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Just as God created Adam and Eve in a wonderful way that they might complete one another, we believe that marriage is a wonderful gift of God. Looking at the command to not commit adultery, how can we preserve and protect marriage? Celebrating sex within the boundaries God has established. Pastor Peter Teo shares the word today.

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Even as I start today, I just want to let you know that today's topic advertised in the originally was a commandment against adultery. But I think this title is better, Do Not Commit Adultery. It's out of love, it's not out of condemnation, it's not a reaction to the recent political news. Okay, this what this was planned way before it happened. Okay. Apparently the Lord knows all this. And so it was when I was given this topic in May, I was saying, oh no, not me preaching about adultery, because this is one topic that pastors usually would not want to touch, because it can be very sensitive. And I also know today, even I share here, and those people watching online, I'm also aware that it's a very sensitive issue. Even before the service starts, there's already reaction in the internet. But I want to say that this is not a condemning message. What I'm sharing today is about the heart of God. It's about the whole issue of adultery, how God sees the whole issue. It is not a judgment thing. Whatever you may have gone through, uh the hurts that you have gone through through some experience, or maybe you have been condemned by people concerning this message. I just want to say you that Jesus loves you. Okay, Jesus loves you, and Jesus wants to draw himself to you this morning. And so the thing is, in there's a story in night in 1631, there was this Robert Baker and Martin uh Lucas, who were the royal printers in London. And so they were reprinting the uh King James Version of the Bible, and they made a mistake, they omitted the word not, N O T. And so Exodus 20, verse 14 uh was read, Thou shalt commit adultery. And so, because of that, that Bible was called the sinner's Bible, the adulterous Bible, and even a wicked Bible. And so today, even as I share the word today, I don't want you to misunderstand. Read my lips, do not commit adultery. I do not want to be called the wicked preacher. Shall we pray? Hallelujah. Father, I thank you, Father, for your word. I thank you for your love in this place. I pray that you shift all the perception that's wrong from our from our mind today. Let your love just draw us and let us our our hearts begin to understand and begin to be able to have strength and be encouraged to do what you will please you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Okay, a boy was asked in a class, what is adultery? And the boy answered, it's the things that adults do. And I checked the dictionary, what is adultery? It according to the Cambridge or the Oxford Bible, it says, it's a sex, it's a sex between a married man or woman and someone he or she is not married to. Basically, it's about cheating, about being unfaithful to your spouse in the marriage. But I like what the Hebrew says about adultery. The word adultery in the Hebrew is pronounced na'ef. Na'ef. Okay? Na'ef means any in sexual intercourse outside the marriage covenant. That means uh premarital sex is considered prohibited because the Hebrew's understanding is sexual intercourse, anything, sexual intercourse outside marriage. In the modern uh definition of adultery, we we can uh saw divide into fornication and adultery and all kinds of uh division, but in the Hebrew the mindset is very clear. Anything that's outside uh marriage covenant is adultery. Okay, so but I trust that today we'll begin to understand because as I was preparing this, was given uh this uh Deuteronomy chapter 22. I find that the seventh commandment, do not commit adultery, it was first mentioned in the Bible in Exodus 20, verse 14. Okay, it's very clear there, and then it was re-emphasized in Deuteronomy chapter 5, and then of course uh it's emphasized actually from Deuteronomy 21, verse 10, right up to 23, verse uh 14. The whole stretch, the whole stretch from 21 to 23 actually is talking about adultery. God was explaining uh Moses was explaining adultery, and of which today's passage 22 is stuck in between. Okay, but the main if you look at the kayedic uh structure we see there, as I say the last time when I preached, kaidic structure is like Jesus says, I'm the first and the last. And then the first shall be last, and the last shall be first. So what's on top is usually is repeated below in another form, okay? But the main axis, the main axis, the main point from 21 to 23 is about loving. Uh 23. The the main axis is found in uh Deuteronomy 22 verse 1 to 4. That is the main point of the whole large chunk of scripture. 21, 22, verse 1 to 4. That is the main point. And it's basically talking about loving uh treatment of your neighbors, uh lost animals or burdened animals. So basically, it's talking about loving your brothers. The whole issue about adultery is not whether you do or don't do, the whole issue is loving your brother, loving your sister, of course, loving your wife. So not coming adult, not committing adultery is loving your wife. And and and if I can sort of elaborate from the chart itself, if you got a chance to take take a photo of it, basically, in loving your neighbors, in loving your wife, you do not rape woman captives from the war. Secondly, you do not violate uh married or unmarried woman, or love or unloved woman, whether in the city or whether in the country, you do not violate because out of love, and then the other thing is uh you do not defile the land through adultery, that's God's concern. Loving your brothers, and then loving your brothers, not only just protecting the woman, but loving your brothers, the next one is that you have an intention of preserving your future generation, your future generation, like for example, in in uh Deuteronomy 22, in the beginning part, it talks about that you you will take the young birds, but not take the mother bird, and then you will not uh you you will build a parapet. Parapet is is a wall on top of a roof so that you will not the future children will not fall down, would destroy your future generation. So these are all in loving uh response to what God wants us to do, to love our brothers and sisters, and then also preserving the future. No mixture, no mixture. That means you don't have two seats for the vineyard, you don't have ox and donkey working together, and then of course, you do not mix cotton and linen. This is all for the sake of preserving the future generation, and so the the whole context from 21 verse 10 to 23 verse 14 about adultery basically is about loving your brothers, preserving the future. So, like Billy Graham used to say, when he was asked about Bill Clinton's affair, the wise words from Billy Graham is it is the job of the Holy Spirit to convict. God's job is to judge, but our job is to love, and this ought to be, this ought to be, because in the Old Testament, as we heard the scripture, it's kind of some hush because everything is about stoning, everything is about judgment. But when Jesus came in the New Testament, although he was confronted with a woman caught in adultery, you in uh John chapter 8, it talks about what Jesus says, very interesting. Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more. Jesus, do not condemn us. He knows that we are sinners, right? He knows that we have done wrong, but yet he will draw us to himself, or he draw near to us. And and and and the only thing is he tells us, do not sin anymore. You are forgiven. And there is grace, there's mercy in the New Testament. We are all under the New Testament, and I find this Old Testament uh what I call understanding of not committing adultery, loving your brothers, loving your wife, is something that's in line with the New Testament uh concept about love. You see, the Jewish leaders at Jesus' time will probably think, Oh, I I feel guiltless. I have not slept with anybody's wife, I'm totally above the law. Or like the young man who says, I've kept all the laws. But when Jesus' answer was very interesting, he said to the to the to those hearers, and he says, You should it is said that you shall not commit adultery, but I say to you, everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery in his heart. Matthew 5, verse 2 27 to 28. Okay, this doesn't mean that it's wrong to look at woman, okay? Or woman looking at man, woman also look at men, okay? Do you need to live in a separate village? Because Jesus himself also seen woman. The Samaritan woman, he met the Samaritan woman at the well, so there's nothing wrong with looking at woman. But D.A. Carlson says very correctly, he says, it's not the prohibition of the normal attraction that exists between man and woman, but it is the deep-seated lust which consume and devours, which in imagination attacks and rapes, which mentally contemplates and commit adultery. See, many of us will not rape or uh commit adultery in a certain sense, but we do commit mental rape, which is happens when we uh participating in phonography or sexual fantasies. When you see something that's dirty, it affects your mind and it controls your mind and you begin to imagine, and thereby you you feel very unclean. Okay, but here the good news is that Jesus said that yes, but Jesus also said, stop doing it, pluck out your eyes, chop out your hand if it's done wrong. Can be done because by Jesus' uh grace. And Jesus also said, and this is from the eye to the head, okay, from the eye you see, and then you begin to imagine, mentally, imaginate, imagine in your imagination, in your sexual fantasy, all in your mind, eyes and mind. But Jesus also said in Matthew 15, verse 19, it says, For out of your heart will come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false weakness, and slander. Interesting, it says, out of your heart comes evil thoughts. How can the heart think? Have you thought of that? How can the heart think? There's a connection between the heart and the head. In the Old Testament, uh Jesus Himself said the heart can think, think evil thoughts. So I don't know where how where it comes from. The eye, the head, the heart. Somehow it's connected. It's connected. And it is fallen. It is fallen. And so, like somebody says, the immorality, like uh adultery is not committed in the bed, but in the head. Immorality is not committed in the bed, but in the head, or in the heart, or from the eyes. And the other uh famous writer that says about this is C. S. Lewis. He says, if you look at the eggs and the ham and last for it, you will have a already committed breakfast in your heart. Look at it and you last at it, you will have breakfast in your heart. But not only do you gotta watch our heart, watch our head, watch our eyes, we need to watch our ears. Be careful to what you listen to. And this is from Proverbs. Proverbs chapter 5, verse 3 to 5, and in verse 8. It says, For the lips of the strange woman drop as honeycomb, like very sweet. And her mouth is smoother than oil, but her hand is bitter, wormwood, sharp as two-aged sword, her feet goes down to death, her steps take hold on hell. Verse 8 it says, Keep to a path far from her, do not go near the door of her house, lest you lose your honor to others, your dignity to those who are cruel, and lest the strangers feast on your wealth and your toil and reach the house of another. So, Proverbs is very clear. Warn us about do not commit adultery. But I want to highlight this do not listen to the sweet, sweet words of the opposite sex that's come into your ear, especially the adulteress. It's not only for men to listen to sweet stuff, woman, be careful. Men can flatter you with sweet words also, because the end is horrible. Okay, so watch what you hear. And so the and I want to what do you do when you are being tempted in all these senses? What do you do? I have only one answer to you. Flee. Chavot, run away, don't stay there, don't try to debate. Don't try and debate and give you all kinds of reason. Run. Okay, if you can forget all what I say today, remember this button. Flee. What do you do? Say again, yes, flee. And the other thing I want to highlight, which I discover as I look into the Hebrew, the word adultery. Okay, you see the word adultery? This na F. Na F, okay? Hebrew is read from right to left. Okay, right to left, like like Chinese. Right to left. And Hebrew's words are pathographs. You know what's a pathograph? A pathograph is like, say, when you go uh in the shopping mall, you're looking for MLT, there's an MLT sign there. Or you're looking for the restroom, there's a male and female figure. Without words, you understand. Right? Pathograph, also the same thing, like Chinese words. And every letter tells a story. Okay, let me explain to you. Now, F. The one on the extreme left, on the extreme right, okay, is what we call the inverted C. It's pronounced noon. It means the C, S-E-E-D, C. The one in the center is Alef. Aleph means strong. Strong. And the last one that looks like an inverted P is pe. Pear is uh open mouth. This is open mouth. And when you construct the whole story of the word, it means the seed of a strong uh revenue, extreme hunger, salvation. Then you desire, very strong desire with an open mouth. That means the mouth. Is not satisfied. That's the story of this word. Na F. It means somebody when you are approaching adultery, it is somebody with already a seed of lust inside. The seed of lust that produces the fruit of adultery, which which has a very strong desire. And I like what I like, I love the word of God because the word of God has an answer for this, for somebody who has a tremendous drive, a hunger to be satisfied, not satisfied, because of a strong last there. And it is found in uh Proverbs chapter 5, verse 18 to 9. Okay, some of you may blush about this, but this is the word of God. It says, Let your fountain be blessed and rejoice with the youth, wife of your youth. As a loving dear and graceful doll, let her breast satisfy you at all times and always be uh enraptured with her love. Wisdom is that you be satisfied, that you will be uh able to take pleasure in your own wife. And so uh let me just quickly go go to to three points I just want to share, okay, about how to choose to love your wife. It's about choice that you make. Satisfaction is something that you choose, and so you choose to firstly to look to your to love your wife and to love uh your satisfaction, to receive satisfaction from your relationship. You know, remember the time where you first dated her, you were over the moon, right? There was so much excitement, there was so much romance, so so much affection. And you can't stop thinking of the other party. And you were top of the world, and you opened the door for her, but now self-service. Okay, you were you you were uh uh like in heaven until the time when you proposed to her and she said yes, everything was well, you were waiting for a happy life ever after. The pastor is talking about you, okay, man. And so after the service, things begin to change. This is the pattern which I observe. After the the the service, marriage service, big things begin to uh you see each other's color. Okay, one person wants the toilet dry, one person wants the toilet wet. Some people drop the clothing here and there, some people want it to be put in a bucket. So you got all this disagreement, and and and very soon the the the sweet heart that you have begins to be like a monster to you. And you begin to little hurts leads to disagreement, conflict, disappointment. And then your blissful commitment becomes eternal endurance. It's like a life sentence that you have received and you need to endure. And if children come along, all the more add a burden. You become busy in your work, your wife is busy with the education of the children, and very soon romance dries up, dries up, and everybody says that's that's what will always happen. And it will always happen. Let me say it shouldn't happen because marriage courtship does not end in marriage. You keep on having courtship all the while while you are being married. I've been married for almost 40 years right now, but the important thing is continue to pursue your wife, continue to be satisfied with your wife. If you are not satisfied with your wife, you will be looking for something else. So be satisfied with your wife. And and I just want to urge all of us, ring your romance with each other, regardless of the length of your marriage. Don't say already, lah. You still need it. You still need it, and you need and it would take effort and energy to do uh maintain this romance because it will not happen instantly, but it's never too late. Okay, it's never too late that we need to do this. And then secondly, is that to love your wife, communicate. Communicate. When you were caughting each other, I remember the old days, we are using the phone, and every time we hold up the phone, there's always a quarrel in the family. Because hotline at 9 o'clock to 10 o'clock, boyfriend and girlfriend talk to each other, and we only go on phone. So nobody can use the phone. How many of you remember that? Ah, so where is the the excitement of calling each other anymore? So the thing is we need to redevelop our relearn our language frequency by expressing and speaking your feelings because your wife is not a mind reader. Your mind and and as you also can ask your wife to really help you and encourage you, and also must be willing to talk and not be afraid of being misunderstood. Revive the language again. Because when you were dating before marriage, you were talking for hours, but now you don't even want to talk. Okay, so the thing is do not assume that your wife understands you. You need to say, even well, before marriage, after marriage, and even now, my wife will always ask, Do you love me? 40 years. Do you love me? They need to know. You need to speak it out, you need to give compliments for the food that he pre- she prepared for you. Say thank you. And if you are nice, go and wash the plate. Okay, so you need to communicate because okay, I like I like this verse in Proverbs 18, 20 to 21. It's not there, right? Okay, maybe you all can look into the Bible. Okay, this one it says, uh, with the fruit of a man's mouth, his stomach will be satisfied. Okay, he will be satisfied with the product of his lips. Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat it, eat its fruit. Okay? From what you say, you'll be satisfied with your appetite. Okay? If you don't speak nice nice things, you got no dinner, no lunch. So what you say is very important. The other thing is to communicate, is to also uh uh give constant hugs and affection to your wives. The young people always do that in the MRT. Okay? Uh sometimes they are not married, but I always ask how long are they gonna do that? Ten years later, are they gonna do that? I don't know. But for us, we can learn something from the young people. Rein kindle your affection by touching, not like that. Gently, okay, and show love. The other thing is care for your body. Okay? Firstly, careful uh choose to love your wife, secondly, uh communication, third, thirdly, to care for the body. Uh, it's very important. Hygiene, uh your body order. My wife always uh chased after me concerning this. Breath and dressing. Try your best to be in good shape. When you were dating, you were well, you got six packs. But now, after married for 20 years, you only got one pack. And your body stings. And you dress like Singaporean, they always wear singlet and shorts and slipper. Everywhere they go, they wear the same. Let me encourage you, man, dress up. Dress up for your wife. Your wife may be dressed, all dressed up, but you are wearing singlet, shorts, and slipper. And uh and if you don't look good, huh? Your wife will say, I don't know him. Oh, he's my father. Take care of yourself, look good for your wife, look good for your wife, and that's why we always uh rub on each other, you know. You should not wear that, you look old, uh you know, dress younger. So, my my my my encourage to you today to avoid adultery, cultivate this uh sexual intimacy, this romance among the married people. Okay, because of time, I will just uh I will just uh encourage you to take care of this tree, choosing to be satisfied with your wife, secondly, communicate, thirdly, take care of your body. This will build strong couples, strong family, and thereby we can preserve the future generation. And this is because we just as God says to love your brother and your sister is not to commit adultery. Okay, and thereby if you can take care of all these three things, the temptation for adultery will be lessened. Hallelujah. Shall we all just close right now? Father, we thank you for your word today. I thank you for whatever has been shared. I just pray that you will just uh take those words and begin to uh encourage our couples here, Lord. I pray that this commandment is not a harsh commandment, but this commandment is encouragement for us to love one another. Hallelujah.

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