Sermon Tone Analysis

EXODUS 20:14

 

/You shall not commit adultery/.[1]

A Christian couple is to be a team, working together to build one another in the Faith and labouring together to glorify God.

This is the obvious intent of Jesus’ words: 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 they shall become one flesh?”

So they are no longer two but one flesh.

What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate [*Matthew 19:4-6*].

Couples are not to work against one another, neither are they to do anything which will weaken the marriage relationship.

A husband is to love his wife as himself—to esteem her, to prize her as a precious gift from God.

He is to be devoted to her welfare and to seek her benefit in all matters.

A wife is to respect her husband—to willingly give herself for him and to build him up.

She is to accept him as he is, not attempting to remake him into her ideal nor attempt to change him into her concept of perfection.

Together, sharing life in every aspect, husband and wife are to be a team.

As a team, the Christian couple must trust one another, depending upon one another to live truthfully.

Any damage to the trust relationship, however seemingly superficial and however insignificant in appearance, must result in weakening the bond forged between that couple.

In the marriage relationship there can be no such thing as a “little lie.”

Each lie is an assault against trust; and the greatest lie is the lie of pretending that trust remains intact once that trust has been violated.

Thus, engaging in an adulterous relationship is perhaps the most damning lie anyone can live, and the marriage relationship is harmed to an extent we can never imagine—even if the other partner is unaware of the adultery.

Every such lie has an impact on the relationship, and the greatest insult to the bond of trust is that at least a portion of the team begins to live a lie.

Though, technically speaking, adultery is a sin of the married, in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus made it clear that the spirit of this rule for living may be violated by the unmarried.

At a given time, each of us who is married has perhaps wished we were married to someone else or considered how life with another would be different.

Singles have perhaps considered similar thoughts focusing on a specific individual, frequently an individual who is already married.

The point is that we are each tempted to walk the edge in our relationships with the opposite sex, and we are yet responsible to maintain purity.

It is valuable to make a distinction at this point in order to clarify the issue.

Adultery is immorality; but immorality is not necessarily adultery.

Immorality is a sin against the body.

Because it makes the immoral one impure, it is condemned.

Adultery, is more strictly speaking, a breech of the marriage relationship.

Adultery is a violation of the unique commitment of an individual to his or her spouse.

Adultery is a direct assault against that trust relationship and is thus condemned.

Adultery arises from unchaste thoughts which may easily lead to impure deeds.

One further word of explanation is immediately necessary in order to understand the message.

It is in the form of an explanation.

From time-to-time I am approached to perform a wedding.

It will save a great deal of embarrassment for you, if when your children or friends approach you to ask if your pastor will perform their wedding, to ensure that you understand my criteria for performing such ceremonies.

Under no circumstance will I knowingly perform a ritual between a Christian and an outsider.

The Word of God proscribes such activity; and I cannot, in conscience, violate that Word.

In *2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1* Paul most clearly instructs Christians concerning this issue.

There, he writes, Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers.

For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness?

Or what fellowship has light with darkness?

What accord has Christ with Belial?

Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever?

What agreement has the temple of God with idols?

For we are the temple of the living God; as God said,

 

“I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them,

and I will be their God,

and they shall be my people.

Therefore go out from their midst,

and be separate from them, says the Lord,

and touch no unclean thing;

then I will welcome you,

and I will be a father to you,

and you shall be sons and daughters to me,

says the Lord Almighty.”

Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.

When two individuals who have never made a commitment of faith to Christ the Lord, ask that I perform a ceremony for them, I endeavour to lead them into discovering for themselves that they are attempting to make a vow before a God they neither honour nor worship.

They seek to make a vow which they cannot hope to keep since it is only as we appropriate His strength and His grace that we are enabled to maintain purity of life.

If the couple will permit me to do so, I will gladly speak with them, attempting to lead them to faith in the Risen Christ.

Nevertheless, even in this instance I make it clear that I am making no commitment to them beyond speaking at the level of a Pastor.

I am endeavouring to present Christ as Lord and Saviour.

If they are determined to ignore the Word, I am not bound to perform any marriage ceremony.

Those wishing a Christian wedding ceremony must give a clear testimony of faith in the Son of God.

If a couple is already attending a church, it is right and ethical that their own pastor be invited to perform the wedding ceremony.

If there is a conflict in that regard, I count it a privilege and an opportunity to serve God’s people to assist in working through the problem.

I will co-operate with other evangelical pastors to represent Christ and to honour Him.

The first priority in the movement toward marriage, however, is to begin with openness and honesty by resolving conflict in the couple’s spiritual relationship.

The reason for this admittedly stern position is that I am responsible to represent the Living God in this issue of building strong families, and I am convinced that I cannot fulfil this responsibility outside of equipping couples to meet the pressures of daily life.

Outside of Christ, the command to avoid an adulterous heart is one which is dependent upon our own strength, a strength which can be quickly eroded and which can evaporate in the heat of the moment.

We must be a clean people, in our personal lives and in our relationship to those we love most.

Now, join me in an exploration of this rule for living, this *Seventh Commandment* by exploring the biblical teaching concerning the sin of adultery.

Together, let’s seek to discover what God would have us know and practise, in order that we might grow into a people holy and honouring to His Name.

Adultery Exposes an Unclean Heart — The first great truth you must hold in mind is that adultery exposes an unclean heart.

You may recall that in a previous message we saw Jesus probe deeply into the dark secrets of the human heart to expose the roots of murder.

You will perhaps recall that He exposed the root of adultery at the same time.

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.

If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away.

For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell.

And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away.

For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell [*Matthew 5:27-30*].

This does not mean that all sexual desire is wrong.

It does mean that when the unclean desire is welcomed, brooded over, and only fails to become an act for lack of opportunity, this is adultery—if not with the body, then it is assuredly such with the mind.

This *Seventh Commandment* stands opposed to and condemns the lingering look, it rebukes the salacious contemplation of that which is against purity.

It condemns the viewing of pornography, the reading of sexual trash, the surfing through sexual garbage.

An adulterous heart is an offence against Holy God.

Recall Jesus’ words recorded in the *Nineteenth Chapter of Matthew*.

The Master responded to probes from the Pharisees, when He gave this clear instruction.

/ I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another commits adultery/ [*Matthew 19:9*].

That word translated by our English phrase /sexual immorality/ is the Greek word porneiva~/.

The word perhaps sounds familiar to your ear; it is the root of our English term pornography.

The word would have been understood as a broad term indicating any sexual immorality and encompassing a broad spectrum of practises which could readily embrace any action violating the sanctity of the marriage relationship.

Consequently, it must be emphatically stated that marriage can only be between a man and a woman.

Jesus certainly held a high view of marriage; but what is important to our message this day is the revelation and the reminder that uncleanness of heart precedes adultery and thus falls under the scathing condemnation of the One who gave us marriage.

If you take home no other thought this day, let it be that Christians are to be a holy people, holding their relationship to their spouse as sacred before the Lord.

The vows we make in marriage are vows to one another, but they are also vows made before Holy God and thus in the final analysis as vows before Him and to Him must be held sacred and inviolate.

I would have you understand that adultery */exposes/* an unclean heart, but adultery does not */cause/* an unclean heart.

The great German reformer, Martin Luther has written, /I cannot stop the birds from flying over my head; but I can keep them from nesting in my hair/.

Though I cannot stop illicit thoughts from flitting unbidden into my mind, I can ensure that they find no haven among the thoughts held in mind.

I cannot stop unclean thoughts from springing to mind; but I can keep myself from harbouring them and permitting them to find a welcome there.

When once the marriage relationship is broken, it is evidence that the one who broke the vow, long before began to tolerate an unclean heart.