Last week I started a series on how we can experience deliverance from our sexual sin. It is something we all want otherwise you would not be reading this or listening to the podcast. We want deliverance when we are thinking clearly. We know that it is wrong to be giving in to our lusts. Whether one is married or single the same rules apply…God calls us to live a life of sexual purity as we are told in Ephesians 5:3;
“But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people.”
We are told we need to be taking every thought that will lead us into sexual sin captive. Anything that we see, think about, or do that causes us to be sexually aroused outside of a marriage relationship is destructive.
It is destructive to us because we are treating other people as objects for our pleasure. It is destructive to our spiritual life because we are not walking in the Spirit but in the flesh…and oh, by the way, the wages or results of sinning is death. It is also destructive to our marriage and family whether that is in your future or is true of you now.
If you are single learning how to have self-control, a fruit of the Spirit is not only critical for maintaining sexual purity before marriage but will pay dividends if and when you are married.
What happens if we do not learn how to walk in the Spirit and are fulfilling the desires of our flesh? It seems to me this is true for any number of areas in our lives not only sexual. The idea of the life God has for us is one of balance and basic good sense. Whether it is excess food, drink, watching TV, playing video games, exercise, even accumulating wealth; anything that takes us captive and gets our lives out of balance becomes a problem. And when it is sexual sin it is exceptionally powerful, addictive, and available free of charge.
So, in the big picture, we learned that this time of dealing with sexual sin and temptation is only temporary. The day will come when we will die and go to heaven and for the rest of eternity…to infinity and beyond…we will never ever sin again.
Our issue is can we have freedom from sexual sin and not be drawn into temptation either by our mind and what our eyes see, by our memories of the things we have done, by our fantasies of sexual imaginations, or by our actions in the past and present.
Here are two critical verses worthy of memorization in 2 Corinthians 3:17-18;
“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”
Paul is telling us that where the Spirit of the Lord is…there is freedom. That word translated freedom is the word for liberty. It is the opposite of one being in slavery or bondage. It describes those who have been set free and are free from restraint. And this is what we can have because of what Christ has done for us. We are free from the penalty of our sins. The bondage we were under has been broken and now when it comes to sin, we can choose to continue to walk in freedom…or we can go back to our cell, close the door and stay there even though the lock has been forever broken.
Notice also in this passage that we are told that we are being transformed into the image of Christ with ever-increasing glory. This is what is supposed to be happening in every single Christian’s life. There is this process that should be taking place where the Spirit of God is transforming us from the inside out. He can change us in ways we cannot change ourselves.
He can change our hearts and desires so that we do not feel the deep desires of sexual sin pulling us back into prison. He can transform us so that walking in purity by the power of the Spirit becomes our normal state instead of always being on the hunt for another sexual tickle from our surroundings. He can cause our desire for purity to become stronger than our desire for sex.
This is the heart of the issue for being delivered from sexual addictions and brokenness. One needs to learn how to be filled with the Spirit and how to walk in the Spirit so that we do not fulfill the desires of our flesh.
Now notice what the verse is telling us we need to be doing for this transformation to be taking place in our lives.
“And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory…”
The first thing I notice in this verse is the action we need to be making, the work we need to be doing for this transformation to be happening. That action is contemplating the Lord’s glory. We somewhat do that when we are reading our Bibles and saying our prayers, but I think it goes way beyond that.
To contemplate is to think about it for a period of time. To study something by examining it carefully. My friends this is a key and central truth for living the Christian life and experiencing the transformation we all desire.
Tomorrow I will go into exactly how we are supposed to contemplate the Lord’s glory. Because if you are serious about your recovery this is one of the key ingredients. I know many men who are good at praying and reading their Bibles but are not experiencing the transformation we all desire.
God bless you today with the fullness of the Spirit and allowing Him to guide you through whatever temptations might be coming your way.
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