MARRIAGE MADE SPECIAL
Therefore, a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. 25 And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.
So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.
- Genesis 2:24-25; Matthew 19:6
MARRIAGE MADE SPECIAL
“Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away?” 8 He said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. 9 And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery.”
Matthew 19:7-10
MARRIAGE MADE SPECIAL
In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church . . . This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. 33 However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.
Ephesians 5:28-29, 33
COMMANDMENT 7
You shall not commit adultery.
-Exodus 20:14
#6 YOU SHALL NOT MURDER
YOU SHALL NOT
COMMIT ADULTERY
#8 YOU SHALL NOT STEAL
נָאַף (na’aph) PICTOGRAPH
PEY
ALEPH
NUN
mouth, scatter,
opening, boundary
life, seed, fish, heir,
next generation
strength, power
leadership, yoked
Defiling (Peh) the strength & foundation (Aleph) of the lineage/house (Nun)
“If a man commits adultery with the wife of his neighbor, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.
-Leviticus 20:10
This command required EVERY MAN to
GUARD ALL
MARRIAGE COVENANTS
JOSEPH
Genesis 39
But Joseph refused. “Look,” he told her, “my master trusts me with everything in his entire household. 9 No one here has more authority than I do. He has held back nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How could I do such a wicked thing? It would be a great sin against God.”
–Genesis 39:8-9
WARNINGS OF ADULTERY
Deuteronomy 22:22-30
Numbers 5:11-29
Proverbs 5:1-5, 15-23
He who commits adultery lacks sense; he who does it destroys himself.
-Proverbs 6:32
Mankind had turned a sacred marital gift into an impulse of
self-condemning gratification
KING DAVID
2 Samuel 11-12
It happened, late one afternoon, when David arose from his couch and was walking on the roof of the king's house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful. . .
So David sent messengers and took her, and she came to him, and he lay with her.
-2 Samuel 11:2,4
In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah. 15 In the letter he wrote, “Set Uriah in the forefront of the hardest fighting, and then draw back from him, that he may be struck down, and die.”
-2 Samuel 11:14-15
PATTERN OF BEHAVIOR WE FIND IN SCRIPTURE
SEE desire take hide
After centuries of
adulterous behavior
Jesus came to clarify what is the true root of our recklessness
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
-Matthew 5:27-28
The eye is the lamp of the body. Therefore, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how terrible that darkness will be!
-Mark 6:22-23
PORNOGRAPHY
Roughly 78% of adult men and 44% of adult women consume pornography to some extent – Covenant Eyes
PORNOGRAPHY
Roughly 78% of adult men and 44% of adult women consume pornography to some extent – Covenant Eyes
54% of practicing Christians watch pornography, including
75% of Christian men and 40% of Christian women – Barna Group
PORNOGRAPHY
Doubles the Risk of Divorce
American Sociological Association
Erodes Trust / Security / Safety
Utah State University studies
Creates Sexual Dysfunction
National Institutes of Health
Fosters Aggressive/Deviant Behaviors
C.S. Lewis institute
Pornography replaces true sexual connection with a cheap and selfish counterfeit.
Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.
-1 Peter 2:11
Sexual lust is an active spiritual assault, eroding a person's conscience and desire for Holiness.
I will ponder the way that is blameless. Oh when will you come to me? I will walk with integrity of heart within my house; 3 I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless.
-Psalm 101:2-3
LUST IS NOT TO BE SIMPLY RESTRAINED.
IT IS TO BE
MURDERED!
So put to death the parts of your life that belong to the earth, such as sexual immorality, moral corruption, lust, evil desire, and greed (which is idolatry). 6 The wrath of God is coming upon disobedient people because of these things.
-Colossians 3:5-6
If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell.
-Matthew 5:29-30
How can we safeguard our marriage?
What hazards are to be avoided?
PATTERNS THAT LEAD TO ADULTERY
PATTERNS THAT LEAD TO ADULTERY
But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband. 3 The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband.
-1 Corinthians 7:2-3
Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.
-1 Corinthians 7:5
PATTERNS THAT LEAD TO ADULTERY
PATTERNS THAT LEAD TO ADULTERY
WHAT ARE SOME KEY COMPONENTS OF A HEALTHY MARRIAGE?
STRONG MARRIAGES . . .
Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.
-Hebrews 11:4
DON'T TRADE YOUR FOREVER FOR A “RIGHT-NOW”
Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. -1 Corinthians 6:10
And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
-1 Corinthians 6:11