(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Thank you for reading that Leviticus chapter 20. It's a heavy chapter, isn't it? Quite a heavy chapter. I've been talking about the death penalty. I mean you've seen some crimes that I mentioned there some sins and you know I'm not going to spend a lot of time on this chapter but obviously the reason I wanted that read is because you can see that within this chapter you see things like incest, things like bestiality, things that are just so so vile and so disgusting that you know the common man would know look that's just I mean just just a regular you know regular Joe unbeliever knows those things are wrong and you know you've got to be pretty filthy to get invested in those kinds of things but the reason I wanted to read that is because in verse number 10 amongst all of these different crimes all these filthy sins it says in verse number 10 and the man that committeth adultery with another man's wife even he that committeth adultery with his neighbor's wife the adulterer and the adulterers shall surely be put to death now the reason again one of that read is because adultery happens every day in our nation all the time this is going on all the time okay and and amongst this list of horrendous horrible sins is the sin of adultery and so we want to make sure that we have the right perspective on this sin that it's not just a regular sin you know it's a sin that is worthy of death and it's a sin that's labeled in this list of such horrific horrible things that you think how far gone how bad does your mind have to be to get involved in certain acts and you know I know this is going on all the time I remember just being at work just being in the workplace business you know you got men and women working there married men married ladies and you've got adultery taking place and like the office knows the office knows things are going on or you hear rumors and and then the wives find out and you know I remember one time when a wife found out that her husband who was a manager in workplace that I was at found out how he had committed adultery she sent like this mass email to everybody in the company talking about how wicked and how filthy he was and like I agreed with email I was like yeah absolutely that guy's a pig you know that he's cheated on you but you know these things happen you know you go on some business trip and you know there you are with colleagues and you know again men that are supposed to be married women supposed to be married women men that have made vows to death do us part and they're out there on on the work you know conference or whatever it is you know committing adultery committing all kinds of nonsense and so there's almost in Australia at least by my observation when someone is committed adultery it's almost like a sign of victory like look what I've been able to achieve you know even though I'm a married man I'm tied down you know I can still go and and you know sell my wild oats and be just a you know a filthy wicked man and they just they come with almost delight in it it's almost like seeing as this prize as achievement and the reason I wanted that read in this chapter is just to bring it back to reality it is filthy is it is wicked it is wicked adultery is one of the worst things you can possibly do okay and again it is worthy of of death now when you think about adultery like so basically I'm up to the seventh commandment we're doing our 10 commandment series the seventh commandment is thou shalt not commit adultery okay thou shalt not commit adultery now obviously there's also fornication where people are not being remaining virgins they're not remaining faithful to their future spouse and fornication is wrong fornication is sinful but fornication does not carry the death sentence along with it okay the reason adultery is so horrible is because you've committed yourself to one person for the rest of your life you've exchanged vows you've been wedded you've made those vows of promise that you're going to keep yourself to that one person for the rest of your life and so adultery carries this further punishments of the death sentence and what I want to first speak about is just for you to understand that adultery is not fornication these are two separate things fornication is before you're married you know with another unmarried person and adultery is when one of those participants is married okay now I want to show you a few passages here because even I came from a church that mixed this up and if you mix these things up if you think well adultery just falls under the umbrella of fornication you can get into some really strange doctrines you can even start to preach that divorce and remarriage and all this kind of stuff is just fine god's happy with it etc etc and so I want to show you a few passages please turn to 1st Corinthians chapter 7 please go to 1st Corinthians chapter 7 as you're turning to 1st Corinthians chapter 7 I'll read to you from Galatians 5 19 you go to 1st Corinthians chapter 7 I'll read to you from Galatians 5 19 just to show you that adultery and fornication are different things it says in Galatians 5 19 now the works of the flesh are manifest which are these adultery fornication uncleanness lasciviousness anyway the list goes on but I wanted to show you that side by side adultery then fornication then uncleanness you can see that these are two different aspects okay adultery just does not fall under the umbrella of fornication it is two different things 1st Corinthians chapter 7 verse 2 it says nevertheless to avoid fornication so what are we to do to never fornicate to avoid this to avoid fornication that's before you're married by the way it says let every man have his own wife and let every woman have her own husband so what do we learn there that if you're married you cannot commit fornication if you want to avoid fornication then a man should have his wife and a wife should have her husband meaning that if they are unfaithful in that marriage it is not fornication obviously carries that other term adultery okay so adultery is against someone who is married all right and I'll just quickly read to you from Ezekiel 16 32 Ezekiel 16 32 says but as a wife that committeth adultery which taketh strangers instead of her husband all right so again adultery takes place within marriage okay instead of her husband this woman takes in strangers all right so just a few passages we can turn to many many passages but I just want to affirm to you not just my my opinion here but according to God's word it's very clear fornication is one thing that's non-married partners and adultery is talking about at least having one married partner in that equation all right now marriage is beautiful you know marriage is meant to be such a special thing where you give yourself to one other person you're going to share your life together till one passes away it is beautiful it is a beautiful thing and you can share that intimate relationship you can start a family and have children these are all good things these are all things that God puts in the hearts of individuals a desire to be with the opposite sex a desire to be intimate a desire to have children this is good and proper in its own place it's kind of like ecclesiastes where you know there's a time for everything you know there's a season for everything there's a purpose under the heaven for everything and that intimate relationship there is a time and a purpose and it's only marriage okay marriage is the right place to have that intimate relationship can you please turn to proverbs chapter 6 turn to proverbs chapter 6 and verse number 32 proverbs chapter 6 and verse number 32 and so obviously this commandment is something that can be broken if you're married all right and if you're not married you're a single person absorb this anyway learn this anyway because you do not want to get into a position where you end up cheating on your spouse okay it is damaging it is hurtful okay look if if you've committed adultery look God's forgiven us of all sins don't don't get me wrong okay and of course the law of our land is not the death penalty for adultery but if it was there'd be a lot less adulterers i'll tell you that if it was you just have to take one adulterer put him to death and the whole nation will fear no the whole nation will say i don't want to die and they'll be remain faithful to their spouses all right but it is such a hurtful thing to think that the person that promised themselves to me that i've promised themselves to have given themselves over to a stranger has given themselves over to another person it's it's it's to me i don't know you know i don't like to think about these things but i've said it before i'd rather my wife kill me and that's horrible but i'd rather my wife kill me than commit adultery okay because at least i'm dead i'm in heaven you know adultery is a hurt it's a pain that's going to be there for the rest of your life the rest of your life it's going to be there you know you go out and you cheat on your spouse look they might forgive you they might say well let's put that behind us and let's try to move forward but there's going to be a pain in them that will last the rest of their life they'll forgive you but they may they'll never trust you again you know in their mind when you're alone when you're out and about in their mind somewhere you know it's going to be like i hope my spouse is not cheating on me i hope they're not going back to that bad that old sin you know they may never trust you again and that's part of the consequences of committing such a significant sin i mean it's worthy of death there's a reason why it's not just death for the sake of death it's not just about preaching just to be controversial and just to stand out differently it's right and proper that someone that has committed adultery should die the death penalty so the other person can get on with their life okay can go and find a new spouse and not have that burden of that relationship that's causing so much hurt and so much pain and again we don't have that law in australia okay so if you've committed adultery i'm not saying go and commit suicide because that's sinful two wrongs don't make a right okay obviously in australia you're going to have to make the best of a bad situation you know try to find forgiveness try not to open up that temptation to come again in your life and try to make it work with the help of god that's the option we have in australia because we haven't got that you know law of moses that god has given the nation of israel okay but it's such a serious thing to break your vows to to hurt someone so seriously so deeply you know i mean your life will never be the same it carries so much hurt this is why it needs to be preached the reality of it has to be known and you say well i've committed adultery this makes me feel really horrible look your sins are in the past okay god's forgiven you i'm speaking to our children i'm speaking to those that have not committed such a great grave sin so they don't make the same mistake they understand just how vile and so horrible it is you know how god sees this so they don't you know go and destroy their lives they don't go and destroy their lives look at proverbs chapter six and verse number 32 now the book of proverbs is the book of wisdom okay we want to gain some wisdom you know if you're being tempted to commit adultery there's a situation that opens up the bible says in verse number 32 but who so committed adultery with a woman lack of understanding he goes you're stupid you committed adultery you don't have understanding you're dumb you're an idiot you haven't understood the consequences of your actions it says uh he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul that's it it destroys your soul it's gonna hurt you it's gonna have consequences lasting consequences okay while you live i mean look all sin have consequences but some sins the consequences are short this is a lifelong thing it's a lifelong pain lifelong destruction okay and again i'm not saying if you've done this give up on life just you got to do the best you can to push forward but you understand it's going to be something that's going to be in your heart something in the heart of your spouse it may even lead to divorce many times that's what divorce leads like you know i'm not saying it's okay okay adultery is not grounds for divorce but adultery is grounds for remarriage because if we had the laws of moses the adulterer would be put to death and the other person would be allowed to get remarried okay so i understand when someone has committed if someone has uh their spouse has committed adultery i understand if that person wants to get divorced it's not right but i understand where they're coming from because if you had the laws of moses they would be able to get remarried eventually once the spouse has been put to death okay what else it says here that he that do it destroy his own soul verse number 33 look at this a wound and a and dishonor shall he get and his reproach shall not be wiped away again the consequences linger they're there forever it's a wound that you never get over you'll be dishonored everybody will know you're the one that committed adultery you're the one that broke your vows you're the one that mistreated your spouse okay it's your it's on your reputation forever you can't get rid of it all right and uh you know as we keep going think about think of you know if i would commit adultery with another man's wife and that other man finds out what do you think is going to do to me i mean i look i mean i again i don't even put my mind there but you know i can see my my anger getting the better of me i can see myself losing control potentially and causing a lot of damage you know when you lose control and and you know you know the blood rushes to your brain you can do things that you just never thought you'd do okay and you know there is something in the in the law in court systems known as a crime of justice a crime of passion i don't know if you've ever heard of that before a crime of passion this is where someone becomes so jealous because they've been cheated on and they go out and they kill somebody they either go and kill their their spouse or their partner or they end up killing the person they cheated with this is real this happens like someone that is not naturally a murderer someone that may not naturally be violent but to be cheated in such a way defiled in such a way hurt in such a way can cause them to step out and do just something horrific even as far as murder you know as i pre i taught last time about the death penalty had different degrees of murder you know this is part of this is known as the crime of passion so it's considered less than just cold-blooded murder you know it's just considered like this person has the right to have lost control to some extent now what he did was wrong of course going and killing something's wrong but it there's some justification as to why this individual could have lost control okay about this situation because it says there in verse number 34 look at this verse number 34 proverbs chapter 6 verse number 34 the jealousy sorry for jealousy is the rage of a man jealousy hey being jealous for your spouse is right and proper i don't want my wife hanging out with a whole bunch of guys my wife doesn't want me going out and hanging out with a whole bunch of girls the right and proper thing is i belong to you and you belong to me okay when you go and commit adultery yeah there ought to be jealousy there and that jealousy will cause some a man to be driven to rage it says that therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance he will not spare okay he will not like once once the right once that jealousy turns to rage if he's able to get a hold of the people that cheated on him you don't know what's going to know what's going to happen again he could end up in murder homicide okay violence to that level of extent that's what it is you know the bible telling us verse number 35 he will not regard any ransom neither will he rest content though they'll give us many gifts if you've if you're the one that committed adultery with another man's wife you cannot fix that doesn't matter how much how many gifts you offer him no matter how much you say sorry it's not going to be enough you've taken something that is most precious to him and you've defiled it okay and so there's nothing you can do to fix it okay and if you can't do anything to fix it then what do you do you avoid it at all costs you know you you say in your heart i will never commit adultery i will never look at another if you're a woman another man or a man to another woman in this way and seek after them never and like again you know the desire as i said before is not wrong in of itself but in the right place it's marriage okay this is why it's so sometimes challenging for people because they desire that intimacy all right and sometimes you go to work and you spend more time with some of that work than you do with your spouse you may develop emotional attachments you know there's so many reasons why i never wanted to go on some work trip for very long people are like oh we need you over here for a month i'm like no way are you kidding me a month away from my wife i mean i don't think i'd ever cheat but i don't even want the temptation to be there because i'm just a man you know there are desires that there are things within man we've got the flesh it's a it's a sin nature i'm not an idiot you know i know what man can do you know i know what situations can develop i think i've shared this i'm sure i've shared this before but one of my one of the things i really learned from my hr manager i took on a position of management i was given a nice little cushy office you know how it is and the previous manager you know she had blinds on the window so you couldn't see through it's completely you know you couldn't see through at all the hr manager comes up to me and goes kevin you got a lot of girls not working under you he goes i know what i know who you are i know what kind of man you are you're not going to do anything stupid but i recommend get rid of these blinds get rid of it all so everybody can look into your office completely open and even if you do need to bring someone in to have a private conversation you close the door but everyone can still see into the office they can't hear what's going on but they can see in the office he goes that'll protect you you know if someone makes an accusation that you've tried to do x y and z look i mean everything was all open people are walking past everyone can see and you keep yourself safe i was like absolutely that's like one of the best advice that i've ever had from someone that is a non-believer you know in in the office world because he as a hr manager he's seen how bad things can get in in business all right i guess he was looking out for me he was looking out to protect me i'm thankful for that you know it's good advice but adultery is is it's so easy to fall into okay so we have to protect ourselves we have to watch ourselves you know i try to be friendly on the job i try to get along with people as best as i can you know and work together and be in harmony but then it's like let's hang out after work no i have a wife and kids i've got responsibilities i've got other places it was great that we spent seven seven hours eight hours together working on the job but i i got i got a family i've got to go home i'm not going to open myself up to things that i don't know where they may lead okay so if you commit adultery there's nothing you can do to fix it so you want to avoid it at all costs make sure you protect yourself you don't know what you're capable of when you're put into a very challenging situation can you please turn to genesis 39 turn to genesis 39 now if you seek to protect yourself at all costs sometimes situations still come up all right the temptations still pop up and uh and by the way you know as a pastor i do not want to be alone with any women okay uh you know pass i need to talk to you about something let's talk somewhere where everyone can see all right or make your husband should be there or your father should be there you know if that's if it's that important or you know that person that needs to be discussed okay i i do not want to open up any doors not that i think i'm like this amazing guy or anything but you know things happen things happen in churches all the time you know all the time things happen look at genesis 39 verse number seven and it came to pass after these things that his master's wife cast her eyes upon joseph and she said lie with me so this is of course joseph being brought into potiphar's house and potiphar's wife wants to sleep with joseph commit adultery now joseph is commit adultery now joseph is right he's he's a righteous he's a good man he's a righteous man he's got a fear of god verse number eight but he refused and said unto his master's wife behold my master what if not what is with me in the house and he have committed all that he have to my hand there is none greater in this house than i neither have he kept back anything from me but thee because thou art his wife how then can i do this great wickedness and sin against god that's the right view joseph has a fear of god he goes look your husband's been so good to me how can i commit such a great horrible sin and even sin against god and by the way all sin is against god all sin is against god you know even if you sin against someone else you offended god hey yeah go make peace with that person go apologize but then you need to go before god and confess those things all sin is against god you see joseph had a fear of god and this brought him to say no we can't do this all right verse number 10 and it came to pass as she spake to joseph day by day that he hearken not unto her to lie by her or to be with her now this is a tough situation joseph has already said no he's got a fear of god okay but every day every day at the workplace every day the same woman comes up to him over and over and over and over and over again all right verse number 11 and it came to pass about this time that joseph went into the house to do his business and there was none of the men of the house there within now as good as joseph is as as you know he does so many good and righteous things this is one of his biggest mistakes i mean this is just a clear mistake and let this be a lesson again to you especially men okay if there's other men not there and you know potiphar's wife is there don't go don't go okay like i said to you earlier if if a lady needs to talk to me there better be other people around there and i know like you don't mean bad i know but i don't even want the accusation i don't even want the false accusation coming out you know i don't even want rumors i want nothing like that okay because even rumors can be hurtful and damaging okay damage and hurt marriages now look he should have said look there's no one else here i'm gonna go do something else oh i got in these employees and go like come on guys we've got to go back to work obviously she's prepared the situation that nobody would be there except for her and joseph and look what happens verse number 12 and she caught him by his garment saying lie with me and he left his garment in her hand and fled and got him out look you can protect yourself from adultery you can you know put lots of boundaries around yourself and try to protect yourself as much as you can but sometimes you're just going to walk into a situation and there it is presented in front of you what do you do look don't talk your way out of it don't even spend time and pray about it run flee get out of there okay don't allow yourself to even for one moment consider that situation as a real possibility joseph did the right thing he went out there as fast as he could even his coat was left behind okay the bible says also when it comes to fornication flee fornication it's the same approach okay the same steps you know you might think you can overcome it you might think you're strong enough to overcome the temptation you can't you get out of there again why why can't you because it's natural it's normal you want to do that you want to be with someone or you want to be with someone get married that's the right place all right find a wife find a husband start searching you know but if it's not your spouse you run you run hard don't even just don't even look back you get it yourself out of that situation as fast as you can otherwise you'll find yourself committing something horrible okay damaging your reputation please turn to john chapter eight john chapter eight now we started the sermon saying that of course adultery deserves the death penalty and um man if only that was a law of the land honestly how many people would not have hurt their marriages if that was the law of the land honestly but uh you know the question you know again when it comes to death penalty all these things people are always like oh but you know what about the story of the woman caught in adultery with jesus christ jesus did not put her to death all right so maybe god's done away with it maybe he's not as serious about this sin as he was in the past you know you're preaching old testament except they fail to realize when jesus walked the earth it was still old testament times it was still old testament till he died and he brought in the new testament with his blood this is still old testament times okay john chapter eight verse number one john chapter eight verse number one jesus went unto the mount of olives and early in the morning he came again into the temple and all the people came unto him and he sat down and taught them and the scribes and pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery and when they had set her in the midst they said unto him master this woman was taken in adultery in the very act now i know scribes and pharisees when they speak we can't always trust what they're saying okay they make many false accusations but this woman is definitely an adulterous because look at verse number three again and verse number three is the narrator it's the holy spirit telling us the story verse number three says and the scribes and pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery so the holy spirit is just confirming yes this is a woman that definitely has committed adultery okay so i don't want you to because i've also heard that view well it's just the scribes and pharisees said she was but she really wasn't okay anyway you definitely holy spirit says she was adulterous verse number five now moses in the law commanded us that such should be stoned but what says thou why don't you jesus are you on the same page as moses you know they don't realize that of course it's jesus christ that gave moses these words okay are you on the same page as moses what do you say jesus you know should this woman be put to death now before i keep reading you know i love i love the gospels i love the story of jesus christ you know because it's so smart like like the wisdom he shows is just amazing and i wish i could just have a little bit of that intelligence in my life sometimes that wisdom that i see in christ because don't forget when christ was walking this earth israel had limited power they did have their own government you know they had king herod when jesus christ was born but above that power was the roman empire okay and i haven't got time to show you this now but once israel was or judah should say judea you know was under the power of the roman empire they were not allowed to put people to death they were not allowed to we can read i can put this later on in the bible if you want this is the whole reason why when the jews arrested jesus they had to bring him before pilot they had to bring him before a roman governor and and and ask him can you kill jesus can you crucify him because they could not do it themselves so they're presenting this to jesus and you know the scribes and pharisees in your bible they're constantly trying to make jesus trip up they want to see him dead okay now they've thrown a challenge to him all right most says she deserves to be put to death what do you say jesus so if jesus says yeah moses right let's put it to death they can turn around to the roman government say empire and say look jesus christ is rebellious against your laws you know he's putting people to death without bringing it to you now jesus christ recognizes the roman power and he goes we can't put it to death because we're under a different system here they'll say well see you're not honoring the words of moses you're not true prophet are you jesus so they're throwing jesus christ in this this tough place you know and uh look at verse number six it says here this they said tempting him see it wasn't like oh we just want to know what jesus said they're trying to make him trip they're trying to make him make make mistakes here okay that they might have to accuse him but jesus stooped down and with his finger wrote on the ground as though he had heard them not now many people wonder why he did this i don't know maybe he's thinking how do i respond to this maybe because don't forget he's 100 god but he's still 100 man maybe he needs just a little time to process the current situation is in and what the best foot forward is in this scenario okay verse number seven so what does he say his response is just amazing so when they continued asking him they would not leave him alone right he lifted up himself and said unto them he that is without sin among you let him first cast a stone at her so what is christ saying she does deserve to die all right just whoever is without sin you can be the first to cast a stone at her so is he upholding the lord of moses absolutely he is okay but then he's brought that challenge to the pharisees and scribes he that is without sin and they all know they're sinners they all know they've done wrong okay probably a whole bunch of them have committed adultery themselves who knows all right the only person standing there without sin is jesus christ and so he upholds it but then he challenges them i mean could you imagine you take up the first oh that's me jesus you pick up the first stone you're saying i'm without sin no one's going to believe you everyone knows you know you're that person you know you're a hypocrite everyone knows this and so they can't bring themselves to pick up that stone it says there in verse number eight and again he stooped down and wrote on the ground and they which heard it being convicted by their own conscience went out one by one so they all started to leave because they know they've done wrong they know they're sinners they've probably committed adultery in their midst beginning at the eldest even unto the last and jesus was left alone and the woman standing in in the midst when jesus had lifted up himself and saw none but the woman he said unto her woman where are those thine accusers hath no man condemned thee she said no man lord and jesus said unto her neither do i condemn thee go and sin no more so had she sinned in the eyes of jesus yeah he goes look go and sin no more don't commit adultery anymore you know what if you've committed adultery all right and you've not been put to death go and sin no more that's instruction don't do it again all right and if you haven't done it never do it go and sin no more but here's what's amazing why could jesus why did he release her why could he not condemn her to death because if you know in the bibles in order to put someone to death you must have at least two or three witnesses there were no witnesses left they all left okay jesus is upholding the lord of moses he says yes she deserves to die let him that is without sin cast the first stone there's no one left all right where are your accusers we need at least two or three there's none well i can't condemn you i don't condemn you either go and sin no more he upholds the laws of moses at the same time his submissive his subject under roman law he knows that he's under foreign powers he knows that it's at conflict with the laws of moses but somehow this is what i'm talking about the wisdom of christ i don't know how he does it and i want a little bit of it i hope i have more of it somehow he's able to balance the laws of god and the laws of the land even when they're contradictive okay but christ says go and sin no more and thank god for a forgiving lord okay if you've committed adultery i'm not trying to make you feel horrible i mean it's a horrible sin and you probably felt horrible anyway about it but you know i don't know if anyone has you but i'm just saying like you know christ has forgiven you okay christ does not condemn you just go and sin no more okay don't do it again don't do it again now please turn to matthew chapter five turn to matthew chapter five and verse number 27 because as i've been doing in this series even though we may not have committed some of these sins and go we're fine we're fine you know let's condemn the adulterer well don't forget that jesus christ comes on the scene and he lifts the standard okay what you thought was enough to get you to heaven christ is always lifting that bar higher okay and christ says these words in matthew 5 27 matthew 5 27 he says you have heard that he was said by them of all time thou shalt not commit adultery but i say unto you that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her have committed adultery with her already in his heart oh man that's amazing right so i've not committed adultery or great but you've ever looked upon a woman with lust it doesn't say this is just married men it's just general okay and obviously this is not the same as physical adultery but again christ is not just speaking about our outward body what we see in the body we sit in our mind we sit in our hearts i don't care how righteous you think a man is and i don't know i don't know as a pastor i don't know if you think i'm more righteous than you or something i don't know okay but doesn't matter what kind of christian you see on the outward they look great praise the lord you know they're out there doing the works they're still battling their hearts and their minds there is still foolishness and sin in their heart and in their mind we've got to guard our hearts as well we've got to guard our eyes as well okay we've got to clean the inside as well not just the outward the adultery of the hearts and i think every man's done this you know every man has committed adultery in his heart you know again i just want to put the right perspective on this you know a man desires a woman a woman desires a man so the answer is marriage yeah that's where you can fulfill all those good things it's good in marriage okay it's good in marriage and as i said to you you might think oh this is a righteous man righteous person you know or you know if you've made mistakes in your past and you beat yourself up you may not like this servant too much i don't know so i wish i was you know i kept myself pure and this and that well you know at the time of job job was the most righteous man on the earth at his time faithful okay a principled man all right and even he says job says in job 31 verse 1 he says i made a covenant with mine eyes why then should i think upon a maid even the most righteous man on the earth at this time realizes my eyes can wander away my eyes can start to look upon another woman who is not my wife and he goes i'm going to make a covenant with my eyes a covenant like a promise we can we eyes you listen to me all right if you're walking down the street and there's a lady right i mean you can't the first glance you can't help it because you got it your eyes are open you got you know but the moment you realize this is you know i should not be looking in that direction he goes look you just look down you look the other way okay you don't take the second glance because eyes you listen to me and the eyes are part of the sinful flesh by the way even job even job struggled with this brethren okay even job was realized man why my i can sin you know i've got joe was married he had a whole bunch of kids and he even realized i have to control this part of my life and so i'm saying that because i don't want you guys just beating yourself up i mean i want to preach the seriousness of this thing i don't want to i don't want to lower it to some you know i want to make sure you understand how dangerous it is you know how damaging it is at the same time i don't want you to just beat yourself up and just go i'm just hopeless then i'm with joe look at joe just do what joe did promise your eyes i'm not going to look in that direction be like joseph if i am in a situation like that i'm getting out of there i don't care if i leave my coat behind all right i don't care if i have unfinished business i'm physically getting out of that situation this is what these good men had to do okay so if these good men struggled then you're going to struggle okay and again i want the seriousness to sink deep in because if you don't think of this as a serious sin that anybody can do then you're going to find yourself falling into this kind of issue you're going to find yourself hurting your spouse cheating and damaging your marriage you're in matthew five i believe can you please turn to matthew 532 matthew 532 now is adultery grounds for divorce no okay it's not and again this is where if you mix fornication with adultery and you don't separate it like the lord does you're going to get all mixed up okay matthew 532 it says but i say to you that whosoever shall put away his wife that's divorce saving or except for the cause of fornication cause of her to commit adultery and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced commit adultery all right is there grounds for divorce in the bible yes there is okay what was that granted divorce fornication again people struggle with this they don't understand it and i i get i get i guess why you know because our our society is different and sometimes we think of our society we put that into the bible we need to just remember that there are different cultures sometimes they do things in a different way okay fornication again is uh before before you've you know let's put it this way it's before you've consummated that marriage before you've had that intimate relationship with your spouse okay because normally in australia you get married and then you're on your honeymoon you know that night you're pretty much on your honeymoon or whatever right and you consummate the marriage straight away okay there is no period of time generally speaking where where there's where there's a period where something can be fornication to adultery whereas in the time of the bible and we see this the best example of this is joseph and mary where they are legally married the bible calls um joseph her husband and to joseph he calls god calls her his wife even before they consummated their marriage remember she was a virgin at this point in time but they're married but she's a virgin and she falls pregnant with jesus christ okay and then the bible says that joseph was a just man because he wanted to put her away privately okay he was a just man for wanting to divorce her because from his perspective she had just cheated on him but because they had not consummated the marriage this was fornication and that's the ground for divorce that's just okay but once you've consummated that marriage you know once you've been intimate together that part is over okay and anything outside of that is now adultery and so what i'm saying is fornication is grounds for divorce if that's within your culture and i've shared this before this happens in chile especially with christian couples pastors in chile do not have the authority to be wedding celebrants celebrants so couples have to go and get legally married legally recognized they're documented they've got the documentation then they go to their church their pastor and this can be several months because you know costs money to you know document documentation chile takes forever so you do that first try and get that all organized okay it's a different kind of system over there anyway and then and then once you gather it all then you know hopefully you've saved up you've got all your you know your wedding ready and happening can be several months later then you you know stand behind the altar with your partner you exchange vows in a church or something like that then they go off and live together okay this happens a lot in places like south america i know it's very common in europe as well we just don't have that in australia so we don't understand how that can take place so let's say you are living in chile and you go get legally married okay you're waiting for that documentation to come through so you can get married because you want to do it in the church or something like that well in that period of time before you consummate your marriage if your spouse goes off and cheats on you then you can justly divorce them according to the bible okay you've not committed sin they've committed fornication you've not consummated the marriage and that is the right biblical teaching on divorce when it's permitted all right now i'm going to read a few other you're there again matthew 520 matthew 532 it says that whosoever shall put away his wife same for the cause of fornication so if it's for adultery cause of her to commit adultery because you're making her go she has the desire to be under a man she has a desire to have a husband you divorce her and she goes find someone else she's gone off to commit adultery okay and look i know this is hard to accept you know i've got people in this church people down at blessed alphabets church that have been divorced and remarried again i'm not trying to make you feel horrible okay you're remarried you've got your second spouse or your third spouse or your tenth spouse okay well keep it that's the one all right till death do us part from this day forward go and sin no more okay you make this work praise god for that okay you make this work but you know if you go off and do this you you know if you go get remarried on the basis of adultery you're committing adultery yourself okay i mean the bible is so clear about this mark chapter 10 verse 11 and he's safe unto them whosoever shall put away his wife and marry another committed adultery against her that's what the bible says verse number 12 and if a woman shall put away her husband and be married to another she committed adultery doesn't matter who it is if you get divorced because for any other reason except fornication and you go marry another you've committed adultery again okay in the eyes this according to the eyes of the lord this doctrine is very straightforward people love to complicate it because they know they've got complicated lives they've made mistakes but you know what if you make mistakes just put your hand up i've made a mistake lord help me go and sin no more let me make things right from this day forward that's it you push on forward you don't have to justify your mistakes justify your sins maybe god means this or maybe god means like this you start messing things up and then you make your sin and your situation a light situation instead of people understanding the seriousness those that have not made this mistake so then they can learn and you know live a life that is right in the eyes of the lord the bible says in luke 16 18 whosoever put away his wife and marry for another committed adultery and whosoever married her that is put away from her husband committed adultery okay i mean every gospel all four books contain this teaching you know not all four books always contain the same doctrines this one is consistent okay so if you've got a favorite gospel of jesus christ you're going to have this teaching all right adultery is not grounds for divorce but if we had a righteous government that put the adulterous to death then it is grounds for remarriage okay but because we live in the system that we do this is just a burden that we carry okay because jesus christ lived in a system where they needed permission from the roman empire to put people to death he worked under that system he found a way to operate as best as he could okay under that system that's just how it is with a world that we live in where they do not honor the laws of god now you're there in matthew aren't you so please go to matthew 19 matthew 19 and verse number three matthew 19 and verse number three so and by the way let me just make it clear because i had the question asked of me if you've been divorced and you got remarried yes you've committed adultery but you're not a perpetual adulterer okay i want you to make that clear some people believe that every day that you live in that new marriage you're just an adulterer for the rest of your life that's not the teaching okay that's not because what is adultery adultery is cheating on your spouse okay but that second marriage or that third marriage i mean think of the woman the samaritan woman at the well okay how many husbands did she have five five husbands and then she was living with another man okay jesus christ says those are your husbands you've got five husbands and the one you're with is not your husband i mean jesus christ recognizes their husband i mean think of solomon the bible says she had the bible says she had 700 wives it's not like he had one wife and 699 adulterous relationships like ongoing okay now every time he got married every time he consummated marriage he had committed adultery okay but listen once those vows are made just go and confess to the lord lord help me make this work now okay help me not to make the same mistakes again okay and and god will help you in that marriage it is a marriage you know i'm not saying that your second marriage is somehow less of a marriage no your second marriage or your third marriage or your fifth marriage hopefully not okay is legitimate okay you've made vows you've committed yourselves now keep that vow keep that vow and sin no more matthew 19 and verse number three matthew 19 verse number three the pharisees also came unto him tempting him they're at it again all right and saying unto him is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause come on jesus every reason can we just put our wires away for whatever reason we want and say that's stupid but that's the law of australia no-fault divorce in the past you had to justify your reason to want to get divorced the courts had to grant you permission where they thought yes this is serious enough for you to get divorced they're looking for no-fault divorce that's what we have now you don't have to give a reason just get divorced if you want to get divorced get divorced i mean it's such a stupid question but we live in this world i mean the pharisees would have loved to live in australia in 2020 2022 verse number four and he answered and said unto them have ye not read that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female and said for this cause shall a man leave father and mother and shall cleave to his wife and they twain that's two twain shall be one flesh you know what's going to keep you together it's going to keep you from committing adultery you know or getting divorced is just reminding yourself when you look at your spouse we are one flesh forget this australian system where i'm the wife i'm the husband we're just two individual people living under the same roof but i do my things and she does her things and i've got my bank account and she's got her bank account and basically we just got our own lives but we just live under the same roof wrong we look at our spouse and we say we are one flesh we are one and the same your wife takes your name you're the same you know when i look at a wife in this church i think of her with her husband when i look at a man who's married i think of him with his wife they are one flesh they are one team they're combined they're together that's how you ought to look at your spouse we are one and the same don't complain about your spouse because you're just complaining about yourself you need god's help with your spouse take it to jesus all right take it to the lord god you are one you're one team god's put you together what does jesus christ say here this is in verse number six wherefore they are no more twain listen you're not two people living under one roof no more twain but one flesh what therefore god have joined together let not man put asunder if you're married right now god has put you together you're one flesh you're one flesh don't let man tear you apart including yourselves okay god has put you together there's purpose there's meaning there's joy okay in a married relationship even if it's just second or fifth or tenth okay verse number seven they said to him why did moses then command to give a right of divorcement to put her away and to put away again that was for fornication and he saved unto them moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives but from the beginning it was not so and i say unto you whoso shall put away his wife except before fornication and shall marry another committed for adultery and who shall marry her which is put away doth commit adultery all right so make it work i know no marriage is perfect my marriage is not perfect okay but it's my marriage okay my wife is not perfect i'm not perfect but we're one flesh and god has put us together and divorce must never come out of our mouths i don't care how angry we get at each other okay how annoyed we get at each other maybe stop getting annoyed maybe start accepting that your spouse is a sinner his spouse makes mistakes and we should try to fix our ourselves and you know be compatible and you know there's something you do that your spouse gets annoyed at we should try our best to fix those things but it doesn't matter how much you fix there's always going to be something your spouse can be frustrated with you about so let's just learn to put that aside you know time you know as you mature you grow together you grow in love you know as you grow in love you're going to be able to overlook more the little issues that bothered you at the start like the things that may have bothered you early in your marriage probably don't bother you as much as they do now say why is that because you love them more because you realize love is greater than just those little nitpicky things that frosted you at the start okay but yeah i just wanted to confer like just again just reinforce the seriousness of adultery the seriousness of of divorce if it's divorce for any other reason except for an occasion and you end up getting remarried you've committed adultery in that initial union that you've had together okay now let's talk about something else please go to James chapter four go to James chapter four because again we want to take something i've never committed adultery i've never been divorced i hope it never happens i'm going to make sure that i never make this happen okay but again we want to bring things to us and the bible speaks of a different type of adultery in the bible which is spiritual adultery spiritual adultery okay the bible says in Ezekiel you go to James 4 Ezekiel 23 37 the lord says about his nation they have committed adultery and blood is in their hands look at this and with their idols have they committed adultery what with their idols god says when the nation of Israel turned to false gods it's idolatry yes it is but from god's perspective they've committed spiritual adultery because they belong to god you know the the lord god is their god and they're meant to be his people and they've turned their hearts and worship to what false god god says they've committed adultery adultery spiritual adultery look we may never go and worship an idol but even us in the new testaments even us as christians can commit spiritual adultery okay against the lord god we know adultery is horrible against the spouse what about adultery against the lord well the bible says in James 4 4 James 4 4 ye adulterers and adulteresses adulteresses know you not that the French look at this that the friendship of the world is enmity with god who so therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of god if you just make friendship oh this world is for me i'm going to live for this world you give yourself to this life the temptations the carnal pleasures you make it all about this temporary life rather than the spiritual life the lord says you're an enemy of god in that in your actions but that you're an adulterer you're a spiritual adulterer if your heart is to this earth and to this world rather than your heart being toward your lord god verse number five do you think that the scripture safe in vain the spirit that dwelleth in us lust of to envy but he giveth more grace wherefore he saith god resisteth the proud but giveth grace unto the humble yeah i don't know do you love this world i love lost souls i love this church i love my brethren i love what god has given me but truly brethren i this world i feel so detached from this world and the more i go in life and the more wickedness i see and even the things i once enjoyed you know just stupid tv shows or stupid movies that i once enjoyed as a child and you look at what they're doing with this and they're bringing in the lgbt agenda you know i mean it's just i just i realize man this world is not for me maybe being a pastor makes a big difference i don't know but we have to really detach ourselves from this world love in this world okay and look if if you have been loving this world if you have been loving the pleasures that this world gives you that you know are contrary to god you know that if you follow these things you're not showing god's love this is not god's love this is just a carnal fleshly sinful love to all the things of this world then you need to do what we just read in verse number six but he gives more grace we need we need god's grace we need his forgiveness wherefore he says god resists the proud but give grace to the humble you humble yourself say god i've been loving this world way too much please help my heart be drawn back to you all right verse number seven submit yourselves and therefore to god resist the devil and he will flee from you you know why you love the world because the devil came along and tempted you with the world he offered you things that you thought you could you know he he knows what we struggle with he knows what draws our heart away from the lord so the devil's going to throw that to your face he's going to throw everything he hopes something sticks or your heart will be drawn away and then you become that spiritual doltron your affection is in the wrong place verse number eight draw night to god and he will draw night to you cleanse your hands you sinners and purify your hearts you double-minded you see we ought to be clean on the outward but clean on the inward as well cleanse your hands purify your hearts you double-minded who do you love double-minded people double-minded pastor what do we love do we love the lord do we love this world don't be double-minded make your choice make your choice don't commit spiritual adultery make sure your heart and affection is toward the lord god now in conclusion verse number eight again james four eight this is the solution for every adultery physical adultery adultery of the heart spiritual adultery this is the same solution draw night to god and he will draw an eye to you okay keep the lord close by keep walking with the lord all right i mean that that's the the lord's prayer has it go again and lead us not into temptation all right lead us not into temptation when we're walking with the lord the lord's going to help us not be led into that temptation like being tempted is not the sin given into the temptations of sin but to protect ourselves we don't even want to be tempted so you need to be close to the lord where he can be guiding you there's so many temptations in this world and the lord can be leading you whoops take you this way take you that way take you that way you don't even notice some of the temptations that you've been able to get it past because the lord's been at your side but then that prayer continues lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil so if you do find yourself in temptation deliver me from evil lord give me a way of escape what is it again what did pastor kevin say i'm gonna get out of here run you run who cares what they think of you keep yourself pure keep your hands clean keep your heart clean keep your eyes clean make a covenant with your eyes like job did okay adultery is wicked it's sinful it's hurtful it will damage your soul it will damage your marriage it will hurt so many people and it's going to be a stain on your reputation for the rest of your life okay let's pray