The Christian Family: Marriage and Household Order: The Family

6 Sanctification & Sexual Purity

Transcript: AI Transcript

Professor: John Weaver

Subject: Family Government

Genre: Sermon

Dictation Name:

Date: 2007-10-22

Synopsis: John Weaver continues a series on sanctification and sexual purity from 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8, focusing on the warning that the Lord is the avenger of all sexual impurity. He demonstrates from the Old Testament law that the penalty for fornication, adultery, rape, incest, sodomy, bestiality, and stubborn rebellion is death. Weaver explains that God executes this penalty personally, familially, ecclesiastically, or nationally, in His own time and manner. He addresses objections regarding David and the woman caught in adultery, showing that God's law is not nullified. The sermon concludes with a call to holiness and a warning that no government can repeal God's law or its sentence.

[John Weaver] Alright, 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, and let's read the first eight verses. Furthermore, then, we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as you have received us, how you ought to walk and to please God, so you would abound more and more. For you know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that you should abstain from fornication, that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel and sanctification and honor. Not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles who know not God, that no man go beyond and defraud his brethren in any manner, because of the Lord is the avenger of all such as we have also forewarned and testified. For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness. He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given unto us his Holy Spirit."

[John Weaver] Now we've been teaching for the last five weeks from this passage. on the general theme of sanctification and sexual purity. Very quickly, let me just give you the outline that we're following, and I'm not going to take time to go into the review today as I normally do, but first of all, in verse 1, you have an exhortation, where he exhorts you by the Lord Jesus. There were three things in this verse. First of all, a practical necessity.

[John Weaver] He said that you have received of us, that is, you must be taught. Secondly, a personal application, how you ought to walk and please God. The truth must be personally applied. And then thirdly, there was the progressive reality. He said, and so you would abound more and more. So there's to be no neutrality and no regression. We're to be continually advancing in holiness and righteousness. Secondly, in verse two, You have an explanation, for you know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus. And this is how they received of the apostles how they ought to walk and to please God. In other words, they were expounding, explaining, and applying the commandments of God. They were not just quoting the Ten Commandments. They were explaining them and expounding them and applying them.

[John Weaver] And then in verses 3 through 5, you have the exposition. First of all, you have an affirmation, this is the will of God.

[John Weaver] Secondly, an explanation, even your sanctification. Thirdly, a negation that you should abstain from fornication. And then in verses 4 and 5, you have a clarification. Verse 4, is the truth clarified and positively stated that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel of sanctification and honor. And then verse 5 is the truth clarified and negatively stated, not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles who know not God.

[John Weaver] And then when we left off last week, we were on the fourth point and elaboration that no man go beyond and defraud his brother in the matter In other words, he is teaching us that seduction, fornication, adultery is not only a violation of the seventh commandment, it is also a violation of the eighth commandment, thou shalt not steal, because it is a defrauding. That is why in Exodus chapter 22, And also in Deuteronomy chapter 22, there was restitution that was to be made for seduction. A man had to give a three year's dowry, which was a three year wage to the woman that he seduced. So God calls it a defrauding.

[John Weaver] Now, so last week then we looked at the fact that he elaborated in verse 6 as to the willfulness of sexual impurity manward. He said that no man go beyond and defraud his brother in the matter. And today we're going to take back up with this point on the second sub-point, and that is, here Paul elaborates as to the warning of sexual impurity. He says in verse 6 that no man go beyond and defraud his brother in the matter, and here's the warning, because that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we have also forewarned you and testified." Now I want you to note that warning, because that the Lord is the avenger of all such.

[John Weaver] Now let me just stop and say that that one thought should have an absolute deterring effect upon fornicators and fornication, to when you realize that the Lord Himself is the avenger of all such." Now, the word avenger here is from the Greek word ekdikos. Ek is the preposition, which means out of, and dikos is righteousness. Literally, he is saying, for the Lord is the one that executes His righteousness, or exacts His justice, or executes His justice.

[John Weaver] Now, he said in verse 6, we have also forewarned you and testified." Now, the word forewarned just simply means previously told. In other words, he said, we told you previously that the Lord will avenge all such. But when you get to the word and testified, it literally means solemnly witnessed to. In other words, Paul was deadly serious when he was telling them that it was God himself who would avenge all such fornicators.

[John Weaver] Now just stop and think, that is an absolutely awesome thought. That the man or the woman who is engaged in sexual impurity, who is engaged in fornication, is going to be confronted and dealt with by God Himself.

[John Weaver] Now I want you to hold first Thessalonians chapter 4, but look in your Bibles to 1 Peter chapter 5 and verse 5. 1 Peter chapter 5 and verse 5. Look at what God says, 1 Peter 5 and verse 5. He says, Likewise you younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another and be clothed with humility.

[John Weaver] Now watch this statement, For God resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble. Now the word resisteth in the Greek is Antipasto, and it literally means that God appears in battle array against the proud. In other words, God prepares Himself for battle. God fights against the proud. Now, if God merely fights against us, who is going to win? Very clearly God is. But when you come to fornicators, it is not that God just simply fights against us.

[John Weaver] He does fight against us, but He does more. He avenges Himself. That is, He executes His righteousness and He brings out His justice.

[John Weaver] Now let me show you. Look in your Bibles to the book of Hebrews 13 and verse 4. Here it is again spelled out in black and white. Hebrews 13 and verse 4. Note what the Bible says. Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled. For whoremongers and adulterers God will judge. And the word judge here is the word credo, which means to try or to judge judicially. It means to pass a sentence upon. It means to execute and to punish and to avenge. So when he says in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 that God is the avenger of all sin, He is saying that God himself is going to execute his sentence. He is going to pass judgment and he is going to exact his righteousness. Now we have two passages that teaches us that God is the judge. That God is the executioner.

[John Weaver] But you have got to ask yourself this question. Since God is the judge and since God is the executioner of his righteousness and his justice. Where is that justice found? And the answer is, in His law. You could ask, where are the penalties for such found? And the answer is, in His law.

[John Weaver] Now listen to me carefully. The law is the standard of judgment. How can I say that? Well, look in 1 John chapter 3 and verse 4. You should be able to quote this verse, but look at it. 1 John 3 and verse 4. Look what God says. Whosoever committed sin transgresseth also what? The law. For sin is the transgression of the law. How do we know what sin is? Because the law says thou shalt not. Well, what standard does God use then when He judges? The law. So what is God going to do? He's going to execute the penalty of His broken law. Since God's avenging is in the context of fornication in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, we must discover then the penalties for fornication in the Bible.

[John Weaver] Now remember, I took one message and just preached on the negation that you should abstain from fornication. We went through the Old Testament and through the New Testament and showed you that fornication is an exceedingly broad term. It includes adultery. It includes bestiality. It includes seduction. It includes rape. It includes a lot of things. Stubbornness and rebellion, even. But let me just take a few moments and show you the penalties for each of these in the Bible.

[John Weaver] Look in your Bibles, first of all, holding 1 Thessalonians 4, but look to the book of Leviticus, chapter 20. Leviticus, chapter 20. And note, if you would please, verse 10. Leviticus 20 and verse 10. Look what God says. Leviticus chapter 20 and verse 10. And the man that committed adultery with another man's wife, even he that committed adultery with his neighbor's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.

[John Weaver] But what was the penalty? Death. Look in your Bibles to the book of Deuteronomy chapter 22. beginning there with verse 23, Deuteronomy chapter 22. And note, if you would please, verse 23, Deuteronomy 22, verse 23, the word of God says. If a damsel that is a virgin be betrothed unto an husband, and a man find her in the city, and lie with her, then you shall bring them both out of the gate of that city, and you shall stone them with stones that they die. The damsel because she cried not being in the city, and the man because he humbled his neighbor's wife, so shalt thou put away evil from among you." So the penalty for adultery under the law is death. Since we're in Deuteronomy chapter 22, let's look at verse 25. You'll see the penalty for rape. He says, But if a man findeth a troth damsel in the field, and the man force her, and lie with her, then the man only that lay with her shall die. So God then demands the death penalty for adultery, God demands the death penalty for rape, and I want you to go back to the book of Leviticus chapter 20, and I want you to see that God demands the death penalty for incest.

[John Weaver] Look if you would please, Leviticus chapter 20 beginning there with verse 11. Leviticus 20 verse 11. And the man that lies with his father's wife hath uncovered his father's nakedness. Both of them shall surely be put to death, their blood shall be upon them. And if a man lie with his daughter-in-law, both of them shall surely be put to death, they have brought confusion, their blood shall be upon them." Verse 14, and if a man take a wife and her mother, that is his mother-in-law, It is wickedness. They shall be burnt with fire, both he and they, that there be no wickedness among you. Look in verse 17. And if a man shall take his sister, his father's daughter, or his mother's daughter, and see her nakedness and she see his nakedness, it is a wicked thing.

[John Weaver] And they shall be cut off in the sight of their people. He hath uncovered his sister's nakedness, he shall bear his iniquity." So much so that adultery demands the death penalty. Rape demands the death penalty. Incest demands the death penalty. Since we're in the book of Leviticus, look in chapter 20 and verse 13, here's the penalty for sodomy. He says in verse 13, if a man also lie with mankind as he lied with woman, both of them have committed an abomination, they shall surely be put to death, their blood shall be upon them. Now I want you to turn in your Bibles to the book of Romans chapter 1. I want you to see that the penalty is exactly the same. Look at Romans chapter 1 and let's begin reading there with verse 24. Romans 1 verse 24. Watch carefully. Romans 1 verse 24, Wherefore, God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lust of their own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves.

[John Weaver] I pointed that out a few weeks ago, that fornication was not only wicked and wrong, it was a dishonoring of your own body. Verse 25,"...who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshiped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever." Amen.

[John Weaver] Now watch,"...for this cause God gave them up into vile affections, for even their women did change the natural use of that which is against nature." And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lusts one toward another, men with men, working that which is unseemly, watch, and receiving in themselves that recompense, or that payback of their error, which was meat." In other words, they deserved what they got, death. And even if they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind to do those things which are not convenient, being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity, whispers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient parents, without understanding, Covenant breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful, watch, knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death.

[John Weaver] Not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them." Now, I want to go back and point out verse 32. who knowing the judgment of God." How do we know the judgment of God against incest and fornication and sodomy? It's revealed in the law. Now, he says,"...who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death." Look in your Bibles, if you would, please, to the book of Leviticus chapter 21. And verse 9, I want you to understand that prostitution was forbidden as well. Notice the book of Leviticus, chapter 21, verse 9. Leviticus 21, verse 9, the word of God says, And the daughter of any priest, if she profane herself by playing the whore, she profaneth her father, she shall be burned with fire. Look in Deuteronomy 23, verse 17. Here's a broad statement. Deuteronomy 23, verse 17. God says, There shall be no whore of the daughters of Israel, nor a sodomite of the sons of Israel.

[John Weaver] By the way, I'm going to just go ahead and cover this next verse just to clarify something for you. Thou shalt not bring the hire of a whore, or the price of a dog in the house of the Lord by God for any vow, for even both of these are an abomination of the Lord by God. All my life I was taught, you're not supposed to sell a dog. Sell a dog! Why are you not supposed to sell a dog? Well, because the Bible says you're not to bring the price of a dog into the house of God.

[John Weaver] It has nothing to do with a little four-legged creature. A dog is a sodomite, it's a man. The higher of the whore is the woman. And what God is saying is this, his society, his kingdom is not to be subsidized by an alien law structure. His kingdom is to be subsidized by his people with their tithe and their offerings. So the dog It's a male prostitute. It has nothing to do with a little four-legged animal. So God says it deserves death.

[John Weaver] Look in your Bible to the book of Leviticus chapter 20. Here's another one that deserves death. This would be included under fornication. Leviticus chapter 20 verse 16. He said, And if a woman approach unto any beast, and lie down thereto, thou shalt kill the woman and the beast. They shall surely be put to death, their blood shall be upon them." Look in your Bibles to the book of Exodus chapter 22 and verse 19. Exodus 22 verse 19. So bestiality demands the death penalty. Exodus chapter 22 verse 19, God says,"...whosoever lies with a beast shall surely be put to death." So God demands the death penalty.

[John Weaver] Now, I want to very quickly take you through the book of Proverbs. I want you to turn to Proverbs chapter 2, and I want you to note in this wisdom literature, the death penalty is always associated with harlotry, prostitution, adultery, whatever. Look in Proverbs chapter 2, and let's begin reading there with verse 16. Here is one of the reasons God gave the book of Proverbs, his wisdom. He says,"...to deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger, who flattereth with her words, who forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God, for her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead. None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life." What does God say? God says, you go into a harlot. He says, you're killing yourself. It's death. Look in your Bibles to Proverbs chapter 5, beginning there with verse 1.

[John Weaver] He says, My son, attend unto my wisdom, and bow thine ear to my understanding, that thou mayest regard discretion, and thy lips may keep knowledge. For the lips of a strange woman drop as a honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil, looks so beautiful, looks so enticing, but her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword, Her feet go down to death, her steps take hold on hell, lest thou shouldst ponder the path of her life. Her ways are movable, thou canst not know them. Hear me now, therefore, ye children, and depart not from the words of my mouth." Remove thy way far from her, come not nigh the door of her house, lest thou give thine honor unto others, and thy years unto the cruel, lest strangers be filled with thy wealth, and thy labors be in the house of a stranger, and thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed."

[John Weaver] What's he talking about, dad? Look in verse 20. And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger? For the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord. Watching he, the Lord, pondereth all of his goings. His own iniquity shall take the wicked himself. He shall behold him with the cords of his sins. He shall die without instruction, and in the greatness of his folly shall he go astray." Look in chapter 6, beginning there with verse 23. He says, For the commandment is a lamp, and the law is a light, and the proofs of instruction are the way of light. What has God given? To keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman, lusting on after her beauty in thine heart, neither let her take thee with thy eyelids, For by means of a whorish woman, a man is brought to a piece of bread, and the adulterous will hunt for the precious life. Can a man take fire into his bosom, and his clothes be not burned?

[John Weaver] Can one go upon hot coals, and his feet not be burned? So he that goes into his neighbor's wife, whosoever touches her, shall not be innocent. Men do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy his soul when he is hungry. But if he be found, he shall restore sevenfold, for he shall give all the substance of his house. But whoso committed adultery with a woman, lacketh understanding what he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul.

[John Weaver] A wound that dishonors shall he get, and his reproach shall not be wiped away. For jealousy is the rage of a man, therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance." What's he talking about? Death. Look in chapter 7, beginning there with verse 4. He says, Say unto wisdom thou art my sister, and call understanding thy kinswoman, that they may keep thee from the strange woman, and the stranger which splattered with her words. For at the window of my house I looked through my casement, and I beheld among the simple ones I deserved among the youths a young man void of understanding, passing through the street near the corner, and he looked away to her house, in the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night.

[John Weaver] And, behold, there met him a woman with the attire of a harlot and subtle of heart. She is loud and stubborn, her feet abide not at her house.

[John Weaver] Now she is without, now in the street, and live and wait at every corner. So she caught him and kissed him with an impudent face, saying to him, I have peace offerings with me. This day have I paid my vows. Therefore, came I forth to meet thee diligently, to seek thy face. I have found thee. I have decked my bed with the coverings of tapestry, with the card works, with the fine linen of Egypt. I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.

[John Weaver] Come, let us take our fill of love until morning. Let us solace ourselves with love, for the good man is not at home, that is, her husband. He has gone on a long journey. He has taken a bag of money with him, and will come home at the day appointed. With her much spare speech she calls to the yield. With a flattering of her lips she forced him, watch, he goeth after her straightway, as an ox goeth to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of stocks, till a dart strike through his liver.

[John Weaver] As the bird hastened to the snare, and knoweth not, it is for his life. Hearken unto me now, therefore, you children, and attend to the words of my mouth. Let not thine heart decline to her ways. Go not astray in her past, for she hath cast down many wounded. Yea, many strong men have been slain by her. Her house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death." One more.

[John Weaver] Look in Proverbs 9, beginning there with verse 13. Proverbs 9, verse 13. God says a foolish woman is clamorous, she is simple and knoweth nothing. For she sitteth at the door of her house on a seat in the high place of the city, to call on passengers who go right on their ways. Whoso is simple, let him turn and hither. As for him that wanteth understanding, she saith to him, Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant. But he knoweth not that the dead are there, and that her guests are in the depths of hell."

[John Weaver] Let me just make a statement. I've got one other passage to show you before I begin to tie things together for you. I want you to understand, we live in the age of what is known as the sexual revolution. Promiscuity, sexual impurity does not bring life. It does not bring vigor. It does not bring vitality. It does not bring health. It does not bring happiness. What it does bring is death. And only death.

[John Weaver] Now you said, Brother Weaver, when you discussed fornication, you covered all of these things and you showed me how they were involved under this broad umbrella of fornication. But there was one other part of fornication that you pointed out that you haven't mentioned today, and that is stubbornness and rebellion. Well, I want to cover that because I want you to look in your Bibles, 1 Samuel, chapter 15. I want you to see that fornication merits the death penalty.

[John Weaver] Now, God sent King Saul on a mission. And all he had to do was to kill all the Amalekites. But you know what King Saul did? He spared the best of the sheep and the best of the oxen, and Agag, the king of the Amalekites. Samuel comes to him and says, in verse 22, after Saul gives this objection to Samuel, but the people spared them that we may sacrifice them to God. And Samuel asks, in verse 22, hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken is better than the fat of ram's watch, for rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft.

[John Weaver] What is to be done with a witch? Burn, put to death. And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. What was to be done with an idolater? Put to death. So stubbornness and rebellion merit the death penalty as well. So all of fornication brings the death penalty. Now that we've established the penalty for fornication, that is death, we've got to ask another question. How does God execute that penalty?

[John Weaver] You see, many people think that just because God does not instantly smite someone, that they've gotten away with their sin. Well, let me remind you something, folks. God's paydays are not always on Friday. I want you to look at Deuteronomy chapter 32. I'm going to quote this verse later, but I want you to see it right now. Deuteronomy 32 and verse 35. Watch carefully. Deuteronomy 32 verse 35. Remember now, God says that he is the avenger, which means he is the executioner.

[John Weaver] He's the one that takes vengeance. So in Deuteronomy 32 and verse 35, he says, To me belong a vengeance and recompense. Look what he says about the wicked. Their foot shall slide in due time. For the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them may case." What does God say? Their foot shall slide in due time. In Numbers chapter 32 and verse 23, God said it like this, Be sure your sins will find you out. You see, no one is going to get away with any wickedness.

[John Weaver] Now let's ask and answer the question, how will God execute his justice? Several ways he can do so. First of all, personally. God may execute His justice upon the fornicator personally. Do you remember what the Bible says in the book of Ezekiel 18 and verse 4? Help me out. The soul that sinneth, it shall die. And the wages of sin is death. So God could, if He was so pleased, execute the fornicator. He could do it instantly, or He could do it a week later, or a month later, or a year later, but I want you to remember something, folks. Brother Richard understands this.

[John Weaver] It is the judge who sets the execution date. It is the judge that determines the manner of the execution. The prisoner has no say so in it. So when God is the judge and God is the avenger, God is the one that determines the execution date. And He is the one that determines the method in which the execution is to take place. It is solely and totally in the judge's discretion.

[John Weaver] Now, let me cover some objections, because inevitably these are going to come up. Someone says, oh, but Brother Weaver, I know you've just shown me from the Bible that the penalty for adultery is death, the penalty for fornication is death, the penalty for rape and incest is death. I understand that, but brother Weaver, David committed adultery and he didn't die. Well, look in your Bibles to 2 Samuel chapter 12. I will tell you why David did not die.

[John Weaver] I will show it to you in black and white. And by the way, although David did not die, his child did. And I'll cover David's reaping when he sowed a little bit later, but I want you to understand something. The only reason David was not executed was because God sovereignly pardoned him. David merited and earned the death penalty on two points. He had not only committed adultery.

[John Weaver] He had Uriah, Bathsheba's husband, murdered with the sword of the children of Ammon. And notice, if you would please, what David said in verse 6, verse 5. And David's anger was greatly kindled. This is when Nathan had told him the story. And he said to Nathan, As the Lord liveth, a man that hath done this thing shall surely die. And Nathan said in verse 7, Thou art the man. Now skip down, if you would please, to verse 13. And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. Nathan said unto David, the Lord has also put away thy sin. Thou shalt not die. The only reason David did not die was God sovereignly pardoned him.

[John Weaver] Now, let me just say this. David is the exception. and not the rule. And the problem today is this. Too many people want to identify with David and his sin, but they do not want to identify him with his repentance and reaping what he has sown. So David then is the exception. God sovereignly, pardon me, God can do as he pleases. And in this instance, He sovereignly pardoned David.

[John Weaver] Now, turning your Bibles to John chapter 8, because inevitably, and I've heard this for years, well, Brother Weaver, the death penalty for adultery has been done away with in the New Testament by Christ. That is not true. May I remind you, Matthew 5 and verse 17, Jesus Christ said, Think not that I am come to destroy the law. I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. And the word fulfill is plural.

[John Weaver] Oh, it means literally to put it into full force as continuous. Now watch John 8 verse 1. Jesus went into the Mount of Olives and early in the morning he came into the temple and all the people came unto him and he sat down and taught them. And the scribes and the Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst, they said unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery in the very act.

[John Weaver] Now Moses in the law commanded us that such should be stoned, but what sayest thou? This they said, tempting him that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down and with his finger wrote on the ground as though he heard them not. So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. And again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even to the last, and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. When Jesus had lifted up himself and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers?

[John Weaver] hath no man condemned thee? And she said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee, go and sin no more. And so people read this and say, See, Jesus has done away with the death penalty, and the answer is absolutely no. He did not do away with the death penalty. Christ came to fulfill the law. Well, why did he not have this woman executed then? Well, there are very good answers to that question. First of all, I want you to know it was the scribes and the Pharisees who brought the woman, and they said, Master, this woman was taken in adultery in the very act.

[John Weaver] Now, I've got a question, and everybody ought to have the same question. It takes two to commit adultery. So where was the man? Why did they not bring him? See, of course, very clearly, they were not even interested in justice. They were interested in putting Christ in the pickle. You see, if Christ had said, take her out and stone her, How is he going to be known as the friend of sinners? So what did Jesus Christ do?

[John Weaver] I don't have time to go into all of this. But if you'll go back to the book of Numbers, you'll find the law of jealousy. By the way, let me just point this out. This could not have ever gone to trial. Why could it never have gone to trial? Because in the Bible, The victim was the woman's husband. Where was he? He was supposed to be pushing the case.

[John Weaver] He was not even there. Here the Pharisees now have usurped the position and the authority of the husband. So the husband, the injured party, was not even there. So Jesus knelt down and wrote in the dust.

[John Weaver] Now, if you go back to the book of Numbers, you'll find in the law of jealousy, the high priest would bend down and write in the dust. He would write a curse.

[John Weaver] Now, I don't actually know what Jesus Christ wrote. I've got a pretty good idea, I think. I think since those Pharisees and scribes were trying to get something on Him and checking up on Him, probably what Christ did was just simply write down dates and times and places that they themselves had committed adultery, or names of women that they had been with themselves. Why would He do that?

[John Weaver] Well, look what He said. clear it up for you, hopefully. Verse 7, So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.

[John Weaver] Now, that is a very general statement, but in the Greek, there is a definite article in front of the word sin. Literally, he says, He that is without the sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. You see, in the Bible, and in our jurisprudence, We have what is known as the law of clean hands. That means if I'm going to accuse Tony of something, of a crime, I have to be innocent of that crime myself. Because if I accuse him of something and get him condemned, guess what? I've just turned around and condemned myself. It's called the law of clean hands. You'll find it in Black's Law Dictionary, Bouvier's Dictionary, it's in the Bible.

[John Weaver] And this is what Jesus Christ is saying. If you have not committed the act of adultery, you cast the first stone. You can be the executioner. In fact, don't you remember, the witnesses in the Bible had to lay their hands upon the victim first. So what happened? They, being convicted by their own conscience, went out from the eldest to the youngest. And Jesus looked up to the woman and said, Woman, where are those thine accusers?

[John Weaver] She said, No man condemn thee. She said, No man, Lord. He said, Neither I condemn thee. Why would Christ not condemn the woman? Go back to the law of God. What does the Bible demand for the death penalty? Two witnesses. How many witnesses were there to testify against her? None. Jesus did not nullify the death penalty for adultery. He did not even have enough evidence to have a trial. There were no accusers.

[John Weaver] Her husband was not complaining. He was not pushing the case. So Jesus Christ did what the only thing he could do lawfully, he dismissed the case. And when she said, No man, Lord, I am bowing to your sovereign authority. Then he said, Neither do I condemn thee. Go and sin no more. So very clearly Christ was not simply doing away with the death penalty. He just simply had no grounds to hold a trial for this woman in John chapter 8.

[John Weaver] Now, I want you to turn in your Bibles to 1 Corinthians chapter 5. You see, we are in a similar position today in one sense of the word. While the church does have the absolute authority to try cases, There is an ecclesiastical law in the Bible. There is an ecclesiastical court in the Bible. While the church has the power to have trials and hold courts, the church does not have the power to execute the death penalty with a sword. Physically. But there is a way that the church can execute the death penalty Look in 1 Corinthians 5, verse 1. It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father's wife.

[John Weaver] And you are puffed up and have not rather mourned that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you. For verily, as absent in body and present in spirit, I have already judged as though I were present concerning him that hath done this deed."

[John Weaver] Now watch what he says,"'In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together in my spirit with the power of the Lord Jesus Christ, to deliver such a woman to Satan for the destruction of the flesh.' that the spirit may be saved in the day of his, what is he talking about? He's talking about church discipline. He's talking about excommunication. So here's the man that is a fornicator who will not repent. What does God do? God says you have a church trial, you discipline him and you turn him out.

[John Weaver] How is that the death penalty? Do you remember what Jesus Christ said in Proverbs 8, verse 36? He said, All they that hate me, love what? Death. And if he's outside the church, he's dead.

[John Weaver] Now, when governments will not fulfill the statutes of God, what the church can do, is what I've just shared with you from 1 Corinthians chapter 5. I excommunicate them, discipline them. And by the way, do you realize in the early church, people who were adulterers, fornicators, who had repented and were admitted back into church fellowship based upon their repentance. Do you know what they were called and referred to as in the New Testament church? They were called and known as the walking dead. What were they saying?

[John Weaver] Well, we have forgiven them because they have sinned. But that does not stop God from executing his penalty and his justice. And he will do so in his time.

[John Weaver] Now, let me come to one other objection. You said, but Brother Weaver, I have known individuals who have committed fornication and adultery, and they are still alive. I witnessed the first fornicator, President Clinton. He's still alive. Well, all I can say is, his foot shall slide. in due time. Everyone who thinks they've gotten away with their sin is in for a big surprise. Their foot shall slide in due time.

[John Weaver] May I remind you that beside physical death, there is also a covenantal death. There is an emotional death. There is a financial death. There is a political death. You remember Proverbs 16, verse 7? When a man's ways please the Lord, he make it even his enemies to be at peace with him. The opposite is also true. When a man's ways displease the Lord, God raises up enemies against him.

[John Weaver] That's what He did to Solomon. So God can, if He so choose, execute the penalty personally. Secondly, God, if he so chooses, may execute the penalty familially, that is, in the family. This would be an aspect of Galatians 6, 7 and 8. Everybody can quote that, or at least you should be able to. Be not deceived, God is not mocked, for whatsoever man soweth, that shall he also reap. He that soweth through the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption. He that soweth through the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.

[John Weaver] Now listen folks, you not only reap what you sow, you many times reap more than you sow. You can plant one grain of corn and get a stalk with several ears and hundreds of grains.

[John Weaver] Now, David committed adultery with Bathsheba. Let's go back there. Let's go to 2 Samuel chapter 12. 2 Samuel chapter 12. You see, so many people think that David got away with his sin. Well, it is true David did not die at that time, but he did not get away with his sin. David committed adultery with Bathsheba. Let's go back there. Let's go to 2 Samuel chapter 12. 2 Samuel chapter 12. You see, so many people think that David got away with his sin. Well, it is true David did not die at that time, But he did not get away with his sin. In 2 Samuel 12, verse 11, look what God tells David.

[John Weaver] Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I am evil against thee out of thine own house, and I will take thy wives before thine eyes, and give them unto thy neighbor, and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of the sun. For thou didst it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel and before the sun. David, you commit adultery with a woman. Now, somebody is going to commit adultery with your wives.

[John Weaver] Look in chapter 16, verse 21, and let's see who that someone was. 2 Samuel 16, verse 21, And Ahithophel said unto Absalom, Go in unto thy father's concubines which ye have left to keep the house. and all Israel shall hear that thou art a port of thy father, then shall the hands of all them that are with thee be strong." Ah, David committed adultery with Bathsheba and his son, his son committed adultery and incest with David's wives. Now watch this. David committed adultery. His child died. Absalom, his own son, had an incestuous and adulterous relationship with some of David's wives. Amnon, his own son, raped his half-sister Tamar. Absalom then turned around and murdered his half-brother Amnon for raping Tamar. And then Absalom came back and ran his own daddy off the throne and decided to kill him. David only committed adultery with Bathsheba. But look how many of his wives were ruined and his children's lives were ruined.

[John Weaver] This is known in the Bible as the Lex Talionis, the law of retribution. Look in your Bibles. Listen to me. Look to Hosea 4. Please turn there. I want you to see this. This to me is very, very frightening. Very, very awesome. Look in the book of Hosea chapter 4. Look what God says. We're talking about the law of retribution. We're talking about reaping what you have sown. Hosea 4, verse 12. Look what God says. In this verse 12, He's talking about spiritual adultery, okay? He says, My people ask counsel at their stumps, and their staff declareth unto them. For the spirit of whoredoms hath caused them to err, and they have gone a-whoring from under their God. Now, spiritual adultery always produces physical adultery. Watch.

[John Weaver] Verse 13, they sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills, under the oaks and poplars and elms, because the shadow thereof is good. Therefore, says God, since you have committed adultery against me, therefore, says God, your daughters shall commit whoredom, and your spouses shall commit adultery. I will not punish your daughters when they commit whoredom, nor your spouses when they commit adultery, for themselves are separated with whores, and they sacrifice unto harlots. Therefore the people that doth not understand shall fall." God said, you started it, and now your children are going to do it, and your wives are going to do it. And God said, I'm going to let you read exactly what you have sold. Are you listening? If you do not want your spouse committing adultery, then you don't do it. If you do not want your children to be whoremongers and fornicators and adulterers, then you don't do it.

[John Weaver] Because God can execute His justice familially, that is within the family, and not just personally. I know a gentleman, one of the kindest, gentlest men I've ever known in my life. He told me one day, his wife was running around on him, And I said, we need to confront her. You know what he said? He dropped his head. But I started it. He said, I let an old girlfriend talk me into staying with her one night. He said, my wife had been faithful to me for nearly 30 years. And when she found out, that I had slept with this woman one time.

[John Weaver] She was so hurt and so angry that she tried to get back at me. And this woman had not been with one man, but by the time I was talking to him, probably hundreds of men. You talk about the spirit of boredom, that's what he saw in Hosea chapter 4. And this man was devastated, not just because of what his wife was doing, but he realized he started it.

[John Weaver] And he was reaping what he had sown. God can execute it personally. God can execute it familiarly. Thirdly, God can execute his judgment ecclesiastically. That is in the church. Look in your Bible to the book of Revelation chapter 2. Revelation chapter 2. Revelation 2 verse 18. Look what our Lord says, And unto the angel of the church in Tyre, Tyre write, These things saith the Son of God, who hath his eyes like a flame of fire, and his feet are like fine brass.

[John Weaver] I know thy works, and thy charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works, and the last to be more than the first. Notwithstanding, says Christ, I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, who calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants, to commit fornication, and to eat things, sacrifice, and idols." And I gave her space to repent of her fornication. She repented not. Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds, and I will kill her children with death. And all the churches shall know that I am He who searches the reins in the hearts. I'll give every one of you according to your works. You know what's wrong with our churches, folks?

[John Weaver] Our Lord has killed most of them. Not only because of spiritual adultery, unthankfulness to God and His Word, but the average church today is full of fornicators and adulterers that have never been disciplined and have never repented. And God said, I will kill the church. Thou hast a name, but you're dead. God can execute personally, familially, ecclesiastically, one other, nationally. Look in your Bibles to Jeremiah chapter 5.

[John Weaver] I want you to see this. You're talking about a passage, my soul. Jeremiah chapter 5, beginning there with verse 7. Look what God tells His people. He's talking to the nation Israel. That's important. He's talking to the nation. He asks, how shall I pardon thee for this? Thy children have forsaken me and sworn by them that are no gods. When I fed them to the full, then they committed adultery and assembled themselves by troops in the harlot's houses. They were as fed horses in the morning."

[John Weaver] Watch, everyone neighed after his neighbor's wife. Look what God says,"...shall not I visit for these things, saith the Lord, and shall not my soul be avenged on such a..." What?"...nation as this." Look in verse 10. God says, Go ye upon our walls and destroy, and make not a fool in, take away our battlements, for they are not the Lord's. For the house of Israel and the house of Judah dealt very treacherously against Me, said the Lord. They have belied the Lord and said, It is not He, neither shall evil come upon us, neither shall we see sorting our famine. Skip down to verse 23. God says, but these people have a revolting and rebellious heart. They revolted and gone. Neither say they in their heart, let us now fear the Lord our God, who giveth rain, both the former and the latter in his season, who reserveth unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest. Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins are withholding good things from you. For among my people are found wicked men.

[John Weaver] They lay wait, as he that setteth snares. They set a trap, they catch men. As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit. Therefore they are become great and waxen rich." Watch, they are waxen fat. They shine, yea, they overpass the deeds of the wicked. They judge not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, and they prosper, and they ride in the needy. Do they not judge? Look what he says.

[John Weaver] Shall I not visit for these things, saith the Lord? Shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this? Let me answer a question for you. Do you know why this nation puts up with an adulterous, fornicating president? And an adulterous, fornicating Congress? And the answer is, because this is an adulterous, fornicating nation. And as a result, the nation is under death sentence from God. And God will just as surely judge this nation, not just for abortion, that's bad enough in itself. Not just for our fraud and deceit, that's bad enough in itself.

[John Weaver] But for our fornication, spiritually and physically. You say, Brother Weaver, how does God judge a nation? Well, how did he judge Babylon and Rome? the Hittites, the Jebusites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, where are they? He executed the death penalty upon them. You see, the timing and the place, the method and the manner of God's execution is at his own discretion. What did he say in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4? Look back there. Go back. 1 Thessalonians 4 verse 6.

[John Weaver] That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in the matter, that is in the matter of his wife or in the matter of his daughter, because that the Lord is the avenger, the executioner, the one that exacts righteousness and judgment and justice of all as we have foretold you and solemnly witnessed. My first application is this. Every fornicator, both spiritually and physically, shall be dealt with by God himself. And if all God has to do is to kill us, is to withhold our breath What do you think it's going to be like for the individual whom God appears in arms against? And secondly is this. There is no city government, no county government, no state government, and no federal government that can repeal the law of God. nor the sentence that he is imposed for the violation of that law. The death penalty stance is just up to God as to when and how and where he executed.

[John Weaver] And he may do so personally, familially, ecclesiastically, or nationally, for all he chooses, for he is the judge. And he said, but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge. Let's pray. Father, we are thankful today for Jesus Christ, for his grace, for his mercy, for his salvation. We are thankful there is forgiveness for our sins, and there is grace and mercy in Jesus Christ. But Father, may we see and weigh carefully and seriously what it is to sin against Thee, and to grieve Thee. May we understand the penalty of our actions. And may we understand that you demand sexual purity in our lives, and that is part and parcel of our sanctification. This is the will of God.

[John Weaver] Even your sanctification, that you abstain from fornication, that everyone know how to possess his vessel of sanctification and honor. Not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles who know not God. Let no man go beyond and defraud his brother in the matter, because God is the avenger of all such, as we have forewarned you and testified. May we remember, Lord, these words, and be holy and pure and godly.

[John Weaver] In the name of Jesus Christ we ask, Amen.

6 Sanctification & Sexual Purity

John Weaver | SermonAudio

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	SermonAudio
Media ID	10220713562310
Subject	Family Government
Course	The Christian Family: Marriage and Household Order: The Family
Genre	Sermon
Date	2007-10-22
Dictation Name
Book	Book 027: The Christian Family: Marriage and Household Order — Chapter 7
Source Timed Segments	92

Formatted Transcript

Opening

Alright, 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, and let's read the first eight verses.

Scripture Reading — 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8

"Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more. For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication: that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour; not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God: that no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter: because that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified. For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness. He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given unto us his holy Spirit."

Review of the Passage Outline

Weaver briefly reviews the structure of 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8: exhortation (v.1), explanation (v.2), exposition (vv.3-5), and elaboration (v.6).

Now we've been teaching for the last five weeks from this passage on the general theme of sanctification and sexual purity. Very quickly, let me just give you the outline that we're following, and I'm not going to take time to go into the review today as I normally do, but first of all, in verse 1, you have an exhortation, where he exhorts you by the Lord Jesus. There were three things in this verse. First of all, a practical necessity. He said that you have received of us, that is, you must be taught. Secondly, a personal application, how you ought to walk and please God. The truth must be personally applied. And then thirdly, there was the progressive reality. He said, and so you would abound more and more. So there's to be no neutrality and no regression. We're to be continually advancing in holiness and righteousness. Secondly, in verse two, you have an explanation, "for ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus." And this is how they received of the apostles how they ought to walk and to please God. In other words, they were expounding, explaining, and applying the commandments of God. They were not just quoting the Ten Commandments. They were explaining them and expounding them and applying them.

And then in verses 3 through 5, you have the exposition. First of all, you have an affirmation, "this is the will of God." Secondly, an explanation, "even your sanctification." Thirdly, a negation, "that ye should abstain from fornication." And then in verses 4 and 5, you have a clarification. Verse 4 is the truth clarified and positively stated, "that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour." And then verse 5 is the truth clarified and negatively stated, "not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God." And then when we left off last week, we were on the fourth point and elaboration, "that no man go beyond and defraud his brother in the matter." In other words, he is teaching us that seduction, fornication, adultery is not only a violation of the seventh commandment, it is also a violation of the eighth commandment, "thou shalt not steal," because it is a defrauding. That is why in Exodus chapter 22, and also in Deuteronomy chapter 22, there was restitution that was to be made for seduction. A man had to give a three years' dowry, which was a three years' wage to the woman that he seduced. So God calls it a defrauding.

The Warning of Sexual Impurity: God as Avenger

Paul warns that the Lord is the avenger (ekdikos) of all sexual impurity, meaning He executes His righteousness and justice.

Now, so last week then we looked at the fact that he elaborated in verse 6 as to the willfulness of sexual impurity manward. He said, "that no man go beyond and defraud his brother in the matter." And today we're going to take back up with this point on the second sub-point, and that is, here Paul elaborates as to the warning of sexual impurity. He says in verse 6, "that no man go beyond and defraud his brother in the matter," and here's the warning, "because that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we have also forewarned you and testified." Now I want you to note that warning, "because that the Lord is the avenger of all such." Now let me just stop and say that that one thought should have an absolute deterring effect upon fornicators and fornication, when you realize that the Lord Himself is the avenger of all such. Now, the word "avenger" here is from the Greek word ekdikos. Ek is the preposition, which means "out of," and dikos is "righteousness." Literally, he is saying, "for the Lord is the one that executes His righteousness," or exacts His justice, or executes His justice.

Now, he said in verse 6, "we have also forewarned you and testified." Now, the word "forewarned" just simply means previously told. In other words, he said, "we told you previously that the Lord will avenge all such." But when you get to the word "and testified," it literally means solemnly witnessed to. In other words, Paul was deadly serious when he was telling them that it was God himself who would avenge all such fornicators.

The Penalty for Fornication in the Law

Weaver surveys Old Testament passages showing that the death penalty is prescribed for adultery, rape, incest, sodomy, bestiality, prostitution, and stubborn rebellion.

Now remember, I took one message and just preached on the negation, "that ye should abstain from fornication." We went through the Old Testament and through the New Testament and showed you that fornication is an exceedingly broad term. It includes adultery. It includes bestiality. It includes seduction. It includes rape. It includes a lot of things. Stubbornness and rebellion, even. But let me just take a few moments and show you the penalties for each of these in the Bible.

Look in your Bibles, first of all, holding 1 Thessalonians 4, but look to the book of Leviticus, chapter 20. Leviticus, chapter 20. And note, if you would please, verse 10. Leviticus 20 and verse 10. Look what God says. Leviticus chapter 20 and verse 10.

Scripture Reading — Leviticus 20:10

"And the man that committeth adultery with another man's wife, even he that committeth adultery with his neighbour's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death."

But what was the penalty? Death. Look in your Bibles to the book of Deuteronomy chapter 22, beginning there with verse 23. Deuteronomy chapter 22. And note, if you would please, verse 23. Deuteronomy 22, verse 23, the word of God says,

Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 22:23-25

"If a damsel that is a virgin be betrothed unto an husband, and a man find her in the city, and lie with her; then ye shall bring them both out unto the gate of that city, and ye shall stone them with stones that they die; the damsel, because she cried not, being in the city; and the man, because he hath humbled his neighbour's wife: so thou shalt put away evil from among you."

So the penalty for adultery under the law is death. Since we're in Deuteronomy chapter 22, let's look at verse 25. You'll see the penalty for rape. He says,

Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 22:23-25

"But if a man find a betrothed damsel in the field, and the man force her, and lie with her: then the man only that lay with her shall die."

So God then demands the death penalty for adultery, God demands the death penalty for rape, and I want you to go back to the book of Leviticus chapter 20, and I want you to see that God demands the death penalty for incest.

Look if you would please, Leviticus chapter 20 beginning there with verse 11. Leviticus 20 verse 11.

Scripture Reading — Leviticus 20:11-17

"And the man that lieth with his father's wife hath uncovered his father's nakedness: both of them shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them. And if a man lie with his daughter in law, both of them shall surely be put to death: they have wrought confusion; their blood shall be upon them."

Verse 14,

Scripture Reading — Leviticus 20:11-17

"And if a man take a wife and her mother, that is his mother-in-law, it is wickedness: they shall be burnt with fire, both he and they; that there be no wickedness among you."

Look in verse 17.

Scripture Reading — Leviticus 20:11-17

"And if a man shall take his sister, his father's daughter, or his mother's daughter, and see her nakedness, and she see his nakedness; it is a wicked thing." "And they shall be cut off in the sight of their people: he hath uncovered his sister's nakedness; he shall bear his iniquity."

So much so that adultery demands the death penalty. Rape demands the death penalty. Incest demands the death penalty. Since we're in the book of Leviticus, look in chapter 20 and verse 13, here's the penalty for sodomy. He says in verse 13,

Scripture Reading — Leviticus 20:11-17

"If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them."

Now I want you to turn in your Bibles to the book of Romans chapter 1. I want you to see that the penalty is exactly the same. Look at Romans chapter 1 and let's begin reading there with verse 24. Romans 1 verse 24. Watch carefully. Romans 1 verse 24, "Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves."

I pointed that out a few weeks ago, that fornication was not only wicked and wrong, it was a dishonoring of your own body. Verse 25, "Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen." Now watch, "For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: and likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet." In other words, they deserved what they got, death. "And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death."

"Not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them." Now, I want to go back and point out verse 32, "who knowing the judgment of God." How do we know the judgment of God against incest and fornication and sodomy? It's revealed in the law. Now, he says, "who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death." Look in your Bibles, if you would, please, to the book of Leviticus chapter 21. And verse 9, I want you to understand that prostitution was forbidden as well. Notice the book of Leviticus, chapter 21, verse 9. Leviticus 21, verse 9, the word of God says, "And the daughter of any priest, if she profane herself by playing the whore, she profaneth her father: she shall be burnt with fire." Look in Deuteronomy 23, verse 17. Here's a broad statement. Deuteronomy 23, verse 17. God says, "There shall be no whore of the daughters of Israel, nor a sodomite of the sons of Israel."

By the way, I'm going to just go ahead and cover this next verse just to clarify something for you. "Thou shalt not bring the hire of a whore, or the price of a dog, into the house of the LORD thy God for any vow: for even both these are an abomination unto the LORD thy God." All my life I was taught, you're not supposed to sell a dog. Sell a dog! Why are you not supposed to sell a dog? Well, because the Bible says you're not to bring the price of a dog into the house of God. It has nothing to do with a little four-legged creature. A dog is a sodomite, it's a man. The hire of the whore is the woman. And what God is saying is this, His society, His kingdom is not to be subsidized by an alien law structure. His kingdom is to be subsidized by His people with their tithe and their offerings. So the dog is a male prostitute. It has nothing to do with a little four-legged animal. So God says it deserves death.

Look in your Bible to the book of Leviticus chapter 20. Here's another one that deserves death. This would be included under fornication. Leviticus chapter 20 verse 16. He said,

Scripture Reading — Leviticus 20:16

"And if a woman approach unto any beast, and lie down thereto, thou shalt kill the woman, and the beast: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them."

Look in your Bibles to the book of Exodus chapter 22 and verse 19. Exodus 22 verse 19. So bestiality demands the death penalty. Exodus chapter 22 verse 19, God says,

Scripture Reading — Leviticus 20:16

"Whosoever lieth with a beast shall surely be put to death."

So God demands the death penalty.

Now, I want to very quickly take you through the book of Proverbs. I want you to turn to Proverbs chapter 2, and I want you to note in this wisdom literature, the death penalty is always associated with harlotry, prostitution, adultery, whatever. Look in Proverbs chapter 2, and let's begin reading there with verse 16. Here is one of the reasons God gave the book of Proverbs, His wisdom. He says, "To deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words; which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God. For her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead. None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life." What does God say? God says, you go into a harlot. He says, you're killing yourself. It's death. Look in your Bibles to Proverbs chapter 5, beginning there with verse 1.

He says, "My son, attend unto my wisdom, and bow thine ear to my understanding: that thou mayest regard discretion, and that thy lips may keep knowledge. For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil: but her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a twoedged sword. Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell. Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are moveable, that thou canst not know them. Hear me now therefore, O ye children, and depart not from the words of my mouth. Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house: lest thou give thine honour unto others, and thy years unto the cruel: lest strangers be filled with thy wealth; and thy labours be in the house of a stranger; and thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed."

What's he talking about, death? Look in verse 20. "And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger? For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, and he pondereth all his goings. His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins. He shall die without instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray." Look in chapter 6, beginning there with verse 23. He says, "For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life: to keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman. Lust not after her beauty in thine heart; neither let her take thee with her eyelids. For by means of a whorish woman a man is brought to a piece of bread: and the adulteress will hunt for the precious life. Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned?"

"Can one go upon hot coals, and his feet not be burned? So he that goeth in to his neighbour's wife; whosoever toucheth her shall not be innocent. Men do not despise a thief, if he steal to satisfy his soul when he is hungry; but if he be found, he shall restore sevenfold; he shall give all the substance of his house. But whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding: he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul." "A wound and dishonour shall he get; and his reproach shall not be wiped away. For jealousy is the rage of a man: therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance." What's he talking about? Death. Look in chapter 7, beginning there with verse 4. He says, "Say unto wisdom, Thou art my sister; and call understanding thy kinswoman: that they may keep thee from the strange woman, from the stranger which flattereth with her words. For at the window of my house I looked through my casement, and beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths, a young man void of understanding, passing through the street near her corner; and he went the way to her house, in the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night."

"And, behold, there met him a woman with the attire of an harlot, and subtil of heart. (She is loud and stubborn; her feet abide not in her house." "Now is she without, now in the streets, and lieth in wait at every corner.) So she caught him, and kissed him, and with an impudent face said unto him, I have peace offerings with me; this day have I payed my vows. Therefore came I forth to meet thee, diligently to seek thy face, and I have found thee. I have decked my bed with coverings of tapestry, with carved works, with fine linen of Egypt. I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon." "Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning: let us solace ourselves with loves. For the goodman is not at home, he is gone a long journey: he hath taken a bag of money with him, and will come home at the day appointed. With her much fair speech she caused him to yield, with the flattering of her lips she forced him. He goeth after her straightway, as an ox goeth to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks; till a dart strike through his liver."

"As a bird hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it is for his life. Hearken unto me now therefore, O ye children, and attend to the words of my mouth. Let not thine heart decline to her ways, go not astray in her paths. For she hath cast down many wounded: yea, many strong men have been slain by her. Her house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death." One more. Look in Proverbs 9, beginning there with verse 13. Proverbs 9, verse 13. God says,

Scripture Reading — Proverbs 9:13-18

"A foolish woman is clamorous: she is simple, and knoweth nothing. For she sitteth at the door of her house, on a seat in the high places of the city, to call passengers who go right on their ways: Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither: and as for him that wanteth understanding, she saith to him, Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant. But he knoweth not that the dead are there; and that her guests are in the depths of hell."

Let me just make a statement. I've got one other passage to show you before I begin to tie things together for you. I want you to understand, we live in the age of what is known as the sexual revolution. Promiscuity, sexual impurity does not bring life. It does not bring vigor. It does not bring vitality. It does not bring health. It does not bring happiness. What it does bring is death. And only death.

Now you said, "Brother Weaver, when you discussed fornication, you covered all of these things and you showed me how they were involved under this broad umbrella of fornication. But there was one other part of fornication that you pointed out that you haven't mentioned today, and that is stubbornness and rebellion." Well, I want to cover that because I want you to look in your Bibles, 1 Samuel, chapter 15. I want you to see that fornication merits the death penalty. Now, God sent King Saul on a mission. And all he had to do was to kill all the Amalekites. But you know what King Saul did? He spared the best of the sheep and the best of the oxen, and Agag, the king of the Amalekites. Samuel comes to him and says, in verse 22, after Saul gives this objection to Samuel, "But the people spared them that we may sacrifice them to God." And Samuel asks, in verse 22,

Scripture Reading — 1 Samuel 15:22-23

"Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft."

What is to be done with a witch? Burn, put to death. "And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry." What was to be done with an idolater? Put to death. So stubbornness and rebellion merit the death penalty as well. So all of fornication brings the death penalty. Now that we've established the penalty for fornication, that is death, we've got to ask another question. How does God execute that penalty?

How God Executes His Justice

God executes the death penalty personally, familially, ecclesiastically, or nationally, in His own timing and manner.

You see, many people think that just because God does not instantly smite someone, that they've gotten away with their sin. Well, let me remind you something, folks. God's paydays are not always on Friday. I want you to look at Deuteronomy chapter 32. I'm going to quote this verse later, but I want you to see it right now. Deuteronomy 32 and verse 35. Watch carefully. Deuteronomy 32 verse 35. Remember now, God says that he is the avenger, which means he is the executioner.

He's the one that takes vengeance. So in Deuteronomy 32 and verse 35, he says,

Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 32:35

"To me belongeth vengeance, and recompence."

Look what he says about the wicked.

Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 32:35

"Their foot shall slide in due time: for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste."

What does God say?

Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 32:35

"Their foot shall slide in due time."

In Numbers chapter 32 and verse 23, God said it like this, "Be sure your sin will find you out." You see, no one is going to get away with any wickedness.

Now let's ask and answer the question, how will God execute his justice? Several ways he can do so. First of all, personally. God may execute His justice upon the fornicator personally. Do you remember what the Bible says in the book of Ezekiel 18 and verse 4? Help me out. "The soul that sinneth, it shall die." And "the wages of sin is death." So God could, if He was so pleased, execute the fornicator. He could do it instantly, or He could do it a week later, or a month later, or a year later, but I want you to remember something, folks. Brother Richard understands this.

Objections Addressed: David and the Adulterous Woman

Weaver explains that David was sovereignly pardoned, and Jesus did not nullify the death penalty in John 8 but lacked legal grounds for a trial.

I will show it to you in black and white. And by the way, although David did not die, his child did. And I'll cover David's reaping when he sowed a little bit later, but I want you to understand something. The only reason David was not executed was because God sovereignly pardoned him. David merited and earned the death penalty on two points. He had not only committed adultery. He had Uriah, Bathsheba's husband, murdered with the sword of the children of Ammon. And notice, if you would please, what David said in verse 6, verse 5. "And David's anger was greatly kindled." This is when Nathan had told him the story. "And he said to Nathan, As the LORD liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely die." And Nathan said in verse 7, "Thou art the man." Now skip down, if you would please, to verse 13. "And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the LORD. And Nathan said unto David, The LORD also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die." The only reason David did not die was God sovereignly pardoned him.

Now, let me just say this. David is the exception, and not the rule. And the problem today is this. Too many people want to identify with David and his sin, but they do not want to identify with his repentance and reaping what he has sown. So David then is the exception. God sovereignly pardoned him. God can do as he pleases. And in this instance, He sovereignly pardoned David.

Now, turning your Bibles to John chapter 8, because inevitably, and I've heard this for years, "Well, Brother Weaver, the death penalty for adultery has been done away with in the New Testament by Christ." That is not true. May I remind you, Matthew 5 and verse 17, Jesus Christ said, "Think not that I am come to destroy the law. I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil." And the word "fulfil" is plēroō. It means literally to put it into full force as continuous. Now watch John 8 verse 1. "Jesus went unto the mount of Olives. And early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him; and he sat down, and taught them. And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst, they say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act."

"Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou? This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not. So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground. And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers?"

"Hath no man condemned thee? She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more." And so people read this and say, "See, Jesus has done away with the death penalty," and the answer is absolutely no. He did not do away with the death penalty. Christ came to fulfill the law. Well, why did he not have this woman executed then? Well, there are very good answers to that question. First of all, I want you to know it was the scribes and the Pharisees who brought the woman, and they said, "Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act."

Now, I've got a question, and everybody ought to have the same question. It takes two to commit adultery. So where was the man? Why did they not bring him? See, of course, very clearly, they were not even interested in justice. They were interested in putting Christ in the pickle. You see, if Christ had said, "Take her out and stone her," how is he going to be known as the friend of sinners? So what did Jesus Christ do?

I don't have time to go into all of this. But if you'll go back to the book of Numbers, you'll find the law of jealousy. By the way, let me just point this out. This could not have ever gone to trial. Why could it never have gone to trial? Because in the Bible, the victim was the woman's husband. Where was he? He was supposed to be pushing the case.

He was not even there. Here the Pharisees now have usurped the position and the authority of the husband. So the husband, the injured party, was not even there. So Jesus knelt down and wrote in the dust.

Now, if you go back to the book of Numbers, you'll find in the law of jealousy, the high priest would bend down and write in the dust. He would write a curse. Now, I don't actually know what Jesus Christ wrote. I've got a pretty good idea, I think. I think since those Pharisees and scribes were trying to get something on Him and checking up on Him, probably what Christ did was just simply write down dates and times and places that they themselves had committed adultery, or names of women that they had been with themselves. Why would He do that? Well, look what He said. Clear it up for you, hopefully. Verse 7, "So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her."

Now, that is a very general statement, but in the Greek, there is a definite article in front of the word "sin." Literally, he says, "He that is without the sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her." You see, in the Bible, and in our jurisprudence, we have what is known as the law of clean hands. That means if I'm going to accuse Tony of something, of a crime, I have to be innocent of that crime myself. Because if I accuse him of something and get him condemned, guess what? I've just turned around and condemned myself. It's called the law of clean hands. You'll find it in Black's Law Dictionary, Bouvier's Dictionary, it's in the Bible. And this is what Jesus Christ is saying. If you have not committed the act of adultery, you cast the first stone. You can be the executioner. In fact, don't you remember, the witnesses in the Bible had to lay their hands upon the victim first. So what happened? They, being convicted by their own conscience, went out from the eldest to the youngest. And Jesus looked up to the woman and said, "Woman, where are those thine accusers?"

She said, "No man, Lord." He said, "Neither I condemn thee." Why would Christ not condemn the woman? Go back to the law of God. What does the Bible demand for the death penalty? Two witnesses. How many witnesses were there to testify against her? None. Jesus did not nullify the death penalty for adultery. He did not even have enough evidence to have a trial. There were no accusers.

Her husband was not complaining. He was not pushing the case. So Jesus Christ did what the only thing he could do lawfully, he dismissed the case. And when she said, "No man, Lord," I am bowing to your sovereign authority. Then he said, "Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more." So very clearly Christ was not simply doing away with the death penalty. He just simply had no grounds to hold a trial for this woman in John chapter 8.

Now, I want you to turn in your Bibles to 1 Corinthians chapter 5. You see, we are in a similar position today in one sense of the word. While the church does have the absolute authority to try cases, there is an ecclesiastical law in the Bible. There is an ecclesiastical court in the Bible. While the church has the power to have trials and hold courts, the church does not have the power to execute the death penalty with a sword. Physically. But there is a way that the church can execute the death penalty. Look in 1 Corinthians 5, verse 1. "It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father's wife."

Church Discipline as Ecclesiastical Execution

The church can execute the death penalty through excommunication, delivering the unrepentant fornicator to Satan for the destruction of the flesh.

"And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you. For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed." Now watch what he says, "In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, to deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus." What is he talking about? He's talking about church discipline. He's talking about excommunication. So here's the man that is a fornicator who will not repent. What does God do? God says you have a church trial, you discipline him and you turn him out.

How is that the death penalty? Do you remember what Jesus Christ said in Proverbs 8, verse 36? He said, "All they that hate me love what? Death." And if he's outside the church, he's dead.

Now, when governments will not fulfill the statutes of God, what the church can do is what I've just shared with you from 1 Corinthians chapter 5. I excommunicate them, discipline them. And by the way, do you realize in the early church, people who were adulterers, fornicators, who had repented and were admitted back into church fellowship based upon their repentance, do you know what they were called and referred to as in the New Testament church? They were called and known as the walking dead. What were they saying?

Familial and National Reaping

Using David, Hosea 4, and Jeremiah 5, Weaver shows that sexual sin brings retribution upon families and nations.

Now listen folks, you not only reap what you sow, you many times reap more than you sow. You can plant one grain of corn and get a stalk with several ears and hundreds of grains. Now, David committed adultery with Bathsheba. Let's go back there. Let's go to 2 Samuel chapter 12. 2 Samuel chapter 12. You see, so many people think that David got away with his sin. Well, it is true David did not die at that time, but he did not get away with his sin. In 2 Samuel 12, verse 11, look what God tells David.

"Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house, and I will take thy wives before thine eyes, and give them unto thy neighbour, and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this sun. For thou didst it secretly: but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun." David, you commit adultery with a woman. Now, somebody is going to commit adultery with your wives. Look in chapter 16, verse 21, and let's see who that someone was. 2 Samuel 16, verse 21, "And Ahithophel said unto Absalom, Go in unto thy father's concubines, which he hath left to keep the house; and all Israel shall hear that thou art abhorred of thy father: then shall the hands of all that are with thee be strong." Ah, David committed adultery with Bathsheba and his son, his son committed adultery and incest with David's wives. Now watch this. David committed adultery. His child died. Absalom, his own son, had an incestuous and adulterous relationship with some of David's wives. Amnon, his own son, raped his half-sister Tamar. Absalom then turned around and murdered his half-brother Amnon for raping Tamar. And then Absalom came back and ran his own daddy off the throne and decided to kill him. David only committed adultery with Bathsheba. But look how many of his wives were ruined and his children's lives were ruined.

This is known in the Bible as the Lex Talionis, the law of retribution. Look in your Bibles. Listen to me. Look to Hosea 4. Please turn there. I want you to see this. This to me is very, very frightening. Very, very awesome. Look in the book of Hosea chapter 4. Look what God says. We're talking about the law of retribution. We're talking about reaping what you have sown. Hosea 4, verse 12. Look what God says. In this verse 12, He's talking about spiritual adultery, okay? He says, "My people ask counsel at their stocks, and their staff declareth unto them: for the spirit of whoredoms hath caused them to err, and they have gone a whoring from under their God." Now, spiritual adultery always produces physical adultery. Watch.

Verse 13, "They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills, under oaks and poplars and elms, because the shadow thereof is good: therefore your daughters shall commit whoredom, and your spouses shall commit adultery. I will not punish your daughters when they commit whoredom, nor your spouses when they commit adultery: for themselves are separated with whores, and they sacrifice with harlots: therefore the people that doth not understand shall fall." God said, you started it, and now your children are going to do it, and your wives are going to do it. And God said, I'm going to let you reap exactly what you have sown. Are you listening? If you do not want your spouse committing adultery, then you don't do it. If you do not want your children to be whoremongers and fornicators and adulterers, then you don't do it.

Because God can execute His justice familially, that is within the family, and not just personally. I know a gentleman, one of the kindest, gentlest men I've ever known in my life. He told me one day, his wife was running around on him, and I said, "We need to confront her." You know what he said? He dropped his head. "But I started it." He said, "I let an old girlfriend talk me into staying with her one night." He said, "My wife had been faithful to me for nearly 30 years. And when she found out that I had slept with this woman one time." She was so hurt and so angry that she tried to get back at me. And this woman had not been with one man, but by the time I was talking to him, probably hundreds of men. You talk about the spirit of whoredoms, that's what he saw in Hosea chapter 4. And this man was devastated, not just because of what his wife was doing, but he realized he started it.

And he was reaping what he had sown. God can execute it personally. God can execute it familially. Thirdly, God can execute his judgment ecclesiastically. That is in the church. Look in your Bible to the book of Revelation chapter 2. Revelation chapter 2. Revelation 2 verse 18. Look what our Lord says, "And unto the angel of the church in Thyatira write; These things saith the Son of God, who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire, and his feet are like fine brass."

"I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works; and the last to be more than the first. Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not. Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds. And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works." You know what's wrong with our churches, folks?

Our Lord has killed most of them. Not only because of spiritual adultery, unthankfulness to God and His Word, but the average church today is full of fornicators and adulterers that have never been disciplined and have never repented. And God said, "I will kill the church." "Thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead." God can execute personally, familially, ecclesiastically, one other, nationally. Look in your Bibles to Jeremiah chapter 5. I want you to see this. You're talking about a passage, my soul. Jeremiah chapter 5, beginning there with verse 7. Look what God tells His people. He's talking to the nation Israel. That's important. He's talking to the nation. He asks, "How shall I pardon thee for this? thy children have forsaken me, and sworn by them that are no gods: when I had fed them to the full, they then committed adultery, and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots' houses. They were as fed horses in the morning."

Watch, "every one neighed after his neighbour's wife." Look what God says, "Shall I not visit for these things? saith the LORD: and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?" Look in verse 10. God says, "Go ye up upon her walls, and destroy; but make not a full end: take away her battlements; for they are not the LORD's. For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me, saith the LORD. They have belied the LORD, and said, It is not he; neither shall evil come upon us; neither shall we see sword nor famine." Skip down to verse 23. God says, "But this people hath a revolting and a rebellious heart; they are revolted and gone. Neither say they in their heart, Let us now fear the LORD our God, that giveth rain, both the former and the latter, in his season: he reserveth unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest. Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withholden good things from you. For among my people are found wicked men."

"They lay wait, as he that setteth snares; they set a trap, they catch men. As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit: therefore they are become great, and waxen rich. They are waxen fat, they shine: yea, they overpass the deeds of the wicked: they judge not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper; and the right of the needy do they not judge." Look what he says. "Shall I not visit for these things? saith the LORD: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?" Let me answer a question for you. Do you know why this nation puts up with an adulterous, fornicating president? And an adulterous, fornicating Congress? And the answer is, because this is an adulterous, fornicating nation. And as a result, the nation is under death sentence from God. And God will just as surely judge this nation, not just for abortion, that's bad enough in itself. Not just for our fraud and deceit, that's bad enough in itself.

But for our fornication, spiritually and physically. You say, "Brother Weaver, how does God judge a nation?" Well, how did he judge Babylon and Rome? The Hittites, the Jebusites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, where are they? He executed the death penalty upon them. You see, the timing and the place, the method and the manner of God's execution is at his own discretion. What did he say in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4? Look back there. Go back. 1 Thessalonians 4 verse 6.

"That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in the matter," that is in the matter of his wife or in the matter of his daughter, "because that the Lord is the avenger," the executioner, the one that exacts righteousness and judgment and justice "of all such, as we have also forewarned you and testified." My first application is this. Every fornicator, both spiritually and physically, shall be dealt with by God himself. And if all God has to do is to kill us, is to withhold our breath, what do you think it's going to be like for the individual whom God appears in arms against? And secondly is this. There is no city government, no county government, no state government, and no federal government that can repeal the law of God, nor the sentence that he has imposed for the violation of that law. The death penalty stands; it's just up to God as to when and how and where he executes it.

Final Application and Warning

Every fornicator will be dealt with by God; no government can repeal God's law or its death sentence.

Study Guide

Major Themes

God as the Avenger of Sexual Sin

Summary: The Lord personally executes justice against fornicators, as He is the ekdikos who exacts righteousness.

Evidence: Weaver states, 'the Lord is the avenger of all such' and explains the Greek word ekdikos means 'the one that executes His righteousness.'

The Death Penalty for Sexual Immorality

Summary: The Old Testament law prescribes death for various forms of fornication, and this penalty remains in force.

Evidence: Weaver cites Leviticus 20:10, Deuteronomy 22:23-25, and other passages to show the death penalty for adultery, rape, incest, sodomy, and bestiality.

God's Sovereign Timing in Judgment

Summary: God executes His justice in His own time and manner, not necessarily immediately.

Evidence: Weaver quotes Deuteronomy 32:35, 'their foot shall slide in due time,' and explains that the judge sets the execution date.

The Law of Retribution (Lex Talionis)

Summary: Sexual sin brings reaping within families and nations, as seen in David's life and Hosea 4.

Evidence: Weaver details how David's adultery led to calamity in his family, and quotes Hosea 4:13-14 about daughters and spouses committing whoredom.

Church Authority in Discipline

Summary: The church can execute a form of the death penalty through excommunication, as in 1 Corinthians 5.

Evidence: Weaver explains that delivering a fornicator to Satan for the destruction of the flesh is an ecclesiastical execution.

The Permanence of God's Law

Summary: Jesus did not abolish the death penalty for adultery; He fulfilled the law, and no human government can repeal it.

Evidence: Weaver argues from Matthew 5:17 and John 8 that Christ upheld the law, and states 'no government can repeal the law of God.'

Key Arguments

Fornication is a capital offense under God's law.

Summary: The Bible consistently prescribes the death penalty for various sexual sins, and this standard has not been abolished.

Evidence: Weaver cites Leviticus 20, Deuteronomy 22, and Romans 1:32 to show that such sins are worthy of death.

God Himself will avenge sexual impurity.

Summary: The warning in 1 Thessalonians 4:6 is that the Lord personally executes vengeance, not merely human authorities.

Evidence: Weaver emphasizes the Greek word ekdikos and contrasts it with God merely 'resisting' the proud in 1 Peter 5:5.

David's pardon was a sovereign exception, not the rule.

Summary: David did not die for his adultery because God sovereignly pardoned him, but he still reaped severe consequences.

Evidence: Weaver points to 2 Samuel 12:13 where Nathan says, 'The LORD also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die.'

Jesus did not nullify the death penalty in John 8.

Summary: The woman caught in adultery was not condemned because there were no accusers or witnesses, not because the law was changed.

Evidence: Weaver explains the law of clean hands and the requirement of two witnesses, showing Jesus acted lawfully.

Sexual sin brings multigenerational consequences.

Summary: God's judgment can extend to one's family and nation, as seen in David's household and the warning in Hosea 4.

Evidence: Weaver recounts the tragedies in David's family and quotes Hosea 4:13-14 about daughters and spouses committing whoredom.

The church must exercise discipline against unrepentant fornicators.

Summary: Excommunication is a form of the death penalty, delivering the sinner to Satan for the destruction of the flesh.

Evidence: Weaver cites 1 Corinthians 5:1-5 and explains that being outside the church is spiritual death.

Scripture References

1 Thessalonians 4:1-8

Context: The primary passage of the sermon, emphasizing sanctification and abstaining from fornication.

1 Peter 5:5

Context: God resists the proud, but for fornicators He does more—He avenges.

Hebrews 13:4

Context: Whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.

1 John 3:4

Context: Sin is the transgression of the law, which is the standard of judgment.

Leviticus 20:10

Context: The adulterer and adulteress shall surely be put to death.

Deuteronomy 22:23-25

Context: Penalties for adultery and rape: death by stoning.

Leviticus 20:11-17

Context: Death penalty for incest and other sexual sins.

Leviticus 20:13

Context: Death penalty for sodomy.

Romans 1:24-32

Context: Those who commit such things are worthy of death, knowing the judgment of God.

Leviticus 21:9

Context: A priest's daughter who plays the whore shall be burnt with fire.

Deuteronomy 23:17-18

Context: No whore or sodomite in Israel; the hire of a whore or price of a dog is an abomination.

Leviticus 20:16

Context: Death penalty for bestiality.

Exodus 22:19

Context: Whosoever lieth with a beast shall surely be put to death.

Proverbs 2:16-19

Context: The strange woman's house inclines to death.

Proverbs 5:1-23

Context: The strange woman's feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell.

Proverbs 6:23-35

Context: Adultery destroys one's own soul; jealousy is the rage of a man.

Proverbs 7:4-27

Context: The harlot's house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death.

Proverbs 9:13-18

Context: The foolish woman's guests are in the depths of hell.

1 Samuel 15:22-23

Context: Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness as iniquity and idolatry, meriting death.

Deuteronomy 32:35

Context: To me belongeth vengeance; their foot shall slide in due time.

Historical References

President Clinton

Context: Weaver mentions President Clinton as an example of a fornicator who is still alive, but whose foot shall slide in due time.

Babylon and Rome

Context: Weaver asks how God judged Babylon and Rome, implying they were executed for their sins.

Hittites, Jebusites, Perizzites, Hivites

Context: Weaver lists these nations as examples of those God executed the death penalty upon.

Important Quotes

the Lord is the avenger of all such

Significance: This is the central warning of the passage, emphasizing that God personally executes justice on fornicators.

the Lord is the one that executes His righteousness

Significance: Weaver explains the Greek word ekdikos to stress God's active role in avenging sexual sin.

whoremongers and adulterers God will judge

Significance: Quoted from Hebrews 13:4 to reinforce that God is the judge and executioner.

the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death

Significance: Directly from Leviticus 20:10, establishing the death penalty for adultery.

their foot shall slide in due time

Significance: From Deuteronomy 32:35, emphasizing that God's judgment may be delayed but is certain.

The LORD also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die

Significance: Nathan's words to David in 2 Samuel 12:13, showing God's sovereign pardon as an exception.

He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her

Significance: Jesus' words in John 8:7, which Weaver explains as invoking the law of clean hands, not abolishing the death penalty.

to deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh

Significance: From 1 Corinthians 5:5, showing the church's authority to execute a form of the death penalty through excommunication.

Discussion Questions

How does understanding God as the 'avenger' of sexual sin change your view of personal holiness?

Context: Weaver emphasizes that God personally executes justice, which should deter fornication.

Why does the Old Testament prescribe the death penalty for sexual sins, and how should this inform our view of God's character?

Context: Weaver surveys multiple passages showing the death penalty for various sexual sins.

In what ways can God execute His justice today, according to Weaver?

Context: Weaver outlines personal, familial, ecclesiastical, and national execution of God's judgment.

How does the example of David's pardon and subsequent reaping challenge the idea that forgiveness removes all consequences?

Context: Weaver discusses David's sovereign pardon and the calamities in his family.

What does the account of the woman caught in adultery teach us about the proper application of God's law?

Context: Weaver argues that Jesus did not abolish the death penalty but followed legal procedure.

How should the church exercise discipline in cases of unrepentant sexual sin, based on 1 Corinthians 5?

Context: Weaver explains excommunication as a form of the death penalty.

What is the relationship between personal sexual sin and national judgment, as seen in Jeremiah 5?

Context: Weaver connects the nation's tolerance of adulterous leaders to its own fornication and coming judgment.

Applications

Fear God's vengeance and pursue sexual purity.

Summary: Every fornicator will be dealt with by God Himself, so believers must abstain from all sexual impurity.

Evidence: Weaver states, 'Every fornicator, both spiritually and physically, shall be dealt with by God himself.'

Recognize that no human authority can nullify God's law.

Summary: No government can repeal the law of God or the death sentence He has imposed for its violation.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'There is no city government, no county government, no state government, and no federal government that can repeal the law of God.'

Understand the seriousness of sexual sin's consequences.

Summary: Sexual sin brings death and destruction personally, familially, ecclesiastically, and nationally.

Evidence: Weaver warns that promiscuity does not bring life but death, and illustrates with David's family and Hosea 4.

Do not presume upon God's delayed judgment.

Summary: Just because God does not instantly smite someone does not mean they have escaped; His paydays are not always on Friday.

Evidence: Weaver quotes Deuteronomy 32:35 and Numbers 32:23 to show that sin will find you out.

If you have started a pattern of sexual sin, repent to avoid reaping in your family.

Summary: God can execute justice familially, so parents must model purity to prevent their children from following in sin.

Evidence: Weaver shares the story of a man whose adultery led to his wife's promiscuity, illustrating Hosea 4.

The church must exercise discipline against unrepentant sexual sin.

Summary: Churches should not tolerate fornicators but should excommunicate them to deliver them to Satan for the destruction of the flesh.

Evidence: Weaver cites 1 Corinthians 5 and Revelation 2, warning that churches full of unrepentant sinners are dead.

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-06T00:51:35Z

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | weaver_study | 2026-06-06T15:09:24Z

Clean Transcript

6 Sanctification & Sexual Purity

Clean readable transcript. This view follows the Commentary.net cleaned segment text while preserving timestamps for audio follow-along.

Alright, 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, and let's read the first eight verses. "Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more. For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication: that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour; not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God: that no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter: because that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified. For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness. He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given unto us his holy Spirit."
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Now we've been teaching for the last five weeks from this passage on the general theme of sanctification and sexual purity. Very quickly, let me just give you the outline that we're following, and I'm not going to take time to go into the review today as I normally do, but first of all, in verse 1, you have an exhortation, where he exhorts you by the Lord Jesus. There were three things in this verse. First of all, a practical necessity.
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He said that you have received of us, that is, you must be taught. Secondly, a personal application, how you ought to walk and please God. The truth must be personally applied. And then thirdly, there was the progressive reality. He said, and so you would abound more and more. So there's to be no neutrality and no regression. We're to be continually advancing in holiness and righteousness. Secondly, in verse two, you have an explanation, "for ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus." And this is how they received of the apostles how they ought to walk and to please God. In other words, they were expounding, explaining, and applying the commandments of God. They were not just quoting the Ten Commandments. They were explaining them and expounding them and applying them.
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And then in verses 3 through 5, you have the exposition. First of all, you have an affirmation, "this is the will of God."
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Secondly, an explanation, "even your sanctification." Thirdly, a negation, "that ye should abstain from fornication." And then in verses 4 and 5, you have a clarification. Verse 4 is the truth clarified and positively stated, "that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour." And then verse 5 is the truth clarified and negatively stated, "not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God."
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And then when we left off last week, we were on the fourth point and elaboration, "that no man go beyond and defraud his brother in the matter." In other words, he is teaching us that seduction, fornication, adultery is not only a violation of the seventh commandment, it is also a violation of the eighth commandment, "thou shalt not steal," because it is a defrauding. That is why in Exodus chapter 22, and also in Deuteronomy chapter 22, there was restitution that was to be made for seduction. A man had to give a three years' dowry, which was a three years' wage to the woman that he seduced. So God calls it a defrauding.
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Now, so last week then we looked at the fact that he elaborated in verse 6 as to the willfulness of sexual impurity manward. He said, "that no man go beyond and defraud his brother in the matter." And today we're going to take back up with this point on the second sub-point, and that is, here Paul elaborates as to the warning of sexual impurity. He says in verse 6, "that no man go beyond and defraud his brother in the matter," and here's the warning, "because that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we have also forewarned you and testified." Now I want you to note that warning, "because that the Lord is the avenger of all such."
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Now let me just stop and say that that one thought should have an absolute deterring effect upon fornicators and fornication, when you realize that the Lord Himself is the avenger of all such. Now, the word "avenger" here is from the Greek word ekdikos. Ek is the preposition, which means "out of," and dikos is "righteousness." Literally, he is saying, "for the Lord is the one that executes His righteousness," or exacts His justice, or executes His justice.
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Now, he said in verse 6, "we have also forewarned you and testified." Now, the word "forewarned" just simply means previously told. In other words, he said, "we told you previously that the Lord will avenge all such." But when you get to the word "and testified," it literally means solemnly witnessed to. In other words, Paul was deadly serious when he was telling them that it was God himself who would avenge all such fornicators.
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Now just stop and think, that is an absolutely awesome thought. That the man or the woman who is engaged in sexual impurity, who is engaged in fornication, is going to be confronted and dealt with by God Himself.
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Now I want you to hold 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, but look in your Bibles to 1 Peter chapter 5 and verse 5. 1 Peter chapter 5 and verse 5. Look at what God says, 1 Peter 5 and verse 5. He says, "Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility."
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Now watch this statement, "For God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble." Now the word "resisteth" in the Greek is antitassō, and it literally means that God appears in battle array against the proud. In other words, God prepares Himself for battle. God fights against the proud. Now, if God merely fights against us, who is going to win? Very clearly God is. But when you come to fornicators, it is not that God just simply fights against us.
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He does fight against us, but He does more. He avenges Himself. That is, He executes His righteousness and He brings out His justice.
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Now let me show you. Look in your Bibles to the book of Hebrews 13 and verse 4. Here it is again spelled out in black and white. Hebrews 13 and verse 4. Note what the Bible says. "Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge." And the word "judge" here is the word krinō, which means to try or to judge judicially. It means to pass a sentence upon. It means to execute and to punish and to avenge. So when he says in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 that God is the avenger of all such, He is saying that God himself is going to execute his sentence. He is going to pass judgment and he is going to exact his righteousness. Now we have two passages that teach us that God is the judge. That God is the executioner.
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But you have got to ask yourself this question. Since God is the judge and since God is the executioner of his righteousness and his justice, where is that justice found? And the answer is, in His law. You could ask, where are the penalties for such found? And the answer is, in His law.
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Now listen to me carefully. The law is the standard of judgment. How can I say that? Well, look in 1 John chapter 3 and verse 4. You should be able to quote this verse, but look at it. 1 John 3 and verse 4. Look what God says. "Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also what? The law. For sin is the transgression of the law." How do we know what sin is? Because the law says "thou shalt not." Well, what standard does God use then when He judges? The law. So what is God going to do? He's going to execute the penalty of His broken law. Since God's avenging is in the context of fornication in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, we must discover then the penalties for fornication in the Bible.
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Now remember, I took one message and just preached on the negation, "that ye should abstain from fornication." We went through the Old Testament and through the New Testament and showed you that fornication is an exceedingly broad term. It includes adultery. It includes bestiality. It includes seduction. It includes rape. It includes a lot of things. Stubbornness and rebellion, even. But let me just take a few moments and show you the penalties for each of these in the Bible.
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Look in your Bibles, first of all, holding 1 Thessalonians 4, but look to the book of Leviticus, chapter 20. Leviticus, chapter 20. And note, if you would please, verse 10. Leviticus 20 and verse 10. Look what God says. Leviticus chapter 20 and verse 10. "And the man that committeth adultery with another man's wife, even he that committeth adultery with his neighbour's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death."
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But what was the penalty? Death. Look in your Bibles to the book of Deuteronomy chapter 22, beginning there with verse 23. Deuteronomy chapter 22. And note, if you would please, verse 23. Deuteronomy 22, verse 23, the word of God says, "If a damsel that is a virgin be betrothed unto an husband, and a man find her in the city, and lie with her; then ye shall bring them both out unto the gate of that city, and ye shall stone them with stones that they die; the damsel, because she cried not, being in the city; and the man, because he hath humbled his neighbour's wife: so thou shalt put away evil from among you." So the penalty for adultery under the law is death. Since we're in Deuteronomy chapter 22, let's look at verse 25. You'll see the penalty for rape. He says, "But if a man find a betrothed damsel in the field, and the man force her, and lie with her: then the man only that lay with her shall die." So God then demands the death penalty for adultery, God demands the death penalty for rape, and I want you to go back to the book of Leviticus chapter 20, and I want you to see that God demands the death penalty for incest.
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Look if you would please, Leviticus chapter 20 beginning there with verse 11. Leviticus 20 verse 11. "And the man that lieth with his father's wife hath uncovered his father's nakedness: both of them shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them. And if a man lie with his daughter in law, both of them shall surely be put to death: they have wrought confusion; their blood shall be upon them." Verse 14, "And if a man take a wife and her mother, that is his mother-in-law, it is wickedness: they shall be burnt with fire, both he and they; that there be no wickedness among you." Look in verse 17. "And if a man shall take his sister, his father's daughter, or his mother's daughter, and see her nakedness, and she see his nakedness; it is a wicked thing."
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"And they shall be cut off in the sight of their people: he hath uncovered his sister's nakedness; he shall bear his iniquity." So much so that adultery demands the death penalty. Rape demands the death penalty. Incest demands the death penalty. Since we're in the book of Leviticus, look in chapter 20 and verse 13, here's the penalty for sodomy. He says in verse 13, "If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them." Now I want you to turn in your Bibles to the book of Romans chapter 1. I want you to see that the penalty is exactly the same. Look at Romans chapter 1 and let's begin reading there with verse 24. Romans 1 verse 24. Watch carefully. Romans 1 verse 24, "Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves."
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I pointed that out a few weeks ago, that fornication was not only wicked and wrong, it was a dishonoring of your own body. Verse 25, "Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen."
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Now watch, "For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: and likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet." In other words, they deserved what they got, death. "And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death."
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"Not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them." Now, I want to go back and point out verse 32, "who knowing the judgment of God." How do we know the judgment of God against incest and fornication and sodomy? It's revealed in the law. Now, he says, "who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death." Look in your Bibles, if you would, please, to the book of Leviticus chapter 21. And verse 9, I want you to understand that prostitution was forbidden as well. Notice the book of Leviticus, chapter 21, verse 9. Leviticus 21, verse 9, the word of God says, "And the daughter of any priest, if she profane herself by playing the whore, she profaneth her father: she shall be burnt with fire." Look in Deuteronomy 23, verse 17. Here's a broad statement. Deuteronomy 23, verse 17. God says, "There shall be no whore of the daughters of Israel, nor a sodomite of the sons of Israel."
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By the way, I'm going to just go ahead and cover this next verse just to clarify something for you. "Thou shalt not bring the hire of a whore, or the price of a dog, into the house of the LORD thy God for any vow: for even both these are an abomination unto the LORD thy God." All my life I was taught, you're not supposed to sell a dog. Sell a dog! Why are you not supposed to sell a dog? Well, because the Bible says you're not to bring the price of a dog into the house of God.
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It has nothing to do with a little four-legged creature. A dog is a sodomite, it's a man. The hire of the whore is the woman. And what God is saying is this, His society, His kingdom is not to be subsidized by an alien law structure. His kingdom is to be subsidized by His people with their tithe and their offerings. So the dog is a male prostitute. It has nothing to do with a little four-legged animal. So God says it deserves death.
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Look in your Bible to the book of Leviticus chapter 20. Here's another one that deserves death. This would be included under fornication. Leviticus chapter 20 verse 16. He said, "And if a woman approach unto any beast, and lie down thereto, thou shalt kill the woman, and the beast: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them." Look in your Bibles to the book of Exodus chapter 22 and verse 19. Exodus 22 verse 19. So bestiality demands the death penalty. Exodus chapter 22 verse 19, God says, "Whosoever lieth with a beast shall surely be put to death." So God demands the death penalty.
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Now, I want to very quickly take you through the book of Proverbs. I want you to turn to Proverbs chapter 2, and I want you to note in this wisdom literature, the death penalty is always associated with harlotry, prostitution, adultery, whatever. Look in Proverbs chapter 2, and let's begin reading there with verse 16. Here is one of the reasons God gave the book of Proverbs, His wisdom. He says, "To deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words; which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God. For her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead. None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life." What does God say? God says, you go into a harlot. He says, you're killing yourself. It's death. Look in your Bibles to Proverbs chapter 5, beginning there with verse 1.
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He says, "My son, attend unto my wisdom, and bow thine ear to my understanding: that thou mayest regard discretion, and that thy lips may keep knowledge. For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil: but her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a twoedged sword. Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell. Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are moveable, that thou canst not know them. Hear me now therefore, O ye children, and depart not from the words of my mouth. Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house: lest thou give thine honour unto others, and thy years unto the cruel: lest strangers be filled with thy wealth; and thy labours be in the house of a stranger; and thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed."
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What's he talking about, death? Look in verse 20. "And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger? For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, and he pondereth all his goings. His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins. He shall die without instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray." Look in chapter 6, beginning there with verse 23. He says, "For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life: to keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman. Lust not after her beauty in thine heart; neither let her take thee with her eyelids. For by means of a whorish woman a man is brought to a piece of bread: and the adulteress will hunt for the precious life. Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned?"
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"Can one go upon hot coals, and his feet not be burned? So he that goeth in to his neighbour's wife; whosoever toucheth her shall not be innocent. Men do not despise a thief, if he steal to satisfy his soul when he is hungry; but if he be found, he shall restore sevenfold; he shall give all the substance of his house. But whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding: he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul."
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"A wound and dishonour shall he get; and his reproach shall not be wiped away. For jealousy is the rage of a man: therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance." What's he talking about? Death. Look in chapter 7, beginning there with verse 4. He says, "Say unto wisdom, Thou art my sister; and call understanding thy kinswoman: that they may keep thee from the strange woman, from the stranger which flattereth with her words. For at the window of my house I looked through my casement, and beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths, a young man void of understanding, passing through the street near her corner; and he went the way to her house, in the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night."
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"And, behold, there met him a woman with the attire of an harlot, and subtil of heart. (She is loud and stubborn; her feet abide not in her house."
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"Now is she without, now in the streets, and lieth in wait at every corner.) So she caught him, and kissed him, and with an impudent face said unto him, I have peace offerings with me; this day have I payed my vows. Therefore came I forth to meet thee, diligently to seek thy face, and I have found thee. I have decked my bed with coverings of tapestry, with carved works, with fine linen of Egypt. I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon."
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"Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning: let us solace ourselves with loves. For the goodman is not at home, he is gone a long journey: he hath taken a bag of money with him, and will come home at the day appointed. With her much fair speech she caused him to yield, with the flattering of her lips she forced him. He goeth after her straightway, as an ox goeth to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks; till a dart strike through his liver."
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"As a bird hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it is for his life. Hearken unto me now therefore, O ye children, and attend to the words of my mouth. Let not thine heart decline to her ways, go not astray in her paths. For she hath cast down many wounded: yea, many strong men have been slain by her. Her house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death." One more.
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Look in Proverbs 9, beginning there with verse 13. Proverbs 9, verse 13. God says, "A foolish woman is clamorous: she is simple, and knoweth nothing. For she sitteth at the door of her house, on a seat in the high places of the city, to call passengers who go right on their ways: Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither: and as for him that wanteth understanding, she saith to him, Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant. But he knoweth not that the dead are there; and that her guests are in the depths of hell."
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Let me just make a statement. I've got one other passage to show you before I begin to tie things together for you. I want you to understand, we live in the age of what is known as the sexual revolution. Promiscuity, sexual impurity does not bring life. It does not bring vigor. It does not bring vitality. It does not bring health. It does not bring happiness. What it does bring is death. And only death.
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Now you said, "Brother Weaver, when you discussed fornication, you covered all of these things and you showed me how they were involved under this broad umbrella of fornication. But there was one other part of fornication that you pointed out that you haven't mentioned today, and that is stubbornness and rebellion." Well, I want to cover that because I want you to look in your Bibles, 1 Samuel, chapter 15. I want you to see that fornication merits the death penalty.
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Now, God sent King Saul on a mission. And all he had to do was to kill all the Amalekites. But you know what King Saul did? He spared the best of the sheep and the best of the oxen, and Agag, the king of the Amalekites. Samuel comes to him and says, in verse 22, after Saul gives this objection to Samuel, "But the people spared them that we may sacrifice them to God." And Samuel asks, in verse 22, "Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft."
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What is to be done with a witch? Burn, put to death. "And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry." What was to be done with an idolater? Put to death. So stubbornness and rebellion merit the death penalty as well. So all of fornication brings the death penalty. Now that we've established the penalty for fornication, that is death, we've got to ask another question. How does God execute that penalty?
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You see, many people think that just because God does not instantly smite someone, that they've gotten away with their sin. Well, let me remind you something, folks. God's paydays are not always on Friday. I want you to look at Deuteronomy chapter 32. I'm going to quote this verse later, but I want you to see it right now. Deuteronomy 32 and verse 35. Watch carefully. Deuteronomy 32 verse 35. Remember now, God says that he is the avenger, which means he is the executioner.
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He's the one that takes vengeance. So in Deuteronomy 32 and verse 35, he says, "To me belongeth vengeance, and recompence." Look what he says about the wicked. "Their foot shall slide in due time: for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste." What does God say? "Their foot shall slide in due time." In Numbers chapter 32 and verse 23, God said it like this, "Be sure your sin will find you out." You see, no one is going to get away with any wickedness.
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Now let's ask and answer the question, how will God execute his justice? Several ways he can do so. First of all, personally. God may execute His justice upon the fornicator personally. Do you remember what the Bible says in the book of Ezekiel 18 and verse 4? Help me out. "The soul that sinneth, it shall die." And "the wages of sin is death." So God could, if He was so pleased, execute the fornicator. He could do it instantly, or He could do it a week later, or a month later, or a year later, but I want you to remember something, folks. Brother Richard understands this.
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It is the judge who sets the execution date. It is the judge that determines the manner of the execution. The prisoner has no say so in it. So when God is the judge and God is the avenger, God is the one that determines the execution date. And He is the one that determines the method in which the execution is to take place. It is solely and totally in the judge's discretion.
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Now, let me cover some objections, because inevitably these are going to come up. Someone says, "Oh, but Brother Weaver, I know you've just shown me from the Bible that the penalty for adultery is death, the penalty for fornication is death, the penalty for rape and incest is death. I understand that, but Brother Weaver, David committed adultery and he didn't die." Well, look in your Bibles to 2 Samuel chapter 12. I will tell you why David did not die.
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I will show it to you in black and white. And by the way, although David did not die, his child did. And I'll cover David's reaping when he sowed a little bit later, but I want you to understand something. The only reason David was not executed was because God sovereignly pardoned him. David merited and earned the death penalty on two points. He had not only committed adultery.
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He had Uriah, Bathsheba's husband, murdered with the sword of the children of Ammon. And notice, if you would please, what David said in verse 6, verse 5. "And David's anger was greatly kindled." This is when Nathan had told him the story. "And he said to Nathan, As the LORD liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely die." And Nathan said in verse 7, "Thou art the man." Now skip down, if you would please, to verse 13. "And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the LORD. And Nathan said unto David, The LORD also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die." The only reason David did not die was God sovereignly pardoned him.
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Now, let me just say this. David is the exception, and not the rule. And the problem today is this. Too many people want to identify with David and his sin, but they do not want to identify with his repentance and reaping what he has sown. So David then is the exception. God sovereignly pardoned him. God can do as he pleases. And in this instance, He sovereignly pardoned David.
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Now, turning your Bibles to John chapter 8, because inevitably, and I've heard this for years, "Well, Brother Weaver, the death penalty for adultery has been done away with in the New Testament by Christ." That is not true. May I remind you, Matthew 5 and verse 17, Jesus Christ said, "Think not that I am come to destroy the law. I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil." And the word "fulfil" is plēroō.
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It means literally to put it into full force as continuous. Now watch John 8 verse 1. "Jesus went unto the mount of Olives. And early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him; and he sat down, and taught them. And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst, they say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act."
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"Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou? This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not. So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground. And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers?"
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"Hath no man condemned thee? She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more." And so people read this and say, "See, Jesus has done away with the death penalty," and the answer is absolutely no. He did not do away with the death penalty. Christ came to fulfill the law. Well, why did he not have this woman executed then? Well, there are very good answers to that question. First of all, I want you to know it was the scribes and the Pharisees who brought the woman, and they said, "Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act."
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Now, I've got a question, and everybody ought to have the same question. It takes two to commit adultery. So where was the man? Why did they not bring him? See, of course, very clearly, they were not even interested in justice. They were interested in putting Christ in the pickle. You see, if Christ had said, "Take her out and stone her," how is he going to be known as the friend of sinners? So what did Jesus Christ do?
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I don't have time to go into all of this. But if you'll go back to the book of Numbers, you'll find the law of jealousy. By the way, let me just point this out. This could not have ever gone to trial. Why could it never have gone to trial? Because in the Bible, the victim was the woman's husband. Where was he? He was supposed to be pushing the case.
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He was not even there. Here the Pharisees now have usurped the position and the authority of the husband. So the husband, the injured party, was not even there. So Jesus knelt down and wrote in the dust.
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Now, if you go back to the book of Numbers, you'll find in the law of jealousy, the high priest would bend down and write in the dust. He would write a curse.
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Now, I don't actually know what Jesus Christ wrote. I've got a pretty good idea, I think. I think since those Pharisees and scribes were trying to get something on Him and checking up on Him, probably what Christ did was just simply write down dates and times and places that they themselves had committed adultery, or names of women that they had been with themselves. Why would He do that?
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Well, look what He said. Clear it up for you, hopefully. Verse 7, "So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her."
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Now, that is a very general statement, but in the Greek, there is a definite article in front of the word "sin." Literally, he says, "He that is without the sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her." You see, in the Bible, and in our jurisprudence, we have what is known as the law of clean hands. That means if I'm going to accuse Tony of something, of a crime, I have to be innocent of that crime myself. Because if I accuse him of something and get him condemned, guess what? I've just turned around and condemned myself. It's called the law of clean hands. You'll find it in Black's Law Dictionary, Bouvier's Dictionary, it's in the Bible.
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And this is what Jesus Christ is saying. If you have not committed the act of adultery, you cast the first stone. You can be the executioner. In fact, don't you remember, the witnesses in the Bible had to lay their hands upon the victim first. So what happened? They, being convicted by their own conscience, went out from the eldest to the youngest. And Jesus looked up to the woman and said, "Woman, where are those thine accusers?"
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She said, "No man, Lord." He said, "Neither I condemn thee." Why would Christ not condemn the woman? Go back to the law of God. What does the Bible demand for the death penalty? Two witnesses. How many witnesses were there to testify against her? None. Jesus did not nullify the death penalty for adultery. He did not even have enough evidence to have a trial. There were no accusers.
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Her husband was not complaining. He was not pushing the case. So Jesus Christ did what the only thing he could do lawfully, he dismissed the case. And when she said, "No man, Lord," I am bowing to your sovereign authority. Then he said, "Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more." So very clearly Christ was not simply doing away with the death penalty. He just simply had no grounds to hold a trial for this woman in John chapter 8.
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Now, I want you to turn in your Bibles to 1 Corinthians chapter 5. You see, we are in a similar position today in one sense of the word. While the church does have the absolute authority to try cases, there is an ecclesiastical law in the Bible. There is an ecclesiastical court in the Bible. While the church has the power to have trials and hold courts, the church does not have the power to execute the death penalty with a sword. Physically. But there is a way that the church can execute the death penalty. Look in 1 Corinthians 5, verse 1. "It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father's wife."
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"And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you. For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed."
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Now watch what he says, "In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, to deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus." What is he talking about? He's talking about church discipline. He's talking about excommunication. So here's the man that is a fornicator who will not repent. What does God do? God says you have a church trial, you discipline him and you turn him out.
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How is that the death penalty? Do you remember what Jesus Christ said in Proverbs 8, verse 36? He said, "All they that hate me love what? Death." And if he's outside the church, he's dead.
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Now, when governments will not fulfill the statutes of God, what the church can do is what I've just shared with you from 1 Corinthians chapter 5. I excommunicate them, discipline them. And by the way, do you realize in the early church, people who were adulterers, fornicators, who had repented and were admitted back into church fellowship based upon their repentance, do you know what they were called and referred to as in the New Testament church? They were called and known as the walking dead. What were they saying?
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Well, we have forgiven them because they have sinned. But that does not stop God from executing his penalty and his justice. And he will do so in his time.
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Now, let me come to one other objection. You said, "But Brother Weaver, I have known individuals who have committed fornication and adultery, and they are still alive. I witnessed the first fornicator, President Clinton. He's still alive." Well, all I can say is, "Their foot shall slide in due time." Everyone who thinks they've gotten away with their sin is in for a big surprise. Their foot shall slide in due time.
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May I remind you that beside physical death, there is also a covenantal death. There is an emotional death. There is a financial death. There is a political death. You remember Proverbs 16, verse 7? "When a man's ways please the LORD, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him." The opposite is also true. When a man's ways displease the LORD, God raises up enemies against him.
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That's what He did to Solomon. So God can, if He so choose, execute the penalty personally. Secondly, God, if he so chooses, may execute the penalty familially, that is, in the family. This would be an aspect of Galatians 6, 7 and 8. Everybody can quote that, or at least you should be able to. "Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting."
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Now listen folks, you not only reap what you sow, you many times reap more than you sow. You can plant one grain of corn and get a stalk with several ears and hundreds of grains.
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Now, David committed adultery with Bathsheba. Let's go back there. Let's go to 2 Samuel chapter 12. 2 Samuel chapter 12. You see, so many people think that David got away with his sin. Well, it is true David did not die at that time, but he did not get away with his sin. In 2 Samuel 12, verse 11, look what God tells David.
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"Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house, and I will take thy wives before thine eyes, and give them unto thy neighbour, and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this sun. For thou didst it secretly: but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun." David, you commit adultery with a woman. Now, somebody is going to commit adultery with your wives.
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Look in chapter 16, verse 21, and let's see who that someone was. 2 Samuel 16, verse 21, "And Ahithophel said unto Absalom, Go in unto thy father's concubines, which he hath left to keep the house; and all Israel shall hear that thou art abhorred of thy father: then shall the hands of all that are with thee be strong." Ah, David committed adultery with Bathsheba and his son, his son committed adultery and incest with David's wives. Now watch this. David committed adultery. His child died. Absalom, his own son, had an incestuous and adulterous relationship with some of David's wives. Amnon, his own son, raped his half-sister Tamar. Absalom then turned around and murdered his half-brother Amnon for raping Tamar. And then Absalom came back and ran his own daddy off the throne and decided to kill him. David only committed adultery with Bathsheba. But look how many of his wives were ruined and his children's lives were ruined.
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This is known in the Bible as the Lex Talionis, the law of retribution. Look in your Bibles. Listen to me. Look to Hosea 4. Please turn there. I want you to see this. This to me is very, very frightening. Very, very awesome. Look in the book of Hosea chapter 4. Look what God says. We're talking about the law of retribution. We're talking about reaping what you have sown. Hosea 4, verse 12. Look what God says. In this verse 12, He's talking about spiritual adultery, okay? He says, "My people ask counsel at their stocks, and their staff declareth unto them: for the spirit of whoredoms hath caused them to err, and they have gone a whoring from under their God." Now, spiritual adultery always produces physical adultery. Watch.
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Verse 13, "They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills, under oaks and poplars and elms, because the shadow thereof is good: therefore your daughters shall commit whoredom, and your spouses shall commit adultery. I will not punish your daughters when they commit whoredom, nor your spouses when they commit adultery: for themselves are separated with whores, and they sacrifice with harlots: therefore the people that doth not understand shall fall." God said, you started it, and now your children are going to do it, and your wives are going to do it. And God said, I'm going to let you reap exactly what you have sown. Are you listening? If you do not want your spouse committing adultery, then you don't do it. If you do not want your children to be whoremongers and fornicators and adulterers, then you don't do it.
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Because God can execute His justice familially, that is within the family, and not just personally. I know a gentleman, one of the kindest, gentlest men I've ever known in my life. He told me one day, his wife was running around on him, and I said, "We need to confront her." You know what he said? He dropped his head. "But I started it." He said, "I let an old girlfriend talk me into staying with her one night." He said, "My wife had been faithful to me for nearly 30 years. And when she found out that I had slept with this woman one time."
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She was so hurt and so angry that she tried to get back at me. And this woman had not been with one man, but by the time I was talking to him, probably hundreds of men. You talk about the spirit of whoredoms, that's what he saw in Hosea chapter 4. And this man was devastated, not just because of what his wife was doing, but he realized he started it.
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And he was reaping what he had sown. God can execute it personally. God can execute it familially. Thirdly, God can execute his judgment ecclesiastically. That is in the church. Look in your Bible to the book of Revelation chapter 2. Revelation chapter 2. Revelation 2 verse 18. Look what our Lord says, "And unto the angel of the church in Thyatira write; These things saith the Son of God, who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire, and his feet are like fine brass."
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"I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works; and the last to be more than the first. Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not. Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds. And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works." You know what's wrong with our churches, folks?
#82 | 53:10 to 54:05 | cleaned
Our Lord has killed most of them. Not only because of spiritual adultery, unthankfulness to God and His Word, but the average church today is full of fornicators and adulterers that have never been disciplined and have never repented. And God said, "I will kill the church." "Thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead." God can execute personally, familially, ecclesiastically, one other, nationally. Look in your Bibles to Jeremiah chapter 5.
#83 | 54:06 to 54:55 | cleaned
I want you to see this. You're talking about a passage, my soul. Jeremiah chapter 5, beginning there with verse 7. Look what God tells His people. He's talking to the nation Israel. That's important. He's talking to the nation. He asks, "How shall I pardon thee for this? thy children have forsaken me, and sworn by them that are no gods: when I had fed them to the full, they then committed adultery, and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots' houses. They were as fed horses in the morning."
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Watch, "every one neighed after his neighbour's wife." Look what God says, "Shall I not visit for these things? saith the LORD: and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?" Look in verse 10. God says, "Go ye up upon her walls, and destroy; but make not a full end: take away her battlements; for they are not the LORD's. For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me, saith the LORD. They have belied the LORD, and said, It is not he; neither shall evil come upon us; neither shall we see sword nor famine." Skip down to verse 23. God says, "But this people hath a revolting and a rebellious heart; they are revolted and gone. Neither say they in their heart, Let us now fear the LORD our God, that giveth rain, both the former and the latter, in his season: he reserveth unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest. Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withholden good things from you. For among my people are found wicked men."
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"They lay wait, as he that setteth snares; they set a trap, they catch men. As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit: therefore they are become great, and waxen rich. They are waxen fat, they shine: yea, they overpass the deeds of the wicked: they judge not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper; and the right of the needy do they not judge." Look what he says.
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"Shall I not visit for these things? saith the LORD: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?" Let me answer a question for you. Do you know why this nation puts up with an adulterous, fornicating president? And an adulterous, fornicating Congress? And the answer is, because this is an adulterous, fornicating nation. And as a result, the nation is under death sentence from God. And God will just as surely judge this nation, not just for abortion, that's bad enough in itself. Not just for our fraud and deceit, that's bad enough in itself.
#87 | 57:12 to 58:12 | cleaned
But for our fornication, spiritually and physically. You say, "Brother Weaver, how does God judge a nation?" Well, how did he judge Babylon and Rome? The Hittites, the Jebusites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, where are they? He executed the death penalty upon them. You see, the timing and the place, the method and the manner of God's execution is at his own discretion. What did he say in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4? Look back there. Go back. 1 Thessalonians 4 verse 6.
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"That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in the matter," that is in the matter of his wife or in the matter of his daughter, "because that the Lord is the avenger," the executioner, the one that exacts righteousness and judgment and justice "of all such, as we have also forewarned you and testified." My first application is this. Every fornicator, both spiritually and physically, shall be dealt with by God himself. And if all God has to do is to kill us, is to withhold our breath, what do you think it's going to be like for the individual whom God appears in arms against? And secondly is this. There is no city government, no county government, no state government, and no federal government that can repeal the law of God, nor the sentence that he has imposed for the violation of that law. The death penalty stands; it's just up to God as to when and how and where he executes it.
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And he may do so personally, familially, ecclesiastically, or nationally, for all he chooses, for he is the judge. And he said, "but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge." Let's pray. Father, we are thankful today for Jesus Christ, for his grace, for his mercy, for his salvation. We are thankful there is forgiveness for our sins, and there is grace and mercy in Jesus Christ. But Father, may we see and weigh carefully and seriously what it is to sin against Thee, and to grieve Thee. May we understand the penalty of our actions. And may we understand that you demand sexual purity in our lives, and that is part and parcel of our sanctification. This is the will of God.
#90 | 1:00:48 to 1:02:02 | cleaned
"Even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication: that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour; not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God: that no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter: because that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we have also forewarned you and testified." May we remember, Lord, these words, and be holy and pure and godly.
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In the name of Jesus Christ we ask, Amen.
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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-06T00:51:35Z

6 Sanctification & Sexual Purity

John Weaver | Freedom Ministries

John Weaver continues a series on sanctification and sexual purity from 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8, focusing on the warning that the Lord is the avenger of all sexual impurity. He demonstrates from the Old Testament law that the penalty for fornication, adultery, rape, incest, sodomy, bestiality, and stubborn rebellion is death. Weaver explains that God executes this penalty personally, familially, ecclesiastically, or nationally, in His own time and manner. He addresses objections regarding David and the woman caught in adultery, showing that God's law is not nullified. The sermon concludes with a call to holiness and a warning that no government can repeal God's law or its sentence.

Opening

Alright, 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, and let's read the first eight verses.

Scripture Reading — 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8

"Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more. For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication: that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour; not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God: that no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter: because that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified. For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness. He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given unto us his holy Spirit."

Review of the Passage Outline

Weaver briefly reviews the structure of 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8: exhortation (v.1), explanation (v.2), exposition (vv.3-5), and elaboration (v.6).

The Warning of Sexual Impurity: God as Avenger

Paul warns that the Lord is the avenger (ekdikos) of all sexual impurity, meaning He executes His righteousness and justice.

The Penalty for Fornication in the Law

Weaver surveys Old Testament passages showing that the death penalty is prescribed for adultery, rape, incest, sodomy, bestiality, prostitution, and stubborn rebellion.

Scripture Reading — Leviticus 20:10

"And the man that committeth adultery with another man's wife, even he that committeth adultery with his neighbour's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death."

Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 22:23-25

"If a damsel that is a virgin be betrothed unto an husband, and a man find her in the city, and lie with her; then ye shall bring them both out unto the gate of that city, and ye shall stone them with stones that they die; the damsel, because she cried not, being in the city; and the man, because he hath humbled his neighbour's wife: so thou shalt put away evil from among you."

So the penalty for adultery under the law is death. Since we're in Deuteronomy chapter 22, let's look at verse 25. You'll see the penalty for rape. He says,

Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 22:23-25

"But if a man find a betrothed damsel in the field, and the man force her, and lie with her: then the man only that lay with her shall die."

Look if you would please, Leviticus chapter 20 beginning there with verse 11. Leviticus 20 verse 11.

Scripture Reading — Leviticus 20:11-17

"And the man that lieth with his father's wife hath uncovered his father's nakedness: both of them shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them. And if a man lie with his daughter in law, both of them shall surely be put to death: they have wrought confusion; their blood shall be upon them."

Verse 14,

Scripture Reading — Leviticus 20:11-17

"And if a man take a wife and her mother, that is his mother-in-law, it is wickedness: they shall be burnt with fire, both he and they; that there be no wickedness among you."

Look in verse 17.

Scripture Reading — Leviticus 20:11-17

"And if a man shall take his sister, his father's daughter, or his mother's daughter, and see her nakedness, and she see his nakedness; it is a wicked thing." "And they shall be cut off in the sight of their people: he hath uncovered his sister's nakedness; he shall bear his iniquity."

Scripture Reading — Leviticus 20:11-17

"If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them."

Look in your Bible to the book of Leviticus chapter 20. Here's another one that deserves death. This would be included under fornication. Leviticus chapter 20 verse 16. He said,

Scripture Reading — Leviticus 20:16

"And if a woman approach unto any beast, and lie down thereto, thou shalt kill the woman, and the beast: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them."

Look in your Bibles to the book of Exodus chapter 22 and verse 19. Exodus 22 verse 19. So bestiality demands the death penalty. Exodus chapter 22 verse 19, God says,

Scripture Reading — Leviticus 20:16

"Whosoever lieth with a beast shall surely be put to death."

So God demands the death penalty.

Scripture Reading — Proverbs 9:13-18

"A foolish woman is clamorous: she is simple, and knoweth nothing. For she sitteth at the door of her house, on a seat in the high places of the city, to call passengers who go right on their ways: Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither: and as for him that wanteth understanding, she saith to him, Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant. But he knoweth not that the dead are there; and that her guests are in the depths of hell."

Scripture Reading — 1 Samuel 15:22-23

"Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft."

How God Executes His Justice

God executes the death penalty personally, familially, ecclesiastically, or nationally, in His own timing and manner.

He's the one that takes vengeance. So in Deuteronomy 32 and verse 35, he says,

Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 32:35

"To me belongeth vengeance, and recompence."

Look what he says about the wicked.

Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 32:35

"Their foot shall slide in due time: for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste."

What does God say?

Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 32:35

"Their foot shall slide in due time."

In Numbers chapter 32 and verse 23, God said it like this, "Be sure your sin will find you out." You see, no one is going to get away with any wickedness.

Objections Addressed: David and the Adulterous Woman

Weaver explains that David was sovereignly pardoned, and Jesus did not nullify the death penalty in John 8 but lacked legal grounds for a trial.

Church Discipline as Ecclesiastical Execution

The church can execute the death penalty through excommunication, delivering the unrepentant fornicator to Satan for the destruction of the flesh.

How is that the death penalty? Do you remember what Jesus Christ said in Proverbs 8, verse 36? He said, "All they that hate me love what? Death." And if he's outside the church, he's dead.

Familial and National Reaping

Using David, Hosea 4, and Jeremiah 5, Weaver shows that sexual sin brings retribution upon families and nations.

Final Application and Warning

Every fornicator will be dealt with by God; no government can repeal God's law or its death sentence.

6 Sanctification & Sexual Purity

John Weaver | SermonAudio

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	SermonAudio
Media ID	10220713562310
Subject	Family Government
Course	The Christian Family: Marriage and Household Order: The Family
Genre	Sermon
Date	2007-10-22
Dictation Name
Book	Book 027: The Christian Family: Marriage and Household Order — Chapter 7
Source Timed Segments	92

Lecture Guide

Outline

Review of the Passage Outline: Weaver briefly reviews the structure of 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8: exhortation (v.1), explanation (v.2), exposition (vv.3-5), and elaboration (v.6).
The Warning of Sexual Impurity: God as Avenger: Paul warns that the Lord is the avenger (ekdikos) of all sexual impurity, meaning He executes His righteousness and justice.
The Penalty for Fornication in the Law: Weaver surveys Old Testament passages showing that the death penalty is prescribed for adultery, rape, incest, sodomy, bestiality, prostitution, and stubborn rebellion.
How God Executes His Justice: God executes the death penalty personally, familially, ecclesiastically, or nationally, in His own timing and manner.
Objections Addressed: David and the Adulterous Woman: Weaver explains that David was sovereignly pardoned, and Jesus did not nullify the death penalty in John 8 but lacked legal grounds for a trial.
Church Discipline as Ecclesiastical Execution: The church can execute the death penalty through excommunication, delivering the unrepentant fornicator to Satan for the destruction of the flesh.
Familial and National Reaping: Using David, Hosea 4, and Jeremiah 5, Weaver shows that sexual sin brings retribution upon families and nations.
Final Application and Warning: Every fornicator will be dealt with by God; no government can repeal God's law or its death sentence.

Major Themes

Key Arguments

Fornication is a capital offense under God's law.

The Bible consistently prescribes the death penalty for various sexual sins, and this standard has not been abolished.

Weaver cites Leviticus 20, Deuteronomy 22, and Romans 1:32 to show that such sins are worthy of death.

God Himself will avenge sexual impurity.

The warning in 1 Thessalonians 4:6 is that the Lord personally executes vengeance, not merely human authorities.

Weaver emphasizes the Greek word ekdikos and contrasts it with God merely 'resisting' the proud in 1 Peter 5:5.

David's pardon was a sovereign exception, not the rule.

David did not die for his adultery because God sovereignly pardoned him, but he still reaped severe consequences.

Weaver points to 2 Samuel 12:13 where Nathan says, 'The LORD also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die.'

Jesus did not nullify the death penalty in John 8.

The woman caught in adultery was not condemned because there were no accusers or witnesses, not because the law was changed.

Weaver explains the law of clean hands and the requirement of two witnesses, showing Jesus acted lawfully.

Sexual sin brings multigenerational consequences.

God's judgment can extend to one's family and nation, as seen in David's household and the warning in Hosea 4.

Weaver recounts the tragedies in David's family and quotes Hosea 4:13-14 about daughters and spouses committing whoredom.

The church must exercise discipline against unrepentant fornicators.

Excommunication is a form of the death penalty, delivering the sinner to Satan for the destruction of the flesh.

Weaver cites 1 Corinthians 5:1-5 and explains that being outside the church is spiritual death.

Scripture References

1 Thessalonians 4:1-8: The primary passage of the sermon, emphasizing sanctification and abstaining from fornication.
1 Peter 5:5: God resists the proud, but for fornicators He does more—He avenges.
Hebrews 13:4: Whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.
1 John 3:4: Sin is the transgression of the law, which is the standard of judgment.
Leviticus 20:10: The adulterer and adulteress shall surely be put to death.
Deuteronomy 22:23-25: Penalties for adultery and rape: death by stoning.
Leviticus 20:11-17: Death penalty for incest and other sexual sins.
Leviticus 20:13: Death penalty for sodomy.
Romans 1:24-32: Those who commit such things are worthy of death, knowing the judgment of God.
Leviticus 21:9: A priest's daughter who plays the whore shall be burnt with fire.
Deuteronomy 23:17-18: No whore or sodomite in Israel; the hire of a whore or price of a dog is an abomination.
Leviticus 20:16: Death penalty for bestiality.
Exodus 22:19: Whosoever lieth with a beast shall surely be put to death.
Proverbs 2:16-19: The strange woman's house inclines to death.
Proverbs 5:1-23: The strange woman's feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell.
Proverbs 6:23-35: Adultery destroys one's own soul; jealousy is the rage of a man.
Proverbs 7:4-27: The harlot's house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death.
Proverbs 9:13-18: The foolish woman's guests are in the depths of hell.
1 Samuel 15:22-23: Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness as iniquity and idolatry, meriting death.
Deuteronomy 32:35: To me belongeth vengeance; their foot shall slide in due time.

Historical References

President Clinton: Weaver mentions President Clinton as an example of a fornicator who is still alive, but whose foot shall slide in due time.
Babylon and Rome: Weaver asks how God judged Babylon and Rome, implying they were executed for their sins.
Hittites, Jebusites, Perizzites, Hivites: Weaver lists these nations as examples of those God executed the death penalty upon.

Important Quotes

the Lord is the avenger of all such

This is the central warning of the passage, emphasizing that God personally executes justice on fornicators.

the Lord is the one that executes His righteousness

Weaver explains the Greek word ekdikos to stress God's active role in avenging sexual sin.

whoremongers and adulterers God will judge

Quoted from Hebrews 13:4 to reinforce that God is the judge and executioner.

the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death

Directly from Leviticus 20:10, establishing the death penalty for adultery.

their foot shall slide in due time

From Deuteronomy 32:35, emphasizing that God's judgment may be delayed but is certain.

The LORD also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die

Nathan's words to David in 2 Samuel 12:13, showing God's sovereign pardon as an exception.

He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her

Jesus' words in John 8:7, which Weaver explains as invoking the law of clean hands, not abolishing the death penalty.

to deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh

From 1 Corinthians 5:5, showing the church's authority to execute a form of the death penalty through excommunication.

Discussion Questions

[Question]

How does understanding God as the 'avenger' of sexual sin change your view of personal holiness?

[Context]

Weaver emphasizes that God personally executes justice, which should deter fornication.

[Question]

Why does the Old Testament prescribe the death penalty for sexual sins, and how should this inform our view of God's character?

[Context]

Weaver surveys multiple passages showing the death penalty for various sexual sins.

[Question]

In what ways can God execute His justice today, according to Weaver?

[Context]

Weaver outlines personal, familial, ecclesiastical, and national execution of God's judgment.

[Question]

How does the example of David's pardon and subsequent reaping challenge the idea that forgiveness removes all consequences?

[Context]

Weaver discusses David's sovereign pardon and the calamities in his family.

[Question]

What does the account of the woman caught in adultery teach us about the proper application of God's law?

[Context]

Weaver argues that Jesus did not abolish the death penalty but followed legal procedure.

[Question]

How should the church exercise discipline in cases of unrepentant sexual sin, based on 1 Corinthians 5?

[Context]

Weaver explains excommunication as a form of the death penalty.

[Question]

What is the relationship between personal sexual sin and national judgment, as seen in Jeremiah 5?

[Context]

Weaver connects the nation's tolerance of adulterous leaders to its own fornication and coming judgment.

Applications

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