Exodus 20, verse 14. On page 101, Exodus 20, verse 14, page 101, Exodus 20 verse 14, you shall not commit adultery. And then turn with me as well to Matthew chapter 5. This is page 1308. Matthew chapter 5, page 1308. We'll be reading verses 28 through 32. Matthew chapter 5, actually we'll be reading, we'll be looking at verses 27 through 32. Matthew chapter 5, page 1308. Matthew 5, 27 through 32, Jesus's words from the Sermon on the Mount. You have heard that it was said to those of old, you shall not commit adultery. I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your 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 perish than for your whole body to be cast into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish than for your whole body to be cast into hell. Furthermore, it has been said, whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce. But I say to you that whoever divorces his wife for any reason except sexual immorality causes her to commit adultery. And whoever marries a woman who is divorced commits adultery. Well, beloved congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, today we start to look at what the commandment forbids, Commandment forbids, commandment, that is to say the Seventh Commandment, forbids all sexually impure thoughts, words, and actions. All sexually impure thoughts, words, and actions. Now we are in the midst of a sexual revolution and have been for quite some time. It is arguable that certainly at least since the 1960s, the swinging 60s, that we've been in the midst of a sexual revolution. There is much confusion today with regard to practice and also how we conceive of, how we think about sexual matters and we'll have more opportunity to talk about those things, some of the particular confusions next Lord's Day and the following one as well as we talk about homosexuality and then transgenderism. But it is good to know that there is an absolute standard that tells us what to think and how to act. Now we've already considered what the Seventh Commandment requires. We talked about the extent of the Seventh Commandment. It is for ourselves and for others. It is comprehensive. It deals with heart, speech, and behavior. Heart, the very inner part of who we are, but then the speech, what we say, what comes out of our mouth, and our actions as well. How are we to accomplish this requirement in terms of sexual purity? Well, first of all, internally, and we talked about several things, the fear of God, the proper fear of God, not simply a slavish fear, but a loving fear of God, fearful of offending our Heavenly Father, faith in Jesus Christ, that's foundational in many ways, the application of the promises of God by means of the cleansing of the heart, So we continue to look to scripture and we apply those promises. Frequent and fervent prayer. Crying out, Oh God, for his watchful care over us and then watchfulness over our hearts and minds. But externally as well, watchfulness over the senses, the five senses, particularly sight, for example, the eye gate being a way by which lust comes into the heart. Watchfulness over the senses, being careful. Diligence, diligence, paying careful attention in one's calling so that you're not distracted, if you will. So be diligent in your calling in life, your vocation. Temperance or discipline in terms of eating and drinking. How many times have people given themselves over to gluttony or to drunkenness and the implications of that in terms of sexual matters. Another way of keeping ourselves pure is by means of marriage. Marriage itself is a great way by which we can be encouraged and strengthened in terms of keeping ourselves sexually pure. Also, externally, and this is more in terms of society, enacting appropriate legislation with regard to, for example, marriage and divorce, getting rid of easy divorce, which we have in our country today. Laws against pornography, laws against prostitution. In other words, the state of Nevada is not very godly in this regard. And let me just say that there are many, there is actually a push to legalize prostitution throughout the country. And this is again something that we need to be on the lookout for. And then also, not just societally, but as we talk with others, doing things positively to influence others in terms of talking about these things, encouraging them, strengthening them, and so forth. So we've talked about what is required, and now today we want to talk, we want to start to talk about what is forbidden. What is forbidden? all sexually impure thoughts, words, and actions. Thoughts, words, and deeds. And of course, what do we mean by this? Well, first of all, we talk about our thoughts, our thought life. And part of that has to do with lustful desires. And of course this is what James says in James 1 verses 14 and 15. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then when desire has conceived he gives birth to sin and sin when it is full grown brings forth death. And then James adds, do not be deceived. My beloved brethren, indeed. Lustful desires. No, you can't say the devil made me do it. You did it. And you did it because you wanted to do it. And we find the same thing then in our one of our scriptures for today from Matthew chapter five, the Sermon on the Mount. where Jesus says in Matthew 5 verse 28, that I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Lustful thoughts. Lustful thoughts. And so word, or then thought then, but now secondly, word, word. If you look at Ephesians 4 verse 29, Ephesians 4 verse 29, Paul writes, let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth but what is good for necessary edification that it may impart grace to the hearers. And so, obscene words. inappropriate language. We talk about locker room talk, right? No, real men, like Jesus, real men guard their mouths and do not give themselves over to this type of corruption. but also enticing speech. And here are a couple of places. First of all, Genesis chapter 39. It's a very interesting passage. I'm sure you're familiar with it. Genesis chapter 39. This is where Joseph, who was a slave and serving in the house of Potiphar, this high-ranking official in Egypt, we read that Joseph found favor in Potiphar's sight, served him, verse 4, made him overseer of his house and all they had he put under his authority and so on. And verse 7, and it came to pass after these things that his master's wife cast longing eyes on Joseph and she said, lie with me. But he refused and said to his master's wife, look, my master does not know what is with me in the house, and he has committed all that he has to my hand. There is no one greater in this house than I, nor has he kept back anything from me but you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God? So it was, as she spoke to Joseph day by day, that he did not heed her to lie with her or to be with her. She tried one more time, verse 12, she caught him by his garment saying, lie with me and so forth. A wicked, wicked woman indeed. Enticing speech though. And then look at Proverbs chapter 7 and we'll have opportunity, Lord willing, to look at this passage later. But again, Proverbs chapter 7 This is with regard to the way of the harlot, the prostitute, if you will. And notice what it says, verse 14, I have peace offerings with me today. I have paid my vows. That's interesting. False worship, shall we say. Impudent worship. So I came out to meet you diligently to seek your face, and I have found you. Verse 16, I have spread my bed with tapestry, colored coverings of Egyptian linen. I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. Come, let us take our fill of love until morning. Let us delight ourselves with love, for my husband is not at home. He's gone on a long journey. He's taken a bag of money with him and will come home on the appointed day. With her enticing speech, she caused him to yield. With her flattering lips, she seduced him. And then the commentary, immediately he went after her, as an ox goes to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks. till an arrow struck his liver as a bird hastens to the snare. He did not know it would cost his life. And so we see the thought, but then the thought giving way to the enticing speech, to the wicked words. But now we come thirdly then. to the sexually impure acts, the sexually impure acts. Now here I want to consider things within marriage and then Lord willing next week talk about things outside of marriage, but today then things with regard to marriage as such. One of those things could be the unreasonable and immoderate use of the marriage bed. I'll simply refer to Leviticus 18 19 1st Corinthians 7 verse 5 but secondly bigamy and polygamy bigamy and polygamy now we know from Genesis chapter 2 that there is to be one man and one wife, right? One man, one woman for life. That's what marriage is, not multiple wives or today we have multiple husbands. The same is taught, of course, in other places such as Ephesians chapter five, even with the comparison between Christ and the church and the relationship then between a man and his bride. Now it is true that God tolerated polygamy in the Old Testament so that there were laws which governed it for the protection of women. But there is no question but that the practice itself is sinful and should be outlawed. And it presently is outlawed. But again, there are very serious attempts to overthrow the prohibition of polygamy. Well, also in terms of sexually impure acts, we can talk about unjust divorce, unjust divorce. Not everybody, of course, who files for divorce is sinning. There can be an innocent party who has been greatly wronged. As we mentioned a few weeks ago, there are two grounds for divorce, adultery and willful desertion that cannot be remedied by church or state. Those are the two just grounds for divorce. And so if the innocent party may file, may lawfully file for divorce in such a case. But there is unlawful or sinful filing for divorce as well. For example, if a guilty party files for divorce or If the divorce is being sought on unbiblical grounds, well, I'm just tired of being married. Well, sorry. You gave your word, did you not? For better or for worse, that's the way it is. And this is part of God's plan then for you to help you, to mold you, and to shape you into the person you should be in terms of of patience and love and compassion and humility and all those other things. That would be a wrong reason, an incompatibility, sorry, in and of itself, that is not a just ground for divorce. And of course, not only should that not be granted, But if you were talking about a church member, that person should be disciplined by the church for that sinful action. So as we look at and as we take an overview of the divorce problem, first of all, we would note that divorce represents sin and failure. Divorce represents sin and failure. Marriage is to be for life. And breaking a marriage involves breaking covenant vows solemnly taken before God and man. Again, if the innocent party files for divorce, that's perfectly legitimate. But still, the guilty party is indeed guilty. That's the point. There is always sin involved one way or the other when divorce takes place. Divorce represents sin and failure. Secondly, divorce is of epidemic proportions. The statistic rates are alarming, and even the church has been affected. Even the church has been affected. Thirdly, even with ministers. Thirdly, the church, listen to me carefully here, the church must be willing to offer help hope, and consolation, comfort to those who suffer from divorce. Help, hope, and comfort to those who suffer from divorce. The church must help people who go through a divorce to get readjusted. Sometimes jobs have to be found for people. where they might need temporary assistance with food, shelter, or clothing. Sometimes they might need help with the children. And so help, then, but also hope. The church must offer hope. There is forgiveness with God. So often, divorced people won't forgive themselves, but there is hope with God. There is forgiveness. Third, the church must offer consolation or comfort. The body of Christ is there to be of comfort. Children often suffer, so they also need comfort. And let's face it, the former spouse can often be quite cruel. But fourth, The church must be willing to discipline those who proceed with an unjust divorce, divorce not for unjust grounds, or who give the grounds for a legitimate divorce. The church must be willing to exercise discipline against those who have caused a divorce, or file for an unjust divorce. Well, another thing we've talked about bigamy and polygamy, unjust divorce, and now let's talk about desertion. Desertion, my friends, cohabitation of married people is a moral duty. It is a moral duty. Now, we recognize, of course, that in God's providence, someone's in the military or someone's in prison or whatever, sometimes people are separated. You could even argue that for if there is a very serious situation with physical violence, you could argue that for a brief period perhaps there could be a separation. But just walking away from a divorce and refusing to cohabit is a sin. And now also adultery, which of course is having a sexual relationship with someone other than one's spouse, breaks the special bond the two are to have with each other. This is the most awful example of violating sexual purity, which is why we have it here. This is why the commandment with regard to sexuality deals with adultery. That's the whole point. And the final one I want to mention is this. And again, listen very carefully to me. Marrying an unbeliever. Marrying an unbeliever. Marriage for a Christian is to be only in the Lord. In the Lord. Therefore, a believer is not to marry someone who does not profess the Christian faith. This includes someone who has no religion or someone from a different religion, such as Islam or Hinduism or Buddhism, or someone who identifies with a cult, like Mormonism, or a false church, such as Roman Catholicism. Our confession of faith is clear. No believer is to marry a papist, a Romanist. It doesn't mean that that person may not be a genuine believer in his or her heart of hearts, but the problem is, is that the Roman Catholic Church denies the gospel and pronounces curse, pronounces condemnation upon everyone here who professes the Protestant faith. And has, of course, many different heresies that are damnable indeed. And so marriage then for a Christian is to be only in the Lord. And by the way, I mention this, especially with regard to Romanism, because there are ministers today, churches, that are very soft on this issue. And there are ministers who would marry a Presbyterian and a Roman Catholic, even despite, for example, despite, for example, what our confession of faith clearly says. So three points of application. Number one, number one, act as if sexual sin is the major issue that it is. Act as if sexual sin is the major issue that it is. We are sexual creatures, and sexual issues affect us deeply because this is who we are. We are made male or female. We are sexual by definition as humans. Furthermore, violations of the seventh commandment often intersect with violations of other commandments. And sexual sin is often a good indicator of how we are doing spiritually. Act as if sexual sin is the major issue that it is. Number two, act as a person. made in God's image who has been redeemed. Act as a person made in God's image who has been redeemed. We are not to act like animals. We're not to act like animals. Rather, we are to show forth dignity and care for others. Therefore, we need to act in that manner. And finally, look ever to Jesus as the one who has the answers to our sexual struggles. And of course, this is what we saw today, did we not, in John chapter 4 with regard to the woman at the well. Isn't that what we saw? as the woman tries to change the topic and so forth, tries to get off onto this theoretical or this theological issue, where is the proper way to worship and so forth. But Jesus, meanwhile, had said, go, call your husband and come here. The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said to her, you have well said I have no husband, for you have had five husbands. And the one whom you now have is not your husband. In that you spoke truly. You see, Jesus is the one who lovingly confronts. And Jesus is the one who brings us to repentance. And Jesus is the one who slakes our thirst to take care of that lusting of whatever it may be, including sexual infidelity. Jesus says, Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again. But whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water, springing up into everlasting life." Look ever, my friends, to Jesus and the water that he brings. Amen. We please stand for prayer. Our father, we do give thanks for thy word. Father, we pray that. Thy Holy Spirit would take this word and apply it. Father, we are all sinners. Everyone here. We are all centers. We have broken everyone. Of thy commandments. we have offended in thought, word, and deed. So, Father, we pray that we might be given the grace of repentance, and even with regard to the seventh commandment, Lord, continue to work graciously in our hearts and lives. Protect our marriages. Lord, provide mates for those godly mates, for those who seek marriage, for the folks in this congregation. So Lord, continue to work graciously and powerfully in our lives through Christ our Lord. Amen. Please remain standing as we turn to another of our songs of the month.