Lust

Vice & Virtue

By Derek Webster, March 09, 2025

I. Longing is a virtue



For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.
Hosea 6:6

Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.
John 17:24





Longing for God



As the deer pants for the water, so my soul longs after you.
Psalm 42:1

Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
Psalm 73:25

The desire of the righteous ends only in good, the expectation of the wicked in wrath.
Proverbs 11:23



Longing for Intimacy



I am my beloved's, and his desire is for me.” Song of Sol 7:10              All of Song of Solomon, Ruth, Jacob, etc. 



II. Lust is a longing virus



13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. 14 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. 15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.
James 1:13-15



1 Now Joseph had been brought down to Egypt, and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard, an Egyptian, had bought him from the Ishmaelites who had brought him down there. 2 The Lord was with Joseph, and he became a successful man, and he was in the house of his Egyptian master. 3 His master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord caused all that he did to succeed in his hands. 4 So Joseph found favor in his sight and attended him, and he made him overseer of his house and put him in charge of all that he had. 5 From the time that he made him overseer in his house and over all that he had, the Lord blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake; the blessing of the Lord was on all that he had, in house and field. 6 So he left all that he had in Joseph's charge, and because of him he had no concern about anything but the food he ate.Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance. 7 And after a time his master's wife cast her eyes on Joseph and said, “Lie with me.” 8 But he refused and said to his master's wife, “Behold, because of me my master has no concern about anything in the house, and he has put everything that he has in my charge. 9 He is not greater in this house than I am, nor has he kept back anything from me except you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?” 10 And as she spoke to Joseph day after day, he would not listen to her, to lie beside her or to be with her.11 But one day, when he went into the house to do his work and none of the men of the house was there in the house, 12 she caught him by his garment, saying, “Lie with me.” But he left his garment in her hand and fled and got out of the house. 13 And as soon as she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and had fled out of the house, 14 she called to the men of her household and said to them, “See, he has brought among us a Hebrew to laugh at us. He came in to me to lie with me, and I cried out with a loud voice. 15 And as soon as he heard that I lifted up my voice and cried out, he left his garment beside me and fled and got out of the house.” 16 Then she laid up his garment by her until his master came home, 17 and she told him the same story, saying, “The Hebrew servant, whom you have brought among us, came in to me to laugh at me. 18 But as soon as I lifted up my voice and cried, he left his garment beside me and fled out of the house.”19 As soon as his master heard the words that his wife spoke to him, “This is the way your servant treated me,” his anger was kindled. 20 And Joseph's master took him and put him into the prison, the place where the king's prisoners were confined, and he was there in prison.
Genesis 39:1-20



## The lust virus starts by masquerading itself as a harmless or virtuous longing

The lust virus objectifies the object of its affection for self-gratification



## The lust virus moves us to do think or do things in the name of fulfillment that can be out-of-character

The lust virus sickens the host by warping judgement and can destroy lives in the process



III. Strategies and Hope



Strategy 1: Determine your response to temptation.

Flee. Capture (let it pass, count the cost, bounce, Bible, etc.). Accountability


Strategy 2: Consider it training. Good choices, despite bad consequences, train your identity



Strategy 3: Further your spiritual rootedness. Good choices, despite bad consequences, build resistance



Hope: "We root out [the vice/lust] by rooting ourselves in the Gospel.” - Kale Booher. Yes, the Kale Booher



8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10 But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
Romans 8:8-11



4 For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. 5 Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
1 John 5:4-5