John Bevere - Why Freedom from Addiction Is Not All up to You
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Lesson nine: I’m so proud of you guys! You are staying the course, you’re going through it, and these next two lessons are probably some of the most important in this study of how to be porn-free. In this lesson, we’re actually going to talk about where the power comes from to walk in freedom, and I absolutely love preaching on this because it has been so neglected in the churches of America and around the world. What do I mean by neglected? Well, let me just give you a little indication: about eight years ago, a nationwide survey was done all across America.
Over 5,000 people were polled, and we’re talking about born-again individuals who attend church on Sundays and are Bible-believing. The question was asked in the survey: provide three or more one-word definitions for the grace of God. The overwhelming responses were salvation, forgiveness of sins, a free gift, and I think the fourth most popular one was the love of God. Do you know that only two percent—in fact, it was 1.9 percent—of those 5,000 Christians said that grace was God’s empowerment? Yet that’s exactly how God defines His grace. God said to the Apostle Paul, «My grace is sufficient for you, for My power…» So God refers to His grace as His power. Listen: «My grace is sufficient for you, for My power works best—or is made perfect—in your weakness or your human inability.»
If you look at the Apostle Peter, he writes in Second Peter, chapter one, «Grace be multiplied to you,» as His divine power. So Peter refers to grace as the divine power of God. «As His divine power has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness.» But I’m going to tell you what it says in the New Living Translation: «As His divine power gives us everything we need to live a godly life.» Here’s the deal: you can’t walk godly in your own ability; you cannot walk free from pornography in your own ability. It takes the grace of God, which is His empowerment.
So here’s my definition of the grace of God: it is God’s empowerment that gives us the ability to do what truth demands of us. Let me say that again: it is God’s free empowerment that gives us the ability to go beyond our natural ability and do what truth demands of us. If you listen to Hebrews again, you’re going to see grace defined as giving us the ability—a power—to live godly.
Hebrews 12:29 says, «Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace,» which, in other words, gives us the ability by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. If you go to the original word for grace, it’s «charis.» If you go to Strong’s definition of «charis,» he says it’s a gift—which is true—it’s beneficial, it’s an endowment. But he also defines it as this: «the divine influence upon the heart with its reflection in the life.» So you can see right there that grace is God’s empowerment—His reflection upon the heart—with that empowerment in our life, the outward evidence of a godly life. I could not live godly without His grace.
Now here’s the tragedy; I mean tragedy: we get nothing from Heaven unless we believe right. We receive everything—everything in the kingdom—through faith. Okay, you’re saved through faith; you’re saved by grace through faith. You see that faith is like the pipe that brings the grace. Do you understand what I’m saying? You can’t get anything in the kingdom unless it’s through faith, but you can’t believe what you don’t know. So think about it: believing and faith—I’m using them synonymously in this example—you cannot believe what you don’t know.
So if 98 percent of Christians in America don’t know that grace is God’s empowerment, that means they’re not getting the benefit. That means 98 percent of Christians in America are trying to live godly, trying to walk free from pornography in their own ability. And you know what happens if you try to live godly? One of two things is going to happen: either you’re going to become frustrated, defeated, saddened, or you’re going to become a hypocrite like the Pharisees. It’s very sad, but so many believers in America do not understand the power of grace. This is why the writer of Hebrews says, «Let us come boldly to the throne of grace to obtain mercy,» and «find grace to help in a time of need.» So in other words, grace is the empowerment in a time of need.
Look at the woman who was caught in adultery in the very act. Jesus, you know, all these guys wanted to condemn her, right? And He said, «Let the first one without sin throw the first stone.» So they all walked away—the eldest first to the youngest. Jesus says, «Where are your accusers?» and she said, «They’re gone.» He said, «And neither do I condemn you.» Because He was without sin, He could have done it; He said, «I don’t condemn.» That was mercy speaking. Okay, people misunderstand mercy and grace. Mercy said, «I don’t condemn you.» But then grace spoke: «Now go and sin no more.» Now, He wasn’t saying, «Don’t you dare sin again, girl.» He was saying, «I am empowering you.» Grace—Jesus is grace—I am empowering you to not sin again. Here is what you need for the battle of pornography: you need the grace of God.
So here’s what I’m going to ask every one of you to do: start going to the throne of grace every day—every day, every moment. Think about it: every moment, say it, whisper it to yourself: «Father, thank You for the grace to not turn my phone into a pornographic site. Thank You for the grace to not take my tablet and go over to this particular site. Thank You for the grace to see women the way You see women. Thank You for the grace to see men the way You see men. Thank You for the grace to change.» I’m telling you, I have dedicated this entire lesson to really zeroing in on this. If you look at the apostles, if you go to Mark’s Gospel, chapter six, they were with Jesus.
Now listen to this carefully: Jesus looked at these disciples and said, «Hey guys, I’m done with teaching the multitudes, but I really want to go spend time in prayer, so you guys get in the boat and go to the other side and get it all ready. I’m going to go up here and pray, and I’ll meet you on the other side of the sea.» So He goes up and prays, and the Bible says that in the middle of the night, the winds and waves were contrary to them. The Bible says that the disciples were straining at rowing. Now, I have rowed boats before; they are a piece of cake when you are rowing with the stream or you are rowing with the wind. But when you are against the wind and the waves are beating against the bow of your boat, it is a struggle, and that’s exactly what the Bible was saying—they were struggling to row. Then they saw Jesus walking on the water. Now, Mark’s Gospel, chapter six, says Jesus intended to pass them by, but they cried out for Him. When they cried out for Him, grace got in the boat. And you know what happened? The wind ceased, and they were immediately on the other side.
Hey, they were doing what Jesus told them, but they were struggling in their own ability. Here you are saying, «Jesus, I want to be an ambassador for Your kingdom, representing You,» but you’re struggling because you have this thing called pornography that is beating against the bow of your boat. Well, guess what? It doesn’t have to overcome you because you’re going to see Jesus walking by your boat. You’re going to say, «Jesus,» and grace is going to get in your boat. Guess what? You’re going to get to the other side. This is what you’re going to do every day—every single day. I mean, if the urge comes at that very moment, at the moment that urge comes to go to that website, you just go, «Jesus, get in my boat. I need that grace right now.»
And watch what happens to your thoughts. Watch what happens to you. It will change the way you think immediately when you cry out to Him. I’m telling you, He is the ever-present help in a time of need, and it is His grace that has been freely given to every single one of us. His grace—this is why Paul the Apostle says that you would know what is the exceeding greatness of His power in and for us who believe. That power—that is limitless! If you read this in the Amplified version, it says it is beyond measure. It says in the Amplified that grace in you—that is beyond measure—that is limitless—has been made available for you so that you can walk as an ambassador of the kingdom and bring great glory and honor to Jesus Christ.
So let me encourage you again: as you read the Bible, believe. Because Paul said to the disciples, «And now I commend you to God.» But he didn’t stop there; he said, «I commend you to God and to the word of His grace.» Isn’t that interesting? The word of His grace—which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among those who are sanctified. The word of His grace—this word produces the faith to obtain the grace for you to be able to walk a victorious life. It’s not just the grace to get from hell to heaven; it is grace for daily living. Grace is empowerment. When you hear grace, think empowerment. When you’re reading the Scriptures and you’re going through the word of God in the New Testament, every time you see the word grace, I want you to replace it in your mind with the word empowerment. If you start reading it that way, you’re going to see the Bible in a whole different light. Let’s read that scripture again: here it is, Hebrews: «Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace—let us have grace, let us have God’s empowerment—by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.»
So the grace gives us the ability to serve Him with godly fear. And what does Paul say in Second Corinthians 7, verse 1? «Therefore, having these promises,» okay? Therefore, having these promises—what’s the promise he’s talking about? Of walking with God in intimacy. Beloved, let us cleanse ourselves. Notice he doesn’t say the blood of Jesus is going to cleanse us; he said, «Let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.»
Does the blood of Jesus cleanse us? Absolutely, positively yes—a million times yes! But Paul isn’t talking about justification here; he’s talking about sanctification. Sanctification is what Jesus did on the inside of you, working its way out. Do you know how freeing it is? Do you know how freeing it is to literally not have any desire for pornography? And this is a man who was eaten up with lust. This is a man that, if pornography was anywhere in the area, I was on it. I had empathy; I had compassion for you because I know the battle that you’ve gone through. But I’m telling you, the grace of God is enough to set you free and keep you free.
So remember, His grace will change you. As you read the word, it will change the way you think, the way you see the opposite sex, the way you see life. You will have healthier relationships; you’ll have a healthy marriage. You will enjoy life the way God intends you to enjoy life. The world is lying to you. The world’s saying, «Get it, get it, get it! Gotta have it, gotta have it!» And the world is getting more miserable every day—just look around you. But the people that are truly walking in joy and contentment are the people who have appropriately received the grace of God to walk a godly life. That’s what’s going to happen with every single one of you because I believe that.
So in the next lesson, we talked about the empowerment—right? —on how to receive that power to walk in freedom. In the next lesson, we’re going to show you how to finally displace pornography once and for all, and it will wrap up this course. Again, I just want to say, I’m so proud of you for staying the course. Lesson 10 is going to be amazing!