Lust: More Dangerous Than Nuclear Holocaust
00:00:00.000 | [Music]
00:00:05.000 | As you know, the United States is going toe-to-toe with Vladimir Putin and Russia over their invasion of Ukraine.
00:00:11.000 | Russia is a nuclear state, and earlier this month, Ukraine's Minister of Defense revealed that Kiev,
00:00:16.000 | which is the capital city of Ukraine, has received threats of nuclear retaliation from Russia
00:00:21.000 | through unofficial channels if they continue to fight pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.
00:00:27.000 | And here we are talking about sexual sins on this podcast, like yesterday when we talked about Burger King, Apple, Subaru, and Target.
00:00:33.000 | Some people say we're just wasting our time talking about people's private lives, talking about sexual lust and homosexual sin.
00:00:39.000 | Shouldn't our attention be drawn to the standoff with Russia right now?
00:00:42.000 | Isn't that more important than talking about corporations that promote sexual sin?
00:00:46.000 | The answer is no, says John Piper in his sermon "Battling the Unbelief of Lust,"
00:00:51.000 | which he preached 25 years ago on the text 1 Thessalonians 4, verses 1-8. Here's what he said.
00:00:58.000 | So what? That's the question of our culture. So what? I mean, come on.
00:01:06.000 | Let's deal with something important like nuclear arms or justice.
00:01:13.000 | Get off this personal piety, these private individual choices that have no relevance for what's going on in this world that's crashing down around us.
00:01:25.000 | Get up where it counts. Know anybody like that?
00:01:30.000 | They say what counts is whether you boycott companies in South Africa,
00:01:38.000 | whether you oppose Star Wars defense systems, sleeping around, not to mention just thinking about it.
00:01:47.000 | Sleeping around is no big deal if you're on the picket line at Honeywell.
00:01:54.000 | It's no big deal to flip through Playboy magazine if you're on the airplane flying to peace talks in Geneva.
00:02:02.000 | I mean, you're talking about teeny insignificant things.
00:02:08.000 | They're not important what you do with your brain in regard to sex or what you do with your body in your own personal relationship with another person.
00:02:19.000 | What's important is big things like nuclear arms and justice.
00:02:26.000 | That's the way the religious mind reasons when it has forsaken a supreme regard for God.
00:02:35.000 | That's the way the religious mind reasons when a supreme regard for God and his word have been forsaken.
00:02:44.000 | God has a different message than that.
00:02:48.000 | And it's found in verse six that no man transgress and wrong his brother in this matter,
00:02:56.000 | because the Lord is an avenger in all these things.
00:03:01.000 | As we solemnly forewarned you, this means that the consequences of lust are going to be worse than the consequences of nuclear war.
00:03:15.000 | All that nuclear war can do is kill five billion bodies.
00:03:22.000 | And Jesus said very, very plainly, Jesus said very, very plainly,
00:03:28.000 | "Do not fear him who kills the body and after that has nothing that he can do.
00:03:36.000 | Rather, fear him who after killing the body can cast soul and body into hell.
00:03:45.000 | Yes, I tell you, fear him."
00:03:49.000 | So, if this text says that God is going to be the avenger on those who ignore the warnings against lust,
00:04:01.000 | then I think I can say with the complete authority of the Bible,
00:04:06.000 | the consequences of lust are ten million times greater than the consequences of nuclear holocaust.
00:04:18.000 | The only reason for denying that would be unbelief in eternity.
00:04:24.000 | If you're secular through and through, if you're humanist through and through,
00:04:29.000 | if man is the center of your life and his span on this earth is it,
00:04:35.000 | what I'm saying right now is, of course, hogwash.
00:04:39.000 | If you are God-centered, if the Bible is the Word of God,
00:04:44.000 | and if this text is in the Bible, then the response, "Come on, deal with something significant,"
00:04:52.000 | is irrational and insane because how you deal with lust has to do with where you spend eternity.
00:05:01.000 | And that's a long, long time.
00:05:05.000 | That clip was taken from John Piper's sermon, "Battling the Unbelief of Lust,"
00:05:08.000 | which he preached back on November 13th, 1988.
00:05:12.000 | He develops this theme more fully in his book, "Future Grace."
00:05:15.000 | There, Pastor John writes this, quote,
00:05:17.000 | "The battle against lust is absolutely necessary for our final salvation
00:05:22.000 | because that battle is the battle against unbelief," end quote.
00:05:27.000 | That's from chapter 27 of the book.
00:05:29.000 | You can find more information about the book at DesiringGod.org.
00:05:32.000 | Click on "Books" and then click on the book title, "Future Grace."
00:05:36.000 | Well, if Christ has paid for all of my sins,
00:05:39.000 | for my sins of omission, my sins of commission,
00:05:42.000 | the sins of my past, of my present, of my future,
00:05:45.000 | then should I repent for my sin that I see in my life right now?
00:05:48.000 | It's an excellent question Pastor John has wrestled with over the years,
00:05:51.000 | and it's a question from a podcast listener.
00:05:53.000 | Tomorrow, we'll hear what Pastor John has to say.
00:05:55.000 | I'm your host, Tony Reinke. Thanks for listening to the Ask Pastor John podcast.
00:05:59.000 | [no audio]
00:06:02.000 | [no audio]
00:06:05.000 | [BLANK_AUDIO]