Pursuit
Pre-Game Warm-Up
As a tough and savvy undercover agent for the state of Texas, my brother Bill risked his life daily in undercover narcotics trafficking and organized crime. Of all the drugs he purchased and all the dope dealers he brought to justice, he said that cocaine was the most dangerous of all drugs and greatest to be feared.
“Heroine? Meth? LSD?” I asked him after watching a heroine-addicted snitch grope for the emaciated veins on her ankles and arms with a bloody needle. “Why cocaine?”
His reply was swift and certain, “Cocaine is instantly addictive. One hit and you’re an addict. You’ll steal, kill or betray for the next hit and you’ll hit it and hit it and hit it until you’re dead, broke or in prison.”
Cocaine and pornography. Similar drug. Same release of the hormone dopamine on a fragile mind. The only difference is that cocaine eventually kills the user. Porn kills collaterally. It kills your marriage. It kills your children’s belief in you. It kills your home. It kills your moral character. It kills the sanctity of your marital sex. It kills your dreams. No wonder Jesus said, “Gouge your eyes out if that’s what it takes. Run for your life. Cut off your hand if you need to, but don’t let it take you to Hell.” (Paraphrase mine, but not far from the original Greek language in which it was written.)
Ten simple reasons to absolutely, positively, without tolerance, run from sexual impurity like a crazy man is pursuing you with a 30-30 rifle:
1.The eye is a window to a humans soul.
2. Porn releases the hormone Epinephrine into the human mind. It’s like a photographer’s
darkroom etching the picture on the paper of the user’s mind for years, decades, or in some
cases, forever.
3 .Porn disenfranchises your wedding vows.
4 .Porn causes a person to live in continual adultery.
5. Porn uses and abuses misguided women.
6. Porn degrades women.
7. Porn reduces women to objects to be used and discarded like trash in a dumpster.
8. Porn makes abuse look attractive.
9. Porn uses helpless children and rewards those who use them, kidnap them, rape them and
kill them.
10.Porn comes straight from the heart of Satan. It will lure you, haunt you, use you and cook
you.
Is freedom possible? Can a person walk away from the addiction? Absolutely. Many have and many never return. As my brother says about heroine addiction, “Only by the power of God.”
There are seven steps to freedom from pornography for life.
- See it for what it is – Satan’s bait to destroy you. Porn comes from the jaws of
hell. - Get an accountability partner and meet with them weekly. Select someone who’ll
ask you tough questions and isn’t afraid to call you on the carpet. - Memorize the Word and use it often. Psalms 101:3 and Psalms 51 are great
places to start. Every time you are tempted, fill the moment with God’s Word. - Exercise the most powerful muscle in your body- your will. Say it and mean it,
“Never again. I will not ever go there again.” - Hate it with the passion you’d use if your own daughter were getting used by
a pornographer. Quit tolerating, rationalizing and justifying the decadent
disease. Hate it! “Do I not hate those who hate You, O Lord? And do I not
loathe those who rise up against You? I hate them with the utmost hatred;
they have become my enemies.” (Psalms 139: 21 & 22). - Ask Christ daily for the filling of His Holy Spirit. To be filled is to be controlled
and empowered. Yield it all to Him. “And do not get drunk with wine, for that is
dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit.” (Ephesians 5:18). - Destroy any traces of it in your office and home. Put a filter on your computer
like “Be Safe Online” and an accountability link like “Covenant Eyes” to someone
who’ll hold you accountable to your commitment. (www.besafeonline.org,
www.covenanteyes.com)
This honest and humble account from a student at the University of Alabama I encountered is as insightful as I’ve ever heard:
“Porn controlled me. I was numb. I had lost all my feelings. I hadn’t cried for five years. Every night I’d wait ‘till everyone was asleep and go to my bedroom for one more hit. Porn controlled me all day long. Everything in my day was built around my porn addiction. It destroyed all my morals. It totally devalued all women. I couldn’t have a friendship with a girl. It was all about sex. Porn ruins your life. There’s no normality. I even put a picture of myself on a web site to attract more girls for sex. I look back at that and am so ashamed. It was disgusting. Porn destroyed me as a man, it took away all my manhood. Even though I was in college, I became a child. I’d imagine it. I’d dream about it. I became an addicted liar.
Then came the night at the cross. It was a night of delivery. A night of complete transformation. There wasn’t enough paper in that huge room for me to write all my sins on. There weren’t enough nails to pound all my sins to that cross. But I finally saw the love of God. I saw God’s grace. I realized I was forgiven. I said, “Lord, heal me.” The Holy Spirit broke all my chains and like the snap of my fingers it was gone. I knew I was forgiven for all of it. That was two and a half years ago and I’ve never gone back. I’m dating an amazing girl now and I treat her like a queen. I’ve made a commitment to her that she’ll never be touched in a sexual way again until her wedding night. I have guys who hold me accountable to my commitments not to get in compromising places with her. I still get chills and cry when I think about that night at the cross. My life was totally transformed.”
Understanding Purity
Mark these Key Words: Holy Spirit
Old Testament Viewpoint
Proverbs 2:16-18; II Samuel 11:2-4(a); Psalms, 101:3; Proverbs 12:7, 9-10
Proverbs 2:16-18 To deliver you from the strange woman, from the adulteress who flatters with her words; that leaves the companion of her youth and forgets the covenant of her God; for her house sinks down to death and her tracks lead to the dead.
II Samuel 11:2-4 Now when evening came David arose from his bed and walked around on the roof of the king’s house, and from the roof he saw a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful in appearance. So David sent and inquired about the woman. And one said, “Is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” David sent messengers and took her, and when she came to him, he lay with her.
Psalms, 101:3
I will set no worthless thing before my eyes; I hate the work of those who fall away; it shall not fasten its grip on me.
Proverbs 12:7, 9-10 The wicked are overthrown and are no more, but the house of the righteous will stand.
9 Better is he who is lightly esteemed and has a servant than he who honors himself and lacks bread. A righteous man has regard for the life of his animal, but even the compassion of the wicked is cruel.
New Testament Viewpoint
1 Corinthians 6:18-20; Matthew 5:27-28; 1 Thessalonians 4:3-4, 8; Matthew 5:8
1 Corinthians 6:18-20 Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.
Matthew 5:27-28
“You have heard that it was said, ‘YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY’; but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”
1 Thessalonians 4:3-4, 8 For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor.
8 So, he who rejects this is not rejecting man but the God who gives His Holy Spirit to you.
Matthew 5:8
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
OBSERVATION: What is God saying?
1) Why does the issue of sexual purity carry such great rewards, great warnings and great consequences?
2) How can a person learn from David’s experience with Bathsheba?
- His first mistake?
- His fall?
- His consequences?
- His restoration?
3) How does a person pursue and keep a pure heart? Why is the heart so pivotal to their success in their quest for sexual purity?
4) It has been said that a person’s eyes are the window to their soul. Discuss the significance of how, where and what is placed before our eyes.
5) Give specific examples of practices you are learning with sexually-depraved media opportunities.
6) Why is accepting God’s grace (Romans 8:1) and accepting God’s call to explicit obedience (Romans 6:1) so important to our success in our walk in purity?
PERSONAL OBSERVATIONS:
What else of significance do you see God saying in this passage?
APPLICATION:
How does this passage relate to me today? What changes does it bring to my life?
LOCKER ROOM:
Will you commit to accountability with someone on a regular basis? Will you ask and answer these questions:
- Have you had any improper sexual encounters this week?
- With your heart?
- With your eyes?
- With your body?
Memory Verse: Psalms, 101:3
I will set no worthless thing before my eyes; I hate the work of those who fall away; it shall not fasten its grip on me.
My Prayers
A Adoration: Father, today I praise You for…
C Confession: Father, please forgive me for…
T Thanksgiving: Father, today I’m thankful for…
S Supplication: Father, the people & things that I wish to pray for today are…
