GROW IN GRACE
The Sixth Commandment: You shall not commit adultery. We should fear and love God that we lead a pure and decent life in words and actions, and that husband and wife love and honor each other.
With this commandment, God is protecting individuals and his gift of marriage.
Genesis 2:18-24 records God’s institution of marriage. Jesus referred to that as he answered a question about marriage and divorce, asked by some Pharisees.
Matthew 19:4-6 4 “He answered, ‘Haven’t you read that from the beginning their Maker “made them male and female,” 5 and said, “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will be one flesh”? 6 So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, man must not separate.’”
Hebrews 13:4 “Marriage is to be held in honor by all, and the marriage bed is to be kept undefiled, for God will judge sexually immoral people and adulterers.”
God created marriage to be between one _________
and one __________, and that it last ____
God created marriage as a way to bless people.
Genesis 2:18 “The LORD God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is a suitable partner for him.’”
1 Corinthians 7:2-5 2 “But because of sexual sins, each man is to have his own wife, and each woman is to have her own husband. 3 The husband is to fulfill his obligation to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. 4 The wife does not have authority over her own body—her husband does. Likewise, the husband does not have authority over his own body his wife does. 5 Do not deprive one another, unless you both agree to do so for a time, in order to devote yourselves toprayer and then come together again, so that Satan does not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.”
Psalm 127:3 “Indeed, children are a heritage from the LORD The fruit of the womb is a reward from him.”
Blessings of marriage include ___ _____ (Genesis), ___ ___ (1 Corinthians), and _______(Psalm 127).
For Additional Study
Romans 7:2
Proverbs 18:22
Song of Solomon
1:15-16; 4:1-7; 5:1016 Describes the physical attraction between husband and wife. Though God does not command marriage for every person, he does intend that families be the building blocks of society.
Matthew 19:8-9 “Jesus said to them, ‘Because of your hard hearts, Moses permitted you to divorce your wives, but it was not that way from the beginning. I tell you that whoever divorces his wife, except on the grounds of her sexual immorality, and marries another woman is committing adultery.’”
1 Corinthians 7:10-11,15 10 “Next I command the married (it is the Lord’s command not mine): A wife is not to leave her husband 11 (but if she does leave, she is to remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband), and a husband is not to divorcehis wife. 15 But if the unbeliever leaves, let him leave. The brother or the sister is not bound in such cases, and God has called us to live in peace.”
Malachi 2:15b-16a “So guard yourselves in your spirit, and do not act unfaithfully against the wife you married when you were young. He hates divorce! That is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says.”
God’s will is for marriage to last a lifetime. He hates divorce, but allows it in two circumstances. They are:
1. __ 2. ___
God also forbids sexual immorality of all kinds.
Matthew 5:27-28 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ but I tell you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”
Ephesians 5:3-4 “But do not let sexual immorality, any kind of impurity, or greed even be mentioned among you, as is proper for saints. Obscenity, foolish talk, and coarse joking are also out of place. Instead, give thanks.”
1 Corinthians 6:9-11 “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor males who have sex with males, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor the verbally abusive, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And some of you were those types of people. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”
Romans 1:25-27 “Such people have traded the truth about God for the lie, worshipping and serving the creation rather than the Creator, who is worthy of praise forever. Amen. For this reason God handed them over to disgraceful passions. Even their females exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. And, in the same way, their males, after abandoning natural sexual relations with females, were consumed by their lust for one another. Males perform indecent acts with males and receive in themselves the penalty that is fitting for their perversion.”
For Additional Study Appendix 9: God’s Word to Husbands and Wives—A Bible Study Appendix 10: Principles Regarding Marriage, Divorce, Malicious Desertion and Remarriage
1 Timothy 1:9-10
1 Corinthians 6:13-20 “However, the body is not for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body. 14 God raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by his power. 15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then remove the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Certainly not! 16 Ordo you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute is one body with her? For it says, ‘The two will become one flesh.’
7 But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with him. 18 Flee from sexual immorality! Every sin that a person commits is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. 19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God with your body.”
It is fairly easy to see the damage done by sexual sins, both outside of marriage and within marriage: guilt, shame, disease, unplanned pregnancies, jealousy, broken promises, destroyed homes, and more. God is truly trying to protect our bodies, minds, and souls with this commandment.
For Additional Study
Romans 13:13-14
Philippians 4:8
The Seventh Commandment: You shall not steal. We should fear and love God that we do not take our neighbor’s money or property, or get it by dishonest dealing, but help him to improve and protect his property and means of income.
James 1:17 “Every good act of giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change or shift like a shadow.
Deuteronomy 8:17-18a “You might say in your heart, ‘My ability and the power of my hand have earned this wealth for me.’ But then you are to remember that the LORD your God is the one who gives you the ability to produce wealth.”
Matthew 7:11 “Then if you know how to give good gifts to your children, even though you are evil, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!
Luke 15:11-12 “Jesus said, ‘A certain man had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, “Father, give me my share of the estate.” So he divided his property between them.’”
Everything we have comes from ________. He provides those things through __ __, _________________, __________________, etc.
In giving this commandment, God intends to protect the property and belongings of everyone.
Leviticus 19:35 “You shall not use dishonest measurements of weight or volume.”
Proverbs 22:22a “Do not rob a poor person because he is poor, and do not crush an oppressed person in court.”
Psalm 37:21 “The wicked borrow and do not repay, but the righteous are gracious and give.”
1 Timothy 6:9-10 “Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and many foolish and harmful desires, which plunge them into complete destruction and utter ruin. For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evils. By striving for money, some have wandered away from the faith and have pierced themselves with many pains.”
2 Thessalonians 3:10b “If anyone does not want to work, he should not eat.”
According to the passages above, what are some of the ways people break this commandment?
1 Timothy 5:8 “But if anyone does not provide for his own family, and especially for his own household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.”
1 John 3:17 “Whoever has worldly wealth and sees his brother in need but closes his heart against him—how can God’s love remain in him?”
Romans 13:7 “Pay what you owe to all of them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, and honor to whom honor is owed.”
1 Corinthians 16:1-2 “Now concerning the collection for the saints, do as I directed the churches in Galatia to do. On the first day of every week, each of you is to set something aside in keeping with whatever he gains, saving it up at home, so that when I come, no collections will need to be carried out.”
Hebrews 13:5
1 Timothy 6:6-8
Luke 12:15
Ephesians 4:28
Romans 8:31-32
According to the passages above, what are some of the ways God intends for us to use our possessions?
The Eighth Commandment: You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
We should fear and love God that we do not tell lies about our neighbor, betray him, or give him a bad name, but defend him, speak well of him, and take his words and actions in the kindest possible way.
With this commandment, God intends to protect people’s reputation.
Proverbs 22:1 “A good name is worth more than great wealth. Respect is worth more than silver and gold.”
For Additional Study
Genesis 3:1-5
Satan’s question sounds valid, but he only intended to deceive.
Matthew 22:15-16
Colossians 3:9 “Do not lie to each other since you have put off the old self with its practices.”
Proverbs 11:9 “With his mouth the godless person destroys his neighbor, but righteous people are rescued by knowledge.”
Proverbs 16:28 “A perverse man spreads conflict, and a gossip separates intimate friends.”
Proverbs 25:9 “Argue your case with your neighbor, but do not reveal someone else’s secret.”
James 3:5b-10 “Consider how a little flame can set a large forest on fire! 6 And the tongue is a fire. It is set among the parts of our body as a world of unrighteousness that stains the whole body, sets the whole course of life on fire, and is set on fire by hell. 7 Indeed, every kind of animal, bird, reptile, and sea creature is being tamed and has been tamed by mankind. 8 But no one is able to tame the human tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. 9 With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people, who are made in the likeness of God. 10 Blessing and cursing come out of the same mouth. My brothers, these things should not be this way.”
We break God’s Eighth Commandment when we ___
The Pharisees only wanted to “trap” Jesus in His words.
Matthew 2:7-8
Herod had no intent to worship the child.
John 12:2-6
Judas had no concern for the poor, only the money in the bag he carried.
2 Samuel 15:1-6
Absalom gave his father, David, a bad name in order to turn people against him.
1 Timothy 5:13
Ephesians 4:15 “Instead, speaking the truth in love, we would in all things grow up into Christ, who is the head.”
Ephesians 4:25 “Therefore, after you put away lying, let each of you speak truthfully with your neighbor, because we are all members of one body.”
1 Corinthians 13:5-7
1 Peter 3:10 “Let the one who wants to love life and to see good days keep his tongue from evil and his lips from saying anything deceitful.”
Proverbs 31:8-9 “Speak up for those who cannot speak. Speak for the rights of all those who are defenseless. Speak up, judge fairly, and defend the oppressed and needy.”
Matthew 18:15 “If your brother sins against you, go and show him his sin just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have regained your brother.”
According to the passages above, how can we please God with our speech?
The Ninth Commandment: You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. We should fear and love God that we do not scheme to get our neighbor’s inheritance or house, or obtain it by a show of right, but do all we can to help him keep it.
The Tenth Commandment: You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, his male servant, his female servant, his ox, his donkey, or anything else that belongs to your neighbor.
We should fear and love God that we do not force or entice away our neighbor’s spouse, workers, or animals, but urge them to stay and do their duty.
These commandments deal with sins of thought. We are reminded that God knows our innermost thoughts and desires.
To covet means to have a __ _______ desire or craving for something that is not ours.
Philippians 4:19 “And my God will fully supply your every need, according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.”
2 Corinthians 9:8 “God is able to make all grace overflow to you, so that in all things, at all times, having all that you need, you will overflow in every good work.”
Of what do the passages above remind us?
What message does coveting send to God then?
Proverbs 21:5a
“The plans of a hard worker lead to abundance.”
It is not sinful to plan and to work for something that we would like.
Micah 2:1-2 “Woe to those who plan wickedness, who make preparations for evil while lying on their beds. By the morning light they carry it out, because it is in the power of their hands to do so. They covet fields and seize them. They covet houses and take them away. They deprive a person of his house, and a man of his inheritance.”
James 1:14-15 “But each person is tempted when he is dragged away and enticed by his own desire. Then when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin. And sin, when it is full grown, gives birth to death.”
Coveting is sinful all by itself, but what is the additional danger with this sin?
For Additional Study
1 Kings 21:1-16
Mark 7:21-23
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Romans 7:7-8 “What will we say then? Is the law sin? Absolutely not! On the contrary, I would not have recognized sin except through the law. For example, I would not have known about coveting if the law had not said, ‘You shall not covet.’ But sin, seizing the opportunity provided by this commandment, produced every kind of sinful desire in me.”
Why is the law a good thing, according to the Apostle Paul?
In fact, from within, out of people’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual sins, theft, murder, adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, unrestrained immorality, envy, slander, arrogance, and foolishness. All these evil things proceed from within and make a person unclean.”
But what did Paul’s sinful nature do with the information provided by the law?
God gives us warning and guidance in Christian living:
1 Timothy 6:6-10 “But godliness with contentment is great gain. 7 For we brought nothing into the world, and we certainly cannot take anything out. 8 But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be satisfied. 9 Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and many foolish and harmful desires, which plunge them into complete destruction and utter ruin. 10 For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evils. By striving for money, some have wandered away from the faith and have pierced themselves with many pains.”
Psalm 37:4 “Take pleasure in the LORD, and he will grant your heart’s desires.”
Philippians 4:8 “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if anything is excellent, and if anything is praiseworthy, think about these things.”
Psalm 145:15-16 “The eyes of all look eagerly to you, and you give them their food at the proper time. He opens his hand, and he satisfies the desire of every living thing.”
Psalm 37:5
Hebrews 13:5
Luke 12:15