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Promises Of The Law - Part 16

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• Deuteronomy chapter 6. And look, if you would please, at verse 18. Deuteronomy 6 and verse 18. Today, we are on the 16th part of the series, "The Promises of the Law." And this happens to be the seventh commandment. So in Deuteronomy 5 and verse 18, the Word of God says, "Neither shalt thou commit adultery." You will find it in Exodus 20 and verse 14, and it just simply says, "Thou shalt not commit adultery." Well, let me begin by saying that marriage, like everything else, is to be God-centered. Our lives, our homes, personal lives, even the most intimate acts between husband and wife are to be centered in God and His law.

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• We relate to each other and fulfill our duties to each other as unto the Lord. You remember the passage in 1 Corinthians 10 and verse 31 where God says, "Whether therefore ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God." So we could argue then from the lesser to the greater. If eating and drinking should be done in reference to God and His glory, should not our homes, our interaction, and even our most intimate acts be for His honor and glory as well?

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• One of the main problems we have today, of course, is not only humanism, but what you and I would call modern day romanticism. Many have made sex and marriage nothing more than feelings. I've heard people say, husbands to wives and wives to husbands and boyfriends to girlfriends and vice versa, "I have feelings for you." Well, the question has to be asked, what happens when you no longer have feelings? And the answer is the marriage is gone, the relationship is gone because people are continuing to live by feelings rather than biblical principle and biblical law as well. So a failure to live in terms of God's law with our spouses in actuality is a denial of God and His authority.

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• Now the seventh commandment is very simple and straightforward, as are all the commandments, because God just simply says, "Thou shalt not commit adultery." Unhappily, what has happened today is very simple. We try to define adultery for ourselves. You have to remember that to define is to limit. That is why there cannot be a definition of God, because to define God is to limit God. And so a lot of people like to define things in their own terms. And the reason they like to define things in their own terms is very simple.

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• It's much like the lawyer in Luke chapter 10, when our Lord had given the story of the Good Samaritan, and the lawyer asked, "Who then is my neighbor?" And the Bible said, "He, willing to justify himself, asked who his neighbor was." So many times we want to excuse our actions and our thoughts. We want to justify ourselves. And if the truth be known, we really want to leave ourselves some wiggle room so we can kind of do what we want to and please our own flesh and satisfy our flesh even though we know in reality it is wicked and wrong. Let me give you two quotes to begin with and I want you to think about these.

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• The first one is from Matthew Poole and the second one is from Adam Clarke. Matthew Poole on the seventh commandment just said this, "Here is mentioned one kind of uncleanness as being eminently sinful and unjust and pernicious to human society. But under this are comprehended and forbidden all other kinds of filthiness, as bestiality, sodomy, whoredom, fornication, and all means, occasions, and appearances of them." Now, Adam Clarke goes a little bit farther and he says this, "One principal part of the criminality of adultery consists in its injustice. Number one, it robs a man of his right by taking from him the affections of his wife. Number two, it does him a wrong by fathering on him and obliging him to maintain as his own a spurious offspring, a child which is not his. The act itself and everything leading to the act is prohibited by this commandment. For our Lord says, even he who looks upon a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. And not only adultery, the unlawful commerce between two married persons is forbidden here, but also fornication of all kinds, of mental and sensual uncleanness. All impure books, songs, paintings, which tend to inflame and debauch the mind are against this law."

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• When you think of adultery, you very seldom think of pornography, but they are very closely connected. Our English word "pornography" comes from two Greek words. One, porne, which is fornication, the other, grapho, which is writing. So the word pornography just simply means fornication writing. And interestingly enough, fornication or pornography is a gateway into what you and I would call uncleanness, fornication, adultery, etc. And the truth of the matter is I have known pastors who've gotten hooked on pornography and have ended up losing not only their wives but their families and their ministries as well. Our Lord made it very clear that adultery or fornication actually begins in the heart. The Bible says in Matthew 5 verses 27 and 28, our Lord is speaking and He said, "Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery. But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart."

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• So, there is a connection then between looking and lusting. And may I remind you that the heart is the mind because the Bible says, our Lord Himself said, "For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts." And so the heart and the mind, basically speaking, are synonymous, they are one and the same. We need to understand the connection between looking and lusting. You remember what happened to David in 2 Samuel chapter 11.

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• This is the beginning of his adulterous relationship with Bathsheba and the murder of Uriah her husband. But listen, if you would, to verse 2, "And it came to pass in an eveningtide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king's house: and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself; and the woman was very beautiful to look upon." Notice, if you would, he saw Bathsheba washing herself. And the Bible says the woman was very beautiful to look upon. So here is where David's sin actually began. David not only looked, he continued to look because she was very beautiful.

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• It may not be possible to avoid the first glance. It may not be possible to avoid the first look, but it is entirely possible to avoid continually looking and continually observing. It is quite possible to turn your eyes away from a source. It's also quite possible to turn your head. It is also quite possible for you to refuse to think about the situation. And it is certainly quite possible for you to recall the Word of God and the commandments of God. And so although there is a connection between looking and lusting, we have to also remember that the Word of God is to be our standard and our guide as well.

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• Now the seventh commandment is repeated in various forms in the Bible. For instance, in Leviticus chapter 18 and verse 20, the Bible says it like this, "Moreover thou shalt not lie carnally with thy neighbour's wife, to defile thyself with her." So adultery here is mentioned then as defilement. And the Hebrew word actually means to become unclean, to pollute oneself, to defile oneself, and to become profane. Now I want you to understand that the penalty for adultery in the Bible is death. So if you would look in your Bibles first of all to the book of Leviticus chapter 20 and notice verse 10. Leviticus 20 and verse 10. Look what the Bible says. Leviticus 20 and verse 10, and God says, "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." Then if you'd look in the book of Deuteronomy chapter 22 and verse 22, you'll see this again. Deuteronomy 22 and verse 22. God says it like this.

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• "If a man be found lying with a woman married to an husband, then they shall both of them die, both the man that lay with the woman, and the woman: so shalt thou put away evil from Israel." So so many people try to object and say, "Well, now, wait a minute. David certainly committed adultery with Bathsheba, and he did not die." Well, certainly eventually he did die, but the only reason he was not executed, the only reason he was not stoned to death is given to us in 2 Samuel chapter 12 and verses 13 and 14. Because once Nathan had confronted David, David said it like this, "I have sinned against the Lord." And Nathan said unto David, "The Lord also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die. Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die." So notice, if you would, the only reason David was not put to death, and by the way, he had the death penalty laid upon him from two acts.

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• Number one, adultery with Bathsheba, and number two, the murder of Uriah the Hittite because God charged him with murder by the sword of the children of Ammon. But the only reason he was not executed was simply because God sovereignly pardoned David. Had not God sovereignly pardoned him, then he would have been executed. Now just because God sovereignly pardoned David does not mean that David escaped the consequences of his sin. You have to remember not only did the child die, but it was later on in the Bible that it was Amnon who raped his own sister Tamar. And then it was Adonijah who revolted against David, or at least tried to later on. And then Absalom, whose sister Tamar was, Absalom turned around and murdered Amnon for what he did to Tamar. And then later on even Absalom tried to slay his own father, ran him off the throne and tried to steal the kingdom from him. So there are a lot of people who are willing to identify with David's sin, but they're not willing to identify with the consequences of David's sin. Moreover, there are people who want to identify with David's sin, but they do not want to identify with the remorse, and the grief, and the repentance that

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• David exhibited. May I remind you that there are five penitential Psalms in the Bible where David is confessing that sin and saying, "I'm sorry, I'm wrong, I transgressed, I'm an iniquitous individual, please have mercy upon me." So, obviously there are a lot of people who say, "Well, David did it." Yes, he did. But David suffered the consequences of his sin as well. Now we've not really understood the importance of nor the implications of this seventh commandment. We've not really perceived its vileness and its wickedness. And let me say this, and I'm going to point it out to you from Scripture just momentarily. Adultery is a really grievous sin, especially for a Christian to commit. When you think about the sin of adultery, it is more than just simply a sin of the flesh. It is more than just simply desiring to have someone that does not belong to you. When you think of 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, and we'll look at it a little bit later, verse 6 also tells us that adultery is considered as theft because you're defrauding someone of that which belongs to

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• them and you're taking it to yourself. But I think one of the greatest implications in the sin of adultery is that it destroys the oneness that has been created by virtue of the marriage union between the husband and the wife. You remember the Bible says that man shall leave his father and mother and shall cleave unto his wife and they shall be one flesh. And the Bible says, "What God has joined together, let not man put asunder."

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• So the point I'm going to make is very simple. Adultery is more simply an affront to God. It is a slap in God's face, and it is a dare of God's justice. Let me just point the word "adultery" out for you. We use that word not just simply in relationship to a man and a wife, but we also use it in other areas as well. This will help you understand, I think, the implication of "thou shalt not commit adultery."

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• So suppose I am at Gary's house. Gary asked me, "Would I like a glass of wine?" And I just simply say yes, although I don't drink per se, I say yes. And so Gary goes back and he starts to pour me a glass of wine and he realized he doesn't have much wine so he pours a half a glass. Then he says, "I know what I'll do." He opens a bottle of water and fills it the rest of the way up with water. Now what has he just done to the wine? He is adulterated the wine. He's diluted it.

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• He has watered it down. Okay, do you realize in Isaiah 1 in verse 22 God condemned Israel because He said, "You've added dross to your silver and water to your wine." In other words, anytime you water something down and dilute it, you are adulterating that product. And so obviously what happens in an adultery, the oneness, the uniqueness of that oneness between the man and his wife and the woman and her husband is diluted. It is not only diluted, it is watered down and basically even dissolved.

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• And hence it is a very blasphemous sin. Now, it is a sin that leads not only to the destruction of men and women, destruction of the home, but also destruction of society. Let me just try to show you the emphasis that God places upon it so we can understand the importance of it. If you will turn in your Bibles to 1 Corinthians chapter 6 in the New Testament, 1 Corinthians chapter 6.

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• Now, I'm going to be using the term adultery and fornication basically interchangeably. Because the word fornication is a very broad word which would include adultery. Okay. Notice, if you would, 1 Corinthians chapter 6 and let's begin reading there with verse 15 just to show you the blasphemous act of adultery, especially among Christians. He says, "Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ?" Now, it is a common knowledge among Christians that Jesus Christ is our head and we are His body.

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• That is clearly taught, not only in the book of Ephesians, the book of Colossians, but other places in scriptures. He's our head. We're His body. Now watch. "Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ?" Look at this question. "Shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid. What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh."

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• That's the marriage ceremony right there. And I don't want to really use the word ceremony. I really want to use the word marriage. Because you remember when Rebecca came to Isaac, the Bible says in Genesis 24 that Isaac took Rebecca into his tent and she became his wife. So a ceremony is not the marriage. The marriage is more of a covenantal relationship, a relationship of coverture, and of course it is between not just the man and the wife but the families as well. But note, if you would, he says basically here this is a marriage when you leave your wife and go to a harlot. Notice, if you would, he says in verse 17, "But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?"

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• "For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's."

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• Now I'm just simply trying to point out how grievous and how blasphemous the sin of adultery is, especially for Christians, because it is nothing less than a uniting of Jesus Christ to that which is forbidden. In other words, here's God's law saying "thou shalt not" and here you are taking God and saying "yes, I shall." So it is a very blasphemous act. It is a very wicked act as well. Now you cannot excuse yourself by saying, "Well, I did not go into a harlot. I did not go into a prostitute." Because the Greek word porneia actually refers not just to a woman who sells her body for gain, but it also refers to a woman who just gives her body for pleasure as well. So it's a very broad word and it covers a very lot of ground. So please note also that fornication of any kind, he says, is a sin against your own body. So adultery, fornication is not just a sin against your own body. It's a sin against your mate.

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• It's a sin against your spouse. It's a sin against your family. It's a sin against society. It's a sin against your church. It's also a sin against God. We have been redeemed by Him. We have been purchased back out of the slave market. We belong to Him, our bodies, everything that we are. And therefore He says, obviously if we go into an act like this we are joining Jesus Christ to that act because He is our head, we are His body, and it is very extremely blasphemous.

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• Now you remember that in the Old Testament Israel was in a covenantal relationship with God. You also remember the fact that they sinned against God many, many times and in many different ways. I want to show you from the Bible what God says about their sin and their rebellion. If you would turn back in your Bibles to Isaiah 43. Isaiah 43. And look, if you would please, at verse 24.

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• I'm not going to take the time to read all of the context, but God is condemning them for failing to really worship Him and to give Him that which He demands. So He says in verse 23, "Thou hast not brought me the small cattle of thy burnt offerings; neither hast thou honoured me with thy sacrifices. I have not caused thee to serve with an offering, nor wearied thee with incense." Look what He says in verse 24. "Thou hast bought me no sweet cane with money, neither hast thou filled me with the fat of thy sacrifices: but thou hast made me to serve with thy sins, thou hast wearied me with thine iniquities." "Thou hast made me to serve with thy sins, thou hast wearied me with thine iniquities." So for the Christian, when you stop and think about it, it is really not just adultery, it is really not just fornication, but all types of sin that we commit are really and truly acts of blasphemy in

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• the sense that we are joining Jesus Christ to that sin. So if I go over to James and I stick my hand in his pocket and I steal a $100 bill, it is not just that I have sinned against James. It's not just that I've sinned against his family and the church and everything else. I've actually sinned against God because God has said "thou shalt not steal" and yet I've joined Him to that act since I am a Christian. And that is blasphemy.

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• And so he's really pushing that hard in 1 Corinthians chapter 6 that we could understand this. Now if you'll notice in 1 Corinthians chapter 6 he tells you to flee fornication. Get out of there. Run from it. You remember when Potiphar's wife tried to seduce Joseph. He left his robe and he ran out. And before he did, he said, "How can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?"

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• And he fled and got out of there. Now, I want you to note something. He tells us to flee fornication. But if all you do is flee, you're not going to be fleeing long. Why? There has got to be something else and I want to now not deal with the negative per se, "thou shalt not commit adultery," but I want to begin emphasizing the positive. So I want you to look in your Bibles to 1 Timothy chapter 6. 1 Timothy chapter 6.

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• And notice, if you would please, beginning there with verse 11. 1 Timothy chapter 6 and verse 11. The Apostle Paul is admonishing young Timothy who happened to be in his 40's. He says this, "But thou, O man of God, flee these things." There are certain things you need to flee from. "Flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness." Note, if you would, he tells you not only to flee, but to follow. So if all you do is flee, you're not going to be fleeing long. You're going to be turning around and heading back to temptation. God says, yes, you must get out of there. You must flee. But once you flee, you make sure that you follow after righteousness and holiness and any and everything that's biblical and godly. So if we flee the lust of the flesh, we must flee and follow after righteousness as well.

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• Now, I want to give you the positive aspect of the Seventh Commandment. So, I want you to turn in your Bibles back just a few pages to 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. And let's begin reading there with verse 3. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 and verse 3. Look what our Lord says. "For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication." Now we already know right straight from Scripture what God's will is in my life right now. He said it's His will that I should abstain from fornication, which would include any and every act of uncleanness, defilement, pollution, sexual sin. He says, "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," that is his body, "in sanctification and honour; Not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles," or the heathen, "which know not God."

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• "That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter," or the matter, there it is, it is theft, "because that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified." He says, "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." So you have the negative, "thou shalt not commit adultery," and now you have the positive. The positive is that you should pursue sanctification, holiness, righteousness, and obedience, that you know how to possess your body in sanctification and honor. Again, the negative is in verse 5, not like the ungodly, not like those that are lost. Then in verse 6 again, he says, you want to make sure that you do not defraud your brother in any way whatsoever. And then he reminds you that God is the avenger of all such. And then he says again in verse 7, emphasizing the positive, "For God did not call us to uncleanness, but unto holiness."

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• Now here's what he's saying. Look in verse 8. "He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given unto us his holy Spirit." So God says, if you don't like what I'm teaching in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, I'm not referring to me, but what God says, you're not despising man, you're despising God. Because this is not man's law, this is God's law. And God is telling us it is His will that we learn to possess our bodies in sanctification and in honor. So, if we obey the 7th Commandment negatively and positively we will not violate God's Law, we will not sin against God. But on the other hand we will learn to be sanctified, we will learn to be obedient, we will learn to be holy, and we will learn to do that which is right. Now, it is only the grace of God that teaches us that which is right and holy. So I want you to turn over in your Bibles just a few pages forward to the book of Titus. 1st and 2nd Thessalonians, 1st and 2nd Timothy, and then Titus. And look in Titus chapter 2 beginning

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• there with verse 11. Titus 2 and verse 11. Look what the Bible says. "For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us," what does the grace of God teach us? "Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works." But note, if you would, the grace of God in verse 12 teaches us that denying ungodliness and worldly lust, we should live soberly, righteously and godly in this present world. Now, the grace of God then not only teaches us that we're to possess our vessels in sanctification and honor, it is the grace of God that also warns us about God's judgment and God's chastisement.

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• Let me recall in your minds the passage in 1 Corinthians chapter 6, when he said, "For God is the avenger of all such."

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• Now I want you to turn right on over a few pages to the book of Hebrews chapter 13 and look, if you would please, at verse 4. Hebrews 13 verse 4. Look what the scripture says. Remember now he said that God is the avenger of all such.

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• Now verse 4, "Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled." Nothing wrong with marriage, but "whoremongers and adulterers God will judge." So he says here is something positive and holy and right, and that's marriage. Marriage is honorable in all and the bed undefiled, but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge. Now I'm going to point this out. I've probably done it before, but I'm going to point it out again in light of this and I may even mention again when we get to the 10th commandment. The Tenth Commandment deals with, "thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife," etc., "or his ass, or his ox, or any thing that is thy neighbour's."

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• But I want you to turn back, if you would, to the book of Colossians. Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians. Colossians chapter 3 and look at verses 5 and 6. Colossians 3, verses 5 and 6. Colossians 3, watch verse 5. He says, "Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth." Let me just stop right there for a moment. The word "mortify" literally means to make dead. To act like you're dead. In other words, temptation has no effect upon a dead man, okay? That's why he said in Romans 6, "Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord." This is also the Greek word from which we get our English word "mortician" from. It's also the word from which the word "mortgage" is derived from as well. But he says, "Mortify therefore your members which are upon this earth." What are we to mortify? What are we to make dead?

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• "Fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: For which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience."

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• Now, in 1 Corinthians chapter 6, he says that God is the avenger of all such that do things like this. When you get to Romans—not to Romans, but to Hebrews 13 verse 4, God will judge the whoremonger and the adulterer.

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• Now you find in Colossians 3 that it's the wrath of God that comes upon people who engage in fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Now, let me mention something to you that may surprise you. If you study adultery in the Bible, if you study the word fornication in the Bible, you're going to come up with an astounding truth. And that is this. Although fornication and adultery do usually refer to what we're talking about in the seventh commandment, most of the time, it refers to spiritual adultery and spiritual fornication. That is, it refers to having the affections stolen away from God and given either to idols or to the flesh or to the world.

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• For instance, look in your Bibles to the book of Revelation, chapter 2. Jezebel in the Old Testament is known as the great seductress, the great adulteress. And of course, notice if you would in the book of Revelation chapter 2 and verse 20, and God is speaking here to the church in Thyatira. He says in verse 20, "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." Usually every time I think about Jezebel, there is an incident that comes to my mind which caused me to laugh many years ago.

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• I was teaching the fourth grade. I've taught everything from fourth grade up through college. But I was teaching fourth grade history. And so one of my test questions was, "Who financed Columbus on his voyage to discover the new world?" And of course, it was King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain. One of my students put "King Ferdinand and Queen Jezebel." Well, I've never forgotten it. I gave him credit for it because he got most of it right anyhow. No, but Queen Jezebel. No, it was Queen Isabella, but here is Jezebel.

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• But I want you to note what she does. She calls herself a prophetess and she teaches and seduces my servants to commit fornication and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. May I remind you of what happened back in the book of Numbers when the children of Israel were seduced by the Moabites. And what did they do? They ate the sacrifices of the gods of Moab and committed fornication and God killed 23,000 of them in one day. So usually these things go together, a deviation from God and His word and the acts of fornication. You look around today and see what is going on, not just with people but in our churches as well. You look how denominations are falling by the wayside, conventions are falling by the wayside. Interestingly recently

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• there was a huge article on the pedophilia involved in the Southern Baptist Convention. And of course, the same thing has been true in the Independent Baptists as well. It's absolutely insane. And you look around today and you say, "What in the world is going on?" Because there's so much that is just unbelievable. I just read this past week where a cop, a police officer, was arrested for raping dogs.

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• He even raped his own canine dog. And then there were the three men up north who were also arrested for having sex with donkeys and cows and goats. And it is mind-boggling. It is mind-boggling. And you say, "What in the world is happening?" I mean, there are wife swapping clubs. There's husband swapping clubs. There are things going on that, you know, it's just—you think these things weren't around 50 years ago. Maybe they were, but at least they were undercover. I mean, you know, they were not out in the open. Folks weren't bragging about them. In fact, I just saw an article where now there are men and women wearing t-shirts advertising the fact that they have an open marriage and they're willing to swap their wives and swap their husbands. Why? Let me show you.

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• What we have failed to discern and understand is that there is a spirit of whoredoms. And that spirit of whoredoms is not only spiritual, it is also physical. I want you to turn back in your Bibles to the book of Hosea. Daniel, Hosea, Joel and Amos. Right after the book of Daniel you have the book of Hosea. I want you to look in Hosea chapter 4 and verse 12. Hosea chapter 4 and verse 12. Look what the Bible says. Hosea 4 and verse 12. God says, "My people ask counsel at their stocks," that is at their idols, "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." So there's a spirit of whoredoms that leads us to compromise the Word of God and the truth of God and the things of God. You look how our denominations have fallen and have gone down. Well look in your Bibles through the book of Hosea chapter 5 and verse 4. Hosea 5 and verse 4. Here it is again.

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• God says, "They will not frame their doings to turn unto their God: for the spirit of whoredoms is in the midst of them, and they have not known the Lord." "They will not frame their doings to turn unto their God, for the spirit of whoredoms is in them, and they have not known the Lord." And the word for whoredoms here refers to adultery, fornication, and prostitution. So there is a spirit of whoredoms.

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• I hope you understand that this then leads us to 2 Corinthians chapter 7 and verse 1. Because if we're going to know how to possess our vessels in sanctification and honor, if we're going to walk pleasing to the Lord, we have to understand 2 Corinthians 7 verse 1, where the Apostle Paul said, "Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." It's not just a filthiness of the flesh that we must avoid. It is also the filthiness of the spirit that we must avoid as well.

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• So here we have a negative and a positive. The negative is "thou shalt not commit adultery." The positive is "thou shalt possess your vessel in sanctification and honor."

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• Now, since I'm dealing with the promises of the law, are there promises involved in the seventh commandment? And I would answer yes. And I think that one promise is very obvious, that if we obey the negative, that means that we're going to embrace and follow the positive. We will know how to have our vessels in sanctification and honor. But I think there's more than that. I believe there's a principle that we need to hear promulgated from our Lord Himself. So I want you to look in your Bibles to the book of Luke chapter 16. Luke 16 and we're going to begin reading there with verse 10 and read through verse 12. Luke 16. Notice, if you would please, verse 10. I want you to watch this principle. "He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much."

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• "If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man's, who shall give you that which is your own?"

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• Now, you say, simply because it deals with faithfulness. Now I realize in the context here our Lord is using the illustration of money. But the implication is this principle relates to everything. If we cannot be faithful in that which is least, how can we expect to be faithful in that which is greater or the greatest? You know I've heard men say, "When they come after my guns, I will die with my gun in my hand." Well, I understand that. But if you will not stand up and be counted while you don't need a gun, what makes you think that you're going to stand when you do need a gun? If you're not going to be faithful in your money, what makes you think you're going to be faithful in something greater? This is what our Lord is saying right here.

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• Now, I am not saying that a relationship between a husband and wife is insignificant. I'm not saying that that relationship is unimportant. No, it is very significant and it is very important because God has declared it so. But what I am saying is this, that a relationship between a husband and wife pales in significance between our relationship with God our Father through the Lord Jesus Christ. And here's the argument from the lesser to the greater. If we cannot be faithful in that which is least, what makes us think we're going to be faithful in that which is greater? And so the principle I believe in the 7th commandment is this, if God then enables us by His grace to be faithful in that which is least, that means that we should grow in faithfulness in every area, in every sphere of our lives.

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• You must remember that we were initially created in God's image. We sinned, we rebelled, we fell, but Jesus Christ came and according to the book of Colossians, He restored us into the image of God. And may I remind you that one of the attributes of God is faithfulness. When you study the attributes of God, you have the incommunicable attributes and you have the communicable attributes. The incommunicable attributes are something like infinity, eminence, omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence, those things cannot be communicated. But when you have something like love, and faithfulness, and grace, and mercy, those can be communicated. So once we realize that God is the faithful God, it should inspire us to be more like Him because we have now been recreated in His image. Let me give you some scriptures. Listen to this. Deuteronomy 7 verse 9, "Know therefore that the Lord thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations." Note He is called the faithful God.

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• In Psalm 36 verse 5, "Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens; and thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds." I like Psalm 89 verse 1, "I will sing of the mercies of the Lord for ever: with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations." And then when you read in Isaiah 11 concerning our Lord the Messiah, the Bible says this in verse 5, "And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins." And in case you have missed 1 Corinthians 1:9, let me just simply quote it for you. "God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord." God is faithful by whom you were called into the fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

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• And certainly I'm going to quote two of my favorite verses, Lamentations 3:22-23. "It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness." Do you realize? I know the sun will come up in the morning because God is faithful. I know the moon will arise at night because God is faithful. I know there will never be another universal flood as such because God is faithful. He has promised. He is the faithful God. And when you talk about faithfulness in marriage, listen carefully. Faithfulness in marriage means more than sexual fidelity. It is the faithful discharge of duties by the husband and the wife.

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• It means dependability, trustworthiness, loyalty, support in adversities, and that which we call character. I want you to turn in your Bibles to Proverbs chapter 31. Everyone is familiar with this passage, but let me just show you in Proverbs 31 what the Bible has to say about the virtuous woman. Look in Proverbs 31 and notice, if you would please, beginning there with verse 10. Proverbs 31 and verse 10. "Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies." So if you find one, she's worth a lot.

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• He says, "The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil. She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life." Note, if you would, "the heart of her husband doth safely trust in her." There's no concern. There's no worrying. There's no doubting. No. "so that he shall have no need of spoil." She does that which is right and holy.

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• Now, skip down, if you would, to verse 25. There's a lot that could be covered in this passage, but notice what the Bible says about her. "Strength and honour are her clothing; and she shall rejoice in time to come. She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness. She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness."

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• "Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her. Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all. Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised. Give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her own works praise her in the gates."

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• Now, just like the woman is faithful to her husband who safely trusts in her, the husband then faithfully loves his wife, even as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. He supports her. He protects her. He loves her. He desires that which is best for her. And he will lead her in the truths of the word of God. Let me say this again about faithfulness. Faithfulness is stability. Faithfulness is strength. Faithfulness is character. And as we learn to be faithful in the smaller things, in the lesser things, it teaches us to be faithful in the bigger things and the greater things as well. So as we are faithful to each other in our marriage relationships, we learn then to be faithful in other things and in other areas as well. Because faithfulness is a communicable attribute, and that is where we grow.

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• And may I put it to you very plainly? Revelation 2 in verse 10, our Lord said it like this. "Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life." How long should we be faithful? Unto death, and God will give us a crown of life. Now let me make an application. Listen carefully. Our Lord asked a very pertinent question in Matthew 24 in verse 45. Here's the question. "Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?" Who is a faithful and wise servant. So the question we have to ask, are we faithful as our Lord's servants? Have we been faithful? Would our God count us faithful? You know the Bible says in 1 Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 2, "Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful." Now the word steward is a very important word.

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• It's actually made up of two Greek words, oikos and nomos. Oikos is the Greek word for house. Nomos is the Greek word for law. So actually the word oikonomos literally means the law of the house. The steward is the one who rules the house. He is the superintendent. He is the minister. He is the steward. He is the one who has control over the house. And by the way, this word oikonomos is actually the source of our word economy. That's what our word economy actually means. It means the law of the house. And so in 1 Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 2 it actually refers then to the Apostles, and Christian pastors, and teachers, but it refers to everyone because God has given every one of us a stewardship.

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• Whatever we have, whatever abilities we have, whatever material things that we have, God gave it to us. So we're stewards over everything that God has given us. So if stewards, and God says that we must be found faithful, and the truth of the matter is we have to acknowledge it, many times we have been unfaithful. We've been unfaithful to our spouses. We've been unfaithful to our friends. We've been unfaithful to our family. We've been unfaithful to our church. We've been unfaithful to our God.

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• But I want to show you something. I want you to turn in your Bibles to 1 Timothy, chapter 1. 1 Timothy, chapter 1. I want you to see this. 1 Timothy, chapter 1. And look, if you would please, beginning there with verse 12. I want you to see what the Apostle Paul said. 1 Timothy chapter 1 verse 12, he says, "And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry."

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• "Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus." Now the word "counted" in verse 12, "He counted me faithful," is exactly the same word that the Apostle Paul used in Philippians 3 and verse 7 when he said, "But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung." So Paul is talking about his pedigree. He's talking about his religiosity. He's talking about everything in his head. He said I counted as worthless. I counted as dung.

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• Now, here's a question I've got to ask you. Look in verse 12 again. He said, "I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry." Really? Ah, look in verse 13. He was a blasphemer. He was a persecutor. He was injurious. He was ignorant. He was an unbeliever. How could such a one be counted faithful? Let me ask you a question. Even after Paul's conversion, was he absolutely, totally faithful? No. Why? Because he's a sinner. Did he fail? Sure he failed. Did he sin? Sure he sinned. He was not perfect. Well, here's my question. How did God count him faithful? Look in verse 14. "And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus." God counted Paul faithful because of the grace and mercy that was given to him in Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the faithful servant. Jesus Christ is the faithful witness. And God placed Paul in Jesus Christ and he was counted faithful.

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• You know, I have to confess and I would do so readily and willingly that I have failed miserably many times. I've stumbled. I've sinned. I've done things that I should have never done as a lost man, even probably as a saved man. But the truth of the matter is God in His great mercy, counting me faithful. Do you realize He does that to every child of God? We are unfaithful.

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• We do not deserve it. And yet in Jesus Christ, He counts us faithful. That should motivate us. That should encourage us to be faithful in every area of our lives, because we now know that He counts us faithful by His grace. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow to Thee. We thank You for Your Word. We thank You for Your truth. We thank You for being the faithful God. And we ask, Father, that You would make us faithful to each other, to our stewardship, to our friends, to our family, to our church, and above all, Father, to Thee. Give us grace that we may serve Thee acceptably with reverence and godly fear. In Thy name we pray, Amen.

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• you you

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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-05T21:17:04Z