The Ten Commandments. Are We Really Keeping Them? – Part 5
05/19/12 Video Broadcast
The danger of covetousness and lust. Some important scriptures are examined to to assist brothers in overcoming issues with lust. We really can find freedom from this sin if we are equipped. The trappings of material covetousness is also discussed.

The Ten Commandments. Are We Really Keeping Them? - Part 5 - Study
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Video Transcript
This is a direct transcript of a teaching that was presented via video. Due to the fact that we often speak differently than we write, the written text may not flow and/or sound strange in some places. There may also be grammatical errors and unintended mistakes. It is encouraged that you to watch the video to complement this written transcript.
We’ve been talking about the Ten Commandments the last several broadcasts. We’ve gone through pretty much all of them, except these last two, maybe three, that I want to bring up. The Ten Commandments are something we look at, a lot of times, and say, “Yep, I’ve got those down pat. Let’s see what other commandments might be out there.”
When we really dive deep into the Ten Commandments, and we go deep sea diving as some like to say, then we find that maybe there is more to it than meets the eye. We want to deep sea dive into the Ten Commandments. They are the only words Yahweh ever wrote down Himself in stone, signifying the importance and finality of all Ten Commandments.
Our Savior commented on them. Paul, the Apostle, often quoted them as something we ought to follow, something we want to observe. What I’m going to share with you today I don’t think will be too controversial, but it is a sin that a lot of people struggle with.
I’ve had my battles in this area in the past, especially early in our relationship. I fearfully say, I do feel Yahweh has given me victory in it.
I say fearfully because think I stand, and it says take heed lest I fall. This is a very important broadcast especially for those of us men. I want to handle today’s broadcast as delicately as I can and try to keep it as G-rated as I can, but there will be some things I share today that will not apply to little children so much.
We’re talking to those of us who are older after the hormones have been flying.
The commandments we have covered are Commandment 1
Exodus 20:3 – You shall have no other gods before Me.
Yahweh is first, no matter what. Nobody else is in that first place, and nothing else. No creature is in that position. Nothing He has created is in that position, only Yahweh.
Commandment 2
Exodus 20:4 – You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness [of anything] that [is] in heaven above, or that [is] in the earth beneath, or that [is] in the water under the earth;
5 – you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, YAHWEH your Elohim, [am] a jealous Elohim, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth [generations] of those who hate Me,
That’s getting paganism and the remnants thereof out of our lives.
Commandment 3
Exodus 20:7 – You shall not take the name of YAHWEH your Elohim in vain, for YAHWEH will not hold [him] guiltless who takes His name in vain.
He won’t hold us guiltless if we break this one. We’ve covered these in an earlier broadcast.
Commandment 4
Exodus 20:8 – Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
9 – Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
That’s today – the Sabbath. We covered that in an earlier broadcast, too, to keep it holy. Today is the only day in Scriptures ever called the Sabbath.
Exodus 20:10 – but the seventh day [is] the Sabbath of YAHWEH your Elohim. [In it] you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who [is] within your gates.
11 – For [in] six days YAHWEH made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that [is] in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore YAHWEH blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
I don’t know how anyone can interpret that anyway other than the way He said it.
Commandment 5
Exodus 20:12 – Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which YAHWEH your Elohim is giving you.
That we also covered in a previous broadcast.
Commandment 6
Exodus 20:13 – You shall not murder.
We covered that also in the last broadcast we did on the Ten Commandments. You can check those out in the archives
Commandment 8
Exodus 20:15 – You shall not steal.
We also touched on this one a little bit. Stealing is taking from other people, right? If someone has a good name, and we slander them, then we are taking away from their good name. Sometimes people will do that to build up their own name. If they can make someone else look rotten, by default they are saying that they are above that.
So it is a devil-like purpose of tearing someone else down to build up their own selves. That’s what the enemy seeks to do; he accuses us to the Father. He seeks to steal our heritage, to steal who we are in the Messiah, to take that away from us. The devil comes to steal, kill, and destroy, and we don’t want to imitate him in any way shape or form.
We are also going to share another way of thieving and stealing in today’s broadcast.
Commandment #9
Exodus 20:16 – You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
This commandment is often involved in slander, speaking evil of someone, saying they did something that they never did do.
Commandment #7 This is the commandment we are going to cover today.
Exodus 20:14 – You shall not commit adultery.
We did cover this in one way in the last broadcast and that was dealing with adultery against Yahweh, with the spirit of the world. That was in part 4. Dealing with lying and false witness was in part 3. Sabbath and Name was part 2, and part 1 covered the first command and the second command.
We also, earlier this year, went through a multi-part study on how a marriage could actually not even be a marriage.
It would just be adultery. You can find these in the archives. We went through a 7 part study on marriage, divorce, and remarriage. So we’ve covered, I think, pretty thoroughly, the beginning of this year, the topic of when someone divorces his wife. His wife is a believer; he’s a believer, and he divorces his believing wife and marries another.
That is adultery. The new relationship is not a marriage.
The new relationship is adultery. We went over that very thoroughly because it is very important. We need to be sure we are looking at all the Scriptures and that we are very careful in those areas.
Another way in which a person can commit adultery is through lust, and this is a big one.
Matthew 5:27 – You have heard that it was said to those of old, `You shall not commit adultery.’
28 – But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
Much of the common teachings out there today use this Scripture to say, ‘Well, you know, Messiah’s law is above what is written in the Law.’ The Messiah went a step further than the Law, and they will often use this Scripture to say that, but that’s not true. In fact, the Scriptures, the actual Ten Commandments, Commandment 10 deals with lust.
Exodus 20:17 – You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that [is] your neighbor’s.
The word covet means to desire, and so we are not to lust for or desire our neighbor’s wife. That is all Yahushua is pointing out, except He did add that that is adultery that occurs in the heart. Yahweh is after our hearts, is He not? So we want to make sure that our hearts are in line with His Torah, not just the outward.
In Strong’s Lexicon, the word covet is #2530 The Hebrew word is chamad (khaw-mad’) – a primitive root; to delight in:–beauty, greatly beloved, covet, delectable thing, (great) delight, desire, goodly, lust, (be) pleasant (thing), precious (thing).
So if you delight in your neighbor’s wife in an improper way. It is a very broad word. The Brown driver Briggs says to desire 10, covet 4, delight 2, pleasant 2, beauty 1, lust 1, delectable things 1; 21
We see that it is translated covet 4 times, but it is translated desire 10 times. It is translated as lust once. So I really think that the word covet which means desire and the word lust which also means desire are actually synonyms. They are related to each other. They pretty much mean the same thing.
The word lust in our modern vernacular is typically used only as a word describing lust for a woman who is not your wife.
This command against coveting was already written in stone long before Yahushua made these statements, so it is not a new teaching He is bringing to light here. It was a teaching that was there from the very beginning. He just pointed out that it is adultery in the heart.
We are told in this command of not to covet that we are not to desire the things that do not belong to us.
If we desire the things that are not ours, they belong to our neighbor, to somebody else, then the next logical step would be to take it. Yahweh is setting up a safeguard when He said, “Don’t even desire it in your heart.” That is a hear thing.
Even though His commandments are written in stone, the commandment itself has everything to do with the heart.
After Yahushua warned against the lusting after a woman in our heart, it is adultery He says, He then says this:
Matthew 5:29 – If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast [it] from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.
30 – And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast [it] from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.
Yahushua knew, and He said it in a round about way here, that hands and eyes are often used in the sin of lust. His advice is, since those things are offending us, our members are fleshly, they are carnal, to cast them off from us.
Now some have taken this in a literal form, and have, I am sure, got tired of their eye causing them to lust, and plucked out, but there is a Biblical way to do this.
Romans 6:11 – Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to Elohim in Messiah Yahushua our Master.
12 – Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.
One reason I wanted to choose Part 5 of the Stumbling Blocks series that was shared last year for the broadcast last week was because it dealt with this very issue, dying to self, putting self in its rightful position and putting Messiah in His rightful position.
So believing in and obeying the good news of the Messiah has everything to do with Yahushua dwelling in us and we no longer live.
So, in that sense, we are taking our body and saying, “Body, this is not what I’m about anymore.” I’m casting that mortal body away from me, and now I’m bringing Yahushua in. He is now there. He is its residing Prince. He is on the throne. So we are going to give Him His rightful place.
It is no longer we who live, it is Messiah who lives in us. So we have Him dwelling there. He is the living Word.
When Yahushua was tempted by the enemy, He didn’t just sit there and take it and say nothing, He counterattacked.
Matthew 4:3 – Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, If You are the Son of Elohim, command that these stones become bread.
4 – But He answered and said, It is written, `Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of Elohim.’
When the enemy tempted Him, He quickly drew His sword. He quickly drew His sword and went on the counterattack. He had the full armor of Elohim on Him, and He drew the sword to fight back.
Ephesians 6:11 – Put on the whole armor of Elohim, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
12 – For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual [hosts] of wickedness in the heavenly [places].
This is a spiritual battle that we are engaged in.
Ephesians 6:13 – Therefore take up the whole armor of Elohim, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
14 – Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness,
15 – and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
We have to seek the truth. The breastplate of righteousness is Yahushua dwelling in us. Only through Him can we be made righteous. The news that we carry ( the gospel) is Messiah Yahushua dwelling in us, cleansing us of our sin.
Ephesians 6:16 – above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.
We’ve got to believe His Word, don’t we?
Ephesians 6:17 – And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of Elohim;
Everything up to this point has been defensive- the shield of faith, shodding our feet with the gospel of peace, the waist with truth, the breastplate with righteousness. That is the armor. Now we are talking offensive pieces of weaponry- the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of Elohim.
See, the Spirit is the Word of Elohim, and that is our offensive. Also here is another offensive mentioned:
Ephesians 6:18 – praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints–
So praying for each other is a part of this process. Sometimes when you are attacked, if you start praying for others, for the saints, the enemy doesn’t like that. If that is your custom, when the enemy comes in to attack you, you start praying for somebody, he doesn’t want you to pray for somebody, so maybe he won’t attack you so much.
If every time we were tempted, we included this prayer for the unsaved, for the brethren, do you think the enemy would want you to do that? No. If that is your response, he may stop. The sword of the Spirit – we’ve got the Word, and we fight back.
It is written.I believe the good news of Messiah Yahushua. It is no longer I who live, but Messiah lives in Me. I believe that by faith, and therefore…It is written…
And we believe those words that are written. With that shield of faith we counterattack with the sword and we resist the devil and he has to flee from us. You notice that our weapons consist of communication. The Word of Elohim is Yahweh’s communication with us, and the prayer is our communication with Yahweh.
You notice that? The devil communicates with us.
We don’t want his communication with us, so we call on Yahweh’s communication with us, and therefore we communicate with Yahweh. See, relationships consist of communication. Without communication in some form, there really isn’t a relationship. If we are not seeking Yahweh’s Word, and we are not really praying to Him, where is the relationship?
You have to have communication.
We see in the Scriptures that our offensive piece of weaponry is communication with Yahweh and Yahweh’s communication with us. Even worship, getting down on our face, and bowing before Yahweh is communication. We are saying, “Yahweh, you are greater than I. You are awesome. You are far above me.”
If our lives are devoid of good communication with the Father, and the Father communicating with us, don’t be surprised if He seems so distant. Don’t be surprised if you feel open to attack because our communication to and from the Father, by the Spirit, by the Scriptures, by prayer, is what our relationship consists of at this point.
That is why the enemy is working so hard to destroy that and undermine that with his communication. He wants a relationship with us also.
That is why he accuses us to the Father, and that’s why so many unbelievers blame Yahweh for the evil in the world, because the enemy has planted accusations against the Father in their hearts, so he can undermine man’s relationship with his Creator.
The same is true with our communication with each other. The enemy undermines our communication with each other, cuts it off, and the relationship is undermined. We want to choose to believe Yahweh’s Word over the lies of the enemy, and those Words will become our help in days of temptation.
Proverbs 6:23 – For the commandment [is] a lamp, And the law a light; Reproofs of instruction [are] the way of life,
That is the way of life, to get reproved. We want it. We seek it.
Proverbs 6:24 – To keep you from the evil woman, From the flattering tongue of a seductress.
25 – Do not lust after her beauty in your heart, Nor let her allure you with her eyelids.
Long before Yahushua spoke against lust, we see here another verse in what is called Old Testament warning against lusting after the beauty of another woman. In Solomon’s day, it would have been pretty shameful for a woman to go around flaunting her body. In those days they didn’t wear the clothes that we see today.
So they had the eyes, and they tried to lure through the eyelids. Women do that today also.
Even you see it sometimes on Facebook, people doing these self portraits and looking up with sort of a longing eye. The ladies especially have this longing eye toward the camera and trying to lure and attract men. Sometimes even believing women, I see this, to draw them. With others it is a display of the body.
That is now a cultural norm. That is how they allure.
That last verse says, “Do not lust after her beauty in your heart.” Not her eyelids, nothing. We are in a little more advanced situation, I think, today, where women dress with hardly any clothes on to allure. Forget the eyelids, the whole kit and ka boodle.
If Yahushua is with us, then when these kind of temptations come our way, we have a source of strength.
Actually, lust is rooted in a lack of contentment. Have you ever thought about that? It is not being content with such things as we have. A lack of contentment with such things as we have causes covetousness to take root in a person’s life.
Hebrews 13:5 – [Let your] conduct [be] without covetousness; [be] content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you.
Yahushua is enough. We don’t need anything else, really. If we are unmarried we should be content with such things as we have, even if we don’t have a wife yet, or if you don’t have a husband yet. Be content with such things as you have, because Yahushua is with us. He will never leave us.
He will never forsake us. If we have Him in our life, we have everything we need. We shouldn’t be greedy for more.
Is His grace really not sufficient for us? Can we not trust that He will provide what we really need in the time we really need it? We might feel that we need it now. Yahweh won’t give us everything we want, but He will give us what we need. And He knows what we want versus what we need better than we do.
He knows whether we could handle what we want or not.
So the more content we are with what we already have, the less we are going to fall prey to the sin of covetousness.
1Timothy 6:6 – Now godliness with contentment is great gain.
7 – For we brought nothing into [this] world, [and it is] certain we can carry nothing out.
8 – And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content.
Yahweh promises us He will provide us our food and clothing. Yahushua didn’t even have a house to live in. The Son of Man, He said, had no place to lay His head. There is no mention here of a spouse if you’re unmarried. Does it say, having a spouse, and food and clothing?
No, it just says food and clothing, so we can be content, and if Yahweh wants a single person to get married He will reveal it by His Spirit.
And if an unmarried person gets caught up in lust because of a lack of contentment, then he is going to be following his own eyes, rather than the Spirit of Yahweh, to lead him to the wife that Yahweh has appointed for his life. The same is true for a woman toward a man.
So to commit this act of lust with an unmarried girl is fornication in the heart. There is adultery in the heart, there is also fornication in the heart.
If the girl does not belong to you, if you are not married to her, you have no business imagining things that Yahweh has set aside only to be between two married people. You are not married to her yet. We don’t want to imagine that we’ve got this. That is coveting. We don’t have it.
Now spiritually speaking, a girl’s parents actually have the right of refusal when it comes to who their daughter should marry.
Now I’m not just going to pull the Torah out here, I’m going to pull New Testament also. This is going to apply to what we are saying.
Exodus 22:16 – If a man entices a virgin who is not betrothed, and lies with her, he shall surely pay the bride-price for her [to be] his wife.
17 – If her father utterly refuses to give her to him, he shall pay money according to the bride-price of virgins.
If the father says no, even though Yahweh says do it, then Yahweh will honor that. He says, you shall pay money according to the bride price of virgins. The fornicator would owe the father a bride price regardless of whether the father allowed the man to marry his daughter.
The bride price was there as blessing for the bride because if, at some point in the future, the man would divorce her, that bride price would be kept by the father. Then that money would be used to help the young woman make the transition back to her father’s house and be provided for.
So that was a blessing. It wasn’t like a purchase. You go to the store and buy a car. It had nothing to do with that.
This is a Biblical principle that is in the New Testament also.
1Corinthians 7:34 – There is a difference between a wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman cares about the things of YAHWEH, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit. But she who is married cares about the things of the world — how she may please [her] husband.
35 – And this I say for your own profit, not that I may put a leash on you, but for what is proper, and that you may serve YAHWEH without distraction.
36 – But if any man thinks he is behaving improperly toward his virgin, if she is past the flower of youth, and thus it must be, let him do what he wishes. He does not sin; let them marry.
This speaks of a father who is keeping his daughter from marriage in the hopes that she will dedicate her life to the Messiah instead. He’s saying that if she desires to marry, it would not be a sin for him to allow her to be married. It would be improper for him to restrict her if she chose to get married.
So even in New Testament times, here, the father has a right of refusal.
Covetousness by default is taking something away from someone else when it doesn’t belong to you. We understand that. Whether it be a person’s possessions, a person’s wife, a person’s daughter. Do we see that now?
Lust is stealing in our hearts because it involves the imagination of taking something that does not belong to you. So it is an act of stealing in the heart.
Just as you’ve got fornication in the heart and adultery in the heart, we have that also. Notice in that last verse it says, she must be past the flower of youth. There is something about that. The Greek here has to do with something being ripe. A flower blooms up to a certain point, and when it is fully bloomed, then it is ready to be picked.
The same is true of a young girl. Until she is fully mature, physically, spiritually, emotionally, she is not yet ready for marriage. You don’t take the fruit from the tree until it is finished growing and its fully mature state. The same is true here. It says if she is past the flower of her youth, and thus it must be.
It has to be past the flower of youth. Some people are getting married a bit too young.
As a result of immaturity, there are marriages happening where neither partner is ready for marriage. I’m thinking maybe 20 years old is when someone is fully grown. That is when they become an adult. My point is that there is a cultural thing that is happening where there is almost this worship of youth.
Now we have teenage girls and even girls younger than that who are being promoted and dressed in such a way to provoke the lust of men. This is not Biblical. They are too young for marriage, let alone doing these other things. Someone might argue, how does a young man even find a young girl? He has to desire her first, doesn’t he?
Then he would want a relationship with her.
So if you can’t covet something that doesn’t belong to you, how do you ever decide this is the girl that you want for your life, that you want to be married to? Well, there are holy desires, and there are unholy desires. A holy desire would involve a spiritual drawing of a young man to a young girl.
Yahweh would place an imprint on the heart that this would be the one that He has chosen.
Even then, the young man should seek the girl’s father, asking the father permission to get to know her better, because the father biblically has the right of refusal. It is only after he has sought the girl’s father that he should engage in any kind of advances.
The same way, if the father had a posthole digger in his barn, and you wanted to borrow it, you wouldn’t just go grab it.
No, you would ask, “May I borrow the posthole digger?” Now I’m not saying you would treat a woman like a posthole digger, but I’m saying that this is your neighbor’s daughter.
This is not your wife yet, so don’t make advances as if she is your wife when you haven’t even found out if the father would find that acceptable. The father is more than likely going to want to know you better.
So it is out of order to start imagining things that go on in a marriage bed, first.
It is premature, improper, until a betrothal has occurred with the permission of the girl’s father. So the first drawing should be spiritual, then emotional after permission is given, and then physical after the marriage has taken place. The world has it backwards.
First the physical, then you get to know each other, and if there is any fear of Yahweh at all, then you might pray about what to do. Well, you’re already connected. So everything is backwards. What I’m saying is, we need to follow Yahweh’s leading first.
I shared this in our first broadcast on Marriage, Divorce, and Remarriage, but the mentality of the world leads us to an inability to control and possess our bodies in sanctification and honor.
Young people have to learn to possess their own vessels in sanctification and honor before they get married so that they can learn to be faithful to the ones they marry.
If a person is not faithful, when they are unmarried, to whomever their future spouse will be, and they are desiring other women who will never be their wife, it doesn’t necessarily change after they get married because it is already a habit by then, looking at other pastures. We need to follow the will of Yahweh and not the way of Gentiles.
1Thessalonians 4:3 – For this is the will of Elohim, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality;
4 – that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor,
5 – not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know Elohim;
1Thessalonians 4:6 – that no one should take advantage of and defraud his brother in this matter, because YAHWEH [is] the avenger of all such, as we also forewarned you and testified.
7 – For Elohim did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness.
8 – Therefore he who rejects [this] does not reject man, but Elohim, who has also given us His Holy Spirit.
What does this mean here to defraud your brother? What is going on here? The passion of lusts creates a defrauding.
If you are a young person, you may not be old enough yet to know what it is like to have a daughter, and I can tell you, for myself, and I think other brothers will concur, but it really bothers me to think that someone is engaging in the passion of lust for one of my daughters.
A father has an innate desire to protect, and there is this defense mechanism that goes up and says, “Oh, no, you don’t. Get away from her.” Because we are protective. It is a natural defense coming in, and I feel a little bit defrauded. Wait until she is old enough and then if there is a Spirit led desire, come to me about it.
That is the way it ought to be. There is another kind of defrauding that happens to.
That is, if a man is engaging in the passion of lust before he is married with whoever these other women might be, women he is not married to, and they go off and marry another man, then that is defrauding the man she marries, and you’re defrauding your future wife or you future husband, the case of a sister.
You’re defrauding your future spouse because those people are not your wives.
Yahweh sees the end from the beginning, so what is He seeing in those instances? It wasn’t your wife. Yahweh appointed this woman over here to be somebody else’s wife, and there you are imagining things that occur in the marriage bed. We’ve got to keep everything in its proper place.
With this passion of lust, there are a number of things going on. There is a lack of contentment. There is defrauding.
There is covetousness, and the consequences can be severe.
Proverbs 6:26 – For by means of a harlot [A man is reduced] to a crust of bread; And an adulteress will prey upon his precious life.
Have you ever thought about this? If someone is having financial problems, could it be a judgment from Yahweh? Yahweh is our provider, right?
He is the One that provides for us. Could lust for women that are not their wife, be an issue here, or if there is adultery going on in the relationship, whether it be physical or spiritual adultery in the relationship.
It says here, “by means of a harlot a man is reduced to a crust of bread.” Judgment could be coming upon a man’s life as a result of these things. It doesn’t mean all poor people are guilty of covetousness.
I’m not saying that, but we do see that poverty can be a consequence, and I think especially if monetary transactions are involved, through porn or through physical harlotry.
Yahweh may not choose to bless that man because that money is being used for elicit things. It doesn’t mean Yahweh always uses that method to judge a man, but that is one thing that is a possibility. You can’t take fire into your bosom and your clothes not be burnt.
Proverbs 6:27 – Can a man take fire to his bosom, And his clothes not be burned?
28 – Can one walk on hot coals, And his feet not be seared?
29 – So [is] he who goes in to his neighbor’s wife; Whoever touches her shall not be innocent.
She is not married or if she is married, either way she is your neighbor’s wife, unless you are the one that is married to her. There are both unmarried and married harlots. You know, the Internet is full of married and married harlots.
I’ve heard it said, actually, that the trading of elicit pictures is what got the Internet off the ground. Kind a sad beginning, isn’t it? Actually, it is still there.
It used to be that these kinds of things were only acceptable to people if they disguised themselves and hid their faces and went in some dark corner of town. Now the world’s largest venue for these kinds of things is only a click away.
Oftentimes, especially about 10 years ago, it would pop up in your face. Lately, it has kind of died down. At least it has on my end.
This privacy of a computer in front of you, maybe it’s in a room somewhere and no one else is there. This kind of privacy can make it even more temptation because no one on earth sees what is happening. So this is a test. Do we fear Elohim or is it just man that we are following?
2Chronicles 16:9 – For the eyes of YAHWEH run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of [those] whose heart [is] loyal to Him. In this you have done foolishly; therefore from now on you shall have wars.
Are we loyal to Him?
Proverbs 15:3 – The eyes of YAHWEH [are] in every place, Keeping watch on the evil and the good.
Proverbs 5:21 – For the ways of man [are] before the eyes of YAHWEH, And He ponders all his paths.
Are we recognizing that Yahweh’s eyes are upon us?
Hebrews 4:12 – For the word of Elohim [is] living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
13 – And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things [are] naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we [must give] account.
What if our actions were all broadcast on the evening news? A camera following us around everywhere, and everything we did was broadcast? Would our actions change? What if our every thought was broadcast? Would our thoughts change? You know, all of our actions and all of our thoughts are broadcast to Yahweh in heaven.
Do we fear man more than we fear Him? That is a good question to ask ourselves.
These are some Scriptures, some weaponry to add to your arsenal against the enemy if you find yourself tempted with this thought, ‘Well, nobody will know,’ You are wrong about that. They will know because it will be broadcast from the housetops, Yahushua said. I hope that this will help equip you.
My goal with this study today is to equip my brothers, and my sisters, but especially my brothers who have more of a tendency to struggle with these things. We live in this perverse and adulterous generation, and we are going to need all the weapons we can get, right? So here is some more weaponry for you.
Ask yourself, ‘Is it a sin for a woman to be immodest? Is it a sin for a woman to be immodestly dressed?’
Almost every man I could talk to would agree, yes, that is a sin. If it’s a sin to be immodest, and our hearts are right and clean before Yahweh, then we wouldn’t want to see it because we wouldn’t want to enjoy that which Yahweh hates or we’re not really men after His own heart.
If our hearts are right we would despise the thought of trying to enjoy the wicked things that people are doing.
David said,
Psalms 101:2 – I will behave wisely in a perfect way. Oh, when will You come to me? I will walk within my house with a perfect heart.
3 – I will set nothing wicked before my eyes; I hate the work of those who fall away; It shall not cling to me.
It is through the eyes that the enemy was able to bring David down. So he made a conscious choice that he would not set any wicked thing before his eyes. He learned the hard way that he had to be careful what he did with his eyes. Through voyeurism and the lust of the eyes, he fell into temptation and yielded to it by committing adultery.
He stole another man’s wife. He murdered the man.
He violated almost every one of the Ten Commandments all because of what went through the eyes. The temptations on the Internet today are also voyeuristic, and they are also through the eyes. So the very thing that was able to bring a man down, who was a man most after Yahweh’s own heart, is readily available to all men who get on the Internet.
Very quickly, very easily accessible. This is a snare, is it not?
This is a snare that the enemy has set up. If we actually begin to hate these things, then we’re certainly not going to love them. We are expected by Yahweh to not love the things that the world is trying to shove in our faces. As we shared in a previous broadcast:
1John 2:15 – 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.
16 – For all that [is] in the world — the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life — is not of the Father but is of the world.
17 – And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of Elohim abides forever.
What do we want to do, pass away with the rest of the world? Or do we want to cringe, and our soul be vexed, by the things that go on in the world. The closer we are to Yahweh the more abhorrent their deeds will be in our eyes, because of the perversion of what Yahweh’s original intent was.
It doesn’t mean we are judgmental toward them, or that we hate them, but we despise the things that they do.
We abhor the things they do, not desire to do the things they do. Just the opposite. If we desire the things they do, then the love of the Father, where is it? Our love for Yahweh will automatically cause us to have a hatred for the things that are against Him. So think about it.
Yahweh intended those parts of the body to be seen only by a husband or by a wife, so that they may bond together and produce children out of love for each other. That is what those body parts were created for. But man has perverted it all, and now we have abortions.
Well, let’s call it for what it is: murder, by the millions, and many cases because of lust. Lust produces abortions. Lust produces fornication.
Fornication produces unwanted children in an unmarried household. So lust is the driving force behind abortions. Brothers, don’t get too judgmental of the women who kill their own babies in their own womb. It is lust, in many cases, not all cases, but many cases, that is the root cause of it.
The lust of men. So we have today, children being murdered in what is supposed to be the safest place, inside Mommy.
The most dangerous place to live, in the United States, today, is inside Mommy. One out of three chances you will be murdered by your mommy. That is sad. Or is it 1 out of 4? It might be 1 out of 4. Yahweh intended those body parts to be used by a husband and by a wife, not by others outside that relationship.
Then through lust, we have divorces galore because of men who are not content with such things as they have, and they begin to look outside at the things they don’t have, through covetousness.
They find somebody else. Therefore the children of those relationships end up being damaged, and there is bitterness, and there is hurt between the man and his wife, or the woman, if she chooses to go that route.
Look at all the damage to families that lust will do, and you will begin to hate it.
When you see the little children who are affected, thy can’t help it, this is their parents, and they will grow up a lot of times without a father in the home to protect them. Then they end up being sexually abused because of lust. Do you hate lust yet?
If you love children, you will not love lust, because they are the ones bearing the brunt of most of our errors. It is not venereal diseases, that is the big consequence. It is hurting children, and the lack of family. We have children being born in the homes without a daddy, without a loving mother who is not prepared to take care of them financially.
So mothers have to leave the home and stick them in daycare centers.
And they don’t bond with their mothers. So the very society that we live in is hypocritical, because they hate the abuse of children, but the society we live in also promotes the lust for corporate gain, and gets mad if you cry out against it or suggest it ought to be illegal.
The very society that claims to hate the abuse of children doesn’t do anything about the very thing that is causing a lot of the abuse.
Not all, but quite a lot. You can’t love pornography and love children at the same time because pornography is abusive to women and harmful to children. So let’s not love this abusive world or the things in it: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.
And don’t be envious of the evil men that are in whatever pictures that are on there, whatever it is. Don’t be envious of those men.
They are damaging society.
Proverbs 24:1 – Do not be envious of evil men, Nor desire to be with them;
Psalms 119:36 – Incline my heart to Your testimonies, And not to covetousness.
37 – Turn away my eyes from looking at worthless things, [And] revive me in Your way.
Romans 12:9 – [Let] love [be] without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good.
Another reason to hate lust: the enemy has perverted the proper use of women, and the proper use of man. Not only in our society through homosexuality, but also in how our society characterizes women as an object for selfish gain. As an object, not a person with thoughts and feelings and hurts, but an object for gratification of men.
The men of our generation need to forsake this idea that we are Yahweh’s gift to women, and embrace the truth that woman was a precious gift that Yahweh gave to man. If we abuse that gift, isn’t that unconscionable?
Think about it, if I had a little puppy in my hands, and I gave you the puppy to love and to care for, and you took the puppy and grabbed it by the scruff of its neck and threw it on the ground, and you misused it, and you abused it, wouldn’t I have the right to be upset if that is what you did with that puppy?
Of course. Well, Yahweh gave us something far more valuable than a puppy.
He gave us woman, and men abuse it and throw it on the ground, and use it for self-gratification. Doesn’t Yahweh have cause to be upset? I think He does. Yahweh gives man a gift, then man tells the woman, “Go cheapen yourself, and do this for hire.”
You know, if there weren’t any men who were mistreating women in this way, there wouldn’t be harlotry. There wouldn’t be pornography.There wouldn’t be these things.
So we men will answer to Him for how we have treated the gift that Yahweh has given us. When we mistreat our gift, you know, actually, we are destroying ourselves.
Proverbs 6:32 – Whoever commits adultery with a woman lacks understanding; He [who] does so destroys his own soul.
33 – Wounds and dishonor he will get, And his reproach will not be wiped away.
We actually hurt ourselves. It all comes back. As one Scripture says, ‘he who loves his wife, loves himself,’ right? So we place ourselves in great danger.
Proverbs 6:34 – For jealousy [is] a husband’s fury; Therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance.
35 – He will accept no recompense, Nor will he be appeased though you give many gifts.
1Corinthians 6:9 – Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of Elohim? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites,
That includes fornicators in the heart and adulterers in the heart.
1Corinthians 6:10 – nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of Elohim.
If this is our character, if this is our practice, I didn’t say it, Yahweh Word said it, we will not inherit the kingdom of Elohim.
1Corinthians 6:11 – And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of YAHWEH Yahushua and by the Spirit of our Elohim.
We can get cleansed from it. We can get clean from it, but we can’t wallow in the works of the flesh. The works of the flesh are evident
Galatians 5:19 – Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness,
20 – idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies,
21 – envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told [you] in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of Elohim.
Hebrews 13:4 – Marriage [is] honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers Elohim will judge.
5 – [Let your] conduct [be] without covetousness; [be] content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you.
If we have Yahweh, we have everything we need. Even if we are not married yet, we have everything we need.
Ephesians 5:3 – But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints;
4 – neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks.
5 – For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Messiah and Elohim.
These are stark, strong warnings, brothers. We better pay attention. This is serious stuff.
Colossians 3:5 – Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.
Whoa! Covetousness is what? Covetousness is idolatry. That is what it is. So if we are committing idolatry, we are saying, ‘Yahweh, I’ve got someone else I am going to worship. I’m not content with what I have. I’m not going to put You first.
I’m going to put myself first and chase after my own desires and make an idol out of myself, or make an idol out of whoever it is I’m coveting.’
So we are guilty of violating the first and second commands, dealing with the prohibition of idolatry, when we engage in covetousness. We are committing idolatry against Yahweh through the passion and evil desire of covetousness.
Colossians 3:6 – Because of these things the wrath of Elohim is coming upon the sons of disobedience,
7 – in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them.
We can’t live in those things anymore. Those are in the past.
2Peter 2:12 – But these, like natural brute beasts made to be caught and destroyed, speak evil of the things they do not understand, and will utterly perish in their own corruption,
13 – [and] will receive the wages of unrighteousness, [as] those who count it pleasure to carouse in the daytime. [They are] spots and blemishes, carousing in their own deceptions while they feast with you,
2Peter 2:14 – having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin, enticing unstable souls. They have a heart trained in covetous practices, [and are] accursed children.
15 – They have forsaken the right way and gone astray, following the way of Balaam the [son] of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;
This is characteristics of the wicked. We don’t want any part of this. What did Balaam do? He told the Moabite women to go down there and get those Israelites to covet you and commit fornication. That is what he did.
I’m saying these things because they need to be said. If nothing else gets your attention, I hope those verses will. My point is not to condemn anybody.
My goal is not to condemn anyone and say you’re going straight to hell if you fail in this area, if you have struggles in this area. That is not my point. My point is to get our attention on the Word of Elohim and what it says, so that we will have the fear of Elohim to turn away from evil.
That is my point. The best thing to do if we want to keep ourselves from these things, is make a covenant with your eyes.
Make a covenant with your eyes, and make a commitment to Yahweh, that you will
l not gaze at the parts of the body that contribute to lustful thoughts, and if your eyes happen to glance at that, that you will turn your eyes away from it. Now Job was a man who hated evil, and for that reason he made a covenant also with his eyes.
Job 31:1 – I have made a covenant with my eyes; Why then should I look upon a young woman?
2 – For what [is] the allotment of Elohim from above, And the inheritance of the Almighty from on high?
3 – [Is] it not destruction for the wicked, And disaster for the workers of iniquity?
See, he feared Elohim. He knew the results of these things.
Job 31:4 – Does He not see my ways, And count all my steps?
The word translated young woman in verse1 is virgin. So he wasn’t going to gaze at a young woman, and I’m sure he certainly wasn’t going to gaze at a woman who was married because it goes on to say:
Job 31:5 – If I have walked with falsehood, Or if my foot has hastened to deceit,
6 – Let me be weighed on honest scales, That Elohim may know my integrity.
7 – If my step has turned from the way, Or my heart walked after my eyes, Or if any spot adheres to my hands,
Job 31:8 – [Then] let me sow, and another eat; Yes, let my harvest be rooted out.
9 – If my heart has been enticed by a woman, Or [if] I have lurked at my neighbor’s door,
10 – [Then] let my wife grind for another, And let others bow down over her.
Job 31:11 – For that [would be] wickedness; Yes, it [would be] iniquity [deserving of] judgment.
12 – For that [would be] a fire [that] consumes to destruction, And would root out all my increase.
Job was a remarkable man. It is easy to see why Yahweh said of him:
Job 1:8 – Then YAHWEH said to Satan, Have you considered My servant Job, that [there is] none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears Elohim and shuns evil?
Job knew. He feared Elohim. He wanted to shun evil. He wanted to abhor evil. He knew the evil was coming in through his eyes, so he made that covenant. He would not look upon to desire after a young woman.
There is actually software out there, a service you can get, called Covenant Eyes. You can install it on your computer. It is at covenanteyes.com. It is software that tracks the web sites you are visiting, then reports them to someone, in my case, my wife.
At one time I was using X Watch, but someone mentioned to me there was a way to circumvent, and I learned, ‘yeah, there is a way to circumvent it.’
So in the interest of accountability, just so there is no question as to what I am doing or whatever, I went ahead and got Covenant Eyes. It costs a little bit each month, but I spend a lot of time on the computer, and I feel better knowing if there is ever any doubt, my wife holds the record books of where I’ve been.
So if anybody, especially your wife, has a doubt about you, ask your wife, if she has any doubt.
Ease her mind. Give her security in the relationship. Or if you are struggling with the sin, that is one way to hold yourself accountable to someone for the time you are on the Internet. I think Covenant Eyes even has an app for the I Phone and for Motorola cell phones. We want to be men of integrity. Really, we want to fear Elohim.
If you are struggling with the fear of Elohim, or if others have some questions about you, there is nothing wrong with being accountable. In fact, I really encourage it. I really do. Here is some more weaponry for you. We know that harlotry is forbidden in Scripture, right?
Leviticus 19:29 – `Do not prostitute your daughter, to cause her to be a harlot, lest the land fall into harlotry, and the land become full of wickedness.
Harlotry is wickedness. Harlotry fills the land with wickedness according to that Scripture. So only unbelievers, right, would even consider walking in harlotry. If it is a sin for a man to marry an unbeliever.
I mean, how many believers are going to be out there prostituting their bodies? None. I hope not. Pornography is lusting to create a marital act with an unbeliever.
These women, basically, are something like prostitutes because they are paid to do these things with their bodies for the purposes of mental fornication, so what are we doing if we were to engage in that kind of mental harlotry. What would be happening?
1Corinthians 6:15 – Do you not know that your bodies are members of Messiah? Shall I then take the members of Messiah and make [them] members of a harlot? Certainly not!
If we have done it in our hearts, in the eyes of Messiah, we have taken the members of Messiah in our hearts and joined Him to a harlot. Such things ought not be.
1Corinthians 6:16 – Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body [with her]? For the two, He says, shall become one flesh.
17 – But he who is joined to the Master is one spirit [with Him].
18 – Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body.
1Corinthians 6:19 – Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit [who is] in you, whom you have from Elohim, and you are not your own?
20 – For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify Elohim in your body and in your spirit, which are Elohim’s.
So not just body, but also spirit. Imagine that! Turning Yahweh’s temple into a place where there are what? Temple prostitutes? Our society practically worships the female figure. If you know what phallic worship is, I don’t think phallic worship has died down today.
I think it is still going on. We have the worship of anatomy happening today, if you don’t know what I mean yet.
Women who want to get attention, any attention, even if it is the wrong kind of attention, will only need to dress a certain way, and they will get it. I blame the men for that moral condition, for giving the women attention over that, any positive attention.
It should really be negative attention, if any attention. Just as men sin against their own bodies with these things, so do women. It is the same thing.
These are not the ways that Yahweh ordained for us to be using our bodies, so those who dress immodestly to get attention, are provoking sins in the hearts of others. Actually they are acting in the role of the devil.
Isn’t that what the devil tries to do is create temptations and cause people to stumble? If that is what we are about, if that is what we are doing, then we are not walking in love.
Case in point:
Romans 14:15 – Yet if your brother is grieved because of [your] food, you are no longer walking in love. Do not destroy with your food the one for whom Messiah died.
I would add, don’t destroy with your immodesty, the one for whom Messiah died. Even if you think what you are wearing is permissible and okay, love your brothers enough, to not want to see them falter, to not want to see them stumble.
Romans 14:19 – Therefore let us pursue the things [which make] for peace and the things by which one may edify another.
20 – Do not destroy the work of Elohim for the sake of food. All things indeed [are] pure, but [it is] evil for the man who eats with offense.
See, even if it is permissible, if it is causing offense, don’t do it.
Romans 14:21 – [It is] good neither to eat meat nor drink wine nor [do anything] by which your brother stumbles or is offended or is made weak.
We are called to walk in love. One of the things that is weak in the body of Messiah is provocative dress, and the men are guilty of yielding to temptation, but the women are guilty of basically becoming a source of temptation, intentionally.
Both are abominable, and both are wrong in the eyes of Yahweh. It may not even be intentional. Women sometimes don’t understand what could happen to a man.
The only way I’ve been able to explain it somewhat successfully is to say, “Now, let’s say you’re hungry. You haven’t eaten all day, and you walk by a bakery and smell some cookies baking over there. Now you’re not allowed to smell it.
You’re not allowed to like it. You’ve got to turn your nose away. Even though your body, the flesh in you, is yearning for the smell of those cookies, you have to cover your nose.
You can’t smell.” That is what is like in a sense. It is even more powerful than that, because it is the most powerful drawing thing a man has in the flesh. Maybe that will help you understand a little bit. It is a fleshly hunger. It can be holy. It can be right, if it is channeled in the proper way.
But you can’t like anything else. You can’t like any other flavors of food, just the one flavor of food. And that is right.
And be satisfied with that. It is not exact, but I am trying to convey this to women to understand.
When a woman dresses immodestly, that is what is happening. Men have to be forced to turn their eyes away. It is hard to even talk to women who are not properly dressed. Those who provoke others to temptations, often are just as guilty.
Matthew 13:41 – The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness,
42 – and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
All things that offend. That word translated offend has to do with being a stumbling block to those who would otherwise want to walk in the truth. It is very serious in the eyes of the Messiah, this walking in the love of the brothers, isn’t it?
1John 4:20 – If someone says, I love Elohim, and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love Elohim whom he has not seen?
If we say we love Elohim, and we don’t love our brother, we hate our brother, we cause him to stumble, we cause him to fall away, we cause him to lust, then we are not walking in love toward Elohim.
So both are responsible, both the men who are having the eyes of adultery and fornication, and the women presenting their bodies in such a way to provoke that.
There are two temptations working together here.
Just as men are tempted to lust after pornography, women are tempted to BE pornography, to get the attention, both with different levels of intensity. Women should be far from this kind of thing and need to cover up, especially in our society today.
So our goal, brothers and sisters, is we are to possess our own vessels with sanctification and honor as the Scripture says.
1Thessalonians 4:3 – For this is the will of Elohim, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality;
4 – that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor,
5 – not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know Elohim;
1Thessalonians 4:6 – that no one should take advantage of and defraud his brother in this matter, because YAHWEH [is] the avenger of all such, as we also forewarned you and testified.
7 – For Elohim did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness.
8 – Therefore he who rejects [this] does not reject man, but Elohim, who has also given us His Holy Spirit.
1Thessalonians 12:13 –
See how this works two ways? Our bodies are to be instruments of righteousness. Let’s set aside the doctrines of the world, the ways of the world, because they day of Yahweh is at hand, brothers. there is no time to waste.
Romans 13:12 – The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.
13 – Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy.
14 – But put on the Master Yahushua Messiah, and make no provision for the flesh, to [fulfill its] lusts.
You see, the only way to overcome is to put on Yahushua and walk in the Spirit and pursue that deep relationship with Yahweh.
Galatians 5:16 – I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
17 – For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.
That is the Word. Commune with Yahweh. We have chosen a different path than the path of the world, a path that leads to eternal life, a path that’s narrow that few find, a path that can be difficult at times but yields tremendous rewards. That is what we signed up for. We’ve turned away from the way of the Gentiles.
Ephesians 4:17 – This I say, therefore, and testify in Yahweh, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind,
18 – having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of Elohim, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart;
19 – who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.
Ephesians 4:20 – But you have not so learned Messiah,
21 – if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Yahushua:
quits22
Ephesians 4:22 – that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts,
23 – and be renewed in the spirit of your mind,
24 – and that you put on the new man which was created according to Elohim, in true righteousness and holiness.
2Timothy 2:22 – Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on YAHWEH out of a pure heart.
Titus 2:11 – For the grace of Elohim that brings salvation has appeared to all men,
12 – teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age,
It is His grace that teaches us to turn away from these things.
1Peter 1:13 – Therefore gird up 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 Yahushua Messiah;
14 – as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, [as] in your ignorance;
1Peter 1:15 – but as He who called you [is] holy, you also be holy in all [your] conduct,
16 – because it is written, Be holy, for I am holy.
1Peter 2:11 – Beloved, I beg [you] as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul,
He begs them, ‘abstain from these things.’
1Peter 2:12 – having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by [your] good works which they observe, glorify Elohim in the day of visitation.
That means we’re going to have to deny our flesh, the things the flesh wants. That is what we signed up for. We are enlisted warriors of the Messiah. We are called to this, just as the Messiah called His flesh to suffer.
1Peter 4:1 – Therefore, since Messiah suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin,
2 – that he no longer should live the rest of [his] time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of Elohim.
So brothers, let’s set aside these things that only defile us and defile the land that we live in. Let’s turn toward righteousness because, as the Scriptures say, the world is passing away and the lusts thereof, but he who does the will of Elohim will abide forever.
Will we lust for the things that pass away or will our desires be the things that abide forever?
Let’s choose the things that abide forever so that we might also abide forever. Let’s learn to hate the sin. We are going to have a really hard time, if we love the sin to begin with. We have to hate it. Hate it for what it is doing to our society.
Hate it for what is doing to women and hate it for what it is doing to the children in our lands.
So, if I was to summarize, today, brothers, it would be this:
Weapons for our Arsenal:
What we do in our hearts is what is most important to Yahweh. As a man thinks in his heart so is he. If we are committing harlotry in our hearts, that is what we are seeking to become.
Our relationship with Yahweh is our weapon ( the Word and prayer). We counterattack with these things.
His Word says that we are dead to sin. Cast away the body from you and reckon it as dead. We need to believe what it says. If we believe it, we will not yield to the temptation. If we don’t believe it, we will yield to the temptation.
So the question is one of faith. Do you have the faith to believe what the Word of Yahweh says, that the body is dead because of sin, but alive unto Messiah.
Or do we believe the lies of the enemy that we are not able to overcome. He tells us, he who is in the world is greater than He who is in us. That is a lie. He who is in you is greater that he who is in the world.
Contentment is key. Be content with what Yahweh has given. If we are not content, Yahweh may take away what we do have. Financial struggles are sometimes connected to this lack of contentment.
The passion of lust results in defrauding our brother in our hearts. Yahweh has one man for one woman, one woman for one man. Don’t defraud your future spouse. Don’t defraud your present spouse. Don’t defraud the father of that woman
Immodesty is a sin. If you love Yahweh, don’t enjoy what Yahweh hates. If you love Yahweh, why would you love what He despises?
Recognize why Yahweh hates lust and what it does to women and children, the weaker vessels among us.
Recognize woman as Yahweh’s gift to man that should be treated properly, with respect, and cherishing. When men misuse women, they are taking Yahweh’s gift and treating it with contempt. We should hate that act of doing that.
Recognize that we destroy ourselves also through lust, putting ourselves in great spiritual danger. We read those Scriptures that warn so strongly against it. Just as the Scriptures said, ‘He who loves his wife, loves himself.’ Those who mistreat women are putting themselves in danger.
Numerous are the Scriptures that speak of Yahweh’s judgment on those who practice covetousness. He calls it idolatry.
We are warned about the consequences. Yahweh takes it seriously, and so should we.
Women who provoke lust are equally in danger. Both will be under judgment, unless we turn away from these things.
Yahweh’s grace and His Spirit will lead us away from the defilements of lust.
Make a covenant with your eyes and a commitment to Yahweh. We will not gaze at those parts of the body that provoke lustful thoughts.
Pray for your brothers, including me. Pray for me, because today, brothers, I just gave a study on a topic that brought down the wisest man in the Bible, that brought down the strongest man in the Bible, and brought down the man most after Yahweh’s own heart.
I almost always get tested on what I teach, so please pray for me. I am instructed to take heed, if I think I stand lest I fall.
Over the years, I’ve resisted saying too much about this because I don’t want to fall in this area. I’ve seen it bring many men down. I don’t want to be one of those. So I am sticking my neck out here. The enemy doesn’t like what I said. So I am going to need Yahweh’s protection. He is able to do that.
To close out, brothers, there is one other thought on covetousness that we need to look at. It is just real brief. Maybe a whole broadcast could be devoted to it. but here is a kind of covetousness that is very dangerous to a man’s soul.
I’ve noticed sometimes women are susceptible to it quite a bit. That is the covetousness of vain riches.
1Timothy 6:9 – But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and [into] many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition.
10 – For the love of money is a root of all [kinds of] evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
I really think it is the desire for more and more and more that causes men and women to go into debt. If it wasn’t for covetousness, there would be a whole lot less debt in our society.
I know some people are in debt because they are poor, but probably most people in our society today are in debt (I’m in debt), because we want to live at a higher standard of living than what we can actually afford.
When the banks come to collect their interest, we end up working ourselves to death in order to pay them. That can be a form of covetousness, where we set our eyes on the things which are not.
Proverbs 23:4 – Do not overwork to be rich; Because of your own understanding, cease!
5 – Will you set your eyes on that which is not? For [riches] certainly make themselves wings; They fly away like an eagle [toward] heaven.
That is the trouble. We put our trust in vain riches, and the riches of this world become our source of hope, our source of comfort, but Yahweh has a way of making it all fly away like an eagle toward heaven. This is the lie about covetousness. Those things never satisfy.
Proverbs 27:20 – Hell and Destruction are never full; So the eyes of man are never satisfied.
That is the lie of covetousness: that you would actually be content once you receive the thing which caused you to be discontent. The truth is it will not. Our covetousness only leads to more covetousness. What if we chose contentment instead? What if we learned to be content?
Then when a new blessing heads our way, we would really appreciate it even more, wouldn’t we? Find more joy in it.
Now if you are not yet married, and you are struggling with covetousness, I want you to know that if you have this habit of lusting already with you, don’t assume it will go away once you get married. Most of the time it won’t, because it just as hell and destruction are never full; so the eyes of man are never satisfied.
You have to work to overcome this when you are young, then you won’t hurt your wife and damage your relationship with her if you struggle with it later. Now is the time, young men, for strengthening and conditioning. Bring your body under subjection to the Holy Spirit, and be strong, learning the right way of thinking.
This is a corrupt world we live in, and you will need to build a strong foundation for your home life.
For those who are already married, Solomon has some advice.
Proverbs 5:15 – Drink water from your own cistern, And running water from your own well.
16 – Should your fountains be dispersed abroad, Streams of water in the streets?
17 – Let them be only your own, And not for strangers with you.
Proverbs 5:18 – Let your fountain be blessed, And rejoice with the wife of your youth.
19 – [As a] loving deer and a graceful doe, Let her breasts satisfy you at all times; And always be enraptured with her love.
20 – For why should you, my son, be enraptured by an immoral woman, And be embraced in the arms of a seductress?
Proverbs 5:21 – For the ways of man [are] before the eyes of YAHWEH, And He ponders all his paths.
22 – His own iniquities entrap the wicked [man], And he is caught in the cords of his sin.
23 – He shall die for lack of instruction, And in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.
Brothers, you have had the instruction. Let’s not go astray. Let’s follow the way of pits and snares because our ways are before the eyes of Yahweh. That doesn’t have to be bad news for us. Just because Yahweh looks at us and sees our every action, that doesn’t have to be bad news.
That can be good news for us. That can be a blessing, something we delight in, that Yahweh sees every thing that we do.
It can be a blessing that Yahweh ponders our path, and He is a faithful rewarder to those who seek Him, that we are faithful and loyal to Him, and we are loyal to the one He has given us to spend our life with, He can look at us and rejoice in our thoughts and in our actions and in our deeds.
So let it be, brothers, that Yahweh rejoices as He ponders all of our paths.
It doesn’t have to be something we fear. It can be something we put our hope in, that He sees our good works and our pure heart that longs for His righteousness, that He will reward us as we walk in purity and love and holiness. Can we rejoice in that? Imagine that. Rejoice in that, that He knows your thoughts.
May all of us rejoice as we seek Yahweh’s righteous ways, as we ponder the paths of our own feet and, to the best of our understanding, walk as Messiah did. This is a daily thing. If we fail one day, get back up and keep going. Don’t lay there and wallow in the mire. Keep on going.
The righteous will fall seven times, but will get back up again.
So if you fail in this area, get back up again, and when you come to Yahweh for cleansing, you can expect it. When we come in repentance and sincerity, and we turn away from these things, He promises He will forgive us. He will cleanse us from unrighteousness. That is a promise.
1John 1:9 – If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us [our] sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Let’s pursue that righteousness with all that we have. Let’s love Him with all of our hearts, holding nothing back. Let’s seek Him with all of our hearts, holding nothing back. Let’s love Him with all of our strength, holding nothing back. With all of our souls, holding nothing back, with all of our minds, holding nothing back.
Let’s go to Him and confess our sins that we might be cleansed.
May Yahweh bless you, and may Yahweh have mercy on us all.