The 1st and 2nd Step of Sin-Seeing and Hearing
II Peter 2:8

The kids sing:

Be careful little ears what you hear.
Be careful little ears what you hear,
For the Father up above
Is looking down in love,
So be careful little ears what you hear.

Be careful little eyes what you see.
Be careful little eyes what you see,
For the Father up above
Is looking down in love,
So be careful little eyes what you see.

Background

In I Peter 2:7-11 we learn that God: “delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked:
(For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;)
The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:
But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government. Presumptuous are they, selfwilled, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities.”

First Two Steps of Sin

In this passage we see the first two steps of sin. They are the steps of hearing and seeing. I have chosen to put these two steps in reverse order from the order the Bible puts them here, because, usually, we hear about something before we indulge in watching or looking at something. However, God lists these two steps in order of importance and impact on our life.
That is usually God’s way. In a list of things God usually lists the most important first then lists the other things in descending order of importance. An example of this is the parable of fruit bearing an hundred fold is listed before sixty and thirty. One hundred is better than sixty or thirty. We tend to list things in the opposite way. We start with the least important and work our way up to the climax. God does that sometimes, too, but, generally, when we do that people lose interest before we get to the climax. God uses wisdom in the way He does things, and He knows which was is best for each example.
But I list hearing first, because it usually comes befoe seeing.

Feeding the Flesh

Well over 90% of the things we perceive we perceive through our eyes. Some say over 95%, but only about 3% of the information we perceive comes from through what we hear. The other three senses, smelling, tasting, all and feeling make up other 2%. They do not affect our life that much, Those things which we see and watch make up 90-95% of the information we send to our brains, and, consequently the main way we feed our flesh.
The reason I repeat these verses again is we need to be sure we understand that the eleven steps of sin are not eleven ways we feed our flesh. Only the first two are, and seeing is by far the most powerful way we feed the flesh. The other steps of sin are the results of the first two.

War Between the Flesh and Spirit

Remember, when we are born of our parents by the water birth when the water breaks and the baby comes, we have a flesh birth. Then when e trust Christ as our Savior, we have a spiritual birth. We are born again. We are born from above. So then we have our two natures, and they are at war with each other (Romans 7:22-23). In Galatians 5:17 we find that the flesh lusteth against the spirit and desires of the spirit are against the flesh. They are contrary one to the other. So if we have trusted Christ as our Savior a battle ensues between the desires of the flesh which cannot do any good thing and the spirit which cannot sin and is righteous.
Which one is going to win the battle in the Christian life is the one that is strongest? Which one is stronger: the flesh on the spirit? As Christians, we would like to say the spirit. While it is true that the spirit has the potential to be stronger, but it is not necessarily stronger. The truth is, if we feed the flesh, then the flesh will be stronger. If you starve the spirit, then the spirit will become weaker, and the flesh will rule our life. The results of that kind of life in the life of a Christian will be steps three through ten in the eleven steps of sin. Those are the results of feeding the flesh. How do we feed the flesh? We feed our fleshly sin nature by the first two steps: seeing and hearing. That is how you feed the flesh, and it is at those the point of two steps that it is easiest to defeat sin. If you violate these firast two principles, and your flesh becomes strong through feeding it by what you see and hear, then even at this point it becomes difficult to defeat sin. So the best and easiest way to defeat sin as by stopping sin at the eye gate and the ear gate.

Be careful little ears what you hear, and be
careful little eyes what you see.

Solution

For this cause these things are extremely important.
How do we counteract seeing the sinful things?
Proverbs 4:25 says, “Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee.” What should we do? This is a positive command. What does it mean to look right on? It means to look on right. Instead of looking on the wrong things, look on the right things. The instruction is not so much, “Do not look at the wrong things,” as it is “Do look on right things.” We need to listen to the right things and look at the right things. Now, we ought to curtail our watching and listening to the wrong things, but we do that by replacing those things by watching and listening to wholesome things.
As we read the Bible, over and over we are told to listen to God’s instructions, especially in the book of Proverbs. He says to listen to wisdom. While some of God’s commands are negative as to what we should beware, most of His instructions are positive, as to what we should do rather than what we should not do.
If you are constantly looking on right things and listening to God’s instructions, you will not have time to look at evil things or listen to evil things.
God is not talking about a positive attitude, He is talking about positive action. Keep your eyes on what is right. Be looking for what is right.
“Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee.” Proverbs 4:25
In Joshua 1:7 God says, “Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest.”
Be courageous in this warfare with our flesh. We are really in a life or death battle. Therefore, we must be strong and courageous. Do not simply talk the path of least resistance or just go with the flow. You ave a purpose, and that we must “Observe to do according to all the law.”
Doing wrong really does not surface in our life until about the seventh step after we have fed the flesh for a season.
Notice that theses instructions are not suggestions. “That thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee.” These are commands.
“Turn not from it to the right hand or to the left.” So we need to be looking straight ahead. We need to be looking right on. We need to be careful not to get side tracked. Do not be looking at the wrong people, places, things, or ideas. We look at the right people. We should seek out the most dedicated Christians we can find. We should go to the right places where we will learn right things and there will be not pressure or opportunity to compromise. Turn not to the right hand or the left means to stay focused and single-minded. Do not get off track.
“That” is the next word.
Why should we not want to get off track? Why is it we should want to be single minded? Why should we have a pure heart?
“That thou mayest prosper.” These instructions are good for you. Keep your eyes on the goal. Be looking straight ahead. We need to keep our eyes on the right thing. That is what God means when He says to let your eyes look right on. These instructions are for your sake.

The Eyes of God

In Habakkuk 1:13 Habakkuk says of God, “Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil. And canst not look on iniquity.” The deal is here, if you want to have the attention of God, then you need to be doing things He is willing to watch. To be sure, God sees everything we do, but the idea is His attention is captivated by those who are doing right.
In view of the fact that a lukewarm]m Christian makes Him sick enough to spew him out of the place of blessing, shows that even distasteful things to God demand His attention. You see there is such a thing as favorable attention and unfavorable attention. If you want God’s attention toward you to bring you prosperity (rewards and the fruit of the spirit) then you need to have an obedient life that God will look upon with favor. If we want the blessing of God on our life, then we need to keep our eyes looking at what is right.
We saw what God cannot look on to bless, but We see exactly that person for which God is looking to bless in II Chronicles 16:9 “The eyes of the LORD run to and for throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf…” God is looking for someone so that He can show Himself strong on their behalf. It is like the Marines are looking for a few good men. God wants to show Himself strong on behalf of somebody. On behalf of whom? “To shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him.” That does not man that the person has no sin. He is talking about someone who is single minded. That are not double-minded. He is not side tracked. He is not lukewarm. He is looking on that which is right. His heart is perfect toward God. If our heart is perfect or right toward God, then what happens? We saw that in Joshua 1:8-9. We would be prosperous and have good success, but in this passage we see what will happen if we are not single minded. In the next verse we find out what happens if we are NOT single minded. “Herein thou hast done foolishly.” Why? What had we done that was so foolish? We have fed the flesh as well as feeding the spirit. So what will happen? God will not show Himself strong on behalf of a double minded Christian.
“Therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars.” Probably the primary application to this verse was concerning a war that took place thousands of years ago, but God is using this as an illustration to warn us of the war that would take place between the flesh and the spirit. That is a far more important war than that between two nations. Your flesh is going to war against your spirit birth, and the flesh is going to be stronger than your spirit unless you feed the spirit and starve the flesh.
Remember the three alternatives in this warfare. You can feed both the flesh and the spirit births, and you will be lukewarm, and God spew you out of the place of blessing and you will be miserable in this life.
The second alternative is you can feed the spirit and starve the flesh birth, and you will have the fruit of the spirit which includes love, joy, and peace; you will have rewards in heaven, and position in the Kingdom reign of Jesus Christ; and you will have glory in eternity.
Thirdly, you can feed the flesh and starve the spirit. In this case you will also have a miserable life, but you will also reap the works of the flesh numerated in Galatians 5:19-21.
God will only show Himself strong to those whose heart is perfect or single minded toward Him. So how can we get this thing straightened out if our heart is not perfect toward God?
In James God is speaking to believers as He is in all the books of the Bible except the Gospel of John. In chapter one God talks about the double minded man-the man who is not single minded. His heart is not perfect toward the Lord. He is not of a pure heart. In verse 6-8 God says, “Let him ask in faith nothing wavering, For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.”
We are not talking about salvation here. Salvation is free, and, remember, this is written to believers who have already received the =free gift of eternal life, but if you want God to answer your prayers, if you want to receive the good things of this life such as the fruit of the spirit, if you want God’s blessing on your life, if you want to be prosperous do not expect God to do those things for you if you are double minded. In fact do not expect Him to do anything for you other than give you eternal life.
God says in verse 8 “A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.” That is what it is like to be double minded or to be luke warm.
In view of these things, what should we do? If we do not want to be double minded, if we want to be single minded, if we want to have a perfect heart for the Lord; what should we do?
In James 4: 7-8 God tells us: “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.”
First of all, we are told to draw nigh to God. Get up close to Him. How do we do that? How do we draw nigh to God?
God has told us two things that we must do to draw nigh to God here. First we are to cleanse our hands. What does that mean? Clean up your act. Clean up your life. Conquer sin. The second step of sin and probably the most important and most effect is to be careful what we see.
What is the result of drawing nigh to God? He will draw nigh to you.

Cleanse Your Hands

Incidentally, when God says, “Cleanse your hands ye sinners.” He is talking about sinning believers. If believers are going to cleanse their hands, it is evident that their hands have become soiled. You see, we are all sinners, but those who have trusted Christ as their Savior are sinners saved by grace. However, when we continue to sin after we are saved (and we all are going to sin until the day we die), then we need to continually cleanse our hands. We need to continually work on cleaning up our life.
Here it is Sunday, the first day of the week, and I expect to wash my hands before I eat, today. I just washed my hands last night it being Saturday night and all, but I must wash my hands daily. Hospital workers cleanse their hands ever time thy go into a different patient’s room.
That is what we need to do. We need to be continually cleansing our hands.
Secondly, we need to “Purify your hearts, ye double minded.” That is how you stop being double minded. We must purify our hearts. What does that mean? Be single minded. Pure motives. We keep our eyes looking right on or looking on what is right. We should always looking for the right thing to do. That goes without saying that we are not looking for how to get away with something. We are not looking for a way to hide something or cover something up. We are not looking for an excuse about why we are not doing what we should be doing or why we are doing what we should not be doing. We avoid things that are questionable or borderline.
We should never say, “I don’t really think God cares if I do this.” That is wrong thinking.
The question should be “Is this what God wants me to do?”

Example of David

We can see an example of this in II Samuel 11:2:
“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…” There is the first step of David’s downfall. He saw something at which he should not have looked. He looked at “…a woman washing herself; and the woman was very beautiful to look upon.”
He saw this woman, so he sent for her. He sinned with her. So eventually David eventually sent for this woman’s husband and had him killed to cover up the sin that he had done with Bathsheba and the resultant pregnancy. Consequently, after having killed one of his thirty most faithful top soldiers, David’s sin cause him to lose three of his sons the virtue of his daughter, the whole kingdom, and all of his wives and concubines. That is not to mention that he lost the joy of his salvation. He did not lose his salvation, but he lost the joy of his salvation. From that time forward his kingdom was full of wars.
In Matthew 5:28 Jesus said, “I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.”
That is what God has to say about looking at the wrong things. The looking comes before the action.
So what should we do about this? In Job 31:1 God says, “I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid?”
So to keep from thinking the wrong things, you must first not see the wrong things. And the only way to keep from seeing the wrong things is you must make a covenant with your eyes. You must command them to “be careful little eyes what you see.” Make sure that they look on the right things. Let us make a determination. In view o the fact that the strongest way that we feed the flesh and strengthen our sin nature is by what we see, so determine that you are not going to look at sinful things. It is not really hard unless you allow yourself to become addicted to it. It is really quite simple to break the habit. Just stop. But it is not always that easy. It is easy to become addicted to pornography. I have seen many marriages fail because of pornography.
Statistics have shown that the number one cause of failure in marriage is the use of alcohol. The second cause is the wrong use of money, but righty up there as at least one of the top reasons marriages fail is the use of pornography.
The children of Israel had destroyed the city of Jericho in chapter 6, and Achan took some things that God had told them not to take. God called what he took and “accursed thing,” because God had pronounced a curse on anyone that disobeyed His command concerning taking of the spoils. God had said that all the spoils were to go to God.
Well, this is what happened. Shortly after defeated Jericho, the children of Israel attacked Ai, and the little town of Ai defeated the mighty army of Israel. Why? Because there was sin in the camp. Joshua protested that this was just a little town. Why couldn’t they defeat it? God answered that somebody had taken of the accursed thing. So they cast lots to find out who it was that had done such a thing, and when they found out they asked him why he had sinned by taking of the spoils. What was he thinking?

Example of Achan

His answer is recorded in Joshua 7:21: “I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them, and took them; and, behold, they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it.”
The first step in his downfall was (1) “I saw.” (2) “Then I coveted (lusted after) them.” Before he could lust after it, he had to see it. Before David committed adultery with Bathsheba he saw her bathing. Jesus said that before we lust after a woman we must first look on her.
We should Achan have done? If he had a problem with coveting things, then don’t go look at the spoil! Why would you look at the spoil, anyway, if you know that it does not belong to you? That would be like looking at a catalogue when you do not have any money.
I have heard it said when a man looks at a woman, “Just because I am on a diet doesn’t mean I can’t look at the menu.” That type of rationalization is directly opposite from what God commands.
First he “saw’ the gold, the silver, and the garment. Second he coveted or lusted after that to which he had no right, and the he acted upon it. He took it. Acting upon it or, actually, doing the sin outwardly is the seventh step of sin. He digressed very quickly from looking at the spoil to taking the spoil. He had six other steps in which he could have defeated sin, but he jumped to stealing from looking very quickly. So while the sin was not outward until the seventh step, he had progressed past six previous steps of sin that have easier solutions than the seventh step of sin.
What happened to Achan due to his following the lusts of his eyes by starting off this process by looking at the wrong things, the spoil.
It might remind us of the business man that went to church who had only two dollars to his name. When the offering plate was passed, he gave the complete two dollars to the Lord, all the money he had. The Lord blessed his generosity by prospering the man’s business. Some years later he was in church again, but this time when the offering was received, he did not even give a tithe of all that he had. When asked about the change he rationalized, “I owe the government this much of my profits in income taxes. I don’t think God expects me to pay tithes on that. Plus I owe this much to health insurance, and that much goes to retirement. Then there’s automatic deductions for my utilities, and I owe this much for the house payment, and a preauthorized payment to life insurance, and, of course, my payroll savings plan, but I still tithe over my net take home. Here’s my check for two dollars.
Achan got his priorities mixed up, because he fixed his eyes on the wrong things, too. So what happened to him? He was killed, and all of his family was killed.
So there are consequences to violating the eleven steps of sin. The consequences are the eleventh step of sin, which is death.
Proverbs 27:20 says: “ Hell and destruction are never full; so (in like manner) the eyes of man are never satisfied.” That is the reason we need to be careful what we look at, because we will never be satisfied once we get it. There will be something more appetizing just a little ways down the road.

Satisfaction Guaranteed-NOT!

In Ecclesiastes 4:8 God puts it this way: “There no end of all his labour; (What in the world am I working For?) neither is his eye satisfied with riches.” When we labor for the riches our eyes behold, then we will never be satisfied, because our eyes are never satisfied. Reminds me of the old country song where the singer laments that he has a “three car garage and still adding on…we’ve got to get back to the basics of life.”
There is the question. “All that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.”When I die, I can’t take it with me.”
So what in the world am I working for? When I die I am going to leave it to somebody, and if I have no heirs, to whom am I going to leave it? What in the world am I living for? What in the world am I working for, because our eyes will never be satisfied with riches. In Ecclesiastes 5:10-16 God expounds upon this:
“He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase: this is also vanity.
When goods increase, they are increased that eat them: and what good is there to the owners thereof, saving the beholding of them with their eyes?”
What is the point of having two vehicles if you only drive one at a time? So goes the flesh. Here is the problem the problem with hearing and seeing. Once you whet the appetite of the flesh your flesh will always desire that for the rest of your life until it dies. You can weaken that desire by starving the flesh and feeding the spirit, but , though weaker, the flesh will still desire that to which you have exposed it. So when you get away from the Lord and you yield to the flesh, it will go right back to where you left off.

Example of Alcoholism

This is like the alcoholic. As long as he remains a “tea totaler” he will not relapse, but as soon as he thinks he has become strong enough to overcome the flesh on his own and goes back to a little social drinking, he will relapse. He will not go back to social drinking. He will go right back to where he left off in his alcoholism. So to defeat alcoholism, he has to abstain from alcohol altogether.
This principle is obvious in the case of the alcoholic, but the principle is true with the flesh across the board. That is the way it is with every aspect of feeding the flesh. Your flesh will always desire what that at which you have looked.
Remember, you cannot do away with thjose desires, but you can weaken them by starving this desires by not looking at them any more. Do not expose yourself to sinful things, because they will kindle evil desires, and then every time you look at those things they will strengthen your evil desires.

Mankind’s First Sin

In Genesis 3:1-7 we read about the fall of man. Mankind’s first act of sin was when Adam and Eve disobeyed God and ate of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. It is interesting to note what led up to their act of disobedience. In verse 5 God explains by quoting Satan: “’God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.’”
I have heard a few Christians who have tell me that they were not going to teach their kids about religion, but allow them to be exposed to all religions. We are going to allow them to be exposed to alcohol in controlled situations, and to deviate sexual behavior and fornication as long as they use protection, and expose them to pornography, evolution, and homosexuality so that they can experience the world and so their eyes can be opened so that they can make up their own mind about these things. The only problem with that philosophy is that it goes directly against God’s instructions. If you do that, what are you doing? You are feeding their flesh, igniting sinful desires and strengthens their sin nature.

First Step to the Fall of Mankind

“And when the woman saw…” What was the first step in Eve’s downfall into sin? She saw! She, actually, heard about it first, although what Satan told her was a lie. Nevertheless, she went and looked at it for herself. “The woman saw that the tree was good for food (lust of the flesh-she had not eaten it yet, but she saw that it was), and that it was pleasant to the eyes (lust of the eyes), and a tree to be desired to make one wise (pride of life), she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked.”
Those are the three aspects of temptation that we are going to learn about later, but they were preceded by seeing.
In I John 2:15-16 God says, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”

The Problem

Here is the problem. When you are listening to the wrong things and looking at the wrong things, you are loving the wrong things.
What does God say about love? We are commanded to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart (be single minded), and with all thy soul, with all thy mind, and with all thy strength. We are commanded to be single minded in our love for God. We should be on fire for the Lord, and not lukewarm. When we are not single minded, we are loving something more than we love the Lord. Whatever you are watching and whatever you are listening to is what you are loving.
Verse 16, says, “All that is in the world, (appeals to) the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.” Those are the same things that appealed to Eve and brought about the fall of mankind.
What is the results of appealing to these three areas of your life? “And the world passeth away.” That is the reason that the flesh does not satisfy. The world passes away and the lust thereof.

The Will of God

“But he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.”
What is the will of God? What do we have to do to abide forever?
Anything you invest in the world and in this life is going to be lost at the end of this life. If you invest in this life enough to be satisfied,…which is an impossibility…, but even if you could and you did, at the end of this life you will lose it all, and you will be dissatisfied, because it will all be gone.

Profitable Investment

But if you invest in the Lord, at the end of this life you will be abundantly rewarded. You will be satisfied. God promises repeatedly that in the life to come you will be satisfied. He promises that. In fact, even if you receive no rewards, you will be satisfied. You will be satisfied. You will be disappointed in yourself to the point of tears for what you forfeited by you unfaithfulness, but you will be satisfied with what God gives you.

Receiving the Gift of Salvation

So what must we do so we accomplish God’s will and abide forever? What is the will of God concerning salvation?
In John 6:35-40 God says, “I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. But I said unto you, That ye also have seen me, and believe not.”
How do we come to Him? He said, “He that believeth on Me.”
If you come to Him by believing, God says, “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.”
He will never cast you out if you come to Him by believing.

God’s Will for Jesus

In verse 39 God says what God’s will for Jesus is:
“This is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.”
So what is God’s will? God’s will for Jesus is that He will never cast us out, and that He will  never lose us; and Jesus always does God’s will.
I Peter 1:4-5 tells us to what we are kept, where we are kept, what keeps us, and how long we are kept when God says, “We are kept to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”
So what is God’s will for Jesus? God’s will for Jesus is that He will not cast us out or lose us, and we are kept in heaven, “Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”
That is God’s will for Jesus, but what is God’s will for us. What must we do to have this salvation and security?

God’s Will for Us

Verse 40 tells us what God’s will is for us:
“This is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.”

Seeing the Son

First of all we must see the Son. What does it mean to see the Son? What is that we must see or understand? We need to understand what Jesus just said about God’s will for Jesus: that Jesus will never cast us out, and that He will never lose us. We must understand that it is God’s power that keeps us unto the day of salvation in heaven that will be revealed in the last day. So that is what we must believe. When you see that and you understand God’s purpose for Jesus, then the next step is simply to believe it. When you believe that, then you have everlasting life, and He will raise you up at the last day.
That is what God means when He says, “He that doeth the will of God abideth forever.”
Actually, it is Jesus that does the will of God, isn’t it? Then we believe it, so then we have done God’s will for us for salvation by believing that Jesus has done God’s will to save us and keep us.
Look at one more area of sin in Matthew 4:8. This is the temptation of Jesus by Satan. This took place after Jesus had been in the desert for forty days:
“The devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them.” This is what Jesus saw. This is what the devil showed Him. The devil tried to tempt Jesus through trying to appeal to the lust of the eyes.
“And ( Satan) saith unto him, ‘All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.’
Then saith Jesus unto him, ‘Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.’”

The Root Problem

Here Jesus reveals the problem. If you are looking at the wrong things, then you are worshipping the wrong things. You are not looking “right on.” You are looking to the right hand or to the left. Your love is misplaced, and, therefore, your worship is misplaced, because we fix our eyes on what we worship.

Why This Is So Important

The reason all of this is so important is because this is the way we feed our flesh. Indulging the feeding of our flesh leads to the defeated Christian life. What is so terrible about living a defeated Christian life? It is because you are loving the wrong things and worshipping the wrong things. Simply by that which you allow yourself to look.

In conclusion:
We must be careful of what our little ears hear and our little eyes see.