The Sixth Commandment: Lesson 13

When the 1631 edition of the KJV of the bible was printed it had been found that it had a misprint. Some would call it minor...just one little word accidentally missed by the typesetter. He left out the word ‘not’ in the 6th commandment, reading “Thou shalt commit adultery.” As a result, that edition is now known as ‘The Wicked Bible’...It seems that that version is the version of the Bible that our world today has chosen to claim!

The 6th commandment stands guard over the sanctity and chastity of marriage, and even the preservation of our society. Violation of this command results in broken homes, wrecked lives, disease and death.

Although the commandment is about Adultery, I also am going to include the sin of fornication in our discussion. Traditional dictionary definitions of fornication and adultery generally define fornication as sexual relationships between unmarried people and adultery as a sexual relationship between two people in which at least one of the people involved is married to someone else.

The 6th commandment has never been more dismissed than it is today. No generation has ever been so sex crazed as ours is.

The sexual revolution of the 60s has only snowballed since, and our senses are dulled down so we don’t recognize it so much. It’s an all out assault on the 6th commandment. It is scorned, ridiculed, and belittled. It’s considered outdated and archaic...so old fashioned. We hear so much about ‘consenting adults’ that if we’re not careful we will begin to consent to this evil way and accept it. The church no longer speaks out against it like we should.

Who will take a stand if the Church and its' people don’t? Will the TV shows and movies kicked out by Hollywood, CA? Will porn websites suddenly be shut down? Will advertisers suddenly begin to be responsible for their actions, or will they continue to capitalize on the fact that sex sells? They appeal to mankind’s baser instincts.

Hugh Hefner says we’re just another animal, with instincts and desires that must be satisfied. To him, women are just pets, bunnies, and we’re all just animals! As kids we were taught evolution in the classroom…and now we are acting like it. If you tell a teenager that they are an animal for long enough, he will eventually prove you right!

The common phrase “Everybody’s doing it.”, is being used today to excuse our behavior, but it is no excuse. We were shocked a decade ago where an extensive survey of church teens showed that more than half of them were sexually active, even as they attended their youth groups. Today that number has only increased. Among teen boys something inconceivable has happened by polling standards. You’ve heard of the ‘margin of error’ plus or minus a certain percentage? When asked anonymously if they looked at porn teen boys answered yes at the rate of 98% a margin of error of 2%...meaning that 100% is a possibility. It used to be that they would see this in a magazine or on TV, but they answered that it is on their cell phone...and on the internet! So, if you have 100 kids somewhere between 0 and 4 of them AREN’T looking at porn...and still some parents will say, well, my Johnny is one of those 0-4...I’m just sure of it!

“Everybody’s doing it” is the phrase we hear so often, and it’s pretty close to true, but that does not make it right. Today’s surveys have had to go to the next level. I’ve recently seen anonymous surveys of priest...with over 50% of them admitting they look at porn. And that’s the ones who will admit it! You don’t have to be a very negative person to bow your head and say, yeah, everybody’s doing it...and just give in.

What we need is someone to rise up and say, “Well, I’m not gonna do it!” Indeed, not everyone is living together before marriage.  Not every child or teenager is allowed an unsupervised television or computer in their room...many parents are getting smart about that! Many are learning that they can easily monitor this as well as cell phones, and many are realizing the importance of accountability, not only of their children, but of one another. A husband must be accountable to his wife for where he goes and what he does, where he surfs online and what he watches on TV. Does he do this because she doesn’t trust him? No! It’s because he should not trust himself, nor should he put himself in a position of no accountability. Forget about privacy, there’s a wonderful freedom in accountability! We’re supposed to be accountable to God, but today we blow Him off easily and for some reason we fear what our family knows about us more than what God knows!

We are a brainwashed generation.

The movie Titanic is a good example of this. That movie had people believing that you can fall in love in a matter of hours, have sex with them, and then regard them in your heart as the love of your life for the rest of your life. That is silliness. I know some claim love at first sight, but I also hope the young ladies will realize that love at first sight is usually cured by taking a second look!

 The good news is from the same youth survey from a decade ago that showed a majority were sexually active, the minority who were not, when asked why not, said it was because of a commitment they had made to Jesus Christ! That tells me that we must do more than just tell them to ‘just say no’...we need to lead them to a meaningful relationship with the Lord, and teach them about commitment by making some commitments ourselves.

Adults, we need to make some changes in our homes and our habits, and then we can ask our kids to.

You can't just roll over on this one and say with the masses, “just be safe.” Or, “If you can’t be good, then be careful!” There is no sex safer than sex within God’s plan!

God’s version of safe sex is abstinence until marriage,

 (I Peter 2:11)

Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, to refrain yourselves from carnal desires which war against the soul...
A Senator in Washington once said, “today’s teens are just hormone hurricanes, and you can’t stop a hurricane.”

I’m thankful for a power greater than a hurricane, That power is God the Creator of that hurricane, He’s our powerful God!

Some say sex is just a natural God given appetite that we need to fulfill. I’m here to remind you that it is an appetite from which you will not die if it goes unfulfilled! Stop eating and you’ll die. Stop drinking fluids and you’ll die. Stop having sex and you will not die. You may feel like you’re going to, but you won’t.

Your kids are hearing lies about it every day.

(Hebrews 13:4) “Marriage honourable in all, and the bed undefiled. For fornicators and adulterers God will judge.”

Our society has discovered that there are certain penalties attached to sexual immorality. But instead of conforming to God’s plan, they say, let’s see if we can get around the consequences. If there’s a danger of getting a disease, that’s OK, just use protection. And then they have the nerve to say, after all, they’re 95% effective! Imagine 100 of you get on an airplane and the flight attendant says the bad news is we’re going to crash, the good news is that only 5 of you will die!

Today we're saying, if you get pregnant, that’s OK, we can destroy the evidence! No consequences, no problem.

Listen, God’s plan for sex includes one man and one woman, within the marriage relationship.

Lets look at three words:

SEXUALITY / IMMORALITY / PURITY

1. Sexuality

When a man and a woman enter into a marriage contract, the seal of that covenant is their physical union physically. To give away your virginity before marriage is far more serious than you ever thought possible…as you give away the seal to your marriage contract.

Someday you will fall in love for real with someone and marry them, and you will wish with all your heart to give them the most wonderful gift you ever could, your purity, but I remind you today you can only give it away one time!

Married couples: Just as the physical union with in marriage seals the covenant of marriage, so a union outside of your marriage with anyone else is what breaks the covenant.

Any blurring of the sexual distinction is wrong. Girls are wearing guys clothes and guys are decorating themselves up like women.

I sometimes drive around town and have to ask myself, is that a male or female? Is it a Mr. or a Miss.? The girl walks like a man, and the guy is walking like girl!

God made us different for a reason, and any blurring of that difference is wrong.

2. Immorality

We looked earlier at Hebrews 13:4…but lets look at the last part of that verse again. “For fornicators and adulterers God will judge.!”

I Thessalonians 4:3 says “For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that you should abstain from fornication” in other words stay away from premarital sex.

There are dangers of pre-marital and extra-marital sex:

One is having a counterfeit love. Relationships based on sex do not last! You start with the physical and then find out you don’t even like each other. You never grew together intellectually, emotionally, or spiritually! But…if you start the physical after marriage, the other three parts just keep on growing! Then you have more than a sexual partner, you have a best friend who really loves you. Real love is patient, pure, and unselfish.

Another danger of pre-marital and extra-marital sex is that it has emotional consequences. Studies show a direct correlation between pre-marital sex and personal emotion problems…guilt, anxiety and loss of self-respect.

Guilt is the most destructive emotion we can have. It leaves you shattered, uncertain, and unproductive. And you lose that “glow” (it is the only way that I can explain it,) that always accompanies sexual purity.

Ladies, let me tell you how men think… There’s something mysterious about the unknown. There’s something very attractive about the unknown. And often, once you reveal yourself to the guy, once the mystery is gone, so is he. And that won’t feel like just another break-up, it will feel like a divorce.

There are also physical consequences the wages of sin is still death! Drunkards can be in danger of cirrhosis of liver, smokers can get cancer in the lungs, gluttony can cause cardiovascular disease and being sexually impure puts you in danger of diseases with no cures. There are at least 7 diseases besides AIDS which have no cure, and all carry long-term consequences, and all are spread around thru a crowd of people willing to have sex outside of the protection of marriage!

Maybe you say, “he’s only willing to be with me”, or “she’s only willing to be with me.” Don’t be so sure! If they’re willing to do it with you then they’ll do it with others and may already have. When you go to bed with someone, you go to bed with their entire sexual history, and with everyone who THOSE people have been with.

Another danger of pre-marital and extra-marital sex is that it has Marital consequences. There are those who say, “it’s OK for her and me to do this, because we know we’re going to get married.” No, it’s not OK. Why? Because God said it’s not OK…who are you to rewrite the rules? You may find yourself not married to them! Even if you do marry them, you have reduced your chances for a happy marriage because you have chipped away at the foundation of trust. In the back of your mind you will always know that the person you married is capable of immorality. They were willing to sin with you before marriage and they’re capable of sinning against you now that you are married.

Then there’s negative spiritual consequences of having pre-marital and extra-marital sex . But doesn't God forgive? Yes He does! But forgiveness and consequences are two different things.

David sinned with Bathsheba, then committed murder…and in 2 incredible passages of scripture we see an awesome forgiveness that David requested and received--but there were still consequences. God said, “David, you will live in a valley of tears the rest of your life. The sword will not depart from your house.” He buried a baby that died. Then one of his sons raped his daughter. And God said it was direct results of his sin.

We have discussed sexuality. We have discussed immorality. In conclusion I want to talk about purity.

How to stay pure: Protect your mind

The eye-gate and the ear-gate are so important…they are the pathways to the mind. Men need to protect their eyes!

II Peter 2:14 says, that “they have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin.” Psalms 101:3 says “I did not set before my eyes any unjust thing:” It would be good to memorize that verse.

Job said, “I made a covenant with my eyes, that I would not so much as think upon a virgin.”

Get away from music whose theme is predominantly lust and sex. Don’t accommodate sin. If you can’t flip around the channels with out looking for something dirty to look at then cut it off! If you can’t be alone together in a car then don’t be. “make not provision for the flesh”

Make a pre-determined decision to stay pure, and that you won’t date anyone who hasn’t made the same commitment.

Maybe you are one who says, “It’s too late for me, I’ve already given it away” There is good news! One day a woman was brought to Jesus, taken in the very act of adultery. She expected to be condemned, but Jesus said, I don’t condemn you, go and sin no more!

You can’t change the past, but your future is spotless! Keep it that way!