adulterous – Praying Pint

35.d. “A prudent wife is from the LORD”

Genesis 2:18 Then the LORD God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” Now out of the ground the LORD God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.

Proverbs 18:22    He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the LORD.

1 Corinthians 11:11-12    Nevertheless, in the Lord woman is not independent of man nor man of woman; for as woman was made from man, so man is now born of woman. And all things are from God.

Proverbs 19:14   House and wealth are inherited from fathers, but a prudent wife is from the LORD.

Hebrews 13:4    Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.

A new and final need of man is stated. The Creator himself, in whose image he was made, had revealed himself to him in language. This, among many other effects, awakened the social affection. This affection was the index of social capacity. The first step towards communication between kindred spirits was accomplished when Adam heard and understood spoken language. Beyond all this God knew what was in the man whom he had formed. And he expresses this in the words, “It is not good for the man to be alone.” He is formed to be social, to hold converse, not only with his superior, but also with his equal. As yet he is but a unit, an individual. He needs a mate, with whom he may take sweet counsel. And the benevolent Creator resolves to supply this want. “I will make him a helpmeet for him” – one who may not only reciprocate his feelings, but take an intelligent and appropriate part in his active pursuits. “Barnes“

God, as her Father, brought the woman to the man, as his second self, and a help meet for him. That wife, who is of God’s making by special grace, and of God’s bringing by special providence, is likely to prove a help meet for a man. See what need there is, both of prudence and prayer in the choice of this relation, which is so near and so lasting. “Matthew Henry“

“Help meet,” which has become a recognized English word, fails to give the full sense of this passage from which it is derived. Man will find help from that which is in harmony with his own nature, and, therefore, able adequately to sympathize with him in thought and interests. It is not identity, but harmony, of character which is suggested. “Cambridge Bible“

The expression, “Help meet”indicates that the forthcoming helper was to be of similar nature to the man himself, corresponding by way of supplement to the incompleteness of his lonely being, and in every way adapted to be his co-partner and companion. All that Adam’s nature demanded for its completion, physically, intellectually, socially, was to be included in this who was soon to stand by his side. Thus in man’s need, and woman’s power to satisfy that need, is laid the foundation for the Divine institution of marriage, which was afterwards prescribed not for the first pair alone, but for all their posterity. “Pulpit Commentary“

God ordained man should be created first, and then the woman from the body of the man. By this the priority and superiority of the man, and the dependence of the woman upon the man, are established as an ordinance of divine creation. This ordinance of God forms the root of that tender love with which the man loves the woman as himself, and by which marriage becomes a type of the fellowship of love and life, which exists between the Lord and His Church. “Keil and Delitzsch “

Men thought ages have certainly perverted this which was ordained to be a holy union into a self-serving relationship of Master and servant rather than husband and wife. Men and women alike have perverted their God-given roles and purpose. All of this foolishness about transgender, homosexuality, gay pride, and lesbianism that is being discussed, promoted, and approved by cultures and societies is not of God nor of God’s purpose for mankind. Any confusion about this comes from arguments made by men to justify their sin and rejection of God. Scripture is more than clear on God’s plan and purpose for men and women, male and female. Rest assured perversion of this is all of man’s doing and has no hand of God in it.

27.c. “As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance”

Ephesians 2:1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

1 Corinthians 6:11    And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

2 Timothy 4:10    For Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica.

James 4:4     You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

1 John 2:15-17    Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world.  And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

Isaiah 30:1    “Ah, stubborn children,” declares the LORD, “who carry out a plan, but not mine, and who make an alliance, but not of my Spirit, that they may add sin to sin;

1 John 5:4   For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.

1 Peter 1:14   As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance,

John 8:44   You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

1 John 5:19   We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.

1 John 3:10    By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil

Though, as Christians, we are now alive, we must never forget where we came from. We were dead in trespasses and sins. There are many kinds of life: vegetable life, animal life, mental life, moral life, and spiritual life. A being might be alive in one sense but dead in another. To be spiritually dead does not mean that we are physically dead, socially dead, or psychologically dead. Yet it is a real death, a “dead death” nonetheless. “The most vital part of man’s personality – the spirit – is dead to the most important factor in life – God.” (Wood) “Not in a moral sense, nor a mental sense, but in a spiritual sense, poor humanity is dead, and so the word of God, again and again, most positively describes it.” (Spurgeon) We err if we think that dead in trespasses and sins says everything about man’s lost condition. It is an err because the Bible uses many different pictures to describe the state of the unsaved man, saying he is: Blind, A slave to sin, A lover of darkness, Sick, Lost, An alien, A stranger, A foreigner, A child of wrath, and Under the power of darkness.

Every single person was born out of and into sin. All have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God. Everyone ever born has been born into sin. Through birth, we have were born into death and destruction and if God’s righteousness was a line we not only have crossed it, but we continually challenge its boundaries. We are born on the other side of God’s perfect, holy, and righteous standards through our sinful birth. We lived in sin, we embraced it and did not even give it a second thought. We followed after the course of this world and the prince of lies, Satan. We followed after it and sought it and its pleasures, wants, and desires. Granted we were born into sin, inherited from Adam, but Satan adds to this sinful nature the temptations and influences through deception and lies to do even more ungodliness. He influences and convinces us that pride, self-worth, self-centeredness, self-reliance, lust, worldly satisfaction, worldly pleasures, and immoral things are not only right but through them, we will gain purpose and meaning in life. Such is the life of the “dead in their sin” mankind. Those born again must never forget where they came from. Those who are made alive must remember that we were very comfortable in this old life just as a dead person would be comfortable in a coffin. We are alive in Christ and there ought to be a strong urge to escape the confines of the coffin and leave it behind. We used to respond to Satan’s temptations, influence, and guidance. We ought to be growing and maturing in things of God and the leading of the Holy Spirit in our everyday lives. We ought to be able to discern the things of God and the lies of Satan.

One of Satan’s lies is that he would have us believe that all are children of God, hell is only reserved for really bad people, and as children of God, all good people go to heaven, confusing what it means to be a child of God. In one sense we are, He is our common creator. Satan will throw clouds of doubt over the need to be born again, the need for Jesus Christ, the coming judgment, heaven, and hell. There ought to be a big difference, a change, a new way of thinking, living, and doing when we are born again. The problem is we are continually tempted to choose the worldly and fleshly over the things of God. We choose to seek what the world has to offer more than desiring to honor and glorify Jesus Christ.

Another of his lies is that there is no God and all there is to life is what we take from it. We live, we die, the end. Believing in either one of these lies has eternal consequences, eternal hell. We are to remember this is not only how we once lived, but this is what we have been saved from through the grace and mercy of God. What manner of person ought we to be in light of this?

14.w. “You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times”

John 2:18 So the Jews said to him, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking about the temple of his body. When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

John 6:30   So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform?

Matthew 21:23   And when he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came up to him as he was teaching, and said, “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?”

Acts 4:7    And when they had set them in the midst, they inquired, “By what power or by what name did you do this?”

Mark 8:11   The Pharisees came and began to argue with him, seeking from him a sign from heaven to test him.

Matthew 12:38-42    Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.”  But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.  For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.  The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.  The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.

Matthew 16:1-4    And the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and to test him they asked him to show them a sign from heaven.  He answered them, “When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’  And in the morning, ‘It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times.  An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.” So he left them and departed.

“But you cannot interpret the signs of the times”. Wars, rumors of wars, famine, pestilence, earthquakes, ungodliness, lawlessness, rioting, hate, fear, delusion, false teachings, unable to separate false from the truth, falling away from God, and denying God, in more and more increasing numbers and occurrences are all signs of the times and the return of Jesus Christ. These are signs but where is the voice crying out in the wilderness proclaiming them? We understand the “World” not seeing and believing but why is it the Christian church silent on these signs? Have we diluted our walk with Jesus Christ to the point where we are unable to see them ourselves? Have we bought into a lukewarm comfortable life so close in resemblance to the unbelievers that our eyes are closed to the signs? Have we strayed far enough away from Jesus Christ that our pastors and teachers, wanting to be culturally correct, do not preach and teach the signs of the times? Is our heart turning to stone and we are not allowing the Holy Spirit into it to teach, lead, and instruct us?

Some may say we have had wars, famine, disease, riots, wars, earthquakes, etc…. and Jesus has not returned. It was not true before and is not true now. The frequency surely has increased and yet it is denied. The number of countries across the globe experiencing these signs is overwhelming and yet it is denied. When there should be repentance and a turning to Jesus Christ there is denial and defiance. Where there should be preparing and looking for the return of Jesus Christ there is denial and defiance. When there should be a proclaiming of the signs of the times there is silence.

In the last days, God will send a strong delusion and people will grab hold of this like finding a lost treasure. They will believe they have found truth and they are fighting for the right cause and belief. They believe lies because they have denied the truth. These too are signs of the soon return of Jesus Christ. All of the warnings and signs have been given so that through them people will repent and turn to Jesus Christ. When Jesus Christ returns will He find you watching and waiting or unprepared? I imagine there are many right now that are waiting for signs before they get serious about their faith in Jesus Christ. It is both “not too late” and “too late”. It is never too late to repent and trust Jesus Christ but the signs would indicate the return of Jesus is closer than ever before. A heart that rejects the need for redemption and salvation through Jesus Christ will certainly reject the signs of His soon return. Rejection is an intentional choice. You are just one breath away from eternity and your choice of belief or rejection will determine Heaven or Hell, blessings or torment, peace or anguish, Eternal light or complete darkness.

Jesus has called us to believe and trust in Him alone. He has demonstrated His love for us in that He died for our sin. He has promised blessings now and for eternity. He has told us He will return to gather us onto Himself. He has told us what the signs will be to indicate His pending return and that we are to watch and be ready. And He has given warnings of what awaits those who reject Him. If you choose to reject His love how much more will you receive His wrath? Watch and be Ready! The signs are there if you are seeking and desiring the return of Jesus Christ.

10.n. “So he left them and departed.”

Jonah 1:17 And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

Matthew 12:40     For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

Luke 11:30     For as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so will the Son of Man be to this generation.

Matthew 16:4     An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.” So he left them and departed.

The people of Nineveh did not know that Jonah had been reluctant to warn them. They did not know he had been swallowed by a great fish of the sea and spit back out. They did not know any of this but when the word of God was spoken through Jonah they believed God. Here is a large city that is being called out by God for its sin and evil. What is uncommon is their response to being called out, they repented. Maybe this is not uncommon though. Maybe what we see in our time is that sin is not called out. Tolerance, neglect, and complacency have overtaken the pulpits of our nation. When is the last time you have heard a message preached on sin and the need for repentance? Messages seem to be more in line with what you can get from Jesus Christ; (ie. health, prosperity, peace, joy, courage, hope, etc…) and all of this is true but the lack of calling out personal and national sin first and foremost is leading us into separation from God. Thinking we can live without the need for repentance is choosing to live in ignorance. It is easy to preach all the comforts and promises associated with being a follower of Jesus Christ and leave out the need for repentance. Repent from what you may ask. SIN. If sin is not called out and if God’s Word is not thirsted and hungered for then what is it that will mature us in our walk with Him. What will make us aware of the sins in our thoughts and our sins in acts? The greatest tragedy in the church today is the lack of individual choice to be in God’s Word with the thought of honoring and glorifying Him, and wanting, desiring, seeking, and trusting the Holy Spirit to search our hearts and minds and change us from the inside becoming more and more aware of our sin and more and more aware of God’s grace, mercy, and love through Jesus Christ.