Lesson 21: God's Holiness Generates a Reminder, part 14

The seventh commandment reminding us that God is Holy and we are not is Exodus 20:14, "You shall not commit adultery."

The seventh test God puts us through revealing His Holiness and our sinfulness is the prohibition of adultery. Believe it or not, Christians are now more likely than non-Christians to get a divorce.

We are in a lot of trouble. If the Church cannot keep this command, why would we expect the world to keep it? We wonder why families are falling apart!

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

In this one statement, Jesus declares that adultery in God's eyes also includes lusting with your own eyes. Remember, Jesus said adultery is committed anytime you lust with your eyes. Therefore, it does not have to be a magazine or a movie. It applies to anything moving! When you do look with that desire in your heart, you are just as guilty as if you went to bed with them. Only you did it with your eyes and heart!

You need to know this is very important because adultery is called a sin and the penalty for sin against a Holy God is death.

Leviticus 20:10 - "If a man commits adultery with the wife of his neighbor, both the man and the adulteress shall surely be put to death."

The eighth commandment reminding us that God is Holy and we are not is Exodus 20:15, "You shall not steal."


The word "steal" means "to take something wrongly, without right or without permission." Therefore, stealing something applies not just to robbing a bank, but to your behavior. For instance, many people say they have never robbed anyone, but they do not think twice about cheating on a test or their tax forms. Many people do not care about showing up for work late or sneaking out a little early each day. Many people do not hesitate to "borrow" something from somebody without even asking or not returning what was borrowed.

Ezekiel 18:18 - "As for his father, because he practiced extortion, robbed his brother and did what is not good among his people, behold, he shall die for his iniquity:"

No amount of man-made laws, 10 or 10,000, can ever fix man's wicked heart; what we need is God! This is what God has been trying to remind us of in the 10 Commandments. God calls it sin because He knows it destroys us.

* Memorize Romans 13:8 - “Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.”