In the Jewish writings known as the Talmud, a story is told about Rabbi Amram’s duel with sensual desire:Once, feeling himself incapable to resist the temptation of a beautiful women,, the Rabbi sought safety in numbers and summoned his colleagues with the cry, "Amram’s house is on fire." This story is told in Jewish circles to illustrate the glory and honor that man can bring to himself through his personal efforts to gain the victory over temptation and sin. What is lacking in this illustration is the realization that people like Rabbi Amram have already sinned by allowing lust to fill their hearts and minds. Surely it is well if the lustful thoughts can be halted before leading to the open, active sin of fornication or adultery; however, the thoughts themselves need to be confessed before the Lord as being in the same category of sin as adultery itself in God’s eyes.
Coming back to David, we might ask how he could have avoided the sin of lusting after Bathsheba. Surely, he had the right to take a walk on his own housetop. How could he help it if his eyes just happened to see a naked woman on the housetop next door? We sometimes have no control over what may happen to cross our line of vision unexpectedly. But we do have control over what we do next. We have the power of turning our head and averting our gaze, or else we can sharpen the focus of our eyes and look intently on what has come into our line of vision. David obviously responded in the latter way when he first noticed Bathsheba.
Sometimes the temptations aren’t so unexpected. It is conceivable that David knew from previous experience that exciting views might sometimes be found from the roof of his house. Similarly, we may invite such temptations by watching certain television shows or movies, or reading certain books or magazines or sections of the daily newspaper that are highly likely to contain material designed to stir up the lusts of the flesh. I may realize that I need to stop watching or reading such stuff, but yet I keep yielding to the ever-present temptation. What should I do? Maybe I should think about getting rid of the television set, or cancelling the magazine subscription, or curtailing visits to the public library. Or if I were David, maybe I ought to give up my right to walk on the roof of my house, or if that doesn’t work, have a carpenter enclose the housetop with a high wall. These may seem to be rather drastic measures, but perhaps this is the kind of thing the Lord Jesus was referring to when He said, "If thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee."
No doubt the reason we are so weak and so often yield to temptation is that we neglect the daily reading of and meditating upon God’s Word, as well as prayer and communion with our Father in heaven, and are not really walking in the enjoyment of our salvation and appreciation of our Saviour. Plucking out our eye, whatever that may entail, may do some good, but will be of no lasting value to us if the eyes of our hearts are not redirected to Christ. "Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth" (Col. 3:2).
The Lord Jesus continues, on this theme of the seventh commandment, to speak of divorce. "It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement; but I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery; and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery" (Matt. 5:31,32). Thus, even though one may be pure with regard to premarital or extramarital sexual activity, it is still possible to be guilty of the sin of adultery through divorce and remarriage. In this passage along with a similar passage in Matt. 19:9, the one who divorces commits adultery (if he or she remarries), the one divorced commits adultery (if he or she remarries), and the one who marries the one divorced commits adultery. It is beyond the scope of this article to delve into all of the ramifications of the issue of divorce and remarriage as taken up in Scripture. (The author has written in detail on this topic in a book entitled, The Christian and Marriage, obtainable from the publishers or the editor for $3.00 postpaid.) Suffice it to say that any child of God who may be contemplating divorce, or remarriage following a divorce, needs carefully to consider the consequences of such actions_the possibility of entering into an adulterous relationship.
Finally, let us briefly consider the matter of homosexuality. There is abundant scriptural evidence as to the sinfulness of homosexual activities. Sodom and Gomorrah were totally destroyed by God because of the rampant, open, homosexual activity carried out in those cities of old (Gen. 19:1-25; see especially verse 5). Among the various laws given to Moses for the children of Israel we read, "Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind; it is abomination. Neither shalt thou lie with any beast to defile thyself therewith; neither shall any woman stand before a beast to lie down thereto:it is confusion. Defile not ye yourselves in any of these things; for in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you. And the land is defiled; therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants" (Lev. 18:22-25). "If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination:they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them" (Lev. 20:13).
We find God’s attitude toward homosexuality unchanged in the New Testament writings. The apostle Paul speaks of the Gentiles who "worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections:for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature; and likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet" (Rom. 1:25-27). Paul also writes to the believers at Corinth, "Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived:neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind [or those who have intercourse with other males], nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God" (1 Cor. 6:9,10; see also 1 Tim. 1:9,10).
It is disgraceful that many so-called Christian churches are allowing homosexuals as communicants and even as elders and pastors. But it is not surprising that this is happening, because this trend was preceded by the allowance of heterosexual sin in the churches. If fornicators and adulterers are to be allowed in the local churches, why not homosexuals as well? Such has been the cry of the gay community, and justifiably so. It is hypocrisy to preach against homosexuality and to ban homosexuals from a congregation while winking at heterosexual sin in the same congregation. There has been a lot of strong preaching in recent years by radio and television evangelists against the sin of homosexuality, while at the same time a relatively feeble voice has been raised against heterosexual sin which is much more prevalent and at least as destructive of human relationships.
May we seek to maintain personal purity and purity in our local assemblies with respect to not only homosexual sin but heterosexual sin as well. And let us remember, in accordance with the words of the Lord Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, that purity begins with our thought lives, cleansing ourselves of the adultery in our hearts.
We will conclude this topic of the seventh commandment in the next issue, Lord willing, on a much more positive note, considering elements of a happy marriage.
FRAGMENT "If … one of you say. . . Be ye warmed and filled . . .what doth it profit?" (Jas. 2:15,16). A poor country man broke his leg in an accident. He would be laid up for some time, unable to work. Someone arranged a prayer meeting to ask help from God for the man and his family. As they prayed, there was a knock at the door. Standing there was a young farm boy. "My dad couldn’t make it to the prayer meeting tonight," he said, "so he just sent his prayers in a wagon." And there was the wagon, loaded with supplies for the man in need. Thank God for wagon prayers.
FRAGMENT When fire broke out in the hold of the ship, passengers and crew formed a line and passed buckets of water. A friend of D. L. Moody suggested they go to the other end of the ship and pray for the safety of all. "We’ll do nothing of the kind," replied the man of God. "We’ll stand right here, pass the buckets, and pray hard as we do." Let us pass the soul-saving gospel to the lost, praying hard as we do.
A. P. Mclntee