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Judgment

Porn Sends You to Hell

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by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on Porn Sends You to Hell

Jesus, Paul, Peter, Jude and other New Testament writers taught that sexual purity is essential for followers of Christ, and they did not shy away from describing the eternal consequences of disregarding this teaching.

by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on Porn Sends You to Hell

In our digital age, pornography is more accessible than ever before, but its availability does not lessen the danger it poses to our souls. The Bible, especially the New Testament, gives clear and serious warnings about the consequences of sexual immorality, including consuming pornography. Jesus, Paul, and other New Testament writers taught that sexual purity is essential for followers of Christ, and they did not shy away from describing the eternal consequences of disregarding this teaching. Here, we’ll explore what the Bible says about pornography and why it warns that habitual engagement with it can lead to eternal separation from God.

1. Jesus’ Teaching on Lust and Hell

Jesus addresses the issue of sexual lust directly in the Gospel of Matthew. He warns that harboring lustful thoughts is equivalent to committing adultery in one’s heart:

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not

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Temptation

Resist Sexual Temptation: 100 Bible Verses

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by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on Resist Sexual Temptation: 100 Bible Verses

If you need to resist sexual temptation, turn to God’s Word for the answers you seek.

by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on Resist Sexual Temptation: 100 Bible Verses
  • Focus on pure and noble thoughts – “Whatever is tr
    1. Pray for strength – Jesus instructed His disciples to “watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation” (Matthew 26:41).
    2. Meditate on God’s Word – “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you” (Psalm 119:11).
    3. Flee from temptation – “Flee from sexual immorality” (1 Corinthians 6:18).
    4. Avoid situations that lead to temptation – Joseph fled from Potiphar’s wife when she tried to seduce him (Genesis 39:12).
    5. Remember your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit – “Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit… Therefore honor God with your bodies” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).
    6. Focus on pure and noble thoughts – “Whatever is tr
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    • Consequences

    Matthew 5:29 Explained

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    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on Matthew 5:29 Explained

    The meaning of Matthew 5:29 is that disciples of Jesus will be cast into hell if they fail to stop lusting after women with their eyes.

    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on Matthew 5:29 Explained

    The meaning of Matthew 5:29 is that disciples of Jesus will be cast into hell if they fail to stop lusting after women with their eyes. That’s a strong statement, I know. And it runs contrary to the doctrine of unconditional eternal security, or the doctrine of once-saved-always-saved, which you may believe. But this truth remains anyway. Disciples of Jesus will end up in hell if they never forsake their sin of lusting after women with their eyes. You have Jesus’ word on this.

    See for yourself. This teaching in Matthew 5:29 is from the famous sermon that Jesus delivered on a mountainside at the start of his ministry. You and I know it as the Sermon on the Mount. So, who is the audience for this sermon, who does the sermon apply to? You learn this from the first verse in the chapter: “And seeing the multitudes, He went up on a mountain, and when He was seated His disciples came to him. Then He opened His mouth and taught them, saying . . .” Notice the audience–“his disciples”–that’s Jesus’ disciples. Here is what Jesus tells his followers:

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    Lust

    Masturbation Sends a Man to the Prison of Himself || C.S. Lewis

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    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on Masturbation Sends a Man to the Prison of Himself || C.S. Lewis

    Masturbation is be avoided as all things are to be avoided which retard this process. The danger is that of coming to love the prison.

    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on Masturbation Sends a Man to the Prison of Himself || C.S. Lewis

    For me the real evil of masturbation would be that it takes an appetite which, in lawful use, leads the individual out of himself to complete (and correct) his own personality in that of another (and finally in children and even grandchildren) and turns it back: sending the man back into the prison of himself, there to keep a harem of imaginary brides.

    And this harem, once admitted, works against his ever getting out and really uniting with a real woman. For the harem is always accessible, always subservient, calls for no sacrifice or adjustments, and can be endowed with erotic and psychological attractions which no real woman can rival.

    Among these shadowy brides he is always adored, always the perfect lover: no demand is made on his unselfishness, no mortification is ever imposed on his vanity. In the end, they become merely the medium through which he increasingly adores himself.

    Do read Charles Williams’ <em

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    Consecration

    Quit Porn Biblically

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    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on Quit Porn Biblically

    Watching porn is a sin. And sin requires a biblical remedy. Here is what I’ve learned the hard way about what Christian men must do to quit porn biblically.

    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on Quit Porn Biblically

    (This is the transcript of my 60-minute course of the same name. Watch the course here.)

    Start Now

    Two of the primary problems with pornography are that it’s available and that it’s anonymous. You can access porn from anywhere, 24 hours a day, and you can do so without anyone knowing. To quit porn, you must meet these two problems head-on. Here’s how you do it.

    Install a porn-blocker

    If you are serious about quitting porn, install porn-blocking software on all of your electronic devices. That means your desktop PC, laptop, tablet, and phone. I use Covenant Eyes. Porn blockers, also known as porn filters, block pornographic websites, apps and images from showing up on your devices. They help you

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    Prevention

    How to Overcome Porn Addiction as a Christian

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    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on How to Overcome Porn Addiction as a Christian

    Are you struggling with porn addiction as a Christian? This article provides practical and biblical advice on how to overcome this addiction and live a life of purity.

    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on How to Overcome Porn Addiction as a Christian
    man with kite symbolizing Christian overcoming porn addiction

    In today’s world, access to pornography is easier than ever. As a result, porn addiction has become a significant problem, even within the Christian community. If you’re struggling with a porn addiction, know that you’re not alone. Many Christians face the same battle, but there is hope. With the right tools and resources, you can overcome this addiction and live a life that is pure and pleasing to God. Here are some steps you can take to overcome porn addiction as a Christian.

    Understanding Porn Addiction and Its Effects on Christians

    Before you can overcome porn addiction, it’s important to understand it. Porn addiction is a physiological and psychological dependence on pornography. Over time, the brain becomes desensitized to the images, and the user requires more explicit content to achieve the same level of stimulation. This can lead to a host of negative consequences, including decreased libido, relationship problems, and even depression or anxiety.

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    Prevention

    How to Quit Porn as a Christian

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    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on How to Quit Porn as a Christian

    Pornography addiction is a real struggle that many Christians face. It is a problem that can easily spiral out of control, leaving individuals feeling ashamed, guilty, and distant from God. As a Christian, it is important to take steps to quit pornography addiction and reclaim your spiritual life. In this post, we’ll provide practical tips and advice on how to quit pornography as a Christian.

    Understand the Impact of Pornography on Your Life

    The first step to quitting pornography addiction is to understand the impact it has on your life. Pornography can affect your mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being. It can also have a negative impact on your relationships with others, including your spouse, family, and friends. Recognizing these negative effects is essential to taking the necessary steps to quit.

    Acknowledge the Problem and Seek Help

    Pornography addiction can be difficult to overcome alone. Acknowledge t

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    Prevention

    Don’t Make a New Year’s Resolution to Quit Porn in 2023. Do this Instead.

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    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on Don’t Make a New Year’s Resolution to Quit Porn in 2023. Do this Instead.

    If you want to conquer pornography in 2023, don’t rely on a resolution that you make at the start of the New Year. New Year’s resolutions don’t work. Studies show that the success rate among those who make New Year’s resolutions is low. For one thing, many resolutions are too lofty and unrealistic, leading to disappointment and frustration. But the main reason to avoid making a New Year’s resolution to quit porn is that old sins are difficult to break. Resolutions focus on short-term goals, rather than long-term success. Here’s what to do instead.

  • Get an accounta
    1. Install porn-blocking software on all of your electronic devices, including your desktop computer, laptop, tablet and phone, at home and at work and everywhere else.
    2. Install accountability software on all of your electronic devices. This software emails screenshots of your online activity to your accountability partner.
    3. Get an accounta
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    • Obedience

    He Shall Save | Matthew 1:21

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    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on He Shall Save | Matthew 1:21

    “And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shall call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins.”

    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on He Shall Save | Matthew 1:21

    Some of the most beautiful expressions in the English language contain just three words. I love you. Please forgive me. I was wrong. It’s a girl. Hold my hand. You are correct. It’s a boy. I’d like us to look this morning in Matthew’s gospel, chapter one, at three of the most marvelous words ever spoken in the English language. Now, how marvelous these words are to you depends on who you are and where you are today in your life.

    “And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shall call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins.”

    Matthew 1:21

    Person 1: My Sins are So Complicated that I Need Jesus, Plus

    The first person that I’d like to speak to is the one who’s thinking, “My sins are so complicated that I need Jesus, plus. I need Jesus plus Mary, plus baptism, plus the church, plus my good works. I need Jesus plus because my sins are so complicate

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    Consecration

    God’s Will? Abstain from Sexual Immorality | 1 Thessalonians 4:3-8

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    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on God’s Will? Abstain from Sexual Immorality | 1 Thessalonians 4:3-8

    Sermon on 1 Thessalonians 4:3-8: “For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication.”

    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on God’s Will? Abstain from Sexual Immorality | 1 Thessalonians 4:3-8

    Have you ever wanted to know God’s will for your life? Have you ever wondered what job you should take, where you should live, who you should marry, what school you should attend? Have you ever had difficulty discerning the Lord’s will? Have you ever found out that it’s a challenge to know, to appreciate, to understand, to get a clear yes or no from the Lord concerning his will for your life? I have good news for you. I’m going to show you God’s will for your life today. This is categorically, unequivocally, 100% God’s known will for your life today.

    Turn the New Testament book of First Thessalonians, chapter four. Paul says:

    Finally then, brethren, we urge and exhort in the Lord Jesus that you should abound more and more, just as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God;   for you know what commandments we gave you through the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality

    Finally then, brethren, we urge and exhort in the Lord Jesus that you should abound more and more, just as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God;   for you know what commandments we gave you through the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality

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    Temptation

    10 Lies You Tell Yourself (and Believe) When You View Porn

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    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on 10 Lies You Tell Yourself (and Believe) When You View Porn

    I sinned sexually, repeatedly, because I lied to myself. I lied so often that I eventually believed my lies.

    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on 10 Lies You Tell Yourself (and Believe) When You View Porn
    illustration of a wooden marionette with long nose; liar concept

    I viewed porn for the first time when I was 11 years old and for the last time when I was 61. That’s 50 years of sinning against God, 30 of them as a Christian. I sinned repeatedly because I lied to myself. I lied so often that I eventually believed my lies. But that all changed on November 4, 2021, when I purposed before God to never look at anything wicked ever again, and to never masturbate ever again. Here I am, 366 days later, living what I purposed back then. I have a year of victory under my belt (excuse the metaphor) partly because I no longer believe those lies I told myself. Here they are. See if you tell any of them to yourself.

    Lie #1: God Doesn’t See
    When I view pornographic images and videos, I tell myself that God doesn’t see. I sin in secret. But God does see.

    Lie #2: It’s Not Adultery
    Jesus says that I commit adultery when I look at a woman to lust after her. But I lie to myself. “I don’t commit adultery unless I do the physical act,” I assure myself. But I am

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    Consecration

    “Send today into eternity in clothes it will wear forever.” || Adoniram Judson

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    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on “Send today into eternity in clothes it will wear forever.” || Adoniram Judson

    At night let us reflect that one more day is irrevocably gone, indelibly marked.

    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on “Send today into eternity in clothes it will wear forever.” || Adoniram Judson

    A life once spent is irrevocable. It will remain to be contemplated through eternity… The same may be said of each day. When it is once past, it is gone forever. All the marks which we put upon it, it will exhibit forever… Each day will not only be a witness of our conduct, but will affect our everlasting destiny… How shall we then wish to see each day marked with usefulness! It is too late to mend the days that are past. The future is in our power. Let us, then, each morning, resolve to send the day into eternity in such a garb as we shall wish it to wear forever. And at night let us reflect that one more day is irrevocably gone, indelibly marked.

    Excerpted from The Life of Adoniram Judson. Randolph & Company, 1883. Adoniram Judson

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    Prevention

    101 Biblical Ways to Resist Sexual Temptation

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    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on 101 Biblical Ways to Resist Sexual Temptation

    If you want to resist unwanted sexual urges and overcome sexual temptation, here are 101 ways from the Bible (including the Bible) to overcome sexual temptation.

    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on 101 Biblical Ways to Resist Sexual Temptation

    If you are a Christian and if you are even remotely healthy, you face sexual temptation on occasion. If you want to resist these urges so that you do not fall into sin, here are some biblical ways to overcome sexual temptation (including the Bible).

    1. Count the Cost
    Sexual sin comes at a price, in this life and in the next. For one thing, adulterers and the sexually immoral will not inherit the kingdom (Galatians 5:19-21). That’s the eternal cost—your soul, punished forever, in the lake of fire. But there’s also a price to pay in this life if you give in to sexual temptation. Think sexually transmitted diseases. Unwanted pregnancy. Divorce. Loss of custody of your kids. Getting fired. Scandal. Loss of your testimony. Jail time. Your name on the Sexual Offender Registry.

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    Consecration

    “He sold all he had, and himself too, to buy us.” || Samuel Rutherford

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    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on “He sold all he had, and himself too, to buy us.” || Samuel Rutherford

    Oh, we under-bid, and undervalue that Prince of love, who did overvalue us; we will not sell all we have to buy him.

    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on “He sold all he had, and himself too, to buy us.” || Samuel Rutherford

    Oh, what love! Christ would not intrust our redemption to angels, to millions of angels; but he would come himself, and in person suffer; he would not give a low and a base price for us clay. He would buy us with a great ransom, so as he might over-buy us, and none could over-bid him in his market for souls. If there had been millions of more believers, and many heavens, without any new bargain his blood should have bought them all, and all these many heavens should have smelled one rose of life; Christ should have been one and the same tree of life in them all. Oh, we under-bid, and undervalue that Prince of love, who did overvalue us; we will not sell all we have to buy him; he sold all he had, and himself too, to buy us.

    Excerpted from The Trial and Triumph of Faith by Samuel Rutherford. Public domain.

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    Faith

    Peter Walked Back to the Boat | Matthew 14:22-32

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    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on Peter Walked Back to the Boat | Matthew 14:22-32

    Let other disciples sit in the boat, observing the action. You belong out on the water with your Savior, doing the impossible.

    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on Peter Walked Back to the Boat | Matthew 14:22-32
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    And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased.

    Matthew 14:32

    Listen to enough sermons about Peter walking on the water to Jesus and you will hear a familiar refrain. Peter sank into the water because he took his eyes off Jesus. Peter sank into the water because he was afraid. Peter sank into the water because he saw that the wind was boisterous. Peter started sinking beneath the waves because he lacked faith, and doubted.

    All of these observations are valid. Peter was afraid. He did start to sink because of unbelief. And he did do the correct thing in crying out, “Lord, save me!” But the lesson doesn’t end there. Most preachers focus on Peter’s sinking. They fail to mention what happened next.

    Read of the account in Matthew 14 and you discover that, when Peter and Jesus got back into the boat, the wind stopped. But how did Peter and Jesus get from where they were on the sea back to the boat? T

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    Consecration

    “God saw me and said, ‘She’s willing.'” || Gladys Aylward

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    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on “God saw me and said, ‘She’s willing.'” || Gladys Aylward

    I wasn’t God’s first choice for what I’ve done in China…I don’t know who it was…it must have been a man

    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on “God saw me and said, ‘She’s willing.'” || Gladys Aylward
    Illustration of woman setting free butterfly, freedom surreal abstract concept

    I wasn’t God’s first choice for what I’ve done in China…I don’t know who it was…it must have been a man…a well-educated man. I don’t know what happened. Perhaps he died. Perhaps he wasn’t willing…and God looked down…and saw Gladys Aylward…and God said, ‘Well, she’s willing.’

    Excerpted from Gladys Aylward: The Little Woman. Gladys Aylward. Public domain.

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    Consecration

    “We must boldly repudiate the cheap values of the fallen world.” || A. W. Tozer

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    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on “We must boldly repudiate the cheap values of the fallen world.” || A. W. Tozer

    Let me present a brief summary of these conditions as taught by the Bible and repeated through the centuries by the holiest, sweetest saints the world has ever known:

    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on “We must boldly repudiate the cheap values of the fallen world.” || A. W. Tozer

    The Knowledge of the Holy is difficult because there are conditions to be met and the obstinate nature of fallen man does not take kindly to them. Let me present a brief summary of these conditions as taught by the Bible and repeated through the centuries by the holiest, sweetest saints the world has ever known:

    First, we must forsake our sins. The belief that a holy God cannot be known by men of confirmed evil lives is not new to the Christian religion. The Hebrew book, The Wisdom of Solomon, which antedates Christianity by many years, has the following passage: “Love righteousness, ye that be judges of the earth: think of the Lord with a good heart, and in simplicity of heart seek him. For he will be found of them that tempt him not; and showeth himself unto such as do not distrust him. For froward thoughts separate from God and his power, when it is tried, reproveth the unwise. For unto a malicious soul wisdom shall not enter; nor dwell in the body that is subject to sin. For the Holy Spirit of discipline will flee deceit, and remove from thoughts that are withou

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    Sanctification

    Who Will Deliver You? | Romans 7:24-25

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    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on Who Will Deliver You? | Romans 7:24-25

    Who will deliver you from your body of death? God will. Who will deliver you from your sexual sin? God will.

    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on Who Will Deliver You? | Romans 7:24-25
    Illustration of surreal painting of sky, think outside the box concept

    Are you like the Apostle Paul? Do you ever cry out, “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” Do you find that the things you want to do, you don’t do? And that the things you shouldn’t do, you do? Can you say along with Paul, “For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice?” (Romans 7:19). Do you wonder who will deliver you?

    Then Paul has good news for you. Or, rather, God has good news for you, communicated through His servant, Paul, in the letter that Paul wrote to the church in Rome. In chapter seven you see Paul’s predicament and yours laid out. With your mind you serve the law of God, but with your flesh you serve the law of sin. You have God’s Spirit, and you want to follow His leading. But you also have your sinful flesh, and you want to follow it, too.

    This is why you have such conflict with pornography as a Christian man. Men in the world who consume pornography don’t struggle. They enjoy their sin. But you, i

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    Consecration

    Conquering Porn Is Not Either/Or | Romans 8:13

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    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on Conquering Porn Is Not Either/Or | Romans 8:13

    This is great news if all of your self effort has delivered few lasting results up to today. And it’s also good news if you have been waiting passively for God to intervene to deliver you from your sexual immorality.

    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on Conquering Porn Is Not Either/Or | Romans 8:13
    man escapes from prison abstract concept

    For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

    Romans 8:13

    There are two mistakes you can make as a Christian man wanting to break free of pornography. There might be more than two mistakes, actually. But there are two big ones that you must avoid.

    The first mistake is thinking that your sexual purity is entirely up to you. You believe you are responsible for your sin, and therefore you are responsible for forsaking it. So far, so good. But you also think your victory is up to you. You must read your Bible more. You must pray more often and more fervently. You must mortify your flesh more thoroughly. In other words, you think conquering sexual lust is all up to you. This is a mistake.

    The second blunder is to think that your victory over porn is entirely up to God. You believe that you are “powerless over your addic

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    Consecration

    “Forgiveness cost the agony at Calvary.” || Oswald Chambers

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    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on “Forgiveness cost the agony at Calvary.” || Oswald Chambers

    We should never take the forgiveness of sin, the gift of the Holy Spirit, and our sanctification in simple faith, and then forget the enormous cost to God that made all of this ours.

    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on “Forgiveness cost the agony at Calvary.” || Oswald Chambers
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    Beware of the pleasant view of the fatherhood of God: God is so kind and loving that of course He will forgive us. That thought, based solely on emotion, cannot be found anywhere in the New Testament. The only basis on which God can forgive us is the tremendous tragedy of the Cross of Christ. To base our forgiveness on any other ground is unconscious blasphemy. The only ground on which God can forgive our sin and reinstate us to His favor is through the Cross of Christ. There is no other way! Forgiveness, which is so easy for us to accept, cost the agony at Calvary. We should never take the forgiveness of sin, the gift of the Holy Spirit, and our sanctification in simple faith, and then forget the enormous cost to God that made all of this ours.

    Forgiveness is the divine miracle of grace. The cost to God was the Cross of Christ. To forgive sin, while remaining a holy God, this price had to be paid. Never accept a view of the fatherhood of God if it blots out the atonement. The revealed truth of God is that without the atonement He cannot forgive— He would contradict

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    Sanctification

    “You cannot sneak into heaven without a cross.” || Samuel Rutherford

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    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on “You cannot sneak into heaven without a cross.” || Samuel Rutherford

    Crosses form us into His image. They cut away the pieces of our corruption.

    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on “You cannot sneak into heaven without a cross.” || Samuel Rutherford

    The greatest temptation out of hell is to live without trials. A pool of standing water will turn stagnant. Faith grows more with the sharp winter storm in its face. Grace withers without adversity. You cannot sneak quietly into heaven without a cross. Crosses form us into His image. They cut away the pieces of our corruption.

    Lord cut, carve, wound; Lord do anything to perfect Your image in us and make us fit for glory! We need winnowing before we enter the kingdom of God. O what I owe to the file, hammer, and furnace! Why should I be surprised at the plough that makes such deep furrows in my soul? Whatever direction the wind blows, it will blow us to the Lord. His hand will direct us safely to the heavenly shore to find the weight of eternal glory.

    As we look back to our pains and suffering, we shall see that suffering is not worthy to be compared to our first night’s welcome home in heaven. If we could smell of heaven and our country above, our crosses would not bite us. Lay all your loads by faith on Christ, e

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    Sanctification

    You Need a Willing Spirit Plus a Subdued Body | Matthew 26:41

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    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on You Need a Willing Spirit Plus a Subdued Body | Matthew 26:41

    When your spirit is willing and your body is under your control, you win. And you please your Lord.

    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on You Need a Willing Spirit Plus a Subdued Body | Matthew 26:41

    Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

    Matthew 26:41

    Victory over sexual sin doesn’t come just spiritually, and it doesn’t come with human effort alone. Your victory isn’t all up to God, and it isn’t all up to you, either. To forsake pornography and any other sexual sin, you require a willing spirit and a subdued body.

    When the disciples fell asleep in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus rebuked them for having willing spirits but unwilling bodies. Jesus asked the disciples to stay awake and to watch with Him as he prayed. But they fell asleep. Their spirits wanted to stay awake, but their bodies wanted to sleep. Their bodies won the battle, they fell asleep, and they disobeyed their Lord.

    The lesson for you and me is that we must bring our bodies into subjection if we are to obey our Lord. We must subdue them, discipline them, make t

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    Consecration

    Lessons Learned After 11 Months Porn-Free

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    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on Lessons Learned After 11 Months Porn-Free

    As a Christian with a Bible, I knew that watching porn was wicked. I longed to be free, but now I realize that I wanted more than that. I wanted to be holy.

    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on Lessons Learned After 11 Months Porn-Free

    I looked at pornography for the last time on November 4, 2021. That was the day I purposed before God to leave my sexual sin behind me and to pursue holiness. That’s also the day I started writing these daily devotionals. My goal was to chronicle my journey, to discover what God’s word has to say about sexual sin, how to avoid it, and how to live a victorious life in Christ Jesus.

    The primary lesson I have learned, and it’s taken me 11 months to get here, is that freedom from pornography and masturbation is really just the start of the change I am looking for in my life. As a Christian with a Bible, I knew that watching pornography was wicked. I longed to be free of its grip, free of the temptation to seek it out and to watch it. But now I realize that I wanted more than that. I wanted to be holy.

    I don’t mean holier-than-thou holy. Or so holy that they name a seminary after me. I mean holy in the sense that I am set apart unto God. Set apart as his vessel, his instrument, to use as He pleases. I realize today that,

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    Prevention

    Have You Seen His Playbook? | Ephesians 6:11

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    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on Have You Seen His Playbook? | Ephesians 6:11

    Knowing how and when I will be attacked is one thing. Having a divine defense against those attacks is even better.

    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on Have You Seen His Playbook? | Ephesians 6:11
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    Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

    Ephesians 6:11

    The devil has a playbook. The devil has a pre-set way of tempting you to sin sexually. You likely know this from bitter experience. But you also know it from God’s Word. In the sixth chapter of Paul’s letter to the church at Ephesus, Paul tells the believers to put on the whole armor of God so that they can stand against the wiles of the devil. Wiles means schemes. Schemes means a playbook.

    The word “wiles” is methodeía in the Greek, properly, a “predictable (pre-set) method used in organized evil-doing (well-crafted trickery)” (Strong’s). It derives from the word methodos, a way of searching after something, an inquiry; a method. It means scheming, craftiness. This is why you and I need armor—to defend ourselves against predictable weapons and predictable methods of attack. That’s what armor is for, to prot

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    Sanctification

    “It is good for us to have trials and troubles.” || Thomas à Kempis

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    When to all outward appearances men give us no credit, when they do not think well of us, then we are more inclined to seek God Who sees our hearts.

    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on “It is good for us to have trials and troubles.” || Thomas à Kempis
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    It is good for us to have trials and troubles at times, for they often remind us that we are on probation and ought not to hope in any worldly thing. It is good for us sometimes to suffer contradiction, to be misjudged by men even though we do well and mean well. These things help us to be humble and shield us from vainglory. When to all outward appearances men give us no credit, when they do not think well of us, then we are more inclined to seek God Who sees our hearts. Therefore, a man ought to root himself so firmly in God that he will not need the consolations of men.

    Excerpted from The Imitation of Christ by by Thomas à Kempis. Public domain.

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    Prevention

    Aim for the Prevention, Not the Cure | Ephesians 5:18

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    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on Aim for the Prevention, Not the Cure | Ephesians 5:18

    If porn is a habit with you, be encouraged to know that you can replace it with a healthier habit.

    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on Aim for the Prevention, Not the Cure | Ephesians 5:18

    And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit.

    Ephesians 5:18

    How do you quit porn? Do you quit porn by quitting porn? Do you avoid starchy food by avoiding starchy food? Do you exercise more often by exercising more?

    One of the keys to abstaining from pornography is developing healthy habits to replace this wicked one. You avoid porn by doing something else. This is what Paul has in mind when he tells you and me to avoid getting drunk by being filled with the Spirit. You avoid the one by doing the other. You quit porn by doing something else.

    But this is where plenty of brothers fail. They find a healthy substitute for their sexual immorality, and purpose to do the one instead of the other. But they fix their eyes on the finish line and not on the starting blocks. They fix theirs eyes on the cure and not on the prevention. Let me show you what I mean.

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    Sanctification

    “Be holy—but don’t make a Christ of it.” || Robert Murray McCheyne

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    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on “Be holy—but don’t make a Christ of it.” || Robert Murray McCheyne

    Self-righteousness is the largest idol of the human heart—yet the idol which man loves most and God hates most.

    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on “Be holy—but don’t make a Christ of it.” || Robert Murray McCheyne

    Self-righteousness is the largest idol of the human heart—yet the idol which man loves most and God hates most. Dearly beloved, you will always be going back to this idol. You are always trying to be something in yourself, to gain God’s favor by thinking little of your sin, or by looking to your repentance, tears, prayers; or by looking to your religious exercises, your frames, etc; or by looking to your graces, the Spirit’s work in your heart. Beware of false Christs. Strive to be holy—but do not make a Christ of it.

    Robert Murray McCheyne

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    Consecration

    “Don’t imagine yourself something when you are nothing.” || Walter Hilton

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    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on “Don’t imagine yourself something when you are nothing.” || Walter Hilton

    Be careful to avoid this, and devote yourself inwardly to His likeness by humility, charity, and other spiritual virtues.

    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on “Don’t imagine yourself something when you are nothing.” || Walter Hilton

    Any man or woman who neglects to maintain inward vigilance, and only makes an outward show of holiness in dress, speech, and behavior, is a wretched creature. For they watch the doings of other people and criticize their faults, imagining themselves to be something when in reality they are nothing. In this way they deceive themselves. Be careful to avoid this, and devote yourself inwardly to His likeness by humility, charity, and other spiritual virtues. In this way you will be truly converted to God.

    Excerpted from The Scale of Perfection by Walter Hilton. Public domain.

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    Obedience

    “Was Judas a better Christian for crying, ‘Hail, Master?’” || William Penn

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    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on “Was Judas a better Christian for crying, ‘Hail, Master?’” || William Penn

    With Judas, they call Him Master, but take part with the evil of the world to betray Him.

    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on “Was Judas a better Christian for crying, ‘Hail, Master?’” || William Penn
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    Sin is of one nature all the world over; for though a liar is not a drunkard, nor a swearer a whoremonger, nor are either properly a murderer, yet they are all of one church, all branches of the one wicked root, all of one family. They have but one father, the devil, as Christ said to the professing Jews, the visible church of that age. He slighted their pretensions to Abraham and Moses, and plainly told them, “He that committed sin, was the servant of sin.”

    They did the devil’s works, and therefore were the devil’s children. This argument will always hold upon the same reasons, and therefore is good still. “His servants you are,” says Paul, “whom you obey.” And John says to the church of old, “Let no man deceive you, he that commits sin is of the devil.” Was Judas a better Christian for crying, “Hail, master!” and kissing Christ? By no means!

    These words were the signal of his treachery, the token given by which the bloody Jews should know and take Him. He called Him Master, but betrayed Him. He

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    Lust

    “Always God is trying to get our attention.” || A. W. Tozer

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    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on “Always God is trying to get our attention.” || A. W. Tozer

    The Universal Presence is a fact. God is here. The whole universe is alive with His life. And He is no strange or foreign God, but the familiar Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on “Always God is trying to get our attention.” || A. W. Tozer
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    What God in His sovereignty may yet do on a world-scale I do not claim to know: but what He will do for the plain man or woman who seeks His face I believe I do know and can tell others. Let any man turn to God in earnest, let him begin to exercise himself unto godliness, let him seek to develop his powers of spiritual receptivity by trust and obedience and humility, and the results will exceed anything he may have hoped in his leaner and weaker days.

    Any man who by repentance and a sincere return to God will break himself out of the mold in which he has been held, and will go to the Bible itself for his spiritual standards, will be delighted with what he finds there.

    Let us say it again: The Universal Presence is a fact. God is here. The whole universe is alive with His life. And He is no strange or foreign God, but the familiar Father of our Lord Jesus Christ whose love has for these thousands of years enfolded the sinful race of men. And always He is trying to get our attention, to reveal Himself to us, to commun

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    Prevention

    “Use prayer as your first line of defense.” || Oswald Chambers

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    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on “Use prayer as your first line of defense.” || Oswald Chambers

    We pray when there’s nothing else we can do, but God wants us to pray before we do anything at all.

    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on “Use prayer as your first line of defense.” || Oswald Chambers

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    We tend to use prayer as a last resort, but God wants it to be our first line of defense. We pray when there’s nothing else we can do, but God wants us to pray before we do anything at all. Most of us would prefer, however, to spend our time doing something that will get immediate results. We don’t want to wait for God to resolve matters in His good time because His idea of ‘good time’ is seldom in sync with ours.

    Excerpted from My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers.

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    Consecration

    “Alive with the very life of God.” || Samuel Logan Brengle

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    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on “Alive with the very life of God.” || Samuel Logan Brengle

    The transformation wrought in men by the baptism with the Holy Ghost, and the power that fills them, are amazing beyond measure.

    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on “Alive with the very life of God.” || Samuel Logan Brengle

    This was the inaugural day of the Church of God [Pentecost]: the dawn of the dispensation of the Holy Spirit; the beginning of the days of power. In the morning of that day there were only a few Christians in the world; the New Testament was not written, and it is doubtful if they had among them all a copy of the Old Testament; they had no church buildings, no colleges, no religious books and papers; they were poor and despised, unlearned and ignorant; but before night they had enrolled three thousand converts from among those who, a few weeks before, had crucified their Lord, and they had aroused and filled all Jerusalem with questionings and amazement.

    What was the secret? Power. What was the secret? God the Holy Ghost. He had come, and this work was His work, and they were His instruments.

    When Jesus came, a body was prepared for Him (Hebrews x. 5), and through that body He wrought His wondrous works; but when the other Comforter comes, He takes possession of those bodies that are freely and fully presented to Hi

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    Consecration

    “Love is a willful stirring of our thoughts unto God.” || Richard Rolle

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    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on “Love is a willful stirring of our thoughts unto God.” || Richard Rolle

    The commandment of God is that we love Our Lord in all our heart, in all our soul, in all our thought.

    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on “Love is a willful stirring of our thoughts unto God.” || Richard Rolle
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    The commandment of God is that we love Our Lord in all our heart, in all our soul, in all our thought. In all our heart; that is, in all our understanding without erring. In all our soul; that is, in all our will without gainsaying. In all our thought; that is, that we think on Him without forgetting. In this manner is very love and true, that is work of man’s will. For love is a willful stirring of our thoughts unto God, so that it receive nothing that is against the love of Jesus Christ, and therewith that it be lasting in sweetness of devotion; and that is the perfection of this life.

    Richard Rolle.

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    Temptation

    Quit Porn One Day at a Time | Hebrews 3:15

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    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on Quit Porn One Day at a Time | Hebrews 3:15

    No matter how strong the urges are, regardless of how powerful the temptation is to sin sexually, you can abstain from sexual immorality today.

    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on Quit Porn One Day at a Time | Hebrews 3:15

    Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.

    Hebrews 3:15

    One of the challenges of quitting pornography is that you have a past that shames you and a future that terrifies you. If you are like many Christian men, you have a history of looking at sexually explicit images and videos in secret. The remorse and guilt you carry for your past behavior is immense. And, again, if you are like many of your brothers in the Lord who struggle in this area, you cannot imagine a future where you are free from your bondage. The grip of porn seems too hard to beak. So, your past looks bad, and your future looks bleak.

    But take courage with this thought: you don’t have to quit porn for good, just for today. Naturally, you want victory over your sexual sin to last, but the way to achieve your goal is to work only on today. Take your eyes off tomorrow, and next month, and next year. Fix

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    Quiz

    Quiz: 2 Peter 1:3

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    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on Quiz: 2 Peter 1:3

    His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue.

    2 Peter 1:3

    Questions

    1. Who has given to us all things?
    2. What is the purpose of these things that God has given us?
    3. What accompanies these things?
    4. Are these “all things that pertain to life and godliness,” ours automatically at conversion?
    5. How do we avail ourselves of this divine power and these enablements?
    6. Has God made available to you all that you need to live a godly life?
    7. Do you need to look anywhere other than the Bible, or to anyone other than Christ, for the divine power you need to abstain from porn and masturbation?

    Answers

    1. God.
    2. The purpose of these things that God has given us is life and godliness.
    3. God’s divine power.
    4. No.
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    Red Letters

    “Repent, Because” | Matthew 4:17

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    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on “Repent, Because” | Matthew 4:17

    If you repent today because a sexual sin has broken your fellowship with God, set your eyes on the future. Repent because the kingdom of God is at hand.

    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on “Repent, Because” | Matthew 4:17

    Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

    Matthew 4:17

    When you turned to Jesus for salvation, which direction were you looking? You likely had your eyes fixed on your past. You looked back at your history of sinning against the Lord, and repented of it. Your goal was to leave your past behind you. That’s what repentance is all about—a fresh start, one that begins with a new way of thinking. Biblical repentance, after all, is literally a change of mind. To repent means to think differently, to reconsider one’s thoughts and beliefs. In view is a 180-degree turn away from sin towards the Savior. 

    But the motivation for repentance isn’t only your past, is it? When Jesus started His earthly ministry, He commanded men and women to repent because of the future. “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” He said. In other words, have a change of mind because something glorious is comi

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    Prevention

    “Satan took advantage of his self-confidence.” || R. A. Torrey

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    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on “Satan took advantage of his self-confidence.” || R. A. Torrey

    I found it safer at the close of each day not to be too confident that there had been no failures nor defeats that day, but to go alone with God and ask Him to search my heart.

    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on “Satan took advantage of his self-confidence.” || R. A. Torrey
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    I once knew a man who seemed to make extraordinary strides in the Christian life. He became a teacher of others and was greatly blessed to thousands. It seemed to me that he was becoming self-confident and I trembled for him. I invited him to my room and we had a long heart to heart conversation. I told him frankly that it seemed as if he were going perilously near exceedingly dangerous ground. I said that I found it safer at the close of each day not to be too confident that there had been no failures nor defeats that day but to go alone with God and ask Him to search my heart and show me if there was anything in my outward or inward life that was displeasing to Him, and that very often failures were brought to light that must be confessed as sin. 

    “No,” he replied, “I do not need to do that. Even if I should do something wrong, I would see it at once. I keep very short accounts with God, and I would confess it at once.” I said it seemed to me as if it would be safer to take time alone with God for God to search us through and through, that while we migh

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    Prevention

    10 Things I’ve Learned After 10 Months Porn Free

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    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on 10 Things I’ve Learned After 10 Months Porn Free

    I looked at pornography for the last time on November 4, 2021. Here I am, 10 months later, with some lessons I’ve learned along my journey.

    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on 10 Things I’ve Learned After 10 Months Porn Free

    I looked at pornography for the last time on November 4, 2021. I remember the date because that is the day I started this daily devotional. My goal was to help Christian men (and myself) abstain from pornography biblically. Here I am, 10 months later, and I have not looked at any pornography since then, and neither have I masturbated. Here are some lessons I’ve learned along my journey.

    1. Pastors don’t want to address the issue of porn
      Some pastors and church elders refuse to address the issue of pornography or masturbation from the pulpit or in private in any meaningful way with brothers in the congregation.
    2. Temptation can come anytime, anywhere
      A few days ago I visited a beach on a remote lake in Northern Saskatchewan. I was the only person on the beach. I suddenly experienced a strong temptation to take matters into my own hands, as it were. I was surprised at the suddenness of the urge, and that it struck in such an odd place. I resisted it nevertheless.
    3. I don’t feel it if I don’t feed
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    Lust

    The Secret to Quitting Porn? | 1 Corinthians 2:1-5

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    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on The Secret to Quitting Porn? | 1 Corinthians 2:1-5

    You can be free of sexual immorality without spending a dime. Look to God alone. Seek Him as your strength, your motivation, your reason for staying sexually pure.

    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on The Secret to Quitting Porn? | 1 Corinthians 2:1-5
    Christian man seeking help for porn addiction from Bible

    And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

    1 Corinthians 2:1-5

    Want to know the secret to quitting porn? You don’t have to join a 12-step program. You don’t have to understand the limbic survival brain. There’s no need to complete a Sexual Dependency Inventory with a sex addiction counsellor ($695). And there’s no need to go through 12 month’s of clinical counselling ($9,000).

    The remedy for your compulsive use of pornography and masturbation isn’t found in a book, or in a course, or across the couch f

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    Consecration

    “I will surely cleave by my sweet Saviour.” || Martin Luther

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    I know full well and have found what the name of Jesus had done for me.

    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on “I will surely cleave by my sweet Saviour.” || Martin Luther
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    Out of my own experience, I am able to witness that Jesus Christ is true God; I know full well and have found what the name of Jesus had done for me. I have often been so near death that I thought verily now must I die, because I teach His Word to the wicked world, and acknowledge Him; but always He mercifully put life into me, refreshed and comforted me. Therefore, let us use diligence only to keep Him, and then all is safe, although the devil were ever so wicked and crafty, and the world ever so evil and false. Let whatsoever will or can befall me. I will surely cleave by my sweet Saviour Christ Jesus, for in Him am I baptized; I can neither do nor know anything but only what He has taught me.

    Excerpted from Table Talk by Martin Luther. Public domain.

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    Consecration

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

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

    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on “Only one inevitable deduction.” || Martyn Lloyd-Jones
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    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.

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    Consecration

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

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    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on “Not just heaven one day, but Christ right now.” || Major W. Ian Thomas

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

    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

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    Temptation

    Beware of Offline Threats | 1 Peter 5:8

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    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on Beware of Offline Threats | 1 Peter 5:8

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

    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on Beware of Offline Threats | 1 Peter 5:8

    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

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    Consequences

    Keep Looking Ahead | Luke 17:32

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

    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on Keep Looking Ahead | Luke 17:32

    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

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    Prevention

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

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    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on To Quit Porn, Obey One Do and One Don’t | Romans 13:14

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

    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

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    Consecration

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

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    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 Leave a Comment on “Only by death to self can we be lost in God.” || Madam Guyon

    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.

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    Lust

    Do You Suppose? | Luke 13:1-5

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    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on Do You Suppose? | Luke 13:1-5

    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 Leave a Comment on Do You Suppose? | Luke 13:1-5

    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

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    Prevention

    Porn and the Penalty for Inaction | Matthew 5:29

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

    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on Porn and the Penalty for Inaction | Matthew 5:29

    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 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

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    Consequences

    Quit Porn in Three Words | John 5:14

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    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 Leave a Comment on Quit Porn in Three Words | John 5:14
    Quit Porn in Three Words | John 5:14

    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

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    Quit Porn in Three Words | John 5:14
    Consecration

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

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    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 Leave a Comment on “Make thy score even with Christ every night.” || Lewis Bayly
    man with lamp rising stairs in the darkness

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

    1. 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.
    2. 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!
    3. 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
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    man with lamp rising stairs in the darkness
    Quiz

    Quiz: Job 31:1

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    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 Leave a Comment on Quiz: Job 31:1
    Quiz: Job 31:1

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

    Job 31:1

    Questions

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

    Answers

    1. Job was tempted sexually by his eyes, by what he saw.
    2. Job was vulnerable to young women (literally, in the Hebrew, young, female virgins).
    3. To “look upon
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    Quiz: Job 31:1
    Accountability

    Why I Use Accountability Software as a Christian Man

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    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 Leave a Comment on Why I Use Accountability Software as a Christian Man
    To Resist Sexual Sin, Look Up. | Genesis 39:9

    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

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    To Resist Sexual Sin, Look Up. | Genesis 39:9
    Lust

    Why I Use Porn-Blocking Software as a Christian Man

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    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on Why I Use Porn-Blocking Software as a Christian Man

    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 Leave a Comment on Why I Use Porn-Blocking Software as a Christian Man

    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

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    Consecration

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

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    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on “It’s heart-rending work, giving our dearest lusts a bill of divorce.” || Jonathan Edwards

    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 Leave a Comment on “It’s heart-rending work, giving our dearest lusts a bill of divorce.” || Jonathan Edwards
    Can't Masturbate with a Clear Conscience? Thank God. | Romans 14:23

    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

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    Can't Masturbate with a Clear Conscience? Thank God. | Romans 14:23
    Accountability

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

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

    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on Don’t Look for a Label for Your Sexual Sin | Matthew 15:19-20

    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

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    Temptation

    The Blessing of Sexual Temptation | James 1:12

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    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 Leave a Comment on The Blessing of Sexual Temptation | James 1:12

    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

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    Temptation

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

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    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on You Are Tempted by Porn Because You Desire It | James 1:14

    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 Leave a Comment on You Are Tempted by Porn Because You Desire It | James 1:14

    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

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    Temptation

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

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    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 Leave a Comment on “The best means of resisting the devil.” || John Wesley

    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

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    Temptation

    The Good News about Sexual Temptation | Luke 4:13

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    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 Leave a Comment on The Good News about Sexual Temptation | Luke 4:13
    The Good News about Sexual Temptation | Luke 4:13

    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

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

    “Preventive against backsliding.” || John MacNeil

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    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 Leave a Comment on “Preventive against backsliding.” || John MacNeil
    Illustration of man following his footsteps in circle; life concept

    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

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    Illustration of man following his footsteps in circle; life concept
    Consecration

    “Engage your affections in your duty.” || John Flavel

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    Could you but regard your duties as the medium in which you might walk in communion with God in which your soul might be filled with those ravishing and matchless delights which his presence affords, you might have no inclination to neglect them.

    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on “Engage your affections in your duty.” || John Flavel

    If you would have the distraction of your thoughts prevented, endeavor to raise your affections to God, and to engage them warmly in your duty. When the soul is intent upon any work, it gathers in its strength and bends all its thoughts to that work; and when it is deeply affected, it will pursue its object with intenseness, the affections will gain an ascendancy over the thoughts and guide them. But deadness causes distraction, and distraction increases deadness. Could you but regard your duties as the medium in which you might walk in communion with God in which your soul might be filled with those ravishing and matchless delights which his presence affords, you might have no inclination to neglect them. But if you would prevent the recurrence of distracting thoughts, if you would find your happiness in the performance of duty, you must not only be careful that you engage in what is your duty, but labor with patient and persevering exertion to interest your feelings in it. Why is your heart so inconstant, especially in secret duties; why are you ready to be gone, almost as soon as you are come into the presence of God

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    Quiz

    Quiz: 1 Corinthians 6:9-10

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    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on Quiz: 1 Corinthians 6:9-10

    Are you deceived, thinking you can both watch pornography and inherit the kingdom of God? take this quiz and find out.

    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on Quiz: 1 Corinthians 6:9-10
    Quiz: 1 Corinthians 6:9-10

    Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.

    1 Corinthians 6:9-10

    Questions

    1. Who is Paul warning when he writes this?
    2. Will the unrighteous inherit the kingdom of God?
    3. Can you, as a born-again Christian, be deceived?
    4. Will fornicators, that is, the sexually immoral, inherit the kingdom of God?
    5. If you watch pornography, are you sexually immoral?
    6. If you watch pornography, and don’t repent, will you inherit the kingdom of God?
    7. Are you deceived, thinking you can both watch pornography and inherit the kingdom of God?

    Answers

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    Quiz: 1 Corinthians 6:9-10
    Prevention

    “Lead us not into temptation.” || John Calvin

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    Whoever implores the assistance of God to overcome temptations, acknowledges that, unless God deliver him, he will be constantly falling.

    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on “Lead us not into temptation.” || John Calvin
    fork outdoor double unknown way

    And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

    Matthew 6:13

    Some people have split this petition into two. This is wrong: for the nature of the subject makes it manifest, that it is one and the same petition. The connection of the words also shows it: for the word but, which is placed between, connects the two clauses together, as Augustine judiciously explains. The sentence ought to be resolved thus, That we may not be led into temptation, deliver us from evil.

    The meaning is: “We are conscious of our own weakness, and desire to enjoy the protection of God, that we may remain impregnable against all the assaults of Satan.” We showed from the former petition, that no man can be reckoned a Christian, who does not acknowledge himself to be a sinner; and in the same manner, we conclude from this petition, that we have no strength for living a holy life, except so far as we obtain it from God. Whoever implores the assistan

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    Obedience

    Porn Makes You an Enemy of God | Romans 8:7

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    The remedy for watching pornography isn’t to tweak, or adjust or clean up your carnal mind so that it obeys God—because it can’t.

    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on Porn Makes You an Enemy of God | Romans 8:7
    Porn Makes You an Enemy of God | Romans 8:7

    Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.

    Romans 8:7

    Are you an enemy of God? Maybe. If you watch pornography habitually, compulsively, then your mind is “enmity against God.” Your mind is hostile to God, alienated from God, in opposition to God. That makes you His enemy. This is the clear teaching of scripture (Romans 8:7).

    The carnal mind is the fleshly mind, the mind that is fallen and acts contrary to God’s law. The carnal mind is weak and still subject to the attack of sin, is opposed to the Spirit and wars against it, and becomes the instrument of sin. When you indulge in sexual immorality by indulging in pornography and masturbation, you indulge your carnal mind. You give it what it wants, and you refuse to subject yourself to the law of God, which speaks against sexual immorality from Genesis to Revelation.

    Paul is

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    Porn Makes You an Enemy of God | Romans 8:7
    Consequences

    Free Porn Is Costly | Romans 8:6

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    The sexually immoral are going to have their portion in the lake of fire. That’s a high price to pay in eternity for watching porn in this lifetime.

    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on Free Porn Is Costly | Romans 8:6

    For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

    Romans 8:6

    One of the greatest problems with pornography is its price. A large portion of the porn that men consume today is free. You can watch hours of it every day without paying a dime. But you have to pay for it all the same, one day.

    The Bible says, “to be carnally minded is death.” When you look at porn, you are carnally minded. When you are carnally minded, you set your feet on a path that leads to spiritual death, in the lake of fire.

    “Carnal” is a word you don’t hear these days. It means “fleshly,” as in, the lust of the flesh. The flesh is that part of the human condition that is weak and still subject to the attack of sin, that is opposed to the Spirit and wars against it, and that becomes the instrument of sin. Your flesh, by definition, is displeasing to God. Any thought or action you have that

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    Sanctification

    “Resurrection of the spirit follows mortification of the flesh.” || Johann Arndt

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    Under the exercise of repentance, therefore, the old Adam, with his corruptions, dies within us.

    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on “Resurrection of the spirit follows mortification of the flesh.” || Johann Arndt
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    Repentance, or true conversion, is the work of the Holy Spirit, under the influence of which, man, through the law, acknowledges his sin, and the wrath of God provoked against it; and earnestly mourns over his offences; and then, understanding, through the Gospel, the grace of God, by faith in Christ Jesus, he obtains the remission of his sins. By this repentance, the mortification or crucifying of the flesh, and of all carnal lusts and pleasures, is carried on; together with the quickening of the spirit, or the resurrection of the new man in Christ. Under the exercise of repentance, therefore, the old Adam, with his corruptions, dies within us; and Christ lives in us, by faith (Gal. 2:20); for we must be aware that these two are inseparably connected. The resurrection of the spirit follows the mortification of the flesh; and the quickening of the new man, destroys and annihilates the old man; the ruin of the one, is the life and resurrection of the other. “Though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.” 2 Cor. 4:16. We are, therefore, enjoined to “mortify our mem

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    Temptation

    Victory Over Porn Requires Humility | 1 Corinthians 10:12

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    We should not think that we stand immune to sexual temptation. Healthy progress along the path of sexual purity does not cure us of temptation.

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    Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.

    1 Corinthians 10:12

    There is no vaccine that protects you against sexual temptation. There are no treatments you can take, no courses you can complete, no self-help groups you can join, that will prevent you from being tempted to look at pornography or to masturbate. You may find ways to reduce your symptoms, but you will always have the disease of sexual immorality lurking about your body.

    This is the sad but true reality for Christian men. No matter how sanctified we become, no matter how close we draw to the Lord, we are still vulnerable to sexual temptation. I am not saying that we will be tempted, or that we will fall when tempted. I am simply saying that healthy progress along the path of sexual purity does not cure us of temptation.

    This is partly what Paul is referring to when he tells the believers in Corinth to beware if the

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    Obedience

    Be Immovable. Final Victory is Near. | 1 Corinthians 15:58

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    One day, perhaps soon, your battle will be over. You will have victory because you will be with the Victor. You will be with Christ.

    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on Be Immovable. Final Victory is Near. | 1 Corinthians 15:58

    Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.

    1 Corinthians 15:58

    Staying sexually pure in this wicked world is a slog. Sometimes I wonder if the public immodesty will ever vanish, if the sexuality in popular culture will ever end, if the internal temptations will ever disappear. And then I remember, of course they will.

    A glorious day is coming when Jesus Christ will return and take His own to glory. First to rise from the dead will be those who died in Christ. Then will follow those who are alive at Christ’s coming. We will join Christ, and reign with Him over a new creation.

    Take heart, brother. “Be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 15:58). Your striving against sexual sin is not in vain. Your a

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    Prevention

    Sexual Purity Is Inconvenient, Costly, and Awesome | Matthew 18:8

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    What inconvenience or daily annoyance are you facing to avoid pornography, to avoid sexual temptation, to walk a holy walk?

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    exual Purity Is Annoying, Inconvenient, Costly and Awesome | Matthew 18:8

    If your hand or foot causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you. It is better for you to enter into life lame or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet, to be cast into the everlasting fire.

    Matthew 18:8

    If you want to be free of pornography, you must pay the price. Sexual purity doesn’t come cheap. Freedom from sexual sin can’t be purchased with church attendance or a 12-step recovery program. If you want to be free of the grip of porn and masturbation, you have to pay, and pay dearly.

    Sanctification is costly. That’s what Jesus teaches. If your hand or foot causes you to sin, you cut it off and cast it from you. That’s the high price you must pay to avoid sinning. You must be willing to go through life with just one hand or just one foot in order to avoid sin and to please your Lord.

    Jesus is speaking in hyperbole (extravagant exaggeration), of course, to drive home His po

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    exual Purity Is Annoying, Inconvenient, Costly and Awesome | Matthew 18:8
    Temptation

    “Every vice of our own managing is a sword of Satan.” || Jeremy Taylor

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    We hug the poison, and twist willingly with the vipers, till they bring us into the regions of an irrecoverable sorrow.

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    There are some vices which carry a sword in their hand, and cut a man off before his time. There is a sword of the Lord, and there is a sword of a man, and there is a sword of the devil. Every vice of our own managing in the matter of carnality, of lust or rage, ambition or revenge, is a sword of Satan put into the hands of a man: these are the destroying angels; sin is the Apollyon, the destroyer that is gone out, not from the Lord, but from the tempter; and we hug the poison, and twist willingly with the vipers, till they bring us into the regions of an irrecoverable sorrow. We use to reckon persons as good as dead if they have lost their limbs and their teeth, and are confined to a hospital, and converse with none but surgeons and physicians, mourners and divines, those paltinctores, the dressers of bodies and souls to funeral; but it is worse when the soul, the principle of life, is employed wholly in the offices of death, and that man was worse than dead of whom Seneca tells, that being a rich fool, when he was lifted up from the baths and set into a soft couch, asked his slaves, As ego jam sedeo?

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    Prevention

    Porn? Not once. And never. | Proverbs 5:18-20

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    You avoid the arms of the seductress by letting only your wife’s arms embrace you, offline and online, at all times, and always.

    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on Porn? Not once. And never. | Proverbs 5:18-20

    Let your fountain be blessed,
    And rejoice with the wife of your youth.
    As a loving deer and a graceful doe,
    Let her breasts satisfy you at all times;
    And always be enraptured with her love.
    For why should you, my son, be enraptured by an immoral woman,
    And be embraced in the arms of a seductress?

    Proverbs 5:18-20

    Sometimes the remedy for committing a sin is to engage in a pure act. Sometimes the way to avoid temptation is to pursue something holy. And sometimes the path to purity is to make use of what God has already provided. Such is the case with sexual immorality in general and with adultery in particular.

    The preventive for adultery, says Solomon, is to “Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice with the wife of your youth.” In other words, let your fountain, that is, your wife, be blessed by keeping to her and keeping away from others. And notice the timeline. Rejoice with the wife of your youth, that is,

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    Temptation

    When Did You Pluck Out Your Eye? | Matthew 5:29

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    If you want to get victory over pornography, you must discover and deal with your triggers. You likely have dozens.

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    When Did You Pluck Out Your Eye? | Matthew 5:29

    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 5:29

    When is the last time you plucked out your right eye and cast it away from you? I am not being sarcastic. I am asking you in earnest because this principle is one of the keys to conquering pornography, lust, sexual temptation and sexual immorality in your life. The path to sexual purity requires knowing and conquering your triggers.

    When Jesus said, “If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you,” He was speaking in the context of adultery. He had just said, “whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” Then he gave the remedy. If your right eye causes you to sin by lusting after women, then pluck it out and cast it away from you.

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    When Did You Pluck Out Your Eye? | Matthew 5:29
    Consecration

    “We cannot enjoy the world and Christ.” || Hudson Taylor

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    Many passages in the Word of God speak in no measured terms of the folly, the danger, the sin of friendship with the world.

    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on “We cannot enjoy the world and Christ.” || Hudson Taylor

    Ah, how often the enemy succeeds, by one device or another, in tempting the believer away from that position of entire consecration to Christ in which alone the fulness of His power and of His love can be experienced. We say the fulness of His power and of His love; for he may not have ceased to love his Lord.

    In the passage before us [Song of Solomon 2:8-17] the bride still loves Him truly, though not wholly; there is still a power in His Word which is not unfelt, though she no longer renders instant obedience. She little realizes how she is wronging her Lord, and how real is the wall of separation between them. To her, worldliness seems as but a little thing; she has not realized the solemn truth of many passages in the Word of God that speak in no measured terms of the folly, the danger, the sin of friendship with the world.

    “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” “Ye adulteresses, know y

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    Quiz

    Quiz: 2 Samuel 11:1-5

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    What lessons about avoiding lust, temptation, adultery and sexually immorality can you learn from David’s sin with Bathsheba? Take the quiz and find out.

    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on Quiz: 2 Samuel 11:1-5
    Masturbating Defrauds Your Wife | 1 Corinthians 7:4

    And it came to pass, after the year was expired, at the time when kings go forth to battle, that David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the children of Ammon, and besieged Rabbah. But David tarried still at Jerusalem. And it came to pass in an eveningtide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king’s house: and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself; and the woman was very beautiful to look upon. And David sent and inquired after the woman. And one said, Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite? And David sent messengers, and took her; and she came in unto him, and he lay with her; for she was purified from her uncleanness: and she returned unto her house. And the woman conceived, and sent and told David, and said, I am with child.

    2 Samuel 11:1-5

    Questions

    1. Where was David when he was tempted sexually?
    2. What was David
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    Masturbating Defrauds Your Wife | 1 Corinthians 7:4
    Lust

    To Avoid Porn, Avoid the Second Look | Proverbs 4:25

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    Sexual temptation involves a battle with your body as much as a battle with your will. To avoid porn, avoid the second look.

    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on To Avoid Porn, Avoid the Second Look | Proverbs 4:25

    Let your eyes look straight ahead, and your eyelids look right before you.

    Proverbs 4:25

    As a man, you are tempted sexually primarily by your eyes. The sight of a seductive woman is what inflames your lust. The female form is what causes your blood to rise. This is why, if you want to conquer a compulsive habit of looking at porn, you must conquer the second look.

    You know what I am talking about. You are walking down the street, minding your own business, when a young, female jogger appears before you, headed in your direction. As she approaches, you look away, but as she passes, you turn about, your eyes following her. That’s the second look.

    You are riding the subway, and you spot an advertisement featuring an immodestly dressed woman. You look away. Then you look back again.

    You are online, swipi

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    Judgment

    You, Canaan, and God’s Wrath | Leviticus 18:24-25

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    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on You, Canaan, and God’s Wrath | Leviticus 18:24-25

    God hates pornography. God hates sexual immorality. Just look at what God did to the Canaanites so see how much he hates sexual sin.

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    Do not defile yourselves with any of these things; for by all these the nations are defiled, which I am casting out before you. For the land is defiled; therefore I visit the punishment of its iniquity upon it, and the land vomits out its inhabitants.

    Leviticus 18:24-25

    If you want to understand God’s opinion of pornography, just open your Bible and see what God commanded the children of Israel to do with the nations that were in the Promised Land. These wicked nations practiced incest, homosexuality, child sacrifice, bestiality and more (Leviticus 18:6-23). God commanded Joshua and his armies to destroy these nations, man, woman and child. Joshua and his men obeyed. “They utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, ox and sheep and donkey, with the edge of the sword” (Joshua 6:21).

    Why did God destroy the Canaanites? Because God chose the nation of Israel to be a witness to the world of the true and living God. God commanded the

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    Sanctification

    Sexual Purity is a Marathon, Not a Sprint | Hebrews 12:1

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    When you start a marathon, you can’t see the finish line. But it’s there. You’ll reach it if you run with endurance.

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    Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.

    Hebrews 12:1

    If conquering pornography was as easy as sprinting 100 metres, you would have victory by now. Most able-bodied men can sprint for 100 metres (or 100 yards). Some are faster, some are slower, but just about every man can run that distance quickly. A marathon, on the other hand, is a race that most men cannot run. We’re talking 42 kilometers (26 miles), a distance that the majority of men can’t run without training and self-discipline.

    Conquering pornography, lust, and sexual immorality is no different. Quitting for a day is easy. Quitting for 42 days in a row is harder. Quitting for a lifetime is harder still. This is partly what Paul has in mind when he tells you and me to lay aside the sin which so easily ensnares u

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    Consecration

    “Effects require causes.” || Henry Drummond

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    Christian experiences are governed by law. Men, forgetting this, expect Rest, Joy, Peace, Faith to drop into their souls from the air like snow or rain.

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    Nothing that happens in the world happens by chance. God is a God of order. Everything is arranged upon definite principles, and never at random. The world, even the religious world, is governed by law. Character is governed by law. Happiness is governed by law. The Christian experiences are governed by law. Men, forgetting this, expect Rest, Joy, Peace, Faith to drop into their souls from the air like snow or rain. But in point of fact they do not do so; and if they did they would no less have their origin in previous activities and be controlled by natural laws. Rain and snow do drop from the air, but not without a long previous history. They are the mature effects of former causes. Equally so are Rest, and Peace, and Joy. They, too, have each a previous history. Storms and winds and calms are not accidents, but are brought about by antecedent circumstances. Rest and Peace are but calms in man’s inward nature, and arise through causes as definite and as inevitable.

    Realize it thoroughly: it is a methodical not an accidental world. If a housewife turns out a

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    Sanctification

    The Devil Made Me Do It? Not. | Ephesians 2: 1-3

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    When you walk according to the lusts of your flesh by looking at porn, you voluntarily follow the Devil’s leading. Just don’t blame him for your walk.

    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on The Devil Made Me Do It? Not. | Ephesians 2: 1-3
    The Devil Made Me Do It? Not. | Ephesians 2: 1-3

    And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.

    Ephesians 2: 1-3

    I grew up in the 1960s. A popular comedian named Flip Wilson, on his weekly TV show, would do something naughty or outrageous, then look directly into the studio camera, grin that grin of his, and say, “The Devil made me do it!”

    That catchphrase caught on in my house and in just about every other house in North America. Husbands, wives and children knew they could quote this bit of theology to avoid taking responsibility for their actions. “The Devil ma

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    The Devil Made Me Do It? Not. | Ephesians 2: 1-3
    Consecration

    “Most Christians continue being weary and heavy-laden.” || Hannah Whitall Smith

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    Christians who have given themselves into the care and keeping of the Lord Jesus still continue to bend beneath the weight of their burdens.

    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on “Most Christians continue being weary and heavy-laden.” || Hannah Whitall Smith
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    Most Christians are like a man who was toiling along the road, bending under a heavy burden, when a wagon overtook him. The driver kindly offered to help him on his journey. He joyfully accepted the offer but, when he was seated, continued to bend beneath his burden, which he still kept on his shoulders. “Why do you not lay down your burden?” asked the kind-hearted driver. “Oh!” replied the man, “I feel that it is almost too much to ask you to carry me, and I could not think of letting you carry my burden too.” And so Christians who have given themselves into the care and keeping of the Lord Jesus still continue to bend beneath the weight of their burdens and often go weary and heavy-laden throughout the whole length of their journey.

    Excerpted from The Christian’s Secret of a Happy Life by Hannah Whital

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    Lust

    Do You Love Pornography? | 1 John 2:15-17

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    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on Do You Love Pornography? | 1 John 2:15-17

    Do you deny that you love the world or the things in the world, yet keenly follow one of the things in the world, namely, the lust of the flesh, through porn?

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    Do You Love Pornography? | 1 John 2:15-17

    Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 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.

    1 John 2:15-17

    You cannot love porn and love God. Sexual immorality and God are so opposed that you cannot love them both at once. So, the question is, do you love porn? That is, are you fond of it? Do you desire it? Do you long for it? Does it give you tremendous pleasure?

    If you are like most Christian men, you deny that you love porn. You also likely deny that you love the world and the things in the world. And yet you look at porn—habitually, compulsively, repeatedly, without amending your ways. You deny that you love the world or the things in the world, yet you keenly follow one of the things in t

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    Do You Love Pornography? | 1 John 2:15-17
    Sanctification

    Quit Porn Through Substitution, Not Just Elimination | Romans 6:19

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    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on Quit Porn Through Substitution, Not Just Elimination | Romans 6:19

    Porn isn’t something you renounce as much as something you replace. The path to sexual purity is substitution, not just elimination.

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    Quit Porn Through Substitution, Not Just Elimination | Romans 6:19

    I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness.

    Romans 6:19

    You don’t quit porn. You replace it. You don’t conquer it and walk away in victory. You subdue it by replacing it with something else. You don’t stop watching porn. You start watching something better.

    I am overstating my case of course, but only to make a point. Of course you are to quit pornography, subdue it and stop looking at it. But the way you abstain from porn is through substitution, not just through elimination. This is Paul’s point here in his letter to the men and women at Rome. “You used to offer parts of your body as slaves to uncleanness,” he tells them. “Now, offer parts of your body as slaves of righteousness for holiness instead.”

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    Quit Porn Through Substitution, Not Just Elimination | Romans 6:19
    Obedience

    Eight Lessons Learned After Eight Months Porn Free

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    Eight months have passed since I looked at porn. I have learned a few lessons along the way.

    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on Eight Lessons Learned After Eight Months Porn Free

    I looked at porn for the last time on November 4, 2021. I remember the day because that’s the day I started this daily devotional. That’s the day I got serious about forsaking my sin and never going back. Eight months have passed since then, and I have learned a few lessons along the way.

    1. Writing these daily devotionals is a great motivator: I wish I was motivated by a more spiritual ambition, but simply writing this devotional each day gives me a tremendous incentive to not look at porn. I figure I will lose all moral authority if I commit the very act I write against seven days a week, and that fear keeps me motivated to not look.
    2. Porn will find a substitute: Once I stopped looking at immoral images and videos, I noticed that I still had a hankering for titillation and excitement, so I turned to action movies and crime dramas. I eventually realized what I was doing, and also realized that these movies weren’t edifying or helping me become Christlike. I noticed that, just because I have swept the house clean
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    Sanctification

    “Think often of the self-denial of the martyrs.” || George Whitfield

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    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on “Think often of the self-denial of the martyrs.” || George Whitfield

    If we have the same nature to change, why should not we lead the same lives as they did?

    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on “Think often of the self-denial of the martyrs.” || George Whitfield
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    Think often on the lives of the glorious company of the apostles, the goodly fellowship of the prophets, and the noble army of martyrs; who by a constant looking to the author and finisher of our faith, have fought the good fight, and are gone before us to inherit the promises. View again and again, how holily, how self-denyingly, how unblameably they lived: And if self-denial was necessary for them, why not for us also? Are we not men of like passions with them? Do we not live in the same wicked world as they did? Have we not the same good spirit to assist, support, and purify us, as they had? And is not the same eternal inheritance reached out to us, as was to them?

    And if we have the same nature to change, the same wicked world to withstand, the same good spirit to help, and the same eternal crown at the end; why should not we lead the same lives as they did? Do we think they did works of supererogation [the performance of more work than duty requires]? If not, why do not we do as they did? Or why does your own church set apart festivals to commemorate the deaths

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    Quiz

    Quiz: 1 Corinthians 6:18

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    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on Quiz: 1 Corinthians 6:18

    Do you understand what “flee sexual immorality” means in 1 Corinthians 6:18? Take this quiz and find out.

    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on Quiz: 1 Corinthians 6:18
    Do you understand what "flee sexual immorality" means in 1 Corinthians 6:18?

    Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body.

    1 Corinthians 6:18

    Questions

    1. What is sexual immorality?
    2. What is fornication?
    3. What are some examples of sexual immorality”
    4. What are you commanded to do with sexual immorality?
    5. What does “flee” mean, exactly?
    6. How do you flee sexual immorality?
    7. What is one reason you are to flee sexual immorality?

    Answers

    1. Sexual immorality is any act that defies God’s commands about sexual relations.
    2. Fornication is simply another word for sexual immorality. It is archaic, and rarely used today.
    3. Sexual immorality includes sex outside of marriage, sex with animals, sex with children, sex with close family members, viewing pornography, and masturbating.
    4. You are commanded to fee sexual
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    Do you understand what "flee sexual immorality" means in 1 Corinthians 6:18?
    Lust

    Escape Worldly Depravity by Escaping Lust | 2 Peter 2:4

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    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on Escape Worldly Depravity by Escaping Lust | 2 Peter 2:4

    Pornography is a lust problem. To escape the corruption that it creates, escape the lust that lures you to look.

    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on Escape Worldly Depravity by Escaping Lust | 2 Peter 2:4

    By which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

    2 Peter 1:4

    Lust is something you are to escape. Peter tells you and me that we have escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. And this escaping is supposed to be permanent. The word in the Greek is apopheúgō, a combination of two words, “away from” and “flee.” It means to escape through flight, and carries the idea of separation, a full breaking away from the previous situation (Wuest). So, you don’t just run away from lust. You escape, and stay away.

    You are to escape lust because lust leads to corruption, that is, to depravity, decay, rottenness, and ruin. And notice where this corruption is found—in the world. Co

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    Consecration

    “See that your soul is happy in the Lord.” || George Müller

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    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on “See that your soul is happy in the Lord.” || George Müller

    It is of supreme and paramount importance that you should seek above all things to have your souls truly happy in God Himself.

    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on “See that your soul is happy in the Lord.” || George Müller
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    According to my judgement the most important point to be attended to is this: above all things see to it that your souls are happy in the Lord. Other things may press upon you, the Lord’s work may even have urgent claims upon your attention, but I deliberately repeat, it is of supreme and paramount importance that you should seek above all things to have your souls truly happy in God Himself! Day by day seek to make this the most important business of your life. This has been my firm and settled condition for the last five and thirty years. For the first four years after my conversion I knew not its vast importance, but now after much experience I specially commend this point to the notice of my younger brethren and sisters in Christ: the secret of all true effectual service is joy in God, having experimental acquaintance and fellowship with God Himself.

    George Müller
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    Lust

    You Can Never Have Enough Porn | Proverbs 27:20

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    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on You Can Never Have Enough Porn | Proverbs 27:20

    No matter how much pornography you consume, there will never be enough to satisfy your lust.

    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on You Can Never Have Enough Porn | Proverbs 27:20

    Hell and Destruction are never full;
    So the eyes of man are never satisfied.

    Proverbs 27:20

    Kenneth Shipp, 58, of Jonesboro, Georgia, had 447,268 pornographic images and 19,395 pornographic videos in his possession when agents raided his home in 2016. He was found guilty of possessing and distributing pornography, and sentenced to eight years in federal prison.

    If you are a Christian man who looks at pornography but longs to quit, you may wonder why or even how any man would accumulate this volume of pornography. After all, just do the math. If you had a stash of porn this large, you could watch one porn video a day for 53 years and still not reach the last video in your collection. If you had a stash of images as large as Mr. Shipp’s, and if you looked at 10 images an hour, eight hours a day, 7 days a week, you would waste 15 years of your life looking at porn and still never reach the end of your collection.

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    Prevention

    The Remedy for Porn in One Word | 1 Corinthians 6:18

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    by Alan Sharpe 2 Comments on The Remedy for Porn in One Word | 1 Corinthians 6:18

    You can abstain from porn today wherever you are, on your own, free of charge, by doing just one thing.

    by Alan Sharpe 2 Comments on The Remedy for Porn in One Word | 1 Corinthians 6:18

    Flee sexual immorality.

    1 Corinthians 6:18

    Conquering pornography isn’t complicated. It’s not easy, I admit, but it isn’t complicated. And yet many people make it complicated. Go online and you will find all manner of psychologists, psychiatrists, therapists, counsellors, pastors, Bible teachers and others ready to tell you the many steps you must take to quit porn.

    But the biblical answer is simple: “Flee sexual immorality.” That’s three simple words, and one step to victory. It worked in Paul’s day. It works today. Don’t follow the voices that say you must do something else but flee. The cure for pornography is a command you are to obey, and an action you are to take. Flee.

    There are multiple helps, of course. You may find a 12-step program helpful. You may find porn-blocking software useful. You may find an accountability partner useful. But don’t let these aids re

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    Consecration

    “Let prayer keep you in God’s presence.” || Francois Fénelon

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    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on “Let prayer keep you in God’s presence.” || Francois Fénelon

    Let your fixed seasons of prayer keep you in God’s presence through the day, and His presence frequently remembered through it be an ever-fresh spring of prayer.

    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on “Let prayer keep you in God’s presence.” || Francois Fénelon
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    In God’s name I beseech you let prayer nourish your soul as your meals nourish your body. Let your fixed seasons of prayer keep you in God’s presence through the day, and His presence frequently remembered through it be an ever-fresh spring of prayer. Such a brief, loving recollection of God renews a man’s whole being, quiets his passions, supplies light and counsel in difficulty, gradually subdues the temper, and causes him to possess his soul in patience, or rather gives it up to the possession of God.

    Francois Fénelon
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    Obedience

    With Porn, Whom Do You Obey? | Romans 6:16

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    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on With Porn, Whom Do You Obey? | Romans 6:16

    When you are next tempted to watch pornography, whom will you obey? Because you have to obey someone.

    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on With Porn, Whom Do You Obey? | Romans 6:16

    Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?

    Romans 6:16

    When it comes to watching pornography, you have a choice. And I’m not talking about the choice to look or to not look, the choice to indulge or to abstain. I’m talking about the choice of whom you obey. Because porn is personal. Behind every pornographic image there’s a camera operator. And behind every camera operator there’s another person.

    Paul tells us in his letter to the church in Rome that, “to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey.” If you are like me and countless other Christian men, you have read this verse for years but never taken the time to follow it to its logical conclusion. Let’s do that, shall we?

    Q. When you are tem

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    Prevention

    Don’t Ask God for What He Has Already Given | 2 Peter 1:3

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    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on Don’t Ask God for What He Has Already Given | 2 Peter 1:3

    God promises that the divine power you need to resist porn and masturbation is already yours for the taking. You just have to take it.

    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on Don’t Ask God for What He Has Already Given | 2 Peter 1:3
    Don't Ask God for What He Has Already Given | 2 Peter 1:3

    His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue.

    2 Peter 1:3

    You are guilty of it. I am guilty of it. In the midst of our struggle with sexual sin, we cry out to God, begging Him to give us strength to forsake our sin. We beseech God to give us power to overcome sexual temptation. We pray repeatedly, week in and week out, for God to deliver us from sexual urges. The problem is, He already has. We keep asking God to give us something that He has already given us.

    This is the conclusion that you and I must draw from what Peter tells us. After all, if God “has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness,” why do we need to ask Him for anything else that pertains to life and godliness? We don’t. If God has already given to us all the divine power, all the resources, and every other thing we need to live a life that’s free of pornography and free of masturbat

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    Don't Ask God for What He Has Already Given | 2 Peter 1:3
    Judgment

    How Long Can You Tread Water? | 2 Peter 2:9

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    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on How Long Can You Tread Water? | 2 Peter 2:9

    Noah is proof that God knows how to deliver you out of your sexual temptations (and how to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment).

    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on How Long Can You Tread Water? | 2 Peter 2:9

    The Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment.

    2 Peter 2:9

    I don’t suppose you wake up each morning thinking about Noah, but maybe you should. After all, if you have a chronic problem with looking at pornography and masturbating, you do well to remember some lessons from the time of The Flood.

    The first lesson is that Noah lived among a generation that Peter in his letter calls “ungodly” (2 Peter 2:5). As far as God was concerned, “the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5). And yet Noah, living among such wicked people and faced with all manner of temptations, found grace in the sight of the Lord.

    Another lesson from Noah’s life is that God punished the wicked but delivered Noah and his immediate family. God brought a catastrophic flood upo

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    Consecration

    “Your whole usefulness depends on holiness.” || Robert Murray McCheyne

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    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on “Your whole usefulness depends on holiness.” || Robert Murray McCheyne

    Study universal holiness of life. Your sermons last but an hour or two; your life preaches all the week.

    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on “Your whole usefulness depends on holiness.” || Robert Murray McCheyne

    Study universal holiness of life. Your whole usefulness depends on this, for your sermons last but an hour or two; your life preaches all the week. If Satan can only make a covetous minister a lover of praise, of pleasure, of good eating, he has ruined your ministry. Give yourself to prayer, and get your texts, your thoughts, your words from God. Luther spent his best three hours in prayer.

    Robert Murray McCheyne

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    Sanctification

    Do You Hate Porn? Love Porn? Both? | James 4:8

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    When you cleanse your hands and purify your heart, you drawn closer to God. The closer you get, the less you sin.

    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on Do You Hate Porn? Love Porn? Both? | James 4:8
    Do You Struggle with Porn Because You Are Double-Minded? | James 4:8

    Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

    James 4:8

    If you are a Christian man who struggles with the sin of looking at pornography, your problem might not be porn, or lust, but double-mindedness. You are in two minds about your sin. Part of you loves your sin. Part of you hates it. And so you continue to struggle in defeat.

    James tells you and me, in chapter 4 of his letter, that our walk with the Lord must be one of humility. We are to submit to God, draw near to God, cleanse our hands, and purify our hearts. And just who, exactly, are the ones who need their hearts purified? The “double-minded.” That is, those who are wavering and vacillating. The Greek word is dipsuchos, and means to literally be “two souled,” as if a person is split in half, a spiritual schizophrenic.

    You likely know this experience of being dou

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    Do You Struggle with Porn Because You Are Double-Minded? | James 4:8
    Obedience

    Do You Consume Porn & Condemn Porn? | Romans 2:22

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    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on Do You Consume Porn & Condemn Porn? | Romans 2:22

    If you have a problem with pornography that is compounded by being a hypocrite on the subject, forsake your sexual sin today. You’ll conquer both sins in one act.

    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on Do You Consume Porn & Condemn Porn? | Romans 2:22
    Porn Is a Snare Because It's Anonymous

    You who say, “Do not commit adultery,” do you commit adultery?

    Romans 2:22

    Looking at pornography is bad enough. But looking at it but also judging others for doing the same sin is even worse. A sexually immoral Christian is wicked. But a sexually immoral Christian who is also a hypocrite is even more wicked.

    You may not have this problem, of course. You may not preach from a pulpit or teach Sunday school or lead a men’s Bible study. Your sin of looking at porn might be a solitary sin, one that you don’t chastise anyone else for committing. But if you are responsible for preaching, teaching, exhorting and instructing, the bar is set higher for you.

    As Paul tells former Jews in the church at Rome in his day, when you teach the law while breaking the law, you dishonor God and blaspheme the name of God among the Gentiles. These days, if you watch pornography in private but preach against it in public, you do the

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    Porn Is a Snare Because It's Anonymous
    Consecration

    “The goal of prayer is the ear of God.” || Charles Spurgeon

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    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on “The goal of prayer is the ear of God.” || Charles Spurgeon

    If your prayer has not gained the heart of God, it has failed in its essential purpose.

    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on “The goal of prayer is the ear of God.” || Charles Spurgeon
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    We must remember that the goal of prayer is the ear of God. Unless that is gained the prayer has utterly failed. The uttering of it may have kindled devotional feeling in our minds, the hearing of it may have comforted and strengthened the hearts of those with whom we have prayed, but if the prayer has not gained the heart of God, it has failed in its essential purpose.

    A mere formalist can always pray so as to please himself. What has he to do but to open his book and read the prescribed words, or bow his knee and repeat such phrases as suggest themselves to his memory or his fancy? Like the Tartarian Praying Machine, give but the wind and the wheel, and the business is fully arranged. So much knee-bending and talking, and the prayer is done.

    The formalist’s prayers are always good, or, rather, always bad, alike. But the living child of God never offers a prayer which pleases himself; his standard is above his attainments; he wonders that God listens to him, and though he knows he will be heard for Christ’s sa

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    Accountability

    To Quit Porn, Get Caught | Job 24:15

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    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on To Quit Porn, Get Caught | Job 24:15

    With Covenant Eyes, no matter where I am, no matter what time of day or night it is, if I look at porn, I get caught. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on To Quit Porn, Get Caught | Job 24:15
    To Quit Porn, Get Caught | Job 24:15

    The eye of the adulterer waits for the twilight,
    Saying, ‘No eye will see me’;
    And he disguises his face.

    Job 24:15

    If you want to quit pornography, get caught. If you want to put sexual immorality behind you, use every creative tool and method and tactic at your disposal to make your sin known. The cure for habitual porn use is exposure.

    The adulterer, after all, as Job observes, waits for twilight before leaving the house to have sex with another man’s wife. He disguises his face, and assures himself that no one will see him. That’s the nature of sexual sin—it thrives in darkness. It demands secrecy and deceit.

    If you struggle with pornography, part of your challenge is that watching it in secret is so easy. You can get filthy images and videos on any mobile electronic device, whether laptop, tablet or phone, and you can carry these to any secluded place you want. Engaging in adul

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    To Quit Porn, Get Caught | Job 24:15
    Consequences

    Porn, the Great Sin Multiplier | Jeremiah 23:14

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    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on Porn, the Great Sin Multiplier | Jeremiah 23:14

    Looking at porn makes you an adulterer, a liar, and more. One sin leads to another. But the opposite is also true. Quit porn and you can’t help but quit other sins as well. Bonus, right?

    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on Porn, the Great Sin Multiplier | Jeremiah 23:14

    Also I have seen a horrible thing in the prophets of Jerusalem:
    They commit adultery and walk in lies;
    They also strengthen the hands of evildoers,
    So that no one turns back from his wickedness.
    All of them are like Sodom to Me,
    And her inhabitants like Gomorrah.

    Jeremiah 23:14

    When you look at porn you break three of the 10 Commandments. You commit adultery. You covet your neighbor’s wife. And you lie. That’s the nature of sexual sin—it never acts alone. If you watch pornography habitually, you are guilty of plenty of other sins as well. One sin can’t help but lead to another.

    This was true in Jeremiah’s day. The prophets of Jerusalem committed adultery and walked in lies. They covered their sexual sin by lying about it. They either lied by commission, by telling their wives falsehoods about where they were or who they were with, for example. Or they lied by omission, by failing to confess their sins, a

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    Judgment

    Porn During the Week But Prayer on Sunday Doesn’t Work | Jeremiah 7:9-10

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    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on Porn During the Week But Prayer on Sunday Doesn’t Work | Jeremiah 7:9-10

    When you continue in sexual sin during the week that grace may abound on Sunday, you make Christ the minister of sin.

    by Alan Sharpe Leave a Comment on Porn During the Week But Prayer on Sunday Doesn’t Work | Jeremiah 7:9-10
    Porn During the Week But Prayer on Sunday Doesn't Work | Jeremiah 7:9-10

    Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods whom you do not know, and then come and stand before Me in this house which is called by My name, and say, ‘We are delivered to do all these abominations’?

    Jeremiah 7:9-10

    No amount of church attendance or profession of faith will profit you if you refuse to repent of watching porn. No amount of religious observance or good works will benefit you if you refuse to amend your ways. This is the message that the prophet had for the people of Israel in his day, and it’s the message that he has for you and me today when it comes to sexual sin.

    The words that Jeremiah speaks here are the words that God gave the prophet to speak. These are the words that God commanded Jeremiah to proclaim. They are phrased in the form of a rhetorical question, that is, a question asked in order to create a dramatic effect or to make a point rather than to get an an

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    Porn During the Week But Prayer on Sunday Doesn't Work | Jeremiah 7:9-10
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