Guard Your Eyes - Pastor Stacey Shiflett
- Pastor Shiflett
- Jun 15
- 8 min read
Guard Your Eyes!
Psalms 101:3 I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me.
Intro: This is a message that might save someone’s marriage from being destroyed.
It might save someone’s ministry from being ruined.
It might save someone’s mind from being polluted.
One thing is certain – we have a problem in America with what we look at!
I see five very specific things in this verse.
I want to break this verse down into 5 parts and look at each aspect carefully.
I. A Seeing of the Wickedness
· I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes…
Definition of WICKED: worthless, good for nothing, unprofitable, base fellow; wicked; ruin, destruction
Pornography is a wicked thing.
We’ve got mixed company, and young children in here, so from this point on, I will simply refer to pornography as “wicked thing.”
Quick Facts:
· 1 out of every 5 internet searches is for wicked things.
· A 2024 analysis estimates at least 327,000 wicked things domains alone
· 70% of all wicked things is accessed through mobile phones.
· Every second, 28,285 users are looking at wicked things on the internet
· Every second, $3,075 is spent on wicked things.
· Of those people, 72% are men, and 28% are women.
· A new wicked things movie is created every 39 minutes in the United States alone.
· 35% of internet downloads are related to wicked things.
· “Wicked things” is a 97 billion dollar industry, with 17% of it coming from the US alone.
Is it a problem in our churches, among Christians?
· When surveyed, 53% of men who attended Promise Keepers said they viewed wicked things that week.
· More than 45% of Christians admit that looking at wicked things is a major problem in their home.
· An anonymous survey by pastors.com reported that 54% of pastors admitted to viewing wicked things in the last year.
· In an online Christian newsletter, 34% of female readers of Today’s Christian Woman admitted to looking at it.
· 21% of Christian men and 2% of Christian women say they think they might be addicted to it
· 28% of men and 11% of women say they were first exposed to wicked things before the age of 12.
The Bible is very clear; what we see and look at affects our heart.
· Lamentations 3:51 Mine eye affecteth mine heart…
TV shows and movies have become so corrupted with scenes of immorality.
Many Christians have a heart problem that is directly to the fact that they’ve got eye problems.
Jesus encouraged his disciples to look on the fields, knowing it would create a burden.
· John 4:35 Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.
When Jesus saw the people, He was moved with compassion.
· Matthew 9:36 But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.
What we see so affects our hearts and minds that God even forbids looking at certain things in order to keep from being tempted.
The Bible not only forbids drinking fermented, alcoholic beverages, but the Bible tells us not to even look at it.
Proverbs 23
· 29 Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes?
· 30 They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine.
· 31 Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright.
· 32 At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.
One of the reasons why God warned of the dangers of alcohol was what it leads to.
Notice the next verse:
· 33 Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things.
In the Old Testament, God condemned the sin of adultery.
In the New Testament, Jesus took it one step further.
Matthew 5
· 27 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery:
· 28 But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.
Looking causes lust; lust causes sin.
James 1
· 14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.
· 15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
· 16 Do not err, my beloved brethren.
II. A Seduction that Works
Definition of WORK: to do, fashion, accomplish, make, to do, work, make, produce, to act, act with effect, effect
The enemy has put in a lot of work to manufacture and create these wicked things BECAUSE THEY WORK!
It works!
From the Garden of Eden, the serpent knew the power of SIGHT.
· Genesis 3:6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired
There are women that will dress provocatively in order to seduce you and cause you to sin.
· Proverbs 7:10 And, behold, there met him a woman with the attire of an harlot, and subtil of heart.
They love to flaunt their body.
· In public.
· In social media posts.
· In the gym.
· Even in church.
They wear clothing that is completely inappropriate.
David’s sin with Bathsheba was triggered by what he saw.
2 Samuel 11
2 And it came to pass in an eveningtide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king’s house: and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself; and the woman was very beautiful to look upon.
· 3 And David sent and enquired after the woman.
What they wear does not alleviate our responsibility to GUARD OUR EYES!
You can’t put all of the blame on them if you’re the one staring.
The devil knows what he is doing.
He has saturated our society with immodesty, nakedness and lasciviousness.
The access to pornography is unprecedented.
It is addictive.
III. A Swerving in the Walk
· “…I hate the work of them that turn aside…”
Definition of TURN ASIDE: to swerve, fall away
It is Satan’s plan to get you to fall; to stumble; to swerve out of the right way.
The strategy is not complicated.
It is to get you OFF TRACK.
What you watch and look at will mess you up!
Jesus was so convinced of the power of the eyes, that He told people to pluck out their eyes if it offended them.
· Matthew 5:29 And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
OFFEND: to put a stumbling block or impediment in the way, upon which another may trip and fall, metaph. to offend; to entice to sin; to cause a person to begin to distrust and desert one whom he ought to trust and obey; to cause to fall away
The Bible is clear – what you look at will affect your heart.
It will literally alter your course; your path; your walk with God, your family and with others.
IV. A Sticking that is Wearisome
· …it shall not cleave to me.
Definition of CLEAVE: to cling, stick, stay close, cleave, keep close, stick to, stick with, follow closely, join to, overtake, catch
What you watch and look at sticks to you.
It is one of those things that once you get it on you, you can hardly get it off.
It is addictive.
· There are people sitting in our pews that are addicted to pornography.
· They are addicted to horror films.
· They are addicted to social media.
· They are addicted to their cellphones.
· They are addicted to the internet.
· It is called a NET; a World Wide Web. A NetWORK.
They have allowed the devil to literally hardwire their brain and now they can’t function without it.
V. A Strategy to Win
The answer is simple – set no wicked thing before your eyes.
Definition of SET: to put, set, lay (hand upon), to set, station, appoint, fix, set mind to
Job’s solution to the problem in his generation was to make a covenant with his eyes.
· Job 31:1 I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid?
COVENANT: covenant, alliance, pledge; between men; treaty, alliance, league
THINK: to perceive, discern; to understand, know (with the mind); to observe, mark, give heed to, distinguish, consider
There are several things that we can do to help GUARD OUR EYES.
A. Personal Aspiration for Purity
I will set no… I made a covenant… why then should I…
Daniel PURPOSED IN HIS HEART that he would not defile himself. (Daniel 1:8)
That’s where it starts.
(Read the entire chapter 101:1-8)
Notice how many times David says I WILL and I SHALL.
B. Public Accountability with People
Having people that you love and trust as accountability partners.
Beware of too much privacy. It is not good that man be alone! (that’s what God said!)
A child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame. (Proverbs 29:15)
Joseph was falsely accused by Potiphar’s wife, because he was alone in the house with her!
Genesis 39
· 11 And it came to pass about this time, that Joseph went into the house to do his business; and there was none of the men of the house there within.
· 12 And she caught him by his garment, saying, Lie with me:
C. Preventive Arsenal for Protection
There are preventive measures that you can put in place to help protect you from those “wicked things.”
Walls work. Filters work. Blockers work. Software on your devices were created to help protect you.
Research them. Buy them. Install them. Utilize them.
D. Perpetual Attitude of Prayer
NOTE: The average Christians spends between 3 and 7 minutes a day in prayer, compared to 4.7 hours on their phones.
Do you see now why we have a problem with our eyes?
· Matthew 26:41 Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.
Jesus taught His disciples to pray this:
· Matthew 6:13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil:
· 1 Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
Conclusion: The prayer of David after his sin with Bathsheba is a powerful prayer.
The man that wrote this chapter was David.
It is filled with references to:
· Confession
· Contrition
· Conversion
You can get right with God, but you need to do something different to help you GUARD YOUR EYES.
