Defraud Not One Another

Turn your Bibles to 1 Corinthians chapter 7. 1 Corinthians chapter 7. It's good to be here with you today. Many of you know I was on the mainland last week for my sister's memorial service. Came back on Monday, had some minor surgery on Wednesday and they cut my artery. And so, uh, it was a little bit more than minor surgery, but, uh, doing well and recovering well. So, I appreciate your prayers for me. And, uh, so we'll, uh, try to keep from doing anything else like that for the near future. But it's good to be back. I appreciate the staff filling in for me while I was gone, especially, uh, some great messages dealing with what's been going on in our society here recently.

And so, I'm going to go back to the series that we've been doing called Marriages Made in Heaven, but Lived on Earth. Marriages made in heaven, but Lived on Earth. If you look at 1 Corinthians chapter 7 and beginning with verse number one, it says, "Now concerning the things wherever you wrote unto me, it is good for a man not to touch a woman. Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband. Let the husband render therefore unto the wife to do benevolence, and likewise also the hus wife unto the husband. The wife had no power of own body, but the husband, and likewise also husband, not not power of his own body, but the wife.

defraud you not one to the other except you consent for a time that you may give yourselves to fasting and prayer and come together again that Satan tempt you not for your contestency. Uh have you ever been defrauded? The word defrauded means to deprive or to rob. You ever been robbed? Uh I had a number of experiences over life. Uh one time we uh woke up in the morning found out that a gang of teenage girls had stolen our van out of our parking lot. And uh so we had uh had that happen. And then the other time we had a tenant at our house that uh Navy guy was out of sea and he had a motorcycle in our driveway and we got back from church on Sunday afternoon.

The motorcycle was gone. Uh somebody had pulled in our driveway and stolen away. Uh fortunately they left their name and address on a piece of paper on the driveway for us and we were able to recover it afterwards. Not the smartest of thieves. Uh we also had somebody walk into our house one time and walk into one of the apartments and steal some jewelry. Uh we've had here at the church even had some uh things like that happen. We had some computers that were stolen one Thanksgiving. We also had some money was stolen during a church service. And so we try to uh be careful of our security during church as well.

And uh and when everything like happens, it's devastating, is it not? You you feel like you've been violated. You feel like somebody has committed fraud against you. And then there, of course, there's other kinds of fraud as well. Uh I had somebody got a hold of my credit card and start charging things all over the internet. And I had to deal with that. We had one of our uh guys in our church that he found out when he went to apply for a mortgage that his mom when he was a teenager had taken out a credit card in his name and charged it up and he owed all the money. He had he had two choices. Either turn his mom in and have her charged with fraud or he would have to pay it off of himself.

And uh that was a terrible thing. And it's a terrible thing to have fraud committed against you. But you know, even within our marriages, we can do that. The Bible tells us in 1 Corinthians chapter 13 and verse number five does not behave itself unseemly. Talking about love, love seeketh not her own. It's not easily provoked. Thinkketh no evil. And that last phrase thinkketh no evil is the idea of does not keep evil to account. I remember when that young man Mike found out that he had this whole big uh debt that he owed that his mama charges against him and he and he just was devastated by it. and it took him a long time to pay it off because he wasn't going to put his mom into jail.

A and yet so many times as couples, we do that same thing. What we do is we defraud our spouse by presenting to this whole list of grievances that we've had against them for many, many years and never dealt with. and and and I see often in arguments what happens is we don't argue about what just happened but we argue over this debt list of all these other things that have happened in the past that we have not forgiven and not dealt with as well and so as couples we need to defraud not one another and you know defraud can be involved uh stolen identity again I had that happen to me somebody stole my identity and started charging things on the internet in Genesis chapter 29 verse 5 it says, "It came to pass that in the morning, behold, it was Leah, and he said to Laban, "What is it that thou hast done unto me?

Did not I serve with thee for Rachel? Wherefore then hast thou beguiled?" Remember the story how he was uh he was trying to win Rachel as his wife, and he's he agreed with Laban to marry her, and then at the last minute, he put Leah in instead, and uh woke up the next morning and found out that this wasn't the person he thought he was marrying. And you know, that can happen to all of us. So, I'm sure everyone in this room at some point has w another woken up and said, "Who is that person I'm married to?" It might have happened on your honeymoon. Uh, the person you dated all of a sudden was a whole different person when you got married.

It it might have happened a few years into the marriage. It might have happened later on. Uh, you know, maybe you thought you were marrying a godly Christian and that's not what it ended up being. In 1 2 Corinthians chapter 6 and verse 14, it says, "Be ye not unequally yolked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship hath righteousness with uh unrighteousness, and what communeeth at light with darkness?" You know, often times I found that young couples will ignore the warning signs because they're in love. You know, they think they're in love and they say, "Well, he's really a Christian. She's really a Christian."

And they're not. And uh are are you truly saved? The Bible tells us in 2 Corinthians chapter 13 verse number 5, examine yourselves whether you be in the faith. Prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves how that Jesus Christ is in you except you be reprobates. In my position as a pastor, I often do premarital counseling. I try to challenge those those that young couple. I said, "Listen, you make sure that this person you're marrying is truly saved, that they know the Lord, that they really have come to Jesus Christ as their savior to make sure of your own salvation, and make sure of their salvation."

Uh to make sure that you don't just have a a profession, but you have a possession. In 1 John 5:es 12 and 13, the Bible says, "He that hath the son hath life. He that hath not the son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the son of God that you may know that you have eternal life and that you may believe on the name of the son of God. You see either you have a wife or you don't have a wife. Either you have a husband or you don't have a husband. There's no in between on that. If I came up to you and said, "Are you married?" You would say, "Yes." You wouldn't say, "Well, I think I am.

Uh I I thought I was. I I hope I am." You would know whether you're married or not. And the same thing is true salvation. You know whether you have Jesus Christ as your personal savior. You know whether you've received him in your heart and your life. You see the Bible tells us in Ephesians chapter 2:es 8 and9 for by grace are you saved through faith. Then not of yourselves. It's a gift of God not of works lest any man should boast. You know when I got married all those years ago back in 1978 I did not have to work for my marriage. All I do is say to my wife I do. And she said I do to me and we done did it.

we were married. Uh there was no requirements of what we had to do to get married except to say I do to one another. But you know when the work started the very next day. The Bible says in Ephesians 2:9, "For by grace are you saved through faith, then not of yourselves. It's a gift of God, not of works the same man should boast." But then verse 10 says, "For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God for ordained that we should walk in them." You see, all we had to do is to get married was say, "I do." We had to accept our love for one another. And that's really a picture of salvation.

Salvation is to accept the love of Jesus Christ, to accept the love of God in sending his son to die for you. But once you accept his love, then that's where the work begins. You don't work for your salvation. But once you are saved, then the work begins. And we need to make sure of our salvation. You see, if you're here and you never said I do, you're not married. In Romans chapter 10 and:es 9 and 10, it says that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shall believe in thine heart that God is raising the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

In Romans 10:13, it says, "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." You see, if you can't look back and remember, here's the day, the time, and the place that we said I do to one another. Now, you may not always remember the exact date. Sometimes, maybe you'll forget the date you were married. I remember March 25th, 1978. So, I I I got that down. But there's a couple of years where I I didn't remember it on that date, and that's what got me in trouble, you know. But, uh uh if you are married, you remember a day, a time, and a place that you said I do to each other. And if you are saved, you truly remember the day, the time and place when you said, "I do to Jesus Christ and you trusted him as your personal savior."

You see, living together is not marriage. Although some people like to define it that way, if you're living together, you're not married. To be married, you've got to say I do to one another. And you may come to church and you may uh call yourself a Christian, but if you have not said I do to Jesus Christ, you're not saved today. And you need to make sure of your salvation. Sometimes we wake up and find this fraud because a person we thought was saved, we're married to, they're not really saved. And you need to make sure of your salvation. But not only salvation, but being a committed Christian.

Most of you here in this room, when you got married, you wanted to marry somebody that loved the Lord and wanted to go to church and wanted to read their Bible and do all the right things. And then in 1 Corinthians chapter 6 and 19 and 20, the Bible tells us what know ye not that your body is a temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you which you have of God and you're not your own for you're bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and your spirit which are his. You see um I don't go to church and I don't read my Bible and I'll pray in order to be saved. But if I'm truly saved, is that not what I should want to do?

You see, is it not fraud to say, "I'm a Christian, but I don't go to church." Is it not fraud to say, "I'm a Christian, and I don't read my Bible, and I don't pray, and I don't live for the Lord." You see, as a Christian, we ought to we ought to be committed Christians. And and so often I find in my counseling that couples have problems because they say, "You know what? The person that I dated is not the person I'm married to. Uh they committed fraud. I thought they were a Christian. I thought they loved the Lord. I thought they wanted to be in church." And it turns out that's not what they want.

You know, and the thing we need to understand is you cannot change the other person. You can only change yourself. Go over to First Peter chapter 3. One of the things I stress in my counseling and and uh there's a series that I did called Happily Ever After. It's on video at ohana.urch/marriage. And one of the things I stressed in there is that uh you can watch all those videos, but you can't change your spouse. You can't change your husband. You can't change your wife. The only person you can change is God. And and God wants to change you. In 1 Peter chapter 3 and beginning with verse number one, it says, "Likewise, you wives be in subjection to your own husbands, that if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be one by the conversation of the wives.

while they behold your chase conversation coupled with fear, whose adorning, let it not be the outward adorning, of plating the hair, and a wearing of gold and putting on apparel. But let it be the hidden man of the heart, and that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. For after this manner in old time, the holy woman also who trust in God, adorned themselves, being a subjection under husbands. from even as uh Sarah obeyed Abraham calling the Lord whose daughters you are as long as you do well and are not afraid with any amazement.

Likewise, your husbands dwell with him according knowledge, giving honor unto the wife is under the weaker vessel and as being heirs together the grace of life that your prayers be not hindered. You see, so often we get to a point in our marriage where we say that the person I'm married to is not giving me what I want. They're not they're not the person I thought they were going to be. And what we do is we begin to try to change that other person. And you cannot change anybody. Only God can change them. Only they can change themselves. And what you need to realize is the only person that I can change in this relationship is me.

And and I want to be a better version of myself. Um you know, my wife uh the person she marries is not the person she's married to now. I want to show a picture of my wife's first husband if you can. So they're going to put it up here on the screen. That's my wife's first husband. Uh a lot different than the husband she has now. And uh we do change over the years and and and sometimes you find well that's not exactly the person you thought it was. We have a a picture of us at our wedding on on our shelf and my grandchildren Joshua and and Kenna were there and Kennena asked Joshua who who's that in the picture and Joshua said oh that's Papa when he was skinny and uh so uh we're not exact I'm not exactly that person that she married.

Uh I I'm a different person now in many ways and I hope a better person. I I hope that I'm a better version of myself. And and that ought to be our goal throughout our marriage is to be a better version of ourselves. In Titus chapter 2 and verses 2 and three, it says the aged women likewise that they be in behaviors becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things, that they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children. Hebrews chapter 5:12, for when the time you ought to be teachers, you have need to one teach you again.

And many of you are at a point in your marriage where you need to realize that I I've got to learn to be a better version than what I was. You know, it's great getting married, but the marriage is just the beginning. And constantly throughout your marriage, you've got to keep improving because life changes, you change, the circumstances change, and and you got to keep becoming a better better version of of who you were. In in Romans chapter 13, turn over there if you would. Romans chapter 13 and look at verses 8-10. Romans chapter 13 and verses 8-10, the Bible tells us, "Owe no man anything but to love one another.

For he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness. Thou shalt not covet. If there be any other commandment, is briefly comprehended as saying, lamely, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." Love workketh no ill to his neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law. You know what? Your closest neighbor is the person you wake up next to every morning. They're your closest neighbor. They're close closer to the person on the other side of the yard. They're closer to the person side of the driveway.

Uh they're your closest neighbor and they're the ones that you need to love. I'm amazed uh often I'm amazed at how some men treat their wives and how some wives treat their husbands. and and and we need to understand that we have a responsibility to to treat them with respect and to be a better version of ourselves and to treat each other with love. You know, fraud is a is a breach of contract. It's a breach of contract. In Malachi chapter 2 and verse 14, it says, "Yet ye say, wherefore, because the Lord hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously, yet is she thy command companion and the wife of thy covenant."

You if you're here there today and you're married, you made a vow before God and before witnesses and and and you should not be in breach of contract. You made a promise to love and to cherish, to honor and to obey, and to treat each other with respect. And Ecclesiastes chapter 5 and verse number four, it says, "When thou vowest to vow unto God, defer not to pay it. For he hath no pleasure in fools, pay that which thou hast vowed." You see, you have a contract. When you get married, you make a covenant. You make a contract. And when you violate that contract, you have committed fraud against the person that you married.

The Bible says that we need to love one another. Ephesians 5:25, "Husbands, love your wives even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it." That's unconditional sacrificial servant love. The love that God gave his only begotten son. The love where God commendeth or showed his love towards us. Not while we're yet sinners. So often I'll hear somebody say, "Well, I don't love my wife anymore. I don't love my husband anymore." But that doesn't matter. God loved us while we're yet sinners. He had an unconditional sacrificial servant love. See, loving your spouse is really loving yourself.

In Ephesians 5:es 29 and 30, for no man ever yet hated his own flesh, but nourished it and cherished it, even as the Lord the church. For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. Sometimes the most selfish thing that you can do is to love your spouse. Because when you're loving them, because they're a part of you, you are returning that love to yourself as well. And so often we're not just defrauding our spouse when we don't love them, but we're defrauding ourselves because we're not receiving the benefit of the love that we're giving to them. This is this last week on the mainland.

We rented a car in Idaho and we were driving to the church that we went to and I they asked me to speak on Sunday night and as we were driving down the freeway about 45 miles away from where we're standing of where we're staying. I I on on driving down we passed an exit. I saw a sign there for a gas station. We passed the exit. I thought, I wonder how we're doing on gas. And I looked down at the gauge and it was on E and it had that little little uh gas tank on the dashboard there and it was flashing and I hadn't noticed it because it was a different car, you know. And about two miles later, we ran out of gas.

Stupid car. Stupid stupid car. Now, let me ask you a question. Whose car was whose fault was it? The car or mine? Mine. You see, we want to blame our spouse, but really, who didn't fill up the gas tank? And when my spouse does not have enough love to give to me, that's because I haven't filled her tank with love. And and when when our spouse runs out of love for us, then we need to go back to the gas station and say, you know what? I need to start filling that tank. Because the more love you get, the more your spouse has to give back to you as well. In Titus chapter 2 and verse number four, it says that they may teach the young women to be to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children.

Women have to learn how to love their husbands because we're we're uh you know, we're just uncomplicated people. They just don't understand how to love us. And and that's a lifetime learning process. It was Ben Franklin that said this, if you would be loved, love and be lovable. And maybe in your marriage you feel like I'm not loved anymore. Then maybe it's time to be more loveable, to be more loving and to give more love as well. The Bible also talks about to honor. It says that the husband is to honor his wife in 1 Peter chapter 3 and verse 7. Likewise you husbands dwell with him according knowledge, giving honor unto the wife as unto the weaker vessel and as being heirs together the grace of life that your prayers be not hindered.

The word honor simply means to value. When you value something, you treat it differently. When you think you when you value your car, you wash it and wax it on a regular basis. You take care of it. When you b value plants, you weed them and water them and fertilize them. Whatever you value, you treat it differently. And and so often what we do is we defraud one another in our marriages because we don't love one another like we promised to. we don't honor one another and and and show value and especially men, you need to value your wives and treat them with value and and show them by the way you treat them that you value them as well.

And then it says to respect in Ephesians 5:33, "Nevertheless, let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself and the wife see that she reverence or respect her husband." You know, uh, Lord Chesterfield said this, "You must be respectable if you will be respected." And a lot of times I hear husbands complain, "Well, my wife doesn't respect me." Well, then be respectable. And ladies, uh, if your wife, if your husband is not respectable, then start treating him with respect so he wants to live up to what you're giving him. You see, we need to realize that that um in and when you read the passages, when you go through and read, every time it tells the wife to respect your husband, to reverence her husband, it almost invariably adds this phrase in the Lord.

In the Lord, because we as men don't always deserve respect, unfortunately. But the Bible says you still need to respect them maybe not as a person, but by position. When I was in the military, I was in the Air Force. And when I would salute an officer, uh, sometimes I would look at their shoulder and sometimes I would look them in the eye. When they were an officer but not very respectable, I would salute their shoulder, showing respect for the position. But when they were an officer and a gentleman and and and a good person, I would look them right in the eye and give them double honor, respecting their position and respecting the person as well.

And in our marriages, when we don't love one another as we vowed, when we don't honor one another as we promised, when we don't respect one another, then we are defrauding one another. In Ephesians chapter 5, it also goes on to say that uh that they're were to submit to one another and and the wives are to obey their husbands. And and and I know that's a very controversial thing today, but yet it's important to understand the concept of sacrificial servant leadership. Go over to Philippians chapter 2. Philippians chapter 2 and look at verses 5-8. Philippians chapter 2 and beginning with verse number five says, "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus who being in the form of God thought it not robbery equal with God, but made himself of no reputation took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men.

And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted and given a name which is above every name. The name of Jesus, every knee should bow and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. You see, we need to realize that that that sacrificial servant leadership it as we commit our lives to one another. We need to serve one another. There's so much emphasis on how the wife needs to submit to the husband. But before the Bible ever talks about that, he says submitting one to another. It it is really serving one another uh giving of yourselves, being a follower.

In 1 Corinthians 11:1, it says, "Be you followers of me even as I am of Christ." In verse number three, it says, "But I would have you know that the head of every man is Christ and the head of every woman is a man and head of Christ is God." Uh Aristotle said this, "He who cannot be a good follower cannot be a good leader." And when we don't follow and we don't lead in our marriage, when we're not working together as a team, we're defrauding one another. You see, every one of you here today that's married, you made a vow. You made a promise to love and to honor, to cherish, to respect, to follow, and lead.

And these are commitments to the Lord. And we ought not to defraud one another. In Exodus chapter 20 and verse number 15, the Bible says, "Thou shalt not steal." And we need to be careful. If you as a husband or you as a wife hold back affection, love, or sex from your spouse, you're a thief. You're stealing. You can justify all you want how you're going to hold back affection because of something they did or something they said or something that they didn't do. And you can do all you want, but in the end, you're still holding back from your spouse. You're still defrauding one another. In Hebrews chapter 13, verse number four, the Bible says, "Marriage is honorable in all and the bed undeiled, but whoreongers and adulterers, God will judge."

And if God is going to judge whormongers and adulterers, then he's also going to judge us as Christians that we defraud not one another. In Matthew 19:5 the Bible says and said for this cause shall a man leave father and mother shall cleave to his wife and they twain shall be one flesh. In the old testament they would talk about how he knew his wife and then she had a child. That that idea of that intimate personal relationships but you know many couples have sex but they don't know each other. The word intimacy means into me see. Intimacy see. You see, when you don't allow your spouse to see into you and when you don't take time to see into their heart, into their needs, then there is no intimacy.

It's not just about having sex with each other. In Philippians chapter 3 and verse number 10, it says, "That I may know him and the power of his resurrection, the fellowships of sufferings be made conformable unto his death." Paul said, 'I want to know Jesus. Now, he already knew he was saved. In verse number nine of that same passage, it talks about how he knew that his sins were forgiven and he knew he had eternal life. But he says, "I want to know more than just I'm saved. I want to know Jesus in a personal intimate way." And when you don't have that in your marriage, when you don't have that in your relationship, you're defrauding one another.

But for intimacy to happen, there must be certain things that have to happen as well. And the first one is confidence. In Proverbs chapter 31 and verse 11, it says, "The heart of her husband does safely trust in her so that she have no need of spoil." See, a lot of husbands are not intimate emotionally because they're afraid. They're they don't trust their wife with their emotions. They don't trust their wife with their feelings. They don't trust their wife not to judge them harshly or or to look down on them. And and ladies, if you want your husband to be intimate with you and you want him to open up to you, then he's got to trust you.

And the same thing is true in reverse. Men, your wives have to trust you. And not only physically, but emotionally and spiritually to trust you as well. But there also needs to be commitment. In Matthew 5 and:es 31-32, it has been said, "Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing to divorce. But I say unto you that whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causes her to commit adultery. And whosoever shall marry her that is divorced, committh adultery." You know, there's one word you need to get out of your vocabulary if you're married, and that's the dword.

The idea of being divorced. You see, when my wife and I were first married, uh we didn't get uh for our wedding presents, one of the things we did not get was a toaster. You know, most couples complain we got three toasters. We didn't get any. And uh one morning I woke up and I said to my wife, "I want some toast with breakfast." And she said, "Well, we don't have a toaster." I said, "Well, my mom used to toast the bread right on the burner." And so, uh so she tried to toast the bread in the burner and she burnt it. Can you believe that? She burnt it and I refused to eat it. I wasn't a good husband back then and I just said, you know, I'm not going to eat burnt toast.

You can sacrifice all you want to me, but I'm not eating anything burnt toast here. And I walked out the door and uh like most men forgot all about the argument. You know, we men, we have little boxes in our minds and we walk out that door, we take the the toast argument, we put it in a box and put it up on the shelf and forget about it all day long. But my wife, like a lot of women, all her boxes were open, including the toast box. And so after I left for work, she continued the argument for me, which wasn't she was so nice. So since I wasn't there, she just filled in the blanks on my side. And she continued that argument back and forth about the toast and how I wouldn't eat that toast and how all all these other things.

And and uh when I got home from work that day, I walked in the door and the first thing she said to me, she says, "I'm not going to divorce you. I'm gonna stay with you and make you suffer. Apparently in her argument with herself, she had talked she had thought about I'm just going to divorce him. Then God convicted her as a Christian said I can't divorce him. So she said I'll just stay with him and make him suffer. And she has kept her. No, she had not kept her promise. Um but you know so often we just jump right to that idea of that dword. And when there's no commitment in a relationship, the relationship is a fraud.

There's got to be a commitment. We're committed to one another. Says intimacy has to happen in our relationship one with another. In Proverbs chapter 5 and verses 15-20, for time sake, we're not glued up, but he talks about living with the wife of the youth, living happily with her. And and you know what? Your spouse made a commitment when they married you that they would not look at, touch, or make love to anybody else. And when you deny them that, you're committing fraud. You signed an exclusive contract with your spouse. And when we don't give them that love and that intimacy and that relationship, we are committing fraud on one another.

1 Corinthians chapter 7 and verse number two. 1 Corinthians chapter 7 and verse number two. Bible tells us in 1 Corinthians 7:2, "Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife and let every woman have her own husband." The Bible talks about fornication and how that we need to not defraud one another in the sexual area. In 1 Corinthians chapter 6 and verses 15- 18, it talks about know ye not that your bodies are members of Christ, and shall I take then the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? God forbid. What know you not that he which is joined to a heartless is one body?

For two saith, he shall be one flesh, but he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without his body. But he that committeth fornication sinnth against his own body. You know, all sin is sin and all sin separates us from God. But yet there are sins that have unique consequences. And one of the sins that affects us in a unique way is the sin of fornication. And we need to understand that that the word fornication comes from the word porna. And Matthew 5 and verse 28 says, "But I say unto you that whosoever lookth on a woman would lust uh to lust after or committed adultery with her already in his heart."

In Job 31:1, Job said, I made a covenant with mine eyes, why then should I think upon a maid? In verse number seven, if my step hath turned out of the way and mine art, my heart walked after mine eyes, and if he blot pleaded to mine hands, Job said, I'm not going to look on a woman. I'm not going to commit adultery in my heart. In Proverbs 6:25, lust not after her beauty in thine heart, neither let her take thee with her eyelids. Proverbs 27:7 says, "The fool soul loathe the honeycomb, but to the hungry every bitter thing is sweet." When you look at porn, you are committing fraud against your spouse and your future spouse as well.

You're committing fraud because the Bible says that this relationship is to be an exclusive relationship. And when we open this relationship to others, whether it's in visual or personal way, what we are doing is defrauding our spouse. Go to 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. We're going to look at this in just a couple verses and close. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 and look at verses 3-6. 1 Corinthians chapter 4, beginning with verse number three. For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that you should abstain from fornication, that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor, not in the lust of concupisence or just uh letting everything go, but even as the Gentiles, which know not God, that no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter.

because that the Lord is the avenger of all such and is we also have forewarned you and testified. For God has not called us to uncleanness but unto holiness. You see, God says when you commit fornication, you're committing fraud. For you young people and you singles, when you commit adultery, when you have fornication with a woman before you're married, you're you're defrauding her future husband. You're defrauding his f her f her uh his future wife of what is rightfully there. When you and your marriage commit adultery or look at pornography, you're defrauding your partner of what belongs to them.

And we need to understand that. Now, here's the thing is so I've talked about through this this whole series is many of these principles that we've been talking about the marriage, they're true. If you're here today and you're married, don't commit fraud against your spouse. Don't be the person. Be the person you promise you be. Don't have them wake up to a stranger and somebody they say, "I don't even know this person." Be the person that keeps your vow and your commitment, your covenant to love and to honor, respect one another. Be someone that's going to keep yourself pure in your relationship together.

But in Ephesians 5:32, the Bible says, "This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ in the church." In 1 Corinthians chapter 6 7 and 8, now therefore there is utterly a fault among you, because you go to law one with another. Why do you not rather take wrong? Why do you not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded? Nay, you do wrong and defraud that your and that your brethren. See, folks, we can commit fraud in our marriage relationship. The Bible says defraud you not one another as a couple. But we can also do that in the church. In Ephesians chapter 5, the Bible says that the marriage relationship is a picture of the relationship within the church. And the commitment that we have to one another as a church body. The commitment to love one another, the commitment to honor one another, the commitment to respect each other is important as well. And so we want to take this challenge from the word of God in our own personal lives. Let's bow in prayer.