In this Christmas episode, the staff at Pure Life tell the Christmas story from Scripture, and give testimony of the work of Christ in their lives. Host Jim Lewis shares a Christmas devotion from John chapter 1.

From our Christmas episode, host Jim Lewis shares a message from John 1, looking at the incarnation of Christ and its impact on our lives. Jesus is God over us, for us, with us, in and through us.  (From #365 - A Christmas Podcast)

John 1:1-14

In the beginning was the Word

and the Word was with God

And the Word was God;

He was with God in the beginning.

Through Him all things were made;

Without Him nothing was made that has been made.

In Him was life, and that life was the light of men

The light shines in the darkness

And the darkness has not understood it.

He was in the world,  

And though the world was made through Him

the world did not recognize Him.

He came to that which was His own,

But His own did not receive Him.

Yet to all who received Him

To those who believed in His name

He gave the right to become children of God

The Word became Flesh

And dwelt among us

We have seen His glory

The Glory of the One and Only

who came from the Father

Full of Grace and Truth.

This marvelous and beautifully poetic passage of Holy Scripture, in its own unique way, tells the Christmas Story. True there is no manger in John’s telling. There is no star, no shepherds, no wise men. He does not mention Joseph or Mary. He doesn’t even call Jesus by name. But we all know Who the passage is about. He is the central character in God’s salvation story. He is the focal point, the star, if you will. And so He should be. Jesus is the “Glorious One and Only.” And we need to keep Him first and foremost, not only in our Christmas celebrations, but in every day of our lives.

The Word of God puts forth several truths in this passage today, truths about Jesus: who He is, why He came. These are Truths that, if we receive them, accept and apply them to our lives, will transform us. The Truth will change you. I want to use the prepositions, “over,” “with,” “for,” “in” and “through” to see the person and work of Jesus Christ. These are Christmas Truths that Transform.  

Christ Jesus is God Over Us

The first three verses teach us about Christ’s Supremacy. He is God Over Us.  

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him; and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.” (John 1:1-3)

John clearly teaches here the preexistence of Christ; that is, that before there was a Virgin mother and child, long before there was a manger in Bethlehem, indeed, long before there was a universe and a planet earth and a human race, Christ, the Word, was with God and was God. The construction of the Greek gives this verse even more force. It says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was face to face with God, and God was the Word.”  

Christ Jesus and God the Father are one. The baby Jesus we worship at Christmas is not a mere mortal baby. The picture of the baby Jesus in the manger is a picture of God becoming man. We call it the Incarnation: God, Who is Spirit, putting on human flesh. Before Christ came to the manger, He existed in eternity as God.  

In fact, John tells us that it was through the preexistent eternal Christ that this universe and everything in it came into existence. He is the Creator God. “All things came into being by Him.” The Christ of Christmas is the God of eternity.  

Colossians 1:16-18 gives us another graphic picture of the supremacy and preeminence of Christ. He is Lord of Creation, and more especially, He is Lord Over His Church. “For by Him all things were created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers, or authorities — all things have been created by Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the first-born from the dead; so that He Himself might come to have first place in everything.”  

There is no doubt what the Bible teaches about Christ, that He existed as God, that by Him all things were created, and that He is the head of the Church. He is over all things. It is Christ who is supreme. He is God over us.  

The bottom line for you and me is simple. He is Lord. It is to Christ we owe our allegiance. He is the God before Whom every knee should bow. He is the God to Whom our worship is due. Is Jesus Lord in your Life?

Christ Jesus is God For Us

Second, the Word of God teaches us on this Christmas Sunday that Jesus Christ is our Advocate. He is God for us.

“In Him was life, and that life was the light of men; The light shines in the darkness, And the darkness has not understood it.” (John 1:4-5)

For some people, the thought that Jesus is the reigning Lord of the universe, that He is God Over Us, might be a frightening thing. And indeed, the Bible does teach that Jesus will also be given the task of judging us at the end of time. The Judgment has been assigned to Jesus; it is before the Judgment Seat of Christ that we will all one day appear.  

But Jesus is a King who loves His subjects. He is the Lord who came to save us. He is not only God Over Us; He is God for us.

We see in Christmas just how much God is for us. In the birth of Jesus, we see God becoming a man. And the whole reason He was made a man was so He could die for us, that we might have eternal life. Doesn’t it say in John 3:16 and 17, “For God so loved that world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to judge the world; but that the world should be saved through Him”? The birth of Christ should testify to us of the love of God. He loved us enough to come to this earth and be made a man; and then to die for us on a cruel cross, that we might be set free.  

The Cross of Calvary is the greatest testimony of God’s love. “But God has demonstrated His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Jesus revealed His love for us through the greatest act of self-sacrifice a man could perform:  He gave His very life for us. What more could God do to prove He was for us?  

Jesus left a heavenly throne to endure the death on the Cross. He gave up His eternal glory to be born in a stable. And then He gave His life to set us free. He is God for us.

Christ Jesus is God With Us.

The third word is about the incredible humility of Jesus. Christ Jesus is God With Us.

“And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14)  

Verse 14 tells us that Christmas is all about the Eternal Word, equal in every way with God and God Himself, putting on human flesh. Jesus became one of us to live as one of us. He did it, as foreshadowed in Isaiah, by being born supernaturally through the borrowed womb of a virgin girl.

Matthew, chapter one, verses 21-23: “‘And she will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for it is He who will save His people from their sins.’ Now all this took place that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled, saying, ‘Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,’ which translated means, ‘God with us.’”  

Jesus is Immanuel; He is God with us. God has come to be one of us. Christ has identified with us. That is what the babe in the manger is all about.  

One of my favorite Christmas illustrations is an explanation of why Jesus came. I’m sure many of you have heard it, but I share for those who haven’t because it explains the incarnation of Jesus so well.

The story is told of a man who wanted to believe in Christmas but couldn’t. It made no sense to him. His heart was untouched by the story of the babe born in Bethlehem and laid in a manger. He was home one bitter cold December day when he heard a strange noise at his picture window. The sudden chill had threatened some small birds, who saw the warmth and light of his fire, and they were hopping about his window sill, and some were flying right into the glass, trying to get where it was warm. His heart was touched by their plight. The snow covering the ground was frozen solid. No food. The bitter chill would surely kill them. He went into the yard, and tried to shoo them into his barn. His waving only frightened and scattered them. He tried to lure them into the warm barn with crumbs. They ate some, but did not follow. He soon ran out of ideas. How could he help these pitiful creatures from sure and agonizing death? He thought, “If I could only speak their language. If I could only, for a brief time, become a bird, and show them that I mean them no harm, that I only want to help them and to care for them - if I could become like them, then I could save them...” At that moment, the bells from a neighboring church began to ring out a Christmas carol. And then He knew. Suddenly Christmas made sense. That is why Jesus came. To be one of us. To speak our language. To show us God’s love. And to save us.  

He is Immanuel. He is God with us. That’s the message of Christmas.  

Christ Jesus is God In and Through Us.

Finally, there is the truth of Christ’s Indwelling. He is God in us and He is God living and working through us.  

“He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came unto His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” (John 1:10-13)  

This God who is over us, for us, and with us, came to live in us and through us. Here we see Christ’s potentiality, that He is God in and through us.  

Major Ian Thomas, founder of the Torchbearers of Capernwray, England, used to say, in his British accent and characteristic zeal: “The purpose of the atoning death of Jesus Christ, the goal of the Gospel, is not to get any man, any woman, any boy or any girl out of hell and into heaven. The goal of the Gospel is to get God out of heaven and into you.”

The indwelling Christ. Jesus on the inside, living in your heart and restoring your inner nature from the inside out. And he used to use three illustrations.

An oil lamp is created functionally to give light. It has a reservoir wherein one puts oil. It takes oil in the lamp to make the lamp behave like a lamp. Oil makes the lamp do what it was designed and created to do. Without oil in the lamp, it’s still a lamp, but good for nothing, except to be used as a doorstop or a paperweight. Oil in the lamp makes the lamp behave like a lamp.

Gas in the car - same thing. Without gas in the tank it’s still a car, but not much of one. If you forget to gas up and you run out, which many of you have done, the car stops behaving like a car - and you’re stuck. It was designed and created to function fully like a car only when there is gas in the tank.

God created you uniquely among all creation to be the physical, visible image of the invisible God. He said, “Let us make mankind in our image, after our likeness” so that when the rest of creation looks at mankind, they will know what God is like. That’s your function; That’s why you were created.  

But man sinned. Lost his way. Forfeited the inner Holy Spirit that completes him and makes him different from the animal kingdom and makes him fully human.

So Jesus came. His death purchased our forgiveness. His atoning sacrifice cleared the way for us to receive Him. When a man surrenders in faith to the Lord Jesus, accepts His death by faith, receives Him as Lord, then the Holy Spirit comes to dwell within us. The Spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit of God returns to restore us to our true, fully human nature.

Now it takes oil in the lamp to make the lamp behave like a lamp - like it was created to function. It takes gas in the car - and it takes God in you to restore you to relationship - give you abundant life, and make you fit for heaven. Oil in the lamp, gas in the car - God in the man. That’s the Gospel, and that’s why Christ came - to get God out of heaven and into you. Listen:

“I have been crucified with Christ; and 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 delivered Himself up for me.” We have the privilege of having the Son of God live His life in us and through us.

Martin Luther’s favorite analogy was of an iron poker placed in the fire. You put the iron in the fire, and as it abides in the fire, soon the fire abides in the iron. The metal begins to glow hot and red, and the fire exists within the metal, fire and metal together become one.

As we place our faith in Christ, as we receive Him, we become children of God. His Spirit indwells us. He becomes the fire within us. He gives us our lives. He restores us to God. He saves us from evil and He saves us into glory. He is God in us.

All of this is Jesus Christ. He is God over us. He is God for us. He is God with us. And He is God in and through us.

Sexual Sin comes with a price. Steve Gallagher continues to teach us the 20 Truths that Helped Me In My Battle With Porn Addiction.

We deal not only with the high cost of sin in relationships, finances and separation from God, but we also share the hope for restoration that is found in the Cross.

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Sexual Sin is a Liar. That’s the plain truth of it. It makes promises it cannot keep and will let you down and disappoint every time.  Today we are beginning a new series based on a series of teachings by Steve Gallagher called 20 Truths that Helped Me In My Battle With Porn Addiction. One of these insightful, biblical teachings will be featured as a segment in each new episode. This first segment is about the lies and deception that are all a part of sexual sin.

Host Jim Lewis offers a biblical definition of mercy, looking at the "mercy words" of the Old and New Testament, and describes how being a recipient of God's mercy and then a giver of God's mercy makes all the difference in the life of a man who needs freedom from sin. (From #360 - What Role Does Mercy Play in Freedom from Porn?)

Mercy isn’t a complicated theological concept. Most people understand that when God bestows mercy, He is withholding from us the wrath or punishment that our sins deserve; or He is bestowing something that we desperately need but feel undeserving to ask. When we hear the afflicted in the New Testament Gospels cry out, “Son of David, Have mercy on me!” we understand what that means. Please deal with me compassionately.

There are three interrelated concepts in Scripture that describe the merciful character of God. The Hebrew chesed is mercy, Chen is grace, and RuCHam is compassion. That these words are related is clearly seen in the many places they appear together in Hebrew poetry as parallel and complimentary concepts. This is nowhere more clearly displayed than in Psalms 51.1 where David cries out, “Be gracious to me , O God (the verb Chanan, extend grace) According to your loving kindness (the noun CHesed, mercy) According to the greatness of You Compassion (the noun Ra

CHam, tender compassion) blot out my transgressions. David assigns to God these divine character traits: that He extends undeserved, unmerited good favor upon those who do not deserve it and cannot earn it. He is gracious; He not only withholds deserved judgment, but in love He meets the desperate needs of a man’s condition: physical, emotional and spiritual. His provision of needs from food to forgiveness, and even chastisement and discipline, are all expressions of His mercy. And God is compassionate. While this is true of the Father it is clearly more visible in the Son, who demonstrated His Father’s character perfectly, in that when Jesus was moved with compassion He responded with tears, with weeping, and then also with works of healing. The three corresponding Greek words of the New Testament are eleos for mercy, charis for grace, and splagxnon for compassion. All are used to describe Jesus and so all reflect in Him the character of God.

There is absolutely no difference in character in the members of the Godhead, so that the Father, Son and Spirit are absolutely alike in their attributes. So if the Father is merciful, gracious and compassionate, so is the Son, and so is the Spirit. Each is a perfect reflection of the other. So if God brought punishment upon Israel, or if the Holy Spirit brings conviction upon us in our sin, that is not an absence of His mercy but an expression of it. He disciplines in order to produces holiness, which is a very kind and gracious thing to do, regardless of how painful it may be in the moment.

Every man who passes through Pure Life came here deep in habitual sin. And every man who leaves free from his sin has come to realize that he has been the recipient of great mercy from God. His process of gaining freedom at some point hinged on him coming to the Cross of Jesus Christ, making a thorough repentance of his life of sin and his depraved soul, and throwing himself on the mercy of God, seeking a real forgiveness and cleansing of all sin. This is not the typical cheap prayer offered up by the man who only wants enough absolution to assuage his conscience until the next time he gives over to his sin. This is life-changing, bone-shaking repentance that repudiates sin and turns from it once for all. And he experiences a flood of mercy that he knows comes from a heart of grace, because seeing his great need, he knows beyond doubt he is unworthy and undeserving. In compassion, God is gracious and merciful.

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After his true conversion at the Cross, things really begin to change for him. Now, having the Holy Spirit directing his life from the inside, he begins to display the character of God towards those around him. His long-standing habits of anger, selfishness, pride, fear, and lust begin to be replaced with the fruit of the Spirit. And he begins to show mercy to those around him.

In his parable about forgiveness in Matthew 18, Jesus has the king saying to an unmerciful, unforgiving servant, “‘Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave, in the same way that I had mercy on you?’” When our men come to apply that verse to their lives, that as recipients of great mercy, it is now incumbent upon them to be bestowers of mercy, their lives change even more. They begin to look for opportunities to do mercy. They go out of their way to be merciful. It’s quite wonderful to behold. Man who were completely selfish and self-consumed, nothing but takers, now prevent in their desire to bless others by giving. We call it “reversing the flow.” From being a taker, to being a giver. God does this in the lives of men whom He saves and sets free. And He does it through pouring His mercy into their hearts.

Paul wrote to Titus, “For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” Titus 3:3-7

We are the recipients of great mercy. It is now our task and our great joy to extend His mercy to others, to family, to friends, to our brothers and sisters in Christ, and to a lost and dying world who needs a Savior.

In today's episode we interview April Cassidy, a Christian and author of The Peaceful Wife. She describes for us her journey from being a very disappointed and unhappy wife to being someone who is joyful, peaceful and fulfilled.

She discovered that the source of her discontent was her own disobedience to God, and that when she began to repent and put into practice the teaching of Scripture concerning her own life in Christ, that made all the difference in her marriage as well.

As we conclude our current series, we ask the question, "What Role Does Grace Play in Freedom from Porn?

Here is a message from PLM founder Steve Gallagher as he explores the power of God's grace, not just to provide forgiveness for our sins when we repent, but to enables to Christian to say no to sin and live upright and godly lives.

Small gatherings have always been an integral part of Christianity. Jesus, Himself, lived in a small group as He and His disciples traveled throughout the countryside together. He had those occasions when He spoke to the multitudes, but He spent enormous amounts of time building spiritual character into the small band of men under His personal care.

Later, during the early days of the Church, believers quietly met together in various intimate settings. “And day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart.” (Acts 2:46) Throughout Church history, and especially during times of vehement persecution, small groups and home fellowships have played a crucial role in Christianity.

The concept of a small group of believers meeting together for the purpose of encouraging each other spiritually certainly has biblical and historical roots. In our present situation, where Christian men are continually bombarded with sexual imagery and temptation, support groups have emerged as the modern-day, streamlined method of providing aid to those who struggle.

However, as in any form of counseling, the effectiveness of support groups varies greatly. Some offer genuine help, while others actually do more harm than good. Major pitfalls can be avoided through a proper understanding of the dynamics involved in running a successful group. A group which God can use to change lives needs two essential components: biblical accountability and the proper goal.

1. The Place of Accountability

Many of the support groups operating in today’s churches have been founded by men who are themselves struggling with habitual sin. Viewing accountability as their primary solution, they start their own group in the hopes of helping themselves and others at the same time.

Bringing secret sin into the open plays a vital role in escaping habitual sin. But biblical accountability was never meant to be a group of men sitting in a circle discussing their failures. Such a setting may be somewhat helpful to men who need to bring their sin out into the open, but there is no inherent power in such a situation to set them free.

The concept of accountability is in Scripture, but not in the weak way in which it is often used today. The typical struggling Christian who attends a support group meeting looks to church services to be spiritually fed and then to his group as his primary weapon to attack his addiction. Unfortunately, this game plan usually isn’t very effective. He needs something more.

Take Bill, for instance. He goes to a solid church where other believers regularly enter into genuine worship and where the Word of God is earnestly preached. He also attends a 12-step meeting for Christian sex addicts. And yet, he seems stuck on a merry-go-round of failure, confession and “repentance.” Assuming he sincerely wants freedom, why isn’t he finding it?

He is missing a key ingredient: discipleship. He is not receiving this at church or in his group meetings. A man struggling with sin may hear sermons, but unless he is held accountable to respond to those words, the benefit he derives from them will probably be minimal. He is lost in a crowd of listeners. He can ignore, disregard, even disagree with what he is hearing, and is never required to face the truth of what is being taught.

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Those living in spiritual defeat need a mentor who can walk them through the process of deliverance and lead them into maturity. When a godly man dedicates himself to discipling the struggling brother, something powerful happens. Truth is imparted. Sin is dealt with head-on. The mentor expects change. Most importantly, the man experiences firsthand someone who is walking in the light and confronting him. This is the biblical pattern for accountability.

The apostle Paul mentioned this process in Galatians 6:1 when he called upon believers “who are spiritual” to step forward to help those who have been caught in the trap of sin. The term “spiritual” is defined in the previous chapter of Galatians as: a believer who has a history of crucifying “the flesh and its passions and desires,” (vv. 17, 24); a believer who is led, controlled and influenced by the Holy Spirit (vv. 16, 18, 25); and a believer whose life manifests the fruit of the Spirit (vv. 21-22). Those characteristics should be clearly evidenced in the life of anyone who is put into a position of spiritual leadership.

The truth is that a person can lead another spiritually only as far as he has gone himself. Jesus said, “...if a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit.” (Matthew 15:14) It is helpful to a certain extent to open up with other people about one’s struggles, but real discipleship is far more powerful in its ability to change lives. And the one who is leading them must have an established life in God before he is going to be able to help others.

2. The Proper Goal

The second key to running a group that generates significant results is having the proper goal firmly established in the mind of the group’s leader. Obviously, the goal is to help men become liberated from habitual sin. The problem is that people have differing ideas on what it means to be “free.” To some, freedom means no more than keeping the practice of the addictive sin to a minimum. Lacking an understanding of God’s power to free a man from bondage, the best solution they can offer the man is life-long dependence upon “accountability.”

Accountability has its place, but the more important issue is that the person needs inner transformation. If he doesn’t experience the heart change that is promised in the New Covenant, then, yes, all he can ever hope for is the momentary help which might be afforded him in a support group. Those who have not had their own hearts transformed have little comprehension of, or trust in, God’s power to change a person’s life. Thus, they do not view sin as something that must be renounced and forsaken; they see it as something which should be controlled or “maintained.” This weak attitude toward sin keeps the struggling person in a “white-knuckle” existence, always just one step away from disaster.

If this is the standard that is presented in the group setting, you can rest assured that no one will ever go beyond it. Instead, the standard which should be clearly defined to all participants is complete freedom from the power of sin and complete devotion to a life of holy living.

It should go without saying that this will never be established in the group unless it has become the reality of the leader’s personal life. If he is struggling along, identifying himself with his sin (i.e. “My name is Bruce; I am a sex addict.”), possessing a half-deliverance in his own life, how can he offer any real hope to his followers?

It is my firm conviction that if there isn’t a godly man available who is able to lead others into freedom, then a group should not be started.

The men who come looking for help to a group led by an uncommitted or defeated Christian will only become more disenchanted with Christianity and more cynical toward the belief that God can actually set them free. In other words, a group like that is likely to do more harm than good. It would be better for those sincerely seeking freedom to be driven to desperation by their need—compelled to find their help from God no matter the cost—than to be offered half measures such as a weak support group.

The two essentials of a group which will produce lasting fruit are discipleship and the firmly established goal of true godliness for the life of every man. These two components can only be established by the person in charge. Without a godly leader moving men toward spiritual maturity, the whole group is surely headed for the nearest ditch.

In this exhortation from the ministry chapel, Steve Gallagher challenged the men in the Residential Program to reject the outward forms of American Christianity for the real faith and trust in Jesus that saves and transforms lives.

From Genesis 17:1 he encourages us to live in God’s presence and be blameless.(From #359 - What Role Does Consecration Play in Freedom from Porn?)

I want to read something from Genesis 17.  Really, it's just one statement, but as I was meditating on it, I was thinking about that there are two different forms of Christianity. The easiest way to make it simple is to say that one is outward, and one is inward. That's the simplest way to say it; One is religious, and one is spiritual. One is taken up with the forms of Christianity, the rituals of Christianity, how you look to other people, the image involved; Doing the things that are expected by our Christian culture in America. An outward form of Christianity, there is that.

And all you men in the program came here from that culture. You did that thing, but something was wrong inside, right? Something was lacking inside. It was a spiritual life with God. All right, so just keep that in the back of your mind.

Let me just read these first two verses. “When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him, saying, “I am God Almighty. Live in my presence and be blameless. I will establish my covenant between me and you, and I will multiply you greatly.”

And I wish I could just somehow stamp that into your brain, that when you leave this place, that's all I care about right there. If you would just do that, I would be one happy man. Just live in the presence of God and live a blameless life. Never mind about all the religious stuff, all the outward trappings, how you look and, you know, making sure you dot all the I’s and cross all the T’s of the culture, the Christian culture of our day. Making sure everyone sees you in the way you want them to see you, and that no one could possibly criticize you. Throw that all away and just do this thing. Live in my presence and be blameless. That's it! That's all that God requires of you! Live in His presence and be blameless.

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His presence is there for the taking. You don't have to go home to a dead existence. Something is being put into you while you're here in this place. You are learning to humble yourself before the Lord, to seek Him with all your heart, and if you will live your life that way His presence will fill you inside, and you will take His presence with you when you go home. And then, living a blameless life will not be that difficult. It will be second nature to you, because you will have the Spirit of the Living God indwelling you and influencing you, having a tremendous influence inside of you. That will then translate into the way you live your life when no one else is watching.

Live in my presence and be blameless. Live in my presence and be blameless. That's what the Lord would say to you: Live in my presence and be blameless. Don't worry about all the other stuff. You do that, and you won't go wrong.

Lord I thank You that You are a mighty God. You could show up at any time. Abraham was ninety-nine years old and all of a sudden there You are. His eyes were opened, and he saw the Almighty. And You spoke with him. Then You promised a covenant with him. You promised to multiply him greatly. All you asked of him was to live in Your presence and be blameless.

Lord, as You know, we live in a time when we have allowed the culture to dominate us inwardly, to dominate our hearts and minds. We’ve allowed ourselves, our inward wife to be overrun by the spirit of this world, all the while keeping up a religious appearance to those around us.

Lord, I just pray that You will get it into us all, the importance of living in union with You in humility before you. Walking with You and conversing with You. Living in Your presence. Walking blamelessly before You. We just worship You, Lord. You are worthy of our worship. You are worthy to receive our praise. We honor you, Lord; we glorify you, in Jesus’ Name.

Marriage may seem like the very solution to a person’s struggle with pornography. But if that were true, why are so many marriages devastated by sexual addiction?

What many people find is that while marriage may alleviate the temptations for a time, a deeper stronghold lurks within the persons heart. Pornography addiction is only the tip of a greater root issue.

Fifty years ago, the idea of marrying someone addicted to porn would have been out of the question, especially for professing Christians. But sadly, in the days that we live in, it has become a concern for many women.

In this episode, Josh Bergstrom tells us his own story. It began with the same hope of freedom and the devastating pain when he discovered that marriage was not the cure. But through the years, the Lord has opened his eyes to truths that have set him free and many others just like him.

There is nothing easier than addiction. All we have to do is follow the trail of our desires. It all comes so naturally. In fact, it is so natural that one of our reasons for giving ourselves over to our desires is, “I am only human.” If God enters into our thinking, we suspect even he might be understanding and lenient because he created us this way. Look at the numbers: is there a sentient male who has not struggled with sexual sin? The problem seems to go much deeper than what we do. The problem is who we are.

Sexual addiction asks us to consider what it means to be truly human. When you read the biographies of the Old Testament, humanness seems to mean that we are constitutionally programmed to sin. Like a foe who is stronger, sexual sin will overtake us in the end. We might be able to escape it for a time, but defeat is inevitable. So, we put up a good effort, try to keep the really bad sexual sins at bay, recognize that we are going to be defeated, then, when we are, dust ourselves off and start all over again. There is, of course, some truth to this, but it isn’t the whole story.

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Then came THE man. Jesus is the one who revealed true humanness. Jesus showed us how we were intended to be, and, apparently, the way we deal with temptation is a critical feature of the way we were intended to be. Immediately after being formally proclaimed as the eternal son at his baptism, Jesus’ first act as recorded in Mark’s gospel was to go out into the wilderness for the very purpose of being tempted by Satan (Mark 1:9-13). He had some undoing to do. He was going to say “no” where we said “yes.”

The last bivouac into the wilderness by God’s people was a train wreck. It was a time of idolatry followed by a bacchanalian festival, complaining, rebellion against God and his appointed leaders, and essentially saying “yes” to Satan at every mile marker. It is with this failure in mind that Jesus voluntarily walked into the wilderness, said “no” to temptations that are stronger than anything we will experience, and, in so doing changed everything.

He didn’t change the fact that we will encounter Satan during our vulnerable times. On this side of heaven spiritual battle is the norm. The balance of power, however, has changed. The second Adam won, and we too will win as we are given his Spirit. True humanness is, to our surprise, not about giving in to temptation. Instead, we are created to say “no” to both Satan’s devices and our own desires that oppose the character of God.

What difference does this make? Try it and see. Try meditating on Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness. Consider how he did it as our representative, succeeding where we had failed, and he did it as our example, revealing to us our true design. Notice how you find a certain satisfaction when you resist temptation. It isn’t easy, but it is good, right and natural. When we give ourselves to our desires we feel robotic, more akin to instinct-driven animals than liberated humans. When we say “yes” to Jesus and engage the battle with our entire being, we get tired but the fatigue is like the contentment of a good day’s work.

Sanctification is not understood by many Christians, but it is an essential part of our salvation. God desires not just to forgive our sins, but to make us holy so that we live holy and blameless lives. Sanctification plays a crucial role in freedom from sexual sin. (From #358 - What Role Does Sanctification Play in Freedom from Porn?)

Sanctification. It’s probably the biblical concept that is least understood among most Christians. Seldom preached any more, it is at the very heart of our salvation, and the work that God longs to do in the lives of His people.

So, let’s first define it. When the word appears in the OT, as in Exodus 13.12, it is the word QaDaSh. When it appears in the NT, as in John 17.17, it is the is word ‘agiadzo. Both of these words mean the same thing. The words mean to set apart, to regard as holy and to use for holy purposes; The word then came to mean to cleanse or purify, and to offer up and dedicate to God.

We translate the words differently and think of them differently depending on who is doing the action. When a man is sanctifying himself or something else, he is purifying or dedicating something to God. He is an imperfect man dedicating something to a perfect God and asking God to regard this offering as set apart for Him. And so offerings, temple furnishings, sacrifices and the like, and even people were sanctified to the LORD. When God does the sanctifying, He is a holy God declaring something as set apart to Him and declaring it to be holy. When God sanctifies the Christian believer, He declares him to be holy by the means of the blood of the Cross, but then engages him in the ongoing process of making him holy in his attitudes, words and behavior.

So there are two different sides to sanctification: there is the part that God does, that only He can do. And then there is the part that people do, that we all do, that only we can do. We’ll talk about God’s part first.

Because God alone is holy, set apart, and perfect in all His perfections, only He can declare something as holy. And only God has the power to make something holy. He has determined that He will have a people who not only are set apart for His own possession, who live as dedicated unto Him, who love Him unreservedly of their own will and seek to do His will in the earth, but who live morally blameless lives before Him in honor and obedience. God’s purpose from the beginning was to have a people who lived holy lives. This was true of Israel and today is true of the Church of Jesus Christ. This has always been His purpose.

This is made possible only through the Cross of Jesus Christ. The purpose of the Cross is our sanctification. Jesus died there so that He might bear the weight of our sins and secure our forgiveness. His blood was the covering for our sins and the purchase price of our redemption. Because of the Cross God is able to freely justify us and grant us forgiveness for all our sins.

But salvation is more than just forgiveness. God intends to make us holy in our behavior. He really intends to deliver us out of our sins and conform our behavior into the likeness of Christ. He intends and expects our obedience and for us to live a blameless life. This is all part of our sanctification, the putting off of our old flesh with its sins, and the putting on of the new natures with the fruit of the Spirit. Thus, our sanctification is not a one-time event, but a lifelong process that begins when we are born again. God begins to make us new, and He continues that sanctification process daily for the rest of our lives. As we walk in faith and obedience, seeking His will, desiring His guidance, surrendering to His Lordship, He works to transform our minds and conform our behavior to the likeness of blameless Christ.

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What Role does Sanctification play in a man gaining freedom from sexual sin? It should be obvious that this is God’s will for every man. Every man must come to the Cross, repent of his sin, ask the Lord to take it from Him, seek the Lord to be rid of it, and then walk in obedience to Him as He takes this sin out of our lives. We’ll talk more about that in a few moments. Right now know that there is a work of sanctification that only God can do. He is the One who forgives, who cleanses, who declares as holy. He is the One who empowers a man with the Holy Spirit to resist temptation and to set a man free from slavery to sin. He is the One who sanctifies.

I began by talking about the work of sanctification that only God can do. But our conversation would not be complete without looking at the other side. There is the part of sanctification that is up to us to do. We have to cooperate in the work of God by being obedient.  

Many Christians are surprised anymore that someone still teaches holiness, as though it is a theme that is out of date; but God has not changed His Word or His mind on the matter. The Bible still says that God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world so that we should be holy and blameless in Him. Paul still tells us that God’s will for our lives is our sanctification, and specifically defines holiness as abstinence  from sexual sin. Peter still writes “but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, “YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY.” And the writer to the Hebrews still has it that we are to “Pursue peace with all men, and the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.”

Out part is to come out from among the world and be separate; to be in the world but not of the world. Our part is to seek every day to be rid of sin by repenting and forsaking it. Our part is to pursue holiness, to run hard after it, by desiring above all things to live a life pleasing to the Lord, and by only pursuing those things that are pleasing to Him and according to the will of Christ.

This is not average, cheap grace, American Christianity that insults God and comforts the wayward and backslidden in his sin with promises of God’s forgiveness. This is real, biblical Christianity that empowers a man to resist sin and walk in obedience, so that he not only wears the righteousness of Christ by faith, but actually walks in righteousness and faithfulness before God in his daily life.