The first way is subscription-based. Every month, the customer pays a predetermined amount of money in exchange for access to a particular service, product or content that the business provides—sort of like Netflix, except with porn. In order to draw customers in, businesses that use this model pay other businesses to advertise their services, products or content.
The second way is ad-based. These businesses offer free content to their customers, but must sell space on their website or application to businesses who desire to advertise their product or content in order to make money. In this method, it's a lot like YouTube.
And as we might expect, the more the porn industry’s value increases, so does its influence. And, as we see evidence today, not necessarily for the better.
With the development of the internet, the porn industry was the first to recognize the marketing potential of new technology to the extent that around half of all websites contain pornographic material. Today, pornography has found its way into the lives nearly every home, business and many churches.
Why do I mention all this? Why am I preaching a message in church about this subject? Because it is destroying the lives of many. We are dearly paying the price in terms of our marriages, families and children. Increasing divorce rates, child pornography, multiple sex partners, rape and human trafficking, just about every lewd sexual act that one can imagine, has found its way into the homes of people, continually eroding the morals of the current culture.
Look, the truth is, that in many Christian homes pornography is present. We can all
sit here, with a look of shock on our faces, and act like it doesn’t. We can continue to do what the church has been doing
for the last fifty years and suggest that it is not an appropriate topic, or that we're Christians, its not our problem. And if we do that, we are more dishonest than our forefathers.
In Luke 9:23, Jesus said "If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Me"
In verse 5, Paul writes "Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry."
Once you have your eyes fixed on Christ; once you understand what Christ accomplished on the cross and the power that is available to believers, we are to consider as dead the life which belongs to old nature and is ruled by that which by what is earthly.
In I Corinthians, chapter 15, the Apostle Paul says it this way, " I affirm, brothers and sisters, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, that I die daily."
Let me put it another, you never be able to ascend into the heavenlies, you will never really live the risen life until you die to the world and that means you must die to the things that are in the world. A radical transformation must take place. You must come to the point in your life where you make a definite commitment to these things that they’re going to die. Meaning you must put them out of your life.
Now there are a number of people who have misinterpreted this verse, claiming Paul is instructing us to injure ourselves. In fact, there are a significant number of people, who have taken it to this extreme. However, that would be like taking Jesus' words in Matthew 5:29, "Now if your right eye is causing you to sin, tear it out and throw it away from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to be thrown into hell."
Beloved, the language here is clearly symbolical. One cannot be presumed that Christ intended this to be taken literally. His was teaching that the dearest objects, if they cause us to sin, are to be abandoned; that by all sacrifices and self-denials, we must overcome the evil propensities of our nature. Look, your old nature will continue to debilitate your Christian life, if you don’t take action by focusing on Christ’s and the things which are eternal. That's the point here. If there is something in your old life, some sin that threatens to destroy your future hope of eternal life, "Kill it!" "Get Rid of it!" Walk away from it, that what it means.
Remember in Colossians 2:8, Paul said "See to it that there is no one who takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception in accordance with human tradition, in accordance with the elementary principles of the world, rather than in accordance with Christ."
The philosophy that divorced the body from the soul, that separated morality from spirituality. The philosophy that says "Its only my body, its not relevant to my soul."
Well, allow me to share with you that in a recent survey, conducted among conservative Christian men, it revealed that only half believe that sex does not necessarily have to be restricted to marriage.
America’s National Council for the Protection of Children & Families surveyed 5 Christian universities on this issue and discovered that 68% of male students had intentionally looked for pornography of the Internet, 10% were frequent users of porn and 5% had a problem with pornography.
In 2014, the Barna Group, conducted a survey, which found that 64 percent men view porn at least once a month, 54 percent for born-again Christian men, About one-third of all self-identified Christian men do not view porn every month. Of those who do, 10 percent are nominal Christians. Of those who are born again, only about 11 percent would be what we’d consider "evangelicals."
During a conversation of divorce attorneys, two thirds of the 350 attorneys said "the Internet played a significant role in the divorces in the past year, with excessive interest in online porn contributing to more than half such cases."
In another study that was conducted, in the area of sexual faithfulness within a marriage. Of all the groups reporting only one sexual partner in the past 12 months, Conservative Protestants came second, rating only above those with no religious affiliation at all. 41% of all men interviewed reported having done one of the following in the previous 12 months: Watching a "blue movie," visiting a strip joint, purchasing sexually explicit magazines and materials, or calling a phone sex number. The use of the word "blue" is to refer to sexually explicit content.
Does anyone still believe this topic has no place in the church? That it isn't affecting us?
In II Timothy 3:1-7 Paul tells Timothy, "But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, slanderers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness although they have denied its power; avoid such people as these. For among them are those who slip into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth."
When we divorce spirituality from morality the result is immorality and that is exactly what we are seeing in the church and society today. A illicit lust, a depraved passion and uncontrollable sexual urges and desires. Since these images have the unique capacity to both hyper-sensitize and de-sensitize us, it makes them especially hazardous to male souls, much like addictive drugs.
One of the most ironic examples of how far this visual-based delusion can go is in the life of the grandfather of porn, Hugh Hefner. Sandy Bentley, a former Hefner girlfriend and Playboy cover girl, observed how Hefner "has trouble finding satisfaction through intercourse; instead, he likes the girls to pleasure each other while he masturbated and watched gay porn."
Sexual desires are normal, they are intrinsically good, after all God created us with sexual desire, but what happens when we give ourselves to evil concupiscence is that we take a basically wholesome thing and pervert it, using it for our own ends.
The adulterer is not satisfied with his wife, he wants more, he wants another man’s wife. God calls it idolatry. When Israel worshiped idols, God labelled her as an adulterer because she wanted more than God gave her. Likewise when a person wants more than the wife or the husband God has given them, they too are guilty of idolatry in God’s sight.
What are the consequences of these sins, particularly when a man indulges in the use of pornography. Dependency! Sin, all sin is encompassing, ensnaring, therefore, pornography creates an addiction. And, as with most addictions, when periods between use decreases, the mind is totally consumed by it.
To complicate matters further, the wife can never match the fantasy women. The wife is a real person, who has spent all day at work helping provide for the families needs, she has been at home with children, changing diapers, cleaning kitchens, cooking meals, how can she possibly compete with those Barbie dolls conjured up in photographic studios?
The reality is, she can’t. When fantasy takes over reality the husband begins to feel he has been short-changed, that he has drawn the short straw, and he becomes disinterested in his marriage. Sin begets sin, and pornographic use is but a stepping stone to deeper acts of depravity.
Some may say, "We cannot fix the world." And you're right! Look, cleansing of the world is God’s problem and He intends to purify it by fire some day, Scripture is very clear about that.
But right now we are dealing with your problem. Your sin, if you are using pornography. And, listen, I don't need to know who specifically you are, that's between you and God, of course, if you need someone to help you address this issue in your life, I am certainly able to do that. However, I'm speaking in general terms at the moment. The believer cannot eradicate his sin nature, but he does now have power and authority over it, so he can treat it as a morally impotent force in his life.
Romans 6:11-18 teaches us "So you too, consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore sin is not to reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the parts of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those who are alive from the dead, and your body’s parts as instruments of righteousness for God. For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under the Law but under grace.
What then? Are we to sin because we are not under the Law but under grace? Far from it! Do you not know that the one to whom you present yourselves as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of that same one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness? But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were entrusted, and after being freed from sin, you became slaves to righteousness."
The first vice of the old life that we are called on to appropriated the death of Christ and thereby removing this earthly desire is immorality. Immorality (porneia) refers primary to sexual relationships outside of marriage, but it also includes all kinds of unlawful sexual behavior, including deviations. God looks on immorality as a serious sin. In the Old Testament, it was punishable by death, and God's attitude toward it hasn't changed. He forbids any sexual activity outside of marriage.
Impurity: This refers to evil thoughts and intentions. The evil thought is behind the evil deed; therefore, if you control your thoughts, you'll control your body. That's why Paul says, "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind."
Passion: Passion or lust, the Greek word pathos, is related to the next item on the list. It is a passive term referring to latent sexual desire.
Evil Desire: This is a more intense passion, and more active than passion. Latent sexual desire becomes activated sexual desire. That creates evil thoughts, which in turn produce evil deeds.
Greed: The Greek word translated as "greed" in verse 5, is pleonexia. It literally means "to have more." In this context it means, "to want or have what isn't yours," or, "to want what is forbidden."
The word covetousness refers to a greedy desire to have more and more material things. It's a term that aptly describes today's society. This is a day of stockpiling and amassing as much as money can buy. And our culture today seems to encourage this.
Sadly, even children are getting an early introduction to materialism. A Midwestern bank now issues credit cards to 12-year-olds. This increases the buying power of the young, who are prone to make purchases based on peer pressure. The coming generation will be highly skilled at keeping up with the Jones's.
This materialistic philosophy has so dominated our age that it has also
influenced the church, as well as the Christians life style. Scripture
calls this drive to possess more covetousness, which is idolatry. Jesus
said in Luke 12:15, that "one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he
possesses." As Christians, and as a society, we need to be content with what we have. We need to resist the cultural lies,
that the more we possess the happier and more secure we will be.
We should fear the sin of greed because it leads people to do terrible things. We should hate it, because God hates it. Why? Because it is idolatry, causing us to value earthly things above God.
The Bible says that greed amounts to idolatry. You either worship God or self. As one bows to self, evil desires surface, which lead to evil thoughts and then to evil deeds. What the Bible is saying that if we want to get rid of sin, we need to get rid of greed-the core of sin.
Some people make a god of money. They are obsessed with making it and accumulating wealth. All their thoughts and energies are directed toward that goal. For others it's status. They want the manager's job. Or they look at the C.E.O position and say, "Whatever it takes, I'm going to get that position." Or it may be an athletic achievement. A young tennis star once said in an interview, "All I've ever wanted is to be number one in the world. It's all I've lived for. Nothing else matters in life. And I won't stop until I get it."
Look, we all have dreams, goals and ambitions, there isn't anything wrong with that. But we must maintain a biblical perspective. When we begin to covet what someone else has, we've gone too far. When we've let our desire for wealth or position become an all-consuming passion, we've turned it into the god of our lives. And that's idolatry! Instead of covetousness, think of something to give instead of something to get.
How do we avoid it? Remember what Paul said in verse 3? "Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth." Focus on our relationship with Christ and look forward to meeting Him when He returns. Think of Christ and all that He has given you. That's the cure for greed. If we have Christ, what more do we possibly need?
In verses 6 and 7, Paul writes "For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience, and in them you also once walked, when you were living in them." Here, he points out to reasons to put to death our old nature or manner of living.
Beloved, God, has given us clear warning signs in the Bible to tell us what kinds of behavior and attitudes are off-limits. The Lord loves us and He wants to spare us from tragedy. He warned us about lying, stealing, blasphemy, filthy language, adultery, murder, drunkenness, and a host of other sins. Yet, many times we ignore His warnings and intentionally wander into a forbidden territory. We convince ourselves that nothing bad will happen to us or that we can turn back, if we sense danger.
Let me assure you of something, God is not kidding. Sinning guarantees His disapproval and opens the door to remorse and tragedy. A person who repeatedly commits these sins may be giving evidence that he has never truly been saved.Invite God to search through the layers of your conscious and subconscious mind, to excavate all the vestiges of our old self, our self-centered nature. Each sin must be recognized, confessed and put to death. For these vices are lighting rods that attract God’s wrath. And though man presently may seem to enjoy his greed they are only walking further under the avalanche of wrath that will fall when God set the straight the outcome of our live.
Verse 7 honestly states that these are sins that characterized the Colossians’ and our pre Christian experience. "and in them you also once walked, when you were living in them. "
Both verbs are in the past tense. We "used" to walk in them in the life we "once lived". But that kind of life or conduct belongs to the past.
Those who have been raised with Christ are to demonstrate a new attitude toward sin. This new attitude not only applies to lustful sins but it also applies to sins of speech. So next are listed sins of attitude and speech. Verse 8 emphatically marks the contrast of the old life with the new life.
"But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth."
“But now,” in decided contrast to their-our previous pagan state. The imagery is that of putting off or stripping off filthy smelling clothing. This putting off the old is why the tradition developed of putting off street clothing to be baptized in white robes. For God has broken the power of the old nature in and over believers by His death and resurrection. Now Believers must put faith in that act and in its power to experience the liberation that comes from living in Christ’s resurrection victory.
The second list of various kinds of hate experienced in social relationships is related more to speech than feeling. The first three terms point out sins of disposition or internalized sins. These sins may or may not be expressed in overt action.
Anger: This refers to smoldering, resentful bitterness that refuses to be pacified. It becomes a settle habit if not addressed.
Wrath: Anger gives way to wrath, rage "thymos." This refers to a temporary blaze of sudden anger. It is like setting fire to straw, it flames furiously, but quickly burns out.
Malice: Malice or "kakia," is the result of wrath. It refers to general evil or wickedness. It denotes a vicious disposition which promotes injury to others. It is the sin of ill-will toward others.
Other sins are verbalized. Slander- Slander is also a result of wrath. Every time you slander a person, you slander God. Jesus said in Matthew 5:22, "whoever says "You good-for-nothing,’ shall be answerable to the supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell." When you insult someone, you are disparaging someone made in the image of God. When you insult a Christian you disparage someone being remade into the image of Christ.
Abusive speech: This word "aischrologia,"refers to obscene or abusive language. The combined word carries the idea if foul-mouth abuse. Ephesians 4:29 says, " Let no unwholesome word come out of your mouth, but if there is any good word for edification according to the need of the moment, say that, so that it will give grace to those who hear." If you chose to say something, say what is edifying, necessary, and gracious.
A godless verbal environment is bound to corrupt the mind. Our best defense as Christians is the Holy Spirit who, if allowed to control us; can put in check a filthy word before it slips out. So powerful is His work in us!
Vulgar and offensive words are now quite commonplace in our society. Terms that a few years ago never left the locker room are today plastered on T-shirts, printed on bumper stickers, and are brought into our homes on TV. Although it's disturbing to hear non-Christians use fowl language, we shouldn't be surprised. God's Spirit doesn't live in them, and they are not guided by His Word.
Psalm 141:3 teaches us to pray, "Set a guard, Lord, over my mouth; Keep watch over the door of my lips."
What is even more disturbing to me, is that swearing and impure language can be heard among Christians. Some families are exposed to so much of the world's filthy, foul mouthed offerings at the movies, and on network TV that they lose their distaste for offensive communication. "What's the big deal?" they ask.
The big deal is God's disapproval! That's the big deal.Paul writes in verse 9, "Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices,"
Sin is a trade with many tools, but a lie is a handle that fits them all. In other words, you need to tell the truth. As people of the truth, we must discipline ourselves to speak the truth. If Christians can't speak the truth, then who can? So examine closely your words and actions. Are they truthful at all times? As Christians, our integrity is constantly tested and furthermore, whether we realize it or not, the world is watching us.
The life of sin is referred to as the old man, the old self. That life was crucified with Christ. The practice of the new life must square with the profession of the new life.
So, how can you get rid of those sins? There are two ways: One, starve them. Don’t feed your mind with trash. Second push sin out with positive graces. Pour into your mind the Word of God and things that are good and right. God offers us the new life, but He doesn’t force it on us. We must put it on ourselves. We must put it on daily.
We do this by identifying with my position in Christ. By honestly confessing and forsaking my sin. By staying in the Word of God and through prayer. By living my life as an open book. By making myself accountable to a trusted friend, a brother in Christ. By consciously making my will God’s will. By seeking God’s means of escape when I am tempted.
In Closing....
Pornography and sin is a real problem. It is a social problem. It is a moral problem. It is a spiritual problem. And, it may well be your problem. If it is, you cannot afford to ignore it. If you are struggling with it and you need a friend I put myself forward as your pastor to help you. I am not interested in judging you, or disclosing your sin to others. I want to help you. I want to pray for you. I want to counsel you and help you find some materials that might help you. But mark this down, if you ignore this sin, you ignore it at your peril. All sin is evil. God hates it. Sin robs us of the opportunity to become more like Christ.
Jesus Christ willingly gave His life for us, isn't it time that we started living ours for Him?
May it be so...
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen