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:
(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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