WWUTT 1557 Will God Give You More Than You Can Handle (1 Corinthians 10:13-14)

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Surely you've heard it said that God would never give you more than you can handle. Well, that's not in the

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Bible. But the Bible does say God will not allow you to be tempted beyond your ability to resist when we understand the text.

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Many of the Bible stories and verses we think we know, we don't. When We Understand the Text is an online ministry dedicated to teaching the

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Word of God in context, promoting sound doctrine while exposing the faulty. Here's your teacher,

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Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. Continuing in our study of 1 Corinthians chapter 10, I'm going to begin reading in verse 13 and go to the end of the chapter.

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This is out of the Legacy Standard Bible the Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Corinth. No temptation has overtaken you, but such as is common to man.

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But God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able. But with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.

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Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. I speak as to prudent people.

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You judge what I say. Is not the cup of blessing, which we bless, a sharing in the blood of Christ?

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Is not the bread, which we break, a sharing in the body of Christ? Since there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we are all partakers of the one bread.

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Look at the nation of Israel. Are not those who eat the sacrifices sharers in the altar?

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What do I mean then? That a thing sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything?

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No, but I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God.

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And I do not want you to become sharers in demons. You cannot drink the cup of the

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Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the

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Lord and the table of demons. Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy?

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Are we stronger than he? All things are lawful, but not all things are profitable.

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All things are lawful, but not all things build up. Let no one seek his own good, but that of the other person.

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Eat anything that is sold in the meat market without asking questions, for conscience sake. For the earth is the

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Lord's, as well as its fullness. If one of the unbelievers invites you and you want to go, eat anything that is set before you without asking questions, for conscience sake.

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But if anyone says to you, this is meat consecrated to idols, do not eat it.

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For the sake of the one who informed you, and for conscience sake. I do not mean your own conscience, but the other person's.

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For why is my freedom judged by another's conscience? If I partake with gratefulness, why am

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I slandered concerning that for which I give thanks? Whether then you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

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Give no offense either to Jews or to Greeks, or to the church of God. Just as I also please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit, but the profit of the many, so that they may be saved.

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Now I'm not really sure why the lesson yesterday I had mentioned in the title that I only went through verse 12, because we really covered through verse 14, but since I only wrote down in the title of the podcast episode that we went through verse 12, well that gives me the chance to come back to verses 13 and 14 today.

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Let's do so. Verse 13 in this chapter, the apostle Paul says, no temptation has overtaken you, but such as is common to man.

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But God is faithful who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able.

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So as I mentioned yesterday, we've heard this popular saying, God will never give you more than you can handle.

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And that is true if it's applied to 1 Corinthians 10, 13. As it applies to anything else, there is no such statement in the

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Bible. God will never give you more than you can bear. Well, sometimes God will give you more than you can bear.

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We actually see this in the life of the apostle Paul. He talks about this at the beginning of 2 Corinthians 1, but says this was to make us rely not on ourselves, but on God who raises the dead.

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So sometimes we are given more than we can handle that we may turn to Christ. But when it comes to temptation,

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God will not allow us to be tempted beyond our ability to resist.

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And that's what's being said here in 1 Corinthians 10, 13. No temptation has overtaken you, but such as is common to man.

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In other words, you're not dealing with any temptation that no other man has ever dealt with before.

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There's nothing that you have to endure that no one else has ever faced. All sin comes back to the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.

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1 John 2, 16. Recently, there was somebody on social media that asked this question.

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If you could get rid of one sin, what would it be? There were some interesting answers in there.

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Some people even giving explanations for their answers. Addiction. I would get rid of porn or gambling.

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I saw that one person said money, probably because they believe 1

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Timothy 6, 10 says money is the root of all evil, which that's not what it says.

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It says the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. Money is not in and of itself a sin.

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But if you wanted to get rid of pretty much any sin, you should say either lust or pride because all sin comes back to the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.

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In James 1, 12, or beginning in verse 12, anyway, James says, blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial for when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life, which

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God has promised to those who love him. And when James talks about this here, when he says, blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, it's clear in the context that he's referring to temptation.

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He remains steadfast when he's tempted. He doesn't give in to the temptation.

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He doesn't go after the world, but he continues to cling to Christ. He resists those things and turns to God for his.

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As James says later on in chapter four, resist the devil and he will flee from you.

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Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. James goes on in 1, 13 to say, let no one say when he is tempted,

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I am being tempted by God for God cannot be tempted with evil and he himself tempts no one.

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But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.

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Then desire, when it has conceived, gives birth to sin and sin, when it is fully grown, brings forth death.

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Do not be deceived. My beloved brothers, every good gift and every perfect gift is from above coming down from the father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

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Of his own will, he brought us forth by the word of truth that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.

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Consider that verse one more time, and then I'm going to go back to verse 13. So once again, verse 18 of his own will, he brought us forth by the word of truth.

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Now go back to 13. 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.

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So the work of God in our hearts is to believe. It's to believe in the

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Lord Jesus Christ and be saved. God is not going to put in our hearts a desire for something that God does not desire for us.

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You understand? So what does God want us to do? He wants us to be holy as he is holy, as it says in first Peter chapter one, as Jesus says in Matthew chapter five, you must be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect.

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And then saying in chapter six, seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.

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And all these things will be added to you as well. One of the beatitudes blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be satisfied.

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That's what we should desire is Christ. That's what God's desire is for us. So he's never going to put in your heart a desire for something that God does not desire for even to desire the thing that God has said is sin is sin itself.

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If you desire sin, you've already sinned. Remember these words from Colossians chapter three, beginning in verse five, put to death.

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Therefore, what is earthly in you, sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.

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On account of these, the wrath of God is coming. The wrath of God is coming against even our wicked desires.

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You don't even have to do the thing that you desire, but because you desire it is even sin itself to desire.

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Your sin is sinful because it's to say to God, God, your holiness just isn't enough for me.

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I have to have this other thing in order to be satisfied. You're not enough for me.

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I will be happy when I get this thing. And so you turn to your own flesh for your satisfaction.

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You believe that your flesh knows better than God does. And so you listen to your flesh instead of God and the very desire itself when it has awakened in you, and that's what your heart is after.

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That's what your mind wants. That's what your body craves. You are now going after something that is opposed to God that is contrary to God rather than in the direction of God.

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And as James will say later on in chapter four, you adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is enmity with God.

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If you want the things of your flesh, if you want the things of the world, then you're not going after the things of God.

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And Paul talks about this also in Galatians chapter five, when he contrasts the works of the flesh with the fruit of the spirit, that they're opposed to one another.

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You can't have the works of the flesh and also be producing the fruit of the spirit.

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It's one or the other. And he's making that point here also in first Corinthians chapter 10, where he says that you cannot drink the cup of the

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Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake in the table of the Lord and of the table of demons.

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So it's one or the other. Coming back again to this concept of desire, then, God does not put a desire in your heart for something that is contrary to God.

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God would not do this to his children. We are the children of God by faith in Jesus Christ.

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And what is God doing for us? He's sanctifying us. That's talked about in Ephesians chapter five, that Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word.

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That's what God does for us. He has brought us to salvation by faith in Jesus Christ.

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And he is keeping us in that salvation, growing us in it even. We have been justified and we are being sanctified.

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And this is all the work of God. Now, God will not put in our hearts a desire for things that are wicked, but he will still put us in a position to be tested.

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In Matthew chapter four, when Jesus, this is right after he was baptized by John and he's going into the wilderness to be tempted.

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It says that Jesus was led up by the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

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Peter said in first Peter four, 12, beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you as though something strange were happening to you.

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But these things happen to us. Rejoice in so far as you share Christ's sufferings that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.

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So this testing is that we may draw all the more near to Christ. We would resist the temptation and we would draw near to God.

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That's why this trial or this test might come upon us in this way.

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It's not God putting a temptation in our hearts, but he is going to put us in a position to be tested that we would resist that temptation and turn to Christ.

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Deuteronomy 13 is where God talks about, well, he's talking about this through Moses, but he's talking about a, a, a, a false teacher coming into your midst, a prophet or a dreamer of dreams.

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And he gives you a sign or a wonder. And then if that sign or wonder comes true, but that prophet or dreamer of dreams wants to lead you to go after other gods, it says in verse three, you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams for the

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Lord, your God is testing you to know whether you love the

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Lord, your God with all your heart and with all your soul. We also read in second

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Thessalonians chapter two, that God will give false teachers as a judgment upon those who go after the passions of their flesh in rebellion against God.

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Second Thessalonians two 11, therefore God sends them a strong delusion so that they may believe what is false in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

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Notice how that works there. God does not put the belief in their heart. He does not put the desire in their heart.

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They already have a desire to go after that, which is false. So he gives them a strong delusion that they go after what's false and come into condemnation.

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As it says in the book of Romans, that God may be just in all of his judgments. So they hated God anyway.

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They go after what's false as a judgment upon them because they loved the passions of their flesh.

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They went after that rather than God. And so this was so they would come into condemnation and therefore into judgment because they had pleasure in unrighteousness.

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Romans one 18 says they suppress the truth with their unrighteousness and the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all the unrighteousness and ungodliness of men.

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So these are just a couple of examples to understand how the desires that we have in our heart do not come from God.

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You know, the passions of our flesh going after the things of the world or the things that we want in our wicked minds.

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God does not implant those ideas into us. We just have that because of our sin nature that we were born with in Adam.

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We go after the sins and the temptations that our flesh by its own nature wants.

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God never puts those things inside of us. So let's come back to the point that Paul is making here in first Corinthians 10 that we not put ourselves in a position to be tempted.

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Don't think that you are so great in your flesh that you will be able to resist those temptations.

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God has given us a new mind and a new heart. He has given us a way of escape. That way of escape, by the way, is

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Christ. So we turn to Christ to get away from the temptations of our flesh, the temptations that come by the world, the schemes of Satan.

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We turn to Christ to escape those things. No temptation has overtaken you, but such as is common to man.

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But God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also so that you will be able to endure it.

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Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry, Paul says.

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Consider something that Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter five, verse 27 is where I'm beginning here.

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You have heard that it was said you shall not commit adultery. But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

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But if your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out and throw it away from you. For it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.

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And if your right hand makes you stumble, cut it off and throw it from you. For it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.

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What's Jesus talking about here that you should dismember yourself in order to prevent yourself from sinning? No, because sin comes from the mind.

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It doesn't come from your eye or from your hand. It's the desires of your heart that causes your eye and your hand to do those things, to look at things you shouldn't look at or do things with your hands that you shouldn't do.

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So what is Jesus saying here? He's saying that a way of escape has been given to you. Turn from the temptation, get away from it and do whatever you need to do to flee from that temptation.

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Listen, streaming is such a regular common thing in our world today. By streaming,

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I'm talking about, you know, like Amazon Prime or Netflix or I mean, there's even

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YouTube subscriptions that you can get. There's Hulu, there's HBO Max.

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I can't even think of all the ones that are out there. We've got one or two of them. But with so many entertainment choices at our fingertips, there is a lot of trash that's out there too.

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And how often do you find yourself browsing some of those things that you don't want your spouse to know that you watch?

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You don't want anybody at church to know that you watch those things. Do you understand what I'm saying? Without being explicit, do you know what

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I'm talking about? What do you need to do to get that stuff away from you? That it would not be in your home and that you would not even be tempted to look at it or watch it when nobody else is around.

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You probably need to cancel that subscription. Maybe you even need to unplug the television altogether or get the

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TV out of your house so that you will not be tempted by these things. That's what

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Jesus is saying here in Matthew chapter five. If your eye causes you to sin, tear it out, throw it away.

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If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off, throw it away. It's better for you to enter the kingdom of heaven with these parts of you missing than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.

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You don't have to have these things that so many people in the world enjoy. And even just as American citizens or as Western world people, we think, hey, it's a common thing.

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Everybody's got it. Everybody does it. So I can do it, too. Or I have to feel like that.

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I'm up on this stuff by watching the same shows that all my coworkers or schoolmates are watching or or whatever else.

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No, you don't. You don't even need to know those things. You need to know Christ. Don't put yourself in a position to be tempted and think that you're going to come out of that.

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OK, I have. I have had this conversation in so many counseling sessions.

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I can't even count them. That when a young man is telling me that he's being tempted by something and I say to him, don't put yourself in that place to think that you can get that close to the fire and still be able to pull back before it gets too hot.

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The very fact that you are going that close, you're already sinning. If you're focusing on the sin instead of running from it to Christ, then then you really like the sin and you're trying to find ways that you can have the sin and please

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God, too. And you can't. And you're going to get closer and closer to that fire with a whole lot of pride in your mind and heart, thinking

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I'm strong enough to turn back before I get burned. And before you know it, you've fallen headlong into the thing.

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And if you can get away with the sin once, you're going to think to yourself, I can do it again. And you just do that pattern.

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You follow it over and over and over again. And where do you find yourself? Idolatry. You're now worshiping a false

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God. You have put something in your life in the place of God. And you think you have to have this in order to to to get out of life.

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What I think I need to get out of life. God is not enough for me. I have to have this other thing. And suddenly you're not a

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Christian anymore. You are worldly. You are part of this evil and adulterous generation, as Jesus describes it in Matthew chapter 12.

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Evil in that you are going after things that are against God, adulterous in the sense that you're going after the stuff of the world.

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You've turned from God to the world. And now you've become an idol worshiper. And so Paul says in First Corinthians 1014, therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.

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Don't flirt with this stuff. Don't get anywhere near it. I just provided one example. I mean, there's any number of things this could apply to.

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Anger, bitterness, holding grudges, foul language and speech.

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You don't control your tongue and you just get to where you can say whatever you want to say. Well, your religion is worthless because that's what

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James says. James one twenty six. Whoever can't control his own speech, his religion is worthless. This could also apply to alcohol.

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Hey, I can have a drink and it'll be OK. Sure. But then you have another and you have another. You go out with your friends to the clubs, whatever it might happen to be.

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Before you know it, you have fallen into addiction. You've fallen into worldliness.

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There's nothing about you that looks any different than anyone else who is in this world. And there's so many other examples that we can apply this to.

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But the general principle remains this, that you flee from those things that are of the world and you cling all the more to Christ.

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And God has given that way of escape for you. Go to Christ. He is your righteousness.

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He is holiness and peace and sanctification. He is our salvation from this world, which is coming into judgment.

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Flee those things for the greatness of God and the preeminence of Christ. Heavenly Father, forgive us our sins and forgive us for our pride, for thinking that we're better than we really are, that I can

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I can go after this thing here and I'll be just fine. And then we find ourselves falling into sin and then so embarrassed by it.

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We don't want to go back to the Father and ask for forgiveness. And we try to handle the situation ourselves. And then we fall all the more into pride and self -righteousness.

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Forgive us for these attitudes of ours. And may the desire be in our heart for Christ and not of this world.

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We ask these things in Jesus name. Amen. You can find a complete list of videos, books, devotionals, and other resources online at www .tt