What is the remedy for lust? Today’s question is not one that’s been sent into us by any viewer. But it sure is one that could be sent in to us by a lot of viewers, because it’s very true statistically that this something that is a stumbling block and a struggle for a lot of men in particular, but also women, but men tend to be visually oriented> that’s their sexual nature, that’s how God made them, more so than women, although women, obviously there’s a visual component for them as well, but men, I think it’s exponentially more so.
You’re not exempt from this because you are a Christian man, because you probably notice physically nothing changes when you’re born again, you’re still the same biologically and you’ve still got the same hormones, the same eyeballs, same desires, sexual desires that you had prior to being born again. But Christian men have submitted themselves to the Lord, they want to follow Him, they want to obey Him, and most of them are aware of the fact that Jesus had something to say about lust. I’ve already tried to communicate very clearly in our last Little Lesson that this is something that’s always been wrong from before the law of Moses, during the law of Moses, and then of course Jesus ministered under the law of Moses, and so anything that He said in the Sermon on the Mount is an amplification of the law of Moses.
When He said, “You have heard it was said, but I say to you …” You know, people say, “He’s introducing the New Covenant law.” The New Covenant doesn’t begin for years until after this, so that’s a real confusing predicament He’s putting his people in, “You’re under the Old Covenant, the New Covenant hasn’t started yet, but I’m making it sound like you’re under the New Covenant law, which has a higher standard.” So they’re going, “Whoa, whoa, what standard are we supposed to follow, Jesus?” Jesus is not giving a new moral or ethical standard to confuse his followers who are currently, as He speaks, under the law of Moses, and who will be after his death and resurrection under the law of Christ. In fact, morality and ethics never have changed. It’s always been right to love your neighbor as yourself. It’s always been wrong to not love your neighbor as yourself. That’s an Old Covenant law that we find under the New Covenant, and I guarantee it predated the Old Covenant as written on the conscience of every human being.
So today’s question, how can you avoid the sin of lust? What’s the remedy for lust? Well, I can tell you this, nothing you can do about your hormones. Now, you can get older and the less testosterone makes it a little bit easier. But you know, that’s the problem, right? It’s a biological thing that as the days go by for men, you know what I’m talking about, you know, the sexual desire ratchets up. Okay, God did this and it’s part of his divine plan. But we’re not given then the excuse, “Okay, I’ve got these urges, so therefore I have to yield to them.” No, we’re free moral agents and God expects us to do something about it, to control it. You can’t change yourself, so what else is there to change?
The only thing left to change is your heart, which you’ve already changed that if you’ve determined to follow Jesus, and I think every true Christian knows exactly what I’m talking about, you made a commitment, you’re trying, you’re trying. But you’ve got these hormones, and there’s all these women parading around who are trying to get my attention, they are equivalent to a million prostitutes in a subtler form, on TV, in advertising, in the supermarkets, at the beach, they’re everywhere trying to get our attention. So the only thing you can change, and you can’t even change this perfectly, but you can do your best, is to change your environment.
I think that’s what Jesus was telling us when He gave his fulfilling, filling up to the full, the law of Moses. He said in Matthew chapter 5 and verse 29, “If your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out and throw it from you, for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.” Then He kind of repeats it, “If your right hand makes you stumble, cut it off and throw it from you, for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.” There’s some debate whether or not Jesus was actually advocating that a single act of lust damns you to hell unless you confess it and repent and so forth. Personally, I can’t imagine that.
I think that what Jesus is saying is, “Cut if off from the beginning. I’ve already warned about lust.” So if there are things that are causing you to stumble, and that has to be environmental things, right? Because you know He can’t literally mean, and we know from the New Testament that the offers of the epistles, no one’s advocating literally cutting off their hands or plucking out their eye. So Jesus is just using a hyperbole to make a point that you’ll have to take steps to eliminate what it is that’s causing you to stumble. Because as I said, if your eye causes you to stumble, your eye isn’t actually literally causing you to stumble, neither is your hand, but Jesus is saying that it’s worth having that kind of attitude.
So if the television is causing you to stumble in this regard and you’re falling into lust and it’s affecting you mentally where this is beyond just the temptation and this is the meditation stage, as Martin Luther said, “You can’t keep the birds from flying over your head, but you can keep them from making a next in your hair.” Well, then get rid of your TV. You say, “I can’t get rid of my TV. How could I live?” People lived without TVs for most of human history. We’d probably be better off. I mean, I know there’s lots of blessing on TV. But not if it’s leading you into lust, which can lead to adultery and fornication, right? Right.
Okay, and on tomorrow’s Little Lesson I’m going to elaborate a little bit on this from the woman’s side, okay? Because a lot of them don’t even realize how difficult they’re making it for men who are trying to follow Jesus in this regard. All right, thanks so much for joining me. God bless you.
