Scriptures: Exodus 20:14, Matthew 19:4-6, 5:27-28, Proverbs 6:32, 5:8-9, 6:27, Job 24:15, 1 Corinthians 6:18, 5:6, 6:9, Psalm 51:4, Genesis 39:9, Hebrews 13:4

Without question, if you were to put the Ten Commandments to a vote in terms of popularity, "Thou shall not commit adultery" would be voted the least popular of all, and it would win in a landslide. Today’s culture has basically thumbed its nose at God, and said, “If it feels good, we are going to do it, and you keep your nose out of our private lives. What we do behind closed doors is none of your business.” In the real world, half of all adults, under age 30, will live with someone before they get married. 60% of recently marrieds acknowledge they lived with their new spouse before getting married.

Without a question, we are, in the words of Jesus, “A sinful and adulterous generation.” We are still in the middle of a sexual revolution. But unlike the first American Revolution, which freed us, this revolution has enslaved us. This revolution has ruined more reputations, wrecked more homes, killed more marriages, broken more hearts, destroyed more careers, given more guilt, brought more unhappiness, and cost more money than any other revolution in our history. In this message, Dr. Merritt not only counts the high cost of breaking the Seventh Commandment, but the foundational truth of the sanctity and sacredness of marriage for our time.

"God is so concerned about marriage because of his unique relation to it. God created the first couple; God brought the two together. God created them specifically to be married one to the other, and God performed the first wedding. God has performed every wedding ever since. From the very beginning God has ordained that the marriage relationship be above all other earthly relationships. That means that the relationship of a husband to his wife is to be above that of the parents to the children. The husband’s first love is to be for his wife; the wife’s first love is to be for her husband. The marriage relationship should be preeminent even above a business relationship. There are so many husbands who are losing their marriages because they have put their jobs, their work, their institutional success, their promotions, and their salaries, above their wives. No possession should ever be more important than the person to whom you are married." --Dr. Merritt

Keywords: marriage, covenant, husband, wife, Commandment, seventh, relationship, holy, consecrated, spouse, love, cleave, Charles Swindoll, Time Magazine, adultery, sin, Paul, physical, adultery, AIDS, HIV, syphilis, STD, wander, J. D. Unwin, anthropologist, Jesus, Christ, Savior, Solomon, courtship, control, conviction, confession, Adam, Eve, National Opinion Research Center, Hugh Hefner, obedience, happiness