G.K. Chesterton said: “The soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.”
Behind a grown man stands his wife and children. Behind a young man stands his future wife and children. No sin will destroy his family more than succumbing to lust. Men must arm themselves with the Scriptures to slay the dragon named Licentiousness.
To help men memorize Scripture, the writer of the Psalms sometimes used acrostics as a mnemonic device. For example, each verse in Psalm 145 begins with a new Hebrew letter. It’s not obvious in English but the first verse starts with the letter aleph, verse two with the letter beth and so forth. Psalm 25, 34, and 119 follow a similar method.
God wrote the Psalms this way to help young men and old men remember and memorize the Scriptures.
Attached are twenty-six verses in acrostic form to help bring success to every man’s battle for purity.
- A: Abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul (1Pt 2:11).
- B: Because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife (1Cor. 7:2).
- C: Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me (Ps. 51:10).
- D: David arose from his couch and…saw…a woman bathing (2Sm. 11:2).
- E: Everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart (Mt 5:28).
- F: For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality (1Th. 4:3).
- G: Guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it (Pr. 4:23 NIV).
- H: He left his garment in her hand and fled (Gn. 39:12).
- I: I made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I gaze upon a virgin (Job 31:1).
- J: Jesus said…watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation (Mt. 26:41).
- K: Keep your way far from her, and do not go near the door of her house (Pr. 5:8).
- L: Live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in this present age (Tit. 2:12).
- M: Man’s ways are before the eyes of the Lord, and he ponders all his paths (Pr. 5:21).
- N: No eye will see me (Job 24:15).
- O: Out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality (Mt. 15:19).
- P: Put to death…what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion (Col. 3:5).
- Q: Quench not the Spirit (1Th. 5:19).
- R: Renounce ungodliness and worldly passions (Tit. 2:12).
- S: Sexually immoral…will [not] inherit the kingdom of God (1Cor. 6:9-10).
- T: Thy Word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against Thee (Ps 119:11 KJV).
- U: Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the…Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom (Mt. 5:20).
- V: She was wearing a long robe with sleeves, for thus were the virgin daughters of the king dressed (2Sm. 13:18).
- W: Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed…to thy Word (Ps. 119:9 KJV).
- X: Xercise thyself rather unto godliness. For bodily exercise profiteth little (1Tm. 4:7).
- Y: You did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all (2Sm. 12:12).
- Z: The name of the slain [immoral] man…was Zimri (Num. 25:14).
