The sin of adultery is explicitly condemned in Scripture. It was prohibited in the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:14) which God gave as a foundation for the nation of Israel. In the New Testament, Paul lists adulterers as those who “will not inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Corinthians 6:9). The Hebrew writer tells us that adulterers will be judged by God (Hebrews 13:4). In fact, Jesus gave fornication (which is adultery when committed by a married person) as the only cause that gave one divine permission to put away his spouse (Matthew 19:9).

Not only does God specifically condemn adultery, but society generally looks down upon it as well. The wise man said, “Men do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy himself when he is hungry; but when he is found, he must repay sevenfold; he must give all the substance of his house. The one who commits adultery with a woman is lacking sense; he who would destroy himself does it. Wounds and disgrace he will find, and his reproach will not be blotted out. For jealousy enrages a man, and he will not spare in the day of vengeance” (Proverbs 6:30-34). This passage does not justify stealing while condemning adultery — both were condemned (Exodus 20:14-15). But his point is that man tends to be sympathetic toward one who steals solely out of hunger. For the adulterer, there is no excuse in the eyes of man — particularly with the husband of the wife who participated in the affair. Instead, the adulterer becomes a target for wounds, disgrace, and vengeance.

Despite the fact that there are many deterrents to adultery, this sin remains prevalent. Why is that? I believe we can begin to see why as we examine the warnings about the adulteress in Proverbs 7. As she is described in this chapter, we see her doing everything she can to remove the roadblocks that stand between a man and adultery. She wants to portray the sin as not only pleasurable, but also convenient and without consequence. Let us notice some of the roadblocks — those things which help deter us from committing adultery — and see how the adulteress strives to take those roadblocks out of the way.

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Anyone who follows politics and elections has seen dramatic shifts in public opinion. One week a candidate may be at the top of the polls. The next week he starts to fall. Then the week after he is at the bottom of the field. This is just one common example of how quickly the public can go from having a favorable opinion of a person, product, or position to having an unfavorable opinion. When we study the gospel of John, we also see this type of shift in the public’s opinion of Jesus.

After Jesus performed a miracle and fed five thousand people (John 6:1-14), this great crowd He had attracted turned into — at least for a moment — a group of zealous followers. He was so popular with the people at this time that “they were intending to come and take Him by force and make Him king” (John 6:15). At this point in time, these people were willing to risk their own lives and fight in a revolution against the mighty army of the Roman empire in order to place Jesus on the throne. Though their concept of the Lord’s kingdom was flawed, their zeal and determination was certainly commendable.

Unfortunately, this crowd’s zeal was short-lived. By the end of this same chapter, “many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore” (John 6:66). In fact, at the end of John’s gospel, not only were the Jews no longer willing to fight the Romans in order to make Jesus their king, they became enemies to Jesus and loyal supporters of Rome. When the Roman governor Pilate presented Jesus to the crowd, they cried out, “Away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him!” Pilate asked, “Shall I crucify your King?” To which the chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar” (John 19:15).

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“Remember those who led you, who spoke the word of God to you; and considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith” (Hebrews 13:7).

E.A. Dicus (“Dike”) preached for over forty years for the Lorain Avenue church of Christ in Cleveland, Ohio (where my family attended while I was growing up). He was well-loved and respected by those that knew him. Even though I was not quite ten years old when he passed away, he made an early impact upon me and his example continues to influence me today.

Lewis Willis spoke at his funeral and wrote an obituary that appeared in Guardian of Truth magazine a month later [available online here]. From time to time I go back and re-read Willis’ comments about Dike, just to be reminded about who he was and the work he had done. Today is the twenty-first anniversary of his passing. I wanted to share his story with the readers here, in particular the following excerpt:

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The concept of salvation by faith alone is quite popular. Many have been deceived into thinking that all God requires of man is a simple mental affirmation of Jesus being the Savior. As long as one believes this, then he will be saved.

There are several passages that brethren use to refute the concept of salvation by faith alone. The clearest was written by James: “You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone” (James 2:24). If you get out your concordance and look up this phrase, you will find that this verse is the only one that says anything about “faith alone,” and it denies that we are saved on this basis.

The truth is that our salvation is attributed to many things — God’s grace (Ephesians 2:8), mercy (Titus 3:5), and love (John 3:16), the blood, death, and life of Christ (Romans 5:9-10), the gospel (Romans 1:16), our faith (John 8:24), repentance (Luke 13:3,5), confession (Romans 10:9-10), baptism (Mark 16:16), obedience (Hebrews 5:9), and more*. To claim that we are saved by faith alone is simply not compatible with Scripture.

One item in the list above that is vehemently attacked by sectarians is baptism. Despite the fact that Peter said, “Baptism now saves you” (1 Peter 3:21), many will adamantly deny that baptism is necessary for salvation. In light of this, truth teachers will often spend a good deal of time explaining the vital role of baptism in our salvation.

As a result of this, some incorrectly assume (or dishonestly charge) that those who affirm the necessity of water baptism for salvation must believe in salvation by baptism alone. In case there might be any confusion on this matter, let us notice why baptism alone does not save us.

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The existence of false teachers is a sad reality. Just as there were false prophets in the past, Peter said, “There will also be false teachers among you” (2 Peter 2:1). Our responsibility is to mark them, turn away from them (Romans 16:17), have no fellowship with them (2 John 10-11), and refute their error (Titus 1:9; 2 Corinthians 10:5).

But what makes one a false teacher? The seemingly obvious answer to this question — teaching what is false — is disputed by many. The argument is made that teaching what is wrong does not make one a false teacher (at least not necessarily), but rather, one is a false teacher based on evil intentions and deliberate attempts to deceive.

So, is one a false teacher based on his message or his motive? Let us notice a few passages to help answer this question.

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Recently I’ve preached  a few lessons about things that threaten unity within a local church. The outlines have been posted on my other site – DIY Sermon Outlines. Below is a list with links to the various lessons in that series.

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In the previous article we looked at the parable of the sower, noting the four different soils which represented four different types of hearts. Each one responded differently to the word when it was sown among them. Despite these differences, we saw that the message (the seed, the word of God) was not changed. Rather than trying to change the message, we should strive to develop the “honest and good heart” (Luke 8:15) that Jesus says will be receptive to His saving gospel.

Jesus explains the illustration of the good soil: “But the seed in the good soil, these are the ones who have heard the word in an honest and good heart, and hold it fast, and bear fruit with perseverance” (Luke 8:15). Let us be reminded of what the honest and good heart will do, and how we can develop this type of heart.

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