The Dangers Of Unguarded Moments

If the video above is not available, here are two other ways to view:

The Dangers of Unguarded Moments

DSS-18

060423PM

Transcript

As you find your seats, also find your Bibles, and let’s turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 10. 1 Corinthians chapter 10, and we’re going to be looking starting at verse 12 again. This evening, we’re looking at also David’s life, another facet, which I call in the guarded moments, God is there. Every time we go through one of those times of temptation that we are seeking the Lord, we find Him there all the time, and that’s what we’ll look at, and sadly, it’s what David did not find. Remember, this morning we began with that terrible postscript to the incredible life of David. I don’t know if you’ve had time in the blur of morning service, and lunch, and everything you have to do, and getting back, especially if you have people that are involved in the outreach. But in all that blur, I hope you’ve had time to stop and to think. To think about the fact that David lived a life of which God said he completely fulfilled My will in everything, and then God had to say, except in this one matter. It’s so sad and so sobering to think that David’s suffered loss, that David’s loss, this except part of his life, had to be forever recorded. It is a message to us that God forgives the sins, God forgets the iniquities, but the consequences and loss are recorded in the Bible. And remember, the Bible is God’s forever, settled-in-Heaven Word. What a sobering reminder.

We, on this side of the cross, have the advantage of the finished revelation. Peter and Paul together tell us what we are to do and to always remember so that we don’t come into an unguarded moment as David did. Peter says that we should be sober, never intoxicated by the world or by ourselves. We are to be vigilant. That means always watching for an inroad to the devil because our adversary, the one who stands against us, the devil, the one who slanders us, is walking about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. David was devoured. David was devoured, I believe, because of what Paul said. Therefore, let him who thinks he stands, and that’s 1 Corinthians 10 and verse 12 where you’ve turned, take heed lest he fall. Beware of allowing any unguarded moments in your life to come to the point where you think, oh, that’s not a problem I have. I don’t need to worry about that. Not worry but always be on guard.

David came to the point he wasn’t guarded, and unguarded moments lead to sin, and we’ll always remember Uriah and Bathsheba. Then the inevitable consequences of sin leads to pain. And David had many chapters of pain starting in 2 Samuel 12 and going all the way through chapter 21. Ten continuous chapters of pain. But humble obedience leads to joy, and that is the blessing of our God. Therefore, let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall, Paul warns us.

How did David fall? First, we saw this morning he desensitized the warning system, his conscience, he desensitized his conscience by incomplete obedience to God. Now, that’s way back before chapter 11. Way back before Bathsheba, way back before he even moved into that palace where he could look down into the courtyards of the neighboring homes. That was in 2 Samuel 15. David relaxed his grip on the way God asked him to live. He, in 2 Samuel 5:13, took a deadly little step of disobedience.

He was God’s king. He was instructed very clearly, as I showed you in Deuteronomy chapter 17 verses 15 through 20, he was instructed by God to not multiply wives. And yet the first thing he did as the king moving into Jerusalem is in 2 Samuel 5:13, he began to multiply even more wives. You say, it’s a little thing. It’s a social thing. It’s something everybody was doing. Yes, but it was something he wasn’t to do.

I was impressed. If any of you noticed Henry Morris, the great creationist’s funeral. At the funeral, they took his Bible and they opened up the front flyleaf of his Bible, and there was that famous poem written by a fellow 150 years ago called “Others May, You May Not,” and it was a poem about the fact that God requires of His servants a level of obedience that others that go through life without even a care about His Word don’t have in their lives, but God’s servants do. David was God’s servant. David should have known, he should have copied the Law down like he was instructed to. He should have read the very first thing that God told him to do, and that was not to multiply wives, but he did it. And in doing it, he desensitized. By that little warning that God gave him that was unheeded, David’s life moves on without God’s protection.

Now, if we’ll turn back to 2 Samuel 11, I want to show you again that pathway down. And if you haven’t started marking it, we’re going to actually go through each one of the steps downward. But 2 Samuel 11 verse 1 has the second step. The first step downward was in 2 Samuel 5:13. David desensitized his conscience by partial or incomplete obedience. That can happen in our lives. We say, that doesn’t apply to me. That’s just for the great heroes of the faith, not me. That is the beginning of our desensitizing ourself: not hearing God’s warning, not thinking that we stand, and not taking heed lest we fall. But the second element is in 2 Samuel 11:1, and we see that David relaxed his grip on personal purity. David had let little things slide in his life. We’re not sure everything, but we do know the multiplying the wives thing. Things went so well, he forgot to be on guard. And David, at the height of his spiritual life, lost his grip on the purity that he had affirmed all the way through. What he had affirmed as a young man, what he had affirmed as a young warrior, what he had affirmed as that fugitive running from Saul, what he had written about in Psalm 101 at his coronation and Psalm 132 at his ascension to be king. Those things that he had believed, I don’t think that they were hypocritical. I think he really wrote from his heart, and I think he was a Psalm 101, Psalm 132 man. But in whatever course of events had come with his kingship, the little things he lost a grip on, the things that kept him pure. As I said this morning about the little leaguers, David began playing with dandelions in the presence of a very dangerous lion, the lion of lust, the devouring one that is around. We need to be doing what it takes to maintain purity in our lives. We need to not do what David did. 2 Samuel 11:1, I’ve written in my Bible, David relaxed his grip on personal purity. Now, we don’t live in the Old Testament. We don’t have Deuteronomy 17. We don’t have to copy a copy of the Old Testament. We don’t have to spend 900 hours to copy 160,000 Hebrew letters down on parchment paper like he was supposed to.

What do we have? We have the very God of the universe, who took the form of a man, who lived in a human body, who became 100 percent man, and who taught us how to overcome sin. I want to take you to Jesus’ testimony. Go to Matthew 4 with me, and I’m only going to show you one word of Christ’s temptation, and then we’re going to go to His sermon on temptation. But Matthew chapter 4, and maybe you’ve never noticed this before, I really hadn’t. The very first word Jesus speaks in Matthew 4. Remember, that’s His temptation. He was in all points tempted like as we are. Jesus was tempted to fulfill a legitimate desire in an illegitimate way. That’s exactly what David was tempted to do. David had a legitimate desire; he had sexual desire. He was tempted to fulfill it, illegitimately to grab someone that wasn’t his wife that he saw and was tempted by over the rooftop. And he chose to fulfill a legitimate desire in an illegitimate way. Jesus chose not to. He was tempted in all points like as we are. But notice the first thing that Jesus says, the very first words of Jesus in His temptation, Matthew 4 and verse 4, but He answered and said, it is written, man shall not live. You know what Jesus was saying by that? He didn’t say, God. He quotes a verse about, man. You know what the dynamic is of the temptation? That Jesus overcame Satan as a man. He was operating with the same rules, and power, and abilities that we have afforded us by God as humans. Jesus’ first reference, He said, Bible says, man. Man, that’s what I am, and that’s how I’m defeating you, devil. I’m not doing this as God. I’m doing this as man.

What are we supposed to do? Turn over the next page, chapter 5, because I love Christ’s message. It’s so sobering. Matthew 5. We need to be doing what it takes to maintain purity in our lives. We need to not relax our grip. We live in an age where impurity is becoming a tidal wave around us. We know how the end is going to be. It says, and everyone is either lawless or licentious. By the time of Christ’s return in the Tribulation time, everyone is given over to immorality, and to lawless living, and to demonic pursuits, and everything else. We know that’s coming! As we’re on the way, it’s getting more and more pronounced. Jesus says in Matthew 5 that we need to be serious about sexual sin. I’ve told you before, every time sin lists are mentioned in the New Testament, every time Paul or one of the other apostles addresses a church and tells them what to be aware of, sexual sin is always at the top of the list. It’s not an accident. It is the first place that there is usually a grievous sin in a congregation. Now, there seems to be a lot of sins that are down here that are the normal insecurities, and fears, and things like that, but the Lord treats those differently. He says, if you sin in a sexual sin, you sin against your own body, which is the temple of the Holy Spirit. There seems to be an added weight to sinning against this temple in sexual sins. So, Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount some words that often we look at as hyperbole. We look at them as overkill. Kind of like, Jesus, come on, don’t get overboard, don’t get worked up about that. He talks about sexual sin like He talks about no other kind of sin, and I want to remind you of that. And we should read Christ’s words again and ponder them personally because He said something that we don’t hear very often.

In fact, just as a sidelight this morning, when I got done speaking, a visitor came up to me and said, I looked at the church page, and I looked at the churches, and I thought, I don’t want to go to a church where they don’t preach from the Bible. So, this person said they bowed their head, and they said, Lord, I want to go to a church where I’ll hear the Bible this morning. And they said, oh, there’s one that isn’t even in the church page. We ought to try that one, that Tulsa Bible Church. And they came up to the front at the end and said, thanks for saying something I bet nobody else would dare say in Tulsa this morning.

Do you know why? Look at verse 37. It’s something that is just so hard to take. Jesus says this, Matthew 5:27, you’ve heard it was said, don’t commit adultery. But I tell you. He says, the Old Testament Law just said, don’t commit adultery, but I am going to amplify that. Jesus said, I’m going to tell you that you are conveniently thinking, hey, that’s not on my list. That’s not a problem I have. And that’s where we settle in. We think, hey, that’s not something I struggle with. But the Lord says, look at this, I tell you anyone who looks with desire. Which, that word, lustfully, that has a consuming desire. Anyone who looks with consuming desire at a woman has already committed adultery with her in his heart. David’s sin began on the rooftop, not in the bedroom. It began with his intentional look of lust. But Jesus doesn’t stop there. Look, this is where He really gets into the hyperbole. If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. And I told you how much they needed for sighting in battle, for their work, and everything else. Their right eye is so important. It even disorients us today with all of our wonderful conveniences, if there’s any lack, there’s an impairment. Jesus says, if your right eye cause you to sin, gouge it out. Which must have caused much being aghast out there in the crowd that was listening. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into Hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into Hell. Now, why is Jesus being so radical? I began this this morning, let me finish it tonight. Why does Jesus paint this shocking picture? I believe it’s because He wants us to take radical steps. He’s saying, do whatever is necessary to not have yourself constantly exposed to sexual temptation. Now, Paul says, it doesn’t mean moving out of the world. If we want to stay completely away, we’d have to move out of the world. I’m not talking about going to live in Kathmandu, where it’s too cold and everybody, there would be no sexual temptation because they’re all frozen up there in the Himalayas. I’m not talking about that. I’m talking about how to operate in everyday life.

Paul was working with people that live in the Roman world. I just shared with my Tuesday morning Bible study some of the little things you pick up when you travel over there. If you’ve ever been over there, it was very blatant, the sexual temptation of the first century. But how do we deal with it in the twenty-first century? First of all, when Jesus says in verses 27 to 30 about your hand and your eye, my hand is not the cause of sin, and neither is my eye. Those things do not have a will of their own. They’re connected to my will, to my brain, to my choices, to my facilities, and all of my moral choices. So, it’s not the hand and eye that need to be cut off or gotten rid of. A blind man can still lust, and someone with no hands can still steal. But the eye is a means of access for both godly and ungodly input. And the hand is a means of performing righteous or sinful acts. We must therefore govern by choice what our eye looks at and what our hands do. That’s what He’s saying. He’s saying, cut off any use of the hands or the eye, or of any other part of the body for that matter, that causes sexual sin.

If we take Jesus seriously, we need to think far more radically about sexual purity in our very impure world, and I think we should take Him seriously. The battle is too intense; the stakes are too high to approach purity casually or gradually. Some fall into mental adultery through just the myriad of things that are out in the world.

So, what do we do about it? We learn to stop looking. We learn to stop putting ourself in a position to look. If you have to get rid of your TV to guard your purity, Jesus says, do it. That’s an example of gouging out the eye and cutting off the hand. That is radical, and yet I know of one person who decided they would raise their family with no television set in the home. His name is R. Kent Hughes, one of my favorite commentators, written a whole shelf of books. You know where he lived when he decided that? He lived in Southern California. They were probably the only home. That’s why it says in the national statistics, 99.9 percent of all homes have televisions. It was probably Kent Hughes’s home that was the one that didn’t! Because he lived in the heartbeat of Southern California, but he said, I want to be radical. I want to not have my children babysat by a sewer hose into my home. And he chose to raise his kids all the way until they went to college with no television set, and he didn’t keep it in his bedroom so he could keep up on stuff. He chose himself to not watch television. What a radical thought.

If it means you can’t go to games because of how the dancers or cheerleaders dress and perform, so be it. If it means you have to lower your head and close your eyes, so be it. If you’re embarrassed to do it, stay home. Did you know if every Christian started, every time the dancing girls at football and basketball things started dancing, lower their heads and wouldn’t look at it, maybe enough people would do that they would stop the dancing. Or maybe enough Christians would say, why do I have to keep putting my head down for? Why am I even here? Tell your wife about your struggles, or if you’re single, tell a godly friend. If you need to drop the newspaper because of the ads, fine. If you need your wife to go through and pull out offending inserts, fine.

Let’s look at Romans 13:14 because there’s a very clear command that the New Testament writers picked up on. Romans 13:14 is an imperative for us, and this is what Paul records that Jesus Christ wants us to do. Romans 13 the last verse, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ—aorist middle imperative—and make no provision for the flesh—a second imperative. So, what’s the imperative? Romans 13:14 instructs us, make no provision for the flesh. Paul is saying, and Jesus right behind him in the Sermon on the Mount, it is sin to deliberately put yourself in a position where you’re likely to commit sin. Let’s talk about that, choices that we should make. Whether it’s walking through the lingerie department or going to a swimming pool or the workout room at the athletic club, if it trips you up, stay away from it. Did you know it’s better to be overweight than to be lustful? Proverbs describes the loose woman meeting up with a foolish man after dark in Proverbs 7 verses 8 and 9. We should stay away from people, places, and contexts that make sin more likely.

You know what I think is fascinating? We have an analyzer of our website. Do you know when the highest traffic is on our website? From eleven o’clock at night till one o’clock in the morning. Do you know why? That’s when so many people are on the computer, and there’s not a lot of profitable stuff done. I’m glad that, I think they come out of guilt to our website at eleven o’clock. I don’t know, but maybe they just want to come to get convicted. But if it’s certain bookstores or hangouts, stay away from them. If it’s your cable, or satellite TV, or network TV, or old friends from high school, or the internet, or computers that are your problem, get rid of them.

That’s what the Sermon on the Mount said. Jesus was talking in supracultural terms, something that transcends the first century. And He says, even if it’s something that you need as much as your right hand, even if it’s something you need as much as your right eye to have orientation, get rid of whatever causes you to be tempted to the point of indulging in mental or physical sexual impurity. Just say no to whatever’s pulling you away from Jesus is what He’s telling us and what Paul reiterates right here in the last verse of chapter 13 of Romans. Remember, if you want a different outcome, you have to make different choices. That’s what He’s saying. Make a choice to get rid of whatever offends God and causes us to sin.

If you can’t be around women wearing swimsuits without looking and lusting, then don’t go on vacation where women wear swimsuits. If that means not going water skiing or to your favorite resort, fine. We’re not commanded to go water skiing and to our favorite resorts! If it means being unable to go on some type of even a Christian-sponsored event, don’t go! See, we just blindly go through life and say, I can’t help it. Yes, you can. You say no. Sound drastic? Compare it to gouging out your eye and cutting off your hand. Doesn’t that sound drastic? Isn’t Jesus saying take drastic measures. But there are hardly any decent TV shows anymore. Then stop watching TV. Why don’t you read a book or talk to someone? But the newer novels, all these novels that are around today have sex scenes in them. Then read an old novel or find one without those things in it. But I’ve subscribed to Sports Illustrated for 30 years, and before they had the bad swimsuit issue. Then, they have it now, so drop your subscription and write a letter and tell them why. Isn’t it interesting that you can economically make your voice known? But it’s almost impossible to rent a movie today without some offensive language or some immoral situation. There are enough review sites that can help you make a good selection. There are also edited movies if you have to have a movie, where they cut out those things. But suppose there were no decent movies, what then? The Bible never commands us to watch movies. It commands us to guard our heart. See, we’re just carried along with the river of our culture, and everybody watches movies, and everybody watches TV, and everybody goes to games, and everybody watches the dancing girls that wear less every year. And it’s not just getting shorter; it’s going up this way. What’s left? They’re going to be like the Romans who performed completely naked at their sports events. That’s where we’re headed. It’s a battle, and a battle gets bloody. Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, do whatever it takes to walk in purity.

Someone once wrote a daily contract for themself. I want to read it to you. It says this, are you willing to do whatever is necessary to protect your sexual sobriety? Are you willing to ask God for help? Are you willing to call on others to help? Are you willing to go to a meeting, or read literature, or set boundaries and not cross them so that you can and I can be what Jesus said we are to radically be, which is pure, and to follow after holiness?

You might say, but you’re talking about withdrawing from the culture. It’s too radical. No, go back with me to Matthew 5 because I want it to be open before you, as I read this to you. Matthew 5 is radical. The Sermon on the Mount is radical. Jesus said, if it would keep you, in verse 27, 28, 29, and 30, if it would keep you from sexual temptation, you’d be better off poking out your eye and cutting off your hand. That’s radical. That’s how radical Jesus was. Jesus called His followers to a level that just was unheard of in the ancient world, but that was God’s level. Many claim they’re serious about purity. But then they say, no way, I’m not going to give up my television. I’m not going to have my wife holding my computer password and checking my records. But followers of Jesus have endured torture and even given their lives to obey Him. And we whine about cable. Have you thought about that? That’s why when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith? Christians whine about how long the services are, and how much is required of them, and that they miss television shows because they have to go out on outreach, visitation. What are you going to do when they line you up and want to tie you to a post and burn? We whine about the wrong things, and that makes us unprepared to be faithful even to death.

When Jesus called us to take up our cross and follow Him, which is Matthew 10, it implied sacrifices. And if the most mentioned sin in the New Testament, the head of every single sin list, fornication is either number one or number two. Every time anybody talks about sins and lists them off, it’s always one or two. And Jesus said, fornication is not just physical; it’s mental. It starts mentally, that it doesn’t happen physically unless the wagons are following the ruts of the mind. And if that’s what He said, then we should be willing to sacrifice and forego whatever it takes. How sold out are you to the battle for purity? How desperate are you to have obedience and victory over sin? How radical are you willing to get for your Lord? How much do you want the joy and peace that can only be found in Him? That’s what Matthew 5:27-30 is all about. Jesus says, stop the enticement and stop the involvement. Whether you’re at the involvement level, stop. If you’re at the enticement level, stop before you get involved. Purity comes only to those who truly want it. For David, that desire came too late. Will it come too late for you?

Go back to 2 Samuel 11 because I want to show you David’s third step downward. David, 2 Samuel 11, desensitized his conscience. He said, oh, that’s only a little thing. I don’t need to worry about that. And everybody watches TV; everybody walks around on the roof. They did. But that desensitization made him relax his grip on personal purity. And then verse 2 tells us in 2 Samuel 11, David began to fixate his heart on his physical, sensual desires. Look what verse 2 says, then it happened. Isn’t it interesting that it happened that he remained home? And then it happened that one evening David arose from his bed. And you know how many wives he had at this time? He had a lot. He had, the list of them, it’s hard to even pronounce their names. We were just reading through this as a family, and he had the striking Abigail, he had Ahinoam, he had this other one, I forget who it was, and he had the one who was the daughter of the king of Gesher. He had quite a lineup already, and then he got a whole bunch more. It doesn’t name all of them when he moved to Jerusalem earlier than this. But he, it happened one evening. It was unscheduled, his life. David arose from his bed and walked on the roof of his house. And from the roof. So, first he has a problem. He had an unscheduled life. He just, things were just happening.

And then he was undisciplined. From the roof, if you see an open window, curtains that aren’t closed in our culture, and you stand there and you look in, you’re committing, you’re breaking the law, you’re committing something that’s against the law. You’re a peeping Tom. He was undisciplined. He looks down, and he saw. And from the roof he saw a woman bathing, and the woman was very beautiful to behold. That’s an interesting Hebrew word. It wasn’t just a glance. To behold means to contemplate. It’s like a long-term, like an artist that just keeps looking and looking and looking and drawing. David was unashamedly staring. You see where he went? This unscheduled stop in his life, this undisciplined condition made him totally unashamed to stare. David started thinking about his sexual desires, and that’s all he thought about. In the ancient world, the king was always building his city and his home on a hill because the enemies were at a disadvantage. So, here’s David in the biggest house, the highest house in the whole city of Jerusalem. He’s wandering around at night on the roof, looking down around the barriers others would’ve had in their way. See, that’s what the king had on everybody else. Everybody else had barriers. They had courtyards, and doors, and fences, and rooftops, but he can see past all that because it was positioned in the highest house. But he didn’t look away from the temptation. Rather, he engaged in watching, and this watching became lust-filled staring. That’s what that last word to behold, to stare. In this period of restlessness, with time on his hands, listlessness, boredom, wandering the palace, he uses the highest spot in the city to take an innocent peek at his neighbor’s wife. He saw a woman bathing, and the woman was very beautiful to behold. And so, he takes a quick peek over the wall at his neighbor’s wife.

Jerusalem at this time was not that big, so it wouldn’t be he didn’t know who lived down there! Now, do you realize that? Do you realize that he knew her very well? Her grandfather was his chief counselor? That comes out later, doesn’t it? This was a woman who was related to the court and the leadership of the kingdom. But on top of that, the husband was one of David’s mightiest warriors. David knew whose house that was. He knew whose wife lived there, and he knew who she was. So, this was not an accident. He probably had noticed her earlier and always wondered and was following up on that temptation he hadn’t squelched back then.

But what I want to underline for you is there’s no such thing as an innocent peek. There isn’t such a thing as an innocent peek at another man’s wife. There isn’t such a thing as an innocent peek at an off-color TV show. You’ve always wondered, you’ve heard so much about it that you just, you don’t want to see it once. There’s no such thing as an innocent peek at pornographic materials. There’s no innocent trying out of intoxicating alcohol. There’s no innocent trying out of any enslaving sin. There is no innocent trying out of premarital sexual relations. These are steps to life, crippling habits that destroy your testimony, usefulness, and your relationship of walking in harmony with Christ. There’s no innocent peek at lustful things. And David didn’t just peek; he fixed his heart on his physical desires.

Temptations are around all of us, but because temptation to sin is so powerful, we need the help only God can give.

Turn back to James with me. And just before we go, I want you to look at James 1 and verse 13. Our Lord’s own earthly brother wrote these words so profoundly and they give us a real clarity in talking about temptation. It’s the first verse you have to learn in Bible school on the verse card that talks about temptation is James 1:13-14. And this is what it says, let no one say when he is tempted, verse 13, I am tempted by God; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Verse 15, then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. The New American says in verse 14, but each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. New American gets the idea that lust carries us away and entices us as we go. And so, whenever lust is encountered, James is telling us that it is lust that conceives with our will and causes us to sin. The temptation, he says, is not the sin. James, the very first New Testament pastor of the very first New Testament church, the first leader of the church at Jerusalem, our Lord’s earthly brother doesn’t say, if you’re tempted. Notice what it says in this verse. Let no man say when he is tempted. Temptation is not an if; it’s a when, and it’s a lifelong when. In fact, I was speaking with one of the elders, and he told me that for his father’s eightieth birthday, he asked his father, he said, tell me, father, when does temptation for physical desires end? And the 80-year-old father said, I pray every day and give my eyes to the Lord. And his son said, thanks dad. Thanks for that reminder that James says, not if, but when we’re tempted.

God’s Word says temptation is inevitable. Temptation is inescapable. You can’t escape it. You can’t move. The ascetic monk, Simon Stylites, climbed to the top of a 40-foot pillar and lived on a little platform for the rest of his life, and he didn’t escape temptation. He was just as tempted up there as an ascetic monk as he would’ve been walking the streets of Egypt or wherever he would’ve walked. Temptation is going to follow us all the way through our earthly lives. For our adversary, the devil, is stalking us every day. Temptation is inevitable. So, listen to the message. It’s for all of us.

This message hinges on one word, James 1, but every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own what? What’s the word in the Bible? Lust. His desires, epithymia.

Real quickly turn back to 2 Timothy 2:22. Remember that reference I told you this morning? Very hard to forget it, 2-T-2-2-2. Okay, 2 Timothy 2:22. This is the clearest word about lust. Lust, Greek word epithymia means super desires. Lust is dreadful, dangerous, and deadly. Lust surrounds us in various forms. Lust is planted within us. We either pursue it for pleasure or flee it for righteousness. Here’s what Paul said is our command, our marching orders, 2 Timothy 2:22. Present active imperative. Little Greek lesson: present means a continuous, active means active, that you engage, and imperative is it’s a command. This is what he says, flee also youthful lusts. Translated: I command you to always flee youthful lusts. That’s what he’s saying. I command you to always flee, not feed, not peek, flee youthful lusts. Now, he doesn’t merely say flee when you’re a youth. He says youthful lusts.

The lusts that we nurture and feed as young people are going to chase us all the way through life. So, we must all decide to flee lust no matter what our age is because however large we grow these ravenous wolves of lust in our youth, that’s how large they’ll be as they chase us through life. That’s why, remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth. And that’s why those who didn’t follow the Lord as young people have so much more chasing them through life. I just spoke with someone else this week and they said that in their family, one of their family members was saved later in life. Gloriously saved, wonderfully saved. Their testimony was widely known, but to the end of their life, they battled with the lust that had built up BC, before Christ. And those ravenous wolves chased them, and they did not learn through the power of mortification to have those subsided. And those ravenous wolves will chase us through life.

Why do we flee those lusts to tempt us to sin against God? Because they cost us far more than we could ever imagine, and that’s what we’ll see in David’s life. God loved us. He bought us. He found us. He drew us. He cleansed us. He now lives within us by His Spirit. Have you thought how deeply about what it means to have God living within us? Have you thought about what would offend someone who loved us so much that He wants us to be utterly loyal to Him? So, what does He command? Flee lusts.

What does David do? Let’s go back. We’ll finish up there, 2 Samuel 11. Let’s look at his next step downward; 2 Samuel 11 has his fourth step. If you’re writing them down, the first step was 2 Samuel 5:13. David desensitized his conscience by incomplete obedience. That was a very simple little problem he had. He just didn’t fully obey the Lord, and that led to him relaxing his grip on personal purity. Then he fixated his heart, he beheld this woman. But look at verse 3, so David sent and inquired about the woman. That’s 2 Samuel 11:3. And someone said. Now look at this. This was his way out. This was the warning. This was the faithful friend. Remember, it’s a small… Someone told us when we moved here, they said, you’ll find Tulsa’s a small town. Jerusalem is smaller. This was a very small town. Everybody’s houses were built next to each other. Everybody knew everybody. There’s only one water source in town. You all had to go to the same place to get your water. There’s only so many gates. These people all knew each other. And look what verse 3 says. This was David’s the open door that God always promised. Let no one say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God; for God can’t be tempted. But will with each temptation what? As it says in 1 Corinthians 10:13, make a way of escape. Here’s David’s way of escape. Look at verse 3, David sent and inquired about the woman. He stared at her so long, probably she looked up at him, who knows what happened. But he got a servant or someone, a court official, who knows who it was. And someone said, is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife? Did you catch? The wife! David, the wife! That’s someone’s wife, David! Did you catch that little warning there? That’s the wife of Uriah the Hittite, isn’t it? You’re sending for her, David? You’re padding around. You just got out of bed, you’re wearing your pajamas, and you’re sending for her tonight? That’s Uriah’s wife. I like this progression. Isn’t this Bathsheba? She was a person, she was the daughter of someone, and the wife of someone.

Do you see how sin affects more than just yourself? I think about that in our culture. Did you know that our culture is marketing immorality and every one of those on every level, every one of those people who go through the beauty pageant center, so lusted after, that’s someone’s daughter. It’s going to be someone’s wife. That’s a person! Sin affects people.

David rationalized his mind about the wrong decision he made. He started saying, it’s not that bad. It’s only once. Nobody will know. We seem to have an infinite capacity for rationalization. David blew right by this warning. It’s Bathsheba. Why, that’s Eliam’s daughter! You wouldn’t want to do that to whoever Eliam was. And then the last level of the barrier. That’s the wife of your great warrior, Uriah. You know that don’t you, David? But once the wagon starts rolling down those ruts in the mind, it’s very hard to stop it. And David couldn’t, and David rationalized in his mind about his wrong decision, and David learned what a horrible thing sin is. It deceives with all those glittering promises, it destroys with the precision of a surgeon. Over the years, countless men who have descended into sexual sin have been asked the same question, what could have been done to prevent this? And almost every one of them answer nearly the same thing. With a haunting look and with pain on their faces, they say, if only I had really known, I had really thought about and weighed out what it would cost me, and my family, and my Lord, I honestly believe I would’ve never done it.

The one minute we have before we go, I want to share something. Did you know this is my favorite little Bible? It goes with me everywhere. It’s been all over the world. But do you know what I have in my favorite little Bible? I have tacked in the back page here, a little sheet of paper that I write on. You know what it’s called? It’s called my personalized list of the anticipated consequences of immorality in my life. I read that. Do you know why? I’ve been a pastor for, it’s going to be 30 years pretty soon, since I started down in Georgia. Do you know how many of my friends that I went through school with preached so well but now sell cars or insurance because they can never pastor again. And their families live all over the country, and their wife is still bitter and angry. Let me just read you a little bit of my list, and I’ll pick up here next week. This is my personal list of the anticipated consequences of immorality. First, I have toward God, my God. I would grieve my Lord and displease the One whose opinion most matters to me. I would drag Christ’s sacred reputation into the mud. Isn’t that what you thought when you read in the paper about the local pastor that was found in Oklahoma City? Whether he did that or not, he dragged Christ’s sacred reputation in the mud. I would lose my reward and commendation from God. Remember what Paul said? He said, I don’t want to run outside the lines and get disqualified. There seems to be something disqualifying about sexual immorality because it’s sinning against the temple of our Lord. Even though it’s forgivable, there seems to be something disqualifying about it. I would dread the day I would have to look Jesus in the face at His Judgment Seat and give an account of why I did it. You realize that? You can escape everything else. You cannot escape your appointment with Christ. People miss everything else. They’ll miss court. They’ll pay fines. They don’t care. They’ll cut classes. You can’t cut this one. We have to look Him in the face and, it says in the Bible, give an account, all alone, looking up at Him. We’re not going to be judged for our sin, but we’re going to give an account for what we did with this body that belongs to Him. It would force God’s chastening upon my life in various ways. It would prompt laughter, rejoicing, and blasphemous smugness by those who disrespect God and His Church. That’s what happened with David. And would bring great pleasure to Satan, the enemy of God.

Then I think about toward my wife and my family. It would heap untold hurt on Bonnie, my best friend and loyal wife. I would forfeit Bonnie’s respect and trust. I would give up my credibility with my beloved sons and daughters. Why would they listen to a man that betrayed their mother and them? Those are great consequences. I would realize if my blindness would continue, my family would be unable to forgive me. Maybe I would lose my wife and my children forever. I would bring years of shame on my family. People that bumped into them and say, why isn’t your daddy a pastor anymore? Plus, all the cruel comments, which people always come up with, and they say, oh, I didn’t mean to say that. I would be plagued with memories and flashbacks that could hurt any future intimacy. If I ever did get back with Bonnie.

And toward my church and my ministry, it would bring years of shame to my church family. By the way, I grew up in a church where our pastor ran off with our secretary who happened to live next door to me, and it was just unbelievable. Years of shame to the church families that I’ve served all these years. It would bring years of shame and hurt to fellow pastors and elders, and I have them all listed. It would bring years of shame and hurt to my friends, especially to the ones that I led to the Lord and discipled, and I have a list of all those. I would realize that guilt is awfully hard to shake, and even though God would forgive me, I wonder would I forgive myself? Following the shameful footsteps of men, I know whose immorality forfeited their ministry and caused me to shudder to think I would be classified with them. And I’ve listed off all those people, starting with my own pastor I grew up with and other men I served with in many places. It would cause innocent people around me to suffer. They would get hit by the shrapnel. Remember what happened to Achan? His whole family got stoned with him. And then, there are a lot more, but we’ll pick up with those next time.

David desensitized his conscience by incomplete obedience. He relaxed his grip on personal purity. He wasn’t radical like Christ tells us to be. He fixated his heart. He unashamedly stared in his physical desire. He rationalized his mind about wrong decisions. And when we pick up next time, he plunged his life into lust and wasn’t pulled out of it until Nathan poked his finger in his face and said, you are the man. David had no idea what would happen. I hope that you ponder and think strongly about taking radical steps to not cultivate sexual immorality, either in the mind or in the body.

Let’s stand together for word of prayer before we go tonight. Dear Father in Heaven, You’ve told us that we have been bought with a price. Therefore, we are to glorify You with our body because it belongs to You. You seem in Your Word to repeatedly put a very high premium on what this vehicle that You let us live in for our three score and ten, or if we’re strong, four score years. And you said not to join the temple of God to a harlot, whether mentally or physically. I pray that we would take the radical words that You said, Lord Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount, and gouge out or cut off anything in our life that leads us to temptation to feed our lusts and could cause us to be involved in sexual immorality. And I pray that we would remember often David, who completely fulfilled Your will in everything You asked him to do all of his days, except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite. I pray that little except would stop us in our tracks and make us say, Lord, I don’t want to sin against You. And I pray that we would pursue purity radically. In the name of Jesus, we pray, and for Your glory, we ask, and all God’s people said, amen. And God bless you as you go.

Notes

Remember that incredible postscript to an incredible life? Has it stopped you yet and made you soberly think about where your life, habits, and secret thoughts are headed?

Listen as I read and emphasize that one word God emphasizes for us.

1 Kings 15:5 because David did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, and had not turned aside from anything that He commanded him all the days of his life, except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite. NKJV

God forgives the sins, and God forgets the iniquities. But the consequences and loss are recorded in the Bible, God’s forever settled in Heaven Word.

We on this side of the cross have many advantages, one of them the finished revelation of God in this book called the Bible. Two of the greatest New Testament writers simplify our daily lives. Peter says that every day of our lives we are stalked by a ravenous lion called the Devil. Paul adds that we will get devoured if we don’t take heed. Here are their words.

[1 Peter 5:8] “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. [1 Corinthians 10:12]Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.” NKJV

Beware of allowing any unguarded moments in your life, thinking that you are safe from sin’s reach, and that it won’t bother you anymore; it is at that moment the ravenous devourer himself is crouching and preparing to spring. That is what David discovered, only it was too late!

We began this morning a careful look at the three final eras of David’s life. We continue this evening because they need to be studied and heeded by all of us.

Unguarded Moments lead to SIN—Uriah and Bathsheba. First is the saddest chapter, the darkest and the one we all wince at—his sin with Bathsheba. 2 Samuel 11
Inevitable Consequences lead to PAIN—Absalom and Shimei. These are the chapters that record the many years of painful consequences because of David’s sin. 2 Samuel 12-21, 24
Humble Obedience lead to JOY—Solomon, Psalms and the Temple. And last, the final days of David’s life. When we see that despite the failures of Bathsheba incident—David truly was after God’s own heart. We see him end well, using his final days for God’s glory. 2 Samuel 22-23

There are lessons to be learned from David that are very difficult, but so necessary. For any and all of us today ring Paul’s words across the twisted wreckage of so many lives that litter the highway of the redeemed—

1 Corinthians 10:12 Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. NKJV

Unguarded Moments Lead to Sin

David the giant killer, killed by the giant of lust, took six dreadful steps downward. He was enticed, baited, hooked and reeled in by lust. Then lust destroyed David’s life and testimony. It’s very insightful how this occurred, note his downward steps.

David Desensitized his conscience by incomplete obedience (2 Sam 5:13).
David Relaxed his grip on personal purity (2 Sam 11:1).
David Fixated his heart on physical desires (2 Sam 11:2).
David Rationalized his mind about wrong decisions (2 Sam 11:3).
David Plunged his life into lustful sin (2 Sam 11:4).
David Destroyed his testimony by the sin of a moment of stolen pleasure. Death, deceit, murder, immorality and spiritual oppression, poverty and famine of the soul are only a few offspring of this act of momentary pleasure.

First, David Desensitized His Conscience by Incomplete Obedience

David desensitized his conscience by incomplete obedience. This is the first sign of what was going to happen. This was just carelessness, a slight wandering, just a tiny loosening in a socially acceptable area. I actually believe that the entire horrible mess of the sin of David’s unguarded moments with Bathsheba was sparked by small disobediences back in the earlier days.

David relaxed his grip on the way God asked him to live. Watch the unfolding of the story of these deadly little things David allowed into his life. Here is the record of his early days as king:

2 Samuel 5:13 And David took more concubines and wives from Jerusalem,

[Remember David has already been king for seven years. This verse sounds like you’re just reading the news—nothing major, nothing bad, it’s kind of neutral– after he had come from Hebron.]

Also more sons and daughters were born to David.

[So you ask, was it really wrong? Didn’t all the men back then do it? Didn’t Abraham have multiple wives? You know Jacob had several wives. Why they’re all God’s people is it really so bad? But if God says it is wrong, it is wrong even if everybody does it! Yes, but 600 years after Abraham God told Moses to write down His rules for future kings.]

Remember Deuteronomy 17 was the only instructions for the King of Israel given by God? Remember that David was the second king, following one who crashed and burned because of his disobedience? So I am sure David would have carefully listened to these words from the God he so loved for His leaders in Deuteronomy 17:15-20. But as time went on David chose to ignore those instructions.

So, because of ignoring that little warning from God, David’s life moves on without God’s protection.

David Desensitized his conscience by incomplete obedience 2 Sam 5:13
David Relaxed his grip on personal purity 2 Sam 11:1
David Fixated his heart on physical desires v. 2
David Rationalized his mind about wrong decisions v. 3
David Plunged his life into lustful sin v. 4
David Destroyed his testimony by the sin of a moment of stolen pleasure. Death, deceit, murder, immorality and spiritual oppression, poverty and famine of the soul are only a few offspring of this act of momentary pleasure.

Second, David Relaxed His Grip on Personal Purity (2 Sam 11:1)

David had let little things slide in his life—things went so well he forgot to be on guard. David at the height of his life lost his grip on purity and he was playing with dandelions in the presence of the ravenous lion of lust.

We need to be doing what it takes to maintain purity in our lives.

Jesus told us once how serious we must be about sexual sin. Most people dismiss His words as hyperbole, overkill or something. But at this moment in David’s life—maybe we should read Christ’s words again and ponder them personally?

Please turn back to the Sermon on the Mount, recorded in Matthew 5, and listen with new ears to His Christ’s words:

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell” (Matthew 5:27-30).

Now, let me share part of an article from someone I really respect, that I read in a magazine once that was written about this verse.

Jesus, the Radical[1]

“Why does Jesus paint this shocking picture? I believe He wants us to take radical steps, to do whatever is necessary to deal with sexual temptation.

Now, the hand and eye are not the causes of sin. A blind man can still lust and a man without a hand can still steal. But the eye is a means of access for both godly and ungodly input. And the hand is a means of performing righteous or sinful acts. We must therefore govern what the eye looks at and the hand does.

If we take Jesus seriously, we need to think far more radically about sexual purity.
The battle is too intense, and the stakes are too high to approach purity casually or gradually.

Some men fall into mental adultery through lingerie ads, billboards, women joggers in tight pants, women with low cut blouses or short skirts, cheerleaders or dancers, movies, TV shows, and commercials of the beer-and-bikini variety. Some men’s weakness is the Sunday newspaper’s ad inserts or nearly any magazine.

So, stop looking. And then stop putting yourself in the position to look!

If you have to get rid of your TV to guard your purity, do it.

If it means you can’t go to games because of how dancers or cheerleaders dress and perform, so be it. If it means you have to lower your head and close your eyes, so be it. If you’re embarrassed to do that, stay home.

Tell your wife about your struggles. Or if you’re single, tell a godly friend. If you need to drop the newspaper because of those ads, fine. If you need your wife to go through it first and pull out the offending inserts, ask her.

Romans 13:14 instructs us to “make no provision for the flesh” (NASB).

It’s a sin to deliberately put ourselves in a position where we’ll likely commit sin. Whether it’s the lingerie department, the swimming pool, or the workout room at an athletic club–if it trips you up, stay away from it.

Proverbs describes the loose woman meeting up with the foolish man after dark (see Proverbs 7:8-9). We must stay away from people, places, and contexts that make sin more likely.

If it’s certain bookstores or hangouts, stay away from them.

If cable or satellite TV or network TV, old friends from high school, the Internet, or computers are your problem, get rid of them.

Just say no to whatever is pulling you away from Jesus. Remember, if you want a different outcome, you must make different choices.

If you can’t be around women wearing swimsuits without looking and lusting, then don’t go on vacation where women wear swimsuits. If that means not going water-skiing or to a favorite resort, fine. If it means being unable to go on a church-sponsored retreat, don’t go.

Sound drastic? Compare it to gouging out an eye or cutting off a hand!

“But…”

But there are hardly any decent TV shows anymore. Then stop watching TV. Read books. Have conversations.

But all the newer novels have sex scenes. Then read the old novels. Read fiction from Christian publishers.

But I’ve subscribed to Sports Illustrated for thirty years, back before they had the swimsuit issue. They have it now. So drop your subscription. And tell them why.

But it’s almost impossible to rent a movie without sex and offensive language. There are Christian movie review sites that can help you make good selections for family viewing. There are also services which offer edited movies, television adaptors which edit profanity, and DVD software that cuts offensive scenes from movies.

But suppose there were no decent movies – what then? I enjoy good movies, but the Bible never commands us, “Watch movies.” It does command us, “Guard your heart.”

It’s a battle–battles get bloody. Do whatever it takes to walk in purity!

A friend wrote a daily contract that asks these questions:

“Are you willing to do whatever’s necessary to protect your sexual sobriety? Ask God for help? Call on others? Go to meetings? Read literature? Set boundaries and not cross them? Be brutally honest?”

Too Radical?

But you’re talking about withdrawing from the culture. What you’re saying is too radical.

No, what I’m saying is nothing. Jesus said, “If it would keep you from sexual temptation, you’d be better off poking out your eye and cutting off your hand.” Now that’s radical.

Many claim they’re serious about purity, but then they say, “No way; I’m not going to give up cable TV,” or “I’m not going to have my wife hold the computer password.”

Followers of Jesus have endured torture and given their lives in obedience to Him. And we’re whining about giving up cable?

When Jesus called us to take up our crosses and follow Him (see Matthew 10:38), didn’t that imply sacrifices greater than forgoing Internet access?

How sold out are you to the battle for purity?

How desperate are you to have victory over sin?

How radical are you willing to get for your Lord?

How much do you want the joy and peace that can be found only in Him?”

Purity comes only to those who truly want it. For David that desire came too late; will it come to late for you also?

David Desensitized his conscience by incomplete obedience 2 Sam 5:13
David Relaxed his grip on personal purity 2 Sam 11:1
David Fixated his heart on physical desires v. 2
David Rationalized his mind about wrong decisions v. 3
David Plunged his life into lustful sin v. 4
David Destroyed his testimony by the sin of a moment of stolen pleasure. Death, deceit, murder, immorality and spiritual oppression, poverty and famine of the soul are only a few offspring of this act of momentary pleasure.

David Fixated His Heart on Physical Desires (2 Sam 11:2)

David started thinking about his sexual desire and that’s all he thought about. In the ancient world the king always built on a hill because then the enemies were at a disadvantage. So here David is in the biggest house and the highest house in the whole city of Jerusalem, and he’s wandering around at night on the roof of his house looking down around the barriers that others would have in their way. David could see over walls, fences, and screens—he sees past all of that because of his position in the highest house. But, he didn’t look away from the temptation, rather he engaged in watching, this became lust-filled staring.

In this period of restlessness, with time on his hands, moments of listlessness, boredom, and wandering the palace he uses the highest spot in the city to take an innocent peek at his neighbors wife. And from the roof he saw a woman bathing, and the woman was very beautiful to behold.

And so as he took a quick peek over the wall at his neighbor’s wife. Jerusalem at this time was not that big and so it wouldn’t be he didn’t know who lived down there. The king knew his subjects. That was one of his mightiest warrior’s homes— he knew whose house that was, he knew whose wife lived there, he knew who she was.

But what I want to underline for you is there is no such thing as an innocent peek at another man’s wife; there is no such thing as an innocent peek at an off-color TV show; there is no such thing as an innocent peek at pornographic materials.

There is no innocent trying out of intoxicating alcohol; There is no innocent trying out of enslaving cigarettes. There is no innocent trying out of debilitating drugs. There is no innocent trying out of premarital sexual relations.

These are steps to life-crippling habits that can destroy your testimony and usefulness for Christ! There’s no innocent peak at lust! David fixed his heart on his physical desires so immediately his mind starts clicking.

Temptations around us all abound. Because temptation to sin is so powerful, we need help. This morning the best, and the only real help is Christ–the Refuge for the tempted.

Now before any of us check out because this message isn’t for us, open with me to James 1.13-14.

James 1:13-15 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. 14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. 15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. (NKJV)

James 1:13-15 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone.14 But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust.15 Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death. (NAS)

Note that James, the very first New Testament pastor, of the first New Testament church, the first leader of the Church of Jerusalem, and our Lord’s earthly brother—doesn’t say “if” but he says “when.”

God’s Word says temptation is inevitable, temptation is inescapable, temptation is going to follow us all through our earthly lives.

Temptation is inevitable. So listen up, this message is for ALL of us. But this message hinges on one word—lust.

Lust (epithumia “super desires”) is dreadful, dangerous, and deadly. Lust is surrounding us and in various forms, planted within us—and is either pursued for pleasure or fled from for righteousness. Listen carefully to Paul—

2 Timothy 2:22 Flee [P A Impv. “I command you to always flee”] also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. (NKJV)

Note he doesn’t merely say when you are a youth to flee. No, he says “youthful lusts” the lusts that we nurture and feed as young people–are going to chase us through life. So we must all decide to flee lust, no matter what our age.

However large we grow those ravenous wolves of lust in our youth—that is how large they will be as they chase us through life. Why should we flee these lusts that tempt us to sin against God? Because they cost us far more than we could ever imagine. And that is what we will see in David’s life.

Our God is jealous this morning.

He loved us, bought us, found us, drew us, cleaned us and now lives within us by His Holy Spirit. Have you thought deeply about what it means to have a Jealous God living in you? Have you thought about what would offend someone who loved us so much that He wants us to be utterly loyal to Him?

The Lust of the Flesh is to chase pleasures or the Cravings of the Body
The Lust of the Eyes to chase Stuff or the Lusting’s of the Eyes
The Pride of Life is to chase status or the Boastings of the Mouth

David Desensitized his conscience by incomplete obedience 2 Sam 5:13
David Relaxed his grip on personal purity 2 Sam 11:1
David Fixated his heart on physical desires v. 2
David Rationalized his mind about wrong decisions v. 3
David Plunged his life into lustful sin v. 4
David Destroyed his testimony by the sin of a moment of stolen pleasure. Death, deceit, murder, immorality and spiritual oppression, poverty and famine of the soul are only a few offspring of this act of momentary pleasure.

David Rationalized His Mind About Wrong Decisions

3 he started saying—well it’s not that bad—only once— nobody will know. We have infinite capacity for rationalization.

David learned what a horrible thing sin is. It deceives with all those glittering promises. It destroys with the precision of a surgeon.

Over the years countless men who have descended into sexual sins have been asked the same question–“What could have been done to prevent this?” Most answer nearly the same thing with haunting pain and precision, “If only I had really known, really thought through and weighed what it would cost me and my family and my Lord, I honestly believe I would never have done it.”

I keep in the back of my Bible[2] (the one that is always with me at work, at home, and whenever I travel) a very pointed reminder of the consequences of sexual sin. I use this list as an encouragement to refocus on the Lord and take any steps of wisdom and purity necessary at the moment temptation, in any form strikes! We must always remember to put the focus where Scripture does–on the love of God and the fear of God, both of which should act in concert to motivate us to holy obedience.

My Personalized List of Anticipated Consequences of Immorality Towards My God—

Grieving my Lord; displeasing the One whose opinion most matters.
Dragging Christ’s sacred reputation into the mud.
Losing my reward and commendation from God.
Dreading the day that I will have to look Jesus in the face at His judgment seat and give an account of why I did it.
Forcing God’s chastening upon my life in various ways.
Prompting laughter, rejoicing and blasphemous smugness by those who disrespect God and the church (2 Samuel 12:14).
Bringing great pleasure to Satan, the Enemy of God.

Towards My Wife and Family—

Heaping untold hurt on Bonnie, my best friend and loyal wife.
Forfeiting Bonnie’s respect and trust.
Giving up my credibility with my beloved sons and daughters, John II, Estelle, James, Julia-Grace, Joseph, Jeremiah, Elisha, and Elisabeth. (“Why listen to a man who betrayed Mom and us?”)
Realizing that if my blindness should continue or my family be unable to forgive, I could lose my wife and my children forever.
Bringing years of shame to my family. (“Why isn’t Daddy a pastor anymore?” Plus all the cruel comments of others who would invariably find out.)
Plaguing memories and flashbacks that could taint future intimacy with my wife.

Towards My Church and Ministry—

Bringing years of shame to my church families I have served all these years.
Bringing years of shame and hurt to my fellow pastors and elders. Royce, Steve, Gerry, Elmer, Tim, Stan, Jim, Ted, Allen, Travis,
Bringing years of shame and hurt to my friends, and especially those I’ve led to Christ and discipled. List of names: Paul, Douglas, Kurt,
Realizing that guilt is awfully hard to shake-even though God would forgive me, would I forgive myself?
Following in the shameful footsteps of men I know of whose immorality forfeited their ministry and caused me to shudder. List of these names: Roy, David , etc.
Causing innocent people to suffer around me when they get hit by my shrapnel (a la Achan).

Towards Myself—

Disqualifying myself after having preached to others.
Giving up the things I am called to and love to do-teach and preach and write and minister to others. Forfeiting forever certain opportunities to serve God. Years of training and experience in ministry wasted for a long period of time, maybe permanently.
Being haunted by my sin as I look in the eyes of others, and having it all dredged up again wherever I go and whatever I do.
Undermining the hard work and prayers of others by saying to our community “this is a hypocrite-who can take seriously anything he and his church have said and done?”
Heaping judgment and endless problems on the person I would have committed adultery with.
Catching possible diseases: gonorrhea, syphilis, chlamydia, herpes, and AIDS (pain, constant reminder to me and my wife, possible infection of Bonnie, or in the case of AIDS, even causing her death, as well as mine.)
Causing possible pregnancy, with its personal and financial implications, including a lifelong reminder of sin to me and my family.
Loss of self-respect, discrediting my own name, and invoking shame and lifelong embarrassment upon myself.

[1] http://afajournal.org/2003/september/903purity.asp

[2] This list was adapted for my use from Randy Alcorn’s message called: “Deterring Immorality by Counting Its Cost–The exorbitant price of sexual sin” found at this website: http://afajournal.org/2003/september/903purity.asp