10 Ways To Preach About Lust—and Get To The Real Issues

John S. Marquis

commented on Sep 1, 2014

I take exception with number 1. We get angry, sad, happy, etc because we are created in God's image with all of the personality traits and emotions he has! Lust is not wrong! I lust for my wife regularly. What is wrong is misplaced lust. I also take exception to number 6. Charles Haddon Spurgeon said "there is something profoundly spiritual about the young mans trip to the brothel." Lust is a symptom. the real issue is a lack of intimate relationship. The whole of the creation story, God's interaction with both Israel and the Church and the Gospels is innately sexual. Sexuality and spirituality are intrinsically and inexplicably linked. The failure of the church to understand this and the Augustinian attitude you propagate does not lead us to be "transformed by the renewing of our minds". It instead propagates a form of socialism that like the liberals today use to get rid of guns you would use to label and remove from culture all that you perceive as sinful.

Stephen Johnson

commented on Sep 1, 2014

John, you seem to misunderstand the meaning of lust. Lust is wanting something greatly that you can't have. Lust takes the thing you want in your mind without consent. Lust is not emotion like anger or sadness or happiness. It is a choice that Jesus calls adultery in the heart.

Jason Smith

commented on Sep 2, 2014

I think you are confusing lust with covetousness. Lust is defined as a desire for someone or something, plain and simple. Covetousness is the desire for something that you cannot have that belongs to another. Some lust can be covetous, but not all.

Jeff Law

commented on Sep 3, 2014

Hey Jason! ... From where are you getting your definition of covetousness? ... In 1 Corinthians 12:31 and 1 Corinthians 14:39 we are encouraged to covet things we can obtain that are good for us to covet.

Jeff Law

commented on Sep 3, 2014

Hey John! ... From where are you getting your definition of "lust"? ... In the times of the tithe, as according to the Law, lusting was allowed in Deuteronomy 14:26.

Cris Texon

commented on Sep 1, 2014

There is no misplaced lust, lust is either misplaced or uncontrolled desire. You desire for your wife not lust for her. You said "Lust is not wrong", now that's a premise of the liberals and the humanists, which promotes relative morality.

Jeff Law

commented on Sep 3, 2014

Hi Cris, ... What you are saying about "You desire for your wife not lust for her" does not apply to a man and woman in a marriage covenant. ... "But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. Matthew 5:28 ... A man who is married to the woman whom he is lusting after cannot commit adultery by lusting after her. If he lusts after her, he is within his covenant with her. Remember, her body belongs to him and his to her. ... We are not to lust after evil things as it says in 1 Corinthians 10:6, "Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted." (KJV)

Ricky Dean Mauldin

commented on Sep 1, 2014

John, I think you took CHS out of context. He once preached ?the men who frequent brothels should be punished as well as the women who traffic their bodies.? I understood your quote as saying all courtships with temptation are profoundly spiritual (they're warfare in the spiritual realm). Is that perhaps the contextual use of your quote?

John S. Marquis

commented on Sep 1, 2014

I take exception with number 1. We get angry, sad, happy, etc because we are created in God's image with all of the personality traits and emotions he has! Lust is not wrong! I lust for my wife regularly. What is wrong is misplaced lust. I also take exception to number 6. Charles Haddon Spurgeon said "there is something profoundly spiritual about the young mans trip to the brothel." Lust is a symptom. the real issue is a lack of intimate relationship. The whole of the creation story, God's interaction with both Israel and the Church and the Gospels is innately sexual. Sexuality and spirituality are intrinsically and inexplicably linked. The failure of the church to understand this and the Augustinian attitude you propagate does not lead us to be "transformed by the renewing of our minds". It instead propagates a form of socialism that like the liberals today use to get rid of guns you would use to label and remove from culture all that you perceive as sinful.

Cris Texon

commented on Sep 1, 2014

Good article, straight to the point! Bulls eye to the our sinful heart! "1st Cor. 10:12 Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall."

Jeff Law

commented on Sep 2, 2014

In the Webster's 1913 dictionary, the etymology of the noun "lust" was, "pleasure, longing; to desire; to loose. Cf (confer to the word) LIST (which means) to please, LISTLESS]", and as a verb, "lust" has the etymology of "list to choose" ... In the Oxford English Dictionary, the etymology of the subject "lust" has its meaning in "to long for" and as a verb its etymology is in the word "list". ... What is the etymology of the word "list"? The answer is "pleasure". What kind of pleasure? ... Ah! That is not in its etymology. ... "Lust", however, is a type of "pleasure" as at least one brother here has said. ... Now, to bend one's mind one way or another as to say lust is or is not evil is like saying a person just by the sheer nature of being a person qualifies personage as being good or it qualifies personage as being evil. ... this is not rightful thinking. ... Pleasure is lust. Lust is pleasure. ... In the King James Version look up the word "lusteth", and you will find more scriptures to support a good type of lust than against it. In the same version look up the word "lust", and you will find more scriptures to support an evil type of lust than against it. Again, use the same version and look up the word "lusts", and you will find that it seems all scriptures support an evil type of lust. ... Compare the King James Version to something like the Wycliffe Bible when English was more pure and exacting, and you will find other words instead of "lust" such as "covet" and "desire". ... And, what is "covet"? ... The etymology of "covet" is "eager desire" in the Oxford and "to desire; to become excited" in the Webster's. ... Look the word "covet" up in the KJV and in the Old Testament, you will see it used as a negative desire, but in the New Testament of the KJV you will see it used as a postive desire. .... Look up the word "love" in the Oxford's Universal Dictionary on Historical Principles (1933), and you will find its etymology is "to desire". Look up the etymology of "love" in the Oxford English Dictionary (1908), and you will find "precious; to hold dear; to be dear or agreeable; to endear; to show kindness; praise" ... "Desire", "Covet", "Love" ... each in and of itself is not bad or good. ... What is the goal of "covet"? What is the goal of "lust"? What is the goal of love? ... Understanding the goal each is one of the issues. ... Another issue is that there is talk without coming into agreement, let alone submission, to the historical language being used, as in, using it as it was used centuries ago. .... Until an agreement with what the word historically means is reached, name-calling based upon recklessness and whatever is afoot. Please agree together and not separate the witness of the church amongst yourselves. ... "Behold, how good and how pleasant [it is] for brethren to dwell together in unity!" Psalms 133:1 (KJV)

Prescott Jay Erwin

commented on Sep 2, 2014

"If anyone advocates a different doctrine and does not agree with sound words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ, and with the doctrine conforming to godliness, he is conceited and understands nothing; but he has a morbid interest in controversial questions and disputes about words, out of which arise envy, strife, abusive language, evil suspicions, and constant friction between men of depraved mind and deprived of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain" (1Ti 6:3-5). I trust that most of this is not applicable to the commenters below, but there does seem to be inordinate disputation about words in this discussion. It is true that in an examination of Scripture that among the Hebrew and Greek words for lust there are positive and negative nuances, but it is clear what this writer is talking about: sexual lust in the context of fornication and adultery. And RE #1, yes Moore is correct: we lust not simply because we're human, but because humanity is fallen.

Jeff Law

commented on Sep 2, 2014

No. Actually, sexual lust in the context of fornication and adultery is not the clear message. It is assumed based upon the points he offers; yet he is not significantly clear. Also, we are not speaking Greek and Hebrew here. If that were the case, yes, reference the Greek or Hebrew, but do it in Greek or Hebrew. If you speak English, please honor it, else answer in Greek or Hebrew so that others can understand you perfectly.

Jeff Law

commented on Sep 2, 2014

I must say that the clearest indication of sexual context is in the tags of this article but not in the title nor the body of the article. In that point regarding the tags, I agree about the intended context. ... So often instead of a thank you, I get a relegation to the Greek or Hebrew; yet the definitions within either are still rendered in English. ... Is it so unbelievably incorrect for a person to consult an English dictionary after learning the English translation of a Greek or Hebrew word into English? ... It is as if the flow of learning stops at the Greek or Hebrew into English. ... When will any generation of that bears English as its native tongue honor what words meant way before that generation was born? ... Or even follow the scriptures concerning such, "Hear my words, O ye wise [men]; and give ear unto me, ye that have knowledge. ... "Furthermore Elihu answered and said, For the ear trieth words, as the mouth tasteth meat. Let us choose to us judgment: let us know among ourselves what [is] good." Job 34:1-4 (KJV)

Jeff Law

commented on Sep 2, 2014

"Furthermore Elihu answered and said, Hear my words, O ye wise [men]; and give ear unto me, ye that have knowledge. For the ear trieth words, as the mouth tasteth meat. Let us choose to us judgment: let us know among ourselves what [is] good." Job 34:1-4

Steve Darnall

commented on Feb 12, 2019

So, no excuses, but nott clear on the answer You're offering. The freedom is in moment by moment intentional abiding, living in God's love - intimacy with Jesus. Otherwise we will lust, or complain, or pursue things in our own strength. Whatever the visible sin, it is rooted in trying to live independent of God. The answer is to abide right now.

Ronald E. Vanauken

commented on Nov 23, 2024

I would suggest that lust is a natural desire gone wrong in both direction and intensity. Wrong in direction in that it is for things forbidden and wrong in intensity in that it becomes difficult to resist. I do believe the article is somewhat excessive. There are many things that contribute to our lustfulness but these need tobe seen as just that and not used as excuses or justifications. The Psalmist prayed "may the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceotable to you" and "Search me and know me and see if there be any wicked way in me." Anyone who truly is a follower of Jesus needs only to take these seriously and build on them. For me, confession and repentance can sometimes fill my day. It's not the words of my mouth and it's not clearly sinful acts, it is my thoughts that are not pure and holy. So I am continually seeking sanctification and the renewal of my spirit less I fall.