“For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.” (Jeremiah 2:13)
Turning to anything other than God for your satisfaction is literally wasting your life on that which will not (because it cannot) satisfy. It’s like pouring fresh, life-saving water into a broken pitcher. Whatever is put into that pitcher just comes leaking out because the pitcher is incapable of containing what’s inside.
Learn more about the ministry of The Purity Coach at http://www.thepuritycoach.com
“For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.” (Jeremiah 2:13)
Turning to anything other than God for your satisfaction is literally wasting your life on that which will not (because it cannot) satisfy. It’s like pouring fresh, life-saving water into a broken pitcher. Whatever is put into that pitcher just comes leaking out because the pitcher is incapable of containing what’s inside.
Learn more about the ministry of The Purity Coach at http://www.thepuritycoach.com
“For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.” (Jeremiah 2:13)
Turning to anything other than God for your satisfaction is literally wasting your life on that which will not (because it cannot) satisfy. It’s like pouring fresh, life-saving water into a broken pitcher. Whatever is put into that pitcher just comes leaking out because the pitcher is incapable of containing what’s inside.
Welcome to The Point of Purity Podcast. I’m your host, Steve Etner author, National speaker, and Purity Coach for the Pure Man Ministry ... and this is episode #124 entitled “Changing Drinking Fountains”
God is “the fountain of living water.” In other words, God is the only source of nourishment and refreshment you will ever need for any and every part of life. Lust, porn, masturbation, adultery, sexual impurity are all “broken cisterns” that will not (because they cannot) quench your thirst. They are empty pitchers full of empty promises and empty dreams.
Do you recall the story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well (see John 4:7-30)? “Jesus said to her, ‘Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life’.” (John 4:13-14)
Every time you turn to LuPoMas to “drink” you always end up thirsty again. Sure, you will be momentarily “satisfied”–momentarily. But all too quickly you are thirsty again, thirstier than before. This is because those cisterns, those containers with the words “pleasure, fulfillment and satisfaction” on the label are deceptive. You think they hold exactly what you need. You think that by drinking from them you will be completely satisfied. Only to discover that they are broken, contaminated, and empty.
It’s like drinking sea water. You could be dying of thirst, totally surrounded by water, convinced the wetness of the sea water will “satisfy” your desire; however, the salt in that water will dry you up making you even thirstier the next time. That is precisely what lust, porn, and masturbation will do to you–guaranteed. Yes, it will give you that temporary, momentary “feel good”–that pop, that rush, that “ahhhh” feeling. That’s a big reason why you keep going back to it. You have become addicted to the hormones that are giving you that rush. However, as quickly as it came it vanishes, leaving you feeling totally empty yet again. Emptier than before. Thirstier than before. Longing for more. Needing to have more.
The only way (hear me now, the only way) you will ever be able to truly experience a genuine, lasting freedom from the beast is for everyone who thirsts to come to the waters, come to God, the fountain of living water. Why choose to spend your money, your time, and your energy for that which is not bread? Why choose to waste your life on sinful, sexual satisfaction instead of enjoying a blessed life found only in a growing relationship with God? Why waste your labor on that which does not satisfy? Instead, choose to incline your ear, and come to God; let God speak into your chest so that your soul may live. (See Isaiah 55:1-3)
Only Jesus, the “Living Water” can truly quench your thirst. I understand that right now it may not seem like it. It doesn’t appear that your sexual thirst could possibly ever be truly quenched. You probably have a hard time believing that God can (or even will) do that for you. Your flesh is arguing with you right now saying, “Maybe it’s true for others, maybe others can have their sinful sexual thirst genuinely quenched by God, but not for me because my personal experiences to date have called God’s promise into serious question.” I assure you my friend, the sinful sexual thirst that you’ve been craving can and will be quenched as you draw deeper from the “fountain of living water!” As you grow closer and closer to God.
Yet, nagging in the back of your head goes the argument “But what if? What if God takes it away from me and leaves me hanging high and dry? What if He removes the lust, porn, and masturbation from me–and that which He gives me in return is not as pleasurable, not as enjoyable, not as fun? What if God lets me down?” Can you relate?
Let me quickly challenge you here to not walk the “What If’s Cliffs.” That’s a dangerous place to be. The reason you are struggling with those fears, the reason you are afraid to let your sinful habit go, the reason you doubt God’s ability–God’s readiness–God’s willingness to meet your every need is simply because you don’t yet truly know God. You have not yet gone deep into a powerful, precious relationship with your Creator and Savior of your soul.
That is the purpose and goal of diving deep into Scripture; to teach you, guide you, help you not only discover but learn how to change fountains and daily drink from the Living Water that Christ gives. When you begin to “taste and see that the Lord is good” (Psalm 34:8) you will discover the bitterness and saltiness of what you have been drinking.
“Though evil is sweet in his mouth, though he hides it under his tongue, though he is loath to let it go and holds it in his mouth, yet his food is turned in his stomach; it is the venom of cobras within him. He swallows down riches and vomits them up again.” (Job 10:12-15a)
What an apropos description of what sexual impurity does to you. Sure, it is “sweet in your mouth” as you devour it. Yes, you don’t want to let it go, even though you know it’s bad for you. Yet when you consume it, it turns in your stomach. It is no longer sweet but poisonous and makes you sick with shame and guilt. It’s time to change fountains!
The fresh water that God wants to give you is found in His Word, the Bible. Drinking from that fountain comes as you read, study, meditate upon, and walk in obedience to what God reveals to you from Scripture.
“(God’s) word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” (Psalm 119:105 )
“The unfolding of (God’s) words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple.” (Psalm 119:130)
Up to this point what hidden, secret life have you been holding on to? Why have you done everything in your power to keep it concealed, to keep it in the dark? Sin thrives in the dark. It exists in the quiet, secret recesses of your heart and mind. That’s where it feeds and grows.
“This is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.” (John 3:19-20)
Can you see yourself pictured in this text? In the past (maybe even now as you read this) you loved the darkness because it kept your secrets. You hated reading your Bible, having devotions, praying, worshiping in church because each and every time you did you felt like a hypocrite, a fake and a fool.
It’s time to turn the lights on! It’s time to come out of the shadows and face the beast that’s been taking you down. It is my prayer that you now understand that exposing your sin to God’s light is the very thing necessary to killing LuPoMas.
Maybe, as you read this, you feel both excited and terrified. Excited because you sense a glimmer of hope shining on the horizon. Terrified because you fear the unknown. LuPoMas has been a “friend” to you. Yes, it has been destroying you; but it has felt so, so good. The prospect of killing it off is a bit scary. What will happen? How will I cope?
“Jesus spoke to them, saying, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12)
The purpose of the light is not simply to reveal your sin, not just to expose it so it will die, but also to embrace you in its warmth and power. Not just any power, God’s power (see 2 Peter 1:3)–the Divine power to leave the slain beast on the battlefield and live a life full of freedom and joy. A life that truly honors and glorifies your Creator, Savior, and Friend.
This is exactly why the Apostle John wrote, “This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.” (1 John 1:5-7)
When you play around with LuPoMas you are both being deceived and being a deceiver. You claim to be a Christian, you claim to have fellowship with God, yet when you lust, when you look at porn and masturbate you are walking in darkness. Your life is a lie, and you are not living by the truth.
John clearly states that when you “walk in the light as he is in the light” two things happen. First, you are in true fellowship with other Christians. In that fellowship we “take sweet counsel together; within God’s house we walk.” (Psalm 55:14) However, God is clear: “what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?” (2 Corinthians 6:14) When you choose to walk in the darkness of your sin, you break your fellowship with God and with other Christians.
Second, when you “walk in the light as he is in the light,” you are cleansed from all your sin. You see, walking in the light must of necessity include exposing your sin. Now, before you hit major panic buttons thinking I’m about to instruct you to get up on the platform at church or log on to your Social Media page and tell the world about your battle with LuPoMas, calm down. That’s not what I mean by exposing your sin to the light.
Exposing your sin to the light begins by confessing your sin to He who is the Light of the World. In other words, talk with God about it.
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)
“Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.” (Proverbs 28:13)
“I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,’ and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah.” (Psalm 32:5)
On this journey to living “Satisfied,” we are seeking to shine the light of God’s Word into the deep recesses of your heart. You are discovering what’s at the heart of your struggle. And you are learning the importance of keeping that light on at all times.
if you would like to learn more about today’s study, or if you’re interested in learning more about our ministry, be sure to visit our website to see the multitude of resources we’ve made available to you – you can find our website at ThePurityCoach.com
One of those resources is a book I’ve written entitled “Are You a Super Man? How to Become God’s Man of Steel.” It’s available on Amazon.com, and if you’re a man looking for a 12-week men’s Bible study that you can do with your accountability partner(s) or with your men’s small group (or even by yourself) this book is a must do. “Are You a Super Man of God? Becoming God’s Man of Steel” is a fun look at what it means to be God’s Man of Steel in a world that is Anti-God, Anti-Christ, and Anti-Bible. As Christian men we try to be the Super Man of God that others want, need, even expect us to be. We do fairly well most of the time at presenting the “spiritual man of steel” persona to those around us, yet inwardly we know we are far from being the godly man we want to be.
As a Super Man of God your strength, your ability to effectively live a life that honors and glorifies God, comes directly from the SON. The closer you are in relationship to Jesus Christ, the greater your power to resist the archenemy of your soul (the devil) and watch him flee from you (James 4:7).
Yet, truth-be-told, you also have a weakness. It’s your Kryptonite, that radioactive element of your life before Christ that your spiritual archenemy uses to his advantage. The fact is, when you play around with your Kryptonite, it weakens your will and ability to stand firm and fight the fight of faith.
In this 12-week men’s Bible study you will learn how to identify your Kryptonite, steer clear of it, find your super-spiritual strength as you daily draw closer to the SON, and be the man of steel God has called and equipped you to be. So, let me encourage you to go to Amazon.com today and purchase your copy of “Are You a Super Man of God?”
And if you have not yet subscribed to this Point of Purity Podcast, let me encourage you to do so today so you won’t miss any of our upcoming episodes!
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.