Our struggle is greater with God than it is with the devil. Why? Because it's a lot easier to give into temptation than to resist it. But our biggest problem is not with the devil, and it's not with God. My biggest problem is with myself.
Welcome to Treasure Truth with pastor and author James Ford, junior senior pastor of the Christ Bible Church in Chicago. I'm Steve Hillard. Glad you're with us today as we're beginning a message called The Inner Me enemy and Pastor. As you point out, our struggle with God is greater than it is with the devil. But you said our greatest struggle is actually with ourselves. What do you mean by that?
Well, I mean, usually I am my own worst enemy.
Okay?
Because, you know, when I got saved, I became a new creature in Christ, but wasn't perfect. The sin nature still resides in me. Sure, it's like the old story about the Indian was asked. He was a believer and asked, well, who wins the spirit or the flesh? His answer was whichever one you feed the most. Right, you see. And so what happens? You know, it's it's if I feed my flesh, it's going to be hard to overcome it. It's an enemy. And I like to say it this way.
The enemy. Enemy, you know. Right. And I am. I'm my worst enemy.
And I think many of us can relate to that or understand that. We know that deep down, what's inside of us is pretty dark. But there may be some listening today who would say, you know what? Actually, I kind of like who I am, and I don't see the problem with me. I get that we live in a very messed up world, and there are some evil people out there. But how can I be my own worst enemy? I'm a good person.
Well, it takes more than just being a good person, Steve. It takes the working of God in the life of a believer in order to fulfill his goal. See, here's the thing. If your goal is just to be a good person, then you're missing the mark because that's not God's goal. His goal is to conform us into the image of Jesus Christ. That's a greater goal. And let me tell you something, Steve. I know I look good, but I don't look anything like Jesus Christ. I'm telling you, Amen.
And I'm talking about in terms of lifestyle and all the other things as well. I've been walking this Christian walk a long time, and there's been a whole lot of things that God has given me the power to overcome in my life, but yet, um, ever matriculating but never graduating. I won't be transformed totally until I'm in that grave in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And I think for some people, it's actually kind of encouraging to hear you say that the fact that this is a life long struggle that we're engaged in. Uh, I know there may be some who have had this misconception that I became a Christian. Life gets easy. I'm not going to sin or I'm hardly going to sin. And that is not the way it is.
It is not. And all you have to do is read Romans six, seven and eight. The second greatest Christian who ever lived said, when I would do good, evil was always present with me. And the good I would do that I do not. And the evil I don't want to do, that's what I'm doing. Paul said that?
Yeah. Yeah. Well, we're going to be, uh, not in a book that Paul wrote today, but James, we're in James chapter one. So join us there as we begin a message called the Inner Me enemy. Here is Pastor Ford.
The greatest struggle that we have is not with the devil. I don't know about you, but I have a bigger struggle with God. You say, wait a minute, wait a minute. What do you mean? You have a bigger struggle with God than you do the devil? Well, because it's easier to sin than to surrender. See, the devil wants me to sin, and God wants me to surrender. I guess I'm all by myself when I say it's easier to sin than to surrender. And so you know, if you can't say amen, say ouch. It's easier to live for
self than to live for the Savior. It's easier to live for self than to die to self. I'm trying to set this thing up so you'll see I have a bigger problem with God than I do with the devil, because of what God demands of me in terms of my commitment to him and what and how I should be living. So God says, turn the other cheek. Satan says, yeah, turn theirs. God says, the first shall be last, and
the last shall be first. And Satan says, the first shall be last, and the last shall get the leftovers. You better be first. God says. Pay now, enjoy. Later. The devil says, live now, pay later. So our struggle is greater with God than it is with the devil. Why? Because it's a lot easier to give in to temptation than to resist it. But our biggest problem is not with the devil, and it's not with God. My biggest problem is with myself. Go ahead, Pastor Ford. Tell the truth.
The enemy in me. Now, I share this with you once before. I don't remember when. I don't remember where, but I remember sharing with you about my son Nate and him watching me shaving. And let me tell you, like Paul Harvey, the rest of the story, he was watching me shaving and I said, oh no. Mhm. I said, you're not old enough. You don't have anything. Don't mess with this. Oh. He started. Okay, dad. Next morning, I get them up for school. This boy doesn't shave. I said,
didn't I tell you? You don't mess with my razor. I mess with your razor. Yes. You did. No I didn't. I said, yes, you did. And I'm whooping your behind. And I'm giving you a whooping twice. Once for lying to me, once for disobeying me. And so I spanked his behind. He kept crying. Dad, how do you know I use your shaver? I don't have no hair on my face. You shave your eyebrows off. He shaved his eyebrows off and said he found hair. He found some hair. And here's what he told me. Here's the rest of
the story. I'll never forget it. I said see you. You got what you deserve. Yeah. And here's what he said. Quote I told me not to do it, but I didn't listen to me. That's powerful stuff. That's profound. That's me. Okay. I'm just speaking for myself. That's me. Yeah. I tell myself, man, you know, don't succumb to this. And then all of a sudden, you're doing it anyway. And so what happens in James and in chapter one one through 12, he's talking about temptation as a noun. Now in 13 through 18,
he's talking about temptation as a verb. Everybody still with me? So in one through 12 he's talking about temptation as a problem. But now he's going to show you that temptation is not just a problem. Temptation is a passion. Help me somebody. So it's like, what is an affair? An addiction to a person. That's what it is. And so it's a passion. Uh, so here's what James wants us to understand. Don't let the stuff on the outside get into your inside. So remember, you can't help what
you see, but you control what you look at. You can't control what you hear, but you control what you listen to. And so he's going to talk to us, and he's going to give us the digression of our sin. He's going to talk about, uh, the inception of sin, the reception of sin, the deception of sin, and the conception of sin. Let me say it again. James is going to talk about the inception of sin, the reception of sin, the deception of sin, and the conception of sin.
So he begins by talking about the inception of the sin of the flesh. Verse 13, 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. He says, don't blame God. Now, now here's the contrast. Remember we studied this, uh, last year, uh, sometime James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ to the 12 tribes which are scattered abroad. Greeting. So we said that the word scattered was diaspora or diaspora.
It literally means seed sown, that wherever you are and whatever you're going through, remember that God strategically placed you. It's a word picture, uh, that talks about a farmer who has pulled up all the weeds and, and and broke up the fallow ground and watered it to receive the seed and then put the seed in. He did everything carefully. That's the picture that he gives us. Whatever you came in here going through, God wants you to know it's either God authorized or God allowed. So now
why now? You tell us. Then, as we're going through this, God either authorized it or allowed it. Why are you telling us now that God does not test us or tempt us to do evil? Because he wants you to understand that even though God may be source, he's not agent. So let's take job, for example. Uh, job went through it. God didn't put him through it. The devil put him through it. And so he's the agent, even though God is the source because God allowed it. The devil cannot
do anything to us unless Yahweh God allows it. So in other words, he's saying it's in the middle voice, which means stop an action already going on. Stop blaming God. There's nothing in God to receive sin. There's nothing in God to sin. To sin. God his chief Characteristic. According to Isaiah, is what his holiness he didn't say loving, loving, loving. They didn't say, even though he is. They didn't say voracious, voracious, voracious,
even though he is. They didn't say immutable, immutable, immutable even though he is. They said, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, who is, who, art and who is to come. And so the holiness of God. John chapter 14, verse 30. Jesus talks about his own impeccability just a $50 theological term that we learned in seminary. And since I paid the money, I gotta drop it on you. In the doctrine of Empacar teaches that Jesus could not have sinned. Why?
Because he did not have a sin nature. And so he circumvented the sin nature because he was born of the Virgin, his humanity from Mary, his deity, from the Holy Spirit, and so he does not have sin. First Peter 222. Hebrews 415.
That's some great stuff, isn't it? And we're going to get back to this teaching in just one moment. Our message is called the enemy. Enemy. And maybe something you've heard on a broadcast raises a question. We can always ask your question of Pastor Ford. Simply come to our website, npr.org. Click on the contact link, give us your feedback or ask that question. Who knows? That might be answered on
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So here's what James is saying. Don't blame God. Don't blame the devil. It's you. It's me. Look at your neighbor and say it's you. That's right. Even though it's Bible study, it's you. As a matter of fact. Romans chapter one. Remember we talked about it before I was interviewed by, uh, the Christian brother who's, uh, on, uh, on ABC news, and he came in the sanctuary. They set it up and they set up over there, and they said, we want you to walk in like you're
getting ready. So I had to go all the way over here, walk in, walk up to the pulpit, walk down. And, uh, they asked me what I thought about the Supreme Court decision, uh, about marriage. And and that's what I dropped on him. Romans chapter one. So I'm not surprised. We're living in the last days. It's part of what uh, Paul said to Timothy is going to be happen. And and then he said, so. So how do you think it came about? I said, I'm so glad you asked me. It's Romans
chapter one. Here's what Romans chapter one says. First, sin is tolerated, then sin is moderated, then sin is abdicated, then sin is mandated, then sin is legislated, then sin is celebrated. And that's what happens. And so what happens. He talks about the inception. Now we know what we do. Come on I just told you what are the three things Adam did with his sin. Come on, holler it out real quick. He tried to hide it, cover it and blame. Those are three things that we do. But
here's what James is trying to get us to see. Uh, Satan can tempt us, but he can't make us sin. I mean, you know, uh, those of us who dealt with drugs and all that kind of stuff say we got to get these drug pushers. What? The drug pusher didn't make you buy it, and the drug pusher didn't make you use it. So a drug pusher is like the devil. The devil comes to you and he tempts you, but the desire for it has to come from you. Remember, you need two things to sin. That's desire and opportunity.
And so you have sisters who? And I'm just picking on sisters. But, you know, uh, it's one I'm thinking about because she came to me and she said, boy, I can't wait till this testimony. What testimony? That he kind of stepped at me. I said, speak to the hand. My soul don't understand. I already have a man. His name is Jesus. And I said, were you telling me about somebody you didn't want? You come back and share
that testimony when it's somebody you want it. When he got everything that you wanted in a man but he ain't saved, then come back and tell me, I told him, speak to the hand. And so what does the devil do? Listen to this. This. This is the theology of temptation. Here it is. First thing he does, he calls our attention to sin. We see it. Secondly, then he causes our attraction to sin. Well, let me go back. Let me back up. Let me. Let me show you something.
He calls our attention to sin. That's through the eyes. We see it. Then he causes our attraction to sin. That's in the mind. We sense it because. Listen, before you ever did it, you thought it. You better. You better help me. Yeah, yeah. Now, now, sometimes we men don't think about things. You know, if a man get into something, he ain't thought about it. We we just. We just stupid. We just, you know, we like the governor who who had a girlfriend and text her when
his phone was linked to his wife. iPad. That's how. That's how she found out he was cheating. His phone was synced to her iPad. So he thought he was texting his girlfriend, and he was texting his wife. Man, we men are stupid. But I guarantee you, if a woman does it. She done thought that thing out. Jack. Okay. And so he calls our attention to send the eyes. We see it. He causes our attraction to send the mind. We sense it, then he causes our affection for it.
That's our emotions. We settle for it. Then he corrupts our ambition in sin. That's our volition, our will. We serve it. So Romans Paul said in Romans chapter seven, verse 14 and following he said, hey, this is Paul.
You know Paul who wrote half the New Testament. You know Paul who met Jesus personally on the Damascus Road, you know, Paul the apostle that was born out of you know, Paul, the one who founded churches all over the known, you know, Paul the great theologian, the deep brother that even Peter said his scriptures are hard to comprehend, that Paul, he said, when I would do good, evil is always present with me, so that the good I would do, I do not. And the evil I don't
want to do. That's what I do. It's like the little boy who is standing in front of a fruit stand, and he's just staring and staring at them. Big red Washington apples. Shiny, bright owner came out and said, young man, are you trying to steal one of my apples? He said, no, sir, I'm trying not to. And that's us. There are things. And you say, oh, that's not me. Well, well, the thing that tempts you ain't came along yet. That's what it is. But keep on living. It's coming. Yeah. It's coming. Jack.
And so inherent in this statement is what we call original sin. We're born with a proclivity to sin. Psalm 51 five. So it's not external circumstances. It's internal desires. It always has to be an internal desire. Why? Because it's our own lusts. It's closed now, but on 71st Street there used to be a bakery. And my mama, my mama made some cold blooded bread pudding. It was one of my favorites. Now, some people don't even know how to make bread pudding. They say, I know how to.
I say, what do you start with? They say bread. I said, what kind of bread? Bread. Bread? No. The best bread pudding starts with moldy bread. If you don't make it with moldy bread, you don't know what you're doing. I don't care what you say. Mama made it with moldy bread, boy, knock your socks off. And so there was a bakery on 71st, and I used to go up there and buffet my body, and he said, hey, why don't you try some of my bread pudding? I said, no,
because nobody makes bread pudding like my mama. He said, I tell you what, I'm gonna give you two pieces free. He gave me two pieces free, along with my dozen doughnuts that I was taking back to all my family. I said, let me taste this. I knew as soon as I tasted it. I went back in, you know, I got on my car. I went back in because I, you know, you know, you never get them home before you start eating them. I said, you made this with moldy bread. He said, there's no other way to make bread.
But I said.
Man, man.
I told him, I said, you know what? I used to push drugs, and you just did to me what I would do to everybody else if I had somebody who never got high before they first high was free, because I knew that once they had what I had, they be coming back. I told them, I know what you trying to do. You trying to get me up here at 3:00 in the morning saying where the bread pudding dog. Where the bread pudding man you know. But
that's it. That's it. Remember the old Chinese proverbs? First the man takes a drink, then the drink takes a drink. Then the drink takes the man. That's us. So whatever it is, your proclivity. Because everybody la dee da dee and everybody in here has some proclivity to some sin. Look at it. Looking all innocent like not me. Mhm. You're a halo. Going to become your new sun. I told you that plenty of times. But it's our own lust. Man, one of the things I hate to hear is he
made me hit him. Oh, yeah, she made me hit her. He made me hit her. What? Nobody makes you do anything. You do it yourself. You did it. You did it. So the inception of sin comes from our flesh and my flesh. There's no good thing. And remember, when it comes to salvation, Jesus Christ is God in the flesh, who died, was buried, and rose again the third day. As a matter of fact, uh, when we look at the resurrection, it is the capstone of Christianity, and we
know that. And so you say, what's going on here? He says. The inception of it has to do with our own lust.
You're listening to Treasure Truth and the beginning of a series called The Inner Me. Enemy, really? A look at James chapter one in today's broadcast. And this is going to be a powerful series about the battle against sin. If you want to make sure that you don't miss any of these broadcasts, come to our website. It's Treasure Radio. There you can sign up to begin podcasting the program, and if you happen to use iTunes for your podcasting, would you go ahead and rate the podcast that will
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