"Whoever Lusts" - Part II

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Preacher: Ross Macdonald Scripture: Matthew 5:27-30

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Well, this morning, we pick up simply where we left off last week, and as I said, as we work through and finish out this passage here this morning, we want to be perhaps even more practical.
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There's aspects, of course, of practical application that are perhaps not appropriate for a context or a setting like this morning, maybe perhaps more among men or among women, and maybe even then, not among the whole group, but perhaps one -on -one or a smaller group of men.
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And I'll speak to that a little bit as we move forward, but let me just begin with perhaps a word of encouragement, as so often in the
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Christian life, it's when you really begin to address patterns of sin in your life that it gets a lot harder before it gets easier.
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And I'm not condoning that you watch this as a means of entertainment, but if you've seen professional fights, the hits really do matter if there's no knockout, right?
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The hits really do matter. If there's a flurry of punches that are landing, all of those are noted by the judges, and at the end, whoever had the most punches landed wins, right?
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But you could be under an all -out whirlwind of punches. It could be a hundred to three as far as shots taken, shots landed.
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And as long as you persevere and in due time land that knockout blow, even if that's the only swing that you took during the fight, you've won.
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If you land the knockout blow, even if you had to persevere under a flurry of abuse and torment, if you land out the knockout blow, then you've won.
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You have your victory. And I would just encourage you, take all of the teaching, all of the things that we're looking at even this morning as encouragement and exhortation to persevere under the flurry, under the assault of the evil one.
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Perhaps this week for you has been more of a revelation that the chains are a lot harder and they're wrapped around a lot tighter than you thought.
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You didn't realize you were in this deep, and this week you actually really tried to walk in the purity that befits your calling, and you found it very hard to do so.
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Perhaps you fell this week in ways that you're ashamed to even be here this morning. Well, let me encourage you.
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The lion that 1 Peter speaks of does not let the prey go readily, does not let the prey go easily.
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Some of you have pet dogs, right? The toy is simply by their face until you try to take it away.
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Then what happens? They pull back. They bite down. I hope
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I'm projecting clearly enough. It's when you try to pull something away that there's the pull, there's the growl, there's the assault.
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Do you see? That's how it is in dealing with sins, especially sins of this nature. So don't be discouraged if this week, this past week has revealed your weakness for what it is, has shown you perhaps a bondage that you weren't willing to admit.
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You were living in self -denial. Take this as the Lord's opportunity for your life, that you would take these things to heart.
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Maybe take others into counsel so that you can land that knockout blow.
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But in the meantime, persevere under the assault, persevere under the flurry of temptation, brothers.
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Don't let this time pass by idly, right? The Lord has us here in this part of his word for a reason.
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So take these things to heart. Allow your conscience to be convicted as the
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Lord enables, as the Lord leads. And then don't allow the sun to set without dealing rightly with the things that he's laid upon you.
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So that's my encouragement as we begin. Let me just read for us again from Matthew 5, beginning in verse 27.
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You have heard that it was said to those of old, you shall not commit adultery. But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
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If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out, cast it from you. It's more profitable for you that one of your members perish than for your whole body to be cast into hell.
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And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you. It's more profitable for you that one of your members perish than for your whole body to be cast into hell.
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So as we said, just a review from last week, Jesus is quoting the seventh commandment. You shall not commit adultery.
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But he's quoting it in a way that ties the tenth commandment. You shall not covet. If any man looks to lust, right, that verb is the same verb, to covet.
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In other words, to strongly desire, to strongly pursue. And so we have the seventh commandment and the tenth commandment held together.
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To lust is to covet. It's to have this intense desire, this intense ambition.
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It's to let your mind wander. It's to allow your imagination to fantasize. It's allow your eyes to wander.
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As we said to the men, it's to behold the things that are not lawful for you to behold.
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For the women, it's to be beheld in ways that it's not lawful to be beheld.
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And so we've been really addressing this issue of desire, coveting. How do we deal with desire?
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How do we understand Jesus' call to purity? And as we said, you can't begin to understand what's wrong about desire until you understand what is right about desire.
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The problem is not God's design. His design is good. He declared it very good.
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It's not the goodness of a good desire that is the problem. It's a desire that does not flow from his design.
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The problem is when God -given, God -oriented desire becomes disordered, dysfunctional.
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And this dysfunction, this disorder begins to rule in our mind. It begins to stain our imagination.
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It begins to stain our affections, and therefore, it becomes an obstacle to our will.
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This is how you land in that Romans 7 predicament. The things that I want to do,
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I don't do. The things I don't want to do, I'm doing. It's because of the power, the influence of a mind that is defiled and its effect upon the affections and that upon the will.
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So last week, we talked about these things. We talked about the call to the beholder, in other words, the call to men, the call to the beheld, the call to women.
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And we want to press down a little bit further into practical details this morning. Simply, again, two parts. Now, first, the call to be holy, and then lastly, the call to behold.
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The call to be holy and the call to behold. So I hope you'll hold together last week with this morning.
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The call to the beholder and the call to the beheld, in other words, the call to men and women, that's still front and center. But we want to frame it in terms of this calling to be holy.
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That's what Jesus is after in this Sermon on the Mount. One of the major themes in the Sermon on the Mount is righteousness.
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How are we to understand what it means to be a part of this kingdom, to have our lives bound to this king?
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What does it mean to enter into a kingdom of righteousness? And then at the same time, this call to behold will lead us,
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I hope, in a practical way to behold. There's a great need to frame everything in terms of beholding.
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And so let's begin with the call to behold. For most young men in the world today, the idea of victory over lust is unimaginable.
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I say for most young men in the world, for most young men in this room. Let's be clear. For most of you, especially younger men sitting in this room today, the thought that you could have victory over lust is unimaginable.
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And it tends to go one of two ways. For the rare few, they'll simply own it.
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I'm a man. This is what men are like. This is what I'm like. This is what men do. This is what I do.
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I know it's not really appropriate. I know it's not really fitting. But boys will be boys. Men will be men.
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This is just how it is. And in fact, I'm not as far gone as most of the men that I know. Certainly not like my neighbors and my coworkers or even like my friend circle.
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Not like most of the people in my life. I'm actually doing fairly well all considered. And they try to pad, as it were, the conviction.
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They try to find a way to evade the shame. In other words, they begin to own it and become increasingly unapologetic.
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This is just how things are. Someday things will change. Someday my circumstances will change. Maybe they bit down on the illusion that a lust problem can be completely solved by just marriage.
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If you've got a lust problem, if you've got a pornography problem, marriage won't solve that. Marriage won't solve that.
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So they bite down on the lie and they become disillusioned. Now their next big hope is, well, when I get older. When eventually my testosterone levels begin to wane.
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When everything else in my life begins to... In fact, when I just kind of get ahead and establish myself. And my life's just a little more ordered.
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Or maybe just when I'm heading toward those sunset years. Then I really won't struggle. And I would just say, again, it's an illusion.
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It's this idea you're now beginning to own your sin rather than repent of your sin. You're becoming apologetic.
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In other words, defending your sin. And in that brash sort of arrogance, as scripture would say, to the defiled all things are defiled.
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Your life has become so unleavened that instead of sweeping out the leaven through repentance and confession.
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You simply get comfortable with the fact that there's going to be a lot of leaven in your life. And as long as you don't have as much leaven as other homes around you, you're okay.
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That's what you tell yourself. To the defiled all things are defiled. Well, that's what the rare few will do.
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Most men will live in hypocrisy. Few will begin to own it.
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But most men will live in hypocrisy. They'll never truly own it. They'll simply have a split life.
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And it's a bondage to live under the addiction of pornography. It's a bondage to live under the chains of lust.
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But let me tell you, it's also a bondage to live as a hypocrite. And hypocrites don't last long.
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You can only straddle so far for so long. Eventually, you become disenchanted, disillusioned.
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You'll leave one or the other. Now, the encouragement here is we have the good news of the gospel.
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And I would say this to both the one who's simply owning their sin in their defilement becoming leavened and to the one who's living in abject hypocrisy.
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In either way, they're not dealing with their sin rightly. But the encouragement here is we have the good news of the gospel.
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And you don't have the good news until you're ready to take on and face the bad news. I was saying several weeks ago to a man, most of the world spends their whole life avoiding looking at themselves in the mirror.
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And scripture is a mirror. Scripture wants to show you who you are accurately. The world will lie to you.
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You'll lie to yourself. Scripture will tell you as it really is. Scripture will show you as you really are.
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It's what makes Jesus' words here so jarring, so challenging. You wish that they were just hyperbole, exaggeration, some sort of weird metaphor.
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He doesn't really mean what he's saying. He really means what he's saying. Because scripture is a mirror that's telling you the way things really are.
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And so the gospel is good news for those who are willing to face the bad news. The point of looking in the mirror is to see all that is not presentable, all that is not right.
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Scripture is a mirror then that not only reveals what's wrong but points to what is right. It shows you the remedy. The good news of the gospel then is bound to this call of holiness.
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The good news of the gospel says be holy as God himself is holy. The gospel is not less than that.
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That's what the gospel is ultimately calling us toward. The gospel is good news because the way toward that fulfillment, the way toward that holiness, it is through the veil, that is through the body of the
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Savior that's crucified and now is risen and stands ever to intercede for his people, who close them with his own righteousness, sanctifies them by his own spirit.
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That's the good news of the gospel. But that good news never trickles down into the minds, hearts, and wills of those that are living in abject hypocrisy.
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Never will. The good news isn't really good news to a hypocrite. The good news isn't really good news to someone who's simply owning their sin without conviction, without repentance.
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Because the good news does not leave us as we are. It finds us as we are. It never leaves us as we are. The good news is that our lives will be transformed by degrees unto the glory of our
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Savior who saved us. That's the good news. You won't always be this way. Praise God.
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You won't always struggle in this way. Praise God. That's the good news, if you don't live hypocritically.
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So the good news is bound to the call to be holy. And at the same time, the call to be holy is bound to the good news of the gospel.
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I want to emphasize it in that way. The call to be holy does not leave us to ourselves. And I have to say this as we sort of enter into the call of holiness.
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The call to holiness does not leave you to yourself. It doesn't say, now go staring down at your feet and figure out how you can fix yourself.
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That's not good news. That's not the call to holiness. The call to holiness is bound inseparably to the
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Holy One who, late in flesh appearing, was crucified, buried, and rose again.
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The one whose blood is the double cure, as the hymn puts it, cleanses us not only from the guilt of sin, but from the power of sin.
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And there's many Christians that live in the former and have no conception of the latter.
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That is a problem, frankly. Can it be that the blood cleanses from guilt and is powerless to transform the life?
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It cannot be. It cannot be. This is
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God's will for you, your sanctification. Jesus didn't die to make it possible.
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Jesus died to make it happen. This is God's will for you, your sanctification. And so we receive the cutting message of kingdom holiness, but we receive it with the balm of the gospel, the balm and the hope of living in victory over our sins, because this is the will of God, secured not by us, but secured by our
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Savior who we trust, who we follow, who we confess our sins to, who we pray and beg for more of His presence, more of His power in our lives.
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That's why living in victory is possible, because of Him who is faithful, even when we are faithless.
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Now, there's four things I want to focus on in terms of this call to holiness. And really, I think sometimes you'll read certain books in battling lust or battling sexual addiction or sexual immorality, and they often have little strategies.
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And I'm always gritting my teeth. I'm not quite sure what to do with strategies.
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Sometimes we make way too much of a strategy. We think, you know, this little mnemonic device, it worked wonders for me, it's going to work wonders for everyone.
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If you just remember these four letters, your life will be transformed, and then you're putting your hope in some sort of strategy, some neat little formula that you've devised from Scripture, rather than a dynamic life of walking with the
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Lord by His Spirit. So I don't put too much stock in strategies, but also I don't want to make too little out of them.
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Sometimes having something simple that you can repeat and rehearse is very helpful, practically. That might be very unique to someone.
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I wouldn't say one size fits all. But when I think about things that are influential in my own fight against immorality, against letting my mind or my eyes wander,
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I really boil it down to a few central elements, and that's simply what I'm going to put before you. I don't promise it to be a formula.
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I don't say that it's some strategy. Simply certain elements, I think, of biblical exhortation that has been effective in my life, and I trust it may be effective in yours.
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That really comes down to four actions, four activities. I'll tell you them all up front.
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Something named, you name. Know, something to know. Remember, and then cling.
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Those four actions. Name, know, remember, cling. Name, know, remember, cling.
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Beginning at the start. Name, and here I mean naming the sin. Name the sin.
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For the same reason that men won't look in the mirror, we also become, as it were, unable to speak, unable to name, unable to think.
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That's what sin does to us. Begins to paralyze your ability to understand and discern things.
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In the way that Proverbs speaks, you become simple, as simple as a beast of the field. That's what sin does to you.
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It degrades your humanity. It hollows out your ability to reason.
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It carves away all of your discernment, your powers of industry. You become simple, animalistic.
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You become reactionary. Totally under the spell of any passing scent in the wind.
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And what Scripture calls us to do, first and foremost, is to name the sin. Just name what you're dealing with.
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Understand it rightly. Name the sin. The first thing to grasp, even from Matthew 5, is that Jesus wants us to connect lust with covetousness.
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Very important. And as I said, there's other terms he could have used to speak of lust, or desire to fornicate, or commit adultery, or anything in that network of words, but he chose the verb for coveting, which is neutral.
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It can be positive or negative. And here, of course, he's bringing the 10th commandment into the 7th. He wants us to see that lust is like covetousness.
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And as we see, in Scripture, sexual immorality is often placed alongside covetousness.
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That where you have immorality described, covetousness is right next to it, right near it. Several passages are like this.
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But we can take another step forward. Another step is needed. Scripture also gives us a definition for covetousness.
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If lust is covetousness, then what is covetousness? Well, Scripture tells us. Colossians 3, verse 5.
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Put to death your members which are on the earth, fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.
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Covetousness is idolatry. So naming the sin means it's not enough to say,
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I'm struggling with lust. It's not enough to say, I'm struggling with lust, which is covetousness.
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You actually have to say, I'm struggling with lust, which is covetousness, which is idolatry.
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I'm struggling with idolatry. I've got a worship issue in my life.
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I'm setting up idols for my imagination. I'm causing my emotions and my passions to be stirred by idols in my life.
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I've got a worship malfunction. Do you see? Name the sin. Lust is carnal covetousness.
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That's what idolatry is. Idolatry takes many shapes and forms. It's certainly more than that, but it's not less than that.
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Half the battle is naming the sin. That's half of it. It's not just that struggle that all men struggle with.
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It's idolatry. It's idolatry. When you connect lust to idolatry, you begin to expose the core issue, which is false worship.
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Beholding and being enamored with and flooding your affections towards something that is not yours, something that you were not meant to behold or be moved by in this way.
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Your heart, your mind, is made pure. And it's supposed to be moved by the one that God gives to you.
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And that is received then in thankfulness to God himself. You're moved ultimately by him. And therefore, you're moved along in his good design.
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You can enjoy the gift as it's been given. Enjoy it in the way it's been given. Enjoy it for the reason it's been given to you.
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So you have to name the sin. We need to name fornication, name uncleanness, name carnal covetousness for what it is, setting up an idol to worship.
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Now having done so, once you name the sin, you then fight tooth and nail to make sure that that sin is not named among you.
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Name the sin and fight tooth and nail to make sure that sin is not named among you. Ephesians 3.
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Fornication, uncleanness, covetousness. Again, see how that's all tied together? Uncleanness, fornication, covetousness.
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Let it not even be named among you. As is fitting for saints. And so Paul says, you have to name it rightly and then make sure it's not named among you.
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Know what's fitting for saints. So the first point is name the sin. Now having done that, secondly, so we go from name to know.
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Name to know. And here's the point about knowing. I'll simply put it this way, and I hope
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I can prove the point. If sin makes you simple, animalistic, if I could risk sounding abrasive, sin makes you stupid.
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Sin makes you a fool. Sin dumbs you down. Sin makes you less than human.
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And so scripture often says, know what you know. Know what you know.
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That's the second point. Know what you know. Temptation makes us unwilling to properly identify a sin, so we're not able to name it.
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And then there's sort of this amnesia that comes with temptation. We sort of forget the things that we know.
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We willfully chase away any thought that would counter the temptation. Any thought that would situate us in a right way of understanding.
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We simply forget the things that we've already received. We willfully repress the knowledge that we already possess.
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And scripture says simply, know what you know. Retain it. Put it into practice.
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You already know this. Let me illustrate this for you. 1
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Corinthians 6, we read this at the beginning of last week. 1 Corinthians 6 beginning in verse 13. Paul is talking about sexual morality and he's framing it in terms of this call to holiness in the lives of the
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Corinthians. Because of Christ's calling, because of the holiness that befits you now, you must not live in these ways.
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Look at how Paul frames this. Now the body is not for sexual morality, but for the Lord and the
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Lord for the body. That's a magnificent statement. If you can wrap your mind around that.
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I wish we could have a whole sermon just on that verse. The body is not for morality, but for the
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Lord and the Lord is for the body. Beautiful statement. The body for the Lord, the
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Lord for the body. And God both raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by his power.
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Now listen to Paul. Do you not know? It's not the only time he's going to say that. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ?
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It's a rhetorical question. The implied answer is, of course you know this. How did you forget this?
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Why are you struggling? You already know the answer to this. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ?
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Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? Certainly not. Do you not know, again, that he who is joined to a harlot is one with her?
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For the two, he says, shall become one flesh. But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with him.
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Flee sexual immorality. Every sin a man does is outside the body. But when he commits sexual immorality, he sins against his own body.
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Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God and you're not your own?
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You were bought at a price, therefore honor God with your body. Do you see that constant refrain?
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He's saying, Christian, you already know this. You know this. What is so overtaken you that you forgot everything you know?
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Forgot the very things I taught you. Forgot the things that you received from me. You know this.
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A parent chastens their child. You know better. You know you weren't supposed to touch that.
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You know you weren't supposed to do that. You know better, right? It was a sinful desire. It was giving into temptation that brought about this spiritual forgetfulness.
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1 Thessalonians 4, we see the same example. Finally then, brethren, we urge and exhort in the Lord Jesus, you should abound more and more just as you received from us how you ought to walk.
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In other words, we've translated the way of faith, the way of walking after the
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Lord. You received from us how you ought to walk and ought to please God. Now listen, 4, you know what commandments we gave you.
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You already know this, he said. Brethren, you already have it. You already know it. You're not waiting for some new thing that you don't know.
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This is the will of God, your sanctification, that you should abstain from sexual morality, that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel.
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You see? Paul says you already know it. You should know. How long have you been a
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Christian? You've been longer than the Thessalonians were Christians. Brothers, you ought to know how to possess your own vessel.
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You ought to know. That's the exhortation. Know what you know.
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Don't forget what you know willfully. Don't ignore what you know willfully. Put into practice what you know.
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Know what you know. Know what you've received. Know what you hear others talking about. Sometimes your conscience has to be informed when it's been stained, when it's been maligned for so long.
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You need to resensitize it, and a lot of that comes through confession. Maybe you need to receive again how you ought to walk from a brother that's walking the walk, who's maybe further and farther than you are in your current struggle.
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You come to that brother and you say, can you help me receive again the things I ought to know because I'm not possessing my vessel lately.
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And I can say that any brother in this room would do their utmost to help you in that endeavor.
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And then just to nail the point home, the very next line, right? You ought to know how to possess your own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in passion of lust, like the
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Gentiles who don't know gum. You see, it all comes back to this matter of who you know, who you worship, covetousness.
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He's saying you ought to know because of who you know. You ought to know how to walk because of who you know, who you're walking toward.
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You ought to know how to possess your vessel because of who you know, who you say is possessing you.
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The Gentiles don't know God, but you know God. The Gentiles don't know how to possess their bodies, but you know how to possess your body.
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You're a Christian. So knowing what you know is also tied to knowing who you know.
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That's gonna come at the very end of the last point, but let me just sort of brief a sign here. Isn't that what Joseph does when
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Potiphar's wife tries to lay hold of him? He says, how could
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I do this great thing against my God, this great evil against my God? He knows how he ought to walk.
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He knows how to possess his body because of who he knows. It's my great God. He names it rightly, this great evil.
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He's living before the face of God, quorum down, before my God. Even while you have half my clothes off my back,
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I'm still able to, you know, under that flurry of punches to go back to the beginning, I can still land that knockout blow to lust.
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I can run away. Now Joseph, of course, speaks of that as a singular act.
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How can I do this great thing, this great evil against my God? But we know from Genesis that that wasn't a one -time event.
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Potiphar's wife put on her perfume and batted her lashes daily at him. We read it was as she spoke to Joseph day by day that he would not heed her to lie with her or be with her.
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Every day she came calling for Joseph. Every day she was like the harlot of Proverbs 7.
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She sat not by the house but in the house calling for him. Why don't you come? Come take your coat off.
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Come sit down for a while. Come lay down. And like the wise son in Proverbs, he resisted day by day by day.
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And even when she was done calling and now she was clutching, he still ran away. It was because of who he knew.
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Who he knew, he knew the Lord and therefore he knew how to possess his body. He knew why his sin struggles were the way they were.
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He understood that temptation was going to cloud his judgment in certain ways. He resisted and took action in the best ways he thought possible.
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But then there were times where all the ways that he would try to avoid without showing disrespect to his master's wife kind of fell through and he just had to run and face the consequences later.
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Joseph is a picture of a man who's willing to gouge out his eye and cut off his arm to enter the kingdom. There's a lot of men that wouldn't want to be in the dungeon where Joseph ended up after that whole event.
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But they're in a dungeon of addiction, in a dungeon of lust as we speak. Now, of course,
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I don't want this whole sermon to be focused just toward the men. We began addressing the women that are beheld even last week.
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As we said, there's a covetousness, a desire, a strong ambition to lust, desire, to seek after for men, to behold.
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But also for women, there's that strong lust, that strong covetousness, that strong desire to be beheld.
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Both accord with how God made men and women. Men desired to behold a woman in the way that Adam desired to behold
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Eve and women desired to be beheld as Eve desired Adam to rejoice in her. And, of course, the effects of the fall, the dysfunction of sin, makes all of that go haywire.
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Now, rather than beholding the bride, the flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone, he wants that to sort of be scattered everywhere.
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What's the next one look like? What's the next one look like? And by the same token, a woman is not content with having the sort of chambered eyesight of her beloved.
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She wants all eyes to be upon her, all eyes to notice her. Don't you see that in some ways?
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In a good way. On the wedding day, right, the groom is looking down the aisle, his eyes are fixed on the bride.
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But guess what? Everyone else's eyes are fixed on the bride, too. All the eyes are on the bride.
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It's not a good thing for the bride to walk down the aisle and be looking everywhere but at her husband's sight.
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Yes, yes, do you notice? Oh, I see you looking. Isn't that wonderful? Their eyes should be locked on each other.
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So there's a lust to behold, there's a lust to be beheld. And as we said from Ephesians 3 a moment ago, fornication, uncleanness, or covetousness should not even be named among the saints as is fitting.
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The covetousness to be beheld is not fitting for saints. The Christian walk urges us all as men and women to know what is fitting for saints, the things we ought to know about our bodies, the things we ought to know about holiness.
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And so what is fitting for saints, ladies, is clothes that are fitting for saints. That's fitting for saints.
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Clothes that actually fit. Not form fit, but fit. That's fitting for saints.
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You can hardly be held in honor when you're not presenting yourself honorably. And you have a calling as a woman to be held in honor by all.
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And part of that, as we said, self -presentation is communication. You communicate yourself honorably when you present yourself with honor.
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The body is not for sexual morality. That includes glancing eyes. Now as I said last week, men's sins are men's sins.
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But the Lord discerns the very thoughts and secret motives of your heart. If you in any way would enjoy a sideward glance or a little burst of attention, the
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Lord knows that. And you'll be held accountably. Jesus likes millstones for those that cause even little ones to stumble.
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I don't think women take that warning seriously enough. You are to be a countercultural example in a crooked generation.
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And when you're in a crooked generation, it's really hard to know what is straight. Everything is crooked. And so that means that modesty is not a little less bent than whoever is dancing on the concert stage.
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It means straight according to God's definitions. Straight according to God's desires. Now as we said last week, even stemming from interaction, we don't have a perfect blueprint of the measurements that are required to be modest.
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But we have God's desire, God's very heart about modesty and purity and virtue. And we're meant then to elaborate upon that.
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That means that we go headlong in God's direction rather than trying to dance on the line and say, well, it's an inch longer than what
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Taylor Swift is wearing, so it must be more modest. No. The body is for the
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Lord. The body is for the Lord. And so you're living in the midst of a crooked generation, and you're called to be upright.
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Not bent over, not causing others to be bent over in lust or in immorality, but upright, virtuous, righteous.
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This is fitting for saints. And we're talking about covetousness connected to lust, and that means the desire to be coveted, women, would be equivalent to you setting yourself up as an idol.
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If lust, at the end of that chain, if lust is idolatry, then a woman who seeks to be lusted after is presenting herself as an idol, be it from you in this congregation to present yourself as an idol when we are met to worship
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God, far be it from you. You notice the contrast of the enticing woman and the virtuous woman in Proverbs.
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There's this constant counterpart between the harlot, the deceitful harlot, and the virtuous upright woman.
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We read in Proverbs 7 that the concern of a father who's seen young men consumed by lust and brought to ruin by lust.
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And he says this as a sort of prelude to his description of the harlot. He says, at the window of my house,
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I looked through my lattice, and I saw among the simple, right? Already notice that. Sin makes you dumb.
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He sees a bunch of young jocks, and they're all like deer in heat. They're just dumb, animalistic.
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And he's saying to his son, don't be like that. Don't run in that flood of dissipation. I saw among the simple,
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I saw among the youth, a young man devoid of understanding, right? This is wisdom literature. This young man does not have wisdom, so he's walking in his flesh, not by the spirit of all wisdom.
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I saw a young man devoid of understanding passing along the street near her corner. Now, we don't know why he's on the street.
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We can assume he had a different errand or a different destination. He's passing along the street.
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He just happens to near her corner. Brothers, let me tell you, sometimes you need to take the longer routes.
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You need to be very mindful of what corners you are nearing. Remember, last week, we spoke about the eye gates and the ear gates.
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What corners are you around? He's passing along the street near her corner.
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He took the path to her house in the twilight, in the evening. It's the idea of secrecy. No one else really notices it's okay, right?
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Everyone else in the home is asleep. It's late at night. It's okay because it's dark.
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It's okay because it's sick. It's okay because I'm alone. And there a woman met him with the attire of a harlot.
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Now, if you notice again, the first description we're given, we know nothing of this woman at all. We're about to have a whole chapter of a description, but the first thing that is said about her is how she's dressed.
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It's the first thing we know about her. It's how she's dressed. Women, that's the first thing that's noticed about you too. The first thing you communicate is how you appear.
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Self -presentation is communication. I know that there's porn stars that have cross necklaces.
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That's where we are as a culture. That's where we are as a culture. Just complete disintegration of all things moral.
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That would have been obvious to a sixth grader 50 years ago. We're just, that's gone.
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The first thing you present is your attire. It's the first thing you present. And so for the father that's concerned about his son, and he's watching the simple pass by the corner, the first thing he has to say is,
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I don't know anything about this woman other than how she's presenting herself. And that tells me most of what I need to know about her.
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She has the attire of a harlot and a crafty heart. Now he begins to lead into the description.
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Loud and rebellious, her feet unable to stay at home. At times she was outside, at times in the open square, lurking at every corner.
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She's prowling, she's looking for prey. Now of course this really speaks to the issue at heart here.
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Men are often seen as the prowlers, as the lurkers, as the ones glaring and jeering.
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But Proverbs 7 says actually women can do that too. They can be lurking. They can be putting themselves out there almost as if they were the predators looking to ensnare a man's attention, looking to ensnare a man's affection, do you see?
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Scripture turns that on its head. This is not fitting for saints.
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This is not fitting for saints. Let all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you.
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Let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints. So this all comes from, as with the example of Joseph, it comes from knowing
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God, knowing the Lord. The body is for the Lord. So a young woman says, my body is for the
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Lord. How I display my body is for the Lord. How I present myself and communicate my intentions, that's all for the
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Lord, do you see? And maybe like men, you need the counsel. You need the help of other women.
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Maybe this is all new to you. And as I said last week, it seems bizarre. It seems antiquated. It seems repressive.
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Oh, I'm gonna have to wear the handmaid's tale outfit that all the feminists fantasize about. No, no, no.
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Maybe you need a godly, more mature, more sanctified woman to tell you, I know the struggle. I know sometimes you just think it's cute.
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You don't know any different. This means husbands as well. You know, husbands, as we said, for most men, their cardinal sin is passivity.
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Husbands don't like being put on the spot. And husbands, you need to be proactive rather than reactive. It shouldn't be that other men, or frankly, even more so, other women are stumbling over your wife's appearance because you are oblivious.
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All right, we all know what it's like when a new outfit is tried on the mirror, and that question, does this make me look fat, is asked, and beads of sweat are forming.
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There's no right answer to give. It's like if I say no, I'm implying you're fat. If I say yes, it's like, it's an impossible, you just have to kind of run away and, you know, change the subject.
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Well, it's the same thing. You know, how do you say that? A big part of that comes from mothers and fathers addressing their children.
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If you have children, it's a young woman. You'll have to, from a very early age, start to help them understand their body is a form of communication.
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And it has significance about how it's presented. You'll never be able to instruct your daughter in a way of virtue and uprightness if she sees you doing what you can against your, maybe, husband's exhortation or concerns to present yourself and flaunt yourself in the way that you want to.
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Again, the body is for the Lord. The body's for the Lord. And the Lord is for the body. So be like Lady Wisdom.
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You want men, in the context of Proverbs, to be like minors. We're living in a crooked generation, a world of filth, and we're there with our pickaxes, clawing through all the dirt of the world.
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And when we find a virtuous woman, as Proverbs says, it's like finding rubies. And you want a husband that comes to you and says,
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Eureka, I found her. I found the one who's worth more than rubies. All that digging through the filth of the world was worth it to find her, the one in whom my heart rejoices.
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And so, knowing God, knowing others, you know the conclusion of Proverbs 7 is this, beginning in verse 24.
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Now, therefore, listen to me. And he doesn't say, my son. He says, my children. I think that's the right translation for that.
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It's more broad. Now, therefore, listen to me, my children. He's saying, my sons and my daughters, listen to me.
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Pay attention to the words of my mouth. Don't let your heart turn aside to her ways. It's not just the young men that have to name the sin, see the idolatry.
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Notice that it's a harlot lurking at the corner. It's also young women who say, yeah, even though she's a celebrity, even though this is the style, even though this is what's on the mannequin,
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I won't turn my heart astray to her ways. I won't be like that. I won't be just like the others, as Paul says in 1
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Corinthians 6. Listen, my children. Don't let your heart turn aside to her ways, whether you're a son or a daughter.
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It's not fitting for the saints. Well, the third point here.
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So we have name the sin. Secondly, know what you know. Part of that is knowing who you know.
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But know what you know. Put it into practice. Third, remember the stakes. Remember the stakes.
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Isn't that what Jesus does in verses 29 and 30? He's telling you the stakes of this sin, isn't he?
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So in Ephesians 3, where we just were, he says, fornication, all uncleanness, covetousness, let it not even be named among you as is fitting for the saints, neither filthiness nor foolish talking nor coarse jesting which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks.
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The very next part, for this you know. Again, there it is, right? Know what you know. For this you know, no fornicator, unclean person, or covetous man who is an idolater has any inheritance in the kingdom of God.
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Do you know that? He says, you know this. This is the gospel I've preached, Paul says. You know this. This is what
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Jesus taught us. Don't we know this? Sin makes you so dumb that somehow you'd think that's not really true.
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You don't know it anymore. Could it really be that if I'm a fornicator, an unclean man, a covetous woman, an idolater in the sense that I don't have any inheritance in Christ?
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That's what scripture says. If these things are characterizing your life, if these things are dominating your life,
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I don't know what else to tell you. Scripture says you have no share in the kingdom. You have no place in the kingdom.
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You don't know this king. You don't know his righteousness. Our sin, as D .A.
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Carson says, it's treated so lightly by the world around us. Sin is just not a big deal.
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Sin in our society is better thought of as an illness, as an aberration. It's why the counseling world is so massive.
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How many ads do you see if you're online? Every third ad I see is for some form of online counseling.
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It's because conditions that are actually conditions born by sin are treated as aberrations, as illnesses that simply need remediation through counseling.
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Not repentance. Not gospel. Just, you know, counseling. Just some help.
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Better help. That's all you need. Just better help. You just need to vent, and I feel better. I feel better about that.
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Sin is treated like an illness. In other words, something to be treated, not something to be repented of, not something that is actually going to drag you into hell.
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And that's how Jesus speaks about sin. Not as a sickness that just needs a little band -aid, but as something that is dragging you to hell unless you take radical action against it.
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It's a snare that you cannot escape unless you're willing to do something radical. What was the movie that James Franco sort of presented the true story of the hiker?
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And that rock that fell and it crushed his arm and he was trapped in this crevice.
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And for days he was without food, without water. His arm was completely shattered, beginning to rot through the other side.
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And he realized, no one's coming. No one's coming. If I stay here like this,
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I'm going to die. And he had his little pocket knife. So he realized there's only one thing
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I can do. I can either keep my body intact and die, or I can try with one hand and my teeth to tie a tourniquet and I begin to cut my arm off in the hope that I won't lose too much blood and I won't pass out from the vicious pain and I'll have enough to actually free myself and live.
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Jesus puts the battle against lust in those terms. If you try to keep the things that are leading you into sin intact, you will perish.
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That's what Jesus says. He's not speaking poetically. In spiritual terms, you're in that situation, brothers.
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Your arm is caught in the rock, and if you don't begin to cut it off as painful, as mind -blowing as that may be to you, you're going to die there.
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There just is no other way. If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out, cast it from you.
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It's better to have sawn through your arm, whatever the cost was, and whatever that means for the rest of your life, if you can enter into the kingdom, rather than be dragged into hell because you weren't willing to do what was necessary.
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That's what Jesus says. Jesus doesn't say, just show me that you mean it.
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Give a few scrapes and at least one solid cut. Show me that you would if you had to, but you don't really have to.
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That's not what Jesus says. Jesus doesn't say, you know, as long as there's some element of sincerity, you really can keep your arm in your eye.
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It'll all turn out just fine. That's not what Jesus says. Jesus doesn't conceptualize the kingdom of God at that day of glory with all of its heirs as men who simply claimed it to be true.
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I believe and therefore I've received the sort of name it, claim it into glory.
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That's not how Jesus conceives of the kingdom. In fact, he says, for those who want to name it and claim it into the kingdom, he says, depart from me in chapter 7.
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I never knew you. You had a lot to say about me. You had a lot of things you did for me. I never knew you.
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You came to me intact. You came to me perhaps celebrating things about me and even doing things for me, but you didn't do what was necessary to be done.
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You didn't gouge out and cut off what was dragging you into hell. You never repented of it. You never turned to me.
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You never cried out for the gospel to take hold of your life. You never applied my blood into your walk.
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And so I never knew you. I never knew you, Jesus says. He conceptualizes of the kingdom not as these macho bravado men that are kind of doing that weird thing and tracing their jawline and, you know, my whole life
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I've just been crushing it. The heirs of the kingdom, they all arrive into glory with their cross on their back and their missing limbs and they did everything they had to do to enter the kingdom.
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The way was narrow. The way was hard. It was thorny. Many friends didn't make it.
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All of my friends at once professed faith. I don't have as friends anymore. Many of them got ensnared and dragged away, went astray and you keep pressing on and you're caught at the next juncture and you say, well, then this arm has to go and eventually you're crawling by your fingernails and your tongue, you make it into the kingdom and Paul says, he raises you up, both body and soul because you lived your whole life as if your body was for the
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Lord and therefore the Lord was for your body. So remember the stakes.
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Remember the stakes. Jesus doesn't give some little pat on the back.
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Jesus doesn't give some secret encouragement. He simply reveals the stakes. Here's what lust really is.
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Here's what it leads to. Here's what you're up against if you don't deal with it rightly. That's what Jesus does. So you name the sin.
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You know what you know. You remember the stakes and then you cling to the promise. Cling to the promise.
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I say then, Paul writes to the Galatians, walk in the spirit and you won't fulfill the lust of the flesh. Here's some real positive encouragement.
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If you walk in the spirit, you won't fulfill the lust of the flesh. He doesn't say the lust of the flesh won't be present.
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It'll probably be present every day of your life. But he says you won't fulfill it. You won't fill it out.
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You won't walk it through. You won't abide in it. You won't see it through. You won't fulfill the lust of the flesh because you're walking in the spirit.
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And he says this is what the warfare is. The flesh lusts against the spirit. The spirit against the flesh. These things are contrary to one another so that you don't do the things you wish.
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But if you're led by the spirit, you're not under the law. You're led by the spirit.
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There's no condemnation for you who are in Christ Jesus. If you're led by the spirit, the law is being fulfilled by the spirit in your life.
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The righteous requirement of the law. And the works of the flesh are evident. Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness.
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He goes on. Notice these all begin with sexually immoral sins. And to the church at Corinth, he says this.
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What an encouragement. We're talking about clinging to the promise. The first promise we cling to is the spirit gives us victory.
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That's the first promise. The spirit gives us victory. If you walk in the spirit, you won't fulfill the lust of the flesh.
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Take that one to the bank. That's a promise. Second promise is this.
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2 Corinthians 10. No temptation has overtaken you except that which is common to men. But God is faithful who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you're able.
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But with a temptation also makes the way of escape that you may be able to bear it. So the second promise is this.
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God is faithful. Yes, you've been faithless. God is faithful. God is faithful.
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He knows what you're up against and he'll even make a way of escape. He's faithful enough to actually give you the way of escape.
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Now brothers, the hiker realized his way of escape was cutting off his arm. You have to be willing to make the radical steps.
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Radical steps. I've talked to men that have a lockbox for their
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Wi -Fi router and it's time to go off at a certain hour of the day. So they have no internet access through the hours of the night.
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It's only... Internet can only be accessed during the days. Radical measures.
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I remember Derek Thomas speaking about a man that was in years -long addiction to pornography and he finally broke and met for counseling and Derek Thomas said, well, right after this session, go home, grab your computer, meet me.
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We're going to throw it into the local pond. Now, EPA might ruffle their feathers about that, but of course this was intentional.
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He was trying to see, are you really ready to deal with this? The man said, I couldn't do that. I have so many things on that.
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It's my work. And Derek Thomas just looked him flat in the face and said, I thought you said you were ready to deal with this sin.
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Embarrassing measures. As humiliating as running half -naked out of Potiphar's house because of the
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God that you serve and the stakes that you remember and the promises that you cling to.
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Radical measures, brothers. Therefore, my beloved, he says in the same chapter, verse 14, flee from idolatry.
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That's what it is. Remember, name the sin. Name the sin so that you can gouge out the eye and cut off the hand.
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You take every thought captive in obedience to Christ. You won't do that if you don't remember the stakes.
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You won't do that if you haven't named the sin for what it really is, idolatry. If you do that, if you name the sin and you frame it as idolatry, you won't allow little foxes into your vineyard.
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You won't linger near the corner where the harlot dwells. You won't allow little sins to fester in your life because you recognize even a little sin is a foothold for the enemy that would overthrow you.
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If you ever watch a judo competition, like Olympic judo, it seems like half of the matches are simply men kind of holding each other up and they're simply kind of doing this back and forth.
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It's like, what are we watching here? What's the point? The point is just waiting for a vulnerability, a moment where the balance has shifted, the weight of the body has shifted, and then you can all of a sudden throw your opponent over.
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They're completely vulnerable to you. And so you spend 15 minutes framing and pushing against a vulnerability for a 10 -second flip, a 10 -second realization in a hold.
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And that's what this sin is like. There's this constant assault looking for a vulnerability and you can't allow even a moment of vulnerability.
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You can't allow a foothold for the evil one. And then as you're clinging to promises like these, you remember that what you're being called to is holiness.
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That's the whole point. We're called to holiness. You're pursuing joy. Holiness is not wearing gray and throwing dust and humming some
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Gregorian chant down the alley. Holiness is joy. Holiness is freedom. Holiness is peace.
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Holiness is fruitfulness. Holiness is blessedness. Holiness is what you actually want when you're looking for a cheap thrill, when you're fantasizing about some image you've retained.
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The blessedness, the happiness, the pleasure, the satisfaction that you're actually seeking in that lie, in that fig tree that offers no fruit, is actually what holiness will give you.
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So name the sin. Know what you know. Remember the stakes and cling to the promise.
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And remember, in the midst of all this, God is for you. God is for you.
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It's God's will for you to be sanctified. God is for you. He's for your sanctification.
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He's not trying to put roadblocks in your way. He's actually trying to help you be sanctified. People often view
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God as their adversary when it comes to sexual purity. He's for you, brothers, sisters. Trust me.
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And so don't allow failure, maybe the failures of this past week, to so convict and stain and shame you that you feel,
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I cannot go to him. I'm repulsive to him now. I actually tried this week. Maybe some of you are thinking,
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I actually tried this week. Oh, last Sunday afternoon, I thought I was gonna finally break free.
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I thought, Lord, you've finally spoken to me. I've finally come close. I know that this is it now. And here you are.
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You're so ashamed. You feel so repulsive to him that you've kept from his presence, as it were.
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You feel that somehow you've driven yourself farther from him. Let me tell you, he is for you. When sin would drive you from his presence, claw your way back into it.
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He is for you. That veil opened when Jesus breathed his last, and to my knowledge, it's never closed since.
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The call to be holy is a call to love God more than you love yourself. The irony is, in loving
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God more than you love yourself, you're actually able to love yourself rightly. For the first time, you love yourself as you should love yourself.
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You love your body as you should love your body. You love your neighbor as you should love your neighbor, all because you love
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God more than any of these. That's what Paul says to Timothy. Men will be lovers of themselves, he says.
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Lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. Having a form of godliness but denying its power.
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From such people, turn away, he says. From the person that owns their sin, turn away.
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From the hypocrite who says, well, frankly, brother, I mean, we all have this struggle, don't we? We're just men. Turn away. Turn away from that.
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That's not someone that you should be counseled by. It's not someone to walk with. Don't find someone that will pad their own failures under hypocrisy.
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Find the brother that's sawing his arm off. Look to him. Find the brother who's got the thumb halfway in his eye socket.
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As hard as it is to look at that, go look at him. And say, can you pray for me and can you help me?
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There's not a brother in this room who wouldn't do that for each other. I know that. You've got elders that will do that for you.
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You've got deacons that will do that for you. You've got a brother sitting behind you, next to you, in front of you, that's going to do that for you. It's the only way to enter the kingdom.
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It's the only way. I wish there was more. It's the only way. Walk with those who walk the walk.
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Again, I can't make this point concrete enough. Purity is such that a man stuck in the pit cannot pull himself up.
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He almost invariably needs the help of another who comes along. I'm speaking to someone.
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Listen, if you could have gotten yourself out of the pit, you would have gotten yourself out of the pit a long time ago. And it hasn't worked, has it?
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At best, you've had fits and starts. When you're in a pit like this, you need someone to come alongside you and help to pull you up.
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There are times when crying out to the Lord actually means asking a brother for help. So don't spend three months crying out to the
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Lord and then blame the Lord because you're still in the pit. Most of the time, when it comes to matters of purity, crying out to the
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Lord means asking a brother for help. That is the Lord's help for you, more often than not. The Lord, 2
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Peter says, the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations. The godly are tempted.
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How does the Lord know how to deliver the godly out of temptations? We're going to come to a close here.
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The Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations because the
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Lord knows what it's like to be tempted in all points as we are. The Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations because the
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Lord was tempted in every way that we are, yet without sin. You have a sympathetic high priest, a great physician is not repulsed by the illness that comes before him.
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He's moved with compassion and urgency to make a cure. The Savior is not repulsed by the stains of your immorality, by the stains of your covetousness, by the false worship you've been given to idols.
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He's moved with compassion to be a cure to you. It's not simply because he's omniscient that he knows how to deliver you out of temptation.
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It's not simply because he's omnipotent, all -powerful, or omnipresent. He's everywhere. It's because he was tempted and yet prevailed.
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And if by his spirit you hear his call of holiness and you walk by that same spirit in all humility and repentance, the righteous requirement of the law, the righteous requirement of the seventh and tenth commandments will be fulfilled in your life.
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So there's a call not to just be holy, but a call to behold him who is the great physician, him who is the great high priest, him who is the crucified lover of our souls.
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We behold his saving grace. Thomas Brooks says, saving grace makes a man as willing to leave his lust as a slave is willing to leave his galley, or a prisoner is willing to leave his dungeon, or a thief is willing to leave his bolts.
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Do you see? That's what saving grace does. It's not a begrudging, ah, really, it's going to be hard to give this up, but I guess
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I'll do it if I'm a Christian. No, it's get me out of here. That's what saving grace does. Get me out of this dungeon.
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Never want to see it or smell it or feel it again. That's saving grace. Grace saves.
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It doesn't half -save. Grace saves. The blood cleanses.
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It doesn't half -cleanse. It cleanses. We have to allow the gospel to actually declare what the gospel declares.
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We all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind.
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We were once alienated, enemies in our minds, by wicked works, but now he has reconciled us by his flesh.
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Do we actually believe that? You see the great contrast there in Colossians 1 between our flesh and his flesh.
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We once walked in our flesh, but as a result of his flesh, now we are presented holy and blameless in his sight.
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And as you're struggling to battle the sins of your flesh, the tendencies of your flesh, you have to actually behold his flesh.
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And that's the main focus I want to bring us to as we close. Not just the call to be holy, but the call to behold.
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Don't be holy in terms of battling your flesh without beholding his flesh that was crucified for you.
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That's why every time we gather to worship, we take up the emblems of his broken body and his poured -out blood.
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We're reminded, it's his flesh that has made me reconciled with my God. What will prevent you from not dwelling on the hollow and vain and vile things that the world has to offer and dance before your eyes?
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What will cause a woman to deny the very things that she craves and present herself and communicate herself in a consecrated way to the
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Lord? And rather than gaining the attraction and allure of eyes put upon her, she sees the curled eyebrows and the frowns and the cringe and the, yeesh,
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Amish? Is this Amish country all of a sudden? What will motivate that?
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What will fuel that? How will you get there? You have to begin to feel a disgust, right?
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This gets back to the very first point. Name the sin. Name it for what it is. You have to feel a disgust.
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You have to see it as vain, see it as vile, see it as idolatrous. You won't be able to do that in and of itself unless you connect it to the flesh of the
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Savior who was tempted in these very ways but never gave in. And it's when you see his flesh, his pure flesh, crucified, that you begin to feel what is vile, what is heinous, what is offensive, what is abominable about these sins.
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Why would I lust after the very thing that my Savior was crucified for?
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And where I want to see the golden charm of an elusive harlot, now
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I rather want to behold in my mind, with my thoughts and imagination, to stir my affections and move my will,
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I want to behold the heaving, bloody chest of my Savior, pouring out his very life for my soul.
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There is no other way to conquer lust. There is no strategy.
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There is no abbreviated device that can empower your victory over lust unless it brings you to the very foot of the stump at Golgotha where Christ was crucified.
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The remedy for sensual sin, for all sin, truly, is to gain and fixate upon the love of the crucified
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Savior. I know of no other remedy. I know of no other cure. I know of no other power.
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I know of no other motivation than that, truly. Set your faith on Christ.
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As Owen says in Mortification, set faith to work on Christ for the killing of your sin.
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His blood is the great sovereign remedy for sin -sick souls. Live in this and you will die as a conqueror.
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You will, through the good providence of God, live to see your lust dead at your feet. That's what Paul is saying to the
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Galatians. And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
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If we live in the Spirit, let us walk in the Spirit. I love that he uses that term. He speaks of the flesh in all sorts of ways, of denying the flesh, of resisting the flesh, of walking against the flesh, not walking in the flesh, but walking in the
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Spirit. Here he says, those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh. He's drawing us to consider that the only way we can crucify the flesh is if we're drawn to the crucified one, fixated on the crucified one.
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Those who have crucified the flesh are those who think much and think often of a crucified Savior.
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So you gain and you fixate upon a sense of His love on the cross. When you connect lust to idolatry, you are exposing, as we said, the very core of it all, worship.
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So what's the way that you battle lust? What's the way you battle covetousness? You recognize that this is about worship, and you gather, whether here, corporately, or privately in your home.
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You set yourself to worship Christ. You behold
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Him as the one who was born into the flesh, lived the righteous life that God requires of you, died the death that you deserve, and has risen now to intercede on your behalf, to welcome you into the kingdom.
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You behold Him uniquely as the crucified one. You worship
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Him. Listen, if lust is covetousness, is idolatry, then the only way to get rid of this false worship of lust in your life is to counteract it with true worship, with pure worship.
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It was the point made by Dusty Devers several weeks ago. I thought it was one of the most profound points I've ever heard about this issue.
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For men struggling with lust, for men in chains to pornography, Devers said, you worshipped your way into that sin.
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Now you have to worship your way out. You worshipped your way into the sin of lust and pornography and adulterous thoughts and uncleanliness.
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Now you have to worship your way out. And when you worship the crucified one, it's a mighty way out.
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It's a mighty way out. To behold Him, to set your faith upon Him, as Owen goes on to say, will make the dry, parched ground of your soul like a pool.
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To make your thirsty, barren heart like a spring of water. You say this, as it were, in exaltation.
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Yes, He can make this habitation of dragons, this heart so full of abominable lust and fiery temptation to be a garden of bounty and fruitfulness to Himself.
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Only He can do that. So those who have crucified the flesh are those who think much and think often, who worship a crucified
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Savior. You worship your way into this sin, you worship your way out. That's how the
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Lord delivers the godly out of temptations. I'll close with reading from Romans 8.
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He talks about the righteous requirement of the law being fulfilled by the Spirit. Same idea as Galatians, not walking in the flesh but by the
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Spirit. And what is that connected to in Romans 8? What the law could not do and that it was weak according to the flesh,
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God did by sending His Son in the likeness of sinful flesh on account of sin. You see where Paul goes?
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You're trying to fulfill this righteous requirement and you're too weak, you're not able to do it. Well, God did it. He did it by crucifying
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His Son. You are too weak, frankly. You're too faithless.
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But He is strong and He is faithful. Worship Him. And you'll walk in His Spirit.
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Come to the One who was crucified on your behalf. Worship Him who was sent in the likeness of your sinful flesh on account of your sin.
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And you'll find in due time, in the midst of your worship, that the righteous requirement of the law is being fulfilled in your life by His Spirit.
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He receives all the glory. In this sense, as Owen says, the love of Christ at the cross is at the foot of all true mortification.
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The love of Christ at the cross is the foundation for sanctification. Amen. Let's pray.
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Father, I'm reminded of what C .S. Lewis said, that love is the great conqueror of lust.
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And we recognize it as the love of Christ and the love for Christ on the cross.
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That is the great conqueror of lust. It was the love of Christ, the crucified
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One, that conquered the depravity and immorality of the ancient world, that overturned the bathhouses and the brothels, that taught men and women how not to degrade themselves any longer nor run in the flood of impurity as the
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Gentiles do, but rather to offer themselves in consecration to You, out of devotion to You, out of thankfulness for You, out of love for You.
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And truly, Lord, here the serpent whispers begin to fade. Here the strong fires and passions of our flesh begin to turn aside.
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Here, Lord, we crush the serpent head because of the One who was crucified.
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And we pray, Lord, that by Your Spirit You would constrain all in this room. Let Your conviction ring in such a way,
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Lord, that brothers and sisters will not depart from here without having some sense of what needs to be done,
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Lord. Eyes that need to be plucked, arms that need to be maimed. Give them, by Your own
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Spirit, that humility of repentance that they actually cry out for help, actually seek the counsel and involvement of others in this church body.
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For, Lord, surely this is one of the reasons You called us to gather together. No man makes it into the kingdom alone.
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And so help us, Lord, on this narrow and thorny way that so few find, to not lose heart, nor to give our hearts away to others' glances, to others' desires.
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Let our heart be for You and toward You. Constrain us in these ways,
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Lord. If there's one here in this room, Lord, that perhaps is a stranger to Your grace but feels the conviction of their bondage, might they hear the good news of the gospel, the call to holiness, the freedom that is wrought by the
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Spirit, and might they respond the only way that they can respond to repent and believe on Jesus Christ and His salvation.