If You Don’t Fight Lust

Abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. (1 Peter 2:11)

When I confronted a man about the adultery he was living in, I tried to understand his situation, and I pled with him to return to his wife. Then I said, “You know, Jesus says that if you don’t fight this sin with the kind of seriousness that is willing to gouge out your own eye, you will go to hell and suffer there forever.”

As a professing Christian, he looked at me in utter disbelief, as though he had never heard anything like this in his life, and said, “You mean you think a person can lose his salvation?”

So, I have learned again and again from firsthand experience that there are many professing Christians who have a view of salvation that disconnects it from real life, and that nullifies the threats of the Bible, and that puts the sinning person who claims to be a Christian beyond the reach of biblical warnings. I believe this view of the Christian life is comforting thousands who are on the broad way that leads to destruction (Matthew 7:13).

Jesus said, if you don’t fight lust, you won’t go to heaven. “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” (Matthew 5:29). The point is not that true Christians always succeed in every battle. The issue is that we resolve to fight, not that we succeed flawlessly. We don’t make peace with sin. We make war.

The stakes are much higher than whether the world is blown up by a thousand long-range missiles, or terrorists bomb your city, or global warming melts the ice caps, or AIDS sweeps the nations. All these calamities can kill only the body. But if we don’t fight lust, we lose our souls. Forever.

Peter says the passions of the flesh wage war against our souls (1 Peter 2:11). The stakes in this war are infinitely higher than in any threat of world war or terrorism. The apostle Paul listed “immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness,” then said it is “on account of these the wrath of God is coming” (Colossians 3:5–6). And the wrath of God is immeasurably more fearful than the wrath of all the nations of the world put together.

May God give us grace to take our souls and others’ souls seriously and keep up the fight.

John Piper 

How to Defy Sinful Desire

By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward. (Hebrews 11:24–26)

Or, boil it down to the essentials: “By faith Moses . . . [left] the fleeting pleasures of sin . . . for he was looking to the reward” (Hebrews 11:24–26).

Faith is not content with “fleeting pleasures.” It is ravenous for joy. Joy that lasts. Forever. And the word of God says, “In your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore” (Psalm 16:11). So, faith will not be sidetracked into the deceitful pleasures of sin. It will not give up so easily in its quest for maximum joy.

The role of God’s word is to feed faith’s appetite for God. And, in doing this, it weans my heart off of the deceptive taste of lust.

At first, lust begins to trick me into feeling that I would really miss out on some great satisfaction if I followed the path of purity. But then I take up the sword of the Spirit and begin to fight.

I read that it is better to gouge out my eye than to lust (Matthew 5:29).

I read that if I think about things that are pure and lovely and excellent, the peace of God will be with me (Philippians 4:8–9).

I read that setting the mind on the flesh brings death, but setting the mind on the Spirit brings life and peace (Romans 8:6).

I read that lust wages war against my soul (1 Peter 2:11), and that the pleasures of this life choke out the life of the Spirit (Luke 8:14).

But best of all, I read that God withholds no good thing from those who walk uprightly (Psalm 84:11), and that the pure in heart will see God (Matthew 5:8).

As I pray for my faith to be satisfied with God’s life and peace, the sword of the Spirit carves the sugarcoating off the poison of lust. I see it for what it is. And by the grace of God, its alluring power is broken.

John Piper 

Two Legs, the King’s Highway, and a Hard Run

“Therefore hear me now, my children, and do not depart from the words of my mouth. Remove your way far from her, and do not go near the door of her house, lest you give your honor to others, and your years to the cruel one.”

PROVERBS 5:7-9

 

PONDER THIS

Sexual immorality is not a sin we are told to fight; it’s a sin that we are told to flee. Second Timothy 2:22 says to “flee . . . youthful lusts.” Don’t linger and don’t try to figure it out on your own. Don’t even come near the house. The way to escape is two legs, the King’s highway, and a hard run. Get out of there. Don’t even hang around the edge of this temptation.

Joseph was a holy man and had become a servant in Potiphar’s house (Genesis 39). Mrs. Potiphar tried to entice Joseph to come to bed with her. Realizing what was happening, Joseph began to leave the room. She reached out and took hold of his garment and so he left his coat and fled. Some of us would have hung around, even if we knew it was wrong. Joseph didn’t do that. Joseph did not try to stay and fight this temptation; he fled. Whether it is a situation you encounter, a sin you are struggling with, or a thought that crosses your mind, the response should be the same: flee!

When are the times it is not wise to even try to fight sin but instead to flee it altogether? Why do you need to know the difference?

How can you seek wisdom about the times it is appropriate to fight and the times it is appropriate to flee?

PRACTICE THIS

Ask God for the wisdom and obedience needed to flee sin as you ought.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Flee!!!

BIBLE MEDITATION:

Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is outside the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. 1 Corinthians 6:18

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

The sin of immorality is not a sin we are told to fight in the Bible—it’s a sin we’re told to flee! (See 2 Timothy 2:22). God tells us to get out of a compromising situation. Read what Joseph did when he was approached by Potiphar’s wife in Genesis 39:7-18. He fled!

If there is a person who works in your office and that person is flirting with you, knowing you’re married, it would be better for you to quit your job than to stay in that office. If they’re married and you’re single—ditto!

“But—my job!”

But—your purity!

ACTION POINT:

Perhaps something else is going on—maybe you’re fighting a pornography addiction, and you’re alone in your motel room with free X-rated movies. Do you sneak a peek? Don’t try to test how far you can come to the edge without falling over. See how far you can stay away!

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers