Good News for those Caught in Sexual Sin

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes . . . . “ – Romans 1:16a

 

“And such were some of you” – 1 Corinthians 6:11

 

 

Sexual sins such a pornography, fornication (any and all sexual interaction outside of marriage), adultery, homosexuality/lesbianism, bestiality, are rampant in our day. So deep is our world in such sins that governments both national (e.g. the United States) and international (e.g. United Nations) are actually passing legislation to legalize and protect those who indulge in such sin. Laws are being passed to justify those who indulge such sins and prevent people from discriminating against them. It is socially anathema to speak against those living immoral lifestyles. And standing for holiness and speaking against such immorality is becoming more and more of a "criminal" offense. Our world is twisted. These are days when evil is called good and good is called evil (Isaiah 5:20). But there is a greater truth. There is a higher reality.

 

The acceptance of immorality as "good" in our world today is bad enough, but the greater tragedy is that the world refuses to see the addictive nature of immorality. Immoral thoughts and actions release chemically addictive elements in the human body. The images of immorality scar human memory. And the end result is slavery to the sins of immorality. Sexual sin affects every aspect of people; body, mind, and spirit. Sexual immorality is one of the worst addictive enslavements in our day. But there is a way to be freed. There is a way out. You can make an exodus.

 

Sexual sin perverts our view of humanity reducing people to objects not people created in the image of God. It literally dehumanizes people. Sexual sin ruins marriages and families. It is frequently instrument of unfaithfulness and covenant breaking. It bankrupts people financially. People lose homes, jobs, everything to feed their sexual appetites. All of this is an allurement of a spirit of hedonistic "pleasure." That "pleasure," is far from God's definition of pleasure. Sexual sin leads to the putrification of the person. But there is a way to be purified.

 

This is a longer than usual study. It’s longer because it deals with one of the most egregious, debilitating, prevalent and widespread plagues of sin in our day; sexual immorality. I hope you can prayerfully take the time to go through this study. I pray the Spirit use it in your life if you are caught in the web of sexual sin. I pray the Spirit helps you to use it in other people’s lives who may be caught up in sexual sin. But I pray God uses this teaching to bring a revival of setting captives free. God’s word is, after all, described as “the law of liberty” (James 1:25; 2:12).

 

In Paul’s inspired letter to the Romans he connects sexual immorality to the downward spiral of humanity into to ever deepening sin. Romans chapter one gives great insight into the nature, cause, and solution regarding sexual sin. Here is the arrow that can bring down the beast of sexual immorality that has stampeded the land.

 

In the opening lines of Paul’s letter to the Romans he says, “I am a debtor” regarding the sharing of the gospel (1:14). Paul felt the good news of the gospel of God’s grace and salvation was so incredibly wonderful that it would be criminal to not share it. The powerful gracious love of Christ that he experienced compelled him to share the gospel (2 Corinthians 5:14-15; Romans 5:5).  Why did he feel this way?

 

Sin is mercilessly captivating and enslaving no matter the form it takes. It chokes the life out of the sinner. Sin works a slow death in people. Sin can work a swift death in people too. But sin always kills, murders, and destroys. Sin wrecks lives. Sin leaves spent bodies and broken promises in its wake. Deviating outside the parameters of God’s truth into sin always carries with it cancerous consequences. But there is a cure. There is a gracious cure from God that is good news for the person bending and near breaking under the weight of sin. The word “gospel” means good news. And the gospel of Jesus Christ is the greatest of good news. The gospel sets sin-captives free and that liberation by God of the sinner is what Paul was indebted to pass on to all slaves of sin.

 

What was it that so impressed and moved the apostle Paul and caused him to feel indebted to write this epistle and share the gospel? There are four reasons stated by Paul in Romans for his feeling this way and they are immensely pertinent to anyone caught in a lifestyle of sexual sin. 

 

First Paul says, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ” (Romans 1:16a). Paul would not shrink back in shame because some did not receive the gospel or God’s truth. He was not inhibited by peer pressure or public denunciations from his enemies. He cared more about serving God and Christ’s opinions than the opinions and opposition of people. The philosophy of the world is often presented as one of “tolerance.” But that tolerance is selective in that only those views that do not challenge the comfort of those living in sin are tolerated. You have to go with the flow of the status quo to be tolerated in the world today. Go against that flow and you will be labeled and libeled and discriminated against in the most intolerable ways. You will be persecuted. In some parts of the world to point out a lifestyle or act as sin leads to a fine or prison time.  That day is near if not already here in America. Just as Paul stood and courageously proclaimed in love the truth of God, no matter what, so should we (1 Corinthians 4; Ephesians 4:15)

 

Second Paul says, “For it is the power of God to salvation for everyone” (Romans 1:16b). The good news is that the gospel of Christ is God’s powerful tool to save people from their sins. The gospel empowers people to live righteous lives. That is what makes the gospel worth sharing. We are saved from the death sentence of sin through the free gift of eternal life received by faith in Christ (Romans 6:23). The gospel introduces us to a grace that helps us overcome sinful lifestyles. It breaks the chains of sinful habits that on our own we cannot overcome (Romans 5:20; 6:4, 14,22; 7:24-25; 8:1-4, 37; 1 Corinthians 6:9-11). The grace of God is able to set the sin-slave free. That’s a great reason to share the gospel.

 

Third Paul says, “For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith” (Romans 1:17). The gospel of God is received by faith and lived by faith. “Righteousness” (Greek dikaioisune) refers to the character or quality of being right or just. Righteousness was formerly spelled “rightwiseness.” Righteousness refers to the right way things are to be done.

 

Righteousness is determined by God’s word.   When “righteousness” is used to refer to an attribute of God it is equated with God’s faithfulness or truthfulness (Romans 3:25-26). God is “righteous” in that He is faithful and consistent to keep His word. God keeps His promises. When we talk about the righteousness of God, we mean the highest, most holy, just and good standard of what is right. Since God is the highest and holiest of all, so is His righteous standard of governing the universe.

 

Part of the good news of the gospel is the bad news of sin. Unless a person realizes the bad news of their sinful state, the good news of God’s gospel will not be worth much to them. In the words of the ancient church father Jerome, “You cannot understand the antidote until you first understand the poison.”

 

Sin is the poison we need to identify before the antidote of the gospel can be administered. It is the law of God that is meant to expose the poison of sin in life. Paul wrote: “But we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully, ⁹ knowing this: that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, ¹⁰ for fornicators, for sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and if there is any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine, ¹¹ according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God which was committed to my trust” (1 Tim. 1:8-11). Two sexual sins exposed by the law here are “fornicators” and “sodomites.”  Let’s look at these two areas of sin.

 

The law of God states that sex outside of marriage is sinful. Sexual activity outside of the marriage relationship is called “fornication.” When we think of fornication we may limit our understanding to a sinful act. But the holy standard of Jesus, the one all people will be accountable to, is something that begins in the mind. Sin begins in our thoughts. Jesus elevated sexual sin or “lust” to our thought life; our fantasies. He said, “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’²⁸ But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” (Matthew 5:27-28).

 

Sexual fantasies are not harmless; they are sinful. Pornography, which preys on the “pleasures” of the mind, is not harmless. It pollutes our thoughts. It crowds out the pure thoughts God would have us meditate on (Phil. 4:8-9). We are called to be renewed in our minds (Eph. 4:23). Those caught up in impure sexual fantasizing need to have the gospel applied to their minds. God is able to renew and purify our thoughts. Jesus is able to cleanse and scrub your mind clean of the filth. He does this with the cleansing power of His word (cf. Eph. 5:26).

 

The word “sodomites” refers to homosexual behavior. Homosexuality is included under the umbrella of sexual sin. God is very clear when He states in His word, “You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination” (Leviticus 18:22; See also Romans 1:18-32).

 

Proponents of homosexuality try to explain away the Biblical mandates against same sex relations. They try to dismiss God’s prohibitions based on many of the statements being in the Old Testament. But they cannot refute the underlying principles found in the Old Testament. In Leviticus and Deuteronomy when God provides His people with His Law He does so in part to prepare His people to stay away from unhealthy and unholy practices of pagan inhabitants that His people would encounter in the Promised Land of Canaan. The Canaanites did practice homosexuality. They did practice incest, bestiality, self -mutilation, human sacrifice and a host of other sinful behaviors. The Canaanites were examples of what humanity degenerates into when people live without the one true God. These sinful practices were abominable to the Almighty Holy God. And so God called His children to be holy, to live holy, to remain separate from the sinful practices of the pagans in the Promised Land.

 

Unfortunately as people in our day have moved further and further from God and His word they are indulging the very same sinful practices God warned His people of leading up to their conquest of Canaan. Humanity is not evolving into higher levels of living. Humanity is degenerating into lower levels of sin that threaten to surpass sinful civilizations of the past. We have a winner! But this race is not a good race. It is a race over a cliff.

 

God cannot simply overlook or dismiss sin. If He did that He would tarnish and contradict His righteousness and justice. God’s righteousness and faithfulness to His word holds the universe in order. Pagan gods are capricious. Pagan man-made gods are not faithful to their word. But the God of the Bible is righteous and true. You can depend on God and His word. That is a source of great security and comfort.

 

The order of the universe is based on God’s standard of justice. Murderers will not go unpunished, nor will the greedy, the covetous or the sexually immoral. These are, in the truest sense, crimes against humanity. Sin causes pain and suffering.  Sinful people are deceived into thinking their sin is harmless. The Holy Spirit knows better. And the school of hard knocks often teaches the sinner there is a consequence to sin. It’s true, “what a man sows, that he will reap” (Gal. 6:7-9).

 

All sin will be recompensed justly. It would be criminal to allow a murderer to go free unpunished. There is a penalty for those who cause pain to others. And there is even a penalty for those who pain themselves. We all belong to God. God created us. We have no right to harm ourselves or others. God’s oversight of the universe does not allow for unpunished criminals so that there is order and deterrence.

 

There is a penalty, a “wage” for sin that God’s righteousness has set forth. That wage is “death” (Romans 3:23; 6:23; Jeremiah 2:19). All those who sin are deserving of death according to God’s standard. But God is rich in mercy. God doesn’t give up on sinners. God loves those He has created. And because God loves us He is posed with a dilemma. How can, how does, a righteous God reconcile sinful humanity to Himself and still maintain His righteousness, His justice? The answer to that question is found in Christ. By God’s grace through faith in Jesus, we can be made righteous before Holy God (2 Corinthians 5:21).  God demonstrates His own love in sending Jesus to pay the sin debt penalty He did not owe, for sinners who owed a debt penalty they could not pay (Rom. 5:8).

 

Fourth Paul says, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness unrighteousness” (Romans 1:18). God provides a plan of salvation. He does so while remaining just. And it is that justice which requires recompense. In His holy justice God administers a penalty that fits the crime. Because God is just He cannot, He will not, He does not simply dismiss sinful offenders. Those who refuse to receive the loving, gracious, just and costly gospel of Christ by faith, the wrath of God is revealed and coming against them.

 

God has appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness (Acts 17:31). There will be no plea bargaining on that day. Saying you are sorry will not be enough to gain a dismissal of the charges against you. The sinner should feel sorry for your sin. We don’t do God a favor by being sorry for offending Him. God is holy and just and His judgment will be fair. But He will fulfill His nature as Holy Judge. His judgment will be just and proper. For those who rebel and persist in denying God’s word and law and live on in sin, it will be a frightening Judgment Day. Rebellious sinners will come before God on judgment day and do so standing alone. They will come before the Almighty in their own strength without Jesus as their Advocate. It will be a time of great fear and doom (Hebrews 10:26-31).  This is why those who do know Jesus as Savior and have received the gospel and truth of God’s word have an urgency to share the gospel with sinners. Those given spiritual life in Christ want others to be saved from sin and receive eternal life too. The alternative is too terrible even for the worst of enemies. 

 

While we would rather preach and teach about the love of God, the wrath of God is part of God’s character and gospel truth. The holy justice of God results in the wrath of God on sinful injustices. Without God’s wrath on sin, God would cease to be holy and loving. A God who condones or casts a blind eye on sin is neither loving to the victims or just and powerful to maintain His law. This is reality. God is not who we say He is or think He is. God is who He has revealed Himself to be. And He has revealed who He is in His word. That is our only reliable source of information. If we go to the word of God it will lead us away from our sexual sin.

 

We are called to Sexual Purity. Sexual purity is God’s will for all people as Paul was inspired to write: “For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God; that no one should take advantage of and defraud his brother in this matter, because the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also forewarned you and testified.  For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness. Therefore he who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who has also given us His Holy Spirit” (1 Thess. 4:3-8).

Everyone, especially the Christian, is called to “walk to please God.” (1 Thessalonians 4:1) The Christian is held to a higher standard. A Christian cannot simply follow the secular standard or what the world says is right or wrong. A Christian is called to “the will of God, your sanctification.” (1 Thessalonians 4:3). “Sanctification” (Greek hagiasmos) refers to holiness, dedication to the Lord, dedication to moral purity (Romans 6:19, 22; 1Corinthians 1:30; 1Thessalonians 4:3, 4, 7; 2 Thessalonians 2:13; 1 Timothy 2:15; Hebrews 12:14; 1 Peter 1:2f.).

Paul points to a particular area where the Christian is to be sanctified. That area is sexual purity. Looking at this passage we can define such dedication to God and moral purity in the following ways. Sanctified and acceptable behavior to God consists of:

 

1. Each person should know how to control their body in a way that dedicates it to the Lord and is honorable and honoring to the Lord – 4:4
2. Passionate lust is unacceptable because it is the way of those who do not know God. Passion for the Lord and passion to live within the parameters of God’s word is holy. But lustful fleshly selfish passions are sinful – 4:5
3. We should not allow ourselves to be manipulated into sexually compromising situations. We should not manipulate others into compromising sexual situations – 4:6
4. Remember, God called us to be pure and separate, not unclean and polluted by the world. We should guard against adopting worldly standards that compromise by way of rationalizing so that we unnecessarily put ourselves in tempting sexual situations – 4:7.
5. Those who reject God’s call to sanctification and sexual purity are rejecting God’s best for them. They are rejecting God and the Holy Spirit who guides and convicts us in such matters – 4:8.

 

In light of these words what should we do? We should guard against putting ourselves in compromising situations and take every precaution to fulfill God’s call to walk a holy and pure life, especially in the area of sexuality.

 

Some are Loophole Christians. God has promised to not allow us to be tempted beyond what we are able. He has promised to make a way of escape so that we can refrain from sin (1 Corinthians 10:13). That path to purity is not to presume on the grace of God (Romans 6:1ff). We are not free to sin, but free not to sin. We should not be looking for loopholes to justify our indulgence in sin. We should not have an attitude that seeks to go as far as we can while still rationalizing our “holiness” before the Lord. Such an attitude is evidence that one has already begun the descent down the slippery slope of sin. We need to take every precaution, make every effort, and refrain from every questionable action that threatens God’s call to holiness (Ephesians 5:1-3).

 

Practically this means we need to put aside the attitude that says, “Others are doing it, why can’t I? God will understand.” This is the sin of presumption. Presumption is assuming immunity or God’s approval when it is not there. We need to put the sin of presumption far from us. We need to take the lead in purity not follow the flow of impurity. Any dead fish can float down stream. It takes a live fish to swim against the current.

 

The only place sexual contact of any kind is holy and permissible is in the marriage relationship (between one man and one woman), nowhere else (Hebrews 13:4). Dating, engagement nor any other state outside of marriage is acceptable for sexual contact. It is a gigantic mistake to disregard the cautions of God and His word in this area.

 

Protect Your Honor. Each person must “know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor.” The word “know” (Greek ŏikĕiŏs) is a word that speaks about our dwelling, our home. We are to “know” our bodies just like we know our home. Another word closely associated with this is “edification” (Greek ŏikŏs). It is a construction term that means to build up.  The point made here is that each person is responsible to know how to handle their own body. You have to know how to handle yourself. Know your weaknesses and avoid situations that you are most susceptible to be defeated in. And you need to know what you need to be built up spiritually. You need to know how to handle yourself so that you will be sanctified or prepared and available for God to use. This is our responsibility. The Holy Spirit will empower us to live sanctified lives. But we have a part to play here too. We need to live reverently so God can work righteously in us (Phil. 2:12-13).  

The word “honor” (Greek time, pronounced tee-may´) means a value, valuables, of the highest degree, or the dignity itself . . . honour, precious, price, some.  Your body and its purity are precious and you should take every precaution to protect yourself from doing anything that would lessen its value and preciousness. Christian your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. Therefore live in a way that would not embarrass the Holy Spirit who resides in you (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).

What is Sexual Immorality? What is “sexual immorality”? “Sexual immorality” is translated from the Greek term porneia refers to “harlotry (including adultery and incest) idolatry . . .  fornication.” ^[1]  During the years of President Clinton’s time in office and the Monica Lewinsky scandal he justified his interaction with Ms. Lewinsky by interpreting “sex” as only intercourse and therefore he reasoned the alternative sexual interaction he indulged in with this young woman was allowable. Many youth today justify their sexual activities similarly. The Bible makes no such distinctions. Sexual immorality/fornication is any sexually related contact or interaction between unmarried people or between married people with those they are not married to. Sexual immorality/fornication is any activity that arouses passions and lusts in those outside the holy marriage relationship. Sexual immorality is closely connected to idolatry because a person who is willing to disregard God’s commands concerning sexual interaction has made an idol, a god, of sex.

God promises to make a way to escape so we can overcome the common temptations that come our way due to our natural desires. The desire for sexual activity is from God and is good. As long as sexual desire is used according to His plan and will in marriage, it is holy. When God given sexual desires are provoked prematurely, purity is pummeled.

Wisdom is the ability to apply practically to life the revealed truth of God from His word. In Proverbs it states, “Can a man take fire to his bosom, and his clothes not be burned? Can one go upon hot coals, and his feet not be burned?” (Proverbs 6:27-28). The context for this verse is a proverbial warning against the deception and danger of being drawn into sexual sin by a temptress, a harlot. But there is a broader application here. A modern day translation would be “If you play with fire, you’ll get burned.” The natural sexual desires that God has built into the human being to be used in marriage can be inflamed into an inappropriate burning lust that burns up our purity. And it doesn’t take much. A seductive look, a seemingly innocent touch, a caress, a song, a picture, an image on the screen, words, all of these can provoke passions that are sinfully lustful and need to be avoided. This is true for both males and females.

God loves us and He has given us sex as a wonderful gift. But He has also prescribed certain boundaries for sexual activity, marriage (between one man and one woman). Don’t have the attitude of, “I can handle it.” You can’t! That is presumptuous. That is pride. God opposes the proud. He gives grace to the humble (1 Peter 5:5). Pride goes before destruction (Proverbs 16:18). Don’t play with fire. God loves you so much and there’s a reason why He warns you of the dangers of playing with the fire of sexual passions. He wants to keep you from getting burned. He wants to spare you and others pain.

Sexual desires were meant by God to be fulfilled with one person (of the opposite sex) to whom you have entered into a holy matrimonial life relationship of love and commitment. Your sexual purity is a precious gift to give to the one with whom God has ordained you spend the rest of your life. Unfortunately many cast that precious gift of virginity aside prematurely with those they thought they would spend their lives with. Sadly people spend that preciously valuable virginity on the wrong people. They waste that precious treasure on people God has not ordained for them. There is no room for slipups with your sexual purity. If you relinquish it, it cannot be regained. You can be forgiven by God if you indulge this sin. But that precious gift God gave you to share with the one human you love supremely will have been lost forever. Don’t take the chance. Submit to God and the words of the Holy Spirit. Wait for the right person. Wait until you are married in the sight of God. You won’t regret it.

Self -Worship and Homosexuality. In Romans Paul continues, “who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.”  (Romans 1:25). Paul speaks of an unholy exchange. The word “exchanged” is found in Romans 1:23, 25, and 26 (also translated “change”). This word is translated from the Greek term metalasso and means, to exchange, change, alter, and substitute; to exchange by leaving.  Those Paul is referring to here do not merely turn away from God’s truth; they replace it with a “truth” of their own making. But this alternative “truth” is really a “lie.” People leave God’s truth and replace it with a “truth” that they feel comfortable with. They avoid God’s truth because it shines a light on their sinful behavior. Rather than repent and turn from their sin, they make up their own standard to live by. And their standard approves their sin.  Any alternative to God’s truth is a lie!

 

Paul is speaks of a specific lie as indicated by the article “the.” What is “the lie”? The lie is the belief that man does not need God. This is based on Satan’s temptation to believe that man can become God. Satan wants people to believe they can rule their own life and destiny.  Satan in the form of a serpent deceived Eve with the words, “For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Gen. 3:5). Satan’s personal sin was to try to exalt himself above Almighty God (cf. Isaiah 14:12-15). This lie is at the root of all sin. The lie is rooted in sinful pride and a lust for self-sovereignty. It’s a lust to sin and serve self regardless how it affects others. This is at the cancerous root of all sexual sin.

“The lie” says, “I don’t need God; God does not exist; God is not a factor; what matters most is  ME.” The lie says, “I don’t need God,” and will try to kill God or remove God from consideration in order to accomplish the goal of self-rule. The wrath of God is on these sinners for substituting their “truth” in place of God’s truth. And this continues today. We see it in people who say, “God accepts me for who I am. He created me as a homosexual. Therefore to be a homosexual is okay.” This is a perfect example of not only misrepresenting God, but also trying to insert a falsehood in place of His truth.

In order to attain the goal of self-rule the sinner will try to explain away God and His word. This is attempted in a number of ways. Here Paul points to the elevation of the creature to godhood, idols made in the image of the creature. Idolatry is foolish (Psalm 115; Isaiah 44:9-20).  God is justified in giving such idolatrous self-worshipers up to their own rebellious preferences.

There are Vile Passions. Paul speaks of the consequence of departing from God saying, “For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due.” (Romans 1:26-27).  

 Paul says, “For this reason.” What reason? Because they refused to receive God’s revelation truth of Himself (Romans 1:19-24). They rejected God and not only rejected Him but twisted His truth with their own warped view of reality. And because of this, “God gave them up to vile passions.” God allows people to not choose to worship and thank Him. Here we see the downward spiral of sin. “Vile passions,” are the natural consequence of rejecting God. Look around you, what do you see in our post-Christian world? We see a host of vile passions. When you reject God you enter into a warped view of existence. That warped view leads you into all sorts of contorted, mangled, mixed up, hell bent ways of seeing the world around you. Remove God and expect an anything goes world. That’s exactly what we see today. Same-sex marriage, polygamy, transient open marriage, are in vogue now. Is there any doubt that bestiality will be a future trend?

Paul speaks of “For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, . . . ” When a person rejects God their sin leads them to abuse nature and do things that are actually opposed to nature. One function of sex is procreation. Homosexual and lesbian sexual activity is unnatural. Such interaction contradicts and goes against nature disregarding the procreative purpose of sex. Homosexuality and lesbianism are a perversion of natural human desires.

Turning from God and His revelation leads to idolatry and the height of idolatry is worship of self.  Homosexuality and lesbianism are self-worship as people worship their own gender image in other people; women with women and men with men.

Then Paul says of these people that they, “burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due.” This is the only occurrence of this particular word for “burned” here in the New Testament. The word “burned” is translated from the Greek term ekkaio and means burned out; consumed; inflame deeply; or set ablaze. The idea here is that so deep is their lustful burning for one another that they actually burn out and are consumed by their lustful pursuits. This may allude to physical consequences (e.g. disease), emotional consequences, and certainly spiritual consequences. Sexually transmitted diseases are a big problem and a source of much pain and suffering for those indulging in immoral sexual behavior.

God created sex. Sex is not sinful. God created sex (i.e. “one flesh” - Genesis 2:23-25). Sex only becomes sinful when it is misused outside of God’s ordained parameters. When sex is misused in ways God never intended it has the opposite effect of God’s intended purpose. God intended sex to bring two people together as one in a very wonderful way. When two people enter into sexual activity outside of marriage a uniting takes place out of sync with the process God laid out as right and proper.

Sex unites. Paul warned against adultery and sex outside of marriage because there is a uniting that occurs between the two parties involved. Paul was inspired to write, “Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? Certainly not! Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For “the two,” He says, “shall become one flesh.” But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him. Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.”  (1 Cor. 6:15-20).

Sex is a beautiful part of God’s creation. Sexuality outside of the marriage covenant makes unholy connections. It is Satan’s strategy to take what God meant for beauty and loving expression between two people and turn it into something dirty and shameful. That is what the downward spiral of sin does.

When I was a boy I enjoyed building models. But as a young boy I was impatient and didn’t always read the instructions or follow directions. Nowadays you can buy models that are already painted. But in my day you had to paint the models and then assemble them. As I would put the models together I’d sometimes get impatient. The instructions called for me to paint certain parts in certain areas, let them dry, and then glue them together. Inevitably my impatience would get the better of me and I’d paint over areas I was supposed to leave paint-less and try to glue parts together before the paint was dry. What I found is that the glue never held pieces together that I impatiently tried to glue when the paint was still wet. Then I’d try to take the pieces apart to wipe them clean and I’d have an even bigger mess. When I didn’t follow instructions and acted impatiently the model always got sticky and weakly assembled and never lasted very long. The same is true with sex and marriage. If you try to glue two people together with sex before the Lord prepares the parts properly your relationship will wind up weak and likely won’t last. It’s always best to wait on God and follow the instructions of His word (the Bible) when it comes to marriage and sex, and everything else in life for that matter. 

There is Hope of Deliverance from Sexual Sin. Sexual sin can be addictive whether it manifests itself in the actual physical adulterous act or the lustful fantasy of the mind. Trying to overcome such sin in one’s own strength is futile and frustrating. But there is hope. As we mentioned earlier the gospel is powerful. God is able to deliver the person caught up in sexual sin from that sin. The Bible states: “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites,  nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.  And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.” (1 Cor. 6:9-11). Notice what Paul says, “But such WERE some of you.” He is inspired to speak of the sin of the Corinthians in the past tense because it was a thing of the past; it had been put behind them.  

How were they able to put their sins behind them? Later in the same epistle Paul writes: “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.” (1 Cor. 10:13). God’s promise is to not allow you to be tempted beyond what you can bear. He promises to make a way of escape so you can stand and get through it. That’s His promise and the person caught in sexual sin needs to pray long and hard over that verse.

God is faithful. He will show you the way out of your sinful lifestyle or addictive habit. That way out starts with turning from your sin to God and putting your faith in Jesus. You put your faith in Jesus by asking God to forgive you based on His sacrifice for you on the cross. Receive God’s forgiveness through faith in Jesus. The Holy Spirit will then give you spiritual life; eternal life; abundant life.

In another letter of Paul’s he writes: “Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead,  I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:13-14).  It’s time to put your sin behind you and press on with Jesus to His higher calling (see Jeremiah 31:34; Micah 7:18-19; Romans 6:14). That means leaving your homosexuality or any other sexual sin behind. Now is the time to put your faith in Jesus. Now is the time to seek forgiveness of your sin based on His cross work. Now is the time to receive the eternal life and indwelling of the Holy Spirit God promises in His gospel. The New Testament puts it like this: “But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, ⁷ that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life” (Titus 3:4-7). Those are wonderful words.

A story is told of a man who purchased a white mouse to use as food for his pet snake. He dropped the unsuspecting mouse into the snake's glass cage, where the snake was sleeping in a bed of sawdust. The tiny mouse had a serious problem on his hands. At any moment he could be swallowed alive. Obviously, the mouse needed to come up with a brilliant plan. What did the terrified creature do? He quickly set up work covering the snake with sawdust chips until it was completely buried. With that, the mouse apparently thought he had solved his problem. But the truth of the situation was that sawdust chips wouldn’t hold back the snake. The solution to the mouse’s problem came from outside of the cage. The man looked down at the plight of the mouse and took pity on him lifting him out. In the same way, no matter how we try to deny our sinful plight by covering up the truth of our need, in the end the snake of sin will fatally bite us. 

You Can Have A New Heart with New Desires. In the Old Testament God promised a time when people would be able to receive a “new heart.” We see this in the following verses: “Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways,” says the Lord God. “Repent, and turn from all your transgressions, so that iniquity will not be your ruin. ³¹ Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why should you die, O house of Israel? ³² For I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies,” says the Lord God. “Therefore turn and live!” And later in Ezekiel the prophet is inspired to write, “Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. ²⁶ I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. ²⁷ I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them” (Ezekiel 36:25-27). Those are wonderful prophetic promises. THESE PROMISES FOR A NEW HEART ARE ALL FULFILLED IN THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST!

This promise from Ezekiel is elaborated upon and explained later in the book of Hebrews where it states: “But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, ¹³ from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. ¹⁴ For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. ¹⁵ But the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us; for after He had said before, ¹⁶ “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them,” ¹⁷ then He adds, “Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” ¹⁸ Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin. ¹⁹ Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, ²⁰ by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, ²¹ and having a High Priest over the house of God, ²² let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water” (Hebrews 10:12-22).  

When we look at these verses from the Old Testament illuminated by the New Testament we learn  that when a person repents or turns away from their sin and to God, trusts in “this Man” Jesus and His sacrifice, that God will wipe our sinful slate clean. Wonderful! But not only that; Paul in Romans states God will give us “a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience” Romans 8:9-11). God gives us a new heart; a heart filled with the Holy Spirit. 

In Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians he was inspired to speak of how in a relationship with Jesus we become a “new Creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17). That’s what we need to overcome sexual sin, a new heart with new holy desires. When a person turns from their sinful life to God through faith in Jesus, God promises to give them a new heart that will be receptive to His law and word.

For those who have received a new heart but allowed it to be dirtied and tarnished once again with sin, there is continuous ongoing cleansing available from God as we confess our sins to Him honestly and walk on in the light of His word (1 John 1:7,9). We should always ask God to search our hearts to expose sin so we can confess it to Him and He can keep us clean (Psalm 139:23-24).

God has revealed His righteous plan of redemption from sin through faith in Christ. No matter how we try to suppress or hold down the truth that we are sinners and need a Savior, this truth cannot be denied. The only way to be saved from sin is to turn to the One outside the cage of this fallen world. We need to turn to God in Christ by the Spirit. If we continue to reject and hold down God’s truth, sin will fatally bite us, (Satan the snake is waiting – Genesis 3; Revelation 12:9; 20:2). 

If by reading this you are convicted of your sinful state and know you would be found guilty on God’s righteous judgment day, you need to turn from your sin to God (repent) and place your faith in Jesus Christ to save you. You can know you are forgiven and going to heaven. You can receive a new heart filled by the Holy Spirit.

Below is a simple gospel summary for you to follow. God didn’t make hell for people. Only people who persist in their sinful rebellion will go there. God is reaching out to you through His only Son Jesus. He wants to forgive your sin and save you from it. Don’t let this gracious opportunity of God pass you by.

The Bible states you can know for sure whether or not you are going to heaven?

• 1 John 5:13 - ¹³ These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.

How can you know for sure?

 

1. Realize you are a sinner –
• Romans 3:23 - ²³ for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
• Galatians 3:10 - ¹⁰ For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.”
• James 2:10 - ¹⁰ For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.
2. Realize there is a price for sin –
• Romans 6:23a - ²³ For the wages of sin is death,
3. Realize Jesus paid the price for you –
• Romans 5:8 - ⁸ But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Galatians 3:10-13).
• 2 Corinthians 5:21 - ²¹ For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
4. Realize your salvation is a free gift that requires only a heart decision from you to receive it –
• Romans 6:23 - ²³ For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Ephesians 2:8-9; Titus 3:5)
• Romans 10:10 - ¹⁰ For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
5. Realize you must now call upon Jesus to save you –
• Romans 10:13 - ¹³ For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

A SALVATION PRAYER: “Dear God, I know I am a sinner. Please forgive me for my sins. Come into my heart and save me. Send Your Holy Spirit to me and help me to live the life that you have for me. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”

 

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^[1]Strong, J. 1997, c1996. The new Strong's dictionary of Hebrew and Greek words (electronic ed.) . Thomas Nelson: Nashville

The Cure for Closet Christians

After this, Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple, but secretly, . . . .  And Nicodemus, who at first came to Jesus by night. . . . – John 19:38 and 39

 

It seems just about everybody is coming out of the closet nowadays; everyone except for Christians. People confused about their gender identity, people brash about their adultery, people bold about indulging their immorality and all things unholy, these people are pouring out of their closets and into the public square. And the public is all too eager to welcome them out in the open. There is not shame for the sinful. What God calls sinful practice the world not only condones but welcomes and promotes. And you better not voice an opinion contrary to the trends of the day. The PC (i.e. Politically correct) police and thought Gestapo are on the watch and ready to squash any thought word or deed that might be contrary to legalized debauchery of these dark days.

What is seen as shameful by the world are those who dare to stand on scripture and for Jesus. Stand for Jesus and His word and you can count on being called a “hater,” “ignorant hater,” “bigot,” “intolerant,” or some other derogatory smear word or phrase. This militant opposition has caused Christians to retreat into their closets. Run for cover! Remove yourself from the public square and stay home. Start your own little safe groups of only like minded people. Lock the doors, close the windows, and draw the shades, baton the hatches and stay inside where it’s safe until Jesus returns. There’s only one thing wrong with such a reaction. That’s not what Jesus commands His people to do. Jesus came to seek and to save the lost (Luke 19:10). God loves the world so much He sent His only Son Jesus to save it and His only Son Jesus came! (John 3:16).

The Christian retreat is playing right into the devil’s hands. He is manipulating the lost to shut down the very message of hope and salvation they need. They are totally under the influence of the enemy (2 Cor. 4:4; Eph. 2:1-3). “How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things!’” (Romans 10:14-15).

Jesus didn’t command us to retreat and isolate, He commanded us to rally and infiltrate. He didn’t tell us, “Turn out the lights the parties’ over, they say that all good things must end.” That’s Willie Nelson. Jesus said, “You are the light of the world.” Jesus didn’t tell us to be bland and tasteless but to be fruitful and flavor-full; to be salt (cf. Matthew 5:13-16). Closet Christianity is contrary to Christ.

Every Christian is called to go and be the arms of Christ; an extension of His heart to win the lost and make disciples (Matthew 28:18-20). We are all called to be His representatives as though God was pleading with  lost souls to be reconciled to Him in Christ (2 Cor. 5:20). That is not just for missionaries who go to foreign lands. We are all called to be missionaries, to have missionary spirits; some in distant lands, some at home in our families, with our neighbors, co-workers; wherever we are led by the Spirit.

Maybe you’re thinking something like this: But it’s not a level playing field in the world. . . . We aren’t treated fairly. . . . People don’t talk nice to you if they know you’re a Christian. . . . I won’t get that promotion or raise if they know I’m a Christian. . . . But if people know I’m a Christian I’ll really have to watch the way I act. . . .If my friends know I’m a Christian they won’t be my friends anymore. . . .” I wonder what our Christian brothers and sisters in the Middle East would think of such thinking when they are made to kneel on a beach and confess whether or not they are a “Christian” at the consequence of decapitation. I wonder what the persecuted brethren all over the world, past, present, and future think. I wonder what the “so great a cloud of witnesses” think who laid aside all “the sin which so easily ensnares us”? What do those think who stood for their faith and were laid low for it too (Hebrews 11-12).

Maybe you really are a serious Christian but you just don’t have the courage to come out of the closet. Maybe you are convicted of your cowardice. Maybe you do want to be more fruitful and useful to the Master. Are you genuinely and sincerely looking for strength and power to break open that closet door and live dynamically for Jesus? If so I think you will find the solution to your dilemma in the study that follows.

There were such closet followers of Jesus in His day. We learn about a couple such closet Christians just after Jesus died on the cross. The apostle John, who himself would be boiled in oil and then banished to the Isle of Patmos, in his gospel is inspired to record: “After this, Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly, for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus; and Pilate gave him permission. So he came and took the body of Jesus. And Nicodemus, who at first came to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds. Then they took the body of Jesus, and bound it in strips of linen with the spices, as the custom of the Jews is to bury” (John 19:38-40).  So you see, you’re not alone. Joseph of Arimathea followed Jesus “secretly.” Nicodemus followed Jesus “by night” when none of his religious Pharisee buddies would see him doing so. But here we see them come out of the closet. What brought them out?

What will help closet Christians to come out? Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus were both closet believers in Jesus; they followed Jesus secretly; not in the open. They hid their faith in Jesus “for fear of the Jews.” We might be tempted to say following Jesus secretly was a good strategy that allowed them to serve the Lord more effectively in the midst of the enemies of Jesus. But this secrecy was not strategically calculated, it was fearfully instituted. The faith of Joseph and Nicodemus were closed up, unseen, made ineffective by and undermined by fear. That done with a motivation of fear is never productive and fruitful. Fear is the foe of faith. Fear strangles faith. Faith is how you overcome fear.

The word “fear” (Greek phobos) refers to alarm or fright, exceeding fear, dread, or terror. This is not healthy fear as in reverence or the fear of the Lord. Joseph and Nicodemus were paralyzed in their faith due to a fear of what might happen to them if the Jews discovered they believed in Jesus. Are you fearful of others knowing you are a follower of Jesus? Do others know you are Christian; a born again, Spirit indwelled Christian? Are you afraid to let others know you are a follower of Jesus? If so, your fear is strangling your faith. If you are a closet Christian you are not following Jesus the way you should be. And that is a problem.

Jesus said, “For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels” (Mark 8:38). Isn’t shame (“ashamed” - Greek epaischynomai ) a kind of fear? Fear of embarrassment, fear of losing respect, fear of losing credibility or fear of loss of something because of an association? Fear and shame go hand in hand. And that isn’t right. Jesus wasn’t ashamed of us and was willing to die on the cross for us. How then can we be ashamed of Jesus? What is the solution for fear and shame? 

What motivated Joseph and Nicodemus to finally come out of the closet to publically be counted with Jesus? What motivated them to step up and go to claim the body of Jesus from the Roman authority Pilate who had just brutally crucified Jesus? What will motivate us to come out of the closet; to step up and be counted for Jesus?

What will bring us out of the closet as Christians? The passion of Christ on the cross will bring us out. How are we and others inspired to step up and be counted for Jesus? Not be cajoling or harassing or guilting or coercing people in the closet. No, people will step up and be counted for Jesus when they see Jesus on the cross for them. That’s what changed Joseph. That’s what changed Nicodemus. That’s what will change us.

Here is a great truth of relating to Jesus and living a life powerfully affected by Him. The motivation for our obedience and service is not guilt or obligation but loving appreciation for what Jesus has done for us. People who only see Jesus from a guilt producing obligatory perspective will experience a limited usefulness. Guilt and obligation produce a very shaky, up and down often absentee walk with the Lord. It is the Law that uses guilt. Jesus by the Spirit motivates through love. We need to throw off the law of guilt and shame and take up the banner of the love of Jesus.

Jesus’ disciples are known by HIS LOVE not just another kind of fear. We aren’t going to come out of the closet because someone is threatening a good old fashioned whipping. Jesus was scourged so we wouldn’t have to be. We don’t need needling to try and make us feel more uncomfortable while in the closet than out of it. Jesus wore a crown of thorns so we wouldn’t have to. We don’t need to see a crucifix with Jesus still on the cross in order to manipulate our emotions so that we will stay loyal to Jesus. Jesus already carried the cross and said, “It is finished!” (John 19:30). No, what we need to get us out of the closet is the love of Christ to compel us out. We need a REAL LIVING EXPERIENCE of the POWERFUL LIFE CHANGING LOVE OF JESUS.

The apostle Paul stated this clearly when he was inspired to write the following: “For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; ¹⁵ and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again. ¹⁶ Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. ¹⁷ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. ¹⁸ Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, ¹⁹ that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. ²⁰ Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. ²¹ For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (2 Corinthians 5:14-21). Can you see how these inspired words of Paul depict the love of Christ that puts everything in proper perspective? When the love of Christ fills our heart, the closets we are in won’t be able to contain us. The love of Jesus in us will literally burst open the closet doors.

Love is to be our compelling motivation. Seeing and understanding what Jesus did for us on the cross should impassion us to plead passionately with others to consider too what Jesus did for them. The love of God in the cross of Christ is a compelling life changing reality. The love of Christ poured into our hearts empties us of self (Romans 5:5). When the Holy Spirit comes in, he pushes out self along with fears. When you see the depth and the width and the height and the breath of the love of Christ it has a compelling impact on us. That’s why Paul prayed for believers to see Christ’s love that way (cf. Ephesians 3:14-21). The more you see and experience the love of Christ, the further and more completely you will come out of your safe room.

When “secret” saints, (those who are trying to live anonymously as Christians, because of fear) see Jesus and the cross and His love poured out for them, they will come out of their self imposed closet. Our day is a day when those hiding their sin and confused immorality are coming out of their “closet” of secrecy to proclaim what God calls sinful. They are trying to shout down the reality of their sin by pronouncing it acceptable socially.

For instance, what those who push for gender change or gender  transience fail to understand is that no outward change, no matter how drastic or physically complete, no such change can change the root issue of a heart that is darkened and deceived by sin. There is only victory over sin and hope for fulfilling real change for the better through faith in Jesus as Savior. This is a message that needs to be proclaimed. For God’s sake and the sake of the lost Christians need to step into their ordained calling to plead with the lost to be reconciled to God.

If the lost sinful rebellious people of the world can defy and disregard God and His sovereign ordained plan for humanity and do so openly why I ask you are Christians running into their closets and shutting the door to wait until Jesus’ returns? We are not called or commended to hide until Jesus returns but to stand as beacons of the light of His truth until He returns. Jesus is coming back. But as Jesus Himself commented, “Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8b).  The time for Christians to come out and be counted is now!

What will bring Christians out of the closet? What will shake them from their lethargy? What will roust them from their anonymity? What will get them off the couch and empower them to take a stand and get into the fray? What motivation does God provide to energize His army? The answer to that is the cross of Christ. Paul said, “For I determine not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2). Paul knew it was the cross of Christ and its depiction of God’s powerful love in Christ that would move Christians to count the cost of standing for Him. The cross is where we see standing for Jesus is a bargain given the hope of eternity with Him.  Look to Jesus, look to the cross, see His love, receive His love, be filled and overflowed by His love, and then stand in Him!

Cross-Fitness

 

“Woman, behold your son! . . . Behold your mother!” – John 19:26 and 27

 

The Bible says that in the end times “many will run to and fro, and knowledge will increase” (Daniel 12:4). Humanity is experiencing advances and a proliferation of information in nearly every area of life. We “run to and fro” faster, further, and with greater ease than ever before. In the near future we won’t even have to drive our cars! They will be GPS controlled and all we’ll have to do is punch in our destination coordinates, sit back and wait to arrive. Human knowledge has enabled us to have more information at our finger tips than ever before. Computers that used to take up the space of a building are now small enough to wear as a wrist watch. Incredible! TVs that once only had 5 channels now have hundreds. The Internet connects us with the world. We can watch history happening all over the world in real present time. In some ways not even the sky is the limit of human advancement; or at least that’s how it feels or how many would have us to feel.

 

This advancement in knowledge has also entered the field of health. There are more diets and scientifically calculated food prescriptions to assure our health than ever before. Health issues are vast and varying. The world is addressing the problem of hunger. America is addressing the problem of obesity.  It seems there are more people running and biking and playing and exercising than ever before. And this is especially true for those who are getting older. The kids are locked up in their rooms putting on pounds as they play their incredibly infatuating computer games. The parents and those caught up in the craze to fit into the media’s computer generated perfect body types are out running after that perfect image of health.

 

It used to be in olden days that you’d eat a lot of steak and potatoes, lift a lot of weights, play a lot of sports and get stronger. You’d actually play outside as a kid. If you progressed up the athletic ladder of competition you might add vitamins, sports drinks and protein shakes to help out. But it was nothing like the scientifically proven exact calculations we see today. Today exercises are specific to the sports you play. No longer do athletes settle in to a routine of exercises and maybe work to only increase the weights lifted. Now there is cross-fit.

 

Cross-fit is a relatively new way of exercising that relies on the idea of muscle confusion. In other words rather than use the same exercises in perpetuity a wide assortment of various exercises are used to keep both the exerciser and their muscles interested. It’s proven to be an effective strategy to consistently build muscle. It also fits right into the mindset of the day which is diversity and openness to all things new.

 

Now, as I segue into my teaching I don’t mean to insinuate there is anything wrong with cross-fit training. Cross fit programs are an excellent means to work on our temporal bodies. In fact those seeking to please God should take better care of their bodies which God refers to as the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 6:19-20). I’m only using cross-fit here to grab your attention and point you to a different kind of cross-fitness that has eternal everlasting benefits.

 

“Bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come” (1 Timothy 4:8). There is a cross fitness that touches on the here and now but that goes further and transcends mere physical fitness. Cross fitness of your physical body does profit “a little.” But I want to talk to you about a cross fitness that will yield eternal benefits. I want to talk to you about the benefit of the cross of Christ to you, your relationships, family, and the life of those precious family members you already have and that you love so much.

 

Healthy relationships and families are formed at the foot of the cross of Christ. In John’s gospel we are given a wonderful insight into the creative power of the cross of Christ. Here it recounts:

“Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother, and His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. ²⁶ When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing by, He said to His mother, “Woman, behold your son!” ²⁷ Then He said to the disciple, “Behold your mother!” And from that hour that disciple took her to his own home.” (John 19:25-27).  This is a beautiful and powerful picture of how families are formed at the foot of the cross.

 

It was in the shadow of the cross that John’s family and the family of Jesus in His mother were joined and formed. Jesus had four brothers and more sisters (Matthew 13:55-56) yet He chose to entrust His mother to the care of John the apostle. Jesus was more concerned about eternal relationships than temporal ones (Matthew 3:33-35; Luke 8:21; cf. also fulfilled prophecy of Psalm 69:8). When we come to the cross of Christ we are adopted into God’s family and are eternally united (Romans 8:14; 1 Peter 4:17). Are you a part of the family of God? Do you treat your fellow Christians as family?

 

In our day the family is more broken and fragmented than ever. The world is redefining family and they’re making a real mess of things. The world has left God’s scripture revealed definitions of marriage between one man and one woman in order to permit and even encourage that which God calls sinful. Marriage is not seen as a life commitment made by two people to each other in the presence of God consummated by intercourse. Marriage is seen as mere formality to affirm worship of the god of sex. Marriage isn’t seen as a life commitment, only a commitment as long as one feels committed to it.

 

Sex before marriage, what God calls the sin of fornication, is a regular practice, even among Christians! People “fall in love” and “fall out of love” with abandon. This leads to a proliferation of adultery – sex between the married with someone other than the one they married. The world is at a loss. They’ve tried open marriages; which is really no marriage at all. They try “living together.” The current trend is to try same-sex unions and there is a mighty push for the legalization of same-sex marriage. The moral gates are bulging and near breaking under the rising flood waters of polygamy, pedophilia, pederasty, the removal of age of consent and statutory rape laws, human-animal unions, transient marriage where transvestites can switch male/female roles on a whim, and anything else lost humanities’ “uncleanness. . . vile passions. . . debased mind” can come up with and promote (Romans 1:24-32).  The cross-less world needs some cross-fitness training.

 

Cross-fitness begins at creation. It’s quite a confusing time we live in. People don’t know who they are. People are rejecting who God has created them to be. People are rebelling against the Creator. It is sad and pitiable to see lost humanity groping so futilely for identity and meaning. The serpentine enemy is having a field day with those flailing away in their own strength. People are in the dark. Satan rules the darkness. He rules with deception and confusion and he is inflicting a great deal of pain. This does not remove the sinner’s culpability. “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened” (Romans 1:20-21).

 

God is our Creator. He is there if we care to seek Him. Every human being is created with an inherent sense of their need to know their Creator. God has put an eternal crave in the heart of every person. “He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts” (Ecclesiastes 3:11). God created humanity simply but profoundly male and female (Genesis 1 and 2). It is the male and female that beautifully fit together physically, mentally and spiritually in the Lord. God’s design for fulfillment, abundant life, and happiness is through a man/ woman, male/female marriage union where the “man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh” (Genesis 2:24).  

 

Cross-fitness helps us deal with the problem of sin. The sin of our first parents threw a monkey wrench into the relational mechanism on all levels. The consequence of sin is the introduction of pain in child birth and competition between men and women (Genesis 3:16). People will be preoccupied with industry that is now laden with sweaty labor (Genesis 3:17-19). And more pertinently in these prophetic last days we see humanities distancing from God evidenced in relational and even gender identity confusion. Groping in the darkness people look in the mirror and can’t even see who they are. God’s blessing of human intellect is used to separate from Him. The result is a proliferation of Frankensteinian alterations of gender. The real problem is in the human heart. You can’t fix a heart attack with a change in clothes or a change in genitalia.  People without God don’t know who they are and seeking solutions in science only complicates the problem.

 

Cross-fitness helps us deal with sin produced confusion over who we are. “But I’m a man in a woman’s body!” “But I’m a woman in a man’s body!” “But sometimes I feel like a man and sometimes I feel like a woman!” “I believe in God and He made me this way!” What about same-sex attractions and gender identity issues?  There are a vast assortment of temptations to pursue alternatives to God’s will and way that humanity experiences. Gender confusion and same-sex attractions are only a part of those temptations. Sin has thrown humanity off kilter. Along with the God-given inherent sense of a need to know God, because of our first parents’ sin, we have a sinful nature that bucks like a bronco against what our God-given conscience  calls us to do and be.

 

Our sinful nature causes us to covet and pursue after material things as well as lust after sinful relational alternatives to God’s created order. Satan and our sinful nature team up to draw us away from God and His word. This leads for example to temptations to steal instead of work, to lie instead of tell the truth, to lust instead of truly love, and to question who the Creator has birthed us to be. These temptations are real and they are powerful. They can make life miserable and steer us into many a dead end in life.

 

There are “passing pleasures of sin” (Hebrews 11:25). If there wasn’t any “pleasure” in sin the temptation to sin would have no allure or power. Same-sex and other sinful sexual attractions are real and persistent; sometimes relentless. Such deep rooted sinful issues often take a lot of time and effort to overcome. Such life issues can present quite a battle and titanic life struggle. But so do other forms of life dominating issues like overcoming addictions of various kinds. There is always hope for victory with the Lord. He has a cross-fit plan that is perfect for your every need.

 

Same-sex and other sexually tempting attractions are often rooted deeply in the psyche and life story of those who battle them. The solution is not to embrace such temptations. That is the way of the world. The world is at a loss to deal with such problems so they simply incorporate them into their system. But no amount of worldly proclamation that something is right can change what God declares is wrong. In His word God states: “He who justifies the wicked, and he who condemns the just, both of them alike are an abomination to the LORD” (Proverbs 17:15). He says, “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaiah 5:20). God made us and knows what is best for us. He doesn’t prohibit sin just because He is Sovereign and can and wants to dominate us. No, God prohibits things that are detrimental to those He loves. He lays out before every person the way of life and death and then says, “Choose life!” (Deuteronomy 30:19). Choosing life is the desired goal of cross fitness.

 

“Can a man take fire to his bosom, and his clothes not be burned?” (Proverbs 6:27). Sin has consequences. Sin puts us at odds with God (Ephesians 2:1-3). Sin works death in the sinner (Romans 6:23). “The soul that sins shall die” (Ezekiel 18:4). Rather than embrace as acceptable that which God calls sinful we need to take hope in God and trust His wisdom and word. This is our choice. What will you choose? Your decision will lead to either destruction or fruitfulness (cf. Galatians 6:7-9).

 

God has not given us parameters to restrict us as much as He has lovingly sought to protect us from the sinful things that will destroy us. God is the supreme Father. He is the first and ultimate, the Supreme Sovereign Almighty Holy Loving Father and He loves all of us (John 3:16). And because of His love He has made a way for prodigal sinful confused humanity to return home (Luke 15:11ff.).

 

The cross-fit solution promise. What’s the solution? God offers us a promise. He says, “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it” (1 Corinthians 10:13). You are not the only one with same-sex or sexual temptations or any temptation for that matter. You are not the only one who has messed up a relationship or relationships. Your temptations are common to others and God is aware of them. He promises to be faithful to not allow you to be tempted beyond your capacity to resist. With the temptations He promises to provide you a way to escape and bear them. God will give you tools to succeed. He will give you weapons to help you fight victoriously. He will stand by you and strengthen you in the struggle. God will not allow you to be crushed. God promises to bring you through. He is reaching down and offering you a helping hand. Will you take hold of it? Will you let Him train you? Will you enter into and follow His cross fit plan?

 

There is a way to turn from darkness to light, from Satan to God, to be forgiven sin and find rest for your soul. There is truth to cut through the fog of falsehoods. There is a way to journey through the jumble of this world. There is life in exchange for the death of sin. The solution is found in Jesus Christ and in particular at the foot of the cross of Christ (e.g. John 14:6; Acts 26:18). The apostle Paul said, “For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2). The cross of Christ is the heart of a powerful gospel that is able to deliver us from the power of sin (Romans 1:16). So powerful is the cross of Christ that Paul made it his central focus. “But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world” (Galatians 6:14). The cross is an instrument of demarcation between us and the world. The cross is God’s line in the sand. The cross is our protection. The cross is what God puts between us and the world when we trust in Jesus as Savior. The cross is impregnable. The cross is the greatest most powerful weapon against the temptations we face.

 

The cross-fit way of faith in Jesus. How can we experience the deliverance of the cross of Christ? By faith in Christ we receive forgiveness for our sinfulness. By faith we accept that Jesus on the cross paid all that was necessary to fulfill God’s just requirements to atone for sin. And by faith we receive His righteousness put to our account (2 Corinthians 5:21; cf. also Romans 5). By faith we identify with Jesus. By faith we cast the “old man” of sin behind us and put on the “new man” of Christ-likeness (e.g. Ephesians 4:17-24). By faith we live by leaning on Jesus trusting in Him to help and hold us and love us. By faith we hear and echo Paul’s inspired proclamation, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). Jesus and His cross is the solution to our temptations, sins and confusion.

 

The cross-fit  reconciliation. It is at the foot of the cross that families are reconciled to God and each other. Biological family members can find reconciliation and forgiveness at the cross and be reunited. But there is an even deeper more permanent family that is formed at the cross. Think of a family where a husband loves his wife like Jesus loves His bride the church. Think of a wife who lovingly sacrifices and submits to her husband. Think of Dads and Moms who love their children with Christlike love. Think of children growing in and being discipled in the love of Jesus. Oh what a family that can be! (cf. Ephesians 5 and 6). Have you brought your family; your spouse; your children; your parents to the foot of the cross?

 

The cross-fit family. When we are born again through faith in Christ we receive the regenerating indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:9-11; Titus 3:4-7). And wonderfully the Holy Spirit is called “the Spirit of adoption; (Romans 8:15). That means that every person regenerated by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is adopted into God’s family. We become “sons of God” or ladies, you become daughters of God (Romans 8:14). And we are able to call on God as our Father. “For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, ‘Abba [i.e. “Daddy”] Father” (Romans 8:15).

 

How do we know we are a part of God’s family? “The Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God” (Romans 8:16). What are the benefits and blessings of being a part of God’s family? We have a blessed inheritance. “And if children, then heirs – heirs of God and join heirs with Christ” (Romans 8:17). And though as a member of God’s family we may be persecuted we will suffer “with Him.” If we suffer with Him we will “also be glorified together” in the presence of God (Romans 8:17b). That should put everything in perspective. As Paul was inspired to write, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18). Adoption into the family of God puts all things in proper perspective. Such a family goes beyond this world into eternity.

 

The priority of cross-fit families. Jesus gave priority to eternal family members. When told His mother and siblings were outside waiting for Him Jesus seized the opportunity to teach the priority of God’s adoptive family. He said, “Who is My mother and who are My brothers? And He stretched out His hand toward his disciples and said, “Here are My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother” (Matthew 12:48-50). Jesus didn’t say this to disrespect His mother and siblings. And we shouldn’t disrespect our biological family members either. But there is a transcendent connection with those who along with us are a part of God’s eternal family. That is the truth. That is the reality.

 

Biological family relationships are important but they are temporary. Being adopted into God’s family is eternal. We have eternal relationships with those in our adopted church family. The best of both worlds is to have a biological family that also belongs to God’s adoptive eternal family. There is an eternal spiritual connection between those who belong to God’s family. Sometimes that creates animosity or jealousy with those who are only biologically our family. They don’t understand the eternal connection. Therefore we should offer them the gospel of Christ in the grace of God and pray for their adoption into God’s family too.  

 

Sometimes we don’t appreciate the eternal nature of our fellow members in God’s adopted family. Sometimes we don’t appreciate our eternal family members or love them or treat them as though we were going to spend eternity with them. That’s where cross fitness comes in. Cross fitness ushers us into God’s family and once we are in it, cross fitness helps us to get in shape together for eternity. The family that works out together with God will stay together with God. Jesus said His disciples and it’s reasonable to add, those in His eternal family, would be known by His Christ-like love they show for one another (John 13:34-35). Are you loving your family in Christ? It’s time to get our love in shape.

 

Do you see a need to become cross-fit? I hope I haven’t pushed this cross-fit imagery too far for you. It’s Jesus and His cross and how it can transform you’re every area of life that counts. If you’re confused about who you are God’s cross-fit plan can bring you clarity and liberty from the tentacles of sin. If you’re in an unhealthy relationship or your family is out of shape God is calling you to cross-fitness in His Son Jesus Christ. There is a solution to your despair and frustration, your breakups and broken-downs. The Lord wants to lift you up and help you to get things right and healthy. He will help you in whatever condition you’re in. He only waits for you to take that first step of faith. Then He’ll train you as His precious child.

Life Pains

A woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come; but as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. – John 16:21

 

Life is filled with pain. There is physical pain, psychological pain and even spiritual pain. Pain has a purpose. Pain warns us that something is wrong or that something needs attending to. Pain can indicate injury. Pain can indicate distress. Pain indicates hurt. Pain means something is breaking or broken. Pain indicates something needs to be fixed or is being fixed. Pain causes discomfort. Our natural response to pain is to try to alleviate it. We run from pain. We bandage over pain. We medicate pain away. But pain can be good. Pain is evidence of life. Pain indicates the body is working. Pain can indicate something is happening in our mind or spirit. The body or person who doesn’t feel pain has a problem. The absence of pain indicates deadness or death. The dead do not feel pain. Pain is a part of life.

Life is birthed through pain. I was present with my wife for all of the births of our three children. Pain was involved, lots of pain, for all three of those births. My children have grown to be beautiful people. They have grown and married and have their own children now. Each of the births of their children, (my grand children) involved pain. Any woman who has ever given birth will tell you that with birth comes discomfort and pain. But she will also tell you, as she holds that precious little one in her arms,  that the pain of childbirth was worth it.

It wasn’t always that way. There was a time before humanities’ infection with sin that child bearing was pain free. Imagine that ladies! (cf. Genesis 3). Sin brings pain. Dealing with sin, being birthed out of it, involves pain. Jesus told the religious leader Nicodemus, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. . . . Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’” (John 3:3, 5-6). All Nicodemus could say to that was, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born? . . . How can these things be?” (John 3:4 and 9). It was a preposterous and maybe a painful thought to this grown religious man to conceive of being born again. Is the thought of being born again painful to you?

Just as we needed to be physical conceived and birthed to experience life, so too we need to experience a second birth to experience spiritual eternal life. When we are physically born it involves physical and mental pain. When we are spiritual born again it involves mental and spiritual pain. It can be painful to come to the realization that we are lost in sin. We don’t want to admit our guilt for our sins. We are tempted to blame others or deflect blame by pointing to our personal life circumstances as excuse for our sins. But we must personal admit and turn from our sins to Jesus in trust if we are going to be forgiven our sins. That can be painful.

It can be painful living without Jesus. Those pains of life in sin without Jesus are all part of the birth pains of our spirit. But even after we experience our second birth there are pains associated with the new life in Christ. As God creates new life in us pain is involved. Remember, pain is a sign of life. Because of our pain we know something is growing. A child will sometimes experience literal growing pains. Similarly, we experience pain when we are growing in our relationship with Jesus.

The disciples of Jesus experienced such growing pains. Jesus forewarned them about it. He said, “A woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come; but as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. ²² Therefore you now have sorrow; but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you. (John 16:21-22). It would be painfully necessary for Jesus to leave His disciples and go to the cross. But the only way Jesus could birth forgiveness for our sins and new life in Himself was to die on the cross and be birthed from the tomb. Pain precedes life. Pain is presently a necessary part of birthing eternal life.

Anyone whose lived at all can tell you that life and growth involves pain. We experience the pain of our bumps and bruises as we learn to turn over, crawl, stand and walk. There will be the pains of falling. There will be the pains of play like those associated with learning to ride a bike or playing sports. There are the pains of relationships. We will experience the emotional pain of broken friendships. There will be the pains of breaking up with those we think might have been our true love. There are the pains of success and failures in school. There are pains of work on the job and if we lose a job. When we grow to get married and have our own children there will be pain their too; any married person or parent will confirm that. There are the pains of growing older and then being “old.” There is pain in every stage and season of life. Pain is a part of life.

Jesus spoke of planetary pains preceding His return. He spoke of human as well as natural upheaval that were “the beginning of sorrows” or literally the labor pains of a prophetic ends times plan of God (Matthew 24:8). Paul spoke of this too saying, “For when they say, ‘Peace and safety!’ then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape” (1 Thessalonians 5:3). God’s prophetic plans are going to give birth like a pregnancy. Are you aware of this prophetic pregnancy?

I have heard of television programs about young girls who were pregnant but didn’t know it. I didn’t watch the programs and can’t imagine someone being pregnant and not knowing it. But apparently it happens. I think for that to happen there has to be a lot of (willful?) ignorance and denial of reality. It’s much more common for people to not be aware of the planetary prophetic pregnancy of God’s plans. Don’t ignore the birth pains. Signs of Jesus’ coming are all around you. Jesus is going to return and birth a whole new world! And it looks like we are in the last stages of that pregnancy.

Pain is part of our individual spiritual life. Jesus’ promise is that when what God is birthing is born, we will forget all the pain involved in the process of that birth. Paul likened ministry and seeking the salvation of the lost as a birthing process. He said, “For though you might have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel” (1 Corinthians 4:15). There is pain in prayer and in the process of waiting for our loved ones to be birthed in Christ. It is very painful to watch people grope and flounder and experience unnecessary pain in their process leading up to their being born again. There is pain for the saved who are praying and seeking to save the lost. There is pain for the lost who need saving. Pain precedes spiritual life.

But even after we are born again there are pains associated with spiritual growth and development. We get an idea of these spiritual growing pains from a comment by Paul in his letter to the churches in Galatia. He wrote and told them, “My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you” (Galatians 4:19). These words give us insight into the pains of a pastor who labors in prayer and the ministry of the word for the people Jesus has put in his charge. Some children are spiritually birthed directly through the pastor’s ministry. Sometimes he is called upon by God to adopt those who have been birthed elsewhere. There are spiritual orphans and those who needed adopting into the family of God in a host of unique circumstances. Whoever they are or from wherever they come, the good shepherd loves and cares for the flock God gives him.

There can be a lot of pain for the pastor as he oversees people in various stages of spiritual growth. There are the baby steps of the newly birthed in Christ. The pastor is constantly watching and assuring safety and nourishment for those precious newborns. Then he guides them through their adolescent early years with the Lord. He counsels and disciplines them through the turmoil of their spiritual teens. Sometimes there are conflicts to maneuver through. But he disciples the spiritual children through to marriage to a ministry of some sort. Sometimes such a marriage involves letting them go off on their own. There is always a letting go and letting them go and letting them grow in God. There is a fine balance between intervention and letting go. There are all kinds of ups and downs and turnarounds through the various stages and seasons of spiritual growth. And yes, there is pain involved.

Hannah was a barren woman mocked for her empty womb. She was in one of those duel marriage predicaments where the fellow wife of her husband pumped out prodigies for her husband with prolific reproduction. I’m sure Hannah thought “What about me?” as time went by and still she bore no offspring. To be barren in her culture was evidence of God’s disfavor. But Hannah was a prayerful woman of God.

Hannah was unwilling and didn’t sense that her barrenness was from the Lord. Therefore she turned to the Lord with her “bitterness of soul, and prayed to the Lord and wept in anguish” (1 Samuel 1:10). She poured out her heart desperately before the Lord. Desperate prayers have a way of getting through to the Lord. The Lord is compassionate and when He sees one of His people despairing and desperately crying out to Him it moves Him; it gets hold of His heart. When that happens things change.

Hannah cried out to the Lord. But why this pain of barrenness? Perhaps it was to bring Hannah to the end of herself. Perhaps the Lord was working through pain to bring Hannah to the point of full consecration and appreciation for the child that he would give her. Perhaps it was God’s way, through pain, to purify the situation. So Hannah, at the end of herself, totally consumed by her painful predicament, committed to return to the Lord any child He would give her. That’s what God must have been looking for because shortly thereafter Hannah was pregnant and gave birth to Samuel (1 Samuel 1). Samuel would grow to become a man of God that would be an instrument of God’s reviving His people Israel (cf. 1 Samuel 3ff.).

When Samuel was born, true to Jesus words, there is no mention from Hannah of any pains associated with the birth of her boy. All we see is her expression of joy. “My heart rejoices in the LORD; my horn is exalted in the LORD. I smile at my enemies, because I rejoice in Your salvation. No one is holy like the LORD, for there is none besides you, nor is there any rock like our God” (1 Samuel 2:1-2). There is no sign of bitterness or resentment from this woman of God greatly used by God. All we see is joyful full surrender and submission to God. She is caught up and embraced by God in the joy of His fulfillment in and through her.

Are you experiencing some pain? Are you discouraged by some barrenness; something that is missing in your life? Maybe you are in need of a second birth. If that is the case, if you haven’t yet admitted and turned from your sins to God and trusted in Jesus as your Savior, if you haven’t by faith in Christ received God’s gift of forgiveness for your sins, why not do so now? Sin in life works death. Living in sin is like a long drawn out debilitating battle with cancer. Sin breaks us down and inflicts pain after pain.

Sometimes sin works beneath the surface to deaden us. Often we aren’t even aware of our infection with sin until the Holy Spirit diagnoses it to us. Then we have to deal with the death sentence. And it doesn’t take long to understand we don’t have the cure ourselves. We need Jesus. The end of sin is death. But Jesus died for us on the cross. Because of that we can go to God and as we trust in Jesus as our Savior and Lord we can ask Him to forgive our sin because Jesus paid our painful debt for us. When we do that we will experience our second birth, a spiritual birth as the Holy Spirit indwells us.

But what about if we have been born again? What about if we know Jesus and are in pain? What if we are experiencing spiritual growing pains? What if we are laboring to see Christ birthed in others or to see a ministry grow? What if we are going through the pregnancy of something God is doing in and through us? Is there a word from God for those going through life pains? Yes there is. To those going through life pains the LORD says, “Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise; ‘For yet a little while, and He who is coming will come and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith; but if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him.’ But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul” (Hebrews 10:35-39). Receive that my pain filled friend.

When a woman is pregnant she knows there is none months of gradually growing pain until the birth. Sometimes a pregnancy is early; sometimes it is late. Sometimes a pregnancy is given up on; that is called abortion. Sometimes abortion is natural; sometimes it is not. Don’t abort what God is seeking to birth in and through you. Press on to delivery. God’s guarantee is that in the end there will be “great reward.” Endure a little longer. Wait on Him. Do the “will of God.” “Receive the promise.” Just a “little while” longer and He “will come and will not tarry.” “Live by faith.” Don’t “draw back.” The Lord is saddened at the lost pleasure of those who don’t proceed to birth His plans. Don’t take a detour to “perdition.” Press on and “believe to the saving of the soul” whoever that soul might be. And remember, “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 15:58). Take comfort in your labor. Press on through your life pregnancy because, “Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass” (1 Thessalonians 5:24 NASB). Let the life pains give birth.