I really feel like the Holy Spirit is emphasizing this subject right now in my life - and I feel pressed to really get down to the brass tacks of understanding and overcoming the spirit of immorality. The New Testament really emphasizes this sin, and particularly, Jesus really highlights immorality in the sermon on the mount. [Mt. 5:27-30].
[ You have heard that it was said to those of old, “You shall not commit adultery.” But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out…it is more profitable that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell. If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off…for it is more profitable…than for your whole body to be cast into hell. ]
But I really feel like the full understanding of this is being overlooked, underemphasized, and/or whitewashed within the body of Christ today as a whole, with devastating consequences. Immorality includes all sexual activity (physical, verbal, technological) outside of a covenant of marriage between one man and woman. Jesus knows that immorality grants Satan legal doors of access to oppress and damage our heart and our relationship with God, our family, and others.
1 Cor. 6:18 says, "Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body."
God was speaking of more than avoiding physical adultery, but also the spirit of immorality. That spirit does not start with the physical - but in the eyes, then it moves to the heart, stirring up lust, and eventually turns into action. The Pharisees thought and taught that adultery was only committed if acted out in a physical way, but Jesus makes it clear that's not so.
So what's the big deal here - why is he making such an emphasis on this? It is because of the destructive and deceptive nature of the spirit of immorality. It is a spiritual cancer that grows and ends in death if not resisted. The reality is, many in the Church have a low view of hell; but the bible clearly and repetitively says that those who are immoral will go to hell.
Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves…nor drunkards…will inherit the kingdom of God. (1 Cor. 6:9-10)
This you know, that no fornicator…has any inheritance in the kingdom…Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes… (Eph. 5:5-6)
The sexually immoral…shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire. (Rev. 21:8)
Enter…into the city [New Jerusalem]. But outside are…sexually immoral… (Rev. 22:14-15)
There's a false grace message being perpetrated among the body of Christ today that suggests because we are saved, and thus, we can dabble a little bit in sexual immorality and we're fine, praise God, Jesus saves. And yes, it's true that God's grace is big enough to cover any sin that we are repentant of.
The key word here is repentant. If you have identified and acknowledged behavior as immoral and you are fighting to overcome that and are sincerely repentant, you can be confident in God's saving grace. But in our society today, where the lines of social acceptance regarding appropriate sexuality is off the charts, more than not those seeped in sexual sin refuse to acknowledge it as sin, even within the body of Christ. And the false grace message adds to that emboldenness that puffs up the inner voice saying, "ah, it's not that bad; boys will be boys". (This message applies equally to women as it does to men.) No longer are women backstage in the game of sexuality, but are front and center; and the new norm for a woman today (by societies' measure) is her self-worth equating to the measure in which she is able to successfully present her body as a tool for lust.
We can back-peddle all day long and say, I'm a good person, surely that counts for something... I'm saved; God will forgive me, I won't go to hell for having sex outside of marriage, or for having an affair, or for looking upon another man's wife with lust. Beloved, our version of what's good and what's not, what's righteous and what's evil won't last a second in the throne room of the Lord Almighty on the day we stand before him - God's version of what's good and what's bad is what counts. And if we aren't in agreement with him, calling sin what he calls sin, and waging war within ourselves against it, then he knows. HE'S GOD. He's searched your heart and soul and knows you through and through.
Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption... (Gal. 6:7-8)
Part of the verses I've quoted talks about plucking out our right eye if it sins against us. And of course Jesus didn't mean this literally; but as an illustration to show the radical measures one must take to reverse the hold that sexual sin has on them, in order to overcome it. One example of dealing radically with lust is to obey Paul’s exhortation for men to refuse what is often called “innocent touching” of women, when they know that it stirs lustful desires in them.
It is good for a man not to touch a woman. (1 Cor. 7:1)
Jesus emphasized how important it is to deal with immorality in a radical way. A casual approach to lust is not sufficient. We must make radical, even costly and painful proactive decisions to remove whatever stirs up lust in our members (Mt. 5:29-30). This means that some of what we cherish (people, places or things) may need to be removed from our lives. The spirit of immorality is rooted in “looking with lust” at a person directly or through media (internet porn). This fuels the heart with sexual fantasies. Adultery progresses from eye adultery to heart adultery then to physical adultery. The term fornication refers to those not married who practice sexual immorality, and adultery refers to someone within the covenant relationship, lusting physically or emotionally after someone they aren't married to.
The spirit of immorality is unbiased and operates to the degree that anyone opens the door to it. We were all born with sinful weakness. Satan wants our weakness to escalate to wickedness, but he needs our cooperation. He wants to poison our spirit and then imprison it. Augustine wrote, “Lust yielded to becomes a habit, and a habit not resisted becomes necessity (addiction).”
Immorality is dangerous because it grows and becomes uncontrollable. People imagine that they can “dabble with a little immorality,” then control it later. They do not understand the power of a cold heart, darkened mind, and defiled conscience with demonic activity in their life. It increases in corruption (shame, oppression, and perversion now and leading to judgment later).
In Romans 1, Paul described how people sin against their body by engaging in immorality. He explained how a “penalty” works in those who continually refuse the Spirit’s warnings to resist immorality. The penalty is that God progressively “gives them up” to greater darkness—going from uncleanness (v. 24) to vile passions (v. 26) and finally to a debased mind (v. 28). When someone is “given up” to dark desires, God lifts the natural restraints that He gracious built into our human design. Thus, they are compelled to yield to greater depths of lust.
Jesus reveals how He feels about those who continue in immorality without repenting of it. He warned the churches in Pergamos and Thyatira to not tolerate immorality (Rev. 2:12-23). Believers are sometimes made sick and die prematurely under God’s judgment on immorality. God’s discipline includes Satan being permitted to make the unrepentant sick (1 Cor. 5:1-5; 11:30-32). Paul commanded the elders to deliver a believer over to Satan (lift God’s protection, allowing Satan to make him sick) to wake him up spiritually so that he would not fall away.
If we judge ourselves by repenting, then we will not be disciplined by the Lord. We can reverse God’s judgment or discipline by repenting of areas of persistent compromise in our life. The Lord is the avenger of immorality in the lives of unrepentant believers (1 Thes. 4:4-8).
For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep. If we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged [by the Lord]. When we are judged, we are chastened [disciplined] by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world. (1 Cor. 11:30-32)
We act in the opposite spirit of immorality by diligently seeking to grow in our relationship with Jesus and by meditating on His Word being implanted in us which is able to heal our hearts. I recommend reading Proverbs 5-7 regularly to be reminded of the terrible cost of immorality.
Many issues contribute to being able to walk free from the spirit of immorality. They include: looking inward by communing with the Spirit through the Word; looking upward to heaven and its rewards (Col. 3:1-4, 23-24); looking backward to deal with bitterness, shame, and wrong mindsets; looking forward to God’s assignment in our life and to His end-time purposes so that we are prepared by understanding the coming glory and crisis (2 Pet. 3:14); looking around to see the pain that our immorality would cause others; looking to others in relationships with accountability (confessing our weaknesses); and looking outward by establishing boundaries to avoid circumstances that stir lust in us by what we look at, where we go, and what we do.
Note: I borrowed heavily from one of Mike Bickle's sermons click here to access it in its entirety.
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