Hey, Brian. All right. You don't have to stand tonight. We're on the same text. Let's just pick up into, I'm calling it part four just because it's the fourth message. And I want to, tonight, do something, oh, not devastatingly different, but this morning, I ended with this, why we should war against this lust against the flesh, and also tonight going to be the lust of the eyes. Same word, lust, is found here. And so we're looking at the same concept, but instead of flesh, it's going to be dealing with what the eyes see. And so what I said at the end of this morning's message is why we should war, and I said the greatest reason was for The glory of God. Thank you, Robert. Okay, so the glory of God. The second was is because God does command it. And the third is because we love the brethren. Now, I want to attempt to do something tonight in introduction to answer the why. Let me give you a fourth thing, but I want to give you a fourth thing based upon the context of the whole chapter. because I think it's necessary for us to hear this. I don't have any notes on this section here. I'm just doing somewhat from memory. But I know we narrow things down, or at least I do in my preaching. We now just preach one phrase, you know, lust of the flesh, and now we're gonna do lust of the eyes, and we get narrowed down to this little thing. But let's back up for just a moment tonight and look at the broader scope of this thing, and then we'll narrow back into the lust of the eyes. I hope that wasn't confusing. I want to answer the why. I want you to know why we are to fight. Because why? In Baptist church, it seems like you get saved, you get baptized, you just hang out till Jesus comes. And for some of you, this don't even make sense, why we should be warring against these things. I know that's kind of the impression I got in church. You get saved, you get baptized, hang out, just wait on things. What is all this business of warring with the flesh? Why should we do that? I've never heard this. Well, it's here in the text. I've already given you three reasons. Let me give you a fourth from the whole chapter. Chapter 2, beginning in verse 3. I'm not going to read all of this again. We've already been through much of this. But look at what's going on. In verses 3 through 6, look at what he does there. He is establishing something about this doctrine of salvation. He's looking in verses 3 through 6. This is how we can be sure. This is how we can know. Keep his commandments. Keep his word. Obedient lifestyle. Walk as he walked. Y'all remember those principles? giving us some concrete foundational blocks of how we can know that we're right with God. So this is very salvation-focused in chapter 2, verses 3 through 6. And then you see in verses 7 and 8, this is not something remotely new. He didn't just make it up. He didn't say, hey, I'll find out something new. He says, in fact, it's something very old. He goes all the way back to the Old Testament, principle is still the same, and he is building off of that which has been founded from the very beginning. Again, verses 7 and 8 are still establishing a solid picture of what a saved person looks like. Then he goes through verses 9 through 11. 9 through 11, again, revealing another highlight of the Christian faith, brotherly love. Brotherly love is the evidence. You don't love your brother, you don't love God, you don't know Him. And so he gives us another factor or facet of what a genuine converted person looks like. Now, 12 through 14, what we just looked at here recently, he takes time and he addresses, John addresses, The people in his church and I think from John he's addressing those he's convinced that they're saved and he's giving them great encouragement I've just given you he says from 3 through 11 the foundation of things you can know that show that you're saved and those of you that are Man, you're forgiven. You know the father, you know the one who's from the beginning You've overcome the evil one the Word of God remains in you. You're strong. Hang in there He gives all that encouragement to the church You with me? All this laying out? Then we come to this passage 15-17 and this war takes place. But what I notice as I'm reading this is if I just stay in 15-17, he does not specifically tell me why I should war against these things in verses 15-17. That's why I'm taking a little bit of time to show the whole chapter in a broader context, because I think he does answer the why. In 15 through 17, it does not seem like he answers the why, but as we put the rest of the chapter together, I think he answers it. And so, what do we find? Skip down to verse 18 and 19. You had better wage war. Why? Why? Because the Antichrist is already here, and the Antichrist is coming, and if you do not wage war, he will take you and obliterate you. They'll deceive you. In that last hour, He's going to turn your hearts. You say, well, what is all that going to mean? He's going to go to verse 19 and He's going to say, those that don't wage war and those that don't endure to the end and they run, He's going to say, is proof that they were never converted and they were never of us. Why should we fight? Because if we don't war against these things, it's gonna be a revelation that we're not truly converted in the heart. That's the why. You say, how can you say that? Because that's what John is saying. Foundation for a Christian, encouragement for the Christian, war for the Christian, why? Because if you don't stay and hang through these things and you run away, John's gonna say, then you didn't belong. That's what he says. And that gives us the why. Because if we wage war throughout and endure through these things, it would be proof that we are saved. You want more context? The Gnostics that he was dealing with had caused issues in the church. He addresses them clearly, straightforwardly, and they leave and go outside of the church to go do their own thing in their own little group. And John says, I'll give you a clear statement. They were never of us. Those who are of the truth remain, adhere, take in truth, and they long for truth. Notice this. Not through yet with the introduction. You look in verses 20 on down through 23. Notice for the Christian, you say, how in the world can I make it? If I have to fight until the end, how can I make it? You have an anointing from the Holy One. He didn't say you got to fight this thing on your own. He says you have been anointed by God. His spirit is within you and you can make it. He says I've not written to you because you don't know the truth. I've written to you because you do. And you have an anointing, and you can make it, and it's the evidence of genuine conversion. That's what it seems this whole chapter is unfolding. And he's saying to all Christians, and you here tonight, if you are saved, you have an anointing from the Holy One, you know the truth, and he is going to see you through these issues. And then notice how he closes out the chapter, verses 24 through 27. Man, what you have heard from the beginning, you remain there. You hang on to it. You hang on to it. You let it remain in you. That which you've heard from the beginning remains in you. You'll remain in the Son and the Son and the Father. The promise that He Himself made to us, eternal life is yours. I've written these things to you because you've got all of these that are trying to deceive you with all these other things. Look, the anointing you receive from Him remains in you. You don't need anyone to teach you. Instead, His anointing teaches you about all things and is true and is not a lie, just as it has taught you, remain in Him. So in the context of chapter 2, verse 3 through 27, you see in this, I believe, another answer for the why is because fighting against the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of possessions, fighting against those things is the evidence of a genuinely converted person. John only works with black and white, right and wrong, and those type of issues. Heaven, hell, good, bad. He has no middle ground. So if a Christian is a person who wages war against lust and against the pride of possessions, then a non-Christian is one who just tolerates all of those things and makes no defense or war against those things. You see that? So it is vastly important, why should we wage war? Because it is the evidence that we truly are God's children. God's children wage war because these things don't set well with them. Grieves the Christian to remain in the sense of the lust of the flesh or the lust of the eyes. Okay, I hope that helps give you a broader perspective. And by the way, it does finish in chapter 2 by saying, So now, little children, you remain in Him, so that when He appears, we may have boldness and not be ashamed before Him in His coming. Do not be ashamed if you're waging war against these lusts. If you know that He is righteous, and you know this as well, everyone who does what is right has been born of Him. Those who wage war and fight these things as a part of their life, that shows evidence that they have been born of God. You show me a man, woman, that takes these things and lives in them as a pattern of life, then you will see an unconverted person. All right, now let us move to the specific of waging war against the lust of the eyes. Same definition because of the same word, epithumia, and it is an unrestrained desire for that which is forbidden. Before I forget, let me say this. There's nothing inherently wrong with the eye. The eye in and of itself is not sinful, but the eye is the means by which the world use to attack the portion that is, which is the things that lie within our heart that we try to hide from people. And the way the world can get there is through the eye to connect to the heart to get you to act. It's the same way in Genesis 3 that it started. Saw the fruit. Seeing the fruit that moves the heart to desire that which it should not be desiring. Unrestrained desire for something that is forbidden. Or the other definition we looked at, a desire for something forbidden or simply inordinate. It's a craving or it's a lust. Same word here tonight, lust of the eyes is this unrestrained desire. Now, the word eyes. I'm not going to spend all of our time on lust, on that word tonight, because we spent enough time on it this morning to get an understanding. But eyes. I want to read a couple of things to you that may be helpful. The eyes. Listen closely. Every variety of gratification of which sight is the instrument, both physical and intellectual. And I got this definition and I'm using it because I think they grasped something that some people would have missed. He is saying, this comes out of the lexicon, but he's saying the physical and the intellectual. Why does he say it that way? Because even the blind man can be drawn away through the eyes of his intellect. So in times, it's not just the physical seeing, you can shut your eyes and through intellectual perception, you can still stir up the passions and the desires of a lustful heart. Does that register with you? You can envision lots of things with your eyes closed. All right, second definition or second thing I want to read about the eyes. The tendency to be captivated by the outward show of things without inquiring into their real values. There's something sparkly, something grasp our attention, something our eyes are led to, but we never look into any intrinsic value. We never evaluate what the worth of it is. We're only drawn by a lust because of the external. That's how lots of people get in great heaps of trouble. It seems that things that are the worst for us, the world finds ways to make them look the most appealing. The third thing that I want to read on the eyes is this. It is the eyes that lead most directly and quickly from external observation to evil thoughts that are latent in the human heart." What is he saying here? He's saying it's the eyes, most directly and quickly, that turn from the external observation and begin to work with something that is internally there. This morning when I talked about the war being us, that's what happens. The eyes see something external, and that external seeing spawns something internally, and then internally, because of that sin that is there, we begin to act in a way that is contrary to the will of God. I'm trying to take this somewhat slowly because this is greatly dangerous. You can be the king, you can be a man after God's own heart, but you can look over and see a woman bathing over here, and because of what the eye saw externally, it can so move in the sinfulness that is hidden in a dark corridor that you never told anybody about, you can move with such rapidity that you can cause murder and go into lots of effects that you should not have gone into. The I has that capacity to take that in and to stir something here, and when it does, it can lead to all kinds of havoc in the Christian life. We must war against these things or they will take us over. Now, let us look in the Old Testament. I would like for you to turn there tonight. I have far less scriptures tonight than I did this morning, but I'd like for you to see these. Again, I think I did quote this one this morning, but I do want to read it again tonight. Proverbs 6. And for those of you that may be struggling with pornography or struggling with inordinate affections for the opposite sex, spend much time in Proverbs in these first chapters, especially chapter 6, chapter 5, and you will find great amounts of wisdom there. But Proverbs 6 and 25 says, Don't lust in your heart for her beauty or let her captivate you with eyelashes. And I probably should spend a whole sermon here, but I'm not going to. But if there's one thing that the world has picked up on, it is that of the sexual, sinful desires of the flesh. And they package it in every way possible. They make it accessible in every way possible. And the world is doing everything that it can imagine to catch your eye with the sole purpose of turning your heart for that which you should not desire. And they know that if they can grasp your eye, then it'll immediately take a stirring in your heart, and that stirring in the heart can then culminate into an action, and you will reap the consequences for years to come. The world knows this. They don't put pictures on billboards to take up space. They put pictures on billboards to turn your heart. They put things in magazines, and I'm not even talking about the hardcore stuff, just plain magazines. They put them there to turn your heart in a way that it should not be turned. Guard your eyes, because if you don't, your eyes will be used to cause you to go down into a bunch of calamity. Again, this morning I said it's great to unplug the internet. It's great not to be in those settings where which you would be faced with great temptation. There's places that we ought not go. There's places that we ought not be. There's places of which areas you know that you're weak. And if you are, refrain from being in those areas. But let us not stop at knocking evil fruit off the tree. Let us continue to take these matters before God. And we say, God, we need to deal with the root. My heart's prone to look here. My heart's prone to go this way. God, deal with the root. Cut off this desire for pornography. Cut off this desire for the opposite sex. God, help me. I need strength. And so you pray and you lay those matters out before God. Some of us are so religiously refined that we think we're so good we can't pray like that. Look, God already knoweth your heart. Lay it out before Him and God say, I'm weak in this area. bring it before Him and ask for His help. King David needed help. Joseph needed help. Many in our Scriptures needed help in these matters. Isaiah. So, the eyes are connected with sexual lust was the point. Isaiah chapter 5. Isaiah chapter 5 and verse 15. Isaiah 5 and 15. Humanity is brought low, and man is humbled, and haughty eyes are humbled. Why is that? The eyes are connected with pride, and we see that in this passage and other passages. Our eyes see people in positions. Our eyes see people in certain living environments. Our eyes see things, and it causes us to start saying, well, I should be able to have that. Why do they have that and I don't have that? Why do they get a new car and I get an old car? Why does this person be able to enjoy these things? I work hard for a living, why don't I have these things? Look, I deserve as much as they deserve. I'm just as good as the next person that walks down the street. How come God lets them have them things? I'm a Christian, I go to church every Sunday, shouldn't I have those things too? Do you see how eyes are connected with pride? I see neighbors so-and-so with this. I conclude, I ought to have this and this, and so it becomes an issue of pride, and I's will do this numerous times in your life. By the way, I shared this in prayer meeting this morning, and I'll share it quickly again tonight. I was riding my bicycle, and I was working over this sermon, and I was going through all of these things, lusted the I's, lusted the I's. Man, I was just working all this out, had a great ride, the weather was great, everything was wonderful, me and God, working through the text, Glorious time, intimate walk with the Lord. I rode into Pelican Bay, turned left at the stop sign. I was pretty much through going with all of this. I'm like, okay, and my mind just went to wondering. I rode about 40 yards. I looked to the left, and there was a four-door Ford pickup. Looked just like mine. Had shiny chrome wheels. Those would look good on my truck. See, I struggled too. I just worked through this sermon. And in five minutes or less, I'm trying to figure out how come that guy's got those wheels and I don't. It works that way, guys. And how we need to battle these things. Joshua 7. Joshua 7. Joshua 7 and verse 21. I think the youth looked at this passage perhaps. No, not this one. It's a Genesis one. Joshua 7.21 says, oh yeah, this is Achan, I forgot. Okay, let's pick up in verse 19. And Joshua said to Achan, my son, give glory to the Lord, the God of Israel, and make a confession to him. I urge you, tell me what you have done. Don't hide anything from me. And Achan replied to Joshua, it's true. It's true, I've sinned against the Lord, the God of Israel. This is what I did. Notice the text. saw, when I saw, that's where the entire problem started. It's when I saw among the spoils this beautiful cloak from Babylon, 200 silver shekels. It's a bar of gold, weighed 50 shekels. I coveted. And then I took Saw, covet, take. It don't even stop there. You can see for yourself. And he invites them to go and look at these same objects. Notice the eyes are not only connected with sexual lust, they are not only connected with pride, but here they are connected with covening, just like the illustration of the me riding the bicycle. Works the same from little kids all the way up. You can take them all the way down to one year old. They see something somebody else has, I want it. You see this over here? I want that. As it progresses, we don't grow a bit. We get to be 80. I want that. I want a house like that. What we see causes us to covet to the point that we try any way in the world that we can take it. And since we're refined, righteous, and religious people, we don't steal. We just put it on the credit card. Amen. Genesis 39, 7. There wasn't very many amens. Genesis 39 and 7. And this is the one I think the youth looked at. Genesis 39 and 7. You see this woman and she comes after Joseph. If you pick up the verse before in verse 6, you find the line, Joseph was well built and handsome. How did she know that? She saw him. She saw him. And after some time, his master's wife looked, and she looked longingly, desiringly, lustingly at Joseph and said, boldness, because of her eyes and the wickedness of her heart, she forgot all of the things of leading up to this moment. She has said, come sleep with me. That's what the eyes will do in the sense of sexual lust. And so you see that one again. So you say, well, Pastor, what do you recommend? I recommend Job 31.1. That's what I recommend. Job said, I made a covenant with my eyes. I made a covenant with my eyes. I think there's more to that verse. Let me read there. Job 31.1 says, yes, I've made a covenant with my eyes. How then could I look at a young woman? You take it to heart. Most times we don't like covenants, they're too binding. But make a covenant with your eyes. Or do Psalms 100 verse 3, I will set no wicked thing before my eyes. Make some type of agreement with God. Make us again, as I said this morning, have an accountability, someone that would love you enough to rebuke you, someone that would love you enough to take these issues and be serious with these issues, someone that would sit down with you or talk over the phone with you and say, what have you been beholding this week? What have your eyes been looking upon this week? What has made you weak this week? What has caused you to stray this week? What is it that happens when you get down on your knees and you pray? What do you see after 30 seconds? It's that real. Let's just be honest about it. Times in my life, I bow down and pray. 30 seconds into it, I'm seeing motorcycles. I don't know what that has to do with prayer, but they're red and they keep going by. Amen? My mind starts wondering, and I'm supposed to be praying, and all these carnal ambitions are going by. Happened this morning, and it's already happened tonight. Many of you have already thought about many things outside of the walls of this church you wished you were a part of instead of listening to this crazy sermon tonight. That's how wicked the heart is, and it works through the eyes, and we envision those things, and we want to act upon them. Have someone that would hold you accountable to these things. Now, let us turn our attention to the New Testament to show you the heart and what is there and then again back to the eyes. Mark chapter 7. Mark in chapter 7 and verse 21. This is the revelation of the heart. Mark 7. Oh, let's start with verse 20. Then he said, what comes out of a person, what comes out of a person, that defiles him. Notice, go all the way back to Genesis 3, that serpent, that woman you gave me, always wanting to blame something else. Look, what comes out of here, it's because it's here. And so we want to spend all of our time casting blame out there, but it's what's here that's the problem. This is the root. This is the thing that needs to be addressed. This is what must be dealt with. There will be people that spend their entire lives blaming all of the world, like for somehow the wickedness and depravity of man back in I don't know how long ago, it's Walmart's fault because of something, because they sell guns. We want to blame somebody else. I mean, why don't we blame the one who has the gun and pulls the trigger? That type of thing. Let us look within our own heart, Jesus says, because that's where the defiling comes from. It is verse 21, for from within, it's out of people's hearts. What comes out of the heart? Evil thoughts, sexual immoralities, thefts, murders, adulteries, greed, evil actions, deceit, lewdness, stinginess, blasphemy, pride, and foolishness. All these things come from within, and they are the very thing that defile a person. So that's what exists. That's where some darkness is down here. We see something out here, it connects what is this here, and then we move with action. Don't take and spend the rest of your life blaming all of the things you saw. Ask God to deal with the reality of what is going on in your own heart. Myself, for you as well. There's this problem in my heart, in this corridor of my heart, where I keep the door shut and don't let anybody in. God, there's wickedness there. Help me get rid of it. God, deliver me. Purge me. Cleanse me. Examine me. God, help me. Cleanse me by Thy blood. By the way, That's just good preaching to cause you to run to the Savior. I'm not giving you a self-help book. I'm not saying three ways to make your life better. I'm not even trying to sound creative or intelligent in any way. What I want you to do is take the dark corridors of your heart that you already know you struggle with and I want you to run with Jesus. Run to Him. Ask for His help. I don't want you to become dependent upon me or upon each other in that regard. Run to Jesus. He can deal with your sinfulness. He can deal with adulterous women. He can deal with somebody who's had five husbands and the one she's living with is not her own. He can deal with these issues. Take them to Him. Matthew 5, 27 through 30, you don't have to turn there, but even looking can cause idolatry. Maybe I should turn there. Matthew 5, 27 says, You have heard that it was said, oh yeah, I do not commit adultery, but I tell you, everyone who looks at a woman to lust in her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If you're, okay. And so this looking caused this adultery. And so that is the turning of the heart. We've already mentioned this many times, but look now, Matthew 18 verse seven, Matthew 18 verse seven. I know this sounds extreme, and I had a professor in seminary, we about killed each other over this verse. I still think he's wrong, he still thinks I'm wrong, and there you have it. One of us is, I'm sure. Maybe both. Matthew 18 and verse 7, woe to the world because of offenses, for offenses must come, but woe to that man by whom the offense comes. And here's where we begin to differ. If your hand or your foot causes your downfall, cut it off and throw it away. It's better for you to enter life maimed or lame than to have two hands, two feet, and then to be thrown into eternal fire. If your eye causes your downfall, gouge it out, throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye rather than to have two eyes and to be thrown into hellfire. Jesus was very clear with these things. Now, there's some that would say this is figurative. I think Jesus is being downright blatantly honest. It's just what I believe. Now, I know there are records of people who have gone out and done these things, and that's why I like the definition we started with. There are some that have actually gouged out their eyes where they wouldn't have any more lust. It didn't work because they could still see with their intellect. But Jesus is giving us a principle here, that which we would do whatever measure necessary to cut off that which would cause us to stumble. Take extreme measures if necessary. We need to get to a point that we deal with the radical darkness of our heart honestly before God. We might actually have to fast for a few days. We might actually have to get rid of some things in our life. We might actually have to memorize scripture or something like that. Do something radical. Cut off those things which cause thee to stumble. It'd be far better in the long run. Okay, what is included? I've hit a couple of these. There's not much here left, but let us mention these. What is included? I think you have gotten it. But one is keeping up with the Joneses. Our world is good at this stuff. Here's how it works. I used to wash windows for a living because it was good money and I could move around a lot and I liked it and so it helped me get through seminary. And here's what I noticed. It's real easy. It is easy in the window washing business. All you do is you go to a new neighborhood where they got a lot of new houses and you wash one house and you do real good. That's all you got to do. You got a business. Why? Because the neighbor feels like they've been outdone. And before you get off the parking lot, they call and say, can you give me a bid? Why? Because I can't let them outdo me with clean windows. Works the same in the business world. You go to a shopping mall, you go in and you make one of those businesses shine, the windows sparkle, they all come out and they look. Hey, could you give me a bid? They know how this works. We gotta keep up with everybody else. This matter of lusting of the eyes deals with keeping up with the Joneses, if you will. Whether it's your windows, whether it's what you drive, whether whatever you live in, Even to the point we're so sad in this world, we even compete with lawnmowers. If I get a Murray from Walmart and my neighbor's got a snapper, man, we got to do something. Can't let him ride a red snapper while I'm driving this piece of junk Murray. We've got to keep up. And so this lust of the eyes entails all of those things. When is it that you could be content with your push mower that you got for $50 from your buddy Bob, and it cuts the grass and you don't have to use a wooden sickle like they did in the old days. When is it that you can be content that God gave you grass? Amen. It includes judging appearances by outward show. We do this in dress. We do this in church. And I know in some churches, if you're not dressed to a certain degree, they just think you're of way lesser sort. I'm afraid if Jesus come walking to the church, they would treat Him like an outcast when He is the very revelation of God. We do not any investigation to the inward, to the outward. Oh, Dr. Jones, Martin Lloyd-Jones, he said it this way. It's a kind of vanity which delights in pomp and mighty splendor, in an appearance, in anything that appeals to the eye. Let me give just a little bit on what the world does. This is nothing new for you, I'm sure you know it. I came in with Tommy the other day from Springtown and I was just driving, or I was riding actually, and I looked up and there's a Bass Pro Shop billboard on 199 coming from Springtown. I'm like, Bass Pro Shop? There's no Bass Pro Shop on 199. And then down the bottom it says, it's north of DFW Airport. like why do they have a sign over here 199 for a store 75 80 miles away because people look at it and it makes them want to go 75 80 miles wouldn't that be neat you're driving through Wichita's first Baptist Church of Briar 80 miles ahead on the right Wow. But it works for the world. Why? Because they show you what your heart already wants to see every day, whether it's the TV. You know, I didn't know this. I think I heard this from Dr. Moeller, but did you know that, and maybe you've kept up with it, but they show commercials every eight minutes? I didn't know that. They do that intentionally, by the way. They show something, boom, eight minutes, commercial. Why? Because that's what will get you to buy. Why is it that the world has all the money? Because they show you what you wanna see, they tell you it's on sale, and all of a sudden, it spawns with your heart, you have to have it, because other people have it, and there it is, and you saw it, and so we have to run out and buy it. You say, oh, that business won't work. They'll pay millions of dollars for a little blurb on the Super Bowl. Why would anybody pay? umpteen millions of dollars to advertise whatever they advertise this year. It's people who buy it. Because it's there in their heart, there's the lust and the craving. All they have to do is get it to the eye and it'll cause the people to get up and go buy it. You say, does that work? You know it works. Magazines, mail outs, all of these things. Do you think it's accidental that they advertise all the toys around Christmas? Do you think it's accidental? Here in the next few days, I'm sure it's already happening. I don't know because I haven't been to Walmart but once in the last two or three years. But when you walk in there, What's going to happen? Everyone of you know that's going to Walmart. What are you going to see? You're going to see a fat, plump bunny with big ears and lots of candy. Why? Because they know you're going to buy it. And you're going to see it, you got to have it, you long for it. My baby has got to have a bunny. Valentine's Day, what are you going to see? Big heart box, lots of candy, and you start feeling guilty. And I don't get my wife that candy, I'll be seen as a slum bucket. The world does that, slum buckets East Texas. The paper, the computer, the department stores, why is it that they dress up mannequins? Why is it they do all of these things? Because they know you'll see it and you'll want it. If you don't war against these things, you just become pawns that the world uses for its own gain and for your loss. The world does it because it works. They make tons of money off your eyes. It is so successful, you and I both know it will not stop anytime soon. They are only going to find even more ways to catch your eyes. So church, what do we do? We war against the lust of the eyes. The same things I said this morning, I say again in closing. Ephesians 6 will help. Put on the full armor of God in order that you may be able to stand. And having done all, stand. Prayer, Scripture, memory, fasting will help. Accountability with a brother, consistency in church, outreach in ministry, studying the consequences of sin. And again, I still think the greatest factor of what will help you to wage war against the lust of the flesh or the lust of the eyes is studying Christ. Think about it. do you think would attract the Lord Jesus' eyes in this day and age if He was walking in physical flesh and blood again? You think when He drove down 199, He would get up the next morning, drive to the Bass Pro Shop? And I'm not saying in and of itself it's sin. You know what I'm saying. But would He be drawn by the trinkets of the world that He knows is passing? Or would He find His contentment with His God? The disciples run off, they've got to go get food. Jesus, you've got to eat. My meat is to do the will of Him who sent me. He found a contentment with His Lord. If nothing else, at least think about that today. Based upon the sermons, lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes. Maybe you could take that one matter to God. God, help me to be content with what I have. Be content with what I have. If you cannot be content with what you have now, it is very unlikely that you will be content with what you get tomorrow. If you can't be content, you are overloadedly wealthy. You say, now you're lying. No, I'm not. I've been places in the world. You are wealthy. If you can't be content with all the trinkets you have now, you're not going to be content with one more trinket on the list. So Lord, help us to be content in our relationship with Him. Let us pray tonight.