The Problem of Sexual Temptation, Part 2

As we continue our study in different problems that we face day in and day out, tonight we talk about the problem of sexual temptation. And we need to be aware of what the Bible says concerning sexual temptation and what God designs for us in order that we might overcome temptation, that we might not succumb to those things that will lead us away from God. We want you to be alert to, number one, the characteristics of seduction.

Number two, we want you to be aware of the consequences of sexual sin. This is where we left off last week. We need to be aware of the consequences of sexual sin.

Not only is there spiritual defeat and emotional distress, there is familial destruction in sexual sin. And you've got to be careful. Number four, physical disease.

Physical disease. We live in an age where sexually transmitted diseases are all over the place. And that's why the Bible is very clear, Proverbs chapter 5, verse number 11, these words, And you groan at your latter end, when your flesh and your body are consumed, and you say, How I have hated instruction, and my heart spurned reproof.

Your flesh aches, your body groans, and you say to yourself, Why is it I despise instruction? Why didn't I listen to anybody? Because of the physical disease that happens because of your sexual sin. A huge study not too long ago about how young boys and young girls have refrained from sexual intercourse and have committed to oral sex, thinking that it's safe sex, not realizing that they are transmitting sexual diseases every single day. And they think because of our former president and his commitment to saying that he did not have sexual relationships with that woman, that's a quote, but that he just had oral sex with her, that oral sex is not really true sex, it's just something else to seek pleasure.

All the while, these young men and women are contacting sexual diseases at a rampant pace. It destroys. That's why the Bible says over in the book of Romans, the first chapter, the 27th verse, And in the same way also the men abandoned the natural affection of the women and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committed indecent acts, and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.

What is the due penalty of their error? Sexually transmitted diseases. That's why the Bible says over in 1 Corinthians 6, these words, The body is not for immorality, but for the Lord. And He goes on to say, These words, The one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him.

Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body. Let me tell you something about sexual sin.

It has an effect on you that no other sin does, 1 Corinthians 6, verse number 18. Every other sin that you commit affects the outside of your body, but sexual sin affects everything in the body. It affects you physically.

It affects you mentally. It affects you emotionally. It affects you spiritually.

It affects every aspect of your life unlike any other sin. And you've got to be careful, and you need to be aware of the consequences of sexual sin. Another one, number five, is congregational disappointment.

Congregational disappointment, Proverbs chapter 5, verse number 14. I was almost not a ruin in the midst of the assembly and congregation. Remember 1 Corinthians 5 about the young man who had had an incestuous relationship with his mother and how that affected the whole assembly? You see, we forget that sexual sin affects everybody else around us, not just our immediate family, but if it's in the church, it affects the church family as well.

And that's why Paul said you've got to hit the immoral person and put them out because don't you know that one little leaven leavens the entire lump. You let one person continue in sexual sin in your assembly and it will destroy your church. It will kill a church faster than anything else.

Read 1 Corinthians 5. And lastly, personal disgrace. Personal disgrace. Over in Proverbs chapter 6, verse number 33, it says this, wounds and disgrace he will find and his reproach will not be blotted out.

Remember when David sinned, that Nathan said to him that you have brought reproach upon the name of our God. You have caused the enemies of the land to blaspheme the name of our God. And it talks about David's personal disgrace because of his sin.

And you read Psalm 51, he knows that he can turn the error of other men around as a result of his confession in getting right with his God because he had led the nation away from God. And he had caused other nations to blaspheme the name of his God. And there's nothing that's more personally disgraceful than sexual sin.

How do you look your children in the eyes and say, I'm unfaithful to your mother. I'm unfaithful to your father. I don't love your mother anymore.

I love another woman. How do you look your children in the eye and keep your dignity? You can't. You've lost your integrity.

You've lost your dignity. You've lost it all. And therefore it is imperative that we understand the challenge to sanctification and that we be well advised as to what the Bible says we are to do that we might not succumb to sexual temptation.

Let me give you eight principles. Number one is this. We need to ask the Lord to search our hearts, to try our hearts, and if there be any wicked way in us to cleanse us from our sin.

That's where it begins. You need to ask the Lord to search you, Psalm 139, search me, O God, and try me and see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the paths of righteousness. You see, some of us sit back and say, you know, that's not my problem.

Sexual temptation is not a problem for me. Who are you kidding? You know, what island were you born on? You see, it is a problem. It is a problem for everybody.

And we need to be honest with ourselves, ask God to search us, Lord, what is in me? What is my problem? What's going on in my life that I might know those things that will lead me astray? Search me, Lord, try me, and see what is there that I might know. Listen to what Job said over in Job 31. This is so good.

Job says, I have made a covenant with my eyes. How then could I gaze at a virgin? That's a good portion of Scripture. How is it I can look lustfully upon a woman? Job says, I made a covenant with my eyes, a covenant with my eyes.

He goes on to say, and what is the portion of God from above or the heritage of the Almighty from on high? Is it not calamity to the unjust and disaster to those who work iniquity? Does He not see my ways and number all my steps? If I have walked with falsehood and my foot has hastened after deceit, let Him weigh me with accurate scales and let God know my integrity. If my step has turned from the way, or my heart followed my eyes, or if any spot has stuck to my hands, let me sow and another eat, and let my crops be uprooted. If my heart has been enticed by a woman, or I have lurked at my neighbor's doorway, may my wife grind for another and let others kneel down over her, for that would be a lustful crime.

Moreover, it would be an iniquity punishable by judges, for it would be fire that consumes to Abaddon and would uproot all my increase. Job says, man, I know the effects of sexual sin. And I've made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully upon another woman.

And gentlemen and ladies alike, it would be well advised for all of us to make a covenant with our eyes that we will look straight ahead. There's a reason in a horse race that horses wear blinders. There's a reason that they are not distracted, that they are focused and look straight ahead.

And we as the people of God need to have spiritual blinders to keep us following our God. Number two, ask the Lord to cleanse you, to search you and to try you. Number two, apprehend sin's consequences.

Apprehend sin's consequences. Because I know some of you are maybe here tonight and you're saying, you know what? That's not going to happen to me. I'm careful.

I'm not going to get a sexually transmitted disease. Let me tell you something. Even if they were to find a cure, and they're not going to, but even if they do find a cure for sexually transmitted diseases, it's still a sin.

It's still a sin. And you can sit back and say, you know, I'm not going to contact that. I'm not married, so I don't have to worry about familial destruction.

I'm a pretty stable character, so I don't have to worry about my emotional being. I go to church every week, so I know that my spiritual walk with God's going to be good, like the adulterous woman in Proverbs 7. I've paid my vows. It's okay.

We can have sex. And we fool ourselves into thinking the consequences don't apply to me. After all, I've been doing it for weeks.

I've been doing it for months. I even might have been doing it for years, and I have felt no consequences at all to my life. See, I am immune from sin's consequences.

And God says to you, be not deceived. I am not mocked. For whatever a man sows, that will he also reap.

You know, when Nathan came to David and talked to him about Uriah, you know what David said? Hey, people die. That's just the pitfalls of war. People die.

Now, that's true. But he was immune to his own sin of lying and deception and adultery and tried to justify what happened with Uriah as just the pitfalls of battle when he knew exactly what he did. You see, we think that we are immune from sin's consequences, and we are not.

Payday Sunday. And that's why it's imperative we ask God to seek our hearts, to search our hearts, to try us. Lord, lead us in the right way.

Lord, if there's any iniquity in me, forgive me. Lord, help me to lead a righteous and holy and pure life. And apprehend sin's consequences.

Know exactly what the Bible says is going to happen. That's why the Bible says in Proverbs chapter 6, verse number 29, it says, so is the one who goes in to his neighbor's wife, whoever touches her will not go unpunished. They won't go unpunished.

It doesn't mean if you go in and you just touch another person. It talks about it in the area of sexual sin. There is ramifications, and we need to apprehend those things.

We need to be aware of those things, don't we? Number three, avoid the immoral man. Avoid the immoral man or the immoral woman. Avoid them completely.

Proverbs chapter 1, verse number 15, says this, my son, do not walk in the way with them, that is the sinners, and keep your feet from their path. Proverbs chapter 7, verse number 6, states it this way, for at the window of my house I looked out through my lattice, and I saw among the naive, I discerned among the youths a young man lacking sense passing through the street near her corner, and he takes the way to her house. Then over in Proverbs chapter 7, verse number 24, now therefore, my sons, listen to me and pay attention to the words of my mouth, do not let your heart turn aside to her ways, do not stray into her paths, for many are the victims she has cast down, and numerous are all her slain.

Her house is the way of Sheol, descending to the chambers of death. Avoid the immoral man. Avoid the immoral woman.

You say, well, pastor, aren't we to reach the unsaved? Aren't we to share a gospel with them? Let me tell you something, if you share the gospel with someone who's immoral and they reject it, walk away. Leave them in the hands of God. Let God take care of them.

But the Bible is clear that we are not to walk, stand, or sit in any aspect of the sinful lifestyle of the world, because when you do, you become easily seduced by the sin of the world. Be careful. So we need to avoid the immoral person.

You need to walk away from them. When you see them coming, if you go to work and there's someone there that's always wanting to talk to you, always wanting to pay compliments to you, speak to you with sexual innuendos, you avoid that individual. You turn and go the other way.

You do what the Bible says, and God will honor that. Number four, abandon youthful lusts. Abandon youthful lusts.

Paul told Timothy in 2 Timothy chapter 2, verse number 22, flee youthful lusts. Proverbs 6, verse number 25. Proverbs says, do not desire her beauty in your heart, nor let her catch you with her eyelids.

Don't do that. Don't let her catch you with her eyelids. I mean, that is just amazing how practical the Bible is.

The Bible's never outdated, is it? It is so true, you know? You need to abandon youthful lusts. Remember Joseph? How can I do this evil in the sight of my God? And he would turn, and he would run the other way. He would abandon those youthful lusts.

And we need to be the kind of people, that's why 1 Timothy 6 says, but you, O man of God, flee these things. Flee what? Flee the love of money. Flee youthful lusts.

Be a running man. The word fuego is the word we get in English, the word fugitive. Every Christian needs to be a fugitive.

You all saw the movie The Fugitive with Harrison Ford, or maybe the long extended TV series that went on for years that my mom and dad and I used to always watch, The Fugitive. He was always on the run. That's the Christian.

He's the running man. He's always running from sin to God. And that's the way we need to be, right? We need to be running away from evil, running away from that which is wrong, in order that we might run to the arms of our God.

Next. How much time I got left? Am I doing okay back there? A few minutes left. Attend, listen, attend to the needs of your spouse.

If you're married, attend to the needs of your spouse. Proverbs chapter 5, verse number 18, what's it say? Let your fountain be blessed and rejoice in the wife of your youth. It doesn't say rejoice with a young wife.

It says rejoice with the wife of your youth, the one you found when you were young, that one, and now she's old. Rejoice with that one. As a loving hind and a graceful doe, let her breast satisfy you at all times.

Be exhilarated always with her love. You need to attend, to attend to the needs of your spouse. One of the quickest ways to handle sexual temptation is to be enraptured with your spouse, to love them, to minister to them, to do for them.

See, people say, you know, I didn't feel loved at home. I didn't feel appreciated at home. I didn't feel wanted at home.

And this guy at work, he wanted me. He appreciated me. He said nice things about me.

He complicated, he complimented me. All these things, you see, the same word used throughout the whole thing, me, me, me, me, me, me, me. We have an ego problem.

We have a pride problem. That's next week's lesson. It's all about me.

You see, we need to understand that when we attend to the needs of our spouse, the one God's given to us, and our focus is on them, me begins to subside. And that becomes prominent in handling sexual temptation. And I begin to see how God uses me in the life of my wife or the life of my husband.

And when I see how God is using me to draw them closer to Himself, I find myself being drawn closer to them. And of course, the argument always is, well, I don't feel like that. I don't feel like, I don't want to do that.

I don't feel drawn to them. Let me tell you something. Feelings always follow obedience.

They do. Feelings that don't follow obedience are sinful feelings. Mark it down.

That's the truth. If you follow the Word of the Lord, the feelings of joy will come. If you disobey the Word of God and you feel like that's the right thing to do, it's going to destroy your life.

You've got to be careful about that. So you begin to attend to the needs of your spouse. And number six, apply God's Word to your life.

Proverbs chapter 6, verse number 23 states it this way, for the commandment is a lamp and the teaching is light and reproofs for discipline are the way of life to keep you from the evil woman, from the smooth tongue of the adulteress. God's Word is a light and a lamp to make sure that I stay away from the adulterous individual. You show an individual who succumbs to temptation, and I'll show you one who's not interested in applying God's Word to their life.

Wherewithal shall a young man keep his way pure by taking heed to the Word of God. Thy Word I have treasured in my heart that I might not sin against thee. This is where Scripture memory becomes a very vital part to your walk with God, that you might know the words of God in times of sexual temptation, that you might be able to overcome them, because God always provides a route of escape.

1 Corinthians 10, 13, there's no temptation taking you such as common to man, but God. But God is faithful. And God will always give you a route of escape, and the route is mapped out in His Word.

And if you're not memorizing God's Word and not committed to applying God's Word to your life, you're not going to find that route, and you will fall into sexual sin. Next, number seven, admit you cannot do it alone. Admit you cannot do it alone.

What did Jesus say in the garden in Matthew 26? Pray lest you enter into temptation. If you're not praying, if you're not on your knees, if you're not seeking the face of God, if you're not saying, God, I need you to help me through this, Lord, I cannot do it alone, you will fall. You will.

And so you need to admit you can't do it alone, that you need the Lord God in your life. And if you're married, let me tell you something, God, listen, if you are married, God has given you all the accountability you will ever need the side of eternity. And the reason we don't want our spouse holding us accountable is because we want to sin.

My wife holds me accountable, and I hold her accountable. And I've got to be able to look in my wife's eyes and talk to her about my relationships throughout the day, what I did, where I went, what I said, what I watched. She holds me accountable, I hold her accountable.

If I have to have another man hold me accountable, that makes me an effective liar. You know why? Because I don't have to be truthful with him. And I can pull the wool over his eyes.

I can. But you can't do it with your wife because she knows you. And you can't do it with your husband because he knows you.

If you're serious about accountability, if you really want accountability, then you make sure you line up with your husband, with your wife, and you'll have the highest accountability you ever asked for, this side of eternity. And that's the truth. Now, how do I know that? All the men I have known in the past or that have fallen into sexual sin all had accountability partners.

And their accountability partners were all men. All of them. And they all admitted at one time or another that they were not truthful or honest in those relationships.

But their wives knew nothing about what's happening. See, we need to get real here. It is not good for man to be alone, Genesis chapter 2. Let's go back to the beginning.

It's not good for man to be alone. Why? Because man needs accountability. So what does God give him? He gives him a wife.

So what do we do? We look for a man to hold us accountable. Pray tell, why? Why? We need to be serious about what we're doing and honor our God. And lastly, anticipate the return of the Lord.

Anticipate the return of the Lord. 1 John 3, verse number 3, whoever has this hope in him purifies himself as he himself is pure. Let me tell you something, if you're always looking for the Lord to return, you're not going to be looking at anybody else.

If you're always anticipating that at this very moment God can return, take me home to be with Him, then you're going to guard what it is you do and guard where it is you go. And we need to learn to anticipate the return of our Master, that our King is soon to return, that we might follow Him all the days of our lives. And that's why in Romans chapter 13 it talks about putting off the deeds of darkness.

Why? Because the days are short, the time of His arrival is soon. And may we live to the glory and honor of our God. May God give us the grace to follow His Word that we might abstain from sexual temptation and sexual sin.

Let's pray.