← The Bryce Crawford Podcast
The Bryce Crawford Podcast
How To Defeat Lust (EP 133)
00:17:43
In this episode, Bryce talks about sexual sin, aka lust, and how to overcome it.
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Bryce Carver
November 8th this fall in San Diego, California, we'll be at the Balboa Theater for the live podcast tour. Chicago, Birmingham and Nashville are already sold out, but we still got tickets left in San Diego. If you guys want to come out, experience the presence of the Lord, worship with us. I believe that the word God has stored in my heart for San Diego is going to be so specific to the city and break chains. So if you live in Southern California, San Diego, or you just want to come experience the presence of the Lord and have fun at the live podcast store, go to jesusonthestreet.org tour. Come out to San Diego. We got some seats left. Love you guys. Enjoy the episode. What's going on guys? Welcome back to another episode of the Bryce Carver Podcast. I'm Bryce and today by the title of this episode, we are going to be talking about overcoming lust. Man, this episode has been so heavy on my heart. You know, we did the Proverbs series address sexual immorality just when Solomon addresses it. But last time we did an episode dedicated to this, it was a while ago. And one of the reasons why it's just been so heavy on my heart is because I keep seeing TikTok videos of kids talking about they want to overcome lust, but they keep going back to sleeping with their partner, or they keep going back to the private browser and watching pornography, or they keep going back to masturbation. And so really today I want to encourage you, give you scripture and kind of bring strategy behind what's going on with sexual sin. Yeah. So let's dive right into if you got your bibles, we're going to be in 1 Corinthians 6 today and Matthew chapter 5. I think these passages are essential into understanding sexual sin, why it's riddling your life and etc like that. Let's read First Corinthians 6 right now, verse 18. Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body. But the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you whom you have from God. You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. Here's the reality about sex. Sex is a beautiful thing. In the confinement of marriage between a man and a woman who come together under one covenant of un for a lifetime. Anytime you have sex outside of marriage, you're devaluing the very vessel that God is giving you, slapping him in the face. And instead of worshiping God. You're worshiping yourself. All sexual sin outside of the confines of marriage is selfish. Sexual sin is selfish because sexual acts outside of marriage says, I don't care about the person. I don't care about worshiping God. I'm going to worship myself and worship my sexual desires and my sexual needs. And so when we commit sexual sin, we're slapping God in the face, devaluing the very vessel that God has given, given us, and saying we're worshiping ourselves. The same way that in the Old Testament, Israel would offer sacrifices to false idols and BAAL is the same way that we glorify ourselves by committing sexual acts against our own body. Because our body is a temple of what? The Holy Spirit. And the reality is, is that all of our desires are not good. And so how are we going to change that? You know, the reality is there's a lot of you out there. And look again, I don't mean what I'm about to say. I don't mean is in a condemnation way. I mean, this isn't. We got to clock the truth here, but so we gotta clock this really kick quick. There's a lot of you out there that say, I want to stop watching porn, I want to stop masturbating, I want to stop having sex with my friends. But you won't stop listening to the music that you're listening to. You won't stop following the certain people you're falling to. And you won't consume the word of God. And so you say you want to quit, but you don't want to take the action steps to do it. You say you want to stop watching porn, but you don't want to get a regular alarm clock. You want to scroll on your phone to 2am and you wonder why you keep clicking the private browser. It's because you're prioritizing your own desires over living above reproach. The Bible is calling you and I as believers, to live above reproach. What does that mean? Living above reproach means to stay away from even the appearance of sin. I'll never forget this. I remember having a young man come up to me one time and he said, bryce, I really want to stop watching porn, man. I can't. I can't stop watching it. And I said, okay. I started asking him questions. I said, when do you watch porn? He's like, super late at night. I said, okay. And he's like, on my phone. I said, well, do you use your phone as an alarm clock? He said, yes. And I Said, okay, well, why don't you just get a regular alarm clock and leave your phone upstairs at 8 o', clock, because nothing good happens past 8 or 9 o'. Clock. And he said, well, I don't want to do that. And I responded to him, well, you don't want to stop watching porn. Because when we read Matthew, chapter six, this is what Jesus says about sexual sin. He says, if your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out. For it's better for you to enter the kingdom of heaven with one eye than to go to hell with both. Then he says, after that, if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off. For it's better for you to enter the kingdom of heaven with one member than to go to hell with both. Meaning, yes, there is a spiritual aspect to sexual sin. Our war is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities. But then there's also the other end of the sword that is saying there's some practical steps that you can take to actually help yourself. You know, a lot of times when it comes to sexual sin, we'll commit sexual sin and we'll blame the devil, when really you should be taking accountability for putting yourself in the position of falling because you know the devices and the vices that are causing you to fail. Is it the people you're following? Is it the music you're listening to? Is it the movies you're watching? I mean, let's be honest, there's stuff that we consume that is just not good for us. The Bible tells us that our eyes and our ears are the windows to our soul. What we consume is what we become. And maybe if you're someone that just feels like you're struggling so heavily with lust, maybe we just need to reflect on, man, what is the stuff you're reading? What's the stuff you're watching? This stuff's poison, man. We got to be very careful with what we consume. And so when Paul is writing to us in First Corinthians 6, even says this a few verses earlier, he says, all things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful. Let's rephrase that. All things are permissible, but not all things are beneficial. When it comes to your sexual purity, you can find a reason to excuse anything, but that doesn't mean it's beneficial. Well, Bryce, the Bible doesn't explicitly tell me that I can't have my phone as my alarm clock. No, it doesn't. You can permiss anything, but if you keep watching porn every night, it's not beneficial for you to have your phone as your alarm clock. Do you kind of get what I'm saying here? Like, Paul has given us a warning here by saying, look, flee from sexual immorality. It is different than any other sin. And you know, there might be one. Here's if you're really struggling with lust and sexual immorality and you can't seem to quit, the reason why you might not be able to quit sinning lustfully and sexually is because you're trying so hard out of your own willpower to break yourself out of the shackles of lust you keep falling. Paul says that sexual sin is the only sin out of every sin that we flee from. Meaning if you think you can get in the boxing ring with sexual sin, you've already lost. The second you think out of your own willpower and strength that you can defeat sexual sin, you've already lost. You've already lost. That's the deception of sexual sin. You know what the devil says? The devil says, hey, you know what? You may not be having sex, but see as close to the line as you can get without crossing it, and you end up falling over. That's what he does. He says, don't even get in the boxing ring with it, or you've already lost. You gotta flee from it. There's so many people out there that I like to call white knuckling, using their own strength and willpower to overcome sexual sin. And they keep falling and wondering why. Guys, I'm not preaching at you. This is a message that I have to run remind myself daily, man, like, this stuff will enslave you. Sexual sin will enslave you. And you know what, to be honest with you, sexual sin might be the very reason that you feel like that there is a gap between you and God. Matthew, chapter five. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Sexual sin calluses your heart from experiencing the full intimacy and love of God. The music you're listening to, the TikToks, you're watching, the Instagram reels, you're watching, the movies you're watching is going to say love is sex. How many people you can hook up with, how many people you can make out with. But the Bible is going to say this is love. Not that we love God, but that he loved us first. The Bible doesn't say this is love. How many people you can have sex with? The Bible doesn't say this is love. How many people you can kiss? The Bible doesn't say this is love. How many Partners you have. The Bible says this is love, that God sacrificially loved you first. Love is sacrifice because Jesus Christ saw the sin of the world, including sexual sin, and said, I want to set my people free from that. So he sacrificed himself for us and his love empowers us to love people back. Sex isn't love. Sex is a form of love. Under the confines of marriage, a man and a woman come together in one covenant for a lifetime. And sex is an act of worship in the covenant of marriage towards God. It is a beautiful gift. God's not trying to be a cosmic buzzkill when he's saying to wait for marriage to have sex. He's trying to protect us physically from diseases. He's trying to protect us spiritually from soul ties and spiritual commitments we've made with people that we shouldn't. Because you're literally becoming one with someone when you have sex with them. And, and so he's trying to protect us. He's not being the cosmic buzzkill. It is a joy to get to glorify God with our bodies. And now Romans again. Paul reminds us in Romans, not use our members, our body, our body for sin, but for righteousness. Commit our members to righteousness. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Sexual sin might be the very thing that's creating the barrier in front of you, but here's the reality. The beautiful thing about the God we serve is he's a forgiving God. God is a forgiving God. And in the same way Jesus is saying sexual purity opens you up to the fullness of his love, he's also saying those who are pure in heart, meaning if you can be sincere and honest with God, you get to experience more intimacy with Him. The reward for being honest with God is deeper intimacy with him. So another reason why you may feel this gap with God concerning your sexual purity is you might not be honest with him, you might not be sincere with him, you might be telling him half truths about your sexual struggles, but now your full truths and transparency leads to transformation. We're talking about an almighty, all knowing God that he wants the Even though God is all knowing right, when we become honest with him, we're inviting him into relationship and allowing him to move in our life. But if we're going to give him half truths, we're not giving him the ability to move into our life. So we have to be honest with him. The reward for being honest and sincere with God is deeper intimacy with Him. And there's a. And the shame and guilt that sexual sin brings says, do it one more time, but then after you do it, go hide. Shame and guilt is not from God. Worldly sorrow says, God is coming, I need to run away. Godly sorrow says, God is coming. I need to run to him because my life is a wreck and what I did might have been a mistake, but I need to run as far away as possible from that. So what do we do? What are the action steps? I think my first action step, the first thing that just comes into my heart and my brain when I think about overcoming sexual sin is instead of trying to. My brothers and sisters out there, stop trying to defeat lust out of your own willpower and just love Jesus with all your heart. When your eyes are fixated on him and your love and energy is going towards worshiping Jesus, you will naturally find yourself straying away from all sin, including lust. If you're also struggling, if you're struggling with lust and sexual immorality, I want to challenge you. What are you consuming? Are you consuming the word of God? If you're not consuming the word of God, then no wonder you're struggling so much with sexual sin. Because the things we consume is what we become. If the only things you're consuming are Instagram reels and tiktoks that promote sexual desires and sexual needs. And maybe that's why. Maybe that's why you're struggling with sexual immorality. Romans 12, verse 2 says, do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed. Don't be enslaved to the ways of this world, but change your ways by changing the way you think, by renewing your mind, replacing the dirty disk of the world that you've been born with with this clean, fresh disc of the word of God. We've got to read the word of God and have this thing. It's the sword of the spirit, for the reason we've got to live off this thing. The last thing I would say is, man, keep it in the light. Confess to close brothers or sisters. Say, hey, I'm struggling with this. Whether you've fallen or whether you feel tempted, man, if you're just feeling fussy, just say something. I mean, if you're feeling fussy, just say something. Because the second you confess, even temptation, it loses its power. It loses its power. Let me give some practical action steps for my brothers out there. Man, if you're a man and you struggle with sexual immorality, maybe you just need to stand up and get the blood flowing. Maybe you just been sitting down too long or Laying down too long. Maybe you just need to stand up, get the blood flowing. Maybe you need to buy an alarm clock. A regular. Yep. A regular, conventional alarm clock with double A batteries. You might need to buy that. And that's okay. The devil or society might say, oh, well, that's shameful. It's not shameful. It's glorifying God. And if I'm going to look like a fool to the world about anyone, I want to be a fool for Jesus. I want everything that I do to be glorifying God so that there is no ounce of me and I'm living above reproach by saying, man, God, everything I do, I want to give glory to you. I don't want to even give devil a cracked door to my life. And I want to close this podcast out by praying for you, my brothers and sisters. Man, there's hope. There is hope. There is hope. There is hope. We serve a loving, forgiving God and a just God. And when we come to him with our junk, leave it in the light, honest and sincere and say, God, I've done these things. I'm sorry. God, give me strength through your spirit and strategy to cut things off out of my life and get a 180 and repent. We got to repent. We can't just stay there. We got to turn and run the opposite direction of this lifestyle. We run from the sin and run into the arms of the Father. Don't let your shame and guilt hold you down. There's a lot of you out there that want freedom and purity. If you want something that you've never had, then you got to do something you've never done. Maybe you just got to get honest with God and say, man, God, these are the things that I'm doing and I gotta stop doing them. And, God, I need you to give me strength. And. And you know, it's so crazy. We call King David a man after God's own heart, but the guy that's called a man after God's own heart slept with another woman and then killed her husband to cover up his sin. But we still call that guy a man after God's own heart. How is that possible? How is that possible with all the sexual shame that he has? Because he prays this prayer in Psalm 51 that says, Clean my heart, God, give me a new, clean heart. We got to pray the same prayer that King David prayed every day. God, give me a clean heart. Let me hear what you have for me. Holy Spirit, speak to me in Psalm 139. Search my heart, God, because you know me better than I know myself. And you need to reveal the areas of my life and the things that I'm doing in my life that are keeping me from you and that are keeping me bound to sexual sin. Sin so I can live a pure, free life. That's what we have to do. That's what freedom looks like. And my brothers and sisters, it doesn't have to be your story. You don't have to be enslaved to this anymore. There is hope. I'm going to pray for us to close us out. I'm going to pray two things that God will search our hearts and God will give us strategy. Jesus, thank you so much for today. God. God, thank you that you have defeated sexual sin on the cross and that being bound to lust or sexual immorality doesn't have to be the stories of many people. But freedom is the story that you have written for us, God. We just pray. Psalm 139, would you search our hearts, God? Reveal the areas of our life that are keeping us bound to any sin. And God, would you just allow us to cut it off? Give us strategy. Give us strength through your spirit. God, we love you. We thank you so much. We praise you, Jesus. Mighty name. Amen. Guys, thank you so much for watching and listening to this episode. If you guys like it, subscribe to us on YouTube, follow us on Spotify, Instagram and TikTok. Bless you guys and see you guys next week. For the next episode.