WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.000 So our reading today is from Proverbs chapter 6, and we'll be reading from verse 20, chapter 8. 00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:59.980 So our reading today is from Proverbs chapter 6, chapter 8. 00:01:00.000 --> 00:01:02.000 So the one who touches her will feel unpunished. 00:01:02.000 --> 00:01:08.000 People do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy his appetite when he is hungry. 00:01:08.000 --> 00:01:10.000 But if he is caught, he will pay sevenfold. 00:01:10.000 --> 00:01:13.000 He will give all the goods of his house. 00:01:13.000 --> 00:01:16.000 He who commits adultery lets sense. 00:01:16.000 --> 00:01:19.000 He who destroys himself. 00:01:19.000 --> 00:01:25.000 He who gets wounds and dishonor, and his disgrace will not be wiped away. 00:01:25.000 --> 00:01:30.000 For jealousy makes him imperious, and he will not spare what he takes for advantage. 00:01:30.000 --> 00:01:32.000 He will accept no compensation. 00:01:32.000 --> 00:01:36.000 He will refuse, though he will multiply the gifts. 00:01:36.000 --> 00:01:45.000 Dear Lord, we ask for your help this morning as we come to your word. 00:01:45.000 --> 00:01:49.000 A passage which would be controversial in our society. 00:01:49.000 --> 00:01:59.000 But Lord, we want to hear what it has to say to us, and we need your spirit to help us understand it, and to be changed by it Lord. 00:01:59.000 --> 00:02:05.000 So that a meditation of my heart and my words will be pleasing in your sight. 00:02:05.000 --> 00:02:06.000 Amen. 00:02:06.000 --> 00:02:14.000 Adultery, infidelity, cheating, unfaithfulness. 00:02:14.000 --> 00:02:15.000 It's everywhere in Proverbs. 00:02:15.000 --> 00:02:17.000 It just keeps coming up. 00:02:17.000 --> 00:02:20.000 Proverbs is sex craze, it seems. 00:02:20.000 --> 00:02:23.000 But it also comes up in all of the Old Testament, doesn't it? 00:02:23.000 --> 00:02:25.000 Unfaithfulness. 00:02:25.000 --> 00:02:37.000 Abraham, Jacob, Samson, David, Solomon, and so many more were all unfaithful, and it caused a lot of problems. 00:02:37.000 --> 00:02:42.000 And it's just as pervasive in our society, isn't it? 00:02:42.000 --> 00:02:48.000 On Netflix, I don't know if you found this, but it's so hard to find a show which isn't full of sex. 00:02:48.000 --> 00:02:55.000 It might look good, and then you click on it and see the ratings, and it's MA15, full of sex. 00:02:55.000 --> 00:03:05.000 Our politicians, all sides, even conservatives, like Barnaby Joyce, Alan Touch, people who stood up for family values, 00:03:05.000 --> 00:03:10.000 have been embroiled in sex scams and cheated on their wives. 00:03:10.000 --> 00:03:17.000 Now, we can be self-righteous and complain about society, but what about in the church? 00:03:17.000 --> 00:03:20.000 Is it just as pervasive? 00:03:20.000 --> 00:03:28.000 Recently, the celebrity pastor of Hillsong, New York, Karl Lentz, was discovered to have had multiple affairs. 00:03:28.000 --> 00:03:36.000 Apologist Ravi Zacharias, who passed away recently, has been found to have been sexually abusing some of his staff. 00:03:36.000 --> 00:03:48.000 Billy Graham, his grandson, Presbyterian pastor, Tullin Tavijin, resigned in 2015 due to having multiple, for having an affair. 00:03:48.000 --> 00:03:53.000 A pastor who used to be one of my favourite creatures to listen to online. 00:03:53.000 --> 00:04:02.000 Aunt Azerdia was stood down in 2018 after it was revealed that he had had multiple affairs. 00:04:02.000 --> 00:04:08.000 To bring it even closer to home, how pervasive is unfaithfulness among us here today? 00:04:08.000 --> 00:04:20.000 Hopefully, God willing, we aren't sleeping around, but there's a good chance a bunch of us here have recently watched porn, an inappropriate TV show or movie. 00:04:20.000 --> 00:04:29.000 How many of us have read an illicit romance novel or look lustfully at another person while going about our day? 00:04:29.000 --> 00:04:35.000 Unfaithfulness is so pervasive in the world and in our lives. 00:04:35.000 --> 00:04:41.000 Everyone knows that it's wrong, but we all struggle with it in one way or another. 00:04:41.000 --> 00:04:50.000 We see the goodness of faithfulness, and yet we so often fall into unfaithfulness. 00:04:50.000 --> 00:04:52.000 What is at the root of our unfaithfulness? 00:04:52.000 --> 00:04:55.000 How can we be faithful? 00:04:55.000 --> 00:05:02.000 Well, the passage today will show us that God's wisdom can protect us from adultery and unfaithfulness. 00:05:02.000 --> 00:05:15.000 So far in Proverbs, the author's been laying out a choice between wisdom, reflecting God's character, or you can choose folly, living life your own way. 00:05:15.000 --> 00:05:28.000 He wants the reader to choose wisdom, and he makes the choice really tangible by painting a picture between two women, Lady Wisdom and Madame Folly. 00:05:28.000 --> 00:05:34.000 Lady Wisdom is easy to spot. We see her whenever wisdom is called sheep. 00:05:34.000 --> 00:05:40.000 And so we see her in chapters one, three, four, six, eight, and nine. 00:05:40.000 --> 00:05:47.000 And she's great. Lady Wisdom, she brings guidance, protection, and life. 00:05:47.000 --> 00:05:50.000 But where do we see Madame Folly? 00:05:50.000 --> 00:05:57.000 Well, she's named exclusively in chapter nine, but in chapters two, five, six, and seven. 00:05:57.000 --> 00:06:02.000 She's represented by an adulterous woman. 00:06:02.000 --> 00:06:07.000 She brings pain, death, and destruction. 00:06:07.000 --> 00:06:14.000 What the author does is use adultery to be representative of all sin and folly. 00:06:14.000 --> 00:06:20.000 David helpfully introduced us to this topic last week, this idea last week. 00:06:20.000 --> 00:06:23.000 This symbolism is something we see throughout the whole Old Testament. 00:06:23.000 --> 00:06:31.000 We see it in books like Hosea and Ezekiel, and even in the New Testament, adultery being representative of all sin. 00:06:31.000 --> 00:06:45.000 And it's not minimizing adultery, making it go away, but it's probably utilized because all throughout the Old Testament, adultery often leads to and is connected to idolatry. 00:06:45.000 --> 00:06:49.000 And Solomon, who wrote a bunch of the Proverbs, is a great example of that. 00:06:49.000 --> 00:06:51.000 How did idolatry come in? 00:06:51.000 --> 00:06:53.000 Through his adultery. 00:06:53.000 --> 00:07:00.000 Now, if we don't see this overarching layer to this part of the Proverbs, we can let ourselves off the hook. 00:07:00.000 --> 00:07:03.000 We can say, oh, I would never commit adultery. 00:07:03.000 --> 00:07:05.000 This proverb doesn't apply to me. 00:07:05.000 --> 00:07:12.000 But if we do that, we are being foolish and are failing to see that we so often are adulterous. 00:07:12.000 --> 00:07:15.000 Commentator Gary Brady says, 00:07:15.000 --> 00:07:23.000 It is important to get into our minds the picture of God and ourselves as being in a marriage covenant with the other. 00:07:23.000 --> 00:07:32.000 When we read of an adulteress, therefore, we should think of anyone or anything that would lure us from God and His Word. 00:07:32.000 --> 00:07:39.000 All adultery is wrong, whether it is physical adultery or adultery of a more spiritual nature. 00:07:39.000 --> 00:07:41.000 End quote. 00:07:41.000 --> 00:07:46.000 Whenever we sin, we are being unfaithful to God. 00:07:46.000 --> 00:07:49.000 Sin is spiritual adultery. 00:07:49.000 --> 00:07:52.000 Sin is cheating on God. 00:07:52.000 --> 00:07:57.000 So, as we look at this passage, we need to decide who will we be faithful to. 00:07:57.000 --> 00:08:00.000 Who will we only have eyes for? 00:08:00.000 --> 00:08:04.000 And who will we give the cold shoulder to sleep? 00:08:04.000 --> 00:08:08.000 Lady wisdom or madam folly? 00:08:08.000 --> 00:08:11.000 God or the items of our hearts? 00:08:11.000 --> 00:08:14.000 One will lead to blessing, the other to ruin. 00:08:14.000 --> 00:08:17.000 One will lead to life, the other will lead to death. 00:08:17.000 --> 00:08:20.000 With that, let's get into the text. 00:08:20.000 --> 00:08:33.000 We start off by saying in verses 20 to 24, the call to be faithful to wisdom with our hearts because she is everything we need. 00:08:33.000 --> 00:08:35.000 Where does faithfulness start? 00:08:35.000 --> 00:08:37.000 Is it just a change in behaviours? 00:08:37.000 --> 00:08:41.000 In verses 20 to 21, we see it takes place in our hearts. 00:08:41.000 --> 00:08:43.000 Look at verses 20 to 21. 00:08:43.000 --> 00:08:50.000 My son, keep your father's commandments and forsake not your mother's teaching. 00:08:50.000 --> 00:08:52.000 Find them on your heart always. 00:08:52.000 --> 00:08:55.000 Tie them around your neck. 00:08:55.000 --> 00:08:59.000 Now, you might be thinking, where do those verses talk about wisdom? 00:08:59.000 --> 00:09:06.000 Well, the terms commandment and teaching get personified in verse 22. 00:09:06.000 --> 00:09:11.000 They lead, watch and talk, or things a person does. 00:09:11.000 --> 00:09:16.000 Bruce Waltke translates the they in verses 22 as she. 00:09:16.000 --> 00:09:19.000 And the NASV translation does the same thing in his footnote. 00:09:19.000 --> 00:09:22.000 So we can read verses, verse 22 as, 00:09:22.000 --> 00:09:26.000 When you walk, she will lead you. 00:09:26.000 --> 00:09:29.000 When you lie down, she will watch over you. 00:09:29.000 --> 00:09:33.000 When you're awake, she will talk with you. 00:09:34.000 --> 00:09:42.000 Now, this brings the personification to another level and makes it clear that once again, lady wisdom has appeared. 00:09:42.000 --> 00:09:47.000 The commandments for teaching is just another way to refer to wisdom. 00:09:47.000 --> 00:09:52.000 Now, how do we be faithful to wisdom with our hearts then? 00:09:52.000 --> 00:09:58.000 Well, verse 21, we're called to bind it on our heart always and tie it around our neck. 00:09:58.000 --> 00:10:04.000 The biblical use of heart, it's not the same way we use it today to refer just to our emotions and feelings. 00:10:04.000 --> 00:10:06.000 That's how our society uses the idea of heart. 00:10:07.000 --> 00:10:13.000 In the Bible, our heart is our feelings, but it's also our thoughts, intellect and personality, 00:10:13.000 --> 00:10:17.000 which makes us who we are and drives everything that we do. 00:10:18.000 --> 00:10:26.000 Binding it to our heart symbolises the act of constantly embracing wisdom closely with our thoughts, wills and feelings. 00:10:27.000 --> 00:10:34.000 Tying it to our neck symbolises it as being like a valuable necklace, which we keep as close as possible, 00:10:34.000 --> 00:10:39.000 so as to always be aware of it, not to lose it and take it wherever we go. 00:10:39.000 --> 00:10:51.000 Essentially, what this is saying is we need to constantly meditate on, soak on, think about and value God's wisdom so that it becomes part of who we are. 00:10:51.000 --> 00:10:57.000 Tim Keller says, one way we do this is by asking these questions when we come to God's word. 00:10:57.000 --> 00:11:03.000 How would my life be different if I really believe this from the bottom of my heart? 00:11:03.000 --> 00:11:08.000 How would this change my thinking, feelings, actions? 00:11:09.000 --> 00:11:14.000 How would it change my prayer life, my feelings and attitudes towards God? 00:11:14.000 --> 00:11:19.000 Now, why would we want to be faithful to wisdom then? 00:11:19.000 --> 00:11:21.000 What does the author tell us? 00:11:21.000 --> 00:11:25.000 Well, look at verses 22 to 24. 00:11:25.000 --> 00:11:29.000 When you walk, they, she, will lead you. 00:11:29.000 --> 00:11:32.000 When you lie down, she, they, will watch over you. 00:11:32.000 --> 00:11:34.000 When you're awake, she will talk with you. 00:11:34.000 --> 00:11:41.000 For the commandment is a lamp and a teaching a light and the reproofs of discipline are the way of life. 00:11:41.000 --> 00:11:47.000 To preserve you from the evil woman, from the smooth tongue of the adulteress. 00:11:47.000 --> 00:11:51.000 We see here, wisdom is everything we need. 00:11:51.000 --> 00:11:53.000 She's the complete package. 00:11:53.000 --> 00:11:58.000 If you have her, you have comprehensive help for all of life. 00:11:58.000 --> 00:12:03.000 Charles Bridges says that she is a friend for all times and circumstances. 00:12:03.000 --> 00:12:09.000 A guide by day, a solace by night, a friend for my waking moments. 00:12:09.000 --> 00:12:12.000 That sounds pretty good. 00:12:12.000 --> 00:12:14.000 And why can wisdom offer this? 00:12:14.000 --> 00:12:17.000 For she is a lamp and a light. 00:12:17.000 --> 00:12:18.000 Verse 23. 00:12:18.000 --> 00:12:20.000 She lets us see the way. 00:12:20.000 --> 00:12:23.000 She shows us dangers which we might not have seen. 00:12:23.000 --> 00:12:26.000 She shows us things the way they really are. 00:12:26.000 --> 00:12:30.000 See, God created the world and us. 00:12:30.000 --> 00:12:34.000 God knows what is best for the world and us. 00:12:34.000 --> 00:12:40.000 His wisdom shows us the best way to be and reflect his character in his world. 00:12:40.000 --> 00:12:44.000 Now, this won't always be pleasant. 00:12:44.000 --> 00:12:48.000 It involves reproofs of discipline. 00:12:48.000 --> 00:12:50.000 Corrective discipline. 00:12:50.000 --> 00:12:51.000 Review. 00:12:51.000 --> 00:12:53.000 I can get dressed in the dark. 00:12:53.000 --> 00:12:57.000 I can get dressed in the dark and think I look fly. 00:12:57.000 --> 00:13:01.000 But then when I turn the lights on, I realize I might have my shirt on inside out. 00:13:01.000 --> 00:13:06.000 I have a stain on my pants or I've worn blue and green together. 00:13:06.000 --> 00:13:09.000 And so I have to change. 00:13:09.000 --> 00:13:16.000 If we have the light of wisdom, it's going to reveal things that are wrong with us that we couldn't see before. 00:13:16.000 --> 00:13:21.000 It will reveal parts of our being which aren't reflecting God's character. 00:13:21.000 --> 00:13:26.000 But while discipline isn't always pleasant, it's for our best. 00:13:26.000 --> 00:13:27.000 It leads to life. 00:13:27.000 --> 00:13:35.000 In verse 24, it protects us from falling gray to the evil one, to folly, to idolatry against God. 00:13:35.000 --> 00:13:47.000 If we are faithful to God's wisdom, if we only have eyes for her, seeing that she is everything we need, we will be protected from letting other things take over our hearts. 00:13:47.000 --> 00:13:56.000 We won't look for false intimacy in other things and go down the destructive path which that leads to this one. 00:13:56.000 --> 00:14:08.000 So, we've been given the call to be faithful to wisdom, but how does folly and sin lure us in? 00:14:08.000 --> 00:14:13.000 What are the consequences of cheating, of adultery? 00:14:13.000 --> 00:14:27.000 The author warns us in verses 24 to 35 to not be unfaithful with folly, for we are in our hearts because punishment is severe, certain, and will cost everything. 00:14:27.000 --> 00:14:32.000 Faithfulness is contrasted to unfaithfulness. 00:14:32.000 --> 00:14:40.000 When we see how bad being unfaithful is, we'll only want to be faithful to God and his wisdom even more. 00:14:40.000 --> 00:14:51.000 When we see how much of a world of pain and drama that girl folly will bring, it will help us see how great of a catch lady wisdom is. 00:14:51.000 --> 00:14:59.000 We see the call to not be unfaithful with wisdom in our hearts in verses 24 and 25. 00:14:59.000 --> 00:15:21.000 So, just like faithfulness takes place in our hearts, unfaithfulness, cheating takes place in our hearts. 00:15:21.000 --> 00:15:28.000 Before anyone finds themselves in bed with another person, something has first happened in their hearts. 00:15:28.000 --> 00:15:34.000 This is exactly what Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5 where he said, 00:15:34.000 --> 00:15:37.000 You have heard it said, You shall not commit adultery. 00:15:37.000 --> 00:15:49.000 But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 00:15:49.000 --> 00:15:53.000 We've seen that the best defense is a good offense. 00:15:53.000 --> 00:16:03.000 That if we only have eyes for God and who infatuated with his wisdom in our hearts, we'll be protected from falling prey to folly. 00:16:03.000 --> 00:16:17.000 But what the author gives you is an explanation of how adultery takes hold of someone in their hearts so that we can know what to look out for and be better equipped when it happens. 00:16:17.000 --> 00:16:20.000 So, what are the ways the adulteress gets through to her heart? 00:16:20.000 --> 00:16:23.000 Well, first, she has a smooth tongue. 00:16:23.000 --> 00:16:24.000 Verse 24. 00:16:24.000 --> 00:16:29.000 Maybe she's good at making the cheating seem okay. 00:16:29.000 --> 00:16:31.000 She's also beautiful. 00:16:31.000 --> 00:16:32.000 Verse 25. 00:16:32.000 --> 00:16:33.000 At least on the surface. 00:16:33.000 --> 00:16:39.000 And then she uses her appealing features, her eyelashes to capture us. 00:16:39.000 --> 00:16:48.000 It's like she puts on some eyeliner and curls her eyelashes and is fluttering her eyes at us, trying to lure us in. 00:16:48.000 --> 00:16:54.000 She uses the senses and the physical to try and lure us in. 00:16:54.000 --> 00:16:57.000 And this really just shows what lust is. 00:16:57.000 --> 00:17:03.000 Only wanting the beautiful body of someone, the self-satisfaction. 00:17:03.000 --> 00:17:06.000 The person is irrelevant. 00:17:06.000 --> 00:17:10.000 It's what they can give us, which is important in lust. 00:17:10.000 --> 00:17:17.000 The exact opposite of love, which is seeking the good of the other over yourself. 00:17:17.000 --> 00:17:20.000 Being self-giving instead of selfish. 00:17:20.000 --> 00:17:29.000 And so we have to be on the lookout and not let her seduction even get into our hearts because she's evil. 00:17:29.000 --> 00:17:40.000 Now, we need to remember, as we talked about in the start, this adulterous is representative of folly and sin. 00:17:40.000 --> 00:17:50.000 Therefore, just like we need to be able to look out for these things to not commit adultery, we need to be on the lookout for folly and sin because it captures us in the same way. 00:17:50.000 --> 00:17:59.000 In the garden of Eden, Satan used his smooth words to convince Eve that it was actually okay to eat the fruit. 00:17:59.000 --> 00:18:04.000 And when she looked at the fruit, it was a delight to the eyes. 00:18:04.000 --> 00:18:09.000 And so she and Adam gave him and they ate. 00:18:09.000 --> 00:18:13.000 They chose to cheat on God. 00:18:13.000 --> 00:18:19.000 We need to be immersed in God's wisdom so that we can see when it's happening. 00:18:19.000 --> 00:18:24.000 So that we can see the signs and not let it get into our hearts. 00:18:24.000 --> 00:18:28.000 What are the lies about sin you're being told? 00:18:28.000 --> 00:18:30.000 What's luring you in? 00:18:30.000 --> 00:18:32.000 What are you thinking about a lot? 00:18:32.000 --> 00:18:36.000 What are you valuing and can't live without? 00:18:36.000 --> 00:18:42.000 See what it's trying to do. 00:18:42.000 --> 00:18:47.000 For the rest of the chapter, there are no commands. 00:18:47.000 --> 00:18:49.000 It's just warnings. 00:18:49.000 --> 00:18:56.000 And the first we see that we shouldn't cheat with folly because punishment is severe and certain. 00:18:56.000 --> 00:19:00.000 Look at verses 26 to 29. 00:19:00.000 --> 00:19:12.000 For the price of a prostitute is only a loaf of bread, but a married woman hunts down a precious life. 00:19:12.000 --> 00:19:18.000 Can a man carry fire next to his chest and his clothes not be burnt? 00:19:18.000 --> 00:19:22.000 Or can one walk on hot coals and his feet not be scorched? 00:19:22.000 --> 00:19:26.000 So is he who goes in to his neighbor's wife. 00:19:26.000 --> 00:19:29.000 None who touches her will go unpunished. 00:19:29.000 --> 00:19:39.000 Versus 26 is apparently hard to translate and you can see an alternative footnote in the ESV. 00:19:39.000 --> 00:19:49.000 But it's essentially saying sleeping with a prostitute is cheap, but adultery with a married woman will cost you your life. 00:19:49.000 --> 00:19:53.000 It's definitely not saying sleeping with a prostitute is okay. 00:19:53.000 --> 00:19:57.000 But it is saying that sleeping with a married woman is even worse. 00:19:57.000 --> 00:20:07.000 It's like being a deer and just coming up and laying down in front of the determined hunter who has been stalking your precious life. 00:20:07.000 --> 00:20:21.000 He then builds on this idea by comparing adultery with playing with fire to show how certain the punishment is in verses 28 and 29. 00:20:21.000 --> 00:20:26.000 He uses rhetorical questions to which the answer is so obvious. 00:20:26.000 --> 00:20:30.000 Kids don't do so well with rhetorical questions. 00:20:30.000 --> 00:20:32.000 You see that sometimes in the kids talk. 00:20:32.000 --> 00:20:42.000 If I was to read verses 28 and 29 out to my ESICs class last year, they wouldn't be able to help but call out, 00:20:42.000 --> 00:20:43.000 No! 00:20:45.000 --> 00:20:46.000 You can't do that. 00:20:46.000 --> 00:20:50.000 There'd be some smart aleck boy who'd come up with a reason why you can hold fire and stuff. 00:20:50.000 --> 00:20:54.000 But they would say, most of them would say, no, you just can't do that. 00:20:55.000 --> 00:21:00.000 If you carry and walk on fire, you are going to get burnt. 00:21:01.000 --> 00:21:07.000 And verse 29, it's the exact same for the person who has sex with someone who is married. 00:21:08.000 --> 00:21:10.000 None who touches them will go unpunished. 00:21:11.000 --> 00:21:12.000 It is severe. 00:21:12.000 --> 00:21:13.000 It's inevitable. 00:21:13.000 --> 00:21:15.000 It's playing with fire. 00:21:15.000 --> 00:21:22.000 And finally, verses 30 to 35, we see being unfaithful with folly will cost everything. 00:21:22.000 --> 00:21:25.000 Look at verses 30 to 35. 00:21:25.000 --> 00:21:32.000 People do not despise a thief that he steals to satisfy his appetite when he's hungry. 00:21:33.000 --> 00:21:36.000 But if he is caught, he'll pay sevenfold. 00:21:36.000 --> 00:21:38.000 He'll give all the goods of his house. 00:21:38.000 --> 00:21:41.000 He who commits adultery lacks sense. 00:21:41.000 --> 00:21:45.000 He who does it destroys himself. 00:21:45.000 --> 00:21:48.000 He will get wounds and dishonor. 00:21:48.000 --> 00:21:51.000 And his disgrace will not be wiped away. 00:21:51.000 --> 00:21:54.000 For jealousy makes a man furious. 00:21:54.000 --> 00:21:56.000 And he will not spare when he takes revenge. 00:21:56.000 --> 00:21:58.000 He will accept no compensation. 00:21:58.000 --> 00:22:02.000 He will refuse, though you multiply gifts. 00:22:02.000 --> 00:22:07.000 He starts off with an argument from lesser to greater. 00:22:07.000 --> 00:22:08.000 Look at a thief. 00:22:08.000 --> 00:22:13.000 People understand that he steals because he's poor and hungry. 00:22:13.000 --> 00:22:19.000 But verse 31, even if he's poor, he'll still need to pay back sevenfold. 00:22:19.000 --> 00:22:22.000 It will cost him almost everything. 00:22:22.000 --> 00:22:30.000 But verse 32, unlike the thief, the adulterer doesn't have any good reason to commit adultery. 00:22:30.000 --> 00:22:37.000 And if his crime is even worse than stealing, the punishment will cost him everything. 00:22:37.000 --> 00:22:46.000 He is destroying himself, which the KJB translates as, he destroyeth his own soul. 00:22:46.000 --> 00:22:49.000 His punishment is spiritual. 00:22:49.000 --> 00:22:56.000 Verse 35, his punishment will be physical as he gets wounded. 00:22:56.000 --> 00:22:57.000 It's also social. 00:22:57.000 --> 00:23:02.000 He has this dishonor and disgrace that can't be wiped away. 00:23:02.000 --> 00:23:06.000 Even today in our society, adultery still has this social cost. 00:23:06.000 --> 00:23:10.000 Family and friends will often shun someone who cheats. 00:23:10.000 --> 00:23:16.000 Recently, Newcastle Knights player Mitchell Pears had his wedding called off 00:23:16.000 --> 00:23:21.000 because he was sending flirtatious texts to a woman who works for the Knights also. 00:23:21.000 --> 00:23:30.000 Now, it turns out a lot of the players are friends with the partner of that woman who Pierce was texting. 00:23:30.000 --> 00:23:39.000 So, he's dishonored himself, stood down as captain, and it looks like he's lost the respect of a lot of his fellow players. 00:23:39.000 --> 00:23:42.000 And won't be able to get it back. 00:23:42.000 --> 00:23:45.000 The punishment is social. 00:23:45.000 --> 00:23:54.000 In verse 34 and 35, we see the main person who will be making sure the adulterer loses everything is the husband of the adulteress. 00:23:54.000 --> 00:23:58.000 His jealousy has made him furious. 00:23:58.000 --> 00:24:01.000 He won't be merciful to the person who touched his wife. 00:24:01.000 --> 00:24:05.000 He's going to get revenge and can't be paid off. 00:24:05.000 --> 00:24:08.000 The thief can do that, but not the adulterer. 00:24:08.000 --> 00:24:11.000 The penalty for adultery is death. 00:24:11.000 --> 00:24:13.000 Leviticus 20.10 says, 00:24:13.000 --> 00:24:17.000 If a man commits adultery with the wife of his neighbour, 00:24:17.000 --> 00:24:22.000 both the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death. 00:24:22.000 --> 00:24:31.000 Now, to be clear, this is a judicial law for the nation of Israel, which went away with the new covenant. 00:24:31.000 --> 00:24:38.000 But for the original reader, for the children listening to this, this was very real and serious. 00:24:38.000 --> 00:24:41.000 The punishment is severe. 00:24:41.000 --> 00:24:44.000 It is certain and it will cost everything. 00:24:44.000 --> 00:24:53.000 It will be spiritual, physical and social and eventually it will take our lives. 00:24:53.000 --> 00:24:57.000 Brothers and sisters, it's the same for all sin and folly. 00:24:57.000 --> 00:25:02.000 We think it won't have any consequences, but it always does. 00:25:02.000 --> 00:25:06.000 I said before, God created this world and knows what is best. 00:25:06.000 --> 00:25:13.000 And so when we don't reflect his character in his world the way he intended it, it has consequences. 00:25:13.000 --> 00:25:15.000 It's going against the instruction manual. 00:25:15.000 --> 00:25:17.000 It's pouring a coffee over your laptop. 00:25:17.000 --> 00:25:19.000 It's just not the way it's supposed to be used. 00:25:19.000 --> 00:25:21.000 And so it's going to cause problems. 00:25:21.000 --> 00:25:29.000 Sin's punishment is spiritual, physical, social, and eventually it will cost us our lives. 00:25:29.000 --> 00:25:32.000 For the wages of sin is death. 00:25:32.000 --> 00:25:34.000 Who will ensure the punishment? 00:25:34.000 --> 00:25:37.000 The one we ultimately sinned against. 00:25:37.000 --> 00:25:41.000 All throughout the Old Testament, God refers to himself as a husband. 00:25:41.000 --> 00:25:44.000 And his people are his wife. 00:25:44.000 --> 00:25:47.000 We've cheated on him and played the whore. 00:25:47.000 --> 00:25:54.000 He says, don't worship idols because I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God. 00:25:54.000 --> 00:25:58.000 The punishment for sin will cost us everything. 00:25:58.000 --> 00:26:02.000 And it will be dealt out by God, the one sin against. 00:26:02.000 --> 00:26:10.000 So we see how being unfaithful in our hearts is and its terrible cost. 00:26:10.000 --> 00:26:14.000 And we see how good being faithful to God in our hearts is. 00:26:14.000 --> 00:26:21.000 But if we're honest with ourselves, we so often have chosen sin and folly over God and his wisdom. 00:26:21.000 --> 00:26:25.000 We don't give sin this cold shoulder. 00:26:25.000 --> 00:26:27.000 Instead, we desire in our hearts. 00:26:27.000 --> 00:26:29.000 We let it capture us. 00:26:29.000 --> 00:26:33.000 Even though we know it's evil, it will cause us so much trouble. 00:26:34.000 --> 00:26:41.000 We've had to face the consequences here and now of our sin, of our folly, of our adultery. 00:26:41.000 --> 00:26:47.000 We've caused pain to ourselves and the ones we love. 00:26:47.000 --> 00:26:58.000 Our hearts lust after anything we can think that will give us meaning, value, significance and security. 00:26:58.000 --> 00:27:08.000 And so we can say that we deserve God's punishment for being unfaithful to him, for cheating on him. 00:27:08.000 --> 00:27:10.000 What are we to do? 00:27:10.000 --> 00:27:11.000 We need new hearts. 00:27:11.000 --> 00:27:14.000 We need forgiveness for our adultery. 00:27:14.000 --> 00:27:17.000 We find ourselves in a situation like King David. 00:27:17.000 --> 00:27:20.000 He was a man who was after God's own heart. 00:27:20.000 --> 00:27:24.000 And then we see even he commits adultery. 00:27:24.000 --> 00:27:29.000 The best guy in all of the Old Testament commits adultery. 00:27:29.000 --> 00:27:35.000 While his army was off fighting, his wars, David slept with one of his soldiers' wife, Blastriva. 00:27:35.000 --> 00:27:41.000 He impregnated her and covered it up by getting her husband, Uriah, killed in battle. 00:27:41.000 --> 00:27:46.000 Eventually, God confronts David through his prophet Nathan. 00:27:46.000 --> 00:27:49.000 And David is devastated. 00:27:49.000 --> 00:27:50.000 He has been devastated. 00:27:50.000 --> 00:27:51.000 All he can do is pray. 00:27:51.000 --> 00:27:55.000 And we see what he prays to God in Psalm 51. 00:27:55.000 --> 00:28:03.000 In his prayer, he confesses his sin and acknowledges that ultimately he was sinning against God. 00:28:03.000 --> 00:28:08.000 He knows he deserves punishment, but he asks God essentially for two things. 00:28:08.000 --> 00:28:11.000 One, he asks God to forgive his sins. 00:28:11.000 --> 00:28:15.000 And two, he asks God to create in him a clean heart. 00:28:15.000 --> 00:28:18.000 To fix him from the inside out. 00:28:18.000 --> 00:28:23.000 David would have struggled with a tension that goes right throughout the Old Testament. 00:28:23.000 --> 00:28:29.000 He knew that God was just and holy and did not let sin go unpunished. 00:28:29.000 --> 00:28:36.000 But he also knew God was loving and merciful and could forgive and renew him. 00:28:36.000 --> 00:28:46.000 He'd be thinking, I know I don't deserve it and I don't completely understand it, but I fall upon the mercy of God. 00:28:46.000 --> 00:28:51.000 How can God forgive us yet satisfy his justice? 00:28:51.000 --> 00:28:55.000 How can we be given a new heart which can actually be faithful to God? 00:28:55.000 --> 00:28:58.000 God told the answers that kids didn't. 00:28:58.000 --> 00:29:04.000 We find the answer to these questions in the person of Jesus Christ. 00:29:04.000 --> 00:29:09.000 Jesus was the son who was faithful to wisdom with his heart. 00:29:09.000 --> 00:29:17.000 In Luke 2, 52, we read that Jesus increased in wisdom, in stature and favour with God in them. 00:29:17.000 --> 00:29:25.000 We saw a few weeks ago when Dave preached and we saw that when Satan tempted him with everything, the whole world, 00:29:25.000 --> 00:29:30.000 he did not give in and cheat but stayed faithful to God. 00:29:30.000 --> 00:29:33.000 He lived the life we should have lived. 00:29:33.000 --> 00:29:36.000 Jesus was also the faithful husband. 00:29:36.000 --> 00:29:39.000 When we were faithless, he remained faithful. 00:29:39.000 --> 00:29:46.000 We cheated on God and he had every right to punish us, but instead Jesus took our wounds. 00:29:46.000 --> 00:29:48.000 He took our dishonour. 00:29:48.000 --> 00:29:50.000 He took our death. 00:29:50.000 --> 00:30:00.000 We cannot pay the cost of sin, judgment and death, but Jesus paid that on behalf of his bride, the church. 00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:06.000 As it says in Ephesians 5, 25, Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. 00:30:06.000 --> 00:30:19.000 Jesus died the death we should have died and he lived the life we should have lived so that we can be made right with God even though we were and are unfaithful to him. 00:30:19.000 --> 00:30:24.000 Brothers and sisters, God calls us today to come to Jesus. 00:30:24.000 --> 00:30:32.000 Who as it says in 1 Corinthians 1, 30, is wisdom from God, righteousness, sanctification, redemption. 00:30:32.000 --> 00:30:39.000 All the promises in Proverbs find their yes in Jesus, their fulfilment in Jesus. 00:30:39.000 --> 00:30:41.000 He gives them to us. 00:30:41.000 --> 00:30:44.000 Everything we need is in him. 00:30:44.000 --> 00:30:49.000 If you have not trusted in him, he can make you a son of God. 00:30:49.000 --> 00:30:52.000 His spirit can give you a new heart. 00:30:52.000 --> 00:30:55.000 He can forgive you of your sin. 00:30:55.000 --> 00:30:57.000 And so trust in him. 00:30:57.000 --> 00:30:59.000 Have faith in him. 00:30:59.000 --> 00:31:09.000 If you have trusted in Christ, you have been given new hearts and now his spirit helps you to be faithful with your heart. 00:31:09.000 --> 00:31:14.000 Remember that in here we have everything we need to live our life. 00:31:14.000 --> 00:31:16.000 He is the light of the world. 00:31:16.000 --> 00:31:18.000 He is the way, the truth and the life. 00:31:18.000 --> 00:31:20.000 Jesus is the one who leads us through life. 00:31:20.000 --> 00:31:22.000 He watches over us. 00:31:22.000 --> 00:31:26.000 He teaches us and empowers us to reflect God's character. 00:31:26.000 --> 00:31:35.000 As we constantly meditate on, love and trust him, we will be protected from the idols of the world. 00:31:35.000 --> 00:31:47.000 And when we're faithless, he lovingly disciplines us, brings us back to himself, assures us of his love and continues to change us slowly, day by day, into his image. 00:31:47.000 --> 00:31:57.000 Be faithful to trust in Christ, the wisdom of God with your heart, because he is everything we need. 00:31:57.000 --> 00:31:59.000 Let's pray. 00:31:59.000 --> 00:32:05.000 Dear Lord, we thank you for your son, Jesus. 00:32:05.000 --> 00:32:07.000 We've been unwise. 00:32:07.000 --> 00:32:09.000 We've been adulterous. 00:32:09.000 --> 00:32:12.000 We've cheated on you, but through him we can have wisdom. 00:32:12.000 --> 00:32:14.000 We can be forgiven. 00:32:14.000 --> 00:32:16.000 We can be faithful to you. 00:32:16.000 --> 00:32:22.000 Keep changing our hearts, Lord, so that we can be faithful to you this week. 00:32:22.000 --> 00:32:24.000 In Jesus' name. Amen. 00:32:24.000 --> 00:32:25.000 Amen.