go through a Catechism question. I'll read the question and if you would read the answer then we can go through some thoughts on this. The Catechism question is number 77 and the question is, what is forbidden in the Seventh Commandment? And the answer is, the Seventh Commandment forbiddeth all unchaste thoughts, words, and actions. And what is the Seventh Commandment? Okay. I just want to make sure you know what we were talking about. So, I went to the larger catechism. I like some of the things that they have in there because they actually expound some things a little bit more and gives us a little bit better perspective, I think, on what we're actually discussing. Because if you remember, Jesus said in Matthew 5, I think it was, that if you have looked upon a woman and lusted after her, then you have already committed adultery. numbers that you see in this if you look at the larger catechism there are Bible references and that references the Bible scripture that it applies to. You can pull it up on the internet if you want and then you can find the scriptures that it actually applies to. The sins forbidden in the Seventh Commandment besides the neglect of the duties required are adultery, fornication, rape, incest, sodomy, and all unnatural lust, all unclean imaginations, thoughts, purposes, and affections, all corrupt or filthy communications or listings thereof, wanton looks, impotent or light behavior, immodest apparel, prohibiting of lawful and dispensing with unlawful marriages, allowing, tolerating, keeping of stews. Anybody know what a stew is? That's good, I've got it looked up. I'll give you an answer here in a minute on the next page. He smiles. That's not what he was thinking. He knows what a stew is. That's an old time word, isn't it? and resorting to them, entangling vows of single life, undue delay of marriage, having more wives or husbands than one at the same time, unjust divorce, desertion, idleness, gluttony, drunkenness, unchaste company, lascivious songs, books, pictures, dancings, stage plays, and all other provocations to or acts of uncleanness, either in ourselves or others. That's a big, Broad definition, isn't it? I think it pretty well covers anything that would be forbidden when they start talking about adultery. A stew. It actually goes back to the Roman times, maybe even past there. It said Indus Valley Civilization, Greece, Rome, so it does go back past there. They used to be called bath houses. And if I remember right, they were actually, I don't know if they were cohabital. In other words, they were both sexes, bathed at the same time in the same place or whatever. But I think eventually they actually evolved into that. And modern day language, you would probably call them house of prostitution. I think also massage parlors that they called today. So these are things that when it says in that larger catechism, that's what it meant by stew, so you'll understand what they're talking about. I did not know, so I had to look it up. Any questions on that part? Okay, good morning. you doing? That's ok, not a problem. Ok, our memory verse is actually taken from Matthew 15, 18. If we would read it the memory verse is, But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man. If you remember in Genesis God said man's continually evil, and that's the reason why He destroyed the earth. So, our hearts are something that God is looking at, and not the things that we do, but our heart and how it relates to Him. thing that Brother John had was God commands that marriage is to be held in high regard by all people everywhere. And our Scriptures this week are 2 Samuel 11, 1-5, 1 Corinthians 6, 9-11, and Sermon Texts Hebrews 13, 1-6. 2 Samuel 11, 1-5. You want to read if you would, Ryan? that David sent Joab and his servants with them and all of Israel, and they destroyed the sons of Ammon and the seeds of Abba, that David stayed at Jerusalem. Now when evening came, David arose from his bed and walked around on the roof of the king's house, and from the roof he saw a woman bathing, and the woman was very beautiful, fair appearance. So David sent and inquired about the woman, and one said, is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of the lion, the wife of Uriah the Hippodrome? Okay, so we get a picture here of David. Not a very good picture. Why was David at home instead of with his man? should he have been? He should have been with his men and they had war in the spring, no, yeah, in the springtime. There was common practice. They'd go off to war and fight their enemies and defeat them under David's command by God's grace, not by David's strength, but by God's grace. I want us to turn, because I want to give you a hint here of why David was where he was at. And if you'll turn to Daniel 4, 28 through 37, and I'm just going to read some of that. I'm not going to read all of it. But I want you to understand where David was and where his heart was. And we're talking here about Nebuchadnezzar. So as all this happened in Nebuchadnezzar, the king, and if you remember he had several visions that Daniel actually interpreted, 29, 12 months later he was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon. The king reflected and said, is this not Babylon the great, which I myself have built as a royal residence by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty? Word was in the king's mouth, a voice came from heaven, saying, King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is declared, sovereignty has been removed from you, and you will be driven away from mankind, and your dwelling place will be with the beast of the field, you will be given grass to eat like cattle and seven periods of time will pass over you until you recognize that the most high is ruler over the realm of mankind and bestows it on whomever he wishes." So I want to kind of give you a picture of where David's heart was. I believe he was in a very prideful mode at this point. I think he was looking back on the accomplishments that he had done. And I think he was sitting back and resting on his laurels. We all get to the point where we say, well, I've done enough and it's good that I can rest and I'm going to come back and I'm just going to relax for a while. And I believe this is a state in which he was at. Instead of being focused on who God was and what God had done for him, he was focused on me, David, and what he had accomplished. and how his life has been, and he was resting on his laurels. I think it's a lesson for us as Christians, because regardless of the age at which we are at, God can use you if you're willing to be used. And if you get to the point where you can't be used, it's because pride has come into your life, and you are no longer willing to let God use you. And I think that's a sad state of affairs. Now, there are certain times in your life, and at my point, like I say, I'm 77. My wife has got some things that she is unable to do because of her health. So my concerns at this point are more on her than it is on the church, and that's because God has a way for us to take care of our wives and for our family. So just because that happens doesn't mean I can't be functional in the church. Regardless of what you do, you still can be useful to God and for His glory. So I think this is where David was. I think he had just come to the point that he thought more of himself than he did God. Uh, the scripture is very plain. Uh, he was, uh, couldn't sleep. I think probably because he was, uh, either going through some, uh, thoughts of where he should be. I think maybe he knew he should have been out in the field, but he wasn't. But at the same time, I think he was struggling with his own selfless, uh, selfish desires and he couldn't sleep. So it was up on the roof. He happened to see a woman. He didn't know who she was. But he happened to see a woman bathing. And you may think my comment here is kind of stiff on her, but I'm being very honest. She was in modest to be on top of a roof, bathing, regardless of whatever the time was. She had no clothes on, I'm assuming, so she was bathing. She shouldn't have been on a roof. That's not the place to be. She should have been inside her own house. taking her own bath. But I'm not blaming her for the sin. I'm blaming David because he saw her and he continued to look at her and Les sat in and he decided that he was going to have her one way or the other. And he didn't even know who she was. That's one of the problems. problem with David is that this was not the first time that he had had this problem. It's been a problem that he had all along because he actually if you read those Scriptures there 1 Samuel 25 and 2 Samuel 3 you'll see where he actually took other wives. So, he broke the commandment that God says do not commit adultery. He had other wives and I believe he also had some concubines. But he struggled with this because God said marriage is between one woman, one man. So David was in sin because he had other wives and he was not happy with what God had given him. I think that's something that we all have to make sure we remind yourself each day that God has blessed us and that we should be content with what God has given us. So it does show a lack of restraint, uh, to control his, uh, his emotional and physical needs. Uh, and that this seed that was in him for other women and other desires, other than what God had given him was something that was going to bear bitter fruit for him. The real strength of the temptation did not lie in the quality of the tempting object. In other words, Bathsheba was not the one that actually tempted him, but it was where David's heart was and it was where his mind was. You have to forgive me, my son decided he wanted to share a coal with us, and my wife and I both got it, so I told him we appreciated it. We'll get through it. But his temptation was within himself. It wasn't Bathsheba, it was within himself. He had a way out. If you remember, and you can read the story of Joseph, I put it there in Genesis 39, one through 10, where Joseph actually was probably in more danger than David, because Joseph was actually in the grips of a woman, and he decided that he was going to honor God, and he fleed from the sin. If you remember, Paul says, flee from evil, and it will flee from you, right? I'm trying just to go through a couple of things. David didn't know who she was, so he asked around. He found out, one, that he was a daughter, she was a daughter of Eliam, one of David's mighty men, and that's in 2 Samuel 23, 34. The grandfather, I'm not even going to try and pronounce that name. It was one of David's chief counselors. So, and then she was of upper class. And then what should have got notice is that she was the wife of Uriah, the Hittite. Now, David had an army around him of many men, but there was a group of, I think there were probably 300, give or take, maybe not quite that many. 30, yeah. Yeah, but he had a group of mighty men that were around him that actually protected him and kept him safe. And Uriah was one of them. So at this point, David had every way of backing out, but his own lust and evil desires led him even into further problems. How do we know? Because he continued the pursuit of Bathsheba. Once he found out who she was, he sent for her and he took and laid with her. This was a consensual act. And like all of us who think that we get away with sin, nobody knew. There was him and Bathsheba. That's the only two that knew. But he forgot about God. And we all do that, don't we? We think that we can get away with something, and that's not the case. The consequences that followed, Bathsheba became pregnant. And in order to hide it, he sent for Uriah, trying to make sure he could cover it up. And then when he couldn't, He sent Uriah back to Joab at the battle. And he sent a note with him. And in that note, it told Joab to take and put him up in front of the lions and make sure that he was killed. So not only did David kill him, but he got Joab involved, who knew about it. And Joab became an accomplice. And what strikes me is once, once Uriah was killed and once Bathsheba knew that he was dead and the time of mourning was over with, she came to David. So that even complicated even more the sin that happened. That old saying, don't kill the messenger, I think this is where that came from. I don't know for sure, but that's a good saying. I just wanted to throw that in just for free. It didn't cost you anything, right? Any questions on that part? The one thing I do want to point at the bottom, however, because this deed you have given occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme. What is, that was actually Nathan saying that, right? What is he talking about? Why should that give occasion to the enemies of the Lord? You got plenty of examples today. David, after God's own heart is brought up, the throne is given to him, and Nathan tells him, like, I've given you salt, like the Lord, I've given you salt by His hand. You've got the Kingdom, and this is what you do. It's almost like taking the hearts of all the Christians, but you live so hypocritically. Yeah. Where is God's glory in this, right? You have pastors today that fall into sexual sin. And that just adds to the fuel where people that are not in the church, that are not Christians, they can give you that excuse, they're no better than I am. God does not get glory from that. We as Christians, if we fall into that type of sin, It brings great harm to the body. And when I say the body, I'm talking about the church. So we should be careful on how we live and where our thoughts are. Any comments on that? Any comments on the scriptures? Anything that I missed? Anything that you saw? I see smiles, but no comments. But she was, no, she was innocent of. And the point isn't really about that she was complicit or not. No, it's about David. And then now you have a kingdom being ripped apart because an idiot really can't control himself. You know, that's really the point of the story. Yeah. Is Bathsheba guilty or not? So I don't know if we can say she was complicit completely, if she was amenable to the situation, or if David forced himself. Maneuvered her. Yeah. And you have that whole, and we don't understand Yeah. Yeah, when I say complicit, I actually meant the fact that she had a choice. She may not have thought she had a choice, but she had a choice of saying yes or no. Yeah, don't know. Yeah. The point's really just moving. David sees a woman. David should have shut it down. The guards told him who she was. She's a riot. One of your best guys. What are you doing? And guards are now involved in it. They're implicated in it. Joe has now implicated in it. The messenger's implicated in it. It's just spiraling out. People in authority, that's parents, that's political people, police, whoever's in authority have a responsibility to watch and guard against sin. And that's something that we should and I think that's what David happened here. So I think we have to be careful. and how we do respond to things and how we are tempted. Okay. I've got to pick my wife up. The reason I'm trying to watch the time. All right, Hebrews 11, one through six. Jody, you got your Bible open where you can read that? Any questions on David? I'm sorry, 13. Yeah. Sorry, I said 11, but it should be 13. Yeah, typographical error there. I apologize. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels on earth. Remember those who are imprisoned, and go in prison with them, and those who are excreted, since you also are in the body. Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undivided. I will never leave you, nor forsake you. So we can confidently say, the Lord is my helper. I will not forsake you. Alright, this is our fourth week on these scriptures and we are going through and isolating certain things that we have gone, you know that we have seen in the scriptures. Brother John's done a good job with isolating it. This week we are talking about marriage. And we are dealing with the fact that And the catechism question actually goes along great this week with the category 70, question 77 about adultery. We are to protect our marriage only, man and wife. We are to honor God because he's the one that instituted marriage, and he instituted marriage with a man and a woman. I realize this is contrary to today's society. I understand that the woke agenda is out there. This is one of the referendums I think the nation said, hey, we're not wanting that this year. We're not wanting that in our society. But when it comes to same-sex marriages and things like that, that is not what God had intended. And we have deviated from that. In Genesis 2, 18 through 25, it gives us the story of how God actually made man. And he had actually brought all the animals and things to David to be named. And he saw that David was alone, and he said it's not good that he should be alone, and he decided he would create a helpmate for him. And he took a rib from Adam, and he formed a woman out of the rib. Actually, he formed a woman and put the rib in her. whenever you start looking at marriage, the examples that David and Solomon, and the reason I put their names up there, we just went through 2 Samuel. David and Solomon never actually followed God's plan for marriage, did they? I think Solomon actually probably exceeded his father, David. He had something like 300 wives. 900, I can't remember, 700, okay. Concubines, that's the one. So, the desires that they had in their heart, the things that they thought that they wanted, and the things that they looked at, and not content with what God had provided them was evident. But that's not how God intended it, and I brought it up for that reason. Divorce was only permitted under certain circumstances, and in Matthew 19, 8, it says that God granted it only because of the hardness of man's heart. God's intent was not for divorce. The reason why God granted it was there were certain purposes or reasons why they should be divorced, but the Jews were actually abusing the process of divorce and they were given divorces for any reason. didn't like the coffee, didn't like their food. But God did allow divorce for certain circumstances, for adultery. I think for abuse, God allowed divorce for that. But in Malachi 2.16, God says that he does hate divorce. Romans 1, 26 through 27, I brought this in because when we start talking about marriage, we actually get into some areas that the worldview is. And I'm going to read that because I refer to this a lot in these scriptures. And in the same way, also, men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another. Men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error, and just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to the depraved mind to do those things which are not proper. So this is not anything that was new in scriptures. If you remember in Old Testament, Sodom and Gomorrah, it was very evident. I put in here abortions. Abortions have come to be used to allow people to enjoy their sexual pleasures without the burden of having to use or raise kids. Basically, they're saying, I'm going to enjoy my life. And if I do get pregnant, I'm just going to have it killed. I'm being very blunt. I don't like abortions. I never have. I don't think it's something that God ever intended. In fact, when we were looking at the sixth commandment, thou shalt not kill, we went through that and discussed that. Homosexual marriages, there's no biblical basis for it. You cannot ever find that. In fact, God says it's an abomination to me. scriptures there in reference to the homosexual marriages and homosexual lifestyle. Marriage, as we, if you were here at the wedding yesterday, Brother John brought it out very well. It is a, marriage is a covenant between God and The two individuals, and he actually brought us into it as a congregation, that we were to encourage them when times get rough, and times do get rough in marriages, we don't always agree, do we, gentlemen and ladies? So God gives us enough wisdom to say, I'm sorry. So if we use those words and we understand that, then we should be able to take and get through life's problems. There's nothing in our marriages that can't be overcome. And I firmly believe that. I tell everybody how my wife has put up with me for 56 years. I have no idea. She probably had every right to divorce me many, many, many times, but God gave her grace and mercy for me, so that's good. Sexual union is restricted biblically to marriage. That's how God said reproduce, populate the earth, right? So sexual relations are for marriage. That's true sexual relations. because God intended it that way. It's an emotional thing that happens, but it's also a physical thing, and God put it in marriage because it develops the relationship that we have with one another. So it's important that we understand it in that sense. Sex outside of marriage is a sin. I don't apologize for that. That's what it says in the Bible, okay? Ladies, when you have a young man wooing you and he says, I love you, and all this good stuff, and he wants to get in bed with you, that's not love. OK? Telling you up front. That's just not the way it works. So gentlemen, don't tell a lie. Know that God created man and woman for a purpose. Understand that we're to respect and to love. Females and males will love males, but it is strictly prohibited by God until we get married and that's where it belongs because it creates all kinds of psychological problems and physical problems later in life if you're not staying within what God wants us to do. scriptures there. I listed for Ephesians and Revelations. Paul actually refers to marriage as a picture of the Church. Our relationship with Christ, we're the bride, to be bride in Heaven. And we are one day going to be united with our groom, which is Jesus Christ, the church is in heaven, and it's a relationship built on Christ. I listed some ways up here in which we can dishonor marriage, and there's just a few ideas. There's many more that you can come up with. I think anybody that validates homosexual marriage, I don't care if it's legal or not. Government has no right to take and define marriage like that, but we do. So if we validate it, that's a sin. That's not how we honor marriage. listed a second one up here, Marrying an Unbeliever that's in Malachi 2.11, 2 Corinthians 6.14. Paul says if you are in this type of marriage you should remain in it because the wife if she's a believer or the husband if he's a believer might be able to take and glorify God and might be able to take and be a witness to the wife or the husband, and she may be, he or she may become a Christian. I think no fault divorce. In other words, we're not happy. She spilled the soup on my clothes, and I'm just going to get a divorce. We get a divorce. When I was coming up working in private sector, I met a couple, well, I met a gentleman, he was married for, I think, two hours, and he ended up getting a divorce. I don't understand it, but, you know, that's the way society is. If you're just not happy, get a divorce and find someone else. If you're not happy, keep going until you find the right one. Of course, in society today, you don't even get married, they just go habitat. One of the biggest drawbacks, I think, on marriage is pornography. I think it tears a marriage apart. And it can be books, magazines, internet. Hollywood just seems to take and think they can dictate or present to us what they think is appropriate. And unfortunately, it's not godly. They, I mean, if you got soap operas, you got TV programs. I used to like a couple of programs and now they promote homosexuality, they promote living together, they promote sleeping around. I mean, there's too many things on TV that we have to protect our kids against. but it's part of what we have to deal with as Christians and we should select what we do watch and what we read and what our kids read. Not because they are unable to understand it, but because they're too young at this point. They need to understand what life is about and it's up to us to present the Christian view to our kids and present what God wants them to do, and that's to glorify him and how they should live their life to do that. These other things are just something that does not promote marriage in a godly way. So as parents, one, we shouldn't be doing pornography, and two, we should not allow our kids to get into that either. A lot of things have been created and the sins that are produced by some of this stuff in our society, rape, incest, you can name it. It's there. So we should be careful on how we're looking. I put some scriptures up here. God will judge those who practice sexual morality. I listed several. There are many more. but I wanted to get down to the last one. There is forgiveness upon repenting of sexual immorality. And the reason I say that, Paul in 1 Corinthians 6.11, he says, and such were some of you, and he had just gone through a list of all kinds of sins. And he said, and such were some of you, but you are washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the spirit of our God. So this is not something that is unforgivable. It is something that God will forgive. And when we start trying to, Christians seem to have a way of being superior, or trying to be superior, and they come off sounding condescending to people. We should show compassion, but we should also at the same time say, this is wrong, and this is how God intended for us to live. But don't forget, Paul is saying, where did you come from? What were you doing? What have you been in your life? What were you forgiven of? So we should understand this, and we should come along beside a brother or a sister and say, hey, you've been here, but God is able to do this, and this is where you can be. So I wanna make sure if you have committed any of these sins, it's not unforgivable. There is hope in Jesus Christ. And that's the first thing that Paul would want to say, and I think that's the first thing that God would want to say to us. 1 John 1-9 says, if we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. This should give us hope always that Christ is there. Paul refers to himself as the chief of sinners, and he found mercy in Jesus Christ, and that's in 1 Timothy 1, 15 through 16. God's forgiveness and gift of eternal life is yours if you will turn from your sin and trust in Jesus Christ, and that's in Romans 10, 9, and 10. Any questions on any part of this? I did not go into 2 Corinthians. I didn't think we would have time to do that. Any comments on marriage and the way that God would have us observe it in our lives and in society? Any other comments? Okay. Anyone want to dismiss this in prayer?