In our heart

Mat 5:27 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery:
Mat 5:28 But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.


From OLD times, from LONG AGO, in AGES PAST the word came- 'Thou shalt not commit adultery.'


Then man decided this meant simply the act of adultery and not the thought of it. The thought was okay, but was it ever okay? We know this...


Jas 1:14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.
Jas 1:15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.


Temptation begins in the thoughts, in the mind. Seriously, temptation begins when we allow our thoughts of temptation to take over. Jesus was tempted but He did not succumb to temptation, He NEVER let His thoughts take over. He didn't stand on the highest pinnacle and begin to contemplate what it would be like to have all mankind right then and there bow down to Him. He didn't allow His mind to dwell on thoughts of how good a piece of bread would taste, how filling it would be to his fast starved body. He didn't stop for a few moments and think about how wonderful it would be to show off to Satan by falling and letting angels bear Him up. Our Savior didn't allow any thought of the temptation to take over Him. When tempted He was QUICK with a rebuke to that temptation. His first thought was REBUKE.

re·buke
1.
to express sharp, stern disapproval of; reprove; reprimand.
–noun
2.
sharp, stern disapproval; reproof; reprimand.

Pasted from


What is our first thought when we are tempted? Seriously, lets consider this for a moment and be frank about our answers. We all know of times we've given into temptation and sinned. The moment the temptation came did we rebuke it? We may have recognized it as temptation but recognizing temptation IS NOT rebuking temptation. Recognition is good but after the first moment of recognition that we are facing temptation we need to be instant in our rebuking of that temptation.

All too often we recognize that we are being tempted but then something else comes into play- our lust to give into that temptation. We feel a rush of desire towards that temptation. That IS what temptation is, isn't it? Being face to face with the opportunity to give into a desire, a lust we hold. I'm not talking uniquely sexual desire or sexual lust, but a desire or lust for anything that is sin. You can desire an object, you can lust after gold. When the desire is for something forbidden- another man's wife, a treasure of gold belonging to another- you are tempted wrongly, tempted towards sin. When you indulge that temptation in your thoughts you are imagining yourself committing the sin, you are entertaining sin as being something good- allowing it to fill your mind crowding out truth, crowding out God because God cannot dwell where sin dwells.


Mat 5:27 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery:
Mat 5:28 But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.


'Whosoever LOOKETH on a woman to LUST after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.'


It's not enough to just keep ourselves from the act of outward sin- we MUST keep our hearts and minds pure, we must keep our hearts and minds on our Savior, not self and self desires, self lusts.


We must REBUKE temptation instantly! We must not look upon our temptation and lust for it in our heart. We must not come face to face with temptation and embrace it. We must not think about our temptation and continue to think upon it. The more lust after our temptation the more likely we are to give into that temptation, the more we lust after our temptation in becomes sin right there in our minds even if we never act upon that lust.


Lust--
epithumeō
ep-ee-thoo-meh'-o
From G1909 and G2372; to set the heart upon, that is, long for (rightfully or otherwise): - covet, desire, would fain, lust (after).


If our hearts are SET upon, if we are coveting in our hearts ANY SIN we are guilty of that sin. May God keep us from coveting any sin whatsoever! Sin is to be abhorred, not just - not physically committed. How many, many people do not commit the physical act of sin yet in their hearts they sin continuously all the while patting themselves on the back for NOT actually sinning. Is it any wonder our Savior is going to say to so many people that He never knew them, when there they'll be thinking they should be saved. Sin begins in the heart. When our hearts desire is to sin we are sinning. Our Lord must be our all in all. Our treasures MUST be in heaven. Our hearts desire must be towards God, towards His love and not towards self. We have resist the pull to self and that pull is soooooooooo great because we have people on all sides wanting to help us indulge self, and we have a GREAT adversary who wants nothing more than for us to put self first, we have a flesh nature that wars against the spiritual nature.


The path is narrow, few will find it, please God we pray that we are among the few! We pray we are known by You! We pray for the ability to rebuke temptation, to rebuke even thoughts of temptation. By Your grace! By Your will! In Your love!


Amen!