The Bible & Preventing a Sinful Slide into Sexual Sin

Yesterday's post was taken from Desiring God and today's post follows on. After looking into ways we can identify whether or not we are sliding down the slope to wards sexual sin, today's post let's the Bible offer its advice in how to engineer a holy avoidance of such pitfalls. (each of the ten below correspond with yesterday's post).


Biblical Protection from These Pitfalls
1. Falling in love with the present world.
Think hard about the biblical warnings against love for the world in 1 John 2:15 and 17,

If any one loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him . . . The world passes away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides for ever.

And in James 4:4,

Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

And think hard about the infinitely superior taste of the clear mountain springs of God's approval and fellowship and beauty.

Thou hast put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound. (Psalm 4:7)

Whom have I in heaven but thee and there is nothing on earth that I desire besides thee. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever. (Psalm 73:25–26)

2. Loss of horror at offending the majesty of God's holiness through sin.
Meditate on the biblical truth that all our acts are acts toward God and not just toward man:

Against thee and thee only have I sinned! (Psalm 51:4)

. . . and that God is so high and holy and pure that he will not countenance the slightest sin, but hates it with omnipotent hatred:

Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity. (Habakkuk 1:13)

The way of the wicked is an abomination unto the Lord; but he loveth him that followeth after righteousness. (Proverbs 15:9)

The Lord trieth the righteous, but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth. (Psalm 11:5)

. . . and that the holiness of God is the most valuable treasure in the universe and the very deepest of delights to those whose way is pure:

Ascribe to the Lord the glory of his name; worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. (Psalm 29:2)

The meek shall obtain fresh joy in the Lord, and the poor among men shall exult in the Holy One of Israel. (Isaiah 29:19)

3. A sense of immunity from accountability and authority.
Submit yourself to a council of biblically minded, spiritually wise advisers.

Without counsel plans go wrong, but with many advisers they succeed. (Proverbs 15:22)




4. Succumbing to itching ears as love of truth evaporates.
Cultivate a love for truth, even in its smallest details, and turn a deaf ear to the desires of men to have their ears scratched with vague moralisms that massage them in their sin.

He who is faithful in very little will be faithful also in much; and he who is dishonest in very little is dishonest also in much. (Luke 16:10)

Teacher, we know that you are true, and care for no man; for you do not regard the position of men, but truly teach the way of God. (Mark 12:14)

5. A vanishing attention to Scripture.
Give yourself untiringly to the study, meditation, and memorization of Holy Scripture.

Strive to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. (2 Timothy 2:15)

On his law he meditates day and night. (Psalm 1:2)

Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee. (Psalm 119:11)

6. A growing disregard for the spiritual good of his followers.
Labor in prayer and caring to stir up your heart to love all your people.

May the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all men. (1 Thessalonians 3:12)

Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works. (Hebrews 10:24)

7. Disregard for the biblical mystery of marriage.
Remind yourself repeatedly that your marriage is a living drama of Christ's relationship to the church. Let your thoughts about your wife rise from the ordinary to the extraordinary by faith in the truth of Ephesians 5:32.

This is a great mystery, and I take it to mean Christ and the church.

8. Compartmentalizing of the leader's life.
View everything—absolutely everything—as woven together by its relationship to the value of the glory of God.

Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. (1 Corinthians 10:31)

Whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus. (Colossians 3:17)

9. The sense of being above the necessity of suffering and self-denial.
Never forget the promise: "Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God" (Acts 14:22). And never forget that the Son of Man had no place to lay his head (Luke 9:58). And develop a biblical theology of futility and suffering, especially from Romans 8:17–30.

Not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. (Romans 8:23)

10. Giving in to self-pity under the pressures and loneliness of leadership.
Embrace the essence of Christian Hedonism—that no one who suffers the loss of any earthly blessing in the service of Christ will fail to be repaid 100-fold now ("The Lord stood by me!"—2 Timothy 4:17) with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life (Mark 10:29–30). Self-pity is unbelief.