Sermon Deuteronomy 5:18 “You Shall Not Commit Adultery”
New Covenant Church
April 15, 2018
Listen to this sermon.
I am continuing today with our look at the Ten Commandments. The commandments were written on two stone tablets and placed in the Ark of the Covenant, a box kept in the Most Holy Place of the tabernacle. This was God’s copy of the covenant that God had entered into with his people. A covenant is an agreement. One side promises something and the other side promises something else and both parties benefit. Each party would have a copy of the covenant written usually on a clay tablet or possibly parchment. God’s copy of this covenant was written on stone tablets, for permanence, and placed in a box inside the Most Holy Place in the tabernacle. So we know where God’s copy is. Where is the copy for the people? Let’s listen as Moses tells the people where their copy is to be kept.
Deuteronomy 27:1 Moses and the elders of Israel commanded the people: “Keep all these commands that I give you today. 2 When you have crossed the Jordan into the land the Lord your God is giving you, set up some large stones and coat them with plaster. 3 Write on them all the words of this law when you have crossed over to enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, promised you. 4 And when you have crossed the Jordan, set up these stones on Mount Ebal, as I command you today, and coat them with plaster. 5 Build there an altar to the Lord your God, an altar of stones. Do not use any iron tool on them. 6 Build the altar of the Lord your God with fieldstones and offer burnt offerings on it to the Lord your God. 7 Sacrifice fellowship offerings there, eating them and rejoicing in the presence of the Lord your God. 8 And you shall write very clearly all the words of this law on these stones you have set up.”
So the copy of the covenant for the people to use was to be written on plaster-covered stones and placed in a worship center on Mount Ebal. Did they do it? When the Hebrews entered the promised land did they put their copy of the covenant on Mount Ebal? Well, we read this:
Joshua 8:30 Then Joshua built on Mount Ebal an altar to the Lord, the God of Israel, 31 as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded the Israelites. He built it according to what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses—an altar of uncut stones, on which no iron tool had been used. On it they offered to the Lord burnt offerings and sacrificed fellowship offerings. 32 There, in the presence of the Israelites, Joshua wrote on stones a copy of the law of Moses.
The copy of God law was written on stones and Mt. Ebal. And thankfully the terms of the covenant have been preserved in the Books of Exodus and Deuteronomy for us. Let’s pray.
“Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification. Amen.” (John Calvin)
Deuteronomy 5:1 Moses summoned all Israel and said: Hear, Israel, the decrees, and laws I declare in your hearing today. Learn them and be sure to follow them. 2 The Lord our God made a covenant with us at Horeb. 3 It was not with our ancestors that the Lord made this covenant, but with us, with all of us who are alive here today.
18 “You shall not commit adultery.”
In the seventh commandment, God is addressing married folks. This can be a difficult subject in churches. Some of us are single and wish we could find a partner. Some of us have lost partners through death. Some of us have experienced divorce. Some of us have been married more than once. Some of us regret that we married at all. Some of us act like we are married but have never legally tied the knot. And our culture is struggling with the idea of same-sex marriages. The seventh command is for married people and by implication, any couple that has made a long-term commitment.
The seventh commandment prohibits adultery. Adultery happens whenever a married person has consensual sex with someone other than his or her spouse. The biblical punishment for adultery was death.
Deuteronomy 22:22 If a man is found sleeping with another man’s wife, both the man who slept with her and the woman must die. You must purge the evil from Israel.
The seventh commandment also applies when a couple is betrothed but not yet married.
Deuteronomy 22:23 If a man happens to meet in a town a virgin pledged to be married and he sleeps with her, 24 you shall take both of them to the gate of that town and stone them to death—the young woman because she was in a town and did not scream for help, and the man because he violated another man’s wife. You must purge the evil from among you.
An exception to the seventh commandment was rape.
Deuteronomy 22:25 But if out in the country a man happens to meet a young woman pledged to be married and rapes her, only the man who has done this shall die. 26 Do nothing to the woman; she has committed no sin deserving death.
Why is adultery punished by death? That seems a little harsh for some out of wedlock sex. Doesn’t it? Well, the reason is that adultery is an offense not just to a spouse but also to God. That makes adultery a sin. The reason for this is that God’s very first command to his people, long before God gave the 10 Commandment to Moses, was that people should be fruitful and multiply.
Genesis 1:27 So God created mankind in his own image,in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. 28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.
So from the very beginning, God has brought a man and a woman together to form one flesh, a new human life. God blessed his people with sons and daughters that would carry on the work of the family. And all God required was faithfulness to him and to each other. The covenant of marriage was modeled on the covenant between God and his people. Just as God blesses his people and receives faithfulness so to do married couples bless each other and must remain faithful to each other. Adultery is a breach of the marital covenant God established and therefore an offense against God.
Culture tends to push the limits of the seventh commandment. In Old Testament times many of the patriarchs and later the kings of Israel and Judah engaged in polygamy, a man with many wives. But one king, David, went too far. David used his power to seduce a young woman, Bathsheba, and then murdered her husband to cover up what he had done. He was confronted with his sin by the prophet Nathan. And then, filled with remorse, David prayed to God.
Psalm 51:1 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. 4 Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight; so you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge. 5 Surely I was sinful at birth and sinful from the time my mother conceived me. 6 Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb; you taught me wisdom in that secret place.
7 Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. 8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice. 9 Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity. 10 Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. 11 Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.
David suffered for he had done. But there is no record of any punishment for Bathsheba. David had used his power to force her to have sex. Today Bathsheba would be on TV representing the #metoo movement as a victim of sexual harassment by a powerful man.
So adultery is a sin, a crime against God. Let’s turn now to what Jesus taught us about the seventh commandment.
Matthew 5:27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.
As we saw last week, Jesus’s concern is with preventing adultery before it gets started. He is speaking primarily to men. Jesus wants us to be careful looking at beautiful women. This is the first step toward an adulterous relationship. Then comes the second step, touch. Then you begin falling, tumbling into an offense against God. Don’t put yourself in situations where this can happen. Don’t be alone with a woman. Don’t desire her or try to touch her. But go home to your wife and enjoy her.
Some of us experience great guilt for the adultery we have done. Maybe it came to light and we suffered for it. Maybe it is still a secret. Maybe it is still ongoing and we seem unable to stop. When this happens we need a savior.
John 8:2 At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. 3 The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group 4 and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5 In the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now, what do you say?” 6 They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.
But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. 7 When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let anyone of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.
9 At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. 10 Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”
11 “No one, sir,” she said.
“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”
So, for anyone guilty of sexual sin, including adultery, you savior is offering you full forgiveness. All you have to do is to stop doing what you have been doing. Jesus will take you back. You may have consequences to suffer, but Jesus loves you and want you to have a new life of abundant blessing.
I urge you not to have sex outside of marriage. Be faithful to your spouse because adultery is an offense against God. And if you are suffering from the effects of sexual sin then your savior is ready to forgive you and comfort you and set you on the right road. Let’s pray.
Father in heaven forgive us for all sexual sin and release us from guilt. Keep us away from temptations. Give us the strength to resist evil thoughts and actions. And keep us ever faithful to you and our family. This we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
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