"The Lust of the Eyes"

By Steven L Anderson

Bible Text: 1 John 2  

Preached on: Sunday, December 9, 2007

Website: www.faithfulwordbaptist.org

Audio Sermon: www.faithfulwordbaptist.org/120907p.mp3

…dear God, I just pray that somehow I will be able to communicate the truth tonight as it needs to be taught. And in Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. 

This is a fantastic chapter in the Bible, but the part that I want to focus on is in verses 15 through 17. The Bible reads in verse 15 of 1 John 2, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”[1]  That’s a pretty strong statement. But look at verse 16 as the verse that I want to focus on.  It says, “For all that is in the world...”[2] Now the “for” there is like the word “because.”  He says, Let me tell you why you can’t love God and love the world.”  He says:

“For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.  And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.[3]

Now we see here that God is telling us that anything that comes from the world, I mean, I don’t care whether it is a TV show. I don’t care whether it is their music. I don’t care whether it is a movie, their advertisements. It is going to fall into one of these three categories.  It is going to be the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, or the pride of life. 

Now the one that I want to preach about and the title of my sermon tonight is, “The Lust of the Eyes.”

Now turn, if you would, to Proverbs chapter number six back in the Old Testament. Right in the middle of your Bible you will find the book of Psalms, and then the next book is Proverbs.  Look at Proverbs chapter number six.  You see, I think most people understand what the lust of the flesh is.  That could be an appetite that is out of control. The word “lust” means a very strong, intense desire. It is usually talking about a desire that is out of control, a desire that you can’t control is what lust is or just a very intense, extreme desire.  Covetousness is a word that has to do with lust.  If you study Romans chapter seven Paul teaches that in the Bible.

But I think most people understand what the lust of the flesh is. That could be an appetite for food that is out of control.  That could be an appetite for fornication. That could be an appetite for committing physical sins of pleasure with your body. But I think many people fail to understand that there is a difference between the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes.  And just what is the lust of the eyes?

Well, look down at your Bible in Proverbs chapter six as we are reading this in verse 24. it says, “To keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman.”[4]  And then look at the next statement. “Lust not after her beauty in thine heart; neither let her take thee with her eyelids.”[5]

Now think about this for a moment.  Here God is saying not to lust after the beauty of a strange woman, of a wicked woman, of an evil woman.

Now, beauty is a visual aspect.  Ok, we are not talking about the flesh here. We are talking about the eyes. We are talking about a man lusting after the beauty of a woman.  That is what it says. Look down at your Bible.  “Lust not after her beauty in thine heart; neither let her take thee with her eyelids.”[6]

Now what is it about her eyelids?  Should we be like...you know, I mean, good night.  Even the Muslims expose their eyelids as women.  Right? They will wear black everywhere.  Have you seen them? They wear black head to toe covering every part of their body. But the one part that is exposed is their eyelids.

Now, what is this talking about?  Lust can be defined, again, as coveting something, desiring something that doesn’t belong to you or, in the case of the lust of the eyes, it is coveting and desiring to look at something that you should not be looking at.

Now we live in a day in 2007 where the foundations of everything that we believe, the foundations of right and wrong, the foundations of basic morality are being destroyed around us.  Psalm 11:3 says, “If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?”[7]  And that is the time in which we are living. 

Think about Bill Clinton when he was in office, the scandals and the adultery and the filth. And he actually questioned what does the word “is” actually mean?  I mean he actually had the gall to question the definition of the word “is.” 

But this is the world that we are living in.  Now, what I am preaching on tonight should be common sense.  I mean, I should be able to close my Bible and just say, “You know what? There are certain things that you just shouldn’t even look at.” But I can’t because we are living in a day when our basic morality and our basic reasoning is being attacked.

You see, if you would turn to Matthew chapter five I will explain to you what I am talking about.  Matthew chapter five in the New Testament.  Matthew chapter five. And this is just the introduction. This is just kind of laying the foundation for the sermon. But I feel like as a preacher as I preach I have to prove everything from the Bible. I have to prove it all to you. And is something where I have to go back to these basics because people question these basic things. And so we have to go back and prove it all. And I don’t mind doing that.

But look at Mathew chapter five verse 27.  The Bible reads:

Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery:  But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.[8]

Now many people will take this verse and twist it and they will say, “Well, it is not wrong to look at nudity.  You know, it is not wrong to look at a strange woman or a prostitute or a woman who is dressed indecently.” They say, “It is not wrong as long as you are not lusting.  I mean, if you just look at it, but you are not thinking about anything dirty. You are not thinking about anything bad, that’s ok to just look at it as long as you don’t have any bad thoughts going on.”

Now look at the next verse here.  Look at verse 29.  Let the Bible define itself.  It says, “And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.”[9]

What is God’s solution for the problem of lusting after a woman in your heart?  God’s solution is for you not to look.  He says, “Your eye is the problem.”  The problem is that you are using your eye to look at something that you ought not to be looking at.

He didn’t say, “You need to change what you think about when you look at these indecently dressed women. You need to change your heart and your thought pattern when you look at a woman that is dressed in appropriately.” That is not what he said.  He said, “If you can’t keep yourself from looking, then you would be better off to just rip out your own eye and throw it in the trash.” That is what he said. 

And you say, “Man, that’s radical.” 

Well, that’s what Jesus preached. And so Jesus here is pinning the blame on the fact that you are looking. That is the problem.

Now what is the lust of the eyes?  Well, let me explain it to you this way. And as I get into the sermon I am just trying to define this for you, what it means. The lust of the eyes is the desire to look at something that you ought not be looking at. That is what it is.  The lust of the flesh is to gratify your flesh with something that you ought not to be gratifying it with.  And the lust of the eyes is when you are looking at something that you have no business looking at. 

Let’s say I walk into the gas station. This is a very practical sermon. There are going to be applications for men and women in the sermon. But let’s say that I, as a man, walk into the gas station and right under the counter is all the filthy magazines, all lined up. And it is pornography is what it is. I don’t care if it is condoned by society. I don’t care if society will tell you that it is just mild or fun. Hey, it is pornography. The cover of these magazines is pornography.  It is soft porn.

And when you walk up to it and all that stuff is lined up what if I said, “Well, you know what?  I just want to look at it just to see what’s going on with it. You know, I just want to see how bad it is or I am just curious about it. Now I don’t have any desire for what I see or I am not thinking about adultery or any thing like that, I just want to look at it.”

Wrong!

You see, if something catches my eye—listen to me, sir, listen to me, men—when something catches your eye, you are driving down the road and that billboard catches your eye, that magazine catches your eye, that sleazy hutchie momma or that woman that is dressed inappropriately, you are in department stores. She has got the short skirt on or she has got the tight fitting clothes on. Hey, when that catches your eye, sir, do you know what you ought to do? You ought to look away. 

Now this is common sense, but this is what needs to be preached because people don’t believe this.  You have to look away.

And I am going to tell you something.  When you look back the second time, you have just committed a sin. 

“Oh, I didn’t think anything.  I didn’t think anything about it.  I just looked at it.”

Looking at it is a sin in and of itself, period. And so when you look at something and then you look away what begins in your heart, then, could be an intense desire to look back a second time. Why?  Because you are going to commit adultery with the woman in the picture?  No. You don’t even know who that woman is. Your desire is to look at it again because your eyes are out of control and because the lust of the eyes is dominating your heart.  That is where you need to decide, “I will not be brought under the power of any. I am not going to let lust control me.  I am not going to let sin in my body control me. I am going to refuse,” as David said in Psalm 101:3, “I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes.”[10]

He didn’t say, “Well, whenever I look at something wicked I make sure I keep my heart right.” He said, “No.” He said, “I don’t even want to set it in front of my eyeballs.”  I mean God makes this very basic.  He said, “You can’t stop looking at women that are clothed in a way that God describes as nakedness,” he says, “Just take out your eye. You will be better off.”

And that is what the Bible teaches. And that is what David said, “I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes.”[11]  And then his next words were, “I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me.”[12]

What did he mean by, “it shall not cleave to me”?[13]  Well, in Psalm 101:3 when he said it shall not cleave to me, what does cleave mean?  Cleave means to bind itself to you.  You see, the Bible says, “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.”[14]  See, it is saying, “Look, we are not going to be put asunder. What God has joined together let not man put asunder,” the Bible says.[15]  And so I am going to stay with my wife and my wife is going to stay with me. That is what marriage is, till death us do part.

And so here David is saying, “I don’t want the work of the wicked. I don’t want the works of Playboy magazine.  I don’t want the works of Cosmopolitan magazine or Ladies’ Home Journal or whatever these filthy magazines are that wind up. Hey, I don’t want that to cleave to me. I don’t want to walk out of that gas station and have those images with me.  I don’t want to walk out of that gas station and have sin with me in my mind. I want to just leave it there. I don’t even want to set it in front of my eyes because there is something that you need to learn. And that is when things go in, they don’t come out. 

I am telling you. You think, “Oh, yeah. I can look at all this and it is not going to affect me.”  Things are going to go in. It is going to be a lot harder to get them out than it was to put them in.  It is going to take a long time to get those pictures out of your head.  That’s why this is so dangerous because God is teaching us in Psalm 101:3 that when you look at things that you are not supposed to look at, it cleaves with you, a little piece of it stays with you up in your mind and that is what God is teaching us.

Now here is the world we are living in. People think that it is ok to look as long as you don’t lust.  The fact that you are looking is demonstrating your lust.  Your lust is what made you look the second time and the third time and the fourth time.  Lust is what caused you. Because why is it you looked the second time?  Because you wanted to, because you wanted to look at something with your eyes, that is wrong. 

Think about this term. I just learned this term from my sister about six months ago.  Eye candy.  Ok, who has ever heard that term?  Put up your hand. I had never even heard it. Eye candy. And she said, you know, TV is just eye candy for men.  It is eye candy.  And that is a great description of what I am talking about. You know, candy is something that, boy, kids, they have an intense desire for candy. You know, they want to put that sugary little piece of candy in their mouth and man is it good.

But do you know what? The sinful heart of man, the lust of the eyes wants to sit down and just as putting that sugary candy on his tongue, gratifies his taste buds. He wants to fill his eyes, his sinful appetite to look at sin and immorality and ungodliness.  That is what the lust of the eyes is. Are you understanding it tonight, what the lust of the eyes is?  Desiring to feast your eyes on what is wrong and what really belongs to someone else.

Think about what Jesus said in Matthew five.  He says, “You have committed adultery with her.”[16]  Now in order to commit adultery either you have to be married or she has to be married. That is what adultery means. Did you know that most of those women that you are probably looking at on the TV screen and on the magazine covers, did you know that most of them are probably married?  It is sad to say, but a lot of them are probably married. You are looking at a woman that belongs to another man and you are feasting your eyes and lusting after another man’s wife. Or perhaps you are married yourself and you have your wife that God has given to you and yet you choose to feast your eyes on someone else’s wife and to enjoy her beauty with your eyes. And God says, “Lust not after her body”?  No. He said, “Lust not after her beauty.  Don’t even lust after her beauty.”[17] Don’t even feast your eyes and stare at a woman that doesn’t belong to you have the lust of the eyes dominating your life.

So people think it is ok to look as long as you don’t lust.  It reminds me of the people who think it is ok to have idols as long as you don’t worship them. You know, this is the kind things that we deal with. 

“Oh, it is ok to look as long as you are keeping a clean heart.”

“Oh, it is ok to have idols in your house as long as you don’t worship them.”

You say, “What are you talking about?  Who has idols in their house?”

All kinds of people have idols in their house.  You have got idols like little statues of Jesus, little statues of the virgin Mary.  You have got little statues of gods and Jesus the true God. But do you know what? That is not...that ain’t Jesus that little statue, that long haired hippie you got there isn’t Jesus anyway, ok?

Have you ever seen that picture of Jesus where he has got the really long hair parted in the middle and he looks like a Springer Spaniel? It is the one that the Momons have in their house where his hair is really droopy like this.  You know, those droopy ear dogs. Do you know what I am talking about, Springer Spaniels?  Only a couple of people get the joke. 

All the [?] say they are not worshipping it.  It doesn’t matter because the Second Commandment of God is, “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image.”[18]  Then, he later said, “Don’t worship it.”[19]

But, you know, you ought not even make it.  Don’t make the idol and you dead sure won’t worship the idol.  Don’t bring the abomination into your house God said. He said, “Don’t bring idols into your house. Don’t bring the pictures and the idols of the heathen even into your house.”

Remember in the book of Deuteronomy God said, “When you go into the Promised Land, destroy all their pictures, destroy their idols”?[20]  Don’t bring the accursed thing into your house lest thou be accursed like it. 

You see, you are not going to worship idols if you don’t have idols in your house. And you are not going to lust after women if you don’t look at pictures of indecent women or look at women out in public, if you just keep your eyes where they are supposed to be.  God says, “Look right on. Don’t look to the right hand or to the left. Look straight on ahead.”

Hey, you are not going to have that problem because the Bible says, “Make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof.”[21] 

I will give you the whole verse, Romans 13:14. “But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.”[22]  He is saying, “Don’t even put yourself in a position where you have the opportunity to gratify the flesh.” That is what he is saying.  Don’t even...why would you want to be just one step away from a wicked sin?

Because you know what comes right after the lust of the yes is the lust of the flesh.  That is where it takes you next. Think about King David. King David let this take over in his life. King David was supposed to be out fighting battles and leading the nation to war.  And he was just up on the roof just bored, lazy, just doing nothing, walking around on the roof.  And he looks over and sees through a window off in the distance a woman bathing completely nude just in the shower. He just looks through the window and sees her.

Now what he ought to have done is said, “Whoa, man.” And went back in the house. 

Would he have committed any sin at that point, if he just accidentally saw something and just said, “Whoops, sorry,” and went down the stairs?  Everything would have been fine. 

But what did he do?  He looked away. And then the lust of the eyes kicked in. I don’t think his next thought was, “Boy, I want to commit adultery.”  I think his next thought was, “Boy, that looked good. I think I’ll take a second look.”

And so he said, “I think I will look a little more.” And then he began to look a little more.  And then as he began to look a little more, when lust hath conceived it bringeth forth sin.[23] And what happened is when he looked at it the lust of the eyes kicked in and he wanted to look at it and then as he looked at it, then the lust of the flesh kicked in, he called for his servants and said, “Go bring that woman to me.”  And he committed adultery with her.  “Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.”[24] And many, many people died because of that sin.  Four of David’s own children died because of that one sin that he committed because he had let the lust of the eyes...

See, I don’t even want to go there.  I don’t want to get to that point. I want to just nip in the bud right at the eyes.  Be done with it. That is what Jesus said to be done with it, with your eyes. 

But look, if you would, at...turn to Genesis 13 and I’ll...I’ll explain something to you in the meantime.  Turn back to Genesis 13.

Now here is another thought about Jesus’ words in Matthew chapter five.  He said, “But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery.”[25]  And  we talked about that, that, yeah, it is talking about one or more people are married in the equation. “...hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.”[26]

Now, personally I believe that not only is the person who is looking upon the nudity sin, are they in sin.  But I personally believe and I think it is clear from the Bible that the person who is exposing their nakedness is also in sin. 

You say, “Pastor Anderson, you know...”

And sometimes like...especially like Amanda here in the front. Sometimes she rolls her eyes at me because she is like, “Pastor Anderson, why are you stating the obvious?”

You know, I will say things that are just so basic. And she rolls her eyes like, “Come on, everybody knows that.”

But I’m like, “Amanda, everybody doesn’t know that.” 

Now everybody should know that.  But she rolls her eyes, and I am rolling my eyes in my heart with her because I am thinking to myself, “Isn’t it so stupid that I even have to say this.”  Do you know what I mean?  And so I see where you are coming from with that. 

But the Bible says in Revelation 3:18—just, you don’t have to turn there. I am just going to read some Scripture while you are in Genesis 13.  “I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear.”[27] God says it is a shame when your nakedness is exposed.  And so you have two people committing a sin here.  One person is exposing their nakedness and another person who is setting wickedness before their eyes by looking at it. 

You say, “Pastor Anderson, what are you talking about when you say nakedness?”

I am talking about what the Bible says nakedness. The Bible says that when a woman has her thigh uncovered it is nakedness, Isaiah 47:3.[28]   The Bible says that when a man has his thighs uncovered it is nakedness. That is Exodus 28:42. 

And I am not going to go there.  I have shown it to you in many sermons. But that is nudity. The girl in the short skirt is showing her nakedness. The girl in shorts is showing her nakedness if they are above the knee. Hey, I am talking about nudity as God defines it. 

The Bible says in the book of Isaiah. It talks about—and excuse the term, but this is what the Bible says—it says that men had their buttocks uncovered. It said it was nakedness.  Look it up in your Bible.[29]  It says that is nudity. That is nakedness. 

And, do you know, that’s... you say, “Well, you are crazy.  Hey, that is the style among girls right now with their low rider pants.”

You know, girls ought not even be wearing pants, number one.  Put on a skirt and be feminine and be a lady. But do you know what?  Why don’t you pull up your skirt where it needs to be pulled up, girls?  And why don’t you...you know, and if you do choose to wear pants and be an abomination, then, you know, at least pull up your pants, would you? And quit showing your nakedness. 

And I am going to tell you something.  It is a sin for the girl who is showing her nakedness and it is a sin for the guy who looks at it, period. And that is the truth. 

And so there are really two people in sin here.  But it says in Habakkuk 2:15, “Woe unto him that giveth his neighbour drink, that puttest thy bottle to him, and makest him drunken also, that thou mayest look on their nakedness!”[30]

Nahum 3:5. “Behold, I am against thee, saith the LORD of hosts; and I will discover thy skirts upon thy face, and I will shew the nations thy nakedness, and the kingdoms thy shame.”[31]

See, it is a shame to be nude. It is a shame to expose your nakedness to the world.

“Behold, I come as a thief,”[32] Jesus said in Revelation16:15.  “Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.”[33]

2 Corinthians 5:3. “If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked.”[34]

Put some clothes on. Be clothed. Don’t be found naked. Put clothes on. 

You say, “Pastor Anderson, why do you preach this?” 

Good night. Go out there in the world everybody is stripped half naked in our sinful licentious society.  Come with me to work one day.  You know I work in department stores all the time because I inspect fire alarm systems.  That is my secular job. And just come with me to work one day.  Come with me to Dillard’s department store where we service the cameras.  Come with me to Kohl’s and Bed Bath and Beyond. Hey, you will see all kinds of people that are dressed unbelievably naked is what it is. Hey, put some clothes on.

Nothing...there is shame.

Just because our society accepts it, hey. This is my society right here at the house of God.  The Bible is my cultural guideline here. I don’t go by what the world goes by. I don’t love the world. I love the Father.  And the Father said, “Nakedness is a sin.”

But we are living in a day where people do not even believe that nakedness is a sin.  It is the truth. I will prove it to you.

Oh man, you know, these people they don’t want you to...they don’t want the girls in the short skirts. They don’t want the low cut top?  But what do they do?  They build...they dig a hole in the ground, right?  They dig a hole in the ground, fill it with water, put a bunch of cast iron fence around it and all of the sudden all the girls put on their underwear, their colored underwear and it is ok.  And it is called a bathing suit. 

Suddenly it is ok because people don’t believe that it is a sin.

Now what if those same girls...I would like to see...and I would like to see those same Church youth groups that have the mixed swimming and all the girls in the bikinis and the bathing suits.  I would like to see those girls show up for Sunday morning church dressed like that.  Boy, the pastor would throw a fit.  Everybody would throw a fit. I mean they would be throwing a blanket over them or something say, “Good night, would you cover up?  Here is a towel. Here is a blanket. Put something on. This is obscene.”

But suddenly you go to the beach, you go to the swimming pool and all of the sudden it goes out the window. 

And, you know, here is an area that is not popular. It has never stopped me before.  It is not going to stop me now.  But here is another area that is not popular.  But, you know what?  Women who go to a male doctor and just disrobe in front of a male doctor.  Why?  Because they don’t believe that nakedness is a sin. Because he is not lusting, supposedly. 

Because we all know what is going on inside his mind.  He takes a polygraph detector test right before and after every visit. 

“I had...my mind is as clean and pure as the driven snow.”

Yeah, right.  Good night. He is a man. He is a red blooded man like anybody else. Do you know what every male gynecologist ought to do? He ought to take a scalpel and a lancet and cut out his own eye and throw it in the trash. That is what the Bible says.  He ought to just remove his own eye.  I am not kidding.  He has got all the tools to do it.  He ought to do it.

I am telling you what.  Hey, why don’t you decide whether you believe that nudity is even a sin.  But, see, we have twisted the Bible and said it is only a sin if you think a dirty thought. Hey, it is dirty just to look at it.  You have already gotten dirty right there. Period. Quit lowering the bar of morality. Quit lowering the bar of what is right and wrong.

Hey, why don’t we lift up the standard high and say, “Right is right and wrong is wrong, period?”

But where did I have you turn, Genesis 13?  Look at Genesis 13.  And I am going to get off the subject of nakedness, ok.  Because we are talking about the lust of the eyes, but I don’t want to spend my whole sermon talking about clothing and nakedness and things like that.  Look at Genesis 13.  We’ll look at another kind of wrong lust of the eyes. That is the topic tonight.

Genesis 13:8 says:

And Abram said untoLot, Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdmen and thy herdmen; for we be brethren.  Is not the whole land before thee? [verse nine] separate thyself, I pray thee, from me: if thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if thou depart to the right hand, then I will go to the left.

And Lot lifted up his eyes...[35]

Let’s see what he does with his eyes.

It says:

And beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered every where, before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar.  ThenLot chose him all the plain of Jordan; andLot journeyed east: and they separated themselves the one from the other.  Abram dwelled in theland ofCanaan, andLot dwelled in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent towardSodom.  But the men ofSodom were wicked and sinners before the LORD exceedingly.[36]

So here we have Abram andLot.  Abram says, “I will give you the choice. If you go this way, I will go this way. Let’s split up. I am going to give you the best of the land. I am going to give you first pick.”

Lot lifts up his eyes and he looks and he sees the well watered plain, the beautiful land. And it was like the garden of the Lord the Bible says. It was like theland ofEgypt. And it was so beautiful.

Then he looked at it and he said, “This is where I want to live.”

But in that plain there were many cities. And the worst city of all was a city calledSodom and the men ofSodom were wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly the Bible says.[37]

So what does it say he did? He “pitched his tent towardSodom.”[38]

Good night, man. There’s north, south, east west.  Why are you pitching your tent towardsSodom? Because think about it. Every day when he gets up in the morning he walks out the front door of his tent, what does he see in front of him every day?Sodom.

So first he is just living in the general vicinity. You know, he is just living in the plains, nothing wrong with maybe living in a well watered area.  Great.  But the problem is every time he went out the front door he is looking atSodom. He gets up the second day, he looks atSodom, goes about his business.  He gets up the third day, looks atSodom.

And I would venture to guess that his tent probably just kept moving closer and closer towardsSodom because he wanted to see more.  He is looking at it.  You know, he is fascinated by it. Whatever the case may be.

And he just kept moving that tent closer and closer toSodom.

Well, all the sudden, the next thing you know, in the next chapter in Genesis 14, ok, he is living inSodom. 

Now how did he get there?  God doesn’t even tell us when he moved toSodom or how he moved toSodom. It just says, well, he pitched his tent towardsSodom.[39]  And then you get to Genesis 14 and he is inSodom.

And you are like, “What?”

And God is saying, “Of course he is inSodom. That is what he looked at all day.” He has been looking at it in chapter 13. Of course he is going to be there in chapter 14. And then by the time we get to chapter 18 God sends...you know, God comes to Abraham and tells Abraham he is going to destroySodom. And Abraham, of course, pleads for the life of his nephewLot. And then in Genesis chapter 19—I am just hurrying through the story—but in Genesis 19, you know, God sends his two angels toSodom. Their mission is to go there and to see if it is just as bad as he said it was. And their mission is to getLot and take him out ofSodom. 

And so the two angels come there. They come to grabLot.  And look, if you would, at Genesis 19 verse 17, Genesis 19:17.  Now how did Lot end up inSodom?  Because he looked atSodom too many times.  He kept looking at it and looking at it and looking at it just like David looked at a woman that was bathing.

But look at Genesis 19 verse 17.  This is what the angels are saying when they takeLot and his wife and his two daughters out ofSodom.  In verse 17 it says, “And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad.”[40]  Four people:Lot, Lot’s wife andLot’s two daughters. “That he said, Escape for thy life; look not behind thee.”[41]  Do you see that?  He is saying, “Don’t even look at that place.”  “Look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed.”[42]

And then look at verse number 23.  The Bible says:

The sun was risen upon the earth whenLot entered into Zoar. 

Then the LORD rained upon [San Francisco. I’m sorry.  I mean]Sodom and uponGomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven;   And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground. 

But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt. 

And Abraham gat up early in the morning to the place where he stood before the LORD:  And he looked towardSodom andGomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace.[43]

It was gone. It was just smoke and ashes after God destroyed it. 

You see,Lot’s whole problem was that he was looking atSodom. That is how he ended up there. And then when God explained to him what he was going to do, when God revealed toLot how filthy and how wicked it was. And when these men had actually attackedLot in chapter 19 and actually tried to violateLot himself and the angel smote these Sodomites, these queers with blindness and grabbedLot into the door and pulled them out of the city. He said, “Don’t look back. LeaveSodom.  Leave it behind. Be done with it. Don’t even look back at that wicked place.”

But as the old song goes, “I left my heart inSan Francisco...” You know, that could have beenLot’s wife’s theme song.  She left her heart inSan Francisco, literally. She left her heart inSodom. And so she is leavingSodom.  And the lust of her eyes.  I mean think about it.  She had just been told not to look back. She knew she wasn’t supposed to look back.  She was running away and maybe they could hear the fire and brimstone beginning to fall or maybe they could know that God’s judgment was coming and the sun was just up and God was beginning to destroy it.  And she had a lust in her heart that said, “I have to look back. I just have to look at it one more time before it is gone.”

What kind of an intense desire would make a woman turn around and look at it and become a pillar of salt? I mean, she is killed.  You know, she is destroyed in a moment because she just said, “I must look at it.”

You know, this is the same thing that you experience, sir, when that indecent picture is out there. And it is everywhere. It is in the gas station. It is in the billboard. 

Hey, you feel that lust of your eyes saying, “I have just got to look at it.” 

And you know it is enough to destroy you. It was enough to destroy King David. It was enough to destroyLot’s wife.

Hey, I love the short verses in the Bible. You know, those verses that are just really short in the Bible.  “Jesus wept.”[44] “Rejoice evermore.”[45]  “Pray without ceasing.”[46]  You know, these very short verses. 

How about this one?  “RememberLot’s wife.”[47] That’s the whole verse “Remember...” Luke 17:32.  “RememberLot’s wife.”[48]

That is enough of a thought for one verse.  I mean that is just the Holy Spirit chose to just put that one little thought there.  “RememberLot’s wife.”[49]

Why, God?  Why should I rememberLot’s wife?  Remember how just looking at something can kill you. Remember how just looking at something can destroy you.

He said, “Good night. I just don’t think that looking at something...I mean, just looking at something can destroy me?”

Well, God killed in 1 Samuel chapter six verse 19, he killed 50,070 people. Did you get that number?  Fifty thousand and 70 people because they opened the ark and looked inside.  He killed over 50,000 people just for looking at something that they weren’t supposed to look at. 

You see, looking at something, the lust of your eyes, can destroy you. Your eye can destroy you. Your whole. Your eye can ruin your life if you don’t learn to control your eyes.

Job said it this way. He said, “I made a covenant with mine eyes.”[50]  He said, “I made a deal with my eyes.”  “I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid?”[51]

He said, “I made a covenant with my eyes and said, ‘You are going to look at what I tell you to look at. And you are not going to look at women that are dressed indecent. You are not going to look at another man’s wife.  You are not going to look at these images thatHollywood and TV will portray for you.” 

You say, “I don’t know if the lust of the eyes really applies to me. I am a woman.”

Well, you know, what?  So wasLot’s wife.  And yet she had a problem with the lust of the eyes.  See, it was a little bit different problem.  But your eyes will be tempted, ladies, to look at things that you ought not look at.  Like how about the soap operas on TV?  Your lust of your eyes and your, “Oh, I just have to turn it on, you know, All My Children or whatever.”  If it is even still on the air. That show has probably been on the air for like 75 years or something, you know. 

“Oh, I have to see As the Word Turns and I have to see General Hospital and I have to watch, you know 90210 and Friends and whatever it is.” I don’t know. I’m preaching it’s probably these old shows.

You know why I am preaching is old shows because I haven’t had a television in seven years.  I quit pitching my tent towardSodom seven years ago. That’s why I don’t have a television. 

You see,Sodom is on your TV screen. When you get home and flip that thing on you just flipped onSodom, period. 

You say, “Well, I don’t know if it isSodom.”

Well, you know, Jesus called it this way in Revelation chapter 11, you know the revelation of Jesus Christ where he is showing John the things that must surely come?  He says it this way. He says, “Do you remember the city where our Lord Jesus Christ was crucified? It is spiritually calledSodom andEgypt.[52] That is what he said. He is talking about present dayJerusalem which is a wicked place by the way, wicked sin there, filthiness that goes on there.

I have talked to people that have been toIsrael and been toJerusalem. It is a wicked, ungodly place, pornography abounds, sin abounds.  And do you know what? It has a spiritual name,Sodom.

And I am going to tell you something, when you flip on your TV you are watching Sodom.

You say, “Well, I can quit watching it any time.” 

You know what? There are a lot of people who think they could quit watching TV, they can’t. Try it. If you could quit watching TV then go four weeks without watching television.

If you go four weeks without watching television you will probably never watch it again because when you don’t watch it for four weeks, when you get out from under its witchcraft, when you get out from under its sorcery spell that it has you under, you know, when you break free from that control that it has over you, dominating you.  I mean, have you ever seen how addicted people are to TV?  I mean they go to a hotel room and turn it on. 

I know it is not a remote control. It is my cell phone. But it worked out good, didn’t it? 

You know, they turn on the TV.  I remember working out of town with people and we would wake up in the morning and turn on the TV and then they would go brush their teeth.

I’m like, “Why is the TV on? They are not even watching it.”

They just turn it on. It is like instinctively.

And then you will say. You will say to them, “Hey, let’s turn off the TV, please. You know, let’s turn it off. We don’t need this on.”