Lust Archives - Make No Provision

Lust

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

by Alan Sharpe September 21, 2022

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 September 21, 2022

man standing in front an open lightened door in the dark

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

by Alan Sharpe September 3, 2022

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 September 3, 2022

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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Do You Suppose? | Luke 13:1-5

by Alan Sharpe August 19, 2022

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

by Alan Sharpe August 19, 2022

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

Are you in bondage to pornography because you believe other men are deserving of God’s wrath more than you are? Do you return to your sexual immorality day after day because you believe you

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Why I Use Porn-Blocking Software as a Christian Man

by Alan Sharpe August 12, 2022

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

by Alan Sharpe August 12, 2022

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

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

Covenant Eyes also offers custom blocking. If I happen upon a website that is not pornographic but is nevertheless inappropriate, I add it to my list of inappropriate sites. Covenant Eyes blocks my access to this site from then on. My list of vo

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

by Alan Sharpe July 13, 2022

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 July 13, 2022

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

by Alan Sharpe July 6, 2022

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?

by Alan Sharpe July 6, 2022

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

by Alan Sharpe June 29, 2022

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

by Alan Sharpe June 29, 2022

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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You Can Never Have Enough Porn | Proverbs 27:20

by Alan Sharpe June 28, 2022

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

by Alan Sharpe June 28, 2022

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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Would Stoning Dissuade You? | Leviticus 20:10

by Alan Sharpe June 14, 2022

What if you continue watching porn compulsively, habitually until the day you die, or until the day that the Lord Jesus returns? A fate worse than stoning awaits you.

by Alan Sharpe June 14, 2022

Would Stoning Dissuade You? | Leviticus 20:10

The man who commits adultery with another man’s wife, he who commits adultery with his neighbor’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress, shall surely be put to death.
Leviticus 20:10

If the penalty for looking at pornography was stoning, would you still be “addicted?” This isn’t an academic exercise because there was a time when the divine penalty for multiple sexual sins was death. In those days, you didn’t sit in a circle with a bunch of other men to discuss your sexual addiction. Instead, a circle of people formed around you and threw stones at you until you were dead.

I am referring, of course, to what is known as the Mosaic Law, that is, the law handed down to Moses by God. You discover this law in the books of Exodus and Leviticus. In Leviticus 20:10-15, in particular, you read the record of what God commands Moses to tell the children of Israel concerning various sexual acts. These include adultery, incest, homosexua

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Are You a Slave Without a Master? | Titus 3:3

by Alan Sharpe March 3, 2022

No one bought you in a slave market. No one owns you. No one commands you to sin sexually.

by Alan Sharpe March 3, 2022

Are You a Slave Without a Master? | Titus 3:3

“For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another.”
Titus 3:3

Do you consider yourself powerless over pornography? Do you look at your masturbation habit and consider it a compulsive behavior that you are unable to manage? Do you, in short, believe that you are a slave to sexual immorality? If you believe these things about yourself, then you believe the first lie of the Celebrate Recovery 12 Steps: “We admitted we were powerless over our addictions and compulsive behaviors, that our lives had become unmanageable.”

Celebrate Recovery bills itself as a “Christ-centered, 12 step recovery program for anyone struggling with hurt, pain or addiction of any kind.” The movement is filled with sincere Christian leaders who mean

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Two Ways You Are Like Ted Bundy | Ephesians 4:22

by Alan Sharpe March 1, 2022

Your sinful nature, fueled by pornography, is never satisfied. Left unchecked, it grows more corrupt until it leads to death. Maybe not death in an electric chair, but death all the same.

by Alan Sharpe March 1, 2022

Two Ways You Are Like Ted Bundy | Ephesians 4:22

“That you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts.”
Ephesians 4:22

How much do you have in common with Ted Bundy, the sadist, rapist and necrophiliac, and one of the most notorious serial killers in US history? This is not a trick question or an academic exercise. The results may surprise you. Take this quiz and find out. Check all of the following facts from Ted Bundy’s life that match your own experience:

Experienced no physical, emotional or sexual abuse growing up

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Born into a Christian home
Raised by dedicated and loving parents
Had a healthy upbringing with brothers and sisters
Parents did not drink, smoke or gamble
Experienced no physical, emotional or sexual abuse growing up

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Will Your Sexual Sin Become an Object Lesson? | 1 Corinthians 10:6

by Alan Sharpe February 23, 2022

What would you do if God made your sexual sin an object lesson about how NOT to live the Christian life?

by Alan Sharpe February 23, 2022

“Now these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted.”
1 Corinthians 10:6

What would you think if God took your sexual immorality, wrote about it in a book, and had hundreds of millions of people read about you over the centuries? What would you do if God made your sexual sin an object lesson about how not to live the Christian life?

The children of Israel wandered for 40 years in the wilderness because of their sin of unbelief. And during their wanderings, they strayed from God. “With most of them God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness,” says Paul. What was their sin? Sexual immorality, among other things.

The children of Israel, that generation that escaped slavery in Egypt and was delivered from the hands of their oppressors through mighty signs and wonders from heaven, turned

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Masturbation Is a Sin (That’s Why You Do it in Secret) | Ephesians 5:11-12

by Alan Sharpe February 15, 2022

You don’t need to read any Bible verses to know why masturbation is sin. If you do it in private because you fear getting caught, then you have your answer.

by Alan Sharpe February 15, 2022

Masturbation Is a Sin Because You Do it in Secret | Ephesians 5:11-12

“And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret.”
Ephesians 5:11-12

If you are still trying to decide if masturbation is sin, simply ask yourself this: “Would I mind if my wife/fiancé/girlfriend/parents saw me performing the act?” If I was all alone, doing the deed, and they walked in and saw me, how would I feel? OK? Ashamed? Not bothered a bit? Mortified?

One of the evidences of sin is that people practice it in secret. Burglars break in at night. Couples committing adultery meet in faraway motels. Online fraudsters use fake names. Bank robbers mask their faces. Murderers wear gloves. Same goes for habitual sexual sins. Men who are hooked on pornography watch it in secret. Husbands who visit prostitu

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Masturbation Is a Sin Because It Fails the Discipleship Test | Luke 9:23

by Alan Sharpe February 14, 2022

There is simply no way that you or I can masturbate and think that we are denying ourselves.

by Alan Sharpe February 14, 2022

Masturbation Is a Sin Because It Fails the Discipleship Test | Luke 9:23

“Then He said to them all, ‘If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.'”
Luke 9:23

If you want to discover if masturbation is a sin, simply examine one of the costs of discipleship for following Jesus. Jesus teaches that if you want to be His disciple, you must deny yourself. Since masturbation is a selfish act that satisfies the flesh rather than deny it, anyone who masturbates fails this fundamental requirement of being a disciple of Jesus.

When Jesus commands you and me to deny ourselves, he uses a word that means to disavow, to reject, to abnegate. It is a word that means to refuse to affirm something, to refuse to confess something, or to refuse to identify with someone or something. It means to contradict, to repudiate, to disown. Get the idea? To be a disciple of Jesus, you and I must take our desires and refuse to affirm them. We must take the urge to look at pornography

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Can You Masturbate to the Glory of God? | 1 Corinthians 10:31

by Alan Sharpe February 11, 2022

Can you get alone and pleasure yourself, believing that what you are doing pleases God? The answer is self-evident.

by Alan Sharpe February 11, 2022

“Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”
1 Corinthians 10:31

The great first principle of walking with the Lord is that no act is innately secular or spiritual. You can serve tables in a diner in a high Christian spirit. And you can preach the gospel in a secular spirit. What matters in the Christian life is not the outward act, but the spirit in which you perform the act. A secular act done to the glory of God is spiritual. A religious act done in a secular spirit is secular.

This great first principle of the Christian life governs every activity you do, from the most mundane to the most sublime. It’s what Paul communicates to the church at Corinth, and to believers everywhere, even to where you are living right now, when he says, “Whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” “Whatever” and “all” are all encompassing. They cover everything you do, whether in public or in private.

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Why Masturbation Is a Sin

by Alan Sharpe February 8, 2022

Just because the Bible never mentions masturbation doesn’t mean that pleasuring yourself is allowed. Silence is never permission. You must ask in faith.

by Alan Sharpe February 8, 2022

The Bible doesn’t mention the words masturbation or masturbating. That means pleasuring yourself is OK, right? Not so fast. Just because the Bible doesn’t mention something doesn’t mean it’s allowed. You must dig deeper if you want to discover why masturbation is a sin.

Just consider some other sexual activities that aren’t in the Bible. We’re talking exhibitionism, voyeurism, fetishism, frotteurism, obscene phone calls and sexual sadism. Because the Bible is silent concerning these activities, does that mean they are allowed? Of course, not. Take frotteurism, for instance. Frotteurism is “the act of touching or rubbing one’s genitals up against a non-consenting person in a sexual manner.” The Bible never says anything about frotteurism. But I don’t know any Christians who would argue that frotteurism is OK simply because the Bible doesn’t mention it.

What we’re

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Feeling Horny? There’s a Spouse for That. | 1 Corinthians 7:3

by Alan Sharpe February 8, 2022

You have a marital duty to your wife, and she to you. When you have sexual desires, don’t take matters into your own hands. That’s what your wife is for.

by Alan Sharpe February 8, 2022

Feeling Horny? There's a Spouse for That. 1 Corinthians 7:3

“Let the husband render to his wife the affection due her, and likewise also the wife to her husband.“ 1 Corinthians 7:3 NKJ

One of the mysteries of marriage is that two become one. This is God’s design, one that He instituted back in the Garden of Eden, at the start of human history, with Adam and Eve: “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” Genesis 2:24.

A husband and wife become one in the act of marriage, that is to say, through sexual intercourse. Before their wedding night, they are two individuals. After their wedding night, they are one flesh. Two complete and separate individuals unite to become one in a permanent, unbreakable, life-long union of God’s design. We see the fruit of this unique union in children. A child is a whole and separate individual created by the union of two others. Two create one.

When a

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Masturbation Is Sin Because It’s Not from Faith | Romans 14:23

by Alan Sharpe February 7, 2022

Is masturbation OK for the Christian man simply because the Bible never mentions it? No. Silence is never permission. Or prohibition. You must ask in faith.

by Alan Sharpe February 7, 2022

Masturbation Is Sin Because It's Not from Faith | Romans 14:23

“But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because he does not eat from faith; for whatever is not from faith is sin.” Romans 14:23

The Bible doesn’t mention the words masturbation or masturbating. That means pleasuring yourself is OK, right? Not so fast. Just because the Bible doesn’t mention something doesn’t mean it’s allowed. You must dig deeper if you want to discover why masturbation is a sin.

Just consider some other sexual activities that aren’t in the Bible. We’re talking exhibitionism, voyeurism, fetishism, frotteurism, obscene phone calls and sexual sadism. Because the Bible is silent concerning these activities, does that mean they are allowed? Of course, not. Take frotteurism, for instance. Frotteurism is “the act of touching or rubbing one’s genitals up agai

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Porn is a Heart Problem | Matthew 15:19-20

by Alan Sharpe February 3, 2022

The Bible says pornography and masturbation are heart problems for Christian men. Knowing this truth helps you stay sexually pure today.

by Alan Sharpe February 3, 2022

Porn is a Heart Problem | 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

You can’t be tempted by something you don’t desire. Or, to state the case in the positive, you are tempted only by what you desire. I, for example, have no desire to see anyone dead, so I am not tempted to murder. I don’t long for wealth beyond the dreams of avarice, so I am never tempted to buy Powerball lottery tickets. But I do on occasion desire sexual satisfaction from sinful sources, and so I am tempted to look at porn and to masturbate. I wish this wasn’t so, but it is what it is, as they say. I have a heart problem.

In the Bible, the heart refers to the seat of the affections, desires and passions, as well as of wisdom and understanding. Jesus says the heart, my heart, your heart, is where adultery and

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You Can’t Hide. But You Can Run. | 2 Timothy 2:22

by Alan Sharpe January 28, 2022

You win the battle against pornography with your mind. When tempted by sexual thoughts, don’t fight. Flee.

by Alan Sharpe January 28, 2022

You Can't Hide. But You Can Run. | 2 Timothy 2:22

“Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.” 2 Timothy 2:22

How do you run away from something in your mind? If you are on a cruise and the captain commands you to flee to the lifeboats, you know what to do and where to run. If you are on a hike and your guide commands you to run away from a rattlesnake on the path in front of you, your feet intuitively know what to do. But how do you flee from a thought, or a desire, something like lust? Two ways.

The first way to flee sexual lust and sexual temptation is with prevention. Draw up a list from experience of the people, places and things that excite your sexual lust. I’m talking about the immodest waitresses at that restaurant downtown. The porn websites whose names I won’t mention. Those dodgy apps on your smartphone. Flee youthful lusts by fleeing these people, places and things before you even come into contact with them

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The Good, the Bad, and the Beautiful | 1 Corinthians 7:1-2

by Alan Sharpe January 24, 2022

The remedy for sexual desire in single men and women is marriage. The remedy for sexual desire in married men and women is marriage. Any questions?

by Alan Sharpe January 24, 2022

“Now concerning the things of which you wrote to me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman. Nevertheless, because of sexual immorality, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband.” 1 Corinthians 7:1-2 NKJV

When it comes to sexual immorality, the answer is marriage. Now, what’s your question? This is partly what Paul is saying in his letter to the church at Corinth. They posed a question to him in a letter. And Paul gave his answer to them in a letter that we know as 1 Corinthians.

Their question appears to be about sexual relations for single people, whether that activity is good or bad, permissible or forbidden, in their present circumstances. Paul says that it is good for a single man to not have sexual relations with a woman, assuming he is able to contain his desires. But, if he is unable to contain those desires, he should marry. Marriage is the answer for the single man and the single

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“I lived as if there was none but He and I in the world.” || Brother Lawrence

by Alan Sharpe January 4, 2022

Sometimes I considered myself before Him as a poor criminal at the feet of his judge; at other times I beheld Him in my heart as my FATHER, as my GOD:

by Alan Sharpe January 4, 2022

Having found in many books different methods of going to GOD, and divers practices of the spiritual life, I thought this would serve rather to puzzle me than facilitate what I sought after, which was nothing but how to become wholly GOD’S. This made me resolve to give the all for the all; so after having given myself wholly to GOD, that He might take away my sin, I renounced, for the love of Him, everything that was not He; and I began to live as if there was none but He and I in the world.

Sometimes I considered myself before Him as a poor criminal at the feet of his judge; at other times I beheld Him in my heart as my FATHER, as my GOD: I worshipped Him the oftenest that I could, keeping my mind in His holy Presence, and recalling it as often as I found it wandered from Him. I found no small pain in this exercise, and yet I continued it, notwithstanding all the difficulties that occurred, without troubling or disquieting myself when my mind had wandered involuntarily. I made this my business as much all the day long as at the app

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Adultery in the Heart Involves Two People | Matthew 5:27-28

by Alan Sharpe December 20, 2021

When you watch pornography and lust after a woman, you commit adultery with that woman. Where this adultery takes place doesn’t matter

by Alan Sharpe December 20, 2021

Do you miss the entire point of Jesus’ teaching on adultery in the heart by dwelling on the where of adultery and not on the who? Read the verse again. Spot where you misread it.

“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.”
Matthew 5:27-28

Jesus says, “Whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery WITH HER in his heart.” Where the adultery takes place is immaterial. What is material is with whom the adultery takes place. Adultery, after all, requires two people. You are one of them. The other person is the woman you lust after. When you watch pornography and lust after a woman, you commit adultery with that woman. This is what Jesus is saying. Where this adultery takes place doesn’t matter.

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Your Pornography Problem? You. | Mark 7:20-23

by Alan Sharpe December 14, 2021

Your challenge isn’t primarily adult websites, immodestly dressed women, Netflix or your smartphone. It’s you. You are your porn problem.

by Alan Sharpe December 14, 2021

If you have a problem with the sins of pornography or masturbation, don’t look only to outward solutions to your sin. Your challenge is not primarily adult websites, immodestly dressed women, magazine racks, or your smartphone. Your challenge isn’t them. It’s you. You are your porn problem.

You discover this truth about yourself from Jesus. The religious leaders of His day thought defilement came from without. Jesus set them straight. He told them:

“What comes out of a man, that defiles a man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile a man.”
Mark 7:20-23

Notice the sexual sins: adulteries, fornications (sexual immorality), lewdness. Almost 25% of the sins that Jesus lists are sexual sins. And they h

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What Have You Left Behind? | Genesis 39:12

by Alan Sharpe December 10, 2021

Victory over sexual sin means forsaking your sin by leaving something behind. You know what that something is.

by Alan Sharpe December 10, 2021

If you want to conquer pornography, masturbation or any other sexual sin, expect to leave something behind. A life of sexual purity looks different from one of habitual sexual sin. Just consider the life of Joseph.

After Joseph arrives in Egypt as a slave, he becomes master of the household of Potiphar, the captain of the guard of the pharaoh of Egypt. Potiphar has a wife who notices that Joseph is “handsome in form and appearance” (Gen 39:6). She lusts after Joseph and invites him to have sex with her. Joseph refuses. She persists, day after day, but Joseph consistently refuses her invitations to sin against God. But, one day, she takes things further:

“But it happened about this time, when Joseph went into the house to do his work, and none of the men of the house were inside, that she caught him by his garment, saying, ‘Lie with me.’ But he left his garment in her hand, and fled and ran outside.”
Genesis 39:11-12

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Porn Wants You to Conform | 1 Peter 1:14

by Alan Sharpe December 8, 2021

You are in control of your evil desires. Don’t conform to them. Let them be like the old boot that is now six sizes too small for your foot. You have grown. Evil desires don’t fit you anymore.

by Alan Sharpe December 8, 2021

You have power over sexual lust. You are not addicted to pornography. Or sexual immorality. You can defeat them. But you must understand how sexual lust operates in order to conquer it.

The Apostle Peter gives you the formula in his first letter. He writes:

“As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance.”
1 Peter 1:14 NIV

These evil desires are the evil lusts, evil urges, and evil, passionate longings that you faced before you were saved and that you still face after you are saved. The only difference is in what you do with these evil desires now. As you can see from this text, evil desires want you to conform to them. Evil lusts want you to mold your life around them. That’s why Peter commands you to not conform your life to your evil desires.

Victory in the Christian life comes not from having no evil desires

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Are You Loyal to Lust? | Romans 6:12

by Alan Sharpe November 26, 2021

Sin once had power over you. Now you have power over sin. Lust is something you are allowed to be disloyal to. You are allowed to disobey sexual temptation. So go ahead: disobey.

by Alan Sharpe November 26, 2021

If you struggle with the sin of watching pornography, you may wonder why it has such a grip on you. You likely can’t figure out why you keep giving in to it, going back to it, even when you know that pornography is pleasant for a moment, but afterwards leaves you feeling dirty, ashamed, deceitful and defeated.

You feel this way because you have allowed pornography to become sovereign in your life. You have let it give the orders and call the shots. You have allowed sexual immorality to become king. You discover this when you read the book of Romans. The Apostle Paul tells you that, if you as a believer have died with Christ, been buried with Him, and been raised from the dead with Christ, you are to walk in newness of life. Then Paul says:

“Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.”
Romans 6:12

Before you were saved, sin was sovereign in your life. It reigned over y

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“Our Lord cares for the ‘broken pieces’ of your life.” || Amy Carmichael

by Alan Sharpe November 16, 2021

Jesus will not let even the least of our little broken things be lost.

by Alan Sharpe November 16, 2021

Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, Jesus gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over.
Matthew 14:19-20

Have you ever felt at the end of the day that you had nothing to offer but ‘broken pieces’ of things? In the morning we put our day in the Lord’s hands. Then we began to do His work, but we were not able to do nearly as much as we had hoped. Interruptions came and broke up our plans, and the evening finds us a little disappointed. ‘I hoped to do so much, and I have done nothing worth bringing to Thee’—and that is how we feel.

I have been finding new comfort in the two words, which are used by the four evangelists in telling the end of the story of the feeding of the Five Thousand. They speak of ‘broken pieces’, and the

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At a Hotel or in Your Heart, It’s Still Adultery | Matthew 5:27-28

by Alan Sharpe November 8, 2021

When you lust after a woman with your eyes, when you watch pornography, you commit adultery with a person, not an abstraction. You commit adultery with someone in particular, a woman you can describe in intimate detail. Where this happens is irrelevant.

by Alan Sharpe November 8, 2021

Will you commit adultery today? The thought may shock you, but only because you haven’t thought hard enough about what Jesus teaches about looking at women and lusting after them. Or because you have thought about what Jesus says, but think he means something else.

I am referring, of course, to the teaching that Jesus gives on a hillside in Galilee, a teaching that we know as The Sermon on the Mount. This is what Jesus teaches:

“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.”
Matthew 5:27-28

If you are like many of your brothers in Christ, you think that Jesus is teaching that looking at a woman to lust for her means you commit adultery only in your heart, that you don’t actually commit adultery. You think that look

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Conquer Your Lust by Conquering Your Triggers | Job 31:1

by Alan Sharpe November 7, 2021

The way to win the war against sexual sin is to win the battle with your eyes. And the proven, biblical way to win that battle is to never pull the trigger. Make a covenant with your eyes today. And keep it.

by Alan Sharpe November 7, 2021

On June 28, 1914, a Serbian terrorist shot Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria. The assassination gave hardliners in Austria-Hungary the pretext they needed to declare war against Serbia. Which led Russia to declare war against Austria-Hungary. And Germany to declare war against Russia. And France and Great Britain to declare war on Germany and Austria-Hungary.

The assassination of Archduke Ferdinand started a chain of events that took the lives of 16 million soldiers and civilians. All of the death, destruction and heartache of WW I can be traced back to that pull of a trigger in a side street in Sarajevo, Bosnia.

Are you a Christian man struggling with sexual sin? You will never conquer your sin until you conquer your triggers. After all, sexual sin isn’t an act as much as a process that ends in an act. The act is always preceded by a process, and that process is always preceded by a trigger. That trigger is usually something (or, to be more exact, usually someone) you see.

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Want to Quit Porn? Have You Considered Job? | Job 31:1

by Alan Sharpe November 4, 2021

Getting what you want in life does not deliver you from temptation. And advancing in holiness does not automatically shield you from lust. Job is proof that your struggle against lustful thoughts and sinful images is something you share with men the world over. The only difference is what you do with your lust.

by Alan Sharpe November 4, 2021

Lust is a solitary sin. When you look at pornography, you do so alone. When you act upon your lustful thoughts by pleasuring yourself, you do so in private. The shame and remorse that follow your sin make you feel even more alone, as though there is no one else in the world who struggles with sexual sin the way that you do. But have you considered Job?

Job was a man who lived in the land of Uz around 1520 BC. The book in the Bible named after him tells you that Job was married with 10 children. He was a wealthy man, owning 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, 500 female donkeys, and a very large household of servants. Job was so wealthy that the Scriptures describe him as “the greatest of all the people of the East” (Job 1:3).

Job was also a righteous man. God remarks of him, to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil?” (Job 1:8).

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