Man, the title of the sermon this morning is, Remove the Temptation, Remove the Temptation.
Look at verse 14 there in Romans 13, it says, But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make
not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust thereof.
Make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust thereof.
You know, we talk a lot about resisting temptation, not yielding to temptation, standing up to
temptation.
But you know, one of the best things that we can do in life is just to remove the temptation
and to just put these things far away from us, not to make provision for the flesh to
fulfill the lust of, meaning don't put ourselves in a position where we're easily able to fulfill
the lust of the flesh.
Let's keep these temptations as far away from us as we possibly can so that we're not even
in those situations.
Look if you would at Proverbs chapter 4, turn back in your Bible all the way back to Proverbs,
right in the middle of the Bible is the book of Psalms, right after that is Proverbs.
Look at Proverbs chapter 4, I'll start reading in verse 14 while you get there, Enter not
into the path of the wicked and go not in the way of evil men.
Look at verse 15, Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it and pass away.
He's saying, look, don't get anywhere near the paths where these wicked men are hanging
out.
They're in those areas, just don't go near them.
Look at verse 23, Keep thy heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of
life.
Put away from thee a froward mouth and perverse lips put far from thee.
Let thine eyes look right on and let thine eyelids look straight before thee, ponder
the path of thy feet and let all thy ways be established.
Turn not to the right hand nor to the left, and then I want to focus on this last phrase,
Move by foot from evil.
Don't even go to the places where evil is going on, get far away from it, put these
wicked people far from you, don't get right near them and see how close you can get.
And look at chapter 5, just on the next page, chapter 5 verse 3, For the lips of a strange
woman drop as a honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil, but her end is bitter as
wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.
Her feet go down to death, her steps take hold on hell, lest thou shouldst ponder the
path of life, her ways are movable that thou canst not know them.
Hear me now therefore, ye children, and depart not from the words of my mouth, watch this,
remove thy way far from her and come not nigh the door of her house.
Don't even get near her house, don't see how close you can get to the fire without getting
burned.
Get as far away from her as you possibly can.
And the Bible says in verse 6, lest thou shouldst ponder the path of life, you know, you think
that you've got it figured out, how you're going to be able to handle these temptations
and handle these dangerous people.
It says, her ways are movable that thou canst not know them.
You think you've got her all figured out, but no, she's one step ahead of you, she will
beguile you, she will deceive you, she will seduce you.
So here's the solution, stay away from her.
Don't go to her house.
In fact, don't even go near her house.
In fact, take an alternate route that doesn't even take you down that street of where that
loose woman is who is a temptation, who's a seductress.
And so one of the smartest things that we can do in our life is just to remove temptations
from our life.
Now obviously it's impossible to remove all of them, and it's not God's will that we remove
all of them, but we don't want to just make provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust
thereof.
We should do everything we can to keep temptation to a minimum.
Go if you would to Exodus chapter number 12.
Exodus chapter number 12.
You see, our willpower is sort of like a muscle, if you think about it.
It's something that can be exercised.
When we exercise our willpower to withstand temptation, for example.
But here's the thing about it.
Just as when we exercise our muscles, we have a limit where we run out of strength, we run
out of energy, it's the same way with your willpower.
Let's say you're at the bench and you're doing a bench press.
You might get to a point where you just cannot raise that bar again no matter what.
This is why you have a spotter there so that you can push for that last rep, and sometimes
you don't get it, and then the spotter has to jump in and help you.
Because eventually there's just no more propane left in the tank.
You run out of energy, you run out of strength, and your willpower can be the same way where
you exercise that willpower, you exercise that willpower, but then if you just keep
exercising it, eventually you get worn down.
You get ground down and you give in, and you eventually give in to that temptation.
So you don't want to just constantly be around temptation because eventually you'll run out
of strength to withstand it.
Eventually you have a weak moment or a bad day, you're going to give in to that.
Now using that same analogy about exercise, every time you do withstand a temptation you
get a little bit stronger.
There's a song in the hymnal called Yield Not to Temptation, and it alludes to this
It says, yield not to temptation, for yielding is sin, each victory will help you some other
to win.
It says each victory will help you some other to win, because if you do withstand temptation,
you're more likely to withstand it the next time you're stronger, but think about it though.
This is over time, this is over a habit, notwithstanding 20 temptations in one day, or 25 in one day,
that's like you just, and then you give in.
Also using that same analogy, if our temptation has a limit and it runs low, I submit to you
that the evening time or the night time is when your willpower is at the lowest, and
in the morning is when it's at the highest.
So when I wake up in the morning I have the greatest willpower, but then by the end of
the day, I've already withstood temptations, my willpower could be running low, and then
that's when I'm likely to give in to temptation.
Now think about your diet for example.
We think of temptation, you could think of gluttony, or overeating, or eating junk.
When do those binges typically happen?
First thing in the morning, or at night?
Think about it, late at night is when your willpower's on and you're just like, ah, whatever,
and you pour that bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch, or whatever your poison is, the cookies, or
the ice cream, or whatever, that stuff happens late at night often because that's when our
willpower is at its lowest.
That's why if you're gonna do a periodic fasting, usually it's a lot easier to skip breakfast
than it is to skip dinner, because by the time you get to dinner, you wanna eat, and
it's just willpower's at its lowest.
This is why we need to be extra careful in the evenings or at night to not put ourselves
in positions where we're tempted.
That's why the last thing you should be doing at night is being out partying, and you're
out at the bar, and you're out at the casino, and you're just out on the town, because that's
when you're likely to get into trouble.
You're better off to go to bed early, get up early, and live a godly, Christian, decent
life, and not just be out at night just partying and doing whatever, and just opened up to
whatever temptations are out there.
Now go to Exodus chapter 12 verse 15, it says, seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread.
Even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses.
Now here's the thing, leaven in the Bible often pictures or symbolizes sin, and he's
saying you're not supposed to eat leaven during this time, so here's the best way to not eat
leaven.
Don't even have it in your house.
He says put away leaven out of your houses, why?
Because for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day,
that soul shall be cut off from Israel.
So what's the reason to get it out of your house?
Well because if you eat it, you're in big trouble, you get exiled from the nation of
Israel, so the best way not to eat it is not to have it in your house.
Look at verse 19, seven days shall there be no leaven found in your houses.
Now it doesn't say, well because if anybody has it in their house they get exiled, that's
not what it says.
It says don't even have it in your house because whosoever eateth that which is leavened, even
that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he be a stranger or born
in the land.
Now think about it, if you have it in your house, you could accidentally eat it, or you
could just maybe be tempted to eat it, so he's saying just clear it out of your house
completely and you've removed the temptation, you've removed the danger from being there.
And you know, again, back on the dieting illustration, sorry everyone, but if you think about it,
the best way to eat the right food is to have the right food around.
And think about when you eat the worst junk, it's not because you're just setting out to
go out and eat the worst junk food, it's typically because that's what's available, that's what's
at hand.
I mean think about it, what if my office were just stocked with all kinds of candies, and
I've seen offices like this where they have these little candy jars and candy dishes,
I mean what if all over my office I just have Reese's Pieces and M&M's and all these candies,
and then I open the fridge and it's just all kinds of sodas and juices and other just like
high calorie drinks, you think that that's going to work out well for a diet?
Or think about how much easier the diet would be if I walk into my office and I've got like
a vegetable tray, I've got a little fruit dish, and so I'm snacking on grapes and carrots,
bananas, apples, oranges, that's going to be way easier to stay on my diet than grabbing
for whatever M&M's and Jolly Ranchers or whatever just happens to be there.
And if I open the fridge and I've got a bunch of water, or I've got those little flavored
carbonated waters or whatever that are zero calories with no artificial sweeteners, because
that's even worse by the way, but the point is if you have the right stuff at hand, it's
way easier to be on a diet than when you're just surrounded by temptation.
Getting the right food in your house is the first step toward eating healthy and getting
the junk food out of your house because if it's there, you're going to eat it eventually.
Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but one day your willpower is going to run low and
you're going to just fall face first into that crunch and munch or whatever it is.
So if you would flip over to the book of James in the New Testament, go to James chapter
1.
Want to remove the temptation from our lives.
The Bible tells us don't hang around with this strange woman, don't play with her, don't
see how close you can get to the fire without being burned, don't go the way near her house,
don't get as close to that sin as you can.
So when it comes to fornication or adultery, don't put yourself in a position where you
can easily commit fornication or adultery.
And what this often means is not being alone with people of the opposite gender.
So let's say some woman comes to church and says, oh, Pastor Anderson, I need to talk
to you.
Can we talk in private?
Here's what I always say, this is as private as I get right here.
I don't say, oh, let's go in my office and shut the door and have a big talk.
No way.
I don't do that.
And the only way I would ever have a conversation behind closed doors with her would be if I
brought like other staff or other people and there was some kind of a witness there or
somebody there because I don't want to just go alone into some counseling session with
some woman.
And look, it's not because of the fact that I'm even necessarily going to be tempted.
How about my reputation?
Because she could just lie and say stuff.
That's another reason.
Or also, I don't want to put myself in a position of temptation either.
So it's two things there that are just a good habit to be in to just stay public with the
opposite gender.
When you say, well, you know, we're dating and so we need to have private conversations
and we need to get to know each other and we, you know, we can't really do that in a
group.
Okay, I get that.
I understand the importance of having those heart to heart conversations before you get
married when you're dating.
But here's an idea, instead of dating in your bedroom, instead of dating in a hotel, you
know, instead of dating in, you know, your apartment by yourself or something, here's
the thing.
You date at a restaurant or you date out at a park somewhere, somewhere that's public
but yet private.
Because guess what?
If you're at a restaurant and you're at your own table, you can have a private conversation
but no fornication is going to happen.
Because you're in public, you know, you're outside or you're at a restaurant or somewhere.
So you know, you can get the best of both worlds.
You know, I remember when I was a teenager, dating a girl that her parents had strict
rules and wanted to follow these protocols and I remember going on a date with this girl
where her parents were sitting on the other side of the restaurant, you know, 40 feet
away and so I was sitting alone with her talking but the parents were there, okay, but they
were like 40 feet away so therefore we could still have a conversation, we could still
get to know each other, open up a little bit and not be some kind of an awkward thing.
But yet there was no danger of their daughter's either reputation being soiled or her actually
being literally physically defiled.
You know, you want to protect your reputation and you want to protect, you know, your actual
purity and so there's a way to do these things in a way that's on the up and up where you're
not just in a position where, oh, here's our date, you know, we're going to get together
and read the Bible on my bed.
That's a bad place to read the Bible, right?
That's a bad, oh, we're going to just be praying together in my bedroom with the lights out
so we can really focus on prayer.
This is obviously putting yourself in a position where you're making provision for the flesh
to fulfill the lust thereof.
If you're just constantly putting yourself in a position where fornication or the opportunity
to fornicate or the opportunity to commit adultery is right there, you know what, there's
a chance that eventually you could have a weak moment.
And here's another tip, by the way, you young people make sure that you're dating someone
who's also committed to being pure.
Because if you're committed to being pure, but the person that you're dating is not committed
to being pure, well then that means as soon as you have a weak moment, she's ready to
roll.
He's ready to roll.
Whereas if you both have that commitment, you know, hopefully you're not going to both
have the weak moment on the same day.
And if you do have the weak moment on the same day, hopefully you're out in a public
place where there's accountability, where there's people around and where you're not
able to give into that.
I'm telling you, you can't just rely on, well I'm walking in the Spirit so I'm not going
to fulfill the lust of the flesh.
Hey, that's great.
I'm all for walking in the Spirit.
I'm all for putting on the Lord Jesus Christ and mortifying the old man and walking in
the new man.
But let's face it, none of us is walking in the new man all the time.
None of us is in the Spirit 100% of the time.
None of us is perfect.
None of us is sinless.
And so therefore we want to minimize temptation in our lives.
And let me tell you something.
Even if you minimize temptation, there's still going to be temptation.
The only way to completely eliminate temptation from your life would be to cloister yourself
in some kind of a retreat somewhere where you're out in a cabin in the woods and there's
just no sin around.
There's no temptation around.
And there are people out there who do this.
Hermits that just withdraw from society or religions that have monasteries where it's
all dudes so there are no women around and there is nothing sinful around and they just
lock themselves up and try to live a righteous and holy life.
That is not God's will for our lives.
God has said that he does not want to take us out of the world but that he just wants
to keep us from the evil.
So I strongly believe that God wants us to interact with society.
He wants us to have business relationships and to have friendships and acquaintances
and to have a part in our community and to know neighbors or to know co-workers or classmates
or go to school, work, whatever, and be around these things.
I do believe that God desires for us to engage with our society so that we can reach people
with the gospel of Jesus Christ so that we can be an example, so that we can shine the
light of the gospel, and so that we can model the Christian life before this heathen world
so that they can see our good works and glorify our Father which is in heaven.
How are they going to see our good works if we're hiding somewhere?
And oh you're so super holy except what good is that doing to anybody?
You know it's our job on this earth to be a witness for the Lord Jesus Christ not to
just see how holy we can be for ourselves locked up somewhere.
So we don't want to just withdraw from society.
We want to be in society but while we're in society we're going to face temptation.
Living in Phoenix, Arizona you're going to face temptation.
But what I want to do is minimize the temptation that I face because I don't want to just constantly
be bombarded with temptation to the point where eventually I'm going to be worn down
and I'm going to give in to it because it's just easily available all the time.
I mean what if I just had a button with me all the time and any time I push that button
you know a bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch just appears before me, right?
I mean think about it.
That's going to be a disaster.
It's too easy.
You know I mean there are tons of times when I'm hungry and I'm tempted I'm thinking to
myself, man if I had all these high calorie foods I'd be eating them right now.
I'd eat anything right now but because it wasn't there I pushed through and then later
when I did get home and have those things possibly available or go to a store and have
those things available by then the worst part of the temptation had passed and I was able
to grab for something a little more sensible, okay?
So and the reason I keep bringing up food is just because it's such an easy illustration.
It's something that we can all relate to and you could apply this to other lusts as well.
You know the food thing is something we can all relate to even children and then you could
relate some of these same principles to you know fornication, drunkenness, adultery, drugs,
whatever it is people are craving that's sinful is the same thing, okay?
Look at James chapter 1 verse 13 it says, let no man say when he's tempted I'm tempted
of God for God cannot be tempted with evil neither tempteth he any man but every man
is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed then when lust have conceived
it bringeth forth sin and sin when it is finished bringeth forth death, right?
So we're tempted when we're drawn away of our own lust and enticed when lust have conceived
bring it forth sin, sin when it is finished bring it forth death.
Now I think a perfect illustration of this scripture is the Old Testament story in Joshua
chapter 7 about Achan and Achan was the guy who goes to that first battle of Jericho where
they were not supposed to take any of the spoil.
That first battle the spoils were supposed to be dedicated wholly to the Lord.
Later they're going to be able to take of the spoils but the first fruits of that war
belong to the Lord and so they weren't supposed to touch anything and Achan when he's confessing
his crime he says that he saw among the the stuff there he said he saw this Babylonish
garment and a wedge of gold and these things and and he saw and and here are the three
verbs that come up he says I saw I coveted I took that's the progression I saw I coveted
I took.
Now often we can't we can't help but see things.
We're going to see things right but that's where it needs to stop right when we see things
we need to stop there but the problem is he saw then he lusted he coveted he desired he
saw he coveted and then he took when lust had conceived it brought forth sin and sin
when it was finished brought forth death because Achan was killed but not only was Achan killed
his wife was killed his sons were killed his daughters were killed even his animals were
killed everything that pertained to Achan was put into a pit and destroyed and buried
it's a shocking scripture when you read it in Joshua chapter 7 but let me tell you something
God is warning us that sin leads to death and we need to be aware of that process of
seeing and then coveting and then taking and then doing it and so if you would flip over
to Galatians chapter 6 we're gonna go to Galatians 6 then we're gonna go to 1st Corinthians 7
but in Galatians chapter 6 it says in verse 1 brethren if a man be overtaken in a fault
ye which are spiritual restore such a one in the spirit of meekness if you're there
in Galatians chapter 6 verse 1 look at that last phrase considering thyself lest thou
also be tempted so it says if a man be overtaken in a fault we want to restore that guy but
we got to be careful about ourselves too because if this guy is living in sin or if he's in
a sinful life we don't want to put ourselves in a position where while trying to reach
this guy we're exposing ourselves to a lot of temptation you know it's not like hey let's
go to the bar where this guy has been hanging out and see if we can get him to come back
to church you know let's go over to the strip club where he's hanging out and see if we
can explain to him the error of his ways let's go to the casino with him and talk to him
about Christ you know and it sounds stupid when I say that it's it's a lot it's so laughable
it's a joke but you know what's so silly is that there are literally people who actually
promote going and preaching in places like that and it's absurd it makes no sense you
know when I was in Bible college we had an assignment in preaching class we had to preach
in all these strange locations and one of the locations that we had to preach was a
bar we were supposed to go to a bar and preach in a bar you know they're just trying to build
our boldness or our courage or having us preach in all these strange places and you know what
I refused to do that particular assignment I did everything else on the list but I told
the instructor I said hey I've never gone to a bar and I'm not going to start now for
this assignment so just go ahead and give me a zero because this assignment doesn't make any
sense you know and I was polite about it but I told him I'm not gonna do it and I just I took a
B in the class because I wasn't gonna go preach in a bar because I think it's stupid to go to a bar
and preach because guess what everybody in that bar also has a house that they live in they also
have an apartment that they live in they also go other places so in order to preach the gospel to
every creature I don't have to go to a bar to do that do I because I can find those same exact
people somewhere else and so you have these and look if I had a nickel for every time I had some
idiot say like oh we go preach at the at the gay pride parades I'd be a wealthy man and let me tell
you something that is wickedness the people who are going and preaching at the gay pride parade
are weirdos themselves because why in the world would you even want to go down there and see that
the Bible says I will set no wicked thing before my eyes why would you just purposely go to the
place where there's just the worst filth and and disgusting unimaginable things things that shouldn't
even be spoken of things that shouldn't even be mentioned and you're just like yeah we're gonna
go down there and you know because we're so tough we're so bold but you know we're gonna go preach
these homos and we're you know pastor Anderson's scared you know he hides behind a pulpit when he
says that they're all reprobates you know well we just go right to them we just go right to that
pride parade and just confronted head-on what's the matter pastor Anderson you chicken you know
they try to like appeal to some kind of you know a taunting like like a junior high time they like
I'm so tough I'm so bold you're too scared folks I am homophobic yeah amen I'm scared to death of
what's going on at that pride parade and I'm scared to see it I'm scared to have that filth
burned into my mind because I'd rather go to the grave not knowing what that looks like what
that's like what's going on there yes I am scared because I'm keeping my heart with all diligence
and I don't want to let that crap into my mind scared to death of it you ought to be too we
ought to run screaming in the other direction from that kind of obscenity and filth but you're so
tough you can handle it you can handle it right hey look I can handle it too but you think I want
to have my mind filled with that junk no way things go in but they don't go out I don't want
to look at that the Bible says I'll send no wicked thing before my eyes why would I purposely go look
at just filth and smut and wickedness it makes no sense and why would anybody think that that's
where you're gonna reach people the gospel and here's what they do they go to these places and
they scream at queers at some parade and then queers scream back and then they're just like
yeah that was cool it's like wait I've got another activity you might like cow tipping how about
that you immature idiot you see I'd rather actually go to people's doors where I can talk
to people one-on-one and actually have a chance to win them to Christ right I'd rather walk up
and down the street talking to people that are by themselves in a sober frame of mind ready to
listen and they're actually wearing clothes and they're actually not engaged in behavior that I'd
rather never even know about or even see or even be exposed to and just talk to people and actually
get people's it isn't funny when we got so winning we get people saved not every single time but look
our church is getting people saved every single week every single week we're getting people saved
getting people say these bunch of street preaching carnival clowns these geeks who are out there at
the gay pride parades and all these places screaming and yelling at people I wonder how
many souls they save versus if they actually talk to people if they actually just had a nice
conversation with someone in a normal environment not this us against them like we're gonna go down
there and fight against the homos or the pride parade you know I'd rather just stay away from
them do you want your kids going down there would you do you want your sons and daughters going down
there and witnessing at the queer pride parade because I don't want my sons and daughters down
there I don't want them to see that stuff I don't want their brains to be polluted with that junk I
don't want them to be around those violent predators because something could happen to
them or whatever you're just scared you better know I am you know I wonder if lot was scared
when they were surrounding his house screaming you know bring him in out that we may know them
I wonder if he was scared when they attacked him and assaulted him yeah you ought to be scared of
dangerous predators if you're not scared of them then you know what you're just being a fool because
look I understand God can protect us but that but it's like God's gonna protect me so I'll run into
the freeway God's gonna protect me so I might as well jump off a building oh yeah that's what
Satan tried to do Satan tried to say oh well if you trust God you'll put yourself in all these
dangerous positions because you trust God to protect you so jump off the temple and do all
this stuff no no I do trust in God but at the same time I'm not going to put myself in stupid
situations and it's like well you're just not spiritual enough to be alone with the opposite
gender you know my pastor is a spiritual giant so he can lock himself up in there with women for
hours in his office and nothing happened but here's the thing about that though is let him
that thinketh he stand to take heed lest he fall first of all okay so no I'm not just gonna put
myself in all these dumb positions and then rely on the Holy Spirit or rely on God to protect me
that's exactly what the devil told Jesus when he told him jump off jump off the building because
if you do God will protect you was that a righteous thing that the devil is asking him to do but
that's what you're doing you're tempting the Lord your God when you put yourself in stupid
positions and then expect God to protect you when you put yourself unnecessarily in a position where
you don't belong the Bible flat-out tells you not to give that which is holy unto the dogs nor cast
your pearls before swine lest they trample them under their feet and turn again and rend you
you're not obeying that scripture going to some filth fest so if you go to that filth fest who
knows what's gonna happen I don't want to be there I don't want to find out and so anyway
you want to consider ourselves lest we also be tempted yeah we want to reach people with the
gospel yeah we want to get backslidden Christians back on the right path but we're not going to do
it by going down into the gutter with them going to the bar the casino with them to pull them out
of sin no we need to consider ourselves also so that we are not tempted go to 1st Corinthians
chapter 7 1st Corinthians chapter number 7 now while you turn to 1st Corinthians 7 I'm going to
remind you of the story where the devil is tempting Jesus now when the devil tempted Jesus
Jesus had fasted 40 days and 40 nights and he was afterward and hungered that's when the devil went
to tempt him right when he's he's weak he's vulnerable he's hungry that's when he tempts
him and the first thing he says is if thou be the Son of God command that these stones be made
bread and of course Jesus answers with the famous statement is written the man shall not live by
bread alone but by every word of God and so Jesus of course being God he withstands that temptation
with with flying colors but we're not God so we need to be more careful even than Jesus okay
because we are not divine we're not perfect and so notice that the devil tempts him with food when
he's hungry when he hasn't eaten in 40 days and 40 nights that's a good time to tempt him with food
now look at 1st Corinthians chapter 7 verse 1 it says now concerning the things were of you wrote
unto me it is good for a man not to touch a woman nevertheless to avoid fornication let every man
have his own wife and let every woman have her own husband let the husband render under the wife
do benevolence and likewise also the wife unto the husband the wife hath not power of her own body
but the husband and likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body but the wife defraud ye
not one the other except to be with consent for a time that you may give yourselves to fasting in
prayer and come together again that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency what is the Bible
saying here he's saying look it's gonna be a lot easier to withstand the temptations of fornication
and adultery if you are married and you are having that relationship in a right way within
marriage it's going to be a lot easier not to be tempted into fornication or adultery he's saying
look to avoid fornication let every man have his own wife why because he's saying if you're just
forever single there's a good chance that eventually you're going to give into that
temptation and you're going to commit fornication whereas if you are married you are fulfilling that
appetite in a natural healthy righteous way within the bounds of marriage that's going to make it
easier to withstand that and he's saying that if you defraud one another meaning if you withhold
that physical relationship from your spouse for a length of time then it says Satan could tempt you
for your incontinency just as if I hadn't eaten any food for a long time it's going to be a lot
easier to tempt me with the wrong food okay I mean think about it what if I just ate a nice
home-cooked meal I eat a home-cooked meal and then I get in the car and I drive by some ice
cream place that I really like and I'm supposed to be on a diet it's gonna be a lot easier to
withstand that temptation when I just ate a bunch of food my stomachs full of the right kind of food
then I'm not going to be tempted as much but what if I totally skipped dinner and there's the ice
cream you know there's Andy's you know it's right there and basically you know Andy's frozen custard
this message has been brought to you in part by Andy's you know it's right there and you didn't
eat at home I mean look I remember back when I was young working in construction and everybody
on the construction crew is eating off the roach coach or they're all getting fast food every
single day and I'd be in the same truck with somebody so I'd be there every single day and
he's eating fast food and I couldn't afford to buy any fast food I had to eat all of my meals
from the grocery store because you know we were poor we were starting out we didn't have any extra
money even to eat fast food and so you know I had to withstand that temptation of sitting and
watching whoever I'm working with eat all this fast food now I'm not into fast food now but back
then I was into fast food back then and so you know I'm sitting there and he's indulging and
whatever Arby's or Jack in the Box or whatever Burger King and it all sounds revolting now but
back then it was it sounded good back then and I'm sitting there and watching this here's a I
better have a lunch that I brought from home or I'm gonna break down and buy something you know
but it was a lot easier when I had my brown sack lunch and I open it up and I've got all kinds of
homemade goodness coming out of that thing then is a piece of cake to watch him eat his Arby's
or whatever because I've got my cold homemade pizzas and I've got my chips and salsa and I've
got everything else that I brought from home my wife used to put salsa in a little Tupperware for
me a little bag of chips I'd have chips and salsa every single day you know that made a lot easier
to withstand the temptation of shelling out five bucks eight bucks that I didn't have on junky fast
food okay so this principle here is telling us that look if you're if you're eating at home
you're gonna be less tempted to eat out okay and so this goes also for the physical relationship
between husband wife eat at home so that you're not tempted to eat out and commit the awful sin
of adultery so that's what the Bible is saying here what's the title of the sermon remove the
temptation you know I'm all for you exercising your willpower I'm all for you with standing
temptation but you know what's often better than with standing temptation is just avoiding
temptation removing the temptation what about the Lord's Prayer lead us not into temptation but
deliver us from evil you know I'd rather than to just fight temptation all day every day because
I'm just so powerful that I can skip breakfast skip lunch skip dinner and then when all the
work guys go out to eat I'm just like give me a glass of water good luck with that mr. Superman
but you know what chances are you're gonna be ordering and so it's a lot smarter to not put
yourself in those positions where you're in in a position to fulfill the lust of the flesh go if
you would to Galatians chapter 5 Galatians chapter 5 and while you're turning there let me just say
a few things about this you know we've talked a lot about food and and fornication and adultery
and and things like that you know we can talk about alcohol you know if that's a temptation
for you don't go anywhere near alcohol don't have any alcohol in your house look if you're if you're
a recovering drunk you know you don't need to be cooking with wine you could probably do without
the beer battered fish and chips you can probably just figure out a way to make substitutions in
those recipes now here's the thing I submit to you I don't think that anybody should be cooking
with that stuff in their house anyway if you have kids because I would be afraid of having that stuff
in my in my house less my kids got curious and were tempted to experiment and and try the the
the wine or whatever I don't in theory I don't think there's anything wrong with cooking with
wine because obviously it cooks off all the alcohol but you know what having a bunch of
kids in my house I don't want to have that even in my house because I don't even want it to be
there for my children to be tempted by that because they're too young and stupid to know
not to touch that stuff and that it's it's only for cooking you know so I would only eat that at
a restaurant or something you know something that was cooked in that way I don't think you should
have that in your house if you have kids in your house that are that are going to be tempted by
that or if you have a problem with alcohol if you've ever had a problem with alcohol then keep
it far from you don't go anywhere near it you know if you've had problems with alcohol and if you used
to hang around in bars you know you may even want to just stay away from the bar and grill and you
know a lot of people would probably be fine to eat at a restaurant that's got a bar section or
whatever and they're like hey would you like to say at the bar you're like no and you sit at the
normal section of red robin or whatever but look if you're a person who is tempted by that atmosphere
you you know maybe you shouldn't even go in those restaurants and just stay even further away from
it you know what your temptations are you know what your proclivities are and you need to be
careful not to make provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust thereof stay away from it but
not only these things like like junk food and fornication adultery drunk drink drugs whatever
you know I think a big one for me on this that I've learned over the years is anger anger you
know there are certain things that trigger our anger okay and now it's easy to say like oh well
I'm just gonna control myself I'm just gonna control my anger and you know obviously we need
to be slow to anger and we all need to exercise ourselves in this ability to not lose our temper
over stupid things and not blow up and not get angry right I mean that's important for us as
Christians to be slow to wrath and to control that but you know what I've learned about myself though
is that there are certain things that just really make me mad and so you know what I do I just avoid
those things I avoid those triggers that I know are gonna trigger me to anger because there are
enough anger triggers out there anyway without me just purposely turning on an an anger trigger
called the news app and you know there are a lot of people that are just angry people and you know
what the Bible says make no friendship with an angry man like don't because he's gonna rub off
on you you're gonna get angry too have you ever known people that are just mad every day I can
think of tons of examples of people are just angry on a continual basis they're angry from day to day
you know the Bible says anger resteth in the bosom of fools there's a place for anger you know the
Bible says be angry and sin not let not the Sun go down on your wrath there's a place for anger
but I would say that 90 some percent of our anger is usually unrighteous and wrong because there's
a righteous anger but that's not typically the kind of anger that most of us would have in our
lives now you know when there's a righteous anger and it's appropriate I'm for it you ought to get
mad at certain things but here's the thing even if it's a righteous anger we're not supposed to
let the Sun go down on our wrath and so what if I am just reading the news every day and just
getting infuriated even if it's a righteous anger do I want to be angry on Monday angry on Tuesday
angry on Wednesday angry on Thursday angry on Friday because I'm just getting all fired up
about what Biden said and what Nancy Pelosi said and what this guy said and this new thing that's
going on there's so much negativity in the news if you're the type of person that gets angered by
those things then you know what in order to be a more peaceful person maybe you should just stop
reading the news and look if you don't have a problem with anger if you enjoy reading the news
I'm not trying to take away your good clean fun so I'm not up here telling you don't read the news
because look it you know if you like it if you enjoy it it beats going to the bar and getting
drunk every night so go go for it enjoy your your news or whatever there's a lot worse things you
could be doing as a hobby so I'm not trying to take away your fun I'm not trying to take away
your hobby I'm not trying to take away your interest but you know what though if it just
enrages you and makes you upset and you're just constantly stressed and you're angry and you're
just upset and you're worried about our country all the time then you know why don't you just take
a break from it because guess what the world will keep on turning with and you don't have to know
what you don't know can't hurt you okay ignorance is bliss sometimes it's good to just not pay it
well I don't know what's going on you know you know here's what I find is that even if I don't
read any news which is most of the time if something really big happens somebody's gonna
tell me about it and if somebody's not coming to me and saying hey pastor Anderson did you hear
about so-and-so it probably wasn't a big deal you know something big happened I would hear about it
or somebody you know I'd at least get the memes on it or something okay if it's not showing up in
the meme-o-sphere you know then it's probably not a big enough deal for me to care you know sometimes
I'll have to go look up the news cuz I'm like man I feel like I'm missing out on these memes
cuz I you know I feel like I'm not getting the memes and I want in on this but see that's that's
because I'm enjoying memes with a smile and having fun okay but I don't want to be triggered by anger
you know there are certain situations that enrage you or make you angry try to avoid those situations
so that you're not just constantly provoked and maybe that could be the news or whatever okay and
here's another trigger what about you know just social media in general could be triggering you
now when I say social media that's a really broad term because not all social media is created equal
you know some social media has a tendency to be a little raunchier than others let's face it and
not only that you know your social media could be determined by you know who's on your friend list
and what kind of junk they would expose you to or whether you know because here's the thing social
media could be you know you got a bunch of godly Christian friends on social media and you're all
sharing Bible verses and you're all sharing preaching and you're all sharing clean memes
and stuff like that then that could be a good thing for you you know that could be okay so I'm
not just getting up and saying social media is bad but I'm saying this let's say you go on social
media and you're having a clean mind and you're you're in the spirit and things are going good
and you're living your life and you're happy as a clam and then your social media is just showing
you all these scantily clad women well don't you think that that could take your head from a good
place and start taking it down a dark path because you're triggered by that because out of sight out
of mind but then when you start seeing all these images then it could be easy to fall down that
rabbit hole and next thing you know you're looking at a bunch of stuff that you shouldn't be looking
at and so therefore that could be a trigger for you or maybe you're going in on social media and
everybody on there is making you mad you know it's triggering you toward all this unrighteous
anger or even righteous anger in excess where it's day after day it's too much you could be
triggered to just be lazy or to waste time or to look at a bunch of whatever and so you know you
know yourself and you know what your typical sins are your temptations are what your weaknesses are
you know if social media is what's triggering you then make a change remove the temptation or maybe
delete those people from your friends list that are that are corrupting your social media feed or
maybe say you know what this particular social media is junk I'm gonna get on something that's
a little easier to control and something that I can manage and and not be exposed to all this
junk because I'm telling you this is something where it's pretty easy to make provision for the
flesh to fulfill the lust of when it's in your pocket all day every day remember that button
about the Cinnamon Toast Crunch if I push the button and then Jeeves shows up and he's like
your Cinnamon Toast Crunch sir you know it'd be a little too easy and I'd be eating it every day
whereas you know that this right here okay this is like a button to pull up all kinds of sinful
things and so if you got this thing and you got it with you and then you hop on social media and
then boom you're being triggered by what you're seeing on there then take a break from social
media or delete it or change it get on a different platform purge your friends list whatever you need
to do so that you're not just constantly fighting temptation every day because if you fight
temptation all day every day eventually you lose okay eventually you have a bad day eventually you
have a weak moment don't spend your life fighting temptation remove the temptation so here's all of
it in a nutshell okay three steps here okay look at Galatians 5 16 it says this I say then walk in
the spirit and you should not fulfill the lust of the flesh Romans 13 had said put ye on the Lord
Jesus Christ and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust thereof do both so I'm gonna
give you three steps that you need to do in your life number one remove the temptation number two
replace it with something good and number three walk in the spirit and if you're doing these three
things you're gonna have a lot less sin in your life when you're walking in the spirit when you're
removing the temptation and when you're replacing those temptations with something good you're gonna
have a lot less sin in your life now how do we walk in the spirit that's a whole sermon of itself
but reading the Bible praying singing hymns meditating upon the things of God you know that's
gonna put us in a spiritual mindset we're gonna be walking in the spirit but the spirit indeed is
willing in the flesh is weak we don't want to just rely on oh I read my Bible I prayed I sang hymns
I'm in the spirit now I'm ready to go witnessing in the bar you know now I'm ready to go do whatever
you still want to put the other two steps into place yes you want to walk in the spirit but you
need to remove the temptation and replace it with something good you know if I just removed all the
candies from my office and removed all the chocolates and I removed all the sodas and and
removed all those things but then I just replaced it with nothing that's gonna be hard to write
because then I'm in there and I'm I'm just gonna be like a caged beast in my office and I'm just
walking around and sweating and shaking and then you know and then it's just like I go out and just
buy those things or find those things and and eat the the junk food or whatever what but but if it's
if it's been replaced if I'm in my office working and boom there's the baby carrots boom there's a
bowl of grapes boom you know there is an orange now all of a sudden I'm replacing it with something
that can kind of fill that void or how about this you know eating actual meals like you know eating
a good portion of a healthy breakfast lunch and dinner and then you're not going to be as tempted
you know to eat all this in-between meals junk so you've got to replace it with something right
and what do you replace fornication and adultery with you replace it with marriage you replace it
with marriage and by by indulging in that within marriage now it's going to be a lot easier to go
through life without committing fornication and adultery because your appetites already been
satiated and so you don't you're not just out there starving now you say well I'm a young
person so what do I do because I'm not married I'm not old enough to get married I don't have a wife
you know you still need to replace that with something you know and and there are other ways
to get endorphins besides that activity so you know what for a lot of people it's playing sports
or exercise or something something that you get out and you do it and you enjoy it and it makes
you feel good chemically it releases endorphins working hard exercising doing something else
whatever but find some good clean fun good clean activity preferably something that makes you work
hard and work your muscles and get some sweat so that you actually feel good and you can endure
that period of life where you're single or whatever but you've got to replace it with
something you can't just go through life with no fun and no joy and not and you're just you're
just the hermit you're just the monk and you're just beating yourself and whatever it doesn't
work you're gonna you're eventually gonna run out of willpower you're gonna have a weakness
live a balanced life where you remove temptations from your life and replace them with something
else you know like I said that's why I said you know you know it social media you know hey if you
can get rid of it and and do something else but you got to have something else to do on your phone
or whatever or have a book to read or have something to replace it or like I said maybe
move from one social media that's raunchy over to a social media where it's just you and your
Christian friends and you can actually have edifying content and whatever but but you know
a lot of this social media becomes a replacement for interacting in real life in many cases what
you need to be replacing social media with is actual human contact in real life okay right
how about that how about replacing some of your screen time with being outside in the Sun getting
fresh air with humans actually talking to people in real life okay and how about this going to
church I mean we're all here in church so but you know going to church this is your social media
right here you know it's like this is your friend list right here you got a friend list right have
a little chat before and after the service got some content here that we can all engage in some
music you know it is what it is folks but you've got to remove temptation replace it with something
godly replace it with something that you like replace it with something that'll fill that void
and you know when I talk to people sometimes who are struggling with different temptations you know
sometimes what I ask them is is what what is it about that temptation that that you crave like
why is it that you're that you're drawn to that like what do you think is missing in your life
where you feel like you need that you know you know like let's say it's alcohol or something you
know talk to me like like because people drink for different reasons right I mean some people
are drinking because they just want to just kind of they drink to forget or whatever other people
are drinking because basically they can't interact socially without drinking and then they can loosen
up or whatever you know other people are just drinking because they're bored other people are
just drinking because they're just looking to feel good physically just just the the chemical
high I mean you can think of a lot of different reasons why and I always tell people you know
let's figure out why you're drinking and then let's find something else that will give you that same
thing that you're looking for in a godly way in a righteous way in a way that doesn't involve
getting drunk you know find a better way to fill that void in your life and so we need to remove
temptations from our lives we need to replace them with things that are good and righteous and of
course we need to be feeding the spirit by going to church reading our Bible praying etc we already
all pretty much know that though that's why I spent most of the sermon talking about removing
the temptation because let's get down to brass tacks you need to get the stupid temptation out
of your life because if you're if you have a bowl of candy bars on your desk you're going to eat
them if I have a bowl look if I had a bowl of candy bars on my desk this week I'm eating them
it will happen it's just the way it is and you start just it's not that bad it's not a big deal
with 200 calories so what it's nothing what am I gonna gain an ounce big deal you know and you
know and I'm joking around cuz eating a candy bar isn't really that big of a deal but you know what
alcohol is a big deal fornication is a big deal adultery is a big deal you know and I'm using the
food thing as a parable for everything else okay because the stakes are higher with some of these
other things and I guarantee you I'm sure that there are people under the sound of my voice
right now that are recovering alcoholics and everything else and you know what you need to
keep alcohol super far make it impossible for you to for you to drink right just get it as
far away from you as possible you know maybe I you know it'd be great well anyway I'm not gonna
go into super detail on that but just stay away from alcohol and figure out what what is it that
triggers you think about the times you give it a temptation what triggered you where did it start
what was the first thought and you know what a lot of it could be maybe you saw some advertisement
or maybe you know I don't know whatever it is figure out what those triggers are try to avoid
those triggers and remove temptations from your life lead us not into temptation make not provision
for the flesh to fulfill the lust of spires never word of prayer father we thank you so much for
your word Lord and we thank you that the Holy Spirit helps us to be godly and overcome sin
Lord but we all have our weaknesses Lord and so please lead us not into temptation and Lord I
pray that everyone here would would take these these principles and apply them to their lives
and I pray that every single person here would make some changes in their life to to get
temptations out of their life remove these triggers to bad behavior and and put some
good habits in their life to take the place of those things in Jesus name we pray amen