Exodus 20 Bible Study (The Seventh Commandment) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

Exodus twenty fourteen, one simple command yet such marvelous implications, you shall not commit adultery. Let's pray. Father, we need you desperately tonight, And we ask, Lord, because we are so stubborn in our hearts, and we could hear a certain truth and it could even convict us. Yet we are so quick to forget even the weightiness that accompanied that truth in that specific moment when we heard it. But Lord, we're praying for something historic tonight.

Because you know what each person is experiencing behind closed doors, in their private lives. And Lord, you have a word for us tonight as you do every week. So we just pray that tonight your voice would be loud and clear. And now Lord, there would be a mingling in your word tonight, the mingling that is found in your word that we are to live in the fear of God, yet we also are to live with a hope in the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, I pray that no man's opinion would be uttered, but that it would simply be the purified word of God, plain and true.

And that, Lord, we would realign our thinking to yours despite this culture that is so depraved and dark that would twist your standard of sexuality. And so, Father, we pray for nothing short but the fear of God in our lives because it is good. Your word says that the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. We need you, Lord. We ask that your Holy Spirit would bring these words and penetrate our hearts.

We need it. We may not want it, but we need it. And Lord, we just pray that you would be exalted through it, and that there would be a mighty cleansing in the lives of every person in this room. Even those that are not here tonight, may your spirit do that same work, because we are all in need of these reminders, Lord, that we seem to forget again so quickly. In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen. You shall not commit adultery. Before we jump into this, I wanna say one of two things. Number one, usually, and the ambition and the goal of this bible study is that though it looks like a Sunday morning format, we try to provoke and encourage discussion. And so we want every week, though main the main substance may come from the pulpit, that there would be a sense of discussion and conversation because, I think we forgot this, but it's good to be reminded, that we are all to be studying and reading this together throughout the week, and that you would share your insight.

Today's gonna be a little bit different, and sometimes, the Lord does take us in that direction where there's little conversation happening, and there's more of a one way dialogue happening. And because this specific command is so dense and the scriptures have so much to say, there's gonna be little questions asked and more truths being declared. Secondly, I want us to begin by considering three reasons why understanding adultery and this command is so important. Let's consider three things. Number one, let's consider our culture.

Let's consider our culture. There is this growing openness to wickedness concerning sexuality. There is a continuous acceleration towards the encouragement of exploration concerning certain sexual acts. There is this bombardment of messages that would encourage a lifestyle that are directly in contradiction to the Word of God. And you and I, whether we realize it or not, are being flooded by this day by day, week after week.

And if we're not careful, what is clearly perverted and vile in the eyes of God can be so normal to us, not just normalized, but it could even be desired by the people of God. Even if it stands in direct contradiction to what God has established concerning his will, his purpose of sexuality, and this is why tonight we need the mind of Christ. We need our mind to be renewed in our understanding of what Jesus and his word says concerning this arena of life. So much so, this is my prayer. This is my prayer for all of us tonight.

So much so that not only would we think and know, yeah, that's wrong. Whatever you're trying to tell me is wrong. Whatever you're trying to persuade me into is wrong. It would be more than that. It would be you would be grieved.

And you would not only be grieved, you would be sickened by any suggestion that would be presented to you that might lure not just your behavior, but even your desires concerning this holy thing called sexuality. Consider the culture. Secondly, consider the fact of how little we actually talk about this on a corporate level. I don't know about you, maybe you have a different upbringing than I did, and maybe I'm not recollecting the things that were relating to this specific subject, but I can't remember personally. I mean, YouTube, sure, they have them.

But I can't remember personally growing up in the church ever hearing a full on message on the warnings of this specific sin, which is surprising. Why? Because the Bible gives a lot of attention, and it seems like the Bible, God's word, really wants to talk about it. In fact, Proverbs is framed in a way in which a parent is instructing their child in the way that should they should walk, in wisdom. And a chunk of that is a parent instructing their child about the dangers of adultery.

And so there's this understanding that the word of God encourages this conversation to happen where you don't have to wait till you're married till you get this. You should get this before. The moment where you're there and you can understand these certain things and you can have a mature conversation is when you should receive the specific instructions, warnings, and all the things that can prevent you from walking into that lifestyle or even choice. And so my prayer is this, concerning the second reason, that all of us, no matter what season of life you're walking in, whether you're single whether you're single today, and you might be persuaded by a married individual. Or if you're married, whether one year, two year, ten years, forty years, whatever, and you are tempted to pursue somebody other than your spouse, wherever you're at on this, that both of those types would have the same result leaving here, that you would have an overwhelming sense of the fear of the living God.

That's my prayer. Because I can't say this of everybody, but there's this tendency that even when this conversation happens, it's lighthearted. And people just giggle about it, and there is nothing let me make this very clear. There is nothing funny about this. There's nothing we're gonna find out.

I'm gonna really I'm gonna just let the word of God this is not a sermon tonight. I'm just gonna take text and let the text speak for themselves. And so if you're frustrated, if you're angry with the truths, you're not gonna be angry with me. You're gonna be angry with the word of God. Let's consider the culture.

Let's consider the fact that we're not really having much conversation about this. Let's consider the victims of this in the scriptures. Just in case at this point of the Bible study, you've already blocked this off and you said, this has nothing to do with me. Thank you. I've already determined within myself that I am never gonna even tread near that line.

Okay. That's a really good ambition to have, and I hope you always have that. Well, let's just consider the victims of this. Let's consider King David. Let's consider the man who was deemed the title, a man after God's heart.

A worshiper, a passionate pursuer of God, a warrior, a praised man. There's one. Let's consider Solomon. Let's consider the wisest man that lived other than Jesus Christ, who was sought after by those around the world to just hear what he had to say. Let's consider Samson.

Let's consider the man who was feared because of the supernatural strength that was given to him. A living superhero. All of them, all of them victims of sexual sin. And who are you? Who are you?

Are you David? Are you more passionate David? Are you wiser than Solomon? Are you stronger than Samson? Proverbs seven says a scary verse about the adulterous woman.

It says that many strong men have been her victims. Many strong men, mighty men have been her victims. All this sin doesn't just take out the obvious sinner and the one who just wants and don't, it takes out mighty men. I hope your ears are perked up at this point. So let's dive in.

Before that, not only have these men fell into this sin, consider the timing of when they fell into this sin. Think about the pinpoint moment that these men actually tripped up in this sin. If you if you really study carefully, you'll notice that they're at the highest moment in their lives concerning victory, concerning their ministry, concerning their name being renowned. Think about it. Think about when it happened with David.

Think about when it happened with Solomon. Think about when it happened with Samson. They were not down about in life, and thinking, you know what? I think I'm just gonna go for this because nothing else is going for me in life. No.

That's a possibility. These guys were thriving in life. Triumphant, which says something so vital about this specific sin. Sexual sin in general, including adultery, it tells us this, that it could creep up on you in any moment, especially in moments where you feel like everything is going so good. Even if the windows of heaven are open above your life and God's favor and blessing is showering over you, you just as much have to be so alert that this sin would not come in like a parasite and destroy you from the inside out.

Clear? What does God mean by adultery? Leviticus eighteen twenty tells us. A very simple definition of it. You shall not lie sexually with your neighbor's wife, and so make yourself unclean unclean with her.

We know that this is a surface level understanding of this sin, and we know we all know in here what Jesus said about adultery. We all understand the standard that he set, and we'll get to that at the very end. Nevertheless, there is a heart adultery, and there's a physical adultery that you commit with your body. Both have their own unique consequences, but there is something about the physical act of adultery or any sexual sin in general that bears unique consequences to that sin. One preacher said it this way, all sins are equally damning, but not all sins are equally destructive.

I thought all sins were equal. Yeah. They are all equal in this fact that you will be damned if you do not repent and do not put your faith in Jesus Christ, but they are not all equally destructive in this lifetime. You telling a lie is not the same consequence. You will not experience the same consequences as you committing a murder.

It's just simple. You stealing something is not gonna bear the same consequence of you sleeping with somebody else's husband or somebody else's wife. You even thinking about the act, though it is still adultery, we'll get to that, is not the same concerning consequence as the act. So serious is this sin in the eyes of God, contrary to culture. Movies and magazines and fantasies and all these things.

I mean, we have businesses today that you can download on your phone that would cater to your sexual fantasies, including adultery. So grievous is a sin in the eyes of God that it was punishable by death in the old covenant. Just think about that for a second. Deuteronomy twenty two twenty two. Don't turn there.

It was punishable by death. And so the natural question is, why is God so against this sin? And there are so many reasons, but I want us to focus on one text in the New Testament to break it down. It's in first Corinthians six, and you can turn your bibles there. The first Corinthians chapter six, beginning in verse 15.

And we're gonna see why God hates this sin. Here's three reasons amongst many that we can pull from this text that will hopefully generate a realignment in our thinking. First Corinthians chapter six verse 15. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? So he's saying, do you not know?

He's saying, hey, believers. I want you to know something. You're members of Christ. Shall I then take members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Now culturally, prostitution was an act of worship.

It was something so readily available and it is today as well. So there's a cultural understanding, but there's still a universal truth here. And so don't get boggled down in this idea that, oh, it's a prostitute. This is just about a prostitute. This is about, you're gonna find out in a moment, about the act itself with somebody that you're not supposed to have it with.

Would you take the members of Christ and make the members of a prostitute? And look how he answers. I like how he says in ESV, he says in different versions, different ways. Never. Never.

Number one reason why God hates this specific sin, because it affects your relationship with God. Scroll down to verse 19. Or do you not know? It's like she's like, do you not know you're supposed to know this, believers? 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. I remember as a teenager walking with a friend at the time. I don't remember what age I was at, but I remember I was still early in high school and we were walking through these different plazas. We were getting something to eat. And I remember at a distance, seeing an adult store.

This is midday, this is like 03:00 probably. And I remember seeing a car pull up to that store and you could see clearly enough, you can we were close enough to see that there was a couple that was obviously going in to purchase something, but that couple wasn't alone. In the back seat was probably a 10 or 11 year old daughter. The couple got out, went inside to purchase something, came back in, and I don't think they even put it in the trunk or something, they just threw it in the back seat. And I remember thinking to myself there, why in the world would you drag along somebody at that age and expose them to something such as this?

Why would you even open themselves up to that? Why would you expose them? They're so pure in a sense. They're so innocent, and you're you're morphing their mind to that. Why would you drag your daughter, whoever she is, little sister, I don't know, into that kind of environment.

Do you not know that the Holy Spirit lives in you? He resides in you. He made his home with you. He so loved us that he says, I wanna live inside of you. Jesus himself who walked in the flesh says, you know, this is great, but there's something greater.

And there's the Holy Spirit coming, and he's gonna be with you and in you forever. I wanna be in close proximity so much so that I'm in you. Think about the implications that the Lord had to make with that. Listen. Any sexual sin, including this one.

Part of the persuasion is that we think we can do it in private, and we can do it in secret. I wanna let you know something. The Holy Spirit's with you. He's tagging along, and it's not that he participates in it, or that you make him do anything, but he is an observant, and he is affected by your actions in the sense of how you relate to him. Don't drag him into something that he doesn't wanna go into.

That's our relationship with God because you are members of Christ. Your your hands are extension of Jesus's hands. You know? Your eyes are extensions of Jesus's eyes. Oh, what a prayer it is to pray.

Lord, when people see my eyes, let them see Jesus's eyes. Your lips, your words, your actions, everything, every part of you has been purchased by him. He says, you're not your own. You literally gave your body up when you said yes to Christ. This is not you saying, here's my soul, and I can live how I want.

That was a false teaching in the early church, that you can live how you want with your body because it doesn't affect your spirit, because your spirit is saved and your body is separate. Wrong, friend. Your body is very vital to him. He purchased not just your soul, he purchased your body. Be careful where you take the Holy Spirit.

And that's just true in any sense. Where do you go? Would Jesus go there? What do you allow into these eyes? Would Jesus, who's in you, want you to feed yourself those things?

Very simple truth that if we just ask ask that truth to ourselves day by day, a lot of things that we would do would just be filtered out automatically. Secondly, it does not just affect our relationship with the Lord, it affects one's relationship with their spouse. Look here in verse 16. Or do you not know so he says in verse 15, do you not know? He says, do you not know?

He says, okay. Fine. Or, or, or, or, do you not know what? That he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her. For as it is written, the two will become one flesh.

There is no such thing as casual sex. Hear me very clear here. Your friends might tell you otherwise. They might have a little buddy that they call and they have a little term that they just have that right for one another, and they think they're just letting off some steam. Let me tell you, they're giving much more than just steam in that moment.

There's no such thing as a one night stand, And then that's it. You move on. That act that act has serious implications and consequences. And if you think consequences are getting somebody pregnant or receiving a transmitted disease, it's bigger than that. When that act is performed, when that act is consummated, something in that moment is formed.

In that act, there is a bond created. That's very powerful. And in the context of marriage, it is a beautiful thing. In the context of that being shared between a man and a woman, it is a bonding factor for that union. A oneness.

There is a mingling. There is a nearness. There is a connectedness that is experienced exclusively in that act, that brings two people together in a way that it could not before that act was consummated. Just this simple idea of it is so precious and exclusive. I mean, this is God's will.

I'm talking to everybody, young people especially. Young people hear me out. This is God's will for you. Both men and women hear me very clearly. God's will for you is that the first time you see the opposite sex naked is in marriage.

Seeing somebody naked is in marriage. I know it's hard to believe in our day with our movies. Every forget the ratings. The ratings don't mean anything today in your little movies. The first time you press your lips on another set of lips should be your husband, should be your wife.

I like what once somebody said, do you know why they say you may now kiss the bride? It's because that's the first time you're supposed to kiss her. All of those things belong to a certain individual. And this is what that bond is. It's an expression of something.

It's an expression of saying to another person, me revealing a certain part about myself, me expressing a certain part of myself, exclusively belongs to you. There are 7,200,000,000 people in this world, but there is only one person and that's you husband, that's you wife, that will be able to experience this. The members of my body, my vulnerability, this experience, all of this sharing that it's only yours, nobody else's. And what happens in the act of adultery is that sense of oneness, that exclusivity, that that little gift, that bonding factor that is shared between two people is severed, and that oneness is lost, and that experience is tainted, and it dissolves into something that it was not intended to be. Thirdly, God hates this sin because not only does it affect our relationship with God, not only does it affect our relationship with our spouse, it affects your body directly.

It's actually a sin against your own body. And look what the apostle says in verse 18. Or, excuse me, verse 18, flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin every other sin or every sin a person commits is outside the body. But the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.

K. This is just simple truth. When you think about every other sin, there might be external factors involved that might affect your body. But with sexual sin, you are actively engaging the members of your body to perform that sin. And because of that, you open up a whole other category of consequences for this body.

Disease, unwanted pregnancy, all these different things come as a consequence of this unique sin. Never mind psychological, emotional, all those things as well. But he's saying here, it's against you. You're actually deteriorating yourself in the act. And so three spheres here.

God, the spouse that you've committed to, and yourself. Now, that's very general, isn't it? We all I believe we all have a general understanding of that. Here's the crazy part. Many people hear and know those truths, and it's not convincing enough.

I get it, and I actually knew that, but I wanna let you know something. The Bible doesn't speak generally concerning this issue. In fact, the Bible is very specific. The Bible is not shy of being specific. And we're gonna find out in a moment how the Bible gives detailed warnings.

The Bible even gets detailed about how it even happens. How somebody's lured into it. And the Bible is very detailed about the things and the ways that you can avoid it. And so, for the rest of this study, I wanna target three types of people here today. I wanna talk about and talk to those who have never committed this act.

Those who have never committed the physical act of adultery. Secondly, those who might have committed this act. And thirdly, those who might have been victims of this act. And I'm gonna put more weight on the first. I'm gonna put more weight on those who have never committed.

I'm gonna put more weight on those who are treading on that line. I'm I'm gonna put more weight on those that are flirting with the idea. That's where the bulk of these scriptures and these warning and exhortations are gonna fall into. And we're gonna touch on the other ones. This this concept is so deep.

It's so, so deep that I was tempted to even do two parts of this. And so if you feel like by the end of this, maybe you have unanswered questions, you can come up to me and would love to answer any questions. If you feel like there's something that you need to know with more clarity, know that the bible study tonight is not structured to answer every question on the subject. Where we wanna focus on is those who have never committed it, but might be tempted And listen, you might not be tempted now as a single person, as an engaged person, as somebody who's dating somebody, courting somebody, whatever you wanna call it, But this opportunity might be presented to you one day. And I want more than anything, the voice of God to boom in your heart.

I want these scriptures to be so branded on your mind, that for you to even think about stepping forward into that act would have to require you to willfully push through the voice of God, his warnings and everything else to get to it. Proverbs chapter six, beginning in verse 20. There are many ways to approach this. I just wanna give some insight from Proverbs chapter five. Look at verse one.

My son, be attentive to my wisdom. Again, he's saying, please, I'm begging you, pay attention. Look at verse eight. Keep your way far from her and do not go near the door of her house. I love the practicality of the Bible.

You can know the word of God. You can pray up a storm. God can use you for miracles. God can use you to do crusades. Let me tell you something about spiritual warfare when it comes to this sin.

You don't fight it, you flee from it. So if you're wondering, when you're faced with that, or if you know somebody that's fallen into that, and you wonder how did they fall? I know they were so spiritual and they were. Let me tell you what they didn't do. They didn't flee.

They were trying to fight, and God did not call you to fight it. God called you to run away from it. That's how strong the pull is. That's how strong the temptation is. Don't even give it a chance.

And what is he saying here? If you know somebody, if you know somebody, if you know somebody that is interested in you in a way that is inappropriate, if you know somebody's trying to persuade you, guess what you do? You take the long way home. You take the long way home. Well, it's gonna cost me more gas.

It's better than costing your life. It's kinda cold outside. It's better than you being burned. You take the long way home. What is he trying to say there?

You don't even go into an environment that would arouse those emotions or arouse those things. You did not put yourself in a situation that would bring you to a place that you would perform that act. If that's the line, if that's the line, sure, I'm telling you man, this is where you're staying here. You're far from that line. You see that line?

You take the long way home. Don't even go near it. Don't even know don't look don't even look at it. That's a lot more different in our day. Right?

Because it doesn't take much to fall into this. So let's modernize it. Don't go on her Facebook profile. Don't do it. Do you know how many adulterous relationships have started from social media?

Crazy. Don't don't look up that person that you used to have a thing with before you were married. Don't do it. Don't wonder where they are in life now. Don't do it.

Don't like the pictures. Don't do any of that. Stay far away from the doorstep of her house, never mind her or him. So if that person is in your life actively, if that person is around you, whether in a church setting, or whatever it may be, you just be wise in how you interact with that person. You be wise in how you interact with that person.

You be very careful. You plan ahead if you need to. I'm gonna make sure that I'm not gonna be anywhere alone. Whatever you need to do, flee. And if you are in a situation that's awkward, guess what you get to do?

Guess what permission the Bible gives you to do? Check it out. Run. Run for your life. You think I'm joking?

Run. I don't care how well, it's awkward. Run, brother. Run, sister. If that person is actively tempting you in that place that's bold enough to do boot it.

Show me a bible verse. Read Joseph. Pre indwelling of the Holy Spirit, pre 10 commandments, understood. Bye. Oh, I'm naked.

How embarrassing. I could care less. So don't even put yourself in a situation that would provoke or stimulate or arouse. If you have a problem with lust, probably not a good idea to be in a room alone with the opposite sex. We're gonna get to that in a moment.

Look at verse eighteen and nineteen. This is for the married people. So single people, don't cut yourself off completely because there's something here for us. Let your fountain be blessed and rejoice in the wife of your youth, a lovely deer, a graceful doe. Let her breast fill you at all times with delight.

Be intoxicated always in her love. Why Why should you be intoxicated, my son, with a forbidden woman and embrace the bosom of an adulteress? So what is he saying there? Enjoy your wife. Enjoy your husband.

I I wanna be very respectful here with my language. And so I don't wanna the scriptures are very veiled when it comes to expressing sexual imagery. So I'm not gonna spend too much time on this. But look at the word here, be intoxicated always. Have that freedom in your relationship.

Explore in your relationship, in the union of marriage. First Corinthians seven tells us, don't deprive yourself of one another. This is in the context of sexual marriage. Sexual sexual activity within marriage. Don't deprive one another.

If you do, maybe mutual consent and say, hey, listen. Let's go spend some time with Lord. I'm gonna pray, you're gonna pray. But don't do that even too long. And it says, come together because the enemy will tempt you.

And so, your body doesn't belong to you. It belongs to him. Your body body doesn't belong to yourself, it belongs to her. And so, the Bible is saying, hey, listen. You know what a great solution is?

That you guys frequently and with freedom enjoy one another. Lastly, from Proverbs five at least, get the fear of God. Get the fear of God. Verse 21. For a man's ways are before his eyes, the eyes of the Lord, and he ponders all his paths.

That is the fear of God. When you understand that wherever I go, God sees me. Whatever conversation I'm having, God hears me. Whatever I'm thinking, God sees. Get the fear of God.

That is a awesome repellent. That is an awesome way of halting you from stepping forward when you understand, I might think that I'm not gonna get caught. But listen, if you've already done it, you've been caught. God knows. God knows.

Now, with that aside, I wanna transition to the next I wanna talk about those who might have committed this sin. For those who might have committed this sin, I'm not here to present any psychological data. I'm not here to present statistics. I'm not here to present anything else other than what I see in the word of God. And what I wanna do for a very short moment is I want us to go to the root of the issue.

This sin is not the disease itself, it's a symptom of the disease. This is a manifestation of something that's foundational in your life, and I wanna say this, it's not just lust. It's not just lust. It's a lack of something. It's not just lust, it's a lack of love.

Romans thirteen nine says something incredible, and you can turn your bibles there. Romans thirteen nine and ten. For the commandments, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not covet, and any other commandment are summed up in this word, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Love does no wrong to a neighbor, therefore, love is fulfilling of the law. Did you make the connection?

What's in there? The first thing they're mentioned there is, you shall not commit adultery. Adultery is not just a lust issue, it's a love issue. And a person who has committed that has to understand that they lack love for their brother. They lack love for their brother.

They lack love for their sister. They lack love to understand that there's a covenant between those two people, and I'm coming to invade in that and sever that. There's no love there. And so you have to as much as you might think that you've loved that you have to you have to really understand that there's a love issue, and that God has to fix that. Because love does no wrong, including this sin.

Not just that. Before you stop loving somebody else, you first stop worshiping God. Before you stop loving somebody else, you actually stop worshiping God. In other words, you might be thinking, well, no. I was singing worship songs.

I was giving. I was doing worship. I was preaching. I was serving. Those are all forms of worship, but there's one crucial element of worship that you and I have to understand.

I feel like a lot of people don't understand. That's Romans twelve one. I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God to present your bodies as a living sacrifice holy and acceptable to God. And I love how the ESV puts it, which is which is your spiritual worship. What spiritual worship?

You living holy with your body. And before you committed that act, you've already convinced yourself that God is not worthy, and God is not beautiful enough, and God does not deserve my worship. So I'm gonna go and fulfill a different type of pleasure. Because I've lost sight of the pleasure that comes from knowing that God is pleased when my body is given over to him in purity. Meaning what?

That whether you're married or not, this is for you. I want you to understand, if you're single and you're not married and you're you wanna be married, that's a healthy, godly desire, I want you to know something. A great motivation for you to live pure and holy in your life is the fact that between now and that moment when you give yourself to somebody else, you resisting temptation, you saying no to certain acts, whatever it may be concerning yourself in your room with a computer screen, or you with another individual, you are actually performing worship when you say no. I will not give myself over to this. You are actually raising up praise with your body when you say, stop.

My body belongs to God. It is an act of worship when you and I remain pure. And when you and I fight for that, God sees that as adoration. God sees that as praise. God sees that as a sacrifice.

When you keep yourself from any of these acts, it's spiritual worship. And before you stop loving somebody else, you stop worshiping God. And so with those two things being major sources, as Piper said, sin is what you do when you're not satisfied with God. Sin is what you do when you're not satisfied with God. Do you know why this culture is so saturated and bombardment and exploring the depths of wickedness found in this sexual thing that was meant to be holy?

Romans one. He gave them over to the desires of their heart and lustful passions and the dishonoring of their bodies. Why? Verse 25. Because they exchanged the truth of God for a lie.

It started with them saying, God, I don't want you. And so God says, you could do whatever you want with your body. You indulge in that. And so what's what's there left? If you don't if you're not getting pleasure from God, if you're not getting your bliss from God, if you're not getting your sensation of purpose and fulfillment from God, That's why people are fishing around because there's a sensation in sex, and there's this joy in the sense of thrill that comes with intimacy.

And because because you're lacking the joy found in God, your purpose now is that. Your sense of thrill in life is that. And that's why people are obsessed and have made sex a God. Because they're void of the pleasure and the joy and the thrill that comes from intimacy with him. And Paul says back in first Corinthians six, you know your body is not meant for this?

Your body is meant for the Lord. He says that the body is meant for the Lord, not for sexual immorality. But this generation, because they rejected God, they've given themselves over the sexual morality as their God. So they chase thrills, they chase other people's spouses, they go on websites, and they find things, and they watch things, and they and they are now in a cesspool of mess, because it first began by saying, no thank you God, I don't want you in my life. This is the judgment of God upon this generation.

The sexual mess that we see, and we don't even see there's some things that are so dark, but things are just popping out and people are celebrating and parading, and all these things now, it's just there's no sensory anywhere. It's just beyond me, is the judgment of God. But when you and I say no, it's an act of worship. So for those who have committed, there's two things they're lacking. A love for your brother or sister in Christ and a love and a worship for the Lord, and you have to go back to that.

You have to have a Psalms 51 moment. You need that. And I'm not here to give pastoral advice now about confession and who to do it with and how to do it. I'm not here to do that tonight. I'm just here to tell you, to point out the root issue.

Now what happens if you're a victim of it? What happens if you might know somebody who's a victim of it? Like I said, I'm not here to give psychological data. I'm not here to give step by step. I'm just here to point out scriptures that might help and I hope this will help you if you ever have a conversation with somebody.

And this is where I wanna I want us to focus here. There is hope. There is hope in the midst of all that pain. And so some of us might rush to, and I would say this, listen, the pain that you feel, you have the right to feel it. The distress that you feel, you have every right to feel it.

And for the person who has committed that act has to understand that it might take years for that trust to be gained and you have to be humble enough to wait that long. I'm I'm trying to really not go into pastoral things right now. I'm trying to really just focus on this. Divorce, in Matthew nineteen nine, is presented by Jesus as the only way out for, the only way out of a marriage per se. I know that's debated.

I just want us to to focus on what he says. He does not commend it though. He makes it an option, which says something. He doesn't say, you know, if somebody commits adultery, you get out of that relationship, take that certificate of divorce and you you just bail. He doesn't say that.

He says, this was not God's desire from the beginning, but because of the stubbornness of your heart, it's been made available. So what does that mean? This is what I translate it to say, that divorce is a option. It's not the best option. It's not.

Because if both parties are willing to reconcile, there is wonderful possibility for God to restore what's been shattered even to a thousand pieces. And when Jesus said that, what I see there is there is still hope. There is still hope to build it again. There is still hope to restore. There is still hope for God to make something so beautiful out of something that's so disastrous.

Not only that, don't think revenge will ease the pain. A lot of Old Testament today. Right? Let me give you two New Testament warnings. Pay attention.

First Thessalonians four six. First Thessalonians four one to eight talks about New Testament context, the warnings of adultery amongst the church and in general. But he says something in verse six. He says, that no one may trespass against his brother in this matter. This is this is New Testament.

Because God, or the Lord rather, is an avenger in all these things. Because the Lord is an avenger in all these things. As we have told you and have solemnly warned you wow. The Apostle Paul said more than once the dangers of this. He says, the Lord is an avenger in all these things.

As we've told you, and I've solemnly warned you. So this was not the first time that he warned the Thessalonians church about this. He says, I've told you before, and I'm telling you again that there is a direct intervention from God concerning the people or the persons that have committed this act. That's just Bible. That's just scripture.

Okay. Hebrews thirteen four. Hebrews thirteen four. Let marriage, let marriage, let marriage be held in honor among all, and the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulteress. Those two verses in the New Testament that says that God will deal with that certain person, which means what?

You do not have the right to try to bring revenge on your behalf. And it won't it won't really satisfy. It won't bring that settlement in your heart. In fact, it will just add shame and guilt and regret on top of it. I feel dissatisfied to a certain extent because there's so many it's not black and white.

It's completely different if it's two Christian people. It's completely different if it's a Christian person, non Christian. It's just there's so many scenarios, and there's so many ways to address this. Jesus takes it to another level. Matthew five twenty seven to 28.

You have heard it was said, you shall not commit adultery. We talked about that for the past almost hour and a half, maybe more. But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust, with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Remember how I said physical the physical act bears unique consequences? That does not mean that the heart adultery and self gratification is a good substitute.

Because those bear its own unique consequences. And pornography is very much included in this. I I can't imagine anything more clear than pornography to being a direct indictment, a direct relation to this specific warning and the specific standard set by Christ. And if you do not think that pornography has consequences, you have fooled yourself. I remember landing in a certain place and just opening it up to sometimes I'd like to check the news and I saw this article and it was an article on a major news network of a porn star that warned people of the dangers of pornography.

Wrap your mind around that one. You're watching random people having sex and you are satisfying yourself. It's adultery. And the consequences are beyond what you can even imagine. And if you're single in here, don't think that at marriage, it's gonna stop.

Very much so, very likely will you bring that into your marriage, and that will have grave consequences of how you intimately experience this thing with your wife or your husband. It will mar your view of the human body concerning the opposite sex. It will pervert it will pervert what is so pure, and it will even convince you long enough that one person isn't enough, I wanna explore different avenues, I think I'm gonna try different people. There is no end to where this thing can take people. I've said this before, but for the sake of reminder, for the sake of people who don't who haven't heard this before, I remember I forcefully, I did not want this elective.

It was the last elective. I don't know why I stumbled upon it. It was a love and sex philosophy elective in my college years. And I thought to myself, okay, well, now that I'm in this, I might as well make the best out of it. And so I remember spending one of my major projects on on studying the effects of pornography.

There are young men that rather watch pornography than be intimate with their girlfriends. For different reasons that I will not get into. There are married men and women that rather watch pornography by themselves in their rooms than actually have that intimate expression with their spouse. It's dangerous. It's so dangerous.

It brands your mind in a way that other images do not. This is not just for guys, though it's predominantly more with men. Women have more and more been pulled into this. It does not matter if both couples are even consenting to involve that kind of stuff into your marriage, there's still consequence. I'm telling you, it's grave.

When a person in the industry who's actively making films is saying, please, there's consequences, run away from it. That says something. It made me very concerned that a porn star is preaching against porn more than a lot of preachers are. I won't get too much into this because time. But it's not even limited to pornography.

It goes just into your imagination. How you think of somebody else. When you undress somebody in your mind, when you think about what it would be like to be with that guy, it goes into that as well. That's that's adultery. So then a really healthy question to ask is, well, okay, how do I determine whether it's lustful thinking or temptation that's coming my way?

A very simple way of determining that is this, are you feeding it or are you fighting it? When the thought comes, are you feeding the thought or are you fighting? Are you taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ? Or are you letting it play in your mind? In fact, you're just adding more to it so that you are actually just satisfying yourself with the imagination itself.

Are you feeding it or are you fighting it? Are you bringing it before God saying, I don't want this. I don't want this thought, Lord. I don't know why it's coming up. I don't want this.

And you know what's a very safe prayer to pray? I think this is beautiful. It's a first Timothy five, and we'll close in a moment. Excuse me. I'm a little sick this week.

First Timothy five. Look what he says in verse one and verse two. Do not rebuke an older man, but encourage him as you would a father, younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, younger women as sisters in all purity. So amongst one another, not your husband, not your wife, that person's your sibling. Older, that person's your father.

Older, that person's your mother, and I want you to see them that way in all purity. Lord, help me see my sister in Christ as my sister. Disagree with me if you like. I think this is a wonderful verse to know how to frame romantic relationships that are pursuing marriage. Is she your wife?

No. Then she's your sister until you put the ring on the finger and then you have that day where you in front of everybody make that vow, make that covenant. She's your sister. How would you touch your sister? It's a really good way to frame that relationship.

He's your brother. Well, we already know we're getting married. Until it happens, he's your brother. Treat him as a brother. Do you kiss your brother like that?

Do you touch your brother that way? Do you touch your sister that way? In Christ, your siblings, until it's consummated, until there's that covenant made. Very weighty stuff. Isn't that?

Jesus sets a higher standard. It's all over. There's warnings. There's consequences. There's grave grave implications.

What does Jesus do when he's faced with an adulteress? I'm ending here in John eight. John eight. They bring the scribes and Pharisees bring an adulteress woman. Verse six, they they said this to test them that they might have some charge to bring against him.

Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. And as they continue to ask him, he stood up and said to them, let him. Ask yourself this. If you've been thinking this entire message, oh, I'm so glad that person heard that, or I know I know somebody that really needs to hear that message, this is this was for you just as much as for anybody else you were thinking about. It's for all of us.

Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her. In light of all that we've heard, how much God hates this sin, the standard of adultery, how it shatters the institution that God has created in family, how it brings so much pain to children when it's found out, how it brings generational consequences, all these things. Look what he does here in verse 10. Jesus stood up and said to her, woman, this is amazing. Where are they?

Has no one condemned you? Has no one condemned you? Just no one, Lord. Neither do I. I wanna tell you tonight, Jesus does not condemn you.

When you realize that it's a sin and you realize that you've heard the heart of God and realize that I've crossed that line, I've been flirting with that line, I want you to understand, Jesus is standing above you and says, I don't condemn you. I'm here for you, which is the next part, but sin no more. And so you know what he does? He commands it. He forgives, and he empowers.

He empowers you to live the standard. I wanna tell you something very true about the Christian walk. Please hear me. Despite what you may be feeling or how many times you've been failing, even if you failed today before you came to church on any regards, it is possible to live in constant victory over sexual sin. That's not wishful thinking, and that's not a standard that I've set.

It's the scriptures. And Jesus says, sin no more, and I'm gonna give you everything necessary for you to do that. I don't condemn you. Do you want the fear of God? We need the fear of God.

But I wanna tell you wherever you're at with this right now, and every person here is at a different level with it. You might be committing hard adultery. And if you're single, you're thinking, thank you for all of that, but I'm single. Listen, you being pure is being faithful to your future spouse. You understand that right?

You remaining pure is you being faithful to whoever that guy is gonna be, and whoever that gal is gonna be. You want motivation to stay pure when some punk guy comes to you and thinks that he can take away something that's belonging to your husband alone, this is what you tell us. I'm keeping this for my future husband. I'm keeping this for my future wife. Even if you have crossed that line, whether before Christ or in Christ, whatever it may be.

Listen. You make a vow tonight. You realize that Christ does not condemn you, but he comes to empower you and to lift you up, and you say, Lord, from this moment on, help me live pure. From this moment on, I wanna be holy. From this moment on, I wanna fight these thoughts.

From this moment on, I'm gonna run away as far as possible when that line appears. And he's right there. He's not a he's not waiting there with a stone. Do you understand tonight? He's not waiting there with a stone saying, just watch it one more time.

He's not waiting there with a stone saying, you crossed that line with that conversation with somebody that's not your husband. He's not He's waiting there saying, come to me, and let me empower you to come over this. That's what he's doing. That's what he's waiting for. For you to come, as one of my teachers said, and let your temptation be turned into conversation with God.

You say, God, I know it's wrong. I don't know why I'm feeling this way, but I bring it before you. If you don't give me the power to overcome it, I know I'm gonna be like those who go down to the pit. Deliver me, oh God, and save thy servant who puts his trust in you. How are we fighting against this sin?

And he's right there. He's not saying, convince me more. He's not the same he's not there saying, you know what? I don't know about that. He's right there saying, I was waiting for you to come.

Let's fight this together. Why? I keep falling. Get back up and fight it again. Get back up.

You go before the presence of God and say, Lord, do heart surgery on me. I don't love my brother. I don't love my brother because I'm thinking about his wife that way. I don't love my sister because I'm thinking about her husband that way. I don't have love for them according to Romans thirteen nine.

Cleanse me. Lord, I don't see my sister as a sister. I see her as a sex object. Lord, cleanse me. Purify me.

Fight it. Fight it. Fight it and keep fighting it. Saturate yourself with the word of God. You know who says that.

Bring yourself to the place where you know all the warnings, you memorize the warnings, you know all the implications, you take take Proverbs six twenty to 35, you memorize it. You rehearse it, you drive, and you say it out loud. You just go to war with this thing. And let me tell you something as we close. I said that, I'll probably say it again.

If you're fighting it, if you hate it, you're in a great place. If you're in a place in which you are indulging yourself in this sin, and there's little to no conviction, and you don't care about fighting it or having victory, I fear for you. But when somebody comes and says, brother, I'm going through this and I hate it with a burning passion. Good. You're in the will of God.

Ask him for a greater hatred of it. No announcements tonight. This is what we're gonna do. Whether it's hard adultery, whether you're flirting with somebody you should not be flirting with, whether your thoughts are taking you down a pattern in your thinking that seems overwhelming, it seems to be suggesting to do something that you know that you should not be doing, but you have not weighed in the consequences. You know the package that comes with it.

Here's my prayer for tonight, that we would do this I don't know how long it'll take. And we're gonna ask God to cleanse our hearts tonight. Whatever it may be that you're going through tonight, I want you to know something. Jesus is not standing here with a stone in his hand. The son of the living God is here with arms open saying, I'm here.

Whether you're a person that's never committed this, but you are facing temptation in this, know this, he's there to help you remain pure. Whether you're a person who has done this, whether physically or in your heart, know this, he's not standing above to condemn you. Is there consequences? Sure. There's always consequence to sin.

But let me tell you what was on David's mind more than anything when he committed that sin with Bathsheba, the presence of God. The Holy Spirit in his life. Take away the kingdom. Take away my popularity, take away my fame, take away all of that. One thing, God, I'm asking for your presence not to flee, and God is more than willing to reconcile himself to you.

And by his mercy, he can really heal a lot of areas. If you're a victim of this, maybe you know a victim of this, ask God for that accelerated healing. Ask God for an imparted hope to believe that it could be restored. Ask God to have his heart in this area, even as painful as it is. If there's a sin in your life, whatever it is, a sexual sin, whether it's with a person or with a computer screen or with your phone, tonight, just bring it before God and say, God, kill it.

God, kill it. God, give me the motivations to believe that you have greater things and even that sense that I get when I act upon this sin. Just bow your heads, please. Who can discern his errors? Declare me innocent from hidden faults and keep back your servant from presumptuous sins.

Let them not have dominion over me. Then I shall be innocent, blameless, and innocent of great transgression. May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, oh, Lord, my rock, my redeemer. May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight. Lord, change the way I think.

Lord, renew my mind. Lord, deliver me. Lord, give me a disgust for what disgusts you. Lord, give me a love that would arrest me from moving forward. I wanna say one thing.

Go to war with this. Samson had a problem. It was with his eyes, and it led him to a place in which his eyes were gouged out. What he should have done is gouged out his own eyes before that. And you and I have to understand that it begins here, begins here, deal with it here.

If you feel it at that level where it's just a thought, it's not harm. It's not harmless. It's dangerous. Get it where it's at right now. Let me reinforce this truth.

It's possible to live in victory over this. Believe that. And Christ is for you in this fight. He's for you in this fight. You can survive without this.

You understand that? People live as though they can't survive without sex. It's it's a human desire, but it's not like food and it's not like water. You can live a whole life without it and be okay. Don't treat it like it's something that you can't live without.

Is it something to be enjoyed? Is it something necessary for procreation? Yes. But guess what? It's not necessary for life.

I want you to really believe that as that experience is a joyful thing and there is satisfaction in it, there is a bliss and a pleasure and a fulfillment that's even greater. Him. There is a fulfillment. There is this fullness. There is this sense of rest and pleasure, delight that is unique.

It's in its own category, and it that joy protects us from seeking things outside of the boundaries that Christ has set. I've talked enough. Let's pray. God almighty, thank you for your presence. Thank you that you warn us yet in the same voice you grace us with your presence and with your reassurance of forgiveness.

And that, Lord, you take us back in even if we've fallen. And that you wanna walk with us again. Lord, I pray that if anybody's so overwhelmed with guilt that they feel like I've messed up, I can't move forward in life anymore, that's it, that I'll never be the same. Lord, I pray that you would reassure them that you are able to restore. You are able to rebuild, and you in fact are able to turn what was meant for evil for good.

Lord, you are beyond us on how you deal with these things. And so, Lord, let no person in this place ever feel so ashamed that they cannot even come to you and say, God, are you even able to forgive me? God, are you even able to use me again? Lord, may we all understand that you are more than willing, but may that never become a thought to justify us continuing in that sin. Lord, help us understand that there's a fine, fine, fine line.

So, Lord, we just pray that every person in this house, no matter where they are in this issue, no matter how close they are, no matter where they've gone with it, God, that we would all march out of these doors, get into our cars with a sense of being cleansed by your word, and being sober by the reality of how great this is, and being at the same time lifted by your mercy and grace. Lord, you know how to do that by your Holy Spirit. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.