Freedom. Future, Facade or Fact?

Freedom for the Christian is often presented as some kind of unobtainable goal, as though it’s always over the next hill, but when you get over there, there is another obstacle to overcome, and freedom is over the next hill.

Nevermore has this been the case then when reading about freedom from pornography. It’s rather distressing to read testimony after testimony where the highlight of people’s freedom is that they are still tempted daily, but have the strength, tactics and resolve to not give in to temptation. That sounds like a stressed filled life to me. It also doesn’t sound like much for those still daily sinning with porn to look forward to.

I used to read those pages a lot. I’m not going to list individual freedom ministries, but the general message was always “you are in bad shape right now, but don’t worry, you’ll be in bad shape all your life, but maybe soon you will have some strength to not look, but the temptations stay forever”.

“Great”, I would think. What’s the point. Because that’s not freedom. If I am constantly tempted by something nearly everyday of my life, that’s not freedom. I might be able to resist the temptation, but if it keeps coming back, is that really freedom?

Is freedom something that you might be able to attain in the future? This is how it is presented for the Christian, and in a way, it is a truth – resist the devil, and he will flee from you – but it’s never presented as overcoming it and being able to live free without worry. It’s always presented as though you must constantly be thinking of that sin in order to be aware of its temptations. For example, if you were a kleptomaniac (something who steals compulsively), then someone might say that in order to overcome that disorder, you would need to sit down and discuss it and devise strategies to employ when tempted. If you were an alcoholic, you might go through a twelve step program, and keep little badges on how long you have been sober for (Interestingly, one thing about AA is that people are always in recovery, never free).

While I know little about kleptomania, and I haven’t had any problems with alcohol, my sin and shame was more subtle. And if you are looking at pornography, you’ll know the feeling. You can’t just go to a Porno Anonymous meeting. You feel as though you can’t tell people. And all of the resources available online to you don’t really offer any real hope, just a distant far off maybe you’ll be free, or a facade of freedom that is actually just bondage to self effort and resolve. I was told by a Pastor that was trying to counsel me about this that it would always be a temptation, but that over time, I would learn strategies to overcome.

Strategies don’t work. Here are a few you have been told -

1) Don’t let yourself be alone with the computer
2) Put a filter on the computer and give someone else the password
3) Be accountable to someone
4) Have a cold shower
5) If you keep at it, you might not be saved

All of those (the last is not a strategy, but is always thrown into the mix), have one thing in common – the emphasis is on you to take charge of your temptation, and to somehow find the strength within to stop and do something about it.

Problem – your brain is hardwired to do the complete opposite because of years of abuse. When I would sin, I would always tell myself straight afterwards “next time, don’t stay home when your wife goes shopping”, or “next time, go for a run instead of sitting at the computer”. And next time would come around and those things wouldn’t get done, despite my real intentions to do them last time I sinned.

What I am about to say might sound quite shocking. It is not the traditional view of freedom or dealing with pornography. I haven’t written an entry for some time. I have had some problems with pornography. You see, after writing those previous two posts, I started to let the condemnation creep in – I would wonder why I wasn’t feeling guilty over my past porn problems anymore. And I let the lies creep in as well. I was still believing that freedom meant I would never think of porn, I would never remember it, and I would never be tempted by it. I thought that since I had sinned, I wasn’t worthy to write about freedom. And since I was tempted, I was thinking I wasn’t free. Now, before you say “He is just contradicting everything he said above”, hear me out.

The last month, I have been tempted to look at pornography several times. And I did.

Question: Could Jesus look at a naked woman and not sin? Could Jesus pick up a porn mag and not sin? Of course he could. The sin is not the naked body – the sin is the lust. I imagine Jesus would see them, and feel sorry for them. Sad for them. Because they are also caught up in bondage. I don’t care what people saying about consenting adults etc. No little girl wants to grow up to be a porn star. Something drives them there.

Anyway, something changed in me recently. After starting to believe “I am free”, temptation wasn’t tempting. The images did nothing. I was looking at them with no arousal, no desire, no lust, but sorrow for them, and just left it. I think I opened maybe 2 pages and then thought “what’s the point”. I woke up this morning thinking “hmmm, my wife is still in bed, I could easily get on the computer”. But there was no desire – no lust there, because I have been freed from the law. I did get up. Instead of looking up rubbish and wasting time, I checked the whether, checked my emails, did a bit of work and played a computer game for a bit. Some might say “Why didn’t you pray for deliverance from your temptation?”. I am already delivered and free and dead to sin. Why pray for something I already have. Rather, I thank God often for the freedom He has given me.

Pornography is not the real problem – the problem is the law that incites sin, excites sin and gives sin its power and desire. I am free from the law. If I TRY to overcome pornography, and start reading about tactics to overcome sin, and strategies, and accountability, all it is doing is putting at the forefront of my mind the thought that “I will not sin, I will not do this, I will not do that, I must do this instead”, and it becomes a burden that overcomes me.

When I wake up and believe “I am freed from sin and law and am under God’s grace and He loves me”, sin loses it’s power and desire. I find myself praying for those women (I don’t know their real names, but God does) and men who are caught up in bondage of sin. Because you know what, God loves them just as much as he loves you.

Freedom is a Bible fact for all believers. You are a saint, in Christ, free from sin, free from law, under grace, totally forgiven. Believe it, and be free. Freedom is not future  - you are as free as you’ll ever be, and it is not a facade – temptation doesn’t need to be fought – when you understand that temptation is because of the law waging war within your members, and that you are free from the law, you see the temptation for what it really is – a big waste of time – you won’t always be tempted. As you begin to see your freedom, the temptations become minor distractions – sort of a “yeah, I could do that, but it’s a boring waste of time and I feel like rubbish afterwards” and then they will be gone. Believe that you are free, and you shall be free indeed.

I used to wish that I never knew what it was to be tempted by pornography. But if I had not gone through the battles, I never would have seen that it has already been won. I never would have understood the plight of millions of men worldwide, who turn to ministries in the hope of freedom, only to be offered a facade and possibility of freedom in the future that never really comes. It’s not freedom if you have to walk the long way to the train station from work so you don’t pass a lingerie shop. That’s not freedom – that’s just bondage to your own will. Freedom is being able to walk past it without even noticing it, because you aren’t thinking about sex constantly trying to avoid it, or at least thinking “that would look great on my wife”.

Freedom is not avoiding what makes you sin. Freedom is not overcoming temptation with willpower until the next temptation. Freedom is not doing a 60 day devotional that demands you think about and discuss your porn addiction or sex problems every single day and then tick a box that says you haven’t thought about anything or worse, asks you to describe what sins you have committed, just to shame you some more. Freedom is not being so careful that you never leave the house. Freedom is not putting your computer in a trash can and smashing it with a baseball bat. All of those things rely on your resolve.

Freedom is knowing that you are forgiven, and finding your strength is only in Jesus Christ. Freedom is Jesus Christ. His blood was shed for your forgiveness. It’s never going to be shed again, because your forgiveness is total. Stop striving, stop fighting, give up and let Jesus live through you. You are free. Believe it and be

Condemnation Under Grace?

Sinned again?

What do you feel? Guilty? Condemned? Evil? Wicked? Wretched? Perhaps you are wondering whether you are truly saved (once again).

There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. – Romans 8:1

Romans 8 talks about the blessings of life in the Spirit. But note how it begins – it begins with no condemnation and it also ends with no condemnation.

Most Bible versions leave the ending off of Romans 8:1, and they just say “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus”, and stop there. Yet, your experience probably tells you differently, and the rest of the verse (in the King James Bible) explains why.

Are you walking according  to the Spirit or according to the Flesh? Many have taken this to say that if you are doing good works, and not sinning, well, then you are in the Spirit. If you are sinning, then you are in the flesh. That’s not what this verse is saying.

For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. (Romans 8:5-7)

Living according to the Spirit produces life and peace. Walking according to the flesh produces death and condemnation, because we cannot please God. Carnality does not always refer to immorality. The key to understanding this chapter of Romans lies within the book of Galatians – which is all about Law and Grace!

O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you? This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh? Have ye suffered so many things in vain? if it be yet in vain. He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Galatians 3:1-7

Here is the key to understanding Romans 8 and walking in the Spirit. Walking in the Spirit is walking according to faith – accepting the truth about what God says. Walking in the flesh is to walk under law, whether you are sinning, or whether you are religiously trying to attain the perfection of the law.

Walking under the law will achieve one of two things in your life

i) You will become self righteous like the Pharisees. You will demand others live as you do, and constantly condemn others. You will become unaware of sin in your own life as you demand the holiness of others. You will lower the law to an achievable standard. You will pick and choose from God’s perfect, Holy, Law and apply what you can manage to your own list. You might choose 9 out of the 10 commandments, and maybe a few verses against homosexuality from the Levitical law, and perhaps some stuff about confession from Psalms. You will go about establishing your own righteousness, denying the power of the Gospel to stablish you in faith and holiness.

ii) You will despair. Seeing the goodness and holiness of the law, and being honest with yourself, you will bring condemnation upon yourself as you bear witness to the fact that you cannot keep it, no matter how hard you try. You will be more and more aware of sin in your life as you try to get rid of it, but the law will only expose more and more. Now, in an unbeliever, this is good, neccesary, but in a believer, it is destructive. Condemning yourself according to the standards of the law will destroy your spiritual growth. You might even give up and walk away from God out of honesty – not wanting to bring shame to His name because you are unable to live it.

You see, the law, life in the flesh, has one major purpose – to condemn you, expose your sin and show you your guiltiness. However, Jesus did away with that covenant.

People will tell you – Jesus did away with the ceremonial and religious and dietary laws, but we still need the 10 commandments to guide us. Fooey! The distinctions are man made. There is one law, and 613 commandments in it. However, if you want to make a distinction, then the 10 commandments are the only laws specifically referred to as being done away with!

But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away: (2 Cor 3:7)

The entire law was not written upon stone. The 10 commandments were. And the Bible says they were the ministration of death. If you live after the flesh – YE SHALL DIE!

Do you really think that the grace of God is licentiousness? Do you really think that Jesus died on the cross so we could sin it up? You’ve heard the claims of people who hate Grace – “Grace is a license to sin”. No, Grace is a license to LIVE! Grace does not “enable us to keep the law”. That would be like saying “Grace enables us to die”. No, Grace says we are already dead to the law, and alive unto God.

If you are in Christ Jesus, you have a choice to make moment by moment. Will you walk in the Spirit, or will you walk in the flesh. Will you walk knowing His grace and love for you (Romans 8:35-39), or will you walk aware of the law, and it’s condemning power over you.

When you know that God no longer condemns you, and that your sin has been dealt with, and your sins are totally forgiven in Christ, the law of sin and death has no grip over you anymore. It is not there to condemn you because Jesus has taken it’s condemnation upon Himself. It is not there to guide. The Spirit will teach us to deny ungodliness, through grace (Titus 2:12).

If you fail, if you sin, the Holy Spirit is still there – Paul writes to remind you of your position in Christ – know ye not your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost and ye are not your own, you are bought with a price. Paul does not say “How could you do this, a true Christian would never do that!”, No, he reminds you of who you are – a saint in Jesus, forgiven, loved, accepted – the motivation for fleeing lust is not so that you will not be condemned. The motivation is that you are NOT condemned!

God bless

PN

Purity Now

Distressed. Depressed. Tried the 12 step program? Tried the websites offering to set captives free? Tried to overcome through willpower?

Are you tired of looking at pornography? Do the images make you sick? Do you think there is no hope? Are you feeling alone, unloved, unaccepted and full of self loathing.

God loves you. Yes, you reading this blog. He loves you. He loved you before you were born. He loved you as a child, and he loved you the first moment you looked at pornography. He loves you even now, even though you think you are too far gone to be loved by God.

How? How is this possible! Everything you have read so far has spoken about how depraved you are, how ungodly you are, how vile you are, and how you must FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT to be free from pornography.

It is possible because Jesus died – He is the propitiation for your sins against God. God is not angry, because He has judged Jesus Christ in your stead.

I’m here to tell you to stop fighting. Stop trying. Stop pretending that you can do it.

In Christ, God made everything available to you. Freedom from the law was one of them. Freedom from sin was another thing available to you.

Galatians 1:3-5: Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ, Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father: To whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

You are not going to deliver yourself. You are not going to be free from any sin by following a 12 step program, or a 60 day devotional. You will only be free as you live in Christ. And you can be free right this moment.

What do you think the best verse in the Bible is for help in overcoming sin? 2 Cor 13:5? James 2:14? Matthew 7:21? Scary verses, and some might stop sinning because of fear, but:

I John 4:18: There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.

I have found that those verses, though oft quoted (and out of context), only produce fear, and an outward change, but rarely inward.

Here is a verse for you -

Galatians 2:20: I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

Let’s make it personal -

Galatians 2:20: You are crucified with Christ: nevertheless you live; yet it’s not you, but Christ that liveth in you: and the life which you now live in the flesh you should live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved you, and gave himself for you.

God loved you and gave Himself for you, so that He, not you, may live and that He, not you, may overcome sin, temptation, pornography, lust, pride, etc etc.

Think on these things and be blessed. Love, not fear. Grace, not law. Spirit, not flesh. Galatians 2:20 is not a future event. It is a past event. It is also a present event. You ARE crucified. You ARE dead. And yet Christ lives in you. Realise this, and be free.

In Christ

PN