Don’t Call Your Sexual Sin a Shortcoming | Isaiah 5:20

“Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!“
Isaiah 5:20

I began getting victory over the sexual sin in my life when I started calling it what it is. When I stopped using the vocabulary of sexual addiction, when I abandoned the euphemisms of 12-step recovery programs, I gained clarity. I saw my sin the way God sees it. I understood the penalty that awaits me if I don’t repent. And I finally understood the biblical steps I had to take to attain, and maintain, sexual purity—and why.

The closer you draw to God’s Word, the closer you get to understanding His revealed will. Once you start describing your sin the way God describes it, you start thinking in biblical terms about your sanctification. Coming to terms with your sexual immorality requires you to come to terms with what God says on the subject. The longer you remain in the world of euphemism and abstraction, the longer you remain in bondage to your sin. Victory over sexual sin requires a new vocabulary. And you get that vocabulary from the pages of the Bible.

To see what you are up against, consider the Celebrate Recovery 12 Steps. These are simply the secular 12 Steps of Alcoholics Antonymous, tweaked to make them fit the Celebrate Recovery model. Celebrate Recovery bills itself as “a Christ-centered, 12 step recovery program for anyone struggling with hurt, pain or addiction of any kind.” Here are five of their 12 steps:

Step 1. “We admitted we were powerless over our addictions and compulsive behaviors, that our lives had become unmanageable.”
Step 2. “We came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.”
Step 5. “We admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.”
Step 6. “We were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.”
Step 7. “We humbly asked Him to remove all our shortcomings.”

Notice the soft language? The further you go down the 12 Steps, the further you drift from a biblical understanding of your sin.

1. You aren’t sexually immoral. You are addicted.
2. You aren’t ungodly. You are insane.
3. You don’t commit sins. You commit wrongs.
4. You don’t have a sinful nature. You simply have a few defects of character.
5. Your habitual use of porn isn’t wicked. It’s just a shortcoming.

I don’t know where you are in your journey to sexual purity. I don’t know how long you have been struggling to be free from the grip of pornography and masturbation. But I do know that you can’t conquer sin if you don’t name it. I know from bitter experience that you are unlikely to forsake a sin if you think it’s just a shortcoming.

One of the biggest favors you can do yourself is to read the New Testament with a pen and paper on hand. Write down what God calls your sexual sin (every New Testament author warns against sexual immorality). Note the punishment that the New Testament writers say awaits you if you never forsake your porn and masturbation. Once you are finished, start using your notes as your new glossary. To forsake your sexual immorality, you must first name it.