Discerning Between Temptation and Sin - Zac Poonen

a lot of people get condemned because they confuse temptation with sin and james chapter one is a very great chapter on that james in chapter 1 i say this so that you can be delivered from condemnation temptation is different from sin just like to use a medical example a common example which is the example james uses that is different like every woman has in her body uh the human eggs that can become a baby but it cannot become a baby without conception only when conception takes place that egg becomes a embryo and becomes a baby so james says here verse james 1 15 lust when it is conceived gives birth to sin otherwise it's not sin that means if i have i'm tempted to something that's like there's something within me that has got the potential to become a sin like a woman's egg has the potential to become a baby but if there's no conception there's no baby and so for conception to take place there must be a union of something with that egg to produce a baby and in this case is the union of my will a temptation is there yeah there's a potential for sin there and my will agrees with it yes i want it my sin in my mind but if a temptation comes into my mind i see it's just like an egg no baby there i reject it i don't want it there's no sin i throw it out i heard of a a sailor in the british navy who was given a very high-ranking medal in one of the world wars because when he was traveling near a german ship the german ship threw a grenade you know grenade is something that you pull out a pin it's a bomb but it explodes only after say 30 seconds or so in which time you throw it by time it reaches the other ship it explodes over there so this german guy threw the grenade and this brave british uh sailor he knew it takes 30 seconds he picked it up and threw it back into the german ship and it exploded over there and they gave him a medal for it for being so smart it didn't explode so if the devil throws a a grenade into my move which has the potential of exploding and i throw it right back i say i don't want that i'm okay he threw it in me there was a possibility of it exploding but i was smart enough to quickly throw it back but if i look at it and examine it a bit before then you're finished you've got to be pretty quick to throw it right back so that's so that's then it doesn't explode then i'm you did the grenade land here of course it did but i threw it right back and didn't explode it did not become sin so just because a thought came into your mind you can be sitting in this church and right now have the filthiest possible thought come into your mind you see that's not a sin you reject it see i don't want it i don't want it it's not me you rejected it in your mind immediately you've thrown the grenade right back there's no conception there's no sin because many people get condemned on this oh brother zach such a horrible thought came into my mind why didn't you throw it right back that'd be no sin that you didn't you didn't if your will didn't yield to it you didn't conceive see however much a girl may be attracted to a handsome young man who's keeping on calling her calling her calling her calling or calling her and keep she keeps saying no she keeps saying no there's no conception she never gets a baby but you ask that girl did you feel attracted to him did you feel attractive yeah boy he was really smart and attractive he was really i was drawn to him but there's no baby so the fact that you're drawn to some sin doesn't mean you have sinned there's an attraction if there's no attraction there's no temptation you know that if the tree of knowledge of good and evil was filthy smelly full of thorns and stinking like a toilet dirty toilet and the lord told mo adam don't go near that he said thank you i don't want to go anywhere near it why did god make it so attractive probably the most beautiful tree in the garden to ask him am i more important to you than this attractive thing i created was he attracted yes he was attracted but she did not sin when she took it that's when she sinned remember this you're attracted to something you haven't sinned for example if god had made every woman in the world old and haggard and white-haired and drooping face and ugly and and said don't lust after women you'd say no problem lord absolutely every woman's like that but god has made some of them so attractive and he's saying to you do you love me the creator more than what i created same question that came to eve do you love the creator or the created in almost every temptation that is the question say no god i choose you that's what you need to say there's no concern are you attracted of course you don't want to pretend that you are she's so ugly that's a lie how can you say a pretty woman is ugly oh the sunset is so ugly it's really beautiful what's wrong in saying that but don't admire it don't look at it because you'll be tempted so the fact that you're attracted doesn't mean it's sin but don't yield to it in your mind it's very important to this when the day i understood this it delivered me from unnecessary condemnation but if you're in doubt whether maybe i did yield and ask the lord to forgive you but don't live in condemnation that you're tempted or you feel attracted to something money money is very attractive just like the tree of knowledge of good and evil it's one of the most attractive things on earth and the fact that you're drawn towards it there's nothing wrong in it don't do anything wrong to get it don't put money above god's kingdom keep it in his proper place under your feet just like gold is on the streets of heaven i often say if you can learn to put gold under your feet you're ready to go to heaven as far as money is concerned keep it under your feet so there's a difference between temptation and sin keep a good conscience then we go to the second story the second story is our family life if you're a child at home as far as you're concerned obedience to your parents and that's how we start honor your father and mother that it may go well with you jesus honored his father and his earthly foster parents they were not mary was his mother but joseph was not his father but god had appointed them oh jesus honored them and did everything they told him to do and he's our example so family life as starting as children if you want to be a godly boy or girl start by honoring your father and mother never tell them a lie if you do something wrong just go to your daddy and mommy say i'm sorry i did that please forgive me i want to be a better boy i want to be a better girl we want cfc children to be truthful children never telling lies we want cfc children to be obedient to their parents in a world full of disobedience we want cfc children in school to have the best testimony i remember when my youngest son was in school here in bangalore i asked him a question once i said you know all that you've been in your class now for many years with the same students and you watch them i'm sure you know pretty well who are the ones who cheat in examinations and he says dad i know them everyone except two of us and we are both from cfc how sad and yet how happy i was that's because in our church we kept on teaching you must not cheat in an examination it's better to fail than to pass by cheating all your life you'll have a bad conscience do you know the number of letters i get from people who say brother zach 20 years ago i cheated and passed an examination and got a certificate and with that certificate i got a job the whole thing was based on a lie what shall i do now they're tormented in their conscience don't don't wait for that it doesn't matter if you didn't get 70 be happy with 50 but don't cheat don't try to get the examination paper through different people who say ah the paper is out now if you pay so much money you get it no no parents be careful to teach your children be upright and then as you seek for marriage family life make sure your young people that you seek for a godly person i often teach young people the 50 30 20 rule the 50 30 20 rule is man is spirit soul and body so in evaluating a brother or a sister when you consider marriage give 50 marks for spiritual qualities are they born again do they want to follow jesus that's not everything but 50 percent and then give 30 marks to other factors like intellectual same language intellectual communication ability and social and economic equality because you know we must have an equal yoke it'd be very difficult for a phd person to fellowship with a completely illiterate girl from a village they may be both born again but there'll be a lot of incompatibility so there's nothing wrong man is not just spirit he's also soul mind emotions so there must be certain amount of equality there but not 50 30 and then 20 for physical factors like age you know people say oh physical factors are not important of course they're important i mean if you're 25 years old i don't think you'll marry somebody 75 years old it's highly unlikely you're automatically considering age without even thinking about it you immediately want to know what's the person's age and you want to know you know physical attractiveness is not completely unimportant it is important to a certain extent but not the most important man is not body soul and spirit 1 thessalonians 5 23 gives you the right order spirit soul and body so 50 percent i would say it's just my own guideline for spiritual values and 30 for earthly values and 20 for physical attractiveness but unfortunately in the world it's not like that and unfortunately in the world it is uh beauty and money and sometimes they look for brains but sometimes they don't but it's usually that so i remind them always of this verse in proverbs 11 verse 22 proverbs 11 22 it says a beautiful girl and let me paraphrase it a beautiful girl who is not spiritually minded is like a pig with a golden ring on its nose you got it a beautiful girl who's not spiritually minded is like a pig with a golden ring on its nose the nature is the nature of a pig but it's got this golden ring called beauty beauty is actually in if you're chem if you understand chemistry you know what molecules are you know our face is just full of molecules and it's a certain arrangement of molecules that we call beauty that's all there is to it you arrange the molecules a little differently and it's not beautiful anymore so you you look at a pretty woman it says arrangement of molecules is okay there that's all there is to it the real person is inside so don't get taken up with the arrangement of molecules and it says it's like a golden ring now supposing you see a pig with a golden ring and say ah that golden ring just i want that golden ring at any cost and you marry the pig don't be so foolish that's what happens to a man who just looks at a pretty girl and doesn't bother about whether she's godly or not so that's the second stage of family life and then after you get married it's so important that husband and wife live in a godly way with each other and i want to tell you the bible teaches there's only one way for two people to become one in the old testament it was impossible it was impossible not difficult impossible because man's flesh is so strong the veil was not rent you cannot be one with each other in the outer court or the holy place you can be one with each other only in the most holy place when the veil is rent that means the flesh is crucified if two people crucify their flesh they will become one if one of them is not willing to crucify the flesh they will not become one like i say if um two hands like husband and wife they'll always fight clapping is like fighting but if one any one of them husband or wife is willing to die to self there's no sound you can wave it as much as you like the other person refuses to fight if one person in a family refuses to fight there is peace if both refuse to fight there'll be fellowship if both refuse to die they'll be clash if one refuses one is ready to die there'll be peace if both are ready to die there'll be fellowship so it's on the cross that we become one the bible says in ephesians 2 jesus stretched out his hand and brought jew and gentile together to become one on the cross to become one ephesians and chapter 2 and verse 14 and 15. he destroyed the enmity that is in our flesh there is an enmity in our flesh that makes us clash with one another husband and wife wife and husband that's why whenever people get married every marriage in the early days and years there's conflict and that's why whenever newly married people get newly married i always tell them two most important lessons in marriage is forgive ask forgiveness quickly and forgive quickly ask forgiveness quickly forgive quickly and never go to bed without settling matters never go to bed angry with each other this is how we are building the second story now you may not accomplish this overnight you can it's very easy to ask forgiveness it's only pride only pride that prevents some person from saying i'm sorry that is my mistake please forgive me how can we do it better i am sorry it is my mistake please forgive me how can we do it better you try saying it very very difficult for those words to come out of your mouth it'll get stuck in your throat somewhere there but that's one of the secrets of happiness in the early years of marriage and as you go on in married life you become more willing to recognize that i'm an imperfect person married to an imperfect person and if i think there are so many peculiarities in this partner of mine that i have to bear with please remember there are equally great peculiarities in you that he has to bear with or she has to bear with and if that person is keeping silent you can also keep silent otherwise you you think that you're the only one who's bearing with problems in the other person no he's bearing with problems with you and she's bearing with problems in you also brother so don't be taken up with how much you have to bear with your partner so our family life is very important you can't build a church you can't have a glory in the church before you have glory in your personal life and glory in your home then we have the glory in the church so it's very very important to build a home that's why we have so many meetings for families in all of our cfc conferences very very important husband and wife must learn to live together and be an example it won't come overnight it may take many years but determined to get there you know how some people go to the gulf or work in different places and for years and years and years they are saving money many of you have done that and finally maybe before you retire you build a house and you're so happy you saved enough money to build a house for your retirement isn't that wonderful in the same way work in your marriage save save save like the person saves and saves and saves slowly slowly slowly you come to a life of happiness together a little taste of heaven on earth it takes time you can't start building a house the very first year you started earning your salary no but you save a little bit save a little bit when you go to your house how many years you took some of you took many years to build your own house in the same way to build a good family life be patient just like your patient to save and save and save and save deny yourself and deny yourself deny yourself one day you'll have a wonderful heavenly married life even then there may be the occasional slip up don't worry but your marriage will be more like heaven than like hell so very important that in our church we have godly homes the strength of a church is not the number of people that sit there but the quality of the homes that constitute that church how good are these homes not perfect homes but homes that are pressing on to perfection that are saving up money to build a perfect house that are pressing on to humble themselves and ask forgiveness from one another and in the home the other thing is the way we bring up our children we want another generation to grow up carrying on the same truths and there's a great law in scripture either scripture is right or it's wrong if you believe scripture is right it says in proverbs 22 and verse 6 train up a child in the way he should go and when he's old he will not depart from it now you can say well we can't say that will be true of all children some children are different then it should be train up a child the way you should go and some of them when they're old will not depart from it some may depart from it but that's not what the bible says train up a child in the way you should go when he or she is old they will not depart from it you train the pup in a particular way in godlessness they will become godless you train them up in a godly way they will become godly now i don't don't give me examples of exceptions to the rule you're contradicting scripture then i want to tell you let god be true and what every man a liar that's what it says in romans chapter 3 that god's word be true and every other testimony people give is a lie train up your children when they are young and start when they are one year old teach them to obey teach them to speak the truth they may have ups and downs of course they have ups and downs we all had it they'll struggle a bit particularly in their teenage years and 20s there'll be some struggles and all children some rare children escape it but otherwise there will be that rebellious teenage spirit and some maybe your daughter or your son that but in those are the years when you should be their friends don't just rebuke them and shout at them hug them and kiss them and love them and pray short prayers with them don't pray long prayers with your teenage difficult boys and girls just short praise lord just bless my little daughter or bless my son that's enough and love them they're going through this up and down stage and say i'll never be disappointed with you my girl my son i'll never be disappointed with you i don't care what you do you'll there's nothing you can do that can make you make me that you could stop me from loving you whatever you may do it'll never stop me from loving you impossible you know we must say good things to our children they face a world where they hear negative negative negative things in their school and sometimes they're not good looking and other people look down on them people bully them in school where should they get encouragement at home do we encourage them we rebuke them correct them i believe we must correct them and ten times every correction there must be ten encouragements very often is the other way around one encouragement and ten corrections no wonder our children are discouraged we feed them clothe them educate them and push them to get good marks and all that but the most important thing is to encourage them correct them and encourage them boy that's great you know like a little child comes to you and says dad i discovered today cat is cat wow you say really do you react like that to your child or do you say oh i knew that long ago that's the way to drive your child away be excited when he says four foes are 16 dad did you know that oh really you've got to be a good father to your parents to your children train your train of your child the way you should go and when he's old he will not depart from it yeah we want our children to grow up and teach them the scriptures teach them the instruction of the lord fathers especially give them a picture bible to read on their own and ask them questions those don't ask them complicated questions the sovereignty of god and all that just ask them simple things like which they can understand you know who is jesus mother and ask them easy things to seek an answer and who was mary married to and little things like that and like that go on to ask other things you know how many books there are in the bible things like that and stimulate an interest in them to study the scriptures to know the scriptures and then as they grow up you can teach the principles of scripture why don't we cheat why don't we fight back with people who fight with us so once we've got the family life then we go to the third story the church the church is god's ultimate purpose of his love for us as jesus loved as he loved jesus of leading us to keep a good conscience building a family the ultimate goal is to build the church of jesus christ that's why we concentrate so much on building the church and we don't want to build a church as a congregation the same glory that is in the ground in the first story the second story we want that glory to be in the church and that's why you have a responsibility to make sure the glory is in your personal life you have a responsibility to make sure the glory is in your family life then we all come together glory will automatically be in the church because we have trained in our home elders the bible says elders are trained in their home 1 timothy three to bring up two or three children so that they can lead a church of 70 80 people but if they can't even bring up two three children how will they bring up 70 80 people so the training in the home that's what one timothy 3 says by the way so the training in the home is a preparation for ministry in the church that's exactly what it says we experience the glory at home and then we can bring that glory into the church but if you don't have the glory at home you're going to bring a theory to the church let's repent you know the solution to everything is repentance there's a wonderful solution repent don't say but there are reasons why the moment you justify yourself jesus said about the pharisees you are those who justify yourself you are those who always find an excuse to prove that you are not at fault the tremendous tendency to say that well brother zack my children go straight because you know the world is like that and you get bad company and some children are like that of course not my fault no no i'm perfect well it'll never go well with your children till you humble yourself and say that was my fault 100 i'm not going to like adam blame eve or blame the school or blame that person or blame that person you'll ruin your children that way go fall before god and say lord my fault forgive me what can i do now and there will be a solution do you know that there's not a single problem on earth for which you can say god is no solution i don't care how serious your problem is there's a solution with god and that's how we're going to build the church and that's what we found through 40 years of building this church do you know what all problems we have faced in this church from the beginning only ian and i know later on some of the others brazil all types of problems even in the construction of this building practical problems so many problems but we believe that in every problem there's a solution with god if we need money we don't ask for it we never asked for money once even when we built this building we never sent a letter asking people to give us money no or that any such hints or any such thing he said god's a solution with god i don't know how he's going to do it but he'll do it and if he doesn't do something with us we don't build the building simple we want to glorify god that's all we don't believe in buildings we believe in the family of god so we want to build a church which is like a family which functions together like the members of our body working together cooperating with each other and like we heard the other day where when one stretches you know how this there's a there are muscles here on top of my arm and muscles underneath so now these muscles are going to pull the muscles underneath saying hey great i'm going to yield sure you want to pull i'll yield and then when they pull this mud will say you want to pull sure i'll yield what cooperation and there's no noise also you know when you hear noise here it's called arthritis and sometimes among some brothers you hear a noise there's a lot of arthritis in the church we got to get rid of it it says in ephesians i'm not joking you read in ephesians 4 about the joints have you heard about the joints in ephesians 4 is then the problem in the joints is called arthritis ephesians chapter 4 it speaks about building the body it says here in ephesians 4 and verse 16 from christ the whole body is fitted and held together by that which every joint supplies according to the proper working of when each individual part causes the growth of the body in the building up of itself in love when you're working together with another brother the most important picture you must keep in mind is this in working with any brother or any sister noiseless arthritis-less fellowship joints that which every joint supplies look at the number of joints there are in your fingers in one finger alone one two three all of them were do you hear any noise that's how our fellowship must be in our church working together no competition when it's not i'm the senior brother you better yield every time you'll go wrong like this that's the problem in some churches so what if you're the senior brother sometimes you have to yield sometimes he has to heal this is fellowship this is between husband and wife the same thing or give and take as the world says what a great need there is my brothers and sisters for god almighty i'll conclude with this verse to show the devil a church that functions like that it says here in ephesians 3 god wants to show his manifold wisdom to the rulers that means the evil rulers in the heavenly places the devil and is it's called the spirit forces in heavenlies in chapter 6 and verse 12. the evil forces in the heavenly places mentioned here in ephesians 3 10 that god wants to show them through the church his wisdom god's wisdom is that which brings love and unity and god says hey satan and all your demons look at that church down there in that little village in india or that little town in india go look at that church satan do you see my wisdom there you see all those people are so different from each other you see out there in the world the malayalis and anglo indians never get together never function with each other and the tamils and telugu's and others don't work together in the marathis in the tamilians they have nothing to do with each other but go and see that church and you see that other church that's not a graduate scholarship that's a fellowship of graduates and illiterate people all in one church black and white and everything else one church go and see that church you see my wisdom that is what god is displaying through the church he's give he's he's showing off just like he said about job years ago have you seen job satan satan says about all these crooked people hypocrites yes but how about joe and today when god says when the devil says to god look at all these preachers asking for money begging for money and swindling poor people yes but have you seen that church look at all those churches full of disunity yes but have you seen that one that's what god is looking for i hope you have a burden in your locality to build a church like that to build a family like that to build a life like that may god help us let's pray heavenly father please help each one of us to take to heed to what we have heard today that we shall preserve the glory generation after generation in our church we pray in jesus name amen

Channel: CFC India

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Id: CJRAAVKO3Y8

Length: 33min 35sec (2015 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 22 2021