Welcome back to Aspastor John. This summer Pastor John is out of the studio preaching in Belfast in Scotland before returning to the States for a 40-day writing leave to finish up a book on Providence on the sovereignty of God a book he started last summer and hopes to finish this summer I cannot wait to see it and all of it the travel the book writing in this very podcast is all made possible by you we are supported by the prayers and the funding of God's people so thank you for generously

investing in this important and eternal work so with Pastor John busy we're diving into our archive of 1500 episodes and this summer we're pulling out some of your favorites about once every 50 episodes we release one that touches a nerve and touches the 300,000 play mark these are the elite episodes in our six and a half year history we only have about 30 of them and here's one of them

a man from Hong Kong a podcast listener who asks to not be named writes and ask this Pastor John when do we reach the stage of Esau as described in Hebrews chapter 12 verses 15 to 17 where he moved beyond the possibility of repentance I have been a Christian all of my life but have deeply fallen into sexual sin over a period of many years including pornography and adulterous relationship with another man's wife and prostitution

I have never stopped fighting these sins and hate them and I am glad to say that God recently did a great work to liberate me from the adulterous relationship with the help of my pastor and other fellow Christians which makes me believe he still cares to save me

however I still sometimes find myself powerless against these sexual sins and fear to continue drifting into sexual vice as described in verse 16 and end up in a place beyond repentance and fallen from grace

how do I overcome this helpless drifting into sin and avoid a hardened heart that can no longer repent

Tony, I think I just want to say a very brief prayer before I go here because I am not able to do the liberation here but you are

you are you are and your word is able so I ask you to come now for this man and for I'm sure a significant number of others and do the miracle that the word was designed to accomplish by the spirit and Jesus name

Amen. So let me pick up on that last phrase this helpless drifting into sin now I think I should warn this man in Hong Kong

in the strongest possible terms that he should pick up his drooping hands strengthen his weak knees make his past straight and shout at the top of his lungs if necessary with clenched fists and gritted teeth in the face of Satan's lie I am not helpless God did not make me to drift

I am not a jellyfish in the currents of lust that is not what God created human beings to be that is not why Christ died for me that's not why I have the Holy Spirit that's not why I'm a new creature in Christ I am not helpless I am not helpless I have Christ I have the Holy Spirit I have the blood of the cross of the son of God

I have the hope of glory I have the entire word of God I have the promises of grace I am not helpless I am not helpless God get that lie out of my life

as long as men and women play the victim as if lust is an omnipotent enemy and they are helpless they're done for

it is remarkable wonderful that this man has focused on the book of Hebrews and in particular on the warning that there comes a point of selling ourselves as helpless slaves of lust

where God will no longer grant us the ability to repent and find forgiveness in Christ this is right this is a good place for him to focus the book of Hebrews the entire book is written to give us the help to persevere to the end in faith and obedience and to get in our face

when we play the victim card and pretend that we have no resources against the powers of sin so let's put the text in front of us that he's concerned about it's he was 12 15

see to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God that no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble and by it many become defiled

that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau who sold his birthright for a single meal for you know that afterward when he desired to inherit the blessing he was rejected

for he found no place of repentance though he sought it with tears that's a good place for a man to go when he's about to sell a soul again to lust

there there came a point where God withdrew from Esau this meant that Esau was so hardened in his heart that even his weeping in search of repentance was phony at the root

he sought repentance with tears and they were fake they weren't penitent tears he couldn't cry real tears of repentance anymore his tears were not true he wanted the blessing he wanted the safety he wanted the gifts he wanted the inheritance he wanted heaven but he did not want God

he loved this world he traded something infinitely valuable for a single meal so the fundamental battle that must be fought and can be fought and can be won is the battle not to see the world in such a grossly distorted way as Esau saw it

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