Is homosexuality a sin? Today, there is a controversial relationship between Christians and homosexuality. How should we view it, and what should we do?
Homosexuality is one of the most hot-button issues in the Church today.
Some Christians believe that homosexuality is an acceptable – and even holy – practice. Others are split on the issue. And still others are vehemently against homosexuality, placing it on a level that is above and beyond other sins.
We have groups who claim to be Christian – such as Westboro Baptist Church – that routinely use hateful language to describe homosexuals. The conduct of these groups is nothing less than despicable and vile.
Truly, the debate over homosexuality rages. Entire denominations are threatening to split apart over the issue. It is a big deal, and we as followers of Jesus need to know where we stand.
Is Homosexuality a Sin?
This is the root issue that must be resolved. As Christians, we are against sin. Therefore, anything that is sin – be it hatred, murder, racism, adultery, lying, stealing, etc. – must be opposed.
We cannot expect to embrace sin and do mighty works for the Lord.
So, is homosexuality a sin?
Yes.
As a follower of Christ and a reader of the Bible, it is my firm belief that homosexuality – and, more specifically, the practice of homosexuality – is a sin. God does not condone or tolerate it. In 1 Corinthians 6, we read the following:
Or 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 will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. 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. [1 Corinthians 6:9-11, ESV]
In this verse, we have what amounts to a laundry list of sins that will keep someone out of the Kingdom of God. Among these is the practice of homosexuality.
If we are to take the Bible at its word, then we must conclude that the practice of homosexuality is sinful.
Now, there are many theologians – and many very bright individuals – who would argue with me on this point. Their claim may be that the original Greek doesn’t translate into homosexuality as we understand it today. They may also claim that this was written to a certain people in a certain place and time (as was all of the Bible), and therefore it has no bearing on our lives today.
But here’s my problem with that: if we can claim that this section of Scripture is a mistranslation, then what prevents other passages from being mistranslated? How can we know that any of the Bible is translated correctly?
The same holds true for those who argue that this was written only to certain people in a certain context. If context truly is everything, then couldn’t we simply claim that the entire Bible was written in a cultural context that no longer exists?
If we go down either of these rabbit trails, we can invalidate everything the Bible says. We can reduce it to little more than a “wisdom book” which represents nothing more than one of mankind’s most impactful works of literature.
There is a huge problem with that: the Bible is the inspired, infallible word of God. It is directly breathed by God Himself (1 Timothy 3:16-17), and holds true across all cultural contexts and all times. It is an absolute authority, not merely a guidebook or a fancy piece of literature.
We either accept all of it, or we accept none of it. It is either God’s Word or it isn’t. No in-between.
Now, does this mean that all of the Bible should be interpreted literally, word for word? I don’t think so. There is plenty of imagery and poetry in Scripture, some of which is almost certainly metaphorical. But all Scripture is breathed out by God, and every word of it is true.
Even those passages which are “metaphorical” are expressing a rock-solid truth that should be taken at face value.
Having said all of this, it is clear that the practice of homosexuality is a sin. It is wrong in the sight of God, just like idolatry, adultery, stealing, drunkenness, and so forth (re-read 1 Corinthians 6:9-11).
How Should We Handle Homosexuality?
This is the second most important issue that must be resolved. Since homosexual behavior is a sin, what should we as Christians do about it?
First off, let’s look at what not to do.
Many of our more “progressive” brothers and sisters in Christ take a very open (and outright celebratory) stance towards homosexuality. Progressive Christians typically respond to homosexuality in the following ways:
Welcoming practicing homosexuality with open arms
Affirming practicing homosexuality’s stance as “good” in the eyes of God
Allowing practicing homosexuals to serve in leadership, including as pastors
Ordaining homosexual weddings
Throughout all of this, one thing is incredibly clear: progressive Christians have gotten very good at being open-minded and hospitable. These are admirable, and they’re things that we are called to as followers of Christ. We are called to welcome and love others.
However, homosexuality is a sin. Therefore, we must not make a practice of accepting it as a “good thing.” It is not a good thing, and it will lead to separation from God. We are called to love those who practice homosexuality, but love is not synonymous with affirmation.
If anything, we are being unloving if we affirm homosexual behavior, since the loving thing to do is to point out and correct sins in the lives of others. The Gospel is about transformation, not stagnation. It’s about growing away from sin, not remaining in sin.
The “progressive” treatment of homosexuality is correct in that it shows hospitality, but incorrect in that it does not preach a message of repentance and turning from sin.
On the other side of the proverbial aisle, we have highly reactionary brothers and sisters who often treat homosexuality as follows:
Actively using strong (or even hateful) language towards homosexuals
Condemning homosexuals without showing love
Shutting out, ostracizing, or even bullying homosexuals
Refusing to reach out to or minister to homosexuals
In a sense, reactionary Christians often run into the opposite problem as their highly progressive brethren. Progressive Christianity shows love without disapproval; reactionary Christianity shows disapproval without love.
I do not mean to paint a generalization here, but this is how the trends usually lie. And both approaches – while common in Christendom today – are flawed.
Here’s what we truly need to be doing: we need to combine genuine love with strong disapproval.
You see, it is a great lie of today’s society that love equals affirmation. It doesn’t. In fact, affirmation is not always loving.
I’ll use an illustration.
Let’s say that my friend is drunk, and he wants to drive home. He asks me for the keys to the car. I give him the keys and affirm his choice to drive, even though he is in no condition to drive.
He drives out onto the road, gets in a head-on accident, and dies. As the person who affirmed and enabled him, I bear some of the responsibility of his death.
The enabling of sin is the same thing.
When we are unwilling to take a firm stance against sinful behavior – such as homosexual practices – we are essentially “giving the keys” to our perishing neighbors and friends. You see, sin has eternal consequences. You don’t just “get away with” sin.
Unless you turn from your sins and turn to Jesus, you will perish.
This is the message we must preach: we love the world (just as Jesus did, per John 3:16), and because we love the world, we are calling others to forsake their sins and turn to Christ. We do not use hateful language, we do not bully, we do not ostracize, and we do not grow bitter.
But we also do not affirm others’ behavior and tell them that they do not need to change.
If a practicing homosexual comes into a church, there are two ways to not love him: we can curse him and throw him out, or we can affirm him and tell him that he does not need to change.
Neither are correct. Neither are loving.
When it comes to our practicing homosexual friends, neighbors, relatives, and so forth, we must be willing to show compassion, kindness, and love. We must also be willing to let them know that their behavior is sinful, and that it is something that must be repented of.
This is how we are to love not only homosexuals, but all sinners – and everyone is a sinner. In a very real sense, we cannot distinguish between “homosexuals” and “other sinners.”
All sin is sin. All sinners are sinners.
And all sinners ought to be treated the same way: with kindness and generosity, yet with a clear and firm call to change and become followers of Jesus.
Moving Forward
It is my hope that all those reading this would gain something from it. It is my hope that this writing would engage and enable us as believers to move in love and in kindness, showing generosity and sacrifice without compromising the truth of the Gospel.
Today’s world is growing increasingly hostile towards Christians. The culture is buying into the lie that “love equals affirmation.” But it doesn’t.
As a result, many are pushing hard against this trend and reacting with a message of exclusivity and coldness. There seem to be very few who toe the line and show both kindness and condemnation.
There must be more of us. Today’s world demands it. And in the showdown arena of the homosexuality debate, this is especially important.
Our call is to sacrifice for others, to love others, and to present others with the clear and honest truth of the Gospel: that there is healing, there is restoration, and there is salvation. But one cannot remain in his sins; he must change and turn to Jesus.
This is how we should respond to all sinners, including those who practice homosexuality. They’re dead in their sins, but can be made alive in Christ.
Lust is powerful. To defeat lust, we must engage in all-out warfare, but we cannot rest in our own strength. We need to rely on God. Here’s how.
Lust.
It’s a force that can seem even stronger than gravity.
For thousands of years, mankind was unable to make it off the ground. The only way to “get air” was to jump. For a split second, as it turns out, you can defy gravity. You can channel all your energy into your legs and take a flying leap into the air.
But you’ll only come crashing back down again a fraction of a second later.
So it is with so many of us in our battles with lust.
Do you ever feel like that? You know that lust is wrong. Jesus preaches against it very strongly in Matthew, where He says,
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But 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. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell. (Matthew 5:27-31, ESV)
You know that lust is not to be tolerated. Yet there you go, again and again, unable to break free of the sin you so desperately wish to eliminate.
Like a person trying to jump to escape gravity, you find yourself constrained to this sin. You can resist for a few days, a couple weeks, but then it sends you crashing back down again.
And what’s worse?
You want so, so badly to be rid of this sin, and you make vows to yourself that you will never engage in it ever again. In those moments, you feel strong. You feel ready to take on an army.
You feel ready to run the marathon that it takes to escape into purity.
Four days later, the temptation of lust slips subtly into your mind. It weaves its way in. You say to yourself, “Not this time. I see what you’re doing.”
An hour later, you’ve caved.
Your very resolve – the thing preventing you from falling to temptation – was taken from you. It was as though, in the moment, you didn’t even want to say ‘no.’
I know the frustration. Like most other young men and many young women, I too struggle with lust and temptation.
And sometimes I fall.
But there’s good news: the Word of God offers us hope.
The Bible Tells us How to Defeat Lust
As you might expect, the Bible gives us the path forward to defeating lust. But unlike what many might tell you, there is no hard and fast solution.
There’s no special prayer you can say that will magically remove your lust.
There’s no specific action you can take that guarantees you won’t have temptation.
There is no silver bullet, one-size-fits-all approach to dealing with this sin.
Instead, the Word of God tells us to focus on two things: our hearts and our environment.
Before we delve into the meat of the issue, I first want to include a video by John Piper. If you’re not familiar with his ministry, you can click here for more.
I include this video because it’s full of wisdom and it contains a much more detailed, nuts-and-bolts approach to resisting sexual temptation than I will give in this post. John Piper is a much more learned man than I am, and his strategies for fighting lust are par excellence.
But I digress. Please watch the video – it’s a fantastic resource.
As for our discussion, let’s move forward by looking at how lust takes root in our hearts.
How to Defeat Lust: Look at Your Heart!
The very first thing to do in your journey to defeating lust is to look at your heart.
In James, we read the following:
Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. (James 1:13-15, ESV)
From this, three things become clear:
God does NOT tempt us. No temptation you experience is God’s doing.
Temptation arises when we are enticed by our OWN desires.
Sin is a result of temptation, and death is a result of sin – so we need to be doing something about this.
In other words, temptation arises in our own hearts.
The lustful attraction you feel? It’s coming from within you. It isn’t because you’re being forced to lust. You’re not being forced to stare and then use your imagination.
That’s coming from your own self.
This is also why, in the heat of the moment, we often let down our guards. It’s why we can confidently proclaim our commitment to purity at 6 o’clock, fall to sin at 8 o’clock, and re-commit to purity at 9 o’clock.
If you struggle with lust, the first place to look is your heart. Not outside yourself, not to the billboards or the magazines or the TV.
Look to your heart. Look to your inner desires.
This is where lust begins. This is the root of lust.
When I was a child, I used to weed our front garden on a rather infrequent basis. We had a pathway that ran through this garden, and the path was lined with bricks.
In between the cracks of the bricks, dandelion plants would take root.
Now, if you’ve ever pulled up a dandelion, you’ll know that these things have roots that go about 12 inches deep. Some go deeper than that.
Oftentimes, you can try to weed out a dandelion only to have the plant snap off at the root. You’ve removed the visible weed, but the root is still beneath the soil.
And the plant WILL come back.
Lust is the same way. Scripture tells us that lust doesn’t come from outside. Outside factors can aggravate and contribute to lust, but the root of the issue is within our hearts.
Please note: this next section is IMPORTANT, but it’s also the less “applied” or “practical” side of this fight.
So How do We Fix This?
Colossians 3 has the answer. This will be a rather lengthy passage of Scripture, but it’s a beautiful portrait of what needs to be done to fight sin of all types, including lust.
If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 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. Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.
(Colossians 3:1-11, ESV)
Immediately, you should focus in on the portion of this Scripture that says, “Put to death therefore whatever is earthly in you…”
Quite simply, we have a Scriptural command to put our fleshly deeds to death.
All of the things listed in that passage – sexual immorality (which almost always includes lust), impurity (which can also include lust), passion, evil desire, and covetousness – are things that take root in your fallen heart.
These are the weeds whose roots spring up within you.
To prevent them from coming back and reigning over your life, only look to the portion which says, “But now you must put them all away…. 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.”
Therein lies the solution for our hearts: we need to put away the old self.
How so?
We humble ourselves before God.
The beginning of fighting any sin, especially lust, is to stop attempting to fight it in your own power. Yes, there is certainly a place for battle. There is a place for tearful, enormous resistance.
But this is done in the power of God. It is done after we wave the white flag of surrender to Him.
Notice the verbiage of the passage: put off the old self… put on the new self.
What is the new self? It is a self which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.
When you fall before God in humility and surrender, you begin to “put on the new self.” This new self is not only fresh; it is being renewed.
It is constantly being fed from God.
Imagine a road that is re-paved every day. Every time it experiences even the smallest crack, crumble, or pothole, it is paved over again. Imagine how smooth and fresh such a road would be.
This is how God wants us to be. This is how He is able to make us.
When dealing with our hearts, we must humble ourselves and come to Him in complete surrender. We must simply “put off” the old self and “put on” the new.
It’s important to note that you cannot resist sin by tapping into your own power. The best thing you’ll be able to do under your own strength is fight your sin, become prideful about having “beaten it,” and then fall back into the sin once your pride convinces you you’re in the clear.
In the battle against sin, humility is essential. Relying directly, moment by moment, second by second, on the transformative power of the Lord is the only way to beat the sinful roots of our hearts.
Now, if you’re like me, you’ll probably ask a question here: this is all fine and dandy, but HOW exactly do you do this stuff?
The answer? There’s no fast solution. There are no special phrases or keywords to say in your prayers. There is no solid “if this, then that” method.
Rather, this is a portrait of life as a Christian. Daily, active submission to Jesus is vital here. As people, we are so tempted to want to just “do something,” but Colossians reminds us that we should be aiming, first and foremost, to be something.
We need to be rooted in Christ. We need to allow ourselves to rest in Him. It’s difficult. It’s hard to do. But it’s worth it.
Submit to Jesus.
Let’s now switch gears and look at our environment.
How to Defeat Lust: Reduce Your Opportunity for Temptation, and Always be Prepared to Fight!
Of the two main segments of this post, this will be (by far) the most practical. This is where we get into the nitty-gritty of doing battle in the trenches.
This is where we talk about our environment.
Now, it’s worth noting that the strategies discussed here will not work unless you have your heart in alignment and submission to God. If you’re not doing these things under His power, you’re not going to succeed.
Okay, here we go!
Think of this entire fight against lust as a war. Each time you’re tempted, you’re in a battle. You lose the battle when you yield to your temptation. The more battles you lose, the harder it’s going to be to put this thing to death.
When you look at things broadly, there are two main ways to successfully fight lust: either succeed in resisting temptation, or don’t enter temptation at all!
This means that there are two sets of strategies when it comes to fighting this sin. There are what I call preventative strategies and there are what I call reactive strategies.
Preventative strategies are those designed to help you before temptation occurs, whereas reactive strategies are designed to help you after you’ve come into temptation.
Let’s look at preventative strategies first.
Preventative Strategies to Defeat Lust
They say that you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. They also say that you lose 100% of the battles you don’t fight.
These things are not true when it comes to lust.
As far as it concerns temptation, it is ALWAYS better to not be tempted. You WIN 100% of the battles you don’t fight.
Indeed, the single most effective part of your active fight against lust is this: reduce your opportunities for temptation.
Here’s what that looks like:
1: Are you tempted by your phone? When it’s late and you crawl into bed to go to sleep, you may be tempted to use your phone for a while. What starts off with innocent intentions can quickly devolve into an opportunity for lust.
There you are, comfortable and tired, when a lustful thought sneaks its way into your mind. You are all alone and literally in the dark. What’s stopping you from opening an incognito tab and feeding your desire?
You know where this is going.
Here’s your preventative strategy: get rid of your phone or make it impossible for you to use it in those moments. Yes, that sounds radical. But Jesus was radical when He said, “If your right eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out. (Matt. 5:29)”
If your phone is causing you to stumble regularly, then get rid of it if at all possible. Buy a flip phone that does not have an internet browser. If you cannot get rid of your smartphone (you may need it for your job or school), then place it in another room when you go to bed.
I know people who have done that, and it helps immensely in their fight against this tough-to-beat sin.
2: Are you tempted by other technology? Your phone may not be the only (or main) source of your temptation. If you live alone or you have your own room, your computer can be a source of stumbling.
What’s stopping you from just walking over to it and downloading some less than pure content?
Think also about your TV. Do you like to watch shows that contain suggestive or outright pornographic content? Is that a risk for you?
If so, then you have two options: either remove the tempting technology or make it impossible to use for that purpose. There are various software programs you can download on computers that block pornography sites OR report your activity to trusted friends.
Truple – this one works for phones, too. This is ‘accountability software’ that relays your phone usage history to a friend.
At the end of the day, cancelling your cable subscription or even giving up your Wi-Fi may be necessary. Yes, it sounds terribly inconvenient and downright legalistic. It may be a hassle for you. It may cost you comfort or even opportunity.
But we must be serious in our fight against lust.
Jesus minced no words in Matthew, and we should mince no actions when it comes to our sinful patterns.
3: Are you tempted byyour surroundings? I have heard of many Christians who still attend parties or go to places where people are “dressed to impress.” These places oftentimes contain alcohol and drug use, which only increases the chance that something bad may happen.
These locations and events are stumbling blocks. Period.
It’s like trying to stay dry and then willingly going out into the middle of a soaking downpour with nothing more than a cheap old umbrella.
The fast solution? Don’t go to these places.
Does a restaurant make its claim to fame on having scantily-clad women as servers? Don’t go.
Does a party have lots of super attractive people who are looking for a ‘good time?’ Don’t go.
Do you go to the gym because there are shapely women or men there? I hate to say it, but don’t go. Focusing on physical health is great, but there are other ways to do it if your gym is a place that feeds your temptations.
All of this “avoidance” may sting (especially if you’re an extrovert), but you can find and build quality friendships and a great social life without having to do anything that may lead you to compromise.
Focus on surrounding yourself with solid friends who want the best for you.
4: Join an accountability group or find an accountability partner. Many churches have “accountability groups.”
These are small groups of men and women (almost always separated by gender) that are designed to help manage lustful temptation. They’re more common among men, but there are groups for women too.
The idea behind accountability groups is that each person in the group is accountable to others for their actions. If you fall to lust, you report it to the group. They then work to help you reduce your lust.
Accountability groups are excellent because they add a layer of weight to your actions. If you can lust without reporting it to anyone, then you start to feel as though you’re getting away without consequences. (You’re not).
But if you have a group that will ask you, “Have you fallen to lust? If so, when and how?” then you’re more likely to think twice before doing it.
Please note: it is IMPORTANT to find an accountability group that does not rely on fear or shame – they’re there to help you, not guilt you.
If the thought of going to a group scares you, or you know that you will hide your behavior from them, then you can seek a one-on-one accountability partner to help you. Accountability partners are trusted friends that help you to kick your lustful habit. In return, you help them with their struggles.
5: Pray and read the Bible. This is something that is not optional for any Christian, let alone the Christian trying to defeat lust. The more Scripture you read and the more time you spend in prayer with the Lord, the less you’ll be tempted.
There are verses all over the Bible that command us to dwell on the good things that God has done. Here are a few:
Colossians 3:2 – “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.” (We read this earlier)
Hebrews 12:1-2 – “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”
Philippians 3:14 – “I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
You see, Scripture makes it clear that there is a greater joy ahead of us: the joy of Jesus Christ. We have a prize to go after!
C.S. Lewis once said,
“It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.“
C.S. Lewis,The Weight of Glory
Indeed, we need God’s Word and fellowship with Him to strengthen our desire for Him. The more we see who He is, the less “gravity” our old sins – including lust – will have over us.
Reactive Strategies to Defeat Lust
You’ve been diligent with your preventative lust-killing strategies. You’ve downloaded anti-porn software, you’ve found an accountability partner, you’re reading the Bible and praying, and you’re locking away your phone at night.
But remember… lust comes from within. Dealing with your external environment helps, but it’s not going to be 100% effective.
You will still experience temptation.
What do you do then?
You do one of two things: you either flee, or you fight.
1: Flee. What do I mean by flee?
We read this in 1 Corinthians 6:18, which says,
Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.
When faced with any sort of sexual temptation, Scripture’s clearest command is to flee. You see, the Bible talks much about warfare against evil, and how we are to stand firm and fight against Satan.
But when it comes to sexual immorality, it tells us to flee.
Sexual temptation is the one form of temptation that we quite literally cannot simply stand and resist. Every man – EVERY man (and EVERY woman) – has a breaking point against this sin.
So when temptation grabs ahold of you, run. That’s the first thing to do.
If you’re lying in bed and the desire to cave to lust enters your mind, immediately get up. It doesn’t matter if it’s 4 PM, midnight, 4 AM, or anytime in between. Get up and distract yourself. Text your trusted friend(s). Start doing something physically active, like cleaning the house or folding laundry. Put on some music or a podcast. Pray.
As John Piper says, you literally have 5 seconds to kill your sinful thought. 5 seconds.
Make the most of those first 5 seconds. Get moving, get busy, and literally run if you have to. Fleeing is your first line of defense against lust.
2: Fight. If you find yourself in the throes of temptation, you will have to try to fight it. This will NOT always work. You will fall, at least some – if not a large percent – of the time.
But fighting is better than simply giving in and not resisting.
When you are in the thick of battle, your first line of defense is to pray. Understandably, the fact that you’re in temptation may have removed or nearly removed your ability to pray in that moment.
But try it anyway.
God can work wonders, and Scripture says that it IS His will for us to abstain from sexual immorality (1 Thessalonians 4:3-8).
After praying, turn your thoughts to Jesus. This is talked about in much more detail in John Piper’s video, seen here:
The overall gist of this part of the strategy is to be fixed upon Jesus’s sacrifice in a very visible and vivid way.
Why was Jesus killed? Mutilated, tortured, murdered? Nailed to a cross?
He was put there by our sin; that is, your sin and mine.
When you’re in the midst of temptation, bring to mind the picture of Jesus on the cross. Bring to mind the picture of Him as He was flogged, whipped, beaten, and bloodied. Each blow was because of sin.
Our lust put Him there.
This may be a graphic image, but such an image may just be enough to snap you out of your lustfulness. It may be enough to prevent you from indulging further in your temptation.
When You Fail
I hate to say this, but it’s true: you will fail (more than likely). That’s why I’ve called this section, “When You Fail.”
If your lustful addiction has gone on for a long time, your brain has been re-wired to pursue this sin. Even for those who might not have a long and storied history of lusting, there is still the innate sinful nature of fallen flesh.
We are all fallen people.
If you’ve fallen to lust, the most important thing to do is to turn back to Christ.
Immediately.
It doesn’t matter what the nature of your sin was. It doesn’t matter if it was a mental fantasy or if it was acted out, either alone or with someone else.
Turn back to Christ.
You will feel a sense of shame and failure. You will feel guilt. You will feel like hiding your head from God. If you’re in bed, perhaps you will draw the covers over your head as though hiding from your Creator.
But the most important thing to do in that moment is to turn back to the Lord.
Come before Him in sincerity of heart and love. Pray to Him and ask His forgiveness. Repent of your sin – make a commitment to turn from this sin in the Lord’s power.
Closing Notes
To bring this (rather long) article to an end, let me just say that – if you struggle with lust as a Christian – you are most assuredly NOT alone.
There are millions of other men and women out there who are in the same boat. Remember, Scripture tells us that, “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. (1 Corinthians 10:13)”
Yet this same verse also says,
God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.
You see, the most powerful ally we have in this fight against lust is God. We often ask ourselves what God’s will is for our lives.
Who should we date/marry?
What job should I take?
What college ought I go to?
Which doctor should I choose?
What church do I attend?
At the end of the day, God gives us substantial liberty when it comes to choosing these things. There is often no right or wrong answer.
But when it comes to our sanctification, God’s will is absolutely clear. He sets it down in the Bible!
For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God... (1 Thessalonians 4:3-5, ESV)
We are told that the will of God is that we abstain from sexual immorality of all types. We’re told that His will is that each of us know how to control our bodies. We need to possess ourselves in holiness and in honor.
And what’s more? The Bible guarantees that, if we ask anything in accordance with His will, He will hear us (1 John 5:14).
Friend, you have an advocate with the Father, and His name is Jesus. Jesus came to die, and His death saves us from our sins. We do not need to go fooling around with sin any longer.
By getting into the Word of God and (1) focusing upon our hearts, then (2) focusing upon our environment, we can all be well on the way to defeating lust. It takes effort, and it is not easy.
Some say that God’s grace gives us a license to sin. But this is not only incorrect, it’s perilous to us in our walk with Jesus.
The body of believers, since the time of the Apostles, has been beset by heresies. Paul knew this as well as anyone, and he repeatedly wrote staunch warnings against false teachings. He wanted to make sure that those who truly followed Christ stayed true to their faith and did not stumble in the wind.
Yes, even in those days; those old days when travel between towns could take days or even weeks, false doctrine and heretical beliefs spread like wildfire and threatened to corrupt a person’s faith in the risen Christ.
Today, this effect is ever the more potent.
In the modern day, ideas can circle the globe instantly. As I write this, it occurs to me that people from other continents may read this – and they may read it just minutes or hours after I post it.
A thousand years ago, a message may have taken months to make it from one side of a continent to another, if it made it at all.
But now, ideas spread instantly and effortlessly. They spread seamlessly. Can this be a great thing? Absolutely! Can it be used to help people, build the Kingdom of God, and do great works for Him?
Absolutely. That’s why I blog 🙂
Yet this vast internet of information, this vehicle for transmitting ideas, thoughts, and calls to action, can be dangerous. It can lead to the spreading of heresies and false doctrine.
These false doctrines have one lasting outcome: they damage the faith of the person who believes them.
But I’m not here today to discuss how false doctrine or heretical teachings spread. I’m not writing to discuss strategies for fighting them. Rather, I’m here to single out and analyze one particular heresy that is extraordinarily popular in today’s evangelical scene.
And that heresy, quite simply, is this – that the grace given to us through Christ can serve as a license for sin.
This is a destructive doctrine. It is as far removed from Scripture as you can get. It is poisonous. It ruins lives. It damages faith. I believed it once – more recently than I’d like to admit, in fact – and looking back, I realize just how destructive it is to true, genuine faith in the risen Lord.
Nothing good comes from it. It promises a life of ease, but yields only pain, heartache, and brokenness.
What Makes it So Dangerous?
One of the biggest ways that this “doctrine” is so dangerous lies in its deceptive power.
Think about it.
We know the following things as Christians:
We are all sinners in need of a Savior (Rom. 3:23)
Jesus Christ came and died for the forgiveness of sins (John 3:16, Rom. 10:9, 2 Cor. 5:15, etc.)
If we believe in Him and call unto Him for salvation, He will save us because He cannot be unfaithful to His own. (2 Tim 2:13)
To the mature or passionate believer, these facts are reason for immense celebration. They look upon their Lord with love and with great respect. They have been forgiven much, and because of their thankfulness to God, the thought of sinning simply “because it’s covered by the blood and will be forgiven” is offensive to them.
But it’s not the same way with everyone.
For immature believers, or those who may only believe that they’re believers, these facts can be interpreted as a license for sin. I’ve heard it many times in my own life, and furthermore, I’ve heard it most often from the youth – “Well, I can sin because Christ forgives me. I’m covered.”
They take their limited understandings of the doctrine of grace and they twist it to their own selfish ends.
They are using logic to make the assumption: since I’m a sinner, and since Christ died for all sins, then all I must do is believe in Him and confess Him with my words, and I will be saved from my sins. This means I can sin as much as I want, in any way I want, and Christ will still forgive me and I’ll go to Heaven.
Yes, to the immature Christian, this is logical. It makes perfect sense. That’s what’s so dangerous about this belief – it makes perfect sense unless you’ve really thought it through and walked in the faith a while.
It makes perfect sense, but it’s a trap. And a devastatingly tricky trap at that.
The Consequences of This Belief
Up until now, we’ve discussed how this belief works. It’s dangerous because it’s tricky. It’s dangerous because it’s deceptive. But why? If one is caught in this big snare, what makes it so bad?
The main reason is in the damage it does to the sinner’s conscience.
You see, we’re all born with a God-given conscience, or internal moral compass. Every human has one, whether they’re born into a Christian culture, a Muslim culture, a Hindu culture, or an atheistic culture.
In fact, if you travelled around the world throughout history, you’d find that the majority of cultures would have some sort of prohibition against killing others. You’d find prohibitions against rape, against violence, against taking advantage of people, and much more.
All human societies throughout history have had morality, and the morality has been – barring some differences – quite similar.
Now, returning to the notion of the built-in conscience, one of the biggest things that a person must realize is that he/she is a sinner in need of a savior. And your conscience, your sensitivity to sin, is what helps you to see this. This is why Jesus said, “I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance” (Luke 5:23).
Notice the use of the word repent here. To repent is to change over, to confess and forsake, to be willing to leave something behind.
Repentance requires a person to see their sins, recognize them as bad, and then be willing to forsake their sins and turn to a new way of life – namely, the life Jesus calls them to.
However, note also that Jesus says another curious thing in that passage: “I have not come to call the righteous…” I must admit that when I read that verse for the first time, I was left in confusion.
After all, Romans 3:10 tells us, “As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one.” For the longest time, it didn’t make sense to me. But then, after some examination, it suddenly made perfect sense.
What Christ is talking about here is the difference between those who acknowledge and see the nature of their sins, and those who do not.
When Jesus walked the earth, His greatest opponents were the Pharisees. You’d have expected that those who would oppose Him most would have been non-Jews. Perhaps the Romans, or maybe some other faction of society, one would think.
But instead, it was those who claimed to be God’s own people.
They claimed to be of the Lord, but when Christ commanded them to repent, they refused. They called the Son of God a madman. They were “righteous” only insofar as they trusted and believed in their own abilities to save and distinguish them.
They did not recognize their own need for a savior because they thought themselves above such a thing. Hence, Jesus essentially said, “I have not come to call those who will not listen, but rather, those who do and can listen.”
Now, we’ll take this very concept and circle back to the concept of “the license for sin.”
You see, those Pharisees had hardened their hearts. They had dulled their consciences. You can harden your heart against God. That’s not popular to say in today’s world, but it’s true.
Contrary to what popular evangelicalism will tell you, words alone cannot save you. A profession of faith alone cannot save you. It can’t save you unless you’ve got the intention and heart behind it. God knows those who are truly His, and He also sees those who are just mixed in with the flock but don’t truly want Him.
For the one who sins because he “knows Christ will cover it,” there is grave danger.
There is a point at which a person will stop caring. There is a time when, after enough intentional, willful sinning, a person can harden their heart beyond repentance. They will essentially become a Pharisee.
They believed in the idea of grace, and they claimed to believe in the Son of God, but they simply used it as an insurance policy while they did everything they wanted to do.
They treated the grace of God as a cheap thing for so long, in such a hideous way, that they moved themselves beyond the ability to repent and forsake their sins in a turn to Christ.
Yes, it can happen. And if a person keeps on sinning, if he keeps on cheapening the grace of God to cover selfish desires, then there might come a day when repentance is impossible.
This is a scary message, but it’s truth. Yet there is GOOD news!
Finding Freedom From Sin
Does the Bible teach that you can fall away from God and be condemned, even in this life? It’s a tricky issue, but I think the answer is yes.
You CAN sin against, reject, and deny God for so long that you will be unable to come to Him and seek salvation.
But here’s the good news: if the thought of this causes you concern, sadness, or a desire to change from a pattern of sin, then you’re not condemned. Those who have rejected Christ completely and firmly, who have abused His grace repeatedly and feel no sorrow and no desire to change, are in grave danger.
Yet for you – if you feel in your heart that you want to change, if you desire freedom from sin and unity with Christ – there is still all the hope in the world! 2 Peter 3:9 says,
The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
You see, the God of the universe wants you. Go up to any random person on the street, and God wants them. Our Lord is so great that He does not will that any would perish.
If you’re stuck in a lifestyle of sin, this is your call to get out. If you’re slipping into the heretical idea that you can sin as much as you want because God will cover it, you need to repent of this idea. You need to turn from it.
Run from it as you would a dangerous animal.
As you run and turn from your sins, run into the grace of God. Accept His forgiveness with open arms and a willing heart. Hold nothing back within yourself. Commit all you are to Him. Commit your actions, relationships, decisions, life, career, words, and deeds to Him.
He wants all of it. And you will not be sorry for giving it all to Him.
As I mentioned earlier, there was a time when I believed that I could keep on sinning freely, because God’s grace covered it. After I realized that was incorrect and dangerous, I grew fearful that I was beyond saving.
In my anguish, I cried to the Lord out of a desperate heart.
He came in.
He came to allay my fears and correct my wayward heart. He taught me the importance of seeing Him as the all-sufficient God, of counting Him as my highest treasure for all time.
This has been a journey, and I’m still in the middle of it, but each day I can see His mercies fresh and new.
Brother, sister, it is my prayer today that you’ll seek the Lord. It’s my prayer that you will turn to Him with a heart of genuineness. And if you feel as though you’ve gone too far, pray to Him. Pray to Him with all you have in you. Cry out to Him.
Go to your knees and weep.
If you call to Him out of a genuine desire to be reconciled to Him, He will be faithful to show you the way. He will restore you.
A bruised reed and a smoldering wick He will not put out.
He will disciple you, lead you, and show you the true path to life in Him. He loves you, and He wants your heart above all things. He is not willing that any would perish, but that all would come to repentance.
Please, repent today. Repent while you’ve still got life in you, and awake from your spiritual slumber.
Repent, because His mercy, while great, will someday run out. Run to Him, and run to Him with everything you have.
Your God awaits you with great love and great mercy.
The “Law of Sowing and Reaping” is a universal and inescapable fact of life. We need to be sowing to the Spirit – here’s how.
Each spring, millions of people put seed in the ground in the hopes of growing something. Some people are farmers; they load up their large tractors with thousands of pounds of seed to sow hundreds of acres worth of crops. Others plant backyard gardens complete with tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, lettuce, onions, garlic, and potatoes.
But no matter what one plants and for what purpose, one thing holds constant: the plants you grow are determined by the type of seed you used.
Tomato seeds will produce tomato plants. Pumpkin seeds produce pumpkin plants. Corn seeds will grow corn plants. Lettuce and carrot seeds, as small and hard to plant as they may be, will develop into lettuce and carrots.
This is what we might refer to as, “The Law of Sowing and Reaping.” What you sow is what you get.
The Bible tells us that the same principle applies to our everyday lives. In Galatians, we read the following:
Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith. [Galatians 6:7-10, ESV]
Each day, we are faced with decisions. Most of us don’t realize just how many choices we make on a daily basis. We choose whether to be stingy or generous, open or closed, available or distant. We choose what to buy. We choose what to say to our acquaintances, friends, family, and spouse. Every action at work is accompanied, in some form or another, by a choice.
Choices, choices, and more choices.
Each choice we make can be thought of as a “seed.” The action is the seed you plant; the consequences of that action are the things that grow as a result.
Just seeds will produce plants, actions will produce consequences.
Let’s re-read Galatians 6:7.
Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.
Written by Paul the Apostle, Galatians was a letter to the churches in ancient Galatia (located in present-day Turkey). In this verse, Paul used some pretty strong wording to convey his message: Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.
You see, the first problem facing many of Paul’s readers – and many of us in the modern day – is that we lose sight of the fundamental truth that actions have consequences.
To really drive this home, let’s ask a question: when was the last time you made a decision based upon the idea that you would not experience consequences? In my case, I find that my ongoing struggles with sin are vulnerable points here. When I am tempted to cave to a certain sin, my mind will often ask itself a question, “Can I get away with this?”
You’re faced with the temptation to lust. I can get away with this, right?
You’re faced with the temptation to curse someone behind their back. They won’t hear me, so no one gets hurt… right?
Indeed, it is so easy to imagine that small actions done in complete secrecy will not harm you. They’re done in secret, after all!
Yet these so-called “secret sins” are not the only times we are led to disregard the teachings in this verse. Sometimes, we can become convinced that even the “big stuff” is stuff we can get away with. This includes activity such as hard drinking, partying, lying, sexual immorality, and even theft or other forms of crime.
There is always a temptation to think to ourselves, “Jesus is my savior, so my sins are covered. I can sin as much as I want.”
But that is a very, very dangerous way of thinking. This is what Paul was confronting when he implored his readers to “not be deceived,” because “God is not mocked.”
If we’re not careful, even the most diligent and faithful Christians can fall into the trap of believing that there is such a thing as consequence-free living. It’s also why Paul writes, in verses 7 and 8,
...for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.
That leads us to a very important dichotomy: there are two ways to sow.
The Two Ways to Sow
In Galatians 6:7-8, Paul shows us that we can either sow to our flesh or sow to the Spirit. These are the two umbrella categories that each and every action we take will fall into.
When one “sows to his flesh,” he is essentially planting the seeds of corruption and decay. In the Bible – and particularly the New Testament – there is a framework set forth that this world is a world of two camps: the flesh and the Spirit. The flesh includes all of our fallenness. When we sin, we please our flesh.
The flesh is inherently selfish and concerned with seeking gratification. Romans tells us,
For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. Romans 8:6-8 [ESV]
In other words, the “flesh” is hostile to God. It is against Him and against what He wants to do in our world and in our life. That’s why Romans tells us that the mind set on the flesh is death. It doesn’t submit to God, and it doesn’t even have the capability to submit to Him.
When we take an action such as willfully disobeying God, we are sowing to the flesh. When we commit sin, we’re sowing to the flesh. What the verbiage has in mind here is this: sowing is an action. If you act in a way that pleases the flesh, that satisfies your sinful desires and seeks to glorify yourself rather than God, you’re going to reap brokenness. You’re going to reap corruption. You’re going to reap death.
Each action has a consequence, whether we see it or not.
Addiction to pornography, while perhaps not directly harming another person, has consequences for those who are addicted. Laziness, while it may seem innocent or benign, harms both the person who is lazy and those around him or her.
You cannot escape the law of sowing and reaping.
If you sow to the flesh, you’ll reap bad consequences. You will receive brokenness. That’s a guarantee. To think otherwise – to imagine that you can live a life of sowing to the flesh but escaping the consequences – is to mock God.
But let’s look at the flip side: sowing to the Spirit.
Just as consequences are guaranteed for every action done for the flesh, consequences are also guaranteed for each action done for the Spirit. These are good consequences! If you sow to the flesh, you’re going to reap corruption and brokenness. But what if you sow to the Spirit?
Galatians says you’ll reap eternal life!
Indeed, that is the hallmark of a Christian life which is truly in obedience to God and what He has for us. If you step out in faith, trusting the Lord for all your needs, you are sowing to the Spirit. If you seek Him, if you make time for Him, if you desire to please Him and follow His will for your life, you’re sowing to the Spirit.
Galatians tells us that you’ll be rewarded. In fact, the rewards to sowing in the Spirit are so vast that we probably will not – and cannot – experience them entirely in this lifetime. We cannot comprehend what that fully means for us.
Romans also shows us that the mind set on the Spirit is “life and peace.” Do you want peace in your situation? Do you want to have that peace which surpasses all understanding? Do you want to be that person who can stand in the middle of life’s fiercest storm and say, “It is well with my soul?”
Guess what?
Sow to the Spirit. It all starts there.
A Practical Application
We’ve looked at what is meant by sowing to the flesh and sowing to the Spirit. We’ve compared and contrasted them. But what does this dichotomy look like in our day to day lives?
It might be tempting to think that this is a question of rote obedience. We can approach this from the angle of, “If I do this, then God will do this.”
But that is the incorrect way to look at it.
As a Biblical example, the Pharisees of Jesus’s day were among the most outwardly-righteous people on the Earth. They prayed, they tithed, they read and memorized Scripture, and they never missed religious services. They were lauded by the Jewish community and looked upon as community leaders.
Yet Jesus’s harshest words were reserved for these men.
Christ made it clear that God did not accept the outward righteousness of the Pharisees. In fact, He hated it. There was no place for fake righteousness in God’s favor. And that has not changed today.
Rather than look to outward deeds – deeds of giving, tithing, “stopping sin,” or going to church – we need to look inward.
We need to ask ourselves, “Where is my heart? Why am I doing this?”
Do you need to stop sinning? Yes. God commands us to repent, which means nothing less than turning away from our sinful behavior and embracing His perfect plan. But rote obedience is not His answer. And if you try to battle your sins, whatever they may be, in your own strength, you will fail a hundred percent of the time.
If you battle sin and death in your own power, you are not truly “sowing to the Spirit.”
To truly sow to the Spirit, we need to focus on our hearts. We need to adopt a position of resignation. We need to wave the white flag. All too often, the storms of life find us doing everything we can to calm the waters on our own strength. That’s my natural setting. When a huge battle comes before me in my life, I will do all I can to win… and prayer is my last resort.
But prayer should be our first resort.
Our hearts should always be inclined towards God in a spirit of willing submission. God is our good Shepherd, and we – His sheep – know and obey His voice. By obeying God in love and humility, we are truly sowing to the Spirit. We are truly loving God. We cannot take a passive approach to our Christian walk – effort is involved in every relationship, including the one we have with God – but the source of our strength cannot come from ourselves.
The solution here is simple yet incredibly hard: rest in God. Rest in Christ.
Do you have a sin that seems impossible to overcome? Stop fighting it in your strength, and start fighting it in His strength.
Do you have situations that are beyond your control? Stop trying to control them. Stop trying to come up with answers on your own power. Go to Him.
Do you have issues that have no solution? Are you stuck between a multitude of paths, each one appearing rocky and uneven? Do not trust yourself. Go to Him.
Every time we fall before the Lord in a place of humility and submission, we sow to the Spirit. Every time we obey Him out of love and trust, we sow to the Spirit. Every time we display a righteousness that is NOT our own, but rather His, we sow to the Spirit.
Remember: no matter who you are or what you’ve done, you do not have to continue going down the path you are now. You don’t have to keep sowing to the flesh! You can start sowing to the Spirit today, and reap a reward of peace and life that will last with you into eternity.
I grew up in the Midwest. In the Midwest, we have all types of weather.
There are heat waves. There are blizzards. There are cold outbreaks that make it so cold your face hurts the second you walk out the front door.
We have thunderstorms, flooding rains, hailstorms, and windstorms. We have tornadoes. And sometimes, we get all of these springtime weather events – the wind, the rain, the hail, the booming thunder – rolled together into one.
Whenever a cold front comes to visit in the spring or summer, you can get a huge line of thunderstorms to form ahead of it. This is called a squall line, and these things can bring some pretty scary weather.
They can bring damaging winds, winds capable of tearing the rooves off of houses. They can bring large hail that ruins crops and smashes windows. They can bring tornadoes, which slice through towns and take out longstanding buildings. They can bring flooding rains, which cause water to flow across streets like a whitewater rapid.
These are some pretty terrifying storms. Yet they often come with their own sort of reward. Before the storm hits, you’re usually suffering beneath the heat and humidity of summer. You walk outside and your forehead starts to sweat within seconds. Nobody wants to work in this type of heat.
But then comes the cold front, which – after an evening of furious thunder and driving rain – changes out that summertime mugginess for the clarity of dry, tranquil weather. It’s not uncommon for the high to hit 95 degrees one day, have severe storms that evening, and then to enjoy weather in the 70s the next day.
As I’ve stepped back to consider this, I have come to realize that this is a portrait of what often goes on in our own lives. We experience the stifling heat building up – the pressures, the conflicts, etc. – and it eventually reaches a point where it becomes practically unbearable. Then the storm front hits and all is washed clean.
We can breathe. We can think. There is release. There is peace.
God has a way of using intense trials to clear our lives of debris.
Before the trial – whatever it may be – we often get our priorities mixed up. We put things ahead of God. We start chasing our own desires, plotting our own paths, and seeking our own will.
Yet God does not intend for us to do life that way. He intends for us to do life His way, which is ultimately the best way. Whether we believe it or not, He has a will for each and every one of us. He has a personal will for each one of us; for you, for me, for everyone who is His child and is called according to His purpose.
God is a God of good gifts and free support. Yet when we start to walk out from underneath His proverbial umbrella, we step out into the rain. We expose ourselves to all sorts of things that might be bad for us.
Case-in-point: I’ve known lots of Christians who have gone through seasons of their lives when they were not walking in God’s will. I am one of them.
In one particular season of my life – a season where I was most assuredly not walking in the will of God – I became involved with sinful behavior that I had no business being involved with. I knew it was wrong. I knew I was disobeying God. But I did it anyway.
Over the weeks and months, I built up guilt and shame. I would cry every time I even thought about God. What I was doing broke my heart, but my flesh pulled harder than my soul. I kept indulging in this sin. I kept disobeying God, running from Him.
And then the storm came.
For a month and a half, I was crushed. The person who I’d done all this sinful stuff with, and who I thought I was in love with, decided to leave me. It came out of nowhere, at least at the time.
One day, she and I were tight.
The next day, she left.
This marked the beginning of a period of crying, seeking the Lord, and searching for answers. It was a time of great repentance. If I could have donned sackcloth and anointed myself with ashes, I would have done so. I was like David after his sin with Bathsheba.
I was crushed.
You see, all that heat and mugginess had crept into my life. It had gotten to the point where I was unable to work, unable to focus, unable to do anything except follow my sinful flesh. But then God called me back to reality. It was a tough break; it meant many days and hours of mourning, tears, repentance, and pain. It was a time of great shame and a feeling of great loss.
But it happened, and once the storm was over, I felt better. I was refreshed. I truly felt at peace and ready to pursue the Lord wholeheartedly once more.
Today, brothers and sisters, I have come to say this: although the storm may be intense, it is often God’s way of bringing peace. It feels uncomfortable, tumultuous, as though your world has been flipped upside down.
Storms are rough. Life gets tough.
But God is with you through it all. And when He brings you out the other side, once the storm clouds have rolled away and the sun has risen on a new day, you may find that it’s easier to breathe and easier to focus.
Do not fear the storm. Trust God in the midst of it, as Paul did when he was imprisoned. Trust God in all things; have faith. Put on His love for you.
Today’s culture is selling you something. It’s written all over the commercials you see on TV. It’s in books, it’s in songs; it’s in movies and shows. It is the driving force behind almost every popular movement that springs up, dominates the airwaves, and then dies down again. It saturates our academics and forms the foundation of our commerce.
It is all-reaching, and no matter who you are or where you live, there is no escaping it.
Do you know what it is?
It’s selfishness.
We live in what is perhaps the most self-centered culture the world has ever known. Commercials bombard us on a daily basis with the promise that we can “have it all.” Self-help books peddle the idea that the only way to be happy is to ‘learn to love yourself.’ Business ethics have largely gone by the wayside, and the preferred method to get ahead is to be the one who pushes everyone else down in a ruthless climb up the corporate ladder.
The phrase used to be, “Nice guys finish first.” But in recent times, that’s been replaced by the far more sinister, “Nice guys finish last.”
Indeed, the world’s teaching is that the one sure way of getting ahead in life is to focus entirely on you. How often have you heard people say that they’re “going to focus more on me?” How often have you been told that you must “love yourself, no matter what?” Or what about this one: “Your only responsibility is to yourself?”
Let me ask another question: is this a right way to go about life, or is it dreadfully wrong? If we go to the Bible, we’ll see the answer provided to us as clear as day.
We will start with a visit to 2 Timothy 3, concentrating on verses 1 through 5.
“But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.”
That’s quite an indictment on these men and women. Nearly twenty different words and phrases are used to describe their conduct, not one of which is positive. Now, note also that verse 1 contains within it the phrase, “in the last days.” On this topic, the MacArthur Study Bible commentary states,
“The word for “times” had to do with epochs, rather than clock or calendar time. Such savage, dangerous eras or epochs will increase in frequency and severity as the return of Christ approaches. The church age is fraught with these dangerous movements accumulating strength as the end nears. The last days. This phrase refers to this age, the time since the first coming of the Lord Jesus.”
Following from this, it’s clear that we are indeed living “in the last days,” and have been for nearly two thousand years. However, as the time of Christ’s return draws nearer, the severity of sinfulness and deceit will increase, giving rise to an era marked by increasingly selfish, dominating, calloused, and unloving individuals.
Sound familiar?
Moving on, James 3:16 gives us another (much shorter) passage on the vices of selfishness.
“For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice.”
Once more, we see another fundamental force of our culture outlined in this text. How many times have you felt a hot surge of anger when someone else got what you thought you deserved? We all feel this way at times – I certainly have – but many people in today’s world are allowing this type of behavior to define them. We are taught by prevailing cultural wisdom that jealousy is good, and that it’s perfectly healthy – even expected – to have selfish desires that nearly control your life.
Yet the Bible tells us that wherever jealousy, wherever hardness of heart, wherever self-seeking, self-centered ambitions exist, there will be consequences. Such is our society today – a culture filled with selfishness and envy, a culture where revenge is looked upon as a virtue. It’s a society wherein parents are subservient to children, abusive spouses are ubiquitous, and minor disagreements are met with furious retaliation.
It’s all the horror and darkness in this world that causes many an idealist to look out the window and muse something like, ‘We humans are terrible. We ruin everything we touch. We wreck the environment and oppress the weak, and we just carry on like nothing is wrong.’
Indeed, to the one without Christ, there is no hope. We live in a dark world, a world filled with selfishness and injustice and sin, and that’s not going to change, at least not for now. But for those who have Jesus, there is hope. There is hope overflowing, hope that never ends, hope that abounds to the ends of the earth.
You see, God is not mocked. He is not caught by surprise. He knows our predicaments – every one of them – and yet He chose to send His only Son to die for us that we might have life, and that in that life He might have the ultimate glory.
He came to testify; He came to die, He came to be buried and then triumphantly rise again to the glory of God, having dealt sin a mortal blow. On that cross, Jesus Christ gained a resounding victory over death. He put Satan to utter shame. He destroyed the works of the devil. When He arose, He got up with every bit of power He possessed – which is to say, all the power there ever has been or ever will be – and He spread His arms wide.
He told us, in John 14:6,
“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”
What a promise we have in our God! What an amazing Lord He is, that He would leave His place in heaven to humble Himself to the point of death on a cross.
With His sacrifice, God opened the door to Himself. He opened the door to eternal life in Him, to peace in this life, to abundant love in our hearts. But what He also said was this, in Luke 9:23 –
“…If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”
Today, most are familiar with the idea of salvation by faith alone – this is known by the Latin term Sola Fide – but comparatively rarer in teaching is the material found in Luke 9:23. Quite simply, to follow Jesus, we must deny ourselves, take up our cross day-by-day, and follow after Him. This isn’t optional. It isn’t an add-on, or a side activity. Following Christ requires one thing – your entire life. All you are, all your dreams, desires, faults, flaws, failings, and talents, belong to Him if you wish to follow Him.
Thus, I ask you: who do you live for? Modern culture teaches us that the highest purpose of life is to live for you. The Bible, on the other hand, teaches the exact opposite: to truly live, you must live for Christ. In Galatians 2:20, the Apostle Paul makes an incredible declaration of faith and surrender to the Lord,
“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
These are not the words of a man who begrudgingly served the Lord Jesus. Paul speaks his praises without reservation, without inhibition. His writings are full of reverent obedience and heartfelt joy towards God, and towards the Son who brought him out of a life of sin and into a life of eternal significance.
Paul was content wherever he went. His joy and faith lied in Jesus, and Jesus Christ never failed him. Jesus never failed any of His apostles. He never failed any of His followers. He is the great shepherd who lays down His life for the flock, and who came to earth to serve the lowest of the low, that He might ascend to the highest of the high.
Christ, the suffering servant, the one who paid it all, now sits at the right hand of God. And He will never fail. He cannot fail! It is no more possible for Him to lose than it is for fire to become ice, or for the sun to become the moon.
But to truly know Him, to truly receive Him, we must surrender to Him. We must abide in Him. We must “take up our cross” and follow Him.
This will mean forsaking some of our own desires. It will mean giving up some of our perceived “freedom” to act in whatever way we want.
It will mean that we no longer live for us, but for Him. All those ideas about “focusing on me” or “being responsible only for myself” will be thrown out the window. Our idols, whatever they may have been or are, must be exchanged in favor of the One who is truly worthy of our worship and admiration.
Lay down your life and live for Christ. He is the only One who cannot fail, and the only One worthy of all praise and glory. He is the greatest friend you can ever have, the strongest king, and the closest of all brothers.
Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. (Psalm 51: 10-12)
Even the most devoted Christians fall victim to sin.
Sometimes, it comes upon us suddenly and with little warning. We stub our toe and say something we shouldn’t. We hear about what happened to one of our family members and a flash of red-hot anger wells to the surface. Perhaps we even sin without fully knowing it – driving over the speed limit (and thus breaking the law), or failing to give thanks to God for something He provided for us.
‘Minor sins’ such as these (and I put the term in quotes because these transgressions are no less sinful than any others) are often looked upon in daily Christian life as nuisances. They’re typically the reason we sit down and say to ourselves ‘well, we are human, after all.‘ But at the end of the day, we can be rest assured these sins are forgiven us. It’s quite easy for us to look past a stray curse word or even a speeding ticket. When it comes to ‘nuisance sins,’ we often have little trouble resting in the power of Christ Jesus.
But what happens when our sins aren’t so small? What happens when we’ve really crossed the line, when we feel that we are so far from forgiveness that we might as well give up?
King David answers this question for us in our selected passage of this post: Psalm 51:10-12.
King David’s Series of Sins: a Background (2 Samuel 11:5-27)
One calm evening, with his entire army out at war, David took a stroll upon the roof of his palace and saw a beautiful woman bathing nearby. Enticed by her beauty, he sent someone to go and find out about her. One thing led to another and the two – King David and Bathsheba – slept together. Of course, the king was interested in nothing more than simply enjoying her for one night, and so he sent her back home the next morning. But some time later, he received what must have been a heart-stopping message: I am pregnant.
Now, this situation was complicated even further by the fact that Bathsheba was married. And not only was she married, but she was the wife of Uriah, one of David’s high-ranking warriors. David knew that he could not have the truth become known, so he started plotting to cover up his misdeed.
First, he attempted to send Uriah home in the hopes that he would make love to Bathsheba, thus covering up David’s role in her pregnancy. But Uriah did not go home, instead electing to sleep outside the palace.
David’s next plan was to get Uriah drunk, once again hoping that he would go home and spend the night with his wife. However, the solider did not return home as the king had anticipated.
Finally, feeling completely exhausted for options, David arranged for Uriah to be taken into battle. During the fight, the Uriah’s unit was commanded to suddenly fall back, leaving the solider behind to be killed by the onslaught of enemy forces. The plan worked just as David had hoped: Uriah was killed, excuses were made, and the cover-up was complete. When Bathsheba heard word of her husband’s death, she mourned, and then David took her as his wife.
However, according to 2 Samuel 11:27, “…the thing David had done displeased the Lord.”
Psalm 51: Following David’s Lead
As any moral person can attest to, what David did was not only bad; it was very bad. Planning the death of an innocent person is nothing short of despicable.
But unlike many sinners found throughout the Bible (cough, cough, Pharisees), David did not remain unrepentant. In fact, Psalm 51 was written as a plea towards God for forgiveness. It portrayed a man who was broken and sorrowful in the aftermath of a series of sinful actions and decisions.
Because of this, the chapter serves as a shining example for what to do when we feel like we’ve stepped beyond the ‘acceptable’ limit. Whether it’s a nasty word you said against someone, a conflict gone too far, or even the committing of a crime, you are not beyond God’s forgiveness.
With this in mind, let’s look at repentance and hope in light of Psalm 51.
“Create in me a pure heart, O God…”
To properly understand David’s plea for ‘a pure heart,’ we first must understand God’s will for our lives regarding purity. There are many verses in the Bible which speak to purity or some version thereof, exalting its virtuous place in the Christian life. Here are just a few of them:
"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God." - (Matthew 5:8)
"Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity." - (1 Timothy 4:12)
"How can a young person stay on the path of purity? By living according to your word." - (Psalm 119:9)
Clearly, purity is an integral part of God’s will for us. And given that it is of such importance to a healthy Christian lifestyle, we would be well-served by following David’s lead and asking God for a clean heart.
In my own experience with sin and darkness, I know that one of the biggest things getting in the way of my repentance is a certain ‘dullness’ of heart that follows the disobedience. I will commit a sin and then feel a dirtiness that causes me to run from confessing it.
It is during these times that I often bow my head and say something to the effect of, ‘Dear Father, I know that what I have done is wrong. Moreover, I know that I had every opportunity to stop it from happening, yet I still chose the pleasure of sin over the beauty and truth of your Word. I am sorry. I pray to you, Father, that you would create in me a pure and clean heart so that my focus might return to you.’
Psalm 37:4 tells us that God will give us the desires of our hearts. If one of our desires is to see our heart made right with God, then He will most certainly grant that request. Pray for your heart to be made pure, and God will wash it clean!
“…Renew a steadfast spirit within me…”
If the restoration of purity to our hearts is the first order of business after sinning, then the ‘renewal of a steadfast spirit within us’ comes soon after. Merriam-Webster dictionary defines steadfast as ‘firmly fixed in place: immovable.’ A second definition of the word, varying slightly from the first, is ‘firm in belief, determination, or adherence; loyal.’
When these definitions are looked at in light of the context of the verse, it becomes clear that they’re both pointing towards something which is firm, strong, and steady. In other words, the proper antidote for a sin-stricken heart is for one’s spirit to be renewed and strengthened by God.
Consider this: one of God’s foremost desires for us is that we would seek Him with all our hearts. How better can this be done than through a spirit which is strong and resolute? If I am being told to run a marathon, shouldn’t I be in shape first?
Paul often likens the Christian walk to a race. He tells us to ‘Run in such a way as to get the prize’ (1 Corinthians 9:24). So if we’re running a race – a spiritual race in which the prize is eternity with Jesus Christ – then having the strength and endurance to do so is paramount. And we ourselves do not possess this quality of strength; rather, it is given to us by God. As Paul said in Ephesians 2:8-9, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast.”
Our salvation was and is entirely through God’s grace. It’s all about Him. And when we are called to the Christian walk which follows salvation, we are also called to make sacrifices. We are called to lay down our lives. But God tells us that He will never leave us, not even until the end of the age. We don’t ‘run the race’ purely out of our own strength. If our salvation was solely through God’s will, then our strength and renewal will also be through God’s will.
So if you feel as though you’re beyond forgiveness, follow the example of David, and ask God – with all sincerity and humble reverence – to strengthen and sustain your spirit. He will answer you. After all, if our God is for us, then who can be against us?
“…Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me…”
Oftentimes, one of the most potent feelings we experience after committing a sin is that of a disconnect from God. We turn our heads to the ground and wonder ‘How can a holy and pure God love me after that?’
Although having a repentant attitude towards sin is vital in the Christian life, one of the greatest things about our salvation is that we don’t need to be trapped by feelings of guilt and sorrow. Christ has, once and for all, freed us from these through His work on the cross. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 7:10, “Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.” An entire article could be written over this one line, but its essence can be summed up in a few points.
Godly sorrow and worldly sorrow are different. They produce different mindsets, have different effects, and yield different results.
Worldly sorrow is inherently self-based. It dwells upon sin’s negative impacts on the sinner himself, and, in many ways, it is a form of pride. Such sorrow is of no redeeming value in a person’s life.
Godly sorrow is the opposite of worldly sorrow. Instead of brooding over the sin’s personal impacts for long periods of time, one recognizes it, confesses it, and then receives God’s forgiveness. Because all sins will be forgiven for the person who is a follower of Christ, (Mark 3:28) the transgression has been washed by the sacrificial blood and is no more.
Although Godly sorrow will produce repentance and genuine forgiveness, it does not stop sin from taking its toll in this life. All of us are capable of making decisions, including bad ones, and each decision carries consequences.
As we bring our focus back to the verse at hand, we see that David was pleading for the Lord to remain in him. In doing so, he was practicing Godly sorrow. Did he feel bad for what he did? You bet. And was he full of regret? Of course he was. In fact, the prophet Nathan informed David that his rebellious act would result in the death of the child which was conceived (2 Samuel 12:14). David then did everything he could to save the child – fasting, lying on the ground, and praying for days on end – but it was to no avail.
Once the son had died, David rose from his fast and worshipped God. When questioned by his servants regarding his behavior, (it would have been customary to fast after the death of the child) David said, “Now that he is dead, why should I go on fasting? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me” (2 Samuel 12:23).
David not only fully repented of his actions in the presence of God, but he also gave his sorrows and grief to Him. Instead of dwelling on his sin’s consequences, David acknowledged his wrong, asked forgiveness, and – most importantly – centered himself back upon the Lord.
“…Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.”
It’s a fundamental fact of human nature that we often lose sight of what’s important. Starting a new job, for example, may come with feelings of great joy and great potential. You might even feel limitless in those first few days. Yet after a time, most people tend to settle into a routine, and their work turns from enjoyable to tolerable to downright monotonous. The novelty has worn off, leaving nothing behind but mere duties to be fulfilled.
Sadly, the same thing can happen to our walks with Christ. What was once full of wonder and excitement can, after a period of time, become commonplace. This is exactly what happened to David before the events of 2 Samuel 11 and 12 even took place; in fact, 2 Samuel 11 opens by informing us that David remained behind while his army was out at battle. In his boredom and complacency, David sought out the companionship of Bathsheba, setting the whole series of events into play. The king had lost his joy in God, and was now seeking to replace it with sinful actions.
A lack of joy in God is one of the root causes of sin. If we don’t have our eyes set on Him, then who (or what) will we turn to? Human beings have a built-in desire to worship something greater than ourselves – just look at how many religions we have across the world. If we aren’t setting our sights on God, we’ll turn to idols and substitutes. Ephesians 4:27 covers this idea very well by saying, “Do not give the devil a foothold.”
In my own personal experience, I’ve battled against various temptations and desires which are at their strongest when my joy in God is at its weakest. The more I would give in to these sins, the lower in quality would be my experience with God. Imagine your relationship with God as a living thing, and then imagine sin as a poison. The more poison you put into the relationship, the weaker and less healthy it will be.
David knew this truth all too well. When he committed adultery with Bathsheba, lied to cover it up, and ultimately arranged the death of Uriah, he was suffering from an already-weakened relationship with God. The more he sinned, the worse his relationship got, until he reached the point where in his repentance he cried ‘God, please! Please restore your joy to me, please give me a spirit that loves you and is willing to follow you!’ God’s response (through the prophet Nathan) was essentially the following: I forgive you, and I have made you whole again. The consequences of your sin will still remain, but I have healed your spirit.
If you’ve committed a major sin, or you’ve been locked in a pattern of sinning, God is waiting. He’s working in your heart; He is leading you to see the error of your ways. He loves you with an everlasting love, and it brings Him no greater joy than to see His children walking in Him with delight.
If you truly desire to be made new again, to set your sin behind you, to renew your faith as David did, then simply confess this to God and receive it by faith. The more you pray, the more you read the Bible, and the more you apply scripture to your life, the greater your joy in the Lord will become. After all, Matthew 21:22 says, “If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”
Our Lord is a God of love. Will it be easy to follow Him? No. Is our walk always full of happiness and prosperity? Not in the slightest bit; believers around the world both past and present often experience some of the worst persecution imaginable. But by turning our hearts back to Him, and focusing ourselves on Him as David did, He will heal our hearts and spirits from sin’s horrible stain. And one day, when we meet Him in heaven, our sin will be wiped away completely, just as He promises! Every tear, every ounce of pain, every trial – it will all be made right in the perfection of eternity.
As I bring this to a close, I’d like to leave you with one last verse: Matthew 28:20, “Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” God makes us a promise, and He will never go back on His word. Trust Him, turn from your sin, and ask for your heart and soul to be made clean.
One sin can cost you more than you ever thought possible. Here’s how to identify sin, fight sin, and wipe it out of your life.
For two years in college, I lived in a house that was old. I mean really old. It was a two-story brick house that sat in the middle of one of our city’s historical districts. Constructed a hundred years ago, this house had seen a lot over the times.
My old, drafty brick house (2021)
When it was built, it was a bed and breakfast. Some time later, it was purchased by a sorority and used as a sorority house. After that, it was bought by an elderly couple and rented out to various tenants.
My roommates and I were among those tenants.
Now, one thing we quickly came to notice was that this house had no insulation. I literally think that the only thing separating us from the outdoors was two sheets of wood and some drywall.
Whatever insulation it once had must have turned to dust decades beforehand.
To add insult to injury, our old windows were drafty. In the middle of winter, you could hold your hands two feet away from the windows and feel the icy chill on your skin.
In the Midwest, that’s INSANE.
The furnace ran non-stop during the winters. The air conditioner ran non-stop during the summers. During my senior year, we had a cold snap so severe that the high temperature didn’t get above 0 degrees Fahrenheit (that’s about -18 Celsius) for a couple days on end.
We shut all the blinds, closed off the unused rooms, and turned the thermostat down to 68 degrees.
The heater never stopped running.
It was the same deal in the summer. When the temperature hit 95 degrees and the humidity was unbearable, the air conditioner would run constantly just to keep the inside of the house at 75 or 76 degrees.
Naturally, the electric bills that came as a result of all this were insane. Split evenly four ways, my roommates and I would often pay $120 a piece… just for utilities.
At this point, you might be asking me: what does all this have to do with resisting temptation?
I’ll tell you: because one sin – just one – is like a house with drafty windows. It might seem relatively small or even innocent, but just a single drafty window can make it nearly impossible to keep a house warm or cool.
Listen to what the late pastor Bob Jennings had to say about this (you will really want to see this – the video is only about 1 minute long):
His question is so, so relevant. What is this one sin costing you?
If you had a leaky faucet, this one leak could result in thousands of gallons of wasted water. Now, few of us would leave the faucet running all night long. Yet if the leak is slow and hardly noticeable from day to day, one might be tempted to just ignore it.
But to ignore it would cost you.
It’s the same with sin. Just one sin – a regular, recurring sin – is like a leaky faucet or a drafty window. It may be hard to pin down. It may occur so frequently that it blends into the background noise of everyday life. Yet it is that one sin which can cost you so, so much.
Look at what the Scripture has to say about this:
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:1-2, ESV)
I want us to all pay close attention to the wording here. It says, “…lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely…”
In this verse is an acknowledgement that sin is clever. It’s conniving and sticky. Think about what would happen if you jumped into a puddle of mud. When you get up, you’ll be covered in the mud. It will take more than a few wipes to get rid of this filth, since it clings to you.
Sin does the same thing. It can stick to you like fresh mud.
One sin is also like a weight. It slows you down and robs you of your spiritual energy. One sin gets in the way of your fellowship with God. It is something that saps your vitality and your vigor. It throws up roadblocks in your race as a Christian.
If you went to run a marathon – a hulking, 26.2 mile race – the last thing you would want is to add more weight to yourself. It’s already tough enough to run that distance. But to add a heavy shirt? Heavy shoes? A backpack?
These things make it far harder, if not nearly impossible.
Hebrews is telling us that – if we do have these sins in our lives – they’re like weights. They’re drafty windows. They’re leaky faucets.
They cost us.
Perhaps the reason why you’re not feeling close to God is because you are entertaining a sin. You’re playing with a sin. You have it in mind that, ‘I can have this one thing in my life. I am good in every other area of life. God won’t mind if I have this one lapse, this one “guilty pleasure.”‘
Why do I say this? Because I myself have done the same thing countless times with a huge number of sins. For every finger I may point, I have three pointing back at me.
Quite simply, there is no such thing as a sin without consequences. Even as believers, as saved men and women in Christ, we cannot sin and expect to escape it without any consequences. True, we’re saved from separation with God. We’re guaranteed eternity in paradise with Him. But the law of sewing and reaping is very much active in this life, whether we’re a child of God or not.
Sin has consequences.
If you sin, its negative effects WILL show up somewhere in your life. Those consequences may be small, they may be delayed, or we may not be able to see them directly, but they will be there.
So what is the solution? What do we do about this?
The first thing to do is to take an “audit” of your life.
What is that one sin (or sins) that you keep committing over and over again? What are you allowing in your life that you know you shouldn’t be?
Maybe you’re prone to laziness. Maybe you use foul language. Maybe you’re given to anger. Maybe you idolize something.
Here’s a HUGE one, especially for young people: maybe you lust. Maybe you love to look at others and dwell on how attractive they are.
If this lustful desire is taken further, it leads to pornography addiction. It leads to the acting upon wrongful sexual impulses. This road of sexual addiction can take some people so far that they actually act out upon their urges in a way that is against the law.
Whatever your sin(s) may be, you need to be very intentional about identifying them. Sit down with God; ask Him in prayer to reveal the areas of your life where sin clings to you. He will reveal them, because it is His will (according to 1 Thessalonians 4:3-5) that you would be pure and grow more and more holy in Him.
Secondly, you need to take steps to resist these sins.
One of the more lurid passages of the Bible is found in Matthew 5:29:“If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away.“
Truly, this is strong language. Jesus Himself spoke those words. What did He mean by them?
The general principle at work here is this: sin is bad, and we should be doing everything in our power to resist it. Contemporary Christianity has largely removed the idea that we need to struggle in our walks with God. To struggle and wrestle sounds foreign to many of us.
Hasn’t Jesus paid it all? Don’t we just need to abide in Him, and He will give us abundant life? Yes and yes.
But there’s also a very real sense in which we have to struggle in our faith. There is work to be done. The Christian life is like running a long race, and that takes a great deal of effort.
Part of that effort is resisting sin.
But notice what Jesus prescribes here: if your right eye causes you to sin, throw it out. We could easily make our own statements that follow this pattern:
If your phone causes you to sin, throw it out.
If your car causes you to sin, stop driving it.
If your TV tempts you, get rid of it.
Essentially, Jesus is calling us to be radical in our dealings with sin. If something causes us to stumble – alcohol, technology, internet, going to a certain establishment, etc. – then we ought to remove it. As Hebrews 12 says, we need to “Lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely.”
In other news, if something causes you to sin, get rid of it. Throw it away. Be radical. Yes, it may sound like overkill. It might even sound foolish. But it is totally worth it! The pleasure you may gain from indulging in sin is no match for the abundant life you will gain by obeying Christ. The Christian life is one of radical counter-culturalism.
It always has – and always will – go against the grain of what society says is normal and natural.
Thirdly, we need to keep in constant fellowship with God and with others.
Out of Hebrews 10, we read:
And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. (Hebrews 10:24-25, ESV)
From this, we can clearly see the necessity of keeping in fellowship. In fact, the text tells us that we should not only not neglect meeting together, but that we ought to encourage one another and stir one another up to good works.
In a practical sense, this looks like accountability. When we go into fellowship with one another, it ought to be with the intention of encouraging one another to do good works. It ought to be intended to help one another to resist sin and to cut the old, bad things out of our lives.
The Christian life cannot be lived alone. As the saying goes, “There is no such thing as a lone wolf Christian.”
You see, you cannot expect to try to fight sin on your own power and succeed. You aren’t strong enough. You don’t have the power. If you try to fight in your own strength, you’ll fail – whether sooner or later.
But if you tap into the power of God, if you come to Him with your hands open, you will find success. The resisting of sin requires constant communion with Him and with others. It requires community and relationship.
If you’re not already, you should find a strong, Bible-believing fellowship and then become involved there with people who can encourage you directly in your fight against sin. If you are fighting a long-standing sin, the worst thing you can do for yourself is to hide it and isolate from others.
There is value in fellowship and confession of sin, and we do not need to bear any burden alone.
To draw this to a close, allow me to simply say the following: if you’re dealing with these pesky sins that so easily cling to us, you are not alone. Fighting it will be difficult, and may at times even feel like it isn’t worth it. You will experience failure. But the Lord will bless your effort to fight against sin, as it is His will for you to be sanctified – that is, to become more like Him.
So lay aside that sin.
Put it aside as one casting off a heavy weight or a cumbersome load. Have you ever carried something heavy, perhaps a bucket of water or a big rock, and then felt great relief once you were able to drop that thing?
Sin is the same way. We may not realize it, but these sins are like heavy boulders tied to us. They are like drafty windows or leaky faucets. They rob our rest and steal our energy. We get so used to the grueling effects of the sin, but – once they are laid aside – we find the true rest we were searching for.
This in mind, let us resist temptation with all we have. Let us fight the sins that lay hidden in the shadowy corners of our lives.
Christ promises abundant life, and sweeter fellowship with Him and with others. He is greater than anything we could possibly leave behind.
Let us therefore throw off every weight and run to Him.
“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it” (Matthew 7:13-14).
Robert Frost (1874-1963) was one of the greatest literary figures in American history. He brought us such works as Fire and Ice, Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening, Mending Wall, and many, many more. A wise and incredibly talented man, Frost made it his life’s work to take abstract themes and weave them into vivid metaphors.
Perhaps nowhere was this astounding ability made more apparent than in one of Frost’s most oft-quoted poems: The Road Not Taken. In its concluding verses we hear the poet proclaim:
I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.
Imagine, if you would, a grandfather who is advanced in age and drawing near to the end of his life. He sits down next to his grandson and tells him about the time in his life when he happened upon two diverging pathways in the woods. He’d looked to his right and seen a path which was well-traveled and well-worn, having been traversed by thousands of people over the years. It seemed sturdy, trusted, proven. But to the left was a smaller path, barely visible beneath the weeds and bushes, and it was that course which he elected to take.
Now, imagine the man leaning in and, almost at a whisper, saying ‘…And that has made all the difference.‘
What a powerful metaphor. What a lesson!
Instead of traveling the same route as everyone else, you may choose to take a different path which leads to different results. Readers of The Road Not Taken – myself included – can’t help but infer from the text that the speaker is well-pleased with his unorthodox decision, that he’s satisfied with how things turned out, and he wouldn’t have it any other way.
He took the road less traveled, and it served him well.
The Biblical Road Not Taken
In a similar manner to Frost’s revered poem,Matthew 7:13-14 presents us with a tale of two diverging paths. In verse 13 we are told the following:
"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many enter through it."
This first of the two selected verses is primarily geared towards describing the gate that leads to destruction. We are told that it is a ‘wide gate’ and a ‘broad way.’ For these reasons, it naturally follows that ‘many enter through it.‘
Matthew 7:14, on the other hand, follows the scary conclusions of its predecessor with:
"But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it."
Clearly, this small passage of the Bible has huge implications. It gives readers a choice between one of two options – you may either enter the wide gate and follow the broad way, or you can enter the small gate and walk the narrow road. There is no in-between, and you must either be travelling down one path or the other. Like the narrator in The Road Not Taken, you’ve got a choice: will you take the well-worn path, or will you take the path less traveled?
A Side-by-Side Comparison
As I thought more and more about this small passage of Matthew, I came to the realization that these two parallel pathways are polar opposites. They differ from each other in every conceivable way, from the size of their gates all the way down to the effects they yield for those who walk upon them. Below is a comparison chart highlighting these differences.
By laying out the information in a graphical format, it’s quite easy to see that the two ‘roads’ or ‘paths’ are completely opposite. Like north and south, hot and cold, dark and light, these two avenues of life could not be further apart.
An In-Depth Look: The Broad Path
For reasons which will become apparent in the information which is to follow, I believe that Matthew 7:13-14 is one of the most sobering passages in the Bible. Today, many are being told that ‘all roads lead to God,’ or that ‘everyone goes to Heaven, and Hell is just an old-fashioned myth made up to scare people.’ Indeed, Hell is there to scare us – it’s one incentive to seek salvation! Verses 7:13-14 impress upon us to do just that.
Let’s begin with the first main topic of discussion:
Point I – The Broad Road Leads to Destruction
Before proceeding with the analysis, we must first define ‘destruction’ in light of the Scripture. This is where cross references are incredibly helpful. And as it so turns out, Matthew 10:28 sheds considerable light on the situation and what exactly is meant by the term ‘destruction.’ It reads as follows:
“Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”
A more in-depth look at the comparison reveals that the original Greek words which denote ‘destruction’ are the same in both verses, with the only difference being the form in which they are used (Matthew 10:28 uses the verb form ‘to destroy’ whereas Matthew 7:13 uses destruction). Thus, we can be quite certain that the form of destruction mentioned in Mt. 10:28 is the same as that used in Mt. 7:13.
When the information is synthesized together, the logical conclusion becomes as follows: those who enter into the wide gate and walk the broad path of destruction are bound for Hell. They will suffer eternal demolition of both the body and soul. There will be no rest for them day or night. Continuing one’s walk down the broad path, although it will undoubtedly seem right (after all, most others are doing it as well), leads to an eternity apart from God. It is irreversible, irrevocable, and final.
This is the chief consequence of staying one’s course down the broad road – eternal death.
Point II – Many Enter Through It
The first point makes the second all the more sad, much to the point that I wish it were not true. Yet the text clearly states that ‘…many enter through it.’ This is an especially chilling statement when contrasted against what is said of the narrow gate – ‘few find it.’ Not only does the broad way of destruction lead to eternal death and separation from God, but it is also the preferred route for the majority. It is the default setting, the way that one will head if he/she does not come to a saving knowledge of the truth.
Point III – Not Only is the Path Broad, but the Gate is Too
A broad road calls for an equally broad gate. It is through these word choices that we can get a sense of what it actually means to be travelling through the wide gate and down the broad way which leads to (eternal) destruction.
To further unpack the meaning of ‘wide is the gate and broad is the road,’ we need look no further than Luke 13:23-24. It reads as follows:
Someone asked him, “Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?”
He said to them, “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to.” (Emphases added by me)
Luke 13:23-24 looks primarily at the narrow gate, and by examining both sides of this tale of two roads, we arrive at the conclusion that seeking the narrow road is difficult and quite exclusive. Therefore, the broad road must be wide and inclusive. This is further confirmed by Jesus’s words in John 14:6:
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me.”
In other words, Jesus Christ is the sole doorway – or gate – by which God has enabled us to come to Him. Thus, all other religions and all other belief systems are what constitute the ‘wide gate and broad road.’
I will not name the names of all the world’s religions and beliefs and value systems, but if you are attempting to seek God through any other avenue apart from His one and only Son, you will come up short. If you refuse to seek God at all, you will come up short. If you live your life in service to God, fully expecting to earn your own salvation through good works, you will still fail the test, for you have entered through the wide gate and are walking the broad way.
This is what the whole crux of Mathew 7:13’s road to destruction is about: God is the answer, and the only way to seek Him is through Christ Jesus.
Point IV – It’s the Easier Path to Follow
A common theme throughout the Bible can be summed up in this phrase: should I do what is right or what is easy? The apostle Peter provides one such instance of this when he, in John 18:13-27, denied Jesus three times in the face of strangers who inquired about his connection with the Son of God. Here was a man who had spent huge amounts of time with Christ, becoming more familiar with the suffering Savior than almost anyone in history, yet he still denied Him before people he didn’t even know. And for what? One reason: it was the ‘easier’ thing to do.
Likewise, following the road to destruction is much, much easier than entering through the narrow gate. To see this, let’s revisit Luke 13:23-24, in which Jesus implores us to “Make every effort to enter the narrow door.”
Looking upon the excerpt, one word in particular stands out from the start: effort. And not only does it say that ‘you must make an effort’ or ‘you must try hard,’ but it uses the far more severe wording of ‘make every effort.‘ Make every effort to enter through the narrow door. Make every effort to do so, because unless you really seek and you really search and you get down on your hands and knees and look about with all your might, you will not be able to enter! Expend all your energy on this task, for nothing has ever mattered more.
In stark contrast to the difficult way of the narrow road, the broad road is very easy to enter into. Matthew 7:13 clearly shows us that many will be found there, in comparison to the ‘few’ who will elect to enter by the small gate. Thus, one can easily picture a giant highway down which thousands of cars are traveling at NASCAR speeds, each and every one of them making great time on the well-paved road which appears to be leading into abundance and prosperity. But over off to the side, there’s a tiny gravel road, and once in a while a car will turn off the highway and enter into this twisting, winding, looping pathway.
Sadly, the vast majority of the people will never make the turn, for it’s easier to enter in through the wide gate. It’s easier to stay on the broad path. It is far more comfortable to continue making good time down that well-paved highway, and the longer you stay on the highway, the harder it is to pull away. Perhaps Proverbs 14:12 sums this idea up most succinctly:
There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death.
That way, my friends, is the road of destruction.
Our Great Hope: The Road of Jesus
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10).
Matthew 7:13 gave us a description of fire and fury. It informed us that there is a way which leads nowhere; an attractive, easy-to-follow path that seems right but leads to eternal doom. Furthermore, it revealed that the majority would be taking this path, and not only that, but most of these lost people would never find their way out.
Matthew 7:14, on the other hand, follows the dire warning of its predecessor with a look at the solution: “…Small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” To bring this into clearer focus, let us also look back at the very beginning of Matthew 7:13, which states, “Enter through the narrow gate…” and Luke 13:24, “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to.”
What is God’s Word telling us? Enter through the narrow gate, for it is the only way.
The One Way to God
One aspect of the New Testament that particularly stands out to me is the urgency and solidity with which it is written. It does not base its writings upon conjecture or upon theory. It doesn’t make claims without excellent reasoning behind those claims. And like the rest of the Bible, it is one-hundred percent truthful. The New Testament pulls no punches when it comes to describing the state of things in this world. Just look at what is said in Mark 14:21:
“The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born.”
Yikes! Those words, spoken directly by Jesus Himself, demonstrate nothing less than brutal, stern, yet loving honesty. This is the pattern that much of the New Testament follows after, and when it comes to salvation, its message is equally well-defined.
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him” (John 14:6-7).
If there has ever been an exclusive claim in the history of exclusive claims, this is the one. Jesus made it perfectly clear that there is no other way by which men could be saved. He doesn’t merely represent the truth, but he is the truth. He doesn’t only give life; He is life. Yet perhaps the weightiest truth in this statement is Christ’s claim that He is “the way.”
Matthew 7:14 tells us that there is a ‘narrow way’ which leads to life. And what does Christ tell us about Himself in John 14? He is the life. He is the way. Therefore, Christ is the narrow road and the narrow gate of which we must make every effort to enter into. Nothing matters more than Him; nothing in the world can be more important! If He is the way to life, then what could possibly be a better use of our time than to seek Him while He may be found?
Turning Our Faces to the Son
The very moment that we recognize our need for a savior, we take the first step towards seeking God. Romans 3:23 says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” We, by ourselves, cannot be saved. We have no power by which we might make ourselves worthy of God. It is only by His sheer grace, and through His mercy, that we have hope of being reconciled to Him.
Still, despite this understanding of the nature of salvation, many times we are tempted to believe otherwise. I myself often struggle with this, for I know in my heart that it is only by Christ’s sacrifice that I am saved, yet I often strive to ‘better myself’ so that God will find favor with me. This is a path which leads to nowhere. Only by resting in the peace and joy which is in Christ Jesus can we ever truly start moving closer to God. Romans 10:9-10 tells us:
If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.
What is the recipe for salvation? Believe in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead, and then go forth and proclaim this truth with your words. Notice that Paul says “it is with your heart that you believe and are justified.” The foundation of any saving faith is a belief in the soul-saving work of Christ. This foundation is then ‘built upon’ when a believer proclaims Jesus’s saving power through their words.
In essence, belief in one’s heart is what enables us to be saved through Christ, and this belief will naturally translate into spoken reverence for our Savior. Contrary to popular misconception, it is not ‘praying the prayer of salvation’ which binds us to Jesus, but rather a heartfelt belief in Christ which then motivates us to pray that prayer. From the point in time when a person truly recognizes their brokenness and calls out to Jesus through faith alone, they are “a new creation in Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:17).
A Life Reborn: Forsaking the Broad Way
One of the most important aspects of Christianity is that of change. Multiple times throughout the Gospels, Jesus commands us to change. He commands us to grow. He even goes so far as to order us to “take up our cross and follow him” (Mark 16:34). In other words, there is far, far more to the Christian life than just going to church, talking about Jesus, and listening to Gospel music. When Christ enters into a person’s heart, the change which takes place is nothing short of a miracle.
It’s for these reasons that Paul wrote to the church in Corinth the following message:
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! (2 Corinthians 5:17)
Reading the text, it’s possible to practically feel the excitement that Paul had towards this miracle of the Christian life. We do not remain unchanged when we are joined with Christ! There is no sin, no trespass, no way of life which is too sinful or too terrible for the blood of our Savior to cover. Whatever once was bad and ugly within you, when subject to the reign of Jesus Christ, will start to be reformed.
For this reason, our salvation from the broad way of destruction shows itself visibly as an increased desire to turn away from sin. The ‘broad road’ and ‘wide gate’ represent all things which are outside of Christ. It represents sin and darkness. It represents gossip, slander, lying, sexual immorality, hatred, greed, and every other sin imaginable. Indeed, the broad way can (but need not!) represent more wholesome avenues of life, such as charity work, community service, or even good deeds done ‘for the church.’
It is thus best to think of the broad way as ‘everything outside of Christ.’ This road to destruction is our entire way of life before we make the commitment in our heart to follow Jesus. But when we truly and genuinely accept Christ into our heart and life by faith alone, He comes in (with the Holy Spirit) and begins to clean house.
Now, does this necessarily mean that we will immediately become righteous people? Not quite. The process that God begins in the heart of a person who has trusted Christ is known as sanctification, and this tends to happen in stages. A hardened criminal who becomes saved may take years – even decades – to show significant outward change. But the overall trend in a person’s life will be more towards God and less towards the things of this world. The pattern of persistent, pervasive sin will slowly evaporate like a puddle of water in a parking lot on a hot summer’s day. The longer a Christ-follower follows Jesus, the more they will desire God and the less they will desire the ways of the broad road of destruction.
To put it all in a nutshell, travelling along the narrow road of Jesus will lead us progressively further and further from that busy, bustling highway of sin and death. Will it be difficult? Yes. It will require us to submit ourselves to Him, and with His divine power, overcome the ways of the world. But no decision that we could ever make as people will be a better one than the choice of following Christ.
Two Roads Diverged, and I Took the Road Less Traveled By
Throughout life, we are presented with choices. Some choices are trivial, others impactful, and a few are life-changers. But never will there come a decision as important as that presented in Matthew 7:13-14.
There are two choices: the broad way which leads to destruction eternal, or the narrow way which leads to life today, tomorrow, and forevermore.
Granted, following the broad way will be easy. It will be effortless. Indulging in the pride and sins of life will gratify us and please our flesh. Perhaps that’s why so few people find the narrow road – because few actually look. They are blinded by the pleasing sights and pleasures of the superhighway of death. But if you’re reading this, then there are two main possibilities: either you’re already devoted to Christ, or something has been stirred within you. Perhaps that’s God – your almighty, perfect Heavenly father – calling out to you, ‘Come and seek me. I will forgive you, cleanse you, and use you for my high purposes. Never again will you suffer without hope.’
If you have not yet accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, I invite you to do so now. He is waiting. He loves you. And He is the only way by which you might be saved and brought into God’s fellowship for all eternity. He is the narrow gate, and the life He will lead you down afterwards is the narrow path.
Final Words
As I draw this to a close, I’ll leave you with one more verse from scripture.
My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. (John 10:27-18)
Once you decide to follow Christ, nothing can ever steal you out of His hand. He is our shepherd, our protector, our savior, and our best friend. Nothing can stand against Him. The troubles of this life will continue – in fact, they may even get worse as Satan and the worldly system rebels against your conversion to Christ – but God will be with you through it all.
Friends, if you have yet to accept Jesus but you feel His pull on your heart, bow down before the Lord in faith and ask Him to come in. Make Him the Lord of your life, the Lord of all that you are. Submit to Him in all your ways, and you will witness His redemptive power. He will not condemn you, but rather deliver you from all condemnation. He is the way, the truth and the life.
What could possibly be better than that?
A hundred years ago, a wise man once said,
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.
