This week's 'thought'
has to do with a struggle most all men wrestle with (every one I've ever known
anyway) -- lust. And in particular, sexual lust. It comes to you
from John Piper in his book, "Future Grace." If
you (or someone you know) is looking for help in the fight for purity,
this excerpt offers some solid, relevant, helpful truth on how to gain victory
over lust.So, if that's what you want (and if you struggle with it you should!), I encourage you to read on. Enjoy.
Faith
In Future Grace vs. Lust
"Suppose I am tempted
to lust. Some sexual image comes into my mind and beckons me to pursue it. The
way this temptation gets its power is by persuading me to believe that I will
be happier if I follow it. The power of all temptation is the prospect that it
will make me happier. No one sins out of a sense of duty. We embrace sin
because it promises, at least in the short run, things will be more
pleasant.
So what should I do?
Some people would say, 'Remember God's command to be holy (I Peter 1:16), and
exercise your will to obey because he is God!' But something crucial is missing
from this advice, namely, faith in future grace. A lot of people who
strive for moral improvement cannot say, 'The life I live I live by faith'
(Gal. 2:20). They strive for the purity of love, but don't realize that such
love is the fruit of faith in future grace...
When faith has the upper
hand in my heart, I am satisfied with Christ and his promises. This is what
Jesus meant when he said, 'Whoever believes in me shall never thirst' (John
6:35). When my thirst for joy and meaning and passion are satisfied by the
presence and promises of Christ, the power of sin is broken. We do not
yield to the offer of sandwich meat when we can smell the steak sizzling on
the grill.
The fight of faith is
to stay satisfied with God. 'By faith Moses... [forsook] the fleeting
pleasures of sin...for he was looking to the reward' (Heb. 11:24-26). Faith is
not content with 'fleeting pleasures.' It is ravenous for joy. And
the Word of God says, 'In your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right
hand are pleasures forever more.' (Ps. 16:11). So faith will not be
sidetracked into sin. It will not give up so easily in its quest for maximum
joy.
The role of God's Word is
to feed faith's appetite. And, in doing this, it weans my heart away from
the deceptive taste of lust. At first, lust begins to trick me into feeling
that I would really miss out on some great satisfaction if I followed the path
of purity. But then I take up the sword of the Spirit and begin to fight.
I read that it is better to gouge out my eye than to lust. I read that if I
think about things that are pure and lovely and excellent, the peace of God
will be with me (Phil. 4:8). I read that setting the mind on the flesh brings
death, but setting the mind on the Spirit brings life and peace (Rom. 8:6). I
read that lust wages war against my soul (I Pet. 2:11), and that the pleasures
of this life choke out the life of the Spirit (Luke 8:14). But best of all, I
read that God withholds no good thing from those who walk uprightly (Ps.
84:11), and that the pure in heart will see God (Matt. 5:8).
As I pray for my faith to
be satisfied with God's life and peace, the sword of the Spirit carves the
sugar coating off the poison of lust. I see it for what it is. And by the grace
of God, its alluring power is broken. I wield the sword of the Spirit
against the sin of lust by believing the promise of God more than I believe the
promise of lust. My faith is not only a backward-looking belief in the death of
Jesus, but a forward-looking belief in the promises of Jesus. It's not
only being sure of what he did do, but also being satisfied with what he will
do -- indeed, it is being satisfied with what he will do precisely because of
what he did do (Rom. 8:32).
It is this Spirit-given
superior satisfaction in future grace that breaks the power of lust. With all
eternity hanging in the balance, we fight the fight of faith. Our chief
enemy is the lie that says sin will make our future happier. Our chief weapon
is the truth that says God will make our future happier. And faith is the
victory that overcomes the lie, because faith is satisfied with God."
As one can see from
this selection the Bible's way of fighting sin is with faith, not with more
willpower or legalistic restrictions. It is victory found in a
return to believing. Believing God's promise rather than Satan's lie.
In a fascinating
little book I just read yesterday, it asks (regarding Hitler's attempted
extermination of the Jews in the death camps across Europe): "How Do You Kill 11
Million People?" (That's also the book's
title.) And what's the answer: "You
lie to them." As he shows in a fairly convincing
way, you can get anybody to do almost anything if you can get them to believe a
lie. Tell them that what they do believe (have believed) is wrong, what
they need to believe is what you are selling, and then make the lie you are
selling as convincing as possible. Say it with as much earnestness and
charisma as you can (the non-biblical kind). That's Satan's ploy.
Yet faith holds on to the
truth -- refusing to believe the lie while also clinging to the firm
promises of God. Faith exposes the lie to the soul before we are led in
temptation to comply with it.
The lie: Giving in to lust will fulfill your immediate
bodily/fleshly craving for pleasure and therefore make you happy. The
truth: The pleasures of sin last only for a short time and
result in death, but Christ offers joy, hope, inner peace, rest of
soul, an undefiled conscience, fulfillment, delight, satisfaction, and in the
future -- eternal pleasures at God's right hand. And the means
of overcoming: Faith -- but especially faith in God's promise of future
grace.
Blessings in the battle to
believe, Pastor Jeff
