Lust

Lust

Matthew 5:27-30

Introduction

In 1875 three balloonists left Paris with one thing on their mind: to set a new altitude record. They wanted to rise higher in their balloon than anyone before them. They’d been warned to take pressurized oxygen and so they loaded their oxygen gear for the flight. But as their balloon rose and rose as they gained altitude, hypoxia set in making them delirious. By the time they reached 7500 meters, they were in serious trouble. One man sat helpless on the floor of the basket. Worse, the lack of oxygen had affected his mates’ reasoning. Not only were they still dumping ballast to gain more height, but they also threw their oxygen equipment overboard. By the time the balloon landed, both men were dead. Only the man on the floor of the balloon survived. He said, ‘towards 7500m the numbness you experience is amazing, you become indifferent; you no longer think of the danger, you just want to rise and rise’. Chasing the thrill beat their logic, with deadly consequences. They literally threw away their lives.

If you’re struggling with the sin of lust, that’s the danger. Lust is that deadly. Just about all Christians face sexual temptation at some stage. If you are you’ll see yourself in that story. Not because you’ve ever been ballooning, but because that’s the perfect picture of how your lust consumes you, drives you, and clouds your thinking. The grip of lust on your heart, it’s just like starving oxygen to the brain, it leads to thinking just as irrational, actions just as foolish and consequences just as deadly. Proverbs 6:26 says, “Do not lust in your heart after her beauty or let her captivate you with her eyes, for the prostitute reduces you to a loaf of bread, and the adulteress preys upon your very life”. They say the chase is better than the kill. Well, with lust, not only is the chase foolish, but the kill is you.

I. The Problem

• Make no mistake as we hear God’s Word on lust, this sin is deadly.

o It destroys lives, it destroys families, it destroys children, it destroys you.

o Proverbs 6 concludes that “a man who commits adultery lacks judgment; whoever does so destroys himself”.

• But what is the problem?

o What is the sin we’re to turn from?

o Is it just sex?

o Does the Bible saying sex is wrong?

o That’s the impression some Christians give you.

o In fact some people even came up with the silly idea that sex was the original sin.

o And as for the world, they think they invented it!

o Magazines like Cleo and Cosmo seem to think sex was only discovered in the 1960s.

o But we find a very different story in the Bible.

o We find that God made sex and that it was part of the world He called good, it wasn’t an accident.

o Adam and Eve didn’t think it up!

o They didn’t have to hide it from God.

• In Genesis 1 we see that God made the gift of sex.

o God makes Adam and Eve male and female, sexual beings.

o And he says to them “be fruitful and increase in number”.

o The first command from the God of the universe to humankind is … multiple in number!

o God isn’t again sex.

o Sex between the man and the woman is a good and proper thing, within the boundaries of a marriage.

o Don’t believe the lie that God’s some kind of cosmic killjoy.

o From page one of the Bible, God says of sex, go for it!

• But there’s a pattern isn’t there?

o There’s a context, there’s a place sex belongs.

o Go for it – yes, but in this way: one man and one woman, in a marriage relationship together.

o That’s where sex belongs: one man and one woman in a lifelong, monogamous, committed, exclusive, relationship.

o That’s God’s chosen place for the expression of sexuality.

• You can read more about God’s design for sex in 1 Corinthians 7; it’s a great chapter about marriage.

o It’s about how a husband and wife are to look after each other.

o They’re to serve each other.

o And because they’re sexual beings, a big part of serving each other, is serving each other sexually (1 Cor 7:4).

o The wife’s body belongs to her husband – for his enjoyment.

o The husband’s body belongs to his wife – for her enjoyment.

o It’s not just so children can be born.

o Sex is for a man and woman to express their love for each other, to give to each other, in the context of marriage.

o It’s a great gift from God, that’s how it’s to be used.