If you’re sick of sexual sin and want to finally be set free, this is the video for you.
This video is part 3 in a series I’m making about overcoming sexual sin. If you haven’t seen the first two videos yet, I encourage you to watch those first. The first video is called “the doctrine of Balaam”, and the second video is called “Lies that keep you trapped”. And I posted a link for each of those videos in the description below.
So, after watching the first two videos, you might be asking, “what do I do now?”
#1 REPENT
The first thing you need to do is repent. Repentance is always the first step toward salvation. This requires you to acknowledge your sin and your need for salvation. It also requires you to hate your sin enough to stop doing it. That is what the Bible calls Godly sorrow.
“For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.”
– 2 Corinthians 7:10 NKJV
Godly sorrow is when you realize how vile and ugly your sin is, and you never want to do it again. Godly sorrow is when you hate your sin enough to stop.
Worldly sorrow is when you are sorry you got caught. Worldly sorrow is when you feel bad about your actions, but not enough to stop. Most men feel worldly sorrow about their sexual sin, but only Godly sorrow produces repentance. You have to hate your sin enough to stop.
Repentance means to turn away from sin and to turn toward God. Sin separates us from God, and when we repent, we are turning back to God, just like the prodigal son who recognized that he was living with the pigs, and decided to return home. He turned away from wallowing in the mud, and began walking toward his father.
Repentance means we turn away from our sin, and start walking toward to God.
“Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord,”
– Acts 3:19 NKJV
Don’t neglect this one. God has given you time to repent, take the opportunity to do it. Don’t wait, because tomorrow might be too late.
“And I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality, and she did not repent.”
– Revelation 2:21 NKJV
#2 – SEEK GOD FIRST
The next step is to seek God first above everything else.
“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”
– Matthew 6:33 NKJV
“But from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul.”
– Deuteronomy 4:29 NKJV
We have to seek the LORD with all of our heart. This is important, because the Bible tells us when we don’t seek the LORD, we do what is evil in His sight.
“And he did evil, because he did not prepare his heart to seek the Lord.”
– 2 Chronicles 12:14 NKJV
Seeking the LORD first means that we love God more than anything else.
To seek Him first means to put God first in your life.
This means we make it a priority to study the Bible and meditate on God’s word. It also means we make it a priority to spend time in prayer.
Spending time reading God’s Word and letting it transform your mind is vital in changing our thinking and renewing our mind to be like Christ. The Bible talks about God washing us and sanctifying us in the water of the word.
“that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word,”
– Ephesians 5:26 NKJV
Lies keep us bound in sin, but the truth of God’s Word sets us free from sin. That’s why we need to fill our mind with the Word of God, but it also means we need to stop filling our mind with the lies and filth of the world. Your mind can’t be clean if you keep filling it with garbage.
When we abide in God’s Word, we learn the truth, and the truth transforms our mind and gives us freedom from all sin.
“Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
– John 8:31–32 NKJV
When we seek God first, we make other things less important. It’s about priorities. When you were walking in sin, you made sin a priority. Sin was your god.
You have to reverse that if you want to be set free from sin. When you submit to God and make serving God your highest priority, you will stop serving sin. The Bible tells us to seek the LORD while he can be found.
“Seek the Lord while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near.”
– Isaiah 55:6 NKJV
This means there may come a time when He can’t be found. If you’re feeling conviction from this message, it is the Holy Spirit speaking to you. Don’t neglect this opportunity that God is giving you to seek Him. You don’t know how many opportunities you’ll get.
Seek the LORD while He may be found by you.
#3 – CRUCIFY THE FLESH
The third step is to crucify the flesh. Christ died for our sins, and we receive forgiveness for sin because of His blood, but the Bible says we must crucify our own flesh and die to our old self to become a new man. This is done by the power of Yeshua’s death and resurrection.
Listen to what the Bible says about dying with Christ.
“Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him,”
– Romans 6:8 NKJV
“For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”
– Colossians 3:3 NKJV
“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”
– Galatians 2:20 NKJV
When we die to sin, we can say “it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” We have to die to sin if we want to live for Christ.
We are all born in sin. We are sinners from birth. We don’t become sinners when we sin. It’s part of our nature. We are by nature sinners because we are born of the flesh.
The Bible says we are born sinners, and we sin because we are sinners. This is why Yeshua said we must be born again.
“Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
– John 3:3
We are born in the flesh, but to be saved we need a spiritual birth. When we die to sin and crucify our sin nature, we become a new creation in Christ.
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”
– 2 Corinthians 5:17 NKJV
Being in Christ means we’ve put off the old sin nature and we’ve received a new heart and new spirit.
“Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.”
– Ezekiel 36:25–27 NKJV
This is the process of being born again. We are washed and cleansed by Yeshua so that the filthiness of our sin is removed, and we receive a new heart and a new spirit so that we can walk in obedience to God’s commandments.
Yeshua said we must be born again if we want to enter the Kingdom of God.
“Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.”
– John 3:5 NKJV
This spiritual birth begins when we are crucified with Christ. When our flesh is crucified, the power of sin is destroyed, and when we receive the Holy Spirit we are empowered to live a godly life. This is what it means to take up our cross and follow Yeshua.
“Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.”
– Matthew 16:24 NKJV
“And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.”
– Matthew 10:38 NKJV
Crucifying our flesh requires us to deny ourselves. This means to deny our sinful flesh what it wants and to follow Yeshua instead. It’s only by crucifixion that we find victory over sin.
“But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.”
– Galatians 6:14 NKJV
We die to sin when we are baptized in Christ. This baptism washes away our sin and crucifies sin from within us so that we no longer live according to the flesh.
“What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin.”
– Romans 6:1–7 NKJV
Baptism’s not a symbol, it’s a crucial step in being born again. When the apostles preached, they compelled people to be baptized for the remission of sin.
“Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
– Acts 2:38 NKJV
When Yeshua sent out the apostles, He instructed them to baptize people.
“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,”
– Matthew 28:19 NKJV
When we’re baptized, we are identifying with Christ and receiving His salvation. When we go under the water we are dying to sin, and when we come up out of the water we are resurrecting to new life.
Baptism is a requirement for salvation because it’s the act of our will submitting to God’s will. Baptism is our response to the saving work of Christ on the cross. The Bible describes baptism as the answer of a good conscience toward God.
“There is also an antitype which now saves us—baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,”
– 1 Peter 3:21 NKJV
Our flesh needs to be crucified and our hearts need to be circumcised.
“In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.”
– Colossians 2:11–14 NKJV
The circumcision of Christ means putting away the sins of the flesh. We are buried with Him in baptism and we become a new creation that is dead to sin and alive to Christ.
When our old sinful man has been crucified with Christ, there is no longer a list of transgressions against us. Our past is forgiven and we have a clean slate. We are a new creation in Christ.
“For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.”
– Galatians 3:27 NKJV
And because of this we can say, “it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives within me. My life of obedience is an act of thanksgiving for the salvation He has given me.
Therefore, we present our bodies as a living sacrifice, by dying to sin and living to God.
“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.”
– Romans 12:1 NKJV
Our obedience is the only appropriate response to His grace. When we crucify our flesh, we say to ourselves, “how can I who have died to sin live any longer in it?”
#4 – ABIDE IN CHRIST
The fourth step is to abide in Christ. To abide means to remain and not depart. We are dead to sin when we abide in Christ, so we must abide in Him if we are to remain dead to sin, and the Bible says whoever abides in Christ does not sin.
“Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him.”
– 1 John 3:6 NKJV
So, what does it mean to abide in Christ? The Bible defines it for us in two ways. The first definition is to walk as He walked.
“He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.”
– 1 John 2:6 NKJV
My dad used to tell me to ask the question “what would Jesus do?” This is one way we can learn to walk as He walked. When we face difficult situations, simply ask yourself, “what would Jesus do in this situation?” and then go do that.
But the Bible gives us a second definition for what it means to abide in Christ, and that is to obey His commandments.
“Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.”
– 1 John 3:24 NKJV
To abide in Christ means we obey His commandments, and to abide in His commandments requires us to abide in His Word. That’s why we need to spend time in the Word daily. You can’t be a disciple of Yeshua if you are not letting His Word transform you daily.
“Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
– John 8:31–32 NKJV
Yeshua used the example of a vine, and He said we must abide in Him if we want to produce good fruit.
“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.”
– John 15:4–6 NKJV
We have to realize that we can do nothing good on our own. The only way we can produce good fruit is if we abide in Christ. And if we don’t abide in Him, we’ll be cast out like a dead branch and thrown into the fire.
It’s vital to our salvation that we continue to abide in Him daily.
TOOLS AND TIPS
I want to end this teaching with a few tools and tips that will help you in your battle with sexual sin.
#1 – REMOVE TRIGGERS AND TEMPTATIONS
The first tip is to remove triggers and temptations. This means removing access to things you know are a weakness for you. Take an honest look at things like social media, electronic devices, books, movies, video games, music, or anything else that might trigger you to be tempted.
I also recommend installing internet filters on your computer and phone to make it more difficult to access porn.
You might also need to remove yourself from certain environments that are tempting, such as swimming pools, beaches, or the gym where women are not dressed modestly.
#2 – ACCOUNTABILITY & DISCIPLESHIP
The second tip is to get accountability and discipleship. Find someone you trust who you can be honest with about your struggles. Give them permission to ask you how you are doing with this sin. Find someone to mentor and disciple you in your walk with God.
This includes being part of a believing community. Find a Congregation of believers that can help strengthen you in your walk with the LORD. You can’t be a Christian without community.
We need each other for accountability and encouragement. We also need others to help us carry our burdens. Don’t neglect the importance of godly fellowship.
#3 – PRACTICE SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINES
The third tip is to practice the spiritual disciplines of Bible reading, prayer, and fasting. These three things will help keep you on the right path.
We see these disciplines being practiced by God’s people throughout the Bible. The early Church encouraged people to fast twice a week. They also prayed three times a day (morning, noon, and evening) as a form of daily sacrifice, and they spent time reading and hearing God’s word.
Reading the Bible teaches us what we need to know and how to walk out our faith.
Prayer is spending time talking with God and learning to hear Him.
And fasting is a great way to build self-discipline. When you fast, you’re denying your flesh what it is hungry for. By fasting, you’re training your flesh to submit to your spirit.
And when you fast, use it as an opportunity to pray and read your Bible.
Remember that man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.
