Your War with Lust: 5 Hurting Your Life I

Table of Contents

Sinful lust promises you pleasure,

but will cost you so much more pain

Proverbs 6:26

Week 3

► For a God Time use the “P.O.W.E.R. Plan” in Appendix A.

► After reading this chapter, answer the following questions:

1) Why is it important for you to understand you are being hunted?

2) How did sexual sin damage the lives of David and his son Solomon? How does this relate to what kind of family heritage you want to build?

3) What was most meaningful to you in this chapter? Why?

In the first chapter of the FREEDOM study in the Christian Essentials study you read briefly about Ted Haggard. He grew a church from 22 to 14,000 members and became the President of the National Association of Evangelicals in America. Because he was considered a primary leader of God’s people in America, he had regular phone calls with the President of the United States.

But he lost his battle with sinful lust. After many years of viewing pornography, it simply did not satisfy him anymore. He felt he needed a bigger fix. So he began trying drugs while having homosexual sex. The drug of pornography made one of the most fruitful and respected Christian men of our generation degrade himself in unspeakable ways. And it destroyed his reputation, influence, and ministry. And God only knows how it affected his relationship with his wife and children.

Ted Haggard’s life reminds us that we are in a very real battle with a very real enemy who can really destroy a great deal of our life. Jesus warned and promised:

For on account of a harlot one is reduced to a loaf of bread,
And an adulteress hunts for the precious life.

(Proverbs 6:26 NASB ^[1])

Sinful lust promises you pleasure, but will cost you so much more pain.

The Devil is hunting you through pornography

Solomon was trying to impress on his sons the danger of sinful sex. He warned that a demon-possessed destroyer in the guise of a willing naked woman “hunts” for your “precious life,” or rather destroys everything precious in your life.

Solomon warned that sinful sex will reduce the value of your life “to a loaf of bread.” Actually, “loaf” of bread is probably not a good translation as the Hebrew word means: “a small round piece of bread, such as is still baked in Italy and in the East, here an expression for the smallest piece.” ^[2] Solomon’s point was this: sexual immorality reduces the value of a man’s life to practically nothing.

Obviously Solomon was talking about a literal prostitute. But remember, “We are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against . . . evil spirits in the heavenly places” (Eph 6:12). The Devil is hunting your life through any willing, wicked naked woman that you will sin with. Even Solomon seemed to spiritualize the threat when he described the immoral woman as “now in the street, now in the squares,
at every corner she lurks” (Prov 7:12 NIV). And “she hunts for the precious life” (6:26).

Please, please do not forget that word “hunts.” Imagine being hunted by someone very powerful who hates you and wants to hurt you and those you love. THIS IS THE REALITY OF YOUR LIFE ON EARTH! When you think about your world do you generally think you are safe? The following is also an excerpt from the first chapter of the FREEDOM study:

It is essential in the Christian life to fully understand God’s intense, constant, and powerful LOVE for you. It is also essential to fully understand the Devil’s intense, constant, and powerful HATRED for you. You do not live in a world with only a good God. But, “The world around us is under the control of the evil one” (1 John 5:19). . .

Do you understand that Christian? There is a very powerful, invisible, angry, and cruel being who personally hates you. . . As much as God LOVES you, the Devil HATES you. . .

Maybe you have never experienced someone really hating you. Maybe you are a nice person who gets along with everyone. Perhaps you have never had an enemy, with a lot of power to do you harm. WELL YOU DO NOW, and you had better live like it.

Imagine someone declaring war on you and your loved ones, and you either do not know it, or do not care. Your defenses would be down and you would be very vulnerable. That is how most Christians live. They think the Earth is a playground, but it is a battlefield. And they live in constant spiritual defeat, and often confused about why. The reason is that you have a powerful enemy who wants to destroy your life.

It is because you are in the middle of a war that Jesus told you to pray every day: “Don’t let us yield to temptation, but rescue us from the evil one” (Matt 6:13). ^[3]

And you still want to play with the prostitutes on the Internet? Don’t you believe God’s warnings? Whatever pleasure she offers you, trust your Father, Creator, and Lord that the cost and pain of having cybersex with demon-possessed destroyers of your wife and life will be far, far greater.

In this and the following chapters we will detail some of those costs. Are we trying to scare you? Absolutely! Should you be scared of what willing, wicked naked women on the Internet can do to you? Absolutely! If you are not scared, you are stupid. Solomon described such a stupid young man when he wrote:

At the window of my house I looked down through the lattice. I saw among the simple [petî: “foolish, naïve”], I noticed among the young men, a youth who had no sense. He was going down the street near her corner [an immoral woman], walking along in the direction of her house at twilight, as the day was fading, as the dark of night set in. (Prov 7:6-9 NIV)

And what happened to him?

All at once he followed her like an ox going to the slaughter, like a deer stepping into a noose till an arrow pierces his liver, like a bird darting into a snare, little knowing it will cost him his life. (vs. 7:22-23)

Why did this happen to this young man? Because he was petî, “simple.” In ancient Hebrew that means stupid. Why was he stupid? Because he was not afraid of a willing wicked woman. Instead of running from sexual immorality as God commands (cf. 1 Cor 6:18), he was carelessly, maybe curiously walking toward it. He was either unaware or didn’t care that, “A prostitute is a dangerous trap; a promiscuous woman is as dangerous as falling into a narrow well. She hides and waits like a robber, eager to make more men unfaithful” (Prov 23:27-28). If you are like him, “your great enemy, the devil [who] prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour” (1 Pet 5:8), will make you pay dearly for your ignorance, disobedience and stupidity.

Committing adultery with willing, wicked naked women on the Internet cannot separate you from God’s love. Nothing can (cf. Rom 8:38-39). You will always be a son or daughter of God the Father. These are things you can never lose Christian.

But you can lose virtually everything else. If you continue in your disobedience to Him, and your sexual immorality, He will allow it to cost you in order to try to stop you. Having sex with willing, wicked naked women on the Internet can cause you to lose your wife, children, reputation, love life, and ministry. 33% of those addicted to Internet pornography lost their jobs. ^[4]

The Apostle Paul warned Christians, “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction” (Gal 6:7-8 NIV). ^[5] The Greek word behind “destruction” can be translated “ruin” or “corruption.” Pornography is certainly sowing to please your flesh and God is warning you about its consequences. We will do the same here.

“For on account of a harlot one is reduced to a loaf of bread, And an adulteress hunts for the precious life” (Prov 6:26). Sinful lust promises you pleasure, but will cost you so much more pain.

A father and son ruined by sexual sin

Your God and Father loves you. He always will. But if you spit in His face by having cybersex with willing, wicked, naked, demonic women, then He warns you, it will damage your life. He illustrates this through the life of David and his son Solomon. Who has been more blessed and loved by God than they? Who had more power and opportunity to glorify God on this Earth and do good? Who loved God more than they did? But the Devil severely damaged their lives through the weapon of sinful lust.

As you read through the initial chapters of 2 Samuel it describes victory after victory and blessing after blessing in David’s life. God speaks to David through the Prophet Nathan, telling him how much He loves and favors David. David responded to God, “Who am I, O Sovereign Lord, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far? (2 Sam 7:18). God empowered David to defeat all the enemy armies around Him. “In fact, the Lord made David victorious wherever he went” (8:14). David was also blessed in his family. “David’s sons served as priestly leaders” (8:18).

And then all Hell broke loose because David let Hell into his heart and home. God wants you to notice that in 2 Samuel chapters 1-10 nothing but blessings, divine favor, and victories are described in David’s life. Then chapter 11 describes David’s sinful lust with Bathsheba. And from thereon David’s life, the one God loved and still loved, is full of pain, calamity, and hardship. In chapter 12 David finally confesses his sin and through the Prophet Nathan God tells him:

“I anointed you king of Israel and saved you from the power of Saul. I gave you your master’s house and his wives and the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. And if that had not been enough, I would have given you much, much more.

Why, then, have you despised the word of the Lord and done this horrible deed? For you have murdered Uriah the Hittite with the sword of the Ammonites and stolen his wife. From this time on, your family will live by the sword because you have despised me by taking Uriah’s wife to be your own.

“This is what the Lord says: Because of what you have done, I will cause your own household to rebel against you. I will give your wives to another man before your very eyes, and he will go to bed with them in public view. You did it secretly, but I will make this happen to you openly in the sight of all Israel. . .

The Lord has forgiven you, and you won’t die for this sin. Nevertheless, because you have shown utter contempt for the word of the Lord by doing this, your child will die” (2 Sam 12:7-14).

Do you see what the same God thinks of your sexual sin? Do you understand how much it hurts Him? We are being so ungrateful when we choose those wicked naked women in direct disobedience to what He has commanded us. It’s as if we do not care what He thinks. Do you see that even though He loves and forgives you like David, that He may choose to allow painful, public, and destructive consequences for both you and those you love?

In chapters 12-13 and 15 of 2 Samuel, what happens to David? The son he has with Bathsheba dies. David’s son Amnon rapes his granddaughter Tamar. David’s son Absolom kills David’s son Amnon because he raped Absolom’s sister Tamar. David’s son Absolom rebels against him, takes control of the kingdom, threatens to kill David and his followers, and causes David to flee from his palace and Jerusalem.

During this time we read: “David walked up the road to the Mount of Olives, weeping as he went. His head was covered and his feet were bare as a sign of mourning. And the people who were with him covered their heads and wept as they climbed the hill” (2 Sam 15:30). And everyone, including his wives and children with him, knew all of this was happening because of David’s sin with Bathsheba.

But the pain was not over. “All the men of Israel deserted David and followed Sheba son of Bicri” (2 Sam 20:2) until this rebellion could be stopped with civil war. Eventually, David’s murder of Uriah was punished with the murder of two more of David’s sons, Absalom (2 Sam 18:14) and Adonijah, the latter being executed by David’s son Solomon because he wanted to have sex with one of David’s former wives (cf. 1 Kings 2:12-25). And sexual lust and immorality would become the hallmark of Solomon’s life and the heritage of David’s family.

God had chosen David’s family to have a very great and God-glorifying heritage. But because of one impulsive act of sinful lust, and the murder that followed, the heritage of David’s family was murder and sexual immorality. A very great family of God was ruined. Not by the greatest pagan armies and kings in the world. But by lusting after naked women.

If you have ever committed adultery with your eyes by viewing pornography, you have done something just as stupid, ungrateful, and sinful as what David did with Bathsheba. David was never killed by a wicked warrior, but his life was destroyed by a naked woman.

And lust would destroy Solomon’s life as well. That’s why he warned his sons about sinful lust and described the consequences of not heeding him:

At the end of your life you will groan, when your flesh and body are spent. You will say, “How I hated discipline! How my heart spurned correction! I would not obey my teachers or turn my ear to my instructors. (Prov 5:11-13)

Likewise, he wrote: “The man who commits [even mental] adultery is an utter fool, for he destroys himself” (Prov 6:32). And another king wrote: “Do not waste your strength on [wicked] women, on those who ruin kings” (Prov 31:3). At the least, the time and energy spent on wicked naked women is wasted and could have been spent on serving God and others. But these warnings include more than that. God is warning you that the Devil will make sure that the cost of sinful lust will be much greater than its pleasure.

Of course, Solomon spoke from experience. Scripture records:

Now King Solomon loved many foreign women along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women, from the nations concerning which the Lord had said to the sons of Israel, “You shall not associate with them, nor shall they associate with you, for they will surely turn your heart away after their gods.” Solomon held fast to these in love. He had seven hundred wives [who were] princesses, and three hundred concubines, and his wives turned his heart away. (1 Kings 11:1-3 NASB)

Solomon had sex with 1000 of the most beautiful women he could find. And don’t think these women were reluctant in bed. They would have been willing to do anything to be among Solomon’s favorites. Imagine 1000 of the most beautiful women competing for who can give you the most pleasure. Most men would think that would be paradise on Earth.

But again, breaking God’s commands will break you. Not only was Solomon breaking OT commands, but a NT command: “Run from sexual sin!” (1 Cor 6:18). God’s reason for these commands is the same for all of His commands: to protect us from pain and help us be happy.

Therefore, what was the result of Solomon’s disobedience? What was it like to have sex with 1000 of the most beautiful women on Earth, all eager to please him?

First, he was in sexual bondage, addicted to these women. “Solomon held fast to these in love” but it wasn’t love, it was lust. He could not let go of them. And God’s warning became true because these women did turn Solomon’s devotion away from the Lord, and he began doing detestable practices and worshipped idols (cf. 1 Kings 11:4-8).

The literal Hebrew of verse 3 above says, “His wives bent his heart.” And as a consequence, “The Lord was very angry with Solomon [and] . . . said to him, “Since you have not kept my covenant and have disobeyed my decrees, I will surely tear the kingdom away . . . from your son” (vs. 9, 11-12). A classic example of the sins of the father affecting their children.

What was Solomon’s own view of having sex with 1000 beautiful women? He wrote in Ecclesiastes:

I acquired a harem as well—the delights of a man’s heart. . . I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. . . Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done . . . everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind. (Eccl 2:8-11)

If having physical and real sex with 1000 of the most beautiful women in the world was not satisfying for Solomon, why do you think cybersex with a multitude of women on a screen will be more satisfying for you? Solomon would laugh at you. He would tell you, “I’ve tried something a lot more real and exciting than anything you will ever be able to do with a computer or “smut” phone. But I am not bragging. I have been a fool. I wish I could know the intimacy, commitment, friendship, fulfillment, and HONOR of being devoted to one lover for all my life.”

It’s true. Most men would love to have what Solomon had with 1000 women. But he would wish he had what you can have with one woman. Because that is God’s design for the least pain and emptiness, and most love and happiness.

► Return to the beginning and answer the questions there.

► Recite Ephesians 6:12 from memory.

► Memorize Proverbs 6:26 in the translation above or another.

The NIV for Proverbs 6:26 reads: “For a prostitute can be had for a loaf of bread, but another man’s wife preys on your very life.” This suggests the value of a “loaf of bread” is the price of “a prostitute” (e.g. ESV, CEV), rather than the metaphorical result of being with a prostitute, as communicated by the NASB, NLT, KJV, NET, NCV. The Hebrew word baad being translated here “may be taken either as ‘on account of’ (= by means of a) prostitute, or ‘for the price of’ a prostitute. Most expositors take the first reading” (NET notes).
And we believe for good reason. The NIV reading would seem to promote the idea that if one of Solomon’s sons wants to have sex, then he should purchase a prostitute because the price is much less compared to having sex with another man’s wife. On the contrary, in Proverbs 23:27-28 Solomon warns that a prostitute (zōnāh same Hebrew word) “is a dangerous trap.” Nowhere does Solomon suggest that a prostitute is somehow less costly than another man’s wife. ↑
Keil and Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament, available online at http://www.studylight.org/commentaries/kdo.html ↑
Excerpt from the Christians Essentials study #4: FREEDOM, chapter 4.1. ↑
“Porn Addiction in America” (Dec 30, 2013) online at http://christianpost.com. ↑
In Galatians 6:7-8 the Apostle is probably primarily warning unbelievers of eternal destruction in Hell, contrasted with the “eternal life” reaped from the Spirit. However, the destruction in an unbeliever’s life would begin to occur before they were in Hell and Paul certainly included this in his warning. Likewise, Christians who indulge their sinful nature will surely experience the “corruption” (NASB, ESV) and “ruin” (NCV) that the Greek here is referring to. ↑