Heath Lambert: It is Memorial Day, which for so many of us is the unofficial start of summer. We’re going to start thinking about barbecues, we’re going to think about summer vacations, and we are going to think about spending time at the pool, and at the beach, and at the water park. And what I want to do on the podcast this week is talk about how to pursue purity when you are at the pool, when you’re at the beach, and when you’re at the waterpark. As fun and enjoyable as these experiences are, we need to be honest that as Christians for so many men and for so many women, this is a challenge. There are numbers of people gathered at these places and they are immodestly dressed, and it can cause significant problems in the thought life, and in the spiritual life of people who are participating in it. And so, what we want to do is just take an opportunity to talk about some things that you can do as we enter into the summer season and how you can pursue purity when you go to the pool.
The first thing I want to encourage you to do is to pray. In Matthew 6:13, Jesus Christ encourages believers to pray that God would deliver them from temptation. If you are a person who is aware that it’s tempting for you to be at the pool and be looking at all of the immodest people that are there, then you should not go without praying. You can ask the Lord that he would deliver you from temptation, and you can be confident that that prayer, prayed in faith, will be answered by the Lord.
A second thing that you can do is memorize and meditate upon Scripture. Psalm 119:11 says, “I’ve hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.” The Bible is a weapon used against temptation to protect us from evil. You should be storing up the truth of the Word of God in your heart before you go to the pool. One specific text that you might consider looking at, working on, and memorizing is 1 Thessalonians 4:3. It says, “This is the will of God, your sanctification that you abstain from sexual immorality.” If you’re tempted to look at the immodest bodies of people at the pool, those immodest bodies are sending you a message. And the message is, “if you look at me, and if you let your thoughts go down this path, things are going to be good.” And what the Bible teaches us here is that that is not true. That it is God’s will that you be sanctified and that you avoid sexual immorality. These kinds of sins lead to death and you should run from it. And so you can memorize and meditate upon Scripture.
Another thing you can do, if you’re struggling in this area, is you can work to stay focused. Let me tell you a couple of things that I do in this regard. When I am at the pool, when I’m at the beach, when I’m at the water park, the only time I ever have occasion to do that is when I am there with my family. And so I remember that this is about my family. So when I’m there, I’m working on helping my wife, talking to my wife, playing with my kids, interacting with friends that we have there with us. And I remember my role here is as a husband, a father, a friend, a pastor, and a minister. And I don’t want to get sidetracked on the other things that might be going on. I don’t want to be looking around and seeing what other people are doing. Another way that I work to stay focused is in how to navigate and move around. You can be seeking to stay pure, seeking to keep your thoughts pure, and then somebody walks by you or you look at them, and next thing you know you’re in a struggle. One of the things that I do to help with this is just very intentionally looking when I’m walking along the beach, walking along the pool. I try to look up at the heads of people so that it’s less likely that I’m going to see an image that is distracting or that would be tempting and you can do that as well. You can just make a conscious effort. I’m not going to look around and try to see everything that I can see, but I’m going to keep my attention focused. I’m going to keep my eyes focused in a safe direction.
So you can pray before you go, you can memorize Scripture before you go and meditate upon Scripture while you’re there, you can stay focused while you’re there. But here’s the last thing I want to mention to you. If you are struggling in this area, it might be the case that you need not go to the pool. Matthew 18:9 says, “If your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It’s better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire.” Here’s what that means. That means it’d be better not to go to the pool and avoid temptation than to go to hell forever. The promise of Jesus here is that lust kills you. And the strategy of Jesus is to do what it takes to do to keep lust out of your life. And if you can’t keep lust out of your life at the pool, or the beach, or the water park, then you do not go. And this is not the end of the world, you will be fine. There might be some things that your friends do that you can’t do, but you’ll be fine. And if you need to have a conversation with your wife or with your family, that, “this is just not a good thing for our family to do. But there are other fun things that we could do.” Then you can do that. But in any event, it’s not worth a trip to hell just so you can have a day at the beach, and I’m being very serious. This is radical, but this is not my idea—this is the idea of Jesus Christ. Sin has to be dealt with and dealt with aggressively. And if you can’t handle the temptation at the beach and the pool, then you ought not to go.
This is about holiness, it’s about honoring the Lord Jesus Christ, and it’s about protecting you and your family from sin. And, you know what, we’re going to be praying for you this summer at ACBC that you would be pursuing purity as you have fun this summer with your family and with your friends.
