#1: The Sexual Struggle is a Spiritual Battle

I. Introduction
A. For a number of years I’ve had a desire to preach a series of sermons on battling sin. Over the last two years the session has become aware of a number of people struggling with sexual temptations and sins. And so I decided to preach a series on battling sexual sin.
B. Many, many people have struggles with sexual sin, maybe everybody. But even if this is not a struggle for you, this series will be very helpful regarding your struggle with other sins.
C. Why delve into such a sensitive subject? The elders don’t want to be like hirelings who don’t care enough for the sheep to confront the wolves which threaten the flock. – John 10:12-13
II. Our sex-saturated world
A. It doesn’t take a social scientist to recognize the sexualization of our society.
B. But ever since the early days of mankind, men have been breaking God’s laws in this area.
C. There are many statistics I could cite about how even many Christians struggle with pornography.
III. I think our passage this morning helps us to understand why sexual sin is so prevalent in our world and in history.
A. Read Romans 1:18-25 “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. 24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.”
IV. Explanation of Romans 1:21-25
A. Romans contains the most in-depth discussion of salvation in the whole Bible. It begins with the need for salvation (human sin), followed by a description of the redemptive work of Christ. It ends with a discussion of the application of salvation in our lives.
B. But our passage this morning is a part of the first section, the penetrating description and analysis of the rebellion of mankind. This section begins in 1:18 and goes through chapter three.
C. Romans 1:21-23 gets at the heart of what made mankind so sinful:
1. “Even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks.”
2. They “exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of... creatures.”
3. They “exchanged the truth of God for a lie, & worshiped & served the creature rather than the Creator.”
D. The result of man’s turning away from God and worshiping created things instead is found in v.24-25 “Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever!”
1. (Now, lust and impurity here doesn’t mean sex; they refer rather too sexual SIN. Sex itself is a wonderful and beautiful blessing that God has created for mankind. But it was created to be enjoyed in the context of marriage.)
2. In these two verses, Paul says that as a result of mankind’s turning away from God to the worship of created things, God gave them over to sexual sin and other kinds of sin.
3. When people turn away from God, He gives them over to impurity.
4. Do you understand this? A worship problem results in a moral problem.
E. Now let’s make it personal. The point I would like to make about how this pertains to us is not just to explain the sexually-saturated world around us but also to say that at its core this is a spiritual problem.
1. Sex education classes generally teach that sex is a purely biological issue. Even those who try to talk about sex from a Christian perspective often talk about it as a moral issue. But sex is a spiritual issue.
2. Primarily sexuality is spiritual, not physical. It always involves a person’s spirit, not just his body. Sexual purity isn’t an outward thing but an inward thing.
3. You can’t separate what’s happening in your heart with what’s happening in your mind and body.
4. This means your sexual problem is a spiritual problem. If you struggle sexually, your real problem isn’t a sexual one. It’s a spiritual one (pertaining to our relationship with God).
5. This is one advantage of sexual sin — it is a red flag that there’s something very wrong between you and Jesus.
6. Moral problems are symptoms of a deeper issue, an issue of the heart, an issue having to do with our relationship with God.
7. When a person is wrong in here with God, he is going to be wrong in all sorts of outward ways, including sexual ways.
8. And if all we do is try to treat the symptoms, we never address the real problem.
9. And we will never find what we’re looking for that way. We were made for God — to know Him and love Him and enjoy Him.
10. You see, just as the cause was spiritual, so the cure is spiritual.
a. Rebellion against and separation from God was the thing that got us into this problem in the first place. So, being reconciled to God and being connected to Him is the solution to the problem.
F. Moralism versus Christianity
1. Many people think that all religions are basically the same. And, frankly, much of “Christianity” is the same as other religions. But not true Christianity.
2. You see, much religion is moralism: it is an attempt to get mankind to behave, to be good, to be virtuous.
3. And all the God stuff is just a way to try to motivate people to live that way.
4. That’s why they say that it doesn’t really matter what you believe as long as you believe in something. In other words, as long as you have something in your life which motivates you to be good and gives you a positive outlook on others.
5. But the gospel of Jesus is not moralism: far from it!
a. The people Jesus criticized most severely were the good people.
b. It’s not that Jesus wants us to be bad, though He does want us to realize that we’re bad.
6. The gospel is fundamentally different from moralism.
a. For moralism, the ultimate goal is moral, ethical living.
b. For the gospel of Jesus, the ultimate goal is salvation.
c. For moralism, God is a means to an end, the end being virtuous living.
d. For the gospel, God is the end: having God, knowing God, loving God, being filled with God is our chief end.
7. We might be deceived into thinking we can find what we need through sexuality, or we might be deceived into thinking we can find what we need through resisting our passions and overcoming sexual temptation. The fact is that both are wrong. What we really need, what we’re really missing, what alone can satisfy us, is the Father, Son & Holy Spirit.
8. Ultimately, it’s not that Christ is the means to avoiding sin. Christ is the end, avoiding sin is a result, a fruit.
9. Make no mistake: sin is evil and God hates it. That’s why He sent Jesus to die on the cross: to address the problem of human sin. But our sinful actions are just a symptom of our alienation from God. That’s our real problem.
V. The sexual struggle is a battle.
A. It is an important battle. It needs to be taken seriously. In many ways it’s a matter of life & death.
B. If you don’t fight, you can’t win.
C. If you don’t want to win, you won’t win.
D. I understand well that it can make you feel powerless and helpless.
E. I understand that it feels like an uphill battle.
F. This is understandable in light of our natural sexual drive, our sinful nature, our sexualized world, and our crafty, angry enemy.
VI. In order to fight this battle, we need tools and weapons (Eph.6:17).
A. We need to be well-equipped and well-tooled to face the onslaught of sexual insanity which seems to exude from every pore of our culture.
B. We need spiritual weapons to fight a spiritual battle.
C. Our best weapon is the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
1. John 8:31–32 Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
D. The approach we’re going to be taking in this series is truths we need to know to fight this battle, one truth per week.
1. For example, the truth we’ve been talking about this morning is: Sex is a spiritual issue and the sexual struggle is a spiritual battle.
E. Knowing isn’t enough, of course. But it’s still a very important part of the battle.
1. In warfare, knowledge won’t win the battle, but you probably won’t win without it either.
F. The Bible gives us the help we need.
1. Some of the context in which the NT was written was even more sexualized than our society – e.g. Corinth, where a part of the religious life of their pagan society was sex with temple prostitutes.
2. And there are many passages in the Bible which address the sexual struggle.
3. How can we expect to win the battle without knowing about the weapons God has provided for us.
4. It’s interesting the help God sometimes gives us.
a. A lot of the help God provides is just there for the taking. It doesn’t come after us and force itself on us.
b. Which means that many times we have the very things we need at our disposal, but they sit there unused while we’re ravaged by our enemy.
G. Think about this. Perhaps Satan would love for you to miss this series.
1. But this series is not enough. There are many good resources on this. Make good use of these sermons, but don’t leave it there.
VII. A final word about being judgmental:
A. When you talk about the sexual struggle, there is always a danger that some might think they are pure and look down on those who struggle.
1. Remember that the Pharisees were proud of their righteousness. But Jesus rebuked them.
2. Remember the story of Jesus and the adulterous woman (John 8:1-11), where Jesus rebuked those who were ready to condemn the woman.
3. We all struggle with sin. Those who struggle with sexual sin are no different.