“But we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully, knowing this: that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for fornicators, for sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and if there is any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine, according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God which was committed to my trust.” 1 Timothy 1:8-11
You wake up this morning in a holding cell on Rikers Island. Rikers Island is New York City’s main jail complex. It consists of 10 jails, and houses close to 12,000 inmates. In your cell with you are 20 other offenders. You get to talking. Brad is inside for human trafficking. Sven is up for murdering his girlfriend. Moe lied repeatedly in court under oath. Chen strangled his father to death. You are in for fornication.
Do you feel out of place among these men? Do you believe your crime doesn’t warrant being thrown into jail? You shouldn’t. Paul tells us, you and me, that the sin of fornication ranks right up there with kidnapping and murder. Fornication means sexual immorality, that is, any act that defies God’s holy standard for sexual relations. Fornication means premarital sex, sex with animals, sex with children, sex with close family members. Fornication means watching, reading and listening to pornography, and masturbating to pornography.
We don’t know from Paul’s list whether fornication is worse than lying, or not as bad as murder. Maybe because it doesn’t matter. What matters is that the law, God’s commandments, are for every person in the list. The law condemns them all equally, because they are all equally guilty of breaking God’s law.
For you to get free of your habitual porn use and masturbation, why not change your point of view? Imagine yourself behind bars, lawless and ungodly, unholy and profane, living contrary to the glorious gospel that you say you believe and affirm—someone deserving God’s judgment. A brief stretch inside has a sobering effect on some men. It straightens them out.
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