The Sin of Adultery

April 26, 2015 in Bible - NT - 1 Corinthians, Bible - OT - Song of Solomon, Meditations, Sexuality, Ten Commandments
1 Corinthians 6:9–11 (NKJV)
9 Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, 10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.
We find ourselves in Eastertide, the time of year that we celebrate the way the resurrection of Jesus has transformed the world and our individual lives. Hope has arrived: forgiveness has been achieved and new life has entered into the world. And to everyone who turns from his sin and trusts in Jesus’ death and resurrection, God grants that forgiveness and new life.
In our text, Paul catalogues a number of sins from which Jesus’ resurrection power frees His people. Today we consider the sin of adultery. Marriage is a covenant of companionship, a covenant in which a man and woman swear to be exclusively loyal to one another until death. It is an oath of, among other things, sexual exclusivity. All people, therefore, whether married or single, are to assist married couples to fulfill their oaths by reminding them of their vows and refusing to tempt them to betray them.
God commands married men and women to turn from adultery to his or her spouse. The first motion is from adultery. The 7thcommandment clearly expresses God’s hatred of adultery. He commands in no uncertain terms, “You shall not commit adultery.” In its most basic sense, to commit adultery is to engage in sex with someone who is not one’s spouse. However, the law of God always points to the heart. The act of adultery is the consummation of perverse desires hatched in the heart. Consequently, spouses must watch over the heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life (Pr 4:23). To turn from adultery is, as married couples, to so control our sexual desires that we not pursue in fantasy or reality any person other than our spouse.
But not only are we to turn from adulterywe are to turn to our spouse. You husbands are commanded by Scripture to drink water from your own cistern and to rejoice in the wife of your youth. You are to be satisfied with her breasts and intoxicated with her love. You wives in turn are commanded by Scripture to welcome the advances of your husband. The Shulamite sings in the Song of Songs, “Let my beloved come to his garden and eat its pleasant fruits” (4:16). So Paul summarizes in 1 Corinthians 7:3-4, “Let the husband render to his wife the affection due her, and likewise also the wife to her husband. The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. And likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. Do not deprive one another…”
So husbands and wives, how are you doing? Husbands, have you been consistently turning sexually from others and to your wife? Are you watching your eyes, controlling your thoughts, governing your words, and monitoring your actions? Your wife is the woman God has given you – treasure her exclusively. Wives, have you been consistently turning sexually from others and to your husband? Are you welcoming your husband, controlling your thoughts, governing your words, and monitoring your attitudes and actions? Your husband is the man God has given you – treasure him exclusively.

Reminded of the call on married men and women to turn from others and to their spouse let us confess that we have treated adultery lightly, we have courted sexual unfaithfulness, and we have failed to pursue our spouses faithfully. And, as you are able, let us kneel as we confess our sin to the Lord.

The Sin of Fornication

April 12, 2015 in Bible - NT - 1 Corinthians, Bible - OT - Song of Solomon, Easter, Meditations, Sexuality
1 Corinthians 6:9–11 (NKJV)
9 Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, 10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.
Following Jesus’ resurrection, he appeared to the disciples over a period of 40 days and manifested Himself to them, convincing them of the reality of the resurrection and enlightening their minds to understand the things that had been written about him in the law and the prophets. This 40 day period has historically been called Eastertide, a time to celebrate the way the resurrection of Jesus has transformed the world. The entire cosmos has been changed, shaken at its very core. And because the world has been changed, we can be changed. Hope has arrived; forgiveness has been achieved; new life has entered into the world; consequently, we can have hope, we can receive forgiveness, and we can experience new life.
So this morning we begin examining the identities we used to have from which God in His power has delivered us as His people. Such were some of you, Paul writes – these works of darkness at one time defined us; but now God has claimed us as His own, He has forgiven us through the sacrifice of His Son, and He has sent His Spirit to empower us to change.
The first group of people who will not inherit the kingdom of God are fornicators. The word is pornos and is sometimes translated the sexually immoral. It is a broad term that refers to those who corrupt and defile God’s good gift of sexuality. Sex enjoyed within the context of a marriage covenant is good, holy, and right; the marriage bed is, Paul informs us in Hebrebs, undefiled. It is pleasing to God and can even be sung about as the Song of Songs reveals.
However, when we seize this good gift outside the marriage bed, we defile it and ourselves. The “fornicator” or “sexually immoral” person sins against his own body, tarnishing the image of God and incurring the wrath of God. The problem in the world is not unprotected sex – as many of our political and cultural pundits would declare – the problem is defiled sex. Any pursuit of sex outside the marriage bed – in pornography, prostitution, casual sex, masturbation, petting, sexual fantasies, etc. – defiles God’s gift of sexuality and incurs His wrath.
The man or woman who pursues sex outside the marriage bed is like a madman who decides that the fireplace is just too confining and so builds a fire in the midst of his house. He wants that orange glow in his bedroom or in the kitchen or in his entry way. But the soot and smoke will most certainly tarnish the house and the flames will most likely catch the whole thing on fire. Beware. Our sexuality is a gift from God; the sexually immoral person defiles it.
And such were some of you; but you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.God has given you a new identity. He has united you with Himself in the waters of baptism. So flee sexual immorality and pursue holiness without which no one will see the Lord.

Reminded that we often defile and distort the good gifts that God our Creator has given us, let us seek His forgiveness this morning and pray that by His transforming grace He would empower us to live new lives that honor and glorify Him. And as you are able, let us kneel as we confess our sins to the Lord.

Longing for the Wedding Day

July 9, 2010 in Bible - OT - Song of Solomon, Children, Meditations

Song of Solomon 3:9-11 (NKJV)
9 Of the wood of Lebanon Solomon the King Made himself a palanquin: 10 He made its pillars of silver, Its support of gold, Its seat of purple, Its interior paved with love By the daughters of Jerusalem. 11 Go forth, O daughters of Zion, And see King Solomon with the crown With which his mother crowned him On the day of his wedding, The day of the gladness of his heart.

Young women love weddings – from serving as bridesmaids to walking as the bride, from enjoying others’ weddings to anticipating their own, from designing wedding dresses to choosing out just the right one for their wedding. Weddings are the transition point for many young women – the transition from being young women to being married women – and so many years are spent in anticipation.

Knowing this hunger, the daughters of Jerusalem are invited in our text today to witness the wedding procession of King Solomon:

Go forth, O daughters of Zion, And see King Solomon with the crown With which his mother crowned him On the day of his wedding, The day of the gladness of his heart.


This hunger that young women display for weddings is to teach us something as the people of God. For God in His wisdom describes the ultimate consummation of the Messianic Kingdom as the final enjoyment of the wedding feast – the day when the Church will be presented to her Groom a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. King Solomon is a mere type of the Greater King Jesus. And the day of His wedding will be the day of the gladness of His heart.

Consequently, we are to anticipate that day and strive for it with all our might. We are to make the bride – the Church – more lovely, more beautiful, more glorious. We are, as we shall see this morning, to remove her reproach, and prepare her to wed the Groom.

There are many who think that this loveliness will just happen: the wedding day arrives and – poof! – a beautiful bride magically appears. But any man who is married and any woman who has been married and any young woman who dreams of being married knows that this is a farce. It takes an immense amount of labor, invested for months and even years, to reach the day on which the bride is adorned and beautiful. Months of preparation go into a mere hour or two of ceremony. Preparing for weddings is hard work.

The bride must consider what she shall be wearing, what the attendants shall be wearing, the jewelry that shall adorn her, and how she can best honor the Groom. All these details and thousands more have to come together. And this is the picture given to us of the ultimate destiny of Christ and the Church. We are to be planning for that Wedding Day in the same way in which a young woman prepares for hers. We are to meditate upon the glory that will be ours, consider the joy that shall be ours, and give attention to the garments of holiness in which we shall be arrayed. The anticipation of this great day will demand an incredible amount of labor on our part as we make the Church more glorious by making ourselves more holy.

So reminded that we are called to labor for the beauty of the New Jerusalem and that that beauty is amplified by our own holiness, let us kneel and confess that we have failed to pursue that holiness with passion.