Wednesday, October 11, 2023 AM

The Fifth and Seventh Commandments in Light of Creation

All right, well, let's open our Bibles and turn to Exodus 20 and Be reading beginning in verse 12 Exodus chapter 20. Let's go ahead and pray father. We thank you so much for the day. We thank you for.

Your.

Bountiful supply. We thank you for your faithfulness in every new season. We thank you for the clarity of your word. Pray that you would teach us to Rejoice in your truth and To see Christ our Savior in whom was all our hope.

We pray these things in his name. Amen. Okay, so we're beginning our study of the seventh commandment and For context we begin reading in verse 12 of Exodus 20 back at the fifth commandment Which says honor your father and your mother that your days May be long upon the land Which the Lord your God is giving you.

You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. Okay, so what is The connection between the fifth commandment and.

Seventh commandment the ideas.

Yeah family. Family would get to the heart of the matter as God is forging this covenant with Israel in the shape of the The image of God and how they are to understand who they are who God is and what he wants from them in this world.

At the heart of it is you shall not murder. God is the creator. He's the giver of life. He breathed the breath of life into man and man became a living being and No one therefore ought to murder. The term, of course we talked about was very specific.

One ought not to to take the life of another out of illegitimate reasons. God himself commanded Capital punishment in Genesis 9, so it's not thou shalt not kill general. It's thou shalt not murder specific see.

That's at the heart of the covenant that God made with Israel. Because it's it's the it's the gift of life that God alone gives. Those made in his image he crafted Adam from the dust of the earth. But then it was only when God breathed the breath of life into Adam that he became a living being.

And it is the Lord Who gives it is the Lord who takes away? God is the one who has the authority in that regard.

Marriage, Male and Female, and the One-Flesh Union in Genesis

Now.

Let's go ahead and turn Back to Genesis chapter 1 and 2 and as we do let's think about. Let's think about the commandment particularly. You shall not commit adultery. The prohibition is very simple. There's not a lot of mystery about it at all.

No one No one is allowed to have sex with any married person except His or her spouse and no married person is allowed to have sex with anyone other than his or her spouse. No way around it. That's simply what it means.

It's very very specific. At the same time we notice that there are all manner of fornications and abominations that are not directly talked about in that commandment and They're listed elsewhere, there's a plenty of discussion about those things throughout God's instructions to Israel and other places.

Now someone might by implication understand that all other forms of Sexual aberrance are sin, but it's not spelled out in detail. The focus is on the husband and the wife. That's what the focus is on.

If I got pushed into a corner on this I would have to say this commandment does not address and cover every possible sexual sin.

That's okay.

It's good to remember that the Ten Commandments are a summary. They're not an exhaustion of The covenant that God made with Israel. They are a they are a an effective Representation of God's concerns concerning those made in his image, but they're not exhaustive in and of themselves.

Now when we get to the creation, we have something that's a little bit more exhaustive something that's more More to the point of what is Celebrated in God's eyes and all that is prohibited in God's eyes as the Creator.

Now we go to Genesis chapter 1. When we begin reading in verse 26 We see that God said verse 26. Let us make man in our image according to our likeness. Let him have dominion over the fish of the sea over the birds of the air over the cattle.

Over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. So God created man in His own image in the image of God. He created them.

And.

God said to them be fruitful and Multiply fill the earth and subdue it have dominion over the fish of the sea over the birds of the air and over every living Thing that moves on the earth as soon as we hear that God creates man in his own image in his likeness in his image.

Immediately after this we are told that God made them male and female and said you will multiply. And We read this passage in light of Genesis 2 we see that immediately the idea of husband and wife of marriage and the idea of parents and children come into view very quickly after God makes man in his image and gives him life.

To me this just makes sense when I read the Ten Commandments to see it the very heart of it. It's do not murder it. God is the giver of life and as quickly and as closely associated as that is in Genesis 1 and 2 with Parents Marriage.

So also we see that in the Ten Commandments surrounding the heart of the Ten Commandments which is do not murder is Honor your father and mother and do not commit adultery. Because that's what the heart of what it means to be made in God's image as soon as God makes us in his image.

There in Genesis there the concern is Adam and Eve Are married husband and wife and they're going to have children. Be fruitful multiply. 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.

You see.

So.

These are all extremely important. Marriage is foundational to the creation order to human Society and marriage is very clearly spelled out in a way that's more exhaustive than what we find in the Ten Commandments Here in Genesis chapter 1.

So first of all In Genesis 1 we're told that God made man male and female gives them a blessing and gives them a purpose and To that purpose and to that definition were given even more description in Genesis 2.

After God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life a man becomes a living being. Then God plants the garden. Places the man in the garden and says you're going to tend and keep the garden.

This is all part of his starting point for the task of being fruitful multiplying filling the earth and so doing it. The description of the world that God has made is given to us there in Genesis 2 full of bounty.

There is a mighty river that is worth four rivers and becomes four rivers. There is there is precious metals there is an abundance of life all over the place and and what we discover is That God gives Adam all these instructions.

Gives him the prohibition not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil because it's God's business alone to define what good and evil are and Then after all of this verse 18 Genesis 2 the Lord God said it is not good that man should be alone.

And it's not good that man should be alone. And this is a striking Moment for he said it is good. It is good. It is good. It is good. It is very good. But here we read it is not good. This stands out.

It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper Comparable to him. I'll make a helper comparable to him.

And.

The the language here means a standout standalone, right? She's not going to be the same. But she's gonna be on the same team. Right. There's going to be some somehow this helper. She's gonna stand out, but then she's gonna stand along and be with and.

Before.

So, how does God make his point. Verse 19. Out of the ground the Lord God Formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them and Whatever Adam called each living creature.

That was his name. So Adam gave names to all cattle to the birds of the air and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him and The Lord God caused deep sleep to fall on Adam and he slept and he took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh In its place.

Then the rib Which the Lord God had taken from man He made him to a woman and he brought her to the man and the man's and Adam said This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She should be called woman because she was taken out of man.

Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and they shall become one flesh and They are both naked the man and his wife and were not ashamed. What we learn from this passage.

We learn a lot more from this than we do from the Ten Commandments. Ten Commandments is 100 agreement with this but we learn a little bit more details. When it comes to God's conception of marriage we see that it's between one woman one man and one woman.

See.

There is to be no Such intercourse between a man and an animal. Right. There was no helper comparable to him in that whole parade. Right. So that's a creation observation by God's design. We also see that it's Not two eves made but just one.

We also see that it's it's a woman that he will take to him to be his wife, but not. Not not his mother not his daughter. We just go on and on and on every single type of sexual aberration that man has ever come up with is prohibited disallowed from.

Just reading Genesis 1 and 2 out loud. All we're left with is the beauty of God's design. One man for one woman for life. And in fact, this is the go-to passage for Jesus when he was confronted with the hot topics about Marriage in his day.

He said have you not read. And he goes to Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 and just lays it out. So when we when we look at the the creation When we we get to of course the seventh commandment do not commit adultery we are reminded that.

The of the sacredness of the marriage relationship. Well, where did we first learn about that? We first learn about that in the creation God's design for husband and wife. When we when we hear you should not commit adultery we could say well, what about all the other ways to sin?

Well, yes, of course. And that's also covered in Genesis 1 and Genesis 2. When we look at the positive expression of marriage in Genesis 1 and 2.

What do we?

What do we come away with? Well, we come away with a.

A.

Pattern that is very clear in the beginning and then becomes muddled very quickly after. Now, of course sin is what muddles everything. Sin is what brings all manner of Aberration and death into a design that God made was specifically for life as soon as Adam and Eve sin Defining for themselves good and evil rather than trusting in the Lord.

Adam and Eve Become estranged from each other in a way that they were not before. So verse 25 in Genesis 2 clearly says they are both naked and neither one of them was ashamed. But just after they fall into sin, what do they do?

They make fig leaf coverings for themselves and begin to Adam cast blame upon Eve and then she cast blame upon the serpent. And all these are expressions of showing how now they're full of shame and now they're trying to hide from one another even as they tried to hide from God underneath the the leaves of the tree and.

In the fall we begin to see immediately problems in the family.

Right.

In Genesis chapter 4 Mankind having been exiled from the garden the fall having been having come to pass the very first Sin we read about is what?

Murder.

Right.

Cain murders Abel the very first Terrible scene that we seen. Of course there were sins that led up to that sins of illegitimate desire sins of idolatry and proper worship. Which of course are those swinging doors of the entry into sin that we see on the bookends of the Ten Commandments.

Now Cain murders Abel and Then we read about Cain and we read of the lineage of Cain and One of the descendants from Cain was a man named Lamech. See that in verse 19 of Genesis 4. Then Lamech took for himself two wives.

I Remember reading that in Genesis chapter 2 and yet. That we see that this this is more eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Lamech says I know what's good for me. Not just one wife.

I'll take two. He eats from the tree too in his own way, doesn't he? I'll define good and evil for myself and he is all about that. Lamech took for himself two wives the name of one was Ada the other the name of the second was Zillah and Ada bore a j-ball.

He was the father of those who dwell in tents and have livestock. His brother's name was Jubal. He was the father of all those who play the harp and flute. And as for Zillah. She also bore Tubal Cain an instructor of every craftsman in bronze and iron and the sister of Tubal Cain was Naama.

Then Lamech said to his wives Ada and Zillah hear my voice wives of Lamech listen to my speech. For I have killed a man for wounding me even a young man for hurting me. If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold.

Then Lamech 77 fold now after you read that. You know this kind of Foreshadowing of bad things to come, you know, do you think Lamech was the last guy to think that way or do you think it's gonna get worse?

That's gonna get worse, you know based on this this moment. We're looking at Lamech as an example of how things are going the wrong direction. What do we see we see? Sexual perversion and violence. Oh What do you think is going to happen next.

Is it gonna just stay with Lamech and not go anywhere or thing or they're gonna spread. Surprisingly or perhaps unsurprisingly it spreads all over the place. And what do we read about in Genesis 6? Sexual perversion and.

Violence.

All right, so what's the problem here? Lamech says I'm going to Choose my own way. Lamech says I'm going to do it my own way and he's I'm gonna marry two wives and then I'm going to respond to This problem with violence.

I'm just gonna kill whoever is in my way somebody who Wounds me. I'm just gonna kill him and I have cart block Reason to do this. He misinterprets God's stemming of the violence With Cain and he says I'm gonna take this this sign that God gave this word that God gave concerning Cain.

I'm gonna twist it for my own benefit. So I can kill and kill and kill and nobody better get in my way. Well, we get to Genesis chapter 6. We read in verse 1. Now it came to pass when men began to multiply on the face of the earth and Daughters were born to them that the sons of God saw the daughters of men.

They were beautiful and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose. Now very often this gets translated in a or interpreted in a variety of very interesting creative ways. But if we just stick with what we've already read in the text.

It's it's a simple though sad story, okay. We've just read from chapters 4 5 that Cain murdered Abel but then God gave Seth as the as a Son to replace Abel to Eve and that Seth begot Enosh and then men began to call upon the name of the Lord they begin to worship God and.

And.

Then we hear about the family of Adam in Genesis chapter 5 one after the other and we hear about such men. Not only of Enosh and Seth who called upon the name of the Lord. But we also hear of men like Enoch who who walked with God and was not for God took him.

He was communing with God was taken straight up in to heaven. We we hear of such men as as Lamech who believing upon the promises of God named his son Noah. Which means rest. These are men of God. These are as Adam was called sons of God who are worshiping God, but then what do we read?

When men begin to multiply on the face of the earth and daughters are born to them that the sons of God those who were to Be faithful to the Lord. Those who have been calling upon the name of God saw the daughters of men and what's the problem?

Not that they are beautiful but that the sons of men sons of God took wives for themselves of all whom they chose. What is that a description of? It's it's it's polygamy. That's the problem that we saw with Lamech.

You know, what goes along with sexual aberration like polygamy. How about violence? Well, we keep reading verse 3 and the Lord said my spirit should not strive with man forever for he is indeed flesh.

Yet his days should be 120 years. That's how many years to the flood. There were giants on the earth in those days and also afterward when the sons of God came into the daughters of men. They bore children to them.

These were the mighty men who were of old men of renown. Now these this description of these mighty men the men of renown they were making names for themselves through violence through violence. So the the earth is filling up with violence verse 5 and the Lord saw.

The wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil.

Continually.

Verse now you skip down a little bit verse 11. The earth also was corrupt before God and the earth was filled with violence. So God looked upon the earth and indeed it was corrupt for all flesh. They corrupted their way on the earth.

Verse 13 God said to Noah the end of all flesh has come before me in the for the earth. It's filled with violence through them and behold. I will destroy them with the earth. So what what happens here is just like with Lamech first were introduced to sexual aberration.

Then we see a whole lot of violence. When when did carrying a gun to school become a bad thing in our country. How many young men rolled up into the parking lot of their schools with rifles strapped to the back of their back window of their pickup trucks guns ammunition at the schools went.

When did that suddenly become a problem after the sexual revolution not before. Before you could roll up and have a gun in your car and have it loaded and so on and so forth. Whatever you it was after the sexual evolution all of a sudden The thought of anybody having a gun at school causes panic.

What happened. You know what follows sexual aberration in tandem violence unmitigated unrestrained violence. Every time any study at the French Revolution will also show you the same connection what came first.

Blood in the streets or sexual aberrations sexual aberration came first right, so God looks upon the world and he says Whole earth is filled up with violence. Where did it begin? It began it began with a sexual aberrations not keeping to God's plan for marriage and Then God speaks to.

Noah.

And what does he say in verse 18 of.

Genesis 6.

But I will establish my covenant with you And you shall go into the ark you your sons your wife and your sons wives with you.

Well, how many is that eight?

What a funny funny peculiar bunch Noah and his bunch must have been for the fact that Noah had one wife and And his three sons each one of them only had one wife. Eight persons you read that in the Bible eight persons were saved in the ark.

Look for examples of marriage as God designed marriage to be one man for one woman. Example again and again and just to drive the point home. He brought all the animals on two by two two by two two by two.

Now any any veterinarian will tell you that's not how most animals Propagate, but I think God was driving a point home. All right, and so when God makes a covenant with Noah he begins it this way. Husband and wife husband and wife husband and wife husband and wife.

And then after that settled, okay. Here's how we're gonna propagate. Has every fruitful multiply and fill the earth through marriage of one man with one woman. That's how we're gonna be fruitful multiply and fill the earth now.

We're gonna address the issue about the violence which we've already talked about in terms of God's saying if any man sheds blood by man His blood shall be shed and then that's the other side of the covenant that God makes with Noah and how he addresses that as we move forward we're gonna think about the importance of of Marriage and how this commandment against adultery features significantly in the lives of Abraham Israel and David and.

Then consider further how it is that Jesus addresses the issue in his own day for our benefit. Any questions or thoughts as we close? Let's close by singing the doxology together.