Now, generations come and generations ago.
But the 10 commandments stand, they don’t need to be amended or revised.
But here’s what we need to do.
We need to take the law and put it in our hearts.
Because if the law of God is only on the outside, it will be a rule, a regulation, a restraint.
But if it’s on the inside, if the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in us, then what liberty, what release there is there profound truth simply stated.
This is love worth finding with pastor teacher and author Adrian Rogers Exodus chapter 20 and verse 14 says something clearly with no stutter, no stammer, no apology, no compromise, no equivocation clearly and plainly.
God says in his word, thou shall not commit adultery.
I wanna speak to you today on this subject. The key to a magnificent marriage.
Now, what we have today in America is a vicious cycle, broken homes, produce broken people that have more broken homes that produce more broken people that produce more broken homes.
Now, that’s not an irreversible cycle. What we need to do is to break that cycle.
What we need to do is to teach young people today how to have a Godly marriage, how to get from the mountain top to the valley below.
Now, you may be happily married, but the message still applies to you.
You may be unmarried, but the message today still applies to you. Why? Because we have a responsibility before God.
Whether or not we’re married are happily married to help other people. It is a ministry.
We must be a part of a team to help young people today prepare for marriage and to help those who are married to arrive safely.
And here are three things I wanna point out to you.
Number one, we’ve got to teach our young people. God’s plan for a magnificent marriage.
Now, look, if you will. In Genesis chapter two, you’re an exodus, just turn left to Genesis chapter two.
If you will please for a moment.
And in Genesis chapter two, I’m gonna read a few verses of scripture to you.
And in these few verses of scripture, every problem that marriage will ever face is alluded to here and the answer to every problem.
Genesis two verses 21 through 24. It tells about the first marriage in the garden of Eden.
It tells about God’s plan for the home and for a magnificent marriage.
And it says this and the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam and he slept and he that is God took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh instead thereof.
And the rib which the Lord God had taken from the man made he a woman and brought her unto the man.
And Adam said, this is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.
She shall be called woman because she was taken out of man.
Now notice the, therefore, in verse 24 we’ve alluded to this many times in our preaching.
So hopefully, you have it underlined if you don’t underline it right now, Genesis two verse 24.
Therefore, listen to it. Here’s all of marriage in one verse.
Here it is distill down into an a pure essence. Everything is included in this one verse.
Look at it. Therefore, shall a man leave his father and his mother and she’ll cleave onto his wife and they shall be one flesh.
Any advice that you can give would simply be an enlargement and extrapolation of that one verse.
That one verse speaks of the priority of marriage. Now notice what it says for this cause.
Shall a man leave his father and his mother? And what is that saying?
It is saying that marriage has the highest priority.
The highest priority of human relationships is not parent to child or child, to parent, but mate to mate.
The highest priority in marriage is not parent to child or child, to parent.
It is mate to make.
And therefore we as parents must be preparing our Children to leave us now.
Not only is there, the, the priority of marriage taught in this verse, there is the permanence of marriage.
The Bible says, He shall cleave unto his wife. A Hebrew word has the idea of welding or gluing.
It’s not people who put themselves together. It’s God that puts them together. Mark 10 verse nine says what?
Therefore, God hath joined together, what God hath joined together. Let not man put asunder marriage is permanent.
Marriage is till death. Do us part? This verse speaks of the priority of marriage.
It speaks of the permanence of marriage. It speaks of the purpose of marriage.
They too will be one flesh.
And this does, this deals with more of them than simply a sexual union though that is included.
It means that they will be one flesh, physically, emotionally and spiritually two become one marriage is a romance.
And in the first chapter, both the hero and heroine die and, and then they become one new person.
You see, look, God loves you.
I’ve said this over and over in this series when God says, thou shalt not, he’s just saying, don’t hurt yourself.
When God says thou shalt He’s saying, help yourself to happiness. You are not smarter than God. God loves you.
And when God says, thou shalt not commit adultery, he’s not trying to keep you from sex.
He is trying to keep sex for you. It is a wonderful gift of God.
Marriage is honorable and the bed undefiled but adulterers and home owners.
God will judge so what we have to do.
First of all, if we get these kids down from the mountain top to the Happy Valley, we have to show them God’s plan for the home, for a magnificent marriage.
And God’s plan is very, very simply the priority of marriage, the permanence of marriage, the purpose of marriage, that they become one flesh and achieve that happiness, that, that satisfaction, that joy, that fulfillment that God has intended, in spite of all of the difficulties along the way.
Now, the second thing we need to do is not only teach them, but we need to warn them.
We need to warn them.
And this message today and I have prayed over, it is going to be very solemn and very stern because there’s no equivocation here.
When God says, thou shalt not commit adultery to adulterate means to make Him pure.
And when you adulterate marriage, you have made him pure.
Something that God values so highly and so wonderfully. Let me tell you why adultery is a sin.
First of all, it’s a sin against one’s own self. Do you know what the Bible says?
Here’s an interesting verse and I hope you’ll jot these verses down. First Corinthians chapter six verse 18.
The Bible says, flee fornication, every sin that a man doeth is without the body that is outside of his body.
But he that committed fornication, sin against his own body.
There’s no sin that will do you more personal damage spiritually, mentally and physically than immorality.
And we could talk about that from a psychological point of view, we could talk about it from a spiritual point of view.
We could talk about it from a physical point of view. Lord Byron was handsome, witty, charming.
He was a playboy poet in England. He died with venereal disease at an early age.
This is what he said.
My days are in the yellow leaf, the flour and the fruits of life are gone.
The worm, the canker and the grief are mine alone.
He had it all but he lost it all through immorality.
We are young people today talking about safe sex. Sex is not supposed to be dangerous.
You not have to, you’re not supposed to haven’t even be talking about safe sex. It is sacred sex.
Uh It immorality is a sin against the self. A man sins against his own body.
It’s a sin against the whole and here is one of the most heinous things about adultery.
It sins against the home and against the Children in that home.
The lives of Children, innocent Children being torn apart every year in America.
I want to quote what Kent Hughes said and listen to this.
The man who commits adultery tells his child, your mother is not worth much and your father is a liar and a cheat.
Mhm The man who commits adultery says this to his Children.
Your mother is not worth much and your father is a liar and a cheat.
Furthermore, honor is not nearly as important as pleasure.
In fact, my child, my own satisfaction is more important than you are.
Mm. That’s, that’s, that’s pretty stiff, isn’t it? Listen to it?
The man who commits adultery tells his child your mother is not worth much and your father is a liar and a cheat.
Furthermore, honor is not nearly as important as pleasure.
In fact, my child, my own satisfaction is more important than you are so set against the, the home.
But adultery is also a sin against the church.
Now, none of us live to ourselves and none of us die unto ourselves.
And the Bible teaches that we are the temple of God.
And then the Bible says, if any man defiled the temple of God, him shall God destroy which temple ye are you say?
Pastor Rogers, my personal sex life is none of your business.
Well, if you’re a member of this church is some of my business and mine is some of your business because we’re in it together.
We are members, one of another. We are members of the same body.
And, and when a member of a church lives in sexual immorality, he sins against the holy body of Christ.
He takes the members of Christ and makes the members of a, the Bible says, how should this happen?
God forbid I stand against oneself. So sent against one’s home, Sosin against one’s church.
Just sin against one’s nation. I wonder how long the wrath of a holy God will be stayed against America.
Given who wrote the rise and fall of the Roman Empire said this sin.
The sin of immorality was the number one thing that brought that empire crashing down.
Historians tell us it was the sin that destroyed Greece was the sin that destroyed Rome.
It was the sin that destroyed Egypt. It was the sin that destroyed Babylon.
And I believe it may well be the the sin that will destroy America.
And even now, the raging waters of God’s wrath are furiously pounding against the dam of His mercy.
One day that dam of mercy will give way to the waters of God’s wrath.
The Bible says in Proverbs 14 verse 34 righteousness exalted the nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.
Deuteronomy 22 verse 22 speaks to the Jews living under the a theocracy.
And it says this, if a man be found lying with a woman married to a husband, then they shall both of them die, both the man that lay with the woman and the woman.
So shout thou put away evil from Israel. Now we don’t live under a theocracy anymore.
But under a theocracy, when God was the king, God said, put away this evil from our land.
So that our land can survive. The enemy of the home is the enemy of society.
And people who treat sex lightly will treat other people lightly. And the society comes down.
But here’s the bottom line adultery. Yes. It’s a sin against the body. Yes.
Yes. It’s a sin against the home. Yes. Yes. It’s a sin against the church. Indeed.
Yes, it is a sin against the nation.
But listen to me, ladies and gentlemen, adultery is a sin against Almighty God.
It is God, it is God Almighty God who has said thou shalt not commit adultery.
And when King David committed adultery, he was wise enough to pray in Psalm 51 verse four against the.
And the only have I sinned and done this evil and by sight it is God who said, thou shalt not commit adultery.
Proverbs six verse 32 says who so committed adultery with a woman? Lack of understanding.
He that doeth it, destroy it, his own soul. Why? Why does he destroy his own soul?
Because he sins against Almighty God. These are holy laws.
The 10 commandments are not advised, they are law and law without penalty is only advice.
And I don’t get the idea that a pure life is just an option that you might choose as a Christian.
If you’re not living a life of sexual purity, you have no right to call yourself a Christian.
First Corinthians six verse nine. No, you’re not that the unrighteous, shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
Be not deceived, neither fornicators nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor feminine, nor abusers of themselves with mankind.
Ephesians five verse five. For this, you know that no hor monger nor unclean person or covetous man who is an idolater ha any inheritance in the Kingdom of God and of Christ revelation 21 verse eight.
But the fearful and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and horger and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars shall have their part in the lake which Burnet with fire and brimstone which is the second death, no matter how you glamorize it.
God says it is sin, it is a sin against me. I’m a holy God.
My Children do not live that way.
You say, well, I’m a member of the church and I’m living that way and nothing has happened to me.
Well, if you be without chastisement, where all the partakers then are you illegitimate? And not sons.
God said, if you were my son, I would have chastised you.
But Romans 25 says, but after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasures up unto thyself, wrath against the day of wrath, you’re just treasuring it up.
Now, we need to teach our Children and we need to warn our Children.
Let them know this is clear, it is playing and is for their welfare.
The third thing we need to do is to show our Children.
We need to model this before our Children. Now it’s difficult.
Let me give you some words very quickly in the few moments that I have that begin with the letter D that will help you to get your marriage back on track.
If it’s off track to keep it on track, if it is on track.
Number one, the first one is decision. Decide for Christ. Give your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ.
If you have failed. If you have sinned, bring it to him though.
Your sins be a scarlet, they should be white as snow.
Though they be red like crimson, they shall be his wool.
He will forgive and he will not hold grudges every stain, every blot, every blur, every blemish he will bury in the grave of God’s forgetfulness.
Come to Jesus and I promise you on the authority of the word of God. He will cleanse.
The second B is the word dependence, not only decide for Christ, but depend on Christ.
Let his life in you, energize you and give you power.
He doesn’t merely forgive you and then say now do better.
He comes to live in you to energize you to give you power day by day.
Number three, devotion begin to pour out your love to Christ and to your family, love God and love your mate with a supernatural love.
When a man comes to me and says, I’m gonna divorce my wife because I don’t love her anymore.
He gets no sympathy from me because love is a decision. God has commanded us to love.
Anybody can love who chooses to love. The Bible says, husbands, love your wives.
That’s not a suggestion that also is a command. Don’t come around here with this.
Uh uh I did well, you know, I, I’ve just fallen out of love and, and therefore I can’t do it anymore.
No uh friend decide to love and then have this devotion, a love for God and a love for your family.
And here’s the next de development. Let your love continue to grow, learn this about love.
What love is? Love is not like a diamond, some precious beautiful gem that we stumble upon.
We find we acquire, we keep it to treasure forever. No, no, that’s a static thing.
Love is not like a diamond. Love is like a flower.
It must be cultivated, it must be cared for, it must be nurtured so it can grow and grow and grow.
If you don’t love your wife more than you did when you got married, I believe that you love her less.
It’ll never be static. Began to develop that love and feed that love.
I ask young couples when I marry them, will you continue to feed that love from day to day and from week to week and from year to year, from the very best resources of your living men?
Let me just tell you something. Just very, very, very simple. Don’t flirt with other women.
I don’t, I mean good naturedly in the office. Don’t flirt, never flirt with another woman.
Never stop flirting with your wife. Just flirt with her all the time.
Wink at her hugger. Uh Do those little nice things. Keep, keep the honey in the honeymoon develop.
Here’s the next day. Discipline, guard your company.
The Bible says the companion of fools will be destroyed.
Friends that are urging you to sin are not friends.
Watch what you set in front of your eyes. You sit there going through the channels.
There are things that are gonna come up on that screen. Don’t watch those things.
Don’t abide with those things. You wouldn’t put garbage in your mouth.
Why put garbage in your brain, garbage in garbage out? Don’t say it won’t affect you.
Can a man take a fire in his bosom and be not burned. Watch what you watch.
I’ve told you before when I was in college just like any other college boy with raging hormones.
I had on my desk this motto he who would not fall down ought not to walk in slippery places.
Watch what you do. The Bible says, flee fornication. And then there must be a, a discipline.
And then last of all with that discipline, there must be a determination.
Let me make up your mind, make up your mind.
I don’t have to make up my mind every time I go out of town, whether I’m going to be true to joys.
I don’t have to make up my mind every time I turn on television, whether I’m gonna watch filth or not, I don’t have to make up my mind.
Every time I pass a news stand, whether I’m gonna buy something raunchy or not, why I have already made up my mind.
I’m not saying that I’m arrogant about it.
I’m just simply saying my heart is fixed.
Oh, Lord, trusting in the, I have decided to follow Jesus. Ladies and gentlemen, make one big decision.
It’ll help you with a lot of other smaller decisions.
You won’t have to keep on saying this or that. Just have that, that deep determination in your heart.
As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Now time is gone.
But here’s what I want you to remember.
Number one, God’s plan is purity for marriage.
Number two, if you fail God is a God of forgiveness, he’s the God of a second chance and a third chance and 1/4 chance.
And we ought to be people just like our God to forgive one another.
Remember the woman taken in adultery. Where are the accusers woman? Do?
No man condemned the nor do I go and sin no more.
If you have a broken heart or if you have a broken home, bring it to Jesus.
He can put it back together.
If you give him all the pieces