The Porn Buster

During thirty-five years of pastoral ministry, one of the greatest plagues on men, marriages, and the church is pornography. Porn is so prevalent that I have had to devote significant time to counseling and teaching on it. At RPTS, I have sections of pastoral classes in which I address this subject. As the president, I have had to discipline students over it. The RPTS and church community know that I label this topic Pornolatry, for Christians indulging in pornography is not just a problem of immorality - it is a worship problem. The pornolatrist is an idolatrist.

As such, the key to addressing it is not simply removing access to unnecessary devices, installing Covenant Eyes on phones, or providing accountability, though these steps may help with the immediate "plucking out the right eye" in the battle against this sin. For the depths of the heart and what it loves have to be addressed. To reach there, the true porn buster is experiential union with Christ.

Whenever I am ministering to one trapped in this sin, I first tell them he is an idolater. Consequently, he has eyes but does not see Christ spiritually as he should. He has ears, but does not hear the wonders of the gospel. He has a mouth, but does not speak the truths of the Scriptures. As Psalm 115 warns, he is becoming like the idol he worships. Indeed, he is becoming one with his idol. Then, as this same psalm calls the reader to do, he needs to trust and fear the Lord again by drawing more deeply on his union with and communion with Christ.

Thomas Boston reminds us that there are "three mysterious unions in our religion." He says these unions are

(1.) The substantial union of the three persons in one Godhead. (2.) The personal union of the divine and human natures in Jesus Christ. (3.) The mystical union betwixt Christ and believers, which is that wherein Christ and believers, are so joined, that they are one Spirit, and one mystical body, 1 Cor. 6:17 and 12:13.

Boston and others teach us that these three unions are related.

In the highly Trinitarian passage of Ephesians 4 1:3-14 (which is just one long sentence in the original Greek), twelve different times Paul refers to our union with Christ by saying "in Him" or "in Christ." He recounts the blessings of salvation that Christ has given to us. Yet Paul does so by explaining how our union with Christ gives us the experience of the love of the Father, the grace of the Son, and the sealing power of the Spirit. As Robert Letham says,

The coming of the Holy Spirit is, in effect, the coming of the entire Trinity. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit take up residence with the one who loves Jesus.

As this passage and others teach us, the eternal, holy God calls each believer, through His Holy Spirit, to an eternal, holy enjoyment of him. Each battle the believer wins in mortification - each step he takes in sanctification - is a movement toward glorification. The believer must live in awareness of this goal. As the Apostle John tells us, "Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure" (I John 3:2-3). Keeping your eyes on Christ, rather than porn, is the true way to bust its hold over you.

In his famous sermon, The Expulsive Power of a New Affection, Thomas Chalmers explains how growth in holiness is aided by seeing it as preparation for heaven. Chalmers' thesis is that we will only give up an object we love if we have a greater object to love. Thus, he states,

The love of the world cannot be expunged by a mere demonstration of the world's worthlessness. But may it not be supplanted by the love of that which is more worthy than itself?

After illustrating this thesis in various ways, he concludes his message by imagining a man "standing on the margin of this green world" and looking beyond into a vast, dark unknown. He would not be compelled to leave the world he knows for that which is unknown. But then Chalmers holds up another scenario:

But if, during the time of his contemplation, some happy island of the blest had floated by; and there had burst upon his senses the light of its surpassing glories, and its sounds of sweeter melody; - and he clearly saw, that there, a purer beauty rested upon every field, and a more heartfelt joy spread itself among all the families; and he could discern there, a peace, and a piety, and a benevolence, which put a moral gladness into every bosom, and united the whole society in one rejoicing sympathy with each other, and with the beneficent Father of them all. - Could he further see, that pain and mortality were there unknown; and above all, that signals of welcome were hung out, and an avenue of communication was made for him - perceive you not, that what was before the wilderness, would become the land of invitation; and that now the world would be the wilderness?

Only when believers begin to see what union with Christ fully entails clearly will they long for Him more deeply and truly, and begin to see the porn for the despicable counterfeit that it is.

What then are three practical steps you can take right now to be a porn buster and grow in union with Christ?

Confess your porn usage to believers who can help you, and consider a trusted spiritual leader in your church to be one of them(James 5:16). Remember that the third union is corporate in the sense that not just the individual believer but the church is in union with Christ. You experience that union when you share your battle against sin with them.

Renew your commitment to worship the Lord in spirit and in truth (John 4:24). Stop pretending, as you go to church, that you are truly worshiping the Lord when you are involved in pornolatry. Like a couple renewing their wedding vows, rededicate yourself to love the Lord as the great commandment calls you to do with all your heart and mind and soul and strength as you worship. Each Lord's Day is preparatory in nature, as it readies you for eternity with the Lord.

Read John Owens' Communion with God devotionally. I regularly place this volume in the hands of those struggling in this area. This book wonderfully draws the reader to see the beauty expressed above in union with the Triune God and helps expel old, dead affections with new, lively ones.

Finally, remember these words of J.C. Ryle.

When an eagle is happy in an iron cage, when a sheep is happy in the water, when an owl is happy in the blaze of noonday sun, when a fish is happy on the dry land, then, and not until then, will I admit that the unsanctified man could be happy in heaven.

Only those growing in holiness can be suited for the happiness of heaven.