. In fact, it is an attack on our neighbor.

But not only is adultery an attack on neighbor, it is also an attack on self. Listen again to the Spirit of God in 1 Corinthians 6:18…

1 Corinthians 6:18 NASB95

18 Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body.

‘Immorality’ is an umbrella term including all manner of sexual sin—adultery included.

When we commit such sins, we don’t just attack another creature created in the image of God, we also attack ourselves.

So, for all those reasons and more God take adultery very seriously, and He has said that you shall not do it, and if you do it, you deserve to die. But is that it? Is that what God has done about adultery? All the adulterers will just die forever in hell and that’ll be the end of it? Is that what God has done about it? Well, yes and no.

You see, God has made a way for adulterers like you and me to be forgiven. That way is only through His Son Jesus Christ.

[ILLUS] You no doubt remember the story of the woman who was caught in adultery and then brought before Jesus. In John 8:4-5 they said to Jesus…

John 8:4–5 NASB95

4 they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in adultery, in the very act. 5 “Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women; what then do You say?”

They were partially right. The Law did say that the adulterous woman deserved to die for adultery, but it also said that the adulterous man deserved to die as well. If this woman was caught ‘in the very act’ as they said, then where was the man who also deserved to die?

The whole thing reeks of a setup. Perhaps they set this woman up to commit adultery so they could try to trick Jesus into either killing her or condoning adultery. Instead Jesus said in John 8:7…

John 8:7 NASB95

7 But when they persisted in asking Him, He straightened up, and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.”

One by one the woman’s accusers left. When just she and Jesus remained in the court, he asked…

John 8:10 NASB95

10 Straightening up, Jesus said to her, “Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?”

She responded in John 8:11…

John 8:11 NASB95

11 She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “I do not condemn you, either. Go. From now on sin no more.”

The Law condemns adulterers, but Jesus came to fulfill the Law and died to take the condemnation that all adulterers deserve upon Himself.

Jesus could say to this adulterous woman, “I do not condemn you, either”, because He would take her condemnation upon Himself.

This is what God did about adultery—He sent His Son Jesus to pay the price for that sin; to pay the price for every adulterous sinner who will repent and trust Jesus.

If we will not repent and trust Jesus then condemnation will remain on us for all eternity—and, yes, we will pay for it in Hell forever.

[TS] …

Question #3: What do we do to fight against adultery?

Let me give you a few ways...

Way #1: Guard your heart.

If adultery comes from the heart, then the primary place where we must fight adultery is in the heart.

We must be careful then what we are pouring into our hearts through our eyes and ears. Every thought must be taken captive to Christ.

Think about the content coming into your mind through your eyes and ears.

Is it honoring to Christ?

Or is it fueling adultery in your heart?

Way #2: Run.

First Corinthians 6:18 says, “Flee immorality.”

To flee is to run.

When Potiphar’s wife tried to seduce Joseph, Joseph literally ran. That’s what we ought to do when we are tempted by adultery. We ought to run away as fast as we can.

You might have to run from it at work or on social media, but wherever you encounter, you should run from it.

This idea of fleeing from adultery is the same sort of seriousness in refusing lust that Jesus calls for in Matthew 5:29-30…

Matthew 5:29–30 NASB95

29 “If your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30 “If your right hand makes you stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to go into hell.

Do not keep anything that causes you to lust in the heart; that is, let go of everything causes you to commit adultery.

Way #3: Stay married.

Marriage was instituted by God. It is meant to serve as a symbol of Christ’s relationship to the church. Christ is faithful to the church and the church should be faithful to Christ. Husbands and wives then should be faithful to one another.

This of course means no cheating on one another, but it also means staying with one another through think and thin. In Matthew 5:31-32, Jesus said…

Matthew 5:31–32 NASB95

31 “It was said, ‘Whoever sends his wife away, let him give her a certificate of divorce’; 32 but I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except for the reason of unchastity, makes her commit adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

The first state in the United States to have ‘no fault divorce’ was California, but now you can find it in every state. There is no such thing as ‘no fault divorce’ in the eyes of God.

Every marriage that ends except for reasons of unchastity, immorality, or adultery, actually causes unchastity, immorality, or adultery in the remarrying.

So, just stay married.

Way #4: Glorify God in your body.

Our bodies were not made for sin but for holiness. We were created to honor God with our bodies. First Corinthians 6:19-20 says…

1 Corinthians 6:19–20 NASB95

19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? 20 For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.

The Holy Spirit lives in you.

Jesus Christ died for you.

So glorify God in your body.

You shall not commit adultery.

[TS] …

Conclusion

[PRAYER]