Always Faithful

 

Exodus 20:14 “You shall not commit adultery.” 

 

The term “Semper fi” is a shortened form of the Latin phrase semper fidelis, meaning "always faithful," and is the motto of the U.S. Marine Corps. We know the term Wi-Fi, stands for “wireless fidelity” in Information Technology, just as Hi-Fi stands for “high fidelity” in stereo equipment. Yet, most people do not know that fidelity means faithful, but almost everyone knows that “infidelity” means “unfaithful”, especially in the marriage covenant as God intended in Genesis 2:24 where “a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” We have been taught and know that the seventh Commandment of God’s Moral Law is related to fidelity in marriage, and Mark 10:9 confirms this by saying, “what God has joined together, let not man separate.”

 

The Mosaic Law takes marriage in the sight of God deadly serious as Leviticus 20:10 proclaims: “The man who commits adultery with another man’s wife, he who commits adultery with his neighbor’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress, shall surely be put to death. To pervert God’s design for exclusive dedication, devotion and desire between husband and wife is a devasting betrayal on multiple levels and the ripple-effect of this fallen flesh desire damages all involved, whether acted out or just thought out. Proverbs 6:32 declares, “Whoever commits adultery with a woman lacks understanding; He who does so destroys his own soul.” The Lord Jesus explains in Matthew 5:27-29, “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.”

 

Sin is the root cause of the fallen flesh desires which are contrary to the will of God. Galatians 5:19-21 tells us, “Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, drug abuse, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” Since sin is true rebellion against sovereign God, all sin incurs that wrath of God, in which the wages of sin is death, for the payment of inequity of man. So not inheriting the kingdom of God, not having their name written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, and being cast into the lake of fire in hell with the devil is justified. 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 substantiates this fact by asking us, “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.” Why is this? 1 Corinthians 6:13 goes on to tell us, “Now the body is not for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.”

 

Yet, adultery goes much deeper as it is also defined as idolatrous worship [worship of idols, self or anything loved more than God], which leads one to apostatize, to forsake God or the Christian faith which one has professed. That is spiritual adultery; an unfaithfulness that is cosmic treason against our just and holy Creator – our very Maker and Sustainer. Romans 2:22 asks, “You who say, ‘Do not commit adultery [physically],’ do you commit adultery [mentally and spiritually]? In Jeremiah 7:8-10 the Prophet asks, “Behold, you trust in lying words that cannot profit. Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods whom you do not know, and then come and stand before Me in this house which is called by My name, and say, ‘We are delivered to do all these abominations’?” 

 

In Ezekiel 23:37 the Prophet confirms, “For they have committed adultery, and blood is on their hands. They have committed adultery with their idols, and even sacrificed their sons whom they bore to Me, passing them through the fire, to devour them.” In James 4:4 the Apostle warns us, “Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the [God-rejecting] world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” Who or what do you love more that God, your Heavenly Father? The Lord Jesus declares in Mark 8:38, “For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.”

 

The first Commandment of God’s Moral Law in Exodus 20:3 is “You shall have no other gods before Me.” In Matthew 22:37 Jesus clarifies, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. Let us not commit adultery against God or our fellow man. Let us love God and love others. Let us be always faithful.

 

In Christ - the Way, the Truth and the Life, our Lord, our strength and our Redeemer.

Brian