Spurgeon
Beloved of All
It is a hopeful sign that you hate this lust with a burning passion, for the unrenewed heart loves its chains and calls them ornaments. Yet to hate the sin in the morning and still to waste yourself upon it late at night shows how strong the enemy is and how needful is a power beyond your own resolve. You say you decide in your heart against it and then in the night watches you look upon lustful images. Hear the word of truth concerning this pedigree, when lust has conceived, it brings forth sin and sin, when it is finished, brings forth death. That is the pedigree of sin, it is born of lust and it brings forth dust. Any sin, whatever it is, if we cling to it and love it, will bring forth death, rest assured of that.
Charity and purity are the two great garments of Christianity, and they must go together. Purity must not go down that charity may go up. In vain should we give all our substance to the poor and give our bodies to be burned if we do not walk in the way of holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord. The Lord has ordained that sexual intimacy belongs only within the lifelong covenant of one man and one woman in marriage, and all that lies outside that holy bound is impurity to be fled from and repented of.
You must learn what our Lord teaches us to pray, Lead us not into temptation. The word includes trial, for all temptation, even if it is temptation from Satan, is in fact trial from God, yet there is more than trial in it. Temptation in itself is a thing very dangerous, and though God may use the hour to prove us, Satan will use the same hour to destroy us. It is right to pray, Oh, save me from the mischief of the temptation, let me not stain my garments, let me not slip nor slide, but may I stand fast at the end of the day. But remember this solemn word, the man who prays Lead us not into temptation and then goes into it is a liar before God. You need not ask the Lord not to lead you there if you lead yourself there. To keep the instrument of sin by your bed, to sit alone late at night where you know the temptation will assail you, is to go into temptation with open eyes.
Therefore you must not only pray against temptation but flee from it. Make no provision for the flesh. Put away the occasion. Let your chamber be a place of prayer and sleep, not of sin. Do not trust your resolve in the hour when the will is weary. Rise, call upon the Lord, open the Scriptures, set a watch upon your eyes and upon your heart. Seek a faithful brother to whom you may confess your struggle and who will ask you straitly how you fare and pray with you.
Above all, look to Jesus Christ alone for salvation and for strength to overcome. You will not conquer this sin by the heat of your hatred of it, but by His precious blood which cleanses and by His Spirit which subdues. Confess this sin plainly to God as sin, turn from it without excuse, and trust the Lord Jesus who bore our sins and breaks their power. He is able to keep you from falling and to make you love purity as well as hate lust. Cry to Him in the moment of temptation and in the quiet of the day, and He will give you not only a hatred of the act but a love of holiness which will make the act bitter to you. May the Lord keep you chaste and holy for His own name sake.
Charity and purity are the two great garments of Christianity, and they must go together. Purity must not go down that charity may go up. In vain should we give all our substance to the poor and give our bodies to be burned if we do not walk in the way of holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord. The Lord has ordained that sexual intimacy belongs only within the lifelong covenant of one man and one woman in marriage, and all that lies outside that holy bound is impurity to be fled from and repented of.
You must learn what our Lord teaches us to pray, Lead us not into temptation. The word includes trial, for all temptation, even if it is temptation from Satan, is in fact trial from God, yet there is more than trial in it. Temptation in itself is a thing very dangerous, and though God may use the hour to prove us, Satan will use the same hour to destroy us. It is right to pray, Oh, save me from the mischief of the temptation, let me not stain my garments, let me not slip nor slide, but may I stand fast at the end of the day. But remember this solemn word, the man who prays Lead us not into temptation and then goes into it is a liar before God. You need not ask the Lord not to lead you there if you lead yourself there. To keep the instrument of sin by your bed, to sit alone late at night where you know the temptation will assail you, is to go into temptation with open eyes.
Therefore you must not only pray against temptation but flee from it. Make no provision for the flesh. Put away the occasion. Let your chamber be a place of prayer and sleep, not of sin. Do not trust your resolve in the hour when the will is weary. Rise, call upon the Lord, open the Scriptures, set a watch upon your eyes and upon your heart. Seek a faithful brother to whom you may confess your struggle and who will ask you straitly how you fare and pray with you.
Above all, look to Jesus Christ alone for salvation and for strength to overcome. You will not conquer this sin by the heat of your hatred of it, but by His precious blood which cleanses and by His Spirit which subdues. Confess this sin plainly to God as sin, turn from it without excuse, and trust the Lord Jesus who bore our sins and breaks their power. He is able to keep you from falling and to make you love purity as well as hate lust. Cry to Him in the moment of temptation and in the quiet of the day, and He will give you not only a hatred of the act but a love of holiness which will make the act bitter to you. May the Lord keep you chaste and holy for His own name sake.
