Foreword:
The following exerpt is taken from The Ten
Commandments by Arthur W. Pink
(BAKER BOOK HOUSE, 1994 GRAND RAPIDS, MI)
In this blog series I will work through this very
important article a paragraph at a time – asking my reader comprehension style
questions at the end. I have been much convicted by the writings of Pink and I
pray your walk will also be strengthened meditating on his teaching of
scripture …
THE SEVENTH COMMANDMENT PART III
How God regards sins of uncleanness has been made clear by
many passages in His Word. This sin, even on the part of an unmarried man, is
called "great wickedness against God" (Gen. 39:9). Then how much more
inexcusable and intolerable is it on the part of a married person! The temporal
punishment meted out to it under the civil law of Israel was no less than
death, the same that was meted out to murder. Job calls it "a heinous
crime, a fire that consumeth to destruction" (31:11, 12). Much of this
wickedness is practiced in secret, but though its perpetrators may escape the
judgment of man, they shall not escape the judgment of Heaven, for it is
written, "whoremongers and adulterers God shall judge" (Heb. 13:4).
"Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolators, nor adulterers ...
shall inherit the kingdom of God" (1 Cor. 6:9, I0).
"The sin of adultery is scarcely less enormous than
that of murder. The latter destroys man's temporal existence, the former
destroys all that makes existence a boon. Were all to take the licence of the
adulterer men would in due time be reduced to the degradation of wild
beasts" (R. L. Dabney). To prevent this sin, God has instituted the
ordinance of marriage. "To avoid fornication, let every man have his own
wife, and let every woman have her own husband" (1 Cor. 7:2) . The sin of
adultery is therefore the violation of the marriage covenant and vow, and so
adds perjury to infidelity. Immorality is a sin against the body (1 Cor. 6:18).
God's displeasure against this sin is seen in the fact that He has so ordered
things that nature itself visits the same with heavy penalties in every part of
man's complex being. "Be not deceived: God is not mocked: for whatsoever a
man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of
the flesh reap corruption" (Gal. 6:7, 8).
1) Adultery can be considered the murder of a marriage and
many abortions are the result of adultery. Adultery can even result in the
infection of the non-offending spouse with a deadly disease. How would you
explain to someone why God views adultery and murder both with similar revulsion - in what way are they the same?
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