The Selection of a New Pope: A Cause for Celebration or Continual Concern?

            When the news broke a couple of weeks ago that a new pope had been chosen for the Roman Catholic Church, I was in a hospital waiting room with the family of one of our members who was having emergency surgery. Very quickly, this became the talk of the morning and surpassed any other conversation which had been going on. I listened as many expressed their excitement over the news and hopes for how this pope would lead. Tens of thousands who were gathered at the Vatican the moment the announcement occurred broke out in cheers and tears. It was seen as a momentous event and one of great celebration. However, rather than the election of a new pope being a cause for celebration, it should be one of continual concern for us. Not because of Robert Francis Prevost specifically who now occupies the office as Pope Leo XIV but due to the office itself. Both the nature of it and the teachings it represents and promotes.

             First, we should have concerns about the office of the pope and the papacy itself. There is no place in Scripture for any man to have the authority that has been given to the pope in the Catholic Church. He is seen as the supreme visible head of the church. That role has already been taken though by the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is the only one ever described as being the head of the church with no indication that He would ever share such an honored status with any others (Ephesians 1:22-23; 4:15; 5:23). The church is not said to have two heads but just that One. And while the Catholic Church has attempted to make the claim that Peter served as the first pope with every other succeeding one supposedly continuing his supreme authority, such an assertion does not hold any water with Scripture. Peter did not see himself as being any greater than other pastors in the church or as a supreme authority over them but rather was content to describe himself as being “a fellow elder” of theirs in 1 Peter 5:1. For that matter, nowhere do the other apostles treat Peter as superior to them or having a special authority over them. In settling the dispute over what to require of the Gentile converts, it is James’ judgment that is accepted by the apostles, elders, and the whole church with everyone sending a select group of men with the letter summarizing their decision (Acts 15). Peter is not the one making this decision over and for the others. Nor did he make the official judgment agreed upon. Paul even rebukes him when he was in the wrong (Galatians 2:11-14). And when it comes to Peter’s specific connection to Jesus’ words about building His church on the rock with the gates of hell not prevailing against it along with the keys of the kingdom being given to him in Matthew 16:18-19, it must not be forgotten that this declaration of the Lord’s came AFTER Peter’s confession of who Jesus is (v. 16) and that later all the apostles are acknowledged as serving a foundational role for the construction of the church (Ephesians 2:19-21). Those same keys to the kingdom and the binding and loosing power which goes with them are mentioned again in reference to the church as a whole in Matthew 18:18. There is no evidence that Peter had been singled out to serve as the father or papa of all other leaders in the church.

            It is also very concerning the titles the Pope holds in his office. Titles which really are only appropriate for the triune God Himself. In fact, the Pope carries a specific title that would fit each one of the persons of the Trinity alone. He is called “Holy Father” which is exactly the phrase Jesus uses for God the Father in His high priestly prayer in John 17:11. Our Savior certainly was not praying to an earthly bishop or pope! The kind of elevation of someone with this sort of title is exactly what Jesus spoke against when He said, “And do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven” (Matthew 23:9). The Pope, along with every priest in the Catholic Church, is also referred to as being an “alter Christus,” Latin for “another Christ,” equating them with the second person of the Trinity. The Pope is known as well as “the Vicar of Christ;” “the representative or substitute of Christ” on this earth. The problem with this title is that it is already taken too. The One whom Jesus sent to serve as His representative or substitute now in His physical absence is the Holy Spirit. He is the One who continues Jesus’ work, bears witness about Him, and delivers His words to the apostles who in turn wrote them down for us (John 14:16-17, 16; 15:26; 16:8-15). No mere man was sent or appointed to such a position. With the bearing of these titles of the Trinity, the Pope in essence is declared to be God. This is further the case with his official declarations (referred to as “ex cathedra” or “from his chair”) being viewed and treated as if they are equal in weight and authority to Christ’s words themselves. As if they are on par with Scripture or even to be considered as Scripture. They are considered to be infallible or without error as the words of the Bible are.

            Along with concerns about the office of the pope, we should be concerned as well with the teaching of the pope as he upholds problematic Catholic doctrine in regards to the gospel. The Roman Catholic Church can be said to add to the gospel by claiming that works are necessary for one to be saved. That we have to cooperate with the grace that God gives for salvation through participating in the sacraments to receive the righteousness we need to be accepted by God. The Catholic Church claims that one must be baptized in order for their original sin to be removed and to be infused with righteousness. Then, when they lose that righteousness by doing a mortal sin, which is never clearly defined, they must go to a priest for confession, do some sort of penance prescribed by the priest, and attend the Mass in order to get it back. This cycle is to continue each time the person does a mortal sin. The Bible, on the other hand, makes it clear that our salvation is all of grace with the only thing we can contribute to it being the sin that makes it necessary. It says instead: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; NOT OF WORKS, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). “But when the kindness and affection of God our Savior appeared, He saved us, NOT BY WORKS WHICH WE DID IN RIGHTEOUSNESS, but according to His mercy, through the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that having been justified by His grace, we would become heirs according to the hope of eternal life” (Titus 3:4-7). Abraham we are told was counted or considered to be righteous on the basis of his faith in the Lord and His promise of salvation alone (Genesis 15:6). He had not done any righteous deeds to merit or earn such a declaration or consideration at all. Any works of obedience he did, such as being willing to sacrifice his son on the altar as God had commanded (Genesis 22), FOLLOWED his faith to demonstrate the reality of it. Not to contribute to him being considered as righteous before the Lord in any way. That consideration had already been made through his faith. And the thief on the cross is the case of someone who never was baptized, never attended a mass, did not confess his sins to a priest, did no penance or participated in any sacrament but got to heaven as indicated with the promise of Jesus for him to be with Him in paradise that very day (Luke 23:39-43). All that man had was faith in Christ and we see that that faith was enough.

            The Catholic Church says that Mary serves as an additional mediator for our salvation along with Jesus. According to the official Catholic Catechism, Mary holds the title of “mediatrix”. Paul could not be any clearer though that “For there is one God, and ONE MEDIATOR also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5). Adding Mary as a mediator is yet another way the Catholic Church can be seen as adding to the gospel.

            The Catholic Church can be said to subtract from the gospel with their teachings on purgatory, the necessity of participating in the sacraments for salvation, and the mass as offering up Jesus’ body and blood again as an unbloody sacrifice. All of these indicate that Jesus’ sacrifice on our behalf was not sufficient and final to atone for or cover our sins and grant forgiveness of them. They communicate that something more must be done in addition to His work or that His sacrifice needs to be repeated. There is no reason for a purging of sin to take place when the gospel declares that Jesus took care of all of our sins in His death in our place, He cleanses us of ALL of our unrighteousness, and that there is no judgment which awaits the believer after death (John 5:24; 1 John 1:7, 9; Romans 5:9; 8:1). When Jesus declared that “it is finished” right before His death (John 19:30), He meant that nothing more needed to be done to secure our salvation for us. His work was enough and complete. It takes away from that work to teach that something more needs to be done either by or to us to atone for our sins.

            A popular evangelist right after Pope Francis’ death called for Christians to pray for the Catholic Church in the choosing of their new pope. The concern we ought to have about the existence of the office of the pope itself should lead us to pray instead that the Catholic Church would have its eyes open to see the unbiblical nature of such a position and the error of its distortions of the gospel to do away with such and teach what Scripture says instead without any additions or subtractions to Christ’s saving work. And to reach out in love to our Catholic friends and family to point out to them the truth of Scripture so that they too can see the concern instead of the celebration we should have for the pope.

Love in Christ,

Pastor Lee

The Christian and Politics

We live in a very highly politicized culture currently. Probably more so now than ever before it seems. The news networks appear to be seeking to do everything possible to get us to take sides and further the partisan divide of the country. Our Facebooks, X accounts, and other social media are constantly bombarded by the political opinions and feelings of our friends or those who we may be following. We have people saying that the President can do nothing right and those on the other hand who always defend him from having ever done anything wrong. It is so easy, if we are not careful, to get sucked into all the political infighting and lose sight of how we are to conduct ourselves as Christ’s ambassadors whose citizenship ultimately lies in heaven, not here on earth. My hope in this month’s article is to encourage us to maintain the proper perspective in our politics as we seek to best represent Christ during our time on this earth and, specifically, in this great country the Lord in His sovereignty has placed us to live in for such a time as this.

In everything we do on this earth, we must not forget that we are to view ourselves as being “strangers and exiles” here. Peter reminded the Christian readers of his first letter that this was true of them when he wrote, “Beloved, I urge you AS SOJOURNERS AND EXILES to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul” (2:11). We always need to keep in mind that this earth is not our ultimate home. None of us will be living in the United States forever. As Paul told the Philippians, “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by His working through which He is able to even subject all things to Himself” (3:20-21). Now, this doesn’t mean that we have nothing to do with the politics of this world or in our nation. Only that our involvement in it is to be in light of our temporary status here with the constant mindset that what matters even more is preparing ourselves and others for our eternal home. As I have said before, I believe that Jeremiah’s instruction to the Jews as they were being taken into exile in Babylon fits well for us in our current exile so to speak in the modern day Babylon we find ourselves in at the moment. He told them to basically build houses in the land and raise families there as well as “seek the peace of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to Yahweh on its behalf; for in its peace you will have peace” (Jeremiah 29:5-7). Of course, they were to do that all the while maintaining their identity as being God’s people and remembering that such a land was not where they would stay indefinitely. Daniel and his three friends serve as a good model for us with this. They certainly were aware and involved in the politics of the day as seen with them serving as the king’s advisors. However, they never compromised their “Christian” identity nor lost sight of the fact that their true and more lasting home did not lie there but elsewhere. This is why they refused to eat and drink the king’s choice food and wine (Daniel 1:8), join everyone else in bowing down to the king’s idolatrous statue (3:12), pray to the king (6:10-13), and continued to pray towards the city of Jerusalem during the times of the sacrifices (6:10; 9:21) even though they weren’t presently there and the temple had been destroyed. Maintaining such a perspective of us being strangers and exiles here helps keep us from getting overly involved in politics and buying into the lie that whatever X, Y, or Z politician does or doesn’t do is of ultimate consequence and that we need to fight tooth and nail either for it or against it or else.

Concerning the President, to borrow something a dear friend of mine from my seminary days has said, he should not be seen or treated as either Satan or the Savior. As either evil incarnate himself or the perfect one who can save this country and fix all of its problems. We clearly see both caricatures of him on both sides politically right now. But when it comes down to it, he is no different than we are. Just another sinner in need of salvation. We ought to criticize his actions when they deserve such as he is not perfect and makes his share of mistakes like the rest of us. Only, his mistakes are known much more widely and can have far greater consequences than most of ours. We absolutely should commend him when he does well. And, in these past three months in office, we can find plenty of both. The duties Scripture gives us towards the president are threefold. We are to submit to his authority over us as long as such does not require us to go against what God has commanded (Romans 13:1; 1 Peter 2:13-14; Daniel 1:8; 3:12-18; 6:10; Acts 4:18-20). We are to honor and respect our leaders due to the nature of the office they hold (Romans 13:7; 1 Peter 2:17). Keep in mind that Paul and Peter wrote that when Nero was the emperor of Rome; certainly not a good righteous leader and no friend to Christians. (In fact, he is the one to later have both of them executed for their faith and intentionally caught the city of Rome on fire and blamed the Christians for it.) And, most importantly, we are to pray for our leaders, with our greatest concern being for their salvation (1 Timothy 2:1-6). To neglect any of these, regardless whether the leader may have an “R” or a “D” next to their name is to ignore or disregard God’s word in this matter.

And, finally, when it comes to the Christian’s involvement in politics, we need always to keep the main thing the main thing. Paul points out in 2 Corinthians 5:20-21 that our primary role which underlies everything else we do is to be an “ambassador for Christ,” pleading with people to be reconciled to God through the work of Christ on behalf of all of those who by grace believe in Him. This means that our greater concern with our family, friends, and neighbors are not with what political party they may be registered with or who they voted for in the last election but more so whether or not they know Jesus and where they are going to spend eternity. We should not view someone with a different political persuasion than us as being our enemy, but rather, if they don’t know the Lord, see them as part of our mission field. I fear that all too often we wind up joining in with those of the world mocking and deriding those on the other side of the political aisle and share the memes on Facebook making fun of them or portraying those with a certain view in a very negative light leading to a wall being put up between us and them for them never to give us a hearing of the gospel. Something that could lead to a shutting off of any further potential conversation with them about Someone far greater than the President and matters which transcend politics in importance. The only offense we should desire to give to others is that of the gospel. Not their political perspective or what they may think about the President and what he does. The more I ponder this matter, the more I find myself in agreement with D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones’ perspective articulated a century ago. He said, "We hear so much today about defending western civilization from attack. That is all wrong. As a Christian, I am not primarily concerned about western civilization. I am interested in the kingdom of God. And I am as anxious that men and women behind the iron curtain should be saved as men on this cement on this side of the iron curtain should be saved. We must not take up a position of antagonism towards those who we want to win to Christ."

So, as we have to deal with the ongoing onslaught of political information and banter, let’s be sure that we are known to handle these things much differently than those in the world. In a way that reflects a mindset of being “strangers and exiles,” with prayer for and honor and respect towards the President and his cabinet, and as an ambassador of Christ seeking to win people to Christ before winning them over to our political party or candidate.

With My Love in Christ,

Pastor Lee

A Major Issue in Our Society Today: What Pete Hegseth's Confirmation Hearing Revealed

 Pete Hegseth's confirmation hearing for secretary of defense last week was full of contentious moments as he was grilled over his positions and past. One of the things which sparked controversy for his appointment were statements he has made regarding women serving in the military. Specifically, how he has expressed concern of women serving in combat roles.

The fact that this generated such a vehement response by some lawmakers I believe reveals how far we have come as a nation and ultimately gets at the heart of most of our issues today. Rebellion against God's designed and established gender differences. It all really goes back to the feminist movement in the 70s which held to the perspective perhaps articulated best by a modification of Annie Oakley's song in the musical, "Annie Get Your Gun." "Anything a man can do, a woman can do, only better." This has led to women stepping into traditional male roles and even the infamous horrendous but rightly overturned Supreme Court decision, Roe v. Wade. One of the leading reasons for it was to ensure that a woman would have the same opportunity and freedom as men do. An unwanted pregnancy could hinder that. It lies at the heart of the transgender revolution and the push from some for men to participate and compete in women sports against other women. It can even be seen in the church with the acceptance and practice of women serving as pastors. We have gotten to the place now where the distinction between the sexes or genders have become so distorted and blurred that some cannot even judge or describe what a woman actually is! This is also is why women have even been allowed to serve in the military in the first place and in combat roles.

Interestingly enough, having women go out into combat really is a recent practice. It dates just back to the year 2016 after the ban against it was announced to be lifted in 2013. Before such, it would have been relatively unheard of in just about every culture. Try as you may, you will not find any warrior women in the Bible. It was the men who were always sent out into war. We see this in the census' of the young men to go into the military in the book of Numbers (1:2-15; 26:2-51). (This is actually how the book of Numbers got its name. The two "numbers" or census' counted both in the beginning and at the end of it.) We are told of King David's mighty MEN (2 Samuel 23:8-39; 1 Chronicles 11:10-47). Not his mighty WOMEN. Now, some may say, "what about Deborah? Wasn't she a warrior serving as a judge?" Actually, she was not. In fact, when the time to go to battle came, she called on a man named Barak to fight and lead the troops (Judges 4:6-7). It was only because of his cowardice and refusal to go without her that led to her accompanying him for combat (vv. 8-9). But, even then, the rebuke for Barak was the humiliation of the victory being given to a woman. That woman being Jael (vv. 17-22).

This cannot be limited to a cultural thing at the time either. Keep in mind that the Jewish culture and the church both were shaped by the revelation of God's Word. The reason as to why women were not even considered to be sent out into the military was because God had made it clear His different but complimentary design for men and women. How men have been intended and called to lead, provide, and protect women with women to serve as their helpers under their authority in glorifying God in the work He has for them to do. We see this right with the very creation of the first man and woman (Genesis 2:4-25). Paul points out that the order of God creating man first before the woman indicates men being designed and called to lead (1 Timothy 2:13). The very purpose for the creation of women is even designated as to "serve as a helper for him" (Genesis 2:18). And when everything went down in the garden with man's fall into sin, it is telling that it is the man God confronts first and who He holds accountable for what had taken place (3:9). Adam had a responsibility to his wife to lead and protect her so it is only natural for Him to be knocking on Adam's door to inquire with the man of the house for those under his watch. Although as a result of the fall, a woman's desire will be to overtake the authority of her husband (and perhaps men in general), God states that this doesn't not change His intention for the man "to rule [or lead] over you" (v. 16). (The verb for "desire" used in this verse is the same one found in the next chapter where God warns Cain that sin desires to overtake him in his anger and jealousy that he must rule over (4:7). So, this is not a positive desire or indicating that the woman will be attracted to her husband. It should be taken the same way as a negative desire to overtake the husband and his rightful authority like the sin did for Cain.) In Deuteronomy 10:18, we are told that God steps in to take care of the fatherless and widow. "He executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and shows love for the sojourner by giving him food and clothing." He needs to do so because the father or husband is gone leaving the child or woman without their provider and protector. While widows today are not necessarily as dependent upon their husbands to survive, the principal of the design of a man to serve as the primary provider and protector of the family clearly can be seen with these verses.

And there are great and lasting consequences with this. Children get less of mom or women choose to have less of children due to them stepping into the role of military combatants alongside the men who are the ones to risk their lives to love, serve, and protect the women and children at home. The same also could be said about the "career woman" who is more concerned with promotions at her job than the promotion of her children in their growth at home. How many children have been hurt by not having mom as present with them and devoted to them but having to spend much of their time in daycare or dealing with a distracted mom instead? The impact this has on our society is more far-reaching than it may first appear. But, then again, should be surprised as such? That is always the case whenever we go against God's good, wise, and perfect plan and design for anything.

My intention with this post has not been to demean any of our women who have or are bravely serving in the military, being willing to lay down their lives if necessary for our freedom. I greatly appreciate their courage and willingness. But at the same time, we should recognize that many of them may have a much higher calling and greater battles to fight than with the troops overseas or abroad. Their meaningful warfare takes place at home with the little warriors they are given to raise and prepare for future service in the Lord's army as He wills. Ultimately, that should not be neglected. As Pete Hegseth put it in his book, "Dads push us to take risks. Moms put the training wheels on our bikes. We need moms. But not in the military, especially in combat units." And perhaps the reason this has become so controversial today stems from us forsaking the good, wise, different, and complementary roles God has designed for men and women in general. It would be so good for us to get back to that for the betterment and welfare of our society and its families.

How to Avoid Falling Into Sexual Temptation

            We live today in a very hypersexualized culture. Sexual temptation is everywhere. On our TVs, computers, even in the palm of our hand. It all is just a click or press away. It can be found in the popular romance novels your friends may be reading and wanting to share with you or the blockbuster hit movie everyone is seeing that you might be curious about yourself. You can be watching a clean show or YouTube video only to have it interrupted by a sensual scene in a commercial or ad popping up. The billboard you casually notice while driving down the road or the how someone is dressed at the mall or grocery store. Sexual temptation is something we all have to deal with in some form or fashion. There is no way around it unless we cut off all types of communication with the outside world, but even then, it will still be able to find us. What is needed is knowing how to avoid falling into such whenever it presents itself to us. Thankfully, God’s Word gives us at least 8 different ways we can go about avoiding succumbing to the sexual temptation all around us. There are probably many more we could list as well but we will limit ourselves just to the following eight for now. We’ll look at four of them this month and pick up on the rest of them in next month’s article. To help us better keep them in mind in the moment when the temptation strikes, I have found a word for each of them which begins with the letter “R”.  

 

            The first way for us to avoid falling into sexual temptation is to BE READY. Paul writes to the Corinthians, “let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall” (1 Corinthians 10:12). It is the very moment when we think that this is something that can or never will happen to us that we are the most susceptible to fall into such temptation. When we let our guard down, we are no longer watching or ready for the temptation to strike and we in turn can easily be blindsided by it. Then, the next thing we know, we are knee deep in it. There is a good chance that the disaster of the Titanic may have been avoided if the ship’s crew would have taken the warnings about icebergs in the area more seriously and had been better prepared for the worst to happen. But they all were so convinced that the ship was unsinkable that they were not as careful and watchful concerning those warnings and wound up facing the dire consequences that now have gone down in history. Don’t foolishly believe that you may be “unsinkable” by sexual temptation or that it won’t have any affect on you. Always be mindful that any of us could easily slip when faced with it causing us to fall headfirst into it. As it has been said, “Unless you are wiser than the wisest man in the Bible, stronger than the strongest man in the Bible, or have a better heart than the man after God’s own heart, don’t think for a moment that you are above falling into sexual sin.” Solomon, Samson, and David weren’t and we certainly are not smarter, stronger, or more after God’s own heart than any of them. This is why every time I hear of another big name high profile pastor being discovered to have been involved in some sort of sexual scandal or affair, I don’t say to myself, “How could this have happened to them?” but “How easy that could be me if I am not careful or let my guard down?” We all can only be one step or two away from falling. And that step begins right when we think we could not fall prey to it. When we are not ready for the sexual temptation to occur and what might happen should we give in to it.

 

            Another thing we are told to do when faced with sexual temptation is to RUN. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6:18 that we are to “flee sexual immorality.” Not stay around it. Not flirt or play with it. Not see how far we can get before crossing the line into sin. Not even to entertain the possibility of it. But to get as far away from it as possible. Just like Joseph did when Potiphar’s wife made advances towards him. He didn’t stick around for a minute to even consider giving into that temptation. He literally dropped everything and got out of there! (Genesis 39:12). Whenever sexual temptation presents itself to us, we must turn quickly and go the other way, not looking back as did Lot’s wife (Genesis 19:26; Luke 17:32). And I should point out that the command in this verse to “flee” is in the present tense. We must continue to run the other direction away from sexual temptation.

 

The third way to avoid falling into sexual temptation is REMAIN where you are supposed to be and not go where you shouldn’t. There is an interesting often overlooked detail in the account of David’s fall into sexual sin that we would do well not to miss. At the very start of the chapter, before David ever laid eyes on Bathsheba, we are told, “Now it happened in the spring, at the time when kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him and all Israel, and they destroyed the sons of Ammon and besieged Rabbah. But David stayed at Jerusalem” (2 Samuel 11:1). Pay attention to that last sentence. David should have went out to war with his soldiers that Spring as normal but instead chose not to. Had he been where he was supposed to be, in this case, he never would have done what he was not supposed to do with Bathsheba. If we do not visit those websites we are not supposed to be looking at or go those places the Lord would not have us to go, we would not find ourselves involved in sexual sin in the first place. If we would remain where the Lord would have us to be according to His Word and not go where temptation knowingly lies.

 

And the place God has for us to find our pleasure and sexual satisfaction in this life is with our husband or wife. Solomon puts it this way in his proverbs, “Drink water from your own cistern and fresh water from your own well. Should your springs be dispersed abroad, streams of water in the streets? Let them be for you alone, and not for strangers with you. Let your fountain be blessed, and be glad in the wife of your youth. As a loving hind and a graceful doe, let her breasts satisfy you at all times; be intoxicated with her love. So why should you, my son, be intoxicated with a strange woman and embrace the bosom of a foreign woman?” (Proverbs 5:15-20). Remain drinking from the well God has graciously given you and you won’t be as easily tempted to look to another one instead. And if you do not have a husband or wife to drink from we could say, or circumstances may be hindering it, seek the Lord while you wait for one or things to change. Don’t start looking for other wells or even consider the thought of possibly tasting any of them!

 

A fourth way to avoid giving into sexual temptation is to RESOLVE not to look lustfully at someone other than your spouse. Job made a commitment not to do this. He said, “I have cut a covenant with my eyes; how then could I gaze at a virgin?” (Job 31:1). Resolve that the moment you see an image you have no business looking at, that you will turn your head and refuse to entertain it in your mind. Say to yourself in that very instant, “I will not give this another glance or a thought.” Martin Luther put it well when he said, “Temptations, of course, cannot be avoided, but because we cannot prevent the birds from flying over our heads, there is no need that we should let them nest in our hair.” Prevent sexual temptation from even beginning to build a nest in your hair by vowing not to give it any more attention once it flies over your head so to speak.

 

Something else we must do to avoid falling prey to sexual sin is to strive to be RID of it and its underlying desire. In Romans 8:12-13 we are told, “So then, brothers, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh-for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die, but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the practices of the body, you will live.” Part of living the Christian life is to be actively putting to death those sins presently a part of our lives and the desires which lead to them. It is declaring war on them and doing everything you can, with the strength and power the Holy Spirit gives you, to work to eradicate them from your life. While our posture towards sexual temptation should be one of flight the moment we find such a temptation dangling in front of us like a carrot before a horse, there is also a sense where we need to be fighting against it as well. The old word used to describe this is “mortify” which has a forceful feel to it of really wiping it out to be done with. I like what Derek W. H. Thomas said about this practice of mortifying or putting our sin to death. He wrote, “There is to be no ‘peace’ with sin. We dare not baptize our sins with benedictions. It is imperative that sin be destroyed. It’s life is not to be spared. There must be a radical destruction of sin. Kill it; strangle it; starve it of oxygen until it cannot breathe again. There is no other way.” Imagine lustful desire to be like a dragon. If you continue to feed it, it will get hungrier and hungrier, seeking to devour you while wanting to indulge in its passion all the more. You need to starve it to put a halt to its craving and be careful not to feed it even a crumb or small morsel so as not to whetten its appetite. And you will find when you keep your eyes and thoughts away from things that your desire for them are not as strong. But the moment you give in just a little bit, the harder it is to say “no” the next time the temptation presents itself.

 

And since we will never fully be rid of these sinful desires within us until we receive our new resurrected bodies, this work of mortification or putting sin to death will not be finished until we reach glory. This means that we can never stop, give up, or let up working to slay the sinfulness within us but must keep at it knowing that our ultimate victory is inevitably certain in the future because of Christ and His wonderful work for us and His Spirit’s continual work in us. Octavious Winslow helpfully reminds us, “Death by the cross is certain, yet lingering. Our blessed Lord was suspended upon the tree from nine in the morning until three in the afternoon. It was a slow, lingering torture, yet terminating in his giving up the ghost. Similar to this is the death of sin in the believer. It is progressive and protracted, yet certain in the issue. Nail after nail must pierce our corruptions, until the entire body of sin, each member thus transfixed, is crucified and slain.”

 

The seriousness of this matter is conveyed so powerfully by the Puritan John Owen with his words, “be killing sin or it will be killing you.” View sexual sin like a fire. You play around with it, you are sure to get burnt. If it is not put out, it will burn down your marriage, your family, and a man’s ministry, leaving nothing but destruction in its wake. You may think or try to convince yourself that what you are looking at, fantasizing about, or acting on only affects you but that is never the case. We are too interconnected with others for it to be so. A fire that is not put out will grow and spread. Take notice that it is often only a small spark that winds up starting a wild fire. And, if left burning, how much of an area gets affected by it. So serious is this ridding ourselves of sexual sin through putting it to death in our lives that Jesus tells us we need to take radical measures to cut off from our lives anything which would cause us to give in to such sin. He compares this to plucking out our eye or chopping off a hand (Matthew 5:29-30). It would certainly be hard to part with our physical eye or a hand. However, purity before the Lord in regard to our marriages is worth more. And it would be better for us to go without something we deem to be so essential for us than to give into sexual temptation and reap the damning consequences of it if it would lead us down that road.

 

A sixth way for us to avoid sexual sin according to God’s Word is to REMEMBER. To remember in particular something about our sin and something about our Savior. In his recounting of the faith of Moses, the author of Hebrews says, “By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, regarding the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he was looking to the reward” (11:24-26). One thing that sticks out to me from this passage is him speaking of the “passing pleasures of sin.” Whenever we are tempted sexually, we need to remember that while that sin certainly promises pleasure, there would be no enticement for us to do it otherwise, it is only a temporary pleasure. It will not last but is only short-lived. That is the thing to remind ourselves about the sin itself. In contrast, there is far greater and more lasting pleasure to be found in Christ instead. Every time we sin, we are choosing the much lesser and temporal pleasure of sin over the far greater and never-ending pleasure that is ours in Christ. Jesus told the Samaritan woman at the well that she would continue to be thirsting as long as she kept drinking of that water. But the one who drinks the water He offers will never thirst again. They will be eternally fully and finally satisfied. He is speaking of a complete and lasting quenching of one’s spiritual thirst of course. Something the woman beforehand clearly did not know as evidenced by her sinful relationships with men. Perhaps reminding ourselves of this truth of real lasting pleasure being found in our Savior and not in the sin we are being tempted to give way to can help us choose Christ over the sin with its pleasure which does not last. This is true not just of sexual temptation but really any temptation we may be faced with.

 

Yet another way for us to avoid falling into sexual sin is to RETREAT to the Exit. We are promised in 1 Corinthians 10:13 that “God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.” Now, this is not saying that God will not give us more than we can handle as is commonly interpreted from this verse. That’s certainly not the case as I am convinced that pretty much everything we have been given is too much for us to handle on our own in our own power and strength but is never too much for God to handle. And the purpose for that is to continually direct and drive us back to One who can handle it and give us the strength to as well. Here, the idea is that God will make sure that we never have a moment where we are so overwhelmed by the temptations before us that it is impossible for us to resist and say “no” to them. He will always ensure that there is some kind of way out of it. An escape from it. You may have had those moments like I have where you are on a long trip driving down the interstate and find yourself needing to get off to go get gas, take a bathroom break, get something to eat, or do all three (if you are like me and try to save time by making it all one stop when possible). But try as you may, mile after mile with less and less gas in the tank and a fuller bladder, you just can’t seem to find any exit in sight where you can stop. This verse reminds us that such will never happen to us on our spiritual journey whenever we come to some temptation. We will not find ourselves without an exit out of it. This means that what we need to do in the midst of such is to look for that exit and be sure to take it! Not to stay on the road but quickly get off it.

 

The final way I can think of that Scripture gives us for avoiding giving into sexual temptation is the most important of them all. In fact, we are not able to follow any of the others without it. And that is to RELY on the Lord. We will fail miserably at being victorious over sexual sin in our lives if we are seeking to fight against it in our strength and power. Because, frankly, we cannot do it on our own. It’s just not possible. You will notice in Romans 8:13 we looked at earlier speaking of us seeking to put to death the sinfulness within us that beforehand Paul states, “BY THE SPIRIT you are putting to death the practices of the body.” We are not doing this by the flesh or by our might. Only by the power of His Spirit which God has graciously given us to dwell inside us. The good news is that God’s grace is sufficient for defeating all the sinful lusts and practices in our lives. As Jesus reminded Paul with his dealing of that painful thorn in the flesh, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9). There is hope for all of us to overcome such temptation in Christ alone. We ultimately just keep needing to turn to Him and throw ourselves upon Him pleading with Him for His mercy in taking care of the matter. Then, and only then, can we BE READY, RUN, REMAIN, RESOLVE, GET RID OF, REMEMBER, and RETREAT.