From His Heart

Speaker 1

Today on From His Heart, Pastor Jeff Shreve gives you something to fight for.

Speaker 2

When it comes to sexual temptation, don't ever quit fighting. Don't ever just give up and say, well, I can't. I can't beat this. So if you can't beat them, join them and just give in.

No, you keep saying, Lord, today I'm walking in victory, and I'm gonna run from evil, and I'm gonna pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, and perseverance with those upon the Lord.

From a pure heart, may God give us victory over the giant of Lust.

Speaker 1

Today we want to examine one of the most formidable giants, the giant of Lust. Is it really possible to have victory over this deadly temptation? The answer is absolutely.

Welcome to From His Heart with Pastor Jeff Shreve and the message today from his seven lesson series, the Land of the How to Deal with Your Biggest Problems. Today we're in part two of this message, but the entire series is our gift of thanks to you for your support this month of any amount.

When you make that gift today, we'll also send you Pastor Jeff's booklet, "When You Don't Like Yourself." You can go to fromhisheart.org for all the details, where I'll tell you more later.

Now, though, open your Bible to the book of James, chapter one. Here's Pastor Jeff with the conclusion to the lesson, "The Giant of Lust."

Speaker 2

How can you defeat the Giant of Lust? How can you have victory over the giant of lust? I want to share with you three R's. Three R's to victory.

First, R, recognize that lust is an internal issue. The Pharisees had gotten on Jesus because he said, "You disciples don't wash their hands in the ceremonial way. They transgress the traditions of the elders." Why is that? And Jesus said, "Guys, you don't understand. It's not what goes into the mouth that defiles a man. It's what comes out. And what comes out of the mouth is what's in the heart." Jesus said in Matthew 15:19, "For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders." That comes out of the heart that's in the human heart. Hey, lust is an inside job.

Second, R, realize that lust is what the devil works with. Now, if the devil dried up and evaporated, you'd still have trouble with lust. I'd still have trouble with lust. Why? Because lust is an inside job. Lust is a deed of the flesh, but the devil works on that weakness in us. He is called in scripture the tempter, and the tempter uses our weaknesses to try and trip us up.

Now notice the progression of how he works. First, he works on your specific desires. It says in verse 14, "Each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust." His own lust. And so he will prey on your specific desire. From desire, he moves to deception. Each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. "Carried away" and "enticed." Interesting, those words in the Greek mean to draw out, like you would draw a fish out of the weeds to the lure. To entice means to bait a hook or bait a trap. The devil works through deception. He says, "Don't look at the hook, only look at the bait."

Then from deception, he works to get you to disobey. He works to get you to bite the hook. If he can get you to focus in on the bait, if he can get you to start looking at that and say, "Boy, that man. Look how that thing spins. That would be so good. That would taste great. Look at it. Isn't that great?" If he can get you to focus in on that, it's just a matter of time before you bite. And when you bite, you disobey. And he's got you.

Do you remember how the devil did Eve in the garden? Eve said, "God said, you shall not eat from any tree of the garden." Well, "From any tree of the garden we may freely eat. But from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, we shall not eat from it or touch it, lest we die." The devil replied, "You surely shall not die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."

She started to look at that lure. She started to look at that deception. She started longing for that tree, the fruit of that tree. She said, "That's gonna make me wise." It was all a lie. She took from the fruit tree. As she fixed on the forbidden, she was sunk. She took and she ate. She gave to her husband with her, and he ate. The eyes of both of them were opened, and exactly what the Lord said was going to happen happened. "In the day you eat of it, you shall surely die."

The devil works to bring forth death, works on your desire, works to deceive you, works to get you to disobey, works to bring forth death, to steal, kill, and destroy. When the devil takes the hook, then he's hooked. And what happens when he's hooked? Then he's reeled in. The devil doesn't practice catch and release. You are hooked, and then you're cooked. You're gutted and grilled. You experience death. I experience death. The wages of sin is death. And when lust is conceived, it gives birth to sin. And when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.

First R: Recognize that lust is an internal issue. Second R: Realize that lust is what the devil works with. And third R: Remember God's pathway to victory. God has a way for us to defeat the giant of lust. We have to put it into practice.

Let me share with you five Ds. First D: Don't play with fire. When it comes to the issue of sexual lust, don't play around with fire. There are two proverbs in the Bible, 31 proverbs total, that are devoted to the man who would go after the seductive woman, the seductress, the adulterous woman, as the scripture calls her, the one who traffics in sexual immorality. It says this in Proverbs 7:25: "Do not let your heart turn aside to her ways. Do not stray into her paths." Don't go there. Why? Because that's a slippery slope. If you play with fire, you will get burned.

When lust is conceived, it gives birth to sin. And when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death. Don't play with fire.

Second D: Don't linger in the lust. Proverbs 22:3 says, "The prudent sees the evil and hides himself, but the naive go on and are punished for it." The poster child for this is David. In 2 Samuel, chapter 11, it came about in the spring of the year when the kings go out to battle. David didn't go out to battle. He had done all his battles. He's probably in his 50s. He walks on his roof. He gets up from bed in the evening. That's when people go to bed. He gets up in the evening. He's been sitting around doing a bunch of nothing all day, and he sees a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful in appearance, and David saw her.

The prudent sees the evil and hides himself, but the naive go on and are punished for it. David saw her, and his look turned to lust, and his lust turned to longing, and his longing turned to laying, and his laying turned to loss. Tremendous loss in his life. He lost his fellowship with God at that point because he sinned against God and tried to cover it up. You can never get right with God by trying to cover it up. Uriah lost his life because of David's lust. Uriah, Bathsheba's husband, the prophet Nathan came to David in his sin and said, "You're the man. You're the one who's done this terrible thing."

David broke at that point and repented. He said, "I've sinned against God." Nathan said, "God has taken away your sin. You shall not die." God was coming through Nathan, the prophet, to kill David had he not repented. He said, "David, because you've done this thing, because you lingered in the lust, this is what happened. The sword's never gonna depart from your family."

You read in the very next chapter that his son Amnon rapes his daughter Tamar. Then his other son Absalom kills Amnon for raping his sister Tamar. Then Absalom tries to steal the kingdom away from David. Then David's general, Joab, ends up killing David's son Absalom. You see David as he's weeping for his son, saying, "Oh, Absalom, my son, my son. O Absalom, my son. Would that I had died instead of you. O Absalom, my son, my son."

The wages of sin is death. When lust is conceived, it gives birth to sin. And when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death. Lust to longing, longing to laying, laying to loss. Don't linger in the lust. Put a guard over your mind. The Bible says, "Take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ." When those thoughts come, you have to put a soldier there, a sentry there, a guard there that says, "Halt. Who goes there?" I'm not going to let this go into my mind. If it's impure, if it's lustful.

John Piper says you have the five-second rule. In five seconds, you gotta get rid of that thought. Because if the look turns to lust and you start to think that through, then you're done. You're a goner. Martin Luther used to say, "I can't keep the birds from flying over my head, but I can sure keep them from making a nest in my hair." Your hair, my scalp. But you get the idea. You can say, "Hey, these thoughts that come in, but I'm not receiving those." So don't linger in the lust.

Third D: Don't fight this temptation. Flee it. Don't fight it; flee it.

Speaker 1

Pastor Jeff will return in just a moment. Continue pointing out the importance of fleeing temptation and specifically the Giant of lust. And that's the name of today's lesson and it's one of seven in the series the Land of the Giants. This series and the popular booklet "When You Don't Like Yourself" are our special thank you gifts to you this month when you make a gift from His Heart.

This world we live in is full of giants, the biggest of which is the devil continually fighting against people coming to Jesus. And there are all kinds of people groups that need reaching. While we can't speak all those languages ourselves, we have just partnered with Pray.com to create daily translations of these radio programs you hear every day and also our weekly television broadcast, all in Spanish and Portuguese. This expands the potential reach from His Heart to countless millions.

But to make this work, we require you to ask God what He would have you to do to join with us to impact this part of the world for Christ. You can do that when you give this month, and with that gift, we'll say thank you by sending you the seven-lesson series, the Land of the Giants, which addresses how to deal with your biggest problems. The booklet we'll also send is called "When You Don't Like Yourself."

When you give today, you'll be helping us expand this ministry to reach more people around the world with the good news of Christ on radio, television, and always online everywhere. This new initiative will do just that. To make your gift, call 866-40-BIBLE (866-40-BIBLE) or go online to fromhisheart.org. When you do, we'll send you the Land of the Giants series in the format of your choice and the booklet "When You Don't Like Yourself."

Let's now return to the conclusion of this powerful and revealing lesson about the Land of the Giants and specifically the Giant of Lust.

Speaker 2

The Bible says in 2 Timothy 2:22, "Now flee from youthful lust." Paul is writing to Timothy, his young son in the faith. Timothy, who's a young guy, lust really goes after the young people. "Now flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace with those who call upon the Lord from a pure heart." Lust will soil your heart. It will dirty your heart. He says, "Flee it. Flee it."

In First Corinthians, chapter 6, Paul says, "Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside of the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body. 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 that you are not your own, for you have been bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body."

The poster child for the man who didn't fight this temptation, but fled from it, is Joseph. Joseph, who is there working in Potiphar's house, as described in Genesis chapter 39. Potiphar's wife—see, she's never named; she's just Potiphar's wife—sees Joseph and notices that he's handsome in face and form. He's just such a powerful guy, the way he runs everything for Potiphar as his chief of staff, so to speak. And she wants him. She's lusting after him. So she would say to Joseph, "Lie with me. Come on, you and me, let's go for it."

He said, "I can't do that. How could I do that? Your husband's put me in charge like this. How could I dishonor God like that? How could I sin against the Lord like that?" Day after day, she kept after him. Then one day, all the servants were gone out of the house, and it was just her and Joseph. She grabbed him by his coat and pulled him to her, saying, "Lie with me." He spun out of his coat and ran.

You know what some guys would do? They'd say, "Well, you know, Mrs. Potiphar, we shouldn't be carrying on like this. Let's pray. Let's just get down and pray. I think you're having some struggles. Let's get down and pray now. I'll pray first, and that will give you time to quit nibbling my ear." I mean, that's the kind of deal that some guys would do. You don't fight this sin; you flee this sin. Why? Because it's too strong. If you go toe to toe with the giant of sexual lust, you will lose every time you flee to sin.

And then the fourth D: Don't magnify the pleasure; magnify the cost. Proverbs 7 gives the admonition against sexual immorality: "Do not let your heart turn aside to her ways. Do not stray into her paths. For many are the victims she has cast down, and numerous are all her slain. Her house is the way to Sheol, descending to the chambers of death." Don't go there. Because if you go there, you're going to slide into her grasp and find out she lives in death. Her house is the way to Sheol, descending to the chambers of death.

The devil will tell you, "Don't look at the hook. Just look at the pleasure. Look at how you would love to nibble on this. Look how you would love to take a bite of this. Just focus in on that." The temptation and the deception is to magnify the pleasure and to minimize the consequences. We need to flip that. We need to magnify the consequences.

Is there pleasure in sin? Yes. The Bible talks about that in the book of Hebrews, that Moses chose ill treatment with the people of God rather than choosing the passing pleasures of sin. Sin is pleasurable. If anybody tells you sin's not pleasurable, they're lying. They're sinning. They're lying. Because sin is pleasure. The Bible says it's pleasurable, but it's a passing pleasure, a fleeting pleasure. It gives instant pleasure that leads to lasting pain.

I have a friend of mine, Greg Speck, who's on our speaker team at Family Life Ministries. Greg's main ministry is to students, and he travels around to different schools and churches to speak to students. He was at our church a number of years ago, speaking. He said he was speaking to an assembly one day and asked the question, "Why do so many students have trouble with pornography, Internet pornography?" One of the kids yelled out, "Because it's awesome." And that's the way so many people think about that. "Oh, it's awesome. It's so awesome, and it's so fun."

The numbers of women are just limitless. Solomon only had a thousand, but there are tens and hundreds of thousands on my phone. It is awesome. That's what people think. It's no big deal. I mean, it's a victimless crime. It doesn't hurt anybody. It's just harmless. That's a lie. You let that stuff get into your heart. And I'm talking to myself as I'm talking to you, because the giant of lust is out there. You let that stuff get into your heart and say, "It's no big deal." It's eating a hole in you. You don't even know it.

Adrian Rogers used to say about sexual immorality that it is a hurtful, heinous, hateful sin. There's nothing that will harden your heart more toward God than sexual immorality. Sexual immorality was the cause of the downfall of Babylon, Greece, and Rome. Why is that? Because people who treat sex lightly always treat other people lightly. Always. There's a big cost to pay for that. That stuff destroys lives. Don't magnify the pleasure; magnify the cost.

And the fifth D: Depend on the Lord and enlist a faithful friend. You know we confess our sins to the Lord, yes, but the Bible says in James 5:16, "Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed. The effective fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much." The Bible says in Romans 13:14, "But put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh with regard to its lusts."

Hey, that old nature is still there in my heart, in your heart, in every Christian's heart. In Paul's heart, Paul said, "The good that I do, I don't do. The evil that I don't want to do, I find myself doing. In me that is, in my flesh, there dwells no good thing. Wretched man that I am, who will set me free from the body of this death?" How do you deal with this? You put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.

Adrian Rogers said that when he was pastoring, he had a little sign on his desk that said this: "He who does not want to fall down ought not to walk in slippery places." You don't get close to the edge. You don't play with the fire. You don't linger in lust. You get away from that and realize, "Hey, God, what you say in your word is true. And, Lord, you say in your word that you will help me. God is my helper, and, Lord, I have a problem in this area. God help me."

The Lord says, "I want to help you. Put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh with regard to its lusts." Listen, I know that this kind of message and this subject hits lots of people, especially in our world today. Lots of young people especially. But hey, it hits older people too. I had a man tell me just a couple of weeks ago. He said he was in his 70s. He said, "You know, I've just been battling this sin for decades." It was the sin of pornography. It doesn't just go away because you get to be 30 years old. It doesn't go away because you get married. It doesn't go away because you turn 50, 60, 70, whatever.

It's a battle, and it's a big giant. But the Lord says, "Listen, you come to me; there's forgiveness in Jesus Christ, and there's power in Jesus Christ." I heard something in college that I've never forgotten: "When it comes to sexual temptation, don't ever quit fighting. Don't ever just give up and say, 'Well, I can't beat this, so if you can't beat them, join them,' and just give in." No, you keep saying, "Lord, today I'm walking in victory, and I'm going to run from evil and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, and perseverance with those who call upon the Lord from a pure heart." May God give us victory over the giants of lust.

Speaker 1

That is our prayer. That God would give us victory over the giant of lust. We thank you for joining us today. I'm Larry Nobles. Trusting the message the giant of lust was a blessing to you and reminding you that God's word assures us of this truth.

1 Corinthians, chapter 10, verse 13: "No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability. But with the temptation, he will also provide the way of escape that you may be able to endure it." May that encourage you today.

Be with us tomorrow for the next lesson in the Land of the Giant series. That's when we'll have part one of the Giant of Guilt and Shame. Next time here on From His Heart.

Speaker 2

There is bless there is hope that you always dream love he can heal every scar from his heart.

Speaker 1

From his heart is the listener supported Broadcast Ministry of Dr. Jeff Shreve speaking the truth in love to a lost and a hurting world.

Remember that no matter what, God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.

Find out more at fromhisheart.org.