Welcome to the Daily Blade. The word of God is described as the sword of the spirit, the primary spiritual weapon in the Christians' armor against the forces of evil. Your hosts are Joby Martin and Kyle Thompson, and they stand ready to equip men for the fight. Let's sharpen up.

Welcome back, guys. This week on the Daily Blade, we're leaning on the work of Al Robertson as it pertains to men being respectable in the context of marriage. So Al uses Job 31 to elucidate that, and we're spending some time in those passages of the Old Testament chapter this week. Yesterday we used Job 31 verses 5 and 6 to show how men should walk in honesty. Today we're looking at Job 31, verses 1, 9, and 10. So let's look at Job 31, 1, 9, and 10 now. I've made a covenant with my eyes. How then could I gaze at a virgin? If my heart has been enticed towards a woman, and I have lain in wait at my neighbor's door, then let my wife grind for another and let another bow down on her. So how is a man respectable? He protects his eyes, his mind, and his faithfulness. So guys, this one is huge. You you knew this one was going to be big, but this one is absolutely huge. This is a top-tier struggle for just about all of us, Joby and myself included, and this is why. First Peter 5 8. Be sober-minded, be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. So, guys, Satan is not trying to take you out temporarily. Okay, he's not just trying to take out little parts of your life. He's trying to ruin you completely. He's trying to ruin all of us completely. And one of the main ways he attacks men is through sexual temptation and sin. So I kind of look at it this way. Last year at the Acts 29 conference, Matt Chandler spoke to a room full of pastors and he used a lion illustration. So he talked about a guy that had a pet baby lion. And he cared for the lion cub, he fed the lion, he played with it, and even as the lion continued to grow and grow and get stronger and stronger, the guy just kept feeding it and helping it grow. And then one day, the lion remembered it was an apex predator and it mauled the man to death. So Chandler said that that lion is our sin. A lot of us treat our sin as if it's a pet animal, right? We've convinced ourselves that it'll always be this small. I don't have to worry about it. I've got this under control. And then one day, whoof, I mean, it just takes us out, right? And the entire time we're getting mauled to death, we're wondering, what happened? Where did I go wrong? Right? Well, we go wrong when we think we can manage our sin. When we think that we can control it without laying it at the foot of the cross. And especially for Christian men, as you've likely heard Joby say, he tries to take them out with monies and honeys. That's what Satan does. He's trying to use monies and honeys. So a way to prevent that from happening is by protecting your eyes, your mind, and your faithfulness. So let's talk about our eyes. We protect our eyes by honoring God with them. We have to be serious about what we allow ourselves to look at. Psalm 101, 3. I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless. I hate the work of those who fall away, it shall not cling to me. And instead of worthless, some other translations, they use the word wicked, right? So it's it's wicked, it's worthless. So let's talk about wicked things that we do with our eyes. We look at porn, we look at sex scenes in movies or TV shows, we look at our waitress's tushy as she walks away from the table, and we think to ourselves, ah, you know, it's no big deal. I'm just looking. You know, we convince ourselves that our sin is small enough to control, just like that guy thought about the lion, right? Now let's talk about our minds. What we see with our eyes gets into our minds and it starts to control what we think about. And again, guys, our minds are a battleground. And typically what we do with our bodies starts out or is preceded by a thought in the mind. And as my buddy Victor Marx puts it, thoughts only come from three places God, Satan, or ourselves. And any thoughts that come from the evil one or our own sinful selves needs to get checked. And 2 Corinthians 10 5 is really helpful here. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God and take every thought captive to obey Christ. So again, if we don't control our eyes or minds, the lion is prowling around just waiting. Now let's talk about our faithfulness. So many guys will say, hey man, I ain't never cheated on my wife. I'm good. It's all it's all good to go here. Well, our faithfulness to our spouses doesn't begin with where we choose to put our sex organs, right? It begins with our eyes and our minds. So remember, Jesus gave us new categories for sin. So in Matthew 5.28, but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. I mean, this is an enormous deal. This is not something to be played around with. And for you single guys, faithfulness in your marriage starts way before you're even married. So, men, if you want to be respectable, especially as it pertains to your wife, you need to protect your eyes, your mind, and your faithfulness. We'll see you back here tomorrow.

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