Bible Text: 2 Timothy 2:22–3:7 |  

“Lust to Self-control”

Introduction:  Who’s guilty?  Kennedy, Clinton, Gary Hart, Anthony Weiner, Mark Sanford, Vance McCallistar, David Petraeus, Eliot Spitzer, John Edwards, Tiger Woods, Wilt Chamberlain

Who’s guilty?  Sexting, marketing firms, internet porn, Playboy, Cosmo, Maxim

Who’s guilty?  By the standards of Matthew 5:27-28, almost everyone.

Usually associated with sexual desire, lust is also gluttony, drunkenness, even consumerism.

I.        Bible Classics—Lust’s Victims

A.     2 Samuel 11:2-5, David and Bathsheba

1.      Self-controlled Uriah ends killed in battle, Bathsheba ends pregnant;

2.      What David lost

B.     2 Samuel 13:1-19, Amnon and Tamar (David’s children)

1.      Tamar raped and desolate (1 in 6); David furious but inactive; Absalom’s vengeance

2.      What Amnon lost

C.     Genesis 39:1-19, Potiphar’s wife and Joseph

1.      What Potiphar lost, what Joseph lost

2.      What Joseph gained

II.       When Freedom Makes Us Slaves

A.     2 Timothy 2:22, “Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace.”

1.      2 Timothy 3:2, “People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud.”

2.      v3,4 “…with love, without self-control…lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.”

B.     It’s a freedom revolution: Divorce, abortions, spread of HIV and STDs, affairs, sex trade

1.      Supersize Me!  Freedom to eat: rise in obesity with hypertension, strokes, diabetes

2.      Freedom to buy: Debt load we carry.  How much do we need?  How to justify the rest?

3.      1 Timothy 6:11-12, “Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness.  Fight the good fight of the faith.”

C.     Of course self-control is hard to master, or even practice.

1.      1 Peter 4:1, “Since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because the one who has suffered in the body is done with sin.”

2.      v7, “The end of all things is near.  Therefore be clear-minded and self-controlled so you can pray.”

Conclusion:   Where does lust unchecked lead us?  Sharon’s story.