Lust, Terror, Agony... and Inexpressible Joy.

Children and adults across America are enthralled by pornography as it seductively promises so much intense freedom, pleasure, control, intimacy, and so many of the other things the human soul longs for. Yet, just like all sin and temptation, it never keeps its promises and leads to only a deeper unfulfillable desire. It ends up being like trying to extinguish a fire with gasoline or trying to make a mosquito bite stop itching by itching it. When we try to find our freedom in this perverse fantasy world, we become more and more enslaved and addicted. When we want relief from loneliness and depression, plunge ourselves deeper into loneliness and depression.

Have you ever not been able to resist the thrill of sin? Maybe you have been in an unhealthy relationship before where you know it is wrong, but it’s just too thrilling and glamorous to you for you to back out. If you have given into pretty much any temptation, then you also have experienced the deceitfulness of the tempting promises of sin. The Devil lures us in like we are fish, and forgetting all we have been told, we bite down hungrily, ignoring the hook in our passion until it is too late. He then mocks us and laughs in pleasure at how self-destructive we are and at how stupid we are to not turn to God: the source of true love, inexpressible joy, and unexplainable peace. After that, he deceives us into thinking either that we are so bad that God would never have mercy on us, or, that we are not bad enough to need God’s mercy.

Indulging our insatiable urges to sin, no matter how subtle those are, can never make that agonizing desperation for pleasure go away. Obeying our urges in submission to the Devil kindles our red-hot urges more and more, leading us closer and closer to humiliation and destruction. Sinning has never satisfied your longing and never meets your expectations. It is like pouring more and more water into a cup, dying to see the cup filled, without realizing that the cup has no bottom to hold the water.

C.S. Lewis wrote in The Four Loves that nature had “awakened certain longings in [him]” and this statement really resonated with me. Nature is not like pornography or cocaine. No one would even think of condemning the enjoyment of nature as evil, yet it still awakens this deep need and longing within us, such as that feeling of nostalgia and deep longing when you just stare into a sunset… yet even the most beautiful sunset is never enough to satisfy my eyes. CS Lewis noticed that the desire that was awakened by nature could not be satisfied by nature. He writes in Mere Christianity that “If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world.” Therefore, let us seriously heed Paul’s wisdom:

“Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.” (Colossians 3:2)

Leonard Ravenhill raged against this worldliness in the church, saying, “Today we spend more money on dog food than missions”. He has a good point there. Last time I checked Hell still exists. Doesn’t the gospel still save sinners? Isn’t being with Jesus forever in Paradise the very best thing anyone could possibly ask for? If we did believe that trusting in Jesus can save helpless sinners from eternal torture in Hell, wouldn’t we mention that every so often? Do we have love for Christ in the American church? Instead of seeking worldly things and being lured in by the Devil, Christians must be like those written about in the book of Hebrews that made it clear that “they are seeking a homeland” and that “they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.” (Hebrews 11:14,16)

What is this homeland? It is where God will dwell with us. All the longings and pleasures and joy we are falsely promised by sin, will be actualized and eclipsed by the glory and joy of the New Jerusalem. It will be better than our wildest dream. Yet until then, believers must remind ourselves and force ourselves to fix our eyes on the eternal, not believing the Devil who wants us to live as if this Earth is Heaven and to live with our minds set on the flesh. We should long and pray to experience more and more intimacy with God, seeking to walk with Him and commune with Him daily. Therefore, let every disappointment remind you of Who we are truly made for, and Whose love will exceed the wildest and most powerful longings you could ever have: God.

Yet there is another side to this coin that is darker. And this one should propel you into gratitude and evangelism if you are converted and into deep terror if you are unconverted. There is another kind of longing that isn’t exactly a longing. I’ve never been held hostage and tortured for information, but I have seen movies about it, and from my experience watching movies, I conclude that the fear of torture is often worse than torture itself. Imagine how awful it would be to sit in a cell knowing you were about to be tortured the next day. You might be so petrified you would end up snitching on your friends. This type of excruciating expectation of unbearable pain, in contrast to expectation of immense pleasure, can be seen when children kick and scream and throw a tantrum when doctors want to give them a shot. If an adult acted the way children act before getting a shot, we would think they were about to be castrated or killed.

I have two guarantees for the two different groups reading this article: The first is for those that end up dying as true Christians. That is this: Your wildest dream and longing for pleasure, wealth, intimacy, freedom, satisfaction, acceptance, love, beauty, belonging, family, and identity will be nothing compared to the glory of being in Heaven with Christ, and that is exactly where you will go if you are Christian or if God has chosen to convert you in the future.

The second is for those who are Hellbound. Do not be deceived, many who profess faith in Christ, many who evangelize, many enrolled in Christian schools, even ones named Samford, Wheaton, Hope, Calvin, or Gordon, are currently self deceived and will end up in Hell unless Christ saves them. Unless you are saved before you die, your wildest, awfullest, worst nightmare and the most horrible fear you have will be like peaceful day dreams in comparison to the terrible wrath in store for you in Hell. All of your fears of failure, loneliness, poverty, violence, abandonment, pain, punishment, judgement, heights, falling, spiders, torture, and anything else, I promise that the place you are currently headed is way worse than you could imagine, and you desperately need to flee from the wrath to come. As the elect will have their longings satisfied and surpassed in the presence of God where there is fullness of joy, the reprobate’s terrors will be faced and surpassed in the presence of the wrath of God.

Jesus can save you from the pain you deserve for your sins because He Himself bore that pain on the cross for sinners. Christ suffered under the fullness of the wrath of God to save every single sinner that will repent and believe the gospel. He has risen to life, and all who are in His hand will one day see this glorious prophecy fulfilled:

“Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” Revelation 21:3-4