REFORMED CHURCH, BELLVILLE: SUNDAY 26 JANUARY 2003: MORNING SERVICE
Our help is in the Name of the Lord,
Who made heaven and earth.
Beloved, grace and peace be to you from God our Father, and the Lord
Jesus Christ, through the mighty working of God the Holy Spirit. AMEN.
Psalm of praise: Psalm 145:1,12.
Nicene Creed
I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.
And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God,
begotten of the Father before all the worlds; God of God, Light of
Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one substance
with the Father, by whom all things were made.
Who, for us men and for our salvation, came down from heaven,
and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary, and was made
man; and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate; He suffered
and was buried; and the third day He rose again, according to the
Scriptures; and ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of
the Father; and He shall come again, with glory, to judge the living
and the dead; whose kingdom shall have no end.
And I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of life;
who proceedeth from the Father and the Son; who with the Father and the
Son together is worshipped and glorified; who spake by the prophets.
And I believe one holy catholic and apostolic Church. I
acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins; and I look for the
resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. AMEN
The Law : Ex. 20:1-17.
Psalm 143:8.
Prayer.
Psalm 138:1.
Scripture reading: 1 Thessalonians 4
Scripture text: 1 Thessalonians 4:7 & Catechism Sunday 41
For God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification.
During the recent Synod, the delegate of the Reformed Churches in New
Zealand reported that few young people nowadays still marry. They just
live together. To protect themselves, they draw up an agreement before
a solicitor covering their cohabitation.
The same tendency is gathering momentum in our country, therefore we
must from time to time consider in our sermons the question of
immorality and the consequences of this in the eyes of the Lord. For
that reason we shall consider two related matters:
1. The principle: The Lord condemns unchastity.
2. How did God wish it to be from the beginning?
1. The principle: The Lord condemns unchastity.
In the passage we have read together it is clear that God condemns all unchastity.
- This is the area of human conduct in which most sins have been committed since creation.
- The seventh commandment is one of the commandments which we toy
with most in our minds - while we stubbornly continue to insist that no
sins are being committed against our sanctity or the sanctity of our
neighbour.
The seventh commandment teaches us that the Lord is distressed by any form of unchastity.
- But this commandment also teaches us our duty in respect of chastity both within and outside marriage.
- It teaches that, if we keep this commandment, the Lord will preserve our body and soul - and also that of the congregation!
This matter of chastity weighs very heavily with the Lord. In Leviticus
18 and 20 there are lengthy lists of transgressions in respect of
unchastity. And in all cases the Lord commands the penalty of death.
Listen for instance to Leviticus 20:10:
If
there is a man who commits adultery with another man's wife, one who
commits adultery with his friend's wife, the adulterer and the
adulteress shall surely be put to death.
In another text it is declared that people who commit certain unchaste
transgressions shall be put to death by fire (e.g. Leviticus 21:9).
Unchastity - or, in other words, adultery - is condemned by God.
- BUT what is very important is that we should not overlook the grace of God in respect of this grave sin!
- God condemns the sin, but not the sinner!
- This grace also has its limits, because people who persist in this sin, can afterwards not abandon this accursed practice.
- In this way the person who clings to this sin is eventually lost in and through it.
If we consider why the Lord is in such earnest in condemning this sin, we learn the following:
- The first is that this sin depraves the soul and the body of those involved.
- God created all people after His own image, and that implies that we will also bear the stamp of God's holiness.
- In all aspects of our lives - and also in our sexual lives - we must be just as irreproachable as God Himself.
Adultery separates the soul of the transgressor from God, because the
impurity of this transgression means the breaking of relations with God.
- The reason for this is obvious: our bodies are temples of God, and He does not dwell in polluted temples!
- The Lord teaches that He does not want to see our bodies
becoming polluted with disgraceful acts, because they are His temples
which are sanctified to Him.
- The Holy Spirit dwells in them, therefore we must keep and preserve them pure.
- In addition, this sin desecrates the highest and holiest which the Lord has bestowed upon mankind.
- Indeed, the Lord instituted marriage to symbolize thereby our spiritual relationship with God in our mutual intercourse.
- That is also why the Lord refers to adultery as "whoring" away from Him!
- The second reason why this sin results in our alienation from God, is because it harms the institutions established by God.
- Marriage is, in fact, the very first social unit established by God.
- It was intended to be the foundation on which all of world history and literally the entire development of mankind should rest.
- If marriage falls into ruin, it is quite obvious that the
church and every level on which mankind is active will be affected by
this.
- Everything associated with this transgression will be burdened with weakness and misery.
- The third reason why the Lord takes such a firm view of this sin, is that by it people deprave one another.
- Unchastity always leads to further sins. At some time or another there will be some form of deceit involved - frequently lies.
- The jealousy and hatred proceeding from such sins sometimes lead to murder - think of the events involving David and Bathsheba.
From all these things it is clear that unchastity has polluted mankind
to such an extent that it cannot exhibit the image of God - its noblest
beauty. That is why the Lord eventually withdrew His grace from these
people - so that, in the final verses of the Bible (Rev. 22:15), it is
written that immoral persons stand outside the kingdom of God.
2. How did God wish it to be from the beginning?
The creation of the first two people and the mandate entrusted to them serve as example.
- Therein the Lord established the principles for the future. The Lord created one man and one woman.
- He commanded that this marriage must be one of love.
- They were to arrange their lives and activities concerning one another to the honour of the Lord.
- The aim of their marriage was also that they were to work out together the attainment of their goal as ordained by God.
This sin has, naturally, also a hidden aspect. Sometimes we think that
we are not committing a sin if we do not carry out the wrongful act
literally. To clarify this matter - and this affects all sins - the
Lord Jesus on one occasion declared:
"You
have heard that it was said, 'YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY'; but I say
to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already
committed adultery with her in his heart."(Matthew 5:27-28).
These are merely wrongful thoughts. Only you and the Lord know of them.
Yet the Lord has declared that this is adultery. We must therefore
discipline our thoughts!
The seventh commandment is not just negative.
- It is also an expression of the believer's positive desire to remain always pure.
- Every time he hears anew the demand of God so that it can warn
and strengthen him, because the devil watches each of us every day to
lead us astray.
- This commandment is thus a force urging us to prayer, both on behalf of ourselves and for one another!
- This commandment also directs an educational call.
- We have children and grand-children who are growing up. From
the beginning of their understanding we must teach them that this
commandment requires them to strive after preserving all forms of
bodily purity and holiness!
- They must not only understand the call on them to believe in
God, i.e. the call of faith. They must also understand their duty to
God in respect of their bodies.
- This commandment extends its implications to our recreation.
- Think honestly of all the sex scenes we view in films and on TV.
- Think of all the articles with dubious content in newspapers and magazines.
- If we do not practise discernment in this regard, these things
will soften us for what is wrongful, and this will let our principles
crumble.
- Later such things are no longer strange, and then they can more easily become part of our lives.
Remember that the atoning death of the Lord Jesus Christ makes it
possible for us to associate with the opposite sex with great
tenderness without sinning.
- Consider how tenderly He dealt with the women in His company, and
how tenderly the widows and women who served in the first Christian
congregations were handled.
- But then there is a line which you must not cross - and that is
obedience to God's injunction that you must, under all circumstances,
have respect for your own body and from that of others. That must
restrain you from unchastity.
Also bear in mind that this sin is not a mortal sin: it is
possible to turn away from it when you repent and turn to God. There
are many examples in the Bible - think of Rahab!
The image that we must present is that we, as a church - for that
reason every individual among us is included - are the Bride of Jesus
Christ. He wants us to be virginally pure for His return (the
marriage).
Let us then live in such a way that the Holy Spirit will find it pleasing to dwell in our bodies.
Let us now read Catechism Sunday 41 together.
LORD'S DAY XLI
108. QUESTION. What does the seventh commandment teach us?
ANSWER. That all unchastity is accursed of God1; and that we must, therefore, detest it from the heart2, and live a chaste and continent life3 both within and outside of holy wedlock4.
1.
Lev.18:28 2. Jude
23 3. 1
Thess.4:3-5 4. Heb.13:4; 1 Cor.7:7
109. QUESTION. Does God in this
commandment forbid nothing more than adultery and such like gross sins?
ANSWER. Since
our body and soul are both temples of the Holy Spirit, it is His will
that we keep both pure and holy; wherefore He forbids all unchaste
actions, gestures, words1, thoughts, desires2, and whatever may entice one thereto3.
1. Eph.5:3,4; 1
Cor.6:18,19 2.
Matt.5:27,28 3. Eph.5:18; 1 Cor.15:33
Closing prayer.
Closing Psalm: 136:1,2.
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.
AMEN.
Rev. Dr. M.J. du Plessis
Reformed Church, Bellville.
26 January 2003.
Scripture quoted from NASB.