Is Porn the Unforgivable Sin?
00:00:00.000 | Pastor John, here's a question that we get often in the Ask Pastor John email inbox,
00:00:09.400 | worded in various ways, but here's the main thread in this common question.
00:00:13.880 | Is an addiction to pornography an unpardonable or unforgivable sin?
00:00:19.660 | In the way I understand the Bible about sin, the only sin that cannot be pardoned is the
00:00:28.720 | sin that cannot be repented of.
00:00:32.740 | And what I mean by repented of is at least four things.
00:00:37.280 | One is a sin that produces remorse for the offense to God, not just the pain of the punishment.
00:00:47.080 | And two, a sin that is put consciously by faith under the blood of Christ.
00:00:54.400 | And three, a sin that is fought with dependence on the Holy Spirit, Romans 8, 13, "Put to
00:01:03.360 | death the deeds of the body by the Spirit."
00:01:05.920 | And fourth, a sin that we renounce, we consciously say no to, renounce, with a genuine embrace
00:01:14.840 | of Christ as our superior treasure.
00:01:18.080 | That's what I mean by the repentance of sin.
00:01:22.360 | Any sin that you can repent of will be forgiven.
00:01:28.680 | There is though, and this is probably why the question was asked, there is a depth and
00:01:34.500 | extent of sinning that is so deep and so long that the sinner can't repent anymore.
00:01:43.040 | And the reason I feel frighteningly confident to say that is because Esau is given in Hebrews
00:01:50.220 | as an example of that very thing.
00:01:53.480 | And what's so stunningly relevant of that here is because the writer introduces Esau
00:02:01.520 | illustrating the need to fight sexual immorality.
00:02:06.320 | He says in Hebrews 12, 15, "See to it that no one is sexually immoral."
00:02:11.920 | Now, as far as we know, that wasn't the issue with Esau.
00:02:16.440 | Maybe when he married those pagan women, but it says, "See to it that no one is sexually
00:02:23.480 | immoral."
00:02:24.480 | He's using Esau as an example of that.
00:02:27.600 | "Unholy like Esau who sold his birthright for a single meal, for you know that afterwards
00:02:32.880 | when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected for he found no place of repentance."
00:02:39.880 | And I think that means not a physical lethality, but there was no place in his heart as he
00:02:44.960 | cast about trying to find a real repentance in his heart.
00:02:49.120 | It wasn't there, even though he was crying.
00:02:52.120 | And that's why I said the remorse has to be more than just remorse for the loss of punishment.
00:02:58.560 | So there is a too late in our compromise with sin.
00:03:02.600 | God does at times withdraw his patient protection from final destruction and hand us over like
00:03:11.440 | Romans 1.
00:03:12.440 | God gave them over to dishonorable passions.
00:03:14.960 | And it was 126 or 128.
00:03:17.760 | God gave them over to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.
00:03:24.140 | But here's the encouragement.
00:03:25.960 | Here's what I want to press in on this person's conscience for hope.
00:03:30.480 | It says in Romans 2, 4, "Don't presume upon the riches of his kindness and forbearance
00:03:36.680 | and patience."
00:03:38.120 | So God is long suffering and he's patient.
00:03:41.800 | But you realize that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance.
00:03:47.800 | So I would say to this person, don't assume it's too late.
00:03:53.000 | Assume that God's mercy is still leading you to repentance.
00:03:56.320 | Assume he's still at work in your life.
00:03:58.440 | After all, the question has arisen.
00:04:00.760 | You are not giving up, it sounds like.
00:04:03.160 | So my answer is, an addiction to pornography is not unforgivable if it is repented of,
00:04:11.120 | which means it would be temporary.
00:04:13.360 | And I don't know how long it might last.
00:04:16.660 | God alone knows how long it would go on.
00:04:20.240 | And he's very, very patient.
00:04:23.360 | So the question is, knowing the present bondage, that's what I take an addiction to be, knowing
00:04:29.720 | the present bondage, are you making war on it?
00:04:34.480 | Do you keep making war?
00:04:36.200 | Now there's the question.
00:04:37.200 | Sometimes guys will say, "I've tried to make war.
00:04:40.440 | It doesn't work."
00:04:41.440 | I say, "Well, you think the battle's over?
00:04:44.560 | It's not over.
00:04:45.980 | Do you keep making war as long as it takes?
00:04:50.400 | Or have you given up and settled in and made peace with your sin?
00:04:55.480 | If that's the case, you're in big trouble.
00:04:58.720 | So are you putting it to death?
00:05:01.740 | It may be, it no doubt is a very resilient foe.
00:05:06.160 | It may refuse to die all at once, but the question is, do you keep thrusting the sword
00:05:11.000 | of the Spirit through it over and over again?
00:05:14.880 | And I stumble onto this in thinking about this question as a final practical suggestion.
00:05:21.760 | It says in 1 John 5, 16, "If anyone sees his brother committing a sin, not leading to death,
00:05:31.520 | he shall ask, and God will give him," that is the sinning brother, "life."
00:05:39.480 | So if you see someone in an addiction or a bondage to sexual immorality, then you ask
00:05:47.220 | for that person.
00:05:48.220 | So I would say one of the marks of the sin that you're committing not leading to death
00:05:55.740 | is that you are willing to find a brother and ask him to pray for you.
00:06:03.840 | And that prayer, 1 John 5, 16 says, will be one of God's instruments in delivering you.
00:06:11.160 | Yes, good.
00:06:12.160 | That's a great point.
00:06:13.240 | So the bottom line is don't presume that you can sin today and repent tomorrow, and don't
00:06:17.540 | despair that you cannot repent today for the sin yesterday.
00:06:20.400 | Exactly.
00:06:21.400 | Excellent.
00:06:22.400 | Thank you, Pastor John.
00:06:23.480 | Our other Ask Pastor John episodes deal with pornography directly, and each of them can
00:06:27.460 | be found in the archives.
00:06:28.960 | Episode 18 is about fighting porn with theology.
00:06:31.720 | Episode 60 is about men fighting porn with a brother in Christ.
00:06:35.440 | Episodes 122 and 165 deal with how a woman should respond to her boyfriend or husband's
00:06:40.080 | porn addiction.
00:06:42.080 | Well as you know, there's an interesting new trend in our churches, a trend that Charles
00:06:45.740 | Spurgeon and a whole lot of pastors were never concerned with, electronic Bible apps and
00:06:50.720 | smartphones and tablets.
00:06:52.640 | So what's better for church, bringing a printed copy of the Bible or bringing an illuminated
00:06:56.080 | screen?
00:06:57.080 | What are the pros and cons of each?
00:06:58.480 | A listener wants to know, and Monday we'll hear Pastor John's thoughts.
00:07:02.200 | Until then, I'm your host Tony Reinke.
00:07:03.600 | Have a great weekend.
00:07:04.440 | [END]
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