SCRIPTURE:
LUKE 22:31-32
MATTHEW 16:13-19
ACTS 9:32
ROMANS 8:32
“Remember, even Jesus was tempted!” So many times I have told myself that statement when my mind begins to race and think things that I shouldn’t think. No matter how hard I would shake my head, blink my eyes, or try to think about chickens or literally anything else, I couldn’t get images out of my head. Impure thoughts are like an addictive drug; the more you allow yourself to think about things you shouldn’t, the more you will develop a desire to go further and further into the darkness to conjure up even worse thoughts. But, what’s even worse than thinking about things is acting on them. The Apostle Paul understood this well. That’s why he preached about the battles Christians face as spiritual battles that take place in the mind. When we doubt, it is in our mind. When we are faithless, it is in our mind. When we lose hope, you guessed it, in our mind. I’ll explain this more shortly as this is not only the clue for where we lose battles but also how we will prevail.
Things like pornography, explicit magazines, not wanting to wait until marriage to have relations with a girl etc. are the types of temptations I had as a young man. As an adult, the same temptations still exist but become compounded by the ability to act on them as I now have the means to do so. Now, couple all of the major temptations mentioned above (the ones I would suggest that most men deal with on a daily basis) and consider how many more temptations exist for a Christian man. Remember, for the Christian, it’s not simply acting out temptations that is a sin but also impure thinking. It’s just as wrong for a man to look at a woman and think impure things about her as it is to fornicate with his girlfriend before marriage. It’s just as wrong to privately use your cellular phone to search for racy images of a beautiful actress as it is to cheat on your wife. That’s a fact!
But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.
Matthew 5:28
“We all fall short of the glory of God!” Romans 3:23. Yep, that’s another verse I used as an excuse to be stupid because I chose to interpret it wrongly. It was a crutch. It is not fitting for a Christian to use excuses to sin, ever. We cannot allow ourselves room to fail. Satan will take every inch we give him and use it to establish his militant campaign against our minds. We must be vigilant! Every minute, every hour, every day we must pray and keep our mind devoted to what is clean, pure, honest, holy, etc. The best way to do that is to stay read up in the Word of God and draw closer each passing minute to our savior Jesus Christ the Righteous. Let’s get into some of the verses I laid out for this message.
Sift You As Wheat
In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus spoke to Peter and explained to him that Satan wished to sift him as wheat. I could go on for an hour about the power in the parables and statements Jesus uses to illustrate His points sometimes but suffice it to say for this one that Jesus was telling Peter that Satan wanted to uproot and obliterate him. You see, Satan knew the long-term affect Peter would have on the Church of Christ. Peter was instrumental in crossing the boundaries from only Jews being worthy of salvation from Christ to the gentiles of the world also being worthy of His salvation, regardless of their backgrounds as non-Jews. As such, Peter had a huge target on his back and Jesus was giving him fair warning. In true manly fashion, Peter beat his chest in front of Jesus (figuratively) and pronounced his unwaivering faithfulness to our Lord. Later that day, Peter denied Christ three times. Short version, Peter sinned against God, against his Master and friend, Jesus.
I found this story to be useful to explain sexual immorality, if for no other reason than to explain to you that the greatest people in history have faced extreme temptations and most of them, including Peter, have failed. Jesus told Peter before he ever sinned that he was going to do it. It’s not like Peter walked into a trap that he never saw coming. Yet, Peter gave in to fear in his moment of temptation, instead of putting his trust and his hope in Christ and confirming his friendship with Jesus.
Imagine being Peter on the day that Jesus died. Think about the overwhelming grief that he must have gone through knowing that he failed the most important person to have ever existed. To know Jesus and to fail Him is extremely painful. A singer I used to listen to as a child, Ray Boltz, sang the words, “Does He still feel the nails every time I fail?” I don’t know if He does or not, but I do know what it’s like to fail Him. I know what it’s like to give in to temptations, to choose sin over the Spirit of God who convicts me of my sin and warns me that I am about to go down a dark path. I have hated myself at times for not only failing Jesus, outright choosing sin over my relationship with Him, but for also doing it so repeatedly that it became a habit. But here’s where it gets even worse: I let my temptations, my dark thoughts, my habitual sin cause me to backslide. I was a believer who lived like a vile sinner. I was the worst person I knew. I hated myself during those times so much that I prayed for God to forgive me, place me in a state of grace, then end my life. In those moments I consciously chose to walk away from my family, friends, career and everything else…to leave it all behind and let God take my life as an act for pity against my pathetic self. Guess what? He didn’t. Instead, He helped me hate the sin more than I hated myself. I still hate it to this day!
Sexual immorality, I believe, is the hardest addiction to beat. It’s ingrained in every fabric of our society. Walk into any mall in the US and you will find some sort of lingerie shop. Walk into a major shoe store and see posters of female tennis players in short skirts advertising a popular shoe. Walk into a department store, a grocery store, EVEN A CHURCH, and you’ll easily see more skin that you should. While that may not be an issue to some people, it is to the person who has sensory overload and whose brain quickly pans the surroundings and can collect every single promiscuous thought from the images he or she sees. I can easily tell the drug addict that he can overcome cocaine addiction by staying away from cocaine and the people who use it. To me, that makes sense. To the cocaine addict, maybe that’s a lot harder to do than it seems. I don’t intend to make light of their struggle. I have no doubt the mental fight is equally as difficult. Perhaps its much worse, I can’t say. But, maybe to him, walking through a mall and passing by a lingerie shop is no big deal. For people like me, it is.
I’ve addressed how temptations are everywhere I go, but they are also at home. If I want to watch a Christian movie on Netflix, I first have to deal with the possibility that there will be a movie with a cover of a beautiful young woman posing in a risqué position somewhere on the screen that I will have to navigate past. I don’t want to see that; I simply want to watch my decent movie. Okay, so I shut off Netflix and watch something decent on television. Before long, a commercial about contraception comes on, or one for feminine products, or one advertising a pill that makes a man last longer in the bedroom… it all leads my mind right back to where I don’t want it to go. Society has completely accepted these teasers, but they don’t call it that. Instead, they flaunt their rights to shove it in your face whenever they want. Consider the young mother who dresses provocatively and wants to breastfeed her newborn, uncovered, right out in public for anyone to see, only to tell everyone else it’s natural and they shouldn’t look. I don’t agree with that sort of behavior. I would prefer a more modest society, and for good reason. If I want to live in sin and let my mind run rampant with immoral sexual temptations, the society in which I live is the ideal place to do it. It is a breeding ground for evil. However, what if I want to keep my mind pure? What if I want to strive to make it to heaven and be as perfect as I can be for Jesus? That’s where the fight begins. That’s when I find myself at odds with the rest of the world. But there is hope! Jesus is hope, and strength, and the Way Maker, though the environment around me is tough and the path is rocky.
The Rock
I want you to think about something I said above, about how all of us are tempted, even the most influential people of all time. Yes, even Jesus. Remember how I said Satan wanted to sift Peter as wheat because of what Peter would stand to do for the church in the future? Read these verses in Matthew. Here, Jesus blesses Peter and informs him that the Church of Christ will be built upon Peter’s preaching. Do you see the purpose Peter had in his life? Do you understand how Satan had to go after him and at least try to get him to fail? Otherwise, the Church of Christ would prevail, and Satan would utterly lose his battle to defeat God. I ask you this; have you ever thought that the temptations you face are there to dissuade you from the path you were predestined to take? What if Jesus has a special calling in your life, something that is so profound that He intends for you to lead tens of thousands of souls to salvation? Would Satan know? Would he then come after you to sift you as wheat? Would he then try to tempt you with every sin under the sun? Yes! And I declare that is why you are tempted! You were meant to spread the Gospel of Jesus, we all were. We are meant to be powerful ambassadors for Christ, more than conquerors. We are meant to be a direct threat against the rulers of the darkness of this age. Temptations come because sin exists on Earth. Sin exists on Earth because Satan walks to and from seeking whom he may devour. Satan walks the Earth seeking to devour the people of God because he hates God. He hates Jesus. He hates you and me because we were made in the image of God. He hates us because of his own fate, his final resting place on the dung heap of nothingness where he will be ridiculed, mocked and laughed at as the puny failure that he is. But Jesus Christ is the Rock on which we stand. He is our foundation. He is the Word of God which lights our path, through whom we are made more than conquerors!
The Church
As prophesied by Jesus, Peter went on to help spread the Gospel throughout the land and establish the early church. The book of Acts tells us Peter preached and performed works in Lydda, Joppa and Caesarea before eventually being killed by Nero in Rome. This is so important. This is the end of the story coming to fruition. Peter was a man like us. He was fallible. He made mistakes. He was tempted, sinned, was forgiven, contributed greatly to the ministry of Christ, then inherited the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven. If he can do it, we can do it. If our Lord’s calling was faithful for the ministry and life of Peter, be sure His calling on our lives is just as certain!
How Do We Prevail?
Going back to the 22nd Chapter of the gospel of Luke, read down to verse 46, after Jesus informed Peter that Satan wants to sift him as wheat. Shortly before Jesus was betrayed by Judas, Jesus and the disciples were in the garden. Jesus was praying, then he noticed the disciples were sleeping. He told them to rise and pray so they would not enter into temptation.
Here is what I have discovered through my own successes and failures when dealing with sexual immorality and temptations in general. Pray! I know it may sound simple and cliche, but it isn’t. Prayer is so powerful. When you pray to God, you open your heart and your mind, through sincerity, for the love and mercy of Jesus to not only cleanse your mind from unrighteousness, but also to give you strength for later. Let me explain it this way. Imagine your brother is aggravating you terribly and you want so badly to beat him up when he lashes out to you. Instead, you come and talk to me. We talk it through. I tell you why your brother is acting the way he is and how important it is for you to do the right thing. I tell you how I love you and how I’m counting on you to make the right choices, and that I will also work with your brother to get him to calm down and behave. How do you handle things with your brother tomorrow? Are you still as likely to want to lash out and hurt him or will you have just a bit more patience because you trust in the conversation we had? That’s how prayer works. The temptations will still be there, but you’ll be able to endure them so much more handily than before. The bigger difference is that you’ll want to overcome them. You’ll want to do the right thing. When walking down the aisle at the grocery store and the pretty girl walks by, you’ll see her. But you’ll quickly remember that you are focused on Christ and working toward a goal of having a better relationship with him, overcoming the temptation to take a second glance.
The Clear Winner
Do yourself a favor and just read this entire chapter. When you’re done, go back and read it again. This chapter is so incredibly powerful. This is my man Paul talking to the Romans and spelling out the version of the Gospel that Jesus gave him on the Damascus Road. I love this stuff!
Who shall lay the charges against you? It is God who justifies! Who is it that tries to condemn you? It is Christ who died who fights on our behalf! My God, we are truly more than conquerors if Christ fights on our behalf and denies anyone who would try to accuse us.
In this chapter, Paul goes on to say how nothing can separate us from the Love of God in Christ Jesus. NOTHING! Not sexual immorality, not temptations, not the mistakes we have made in the past…NOTHING! Not even death! How can this be? Let me tell you. You are not perfect, but you are commanded to be! You better not sin, but there is forgiveness if you do. You better live without spot or wrinkle, yet the blood of Jesus washes us as white as snow. Are you getting this? It is not you who deserves the love and blessings from Christ, it is Jesus who has redeemed you who has caused you to be found worthy of His Salvation. He has not found you worthy because you are perfect, spotless, snow-white or sinless. He has found you worthy because He loves you with an amazing love. One that redeems the irredeemable, like me. It is love, the greatest of all gifts, at the heart of our blessed Lord. The bible says that Jesus chose to redeem us while we were still filthy sinners, unworthy of any good thing. His love is the only way we make it past these obstacles in our life.
Having said all of this, make sure you understand that while nothing can separate you from the love of God, sin will certainly separate you from God. He still loves you, even while you sin, but He does not accept your sin and He will not bless your life while willful sin is taking place in it. Sin is the separator! The Bible is clear that sinners have no part in the blessings of eternal life in Heaven with our Lord. It is only through repentance of sin and a relationship with Jesus Christ that we will make it into heaven. That’s why I wrote this message for you, so that you can learn to defeat one of the most prominent tools of Satan, Sexual Immorality.
The steps on how to prevail against sexual immorality and temptations are as follow:
- Become a Christian. Repent of the sins you have committed. Understand that repentance means to turn away from the sin. Don’t ever look back. Burn the ships! Once you have repented, ask Christ into your heart. Pray this prayer: “Lord Jesus, forgive me a sinner. I repent of the many sins I have committed in my lifetime. I invite you into my heart and pray that you will save my soul. Help me to live a life of righteousness, one that will be pleasing to you, Lord. Take away my temptations and help me to draw closer to you. Fill my heart with your Spirit and let Him guide me wherever you would have me go. I offer up my life to you to lead me and guide me moving forward. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.”
- Read the Bible every day. Don’t let it be a burden or a chore to you, read it as though you actually want to learn it and understand it. When you read it, try to understand everything you have read. Ask questions about parts you don’t understand. PRAY! Ask God to give you discernment over what you have read and a will to learn more.
- Pray. Don’t get hung up on only praying for yourself every day. There are plenty of other people that you should pray for. Don’t be ashamed to pester God for what you want, such as help overcoming temptation. Just remember that God doesn’t exist only to give us our wishes. We have to pray for others too. If you need help thinking of who else to pray for, start with me, your mom, the rest of your family, our President and Government leaders, preachers and pastors who teach the gospel, schools and teachers, first responders, doctors, nurses, the homeless, other countries less fortunate than ours, etc.
- Worship! I’ll submit that pure worship is as powerful as prayer at times. Take your problems out of your mind for a little while. Find a quiet place and just worship God. Tell Him how amazing He is for all the little thoughtful things He does each day. Thank Him for the gentle breeze that put a smile on your face. Praise Him for the grace and mercy he renews for you each day. Bless Him for how creative He is when he puts so many brilliant colors in the evening sky. Just think about all life and creation, then sing a praise to Him to tell Him how worthy of your praise He is.
- Stay away from pornography! You simply cannot give in to this mess. If you find yourself being tempted by it, do whatever is necessary to avoid it. Stay off your phone when you’re alone. Use an adult content blocker app that will help keep you from viewing explicit websites. If none of that works, smash your phone into a million pieces and learn to live without it. Trust me on this one! Filling your brain with pornography is inviting mental cancer to take over your life. You have to do everything in your power to not allow this.
- Avoid putting yourself in a compromising position with the opposite sex. If you go on a date, go someplace public. Pray before you go and ask God to help you make sound decisions while you are out. Give your parents a timeline on when you will be home and stick to it. Or, have a friend call you at a certain time to check on you. Use peer pressure to do the right thing, not the wrong thing.
You can overcome this! I know it’s tough but it’s doable. I promise. But no matter what, don’t allow yourself to believe you can fight this and overcome it on your own. You can’t. You need Jesus. Without Him you will fail. Without applying these techniques, you will fail. These are the things I have done in my life to be an overcomer of sexual immorality. They work!
Let me leave you with this: 1 Corinthians 10:13 “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.”
I love you!