Sexual Temptations
NEGATIVE Temptations are a very real problem in today's world. By negative temptation I mean things that are harmful to your life and body. I'm not talking food temptings, that's a whole other ball of wax, I'm talking The sins of flesh like adultery, sexual sinning, the more aggressive natures of sin.
While over eating isn't good for you, and can cause you harm in the long run and breaking your diet by scarfing a cookie may seem horrific, it's not going to hinder your salvation...I hope. We'll tackle eating problems in another post at some point. I have opinions on that too!
Lets start with the biggen ADULTERY...
It's one of our Commandments: THOU SHALT NOT COMMIT ADULTERY. But why? Weren't there a ton of multi partner unions in the bible? Yep...in the old testament there was mention of concubines yet adultery was punishable by DEATH. There is a distinction made between a concubine and committing adultery. It all depended on the status of the women in that time and is also under the Old Testament Law.
PRAISE THE LORD FOR GRACE! And a new covenant!!!
There are no recorded concubines in the New Testament. Wikipedia has a good article on the custom of Concubinage and I will take this quote: "There are no concubines in the New Testament. St Paul emphasizes that church leaders should be in monogamous marriages,that believers should not have sexual relationships outside marriage and that unmarried believers should be celibate.Marriage is to reflect the exclusive relationship between the husband (Christ) and wife (his church),described as a "mystery"."
Marriage is scared. Lets get that straight. It is the ONLY covenant that was instituted and has existed since before the fall of man. It was instituted in perfection between 3 people: God, man & woman. And that is how it should remain. Even in this "modern" world.
Friends, just because mankind twists the laws of the land, does not mean that God will change His mind on what He has spoken. And just because we stand under the New Covenant of Grace, does not give us license to sin, EVER.
I was asked a question from a friend who is not a believer if I was given the chance, would I ever cheat on my husband. That is a legitimate question in today's world. I gave my answer time to form and told her:
No, I would not. Even if the man in question was a young Yul Brynner, I would not. And not because I love my husband, and not because I have a family and not because of my reputation. I would not and will not cheat on my husband because I fear God. Now, I'm not scared skittle-less of God, I don't think that He would strike me dead because there are plenty of Christian adulterers all over the world and they are still living. I fear God in Love. I truly love my God, and I want to please Him in all I do. I want more than anything else to be "Holy, Blameless, without spot or wrinkle" when I am presented before my God as His bride on that Great Day. I am SAVED after all and frankly I have no excuse to cheat on my husband. Being saved is a LIFE CHANGER in my mind. It flips the rules of engagement on it's head. I am not subject to "well everyone else does it". I'm not everyone else and I take my vows before God very seriously.
Now if you are on the fence for this particular issue and are thinking, well my spouse cheated on me therefore I have the "RIGHT" to get even, I want to urge you to GIVE YOUR BRAINS A SHAKE. You do not have the right to sin AT ANY TIME! Man...how many times have any number of us heard from our parents, "If little Susie jumped off a bridge would you follow her?" That's the same principle. When is tit for tat ever a good idea. That only cause more harm to any situation.
I counseled a young couple once upon a time before they were married and the young man who I would have loved to slap that taste clean out of his mouth said, "Well I don't know what the future holds, I am a man, so I might just do it, because it's what men do." I tell you what...yeah, the hairs on my head stood straight up and my skin literally crawled...I am surprised the look on my face didn't kill him. I asked him if he honestly thought that that was a valid point in his up coming marriage. He did. He was raised in the church folks. This is the next generation we are producing. I know...keep shaking your head.
Men--if there are any of you guys reading, this is the example that is being left for the up coming generation. Who's shoulders do you think this issue should fall on? Yes friends, OURS. The 30 and over crowd. This is what we are showing our children what is "good and acceptable". This is one huge distorted dust bunny that the church has been sweeping under the carpet for years. We do not speak out against it, because we might hurt someones feelings...TO FREAKING BAD FOR THEM!!! It's not about them any more it's about Jesus Christ and what he's done that we ought to live holy and blameless!!! Sexual sins have become ACCEPTABLE in today's church. WHY??? Because we are turning away from WHAT GOD SAID to What man feels!
How many of you are familiar with the marriage counselor Mark Gungor? I love this guy! He's blunt, brutally honest and straight to the point. He's pretty much the most on the ball man who speaks on these topics ever, and doesn't giggle his way through a question. (His link to his webshow is provided below.) I happen to agree very much with what he has to say on the issues of sexual sins in the Christian world.
Anyways, Mark Gungor has a term he uses MMOG which stands for "Masturbating man of God". We can throw a "W" in there for women too. See, sexual sin begins small and innocent. I bet that ever person alive has at some point or another dealt with this particular issue which is the beginning note lust of the flesh.
Now the bible is pretty much silent on this subject and there are both views for and against, I stand on the against side now. For years I wondered and asked but never got a clear answer until I decided that God's way is the right way and God's way is putting down the desires of the flesh in favour of lifting up the desires of God.
See Lust starts at a young age now. We live in a world of sex. I know young boys as young as 7 & 8 who talk about sex and look at pornographic images of women all the time! It's not right! Sex has been taken out of it's natural beauty and twisted to the lust we see in this world! It's been distorted beyond reason!
Here's the point...
In Lev 11:44-45 God said very clearly, "Be ye holy for I am Holy."
In 1 Peter 1:13-21- again we are being called to live holy lives. To move away from the desires of our flesh and focus on God.
In 1 Peter 1:13-21- again we are being called to live holy lives. To move away from the desires of our flesh and focus on God.
Verse 15 says: But because the God who called you is holy you must be holy in EVERY aspect of your life.
Masturbating falls under this, adultery falls under this, sex out side of marriage falls under this.
Daily, we are told to "crucify our flesh and our corrupt natures along with its passion and desires".(Gal 5:24). Our flesh wants it's way ALL the time no matter what the cost. Our flesh tries to dictate what it wants to do to our Spirit! Moment by moment we are to "take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.'' (2 Cor10:5)
The question that remains is what is Who are you going to serve? Is a fling with some person who is not your spouse because your physical needs aren't being met at home worth it? Is giving in to your flesh worth it? Or do you think it's time to start answering God's call to Holiness? What is your motive? What is pushing you? How do you reconcile your decision verses knowing the Word of God.
Is Jesus Christ and His Holy Word, your ultimate authority in your life?
Eph 5:1 tells us to be imitators of
God, not imitators of this world. Consider this really hard, what does this world have to offer you? See
Gods call is for everyone! The opposite of ANY sin,no matter what it is, is answering God's
call to Holiness!
When you put these temporal things behind you and
focus on God and what He desires for you, an sexual fling pales greatly in
comparison to the true satisfaction that can be ONLY found in Jesus. Sex is
great, in the context of marriage, but Jesus is greater still! So again,
which master are you going to serve with your body? Your flesh or Jesus
as a living sacrifice holy and set apart for Him? Keep in mind that ALL sexual expression outside the bonds of marriage is against biblical teachings.
Temptations are only in the flesh!
Jessie Duplantis hit this one right out of the park, when he was talking about Jesus being tempted by the devil in the wilderness, he said and I quote "The devil is unscrupulous. The boy never fights fair. Notice that he waited until Jesus was weak with hunger to start tempting Him with food. What does that reveal to you? Temptation number one reveals that Satan works in the realm of the FLESH. Where are you weak? Never forget that the devil never attacks you where you are strong. He always chooses the weak spot. His aim is to tempt you with the very things he thinks you will fall for --and it will always be in the realm of the flesh. But he is easily confused and if we resist him, he will get out of town. Jesus proved that!"
(the complete article is linked below)
Notice what was said here...Satan works IN THE FLESH. He can only tempt you in your flesh. In your desires. And the bible said that these desires ARE KNOWN to us, they are common to us. So a sexual sin is something that is common.
1 Corinthians 10:13
There hath no temptation
taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will
not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the
temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
The devil can only tempt you with things that interest you. Things that will attract you and are known to you. See, when you open yourself up to say pornography, that becomes an addiction to you. Studies have shown that it becomes an actual physical addiction like being a habitual drug user. So when you open this little door into your life as a Christian man or woman (yes women look at porn...*surprise*) then you've given the devil free reign, he's not only going to step in, he's going to bloody well dance in!
A while back I heard the sad story of a famous preacher who "fell from grace". The man was married with a family and one day while at the corner store he saw a porn mag on the shelf. He let his gaze linger there for a while before he went about his way. (A sin seed was sown) Eventually, the looking at the cover turned to flipping through the pages at the store, (the seed took root) to buying one, (the seed sprouted) to bringing it home, to masturbating to it, to ignoring his wife, and progress to adultery. Eventually, he was found out, disgraced, lost his pulpit and stepped down. His marriage broken, his life ruined and all because he put his Shield down for a brief look at a porn mag.
James 1:15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
See, sin looks so cute, so innocent and lies like a cheap rug. It tells you, no one gets hurt, it's all about you, you have a right, it feels good, you deserve it, blah blah blah blah...but the reality is this,sin is sin is sin. No big ones, no small ones. Sin is SIN and sin produces DEATH as an end result. Not necessarily a physical death but it destroys many things like lives and marriages.
When you decided to have an affair you are now putting your flesh above God. You are in essence saying that your gentiles rule you, and you don't care that God has specifically said "Thou Shalt not". See the bible speaks about the sin of adultery more than 30x and it's never painted right. That's our sick,sick,sick world.
Friends, as I keep saying, when are we going to put God first and our desires dead last? You know it is actually possible to live weeks on end without sinning. I know it's true, because I've tried and succeeded. Sinning is a choice! We sin because we want too. We do wrong because we want too. We put ourselves first and God last because we want too. These are choices that we make on our own with no help.
God is getting fed up with us people. He's not going to put up with our nonsense forever and if we continue on in the ways we are going, you best believe that you will get your comeuppance tout de suite!
How much longer, oh claimed follower of Jesus, will you mock Him? Will you trample on His Holy Word, will you willfully disobey His commands to live for your flesh? How much more do you think you will get away with? Do you not know that the LORD God sees everything? Do you not know that there is nothing hidden that He does not see or know?! HE HAS GIVEN US A WAY OUT!!! Holiness! HOLINESS is what He wants from us! He wants a chosen, separate people who are willing to step away from the rudiments of this world, away from the lies and deception that the world spews, those who are willing to follow at a high cost. You will lose your friends, you may lose your family, but you will never lose Jesus Christ, the author and finisher of your faith!
You do not have the right as a follower of Jesus Christ to sleep around! You do not have the right to dishonour your vows and your marriage bed! You are playing with fire and you will get burned!
He said to die to your old self, not drag that sorry thing around with you! You are a Royal priesthood, a holy nation! People chosen to follow Him! These are not silly rules! These Words are LIFE to the Soul!
If you are in a adulterous affair, even if it's an online affair, it's time to unplug and move back to your spouse. You have been unfaithful and are bring a curse on you and your house! Repent! Turn away from your sins! Be ye holy for I am Holy! Declares the Lord God!
No amount of sexual favours will ever compare to the Love of Jesus Christ! With Him you can over come any situation. With Jesus at the centre of your life, your marriage can be revived. Divorce can be turned around. Love can begin again! All one has to do is call on Jesus and He will renew you!
***If you are not saved by the Grace of Jesus Christ, you can continue on
sinning, oh sorry, living for yourself...but know right now, you are not going to see heaven. There is
but ONE way there, and that is ONLY through Jesus Christ. No matter how
sweet and kind you are, if you do not know Jesus you are S.O.L.
www.markgungorshow.com/
http://www.jdm.org/magazine/jesse5.pdf
http://www.webmd.com/men/features/is-pornography-addictive
