Exposure of Sexual Sin: 4 It Will Be Agonizing

Jesus Christ bears the Father’s wrath for all of God’s children’s sin. All of them.  Yes, even the most grievous ones.

Imagine for a minute having to bear the punishment for your own sins.  Can you? Can you imagine a Holy and Just God pouring his wrath out upon you for your own sin?   Imagine now having to bear the sin of another person when you are completely innocent. That would be agony. That is what Christ has done for all believers.  Can you imagine it?  Can you comprehend the love that God had for you as his child?  That he looked upon you from all eternity seeing your sinfulness and your stumbles and your unbelief and all your secret hideous desires and vile thoughts?

He knew that you were going to screw up often.

He knew that you were going to be stubborn.

He knew that you were going to be selfish.

He knew that you were going be a big mess.

But He wanted you in His family in spite of you.

He wanted you in His is family so much that he would do anything to have you in it.  But he had to first deal with your sin. So he sent his only son to pay for your sins and then sent the Holy Spirit to renew you to make you born again! You are born of the spirit God now and are His adopted covenant child – in spite of you and everything you have done or ever will do.

That is love.

Now, with that love in mind let me state this…If you are living in sin and you are simply coasting along, carefree, not caring that you are offending a Holy God by your actions… You must Repent!  How can you even call yourself a Christian if you are living in sin? Do we even think about how Christ must bear every sin we commit? Do we ever think about how much the Father loves His children and is grieved when we commit that sin?

That lust?

That adultery?

That fornication?

That addiction?

That covetousness?

That evil desire you have?

Pray to God that he would break the shackles of our sin! That He would kill the sin in us! Pray that he would have mercy on us, that we would see how much we have truly grieved a holy God, a holy Father. We should pray, as Jonathon Edwards once said, “Oh Lord! Stamp eternity on my eyeballs!” As children of God, we are called to put off the old and put on the new. Ephesians 4:21-24 says:

when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus.  You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires;  to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

If a Christian is caught in grievous sin, or caught living in sin and he simply responds with the cliched, we are all sinners…or deflects blame on too others, or hides behind a wall of lies, without truly grasping the holiness of God and the wretchedness of himself…that person has not really grasped what repentance is!  Yes we are all still sinful, but do we even realize that we have offended a holy and righteous God? Do we realize that we have to give an account one day?  Do we ever contemplate that Jesus must bear those sins?

Yes, I know that a child of God can fall into sin…even grievous and horrible sin.  I have, you have…  we all sin! I believe that God will forgive all of his Children’s sin in Jesus Christ.  But I also believe that a child of God cannot live in a pattern of habitual sin, including sexual sin. As I quoted earlier, 1 John 3:8, 9 tells us:

“Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil . . . No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God”

Killing sin starts with exposure and that exposure will be painful. Whether it is you yourself, your wife, a friend, your pastor…it is going to be agonizing.  Keep in mind however, that God is the one who is providentially exposing your sins. And if you are truly child of God, the mind boggling thing is that once your sin is in the open, once that band-aid of deception is torn off, once that vile wound is exposed, once you have taken that journey through the darkness into the light, once you have repented of your sin and believed that Jesus Christ has born all the wrath of God for your sin, it ends with no longer being enslaved to sexual sin – or any sin for that matter. It ends with being set free in Christ to seek Him in His glory. It ends with true joy in Christ.  It ends with being an adopted child of God.

Exposure will be agonizing, the consequences in this life may be serious, you could lose your family, you may lose your job, you may lose a position in the church, and you may lose your friends.  Depending on the severity of your sin you may even go to jail. You may bear significant and excruciating earthly consequences for your sin…but in Christ you can find forgiveness.  In Christ you can find restoration with the Father.  All your sins will be exposed on that final great day for all too see…either Christ will bear the price for them or you will.  And the amazing thing is that the one who bore your sins will be your judge – if you believe.  And he will know that your sins are paid for, because he paid for them! So know this – When you stand before the judgement seat of Christ on that glorious day to give an account of your deeds, I can guarantee this…that it will be far better for you to hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant,” than to hear, “I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.”

Stop living in the lies.

Stop living in the darkness.

Repent.

Believe on Christ.

God is Good.

Soli Deo Gloria.