God doesn't do the Hanky Panky

Some years ago, the most married man in the world was found in Yugoslavia. It happened this way: A young woman confided to her girl cousin of her impending marriage to a man. The bridegroom was so shy and timid that he wanted to keep the marriage a secret. The cousin got curious. She got a glimpse of the bridegroom after the secret wedding, and recognized him as her own husband. He had also married her secretly, claiming to be shy and timid.

That was only a beginning. A total of 50 women came forward and claimed that he had individually married them. In each case, he was the same bashful bridegroom. They called him Ivanhoe the Terrible, breaker of women’s hearts. He was a traveling salesman, going from wife to wife by plane, supporting all 50 of them, with the explanation to each that his duties as a traveling salesman kept him away so much of the time.

They put him in jail, and he begged to stay there. He’d rather be sent to prison than face those fifty wives.

Exodus 20:14 ESV

“You shall not commit adultery.

It devalues the other person and the relationship.

(It maintains the value of relationships and people)

We are in the image of God. We are important to God

God is about relationship. They are important to Him. He made the concept of relationship and relationships themselves a integral part of creation.

Marriage is the most sacred of earthly relationships. It is a covenant and it is meant for life.

Genesis 2:24 ESV

Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

Matthew 5:32 ESV

But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

This a fallen world and we are fallen people. Because of our condition God made concessions to us.

Matthew 19:3–9 ESV

And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful to divorce one’s wife for any cause?” He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” They said to him, “Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away?” 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. And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery.”

The farther man gets from God, the more flippant and negligent we become with whats important

It damages our integrity

Adultery leads to other sin.

Lies - to cover up

theft - taking what rightfully belongs to the family. Time, money, attention.

It can lead to murder, abandonment, neglect, etc....

If we can’t be can’t be trusted. What can we be?

My father would tell me, “The only thing that a person carries with them through out their life is their name.” In other words its who you are and your integrity is the heart of who you are.

Adultery starts in the heart.

Matthew 5:27–28 ESV

“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.

What we allow ourselves to be exposed to will influence us

There will be collateral damage.

That collateral damage can extend to the divine. Our relationship with God

It has a divine connection.

exodus 34 14

Exodus 34:14 ESV

(for you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God),

Just as husband and wife should be jealous for their relationship in love, so God is jealous for the affections of His people.

That’s God’s view of our relationship with us. That’s the reason idolatry is referred to as adultery by God.

God demonstrated how much He loved us

He was, is and will remain faithful to us.

God calls us to be be faithful to Him first and then to others.

How?

watch what we are exposed to

remove temptation

Stay focused on righteous growth

Remember who you are

image of God

Divine plans and purpose

relationship with God

Christ is the way to that true life. We spoke about the table of devotion last week. That is devotion is what God is talking about in this commandment.

The question is “Are we ready to make that commitment to Christ? Are we ready to make that level of devotion to Christ?”

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