You Shall Not Commit Adultery
Readers Theater - Matthew 5:27-30

by Dr. Ralph F. Wilson

Part of a study on the Sermon on the Mount

Free E-mail Bible Study Bible study Grace: Favor for the Undeserving

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A creative reading from Matthew 5:27-30; Genesis 39:6-7; Exodus 20:17; 2 Samuel 11:2-4; Job 31:1; Jeremiah 17:9-10; Matthew 5:27-30; Mark 7:21-23; 2 Peter 2:14; James 1:14-15; and 1 John 2:16-17.
READER 1 You shall not commit adultery.
READER 2 Adultery.
READER 3 Adultery.
READER 1 You shall not commit adultery
READER 2 One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful....
READER 3 Desire!
READER 1 Lust!
READER 3 David sent messengers to get her.
READER 2 She came to him, and he slept with her.
READER 1 Each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire,
READER 2 By his own evil desire,
READER 1 By his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed.
READER 3 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
READER 1 "You have heard that it was said, 'Do not commit adultery.' But I tell you
READER 2 But I tell you
READER 3 But I tell you
READER 1 that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
READER 2 Lustfully.
READER 3 With impure intention.
READER 2 With carnal desire.
READER 1 That anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
READER 2 How about a woman?
READER 3 Can she sin with lust, too?
READER 1 Now Joseph was well-built and handsome, and after a while his master's wife took notice of Joseph and said, "Come to bed with me!"
READER 2 With eyes full of adultery, they never stop sinning....
READER 3 But it can't be a sin just to look, can it?
READER 2 Can it?
READER 1 From within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery,
READER 2 Greed, malice, deceit,
READER 3 Lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly.
READER 2 All these evils come from inside and make a man 'unclean.'
READER 1 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
READER 2 I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind,
READER 3 To reward a man according to his conduct,
READER 2 and according to the fruit of his doings.
READER 1 "You have heard that it was said, 'Do not commit adultery.'
READER 2 But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully
READER 3 has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
READER 1 "I made a covenant with my eyes," said Job, "not to look lustfully at a girl."
READER 2 If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away.
READER 3 It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.
READER 1 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away.
READER 3 It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.
READER 1 You shall not covet your neighbor's house.
READER 2 You shall not covet your neighbor's wife,
READER 3 Or his manservant
READER 1 Or his maidservant,
READER 2 His ox or donkey,
READER 3 Or anything that belongs to your neighbor.
READER 1 You shall not commit adultery
READER 2 With your body
READER 3 Or your eyes
READER 2 Or your heart
READER 3 No, not at all.
READER 1 For everything in the world--the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does--comes not from the Father but from the world.
READER 2 The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.
READER 1 Purify my looking, Lord.
READER 2 Purify my desires, Father.
READER 3 Purify my heart, Jesus.
READER 1 That I might please You.
ALL That WE might please You.

All lessons now compiled as a 220-page book available as an e-book or printed book.

Part of a study on the Sermon on the Mount found at https://www.jesuswalk.com/manifesto/

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Copyright © 2023, Ralph F. Wilson. <pastor@joyfulheart.com> All rights reserved. A single copy of this article is free. Do not put this on a website. See legal, copyright, and reprint information.

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