Ryan Swanson: And welcome back to the Satisfied Podcast. Here on the Thee Generation Network, this is Ryan Swanson, and we are just about ready to wrap up our series on the prerequisites of pornography, the things that must be in place for us to give way and fall to the lust of the flesh. We have covered a good amount of ground in this series, probably getting into more details than I thought we would initially because of the feedback we were getting, but this was not meant to be a very comprehensive series. It was… Really just meant to be a summary that would lead to today’s discussion.

What we’re going to get to today is so, so crucial, and this is why this entire series came to be, was on today’s discussion. We’ve discussed these three areas of desire, availability, and isolation, but how these fit together into a framework, into a battle plan that each one of us need to put in place, I think this is the most important truth we’re going to hear in this series. You just can’t miss what we’re discussing today. It’s very, very exciting because I think it’s something we’ve honestly totally missed. And when you see it, it’s going to be awesome.

It’s going to be helpful. But this is something we need to, each one of us need to put into place. Once you get this and understand how this fits together and how this works together for a battle plan for you, you should be excited. You should be pumped at implementing this. Here we go.

We’ve talked about desire. We’ve talked about availability and isolation, those three prerequisites, the things required before you take that step in whatever way and fall to your lust. So we worked them through backwards, really. We started talking about isolation, and we’ll just review these real quickly here. So in this area of isolation, we discussed mainly from Ecclesiastes chapter 4, woe to him that is alone when he falleth, for he hath not another to help him up.

And we discussed how dangerous it is to be in a position where no one else knows where you’re at in your purity journey. No one knows the small compromises you’re making that are leading to larger compromises. No one knows what’s going on in your mind and your thought life. No one knows these things. And the warning in that passage that Solomon’s giving is, to him that is alone when he falleth.

It’s not a warning against falling, it’s a warning against being alone when you fall. For you hath not another to help you up,” he says. So beyond that, we discuss biblical support in verses such as, confess your faults one to another, pray one for another that you may be healed, iron sharpeneth iron. In other verses, we discuss on the importance of really the church functioning together in this area. We’ve got to be communicating clearly and sincerely and consistently in this issue on a regular basis.

We’ve got to be communicating. So that’s the battlefront of isolation. And of course, the application we took from that was accountability, daily accountability, which I would recommend over the court app. That’s what that’s for. But there’s other ways to do that.

And that’s fine. And really, the church is also a big part of that application, is getting involved in a local church and not just there, but being plugged in and being discipled and discipling and just and having relationships where you can be consistently transparent in this area. Secondly, we discussed availability, which of course is only growing greater and greater in the day in which we live. That’s a large reason even why we’re having to deal with this so much is just because of the increase of availability. The devil is just attacking us so hard in this area of availability.

And it is right for us to be aware of this and to counter this attack of availability. We’re given scripture such as, no provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust thereof. But walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise. Be sober, be vigilant. For your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour.

So this area of availability, the devil certainly ramping up on his side. We’ve got to be ready and counteract and be willing to make drastic and maybe radical decisions on our part to lock things down, to close things out, so that this area of availability is not just always burning all around us. Where in any weak moment we can access the worst of filth, we’ve got to lock those things down. So in application, we discussed the locks and filters available, such as Covenant Eyes, accountable to you. Those are a couple that I know of.

There’s others. But definitely having some way to lock down your computer, lock down your iPad, lock down your phone, to guard in this battlefront of availability. So isolation, availability, and then lastly, which we really proved last time that this is the most important, is desire. Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. We talked about that promise and how there really is no such promise in the other two categories of availability and isolation.

Even though we just went through so much scripture in support of fighting that battle in the other categories, We’re not given such a clear statement and promise that I can see as we are here in this category of desire. Walk in the Spirit and ye shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. We have other verses. Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way by taking heed thereto according to thy word. If we confess our sins, is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

And then Matthew blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. And we discussed how Jesus is really and needs to be the end and the means of our purity. We’re doing it for Him. We’re doing it by Him. And ultimately this area of desire really comes down to how is your relationship with the Lord.

Application here, of course, spending time with the Lord, reading our Bible, praying, communing with Him. We even discussed last week the aspect of fasting to instill that desperation before God. A God-given tool, I believe, to recognize our inherent desperation before the Lord. So then in order, desire, availability, and isolation. Desire, availability, and isolation.

But how do these things fit together? If we’re not careful, we’re just going to try to look for the next thing that we’re not doing right, and we’re going to choose one of these categories and say, okay, I’ll try this this time, and I’ll try locking down my phone a little bit more and see how that does. Or maybe we hear about the cord app, so I’ll jump on there and see if that helps me out. Or maybe I know I need to read my Bible more, so let me try that and see if that works. And I’m noticing the problem that is nearly universal across the board is that we fail to take the entire counsel of God in each of these areas that He has warned us about, in each of these areas that He’s given us Scripture on that are clearly areas we need to be prepared for.

Desire, availability, isolation. But what we do is we tend to one. And let me just do this one and see if that will work. Now I want to be careful here because I’m going to challenge some of our thinking as well as we do this and even some of the counseling and maybe even preaching. Although it’s not my point to pick someone else’s teaching or preaching apart, but it is my point to set this straight and get it right.

And we just need to do that. There may have been a day in which you could just choose one of these categories, focus on that and tell someone, just do this, just read your Bible, pray every day, and that would be sufficient. But I’m telling you, that’s not the day in which we live. We live in a day in which we need to take the entire counsel of God to defend against the wicked one. We need to put on the entire armor of God so that we can stand in this evil day.

So let me give you some examples of some wrong thinking, that does not do this, that does not take into consideration the entire counsel of God. Let’s start in this area of desire, which honestly has definitely been a focus of our churches, at least the circles that I’m in, has been a focus and has been the primary council in this area. If you’re struggling with pornography, with purity, it’s no different than anything else. You just need to read your Bible and pray, focus on your relationship with the Lord. You need to have more faith that God can deliver you, trust Him, and He’s going to take care of it.

You have the victory, brother. Have you heard that before? Well, again, let me say, all of those things are true. There’s nothing wrong with those statements. The danger can come if we don’t allow the rest of scripture to speak in these other areas and we carelessly walk back out into the war zone.

Only looking at this area of desire and the devil’s going to get us on the other side of availability and isolation. Again, if we had a perfect relationship with the Lord, if we knew that we truly were walking in the Spirit every single step and there was no way that we could step out of that, then correct. We wouldn’t need anything else. We wouldn’t need locks. We wouldn’t need filters.

We wouldn’t need the cord app. We wouldn’t need these things. We could just focus on a relationship with the Lord. But I’m so thankful that God knew that short of our glorified body someday, we’re going to make mistakes. We are going to fall.

And so He gives us such warnings as, woe to him that is alone when he falls. Make no provision for the flesh. He’s trying to help us set ourselves up for victory in these other areas. He gives us instruction for relationship with Him and He’s ready to give us victory in that way. But he doesn’t just stop there, he lays out an entire battle plan for us.

So then with that in mind, you tell me what’s so dangerous when I’ve got guys that come to me and say, well I don’t need an internet filter because I’m just focusing on my relationship with the Lord. They say, oh I’m not gonna put a filter on because there’s always ways around filter. So that’s just a false sense of reliance there and I’m not gonna put that on there so I’m gonna leave. It completely open because I want to see God do that kind of miracle and just deliver me in the biggest way with everything available. So I’m going to leave that totally open and just focus on reading my Bible and praying every day.

Do you think that’s wise? Not only is it unwise, it’s unbiblical. And someone else says, oh, I don’t really need accountability because I’m focused on my relationship with the Lord and I don’t want to replace the relationship I have with him, with human beings. So I’m just going to focus on that. And I don’t need to be communicating with these things to other people.

This is just between me and the Lord and God can give me victory. So I’m just going to focus on that and not tell anyone else what’s going on. Not only is it unwise, it’s unbiblical. You see what I’m saying? We pick one of these areas, but it’s not always desire.

In the same way, and maybe this happens more often, somebody says, oh, I’ve locked down all my devices, so I’m all set. I’m not worried. I’m going to have victory now because I’ve got covenant eyes. I’m going to have victory now because someone locked down my app store. But they’re not focusing on the relationship with the Lord and they’re not daily accountable and getting help from other people in their church and being transparent on a regular basis because they’re just focusing on this area of availability.

What about someone in isolation that jumps on the court app? And honestly, this is one of my biggest fears is that somebody jumps on the court app and thinks this is the answer. Now I’ve got daily accountability. This feels so good to be transparent. Now I can actually talk about this with someone else.

And so they forget their relationship with the Lord, as they depend on others and just focus on this one area. Yes, a biblical area, but they just focus on this one area of combating in this area of isolation. And so they forget the relationship with the Lord. And then eventually, I don’t need as many locks on my devices because I’m just going to tell someone about it and I’m transparent. And so now they’ve opened up their availability and I don’t need covenant eyes because I have the cord and I don’t need filters because I’ve got accountability.

And you see, we just focus on one And you see, we just choose and focus on one. Someone that’s checking in daily on the court app and doesn’t have the relationship with the Lord in check. Do you know what’s going to happen? This is what’s going to happen. First of all, they’re going to start having small compromises.

It’s that desire to do the wrong thing, that lust of the flesh is burning inside of them. It’s unchecked because they haven’t been walking in the Spirit. And so that’s burning inside of them, and eventually that initial fear of having to confess it to somebody is not going be enough to keep them from doing it. They’re going to start making smaller compromises. The first smaller compromises, they’ll check in with their group and say, hey, pray for me because I took a second glance or because I struggled with thoughts or I wasn’t wise in this area.

But then as those get deeper and more consistent, They’re just going to say, what’s the use and either start justifying it and being dishonest and not communicating the right thing or just stop checking in altogether. If you don’t have that desire in check, what’s the point on the cord? I tell people all the time as we’re discussing the cord and presenting this, as they get excited about, hey, that’s great, share it with other people, let them know about this, but don’t share the cord without Christ because it’s not going to work. And then they’re going to blame us. This isn’t made to work without Christ.

A focus on isolation without getting your desire in check is futile. And in the same way someone that says, I’ve got my internet filters locked down so I’m all set. And if their desire is not in check, guess what’s gonna happen? It’s gonna bubble up inside. All that lust that’s there unchecked because they’re not walking in the spirit.

And eventually that is going to seep and find ways around those filters. It’s gonna happen. But I believe it’s just as wrong to say, because internet filters are fallible and there’s ways around them that they’re useless, and we don’t have to worry about this area of making no provision for the flesh. It’s just as wrong to say, oh, well, the cord app, you can just lie on that thing. So what’s the point?

It’s just an honor system. There’s ways around it. So I’m not going to worry about being alone when I fall. You see, by picking it apart and saying one of these is fallible and it’s not really going to work, you actually proved my point, because we’re giving the entire counsel of God and when one is weak and when the devil gets around one we need to be prepared in the others. We’ve got to be prepared in each of these three areas and well-meaning men and I’m not thinking of one or two in particular I’m just thinking across the board we focus on this area of desire and preach this like we should but we leave out practically what your desire and relationship with the Lord should lead you to do in setting up these filters and getting accountability, things that Christ has told us to do.

So friends, please focus on your relationship with the Lord. That’s got to be number one. And that’s why we spent an entire series on that, on the search for God. But we are so unwise at how we walk out into the war zone. In fact, we’re living in the war zone.

And we think because of this relationship with the Lord that we have, we can just row out in the middle of the lake, shoot holes in the bottom of the boat, as one preacher put it, and then cry out for Jesus to save us. Yes, he can, but that doesn’t mean we should be so stupid about it. Go out in the war zone without your phone locked down, and when you’re tempted and the devil tries to get you and you’re on your face, then you cry out for the Lord to save you. Go out there in the battlefield all alone because you haven’t set up accountability, you’ve got no one you’re answering to, and when you fall you’re alone. When you fall you don’t have someone to help you back up.

Go out there and then when you do fall and the devil gets you and you’re on your face, then you cry out for the Lord to save you because of the relationship you have with him, and he says, I already tried to save you. It didn’t have to come to this. Listen, most of our churches pick one of these areas to focus on. Any one of them. Most of us as counselors focus on one of these areas.

And most of us as individuals for ourselves will focus on one area. One of these areas to implement for ourselves. And my problem with that, if you’re just going to preach, counsel, and focus on one at a time, you have to ignore two-thirds of scripture on the issue. And just because accountability is in everything doesn’t mean it’s nothing. And just because our locks and filters in this area of availability aren’t everything doesn’t mean it’s nothing.

And just because you feel like there have been times in your life where you had a relationship with the Lord and you did read your Bible and you did spend time in prayer and you still fell doesn’t mean it’s nothing. The fact is it’s a rare man or woman that takes the entire counsel of God in this area, that walks consistently in the relationship with the Lord with their devices and other things locked down, continually looking for ways to decrease availability, and then having groups and means set up of communication so that smaller compromises can be communicated before they lead to relapse. It’s a rare person that is actually obedient in each of these three areas. And friends, it’s about time we wake up to this because this is God’s battle plan for your purity. Are you willing to fight the battle in all three of these areas, desire, availability, and isolation?

You just pick one, you’ve got to ignore two-thirds of scripture on the issue. You just pick one, the devil’s gonna get you, and the other two. So the question is, why do we do this? We’re gonna dig a little bit deeper here, and then we’ll be done. But why do we just choose one of these things, and either just focus on one for ourselves, or just focus on one in our council, or just focus on one in our preaching?

Why do we do that? We just focus on one. There is a danger of arrogance. Friends, we need to be very, very careful about arrogance in this area, really in any area. But for some reason, I think in this area of purity, it has hurt us so much.

Individuals that maybe it’s because it was the biggest thing that they were missing. It was new news to them, and so now it’s just everything for everyone else. And it can be presented very arrogantly as This is the answer. I definitely have to deal with this when I focus on accountability so much because that’s real to me because that’s something that was missing so much and it helped and helps so much. But it’s not everything.

And if I’m so arrogant that I’m just preaching accountability everywhere and I can’t listen to how God is working in other people’s lives in different passages of scripture he’s using in different tools and different truths that he’s using in their lives. If I get arrogant because of that, I am dangerous. Arrogance always results in fatalities. Because pride goeth before destruction, arrogance always results in fatalities, whether it’s yourself or others, I think many times others. A little over a year ago now, our son was diagnosed with craniosynostosis.

We’ve, I think, talked a little bit about it here on the podcast, not much, but it was just an issue with the development of his skull that required surgery. So my wife and I, and especially my wife, was doing a lot of research on this to try to find the right surgery because there’s several different types of surgeries that could be done. There’s so many different doctors and surgeons out there that will do them. Everybody’s got a different opinion on each surgery and each doctor. And so trying to decide the right thing for our son at that time four months old was a very very difficult thing.

Now we did have a local surgeon that we went to to get his advice and opinion and to see about this guy doing the surgery on our son’s skull. So we took our four month in there and we sat down with this surgeon and he immediately starts going into all his qualifications and how many dozen surgeries he’s done and and how few complications he’s had and right off the bat My wife and I were just getting a little bit uneasy, wondering if we could trust this guy. So then we probed a little bit by asking him what he thought about the other world-renowned doctors that are doing these surgeries. Our local doctor was doing kind of an archaic version of the surgery. There’s newer ones out there.

His still works. It’s just a lot older. It’s been done a long time the way he does it. But he just starts going to town trashing these other doctors saying they have no idea what they’re talking about. There’s no need for these other surgeries that they’re doing because his is working just fine and he’s done a couple dozen of them and they’ve turned out great.

So why would we even consider someone else? And my wife and I knowing the type of credentials and the success of these other surgeries and surgeons were a bit taken back by this and I tell you, I had no trust for this surgeon because of arrogance. So next we flew out 1500 miles, we flew to Texas, to El Paso, Texas. We sat down with a world renowned doctor. His name is Dr.

David Hernandez, probably in his 60s. And the man’s done over a thousand of these particular surgeries. He does it endoscopically, it’s much less traumatic, much less blood loss, it’s so much better for the child. We found out from someone else, not from him, he actually wrote the book on the surgery literally and invented this surgery that now doctors from all around the world fly in to be trained by this guy right here. He’s done over a thousand of them.

But he very humbly takes my son in his arms as we’re talking to him for the first time about this surgery. And he said, Mr, and Mrs. Swanson, I need you to know, and he starts tearing up. He said, I need you to know that if you let me do this surgery, I will treat this boy like he’s my own son. Because Parker was God’s son first, and God has given me this responsibility.

And here’s a man who’s done over a thousand of these and is still tearing up as he humbly tells this to us. I got a question for you. Do you think we drove 15 miles and went with the arrogant local doctor, or did we fly 1,500 miles to a doctor we could trust because he was humble? Yeah, absolutely. We went to Texas and we’ve been there several times since.

In fact, Parker just graduated from his therapy helmet that he’s had on for 23 hours a day, seven days a week for over a year. And he just finished that and we’re thrilled with the work that God did through that surgeon, which, by the way, passed away just less than a month after that surgery. It was one of the last ones he did. We’re so thankful we went to someone we could trust. A humble man.

He wasn’t arrogant. You can’t trust arrogance because arrogance often results in casualties. Can’t tell you how many times, dozens and dozens of times, I’ve had young men come to me again confessing in some way, looking for help because they’ve fallen in one way or the other, but they seem so encouraged because of something God just gave them in their devotions that’s going to change everything this time. It’s all different now. Or they seem so encouraged because they’re now committing to a more prayer time or they’re so encouraged because they’re now joining the cord and that’s gonna change everything or they’re so encouraged because they’ve finally locked down their last device and that’s gonna seal the deal now.

For some reason we can get just so naive and arrogant when we think we’ve found the answer and the devil wants us to do that. He wants us to latch on to one thing and this is it. This is the answer. And we get this sense of invincibility, like because I have this and I’m focusing on this area, there’s no way the devil could get me. Let him that thinketh he standeth, heed, lest he fall.

When we get arrogant, we choose one of these areas and we only focus on that. And if we’re going to be biblical here, if we’re going to see true victory, we need to be open to implementing the entire counsel of God. Desire, availability, isolation. And look, the fact is that that list of three could change next year as we see something else in scripture. That’s just how I see it at this point, is those three categories.

But one of you might think of something different, might want to share that with me. But that’s the whole point. We’ve got to be willing to learn, to be open to areas that we’re missing and blinded. And that’s why I just love hearing from some of you, hearing from other preachers, getting their thoughts on this. Because this isn’t about finding the one trademark system that works and it’s going to save everyone from this issue of pornography.

No, this is about the entire counsel of God and it’s something we need to be learning all the time. So if you have more thoughts on this, please reach out to me at ryan at satisfy.org. Shoot me an email and give me your thoughts. Maybe some other ways or another battlefront that needs to be fought. We’re also going to be transitioning in our series here, so if there are testimonies that you’d like to send in, I’d love to be able to share some of those and maybe this would be a good spot to do it of maybe you’re realizing issues where your thinking is wrong in this and you’d just like to share that to be a help to others.

Feel free again, shoot me an email, Ryan at satisfied.org. Next month is going to be kind of a bonus segment. It’s actually another area that I’m not sure how it fits in exactly with these three. But it’s another knife edge issue and that is the power of the choice. But I’m just gonna leave it right there.

I’m not telling you anymore about that and where we’re going. While I trust this has been a helpful series for you so far, I’d love to hear your thoughts on it, so feel free to reach out to me and share those. My friends, take some actionable steps today to be fortified in these three areas of desire, availability, and isolation so that you can be free to be less gratified, and more satisfied with Jesus Christ.