Are Porn Addicts Hell-bound?

I hear there are many Christian men that are enslaved by pornography. Why? Could it be a symptom of a false conversion? There are two kinds of Christians: true converts and false ones. If one is addicted to porn, for example, he might better question whether he is a true convert. Anybody dominated by sin has a good reason to doubt his salvation. Which is more dangerous, to presume you are okay or to doubt it? If he presumes it he will not bother to examine himself to see if he really believes. But if he doubts it he will not be more likely to make his calling and election sure?
A bad tree can’t give good fruit. A good tree does not bear bad fruit. Do not marvel that I say, “You must be born again.” With men this is impossible, but be of good cheer. There is hope. With God’s mercy & grace all things are possible. As long as one is addicted to scandalous sin, he is still under the condemnation of God’s law. But God’s grace sets men free. Dealing simply with symptoms a new tree will not make.
Are you addicted to pornography, for example? Pornography involvement is symptomatic of a far greater problem. Don't you feel the condemnation of a secret life that only God knows about? Do you have a desire to quit? Trying to quit has not worked in the past for you, so why do you now think you can will yourself away from such a damaging influence in your life? A man, like a tree is known by the fruit it bears. What kind of person are you? Do you need a new beginning?
John Owen shows that it is possible to be addicted to sin and still go to heaven. I agree. But I would not count on it. But the point is not about heaven. Why would the preacher want to assure someone he’s going to heaven if he is under the condemnation of both his own conscience and God’s law? Just to make him feel good? His salvation is held in doubt as long as he has no victory. (I am not talking about dealing with the symptom. I am talking about getting rid of the cause of the symptom.) If the argument is that I might discourage him and he will quit serving God because he now thinks he might be hell-bound, it seems to me that he would have had good reason to doubt. When one is truly converted, he does not serve God for fire insurance. He serves God like Job did… for nought, and not on the condition that he be allowed to go to heaven. Or, if the argument is so he can have peace, I ask, “Why should he have peace as long as he is in bondage?” Would that not be like saying, “Peace, peace, when there is no peace?” What’s heaven got to do with victory now? Should the preacher tell him he should have victory, but he will be saved anyway? He may or may not be going to heaven, only God knows that, but why does he need that assurance when he is living in scandalous sin? How can I possibly make that judgment (of whether he is saved or not)? The secret things belong to God. The point is, he is under condemnation now, and that is not a secret. The question of heaven or hell is irrelevant.
If comfort is what we want for him, the best way to comfort him is:
(1.) to encourage him to believe that God can and will deliver him.
(2.) to confess his sin and bring it into the light by having an accountability partner.
What is happening to the professing Christian in bondage to habitual addiction to scandalous sin is that he feels guilty, cries for forgiveness, and trusts God to forgive. Let me tell the story of Wally.
Wally was the produce manager in an independent grocery store. While standing in the produce aisle he told me his story of how God delivered him several years previously. He had been an alcoholic. His wife “got saved” and he followed her, got baptized, and joined the church. He quit drinking but still had the physical compulsion to drink. After several months of resisting he lived in misery constantly resisting the physical compulsion. But pressure was building up inside until it was ready to explode. He knew he could not resist much longer.
One night Wally went home and went to bed with an impossible urge to drink. But he knew that if he did he would lose his job and his family. He was at the end of his rope. He was now fully persuaded only God could deliver him with a miracle. He clearly saw that short of a miracle his life was over. As he lay there he suddenly heard a voice that said, “Wallace! NOW I am going to do something for you.” The physical compulsion left and he no longer wanted to drink. As we stood there in the produce aisle with customers walking by, he burst out weeping as he shared. It still brings tears to my eyes.
I fear that many modern so-called converts are simply awakened and not truly converted. The Puritans specialized in the doctrine of saving conversion. They taught that there are four kinds of sinners: careless sinners, awakened sinners, convicted sinners, and converted sinners. Wally’s deliverance is an example of true conversion. While he struggled to resist the physical compulsion to drink he was still under the law. He was trying and trying to not sin. But it was a miserable effort. It was not until he was thoroughly convinced of sin, righteousness, and judgment that God said, “Wallace! NOW I am going to do something for you.” No longer did he try and try. Salvation is of the Lord and not of self-effort. The Holy Spirit had convinced him that he could not save himself.
Saving conversion comes in the twinkling of an eye, but the work of humiliation usually takes time because man’s pride dies hard.
Does this mean that after one like Wally is delivered that he is no longer tempted? No. He could still be tempted, but now he had power to resist. Before he did not. His bias was changed. He now had a new proclivity. He became a new tree, a new creature. Does that mean that the true convert no longer sins? “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1John 1:8). But “the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Cor 6:9-10).


Faith In Faith Will Not Do
Believing you’re going to heaven does not make it so.
Believing God is what makes you know.

Believing you’re okay does not make it true.
Believing God is what carries one through.

Believing we’re not so bad can take us to hell.
Realizing we’re sick can make us well.

Faith in faith cannot deliver.
But faith in God will fail you never.

When we see God we cry, “Woe is me!”
And that transforms us to the image we see.

As in a glass God’s glory beholding,
A new vessel now the Potter is molding.

Then those who escape will remember their ways,
Now loathing themselves for the evil of those days.