And, as you saw in Purity Bootcamp, the cross of Jesus contains the power that can set us free! When the gospel truly gets a hold of us it can be said of us, "He/she turned from the idol of sexual impurity to serve the living and true God."
When the Thessalonians heard the gospel and believed it, their lives were drastically changed; they turned to God from idols. This is real power! This same thing happened to me: the cross changed my heart, my desires, passions and loves, and I know it can happen to you too. The cross has the power to make these changes!
So let’s examine the gospel together. Please read the following passage of Scripture and give your comments below:
1 Corinthians 15:1-6 ESV Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, (2) and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. (3) For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, (4) that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, (5) and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. (6) Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep.
Notice that the gospel is made up of two parts, as listed below:
“Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures” (verse 3). This first part of the gospel, that Christ died for our sins, is followed by a confirming proof: “he was buried” (verse 4). The fact that He died is proved by the fact that He was buried.
“He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures” (verse 4). This second part of the gospel, that Christ was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, is followed by a confirming proof: “he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve, then to more than 500, most of whom are still alive.” The fact that Christ was raised from the dead is proved by the fact that He was seen by many people, most of whom were still alive at the time of Paul’s writing and could verify the truth of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead.
That is the gospel. But the question is, how does it apply to our involvement in pornography and sexual impurity? Well first, we need to believe it.
You need to believe that Jesus went to the cross, in your place, assumed your guilt and died your death. As you look at Jesus on the cross you see Him being wounded for your transgressions and bruised for your iniquities (Isaiah 53:5). You see Him willingly, and out of love, taking your sin on Himself, taking it away from you, suffering to pay the price of it, becoming your sacrifice of atonement (Romans 3:25) and dying to set you free.
Then Jesus was buried. Your sins were buried with Him. Your guilt was buried. Your shame was thrown away in the tomb. Your entire past life, all of your sinful nature and all the labels the world put on you were buried in the grave with Jesus and left there forever.
Then Jesus rose from the dead in power, having overcome death and the grave, and His resurrection is your guarantee that God accepted His payment of your sin. His resurrection is also your justification before God (Romans 4:25). Now there is no condemnation for you (Romans 8:1), if you are a believer.
This means your involvement in impurity, all the sins you’ve ever committed or even thought, have been paid for, have been annulled, have been cleared from your account.
Question 5. Do you believe the gospel? That is, do you believe that Jesus Christ died for your sins and rose from the dead on the third day?
When the Holy Spirit begins to apply the gospel to our hearts and helps us learn how to implement the gospel in our lives, everything starts to change. Why is that?
Remember, the gospel is “the power of God” (Romans 1:16-18), and when this power is active in our lives it rescues us from slavery to sin and sets us free. This brings all kinds of changes in every area of our lives.
I know God can work this change in your heart and life, as He is in mine.