Addicted to Pornography? A Warning and Hope

Hello ladies and gentlemen, my name is Justin Peters. I hope that you and your family are doing well today. I want to thank you very much for watching this video and in this video. This is a video that I've wanted to make for some time and it is not an easy subject matter with which to deal but it is one that is very much on my heart.

Several months ago a number of months ago. I Wrote and preached a sermon Entitled marks of a godly husband and as part of my sermon I talked about the importance of sexual purity as one of the marks of a godly husband.

And so in research for that I did some I did some research on how prevalent The use of pornography is amongst professing and please do note my use of the term professing Believers, but these are the statistics that I found according to Barna research the annual revenue of the pornography industry exceeds that of the NFL the NBA and major league baseball combined.

The annual revenue of the pornography industry exceeds that of ABC CBS and NBC combined. That is staggering. I Knew the pornography industry was Massive, but I had I had no idea it was that massive that those are staggering figures to make matters worse.

According to Barna research the average age at which a child is first exposed to pornography is age 11 and by the time that child reaches the age of 14 94 of 14 year olds have been exposed to one degree or another to pornography 94 According to Barna and this is extraordinarily troubling over half of pastors admit To looking at pornography on at least a somewhat regular basis.

Over half of pastors and these are just the ones that admit to it and so my educated guess is is that the real number would the true number would be even in excess of that. That is horrifying. If you are a pastor or if you are in the ministry of Whatever stripe and you are looking at pornography Get out Do God a favor in yourself and get out of the ministry step down.

These are just unbelievable statistics. Not infrequently. I receive emails and phone calls From men and they all basically go like this Dear Justin, you know blah blah blah. You know a lot of these men will thank me for my ministry and say that they've been helped By my ministry and have learned some things, but then they'll go on to say.

But I need some advice. I need some help because I have a certain sin with which I struggle that I cannot get a hold of and Anytime I receive an email like that and when the when the wording is something like that I have a certain sin or I have a sin that I struggle with that.

I can't seem to to repent of or break. I Know what it is. I know what it is. In fact Just a few days ago. I received a phone call from a young man struggling with this you know to use that term struggling and So I know what it is.

It's it's pornography and they all say that they just cannot break it. They say they try. A lot of them will say well, I'm you know, I'll have victory over it for a few weeks. Maybe a couple of months, but then I go right back into it and I just cannot seem to break it.

In the first thing I will say to them, of course, I want to know what their testimony is if they have one but First thing I will say to them is this it's not that you can't break your addiction to pornography.

It's that you won't. It's not that you can't stop looking at it. It's that you won't stop looking at it and Let me prove this to you very easily and very quickly. Let's suppose that I were to implant a small little explosive device in your right arm little explosive device in your right arm and you know situate it down there right right there on the bone or something like that and This little explosive device with some, you know, just enough gunpowder in it this little explosive device had a sensor and the next time you looked at a Pornographic website on your computer would detonate that explosive device and blow your right arm Right off of the trunk of your body.

Could you stop looking at pornography then? You better believe you could. Let's use the flip side of that let's use some Positive reinforcement or a positive reward instead of a threat. Let's let's go the positive direction let's say if I had some way of Verifying that you could go an entire year.

Let's stretch it out to two years. Two full years without looking at pornography at all. And if if you were successful in that and I had some way to verify if you were successful at that At the end of that two years.

I would write you out a check for 50 million dollars. Could you do it then? Absolutely, you could. I can't write you a check for 50 million dollars, but theoretically hey, you could do it. You could do it.

So, you know what? I've just proven to you I'm just proven that you love your right arm more than you love pornography. You love 50 million dollars more than you love pornography and For all you married men out there who are watching me right now and you're looking at porn.

You know what else I've proven? I've proven that you love pornography more than you love your wife. You love pornography more than you love your wife and a lot of these emails from these guys will say well, you know, I Look at porn, but I love my wife.

I really love my wife, but I'm addicted to porn. Don't kid yourself. You do not love your wife. Now you might have some Emotional feelings for her some affectionate feelings at some level for her, but please do not confuse that with love.

Because you don't love your wife if you're looking at pornography. You could look your wife in the eye and say I hate you with the white-hot hatred of a thousand sons and Saying that to your wife would not convey hatred to her as Clearly as you looking at pornography.

Because love men is a lot more than just feelings. I'm not against feelings. I'm not against Affectionate and emotional feelings towards someone not at all, but love is an action. Love does stuff. Love bears real fruit and if you are looking at pornography if you were looking at women undressed other women undressed.

Then you can tell me all day long how much you love your wife. I want to look you straight in the eye and tell you no, you don't you do not and I've just proven something else is that you love pornography more Than you love Jesus Christ.

You love pornography more than you love Christ. A Number of you or maybe some of you have heard me teach about this. I've said this. You can't help what you see. But you can help what you look at men.

All of us see things that we wish we hadn't seen. Maybe we're you know I don't know in the kitchen or talking to our wives and TV's on and a commercial pops up and it's got something there that you know.

You know, we can't help what we see. But we can help what we look at and so don't tell me that you can't break it. Yes, you can you just Don't want to you won't do it. It's not that you can't it's that you won't.

I can't help what we see. But we can help what we look at. I Want to read some scriptures to you out of the book of Proverbs and I'm going to be using from this point forward a new Bible translation. I've been a New American Standard guy and that is my go-to Translation.

That's my preaching translation. I will consult other translations, but That the New American Standard is the one from which I always preach. That's my main preaching translation. But that's about to change.

Have you seen this yet, this is the legacy standard Bible and I will have more to say on this In an upcoming video, but this is for our purposes right here. This is Now the most literal translation that there is even more so than the New American Standard.

This is an improvement upon the New American Standard. So anyway, if you don't have one of these yet Please do to get you one. So let's go to the book of Proverbs. Proverbs chapter 6 beginning in verse 23.

For the commandment is a lamp and the law is light and reproofs for discipline are the way of life. To keep you from the evil woman from the smooth tongue of the foreign woman. Do not desire her beauty in your heart nor let her capture you with her eyelids for an account of a harlot.

One is reduced to a loaf of bread in an adulterous hunts for the precious life. Can a man take fire in his bosom and his clothes not be burned or can a man walk on hot coals? And his feet not be scorched.

So is the one who goes in to his neighbor's wife whoever touches her will not go unpunished. The book of Proverbs has a great deal to say about sexual sin and the consequences of it. Whoever sins sexually Will not go unpunished.

And I want to bring your attention now to verses 32 and 33. The one who commits adultery with a woman is lacking a heart of wisdom he who would destroy his soul. Does it? You want to destroy your soul you want to destroy yourself.

Commit sexual sin commit adultery. Look at pornography. And even if you have remained faithful to your wife in the physical sense that you have not Physically had or had an adulterous affair with another physical woman.

If you're looking at pornography you are you are committing adultery in your heart absolutely. Verse 33. Wounds and disgrace he will find and his reproach will not be blotted out. Let that sink in for just a moment his reproach Will not be blotted out.

This is not saying that Sexual sin is the unforgivable sin. It's not okay. It's sexual sin adultery whatever form. Even homosexuality. It's not the of unforgivable sin. Not at all but Sexual sin is different from other sins in that it is sin that that is committed inside of the body.

Not outside of the body and sexual sin carries a Reproach it carries a wound that will never be fully blotted out. It is not to say that you lose your salvation. It is not to say that Sexual sin from a judicial standpoint is any more difficult for God to forgive us of than any other sin.

God Expands no more effort if you will anthropomorphically speaking. Forgiving us of sexual sin that he does forgiving us of lying or Cursing or taking his name in vain something like that steal stealing something.

So it's not that sexual sin is any more difficult judicially to be forgiven up, but it does leave a wound. It does leave a wound it leaves a stain. That will be with you for the rest of your life. It's something that you will never You'll never forget.

It's it's something it will just leave a wound. It leaves a wound in a marriage. It if you have been unfaithful to your wife or if your wife has been unfaithful to you. You know one part one partner has been unfaithful to the other in a marriage regardless of male or female.

Whoever's committed that sin it is not to say that the marriage is over. Forgiveness can be it can be extended and Forgiveness can be received in the marriage can can heal, but there will remain always a wound a scar.

I've had a number of surgeries in my life the first one I had you know for my cerebral palsy I had when I was two years old and Those scars are still there on my legs. They're they're still there now.

They're faded. They're not nearly as pronounced as they were of course when I had the surgeries. But I can look down on my leg right now and see this Wound on my leg that has been there ever since I was two years old, so it's been there for almost 46 years now.

So in that sense you know that's kind of an illustration. Yes, we can be forgiven of it. Yes a marriage can be restored. Yes, a marriage can be healed and yes, you can you can continue to strengthen your marriage, but it's always gonna leave a wound.

Because sexual sins are different. They are committed inside the body not outside of the body and Paul says in Ephesians chapter 5 verse 3 he says sexual immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you as is proper among the Saints.

Sexual sin is not to even be named Amongst those who profess Christ and so if you are in some serious habitual Unrepentant sin if you are if you are committing sexual sin of whatever stripe. You have every reason to examine yourself to see if you're in the faith.

Paul says in 1st Corinthians chapter 6 9 through 11 He says do not be deceived neither Fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers nor feminine or homosexuals or covetous or revilers drunkards swindlers.

Will inherit the kingdom of God. They will not inherit the kingdom of God and so if your life is marked by One of these sins in a Habitual way if that's a part of your life. Do not be deceived. You have absolutely no reason to believe that you are in the faith.

You have every reason to examine yourself 2nd Corinthians 13 verse 5 to see if you are in the faith. So if if this is a part of your life and you profess to be a Christian Dear man, dear woman and by the way, according to Barna about a third of those who look at pornography.

Guess what are women? So it's not just a man problem. I mean more men than women do but women look at this stuff, too. I was actually surprised at that about a third of those who view pornography or women.

Kill it kill it. And I might point out as there's probably some ladies out there Ladies watching me right now and you're thinking. Oh, yeah, Justin you you go after those mean old men you you get them.

You let them have it Justin. Well, well ladies, I want to be an equal opportunity Admonisher and I've got a verse for you too. It's 1st Timothy chapter 2 verse 9 Paul says. Likewise, I want women to adorn themselves with proper clothing with modesty and self-restraint.

Not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly clothing. Now I do not believe that I don't take a hyper literal Interpretation of that verse. I don't think that it is inherently sinful ladies if you braid your hair if you have Pigtails or whatever.

I'm showing my ignorance and ladies hairstyles I guess or I don't think it's inherently sinful if you have a gold necklace or some, you know. Gold earring or something like that. I don't I don't think that's the point.

The point is well contextually in this day and age. You know gold jewelry fine clothing was not nearly as Accessible as it is today and 2 ,000 years ago if a woman Had gussied herself up to the point where she was strutting around in gold jewelry, you know earrings or Necklaces or nose rings or whatever they wore back then, you know.

And it was obvious that she was making a point to draw attention to herself. That's what she was doing. And so that's the issue here. Ladies do not dress in such a way that you are trying to draw men's attention to your appearance.

Okay, if that's what you're trying to do If you are trying to draw men's attention to your to your appearance to your form whatever then that is sinful if you don't do that and Profess to be a Christian at the same time.

Yes, men are responsible and they're accountable for their own actions their own thoughts absolutely but do not dress in such a way that you are an Unnecessary stumbling block for them either. It's just not it is not becoming of a Christian lady to to dress in such a way that she is intentionally trying to draw attention to herself, so All of that men and women.

Kill it. Kill that sin go to war against that sin. Be killing sin or it will be killing you put to death. The deeds of the body. Romans 8 verse 13 put those things to death. It is not that you can't repent of it.

It's that you won't you absolutely can Mortify your flesh take every thought captive. Let the Word of Christ dwell richly within you. You can beat this if you are truly indwelt by the Holy Spirit of God if you are a born-again Christian.

You absolutely can kill this sin. Is it easy? No, it's not easy. Of course not. It's not easy to take every thought captive. It's not easy to put to death the deeds of the body. These things are not easy but they can be done and So I would I would commend to you men and apparently some ladies too.

But men especially because I'm really kind of addressing the fellas here. Put it to death if you find yourself if you're tempted to look at something. That you shouldn't look at when you feel that temptation come on.

Get up from your desk leave, you know to do whatever it takes to To flee that temptation be to be like Daniel and his friends Hananiah Mishael and Azariah in Daniel chapter 1 Daniel says he made up his mind that he would not defile himself with the King's choice food or with the wine which he drank.

So so make up your mind. Right now don't allow yourself to get in a place Where you're going to be unduly tempted whatever it takes to Remove that temptation from you to put it as far away from you as you possibly can do it.

You know Jesus was very clear if your eye causes you to sin to stumble pluck it out. Your hand causes you to sin cut it off. That that's those are some stark words. And I'm not literally saying I don't believe you literally have to get a hatchet and cut off your your hand or you know.

Get a spoon and gouge your eyes out. But the it is the seriousness with which we must go to war against our flesh. The good news is that if you are a Christian you are indwelt by the Holy Spirit of God and men women.

You have everything you need to kill that sin. There is no temptation that is too strong for you to resist. We know this from Scripture. You are indwelt by the Holy Spirit. You have a new nature. You have the Word of God the sufficient Word of God feed on it spend time in God's Word read it daily and By the way, don't bother with trying to break some generational curse or cast out the demon of pornography.

You know you hear this a lot. Oh if you're an alcoholic. It's because you've got the demon of alcohol that was that's been passed down through your bloodline. You see your great-great-great-great-grandfather.

You see was an alcoholic and the demon of alcohol is just passed through your bloodline and if you're addicted to pornography. It's because your great-great-great-great-grandfather was addicted to no.

No, wait a minute. That doesn't work. Does it? Huh? Because there you say there were no cameras back then so what it. There's no such thing as the demon of alcohol. There is no such thing as the demon of pornography.

What exactly did the demon of pornography do? Before cameras were invented. How did he pass his time? Okay, so that's a bunch of garbage a very faulty view of spiritual warfare. You don't need to be breaking any generational curses or casting out any demons because all those things are there's just a way of trying to absolve people of their responsibility to do one thing and that is to repent.

Repent that's what you need to do not break generational curses or cast out supposed demons of whatever repent that's what you need to do and Read your Bibles read. Read the Bible with your wife. Read the Bible with your wife.

Men do that on a daily basis. Kathy and I read scripture together every night. You know unless I'm traveling preaching somewhere. We read scripture together every night. It's a highlight of my day. I love it.

I look forward to it every night. We do that right before we go to bed do that with your wife. Love your wife kill your sin or it will be killing you. I want to come in to you a couple of books here. One of them is by JC Ryle.

John Charles Ryle he was. He's been dead now for a hundred and twenty years, I believe but he was Ordained by the Church of England died in the year 1900, but this book holiness. Can you see it JC Ryle?

Man, get this book get this book. Another one that I would come in to you is the mischief of The mischief of sin. Okay mischief of sin by Thomas Watson Puritan preacher excellent book and I know I'm breaking all the rules of YouTube, I'm not a Not a professional video guy.

But anyway the almost Christian Discovered by Matthew Meade. The almost Christian discovered by Matthew Meade. Oh, there we go. Verse image here. All right. These books will be of great help to you. I believe that they will they will be of tremendous help to you.

So me and I you know those statistics that I began this video reading Are troubling and I have no doubt that there's a lot of men right now watching this video. And I'm and you're thinking that's me. Yeah, I'm talking to you.

Put it to death. It will wreck your marriage. It will destroy Your marriage it will destroy it will utterly shatter The trust and the respect That your wife should have for you and men. You know, I've heard others say this and I and I actually know this to be true because I've been married now for 10 going on 11 years.

I know the the deepest need I guess to say it that way the deepest need that I have from my wife what what I most need from her is Of course love but but all this is part of love. It would absolutely crush me if she if I thought that she did not Respect me if I thought that That in her eyes I was not at home.

Who I am out there. Who I am out preaching teaching or doing these YouTube videos or If I if I thought that my wife did not Know that I am in private with her who I profess to be and am in the public.

It would crush me. I I Just couldn't live with it we as men need that Respect from our wives. I can't think of any faster way for you to lose respect from your wife than to look at pornography. It I there's no words I cannot I cannot even exaggerate The amount of harm that it will do to you.

The reproach will not be blotted out. Put it to death. It will destroy you. It will destroy your marriage. It will destroy your ministry if you're in ministry, so Kill it man. Kill it kill it for the glory of Christ.

And as I close I just want to close with the gospel briefly. If you're watching this and maybe you are convicted of of your sin, whether it's sexual sin or some other sin. And you're not certain of where you are in your relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.

I would encourage you to get real honest before God. Cry out to him confess your sins before him. Acknowledge that you are broken and undone ask him to grant you faith and repentance. We are all great sinners, but Jesus is a far greater Savior.

Jesus came to this earth fully God fully man willingly laid down his life on the cross. His life was not taken. He gave it and on the cross Jesus offered his Perfect life as a perfect sacrifice. To perfectly satisfy the perfect wrath of God three days later bodily raised from the dead proving himself to be who he said he was God in human flesh and If you will confess your sin before God cry out to him come to him in a godly sorrow confess your sin.

Ask him to save you he will. Jesus is the one who comes to me. I will in no wise cast out. All right. Thank you very much dear ones. Uh, not not a particularly Enjoyable video I suppose. But I hope that it will be helpful to a lot of folks.

And dear ones, let me add this little addendum here as well given the nature of this video. Be very careful what you say in the comment section. I know some ministries have disabled the comments because they're they can get get so out of control.

I have not done that yet on my youtube channel. Not yet. So Please be careful be wise. Think before you write something in the comments. Don't use this as an opportunity. Oh, yeah, Justin was talking about Pornography and I know Billy Bob down the road here.

He's you know, I know what he's doing a dad. I don't do that. If I if I get any whiff of that I Mean I'll cut it off. I'll just disable the comment. So be careful be wise. Be edifying in what you say.

Okay. All right. Till our next time together. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ the love of God in the fellowship of his Holy Spirit. Be with you all.