Exclusive excerpt from hot new bestseller on sexual morality
Editor’s note: Following is the preface to the popular and widely praised new book, “Fight Like a Man” by Emeal Zwayne. “E.Z.,” as he is commonly called, is president of Living Waters, cohost of “The Living Waters Podcast” and executive producer of the “Way of the Master” television program and multiple Living Waters films.
In a world that seeks to destroy sexual purity, the book contends, the battle for holiness has never been fiercer nor the stakes higher. Sexual immorality has devastated too many men, damaged too many families, and marred the gospel’s testimony too many times. Now is the time to prepare yourself to fight.
In “Fight Like a Man,” Emeal “E.Z.” Zwayne presents biblical truth for combating the enemies of purity that seek to hold you captive in sin. Not content to just reveal your adversaries’ tactics, E.Z. also provides an arsenal of simple yet revolutionary strategies to equip you to conquer lust through the power of gospel-centered grace and the knowledge of God’s mind-blowing character. No matter your past, you can embrace the freedom available in Christ and the fullness of a life that honors God with every thought, word, and deed.
Preface
Necessity and passion. Critics have rightly said that these two elements must be present for any book to reach its highest potential and achieve its greatest impact. I can’t think of a time in the annals of human history when there was a greater necessity for addressing the topic of sexual purity. And the thought of liberating men from bondage to sexual sin infuses this writer with more passion than words could ever express.
There’s no question that sexual immorality has reigned supreme across the generations since Adam and Eve’s fall in the garden of Eden.
However, man’s ever-deepening plunge into depravity over many millennia and the aid that modern technologies provide for the enhancement of carnal pleasures have combined to create a climate of perversion unlike anything this planet has seen since its creation.
It may be safe to say that authors within the span of multiple generations have sufficiently covered certain topics and that new books dealing with the same subject matter would be painfully redundant. But I would contend that the issue of sexual purity is a rare exception in this regard – and this is true for two main reasons. First, owing to the insidious, pervasive, and overtly destructive nature of sexual immorality, enough books could never be written to help men find victory in this arena. Secondly, there is an unfortunate and glaring dearth of books written on this topic from a soundly biblical perspective.
The tragic and inevitable by-product of such an atmosphere is a debilitating desensitization to the seriousness of sexual sin. A worldly “Christianity” that has sold its soul to this godless age for the sake of acceptance, relevance and ease has partly facilitated this desensitization.
Tragically, this confluence of elements has left the men of this era in a very precarious predicament. And the church’s abdication of duty has deprived men of the correction, exhortation, guidance, and scriptural truth that they so desperately need.
I know – this all sounds quite dismal, doesn’t it? But it’s against the stifling darkness of such bleak backdrops that the glorious gospel shines brightest. The gospel of Christ is far more than an instrument through which souls are saved. It’s also the inexhaustible source and ever-flowing fountain of spiritual riches that supplies the redeemed with every necessary component for developing and nurturing a God-oriented life. So it’s by no coincidence that this book is thoroughly gospel-centric, and it’s expressly because of the hope that the gospel lavishly supplies that I’ve written it. What a glorious hope that is! Christ became sin for sinners so that He can impute His spotless righteousness to their account (Romans 5:21). He then takes those who stand in that perfect righteousness and begins to sanctify them day by day as He progressively conforms them into the image of Christ (Hebrews 10:14; Romans 8:29).
When the gospel’s power is fully unleashed, it quickens a complacent church to proclaim the truth to its people, reverses the curse of desensitization to sin, and tenderly draws believers toward genuine repentance. This, after all, is what God designed His glorious gospel of grace to do: “The grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age” (Titus 2:11–12).
I hope this liberating and transforming gospel grace will activate a zeal for righteousness in every man who reads this book. I pray that the awareness that they are not their own but were bought with the precious, priceless blood of Christ will cause them to flee sexual immorality and to glorify God with their body and spirit, which belong to Him (1 Corinthians 6:18–20).
Editor’s note: Following is the very end of the book, where E.Z. issues his final call to arms to all men who aspire to godliness.
A final word
In nine hundred quadrillion years from now, when you’re continuing to sweetly bask in the inexplicable beauty of God’s eternal presence – as though you had just begun – what sinful sexual pleasure will you miss or long for? It may sound like a silly question because the answer is a given.
But there’s a reason why I’m asking a question that I realize you know the answer to. It’s to remind you of the utter foolishness of allowing yourself to be ensnared, for even one second, by the frivolities of this fading world, especially when you’re an heir to the ineffable splendor that awaits you in eternity.
Remember, you are no mere man. You will rule and reign with the conquering Christ, joining Him in judging the world and angels, reveling in every spiritual blessing with which He has blessed you in the heavenly places, and shining as a trophy of His redeeming grace as you forever display the wonders of the glorious gospel that saved you, sanctified you, and sustained you. Now that’s a victory worth fighting from, and the glory of your amazing God is a glory worth fighting for. So fight tenaciously, brother. Fight courageously. Fight relentlessly. Fight in the power that He faithfully and abundantly supplies. Fight! Fight like a man!