When we appreciate that Christ died to set us free from the bondage of our old ways of sexual immorality and joined us to Him that we might be formed into His image, we begin to find delight in the holiness and purity that He wills for us.

Living in this world, Christians struggle with sexual sin from the inside of their hearts and from the outside. On the one hand, believers find themselves living in a culture that parades sexual deviancy as if it were a virtue, an acceptable way to define one’s identity in a society that welcomes open exposure as a norm. “Come to us, celebrate your sexual identity, practice whatever makes you happy, there is no judgment,” they say. Sadly, many have listened and ruined their lives (see Prov. 7).

On the other hand, believers often feel powerless over the lust that arises from within. This shameful experience often leads many Christians to bear the problem alone, with a rather hopeless outlook that maybe this deep struggle indicates that they are not true Christians. Many believers, therefore, live in guilty silence, hoping that one day the problem will simply go away and assuming that little can be done to overcome powerful indwelling lust.

This is a problem, I add, that indicts everyone if we understand Jesus’ words, “Everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matt. 5:28). Who will cast the first stone?

Believers often feel confused, ashamed, and unable to overcome sexual sin. Yet there is indeed good news for the believer in the struggle against sexual sin. The Lord has called us to holiness in how we conduct ourselves sexually. If our Lord commands this, we can trust Him that He also promises us His help, by the Holy Spirit, to lead a sexually pure life for His glory.

Encouragement for the Battle

Many people who claim faith in Christ struggle with pornography addiction, engage in fornication, practice cohabitation outside marriage, dress immodestly, and entertain lustful thoughts and desires. Yet it is important to observe a fundamental difference between those who live in sin without repentance and those who battle sexual sin in such a way that leads to godly sorrow that produces genuine repentance. As 1 John 3:6 states, “No one who abides in him keeps on sinning.” John is describing those who engage in willful, habitual sin with a mindset that such behavior is permissible as Christians. To such a person, John responds by saying that those who keep on sinning have never seen Christ or known Him.

What John describes above is not what a true believer thinks about sexual sin. Appreciating this encouragement is vital for making progress in cultivating sexual purity. It is one thing for someone to practice sexual immorality as a way of life but quite another thing to avoid the temptations at the inception and to turn away from the sin if committed. Here the Scriptures provide great instruction to help the believer cultivate sexual holiness as a child of God, far different from what amounts to blatantly antinomian, licentious sexual behavior.

Believers are to appreciate that the battle against sexual sin toward godly repentance is evidence itself of the sanctifying work of the Spirit. When Paul describes in Romans 7 the war in the believer’s heart over sin, he encourages the believer by reminding him, “It is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me” (v. 17). Paul is not excusing sin, but he is making a distinction between the regenerate heart and the body of sin that is still present until glorification.

This distinction between the inward and outward man is important so that we are realistic about the ongoing presence of sin. We are not perfected until glorification. The believer must remember that the ongoing presence of sin does not make him an unbeliever. The fact that genuine sorrow and repentance happens in the believer’s life, in light of this struggle, is evidence of the Spirit’s work, even if it is only a small beginning (Heidelberg Catechism 114).

One cannot overestimate the importance of embracing this truth in the cultivation of sexual holiness. When the believer sins, it does no good to wallow in sin as if he is not a believer; rather, he must learn to appreciate the Spirit’s convicting work and continually return to the Lord and confess his sin. God promises that He is faithful and just, every time, to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). We must believe His gospel promise. This struggle is evidence of a genuine Christian faith.

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