Two readings from the New Testament this evening. We're turning first to a short portion of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5 at verse 27. And what Jesus is doing, of course, in the section of the Sermon on the Mount is not dispensing with the Old Testament law or contradicting it, but he's correcting what were common misrepresentations of what God's Word said. And we thought of that Last time in our study, the commandments, thou shalt not murder, and what Jesus says there regarding the nature of murder begins in the heart. 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 sin, 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. 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 into hell. And then turning over to Paul's letter to the Ephesians, Ephesians chapter 5, and we're beginning to read at verse number 22. Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Saviour. Now, as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word. and to present her to himself as a radiant church without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church, for we are members of his body. For this reason, a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. This is a profound mystery, but I am talking about Christ and the Church. However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband." If we look at the statistics, It's clear that marriage is an institution in crisis right across Europe and in other parts of the world. Think of the United Kingdom. We look at the official figures. They would indicate that some 41%, 42% of marriages will end in divorce. That's not the worst by any means. France figures something like 65%. A number of European countries, it's certainly over half. And Luxembourg, remarkably, 88.9% of marriages will end in divorce. Marriage under pressure. And we think of the multitudes who suffer as a result of it, those in the marriage, the children especially, the damage that is done to huge numbers with the destruction of marriage. And we see in our country declining marriage rates. You see redefinition of marriage, of course, that we've had to deal with in recent days. We now have no-fault divorce in the nation, where no responsibility has to be taken by any party. And more and more, you see that marriage is under tremendous pressure. Indeed, multitudes see no need for it, it's reckoned some 88% of those who marry have already cohabited before they marry. Society in the church needs to hear the biblical view of marriage and that comes to a focus in the commandment that we look at this evening, the seventh commandment there in Exodus 20 and verse 14, you shall not commit adultery. Like all the commandments, however, we'll see it's wide ranging and covers a number of very important issues, tempting perhaps to keep it very narrow in its focus, but you see in its biblical context and it touches on many significant issues, even within the church. As we think of the seventh commandment, We need to begin with the biblical pattern, the biblical pattern. If we're going to understand the problems that society is wrestling with and often failing to deal with, we need to begin with the positive. We need to begin with the biblical pattern. Because the prohibition, as in a number of the commandments, that you shall not, the prohibition assumes a God-given standard, a God-given pattern here for marriage. Genesis 2.24 shows it's a creation ordinance, as we call it. It's not society's good idea. It's not something that evolved over the centuries. It is a God-given institution right at the very beginning of the human race. Genesis 2.24, for this reason, a man will leave his father and mother and be united, or would cleave, or will stick to, really, you could translate it, his wife, and they will become one flesh. I'll just reiterate it in the New Testament. The Lord Jesus Christ, when he was being questioned about divorce, when the Pharisees were trying to draw him into an unguarded statement, Jesus spells out in Matthew 19, 5, exactly in those words of Genesis 2, there is the divine pattern for marriage. an exclusive union of one man and one woman, however much our society would portray it in other ways, one man and one woman in the closest possible union of spirit, mind, emotions, body, two persons being, in a sense, glued together in a union that God ultimately establishes. And there is the beginning of a new family unit. And sometimes, of course, it takes time for the partners to really understand it's a new unit. It can be hard sometimes, too, for parents to understand this is a new family unit, but established ultimately by God. Now, some will say, ah, but Look at the Old Testament. Didn't Abraham have more than one wife? And what about King David, the number of wives? Solomon. We're looking at Solomon and Sabbath mornings. What about those examples? That doesn't fit the Genesis pattern, and to which we have to respond in a very few cases. God permitted that. For most, it was the union of one man, one woman, Genesis 2. And when you look at the biblical description of those families that didn't fit the Genesis 2 pattern, what do you see? You see conflict. You see tension. You think of Abraham with Sarah and Hagar. Hagar sent off into the wilderness, the conflict that was there. Think later of Jacob, more than one wife, and the conflicts in the family there, and the pain and the hardship that that must have brought. Remember the description of David's family. In modern terms, a dysfunctional family, isn't it? Even down to the violent revolt of Absalom. and all that happened within David's family. And what those examples show us is not that Genesis 2 isn't the pattern. What they show us is that if you ignore the pattern of Genesis 2, you're setting yourself up for trouble. To depart from God's ordinance is foolish. Significant description of the wife in Malachi 2 and 14. And this, again, is helpful in understanding the biblical pattern for marriage. Malachi 2.14, she is your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant. Now, why is that important? Well, the Bible describes marriage as a covenant relationship. And that's in sharp contrast to the view in our own society of marriage as a contract. What's the difference? Well, a contract, if two parties, they agree to certain terms, and once the terms are broken, well, the contract is at an end. Or if the two agree, they simply walk away from the contract. And you see that working out in our society, of course. a contract that can be terminated when both parties have had enough, and more and more when one party has had enough. A covenant, on the other hand, is a bond of loving commitment by both partners. Yes, it's entered into freely, certainly, but it is a binding covenant that is established in marriage, like all the covenants of Scripture. Marriage is simply an example of covenant, and we've talked a lot about that, of course, in 1 Kings. Covenant is not something that is disposable. You'll hear people say, maybe you've heard them say, well, we don't love each other anymore, so just walk away from the marriage. It's over. The feeling's gone, and so marriage is at an end. That might be in a contract, but in a covenant it is not the end. In a covenant there is both love and law. There is a binding commitment that is made and that is based fundamentally on giving. That's the nature of covenant because in God's covenant with us as Christians, God gives himself to us and takes us as his people. And so when marriage is understood as a covenant, it is fundamentally an issue of giving, self-giving, and of a commitment that is not disposable or dispensable at will. Self-giving is the core of a biblical idea of covenant, and self-giving is the core of a biblical view of marriage. So it is a God-ordained institution. And it is there in that context that God has given where the physical sexual relationship finds its rightful place. Genesis 2 talks about one flesh. Now, immediately, of course, our minds tend to think of the physical when you read that. Now, one flesh includes everything that's involved in the marriage, includes the mental, it includes the emotional, every part of the person, but it does include the physical. And biblical religion, as we know, has a very high regard for the body. It's Greek thinking to despise the body and suggest only the spirit matters. That's not biblical. The body is God's good creation. The physical is God's good creation. And therefore, the physical expression involved in marriage is God's good gift, not something distasteful, not something to be ashamed of, but something in which God's people can delight if that is His will for them. It's to be seen as something that is beautiful. something that is joyful. And the Bible is very forthright regarding the physical relationship in marriage, more so perhaps than some in our culture can cope with. Proverbs 5, 18 tells us, may you rejoice in the wife of your youth. And then you open up the Song of Solomon. And there are passages in the Song of Solomon that we might incline to find somewhat embarrassing. They are extremely forthright regarding a physical relationship. Now, yes, and not for a moment denying that the Song of Solomon has an application to the relationship of Christ and His church, and we'll come back to that later. But first of all, it is a celebration of human marriage and human love. And a part of that is most clearly in the Song of Solomon, the physical relationship. Now, to some degree, perhaps, it's a generational thing. Those of us maybe older may find it more difficult to read passages that we find in the Song of Solomon. It's been striking in the course of a long time in the ministry, and in preparing folk for marriage. One of the changes is how readily the younger generations now will talk about the physical aspects of marriage compared to perhaps early on in ministry. And that reflects some things in our culture, but I think it's not all bad if there is a greater awareness that this is God's good gift. And the world needs to hear about the God-given pattern. And God's people, Christians, need to make it a reality that the world can see. You know the caricatures of Christians' attitude to the physical and the sexual that were hung up on the negative. And the church is portrayed as anti-sex. You'll have heard that. You can read it. That's the view. And sometimes, of course, the church has given that attitude, and you think of the tradition of celibacy, and that's the highest calling, and to be a monk, whatever, that's what the really keen Christians would do, and that's not biblical. Celibacy, singleness may well be God's calling, and that can change at different stages in life. But It is a good God-given pattern that's to be viewed positively and portrayed positively by God's people. And, of course, our young folk particularly need clear biblical instruction on these issues. They are going into a world. They're living in the world. You younger folk here this evening, you know this. The culture in which you are living is a million miles away from a biblical attitude to these issues. And Christians, in their views about marriage, about physical relationships, are utterly weird as far as our culture is concerned. People are baffled at the views of Christians. And the pressures on Christian young people are tremendous. And they need to be encouraged and prepared and strengthened to go into that world and live consistently for the Lord. And if marriage is God's calling to them, then they need preparation particularly for that. The biblical pattern. But then, secondly, we want to think about the fatal attraction. fatal attraction, because Satan exploits every opportunity to present temptation, and he wants to bring God's people down. And the area of sexuality presents many opportunities for the enemy. And of course, the world, very quick, to spot and to point out the failings of the church, and there have been International ministries in the last few years have simply been destroyed by the behavior of those in leadership. And the world's delighted. There you are. We always knew you Christians were a pack of hypocrites. And look at him and him and him and him. There are plenty of examples, sadly, tragically. In the Old Testament, interesting, adultery was defined as a husband with a married woman or by the wife with any man. When we come to the New Testament, what we see is absolute equality between husband and wife. The duties, the privileges, the responsibilities of both are equal. And the seriousness, of course, of adultery And the breaking of the commandment is it breaks the one-flesh covenant that we've spoken of in Genesis 2. Paul puts it this way, 1 Corinthians 6, 16. He who unites himself with a prostitute becomes one body with her. Very powerful language that Paul is using. We can apply it to marriage. We can apply it to other relationships as well, to the area of sexual relations before marriage. And we just quoted the percentage of those entering marriage who've already cohabited, huge percentage. And Christians have opportunity for a very clear witness to God's pattern in that regard. We can apply it to homosexual acts, to a range of ways in which God's pattern is dishonored. because each of them is really denigrating God's gift and abusing God's good gift. And as we have been saying with regard to other commandments, and Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount spells it out, the issue, first of all, is in the heart. Matthew 5, 28, anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. It's first a sin in the mind, even if never translated into an outward act. And of course, the enemy knows that this is a tremendously challenging area, particularly in the culture we are living in. You know, especially with social media and with the internet, immorality is pressed in upon people. in ways many of us even don't understand, thankfully, today. But so many ways in which ungodliness is being pressed in on people, that it is difficult to escape and takes conscious effort to escape. And it weighs on our thoughts, our attitudes, if we are not on our guard. And the enemy is active in many ways. We need vigilance. And there are ways, of course, when we can be helping, particularly young people under those pressures, to safeguard them and to help them and encourage them in this regard. We'll come back to that in a moment. The biblical pattern, the fatal attraction, Thirdly, the positive safeguards. The positive safeguards. It's not enough to be negative. And that's the danger, of course, if you look at this, and you shall not, and it's just not doing things. But we need the positive safeguard, the steps to be taken to help us to avoid breaking the commandment. Because we're in danger if we become complacent. On Corinthians 10, 12, if you think you're standing, take heed lest you fall. The complacent are in greater danger than others. And of course, fundamentally, most obviously, by God's grace, we're to cultivate healthy marriages, to give attention to biblical teaching, and to spend time being one flesh, spending time together, sharing interests. We're not suggesting you live in each other's pockets. Really uncomfortable. You're different individuals. But if there is no sharing of common interests and activities, then that is a dangerous thing. We're always saying marriage preparation, good communication, is essential. One thing the church perhaps needs to do in the busyness of church life, now we've got away from some of that with the restrictions and the lockdown, but sometimes the church can be the enemy of healthy marriages when it simply loads on more and more activities and people end up feeling guilty if they're not out every night of the week doing something in the church, and perhaps rarely even as a couple. And that can be a destructive thing, and the church needs to be on its guard as far as that is concerned. Scripture would also exhort us very clearly to maintain biblical attitudes to one another. Again, if you're thinking of issues of the heart and the mind, how we think of others is extremely important. And so Paul, in 1 Timothy 5, says this mixture of issues, but you'll see the importance of it. And if we follow that pattern, then there are safeguards built in that will help to protect us from some of the pressure, some of the temptations that the enemy would bring. Again, with young folk, perhaps it can also help to resist sometimes the pressures towards a kind of early linking up in relationships and putting a lot of pressure on that can be damaging and harmful. There needs to be a getting to know, a wide range of contemporaries before discerning the Lord's will, perhaps if it is marriage or if it's not. And we need to avoid the occasions for temptation. We've mentioned this already, but we need to be careful regarding what we read, what we hear, what we watch. The pornography industry is vast in its reach. Billions are made through various forms of pornography, some we could hardly imagine, thankfully. But access is easy, especially for young folk who are computer literate. Some of us know so little about computers, we're in a lot less danger, of course, and thank God for that. But for others, it is a real danger. And if the statistics are anywhere near accurate, and they probably are, pornography use among church young people is very little different from use among those outside the church. Sometimes parents can be a bit naive about that and think, oh, well, my young folk are safe. They're all right. Don't have this at home. Well, what I do in the friend's house to make a very simple issue. And so we need to be alert. We need to understand these things. And it is an issue of the heart. We need to be drawing on God's strength and in counseling those who struggle with these problems The fundamental approach has to be a heart for God, not even focusing on the one issue. That's part of dealing with the problem. But the big picture has to be your walk with God and to focus on that. And if that is healthy and that's being developed in the right way, that is a great protection against a lot of the temptations and the pressures that have to be faced. And in some ways, Joseph is a good example. What did Joseph do in the face of temptation from Potiphar's wife? He just got out of the way. He ran. And there is a sense in which literally or in another way, we may simply need to get offside. Places we don't go, websites we don't visit, programs we don't watch, places we don't go. to stay out of the way of temptation. And we've got to be wise. The devil is delighted when he sees naive Christians who don't realize the danger or the power of temptation for themselves or for other people. And he has a field day. Our lives are destroyed sometimes by his efforts. The biblical pattern, the fatal attraction the positive safeguards, and finally, the spiritual application. The spiritual application. The nobility of marriage supremely is demonstrated by the fact that it is an illustration of the relationship between Christ and the church. It is not simply that Paul in Ephesians 5 was pretty smart and he spotted the connection that he could use marriage as an illustration. No, God made it that way. God made human marriage to be a reflection of the relationship between Christ and the church. And so there in the passage in Ephesians 5 that we read earlier, we are told that married couples have the privilege of reflecting to the world something of the relationship between Christ and the church. Oh, it's always imperfect, and yet, by the grace of God, it is possible, and the world will see something of Christ and the church in healthy Christian marriages. There's a submission of the wife that reflects a submission of the church to Christ, verse 24. But of course, for some Christian husbands, it seems as if Ephesians 5 stops there. Wives submit. And I've read Christian books on marriage, and it seems as if that was almost all that Paul had to say. Wives submit. That is biblical. But you see, as you read on, there is a far larger section addressed to Christian husbands. exhorting, commanding them to reflect the love of Christ for His church in the way that they treat the wives that God has given them, a self-giving love. That's back to covenant. Covenant is self-giving. How does Christ love us? He gave Himself for us, and that's the love that God expects of Christian husbands, a self-giving and a sacrificial love. And there is, spiritually speaking, a one-flesh, as it were, relationship between Christ and His people. We are members of His body. And so nothing is to be allowed to take Christ's place at the center of our lives. It's interesting, in the Old Testament, often, idolatry was described as the breaking of this commandment, beginning of Hosea, for example. And breaking that spiritual covenant commitment with the Lord is a profound sin. Breaks that bond with our loving Lord Jesus Christ. And so there, above all, is the relationship we are to cultivate. And that will enhance the spiritual health of every part of our lives if we are walking with Christ, if we are delighting in Christ, if we are seeking His glory in everything. And so, by God's grace, we demonstrate how Christ loved the Church. If that isn't God's calling for you, well, pray for Christian marriages. Pray that young people, Christian young people, will find suitable Christian partners, that they will establish homes where Christ is honored. And we can all be doing that, whether God's call to us is marriage or not, that He will be honored and glorified as his people seek to keep the commandment, not only in, as it were, the earthly relationship, but in the spiritual relationship with Christ, and that he is the one whose glory we seek and in whose company we delight. We're in a world that has less and less grasp of even the basics of these things. We're living in a culture where people are baffled by Christian values. And yet, when they see sometimes the fruit of how the world lives, the damaged relationships and the damaged people, there is an attractiveness about the biblical pattern. And perhaps for some, it may be a first step in an interest in the gospel. that makes that life possible. And we should pray that our culture will see God's people living in a way that glorifies the Lord and that attracts others, that shows we have something they don't have and can't have, and that God has all the praise and all the glory.