This sermon addresses a deadly sin that no one likes to admit—but from which no one is exempt: lust. Lust is the distorted desire for one’s own sexual pleasure. Sexual desire, in the right context—namely, within marriage—is good and healthy. God designed humans at creation to have wholesome desires toward the opposite sex. The problem arises when that desire is directed toward someone outside the marriage relationship.
Lust is a deadly sin with tragically destructive consequences. It robs one’s spouse of the desire that rightly belongs only to him or her. It breaks spiritual communion with God. It reduces others to objects for one’s own selfish, perverse, mental consumption. Lust violates, devalues, and desecrates people who are made in God’s image for His love and pleasure.
The divine remedy for lust is chastity—but likely not in the way many understand it. Chastity is far more than the negative command, “Thou shalt not.” True, biblical chastity is a positive, whole-life practice of loving God, loving people, and loving God’s world. This sermon should be heard, if for no other reason, to help us all understand and begin to practice true, God-pleasing chastity.