“Thou Shalt Not”
Pastor David Moore
Old Testament reading: Song of Solomon 4:1-11
How beautiful you are, my darling! Oh, how beautiful! Your eyes behind your veil are doves. Your hair is like a flock of goats descending from the hills of Gilead. Your teeth are like a flock of sheep just shorn, coming up from the washing. Each has its twin; not one of them is alone. Your lips are like a scarlet ribbon; your mouth is lovely. Your temples behind your veil are like the halves of a pomegranate. Your neck is like the tower of David, built with courses of stone; on it hang a thousand shields, all of them shields of warriors. Your breasts are like two fawns, like twin fawns of a gazelle that browse among the lilies.
Until the day breaks and the shadows flee, I will go to the mountain of myrrh and to the hill of incense. You are altogether beautiful, my darling; there is no flaw in you. Come with me from Lebanon, my bride, come with me from Lebanon. Descend from the crest of Amana, from the top of Senir, the summit of Hermon, from the lions’ dens and the mountain haunts of leopards.
You have stolen my heart, my sister, my bride; you have stolen my heart with one glance of your eyes, with one jewel of your necklace. How delightful is your love, my sister, my bride! How much more pleasing is your love than wine, and the fragrance of your perfume more than any spice! Your lips drop sweetness as the honeycomb, my bride; milk and honey are under your tongue. The fragrance of your garments is like the fragrance of Lebanon.
Theme today is about what the Bible says about relationships. Jesus knows sex is both delightful and
dangerous and is central to being human. This text is serious and important about the dignity of sex. ~D. Moore
Thou shall not commit adultery.
Exodus 20:14
Guard your heart! Adultery isn’t just physical!
Matthew 5:27-30
You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery’. But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman
lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out
and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into
hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of
your body than for your whole body to go into hell.
Jesus talks about hell more than anyone in Scripture. In hell someone’s soul is unable to fulfill its original design and its purpose. People are designed to love others and God. If a person is trapped into misery of self-centeredness the soul cannot give or receive joy. Jesus says the misuse of sex is one way the soul could be exiled into hell.
Two points to ponder about sex:
1. Sex will either be the window into the glory of heaven or a gateway into the alienation and bondage of hell. Sex can take us one way or the other.
2. Jesus states that sex should only happen between a man and a woman in a marriage covenant.
“How delightful is your love, my sister, my bride! How much more pleasing is
your love than wine, and the fragrance of your perfume than any spice!”
Song of Solomon 4:10
“Erotic pleasure is the most superficial benefit of sex. It is a delight but only the delight of a moment. The bodily exposure that arouses and accompanies it can be both profoundly symbolic and powerfully healing. It symbolizes the uncovering of our inner selves, our deepest fears and yearnings. As I look tenderly on the body of another, as I experience what it is to feel the tenderness of another’s caress and the delight of knowing I am loved as well as loving, it seems momentarily impossible to separate myself from my body from the one who accepts my body, caresses also with tenderness my inmost being. Or so, at times, it seems. It makes sense then that sexual relations can be confined to marriage. For acceptance and mutual disclosure are not the activities of a moment, but the delicate fabric of a lifetime’s weaving. Each time that sexual relations spring from casual encounters, something of their healing and life-giving nature is destroyed.” ~John White
SPIRIT + SOUL + BODY = YOU
LOVE vs. LUST
Gives Takes Away
Waits Impatient
Respects Violates
Forgives Condemns
Unselfish Self-centered
Generous Greedy
Protects Endangers
Faithful Disloyal
Upholds Abandons
1. Make the distinction between the (a)_____________ and the (b)_____________.
2. Give your (c)____________ to God.
3. Do not live under the (d)_____________ of your sexual past.
Today, think about: this sermon, the Scripture, and your life regarding your sin around your relationships and sex.
Key elements of helping us to stay within our covenant relationship.
1. Identify the thoughts and differentiate them from your fantasy.
2. Refuse to look at your sins except through the Cross. 3. Give your sexual desires to God.
4. Do not stay haunted with the guilt from your past.
Pray to Jesus for: forgiveness and for the freedom from your past and to renew a new spirit centered around God’s love for us.
Have a good week.
Answers: (a) thought (b) fantasy (c) desire (d) guil,