How then was I being lead away to sin by these carnal desires? John writes in 1 John 2:15-16, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.” This passage in 1 John identifies 3 mediums in us by which the world exploits these desires – (1) the lust of the eyes, (2) the lust of the flesh, and (3) the pride of life. When Adam and Eve sinned in the garden it says about Eve: (Gen. 3:6) “And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also to her husband with her; and he did eat.” When she saw that the fruit was good for food it was the lust of the flesh. When she saw that it was pleasant to the eyes this was the lust of the eyes. And when she saw that it was desirable to make her wise this was the pride of life. Let us have a look into our lives. We watch television and see that every other commercial has half-naked women in them or shows some form of flesh. The magazine ads have the same content and so do many of the billboards. The internet ads are filled with the same such ads. Our being is blanketed with areas where the sexual appetite can be enticed – through our eyes. 42% of songs on ten top-selling CDs in 1999 contained sexual content, 41% of which were "very explicit" or "pretty explicit" (Family News in Focus, July 2005). 83% of the programming most frequently watched by adolescents contains some sexual content (Gary Rose, CEO of The Medical Institute, as reported by Focus on the Family 7/8/2005).

We see pornography as a way to take away our loneliness or desire sexual gratification without the responsibilities associated with marriage. These and many other such related problems lead us to indulge in the lust of the flesh and we’re lead to pornography. We have access to the internet and can surf alone and after looking at pornography can erase the browser’s history and delete the cookies without getting caught. We can be so filled with the pride of life that we think we can hide it from everyone else and have them think more of us than we are. We think we’re getting away even though Jesus said that what’s done in darkness will be brought to light (Luke 12:3). These reveal how vulnerable we are to sin if these avenues remain exploitable. So what’s the solution to these three vulnerabilities? Luke 11:34, “The lamp of the body is the eye. Therefore, when your eye is good, your whole body also is full of light. But when your eye is bad, your body also is full of darkness.” The lust of the eyes fills the body with darkness – all sorts of things television and passing by the risqué covers of magazines by the checkouts at the grocery store seem like little, but these add up and fill the body with darkness that ‘make provision for the flesh’ (Romans 13:14). So what do we do? Luke 11:35, “Therefore take heed that the light which is in you is not darkness.” Jesus then speaks of ‘light within us.’ Luke 11:36, “If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, the whole body will be full of light, as when the bright shining of a lamp gives you light.” It is very practical to cut off the flesh’s provision. You can hide your eyes when you pass by the magazine aisle or you can use accountability software or a proxy on your computer. But, Jesus gives here something more – because it’s not always possible to escape the world’s corruptions at all times, Jesus says be filled with light. If we truly ‘put on the Lord Jesus Christ’ as Romans 13:14 says, and ‘Walk in the Spirit’ as Galatians 5:16 says, the common desires that war in our hearts competing for attention wont win because that attention is wholly focused on the real object of our affection, Jesus Christ.

Colossians 3:2-3 says, “Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” If our minds are set on Jesus Christ, the things of eternity, our hope, the glory awaiting us or just the things of God, our minds and bodies will be filled with God’s light. Over time, having a mind so saturated with these things, the desires and lusts will no longer have a hold over us. Galatians 5:16 fully says, “I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.” To be presently in fellowship with God, having the thoughts of eternity filling our minds, we will not fulfill the lust of the flesh. In fact, the sinful thoughts we once entertained will begin to seem repulsive to us. As our eyes open to the realities awaiting us and the cost of the cross, Jesus’ own blood, to purchase them on our behalf, our heart will begin to yearn for the things of God and have a disinterest for the world’s eye-catchers.
I found that when I would fall into these sexual ‘bouts’ where I’d look at pornography and do all of the activities associated, I had to ignore or put off everything that God had taught me about sexual immorality. Romans 1:28, “And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;” This verse applied to me. In order to look at the disgusting images I’d immerse my mind in, I had to give up ‘retaining God in my knowledge.’ So, focusing on Christ and the things of God first prepared me for when the temptations would come. I found that God would, by His own power and strength, cause me to keep His commandments and not fall into sexual sin. This is so much apart of the new covenant that God’s made with man through Christ Jesus, Ezekiel 36:27, “And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.” God, by His Spirit, would keep my heart from enjoying pornography, and set me at liberty from giving into the pressing temptations leading me to it. Romans 8:1, Galatians 5:16, “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.” This way, God had not only shown me that I was completely a fornicator and completely sin-sick at heart without Him, but He gets the glory because I’m being kept, daily, by the power of God’s Holy Spirit. 2 Corinthians 4:17, Jude 1:24, “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy…” When Jesus was being tempted by the devil in the desert in Matthew 4 and Luke 4, Jesus used the written Word to defeat what the devil was saying. The devil uses the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life – those 3 (1 John 2:15-16). The devil says ‘turn these stones into bread’ – the lust of the flesh. Furthermore, ‘see these riches of gold could be yours if you worship me’ – the lust of the eyes. And, ‘since you’re the Son of God if you jump the angels will catch you’ – the pride of life. Also, in each of these, the devil twists scripture in order to say them – many times I would twist spiritual understanding in my heart, giving into sexual immorality. I’d just say, ‘Well, God is forgiving and loving, I can just ask for forgiveness.’ Sometimes I wouldn’t ‘say it,’ or I wouldn’t directly think it, but that was the root cause of my thinking when I’d give in – and it’s twisted scripture that isn’t of God, and showed my lack of understanding of the Word – and so I’d trample the blood of Christ Jesus underfoot and proceed in my lifestyle that sent Him to the cross (Heb 10:29).

If we can’t be given a victory by God over this sin, then what then when the stronger temptations, even stronger than sexual immorality, come? When are we finally going to rely on God? Many people read the command ‘love thy neighbor as thyself’ and think, ‘Well, you better love yourself first, and then you’ll understand what it means to love others.’ A sufficient love of self mainly has to do with the love of God. 1 Cor. 13:5 says love “…seeks not her own…” Therefore, good self-love has little to do with loving self, but, as Paul put it in Phil. 1:8, how he “greatly longed after [them] with the affections of Jesus Christ.” This was the love of Christ in Paul’s heart – Jesus Christ, longing after them in His heart from His throne, igniting within the chest of Paul for the Philippians’ church. He spoke of having the Church at Philippi in his heart, and longing after them, of thanking God on every remembrance of them. This was no human love. This is the self-love that God wants us to have – that we bear the love and affection of Christ within us for others. As God turns the attentions of our heart from the vain things of this age and turns them to what’s important, we will begin to feel what’s in God’s heart – the love, compassion, tender – He replaces our need for entertainment with real joy and our needs for self-gratification with real caring. Overcoming sexual sin will not come from imposing laws or rules over ourselves – only the lasting, visible purity that honors God comes through walking in the Spirit, otherwise it produces no enduring results. Sure, I would go 1 week or a month without sexual temptation and then I would fall back into it – because I tried to put it down on my own will power with different rules. We can bounce our eyes when attractive members of the opposite sex enter the room, but when we look away our eyes will only find another person to feast themselves on.

We can discipline ourselves to look at women in the face and not look them up-and-down as we’re accustomed to doing as men, but this too will eventually break down. If the desire is gone and if the attentions of the heart are focused wholly on God, there will be none of that to rule over the behavior of the flesh. To see lasting results it must be overcome God’s way and in God’s power, not some earthly rule of thought or our own will. I would hear this like this before and would think that they didn’t apply to me because I thought I was doing it God’s way, but I’d give right into sexual temptations because it was really just my own ‘way’ that I’d just ‘spiritualized&rsqu o; and not realized it. Say, for example, I'm a new believer in Christ, a babe in Christ more like it. If I impose a law on myself that I'm not to watch TV because I'll be tempted by the sexual content of the commercials, it may work for a time. But, when I go to the computer, I'll fall into the sexual temptation there and the lustful, sensual indulgence over those desires that lead me there. Why? Because turning away from the television has no power over the desires for sexual content warring in my flesh. It isn’t a matter of just turning away, but of turning that attention to the things of God. As a sheep of Christ, I must know where Jesus is leading; it isn’t enough to simply stay away from the harmful things on the path. He will “lead us not into temptation” and provide us “the way out that we may be able to bear it” every time, but our heart’s attention must be on Him (Matt. 6:13, 1 Cor. 10:13). We must receive the grace from Jesus that gives us the strength to overcome these desires in times of temptation (2 Cor. 12:9).

says the eyes of a man are never satisfied (Prov. 27:20). If the desire for what is tempting you remains, it will not go away on its own, and you'll keep feeding it with more sexual content. Yes, you cut off the darkness when you cut off the TV, but unless the light is there to overtake the darkness that remains when that source is cut off the desires are still there to do war. Turn on the light, and the darkness flees, but the sexual content and desire for it is still in your heart until the light is turned on. Then, though you’ve imposed a rule over yourself, it doesn’t help to stave off the sensual passion that leads you to indulge over that sin. Though you’ve imposed the law over your flesh it still yearns to be satisfied. Though it was helpful, it wasn't enough. Colossians 2:23 says concerning this matter: “These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.” The answer then is: (1) Submit yourself to God. (2) Resist the devil, and he'll flee from you, in that order. James 4:7. If you follow certain regulations such as bouncing the eyes you will do number 2, resist the devil. But, number 2 alone would make that your resistance would be based on the flesh because the flesh's own nature is to wallow in its lusts, like a pig to a mire. The works of the flesh are lying, stealing, adultery, and all manner of sin! That's not going to help you.

Just resisting alone isn't enough – you need to do number 1, submit to yourself to God, in every instance of temptation. This is done through the citation of scripture, as mentioned before. You MUST do (1) before you do (2). Submit to God first. So, Colossians 2 says the doctrines and teachings of men and self-imposed religion and godliness don't help to [stop] satisfying the flesh (number 2 on my list, taken from James 4:7, refers to this passage at the end of Colossians 2). But, Colossians 3 starts out with something better. It talks not about the flesh and resisting, but a person, Christ. Verse 1 says if you're raised up with Christ seek those things which are above, where Christ sits. So, it's giving instruction – Seek things above. Seek. Seek what? Seek things where Christ is sitting. In Verse 2 of Colossians 3 it says “set your affections.” You've been setting your affections on pornography and sexual immorality. Well, here it says set your affections on things above. It then gives something else – “not on things on the earth.”

So, it's saying set it on nothing here on earth. So referring back to Verse 1, it's pointing to where Christ is sitting. Verse 3 adds “For ye are dead” – if you're saved, not only was Christ crucified, but you were crucified with Him. You were in Christ when He was crucified and God offered Him up in your place, substitionarily, to atone for sin. And your life is hid with Christ in God - your life is Christ's life. Then also you have risen with Christ. Since His physical death was your death because you were dead in your sins, then His physical resurrection is your life! You have resurrection-life flowing within you by the Holy Spirit at all times, which comes from your salvation. Christ is your life, giving life to our physical bodies, sustaining us. Verse 4 is the kind of thinking we need to SET our affections on – “When Christ our life appears we'll appear with Him in glory.” Another part of scripture says we'll look like Him, taking on His resurrected form.

(Continued in Part 3 - Proceed to next post)