All right, good morning. Once again, church family, if
you would open your Bibles to the book of James.
This morning we are in James chapter 1 and we're just going
to be in three verses. We we've been kind of going out
at a clique of of 3 or 4 verses because James is very dense with
application and theology. And so this morning we're just
going to be in James 113 to 15. The title of the sermon this
morning is this trials present Temptations.
So let's read the text openness in a word of prayer, and then
we'll jump into the sermon this morning.
James one beginning in verse 13. Here's what James writes to us.
Let no one say when he is tempted.
I am being tempted by God, for God cannot be tempted with evil,
and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when
he is lured and enticed by his own desire.
The desire, when it is conceived, gives birth to sin,
and sin, when it is fully grown, brings forth death.
If you will pray with me, but I pray this morning as we look at
this passage and we consider trials and tests and
temptations. God, would you help us to see
that you are a God who never tempts his people?
That you may give us trials, you may give us tests, but you never
give them to tempt us to sin. Help us to see that the root
cause of our sin is our own desires, these desires that lure
us and and lead us away from you.
Pray God that you would help us to to see our need to put
temptation and our sinful desires to death.
That way it would not become fully grown and it would not
bring forth death in our life. I pray this in the name of
Jesus, Amen. John Bunyan wrote.
Temptations, when we meet them at first are as the lion that
roared upon Samson, but if we overcome them, the next time
that we see them, we shall find a nest of honey within them.
Trials can often feel like a lion that pounces upon us.
I can never beat this, I will always lose this battle.
But we must remember that Samson did not defeat the lion in his
own strength, but it was the Spirit of God that overpowered
him, that allowed him to overpower the lion.
Interesting enough, it was not the lion that defeated Samson,
it was the honey, this trial of a lion that came upon him.
It was not his fear. He was not tempted to fear.
He overpowered the lion. It was his desire for the honey
that defeated him, touching a dead carcass and then lying
about it to his parents. Turns out his desires were
stronger than the lion. That's often true for us.
And no matter how strong a trial, maybe often our desires
are even stronger. Trials present temptations.
That's what the sermon is about this morning.
So let's look at our text. I'm going to divide up the text
into 8 sections. We're going to start with the
next position where I explain it, and then I'm going to give
application at the end. So let's start looking at this
section by section. James 113 A James writes, Let no
one say when he is tempted. Let me stop there.
James begins our text this morning with an exhortation.
He gives us a command. Let no one say which can also be
mean. Let no one think to themselves,
right? Let no one think in their minds
when he is tempted. Well, before we move on, we got
to ask, what is that? What is temptation?
We've all heard this word before, but if you ever stop to
actually ask yourself, what is temptation, what is it?
The Greek word is pay razo. It's used 38 times in the New
Testament, 16 of the 38, it's actually translated as tested,
14 of 30 as tempted. Translators actually have to
decide when they see the word pay razo.
Are they going to translate as test or trial or tempt?
They have to decide this. The ESV has opted to translate
it as tempted, but we could translate it as test or trial.
This is how the CSB translates it.
The CSB reads, no one undergoing a trial should say and that's
that's a perfectly good translation.
But for now, let's stick with the ESV.
Temptation means this. It means to entice to sin.
It means to endeavor or attempt to cause someone else to sin.
That's what temptation is. It is the verb that's used for
Tempted is a present passive participle, which means this.
It is currently happening in the present.
It's an ongoing action, and someone is doing this to us, or
something is doing this to us. It's passive, so something
outside of us is something or someone is enticing us, is
luring us to sin. So when this happens, when we
are tempted, James says we should not say something.
What should we not say? Look at 13 B.
Let no one say when he is tempted.
I am being tempted by God. Now let me point out that the
word for tempted and 13A is the exact same Greek word for
tempted and 13B. They're both pay razo.
And this is important because as I just mentioned, translators
have to decide whether to translate this as test or tempt.
And in the first usage of the word in 13 A, we can translate
it as test or trial. That will work.
Let no one say when he is being tested or let no one say when
he's being undergoing a trial. But in the second usage of the
word, we have to translate it as tempt.
Why? Because James writes that we
shouldn't say I am being pay Razzo by God, but if we
translate this as test or trial, then James would be suggesting
that we shouldn't say I'm being tested by God.
I am being put through a trial by God.
But we know that God does test us.
We know that God puts us through a trial.
Genesis 22, one after these things.
God tested Abraham multiple times in the Israelite
wilderness. The God tested the Israelites,
Exodus 15/16/20, Deuteronomy 8, Deuteronomy 13.
So let me let me bring this on with James is saying that
whether we are going through a test or trial or tempting them,
no one should say that the reason this is happening is
because God is tempting me. Whether you're going through a
test or trial or you're being tempted, no one should say the
reason this is happening is because God is tempting me.
We are to never accuse God of tempting us.
James gives 2 reasons why. Look at 13 C The first reason
for God cannot be tempted with evil.
Now 2 questions come to my mind when I read when I read this
number one, what does that mean? God can't be tempted with evil
and #2 does this mean that Jesus was not truly tempted?
Let's look at the first question.
The phrase cannot be tempted is actually one word in the Greek.
It's only one word in the Greek. This is the only time it's used
in the New Testament. It literally means not temptable
or unable to be tempted. That's what it literally means.
And of course, this raises the question, why is this true?
Why can God not be tempted? Why is God unable to be tempted?
Let me give an incomplete analogy.
It's it's incomplete, But let me give an incomplete analogy.
Suppose after church service today I took your lunch.
I asked you, can I have your lunch?
And you gave me your lunch. I don't know why you would do
that, but let's say you gave it to me.
I took your lunch. I went outside and I rubbed it
all over the sidewalk, and we all know what's on the sidewalk
out there. Then I went and I rubbed it all
in the grass, and we all know what's in the grass out there.
You saw me do all this. Then I came and presented your
lunch to you and I tried to tempt you to eat it.
Are you tempted? All the girls were like, The
guys were like. This food is so filthy, so so
contemplated, that it no longer presents any temptation to you.
That's how all sin is with God, all of it.
Second question, does this mean that Jesus was not truly
tempted? In other words, if you're taking
a logic class right, how do we reconcile the fact that A Jesus
is fully God, B God cannot be tempted by evil, C The Bible
says Jesus was tempted. How do we reconcile that?
Jesus is fully God? God cannot be tempted by evil.
The Bible says Jesus was tempted.
How do we reconcile that? He was 415 says that we do not
have a high priest who's unable to sympathize with our
weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we
are. The Bible says that Jesus was
tempted. Is that just an illusion?
Is that just an idea? How do we reconcile this?
Well, we must remember that Jesus is fully God, but he was
also fully human. He's also fully human, and his
humanity is fully tempted. In other words, his hunger in
the wilderness was tempted to turn the stones into bread.
Not his divinity, but his humanity was fully tempted, just
as you and I are. He was tempted as humanity to
turn the stones into bread. 13D last point, the second reason he
gives why we should not say God is tempting us is He himself
tempts no one. He himself tempts no one.
Now when we say that God himself tempts no one, I want to be
clear that God ordaining that temptation happen is different
than God doing the tempting himself.
Let me say that again, God ordaining that temptation happen
is different than God actually doing the tempting himself.
Let me give you 3 examples of this.
Number one, God ordained that Adam and Eve would be tempted in
the garden. He could have stopped it, could
he have not? He could have told the serpent,
you are not allowed to come into this garden.
You may not tempt them. He is God, He has that
privilege. He could have stopped it, but
God ordained it to happen. But God did not tempt them
himself. Second example, Jesus ordained
that Peter be tempted. Remember what Satan said to him.
Satan came to Jesus and said, I demand to sit like wheat.
And Jesus could have said, no, no, you may not, I do not give
you permission to do that. But he didn't say that Jesus
ordained that it would happen, but he did not tempt Peter
himself. I'll give you one more example.
God Dang that Dave incited to take a census.
Do you remember in Second Samuel 24 one again the anger of the
Lord was kindled against Israel and he meaning God incited David
against them. That's interesting because the
first Chronicles 21 one, it says then Satan stood against Israel
and incited David against the number Israel.
How do we reconcile those two? Just like this God ordained that
Satan would tempt David, but he himself did not tempt David. 14A
But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed.
Each person is tempted when he's lured and enticed.
The tempted here is the same Greek word, perazzo.
Each person is tempted when he's lured and enticed.
What? What?
What are those two terms mean to lure and entice?
This is the only time this word for lure is used in the New
Testament. It's a present passive
participle. This is something happening in
the present. It's being done to the person
and it's ongoing. It means to drag away with the
connotation of initial reluctance.
It can also be translated to be carried away.
Expression is carried away or drawn away.
That's the idea. And enticed another present
passive participle. It means browse someone's
interest in something by clever measures.
If you've ever been fishing before, often use allure.
It's, you know, objects using plastic to be metal, objects
that are shaped and colored like minnows or frogs or insects or
worms or whatever fish bite on. So James says here that God
doesn't tempt anyone, which means God doesn't lure anyone,
doesn't entice anyone. So what does he do or what does
happen? Where does that come from?
Look at 14B. Each person is tempted when he
is lured and enticed by his own desire.
Now 2 questions that get raised here.
Number one, what is desire? Right?
We all know what that word is, but what is the Greek word?
The Greek word is epithemia. It means a great desire for
something, longing, craving, a desire for something that's
forbidden, or simply inordinate craving or lust.
Now, this word that's used here can be used in a positive sense.
There are positive desires, but the overwhelming majority of
this is negative. It's a -1 How does this work?
Second question, how does our own desires lure us?
How do they entice us? How does that work?
Think of it like this. Imagine if you placed chicken
feet right in front of me. Doesn't matter how much color
you get on them. Doesn't matter how much sauce
you coat them in, how well they glisten in the light.
I am not lured. I am not enticed.
Why? Because I have 0 desire for
them. Sorry.
I know many of you love them, but if you put a steak in front
of me, if you put lobster, if you put scallops, if you put
Priscilla's cookies, I am lured. I am enticed.
Why? Because I have desire for it.
James writes that the source of temptation is not God, but our
own desires. We saw this in the garden, did
we not? So when the woman saw that the
tree was good for food desire, and that it was a delight to the
eyes desire and that the tree was to be desire to make one
wise, she took it and ate it. Look at 15 a then desire when it
is conceived gives birth to sin. Now James here is personifying
desire and said he's giving it like human qualities.
He's personifying it. He says that desire when it has
conceived, literally when it's become pregnant, when desire has
become pregnant. How does desire become pregnant?
The same way a woman becomes pregnant by fooling around.
Same way, once desire has conceived, becomes pregnant, it
gives birth, it produces something what it gives birth to
sin. In other words, here's what
James is saying. In the same way that if a woman
has a baby inside her and she feeds that baby, she will give
birth to a baby. And if we have sinful desire
inside of us and we feed that sinful desire, we will give
birth to sin. That's how it works.
Look at 15-B and sin, when it is fully grown brings forth death,
sin when it's fully grown. James wants to make it clear
that we don't get to put sin up for an adoption.
In other words, we take it home with us, it becomes a part of
us, and if it is not dealt with, it will continue to grow.
Just as children grow, so does sin grow.
And James says that when sin is fully grown, literally to bring
an activity to an end, to finish, to complete, once sin is
fully grown, it brings forth, you know, the word brings forth
means literally, it gives birth. It gives birth.
Sin gives birth to death. So I want you to see the
progression here. Here's what James is saying.
Here's the the whole argument that he's making here.
We all have desire inside of us. Everybody is born with desires.
Desires. I have desires.
We all have desires. We have desires inside of us.
Temptation gets introduced to this desire, and what it does is
it lures that desire into its bed, and when it comes into bed
with it, it becomes pregnant. And once it becomes pregnant, it
gives birth. And it gives birth to sin.
And if sin is allowed to grow and continue to grow, it will
eventually give birth to death. That's the argument that James
is making here. Stop there with the exposition.
What do we do with this text? I have 9 points of application
this morning. If you're busy with us, this is
regular. Just want to warn you, I
normally have like 7 to 10. I'm not a three pointer kind of
guy. I have 9 points this morning #1
All trials present temptations. All trials present temptations.
Every trial in our life presents 2 opportunities.
Every single trial presents 2 opportunities.
A, They are an opportunity for God to test us, and B, they are
an opportunity for Satan to tempt us.
Every trial presents those two opportunities.
They are an opportunity for God to test us, and they are an
opportunity for Satan to tempt us.
Let's think of a few common trials.
Let's physical trials, right? Some of us may have physical
trials right now. Something that's hurting in your
body, maybe you're sick. When we are in physical pain,
that's a trial. Are we not tempted to complain?
Are we not tempted to be angry? Are we not tempted to grow
discouraged? Or let's think of relational
trials whenever we go through a breakup.
Some of you may have gone through a breakup before, or you
may have had conflict in a friendship or conflict in the
church. Whenever that happens, are we
not tempted to gossip? Are we not tempted to be bitter?
Are we not tempted to even possibly drink away our pain or
think about work trials? When we're facing difficulty at
work and we're going through a work trial, are we not tempted
to idolize our work? I've got to work 60 hours, 70
hours, 80 hours a week, whatever it takes.
Are we not tempted to be envious of others?
It's so nice to be at Google. Are we not tempted to grow
anxious? As I've mentioned before, I find
it interesting that there's only one Greek word for trial, test,
and temptation. That there's only one.
I think this is telling. Why?
Because it means this all trials are a test, and all trials
present temptations. You will not go through a trial
without being tempted. You will always be tempted to
sin with a trial. That's why it's called a trial.
Sometimes trials can be so difficult, right?
They're so taxing on the emotions.
They're taxing on our mental state.
Sometimes the trial can be so difficult that we feel like we
have no choice but to sin. I know I shouldn't be doing
this, but you, you don't understand.
You don't understand what I'm thinking and what I'm feeling.
And honestly, I don't see any other way out.
I don't see, I don't see any other course of action here.
Sometimes we can begin to believe the lie that we have no
choice to sin, which trials can make us feel like God has
cornered us into sinning. Trial can make us feel like God
has cornered us into sinning. James writes a very interesting
statement in 13 verse 13. He says in verse 13, let no one
say when he's tempted. I am being tempted by God.
Now why would somebody ever say that?
Why would somebody ever even think that?
Here's why. Because one of the ways that we
are tempted when we are tested is to accuse God of tempting us.
In other words, we might begin to subconsciously or consciously
believe the lie that God has set up this trial for us to fail.
Let me give some worldly examples of this.
Sometimes managers will have an assessment of an employee,
perhaps a so-called test that is impossible.
The manager knows it's impossible and the point of the
test is for the employee to fail.
Why? So they can deny promotions or
terminate employment. It's a real thing.
Sometimes in academic and educational situations, teachers
will purposely give trick questions that almost everybody
will get wrong. If not everybody gets wrong.
Sometimes in the military, the instructor will give a test,
whether it be physical or mental, that is impossible to
pass. Why?
The point is for the soldiers to fail.
They want to see how they respond to failure.
And the question is this, does God do this?
Does God do this? Does God give us trials so that
we would fail, so that we would succumb to temptation?
Does he do this? And the answer is no, no, never,
never. God always desires us to pass
Always. God is never tempting us to sin.
He is never giving us a trial for the purpose of tempting us,
no matter how much we may feel like God.
You cornered me into this and now I have no other option.
No, God is never tempting us to sin. 3 Not only is God always
good, but he is not tempted for one second to be evil.
Not only is God always good, but he is not even tempted for one
second to be evil. One of the hardest pieces to
accept about James 113 is who we are genetically.
You read this text and sometimes one of the hardest pieces to
accept this is who we are genetically.
Many of us, if not all of us, have some form of a trial with
who we are genetically. In other words, we all have
proclivities or maybe disabilities or weaknesses that
are hard wired by God. You're Born This Way.
You're born with this proclivity.
You're born with this weakness. You're born with this
disability. You're born with this disorder,
this maybe. Maybe you're prone to
depression, maybe you're prone to lust.
Maybe you're prone to drinking. Maybe you're prone to
overeating. Maybe you're prone to anxiety.
And because of these proclivities, because of these
disabilities, because of these weaknesses, we might begin to
think, if God knows that I am prone to depression, why would
he get me unemployment? Why would he do that?
If God knows that I am prone to lust, why would he give me
singleness? Why would he do that?
If God knows that I am prone to drinking, why would he take my
friends away? If God knows that I am prone to
anxiety, why is he making school so hard?
I know that God is good, but it doesn't feel like He's good
right now. Pastor, how do you know that
God's not tempting me? Because God cannot be tempted
with evil. God knows who you are.
He knows your proclivities. He knows your weaknesses.
And he didn't give you this trial because he is evil.
He gave it to you because he is good.
Four. God may ordain that temptation
happen, but he also ordains a way of escape.
God may ordain that temptation happen, but he also ordains a
way of escape. As I mentioned in the
exposition, one of the challenges of this verse is
reconciling the fact that God is sovereign, which means he
controls all things. He doesn't tempt anyone, and yet
temptation still exists. And as a position, God ordaining
that temptation happened is different than God doing the
tempting himself. Temptation, just like sin, is a
tool in the hand of God. It's a tool that he uses for his
purposes. Now we might think, well, why
not just ordain that temptation never happened, right?
Why don't I just do that? I got it.
Why don't you just ordain that temptation never happened?
That there's an answer to that question that is beyond the
scope of the sermon. But let me point this out.
Let me say this, Did you ever notice that in the Lord's Prayer
Jesus didn't say, let us not be tempted.
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy
Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven, let
us not be tempted. Did you ever notice it didn't
say that? Instead Jesus said pray, lead us
not into now. Why would Jesus tell us to pray
that instead of praying let us not tempted?
Because temptation, just like sin, is a tool in the hand of
God that he uses for his purposes.
Of course this raises the question, what did Jesus mean
when he said lead us not to temptation?
What did he mean when he said that?
I think he means this, Keep our temptation from becoming sin.
Keep our temptation from becoming sin.
God is going to ordain that temptation happen in your life,
but we pray God keep it from becoming sin.
God's will is not to keep us from being tempted.
His will is to keep our temptation from becoming sin.
And often the way that God does this is First Corinthians 10/13.
No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man.
God is faithful. 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. Brother, sisters, God may ordain
that temptation happen, but He also ordains a way of escape.
No matter how much your kids are driving you crazy, you don't
have to get angry. You don't have to.
No matter how lonely you are, you don't have to look at
pornography. You don't have to.
No matter how sorrowful you are, you don't have to keep eating.
You don't have to. God has given you a way of
escape. Five, like all bait, temptation
is an appealing trap. Like all bait, temptation is an
appealing trap. You ever seen an angler fish?
All right, it was in Finding Nemo.
Have you seen that movie? Has that long spine that extends
out in front of it, and at the end of it, it's got a light.
It's like bioluminescent bacteria that causes the light
up. It attracts other fish and then
when it gets close it snaps it. Ever heard of a bolus spider?
It's actually able to secrete a chemical that mimics moth
pheromones. Moth are drawn to it and then it
You ever seen a green Heron? Green Heron will catch an
insect. It'll sit on the water, it'll
drop the insect on the water and wait for a little minnow to come
up and eat the insect and then it snatches the minnow.
It actually fishes with its own bait.
James writes that each person is tempted when he is lured and
touched. So let me ask you a question
that fishermen will often ask. What are you biting on?
There's a reason that Jesus says
that what chokes out the word is the deceitfulness of riches.
Not just riches, the deceitfulness of riches.
Paul writes Those who desire to be rich fall into a temptation.
Into a what? A snare.
What's a snare? It's a trap.
Riches are an appealing trap. Four different times the father
warns his son in the book of Proverbs that the forbidden
woman's house is the way to seal.
He tells his son he said son, the lips of the forbidden woman
man, they drip honey. Her speech is smoother than oil,
but in the end she's as bitter as Wormwood, sharp as A2 edged
sword. Sex and lust is an appealing
trap. The same could be said for
success. Comfort food, drink,
entertainment. Brother, sister, Sin always
looks appealing, but it's a trap.
It's always a trap. Six.
It is no sin to be tempted, or even frequently tempted, or even
grossly tempted. It is no sin to be tempted, or
even frequently tempted or even grossly tempted.
I want you to notice that James says that when does sin happen?
He says that sin happens when desire has conceived, but at the
temptation level, no sin has occurred.
Here's why this is so important, because many Christians will
wonder, why am I so tempted to sin?
Why am I so easily tempted? Even after being a Christian for
25 years? Why am I still so easily tempted
by this sin? Shouldn't I be past it?
But this is if we are waiting to reach a point where we are no
longer tempted by our desires, then we will have to wait until
heaven. Because even Jesus, who was
perfect, was tempted. He was tempted in every way that
we are. Christian maturity is not how
often a person is tempted, but how often they succumb to that
temptation. Sometimes mature Christians are
the ones who are tempted the most.
Satan tried his hardest to tempt Job to curse God. 7 No matter
how much other factors may contribute, our sin comes from
our desire. No matter how much other factors
may contribute, our sin comes from our desire.
You know, whenever we fall into temptation, it's very common to
blame something outside of us, isn't it?
We're tempted. We fall into sin.
It's very common to blame something outside of us.
We might blame Satan, we might blame other people, we might
blame our genetics, we might blame our family upbringing.
We might blame circumstances. We might blame the government.
We might blame even God. But James writes that we are
lured and enticed by what? By our own desires.
So things outside of us may provide the bait, but what draws
us to the bait? Our own desires.
No matter how much Eve may blame the serpent, no matter how much
Adam may blame Eve and even blame God, the woman you gave to
me, they both sit because of their desires.
David cannot blame Bathsheba for taking a bath or for being
beautiful. He sinned because of his
desires. Peter cannot blame the servant
girl. He sinned because of his
desires. Moses cannot blame the people
for striking the rock. He sinned because of his
desires. Aaron cannot blame the people
for making a golden calf send because of his desires.
And brother, sister, you and I, we cannot blame our spouses or
our children or our bosses or our church or our government or
our teachers or our friends or our weaknesses or our
disabilities or our proclivities or our circumstances, and
certainly not our God. Each person is lured and enticed
by his own desires. Period 8 Desires are like
strings of the heart that will either be plucked by the spirit
or the flesh. Desires are like strings of the
heart that will either be plucked by the spirit or the
flesh. I want to make the point that
James is not saying the way to solve this problem is to get rid
of our desires. I should just get rid of my
desires. That's what the early Church
fathers used to do. They castrated themselves, some
of them thinking it would get rid of it.
You know what? It didn't solve anything, didn't
solve the problem. The answer is not to get rid of
our desires. Here's what I like to think of
this Desires are like strings of the heart, and somebody is going
to pluck those strings. Somebody's going to pluck them,
either the spirit or the flesh. The more our flesh plucks these
strings, the more dominant our sinful desires become.
They get stronger and the more the Spirit plucks these strings,
the more dominant our righteous desires become.
Paul writes walk by the Spirit and you will not gratify the
desires of the flesh. Consider what James is saying
here. James writes that when desire
has conceived, it gives birth to sin.
Desire, when it's conceived, gives birth to sin.
Now think of it like this. What is the easiest way to not
have a child? I do this when I whenever I go
through premarital counselling with couples, I tell them you
need to know there is no birth control that's 100% except one.
There is only one form of birth control that is 100%.
It has 100% success rate for all of time it's been 100%.
It's got a perfect track record. You know what that is?
Abstinence. It's the only one that's 100
percent. What is the easiest?
To not give in to our sinful desires.
To starve them of flesh and to feed them fruit.
Starve them of flesh and feed them fruit.
If you don't feed your desires with flesh, but instead feed
them with the fruit of the Spirit, you won't give birth to
sin, you'll give birth to the Spirit.
Nine last point 9 is a short quote by John Owen.
Really good one though. John Owen writes be killing sin
or sin will be killing you. Be killing sin or sin will be
killing you. James writes that when sin is
fully grown, it brings forth death.
In other words, there are 5 stages here.
Stage 1 is desire. Stage 2 is temptation.
Stage 3 is sin. Stage 4 is growth.
Stage 5 is death. James is saying that you have
these desires. They're in your heart.
We all have them. Stage 2 is when temptation gets
introduced to that desire. Stage 3 is when it becomes
conceived and it gives birth to sin.
Stage 4 is growth, that if you let that sin continue to grow,
it will grow. And stage 5, if it continues to
grow, it will bring forth death. Now ideally we stop this process
at stage one, at the desire stage.
That would be ideal, but we're all going to find ourselves at
stage 3. Nobody stops every desire.
Stage one, it's for Jesus Christ.
So we're all going to find herself at stage 3, at the stage
where we have fallen into sin. We're all going to sin.
But here's the question. Do we let that sin grow?
Do we let sin continue to feed on our desires?
Or do we put it to death? You all know that how with
cancer, if you catch early enough, you often can operate on
it. The same is true with our sin.
If you let sin continue to grow, it will continue to feed off of
your desires. And as it feeds, it will only
get stronger. It'll get stubborn.
It'll dig in. We all know this to be true.
The more you get accustomed to sin in your life, the more you
make allowance for it, the more you get used to having this in
your life. It just gets stubborn.
It becomes a part of you and when someone challenges you,
it's like it's well dug in and if it grows enough it can be
difficult if not impossible to remove.
Brother and sister be killing sin or sin will be killing you.
Let's pray.