Constant Craving

5, February 2006

Dakota Community Church

Constant Craving

Introduction:

Begin with the dream.

This week I want to continue looking at the issue we began with last week when we looked at the story of Esau.

Every now and then lust has to do with sex, but most of the time it does not.

I am talking about those hungers, those cravings, those desires; those longings for things that we know are the opposite of the Lord’s will for us.

By revealing the true nature of lust I am hoping to expose it for what it really is and in so doing strip it of some of its deceptive power in our lives.

Three Characteristics of lust:

1. The craving is sensual.

Genesis 3:1-6

Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, ’You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?"

The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ’You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’ "

"You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."

When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it.

All five of Eve’s senses were in play at the temptation and fall of man.

Remember Esau? He saw the red stuff, he smelled it, he heard Jacob’s tempting “MMMM’s”.

There is much debate about what kind of fruit it was that the serpent tempted Eve with.

Show pictures of various fruits been eaten finish with ear to ear watermelon.

Lust is always an appeal to the sensual side of us.

Gen. 2:8

Now the LORD God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. And the LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food.

Lust always promises us something that it cannot deliver.

The God of genesis is characterized by pleasure. “It was good”; “It was very good.”

Eve believed it was not good enough.

The enemy is always appealing to our flesh with the idea of a better offer than what God says is good.

That leads us to the second characteristic of lust I want to look at today:

2. The craving is a lie.

2 Samuel 13:1-15

In the course of time, Amnon son of David fell in love with Tamar, the beautiful sister of Absalom son of David.

Amnon became frustrated to the point of illness on account of his sister Tamar, for she was a virgin, and it seemed impossible for him to do anything to her.

Now Amnon had a friend named Jonadab son of Shimeah, David’s brother. Jonadab was a very shrewd man. He asked Amnon, "Why do you, the king’s son, look so haggard morning after morning? Won’t you tell me?"

Amnon said to him, "I’m in love with Tamar, my brother Absalom’s sister."

"Go to bed and pretend to be ill," Jonadab said. "When your father comes to see you, say to him, ’I would like my sister Tamar to come and give me something to eat. Let her prepare the food in my sight so I may watch her and then eat it from her hand.’ "

So Amnon lay down and pretended to be ill. When the king came to see him, Amnon said to him, "I would like my sister Tamar to come and make some special bread in my sight, so I may eat from her hand."

David sent word to Tamar at the palace: "Go to the house of your brother Amnon and prepare some food for him." So Tamar went to the house of her brother Amnon, who was lying down. She took some dough, kneaded it, made the bread in his sight and baked it. Then she took the pan and served him the bread, but he refused to eat.

"Send everyone out of here," Amnon said. So everyone left him. Then Amnon said to Tamar, "Bring the food here into my bedroom so I may eat from your hand." And Tamar took the bread she had prepared and brought it to her brother Amnon in his bedroom. But when she took it to him to eat, he grabbed her and said, "Come to bed with me, my sister."