Do Not Commit Adultery
by Ken Pierpont
Command Index
- Study Question
- Character Quality
- Bible Verses
- Regaining Surrendered Ground
- Do Not Commit Adultery
I once heard a man say in a prayer, “Thank you God for marriage. That was one of your best ideas.” That made me smile. After 25 years of marriage, I am just beginning to understand what he meant. Marriage the way God designed it is such a good idea, but when we violate God’s design, things always take an ugly turn.
The old traditional wedding ceremony says it this way:
As the union now formed is to be sundered only by death, it becomes you to consider the duties you solemnly assume. If these be remembered and faithfully discharged they will add to the happiness of this life, lightening by dividing its inevitable sorrows, and heightening by multiplying all its blessedness. But if these obligations are neglected or violated, you cannot escape the keenest misery, as well as the darkest guilt.
Marriage as God designed it has a way of adding to the happiness of life. It divides the inevitable sorrows of life. It multiplies the joys of life. But when we violate the heart of marriage through lust or adultery, we cannot escape the sharpest sorrow and the darkest guilt.
Maybe that’s why we have so many vivid pictures in the Scriptures of the joy of married love and the damage of sexual expressions outside of marriage.
- Within marriage, sexual expressions are like a life-giving fountain. Outside of marriage, they are like a sewer running in the streets. When you are tempted to believe there are satisfying sexual delights outside of marriage, consider the pictures given in Proverbs 5: “Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well. Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad, and rivers of waters in the streets. Let them be only thine own, and not strangers’ with thee. Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth. Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe; let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; and be thou ravished always with her love. And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger? For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, and he pondereth all his goings. His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins” (Proverbs 5:15–22).
- Within marriage, sexual expressions are like a warming, life-giving fire. Outside of marriage, they are like a devastating explosion or disfiguring burns. “Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned? Can one go upon hot coals, and his feet not be burned?” (Proverbs 6:27–28).
- Within marriage, sexual expressions are a peak of human expression. Outside of marriage, they are degrading, like an animal caught in a trap. “He goeth after her straightway, as an ox goeth to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks; Till a dart strike through his liver; as a bird hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it is for his life” (Proverbs 7:22–23).
- Within marriage, sexual expressions are like a gift. Outside of marriage they are robbery. They are a scandalous kind of theft. (II Samuel 12:1–6, I Thessalonians 4:3–6.)
May God give each one of us the moral resolve and good sense to see that there are no pleasures greater than those that God has designed. May we never yield to the temptation to forfeit our fellowship with God, our fidelity to our wives, or the respect of our sons and daughters by any sexual expression outside of marriage.
God’s Design for Sexual Expression |
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When Followed: |
When Violated: |
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| It is like a fountain. | Proverbs 5:15–22 | It is like a sewer. |
| It is like a warming fire. | Proverbs 6:27–28 | It is like a raging, destructive, fiery explosion. |
| It is the peak of human expression. | Proverbs 7:22–23 | It is degrading, like a trapped animal. |
| It is like a gift. | II Samuel 12:1–6; I Thessalonians 4 | It is robbery. |
Ken Pierpont has been married to his wife Lois since 1979. They have eight children, four sons and four daughters. Ken has been a pastor for over 20 years.
