Do Not Commit Spiritual Adultery

Well, I have been slowly but surely going through the Ten Commandments, and today I would like to go through another commandment. I would like to discuss the Seventh Commandment, and as with all the other commandments, it is both a physical application and it has a spiritual application. This spiritual application that I'm... most of the sermon is on the spiritual application, I think is good for us to ponder before the Passover this year, just to make sure that we are not spiritually breaking the covenant, the marriage relationship that we have with God, that we began when we were baptized and received the gift of His Holy Spirit. And of course, we have two individuals who are counseling for baptism who may be baptized soon, so I thought this would be a good topic for us to cover at this point. So let's go to Exodus chapter 20 verse 4, very short commandment, not one with a lot of explanation. It's self-evident truth in that even societies that are polyistic, even in grossly pagan societies, most of them have a prohibition against violating your marriage commitment between a man and a woman. Now some organizations, some cultures and societies allow polygamy, but even within the number of wives, the relationship has to be exclusive to those number of wives. And so in Exodus chapter 20 verse 4, we have a very simple commandment, you shall not commit adultery. It comes from the word adultery, comes from the Hebrew word naf, and it means you will not break your wedlock vow. Very simple, very powerful, and as we're going to see, that same word is used in a physical sense, but it's also used towards ancient Israel and ancient Judah in the fact that they committed, same word, they committed spiritual adultery in their relationship with God, and they suffered the punishment for that. The Believer's Study Bible says this about Exodus chapter 20 verse 14. The seventh commandment protects the sanctity of the home and expresses the value God places upon faithfulness in relationships, especially the most intimate relationship of life, and there's no closer intimate relationship in life as there is with a sexual relationship between a man and a woman. And we all know that marriage is under assault in our Western culture today. There are many forces trying to either destroy it, and if they can't destroy the concept of marriage, then to try to redefine what marriage is. And we have no fault divorce. We have the negative effects of feminism. We have same-sex relationships. We have the trans movement. We have too many men who act like Neanderthals. We have rampant fornication and adultery in our culture.

We have millions of people with porn addictions. I could go on and on and on and how sick and demented our culture has become as we move away from marriage relationships and adopt alternative lifestyles to replace what God originally intended that is a relationship between one man and one woman.

I believe it's important to remind ourselves about the purpose of committed marriage relationships and what God originally intended. The commandment against adultery applies to both husband and both wife equally. I know in our culture there's always been a double standard. Women were judged and condemned as being worse and the other idea was, well, men will be men. We had in the Kennedy administration, for example, when John F Kennedy was president, the entire press corps knew of his philandering. But because the press corps were all males and our culture had a well, boys will be boys, you know, wink-wink attitude, it was never reported during his lifetime all of his dalliances and his adulteries and how much he violated the covenant of his marriage.

Now fast forward to where we are now. We've had presidents have relationships with interns who were much younger than they were and nobody cared, still remained president, after all it was only about sex, nobody seemed to care, and so we just moved away from emphasizing the importance of the marriage relationship into every type of perversion and dysfunction that is humanly possible that's related to the concept of sex. Adultery is understood as breaking a trust, violating a covenant between spouses, resulting in moral, emotional, and relational harm.

Sometimes you can never get that back. When that trust is violated, some people can be very forgiving, but some people can just never get over that and it results in the breakup of their marriage, it results in divorce. Indeed, it's one of the legitimate reasons to divorce someone is if they are unfaithful to the marriage vow. The seventh commandment in principle covers all forms of sex outside of marriage because it was designed to protect the institution of marriage. Let's go to Genesis chapter 2 and verse 18 and see why God instituted the concept of marriage. Genesis chapter 2 and verse 18. Adam was created first and he was alone.

There was something missing in his life, something tremendously missing, and that is intimacy, the ability to have an intimate relationship with another being who was like him, who could understand him, who could be sensitive to his needs, someone whom he could love, someone whom he could learn to trust. That was missing immediately after his creation. And the Lord God said, it's not good that man should be alone. I will make him a helper, comparable to him. The new Revised Standard Version says, a helper as his partner. And that's what our wives are. They are partners in our relationships. A helper comparable to him. Out of the ground, the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them.

And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name. So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, to every beast of the field. But for Adam, there was not found a helper comparable to him, a helper as his partner.

Something was missing in Adam's life. So in the midst of God's good creation, Genesis chapter 1 verse 31 said, God had done everything and it was good. In the midst of that, man was alone and he was incomplete, needing a helper. And soon the woman was created to be a helpmate to the man. The Hebrew word for helper is azar. At the root of this word means to surround, to protect, or aid, to help, to promote.

That's what that Hebrew word means. And rather than being a demeaning term, and unfortunately that's where a lot of feminism has tainted our society today, rather than looking at a wife as a helper as a demeaning term, the word helper is used throughout scriptures as essential. For example, in Psalm chapter 33 and verse 20, it states, our souls wait for the Lord.

He is our azar. He is our help. So God is a helper. He is our help in our shield. For our heart shall rejoice in him because we have trusted in his holy name. The word help describes an important role or function.

And it doesn't describe someone of diminished worth. It's distorted human cultures who would describe a helper in any way as somehow being of diminished worth. And usually that means that you don't pay them enough money for what they do. You don't respect and appreciate the help that they do. For example, a hospital aide is not diminished because they help the elderly or disabled. Now they're underpaid and underappreciated. But from a biblical perspective, they're helpers. And that's a good and a wonderful thing. And it will come a time in the kingdom of God when helpers will be adequately compensated for the things that they do to help people. Jesus stated in Luke chapter 22 and verse 26, he was greatest among you. Let him be as the younger. Let him be as the youngest child in a family who kind of gets, goes on down the line, gets things dumped on him. You take out the garbage. You do this. You do that. Let him be as the younger. And he who governs is he who serves. So there's absolutely nothing wrong going back to Genesis chapter 2 with God creating a woman and her being a helper to the man. He needed a helper. He was alone. He needed someone like him that he could be intimate with and share his life with. Another example of God being a helper is in Psalm chapter 54 verse 4. It says, Behold, God is my helper, Azar. Same word. The Lord is with those who uphold my life. So the word helper is always used in a respectful and in a positive way in Scripture.

Marriage is a covenant relationship and a good marriage is a blessing from God.

And it's a good marriage because both husband and wife help each other. And they look at the relationship as an opportunity to serve one another. Let's just read three quick Proverbs to kind of solidify what a blessing it is to have a good healthy marriage. Proverbs chapter 18 and verse 22 will go through these things rather quickly so we can get to the heart and core of our message today.

Proverbs chapter 18 verse 22, He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord. God has blessed you if you've been fortunate enough to find a wife who's compatible to you, who has a great relationship with you. That's a good thing is what the proverb is saying. Proverbs chapter 19 verse 14, Houses and riches are an inheritance from fathers. Those are material things you may inherit. Cash, or you may literally inherit a house, or you may inherit some trust fund or something. Those are physical things. But a prudent, that is a wise, a prudent wife is from the Lord. That's a gift. All the money in the world cannot buy you a wise wife. Someone who's kind, loving, gentle, wise, who looks at themselves as a helper in the relationship. Finally, Proverbs chapter 31 and verse 10, scripture that we're all familiar with, Proverbs chapter 31 and verse 10, who can find a virtuous wife? That Hebrew word means who can find a woman who has strength of character. Someone who just does it all. And as you, if you were to read through the rest of Proverbs 31, it's amazing the skills and talents and the abilities that this woman has. She certainly has strength of character. For her worth is far above rubies. You can't put a price on the value of a good wife who has strength of character. The heart of her husband safely trusts her. He's not jealous, he's not suspicious, he's not condemning her, he trusts her. But a prudent, I'm sorry, so he will have no lack of gain. She does him good and not evil all the days of her life. Again, that's Proverbs chapter 31. So those are the basic concepts of understanding that we all know that I'm sure we're all aware of regarding a marriage relationship between one man and one woman. And we've given some pretty extended sermons in the past on the marriage relationship. So I'm going to kind of move away from there and begin to focus more on the spiritual application of that commandment as we begin to think and ponder about the upcoming Passover and our personal relationship with God. So if you'll go to Jeremiah chapter 3, we're going to begin to focus on the spiritual application of not committing adultery, beginning here in the Old Testament.

When the great God of heaven makes a covenant with individuals or with nations, he's serious. And it is serious. To have a relationship with God is serious business. God is only interested in an exclusive relationship with people that is intended to be intimate with him, faithful, and committed. So let's learn more about God's expectations. Jeremiah chapter 3 and verse 6. And we know in time that first the northern tribes of Israel rebelled against God. They were the first to deviate from God's way of life. And then later on Judah also did the same thing. Jeremiah chapter 3 and verse 6, the Lord said to me in the days of Josiah the king, have you seen what backsliding Israel, again this is referring to the northern kingdom, northern nation, what backsliding Israel has done? She has gone up on every high mountain and under every green tree and there played the harlot. She's committed adultery against God. She hasn't been faithful to her covenant with God. And I said after she had done all these things, return to me. But she did not return. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it. What's that old saying? Monkey see, monkey do? So Judah's gonna follow basically the same footsteps. God likens his relationship to his people as a marriage vow. And worshiping others is considered harlotry and spiritual adultery by God. And I'm going to extract that to the new covenant understanding because Jesus did say, seek you first to the kingdom of God.

So for us, putting anything before God can become adultery, spiritual adultery.

Putting God in second place, third place, fourth place, or so far down that we can't even name it anymore, is committing spiritual adultery. Because God wants to have an intimate relationship with us. He doesn't demand 101% of our time. He knows that we have jobs and we have goals and we have hobbies and we enjoy entertainment and God is all for that. But when anything in our life becomes number one, becomes an obsession, becomes an addiction, pushes God and his values down and away from us, then it has become an idol to us. Verse 8, Then I saw that for all the causes for which backsliding Israel had committed adultery, that's Na'af, that's that same Hebrew word from Exodus 20 verse 4, thou shall not commit adultery. Same Hebrew word. Israel had committed adultery.

I had put her away and given her certificate of divorce. Yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear. Didn't stop Judah from doing the same thing, but went and played the harlot also. So it came to pass through her casual harlotry. And the Hebrew word there means just the lightness of her harlotry. And I can tell you from people whom I have counseled who had committed adultery, they'll tell you that the first time was really difficult.

They wept. They felt shame and guilt. But by the tenth time, the eleventh time, it became very casual. It just became part of their lifestyle. The guilt is gone. The shame is gone. Because that's what happens when you continue to repeat adultery over and over again. First time is difficult, then it becomes casual. And that's exactly what happened here. Casual harlotry, that she defiled the land and committed adultery. Again, that's the same Hebrew word as Exodus 20 verse 4, with stones and trees. Now for those of us today, we may not commit adultery by worshipping stones and making idols out of trees. But for us, it may be a substance that we've made an idol. It might be spending too much time on things made of glass and plastic and chips that can become our idol. So again, it may not be stones, it may not be trees, but it may be the acquisition of wealth. It could be any number of things that we've made an idol that we have put before God in our lives.

For Judah, spiritual adultery became a very casual way of life. There was no longer any shame in it. She idolized stones and trees as representations of God. And we see a lot of religions that called themselves Christians still do that today. They have idols made of stone, of wood. They have icons and idols in their stained glass windows and things of that nature. Throughout history, people would rather worship created things more than worship the true Creator. That's kind of the story of the history of humanity. Verse 10, And yet for all her treacherous, yet for all this, her treacherous sister Judah has not turned to me with her whole heart, but in pretense. Can nations worship God in pretense? Yeah, I know the nation that has on its money printed in God we trust.

I know the nation that still has chaplains who opened the house of representatives or in the Senate in prayer. And then they all go and act like animals when they're making law and create laws that violate every one of the Ten Commandments, sometimes the literal letter of the law. And they do it without without shame. They do it casually, but they have this pretense that yes, we have Christian roots and our founders were Puritans and we honor all of that while we go and create laws that subsidize perversion and deviancy over and over and over again.

Backsliding Israel has shown herself more righteous and treacherous Judah. Go and proclaim these words to the North and say, return backsliding Israel says the Lord I will not cause my anger to fall on you for I am merciful says the Lord I will not remain angry forever only acknowledge your iniquity repent just another word for repent realize who and what you are adulterous nation and repent of it that you have transgressed against the Lord your God and have scattered your charms or your devotions you've devoted and flattered false gods to alien deities under every green tree and you have not obeyed my voice says the Lord return Oh backsliding children says the Lord for I am married to you he says though we had a bill of divorce I still consider you my wife in spite of what you've done totally betraying my trust I love you enough to want you back the once you Judah and Israel to come back home to come back to me for I am married to you I take you one city one from a city and two from a family and I will bring you desire and I want to bring you back to where you belong one at a time both nations committed spiritual adultery by idolizing pagan objects by worshiping and pagan festivals adultery on any level is absolutely horrible it is a betrayal of a special and intimate exclusive relationship either between a man and a woman or between God and his future bride and we are his future bride ancient Israel under the old covenant was his future bride under the new covenant we are his future bride so we putting God first in our lives that's a good question I think as we begin to think about the Passover coming up because an adultery one is defrauded by having his or her most personal and prized object treacherously shared with someone else God doesn't want to share us with anyone but himself and again course he realizes we have families we should spend time with our families we should love our families but there's nothing in this world no material possession nothing in this world that we should be putting before God we should be seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness God's righteousness and then everything else will be added all the goodies you want all the material blessings will just naturally come all the things that human beings desire because we are human we are physical will be added to us if we get our priorities straight there's a good reason that adultery is universally condemned in both the Old and New Testaments now normally when someone is betrayed they show something that's called jealousy jealousies and emotion and sometimes jealousy is legitimate jealousy is the natural result the natural feeling of being betrayed it's the feeling of anger envy and pain when something dear to you that you trusted and believed in gives their love to something else spiritual adultery brings a sense of jealousy to God because he feels betrayed that a promise and a covenant we made with him when we sat in that baptismal tank in that water and said yes Jesus Christ is my personal Lord and Savior and the promise and the covenant we made with God is important to him and we want to make sure that we're living up to the terms of that relationship living up to the terms of that covenant Exodus chapter 20 verse 3 if you turn there with me Exodus chapter 20 and verse 3 another one of the Ten Commandments that we covered earlier but it highlights just how God feels when either ancient Israel or our present generation begins to put other things before God you shall have no other gods before me 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 you should not bow down to them nor serve them now we modern enlightened world may not have material idols made out of stone and trees to bow down to but are we bowing down and serving to an addiction are we bowing down and serving a sin that we just refused to eliminate from our lives are we bowing down and serving material things the acquisition of money or maybe spending too much time and one thing or another to the neglect of spending any time with God see we we in our generation we just bow down and serve other things rather than trees and rocks and stones like they did anciently for I the Lord your God am a jealous God visiting the iniquities of the fathers and the children to the third and fourth generations of those that hate me human dysfunction is repeated from generation to generation to generation they've done studies in prisons and for example people who strike out and are violent who commit assault usually were assaulted his children usually their parents were assaulted when they were children and you find these human dysfunctions repeated over and over again that's the way sin works becomes embedded in a family culture becomes acceptable and the children grow up repeating the same dysfunctions as the parents but in contrast to that showing mercy to thousands to those who love me and keep my commandments one of which of course is thou shalt not commit adultery a similar phrase is used in Exodus chapter 34 verse 14 and I'll just read it to you for you shall worship no other God for the Lord whose name is jealous is a jealous God so what makes the eternal unique is that he does not want to be worship with created objects or symbols like all the other gods of the world are I mean you look at the other major religion of the world they all have all kinds of idols and symbols to represent their God and how their God looks or how their God works or the major theology and teachings of their God and the only thing God gave Israel was the book he was the invisible God he did not want to be worshipped with stone or wood or objects or anything of that nature he just gave them his words that's why they became known as the people of the book so God is righteously jealous when anyone commits spiritual adultery after all he created and saved his people from serving Satan and the old Covenant Pharaoh represented Satan they were in slavery to him and slavery to sin they had degenerated themselves with the years they had lived in Egypt and forgotten all the things that the original patriarchs knew about God in our generation we are called out of this world Satan is the God of this world God has saved us from serving Satan and he's called us out into the faith and he wants us to be his very own bride and because of that God has the right and he expects complete adoration and sincere obedience the first and great commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart your mind and soul and strength and God is not interested in sharing our love with anything else we have to make him number one and as I said earlier I don't want anyone to confuse what God is teaching here that doesn't mean that we don't spend adequate and a lot of time with our mates and our children and our family and our community that's all part of living the Christian way and being example to our family and community but when we put anything before God then that becomes a problem now let's go to the New Testament if we can and Jesus came to earth in the role of a helper he is our helper he is our Savior so again I want to just draw that connection together going all the way back to Genesis and the creation of Eve that's being a helper is somehow less than a full person or a diminished role that is not a biblical concept the reverse is true in scriptures a helper is held up to the highest esteem and respect even though it may not be in our world in our culture today Matthew chapter 5 and verse 27 Jesus said something here that would have stunned the people who heard him because it was an expansion even of the physical letter of the law thou shall not commit adultery so he expands the physical application of it and then to emphasize how important it is he gives a hyperbole immediately afterward here it is you have heard that it was said to those of old those who lived in the old covenant you shall not commit adultery but I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart Wow so he just took a simple commandment and as he does with all the commandments he puts an application on them that deals not just with the letter of the law but what's going on upstairs what's going on between these two years what's going on in this beating chest of ours and he deals with our attitude and our desires and the lust that we may be struggling with and then to emphasize the importance of this serious matter he says something that is a hyperbole he doesn't mean this literally a hyperbole is when you exaggerate something for effect to emphasize its importance for example when I was a young child my mother would say I've told you a million times not to do that well that was untrue it was only 999,999 times but she would use a superbly to emphasize the importance of me stopping that particular behavior which I won't reveal here so he continues verse 29 this is hyperbole and if you're right eye causes you to sin pluck it out and cast it from you for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perished and that your whole body be cast into hell and if you're right hand causes you to sin cut it off and cast it from you for is more profitable for you that one of your members perished than your whole body be cast into hell again that is hyperbole it's exaggeration for effect you say now this is serious what I just said is a serious matter I'm not playing he doesn't literally mean for people to pluck their eyeballs out of their heads for all they still have another eyeball he doesn't literally mean to cut off your right hand you know what your left hand will do it then you'd have to cut off your hands your feet you'd have to gag yourself with duct tape you'd have to cover your eyes with a blindfold and maybe then you couldn't sin any longer the point is he didn't mean this literally he means is a hyperbole an exaggeration for effect that this is serious so take this seriously what I'm saying he expands the application of this commandment to include our hearts and our thoughts what's going on in our minds adultery usually begins in the human heart and mind long before any action takes place the thought is there it's usually pondered it's fantasized it's gone over and over again and that usually is what happens first before the act of adultery now let's go to 2nd Corinthians chapter 11 and verse 1 2nd Corinthians chapter 11 and verse 1 Paul in 1st Corinthians you may recall was kind of strong in them they had some issues and Corinth they were very talented the problem was they knew it and they were very tolerant they allowed someone who was committing incest with his father's wife to continue to participate in the congregation he had to deal with that and some distorted priorities they had about what gifts are what biblical gifts are so he had to deal with some problems there so he's saying here this is 2nd Corinthians chapter 11 verse 1 oh that you would bear with me a little folly and indeed you do bear with me for I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy so just like God in Acts Exodus chapter 20 said he is a jealous God as he said in Exodus chapter 34 his name is jealous he's a jealous God Paul says I am jealous for you congregation with a godly jealousy for I betrothed you to one husband you see we are the bride of Christ we are in a spiritual marriage relationship engaged betrothed to God that I'm reading present you as a chase version the virgin to Christ but I fear lest somehow as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ religions are very good at corrupting the simplicity that is in Christ they all make it far more difficult than it really needs to be the simplicity that is in Christ is that we are a sinner and we are condemned we are in need of a Savior Jesus Christ came to earth he lived a perfect life and he's willing to sacrifice himself as the lamb of God and shed his blood on the cross so that our sins could be forgiven the simplicity in Christ is the fact that we are called by the Father we are drawn to the truth of God's way of life and we accept Jesus Christ is our personal Savior we are baptized and we received a gift of the Holy Spirit by the laying on of hands and from that point on during the rest of our lives we have a commitment number one commitment to develop the mind of Christ to develop the spiritual values doctrines and teachings that make us more like Jesus Christ as we follow and walk in his footsteps and we do that for the rest of our physical lives and complete faith of the resurrection even beyond the time when our physical bodies wear out and die knowing we will be resurrected that my friends is the simplicity that is in Christ and so many individuals add layer over layer over do's and don'ts and the Pharisees were really good at that but they're certainly not the only ones who had all kinds of layers beyond the simplicity that is in Christ verse 4 for he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received or a different gospel which you have not accepted you may well put up with it so if someone comes and has a distorted teaching about Jesus Christ that doesn't conform with what the book teaches us about what he said and what he did if people come up with a different twist and what the gospel is so the gospel means you're going to go to heaven the gospel means this fairy tale or it means this or the gospel means the joy that you have in your heart I mean there are all kinds of false gospels distorted gospels incomplete gospels that religion can teach and Paul says I'm frustrated because with what I've seen you'd accept it if people came in the congregation in those things you'd put up with it where I consider that I am not at all inferior to the most eminent apostles and he's a little bit of a sarcastic comment about James and Peter and those who were considered the top eminent apostles even though I am untrained in speech he implies he wasn't a very good speaker goes a very good preacher publicly yet I am NOT in knowledge in other words he's saying I'm very knowledgeable I may not be a polished speaker Paul may not have spent had you know people have tingles go up and down their spine when he spoke but he was very smart and he knew God and he knew God's Word and he had knowledge yet I'm not in knowledge but we have been thoroughly manifested among you and all things is it just look at my example so brethren regarding the simplicity that is in Christ genuine Christianity is biblically based it's Christ centered its spirit led its life changing its fulfilling and as Jesus told the Samaritan woman in John chapter 4 and verse 23 but the hour is coming and now is when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth that's how God wants us to worship him it's not about stained glass it's not about burning candles off to the side it's not about some idol it's worshiping God with an intimate relationship all during the week in our prayers and our thoughts or meditations and coming to Sabbath and worshiping him and spirit enter truth without ever any facade or superficial things on the walls or as part of our customs but going back to the Word of God what it teaches John chapter 15 and verse 17 his last night on earth his instruction to his disciples and a warning that we can become so attached to this world with all of its distractions that we can literally be sucked up in it we can forget where our priorities should lie and it's so easy to happen today John chapter 15 and verse 17 these things I command you that you love one another if the world hates you you know that it hated me before it hated you if you were of the world the world would love its own yet because you are not of the world but I chose you out of this world therefore the world hates you you have values today that overall this world does not accept you have values that the typical school board in the United States can no longer accept because that would be too churchy that would be too religious and that might offend some of the parents you have values and standards today that are different from the what the world accepts as values and standards and because of that you're looked upon as you know Joe religious guy or all kinds of insulting names that people may put upon us goody two shoes whatever you know people may say behind our back at the workplace or our neighbors or whatever people do if you really live those values people notice it and they're probably judging us first one remember the word that I said to you a servant is done greater than his master if they persecuted me they will also persecute you if they kept or if they obeyed my word they will keep yours also and he's telling the disciples if you go out and you preach the truth and you preach the right values some people won't accept it some people will obey and they'll accept it just like you did you'll keep your word for 21 but all these things they do to you for my namesake because they do not know him who sent me and of course that is the father so Jesus tells his disciples that we must live in the world with all of its distractions but we are not of this world any longer our allegiance is to a different kingdom it's to a different king first and foremost our values and our priorities transcend the values and priorities of the American culture of the Western civilization of any culture that exists on earth again God desires us to have a close exclusive relationship with him not tainted by the values and traditions of this world no matter how innocence or no matter how casual they may appear we have people that struggle with a lot of addictions in our world today and it started out innocent it started out casual and it just threw them in and the next thing they knew they're drinking too much they're injecting poison in their veins they're watching too much they're just totally engulfed addicted to these things that the world has to offer James chapter 4 and verse 4 she'll turn there with me the Apostle James chapter 4 and verse 4 he's writing to the church when he makes this statement so I don't want you to think that he's making this statement of verse 4 to the big bad wolf to the big bad ugly world he says adulterers and adulteresses exclamation point yikes swallow hard do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God or do you think that the scripture says in vain the spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously God gave us the gift of his Holy Spirit are we ignoring it when it tries to stop us from doing something to a fluff of we just put it off do we use God's Holy Spirit as a spiritual coach allow it to prick our conscience allow it to lead us into additional knowledge are we spending time or our actions on the right kind of things that are worship centered are we spending time with God on his way and the way that he chooses to be honored spiritual adultery in ancient times often involved the worship of literal idols and we read that earlier but today it can involve anything that comes ahead of God in our lives it can be money possessions hobbies work excess entertainment in me lots of different things these can become idols if we place them before God and before him as our priorities in this life again I'll read from Matthew chapter 6 and verse 33 do it one more time but seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness so God's righteousness is something that we should seek and all these things all the physical things the nice clothes in the house and the car that actually starts when we turn the key and all of those things that we hope for will be added will be given to us as a result of having the right priorities first John chapter 5 and verse 19 first John chapter 5 and verse 19 John writes as an elderly man chapter 5 verse 19 of first John we know that we are of God and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one he says the whole world and we just have to be very careful not to get wrapped up into the world's politics or compromising with the world's cultures or trying to keep up with the Jones's who probably have astronomical credit card debt and we'll be visiting mr.

housing soon because they're ready for bankruptcy so all of these things this world pulls us in spend buy more than you can really afford continue to nurture that addiction continue to spend so much time at that entertainment and those are not good things continuing and we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding that we may know him who is true and we are in him who is true in his son Jesus Christ this is the true God in eternal life little children keep yourselves from idols amen again they're different I listen thousand years ago two thousand three thousand years ago but these things in our modern world can still all become idols and idol can be anything we put before God as I've said before okay our final scripture today Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 25 Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 25 husbands love your wives just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for her that he might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word God desires us as his bride to continue become more sanctified wash with water as we come to greater understanding as we learn from negative life experiences and say won't do that again and as we continue to grow over time through the washing the cleansing and that we're become more sanctified more like God more like Jesus Christ sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word verse 27 that he might present her to himself a glorious church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that she should be holy and without blemish so husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies and he who loves his wife loves himself for no one ever hated his own flesh but nourishes and cherishes it just as the Lord does the church the Lord loves and cherishes and merchers the Church of God for we are members of his body of his flesh and his bones so if you're fortunate enough to have a maid in the faith you are truly blessed with being able to have Christ at the center of your marriage and your relationship and good for you that's a real blessing that's a genuine blessing to be thankful for each and every day because you can discuss spiritual topics you can worship together you can study together you can pray together you can share spiritual and physical goals it adds a dimension to life that you cannot be replaced don't take for granted or neglect this when you make God the heart and core of your married life you desire to serve your mate because while you're serving them they are also serving you and together both of you are serving God then you look for ways to please your spouse and put their needs above your own verse 30 for we are members of his body of his flesh and of his bones for this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined or partnered to his wife and the two shall become one flesh verse 32 this is a great mystery what do you mean by that he said I'm gonna let the cat out of the bag I'm going to tell you how God came up with physical marriage when that man was alone and talking to the dog wasn't doing it for him right playing with chimpanzees just wasn't cutting it and God created this beautiful woman he said whoa man that was a bad pun I'm sorry couldn't resist that this beautiful woman all of that was a parallel of the bride of Christ and the church of God being married to God himself that's what the parallel is that's the great mystery but I speak concerning Christ in the church because the church is to marry Christ and forever be in subjection to him and serve with him nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself and let the wife see that she respects her husband so Paul is drawing a remarkable comparison between the physical marriage of one man and one woman and Christ relationship with his bride that is the church of God that is you so we should cherish our own mates like we do our own flesh your mate should be special in your own eyes and God wants us to learn to mutually submit to our spouse because when we mutually submit to imperfect people we will have no problem submitting to God for all eternity it's good practice your spouse is human this may shock you sometimes they make mistakes sometimes their advice isn't good but when you learn to respect them and submit to them you are practicing because someday the time will come when you'll have no problem submitting to God because he's perfect he's always right his opinion is always right his counsel is always good and in a contrast to that the great mystery is the fact that God should be special in our eyes we're special in his eyes he called us out of the world he should be very special in our eyes and we should want to mutually submit to him he submits to us he hears our prayers Jesus Christ was submissive that he went to the cross though he was perfect and never sinned he submissively went to the cross and died for our benefits of God submits he does his part and he'd like to make sure that we're doing our part in that relationship as well today we have seen that there's a spiritual application to not committing adultery we live in a world with many distractions and they're all pulling us in so many different directions there's so many ways to easily go wrong and if we're not careful we can begin to place other things before God that's not good and if we've been doing that we need to heed the message heed the Word of God and before the Passover this year make sure that we're stopping that sin stopping that addiction not saying that any longer not watching that any longer not participating in that any longer whatever it may be that's causing a distraction in our lives and taking us off of allowing God to be our priority as we begin to think about the Passover let's ponder and analyze the meaning of the seventh commandment Exodus chapter 20 and verse 14 you shall not commit adultery have a wonderful Sabbath