Romans 2:16 (NKJV) “… in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel.”
We all assume that our secrets are safe. That no one will find out what we’ve done in secret. It’s in the hidden places that we find safety and security. That no one really knows who we are and what we’ve done.
The false sense of security that many professed believers have is that if we sin, we could quickly ask the Lord for forgiveness and it’s like we’ve achieved a free pass to cross into darkness, and then cross back into getting right with God in less than a second.
But if we really look at it, we’re abusing the grace of God.
What is it like before God?
Before the Lord, it looks like we could slap Him in the face and not get slapped back. We plea the blood of Jesus before His judgment gets a good head of steam to smack us.
Paul mentioned this about those that take communion.
1 Corinthians 11:27-32 (NKJV)
“Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup.
For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep.
For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world.”
How many times have I taken communion in an unworthy manner?
Thousands of times.
I remember the instruction of the Lord that was given to the man healed at the pool of Bethesda. The Lord Jesus instructed him, “Go, and sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you.”
Is it possible to sin no more?
Absolutely. We can stop sinning anytime we want. Well, look at it like this. To sin, you have to stop being righteous.
Porn and self gratification, commonly called masturbation is a stronghold that need to be completely demolished.
Many people struggle with porn and masturbation because it’s an intense pleasure with instant gratification without involving yourself with a person. But look carefully at what the Lord Jesus said about the thoughts of adultery in the hearts of people.
Matthew 5:27-28 (NKJV)
“You have heard that it was said to those of old, You shall not commit adultery.’ 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 15:18-20 (NKJV)
“But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man…”
You see, what the heart does is that we look to do things in secret and then it manifests outwardly.
Remember what James 1:14-15 (NKJV) says?
“But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.”
The place where we can’t see is where desire and enticement is conceived. It then takes us to the next level. It gives birth to sin. And deep inside, where it’s not seen, death takes place. A severance from life. But even worse.
The trap door of departure of this life. Go back to communion. One of the things that Paul said is that those that take communion. “Fall asleep.” This is the physical judgment of a sin not crucified or brought to the place of mortification.
Our secret lives will be brought out by Jesus and judged.
At the time of committing the sin, we’re not concerned about the Lord Jesus judging us. We’re concerned about fulfilling the desires of the flesh and mind. The pleasure it brings. But it’s a false pleasure. What we’ve done is that we’ve suppressed any sense of judgment because we’re looking forward to that pleasure of secret sexual sin.
But this happens all of the time.
After the climax, a sense of guilt hits us like a ton of bricks.
It’s our conscience informing us that we’ve sinned. No one escapes the conscience because the Lord placed this in us to let us know that we’ve sinned against Him. Just because you ignore it or even suppress it, doesn’t mean that it won’t tell on you.
1 John 3:20-22 (NKJV)
“For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God. And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.”
“If our heart condemns us” is your conscience. The word science means knowledge.
Look at the etymological origin of the word.
“Middle English (also in the sense ‘inner thoughts or knowledge’): via Old French from Latin conscientia, from conscient- ‘being privy to’, from the verb conscire, from con- ‘with’ + scire ‘know’.”
So con (with) science (knowledge).
God placed this in you because you are with knowledge about right and wrong. As soon as you do something, your conscience will let you know whether it’s right or wrong.
So with porn and masturbation, you can argue to pursue it with some of the best arguments in the world, but your conscience will not agree with an argument that is wrong. Why? Because God created you with a conscience. Even if you didn’t know the Scriptures, the conscience will immediately inform you of what’s right or wrong.
Now Romans 3:20 we see that “…by the law is the knowledge of sin.”
But you already know that lying is wrong. You already know that murder is wrong. You already know that stealing is wrong. You already know that when you look at a man or woman with lust in your heart, it is wrong. You already know that when you’re hostile towards your father and mother, you’re wrong. You already know that when you’re on the witness stand and you bear false witness, you’re wrong. You know that when you use the name of the Lord in vain, you’re wrong. You already know that when you want what a person has and you’re willing to do anything wrong to take it, it’s wrong.
So it is with porn and masturbation.
The only reason why people watch porn is to pretend to have sex with that person or persons, to release sexual tension through masturbation.
You’re struggling with this because it’s so much apart of your life that everything revolves around it.
Everything suffers in order for you to achieve the pleasure with a false sense of impunity. You don’t think it will harm anyone because you’re doing it in secret to release sexual tension. But deep within you, your conscience is telling you that you’re wrong.
“Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God.“
Could you honestly say that you have complete 100% confidence towards God?
To masturbate, you don’t need an image of another person. All you need is the ability to pretend to have sex.
2 Timothy 3:4-5 (NKJV)
“…lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power.”
The world of fantasy is the world of being selfish.
It takes a complete willingness to do without this pleasure.
The Lord Jesus gives the solution. Radical amputation. Plucking out the eye(s), cutting off the hand(s) (see Matthew 5:29-30 and Hebrews 12:4). What are we willing to do to stop sinning sexually? To what lengths are we willing to avoid being cast into hell, soul and body?
When you have reached this place, porn and masturbation becomes a thing of the past because you don’t want to harbor secrets that the Lord will judge us for. We don’t want to assume that we’re saved and be found in hell because we were in sin all of the time.
Those that have a form of godliness are pretenders. Masquerading around as believers when all the time, we faked our way. Fooling others but never fooling the Lord.
Pretending ended for me when the Lord showed me the trap door. At anytime, I could have slipped through into hell because I loved sinning sexual sins in secret. Pretending to ask God for forgiveness but returning to sin again.
My request for forgiveness was a figment of my imagination. Pretending to be godly, but it was without power.
The trap door would have opened, I would have descended into hell, and I would have deserved it.
“The soul that sins it shall die.”
God doesn’t lie and He is deadly serious.
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