In Matthew 16:26 Jesus asks the question, “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?” In this week’s episode we’re focused on two questions: What is the “gain” or “profit” your soul gets from giving in to lust, porn and masturbation? And what is the “gain” or “profit” your soul gets from denying what your flesh wants and instead fully surrendering your heart to God?
Learn more about the ministry of The Purity Coach at http://www.thepuritycoach.com
In Matthew 16:26 Jesus asks the question, “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?” In this week’s episode we’re focused on two questions: What is the “gain” or “profit” your soul gets from giving in to lust, porn and masturbation? And what is the “gain” or “profit” your soul gets from denying what your flesh wants and instead fully surrendering your heart to God?
Learn more about the ministry of The Purity Coach at http://www.thepuritycoach.com
In Matthew 16:26 Jesus asks the question, “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?” In this week’s episode we’re focused on two questions: What is the “gain” or “profit” your soul gets from giving in to lust, porn and masturbation? And what is the “gain” or “profit” your soul gets from denying what your flesh wants and instead fully surrendering your heart to God?
Welcome to The Point of Purity Podcast. I’m your host Steve Etner, Author, National Speaker, and Purity Coach for The Pure Man Ministry. This week’s episode is entitled “Gains and Losses” so, ready or not, here we go!
Let me repeat what I said in our opener. In Matthew 16:26 Jesus asks the question, “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?” I want you to think carefully about what Jesus is asking you here.
· What is the “gain” or “profit” your soul gets from giving in to lust, porn and masturbation?
· What is the “gain” or “profit” your soul gets from denying what your flesh wants and instead fully surrendering your heart to God?
Consider this: only your flesh “benefits” from giving in to your sinful temptations – never your soul. Even so, the “gain” (if you want to call it that) that your flesh receives is temporary, short-lived, and eternally worthless.
Jonah 2:8 tells us that “Those who worship false gods turn their backs on all God’s mercies.” So, Why do you repeatedly choose to turn your back on the blessings God promises to give you in favor of the temporary pleasure lust, porn and masturbation may or may not provide you?
I love the words of Psalm 42:1-2 where the Psalmist says, “As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.” Why is the deer “panting for flowing streams”? Probably because it’s being chased by an enemy that wants to devour it – so it is running hard to save its life. Consider this: You are being chased by a foe that wants to devour you.
“Sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you.” (Genesis 4:7b NIV’84)
“Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” (1 Peter 5:8)
This is powerful imagery. Picture in your mind’s eye a lion stalking its prey. As it’s crouched low in the tall grass, intently scanning the herd, what specifically is it looking for? It’s seeking out the most vulnerable. It’s searching for the weakest. It’s on the hunt for the one separated from the rest, trying to do life on their own.
OK. Now here’s an important question I want you to consider. When it comes to sexual purity, when and where are you most vulnerable? When and where are you the weakest? When is the enemy most likely to attack you? Be specific in your response. As a born-again child of God, your soul should pant, it should long for, it should thirst for and deeply desire God. Especially in those weak and vulnerable moments when the enemy is bearing down on you, intent on devouring you.
Listen to what God says to you (Isaiah 55:1a). “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters.” Question: In what ways has lust, porn, masturbation, and sexual impurity thoroughly quenched your thirst? Truth-be-told it has not because it cannot. So, why do you choose to keep going back to that which is not satisfying or meeting your need? Seriously. Why?
As we saw earlier, in John 7:37 “Jesus stood up and cried out, ‘If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink’.” David also cries out, “O God, you are my god; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power.” (Psalm 63:1-2) In Psalm 84:2 he says, “My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the Lord.”
Here's a fact: Your soul IS thirsty my friend. It’s a thirst that only God can quench. Not lust. Not porn. Not masturbation. Only God!
Psalm 42:5 asks the question, “Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.” (NIV’84)
When you choose to surrender to the beast, when you choose to give in to sexual temptation, your soul, the core of who you are, is “downcast,” discouraged, feeling down. Your soul is “disturbed” – it’s in turmoil and in conflict within you. Why? It’s because you are choosing to live for and serve King Me instead of “putting your hope in God.” You are choosing to worship a false god who is powerless to satisfy and fulfill you. Truth is - King Me will always let you down. King Me will always fail you. God will not. Not now. Not ever!
You don’t have to be downcast and disturbed. You don’t have to experience guilt and feel shame. “The Lord is my portion, says my soul, therefore I will hope in him.” (Lamentations 3:24)
In other words, The Lord is ALL you need – not lust, not porn, not masturbation, not the things that temporarily satisfy the sinful flesh – The Lord is ALL you need. And “all” means all and that’s all “all” means! Therefore, you must put all of your focus, all your attention, all your hope on him all the time! Will you choose right here and right now to do that?
In a previous episode we invested some time looking at Psalm 25:1. I want us to consider that verse again here. “To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.” David is fully and completely, seriously surrendering all his life to the Creator. What about you?
Let me be candid with you. My goal here is for you to openly and willingly acknowledge that you have not yet fully surrendered your sexual passions and temptations over to God. Until you seriously surrender everything to God and allow Him to be Lord of your entire life, you will continue to struggle with sexual impurity. Remember: the problem isn’t lust, porn, masturbation – those are the by-products of the real problem, which is a worship disorder.
Before we move on, let me share with you a couple more things about lifting up your soul to God (Psalm 25:1). Consider this: in Psalm 23:3 David says that God “restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.” I want you to think about that. God “restores” (refreshes) your soul. Can you honestly say that about lust, porn, or masturbation? Does sexual sin refresh your soul? No, of course not. OK. Why not?
Sexual impurity only makes the flesh feel good, it does nothing for your soul. Therefore, you end up feeling so empty inside, so dissatisfied after giving in. Instead of feeling fulfilled, you feel the shame of your guilt before a holy God. Why? Because sexual impurity can never satisfy the soul.
Here is what does satisfy the soul. In Psalm 19:7 David says, “The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul.” Restoring and reviving your soul (the soul that you just lifted up to God) starts by filling your mind with the cleansing power of God’s Word. This is why it is so vital that you discipline yourself to DAILY read the Bible as well as memorize key verses from Scripture.
Psalm 119:130 says, “the unfolding of your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple. God’s word acts as “a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” (Psalm 119:105) This is why you are to “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly” (Colossians 3:16). When you choose daily to do this, your soul will be deeply satisfied.
Your spiritual enemies are crying out to you for attention. They are battling for your worship. This is why, as you lift up your soul you desperately need God to lead you in His paths of righteousness (see Psalm 23:3). The primary way God leads us in those paths today is through the reading, studying, meditation, and memorization of Scripture. That is why Psalm 19:8 says, “The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.”
Imagine for a moment you’re in an unfamiliar place, in the middle of a moonless, starless, cloudy night. It’s pitch-black. You cannot see a thing. You turn on a flashlight. Why? To enlighten your eyes. The light enables you to see where you’re going. It ensures you will not trip; you will not stumble; you will not fall–if you follow that light. That light shows you the way to go and illuminates the obstacles that may trip you up.
This is why David exclaims, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” (Psalm 119:105) In Psalm 43:3 he prays, “Send out your light and your truth; let them lead me; let them bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling.” Solomon declared in Proverbs 6:23 that “the commandment is a lamp and the teaching a light.” “For it is you who light my lamp; the Lord my God lightens my darkness” (Psalm 18:28)
You cannot expect to be free from sexual temptation, you cannot presume to triumph over the three-headed dragon of lust, porn, and masturbation if you choose not to invest your time seeking the heart of God through the study and meditation of His word. God WILL lead you to victory only if you daily choose to seek Him first (see Matthew 6:33) and willingly follow Him wherever He may lead (see Matthew 16:24).
I don’t want you to miss the fact that daily studying Scripture gives you that much-needed light to illuminate an otherwise obscure path. It shows you which way to go so that you will not stumble, you will not fall, you will not sin. Proverbs 4:19 warns us that “The way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know over what they stumble.”
Without the light you will stumble, you will fall, you will sin. This is why it is so vital that we are in God’s Word daily. It is critical that we allow His Word to be that “lamp to our feet and light to our path” for every step we take through life.
I want you to also notice that in Psalm 23:3 David says that God leads us “for his name’s sake.” In Psalm 31:3-4 we read, “For your name’s sake you lead me and guide me; you take me out of the net they have hidden for me, for you are my refuge.”
Victory over lust, porn, masturbation, and sexual impurity is yours only because of what God has done, is doing, and will do for you. It is strictly for his name’s sake that he “takes you out of the net” and sets you free.
Consider what God told Gideon in Judges 7:2 “The people with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel boast over me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me’.” It is the same for you and your war against sexual temptation. It is for God’s name’s sake that he will give you the victory. You did not, you cannot, you will not win these battles on your own.
I challenge you to pray along with the Psalmist these words, “Help (me), O God of (my) salvation, for the glory of your name; deliver (me), and atone for (my) sins, for your name’s sake!” (Psalm 79:9) And the prayer of Jeremiah 14:7 which says, “Though our iniquities testify against us, act, O Lord, for your name’s sake; for our backslidings are many; we have sinned against you.”
OK, we’re going to hit the pause button here until next week’s episode as we look forward to continuing this study.
As I close this episode, I just want you to know how deeply honored I am that you have chosen to share your time with me today and listen to this episode in its entirety. Would you prayerfully and seriously consider joining us in being a vital part of this ministry. We are praying for and looking for Purity Coach Partners who will commit to supporting this ministry in two major areas.
First and foremost, in prayer. I’m talking about more than just “Dear God, please bless Steve and The Pure Man Ministry.” As important as that is, we need partners in this ministry who are praying for us daily. Praying for wisdom as we counsel, praying for protection as the enemy tries almost daily to stop us in our tracks and shut us down. Praying for the men that are entrenched and enslaved in this sin – praying for their freedom, praying for victory, praying for clarity as they study the Scripture, praying for their personal spiritual growth, and praying for their families – their wives, their children, their churches. We NEED faithful prayer partners who will commit to praying for this ministry on a regular basis. Would you consider becoming a Purity Prayer Partner?
But we also need partners who choose to come alongside of us and support this ministry financially. We are a donor-supported, faith-based, not-for-profit ministry. Everything we do is dependent upon God’s people giving to this ministry financially. So, if this episode, if the description of this ministry speaks to you – if you share our burden to reach men and women across the globe with the message of freedom, victory, hope, healing, and restoration through the cleansing power of the Word of God as led by the Spirit of God – would you please join our team of Point of Purity Partners? We are looking for monthly supporters whom God is calling to support us with gifts of $25, $50, $100 per month or even more.
Your financial support of any amount to this ministry is not only greatly appreciated and very much needed, but it is also tax-deductible. If God is moving in your heart to become a financial partner with us, you can visit our website at www.thepuritycoach.com and click on the “Donate” button in the upper right corner to give your tax-deductible donation today. Again that’s www.thepuritycoach.comand click on the “Donate” button in the upper right corner
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So, until next time this is Author, Speaker, and Purity Coach Steve Etner reminding you that if you are going to glorify God in your everyday living, He must first be glorified in your every moment thinking.