August 2022 - Make No Provision

“Only one inevitable deduction.” || Martyn Lloyd-Jones

by Alan Sharpe August 28, 2022

Jesus Christ is entitled to the whole of our lives, without any limit whatsoever.

by Alan Sharpe August 28, 2022

man on a boardwalk observing calm lake scenary at sunset

If we believe that Jesus of Nazareth is the only begotten Son of God and that He came into this world and went to the cross of Calvary and died for our sins and rose again in order to justify us and to give us life anew and prepare us for heaven—if you really believe that, there is only one inevitable deduction, namely that He is entitled to the whole of our lives, without any limit whatsoever.

Excerpted from Studies in the Sermon on the Mount by Martyn Lloyd-Jones.

Need a daily kick in the pants to quit porn biblically? Buy the book, or subscribe to my daily kick.

Was this post helpful? Share it now:

Consecration

“Not just heaven one day, but Christ right now.” || Major W. Ian Thomas

by Alan Sharpe August 24, 2022

Stop breathing and folk will bury you! In other words, a living body breathes, and a living faith breathes, and a living faith breaths with divine action.

by Alan Sharpe August 24, 2022

Christian living is not a method or technique; it is an entirely different, revolutionary principle of life. It is the principle of an exchanged life” not I, but Christ liveth in me” (Galatians 2:20).

This is all part of our Gospel—it is not the Gospel plus! We must not get our terminology wrong. To divorce the behavior of the Christian from the Gospel is entirely false and is not true to the Word of God, yet all too often such is the characteristic of gospel preaching.

I would like to explore with you what is the true spiritual content of our Gospel : not just heaven one day, but Christ right now! Christ in you, on the grounds of redemption, this is the Gospel! To preach anything less than this must inevitably produce “evan-jellyfish,” folk with no spiritual vertebrae, whose faith does not “behave!”

Do you remember what James says in his epistle? “As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith w

Need a daily kick in the pants to quit porn biblically? Buy the book, or subscribe to my daily kick.

Was this post helpful? Share it now:

Temptation

Beware of Offline Threats | 1 Peter 5:8

by Alan Sharpe August 24, 2022

I have an offline enemy who has legs. He follows me and tempts me when I am offline. Now I know.

by Alan Sharpe August 24, 2022

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
1 Peter 5:8

If you are a Christian man, or any man for that matter, who struggles with the sin of looking at pornography, you likely fight your battle online. Most porn these days is found on websites, on apps, in discussion forums, and in other places on the internet. To stay clear of porn, you likely guard your steps online. You try to avoid going online to sin. But one thing to remember about lust is that it can strike you offline, too.

The Devil, as far as I know, has no preference when it comes to tempting you and me to fall to sexual sin. He is a multichannel menace. I learned this firsthand yesterday while shopping. I was standing in the checkout line at Bulk Barn (a local bulk retailer), a bag of wine gums in hand, minding my own business, when I noticed a vision of loveliness standing in front of me. I knew better than to g

Need a daily kick in the pants to quit porn biblically? Buy the book, or subscribe to my daily kick.

Was this post helpful? Share it now:

Consequences

Keep Looking Ahead | Luke 17:32

by Alan Sharpe August 23, 2022

If you have been delivered from a sexual sin, such as looking at pornography or masturbation, don’t look back.

by Alan Sharpe August 23, 2022

Remember Lot’s wife.
Luke 17:32

You don’t know her name, or much of anything about her, but you are commanded to remember her, to learn from her, to allow her life to be a warning to yours. I am speaking, of course, of Lot’s wife.

Jesus warned the people of His day to “remember Lot’s wife.” He gave this warning in the context of being prepared for His second coming, when He returns to establish His kingdom. Jesus warned His disciples that, in that day, they should not hesitate in going out to meet the Lord. They should be prepared for immediate departure. They should not allow their possessions to hold them back, and they should not allow their work to hold them back (Luke 17:31). They should remember Lot’s wife.

Lot’s wife obeyed the angel of the Lord and fled Sodom and Gomorrah with her husband and their children (Genesis 19:17). But, as they were fleeing, she looked back. Even though the ang

Need a daily kick in the pants to quit porn biblically? Buy the book, or subscribe to my daily kick.

Was this post helpful? Share it now:

Prevention

To Quit Porn, Obey One Do and One Don’t | Romans 13:14

by Alan Sharpe August 22, 2022

The cure for habitual sexual sin, such as looking at pornography, is essentially one thing you are to do and one thing you are to avoid.

by Alan Sharpe August 22, 2022

But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.
Romans 13:14

Anyone who says the Bible is a book of do’s and don’ts is correct as far as quitting pornography is concerned. The cure for habitual sexual sin is essentially one thing you are to do and one thing you are not to do. Paul gives us each one at the end of the 13th chapter of his letter to the Romans. “Put on the Lord Jesus Christ,” says Paul, “and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.”

“Put on the Lord Jesus Christ” is the do. You are commanded to clothe yourself with Christ. You are to put Him on in the same way that you are to “put on the full armor of God” (Ephesians 6:11). You are to adopt the spirit of Christ to such an extent that you reproduce it in your outward walk and conduct.

Making provision for the flesh is the don’t</st

Need a daily kick in the pants to quit porn biblically? Buy the book, or subscribe to my daily kick.

Was this post helpful? Share it now:

Read more

Consecration
“Only by death to self can we be lost in God.” || Madam Guyon

Previous article Next article

by Alan Sharpe August 20, 2022

Self-seeking is the gate by which a soul departs from peace; and total abandonment to the will of God, that by which it returns.

by Alan Sharpe August 20, 2022

It is only by a total death to self we can be lost in God. Self-seeking is the gate by which a soul departs from peace; and total abandonment to the will of God, that by which it returns.

Excerpted from Letters of Madam Guyon by Madam Guyon. Public domain.

Need a daily kick in the pants to quit porn biblically? Buy the book, or subscribe to my daily kick.

Was this post helpful? Share it now:
Read more

Lust
Do You Suppose? | Luke 13:1-5

Previous article Next article

by Alan Sharpe August 19, 2022

If you want to escape God’s wrath against sexual immorality (porn keeps you out of the kingdom of God), change your mind about your sin.

by Alan Sharpe August 19, 2022

There were present at that season some who told Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus answered and said to them, “Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.”
Luke 13:1-5

Are you in bondage to pornography because you believe other men are deserving of God’s wrath more than you are? Do you return to your sexual immorality day after day because you believe you
Need a daily kick in the pants to quit porn biblically? Buy the book, or subscribe to my daily kick.

Was this post helpful? Share it now:
Read more

Prevention
Porn and the Penalty for Inaction | Matthew 5:29

Previous article Next article

by Alan Sharpe August 18, 2022

Achieving sexual purity will cost you plenty. But not as much as you’ll pay by doing nothing.

by Alan Sharpe August 18, 2022

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. 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.
Matthew 5:27-29

Will your whole body be cast into hell because you refused to install a porn-blocker on your laptop? Maybe. Will God cast you into hell because you refused to replace your smartphone with a dumbphone that can’t access porn? Perhaps. Will your body be thrown into hell because you scorned this warning of Jesus and never cancelled your subscription to that X-rated website? Maybe.

Jesus teaches you and me that we must deal with the causes of our sexual temptations in this life or pay the penalty for our inaction in the next. That’s the heart of this div
Need a daily kick in the pants to quit porn biblically? Buy the book, or subscribe to my daily kick.

Was this post helpful? Share it now:
Read more

Consequences
Quit Porn in Three Words | John 5:14

Previous article Next article

by Alan Sharpe August 17, 2022

Jesus doesn’t expect you to continue looking at porn any more than He expected the healed man from the Pool of Bethesda to continue in his sin.

by Alan Sharpe August 17, 2022

Afterward Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, “See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you.”
John 5:14

One of the reasons I left Celebrate Recovery is that I never faced consequences for my sexual sin. Brothers like me, caught up in the sin of habitual porn use, would attend the meetings week after week, being pure one week, falling into sin the next, but nothing ever happened. Actually, something happened. We received a “First Time Attender” blue chip each time we reset our sobriety clock to one day of sobriety. This was not the biblical model for dealing with a brother who was living in sexual sin, so I left.

What I never heard at Celebrate Recovery meetings were those simple words of Jesus: “Sin no more.” Jesus said them to the woman caught in adultery (John 8:11), and he said them to the ma
Need a daily kick in the pants to quit porn biblically? Buy the book, or subscribe to my daily kick.

Was this post helpful? Share it now:
Read more

Consecration
“Make thy score even with Christ every night.” || Lewis Bayly

Previous article Next article

by Alan Sharpe August 16, 2022

If, by frailty or strong temptation, thou shalt perceive that thou hast committed any grievous sin or fault, presume not to sleep till thou have upon thy knees made a particular reconciliation with God in Christ.

by Alan Sharpe August 16, 2022

At evening, when thou preparest thyself to take thy rest, meditate on these few points:—

That seeing thy days are numbered (Psal. xc.; Job xiv. 5), there is one more of thy number spent, and thou art now the nearer to thy end by a day.
Sit down a while before thou goest to bed, and consider with thyself what memorable thing thou hast seen, heard, or read that day, more than thou sawest, heardst, or knewest before, and make the best use of them; but especially call to mind what sin thou hast committed that day against God or man, and what good thou hast omitted, and humble thyself for both. If thou findest that thou hast done any goodness, acknowledge it to be God’s grace, and give him the glory; and count that day lost wherein thou hast not done some good.
Heu perdidi diem!
If, by frailty or strong temptation, thou shalt perceive that thou hast committed any grievous sin or fault, presume not to sleep till thou have upon thy knees made a particular reconciliation with God in Christ, both by confessing the fault, and by fervently praying for pardon. Thus mak
Need a daily kick in the pants to quit porn biblically? Buy the book, or subscribe to my daily kick.

Was this post helpful? Share it now:
Read more

Quiz
Quiz: Job 31:1

Previous article Next article

by Alan Sharpe August 16, 2022

Job was was blameless and upright, and he feared God and shunned evil. Why, then, did Job make a covenant with his eyes?

by Alan Sharpe August 16, 2022

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

Questions

How was Job tempted sexually?
Who was Job vulnerable to as far as sexual temptation was concerned?
What does Job mean when he says, “look upon a young woman?”
What practical step did Job take to avoid his known weakness?
What is a covenant?
What did Job’s covenant with his eyes entail?
Whereabouts on the timeline of temptation did Job make his covenant with his eyes?
Why did Job make this covenant with his eyes?
Who did Job hold responsible for his sexual temptation?
What covenant have you made with your eyes?

Answers

Job was tempted sexually by his eyes, by what he saw.
Job was vulnerable to young women (literally, in the Hebrew, young, female virgins).
To “look upon
Need a daily kick in the pants to quit porn biblically? Buy the book, or subscribe to my daily kick.

Was this post helpful? Share it now:
Read more

Accountability
Why I Use Accountability Software as a Christian Man

Previous article Next article

by Alan Sharpe August 15, 2022

The whole reason for having an accountability partner is to be accountable to someone. That can only happen if you make sure you can’t hide your sin.

by Alan Sharpe August 15, 2022

Want to discover the easiest and fastest way to quit porn? Get caught. Arrange your life so that anytime you look at pornography, someone catches you in the act, and then confronts you about your sin. This is what I do. Works for me.

I am talking, of course, about electronic accountability. When it comes to getting free of pornography, there are two types of accountability—someone, and software. An accountability partner is someone who helps you stay committed to moral purity. Accountability software monitors and reports on your Internet usage.

You can have a human accountability partner but not use accountability software, and vice versa, but victory comes sooner if you use both. After all, if you have an accountability partner but no accountability software, and if you sin by looking at porn, you can always “forget” to mention that episode, or lie about it. Your accountability partner will never know. And if you have accountability software but no accountability partner, you will get a notification from
Need a daily kick in the pants to quit porn biblically? Buy the book, or subscribe to my daily kick.

Was this post helpful? Share it now:
Read more

Lust
Why I Use Porn-Blocking Software as a Christian Man

Previous article Next article

by Alan Sharpe August 12, 2022

Porn-blocking software protects me against seeing pornography accidently or on purpose. I can’t stay sexually pure without this software, or, at least I haven’t tried to.

by Alan Sharpe August 12, 2022

I am a Christian husband and father who used to struggle with the sin of looking at pornography. I haven’t looked at anything pornographic since November 4, 2021, but that doesn’t mean I’m not tempted today. That’s why I have porn-blocking software installed on all of my electronic devices (desktop PC, laptop, tablet, smartphone).

I happen to use Covenant Eyes because it works for me. Covenant Eyes is a porn blocker, also known as a porn filter. It filters out explicit content by blocking millions of explicit websites. If I enter any of these website addresses into my browser, Covenant Eyes blocks them so I can’t reach them. If I receive an email with a link in it to an explicit site, and if I click that link, Covenant Eyes blocks that, too. This is my first line of defense.

Covenant Eyes also offers custom blocking. If I happen upon a website that is not pornographic but is nevertheless inappropriate, I add it to my list of inappropriate sites. Covenant Eyes blocks my access to this site from then on. My list of vo
Need a daily kick in the pants to quit porn biblically? Buy the book, or subscribe to my daily kick.

Was this post helpful? Share it now:
Read more

Consecration
“It’s heart-rending work, giving our dearest lusts a bill of divorce.” || Jonathan Edwards

Previous article Next article

by Alan Sharpe August 12, 2022

Our lusts are many and violent. Sin is naturally exceeding dear to us; to part with it is compared to plucking out our right eyes.

by Alan Sharpe August 12, 2022

And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God.
Ruth 1:16

Our resolutions to cleave to and follow those that are turning to God, and joining themselves to his people, ought to be fixed and strong, because of the great difficulty of it. If we will cleave to them, and have their God for our God, and their people for our people, we must mortify and deny all our lusts, and cross every evil appetite and inclination, and forever part with all sin.

But our lusts are many and violent. Sin is naturally exceeding dear to us; to part with it is compared to plucking out our right eyes. Men may refrain from wonted ways of sin for a little while, and may deny their lusts in a partial degree, with less difficulty; but ’tis heart-rending work, finally to part with all sin, and to gi
Need a daily kick in the pants to quit porn biblically? Buy the book, or subscribe to my daily kick.

Was this post helpful? Share it now:
Read more

Accountability
Don’t Look for a Label for Your Sexual Sin | Matthew 15:19-20

Previous article Next article

by Alan Sharpe August 11, 2022

The remedy for habitual porn use is not external, but internal. The cure is not secular, but spiritual.

by Alan Sharpe August 11, 2022

For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man.
Matthew 15:19-20

Are you a porn addict because Celebrate Recovery says so? Are you a process addict because the World Health Organization says so? Do you suffer from a hypersexual disorder? Are you a sex addict?

No, no, no, and no.

If you are a Christian man who struggles with looking at pornography, don’t try to find a label for your sin. Don’t look to the world, or Christian psychology, or Christian counselling, or Christian support groups, for a diagnosis for your sin. Don’t look for a diagnostic label that requires medication, therapy, counselling, weekly attendance at recovery meetings, working your way through 12 steps, or a
Need a daily kick in the pants to quit porn biblically? Buy the book, or subscribe to my daily kick.

Was this post helpful? Share it now:
Read more

Temptation
The Blessing of Sexual Temptation | James 1:12

Previous article Next article

by Alan Sharpe August 10, 2022

God has a crown prepared for you. It’s in your size. To receive it you must do something by not doing something.

by Alan Sharpe August 10, 2022

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.
James 1:12

I don’t suppose you think often about the positive side of sexual temptation. For example, when you are in the midst of a struggle with lust, or when you are battling against the temptation to look at porn or to masturbate, I don’t imagine that you think about any rewards that could possibly come with those struggles. I know that I never did.

But the Apostle James tells us that there is a blessing attached to temptation. There is good that comes out of sexual temptation. That blessing comes directly from the hand of God. The man who is tempted sexually will receive a blessing from God. He will receive the crown of life. There’s just one condition.

Endurance.

The man w
Need a daily kick in the pants to quit porn biblically? Buy the book, or subscribe to my daily kick.

Was this post helpful? Share it now:
Read more

Temptation
You Are Tempted by Porn Because You Desire It | James 1:14

Previous article Next article

by Alan Sharpe August 9, 2022

If I am still tempted by porn, then I must still desire it, at some level, to some degree. If I didn’t desire it, it couldn’t tempt me.

by Alan Sharpe August 9, 2022

But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.
James 1:14

One of the hardest lessons I’ve had to learn about pornography is that I am tempted by it because I desire it. Yes, I call porn wicked. I say I hate it. I say I want to be free of it. But the fact remains that I am tempted by pornography still. And I am tempted by it because I desire it.

I am telling you this because this knowledge is part of your path to freedom. Your enemy isn’t only outward. Your enemy isn’t just pornographic websites or immodest women or Instagram or TikTok. Your principal enemy is lust. Your lust. Your enemy is internal.

James tells you and me that “each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed.” For you and me to be drawn away by something, we must first
Need a daily kick in the pants to quit porn biblically? Buy the book, or subscribe to my daily kick.

Was this post helpful? Share it now:
Read more

Temptation
“The best means of resisting the devil.” || John Wesley

Previous article Next article

by Alan Sharpe August 8, 2022

The best means of resisting the devil is, to destroy whatever of the world remains in us, in order to raise for God, upon its ruins, a building all of love.

by Alan Sharpe August 8, 2022

The best means of resisting the devil is to destroy whatever of the world remains in us in order to raise for God, upon its ruins, a building all of love. Then shall we begin, in this fleeting life, to love God as we shall love him in eternity. If, after having renounced all, we do not watch incessantly, and beseech God to accompany our vigilance with his, we shall be again entangled and overcome.
John Wesley

Need a daily kick in the pants to quit porn biblically? Buy the book, or subscribe to my daily kick.

Was this post helpful? Share it now:
Read more

Temptation
The Good News about Sexual Temptation | Luke 4:13

Previous article Next article

by Alan Sharpe August 8, 2022

Nine months ago, I had no experience with lasting victory over sexual temptation. That has changed, and I’ve learned a vital, encouraging lesson.

by Alan Sharpe August 8, 2022

And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season.
Luke 4:13

Sexual temptation seems unbearable when you are in the midst of it. Or perhaps I should speak for myself. Sexual temptation seems unbearable when I am in the midst of it. That is my “lived experience,” as they say these days. But I know something today about temptation that I didn’t know and that I couldn’t have believed nine months ago—it doesn’t last.

That’s right. The temptation to look at pornography, the temptation to masturbate, no matter how strong, eventually goes away. It doesn’t last. The good news about Jesus being tempted in the wilderness for 40 days, if I may put it this way, is that it lasted only 40 days. Jesus got the victory over the devil, and then the devil departed from Him. That’s the good news of temptation—it only lasts for a season.

Nine months ago, I had no experien
Need a daily kick in the pants to quit porn biblically? Buy the book, or subscribe to my daily kick.

Was this post helpful? Share it now:
Read more

Sanctification
“Preventive against backsliding.” || John MacNeil

Previous article Next article

by Alan Sharpe August 4, 2022

Let our young converts be fully instructed and fully equipped with the glorious Fullness provided for them by the gracious Father, and we will hear less about backsliding.

by Alan Sharpe August 4, 2022

It is most instructive to note how exceedingly anxious the early Christians were, that, as soon as a man was converted, he should be “filled with the Holy Ghost.” They knew no reason why weary wastes of disappointing years should stretch between Bethel and Peniel, between the Cross and Pentecost. They knew it was not God’s will that forty years of wilderness wanderings should lie between Egypt and the Promised Land (Deut. i. 2).

When Peter and John came to the Samaritans, and found that they were really turned to God, their first concern was to get them filled with the Holy Ghost (Acts viii. 15). When Ananias came to the newly-converted Saul of Tarsus, his first word was, “Jesus … hath sent me, that thou mayest … be filled with the Holy Ghost” (Acts ix. 17). When Paul found certain disciples at Ephesus, his first business with them was to find out if they had “received the Holy Ghost” (Acts xix. 2).

These early teachers did not wait for a few months or years till the young converts had be
Need a daily kick in the pants to quit porn biblically? Buy the book, or subscribe to my daily kick.

Was this post helpful? Share it now:
Read more