If you would, turn with me to the book of Deuteronomy as we continue our journey through this particular book. We're looking this morning at chapter 22, verses 13 through 30. I invite you to consider, especially if you have children today, to consider the insert in your bulletin and the things that are considered there. I will not tell you what to do with your children during this service. But I do want you to know that as believers on this side of the cross, after Jesus died for our sins, resurrected and ascended into heaven, we understand that much of the Old Testament law has been abrogated. That is, the ceremonial and civil law with sacrifices and penalties is no longer applicable. While being God's law, the principles, standards, and meaning of this law remain. This portion, however, of sexual mores, you may be surprised to know, is a portion that, with the exception of the physical penalties, has not been abrogated. In the Holy Spirit's direction of the early church on matters of the law, the decisions from Acts 15, 10 through 11, and then verses 19 and 20, read in this way. Now, therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus just as they will. And when the early church was making the decision about the law, whether anyone needs to be circumcised or follow all the ceremonies of the law, this was the conclusion. It says here, Therefore, my judgment is that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God, but should write to them to abstain from the things polluted by idols and from sexual immorality and from what has been strangled and from blood. In other words, these particular moral standards remain in the church today. And they are the standards that we find in part in the passage we're reading this morning from Deuteronomy chapter 22. Follow along as I read verses 13 through 30. If any man takes a wife and goes into her and then hates her and accuses her of misconduct and brings a bad name upon her, saying, I took this woman and when I came near her I did not find in her evidence of virginity, Then the father of the young woman and her mother shall take and bring out the evidence of her virginity to the elders of the city in the gate. And the father of the young woman shall say to the elders, I gave my daughter to this man to marry. And he hates her. And behold, he has accused her of misconduct, saying, I did not find in your daughter evidence of virginity. And yet this is the evidence of my daughter's virginity. And they shall spread the cloak before the elders of the city. Then the elders of that city shall take the man and whip him and they shall find him a hundred shekels of silver and give them to the father of the young woman because he has brought a bad name upon a virgin of Israel and she shall be his wife. He may not divorce her all his days. But if the thing is true, that evidence of virginity was not found in the young woman, then they shall bring out the young woman to the door of her father's house and the men of her city shall stone her to death with stones because she has done an outrageous thing in Israel by whoring in her father's house. So you shall purge the evil from your midst. If a man is found lying with the wife of another man, both of them shall die, the man who lay with the woman and the woman. So shall you purge the evil from Israel. If there is a betrothed virgin and a man meets her in the city and lies with her, Then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city and you shall stone them to death with stones. The young woman because she did not cry for help though she was in the city, and the man because he violated his neighbor's wife. So you shall purge the evil from your midst. But if in the open country a man meets a young woman who is betrothed and the man seizes her and lies with her, then only the man who lay with her shall die. But you shall do nothing to the young woman. She has committed no offense punishable by death. For in this case, for this case is like that of a man attacking and murdering his neighbor because he met her in the open country and though the betrothed young woman cried for help, there was no one to rescue her. If a man meets a virgin who is not betrothed and seizes her and lies with her and they are found, then the man who lay with her shall give to the father of the young woman 50 shekels of silver and she shall be his wife because he has violated her. He may not divorce her all his days. A man shall not take his father's wife so that he does not uncover his father's nakedness. As we consider this portion of God's word, let us bow briefly in prayer. Father, this is a tough word to deal with in public. This is a tough word to deal with in our current society and the world around us. It is tough for us to hear if we have sinned in these fashions. And yet, Lord, by your grace, you have revealed this portion of your word, both for our good and for your glory. We pray, Lord, that if anything is said, thought, or done here inconsistent with this your word, let it pass away, never to be heard again. But, Lord, let us also hear both the serious nature of these things and your grace and mercy. We pray all this in Jesus' name, amen. You might have noticed the PG indication on your bulletin. It's a little loud, I think. It's also there on today's insert. And it's not just there so that you'll be aware of the topic and be able to shield children that might not be ready for these discussions in the way that you see fit as a parent. But it's also to warn parents and remind them of their duty to provide appropriate guidance on these matters to your children. The world is not going to teach them what is contained in the scripture. Just as churches in modern day Turkey in the first decades after Christ's ascension were warned that unrepentant sexual immorality could lead to God removing the lampstand from their churches. So we too are seeing the closing and destruction of entire churches and denominations in our own day in part due to the adherence to teachings and practices of sexual immorality. This includes the denomination of my youth, the mainline Presbyterian Church, which has lost hundreds if not thousands of churches and over a million members in the last few years in part due to their open and affirming position promoting sexual immorality amongst them. But God wants purity among his people and here are his standards. He wants there to be amongst God's people purity before marriage. He wants there to be purity in the marriage contract. And he wants there overall to be purity in the covenant community. And I have to say, speaking in the 21st century in America, these things are counter-cultural to our society in the United States of America. They are counter-cultural to the society that is promoted in our public school system, that is promoted by practice in our entertainment, and by all the things that take place around us. The covenant community should look different from the world around us. Now, first of all, is this rather lengthy exposition of a man who gets married and has a bride that he, it says in this passage, hates. Virginity here is described as God's normal standard for brides. In other words, as we understand God's design for his people and design for humanity, his design is that people do not have relationships before they get married. They do not enjoy that intimacy, that great gift of God before marriage, the normal standard. Think of this. In our society around us, what is the normal standard? You don't have to answer that out loud. Think about that among yourselves. Is that the standard that God is promoting, not only in this passage, but throughout the Bible? This is the normal standard for believers as they raise their children and as they approach the world around them. Now, this is of course in the midst of some of the case law of the Old Testament. And therefore, we have in this passage, because this is going to happen here, again, one of those instances, he says there will be a case where a husband marries a young woman and he will then challenge whether or not his bride is a virgin. Now, he can do this for some reason that is selfish and because he finds something in this young woman that he doesn't like. Now, you may wonder how in that world or how in the world that could take place if he's been engaged to this woman and it's been expected and all these times. Well, remember in these days in particular, These were arranged marriages for the most part. They also may have been arranged from the time they were very young. And by the time he gets there, maybe he finds something he doesn't like about her. Maybe he doesn't even like the intimacy that he enjoyed with her in the consummation of the marriage. But whatever the case is, there are two ways that this might happen. First of all, he might be bringing these false charges because of selfish reasons. Secondly, he might be giving true charges because this really is the case with this young woman. What happens then when he brings false charges? Well, there is a process by which he does these things. I'm not gonna give it in detail. It's not important for me to do that. It's in the scripture there before you. Not all the details are given. We don't know how often this might have taken place. If ever, we don't know. There's not a recorded instance of this that I can think of. But it's interesting that this was including not only the man and his wife, but the elders of the city and the wife's parents. And notice what happens when false charges are given and it was not true that this woman had had relationship with another man before marriage. What happens to the husband? First of all, the husband gets corporal punishment. In other words, He is either whipped or beaten because he has done this. Secondly, the husband pays a fine to the father. Interesting that in this section of scripture, it appears that this fine is actually twice the price of a bride. Now we'll get into that a little bit later. But the husband here is paying this fine to who? To the father. Why does he pay it to the father and not to his wife? Well, because if he pays it to his wife, it just goes back to him, community property. So here the fine is paid to the father. Also, the husband then, in this instance, is forbidden to divorce her all of his life. Now to us, that sounds strange to our ears, but to them, this would have been protection for this woman. To be thrown out, even with a false reputation, would have been to basically be unprotected financially and legally in her community. She would be dependent upon either her own parents or the welfare of the society. So in this case, in these false charges, you'll notice the woman is exonerated. She is given a reparation of her reputation in the community. The husband, however, is punished both publicly, financially, and with a limit to how he can treat this wife the rest of his life. So these are serious matters. But what happens if these are true charges and the woman really was unfaithful to her future husband? Notice what takes place then. It says in this case, Then they shall bring out the young woman to the door of her father's house and the men of her city shall stone her to death with stones because she has done an outrageous thing in Israel by whoring in her father's house. First of all, the woman is executed by stoning. Of course, this is Israel, we don't do those penalties anymore. But notice too where this stoning was to take place. It was not to be taking place in the normal place of stoning, that is at the gate of the city. It was not to be taken place in the home or in front of the home of the married couple. It was to take place in front of the parent's home. Because this recognizes on the one hand, the shame that she has brought upon her family. And it recognizes on the other hand, how that family's shame is removed by this act of punishment. Evil then is thus purged from Israel. This sounds pretty harsh. You see, these are community standards and values. There is, first of all, of course, the individual responsibility to maintain purity. In case you, especially if you're not married, you're a young person thinking about getting married in the future, and you hear these standards, God does not take lightly your intimate relationships, and the gift of sexuality. You are to maintain purity, and if you don't, it is a dreadful sin, in fact, considered here an abomination before God. Your individual responsibility to maintain purity is such that if you break those bonds, you are sinning against God, against your future spouse, and you are also sinning against your family and the Christian community. All of those things. You have tremendous individual responsibility to maintain this purity. If anyone tells you it is okay to do these things, Let them hear this scripture and the New Testament as well to know that you are responsible to maintain this purity. Secondly, notice here the parental responsibility to teach purity. You see, all along throughout this section of scripture, surprising to our modern ears, is the participation of the parents in this whole process. You see, in those days when someone was going to get married and they were contracting that marriage in an engagement. The husband or future husband would pay a bride fee or price for that bride. But the parents offering their daughter to that individual were basically giving a contract stating that this young woman is eligible for marriage. And that eligibility included her being a virgin. And in other words, if that contract is seen to be fraudulent, that that woman actually was not eligible for marriage as a pure virgin, then the parents were considered breaching a contract and committing fraud. And all of the community in this reputation that is tarnished, see that the parents here bear some shame and responsibility. So difficult for us to understand today. So the parental responsibility to teach purity is crucial. And of course, that responsibility has not been abrogated either. The New Testament, we see that parents are supposed to train the children in the instruction of the Lord, train them in the way that the Lord would have us live. So we understand here, even though we don't have the same contracts and the same traditions and all of those things, yet in the Christian community, it is still valid for us to avoid, flee from sexual immorality, and the parents' part of this is crucial. How many of you actually understand that when your child does do these things, shame is brought on your house? How many of you understand the importance of doing your duty? Here it is. And of course in all of this then is also the community responsibility to maintain purity. Now obviously we're not gonna go through these procedures in a church. Obviously we're not gonna, conduct penalties of stoning people outside the door of somebody's house. Obviously, we're not gonna give fines and those types of things. And yet, scripture reminds us that this is such an important part of maintaining purity before the Lord that church discipline will take place in a faithful church in these matters if people refuse to repent of their sins. Okay, so. The world around us declares that what happens in the bedroom is nobody's business. But tell that to the 40% of children that are being raised in homes without their two birth parents. Tell that to couples facing unprecedented levels of infertility brought on by the uncleanness and disease brought on, brought into the fewer and fewer marriages that take place in our society. Tell that to the broken homes that every teacher in a school sees in possibly the majority of their children. God tells his people, the church, that it is the business of the covenant community. You see, with great gifts come great responsibility. And even though we're not gonna be about sneaking around your house and trying to figure out what you're doing and all those things, if it becomes apparent That sexual sin is taking place amongst our people. It is imperative amongst the elders of the church that discipline take place and that we as individuals teach and train people in the purity standards of God. After all, if we don't know that what is sin, how can we repent of it and receive God's grace? But not only should there be purity before marriage, there should also be purity in the marriage contract. Of course, we know this from the seventh commandment. Thou shalt not commit adultery. And here is verse 22, which basically lays out that commandment in a more extensive form. If a man is found lying with the wife of another man, both of them shall die. The man who lay with the woman and the woman, so you shall purge the evil from Israel. In other words, in their day, there was capital punishment for adultery. And here was the case of a married woman. And of course, we know, even one of the most famous people of all of the Bible, King David, engaged in this behavior. Yes, he deserved the death penalty. Because he was the king, there was no one to carry it out upon him. It was not done. And yet he deserved it. But by God's grace, he repented. and received God's grace, although God punished him because of that sin. Verse 23 reminds us that it's not just those that are actually in the contract of marriage already having been married, but it's also in the contractor under the contract of marriage itself. He says, if there is a betrothed virgin, that means engaged young woman, And a man meets her in the city and lies with her, then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city and you shall stone them to death with stones. The young woman because she did not cry for help though she was in the city and the man because he violated his neighbor's wife. So you shall purge the evil from your midst. This is a case where evidently both parties were consenting to this particular sin and engaged in it. And in that sense, it's no different from adultery. You know, we would like to justify ourselves sometimes by saying, well, they weren't married yet, so it shouldn't be as bad. That's not what the scriptures say. If they're engaged, they belong to somebody else. It doesn't matter. That marriage contract is to be honored by all. And in that sense, they're liable to the same penalty as those who are already legally married. And of course, we see evidence of this type of arrangement even in the New Testament. for when Joseph heard that his wife Mary was pregnant, the assumption was that she had been immoral. And so he would have to divorce her. In other words, the contract that was taking place with engagement was such that it was considered a legal contract already, even though they had not yet consummated the marriage. And so here is the importance of this marriage contract. But then what happens if there is a non-consensual situation? That is what verse 25 through 27 indicates. The idea is that somewhere in the country, perhaps, where there's no one to help the woman, the man forcibly takes her and rapes her or assaults her. The capital punishment in that case shall not be executed upon the woman because she is the victim. She is not at fault. There is out of the way information in this passage to tell us that she had no guilt in this matter. But the man should be executed. In other words, there is in this case a legal determination of non-consent. Now these two laws, verses 23 through 24 and verses 25 through 27, they give us parameters by which to understand consent or non-consent in these cases. But it doesn't give us all the details or all of the cases that might occur. And yet in all this is the understanding that if both parties willingly engage in this practice, both are liable to punishment. But if one party alone, without the consent of the other party, does these things, only the one party, the perpetrator then, is executed or punished. So don't think that the scripture did not take into consideration victim status of someone in these particular situations. You see, we like to think in our modern society that we treat women better than they did back then. Throughout this portion of scripture, we see again and again, God protecting the woman, particularly being the more vulnerable party in their society. And so here again, is this protection of women, whether it's the protection of a woman from false charges, or now the protection of a woman when she is assaulted. But in all of these things, notice this. There is in the community of God's people, to be an absolute protection of the marriage institution. We have no right to violate that contract. We have no right to encourage the violation of these things, whether it's an engagement or whether it's a marriage. Now I have to say, this time of year, certain members of my family enjoy sappy Christmas movies. I'm not necessarily one of them. I will watch them and be with my family and so forth, but it's not my favorite. I'd rather watch a football game or something like that. But even these sappy Christmas movies promote the seduction of an engaged woman by the better guy in the storyline. Think about that. a Hallmark Christian Christmas movie that we kind of lift up and say, hey, look at this. This is harmless. It is something that just as it promotes joy and good feelings and all this stuff. How many of those movies are a guy that's engaged to a woman and you think that guy is not as good as this other guy in the movie? And isn't it great that she dumps the one guy for the other guy? Now, are these changing times? or broken standards. You see, we're reminded that this is not something God designs for us to just take lightly the idea of engagement or to take lightly the idea of marriage. Now, victims of course here are not at fault. Willing participants or villains, however, are guilty before a holy God. And we, understanding the principles put forth in these scriptures and the verification in the New Testament that these moral standards are still God's standards, we must encourage those involved in these particular sins to repent or they will face the consequences. After all, Paul gives all these lists, doesn't he? All these individuals who engage in these types of sins in an unrepentant fashion will not inherit the kingdom of God. They include sexual immorality. Yes, they include greed, they include fighting against one another, violence and all those things, idolatry. But every single one of these lists includes either the category of immorality or even specific things within that category. This is very serious matter. And yet so often in the church, we just ignore it or look over it or don't even address it. And yet this particular sin is mentioned so many more times than even many of the doctrines that we love this time of year. There should be purity not only before marriage or in the marriage contract, but in general in the covenant community. We come to this last section, first of all, verses 28 and 29. If a man meets a virgin who is not betrothed and seizes her and lies with her and they are found, then the man who lay with her shall give to the father of the young woman 50 shekels of silver and she shall be his wife because he has violated her. He may not divorce her all his days. Now, to understand here what this is taking, what this is indicating, we must also look at Exodus because it gives us more information. In your bulletin there on your outline, is the parallel passage in Exodus 22 verses 16 and 17. If a man seduces a virgin who has not betrothed and lies with her, he shall give the bride price for her and make her his wife. If the father utterly refuses to give her to him, he shall pay money equal to the bride price for virgins. In other words, this is the indication of a seduction. This is a community law for what we often call, biblical language, fornication. First of all, in this case, regardless of whether this woman will become his wife or not, the man is required to pay the bride price, in this case, 50 pieces of silver. Now, according to Exodus, it is not mandatory. It is an option for the father to give his daughter in marriage. But in the case that he does, Then this man is forbidden from divorcing this woman all of his life, just like was the case in the first section, verses 13 through 21. Now, why all this? Well, today, many don't think twice. And I will say, many in the church don't think twice about intimacy before marriage. We know, it's promoted, it's glorified, it's even expected. I remember as a young person growing up in the public school in a small town in Illinois, my high school years in the locker room where things that were spoken there would be blushed upon, even by an adult who has experienced many of these things. No doubt it's a temptation for all of us. In fact, Jesus even opens up the category of this sin to say that even if we look upon a woman with lust in our heart, it's committing adultery. You see, this is why Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, says to the unmarried and the widow in 1 Corinthians 7-9, it is better to marry than to burn. When we hear that word burn, there are two options. One is like the ESV will translate in that passage, burn with passion. In other words, have lust after that woman. And because of that intimacy and that temptation for intimacy to burn in that sense, but it also can mean burn as in punishment, recognizing that if we don't repent of adulterous thoughts, then we too are liable to hellfire. This is a serious matter. In other words, these things are so serious, we need to make sure we counter the teaching of the society around us to give individuals, namely our children and our grandchildren, the understanding that despite what the world will teach, God has these standards, and if you engage in these things and refuse to repent of these things, you will not inherit the kingdom of heaven. The last one is an even more egregious sin, Verse 30 says, a man shall not take his father's wife so that he does not uncover his father's nakedness. Now, of course, in their days, it was much more common for someone who was a widower to take a much younger wife. In our country, it was like that in the past as well. In fact, just this year, President John Tyler's grandson died. President John Tyler was the 10th president of the United States in the 1840s. His father had taken a much younger wife after his first wife died and had a child. And that particular child, when he grew up, also had his wife die and took a much younger wife when he was a widower. And so this man who died this year, an old man, was the grandson of that particular president of the United States. So this was much more common in their days. But it's forbidden for someone to take that spouse of their father and commit adultery with them. Now, do you think this doesn't happen in the church? Then read 1 Corinthians 5. We read it this morning. Eric read it here during our worship service. This was exactly the case. We call it, perhaps, the curse for committing the sin of Reuben. Reuben did this to his own father. When Jacob was giving his blessings to his children, when he came to Reuben, the firstborn, he said, Reuben, you defiled me. You took one of my wives and laid with her, and a curse was given upon him. In 1 Corinthians 5, Paul tells the church, this isn't even done among the pagans. And yet here it is in the church, and not only that, you're arrogant and proud that this is taking place. Now the good news, is that in 2 Corinthians 2, verses 5 through 11, apparently this man has repented. And Paul is telling them about this man that he called out in 1 Corinthians. He commends them in 1 Corinthians to discipline this man, but in 2 Corinthians he's repented. And joyfully, Paul is telling them, you not only have to accept his repentance, you have to encourage him and bring him back into full fellowship of the church. You see, This is what it looks like in God's community. First of all, we take this very seriously. Secondly, we train our children, our grandchildren. Thirdly, we understand that because this is the holy standard of God, we maintain that standard against all the efforts of the world around us to break it because these are God's standards and not ours. But the last thing is this. Even these egregious sins, some of which in the Old Testament days made for capital punishment, or in one case, corporal punishment, financial punishment, and so forth. Even these things, if we repent and stop those things and turn to God for forgiveness, he will grant it because of Jesus Christ. You see, we live in times where courts and laws have directly opposed biblical standards of community morality. In fact, Supreme Court justices have told in decisions in the court that it's none of the public's business what people do in their private lives. We live in times where we give special status to those living in sin and even let those living together outside of marriage teach and train our children. Egregious. We as believers must take these things into consideration when we choose schools and other opportunities for our children. Unspeakable evil runs rampant even in many churches. And yet, these sins can be forgiven. You see, the call here is for repentance. Now scripture rebukes us. and corrects us. And boy, sometimes we need it. And men, particularly in the congregation this morning, I imagine that every single last one of you, with Jesus' determination of adultery, has committed adultery in your heart, if not literally. And yet God's grace is greater than our sin. If you turn to him and ask him for forgiveness, it may not correct all of the consequences of that sin. Your family may or may not stay together. Your marriage may or may not hold together or be restored. But your relationship with God in these cases, if you truly repent and trust upon him, will last forever. You see, this is why we come to the Lord's table. When we see the holiness of God and his holy standards. Yes, these are guidelines. This is like when you go to the bowling alley. And when you go to the bowling alley and the kids want to bowl, now they put these little things in the gutter so that the ball won't go in the gutter. These are the guidelines that God gives us so that our whole church doesn't go in the gutter. so that we can maintain these standards, not so that we can hold it over and lord it over the people of God, but so that we can enjoy the privileges that God gives us in the great gift of marriage, the great gifts he gives us in intimacy to be reserved only for a marriage between one man and one woman. And here these standards, give us great joy in community together, but even more, we get the joy of restoration because God forgives those who have gone outside the boundaries if they turn to him in repentance and faith. That's why we come every week to worship God, because we have access to his throne of grace, not because we deserve it. We've broken these things, whether literally or figuratively. We've broken these standards, both as a community and as families and as individuals. And yet at the same time, God is the God of reparation. He is a God who will repair what is broken. So that for all eternity, those who have turned to him in faith will receive not only protection, not only blessings, not only temporal things, but an eternal relationship with God that will never be broken. Let us pray. Father, we pray that on the one hand, we will indeed take these standards seriously. We will train our children, we will train ourselves, we will speak when necessary of these standards to those around us. Lord, let our houses be places where there is purity maintained. Let our marriages be strengthened by purity. May your spirit sanctify us through and through, that when we go out into a world that does not have these standards, into a world that promotes another standard, another God, another gospel, that you will help us to be standing strong upon your word and your truth. That we will, on the one hand, be gracious. On the other hand, we will maintain and seek to maintain the truth of your word and all of its consequences. Father, we pray that you will be with us, encourage us, and strengthen us on these matters, both now and in the future. In Jesus' name, amen.