Irresistible… unfortunately: The battle for sexual purity

Jesus said that if our eye offends us we should pluck it out.  I don’t a single man who would have at least one eye gone… if not both… over the course of their lives.

If we are honest with ourselves… there was a point (or still is) in our lives where we didn’t want to look at something… but found it irresistible.  We gave in and let the enemy make his pitch.  We listened to the lie, “You can look as long as you don’t touch.”

And it is a lie. 

“But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.” Matt 5:28

“The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when [thine eye] is evil, thy body also [is] full of darkness.” Luke 11:34

What we look at has more of an effect on us than we want to admit.  For if we admit it… we need to change it.  We need to repent.  We need to be transformed.

That is all well and good… but how?

The eye is not the frontline in the battle of the mind regarding sexual sin… pornography, lust, adultery, etc… it is the second.  Too often we do not realize this.  And when we let the enemy through the front line… the battle is harder.

So what is the front line of defense in the battle for sexual purity?  Whether it be looking at pornography, looking at women with lust, looking at men with lust, engaging in adultery of the mind, heart, or flesh… the front line is revealed to us in 1 John 1:1

“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled,…”

Did you catch that?  First we hear.  The front line of the battle against sin is not what we see… it is what we hear.  And more specifically… who we choose to listen to.

First we hear…

We have to first realize that temptation is a hearing thing.  Who are we listening to?  Who we choose to listen to… who we choose to agree with (confession is simply to say along with)… determines what we believe (Believing is acting according to your confession.)

Any thought that you have, that is contrary to the Word of God is a temptation… it is the enemy enticing you.  It is a lie.  Will you listen?

Or will you stop the conversation?

Then we see…

It is next that the enemy will show you something.  And it will be something in line with what he was saying to you.  It must be this way.  It must be that you have an opportunity to believe, to demonstrate your faith.  It must be so that you can claim your victory in Christ.

If the devil starts a conversation and says, “It is OK to look at pictures… that doesn’t hurt anyone…”  EVEN IF you do not receive it, EVEN IF you say, “to hell with you satan…” the enemy will do everything within his means to get a picture in front of you.

He did it to Jesus. 

First in Luke 4:3 “the devil said …” then in Luke 4:5 the devil “shewed unto him” yet Jesus did not sin.

If the devil was able to show something to Jesus even after Jesus answered what he said with scripture… know that he will be able to do it to us.

But… we have not sinned… yet.  Follow along…

Then we look upon…

Wait, is there a difference to “seeing” and “looking upon?”  Absolutely.  We see what comes into our line of vision.  But that which we look upon is that which we choose to focus on and pay attention to.

If I am going down a highway and I hear a siren, and then I see an ambulance drive by… I can choose to continue to look upon (at) the road ahead of me, or to look upon the ambulance driving by.  And what happens when I take my eye off the road? 

You got it.  A wreck.

It is the same with seeing and looking upon in the flesh.  The devil will bring before us something into our line of vision for us to see… he will tempt us.  But temptation is of the devil.  It is what he does.

Temptation does not make us sin… lust does. 

“But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.” James 1:14-15

I want to stop for a second and ask that you read the verse again… but do it with a break after “tempted.”  Like this:

“But every man is tempted.”  STOP… statement of fact.  The devil comes to each one of us and tries to start a conversation.  He lies to us all.

Now pick it back up…

“When he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.” We start to see now what is happening… we like what the devil is saying… we begin to listen more… and then we are enticed, which is the same thing as saying deceived, duped, snagged….

“Then when lust hath conceived”.  I love the word for “conceived” here… it is syllambanō.  The first definition of this word is “to seize, take: one as prisoner.”  Are we getting a clearer picture?  Here is where we become a slave, a prisoner to what comes next…

“it bringeth forth sin.” 

It is all a conversation.  If you want to break the cycle of sexual sin in your life… if you want to claim your victory in Christ over this battle front…

Stop listening…

Stop listening to the enemy’s lies.  When you “get a thought” to look at or lust after, to peek at or to glance toward… know that it is not from God.  Do NOT agree with it.

Show some discipline… Discipline is having already decided. 

Decide not to do what the enemy has said he is going to bring… so when he brings it… you won’t!

After we have looked upon the next step is…

that we handle…

We can only take hold of that which we have already looked upon.  It has to come into focus for us to grab it.  It is not just catching a glimpse (seeing) it is fastening our eyes upon.  And once we have looked upon we will grab. 

SO… be careful what you look upon.  We must desire to see His face and when we do… fasten our eyes upon Him so that we can take hold of Him.

You can stop looking.  You can stop giving in to the sins of the flesh.  You can resist the click or the remote.  You can keep you eyes from wandering.  You can do all things… through Christ.

Don’t live in the lies that the enemy brings you.  Live in the Truth.  The truth that we are more than conquerors though Him. 

Lord, I pray that all those who have listened too long to the lies of the enemy… all those who have agreed with him when he said that they couldn’t resist… will find their strength in You.  I pray that they will stop listening and start believing Your word.  Be with them oh Lord.  Carry them.  Give them a new revelation of the victory they have in You.

In Jesus’ Name,

AMEN!!!

SDG