I invite you to open your Bibles. Old Testament or New Testament? Well, we've got to balance this thing out, right? Eventually. The Lord laid a message on my heart a few weeks ago and I've not been able to get away from that and so that's the direction we're going to go this morning. So I invite you to turn with me to the book of James, if you would please. James chapter 1. Election cycle, the news tends to frame things in the context of a decision, right? Decision 2012, decision 2016, this year there's been a lot of, on the news, decision 2020, right? Same thing in the off years with congressional elections or those off cycle elections. But decision, we hear a lot about that during an election year. But I want to preach this morning on decisions that we must make on a regular, on a daily basis and preach with the Lord's help on this thought, make the right choice or make the right decision. We're gonna look at that in James chapter one here in just a moment. Brother Bean, I just want to let you know the monitors are fine. I think my hearing's just younger than Brother DeLong's. That's probably the reason he had to ask every day if he was on. And I wouldn't have said anything if he hadn't started out the way he did on Wednesday, but I'm not bitter. All right, James chapter one, let's have a word of prayer. And then we will jump into the passage here this morning. Thank you, Lord, for the opportunity to open your word. Pray, Lord, that you'd fill me with your spirit, that you give me clarity of thought, help me to say only those things which you once said. Lord, I pray you'd give us understanding and also, Lord, the determination to be obedient to your word. And we'll thank you in Jesus' name. Amen. There are several words that are used here in James 1 repeatedly, but one of the words that we see used here in James 1 is the word temptation. I want to talk about that word this morning. A temptation. Look at verse 2. My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into diverse temptations. Knowing this, at the trying of your faith worketh patience. Verse number 2 is the word temptation. We see that again in verse number 12. Verse 13. I'm tempted of God. For God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man. Verse 14, every man is tempted when he's drawn away of his own lust and enticed. All right, we see this word temptation. Well, I'm going to speak to you this morning in this context of make the right choice, make the right decision on the idea of temptation. But it's used in two different ways here in James chapter one, if you picked up on that. Number one, I want you to see with me the source of temptation. and we're looking primarily at verses 13 through 16, we see the source of temptation. But, first of all, let's give an explanation of the word temptation. We saw the word in verse 2, diverse temptations. We see it again in verse number 12, blessed is the man that endureth temptation. That is the exact same word that's used in verses 13 and 14. You have a noun form and a verb form, but it's the same word. Verse number two, diverse temptations is explained by verse number three. Knowing this that the trying of your faith worketh patience. That word trying is a different word there and it means to prove. To test or put to the test or to prove. So verse three explains verse two is talking about temptations in the sense of trials. Again, in verse number 12, blessed is the man that endure a temptation. When he has tried, he shall receive the crown of life. That is a reward for enduring trials. But it's the same word in verse 13, let no man say when he's tempted, I'm tempted of God. So how do I know if this is a trial or if this is a solicitation to evil? The rest of the verse explains it. For God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth He any man. See, this word tempt has the idea of to discover the nature of something by testing, to put to the test. That's the way it's used in verse 2 and again in verse 12. It's the idea of putting our faith to the test. Do we have genuine faith? Do we have growing faith? Do we have sustainable faith? Is it weak? The idea of putting it to the test. But this same word also has the idea of to entrap or to test. That's exactly what the Pharisees tried to do to Jesus, did they not? The Bible says that they came to Him asking Him a question and tempting Him. They were trying to entrap Him. This word also means to entice or it's a solicitation to evil. In verse 13 it clearly is explained in the second part of the verse that the use here in verse 13 is that of a solicitation to evil. God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man. So we see here an explanation of the term temptation. We also see an expectation of temptation in verse 13. Let no man say if he is tempted. Is that what it says? Let no man say what? when he is tempted. Let no man say being tempted. This tempting is going on at the exact same time as what he's saying. So he's saying, let no man say when he is tempted. It's not a matter of if, but a matter of when. I would argue with the Lord. I don't want to preach on this subject. I don't like the thought of it. I don't like the idea of being tested in that area myself. But just because we don't like tests, does that mean we're able to avoid it? your classes this semester should be exhibit A. Like it or not, they're unavoidable. And like it or not, temptation, that is solicitation to sin from our three enemies, the world, the flesh, the devil, is also unavoidable. This isn't just decision 2020. This is decision day by day. This is decision every day. But here, you have an expectation of being tempted, let no man say when he is tempted. So when you're tempted, the saying is going on at the same time. Let no man say when he's tempted. Let's see, thirdly, in this verse, we see excuses in temptation. I am tempted of God. That's the idea of the source here. The idea here is I am tempted, or this temptation is coming from God, or I'm being tempted by God. You have in the last part of verse 13 an exaltation of God's character. For God cannot be tempted with evil. But the excuse is saying, God's doing this to me. So if God sends a temptation and I fail, then it's God's fault because He knew. We're told clearly in verse 13, God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth He any man. It's interesting here. The way this is phrased, It can be understood like this as well. Stop saying when you are tempted that you're tempted of God. You say, well, yeah, I'm glad you said that because my roommate needs to hear it. No, no, no. We all need to be reminded of that, don't we? Stop saying, well, it's God's fault. It's not God's fault. It's not the devil's fault. But clearly here in verses 13 and 14, we see the source of temptation. We see an exaltation of God's character in the last part of verse 13. God cannot be tempted with evil. That phrase, cannot be tempted, literally is untemptable, unenticeable. That's what that word means. There is nothing in God that responds to temptation. We're going to talk about it in a minute in verse 14, how there is something in us that responds to temptation. But literally here, God cannot be tempted with evil. There's nothing in God that would respond to a solicitation. Neither tempteth he any man. But I thought that Chapter 1 verse 2 says, you know, diverse temptations are allowed of God. That's temptation in the sense of putting our faith to the test. God does not solicit man to do evil. This is very clear from verse 13, right? God is untemptable by evil, neither does God solicit others to do evil. If you take this verse at face value, it will save you from errors in theology. There are major errors in theology that say basically God has predetermined who will be saved and who will not be saved. And while it looks to us, we have the illusion of having choice, that man doesn't really have a choice. Guess what? In that scenario, that makes God responsible for man's sin. God cannot be tempted with evil, neither does He entice man to sin. God is not the source of an enticement to evil. Has God allowed that in our world? Yes. In Job chapter 1, Satan came from walking up and down in the earth and going to and fro. God has allowed certain circumstances, but God does not solicit man to sin. The source of temptation is not from God. Then what is it from? Well, it's further explained in verse number 14. But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust. and enticed. So if the source of temptation is not God, what is it? Well, the way this is phrased here in verse 14, there is an emphasis on the phrase in the middle of the verse, his own lust. That actually is placed emphatically in this verse. Every man is tempted by his own lusts being drawn away and enticed. So what is the source of temptation? Our own lusts. That word lust means a strong desire or a craving. It could be something that's good. Okay, have you ever been working along outside in the southern heat and you get going, you get rolling and after a little while you think, wow, I need something to drink. Don't grab the soda at that point. That is liquid dehydration. Grab some water. But you get to a certain point if you've been working out in the heat, we say, I've got to have some water. Well, I'll wait a few more minutes. I really want to get to a stopping point. But the longer you put it off, the stronger that craving gets, right? None of you are thirsty right now. So you won't mind if I take a drink, right? But sometimes there comes that strong craving That term, this idea of lust, means a strong desire. It could be, I've got to have something to drink. And if you allow yourself to be dehydrated, there's other problems, right? If you allow yourself to go too long without nourishment, you get weak, you can pass out, there's other health problems. So this idea of cravings can have a positive connotation. It can be strong desires in a good sense. There ought to be a strong desire between a man and his own wife. Not somebody else's wife, but his own wife. It can be right desires, but often in this case it's singular. His own lust is what it says. The idea of we have our desire inside of us in our flesh. But often in the scripture this term lusts is used in the plural. And when it is, it's almost always speaking of sinful connotations. Mark chapter 4, talking in the parable of the seed, Mark 4 and verse 19, "...the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things." John 8, 44, Jesus said, "...year of your father, the devil, and the lusts of your father." You will do. Romans 6 verse 12, Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Often that term is used in Scripture with a collective. Galatians 5 verse 24, They, their Christ, have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. In a collective term meaning the desires of the flesh. Ephesians 2 and verse 3 gives an interesting addition to that. Among whom also we had our conversation in times past in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind. So all of that has to do with the desires of our sinful nature, the desires of the flesh and the desires of the mind. 1 Timothy 6, 9 says, They that will be rich fall in temptation and a snare and many foolish and hurtful lusts. I say that to say there are times when this word is used in the Scripture just meaning a strong craving or a strong desire. This weekend was time change. We didn't magically add an hour, neither did we magically lose an hour back in the spring. It's just our reckoning, it's our calculation of how we count time that changed, okay? But that means that many of you probably were a little more awake in your seven o'clock class than you usually are, right? because your body clock hasn't reset. And now some of you have a magical ability to still not be awake at 9, 10 in the morning. But let's just be optimistic and say some of you are more awake at seven o'clock. Well, right about now, some of you are thinking, yeah, my body clock says it's lunchtime. It's not yet. According to the way we count time, it's not. But eventually your stomach starts to rumble. Just tell it to be quiet. But your stomach starts to rumble, it starts to crave something to eat. For college age guys, that happens about every 30 minutes. Girls can usually make it 45 minutes or an hour. But there becomes a strong craving. It's used in that sense. It's also used frequently in the Scripture, lust, in the sense of a wrong desire. Here in verse 14, it's used in that sense, drawn away of his own lust and enticed. This phrase here, his own, the term his own, means that which is peculiar to an individual. Now does everybody have the same tastes in clothes, in music, in hobbies? in food? No, in fact, you know, I rated the candy box at our house to illustrate this a little bit. You know, there are, I have several different kinds of things here. And this right here is a watermelon flavored airhead. Yeah, I got two reactions right there. Mm, and ugh, right? I don't think I heard any mm's from the faculty section over here. Maybe Brother Bray because he's sweet and he likes anything sweet. But watermelon, I mean I can look at this and go eh, not for me. I'm not interested in that. Anybody want that? Alright Kyle's close enough, you get it. If you can steal, oh Pastor Bray took it, look at that. Alright. Now, I mean, I also found what I think is a waste of food coloring, Skittles, okay? It's all sugar, food coloring, and a few artificial flavors. I mean, if I'm gonna have different, Rusty likes Skittles apparently. I can look at this and go, I'm not tempted by this in the least. This does not appeal to me at all. Even when I was a kid it didn't really appeal to me. I don't think this made the five-star list for Samuel, doesn't have any chocolate in it. You can ask him about that later. But you know Skittles, sugar and food coloring, not really interesting to me. That does not appeal to me but when I held up Skittles several of you were like, oh yeah I'd like to have that. Paul would you like to have that? Well maybe you can talk Rusty out of it later. Now, I also found KitKat. Oh, now we're getting in the neighborhood here, right? Now we've got chocolate and some crunch. Now I'm getting a lot more universal reaction, right? Paul's pouting back there. Paul says he doesn't like KitKat. It's too bad. I was going to give this one to you. Yeah, KitKat. I got wafers and I got chocolate. Boy, that has an appeal. Some of you are like, eh, not my thing. You know what that is? Three. Flip it over. Three Musketeers. Chocolate fluff. It's not actually chocolate. It's fluff with some brown food coloring that's supposed to be chocolate. But people like this apparently, right? Starburst. I'm not interested in losing my teeth to chew this. Okay, but some of you would be. All right, now we're getting in the neighborhood right here. Snickers, look at that. All right, now that's good stuff. Chocolate, peanuts, nougat, okay. I can't throw it that far, John Smith, I'm sorry. I'm not going to attempt to do that. But if we want to take it up a level, I mean, Snickers, I've always liked Snickers, but recently I found out Snickers has a peanut butter version. Peanut butter Snickers. Just when you thought it couldn't get any better, there's peanut butter. Now, some of you are like, oh, you just lost me. I'm not a peanut butter fan. I'm not giving it to Josiah. We don't want to kill him, OK? My wife would not be interested in that. Not a huge fan. She likes Reese's peanut butter cups, but not a huge fan of other things that are peanut butter. But I know somebody down here at the front that is a big fan of peanut butter things. That I might be, you know, I might could entice something out of this particular individual in the chapel with peanut butter, right? Brother Bray, I want to talk to you after chapel, all right? What I just demonstrated, what I just demonstrated is his own lusts. You see that? The Skittles didn't appeal to some, but not all. The Three Musketeers, some, not all. Kit Kats, Snickers, Airhead, if you are what you eat. I don't want to be that. But what I just illustrated is not everybody has the same tastes, but if I throw enough different kind of hooks in the water, I can probably find something that you're interested in. Okay, number one, we see the source of temptation. Number two, I want you to see with me the subtlety of temptation. Verse number 14, every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed. Every man is tempted by his own lusts being drawn away and being enticed. This word, drawn away, has the idea of to draw or to drag, but it also kind of has the idea of reluctance. Anybody ever said, hey, I want you to come over here with me? And you're like, eh. Depending on who it is, you might automatically assume, OK, I probably shouldn't do whatever it is that Michael Beam's trying to get me to do, right? No, he would have been trying to get you to help decorate for the mission's banquet. By the way, they did a great job, right? Okay, but I don't know. Come on, come on, let's go. The idea of being dragged away or drawn away has the idea of reluctance, but maybe you kind of get over the hump and say, okay. And then the next word is enticed. That word enticed is a fisherman's term. Okay, what was the occupation of James? when Jesus called him to be a disciple. He was a fisherman. Peter, James, John, they were all fishermen. And so here he uses a term under the inspiration of the Spirit of God that was a throwback to his fishing days. Brother Beal can give you better illustrations about fishing than I can, but I understand how it works. I have done some fishing. I like fishing. I don't like watching. Okay? You know, if I'm gonna throw a bait out there and watch a bobber and hope it goes down, that's not my idea of fun. Okay? I don't mind bass fishing where at least there's something moving and something happening. You catch something or not, at least I'm doing something. Okay? But if you want to catch bass, you're probably not going to start with this, you know, a little minnow. Might work. But the way you need to catch a bass, that's not the best bait. But if I want to catch a catfish, I love good catfish. Very good. Grilled, fried catfish is good stuff. You want to catch a catfish, you don't just take those fresh red wiggler worms and put them on the hook. You get the nastiest thing you can find. Chicken livers, leave them on the dashboard from the morning until about noon, two o'clock in the afternoon where they smell rotten. That'll help you if you're trying to catch catfish. And then you want it to be deep because they're scavengers and hang out closer to the bottom. You want a bass, you either want a spinner bait that goes across the top. You're going to draw it in with your rod across the top. And it looks like small fish swimming, because the bass usually feed on those schools of small fish. They come up and attack from underneath. Or you're going to get a rubber worm, let it sink all the way to the bottom, and then kind of jerk it to mimic some of the underwater creatures that are crawling on the rocks. If I want bass, I'm gonna use a rubber worm or I'm gonna use a spinner bait. If I want catfish, I'm gonna use chicken livers or something like that. Depending on my target, I'm gonna use a different bait, okay? Here, the subtlety of temptation is that temptation is just as subtle as the fisherman. When the fisherman throws the hook, the bait out there, he's trying to convince the fish, here, I would like to feed you. Really, the fisherman wants to feed himself, right? In the same way, when the world, the flesh, and the devil throw those baits out there, it might look like a Snickers, but there's a hook in it. It might look like Starburst, but there's a hook in it. Anytime it's temptation in the sense of a solicitation to evil, there's a hook in it. It is made to appear desirable. It is made to appear pleasant. It is made to appear for your benefit. Okay, if you ever, I don't recommend it, we don't watch that at our house, but if you ever see beer commercials, it's all attractive looking people and they're all having a great time. But you see a middle-aged guy kind of hanging out like this, sometimes they call that what? Beer gut. That's what it really does to you, among other things. Okay? It's portrayed as, boy, this is going to be great. You're going to have a great time and you're going to be young and attractive. And what does it do? It ages you and it deceives you and it destroys your body and destroys your family and all those other things. There's a hook in it. The subtlety of temptation is that Our flesh is drawn to different things. The world knows how to throw certain hooks out there that are always appealing across a broad basis. I mean, there's a reason worms are kind of a broad basis fish bait. You can catch a lot of different kind of fish on a worm if you're patient and if they're hungry. But temptation is particular. What I'm saying is this, if his own lust, meaning individual or that which is peculiar to oneself, I think one commentator called that designer lusts, you know, catering to different groups. What that means is if somebody struggles in an area and you don't struggle in that same area, that doesn't make you better than them. It just means your propensity is to stumble in a different area of temptation. Okay. Oh, well, I can't believe you struggle with that. Well, could we talk about this area? Well, we weren't talking about that. We're talking about this. Why? Because this is the area where I struggle. But who is exempt from temptation? Verse 14, Some men are tempted, being drawn away of their own lesson and taste. What's the term there in verse 14? Every man is tempted. Your temptation may not look exactly the same as your roommate's, may not look the same as Pastor Bray's, okay? He would be much more enticed by the peanut butter Snickers. He could let the Airhead and the Starburst go, okay? You might say, I could take it or leave it on the peanut butter, but give me the candy that, you know, if I work it right, I can make it last all the way through class, okay? Give me that one. My point is this, that temptations vary, but the source is basically the same. It's our own lust, it's our flesh. The Bible talks about the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. You understand that basically everything in every area in which we are tempted boils down to those three categories in some way, shape, form, or fashion. That's why the Bible says of Jesus who was on all points tempted like as we are. He was tempted in the area of the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. Matthew chapter 4, when Satan tempted him after his 40 days of fasting. He was tempted in all those categories. He wasn't tempted to spend time on social media instead of do his homework. But he was tempted in the area of the lust of the flesh and the desires of the mind. When I was a college student, I was never ever tempted to spend time on social media. You know why? Anti-social media didn't exist. And why do I call it anti-social media? Because you tend to socialize this way instead of this way. Be careful with that. It's discouraging to see people sitting across the table from each other and they're both looking like this and not talking to each other in a restaurant. It's kind of interesting, isn't it? It's anti-social media, I think. But it wasn't a temptation for me. However, it was just the same temptation to go hang out wherever the student gathering area is or the study room in the dorm and solve all the theological problems of the world when all we really did was burn time, not solve much. The temptations were different, but the end result is the same. Something took me away from applying myself to the studies to which God had called me. The visible shape of the temptation might look a little different. But the same basic categories are the same today. Same as when Brother Ashley went to school. The lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, pride of life. It's been around since the Garden of Eden. You know why the devil doesn't get new tools? Because those still work, right? But the subtlety of temptation is that it looks different. It looks appealing. And there's different temptations that would appeal to different ones, being drawn away of his own lust and enticed. Number three, I want you to see with me quickly the sequence of temptation. Verse 15, Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin, and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. We see in verses 14 and 15, desire, that word lust means desire. A desire for water or something to drink is not necessarily wrong. But when Samson wanted something to drink and if he were to take of the fruit of the vine, that would have been wrong because he had a Nazarite vow on him. He wasn't supposed to touch that stuff. But you see a desire and then we see deceit in verse 14, being drawn away and enticed. That idea of enticed is to be deceived. Okay? Verse 15, disobedience. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin. When does sin happen? When desire meets decision. You remember that's why we said make the right choice. Decision 2020 knows decision every day. When desire meets decision, that's when sin happens. The world is throwing its hooks in the water trying to get you. There's magazines at the checkout stand. Whether it's a temptation to lust or whether it's a temptation to gossip, the hooks are out there. And I can see that and turn away and do something else. you know, be renewed in the spirit of my mind. I can begin to quote scripture to myself. I think about something else. At that point I've not sinned when that temptation's crossed my path, but the minute opportunity meets desire, ooh, oh, when desire meets decision, Sin happens. It's not automatically a sin to have a temptation come across your path. But the minute you make a decision to go in that direction or to yield to it in any way, Romans 6, Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion over you if you are not under the law, but under grace." The minute I make a decision to yield my members as an instrument, the word means a tool. Here, use my desires as a tool. What does that tool get used for? Sin. If I were to take a hammer, that could be used for a lot of positive purposes. But if I were to take a hammer and hand it to Brother John Smith's son Uriah, bad things are going to happen. He's probably going to hit himself with it because it's a little too heavy for him to handle at this point. But if he were strong enough to handle it, You know, he's probably not gonna use it to drive nails. The floor, the table. I still remember when brother Spencer first got here, he used to tell stories about when his son Spence was young. And you know, if he ever got ahold of a hammer and a screwdriver, he still has a propensity for a hammer and a screwdriver, but now he should have a little better idea of how to use it. But the minute I put that hammer in the hands of a toddler, bad things are gonna happen. The minute I yield my members as a tool for unrighteousness, sin's gonna happen. However, if I take that same hammer and I say, here you go, Brother Haynes, Brother Haynes knows how to make some good things happen with that hammer, okay? And in the same way, if I yield my members as a tool for God to use members as instruments of righteousness, I can then serve God and do right. But when the temptation comes along, there's a decision to be made. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin. And so when desire meets decision, that's when sin happens. And notice the rest of the verse. Sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. You have desire, deceit, disobedience, and death. Romans says the wages of sin is death. That's the ultimate end of sin is death. But when there's a joining together of a wrong desire and a decision on my part to go after that, sin has happened. Some of you are very conscientious and you wonder, oh man, have I sinned against God because this temptation came across my path? Not automatically, but the second look, when I make a decision to go after it, that one was a sin. There are times when people just push your buttons. Some people do it on purpose. Some people have a knack for doing that, having no idea they are. But, you know, it's natural to be tempted to respond a certain way. But the minute I decide to give in and respond in the flesh, instead of being Christ-like, patient, long-suffering, or even correcting it in the right way, the minute that solicitation meets a desire and I choose to go in the direction of a wrong response, sin has happened. You can take that same principle and apply it to every type of bait in the tackle box. Every type of sin that is available in the world all falls under this same heading, okay? And you should be able to understand what I'm talking about here. You see then the sequence of temptation, desire, deceit, disobedience. That's when that decision is made to go after that wrong desire. And the ultimate end of that is death. Number four, we see here the source of temptation, the subtlety of temptation, the sequence of temptation. I want you to see with me quickly number four. Steps, biblical steps to defeating temptation or steps to making the right choices. Look at verse number 16. Do not err, my beloved brethren. That phrase do not err is a command. Okay, stop being deceived. Don't be deceived. The word error means to go aside. It could be intentional. All right, I'm gonna choose to go aside out of the way. Or it could be error in the sense of I was led astray. Any of you ever asked another freshman for advice about a class and you were misled? Don't ask the freshman. Don't ask the seniors. Ask the teacher. Look at the syllabus. That's why we print and give it to you. OK? But you could have all the good intentions and be misled by somebody who gave you bad information. Or sometimes you can just make a choice. Well, I'm going to do this, and I'm just going to turn in this assignment late. It can go both ways. This word error could have the idea of willfulness or being led into something. But either way, the command here is do not go astray. Do not err. Okay, that's great, how do I do that? Quickly, I'm just gonna give you a very brief summary of principles that we would have to expand in another message. But here's some biblical principles on defeating temptation. Number one, learn to think biblically. 1 John 1, 9 says, if we confess our sins, the word confess means to say the same thing. It's two words that mean same in speech. And in other words, you gotta call sin what God calls it. It's not, God, I really messed up. God, I sinned. I lost my temper. God, I sinned. I chose to look at that when I shouldn't. You know, call it what God calls it. If you get tired of saying, God, I was angry. God, I was guilty of wrath. God, I was guilty of lust. I was guilty of envy or jealousy. God, that was envy, and that's wrong, and I know you hate it. You know what? You get tired of saying that, number one. Number two, it kind of helps reinforce to us that it is that bad. Because what do we end up saying to ourselves? It's not that bad. I'm not that bad. We gotta learn to think biblically. Call sin, sin. Psalm 119, 11, if we're talking about thinking biblically, thy word have I hid in mine heart that I might not, what? Sin against thee. You wanna learn to think biblically, you gotta memorize and meditate. Joshua 1, 8, this book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night. You can't meditate. In other words, you can't ponder over data that you don't have. When the hard drive crashes, you cannot print out that assignment. In the same way, if you never put the scripture into the hard drive of your mind, you cannot bring it out and go over it. You must memorize and meditate. But thinking biblically, call sin, sin, memorize and meditate. Intentionally choose to think the way God does. You know, Philippians 4 verse 8. Finally, my brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are good report, if there be any virtue, if there be any praise, think on these things. When you're tempted in a wrong way, choose to think about something that pleases God. How do I do that? Take that list in Philippians 4, 8. What is something that are true? What is something that is honest? What is something that is just? Make a list of those things and then start to think about it when the temptation comes along. All right, how do I, what are some steps to defeating temptation? Learn to think biblically. Number two, choose to obey the Holy Spirit. You have an advantage that Moses, Abraham, David, Jeremiah, Daniel, et cetera did not have. You have the indwelling spirit of God. The Spirit of God, John chapter 16, says He will reprove the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment. That idea of reprove is conviction. You know what conviction is. It's that pricking in your heart that says, uh-uh, don't do that or you shouldn't have done that. But what do you do? Nah. Or is it, oh, no I'm not, I can't, I'm sorry. How do you respond to conviction? Let me ask it another way. Are you sensitive to conviction or are you numb to conviction? We can become that way, but we must choose to obey the Holy Spirit. It's not just conviction, it's learning to walk in the Spirit, seeking God's direction. Romans 8, Galatians 5, Ephesians 5, Colossians 3, verse 16. Walking in the Spirit, look it up, study it, see what that means. I've got to learn to think biblically. I've got to choose to obey the Spirit of God. Number three, I've got to choose to apply biblical principles. I already know. Like what? Romans 13, 14 puts you on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh. Provision means to provide or to plan ahead. Don't provide opportunities for your flesh to sin. You know there's a reason we have a rule in our handbook requiring chaperones and public places and those kind of things? It's to make not provision. It's to remove temptations. You know how much the Bible talks about flee? 1 Corinthians 6, 18, flee fornication. 2 Timothy 2, 22, flee also youthful lust. 2 Corinthians 10, verse 13, there is no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man. God is faithful, will not suffer to be tempted above that you're able, but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that you may be able to bear. You're like, yeah, I want a way of escape. You know what verse 14 says? Wherefore my beloved, flee from idolatry. Sometimes the way of escape that God made is he gave you two feet, get out of there. He gave you a finger, hit the off button and leave. Okay. To remove yourself from the place of temptation. So make no provision for the flesh. Flee. We already talked about Romans 6 verses 11, 12, 13 and 14. Yield yourselves as instruments of righteousness and not unto sin. That is applying Bible principles you already know. Renew your mind. Romans 12, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice. That's verse one. Holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. Verse two, be not conformed to this world, but be you transformed by putting your Bible under your pillow. Be you transformed by the renewing of your mind. What does that mean? It means constantly putting in the input of the Scriptures. Are there others that we could give? Yes. But how did Jesus respond to every temptation? In Matthew 4, and I believe it's also in Luke 4, He responded with Scripture. If you're learning Scripture, memorizing Scripture, meditating on Scripture, the Spirit of God will bring that back to your mind, then you apply it, you obey. Okay? So, decision every day. Make the right choice. The source of temptation is not God. God cannot be tempted with heeling to tempt any man. Where does it come from? Me, my own lust, my individual desires. I've got to acknowledge that. I've got to recognize the pattern. Okay. Oh, here it comes. There's a hook in this. And then I've got to make the right choice to walk the other way. Some of you know exactly what you ought to do. And you just do the wrong thing anyway. You know how I know that? Because I'm guilty of the same thing. I know better. That was stupid. I told myself that I don't know how many times. What I have to do at that point, I've got to pray and ask the Lord to help me, but I've got to make a choice to respond earlier because I didn't get to that point without the conviction of the Spirit of God, right? If I obey the conviction of the Spirit of God, when it happens, I don't get to the kicking myself stage later if I should have. What decision are you going to make? Well it's today, it's tomorrow, it's the next day, it's the next day. You need to ask God to help you. You need a purpose in your heart to make it a life pattern to choose to obey the Spirit of God and to choose to obey the Scriptures when the Spirit of God brings it to your mind. Obey what you know and God will help you understand what you don't know. But ask God to give you the discernment to recognize the bait for what it is and remember there's a hook in it. You must make the decision, not just in 2020, but in every day, not to yield to temptation, but to yield your members, instruments, tools of righteousness to be used by God. Will you do that today?