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Colin Smith: A new love is stronger than an old habit. And the first step in overcoming the power of temptation therefore is to cultivate your love for Christ. He died because of sin. He died to bring you out of sin. He has cleansed from sin. How can you go there?

Steve Hiller: You're listening to Open the Bible Weekend with Pastor Colin Smith. And Colin, today we continue a message that we began last time, dealing with the seventh commandment. And already, I think we heard something extremely helpful. The first step in overcoming the power of temptation is to cultivate a love for Christ.

Colin Smith: Yeah, at the end of the day, every time we sin, we take a particular action because we think we'll find more happiness by doing it than we would find by declining. Ultimately, there is a motive of happiness that lies behind every choice. And therefore, the way in which we are going to be able to change bad habits of behavior and to put destructive choices behind us is to find a new motive that is going to be more powerful than the attraction of the old that always pulled us down.

What is that going to be? It has got to be love for Jesus Christ. The expulsive power of a new affection. I come to love Him, and that means that I begin to change my ways. You see it all the time with people who fall in love. They change all kinds of things. We all do when we fall in love. Well, love for Christ is going to bring all kinds of changes to a person's life, but that needs to be cultivated. That needs to be encouraged. Of course, that's what this program is all about. You feed the soul, and the truth of the Word of God nourishes a vibrant love for Him.

Steve Hiller: And we're going to see that today in Exodus chapter 20, verse 14. So if you can, open your Bible and join us there as we continue the message, "Your Struggle for Purity." Here is Pastor Colin.

Colin Smith: Now, in the time that we have, I want to do two things very simply. The first is to give a biblical framework for understanding our sexuality. And I want to do that in three simple statements that are very, very important. But it is important for us to grasp a biblical framework for this important issue. And then secondly, I want us to identify two issues in which we need practical help in moving forward to overcome in the struggle.

So first of all then, the biblical framework in three statements. Here is the first: God has given us the good gift of our sexuality. God has given us the good gift of our sexuality. And I want to emphasize that phrase, the good gift. It was in the beginning that God created them male and female. This was God's idea. This is wonderful.

Think of what that means. The first sexual thought in the universe was in the mind of God. And the first sexual thought in the universe was absolutely pure. In the creative genius of God, He conceives this marvelous way in which He will create not just humanity but male and female. He creates the woman from the man. He then brings the woman to the man in the first marriage. And in that first marriage, there is not just a union; there is a reunion, a completion for both that goes back to the very nature of their creation. It's a wonderful thing.

The Bible has a very wonderful phrase to describe the partnership of a man and a woman in marriage. Remember from Genesis chapter two and verse 24, it's quoted by the Lord Jesus also in the New Testament. "A man," God says, "will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh." The beautiful phrase: they will become one flesh. That's a first thing. God has given us the good gift of sexuality. And some of us need to be refreshed from the scriptures about the goodness of it.

Second, we all live with the pressure of a fallen sexuality. The entrance of sin into the world has affected every area of our lives. The effects vary, but all of us live with the effects of a fallen sexuality. That means that we're tempted to take God's good gift and to use it wrongly. To use it not as a means of expressing love within marriage but of a means of finding release or of fulfillment.

The proper place of sexual union, the Bible makes clear, is within a loving and a lifelong marriage, a partnership of one man and one woman. But if we take God's wonderful gift outside of marriage with another person, or if we seek to use it on our own, then we abuse God's gift because we lose sight of its purpose.

I came across a brilliant analogy to illustrate this point that I will certainly never forget. I hope it will be the same for you also. And perhaps I can best summarize the illustration in this way: sex on your own is the spiritual equivalent of glue sniffing. Now, think about that. The purpose of glue is to bind two things together. And when glue is used for that purpose, it is a wonderful, wonderful thing.

But if a person goes off on their own and uses glue to get a kick or to get high, they are perverting its purpose and doing damage to themselves. That's not what it's for. And if you use it like that, you do damage to yourself. Now, that is why the whole issue of pornography in our society is so serious. We have come to see in our society sex as a means of release rather than an expression of love.

And because increasingly we are pumped with this kind of an approach, it debilitates often within marriage. And it causes us so often to think in terms before and outside of marriage that ruin our very capacity to be good at expressing the heart of love. When we see sex as an outlet for tension rather than as the glue to bond together, God's gift gets abused. And that can happen both inside and outside marriage, of course.

Ronald Wallace, a very insightful writer, makes this comment that I've found very, very helpful. He says, "Instead of serving true love, sex used in this way becomes harnessed to self-centeredness. It thus tends to destroy the possibility of the very relationship it was designed to further." When you abuse it, it tends to destroy the very possibility of the relationship that it was designed to further.

Pornography is adultery in the mind. And perhaps the biggest issue with it is that it reduces your capacity to love. So this is our tension. God has given us the gift of sexuality, but we all live with the pressure of a fallen sexuality.

Here is the third thing in our biblical framework: Christ has come to redeem our sexuality. Christ has come to redeem every part of your life. Christianity is not just about the saving of your soul; it is about the redeeming of your life. That is why the New Testament speaks about every dimension of our life. Paul says, "May the God of peace sanctify you through and through. Your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept blameless until the coming of Jesus." And then just in case there's any doubt, he says, "The one who's called you is faithful, and He'll do it."

He'll sanctify you spirit, soul, and body. That's why the apostle Paul says, "Honor God with your body." 1 Corinthians 6:20. "Each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable." 1 Thessalonians 4:4.

Now, maybe at this point, some of us feel we're staring defeat in the face. And so let me point to the door of hope. If you were here at the beginning of this series, you might remember a little story that we told. I'll just review it in case some have forgotten or didn't hear. But you remember the story about the thief who was converted while he was in prison. And after he came out of prison, he came into church and he saw the Ten Commandments on the wall. And the first thing his eye goes to, of course, is the command that says, "Thou shalt not steal." And he felt so condemned because of his past. And he felt even worse about his future because he thought this habit is so ingrained, I'm just going to go and do it all over again.

And then as the story goes, and it is a true story, by the way, he began to look at this, and he felt he was hearing the Holy Spirit say it to him the same words in a different tone. Not as a command, but as a promise. He'd always heard it as, "You shall not steal." Now, because the Spirit of God lived within him, he was hearing it in a different tone: "You shall not steal." There's a new power at work within you, and you are able to break the old ingrained patterns. You're not going to steal.

Now, some of us need to hear the seventh commandment in that tone. As a Christian believer indwelt by the Holy Spirit, empowered and enabled by the presence of God in your life, the Lord would say to you in this commandment as someone indwelt by the Spirit of God, "You shall not commit adultery." Not in your action and not in your mind.

You are going to be able to break even where this has been an ingrained habit. The power for victory is yours. You belong to Christ. And this Christ has come to forgive you and to restore you and to redeem you so that you may walk in the path of purity.

Steve Hiller: You're listening to Open the Bible Weekend with Pastor Colin Smith and a message called "Your Struggle for Purity." It's part of a larger series, "The Ten Greatest Struggles of Your Life." And if you missed any broadcast in the series, you can always listen online at openthebible.org. Or you can order a copy of the series on CD. Ask about "The Ten Greatest Struggles of Your Life" when you call 1-877-OPEN-365. Or you'll find ordering information online at openthebible.org. Back to the message. Here is Pastor Colin.

Colin Smith: In these last moments this morning, I want us to grasp two areas of the struggle in which the power of Christ is at work in us to redeem. Let me identify these two struggles. First, there's the struggle to overcome, which is a real battle for many. And the other is the struggle to forgive, which is a big issue for some.

Let me just comment on these two briefly. First, the struggle to overcome. Let me suggest two strategies for this. The first is: as you look at the temptation that is before you, see what this means for Christ. Now, I take this from Genesis 39 and verse 10, which is the story of Joseph, one of the most insightful stories on this issue in the Bible.

Remember Joseph was tempted by Potiphar's wife, a beautiful woman who was trying to entice him. And here's this young guy in a foreign country. Nobody knows. I mean, can you imagine the pressure of desire and opportunity coming together? Now, this is what Joseph said. He says in Genesis chapter 39 and verse 10, "How could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?" That's what he said to Potiphar's wife.

Now, notice what he does. First, he identifies sin for what it is. He calls it a wicked thing. There's no moving words around here to try and pretend that it's really okay. He says this is a wicked thing; this is sin. And if you're going to win, you have to name it for what it is. You'll never make any progress so long as there are caveats in your mind about it all being okay. Joseph's starting point is he says it's a wicked thing; it's a sin.

And then having identified it for what it is, he says, "How can I do this wicked thing and sin against God?" You see, if he was just thinking about it at the level of him and Potiphar's wife and how attractive she was and Potiphar and the fact that he wasn't there, he would quickly have fallen into temptation. But what he does is that he makes a spiritual issue of it. He connects it to God. If I do this, I'm sinning against God.

Now, for us this side of the cross, what that means is we've got to look at what it means for Jesus. We've got to see a sin for what it is and see what that meant for Him. The great American preacher Jonathan Edwards had a phrase that I find very, very helpful. He talked about the expulsive power of a new affection. What that means is simply this: that a new love is stronger than an old habit. That's worth writing down. A new love is stronger than an old habit.

And the first step in overcoming the power of temptation therefore is to cultivate your love for Christ. He died because of sin. He died to bring you out of sin. He has cleansed you from sin. How can you go there? See, that is why you can't deal with this struggle in isolation. Your ability to win through will depend upon your love for Christ. That's why Paul says that the beginning of transformation is through the renewing of your mind. You've got to think differently about what sin is and about who Christ is. This matters to You, God. So it really does matter to me.

Second, act in the power of the Spirit. Act in the power of the Spirit. When it comes to your battle against temptation, God does not say pray about it. People are usually surprised at that statement. God does not say pray about it. He says act against it. The reason that God does not say pray about it is that the more you pray about it, the more you think about it. And the more you think about it, the bigger it gets in your mind, and it actually can make the problem worse, right? The same is true, by the way, of fears.

So what God says is not, "Well, you've got to pray about this and hand it over to me," not this issue. What He says is you've got to put to death the misdeeds of the body. You've got to say by the power of the Spirit no to ungodliness. You've got to act against temptation. This is not a hand-over-to-God issue. This is an issue where God says, "Look, I've put my Spirit within you, and I call you to act."

I was trying to think of an illustration of this. And sometimes during the summer, we sit out on the deck at the back of our house, enjoy a lunch, or eat together when we get the barbecue going and so forth. It's really very, very pleasant except for one thing. What do you do about the wasps? Right? You have that problem too, you know. And you're sitting down, you're only there for five minutes, and you got the lemonade there with the ice in it, and the next thing this thing comes buzz, buzz, buzz, and it goes round and round the top and you know what it's like.

Now, what do you do? Well, we get a bit of newspaper, we kind of roll it up, and we swat it. I've never yet prayed about a wasp. "Dear Lord, you know, these wasps are coming, and deliver me from the wasps. I need to be strengthened against the wasps." No, I use the resource that's been given to me, which happens to be a newspaper, and that's the end of that one.

Now, that is precisely the way in which the New Testament speaks about this issue. What do you do with these thoughts that come into your mind when you go past some poster or the ideas that come when someone is exchanged a look in the office or whatever it is? You don't magnify it up. You swat it in your mind. You do.

That's what the Bible says. You put to death the misdeeds of the body. By the power of the Spirit, you say no to ungodliness. It's something for which God holds us accountable. It is something in which you and I have to be active. And we're going to have to be swatting these things on a regular kind of basis in this society in which we live. And the most important thing to know is this: you have the power to do it. Because even now the enemy is saying to some of us, "Oh, you can't do that. Oh, no, well, other people can, but you can't." Listen, that's a lie. You can.

The Spirit of God lives within you. And what God says to you is by the Spirit, put to death the misdeeds of the body. You are able to address this issue because you are a Christian. It's part of what it means to be a Christian. Some of us are way too passive. We've spiritualized this out of sight and completely failed to do what God tells us to do, which is to take ourselves in hand and to swat the thoughts when they come. You can overcome. The struggle for purity is a lifelong struggle. Like the wasps, it never goes away. But you can prevail.

Lastly, the struggle to forgive. I know that these are sensitive issues, especially for folks who've been deeply wounded. I want you to know that I have especially appreciated in these last remarks, in these last moments, especially appreciated the input of my wife as we've sat together and talked and thought and prayed and worked on what would be truthful and what would be helpful to say here.

But I want to speak to wives who've been disappointed by your husband. Perhaps he's lacked tenderness; he's lacked consideration. Perhaps you've found that he was involved in pornography. Perhaps there was an affair. I'm just speaking now to married folks for these very few moments who've found yourselves in this situation. It is not uncommon.

Let's suppose that there has been some real ownership of the issue and he has shown repentance, or let's suppose that that begins today. That God speaks to him today and a change begins. Now, forgiving isn't easy. But your forgiveness, your love, your support can play a huge part in the healing of these wounds.

It is often the case within the life of the church that sexual issues are dealt with primarily on a men's retreat. And there's nothing wrong with that. It's a good thing to do. We should do it. But I have become increasingly convinced that the best hope for real change with married folks in this area is when a husband and a wife face these issues together. But you can't do that in a spirit of condemnation. Repentance is something to be embraced.

Remember the story of the prodigal son. He begins this long journey home in a spirit of true repentance. And all the way on that long journey, he must have been wondering in his mind, "How am I going to be received? How am I going to be received? How is it going to be when I get home?" And the most wonderful thing, the single most wonderful thing in this story that we all know so well, is that the father goes out to meet the son.

See, God meets us in our repentance. He doesn't stand back at a distance. He sees what's happening, and he goes out to meet what is happening and he brings us the rest of the way home. And my prayer is that that will happen in many homes. If he can learn to overcome, you can learn to forgive. There are two struggles here. And think about it, the healing of the one can be the healing of the other, either way around.

And when one partner in a marriage is ready to make a break with patterns of the past, and the other is ready to meet that repentance and to walk together the rest of the way home, there is great hope for the future. You can overcome. You can forgive. And what God has joined together, let no man separate.

Steve Hiller: What a great way for us to wrap up this message. You can overcome, you can forgive, and what God has joined together, let no one separate. Well, our message today is entitled "Your Struggle for Purity," and it's part of a larger series called "The Ten Greatest Struggles of Your Life," a study of the Ten Commandments. And if you missed any of the broadcasts in the series, you can always come and listen online. Just visit our website, openthebible.org.

Open the Bible is a listener-supported ministry. It's your generosity that allows us to bring you Pastor Colin's teaching. And as you give a gift of any amount this month, we want to send you three copies of our very first graphic novel inspired by Pastor Colin's book, "Heaven, How I Got Here: The Story of the Thief on the Cross," plus one copy of the original book.

And Colin, who is this graphic novel for?

Colin Smith: Well, I'm super excited about this graphic novel. It is a brilliantly illustrated 48-page story. It's got clear and compelling dialogue, and it's designed to reach younger people and for anyone who thinks of themselves as being a visual learner. And it tells the story of the thief on the cross, which is really a story that I think everyone needs to know.

It teaches us that entrance into heaven doesn't depend on a person's performance in the Christian life. And I think that's something that everybody needs to grasp, but especially younger people who have grown up in church and yet may not have grasped the heart of the gospel and may be tempted to turn away. I hope that we can get it into the hands of as many younger people and visual learners as possible so that people will understand the marvelous news of God's grace.

Jesus opened heaven for the thief on the cross. If He could do that for the thief on the cross, He can do that for any person. There is hope for every person in Jesus Christ. So who is a young person in your life who needs to understand the grace of God? We'd love for you to be the means of getting the story of God's grace into their hands. And who knows what God will do as a result?

Steve Hiller: Well, we want to send you three copies of "Heaven, How I Got Here: The Story of the Thief on the Cross," the graphic novel version, plus a copy of the original book as our way of saying thanks for your financial support. You can give online at openthebible.org or call 1-877-OPEN-365. That's 1-877-673-6365 or openthebible.org. For Pastor Colin Smith, I'm Steve Hiller. Thanks for listening, and I hope you'll join us next time. Open the Bible Weekend is a listener-supported production of Open the Bible.

Colin Smith: Hi, this is Pastor Colin again, and I want you to know about Watch Your Doctrine. Watch Your Doctrine is a six-session course that is geared for leaders but accessible for every believer. The six sessions will introduce you to six central truths of the Christian faith: how we know God, how God speaks to us, how sin affects us, how God's Spirit brings new life, how we're made right with God, and what Jesus accomplished on the cross. There are questions at the end of each session, and you can use them on your own or you can discuss them with a friend. For more information or to begin this free online course, visit openthebible.org/courses. That's openthebible.org/courses.