We Have Sinned!

Why do people die needlessly? Because they do not or will not understand. Understanding comes with knowledge. (Proverbs 9:10) The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding. A person must respect the fact that God has an opinion (the fear of the LORD), study and know His Word (knowledge of the holy), and this knowledge will lead to understanding. The prophet Hosea summed it up very well: (Hosea 4:6) My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children. The lack of respect for God’s opinion is rejection of knowledge. In turn, God rejects the ones guilty of this and removes His protection and guidance. This rejection passes on to the children who are not taught from the Scriptures. One result of this rebuff of God’s knowledge is the indulgence in the practice of adultery that leads to disease and death. (Proverbs 6:32) But whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding: he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul. The spread of AIDS and all other sexual diseases could not happen if each human being maintained a faithful relationship with their spouse and the unmarried abstained until marriage. Like it or not, that few moments of pleasure can result in a lifetime of misery. God knows this and that is why He tells us in this Commandment not to do it. Adultery is a most difficult temptation to resist, because the fight is not only against the physical attraction of the potential pleasure but also against the very instincts designed into the body itself. That is why we are told to avoid those situations where it can occur. (1 Corinthians 6:18) Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. The sad truth today is that this sin isn’t only against the body of the sinner. AIDS is passed on to the baby resulting from the act. Other STD’s cause birth defects, among them blindness and mental problems. Re-read Hosea 4:6. The children are included in this condemnation. What a terrible, terrible lifetime burden to lay upon a newborn so someone could satisfy their own lust! Children are precious in God‘s sight (read Mark 10:14) and the person who brings such sorrow into the life of a child will pay dearly.

In the days of Moses the penalty for adultery was death. The guilty parties were immediately taken to a place of execution and stoned. (Leviticus 20:10) And the man that committeth adultery with another man's wife, even he that committeth adultery with his neighbour's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death. This form of justice was still practiced in the days of Jesus. (John 8:3-5) And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst, They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou? Jesus said to them that the sentence should be carried out by one without sin. Her accusers, one by one, left her standing alone before Jesus. The Lord told her to go and sin no more. Once forgiven of the sin, the forgiven is supposed to cease and desist from it forever. This penalty is still in place today. As Jesus said then, it will be carried out by One who is sinless, in the lake of fire after the Resurrection. Only God’s forgiveness brought about by repentance can commute this sentence.

Most people believe that adultery is the physical act of illicit intercourse. Jesus offered the broader definition of it (Matthew 5:17). The word “fulfil” in this verse means to insure that the law is obeyed as it is supposed to be by more fully explaining its parameters. This principle is demonstrated in His following explanation of two Commandments concerning adultery and murder. (Matthew 5:27) Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: Thoughts lead to ideas, ideas lead to plans, plans lead to actions, and if those actions are wrongful acts, thoughts lead to sin. The first step to fleeing fornication (see 1 Corinthians 6:18 above) is to prevent passing thoughts to linger and become ideas.

Love is the mightiest and greatest of all human traits. (1 Corinthians 13:13) And now abideth faith, hope, charity, (love) these three; but the greatest of these is charity. The greatest Commandment is to love God; the second greatest is to love each other. (Mark 12:31) And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these. No one who loves their spouse would be pleased to find out that someone had violated that spouse. Isn’t it rational to acknowledge that if you would resent it, you shouldn’t do this to your neighbor? (Romans 13:10) Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. Obedience to the Seventh Commandment is obedience to the Second Greatest Commandment. Adultery violates the marriage contract, violates your own body, can condemn children to a demeaning lifestyle, promotes the spread of disease that burdens everyone in your culture, and introduces shame into your life. Continued without repentance it can also cost you eternal life in the Kingdom of God. (1 Corinthians 6:9-10) Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers…shall inherit the kingdom of God. Give the matter some thought and consider this: is a moment of physical pleasure worth the loss of an eternity filled with much more wonderful things? You are the one who will live -- or die -- with your decision.