I sought the LORD, and he answered me
and delivered me from all my fears.
Those who look to him are radiant,
and their faces shall never be ashamed.
This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him
and saved him out of all his troubles.
The angel of the LORD encamps
around those who fear him, and delivers them.
(Psalm 34:4-7 ESV)
I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears
You've tried it all, and yet, nothing seems to work. Despite your great anger and frustration with this sinful habit in your life, you constantly find yourself crawling back to this pile of vomit, lapping it up like a filthy dog.
The internet has been turned off. The computer has been placed in a locked closet when you are home alone. You've installed software on your computer that allows your accountability partners to monitor your internet history. You've configured the leading internet filters and protective services. You did everything you needed to put this problem out of reach.
However, you were able to plug the router in and get back online. You only put one of your computers in the locked closet, knowing full well that the laptop under your bed is fully accessible. You installed the internet filters and you know how to disable them or turn them off. You never allowed your accountability partners access to monitor the web history on your phone. You put pornography just out of your reach, but if you stretch out just a little bit...it's back in your grasp.
Terrible and destructive sins like pornography require drastic and immediate actions. Although taking drastic action is good and necessary, it is not enough.
If you find yourself consuming too many cookies, you can put them on top of the fridge so that they are out of reach. But eventually, it will dawn on you that you are the one that put them on the fridge. If you put them up there, then you can take them down.
This is precisely why pornography is not a sin that you can defeat by your own will-power and imaginative self-help strategies. You need the help of someone that is going to put that sin out of reach once and for all. The reality is that pornography will never be physically out of reach. As our culture grows to appreciate and downplay the dangers of pornography, there will be no escaping the physical temptation to indulge in it yourself (especially if you have already tasted of this toxic fountain). You need someone to deliver you from a heart that is addicted, enticed, and drunk in pornography's toxicity.
You know how powerful this temptation is. Despite placing your hope in false deliverers, nothing and no one seems big enough to crush this sin in your life. You thought that going on a mission trip would cure you. You thought that getting married would cure you. You thought that having kids would cure you. You thought that going to a Christian school would cure you. You thought that reading those books would cure you. You thought that reading that blog would cure you. And yet, you are still searching for your deliverer from this great enemy.
Stop searching. The deliverer you seek is the Lord God Almighty. He created you. He knows you intimately. He can restore you and He will restore you if you seek Him. Bow before His majesty in prayer, prostrate yourself before Him, confess your sin, confess your need for a Savior, and He will answer you. He will deliver you from all of your fears. You have already tried to place your hope in physical deliverance, but what you need is a spiritual renovation. You need a new heart to replace the toxic filth that pumps death through your veins right now. This problem is much worse than skin deep, and only your creator can recreate you with a new heart.
Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed
Cross eyed. That's what you must be. It is a bad thing to think that you need no deliverance when you truly do. It is a worse thing to think that no one can deliver you from your plight.
Don't lose hope. You recognize the great distance by which your sins have alienated you from God, but God can still see you. You realize the great depth by which you have sunk under the dark, mirky waters, but God can still snatch you out. You know the great cost that was paid to redeem you from your sins, but that cost was paid freely so that you may know life.
If Israel would only look upon the snake in the wilderness, then they would be saved from the plague. Jesus Christ crushed the serpent's head when He breathed his last breath on the cross. His last words were "It is finished." He used His last breath to reassure you that there is now an end to the dominion of death, sin, and the powers of evil over this world once and for all.
Do you look to Christ on the cross and see your Savior from pornography or do you see your judge?
Those who practice sexual immorality will not see the kingdom of God. You cannot look to him and look at pornography. Christ and sexual sin are incompatible. You cannot serve two masters. He is either your Savior or He is your judge. He either saves you from pornography or judges you for you constant indulgence in it. There is no alternative.
Look to the cross as the end of the sin of pornography and the end of all sin in your life. Look to the cross and be cured, sinner. Look to the cross and see the glorious love and grace of God poured out to all mankind.
Those tasked with ending Jesus' life proclaimed, "Truly this was the Son of God!" shortly after Jesus breathed His last. Imagine that. How is it possible that these gentile dogs could reach the conclusion that a man was the Son of God right after He died? He died! Does that not nullify any claim of being God? And yet, the centurion charged with monitoring Christ's agonizing death on the cross proclaimed Christ's deity after He breathed His last breath. Why? Because God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that whosever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God. Sound familiar?
Are you looking to Christ and being touched by the light? Is His countenance shining upon you? Or are you still a lover of darkness? Those who look to Him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed. Do not let your face fall. Keep your eyes upon the cross, sinner. Keep your eyes on your righteousness by keeping your eyes fixated on the radiant light of your Lord and Savior, the Christ, Jesus, Emmanuel. Look and know that your sins have been forgiven. Look and see Christ as the propitiation for your sins. Look and see your redeemer. Look and see the crimson blood that takes away the sin of the earth.
This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him and saved him out of all his troubles
Many things will be revealed when you keep your eyes on the cross. First of all, you are poor. You quickly discover that you do not have two coins to rub together. You are enlightened to see that the very best you can offer to the Lord as propitiation for your sins are filthy rags (literally menstrual cloths). You cannot possibly come before the King of kings and ask for pardon for a lifetime of rebellion against Him with nothing but a tattered hankerchief covered with feces and rotten bodily fluids. You have never felt so poor and lacking.
Secondly, you will see your humanity. You will see just how far you have fallen. God created you to bear His image perfectly, but by the sin of your federal head, Adam, you have fallen from perfection. You still bear the image of God, but all you can do is abuse it, tarnish it, and perpetually ruin it. However, you will never be rid of it. God created you above all creatures. God only placed His image on mankind.
"'Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.' So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them."
What do God and man have in common? The common ground started in Adam, wherein man was created to bear the image of God. Man was to have dominion over the creatures entrusted in his care. Man was to be a good steward of God's creation. He was to take care of it and protect it from abuse and neglect. Furthermore, God created woman as a helper for man. Adam's reaction to the creation of Eve was one of unadulterated thanksgiving. Bone of his bone. Flesh of his flesh. Together, man and wife bore the image of God.
As you look at the cross, however, you start to see how far man has fallen in his sin and separation from his holy God. In your struggle with pornography you do not see bone of your bone and flesh of your flesh when you look upon a woman. You see flesh and that's all you see. You do not see a creature made in the image of God. You do not see a creature that you should protect from abuse and neglect. You do not see the mother of all living. No, you just see adulterated flesh.
Finally, you cry. You are poor, with nothing to justify you before God. You are fallen man, having done nothing with the breath of life that fills your lungs than use that breath to blaspheme your creator.
You are poor, but you are made rich in Christ.
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich. (2 Corinthians 8:9 ESV)
You are man, but the image of God is being renewed in you by the work of the Holy Spirit, who is conforming you to a better image than that of Adam before the fall.
Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.
(1 Corinthians 15:45-49 ESV)
What do God and man have in common?
The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:9-14 ESV)
The Lord heard you cry, and He has answered you by saving you out of your troubles. In Christ, you no longer come before God in fear of His wrath and condemnation, but rather you come before the throne of grace wherein you may pray, "Abba, Father." You are no longer poor, with nothing but filthy rags to give to your king as recompense for your rebellion. Christ has taken you debts and paid them with His life. Christ has taken your death sentence and paid it with His own precious blood. What's more, He has taken His inheritance as the Son of God and given it to you. He has shared with you His birthright so that you may be adopted as a child of God. He has taken His righteousness and place it upon your shoulders. He has taken your sins upon Himself. You stand before God justified. You stand before God without spot or blemish. There is no trace of sin, evil, rebellion, and putrid pornography as you stand before the face of God as long as rest in Christ by faith. Your holy Creator looks upon you and sees a perfect man, His beloved child, and a precious man that bears His glorious image perfectly.
The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them
Sin, death, and the forces of evil have been routed. They will regather their troops and they will try once more to lay siege to your heart. They know exactly where your walls are easily penetrated. They know exactly how to take advantage of your weaknesses. They see a weak, penetrable wall defending a fragile city. They will batter the gate with tremendous force. They will catapult fire, brimestone, and rotting flesh upon the city, patiently awaiting your surrender. They would have you believe that your Savior liberated the city and now requires you to hold it from the second assault by your own power. They would have you believe that your Savior has abandoned you when you needed Him the most. They would have you believe that God has changed His mind, has sent them as His messengers to judge you for failing to protect the city He worked so hard to liberate.
The enemy has many siege weapons at his disposal, and perhaps the greatest of them all is doubt. The enemy would love nothing more than to have you believe that God has abandoned you as he (the enemy) seemingly encroaches closer and closer to the walls of defense. He wants you to think that you have been liberated like Iraq, only to be abandoned by your liberator so that the enemy can once again take control. This terrible tactic will surely work as long as you look to your own wall as the source of your defense rather than keeping your eyes fixed upon the angel of the LORD encamped around you.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. The fear of sin is the beginning of spitirual blindness.
The LORD made a covenant with them and commanded them, “You shall not fear other gods or bow yourselves to them or serve them or sacrifice to them, but you shall fear the LORD, who brought you out of the land of Egypt with great power and with an outstretched arm. You shall bow yourselves to him, and to him you shall sacrifice. And the statutes and the rules and the law and the commandment that he wrote for you, you shall always be careful to do. You shall not fear other gods, and you shall not forget the covenant that I have made with you. You shall not fear other gods, but you shall fear the LORD your God, and he will deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies.” However, they would not listen, but they did according to their former manner.
(2 Kings 17:35-40 ESV)
Don't be like Israel. Having been delivered from slavery under the Egyptians by the great revelation of God's power and wrath, they did not take but a few steps in the wilderness before they were begging to go back to Egypt. You have been liberated from the enemy's grasp by God's awesome power. Do you now think that He will leave you to die in the wilderness. Certainly not! He has liberated you, and now He dwells with you. God first liberated Israel, then He tabernacled with them. Similarly, God has redeemed you from the grasp of sin and He now dwells in you by His Spirit.
The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him, and delivers them. Continue to bow yourself before the Lord, asking for His constant protection from the powerful temptation from each front. As often as you ask for your daily bread, you should also be asking from deliverance from evil. You do not ask so that you might persuade God to protect you, but rather, you pray for deliverance so that you might be reminded that the angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him.
Sacrifice. Never forget the lamb that was slain for you. The unblemished lamb that was silent as it was led to the slaughter has made atonement for your sins. The Lamb of God has died and come back from the grave. He is the firstfruits of the resurrection, and we too will be raised with Him in the last day. Never forget this sacrifice as sin encroaches.
As you fear sin, you are more prone to fall to temptation. As you fear God's law, you are more prone to keep it. A fear of sin distracts us from wherein its sinfulness lies. Oftentimes, we can make gods out of sin and sadly we can make some sins out to be more powerful than God. We can make some sins so powerful that not even the love, grace, and Son of God can overcome them. We fear them as the indestructible habits, temptations, and thorns in our sides that cannot be defeated. Sin becomes this powerful only when we lose sight of God's Law, lose reverence for God's Word, and lose a healthy view or and participation in the means of grace.
A constant focus on sin without a diligence in the means of grace is not healthy. If you work diligently to avoid sin but you do not work diligently to avail yourself to God's Word, preaching, the sacraments, and prayer then you cannot hope to be delivered from that sin. Your actions reveal a great fear of sin without any fear of the Lord. Fear of sin without the fear of the Lord is idolatry for you fear sin apart from Him whom you are sinning against. You are fearing sin for other reasons than fearing sinning against your Father, Savior, and Comforter.
Therefore, keep constant watch and see that the angel of the Lord encamps around those that fear Him, and delivers them. Do not keep your eyes fixed on the enemy, but rather, keep your eyes fixed on the encampment of the Lord that protects you. Do not try to make your wall impenetrable, but rather look to Him who will not let any evil one in the midst of His camp. Do not look for ways to reinforce your gates, but rather keep your eyes fixed on Him who stands outside the gates so that the evil one may not step foot in the city lest he be destroyed.
The Lord your God is your protector, and never let sin, no matter how large an army it may seem to possess, distract your sight from the encampment of the Lord.
When you feel tempted to sin, don't look within yourself for the will-power to flee. A moment's hesitation and you're lost. Use that moment to cry to the Lord for deliverance, and He will surely answer you.
When you feel tempted to sin, don't try to walk away from the temptation. Rather, fall to your knees where you stand and look with eyes of faith on the encampment of the Lord that surrounds you. Rest by faith, knowing that God dwells with you, and ask for the deliverance from sin through the indwelling of His Holy Spirit within you.
Fear the Lord in your weakness and be delivered.
