Page 17 - Overcoming Addiction

I Corinthians 6:15-20
Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take
away the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? May it
never be! Or do you not know that the one who joins himself to a harlot is
one body with her? For He says, "The two will become one flesh." But the
one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him. Flee immorality.
Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral
man sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a
temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that
you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore
glorify God in your body.

That Paul is speaking to Christians who have been born again of the Spirit of
Christ is apparent from the words here. Paul declares that he is speaking to
members of the body of Christ. He is speaking to those who are temples of the
Holy Spirit. Only those who are Christians can be described in this way. Yet these
Christians were sinning. That a person is troubled by some besetting sin, or has
fallen into some addictive behavior, is not evidence then that they are lost, and
separated from the life of Christ. Many people are lost, and acting sinfully is
something they cannot avoid. But there are those in the church who are what
Paul describes as “carnal Christians.” The word carnal means fleshly.

I Corinthians 3:1-3
And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to
carnal, as to babes in Christ. I fed you with milk and not with solid food;
for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not
able; for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions
among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men?

When Paul asks them whether they are not acting “like mere men,” he is
speaking of them acting as if they have never been born of the Spirit of God, but
are still Adamic men, no different than those who are foreigners to the life of
Christ. It is possible for a Christian to walk in sin, but it is not the will of God that
they do so. Yahweh has made every provision for His children to overcome every
desire and passion of the flesh.
I was not presented these truths as a young man growing up in the church.
When I found within myself a desire to view pornography, and entertain lustful
fantasies, I became troubled with thoughts that I might not be a Christian. These
thoughts tormented me for many years. Many nights I would lay awake
wondering whether I would be cast into hell and separated forever from the
presence of God. I had been told that Christians don’t sin, and I knew I was
sinning.
I know now that God allowed me to experience these torments that I might
press in to know the truth of the matter, and that I might be able to instruct
others regarding the truth. I am therefore glad that Yahweh did not spare me
these experiences.