A podcast listener named Matthew writes in to ask about same-sex attraction. He asks, "If so-called same-sex marriage is unbiblical, a truth which I, as a man struggling with same-sex desires, affirm, what am I to do with 1 Corinthians 7 verses 8 and 9 if I burn with homosexual passion?

Am I misunderstanding that passion? I find these lusts even more difficult to battle in light of this passage because I feel stuck." I am deeply thankful that Matthew is honest about his same-sex attraction. And I'm thankful that he embraces the biblical truth that acting out that attraction in homosexual practices would be sinful.

And therefore, as he says, he's struggling to be faithful to that conviction. That's a great and a noble and God-pleasing thing, that struggle. So he asks about 1 Corinthians 7 and 9 where Paul says, "If they cannot exercise self-control, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion." Well, yes, that's true.

Marriage is one possible means of governing our sexual passions. But there are two things to remember here, relevant for people who are heterosexual and people who struggle with homosexual desires. Marriage is not a foolproof solution to a man's passions. We know this because of how much adultery and how much pornography there is among married men.

So if marriage is not an option for you, heterosexual or homosexual, you are not being denied the solution to your passions. It's not the solution. Marriage is not the solution. Here's the other thing to remember. Paul explicitly addresses men who have same-sex attraction and how they are to manage their passions.

It's found in the chapter before chapter 7, not chapter 7. We often read it just to establish that homosexual behavior is sin, and we fail to see the glory of the help that's in the text. Let me read 1 Corinthians 6, 9, and 10. "Do you not know that the righteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?

Do not be deceived. Neither sexually immoral," that is fornication, "nor idolaters," that's probably greed or covetousness, "nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God." In other words, if you say, "I'm a greedy person, and that's the way I was born, and I will embrace greediness as a good thing," you will perish.

So don't think that any particular sin is being picked on here. These are sins which if you love them, cherish them, pursue them, live in them, they will destroy you, not just homosexuality or fornication. Now here's the next verse. This is the crucial one. "Such were some of you, practicers of homosexuality, such were some of you, but you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God." That is massively important for those who struggle with same-sex attraction and aim to be pure and holy in their lives.

You were a practicer of homosexuality. You were that, and you are no longer. What happened? You embraced the name of Jesus as the banner over your life. You submitted to him. You put your faith in him, and his blood cleansed you from all sins. You're washed. You're declared righteous.

You are sanctified. And then specifically, Paul says this sanctifying, powerful influence was by the Spirit of our God. So there's the practical daily key. The power is the Holy Spirit. First you know you are accepted and declared forgiven and cleansed and righteous, clean. And then day by day, you trust God's promise to help you.

And by this promise, the Holy Spirit comes in power and helps you resist temptation. You put to death the deeds of the body, as it says in Romans 8, 13, by the Spirit, relying on the Spirit, calling upon the Spirit, living in the Spirit. It's not in you. It's in him.

God supplies the Spirit to you, it says in Galatians 3, 5. God supplies the Spirit to work these miracles by hearing with faith. That is, you hear the promise. You hear the gospel promise, and you believe it, and you bank on it. And in and through that promise and that faith, the Holy Spirit comes.

And the way he comes is by making the promise of God's person and God's help and God's reward more precious to you than the power of the temptation you are facing, and thus you are able to kill it. So my answer is, until marriage is God's call on your life, and don't assume it couldn't be.

I'm talking to a person with same-sex attraction. Until marriage to a woman, or if you're struggling with lesbian issues, a man, until marriage to the opposite sex is your calling, bank on the precious work of Christ to secure every promise for you and to supply the mighty Holy Spirit to help you live a pure and useful life without sexual sin.

Amen. Thank you for that, Pastor John. And the sounds of the Phillips neighborhood filling the background as you, Pastor John, record from your home office. And well, as many of you know, Victoria Osteen recently tried to explain how human happiness and God's glory interact, and it caused quite a firestorm online, and many of you wrote in.

Tomorrow, we will hear from Pastor John. I'm your host, Tony Reinke. Thanks for listening to the Ask Pastor John podcast. 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1