Exodus chapter 20 and verse 14, Exodus 20 and verse 14. The word of God says, you shall not commit adultery. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. You may be seated. Let's join our hearts together in prayer. Our father, as we come to this sacred and blessed time of hearing your word read and preached, we pray you give us all the energy we need, the stamina to press through to be attentive to your word, and that we would be hearers and doers. We would be doers of your word and not hearers only, deceiving ourselves. So help us. Help us to hear and to heed the Holy Scriptures, that we might apply them, that we might repent where we need to repent, and we might grow where we need to grow, and we might be strengthened where we need to be strengthened, and comforted where we need to be comforted. Help us, please. And we pray all this in Jesus' name, amen. So obviously we've been walking through the Decalogue, the moral law of God summarized in the Ten Commandments. And we are now on the seventh commandment. You shall not commit adultery. And so this commandment has broad implications. It looks very simple on the surface, but as many broad implications for our life and our lifestyle and our choices that we make in everyday situations. And so the main point of this sermon is, you shall not commit adultery in thought, word, or deed, but instead put on self-control and thanksgiving. You shall not commit adultery in thought, word, or deed, but instead put on self-control and thanksgiving. My first point, adultery in thoughts, adultery in thought. My second point, adultery in word. My third point, adultery in deed. And my fourth point, self-control and thanksgiving, self-control and thanksgiving. So again, my first point, adultery in thoughts. It should go as no surprise to all of us that we live in a sexualized culture. Whether it's the movies or the ads or the billboards, we live in a culture that is sexualized. We have phrases in our culture like this, sex sells, sex sells. Because we live in a culture that is consumed with it. It's so consumed with sexualization and sensuality that this is just the air we breathe every day. We are just living in a culture that is consumed with perversion and sensuality and immodesty and all these things. Vodibachan in a video, he talks about, if you say 10 is what we would call hardcore pornography, we live about every day in a three or a four. We live every day in about a three or four in terms of the sensuality and the pornographic nature of our culture. And so even more so do we need to be on guard so that we are not desensitized or that we don't say what we are used to is normal and right. and just go along with the flow of things. Because we live in a day and age that we are being bombarded by this all over the place. Whether it's the mall, or Walmart, or the grocery store, or the magazine aisle, it's all over the place. Or the internet, or whatever it might be, it's all over the place. And we must be, therefore, much more on guard about it in our own generation. You can see old pictures where people at the beach, it looked like it was a boardwalk, and men are in coat and tie and the women are in long dresses. There used to be a time where that was common. I'm not necessarily advocating we go back to that exactly, but we see that there was a time in American culture where to go out in clothing that is now quote unquote acceptable, you would have got put in prison for wearing that type of clothing. Literally, you would have got put in prison. And this book that I highly recommend, This book, Christian Modesty and the Public Undressing of America, he even talks about outfits that people wear now that in the 20s or 30s people would have literally got locked up if they wore that outside because our culture is drifted and we live in a culture that is so consumed with it. So brothers and sisters, brethren, we need to be on guard, all of us, me, you, all of us, because we swim in it. And unless we are by God's grace seeking to put it off and put on the opposite, we will get swallowed up in it. If you turn with me to James chapter one, we see what God wants for his people. James chapter one connected with this. We sometimes think of the first half of the verse, but not as much the second half of the verse. James chapter one in verse 27. Either listen or turn, whatever you would prefer. James one in verse 27. The Word of God here says, James 1 and verse 27, pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this, to visit orphans and widows in their trouble and to keep oneself unspotted from the world. Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this, second half, to keep oneself unspotted from the world. And so we must, by God's grace, seek, all of us have been in different ways, but all of us must strive more and more to be less and less spotted by the world, because that's what pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is. To buy God's grace to be unspotted by this world that is passing away and the lust of it. And so we see that reality that God wants us to be unspotted from this present evil age. The Lord Jesus Christ, he came in the world, not only to pay for our sins, not only to die to take away the penalty of those sins and to bear the wrath that we deserve for them, but also he came that we might be given his Holy Spirit so that we might be more and more unspotted from the world. He came not only to save us from God's wrath, but also to make us pure. He came not only so we would be delivered from the penalty of sin, but also its power, not only so that we would deliver from God's judgment for sin, but also the reigning tyranny of our sin over our lives. Sometimes we think about Jesus coming merely to forgive our sins and reconcile us to God, not remembering that he also came so that we, by his grace, might put off sin and live for righteousness. And so the Lord Jesus Christ died for us so that we might be pure in this evil and adulterous generation. And adultery, just like murder, is not merely about our actions, but even our thoughts and our words. Adultery, just like murder, is not merely about our actions, but also our thoughts and Of course, like murder, that there's the most heinous form of breaking the Sixth Commandment, actually taking someone's life unjustly, but those things that lead up to that, sinful anger in the heart and sinful words with the mouth, are also sin. This is the most heinous, actually taking their life, but these things that lead up to it, sinful anger and sinful words, are also a violation of the Sixth Commandment. You shall not murder. And so we see first, in my first point, adultery in thoughts. Adultery in thoughts. That God not only wants his people to not be unspotted by what we could call physical adultery, but also by heart adultery. Heart adultery. We see this even in the Ten Commandments itself. We don't even have to go out of the Ten Commandments to know that God cares about our hearts. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife. What does that put to last after her? God says, don't covet, don't desire your neighbor's wife. Even in the Ten Commandments, we know that God cares about the heart, because one of the commandments, coveting you can't do with your hands. You can't do it with your body, it's a heart sin. And therefore God tells us, you shall not covet your neighbor's wife. So we see the reality of adultery in the thoughts or in the hearts. If you turn with me to Proverbs chapter six, Proverbs chapter six, we'll see it there as well. Proverbs the sixth chapter. Proverbs chapter six and verse 20. I'll be reading 20 to verse 25 of Proverbs six. Hear now the word of God on this subject. My son, keep your father's command and do not forsake the law of your mother. Bind them continually upon your hearts. Tie them around your neck. When you roam, they will lead you. When you sleep, they will keep you. And when you awake, they will speak with you. For the commandment is a lamp, and the law a light. Reproofs of instruction are the way of life to keep you from the evil woman, from the flattering tongue of a seductress. Here it is. Do not lust after her beauty in your hearts, nor let her allure you with her eyelids. So we see there that the father says, not only do I want you not to sleep with her, I don't want you to even lust after her in your hearts. Do not lust after this seductress woman, this evil woman by lusting for her beauty in your hearts. because the father knew that all actions begin with the desires of the heart. And so he says to his son, son, it will make it easier for you if you don't even lust for her in your hearts. And so therefore, not only should you not be around her and not commit adultery with her physically, don't even lust for her beauty in your hearts. So we see the adultery in the thoughts, in the hearts. Then the most famous section of that, if you turn to Matthew chapter five, Matthew chapter five, when Jesus is preaching on an exposition of the Ten Commandments, he doesn't go through all of them, but many of them, he's contrasting the false view of the Pharisees compared with the right understanding of the Decalogue, the Ten Commandments. And in Matthew chapter five, verse 27 through 30, he is contrasting the twisting of the scriptures that the Pharisees and scribes were doing with the right interpretation and application of the law of God. So Jesus is not coming against the commandments. He's coming against the Pharisaical traditions where they would twist the commandments to make them merely external commandments. Verse 27 of Matthew 5, he says, you have heard that it was said to those of old, you shall not commit adultery. But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you. For it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish than for your whole body to be cast into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you. For it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish than for your whole body to be cast into hell. So we see Jesus says, Unlike the Pharisees who were saying that only the act was sinful, Jesus is saying even the desire, the lusting in your heart, it's to commit adultery in your heart. Just like to be sinfully angry with someone is to murder them in your heart, so to lust for someone is to commit adultery with them in your heart. And so Jesus doesn't say, well, if you lust, you're okay, as long as you don't act on it. Jesus says both the desire, the lust in your heart, the sexual desire for someone and the act, they're both sinful. They're both sinful. And so it's not good enough for God's people to say, well, I haven't actually committed adultery. I haven't actually gone all the way if our desires are for someone in a way that's unlawful. Because Jesus says to all of us, me included, that we must guard our thoughts and our actions. We must not commit adultery in the heart. And we must not commit adultery with the acts. And so Jesus tells us very clearly that lust in the heart is to commit adultery in the heart. And so we must, by God's grace, guard our hearts and minds against sexual lust. Because again, it's not good enough to just not do the act if we are dwelling on sexual lust. in our hearts. If I said this publicly to the world, this would be laughed at, what I just was saying. This would seem ludicrous. What in the world? It's natural. God made us this way. We're supposed to lust after women. It's only natural, right? It's only natural to think about women sexually. That's what men are supposed to do. But that's not what God says. We live in a culture that so wants us to think that sexual lust is perfectly acceptable, perfectly normal. I forget which president it was, but I remember hearing that someone said that this president had mentioned, I'm assuming he was a Christian, and he just was honest to the people in this interview that he had to fight against lustful thoughts. And people started laughing at him. Not because he said he had to struggle against lustful thoughts, but because he thought that he had to struggle against them. They thought, struggle against lustful thoughts, what? You have to struggle against them, give in to them. What's wrong with lustful thoughts? And we live in a culture that prizes sexual lust. I remember talking to someone at the Lexington Market. I brought that up this morning. I was evangelizing this guy, and I asked him about this commandment when Jesus says, if you look with lust. I said, have you ever done that? He says, I can't remember exactly, but I remember it to be something to the effect of, yeah, I do that like a job, or I do that all the time. It just seemed normal to him to always look with lust. To think that you shouldn't do that was, that was normal. That was what he did. And that's very common in our culture, to think that that's just what everybody does, of course. But Jesus says, if your right eye calls you, then pluck it out. It's better to go to heaven with one eye than hell with two, is the point. Again, not literally, but he's saying we need to be radical against sin, even if it's just in the hearts. Because what was the problem with the Pharisees? The Pharisees said, as long as I clean the outside of the cup, I'm good. But they had no desire to clean the inside of the cup. They said, as long as I don't do the outward actions, I'm good. While inside their cup, inside their hearts, was filthy with sin and covetousness and adultery in the hearts. And so God teaches us in the seventh commandment that we are not to commit adultery in the heart. We are not to think lustfully towards other people. We are to put off the sin of adultery in the hearts. My second point though is adultery in word, adultery in word. Obviously, if we aren't to dwell on sexual lust in our hearts, we ought not to speak of it positively with our mouths. And so God not only condemns us dwelling in our hearts, but also speaking of it positively, I'm using that word positively in a purposefully, because right now I'm talking about it, but I'm not talking about it in a positive sense. We see this in the Old Testament when Potiphar's wife, before she actually was able to grab Joseph, she said continually, day after day, lie with me, lie with me, lie with me. And she was, with her words, breaking the Seventh Commandment. Even before, and obviously they didn't, Joseph fled, but she was breaking the Seventh Commandment by her words, by calling out to him that he would lie with her. That was a violation of the Seventh Commandment. By merely enticing him to do it was her violating God's holy law. If you turn now with me to Ephesians chapter four. Ephesians chapter four, we see this as well. This reality of how God wants us to speak and not to speak. Ephesians four. Ephesians four and verse 29. The word of God says, let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth. But what is good for necessary edification that it may impart grace to the hearers? Let no corrupt word, and talking about sexual lust in a positive way is a corrupt word. And don't let corrupt words proceed out of your mouth. But what is good for necessary edification? Talking about sexual lust in a positive way as if it's normal and natural, is not good for edification. It doesn't build up. It doesn't help. And so he wants us to put that off. Corrupt words that don't edify, that don't encourage, that don't build up are to be put off because they don't bring necessary edification. So we see that there, that God wants corrupt words to be put off. But then if you look down at Ephesians chapter five, starting at verse three, Ephesians five and verse three, It says, but fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you as is fitting for saints, neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting. but rather giving of thanks. For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words. For because of these things, the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore, do not be partakers with them. So we see here the reality that God says that fornication, uncleanness, covetousness, which could just be general covetousness or specifically a desire for things that God hasn't given, that would make more sense in the context. And God says to not even let those things be named among you, as is fitting for saints. Don't have filthiness or foolish talking or coarse jesting, which are not fitting These things are so common in our culture that if we are not renewing our mind by the word of God, we can think that they are normal and natural. But God says that these things should not be named among you. But someone might have the question, but aren't you naming it right now when we're talking in the sermon? The difference is, he says, don't name it as if it's a good thing. That's what he means by name it. Don't name it as if it's a good and desirable thing. In that sense, don't name it. Because what is worldliness? Worldliness in its simplified definition. Worldliness is the thinking that makes sin look normal and righteousness look weird. That's what worldliness is. It makes sin look normal and natural and to be desired. And it makes righteousness look strange and prudish and weird. And that's how the world wants us to think. It wants us to make it seem like fornication, uncleanness and covetousness is normal and natural. And in that sense, it must not be named among God's people. It's not fitting for the people of God because these things bring the wrath of God. Therefore do not become partakers with them. Let me just make this point. We live in a culture that we've almost, whether it's, particularly the reality of fornication, almost lost its shock to us. A young couple moves in, not married, and they start living together. We still have a shock if it was a sodomite relationship, but we've kind of lost the shock if it's a boyfriend-girlfriend, not realizing that the wrath of God comes upon those type of people because that is disobedience. That when two people who are unmarried live together, They are saying, God, bring your wrath down upon me, please. Obviously they would never say that, but that's what they're asking for according to the word of God. And I think, and even me in different ways, have become desensitized to the reality of how much God is against fornication. Because we live in a culture that says, oh, boyfriend, girlfriend, you have a house, you wanna move your girlfriend in? Fine, good. And God says that brings his wrath. That brings his wrath. You want to come and live with me? We're not married, but you come live with me? Because we know people who live together that like each other, they don't just kind of, they're not roommates. Why do they do that? Because of fornication. And this is why someone might say, if they're trying to be technical, well, technically, if you have someone live with you and you're not fornicating, it's okay. But we would say, make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lust. That's what God also commands. And by you having someone live with you, at the opposite sex, is asking yourself to make provision for the flesh. But we live in a culture that it's so common that fornication is happening. between boyfriend and girlfriend that we sometimes lose touch with how much God is against it. Why? Because it defames the glory of Christ in the church. It says, we don't need a covenant. We don't need a promise agreement. We don't have to make an oath to one another. We can just sleep together and live like we're married with no covenants. We can have all the benefits of marriage without the covenants. We can live like we're married without actually being married. That's why God hates it so much. because it defames Christ in the church, because Christ made a covenant with the church, and the church agrees with Christ to be his bride by repentance and faith. We don't, and I'm not trying to be too crude or anything, but we do not hook up with Christ. We have a covenant relationship with him based on a promise, him to us and us to him. And when people are given to fornication, it defames the beauty and glory of the covenant relationship between Jesus and his church. It says I can have the benefits without the commitment. And this is why we have people. Think of how this has affected the Christian church. People can say, I can pray the prayer, tip my hat to Jesus, but I don't have to have a covenant relationship with him of giving myself to him wholeheartedly. You see how that view of sexuality has affected how people view Jesus and the church? They say, I've tipped my hat to Jesus. I raised my hand. I walked the aisle. I prayed the prayer. I'm good. But they have no desire to follow him, no desire to have a true covenant relationship with him. They just want to get the benefits without the covenant commitments. And that's what fornication shows people. I can have the benefits without the commitment. And that's the same people will say, I want Jesus as my savior, but I do not want to submit to him as my Lord. And I'm trying to preach in this way so that we wake up, that I wake up, that I wake up. Because every time I preach, I need to preach to myself first and then to you. That we would wake up and realize that these things bring the wrath of God. And what does God say? Let no one deceive you with empty words. Why? Because you and me might be deceived. That's why it says, let no one deceive you. Because we might be deceived and think light of it as if it's no big deal. As if it doesn't matter. But God says, don't let anyone deceive you. Because of these things, the wrath of God comes. Just so no one's misunderstanding me. Of course, if someone repents and puts their trust in Jesus Christ, they can have all their sins cleansed. They can be delivered from the wrath to come. They can be reconciled to God and have a new relationship with God, not under wrath, but under grace. Yes, I believe that wholeheartedly. But if they live in that sin and have no desire to repent, the wrath of God is on them and it's coming for them. And that's why they need Christ. That's why they need Christ. Because only in Jesus Christ can they be delivered from the wrath that is yet to come. But if we make it seem that these things are normal and natural, then they won't think they need Jesus. But if they know that these things, if anyone does these things in an unrepentant way and living this way without godly sorrow, they have no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. But for those of you who might have weaker conscience, or I should say tender conscience, if you come to Christ, if you know that you've given in to uncleanness or covetousness, There's mercy with God. There's grace with God. There's forgiveness with God. But that grace doesn't leave us there. That grace always seeks us to lay it aside by his help and press on and press on. But we need his grace, even as Christians, because we can be easily tainted by the world if we're not careful in different ways. And lust. And lustful words are not just a man's problem. Sometimes we say it's only about the men. Only the men need to hear about this because only men know. Women have to be warned against lust and against lustful thoughts because God made both men and women sexual persons with both a desire and an appetite for sexual fulfillments. And therefore, it's not just a man's sin, it's also a woman's sin that needs to be rebuked and encouraged against, because it's not just men who have to fight against these things, it's also women. I know women sadly can feel even more shame over it, because they think, isn't this supposed to be a man's sin, not a woman's sin? No. Sin is no respecter of persons, to use that language. Sin will come for you just as it will for a man. And so if this is a temptation and thing for you, yes, it should be something repented of, but you shouldn't feel extra shame as if sin doesn't come from men and women. It's both that we need to fight against it by the help of the grace of God. So we see that these things, corrupt words or speaking of fornication, uncleanness or covetousness should not be named. Brothers and sisters, think about if people took serious, if we took serious the reality of no corrupt word, no fornication, no uncleanness, no covetousness, named in a positive sense, think about how our entertainment choices would change. If we really applied that text to say, you know what? I don't want to fill my mind with anything that has corrupt words or that takes God's name in vain, puts fornication in a positive light, makes uncleanness seem natural, makes covenants seem normal. Think about the entertainment choices that we would remove out of our life. And brothers and sisters, you can die and go to heaven without knowing. all that the world is doing or participating in, but you can't if you are unwilling to repent of sexual sin. And so we need to be on guard. We need to be weary and watchful about these things that we would say, okay, you know what? I'm gonna guard these things out of my life. I'm gonna be a little transparent here, but I have made a decision for myself because I know it's gonna be helpful for me that on this device and this device, it's impossible. If someone put a gun to my head, I could not bring up bad things on these two things because I know my own self. I know I need to be on guard and not make provision for the flesh. So these things, I can't bring anything up. I'd have someone put a code in if I went down on a nap. And that's okay because it's more important that I cut off an arm than I would give myself making provision for the flesh. So right now I can't own these two devices. These are my only two technology devices. I don't have a laptop. I have an iPad and a cell phone. And that's what it looks like for us to practically say, what does it look like for you and me to actually say, I am going to make sure that I get these things out of my life. Because, you know, it's easier for me to have to go to someone and say, can you put in this code so I can put in an app? That's a lot easier than me having to cut off my arm, isn't it? And take out my eye. Please, can you put in this code? I want to download this app. That's a lot easier than having to put off my eye out of my sockets. And that's what Jesus says. Think about someone who is about to die and their arm is stuck. They would cut off their arm. Why? Because they want to live. And they know that if they don't, they're going to die. And beloved, that's how you and me need to view sexual sin. We need to view it as this will strangle us and it will bring death to us. We need that reminder. We need that encouragement to know this is life and death, heaven or hell. That's how Jesus is so serious about it. If you're right, I call Jesus and pluck it out because it's better to have one eye gone than to die and go to hell. Oh, that I would know that more. I'm preaching to myself as I'm preaching to you. Oh, that we would know that more. And so we need God's grace in these areas that we would say it's not worth it. It's not worth it. And some might say, though, not necessarily this group, but someone might say, well, but Pastor Sam, we have to be in touch with the world to know how to address it. We have to know the evils of the world and what's going on so that we can be culturally relevant to address their matters. If we don't watch what they're watching and enjoy what they're enjoying, then we can't actually speak to them in any meaningful sense. Well, let me tell you what the word of God says of that. Turn to Romans 16. Turn to Romans 16. I could just quote it, but I want you to see it with your own eyeballs. Romans 16 and verse 19. Romans 16 and verse 19. The text says, for your obedience, Romans 16, verse 19, for your obedience has become known to all. Therefore, I am glad on your behalf, but I want you to be wise in what is good and simple concerning evil. God says, I want you to be a simpleton as it relates to evil. I want you to be green behind your ears. I want you, as it relates to evil, it's good for you to be simple. When someone brings up a movie that is not pleasing to God, and you say, oh no, I've never watched that. I don't really watch stuff like that. That's good. God wants you to be simple concerning evil. God doesn't want you to be an expert in the evil of this world and the entertainment of the world. God wants you to be simple. a simpleton concerning evil. In terms of wisdom and what is good, God wants you to be wise in what is good and what is pleasurable and what is holy. God wants you to be wise in that, but God wants you to be a simpleton as it relates to evil. So don't buy the lie that you have to give yourself to all these things so that you can be wise as it relates to the evil of the culture. We have an infallible Bible and a heart that still has remaining sin to know about evil. We don't need anything more than that. And then if you also turn with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 14, First Corinthians chapter 14 and verse 20. First Corinthians 14 and verse 20. It says, brethren, do not be children in understanding. However, in malice be babes, but in understanding be mature. In malice be a baby. You don't have to know about all this. You can have baby knowledge of malice. About the evil and sin and malice in the world. Be a baby in that. Be a babe. In understanding, be mature. Don't be children in understanding God's truth and those things. But as a release of malice and sin, you be a baby and you'll be just fine. You'll be just fine. And if you turn with me again to Ephesians chapter 5. Ephesians 5. Ephesians 5 and verse 11 and 12. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them, for it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secrets. So don't have fellowship with it, expose it. Don't have fellowship with it, don't enter into it, expose it. Because it's shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret. Some people's testimony is the way that they got hooked on internet pornography was they were curious. They wanna see what is all this about? Everybody's railing against this, what is this? They watch it and they get hooked. Because they, instead of saying, I'm gonna have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, they thought that they could be stronger than sin. They thought that they could be okay with giving themselves to sin, they could get over it. That's why God tells us to have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. And now my third point, adultery indeed. Adultery indeed, two different words, I-N and then another word D-E-E-D, indeed. If adultery in thought and in word is to be put aside, which the word of God says, don't even let it be named among you, of course, physical adultery is to be put off. This also includes all forms. When the Bible condemns adultery, it condemns all forms of sexual morality, whether fornication or sodomy or rape or incest or adultery. It condemns all those types of things. And so physical adultery is so serious that according to the civil law of Israel, the death penalty was required for both man and woman. The death penalty wasn't required for lust or sexual thoughts, even though they were both sin under the Old Testament. No denying that they were both sin, but actually doing the most heinous act of giving yourself to a unlawful person, the death penalty came. The death penalty came for that. That's how serious God is, because God knows that adultery destroys lives, it ruins families, and it dishonors God who instituted marriage for His glory. It's what Joseph says, it's great wickedness and sin against God. That's how he defines physical adultery. He says, how can I do this great wickedness and sin against God? I remember talking to a brother in Christ, not a brother in Christ here, but he was telling me, if I remember him rightly, he was telling me that he was in the military, and it was strange to them that he hadn't committed adultery on his wife. That was strange, that he had been faithful to his wife. They were shocked. They thought, of course he hadn't committed adultery with his wife, because our world so belittles marriage and the covenant faithfulness that it requires. So common in our culture for people to break their public oath in the presence of God before that person to be faithful to death do we parts. But covenantal faithfulness to the marriage is a precious blessing and a glorious picture in our crooked and perverse generation. Marriage is meant to display the faithful love of the Lord Jesus Christ and the faithful submission of the church to him. And that can only be properly displayed when a husband and wife love each other and are committed to each other until death do they parts. You almost think it would be better for some couples to not say we'll be faithful to death do we part because they don't mean it. But we say it only if we mean it. We are swearing an oath before God that we will be faithful to death do we parts. And why is marital faithfulness so important to God? Because marriage is the key way that God wants his children to demonstrate the love of Christ and the church. And the love of Christ is constant, it's faithful. And the love for the church, church to him, is also faithful because he keeps us so that we won't depart from him. So God commands physical adultery to be put off. It's never worth it. Those moments of sexual pleasure are not worth the dishonor of God, the guilty conscience, the heartache it brings to a family, and the shame it brings to an individual. It'd be good for men at certain times to reflect on what they would have to experience if they ever committed physical adultery. That drive home after work, knowing that they have to pull their wife aside and say, I've been unfaithful. I committed adultery. Having to save the kids to another room and say, I need to talk with mom. And you guys can't be here. And the woman might be, what's wrong? What's wrong? And he has to pull her aside and say, I've been unfaithful. I committed adultery. And the woman is broken. And the heartache and the sorrow that that brings to that woman as she feels the reality of the husband that promised to be faithful to death do they part has committed physical adultery with her and has decided to, for momentary pleasure, forsake the oath that he made before God and before his spouse. It's not original of me, one who brought that type of thing to my attention was a guy named Garrett Kell, he pastors in Virginia. But that was powerful to me when I first heard that, reflecting on that. That drive, it feels like an eternity as you're driving, thinking about, how am I going to explain this to my wife? How are we going to explain this to the children that dad has to move out for a little bit? We're not going to live together for a time. I mean, when I first heard that, that was gripping to me. Because sin always hides what's behind it. Sin always says it's worth it, it's okay, but it never hides the sting. It never hides, it always hides. It always hides that there is a stinger behind this pleasurable sin. It's pleasurable for a season, but then the pleasure goes away, and what are you left with? Sorrow, shame, and misery. But sin never says that. Sin never says, you know what, if you do this, you'll be pleasurable for about, Couple hours maybe, and it's all gonna go away and then you're gonna just feel misery because you know that you were unfaithful. And oh, that God would help us all to think about sin rightly. Oh, that he would help me and help you to think about it rightly. That we would have God's eyes as it relates to these things, by his grace and for his glory. And my fourth point, self-control and thanksgiving. Wow, I've been preaching for a while. All right, self-control and thanksgiving. Self-control and thanksgiving. But I don't have a set time, so there's no set time. I have to stop, so this is fantastic. Self-control and thanksgiving. My fourth point, self-control and thanksgiving. So not only are we to put off these things. Brothers and sisters, we must, all by God's grace, put off adultery in thought, adultery in word, and adultery in deed. We must put it off. But that's not good enough. We also must put on the opposite. And I'm summarizing the opposites as self-control and thanksgiving. Self-control and thanksgiving. love to God and His glory. Out of that, because we love God and we love His glory, we should put on self-control and thanksgiving. The Lord Jesus Christ died and rose again so that we, by His grace, by the power of the Holy Spirit, would be self-controlled and thankful people. That instead of giving ourselves to ungodliness and worldly lusts, we would live soberly or self-controlled lives in this present age. so that we would die unto the sin of sexual lust and put on exercising mastery over our bodily appetites and desires. The reason why, even though I could say that an answer to it is healthy marital sexual intimacy, and that is, according to the Bible, an antidote to it, healthy marital sexual intimacy. The reason why I'm not saying that one is because that might not always be the case. Sadly, but truly, some married couples do not give themselves to that, and that might not always be the case. But you can, as an individual, always be self-controlled by the Spirit of God, and you can be thankful, regardless of what that other person's doing. So therefore, I know the Bible says clearly that healthy sexual intimacy in marriage is an antidote to it. I know that. I know the Bible teaches that. But I'm not saying that here. as I'm preaching, because I don't want people to say, well, I don't have that. But you do have your own choices that you can master by the grace of God. And so one of those things, again, is self-control. It's the fruit of the Spirit. Love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. It is using our sexual desires in their rightful place. It's mastering our desires so that they are given to what God calls good. Let me just make it clear for everybody. Sexual desire is good. God made you that way. Having sexual desire is a good thing. God is the one who gave you that, not Satan. God did. God made you with those desires. Sexual desire is good. Sexual lust or perversion is bad. The desire itself is good and God made it. Where self-control is needed is to not execute those desires in ways that God calls sin. But the desire itself is good, so some people might be thinking, well, is then having these desires bad? No, a thousand times no. The desire is good. The desire is lawful and right, but it must be mastered with self-control so that it is given rightfully, sanctioned by God and his word. And so again, there's nothing wrong with sexual desire, but with that desire, when it turns into desiring unlawful objects, that's when it becomes becomes sin. Sexual desire in marriage is a wonderful gift, but outside of marriage is a perversion of God's order and design. And therefore, self-control must be exercised so that we use those sexual desires properly. So there must be desire in the heart to master those bodily appetites that are good, but must be restrained so that they are executed in the way God wants them to be, in the way that God wants them to be. So there must be self-control. There must be self-control. And that can happen to you and to me by the grace of God. Everything we need to be self-controlled in this present age, we have by the Holy Spirit of God indwelling us. We have everything we need. If you're in Christ, no one can say, I can't help myself. That's not an excuse. Because if you're in Christ, you can help yourself. You can't put it to death. You can say no. If you're not in Christ, well then yes, and without Christ, there is no real hope. But in Christ, we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. In Christ, we can say no to ungodliness and worldly lusts. In Christ, we can say that we are going to put on self-control. Because we have everything we need in Christ for life and for godliness. There's no one who can say that I just can't help myself. If you're in Christ, that's not true. That should be an encouragement for every one of us, me included, because we are never in a place where we're stuck. Some people can get ensnared in sexual sin and they feel stuck. But if you're in Christ, you're never stuck, ever. Because the spirit of God is able to pull you out. No one is ever stuck. Because the spirit of God, he who's in us is greater than he that's in the world. And therefore, we are never stuck. We're never hopeless. We're never without help or hope. Because the spirit of God gives us power by his word so that we might put sin to death and exercise self-control. But secondarily, I wanna mention Thanksgiving. For some of you, it could be interesting to say self-control and Thanksgiving. But if you heard Ephesians five or saw with your eyes, what was the answer to these things? Don't have fornication, uncleanness, or covetousness. Don't have filthiness, or foolish talking, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. But rather giving of thanks. Why? Why thanksgiving as the answer here to sexual lust? Because ordinarily, sexual lust comes from a discontent heart. A heart that thinks the grass is greener on the other side. Discontentment is a fuel for sexual lust. And therefore, God says, by putting on thanksgiving, you root out the desires that are unlawful because you're so thankful in what God has given. Does that make sense? When you're so thankful for what God has given, it makes it so much easier to not give yourself to things that God calls sin. So by thanking him for life and salvation and health and family and church family and work and children, a spouse or whatever other good things God has given in his providence, it keeps us away from longing for other things. It's hard to be thankful and discontent at the same time. It's hard to be purposely meditating on all the good that you have and grumbling and complaining at the same exact time. So God wants you to be thankful so you don't give yourself to sexual sin. God says, be thankful for all I've given you, because I've given you all things richly to enjoy, as we saw this morning. So be thankful for it, and don't think that the grass is greener on the other side. Is that a phrase that you know in Nigeria? The grass is greener? Okay. The grass is never greener on the other side. It shows it like that, but it never is. It never is, and so we need Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is a key cure to a discontent and lustful heart. Thanksgiving. And yes, marriage can help, but marriage is not a cure. Marriage is not a cure because if that heart is still discontent, it can have marriage and still desire the grass being greener on the other side. That's why, yes, the Bible says it helps, but it doesn't cure it. Someone could be in a marriage and still enslaved to sexual sin because that's not the answer, because they're still discontent even with what God gave them. That's why there must be thanksgiving is the answer, not ultimately marriage is the answer. but a thankful heart as the answer. Because whether you have a spouse or you don't, if you have a thankful heart, God will give you the grace to say no to it because you're so thankful in what he has for you in that season of life. So how do we apply a text like this? There's many things I could say, but let me work through them somewhat quickly. First, for those who are outside of Christ, on the last day, you will be condemned for your sexual lust because all of us in some way are sexually broken. And therefore we need redemption in Jesus Christ. You need redemption in Jesus Christ to be forgiven and cleansed from sexual sin or the sexual sin you will commit. You need forgiveness from God for that, that can only be found in Jesus Christ. And as God's people, we must be on guard against sexual lust and seeking to make provision for the flesh. We must be on guard. We must fight against it. We must flee from it. The Bible says flee sexual immorality. We must be on guard against places and things that cause lust to be stirred and seek by God's help to refrain from those places and things. It's why many people, Christians, I shouldn't say many, but there are some that will say, you know what? We're not gonna go to the beach because it stirs up, especially when there's people there at least. We're just not gonna do that. We're not gonna do our leisure time there because it's too difficult with how people are dressed. So we're not gonna go there. So you must know what the places and things are that cause lust to be stirred and refrain from those places. We must also as a church, both men and women, dress modestly, covering our bodies to not unnecessarily ignite lust in the heart of a brother or sister or anyone else. Men must dress in a modest and masculine way and women must dress in a modest feminine way for the glory of God. And if you're dressed properly and someone still lusts, well that's completely their fault. Completely their fault. But if you dress to tempt them and they lust, it's your fault and their fault. They should have guarded their eyes, but you should have covered your body. So it's a double sin. You tempted and they gave in. If you're modest, You're fine. It's only their fault. If you are dressed in an immodest way, then it's both their fault and yours. And so we must, as a church and a people, dress modestly. We must also guard the entertainment we allow in because we are to be simple and ignorant as it relates to evil. We must not endure wicked things before our eyes. And by watching things that God hates is a sin against him. Some people will say, well, I might as well just allow free access because my kids are going to see something eventually. Well, that's like saying, well, I shouldn't put my gun in a safe place because they're going to probably get it anyways. Of course not. You don't say, I'm going to just let them have the gun access whenever they want as young children. No, of course you wouldn't do that because you want to protect them. And how much more should we protect ourselves and others from enduring wicked things before our eyes? And men and women must be ever on guard against the sin of physical adultery. It is something that can ruin people's lives, and it must be forsaken at all costs for the glory of God. It's not worth it, ever. And don't put yourself in a situation where you can ever get close to that sin. The Proverbs says about the adulterous woman not to go near her house, let alone her bed. Don't even go near her house. And so we should not put ourselves in situations where we are giving ourselves opportunities to fulfill the lusts of the flesh. We should be wise. And this is why many people over the history have chosen to not be with someone alone of the opposite sex. Because they don't want to put themselves in harm's way. They say if I'm in a public place, I'm good, but if I'm with someone alone privately, I'm putting myself up for danger because I'm setting myself up for failure. And so there's wisdom in saying, you know what? I'm gonna either be in a public place or in an area not with someone else when I'm with someone in the opposite sex. That's a wise rule. It can be mocked in our culture, but who cares? There's wisdom in saying, I wanna be wise in the way I'm interacting with other people. So may God, by his grace, cause us in a crooked and perverse generation to be wise. Oh, that I would have grace and you would have grace to put off sin by self-control and thanksgiving for the glory of God. That we would master our bodily appetites and we would be so thankful for what God has given that it would squelch the passion and fire of sexual lust. and that we might look different from the world. It's good. It's good to be laughed at for these things, beloved. It's good. Let people laugh at you. Let people say, oh, you're not going to have this or that or whatnot. You're going to dress this way and let them laugh at you because it's better to have God's smile and man's frown than man's smile and God's frown. Amen. Our father, we thank you for your word and we just pray that you would apply it. Help us with these things. Help us in Jesus name. Amen.