Sunday, October 22, 2023 PM

And let's turn to Exodus chapter 20, Exodus chapter 20 and verse 14. As we continue our study on the seventh commandment. Let's begin with a word of prayer. Father, we thank you for the day. Thank you for the truth of your word.

Thank you for gathering us here, and I pray that you would help us to see Christ clearly in your word, that we would look like him in this world. Lord, we pray that you would bless us and cause us to rejoice in your truth.

We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Okay, so Exodus chapter 20, and we read in verse 14, the seventh commandment, the seventh word that God gave to Israel when he made covenant with them at Mount Sinai.

It says, you shall not commit adultery. Unsurprisingly, the account of the Ten Commandments in Deuteronomy says exactly the same thing. This is an interesting moment because when we think about the nature of the Ten Commandments, sometimes they are treated as God's eternal moral law that existed back in the garden and still exists today.

But what we find when we read them in the context is that they're very, very attached to God's relationship to the nation of Israel. And nonetheless, we know that it is wrong to commit adultery. It doesn't matter if we had the Ten Commandments or not.

That part is true. But the treatment of the Ten Commandments as the totality of God's eternal moral law is incorrect because there are all manner of things that we need to give consideration to, and a lot of them were brought to our attention by our Savior Jesus that are not here in the Ten Commandments.

One of those things that we're going to think about a little bit tonight is the fact that we know that to commit adultery is a sin, but there are many other types of sins, sexual sins, that are not dealt with here in this text.

We could say, well, if this is true, then all the other ones fall into place, but they're not actually mentioned here. They're not dealt with here. They're dealt with in other places and at length, but this is not a comprehensive, just so we know, this is not a comprehensive, total expression of what holiness is or what goodness is or what righteousness is.

In fact, Jesus says that he brings a righteousness that is superior to that which came about through the Old Covenant, and we're going to make our way there as we move through the covenants. Now, when we get to the story of Abraham, we left off with thinking about the importance of this reality for those made in God's image, given the story of Noah and God's covenanting with Noah.

The Image of God in the Flood and the Covenant with Noah

But now we're going to think about how it fleshes out in the life of Abraham. With Noah, of course, we're thinking about how the image of God is meant for peace. What was the problem before the flood?

There was just violence everywhere, filling the earth. Violent men were murdering and killing, and then God says, okay, enough of that, and floods the entire earth. And he specifically says to Noah, you and your wife and your sons and your wives with you, go on the ark.

And then he said, as far as the animals are concerned, they come two by two, one male for one female, one male for one female, one male for one female, even though we all know that's not how the animals work.

What was God's point? Listen, I made you in my image, male and female, I created you. And for this reason, a man shall leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh, what God has joined together, let no man separate.

That was being violated in that ancient world. And there was all manner of violence and disaster coming about because of that. And so when God brings about the flood and makes a covenant with Noah, he does so in a way that emphasizes one man for one woman for life.

And what do we see in the life of Noah? That there was peace in his time. There was abundance and there was peace in his time. There was, after he comes out of the ark, out of the boat and begins to farm and so on and so forth, but he comes out and he makes a sacrifice to God and God makes a covenant with him and says, look, we're going to stem the tide of violence by means of capital punishment.

And we're going to re-engage this creation mandate. You be fruitful, you multiply, you fill the earth. So we're going to restart this whole thing and we're going to do so in peace. So we see the image of God and the importance of Shalom, but with the storyline of Abraham, we see something else.

We see the image of God and the importance of the seed. Remember the promise in Genesis 315, the seed of the woman will crush the head of the serpent. So now in the storyline of Abraham, we're thinking about what does the image of God look like and how important is the seed?

And of course, that is emphasized through Abram and Sarai. They're barren. They have no child. And yet the promise is that Abram will be the father of many. And then later on, the promise is upgraded as well as their names.

Now Abraham and Sarah, father of many nations, but he has no heir. You know, it's hard to wait on the promises of God. So you know the story of what happens in the frustration with Abraham and Sarah in waiting upon the Lord.

What happens? A concubine. Let's take God's design and let's modify it. Here's God's design and now we're going to add something to it and thereby take something away from it. We're going to mess with it.

We're going to manipulate it. We're going to change it. And so this is unfortunately a hearkening back to the flood, isn't it? Wherein we read about Lamech who murdered a guy and he says to his wives, Ada and Zillah, we get the sense that the problem of polygamy before the flood.

So Sarah says to Abraham, look, you need to have a child in my name with my servant Hagar. And that did not go very well. By the way, what's the result of sexual immorality and messing with the one man for one woman?

What's the result of that? What comes from that?

Violence.

Is there any kind of violence that came out of the fact that there was an Ishmael and an Isaac? Just a little bit? So we see the flesh at work. We see, and Paul later on calls this the efforts of the flesh to bring about God's work.

We're going to muscle our way into God's promises. Well, no. So we actually have the bride that God gave to Abraham, Sarah. She indeed has a son, the seed, Isaac, and brings about the promise in the way that God approves of the man with his wife, not the man with a second wife, with a concubine, and so on.

So we see that when it comes to the hope of the image of God that is wrapped up in the promised seed to come, God makes a special emphasis on the rightness of the male-female relationship, husband to wife, and once again clarifies that.

He emphasized it in the flood narrative, two by two, two by two, two by two. He emphasizes it in the Abraham narrative. Oh, no, no, not Hagar. It's Sarah. And how many times we see Sarah in peril, Sarah in danger.

What might happen to her? What might happen to the promise of the seed? But then God delivers her out of those perils. So he emphasizes that truth again, doesn't he? When we get to the life of Israel, and God makes a covenant with Israel at Mount Sinai, he does give them this commandment, do not commit adultery, but he also gives them many other commandments.

He addresses all other manner of sexual perversions and abominations and forbids his people to engage in them. And he lists them because he identifies them for his people as illicit desires, things that people desire that they ought not, that don't belong to them, and they should never engage in.

So he identifies all of those and says, thou shalt not. But he doesn't list them in the Ten Commandments. In the Ten Commandments, he just simply leaves it as, do not commit adultery. Now, it's interesting that Israel, in their difficulty of keeping covenant with God, what would you say their main problem was?

Thinking about the stories of Israel, what do you think one of their main problems was when they're trying to be faithful to God's covenant? Adultery, right? How often does that monster rear its ugly head in the life of Israel, idols?

We just read a little bit about that, didn't we? How they were allowing the high places to remain so that they could burn incense and offer sacrifices in places where God said no. What happens there? Maybe they said, well, it's too far to travel down to Judah to go to a different nation that we're in hostile relations with and offer sacrifices down there at the temple.

And it's just easier for me to offer incense and sacrifices up here on this high place. I'm just going to modify a little bit about what God wants. And I'll still worship God. But you know, who came up with the idea of worshiping up on those high places under those green trees in the first place?

It was the pagans' idea to worship there. It was not God's instructions. It was the pagans' idea. So when you adopt pagan forms, you end up doing pagan things. And they begin to worship. Oh, yeah, I'll make sure to worship Yahweh, but also let's not forget about Baal.

And you know what attends idolatry in the ancient Near East? Sexual immorality. All the time, all over the place. Now, when God dealt with Israel and He addressed them and their covenant unfaithfulness, how did He describe them?

Harlot, as adulterers. Because He had made a special relationship with them.

He had sought them out.

He had called them His own. But then they committed harlotry. They committed adultery. That's what He called their idolatry. He called their idolatry adultery. Because when we think about Israel, when we think about the story of Israel, we're looking at the image of God as a servant.

Here, Israel has been called to specific tasks. Israel has been called to perform certain duties in the world, to declare the light of who the one true God is to all the nations. They are to live a certain way.

They are under the commands of their master. He owns them. He tells them, this is what you need to do. Do this here, do this there. And don't mix those fibers over there. And don't mix those plants over there.

And every seven years, we're going to shut down. I mean, God is running the nation of Israel and saying to them, I'm your master. You're my servant. Do what I tell you to do. But then they're unfaithful, and their unfaithfulness is called adultery.

Israel’s Covenant Unfaithfulness as Adultery

When we come to David, does David ever have any issues with the seventh commandment? You know, when you think about the instructions that God gave to Israel, when we get to Deuteronomy 17, it's interesting.

He tells them, you know, you're going to desire a king. You want to have a king like the other nations. And when you do, when you get that king, your king is going to need to abide by certain standards.

So let's look at that. Now, let's begin in verse 14 of Deuteronomy 17. And you hear echoes of 1 Samuel here. If you think about the story of how it all fleshed out with Israel and Samuel and Saul and David.

Okay, so Deuteronomy 17, 14. When you come to the land which the Lord your God is giving you, and possess it and dwell in it, and say, I will set a king over me like all the nations that are around me.

Okay, so God says, I know this is coming. But God doesn't want them to have a king just like all the nations around them. Because those kings are terrible. Kings are awful. No, you don't want that. What does he say?

Verse 15. But you shall surely set a king over you whom the Lord your God chooses. One whom the Lord chooses. One from among your brethren you shall set as king over you. God has a point in this. He has a pattern and a plan for this.

You may not set a foreigner over you who is not your brother. Isn't it good to know that our king is also our brother? Isn't that great? What a great thing to know that the king of kings and Lord of lords, well, he's also my brother.

Wow.

Now, verse 16. Notice that the king is not to trust in. He shall not multiply horses for himself, nor cause the people to return to multiply horses. For the Lord has said to you, you shall not return that way again.

Neither shall he, notice, multiply wives for himself, lest his heart turn away, nor shall he greatly multiply silver and gold for himself. He's not to multiply wives for himself. As was the custom of the kings.

And we see that pagan custom practiced to excess with Solomon. When we read that Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines, you say, well, how in the world? That was politics. That was politics. By having all of these women from various nations and city-states marrying Solomon, who was the richest and the wisest and the most powerful man at that time, everybody else was catching the afterglow and the benefits of being in good relations with Israel.

But God said, no, no. By doing that, what's going on? Then the focus is upon the king instead of the God who set the king there on that throne. And so God says, you're not supposed to do that. Well, David and Bathsheba committed adultery.

David does multiply wives. He has more than one. And we begin to read in the style of other pagan kings, here's how many wives he had and here's all the sons he had. And you begin to see the expansion and the bloating of the kingdom by having all these sons everywhere.

Did that work out well for David, having so many sons from different wives who were competing with each other for the throne? That wasn't really good for the nation, was it? That didn't work out very well.

But David and Bathsheba commit adultery. And then David and Joab conspire to murder Uriah. And Absalom, in direct relation to that sin, later on we find him doing what? Dishonoring his father. And then tried to murder him and also he committed fornication and adultery.

You see how we're waving right back and forth through commandments 5, 6, 7, 7, 6, 5, right there at the heart of betraying the image of God. So with Noah we have the image of God and the concern for Shalom.

With Abraham we have the image of God and the concern for the seed. With Israel we have the image of God and the concern of being a servant. And then for the covenant God made with David, it's the image of God and the concern for the sovereign, the king, the one who is standing in for the rest of the people.

An interesting thing begins to happen when you move from reading the instructions that God gave to Israel at Mount Sinai and you begin to work your way through Joshua and Judges. And then what happens in Judges?

As the people sin and are unfaithful and get caught up in all the idolatry, then God brings oppression upon them. He begins to judge them in accordance with His covenant with them. If you don't keep the covenant then I'm going to curse you and I'm going to do all these awful things to you because you are betraying the covenant.

And those things come upon them and then what does Israel do? They cry out and say, oh, it's terrible.

We need help.

And then what does God do? He raises up a deliverer. He raises up a judge, doesn't He? And we see the judges anointed in one way or another being used by God to bring judgment upon the enemies and thereby delivering the people of Israel out of their oppression.

And then there's a, oh, let's see moment. Will Israel take this opportunity to be faithful or to go back into their sins? And every once in a while you read in the book of Judges, oh, then there was 40 years of peace.

40 years of peace. One time there was 80 years of peace. Imagine living in the days of the judges and you were born at the beginning of those 80 years and died before the end of those 80 years and all you knew was peace.

Oh, what a blessing. But we also find that God begins to work through particular individuals in the life of Israel to the point that when God begins to deal with David and his sons, in particular through His covenant with them, He begins to talk about the son of David as He did Israel.

If he disobeys, I will chastise him. If he is faithful, I will bless him. Oh, hang on a second, I've heard that before. That was the way God dealt with the whole nation. Now, the fate of the whole nation, the status of the whole nation is being concentrated down into one person, the son of David.

And then when you read through the stories of 1 Samuel, 1 Kings, 1 Chronicles, what do we read about? Here was a good king. And what happened to the nation? Everything was good. Here's a bad king.

What happened?

You see how it all depended on the king? That's not because we should think, Oh, yeah, politicians, they have all the impact.

No, no, no.

This is the way God was dealing with His people under the old covenant. First, we have God dealing with the whole world and talking to Noah. Then we have God dealing with Abraham for the sake of all the nations.

Then we have God dealing with a particular nation, Israel. Then we have God dealing with a particular representative of that nation, the king of Israel. You see how the whole thing is getting really concentrated down into one focal point.

We need a good king. We need a good king. We need a good king. And then God grants a good king, the son of David, Jesus Christ, who comes, and even now he is ruling and reigning. So that all of our understanding of covenant blessing and our deliverance from the curse and our rescue is in him.

Now, our attention about what does it mean to be made in the image of God, very broad, we think about Noah and Abraham and Israel, but then focusing in on down into David, to the son of David. And then when we look at Jesus Christ, who do we see but the image of the invisible God?

Now, Jesus Christ is faithful, faithful, faithful, faithful. He is faithful to his father, and he is faithful to his bride, isn't he? Faithful to his bride. Not even the hint of adultery, not even the hint of unfaithfulness can be found in our good savior, the bridegroom, Jesus Christ.

And we see how much he loves his bride, and we rejoice because that is a most excellent expression of the image of God that was first designed and revealed in the garden. So it's remarkable that when we begin to listen to Jesus about the sixth commandment, and, of course, that happens in Matthew 5, pretty early on in the New Testament, we begin to hear about his point of view on that seventh commandment.

He begins to talk about it in ways that are surprising, in ways that challenge us and get to the heart of the matter. And I think that's going to be real interesting, but we're not going to hear about it tonight.

And we're not going to even hear about it next week, because next week is the Reformation celebration. So as the Lord wills, maybe possibly November 4th. So that'll be the plan, okay? Any questions or thoughts before we close, because we are out of time?

The clock's over here, by the way. I know you're all looking over there, but it's over here. Right, because he's the heir of all things. Yes, that's why it gets so big. All right, well, let's close by singing the doxology.

Praise God, from whom all blessings flow. Praise him, all creatures here below. Praise him above ye, his Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

And we are dismissed.

Transcript Emily Beynon.