Just Looking
1 Corinthians 6:9 (NKJV) 9 Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites,
FORNICATORS – The Greek word is pornos {por’-nos}, from which we get “pornography”. It is a general word for unlawful and immoral sexual relationship and it includes any kind sex outside of marriage: pre-marital, extra-marital (adultery), homosexual, etc.
According to Matthew 5:28, fornication/adultery and looking at pornography is the same thing. There is a grave consequence to this. Mark 9:47 And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell.
How do eyes cause us to sin?
The bible has a lot to say about looking.
1 John 2:16 “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” Psalm 101:3 “I will set no unclean thing before my eyes.”
Job 31:1 (NKJV) 1 “I have made a covenant with my eyes;
Why then should I look upon a young woman?
Matthew 5:28 “If a man looks on a woman to lust after her, he has committed adultery with her already in his heart.” AMP 29 If your right eye makes you stumble and leads you to sin, tear it out and throw it away [that is, remove yourself from the source of temptation]; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30 If your right hand makes you stumble and leads you to sin, cut it off and throw it away [that is, remove yourself from the source of temptation]; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.
The word “pornography” comes from the Greek porneia, porneuo, and porne. Porneia is translated “fornication” in the King James Version (Mat 5:32; John 8:41; Rom 1:29; 1 Corin 6:9,13,18; Gal 5:19; Rev 19:2; etc.). Porneuo is the verb “to commit fornication,” as in 1 Corin 6:18. Porne is translated “harlot” in Mat 21:31-32; 1 Corin 6:15; and Rev 17:5.
Looking at pornography is not the only way to look lustfully at a woman. Social media, Facebook, Instagram, and Television etc is flooded with impure images. Images of past sexual partners can still be showing up on our news feed on social media, or on our phone number list in our phones or still have old text messages, images, and voicemails.
How do we protect ourselves from this?
You have to be radical about it. You cannot play with sin. You must make a clean break and get as far away from those things. Flee fornication, like Joseph did. He knew the deadly snare that was on the other side. Delete you Facebook account. Is it worth losing your marriage, or future marriage? Delete those apps that waste all your time that make you look at unclean things. You do not need them and many times we lie to ourselves that we use them for ministry or work but in reality they are just an open door for the enemy to come into our homes. Once the enemy binds the strong man, he then plunders the whole house. Make a stand and cut it off!
Jesus said, “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light” (Matthew 6:22). Here our Lord describes the eye as a lamp which lights the entire body. Our eyes are the entrance to our hearts and minds and, as such, they provide a doorway to our very souls. When He referred to “good” eyes, He meant eyes that not only see well, but also perceive well. It is not only what we see, but how we perceive what we see that makes the difference between godliness and ungodliness, between light and darkness. Bad eyes lead to bad perception, but if our eyes are good, our whole person will be illuminated. If we are in a lighted room, we see everything clearly. We can move around obstacles and locate whatever we’re looking for. But walking in darkness results in stumbling, falling, and groping for some secure thing to hang on to.
Our eyes can be used to see that which is good or evil, that which is beneficial or harmful, and the things we see and perceive affect our whole being. If we perceive goodness, that will radiate outward from within our hearts and minds. But if we allow our eyes to linger on evil, we are so affected by what we see that darkness actually begins to emanate from within and can corrupt us and those around us.
What we look at does affect us spiritually – and can cause us to sin. David “SAW” Bathsheba naked, before he got ideas to sin with her. Jesus said that if a man “looks at a woman to lust after her, he has committed adultery with her already in his heart”; etc. The sin takes place even before the action is executed. Scripture gives many examples of men being enticed by the sight of a woman. Shechem saw the woman before he raped her. David saw the woman bathing before he had sex with her. Judah saw the harlot before he had sex with her. It was the same for Samson, and many other great men in the bible.
Genesis 34:2 “And when Shechem … the prince of the land, SAW HER, he took her and lay with her by force.”
2 Samuel 11:2-5 “Now when evening came David arose from his bed and walked around on the roof of the king’s house, and from the roof he SAW A WOMAN BATHING; and the woman was very beautiful in appearance. So David sent and inquired about the woman. And one said, ‘Is this not … the wife of Uriah the Hittite?’ And David sent messengers and took her, and when she came to him, he lay with her… And the woman conceived; and she sent and told David, and said, ‘I am pregnant.‘” Genesis 38:2-3 “And Judah SAW there a daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name was Shua; and he took her and went in to her. So she conceived and bore a son and he named him Er….” Genesis 38:15-16 “When Judah SAW HER, he thought she was a harlot…. So he turned aside to her by the road, and said, ‘Here now, let me come in to you’; …And she said, ‘What will you give me, that you may come in to me?'” Judges 16:1 “Now Samson went to Gaza and SAW a harlot there, and went in to her.” Judges 14:2-3 “So he came back and told his father and mother, ‘I SAW a woman in Timnah, one of the daughters of the Philistines; now therefore, get her for me as a wife.’ Then his father and his mother said to him, ‘Is there no woman among the daughters of your relatives, or among all our people, that you go to take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?’ But Samson said to his father, ‘Get her for me, for SHE LOOKS GOOD TO ME.‘” Genesis 19 26 But Lot’s wife LOOKED back as she was following behind him, and she turned into a pillar of salt.
How can we control our “looking” in public places?
1 Corinthians 7 – Principles of Marriage – A Solution to Sexual Immorality 1 Now concerning the things of which you wrote to me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman. 2 Nevertheless, because of sexual immorality (this includes looking at pornography or women lustfully, masturbation, adultery and fornication), let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband. 3 Let the husband render to his wife the affection due her, and likewise also the wife to her husband. 4 The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. And likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. 5 Do not deprive one another except with consent for a time that you may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again so that Satan does not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.
Men, pay attention to verse 4 and 5. If your wife is withholding from you in the bedroom, this must be corrected. It’s up to you as a man and representative of Jesus in your household to uphold the Word of God. It’s up to you to teach this to your wife, remember you are the head. Don’t forget that you have a job too, you must render affection to her and also as the head which is Christ of the household, you must teach your family the Word of God.
7 For I wish that all men were even as I myself. But each one has his own gift from God, one in this manner and another in that. (People are different and have strengths and weaknesses in different areas)
(The Message) 7Sometimes I wish everyone were single like me—a simpler life in many ways! But celibacy is not for everyone any more than marriage is. God gives the gift of the single life to some, the gift of the married life to others.
For it is better to marry than to burn
Do you think it’s easy or difficult to control yourself as a single person?
8 But I say to the unmarried and to the widows: It is good for them if they remain even as I am; 9 but if they cannot exercise self-control, let them marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion.
