Welcome to Authorized Sword Ministries. This is Breaking the Chains, Series Two, Sexual Purity and Freedom. Lesson One: Pornography, the Chain Behind the Screen.

We're so glad you're here.

Before We Begin

A gentle note first. This course is Bible teaching and spiritual encouragement. It does not replace professional counseling or medical care. We encourage you to use those good resources right alongside your faith. And if you are in crisis or thinking about harming yourself, please call or text 988, the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, any time, day or night, in the United States. In an emergency, call 911.

We will talk plainly in this series, but we will keep it clean. This is a lesson a family can sit through together.

Where We Left Off

In Series One, we looked hard at drugs, pills, and alcohol. We learned that Jesus came to set the captives free, and that whatever overcomes you owns you.

Now we turn to a chain that may be even more common, and even more hidden. It doesn't smell like alcohol on your breath. It doesn't show up on a drug test. It hides behind a password and a phone screen. But it is just as real. Sexual sin is one of the biggest bondages of our day, and it is not only "out there" in the world. It is sitting in church pews. It is in pulpits. It is in Christian homes.

We are not going to tiptoe around it. But we're also going to say this loud and clear: if you are caught in this, God has not given up on you, and neither have we.

Our Key Verse

Today's key verse is Matthew 5:28.

"But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart." — Matthew 5:28 (KJV)

The world says, "It's just looking. Nobody gets hurt." Jesus says different. He says the sin starts in the heart, through the eyes. The Lord doesn't just care about what we do with our bodies. He cares about what we do with our eyes and our thoughts. And this verse applies to women as much as to men. Lust is lust.

How Big Is This Chain?

Let's look at the facts, because they are sobering.

In 2022, Common Sense Media surveyed more than 1,300 American teenagers, ages 13 to 17. Seventy-three percent said they had seen pornography online. The average age they first saw it was just 12. Fifteen percent said they first saw it at age 10 or younger. And 58 percent said they had come across it by accident.

Think about that. Most of our young people have already been exposed before they've finished middle school. Parents, this is not someday. This is now.

And the church is not immune. In a 2016 study called The Porn Phenomenon, the Barna Group surveyed hundreds of pastors and youth pastors. Fourteen percent of senior pastors and twenty-one percent of youth pastors said they were struggling with pornography right now. Among the pastors who use pornography, 87 percent said they felt shame, and 55 percent said they lived in constant fear of being found out.

We don't share that to point fingers at pastors. We share it to say this: nobody is above this temptation. If it can reach the pulpit, it can reach your house.

How the Chain Gets On

Nobody starts out planning to be bound. It usually starts with a look. Then a second look. Then a click. James tells us exactly how it works:

"But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death." — James 1:14-15 (KJV)

Drawn away. Enticed. Conceived. Brought forth. Death. That's the road. It starts in the mind and ends in death: dead marriages, dead ministries, dead consciences, and a dead prayer life.

Look at King David. He was a man after God's own heart. But one evening he was where he shouldn't have been, and he saw what he shouldn't have kept looking at.

"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." — 2 Samuel 11:2 (KJV)

He saw. He kept looking. He sent and asked. And before it was over, there was adultery, a cover-up, and a murder. It started with his eyes.

The Lie Behind the Screen

The devil sells pornography as harmless, private, and free. It's none of those.

It is not harmless. It trains your mind to see people made in the image of God as objects to use. It robs a husband or wife of the faithful heart they were promised.

It is not private. God sees.

"The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good." — Proverbs 15:3 (KJV)

And it is not free. It always costs more than you planned to pay.

"Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned?" — Proverbs 6:27 (KJV)

You can't play with fire and not get burned. Many people who thought they could "handle it" have found that it owns them.

A Warning for Young People and Parents

There is another danger. The FBI has warned about a crime called sextortion. Criminals, often pretending to be a young girl on social media or a gaming app, trick teens into sending a private picture. Then they threaten to share it with family and friends unless the teen pays or sends more. The FBI says the victims are often boys between 14 and 17, and some of these young people have taken their own lives.

Young people, hear this. If that ever happens to you, you are not alone, and it is not the end. Do not pay. Do not send more. Tell a parent or another trusted adult right away. Report it to the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI or tips.fbi.gov. The FBI says plainly that cooperating with the predator rarely stops it, but law enforcement can.

Make a Covenant With Your Eyes

So how do you fight? Start where the sin starts: the eyes. Job said:

"I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid?" — Job 31:1 (KJV)

A covenant is a solemn promise. Job decided ahead of time what his eyes would and would not do. You must decide before the temptation comes, not in the middle of it.

David, after his fall, wrote this:

"I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me." — Psalm 101:3 (KJV)

"I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes." That means the phone, the TV, the computer, the magazine rack, and the streaming app.

Cut It Off

Jesus didn't say, "Try to cut back." He spoke of radical action:

"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." — Matthew 5:29 (KJV)

Jesus is not telling us to harm our bodies. He is telling us to deal with sin severely. Whatever feeds the sin has to go. That might mean a filter and accountability software on every device. It might mean no phone in the bedroom. It might mean dropping a streaming service, deleting an app, or getting rid of a smartphone altogether. If it costs you some convenience, it's worth it. Your soul and your family are worth more than any device.

Flee and Follow

Paul told young Timothy:

"Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart." — 2 Timothy 2:22 (KJV)

Notice two things. First, flee. Don't argue with lust. Don't see how close you can get. Run. Second, follow, and follow "with them that call on the Lord." You need other believers. This chain grows strongest in secret, and it loses power in the light.

Fill Your Mind With the Word

You can't just empty your mind. You have to fill it with something better.

"Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word." — Psalm 119:9 (KJV)

When the temptation hits, open your Bible, not your browser. Memorize verses and say them out loud. When Jesus was tempted, He answered with, "It is written."

There Is Hope

If you are bound by this, please hear us: Jesus can set you free. This is not too dirty for His blood to cleanse.

"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." — 1 John 1:9 (KJV)

"There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it." — 1 Corinthians 10:13 (KJV)

There is always a way of escape. Always.

Questions for Study

1. In Matthew 5:28, where does Jesus say adultery begins? Why does that matter?
2. Read James 1:14-15. What are the steps from temptation to death?
3. What did David's sin in 2 Samuel 11 cost him and others?
4. What does it mean to "make a covenant" with your eyes, like Job did?
5. What are one or two things in your home that may need to be "cut off," like Jesus taught in Matthew 5:29?
6. Why does sin grow stronger in secret? Who is one person you could trust for accountability?

Simple Steps for This Week

First, put a filter and accountability software on every device in your home, and give someone you trust the password.

Second, decide where your phone sleeps at night, and make it somewhere other than your bedroom.

Third, memorize Job 31:1 and Psalm 101:3.

Fourth, parents, talk with your children about what to do if they ever see something bad online or someone online asks them for pictures.

And fifth, read Psalm 51 and Proverbs chapter five.

Next Time

In Lesson Two, we'll look at fornication and adultery: what God says about sex outside of marriage, why He gave His boundaries, and how to flee like Joseph did.

A Prayer

Let's pray together.

Heavenly Father,

We come to You for everyone chained by pornography. You see what no one else sees. Bring it into the light, Lord, and break this chain.

Give us the strength to make a covenant with our eyes. Help us cut off whatever feeds this sin. Cleanse our minds by Your Word.

Protect our children and our young people from what is waiting for them online, and from those who would prey on them.

For every husband and wife who has been hurt, bring healing.

Create in us clean hearts, and make us free indeed.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Thank you for spending this time with us. We'll see you in Lesson Two.

This is Authorized Sword Ministries. God bless you.

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Sources

All pages opened and checked on October 24, 2026.

1. Robb MB, Mann S. Teens and Pornography. San Francisco, CA: Common Sense, 2023 (report PDF: https://www.commonsensemedia.org/sites/default/files/research/report/2022-teens-and-pornography-final-web.pdf) (survey fielded September 2022; 1,358 U.S. teens ages 13–17). https://www.commonsensemedia.org/research/teens-and-pornography and press release https://www.commonsensemedia.org/press-releases/new-report-reveals-truths-about-how-teens-engage-with-pornography (73% had seen online pornography; average age of first exposure 12; 15% at age 10 or younger; 58% had seen it accidentally.)
2. Barna Group, The Porn Phenomenon (commissioned by Josh McDowell Ministry and Cru, 2016), as reported in "Here's How 770 Pastors Describe Their Struggle with Porn," Christianity Today, by Morgan Lee, January 26, 2016 (survey of 432 senior pastors and 338 youth pastors, July–August 2015). https://www.christianitytoday.com/2016/01/how-pastors-struggle-porn-phenomenon-josh-mcdowell-barna/ (14% of senior pastors and 21% of youth pastors currently struggle; 87% of pastors who use porn feel shame; 55% live in constant fear of discovery.)
3. Federal Bureau of Investigation. "Sextortion: A Growing Threat Targeting Minors," January 16, 2024. https://www.fbi.gov/news/press-releases/sextortion-a-growing-threat-targeting-minors and "The Financially Motivated Sextortion Threat." https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/the-financially-motivated-sextortion-threat (Victims typically boys 14–17; some suicides; don't pay or send more; report to 1-800-CALL-FBI or tips.fbi.gov; cooperating rarely stops the blackmail.)