The War Within — James 1

0:00 The title of our little discussion is the war within. And I'd like us to look at a passage of scripture that talks about this and we're going to look at a few passages of scripture on this. And it's James chapter one. James chapter one. And we're going to look at verses 13 through 18.

0:23 James chapter one thirteen through 18. And then also we're going to look at some other passages. First Corinthians chapter 10 verse thirteen and first John. We're going to list briefly look at those but we're going to look and primarily exegete, lord willing, by the grace of God, this passage verses 13 through 18. Of course, this epistle of James, when we look at the epistle of James, I am always mystified and not mystified, I mean, that's a poor choice of words.

1:02 I am happy to look at James because of what it yields to us. James is the half brother of our lord Jesus Christ. He is the son of Mary and Joseph, James is, as well as as a brother of Jude, the guy that wrote the epistle of Jude and the one chapter epistle. And so James is an individual who did not believe on his brother, the lord Jesus Christ until after the resurrection. There are four James's in the Bible And this particular James is the James of Mary and Joseph, because Mary and Joseph had children after the virgin birth of our Lord Jesus Christ.

1:50 And James is one of them, also Jude, like I previously said. So when we look at this, and it's very telling because when you look at verses one through 12, especially verse one, it says, James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ to the 12 tribes scattered abroad. And it's an interesting thing. He didn't... I mean, me, personally, I'm a name dropper.

2:14 If I... If you're famous and I get to meet you, I'd probably tell somebody about it, you know? Oh, yeah. I've met I met Scott Doringer, you know? I know him.

2:25 And, you know, I... Or I met, you know, and you know, these kinds of things, you know, and I go, oh, I... The famous name dropper type of guy. James doesn't do that. Notice what he says, the servant or really slave of the lord Jesus Christ, of god and of the lord Jesus Christ.

2:44 To me, that's an amazing an amazing admission. He doesn't say... He doesn't try to bolster his standing. Hey, I am the half brother of the lord Jesus. Listen to me.

2:55 No. He's not even saying that. What he is saying, however, is he's saying I'm a slave. I'm a child of the king and my whole heart is yielded to him. Everything that I am is yielded to him.

3:13 I'm a slave. I'll do whatever he asked me to do. That's what a slave does. A slave doesn't think about himself. He doesn't have plans for himself.

3:24 He has plan... His plans are what his master's plans are. And this is James. And I think it's very telling to me and it's very... It should be telling to all of us that when we look at the look at the...

3:43 Him being a slave speaks to me that I need to be the same because I have been bought with a price. I am not my own. I am not my own person. One of the things that's amazing to me, you know, I don't know if you know this, you probably do, the Ohio State lost yesterday. Yeah, it's tough.

4:04 It's tough. And if you're going, I don't know if you had any money on it and you probably shouldn't have done that. But the thing about it is, when look at that kind of a situation, is your whole life wrapped up in Ohio State football? You know, or even the Cleveland Browns or even the Cleveland Indians or even the Cleveland Cavaliers or even whatever. Our whole life has to be wrapped up in with the lord.

4:32 You think about that just for a moment. Not in terms of philosophical action, not because I agree with him philosophically but because he bought me with a price. I am not my own. He owns me. Therefore, glorify god in your body and in your spirit which are god's.

4:49 That is god's property. I am the property of the king of kings. I am a child of god. I am a son of god and and that's the reality. See, I think when we often think of, we think of that we tag tag Christianity on as some kind of philosophical tenet of which we hold to and which really augments our life and will really help us to be good people and good citizens and all that.

5:20 No, that's not at all what Christianity is. Christianity is that we have died with Christ and we've been raised with Christ. Now, we're children of god. Our whole orientation has changed. Thus, James saying, slave.

5:36 Whatever you want. And the and the master is so benevolent. I wanna be identified with him. I want my ear as a slave would in those days have his ear pierced with an aw and then a big brass identification marker attached to his ear, so signifying that I belong to this master. I want that.

6:27 I don't know. I mean, I can't quote the the book of which are... From which I got this, but he was he was depressed and his wife, Katie, she she was the real theologian. She really was. She...

6:41 He comes down for breakfast one day and she's dressed in black. And in those days, when you dress in black, it means somebody's died. You're in mourning. And he goes, I'll give you my best Martin Luther accent. Katie, who died?

7:00 Well, Martin, God died. Katie, impossible for god to die, probably went in for a long half hour diatribe of the theological ramifications of how is impossible for god to die and probably just gave her the whole earful and she probably maybe took notes. I don't know. But she just, you know, she went into this diatribe and and so she waited for him to waited for him to continue and then she can... He continued and continued and finally, she waited for him to stop.

7:36 He finally stopped and he looked at her. She looked at him and said, Martin, why do you act as if god is dead? That's a theological two by four upside the head. How many times do we act as if god is dead? How many times in our hearts not understanding who our god is and how caring he is for us?

8:15 Slave. What a benevolent what a benevolent master. What an incredible master. And so James is gonna talk about... James' verses one through 12 talks about temptation or trials that come from the outside.

8:35 And we've talked about this. We've talked about this. We've talked about how sometimes temptations or trials come from the outside. They are trials that we have not caused. Death of a loved one.

8:53 Getting news of an illness. Some financial situation that takes place and we go, man, a trial that comes from the outside that we have not caused ourselves. In verses one through 12, James talks about this because sometimes it just hits us upside the head like a two by four would and when it blindsides us. No wonder in verse five, he said, if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of god who give it generously. And he doesn't upbraid anybody.

9:26 And so you look at that and we say because why why that verse right there? Because we say we want the wisdom of God. No questions about it. But oftentimes in a situation that we face that we're blindsided by, we're in a stupor and we do not know how to handle that. We do not know how to handle the situation that is facing us.

9:47 And so God tells us through the word of God, he tells us that we should ask of him, but not too souled, not double minded. Not double minded, too souled. That's what it literally means. In verse eight, double minded... A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.

10:07 I wanna know that when I come to him, he is going to answer. He will answer. And that's beautiful. And so that when we look at this and we say, well, that's fantastic. That's that's from something from the outside exterior verses one through 12 that comes into the heart and we haven't caused it.

10:29 But now he's gonna shift gears and we're gonna look at verses 13 through 18 because now he's talking about temptation from within. That's why I titled this the war within. Because what happens is we have this situation that takes place in our hearts. And notice what he says in verse 13 of James chapter one. I'm reading from the King James version.

10:54 It says, let no man say when he is tempted. I am tempted of God for God cannot be tempted with evil neither tempteth he any man. But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it brings forth sin and sin when it is finished brings forth death. Do not error, my beloved brethren.

11:19 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the father of lights with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. Of of his own will, begot he us with the word of truth that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures. We're going to stop at that point. Well, look at these verses 13 through 18, hopefully, carefully because god shows us in these few verses 13 through 18, he shows us three actions. Three actions.

11:56 And our keyword here is is actions. He's gonna show us three actions that relate to temptation in our lives. And what are these actions? Well, we look at verses thirteen and fourteen, we see the overture to temptation. The overture to temptation.

12:17 And then in verses verse 15, we see the outcome of it. And in verses 16 through 18, the overcoming of temptation. The overcoming of temptation. Hey, listen. Notice what it's saying here.

13:00 Our only hope is not my thoughts about this book. My only hope is this book. And what this book is gonna tell me is gonna tell me that I am an individual who is tempted. Okay? We're going to see, but every man...

13:17 Look at the next verse, but every man is tempted when he is tempted of God. Right? Every man is tempted. Well, we are. We go through and it's common to man.

13:29 It's common to us. It's common to everybody in this room. It's common to everybody on this planet. It really is. Tempted to do things.

13:39 For the believer, the temptation is is startling because in the old the in the old regime, before we trusted Christ as our personal savior, and I hope you can say that, you know, trusting Christ as my personal savior. I hope you have done that. I hope you have realized, first of all, that you are a sinner. We are. I'm a sinner.

14:00 I don't care what the psychologist or psychiatrists are gonna tell me today. I am a sinner. I know that in in the very core of my being, and not only in the core of my being but also in my actions. I know that I have sinned against God. My conscience tells me that.

14:20 Now I can try to sear my conscience and try to, you know, no, I'm not that bad and and and rationalize it out the door, but I can't do it. I am a sinner and I am a need. I am in desperate need and you know this to be true too. I am in desperate need of forgiveness from that sin. I am in incredible desperate need, and there's only one way to get rid of that sin, and it's not from me.

14:49 It's from Jesus. We had the breaking of bread or another service before this one. It was at 09:30 in the morning and we wanted to contemplate what Jesus has done for us and that's the beautiful. I mean, he knew what we needed. He knows that we need to constantly think about this.

15:19 I think when the disciples came back to Jesus after their little trip, they went out and demons were subject to them and they were preaching the kingdom, right? They were preaching that and he came, they came all back and they were recounting to Jesus all the things that they did and how powerful and everything and Jesus looks at them and says, rejoice not that the demons are subject to you but rejoice that your name is written in the book of life. That's the bottom line, isn't it? It's not my achievement. It's what he has done and then and then for that particular verse, what he would do on the cross for them and for me.

15:59 That's the that's the defining moment. I am a Christian. All the other stuff, all the... As as... I forget his name, the guy...

16:10 To God be the glory... Andre Crouch. Right? To God be the glory. To God be the glory.

16:18 Great things he has done. With his blood, he has saved me. With his power he has praised me to god be the glory the things he has done We look at that and we say that's exactly the Christian life. I'm a saved man. If I know Jesus as my savior.

16:51 For me, that took place as a freshman in college. I trusted Jesus Christ as my personal savior. I was raised of a particular denomination that thought we're it. But I had no assurance of going to heaven. I didn't know I was going.

17:08 I didn't know I could go. I thought you had to be a saint. Did I'm hinting at all where I was? I thought I had to be a saint really to do and I thought, well, I'll become a priest. That'll that'll get me there.

17:24 You need to trust in Jesus Christ as your personal savior. He is the answer for your sin. You need to believe that he is god in the flesh, that he did die on the cross and rise again physically from the dead Recognize that you're a sinner and that you cannot save yourself and trust in him as your own personal savior. The moment you do that is the moment you pass from death onto life. That's fantastic.

17:53 And that now changes everything. Now, he gives me the power. I could not live the Christian life. I tried to live the Christian life. Did you know I've never been drunk in my life?

18:07 Never. How about you? Never been drunk in my life. Never did drugs. Never toked on the weed when toking on the weed was fashionable.

18:21 I mean, it's fashionable today and even legal, but not me. I didn't do any of that. No toking on the weed, even laced with mescaline, nothing like that. And I was in the sixties, man. No, I didn't do any of that kind of stuff.

18:39 So, how we doing here? Are we comparing ourselves here? But if we compare ourselves here, we're in trouble. I've gotta compare myself to god and when I do that, I am in trouble. I need forgiveness and that's why Jesus died for me.

18:53 Because I couldn't save myself. And then once I trust in Jesus Christ as my own personal savior, now he gives me power to live a life. And you know what? It was really strange because beforehand, I didn't... I felt guilty about stuff.

19:10 But afterwards, I really felt guilty about stuff. I mean, I really felt I'm going, oh, this is bad. Oh, and it was... What what was happening in my life of which I didn't know until I read the word that the spirit of god was taking his word and saying, this is wrong. Don't do this and and teaching me and guiding me what was right and what was wrong even on the little nuances.

19:34 A word that I might speak. Not just robbing the seven eleven but maybe hurting somebody with my speech. The lord doing this and making us very sensitive. Not to get me to heaven. I'm already going to heaven.

19:50 I'm already going to heaven But because I'm a child of God and he gives me power to live. Now notice what he says here. He gives us, we see the overture to temptation. Every Christian because once you receive Christ as your personal savior, we have we have a old man, the sinful old man, and the brand new man both in us. Call the old nature, the new nature.

20:19 It's really a war that goes on. It really is. And when we're tempted, we're tempted based off the old nature. In other words, we go, hey, this is great. We're going to see that in a second here.

20:32 But notice what he says here. It is the overture for this. Hey, come on. But in verse 13, we see here the concern of sin. Don't ever say when we're tempted, God is doing this.

20:45 God is not doing this. By the way, god is not the author of evil. God is not the author of evil. Contrary to some evangelical theologians who would actually write and tell us that god is author of evil because of a particular persuasion regarding election and predestination and all that kind of stuff because you gotta make God the author of evil. And they'll outright say it.

21:18 But he's not. And he's not... When you are tempted to do evil as a believer, you're not... God is not doing that. Verse 13.

21:30 Notice what he says. He said, don't ever say this, short or loose paraphrase, let no man say when he is tempted I'm tempted of God, for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man. Now that brings up a whole host of stuff of which we're not going to speak of concerning the impeccability of Christ or could he... If... Could have he ever have sinned, etcetera.

21:53 The answer is no to that, and we can defend that. But the whole issue is that we are susceptible to it. And we're gonna see how it stand out. We're gonna see this, but don't ever say God did this. I remember passing literature out one less than a month after nine eleven in Ground 0.

22:14 It was still 1,800 degrees at Ground 0. They wouldn't let you within three or four blocks of the Trade Center. You could still smell the accurate smoke of the electrical and all the kind of... I mean it was just... And it was like so quiet there, it was unbelievable.

22:34 Nobody beeping horns, nobody... I mean it was just... You could hear some traffic and you could hear occasional workmen three blocks away, etc. And people, we were passing out literature. May I ask you a question?

22:46 Booklets. We were passing them out. I mean, we had hundreds of them and we were just... People were lining up for this. They were lining up to take one of those pieces of literature and they would look at us and say to us, Why did God do this?

23:05 I said to them, God did not do this. Terrorists did this. Terror, god did not do this. No way. Don't assign this to god.

23:22 Contrary to what people are trying to do today with Allah Akbar, Akh, whatever that word is, you know, glory to God in Arabic. That is not the glory of God. I want you to know that. It is not the glory of God. And just a side note, Allah of Islam is not the same as the God of the Bible.

23:45 It's not. Because the God of the Bible testifies to us of a Trinitarian God and the God of Islam is a monotheistic. There's only one. And it's not really God. It's a demon.

24:01 Now people are gonna get upset with me on that. That's the story, Florrie. It's not the God of the Bible even though Allah is Arabic for God. But it's not it. And, you know, that kind of that kind of rhetoric, oh, you can't say something like it.

24:21 Well, I just did. Number one. And number two, that's the truth. That is the absolute truth, and I'm never gonna be afraid of truth. I had a a Muslim thirty some years ago in Downtown Cleveland going like this to me in the open air.

24:41 And I said, that's your kind of God? Is that a God of love? See, the God of the Bible will never tempt you to do evil. He will never tempt you to do evil, and you have to understand this. So God's not doing it.

25:11 But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed. Now, that's an interesting word. He's drawn away of his own lust and enticed. We have in us, I call it combustible material. That is to say, we have in us, because of the old nature, we have in us the ability to sin and to respond to the temptation in a very bad way.

25:41 We really do. And if you think that you don't have that anymore, there was a guy at Michigan State University who was preaching in the open air and he said these words, I haven't sinned in seven years. That's your second sin. You know, he did that. He said that.

26:01 I mean, pray... You know, because he believed in perfectionism, you know. But no, listen, you're in trouble, man. That's called pride. Sorry.

26:10 You know, I know that and I'm a sinful man just like you. What does God know? Just amazing. And so he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed. I I don't know if I ever told you that I I'm not really a great fisherman.

26:27 People like to fish. I I just... I'm happy for them. I I don't really get into fishing. The thing that I really can't do is to kill a minnow.

26:40 You know? You know, they scream and and the worms are worse because they're, you know, they are the boneless worm worm farm. You know? You never see a skeleton of a worm. Anyway, you know...

26:55 So my friend says to me, he says, hey, Chris. His name is Brad Jones. You know? He goes, hey, Chris. You wanna go fishing with me?

27:02 I'm going... I wanted to bond with the guy. Right? So, yeah, okay. I had to pay $18 in the state of California to get a fishing license for like what twelve hours to fry in the middle of the sun.

27:14 You know, I mean, it was... I felt like in a frying pan. He go, So I paid my $18. He's got the trolley... He's got the the boat, the trolling motor, the motor boat and all this kind of stuff.

27:24 He's got it all. Know? I just... He didn't even got my own tackle. I don't have a fishing rod.

27:30 I don't have any of that stuff. I have one now but it's really in bad repair. But, I didn't have one then so I used his junk. So he goes to me, he goes, you know how to tie a hook on? Of course.

27:47 But not the way you should. Because you hook the thing and things gone because he strips you or not. Or you know, I'm going, oh, I didn't know that. So what did he have to do? He tied my hook on for me.

28:01 So then I put the worm on the hook and then I put the little anchor, what do they call it? Wait. You know, the little... Yeah. Whatever you said.

28:10 And then sinker. Yeah. The sinker. Yeah. You can take...

28:14 You can stop taking notes on this one. Anyway, then I put the bobber up. He showed me where to put the bobber, you know, the little red red white thing, you know, put that on the line. And then I'm trying to put the translucent translucent worm. It's really weird.

28:33 It a rubber worm. It wasn't real. I felt better about that because I hate screaming worms, know. Oh no, I got a brother! No, mean, so I was putting it on and he goes, oh Chris.

28:49 And he put it on a certain way and I got then, You feel that your SP 5,000 is working? Do you feel that you know you're gonna... I feel like I'm in a frying pan. It was so hot and the water reflecting. Feel like a piece of bacon, you know.

29:22 It was just horrible. And so we're sitting there, how's it going Brad? Going good, yeah, mhmm. And so, things in the bulrushes and you see, Brad knew. He had that little finder too, know.

29:36 He had all of it. He had all this junk. So we're in the bulrushes and we're supposed to go for bass, right? So I'm like there and all of a sudden, bobber goes underneath, I go, and I haul that thing. It flies over the boat, almost hooks Brad.

29:57 The thing is almost hooked Brad and so I... And I I... Nothing. It was nothing. I pull my worm out, the worms like this, you know.

30:07 The worms often, he goes, oh man. So he re does the worm for me, sprays it with that special juice, that bass like, and he says, okay, here's what I want you to do. I want you to put the thing back where you had it and then, if it goes down, wait. And he used the technical term, you've got a hit. That's a technical term, Gotta hit.

30:36 So he says, put your finger, here's the line, put your fingers like this so you can feel when the hit comes. He says, When the first hit comes, don't do anything. If it hits it again, pull as hard as you can. Okay Brad. Sitting there.

30:59 Boom. I felt it. Boom. My rod went right to the water. It didn't fly over anywhere.

31:15 I go, well, Brad came unglued. He can't believe it. This rookie... I went right to the water. He goes, you got it fast.

31:22 Yeah. He's standing up in the boat. Not a good idea. He's standing up with this net and he's going, just okay now, take it easy, reel it in slowly, let him have some room, reel it in, I'm going, okay, okay, you know, it's I got the biggest bass of the day. Brad ate him.

31:51 What goes on? What goes on in that thing? It's just really weird. You know, I dropped the line and here's what the here's what the here's what he does. He goes like this.

32:03 The the bass bass get big because they're not stupid. You know, they're smart. Bass are smart. And so, but this bass, he comes up and he sees that to boom and he smells that one-eight 100 stuff from ESPN Sports, right? You know, that special spray.

32:25 And he comes up and goes, oh. And then he sees the little flecks of metal or whatever it is in that rubber stuff and it's translucent so it's clear and he goes, oh. And he goes, wow. And he comes up and he smells and he goes, oh this is good. This is really good.

32:47 And he goes, that's when the first time the bobber goes down. And he's going, nobody's watching in his little bass brain. I can play with this. Right in the gill and I reel him up. When somebody is tempted, he is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust.

33:26 And what I just described to you is the Greek word, the definition of the word drawn. It is used by a hunter or a fisherman setting a trap. And that's exactly. So, what takes place? He drops in front of us, whatever that is, it looks good, smells good, it's plausible, we know the Spirit of God is telling us don't do this.

33:56 Because the Spirit of God is always warning us, don't do this. But see, we go, It's fun for a season. It's fun for a little bit. This is great. And we play with it.

34:09 How many of us have ever played with temptation? We look at this, we're just like that bass. We go, Oh, isn't this fantastic? And we go, Oh, oh. You know?

34:20 Then all of a sudden, thinking that we're never going to get hooked by this, Thinking that this is not possible for me to get ensnared by this. And that's actually wrong thinking. And notice what he says here when he is drawn away in his own lust and enticed. And then notice here, that's the overture to it. And then notice notice the outcome of this, not only the overture of temptation, but the outcome of this.

35:04 So when it's conceived, you know, boom, there you've got it. You've got a child. There it is. And when it matures, it brings forth sin. So here's the deal.

35:15 Here's the deal, banana peel. Here's the deal. When we mix our will, write this down, would you? When we mix our will with that temptation. In other words, we say yes to it.

35:30 When we mix our will with the temptation, we have crossed the line. We have sinned. It's not the action. It's when we mix our will with the lust. When we mix our will with that temptation.

35:47 When we say yes. Oh, yes. That's why Jesus said to the Pharisees, when you look on a woman to lust, not just committing adultery whether the act of adultery. When you look on a woman to lust, you have committed adultery because god knows when you cross that line And when do you cross that line? It's when you say yes to it.

36:11 Whatever it is, you might not carry it out for whatever social reasons or pressures or opportunities or whatever. It might not happen like that. But when you say yes to it, you've sinned. And it brings forth death. It's exactly what happens when a when a woman gets pregnant.

36:34 It's conception in childbirth and the child is sin. So sin is when we... The union of the will and the lust so says A. T. Robertson.

36:46 And that's really important for us to understand. Because it's not the temptation that is the sin. Folks, please understand when we're confronted with temptation and the thing drops in front of us and it smells good and it looks good and all that. That's not sin. That's temptation but when we say yes to it, I want that.

37:12 Yes. I want that. And I mix my will with that, we've sinned. And it might come to fruition. It might come to fruition.

37:27 And a lot of times when we look at the outcome, it's really the fall of this. We fall in this and when sin, when it is finished, brings forth death. Sin always promises tremendous things. It always promises, this is incredible, this is fantastic, what an opportunity, etcetera. It always promises, but always delivers death.

37:55 Always delivers heartache. Always delivers this. Always. That's why the bible says it's fun for a season, but it's disaster. It is disaster.

38:14 Say Chris, I've done this. I've done this and I joined the club, right? That's why in my bible, first John chapter one, which is for Christians, is wearing out in my bible. If we confess our... If we say we have no sin, we make him a liar and his word is not in us.

38:38 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have no sin, then his word of God is not in us. My little children, I write these things unto you that believe in the name of the son of God that you may know that you have eternal life. And then also he tells us in first John chapter two, I write these things that you sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.

39:09 And he is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only, but for the sins of the whole world. Propitiation, when I first got saved, couldn't say it. I didn't know what it... How to say it. Propitiation.

39:26 When it's like sinning, that stuff you sprinkle on toast, right? And I I had a hard time but here's what it means. It means a satisfying sacrifice. It means that when Jesus died on that cross, that was that sacrifice and his blood that washes away sin, not my anything of me. And that sacrifice, that was the sacrifice that did it.

39:51 And he is the atoning sacrifice. He is the satisfying sacrifice. Not only for my sins, but for the sins of the whole world. The sins of the whole world. Ain't that fantastic?

40:05 So there's nothing I can do. I I I might feel guilty and I think that's the spirit of God making us sure that we know that we've sinned and because we are guilty. But don't let the devil rob you of the joy of forgiveness. Ask him to forgive you and it's done because he's forgotten it. It's a willful forgot...

40:26 Forgetting. God knows all things, right? But he willfully forgets. I will remember your sin no more. That's a willful forget...

40:36 Forgettingness. I think I can say that right. But it's true. As far as the east is from the west, so far I have removed your transgressions from you. It's fantastic.

40:54 I'm then forgiven. I'm clean. Now depending on what we have done, there might be no ramifications. But there might be. I knew a girl who got pregnant out of wedlock.

41:21 That is to say she was not married. She was forgiven of that sin. It's called fornication. But she still bore the child. And God, God, you know, this is no game.

41:37 When a man sows, that shall he reap. And it's very dangerous to play with it, know. Very dangerous. But he forgives and sometimes he even turns it into a better, more beautiful picture for us. But look at verses 16 through 18 as well.

42:26 He always is the same. And he begot us with the word of truth that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures. One of the beautiful things I love about the spirit of God and the word of God, and this is what's so important for us, is we don't know what really how how devastating sin is unless we understand the book. But I love this when we say... When it says in first Corinthians chapter 10 verse 13.

42:58 And this is one of those verses. Might be sitting here today and saying to yourself, that's not gonna affect me. Really. Wherefore, let him that thinketh he stand, take heed lest he fall. Verse 12.

43:13 There is no temptation you take in you such as common to man, but God is faithful who will not permit you to be tempted above you are... That you are able, but will with the temptation also make the way to escape that you may be able to bear it. God is never gonna leave you an out. There's always gonna be an out. God is always gonna give you a way out.

43:35 You're not going to have to succumb to it. I couldn't help it. I had to yield to it. No, you don't. No, no, no.

43:44 Not the believer. The believer has the power and God has provided that power for us to say no to it and to walk away. It is amazing how great God is in this. And we need to employ the word of God too. Luke chapter four tells us of the temptation of the Lord Jesus Christ, the one who could never have sinned.

44:08 It was impossible for him to sin but when he was tempted of the devil, what did he employ? How did he overcome temptation? The word of God. He gave the word of God. This is the sinless son of God who gave the word of God in the midst of a satanic Satan himself giving...

44:30 Attempting him. And he said, the word of God says. So if it was good for the Lord Jesus to employ the word of God in the midst of our temptation, in the midst of his temptation, don't you think we should do the same? So it would preclude for us to know the word of God. To know it really cold.

44:53 Hey, by the way, we've got some... How old are you? 10. 10? Oh, that's good.

44:59 That's good. 10. Did you know H. A. Ironside?

45:02 You ever hear of him? H. A. Ironside, Henry Ironside, you ever heard of that guy? Cool name though, I like that.

45:10 When he was 10, he had read the Bible 10 times. He had read the bible 10 times. Gotta know the word. And really, there's no excuse. I mean, there really is no excuse on my part, on your part, on anybody's part.

45:34 We have it in front of us. It's amazing to me when we look at that. Knowing the word of God, employing the word of God, and overcoming by fighting with the word of God. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds, casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. Second Corinthians chapter 10 verses four and five.

46:11 I'm getting older. It's tough to remember things. It would be great to have chapters memorized. It would be great to have the word of God in my heart, not only memorized but to understand it And to have it in my life. Overcoming temptation.

46:30 So we see the actions of the overture to temptation, the outcome of temptation, the over coming of temptation. God gives us the power to overcome. And he says to us, don't air on this. What God has given you, what God has given you, there are no greener pastures on this one. What god has given you, he's giving it to you and it's powerful in terms of his giftedness to you.

46:57 It's perfect for you. It's incredible for you how god has gifted us and ministered to us. When I was... It's not so long ago, I was... I don't know if I ever shared this with you.

47:17 I was driving to Greenwood Hills to go to a missions conference to speak to missionaries. It was amazing. I'm driving a rental car, a big boat in a Lincoln Town Car. I got it real cheap as a rental And so... But I wasn't used to it.

47:37 I'm on I 76. Get this. I'm on I 76. I got all these cassette tapes and I'm playing them in the cassette. And I'm I'm going around this curve on I 76 going down...

47:49 Coming around and going down. You know how trucks are though? They do that same thing. They come... When they start going down the hill, they just go and they they they they gun it and they're going down because they want to get up the other side with their load.

48:04 Right? So they go as fast as they can down so that when they get up and go, you know, and then they get up to the top and they keep doing this. Right? So me, I'm in this nice car, white, and it's going down, I'm coming like this and I went to get a cassette as I'm rounding the curve. You know, I'm a good driver and I'm like this, but I shaded a little bit into the left lane.

48:30 Two lanes going eastbound, two lanes going westbound with a big barrier in between. I come like this, I move over, this truck is gunning it, he sees me, he panics, he kicks it to the left, hits the wall, kicks it to the right, comes right at me, realizes that that's going to be dangerous, jerks the wheel, flips on his side. And now, all I hear and see is just like one of those like a pterodactyl in some movie. Then all I see is dust and in my mind's eye, all I see is a family of about six getting wiped out by this truck in a station wagon. And he's going down the whole hill about 35 miles on his side.

49:30 The whole payload, the whole tractor and the trailer. And now, it kicks to the right a little bit towards the vent and then goes, so if you went straight, go up the side of the hill. That's exactly what he did. He went through the guardrail, right up the side of this hill. For a split second there, why don't you just keep going?

49:59 No one will know. Just keep going. No one will know. That was in my mind. Nobody could possibly know.

50:17 And I couldn't do it because I knew. And the spirit of God is you will never be able to live with this. So I pulled over and I waited, know, is stopping. And I run across the freeway and I go to the truck. Some other trucker gets on top of the cab, opens up the door, turns off the engine, turns it off, and this guy came out swearing like a sailor.

50:55 I wasn't going, oh, bad language. Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh. No, I didn't say any of that kind of stuff. I'm standing there and no one was hurt. Not even this guy.

51:10 The guy just buckled in. He had just buckled himself in when that and then flipped it. Just amazing to me. No one was hurt. I was at fault though I never touched him.

51:25 So I never got sighted. You can't believe, who was that guy? I tell you right now, I... You know, and all the different things that he wanted to do with me in different parts of my body. And it was just really amazing for that split.

51:42 I tell you, I think he took off. Yeah man. And all the guys, everybody knows everything in that situation, right? He took off that dirty rat and I went like this. I stepped forward and I go, I'm him.

52:00 Oh, oh, that's such a dirty rat I guess. But for that split second, even though my rates will go up, even if I had GEICO, you know, even though that would happen, I wouldn't be able to live with it. Really, that's how I would have felt for years to come. The temptation to do that can come millisecond, split second and the spirit of God is there teaching and helping to do the right thing, to do what He wants you to do. The war is there.

53:08 Father, we just ask you right now, you would help us in this. We pray very hard that we would be sensitive to you, sensitive to the temptation, and that we would love you more than we would love that temptation. And help us to yield to you and not to it, not to the temptation. We ask you, Lord, that you would just really bless in this. Dismiss us with your blessing, we pray.

53:39 Get us to our respective destinations safe and sound and we ask you for your help and grace that we can live this life, this glorious life that you have promised to give us strength to live. Help us to live it within your strength. We ask this in Jesus name, amen. Thank you.