to Exodus chapter 20 as we continue in our series in Exodus. And our focus will be on verse 14. We'll begin reading in verse 1, but again our focus is on Exodus 20 verse 14. Children, here are your questions, first with a little introduction. Gender is a word we use to describe whether someone is a boy or a girl. First, which gender was Adam, the first person God made? Two, why did God make Eve, and which gender was she? Three, their relationship shows us what marriage is supposed to look like. What very basic truth does their different genders tell us about God's plan for marriage? Four, our bodies belong to God first and then to ourselves. If we get married, our bodies also belong to our spouse, or that's our husband or wife. Should people share their bodies in a close way with anyone they are not married to? I know those questions are big thoughts and probably good to talk to your parents about some of those things. We'll say at the outset that some of the things that I'm going to say are probably going to be considered, would be considered by many as hate speech. I know in some countries I would not be able to say what I, some of the things that I need to say. Because they're from God's Word. They're not given to us out of hate. They're given to us out of out of love so that we can hear the truth. This morning preached on being a preacher or preaching and One of the things we covered was preaching the whole counsel of God in scripture. And so we can't wiggle out of any of the truth that God gives to us. So our passage again, Exodus chapter 20, verse 14, we'll begin in verse one. This is the word of God. And God spoke all these words saying, I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 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 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 fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. 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. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 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. 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. Honor your father and your mother that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. There ends the reading of God's word. Let's pray together. Almighty God, we do thank you for your holy word and your holiness is reflected in it. You are the Lord God and you are the Lord our God. And when we hear your voice in scripture, you have our attention and you touch our hearts. And we pray that as we've just read these commandments and as we'll explore other passages tonight as well, that you would speak to our hearts. We also pray that you would bless the preaching of your word as we move from your scriptures to the sermon. We pray that you would be with the preacher, ministering through him by your Holy Spirit, and for all of us who will hear that we would receive well from you tonight. We come to you in the name of Jesus. Amen. We'll leave it to mankind to corrupt and distort, twist and ruin God's beautiful design and purpose for physical intimacy. It's a design that was exclusively to be enjoyed between a man and a woman in marriage, this physical intimacy. Not only a sacred bond of marriage that is degraded all around us, there's all sorts of sexual immorality all around us. And if we have any righteousness, even to the level of lot, our sensitivities are vexed. Our sensitivities are vexed by what goes on around us. There's also temptations all around us, overt and subtle. Ways to join in, in the twistedness. If not join in, at least not to judge. And taking it further, not to judge, but further to affirm aberrations. We see it in the world, we see it in the world, we see it in the church, and we see it in our hearts. And we'll see how we get there. Whatever age we are, we need to be diligent to guard our hearts against all kinds of corruptions, including sexual immorality. Guard not only our physical behavior, but our thoughts of our mind, our speech, and what we expose ourselves to in the media. Now I recognize that in mixed company, mixed genders, mixed ages, that it's a challenge to present some of the things I need to present. Falling short of a parental advisory, sensitive topic, but we tell our children to read their Bibles and they will come across things that frankly are very shocking. We need to guard against sexual immorality. Why? Because there are sacred things of God and physical intimacy is one of those things that God has designed for his glory and enjoyment within the proper boundaries. Human sexuality. Man with his distinctive characteristics. made in his unique being as a man, woman with her unique characteristics. Some men and women are meant to be single. Others get married. And when they come together in marriage, that intimacy is within the bonds that are proper. It's a special privilege. It's a very special privilege. And it's to be preserved in the bonds of marriage, in the marriage covenant. Think of the marriage covenant. Marriage was designed for a very specific purpose so that men and women would be together, that they would complement one another. And that a natural part, and again, it's not always the case that everyone has children, but a natural part of that would be to bring into the world more covenant children, to raise them in the fear and instruction of the Lord. But as a benefit from that, there is the sexual intimacy that should be enjoyed by couples. when they come together. You think of that marriage covenant designed for God's glory, designed for the good of man. It's not to be broken. And so first think of it as that marriage covenant. Covenants are not meant to be broken. And this is an emotional and a spiritual and a physical covenant bound together to be exclusive for the couple that's married. It involves commitment. never to be broken by either one, and never to be rent asunder, as the old translation says, by anyone else. No one else is to dare to try to separate a man and a woman who are married. But I would take it further and say that it's something to be celebrated. Weddings themselves can be very emotional, big celebrations, and I suppose rightly so. Something to celebrate when two people make a commitment to one another. But how about we also celebrate the fact that two people have vowed together to be faithful to one another with undying commitment till death do we part. That's something to celebrate. Marriage might, the wedding, I'm sorry, might last for a day. We tend to extend them these days into all kinds of things that lead up to the wedding day, but they might last a day. Say, marriages are to last a lifetime. And so we're to guard marriage and the human sexuality within marriage. But tragically, those things are corrupted. The sacredness is disregarded. God knew that about his people. God knew that about the covenant people. And so he has to give them this commandment. You shall not commit adultery. A very clear commandment. And when it's violated in the covenant community, it's especially heinous. We might like to see the world around us, the unbelieving world around us, repent of sexual immorality. That would be a great thing. But we really can't expect those things to be honored by people who haven't surrendered to God to begin with. Turn with me to 1 Corinthians 5. 1 Corinthians 5. Verses 9 to 13. The church at Corinth, and it was a church in Corinth, had serious problems with sexual immorality. And here's what Paul writes, and there's many other things in 1 and 2 Corinthians that should draw our attention. But here's what he says here. I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people. Not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world or the greedy and swindlers or idolaters since then you would need to get out of the world. But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed. Or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler? Not even to eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside. Purge the evil person from among you." And so you see the priority for God's covenant people to be concerned about the covenant people. Because there's not a whole lot we're going to be able to do about the world other than preach the gospel and call them to repent and believe. Now, understand that this context is very likely. It's not as if we shun people or cut them off. It's the duty of the church to exercise discipline on the sexually immoral within the covenant community. But the command is for God's covenant people specifically, and in general it applies to all mankind, but to God's covenant people specifically, you shall not commit adultery. And very plainly, adultery means having any kind of physical relationship outside of the bonds of marriage. If you're married, you stay faithful to your spouse physically and emotionally. But as you start to tease out what this is about and you come to other words regarding sexual immorality, we have the issue of fornication. And so if adultery is against the marriage covenant, fornication is any sexual physical activity outside of marriage. Fornication. The word there is porneo. That's where we get our word fornication. Sexual immorality has a wide breadth our catechism puts it this way what's required in this commandment? the preservation of our own and our neighbors chastity in heart speech and behavior Forbidden all unchaste thoughts words and actions the Heidelberg catechism puts it this way unchaste acts gestures words thoughts desires and what may entice us to unchastity See, it's much more than just a physical sin, isn't it? It has anything to do with anything that's sexually aberrant. And so, adultery and fornication. It ultimately is a matter of the heart, Jesus says. Jesus says, out of the heart. come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witnesses, slander. And so you see, it's put in there with all these other sins as well. But when Jesus talks about sexual immorality, he cuts to the heart and he says, that's that comes from your heart. And sexual immorality, sacred things broken when they're corrupted, there are consequences. Numbers of different ways. As disobeying God always does, there is a consequence. And sometimes the consequences can be immediate, other times long-term, but there are always consequences to sin. And so we look at personal sin in this regard. All sin hurts our fellowship with God. And it damages ourselves, and whether directly or indirectly, it affects the people around us. And so sin is a very personal thing. Sexual immorality can have bearing on us emotionally and mentally. We have this psycho-spiritual connection with our own bodies and with others if we're in marriage, and if that's extended beyond that, then it's a real problem and will cause undoubtedly emotional and mental issues. There is this connection with physicality with this particular sin that isn't there with some others. Stay if you are in 1 Corinthians, now chapter 6, beginning in verse 15. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never. Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For as it is written, the two will become one flesh, but he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you? Whom you have from God, you're not your own. For you were bought with a price, so glorify God in your body. What a beautiful text, but what a sobering text, a warning text of the positive side of intimacy, but also the negative side. The positive side, we're the temple of the Holy Spirit. We don't belong to ourselves, we belong to God. And when that's violated, it is tragic indeed. And of course, there's the spiritual aspect, that broken fellowship with God. And then we look beyond ourselves. We look at society around us. Look at society around us. A corruption of society in many different areas, including sexual immorality, is an indicator of deadly decline. increased perversity. It's always there. It's always been there. There's nothing new under the sun. I don't like to hear about the good old days when things were pure. They've never been pure, but there is a rising to the surface and a real openness about all kinds of twistedness in our country now. It's always been there, but it's becoming more and more in our face. Here's a gruesome list. Adultery. Divorce. God hates divorce. God hates divorce. We know that from scripture. So adultery, divorce, premarital sex, pornography, at the touch of a pad, an iPad, homosexuality, transgenderism, sex changes, twisting children's minds and directions they shouldn't go, prostitution, human trafficking, on and on. Government agencies, demanding that their employers lie to people by affirming their pronoun choice. And honestly, that's mild compared to the mentality that lies behind those laws or those things that they're trying to project on people. Frankly, it can become overwhelming. Overwhelming and devastating as we see our culture plunging more and more into this kind of behavior, this mentality. And we do what we can to keep it in check, but it is the mind of the flesh. And again, unless there's repentance, there's not going to be change. Here's the mind of the flesh. Galatians chapter 5, beginning in verse 16. But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh. For these are opposed to each other to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident, sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you as I warned you before that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God." Now that's quite a list. And it involves a lot of things, doesn't it? But our interest tonight is sexual immorality, and that is definitely in there without question. And that's the mindset of the world, and we should almost expect it. But as a church and as God's people, we're not doing anybody any favors by pretending that sin is not sin. That is not love. That is not love. Any sin. To call any sin okay in someone's life, that's not love. To pretend that sin is not sin doesn't help. at all. Now, we're living in a culture that's becoming more and more gender dysphoric. There's all kinds of confusion out there. And I can almost guarantee, sadly, that the majority of people in our church have this going on in some form or another in their extended families, if not their immediate families. So this isn't some out there thing. This is up close and real. But I will tell you this, that we can look at the world all we want, but we need to look at the church. And we think of the damage done, not only by catering to the world and pretending sin isn't sin, but damage done right within the church, by leaders who are unfaithful, by lay people who are unfaithful. It's shocking to me how many young people professing Christians think it's okay to live together before they get married. And the implications there are clear. There's going to be physical intimacy. Who are we kidding? It's shocking to me the level of pornography addiction. within the church. People, if the church can't get it right, what can we expect of the world? The church is too slow, too hesitant, when it does rear its ugly head to do anything. But it needs correction. It needs correction. And we begin with the heart. Jesus Like he did with murder, takes it to the heart. Turn with me to Matthew chapter five. Matthew chapter five. Beginning in verse 27. 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 your whole body to go into hell. And we'll just stop there. Jesus is not saying cut off your limbs, poke out your literal eye. What he's saying is repent. Repent because if you don't repent of your sin of unbelief, and if you don't repent of your ongoing sins, your whole body will go into hell. And it begins with the heart. All sinners need to repent. And the free offer of the gospel to repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and to be saved and delivered from sin should go out to everyone. Men, women, and children from every kind of twisted thing in the world, any kind of sin, the righteous as we saw this morning and the thoroughly going unrighteous. The gospel is this, repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be forgiven of your sins and restored to God, your creator. It begins with confessing our sin. And this applies to those coming to Christ for the first time, but it also applies to us when we're struggling with indwelling sin. So confess. You come to the throne of grace. Gracious God, ready to forgive sins of those who repent. You come to the throne of grace. And there are no blame games at the throne of grace. This is not the devil made me do it. This is not she made me do it. This is not he made me do it. And yes, there are people who cause others to sin. There are people who cause others to stumble. That's their guilt. But before the throne of grace, it's us and God. And there's no blame game. I have sinned. Whatever it is in my mind, in my words, in my actions, seeking forgiveness of God. And God will forgive. We know that. He told us that. He tells us that in his word. We see it in scripture. See it in the Old Testament. Numerous men, numerous men, adulterers, top of the list, King David, married his adultery with murder. and yet found forgiveness when he repented. Many others as well. Women as well. In the Old Testament, also in the New Testament, the woman at the well, the sinful woman, the woman caught in adultery, forgiven of their sins. Many forgiven of their sins. Some who were immersed in sexual immorality, be sure of it, because the gospel is powerful to save all kinds of people. All kinds of people, prostitutes, sexually immoral, adulterers, prostitutes, all kinds of people. There's forgiveness. But we have to be careful because there's often a temptation to go back. You ever think about the Council of Jerusalem and the few things that they tell the new converts to be concerned about? Saved out of the world. Saved out of paganism. They're concerned about how can Greeks, Gentiles, brought into the kingdom, brought into the covenant, live for the Lord? How can they live for the Lord? Well, there's a concern that they'll fall back into some sins. And the list is short. Abstain from things polluted by idols. Come out of the idolatrous lifestyle. Abstain from things polluted by idols, sexual immorality, what is strangled, stay away from that, and blood. Pretty simple. Don't go back into your pagan ways. Don't go back to your sexual immorality. Live your life for Christ. He owns you, you're not your own. And so there needs to be confession, forgiveness, and then turning. And then turning. John chapter 8. You know the story, but I'm going to read it to you. Beginning in verse 1, well actually it goes from chapter 7. They went each to his own house, but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Early in the morning, he came again to the temple. All the people came to him and he sat down and taught them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery and placing her in the midst, they said to him, teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Now in the law of Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say? This they said to test him that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her. And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones. And Jesus was left alone with a woman standing before him. Let me interrupt just for one second. That was a call to these men who were about to stone her to repent of their own sin and their own adulteries. But then there's this. Jesus stood up and said to her, woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you? She said, no one, Lord. And Jesus said, neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on, sin no more. Turn. Put that life behind you. God will restore you. Repent. Confess. Seek forgiveness. And turn. Now, let's be realistic. There are always scars from our sin. But there's healing and forgiveness in Jesus. For believers, there's got to be that ongoing repentance and there has to be self-control. When it comes to adultery, there's got to be that unbending, undying, exclusive commitment to spouses. When it comes to fornication, there has to be unbending, undying commitment to keeping our hearts and our minds and our bodies pure. Young people, your body, belongs to God. And he's given you your body, your whole person to take care of and to protect. And only when and if you get married is anyone else to enjoy your body. And for some of you, that's a long way off. But keep that ever in your mind and in your heart. And for all of us, when our desires of our hearts are amiss, when the devil woos us, we need to resist temptation. We need to resist the devil. When temptation comes our way, we need to flee temptation. The funny thing is, the funny thing is, and this isn't, I don't mean funny, funny. The odd thing about Christians is we know We know these things. Nothing I've said to you tonight is a surprise. Nothing. It's in the Bible. You know your Bibles. There's no surprise here. But typically with Christians, we know what's right. The problem is we don't do what's right. Either we don't do what's right or we do what's wrong. even though we know better. That's why we have to seek God's help all the time. That's why a part of the Lord's prayer is, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. It's a constant, people. You know that. We know that. We know what's right. And we need God's help. If you get nothing else out of the message tonight, it's take home this. Watch your step. Guard your hearts and watch your step. And resolve to do what's right and seek God's help. And we need to pray, Lord, have mercy on our nation. Lord, have mercy on the church. Lord, have mercy on me. Forgive us our adulteries. Only you can. That's what Jesus died for. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we are so amazed by your grace and your mercy towards sinners of all sorts. And as we examine our own hearts, whatever it is, we would see ourselves for who we are and recognize that we can say with the apostle, we are chief among sinners. Not because we necessarily do things worse than others, but we know our hearts. And we know that you see all things and you know all things. And so for those who are covered in the blood of Christ, that which would be terrifying for us is a great comfort because we know that you've drawn near to us in Christ and you've made us your own children. Sinful as we are, wrestle as we do, you're so gracious and kind. You know your children, you know our weakness. But Lord, we thank you also that there is mercy extended to those who don't believe. We pray that they would hear your word and that it would prick their hearts and that your Holy Spirit would work among the righteous and the thoroughly unrighteous. Those without Christ, may they hear the gospel, the gospel of salvation that reconciles sinners to you. We come to you in the name of the one who gave himself for that very purpose, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.