Good morning, everybody. It's good to be in the house of the Lord on this Sunday. I'm going to go ahead and pray. It sounds like Bruce Fortham is having some issues. We're going to the ER this morning. Jesse's gonna join us, but we'll be praying for them. And so let's ask the Lord's blessing on our time together. Our Heavenly Father, we give you thanks once again, Lord, that you have gathered us together, Lord, to study your word, your great, your holy word, Father, your inerrant, infallible word. We come before you and declare that you are God. And we thank you, Father, that you have revealed yourself to us, Father, in the law. And we thank you, Father, for the opportunity to freely study your word. May we dig deep into it. May we be blessed by it. Father, help us to glorify your name in all the earth. We pray in Christ's name. Amen. OK, we are in Exodus chapter 20 and. That work. Okay, we are in the seventh commandment. So what we're going to do is James is going to read the first nine, unless he doesn't want to. So, okay. And Samuel, you want to read 10 through 17? Okay. Exodus chapter 20, the law. And whenever you guys are ready, I'm ready. the name. Thank you excellent once again So, what we have seen in our study of the Ten Commandments is that these Ten Commandments are expansive. And we've covered the first table of the law in the discussion of how we interact with God, how God interacts with us, what He requires, and in terms of our worship of Him. We've seen also that these commandments, the first table, ends up being interconnected with the second table as we went into the second table of the Law. And we've seen that through Jesus' example on the Sermon on the Mount, And even we've covered the Old Testament scriptures that say that the scriptures themselves, the law itself, is not just limited to that little narrow commandment. And so, just like Jesus interacting with the rich young ruler, and the rich young ruler says, all of these I have kept from my youth. And then, you know, in one question, it all comes tumbling down. because he hasn't worshipped the Lord his God. He's made an idol of his own riches and so he has not done what the Lord has required at all. He hasn't done any of them. And we've seen also that for us, we cannot do the the law itself. We need another, we need the righteousness of Christ given to us and so we've seen that and we're looking, unlike the rest of the study, we're looking now with New Testament eyes as we look back to the great benefit that the law is. We've looked at the the confession. We've looked at the Westminster Confession of Faith, the larger catechism, the shorter catechism, as they explain the various commands. And the commands themselves, as we've seen, are huge. And we're going to see that once again today. So we're in the Seventh Commandment. We had... Good, got to make sure that things are working here. We've seen the last time as we discussed, you know, more that the Westminster larger catechism, that the commandment itself against adultery doesn't just stop there. It doesn't just stop at the outward act. It goes straight into the heart. Jesus has explained that and said that you lust in your heart, then you commit adultery. If you end up getting divorced, you cause somebody else to commit adultery and so then this commandment ends up being much broader than would initially appear at face value. Now we're jumping into Thomas Watson and his book on the Ten Commandments and looking at what Thomas Watson has to say. You'll notice some overlap just like we have in previous lessons. We will go through what he has to say. I haven't included everything. I would certainly commend his reading to you, Thomas Watson's book on the Ten Commandments, and very helpful. But you'll also see that there's a lot of interaction with the larger catechism using even the same phrases that Thomas Watson uses. I wonder where the... the larger catechism got that wording, but Thomas Watson being one of the divines. Okay, so the seventh commandment, you shall not commit adultery. It's very plain, it's very straightforward, it's a command, and it says you shall not commit adultery. We've looked at that definition of what adultery actually is, but It goes without saying that adultery pollutes. Any sin pollutes, but this one pollutes in a more grievous way. And it involves not just one person, it involves two people. So, there's going to be this interaction that not only does it, you know, the catechism will explain, the expansiveness of the commands themselves. But here we go in adultery, that much bigger, broader category as we start talking about. One person's sin doesn't just affect one person. It isn't like this is something that is going on in your inner mind. No, it automatically affects two people. and therefore there's going to be a host of relationships that are then affected, the community as well, and so that's how we end up saying, yes, adultery pollutes, but it pollutes in a much broader type of context. Welcome, Bruce. It's good to have you. Glad you're here. Very glad. The pleasures of an adulteress are, Thomas Watson says, irrational. They go against the logic. But here's what Thomas Watson is saying. It's not just the mind that is affected. It's going to be, as we see, the emotions. It's going to be the body. It's going to be the spiritual. There's this all-encompassing. As with any sin, there's going to be this all-encompassing aspect of violating the commandment that is going to come into play that we have to be aware of. And so, to extend what Thomas Watson is saying, adultery is not logical. I mean, is sin logical, you know, in that regard? So that's the first point. Let me hand out some scriptures. So Logan, can I give you Proverbs 7, 21 through 27? And Gage, can you get Proverbs 5, 11? And Jeannie, do you want to get Proverbs 6? No, no, no. How about 1 Corinthians 6, 9? And I think we'll stop there. Okay. Adultery obviously is destructive to the body. The Proverbs will go into great detail about how the sin of adultery affects the body itself. It isn't hard to think back on, you know, the AIDS crisis and that it affects the body, but again, it also affects somebody else's body. Stories of whole villages in Africa that were affected by AIDS. AIDS itself, when it happened back in late seventies, eighties, the cry from the Christian community was that this is the judgment on sin, which is true, but we also agree that there are innocent in the sense of not being the recipients rather than the initiator of that particular sin which led to AIDS, but you can see the violation that happens as you think about that kind of devastating impact on a whole village and culture. Proverbs 5.11 describes this. Okay, and and I will that that that passage will serve as a representative of the larger context and the more extensive explanation that comes out of Proverbs, even the rest of the Bible itself. So, it also, there's several of my points here are going to be made over the next few flashes, but they're going to involve Proverbs 7, 21 through 27. This particular passage is more of an explanation. I love the imagery. I mean, I don't love the imagery. I hate the imagery. But it communicates. It communicates very accurately. you know, taking a picture, a word picture, and giving an individual those words. So, I think this is particularly apt. These are descriptions that my mind can grab a hold of, even though it may not be able to remember the individual words. So, Proverbs 7, 21 through 27. With her enticing speech, she caused him to feel, under flattering events, that she seduced him. Immediately, he went after her as an ox goes to the slough, or as a fool to the direction of the slough, so that the arrow struck his liver as it hurried to his intestine. He did not know if it cost his life. Okay, and the King James, Hurst Lane is a mighty throng. And so there's the destruction of the body that goes on. there is the destruction of the estate that goes on. And then those that are given to adultery end up giving away half of their estate. I'm reminded of Tiger Woods and, you know, golfing legend. Even to the extent that now, even after his fall, golf shows, or golfing tournaments, when they show, guys that are golfing, they have golfers that are much better than Tiger Woods right now, and yet they're still going after him and showing his shots, even though he didn't even make the cut for the PGA Tour this last weekend. So still a legend, and yet what happened with his estate? He lost half of it. A billion dollars and half of it ends up going to his ex-wife. And we can all think of other examples of individuals that have lost significant amounts of money because of this particular sin. And as the scriptures say there, her slain is a mighty throne. There are lots and lots of individuals. And I didn't look up the statistics. I've come across these statistics in the past about you know, percentage of individuals, but it is much greater than what I thought. France, nobody would be surprised by the fact that France ends up being one of the leading violators of this particular command. But, yeah, so here we are. destructive to the body, destructive to the estate, and then we get into it destroys a reputation. This is one of those things that go with you as you go through your life, and this is something that is You know, you can't, once you've done it, once you've gone across and you've broken that commandment, you can't go back. It's not like, you know, it's like Adam. Oops, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that, Lord. Can I go back into the garden? You can't go back, and so. Again, we get back to Watson's point that this is irrational. It makes no sense. And so Proverbs 6, 32 and 33. Did you get that one, Jeannie? Well, I mean, hey, it's on the board. Disobedience shall he get. Sorry. What dishonor shall he get? So, honor, we talked about honor. We talked about honoring your father and mother. We talked about what honor is and what that is in connection with the reputation. Dishonor is something that the adulterer gets. The point on this next one, that adultery itself damns the soul, we can remember back to what Logan read just a minute ago in Proverbs 7.27, that those that go into her, her ways are the ways to death. Her ways are the ways to shield. Her ways are the ways to judgment. And we'll investigate that theme as we go forward. But 1 Corinthians 6, 9. Yeah, please. Okay, pretty clear. pretty clear about what is going to happen to the adulterer, the judgment that happens as a result of that. But very good of Thomas Watson to remind us that this isn't the sin that casts out that nobody can repent of. No, it is that adultery without repentance damns the soul. You can repent, as David did, and you can still have salvation, although there will still be consequences. And then, here's what Jerome says. This is just a great statement. You've heard it before. It's been spoken in various contexts, but the delight lasts a moment, the torment an eternity. That puts it, Jerome is putting it straight into that spiritual category and putting it straight into what we need to remember that there are eternal consequences for this very momentary pleasure and the devastating effects that come on somebody who is going in that direction, okay. Now we talked about this, it's possible, it isn't It isn't always the case, but it is very possible, maybe even likely, that he also damns the soul of another, the person that is being affected by that adultery. Or, we would say there may be two consenting individuals, to use the cultural term, but that doesn't mean that, you know, they both get off, or one of them gets off. They both are liable. In that particular context, it may be that there's an attack that has gone on, and yet there's also the consequences in terms of the individual and a pull in one direction that can have lifetime effects. Okay. This is a very interesting one. The adulterer is abhorred by God. So if we go on the spectrum of emotions or interactions with God, we would say God loves the righteous. He loves those that are his people. God hates the wicked. and he abhors the adulterer. There's a spectrum that gets worse and worse and worse. And so then, that's what the Proverbs 22, 14 says, that to be abhorred by the Lord is worse than hatred. And so there are consequences right away in terms of this Yeah, the adultery. Okay. Any comments so far? Any thoughts? I mentioned last time, the difficulty of this particular sin, I mean, of talking about this sin. And how is the adulterer abhorred by the Lord? with a seared conscience, with a depraved mind, and we think back off-quoted passage that comes out of Romans 128 there. And so then, what is it that the adulterous mind ends up thinking about? It's not on the things of the Lord, it isn't on the great accomplishments that that even human beings have been able to achieve in this world. It is about the here and now. It is about the sensual. It is about things that are not enduring. And that's to put it in neutral terms rather than maybe more poignant type terms. Obviously, the scriptures, let me give out some more passages here. Bruce, thank you. How about Proverbs 5, 8 and 7, 8. And then, Logan, can you get 1 Corinthians 15, 33? Honey, can you get Proverbs Noah? I'll skip those two. I've got those on. Colossians 3.8. Okay. The Proverbs say don't come into her company, don't be with her, okay? There's a progression, there's a, you know, the slippery slope that ends up happening when you're with her, so. Okay, and then seven, eight. You guys know what that one's talking about. Here he is, he's sauntering. It happens to be at evening. He's thinking that nobody can see where he's going. And he happens to go out of the way. He's going over here, but he happens to go out of his way. What? To go by her house. And he just happens to be, you know, cruising down the road. You know, no big deal. That's the picture that the proverb ends up portraying. That he's trying to kind of make himself this innocent guy. I'm not doing anything, you know. So, except that then he ends up getting grabbed by her. So then, you know, one thing leads to another. And so then, that's the context. And so then, we just avoid that company. We don't associate with that type of individual, okay? In similar fashion to Pilgrim's Progress, look to your eyes, look to what happens, you know, eye gate. In Job 31.1 we talked about last time that Job made a covenant with his eyes that he would not sin against a maiden. He wouldn't look on a maiden in a lustful way. So that's what Job did. I think that's a great example. I think that that is a great practice. And what was it that led Eve astray? It was the sight. It was what she was looking at. And so then that's the Genesis 3, 6. It was pleasing to the eye. And I don't have to go any further in that explanation to say that, you know, well, about this culture that, you know, at this moment, there's all kinds of visuals that we wish would not be before our eyes. Okay? Look to your lips. Look to what you say. 1 Corinthians 15.33. Okay, and in the King James, it will say, company and conversation go together, and so then that close association of when you're with somebody, you're talking to them, and so then watch out for your lips, Colossians 3.8. Okay. Filthy jokes lead to filthy thoughts, or maybe even come out of filthy thoughts. So that's why we don't give occasion. Notice how what we're doing here This isn't the commandment, but it's building fences, it's building barriers, it's building walls so that we can help to keep that out there. Psalm 141.3 says, Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth. So, you know, Lord, grab hold of my lips and don't let me speak stupid things. Don't let me speak sinful things. Okay, this was a very interesting one from last week, or the last time we got together here out of the confession about plays. And so I'm gonna throw this out, I'm just gonna throw it out as a category, as a discussion topic. The equivalent of plays would be movies in our day, and movies are, as we know, as we all know, and there's not, I don't think that there's anybody in the, congregation that says, I don't watch movies. That's possible, but... And yet, we see that even back then, they said, don't go to plays. And so the consideration here is when you let things come in at EyeGate, that those movies can end up having visuals that do not end up spawning great thoughts, and they can end up spawning sinful thoughts. So, that's just, you know, throw it out there as a controversial discussion topic, but I'll throw it out there only because both Thomas Watson and the confession brought up the plays issue. Okay, look to your heart as well. And Proverbs 4.23 says, keep your heart with all diligence. And Matthew 15.19, out of the heart proceeds evil thoughts. So we have an Old Testament, New Testament example of the Keeping your heart keeping your heart from being attached to things so when you eagerly go after something you have to Recognize what you're actually going after rather than I like that I'm inclined to that but we have to watch what our hearts go after and what our hearts get attached to Okay, whoops Thought I had one more I guess not. Okay. Any thoughts on any of those? Those points? Okay. Solutions. Here's what Thomas Watson points to for solutions to the problem of adultery. Let every man have a chaste, entire love for his wife. I'm not suggesting that the only state that the Christian can be in is a state of marriage, I'm suggesting that when you are married, and it certainly is helpful to find the right one or the one that's going to be godly. So then, if that is the case, then have a chaste and tired love for your wife. So that effort is rewarded with resisting other temptations. This is what God has given. This is God given to help us resist the devil. Ezekiel 24, 16. The Lord came to Ezekiel as a demonstration to Israel. He took away his wife. What Thomas Watson is pointing at here is this was the desire of his eyes. That's how scripture describes his wife. And told him, told Ezekiel that he was not allowed to mourn. He was not allowed to even have a tear on his face. And as a demonstration to the nation of Israel about the result of spiritual idolatry and spiritual adultery. So they had gone after false gods and Ezekiel is very descriptive. I'm very descriptive of how the Israelites are going after other gods and that spiritual adultery that they are displaying. The point here is, though, that Ezekiel loved his wife, Ezekiel embraced his wife in some capacity, and this was the desire, Scripture describing this, you know, kind of, what, strong attraction to his wife. Proverbs 5, 18, rejoice with the wife of your youth. And this also is a blessing from the Lord, that the wife that the Lord has given to you in your youth, not to despise that, not to, as you get old, as things start to hurt more, not to despise that, but to rejoice. And this also is a solution. Here's what Thomas Watson says, it is not having a wife, but loving a wife that makes a man... live chastely. I can't even read my own slide. Okay, so the chaste life comes through loving a wife and that's a blessing. It takes effort, it takes work. People in the audience have been known to say It takes a lot of work, but I don't know who that is. but it's worth it. And it isn't just having a wife, it isn't just being married, it is also loving your wife. And then the question of Jesus, you know, or Paul, who can say that he's loved his wife in Ephesians 5, that the instructions for the husband to love his wife as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her. Okay, here's another solution. Labor to get the fear of the Lord into your hearts. So what we do is replace the fear of the that sensuality, that focus with the fear of God and to realize that God sees all things. God is the one who is omniscient and His eyes search everywhere. The Lord sees. The Lord knows. The Lord knows the hearts. And so you can have, and it's a good idea to have, you know, covenant eyes or something on your computer that is helping to keep you accountable, accountability partners and so forth. But ultimately, the Lord knows what's going on in your heart and in my heart as well. So we replace that central focus with a fear of God, knowing that God loves us, knowing that God cares for us, knowing that God will will bless us in the process. Okay, by the fear of the Lord, men depart from evil. Jeremiah is a great one to describe all of that lament and that cry for help. And that's what I just said about the Lord seeing all things. One of those passages says, the Lord is a swift witness against adultery. A swift witness. There's other times when God is long-suffering and, you know, patient with sin. But in this particular case, it says He's a swift witness against adultery. Okay, take delight in God's Word, meditate on God's Word, have God's Word hidden in your heart. And that will help us to have the encouragement of Scripture before us and to help us to avoid this sin. And how sweet are your words, Psalm 119, the psalmist says, And then finally, pray against this sin. There's nobody that can handle this one. that you can't just say, I'm going to take on the devil, I'm going to brute force this one, I'm going to rely on my rugged individualism and on my determination to take on this sin. Cry out to the Lord, be quick to pray to God and depend on Him for the help that you need to be able to avoid this sin. So, comments, questions? Then let's pray. Thank you, Father, that you are a loving Heavenly Father. Thank you, Father, that in this world we know that there's tribulation, there is sin. And Father, we confess that we are attracted to that sin. Help us, Father, to look to you, to fear you, to know, Father, that you love us And you are with us, Lord, every step of the way. Help us to glorify your name. We pray for Bruce Forthin. We ask, O Lord, that you would be with him, heal his feet, and pray, Father, that he gets the medical attention that he needs. Father, prepare us to worship you. Prepare us, Father, to sit under the preached word. And thank you, Father, that we can call you our Father. We pray in Christ's name, amen.