Welcome back, friend. It is good to see you pressing on in your course.
In lesson 12, we began a discussion about sin and blame. We saw from the Scriptures that our spouse’s sin is not our fault, nor is our sin their fault. We also understood the folly of blame-shifting, and we prepared ourselves with a gospel response to any blame-shifting that might happen. In the end, we rejoiced in our Savior, Who took the blame for us all.
Today, we are going to address the issue of why our spouse struggles with sexual impurity more directly. It is an important topic for us to consider because the world will tell us that our spouse is an “addict” and unable to change. We need to know that as children of the Living God, we are different. In Christ, we are new creations filled with the Holy Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom (2 Corinthians 3:17).
Let’s begin with the fundamental question: why do we sin?
The Scriptures tell us that we sin because we live in bodies of flesh in a fallen world. Paul wrote in Romans 5:12, “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.” When Adam and Eve sinned, they birthed a heritage of sin and death for us all. From birth, we are sinful (Psalm 58:3); this is the condition of all humanity (Job 15:14; Ephesians 2:3).
The world will tell you that your spouse is a sex addict. The world blames immoral behavior on bad parenting, unbalanced brain chemistry, sexual molestation during childhood, or a myriad of other things. The problem with this type of thinking is that it is hopeless. There is no cure for our past or our “bad” parents. I do not mean to minimize anyone’s pain or the sins committed against us in childhood, but we cannot change those things. It is futile to point to those events as the reason for our current actions.
Additionally, this type of worldly reasoning is not only inaccurate but also inconsistent. Many people have had horrible childhood experiences but “against all the odds” gone on to live healthy, productive lives. Conversely, some come from idyllic childhoods who grow up to live gross lives of sin and debauchery.
Question 1. Have you struggled with trying to understand the reasons why your spouse involved themselves with sexual sin? Please share.
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Friend, your spouse did not involve themselves with sexual sin because you are not enough or because of some irreversible brokenness in their life. Sexual sin is a common struggle, and while many factors might foster or encourage an immoral mindset, the heart of the matter is that we are all born with a propensity to sin. This is the primary reason why your spouse became involved with sexual impurity.
The good news is that God did not abandon us in our sin; He devised a way for us to be set free from the power of sin. Jesus’ obedience to death on the cross secured our forgiveness from sin and our freedom from its power!
We are all born dead in our sins (Ephesians 2:1), but God so loved the world that He sent His one and only Son Jesus to enter into our humanity (John 3:16), to become sin for us (2 Corinthians 5:21), to pay the penalty for our transgressions (1 Peter 2:24), to absorb the just wrath of God in our place (Romans 3:25) so that we might be righteous (Romans 5:19) in God’s sight and accepted by the Father (Ephesians 1:6).
Question 2. What is it that broke the power of sin in the lives of those who believe in Jesus?