THE SEVENTH COMMANDMENT
(Exodus 20:14)
Just a few weeks ago, the most popular evangelical preacher in Indiana was discovered to have committed adultery on his wife, the daughter of another famous charismatic preacher in that state. Strangely enough, the 54 year old married father and husband had just recently completed a sermon series on youth and pre-marital sex, when a deacon accidentally found his cell phone. The preacher had left his smartphone on the pulpit and as the deacon was about to return the phone, a photo popped up in a text from a 17 year old college kid which showed this famous preacher and the co-ed in an extremely uncompromising position.
Within days, this man was fired by the church and is still under investigation by the local authorities and the FBI to see if he ever crossed state lines with an underage girl! How can something like this happen to a man of God? How can he allow himself to fall into not just an adulterous relationship of any kind, but more specifically with potentially a minor? How? How? How?
The answer is SIN! All kinds of sin are always crouching at the door and many of us choose to answer the knock and invite them in! Sin is exceedingly sinful and too many children of God choose to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short season, after which comes the destructive consequences which last a lifetime or 1000's of years! Too bad King David did not heed the warning of King Jesus, Whose Spirit lived in David at the time he stayed back on purpose to spy on Bathsheba, when he should have been at the head of his army. Here is what Jesus said in Matthew 5: 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".
King David knew exactly what he was doing. He broke that first rule where his eyes were fixed on a neighbor, knowing fully well who her husband was. Uriah the Hittite was one of David's "Mighty Men" (read 1 Chronicles 11) - Close friends who stood with him for years when Saul was trying to kill him. These mighty men gave their lives to serve this king and Uriah was repaid for his loyalty and friendship by having David kill him and steal his only wife (when David already had other beautiful wives)! The consequences of David's sin are still with us, just as those of, not just this, yet another fallen pastor or anyone who wrecks an entire family by breaking the Seventh Commandment. David's sin led to the completely breakup of mighty Israelite empire which will never be restored until the Second Coming of Jesus Christ and the 1000 year reign from Jerusalem. There will be no chance of Sin in this Kingdom, because Jesus Himself will be sitting on the Throne in Jerusalem!
Our great God put that Commandment in there for a reason - He wanted a pure, sinless and holy people who would show their loyalty to Him by how we show our loyalty to our spouses and families. It was immediately violated, both before and after the giving of the Law on Mt Sinai to Moses and continues to this day.
Temptation to sin is as natural as breathing air. It is all around us and we have all been tempted in this sin more than once. The next thing is this - if you are a Bible believing Christian who is up front about who you are and WHOSE you are, the devil has the biggest bullseye on your forehead as well as your back. He, the devil, wants to destroy the effectiveness of your testimony for Christ. This way, if we give in to his temptation, the world he now controls for a short time more, will look at the rest of us with open contempt and disgust! How many more times should we be have to be called "hypocrites" and worse or have some unbelieving pagan say "I knew he/she was a fake all along"....and more and more, this is happening in youth groups, between choir members or best friends who are married to other people!
If anyone tells you that he or she has never been tempted with this sin, and offered up forbidden fruit for the taking, they have just broken another commandment - LYING! Even worse, they have now opened up themselves to be tempted even more by the devil! Because of this specific pride and stupidity, they are now in MORE danger than the man or woman who humbly seeks God's protection from this evil!
Christians who flirt with disaster by continually talking about sex or watching provocative TV shows, movies etc are sowing the seeds of their own destruction by opening up with minds to thoughts of the "grass being greener" elsewhere where the first opportunity to grab a hold of that forbidden fruit may not be successfully fought off! The devil can't make us sin. All he can do is serve up the dish. All we SHOULD do is refuse his hand and walk away from it as fast as we can.
God uses several pro-active words to exhort us to go as far away from temptation when this type of thing happens. He uses words like "resist the devil and he will flee from you"..."flee immorality"..."flee the desires of youthful lusts"...in fact the word "Flee" is used quite a bit! In the Greek language it is "pheugo" which specifically means seek the absolute safety of escaping and running AWAY from danger! There is nothing cowardly of doing what a Christian is supposed to do when confronted by a floozy with bedroom eyes, who may dress or smell better than the wife you left at home with the screaming kids and the snotty noses! Run like hell from those types of women (or men)! Literally! Take to heart what the Admiral (NBA star David Robinson) once said "If it comes down to my wife getting hurt and some other women (made a pass at him), his wife is not going to be the one hurt".
This is another way of repeating what Jesus said in Malachi 2:15 "Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union? And what was the one God seeking? Godly offspring. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth." If we live by these words and stay close to the Word of God....if we love our families as much as we say we love God....and if we CONSTANTLY remember to guard our hearts, there is less chance of actually breaking this most important of Commandments, no matter how intense the spiritual warfare against us and our souls!
Amen
Within days, this man was fired by the church and is still under investigation by the local authorities and the FBI to see if he ever crossed state lines with an underage girl! How can something like this happen to a man of God? How can he allow himself to fall into not just an adulterous relationship of any kind, but more specifically with potentially a minor? How? How? How?
The answer is SIN! All kinds of sin are always crouching at the door and many of us choose to answer the knock and invite them in! Sin is exceedingly sinful and too many children of God choose to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short season, after which comes the destructive consequences which last a lifetime or 1000's of years! Too bad King David did not heed the warning of King Jesus, Whose Spirit lived in David at the time he stayed back on purpose to spy on Bathsheba, when he should have been at the head of his army. Here is what Jesus said in Matthew 5: 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".
King David knew exactly what he was doing. He broke that first rule where his eyes were fixed on a neighbor, knowing fully well who her husband was. Uriah the Hittite was one of David's "Mighty Men" (read 1 Chronicles 11) - Close friends who stood with him for years when Saul was trying to kill him. These mighty men gave their lives to serve this king and Uriah was repaid for his loyalty and friendship by having David kill him and steal his only wife (when David already had other beautiful wives)! The consequences of David's sin are still with us, just as those of, not just this, yet another fallen pastor or anyone who wrecks an entire family by breaking the Seventh Commandment. David's sin led to the completely breakup of mighty Israelite empire which will never be restored until the Second Coming of Jesus Christ and the 1000 year reign from Jerusalem. There will be no chance of Sin in this Kingdom, because Jesus Himself will be sitting on the Throne in Jerusalem!
Our great God put that Commandment in there for a reason - He wanted a pure, sinless and holy people who would show their loyalty to Him by how we show our loyalty to our spouses and families. It was immediately violated, both before and after the giving of the Law on Mt Sinai to Moses and continues to this day.
Temptation to sin is as natural as breathing air. It is all around us and we have all been tempted in this sin more than once. The next thing is this - if you are a Bible believing Christian who is up front about who you are and WHOSE you are, the devil has the biggest bullseye on your forehead as well as your back. He, the devil, wants to destroy the effectiveness of your testimony for Christ. This way, if we give in to his temptation, the world he now controls for a short time more, will look at the rest of us with open contempt and disgust! How many more times should we be have to be called "hypocrites" and worse or have some unbelieving pagan say "I knew he/she was a fake all along"....and more and more, this is happening in youth groups, between choir members or best friends who are married to other people!
If anyone tells you that he or she has never been tempted with this sin, and offered up forbidden fruit for the taking, they have just broken another commandment - LYING! Even worse, they have now opened up themselves to be tempted even more by the devil! Because of this specific pride and stupidity, they are now in MORE danger than the man or woman who humbly seeks God's protection from this evil!
Christians who flirt with disaster by continually talking about sex or watching provocative TV shows, movies etc are sowing the seeds of their own destruction by opening up with minds to thoughts of the "grass being greener" elsewhere where the first opportunity to grab a hold of that forbidden fruit may not be successfully fought off! The devil can't make us sin. All he can do is serve up the dish. All we SHOULD do is refuse his hand and walk away from it as fast as we can.
God uses several pro-active words to exhort us to go as far away from temptation when this type of thing happens. He uses words like "resist the devil and he will flee from you"..."flee immorality"..."flee the desires of youthful lusts"...in fact the word "Flee" is used quite a bit! In the Greek language it is "pheugo" which specifically means seek the absolute safety of escaping and running AWAY from danger! There is nothing cowardly of doing what a Christian is supposed to do when confronted by a floozy with bedroom eyes, who may dress or smell better than the wife you left at home with the screaming kids and the snotty noses! Run like hell from those types of women (or men)! Literally! Take to heart what the Admiral (NBA star David Robinson) once said "If it comes down to my wife getting hurt and some other women (made a pass at him), his wife is not going to be the one hurt".
This is another way of repeating what Jesus said in Malachi 2:15 "Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union? And what was the one God seeking? Godly offspring. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth." If we live by these words and stay close to the Word of God....if we love our families as much as we say we love God....and if we CONSTANTLY remember to guard our hearts, there is less chance of actually breaking this most important of Commandments, no matter how intense the spiritual warfare against us and our souls!
Amen
(Image by Google)
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