But what we want to do today is take that framework, which we've created, and apply it to a very practical issue, which is what, in fact, our confession does. And that is to the issue of the area of temptation. It's one thing to have a good, high doctrine of God's sovereignty, and you can explain first and secondary causes, you can explain concurrence, active permission, and yet if that plays no role in your Christian life, you've missed the whole point. And that's what we want to do today. Temptation is one of those sticky subjects when it comes to God's sovereignty. There are several what I would call sticky subjects, and by that I mean you can't just hand it to someone. You have to give a nuanced answer, and you want to be very careful to do so. I would say tragedy is something you want to explain very carefully. It can be kind of sticky, right? Well, so can temptation. Because we're posed with this question, okay? If I'm a Christian, and God's will, according to 1 Thessalonians 4.3, is my sanctification, right? That is His will for me. And if He's sovereign over all things, why does He allow me to struggle so much with this particular temptation? If God has decreed everything that comes to pass, including all the times that I gave in to temptation, then how do I go about fighting this sin? How should I fight my sin? What if it's decreed that I give into it, right? There's a lot of issues that you want to look at and you don't want to just give... Lame answers. We want to have good, thorough answers to those questions. Well, the theologians at the Westminster Assembly and our Baptist forebears understood as well, that's why they adopted this part of the Confession, that temptation in God's sovereignty was an issue that needed to be addressed on its own. And so if you look in Chapter 5, they added paragraph 5. It's like the most pastoral paragraph in a very technical, high theological one. It's very pastoral. It says, doth oftentimes leave for a season his own children to manifold temptations, and the corruption of their own hearts, to chastise them for their former sins, or to discover unto them the hidden strength of corruption and deceitfulness of their hearts, that they may be humbled, and to raise them to a more close and constant dependence for their support upon himself, and to make them more watchful against all future occasions of sin and for other just and holy ends, so that whatsoever befalls any of his elect is by his appointment for his glory and their good." And so what we want to do this morning is unpack that. There's a lot to be said there. and we want to unpack that first. We're just going to discuss what it means that God in His sovereignty allows His children to go through a period of temptation. We know God doesn't tempt anyone, according to James, but then What does that mean then, that He allows us to go through those periods? Second, we want to discuss God's purposes in that, the why He allows it to happen. And then lastly, we want to kind of just address some very practical ways of fighting sin, fighting temptation. So point number one, What does it mean that God allows Christians to struggle with sin? First, if you see in the Confession, notice who the tempted ones are. Who does it say? It says that they are God's own children. Now that might seem obvious. Why mention that? However, When someone is in the brutal hand-to-hand combat of fighting with their sin, the question that pops into your head is, am I a true Christian? Is this something that Christians actually go through? Can I be a slave of righteousness and be struggling so hard in my battle with sin? I think we all struggle with that, and according to our confession and scripture, genuine Christians can have real trouble overcoming sin. In fact, I would say the average Christian not just one time in their lives, probably many times in their life, will be faced with this question, am I really God's child right now? Because this thing seems to own me, okay? Well, I would say that those Christians who ask that are not the exception, they're actually the rule. In fact, the Christian who always seems to have victory over his sin or her sin, while praise be to God, is more the exception. They're unique in that. Connected to this, one of the issues that the church in America has faced, probably over the last maybe 30, 40 years, is this problem of what's been called easy-believism. People think that they're saved just because they're Americans. Last night, Honick and I went to a rodeo, and after the lady went around the arena like, and I'm proud to be an American, Then the guy prayed and his prayer was literally something about... I bowed my head and then I was like, I don't know what I'm praying to. He was like, and Lord, we pray till we see you in that great big arena in the sky. And I was just like this... This is, that's Americana, okay? Now we're faced with that issue, especially in Texas and other Bible Belt areas, right? People just think they're Christians, right? Or they think they're Christian because they went to a VBS when they were five and they signed a thing that said they wanted to accept Jesus, or they went to a youth camp and invited Jesus into their heart, right? Well, the problem with that is we have a lot of people that are not saved living like living like hell, right, thinking that they are. Well, this issue was confronted mostly, I'd say, in the 90s and early 2000s in what was called the Lordship Controversy, okay? You had some people arguing that you could be saved without Jesus being Lord of your life. And what they were actually arguing was kind of just antinomianism, that by saying, no, he has to be Lord of your life, you're bringing in works, right? That's not at all what we're saying. Obviously, if someone's justified, they're also regenerated, and there will be fruit there, okay? Many argued against that, okay? I think, though, we want to be careful that we don't go too far in the other direction, okay? Instead of an easy believism, maybe like a hard believism or something that kind of puts it on us. First, we want to be careful that we don't make it sound that if somebody is really, really, really struggling with sin, It's very likely that they're not a believer, okay? Now, might they not be a believer? Yeah, absolutely. And there's a time and a place for that, okay? However, true Christians can also really, really, really, really struggle with sin at times. You know, it's funny, I think we all acknowledge true Christians can fall into big sins, right? We think of David. We're forced to acknowledge this, right? David was a believer. He committed adultery and murder. Peter denied the Lord while cursing, right? And we're okay with that. but for a Christian to really, really struggle with sin, that's pushing into it a little bit too far. And I think the logic of that is very flawed. Not only can Christians sin in big ways, but they can really struggle with sin. This logic that if you're really, really struggling, you're probably not a Christian, it reveals itself. I've seen it in counseling. I've heard of many occurrences, and I think myself, I used to do this too. When a counselor sees someone who's struggling, or a brother or sister who's really struggling with severe temptation, their first reaction is to caution the person that they should really ask themselves if they're truly born again. Is there a time and a place for that? Absolutely. Okay? But if that's always your first response, you're revealing something. You're revealing a belief or a logic that they really shouldn't really, really be struggling with sin this hard if they're true believers. I think that's fundamentally flawed. You can be a true believer and really struggle with sin. There would be some people who would, I don't know, maybe accuse me of antinomianism or something like that, having cheap grace, whatever. How can we back up what I just said with Scripture? How do we respond to that? There's this understanding that Christians can really struggle with sin. Well, first, I mean, on the one hand, We have passages like Romans 8, 7-9. Romans 8, 7-9. Listen to what Paul says. He speaks about pre-conversion and post-conversion in very strong terms. He says, For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God. For it does not submit to God's law, indeed it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. Right? And I feel like if a brother or sister was really struggling, they might go to that passage and say, look, if you're having trouble obeying it, it may be because you're not born again. Right? Those who are in the flesh can't please God. And then Paul says, speaking of the Romans, you, however, are not in the flesh, but in the spirit. Okay? So there, unbelievers are in the flesh. They're the old man. They've not been born again yet, while believers are not in the flesh, but in the spirit. Okay? On the other hand, we have passages like in 1 Corinthians 3, verses 1 through 3. which Paul also says, but I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people but as people of the flesh. Wait a minute, Paul, I thought believers aren't in the flesh, right? And someone could try to make a more technical argument about of and in. I think it's still, you're still left with the same argument. He says, I couldn't address you as spiritual people of the flesh as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you are not ready for it. And even now you are not ready for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way? And yet, the Corinthians are Christians. They're saints. They've been sanctified. And so we have to allow room. We have to have a category, not a category, but there has to be enough room in our understanding of true believers that they can really struggle with sin. And at times for years, maybe even their whole life, and we don't want to just have the first thing we say is, well, you're probably not a true believer. I know R.C. Sproul, right? The famous R.C., right? His whole life he struggled with smoking. I don't know if you know that. He struggled with smoking cigarettes in the sense that I think he tried to quit it and he couldn't. I even heard a story from somebody that worked at Grace Community Church that won Shepherd's Conference. He was going to get up to go speak, and he had his cigarettes right here in his shirt pocket. And a guy came to him and said, hey, brother, maybe just take those out before you get up at Shepard's conference, right? You can just imagine him. Anyway, I have this whole joke skit about him lighting up while doing it. Anyway, it's not that funny. Another very dear brother who struggled very severely for a season was this a Christian rapper, a friend, not a friend. a very solid guy named Timothy Brindle. I don't know if you've ever heard of Timothy Brindle. I don't know if there's that many Christian rap fans in here. But he's reformed, and I was very challenged and encouraged by one of his early albums. It's called Killing Sin. Killing Sin. This guy, this was all about the battle with the flesh, right? just a few months after Killing Sin came out, he had to step down from his, and he did so willingly, from his public career, you could say, as a rapper, because he was struggling with old sin, and it got brought out when he got married. So you have the guy, the Killing Sin guy, and he was out of the limelight for about four to five years, and it was only after that that he came out in this very beautiful video, this interview with him and his wife about how he had struggled with temptation, I think it was probably of a sexual nature, for years. And yet God had brought him through that, brought his marriage through that. And so there are many cases of believers really, really struggling with sin, okay? Well, having established that, in God's sovereignty, everything that happens is part of God's decree, and Christians can severely struggle with temptation, even for a prolonged period of time, we want to now qualify that, lest that be misinterpreted, okay? first. When the confession says that God allows his own children to be tempted for a period of time, it does not mean that God is forcing anyone to sin. Okay? We must acknowledge, yes, God is totally sovereign. His decree is immutable. It will not fail to come to pass. And yet we should never understand that as though God is removing strength from the Christians so that they can do nothing else but fall. Okay? Yes, God allows it, but He does not force anyone to sin. James 1, 13 through 15. James says, let no one say when he is tempted, I am being tempted by God. For God cannot be tempted with evil himself, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire, when it has conceived, gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is fully grown, brings forth death." So yes, God is totally sovereign. He is the first cause of all things, okay? We could even say that even more boldly. He's the first cause of every time you fell into temptation, okay? If we wanted to really put this in stark contrast, and I can say that because the confession says he's the first cause of the fall, okay? And yet, the guilt of that sin is yours and yours alone. It found its origin in your heart, and it was your heart that sought after it, okay? Now, someone might say, and I imagine they would say this in the fierce combat of fighting with their sin, what do you mean God tempts no one? Whatever He decrees will come to pass. Right? I could have done no other, they might say, than sin the last time I did. Right? However, we want to say God never forces anyone's will. He doesn't do violence to it. Okay? They choose it of their own free choice. If you wanted to use the top and second tier, right? God is the first cause. The second cause, whence sprang that sinful desire, is the person's heart and not God's. Okay? I would encourage you, if you find yourself struggling in the same sin for a long time and feeling jaded, right? God decreed he's sovereign, right? I can kind of hear somebody saying that in their battle. Be careful not to do what Job did. Job, in his jadedness, he kind of turned on God a little bit, right? Overall, he was still a righteous man, but he accused God of injustice. And even in the throes of a death fight with sin, It can be hard to understand how God's goodness and sovereignty are working out, but don't do what Job did, because God ultimately showed up and Job put his hand on his mouth and said, I was speaking about mysteries I have no idea really anything about. And so what I would say is acknowledge that that sin is yours and that he is totally sovereign, but that it is your guilt alone. OK? Next, even though the Confession says that God doth oftentimes leave for a season his own children to manifold temptations, this in no way implies that God removes all ability from the believer to resist. 1 Corinthians 10.13 says, No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man God is faithful and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability But with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape that you may be able to endure it Okay, so that last time you gave in to sin Is in the past so anything that has come to past we can say that was decreed. Yes Okay, that was decreed however when you did that. you gave in to that temptation, you were not tempted beyond your ability. It was not as though the only road before you was sin. There was a way of escape here, there was sin here, and you chose sin. And so it is every time. And yes, in the mystery of God's sovereignty, He decreed that you would go down this one path, yet you chose to ignore His way of escape, and you chose willingly sin. Furthermore, I would say you can only say that about the past because it's come to pass. You can't say it about the present because you don't know, and you don't know about the future. And so if you're this morning standing at that fork in the road, you can't divine which path in God's sovereignty you will take. And quite honestly, I would say when you're struggling with sin really hard, that's not the moment to try to pick apart the mysteries of the universe. Rather, all you need to know is that there is a way of escape, and God will not allow you to be tempted beyond your ability to resist it. Okay? And that if you do, it is your guilt alone. Well, that's kind of a general what it means, what it does not mean. In point number two, we want to talk about God's purposes. Why does God allow his children to go through seasons of temptation? The confession gives us five reasons. First, it says, to chastise them for that former sins. Now, the first time I read that paragraph, I went, ah, I don't know, that sounds harsh. I don't like that. It almost sounds like God is making us pay for our former sins. Right? That sin you sinned ten years ago, if you're still struggling with temptation, is God. I thought He poured that sin out all on Christ, and Christ bore it. Why am I being punished for it? Right? Well, the word is chastise. which is another word for discipline. Discipline or chastisement is always with the goal of instruction in righteousness or disciplining to bring about spiritual maturity. When it says that God chastises us for our former sins, it means He lets us feel the sting of the consequences of our former sins so that we might turn from sin. You know, there are many sins that when you give in to once or maybe several times, you open yourself up to something that you never were before. I think in particular, sexual sin. You know, how many people, if they could only go back and stop themselves because of the raging temptation they would battle with after that first time or just a first few times, right? Well, in allowing us to feel the battle of that sin, how strong temptation calls us to, we're more apt next time when we see a sin to go, hold on, hold on. I know where that road goes and it's going to be a real big bummer for the next week or a month or two because I'm going to have to really fight that temptation after I get out of that. And so by allowing us to feel that sting, God teaches us to turn away from it. It's not worth it. It's too painful. Second, the confession says, to discover unto them the hidden strength of corruption and deceitfulness of their hearts, that they may be humbled. Now I'm going to tell you something that will last you a long time. Whenever you see the word discover in the confession or in old Puritan writings, it does not mean what we mean when we say discover, right? We say Columbus discovered the new world. We mean he found it. That's not what it means for them. To discover is to uncover or to reveal. Okay? If God's not finding something in them, He's unveiling to them their own sins. So let's look at it again. It says, to discover, to reveal unto them the hidden strength of corruption and deceitfulness of their hearts, that they may be humbled. Okay? Well, if God wants them to be humbled, what does that tell us about what they are? They're not humble, right? There's pride there. They look at themselves and their own abilities to resist sin or their own past victories over sin and they think, you know what? I'm not that guy. I'm a mature believer. When Paul was rebuking the Corinthians, he wasn't talking to me. I'm one of the spiritual ones. I'm not one of the flesh. Their battles with sin are really just little tiny skirmishes. It was just a dust-up. And God's purpose then is to let it be a battle in order that they might see that that strength they thought they had was nothing. Their own integrity and uprightness of their heart, which they trusted in, was wickedness. I can testify to this personally. After I was saved, I would say for the first few years, God just gave me an inordinate amount of victory over sin. I know there were certain things like drugs, all kinds of things. I just stopped cold turkey, and I had no desire to go back to them, and things that had completely owned me when I was an unbeliever, right? And so I thought, The battle with sin is not that hard. I didn't have an understanding that a believer could really, really struggle, and so I kind of looked down on people. I remember talking to one brother, we were both in our college group in our church, and he told me about his battle with pornography. This poor brother was so burdened, almost hopeless as he asked for prayer. He said, you know, I read all these books, I go to get counseling, I just... And I looked at him and I was just confused. I was just like, I don't know what you're doing wrong. It's not a hard... Like, I didn't say that in my heart, but I kind of thought that and I really judged him. And I imagine, I don't know that I said this to him, but I probably thought to myself, Brother, you may need to ask if you're a believer. I wonder that in my own heart, right? Because I had never struggled with sin. However, In God's providence, in His good mercy to me, He allowed me to, all of a sudden, years later, struggle severely with temptations that I thought were long gone. I was moving on to pride. There's like, well, I still struggle with inner sins that are just worth a paperclip, right? That's where I was going. Those other ones are long gone. He showed me they weren't. They were very much alive. They had just been dormant in God's mercy. And so I learned painfully how deceptive my own heart was, how easily I could fall again and again, and yet each time rationalized that I wasn't going to fall, I saw the warning signs and yet I still did it, right? My heart was deceptive. And so I learned that even though I had to learn, even though I was no longer a slave to sin, wait, hold on, that doesn't make sense, I became incredibly humbled. It was hard to believe I was no longer a slave to sin, that I was actually a slave to righteousness, and I had to be humbled. I would also say, God's grace and mercy took on a new meaning to me. I had seen its beauty to one degree, and yet, after realizing how truly wretched I was, and after having to go to Him again, every day almost, you know, before it was maybe once every three months or something, it's like, hey, It's me again. Yep, Phil, I know it was just yesterday that I saw you, right? You really learn the depths of God's mercy and how bottomless His grace and mercy are. I would also say, if you have a desire to minister to others, pastoral ministry, to counsel others, or just to be someone used by God, if you've not really had to battle very hard with sin, you're going to be of limited usefulness in the hands of God. Now, I'm not saying Go plunge yourself deep into sin, right? You must know what a hangover feels like to minister to sinners. I'm not saying that, okay? However, It's going to be hard for you to understand their struggle, and because the struggle's not a big struggle, you're going to give very small solutions. And I think you're of limited usefulness in the hands of the Lord. I've seen this sometimes in ministers and their counsel to others, and not just ministers, other Christians, is what I call kick-in-the-pants counseling. From their perspective, you know what that guy needs, that sister needs? They need a good kick in the pants. And they really do, and they'll give them a good chewing out about their sin, don't you know the consequences? And they just like shoot them down, right? That to me sounds like someone who's never really had to battle with sin and has never truly questioned, perhaps, their salvation. To come that heavy-handed on someone, they just need a kick in the pants. Because you know, if you've ever struggled with sin, a kick in the pants is not going to do it. You need the gospel. You need all of Christ and His resources, right? On that, I've met some people who, because they battle so strongly with sin, they think to themselves, I don't think I'll ever be useful in the kingdom of God. And to that I would say, you may actually be quite useful in the hands of the Lord after the Lord brings you through this period of temptation and you see Him give you victory over this. You're actually quite the person to counsel others in that same situation. Spurgeon, speaking of suffering in general, but I think it applies to temptation, he once said this. He said, I have noticed this, that your very strong men, yes, and your very strong ministers too, can say rather sharp things about the weak and may be justified in saying them. Yet, nevertheless, are not themselves beyond incurring the same rebukes Great teachers may not make great sufferers. When the hot iron touches them, it is another thing from what it seemed to be. It sounds fine for them to say that we ought not to be cast down or we ought not to be tempted, but ask their wives what these strong men are like when their head aches or their heart is out of order. Right? How true is that? It's easy to counsel someone and give them a good kick in the pants, but you don't know what you would do under those same circumstances. You may, in fact, find that that person you're giving a good talking to is faring better than you would if you were in their position. And so we want to be very cautious. Sinners need the gospel. They need to be encouraged and shown that Christ has all the resources to fight their sin, and it's not just the law, right? If it was just the law, the generation at Sinai would have been the holiest generation we've ever seen, and they weren't, even though they really got a good kicking in the pants when God descended on Sinai in fire and smoke, right? Third, and connected to God's humbling us, the confession says, God allows His children also to go through seasons of temptation to raise them to a more close and constant dependence for their support on Him. This follows naturally from their being humbled, right? You see your tremendous neediness. You see how prone you are to wandering, and you know On my own, I just get into trouble. I need to be closely with Jesus. I need to be in the presence of God. You find yourself praying more. You're getting more of the Word of God in you, because you need it, right? Notice, though, that that's such a mercy, right? We may think God's doing that so that I don't sin. Yeah, but He's also giving you more of Himself. In God's presence is joy. Pleasures are at His right hand. By showing you your sin, by breaking you and making you see how needy you are, He's showing you more of Him. You see more of His beautiful, loving character than you would have if you had never struggled with sin because you didn't know you needed Him that bad. It's a true mercy. Fourth, connected to it, it says, and to make them more watchful against all future occasions of sin. When I was in high school, I watched a lot of History Channel, and so I have a lot of World War II illustrations, and so I have another one for you this morning. When America entered into World War II, we were really, really green. Everyone commented on that, the Germans did, the Brits, they're like, they are really undisciplined and bad. And one of the ways this manifested itself was that even a month or so after Germany had declared war on us, New York Times was still brightly lit up, particularly, what's it called, Towns, what is it? Times Square, Times Square, right? Really brightly lit up, and German U-boat captains could find New York Harbor by it. And they reasoned, I don't know if it was the mayor, someone reasoned, well, we don't want to put out the lights because that would bring down tourism, right? We really need that for the war economy right now. They slowly learned to turn off the lights after they could see the glowing embers of American cargo ships being sunk again and again, because German U-boat commanders were just right out there waiting for them. And it was only after they learned, it's not worth it. We need to do this. We need to be much more vigilant and watchful. I think that's true of temptation as well. We learn. how to be watchful. You learn what your triggers are. You remember what brought it about last time. You learn that it can come when you least expect it, right? Just how devious, and so you're much more watchful. And when you're watchful, you're much less susceptible to it. And so that also is a mercy. Fifth, the confession says, and for other just and holy ends. Basically, so that whatsoever befalls any of his elect is by his appointment for his glory and their good. It's basically saying, look, there's probably more reasons than this that we don't know that are much more specific why God exactly allows certain things to happen, why He allows us to go through seasons of temptation. But what we can say is it is by His appointment, It's for His glory, and it's for our good, which is important to remember, because when you're struggling with sin, it doesn't seem like God could get glory out of that situation, nor does it seem like He's seeking your good, rather that He's abandoned you for your own destruction. John Newton, the author of Amazing Grace, also wrote, I think, a more profound hymn, in my opinion, about God's purposes in allowing us to go through periods of severe temptation. If you actually have your hymnal, I want to say it's like 504 or 509 in the hymnal. It's called, I Ask the Lord. 519, thank you. I went to 518 and stopped. Now I'm going to kind of read through it and give some commentary on it, but you can see it as we go. First he says, okay, I ask the Lord that I might grow in faith and love and every grace might more of his salvation know and seek more earnestly his faith." Okay? So what's he praying for? For sanctification. That's a good prayer. I think of Moses. Lord, show me your glory. Right? It's good to pray those things. So he's praying this. He goes on. "'Twas he who taught me thus to pray, "'and he I trust has answered prayer, "'but it has been in such a way "'as almost drove me to despair.'" I hoped that in some favored hour, at once he'd answer my request, and by his love's constraining power, subdue my sins and give me rest." So basically what he thought, Lord, sanctify me, right? Help me to grow in holiness. And what he thinks it's going to do is he's going to be turned into like Iron Man or something, okay? Sin just like deflects off of him. That's what growing in holiness looks like, right? He says, continues on, instead of this, he made me feel the hidden evils of my heart and let the angry powers of hell assault my soul in every part. Notice the similarities to the confession there. He says that God made him feel the hidden evils of his heart. The confession says to reveal unto them the hidden strength of corruption and deceitfulness of their hearts. The Westminster Confession was written well before this, and I'd wondered if there was some reflection on this part of the confession. Anyway, he says, yea, more with his own hand he seemed, intent to aggravate my woe. I crossed all the fair designs I schemed. What does your version say? Mine is the old version. It says, blasted my gourd and laid me low. Okay, what the heck is he? I literally Googled, I was like Googled, what meaning, I was like blasted gourd meaning. I found out what it means. It's a reference to Jonah. When God finally, in the KJV, it says He raised up a plant to give Him shelter, it says it's a gourd. Well, what does God do? He allows a worm to eat it. So this is like His only comfort, this gourd, and God kills it. So He's saying, in His struggle, God even killed His gourd. Even in His affliction, God took away all kinds of comfort from Him, okay? He blasted His gourd. Great way, great thing to say. He continues, "'Lord, why is this?' I trembling cried. "'Wilt thou pursue thy worm to death?' "'Tis in this way,' the Lord replied. "'I answer prayer for grace and faith. "'These inward trials I employ from self and pride "'to set thee free,' right? "'Or as the confession says, to humble them. and break thy schemes of earthly joy, that thou mayst find thy all in me," or we might say, to raise them to a more close and constant dependence for their support upon himself, right? So God did answer Newton's prayer of sanctification, but not at all in the way Newton thought he was going to do it. We could use the analogy of weightlifting, right? He's like, Lord, I'm trying to lift these. Oh, sanctify me. And he thinks they're going to go into like, if you've ever been to a gym, the real weak ones are colored pink, okay? We're not going to get into the social realities of that, but they're pink for certain reasons. He thinks that's what God's going to do with my sin. He's going to make them real small. What did God do? God took the little, you know, thing and went like, and plugged it in so that it was really, really heavy. And he's like, Lord, what are you doing? I thought you were going to give me strength. God said, I am. I am going to make you struggle to lift it. You're going to have to, B, I don't know if you guys have ever really lifted weights. There's some towards the end where you're like, you're just shaking. God's like, you're going to have to do that, but it will strengthen you. And this is how I answer prayer. And so God does sanctify this. It's in a painful way, but it shows us his goodness. Consider if God had done it the way that Newton thought he was going to do it. His temptations and sinful urges, sorry, hold on. I don't think it would have been a blessing for him. If God had just made his temptations extremely weak, would that reveal the hidden strength of corruption and deceitfulness in his heart? It'd do the opposite, right? And it would not humble him. It would not raise him to a more close and constant dependence for his support upon God, right? He wouldn't think, I have to go to God all this more because I'm kind of strong on my own. I don't need him to spot me or something like that. I'm good on my own, right? But God did it in a way that brought him close to Him. We couldn't say it would make him more watchful against all future occasions of sin. In fact, it would put his guard down. Because temptation is not a big deal to worry about, right? No, it made him more watchful. And so this painful way, though painful, though excruciating, brings blessing. Okay. Point number three, surviving a season of temptation. We know kind of what it is. We know its purposes. What do we do if we find ourselves in the middle of it? How do we bear it and how do we grow to overcome sin? First and very importantly, and if you fail to do this, you're really hamstringing yourself in the process. Remember your justification in Christ Jesus. You have been given the righteousness of Christ by faith apart from works and your salvation is secure. Meditate again and again and again on the great promises of the gospel. God elected you in eternity past, He brought you to Himself when you wanted nothing to do with Him, and He justified you. He doesn't justify good people. Actually, Paul says in Romans 4-5 that God justifies the ungodly. And so, when you have ungodliness that remains, you're still justified by faith in Christ Jesus. And you have to remember that, or else your heart will sink into despair, and you will not fight your sin, because you'll think it's hopeless, okay? Second, realize that, again, you're not a freak Christian. You're the average Christian. It may seem like everyone else in the church is just killing it. They have problems, but not like my problems, right? However, every Christian will go through seasons like that in life, when they're going to look at everyone else in the church and go, Man, I'm the worst one here, right? But that's common. Christians go through that. All of us will. Third, remember who you are in Christ Jesus. This is enormous. And in many ways, this is kind of where the battle lies, I think. One of the biggest things we must remember is that we're no longer slaves to sin. We're now slaves of righteousness. That's hard to believe, right? When you're really struggling, you feel enslaved by your sin. The battle is believing this. On the one way we can see this work out very practically. If you believe that you're free from sin, then you know you don't have to obey it. You know that there is a way of escape and God is strengthening you to escape it and you will push on through that. If you think you're a slave to sin, you're not going to fight it, because it's hopeless, right? It's kind of this self-fulfilling prophecy, and I don't mean by that, it's like the power of positive thinking, it's the power of believing truth, okay? If you know you're not a slave to sin, you know, no matter how hard it is going to be, you can make it through it, through the strength that God gives you. And so, remember that. I would encourage you, when you find yourself struggling to believe you're no longer a slave to sin, pray and pray honestly to God about that. Pray the prayer of Mark 9 24. Lord, I believe, help my unbelief. Lord, I believe I'm no longer a slave to sin. Help my unbelief because I really feel like I am. Be honest with the Lord. Pour out your heart to Him, and He will strengthen you and allow you to grab hold of that truth by faith. Fourth, know that this season is most likely just that, a season. Now, we want to be careful here. On the one hand, we don't want to give someone a false hope. I remember one day I was struggling really severely with depression and I went into my college pastor's office with tears in my eyes asking if he would pray. I felt hopeless and I looked at him with tears in my eyes and I said, is it ever going to go away? And he paused and he very wisely said, I don't know. And that's not what I wanted to hear. I wanted to hear him say, yes, this will go away. But we want to be careful to not give someone a false hope about a very hard truth. Now, what I would say, even if the temptation never really goes away, God never takes it away, there are still going to be seasons when it's very severe and seasons when it's not as bad. He does graciously give us rest. I can think for myself, having had depression for over 12 years now, God's never taken it away. I've had many other days that were like that day when I went into my pastor's office. I've also had many other days that it was almost like I wasn't depressed. It was in the background, but it wasn't that bad. You could bear it, okay? I think that's what God does in seasons of temptation. You may struggle with the same sin for your whole life, but I believe in God's providence. He most commonly also, after giving us seasons of severe temptation, there's seasons of rest as well. The other thing I would say to that is While it's never gone away for myself and temptation may never go away for you, it's not going to perhaps always be as excruciating as it might be right now. And let me explain what I mean by that. Let's say on the worst day, what I've ever felt with depression is like a 10. And a really nice day is like a 1. I've had many other days that were 10s. since then, even seasons of tens. However. The longer I walk with the Lord and the more He sustains me, even tens aren't as bad as they used to be. Okay? It's still a ten, but it doesn't crumple me like it used to. I may not want to get out of bed in the morning, but what it used to do was destroy me. Several times in my early Christian walk, when I got hit with a season that was like on a level ten, I quit my job because I just couldn't. At least I thought I couldn't. I gave up. Or I dropped classes from community college. It just crumpled me. I still get hit with tens, and maybe it's hard to get out of bed in the morning, but even a ten is not as bad, because God has been, you know, I've been, He's raised the weights, and by His strength, I've learned to pick them up. I think we can say the same with temptation. It may never go away, and you may have other seasons of temptation that are tense. Yet, in God's strength, growing in sanctification, trusting more and more, the more we see these blessings, right? Keeping more close to Him, becoming more watchful, becoming humbled, all of that, even tense aren't as bad because we've learned how to expect it and how to rely on Christ more. So, if you find yourself being hit with a 10, know that there's hope. It's not always probably going to be like this, and the Lord will strengthen you and cause you to grow. Fifthly, and I'll wrap this up real quick, Remember that not only does God give us seasons of rest in this life, but one day we will enter into pure rest in the life to come. There's a very beautiful line in the hymn, Lead on, O King Eternal, and it talks about that rest. Listen to what it says. Lead on, O King Eternal, till sin's fierce war shall cease and holiness shall whisper the sweet amen of peace. It's almost like the Christian who's been struggling so, like, fierce war with their sin, they're finally glorified and they can just say, Amen. Peace. Warfare's gone, right? That'll be the case one day. Remember that you have a compassionate and powerful Great High Priest in Christ Jesus. Hebrews 2, 17 through 18, therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God to make propitiations for the sins of his people. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, excuse me, he is able to help those who are being tempted. Hebrews 4, 15 through 16, where we do not have a high priest who is who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Okay? And lastly, if you find yourself in a season of temptation, take all practical steps you can in this season. This means bringing other brothers and sisters into your struggle to pray for you, to keep you accountable. Paul says we all need the body of Christ and the body of Christ needs us. There's no member of the body which is useless and you need the body of Christ to encourage you, to pray for you, to keep you accountable. And sometimes this looks like plucking out eyes and cutting off hands. I have a very dear brother in California who will not go to the beach because In many places, particularly in California, the beach is a scandalous place if you struggle with lust. And for me, I'm like, but the beach, that's a hand, that's like plucking out all your eye. It's like, oh, it's precious. For him, it's not worth it. And it's good to take those practical measures while trusting ultimately in the promises of Christ. So there's hope. In temptation, the Lord uses severe temptation to ultimately give us his blessings and his grace and his mercy. And trust in the Lord if you find yourself there. And trust also in his sovereignty that even this will be used for his glory and for your good. With that in mind, let's just close in prayer. Father, we thank you for your mercy and graciousness towards us. We pray, Lord, that you'd help us to keep our eyes on you. even when battling with sin, that we may hold fast to the promises of the gospel. And we pray for any brother, sister, or any of us as we go through these periods of temptation. Lord, see us through them. Help us to cast ourselves upon you, and that we might have hope in the midst of those seasons. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. You guys are dismissed. Thank you.