Lust

Carter Conlon from the historic Times Square Church in New York City. You're looking at everything that you can look at and you're looking at all the wrong places and you want like a reprieve from the lust in your own heart. It's just not going to happen because the problem is not theirs. The problem is yours. Uh Thank you for joining us today for A Call to the Nation, a weekly program with Carter Conlon.

In 2 Samuel 11, we read in the Bible about King David and Bathsheba. we discover that David was in a place where he shouldn't have been. He was doing something he shouldn't have been doing. He looked and responded to something that would cause him and his family great harm. And God sent a prophet named Nathan to confront David about this great sin he committed.

and all the sorrowful events that followed.

Now, let's join Carter with his insightful message titled Lust. Uh You know the story in the scriptures of King David.

Now most who study the life of King David assume that he was in his 50s when he committed adultery with Bathsheba. He was in a place where he shouldn't be. He was doing something he shouldn't have been doing as a king, and he looked over at something he shouldn't have been watching. And then responded in a way that he shouldn't have responded. He had to break through a lot of barriers that had been placed there by the Spirit of God in him to do what he did.

And after he did what he did, after he took another man's wife and after he had arranged for this man's murder, a prophet called Nathan came to him. And I don't think Nathan came with a pointing finger. I don't think he came with harshness. I think he came to David with tenderness. And he shared with him a story about a man who had all kinds of flocks and herds.

But he took this one man's one man, he said, had one, a guest came to him. Instead of taking from his own flock, he took one little lamb. That's all this man had. And he sacrificed that lamb to himself and for his own need. And David was angered by this because you can be in sin and still have an unrighteous anger.

Still, not being willing to deal with the reality of what's in your heart. And David was angered. The scripture said, And this man shall die for what he has done, and he shall pay his estate, in a sense, will pay fourfold. In other words, under the law, in the Old Testament, if you stole somebody's lamb, for example, and you were caught, you had to pay back four for the one you stole. And Nathan turns to him.

And I feel it's with tenderness. But Nathan turns to David and said, David, you're the man. You had all this before you, and you had all these opportunities. God had given you everything your heart desired, but you saw something that didn't belong to you, and you took that to your bosom. And he says to David, he says, you will not die.

But David did pay with four lambs. He paid with the lives of four of his sons died because of the sin he had committed with Bathsheba. I wish Nathan had come before he committed that sin and not after. I wish that Nathan the prophet or somebody like him had come into the king's room. when he was in a place he shouldn't have been and he was doing something he shouldn't have been doing and say, and preempted him and say, David, don't do this thing.

It's sad when there's nobody there to warn.

So I think I'm standing in the stead of Nathan the prophet, in a sense, in David's life. Before This sin brings forth death because that's what the scripture says it does. It brings forth death. Let's start in the epistle of James, chapter 1 and verse 13. James says, Let no one say when he's tempted, I am tempted by God.

For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt he himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he's drawn away by his own desires.

Now, the original King James says, when he's drawn away by his own lust. and enticed. Each one is tempted when he's drawn away. By his own Lusks. And enticed.

Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is full grown, brings forth Death. I was counseling a man one time. who had been unfaithful to his wife. And we were sitting together. And he was in in real distress.

And he said these words. Why did God Make me so weak. You see what he was doing. He was taking the blame away from himself, from the scriptures, and actually blaming God. See, God, if you didn't make me weak, I wouldn't have done this.

I wouldn't have cheated on my wife. If you had made me stronger, but it's your fault, God, you see, because you made me weak. I couldn't get through to that man. I couldn't counsel that man. As a matter of fact, he didn't finish well.

And I stand here grieved to have to say that I personally doubt that he's in heaven today. He died not long after. I don't know if he made it home because there was a spiritual darkness that got a hold of this man's heart. You could not reach him with truth. And I pray to God: may that never be the portion of anybody here in the sound of my voice, myself included.

May we never get to the point when truth can't reach our heart. When Nathan can't speak to us, when we're unable to acknowledge that we might be on a path. that is not leading to life, it's leading to spiritual death. One time in this church, Pastor Tim, a man came to me and he said, Mm-hmm. I have a lust problem.

I said, okay, well, that's good. He said, well, it's not my problem. He said, it's because of the girls on the platform in the ensemble. He said, you know, the way they move when they're singing, he said, I can't concentrate on God. I look at them and he said, I just feel lust in my heart.

And now he's looking to blame the girls on the platform. And I said to this man, I said, well, I got a couple few things to say to you about that. I said, number one, have you considered closing your eyes when you worship? That should be a no-brainer. Just do this.

Close your eyes. You don't have to look at the girls on the platform. Just worship God. And I said, well, and failing that, I said, in case, if you want to lift your eyes a little higher than the stage, there's a beautiful crown up here. And it will remind you of Jesus, remind you of why you're here.

You're worshiping the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. Then I said, Well, the third thing is something you might not have considered yet: that the problem is not theirs, the problem is yours. You're given to lust all week. You're looking at everything that you can look at, and you're looking in all the wrong places, and you want like a reprieve from the lust in your own heart on Sunday morning. It's just not going to happen because the problem is not theirs.

The problem is. Yours.

Now God does not tempt, the Scripture says. Nobody can blame God for their temptation. He doesn't derive some strange purpose by placing temptation before anyone. On the contrary, he is the one who makes a way out of temptation and sin. 1 Corinthians chapter 10.

Verse 13, the scripture says, No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man. It's not unique to you. It's common the men. As a matter of fact, It's more than common in this generation, it's everywhere. David Wilkerson once years ago preached a message about, and he spoke prophetically, and he was speaking at a pastor's conference in Canada, actually, and he said, I see a device.

I don't know what it is. It's a black box with cables in it, and it's going to be connected to people's television sets. And through this box, pornography is going to be piped into people's homes. You know the ministers got up and walked out on him. What he was describing was the internet, but there was no word for it.

for the internet back then because there was no internet. But he saw it in the spirit. He saw what was coming. And it's beyond a common temptation now. It's gripping the minds and the hearts of this generation.

There's a recent statistic out, and I don't know how true it is, but I heard it in Washington in a pastor's conference that about 70%. of men in this generation are hooked on some form of pornography. Right now. even in the house of God. No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man.

But God is faithful. who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make a way of escape that you may be able to bear it. God says, if you will allow me, if you will get up and follow me, I will take you out of this temptation. I will take you out of the grip of this darkness. I will take away from you this thing that wants to take away your life.

It wants to take away your spiritual vision. It wants to destroy your home. Your marriage, your family, your future. Wants to lead you into a place of fantasy and perversion that even if you do get married one day, if you're not already married, you won't be able to enjoy sexual relations as God intended it to be because your mind is laced with perversion. I'll take you out of this place.

Now they say, doctors say that pornography actually puts an imprint, an actual imprint on the human brain.

Now only God can heal that, but God will heal that if we'll turn to Him. You shall know the truth, and the truth will set you free. Hallelujah to the Lamb of God. God is faithful, and with the trial, with the temptation, He will make a way to escape that you may be able to bear it. He will get you out, even if you can't get yourself out.

You found yourself so captivated by this particular lust that you can't get out of it. Jesus himself told us to pray in Matthew chapter 6 and verse 13, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. The context of lead us, Jesus is praying, basically saying this, don't release us into temptation. Don't Don't let us get stubborn or obstinate to the point where you remove your hand of protection from us, God. God, keep your hand of protection there and lead us, deliver us.

From the evil one. Don't release us. into the temptations around us. or even into the things of our own heart.

Now the Bible defines lust. As a sinful desire that leads one away from God. And it's not just sexual lusts. There's a lust for power. That can even be found in the house of God.

It's people who are in the workplace. It's people who just want to be in authority because they lost to have power over other people around them. They don't want to be servants. The Bible says the greatest among you will be the servant of all. They have a perverse understanding of greatness.

And they think in order for me to be Achieved as it is, I have to be in authority and have to be in power, and it can actually become a lust all by itself. What about the lust for preeminence? Jesus said to the religious teachers of the day, in a sense, you long for the greetings in the marketplace and to be called teacher, teacher. You want to be singled out, you want to be esteemed above. everyone else around you.

What about the lust for money? The Bible does say the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. Which, whilst many coveted after they have fallen into error and ended up piercing themselves through with many sorrows. You can say, well, I need money. How do you know when I'm lusting for money?

Well, it's easy. It's when you never have enough. You never get to the point of saying, I have enough. I have enough. I have enough in my bank account.

I have enough to pay my bill. No, if you have a lust for money, you never have enough. You spend your whole day thinking about money. How do I get more money? And when you have more, how do I get more?

And when you have more, how do I get more? That's how you know you have a lust for money. What about the lust for vengeance? Ha ha. Yeah.

Oh, you're wishing right now that person's face had not popped into your mind, but you can't push it out because it's there. You know the guy at work that you say, God forgive him, but if you run him over with a bus, I'll be okay with it, you know? The lust for vengeance. Vengeance is mine, says the Lord. You forgive, I'll do what needs to be done.

And if I choose to forgive, you've got to be okay with that. And also lots of course is where I started. Lusting for forbidden sexual Gratification. 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 13. Peter says these words.

Therefore, gird up the loins of your mind. Truth. There's no other way to do it. Let truth be your guide. Dress your mind with truth.

What's lovely? What's of virtue? What's of good report? If there be any virtue, if there be any praiseworthy thing, think on these things. And the God of peace, he says, will be with you.

Gird the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Rest your mind on the thought that it's your favor. That will set me free. It's your favor that will keep me free. It's your favor that will help me get across the finish line.

Thank God. When I get older, my hands will be raised and I'll be shouting and praising you. Oh, God. Oh, God. Oh, God.

I can't tell you the numbers of people I've known over the years that have blown it. In the last stage of their lives. Block was God. And some were even of report, and right at the end, there's just a total train wreck. And I've been at the bedside of some of them.

My prayer is God When it's my last day on the earth, my last week, my last month, bring to me my kids, bring to me my grandkids. And I'm gonna be telling them, like the prophet once did, bang that arrow on the ground, serve God, live for God. You will not regret living for God. I don't want to be on my deathbed saying, I'm so sorry for what I did. I'm so sorry for what happened.

I wish it hadn't happened. Peter says, rest your hope fully upon the grace that's to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts as in your ignorance. But as he who has called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written: Be holy, for I am holy. And if you call on the Father who without partiality judges according to each one's work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear.

Knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ. as of a lamb without blemish. and without spot. Peter says, don't be conformed to your former lust. The things that you did...

when you lived in ignorance and in darkness. Don't go there. Don't live like that. Don't let that become your guiding force in your life. Don't yield your body to these Thanks.

that God said shouldn't be in you. And then my favorite verse in 2 Corinthians chapter 5. In verse 17. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, He is a new creation. All things have passed away.

Behold, all things have passed away. become new. I'm in Christ. You are in Christ. Therefore, I am a new creation.

I'm not going to live the way I used to live before I came to know Christ as my Savior. The old things that governed my mind, that governed my thinking, that governed my life, have died according to the word of God. They've passed away. You can hold a funeral for your old way of thinking. It's passed away.

Maybe you should hold a funeral for it. Put it in a box, dig a hole in your backyard, and bury it once and for all. The old things that govern my mind, the old things that govern my life, the old lusts, the old selfishness, the old angers, the old everything about me that was there before I came to Christ has died. And all things have become new. That's the promise from the Word of God.

And the Bible again says, you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. I am a new creation in Christ Jesus. The old things in my life have passed away. I'm not fully. Paul says what God's called me to be.

I know that. You know that. There's still ways to go. But Paul says, I am now leaving behind what needs to be left behind. And I'm pressing forward to the mark of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

I want my life to be a testimony of God's grace and God's glory. I want my voice to count for righteousness. I want my song to be acceptable to God. I want the giftings of the Holy Spirit to flow freely through my life, to be able to speak into people's lives and see them brought out of darkness and into life and light in Jesus Christ. I want to be a key that unlocks prison doors, an oil that pours the anointing of God on other people's lives.

I want the fullness of God for my life. All that God has for me, that's what I want. In the book of Romans. Then chapter 8. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

Therefore, brethren, we are debtors not to the flesh to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. The same spirit that raised Christ from the dead, if you're a believer in Christ, is now upon you, in you, raising you out of death and into life. through Jesus Christ.

If the same spirit is in you. The body is dead, but the spirit is life.

Now what are some of the practical things I can do to prevent the lusts of my flesh? from controlling my life.

Well, first and foremost. According to 2 Peter chapter 1, Versus Three and four. Know the promises of God. You've got to know the promises of God. You've got to get in the Bible.

You've got to study it yourself. 2 Peter 1, 3 and 4.

Well, let's go to verse 2. Grace and peace be multiplied. to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. As his divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness. His divine power.

has given to us all things. That pertains to life and godliness. Let me say that again. His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness. Everything you need to live, everything you need to be godly has been given to you by the power of God within you.

through the knowledge of Him who has called us by glory and virtue. by which you've been given to us exceeding great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust, through the promises of God. You have to know your Bible. You've got to get in, especially in the New Testament, begin to read it and say, God, what did you say to me? What is the truth that's supposed to set me free?

Who am I in Christ? Yes, I believe I'm a new creation, but what does that look like? And God says, Well, I'm glad you asked because I've given you exceedingly great and precious promises, and it's through these, by the power of God, you receive the new nature. and you escape the corruption that is all around you in this world. Through lust.

Secondly, Put away what needs to be put away. It's really not complicated. Whatever needs to be put away. Put it away. If you need to put your cell phone away, put your cell phone away.

Psalm 101. Verses two to four. I will behave wisely. in a perfect way. Oh, when will you come to me?

There was a There was a longing in his heart, God. He said, God, I will do right. I will live right. Come to me, please. I've known the anointing of your Holy Spirit, and God, I want to know you again.

And David would probably be thinking about the moments when the Holy Spirit would come upon him and he would be able to worship and drive the devil away from Saul's life. Or the Holy Spirit would come upon him. He could defeat a lion or a bear. The Holy Spirit would come upon him and he could run into a valley and not just run and face Goliath, but actually prophesy as God speaks through him about Goliath's future and the future of the Philistine army. And David said, God, I'm not going to live in any way, I'm not going to live in a way that's going to hinder that.

God, I'm going to live in a perfect way in my house. Come to me. I will walk within my house with a perfect heart. I will set nothing wicked before my eyes. I hate the work of those who fall away.

It shall not. Cling to me. A perverse heart shall depart from me. I will not. No.

Wickedness. I think it's worth pausing for a moment. and realize that Yes, this can be your heart's desire, but there's got to be a practical side to this as well. Because later on in David's life, we come to point three. Stay engaged in what God has called you to do.

Stay engaged. You're called to be an usher in the house of God. Whatever it is God's given you to do, do that and stay engaged in what God's given you to do. 2 Samuel 11, verses 1 and 2, it said, it happened in the spring of the year at the time when kings go out to battle. David sent Joab and his servants with him.

That's the type of a person who says, you go to the prayer meeting tonight, I'm going to stay home. And all Israel, and they destroyed the people of Ammon and besieged Rabbah, but David remained at Jerusalem. Then it happened one evening that David arose from his bed. and walked on the roof of the king's house. You see, Laziness and lust are bedfellows.

It's the lazy man. Spiritually lazy men that will start to be given to lust. And this is a time of spiritual laziness that came into this man's. He's fought long and hard. He's fought hard battles.

He's defeated Goliath. He's led armies. He's written songs. And he's in his 50s now. According to the people who studied, one said he was about 53 by their estimation.

And he just decides to stay home. I've fought long. You see, the battle is never over. Until it's over. And you should never stop fighting.

Because it's not a season to stay home, it's a season now for kings to fight. If you're a son of God or a daughter of God, If you are truly a king or a priest unto God, as the scripture says that we are. And will be for eternity. It's time for kings to fight. It's not time for kings to stay home.

It's not time to be spiritually lazy. It's not time to put your Bible away and let dust accumulate on the cover. It's time for kings to fight. And one day he stayed home. And he rose from his bed at evening time.

One time he should have been going to bed, he's getting up. And he walked on the roof of the king's house, and from the roof he saw a woman bathing, and the woman was very beautiful. to behold. And thus began The spiritual downfall of a man of God. It was terrible.

What happened? The heartache. He brought into his home. We had to deal with rape. In his house, he had to deal with rebellion.

He had to deal with the death of four of his sons. And when Absalom was overthrown after his rebellion, you hear about David going into his tent, and he's crying so loud the whole, oh, Absalom, Absalom, my son, Absalom. Because he knew that Absalom wouldn't have done this were it not for his sin. He knew that he had planted the seed of rebellion in his own home. When he rebelled against God.

He knew he wasn't supposed to be doing what he did. And his heart was broken. If Nathan had come to him, he could have turned. Turn from these thoughts. Don't let them grip your heart.

If you have to call somebody to pray with you. If you have to get up. And go to prayer meeting. If you have to find out what it is you're supposed to be doing and get up and do that, don't let laziness take over your life. But you look at his life, and it's nothing but turmoil from this point onward.

It's nothing but heartache in his family. It's nothing but brokenness as he watched his sons rebel or take each other's lives as he just watched the train wreck. that he brought into his own home and family because He got up. And he looked at something and he didn't do what was right at that moment. I guess the question is What are you looking at?

You know what I'm talking about. You've been listening to Carter Conlon from Times Square Church in New York City. For more information and resources to help you in your walk in Christ, log on to tsc.nyc. That's tsc.nyc. And be sure to be with us next week for A Call to the Nation with Carter Conlon.