Eyes Straight Ahead - A Sermon Against Lust

Intro:

Good evening.

The 1995 version of the NASB says, “fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

This evening, as we stated last Sunday night, we want to follow up our sermon on Modesty last Sunday with a sermon on avoiding lust, with the title - “Eyes Straight Ahead,” or we might call it “Fixing Our Eyes on Jesus.” (Would encourage you to go back and listen to the sermon last Sunday night if you missed it).

Let me offer a disclaimer that the subject matter tonight is somewhat mature in nature — Not anything graphic or anything, but these are some things that Christian parents will definitely want to discuss with their children.

Before we get into the meat of this sermon, let me just state that I thought about covering this topic in the same sermon as the modesty sermon, but I think it’s better to do it this way for a couple of reasons:

One - I didn’t want the sermon last Sunday night to be an hour and 15 minutes long. :)

And two - I think that sometimes if we aren’t careful, we may want to rush past the modesty part of this and head straight to the lust part.

As I stated last week, I believe that there is a biological reason why modesty is typically addressed to ladies in the Bible, while avoiding lust is addressed to men.

So it can sometimes be the case, ladies listen carefully, that when we preach on this, it can sometimes be the case that we want to rush past the modesty part, and go straight to blaming men, when in actuality …

This topic is a two-way street (as we stated last Sunday night).

If I’m being honest, I tire of folks in the church coming up with excuse upon excuse upon excuse, excusing away blatantly immodest clothing and nakedness, and I don’t know if its feminism that is to blame or what, but it isn’t right.

Now, we’re about to get to the lust part of this two-part sermon, but almost all of the people I talked to last week stated that said that I needed to be more bold in my sermon last week.

And I tend to agree.

But as I have stated before, its hard to know how to balance out truth and love some times (Eph. 4:15).

“Did I say that too harshly?”

“Did I not speak boldly enough?!”

I trust that you know that I care about both the TRUTH as well as LOVE.

And so that is that.

Let me begin tonight with …

Some Preliminary Thoughts That I Hope We Understand Are Givens:

When we talk about the sin of lust, there are many different types of lust that could be mentioned.

In other words, sexual lust is not the only one.

The Bible says in 1 John 2:16–17 - “For all that is in the world — the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life — is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.”

Three broad categories of sin — 2 of which are called types of “lusts.”

Admittedly, I have trouble figuring out which one is which regarding “lust of the eyes” and “lust of the flesh.”

They’re pretty similar.

But I THINK lust of the FLESH has to do with sinful fleshly desires, (sins committed with the body) …

While lust of the EYES is LOOKING at those things that are sinfully desired.

So perhaps lust of the eyes is the intial sin that then eventually leads to lust of the flesh, which leads to SINNING with the flesh? (Just thinking out loud here)

Notice, though, that all of these sinful desires are of the WORLD, by nature, not of heaven.

We are to seek those things which are above. where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God (Col. 3:1)!

So Christians, we know, are not to dwell on these things.

So the first given thing tonight — There are three categories of sin (Lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh, and pride of life) — And lust does not always refer to sexual lust, although that’s what we usually think of when we hear the word “lust,” and for good reason I think because this sin is so common.

But one might also lust for POWER, for money, for fame, for alcohol …

Etc. Etc. Etc.

Given number two: It is also a sin to be a stumblingblock that feeds into another person’s lusts (And we won’t mention anything more about that, since we covered that last week).

Given number three — There is a difference between temptation to sin and actually sinning!

We all know this (or we should).

Number one, Jesus was tempted (Yes or no?) (Yes!)

But did Jesus ever sin? (No!) (Heb. 4:15 - He was in all points tempted like we are, yet without sin!)

Furthermore, we CAN escape temptation just like Jesus escaped temptation - 1 Corinthians 10:13 - “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.”

James 4:7 - “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” (Which is exactly what Jesus did when He was tempted - Matthew ch. 4)!

So temptation and sin are not the same thing.

Number two, James describes for us very clearly that sin is the result of giving into our lusts (and James uses the term “lusts” to mean “desires” or “temptations.”)

James 1:12–16 - “Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires (“lusts,” KJV) and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.”

Very clearly, we see here:

Temptation = a desire or a lust, and when one GIVES IN to the temptation/lust, then comes SIN.

So the question becomes then …

How Do We Know When The Line is Crossed From Temptation to Sin?

Well, when it comes to lust (and for the remainder of tonight we’re talking about sexual lusts) …

The old King James uses the word concupiscence (which means sinful sexual desires) ...

I think the key here lies in LINGERING looks and thoughts, LONGING looks and thoughts, and REPEATED looks and thoughts.

I try to say this carefully when I address this subject of lust and modesty, because we better not forget it:

God designed a man to desire to look … AT ONE WOMAN (His wife)!

There’s a biological reason for this — It’s called “be fruitful and multiply,” right?

And God designed a woman to desire her husband, too. (But there are vast biological and emotional differences between men and women).

The Bible talks about in Song of Solomon how you don’t need to awaken love until the appropriate time (marriage) (Song of Solomon 8:4) — Why? Because these biological desires are of a VERY, VERY strong nature! That’s why.

Back to the idea of crossing the line from temptation to actual sin …

We said that I think (my opinion) the key lies in — Is the look LINGERING, is it LONGING, and is it REPEATED?

Yes or No — A man is walking down the street, he turns a corner, and there stands a woman, and he thinks, “That’s a really pretty woman.”

He doesn’t look her over.

Doesn’t look her up and down.

He doesn’t let his mind wander.

His mind’s not “in the gutter.”

He just acknowledges that she is a pretty woman.

Did he sin? (I don’t believe so)

What if he’s even TEMPTED? (Remember, temptation is not a sin — If he keeps control of his thoughts and his eyes [self-control! fruit of the Spirit] [retrain our mind - Rom. 12:2], then he hasn’t sinned.

But you take that same man and he DOES start looking her over repeatedly, letting his mind wander, letting his mind go to the gutter, maybe he flirts inappropriately, etc., and all the sudden you’ve got SIN, right?! (Assuming that’s not his wife!)

Let me give you an example of a man who definitely crossed the line from temptation to sin!

1 Sam. 11:1-3 (Read in Bible).

(We know the rest of the story, but remember — David went from temptation to SIN, and he did it very quickly).

And if we’re not careful, we will do so as well!

Well, finally let’s look at some of what the Bible has to say about avoiding the sin of sexual lust ...

Avoiding Sexual Lust:

Exodus 20:17 (Part of Ten Commandments) - “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.”

Someone says, but that’s O.T. preacher?

Let me remind us that all of the Ten Commandments save one were repeated in the N.T.

Let me remind us that God’s standards for morality does not change, though sometimes some particulars from O.T. to N.T. certainly do change.

And let me remind us that Rom. 15:4 says that the things written aforetime (O.T.) were written for our LEARNING, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.

So we CAN use the O.T. for our learning on this, too.

Leviticus 18:8 - “The nakedness of your father’s wife you shall not uncover; it is your father’s nakedness (that is, it belongs to his eyes only; the nakedness that only your father should be looking at).” (Incidently, Leviticus 18 has a lot to say about God’s standards for sexual ethics).

Job 31:1 - Job says, “I have made a covenant with my eyes; Why then should I look upon a young woman?”

Context - His friends had been playing the blame game, trying to figure out what terrible sin Job had committed to deserve what was happening to him in that book!

Job says basically — “I haven’t been lusting after women!”

“I made a covenant (a binding contract) with my eyes not to do so!”

Matthew 5:27–29 - “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 (obviously, he’s crossed the threshhold from temptation to sin!) has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.”

So lust can and WILL send someone to hell if unrepented!

Sisters, let me remind you again there of the importance of not being a stumblingblock toward’s someone’s path to hell, please.

Colossians 3:5–6 - “Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire (“concupiscence!” KJV), and covetousness (don’t forget Exo. 20:17), which is idolatry. Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience.”

1 Cor. 6:18 - “Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.”

What is the first step down the path that inevitably leads to fornication?

LUST, is it not?!

And so it must be avoided at all cost.

Conclusion:

I hope that this sermon has been helpful when it comes to the subject of dealing with sexual lust.

I realize that this is an uncomfortable topic for many - Trust me, I know.

But we must preach on it if we can ever hope to overcome it.

Speaking of that:

What to do if you struggle with sexual lust?

Number one - Pray, pray hard.

Number two - Keep your mind on the Word of God (meditate on it, day and night - Psalm 1:2).

Number three - Avoid pornography and other forms of temptation (including trying to avoid places where there’s a lot of rampant immodesty if need be [which is very difficult these days]).

Number four - Don’t forget Song of Solomon 8:4 - “I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, Do not stir up nor awaken love Until it pleases.”

And number five - Remember to resist the devil, and He will flee from you!

Gentlemen, keep your eyes … straight ahead! (And fixated on Jesus - Heb. 12:2)

(Offer invitation).