Let's think back on the Diana's temple from the beginning of this series. Whether you’re standing at the door, already inside, or walking out covered in shame—Jesus meets you there. Here’s how to fight temptation, flee entanglement, and heal from the past. The small lion must die before it kills everything you love.

To the Tempted (Curious at the Door)

Temptation isn’t sin—but it isn’t neutral. It trains your desires in a direction. Thomas Watson’s old wisdom still preaches:

• Choose companions wisely. Some rooms are on‑ramps to ruin (Prov. 13:20).
• Guard your eyes and inputs. Entertainment is discipleship in disguise (Ps. 101:3).
• Guard your heart. If a space or friendship cultivates discontent with your spouse, end it (Prov. 4:23).
• Beware idleness. Screwtape loves doom‑scrolling. Build a rule of life that includes worship, work, and real rest (Eph. 5:15–16).
• Delight in the Word. The Faithful One makes us faithful (Ps. 119:9–11).

God promises a way of escape (1 Cor. 10:13). Look for it. Take it. Tell someone when you do—courage multiplies in community.

To the Tangled (Living Inside the Temple)

If your sin is “working,” you’re trading diamonds for Monopoly money. The pet lion you feed will outgrow your leash. Confess now—before the cage breaks. Take immediate steps:

• Bring it to the light. Confess to God and a trusted believer (1 John 1:7–9).
• Cut off access. Remove apps, change numbers, set filters, move desks, change jobs if you must (Matt. 5:29–30).
• Invite accountability. Not perfection police—gospel friends who ask loving, specific questions.
• Pursue counsel. Wise pastors and Christian therapists are part of God’s rescue plan.
• Rebuild rhythms. Re‑establish worship, service, and friendship. Holiness isn’t a cul‑de‑sac; it’s a way of life.

If you don’t manage your appetites, your appetites will manage you.

To the Haunted (Walking Out in Shame)

Consequences can echo, but the cross silences condemnation. In Christ, the penalty is paid (Rom. 8:1), the power is broken (Rom. 6:6–14), and the presence is on the clock (Rev. 21:3–5). Don’t confuse presence with power. Don’t let yesterday narrate tomorrow. The Father runs toward prodigals (Luke 15); Jesus defends sinners and then disciples them: “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more” (John 8:11). Same Jesus—mercy and holiness in one voice.

Jesus Is Better

Moses brought the law; Jesus fulfilled it (Matt. 5:17). He doesn’t rinse sin; He drowns it. He doesn’t half‑forgive; He buries the record (Col. 2:13–15). He stands with the betrayed—He knows the ache of covenant‑breaking love. The gospel is strong enough to forgive the deepest betrayal, heal the most broken relationship, and sustain a faithfulness that mirrors God’s own.

Next Steps

• Tell one trusted believer today.
• If you’re married, schedule a candid, compassionate conversation this week.
• If you’ve been betrayed, ask for pastoral care and counseling. Healing is slow; you don’t have to walk it alone.
• Build a small rule of life (Scripture, prayer, weekly community, service, rest) to change your inputs and pace.

Questions for Reflection

1. Where are you—curious, tangled, or haunted?
2. What concrete step of honesty or help will you take in the next 24 hours?
3. What promise of Jesus do you most need right now?

A Simple Prayer

Jesus, have Your way. My body and desires are Yours. Lead me out of the temple and into Your light. Amen.

“You shall not commit adultery” is not a small‑minded "no". It’s a giant "yes" to connection, commitment, creation, and protection. Jesus doesn’t narrow the command—He deepens it—because He wants more for us than behavior management.

Beyond Line‑Drawing: From Loopholes to Lordship

Jesus takes the seventh commandment and presses it into the inner life: “everyone who looks at a woman in order to lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matt. 5:27–28). He’s not criminalizing noticing beauty; He’s confronting a direction of desire. Lust is rehearsed adultery. Holiness is not the absence of attraction; it’s the presence of allegiance.

Four Purposes: The “Anothers” of Sex

1. Connection (Intimacy with another). God designed a bonding process that harmonizes body, emotion, and spirit. Your neurochemistry agrees—oxytocin and vasopressin reward trust and union. Within covenant love, sex becomes a language of “I’m with you, fully.”
2. Consummation (Commitment to another). Public vows become embodied reality. Sex is not a souvenir of the wedding; it is part of the covenant glue that makes two become one flesh (Gen. 2:24; Matt. 19:5–6). Detached from covenant, sex eventually becomes hollow and then toxic.
3. Creation (Welcoming another). Pro‑creation isn’t the only purpose of sex, but it is a real and joyful one (Gen. 1:28; Ps. 127:3). We partner with our Creator to welcome image‑bearers. To reduce sex to procreation is an error; to ignore procreation is another.
4. Protection (Defense of another). “Do not deprive one another…so that Satan may not tempt you” (1 Cor. 7:5). Mutual generosity in marriage is spiritual warfare—guarding one another from isolation and fantasy’s lies.

Very little “me.” A whole lot of “another.”

About Porneia and the Bible’s Moral Map

When Jesus lists what defiles (Mark 7:20–23), He includes porneia—a broad term for sexual immorality that covers adultery, fornication, and other practices outside the one‑man, one‑woman covenant pattern of Genesis. The New Testament consistently reaffirms that pattern (Matt. 19:4–6; 1 Tim. 1:8–11). The church has sometimes been harsh or hypocritical; we lament that. But softening the map doesn’t make the journey safer. Clarity is not cruelty. Clarity is kindness.

From Behavior to Belonging

“You are not your own; you were bought with a price” (1 Cor. 6:19–20). The commandments are not a ladder for climbing to God but a light for walking with God. We don’t obey to be loved; we obey because we are loved—and because that love is remaking us.

Questions for Reflection

1. Which of the four purposes is most undernourished in your marriage right now?
2. Where are you looking for loopholes instead of submitting your loves to the Lord?

A Simple Prayer

Father, teach me to love my spouse as You have loved me—faithfully, tenderly, sacrificially.

Our culture tells two opposite stories at once—sex is nothing and sex is everything. Add a third lie—sex is about me—and you have a discipleship disaster. Scripture offers a saner, happier vision that treats sex as sacred, situated in covenant, and profoundly other‑oriented.

Lie #1: “Sex is no big deal.”

If we’re merely clever animals, instincts are in charge. Experience becomes enlightenment. “Casual” becomes kind. But Scripture insists sex is more than physical; it’s integrative—body, emotion, spirit (Gen. 2:24; 1 Cor. 6:16–20). This is why betrayal hollows us out. You didn’t just break a boundary; a bond was torn. Christians have guardrails not because we despise sex, but because we regard it as sacred. Sacred things have borders. Borders make beauty livable.

Better Story: Sex carries covenantal meaning. The Scripture’s language of “knowing” (Gen. 4:1) signals depth, not mere contact. Guardrails aren’t arbitrary; they protect intimacy, not prevent it. Like fire in a fireplace, sex warms the house; on the curtains, it burns it down.

Lie #2: “Sex is everything.”

Modern self‑worship turns strong internal feelings into sovereign commands. Sexual identity is treated like the highest form of ID. But it isn’t. Your true ID is citizenship in the Kingdom (Phil. 3:20; 1 Pet. 2:9–10). When sex becomes a god, it cannot be a gift. We force it to carry identity‑weight it was never designed to bear and then blame God when it buckles.

Better Story: Sex is good, but not ultimate. It fits within a larger calling to love God and neighbor (Matt. 22:37–40). A Costco card is great—just not at TSA. Likewise, sexual identity is a real card in your wallet; it is not the passport of your soul.

Lie #3: “Sex is about you.”

Your urges. Your fantasies. Your performance. Your body count. The world promises fulfillment through self‑focus and then quietly admits we are lonelier than ever. Even secular research keeps bumping into Scripture’s old wisdom: the most satisfying sexuality is radically other‑oriented (1 Cor. 7:3–5). Self‑gift, not self‑absorption, is the path to joy.

Better Story: Sex is for us but (mostly) not about us. God made it pleasurable—yes—but He also made it purposeful: to cultivate unity, confirm vows, welcome life, and protect each other from the enemy’s schemes. The Scriptural picture refuses both trivialization and idolization.

"Christians don’t have guardrails because we think sex is small; we have guardrails because we believe sex is sacred."

Practicing the Better Story

• Name your liturgies. What songs, shows, or environments disciple your desires?
• Pursue friendship. Great marriages aren’t built on sex alone; they’re built on friendship (Song 5:16).
• Choose community. Don’t fight alone. Invite two or three trusted saints to pray and ask real questions.
• Rehearse identity. Say it out loud: I belong to Jesus. My body and desires are not ultimate; He is (1 Cor. 6:19–20).

Questions for Reflection

1. Which lie feels most persuasive in your heart? Why?
2. What habit could you change this week that would move sex out of the “god” category and back into “gift”?

A Simple Prayer

Pray this simple prayer daily this week: “Jesus, reorder my loves. Teach me to treat your gifts as gifts, not gods.”

If you were to get on a plane today and travel to the country of Turkey and find your way to the Port city of Izmir and then travel south roughly 50 miles, you could walk through the remnants of a ancient Greek temple that was originally built for Artemis around 650 BC.

About 100 years after it was constructed it flooded and then was rebuilt, and then burned down and then rebuilt again.

The Romans later adapted it for their god, Diana.

Diana was the god of many things, but the primary practice of her temple revolved around her role in fertility and childbirth. There are references to this temple in the Bible because of its proximity to the church at Ephesus where Paul's letter to that church, what we call Ephesians, was written. The temple was known for all kinds of sexual immorality, prostitution of all ages, sacrifices, and evil beyond imagination.

The architecture and artistry inside the temple is largely why it was considered one of the wonders of the world. Ancient artists (those who were masters of their craft) could pull off various illusions or tricks of perspective. Perhaps you've heard that if you look at the Mona Lisa or other renaissance paintings that the eyes of these paintings will follow you regardless of where you stand. Similarly, it's reported that one particular painting of Diana at the entrance to her temple when viewed on the way in …carried a soft smile, but upon leaving that smile disappeared 
and in its place …a disgusted frown.

Why is a smile on the way in and a frown on the way out meaningful?


Family Matters (and Why This Commandment Shows Up at All)
Our teaching team recently taught through the Ten Commandments. Twenty percent of them are about the family. That’s not an accident; it’s a blueprint. Honor teaches us how to respond to imperfect authority. Adultery teaches us what covenant faithfulness looks like between husband and wife—and why God cares so much about it.

Facts, Feelings, and “Everyone Does It”
You’ve heard the line: “Half of marriages end in divorce, half of men cheat.” It’s scare-stat math. The real picture is complicated, but here’s the point: when we repeat inflated stats, we normalize betrayal. “If it’s inevitable, why fight?” That’s how despair disciples us.

Why Christians Often Do Better (and Why It’s Not Because We’re Better)
Regular church involvement correlates with lower infidelity, not because Christians are morally superior, but because ideas matter. If faithfulness is named as a high ideal—and you’re surrounded by people who agree—you’re more likely to fight for it. Beliefs form habits. Habits form lives.

The Big Frame
Sex and marriage aren’t small items in the junk drawer of human life. They’re among God’s greatest gifts, which is why evil throws its weight at them. If we don’t understand what sex is for, we’ll mishandle it, baptize it, or weaponize it.

"Ideas disciple us long before actions expose us."

Where We’re Going
In this series, I’ll name three cultural lies about sex, show the better Christian story, clarify what the seventh commandment protects, and speak to the tempted, the tangled, and the haunted. Diana smiles at the door. Jesus tells the truth at the door.

Reflection Questions

1. What “stat” or story about marriage has shaped your expectations (for better or worse)?
2. Who are the people around you reinforcing faithfulness as a high ideal?

Share this post with a friend and invite them to read Part 2 with you—then compare notes over coffee.