While we are at this point in the text of Matthew’s gospel, we trust the full power of these words will aid us in the huge battle with pornography that currently exists in our culture and private lives. Here are 6 weapons from Jesus to help you fight porn and all sin found in Matthew 18:7-10.
1. Call porn what Jesus calls it: Satan’s trap aimed at your destruction (v.7). Jesus calls porn a “stumbling block,” or a trap designed to make you fall into a pit where you will be harmed and killed. Porn looks appealing but if we will preach to ourselves, calling it what it is, its power and allure will be weakened.
2. Abhor porn and all stumbling blocks like Jesus does (v.6). Jesus abhors stumbling blocks so much that He is determined to tie a millstone to them and drop them in the deeps of the ocean. We must preach to ourselves His abhorrence of porn so that we grow to hate it like He does.
3. Fear Jesus’ warning that porn will send you to hell (v.8-9). If we do not fight porn and all sin and repent with the seriousness of cutting off body parts, Jesus says we are not a Christian and will go to hell. What will we love more porn and hell or holiness and eternal life?
4. Love purity of heart like Jesus loves it (v.8-9). We must convince ourselves that impurity of thoughts will hurt us worse than cranking up a chainsaw and ripping off body parts. We don’t believe this but Jesus says it is so.
5. Look to Jesus for lasting pleasure (v.9). Why gouge out your eyes? Because we see porn and believe it will be more satisfying than Jesus, but we are deceived. Temptation will be killed by the superior satisfaction Jesus gives. We must poke out our eyes, or do anything else necessary, to help us see the surpassing pleasures in Jesus that have been covered up and ignored.
6. Join forces with God and His angels for the souls of our children (v.10). The private, secret use of porn isn’t private or secret. It is joining Satan and the demons helping to create the environment where the slavery and abuse of children and women thrives. Exit this cycle of wickedness. Get on the side of God and His angels who are protecting children and women from harm.
How are we to use these weapons? We are to put them on like night vision goggles and an M-16 and fight, preaching to ourselves these realities before temptation comes, when we see it rising up, when it is in full attack, after we resist it successfully and after we give in to it. As we do our minds are strengthened to believe and treasure what Jesus treasures, hating what He hates and the power of porn is crushed.
