You will be hungry

So , if you want to grow in sexual integrity , you need to unmask this error , discover where it is in your life and do something about it , because it will continue to trip you up , to trip you up , to trip you up and , more importantly , it will hold you back or , more devastatingly , it will hold you back from becoming the sexually whole man or woman that you

are designed to be and actually , it will hold you back from becoming the Christ-like person that you are designed to be in all areas of your life . So what's this error , this significant error ? Well , like all errors that take hold in Christianity over the centuries , there's a grain of truth to it .

It sounds almost Christian and it goes something like this Since Jesus meets my needs , once I come to Christ , once I put my faith in Him , I am satisfied . Once I become a Christian , once I start following Jesus , I will find that I am satisfied , and where I'm not satisfied , it is clearly an indicator that I am not putting my faith in Jesus .

So let me pause there for a moment . Do you hear the error ? It sounds right . Even as I'm saying it , I'm kind of like I better articulate this carefully , because I don't want to suggest that this is , that something that's true is an error , and I don't want to suggest that something that is an error is true .

But where the problem is with what I've just said is the suggestion , the whisper in what I've shared , that our satisfaction will be found in its entirety this side of eternity . So to put it plainly , let me just be bold here and say this this side of eternity , until Christ returns or we see Him face to face , we will not be fully satisfied . Hard stop .

Now I don't mean that we won't have moments where we don't encounter Jesus in a way that fully satisfies us , abundantly so , overflowingly so . But we will continue to return to spaces and places and times where we are hungry again , where we experience hunger and thirst and pain and suffering , the ache , as Christopher West puts it .

We will continue to encounter this for the rest of our lives until we see Jesus face to face .

For those of you who expect that , as you grow in Christlikeness as you pursue sexual wholeness , that you become healthier enough , whole enough , able to regulate your own emotions , mature enough to recognize where you have needs and to seek to get those needs met in healthy and holy ways through your relationship with Jesus , through your relationship with other people .

If that's you , I want to say yes , do all those things , but also recognize that you will hit a cap . You'll hit a cap on how satisfied you'll be , or you'll reach a spot where the satisfaction you had seems to diminish . This is a part of living in the fallen world . This is a both-end situation .

Jesus does fully satisfy us , and yet we will not be fully satisfied , perpetually satisfied . We'll not be perpetually satisfied . This side of heaven . We are in a season of the now and not yet . Christ's kingdom has come , and Christ's kingdom is coming Now . Why does this matter so much for our recovery journey ?

Why would I say at the beginning of this podcast that you will never walk in ongoing sexual integrity unless you expose this error and get rid of it ? I can say that confidently because you are designed for union with God , eternal , infinite union with God .

You are intended to feed on Him , to shake your thirst in Him , to find Him , to see Him , to dwell in Him , to experience His love in a never-ending , everlasting way . That is what you are designed for and that is not our experience in full as long as we are living in this fallen world and in our present state .

Our bodies need to undergo death and resurrection before we will live fully in that state .

So if we fail to recognize that we have an infinite longing , or a longing for the infinite love and infinite presence of God , and we fail to recognize that we will not fully experience that this side of seeing Christ face to face , then we will end up diverting our path , turning away to something finite to try to meet that need , and that something finite could

be anything from pornography or acting out sexually with someone else , the thrust and focus of our ministry , where it might also be something as prevalent as seeking to be satisfied in the media that we watch , the music we listen to , the food we eat , the work we do , our level of physical fitness heck , our level of education , even our level of religious

education All of these are finite and if we seek to satisfy ourselves there , we will continue to be dissatisfied . So maybe here an analogy will help , and I want to come back here and focus specifically on the topic of moving towards sexual integrity .

So let's assume for a moment that we are a member of the Israelite community who has just been delivered from slavery in Egypt and we have crossed the Red Sea and we are moving towards the Promised Land , and so assume with me for a moment that the Promised Land will include sexual integrity .

The Promised Land itself is not sexual integrity , but it will include sexual integrity . It will include you being absolutely free from the tyranny , the slavery of your sexual sin .

You'll be free , but as we travel through the desert , we grow weary and we grow tired and we grow thirsty and we grow hungry and we see in the world around us offerings to satisfy our hunger and thirst , and though the Lord says , no , not this country .

I have a land that is specifically for you , a land flowing with milk and honey , a land of rest for you , and we say , well , yeah , but you know , this land here looks pretty good and they've got some pretty good meat and they've got some pretty good drink , and we divert our path and park there , even stop there for a little bit .

Then what ends up happening is that we never make our way to the Promised Land . And this , I think , is just a simple illustration , but it's a picture of what we do so often , by trying to satisfy ourselves with the finite rather than continue to press forward to the Promised Land .

Now , what's the solution ? What's the answer ? The answer that I'm advocating here is simply this Accept your hunger and thirst for more . Accept that you are hungry and thirsty for more , and I don't mean that you despair , that you will always be hungry and thirsty .

Rather , I mean you relish the fact that you are hungry and thirsty because your hunger and thirst is calling you home . Your hunger and thirst is not just for a religious service , it is for God Himself . Your hunger and thirst is not just for sexual integrity , it is for God Himself .

Your hunger and thirst is not just for a restored marriage , it is for God Himself .

And I've worked in this area of ministry for 25 years and I can tell you that , as wonderful as sexual integrity is , as wonderful as a rebuilt marriage is , as wonderful as a deep sense of yourself , as a restored man or woman is , it is not what satisfies the deepest ache of your soul . God Himself is that .

God Himself is that and I say this not just at you , I say it to myself too , I'm saying this confessionally it is so easy to get distracted and to assume that the finite will satisfy the infinite need inside of us , the infinite longing inside of us , and it doesn't do it .

So , brothers and sisters , if you want to grow in sexual integrity , accept the fact that you will be hungry , that there's a hunger in you that God put in you that you might desire Him and nothing else , and that hunger is meant to not be satisfied by anything visible or tangible . Jesus , would you help convert us , all of us , lord , not just our heads .

We already believe in you . Help us in our unbelief , lord . We want to believe in you more that we would direct the deepest hungers of our heart , lord , towards you and you alone .

And where we hit a cap in this earthly world , this tangible , visible world , and find that we are still hungry , lord , let it call us and draw us and drive us towards continuing to pursue your kingdom and to seek eternity , infinity with you . Lord , I pray these things the name of the Father , the Son and the Holy Spirit , amen .