Anything you have to ask? Is it sin? Is sin to you? That's what the Bible says. It says whatsoever is not of faith is sin. So if I can't do it in faith, I shouldn't do it because it becomes sin.
Welcome to Treasure Truth with pastor and author James Ford, junior senior pastor of Christ Bible Church in Chicago. I'm Steve Hiller. Glad you're with us as we continue a message taming temptation and pastor, it sounds like you're saying, and I love how simply you put this. If we are wondering whether or not a certain thing that maybe we're tempted to do is sin or not, we don't know, it's best to err on the side of caution and not go ahead and do that thing.
Well, right. And and we need to realize, you know, I used to think that there were gray areas in the Bible, things that God hadn't addressed that have, you know, contemporary application. In other words, they didn't have these things back in the day, in the Bible Day. Yeah. But we we deal with things. And so I don't know, because the Bible, it doesn't specifically state whether I should or whether I shouldn't. Well, here, this verse is so powerful because it takes away the gray areas. Can you
do this in faith? It's a simple question. Yes or no?
No. Explain what you mean by that. Can you do this in faith?
That is, you have no doubt whatsoever, because faith and doubt are like oil and water.
Okay. Yep.
They will not mix. And so we're supposed to walk by faith and not by sight. So Hebrews one faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Hebrews 11 six without faith it is impossible to please him, for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. So then we are people of faith. Second Corinthians five seven we walk by faith and not by sight. So God wants us
to live in the realm of faith. Now I've defined it over and over again, but I'll do it one more time, because there may be someone listening who didn't hear the last time I did the definition. Faith is believing. It is so, even when it's not so until it becomes so. Because God said so and so. Faith gives me insight into foresight like it's hindsight. In other words, I know I can do this in confidence if I can't. My motto is when in doubt, don't.
And I think for a lot of people, that is the best possible advice that you could give them as they're facing a situation. Does that ever lead to what we would maybe call someone acting like a Pharisee then?
Uh, it could, it really could. But I like what I'm a Pittsburgh Steelers fan.
I won't hold that against you.
I know, I know. If God can forgive me, so can you bears fans. But Chuck Noll, a former coach of the Steelers, said this. He said stubbornness is a virtue. If you're right.
Mm.
And so the question on the floor, then, is it right? Then you need to be stubborn about it as opposed to being pharisaical.
Well, with that, let's open up our Bibles to first Corinthians ten and dive into what God's Word says on this whole topic of temptation as we continue a message simply entitled Taming Temptation. Here is Pastor Ford.
Our efficiency is a deficiency without Christ. All sufficiency. Let me say that again. I like the way that play. As Rommel would say, our efficiency is a deficiency without Christ. All sufficiency. There's a there's a Chinese proverb. Here's what it says. An unguarded strength is a double weakness. So just in the area, you think you're strong, that's going to be the area that he's going to try to catch you off guard because you think you're so strong.
I ain't going to never do this. I ain't never do that. Mm. Okay. Watch I hate to get the Bible on this, but but check this out. The great men and women of the Bible, did they fall in the area of their strength or in the area of their weakness? Okay, I did a little survey. Abraham. What was his strength? Obedience. He's called the father of the faithful. Where did he fail? Obedience. Noah. What was his? His, uh, main.
What was his main strength? Discipline. For 120 years, he had a three word sermon, and he built a boat thousands of miles from. From water. And what did he do? Come off the boat and got drunk. He fell in the area of his discipline. What about Isaac Truth teller. And where did he fail? Telling the truth. What was. What was Moses? Strength. Meekness? What happened to him? I give you water. I'm sick and tired of you. Yeah. What was David's strength? Integrity? Where did he fall? Integrity.
What was Elijah's strength? Faith. Where did he fall? Faith. What was Uzziah's strength? Adherence to God's word. Where did he fall? Failing to adhere to God's word. What was Peter's strength? Courage. What makes the muskrat guard his musk? Courage? Where did he fail? Courage. In unguarded strength is a double weakness. You write these down. If you're. If you're. If you're keeping notes. Proverbs 1618. Proverbs 1618. Proverbs 11 two. Proverbs 11 two. Proverbs 1533. No escape, no exemptions. And
if we understand and apply it, we'll see then. No excuses, no excuses. It says, But God is faithful. Now you know what our first excuse is for most of us? The devil made me do it. The devil made me do it. Now, granted, he does play a role in temptation. You know what he'll do? He'll whisper to us. It's okay to look at. It's alright to listen to. Ain't no problem with being there. So do this, do that. One's not going to hurt you. How about this one? This will be the last It's time.
To go home.
Look, just a little is not going to hurt you. See, the devil is a camouflage expert. He makes sin look good. What does he do, pastor? Glad you asked. He calls our attention to sin. That's our eyes. First we see it. Then he causes our attraction to sin. That's the mind. Then we sense it. Then he captures our affection for sin. That's the emotions. We settle for it. Then he corrupts our ambition in sin. That's the volition we serve it. It's a process. All you got to do is look
and see. When he tempted Eve with the Word of God, what he did to the Word of God. I mean, he distorted it. He said, come on, hath God said he knew if he came up and just said, The Bible doesn't teach this. No, no. Is this the right interpretation? Well guess what? Some things don't need an interpretation, do they? Like Romans chapter one, when he says homosexuality is an abomination. Anybody remember what an abomination is? Sin means to miss the mark. You got a bull's eye, hermesia. And it
means an archer shooting his arrow. And he completely misses the bull's eye. You know what an abomination is? You ain't even aiming in the right direction. Ain't no way you can hit it because you ain't even aiming in the right direction. Look, I tell you all the time, you can't defeat the devil you've been dating all week. Can't cast them out if you're going to bed with him. Satan, I rebuke you in the name of Jesus. Oh, shut up and get in his bed. Adrian Rogers, the late,
great preacher of the gospel, used to say this. We used to have strapless gowns. Now we have gown straps. Now people come downtown and what they shouldn't come downstairs in. And some of us get spiritual and blame God. Remember what Adam did. Who'd he blame? Holler it out. Okay. Wow. I am so relieved that you all said that. Finally. Yeah, he blamed God because God is emphatic in the Hebrew text. The woman you gave me. This is your fault. And a whole lot of people do that, don't they?
Well, he gave me all these desires.
You know why he won't hook a brother up like that?
Mhm.
And so James reminds us. James 113 we're tempted when we're drawn away from our own lusts. Anybody who was here when we when we when we talked about that, we said, James talks about the inception of sin, then the deception of sin, then the reception of sin, then the conception of sin. And he says it's a process. And so what do we do? We need to understand that it coerces our emotion, it captures our mind, then
it controls our will. Chinese proverb says his way. First the man takes a drink, then the drink takes a drink. Then the drink takes the man. Then that's what happens to us. The little boy was told not to eat the cookies. He got caught. Here's his explanation. I got on the chair to smell them and my teeth got stuck. Can I ask you a question? What's your teeth stuck two.
Mm.
So you got to be careful. Why? Because the Bible says that God will allow us to have what we want that he doesn't want us to have, so that we won't want it. Remember, they were crying in the wilderness. We tired of this manna. Man in the morning, man of corn flakes. Man of sandwiches, man a casserole. I'm tired of manna, man A fried man, a baked manna, a steamed manna. Grilled manna.
I'm tired of manna.
And God said, okay, I'm tired of you complaining about what I. Okay, so here's what you got me. Go on, take the meat. And it says he sent leanness. He gave them their request but sent leanness into their soul. You know what that means? That God said, since this is the decision that you want to make, then you will that will become the grid from which you make all your decisions. Oh, no. Don't. The worst thing God can do is let you have your own way. Have
you learned that yet? Have you learned that yet? I have learned that painfully. The worst thing he can do is let me have what I want. And there are many of us who. Who. Hey. We okay? And I was going to say I was going to talk about that, but, I mean, there's people that are hooked up with people that they want it so bad that they wish they could get rid of them suckers now. Ooh, what did I what what was wrong with me? What was I on? What was I on? Be careful what you want. God
may let you have it. So don't be like Adam and Eve. They tried to hide it. They tried to cover it. They tried to blame somebody else. It's not my fault. I can't help it. Everybody's doing it. Nobody's perfect. I was pressured into it. I didn't know it was wrong. My question would be if we didn't know it was wrong. Why do we make sure nobody was around when we did it? If we didn't know it was wrong, why did we always wait to do it at night? If we didn't. Okay. All right. I know. Hey. Can I.
Can I tell you something? Anything you have to ask. Is it sin? It's sin to you. That's what the Bible says. It says whatsoever is not of faith is sin. So if I can't do it in faith, I shouldn't do it because it becomes sick. Yeah.
It's convicting for some of us, isn't it? You're listening to Treasure Truth with pastor and author James Ford Jr. A message entitled Taming Temptation, and we're going to get back to this message in just one moment. I want to let you know if you're ever in the Chicago area, you can visit Christ Bible Church of Chicago and hear Pastor Ford speak live. He'll get all the info you need when you come to our website and click the about link, and we'd love for you to connect with
us on social media like Facebook and Twitter. You can access our Facebook page. Leave your comments there. Even listen to today's program directly from the Facebook page. So go ahead and like us. So we show up in your newsfeed. But right now let's continue the teaching. Here again is Pastor Ford.
So he wants us to understand that's Romans 1423. For those of you who need the reference, we contain temptation. If we understand and apply these principles about temptation, here's the last one. There's no exploitation. No exploitation. God guarantees the victory. Look at the word. But, but, but you know. You know what it means. The front side of me is kicked to the curb by what's on the back side of me. But. So I have a I in Ephesians two four. I'm dead. Depraved, but God. So my purpose.
Genesis 512 But God meant it for good. You meant it for evil. First Corinthians two nine and ten. My perception. Uh, then Philippians 419 my prosperity. These are buts that cover my pardon, my purpose, my perception, my prosperity. Now. But God will now allow you to be tempted above. You're able to stand, but will, with the temptation make a way of escape. Here's all I want you to see. I can't go into the whole thing because I gotta be done now. But here's what he talks about. He
talks about the person that says there's no expectation. God said it, that we can overcome it. That settles it. There is a way of escape. Now we gotta learn how to deal with it. So. So you holler it out real quick. Come on. I need to shut it down. But he gave us a way to deal with everything. And if we deal with it the way God says, deal with it, we've got a better chance of defeating it. So then God said that this person who said it said that we can defeat the devil. How? I said
we can defeat the devil. How? Okay, we fight. The devil wears it. Found. Every Christian ought to know this. If this is the weapons, how come we don't know this? How come I say this over and over again. Write this down. Listen. The Word of God is your only hope. And so you need to know that what's what's the Bible say that James chapter four six through eight, it says, submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. We are to do like Jesus did
in Matthew four. He fought the devil. He hit him with the Word of God. It is written, it is written, it is. That's the only thing the devil is going to run from is the word. Now how are you going to feed him?
And you don't know it?
So he come and say, God, don't abandon you. He'll never leave me nor forsake me. I don't care how it looks. He's there. I can't see him, but he's working. I don't believe it. You're not going to get what you need. But my God shall supply all my needs. It may not come in the amount I want, the way I want, but God's going to provide. He said it. I'm just looking for it. I believe him, I trust him. I don't care what my circumstances tell me. So you fight the devil. What do you do with the flesh?
You flee the flesh. Second Timothy 222. You got to get. You can't fight the flesh. And I don't know why we keep trying. You alone with somebody and maybe you even, you know, engage or whatever. Now, y'all, you done had a nice night. It's a godly night. You done ate dinner and everything. Come on up for a cup of coffee. You know doggone well it going to be more than a cup of coffee. Don't go up there. Don't. Then she going to come up? Well, let me relight the aromatherapy. Why?
You want to light them candles? We're here. Put Luther on, I like that. Are you crazy? It's not.
Going to.
Happen. You're not going to keep yourself pure. I don't care how godly you are. The smells hitting your nostril. You looking at that woman or that man? Your eyes all filled with desire. Your heart filled with love. You say. Well, it's time to go now. God bless you. Praise the Lord. Come on, let's pray. That ain't going to happen. Alright. That ain't going to happen. You don't believe me? There's some folk who know what I'm talking about. They're just
looking real holy right now. They ain't know what I'm talking about. And so it's the person. But then the promise you see in this little segment here, this little paragraph, there's a person, there's a promise. Then he talks about the parameters, then he talks about the power. And then what do we do with the world? We faith the world, love not the world, the things in the world, but all the world. Lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and pride of life. And these things are
not of God. And he says, first John five four, this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith. We got different weapons for different things, and we've got to use them. So we we flee the flesh, we fight the devil, we face the world. And God says, listen, you, you've got to do this. You've got to do this. Will I close? It came out in 1985. It was called Fright Night. Roddy McDowell, Chris Sarandon and William Ragsdale. Charlie was played by Peter Vincent. And you know what
took place there? Fright night was about Dracula, and he was coming after Roddy McDowell was the professor who knew how to defeat him. And he told the young man, this is how you defeat him. He, he, you know, blessed holy water, garlic and a cross. And if you've never seen it, it's a it's a it's a fascinating part. Uh, Charlie is being accosted by Dracula, And so he takes the cross and he puts it up.
Low.
And Dracula goes.
Ah ha ha ha ha!
Goes up, grabs the cross, crushes it in his face. And Roddy Mcdowall's got this look on his face like, wait a minute. Why isn't this working? And Dracula looks at him and says, you're wondering why it's not working. Because if you don't.
Believe.
It, it doesn't work. I came to tell somebody today. If you don't believe it, the cross doesn't work. But our victory was obtained at Calvary. So I say it all the time. We don't fight for victory. We fight from the victory that Christ won at Calvary. So then I'm crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live yet not I, but Christ lives in me, and the life I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me. And so what needs to happen? I've got to get more of Christ,
to feel me, to control me. Because all I want to do is act like Jesus acted when he was tempted. Well, I can't do that in my flesh. I've got to do that in my faith. So then I've got to release Jesus Christ, who is in me in all of his fullness, because he's the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And in him I am complete. That means my completeness has to do with my victory. My victory is in Christ. My joy is in Christ. My peace is in Christ.
It's all in Christ. And so what I need to do is I don't need to try to tame temptation myself. It's already been tamed. It's already been defeated. What did Paul say? But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through Jesus Christ our Lord.
What a great reminder that is as we wrap up this teaching on taming temptation. The victory is ours in Christ. It's so important to keep those last two words in mind, isn't it? Well, this short series of messages from First Corinthians chapter ten are called Taming Temptation. And if you missed any of them, you can go back and listen
again by coming to Treasure Truth radio.org. You know, pastor, there are all sorts of voices in culture that are bombarding us with messages that are so contrary to God's Word and to what Scripture says. And I think one of the reasons that listeners may want to consider giving a gift to support is that Moody Radio and Treasure Truth can help us stand firm.
Amen. Because Moody Network will give us the gospel straight, no chaser. And we don't want to mix anything with the Word of God. Because if you dilute it, you pollute it. And you know, Steve, I went on an all fruit diet and I gained weight and I couldn't understand what happened. I mean, you know, all I had was apple pie. Peach cobbler. Huh? You know, you see.
Where you're going?
Here you get. Yeah, yeah. That everything I added to it polluted it and took away its nutritional value. That's what's happening with the word of God today. Hey, Moody encourages all of us not to be politically correct, but to be biblically correct.
Well, you can help us do that to to share the truth of God's Word with those who will come across this program and across Moody Radio by giving a gift come to Treasure Truth radio.org and click on the donate button. Thanks for doing that and for listening today. Thanks to our producers, Amy Rios and Ryan McConaughey. For Pastor Ford, I'm Steve Hiller. Treasure truth is a production of Moody Radio, a ministry of Moody Bible Institute.