Obedience Archives - Make No Provision

He Shall Save | Matthew 1:21

by Alan Sharpe December 20, 2022 Leave a Comment

“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 December 20, 2022 Leave a Comment

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

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

Was this post helpful? Share it now:

Obedience

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

by Alan Sharpe September 25, 2022 Leave a Comment

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

by Alan Sharpe September 25, 2022 Leave a Comment

conflict between two men, life attempt, surreal concept

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

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

Was this post helpful? Share it now:

Obedience

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

by Alan Sharpe July 26, 2022 Leave a Comment

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 July 26, 2022 Leave a Comment

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

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

Was this post helpful? Share it now:

Obedience

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

by Alan Sharpe July 21, 2022 Leave a Comment

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 July 21, 2022 Leave a Comment

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

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

Was this post helpful? Share it now:

Obedience

Eight Lessons Learned After Eight Months Porn Free

by Alan Sharpe July 4, 2022 Leave a Comment

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

by Alan Sharpe July 4, 2022 Leave a Comment

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.

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

Was this post helpful? Share it now:
Read more

Obedience

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

by Alan Sharpe June 24, 2022 Leave a Comment

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

by Alan Sharpe June 24, 2022 Leave a Comment

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

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

Was this post helpful? Share it now:

Obedience

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

by Alan Sharpe June 20, 2022 Leave a Comment

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 June 20, 2022 Leave a Comment

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

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

Was this post helpful? Share it now:

Obedience

Find Your Motive Behind “Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery” | Exodus 20:2

by Alan Sharpe June 13, 2022 Leave a Comment

God has delivered you from your house of sin and bondage. Now he wants you to never go back. And He’s put that in writing.

by Alan Sharpe June 13, 2022 Leave a Comment

I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage . . . You shall not commit adultery.
Exodus 20:2,14

If you want to conquer pornography, you need to get your motivation from the right source. After all, you can find all manner of reasons to quit. You can quit to save your marriage, quit to avoid scandal, quit to avoid jail time. Or you can quit because of who God is and of what He has done for you.

Consider the 10 Commandments, for example. Moses received them directly from the hand of God, live and in person. God gave the commandments to Moses one by one, and then God inscribed them on tablets of stone. But before God handed down His 10 commandments, He prefaced his remarks by reminding Moses of who He is and of what He had done.

<!-- wp:paragraph -

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

Was this post helpful? Share it now:

Obedience

“Great things are accomplished by great sacrifices.” || Anthony Norris Groves

by Alan Sharpe May 8, 2022 Leave a Comment

A life free from sufferings and sacrifices our Lord has not promised, and the Apostles did not enjoy.

by Alan Sharpe May 8, 2022 Leave a Comment

old man raising stairs to reach the city

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth.
Matthew 6:19

That the hearty reception of this principle may be connected, by natural consequence, with many and great difficulties in this life—no one, who knows any thing of human nature, as opposed to the nature of Christ’s kingdom, or the Gospel History, can doubt. In this world’s history, great things are not accomplished but by great sacrifices. A life free from sufferings and sacrifices our Lord has not promised, and the Apostles did not enjoy. Such a portion they did not even expect, but were always prepared to live on the remembrance of the “faithful saying–If we suffer with Him, we shall also reign with Him”. It should therefore be no question of ours whether, in literally fulfilling our Saviour’s command, we shall be subjected to many sufferings and privations, or not. The question is–Is it the command of Him, who loved us too well to enjoin any thing but for our good; and whether in his sovereign arrangement, the embracing of it may not

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

Was this post helpful? Share it now:

Obedience

Eight Lessons I’ve Learned After Six Months Porn Free

by Alan Sharpe May 4, 2022 Leave a Comment

If you are struggling with pornography, if it has a grip on you that you seem unable to shake, be encouraged. I went porn-free for six months. You can, too.

by Alan Sharpe May 4, 2022 Leave a Comment

Eight Lessons I've Learned After Six Months Porn Free

I looked at pornography as a Christian for 30 years. In all that time, I knew that my sin was wicked, and that God hated it. I wanted to quit. I tried to quit, multiple times, and in multiple ways. And I did achieve sexual purity for a season. But I never lasted for long. That all changed when my 30th anniversary as a Christian arrived. I finally realized how ridiculous it all was, me still struggling with a besetting sin after 30 years for crying out loud. So, I got serious, and made some drastic changes in my life to quit porn.

Today marks my six-month anniversary of not looking at pornography and not doing the physical act that usually follows it. I have learned a few lessons on this journey, so here they are.

Sexual Purity is Possible: I can last six months without looking at pornography and not die. I can go six months without touching myself and the
Need a daily kick in the pants to quit porn biblically? Buy the book, or subscribe to my daily kick.

Was this post helpful? Share it now:
Read more

Obedience

Hooked On Porn? Be Afraid. Be Very Afraid. | Psalm 111:10

by Alan Sharpe April 11, 2022 Leave a Comment

From Genesis to Revelation, you discover that people who love the Lord fear the Lord. And those who fear the Lord obey the Lord.

by Alan Sharpe April 11, 2022 Leave a Comment

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; a good understanding have all those who do His commandments. His praise endures forever.”
Psalm 111:10

If you want to quit porn, fear God. If you want wisdom, fear God. If you want to discover why you sin sexually, habitually, fear God. If you want to overcome sexual temptation, fear God. If you want to gain victory over your sexual immorality, fear God. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

One of the problems in the church today (in the church in North America, at least) is that men don’t fear God anymore. There was a time when people would refer to a devout Christian man as “a God-fearing man.” How quaint. Today, we don’t tremble at God’s word. We don’t shake with fear at His judgments. We don’t cower in His presence. And because we don’t fear God, we don’t obey God. And because we don’t obey God, we lack victory over sexual sin.

<!-- /wp

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

Was this post helpful? Share it now:

Obedience

Will the Truth Set You Free? Not Quite. | John 8:31-32

by Alan Sharpe April 5, 2022 Leave a Comment

If you want to be set free from the slavery of pornography and masturbation, by all means seek the truth. But make that the end of your search, not the beginning.

by Alan Sharpe April 5, 2022 Leave a Comment

Will the Truth Set You Free? Not Quite. | John 8:31-32

“Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, ‘If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.’”
John 8:31-32

Some Christian men think victory over sexual immorality comes through knowledge. “If I just read the right books, if I just attend the best recovery group, if I just work the 12 steps or complete the right NoFap Challenge, I will learn what I have to learn about myself and my childhood trauma, and then I will be free,” they think. Some of these misguided brothers even quote Jesus, who said, “The truth shall make you free.”

But this is not all that Jesus said, is it? You can’t expect to attain sexual purity by believing in or acting upon only a portion of what Jesus teaches. A text taken out of context is simply a pretext—a pretext for believing whatever you want. So, notice the context. Jesus is speaking to Jews who believe in Him. These a

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

Was this post helpful? Share it now:

Obedience

Do You Want to be Made Well? | John 5:6

by Alan Sharpe April 1, 2022 Leave a Comment

Where pornography is concerned, I don’t need to understand how Jesus will make me well. I just have to want Him to.

by Alan Sharpe April 1, 2022 Leave a Comment

“When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, ‘Do you want to be made well?’”
John 5:6

I struggled with pornography for 30 years as a Christian man before I finally gave it up. I don’t know why I took so long. I knew that looking at inappropriate images was sin. I knew that lusting at women caused me to commit adultery. But still I struggled to get victory. I was like the man at the Pool of Bethesda, who had an infirmity for 38 years and still hadn’t been cured.

I think my problem was that I couldn’t imagine a life without porn. I had tried for so many years to quit that I had lost perspective on what was even possible. I knew in my heart that pornography was sin. But I also knew in my head that the temptation to view it was strong, that falling to temptation was so easy, and that I had a track record of quitting and then failing. I had resigned myself to probably never gettin

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

Was this post helpful? Share it now:

Obedience

To Quit Porn, First Discover Your Big Why | 1 Kings 18:21

by Alan Sharpe March 22, 2022 Leave a Comment

I waited 30 years to discover a strong enough motivation to quit porn. Please don’t follow my example.

by Alan Sharpe March 22, 2022 Leave a Comment

To Quit Porn, Find Your Big Why | 1 Kings 18:21

“And Elijah came to all the people, and said, ‘How long will you falter between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.’”
1 Kings 18:21

If you want to quit pornography and masturbation, discover your Big Why. Find your reason, your motivation, your incentive for quitting sexual immorality once and for all. Just make sure it’s a big enough reason. Without a solid motivation for quitting, you are likely to return again and again to your sexual sin. I speak from experience.

I looked at pornography for the first time in 1971 and for the last time in the winter of 2021. I know the month and I know the year because 2021 marked my 30th anniversary as a Christian. I was converted in the summer of 1991 after a miraculous series of events that proved the reality of God’s working in my life. That July I repented of my sins, trusted Christ as my Savior, and asked God to forgive me based on the sacrifice, burial and resurrecti

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

Was this post helpful? Share it now:

Obedience

You Aren’t a Porn Addict Who Needs Recovery | 1 Corinthians 15:34

by Alan Sharpe March 11, 2022 Leave a Comment

Watching pornography isn’t an addiction you recover from. Masturbation isn’t a compulsive habit you need treatment for. Both are wicked sins that you are to stop doing. Now. Not eventually.

by Alan Sharpe March 11, 2022 Leave a Comment

You Are Not a Porn Addict in Recovery | 1 Corinthians 15:34

“Awake to righteousness, and do not sin; for some do not have the knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame.”
1 Corinthians 15:34

If you discover that a brother in your congregation has a habit of sneaking out of the house at night and murdering people, should you encourage him to get into a 12-step recovery program so that he can overcome his childhood trauma and gradually wean himself off his bad habit?

What about theft? If you learn that a brother in the Lord has a compulsion to pick pockets on the metro, should you encourage him to attend Celebrate Recovery meetings month after month until he finally gains victory over his addiction?

What about lying? If your Christian colleague repeatedly lies to his boss, lies to you and lies to your bank, should you invite him to join Christian Liars Anonymous and to take their 90-Day Truth Detox as many times as needed until he eventually sto

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

Was this post helpful? Share it now:

Obedience

Are You Living in BC or AD? | 1 Peter 4:3

by Alan Sharpe March 7, 2022 Leave a Comment

You have engaged in enough unrestrained sexual immorality and shameless use of pornography. Those are things that the lost like to do. Time’s up for you.

by Alan Sharpe March 7, 2022 Leave a Comment

“For we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles—when we walked in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries.”
1 Peter 4:3

God has put a time limit on your use of pornography and masturbation. If you are still watching porn and pleasuring yourself after all these years, you should know that you are well into overtime. The game could end any minute now. You are outstaying your welcome, and trying to outlast God’s patience.

Peter looked at his life as being divided into two periods: life before Christ, and life after Christ. Pre-conversion and post-conversion. Life in the dark, and life in the light. His time before Christ was the period of his life when he did what lost Gentiles desire to do. He walked in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries. But then He met Christ. Or, rather, Christ met him. Peter’s life was differ

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

Was this post helpful? Share it now:

Obedience

To Conquer Porn, Change Your Mind | 1 Peter 4:1-2

by Alan Sharpe March 4, 2022 Leave a Comment

To arm yourself with the mind of Christ means to be ready to suffer for Him. But there is an awesome payoff.

by Alan Sharpe March 4, 2022 Leave a Comment

To Conquer Porn, Change Your Mind | 1 Peter 4:1-2

“Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.”
1 Peter 4:1-2

Your primary weapon in your war against sexual sin isn’t filtering software, an accountability partner, a 12-step recovery program, an online forum or a therapist. Your primary weapon is your mind, a mind conformed to the mind of Christ. When you think as Christ thought during His earthly ministry, you stop sinning.

You are to arm yourself with the mind of Christ. That is, you and I are to view sin the way Christ viewed sin. We are to respond to temptation the way Christ responded to it. Christ was tempted in all points as we are, yet He never sinned (Hebrews 4:15). When we arm ourselves with the mind of Christ, we do the same.

<!-- wp:paragraph

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

Was this post helpful? Share it now:

Obedience

“All God’s giants have been weak men.” || Hudson Taylor

by Alan Sharpe February 25, 2022 Leave a Comment

All God’s giants have been weak men who did great things for God because they reckoned on His being with them.

by Alan Sharpe February 25, 2022 Leave a Comment

faithful man praying god diving in the water

Hudson Taylor, founder of the China Inland Mission, once received a compliment from a friend on the impact of the mission. Taylor responded: “It seemed to me that God looked over the whole world to find a man who was weak enough to do His work, and when He at last found me, He said, ‘He is weak enough—he’ll do.’ All God’s giants have been weak men who did great things for God because they reckoned on His being with them.”

Hudson Taylor.

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

Was this post helpful? Share it now:

Obedience

Can’t Masturbate with a Clear Conscience? Praise the Lord. | Romans 14:23

by Alan Sharpe February 10, 2022 Leave a Comment

You can’t masturbate with a clear conscience because you can’t masturbate in faith. Since you doubt, don’t.

by Alan Sharpe February 10, 2022 Leave a Comment

Can't Masturbate with a Clear Conscience? Thank God. | 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

Around 55,000 Christians go online every month and search to discover if masturbation is a sin. They boot up Google and type: “is masturbation a sin” (15,589 searches), “is masturbating a sin” (6,544 searches), “is masturbation a sin according to the bible” (6,494 searches), “what does the bible say about masturbation” (4,774 searches), “is jerking off a sin” (2,400 searches), “is touching yourself a sin” (1,90

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

Was this post helpful? Share it now:

Obedience

In Your War with Lust, Never Carry a White Flag | 1 Peter 2:11

by Alan Sharpe January 31, 2022 Leave a Comment

If your fleshly lusts war against your soul, then that means you are in a battle. And your only job in this battle is to never, ever, surrender.

by Alan Sharpe January 31, 2022 Leave a Comment

In Your War with Lust, Never Carry a White Flag | 1 Peter 2:11

“Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul.” 1 Peter 2:11

If your fleshly lusts war against your soul, as Peter says they do, then that means you are in a battle. And if you are in a battle, then that means you have an enemy. But your enemy isn’t without. It’s within.

In your war against pornography and masturbation, you are at war with yourself, with your fleshly lusts. That is, you are engaged in a daily conflict with inordinate bodily, animal, unregenerate desires. These lusts come in the form of sexual fantasies, sexual temptations, sexual urges. They attack you when you are watching pornography, when you are lying in bed, even when you are sitting in church.

Your job as a soldier in this war is to never surrender to these fleshly lusts. You are commanded to abstain from them. You are to keep away from them as an alcoholic sta

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

Was this post helpful? Share it now:

Obedience

“Will you make Him a straight path?” || Catherine Booth

by Alan Sharpe January 28, 2022 Leave a Comment

Will you trample under foot that accursed thing which has so long kept the fulness of the blessing from you? Will you give up arguing about it and trying to make out that it is not a stumbling-block, when you know it is?

by Alan Sharpe January 28, 2022 Leave a Comment

I want you reasonably and calmly to see that this holiness is a real, definite blessing; that it is a level on to which the great mass of the professing Christians of this generation have not come, or even scarcely looked up. It is a high level, but it is a level on to which every one of you can come, if you will. You have heard enough about it. You are convinced you may have it. Will you have it? The Lord is sitting there; He is looking at you, and He is saying, “What is all this stir about? What is all this talk, this singing, and this praying about? Here I am. What do you want Me to do? I am ready to do it.”

And you say, “Lord, I want Thee to cleanse my heart from sin, and to fill me with the Holy Ghost, and to enable me to be whole-hearted and thorough in Thy service, and to go and win souls for Thee.” “Very well,” the Lord says, “I am ready to come into the temple, if you will clear out the rubbish. Are you willing for Me to come in? I am waiting to come in as a Refiner; but you must make a straight way for my feet. You must pick out the stones, and throw out th

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

Was this post helpful? Share it now:

Obedience

I Ditched My Smartphone to Conquer Porn | Matthew 5:27-30

by Alan Sharpe January 13, 2022 Leave a Comment

Given the choice between gouging out my right eye or ditching my smartphone to quit porn, I went with the phone. Obedience comes at a cost. But I’m happy to pay.

by Alan Sharpe January 13, 2022 Leave a Comment

In November 2021, I finally gave up trying to control my compulsive habit of using my smartphone to view pornography. I replaced my Samsung S10 smartphone with a Jethro SC490 feature phone, a so-called “dumbphone” designed for seniors. The transition has been difficult, painful and inconvenient, but I have never been happier. Here’s why and how I made the move, and why I’m never going back.

Why I gave up my smartphone

I have been a Christian since the summer of 1991. I was converted at the age of 31. One of the defining moments of my conversion was the deliverance I received from my alcoholism. God took away my desire to drink, a Class A Miracle that I rank right up there with Moses parting the Red Sea. I have not touched a drop of alcohol since that day in June of 1991 when God saved me from the bottle without me even asking.

Today, I know that having alcohol in my home is a foolish idea. I

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

Was this post helpful? Share it now:

Obedience

No Condemnation. But No More Sexual Sin, Either. | John 8:1-11

by Alan Sharpe January 12, 2022 Leave a Comment

Jesus demands that you confess your sexual sin and then forsake it. “No condemnation” is always followed by “sin no more.”

by Alan Sharpe January 12, 2022 Leave a Comment

If you listen to enough sermons about the woman caught in adultery and her encounter with Jesus, you might think that the only lesson to be learned is that Jesus doesn’t condemn sinners. But you would be only partly right. Which means, of course, that you would also be partly mistaken.

You read about the encounter in John’s gospel, chapter eight. The scribes and Pharisees bring to Jesus a woman taken in adultery, caught in the very act. They say the woman should be stoned to death. Jesus stoops down and writes something on the ground. He then stands, and says to her accusers, “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her” (John 8:7). Those that hear His words are convicted by their conscience, and file out. They leave the woman alone with Jesus. Jesus then stands up and asks the woman, “Where are your accusers? Has no one condemned you?” She replies, “No one, Lord.” And then Jesus replies with those immortal lines, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more” (John 8:11).

T

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

Was this post helpful? Share it now:

Obedience

“Obedience means death to your fondest hopes.” || Anthony Groves

by Alan Sharpe December 30, 2021 Leave a Comment

When Abraham was called to quit his kindred and country and to put his trust under the shadow of the Almighty’s wing, his going constitutes that peculiar feature in his obedience,

by Alan Sharpe December 30, 2021 Leave a Comment

When Abraham was called to quit his kindred and country and to put his trust under the shadow of the Almighty’s wing, his going—notwithstanding that he knew not whither, and that he was perfectly unacquainted in what manner or to what extent he was to be provided for—constitutes that peculiar feature in his obedience, which all Christians feel and appreciate, and the spirit of which they profess to desire to have animating their own.

The same is also observable in the sacrifice of his son. Compliance in this case seems the death-blow to his fondest hopes; and to trust that, notwithstanding his compliance, the promises which God had made to him would be fulfilled, was a confidence resting on somewhat beyond the bounds of all human probability. Yet he does not hesitate to obey (and the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews tells us why), because he believed that God was able to raise his son up from the dead. Was this then tempting God? What says his Word? “The Angel of the Lord called unto Abraham out of Heaven the second time, and said, ‘By myself have I sworn, sa

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

Was this post helpful? Share it now:

Obedience

Sexual Immorality? There’s a Law for That. | Acts 15:28-29

by Alan Sharpe December 17, 2021 Leave a Comment

Of the 613 commandments in the Old Testament scriptures, sexual immorality made it into the New Testament. Enough said?

by Alan Sharpe December 17, 2021 Leave a Comment

If you are a Christian, then you are no longer under law, but under grace, right? The ceremonial laws of the Old Testament do not apply to you, do they? If you are a Gentile believer, then you don’t have to keep the law to be saved, do you?

Well, almost.

The early church faced these doubts. Some believers who had come to Christ from Judaism were going about telling Gentiles that they had to be circumcised to be saved. They were applying an Old Testament law to New Testament believers. This was causing great confusion and anxiety in the early church. So, a group of apostles and elders in the church came together to settle the matter. This is what they decreed:

“For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things: that you abstain from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do wel
Need a daily kick in the pants to quit porn biblically? Buy the book, or subscribe to my daily kick.

Was this post helpful? Share it now:
Read more

Obedience

You Are Not a Porn Addict. You’re a Volunteer. | Romans 6:13

by Alan Sharpe November 18, 2021 Leave a Comment

You are not addicted to porn or masturbation. You offer yourself willingly to these things. Victory comes through obedience to Scripture and faith in Christ, not through therapy or a 12-step recovery program.

by Alan Sharpe November 18, 2021 Leave a Comment

If you are guilty of habitual sexual sin, you may call yourself an addict. You consider yourself powerless over your sex addiction, as a drug addict is powerless over heroin and an alcoholic is powerless over Jack Daniels. Pornography is your “drug of choice.” You require therapy and a 12-step recovery program. Quitting pornography means “going clean,” or “getting sober.” Looking at pornography and masturbating isn’t sin. It’s just a relapse.

But when you read the New Testament, you never find sexual sin described as a narcotic, or lusting after women called an addiction. Instead, the writers of the New Testament describe sexual immorality as voluntary, something you do with your free will. Something you can conquer through obedience and faith. Consider the letter to the Romans, chapter six, in which Paul writes:

“Do not go on presenting the parts of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those who are alive

“Do not go on presenting the parts of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those who are alive
Need a daily kick in the pants to quit porn biblically? Buy the book, or subscribe to my daily kick.

Was this post helpful? Share it now:
Read more

Obedience

Don’t Expect Grace to Cover Your Habitual Sexual Sin | Romans 6:1-2

by Alan Sharpe November 16, 2021 Leave a Comment

Do you habitually watch porn because you believe your account has been paid in advance, and that you can now have whatever you want in the store without paying? Paul has some bad news for you.

by Alan Sharpe November 16, 2021 Leave a Comment

Do you continue to watch pornography because you believe in cheap grace? Do you think, as Dietrich Bonhoeffer puts it, that the essence of God’s grace is that your account has been paid in advance, and that you can now have whatever you want in the store without paying? Do you believe that, because the cost of God’s grace is infinite, the possibilities for you to use it and spend it are equally infinite?

In other words, do you believe that your sins of sexual immorality

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

Was this post helpful? Share it now:

Obedience

Heaven with a Flip Phone or Hell with a Smartphone. Your Choice. | Mark 9:47-48

by Alan Sharpe November 15, 2021 Leave a Comment

If your smartphone causes you to sin, why have you not plucked it out of your life? Why have you not replaced it with a dumb phone, a feature phone or a retro flip phone that cannot access the internet? Why are you not obeying Jesus?

by Alan Sharpe November 15, 2021 Leave a Comment

Jesus teaches that avoiding sins that start with your eyes requires you to take drastic and permanent measures. If you look at women to lust after them, for example, you commit adultery. Jesus says the way to prevent this sin is to tackle it at the source—your eyes:

“And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, rather than having two eyes, to be cast into hell fire—where “Their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.”
Mark 9:47-48

Jesus is not saying that you should literally pluck out your eye. He is telling you that you must remove from your life anything that causes you to sin. For example, if you are old school and still have so-called adult magazines kicking around your garage, and if those magazines cause you to sin (their primary purpose, after all), get rid of the magazines. If you can’t watch soaps, sitcoms and movies wit

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

Was this post helpful? Share it now:

Obedience

Quitting Free Porn Will Cost You Plenty if You Quit Biblically | Matthew 5:27-29

by Alan Sharpe November 13, 2021 Leave a Comment

The sure way to quit watching pornography is to quit biblically, starting with obedience to the explicit commands of Jesus. Just prepare yourself for the consequences. Your obedience will cost you plenty.

by Alan Sharpe November 13, 2021 Leave a Comment

The irony of pornography is that you can watch it for free but you have to pay dearly in order to stop watching. Getting out of the grip of pornography takes effort, and comes at a price that many Christian men seem unwilling to pay. I present as Exhibit A the clear command of Jesus on the subject of lusting at women with your eyes. Jesus says:

“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

If you want to be free from your bondage to pornography, you must pluck out your right eye and cast it from you. In other words, you must rid yourself of anything valuable and

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

Was this post helpful? Share it now:

Obedience

Forsake Your Porn Habit or be Cast Into Hell. Period. | Matthew 5:27-29

by Alan Sharpe November 11, 2021 Leave a Comment

If you refuse to forsake pornography while you have the chance, you will spend eternity in hell. This is not open to debate or misunderstanding. Jesus is clear on the subject.

by Alan Sharpe November 11, 2021 Leave a Comment

Illustration of man vanishing in a dark black smoke, surreal emotional anger concept

Do you feel shame and regret after watching pornography? Good. Those feelings prove you still have a working conscience. God uses your conscience to warn you that watching pornography is sin. And to warn you that this sin has consequences in the life to come if you won’t repent.

If you refuse to forsake porn while you have the chance, you will spend eternity in hell. This isn’t in doubt. This isn’t open to debate. Just read the Gospel of Matthew, chapter five, to find your proof. Here you find Jesus’ teaching on this subject:

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

Was this post helpful? Share it now:
Read more