As long as our lust is in us, it is working to produce bad fruit. It is not passive. It never leaves us alone. And when it seems the most quiet and still, that’s exactly when we should be the most concerned. Still waters run deep. You have to learn to fight your lust at all times, especially when it doesn’t seem enflamed. Trust me, it’s there. It’s probably hiding behind your pride, making itself ready to humble you. It’s even at work in your very best deeds.

 

If sin is constantly at work, fighting against us, what happens if we stop fighting against it? Look at it this way. Imagine yourself in cage match with some crazy kick boxer. Then imagine yourself standing still while he pummels you. I mean, you may think you’re tough for the first couple of blows, but you’re going to get the crap knocked out of you by the time the bell rings.

 

Your sin is a crafty, powerful, and vigilant enemy that’s constantly seeking to exploit your weaknesses. It is merciless and deadly. So what’s going to happen if you’re lazy, stupid, and limp-wristed in dealing with it? What’s going to happen if you stand there and just take the blows? You’re going to get blasted. Here’s my point: sin will either destroy you, or it will be destroyed by you. That’s your lot in life. You can’t escape it. The minute you lay down your arms, and stop aggressively attacking your sin, the fight is over and you’ve lost.

 

If you are not constantly killing your lust, there is no end to the wicked fruit it will bear in your life. Take porn addiction, for example. It starts with a man that never learns to continually kill his sexual lust. So lust takes a deep, firm hold in his life. It pounds him into the ground, and he just lays there. He may try to fight, but he doesn’t know where to start. And if he does fight, he’s half-hearted. Lust, on the other hand, has a killer instinct. And it won’t stop with his porn addiction. It’s working to produce worse fruit.

 

That’s the nature of sin. You start small. A little give here, a little concession there. One day you’re masturbating in your bedroom. The next day you’re spending hours online looking at other peoples’ sisters and daughters. And unless you commit yourself to fighting your lust with more intensity than it’s fighting you, you shouldn’t be surprised if you end up in bed with someone that’s not your wife. Every unclean thought, every passing glance would be adultery if it could. And it will be if it isn’t destroyed.

 

This is what Scripture refers to as the deceitfulness of sin. How do you think David, the “man after God’s own heart,” ended up in bed with Bathsheba and with her husband’s blood on his hands? He didn’t just wake up one day and decide to sleep with a woman and kill her husband. He got there by degrees. You’ve gotten to where you are by degrees. It’s time to turn the tide and fight.

 

This is the nature of the monster in your heart. Sin always aims at the worst. It is not an isolated action. It’s a trajectory. If it could have full sway over you, it would be as heinous as possible. It starts out small and modest. And slowly, imperceptibly, but steadily, it takes new ground. It never yields the territory it has conquered. It is always pressing forward. Its goal is to see you utterly turn away from God and to give yourself over to your lusts. It will not stop until it has achieved victory over you. And the only way to stop it is to fight. There are no truces in this battle. There are no cease-fires. It is literally a fight to the death. And you either fight it until the day you die, or you surrender and prove yourself to be a son of hell.