Devoured



In a world like this, saturated in a constant stream of filth coming from every angle, it’s tempting to blame the sin of lust on the outside world and diminish our role because it seems almost impossible to resist the barrage! This sin is arguably the toughest to battle and is especially able to entangle us, interestingly right at the point where original sin is transferred through humanity.

Certainly there can be no doubt that the world is increasingly filled with the perversions of God’s natural design for sexuality, and that Satan is the author of it and revels in it. The exhortation in 1 Peter 5:8 to be watchful is followed by a description of Satan as a roaring lion prowling around seeking someone to devour. That mental picture seems almost a perfect metaphor for the way Satan has designed this sin to entangle us.

Having said that, we must always remember that sin is ours to own. G.K. Chesterton was asked the question: “What’s wrong with the world?” His answer is beautiful in its simplistic relevance for us: “Dear Sirs” he said, “I am!” Not only is it ours to own, but we must recognize the outrage that it is before the thrice holy God we worship. We are very good at sympathising with other sinners in their sin, and not so naturally inclined to side with God in His righteous indignation over sin. The world neatly defines the worst evil as that which produces the most human misery, but there is more evil in the least of our sins than in a natural event which produces the most human suffering.

A story of a minister who preached very strongly one day on the subject of sin serves to illustrate the danger in minimising sin. After the service one of the church officers asked him not to talk so openly about man's corruption, because the children hearing the message may more easily become sinners. The minister took down a small bottle from the cabinet and showed it to the visitor and said “Do you see that label?” The man replied, “Yes”. The label read “Strychnine” and underneath that in bold red letters was the word “Poison”. “Do you know man, what you are asking me to do?” said the minister. “You're suggesting that I change the label. Suppose I do and paste over it the words, "Essence of Peppermint”. Do you see what might happen? Someone would use it not knowing the danger involved and would die, and so it is too with the matter of sin. The milder you make the label the more dangerous you make the poison.

Our Lord’s teaching in Matthew 5:27-30 helps us to understand lust from His perspective.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.  If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.” [ESV]

In this passage we see:

·         The Depth of this Sin

It is not only an act, but rather it is an attitude, being much deeper than just committing adultery.

·         The Deceit of this Sin

It is never as simple as it looks. You can be highly respectable on the outside and be rotten with lust on the inside.

·         The Destructiveness of this Sin

It is so severe that its ultimate end is to cast people into an eternal hell.  So serious is it that we would be better to take the most drastic action that would cause us great physical pain if that would prevent it.

The error of minimising this sin seems especially prevalent today, as if the state of impurity in the world around us is somehow proportional to our tendency to minimise our inability to resist it. A passage from John Owen’s treatises on Indwelling Sin in Believers and The Mortification of Sin serves as a staggering reminder of the attitude we should have towards this sin…

“Bring your lust to the gospel, — not for relief, but for farther conviction of its guilt; look on Him whom you have pierced, and be in bitterness. Say to your soul, “What have I done? What love, what mercy, what blood, what grace have I despised and trampled on! Is this the return I give to the Father for his love, to the Son for his blood, to the Holy Ghost for his grace? Is this how I repay the Lord? Have I defiled the heart that Christ died to wash, that the blessed Spirit has chosen to dwell in? And can I keep myself out of the dust? What can I say to the dear Lord Jesus? How shall I hold up my head with any boldness before him? Do I account communion with him of so little value, that for this vile lust’s sake I have hardly any room in my heart? How shall I escape if I neglect so great salvation? In the meantime, what shall I say to the Lord? Love, mercy, grace, goodness, peace, joy, consolation, — I have despised them all, and esteemed them as a thing of nothing, that I might harbour a lust in my heart. Have I obtained a view of God’s fatherly countenance, that I might behold his face and provoke him to his face? Was my soul washed, that room might be made for new defilements? Shall I endeavour to disappoint the end of the death of Christ? Shall I daily grieve that Spirit whereby I am sealed to the day of redemption? Consider the infinite patience and forbearance of God towards you in particular. Consider what advantages he might have taken against you, to have made you a shame and a reproach in this world, and an object of wrath for ever; how you have dealt treacherously and falsely with him from time to time, flattered him with your lips, but broken all promises and engagements, and that by the means of that sin you are now in pursuit of; and yet he has spared you from time to time, although you seem boldly to have put it to the trial how long he could hold out. And will you yet sin against him? Will you yet weary him, and make him to serve with your corruptions? Have you not often been ready to conclude to yourself, that it was utterly impossible that he should bear any longer with you; that he would cast you off, and be gracious no more; that all his forbearance was exhausted, and hell and wrath was even ready prepared for you? And yet, above all thy expectation, he has returned with visitations of love. And will you still abide in the provocation of the eyes of his glory?”

Knowing the seriousness of this sin, we must act! We must work out this salvation we have been given by our own effort knowing that it is God who is at work in us (Phil 2:12-13). First and foremost, that means a rigid commitment to taking shelter in the Word for protection and for sanctification, and to remaining steadfast in prayer.

In addition, a number of practical resources are available to support the sanctifying work of the Sprit through the Word…

A Strategy for fighting:

http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/taste-see-articles/anthem-strategies-for-fighting-lust

A Resource for Understanding:

http://theresurgence.com/2008/09/28/porn-again-christian-a-free-e-book

A Tool for Accountability:

http://www.x3watch.com/

A System of Prevention:

http://www.internetsafety.com/safe-eyes-parental-control-software.php

A Path to Recovery:

http://www.challies.com/node/4640

The Long Silence

Anonymous Author:

“At the end of time, billions of people were seated on a great plain before God's throne. Most shrank back from the brilliant light before them. But some groups near the front talked heatedly, not with cringing shame - but with belligerence.

"Can God judge us? How can He know about suffering?",snapped a pert young brunette. She ripped open a sleeve to reveal a tattooed number from a Nazi concentration camp. "We endured terror ... beatings ... torture ... death!"

In another group a Negro boy lowered his collar. "What about this?" he demanded, showing an ugly rope burn. "Lynched, for no crime but being black!"

In another crowd there was a pregnant schoolgirl with sullen eyes: "Why should I suffer?" she murmured. "It wasn't my fault." Far out across the plain were hundreds of such groups. Each had a complaint against God for the evil and suffering He had permitted in His world.

How lucky God was to live in Heaven, where all was sweetness and light. Where there was no weeping or fear, no hunger or hatred. What did God know of all that man had been forced to endure in this world? For God leads a pretty sheltered life, they said.

So each of these groups sent forth their leaders, chosen because they had suffered the most. A Jew, a negro, a person from Hiroshima, a horribly deformed arthritic, a thalidomide child. In the centre of the vast plain, they consulted with each other. At last they were ready to present their case. It was rather clever.

Before God could be qualified to be their judge, He must endure what they had endured. Their decision was that God should be sentenced to live on earth as a man.

Let him be born a Jew. Let the legitimacy of his birth be doubted. Give him a work so difficult that even his family will think him out of his mind.

Let him be betrayed by his closest friends. Let him face false charges, be tried by a prejudiced jury and convicted by a cowardly judge. Let him be tortured.

At the last, let him see what it means to be terribly alone. Then let him die so there can be no doubt he died. Let there be a great host of witnesses to verify it.

As each leader announced his portion of the sentence, loud murmurs of approval went up from the throng of people assembled. When the last had finished pronouncing sentence, there was a long silence. No one uttered a word. No one moved.

For suddenly, all knew that God had already served His sentence…”

Watch & Pray...

Do you ever look at the state of the world around us with the gracious gift of “eyes to see”, and find yourself bewildered? 

It’s not difficult with Spirit-led discernment to notice the finest strands of a number of dangerous developments slowly brewing in the world around us.

Two such dangers are becoming increasingly clear, and together they should make us sit up and pay attention.

First, anyone with a serious commitment to teaching or group study of the pure Word would surely have noticed that many Christians these days seem almost indifferent to any serious commitment to their professed faith. The look on some faces when they have the exclusivity of the truths in the Word of God applied to their lives is something that can be quite indescribable. Over the past few generations, almost imperceptibly, the church has fallen asleep. Christians for the most part are at minimum lax and lazy, shallow, anti-intellectual and uncommitted and at worst, licentious, pluralistic and worldly. There is a serious level of disconnect from the Word of God and the expending of any real effort on serious study in it and thinking on it as a key aspect of a conformed life. Most approach the Word of God as if raking leaves, instead of digging for diamonds!

Second, the growing hostility towards biblical Christianity and what it stands for is palpable! Anyone who dares to question or challenge anyone’s right to do whatever they please within the framework of the ever loosening bounds of the law, faces a level of indignation which seems to multiply with each passing year. In years gone by as an example, Christian groups did not have too much difficulty in lobbying for or against issues in society, but in recent years the back-lash to lobbying efforts to uphold traditional values has been increasingly fast and furious.

The combination of a church that is largely indiscernible from the world and a world which increasingly fosters an attitude of overt hostility to the truth is as likely a breeding ground for the conditions which will prevail at “the end of the age” as any. The days when we can worship in safety are surely numbered. There are precious few who are truly passionate and committed to our calling, and we need to be the catalysts for God’s people urgently drawing nearer to Him and to each other in light of these dangers.

In the myriad of things we could turn our eyes to in Scripture as a starting point, Jesus’ words in Matthew 26:41 to the disciples at Gethsemane are as pertinent to us now as they were to the disciplies then. In context, Jesus words were aimed at preparing the disciples for the trials and persecution which would come on them as a result of the crucifixion of Christ, and preparing the early church for the unprecedented persecution of all believers. There can be no doubt though, that Jesus’ words are for us today. As we see the strands of these emerging dangers developing and intertwining, we too need to “watch and pray that we may not enter into temptation.”

We do need to watch the world. In Mark 13:33 , we are told: “Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come.” Being aware of the culture and the trends in the world which will culminate in the “birth pangs” is important. We are never to be fixated on these things, but we are called to be alert, sensitive and discerning about these things. However what is of ultimate importance is that we watch our lives and our doctrine (1 Tim 4:16).

We need to watch our minds. The church has a post-modern love affair with new age spirituality and is forging it’s concepts and ideas into our faith. At times this is quite overt (for example in proponents of the Emergent Church), but in many instances, it is mostly sub-conscious and manifests in a subtle despising of any emphasis on the mind and the exercise of it in the Christian life. Yet we know that the mind is a critical channel through which God designed for us to be sanctified (Psa 119:11; Romans 7:25),  because “the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions (2 Tim 4:3).

Finally, we need to be watching our lives. This starts with keeping our minds set on things above and not on things below (Phil 2:3).  Sanctification is surely a very slow process, and grieving over and struggling against our sin is painful but it is an assurance of true faith and we should wear it like a badge. We are called to engage in sustained, prayer-saturated warfare over the sin in our lives as we strive to bring our practise into line with our position in Christ. There is a certain tension in our sanctification that we have to humbly submit to, because on one hand God’s power is made perfect in our weakness (2 Cor 12:9), but there is an imperative to offer our bodies (our entire selves) as a living sacrifice as our act of worship (Rom 12:1). Phil 2:12-13 shows the tension between our effort and God’s grace. “Continuing in sin that grace may abound” is not an option! (Romans 6:1)

Using Romans 7:14-25 as a kind of template, our attitude (illustrated here as a verbal affirmation) in light of our indwelling sin should be to say that:

·         We love the law (v12: So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good; v22: For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being)

·         We hate our sin (v15: For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.)

·         We acknowledge our weakness (v: 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?)

·         We rejoice over and give thanks for His grace (25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.)

So don’t stop fighting, and repenting, and praying. And remember, “in your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.” (Heb 12:4) The victory is ours! There is “now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Who shall separate us from His love?” (Rom 8;35).