The following 66 minute video focuses on the battle in the mind of a Christian during sexual temptation and spiritual warfare. Pastor Conway’s counsel should be helpful to all born-again Christians. Some of you may not have besetting sexual sins, but the Lord calls us to be at war with sin in general:
Rev 21:7 All who are victorious will inherit all these blessings, and I will be their God, and they will be My children.
Rev 21:8 “But cowards, unbelievers, the corrupt, murderers, the immoral, those who practice witchcraft, idol worshipers, and all liars—their fate is in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”
After the video, there will be 3 other catalogs of sin from Paul’s epistles. If you read them, remember to interpret them in terms of Matthew chapter 5: therein Christ calls thoughts of anger, murder; He calls thoughts of lust, adultery…so, gossip, slander…is equivalent to murder and so on.
Sin begins in the mind. God sees, hears our thoughts; He knows them before we speak them.
Below are the apostle Paul’s catalogs of sin from 1 Corinthians 6; Galatians, 5; and Romans, 1.
I didn’t paste in any such lists from the Old Testament, there are plenty therein.
1Co 6:9 Don’t you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don’t fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are male prostitutes, or practice homosexuality,
1Co 6:10 or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or cheat people—none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God.
1Co 6:11 Some of you were once like that. But you were cleansed; you were made holy; you were made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
Gal 5:19 When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures,
Gal 5:20 idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division,
Gal 5:21 envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.
Rom 1:24 So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other’s bodies.
Rom 1:25 They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator Himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen.
Rom 1:26 That is why God abandoned them to their shameful desires. Even the women turned against the natural way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with each other.
Rom 1:27 And the men, instead of having normal sexual relations with women, burned with lust for each other. Men did shameful things with other men, and as a result of this sin, they suffered within themselves the penalty they deserved.
Rom 1:28 Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, He abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done.
Rom 1:29 Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip.
Rom 1:30 They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful. They invent new ways of sinning, and they disobey their parents.
Rom 1:31 They refuse to understand, break their promises, are heartless, and have no mercy.
Rom 1:32 They know God’s justice requires that those who do these things deserve to die, yet they do them anyway. Worse yet, they encourage others to do them, too.
Rom 8:12 Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do.
Rom 8:13 For if you live by its dictates, you will die. But if through the power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature, you will live.
Rom 8:14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.
In closing, I want to say again that these posts on sexual immorality are also intended to present the biblical worldview. In the recent series on Paganism, sexual sin was encouraged, as an act of rebellion and as an act in which one could obtain psychological healing. The apostle Paul’s words tell the Christian that Crowley, Jung, and their followers were / are deluded.
But everyone has to decide for himself just who the Lord Jesus Christ is to him. We all have one life to figure it out. Don’t take another’s word for it. Spend time searching; read through the Bible at least once; that may be what saves your soul.
STUDY RECOMMENDATIONS:
*Pastor Tim Conway has other YouTube videos on sexual sin and spiritual warfare for exploration.
*Psalm 119 has many verses about falling and seeking God’s enabling grace to stand in the face of temptation. Memorizing it; meditating upon it; reading commentaries…would likely be of great benefit to anyone engaging in spiritual warfare.
*Regularly read your Bible and plan to read through it yearly as you study in depth parts that seem to provide answers to your current needs as in warfare….
*For other posts on sexual temptation, see: Categories: Lust; Christian Meditation; Spiritual Warfare