WEBVTT 00:00:04.670 --> 00:00:07.509 Hello, and welcome to this week's episode of 00:00:07.509 --> 00:00:10.369 Trinity Sermons. This week we are continuing 00:00:10.369 --> 00:00:13.830 our sermon series titled The S -Word, where we 00:00:13.830 --> 00:00:17.929 dive into the seven deadly sins. And this week's 00:00:17.929 --> 00:00:20.629 sin is a little bit awkward to talk about, but 00:00:20.629 --> 00:00:24.289 also really important. And that is the sin of 00:00:24.289 --> 00:00:27.739 lust. And so join us as Rob talks to us more 00:00:27.739 --> 00:00:30.980 about what lust is, what it looks like in our 00:00:30.980 --> 00:00:34.159 lives, and most importantly how we can move forward 00:00:34.159 --> 00:00:37.500 from shame into the freedom that Christ offers 00:00:37.500 --> 00:00:46.420 us. Today's reading, Trinity, comes from the 00:00:46.420 --> 00:00:55.140 book of Genesis chapter 39 verses 4 to 21. Joseph 00:00:55.140 --> 00:01:01.579 found favour in his eyes, and became his attendant. 00:01:02.740 --> 00:01:05.040 Potiphar put him in charge of his household, 00:01:05.760 --> 00:01:08.700 and he entrusted to his care everything he owned. 00:01:09.579 --> 00:01:12.400 From the time he put him in charge of his household 00:01:12.400 --> 00:01:15.980 and of all that he owned, the Lord blessed the 00:01:15.980 --> 00:01:18.459 household of the Egyptian because of Joseph. 00:01:19.739 --> 00:01:22.540 The blessing of the Lord was on everything Potiphar 00:01:22.540 --> 00:01:27.719 had, both in the house and in the field. So Potiphar 00:01:27.719 --> 00:01:31.359 left everything he had in Joseph's care. With 00:01:31.359 --> 00:01:34.180 Joseph in charge, he did not concern himself 00:01:34.180 --> 00:01:39.939 with anything except the food he ate. Now Joseph 00:01:39.939 --> 00:01:44.120 was well -built and handsome, and after a while 00:01:44.120 --> 00:01:47.439 his master's wife took notice of Joseph and said, 00:01:47.840 --> 00:01:52.170 Come to bed with me. But he refused. With me 00:01:52.170 --> 00:01:56.370 in charge, he told her, my master does not concern 00:01:56.370 --> 00:01:59.329 himself with anything in the house. Everything 00:01:59.329 --> 00:02:04.629 he owns he has entrusted to my care. No one is 00:02:04.629 --> 00:02:08.810 greater in this house than I am. My master has 00:02:08.810 --> 00:02:12.030 withheld nothing from me except you because you 00:02:12.030 --> 00:02:15.669 are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked 00:02:15.669 --> 00:02:20.439 thing and sin against God? And though she spoke 00:02:20.439 --> 00:02:23.879 to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to 00:02:23.879 --> 00:02:29.039 bed with her or even be with her. One day, he 00:02:29.039 --> 00:02:31.520 went into the house to attend to his duties, 00:02:32.120 --> 00:02:34.580 and none of the household servants was inside. 00:02:35.319 --> 00:02:38.360 She caught him by his cloak and said, Come to 00:02:38.360 --> 00:02:41.900 bed with me. But he left his cloak in her hand 00:02:41.900 --> 00:02:45.719 and ran out of the house. When she saw that he 00:02:45.719 --> 00:02:50.060 had left his cloak in her hand, and had ran out 00:02:50.060 --> 00:02:52.439 of the house, she called her household servants. 00:02:53.400 --> 00:02:59.080 Look, she said to them, this Hebrew has been 00:02:59.080 --> 00:03:02.659 brought to us to make sport of us. He came in 00:03:02.659 --> 00:03:05.819 here to sleep with me, but I screamed. When he 00:03:05.819 --> 00:03:09.460 heard me scream for help, he left his cloak beside 00:03:09.460 --> 00:03:16.129 me and ran out of the house. cloak beside her 00:03:16.129 --> 00:03:19.689 until his master came home. Then she told him 00:03:19.689 --> 00:03:23.310 this story, that Hebrew slave you brought us 00:03:23.310 --> 00:03:26.629 came to me to make sport of me. But as soon as 00:03:26.629 --> 00:03:29.509 I screamed for help, he left his cloak beside 00:03:29.509 --> 00:03:33.409 me and ran out of the house. When his master 00:03:33.409 --> 00:03:36.909 heard the story, his wife told him, saying, this 00:03:36.909 --> 00:03:40.530 is how your slave treated me. He burned with 00:03:40.530 --> 00:03:45.120 anger. Joseph's master took him. and put him 00:03:45.120 --> 00:03:48.000 in prison, the place where the king's prisoners 00:03:48.000 --> 00:03:52.099 were confined. But while Joseph was there in 00:03:52.099 --> 00:03:55.539 the prison, the Lord was with him. He showed 00:03:55.539 --> 00:03:59.219 him kindness and granted him favour in the eyes 00:03:59.219 --> 00:04:02.520 of the prison warden. This is the word of the 00:04:02.520 --> 00:04:06.659 Lord. Thanks be to God. So we're working through 00:04:06.659 --> 00:04:09.319 this teaching series on the seven deadly sins. 00:04:09.719 --> 00:04:12.400 And we've talked about pride. We've talked about 00:04:12.400 --> 00:04:15.539 envy. We've talked about sloth. We've talked 00:04:15.539 --> 00:04:18.319 about greed. We've been there. We've done that. 00:04:18.339 --> 00:04:20.199 You can watch them all on YouTube. And today 00:04:20.199 --> 00:04:24.139 we come to the deadly sin of lust. And therefore, 00:04:24.139 --> 00:04:25.699 there's probably like three different groups 00:04:25.699 --> 00:04:27.720 of people here who are in the church this morning. 00:04:28.040 --> 00:04:30.079 There's one group who is genuinely interested 00:04:30.079 --> 00:04:34.040 to hear and watch me squirm up here as the pastor 00:04:34.040 --> 00:04:36.600 tries to talk about lust. In fact, you've been 00:04:36.600 --> 00:04:38.259 waiting for this one. You've been rubbing your 00:04:38.259 --> 00:04:39.839 hands and you've been. and like this is gonna 00:04:39.839 --> 00:04:42.040 be good. There's another group of people here 00:04:42.040 --> 00:04:44.220 this morning and those are you who are visiting 00:04:44.220 --> 00:04:46.480 or you're new here this morning and right about 00:04:46.480 --> 00:04:48.720 now you're beginning to think you've made a horrible 00:04:48.720 --> 00:04:52.089 mistake. And then there's a third group of people 00:04:52.089 --> 00:04:56.310 here, basically my own children, who right now 00:04:56.310 --> 00:05:00.290 are burying their head in their hands. They are 00:05:00.290 --> 00:05:03.069 just mortified that their dad is going to stand 00:05:03.069 --> 00:05:06.449 up in front of hundreds of people and talk about 00:05:06.449 --> 00:05:11.350 lust. They're going to be scarred for life. But 00:05:11.350 --> 00:05:14.769 listen, as Salt and Pepper said in the 90s, let's 00:05:14.769 --> 00:05:18.430 talk about sex. And you know, there is, at the 00:05:18.430 --> 00:05:20.129 beginning of that song, I didn't realize, but 00:05:20.129 --> 00:05:22.269 they have this little exchange. They say, yo, 00:05:22.370 --> 00:05:24.329 I don't think we should talk about this. Come 00:05:24.329 --> 00:05:26.769 on, why not? Well, people might not understand 00:05:26.769 --> 00:05:29.230 what we're trying to say, you know, but that's 00:05:29.230 --> 00:05:32.410 part of life. Yes, that's actually true. It is 00:05:32.410 --> 00:05:35.709 part of life. And even though this is awkward, 00:05:35.850 --> 00:05:38.410 the very fact that it's awkward might be a sign 00:05:38.410 --> 00:05:41.009 that we need to talk about it more, not less, 00:05:41.250 --> 00:05:44.029 because not talking about it hasn't worked out 00:05:44.029 --> 00:05:46.949 that well either. And in fact, it was Howard 00:05:46.949 --> 00:05:48.949 Hendricks who said that we should not be ashamed 00:05:48.949 --> 00:05:53.230 to discuss what God was unashamed to create. 00:05:53.840 --> 00:05:57.139 And that's the thing, God made us this way. God 00:05:57.139 --> 00:05:59.300 made us this way and so of course in your life 00:05:59.300 --> 00:06:02.399 sex is gonna show up and of course lust is going 00:06:02.399 --> 00:06:04.639 to show up and sometimes when we least expect 00:06:04.639 --> 00:06:06.959 it. Like a vacuum cleaner salesman who knocks 00:06:06.959 --> 00:06:09.680 on the door, you go there and he was uninvited 00:06:09.680 --> 00:06:12.699 and he was unexpected and yet here he is. Lust 00:06:12.699 --> 00:06:16.620 has a habit of showing up often at the most unexpected 00:06:16.620 --> 00:06:19.980 times and it's not just for guys and it's not 00:06:19.980 --> 00:06:22.959 just for young people and it's not just for Hollywood, 00:06:23.240 --> 00:06:27.319 It's for all of us and it can happen in the midst 00:06:27.319 --> 00:06:30.100 of really good times or it can also happen when 00:06:30.100 --> 00:06:32.439 you're rock bottom in the middle of bad times. 00:06:32.699 --> 00:06:36.019 Now for Joseph, Joseph's life was going along 00:06:36.019 --> 00:06:38.939 just great. He was at like the height of good 00:06:38.939 --> 00:06:41.459 times. He had found favor in his master's eyes. 00:06:41.500 --> 00:06:44.740 He was put in charge of his household. Joseph's 00:06:44.740 --> 00:06:47.579 life had finally turned a corner. He was finally 00:06:47.579 --> 00:06:49.860 getting somewhere and then guess what? There 00:06:49.860 --> 00:06:51.560 was a knock on the door and who was it? Oh, it 00:06:51.560 --> 00:06:54.959 was sex. It was lust. It showed up and it was 00:06:54.959 --> 00:06:57.379 unexpected. It was uninvited. But when it shows 00:06:57.379 --> 00:06:59.699 up, you've got to figure out how to deal with 00:06:59.699 --> 00:07:01.720 it because the way that you deal with it will 00:07:01.720 --> 00:07:05.899 actually either make you or break you. And so 00:07:05.899 --> 00:07:08.500 today we're going to talk about sex and we're 00:07:08.500 --> 00:07:10.959 going to talk about lust. And actually I'm not 00:07:10.959 --> 00:07:13.000 going to do so much of the talking, but three 00:07:13.000 --> 00:07:15.540 other people are going to do most of the talking 00:07:15.540 --> 00:07:17.699 this morning. And that's going to be you and 00:07:17.699 --> 00:07:20.699 you. and you. No, the three people that are going 00:07:20.699 --> 00:07:22.259 to talk about it. We're going to listen first 00:07:22.259 --> 00:07:24.800 to Potiphar's wife. She's going to talk about 00:07:24.800 --> 00:07:27.240 revealing what lust is. Then we're going to talk 00:07:27.240 --> 00:07:29.180 to Joseph. And Joseph is going to explain us 00:07:29.180 --> 00:07:31.720 how to deal with lust. And then Jesus is going 00:07:31.720 --> 00:07:35.000 to help us understand healing from lust. So there's 00:07:35.000 --> 00:07:37.019 the revealing of it, dealing with it, healing 00:07:37.019 --> 00:07:40.360 with it. Let's start with revealing. What is 00:07:40.360 --> 00:07:42.420 lust? Now, of course, the Bible even would say 00:07:42.420 --> 00:07:44.360 you can be lustful about lots of things. You 00:07:44.360 --> 00:07:46.540 can be lustful about power. You can be lustful. 00:07:46.829 --> 00:07:49.509 about status, but when it comes to the seven 00:07:49.509 --> 00:07:52.250 deadly sins, I'm sorry to say, lust is speaking 00:07:52.250 --> 00:07:54.790 about that nitty gritty thing called sex. It's 00:07:54.790 --> 00:07:57.430 like when Jesus says that to have even, you know, 00:07:57.470 --> 00:08:00.189 when you think of someone lustfully in your heart, 00:08:00.410 --> 00:08:03.529 you have committed adultery with them. That's 00:08:03.529 --> 00:08:06.589 the connection that we're talking about. So here 00:08:06.589 --> 00:08:10.029 is a good maybe definition of what lust is. Lust 00:08:10.029 --> 00:08:13.620 is the disordered desire for sexual pleasure 00:08:13.620 --> 00:08:17.120 that treats people as objects rather than persons. 00:08:17.420 --> 00:08:20.139 Now notice what it does not say. Does not say 00:08:20.139 --> 00:08:24.699 that lust is sexual desire. It's a disordered 00:08:24.699 --> 00:08:27.300 desire. Lust takes something that is good and 00:08:27.300 --> 00:08:30.459 twists it and makes it destructive. So again, 00:08:31.019 --> 00:08:35.279 lust is not. sexual desire itself. The Bible 00:08:35.279 --> 00:08:37.679 never says sex is wrong. The Bible never says 00:08:37.679 --> 00:08:39.879 that sexual desire is wrong. In fact, if you 00:08:39.879 --> 00:08:43.220 were to compare the Bible and Christianity to 00:08:43.220 --> 00:08:45.899 other religions, you would actually realize that... 00:08:45.950 --> 00:08:48.470 has a really, really high view of sex. In fact, 00:08:48.570 --> 00:08:51.210 in Genesis chapter one, we read that God actually 00:08:51.210 --> 00:08:54.009 created sexuality. He created male and female, 00:08:54.029 --> 00:08:56.330 and when he had created male and female, he said 00:08:56.330 --> 00:09:00.029 it was very good. He was happy with what he had 00:09:00.029 --> 00:09:02.669 made, and in fact, he said, now go, be fruitful, 00:09:02.870 --> 00:09:06.570 multiply, go and do it, for lack of a better 00:09:06.570 --> 00:09:10.629 word. So God created it. And then in the New 00:09:10.629 --> 00:09:12.730 Testament, you got people like Paul who almost 00:09:12.730 --> 00:09:16.450 commands husbands and wives to be sexually into 00:09:16.450 --> 00:09:19.029 each other. He says, you know, is it good to 00:09:19.029 --> 00:09:22.009 have sexual relations? Certainly, Paul says. 00:09:22.629 --> 00:09:24.610 And then there is this book of the Bible called 00:09:24.610 --> 00:09:28.330 the Song of Solomon that's so graphic in its 00:09:28.330 --> 00:09:30.490 talk about sex that little Hebrew boys and girls 00:09:30.490 --> 00:09:32.470 weren't even allowed to read the book until they 00:09:32.470 --> 00:09:36.710 got older. Stuff like kiss me, let the king bring 00:09:36.710 --> 00:09:39.879 me into his bedroom, you know. If you go home 00:09:39.879 --> 00:09:41.379 today and your kids are all of a sudden reading 00:09:41.379 --> 00:09:43.419 the Bible, really, they're really into the Bible, 00:09:43.539 --> 00:09:45.360 you might just want to check what exactly that 00:09:45.360 --> 00:09:48.539 they are reading. So it is really, really unfortunate 00:09:48.539 --> 00:09:50.840 if the primary message that Christianity gets 00:09:50.840 --> 00:09:53.539 across to people is that somehow sex is negative. 00:09:53.820 --> 00:09:58.620 It is not. It is not sinful, right? Sex was God's 00:09:58.620 --> 00:10:02.840 idea. He invented it. It's not wrong. And actually, 00:10:02.860 --> 00:10:04.899 when you do look at the list of the seven deadly 00:10:04.899 --> 00:10:07.659 sins, that's the reason why lust is never really 00:10:07.659 --> 00:10:12.240 at the top of the list. Pride, envy, sloth, wrath, 00:10:12.480 --> 00:10:15.279 those things are unnatural. We weren't built 00:10:15.279 --> 00:10:17.279 to kill each other. We weren't built to steal 00:10:17.279 --> 00:10:19.259 from each other. We weren't built to hurt each 00:10:19.259 --> 00:10:25.139 other, but we were built for sex. So, what does 00:10:25.139 --> 00:10:27.240 this mean? What does this mean? What is it about 00:10:27.240 --> 00:10:30.039 sexual desire that can go wrong and turn into 00:10:30.039 --> 00:10:33.759 lust? Well, the first thing that we see is that 00:10:33.759 --> 00:10:36.399 sexual desire becomes lust when that craving 00:10:36.399 --> 00:10:39.179 is absolutely out of control. Potiphar's wife, 00:10:39.279 --> 00:10:41.860 let's look at her, right? She was out of control. 00:10:42.339 --> 00:10:44.919 She wanted Joseph so badly, she threw caution 00:10:44.919 --> 00:10:46.519 to the wind. It didn't matter. She didn't matter 00:10:46.519 --> 00:10:48.500 that she was a married woman. Didn't matter that 00:10:48.500 --> 00:10:50.059 this might destroy her marriage. Didn't matter 00:10:50.059 --> 00:10:51.980 that, you know, in that kind of culture, it could 00:10:51.980 --> 00:10:54.559 have destroyed her. Didn't matter that Joseph 00:10:54.559 --> 00:10:56.360 was saying, no, no, I don't want to do this. 00:10:56.700 --> 00:10:59.240 She was out of control. She was willing to take 00:10:59.240 --> 00:11:03.000 all those risks. And although we have so many 00:11:03.000 --> 00:11:05.659 jokes in our culture about sex, ha ha ha sex, 00:11:05.879 --> 00:11:09.480 out of control lust is no joking matter, right? 00:11:09.500 --> 00:11:12.259 It will destroy you. It will destroy everything. 00:11:12.360 --> 00:11:14.139 It will destroy your mind. It will destroy your 00:11:14.139 --> 00:11:17.059 heart. It will destroy your family life. It will 00:11:17.059 --> 00:11:19.399 destroy your marriage, your relationship, your 00:11:19.399 --> 00:11:23.360 reputation. Even this story, it can make you 00:11:23.360 --> 00:11:26.690 violent when it's out of control. We are told 00:11:26.690 --> 00:11:31.870 it all just started when Potiphar's wife took 00:11:31.870 --> 00:11:34.690 notice of Joseph. See, it just says she took 00:11:34.690 --> 00:11:36.570 notice of him. You might say that doesn't seem 00:11:36.570 --> 00:11:39.169 fair, just taking notice of someone. That doesn't 00:11:39.169 --> 00:11:41.870 seem like that should be a sin. But you have 00:11:41.870 --> 00:11:44.470 to understand that in the Hebrew there, that 00:11:44.470 --> 00:11:48.950 word essentially means she cast her eyes on Joseph, 00:11:49.269 --> 00:11:52.250 which is way different than noticing. That is 00:11:52.250 --> 00:11:55.539 fixing your gaze on someone with desire. desire 00:11:55.539 --> 00:11:59.559 and longing. Oh look, he's well built and handsome, 00:11:59.919 --> 00:12:03.480 right? AKA, he's got a great body and he's got 00:12:03.480 --> 00:12:06.460 a great face to go along with it. She was focused 00:12:06.460 --> 00:12:09.159 on this. She could think of nothing else. The 00:12:09.159 --> 00:12:12.600 way to think of it is lust is not a passing glance. 00:12:12.960 --> 00:12:17.139 It is a practiced gaze. Or put another way, she 00:12:17.139 --> 00:12:23.850 didn't fall into lust. She fed into lust. And 00:12:23.850 --> 00:12:25.629 that's the thing about our culture. There are 00:12:25.629 --> 00:12:30.070 so many ways that we can feed into lust, whether 00:12:30.070 --> 00:12:33.669 it's internet pornography, whether it's OnlyFans, 00:12:33.730 --> 00:12:36.889 or maybe you're just watching Game of Thrones 00:12:36.889 --> 00:12:39.590 or something like that. It is absolutely everywhere 00:12:39.590 --> 00:12:42.049 you look. Here's a good example. I don't know 00:12:42.049 --> 00:12:43.970 if you guys watched the Oscars this year, but 00:12:43.970 --> 00:12:46.649 the best picture at the Oscars this year was 00:12:46.649 --> 00:12:49.669 a film by the name of Anora. I haven't seen it. 00:12:49.669 --> 00:12:52.330 It might be an amazing film that makes some really 00:12:52.330 --> 00:12:55.210 incredible But the point is, the story is about 00:12:55.210 --> 00:12:58.669 a young stripper from Brooklyn. The film is full 00:12:58.669 --> 00:13:01.690 of graphic nudity and sexuality. In fact, on 00:13:01.690 --> 00:13:04.690 the IMDB, the Internet Movie Database, under 00:13:04.690 --> 00:13:09.129 sex and nudity, it says severe. This is the best 00:13:09.129 --> 00:13:13.029 picture of the year. This is the Oscar -winning 00:13:13.029 --> 00:13:15.049 best picture of the year. It's the one that everybody 00:13:15.049 --> 00:13:19.389 needs to see, right? So it's where we cast our 00:13:19.389 --> 00:13:23.629 eyes either feeds into lust or leads out of lust, 00:13:24.049 --> 00:13:26.929 depending on what we do there. Thomas Aquinas 00:13:26.929 --> 00:13:30.289 said that lust is like a lion staring at a gazelle. 00:13:30.350 --> 00:13:33.149 All it can think about is its next meal. And 00:13:33.149 --> 00:13:35.730 Potiphar's wife was staring at Joseph. Joseph 00:13:35.730 --> 00:13:39.509 was her next meal. And as Tim Keller said, she 00:13:39.509 --> 00:13:41.850 had gone to bed with him so many times in her 00:13:41.850 --> 00:13:44.620 mind. that finally she just had to go to bed 00:13:44.620 --> 00:13:47.620 with him in reality. She couldn't stop herself, 00:13:47.659 --> 00:13:51.799 right? Because lust is craving without control. 00:13:52.840 --> 00:13:55.840 Now, you might say, bro, come on. Sex is a normal 00:13:55.840 --> 00:13:58.000 appetite. You're right, it is normal. It should 00:13:58.000 --> 00:14:00.759 be normal, but this is not normal. C .S. Lewis 00:14:00.759 --> 00:14:04.139 has this great way to imagine how out of control 00:14:04.139 --> 00:14:06.519 our appetites are. He says, imagine you went 00:14:06.519 --> 00:14:10.029 to visit this different, strange country. And 00:14:10.029 --> 00:14:11.769 when you got to the country, you went to a convenience 00:14:11.769 --> 00:14:14.210 store and up on the top rack, you know where 00:14:14.210 --> 00:14:16.149 all the nudie mags are usually kept, where the 00:14:16.149 --> 00:14:18.350 little boys and girls can't see them, there were 00:14:18.350 --> 00:14:21.629 these magazines and the covers and people would 00:14:21.629 --> 00:14:23.789 come in and they would take these magazines and 00:14:23.789 --> 00:14:25.970 they would take them home and then at night they 00:14:25.970 --> 00:14:29.409 would unfold these amazing high glossy pictures 00:14:29.409 --> 00:14:34.720 of hot dogs and hamburgers. And then in the college 00:14:34.720 --> 00:14:37.240 dorm rooms, the guys are all putting these posters 00:14:37.240 --> 00:14:39.399 on their walls and they're running around from 00:14:39.399 --> 00:14:42.860 room to room staring at these posters of like 00:14:42.860 --> 00:14:48.159 spaghetti and lasagna steaming and dripping with 00:14:48.159 --> 00:14:51.519 cheese. And then people at night in their dark, 00:14:51.539 --> 00:14:53.700 they pull out their phones and they start scrolling 00:14:53.700 --> 00:14:55.799 through their phones where no one can see them. 00:14:55.899 --> 00:14:58.019 And they're looking at these high -res images 00:14:58.019 --> 00:15:01.639 of baked potato and steak. And then actually 00:15:01.639 --> 00:15:05.440 you can go to these little clubs, dimly lit clubs, 00:15:05.720 --> 00:15:09.480 where for a price, a girl will come over to you 00:15:09.480 --> 00:15:13.879 and slowly and seductively reveal a plate full 00:15:13.879 --> 00:15:18.620 of cake and pie. If you visited that country, 00:15:19.639 --> 00:15:22.919 you'd be like, something's not right here. Right, 00:15:22.940 --> 00:15:25.779 what is going on? Yes, it's okay to enjoy food, 00:15:25.779 --> 00:15:28.419 but this is excessive. In fact, you'd probably 00:15:28.419 --> 00:15:30.320 say the people in this country must be starving, 00:15:30.559 --> 00:15:32.559 but they're not starving. They've actually got 00:15:32.559 --> 00:15:35.679 lots to eat. The problem is, is that the appetite 00:15:35.679 --> 00:15:38.840 is completely out of control. That's what love 00:15:38.840 --> 00:15:41.860 is. That's what lust is, pardon me. It is not 00:15:41.860 --> 00:15:46.019 craving. It is not craving sex. It's an out -of 00:15:46.019 --> 00:15:49.840 -control craving, out -of -control appetite for 00:15:49.840 --> 00:15:51.940 sex. Okay, that's the first thing about lust. 00:15:51.919 --> 00:15:54.399 The second thing you gotta know about lust is 00:15:54.399 --> 00:15:56.960 that it is passion without a promise. Passion 00:15:56.960 --> 00:15:59.220 without a promise. You see, it is great to be 00:15:59.220 --> 00:16:03.340 passionate, but sex was meant to take place between 00:16:03.340 --> 00:16:05.919 two people who have made a promise to each other 00:16:05.919 --> 00:16:09.799 and that promise is called marriage. Joseph knew 00:16:09.799 --> 00:16:12.860 that. Joseph knew that. Look, Potiphar's wife, 00:16:13.000 --> 00:16:15.120 she says, let's go to bed, Joseph. Let's do it. 00:16:15.259 --> 00:16:17.820 But look at what he says. My master's withheld 00:16:17.820 --> 00:16:20.879 nothing from me except you. Because why? Because 00:16:20.879 --> 00:16:26.019 you are his wife. And how could I do such a wicked 00:16:26.019 --> 00:16:29.340 thing? He says, we can't do this because you 00:16:29.340 --> 00:16:33.740 are his wife, AKA we can't do this because you're 00:16:33.740 --> 00:16:40.179 not my wife. That's the problem. Joseph is saying 00:16:40.179 --> 00:16:44.539 this is not a sin because it's sexual. This is 00:16:44.539 --> 00:16:47.399 a sin because we're not married. And the Old 00:16:47.399 --> 00:16:50.100 Testament and the New Testament are crystal clear. 00:16:50.519 --> 00:16:53.419 Sex is designed to take place in an exclusive 00:16:53.419 --> 00:16:56.039 permanent commitment that is called marriage. 00:16:56.179 --> 00:16:59.519 You can't have the passion without that promise. 00:17:00.259 --> 00:17:04.619 Oh, Rob, you know, I thought Trinity was relevant. 00:17:05.039 --> 00:17:06.799 I thought we were kind of a forward -looking 00:17:06.799 --> 00:17:08.799 progressive kind of church. This sounds so old 00:17:08.799 --> 00:17:11.599 -fashioned. Even high schoolers today are talking 00:17:11.599 --> 00:17:15.779 about body counts. What's the big deal? Well, 00:17:15.779 --> 00:17:18.440 it's actually a really big deal. See, sex is 00:17:18.440 --> 00:17:21.619 supposed to be a way of creating a complete life 00:17:21.619 --> 00:17:25.680 unity between two people. The physical union. 00:17:25.930 --> 00:17:28.369 It's supposed to go along with the emotional 00:17:28.369 --> 00:17:32.170 union and the legal union and the social union 00:17:32.170 --> 00:17:35.470 and all those personal unions. They're all supposed 00:17:35.470 --> 00:17:37.990 to go together. Sex is a way of saying these 00:17:37.990 --> 00:17:41.769 two people have become one in every way, not 00:17:41.769 --> 00:17:45.230 just in one way, not just in one way. And that's 00:17:45.230 --> 00:17:48.109 why Paul says this. Paul says, don't you realize 00:17:48.109 --> 00:17:50.289 that if a man joins himself to a prostitute, 00:17:50.769 --> 00:17:54.779 he becomes one body with her? The two are united 00:17:54.779 --> 00:17:57.680 into one. Sex is supposed to be a way of saying 00:17:57.680 --> 00:18:00.220 all the parts of my life are joined together 00:18:00.220 --> 00:18:03.039 with all the parts of your life, not just the 00:18:03.039 --> 00:18:05.799 physical part. Potiphar's wife, she just wanted 00:18:05.799 --> 00:18:07.779 the sex part. She didn't want the commitment 00:18:07.779 --> 00:18:09.920 part. She didn't want the ongoing relationship 00:18:09.920 --> 00:18:11.920 part. She didn't want the emotional part or the 00:18:11.920 --> 00:18:14.319 legal part or the social part or any of those 00:18:14.319 --> 00:18:16.180 parts. She says, just give me that part of you. 00:18:16.640 --> 00:18:18.359 Joseph says, I can't give you that part of me. 00:18:18.480 --> 00:18:20.380 I can't give you one part of me without giving 00:18:20.380 --> 00:18:24.440 you the whole of me. That is, in fact, the Christian 00:18:24.440 --> 00:18:28.880 view of sex. You can't rip one part off of the 00:18:28.880 --> 00:18:32.480 whole part. Sex in the Christian view holds together 00:18:32.480 --> 00:18:36.039 body and soul, body and spirit, body and emotion. 00:18:36.140 --> 00:18:39.900 It won't let you separate them. Potiphar's wife 00:18:39.900 --> 00:18:42.980 wants to rip one of those apart and just do that. 00:18:43.449 --> 00:18:45.990 And that actually, if you talk to somebody who 00:18:45.990 --> 00:18:49.210 has been involved in a lot of sex without commitment, 00:18:49.289 --> 00:18:52.329 that's how they feel. They feel ripped apart. 00:18:52.730 --> 00:18:55.230 You've ripped one part of this off of the rest 00:18:55.230 --> 00:18:58.990 of it. Again, C .S. Lewis, he has a great way 00:18:58.990 --> 00:19:00.650 of talking about this. Again, he likes to talk 00:19:00.650 --> 00:19:02.849 about food, but he says, imagine someone who 00:19:02.849 --> 00:19:06.109 likes to chew, chew, chew food just to get the 00:19:06.109 --> 00:19:07.869 taste out of it, but then they spit it out. They 00:19:07.869 --> 00:19:10.119 don't want to actually ingest it. They don't 00:19:10.119 --> 00:19:12.420 want the food to actually go in and become part 00:19:12.420 --> 00:19:15.460 of them. They just want the pleasure of tasting 00:19:15.460 --> 00:19:17.640 it. Now, when that happens with food, you know 00:19:17.640 --> 00:19:21.799 what we call it? We call it a disorder. But is 00:19:21.799 --> 00:19:24.720 that okay then? Is it with sex? No, it is also 00:19:24.720 --> 00:19:27.240 a disorder when it comes to sex. Hookup culture 00:19:27.240 --> 00:19:32.359 is a disorder. You can't just separate the physical 00:19:32.359 --> 00:19:35.829 pleasure. from the spiritual and the emotional 00:19:35.829 --> 00:19:39.289 and the legal even side of this. The passion 00:19:39.289 --> 00:19:43.950 and the promise have to go together. And that's 00:19:43.950 --> 00:19:46.829 the last thing to know about lust is it's not 00:19:46.829 --> 00:19:48.910 just craving without control. It's not just passion 00:19:48.910 --> 00:19:52.710 without a promise. It's also pleasure without 00:19:52.710 --> 00:19:55.829 the person, right? Lust is the opposite of love. 00:19:56.710 --> 00:20:01.009 Love says, I want you the person. And the pleasure 00:20:01.009 --> 00:20:05.740 is optional. But Lust says, I want pleasure, 00:20:06.579 --> 00:20:09.519 but the person, you the person, are actually 00:20:09.519 --> 00:20:13.500 disposable. And that's exactly what you see happen 00:20:13.500 --> 00:20:15.819 with Potiphar's wife, right? When she realizes 00:20:15.819 --> 00:20:18.480 she can't get the pleasure that she wants, guess 00:20:18.480 --> 00:20:20.079 what? She says, I don't want the person either. 00:20:20.539 --> 00:20:22.920 She accuses him of something that's actually 00:20:22.920 --> 00:20:25.859 a capital offense. She's willing to send this 00:20:25.859 --> 00:20:30.559 guy off to his death because. He wouldn't give 00:20:30.559 --> 00:20:32.640 her the pleasure she wanted. And when that happened, 00:20:32.920 --> 00:20:35.119 she didn't actually care about the person, Joseph. 00:20:35.259 --> 00:20:38.980 It was just what he could give her. And so, because 00:20:38.980 --> 00:20:41.440 he won't give it to her, he's gonna discard him, 00:20:41.680 --> 00:20:44.220 right? So sin, this is what it does. It takes 00:20:44.220 --> 00:20:47.119 a really good thing, sexual pleasure, sexual 00:20:47.119 --> 00:20:49.359 desire, and it turns it into craving without 00:20:49.359 --> 00:20:51.660 control, it turns it into passion without a promise, 00:20:51.740 --> 00:20:53.519 and it turns it into pleasure without a person. 00:20:54.079 --> 00:20:56.079 Now, that's what we learned from Potiphar's wife. 00:20:56.640 --> 00:20:59.259 But what can we learn from Joseph? What can Joseph 00:20:59.259 --> 00:21:01.480 teach us about how we deal with lust? When it 00:21:01.480 --> 00:21:05.000 shows up, because it will show up. And he's gonna 00:21:05.000 --> 00:21:07.220 essentially show us two things. That the way 00:21:07.220 --> 00:21:10.759 he deals with it is by, first, controlling his 00:21:10.759 --> 00:21:14.000 actions, and secondly, focusing his thoughts. 00:21:14.140 --> 00:21:18.039 First, what he does is he controls. He does a 00:21:18.039 --> 00:21:19.900 couple of really important things here in the 00:21:19.900 --> 00:21:22.619 heat of the moment to deal with lust when it 00:21:22.619 --> 00:21:24.599 came knocking at the door. The first thing he 00:21:24.599 --> 00:21:28.700 did was he just stayed away. He didn't just refuse 00:21:28.700 --> 00:21:31.240 to go to bed with her. He refused to even be 00:21:31.240 --> 00:21:33.839 near her, right? Look at this, right? And though 00:21:33.839 --> 00:21:36.220 she spoke to Joseph day by day, he refused to 00:21:36.220 --> 00:21:39.400 go to bed with her or even be with her. Now, 00:21:39.500 --> 00:21:41.480 some people, again, will say, oh, Joseph, you're 00:21:41.480 --> 00:21:44.779 so weak. Come on, you're such a prude. How cowardly. 00:21:45.700 --> 00:21:48.920 You can't control yourself, but no, Joseph is 00:21:48.920 --> 00:21:52.099 not being weak here. He is being wise here. He 00:21:52.099 --> 00:21:56.740 knew that proximity breeds vulnerability. In 00:21:56.740 --> 00:21:58.779 fact, it takes more courage for you to set some 00:21:58.779 --> 00:22:00.740 kind of boundary when it comes to sex than it 00:22:00.740 --> 00:22:03.940 is for you to tiptoe all over the boundaries 00:22:03.940 --> 00:22:06.359 to see how close you can get to the edge, how 00:22:06.359 --> 00:22:09.460 long you can linger in the wrong place without 00:22:09.460 --> 00:22:13.880 caving in. And I think if we're honest, Are there 00:22:13.880 --> 00:22:18.240 places you're hanging out online or in person 00:22:18.240 --> 00:22:22.579 where your integrity is being eroded and when 00:22:22.579 --> 00:22:25.259 you are getting worn down? Joseph teaches us 00:22:25.259 --> 00:22:31.299 just stay away from those places. But it doesn't 00:22:31.299 --> 00:22:33.299 even work for him. He tries to stay away but 00:22:33.299 --> 00:22:35.440 he can't, so he has to do the next thing which 00:22:35.440 --> 00:22:40.420 is run away. He left his cloak in her hand, and 00:22:40.420 --> 00:22:43.779 he ran, ran, ran out of the house. When she made 00:22:43.779 --> 00:22:45.880 her move, Joseph didn't stick around to, let's 00:22:45.880 --> 00:22:47.759 talk about this. He didn't stick around and say, 00:22:47.819 --> 00:22:50.359 listen, let's pray about this. No, he just ran, 00:22:50.440 --> 00:22:52.140 and sometimes the most spiritual thing you can 00:22:52.140 --> 00:22:55.559 do in these situations is just run like crazy. 00:22:55.619 --> 00:22:57.980 You may only have a few nanoseconds to make this 00:22:57.980 --> 00:23:01.099 decision, but as Paul says, flee from sexual 00:23:01.099 --> 00:23:04.599 immorality. You know, don't overestimate your 00:23:04.599 --> 00:23:07.359 self -control. Oh, I can handle it. Can you? 00:23:07.740 --> 00:23:12.609 No. Instead, just... But it wasn't just Joseph's 00:23:12.609 --> 00:23:14.309 actions, it wasn't just that he stayed away, 00:23:14.410 --> 00:23:17.029 it wasn't just that he ran away, but also Joseph 00:23:17.029 --> 00:23:21.250 had focused his thoughts on this matter and that 00:23:21.250 --> 00:23:24.009 is also what saved him. It wasn't the momentary 00:23:24.009 --> 00:23:26.950 decision he made in the heat of the moment, but 00:23:26.950 --> 00:23:30.789 it was, he had decided well ahead of time what 00:23:30.789 --> 00:23:32.890 he believed about lust, what he believed about 00:23:32.890 --> 00:23:36.559 sex, and what he believed about marriage. Joseph 00:23:36.559 --> 00:23:40.539 had clearly thought through the meaning of marriage. 00:23:41.160 --> 00:23:43.480 He knew what he thought about it, right? He says, 00:23:43.660 --> 00:23:47.019 how could I do such a wicked thing and sin against 00:23:47.019 --> 00:23:50.740 God? Why is Joseph bringing God into this, into 00:23:50.740 --> 00:23:53.819 sex? Because for Joseph, sex wasn't something 00:23:53.819 --> 00:23:56.880 that was casual. It was sacred. It was a God 00:23:56.880 --> 00:24:00.819 thing. My question to you is, is God part of 00:24:00.819 --> 00:24:05.410 your thinking about sex? Do you think it's sacred? 00:24:05.569 --> 00:24:08.210 You don't have to agree with Joseph, right? But 00:24:08.210 --> 00:24:10.710 you just need to know that for the past 2 ,000 00:24:10.710 --> 00:24:12.650 years of church history, whether it's Orthodox 00:24:12.650 --> 00:24:15.089 or Protestant or Roman Catholic thinking, they 00:24:15.089 --> 00:24:17.970 have all understood, they've all agreed on this. 00:24:18.210 --> 00:24:20.970 Even Judaism and Hinduism and Islam for centuries, 00:24:21.369 --> 00:24:23.910 these religions have disagreed on many, many 00:24:23.910 --> 00:24:27.509 things, but they all agree. Sexual intimacy is 00:24:27.509 --> 00:24:31.329 a God thing that belongs in marriage. So like 00:24:31.329 --> 00:24:35.519 Joseph. You gotta bring God into your thinking 00:24:35.519 --> 00:24:38.880 about sex and marriage and let Joseph do it ahead 00:24:38.880 --> 00:24:42.339 of time because the backseat of a steamed up 00:24:42.339 --> 00:24:45.279 car is not the place to think about what do I 00:24:45.279 --> 00:24:48.559 think about sex and what do I think about marriage? 00:24:49.460 --> 00:24:52.299 So Joseph had clearly thought through the meaning 00:24:52.299 --> 00:24:58.880 of marriage, but he also, or at least we also 00:24:58.880 --> 00:25:01.930 should consider the mystery of marriage. You 00:25:01.930 --> 00:25:06.809 see, lust says sex is purely physical, but the 00:25:06.809 --> 00:25:09.089 Bible says, no, no, no, actually, something deeper 00:25:09.089 --> 00:25:11.730 is happening, right? When two people become one 00:25:11.730 --> 00:25:15.309 flesh, there's a mystery going on. And the mystery 00:25:15.309 --> 00:25:18.890 is, it's about Christ and the church. What this 00:25:18.890 --> 00:25:22.109 means is, let me try to explain, sex isn't just 00:25:22.109 --> 00:25:24.910 union between two people, it's actually a symbol 00:25:24.910 --> 00:25:29.869 of the intimacy and the love that God has for 00:25:29.869 --> 00:25:33.059 you. In fact, Ronald Rolheiser, he goes so far 00:25:33.059 --> 00:25:36.359 as to say sex is a sacrament. Just like we come 00:25:36.359 --> 00:25:38.019 to this table, today we're gonna come to this 00:25:38.019 --> 00:25:42.019 table, communion as a sacrament to remember and 00:25:42.019 --> 00:25:46.200 to kind of relive the reality of Christ's sacrifice, 00:25:46.359 --> 00:25:48.900 that's this sacrament. Sex within marriage is 00:25:48.900 --> 00:25:51.079 a sacrament that points us to the reality of 00:25:51.079 --> 00:25:54.970 God's covenant love for his people. where he 00:25:54.970 --> 00:25:58.009 called his bride in the Bible, right? So this 00:25:58.009 --> 00:26:00.690 is a love, this is a love that no spouse or no 00:26:00.690 --> 00:26:03.490 fantasy or no partner could ever match. So the 00:26:03.490 --> 00:26:07.369 point is that lust is not just wrong, it's actually 00:26:07.369 --> 00:26:11.250 too small, right? It aims too low. Lust seeks 00:26:11.250 --> 00:26:14.250 this moment of pleasure when we were made for 00:26:14.250 --> 00:26:18.029 this eternal intimacy with God and sex is meant 00:26:18.029 --> 00:26:22.130 to be a pointer, a sign, a reminder of that love. 00:26:22.630 --> 00:26:25.990 So, so. How do we deal with lust? Like Joseph, 00:26:26.150 --> 00:26:29.809 control our actions. And like Joseph, we focus 00:26:29.809 --> 00:26:33.349 our thoughts. You gotta be ready to run when 00:26:33.349 --> 00:26:35.769 the time comes, but you also gotta do some thinking 00:26:35.769 --> 00:26:39.430 now. But what is the meaning of marriage? What 00:26:39.430 --> 00:26:43.670 is the mystery of sex? Understand that before 00:26:43.670 --> 00:26:47.569 we get ourselves into hot water. But there's 00:26:47.569 --> 00:26:49.670 one more thing we just gotta say before we end. 00:26:50.349 --> 00:26:55.200 And that is, Well, frankly, some of us are less 00:26:55.200 --> 00:26:58.039 like Joseph and we're more like Potiphar's wife. 00:26:58.960 --> 00:27:02.440 We've let lust control us. We've suffered and 00:27:02.440 --> 00:27:04.880 other people have suffered too as a result. And 00:27:04.880 --> 00:27:06.920 you may be sitting here and you feel actually 00:27:06.920 --> 00:27:10.480 wounded or betrayed or dehumanized because of 00:27:10.480 --> 00:27:13.099 the lustful behavior that someone inflicted on 00:27:13.099 --> 00:27:15.420 you. So the question we have to end on is, is 00:27:15.420 --> 00:27:18.180 there any healing for this? Is there hope for 00:27:18.180 --> 00:27:20.660 people who are suffering from lust? And the answer 00:27:20.660 --> 00:27:26.170 is, of course there is. Jesus meets us not in 00:27:26.170 --> 00:27:29.609 our perfection, but in our sin, especially he 00:27:29.609 --> 00:27:31.950 meets us in our sin. You know, in John chapter 00:27:31.950 --> 00:27:35.890 eight, a woman who was caught in the act of adultery 00:27:35.890 --> 00:27:38.509 was pulled before Jesus. And according to the 00:27:38.509 --> 00:27:40.329 law, she should have been stoned to death. But 00:27:40.329 --> 00:27:42.450 what does Jesus do? He looks at her and he says, 00:27:42.670 --> 00:27:47.480 I don't condemn you, go and sin no more. Only 00:27:47.480 --> 00:27:49.400 Jesus can say something like this, by the way. 00:27:49.619 --> 00:27:53.279 Only Jesus can on the one hand call sin a sin 00:27:53.279 --> 00:27:56.759 and then say, but I don't condemn you for that 00:27:56.759 --> 00:27:59.819 sin. And why is that? Because Jesus himself was 00:27:59.819 --> 00:28:03.599 already condemned on the cross for all of your 00:28:03.599 --> 00:28:07.900 sins and all of my sins. So there is hope because 00:28:07.900 --> 00:28:11.140 Jesus meets us in these moments of struggle and 00:28:11.140 --> 00:28:14.559 sin. But there is also hope because your story's 00:28:14.559 --> 00:28:19.480 not. If you looked at Jesus' family tree, you 00:28:19.480 --> 00:28:21.700 would actually be shocked. It is filled with 00:28:21.700 --> 00:28:24.319 people who struggled and in many cases struggled 00:28:24.319 --> 00:28:28.339 sexually. These are not people of perfection. 00:28:28.660 --> 00:28:31.480 They were shaped by lust over and over again. 00:28:31.500 --> 00:28:34.019 You got David, who lusted after Bathsheba. He's 00:28:34.019 --> 00:28:36.599 in the family tree. He slept with her. Then he 00:28:36.599 --> 00:28:39.220 covered it up by murdering her husband. And then 00:28:39.220 --> 00:28:43.539 Judah, he slept with a woman that was actually 00:28:43.539 --> 00:28:46.309 his daughter -in -law. and his daughter -in -law 00:28:46.309 --> 00:28:48.450 had actually pretended to be a prostitute so 00:28:48.450 --> 00:28:50.410 that she could sleep with her father -in -law. 00:28:50.450 --> 00:28:54.650 It was all so screwed up. Solomon, he lust took 00:28:54.650 --> 00:28:57.150 over for him so much that he had something like 00:28:57.150 --> 00:29:01.789 700 wives and 300 concubines. These are not side 00:29:01.789 --> 00:29:05.609 characters. These are the people through whom 00:29:05.609 --> 00:29:08.849 God brought Jesus into the world. He didn't skip 00:29:08.849 --> 00:29:12.000 over them. He wove them into the story. And you 00:29:12.000 --> 00:29:15.839 know what, your story might be messy too, but 00:29:15.839 --> 00:29:20.160 it's not over. If you've fallen into lust, you're 00:29:20.160 --> 00:29:24.039 not disqualified from grace. You are exactly 00:29:24.039 --> 00:29:26.839 the kind of person that Jesus came to redeem. 00:29:28.359 --> 00:29:32.660 I'm gonna end with a story about a guy who really 00:29:32.660 --> 00:29:37.619 struggled with lust, but found healing. His name 00:29:37.619 --> 00:29:42.490 was Augustine. And before he became one of the 00:29:42.490 --> 00:29:44.869 greatest theologians in Christian history, before 00:29:44.869 --> 00:29:47.869 he was a bishop, before he was Saint Augustine, 00:29:48.109 --> 00:29:51.250 he was just a young man struggling with lust. 00:29:51.650 --> 00:29:54.470 In his teenage years, he became sexually active. 00:29:55.450 --> 00:29:58.089 He had girlfriends, I think one girlfriend he 00:29:58.089 --> 00:30:00.829 had for a very long time, for years, but he refused 00:30:00.829 --> 00:30:04.450 to marry her. He eventually sent her away, and 00:30:04.450 --> 00:30:06.170 then he replaced her with somebody else that 00:30:06.170 --> 00:30:08.589 he could sleep with. He was longing for meaning. 00:30:08.869 --> 00:30:10.829 He was longing for love. He'll actually say he 00:30:10.829 --> 00:30:13.730 was longing for God, but he could not imagine 00:30:13.730 --> 00:30:17.490 living without the pleasures of lust. And once 00:30:17.490 --> 00:30:19.309 he even prayed this prayer, he said, Lord, make 00:30:19.309 --> 00:30:23.990 me chaste. But not yet. Not yet. Now that's an 00:30:23.990 --> 00:30:26.170 honest prayer, right? That's a deeply human prayer. 00:30:27.410 --> 00:30:30.309 But then came the moment that everything changed 00:30:30.309 --> 00:30:33.710 for him. One day he was in a garden in Milan 00:30:33.710 --> 00:30:36.869 and he was just grieving. He was weeping in the 00:30:36.869 --> 00:30:39.930 garden, so tormented by the weight of all this. 00:30:40.269 --> 00:30:43.250 And then he heard the voice of a child singing 00:30:43.250 --> 00:30:46.470 over and over again, take and read, take and 00:30:46.470 --> 00:30:49.789 read, take and read, take and read. Seemed weird, 00:30:49.789 --> 00:30:52.430 but then he realized this was actually God speaking 00:30:52.430 --> 00:30:54.829 to him. And so he ran inside and he opened up 00:30:54.829 --> 00:30:57.210 his Bible, take and read. He opened it up and 00:30:57.210 --> 00:30:59.809 the very place he flipped to was Romans chapter 00:30:59.809 --> 00:31:02.420 13. And when he opened it up and said this, he 00:31:02.420 --> 00:31:04.500 said, let us behave decently as in the daytime, 00:31:05.380 --> 00:31:07.500 not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual 00:31:07.500 --> 00:31:10.059 immorality and debauchery, rather clothe yourself 00:31:10.059 --> 00:31:13.220 with the Lord Jesus Christ and do not think about 00:31:13.220 --> 00:31:18.059 how to gratify the sins of the flesh. And in 00:31:18.059 --> 00:31:22.079 that moment, Augustine would later write that 00:31:22.079 --> 00:31:26.789 a light, a light flooded into his heart. and 00:31:26.789 --> 00:31:29.170 all the darkness and doubt vanished away. Now 00:31:29.170 --> 00:31:31.849 his temptations didn't vanish overnight, but 00:31:31.849 --> 00:31:35.150 something has changed. His desires had been reoriented. 00:31:35.269 --> 00:31:38.210 His heart had been captured not by lust, but 00:31:38.210 --> 00:31:42.109 by a greater love, the love of God in Jesus Christ. 00:31:44.150 --> 00:31:47.049 He would eventually write this. He would say, 00:31:47.109 --> 00:31:49.769 God, you've made us for yourself, and our hearts 00:31:49.769 --> 00:31:54.150 are restless until they rest in you. So listen. 00:31:54.359 --> 00:31:57.440 Wherever you are in this struggle, whether you're 00:31:57.440 --> 00:31:59.880 resisting like Joseph, whether you've fallen 00:31:59.880 --> 00:32:02.740 into a mess like Potiphar's wife, or whether 00:32:02.740 --> 00:32:05.700 you've lived years with this like Augustine, 00:32:05.960 --> 00:32:10.059 story's not over. Lust doesn't have to win. There's 00:32:10.059 --> 00:32:13.380 grace for the broken, there's healing for the 00:32:13.380 --> 00:32:16.460 ashamed, and there's a new start for all of us 00:32:16.460 --> 00:32:20.480 as we turn to Jesus Christ. Thanks be to God. 00:32:21.480 --> 00:32:26.289 Amen. Thank you for listening to this week's 00:32:26.289 --> 00:32:29.029 episode of Trinity Sermons. This sermon was recorded 00:32:29.029 --> 00:32:31.890 at Trinity Church Streetsville in Mississauga, 00:32:32.390 --> 00:32:35.589 Ontario on April 6th, 2025.