This sermon emphasizes the need to flee from sin, particularly addressing the issue of justifying masturbation as not a sin. It highlights the importance of seeking biblical guidance and examining one's conscience, pointing out that sexual immorality and lack of self-control are condemned in the Bible. The speaker shares personal testimony of finding freedom from lust, pornography, and masturbation through genuine repentance, faith in Christ, and reliance on God's grace.

We have got to flee from our sin. And the sad fact is a lot of people are not fleeing from their sin, but they're fleeing to excuses. They're trying to justify something. Even me. Until God saved me a year and a half ago, I tried to justify sin. I tried to justify that masturbation was not a sin. And so we're about to watch a video, and Pastor Tim is going to ask Pastor Tim Sessions, he's going to address, is masturbation a sin? This is an important one. Dan asks, is masturbating a sin? I want to deal with that. Any of you that have read through your Bible completely, read through it repeatedly, you know that the term masturbation does not show up in the Scriptures, at least distinctly by that term. So we need to look for help with this, maybe in another area. You know what I thought when I started thinking about this? Now obviously the Word of God is where we have to go to get our answers, and we're going to go there in just a second. But I thought, you know what, I'm going to appeal to these folks by their own conscience first. And I got thinking about this. Just ask them, if you knew that Jesus Christ was coming in 24 hours, would you spend the next 24 hours masturbating? You know what? You can look at that, you can think, well that's a funny thing, but I'm dead serious. Because, look, this guy's asking the question, is masturbation sin? And if it isn't, what's wrong with spending the next 24 hours doing it if Jesus Christ is coming? But I'm appealing to your conscience. You know you would not do that. I don't think there's a single one of you in here that would try to justify masturbation at that point. Not a one of you. As though, the Bible doesn't prohibit it, yeah but your own conscience tells you there's an uncleanness there. You would not want to spend your time between now and 24 hours. And I'll tell you folks, this is not a foolish question. What does your conscience tell you? What does it tell you? Does it tell you it's okay? Does it tell you it's a clean thing? Are there any of you right there, right now, thinking, yeah, it's a clean thing, it's a good thing, it's an upright thing, yeah, I'm pretty confident it glorifies God. None of you are there. None of you are thinking that. People typically ask this question, is masturbation sin, when they're trying to justify some ungodly practices. That's typically where that comes from. You know what your conscience tells you? It tells you it's shameful, it tells you it's wrong. Now, let's lay some biblical support down. Because you know what? I know the problems that people, how many of the young folks that are being converted, one after another, even some young ladies, addicted to pornography. And I guarantee you, the masturbation thing goes hand in hand with this addiction to pornography. So this is something that needs to be dealt with. This is not a question that only a few people might wonder about. This is something that we really need to lay a biblical basis for. So how about this? Romans 13, 13. Romans 13, 13. Let us walk properly as in the daytime. Not in orgies. You see, Paul lived in the real world. He knew sexual sin was an issue. Let us walk properly as in the daytime. Not in orgies, drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. Here's the thing I'd ask. Does masturbation fall within the category of sexual immorality and sensuality? Now, we could give our gut reaction, our gut opinions here, and some could say, oh yes, but how do we know? Does it fall within the category of sexual immorality? Because obviously, sexual immorality and sensuality are forbidden. You see that, right? I mean, that's plain enough. He says, let us walk this way, not this way. And the way we're not to walk in is not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in orgies and so forth. Now, here's one thing you guys know right off. You know your Bibles at all? You know what Jesus Christ says in Matthew 5. What does He say there? You look at a woman with lust. So here's the thing. Any of those that are trying to justify masturbation, for one thing I'll guarantee you, they're not doing it with an empty mind. You know where their thoughts are? They're lusting after somebody. They have images in their mind typically. Listen, you're committing adultery, you're committing fornication if you're doing it in thought. I mean, that's probably enough said right there. But let's pursue this further. Let me tell you something. Basically, 1 Corinthians 7. What we have right there is Paul's answering some questions that the Corinthians pose to him concerning sex, concerning whether it's good, whether it's bad, marriage. You know, he starts out that chapter, it's good for a man not to touch a woman, but then he goes on and he says, you know, singleness is good, but if you end up getting married and he talks about, you know, the conjugal obligations that a man has to his wife and wife to the man, and he says various things. In 1 Corinthians 7.2, listen to this, because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband. You know what Paul doesn't say? Well, because of this temptation to sexual immorality, men and women should go masturbate. Now you're going to listen to that and you're going to say that's foolish, that sounds perverse That's what I want you to feel, because I think that's what Paul wants you to feel. Here's the thing. What is the only outlet sexually in all the Bible that's undefiled? The marriage bed. Paul says, if you're burning with sexual desires, he doesn't say, oh, it's okay to masturbate sometimes, infrequently, no, he only gives one way out, then let a man take a wife. That's basically it. If they cannot exercise self-control, they should marry. It's better to marry than to be aflame with passion. Folks, there's only one way out. There's only one way that is pure, there's only one way that is right, there's only one way that God advocates, there's only one way that's in marriage. That's it. That is it. There's none other. Listen to this, 1 Thessalonians 4, verses 3-5. This is the will of God. What's the will of God? Your sanctification, that you abstain from sexual immorality, that each one of you know how to control his own body. You see, folks, what masturbation is, it's a lack of self-control. That's what it is. And we're being told, self-control. Each one of you needs to know how to control his own body in holiness and honor. And like I appealed to your conscience before, you know masturbation is not holy. And there is no honor in it. And here it is, not in the passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God. Let me ask you something, why does somebody masturbate? A passion of lust. Don't tell me there's no lust involved. Don't tell me you're doing it for the glory of God. You're doing it because of lust. You're doing it because you don't have self-control. And lest you think it's a light matter. What I'm telling you is, sexual immorality definitely includes this. It definitely does. You can be sure of this, everyone who is sexually immoral or impure or who is covetous has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words. Because of these things, the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Brethren, you know what one of the indications of people in the last times is? They lack self-control. You know what one of the things Paul really presses upon Timothy, presses upon Titus, presses upon these young men? Flee youthful lust. Be self-controlled. It's a self-control issue. And I'll tell you this, if you're burning with sexual passion, get married. He doesn't give you an outlet in masturbation. He says, get married. Be self-disciplined. And if you can't contain yourself, get married. There's no other. That's the only two. You stay single and pure. Control your bodies in holiness and in honor. Or get married. And the outlet for that is the marriage bed, which is undefiled. You know what Scripture says in Romans 6.13? Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life. And your members to God as instruments for righteousness. Are there any of you here that think presenting your sexual organs to God in masturbation is righteous? Any of you think that's presenting your members to God? So I don't know what you're thinking about what Tim just said. But I know when I was lost and unsaved and had a false profession, I thought, this guy's crazy. I mean, I thought, no one can get free of this. I mean, it's impossible, right? I remember going to a youth group and we had a youth leader. He came up and the youth leader said, he's like, I'm married, but I still struggle with masturbation. You can't beat it, so don't fight it. That's horrible. If you don't fight it, if you don't declare war on your sin, you'll go to hell. Ephesians 5.5, it says, you can be sure of this. People who practice sexual morality will not inherit the kingdom of God. And so my friend, you've got to declare war. I spent over two years of my life trying to get free of masturbation while I was lost because I had motivation by worldly grief, not godly grief. And guess what? Right when I got to godly grief, right when I knew I'm sinning against God, and then I got saved and God saved my soul, God set me free. I've been saved a year and a half. Not just saved from hell, but I've been saved from my sins. I've been saved from lust. I've been saved from pornography, from masturbation. It has no dominion over me. God has given me complete freedom from that. And I do recognize the simple fact, if I don't die for my word, if I don't die for my prayer, if I don't seek the face of God, I could go home tonight and I could fall to that sin. But I have greater confidence in God. I know He's going to bring me to the end. He's setting me free of all these things. He's setting me free of my idols, of my lust. Guys, there is freedom from masturbation. You don't have to live in that sin. And if you live in it, as 1 John 1, 6 says, you're a liar if you live in darkness while you say you know Jesus Christ. Don't be a liar. Do not be deceived. Sexual and moral people don't go to heaven. That means masturbators will not go to heaven. If you live in this sin and you do not attain freedom, where's Romans 8, 13? The Spirit is going to put it to death. If you have the Spirit, you are a child of God. The Spirit, I mean, guys, think about this. Jesus Christ died on the cross and rose from the dead. He conquered the grave. And you don't believe He can help you lift your hand off of your mouth and stop clicking it. You don't believe in God. That's a joke. He conquered the grave. Yet you don't have confidence and faith in Him that He'll help you lift your hand and stop clicking your mouth. Romans 8, 13 says that we need to put to death the deeds of the flesh. We need to kill sin. Masturbation, pornography, it's not something to take lightly at all. I was a slave to it for a long time. I thought I was okay. Nobody doesn't want to talk about these things nowadays. In church, nobody talks about it. On the Internet, you hear a whole bunch of people talking about it, but nobody's ever free from it. Going through courses, different things. There's never freedom, though. Freedom is only found in Christ. It's the only way you'll ever attain freedom. And because of Him, I can testify to that. Praise God. I did course after course. I had filter after filter, and it never worked. I did not need an Internet filter. I needed a heart filter. Apart from God's work of regeneration and cleansing me from all my idols and cleansing me from all my sins and giving me a new heart, giving me a new nature, new desires, apart from that, there's never going to be freedom. May God give such freedom. It's incredible. I'm telling you, since I've been saved a year and a half, absolute freedom, and I never thought that was possible. It was because I wasn't saved. The issue came back to salvation. Now, it's not to say that Christians won't fall to sin. There's no one perfect. You're not going to walk in the darkness. You're going to have joy and satisfaction. And that joy in Christ is going to keep you from your mouth. I'm telling you right now, the joy that God has saved me, the joy from my salvation is what will keep me from my computer mouse until the day I die. It's what will keep me from masturbation until the day I die. Simple as that. It's joy in Christ that sustains me. It's that satisfaction in Christ that makes the satisfaction that I thought came from the computer and sexual morality worthless. I look at it now, and I realize there's nothing. It never, ever satisfied. It took me so far. It kept me so long, and it costed me so much. Not just time, but emotional drain. We've got a hard drive up here in our brain, in a sense. I've got images up here. The devil will try to constantly bombard and constantly attack, but I will tell you again, Christ is greater. He overcame the grave. He overcame the world. He who is in us is greater than he who is in the world. So you can bank on Jesus Christ giving you freedom. If it's Jesus Christ or the Bible, I guarantee you he will. Don't look to your performance. My friend, do not have a day count thinking, you know what, I'm free 30 days. I did a program a while back, and that was the whole thing. It was all about performance. I'm 40 days free. I'm good to go. And then you fall flat on your face because God is to humble you and break you and show you it's not about a day count. It's about looking to Christ. And if you look to Christ, you're going to walk in the light. You're going to be free. So I encourage you guys, there is freedom in Christ. You don't need to be stuck in masturbation. As it says in Matthew 5, talking about you hurt as long as you commit adultery. I tell you, even if you look at a woman in lust, you commit adultery in your heart, further down. In that same chapter, talking about how if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out, your hands, chop it off. It's really, really graphic because Christ wants us to know that this is a serious thing. It's not anything to play with. It's not anything that you can just joke around with. If you're rolling around in this type of sin, I would fear for you because if you are in bondage, you haven't experienced that working with the spirits. Radical amputation is the way to go. You've got to chop a computer off. You've got to chop a relationship off, whatever it may be. Let it go. Christ is so much more satisfying than that sin. It never satisfied me. It has never satisfied you. So look to Christ. Don't try to justify your sin. Get humble and broken and realize there's filth in your life and it's got to go. And if it does not go, do not be deceived. You will not inherit the kingdom of God. Growing up as a kid, I never thought I'd be free of this thing. I remember how many times did I fall to my sin and I'd be in my room. I'd be crying out to God while I was lost, thinking I was saved. And I'd be going, Lord, forgive me, have mercy on me. I'm never going to do it again. I said that a million times. I said, I will never do this again. I made promises and I never kept them. I never did. I said I loved God. I didn't. I professed to know God. I denied Him by my works, as it says in Titus. It says in John 14, 15, If you love me, you will keep my commandments. If I truly loved God, I would have kept His commandments. If I truly hated the sin, if I truly hated it, there would have been victory. God always gave a way out. I always rejected it. I always turned from Christ. Guys, there's freedom. Oh, I am telling you, there is freedom, and it's in Christ and Christ alone. If you're truly looking to Him and you're living for Him, God is going to give you complete freedom over the sin. For so long, I thought I was okay. I was going to church. I was involved in the youth group. I was doing all these things. And sometimes I even felt a little bit of conviction just hearing some things, but none of it was really real. I looked around at my friends. Everybody was doing the same exact thing. I thought I was all right. Everybody, even people in the church, when really all we had to look was in the Bible. Your pastor said, it's not that big of a deal. Everybody does it. No. In Christ, there is freedom. In Christ, there is salvation. Praise God for the cross. I remember hearing a verse, 2 Corinthians 5.17 If any man is in Christ, he is a new creation. Behold, the new has come, the old has passed away. I had to ask myself this. Why was my old still here? Why had my new not come yet? I mean, literally, you must be born again to inherit the kingdom of God. Born again. You're born again. Something's changing. There's going to be something new. Yet, my old was still there. God broke me and humbled me and showed me I was lost. He showed me I was lost. Psalm 116.6 It says, The Lord preserves the simple. When I was brought low, He saved me. And I'm telling you, you get brought low of all self-effort. All self. You can fight this on your own effort for the rest of your life and you will never, ever get freedom. You can be on your knees crying after you fall to sin, saying, God, I will never do this again. And you will do it a hundred more times. I know, because it happened to me. But until you repent and put your faith in Jesus Christ and trust in Him and not your work, salvation of self-effort to set yourself free, you will never be free. You will never have life. Anyone who saves his life in this world loses it. Whoever loses his life for my sake finds it. And if that means you've got to lose the computer, you've got to lose the job, you've got to lose the girlfriend to get pure and live a pure life, then lose it. Because what will it profit you to gain those things but to lose your soul because you won't let go of a sin like masturbation which will damn your soul to hell? No sexual and moral person goes to heaven. And He's talking about you in the Bible. He was talking about me. It says in Matthew 7, Those who do the will of God shall inherit the kingdom of God. In 1 Thessalonians 4, 3 it says, For this is the will of God, your sanctification, that you abstain from sexual morality. Abstain. Flee from it. Not like the Gentiles who do not know God. The Gentiles live in the sin because they don't know God. Because if they knew God, guess what happens? The new comes. The old passes away and you're a new creature, a new creation. Your joy comes from Christ and there's freedom. Oh people, there is freedom. We want to stress that again and again. Because I was blinded by my youth pastors. I was blinded by other people to believe there was never freedom from it. And when I say freedom, I mean complete freedom. When God saved me, He set me free. There's been no masturbation. There's been freedom from pornography. And it's in Christ and Him alone. Don't let anyone tell you you can't be free of this sin for the rest of your life. You can. But you've got to have God looking at you and He looks to those who are humble and are broken and contrite in spirit and are relying on God. Oh my friends, how many of you, just like I, were doing a works-based salvation yet we did not even realize it? Our self-effort, us trying to move the big stone of sending our life and get free of it, was works. Just looking back on my life knowing that I wasn't truly saved, thinking that in the back of my head, even though I would profess to be a Christian, I would think I was a Christian, but at the same time I knew there was something that wasn't right. And I would remember trying to stop doing these certain things, trying to stop doing these certain sins on my own, because obviously when you're lost, you tend to try to make it like a checklist, like a works-based salvation. And that's kind of how it was for me, just realizing that I was heading, that I might be heading in that direction, so I tried to stop doing these various sins. And I tried to stop doing it on my own. I would count the days that I would stop doing it, and really it was just all my own works, trying to stop, my own power, trying to stop these things. How can a young man keep his way pure? It's by living according to his word, not trusting in yourself, not relying on anything of yourself. For so long, I looked to other people to try to justify my sin, masturbation, pornography. I would look to other people and they were doing the same thing as me, so I thought I was okay. No! So many people are just relying on themselves, them accomplishing something, them going so long. I used to forever just, a time would go by and I'd be free, and then right back into it. We are justified by faith. And if that faith is real, it will change you. Because the Spirit of God will bear witness with your spirit that you're a child of God. And it will put sin to death through war. War that is motivated by godly grief because you've offended God. This is not about what your parents say, it's not about what your pastor says, it's about what God has said. If you don't follow hard after that, my friends, there's no hope, there's no life. Come on, you know it! You know you've never had joy with your pornography and masturbation. You know you've tried to justify it. You know you're not getting free of it and you've been addicted the last 8 years of your life. You know these things. So stop playing the game. Let go of the little religious game you're holding on to and your false profession. Just drop it to the ground and turn to faith in Christ and God will save your soul. None who call on the name of the Lord will be put to shame. He's talking about you. You won't be put to shame if you call on Him. But you've got to let it all go first. You've got to let it go. Proverbs 6.27 says, Can a man carry fire next to his chest and his clothes not be burned? Can you afford to go to that movie that's PG-13 that has a sexual explicit scene? Can you afford to do that and not be burned? Think about these things. Don't allow for any room for compromise. There is no room for compromise. There is absolutely none. You watch the TV and there's ads. You watch the sports and there's cheerleaders, wherever it may be. You don't get to a point where you're strong enough to realize I can watch these things and I'm not going to fall. You get to a point where you're weak enough to realize I cannot watch these things and I give them up. This is important. Let those things go. Not only is it a waste of time, the most trivial things in this world that we believe are entertainment. Entertainment opens thoughts. Thoughts allows daydreaming. Daydreaming allows for thoughts from the past to come. The devil will attack. He's a roaring lion. I mean, this is a war. This is a war that you will fight the rest of your lives. And if you're broken and relying on the Spirit of God, you're going to have freedom. And you're going to have such a joy. You know you're in Christ. I mean, I'm in Christ, guys. He set me free. It's incredible. Through 20 years of being a false, professing Christian, addicted to pornography, I guess only 8 years of that was addicted to pornography, God set me free. He ripped the scales off my eyes. He gave me life. It's amazing what Christ has done. Oh, give up, please. Just give up. What's the point? What's the point of going back another night, trying to self-effort your way through it and not fall to sin? What's the point of looking at all your friends at church, even looking at your pastor for the answers? Look to the Word of God. God promises that if someone's in Christ, they're a new creation. God promises someone a new heart. He's going to enable them to be cleansed of all their idols, enable them to be free. So if you say, well, you know what? I'm just not there yet. I've got a couple more years. What you're doing is underestimating God. Don't underestimate Him. Don't underestimate Him. If you believe in someone, and you don't believe in them for who they truly are, then you don't believe in them at all. If you underestimate God, you don't believe in the God of the Bible. You believe in a false god, an idol. And that was me. And I'm sure many of you are in that same situation. Repent. Believe. Seek the Lord while He may be found. Forsake your wicked ways. God will abundantly pardon you from every time you've looked at a woman with lust, which is rape in the heart and adultery. God will wash it all away as far as the east is from the west. As far as the east is from the west. Imagine that. Your sin is so far away that when you sit at the computer, there's not even fear. Because you're so in love with God, there is no way that you could click that mouse. There is no way that you could look at the pornography. Because you love God. It's not about just trying to keep the commandments. It's because you love God. And in loving God, you will keep the commandments. Praise the Lord. Thank God for what He's done. I stopped relying on my own power, on my own strength. And I let go of everything. And I knew that that stuff that I tried to stop doing, I knew I couldn't stop because I had tried before. So I just fully threw myself in the arms of Christ and just relying on Him to save me. And really, those chains, I felt them break. I never went back. Not that I'm perfect. Not that any of us are perfect. But the very fact is, through God's grace, it's been over three years now. Just that power, that same spirit that raised Christ from the dead, as it talks about in Ephesians, He raises us from the dead, from our spiritual death. I mean, it's the powerful working of the Holy Spirit. And anyone who's experienced this knows the power of that Holy Spirit because it's evident in their lives. So I'm a testimony to that. And I praise God for what He's done in my life so far. I want to read a Proverbs. This Proverbs is huge. Proverbs 7, verse 21. It starts at 21. It says, With much seductive speech, she persuades him. With her smooth talk, she compels him. That could be the internet ad on MySpace, on Facebook. All at once he follows her. You click that ad. As an ox goes to the slaughter, or as a stag is caught fast till an arrow pierces its liver, as a bird rushes into a snare, he does not know that it will cost him his life. People, it costs you your life. Not just, oh, I feel shame. No, no, it costs you your life. It says, And now, sons, listen to Me, and be attentive to the words of My mouth. Let not your heart turn aside to her ways. Do not stray into her paths. Don't stray into the paths that will lead to this pit of lust, that will lead you to lust. My friend, if going to a mall causes you to lust, don't go there. You know what's going to happen. Get away! Flee! For many a victim has she laid low, and all her slain are a mighty throng. In this next verse, her house is the way to Sheol, going down to the chambers of death. My friends, when you look at pornography, when you follow those ads, when you lust, you've got to realize something. It leads to hell. It costs you your life. You're trading your soul for lust. This is a serious sin. This is no game. Think about this. If you're sitting there clicking your mouse, it's the same as someone from the 1500's going up to an adulterer's door and knocking on the door to come in to sleep with the adulteress lady. That's what you do when you look at your pornography. And you've done it thousands of times. That's what I did. And where does that door lead? It leads to the chambers of death. It leads to Sheol. It will cost you your life. You're an ox going to the slaughter. You know what's going to happen. I mean, you know what is going to happen. You know the shame. You know the guilt. You know the oppression you're going to have once you fall to that sin. Once you masturbate, you know it's going to be horrid and horrible. Yet you go after it again. You're an ox and you're going to be slaughtered. And in the end, it's not slaughtered by the lust, my friend. It's slaughtered by God. Because if you're not in Christ, you're an enemy of God. And God will slaughter those who don't repent and put their faith in Christ. So God help us. I encourage anyone out there who wants to talk, anyone who wants to email us, email us. Give us a call on the Skype thing. Please, we want to talk to you. We really do. This is everything to us, people knowing true freedom in Christ. As John 8.36 says, if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. You know if you have that freedom. And some of you are sitting there right now and your conscience is pricking at your brain and you're saying, I don't have that freedom. He's talking about me. I don't have that freedom. That was me. But a simple act of faith towards Jesus Christ and there is freedom for your life. May God help us. May God help you. I love you guys. May the Lord give you the same freedom He gave me. And it comes by looking to Christ and Him alone. And Him alone.