Sermon Tone Analysis

I. Introduction

As we look across the moral and political landscape and how it relates to the topic of marriage, there are a great number of reasons to grieve.

Roughly 40% of New Zealand marriages end in divorce.

Our nation has believed a lie and advocates “so-called same sex marriage.”

Moreover, nearly one-quarter of couples living together are not married, instead choosing co-habitation as an alternative.

Our nation has rejected yet another of God’s good gifts to his creation.

Marriage was given by God not just to the Jews, but to all those that bear his image, for their benefit.

We are indeed living in a day of judgment when marriage is deemed unnecessary by some, redefined by others, and trivialized by others still.

The seventh commandment, the focus of today’s sermon, was given to honour and preserve the institution of marriage.

The last time I preached in our series on the Law of God I spoke on the tenth commandment: “You shall not covet.”

() Today we will take a few steps back to the seventh commandment.

Throughout our series on the Decalogue, I have argued that the order of the ten words, or commands is neither arbitrary nor accidental.

God purposefully gave these ten laws to his covenant people in such a way that the laws flow from one to another, each law deepening the understanding of the law previous, and setting the stage for the law that will follow.

For this reason, I will begin by reading the first fourteen verses of Exodus chapter 20.

()

20 zAnd aGod spoke all these words, saying,

2 b“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

Exodus 20:14

3 c“You shall have no other gods before1 me.

4 d“You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.

5 eYou shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am fa jealous God, gvisiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing steadfast love to thousands2 of those who love me and keep my commandments.

And God spoke all these words, saying,

7 h“You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.

2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

8 i“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

9 jSix days you shall labor, and do all your work, 10 but the kseventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God.

On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the lsojourner who is within your gates.

11 For min six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day.

Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

12 n“Honor your father and your mother, othat your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

13 p“You shall not murder.3

3 “You shall have no other gods before me.

14 q“You shall not commit adultery.

z For ver. 1–17, see Deut.

5:6–21

a Deut.

5:22

4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.

5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

b Lev.

26:13; Ps. 81:10; Hos.

13:4

c 2 Kgs.

17:35; Jer.

25:6; 35:15

1 Or besides

7 “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.

d Lev.

26:1; Deut.

27:15; Ps. 97:7; [Acts 17:29]

e ch.

23:24; Josh.

23:7

f ch.

34:14; Deut.

4:24; 6:15; Josh.

24:19; Nah.

1:2

8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

9 Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God.

On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates.

11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day.

Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

g ch.

34:7; Num.

14:18; [Ps.

79:8; 109:14; Isa.

65:6, 7; Jer.

32:18]

2 Or to the thousandth generation

h Lev.

19:12; [Matt.

5:34, 35; James 5:12]

12 “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

i Lev.

19:3, 30; 26:2; See ch.

31:13–17

j ch.

23:12; 34:21; 35:2; Lev.

23:3; Luke 13:14

k ch.

16:26; 31:15; Gen. 2:2, 3; Ezek.

20:12; See Num.

15:32–36

13 “You shall not murder.

l See Neh.

13:16–19

m See Gen. 1:1–2:3

n Lev.

19:3; Cited Matt.

15:4; 19:19; Mark 7:10; 10:19; Luke 18:20; Eph.

6:2; [Jer.

35:18, 19]

14 “You shall not commit adultery.

o Eph.

6:3

p Cited Matt.

5:21; 19:18; Rom.

13:9; [Gen.

9:5, 6; 1 John 3:15]

Let us pray, and ask God to bless the preaching of His word.

II.

The Commandment Explained

Each of these ten commandments means much more than what is written, but it never means less than what is written.

For example, the commandment forbidding murder is explained, and expounded by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount to reveal that its true intention was to go beyond mere externals and reach into the heart issues of humanity.

Many of you may be familiar with the verses that occur after Jesus’ exposition of the sixth commandment in .

After teaching that hatred of brother is a violation of the command “You shall not murder” () He moves to an explanation of our topic this morning: adultery.

3 The Hebrew word also covers causing human death through carelessness or negligence

q Lev.

18:20; Deut.

22:22; Prov.

6:32; 1 Cor.

6:9; Heb.