THE FATAL DISTRACTION OF LUST!

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."

Recently I read a very sad story in book… A leading member of an evangelical church was arrested… According to the judicial record, he allegedly offered a house he owned to be used for prostitution and was also involved in an invitation-only party for customers who were visiting the prostitutes…

Reading this shocking story, my first question was, “How does a believer (or anyone for that matter), get to this point in his life?” A person does not move in a day or even a few weeks from walking with the Lord in a close and personal relationship to participating in a prostitution ring…How does this happen?

A careful reading of the account revealed what I believe to be the starting point to such irregular activities… This disobedient believer was viewing pornographic material online…

As I read the interview of this man’s story, he said, “I didn’t realize how fatal, viewing this pornography really was, after all, the world has a lot of, seeming worst problems…There is famine, disease and war…Why worry about a little lust…”

He was caught in a trap set by Satan…Satan is in charge of the entire pornographic industry…Is it not his job to deceive each of us…? And guess what…he is good at what he does…after all he is the father of lies…and he has all the patience in the world… Some believe, (Including some Christians) that indulging in such conduct is normal, acceptable, and natural, even for a believer... However, nothing could be further from the truth...

The truth is, lust is a big business in our world…Did you know that the swimsuit edition of Sports Illustrated out-sells all the others every year? The Victoria’s Secret fashion show always grabs national new…Television is filled with programs which, appeal to the temptation of lust…IT’S EVERYWHERE…

As I researched material about his topic the statistics were very stunning…Internet pornography is big business today with over 1 million websites in action…Most of the people who succumb to the temptation of lust are men but not limited to just men…Statistics are that 1 of every 6 woman struggles with an addiction to pornography…

74% of all revenue collected online comes from porn sites which is almost $1.2 billion a year…

Many people believe there are no victims with pornography, but as increasing body of evidence disagrees… Here are some of the problems that result from porn…

1. It causes men to view women as mere sex objects…
2. It lowers moral values and lead to prostitution, adultery and other problems…
3. Pornography isolates sexual fulfillment from a caring relationship with another human being, and makes it essentially selfish…
4. It creates unrealistic expectations of sex and sexual practices…
5. It has been linked to crimes of rape, incest and sexual abuse of children…

The list could go on and on…

Illus…Last year while preaching at a State Park, I met a very nice young man who shared with me his story about pornography…He had been married and had a family…a nice home, a great job…It seemed that he had it all going in the right direction in his life and marriage…He and his wife both attended and worked in the church of their choice…He said their children we doing well in school etc…but then, one day while he was surfing the internet, he stumbled onto a porn site…(Very easy to do, because it is everywhere)…

He said at first he tried not to look, but the images of what had gone into his mind, kept coming up in his thoughts…so late at night he would go to his computer and search out the porn sites…

In a very short time he was addicted to the lust of the eyes and the lust of the flesh that had come from the lust in the world…

He started looking at his wife different…He said at first he was extra excited when dealing with his wife in a sexual manner, but after a while he just lost interest in her because she did not do the things that the women were doing on the porn sites…and she didn’t look like those sexy women…He said, in time, his wife started to look appalling to him…

Anyway, to make the story shorter, in due time, he lost everything that was so important to him…(Satan had deceived him)…He lost his wife, and this proves that the wife is affected by the actions of the husband and vise versa…

He had lost interested in her, and therefore she seeks attention from another man, and she is caught in an affair with a man from her church…In the process of time, they are divorced, and the whole family is destroyed…The children are devastated and start getting into trouble, one quits school…The man looses his job…They loose their home…when everything comes to the surface, there family name is tarnished forever…The church they had attended starts to break up…on and on, he tells me of the destruction that had come into his life because he indulged himself with, “The Fatal Attraction of Lust…”

The story goes on…

We can see how Satan plants his seeds of destruction into our minds…He wants to destroy our homes, our children, our marriages and our churches…He wants us to serve him and when we do fall into his traps, we become an agent of destruction working for Satan…this should not be…

It’s almost like there’s no way to get away from it…The power of lust and seduction is real…Every day, the Evil one sets bait in front of us…We’re “trophy fish,” that the enemy is hoping to catch…

APPLICATION: So, how are we supposed to deal with all this stuff anyway? How do we resist the pressure? What do we do about it? I’m convinced we have to develop a plan of attack…If we don’t have a plan, it’s just a matter of time before we bite the hook set by the Evil one…

According to God’s Word, this kind of behavior is abnormal and damning…

Jesus said, “I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

You might be saying to yourself, “But what should I do? I’ve tried to quit these activities but I can’t seem to get it out of my head!”
To get something destructive out of your head, you must fill your head with something productive and holy...

Let me suggest some steps that will help you bring your sinful desires undercontrol…

1. Get Right…“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9

You need to get your heart right with God before you take any other steps… You need to go to your knees and confess your sin -- all of it… Do not beat around the bush or try to dress it up with pretty language… Just call it what it is and ask for God’s forgiveness... Then make up your mind that you are going to do whatever it takes to prevent it from happening again…

2. Get Away… “Flee also youthful lusts.” 2 Timothy 2:22

In other words, you must separate yourself from anything that makes it easy for you to abandon your commitment to purity! Perhaps you will need to get away from certain people, certain places, and certain pursuits that lure you away from your commitment to obedience…The young man in the illustration, had to get away from computers…whatever it is that is causing you to sin, you must get away from it…Even run from it if necessary…

3. Get Help…“Where there is no counsel, the people fall; but in the multitude of counselors there is safety.” Proverbs 11:14

Turn to an older and more spiritually mature church leader and let them help you… Find someone with whom you can establish accountability…Find someone to talk to that you trust…

Accountability is very important…Proverbs 27:17 says, “As iron sharpens iron, so a man’s heart reflects the man…”

Find a small group that is grounded in God’s Word…Get help from each other… Seek out a Christian counselor and indulge in the help that they offer…

You have to have someone in your life that you know very well with whom you can share your temptation…I believe this can be the single most healing step you can take today…Men and women both need to know that, “The lure of lust does not go away…”

It doesn’t go away when you get married…It doesn’t go away when you become a pastor…It doesn’t to away when you become a Bible teacher…It doesn’t go away when you have children…It’s relentless…and one of the ways to deal with this problem is to make yourself accountable…

4. Get Rest…1st Peter 5:8 Keep your mind clear, and be alert. Your adversary (opponent) the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion as he looks for someone to devour…

I remember hearing this verse when I was a child, and the verse that stuck out was the end of verse 8: Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour… It stuck out in my mind, I think, because you can just picture it, can’t you? It is easy to picture the devil as a prowling, hunting, devouring lion—something to be aware of—something to fear… and guess what? He is after you…!

Peter definitely uses powerful picture imagery here… So powerful that we should all take notice and become watchful for the devil and his schemes in our lives...

But, who will the lion attack first…He will seek out the weak, tired, and often new born sheep…He will seek out and destroy someone who does not have a clear mind, someone who is not staying alert…

When we get too tired, doing whatever it is that we do, it’s then we become easy prey for the attacking lion…Often we get tired and still keep trying to go forward in our daily activities…

So we need plenty of rest…don’t stay up to late at night…don’t over work yourself…get plenty of rest so your mind will be as clear as possible…and you will be able to fight off the lust that Satan puts in your path…

Somebody might say, “Man, I can’t get rest like that, I got work to do…” We all have work to do, but if we get so worn out that we loose our sense of direction, then, chances are, we will lose sight of the reality that the enemy seeks to destroy and kill all that we love and care for…

5. Get Quiet…Psalm 46:10, “Be still and know that I am God…” Not only do we need rest, but we need to set aside time to just be still…And know that God is there…We should find time just to sit somewhere and be still and listen to what ever it is that God wants to say to us…We are almost, always to busy…Busy means, being under Satan’s yoke…

6. Get Into God’s Word… 2 Timothy 3:16, All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness…

Psalms 12:6, The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.

Does the idea of a guilt-free, shame-free, deception-free life sound nice? Would you like to live every day without the fear of being exposed and ruined? Would you like to be able to give your spouse a kiss that is not also a lie? Would you like to go to church next Sunday without feeling like a hypocrite? Get into God’s Word…

All Scripture is inspired by God Himself…The words of the LORD are pure words…and He has given them to help us learn to get through the struggles of this life…

God’s Word provides guidance…God’s Word, if we read and do what it says, will help correct us, and keep us from making the same mistakes over and over again…God’s Word will instruct us in the proper way to go…

7. Get Real, Magnify The Consequence! James 1:15, Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin, and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death…

There’s one thing I’ve noticed about “The Fatal Distraction of Lust…” When we get distracted we seem to get injected with the spirit of forgetfulness…We forget God…We forget He’s there… We forget His presence…We just think about the temptation…

When James says, “When sin is full grown, it gives birth to death…” He’s not just talking about physical death, He’s also and mostly talking about spiritual death…and emotional death, and relational death…

There are consequences when we step over God’s boundary lines…

We need to go forward in life in whatever we do and magnify the consequence of our sins…Remember the young man in the story at the beginning of this message…He lost it all and as far as I know, he has not recovered all that he lost…

We need to be real with ourselves…if we are not careful, we also could lose the things that are really important to us…Often when indulging in the lust of the flesh, we give up the greatest for the least…

Thanks… and remember, Get Real, you and I have been given the greatest power in the world…The power to choose…So Choose the life that is guided by the Hand and Word of God…

He will not lead you astray…

Rev. Robert N. Graves, Sr. Fisherman for Christ