Christian Family Services Ministry

3-23-2023 – A Word to the Wise – PART 5

Perhaps the two most destructive consequences of illicit sex are disease and pregnancy. Amazingly, both are strong attractions in adultery. Note please the tremendous spread of sexually transmitted disease. One might say, “no one wants a sexually transmitted disease.” But the reality is that the offenders do want to be infected. Both want to have children in these unions. The modern age, with all of its preventive medicine, is unable to halt the intense desire for infection or pregnancy. The powerful overwhelming need for infection and pregnancy when immoral is far greater than the desire for protection. This is warned about in Proverbs. Chapters four through seven warn about his powerful desire. Just a couple of examples will suffice. In Proverbs 5:10-16, Solomon warns of three powerful consequences. The first is financial. The immoral person will experience others taking his wealth. Second, immorality will consume the flesh, and even in the process one will reject the warnings. Third, verse fifteen reveals the desire for pregnancy and many illegitimate children.

This drive for infection and pregnancy is all consuming. Even in an age when so many means are available to prohibit both pregnancy and infection, they continue to occur at an alarming rate.

The next stage is the aftermath. What takes place afterwards? Many whose marriages survive are prone to say ‘I will never do that again.’ They have discovered some of the most intense emotional pain possible. Though serious about never getting involved again, he or she is making a promise, which may not last. What the person knows at the time is that the cost was far beyond what was anticipated. Remembrance excruciating pain lapses and once again longs for the forbidden pleasure. Their spouse on the other hand learns first hand the price of forgiveness.

The innocent party, if they survive the storm, has some very difficult questions to ask and decisions to make. Questions like: Will it happen again? What do I do? Can I ever trust again? Should I get a divorce? What about the children? But most importantly: What would Jesus do?

More frequently these days you see bracelets on the wrist of teens, and on occasion adults with the initials “WWJD.” When asked what does it mean, most will readily say that the phrase stands for, “What Would Jesus Do? They know, but they really do not know. Just be aware that this phrase began in 1896 when it was created by Charles M. Sheldon in his little devotional book “In His Steps.” This book has been translated into twenty-one different languages and sold millions of copies. Some say its success was encouraged by the failure of the author to themselves asking.

Jesus has never been in my place with an adulterous mate, one may say. Yes, but that is only partially true, for He did experience betrayal at the hands of two friends, one of whom was very close. So what did He do? What did it cost?

For the first betrayer, it meant death, death by his own hand. We, of course, are speaking of Judas. I suppose some spouses have killed their mates for adultery whether it is physically, emotionally, or perhaps spiritually. Historically, betrayal ultimately cost more than any other sin past, present or future. Betrayal cost the Son of God his life. It was the direct cause of the fall of Jerusalem in 70 A.D., God’s judgment for the ultimate rejection of His Son, and His grace, and most importantly it is directly related to our salvation.

The second betrayer of Jesus was Peter. Jesus deals with Peter in much the same manner in which he deals with the woman caught in adultery in John 8. He deals with it simply, compassionately, directly. “Go thy way and sin no more.” In Peters case it comes in the sentence “Do you love Me, Peter?” Most commentators on John have a field day with the use of two different words for love found in this passage. Perhaps it is much simpler if we understand that it takes two Greek words to explain the powerful concept being spoken of. For the Hebrew word for love is such a powerful all-consuming term that it influences both the Aramaic, the language Jesus spoke, and the Greek, the written language of the New Testament. All of that is to say betrayal is best met with love. Love is the crucial element in the cure of adultery, not the misfocused, erotic emotions of the moment. Rather, it is the love, which calls one into account for one’s behavior. Love which challenges one to forsake one’s immoral behavior.

copyright it, others suspect even more powerful reasons. The full saying by Sheldon was, “What would Jesus do if He were in my place?” This is the question many innocent mates find