"Sex in Eden was a selfless affection...
Pornography is selfish pleasure" - John Piper
2 Peter 2
4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment; 5 if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; 6 if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; 7 and if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked 8 (for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard); 9 then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, 10 and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority.
Every man needs accountability for his actions. If he thinks otherwise he is only fooling himself and invoking his own desires to ensnare him in sin, "and when it is fully grown bringing forth death" (James 1:15). I say, if a man chooses to do what his body desires, he will fall short of what "God has promise to the ones who love him", and he will perish (James 1:12).
Ezekiel 8
12 Then he said to me, “Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the dark, each in his room of pictures? For they say, ‘The Lord does not see us, the Lord has forsaken the land.’ ” 13 He said also to me, “You will see still greater abominations that they commit.”
14 Then he brought me to the entrance of the north gate of the house of the Lord, and behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz. 15 Then he said to me, “Have you seen this, O son of man? You will see still greater abominations than these.”
Ezekiel was speaking about a hidden room where the elders had engraved creeping things and loathsome beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel. A hidden room of pictures is much the same as the internet and the filthy pictures you look at while no one is around. But God sees all things, nothing is hidden from the Lord.
Lamentations 3:51
my eyes cause me grief
at the fate of all the daughters of my city.
Such things are unpleasant to the Lord. Such things make mothers, wives, and daughters weep. Such abominations such as viewing pornography and masturbation can lead to greater sin. I am referring to fornication, homosexuality, rape, incest, orgies, and other sexually immoral acts.
Isaiah 29
15 Ah, you who hide deep from the Lord your counsel,
whose deeds are in the dark,
and who say, “Who sees us? Who knows us?”
16 You turn things upside down!
Shall the potter be regarded as the clay,
that the thing made should say of its maker,
“He did not make me”;
or the thing formed say of him who formed it,
“He has no understanding”?
You trick yourself into thinking that God does not see you. Do you think that The One who has made you does not understand your pain? The Lord who has intricately woven you in the womb.
Psalm 139:15
My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
Psalm 22
9 Yet you are he who took me from the womb;
you made me trust you at my mother’s breasts.
10 On you was I cast from my birth,
and from my mother’s womb you have been my God.
God didn't make the Law so that we can't have fun. He made the Law to protect us 1 Timothy 1:10.
Warning Against the Adulteress
Proverbs 7
7 My son, keep my words
and treasure up my commandments with you;
2 keep my commandments and live;
keep my teaching as the apple of your eye;
3 bind them on your fingers;
write them on the tablet of your heart.
4 Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,”
and call insight your intimate friend,
5 to keep you from the forbidden woman,
from the adulteress with her smooth words.
6 For at the window of my house
I have looked out through my lattice,
7 and I have seen among the simple,
I have perceived among the youths,
a young man lacking sense,
8 passing along the street near her corner,
taking the road to her house
9 in the twilight, in the evening,
at the time of night and darkness.
10 And behold, the woman meets him,
dressed as a prostitute, wily of heart.
11 She is loud and wayward;
her feet do not stay at home;
12 now in the street, now in the market,
and at every corner she lies in wait.
13 She seizes him and kisses him,
and with bold face she says to him,
14 “I had to offer sacrifices,
and today I have paid my vows;
15 so now I have come out to meet you,
to seek you eagerly, and I have found you.
16 I have spread my couch with coverings,
coloured linens from Egyptian linen;
17 I have perfumed my bed with myrrh,
aloes, and cinnamon.
18 Come, let us take our fill of love till morning;
let us delight ourselves with love.
19 For my husband is not at home;
he has gone on a long journey;
20 he took a bag of money with him;
at full moon he will come home.”
21 With much seductive speech she persuades him;
with her smooth talk she compels him.
22 All at once he follows her,
as an ox goes to the slaughter,
or as a stag is caught fast
23 till an arrow pierces its liver;
as ha bird rushes into a snare;
he does not know that it will cost him his life.
24 And now, O sons, listen to me,
and be attentive to the words of my mouth.
25 Let not your heart turn aside to her ways;
do not stray into her paths,
26 for many a victim has she laid low,
and all her slain are a mighty throng.
27 Her house is the way to Sheol,
going down to the chambers of death.
Here are the five S's to the walk to purity:
- Saved
- Start walking with God
- Separation from triggers
- Someone to be accountable
- Stay sociable
1. First of all, are you saved? Do you know if you have been 'born-again'?
Here is a quick test to see if you're in the faith:
Luke 3:9 says, "Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire." Are you producing the good fruit? If you are truly born-again, you will bear good fruit.
Jesus says in Luke 6:43-45, "For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thornbushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks."
Let's examine what the fruit of the spirit are in Galatians 5.
18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.If you have not hated your sins you are not saved. Look into the mirror of the ten commandments.
Please, take this short test as a self examination.
Romans 13
13 Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarrelling and jealousy. 14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.
In the next verse it says "But put on the Lord Jesus Christ." You have to put on Jesus Christ like you would trust a parachute if you jumped out of an airplane. You not only have to believe in what He did on the cross, but you have to 'take up your cross' and follow him. You have to trust in him with your whole life. You have to let go of your own life, let go of your old self and put on Jesus Christ as your Saviour trusting that he is in control and delivering you from death and into everlasting life.
2. Second, once you are walking with God you are striving to know Him by reading His Word (the bible) daily.
3. Third, separate yourself from all forms of temptations - the t.v., internet, magazines, ads, etc..
4. Fourth, have someone who is mature in the faith to keep accountable to. Someone you can trust, preferably someone who has gone through this and has conquered it for 'x' number of years. Someone of the same sex would be most helpful. I have been told by many men that your spouse is probably not the best person to be held accountable to.
5. Last of all, get out of the house as much as possible. Keep yourself occupied with other believers and close friends. But don't do this as grace to yourself or just a task to do. If you truly love your Christian brothers and sisters you will want to be with them and not just as a task. If it is not possible that you have that many friends to keep in touch with, then create a new hobby or activity to keep yourself out off the computer or near the malls, wherever you are tempted. Keep busy and sociable!
Don't Waste Your Life! by John Piper
I have never regretted giving up my life for God. But I have countless days that I regret holding back from giving myself to Him.
I never regretted surrendering to His Lordship in obedience. But I have regretted many times of trying to be my own lord and not surrendering to Him.
Don't Waste Your Life!
Flee Sexual Immorality
Freedom from Masturbation and Pornography from I'll Be Honest on Vimeo.
1 Corinthians 6
12 “All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be enslaved by anything. 13 “Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food”—and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. 14 And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power. 15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! 16 Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two will become one flesh.” 17 But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. 18 Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. 19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
Verse 18 says, Flee from sexual immorality! If the computer is the problem, get a filter, or just use the internet when people are around, keep the door open. Don't let any images into your mind. Take those thoughts captive! Verse 20 says you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. Do not pursue in fleshly desires and pleasuring your body by masturbation or feeding the brain with fantasies. Cut them off! Pluck them out of your mind! You have no authority to look at those images on the internet, or to fantasize about your girlfriend, or a friend's girlfriend. You do not own them. Leviticus 18:20 says, "you shall not lie sexually with your neighbour’s wife and so make yourself unclean with her." Even your fiancée doesn't belong to you yet until you have been married. Marriage is a covenant between your fiancée, God, and you. Hebrews 13:4 says, "Let marriage be held in honour among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous." For married men, you don't even have the right to lust over your wife. You should love her the way Jesus loved the church. She is a daughter of God first and secondly your wife. She is a gem in God's eyes and should also be that precious to you. Love her as Jesus loved the church.
Ephesians 5
3 But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. 4 Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. 5 For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.
Thessalonians 4
3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; 4 that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honour, 5 not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God
Take control of your body. Take those thoughts captive. You have to control yourself. It is His gift to us to have free will. We were created in His image and have the freedom to make our own decisions. So honour your body because it does not belong to you. Conduct your life to live in love and holiness so that you may display what Christ is like and bear as a good witness to others.
Todd Friel
"Set soundly upon the mortifying of every lust. Pug none, sir, indulge none. But resolvedly set upon the ruin of every lust. Why? One leak in a ship will sink it. One stab strikes Goliad just as dead as twenty-three did Caesar. One Delila may do Samson as much mischief as all the Philistines. By eating one apple Adam lost paradise. One lick of honey endangered Johnathan's life. One Aiken was a trouble to all of Israel. One Jonah raises a storm too heavy for the whole ship. Just so, one unmortified lust will raise very strong storms and tempest in the soul. Therefore, as you would have a blessed calm and quietness in your own spirits on your sharpest trials, set thoroughly upon the work of mortification. Kill it, Christian! Do you not know what a world of mischief one unmortified lust may do? Therefore, let nothing satisfy you but the blood of all your lusts. Kill it and let your motivation not be that if you get busted that it could wreck your career, your reputation, your standing as an elder at your church, but because your God died for you. And when you commit that sin you are siding with His covenant—the enemy of our covenant partner. We do not want to sin because He has been so kind to us. Dwell on that, and then kill it... or He's gonna kill you!"
Punishments for Sexual Immorality
Leviticus 20
10 “If a man commits adultery with the wife of his neighbour, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death. 11 If a man lies with his father’s wife, he has uncovered his father’s nakedness; both of them shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them. 12 If a man lies with his daughter-in-law, both of them shall surely be put to death; they have committed perversion; their blood is upon them. 13 If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them. 14 If a man takes a woman and her mother also, it is depravity; he and they shall be burned with fire, that there may be no depravity among you. 15 If a man lies with an animal, he shall surely be put to death, and you shall kill the animal. 16 If a woman approaches any animal and lies with it, you shall kill the woman and the animal; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.
17 “If a man takes his sister, a daughter of his father or a daughter of his mother, and sees her nakedness, and she sees his nakedness, it is a disgrace, and they shall be cut off in the sight of the children of their people. He has uncovered his sister’s nakedness, and he shall bear his iniquity. 18 If a man lies with a woman during her menstrual period and uncovers her nakedness, he has made naked her fountain, and she has uncovered the fountain of her blood. Both of them shall be cut off from among their people. 19 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your mother’s sister or of your father’s sister, for that is to make naked one’s relative; they shall bear their iniquity. 20 If a man lies with his uncle’s wife, he has uncovered his uncle’s nakedness; they shall bear their sin; they shall die childless. 21 If a man takes his brother’s wife, it is impurity. He has uncovered his brother’s nakedness; they shall be childless.
Sexual immorality is taken very seriously to God. Before Christ came to abolish our sins, the old covenant said that 'he shall bear his iniquity' and 'shall surely be put to death.' This was a life and death situation. In Deuteronomy we can see that God took sexual sin very seriously. Rebellious people were taken outside the gates of the city and stoned to death. If you keep sinning in this area and don't fight it, you are of the devil and will surely die. Not only on earth but spiritually spending eternity without God. Imagine living without God's mercy in a place of fire and weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Lust
Matthew 5
27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.
In 1 Corinthians 5:9-13 Paul clarifies that he was not just warning the people of Corinth to abstain from sexually immoral people outside the church, but also inside the church and to outcast them from infecting all of the members of the body. He says in verses 12 and 13, "For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside. 'Purge the evil person from among you.'" If you know someone in your congregation is living in this sin, come forward to them alone with love and talk about it. If they do not resist to fight their sin, bring another brother or sister and talk to them, then a third time if they still don't resist, cast them out. It is better to have lost one member of the body than to have the whole congregation suffer. If they are struggling with this fight to purity, encourage them and build them up with the Word and love.
One might ask, "How far can I go as a Christian?" The proper question to ask is, "How holy can I be?" This is how it is with sinful people. They are not interested in abiding by the law; they are interested in the loop-hole.
Marriage
The purpose of marriage is determined by the purpose served. Why get married? The first thing that many would think of is to have sex. Marriage is the institution where you are in a position to raise children. The natural consequence of sex is to have children and the natural goal of sex is to have children. One reason you get married is to have children. Marriage creates the environment where children can mirror the same. Sex isn't there to have fun or have kids to have fun. It is not fun! You get married for richness and death. Sex does not make the marriage. It is the covenant that makes the marriage.
Many people forget what marriage is all about. You have the responsibility to take care of other people; your wife or husband, and children. And not just for a few years, but for the rest of your life. It's a selfless act to commit to a marriage; to be unselfish by raising and taking care of someone else. It's a long term responsibility and a public commitment. This is the point of getting married. You have the responsibility as a couple of raising the next generation for the community. It is a pledge and commitment for life that should not be broken. The Lord has affirmed marriage but hates divorce.
Words of Encouragement
Joshua 1:5
No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you.
2 Timothy 2
21 Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonourable, he will be a vessel for honourable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.
22 So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.
1 Timothy 1
12 I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, 13 though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, 14 and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.
Ladies
1 Timothy 2:9, 1 Peter 3:3-5, 1 Corinthians 7:25-40
The Puritans on Sex
http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/MediaPlayer/1660/Video/
References: YoutTube, The Good Test, I'llBeHonest, The English Standard Version of the Holy Bible
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