Bearing Fruit for God or for Death?

As my last post emphasized, overcoming sin in your life is dirty and painful work. But I cannot emphasize enough that in order for any "work" of mortification to be effective, you must be completely resting in Christ Jesus and relying in the grace of God to sanctify you daily. Apart from the grace of God, nothing can be accomplished. It is only because God graciously gave us new life in Christ Jesus that He dwells with us and perfects the work that He started.

God's sanctifying work in our lives requires our participation, but it is not our work or participation that accomplishes the intended goal. Rather, our work and participation are results of the sanctifying work God is perfecting in our lives. God is transforming a dead stump in the dessert into a beautiful, fruit-bearing tree planted by fresh waters. The tree does not work or labor to produce any fruit. It does not work to gather water or labor to capture the sun's rays. Rather, by nature a healthy tree in a healthy environment will bear healthy fruit. In the same way, God's grace is the sun that nourishes, the Spirit is the steady stream of fresh water, and Christ is the well established root to which we have been grafted into. Only because of the love and grace of God can we, as new creations, bear any good fruit.

Our work is not so much contributive to as it is indicative of the work of God in our lives. If you are a new creation of the Father, if Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior, if the Holy Spirit is your helper and comforter, then it will be evident in the fruit you bear. Obviously, a lustful heart bearing fruit of pornography and other forms of sexual immorality is not indicative of a healthy tree rooted firmly in the death and resurrection of Jesus. Destructive vines, weeds, and parasites have overrun you, and they are blocking and stealing the love and grace of God that you need to flourish with their protrusive obstacles.

But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.

For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
(Romans 6:17-23)

Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death.
(Romans 7:4-5)

Paul says that as slaves of God, the fruit we get (in the sense of gathering not bearing) leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. Later in his epistle, Paul explains that our union with Christ allows us to bear fruit for God rather than bearing fruit for death, as we did while living in the flesh apart from Christ. In Romans 6:22, Paul is talking about gathering fruit to eat, while in Romans 7:4, he speaks about bearing fruit. You reap what you sow. As bad fruit falls off of your branches, the seeds set root around you, and quickly grow into an infestation of weeds, thorns, thistles, and vines. As you bear good fruit, you will benefit from that good fruit as it revitalizes the soul and soil with healthy nutrients, which will lead to sanctification and ultimately to eternal life. As my grandmother always warned me, "Garbage in, garbage out." If the soil that surrounds your roots is tainted with all vileness and pollution from your bad fruit, then you will have to work that much harder to filter through the good nutrients that God graciously provides.

So, with all of that said, it is time to address your fruit. Are you struggling with pornography? Are you firmly rooted in the death and resurrection of your Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, by faith? If you said yes to both of these questions, then it is time to take the necessary actions to investigate the fruit you bear and whether it is indicative of slavery to sin or slavery to God. Do you bear fruit for God or fruit for death? If God were to bite into the fruit you bear, would He find it pleasing or would He spit you out? Does it add nutrients to the soil around you or does it bear seeds that flourish into weeds that choke your roots? You know the answer to each of these questions, and hopefully you are wondering, "Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?" (Rom. 7:24).

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.
(Psalms 1:1-3)

I cannot say it any better than John Calvin in his commentary on the third verse, so please bear with this long quote:

There is in the words an implied contrast between the vigor of a tree planted in a situation well watered, and the decayed appearance of one which, although it may flourish beautifully for a time, yet soon withers on account of the barrenness of the soil in which it is placed.

 

With respect to the ungodly, as we shall afterwards see, they are sometimes like "the cedars of Lebanon." They have such an overflowing abundance of wealth and honors, that nothing seems wanting to their present happiness. But however high they may be raised, and however far and wide they may spread their branches, yet having no root in the ground, nor even a sufficiency of moisture from which they may derive nourishment, the whole of their beauty by and by disappears, and withers away. It is, therefore, the blessing of God alone which preserves any in a prosperous condition.

 

Those who explain the figure of the faithful bringing forth their fruit in season, as meaning that they wisely discern when a thing ought to be done so as to be done well, in my opinion, show more acuteness than judgment, by putting a meaning upon the words of the prophet which he never intended. He obviously meant nothing more than that the children of God constantly flourish, and are always watered with the secret influences of divine grace, so that whatever may befall them is conducive to their salvation; while, on the other hand, the ungodly are carried away by the sudden tempest, or consumed by the scorching heat.

 

God alone provides the spiritual growth in our lives (1 Cor. 3:7). Many seeds are sown, but not every good seed lands upon good soil (Mark 4). Jesus explains what is indicative of good soil:

 

"But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold."
(Mark 4:20)

Lest you be discouraged, lest you disqualify yourself from the race, lest you give up all hope of salvation, remember that you have been redeemed by Christ Jesus. Remember that you are justified by faith and not by works. You have not been redeemed by your own works, but rather, you have been redeemed by the perfect work of Christ for you. You, therefore, do not plant yourself, but rather, you have been planted in good soil. Your faith does not direct you towards good soil, but your faith (i.e. accepting the Word) is a result of the good soil, the hearing of the word. As Christians, we do not prosper because God put some miracle grow around our roots and has given us every opportunity to flourish spiritually, but rather, God has firmly rooted us in the righteousness of Christ and, therefore, we will flourish spiritually. We will bear fruit for God as long as we are seeking Christ by faith rather than by works. If you want to overcome an addiction to pornography in your life so that you will be pure enough, righteous enough, holy enough, good enough, lovely enough to stand before God, then you will fail miserably, because you can do no such thing. However, if you want to overcome an addiction to pornography because Christ is pure enough, righteous enough, holy enough, good enough, lovely enough to stand before God the Father and you have been united to Him by faith, then know that what was started by the Spirit will be perfected by the Spirit, not the flesh (Gal. 3:2-3).

The LORD your God will make you abundantly prosperous in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your womb and in the fruit of your cattle and in the fruit of your ground. For the LORD will again take delight in prospering you, as he took delight in your fathers, when you obey the voice of the LORD your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes that are written in this Book of the Law, when you turn to the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. "For this commandment that I command you today is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that you should say, 'Who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?' Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, 'Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?' But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it.
(Deuteronomy 30:9-14)

 

But the righteousness based on faith says, "Do not say in your heart, 'Who will ascend into heaven?'" (that is, to bring Christ down) "or 'Who will descend into the abyss?'" (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? "The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart" (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim)...So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
(Romans 10:6-8, 14)

The Lord your God will make you abundantly prosperous in all the work of your hand because the Word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart. You possess the word of faith: the Gospel of Jesus Christ. If you are truly resting in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, knowing that apart from Him you can do no good thing, then you MUST struggle with pornography. This sin works vehemently against the abundant prosperity promised to those trees firmly rooted in Christ, planted next to the River of Life. You should feel terrible about this sin your life. You should feel like you are caught in the middle of a great war. You should feel torn between two natures. The very conscience that would seemingly disqualify you actually qualifies you. You are wrestling with this sin because it is now against your new nature, a gracious gift of God. You are struggling because you desire to bear fruit for God and you can, rather than bearing fruit for death. You have been justified, once and for all, by faith in Christ. You are in the process of being sanctified by the work of the Holy Spirit. You will one day be perfectly pure before God without any spot or blemish, perfectly conformed to the image of Christ our Lord. Your salvation is already accomplished but not yet complete. You have been redeemed by God, but you do not yet reap the full benefits of this redemption. You have already won the race, but you are still in the midst of running it.

Brother or sister, the only thing that disqualifies you from winning the race is not running. You will not win the race because you ran, but rather, because someone else, namely Jesus Christ, ran the race for you. He is at the finish line waiting for you. You no longer run in order to win the race, but rather, you run to be perfectly united to Christ who awaits you. His arms are wide open, patiently awaiting the embrace of His long, lost brother or sister. His words of encouragement renew your soul, encouraging and admonishing you to keep your eyes on Him. His Spirit quickens you like a prosthetic on lifeless limbs. He mediates on your behalf with the judge to give you water when you are thirsty and bread when you feel like you can go no further. He does not merely wait patiently, but when you have given up all hope in completing the race set before you, He picks you up and carries you until you can get back on your knees to crawl a littler farther.

If you are struggling with an addiction to pornography today and you are truly resting by faith in Christ Jesus for salvation from your sins, then you need to open your eyes to see Christ once more. You need to open your ears to hear His word once more. You need to open your mouth to ask for His help and forgiveness once again. You need to get back on your knees and crawl towards Him once more. You need to remember Him as your Lord and Savior once more!

In your struggle with pornography, you perhaps are at the point where you have given up all hope in completing the race set before you. You have passed out due to hunger and dehydration. Your eyes are closed so as not to see Christ at the finish line. Your ears are shut so as not to hear His Word. Nevertheless, Christ has you in His arms and He will carry you until you are strong enough to continue walking or crawling once more.

If you want to get back on your feet, then open your eyes, open your ears, open your mouth, and continue the race. Look to Christ, hear His Word, pray to the Father through His mediation, and finish the race.


I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
(2 Timothy 4:7)

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Tear out your eyes: Not really, but yes...really

"I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell."
(Matthew 5:28-29)

Everyone has heard the old adage, "An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind." Well, imagine if everyone took Christ's words here literally. I am willing to bet that the whole world would be completely blind. Obviously, Christ did not intend for His disciples to start mutilating their bodies every time they sinned. Every honest Christian knows from experience that there wouldn't be anything left of our bodies.

I see two important teachings from Christ here that are equally relevant and convicting to those struggling with the sin of pornography.

First, Jesus clearly defines adultery as much more than just the physical act of sleeping with your neighbor's wife. Just as the sin of murder entails much more than physically taking another human being's life, adultery is much more than a physical action. To our astonishment and shame, Jesus cuts straight to the heart: If you so much as look at someone with lust in your heart, then you have committed the sin of adultery. In just a few words, Jesus pronounces a death sentence on just about every man and every woman who has ever lived.

Our sins are not defined by our actions but the intentions of our hearts. With that in mind, how can you possibly believe, as a Christian, that pornography is harmless? There is absolutely no holy intention to view pornography. Jesus sets the record straight: a heart driven by lustful intent is a heart desperately wicked. There are no if's, and's, or but's; if you have completely succumbed to your heart's intent to lust after women, then you are an adulterer.

The second chapter of 2 Peter paints an awful picture of the filth and wickedness that can and will run rampant in the church. Speaking of this riff-raff, the spawn of false prophets, Peter says:

But these, like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed, blaspheming about matters of which they are ignorant, will also be destroyed in their destruction, suffering wrong as the wage for their wrongdoing. They count it pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, while they feast with you. They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children!

Forsaking the right way, they have gone astray. They have followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved gain from wrongdoing, but was rebuked for his own transgression; a speechless donkey spoke with human voice and restrained the prophet's madness.

These are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm. For them the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved. For, speaking loud boasts of folly, they entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely escaping from those who live in error. They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved.

For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. What the true proverb says has happened to them: "The dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire."
(2 Peter 2:12-22)

It's not a pretty image at all. Why do I bring it up? Let it be known that there is never, ever, ever a remotely acceptable reason for any man or any woman to view pornography. Everyone knows that, right? Not necessarily. I have heard stories of Christian couples receiving counsel from other professing Christians to watch pornography to spice up their marriage. WHAT?! Don't believe me? Click here. Let there be no question about it, pornography is sin, plain and simple. There is no gray area on this one. Try as you may, there is no justifiable or acceptable use of pornography in your life.

Husbands and wives, you cannot excuse your sin because you tell yourself that you only look at pornography in order to arouse yourself for your spouse's benefit. God does not excuse sin because you have "good intentions." If you're having trouble with arousal, then pornography is not the solution, it's the problem! It doesn't arouse you for your spouse's sake, it arouses you for you own lustful sake. It's blatant adultery, and it's blatantly sinful. You need to tear out your eyes lest they cause you to sin!

Young man and young woman, you cannot excuse your sin because you tell yourself that you only look at pornography in order to release sexual tension so that you can keep you intentions pure with your girlfriend or boyfriend. It makes absolutely no sense whatsoever, but your conniving and desperately sick heart has you fooled, nevertheless. Don't you see through your faulty logic? I'm going to defile myself so that I can remain pure with my girlfriend or boyfriend. You're not releasing anything, but you are only ensnaring yourself deeper and deeper into the trap. You need to tear out your eyes lest they cause you to sin!

We've all seen a dog return to its vomit. It's nasty, and it instantly disgusts us. We look down upon this irrational animal, cringe, and wonder where in the breeding process the brain damage reached a point beyond repair. Sadly, scripture rightfully compares Christians with this image. Through the knowledge of Jesus Christ, we have escaped the defilements of the world. We are free from that which once enslaved us: our trespasses and sins. And yet, we allow the defilements of the world to once again ensnare and overcome us. Whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved. If pornography is overcoming you, believer, then you are not a slave of righteousness but a slave of unrighteousness. You need to tear out your eyes! Stop returning to your vomit. Stop returning to drink the bathwater. Stop taking off the new man and putting on the old man. Stop!

Easier said than done. Anyone who has or is struggling with an addiction to pornography can tell you about all the times they have tried to stop. It worked for a little while, but, by and by, something happened and they slurped up every bit of their vomit.

That brings me to the second part of Jesus' teachings in Matthew 5:28-29: tear out your eyes!

It is going to hurt. There is no way around that. You have to dismember your body. It's going to cause excruciating pain, but it is better to endure this immense pain than have your whole body thrown into hell. Grab hold of your eye, tear it out, and throw it away! What a violent image. The grotesque nature of the image should instill more fear in us than it often does. We can hardly stomach the thought of ripping one eye out, let alone performing the necessary action on the other eye too.

After Jesus said this, I can just picture the disciples' faces. I can imagine them turning to each other and asking: Is He serious? Ironically, I am sure it was an eye opener. How serious are you about destroying sin in your life? Are you really struggling with pornography? What lengths are you willing to run in order to mortify this sin in your life? Are you fighting so hard not to be consumed by it that you are even willing to tear out your eyes?

Jesus doesn't want us to tear out our eyes, cut off our hands, and mutilate our bodies in order to combat sin in our lives. Remember the verse prior? Jesus said that you didn't have to physically commit adultery to sin, but that your heart had to be intent on lusting after someone in order to commit the sin of adultery. Apply that same principle, therefore, on mortifying the deeds of the flesh. You do not have to physically tear out your eyes and mutilate your body, but your heart has to be intent on casting off the sin that clings to you. This makes it a little bit easier to stomach, but let the gravity of Jesus' words still weigh heavily upon you. Jesus tells us that fighting sin in our lives is going to be costly. It's not going to cost us money, inconvenience, or time. It's going to cost an arm and an eye. It's going to cost us a limb. It's going to cost us something that will be difficult to live without, but it will be better to live without it for righteousness' sake. It's going to have permanent effects on the rest of our lives. You cannot re-attach a severed arm, and you cannot put your eyeball back in its socket. Once it's done, it's irreversible.

There is no doubt about it: Pornography is a deeply rooted sin in many Christians' lives, and the only way to free themselves from this sin is through the knowledge and grace of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Therefore, what does Jesus teach us about committing adultery with a woman or man in our heart? Tear your eye out! Are you ready or willing to tear out your eye so that you might not sin against your Lord and Savior? Do you really love the Lord? Are you really a slave of righteousness, or are you really a slave of unrighteousness? Are you an adopted child of our Heavenly Father, or are you an irrational animal, a creature of instinct, an accursed child?

If you're ready to tear out your eyes because you love Christ and you hate pornography, then I am here to help you. Like I said, it is going to be brutally painful, but this pain will go away, unlike hellfire. Remember, you're not doing this for yourself but because you have been bought with a price. You are no longer your own, but you are Christ's. You can no longer return to your vomit. Did the prodigal son return into the arms of his loving father only for a time before he ran steadfast back to the pig's mire? You have been set free in Christ, do not entangle yourself in the trap of sin once more. Hear what Scripture says: It would have been better for you never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to you. That ought to break your heart through and through. If you are Christ's, then you can no longer struggle with pornography! It would have been better for you to have never known Christ then after knowing Him to flee back to pornography. What a crushing blow.

Take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.
(2 Peter 3:17-18)

Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Stop letting pornography defile you. Stop letting pornography work against the sanctifying Spirit of God that dwells in you. Stop letting pornography taint your heart which is being conformed to Christ. Stop letting pornography rule your intentions and motivations. Take care lest you be carried away with the error of the lawless people that surround you and lose your own stability. They will fall and they will take you with them. Our society does not recognize that they totter on the precipice of utter destruction as they continue to satiate their insatiable appetite for sin. They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children! No good can come from holding hands with these people. It is time to cut ties, and cling once more upon Christ and His grace. It is time to love Jesus Christ and hate pornography. Be overcome by Christ and His boundless love, and be enslaved to righteousness!

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A Deeper Issue

And all who saw it said, "Such a thing has never happened or been seen from the day that the people of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt until this day; consider it, take counsel, and speak."
(Judges 19:30)

Perhaps the most horrific chapter in Scripture, the nineteenth chapter of Judges, recounts the journey of a Levite, his concubine, his servant, and some donkeys from Bethlehem to the tabernacle at Shiloh in the hill country of Ephraim. The Levite's servant suggests that they spend a night of their journey in Jebus, however, the Levite refuses to stay in a Canaanite town, opting to stay in Gibeah located in the territory of Benjamin. Due to the lack of hospitality amongst the Benjamites, the party prepares to camp in the town square. An old man from Ephraim returning to his home after a long day of work sees the party and, worried for the party, insists that they stay with him in his house.

Shortly after arriving at the old man's home, men from the town swarm the home and demand that the old man give them the Levite man staying with him so that they can rape him. The old man pleads with the mob, and offers them his own virgin daughter and the Levite's concubine to rape instead of the Levite. However, this proposition does not satiate the crowd's desire to rape the Levite, so the Levite casts his concubine to the mob. The mob of men brutally violate the Levite's concubine throughout the night.

As morning begins to dawn, the wicked Israelites release their helpless victim. Having been violated all night, she staggers and stumbles all the way back to where her Levite master spent the night with the old man before she passes out. Her master opens the door to continue his journey (without her, perhaps) and he finds her at the threshold. Unsympathetically and unwilling to become ceremonially unclean by touching her, the Levite demands that the abused woman get up so that they can get going. However, his concubine does not answer either because she has passed out due to her wounds or she has died. The Levite is forced to pick up her body, place it upon his donkey, and return home.

When the Levite returns home, he takes his concubine, dismembers her into twelve pieces, and sends pieces of her body to every tribe of Israel. In the following chapter, the Levite recounts his story to the leaders of the tribes of Israel, omitting the Benjamites desire to rape him and his crime of casting his concubine into their wicked midst. Bruce Waltke explains that, "(The Levite) gives the impression she died from the rape, but she may have died on the way home from his neglect or been murdered by him when he dismembered her" (Waltke, An Old Testament Theology, 2007). Waltke (2007) also points out that the Levite accuses the citizens of Gibeah rather than the wicked men in the town. Civil war against the tribe of Benjamin ensues along with a national vow not to marry Benjamite women. In an effort to ensure that the tribe of Benjamin is not erased from the tribes of Israel, the Israelites slaughter Jabesh Gilead, spare four hundred virgins, and give them to the six hundred Benjamites that survived the civil war. Waltke (2007) points out that, "They murder a whole city after finding Gibeah guilty of murdering a single woman." The problem of providing the tribe of Benjamin with a future in Israel persists, however, and the remaining two hundred Benjamite bachelors are encouraged to steal Canaanite virgins dancing in a cultic ritual in Shiloh.

This disturbing episode of Israel sets the stage for Samuel and King David to enter the historic stage. Bruce Waltke (2007) shows how the book of Judges should serve as a warning to the church today:

"Neglect of herem (war) is only the beginning of neglecting God's law. Eventually the nation falls into total anarchy because it loses its inspired catechism. This is partially so because the nation's leadership fails. Levites, who should have taught the nation the Catechism, become materialistic and opportunist, neglecting the word of God and not teaching the people. Gifted warlords, who should have furthered the kingdom of God, degenerate into leaders motivated by self-protection and/or a desire to secure their own political power bases and/or to revenge themselves. Political leaders without God's Torah become moral fools, doing what is right in their own eyes. Parents also fail in knowing the Law and are either unable or unwilling to communicate their faith to their children. Generations grow up not knowing I AM or his Word." (p. 618)

A little leaven leavens the whole lump (Gal. 5:9). In Joshua, Israel's conquest to purify the Promised Land of the wicked Canaanites is met with success and is evidence of their fidelity to God and His commandments. Judges, on the other hand, demonstrates the tragic result of lackadaisical Israel's growing infidelity to God and a deep-rooted tendency to embrace the Canaanites and their idolatry rather than destroy them. Israel's turning away from God and embracing pagan culture and gods reaches its climax in the last chapters of Judges. Unfortunately, Israel would not learn their lesson in previous generations despite the faithfulness of several prophets, priests, and kings.

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God. Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more?
(Galatians 4:4-9)

Pornography, like so many other sins, is an off-shoot of a deeply rooted sin in the human heart. This root was planted by Adam in the Garden of Eden, and has plagued, enslaved, and cursed humanity ever since. Although Adam's sin was eating that which God commanded him not to eat, this sin was deeply rooted in Adam's deep desire to be like God, or a god to himself. Underlying all sin is man's desire to usurp God's authority over his life, scratch out God's copyright, and be in charge of his own life without God's say-so. All sin stems from man's fallen, hardened, deceitful, and dead heart that desires to cast off the yoke of God and be free to do as it pleases, knowing what is best for itself.

Pornography flies in the face of what God created in so many terrible ways. When viewing pornography, the notion never passes your mind that you are watching God's creation, image bearers of God, participating in an act that is completely contrary to God's revealed will for man and woman. Why is that? It is because you want to be freed of God's constrictive Law and authority over your life. In essence, you are another Adam in another Garden of Eden with another tree of the knowledge of good and evil. You are so focused on the one tree that God has forbidden you from eating that you are completely ignorant of all the beautiful fruits and nectars at your fingertips. You want forbidden love only because God has forbidden it, although God has afforded and offered you a world of opportunity to find a man or woman to seek after and join together in a blessed covenant of marriage.

Man has this behavior and disposition to sin hardwired into his thinking and it is evident in every form of sin, not just pornography. Despite God's promises of life and that everlasting if we follow His commands, we cannot keep our eyes on God for one second without wishing to divert them to our own wants and desires. Thus Israel's predicament at the end of Judges. Despite seeing God's blessing on them as a nation after Joshua's (the Hebrew form of the Greek word: Jesus) conquest of Canaan, they quickly forgot the Word of God, and turned to their own hearts' desire rather than God's revealed will for them. At first, they turned a blind eye to the encroaching sins of the Canaanites. They didn't conquer the Canaanites completely as God had commanded, but due to many mistakes, they even allowed the Canaanites to dwell within them. The leaven began to spread, and before Israel knew what happened, they were now partaking in the wickedness of the Canaanites. In many ways, they had become more corrupt and wicked than the people God commanded them to destroy. Therefore, the stage was set for a faithful King and conqueror to vanquish Israel of the Canaanite plague, return fidelity to the nation of Israel, and restore Israel as the chosen and holy people of God Almighty. And no, I'm not talking about King David. I speak of the King of kings, the great High Priest, and the very Word of God incarnate: Jesus Christ.

"When you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more?"

Christians, the name of God has been placed upon us in our baptisms. We are the adopted sons of God. We are not only called God's people, like chosen Israel, but we are called sons and daughters of the Creator of all things, having been adopted in Christ. As Paul challenges us, how can we know God, or rather be known by God, and turn back again to the worthless elementary principles of the world and enslave ourselves once more to these principles? How can we testify of the conquest of the Holy Spirit in our hearts like the conquest of Canaan, and then seek to evict the Holy Spirit from our sanctified hearts and turn once more to assimilate the dwelling place of God into the customs of the Canaanites? Christ Jesus died on a cross so that we could be free once and forevermore of our sinful disposition to rebel against God, who spared not His only begotten Son so that we might be adopted as sons and know Him as our gracious and loving Father. How can we see God as our gracious Father and still rebel against Him, rejecting our adoption, rejecting Christ's death on the cross to ransom us from our sins, and mourning the Holy Spirit who now dwells in us as the holy temple of God?

Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
(1 Corinthians 6:18-20)

A little leaven leavens the whole lump. Look at Israel's history preceding the last few chapters of Judges. Despite God's countless mercies and miracles on Israel's behalf, they still forgot God and minimized His holy Law. Thus, the condition of the human heart after the Fall. Despite God's goodness towards His creation, despite His great works, despite His holy Word, and even despite His death on a cross to redeem His creation from the stain and rebellion of sin, our eyes remain shut to Him. Christ Jesus is the only savior sufficient to cover the stain of sin in our lives and replace it with insurmountable obedience and righteousness, and we only know Christ by faith, graciously given to us by our Heavenly Father.

For "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!" But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, "Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?" So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
(Romans 10:13-17)

Christians, the church today should not be plagued by the same problems that plagued the Israelites in Judges. Unlike Israel in Judges, the church today is not prone to backsliding due to their inability to obey God, but rather, we are buttressed against all forms of sinfulness by the blood of Christ graciously poured out for us and the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit conforming our lives to His perfect image. We have no reason to backslide as the Israelites did throughout Judges. We do not lack the spiritual guidance and leader they did. We do not lack the completed revelation of the Word of God that they did. We do not lack the revelation of a holy savior, the Lamb of God, as they did.

And that servant who knew his master's will but did not get ready or act according to his will, will receive a severe beating. But the one who did not know, and did what deserved a beating, will receive a light beating. Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more.
(Luke 12:47-48)

Should it not deeply concern God's people when evidence of the wickedness of the nations that surrounds us is revealed to dwell in our own midst? Shouldn't the problem of pornographers in the pews and even behind the pulpits of Christ's church be cause for alarm? How has it gotten this bad? How can we claim that the gospel of Jesus Christ has the power to transform lives to the world, and yet witness an internal, cancerous decaying of the body of Christ due to sexual immorality grow and grow? What must it take in order to get us to open our eyes and face the enemy at the gates?

Such a thing has never happened or been seen from the day that the people of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt until this day; consider it, take counsel, and speak.

Israel received one of their eye-openers in Judges, and their reaction to the problem only further elaborated the wickedness that ran rampant throughout the land. Similarly, we see a problem in the church today, and it is time we consider it, take counsel, and speak. However, our reaction to the problem and our approach to eliminating it is more crucial than anything else. Our natural tendencies, much like Israel's reaction, is a witch hunt. The finger pointing takes place, civil war ensues, innocent people get hurt in the crossfire, and the problem only consumes us rather than us eradicating it. Therefore, we must consider the problem, take counsel, and speak lest we make the same mistake Israel did.

Consider it:
What is the problem underlying every superficial problem on the surface? The tribe of Benjamin wasn't Israel's problem. The men who performed the most heinous act in Israel's history at the time were not the underlying problem. These men were influenced by the wicked customs and gods of the pagan Canaanites that lived in their midst. The Canaanites lived within their midst because the people of Israel didn't obey God's command to destroy the Canaanites throughout the land. The Israelites didn't obey the commands of God because they turned their back on His Law and failed to teach it to their children and their children's children. The underlying problem in Israel was turning away from God, neglecting His Word, and failing to live according to His revealed will. This is, arguably, the same problem underlying every sinful problem that the church is struggling with today. We have turned away from the Gospel and embraced the world that surrounds us. The church's new message is God wants us to be happy, healthy, rich, and love everyone just as they are. We have turned away from the Law of God and more importantly, we have rejected the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Christ is no longer preached from behind the pulpit, and in His place pastors preach health, wealth, prosperity, and happiness. God wants you to be happy, no matter what! That's the new "gospel" and it's really bad news. Instead of being a light to the world, many churches are being consumed by the darkness of the world. The Gospel of Christ separates the church from the world, and without it, the world will only continue to creep into the church unabated.

Take Counsel:
The church today does not have to re-invent the wheel. This is not a new problem. This problem has been dealt with successfully and unsuccessfully countless times before. History provides numerous lessons that we would benefit from if we would only consider their counsel. Not only can we benefit from Israel's history and the early church's history as it is revealed in the Scriptures, but we have over two thousand years of church history to turn to for counsel. And without exception, every historical success of reformation stemmed from church-wide penitence and a return to God's Word and God's gracious Gospel. If we would only take counsel from God's Word, then half the problem would already be fixed. If we would turn to prayer as a church and further seek God's wisdom as it is revealed in His Word then we would be well on our way.

Speak:
This cannot remain a silent problem. Looking through redemptive history and church history, it was those who spoke up about the problems they saw rampant throughout Israel and the church that were the greatest catalysts for reformation. They did not only speak, but they admonished, encouraged, and preached Christ and Him crucified. Men considered the problem, they took counsel in God's Word, and they were outspoken about the problem and the solution. If you recognize a problem, detest it, and yet keep your mouth shut, then you are not solving the problem but ignoring it, allowing it to get worse. Especially today, everyone has a voice. Whether it is oral or written, we all have access to the very same instrument that the enemy is utilizing to spread the problem of pornography on a global scale. It took more than one pornographic video to get us into this mess, and it is going to take more than one voice to challenge the church to get seek God's counsel in how to get out of it. Either you raise your voice with God's people, or you passively contribute to the spread of a larger and louder voice that seeks the destruction of everyone, Christians and non-Christians alike.

Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes. I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven for his name's sake. I am writing to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I write to you, children, because you know the Father. I write to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one. Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world--the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life--is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.
(1 John 2:10-17)

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What's Wrong With Me?

Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?
(Romans 7:16-24, ESV)

Sin does not only still abide in us, but is still acting, still laboring to bring forth the deeds of the flesh. When sin lets us alone we may let sin alone; but as sin is never less quiet than when it seems to be most quiet, and its waters are for the most part deep when they are still, so ought our contrivances against it to be vigorous at all times and in all conditions, even where there is least suspicion...sin is always acting, always conceiving, always seducing and tempting. Who can say that he had ever anything to do with God or for God, that indwelling sin had not a hand in the corrupting of what he did? And this trade will it drive more or less all our days. If, then, sin will be always acting, if we be not always mortifying, we are lost creatures. He that stands still and suffers his enemies to double blows upon him without resistance will undoubtedly be conquered in the issue. If sin be subtle, watchful, strong, and always at work in the business of killing our souls, and we be slothful, negligent, foolish, in proceeding to the ruin thereof, can we expect a comfortable event? There is not a day but sin foils or is foiled, prevails or is prevailed on; and it will be so while we live in this world.
(John Owen, Overcoming Sin & Temptation, Edited by Kelly Kapic and Justin Taylor, 2006, pp. 51-52).

There is no sin from which a regenerated person is safeguarded in an absolute sense. No one can say: "I shall never fall into that sin." A person will never be delivered from the indwelling corruption of his nature. It will always prevent and defile that which is good, always stir up lusts, and daily cause a man to offend in many things, doing so either out of carelessness, or due to the sudden occurrence of an event. At times there is a very besetting sin, however, which is triggered by the disposition of the body or because the body is repeatedly stimulated due to there being continual opportunity for this sin. The power of this is such that we repeatedly fall into it. This can particularly be true of a sin which occurs in secret, and thus without the knowledge of any other person...It may appear at times as if that sin has been overcome--yes, even mortified--so that we no longer fear it. And yet, it can nevertheless happen that we fall into it by renewal.
(Wilhelmus Brakel, The Christian's Reasonable Service, Vol. IV, Edited by Joel Beeke, 1995, pp. 255-256)

As the DVD full of pornographic videos and images lied scattered throughout my room in pieces, I felt like a decisive victory had been won over my struggle with pornography. A great burden had been lifted off my shoulders. I breathed a deep sigh of relief, as I wiped my tear-drenched face dry with my bed sheets. As I began to gather the shards of DVD peppered around the room, I couldn't help but wonder how long it would last. How long would this overwhelming peace and solitude remain? How long would I live without a constant desire to drop what I'm doing, hop on my computer, and return once again to my sinful inclination to search for pornography? The battle was won, but as I labored to clear the battlefield of the stricken enemy, I waited anxiously for another troop to crest the hill and bear down upon me with their venomous weapons.

The other day, I spoke with my brother about his relentless battle to stop smoking. He told me, confidently, that he finally felt like he had the upper hand in the battle after trying to quit for about a decade. His voice saturated in confidence, boasted that he had been cigarette and cigar free for the longest period since he started the bad habit. With great angst and anticipation, I quickly asked him how long of a timespan he was talking about. He boldly answered: two weeks! Initially, I was disappointed with the anti-climactic answer. Two weeks? That's the longest you've been without a cigarette or cigar over the five or six year period you have been trying to quit smoking? That's it? But then I thought about my own struggles to overcome an addiction. Two weeks can feel like an entire month. One month feels like a year. A year feels like an eternity. I congratulated my brother, and wished him well in his continued efforts to overcome his addiction to nicotine.

Before I was a Christian, pornography was just a bad habit to me. A bad habit, that is, that I was willing to live with. It was like biting your fingernails or picking your nose. It's gross, but its one way to take care of a natural problem. God made us, and He created us as sexual beings with sexual needs, right. Pornography was only natural, therefore. I actually believed that I was doing myself a favor by relieving sexual tension with pornography rather than participating in pre-marital sex. If anything, God should be pleased with my decision. Thus the thoughts of a teenage boy who was desperately trying to justify a sin in his life that he didn't want to think of as sin.

A bad habit before God graciously saved me from my sins became a nasty sin that I could not seem to gain the upper hand over when God gave me new life in Christ. My eyes were opened to the deceitfulness of my heart, and my spirit was quickened by the Holy Spirit to detest the filth that cluttered my heart. Pornography was not just a bad habit, anymore. It was a sinful nuisance that sought my destruction, and it had to go. It was an idol, and there was no room for idols where God resided. Pornography was not a means to deal with natural urges. It was a means to rebel against God, disobey God's Laws, defy His holiness, satiate my covetousness, and stand for everything that Christ stood against. Despite my ill-will towards pornography and my detestation for it, it remained a problem in my life.

Countless times, I found myself desiring to destroy this lust and proclivity in my being. I developed a new routine for each day that did not include pornography. This helped immensely, as I had included pornography in my daily routine in the past. A change of routine, however, caused some anxiety, and anxiety used to be quenched with pornography. I had to find a new way to deal with anxiety, and I found reading and music to be the most effective means to settle my anxious nerves. However, my music library was tainted with sexually explicit songs, and, therefore, I had to clean out my music library. I played my piano and wrote new songs, I read my new theological titles along with Scripture, I began to write expository thoughts of my own, and I took advantage of several opportunities to remove myself from my room as often as I could, lest I be tempted to avail myself of the lurking monster sitting patiently for my attention in the middle of my room.

My body craved pornography as if it were a narcotic. The cravings often came when I was most vulnerable (i.e. alone in my room at night) and they were intense. A deep breath helped lower the intensity of the craving, and it helped clear my mind of immense temptation. You think you want it, but you really don't, I'd tell myself. The first few seconds of a craving were crucial. If I did not fight the craving immediately, I often found a way to talk myself into falling to temptation. I had to fight instantly, or the ensuing battle would get exponentially worse. 

After a deep breath, I would close my eyes. I didn't want to see the computer and just how close I was to it. Out of sight, out of mind. Closing my eyes, however, made me more vulnerable to my imaginations. I couldn't think about what I was trying to overcome, otherwise countless pornographic images seared into my memory would flood my thoughts. I could only imagine who could overcome this problem, and I had to turn to prayer. I prayed that the Lord would be my strength, that He would comfort me by His Spirit, draw me away from temptation, and help me find peace in the means of grace that were at my disposal.

It only took a split second, however, to make the decision to fight the temptation or give in, and if I was not guarding my heart during that initial moment of immense temptation and craving, then I did not stand a chance overcoming my temptation. That initial moment when I was overcome with immense temptation daily felt like an hour's length of time. It was one second, but I felt like I had days to make my decision. Not so much that that one second felt like days, but rather, that I had days to prepare for this moment and, more often then not, I had not.

Some days I won, but some days I didn't. After returning from China, I wanted to put pornography behind me. I didn't want pornography to be a part of my life anymore. I wanted to purify my life, to seek after Christ, and to be holy as my Heavenly Father is holy. I had many sins in my life that needed to be mortified, but the obvious one that was wounding the most often and the most severely was pornography. Initially, the battle ensued every night, and I had to fight the good fight daily. I began to go a few days without falling to temptation. A few days became a week. A week became two weeks. Two weeks became a month. A month of sexual sobriety felt like a year of time had passed. After a month, I felt like I had finally won the war and could let my guard down a bit. I'd overcome my greatest enemy. Or so I thought.

A relentless barrage against a fortress can be effective initially, but after time, your forces steadily decrease while the fortress anticipates and prepares for your every predictable move. However, if you seemingly depart defeated only to remuster your strength, you might also gain the advantage of catching the fortress off-guard later. When we seem to have the upper hand over sin, we cannot grow lazy and lethargic in continuing to mortify it, because when it seems the most quiet, that is when it is preparing to attack the most powerfully.

After a month of sexual sobriety, I let my guard down. I did not spend as much time in prayer as I did when I was preparing to fight temptation every day. I did not remain consistent in reading the Word and meditating upon it. I spent less time reading my theological books and writing about my meditations upon God's Word, and I spent more time watching television, movies, and playing video games. My taste in music switched from wholesome, uplifting music to Top 40 hits and popular hip hop. As sin crept through the dark forest that surrounded the fortress of my heart, it saw me removing guards from the watchtowers and inviting unruly entertainers in by the boat load. Furthermore, the chaplain in the fortress could no longer gain the king's ear, but rather, those with slippery tongues infiltrated the fortress in order to tickle the king's ears with their deceitfulness. Sin found it's opportunity, and barraged the fortress of my heart, left unguarded, with a full assault with perfect timing.

It could take days before I regained the upper hand in the battle. I had to re-train the guards in the watchtowers. I had to forcibly remove the riff raff I had invited into my fortress. I had to find the chaplain, and beg him to encourage me once more to seek after the Lord and to find solace in Him alone. I was not prepared for a battle, and the damage done to the fortress before I could put everything in order was extensive. In Christ, the fortress could not fall, but my un-guarded heart was nevertheless deeply wounded as I neglected to mortify the sins of my flesh with the required intensity daily.

I soon began to notice a pattern in my struggle with pornography. I would go two weeks, and then I would fall to temptation. Once in a while, I would go a month before I fell. The longer I went without falling to temptation, the more depressing and destructive the eventual fall to temptation was. I was deeply distressed about my walk with the Lord. I kept telling myself that I needed to repent. True repentance would indeed be made manifest by my willingness to put this sin to rest once and for all, and to move on to mortifying other sins in my life. However, as much as I wanted to destroy the sin of pornography, there seemed to be a part of me that didn't. I seemed to do that which I did not want to do, and I seemed unable to do that which I wanted to do. I couldn't help but wonder: What's wrong with me?

I was a odds with myself. I was warring against myself. What a relief it was to find Romans 7. It was as if the Apostle Paul knew exactly what I was going through. It was as if God knew exactly what I was going through. My problem wasn't anything new. It's a battle that every Christian must fight with the old man (i.e. indwelling sin) that still clings to the new man rooted in Christ. In this life, there will be no utter destruction of any particular sin. Yes, we can and we must seek to mortify every sin that bewitches us and turns us away from the Lord, but there is no nuclear bomb in the arsenal that will completely destroy every remnant of the enemy within us. We must always be on guard, we must always avail ourselves to the means of grace which are effectual to overcome sin and temptation in our lives, we must always rest in the completed work of Jesus Christ, we must always pray to our Heavenly Father for wisdom, sanctification, and an increase in our faith, and we must always depend on the comfort and help of the Holy Spirit who perfects a good work that He began in us, conforming us to the perfect image of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Mortification of sin is an ongoing battle throughout all of our days, because we will not leave the old man clinging to us behind until we die and are resurrected with new bodies on the last great day. 

The constant battles marked by victories and defeats can take a toll. More than anything, they constantly cause you to distress and doubt your faith in Christ. You will find yourself repeatedly questioning whether or not you are resting in Christ because part of you continues to draw you towards sin. As long as you desire to mortify sin in your life, struggle with sin's captivity over you, hate it because of its precious cost to Christ, hate it because of its disobedience to God, despise it for its separation from a holy God, and loath it because of its grieving of the Spirit within you, then you need not doubt your heart of repentance. You might fall to temptation, you might lose the struggle at times, but you will continue to fight and struggle because you desire to love God with all of your heart, soul, strength, and mind and God continues to graciously equip you to do so. You might despair and wonder who can deliver you from your body of death, like Paul did. You might feel like you will always be plagued by a law waging war against the law of your mind. You might always feel like you are being held captive to the law of sin that dwells in your members. Nevertheless, remember Paul's answer concerning him who saved and delivered you from sin once and for all:

Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.
(Romans 7:25-8:2)

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Challenge and Reflection: Inadequate

Here are some startling statistics from Harry Schaumburg's book Undefiled: Redemption from Sexual Sin, Restoration for Broken Relationships:

• $3,075.63 is spent on pornography every second around the world.
• Worldwide, at any given second, there are 28,258 people looking at pornography on the internet.
• In the United States alone, there is a new pornographic video created every 39 minutes.
• In 2006, the combined revenues of Microsoft, Google, Amazon, eBay, Yahoo!, Apple, Netflix, and EarthLink were nothing in comparison to the $97 billion revenues earned in the pornographic industry worldwide.
• The top four countries for pornographic spending are China, South Korea, Japan, and the United States.
• In 2006, out of the seventy-five million search requests for the word "sex," 50% were by men and the other 50% were by women.
• Out of the 13,982,729 searches for the keywords "teen sex," 44% were men and 56% were women.
• Out of the over thirteen million searches for the words "adult sex," only 36% were men and the remaining 64% were women.

These might be the most disturbing statistics of all:

• Twenty percent of those searching for "sex," "adult dating," "teen sex," and "adult sex" were children under the age of eighteen.
• Another twenty percent were young men and women between the ages of eighteen and twenty-four.
• There is data to substantiate that 90% of eight to sixteen-year-olds have viewed pornography online, with the age of eleven being the average age of a child's first Internet exposure to pornography.
• 80% of children between the ages of fifteen and seventeen have had multiple (i.e. more than one) exposures to hard-core pornography.

Terrifying, isn't it? Most of this data is now seven years old. With recent improvements in cell-phone technology allowing photos and videos to be taken almost anywhere at any time and shared instantly, these statistics are likely far worse today then they were in 2006.

Therefore, the challenge to my readers today is, What do you think the church is doing about this growing problem and what do you think the church should be doing about this problem?

Obviously, these statistics make any parent want to chuck their computer out of the top-story window of the highest building in town. Sadly, however, this isn't just a computer problem anymore. Grab the cell-phone, the TV, the game consoles, the iPads, the Kindles, and the neighbor kids' stuff too. Between the age of eight and sixteen, our children are very likely to view pornography online. That is not only completely shocking and eye-opening, but that should fuel a passionate fire in every parent's heart to start doing something about this problem.

I think it is also important to consider how the word pornography is defined within these statistics. These statistics are talking about hard-core pornography. These statistics do not include the number of culturally "acceptable" forms of pornography rampant in our media: lingerie commercials and ads, sex scenes in movies, Carl's Jr. commercials, sexual innuendos in most of today's television shows, and so much more. If we define pornography biblically, then we have to include all of these forms as well and the statistics have to rise from 90% to 100% realistically.

So, what are we doing about it? Not only as individuals but as a body of Christ?

Perhaps you are still trying to wrap your brain around just how serious this problem is becoming and you don't know how the church is going to be able to fight this battle in the political sphere along with gay marriage and abortion. Arguably, there are opportunities to try to pass stricter legislation to protect our children from "stumbling" upon pornographic websites online, and I think that the church should consider some avenues to take those opportunities seriously. However, right here and right now, the damage has already been done in most households with at least one child between the ages of eight and sixteen. It is not meant to be humorous, but pornography is like a Lays potato chip, you are not inclined to consume it just once.

For pastors, the face of those struggling with pornography in their congregations is changing. It is no longer the males between eighteen and thirty that they have to worry about. In certain categories, there are more women looking at pornography than men now. And as I have already emphasized, the ages of those struggling is getting younger and younger.

Schaumberg (2009) relates that the first time that he heard about sexting (taking nude photos with your cell-phone and texting it to someone) was when he spoke at a middle school in Mexico in 2008. Fast-forward five years, and sexting has become a problem at schools all around America. I imagine that every parent, pastor, and Sunday school teacher finds it hard to imagine talking to eight-year-olds about what the Bible teaches about pornography. How, exactly, do we go about that? A Sunday school class covering the biblical responsibility of using technology for God's glory, perhaps? Do we have to talk to our kids about sex at a much younger age than before? How is a responsible Christian parent supposed to respond to these alarming findings?

Here is another alarming statistic from Schaumberg's (2009) book:

• Various studies show that about half of Christians are dealing with some level of involvement with internet pornography (informal data included).

The skeptic in all of us raises his little flag in our brains and says, "Wait! It's probably not that bad. I want to know how the study was conducted, if the sample was randomly generated, etc., etc., etc." True, it might not be about half. It might be less. Then again, it might realistically be more. However, I challenge every Christian reading this to consider this: even if 10% of Christians are dealing with some level of involvement with internet pornography, does it make the problem any less of a problem? If less than ten percent of your body was infected with cancer, would you wait until the cancer grew much larger before you started to address the fact that there is a problem and it is only going to get worse? We're not talking about just any body being infected, either. We're talking about the body of Christ, here.

I've been to a fair share of churches in my lifetime and heard a fair share of pastors and speakers. I've only attended with three separate congregations regularly. As I've related in my previous blogs, one of these was part of the Evangelical Free Church and the other two are part of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America. I can count the number of sermons that addressed the sin of pornography and Christ's sufficiency to overcome them on one hand. Maybe even two fingers. Sure, sexual immorality is alluded to a lot, but it is often a fleeting departure from the main message of the sermon. Sexual immorality, despite playing an influential role in today's society and the future of the church, hardly ever gets any "air-time" from behind the pulpit.

Having struggled with pornography since I was a young teen, I was twenty three when I heard the first sermon that specifically addressed the sin of pornography in the life of a Christian. I felt like my pastor was staring at me throughout the whole sermon. A couple of years had passed since I shattered the DVD of pornographic files that I kept hidden in my room. A lot had changed in my life. Pornography was not as tempting as it once was, but there were still times when I would fall to temptation. At the time of the sermon, I was only months away from marrying my fiancé. The sermon was a breath of fresh air!

My pastor preached from Colossians 3:5, and it was one of those sermons that caused me to walk straight up to my pastor after the sermon and say, "Thanks, that was exactly what I needed to hear." Although there are numerous passages that are appropriate texts to preach on concerning sexual immorality in the life of a Christian, Colossians 3 has always stuck out to me. The sins are clearly spelled out, the judgment for those sins is pungently outlined, and God's grace and Christ's death is freely given and perfectly sufficient for those who once walked in these sins but are now seeking to put them to death with the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit. (You can listen to the sermon here)

In verses nine and ten, Paul writes, "Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its Creator." The Greek word Paul uses for "lie" refers to trying to deceive or cheat by falsehood. This is the same word used in verses three and four of Acts 5, when Peter confronts Ananias for only bringing a portion of his proceeds from selling his property when he claimed it was all of the proceeds. Furthermore, this is the same word used in 1 John 1:6, where John writes, "If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth." Therefore, it would appear that Paul is telling the Colossians, "Do not act like you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self when you are still living in these sins." Such deceitfulness is clearly a form of lying to one another. According to some studies, half of the church is lying to the other half about who they are. I think there is a problem here. What do you think?

For pastors, pornography remains a faceless issue in their congregations. Most pastors have to only assume that a large portion of their congregation is struggling with pornography in secret. Apart from a few brave souls that confide in their pastors and elders about their struggles with pornography, most of those in any given congregation with a pornography problem decide to keep their struggle a secret. Not only do their pastors not know, but their wives often don't know either (although both pastors and wives might be suspicious).

Pornography is a sinful struggle that most Christians try their best to sweep under the rug rather than seek the spiritual guidance they need and often desire. Pornography is a sin that requires discipline to overcome. And no, self-discipline is not effective.

Although I destroyed that DVD of pornography in my room, the fight was far from over. There was only so much that I could do on my own (self-discipline) to mortify my sinful propensity for pornography. In 2008, I confided in my pastor that I had been struggling with pornography since eighth grade. Half a year before my pastor preached on Col. 3:5 in April of 2010, I was asked by one of the elders at my church to share my testimony at a youth gathering. There, I shared my struggles with pornography with most of my peers at church. I told my future wife about my struggles shortly after asking if she would be interested in "dating" me. She encouraged me to confess my sins to my parents, and I felt it was necessary to ask for my grandmother's forgiveness for indulging in pornography while under her roof. Honestly, "coming out" (as it were) to my parents, my grandma, my pastor, my elders, and my friends was by far one of the hardest things that I have ever had to do. As hard as it was, though, it was a necessary step towards the road of mortification. As long as you keep pornography and sexual immorality a secret between you and God, you will get nowhere in your mortification of those sins. Pornography is not a self-help issue that you can work your way out of it. Recovery and true repentance is only going to come by the grace of God, and that grace will be evidenced in accountability and discipline from those who know what you are dealing with, are constantly trying to help you guard your heart, and repeatedly remind you to put off the old man and put on the new man in Christ.

I challenge every reader, if you know someone who has a history of struggling with pornography because they confided in you, you need to hold them accountable. Accountability makes all the difference in the world for someone struggling with pornography. It might sound crazy to you, but they're dying for someone to ask them, "Is pornography a sin in your life right now?" Ask them every now and then. They confided in you for a reason. They want someone to hold them accountable. They didn't confide in you once just because they had to get it off of their chest. It was a cry for help! They're fighting a losing battle, and they are so desperate to overcome this sin in their life that they went way out on a limb and told you what kind of person they really are. They don't want your sympathy, they don't want you to accept them for who they are, but they want someone who is going to come along beside them, look them straight in the eyes (not down upon them), and consistently encourage them to look to Christ and their life hidden in Him in order to mortify this sin in their life.

Whatever you do, don't let them fall off the radar. They could go years without any problems whatsoever, and then something comes along, triggers temptation again, and they can relapse into a struggle with pornography. If you have "come out" once, and everyone you told helped hold you accountable and rejoiced in your progress, you don't want to "come out" again a few years down the road. I know, because I have been there and done that. As the one struggling, you cannot help but wonder how many times you'll have to "come out" before someone takes your problem serious enough to make a point of holding you accountable regularly. Unfortunately, pornography is not a sin that is mortified after two months of sexual sobriety. You could be porn free for months, and then something comes up out of nowhere and you are tempted to go back down a deadly road of sinfulness.  

Sexual immorality is not immune to the grace of God. The whole armor of God is sufficient to defend against and mortify sexual immorality, too. Struggling with pornography can often feel like a losing battle, and you will never gain the upper-ground if you try to fight the battle on your own. It's readily accepted that when Paul wrote about the whole armor of God, he was envisioning a Roman Legionnaire's armor. "In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one" (Eph. 6:16). This most likely refers to when Roman Legions would band together as a group, shielding themselves by joining their shields into one giant shield, to make themselves  practically immune to volleys of arrows from an enemy. Take up the shield of faith, but more than that, stay in formation. You are part of a body, and when you suffer you cause the whole body to suffer with you (1 Cor. 12:26). You cannot fight this battle alone. You have to rely upon the faith of your fellow brothers and sisters, the added protection that their faith lends, by confiding in them that you are struggling with pornography and you need their help. Tell your parents. Tell your friends. Most importantly, tell your pastor. You will feel extraordinarily vulnerable, but you must decrease so that Christ may increase. Set aside your pride and your façade, and look for the helping hands of others who will remind you that your sins are not indestructible, and God's grace is sufficient for their mortification.

Pastors look at the statistics given above, and they cannot help but wonder how many men, women, and children in their congregation are struggling with pornography. It is a face-less problem, but it does not have to be. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 teaches us that, "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work." The difficult problems that the church often deals with are due to a lack of preaching on the difficult texts that God breathed out in Scripture.

I am sure that no pastor really wants to stand in front of their congregation and preach a sermon about sexual sins. It's uncomfortable and some pastors may even be struggling with some of the sins that they are preaching about. Pastors, you cannot continue to gloss over the numerous passages in Scripture that address sexual immorality. They're there for a reason. They're as numerous as they are in both the Old and New Testaments for a reason. Sexual immorality has been and will continue to be a huge problem that the church must combat. It must be addressed at the front-line, from behind the pulpit, rather than the field hospitals behind the lines, in counseling sessions and session meetings. The church is stuck playing clean up right now because the damage has already been done, and I honestly do not see much, if anything, being done in the church to prevent further damage from occurring at its increasing rate. Those in your congregations struggling with pornography are not going to be convicted of their sin, desire to repent and return to Christ, and seek to mortify the deeds of the flesh because you glossed over a passage about sexual immorality. You must preach harshly because God's Word is harsh on the subject. There is no room, whatsoever, for sexual immorality in the life of a Christian and there is no room, whatsoever, for sexually immoral brothers and sisters in the body of Christ.

After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was made bright with his glory. And he called out with a mighty voice, "Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a dwelling place for demons, a haunt for every unclean spirit, a haunt for every unclean bird, a haunt for every unclean and detestable beast. For all nations have drunk the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality, and the kings of the earth have committed immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have grown rich from the power of her luxurious living." Then I heard another voice from heaven saying, "Come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues; for her sins are heaped high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities."
(Revelation 18:1-5)

Perhaps the great reformation and revival that the church needs today is a departure from Babylon the great. She has fallen, and God's people need to come out of her lest they continue to take part in her sins heaped as high as the heavens. There is a scary picture painted for us in these verses. The people of Babylon the great are building a new Tower of Babel, but rather than building stones that reach to the heavens, they are heaping sins one on top of another reaching to the heavens. Imagine reaching the heavens by standing upon a heap of sins!

I focus primarily upon the problems of sexual immorality prevalent within the church, but I am just as concerned about the church's witness to a culture saturated in sexual immorality. With each new generation, fewer and fewer people believe that there is anything remotely wrong with pornography. It's just another way for people to express themselves. It's not sin to modern culture, but an artistic expression of human love and passion. What is the church, domestic and universal, doing to counter this growing acceptation of the perfectly harmless nature of pornography? Sadly, we can answer with all the vibrato we want, but we have too much of an internal problem with pornography to claim, with any sincerity, that we are worried about the external problem taking place in the world today. People are going to do whatever people want to do in the privacy of their homes. Yes, they will. But is the church conveying the severity of the sinful act that is taking place in over 28,000 homes at any given second? The church must make a more concerted effort to not only preach about the sinfulness of pornography but also make an effort to reach out to the millions of people who worship the images and life-styles that they view in pornographic videos and pictures, and the church must share the good news of Jesus Christ with them.

Then a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying, "So will Babylon the great city be thrown down with violence, and will be found no more; and the sound of harpists and musicians, of flute players and trumpeters, will be heard in you no more, and a craftsman of any craft will be found in you no more, and the sound of the mill will be heard in you no more, and the light of a lamp will shine in you no more, and the voice of bridegroom and bride will be heard in you no more, for your merchants were the great ones of the earth, and all nations were deceived by your sorcery. And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints, and of all who have been slain on earth."
(Revelation 18:21-24)

"Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea. "Woe to the world for temptations to sin! For it is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the one by whom the temptation comes!"
(Matthew 18:5-7)

Is it a coincidence that Babylon the great city will be thrown down with violence like a great millstone thrown into the sea and Jesus warns His disciples that whoever causes a child who believes in Him to sin would be better off having a great millstone fastened around their neck and drowned in the depth of the sea?

90% of children today between the ages of eight and sixteen have been exposed to sexual immorality via pornography! 80% of children between fifteen and seventeen have had multiple exposures to hard-core pornography. We cannot assume that these are accidental exposures. Children as young as eight might be tempted by curiosity to find pornographic images on the internet, and they will not have to try very hard at all. Christ's little ones are more exposed to sexual immorality and the temptation to sin sexually via pornography's proliferation on the internet today than ever before. Pornography is literally one click away. Are Christians doing what they can to address this issue? Is this a priority in the church as a whole? Is this a priority in your church? Is this a priority in your household?

Christians, we can no longer live in the midst of a city that has heaped their sins (ours included) up to the heavens. We must depart, and we must depart now! We cannot take part in the sins and plagues of a city where the blood of prophets and of saints is found. Babylon wishes to consume us as Christians, and it is time we mortify sexual immorality in our lives as individuals and as a church. On account of these, the wrath of God is surely coming. Are we prepared? I don't think we are ready.

Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.
(Colossians 3:2-10)

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
(Colossians 3:16-17)

Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people--not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler--not even to eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside. "Purge the evil person from among you."
(1 Corinthians 5:6-13)

Sadly, how many would be left in the pews?

I close with a quote from Carl Trueman's blog "Pornography: The New Normal" (Aug. 6, 2013) on Reformation21.org:

"Internet pornography is probably the number one pastoral problem in the world today (emphasis added).  I wonder if it is set to become yet more so: as the social shame dimension passes away, it will be harder to maintain discipline on this issue.  The Christian church is currently mesmerized by developments relative to sexuality, not least because these development are couched in the rhetoric of civil rights and have serious legal implications. I wonder if a more serious and lethal internal issue for the church will actually turn out to be pornography.   Holding the line on this will probably not come with direct legal and financial penalties attached; but when even The Spectator carries not one but two articles in a single week which assume the harmless normality of porn consumption, the pastoral challenge of preaching and maintaining basic sexual purity in the church is set to escalate beyond our wildest nightmares."
  

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