Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20100103.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
Exodus: God's Forming The Nation Israel For His Abrahamic Covenant
Part II: God's Forming Israel To Heed Him, Exodus 15:22-40:38
F. God's Giving His People Their Moral And Civil Law, Exodus 20:1-17
2. The Latter Six Commandments: Loving Mankind, Exodus 20:12-17
c. Commandment Seven: Upholding The Sanctity Of Biblical Marriage
(Exodus 20:14 et al.)
    Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

    God's Exodus 20:14 KJV command: "Thou shalt not commit adultery," is increasingly being viewed as an outdated, irrelevant order:

    (1) In colonial times, adultery in Connecticut was punishable by death! That was later changed to make it punishable by a year in jail and a $1,000 fine. However, on April 3, 1991, the State abolished adultery from its criminal laws, keeping it as an evil only in its civil law for use in cases involving alimony and child custody issues. (nytimes.com, 4/4/91, "Bill To Void Adultery Laws to Go to Weiker")

    (2) Yet, not just our lawmakers, but we the people are turning lax and inconsistent on the Exodus 20:14 prohibition against adultery:

    Yes, Tiger Woods' marital infidelity is often viewed by the public with disgust, but only since he set himself up as a role model, a fact we can document: the December 21, 2009 issue of USA TODAY , p. 1D ran Donna Freydkin's article, "Adverse group of actresses adds up to happy ensemble" that promoted the "Golden Globe-nominating song-and-dance extravaganza, Nine" that opened Christmas Day. It "stars Daniel Day-Lewis as a philandering director suffering from writer's block and dealing with the many ladies in his life." Marion Cotillard plays the "long-suffering wife" who "unveils the dark side of being married to an absentee philanderer." (Ibid., p. 2D)

    The Tiger Woods family saga parallels this musical's story line, but the world touts the musical as good, quality entertainment while the real life Tiger Woods story is hypocritically viewed with revulsion!

    (3) Professing Christians are increasingly indulging in adultery:

    a longtime Christian acquaintance in California told me by phone last week of several cases in a big, evangelical Church there where married men have left their wives for other women, producing great hurt!

    Meanwhile, the pastors are not teaching about what the Bible says on such issues from the pulpit, claiming "you can't go too deep" with the people of that Church! Perhaps they are afraid to preach on it!

    (4) Even the definition of adultery is changing due to the rise of gay marriage: the 1966 Compton's Encyclopedia Dictionary called adultery the union of a married party to one who is not their respective wife or husband, but the 2003 Collins English Dictionary defines it as the union of a married party to a partner other than their legal spouse!

    Accordingly, we may ask, "WHAT is adultery, IS it a BAD SIN, and WHY would GOD OPPOSE it TODAY?!"

    Need: "What is adultery, is it bad, and why would God oppose it?!"

  1. The Exodus 20:14 prohibition of adultery relates to married folk:
    1. The Hebrew word for "commit adultery" in Exodus 20:14 is na'ap, the union of a married person with one besides his Biblical spouse, Kittel, Bib. Hebr., p. 109; Th. Wrdbk. of the O. T., vol. II, p. 542-543.
    2. [This does not mean God sanctions "fornication" where unwed people have union, for that act, being zana in the Hebrew text, is condemned in passages like Proverbs 23:27 and Numbers 25:1; Ibid., v. I, p. 246.]
  2. To understand God's REASON for this Exodus 20:14 prohibition on adultery, we view the PAST BIBLE CONTEXT (as follows):
    1. God instituted human marriage for Adam and Eve in Genesis 2:20-25, making it a heterosexual, monogamous, permanent union.
    2. However, when man sinned, he departed from this ORDER with resulting destruction to individuals and to the whole social order:
      1. In Genesis 4:19, 23, Lamech took two wives as a polygamist, and this fostered future mass polygamy that contributed to worldwide unrest and violence, leading to the Genesis Flood, Gen. 6:1-3, 13:
        1. When evil men married many women, forming vast polygamous unions, they sired too many sons for them to mentor effectively.
        2. Modern history shows if young men are not parented by father figures, they turn violent and produce social chaos, Dave Kopel, "Fatherlessness: The Root Cause," 2/02/00, nationalreview.com.
        3. So, mass polygamy helped fuel conditions that led to the Flood.
      2. Ham then abused his father's nakedness, leading to a colossal lack of God's blessing for much of the human race , Gen. 9:20-27.
      3. Abraham's polygamous union (Genesis 16) led to the Arab-Israeli conflict, and Jacob's family was afflicted by it (Gen. 29:15-30:24).
      4. In Genesis 18:20-19:25, Sodom and Gomorrah violated God's heterosexual order in marriage with homosexuality, becoming so violent, God destroyed them with fire and brimstone! (Jude 7)
      5. When Shechem forced Jacob's daughter into an extramarital union with him, it led to a retaliatory massacre by Jacob's sons and tensions between the Canaanites and Jacob's family, Genesis 34.
      6. Reuben had an adulterous affair with his father's concubine, an affront that led to Reuben's lack of blessing, Genesis 35:22; 49:3-4.
      7. Judah's adultery with his daughter-in-law who posed as a harlot (Gen. 38:13-18) was wrong even in Judah's view (Gen. 38:26).
      8. The false claim by Potiphar's wife that Joseph committed adultery with her so infuriated Potiphar, he put Joseph in prison, Gen. 39.
    3. Thus, to preserve not only His righteous standard, but man's social order, GOD BEGAN to direct Israel BACK to His original marital arrangement of Genesis 2 by prohibiting adultery in Exodus 20:14!
  3. The New Testament further defines that Exodus 20:14 prohibition:
    1. Jesus claimed that if a man merely looked upon a woman to lust for her, he was guilty of adultery in God's viewpoint, Matthew 5:27-28!
    2. Jesus claimed that if one divorced and wed another, or if he married a divorced person, he committed adultery, Mark 10:11-12; Matt. 5:32b.
    3. [Divorce alone is itself a social evil that God says He hates as noted in Malachi 2:16: the phrase about violence in reference to one's garment refers to the cultural symbol that a man's garment had when it was spread over a woman to signify his protection of her in marriage (as in Ruth 3:8-9). Removing that garment cover pictured divorce, a step that removed the wife's protection, and that treated her with cruelty, leaving divorce an act of cruelty in God's eyes! (Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978 ed., ftn. to Malachi 2:16)]
  4. However, Christ offers full forgiveness and renewal for adulterers:
    1. The instant one believes in Christ as his Savior, he is fully forgiven all trespasses, including the sin of adultery, John 3:16; Colossians 1:14.
    2. Then, whatever the less-than-Biblical marital state of the believer, he is to remain in it for order in his life and in society, 1 Cor. 7:20, 24.
    3. A believer must not initiate divorce even if the spouse is unsaved, but he must let the unsaved divorce him if he so wishes, 1 Cor. 7:12-15.
    4. If a married couple does get a divorce, they must either stay single or be remarried only to one another, 1 Corinthians 7:11.
    5. If a believer commits adultery, he is forgiven by applying 1 John 1:9.
Application: (1) May we trust in Jesus Christ as our personal Savior from sin for forgiveness from our sins, including all forms of adultery, John 3:16; Colossians 1:14. (2) Then, relying upon the Holy Spirit's enabling power (Galatians 5:16-23), may we heed God's Word as it applies to our personal marital status to promote order both in our own lives as well as in society as a whole.

Conclusion: (To illustrate the message . . . )

 The importance of holding to the Exodus 20:14 KJV command that prohibits adultery in order to uphold social order in our era becomes very important when we view Karl Marx's and Frederick Engels' "Manifesto of the Communist Party" produced in 1848.

In this influential work's second section, "Proletarians and Communists," they wrote: "Communists . . . desire to introduce . . . an openly legalized system of free love." (anu.edu.au)

Marx and Engels desired such an overt violation of the Biblical model of marriage because they wanted to destroy the family as an institution better to give the government control of individuals in their communist world order.

They asserted: "Abolition of the family! . . . On what foundation is this present family . . . based? On capital, on private gain." (Ibid.) Marx and Engels thus believed that if capitalism were destroyed, the family would be destroyed with it, for they felt the family was institutional slavery especially for women. With capitalism gone, they felt all men and women would experience free love and equality of access to material goods in family-less, communist bliss!

Of course, we know from experience as a nation that has been heavily influenced by the Christian faith that the Christian marriage and family institutions are not built on capitalism: in times like the Great Depression when there was little or no money available to many people, the institutions of marriage and family became all the more valuable, not less valuable to many folk! The communist manifesto notoriously fails to understand or respect this Christian value system!

However, there are forces at work in our world today that seek to undermine the Biblical marriage and family unit to change society into the format Marx and Engels envisioned! This in part explains the great profusion of lax morals that always seem to be pushed upon us by elitist entities in government, the arts and business realms!



Opposite such pressure, may we believe on Christ as Savior and rely upon the Holy Spirit of God as believers to retain a GODLY standard of MORAL EXCELLENCE!