Finally Free: Fighting for Purity with the Power of Grace Kindle Edition

Pastoral ministry is filled with unique challenges. One challenge that is growing exponentially, is the sin of pornography. Pastors must deal with this issue directly - with grace and biblical authority.

I tend to pass on most books that address the topic of pornography these days. The reason: Many Christian books miss the target all-together. They either focus on addiction, make excuses for men trapped in the sin of pornography, minimize the sin, or offer graphically explicit "help" that does more harm than good. Frankly, most books that deal with this topic are drowning in psychological nonsense that ignores the plain teaching of Scripture. So I pass on most of these books.

However, Heath Lambert's book, Finally Free is different. Here's are several themes I see emerging from the pages of Lambert's book:

An supreme allegiance to Scripture.
A passion for holiness.
A clinging the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
An intense hatred of sin.
A longing to help men trapped by the sin of pornography.
A long list of biblical strategies for defeating sin.
A commitment to exploring themes of sanctification which are grounded in God's forgiving grace and his transforming grace.
The main point of the book serves as the foundation for this excellent piece of writing:

To alert readers to the grace of God which forgives and transforms. Grace that forgives is greatly needed and will of course, bring a great deal of encouragement to men who struggle with sexual sin.

But forgiving grace does not go far enough. Struggling sinners also needs grace that transforms. This kind of grace brings healing. This kind of grace bring hope, and health, and life change. This kind of grace destroys the pull and power of the sin of pornography.

Lambert does a terrific job of blending gospel-centered hope, admonition, and rebuke. Men who struggle in this area should turn to this resource as a source of deep encouragement which will lead to victory over sin. Frankly, Heath Lambert's work is the best contemporary help available in dealing with this kind of sin. The book would be suitable for one-on-one discipleship and would also serve readers well in a small group setting.

Highly recommended!

Heath Lambert is the executive director of the National Association of Nouthetic Counselors (soon to be re-named). He also serves as associate professor of Biblical Counseling at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, as well as associate dean of applied studies and chairman of the department of biblical counseling at their undergrad institution (Boyce). He is the author of The Biblical Counseling Movement After Adams and co-editor of Counseling the Hard Cases. Moral of the story is that he knows a good bit about biblical counseling and so his wisdom on the topic of purity in Finally Free: Fighting For Purity With The Power of Grace is invaluable.

Right from the get-go, Lambert clarifies that this is not a book about pornography. This seems somewhat counter-intuitive if you read the table of contents before you read the introduction. There you will notice that each chapter includes the word "pornography" in its title. "Yet somehow," you ask, "This isn't a book about pornography?"

Well, yes and no. As Lambert explains, he is nixing the discussion of the details of the porn industry (the stats part of many books helping people deal with porn), as well as discussions about the damage porn does (both to the makes and consumers). He is also leaving out the discussion about how bad porn is, how it re-wires your brain, how it undermines just about everything important. While books that do that have a noble goal according to Lambert (12), his goal is to tell you "about the amazing power of Jesus Christ to free you from pornography." Or, as he reiterates in the next sentence, "I want to share with you the amazing depth and effect of Christ's power to eradicate pornography from your life" (12).

Accordingly, Lambert sees grace as the foundation from which the fight proceeds on several fronts. He spends chapter 1 explaining in more detail the foundation of grace. From that foundation, Lambert teases out several "weapons" that can be used in the fight:

Godly sorrow (chapter 2)
Accountability (chapter 3)
Radical measures (chapter 4)
Confession (chapter 5)
Your spouse or singleness (chapter 6)
Humility (chapter 7)
Gratitude (chapter 8)
A dynamic relationship with Christ (chapter 9)

He then concludes with a call to holiness as well as a plot twist concerning an example he shared earlier in the book. An appendix is offered for families and friends of those struggling with pornography.

I found the overall layout of this book to be very helpful. Several of the chapters include "weapons" that I think we've all employed (accountability, confession, radical measures). But as you notice, some of them don't seem to be directly connected to dealing with pornography. The two that stood out to me were the chapters on humility and gratitude. I had previously made the gratitude connection, but thinking of the struggle in terms of a pride issue was both new and helpful to me. I've found gratitude to be helpful, both in my personal life, but also in counseling others. I've yet to talk to a student who struggles with porn but is also genuinely overflowing with gratitude for everything God has given to them. Not saying it's not possible, but often I'll follow a similar track as Lambert (grace in Christ first, then gratitude in response to that grace second) because it generally hasn't occurred to many people that there's a connection between ingratitude and struggling with lust.

Additionally, I don't think it has occurred to many people that all of these weapons work together and are the outworking of grace gripping a person's heart. I think it's fair to say each chapter is offering a perspective on what grace looks like in a person's life. As you grow in Christ, you'll grow in your ability to employ each of these weapons in tandem, rather than in isolated strikes. Lambert is offering readers a textbook case of how to pursue mortification, specifically as it applies to lust and its most frequent outworking, porn addiction. But much of what he offers readers will also help them grow in fighting sin in other areas of their life, some of which might not seem immediately connected (e.g. pride). This is especially true if readers put the action items to use at the end of chapter and think over the questions offered.

While there are many books out there on dealing with lust and the struggle with pornography, Lambert's book is now at the top of my list of books I'll give to a student who wants to grow and change. Part of this is the accessibility of the writing style (short, to the point and laced with illustrations) and the other part is the track record Lambert attests to in applying this material. Another part would be how Christ-centered the whole book is, which on the whole is what makes it a book about fighting pornography that's not really about pornography. The book makes for an easy read (but with hard truth that needs to be heard) and would make a great resource for a small group of guys struggling together. It is a fresh, grace-filled perspective on the fight against lust and offers the culmination of years of biblical wisdom that will point readers to the grace Christ offers and its power to defeat indwelling sin.

[I received a review copy of this book from the publisher and originally published a review on my blog]

This is a phenomenal resource for anyone who is struggling with/mentoring someone who is struggling with pornography. I was so blessed to read this!! Working with younger men you find this is often a huge stronghold in their life. The grace-filled principles in this book are spot on without any compromise to the truth. I wish this author would use the principles in this book as a template for other areas of sin that Christians struggle with. Anyone who reads this would not only be blessed with a biblical strategy against pornography but also with a foundation of living a rich relationship with Christ!

Lambert's book is really solid. I would gladly recommend it to any Christian man or woman who is or has struggled with lust and pornography. The book is basic enough to understand but deep enough to provide real and helpful insights. I especially appreciate Lambert's efforts to not write impurely about the battle to fight impurity. The foundation of this book is right (the gospel), the remedies are sound and the results are there waiting for anyone who will take and read in faith. In the end, lust (and pornography) really is a daily battle. No one will win the fight by reading a book. But Lambert's book will be a genuine help for many who want to be finally free.