Well, good morning Let's just get one thing out of the way right up front because a lot of you have been asking me about my wife's black eye And the only thing I can say to that is I promise you I did not have sex with that woman Oh, no, that's the wrong excuse. I'm sorry. No truth really last last week last Friday we were down at RTS graduation and Trying to do a good deed after the graduation my wife was trying to help a little lady across the street and We got her successfully across the street and then We took a turn and I was about a step-and-a-half in front of my wife So I had nothing to do with this you don't understand that I have built in deniability I was about a step-and-a-half ahead of her and all of a sudden I saw her come crashing down Next to me and unfortunately it was her cheek that broke her fall. She went down so fast she couldn't even get her hands out in front of her and It was a pretty nasty bump. She had a bump on the other side of the golf ball It was pretty nasty so that's what happens, okay now one more thing I want to get out of the way up front because there's something very special that's That's going to you know take place next week that you should all be aware of and Namely that Ron and Judy Lampeer have been married for 15 years Stand up stand up
Now that's a testimony in our day and age that's 50 years of Faithfulness between the two of them and that's something we're celebrating that something worth being Rejoried about and so I just wanted to honor them and that you know, they've been a great Support to this church. They have been they have served this church faithfully for over 30 years and They've been faithful to one another they've been faithful to the to God and They've been faithful to the people of God as well and we are very grateful for you and for your service So congratulations to Ron and Judy and blessings to you and may you have a happy happy happy 50th anniversary You know Some of you may remember that the media man Ted Turner several years ago made a statement and what he said was he said if you're only going to have 10 Commandments then a prohibition against adultery shouldn't be one of them Well this morning we're going to be looking at the seventh commandment in Exodus chapter 20 verse 14 Which deals with just such a prohibition a prohibition against adultery and in Exodus chapter 20 and verse 14 God says to Moses you shall not commit adultery just five words in English two words in Hebrew literally it says no adultery and This is a short commandment But what we're going to find out is is that it's very long on Meaning it's a short commandment, but it's long on Meaning and one of you know one of the things that I want you to see here that as we confess this morning that this commandment is a Prohibition against first of all adultery that is having sexual relations with someone other than your spouse and Number two with all sexual impurity that flows from it and thought word Indeed so what you can see is that while this is a very short commandment two words in the Hebrew no adultery It is very long on Meaning and the first thing that I want you to see here with respect to this commandment is this very strong negative that it begins with no No adultery This is a strong strong strong
Negative and you know what's interesting is is I think as I thought about that this week and as I in particularly these last few days it dawned on me We don't like negatives very much. Do we? We don't like the word no We don't like people to tell us no doing there's something about our human nature There's something about our fallen human nature that just doesn't like the word no Almost from the time we come out of the womb and some of you have brand new children here this morning almost right and you can notice that right away Before the child can even think for himself or speak for themselves They understand something don't they huh and you understand something and You understand that they don't like the word no and you never liked it either and quite frankly We've we've never really grown up in that regard. Have we or we we tolerated a little bit more but nobody likes the word no Nobody likes negatives and we especially don't like strong negatives. Do we? You know if you think about it the South has made a whole culture out of that and Anybody how many of you were raised in the South? Okay, I am half and half Okay, I'm half Yankee past southerner my mother was a southerner my father was a Yankee you want to talk about World War two all right But when I moved down here I had to learn something that I never knew before and That is that southerners the culture of the South is such as this that southerners don't like to say no They don't like to in fact they don't like to say anything directly to you that is negative I Don't know if you've had that experience before but I've been in meetings and I've gone in With ideas and requests and all kinds of things you know talking to my some of my superiors down here in the South and And I will say something like you know, I think I think this is a good idea You know we ought to do we ought to do blah blah blah blah blah blah and then if the person's from the South They'll say You know that's really a pretty good idea. How about we put that on the agenda and we'll talk about that next week
Now what they mean is Is that the worst thinking idea that I have ever heard in my entire life and we're never gonna do that? That's the culture of the South. They've made a whole culture out of you know of dancing around the idea of having to say no and
And you know what it's true We don't like the word no we don't like negatives. We don't like strong Negatives and guess what you know, where where did this whole thing start right this whole thing started back in the garden the garden of Eden You know if you think about that think about what God said God created Everything that exists in the world and he created man and woman and he placed him in the garden He says I'm going to give you everything I'm going to give you all of the birds of the air. I'm gonna give you all of the beasts of the fields I'm gonna give you every green plant and growing thing on the face of this whole earth I'm gonna give you the fish of the sea. I'm gonna give you every Creature that has the breath of life in it Now think about that for a minute. What God is saying there is one big yes God is saying yes to everyone about everything Everywhere and you know right up into that point Man and God we're doing okay more than and then what happens next? God says You shall not There's that negative. There's that strong negative You shall not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the midst of the garden and the day that you eat there of it You will surely die And guess what that's when everything changed didn't One no all of those yeses Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes to the birds of the field yet the birds of the air yes to the beasts of the field yes to the fish and the sea Yes to every creature that has the breath of life in it. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, that's for you And one day Everything went downhill from there. You see beloved we don't like Negatives very much do we we don't like strong negatives do we we don't like the word no we don't do no Do we listen to me folks we cannot say yes Where God says where God says yes We have to say yes and where God says no We must say no and God says no to adultery and all of the sins of impurity that flow from it You cannot say no where God says yes and And act as if it is of no consequence. I can tell you this That I have seen places Before where people have said yes where God has said no in this respect and it has ended up an absolute devastation and destruction Of themselves of their souls of their families of their homes of their friends of their jobs you name it You start saying yes where God says no and it will destroy your lives and everything around it in his path
This is a strong strong
Negative God says no to adultery and to all sexual sin that flows from it And so the first thing I want you to see here is that this is a very strong Negative the second thing that I want you to see here is that this Sin sexual sin is absolutely unique if you look in first Corinthians and Chapter 6 Beginning with verse 18 The Apostle Paul says flee from sexual immorality Listen carefully all other sins a man commits are outside his body But he who sins sexually sins against his own body Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you whom you have received from God You are not your own You were bought at a price therefore on our God with your body Do you see what's happening here? You see what Paul just did What Paul just did Look at careful what Paul just did is he took all other sin and put it in one category and Then out from that he separated one particular type or kind of sin namely sexual immorality and he put that in a category by itself Paul is treating sexual sin as something that is absolutely unique from all other sin in this description Paul has all their sin on the one side and he's got sexual sin on the other Do you see what's going on here? What he's doing is he's treating sexual sin as something absolutely unique Now that's not to say that sexual sin and all other sin are not equal in terms of how offensive they are to God or By how guilty they make us before God they're equal in that sense all sin together Equally is equally offensive to God and equally makes us guilty before God But what he is doing is he is separating sexual sin from all other sin According to its nature and according to its effects and That that ought to give us pause Paul is putting sexual sins in a category by themselves and what that means folks That means sexual sin is serious. That means we cannot trivialize it. That means we cannot minimize it That means we cannot marginalize it. That means that we cannot just go around saying well It's just about sex or it's no big deal or it doesn't really matter. No, it matters profoundly and if you don't think so Then you just talk to some of my friends who are here this morning Who are either committed sexual sin or been the victim of sexual sin and they will tell you that this matters deeply They will tell you that this sin like no other sin this sin of adultery and fornication and impurity of every kind What they will tell you that this sin wreaks havoc not only on their personal lives not only on their souls But against their spouses their future spouses their children their family their friends their homes their jobs and on and on and on and on and on and on This sin this unique special kind of sin that Paul sets apart from all other sin will destroy Everything around you and everything in his path
Some of these people are here this morning By God's grace. He has bought redemption and he has bought reconciliation
But let me tell you something if you were to talk to these people Let me tell you something They will tell you every one of them This is very very serious and that their lives in spite of the redemption In spite of the reconciliation Their lives will never be the same again. Did you hear me?
This sin means that your lives will never be the same again I have an old friend when I was first in the ministry We met Like many of the young men here abled Cisco and by the way, thanks for filling in today Abled did a great job today and able to be fun in next week because everybody know Abel over here. You seen Abel Abel wave your hand. Okay Thanks very much. We appreciate that Jared and Jeff and
Kevin and some of these young men around here who are doing you know kind of a bivocational thing right there They're working either at school or at work and they're also engaged in the ministry They're having to do both as they train Omar Same thing. That's how I started out Started it out up in Gainesville actually And oh by the way now that I've mentioned Gainesville. Let me just let me just take a parenthesis here. Okay. All right How about Billy Donovan? Whoo Sorry gator fans I've never liked the gators very much boy do I love Billy Donovan but I started out up in Gainesville Bivocationally is working at a small ethnic church mostly African-American working with economically disadvantaged youth and I met a man we became friends he was my boss And I knew he was fooling around on his wife And I said to this man now you think about this all right Just move down here first job This is my boss And I pulled him aside and I said to my friend I said I know what's going on and I know you're cheating on your wife And I know she doesn't know about it yet and I know your family doesn't know about this yet in God's province But they're gonna find out you have a window of time right here right now to get this right to stop what you're doing But I said mark my words my friend if you don't Change your behavior if you don't turn your life around then this is what's going to happen You're going to hurt yourself You're going to do irrequitable damage to your soul You're gonna lose your wife you're gonna lose your daughter you're gonna lose your family You're gonna lose your friends you're gonna lose your job and everything around you is going to crumble And be completely unrecognizable anymore to you
Not only a couple weeks later one of his co-workers Called his wife and told her what he was doing and then she left him and his daughter left him Then he lost his house Then he lost his job And then one day he walked into her place of employment He pulled out a revolver He put it in his belly And he shot himself He missed his spine and every other vital organ by about a quarter inch
My friend lived Physically he lived But inside of him I want you to know That he died He was never again the same
I nursed and nurtured and counseled that man for ten years Long after I had even moved down here and began to go to seminary here and go to school here for ten years Ten long Hard years and I want to tell you that at the end of that ten years inside he was just as dead as the day we started
And he and his wife went back and forth for a while maybe getting back together maybe not getting back together together Together not together together not together we counsel both of them my wife and I For ten years And then she finally left him for good The ironic thing is is you know what this man After what he did to his wife and after seemingly not caring for his wife He was totally consumed from that point on With nothing but his wife he was dead that everything else except the idea getting his wife back
Which was never going to happen that man finally did meet another woman The young lady who loves him very much God has been merciful and graceful and given them two more children twins I don't see my old friend much anymore and we don't talk much anymore We've just sort of drifted apart He's never really gotten right not right with God Not right for what he did Not right with those season friends and even though All these good things have happened to him now a new wife a new home a new job a new beginning in many ways and two brand new beautiful babies
We have a few mutual appointments to Call me every once in a while to tell me about my friend And even in spite of all that goodness that has happened to him They tell me He's just not the same anymore something still very much dead Inside of him Love what you need to see here is that sexual sin Is very much different from any other kind of sin It's equal In terms of how it is in terms of offense to God and how it makes us guilty before God But in terms of its nature and its consequences is very much different and in that regard I'm going to make a very bold statement right here to you
But I believe it's true You're going to think it's unbelievable when I tell it to you But in that regard, folks I think sexual sin and in terms of its nature and its consequence And especially its effects Is much more severe than murder The the people that I have encountered who have experienced loss of life Seem to rebound much quicker than people who have been the victims of sexual sin The people that I know who have lost someone due to violence or murder The lines are clearer Who's guilty and who's not guilty is clearer
The loss of life is final. There's no there's no hope of ever getting that back And people seem to deal with that better and more effectively The effects seem to be less in terms of its consequences But adultery and fornication and all the sexual sins of impurity that flow from it They linger They don't just disappear The lines are not always clear And the effects are devastating and destructive Much more I think than most every other sin And maybe that's why Paul says and first Corinthians, there's all these other sins Including murder And then there's sexual sin Do you understand what that means, beloved? That means that we cannot we cannot minimize this sin It is serious Whether you're talking about adultery Whether you're talking about formication Whether you're talking about pornography Whether you're talking about pedophilia Whether you're talking about incest Whether you're talking about All the other kinds of perversions That you can think of
And don't think The pornography Is any less damaging to you and those around you Than Committing adultery and fornication If you don't believe me Then believe Jesus would you please look at Matthew chapter 5
And here what I want you to see Is not only the strong negative no adultery Not only the fact that this sin is absolutely unique from other sins But here what I want you to see is that It requires a radical remedy It requires a radical remedy Jesus says in chapter 5 of Matthew verse 27 You have heard That it was said Do not commit adultery But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart If your right eye causes you to soon Gowd you 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 And if your right hand causes you to sin 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 And to hell You see what Jesus is saying folks Jesus isn't saying that if you're sinning then self-mutilation is the answer to sin It's not what he's saying What he's saying here is that this requires a very radical remedy And notice the context the context here is adultery All right, and notice that this goes right for the heart The thing that separates adultery and fornication and the other sins that flow from them Of sexual impurity the thing that separates them from the other sins is that this starts in the heart exclusively Remember what turn off said you should I've quoted them a number of times here You ought to have a memorize by now turn on said I don't know what the heart of a bad man looks like But I know what the heart of a good man looks like And it's terrible this is a sin of the heart it flows from the heart and that's what Jesus is talking about He's saying look don't think don't please don't think you're off the hook if you haven't physically committed adultery with somebody else's spouse Please don't think you're off the hook Jesus saying if you look at another woman with lust in your eyes and you are committing adultery What that shows you is that this is a heart sin and that it flows from the heart
and then It bleeds all over and to all the other sins of sexual Immorality He is saying that this requires a radical remedy It has to be cut off It has to be plucked out It has to be cast off radical You're having to I don't know how many of you know the story back in The summer 2003 where Aaron Ralston was climbing rock climbing in Utah
Climbing around in the national parks in Utah and It was just going to be a day hike day climb I'm going to be back before dark And as he was climbing he put his hand in a crack And the wall of the canyon And an eight hundred pound boulder Rolled just a little bit on his arm and he couldn't get it out So he took out his doll pocket knife And he tried to chip around the boulder to loosen some pieces of rock So he might build a widower's arm away And that didn't work And so he made a pulley system out of the ropes that he had He rigged up a pulley system he threw them around the big rock He tried to manipulate the rock just to move it maybe just even an eighth or a quarter of an inch to pull his arm three And that failed In five days his Three-liter bottle of water was dry And all of his food was gone And he was stuck on this rock No one knew he was there He had no way to contact anybody He was going to die and that's when he took Radical action He broke his wrist on the rock by turning his body In snap his wrist And he took that doll pocket knife and he cut through the skin Through the muscle Through the ligaments and through the bone And he amputated his arm He then repelled with one hand 60 feet down to the floor of the canyon He walked six miles to a farmer's house Where he finally got help He's alive today Because his situation required a radical remedy It was better to cut off his arm and live Than to die with his arm Beloved sexual sin Is an eight hundred pound boulder And unless you are willing to take radical action To take a radical remedy
It will kill you Remember what Owen said about sin John Owen that famous Puritan divine Always be killing sin Or sin Will be killing you Let's pray Father, we do Thank you for Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior the one Who was pure In every way Who was without sin And yet the one who knows our infirmities Knows our weaknesses is able to sympathize with our humanity
And Lord we pray That as we are Confronted with the weight And the gravity of your law And it's perfect standard of what it requires That we would understand That we have a Savior Who has met that requirement And met that standard And because of that We have redemption And reconciliation Because of that we can love our God With all of our strength and heart And soul and might and body And we can love one another And our neighbors As ourselves O Lord, your people move much grace and much mercy We pray that you give it to them in Christ's name
Let's stand
Now has been The forever will be Great is thy faithfulness Great is thy faithfulness Morning by morning You mercy I see All I have
Great is thy faithfulness Lord unto me Sutter and spring time and harvest Some moon and stars in their courses of love Join me in your in-ness To thy great faithfulness mercy And great is thy faithfulness Great is thy faithfulness Morning by morning I see Thy untold Borsen And a peace that Endors us to cheer and to guide Strength for today For tomorrow Blessings of mine With 10,000 beside Great is thy faithfulness Great is thy faithfulness Mercy is I see All great On to Greatness Lord May we see them