Absurdities…? | Sunday, October 9, 2022

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If it wasn't for the cross, thank you, Jesus. I was a prisoner, but now I'm not. With your blood, you bought my freedom. Hallelujah! Now your mercy will be my song. Oh, the glory! Hallelujah, thank you, Jesus.

Today, we're coming back to the book of Deuteronomy. If you have your Bible, you might want to grab it and open to that fifth book of the Bible. Passages like the one before us today have a way of putting you back a little on your heels.

You see, there's a shock for many who live in our culture here in the West when they read things like what we're going to find in Deuteronomy chapter 22 today. This shock that people experience when they read a passage like this leads some to feel that maybe Old Testament passages of Scripture need something like a trigger warning over the top of them. This is definitely one of those passages.

As I was reading through it this last week and thinking about it quite a bit, I believe that the shock some people might feel when they read a passage like this reveals, in a sense, the extent to which...

We in the West live in a strange bubble. The passage we are going to examine today deals with topics that are difficult for many people. These topics include marriage, infidelity, divorce, fornication, incest, and even issues related to rape. When we see how the people of Israel, led by Moses, dealt with issues of infidelity, fornication, or rape three to four hundred years ago, we are often shocked in 2022. This reaction stems from the incredibly sheltered lives we lead in Western Europe and North America.

At the same time, our culture is taken aback by what we find in a passage like this because we live in a highly sexualized and promiscuous society with very liberal views on sex and sexuality. This is now the norm in our culture. It may seem like a strange dichotomy to say that we live very sheltered lives in the West while also being highly sexualized and promiscuous. I will discuss this further in just a moment.

A passage like this can put us back on our heels, especially for Christians. As believers in what we read in the Bible, even in Old Testament passages like Deuteronomy chapter 22, we are sometimes asked to answer for the difficult things we encounter. For instance, someone might say to you, "So you're a Christian, right?" When you respond affirmatively, they may follow up with, "You believe what the Bible says?" After you confirm, they might ask, "What do you think about those strange things in the Old Testament, like a woman being considered the property of her father or her husband? What do you think about a man divorcing his wife because she wasn't a virgin when they got married? Or what about the idea that it isn't considered rape if the woman didn't protest or scream when she was assaulted?"

Those are some of the things that we are going to be confronted by here in Deuteronomy chapter 22. Again, we are put on our heels a little bit because someone comes to you—maybe in the office, on a school campus, or perhaps a family member or neighbor—and they ask, "Do you actually believe the stuff that is in that book?" You may not be really sure how to answer. We don't even know if there is an answer, at least not a really good one that makes sense for us living in 2022.

We find ourselves not just put back on our heels, but in a place where we are questioning our faith in the Bible. You start to hear Christians questioning whether or not certain passages of Scripture, like one here in Deuteronomy, are really the word of God. We are challenged because the Bible says in the New Testament that all Scripture is given by inspiration of God. We think that these things are inspired and even infallible in their original autographs. So, what do we say about the weird passages of the Bible?

We are put on our heels because we feel like we need to give an answer to the critic. I find it fascinating that Christians are put in the position of having to answer for the strangeness of cultural customs surrounding things like sex and sexuality in Israel circa 1400 BC—three thousand four hundred years ago. Yet, the critic who brings these things to your attention never needs to answer for the absurdity of the sexual practices of our cultural customs here in America in 2022.

For example, I am old enough to remember when the term "hooking up" with someone meant just hanging out with them. When I was in high school or just getting out of high school, to hook up with someone simply meant that you were spending time together. But now, to hook up with someone refers to a casual sexual encounter. Today, some college sex statistics reveal that between 60 and 80 percent of young adults report that they have hooked up, sometimes with as many as ten or more partners during their college or university experience.

It is interesting that Christians are told they need to answer for the sexual practices of people who lived three thousand four hundred years ago, while the critic does not need to answer for the crazy sexual practices of our culture today. So, I am going to accept what we are going to see in a second here in the last half of Deuteronomy chapter 22.

It might be strange to us living in 2022, but I think we need to recognize that our culture's views on sexual matters are equally absurd, or perhaps even more so, than what we may find in this text. All that to say, today we are going to try to make sense of a strange text, and we will also attempt to draw some application from what is admittedly, in some respects, a strange text for us, especially when viewed through the lens of the United States of America in 2022.

With that in mind, would you open your Bible to the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 22? We will pick it up today in verse 13, where we read: "If any man takes a wife and goes into her and detests her, and charges her with shameful conduct, and brings a bad name on her, and says, 'I took this woman, and when I came to her, I found that she was not a virgin,' then the father and the mother of that young woman shall take and bring out the evidence of the young woman's virginity to the elders of the city at the gate. The young woman's father shall say to the elders, 'I gave my daughter to this man as a wife, and he detests her. Now he has charged her with shameful conduct, saying, 'I found your daughter was not a virgin,' and yet these are the evidences of my daughter's virginity.' They shall spread the cloth before the elders of the city."

That's definitely culturally different from the way things were 300 or 400 years ago compared to how they are in 2022. So much so that you might look at this and say, "Man, that's kind of bizarre. What's going on in this passage?"

I mentioned a few minutes ago that we in the Western world live in a strange bubble and that we lead incredibly sheltered lives. I say this because this statute from Moses is way strange to us. In one sense, we don't get out very much. You might be wondering what I mean by that. Well, what is revealed here was not shocking or strange to anyone who lived 300 or 400 years ago in the ancient Near East. However, this is also not all that shocking or strange to anyone living today in 2022 in what would be called the majority world.

It has been said that we live here in the United States, in North America, or Western Europe, in the "weird world." When I say "weird world," I mean Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic—W.E.I.R.D.

We live in a Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic world, which can feel quite strange compared to the majority world. The majority world encompasses everywhere else, including places you would identify today as the Global South, the Middle East, and much of Asia. What was once referred to in past decades as the Third World or developing nations is now recognized as the majority world.

In the majority world, which is largely guided by the cultural principles of an honor and shame society, we find insights in the passage we just read from Deuteronomy chapter 22. This reflects the normal way of life in many cultures even today. Most of the non-Western majority world operates under a mindset termed by sociologists and anthropologists as socially enforced monogamy. This means that marriage remains important in those cultures. Furthermore, virginity is highly valued among these groups, and sexual interaction outside of marriage is considered wrong and immoral.

In contrast, we do not live in that world at all. Our culture normalizes casual sexual encounters and hookups. It is not strange for people to swipe right or swipe left and engage in sexual encounters that lack any deeper connection. We do not share the same values as the majority world or the people who lived three or four hundred years ago, which makes these cultural differences seem bizarre to us.

In our world, sex is often viewed as casual and recreational. What we read in the Bible can come across as strange and outdated. There is a growing demographic in the Western world that fears Christians might impose what are termed traditional values from passages like this upon them. This fear is so prevalent that there are even HBO shows that explore the anxiety surrounding Christians or religious people imposing their traditional values.

Interestingly, many people outside of the Western world, in the majority world, are concerned that Westerners might force their promiscuous absurdity upon them. While Westerners often view our open, liberal society as highly progressive, this perspective is not universally shared.

Friends, neighbors, co-workers, and family members often say we live in a very progressive society. Many people from the rest of the world look at us as rather weird and regressive. So, who's right? I'll leave that for you to think about. It's not exactly the focus of what we're discussing today in the book of Deuteronomy, but it's definitely something to consider.

I will simply say this, though, as Jesus did a couple of thousand years ago while interacting with some people about various issues in His culture: wisdom is justified by her children. Outcomes are important. It is interesting to look at the outcomes in our culture. Is our hyper-sexualized, promiscuous society leading to a better culture and a better society, or is it causing significant issues? This is something to consider.

Now, I'm not saying we need to go back to Deuteronomy chapter 22, verses 13 through 16 or 17 that we just read. I am not advocating for that, but it is worth pondering which is better: a more fulfilling life lived in promiscuity or one that focuses on monogamy? I certainly have my answers on that, but it's something for you to think about.

Anyway, back to what is going on here in Deuteronomy chapter 22. Three thousand four hundred years ago, virginity was highly valued, especially as it related to prosperity and success among the people that Moses was leading. Prosperity and success in ancient times were not the same as what we think of today. For people living in Israel three thousand years ago, prosperity and success were inextricably linked to long life, lineage, and legacy. In other words, you were seen as successful and prosperous in the ancient world if you had a long life, a large household—meaning many children—and if you were able to leave something to them, a legacy for your descendants.

Now, think about that for a moment. In our modern, Western, educated, industrialized, rich, democratic world, success and prosperity are often linked to things like political power or position, celebrity status, the amount of possessions you have, and how popular or prominent you are. It's also connected to pleasure. If you can acquire a lot of stuff, have many sexual encounters, and be an influential celebrity, then you are considered successful.

Considered prosperous in the weird world, that's the world that we live in. The aim and the goal of a lot of people in our culture today is to be well-known, to have a lot of pleasure, and to accumulate a lot of stuff. That's how you become prosperous.

Three or four hundred years ago, and even in much of the world today, a long life, a full house with many children, a big family, and something to leave to your family were greatly valued. Again, who's right? It's something to ponder and think about.

If long life, descendants, and a legacy are important, then marriage and family are essential. However, looking at our culture today, marriage and family do not seem to be as essential or important. A large household and an extended family are not highly valued in North America or throughout Western Europe. In ancient times, those things were highly valued. Because of this, marriage and family are essential; they are important. If those things are important, you would value a good name for yourself and a good marriage for your children.

But what if you had a daughter who was betrothed to marry a man? After they were married and the marriage was consummated, what if that man decided he no longer wanted her? To get rid of her, he could bring charges against her of sexual misconduct, claiming she was not chaste before their marriage. If those charges were determined to be true in that kind of culture—both three or four hundred years ago and today, in cultures where marriage, virginity, and family are highly valued—those charges would destroy her. They would probably destroy you as well.

If he were able to put her away, to divorce her because he claimed she had conducted herself with a lack of chastity before they were married, she would be unmarriable and unable to have children. You would lose your standing in society; your life would be cut short, your lineage would be cut off, and your legacy would be lost. This is a really big deal. Now, thinking about these things...

This excerpt helps us understand how marriage worked 3,000 years ago in the ancient Near East. Marriage customs among the Jewish culture at that time were quite different from those in our culture today. A Jewish girl was often married fairly young, typically in her early teen years, and a Jewish man would usually marry not long after that. Generally, by the time a man was 20, he was married and had a family.

A Jewish girl would enter into the betrothal process prior to marriage, which could last a year or more. During that betrothal period, the man and woman were considered married, even though they had not yet lived together or engaged in sexual relations. They were legally married, but not in the sense of being husband and wife living under the same roof and interacting sexually.

If, during that betrothal period, the betrothed wife became pregnant or was found to be engaging physically with someone other than her betrothed husband, she could be put away, divorced, or even prosecuted for adultery, as we will see in this passage. If that happened, great shame would come upon her and her family. Her life would be significantly impacted; she would not be able to have children, and the legacy of her family would be lost.

To prevent such situations from occurring within that culture, there was a practice that may seem strange to 21st-century Western readers: the proof of virginity. In verse 15, it states, "Then the father and the mother of the young woman where these charges have been brought against her shall take and bring out the evidence of the young woman's virginity to the elders of the city at the gate."

This practice may appear bizarre to us, but there are two potential explanations among commentators regarding what was happening here. One explanation is that this proof served as evidence of the most recent administration for the woman, indicating that she was not pregnant. In that time, they did not have pregnancy tests to determine if a woman was expecting. The only way to know if a woman was or was not pregnant was through her menstrual cycle.

Bring proof that she was still menstruating and that she was not pregnant at the time of the marriage, and that she had not been unfaithful. So, that's one explanation of what's going on here. The proof of virginity might be that, or the other proof of virginity, as written by one commentator on this passage. He says that on the marriage night, the wise bride provided herself with a marriage cloth that would be stained with her blood at the consummation of the marriage, her first sexual encounter. This would be proof that she was indeed a virgin when she was married. If later on her husband said otherwise, she and her parents could present the marriage cloth as evidence. No faithful woman would want her reputation blemished or her future destroyed just because of a hateful man's lie.

Admittedly, this is a strange passage and a strange custom for us living here in the West in 2022. However, this was the way things were 3,000 years ago, and this is the way things still are in certain places in the world today, in the majority world.

We read here in verse 16: "And the young woman's father shall say to the elders, 'I gave my daughter to this man as his wife, and he detests her. Now he has charged her with shameful conduct, saying, "I found your daughter was not a virgin," and yet these are the evidences of my daughter's virginity.' They shall spread the cloth before the elders of the city."

In verse 18, it continues: "Then the elders of the city shall take that man and punish him, the guy who has lied about his wife. They shall find him one hundred shekels of silver and give them to the father of the young woman because he has brought a bad name on a virgin of Israel. She shall be his wife, and he cannot divorce her all of his days."

The husband who falsely charges his newlywed wife with shameful conduct is to be punished. He is to be beaten by the elders of the city, kind of like a proper whooping, and he is going to be fined one hundred shekels of silver. As we will see in the rest of this text, that would presumably be about double the bride price equivalent, as one commentator says, to about ten years of normal wages. So, this is a pretty big fine. That man would be unable to divorce his wife for her entire life.

Now, again, we look at this as super strange, and yet such things are still observed in the majority world. Our friends, missionaries that we support over in the Middle East, who have been serving for many years in Sudan, were sharing with us just this last week. We were looking at this text, and they happened...

To drop by for lunch, they shared their experiences serving in Africa and Sudan. This was still the custom in Sudan just within the last 10 to 15 years. While this may seem totally strange to us, it reflects the way things are in many other parts of the world. Even though this practice appears odd, it has given rights to women who were, and often still are, overlooked and oppressed.

One commentator on this passage noted that the law protected the woman and punished the man. This observation highlights that the people of God highly valued marital fidelity and punished false charges against it.

However, a question arises: what if it was determined that she was unfaithful? What if the husband's claims about her were actually true? The answer is found in verse 20. It states that if the thing is true and evidence of virginity is not found for the young woman, then they shall bring her out to the door of her father's house. The men of the city shall stone her to death with stones because she has done a disgraceful thing in Israel by playing the harlot in her father's house. Thus, you shall put away the evil from among you.

If it is determined that the charges against her were indeed true, then the family of this girl is disgraced because she has committed a disgraceful act in Israel, leading to her death. When we look at this, we may say it is bizarre, crazy, and heavy.

Our critical neighbor, co-worker, or family member might ask us about this. They might say, "The Old Testament orders the death of an unchaste fornicator or adulterer. What do you think about that? Should we capital punish adulterers today? That's what your Bible says."

In response, we must acknowledge that this passage does indeed state that the Old Testament highly values marital fidelity and punishes both false and true charges against it. The question then becomes: how do we deal with this? How do we answer the critic regarding these passages? How do we make sense of this text and draw out applications from it?

I will begin to answer this by referencing the New Testament book of Hebrews. In Hebrews chapter 10, verse 28, it states that anyone who...

Rejected is Moses's law in the book of Deuteronomy. Anyone who rejects Deuteronomy, the book of Moses's law, dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. That's a heavy concept. The law brings death; it is a heavy burden to bear. Not only does the law bring death, but it is also holy, righteous, and just. The Scriptures say it is good.

The Apostle Paul, in Romans chapter 7, says, "I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died." The commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me and by it killed me. Therefore, the law is holy, the commandment is holy, just, and good. But, man, is it heavy! It's holy, it's right, it's true, but it is a heavy burden, and it kills.

It doesn't just kill the unchaste; it also condemns the non-virgin. In verse 22 of Deuteronomy chapter 22, it says, "If a man is found lying with a woman married to a husband, then both of them shall die." This is adultery. If you find a woman sleeping with a man who is not her husband, both of them shall die—the man who lay with the woman and the woman. So you shall put away the evil from Israel.

The critic says to you, "Doesn't your Bible say that adulterers should be put to death?" You respond, "Well, Deuteronomy chapter 22, verse 22 does say that. Those who commit adultery, both the man and the woman, shall die; they shall be stoned together." The law is holy; it's just. It puts forth a form of justice, and it is heavy. It is true, and it is burdensome. The people of God bear the weight of the law.

And it's not just about putting to death the woman who is adulterous or the man who is adulterous with her. It's not just about punishing the man who brings false charges against his wife in this situation. Look at Deuteronomy chapter 22, verse 23: "If a young woman who is a virgin is betrothed to a husband and a man finds her in the city and lies with her, then you shall bring both of them to the gate of the city, and you shall stone them to death with stones—the young woman because she did not cry out in the city, and the man because he humbled his neighbor's wife." So you shall put away the evil from among you.

There is a lot of heavy, bizarre stuff going on here in this passage. This one is a stumbling block for a lot of people.

Of people, I get it. Suppose you find a man and a woman, and they are engaged sexually. It seems to imply that you've caught them in the very act, that they are engaged sexually, and he is not her husband while she is betrothed or engaged to another man. How do you handle the situation?

Well, the law here states that both of them shall die. She is going to die with him because she did not cry out, and because she did not cry out in the city, it must have been consensual. She must have been consenting to this union. Marriage and marital fidelity were of high value to the people of God, and in reality, they should be to God. Marriage is important, as the Scriptures reveal. God created marriage; He is the one who invented it, so He gets to define what marriage is. He orders what it is and what its purpose is.

So, why is marriage so important to God? This text makes it very clear that, in His law, marriage is really important. For decades, I have been meeting with couples that are getting ready for marriage. I do weddings, and I always meet with a couple to do some pre-marital counseling with them. In my pre-marital counseling, I share with them, the first time I meet with couples, what we find in the Scriptures as to why marriage is important to God.

I give seven reasons why marriage is important to God and why it should be important to God's people. The first reason that marriage is important to God is that He created men and women to be partnered together as husband and wife. One of God's purposes for marriage is partnership. He who made them from the beginning, male and female, is the one who joins them together as husband and wife to be helpers one to another.

The second reason is provision. God intended that marriage would be a place where a man provides for his wife and the woman also cares for her husband. So, it's partnership and provision. Additionally, the Bible tells us in First Corinthians chapter 7, in Proverbs chapter 5, and in the entire book of Song of Solomon that marriage was created not only for partnership and provision but also for pleasure. The husband and wife enjoy the pleasure of one another in marriage, and generally speaking, that pleasure enjoyed in marriage results in the fourth reason.

God made marriage for partnership, provision, pleasure, and procreation. The very first commandment of the Scriptures is found in Genesis chapter 1, verse 28, where it says that God made them male and female and commanded them to be fruitful and multiply. So, why is marriage important to God?

Well, it's important for partnership, provision, pleasure, and procreation. But also, fifthly, not only is it important for procreation, but it is also important for purity. Marriage is a guard to keep us from sexual immorality. First Corinthians chapter 7 talks about that in the New Testament.

You have partnership, provision, pleasure, procreation, and purity. I'm sure you're noticing a lot of "P's" here. Sixth is perfection. God uses marriage to bring about our sanctification. He uses your spouse, if you're married, to change, transform, and sanctify you, helping you become a better man or a better woman. I believe that in a God-ordained marriage, as marriage is intended to be practiced between a man and a woman, God uses marriage as a sanctifying influence in our lives to make us better.

Finally, and this one I think is really important, marriage is a picture. So, we have partnership, provision, pleasure, procreation, purity, perfection, and a picture. A picture of what? The book of Ephesians chapter 5 tells us that this marriage union, this covenant, is a picture of the relationship that our God desires to have with us. It is a picture of the oneness relationship that He wants to have with you.

These seven reasons—partnership, provision, pleasure, procreation, purity, perfection, and a picture—are why I believe that God is so serious about marriage and expects that marriage be honorable among all, and that the marriage bed be undefiled. Fornicators and adulterers, God will judge. Hebrews chapter 13 says marriage is one of the most beautiful representations of the relationships that God desires to have with us.

Remember, we are called Christians; the church is called the bride of Christ. The bride price that He paid for us was very high; He died to make us His bride. Therefore, the people of God value marriage because God has highly esteemed it.

So, Moses, what more do you have to say about this whole thing? In Deuteronomy chapter 22, he goes on in verse 25: "But if a man finds a betrothed woman in the countryside and the man forces her and lies with her, then only the man who lay with her shall die. But you shall do nothing to the young woman; there is in the young woman no sin deserving of death. For just as when a man rises against his neighbor and kills him, even so is this matter. For he found her in the countryside, and the betrothed young woman cried out, but there was no one to save her."

Once again, Moses gives a command that protects the woman and punishes the man. What is described here is very clearly rape. Remember, they didn't have a police force or an investigative team to look into all the forensic issues surrounding a potential rape three or four hundred years ago in the land of Canaan. Their way of determining if there was a crime, a crime of rape, and dealing with the criminal was somewhat rudimentary. But even so, as crude or as unsophisticated as you might find it to be, they still acknowledged that a crime was committed and intended to deal with it in a just way. They valued women, cherished chastity, and honored marriage because God had highly esteemed marriage.

But all of those rules are strange, and maybe not quite as strange as the next one. Look at Deuteronomy chapter 22, verse 28: "If a man finds a young woman who is a virgin, who is not betrothed, and he seizes her and lies with her, and they are found out, then the man who lay with her shall give to the young woman's father fifty shekels of silver, the bride price, and she shall be his wife because he has humbled her, and she shall not be permitted to divorce him all his days."

That one is very weird, as if the other ones weren't. There is some question among scholars and commentators as to whether or not "seizing" here in this passage refers to forcibly seizing this young unmarried woman sexually, as in rape, or if this was a consensual act. The text is not perfectly clear, which means there are two not-so-great interpretive paths here. Is this passage teaching that if an unmarried man rapes an unmarried woman, then she has to marry him and he is never able to divorce her? That not only seems bizarre; it seems absurd. Or is this teaching that if an unmarried man and an unmarried woman are found to be engaged sexually, acting...

Consensually, they are to be married, and he can never divorce her again. The text is not entirely clear, but the core general principle remains in this passage. Even if this is strange to us, the core principle that is being driven home here is that monogamy is important to God. God esteems marriage; He values fidelity in marriage and detests divorce. He honors chastity, and the heaviness of the laws regarding marriage and marital fidelity shows that all these things are true. They bear this out in the statutes of Deuteronomy. The Deuteronomic statutes and judgments regarding marriage are heavy for us; there is a burdensome weight to the law.

This extends to one final word in this passage, the last verse of Deuteronomy chapter 22. It says a man shall not take his father's wife nor uncover his father's bed. This is apparently an incestuous relationship of a man with his stepmother, which, before God, is a sinful act. The law is holy; it is right, it is true, its decrees are just, and its judgments are good. The people of God bear and carry out the burdensome weight of the law. Yet, the law's greatest and most important work is not judgment. Ultimately, the greatest and most important work of the law is that it points to Jesus.

Galatians chapter 3 in the New Testament says that the law is our schoolmaster, our tutor, directing us to Christ so that we might be justified by faith in Him. The law points us to Christ, and as it points us to Christ, Jesus, in His teaching, makes the law even heavier. Not only does He make the law even heavier, but He carries the weight of the law for us so that He might fulfill it on our behalf, allowing us to find mercy, grace, forgiveness, and salvation in Him.

Here’s the amazing thing: Jesus, the very one who came to bear the weight of the law on our behalf, was conceived and born under challenging circumstances, which go back to this passage in Deuteronomy chapter 22. Mary, the mother of Jesus, was found to be with child; she was pregnant by the Holy Spirit during her betrothal period to the man who would become her husband, Joseph.

Joseph had a decision to make. He was given the opportunity to divorce Mary, who was betrothed to him, and it turns out she was pregnant. He faced the dilemma: should he divorce her, make a public example of her, or even have the law prosecute her for infidelity?

In the New Testament, in the Gospel of Matthew, we read these words in chapter one: "Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows. After his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit." Joseph, her husband—legally her husband since they were betrothed but had not yet been joined together—was a just man. Not wanting to make a public example of her, he was minded to put her away secretly.

While he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary as your wife, for what is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. She shall bring forth a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins."

If anyone understood the heavy, burdensome weight of the law as it related to marital fidelity, it was the family of Jesus. However, Jesus' teaching on marital fidelity makes the law even heavier than it was under Moses. He states that it isn't just the physical acts of fornication or adultery that are damnable under the law, but also lust in the heart, which is worthy of the same punishment.

In Matthew chapter 5, during the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, "You have heard that it has been said of old time, 'You shall not commit adultery.' But I say to you that whoever looks upon a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart." He increases the weight of the law, but not only does he increase the weight of the law, he also addresses my sin and your sin, fulfilling the righteous requirement of the law on our behalf. He did that on the cross. He who knew no sin became sin for us, that we might receive his righteousness, as Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:21.

He accomplished all this on the cross so that he might have mercy and offer forgiveness to the adulterer. You may ask, does Jesus give mercy to adulterers? Indeed, he does, which is good news—gospel news—because there isn't a person alive who isn't ultimately an adulterer of heart if Jesus' words are true in Matthew chapter 5.

So, how does Jesus give mercy to the adulterer? In John's Gospel, chapter 8, we read that the scribes and the Pharisees brought to Jesus a woman caught in adultery. When they had set her in the midst, they said to Him, "Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. We caught her in the very act, and now Moses in the law commanded us that such a one should be stoned," referring back to Deuteronomy 22. "But what do you say?" This they said to Him, testing Him, that they might have something with which to accuse Him.

But Jesus did not respond. He stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger as though He did not hear. When they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said, "He who is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone." Again, He stooped down and wrote on the ground. Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning from the oldest even

The Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. Jesus fulfilled all the burdensome requirements, all the weighty requirements of the law, for you and for me, so that we would not be judged by the harshness without mercy—the harshness of the Old Testament law. Yes, the Old Testament law in Deuteronomy chapter 22 is a burden too heavy for us to bear, and it points us to Jesus, who bore all of it for us.

We read this and say, "I could never keep this," and no society could handle following these things in Deuteronomy chapter 22 perfectly because they are too heavy. But Jesus bore all of it for you and for me so that He could give us forgiving grace and say to us, "Go and sin no more. I don't condemn you; go and sin no more."

Father God, I pray that we would take to heart the words of Deuteronomy chapter 22 and that we would seek to honor marriage in the same way that You honor marriage. Marriage and fidelity are important to You because that marriage relationship is supposed to be an illustration of the oneness relationship that You desire to have with us.

So, Lord, help us to honor it, that the marriage bed would be undefiled and honored by us. But, Lord, help us also to recognize all the ways that we fall short. You are the one who bears the heavy weight of the law so that You can give us forgiving grace and say to us, "Go and sin no more. I don't condemn you, but walk in righteousness."

God, help us by Your Holy Spirit to do just that this week—to walk in righteousness. For we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.

Our sin is overcome; it is finished.

Thank you, Jesus. I was a prisoner, but now I'm not. With Your blood, You bought my freedom. Hallelujah! Oh, hallelujah! Thank You, Jesus.

Thank you for joining us for our broadcast today. That was an excellent message, and I pray that it really impacted you. I heard from the Holy Spirit. Again, if you'd like to find out more about Cross Connection Church, please visit our website at lifeinconnection.com. We would like to invite you to our in-person services at 8:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. here in Escondido, California. If you're around, we would love for you to be here live in person at 8:30 and 10:30. God bless you guys, and have a great week.

Good morning, Cross Connection! It's Pastor Garrett here, and I've got a couple of announcements for you. Halloween is right around the corner, and we encourage our families to participate, especially if you have a home that's a good trick-or-treating spot.

I like to see that as an opportunity to reach our neighbors and neighborhood. What we do is something called Harvest Homes. It's basically setting up a hospitality table and some games, so when trick-or-treaters come by, you can meet your neighbors, fellowship with them, and get to know them. We also provide some good fun games for their kids and coffee for the parents.

If you'd like to see an example of that, as you're leaving the sanctuary, Pastor Nick has a table set up outside where you can see what we've done in the past. You can put your own spin on that if you want. We're encouraging you to have a welcoming home instead of a dark one and to participate in this event at your house for those trick-or-treaters and families that will be walking by anyway. It's just a good opportunity to be a witness to them on Halloween.

Another announcement we have for you is for the parents of junior high and high school students. We have our Youth Olympics coming up on October 29th, which is a Saturday, and we start at 10:30. We hope you can make it to that! You can sign up on the website events.lifeinconnection.com to find out more information and get the kids signed up.