Lust and masturbation, my final word.
Hi.
Welcome to today's Little Lesson.
If you're a regular viewer you know that we've been talking about sexual desire, masturbation,
lust, looking at what Scripture has to say on these things, trying to broaden our perspective.
This will be the 9th and this will be I think the final Little Lesson on this subject, and
I hope that I've provoked some thinking.
I'm sure that there's going to be folks who are going to disagree as well as agree.
Some people are going to say, "Way to go."
Some people are going to say, "You're a heretic."
I'm used to that, so I love you all.
We want to look, finally, now, once again, at Matthew Chapter 5 Verse 27, 28, 29, and
30 where Jesus talked about lust.
It was clear.
He condemned lust.
He starts by saying, "You have heard that was said.
You shall not commit adultery."
That's an accurate quote from the Ten Commandments.
Obviously, Jesus is not going to disagree with that at all, but he says, "But I say
to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery
with her in his heart."
We've talked about the fact that the subject here is adultery, specifically although it'd
have some application to fornication, but there is some variation.
Can't go into all the review on that.
Oftentimes, I think people read more into these things than what Jesus actually intended.
Some people say, "Well, Jesus was raising the bar.
Under the Old Covenant, only God was concerned about the physical act, but under the New
Covenant, God wants us to be pure inwardly in our thoughts and mind.
Well, I don't buy that for a second.
First of all, it's not taught anywhere in the New Testament, but secondly, Jesus was
ministering under the Old Covenant under the law of Moses.
He never says, "I'm raising the bar."
In fact, he says what would have been true even before the Ten Commandments were given.
Anyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery in his
heart.
That didn't just start becoming true when Jesus said that.
It would be foolish to think that before Jesus said that, people who lusted weren't committing
adultery in their hearts.
Right?
Right.
Okay.
Jesus is just opening up his disciples' minds to understand that God's concerned about a
higher purity and has always been concerned about a higher purity than just what we physically
do.
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable on your side, and
God doesn't want His people mentally undressing and imagine sexual activities with people
to who they are not married.
No.
Obviously, married people could dream about those things about each other, because nothing
wrong with that, because it's okay that they do those things so it must be okay that they
think about those things.
But you're not supposed to be doing that with people you're not in a covenant relationship
with.
If you're married, don't be thinking about anybody else, but just your spouse.
If you're unmarried, you don't want to be thinking about other people in a sexual way,
and avoid that as much as you possibly can.
The trouble is, of course, I've talked about this over and over again.
People in our society go for years after the age of puberty with strong, strong, strong
sexual desire, and they're blasted with sexual images all the time, and I just want to tell
you that God understands your situation.
He's the one that gave you that sexual drive.
Men, He's the one that made you to be aroused sexually by what you see.
The advice that we get from Jesus here is, whatever it is that's causing you to stumble,
avoid it.
Avoid the stimuli.
Don't get on the path that could lead to the ultimate sin, and the main thing Jesus is
trying to do here is to try to help us avoid adultery.
Don't ever get on the adultery path by imagining it.
Don't be looking at some married woman and thinking, "Oh, I'd love to take her to bed."
No.
Get rid of those thoughts instantly, as fast as you can.
I think it was Martin Luther who said, "You cannot keep the birds from flying over your
head, but you can keep them from making a mess in your hair."
Right?
There's a difference between being tempted to lust and lusting.
Lusting is a meditation, it's an awareness, it's a continual.
It doesn't just last for a fleeting second.
You're wanting to do it, and you're consciously deciding to keep meditating on the wrong thing.
Some folks take these words of Jesus and say, "Well, Jesus is saying that lust is just as
bad as adultery."
Well, he didn't say that, and that's not even logical.
That would be like saying to think about stealing is just as wrong as stealing.
To think about murdering is just as wrong as murdering.
No, no.
God doesn't want us thinking about stealing, God doesn't want us thinking about murdering,
because those things can ultimately, if you allow them in your brains, can lead to stealing,
and lead to murder just like lust could lead to adultery.
All right?
So nip it at it's bud.
This is good advice from a God who loves our people, loves all of His people.
Get rid of the temptation, get rid of the stumbling blocks as best you can, and within
the spectrum of Christian thought, and I saved this for the end because it's the most radical
idea, and I'm not saying that I agree with this idea at all.
Yet, I'm trying my best to help people to see all of Scripture, to understand that God's
the one who gave the sexual desire.
It's a motivator to get married, and it's nothing to be ashamed of.
If the choice is masturbation or adultery, which would be the lesser evil?
All right.
I think that's obvious, right?
Right.
I have a friend, actually, a precious Brother in Christ who's a Missionary, single guy.
We've had some frank discussions.
He's honest, transparent, and so forth.
He's never been able to go too long without masturbating.
He says, "I just figure better to get up, commit a little sin than commit a big sin."
Well, I would love to tell him, wave the magic wand for him and so forth, but who am I?
I'm a married guy.
This is like an academic question if the problem for me is not a problem for me, and who am
I?
All these folks who are wagging their fingers at single people, they're all married.
I want to ask them, "How'd that work for you when you were single?
Did you practice what you preach?
Did those cold showers take away your sexual desire as you're recommending us now?"
You know what I mean?
I just think that there is some grace here, and I encourage single Christians, avoid lust,
try to nip it as, but avoid temptation, don't stay away from the stimuli that's just been
out there in our culture bombarding you.
Try to do your best.
It's next to impossible.
Try to stay away from masturbation as best you can.
Way to go, but that's about the best I can do for you.
Again, I started this little series because 41 thousand people have watched a video that
we did that the title is "Will God Forgive Me if I Keep Committing the Same Sin?"
And it's mostly young men, by the demographic indications, that are watching that video.
They struggle, and struggle, and struggle, and struggle.
God gave them that desire, and it's strong for men.
Now, women are extremely attractive.
Women are visually aroused and so forth, and they're bombarded.
Oh, my goodness.
God has compassion on them.
Men, stay away from pornography.
Married, unmarried, doesn't make any difference.
Stay away from that stuff.
Don't let your eyes meditate on stuff that's going to lead you down a path.
All right?
If you mess up, well, there's forgiveness in Christ Jesus, and there's somebody for
you, a husband or a wife.
All right?
So don't give up on that either.
Okay.
Again, go easy on me in the comments.
I appreciate your grace in that regard.
I am sincere.
I hope you guys see that.
Okay.
God bless you.
See you next time.