Overcoming Lust Week 3

Gain a biblical understanding on how to overcome lust and temptation with Larry Cummings, Jr.

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Great day, good brother. God bless you. Happy Monday. Welcome back to week three within our season three for Love, Family, and Marriage. This month, our focus is overcoming lust. I believe lust is certainly a spirit, a spiritual battle that many men face, not just in the world, but in the body of Christ. And so last week we understood how to confront lust. And the best way to confront lust is not to stand firm, but to run away. It causes us to sin in a capacity that's different from other sins. And so the best way to confront lust, to overcome lust, or to defeat lust is to run away from lust. Because it will come after you, every boy, every man. And so I thank God for week three. Here we are. And I really want us to dive back into understanding what uh lust is. I'm sitting out here on my patio uh and I have a little garden bed here, and I begin to think and study uh throughout the week on what does lust uh really mean. But I I remember how, isn't it amazing that lust begins much like this plant with a seed? It starts out small. You start desiring small things. I have a lust uh after uh something that I see, something that I want, uh, whether a young lady, uh, but then that grows into something mature. You know, I may start out with a sexual desire. Now I'm seeking porn to satisfy that lust that was unfulfilled. And then it grows into something even deeper. Now porn is not enough. Let me go the next, the extra mile. Now I have to uh cheat on my wife in order to fulfill or fulfill a lustful desire. So it starts small. Lust always starts small with a small voice or even a what you see, a small uh in your eyes. Something that's and we try it, it feels good, and then that desire, that lustful desire turns into a habit. Now it is overcome and overtaken my life. And it reminded me of uh a scripture uh in 1 John, and I'm gonna read it first John chapter 2, and it really identifies three avenues through which temptation or lust comes in. Uh, all sin can be summed up into these three categories. 1 John chapter 2, uh verses 15 through 17, and it says, do not love the world or the things in the world. We can stop right there. Do not love the world or the things in the world. What is the world? The world, not necessarily the physical. Yes, we live in this world, this earthly, uh, but the world meaning those sinful, ungodly things. The world is anything that is contrary to godliness, to God. The world is opposite of righteousness. So those unthose sinful desires do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. In other words, you can't love both heaven and hell at the same time. You can't love both right and wrong. You can't love both righteousness and lustful desires, lustful things at the same time. Something will always take control. There's always something that will dominate. The Bible tells us that light and darkness cannot occupy the same space. Dark darkness may be one place, but as soon as a flicker of light comes in, it displaces the darkness. And so it has to be something that is most prominent, most dominant in your life. And is that righteousness or is that the world? And it says in verse 16, these are the three things which all sin can be summed up into these three categories or three primary avenues through which temptation comes into every man's life. Verse 16, for all that is in the world, again, those things that are contrary to God, are the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. It is not of the Father, but it is of the world. I like verse 17, and the world is passing away. We won't be here forever. It's passing away in the lust of it. But he who does the will of God abides forever. Doing the will of God, only what you do for Christ will last, will live forever. But verse 16: the three avenues through which through which temptation comes in our life, which all sin can be categorized: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. The lust of the flesh, that is the sinful desires that you have. The Bible tells us we're born into sin, shaped in iniquity. So you don't have to teach a child to sin. Sin comes natural to all of us. You have to be taught righteousness, you have to be taught godly living. So lust of the flesh, those sinful, those sinful desires, that sinful nature, that sexual immorality, that that even this uh drunkenness, drugs, fleshly things, gluttony, overeating, eating too much when God is telling you you don't need that. That's not good for you. Uh uh, living above your means. You have all these things. Lust of the flesh says that I want it because it feels good. Because it feels I want that, it feels good. And so that's that's the lust of the flesh. That's the temptation that comes in. Secondly, temptation comes in through lust of the eyes. I see it, therefore I want it. Remember, David, uh, he saw Bathsheba, he saw her, and consequently he wanted her. The lust of the eyes overtook him. When he saw it, it that became uh that became what he desired. Porn is lust of the eyes. The lust of the eyes, that that materialism. We're watching all of these things, all of these people on social media have all of these fancy cars, live in these nice houses, wear these nice clothes, and then I begin to covet what they have. That covet is a word that's the tenth commandment, thou shalt not covet. Uh the Bible tells us, don't covet your neighbor's wife. Covet meaning you desire what someone else already has. But it takes it a step far further because that's jealousy. But to covet means not only do I want what someone else has, but I don't want them to have it. I don't, how did he get that girl? That's his wife? He shouldn't have her. She don't know who he is. That boy ain't got nothing. You begin to covet. Man, that car, why do they have that car? I should have that. That lust of the eyes. Man, she look, she looked too good for him. Oh man, I I I want a girl that I wish my wife looked like that. I want that. That lust of the eyes starts as a seed, small, and it grows into something that is destructive in nature. As it says, um in the Bible, I believe, let's turn to John, or I'm gonna turn to, excuse me, James. James chapter 1, uh verse 14 and even 15. And I love how it says, but each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then when the desire has conceived, in other words, when that desire uh um uh comes in and it's conceived, it matures, it gives birth to sin. So it starts small with the desire, then when it matures, it becomes sin, it gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is fully grown, matures even more, brings forth death. It starts small, that small thing, that small habit, that small uh uh of you know, smoking this, or I'm only vaping, and now vaping becomes uh to I'm smoking every day. Now I'm smoking uh this uh weed isn't isn't desired, it doesn't satisfy me the same way. Now I have to go to something stronger. Or I start with a small drink, I have a cocktail, now I have a beer, uh, then I have to go. Uh this I need something stronger. It grows, it matures. Sin matures, it develops, and it leads to death every time. No man has escaped sin when it is fully matured and live to tell about it. Sin always consumes and it always kills that which possesses it. But there's a gift of life called righteousness. Brother, here's the gift God desires for you to live a righteous life. You do not have to be overtaken through lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and then the third avenue through which temptation comes, the pride of life. Pride is that simple, small voice in our head that says, My way is right. This it says, look at me, look at what I have, look at what I'm doing, look at what I possess, look at my success, look how hard I'm working, look what I own. Look at my car, look at my position, my status. That pride will kill if it goes unchecked. But how do we win against the battle of the flesh? Well, next week we're gonna finish it off, and we're going to discuss one way to overcome that flesh that burns on the inside of us. So, my brother, my prayers for you to identify what areas in your life have you attached to lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, the cravings that you desire and see, and then the pride of life, that pride that is contrary to the will of God for your life. My brother, be stand firm, be strong, be courageous, run away when necessary. My brother, I love you, and we'll pick it up last week with our final session for overcoming lust and understanding how to truly overcome that lust that lives on the inside. My brother, I love you. God bless you, have a great week.