Sexual images have power over us because the light of God’s glory has gone out.
Here is how this works. I have a clock on my bedside table. It shines the time on the ceiling. So at night, when I turn my light off, I can see “10:30” in red numbers on my ceiling. It is clear, and it holds my attention—in the dark. But when the sun comes up in the morning, those red numbers vanish completely. In the brightness of the sun, I can only see the ceiling. The red numbers thrive on the darkness. They are only visible in the dark.
So it is with illicit sex. The origin of sexual sin is that we have “exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images” (Romans 1 v 23). Its vividness and power to lure us into sin increases where the glory of God shines least brightly. When God’s glory is revealed and treasured most, the power of sinful sexual attraction is broken. The brightness of the sun makes the brightness of the red lights vanish. So when it comes to our sex lives, the issue is this: Do we see the glory of God? Do we treasure the glory? Are we deeply content, as Paul says, in every situation (even when sexual satisfaction is denied) “because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” (Philippians 3 v 8)?
When God’s glory is revealed and treasured most, the power of sinful sexual attraction is broken.
What God has done
To help us overcome the dangers of sex, God has done more than warn us. “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness” (2 Peter 1 v 3). How has he done this? Peter goes on. He has done it “through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence.” God empowers us for godly sexuality—and frees us from ungodly sexuality—“through … knowledge.” Knowledge of what? The God of glory and excellence! The reawakening of the soul to the glory of God is the birth of freedom from sexual bondage.
And how has God given us this knowledge of God’s glory and excellence? By granting “to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire” (2 Peter 1 v 4). The life-changing knowledge of glory comes through God’s promises. He makes promises to us. The promises reveal the glory and the excellence of God, and assure us that we will enjoy them forever as we trust in Christ.
The reawakening of the soul to the glory of God is the birth of freedom from sexual bondage.
When we embrace these promises of God’s glory, we “become partakers of the divine nature.” That is, God conforms us to his holy character, through faith in his God-saturated promises. And the result of this transformation into God’s likeness is escape “from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.” In other words, freedom from the power of sinful desire—including sexual desire—comes through:
Wonderful truth for sexual sinners
The danger of sex is that because our hearts are naturally disordered vertically and God is not our supreme desire, therefore our sexual desires are disordered horizontally and we prefer illicit pleasures to godly ones. We even prefer them over God himself. The outcome of this desecration of God’s beauty and worth is the prospect of terrible punishment under God’s judgment. But the apex of the glory of the God of glory is his grace. He has made a way for sexual sins to be forgiven and for defiled lives to be made pure.
He did this in the death and resurrection of Christ. And we know he did it specifically for sexual sinners because Paul lists those sinners: “the sexually immoral … idolaters … adulterers … men who practice homosexuality” (1 Corinthians 6 v 9). And then he says, gloriously, “And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God” (v 11).
Perhaps this was you. Perhaps this is you. In some way, Paul is describing all of us. None of us have a perfect record sexually. It is surely true, as Paul says, that exchanging God’s glory for sexual immorality leads to destruction. But it is also true—wonderfully true—that repenting of that immorality leads to forgiveness in Christ and eternity with God. And it leads to a deeper, purer enjoyment of sex as a good gift from God, rather than as a way of rejecting God. Only when the sun of God’s all-satisfying glory is the center of the solar system of our lives will sex find its beautiful, holy, happy orbit.
This is an extract adapted from John Piper’s new book, Living in the Light: Money, Sex, and Power which is available for pre-order. Get a preview of the book by signing up for 5 days of free devotions on the book’s dedicated website.
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John Piper (@JohnPiper) is founder and teacher of desiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College and Seminary. For 33 years, he served as pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is author of more than 50 books.
