Are You Radical in Killing Sexual Sin？ — Mack Tomlinson

Radical Resistance to Sexual Sin

What advice do you have for believers in fighting sexual sin and temptation?

The Open Gate of Passive Temptation

I think anyone that struggles with that area continually, or it's the big battle and they're being defeated, or it's always the issue on the table, ultimately, there's one thing going on. The gate is cracked open.

What I mean is, some way, some avenue is open for them to struggle. And they're not violently, radically, militantly killing that thing and conquering it. They're somehow being passive. They're in weakness.

They're looking at things in moments they shouldn't. And they're leaving the gate open. You know, if you don't leave the gate open, the cows aren't going to get out. You're not going to have a problem with having to round them up.

Mortification and Radical Measures

And so, I think the truth, the doctrine of the mortification of sin, the New Testament teaches, the spirit of the New Testament on that is a radical, militant killing of it where it's a plucking out of an eye.

It's the cutting off of a hand. It's fleeing youthful lust. It's avoiding all appearance of evil. Having such an attitude of that sin is so vile and so offensive and so demonic, but because it's so alluring and fleshly satisfying in the moment, and it's so tempting, those two things are so radically the delicious pleasure for the moment of evil, vile, demonic darkness.

Sin's Deadly Allure

Right? And the only reason we would ever partake of that, I mean, if this cup of coffee, if I told you there's 5 arsenic in it, but it's mostly coffee, okay? Nobody in their right mind is going to take a sip.

See? Because I know the deadly things that's in it. And I don't have a drastic position of no contact ever. And I don't think people have the radicalness about not tolerating it in any way. You know, if David on his balcony when he saw Bathsheba, had instantly said, it's wrong for me to look on her and run into his falling on his knees and cried out to God, what would have happened?

David, Bathsheba, and the First Look

Would the story be differently? But he didn't. The look lingered. The lust started. The mind and the will was weakened. The choice was made. The sin happens in the bed broom. And you know, the rest of the story.

Personal Accountability in Killing Sin

So, at times in my life I've seen, I've become aware. I've had these moments where I've, it was like God was speaking to me and I had to acknowledge, I am not serious enough about that sin. Whatever it is.

Anger or lust. What man doesn't have a lust problem? That there's always the potential to lust toward an attractive woman. And so, the lust opportunity is always going to be there. What is my handling of that?

How serious minded am I to say I do not want to lust toward any woman. And I have a prayer I pray. When I'll see, I'll say pure heart, Lord, right now. Pure heart. It's made me become serious in the moment of putting that sin to death.

Treating Moral Purity as a Life-and-Death Matter

I don't think there's a seriousness about mortifying sin. If somebody got serious enough about this, you think about somebody gets cancer. They'll go to the ends of the earth. They'll spend their whole savings to just deal with the cancer.

Well, how serious are we in our lives about moral sin and moral purity? If a guy gets real serious, he'll do whatever it takes to conquer it.