Gratifying Sexual Desires without Negative Consequences? – Self-Deception Series 5 – Purity 1094

Gratifying Sexual Desires without Negative
Consequences? – Self-Deception Series 5 – Purity 1094

Purity 1094 07/14/2023 Purity 1094 Podcast

Purity 1094 on YouTube: 

Good morning,

Today’s photo of the sun setting over the Oswego
West Pierhead Lighthouse on Lake Ontario comes to us from Celestial Blue
Photography, as Rocco Saya who shared this captured this scene back on April 15^th.  

Our prayers have gone out to Rocco over the last few
days as he reported mysterious symptoms of ill health, with the initial diagnosis
of a possible blood clot, but we are happy to report that Rocco reported that
he was being released from the hospital after it was determined that he had
suffered from an unknown insect bite. 
Rocco thanked everyone for the kind words and prayers that he received
and commented that it was rather ironic how he had photographed insects for
over two decades with no instances of being bitten, only to be sent to the
hospital after camping in the Adirondacks.  

Rocco’s story tells us that you never know what is
going to happen and that if you are not feeling well to do the wise thing and
go get it checked out by a doctor.   

Well, it’s Friday and I know all too well how you
should go see a doctor when you are suffering, because years ago I ignored
persistent headaches until I was stricken with Bell’s palsy, as half of my face
was paralyzed due to Lyme disease. Rocco’s story came to mind to me this morning
because yesterday afternoon I was attacked by what must have been hornets or “ground
bees” while mowing the lawn at my place down by the River.  I didn’t see anything but had some quick
shooting sting pains to the backs of my legs and just toughed it out until the weather
shifted to winds and rain, allowing me to only get 90 percent of the lawn
done.   But it’s a good thing I quit when
I did because I am pretty sure I was in shock as the stinging sights broke out
in hives causing me to take some allergy medication to treat it, which put me
down for the count around 8:30pm last night!

Like I said, I didn’t really see anything before
getting stung and after the pain only had a vague sense of some insects flying
near me, showing us that even the “unseen” things can cause you harm.  

As a CFMA for Freedom in Christ Ministries, I know
all about how the unseen spiritual forces of darkness attempt to deceive and tempt
us to sin,  but we also have to be of the
unseen dangers that can come from “our own worst enemy” at times, ourselves and
the lies we have believed and told ourselves over and over again to keep us stuck
in bondage or from being less than the people God created us to be.  

And that brings us to our current series on Self-
Deception, where we have decided to begin this investigation into the ways we
deceive ourselves by walking through Step 2, Deception Vs. Truth, of the Steps
to Freedom in Christ to see what ways we may have been deceived by “the world”
and ourselves and in what ways we have wrongly defended ourselves. 

So we present the fourth “Way You Can Be Deceived By
the World”:

4. Believing that gratifying sexual lust will bring
lasting satisfaction without any negative consequences. 

The scripture references for this point are:

Ephesians
4:22 (NLT2)
²²  throw off your old sinful
nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception.

And

1
Peter 2:11 (NLT2)
¹¹  Dear friends, I warn you
as “temporary residents and foreigners” to keep away from worldly desires that
wage war against your very souls.

Here scripture points out our old sinful natures
(our pre-Christ existence) was defined by lust and worldly desires that waged war
against our souls and were a form of deception.  

How? Why are our “natural” desires for sex deception?   Because if dwelt on or have sex outside of a
marriage covenant, between a man and a woman, any sex – solo, hetero, or homo –
goes against the truth of God’s word. Any sex outside of marriage is sin, its
wrong, and can not only lead to unwanted pregnancies, venereal disease, sexual
addiction, and broken hearts it separates us from a harmonious relationship
with God and does damage to our very souls.  

Our bodies are not our own. God made us and gave us
life and He will reclaim us and judge us by what we have done with our bodies
and by what we put our faith in.  IF we
are consumed with gratifying our sexual lust we demonstrate that we have
rejected the Lord’s wisdom on the matter and relationship with Him as our lustful
actions demonstrate our lack of respect for Him.  

Those scary verses in the Bible where people who
thought they had a relationship with God are told that Jesus never knew them highlight
that no matter what they had professed or had “done for the Lord”, their “practicing
lawlessness” revealed that their sin had separated them from God.  Regardless of outward appearances, they had
more faith in themselves and their sin than in Jesus.  

Our sex lives matter to God. They demonstrate if we respect
His word and authority, or they demonstrate that we reject them. So don’t believe
the lie that you are free to gratify your sexual desires without any negative
consequences.  Beyond using and hurting
other people and damaging our own lives and souls, gratifying our sexual
desires could have the negative consequence of being separated from God for all
eternity in hell.  

So instead, choose to live by the Truth of God’s
word and do not give into the lust of the flesh. God directs us to be good stewards
of our bodies and has reserved sex for the expression of love and pleasure for
a man and woman in marriage. So get thee a wife or husband or choose to be
celibate (it is possible), to demonstrate that you understand what God says
about sex and that your relationship with Him is more important than gratifying
lustful desires.

——————————————————————————————–

Today’s
Bible verse comes to us from “The Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling” By
John G. Kruis.

(
While Bible verses on various topics of Counseling can be found with a quick google
search, we encourage you to purchase this resource to support the late author’s
work. (https://www.amazon.com/Quick-Scripture-Reference-Counseling-Kruis-ebook/dp/B00CIUJZT2?ref_=ast_author_dp )

This
morning’s meditation verses come from the section on Adultery:

Proverbs 23:26-28 (ESV)
²⁶  My son, give me your
heart, and let your eyes observe my ways.
²⁷  For a prostitute is a deep
pit; an adulteress is a narrow well.
²⁸  She lies in wait like a
robber and increases the traitors among mankind.

 

Today’s verse falls under
the 14^th point of our counseling reference guide resource’s section
on adultery, 14. “Beware of the seductive woman (or man).”   

Today’s verse warns us to
follow the Lord’s ways and to not be lured into sexual temptation to betray ourselves
or our spouses.  

Adultery is rebellion
against our marriage covenant, a literal breaking of vows to be faithful with
our sex lives to one person only. But it is also rebellion against God.   

The church is the “bride
of Christ” and so when we give into temptation and gratify our sexual desires
outside of marriage, we are also being unfaithful to God because it is implicit
that when we claim a relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ, that
we will love and respect Him and obey what He says.  

Adultery, or any sin, is
rebellion against God and demonstrates we have betrayed Him and ourselves.  

So avoid the seductive man
or woman because adultery is a very serious matter and even though it promises pleasure
it always leads to pain.

———————————————————————

As always, I invite all to go to mt4christ.org where I
always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to
assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk.

Today we continue sharing from  The Holy Spirit By A.W. Pink.

As always, I share this information for educational
purposes and encourage you all to purchase A.W. Pink’s books for your own
private study and to support his work.  This resource is available online
for $0.99 (https://www.amazon.com/Holy-Spirit-Arthur-Pink-Collection-ebook/dp/B008CM5292/ref=sr_1_3?crid=AHKAQOM39CTN&keywords=a.w.+pink+the+holy+spirit&qid=1684376225&sprefix=a.w.+pink+the+holy+spirit+%2Caps%2C96&sr=8-3) 

A.W. Pink’s The Holy Spirit

13– The Spirit Convicting

Summary
of Differences in “Conviction”

In summary, there is a very real and radical
difference between that conviction of sin which many of the unregenerate
experience under the common operations of the Spirit, and that conviction of
sin which follows His work of quickening and enlightening the hearts of God’s
elect. We have pointed out that in the case of the latter, the conscience is
occupied more with sin itself than
with its punishment; with the real nature
of sin, as rebellion against God; with its exceeding sinfulness, as enmity
against God; with the multitude of sins, every action being polluted; with the
character and claims of God, as showing the awful disparity there is between
Him and us. Where the soul has not only been made to perceive, but also to feel—to have a heart-horror and anguish
over the same—there is good reason to believe that the work of Divine grace has
been begun in the soul.

Many other contrasts
may be given between that conviction which issues from the common operations of
the Spirit in the unregenerate and His special work in the regenerate. The
convictions of the former are generally light and uncertain, and of short
duration, they are sudden frights which soon subside; whereas those of the
latter are deep, pungent and lasting, being repeated
more or less frequently throughout life. The former work is more upon the
emotions; the latter upon the judgment. The former diminishes in its clarity
and efficacy, the latter grows in its intensity and power. The former arises
from a consideration of God’s justice; the latter are more intense when the
heart is occupied with God’s goodness. The former springs from a horrified
sense of God’s power; the latter issues from a reverent view of His holiness.

Unregenerate souls
regard eternal punishment as the greatest evil, but the regenerate look upon sin as the worst thing there is. The
former groan under conscience’s presages of damnation; the latter mourn from a
sense of their lack of holiness. The greatest longing of the one is to be
assured of escape from the wrath to come; the supreme desire of the other is to
be delivered from the burden of sin and conformed to the image of Christ. The
former, while he may be convicted of many sins, still cherishes the conceit
that he has some good points; the latter is painfully conscious that in his
flesh there “dwelleth no good thing,”
and that his best performances are defiled. The former greedily snatches at
comfort, for assurance and peace are now regarded as the highest good; the
latter fears that he has sinned beyond the hope of forgiveness, and is slow to
believe the glad tidings of God’s grace. The convictions of the former harden,
those of the latter melt and lead to submission. (The above two paragraphs are
condensed from the Puritan,
Charnock).^[1]

—————————more
tomorrow————————

Join our “Victory over the Darkness”, “The Bondage
Breaker”, “Freedom in Christ” series of Discipleship Classes via the
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to be encouraged.

My wife, TammyLyn, also offers Christian
encouragement via her Ask Seek Knock blog (https://tammylynask.blogspot.com/ ),  her
Facebook Group: Ask, Seek, Knock (https://www.facebook.com/groups/529047851449098 ) and her podcast Ask, Seek, and Knock on
Podbean (https://feed.podbean.com/tammalyn78/feed.xml)

For those who require the assistance of a Deeper
Walk International Prayer Minister to experience healing or your freedom in
Christ, I highly recommend Christy Edge’s Life on the Edge Freedom Prayer
Ministry. You can schedule a session by going to : https://cedge216.wixsite.com/life-on-the-edge     

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