So welcome everyone to Faithful Word Baptist Church.
If you can please take a seat and take your song books
and turn to song number 180.
Song number 180 in your song books.
Isn't the love of Jesus something wonderful?
Song number 180.
There will never be a sweeter story, story of the Savior's love divine, love that brought him from the realms of glory, just the same, a sinful soul like mine.
Isn't the love of Jesus something wonderful?
This is all the way
We're gonna have brother Ian pray for the service
Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for today and everything that you've done for us Lord
Thank you for this wonderful weather
Please help us to lift our voices up praise and adoration to you Lord and please give us all hearts and minds to hear the service today
In Jesus name, pray amen
All right in your song books turn to song number 257 song number 257 look and live song number
The message of the Lord, hallelujah, the message on to you again, is recorded in his word.
All right, at this time, we'll go through our announcements together.
If you don't have a bulletin, slip up your hand nice and high.
We'll get to you with one on the inside.
We have our service time Sunday mornings at 10 30 is our preaching service.
Sunday nights at six Wednesday nights at seven is our Bible study.
This week will be in Psalm 85.
We've got the soul winning times listed there below, as well as
salvation and baptisms.
Next Sunday morning, right after the morning service,
we will be taking a yearbook photo, just a group photo.
It'll literally only take like two minutes.
Just when church ends, we just all go out
in the parking lot and just group together, take a picture.
The only difference will be that part of the parking lot
will be roped off so that we can do that.
So just giving the ladies a chance to plan your ensemble.
I know that the men, they're just gonna show up
and just wear whatever and just take a picture, but.
Anyway, just giving you a heads up, ladies, next Sunday.
And then let's see, below that we've got the note about the Navajo Reservation
soul winning trip. So this trip is coming up this Friday and Saturday.
So leaving on Friday morning, getting back Saturday evening.
I know there are already a whole bunch of people signed up.
And then also
Don't worry if it seems like the transportation's filling up.
We always have plenty of transportation
because we have two church vans,
and we have a third church vehicle that we can deploy.
And even when those things fill up,
we rent vehicles and stuff like that.
So we can always provide transportation for these things.
So if you're interested.
The cost is zero to come and go out to the Navajo Reservation
for a couple days of soul winning
on Friday and Saturday of this week.
If you have any questions, just ask.
Also this weekend, Brother Caleb Akinoshio
is going to be running a soul winning
marathon in Denver, Colorado.
And so there's a sign-up sheet for that as well.
You can talk to Brother Caleb,
who was just leading the singing.
There he is.
And he can give you more details about Denver this weekend.
Also, I don't remember the dates up to top of my head,
but I know that Brother Raymond Cooper
is back from the Philippines,
and he's gonna be doing some soul-winning marathons
around Tennessee and North Carolina and places like that.
So we'll get you the info on those as quick as we can.
On the back, of course, a bunch of cruise mission strips
that are coming up to my right.
Pray for all the expectant ladies in our church
that they'll have a safe and healthy pregnancy and delivery.
It looks like we've got quite a few on the list.
What is that, 13 ladies on the list?
So be praying for them.
And then below that,
we've got a few other upcoming events.
I'm gonna be preaching in Vancouver, Washington
at the beginning of August.
And then, of course, we've got Pastor Jim Wieb
from Canada coming to preach for us on August 10th,
and then the Fire Breathing Baptist Fellowship
in Cedar Hill, Texas.
That's a conference that I know a lot of you are going to.
I think about 30 people from our church
are planning on going to that,
and that's August 27th through 31st,
and that is about it for announcements.
Let's go ahead and sing our next song.
Come lead us.
In your song books, turn to song number 229, song number 229, since I have been redeemed.
Song number 229.
I have a song I love to sing since I have been redeemed.
Savior King, since I have been redeemed, since I have been redeemed, since I have been redeemed,
I will glory in His name, since I have been redeemed, I will glory in My Savior's name.
my Savior's name.
I have a witness writing this inside of every being.
This spelling and readout in this inside of every being.
Your name, I have a whole green hair.
Great singing. I will sing one last song before the service. Song number 127. Song number 127.
Tis so sweet to trust me. Song number 112.
Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus. Just to take him back in his word. Just to...
You know us and the Lord, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.
Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him, how I prove to Lord and Lord.
Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus, oh, Lord, praise to trust Him, Lord.
Jesus.
All right, this time we'll faster offering plates around as the plates go around let's turn our
bibles to Leviticus chapter number 20. Leviticus chapter number 20 as we always do we'll read
the entire chapter beginning in verse number one. Follow along silently with brother Corbin
Brock as he reads Leviticus chapter 20 beginning in verse number one.
Leviticus chapter 20 and the Lord spake unto Moses saying
Again thou shalt say to the children of Israel whosoever he be of the children of Israel or of the strangers that sojourn in Israel
That giveth any of his seed unto Molek
He shall surely be put to death the people of the land shall stone him with stones
And I will set my face against that man and will cut him off from among his people
Because he hath given of his seed unto Molek to defile my sanctuary and to purveying my holy name
And if the people of the land do any ways hide their eyes from the man when he giveth of his seed under Molech and kill him not
Then I will set my face against that man and against his family and will cut him off and all that go a whoring after him
To commit hordom with Molech
from among their people
And the soul that turneth after such as have familiar spirits and after wizards to go a whoring after them
I will even set my face against that soul and will cut him off from among his people
Sanctify yourselves therefore and be holy for I am the Lord your God and you shall keep my statutes and do them
I am the Lord which sanctify you
For everyone that curseth his father or his mother shall be surely put to death.
He hath cursed his father or his mother, his blood shall be upon him.
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 adulterous shall surely be put to death.
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.
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.
And if a man take a wife and her mother, it is wickedness, they shall be burnt with fire,
And if a man lie with a beast, he shall surely be put to death, and he shall slay the beast.
And if a woman approach unto any beast, and lie down there too, thou shalt kill the woman and the beast.
They shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them.
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.
If a man shall lie with a woman having her sickness, and shall uncover her nakedness,
and she hath uncovered the fountain of her blood,
and both of them shall be cut off from among their people.
And thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy mother's sister,
nor of thy father's sister, for he uncovered his near kin.
They shall bear their iniquity,
and if a man shall lie with his uncle's wife,
he hath uncovered his uncle's nakedness,
they shall bear their sin, they shall die childless.
And if a man shall take his brother's wife, it is an unclean thing.
He hath uncovered his brother's nakedness, they shall be childless.
You shall therefore keep all my statutes and all my judgments, and do them,
that the land, whither I bring you to dwell therein, spew you not out.
And you shall not walk in the manners of the nation, which I cast out before you,
for they committed all these things, and therefore I abhorred them.
But I have said unto you, you shall inherit their land, and I will give it unto you to possess it, a land that floweth with milk and honey.
I am the Lord your God, which have separated you from other people.
You shall therefore put difference between clean beasts and unclean, and between unclean fowls and clean,
and you shall not make your souls abominable by beast or by fowl, or by any manner of living thing that creepeth on the ground, which I have separated from you as unclean.
And ye shall be holy unto me, for I am the Lord, for I the Lord am holy, and have severed
you from other people, that ye should be mine.
A man also are women that hath a familiar spirit, or that is a wizard, shall surely be
put to death, they shall stone them with stones, their blood shall be upon them.
Our Father with Jarton heaven thank you for this beautiful day and thank you for
the opportunity to hear your word preached to us. We also thank you Lord
for the great works that are being done through this church. We ask Lord that you
continue to send laborers into your field. We ask now Lord that you would
bless our pastor, Pastor Anderson.
with the fullness of your spirit, Lord,
that he would speak unto us those things
that you would like us to hear, Lord.
And we pray that our hearts would be attentive
onto your word.
We ask now your blessing upon this preaching.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
Man, the title of my sermon this morning is
Reasons Not to Commit Adultery.
Reasons not to commit adultery.
The Bible says marriage is honorable in all
and the bed undefiled, but
Hormungers and adulterers, God will judge.
This is a major sin in the Bible.
It should never be looked at as a small thing
or God forbid that it would even be considered
morally acceptable and you'd be shocked.
But in many European countries, they've taken polls
and I think it was France where like 60% of people
thought that there was no moral issue with adultery.
I mean, that's where we're headed in this country
where people will just turn up.
blind eye to things that have historically been considered very wicked and of course
God's word and God's law and God himself, you know, God never changes.
And so adultery is a wicked sin.
But the first reason I'm going to give you just briefly, number one reason not to commit
adultery is that if we love God, we should keep His commandments, right?
Jesus said, if you love me, keep my commandments.
Just out of love for God,
we should always be striving to do what's right
and do that which is good in his sight
just because we love him.
And of course he said,
thou shalt not commit adultery.
Reason number two is that God will severely punish adultery.
Okay, right here in this chapter we see that in the Mosaic law,
under the Old Covenant, the punishment that God prescribed for adultery was death.
Look at verse number 10 there where we just read,
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.
Now go if you would to Jeremiah chapter 5.
So if that's the human punishment that God prescribed
as far as the criminal justice system
of the Old Testament nation of Israel,
that should show you how serious of a sin
this is in God's eyes.
to commit adultery if that's the punishment that he laid on it.
Because there are lots of other crimes listed and lots of other punishments
where people get exiled or they get banished or they just get a whip in
or they pay a fine. But this was considered so serious in God's economy that both the
adulterer and the adulteress in that situation would be put to death.
That's a pretty serious sin.
Look what the Bible says in Jeremiah chapter 5, verse number 7.
Jeremiah chapter 5 verse 7 says, how shall I pardon for this?
Thy children have forsaken me and sworn by them that are no gods.
When I had fed them to the foal, then they committed adultery and assembled themselves by troops in the harlot's houses."
And what we see in this verse is that when people prosper financially, they start to get puffed up, prideful,
arrogant, and they start to feel invincible, they have a bunch of spare time on their hands,
they're not stressed out, they're relaxed, and instead of just enjoying the bounty that God has
given them, the Bible says that when God had fed them to the foley, blessed them, and they're doing
well, it says then they committed adultery, and they assembled themselves by troops in the harlot's
house, meaning they're just going by the droves to go commit fornication and adultery. And look,
And in many ways, we are the most prosperous country.
There's definitely the most opportunity for the common man
to be able to rise up and make money and get ahead,
start a business, whatever, all kinds of opportunities.
And because of the financial prosperity that we enjoy in this country,
that's why these sins abound.
And that's why we need to be careful that we don't fall into this trap
of getting so comfortable financially and everything's going well for us
and then we just start to feel invincible.
We just kind of get that idle mind that becomes the devil's workshop like David when he's not out fighting
What's he doing? He's up on the roof watching Bathsheba
Take a bath. Okay, and so the idea here is that we need to make sure that we stay busy doing the right things and
That we are always kind of running a little scared as it were and not get just too comfortable
And then fall into these grievous sins, but it says in verse 8. They were as fed horses in the morning
Everyone nade after his neighbor's wife, right?
Because they've got bread and they've got comfort
and they're relaxed and so then they just get bored
so then they just get into sin, right?
And this is one of the reasons why it's good to be
at a church like ours where at least there are a lot
of opportunities to serve the Lord
so that you can actually be in a real battle,
a real fight, have something exciting going on
so that you don't feel like you have to go out
and do these other things.
But then he says in verse 9, and this is why I turn to this passage, verse 9 says,
Shall I not visit for these things, sayeth the Lord?
And shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
So just as the New Testament said,
Hormongers and adulterers, God will judge.
Here in Jeremiah chapter 5, he's saying,
Look, I am going to punish you for these things.
I will visit you for these things,
and I will be avenged on you for the adultery that you're committing.
Go if you would to Hebrews chapter number 10 in the New Testament.
Hebrews chapter number 10, I'm going to start reading while you get there, it's a famous passage.
But the Bible says in verse 26,
for if we sin willfully,
after that we've received the knowledge of the truth,
there remain no more sacrifice for sins,
but a certain fearful looking for of judgment
and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries.
And so a lot of people have this attitude of,
well, Old Testament God,
he really comes down hard on sin,
but New Testament God is sort of this big softy.
And this is the popular conception,
and it's a popular misconception.
because these people need to read the book of Revelation
and find out what the wrath of God looks like
because the last book in the Bible
is the most vengeful, vindictive, wrathful book
in the entire Bible.
And this idea that God has somehow softened up
in the New Testament is a false doctrine.
In fact, God is stricter in the New Testament
than he is in the Old Testament
because unto whom much is given,
of him shall much be required.
And we have more benefits in the New Testament.
We have the whole Bible.
We have the impermanent and dwelling of the Holy Spirit as believers.
We have the local church, which is a superior institution
to the nation of Israel, the tabernacle, the temple, all those rituals and things.
We have a better religion, a better Testament.
We have a better institution in the New Testament, and of whom much is, you know, to them, yeah.
to whom much is given, of him shall much be required."
There we go, it's gotta slow down a little sometimes.
But in Hebrews chapter 10, 27, it says in verse 20,
it says, you know, certain fearful looking
for of judgment and fire and Ignatian,
which shall devour the adversaries.
Verse 28, he that despised Moses' law
died without mercy under two or three witnesses.
But man, isn't it great that we're in the New Testament
and God is just totally chill now?
No, it says, of how much soarer punishment, supposed ye, shall he be thought worthy, who
hath trod and underfoot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith
he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done, despite unto the Spirit of grace, the
Bible saying, look, in the New Testament, you should fear.
the punishment that's gonna come upon you
if you sin willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth,
after you believed on Jesus Christ,
after you've been saved,
after Jesus is your savior, you shouldn't just think,
oh, well, I can just go out and just fornicate and commit adultery
and just go out and get drunk and just party and do all these things.
Look, obviously your salvation is eternally secure
since it's by faith and it's paid for by the blood of Jesus.
But let me tell you something, on this earth,
You will get serious punishments from God on this earth.
It's called the Chastisement of God.
Right? And the Bible is really clear here. It says, well, he that despised Moses law died without mercy
And when it says died without mercy, the idea here is that when these death penalty
Proscriptions are given in the Old Testament. It'll often say that I know I shall not pity that I shall not spare
Because human nature is like oh, come on, you know, I kind of feel bad for this guy
Sure, he committed adultery with his neighbor's wife, but you know, let's give him a break, you know
And so the Bible will often say like
Don't pity this guy. Don't spare this guy. This has to happen. Why? Because if you don't have rules
and law and order, then society breaks down because of the sinfulness of man. Marriage as an institution
breaks down. The family breaks down. Everything falls apart when you just have this free for all.
And so the Bible says, look, obviously it's not fun, but
This is how you gotta take care of business
with people who commit these horrible, grievous sins
like adultery, don't pity them,
don't let your eyes spare them,
they need to just be put to death.
And so the Bible says,
he that despised Moses' law died without mercy
under two or three witnesses.
Okay, but then the next breath, he says,
of how much soarer punishment,
suppose ye shall he be thought worthy.
So it doesn't sound to me like God is softening up
in the New Testament.
It sounds to me like something worse is gonna happen
to you in the New Testament.
That God is really upset about this.
He's really gonna punish people for this.
And then he says in verse number 30,
for we know him that it said vengeance belongeth unto me.
I will recompense, say it the Lord.
And again, the Lord shall judge his people.
Okay, so the fact that you're saved doesn't mean you're immune from getting punishments on this earth.
You're immune from going to hell for eternity, but you're not immune from severe punishments on this earth.
He says, the Lord shall judge His people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
So I don't know how you could read these verses and walk away thinking, you know what,
I think I can just commit adultery and I'm going to get away with it.
Like, how could you think God's crazy to think that when God has already shown you that adultery is one of those sins that under Moses' law, people died without mercy under two or three witnesses, and God's saying, well, imagine how angry God's going to be if you're a saved Christian and you're treading underfoot the Son of God and just completely mocking and destroying the testimony of Christ, you know, then that's a serious punishment.
And so I don't see how you could read this and walk away saying you know
I think I'm gonna get away with committing adultery. I mean you have to be a fool to commit adultery, wouldn't you?
Number one if we love God we should keep his commandments
We should want to just do what's right for the sake of doing right, but number two God will
Severely punish adultery in the New Testament. That's what the Bible teaches
number three go through a depraved chapter 6
Proverbs chapter six, number three,
adultery can be financially devastating,
financially devastating.
Now, you might wonder, you know,
why are you giving so many reasons?
Because aren't the first two reasons enough?
I mean, ideally the first reason should be enough.
But, you know, if the first one's not enough,
the second one should be enough.
But unfortunately, people that are backslidden,
people that are getting involved in sin,
they typically have lost sight of points one and two.
Unfortunately, that's kind of where they live.
They're not really living in such a way where points one and two are on their mind a lot
about loving God and fearing God.
Those things have kind of gone by the wayside, which is sort of the definition of being backslidden
in some ways.
And so now we've got to kind of talk to people where they live and say, well, okay, even
just humanly speaking, adultery can be devastating financially, okay?
in Proverbs chapter 6 verse 23 it says for the commandment is a lamp and the law is light
and reproves of instruction or the way of life to keep thee from the evil woman,
from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman.
Lest not after her beauty in thine heart neither let her take thee with her eyelids,
and here's the key right here verse 26, for by means of a whorish woman a man is brought to
and the adulterers will hunt for the precious life.
Now what does that mean?
A man is brought to a piece of bread.
It means that he goes to where all he's got left
is a piece of bread,
meaning that he has no fine foods to eat
because he has no money in the bank.
He can't afford even a Chipotle burrito.
He opens the fridge and it's empty
and he's got a piece of bread
and he went from having wealth.
and a bank account, savings account, vehicle, house,
you know, all the different things,
he is brought to a piece of bread
because of the stupidity of his hordoms.
And I guarantee you that we could look in this world
and find all kinds of examples
of the financial devastation of adultery,
just costing you money.
And of course, we could go into all the different ways
that adultery can cost you money.
because you get involved in situations where you have to hire lawyers
and where you're paying child support and where you're paying alimony
and where people come vandalize your property and I mean we could go down
all the different ways if you're creative and have an imagination you should
probably be able to figure this out on your own
all the different ways that committing adultery could be devastating
financially and the bible says by means of a harsh
woman a man is brought to a piece of bread and the adulterous
will hunt for the precious life.
Meaning there are wicked women out there,
married women that are trolling for adultery.
They have all kinds of hooks in the water, and they have a goal to commit adultery, to seduce men and to commit adultery.
What does the Bible say? The adulteress will hunt for the precious life.
She's on the prowl. She's on the hunt. She's on the make for that guy that she can entice.
And it says, the flattery of the tongue in verse 24, the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman, meaning that she'll give attention
to some guy that maybe is lacking in attention
and she'll give him a bunch of attention
and seduce him and entice him
and beguile him and destroy him.
Now, these three points that I've given you so far,
you know, you could really apply these to other sins as well.
You know, if I said, hey, you don't want to commit adultery
because you love God, you don't want to commit adultery
because God will severely punish adultery.
You don't want to commit adultery
because it will devastate you financially.
We could probably plug in some other sins.
and get the same result, couldn't we?
And say, hey, how about drunkenness?
You know what?
If you love God, you're going to obey the Lord and be sober.
If you love God, you're going to realize
that that's not pleasing to God.
God does not want us to be drunk with wine
or in his excess,
but to be filled with the Spirit.
And then if you think about God's punishment upon drunkenness,
drunkenness is a serious sin in God's eye.
It's not as serious as adultery,
but it's still a pretty serious sin
to where God even says that people should be kicked out of the church if they're drunkards.
And they're called a brother and they're drunkard
that they should be disfellowshipped from the church.
That's pretty serious in God's sight.
And then I wonder if drunkenness can devastate you financially.
I mean, stop it, think about it.
Just one single DUI can end up costing you easily,
what, 10 grand, 15 grand?
I mean, the second DUI, you're going to jail
for at least 10 days.
I wonder if that's gonna affect your job.
I wonder how your employer is gonna feel
about you not showing up for the next 10 days
because you're in jail.
for drunk driving because I'm pretty sure in Arizona,
the second offense is mandatory 10 days in jail, period,
no exception, and I'm not a lawyer,
so I can't necessarily speak to these things
with total authority, but that's my understanding
is that 10 days is what you're looking at for DUIs.
And I've talked to many people who quit drinking
not because they were getting right with God,
not because they thought that this is dishonoring to the Lord
and I love God and shouldn't be doing this,
but rather they quit drinking just because they got that DUI
or that second DUI and it was so devastating financially
that they said, this is stupid, I can't continue like this,
I got to stop this.
And so look, the sermon this morning is about adultery.
but you could plug in whatever the sin
into a lot of these points,
and a lot of the same points are still gonna apply.
That sin in general can devastate you financially.
Fornication can devastate you financially
when you get some girl pregnant
and you're paying child support for the rest of your life,
and you're in family court, and you're dealing with lawyers,
and your wages are being garnished,
and you end up just having all kinds of problems
or the medical bills from the STDs that you pick up,
and all the different things that can happen.
You will be devastated financially sin devastates you financially and and and even just there are all kinds of worldly statistics
Kind of back to the adultery subject that getting married and staying married is your best bet financially in this world
People that are married are better off financially people who stay married are better off financially than people who get divorced
they end up
suffering major major setbacks because divorces are expensive and guess what adultery can often lead to divorce
Now look, I don't believe that it's ever right to divorce your spouse,
but guess what?
That's what a lot of people are going to do in these situations.
They're just going to get divorced.
And guess what?
That's going to be devastating financially as well.
So number one, you love God.
Number two, you should fear God's punishments on this earth.
Number three, adultery will devastate you financially.
But number four, you will be shamed and humiliated before others if you commit adultery.
Look what the Bible says in verse 27, you're there in Proverbs 6.
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?
A lot of people try to prove God wrong about this at parties,
but in general, hey, you take fire in your bosom, you're going to get burned.
You walk on hot coals, you're going to get burned.
Verse 29, So he that goeth into his neighbor's wife,
whoso toucheth her shall not be innocent.
Watch this, men do not despise a thief if he's steel to satisfy his soul when he's hungry.
So what the Bible is saying is, look, if somebody is starving,
somebody's in a place where they're literally starving to death like
Great Depression America, or maybe some other country,
India, South Africa, or something where there
is actual real hunger and things going on.
You know, men don't despise a thief.
I'm not talking about just some, you know,
obese welfare recipient in America who, you know,
their welfare check didn't come,
so they went and shoplifted at the grocery store.
I'm talking about people that are actually going hungry.
And this is not happening in America anywhere, period.
Okay, there's all kinds of free food
and all kinds of food banks
and all kinds of options for people in America.
But in other parts of the world
where people really are starving,
if you heard about someone who had no food to eat
and was really hungry and so they stole
bread. You wouldn't despise that person. You wouldn't think like, oh this is the
most horrible person ever. This guy is just a hardened criminal. What a thief.
You'd be like, oh he shouldn't have done that, but you'd be like, man I kind of feel bad
for the guy. And you can kind of see where they're coming from is what the Bible's saying, right?
So it says men do not despise a thief if he steal to satisfy his soul when he's hungry, you know
That's man's attitude. We kind of sympathize with people who do things out of desperation or necessity, right?
But if he be found he shall restore sevenfold. He shall give all the substance of his house
So the Bible is saying here look, you know when we see people do those things we feel bad for them
We sympathize with them. We see where they're coming from, but the law still punishes them
They still get punished like they still get that shoplifting charge. They still get that stealing charge
They still have to go to jail. They still have to do whatever community service or whatever they have to do
They still get punished but people at least think he's not that bad of a guy
But he still needs to be punished does everybody understand the text?
1st 32, who so committed adultery with the woman,
lacketh understanding, he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul,
a wound and dishonor shall he get, and his reproach shall not be wiped away.
So the Bible is saying people are not sympathetic at all
with you sleeping with your neighbor's wife. They just aren't.
Nobody is going to look at that and say,
well, I can kind of see where he's coming from.
And well, you know, he's desperate.
Or he's saying, no, my friend, there's no excuse.
Look, other people, they commit crimes.
And when they do that crime, there's an excuse.
And they still get punished.
But we might look at that excuse and think, hey, this guy,
he's not necessarily a horrible person.
The Bible say, no, you committed adultery.
You're just a horrible person.
You're just bad.
Nobody's gonna think, no normal person is gonna think,
hey, you know, this guy's all right.
No, a wounded dishonor shall he get,
and his reproach shall not be wiped away,
meaning five years from now,
10 years from now, 15 years from now.
This is the kind of thing that you carry around with you, unfortunately.
This is a pretty good reason not to commit adultery, isn't it?
Now look, if there's anybody here this morning,
and I'm sure in a crowd this size,
I'm sure that there is someone
who has committed adultery before.
Look, I'm not here to beat up on you
or attack you for something that you did in your past
because obviously we can't get in a time machine
and fix the past.
All that matters is doing right now.
I'm trying to warn the people
that have not made this mistake,
not to make this mistake.
If you've already made the mistake,
well then, as long as you have confessed
and forsaken of it,
and repented of that, then I'm not mad at you at all, you know, because it is what it is at this
point, you know, you just got to move forward. That's all you can do is go forward in your life
and work through that. And if this is something that has devastated your marriage in the past,
you know, you need to try to work together to try to put this behind you and fix things and move
forward and work forward. But I'm giving the reality to the vast majority of people in here who
how serious this is, and I'm here to tell you about the devastating consequences of
adultery so that you do not destroy your life with this move of committing adultery.
You will be shamed and humiliated before others.
Reason number five is found in the next verse, victims of adultery will often retaliate.
The Bible says in verse 34,
for jealousy is the rage of a man,
therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance.
He will not regard any ransom,
neither will he rest content,
though thou givest many gifts.
The Bible is just saying,
look, you're not gonna be able to placate
the victims of adultery.
And here's the thing about this,
is that a lot of times people will think
that this is like a victimless crime.
And they'll think like, hey, you know,
it's just two consenting adults, whatever,
they're not really hurting anybody.
But actually, this is not a victimless crime.
You know, when you're out there
sleeping with another man's wife.
Okay, then what about her husband?
How does he feel?
And how does your wife feel if you're a married man
and you're out committing hordoms with whoever
or committing adultery with another man's wife
or whoring around with whatever the prostitutes
or whatever the loose women at the bar
or whatever the promiscuous women
that you can draw into your net?
You know, what about your wife?
Where does that leave her?
You see what I'm saying?
What about the husband and the wife?
There are victims here in this situation.
And when you're committing adultery,
you are hurting people.
And those victims will often get so angry
that they will retaliate and they may even
beat you or kill you.
I mean, this happens all the time, right?
People are frequently beaten and killed
as a result of adultery.
And look, obviously that's against the law, but does that really stop people from doing things?
A lot of people are just going to do things anyway, they don't care what the law says,
and they're just going to do whatever.
And so victims will often retaliate.
So this is a very dangerous game to play, even just from a human standpoint.
But number six, go if you would to Romans chapter 13.
While you're turning to Romans 13. I'm gonna just review quickly the reasons that we have so far not committed adultery number one because we love God
We want to do what's right want to keep his commandments number two
We know that God will severely punish adultery in the New Testament
number three
financial devastation
is another reason not to commit adultery.
Number four, you will be shamed and humiliated before others
and you will never live it down in many ways, unfortunately,
but that's just life, that's just the way it is.
Number five, victims will often retaliate.
And so the people that are hurt by this, man, they can go into a rage.
The Bible says, jealousy is the rage of a man, therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance,
meaning if he has the opportunity to kill you, he'll do it.
If he has the opportunity to hurt you, harm you, torture you, he'll do it.
because jealousy is the rage of a man.
But number six reason not to commit adultery
is that you will have a bad conscience, right?
This is something that will hurt your conscience.
And let me tell you something,
there really is no substitute
for going through life with a clear conscience.
It feels pretty good to go through life
even when things are going horrible,
even when everything's going wrong,
it feels good to have a clear conscience
and to know, hey, God knows the truth.
I'm right with God.
I can go to bed at night and sleep.
and realize that I'm on the right side of things, spiritually, morally,
having a clear conscience, but how can you have a clear conscience
or any kind of a moral high ground when you're committing adultery, right?
Look what the Bible says in Romans 13.
I'm going to kind of dwell on this passage for a few moments
because there are a lot of great points here with regard to adultery.
It says in verse 1,
condemnation the word damnation in the Bible a lot of people think it always means going to hell or something really it's just a
strong word for
Condemnation in fact if you take the con off the beginning of damnation
You're left with damnation. So everybody see that so there's just a little prefix
Condemnation damnation are used interchangeably in the Bible
So, you're going to receive condemnation if you rebel against authority.
And this could go for any authority, whether it's your parents, if you're a wife and it's
your husband, he's your authority, your boss at work is an authority, obviously there's
a criminal justice system that represents authority punishing criminals and so forth.
The Bible says in verse 3, for rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil.
Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power?
Do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same."
Meaning that if you do what's right, you don't have to worry about getting busted,
because you're not doing anything wrong.
For he is, talking about that authority figure, for he is the minister of God to thee for good.
But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid, for he beareth not the sword in vain.
for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.
So specifically...
We are referring to the criminal justice system here punishing evil doers
Inverse for and says he bears not the sword in vain. Okay. Now. What is the sword used for is the sword used for?
Given somebody a spanking. No, the sword is used for killing people most notably for chopping off their heads
Okay, so when the Bible says here that the authority
That God has set up the powers that be when it says he bears not the sword in vain
It's saying that he kills people and he kills people on God's behalf
And what that's referring to is someone goes out and commits first-degree murder or something like that and they get executed
That is God's will
God has ordained human government to punish evildoers up to and including the death penalty.
And the death penalty is biblical in both the Old and New Testaments.
And so here we see that he doesn't bear the sword in vain.
Right? He's the minister of God, meaning that God approves of people being executed for serious crimes, okay?
It says he bears not the sword in vain for he is the minister of God a
Revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil, right?
So people that are out there killing and raping and committing adultery and pedophiles and everything like that
They should be put to death
and human government is the instrument that takes care of that.
But here's the key verse, verse 5.
This is a really important verse because also this can apply
all the way across the board.
Not just adultery, not just murder.
This can apply for all sins.
The Bible says,
therefore you must need to be subject,
not only for wrath,
but also for conscience's sake.
And the reason I say this verse is so important
is because it explains to us the two-fold reason for doing the right thing.
Two reasons for doing the right thing, okay?
Number one, because it's the right thing to do.
Do right, because it's the right thing to do.
Your conscience.
Do right, number two, because you don't want to get your butt kicked by God.
Does everybody understand that?
Now, a lot of bad preaching tries to put these two things against each other or get rid of one of these for the other and try to claim that no, no, no, the only reason to do what's right is just because it's right and we shouldn't go around being in fear of God and we shouldn't fear the Lord because we're in the New Testament, we're under grace and we should just be kind of lovey-dovey, sloppy agape and just never really think about.
Any of the negative aspects of God's wrath or punishment or what, you know, and and people make millions of dollars
writing books called God is not mad at you and
Teaching this kind of hyper grace kind of doctrine that there's no such thing as sin in the New Testament
And it's impossible for Christians to sin because you know and you hear these crazy things and bad teachings out there
But what does the Bible say?
You know the Bible tells us hey, you know what there's two good reasons here
to be subject to authority.
There's two good reasons to obey your parents.
There's two good reasons to obey the law.
There's two good reasons to do what's right in your life
and obey the Lord.
You know, wrath and conscience.
Wrath and conscience.
Two reasons.
Why must we need to be subject?
Not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake.
And so what the Bible is saying is,
look, if you do evil, be afraid.
Right? So that's one reason to do what's right is because of the wrath that you can incur by doing wrong.
But then it says not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake.
So he's saying, look, do what's right because you don't want to get punished.
Number one, number two, do what's right because it's right.
Now, these are not two things that are against each other.
This is not a choice between the two.
Both of them are in play.
And that's what we need to realize.
And this is why, look, God just tells us,
God should not commit adultery.
Adultery is wicked. Don't do it.
But then he also turns around and says,
Oh, by the way,
If you committed adultery with another man's wife,
he might kill you, he might hurt you,
you're going to be devastated financially.
Why give all those other reasons?
Because here's the thing, God gives us multiple reasons to do what's right.
He gives us often spiritual, moral reasons,
but he also just warns you about the physical consequences of your sin.
You see, I'm going to get up here and tell you,
hey, be not drunk with wine, we're in his excess because the Bible says so.
But it's also appropriate for me to get up and warn you about the devastation of you getting a DUI.
Or just the physical human problems you're going to incur when you're drunk.
They're both good reasons to do what's right,
and we should never pit these against each other
or have this either or attitude.
No, my friend, it's both.
We need to go through life
thinking about the consequences of our actions
and thinking about pleasing God.
Both of those are good reasons to do what's right.
And at the end of the day,
different people are motivated by different things.
They're all different reasons.
to live for God. All different reasons to go to church. And look, some of you are in
church this morning because you just really want to come to church because you just love
the preaching of God's word. You love being around God's people. You love singing praise
to God. I think that's the best reason to come to church. But here's the thing, some
people are in church this morning because an authority figure told them, you're going
to church this morning. Right?
And if you told your parent or other authority figure,
no, I don't want to go, they'd just say,
well, tough, you're going.
Other people are in church this morning,
not because they just love being here,
not because anybody's making them be here,
but some people are here this morning
simply because they're thinking to themselves,
you know what, if I don't go to church, God's gonna be mad.
And so I don't want God coming down on me,
so I'm gonna drag my butt to church
so that I'm not disobeying God.
Now here's the thing those are all good reasons to go to church all of them
It's not oh you came for the wrong reason no no no all those are good reasons
In a perfect world yeah, everybody just loves to be here
But you know what if you're coming here because your authority commanded you to be here and you're here
That's a good reason to get down here
And if you got this thought in your head of,
well, if I don't come down, God's not going to bless me.
Something bad could happen to me.
God could discipline me if I get out of church.
That's a great reason to go to church.
So we shouldn't take away reasons for people to do right
when these are all biblical reasons
because the Bible gives all of these reasons
for going to church and for any other sin you want to plug in
besides skip and church or whatever.
But the sermon this morning is specifically about adultery.
And that brings me to my seventh and final reason not to commit adultery,
which is that committing adultery is hateful toward your neighbor.
It's not loving your neighbor, right?
So we started out with reason number one about loving God.
Well, the final reason is about loving other people.
If we love and care about other people, we're not going to do things that hurt other people,
because we should care about and love our fellow man as well.
What does the Bible say in Romans 13?
Eight, you're already there in Romans 13.
Look at verse eight.
Oh, no man, anything but to love one another,
for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law,
for this thou shalt not commit adultery,
thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal,
thou shalt not bear false witness, thou shalt not covet.
And if there be any other commandment,
it is briefly comprehended in this saying,
namely, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself,
And so the Bible says that not committing adultery,
which is the first thing on the list there in verse nine,
thou shalt not commit adultery,
is included in the commandment to love your neighbor.
Why?
Because verse eight, or sorry, verse 10 says this,
love worketh no ill to his neighbor.
Therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
And so working ill to your neighbor,
committing adultery is doing evil to your neighbor
by violating someone else's wife.
Look what the Bible says in verse number 11.
It says that knowing the time that now it is high time to awake out of sleep,
for now is our salvation, nearer than when we believed,
the night is far spent, the day is at hand.
Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness
and let us put on the armor of light.
And so in conclusion, I want to say this,
we need to walk in the light as Christians.
and not commit these evil works of darkness,
and specifically, we're talking about adultery.
Walk in the light.
The Bible says the night is far spent.
The day is at hand.
Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness
and let us put on the armor of light.
Now, what does armor do, right?
Armor protects you.
So being a person who walks in the light
is going to protect you from falling into sin
versus being a person who dwells in darkness.
That's why it says in verse 13,
let us walk honestly as in the day,
not in rioting and drunkenness,
not in chambering and wantonness.
And the word chambering obviously is an old archaic word,
but what is a chamber?
What does a chamber sound like to you?
What is it?
It's like an inner room it's like it's a room that's deep inside a building, right?
It's a it's you know, you could think of it as the bedroom in a sense, right the chamber is
In the room in the bedroom deep in the house. It's saying
Chambering and wantoness. This is talking about
Shacking up, you know, you could say you know because we say
Shacking up that doesn't really make sense and since when is Shaq a verb?
But when it you know chambering is kind of like shacking in a sense, you know
going into that chamber and committing these kind of sins,
wantonness, chambering in wantonness,
striving and being, but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ
and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust thereof,
meaning that we should live our lives in a way
that is open and honest and we're walking in the light
and we're not dwelling in darkness
and making provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust thereof, right?
Our life
as men needs to be on the up and up, right, where we're not living a double life,
we're not, you know, telling our wives that we're going to a certain place
and then we fly to some other city, or, you know, we're going to a bar,
or a casino, or a gentleman's club, or all these different places,
you know, that's where you're going to be tempted to go into these kind of sins.
You know, and you shouldn't be lying to your wife or lying to anyone in order to be spending extra time with some
Female from the office or some woman from over here, whatever, you know
You need to be honest and live life out in the daytime out in public
do not put yourself in situations where you are alone with the opposite gender
in some dark corner somewhere, off somewhere where nobody sees you
because of the fact that you're making provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust
thereof. You're basically giving yourself an opportunity to commit adultery.
by getting super close with someone of the opposite gender,
by being in all these compromising situations,
by being behind closed doors with that person,
being in dark, smoke-filled rooms,
as opposed to just being out in the daytime,
being honest, living your life in the daytime.
And look, it's always best to be sleeping at night
and out doing stuff in the daytime with the sun shining.
Right and thank God we live in Phoenix we get plenty of sunshine, you know
We don't we're not living in some kind of a dark gloomy place here
We're living in a bright light exposed place and look I understand there are people who have to work second shift
They have to work third shift somebody's got to do those jobs
I get that but you know what if you're not living that lifestyle where you're doing one of those jobs because you have to
Then you know what you should get in the habit of being at home
and being out in the daytime, being at home at night.
And I remember we used to teach this
when I was in South Chicago,
and I'd be preaching to all these kids in the ghetto,
one of the worst ghettos in America in South Chicago,
and we were constantly preaching to these kids
when the sun goes down, be at home.
Don't be, because I kid you not,
I remember going to South Chicago
at like 10, 30, 11 o'clock at night
and seeing one of the kids from my Sunday school class,
And keep in mind, my Sunday school class was ages four through seven, okay?
So this kid was from my class, so he was probably about seven years old,
because I taught the four to seven year olds.
This kid was like seven.
It was like 1030 or something, and he was on, I don't know if he was on the train or the bus.
He was on, we saw this kid on public transit, and we said, what are you doing?
And he said, oh, I'm just going to the store to get a bag of chips.
Like what the heck?
It's 10.30 at night, you're seven years old,
you're in the worst ghetto in America,
and you're just taking the train or the bus or whatever.
I don't remember, I was probably a bus or something,
I don't remember, but you know,
you're going to get a bag of chips at 10.30 at night, right?
And that's kind of an extreme example,
but that was the reality of that neighborhood.
These kids just kind of running wild,
just being out at night.
So we're trying to teach these kids,
hey, you know, don't be out at night,
bad things happen at night,
sin happens at night,
indoors, be out in the daytime, go play ball, run around, have a good time, but you know what,
bad things tend to happen in the dark at night, they happen in casinos, they happen in bars,
they happen in strip clubs, stay away from those places. Okay, and here's the thing,
I don't think that you just go from just being a godly Christian living a normal life
to just committing adultery overnight.
You probably start out by easing into these things and you start hanging around the bar
And you start hanging around with flusies at the bar
You start getting super close to that woman at work or something and you start lying to your wife about where?
Oh, I got to work late and you're just having dinner and it's all platonic
Until it's not
So, don't lie, don't put yourself in these compromising positions.
Go if you would to Job chapter 24, it's the last place we'll turn, Job is right before
the book of Psalms.
If you let your Bible fall open in the middle, it usually will fall open to Psalms, Job is
right before that, Job chapter 24, because remember, we gave you seven reasons not to
commit adultery.
Number one, if we love God, we should keep His commandments.
Number two, God will severely punish adultery, and we showed you that from the New Testament.
Number three, adultery can be financially devastating.
Number four, you will be shamed and humiliated before others.
Number five, the victims of adultery will often retaliate in violent ways or other
ways that can really hurt you.
Number six, you're going to have a bad conscience.
And there's no substitute for having a good conscience, right?
You don't want to have that bad conscience.
And number seven, committing adultery is not loving your neighbor.
You're hurting people. You're hurting others.
This is not a victimless crime.
And in conclusion, we need to walk in the light.
We need to cast off the works of darkness and let's put on the armor of light,
what the protection of light, right?
Living your life in the light will protect you from going down this dark path, right?
So if I'm always just out in the daytime and I'm always out in public
and I'm having conversations with women publicly,
Not like oh here. Let's go in my office for two hours and let you know. Let me counsel you or something, right?
You know, it's bet you be out in public be out in the open out in the daylight out in public places
openly in the day not in these dark shady little corners and nooks of this world
Also being honest with your family and others about where you're going and what you're doing and look I understand
There are some psycho-jealous wives out there.
This is definitely a big problem that I've dealt with,
not in my life, thank God, but over the past 20 years.
Over the past 20 years of pastoring, you know, I've dealt with situations where this was a thing
My wife is not like this, so I'm not talking about her
But I'm talking about lots of other situations where you have these like crazy
Psycho jealous wives that are just suspecting their husband and just and just keep him on a leash
And he's got to check in all the time and everything that's not what I'm not saying
that you should do that that's not right for you especially as a wife to try to parent
your your husband because that's a bad dynamic because the husband is the authority the husband
is the leader he's the head of the home so when you have the wife like like running his life and
keeping tabs on him and checking on him and and you know it's all it can ruin that marriage dynamic
That's not what I'm not saying. Hey, you know, we got to put on the armor of light
So all you wives out there you got to police your husband. That's not what I'm saying
I don't want you to misunderstand because a good thing could be taken to an extreme what I'm saying to you is that as men
You should be open and honest and transparent with your wife is what I'm saying
And I'm not saying about every single thing, because obviously, you know, these things need to be thought of in moderation, okay?
I don't sit there and say to my wife, here, honey, read all my emails, read all my text messages, here, look over my shoulder.
Especially because as a pastor, I'm constantly dealing with situations that are private.
And people are texting me all kinds of crazy things.
all the time like every week I'm getting crazy text messages and so you know
my wife obviously is gonna have to trust me and realize that hey this is my job
I deal with sensitive information whatever but here's the thing I'm gonna be
open and honest and transparent with my wife about the things that I do meaning
that if I say I'm going somewhere that's where I'm going
I'm not going to lie and go somewhere else.
And I do tell my wife where I'm going.
I don't just tell her, hey, honey,
I'm going to be gone for the next five hours
and I'll see you when I get back
and I'm not going to tell you where I'm going.
That'd be pretty weird, wouldn't it?
Just to be like disappearing and going places
and she has no idea where.
No, I'm going to tell her, hey, I'm heading out now, honey.
I'm going to this place.
I'm going over here.
I'm flying to this city.
Here's what I'm going to be doing.
Here's where I'm at.
And you know what?
I'm gonna call her talk to her not because I'm like checking in with a boss or something
But just you know call and just be transparent about my life and what I'm doing
You know don't keep secrets
From your spouse where you're basically setting yourself up to where you could commit adultery or something like that or putting yourself in these
positions where you are in a situation of
Fulfilling the lust of the flesh, you know, and this is why when women come to me and want to meet with me privately
I usually just tell them, well, hey, let's step five feet this way. Okay. Now we're in private
This is his pride and I've said this so many times. This is private as I get right here
Hey, can we go in your office? No
And if I do talk to a woman in my office,
I'll bring another woman in there with me,
or I'll bring one of my kids,
or my wife, or somebody else in there,
you know, just to make sure everything's on the up and up.
So look, I'm not preaching some kind of extreme thing here,
and I'm definitely not preaching
that women should be policing their husbands
and, you know, parenting them and stuff,
because that can be a really bad dynamic in marriage.
But what I'm saying is just reasonably,
men should be transparent,
This is just based on the principle of just walking in the light, right?
Just having meetings in public, do your meetings in public, in the sunshine,
open, exposed places, not meeting in dark corners and chambers and things,
and also just being transparent with your wife and family about where you're going
and what you're doing. You know, here's where I'm going, here's what I'm doing,
and you know, if you find yourself lying about those things, even if, even if you're not,
Committing adultery even if you're not even close to committing adultery if you find yourself lying about where you're going and what you're doing
You know it sounds to me like you could be on a path toward committing adultery
If, all of a sudden, you're lying about places that you're going and people that you're seeing because you're going down a dark path.
Maybe you're only a few steps down that path, but you need to stop, reverse, back up, and start being transparent.
And you know what? It's why you should never set foot in a casino, never set foot in a bar, never set foot in a strip club.
Just don't go to these places.
You know, you shouldn't be hanging around these kind of places
because these are dens of iniquity.
You need to walk honestly, walk in the daylight,
put on the armor of light, be protected by that transparency
and openness and truth telling
and being home at night
and being out doing stuff in the daytime whenever possible.
This is the way to protect yourself.
Look what Job chapter 24 says in verse 13.
They are of those that rebel against the light.
They know not the ways they're of, nor abide in the paths they're of.
The murderer rising with the light, killeth the poor and needy, and in the night is as a thief.
The eye also of the adulterer, waiteth for the twilight, saying, No eye shall see me, and disguiseeth his face.
In the dark they dig through houses which they had marked for themselves in the daytime. They know not the light.
For the morning is to them even as the shadow of death if one know them meaning if one recognize them
They are in the terrors of the shadow of death, right? And so what is the Bible saying here?
People who rebel against the light
These are the things that they do he mentions in verse 14 murder
And verse 15, he mentions adultery.
And in verse 16, he mentions theft, right?
So we have these three things mentioned,
murder, adultery, and theft.
And he's saying, look, people who rebel against the light,
people who are not walking in the light,
this is what they get involved in.
They wait until it's nighttime,
and then they go out and they get involved in sin.
stealing, adultery, and by the way,
stealing and adultery can often lead to murder.
Both of those things can end up leading to you having
to kill someone, to cover your tracks and cover your sin,
and look at what happened to David.
He ended up committing murder
in order to cover up his adultery.
You know, and I'm sure that happens all the time.
And wicked people, they're terrified of the light.
We need to embrace the light.
We need to walk in the light of God's Word.
Every single morning we read our Bibles and walk in the light.
We pray to the Lord walking in the light.
We live right. We do right.
We go to church. We're walking in the light.
Let the light of God's word shine on our hearts and on our conscience and on our lives, right?
And then also just in a literal sense, we walk in the light meaning that we go out and do stuff in the daytime,
we go out and do stuff publicly, we do stuff in a group, and we're not putting ourselves in these dark
corners with the opposite gender where there could be a temptation to commit adultery or to commit fornication or whatever the sin.
We walk honestly, as in the daytime,
meaning that we're not lying and deceiving and cheating
and doing these things behind our spouse's back
or something like that.
And like I said, I'm not trying to fuel the fire
of any psycho-jealous wives out there
because marriage should have a trust component.
You know I trust my wife, so I'm not just like all right
Let me see your phone, and I got to go through your phone
I got to go through your history, and I got to go through your browser history
I got to check your messages
You know I've never done that and my wife's never done that to me in
25 years of marriage simply because we know that we're both on the up and up
But here's the thing you know you don't want it first of all you don't want to give your spouse a reason to suspect you
You don't want to betray your spouse's trust because that can be really hard to earn that back
See my wife and I we've just always had this trust going on
But once you betray that trust it's gonna be pretty hard to earn that back, isn't it?
When you are busted doing something really shady God forbid even adultery
It's gonna be really hard to come back from that
And then maybe your wife used to be cool
Now she is gonna turn into some super jealous because you made her that way in some ways, right?
And obviously, you're going to have to work to try to repair that
and try to fix that and try to get back on a normal footing.
But you know what? Just walk honestly, right?
And just be transparent.
And I'm not talking about anything extreme.
I'm just talking about letting her know where you're going
and just, you know, when you fly to another city,
that's where you're actually going and what you're actually doing.
And when you go to work, you're actually going to work
and you're actually going wherever you say you're going.
Don't lead this double life and you say, well, I didn't do anything bad. I mean, I didn't commit adultery. I didn't commit a murder
I'm not stealing. Yeah, but once you start setting up that infrastructure of
Leading the double life and deceiving and lying and walking in darkness
You're making provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust there. You're setting up an infrastructure
So that you can commit adultery later
And it's better to just stay a million miles from that
by putting on the armor of light
and just walking in the light spiritually,
walking in the light literally,
and walking in the light figuratively,
by being honest.
Let's bides and have a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for your word.
And we thank you for the warnings, Lord.
You've warned us on so many levels.
You've told us that adultery is sin,
but you've also warned us about
the human consequences of adultery, Lord.
Help every person in here to be smart enough
to heed these warnings.
And Lord God, not only should we abstain
from adultery, but Lord, help us also
to just stay a million miles away from it, Lord.
And...
Lord if there's anybody here who's going down one of these dark paths
I pray that the sermon would would really prick their heart and that you would do a work in their heart so that they would
Walk honestly Lord bless us now as we go our separate ways Lord bless everyone who who came this morning and attended church and
Please just be with us throughout the week and bring us back safely for church tonight and in Jesus name. We pray amen
We'll sing one last song before we dismiss, song number 261, song number 261.
Turn your eyes upon Jesus, song number 261.
There's darkness you can see, there's life for us.
You are dismissed.