Our Relationship within Marriage

Do not commit adultery.
Deuteronomy 5:18

1. What is Adultery?

²⁷ “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ ²⁸ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
Matthew 5:27-28 ESV

2. Why Does God Forbid Adultery?

a. It goes against God’s original design.

²⁴ Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. ²⁵ And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.
God’s design was for one man to be united with one woman as one flesh.
Genesis 2:24-25

b. It destroys marriages and families (see 2 Sam. 11).

John 10:10

c. It’s an expression of spiritual adultery.

d. It’s physically and spiritually dangerous.

Read Proverbs 6:20-29 and Matthew 5:27-30.

3. What is the Solution to a Lustful Heart?

a Recognize that it’s the enemies plan to destroy your marriage.

b. Remember it’s a personal heart problem.

¹³ Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. ¹⁴ But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. ¹⁵ Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.
James 1:13-15

c. Invest in your spouse.

Proverbs 5:18

d. Invest in your relationship with Jesus!

Discussion Questions:

• How do you measure your faithfulness to those important to you—friends, family, parents, spouse, co-workers, boss?
• Have you or someone you know walked through the pain caused by adultery? What were the consequences of this sin?
• What are some activities the Scriptures would consider spiritually adulterous toward God?
• In what ways can those of us who are single bring honor and glory to God in a way that displays the beauty of the gospel?
• What are some elements of temptation that can lead a person into sexual immorality?
• In what ways can we guard against potentially compromising situations?
• In what ways can sexual sin become an idol? What are some ways you see a cheapening of sexuality in society today?
• How can we demonstrate the attitude of Christ toward those who have fallen into adultery? How does the gospel give us hope as we deal with sexual sin?