Like any pastor I find myself talking with men about pornography and other expressions of sinful lust. Through the years I have found that there is a biblical framework that is often neglected when counseling through this issue. I have laid it out in some detail here, and I regret that it is so long. However, I post it because it has served to help many through the years. In short the post is broken into three parts: 1) What is Lust? 2) Where is it sourced? 3) How do I combat it? The answer to this is not to stop desiring things but to properly desire God. Hence the title, “Fighting Lust with Lust”. We combat sinful lust by fixing our “lust” upon the glory of Christ. In other words, we slay sin by savoring Christ.

Awhile back I preached a sermon in which I emphasized the deception and danger of lust. I regretted not being able to further develop the topic, specifically how to fight lust. The answer to lust may surprise some, but it is the answer and frankly the only answer to lust that ultimately works.

For example, we do not understand a potential elder candidate to be in sin who is desiring (epithumia) to the work of an overseerer (1 Tim. 3:1). In this case the desire is a God-honoring desire; therefore, it is not a sinful lust.

On the other hand, we have the sin of lust. In our greed we crave or desire something that is not consistent with what God has revealed or provided. Simply put, sinful lust is to desire something that we believe to be good outside of what God has called good. It is to put our own will and pleasure above God’s.

This is seen quite clearly through the example of sexual lust. God has said that sex is to occur within the framework of marriage (between a male and a female). Therefore, any sexual lust is a craving to experience the intimate pleasures reserved for the marriage apart from this sacred institution. Therefore, it pursues enjoyment apart from and in contrast to God’s clearly revealed will. When a man sits and quietly fixes his eyes and heart upon a woman (whether it be on a computer, television, photo, in person, or in his imagination) and then begins to desire her sexually, this is sinful lust. The man has lustfully craved sexual satisfaction apart from what God has called good.

So with this basic introduction and framework of lust established, let’s make some biblical observations about lust. We understand from Scripture that sinful lust is as much a part of our unbelieving lives as breathing (Eph. 2:3; Titus 3:3) and that it is not to be characteristic of the Christian life (1 Pet. 1:14; 2:11; 4:2-4).

• Jesus tells us that the nature of lust is demonic (John 8:44).
• The Bible reiterates that this lust is sourced in our own hearts and it fastens itself on stuff; people, things, and other expressions of vain glory (James 1:14-16).
• A desire for, a lust for stuff chokes out the Gospel seed (Mk. 4:19).
• The lusts of the world are clear, succinct, and doomed (1 John 2:16-17).

The Source of the Problem

So why do we sinfully lust? Everyone yells in unison “Sin!” or “Pride!” or “Greed!” or some other answer that we know to be true but too often do not understand how it works. My contention here is that if you do not know why and how your heart works you will not effectively wage war against its fleshly passions.

Why do we sit and meditate about how successful we will be? Or how people will like us? Why do we strain our necks to covet and long for what we do not have? Why do women envy other women’s beauty, style, wardrobe, sense of humor, mothering skills, or professional skills? Why does a man find himself sinfully staring at a woman who is not his wife? Why does he find himself daydreaming and fantasizing about how he would orchestrate his life if he were sovereign? It is because we are longing for something. We are have discerned that we are empty and now are seeking to fill ourselves up.

At the heart level there is an appraisal that takes place. Each one of us, whether a Christian or not, are governed by our hearts. It’s been rightly said that our hearts are the control tower of the person. It is the seat of our emotions and what governs our actions. Our hearts are confronted with stuff and they confront us with stuff. The natural fallen tendency is to appraise stuff through the lenses of self-exaltation rather than divine exaltation. We naturally fasten our lust upon that which seems to provide us with immediate pleasure, comfort, happiness, or honor. The shiny hooks of the enemy dangle before us in the form of the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. Our hearts are lured after what we want and think we need. Is this not your experience? It is also the testimony of Scripture (James 1:14-15; 1 Jn. 2:16-17).

When we are confronted by our hearts we are forced to make a choice between that which God calls beautiful and which our sinful hearts calls beautiful.

For example, consider the area of pornography. Here is the scenario men, you are working on or browsing the internet on your computer and have a desire to look at pornography.  So you open up a web browser and go to a site in attempt to satisfy what you are craving. In doing this, realize that what has happened is that you have just declared that these images are chiefly beautiful and worthy of your desire. You have elevated your selfish lust to a position of supremacy above what God has called beautiful. You have exchanged the beauty of God for the beauty of a fleeting image. Your sinful heart has just robbed the glory of God of what is due him by ascribing glory and beauty to this image. God has not willed that you have expended your sexual passions on this image but rather to sanctify your passions and employ within the context of a marriage. The craving, appraisal, and exchange happen so quickly. And, the advancement in technology, it is increasingly easy.

Then the heart shows its ability to deceive and trick (Jer. 17:9-10). Men may begin to deal with their sin in number of ways (some become paralyzed by guilt, others work to rationalize, others begin thinking in terms of being a victim). However it is dealt with we mustn’t forget our Lord’s shocking and sobering statement that one who lusts is as guilty as the one who has actually engaged in the action (Matt. 5:27-28). Those entangled in the sin may look around to blame others but at the end of the day must realize that biblically speaking it begins with us. Everyone who succumbs to lust does so on their own accord.

James 1:14-15 – But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.

Notice here that we are tempted when we are carried away and enticed by our own lust. We are drawn and lured after our own lusts. We are enticed by our unbiblical appraisals of stuff.

How serious is this? What does a full-grown seed of lust look like? Notice that the result of this lust is death. Our unbiblical appraisal of and pursuit of stuff has a declared end and it is death. Men, how would you change your viewing habits if as soon as you thought an impure thought you knew that you were going to simultaneously explode? I wonder how often ladies would sit and talk about how they wish they looked like so and so or be like so and so if they at once were to be struck dead? While it may seem like I’m engaging in some extreme examples that aren’t relevant, let’s remember that in matters of sin we are talking about death (Rm. 6:23).

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