Welcome to the Liberty Baptist Sermon Archives.
The message you're about to hear was preached at Liberty Baptist
Church in Easton, MA. You can find out more about us
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message from God's Word will be a blessing to you.
I do often like to employ humor in my preaching.
It's not because I endeavor to be a stand up comedian or that I
thought that I would be an entertainer in a different life.
It's nothing to do with that at all.
Often find that humor is a good way to help us to be able to
remember and to recognize the truth that's being preached.
But I never want to come across as a comedian because the word
of God is serious and the preaching of the word of God is
serious. But I have to say, as the young
people are leaving here tonight, and I've asked them to leave
with Kaylee tonight for a very particular purpose because of
the text that we are going over tonight, there's nothing
humorous about the text that we're about to look at.
In fact, it is one of the more difficult texts to read
throughout the Word of God. It's one that I've known for
some time, just as we preach from chapter to chapter, book to
book, particularly on Sunday night, starting in the Book of
Exodus and chapter, or rather in 2016, I've known this day is
coming and I've known this text is coming.
And it's the text that deals with Amnon's rape of his half
sister Tamar. And so I feel like there's no
place for humor here tonight. There's no place for me to even
come across as if I'm making light of what we have here in
the Word of God, because what we find here is serious.
And tonight, the title of my message is this, The Dangers of
Lust. The Dangers of Lust.
And if I was to give this message a subtitle tonight, it
would be this Satan's Wrecking Ball.
Now, why would I say that? Because Satan has used lust
throughout the ages, all the way from the garden, as we'll see in
just a few moments, as the Wrecking Ball of humanity.
Now, how do I know that that's the case?
Well, it's because the world makes light of lust, doesn't it?
We live in a world today where lust is celebrated.
You turn on a comedy on television and it's laughed at.
You watch a. Drama on the movie and you'll
find that it is romanticized. You can go just to the
advertisements of the day that. Use.
Lust to be able to sell thing like car tires and food, things
that have nothing to do with those images that are on those
advertisements whatsoever. But Satan knows that lust, as
enticing as it is, will absolutely devastate a life and
devastate those who are around it.
That's what we see here tonight. That's what we find in our text
dealing with Amnon and Tamar. And there is no hiding, there is
no way of being able to try to preach around what's here
tonight. And that's why that's the young
people to be able to go in the back with Kaylee this evening,
because I want to be a clear spoken without being gratuitous
about what we find in the word of God tonight.
Understand my approach. It's not to be gratuitous about
the rape scene that we have here, but also just to be plain
spoken about what we see here in the word of God.
Not because necessarily I'm concerned that there's anyone
here this evening that will find themselves in a very similar
situation as Amnon did. That's not this pastors concern
tonight, but the root cause of what we see here.
The. Very root of everything that
takes place in Second Samuel chapter #13 is that one word
with four letters, LUST, lust. And I want us to take seriously
that which the world does not take seriously.
I want us to take with gravity what the world makes light of
the issue of lust. Will you stand please with me
for the Word of God? Second Samuel chapter #13 and
we'll begin in verse #1 And it says it came to pass after this,
that Absalom, the son of David, had a fair sister whose name was
Tamar. And Amnon the son of David loved
her. And Amnon was so vexed that he
fell sick for his sister Tamar, for she was a virgin, and Amnon
thought it hard for him to do anything to her.
But Amnon had a friend whose name was Jonadab, the son of
Shimia, David's brother. And Jonadab was a very subtle
man, And he said unto him, Why art thou, being the King's son,
lean from day-to-day? Wilt thou not tell me?
And Amnon said unto him, I love Tamar, my brother Absalom's
sister. And Jonadab said unto him, Lay
thee down on my bed, and make thyself sick.
And when they father cometh to see thee, say unto him, I pray
thee, let my sister Tamar come and give me meat, and dress the
meat in my sight, that I may see it, and eat it at her hand.
So Amnon lay down and made himself sick.
And when the king was come to see him, Amnon said unto the
king, I pray thee, let Tamar my sister, come, and make me a
couple of cakes in my sight, that I may eat at her hand.
And David sent home to Tamar, saying, Go now to thy brother
Amnon's house, and dress him meet.
So Tamar went to her brother Amnon's house, and he was laid
down, And she took flour and needed it, and made cakes in his
sight, and did bake the cakes. And she took a pan and poured
them out before him, but he refused to eat.
And Amnon said, Have out all the men for me.
And they went out every man for him.
And Amnon said unto Tamar, Bring the meat into the chamber, that
I may eat of thine hand. And Tamar took the cakes which
she had made, and brought them into the chamber to Amnon her
brother. And when she had brought them
unto him to eat, he took hold of her, and said unto her, Come,
lie with me, my sister. And she answered him, Nay, my
brother, do not force me, for no such thing ought to be done in
Israel. Do not bow this folly.
And I whither shall I 'cause my shame to go?
And As for thee, thou shalt be as one of the.
Fools in Israel now, therefore, I pray thee, speak unto the
King, for he will not withhold. Me.
From thee, howbeit He would not hearken unto her voice, but
being stronger than she, forced her and lay with her.
Heavenly Father, I pray that you would just be with us this
evening. And my heart is heavy for this
text. My heart is heavy for the
subject. And Lord, I pray that I may not
only preach it with the gravity of which it deserves, but also
of which the hope that is offered to the believer as well.
Or that we can look at this text tonight and all of its
grotesqueness and see lust at the very center of it, but yet
also understand the greater is He that's in us than he that's
in the. World.
And that anyone who is dealing with this issue tonight, perhaps
far more than they think they are or that victory is available
through the shed blood of Jesus Christ or thank you for the hope
that is available this evening and we ask it in Jesus name,
Amen. Thank you may be seated.
For the first part. Of the message.
I want us to look at this text and understand the absolute
atrocity that takes place. In fact, I would say perhaps
other than the text and Genesis where we find that lot offers
his daughters to the unruly mob that's outside of his home,
perhaps there is no other text in the word of God that that
causes the reader to have such a visceral reaction as
understanding this man Amnon, the the Prince, the son of
David, who vexed or was vexed in his soul over his SAF sister
Tamar. And so as we look at this issue
of lust, there's several things that we understand by studying
Amnon. And the first is this, that lust
brings vexation. Lust brings vexation.
Now like vexation rather, is not a word that we commonly used
today. But we found it in verse #2
didn't we, When it said an Amnon was so vexed that he fell sick
for his sister Tamar. That word vex says it's defined
in the 1828 dictionary means to plague, to torment, to harass,
to afflict. Well, why was he so afflicted?
Because it says in verse number one that within his own mind
that he loved Tamar. There's a lot of people who talk
about love today. There's a lot of those sitcoms
that I mentioned that talk about love.
And there's a lot of those movies, those ROM coms that are
out there that talk about love. But most of what you find that
is out there today that calls itself love is good old
fashioned lust. It's not love.
It's not First Corinthians chapter #13 charity, the highest
form of love. It's not agape love, no, no,
what it is, is a love that really is only self-centered, a
love that really wants for itself with no other thought
whatsoever. It's not love, it's lust.
And Amnon had this vexation for his half sister.
How do we know that it was 1/2 sister?
Remember that David had several different wives and we're told
here the fact that Amnon was this man, he was David's oldest
son, but that they did not live in the same home.
And the reason why was the kids, they came from different
households, still all of the household of David, but yet with
different mothers. And so he has this half sister
of which he is vexed over. He's he's sick that he looks at
her every day and has these thoughts and he has this inner
turmoil within him and it's bubbling inside.
He doesn't know what to do. And perhaps five of the saddest
words in the word of God are found in verse #3 and those 5
words of this. But Amnon had a friend.
Listen tonight, friend, be careful who you have as friends.
Be careful who you have as influence.
Because Jonadab looks at him and he says, well, what's the matter
with you? Why do you?
Look this way. Why are you so lean?
What? What's the matter with you?
And he explains what happens now if Amnon had a real friend, he
would have looked at him and said get your mind out of the
gutter. If he had a real friend, he said
what's the matter with you? Don't you understand what you're
doing is atrocious? Don't you even understand what
you're thinking about is absolutely abominable to God.
Get your life right with God. That's what a real friend does.
But what does? Jonadab do, he says.
Listen, if you want her, you can have her.
If you want her, there's a way. And he lays out a plan.
He gives this plan of just to say that you're I'll to say that
you're not feeling well. Tell your dad that you want your
sister to be able to come over Tamar and to cook for you and
then what? She cooks for you and brings the
food in. Tell your servants to leave the
room, tell them to go away. And once they are gone then you
can. Have your way with her.
This man was vexed. This man in a spirit wasn't
thinking right. There's no one that should have
thought that this was a good idea, and certainly Jonadab
should have been a good friend. But yet we see that that this is
what takes place, that he is vexed.
Because of his lust. There is no doubt that it's true
in the past, it's true today. Lust will vex a soul.
It causes physical torment. It causes emotional torment.
It causes spiritual torment. Listen, Lust.
Sensationalizes, but it never satisfies.
Let me say that one more time. Lust sensationalizes.
Wow, look at her. Wow, look at him.
Look at what I can see. Look at that body.
Listen, lust sensationalizes, but it never satisfies.
No one has ever been satisfied by lust.
Sure, there might be that pleasure in sin that comes, but
what does the Bible say? There's pleasure in sin for a
season. That vexation that seems to be
relieved only grows more and more and more, as we'll see in
just a moment. So what does lust do?
First of all, it brings vexation.
But #2 it also brings grotesqueness.
It brings grotesqueness. Verse number six to verse #14 as
I just mentioned, I believe, are some of those.
Difficult verses to read in the Bible.
I mentioned a lot a few moments ago, and certainly there's other
verses, there's other chapters as well.
But when I think of Lot, who offers his own daughters to an
unruly mob, knowing that they will be raped, I can't wrap my
head around that. But yet to see what we have here
a man. Who is the son of David?
A man who is the son of the sweet psalmist?
A man who is the son of a man who is after God's own heart,
that he would have within his own wicked and twisted heart.
To do such, to force himself upon his own half sister,
there's nothing about it that is pleasant.
There's nothing about it that is good.
I don't have to go through the details of what we see here in
these verses. I don't have to lay it out for
you tonight and try to explain to you, you understand the
foolishness. You understand the utter
abominable nature of this man. In fact, even Tamar, as she
tries to resist, says in verse #13 she says you will be as one
of the fools in Israel. Don't you understand what you're
doing when the word gets out? Don't you understand, when
people understand what you have done, that you will be looked
upon as a fool. But when you're vexed, when you
have been vexed deep down in your soul, there's no limit to
which you will do against God and against others.
When that vexation has not been brought to God and asked for
forgiveness, and it just continues to bubble and it
continues to fester, there is no limit.
I found a lot of people who have said something like this,
pastor, I know when to stop. Pastor, I know how far to go.
Pastor, I'm totally in control. Those are the signs of someone
who is out of control. Someone who says I know where to
stop doesn't know when to stop. Someone who says I know when to
cut my losses doesn't know when to cut their losses.
Why? Because sin perpetually tells
you a little bit more, a little bit more, a little bit more.
It'll get better. It will get better, and it never
gets better. It only gets worse.
There's nothing beautiful about lust.
Listen, lust isn't beautiful. What do they show you in Las
Vegas? The beautifulness of lust.
What do they show you in the commercials?
They show you the beautifulness of lust.
What do they show you in these illicit clubs that are out
there? The beautifulness of lust.
What will they show you online? The beautifulness of lust.
Isn't it beautiful? Isn't it gorgeous?
Don't you want to have a part of it?
Porn promises thrills. Illicit sex promises physical
and emotional connection. Looking lustfully at the
opposite sex, it promises satisfaction.
Listen, if you just partake, you'll be happy.
But no one that partakes in lust is ever happy.
No one that partakes in lust is ever satisfied.
What does it say in Proverbs 2710 or Proverbs 2720?
Hell and destruction are never full.
So the eyes of a man are never satisfied.
Proverbs 520. And why wilt thou, my son, be
ravished with a strange woman and embrace the bosom of a
stranger? And what's interesting about
that is who is writing those verses by the inspiration always
spirit Solomon 1000 wives and concubines.
He had everything he wanted and he looked at his life in the
book of Ecclesiastes, he says, what do I even have?
It's folly. It's here's the word vexation of
spirit. There's a connection here
tonight. It's just vexation.
My spirits agitated. The more I collect and the more
I have and the more that I have than anyone else in this world,
I'm still not satisfied. Lust will tell you how beautiful
it is. Lust will tell you how natural
it is. Lust will tell you how amazing
it is. But it doesn't tell you the rest
of the story. It doesn't tell you the warning
signs. You know, you see those, those
commercials on television. Hey, do you want this
medication? And they tell you there's one
good thing it does and tell you 30 things that it does.
Wrong, including death and lust always tells you here's this one
thing you're going to like, but isn't tells you the 30 side
effects that will ruin your life.
It's grotesque. There's nothing beautiful about
it. There's nothing that you can
find online in any of those types of sight that's beautiful.
It's grotesque. There's nothing that you will
find outside of the confines of biblical marriage in a physical
nature that will satisfy because that's not the way God is
created less to be. He's created one man, one woman
in sexual union within the confines of marriage and
anything else is just chasing after the next thing and the
next thing. And there are people here
tonight that would say it's not satisfying.
There'll be believers who got it saved from that type of life.
I would say this, it didn't satisfy.
I always thought the next time would be the best time, or I
always thought I was going to chase the high I had after the
first time. And it got worse and worse and
worse and worse. Why?
Because we need to look at lust for what it really is.
It's not what the networks will tell you that you'll laugh about
it and jump into one bed and out of 1 bed.
And that's the way it is. And isn't it funny?
It's grotesque. And we see it here in its most
plain form in Second Samuel 13. But I also see this.
Not only is it bring vexation, not only bring grotesqueness, it
brings instability that brings in stability.
We ended in verse #14 but we need to continue.
Amnon raped his half sister and then the deed was done.
Look what takes. Place in verse 15.
Then Amnon hated her exceedingly.
So the hatred wherewith he hated her was greater than the love
wherewith he had loved her. And Amnon said unto her, Arise
and be gone, you say. Pastor, what's going on here?
I do believe that he had guilt within his life over what he had
just done. He knew within his heart what he
did was not right. And listen, let's be honest
about whatever type of sin you commit.
Let no, let's just generically talk about sin for a moment that
there are times that you feel like I'm going to jump in the
sin. I'm going to jump in head long
and as soon as you're done, you know I shouldn't have done that.
As soon as you're done. I've used the example before
about the talking dog and of course we know that a talking
dog is not real. But for the sense of
illustration tonight that you were on one side of a door and
on the other side of the door was a talking dog.
And that dog is saying to you on the other side of the door, hey,
open up, open up. Hey, hey, I want to I want to
talk to you. I want to play with you.
And you say, no, I'm not going to let you in.
You're going to bite me. No, no, I wouldn't bite you.
I wouldn't do that. And finally he convinces you to
open that door. And as soon as you do, he walks
right through and clamps on your hand and he bites you and you
say, well, what What are you doing?
You said you wouldn't bite me. And he turns.
Around now, he says. Weren't you foolish?
What's the matter with you? You knew I was going to bite you
all along. You knew what the consequences
are going to be. Isn't that exactly what Satan
does to us in our life? Hey, you'll like it.
Hey, hey, it's going to be good. You know, I know it hasn't been
as good the last time. I know that there's been some
diminishing returns since when you've had it before.
But listen, you're going to like it this time.
This time is going to be different.
This time is going to satisfy and you give in and what
happens? He says, What's the matter with
you? Are you?
Stupid. Are you crazy?
Look at what you've done. And that's exactly what Satan
does. And what does it do?
It brings instability to the one who's involved.
And here's a man who says, I love her.
We know it wasn't biblical love, it was lust.
But now he hates her because looking at her as a reminder of
what he's done, he says, get out of here.
And she says in verse #16 there is no 'cause the evil in sending
me away is greater than the other, then now it's done unto
me. But he would not hearken unto
her. The law had built in protection
for women like Tamar, women that had gone through what she had
done. I'm talking about the law of
Israel. You can look later on in Exodus
chapter 22, verses 16 and 17, Deuteronomy chapter #22 chapter
22, verses 28 and 29. There were protections for women
that had what done to her was done.
She says, what are you doing? Because she knew that as soon as
she was sent away, she knew that.
If she was not taken care of in the proper way that her
situation would be even worse. But look at what it says and
this is gross. This is just so gross.
Verse #17 Then he called a servant that ministered unto
him, and he said, put now this woman out for me and bolt the
door after her. Couldn't even call her by name.
Put this woman away from me and lock the door behind her.
What happened? The man that's unstable, this is
what sin, this is what lust does to a person that once it
commences in its grotesqueness, instability only grows.
Why is that what James talks about James chapter one a double
minded man is unstable in all of his ways.
James 48 Draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh unto you.
Cleanse your hands you sinners, and purify your hearts, ye
double minded. Lust brings instability.
You often hear people say this about certain illicit
activities. They'll say something like this.
Well why? Why?
Why would someone with a drug addiction, why would they steal
with their steal from their grandma?
It has to be a disease. Why would they do something like
that? Why would someone take their
whole check the day that they receive it and go to the horse
track? And bet it all.
Why would someone take two weeks of pay and within two days drink
it all? It has to be a disease.
My answer to you would be this. The reason they will do that is
because sin brings instability. And in those moments you don't
even care. You're not thinking about it.
All you're thinking about is in those cases, the next hit, all
you're thinking about is the next race.
All you're thinking about is the next drink, or all you're
thinking about is the next thing to look at.
Because lust brings instability, but it also brings destruction
#4 lust brings destruction. It says in.
Verse 18 That she had a garment of diverse colors upon her, for
such robes were the King's daughters that were virgins
apparel. Then the servant brought her out
and bolted the door after. What did Tamar do?
Well now, this garment that she wore that showed she was the
King's daughter, and that she was a virgin, that garment, it
was a mockery to her. Every time she looked at it, she
was reminded of what was done to her.
And it says in verse #19 that she put ashes on her head, rent
her garment of divers colors that was on her, and laid her
hand on her head, and went on crying.
And Absalom her brother said unto her, Hath AM, and thy
brother been with thee. But hold now thy peace, my
sister. He is thy brother.
Regard not this thing. So Tamar remained desolate in
her brother Absalom's house. But when David King David heard
all these things, he was. Wroth and Absalom spake unto his
brother Amnon, neither good nor bad, for Absalom hated Amnon
because he had forced his sister Tamar.
We'll look more at that in a couple weeks when we get back
into Second Samuel chapter #13 After Missions Conference.
But what do we see? Sin and lust brings destruction
to the to their own soul. What do we find in the verses
after this? Ammon will die for what he did.
Now we'll say this. Ammon died via vigilante justice
by his brother Absalom. He died in a way that he should
not have died according to Deuteronomy chapter #22 he
should have given his life for what he did, but yet it wasn't
done in the way that God had prescribed.
Absalom took things into his own hands.
But I will say this, when it comes to lust, be sure your sin
will find you out. And in this case, that's exactly
what happened. Destruction was brought to his
own soul. You can choose the crime, but
you can't choose the punishment. And the lust is an epidemic
today. Listen, lust is a greater
epidemic today than anything the CDC will tell you about.
Lust is a greater epidemic today than anything that you can get
vaccinated or medicated against. Hello, lust is the greatest
epidemic today. Do you know of the top 20
websites in the world? Four of those particularly deal
with porn. I was looking this up this week,
that of the websites, that of those four websites, they
account for 5.85 billion monthly visits in the United States.
I didn't say worldwide, 5.85 billion views in the United
States, the worldwide pornography market or actually
the world. The market in the United States,
rather, is pegged around $15 billion.
To understand this. That is more than the income of
the National Hockey League. That's more than the income of
the National Basketball Association.
That's more than the income of Major League Baseball, and it's
just under the total income of the National Football League.
Listen, this is a Major League problem, and it's destroying
souls by looking. By the way, it's not just a
problem for men. Statistically shows that
pornography used for women is on the rise as well.
Why? Lust knows no boundaries.
Men must keep guard. We'll talk about that more in a
moment, but don't just think that there's a problem for men.
We must all keep guard against the heart of lust, and Satan
knows the ways to be able to do that.
Satan knows that a man might be more desirous to look at
something, but a woman might be more desirous to read about
something. A man might be more desirous to
look at a website, but a woman might be more desirous to see
something perpetuated within a story.
But yet it's all lust, and it's all straight from the pits of
hell. So what do we see?
That this lust brings destruction.
Not just for the one, but also for others as well.
Who is part of the blast radius, if you will.
Well, first of all, the very obvious answer would have been
Tamar the victim. Her life was never the same.
But we would look at David's family as a whole.
Well, why would we look at that? What?
Why would we say that was beyond that?
Because lust is not a victimless crime.
Hosea 87 For they have sown the wind, they shall reap the
whirlwind. Nathan had said that the sword
would never. Leave David's house.
Where can we trace a lot of this back?
To David and Bathsheba, that David and his own loose morality
when it came to his own sexual desires, starting with taking
multiple wives and then moving on to being on that rooftop that
night, had brought it to a place where now the children are doing
in excess what the father had done in moderation.
By the way, let me just say, whatever you do in moderation,
your children and grandchildren will do in excess.
Be careful. Be careful.
Well, I can drink because I won't get drunk.
Well, first of all, the Bible talks about drink and says for
us to not for us to abstain from drink.
But even those who say, well, I'm OK.
Yeah, but will your kids be OK when they're used to having
these drinks around the house? Will your grandkids be OK when
they know that at every family gathering there's going to be
alcohol there? Will the next generation be OK?
Why? Because when it deals with these
things, it's not just about us. There's other people as well.
David was that person who in essence started the chain which
continued to now Amnon doing this unspeakable thing.
So. We look at this text and you can
see why it's difficult to think about.
It's difficult to talk about and to preach about.
But I will say that a temptation that you might have here tonight
is this. You might say, pastor, I just
don't deal with lust the way that I see here tonight, Pastor,
It's it's not something of the sexual nature that that I deal
with. And perhaps it's something that
you've dealt with in the past, or perhaps it's something that
that you don't deal with now in the same way that others might.
Because certainly Satan knows what all of our buttons are and
Satan knows what sins does so easily beset us.
And so I'm not here tonight to look at all of you and to say
that every single one of us have the same struggle that every
single one of us are going with the exact same things, dealing
with lust of a sexual nature. But I will say this tonight
while you may, we may not deal with lust in a sexual nature as
a besetting sin. I will say this, every single
one of us deal with lust because lust deals with a whole lot more
than sex. What is lust?
Well, lust is in the Bible and its most basic definition and
inordinate desire and inordinate desire.
We even find sometimes in the Word of God in the Old Testament
word is not used in a negative way, that it's used as an
inordinate desire for something that in and of itself is not
bad. But typically we understand that
lust in the Word of God is an inordinate desire, not for
something good, but something bad.
I would say this about what lust is tonight.
Now listen to this. If you think that nothing that
we've talked about here tonight applies to you.
And by the way, if you don't deal with pornography, if you
don't deal with sins of a sexual nature, praise the Lord for
that. I'm not trying to accuse you of
that tonight, but I have to preach what's here in the Word
of God. It's right here as plain as our
face. But I want to broaden the
application a little bit tonight to its whole and fullest
biblical application. And that's to remind you that
this that lust is wanting anything that God doesn't want
you to have, or wanting more than God wants you to have.
Lust is wanting things that God doesn't want you to have, or
wanting more of something than God wants you to have.
Lust isn't just about sex. It's about money, it's about
power, it's about leisure, it's about work, it's about things.
Oh, lust can come in many different forms and many
different ways. Lust isn't just about sex.
It can be something like this. I've got to have the newest
phone. Even though my phone works fine
and I'm going to go into debt to buy this phone, but I've got to
have it. Why I got to have it?
Was it much different from the last version of the phone?
I don't know, But I got to have it.
That's lust. Again, I'm trying not to be
humorous here tonight, but I want to show you the very the
very serious of this in the way that we don't often think of it
because we often like to think of lust in the devious nature
because then we feel better because, well, I'm not devious,
but we still deal with lust. Can I tell you with a way that I
deal with lust? One of the ways there's a pizza.
I like pizza and I eat part of that pizza.
I'm full. There's three slices left.
I'm satisfied. I have what I need.
In fact, I know that if I eat anymore, it's probably not going
to be good. But I like pizza, and against my
better judgment, I continue to eat, saying what is that lost?
It's a. Desire for something I know I
don't need. It's more than I need.
I'm already have my sustenance. I've already enjoyed my food.
I know it's not going to be good for me, but for some reason, you
know, I walk away for 20 minutes and I come back and something's
changed, but I'll take the next piece.
Lust can be in a conversation with somebody and desiring to
hear gossip, desiring to hear information you know that
doesn't belong to you, but you want to know to satisfy your
curiosity. You know what that is.
That is a lust for gossip. You shouldn't have a desire to
know that information, but you want to know.
You need to know. You know just so you can pray
for them or because you want to know that is lost.
It's working on Sundays not because you're a first
responder, not because you're someone that helps in a very
important type of work that can't take off on Sunday, but
because you want more money, because you want to buy that
boat, you want to be able to have that trip.
And so you're willing to sacrifice the House of the Lord
on Sunday to be able to work. That's lust.
That's a desire for money, a desire for things in a way that
God never intended. Listen, we all deal with lust.
Oh, sure, it may not be an Amnon situation here tonight, and by
the way, praise God for that. But we all deal with the scourge
of lust within our life in some way, shape, or form.
How do I know that? We're going to go to jump to a
lot of places here in the next few minutes.
All right, I want you to follow along with me.
All right, First John chapter 2. Will you do that?
First John chapter #2 you don't need to save your space in
Second Samuel 13. First John chapter #2 I want to
show you some things here tonight.
Then I want to give you some good news.
Who's ready for some good news tonight?
Amen. All right, that's what I thought
you'd say. All right, first John chapter 2,
you're ready to hear it, and I'm ready to give it.
Amen. First John chapter #2 But I want
us to see what lust is. And you've heard me say these
verses before. I want you to look at them in
your Bible. I want you to mark them in your
Bible. I want you to know these in your
Bible tonight. First John chapter 2 look at
verse #15 love not. The world or we could just
preach on those words tonight, couldn't we?
Love not the world. That does not mean to not love
the world to see them to salvation.
We know John 316 is true right? Do not love the world system, Do
not love the Satan controlled world system.
Love not the world neither the things that are in the world.
If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in
him. For all that is in the world.
What's in the world? Look at this, the lust of the
flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life is not of the
Father, but of the world, and the world passed the way and the
lust thereof. But he that doeth the will of
God abideth forever. And John saying this, don't live
for things that are temporary, live for the things that are
eternal, that lust that you crave, that lust that I crave in
our flesh. Listen, it's temporary, it's not
lasting, it's not eternal. Instead, crave the things that
go towards eternal life, where moth and rust doth not corrupt
and where themes break not through or steal.
Now, where do we see this manifested?
Where do we see the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and
the pride of life? Listen, we see it first in a
setting that has nothing to do with sex.
We see it first in a situation that has nothing to do with the
illicit nature of what we saw in Second Samuel 13, but we see it
nonetheless. And that's in Genesis chapter 3.
Turn to Genesis chapter 3, if you would.
We're going from cover to cover tonight, all right?
Genesis chapter #3 nothing wrong with that.
I guess it often times I love quoting verses to you, but at
the same time, sometimes there's no substitute for you getting in
your Bible and knowing where these verses are.
All right? John 3 verse #1 you don't know
where Genesis is, the first book of the Bible.
All right, So that's as close to a joke as you'll get tonight.
All right, now the serpent was more subtle than any beast in
the field. Now listen.
Who was subtle? Jonadab.
Do you remember instead that I wasn't trying to trick you?
But do you remember in Second Samuel 13 it said that Jonadab
was a very subtle man? So Amman had a friend that had
devilish qualities. Don't think that that is a
mistake in the Word of God or coincidence in the Word of God.
Look at this. He was more subtle than any
beast in the field. And yes, it was Satan.
The Lord God had made, and he said unto the woman, Yeah, hath
God said, you shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit
of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which
is in the midst of the garden, Goddess said, You shall not eat
of it, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.
And the serpent said on the woman, Ye shall not surely die.
You see what Satan does? First he questions, and now he
outright contradicts. He doesn't start with
contradicting at first he. Just asked questions.
Hey, what's going on here? What's the deal with that tree
over there? But once she answers, he says,
God is wrong. And does God doth know in the
day that you eat thereof, that your eyes shall be opened, You
shall be as God's knowing good and evil.
And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and was
pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise,
she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto
her husband with her, and he did eat.
Now I want you to look at these phrases again.
The woman. Saw that the tree was good for
food. What did she do?
She saw. That it was good for food.
What is food? The flesh.
The lust of the flesh. It was pleasant to the eyes.
The lust of the eyes. A tree to be desired.
To make one wise. The pride of life.
The very first time we see sin, Adam and Eve, what do we see?
The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life.
Listen, lust isn't just about sex.
Lust isn't just looking wrong at the opposite sex.
It is that. But that is a very narrow scope
of what the epidemic truly is. It's wanting something that God
does not want you to have, or it's wanting more than God wants
you to have. God says don't.
Why? Because God knew it would be to
their destruction. Why does God tell us no?
Because He knows those things will be to our destruction.
And He loves us so much that he gives us barriers.
Isn't that what Satan does? Well, if God loved you, he let
you have that relationship. God love you.
I mean he let you look at whatever you want.
Unless you're a grown man. I mean, who cares?
Listen, nobody even has to know. It's just between you and that's
it. But we see over and over again
that God has told us no, not because he doesn't want us to
have fun, but because he loves us so much He knows it would be
poison to our souls. Go to Numbers chapter #25
Numbers chapter #25 Just read the semi devotions a few days
ago. My wife and I are in a Bible
reading plan right now. We're reading together.
Going through the book of Numbers right now and.
And I just read this, you know, in the previous three chapters,
God protected the people of Israel from a wicked prophet
named Balaam. Some of you who have been here
for a little bit, you'll remember when we preached
through Jude and we preached through Second Peter, we saw
that Balaam was a false prophet who had a love for money and no
love for God. And over the course of three
chapters, when Balaam just wanted money and he was willing
to curse Israel for money, that God overruled him over and over.
And over again, Balaam could not bring destruction upon the
people of Israel. But in the very next chapter, do
you know who could bring destruction of the people of
Israel? Israel, I want you to look at
verse #1 After God had done all this to protect them, and Israel
abode and shit, him and the people began to commit whoredom
with the daughters of Moab. They committed physical
iniquity. And they called the people under
the sacrifices of their gods. And the people did eat and bowed
down to their gods. They committed spiritual
iniquity. There were some women that said,
hey, hey, boys of Israel, come over here.
Have your way with us. Worship our gods.
Life is better over here. You're wandering in the desert.
What is your life over here? You could have some excitement
over you, have some fun over here.
Our God will take care of you where your God dropped you off
in the desert to rot. And they were enticed by their
lusts, not just the lust of the physicality, but their lust for
something better than God. Now listen to this.
I want you to get this very carefully here tonight.
That lust always says it knows better than God.
Lust always says it knows better than God, and lust never knows
better than God, because no one knows better than God and no
thing knows better than God. What happened verse 3?
Israel joined himself to Bale pure.
And the angle of the Lord was kindle against Israel.
And the Lord said unto Moses, Take all the heads of the
people, and hang them before the Lord against the sun, that the
fierce anger of the Lord may be turned away from Israel and
Moses. Said of the.
Judges of Israel slay every one of his men that were joined into
Bale pure. You can look verse #9 and that
number was 24,000. Died of the people of Israel.
Why? Because of lust.
So here's where we're at. We're close to the end and all
God's people should be able to say Amen to that.
But I will say this, if I just got to this place and stopped
and said bow your head and close your eyes.
You'd probably say something like this, Pastor.
I'm convinced, Pastor, I know this.
Pastor, I'm thankful for the reminder, but what do I do now?
Because we all deal, I believe, with lust in our own way.
Satan uses the Wrecking Ball of lust differently in each of our
lives. There's some commonality, but
there's also great differences. We've already addressed that,
but what do we do? And if you don't get anything
else tonight, I think I just said that.
But if you don't get anything else than what I just said a few
moments ago, get this as well. And that's this.
There is victory for the believer from lust.
That lust may say that it knows better than God, but there is
victory for the believer from lust.
Satan will tell you it is a perpetual cycle that you'll
never be able to get yourself out of.
It's just the way you are. It's just a cross you're going
to have to bear. No, no, 1000 times No.
There is victory. For the believer, listen, Jesus
Christ died on the cross for the sin of lust.
Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sin of lust.
Jesus Christ with resurrection power up from the grave.
He arose so that you and I don't have to be in shackle from the
lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.
You can have victory tonight. You don't have to leave here
down and discouraged and depressed as you probably would
have been just a few moments ago.
Because I mean, look, this is the depths of despair that we're
seeing here in the word of God tonight.
But I don't want you to leave in the depths of despair because
that doesn't tell you the whole story.
You can have victory tonight because of you, hardly because
of him. Romans chapter 6, Romans chapter
6. And this is good as as as
discouraged as I felt even just preaching this message the last
few minutes. This part excites me because
there is victory for the believer tonight.
You can leave here knowing that God can help you.
You say, well, I've made mistakes.
We've all made mistakes, I've struggled with this, we've all
struggled with sin. God can give you victory in your
Christian life. Look at Romans 6 verse #12 it
says this. Let not sin therefore reign in
your mortal body, that you should not obey it in the lust
thereof. Neither yield to your members as
instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but yield yourself
unto God as those that are alive from the dead, and your members
as instruments of righteousness unto God.
For sin shall not have dominion over you.
For ye are not under the law, but under grace.
And we could keep reading, but it says here, listen that you
don't have to have your body the under the, the, the the
taskmaster of who it was before you got saved, that you now can
have your body as the instruments of righteousness
unto God. A look at verse #21.
For what fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now
ashamed? For the end of those things are
death. It's as if Paul is saying this.
Why would you go back to the things that you were saved from?
How good were they in the 1st place you knew you needed?
To get saved. From them.
So why would you go back to them?
Yield yourself, Say no to yourself, say no to the body,
say no to the desires of the flesh.
Just say no. Pastor, is it that easy?
It's not just that easy necessarily, but it is the first
step to be able to say no and the Lord will help you.
Why is it that we're more familiar with first John 19 then
we are with Romans 612 through 14?
You say? What do you mean, Pastor?
Sometimes it's just so easy for us to remember, OK, He's
faithful and just to forgive me my sins, to cleanse us from all
righteousness. But why don't we remind
ourselves what we need to do before we get to 1st John 19?
Let not sin, therefore reign in your mortal body, meaning this.
Don't let sin be placed on the throne of your heart.
There's only one room for one on the throne of your heart, and
that's Jesus. Look at verse #18 and 19.
Jump back up there. Being made free from sin, you
became the servants of righteousness.
I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your
flesh, as I know that you're weak.
For as you have yielded your members servants to uncleanness
and to iniquity unto iniquity, even though now Even so now
yield your members servants to righteousness, unto holiness.
Now listen to this. It was several years ago, and
I've told the story before from a few different angles about
when we were working at a different church before we got
here to Boston. Diane and I both were on the
payroll of this church, and they stopped paying.
And the reason they stopped paying was because of problems
in a building program. And as you know, when the income
doesn't come in, it's not just, well, no incomes coming in,
well, you got to get money for stuff.
And so not only we're not getting income, but we were also
incurring debt. I was opening credit cards.
And because we were still young, there wasn't much of A limit to
the credit card. So I was opening multiple credit
cards. I got to the place and I can't
even believe that I did it, that I that I was getting payday
loans and taking them out, hoping that we get paid in time
by the next two weeks to be able to pay those loans back.
So what did I have to do? Well, I needed a new employer if
something was going to change. Now, in my example, we remained
at the church because we felt that God had called us that
church. And I'm thankful that we stayed
there all seven years that we were there in Tampa, But we knew
we needed some more income. I need to yield myself to
another master. So what did I do?
I started working for the Tampa Bay Lightning, you know, as a
starting Center for the no, I know it, the sanitation
department, that's what it was. It was the sanitation
department. Diane started taking in kids in
the home to be able to watch. What did we do?
We needed to be servants of someone else.
Here's one of the keys tonight to beating lust.
It's not just I'm not going to lust anymore.
I don't want to lust anymore. I don't want to deal with this
anymore. Listen, don't make yourself a
servant to unrighteousness. Yield yourself completely and
totally unto God. You know, if you're a servant to
unrighteousness, you're going to keep going further into debt
spiritually. Oh, I'll get around this.
I'll get over this. I'll do better.
You never will, because Satan is the one who's going to hold your
feet to the fire. And it'll never get better.
So what do you need to do? I need to, with all my heart,
serve the Lord. No, it's not just I don't like
this. I don't want this.
I don't need this. No, I need to get up every day
with a purpose. I need to be in my Bible.
No, it may be for a couple of weeks.
All I do is read my Bible. You said that's crazy.
Do you know what's crazy? Living with.
Lust. In your life, you know what's
crazy? Thinking that lust is going to
get better, letting that vexation of spirit.
Maybe you need to lock yourself in a room for two weeks and and
turn your phone off and turn off the electronics in your home or
whatever you need to do and just say, Lord, I need you and I need
your word and I need to run other believers that can help
me. You know what, what did Jesus
say? If your eye offend you, cut it
off. If your hand offends you, cut it
off. But we say things like this
today. Well, I mean, I, I don't know
how I'd go that far. I mean, I mean, I got to, I got
to be able to have this, this electronics or I've got to have
this. And I know what you got to do is
have be right with God. That's what you've got to do
more than anything else. Romans 13 says this.
Make no provision for the flesh. Don't even make provision for
it. Just do, right?
What you might need to do is you might need to turn in your
smartphone and get a dumb phone. You know what I mean by dumb
phone? You know the phone that all of
us had a few years ago? Flip.
You might need to do that. You might need to have some
filtering programs on your computer and give the password
to a trusted friend. You might need to have an
accountability partner. You say that kind of stuff would
make me weak. You know.
Who do you think is telling you that?
God, Satan. Jesus said this.
Take drastic measures to be right with me.
Take drastic measures to get right.
There is victory for the believer when it comes to lust.
But what do we need to do? One of the basic principles is
this. Don't be a servant to
unrighteousness. Yield yourself to him and to him
alone. Say, I'm going to be in church
no matter when the doors are open, I'm going to be there.
If there's someone that needs help, I'm going to help them.
We're going to text. I'm going to text to the
accountability partner every day just to check in or to give a
Bible verse or to talk about something I've been working on.
How does this work? Well, Hosea, 10 verses 12 to 13
says so to yourselves and righteousness reap in mercy.
Break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the Lord till
he overcome, or till he come and reign righteousness upon you.
You have plowed wickedness, you have reaped iniquity, you have
eaten the fruit of lies, because thou didst trust in thy way, in
the multitude of thy mighty men. This is, this is where we're in
tonight. Because honestly, I could talk
about this for probably another two hours and you might say Amen
about that now. But you don't want me to talk
another two hours. All right, But I will say this
here. Here's what will help you more
than anything tonight is that when it deals with the issue of
lust, we are so embarrassed. We are so ashamed.
We feel like I'm too old to be dealing with us.
Or people look at me a certain way, or nobody would think that
I have a problem here. That Satan's greatest weapon in
dealing with lust is isolating us from one another.
Because if nobody else has a problem and I have a problem,
then I'm the crazy 1. So I can't talk to anybody about
it. And I do understand, listen,
that we have to have boundaries and we do need to be careful how
we talk to one another. And particularly in these
issues, men talking with men and women talking with women is the
best way to be able to handle that.
Or husbands and wives talking with one another and then having
accountability partners. But I want you to understand
this, that Satan loves to isolate.
How do I know that? Well, because Jesus said that He
would try to take those apart from the fold and those would be
the ones He would attack. He wants you to think you're the
only one dealing with lust. Again, I'm not just talking
about of the sexual nature. Let's be clear tonight.
I'm talking about anything. It is of that nature, but it's a
lot of other things too. He wants you to think you're the
only one. You are not.
And there's help through Jesus Christ, and He's made provision
through your brothers and sisters in Christ to be able to
help men. There's other men who have
walked the way you have before, and God's help them and they
will help you. And then there have been people
who have done well but have fallen.
I need to get back up. And there's people that will
help you. Ladies, you might feel like this
is not an issue for you or or maybe you're the only one, but
what other lady deals with this? You might never know until you
go to a trusted sister in Christ.
So can I talk to you about something?
Can we keep this private? I need some help.
I need some encouragement. And again, it doesn't have to be
of a sexual nature. It could be any of these other
issues in life. Satan wants you to feel like
you're the only one having trouble.
And let's be honest, every single one of us are struggling
with sin in our life and we're going to be struggling with sin
until the day we get to heaven. I'm not making excuses.
I'm just saying this every day we've got to fight.
Every day we've got to deal with it.
And there is hope for the believer tonight.
Do not leave here thinking it's doom and gloom.
It's a doom and gloom passage, Second Samuel 13, and it's going
to cause their family to descend even further into chaos.
But for us as believers tonight, there is hope in the darkness
from Satan's Wrecking Ball. He can rebuild and take from the
ashes and rebuild and give oil of joy instead of mourning.
Only God can do that if you let Him do it tonight and yield
yourself as an instrument of righteousness to Him.
Thank you for listening to the sermon from the pulpit of
Liberty Baptist Church. If this message was a blessing
to you, or if there's any way we can serve you, please let us
know by contacting us at info@mylibertybaptist.org.
Or you can visit us this Sunday at 800 Washington St. in Easton,
MA. May the Lord bless you as you
grow in His Word.