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Four Ways To Fight Sexual Sin

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Sexual sin goes against who God created humans to be. The Bible teaches us this lesson in Proverbs 5 as the sage warns a young married man against the adulteress.

You may not be young, or married, or a man, but the wisdom of this text applies to you as much as to anyone else. Committing adultery with a woman is not the only form of sexual sin, but it follows a pattern that is common to all. Listening to this passage will help all of us. As the passage unfolds, it presents to us four steps we’ll need to take to avoid sexual sin.

1. Flee from Temptation

The author begins with an exhortation to listen:
My son, be attentive to my wisdom; incline your ear to my understanding that you may keep discretion, and your lips may guard knowledge. For the lips of a forbidden woman drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil. (Proverbs 5:1–3)
Sexual sin is often attractive. It has a certain charm that invites and allures with seductive and smooth speech. It is also addictive: “The iniquities of the wicked ensnare him, and he is held fast in the cords of his sin” (Proverbs 5:22). Like any appetite, the more we feed sexual sin the more it grows. The more we commit it, the more we will feel we need it, the easier it will be to do it, and the harder it will become to stop.
So, we need to flee.
Now, O sons, listen to me, and do not depart from the words of my mouth. Keep your way far from her, and do not go near the door of her house. (Proverbs 5:7–8)
Fleeing sexual sin means doing all we can to avoid it. For some of us, that will mean restricting what we look at online, or not watching certain TV shows, or being more careful about what social situations we place ourselves in, or breaking up with someone (even if they mean the world to us), or changing our job.
If any of this seems like an overreaction, listen again to how it all ends: “He dies for lack of discipline, and because of his great folly he is led astray” (Proverbs 5:23). Sexual sin is attractive and addictive, and this is a lethal combination. Any action and sacrifice is worth it.

2. Consider the Future

The writer wants us to see what it all comes to in the end: “At the end of your life you groan, when your flesh and body are consumed” (Proverbs 5:11). Sexual sin has consequences. We may talk about these things as a “fling” or “one night stand,” but the fact is, such sins are not so easily containable.
Do not go near the door of her house lest you give your honor to others and your years to the merciless lest strangers take their fill of your strength, and your labors go to the house of a foreigner. (Proverbs 5:8–10)
Sexual sin seems so attractive now, but fast-forward to the end and it all looks very different: “You say, ‘How I hated discipline, and my heart despised reproof! I did not listen to the voice of my teachers or incline my ear to my instructors’” (Proverbs 5:12–13). The wise consider their end before they get there.

3. Uphold Your Marriage

The young man being addressed needs to see how overwhelmingly positive a thing it is to enjoy sexual fulfillment within marriage.
Drink water from your own cistern, flowing water from your own well. Should your springs be scattered abroad, streams of water in the streets? Let them be for yourself alone, and not for strangers with you. Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice in the wife of your youth, a lovely deer, a graceful doe. Let her breasts fill you at all times with delight; be intoxicated always in her love. (Proverbs 5:15–19)
The Bible is not at all embarrassed by the enjoyment of sex in marriage. Some of the imagery here leaves little to the imagination. Cistern and well are both images of female sexuality, as the fountain is of male sexuality. We shouldn’t be surprised to see such imagery in the Bible. God is the one who designed human sexuality, intending for the husband and wife to enjoy their sexual union.
It is a man being addressed in this passage (“be intoxicated always in her love”), and so this is being spoken of from his perspective. But it is equally true of how the wife is to be delighted and intoxicated by the sexual love of her husband. Paul makes this clear in the New Testament:
The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband. For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. (1 Corinthians 7:3–4)
But there is alternative intoxication offered: “Why would you be intoxicated, my son, with a forbidden woman and embrace the bosom of an adulteress?” (Proverbs 5:20). It can feel every bit as heady and dizzying as romantic fulfillment within marriage, but we know how devastating the fallout of adultery can be. It can wreck a whole life, emotionally, physically, spiritually, and economically.
So we must work at our sex lives. And, it probably goes without saying, investment in a healthy sex life is not likely to happen without investment in the marriage relationship as a whole, building and deepening the friendship that lies at the heart of it.
What about those of us, like me, who are single? This kind of language can be painful. We hear of the intoxication of sexual satisfaction and it is hard to hear. We must persevere in upholding the Bible’s teaching and honor the marriage bed by living lives of purity. And we need to uphold the marriage we have together with Christ. The language of intoxication that can be so hard to hear is a picture of what we will experience in eternity with him. We are pledged to him and need to honor our relationship with him by remaining faithful to him.

4. Remember God Is Watching

All that we do, and say, and think, takes place in the full view of God: “A man’s ways are before the eyes of the Lord, and he ponders all his paths” (Proverbs 5:21).
This is a warning to us. We may be able to deceive other people; we will never deceive God. There is simply no thought he hasn’t seen and doesn’t know through and through. God sees every word we type into our search engines.
God sees our sin. But he also sees every striving to be pure and godly. He knows when we are battling; he knows what we are going through. It may well be that no one really seems to understand the kind of struggle you face or really knows the pain you go through as you fight temptation. But Jesus does. He draws near to us, as we draw near to him. Our labors for him are never unnoticed. As we fight for purity, he fights for and with us.
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Is God Angry at me When I sin?

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As you can imagine, we get a lot of questions about what it means to live as a child of God. We go from being a rebel against the King to becoming a child of the King. So how does God’s disposition toward us change? And specifically, is God angry at his children when they sin? It’s a question from a listener named Kathleen.
“Pastor John, hello! As a born-again believer, is God still angry at me when I sin? I believe God’s wrath is real, and I have embraced Christ’s propitiation for my sins. But I struggle to understand the difference between God’s wrath and anger over my sin before and after my justification. I personally hate my own sin and want to be done with it all. But for now, does Christ’s death for my sins and subsequent propitiation mean that God is never angry at me when I sin? Or just that his final wrath on me was satisfied? What is God’s affectional disposition toward me, in Christ, when I stumble and sin in my life right now?”
It might be possible to put in a sentence or two the complex affectional disposition of God toward his children in this age. But it seems to me that such an effort does less than what the Scriptures actually do when we read them regarding God’s disposition toward us.
It gives some help to try to synthesize those words; I do this all the time. That’s what preaching and theology is: the effort to make sense out of all the passages of the Bible. But when it comes down to it early in the morning, late at night, when we need some word of truth and firmness and helpfulness and encouragement, it isn’t so much the syntheses that have power in our lives, but the very words of God himself in Scripture. So let me do both, but really put the emphasis on the Scriptures.

Disciplined, Not Condemned

“Even though God is displeased when we sin, he never looks on us with contempt.”

Let me say just a short word of synthesis and then refer Kathleen to the very specific passages of Scripture. Here’s my synthesis:
God’s punitive anger — that is, his punishing or condemning anger — is completely absorbed by Christ when he died. He became a curse for us. He bore our sin. But God may still be angry and displeased and grieved toward his beloved children in a disciplinary sense rather than a condemning sense.
Let’s put it positively:
Before we were believers, we could not please God. “Without faith it is impossible to please him” (Hebrews 11:6). Before, we could not please God. We were by nature children of wrath (Ephesians 2:3). Now that we are believers, we do please God, and he feels great delight in us as his children.

Our Happy God

That’s my synthesis of what I see. Let me turn now to specific Scriptures so that these can just sink in. Let’s start with the fundamental truth that God is a very happy God in providing gospel hope to sinners.
In 1 Timothy 1:11, Paul refers to the “gospel of the glory of the blessed [or happy] God.” We just have to be sure that we rid our minds of a gloomy picture of God, whose Son somehow finagled a way for us to sneak into heaven, and now we must stay out of his way lest he slap us around like maybe our father did. We need to be done with thoughts that God is disinclined to save sinners.
Luke 15, over and over, like four times, talks about gladness. “Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance” (Luke 15:7). We know it’s talking not just about angels throwing a party, but God himself, because in the parable of the prodigal son, that’s in fact what he does. He runs out. He grabs his son, hugs him, throws a party, and says, “Come on, come on, older son. He’s home, he’s alive!” I mean, this father is just oozing gladness, not begrudging, as if he is saying, “I guess I have to save my son who wrecked all my property.” It’s just not like that.

Grieved Over Sin

He does hate sin. I mean, we’re not going to gloss over that. God hates sin, including mine — my regenerate, John Piper sinning. God hates sin, not only because it dishonors him, but because it damages me. Sin damages us, Christians.

“God is a very happy God in providing gospel hope to sinners.”

Ephesians 4:30 says that we can grieve God with our sin. And1 Thessalonians 5:19 says we can quench his Spirit with our sin. It’s plain from 1 Thessalonians 4:1 that some behaviors please God and some behaviors displease God.
Probably the most important text on feeling the tension and getting it right is Hebrews 12:5: “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves” (Hebrews 12:5–6). This is what is hard for us to feel when we’re being disciplined, because the discipline here is physical suffering at least (it may be other things as well). We know it is physical suffering because he said, “You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood” (Hebrews 12:4). We know what kinds of things he’s talking about. He then concludes, “[God] chastises every son whom he receives” (Hebrews 12:6).
Then he goes to quote a proverb, starting in verse 10: “[God] disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it” (Hebrews 12:10–11).

Loved with Great Love

Here’s what we have to affirm and see in these texts. In and through and under all of this grieving and quenching and displeasing and the resulting discipline, we must not lose sight of the following texts. So let me just read them, They’re glorious. Bathe in these.
“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). That is gone; it’s over. No guilt, no condemnation, no punishment. Christ took it all.
“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us [which he is one hundred percent], who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:31–32). God is bent on giving us everything that is good for us.
Here is Ephesians 2:4–5: “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love [that’s the only place in the apostle Paul where that phrase,great love, is used] with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.” If you’re alive in Jesus — which means, if your heart is alive to Jesus, loving Jesus, trusting Jesus — he has great love for you, and that’s the evidence of it.
Here is my favorite gospel Psalm: “He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.” Here it gets really tender and sweet: “As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him” (Psalm 103:10–13).

Singing King

“The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing” (Zephaniah 3:17). Can you hear God singing? No, you cannot because you don’t have glorified ears yet, and you wouldn’t be able to take it. You think thunder is loud.
“Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom” (Luke 12:32). Oh, I love that verse. Your Father, little flock, he’s a Father, he’s a Shepherd, he’s a King. He’s not merely giving us the kingdom. He’s loving to give us the kingdom. He’s finding good pleasure in giving us the kingdom.

“God will restore us and bring us unfailingly to an eternity with no grieving him anymore.”

Here’s Psalm 147:10: “His delight is not in the strength of the horse, nor his pleasure in the legs of a man, but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love” (Psalm 147:10–11). The reason I think that’s precious is because you might say, “Well, I’ve got strong legs; I can run. Why isn’t God delighting in my strength?
This text is written for the last hour of your life, man. I mean, you’re going to have no legs. You’re going to be lying in a bed. You’re going to weigh 85 pounds. You’re going to be in a diaper. You’re going to be breathing through your mouth and you’re going to be wishing you were dead. In that moment, nothing is required of you but hope for him to delight in you at that moment. That’s good news. That is really, really good news for helpless people. All of us are going to be helpless sooner or later.
The last text is one of my favorite new-covenant promises,Jeremiah 32:40–41: “I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me. I will rejoice in doing them good, and I will plant them in this land in faithfulness, with all my heart and all my soul.”

Sacred weapons for Spiritual war.

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Image result for images of armour

Over recent years, there have been many television shows aimed at helping people get properly dressed. Sometimes the premise revolves around experts helping people to pick the right outfit for a wedding. At other times, someone with a woefully poor fashion sense receives a total makeover with the help of fashion gurus and some serious spending. In a similar way, Christianity helps people become properly dressed, although not in the typical sense.

Paul advises the Ephesians that there are certain things Christians must put off and others they must put on. More specifically, he tells them (and us) to put on the Christian armor so we can be properly equipped to stand up to the assaults that inevitably come our way in this spiritually dangerous world.

God’s Armor

According to the Bible, life is not a picnic but a battle, an armed struggle against a powerful adversary. To engage in that battle properly, we need a spiritual makeover in which our flimsy, inadequate natural attire is replaced by suitable armor and weaponry. So Paul concludes his magnificent, gospel-saturated letter to the Ephesians with a final charge to be prepared to engage with the battle of life in the right way, dressed in the armor of God.
Many people assume that, as Wikipedia puts it,
the various pieces (the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit) are correlated to what Paul would have witnessed firsthand as the arms and armor of Roman legionaries during his life in the Roman Empire.
This assumption, however, misses the fact that each of the pieces of armor has a rich background in the Old Testament, where they describe God’s armor — the armor that God himself dons to rescue his people. The Old Testament, not the Roman legionary, provided Paul with his inspiration — and if we miss this background, we may misinterpret and misapply the various pieces of the armor.

Breastplate and Helmet

The most obvious examples are “the breastplate of righteousness” and “the helmet of salvation” (Ephesians 6:14, 17), both of which are drawn directly from Isaiah 59:17. There the prophet says of God, “He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on his head; he put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and wrapped himself in zeal as a cloak.” In the preceding chapters, Isaiah describes God’s promise to deal with the physical enemies of his people, especially Babylon. But now the prophet describes the divine warrior coming to deal with the far greater and more dangerous enemy of their souls: sin.
God’s people have no righteousness of their own to bring; their best righteousness, apart from divine help, is nothing more than filthy garments (Isaiah 64:6). If the Lord were to deal with his people according to their own deeds, there would be nothing to anticipate but fearful judgment. But Isaiah declares that the divine warrior would not come as a wrathful judge; instead, he would come as their Redeemer to bring them salvation.

Ready Feet

Similarly, Paul’s image of “feet readied with the gospel of peace” (Ephesians 6:15, my translation) does not stem from observing Roman sandals; rather, the picture draws directly onIsaiah 52:7: “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, ‘Your God reigns.’” Ephesians 6 and Isaiah 52 (together with Nahum 1) are the only passages in the Bible where the words feet, good news, and peace occur together.

“According to the Bible, life is not a picnic but a battle, an armed struggle against a powerful adversary.”

This Old Testament background clarifies a potential ambiguity in Paul’s words. When Paul speaks of feet shod with “the readiness of the gospel of peace,” does he mean the readiness given by the gospel of peace or the readiness tospread the good news that brings peace? Many translations and commentaries opt for the former interpretation. But if Paul is thinking about Isaiah 52, then the readiness he has in mind is primarily the readiness to share the good news as heralds of the gospel. Heralds need good shoes to enable them to travel far and fast to bring their message to those hungry to hear good news.
Isaiah imagines the watchmen bursting into joyful song on the walls of Jerusalem (Isaiah 52:8). Those who had long strained their eyes with fearful anticipation of an approaching enemy now herald good news of deliverance to the beleaguered citizens of Zion. Paul applies this same image to our privilege of hastening to share the gospel of peace with believers and unbelievers alike.

Belt of Truth

The belt of truth also comes from Isaiah. In Isaiah 11, God’s people, Israel, had turned their back on the light and chosen to live in darkness, spurning the Lord’s revelation. Yet God promised he would send a messianic figure from the line of David to deliver them. This coming King would wear righteousness as a belt around his waist and “faithfulness” as a belt around his loins (Isaiah 11:5).
The Greek translation of the Old Testament uses the same Greek word (aletheia) for faithfulness in Isaiah 11 that Paul uses in Ephesians 6, where our English versions translate it as truth. This messianic King will save his people and bring in the final blessing of peace — a peace that extends throughout creation (Isaiah 11:6–9). The toxic effects of the fall, brought about by the first Adam listening to Satan’s lies, would be reversed by this second Adam and heir of the line of David, whose foundational qualities are truth and faithfulness.

Sword of the Spirit

The sword of the Spirit, the word of God, is drawn from Isaiah 49:2. There the promised servant of the Lord says, “[The Lord] made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me a polished arrow; in his quiver he hid me away.” In other words, the Lord was preparing his servant to come as a warrior with sharp words of judgment. In the original context, the servant was Israel, who was supposed to be God’s faithful servant, equipped by him to bring light to the Gentiles. Yet in Isaiah’s time, there was much that needed to be judged and condemned in Israel and Judah themselves. They were not fit to be the Lord’s servant, so he had to send his servant to bring light to them as well as to the Gentiles.

“The armor is first and foremost God’s armor rather than ours.”

This promised servant, the new Israel with a mission to historic Israel, is Jesus himself. Yet even though Jesus could have entered this world with sharp words of judgment, condemning all those who fall short of perfect righteousness, in his first coming he came to seek and to save the lost, both those from Israel and from the nations (Luke 19:10). In his second coming, Jesus will return as a warrior riding out on a white horse with a sharp sword coming from his mouth with which to judge all nations (Revelation 19:11–16).

Shield of Faith

The Old Testament background for the phrase shield of faith also clarifies an ambiguity in Paul’s imagery. When he says, “Take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one” (Ephesians 6:16), Paul is not saying that faith in itself has remarkable defensive power against Satan. Rather, he is saying that faith protects us from Satan’s attacks because faith takes hold of the power and protection of God himself.
Throughout the Old Testament, it is God, not faith, that is repeatedly described as our shield. In Genesis 15:1 the Lord tells Abraham, “I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.”Proverbs 30:5 says, “[God] is a shield to those who take refuge in him.” God is our shield and refuge; he is our hiding place in the day of difficulty; his faithfulness will keep us safe when we are being shot at by arrows, flaming or otherwise (Psalm 91:4–5). Faith becomes our shield in Paul’s imagery because it is the means by which we flee to God for refuge.

Christ the Warrior

Most importantly, the Old Testament background challenges the common view that the Christian armor is primarily a set of disciplines we must perform to measure up as Christians. It is certainly true that God’s armor describes essential qualities for us to pursue passionately if we are to stand firm under Satan’s assault. Yet the armor is first and foremost God’s armor rather than ours. Through the gospel, the divine warrior gives us his equipment, which he wore first triumphantly in our place in his definitive struggle against the forces of evil.

“Through the gospel, the divine warrior gives us his equipment, which he wore first in our place.”

Jesus Christ is the triumphant warrior over Satan, death, and sin through his faithfulness and righteousness, and his victory is now credited to us as if it were our own. Because he stood firm in his battle, we Christians — weak, fearful, and unprepared as we so often are — also will ultimately stand. By faith, his righteousness becomes ours, and in Christ we have a shield of refuge in God, who will never leave us nor forsake us.
This is the good news that we have been given the privilege of heralding far and wide throughout the world, as well as preaching to our own hearts on a daily basis. The armor of God speaks mercy and grace to broken sinners, and a salvation that the combined forces of hell itself can never steal from us, as we rest in him.

What does it mean to be matured?

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All of us can reach maturity in the Christian life. In this lab, John Piper focuses on the first step: leave behind childish ways.
Some questions to ask as you read and study Philippians 3:15–16:
  1. Would you describe yourself as a mature Christian? Why or why not?
  2. Compare Philippians 3:15–16with Hebrews 5:13–14. What are the characteristics of a mature believer? What will it take to get there?
  3. Watch the lab. According to John Piper, what is the difference between perfection and maturity? Why might they be easily confused?
Watch this video offline by downloading it from Vimeo or subscribing to the Look at the Bookvideo podcast via iTunes or RSS.

Principle for Bible Reading

Defining Terms in Context
Often, we come with our definitions of words before we understand what a verse or passage means. This habit can work at times, but we must not silence the passage itself and we must let it define what certain words mean. Words help us understand verses, and verses help us understand words.
So, as you read, take time to ask, “What can I learn about what this word means from the passage?” Set aside a couple of days to read through a whole book several times before walking through it in a slower, more in-depth way.

Lord Spare me from Success

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I failed as a collegiate athlete. For some years now, I’ve looked back with regret on wasted potential and childhood dreams that were so close to coming true but never did. Why didn’t I work harder? What if I had known what I do today? Why didn’t God allow me to utilize the gifts he gave me? It still bothers me from time to time.
Even if you’ve never spent time on a football field, you may relate. Your passions outpaced your progress; your gifting never realized its full potential. But as you grimace considering the success that never came, has it ever crossed your mind to actuallythank God for your failure?

Thank God for Failure?

It hadn’t crossed my mind until recently. Lost in a daydream of what could have been, words from Spurgeon sent arrows deep into my fantasy:
There are very few men who can bear success — none can do so unless great grace is given to them! And if, after a little success, you begin to say, “There now, I am somebody. Did I not do that well? These poor old fogies do not know how to do it — I will teach them” — you will have to go into the back rank, brother, you are not yet able to endure success! It is clear that you cannot stand praise.
Without a moment’s hesitation, that success I pined after so long had soured in my mouth. Like Dr. Frankenstein, who obsessed for months over his creation only to shrink in horror the moment the monster animated, I saw my idol with sobriety. The “success” I longed to embrace — for me — was as much the celebrity I longed to embrace. I had a healthy love for the sport, but I had an unhealthy love for my own name, which meant that my budding faith in Christ may not have survived weeds of worldly acclaim without consequence. I’m doubtful that I could have endured the mere seeds of the second temptation Jesus overcame in the wilderness:
The devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, and said to him, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory. . . . If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” (Luke 4:5–7)
I thanked God for sparing me from my dreams of greatness. In my mediocrity, he protected me. In allowing me to fail, he fathered me. In keeping me from success, he kept me for himself.

Children of Babel

Now, some mature souls indeed can bear what Calvin called “the fiery trial of popularity.” And while some can endure it without injury, it seems true enough thatthere are very few men who can bear success. The fulfillment of our earthly dreams, the praise we still secretly hope for, the recognition we’ve come to trust might make us into somebody, could, if we actually received it, arouse a nightmare. Success hides its price, and some of us live chasing the flame.
Many since Babel have been trying to “make a name for [themselves]” (Genesis 11:4). They harbor selfish ambition and live for what Paul termed “empty glory” (Philippians 2:3, my translation). This is dangerous because Jesus himself asked, “How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?” (John 5:44).
Man cannot serve two glories. Some, John tells us, even believed in Jesus’s miracles but did not confess him, because “they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God” (John 12:42–43). They chose to sit comfortably in the synagogue rather than walk with God incarnate. To the hypocrites who advertised their fasting with disfigured faces, sounded trumpets when they gave, and prayed long prayers on street corners in order to be seen by others, Jesus said, “I do not receive glory from men” (John 5:41 NASB).
Now, this is not to confuse carnalsuccess with spiritual fruitfulness.We pray to influence souls, fight sin, proclaim Christ, and live for God’s glory in our families, callings, and careers. He has promised those things. Rather, we renounce the visibility of success — the longing to not only achieve great things by God’s strength, but to ensure that everyone elseknows we’ve achieved great things. The obsession to have our faults forgotten and our triumphs published. The temptation to pray blasphemously in our hearts, “I wish them all to be where I am to see my glory.”

You Cannot Bear Success Alone

God must fortify us against the sharp edges of success.
Paul teaches that he needed to be strengthened by Christ to endure the bad and the good. We need God to walk us through the valleys and guide us safely on the mountaintops. “I know how to be brought low,” he said, “and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plentyand hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:12–13).
All things includes the good. The apostle needed Christ to stay content in Christ when life went horribly wrong, and when it went surprisingly well. Verse 13, as the Christian athlete’s favorite verse, speaks not as much to Christ strengthening him to hoist the trophy up in victory, but more to Christ strengthening him not to bring that trophy and applause down into his heart and make them his christ. We need divine strength to trudge through the wilderness, and also to eat our fill in Jerusalem. If we have not learned this, then our abounding — and the praise that comes with it — becomes unsafe.

Fed to Worms

Consider the contrast between Peter, Paul, and Barnabas — men who learned this secret — and Herod, who did not.
When Cornelius bent low to worship a mere human, Peter grabbed him, lifted him up immediately, and said, “Stand up; I too am a man” (Acts 10:24–26). When Paul and Barnabas healed a paralytic man in Lystra in Acts 14, the people proclaimed, “The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!” (Acts 14:11). Once Paul and Barnabas heard this and discovered that they planned to offer sacrifices to them, the two men
tore their garments and rushed out into the crowd, crying out, “Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men, of like nature with you, and we bring you good news, that you should turn from these vain things to a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them.” (Acts 14:14–15)
These esteemed men of God shunned Satan’s original temptation: to be like God — if only in the eyes of men.
Herod did otherwise.
On an appointed day Herod put on his royal robes, took his seat upon the throne, and delivered an oration to them. And the people were shouting, “The voice of a god, and not of a man!” Immediately an angel of the Lord struck him down,because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and breathed his last. (Acts 12:21–23)
Three could bear to be used of God and not seek to rob him of glory. The other died of worms.

Not to Us

In college, I had not yet learned how to abound. The success I longed for endangered my soul.
I was not like William Wilberforce, who, upon the passing of his bill to abolish the British slave trade — which he spent his life on — marked the momentous victory by meditating on a single verse.
Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory,
   for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness! (Psalm 115:1)
He was branded with this verse. God seared it onto his labor and calling. And in time, he knew how to abound. This verse is the banner over the man or woman who has learned Paul’s secret: “Not to me, O God, not to me, but to your name give glory!” And should we fail to get noticed while living for God’s glory, we count it joy that God sees us and spares us from the dangers of praise.

Lord, Spare Me Infectious Success

Consider afresh what we have in Christ. We are sons and daughters of God. What else do we need? Let that free you. Christ is yours. Heaven is yours. Eternal glory will soon be yours.
Rejoice not that you have done great things, and do not lose sleep that no trophies collect dust on your banister. Rather, rejoice that your name is written in heaven. Let us be content decreasing in this world that he might increase, content ourselves walking the path of the nameless donkey that carried the Son into Jerusalem. We are freed to be no-ones on earth because we are known in heaven.
May God make us bold enough to pray,
Lord, spare me from the success that would threaten to undo me. Not all victories are good victories; not all triumphs will lead me home. Keep me from those achievements that would puff me up, those accomplishments that would tempt me to forget you.
You’ve taught me to pray, “Lead me not into temptation” — how slow I’ve been to realize the wisdom in all that might mean. But now, seeing my goals and hopes in proper scope, I ask you to do what is best, even if that means the death of my dreams. Not to me, O God, not to me, but to your name give glory, that your steadfast love and faithfulness might be put on display.

The Power of Words

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It’s been said that the eyes are the window to soul. I doubt it.
I don’t doubt for a moment, however, that the words we speak or write convey the inner workings of our minds and hearts. There is no better way to know a person than to listen to him or her speak, to know what they read, to understand whom they admire: if you know this, you know everything that is truly important to know about a person.
Words, spoken and written, not only indicate whether a person is educated, cultured, kind or venal, they also demonstrate if thoughts are ordered and cognition is intact or impaired. The choice of words and their arrangement are used by physicians and other health experts to evaluate emotional as well as organic pathologies.
Throughout history words have had as much power as the sword. Words shape ideas and give them form; our ideas shape our deeds and give them meaning. Over two hundred years ago Edmund Burke wrote that words are an expression of our passions and have more power than any other art form. He believed words are the most powerful force on earth because they communicate ideas more effectively than any other form of expression.
Words have always been the kindling and the continued energy that fuel our actions. Revolutions have begun with words, men have been stirred to battle by words, and dictators have manipulated whole countries by words, creating the vilest justifications for the annihilation of millions. Words give testimony and sway juries and send people to their deaths.
We understand what it means to “give our word” and pledge on our honor (maybe our very souls) to speak the truth. We use words to convey our patriotism to our country and, of course, we worship our God with words, whether spoken publicly or whispered in our hearts. Words convey love and build trust. They also shape character and tender hearts; certainly we know our words shape our children and if we are wise we choose them carefully. We know our words offend and that is why we sometimes bite our tongues. We choose them well when we interview for jobs. People have been soothed and comforted by words and cautioned to exercise the angels of their better natures. Words have the power to mend and heal.
Words are so powerful that the US Supreme Court has even weighed in on their restriction — perhaps nowhere as famously as in the case of Schenck v. US when Chief Justice Holmes emphatically stated that no one has a right to cry fire in a crowded theatre and cause panic.
Words are the most valued commodity of our species, the hallmark of our humanity, the singularly most distinct difference between man and animals. It is absolutely indisputable that words possess immeasurable power to shape individuals as well as history.
And now the very people who have used words to ridicule, distort, misguide, discredit, and defame — the very people who have openly and gleefully demonized others, spoken freely about assassination as a political tool, even attacked the children of this country’s public servants and suggested that they be destroyed to end a tainted lineage, now speciously claim that words are harmless, they have no consequence.
Words, these arrogant and shameful people (and their pathetic followers) claim, are meaningless. It is with great indignation that they purport there is absolutely no possible nexus between the deeds of others and their own spoken words. They ask us to abandon the proofs of history, the dictates of civil societies, and even the wisdom of our own grandparents and believe instead that we should not hold them accountable or call them to task.
Indeed. How curious. How convenient. How utterly cowardly.
How I am so not surprised….
Their disclaimers beg the obvious question “if words mean nothing, if words do not influence people, then why do these people speak to us at all? Why do they have rallies and radio and television shows if not to influence people?
If words mean nothing, then why the hell are they always talking or writing articles and books?
Yes, indeed: why?

Do Human Technology ever threaten Divine Sovereignty?

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Do human technologies threaten God’s sovereign reign over humanity? This timely question is raised by Genesis. And the question fittingly arrives from a podcast listener named Noah! Noah writes, “Hello, Pastor John! InGenesis 11:1–9, we’re told that God confused man’s common language into a bunch of different languages in order to thwart human progress. It sounds like God, who is infinite, was threatened by the unity of finite creatures. But how could God ever be threatened by anything man could do, even the whole of humanity unified in any endeavor? Is he threatened by our far superior technological advances today? This has never made sense to me. Can you explain it?”

Story of Babel

Before I try to answer that question, let’s get the story in front of us. It’s a really interesting story, and let’s see if it raises the questions that Noah is raising:

“I think the point of the text is that man’s efforts to compete with God are pathetically weak and futile.”

Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.” And the Lordcame down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. (Genesis 11:1–5)
I think that’s sarcasm. This tall tower that’s going to reach into the heaven can’t even be seen from heaven. I love it. The story continues,
And the Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. “Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another’s speech.” So the Lord dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth. And from there the Lord dispersed them over the face of all the earth. (Genesis 11:6–9)

A Small Tall Tower

Now, Noah is saying that it sounds like God was threatened by these humans getting out of hand, and he wonders if God is threatened today by a far superior technology than burning bricks and putting them together with bitumen. If Noah is asking, “Does the text teach that there are, resident in human nature, ingenuities and abilities that, left uncheck by God, would frustrate God’s purposes and thus vie for the very place of God?” then there are two ways to answer it.
First, observe that the first point of the text seems to be that this effort on man’s part to build a tower with its top in the heavens was ridiculously futile. God had to, so to speak, come down in order to see it. I think the point of the text is that man’s efforts to compete with God are pathetically weak and futile.
So, the first answer to the question seems to be that even if God doesn’t intervene the way he did by confusing the languages, the human race is never going to attain the upper hand over its Creator by building its way to God’s throne by any technology whatsoever. That’s the first answer, which I think is implied in the text.

God Is God

The second answer is more important. I think we see it when we ponder the very nature of Noah’s question. The more I think about this question, the more it sounds like this: Would God be threatened by man — man’s ingenuities and man’s abilities — if God were not God? In other words, would God be threatened by man’s action if God could not sovereignly counter man’s actions at any time and in any way he pleases? The answer would be “Well, yes. God would be threatened by the glory of men if God were another creature like man rather than being the all-glorious, all-powerful God.” But he is God.

“God would be threatened by the glory of men if God were another creature like man rather than being the all-glorious God.”

God calmly puts man in his place. God is not threatened by any of man’s ingenuity or capacities because he can and does frustrate all of them at any moment, in any way he pleases, which is what he did in Genesis 11:7. He confused the language.
In other words, the point of the story is precisely that God cannot be threatened by man’s designs or actions because God is God. God is sovereign over all man’s designs and actions. If man begins to achieve things that God does not want them to achieve, God simply stops them. He takes the steps necessary to frustrate their designs. That’s the point. They were taking steps to do things that were highly damaging to the human soul, and highly dishonoring to God. So God just stopped them.
He could have stopped them in one hundred ways. They could have gotten sick. They could have had opposition. I mean, good night, he had a hundred ways he could have stopped them, and he chose to do it by confusing their language.

Child’s Play

There are two answers to whether God is threatened today by the amazing technology and ability of the human race. First, he’s not threatened because all our most advanced technology is simply child’s play as far as God is concerned. Our most advanced physics and artificial intelligence is a kindergarten primer in God’s library — at best. We’re talking about God here.
Second, he is not threatened because at any moment in one hundred ways, he can simply thwart the plans of science, business, technology, and nations. That’s what Psalm 33:10 says: “The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; he frustrates the plans of the peoples.” That would apply to all science, all business, all education, all technology, all industry, all military. “The Lord brings the counsel of man to nothing; he frustrates the plans of the peoples.”
Now, both of these answers, I think, are implied in Genesis 11. The great achievement of the tower is pathetic in God’s eyes, and he can frustrate any pathetic human plan he pleases.

How To Deal with Anxiety.

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THE ROOT OF ANXIETY

My wife and I once felt anxiety like this. We desperately wanted to have children. We had been married for four years before our first daughter was born. We wanted another child and were excited that my wife was pregnant again.
Unfortunately, something went wrong and she endured a miscarriage. More miscarriages followed. Soon we were not excited about pregnancy. We felt anxious, afraid and overwhelmed each time she became pregnant. That anxiety crept into every area of our lives.
Life creates many anxious moments. But when the pressures of life continually increase, you may feel anxious all of the time. The pressure can be so great that you wonder if you will be able to carry the load of anxiety even one step further.

THERE IS HOPE!

You can find relief from the anxiety that controls you. It may not be easy to see right now, but anxiety does not need to rule your life. My wife and I brought our fears and concerns to God. Jesus Christ gave us peace. In the Bible, the Apostle Peter gives those of us who battle anxiety great hope. He tells us, “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you,” (1 Peter 5:7, New International Version).
Knowing that God cares for us and that He can lift us out of our anxiety is life-changing. My wife and I learned to bring our worries and fears to Jesus each day. When she became pregnant again, we brought our anxieties to Jesus every time they arose. Before long, our first son was born, healthy and full of life! Best of all, because we brought our anxiety to Jesus, You can overcome anxiety.
You can overcome anxiety. Begin by taking your problems to Jesus knowing that He cares for you. Ask Him to become Lord of your life and take away the pain of wrong decisions. Ask Him for new life and to help you live without fear. It may take time, but remember that Jesus loves you and can help you live without anxiety.

PRAY WITH ME:

Dear Jesus, I feel so anxious about my life. I am tired of thinking about everything going wrong. I need to change the way I live and think. Please forgive me for the wrong things I have done. I want You to be My Lord and Savior. Help me make a new start in life. Please take my anxiety and help me discover peace that comes from knowing You. In Jesus’ name, Amen!
If you prayed that prayer, please click the button that says: “Yes, I prayed.” We would love to know more about your story.

Why Does God discipline some Christians with death?

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Here’s a question I see often in the inbox, but we’re just now getting to it. Why does God threaten to end the lives of some Christians? Today’s email comes from a baffled listener named Mike. “Hello, Pastor John! Every time our church celebrates the Lord’s Supper, the appropriate warnings are sounded. It’s not for non-Christians. It’s not for Christians harboring resentment. But I remain rather confused about 1 Corinthians 11:27–32, a text that appears to be delivered to true Christians so their abrupt discipline will prevent their eventual condemnation. Why would God physically kill one of his children and end their earthly life early? Couldn’t he sustain them to the end just as easily? Can you explain the mercifuljudgment on believers that Paul is talking about here?”

Weakness, Illness, and Death

My guess is that this question will seem strange to some of our listeners. Why would God physically kill one of his children? That’s what he’s asking. Or even if we soften it and avoid the word kill, why would God take one of his children home as a means of discipline to prevent condemnation when he might have prevented it another way? That’s the gist of the question. It is a very good question, and it’s demanded by 1 Corinthian 11:27–32. So, let me read that, so everybody is with us in this question. We’re not making this up.

“If he makes us weak, he’s loving us. If he makes us ill, he’s loving us. If he takes our life, he’s loving us.”

It says, “Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord [meaning the Lord’s supper] in an unworthy manner [I take this to mean a cavalier, minimizing, unbelieving, careless way] will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord” (1 Corinthians 11:27). In other words, if you treat lightly and disrespectfully and irreverently the precious emblems of the Lord’s crucifixion, you’re showing that you don’t cherish and tremble at the horror and preciousness of the real crucifixion. I think that’s the logic.
He continues, “Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body [that is, without seriously distinguishing this bread from a breakfast biscuit] eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died” (1 Corinthians 11:28–30). So there are three levels of severity, it sounds like: weakness, sickness, and death. “But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord [that is, judged with weakness or sickness or death], we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world” (1 Corinthians 11:31–32).
So weakness, sickness, and even death are the Lord’s discipline to prevent his people from being condemned to hell. There’s the reality that raises the question. The question is not whether God has the right take life. Mike is granting that the Lord gives, the Lord takes away, and our response is “Blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21). Job said that, and Mike is believing that.

God’s Work in His People

The question is “If God is taking the life of one of his children so that they will not be condemned to everlasting destruction, couldn’t he have spared them another way — namely, by causing them to eat the Lord’s Supper more respectfully? Why wouldn’t he do that?” That’s the question. The answer to the question is that God could indeed prevent the desecration of the Lord’s Supper by restraining the desecration. Yes, he could.

“Let’s be careful that we don’t decide what’s best and tell God how to do it. We watch him and learn what’s best.”

For example, in Genesis 20:6, when Abimelech the king was about to defile Abraham’s wife, Sarah, God kept him from doing it. It says, “It was I who kept you from sinning against me.” So, he can do it for a pagan king; he can do it for his children. He can keep them from sinning at the Lord’s Table.
In the New Testament, God works in his people to keep them pursuing holiness, at least to the measure that they have (1 Corinthians 15:10;Philippians 2:12;2 Thessalonians 1:11; Hebrews 13:21;1 Peter 1:5). God works in his people to restrain from them sin and lead them in holiness. So God could have prevented the desecration of the Lord’s Supper and, thus, the discipline that he brings on those who desecrate it. So why doesn’t he?

Loving Discipline

Now, before I try to answer that, let’s be sure that we see how sweeping this question is. The question really is a specific instance of asking, “Why is there any divine discipline in the Christian life?” The question is not just “Why does God use the final discipline of taking a life?” but “Why would there be any physical or mental or relational difficulties brought into the Christian life as a way of preventing their sin and advancing their holiness?” Why not just prevent the sin and create the holiness by faith and by a clear sight of Jesus and by the ordinary means of word and prayer? Why should there be any form of painful discipline in the life of God’s children? That’s the larger question implied in this specific one.
Let’s be sure that we know God does discipline his children with more or less painful things in their life. We know that because ofHebrews 12:4–10. It says,
In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. . . . My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives. It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? . . . He disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. (Hebrews 12:4–7,10)
1 Corinthians 11:30 is one description of that discipline that we just read from Hebrews 12. It happens at different levels. For some, it’s weakness. For some, it’s illness. For some, it’s death. Don’t forget the words “the Lord disciplines the one he loves.” If he makes us weak, he’s loving us. If he makes us ill, he’s loving us. If he takes our life, he’s loving us.

Trust His Ways

Now, why does God do it this way? Why not just perfect us all overnight? That really is what the question boils down to. Why doesn’t he bring us to the greatest holiness with no painful discipline? Why doesn’t he just say, “Read your Bible and pray and be holy” — and no painful discipline at all?

“God knows best how to produce great wonders in his church. We shouldn’t second-guess him.”

My answer goes something like this. God knows the best way to bring about in his children (1) a love for his absolute holiness, (2) a hatred of our bent to sinning, (3) gratitude for his amazing grace and patience in our lives, and (4) a passion to trust him in every circumstance of life. He knows the best way to do this.
So, let’s be careful that we don’t decide what’s best and tell him how to do it. We watch him and learn what’s best. He knows best how to produce these great wonders in his church. We shouldn’t second-guess him.

SNIPER THE DEADLY KILLER [Resist the thought behind it]

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SNIPER THE DEADLY KILLER [Resist the thought behind it]

*Sniper* is not an easy killer, *it’s an organ eating ,liquid monster*
*Sniper is a DDVP 2,2*
Ok…sniper is a  Dichlorovinyl Dimethyl phosphate compound, produced by *ndi Swiss Nigeria Chemical Compound*
When you blindly drink *sniper* that you want to kill yourself, this is what will happen to you….
1. Your eyeballs will swim in its own water as forced tears escapes from its reservoir
2. You will have serious discharges from your nose…oh, it’s late, you will have no control over these happenings now.
3. A banging migraine will set in. You will hold unto your head and scream like it wants to explode..
4. Your chest will tighten, forcing close , making sure that your body have lost control over it.
5. You will be on the floor by now, screaming through all your senses, as saliva pours out from your mouth like a slow, mini river.
6. You will mess yourself up with vomiting, and you will long to vomit your intestines too, to be relieved, cos you are now in so much regrets for taking the sniper, but ah,ah,ah…sniper must finish it’s job.
7. The rest of the crises comes in turns as you shit all over yourself …sweating ,muscle fasciculation, your blood pressure will go down low, convulsions, then, your life will be squeezed out of you through the shutting down of your lungs and kidney….cardiac arrest will aid your departure.
The last thing that will die in you, is your brain that will take in every information before shutting down. It will allow you watch yourself, give up the pained ghost.
That’s why they will meet you  when you are dead, with your eyes open, drooling, a lot of poo in your underwear, your body twisted in a strange position as you tried to fight off the pain and crises, and they will observe the signs of struggle in the room you took the sniper…cos you will climb the walls, tear the sheets, rip some of your hair off, just to quail the killing pain.. some run off from their houses,screaming for people to help them, that they drank sniper, that’s how they ended up in the hospital.
If you are lucky, your system could be flushed when it has not shut down everything, but you will never remain the same, if you are unlucky, you will die on your way to the hospital, or in the hospital…but in your dead eyes, the last memorial record in it, before your terrorized brain, shuts down, is “regrets”.
*You can see, it’s not an easy death*
Should in case you are among those, waiting on queue to snipe yourself out..the dead cannot come back to tell you their experiences with sniper…that 100ml ,200/300 naira *otapiapia*, is a *terminator*.. *a gradually, ruthless, wicked terminator*
You are deceived when they make you believe that sniper is the easier way out, no, it will slowly devour you from the inside, as it shuts down your organs one by one in a tearing order.
It’s only a bullet to your head, measured well, not to miss the brain, that can be the fast killer you anticipated, not sniper.
If you are depressed, drink more of cold juices, while you think your way out. *Suicide is not a joke*.
Sniper will make you *see your ear without mirror,* will force you to beg for your life back, but it will scream back at you from your system, to let it do its job.
*It will give you a slow, dragged, struggled, regrettable death..*
Why don’t you use that strength of fighting a painful death, and fight your way out to live?
You don’t wanna mess with that insecticide called sniper. Trust me..no think am, no take am.
*let’s help circulate to help people out*