The War Against Your Soul

Returning from Sunday school, where the Ten Commandments had been the topic of the day, a young boy asked his father, “Daddy, what does it mean when it says, ‘Thou shalt not commit agriculture’?” There was hardly a beat between the question and the father’s reply: “Son, that just means that you’re not supposed to plow the other man’s field,” an answer satisfactory to both of them.1

1 Michael P. Green, 1500 Illustrations for Biblical Preaching (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2000), 17.

As we continue our series “inside Out: The Pursuit of Genuine Christianity” we are going to be talking about a subject that often makes us feel a bit awkward and a bit uneasy. It is one, however, that is part of the very fabric of our culture.

1 pet

1 Peter 2:11 KJV

Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;

As Jesus builds on the truth that our righteousness needs to exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and the Pharisees, he moves to the area of adultery, lust and sexual immorality. This morning we will find that purity depends not only on external behavioral compliance, but also on an internal surrender to the controlling boundaries of the will of God.

Adultery Wars Against The Soul.

Matthew 5:27 KJV

Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery:

moichos (μοιχός, 3432) denotes one “who has unlawful intercourse with the spouse of another

(Translation Wheel)

Hebrews 13:4 KJV

Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.

Lust, the Secret Adultery, Wars Against the Soul

Matthew 5:28 KJV

But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.

Lust is the craving for salt of a man who is dying of thirst.8161

(Lust wheel slide)

1 Michael P. Green, 1500 Illustrations for Biblical Preaching (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2000), 229.

epithumeo (ἐπιθυμέω, 1937), “to fix the desire upon” (epi, “upon,” used intensively, thumos, “passion”), whether things good or bad; hence, “to long for, lust after, covet,” is used with the meaning “to covet evilly” in , of “coveting money and apparel”; so in ; . See desire, fain, lust.1

1 W. E. Vine, Merrill F. Unger, and William White Jr., Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words (Nashville, TN: T. Nelson, 1996), 136.

(Louw Nida Slide)

It is important to note that this verse does not just refer to noticing a woman as attractive, or even to a brief recognition that she is sexually appealing. It refers instead to actually contemplating having sex with her, that is, to having the intention of doing so. Thus, for looks … lustfully translators can say “wants to sleep with her,” “wants sex with her,” or “looks at her with the intention of sleeping with her.”1

1 Barclay Moon Newman and Philip C. Stine, A Handbook on the Gospel of Matthew, UBS Handbook Series (New York: United Bible Societies, 1992), 137–138.

2 Timothy 2:22 KJV

Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

1 Peter 1:14 KJV

As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance:

Jesus uses shocking speech to illustrate how dangerous this lust really is.

Matthew 5:29–30 KJV

And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.

  Radio personality Paul Harvey tells the story of how an Eskimo kills a wolf. The account is grisly, yet it offers fresh insight into the consuming, self-destructive nature of sin:

First, the Eskimo coats his knife blade with animal blood and allows it to freeze. Then he adds another layer of blood, and another, until the blade is completely concealed by frozen blood.

Next, the hunter fixes his knife in the ground with the blade up. When a wolf follows his sensitive nose to the source of the scent and discovers the bait, he licks it, tasting the fresh frozen blood. He begins to lick faster, more and more vigorously, lapping the blade until the keen edge is bare. Feverishly now, harder and harder the wolf licks the blade in the arctic night. So great becomes his craving for blood that the wolf does not notice the razor-sharp sting of the naked blade on his own tongue, nor does he recognize the instant at which his insatiable thirst is being satisfied by his “own” warm blood. His carnivorous appetite just craves more—until the dawn finds him dead in the snow!

It is a fearful thing that people can be “consumed by their own lusts.”1

Fornication, the End Product of Lust, Wars against the Soul and the Marriage.

Matthew 5:31–32 KJV

It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement: But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery.

1. porneia (πορνεία, 4202) is used (a) of “illicit sexual intercourse,” in ; , ; ; ; , ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; in the plural in ; in and 19:9 it stands for, or includes, adultery; it is distinguished from it in 15:19 and Mark 7:211

1 W. E. Vine, Merrill F. Unger, and William White Jr., Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words (Nashville, TN: T. Nelson, 1996), 252.

(Fornication Wheel)

  A study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute confirmed what God has always known. Adultery is bad for you. One of the many ways it harms people is by increasing a woman’s risk of cervical cancer.

According to the Associated Press, the study found that women are five to eleven times more likely to develop cervical cancer if they or their husbands have numerous sexual partners. Cervical cancer is directly linked to HPV, a virus commonly spread by sexual intercourse.

“Male behavior is the important thing in this cancer,” said Dr. Keerti Shah, a professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the coauthor of the study. “In effect, the husband takes cancer home to his wife.” Dr. Shah explains that men who have many sexual partners are very likely to carry HPV home and that up to 97 percent of cervical cancers are infected with that virus.

In the study group, wives whose husbands had twenty-one or more sexual partners were eleven times more likely to develop cervical cancer. Wives whose husbands frequented prostitutes were eight times more likely to develop cervical cancer.

As always, God commands what is moral because he is looking out for our welfare. Nothing is more healthful than righteousness.

Health, Immorality, Righteousness, Sex, Ten Commandments, Unfaithfulness

Exod. 20:141

1 Craig Brian Larson, 750 Engaging Illustrations for Preachers, Teachers & Writers (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2002), 14–15.

1 cor 6

1 Corinthians 6:18–20 KJV

Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.

It is easy to appear pure to those who can see the polished external manifestations of our beings. But God the Holy Spirit is searching those filthy hidden corners of the heart and wants to clean house. Confess to God, surrender to His will, make the changes you must and with God’s help you can win the War Against Your Soul.