Sermon Tone Analysis
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I want to begin my sermon this morning by telling you a story about a young man that showed lots of promise, but who's life ended tragically all because he could not control his lust.
He was a young man who, seemingly, had everything going for him.
His birth was literally an answer to prayer.
His parents desperately wanted a child and they petitioned the Lord to bless them with a baby.
To their joy a boy was born and they dedicated that young man to God.
They gave him a name that means A Little Bit of Sunshine.
This young man grew up in a Godly home, with loving parents who dotted on him and spoiled him almost beyond belief.
He was strong and handsome and courageous.
He had wit and a sense of humor and enjoyed a good riddle.
He was undoubtedly the life of the party anywhere he went.
He was a rugged outdoors-men and would probably be considered a ‘man's man.'
There were times in his life when he showed flashes of true spiritual strength, but they were usually short-lived.
This young man had everything going for him, but his life was tragically cut short in the prime of his life.
His name?
Samson!
Samson is considered a ‘hero of the faith' in the Old Testament.
But the very same Scriptures that lift him up as an Israeli hero also paint a very sad picture of a man who's life never measured up to what it could have been.
The Bible is very honest about Samson's short comings.
He was irresponsible, short on personal holiness, and a man who's uncontrolled sensuality ultimately brought his downfall.
Samson could not get a handle on his lust.
Thousands of years later, as we sit here this morning, lust is a sin that is still as serious and still as deadly as it ever was.
A bumper sticker on a car I saw in Denver while on vacation back over Christmas is a commentary on our culture and the grip that lust has over the hearts and minds of our citizens.
It read: Wanted: A Meaningful Overnight Relationship.
Let's take a look at what the Scriptures say about this deadly sin.
!
I. LUST IS PASSION GONE WRONG
#. most people have come to equate lust with sexual desire
#. in many cases in Scripture, lust does refer to illicit sexual desire
#. consequently, if we are not struggling with illicit sexual thoughts or behavior, we assume we are free from lust
#. nothing could be further from the truth
#. in both Old and New Testaments desire is described as basic attributes of human nature
#. desire – even strong desire – can be good – especially when it’s desire for the things of God
#. we see this most clearly in what the Hebrews call the Shema
* Deuteronomy 6:4-5 /"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God [is] one LORD: 5 And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might."/
#. in Hebrew culture the whole person was involved in desire
#.
God is to be our most important desire and we are to desire Him with our whole being – our entire personality we desire the things of God
#. but when desire is either out of bounds or out of balance it become hurtful, destructive and sinful
* Romans 6:12-13 /“Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.
13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.”/ KJV
#. a passionate sexual desire for you spouse is in bounds
#. but a passionate sexual desire for your neighbor’s spouse is out of bounds
#. sexual lust toward anyone but your spouse is desire that is out of balance with God’s will
#.
a passionate desire for leadership that pursues a life of service is in bounds
#. but a passionate desire for leadership that pursues individual favor and personal enrichment at the expense of others is out of bounds
#. lust for power or leadership that is not characterized by a life of service is out of balance with God’s will
#.
a passionate desire toward fellowship with one’s friends is inbounds
#. but a passionate desire for fellowship with one’s friends at the expense of study or personal integrity or commitment to family is out of bounds
#. lust for acceptance that never says no to friends is out of balance with God’s will
#.
defined this way, no one is free from the battle with lust
!! A. DESIRE WHEN UNLEASED AND UNCONTROLLED BECOMES A LUST THAT CONSUMES OUR ENTIRE PERSONALITY
* ILLUS.
Detrich Bonhoeffer is one of my heros of the faith.
He was a German pastor who resisted Hitler was ultimately executed by the Nazis.
His manuscript entitled Temptation gives a vivid description of our tendency to turn off the warnings of our conscience when sin's allurements wink at us.
He writes: "In our members there is a slumbering inclination towards desire which is both sudden and fierce.
With irresistible power desire seizes mastery over the flesh.
All at once a secret, smoldering fire is kindled.
The flesh burns and is in flames.
It makes no difference whether it is sexual desire, or ambition, or vanity, or desire for revenge, or love of fame and power, or greed for money, or, finally, that strange desire for the beauty of the world, of nature.
Joy in God is... extinguished in us and we seek all our joy in the creature.
At this moment God is quite unreal to us, he loses all reality, and only desire for the creature is real; the only reality is the devil.
Satan does not here fill us with hatred of God, but with forgetfulness of God.
And now his falsehood is added to this proof of strength.
The lust thus aroused envelopes the mind and will of man in deepest darkness.
The powers of clear discrimination and of decision are taken from us.
The questions present themselves: "Is what the flesh desires really sin in this case?"
"Is it really not permitted to me, yes – expected of me, now, here, in my particular situation, to appease desire?"
The tempter puts me in a privileged position as he tried to put the hungry Son of God in a privileged position.
I boast of my privilege against God.
It is here that everything within me rises up against the Word of God."
#. society caters to our baser or sinful nature and encourages us to lust after a wide variety of things
#.
power . . .
#. popularity . . .
#. prosperity . . .
#. and the list goes on and on
#. without a doubt, however, the word is best understood with our culture's preoccupation with sex and sensuality
* ILLUS.
In Eternity magazine, Hugh Hefner, editor of Playboy, embraces the hedonistic philosophy that has overwhelmed our culture, /"Sex is a function of the body.
A drive which man shares with animals.
Like eating, drinking and sleeping.
It's a physical demand that must be satisfied.
If you don't satisfy it you will have all sorts of neurosis and repression psychosis.
Sex is here to stay.
Let's forget the prudery that makes us hide from it.
Throw away those inhibitions, find a girl who's like minded and let yourself go."/
#. and that is exactly what many in our culture have done
#. the movies, the TV soap operas, and Madison Avenue advertisers have convinced Americans that sex brings happiness
#. too many of our teenagers and young adults have bought the lie and assume that the message is true
#. this preoccupation with sex is not new
#. the Roman culture that predominated the world in which the apostle Paul preached and ministered was famous or I should say infamous for its lasciviousness behavior
* ILLUS.
In 79 AD Mt.
Vesuvius erupted and buried the city of Pompeii.
The city lay forgotten for centuries until it was rediscovered in the last century.
As archeologists began to excavate the ruins they were amazed at the state of preservation of thousands of frescoes and mosaics.
What amazed them more were the scenes of sexual carnality and debauchery depicted in many of them.
Because they are so old, archeologists consider them ancient treasures.
If the scenes from many of those frescoes and mosaics were recent photographs, we would consider them obscene.
They comprise the world's oldest known pornography!
#.
I'm sure that if you had asked young Samson whether-or-not he had a problem with lust, he might have smirked and said, /"Of course not.
I just like women."/
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