A wise person can control defiling thoughts and does not lust, knowing that a lustful intent leads to adultery. Lustful thoughts can be any desire for something other than God’s best for you. In this post, you will learn the progression of lustful desires and how it leads to adultery between two married persons and between you and God.
Matthew 5:27, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’”
The command to not commit adultery is the seventh command of the 10 Commandments God gave to Moses. The Bible says a lot about adultery. The English Standard version has 35 verses about adultery. When someone makes a marriage commitment to another person and then is unfaithful to them, that is adultery. When someone is unfaithful to God after making a commitment, He considers them an adulterer. Adultery begins in the mind, which is why we need to be mindful of our thoughts and take wrong thoughts captive and make them obedient to Jesus (2Cor. 10:5). You can learn more from a series of posts about thoughts and the power of thoughts.
We can also be unfaithful to God by trusting in idols, which God calls adultery (Jer. 3:6-10). In fact, the book of Hosea was about God’s love for His people and calling them out of adultery with idols. In Proverbs 6:32, King Solomon tells us, “He who commits adultery lacks sense; he who does it destroys himself.” Imagine that? Why does adultery destroy you?
The Apostle Paul explained that when we obey and love our neighbor and God, then we will keep all the commandments (Romans 13:9 and John 14:15). James wrote the following in James 4:4, “You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” You can learn more from my series of posts on idolatry, which you will find helpful.
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Matthew 5:28, “But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”
Lust begins when we look at something that entices and tempts us to strongly desire something. I won’t explain lust in this post because we all know what it is and its power over our thoughts. When you get a lustful thought, you have two choices. One, entertain it and follow your fleshly desires, or second, capture it by confessing it (1 John 1:9), and then putting it off (Col 3:5) and putting on the mind of Christ (Rom. 13:14). Verbally, in prayer, say, “I take this wrong thought captive, and I put it out of my mind in Jesus’ name, and I put on the mind of Jesus Christ. Thank you, Lord, for purifying my mind.” If you entertain lustful thoughts, then they become an adulterous sin in your mind. When that happens, confess your sin and seek God’s forgiveness, and He promises to cleanse you from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9).
You may have a stronghold of lust from an addiction to pornography or going to strip clubs, and so on. If this is the case, you will need to ask God to remove the unclean spirit of lust from your mind. Next, ask God to forgive you for all the times you viewed porn, which removes the power of those memories. Begin with your earliest memory of when you were first exposed to porn. Your earliest memory is when you attracted the unclean spirit of lust. You may need to ask God to remove the porn curse or sinful habit passed down from the generations before you. Ask God to give you a clean heart and a clear conscience because what God has forgiven, He has forgotten. Ask God to remove the unclean spirit of guilt because what God has cleansed is clean. Unfortunately, the temptation to lust is all around us as it was in Jesus’s day. Don’t take a second look, and so on. Commit to not defiling yourself again. Just like Daniel, who made a commitment to not defile himself with the king’s food but ate vegetables and drank water instead. God blessed him with great wisdom and prominence in the government. God allowed Daniel to serve in leadership for four Kings.
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Matthew 5:29-30, “If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. 30And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.”
Jesus uses hyperbole in this verse, which means an extravagant statement or assertion not intended to be understood literally. Jesus means we are to remove the source of temptation. First, remove yourself from the situation that is tempting you to lust. For example, if the neighbor woman is mowing her lawn in her skimpy bikini, you do not have to watch her. If that same woman invites you in for a drink, you do not go in. If you know a magazine rack contains tempting pictures, do not go past the magazine rack, and avoid places that tempt you to lust. Second, remove whatever is causing you to lust in your home, such as the internet, books, movies, etc.
Lust tempts you to be unfaithful and commit adultery, then when you give in to the temptation, it may lead to divorce. You may also lust after possessions, which tempts you to practice greed and covetousness, which is idolatry, and a sin of unfaithfulness to God. (Col. 3:5). James 1:14-15 states, “But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. 15Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.” That death could be of your marriage, a close relationship, your reputation, your job, and so on.
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Matthew 5:31-32, “It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ 32But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.”
Divorce is not God’s plan for anyone. So, eliminate lustful thoughts for someone other than your spouse, so your lustful thoughts do not lead you to be unfaithful and become sexually immoral. Set up the boundaries you need to remain pure. Strive for holiness as described in 2Cornithians 7:1, “Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.” You can learn more about this in this post: How to Experience a Heavenly Life on Earth.
I am praying for you. May God bless you.
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