Hi, I'm Josh Montez, and this is Him We Proclaim, where we give you Christ-centered truth for everyday life. Time flies, doesn't it? I've heard time seems to accelerate as you hit the more mature years of your life, and I can see that. I went back to find the original preach date of this message today, and before I reveal that, I wanna share some of its history with you. This is our top played message of all time for our small podcast.
Some of the statistics have rolled off, but the last time I published the Do You Not Know series, this first message got nearly 600 downloads, which is extremely exciting for our small platform. And I was amazed at how widespread the numbers were too. It has found listeners in countries like Brazil, Germany, Australia, South Africa, Canada, all over the UK, and many others. And it's made its way all over the United States, including Hawaii, California, Colorado, New York, Alabama, Texas, Utah, Washington, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Ohio, and several others. I wish I could list them all.
Now, don't worry, it doesn't tell me your name or anything like that. It's just giving me a 30,000-foot view. All that to say, this tells me this is an important topic for you, and I have said many times you're not alone. There are people all around the world who are hurting for deep answers to deep questions. And if you're one of our regular listeners, you know that John is addressing the topic of healing or sexuality with what the gospel has to say.
You may find as you listen that this sermon doesn't answer all the questions that the verses bring up, such as when it mentions homosexuality.
Well, we're not going to give you short answers to big questions, and this is only one part of a nine-part series on this very big topic. And John does address a lot more of that in this series, so I'll put a link to some of those messages in the description.
Okay, so to answer your question, this message was originally preached by Pastor John in June 2012. Does anyone even remember twenty twelve? Yeah, time flies. I know this might be an awkward request for some, but put on your brave hat and what do you think about giving this podcast a little shout out? You can text us from the description, you can write a review, throw it in your timeline, or get a chat together, and let's get the message out there.
You never know who may need to hear. this particular message.
Okay. Let's see if we can get this topic into a few more podcast feeds and add a few more states or cities or countries this time. I'm sure it'll be a huge blessing to people all over. We can do that with your help.
Okay, let's jump into a message we call Healing Our Sexuality and the Gospel from the Do You Not Know series. Here's Pastor John. We're going to be looking at 1 Corinthians chapter 6, verses 9 to 20. And this whole series is entitled simply this. Do you not know Do you not No.
So, this is what the Apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians chapter 6, beginning verse 9. Do you not know? That's where we get the series title from right there. He says, Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived.
Neither the sexually immoral. Nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers. Swindlers would be like to help you there. Swindlers would be like Ponzi scheme, white-collar crime people today. Nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
And such were some of you. But The big transition right there. But you were washed. You were sanctified. You were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
and by the Spirit of our God. All things are lawful for me. But not all things are helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be enslaved by anything. Food is meant for the stomach, and the stomach for food, and God will destroy both one and the other.
But the body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never!
Or do you not know? Do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, the two will become one flesh. But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. 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 are bought with a price.
So Glorify God. Finger body. I wanted to do everything today, is just going to be four introductory, clarifying comments and just general. General statements, nothing specific. But trust me, in the weeks ahead, we're going to get very, very specific.
Not on the sin that is addressed, but on the remedy that is addressed for the sin, because that's the focus of the passage.
So let me just begin this morning with four clarifying statements about this whole series to help give you some context as to how to think. correctly about this chapter. and this particular subject of sexual immorality. First All of us are human beings made in the image of God. If you look at Scripture, the Bible does not begin with the fall and the total depravity of man for human nature.
If we begin there, if we begin with the fall and the total depravity of human nature. Rather than God's good creation of Genesis chapter 1, Genesis chapter 2, we easily assume this is that human beings are just plain old rotten from the very beginning. We easily assume that human beings are void of any goodness and intrinsic dignity. But the Bible doesn't begin by setting forth. The fall of man And his total depravity.
The Bible begins by setting forth the goodness of God's creation. If you go to Genesis chapter 1, there's a repeated frame, and it was good, and it was good. And Genesis 1:31, and it was very good. What this means is this: that human beings pre-fall were created basically good and their intrinsic human nature. They were endowed with free will.
Human nature was endowed with beauty in both body and soul. Human nature was endowed with reason and moral excellence and great dignity. Simply put, what this means is that all humans were made in the image of God. And even now, listen, this is important, even after the fall, man still retains the image of God. But It has been greatly obscured and marred by sin.
Now, why is that important? And what does this have to do with sexual immorality in the church? It has everything to do with it. Here's the important implication for us in relationship to this topic. And I really want you to listen carefully to this point, because this is very important.
Because all men, by virtue of being God's image-bearers and therefore still possessing intrinsic human dignity, Even though the image has been marred and obscured by sin, There is no place in the church for discrimination or dehumanization of an individual who is trapped in any form of sexual extramarital sexual illicit behavior. I just want to give you one quick example of this. But a pastor from Maiden, North Carolina made national news. When he called for the extermination of all gays and lesbians by locking them off behind an electrified fence and waiting for them to die. Such a view like that.
Is inhumane. It is un-Christian. And it ought to be condemned. A thousand times over. By every Christian and every Christian leader in this country.
That is sick. That's not what the Bible teaches. All human what does the Bible teach? Listen carefully. All humans are image bearers of God regardless of their sexual proclivity and their fallenness.
And this demands that we respect all human life. regardless of one's relationship to Christ. Michael Horton says it very good. He says this: quote: Only in Christ do we realize the salvation and the goal of our personhood by the gospel. And this is true.
But the law binds us to our neighbors and co-bearers of God's image, which obliges us to treat them as persons. And so we have to remember that listen, listen carefully. Whatever particular inclination or sexual struggle that you might experience in your heart, Whatever extramarital sexual activity you may be guilty of. You are still made in the image of God and you are worthy of respect and dignity. Second.
All of us are sexual beings. Our physical bodies, as well as our sexuality, our physical bodies and our sexuality. are basic to our humanness. God created both. Genesis chapter 2 verse 7, God created us as physical beings.
Listen, the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. God created the physical world, and he said it's very good. There's nothing there's nothing wrong with the physical world. It's a good it's very good. Second, God also created sexuality.
He made man, male, and female. Listen to Genesis chapter 1, verse 27.
So God created man in his own image. In the image of God he created them. male and female, he created them. Human sexuality created by God. This means this.
We are not disembodied, sexless beings like angels. Because our physical bodies and our sexuality are basic to our humanness, this means that the desires for sensual pleasure are not bad. They do not indicate weakness or defect in human nature. The desires of the body for sensual pleasure indicates what it is to experience human nature as God created it. During the Reformation, John Calvin criticized Roman Catholic theology because Roman Catholic theology located sin in an alleged weakness of human nature itself.
Michael Horton helps us here. He says: according to this view, that is that human nature has some defect because of these sensual desires. According to this views, human beings are related to God and the angels by virtue of their higher self. Their mind and their soul. That's the real spiritual part.
But are not related to God like the animals by virtue of their lower self. That's the body and the appetites of the body. The physical part of the world, that's the bad part. That's the least spiritual part of us. This idea was influenced by Plato.
Not scripture. This gave rise to the notion of concupiscence. Concupiscence is the desires of the body for sensual pleasure. Concupiscence, it is said, is not itself sin until it's acted upon. But it does suggest a weakness or defect in human nature as created by God.
That's a serious problem. He says, Aquinas, following Augustine, spoke of this concupiscence as the kindling word. for the fire of passion that leads to actual sins.
Now, because of this wrong view of human nature, the church throughout the years has throughout the centuries has occasionally taught this, not occasionally, but a lot of times taught it, that married life was considered the lower form of existence. It's not evil, it's just a lower base form because it's part of the physical, sensual stuff that is not as super spiritual as the mind and the soul. And so marriage was simply given by God for procreative purposes and never ever for sensual pleasure. Because that's what leads to sin. Horton explains like this: he says, It is this sensual animal aspect of our constitutions, they say.
That drags us down from the heights of pure spiritual contemplation. John Calvin picked up on this Roman Catholic error in the Reformation, and he refuted it. He rejected this body-soul dualism. That identified sin with the body. Because, as we just saw, nowhere do the scriptures teach that concupiscence is anyway.
Due to a weakness of human nature. The desires of the body. Physical makeup of the human body. It's not a bad thing. And so Horton concludes like this: He says, The most fundamental problem with this view, says Calvin, is that it attributes sin to human nature as God created it.
And what did we just say that God said was about human nature? He said it's very good. All of physical creation is good, very good. Against those who, and this is what Calvin says, against those, quote, who dare write God's name upon their own faults. Calvin says they perversely search out God's handiwork and their own pollution when they ought rather to have sought it in that unimpaired and uncorrupted nature of Adam.
Not God, but we are guilty solely because we have degenerated from our original condition, which was very good. He says that our mortal wound comes not from nature itself, not from this physical existence, which is very good and intrinsic to being a human being. The mortal wound comes not from nature itself, but from its corruption through the fall. And so, this leads us to a third introductory comment. If you're just like kind of lost for a second, just listen.
I think this will help you clarify it. All of us, here's the third point: all of us, we're not only sexual beings, but all of us are sexual sinners. Every one of us Because of the fall, listen, because of the fall. Rather than some supposed weakness or defect in human nature as created by God. Our bodies, our minds, our hearts, our wills are all under the enslavement and command of sin and death.
Every part of our being, both immaterial and material. Every part of our being is infected with sin, and this includes our sexuality that God created very good. God is not responsible for the defect of our human sexuality. He created it. He doesn't create things that are sinful.
He doesn't create anything that has a proclivity to sin. He creates only things that are very good. And the whole physical world with the spiritual world is very good. Both are equally good. It's not that your mind and body is more spiritual, and you're like a monk who just goes out in the desert and I just think about God all day.
But the rest of us, we go to work. And we're somehow less spiritual. No. The problem is this is the fall. None of us are as bad as we could possibly be, but all of us in this room are, listen, equally corrupt, equally impure, and equally guilty before God.
I can just prove it very easily in Romans chapter 3. All, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin. All of them. As it is written, None is righteous, no, not one. No one understands.
No one seeks for God. All have turned aside. All have turned aside. Together they have become worthless. No one does good, not even one.
We know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped. And so that the whole world may be accountable to God. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Galatians 6, verse 3, which you should remember by now. If not, I'm going to refresh your memory.
Galatians 6 verse 3 if anyone thinks he is something When he is nothing. He deceives himself. Simply put, we have no reason to think that we are something, that we're righteous because of our lawkeeping. Because nobody has ever come close to ever keeping God's law and what it actually requires for righteousness and for the ideal of sexual purity in this life. There's only been one man who has ever fulfilled God's ideal for sexual purity in this life, and his name is Jesus Christ.
Jesus said like this, he says, you've heard that it was said, You shall not commit adultery. But I say to you that everyone, everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. You're guilty. I'm guilty. Everybody in this room is guilty.
And so John Stott says this: He says, We are frail and vulnerable. We are pilgrims on our way to God. We are very far from having arrived. We are engaged in an unremitting conflict with the world, the flesh, and the devil. Not yet have we conquered.
Perfection awaits the paracea, the second coming of Christ. Because this is true, listen to what he says. There is no question therefore of coming to this study, this series. With a horrid, holier-than-thou attitude of moral superiority. Because all of us are sinners.
We all stand under the judgment of God. We are all in urgent need of the grace of God. Besides, sexual sins are not the only sins. Nor even necessarily the most sinful. Pride and hypocrisy are surely worse.
That's a great statement by Stott. Sex. And human sensual desire is not the problem. You need to understand that. That is not the problem.
Sexuality is intrinsic to our being made in God's image. Would God create us to have a problem? I don't think so. The problem is that we're all fallen. The problem is that we're all sexual sinners.
That's the problem. The problem is not with God. The problem is with us. Tim Keller says it best. He says, sex, work, and money are great goods.
They are intrinsic to our being made in God's image. But If God is second place in your life and one of them is first, you are cooked. That's the point. You see, such a fallen, broken state demands an enormous amount of concrete, specific gospel truth and applications of that gospel truth to that specific area of our sin. And that's what Paul is going to show us here in 1 Corinthians 6.
Gospel after gospel after gospel, truth, and implications for your life to defeat this sin. The reason you've got to have a massive amount of specific, concrete gospel truth and the implications of that for this particular area of sin are for two reasons.
Well, there could be more, but here's two. The Corinthians were saved out of an incredibly sinful past, and because of that, their pagan past, they were having a very, very difficult time getting freedom from this particular sin. Just like you today. And only Paul shows that the only thing that can free you from this enslaving idol. It's concrete gospel truth.
which grants freedom and healing for this problem. Second. The reason you gotta have concrete specific gospel truth is because talking about the subject of human sexuality can provoke deep shame and hopelessness and huge amounts of guilt in people who struggle with this enslaving sin and are guilty of it and they know it. The fact is, this is that this particular sin cuts to the deepest personhood of who we are and it leaves the offender totally crushed. Every time.
It causes deep frustration, guilt, hurt, and shame. And so, before continuing on to the last point this morning, I want to stop. I don't want to speak to the person in this church this morning that is haunted by frustration, guilt, hurt, shame because of your failure. Listen carefully. There is no condemnation for Christians who struggle with sexual sin.
Now some of you are sitting there thinking Man, that's surprising. I don't know if I agree with that.
Well, you better agree with it because this is what Paul teaches in 1 Corinthians chapter 6. He says, he said, such or some of you, but you are justified. If you're justified, you're not condemned. For those of you who have a hard time with that, I recommend a book for you. It's by Jerry Bridges called Respectable Sins.
And he lists about 15 of them in the book and deals with them. You're not condemned even though you daily walk in pride. But then, why would you turn around and condemn another Christian who struggles with this particular sin? Because you think it's somehow worse. Listen to what Tim Chester writes, and this is such a good insight.
Tim Chester says this: He says, A longer talk about sex needs to go talk about grace. And not just grace in the abstract, which we're going to get to. This is general. I told you today is general, but we're going to get very specific with the gospel, not the sin. We need to talk about grace, not in the abstract, but the grace of God and the death of Christ.
Christ dies in our place, burying our guilt, so that there is now no more condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. There is no condemnation for porn users. That's some of you here this morning because these statistics tell us so. There's no condemnation for adulterers. Sexual fanaticists who are in Christ Jesus.
This is not being soft on sin. Quite the opposite. It takes sin so seriously. That the only remedy is the death of the eternal Son of God. That's very serious.
Look at the cross, look at the cross and see what God thinks of your sin. The death of his own son is the only act that can atone for what you have done. But in the act is grace. and love and forgiveness and adoption. There is no condemnation.
Churches are full of people desperately trying to self-atone for their lust. Desperately trying to sort themselves out. Desperately trying to prove that they're good enough for God. And our message must be: it is finished. Christ has done it all.
And so this leads us to one final introductory point. All of us are deficient in our knowledge of the gospel and its implications for our lives. And the reason I know that is not only because of experience, but by inspired scripture. The Apostle Paul in the book of 1 Corinthians asked this question, Do you not know ten times? Six of those ten occurrences are in chapter six.
And four of those questions are in relationship to this particular sin. The great 17th century gospel preacher Ralph Erskine, who is my favorite person to read from the 17th century. He said this, quote, They that think they know the gospel well enough bere reveal their ignorance. I was going to read that again, so in case you missed it. They that think they know the gospel well enough reveal their ignorance.
No man can be too evangelical. That means gospel saturated, centered, however you want to call it. You can never be too gospel-centered. Because it will take all your lifetime to get a legalistic disposition destroyed. I love that quote.
That's one of the greatest quotes I've ever found. Reading from the 17th century. Paul reveals in this passage in 1 Corinthians 6 that the problem with the Corinthian believers was that they didn't really know the gospel and its implications for the specific sin that they were dealing with. That was their problem. Paul asks this question over and over.
Do you not know? Do you not know? This question is intended to draw the Corinthians' attention to a cardinal truth of the Christian faith that ought to be self-evident to them and not escape their thinking. Which is the same for you and me. What should not have escaped the Corinthians' thinking, and what should not escape your thinking in this area of sin.
Is the gospel and its implications for living a sexually pure life? Do you not know that the gospel is what leads to a sexually pure moral life? You don't know that. I don't know that. But we're going to learn together from this passage because Paul is going to be, he's going to be like a laser with the gospel, and he is going to just take, listen to what he does.
Because the Corinthians didn't know this was true. Paul will appeal to specific gospel truths and their implications, such as this. The doctrine of regeneration. The doctrine of sanctification, the doctrine of justification, the doctrine of resurrection, the doctrine of union with Christ, the doctrine of redemption on the cross, and the gift of the Holy Spirit, which is the fruit of the gospel, as the remedy for the Corinthian sexual immorality.
Now, I just, if we took a survey, I wonder how many of you have ever picked up a book and read with this particular sentence: how regeneration. Monergistic regeneration. Sanctification. Justification Resurrection. Union with Christ.
Redemption And the fruit of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. I wonder how many of you ever read a book that said those doctrines of theology is what leads to a morally pure life. I would begin to think none of you. Not explicitly like this. This is exactly what Paul's going to show us.
In 1 Corinthians chapter 6. Paul's concern in chapter 6 and chapter 5, where he starts this whole conversation, we'll see that in the weeks ahead. But Paul's concern in chapter 6, in fact, his concern in the whole book. It is to set forth, listen carefully, here's his concern: it is to set forth a gospel-centered vision of community in the church. Does that sound familiar?
Make the gospel paramount in all things. Throughout his arguments in the book of 1 Corinthians, Paul is not only concerned for the welfare of the individual, he's also concerned for the welfare of the church and the community. Paul, listen, the failure of the Corinthian church to act according to gospel-centered ways was damaging the church's unity and it was damaging the church's witness to the world. And so Paul says that this lack of gospel centrality brings reproach upon Christ and his gospel. And so Paul is addressing the failure of the church to be the church, who they really are in Christ.
As what we're going to see Paul doing is, Paul is calling the church to be who they are. Live lives commensurate. with who you are now in Christ. They were suffering an identity crisis. They didn't know who they were.
There were some things they did not know. Do you not know? Do you not know? Do you not know? It's all over the book.
Do you not know? And no, they didn't know, and you don't know, and I don't know, and we need to know. The reason for this sexual failure in the church was because of the ways of the world, their pagan past, had infiltrated back, had crept back into their life, and it had replaced the centrality of the gospel and its ethical implications for the church's life and ministry. That was the problem. And so listen to this Bible teacher.
He says, as before, referring back to chapter 5, verse 1, and chapter 6, verse 11, which we'll come to later. But he says, as before, the gospel is at stake. Not simply the resolution of an ethical question. And that is the exact opposite of how churches teach on this subject. It is always an ethical question with the gospel tacked on somewhere at the very end.
But Paul says it is not what the issue here is not simply the resolution of an ethical question.
Now though now we're going to see Paul is not shortchanging ethics. Don't be deceived, Paul says. Those who are serely unrepentant, they're not going to inherit the kingdom of God. You better repent. You better be pure, but that's not his approach.
That's not the issue. The gospel is the issue, and the gospel is at stake. That's the issue here. The fact that the gospel is at stake leads us to two last concluding points in our reflection. As we consider the centrality of the gospel and the problems that we face in our daily Christian lives.
So here's the first as we finish. All of the problems and imperfections that we experience are failures to be conformed to the gospel. All of them. Listen to what Graham Goldsworthy says. He says, as we begin the Christian life by placing our whole trust in the Christ of the gospel event.
So, in the same way, we continue in the Christian life. The gospel not only brings us to the new birth in faith as Christians. It is God's means of saving us totally. The gospel is the power of God for salvation. This means the whole of salvation for the whole.
person The gospel converts us. The gospel sustains us in the Christian life. And let me just add: the gospel purifies us in the Christian life. That's Paul's point here. And the gospel brings us to maturity, and the gospel brings us to perfection through our resurrection from the dead.
All the problems and imperfections that we experience are failures to be conformed to the gospel. the only remedy. The only remedy that the New Testament prescribes for our problems is to bring our lives to conform to the gospel. Because the gospel leads us to have lives conformed to God's law. You see, the believers in Corinth were messed up theologically and morally.
Let me just give you a quick example, and we'll be done in just a second. In First Corinthians, the Corinthian Christians were full of arrogance and pride. They were full of factions. They were suing each other in court. They were tolerant of gross sexual immorality.
And Erecting theological arguments In defense of it. That's what we're going to see in 1 Corinthians 6. They abused their freedom in Christ to an extreme. They corrupted the Lord's Supper. They misused spiritual gifts.
They lacked love for each other. And that were utterly confused about the doctrine of the resurrection, which is the highest hope of the gospel. And you know what? In each case in this letter, you know what Paul does to address it? He interweaves law and gospel, but the gospel is always predominant.
The law's there, and he doesn't shortchange it, and we're going to see it. It has a powerful place for us. And we'll we'll see that. But in every case, Paul's strategy, you notice pastoral strategy was? Weave together law and gospel, but lots of gospel.
To point the believers back to it and its implications in every specific instance. If it was factions, here's the gospel, and here's how the gospel applies to it. If it's suing each other in cord, here's the gospel and here's how it applies to it. If it's sexual immorality, here's the gospel and here's implications, how it applies to it. If it's lack of love and abusing spiritual gifts in the Lord's Supper, here's the gospel and here's how you approach it.
If it's the doctrine of resurrection, here's a whole chapter, the biggest chapter in the Bible, on the true doctrine of the resurrection. This is always Paul's strategy. This is always Paul's. Pastoral Strategy for Dealing with Sinners in the Church He's calling on these believers who have trusted in Christ to act in accordance with their new identity. And the problem is, as they were having an identity crisis, they didn't know who they were.
And so listen to what this writer says. He says, for all their so-called knowledge, the Christians at Corinth had lost sight of the centrality of Jesus Christ, the controlling power of the Holy Spirit, and the transforming experience of having been called and saved by God. They didn't know this. Second. Never assume that you know the gospel and its implications for your life.
Never assume that. The gospel is so odd, it is so against the grain of our natural inclinations, that nothing less, listen. then a miracle is required for hearing it and applying it in our life. Learning to live a gospel-driven life, the true way of godliness, requires double the work. Walter Marshall in the 17th century, who was one of my other favorite authors from the 17th century.
Listen to what he said to his church. He says. Concerning how to live according to the implications of the gospel for your life. He says, on the one hand, you have to unlearn many of your old deep-rooted notions of how to become godly. On the other hand, you must pray earnestly to the Lord to teach you the true way of godliness.
And he quotes Psalm 119, 5 and 33: Teach me, O Lord, the way of your statutes, and then I shall keep them to the end. And then Paul prays this: May the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God. 2 Thessalonians 3, verse 5. You see, we're just prone to revert back to our old ways unless we are constantly driven out of ourselves by the Holy Spirit through the ministry of word and sacrament. And this was precisely the problem with the Corinthian believers.
Instead of growing and bringing their lives into conformity with the ethics of the gospel and the ethics of the kingdom of God, they were still being influenced by the ethics of the kingdom of man. Their pagan past. And Paul says, but you have been delivered from your pagan past, but such were some of you. But so now that you have been washed and sanctified and justified, he's saying to them, live lives commensurate with your new status as a citizen of the kingdom of God. This is who you are.
And so Paul is interesting, he doesn't give anywhere in chapter six. He doesn't give anywhere in chapter five. He doesn't give anywhere in any of his other letters. Listen, what he doesn't give. He doesn't give ascetic, moralistic, or exemplary examples and arguments to motivate believers to live pure lives.
Nowhere. In fact, he condemns them. Many of you know this from personal experience, and it goes like this: you have been given endless rules. VALS, software filters, accountability talks and challenges, challenges to be like Joseph, challenges to not be like Samson who they call a he-man with a she-weakness. Popping rubber bands every time you have a bad thought on your wrist.
And the list just goes on and on and on and on and on, ad nauseum in the church. And, however, spiritual these approaches appear, you know what they do? They actually promote self-confidence rather than Christ-confidence. And in and of themselves, they're totally powerless to do anything about the flaming desires of your heart. How do I know that?
Listen to Paul, Colossians chapter 2, verse 23. Ascetic practices. Popping rubber bands, that's asceticism. These, Paul says, indeed, have an appearance of wisdom.
Well, it looks so spiritual. I mean, you're so committed. These have an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body. but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh. Do you know what the only thing that will give you hope in stopping the indulgence of your flesh and struggles with this area?
It is not following steps, techniques, and principles for sexual purity. The only thing that's going to give you hope is found in knowing the gospel and applying the implications of the gospel to your Christian life, specifically to that sin. And that's it. And there's no other way. This is what Paul teaches, and what we're going to see in 1 Corinthians chapter 6.
I want to close with a letter that illustrates his exact point that I'm making. I received a letter this past week. And I think most of you as we finish will just completely understand this person and where they are. The letter that was sent to me is entitled The Modern Evangelical Remedy for Sexual Sin. That was a great title, this person sent me.
And so listen to what this person wrote. Quote. No battle has left me more battered bruised and frustrated in my Christian walk. than sexual sin. For years and years I received various counsel from people in the church that I would confess my sin to on the right way, he puts it in quotation marks, the right way to overcome the temptation.
I read books on sexual struggle. I read Christian pamphlets on ten steps to overcoming sexual temptation. I tried to motivate myself in all kinds of ways, and at one point, even branded myself. Do you hear that? Asceticism?
He branded himself with a Bible verse to try and get serious about overcoming my sexual struggle. I think the worst part of my whole struggle was the feeling that I would never be able to get past it. And even more, no one could tell me the means by which I could actually overcome the sin.
So, here's a few things that I was told to overcome sexual struggle. First, When you're tempted, you have to run like Joseph did from Potiphar's wife.
So go run a mile or hop in a cold shower. Second. Your problem is you don't have accountability, so you need to find a group of guys that will hold you accountable. Third. Every time you look at pornography, you're hurting your future wife.
It will affect your marriage, and in the future if you continue to do this. Fourth, most of the affairs of the people I know started with pornography, so you just have to stay away from it. Fifth, when you're tempted, go read your Bible. or memorize scripture that you quote to yourself in times of temptation. Get on your knees and pray at that moment.
Six. Try this step-by-step approach for defeating the struggle.
So he was given a step-by-step approach. Seventh. Make a list of all the consequences of sexual sin. Number eight. Go to the gym and work out whenever you're tempted.
Well, most guys would never leave the gym. Number nine, whenever you blow it, set up an immediate consequence where you have to pay a financial penalty to someone else in your accountability group. This will make you think twice before you give in. I'll set up the account, and you guys can just start making contributions. Uh Yeah.
Number 10, last but not least, just try not to think about it so much.
Well, that's helpful. You see, the best way to overcome it is just to focus on God and just don't let your mind go there. Oh, okay. Thank you. This word.
10 real life struggles with an individual who was just about on the brink of absolute insanity because of this sin. This is not made-up stuff. This is a real person writing their heart to me saying, help!
So I sat this person down. Took them through 1 Corinthians chapter 6 for the first time in their life. And so listen. This is the second part of the letter. Although there were some good points in the ways that people gave me to overcome temptation, there was no power in any of it.
I know from personal experience, because it's all capitals. It never helped me. But the gospel, however. has totally altered. My perspective.
The constant reality that God sees me as if I have never sinned and just as if I have always obeyed has slowly but surely started producing more and more power in my struggle. No one was ever specific enough to explain to me that the only way I would ever deal with my depraved heart Was to learn more and more about what Christ did on my behalf. No one ever really clearly explained to me what I had in Christ. Do you not know? I don't know who I am.
In short, no one ever taught me to preach the gospel to myself, and whether they meant to or not, they inherently advised me to just simply go back to more law. Most of the remedies I was given were quick fixes. They would deal with the problem temporarily, but it would always resurface because in reality my issue is one that is burrowed deep in my heart. The gospel, although it is not a quick fix, strikes my struggle at its core. And has been truly a freeing experience.
I still struggle all the time. But the freedom I have experienced in the gospel has begun producing a genuine heartfelt desire to refrain from sinning against the Lord. The gospel has begun to give me a power I never understood growing up. Only in the Sotton Hall capitals, only the gospel produces. true spiritual growth and holiness.
There is no other way. Do you not know this is the question that leads us to moral purity? And what we don't know as evidenced by this letter is driven home by Scripture and that is this, that the good news of the gospel is the key and the only key to moral purity. There simply is no other way. Hearing Proclaim is heard daily on several radio stations, and if you're not near one of those stations and want to hear it live, there's a couple of ways.
Go to ilovethetruth.com, or I'll put a link in the description for an app you can use as well. Two more things. Don't forget about our Reformation Conference. I'll put a link to that as well. And if you like audiobooks, John has a great audiobook that came from his series called Do You Not Know?
All the links are in our description. On behalf of Pastor John, thanks so much for listening. See you next time.
