Paul David Tripp - Sex in a Broken World: How Christ Redeems What Sin Distorts

She felt robbed. She was thirty, single, and in most ways very content except for one area of her life. She just couldnt understand why God would design her to be a sexual being with strong sexual desires and then forbid her to participate in and enjoy sex. She would see couples at the local gastropub snuggling in the corner, and the sight would fill her with an explosive combination of envy and anger. She had always been serious about her faith and tried to live it practically, but this sex thing was about to push her over the edge. More and more God seemed more of a harsh judge than someone who loved her. She thought, How can I serve a God who hardwires me with desires and then tells me hell discipline me if I fulfill them? It left her depressed and confused.

Sharon knew that her son was messing around with sex, but she couldnt get him to admit it. She tried to get into his computer but didnt know his password. At times he would make an off - color comment or tell a joke with sexual overtones, and, every time, Sharons heart would sink. They had tried to prepare him for life in this fallen world, but changes had come fast and hard, so much so that Sharon felt she was living in a world she herself no longer understood. Her son was never off his phone. He seemed always to be talking about a girl or texting a girl or going out somewhere with a girl. And when he was with a girl at home, Sharon felt that the interaction between them was too physical. It got so that Sharon hated sexhated that God had created it, hated that her sixteen -year- old son already had strong sexual desires. She hated that sex talk was everywhere. She felt helpless and powerless; she thought she was losing her son, and there was nothing she could do.

She was fourteen, and she liked being sexy, but she didnt want her mom to know. She would leave for school in a parent - approved outfit but often with a cooler outfit in her book bag to change into at school. To her, a cool outfit was one designed to reveal the body rather than modestly cover it. Although most of her friends did the same, she knew her dad would kill her if he ever found out. She longed to be popular, and being popular meant getting lots of Facebook and Instagram likes, and the way to get likes was to be provocative. Her selfies became increasingly sexual. She hadnt posted anything nude, but the image she was projecting was intentionally sexually provocative. She was getting lots of attention from the boys at school and from boys on the Internet whom she didnt know. She was living a full - blown Kardashian fantasy, and she loved it. Her parents didnt have a clue, and if they had, they wouldve been heartbroken and gone ballistic at the same time. She was only fourteen, and sex is what drove her world.

He drove home that night with a heavy heart. The story he had already heard too many times, he had heard again today. He was depressed from pastoring people he couldnt seem to help. That day in his office he had talked to yet another couple whose marriage had been shattered by illicit sex. The wife cried and shed the tears of yet another betrayal. The man sort of confessed, but his confession was laden with excuses and the typical minimizing of what he had done. He seemed more mad that he had been caught than grateful that he had been rescued from the hold of something that had the power to destroy him. His sin had not only shattered his marriage, but lost him his job as well.

It was all so discouraging for the pastor to hear. He spoke to them of the grace of the gospel, but his heart wasnt in it. He once had confidence in the power of God, but his confidence had been weakened by the number of men in his church who had fallen into sexual sin. It not only weakened his confidence in Gods grace, but it made him question his calling. Why in all his teaching, preaching, and counsel had he not been able to protect the men whom God had called him to pastor? It was hard to keep going when God seemed distant and when he felt like a failure. He knew that when he got home, his wife would ask about his day. He dreaded that question so much that he took the long way home. Sex was eating holes in his church, and there seemed to be no stopping it.

So, whats your story? Youre probably reading this book because, like me, youre concerned. Youre probably concerned because in the middle of the onslaught of all that our culture is saying about sex, you want to think about it in a distinctly biblical way. Or maybe youre concerned because youre raising children in a sexual culture that, frankly, scares you. Or perhaps you know people who have gotten into some sort of sexual trouble, and youd like to understand what theyre dealing with and how to offer them help that is truly helpful. Or maybe youre a pastor, and you want to teach your people well about an area of life that the church often fails to speak forthrightly and clearly about. Perhaps youre battling with sexual sin in your own life, and you feel defeated and hopeless.

If youre in any of those situations, this is what you need to understand: you live in a deeply broken world that simply does not function as God intended. If you want to understand the nature of sexual sin, or if you want to develop a biblical - sex worldview, you have to include this fact. Now, you may be thinking that this is an awfully negative way to start a book about sex, but heres my response: you will never completely understand our deep struggle with human sexuality unless you first understand the context or the environment in which that struggle takes place.

And Now for the Bad News

I cant think of a more descriptive, honest, insight -giving, and hopeful description of the present state of the world you live in, and how it affects areas of life such as human sexuality, than Romans 8:1839. What follows is a lengthy quote, but take time to read it in full. As our discussion proceeds, youll be glad you did.

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against Gods elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who diedmore than that, who was raisedwho is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written,