Ep. 337 - How to Guard Against the Temptations of the World

Temptation is as constant and real as gravity—a daily battle that every believer faces. Ray, E.Z., Mark, and Oscar remind Christians that they are never alone in this struggle, and the enemy wants them to believe otherwise. Isolation is one of Satan’s strongest tools, but God calls believers to live in the light and walk in community. When one believer confesses a struggle, another can offer encouragement, reminding them that being tempted is part of the Christian journey. A fear of the Lord becomes a shield against compromise. Every time Jesus was tempted, He responded with Scripture. In the same way, when believers store the Word in their hearts, the Holy Spirit brings it to mind at crucial moments, arming them with truth that weakens the power of temptation.

Prayer is to be ongoing. Even Elijah, who shared the same human nature, prayed earnestly and witnessed the power of God. The model of praying to be delivered from temptation and evil is not optional—it is essential. Spiritual discipline plays a critical role in a believer’s strength. Fasting, once a common practice in the early church, has been overlooked by many today. In avoiding legalism, many have also rejected discipline, but Scripture teaches that while salvation is a gift of grace, Christians are created for good works. Discipline, when motivated by love for God, helps conform believers to the image of Christ.

Resisting temptation is not about earning favor, but about growing in Christlikeness. God has predestined His people to be conformed to His Son, and resistance is a part of that transformation. Humility is key—recognizing that apart from God, nothing is deserved but judgment. Gratitude flows from this awareness. The best way to flee temptation is to have somewhere better to run. Redirecting desires toward Christ changes the battle entirely. Believers are the reward of Jesus’s obedience, and understanding His love is stronger than any willpower.

Standing strong also means running with the right people. Christians grow when they walk with others who are running the race well. Community, scripture, prayer, evangelism, and fellowship all strengthen the soul. Ephesians teaches that the real battle is spiritual and that the armor of God is essential. Believers must be aware of their weaknesses, seek counsel, pursue repentance, and embrace accountability. Like Joseph before Potiphar’s wife, believers must refuse, reason, resist—and then run. Those who believe they cannot fall are often the first to do so. Temptation is real, but so is the strength found in Christ.

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Visit the Living Waters website to learn more and to access helpful resources!
You can find helpful counseling resources at biblicalcounseling.com.
Check out The Evidence Study Bible and the Basic Training Course.

You can connect with us at [e-mail]. We're thankful for your input!
Learn more about the hosts of this podcast.
Ray Comfort
Emeal (“E.Z.”) Zwayne
Mark Spence
Oscar Navarro

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
You run with the right people.
You run alongside people thatare like-minded.
You link arms with people thatare heading in the same
direction.
It's not enough to fleeyouthful lust, but we pursue all
these other things with otherswho call on the Lord out of a
pure heart.
Right Blessed is the man whowalks, not in the counsel of the

(00:22):
wicked.
You become like-minded to thosewho you hang out with.
So if you are going to hang outwith people that are just
entrepreneurs and that's allthey're thinking about, you will
somehow kind of catch that itwill not so much be taught as
much as it is caught.
So we want to hang out withpeople that have good morals,

(00:43):
because bad company corruptsgood morals.
We want to run our race and runit well.
Surround yourself with peoplethat you think are running the
race and running well.
So run with the right peopleand run from wrong places.
Good, right.
So you find yourself inside ofa place where you typically
wouldn't be.

(01:03):
If you're going out to lunchwith your pastor, well then you
don't need to really be hangingout at that place as it is.
You have a problem with alcohol.
Don't go hang out and have yourDevo in the corner of the bar
right.
You don't need to be winningpeople for Christ in the bar if
you have a problem with drinkingwith drinking.

Speaker 2 (01:27):
There's a reason why my voice is all jacked up.
Ray made me do something that Idid, which was wonderful, and
beautiful a second time over.

Speaker 3 (01:36):
But we won't talk about that today, friends,
Because I have a question forRay Comfort Ray it's a simple
question.

Speaker 2 (01:41):
It's not complicated.
It's not complex's a simplequestion.
It's not complicated, it's notcomplex, it's not intricate,
it's not involved.
Simple question Did you or didyou?

Speaker 4 (01:58):
not ask us for a $12,500,000 watch for your
retirement.
I actually did.
Yes, yeah, you did Oscar here.
Oscar's always my witness, he'smy right-hand witness, Did he
give the cost?

Speaker 2 (02:05):
You see the text there right.
Oscar, December 28th, 8.57 pm.
Oh I remember this Ray sent usa picture of the watch.
I'd like this for my retirementgift from the ministry.
Oh, thank you yeah.

Speaker 5 (02:19):
Speaking of today's, your forced retirement.

Speaker 4 (02:22):
Let me tell you why I wanted that expensive watch.
Because time is valuable to me.

Speaker 2 (02:27):
Oh, that's what it is .
It's not cheap, all right, sogo ahead, friends.

Speaker 1 (02:33):
Spread it on the internet.
Do you want any clarity?

Speaker 3 (02:35):
whatsoever for this Nope, and that's the end of our
episode.
Nope.
Thank you for joining us.
Friends.
Ray, how much have you spent on?

Speaker 1 (02:44):
your current watch.
Tell us about your watch.

Speaker 4 (02:44):
Ray, I think this is $12.

Speaker 1 (02:46):
$12?
Double digits.
You splurged, Ray.
Where do you buy your watches?

Speaker 4 (02:50):
from Usually from Walmart, walmart.

Speaker 1 (02:52):
Yeah, I really like your watch, ray.
I wish I had one just like that.

Speaker 4 (02:55):
I can't put the batteries into it.
I just can't watch when thebattery runs out.

Speaker 2 (03:06):
So one-time use that whole segment could be a joke.
It's all in satire, I think.

Speaker 5 (03:08):
Yeah, whatever, but there was.
You guys remember what was thecontext?
He saw somebody wearing it.
I think he just came across it.
Why were you searching forexpensive watches?

Speaker 4 (03:15):
What's the most expensive watch you can buy, and
I thought that much.

Speaker 2 (03:19):
Okay, how stupid is that?
Isn?
Is that, isn't that $12 million?
This tells the time Walkingaround with a stupid thing on
your wrist that you could crack.

Speaker 4 (03:29):
You're going to get robbed if you go in public
wearing a diamond watch.

Speaker 2 (03:32):
I've always wondered that, even about women that have
big diamond rocks on theirrings.
You see some of those.
You could tell that's hundredsof thousands of dollars.

Speaker 5 (03:41):
Mark, how much was your nose ring?

Speaker 2 (03:43):
Tell us about your nose ring, mark Mark?
What would it take?

Speaker 1 (03:49):
for me to get a nose ring.
You couldn't pay me, come on.

Speaker 5 (03:53):
There's always a number.

Speaker 2 (03:54):
No no, no.

Speaker 5 (03:56):
Feet starving children $10 million, nope $500
million In perpetuity, we'd beable to give away every gospel
track for free.

Speaker 1 (04:06):
I would have to wear a nose ring forever.

Speaker 2 (04:08):
Yeah, every gospel track for free With a chain
connected to your earringsthere's no amount of money, and
your belly button ring there'sno amount of money.

Speaker 4 (04:19):
I went as to a guy who had a big ring.
It was called the Bull.
It was the name of the guy.
He was a motorbike gang.
I was just so tempted to put myfinger in the ring and pull him
.

Speaker 2 (04:28):
I didn't.
But the thing is, Ray, is thatI wouldn't put that past you for
a second?
Ray, tell us about what you'vedone to people's shirts.

Speaker 3 (04:36):
Ray Well, no no.
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (04:39):
I've actually stopped , I've almost stopped doing that
stop almost.

Speaker 2 (04:45):
I've almost stopped doing that.
There's a reason why I'm almosthere.

Speaker 4 (04:46):
Yeah, almost I'm checking to make sure that's my
snap that I'm wearing churchwith dome, church shirts with
domes on them.
I'd just go like that and thatopen up.

Speaker 2 (04:54):
Yeah, the snaps button.
Snap, yeah, don't ever wear it.
You understand that a lot ofthose shirts, like the top
button is usually a regularbutton.

Speaker 4 (05:01):
Yeah, yeah well, I but the guy came to the
ambassadors Academy and I did myshirt thing and it ripped his
shirt and cost me 50 bucks toget it.

Speaker 3 (05:09):
Why would you why?

Speaker 2 (05:10):
I don't know, but didn't you observe to make sure,
like a thousand percent?

Speaker 4 (05:14):
No, no, no, no my brain works after my hand.

Speaker 2 (05:19):
Yeah, we know You're telling us that, like you're
informing us of that, nobody issurprised.

Speaker 3 (05:24):
I came back.
Consequences.

Speaker 2 (05:27):
Con with sequences, con with sequences, with a lot
of sequences that destroyed mylife Do people understand what
we're even talking about withthe buttons.
Maybe you should explain itjust a little bit.
The snap Button snaps on ashirt.

Speaker 1 (05:43):
Ray goes up and he sees somebody wearing a shirt
with buttons.

Speaker 2 (05:45):
There's a guy, yeah, thankfully.
Yeah, yeah, it's a good call,ray.

Speaker 5 (05:51):
So there is discernment.
That was a very important thing, so there is discernment.

Speaker 1 (05:55):
Yeah, we don't want the internet to go silver and
then what does he do?

Speaker 2 (05:57):
He goes up and he just like that and they open up.
He rips it off, he rips off thebuttons.
But why, ray, why do you dothat?

Speaker 4 (06:03):
It's like opening doors and stuff like that you
just see a door, you gotta openit.
No, it's not, Actually not likeopening doors he's serving

Speaker 1 (06:11):
people by doing that.

Speaker 2 (06:12):
All right, oh boy.
Well, guys, it's good to beback.
We've been gone for a littlebit.
We've all been kind ofgallivanting around the country.

Speaker 4 (06:19):
Speaking of that.

Speaker 2 (06:20):
I had a first this morning.

Speaker 4 (06:21):
I went to the college .
It was a first.
I've never had this happenbefore.
But this young Catholic guy wasso moved by the gospel he asked
me if I thought he shouldbecome a priest.
Stop.

Speaker 2 (06:35):
Oh no.

Speaker 4 (06:36):
Backfired on you, Ray .
Yeah, so I had a good answerfor him.
We've got to post that RayComfort creating Catholic
priests everywhere.

Speaker 2 (06:42):
That's terrible, Ray.
Anyway, we've been traveling.
I was at the ARC.
It was part of a great men'sconference over there.

Speaker 4 (06:50):
That's in Kentucky, Ken Ham's ARC.

Speaker 2 (06:52):
Ken-tucky and I stayed at the Ham-ton Inn.
This is a true story.
This guy's trying to makeeverything about him Seriously.

Speaker 4 (07:02):
Everything about him.
Very good, it was everythingabout him.

Speaker 2 (07:04):
Seriously no, everything about him.
About him Very good, it waselectric man.
Seriously 2,000 guys.
Singing it was myself, Ken Ham,Kirk Cameron, Stephen Kendrick,
Kosti, Hinn, Joel Beeky.
I think that covers it all.

Speaker 4 (07:21):
So did him and Ham get together.

Speaker 2 (07:24):
It was great and just so many people came up and
listened to the podcast.

Speaker 1 (07:28):
Michael O'Brien doing music.

Speaker 2 (07:30):
Oh yeah, michael O'Brien, he's my friend.
Yeah, Michael's awesome man,that guy's so gifted, great
voice.

Speaker 4 (07:36):
Is he Irish?

Speaker 2 (07:37):
Passion for the Lord, probably Somewhere down there,
somewhere around there, anyway,somewhere around there, anyway
it was great.

Speaker 4 (07:43):
I was just going to do an Irish accent and I stopped
myself.

Speaker 2 (07:45):
No, try it.

Speaker 3 (07:45):
What are you doing?

Speaker 2 (07:46):
No, I'm not doing it, but it was great.
It was in Louisiana, speakingat a men's event.
Out there, oscar, you were justspeaking to some Slav brethren,
I was.
I was at a.

Speaker 4 (07:58):
Some really slow people.

Speaker 3 (07:59):
Slav brethren.

Speaker 5 (08:05):
I was at the Good News Conference in Colorado and,
yeah, it's a collection ofSlavic churches all across the
country actually, so there waslike 500 or 600 students.
Mark, you spoke at it beforeand, as I told you guys earlier,
it's so funny to have thisRussian person come up to you
and be like I listen to yourpodcast.

Speaker 2 (08:20):
It's like oh okay, really, that's been true, that's
great man.

Speaker 4 (08:24):
Alex, all the phone's like.
Oh okay, really, that's beentrue.
That's great, man, Alexander,the phone's off, yeah he was
there.

Speaker 2 (08:27):
Good Mark, where have you been I?

Speaker 1 (08:30):
was at David Rosales' church in Chino Valley.
Oh yeah, that's right, it wasgreat.

Speaker 2 (08:36):
But you were traveling before that, weren't
you?

Speaker 1 (08:37):
You and Laura were somewhere.
I was in Puerto Rico two weeksago, oh that's right.
Puerto Rico two weeks ago, ohthat's right Puerto Rico.
With Brother Luis.
Yeah, who's here?
He's here today.

Speaker 2 (08:45):
Love that guy man, by the way, ping pong.

Speaker 5 (08:48):
If you're listening Did you play him, yet I will.

Speaker 4 (08:50):
He'll destroy you.

Speaker 5 (08:51):
If you're listening and you're hearing about all
these times that we travel, onegood way to stay up to date on
travel and events and things oflivingwaterscom.
We do our best to post anytimewe're traveling and speaking at
events, and so if you're everwondering when we're in the area
and you'd love to come hear oneof us speak not named Ray
Comfort you can go onlivingwaterscom, subscribe to

(09:13):
the newsletter and we'll do whatwe can to keep you updated.

Speaker 4 (09:16):
And we'd love to meet you.
We love meeting people.

Speaker 1 (09:18):
Absolutely, and you can also invite us to speak at
your church or your event atlivingwaterscom as well.
Click on the schedule.

Speaker 2 (09:24):
And Ray, where did you travel?

Speaker 3 (09:25):
I traveled to Huntington Beach on Saturday.
Every day I go to Sarah Toss onmy bike with my dog.
On Sundays I go to the park.

Speaker 5 (09:32):
I don't talk anything like that.
You combined your Ray and yourRachel.

Speaker 4 (09:37):
That's what you just did.
You did too.

Speaker 5 (09:39):
Yeah, you did too, you know what.

Speaker 2 (09:45):
I actually did.
It's evolution.
They're the two voices I hearprobably more than anyone's.
How's the park been?
You still doing the park onSundays Mm-hmm, you still doing
Sarita's, college, sarita's onMonday through Friday Mm-hmm,
you still doing the.

Speaker 3 (09:56):
Huntington's.

Speaker 2 (09:56):
Huntington's on Saturdays?
Yes, Saturday morning.
Are you prideful about all thatVery and loving it?
That's great, Ray.
We're blessed by yourfaithfulness.
Anyway, we don't care, timeruns free, cool, classy comics.

Speaker 4 (10:13):
Hang on.
We found out about someonewho's a fanatical about time
what it's called.

Speaker 5 (10:17):
A chronologist.

Speaker 4 (10:19):
A chronophobic.

Speaker 2 (10:21):
That would be fear.
Chronophobia.

Speaker 5 (10:23):
Obsessed with time, no chronolid would be, fear
Chronophobic no no, it'sobsessed with time.
No chronolidiot.

Speaker 2 (10:28):
What Chronolidiot, chronolidiot.

Speaker 1 (10:31):
You guys need to learn to be on time, Because we
were all on time except for oneof us.

Speaker 2 (10:34):
Excuse me.
Yeah, you just got here andleft.
Ray was late, oscar was late,you, by the grace of time today.

Speaker 1 (10:41):
One of us disappeared , though, which makes them no
longer on time.

Speaker 2 (10:44):
We have the rule.
We're all here at the timewe're supposed to be.
We're here for a little bit Ifsomeone needs to go use a
restroom.

Speaker 5 (10:50):
Listener to fill you in on this great debate.
Basically easy.
What he'll do so that he's ontime is he'll show up, but then
at 10.01, we're supposed tostart at 10.
So what will happen is at 10.01, he will get up and leave the
room for five minutes.

Speaker 2 (11:06):
Excuse me, I do not go for five and it happens on
rare occasion and it's the rightway, because I make the rules.

Speaker 4 (11:11):
You're so fanatical when you're traveling.

Speaker 2 (11:13):
You go to the airport two weeks early, it's true,
much earlier than that, ray.
All right enough Time for aclassy comment.
This is from Benjamin Buslovik.
He probably was at the Slavicconference Oscar Ray.
Thank you so, so, so Three,so's Much, So-so, he's so-so.

Speaker 1 (11:32):
Ray is so-so.

Speaker 2 (11:38):
For the work you've done over the years and for the
work you continue to do for theministry and in the streets.
But above all, I thank God forthe work he has accomplished and
continues to accomplish throughLiving Waters.
I thank God for the work he hasaccomplished and continues to
accomplish through Living Waters.
If this ministry didn't exist,I'm not sure I'd be a Christian,
because my dad wouldn't havegotten saved at the Harvest
Conference you and Kirk had inTennessee in 2006.
That's another story that Ihope to tell you and the guys in

(11:58):
person in a couple of monthswhen me and a friend will be
coming out.
By the way, after my dad gotsaved me, my dad and my brother
met you, ray.
I was only like six so I can'tremember most of the encounter,
but I do remember and stillcan't figure out how you made
your finger glow red.

Speaker 4 (12:16):
Oh you're slamming a door.

Speaker 2 (12:18):
Anyway, I love one, two, three, four, five O's the
podcast.
Didn't realize I could relatewith someone.
Oh, he meant to say podcast,that's what it was.
Didn't realize I could relatewith somebody I never met until
I now relate more.
No wait, what?
Didn't realize I couldn'trelate with somebody I never met

(12:40):
until I heard Easy's characteron the radio.
Then I found out he doesn'tlike black coffee.
So now I relate more with Oscar.
I like this guy Genius.
Yeah, all jokes aside, I'vegrown so much from the podcast
and pray that there are manymore to come.
Easy, it's an answer to myprayers that you're feeling
better and back on the showgiving the well-known hey

(13:01):
friends, and yes, your voice issuperb, yeah.

Speaker 3 (13:04):
We well-known.
Hey, friends, and yes, yourvoice is superb.

Speaker 2 (13:05):
Yeah, we're friends again.

Speaker 4 (13:06):
Do you remember I wrote back to him what I said?

Speaker 2 (13:08):
What.

Speaker 4 (13:09):
I really love that joke that you made when you said
he's his voice is superb.

Speaker 2 (13:11):
That's right Now.

Speaker 4 (13:12):
I remember it was really funny.

Speaker 2 (13:14):
Anyway, I love you guys.
I hope and pray that me and myfriends make it out there as
planned.
I'll try to you in Christ.
My brothers, benjamin, benjiThank you, benji, he met you
when he was six.

Speaker 5 (13:26):
That means he's a little bit taller and you're
still the same size.
I remember looking down on Rayat six.

Speaker 2 (13:33):
All right, friends, and now radically revolutionary
resource.
This podcast is brought to youby the Evidence Study Bible.
Ah, that's a curveball becauseI usually throw it in all the
time, but it's my focus today,Oscar, the Evidence Study Bible.
Mark, it's a wonderful resource, is it not it?

Speaker 1 (13:50):
is.
It is, I think, the bestresource we carry.
You know, we carry a lot ofbooks, a lot of tracks, a lot of
curriculums, a lot of things,and I think that the
foundational piece for theministry is the Evidence Study
Bible, because inside thereyou're going to get a little bit
of all the worlds of Ray'sbooks.
You're going to get the tracksthat are found inside there,

(14:12):
memorable quotes, and justcontextually things are brought
together.
So if you have Ray's otherbooks or if you have something
else and you don't have theEvidence Study Bible, then you
need to go back and get theEvidence Study Bible, because it
is a foundational piece.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (14:24):
So great Ray was yawning Mark as you were talking
about it.
No, I was warming up my mind.

Speaker 1 (14:27):
And so were you if you read the Evidence.
Study Bible.

Speaker 4 (14:32):
I was warming up my hands because I was on my bike
just before.
I came here and it was freezingreally cold and I've got these
really neat gloves, but I've gotholes in the fingers, which it
destroys everything that'sreally precious Ray, so don't
forget to check it out, friendsPrecious.

Speaker 2 (14:45):
What are you talking about?
My precious Along with theLiving Waters of Mongadavit and
Study Bible.
Living Waters TV.
Don't forget, subscribe friends.
I've been hearing people comingup to me at conferences saying
they're subscribed to LivingWaters TV.
Speaking of the Evidence.

Speaker 4 (14:56):
Bible.
It's coming out no Study Bible,the Evidence Study Bible.
Sorry, it's coming out in aclassy, genuine leather version.
I'm so excited about that.
I've just been negotiating withthe publishers and they're very
excited.
So, we should have it in a fewmonths.

Speaker 2 (15:09):
Yeah, be on the lookout for that, friends.
And oh, don't forget ourYouTube channel, living Waters.
Lots of good stuff there, allat livingwaterscom.

Speaker 1 (15:18):
And we have our podcast YouTube channel now so
go to YouTube and click in theLiving Waters podcast and it has
its own channel now.

Speaker 2 (15:30):
Yeah, and it already has thousands and thousands of
subscribers.
We won't say how many thousands, but thousands of thousands.

Speaker 3 (15:37):
All right friends.

Speaker 2 (15:39):
Today how to guard against the temptations of the
world.
I wish you could somehowcondense temptation into like an
object, dissect it and likeunderstand it, because, man,
it's such a reality.
I mean, when you think aboutthe element of temptation, to me

(16:02):
, elephant of temptation, goodway to put it right, it's a big
element of temptation, elephantof temptation.
Good way to put it right it's abig boy, a big fat elephant of
temptation.
Wants to sit on you.
To me, it's as real as the lawof gravity.
It's just such a reality, andas Christians, it is the

(16:24):
constant element that we arebattling against and fighting
against, and so I'm reallyexcited to talk about this today
because, you know, we're alltogether.
I was talking to a brother theother day and I shared something
with him about something thatyou know I had gone through and
the others have gone through,and this caused him to open up
to me in a I mean, he said, Ihaven't told this to anyone.

(16:50):
He said but what you justshared has kind of given me that
compulsion to share this withyou, because I realized that I'm
not the only one, and so Ithink so what do you say?

Speaker 5 (16:59):
I don't know what did Mark say?

Speaker 2 (17:02):
I don't understand.
So we, so we're all in thistogether, friends those of you
that are listening I can'tbelieve I said friends in a
normal voice, friends, but we'reall in this together and my
hope from today's episode isreally to dispense encouragement
, to remind believers thatyou're not alone and that we

(17:22):
battle this together.
So, temptations, oscar, I don'tknow, say something.

Speaker 5 (17:27):
I love the way you put it.
I think you know I was justtalking to somebody at the
conference that I was at and hecame to me and he, with tears in
his eyes, confessed sin thathe's been struggling with.
And he was like I'm so afraidto tell anybody about this and I
don't know what to do.
And I, he was like what can Ido to stop overcome this sin
that I've been struggling,struggling with since I was 13,

(17:49):
14 years old.
And I told him, man, that Isaid satan wants you alone in
this.
He does not want you to sharethis with your friends.
He doesn't want your pastor toknow.
The lord tells you that if youconfess your sins, you will be
forgiven.
That's not that he's holdingback grace, but he's holding

(18:09):
back a healing balm, or I shouldsay you are holding back a
healing balm from yourself toinvite others in.
And so you make a great point,which is to just simply
recognize to be a Christian isto be tempted by sin.
Those two things go hand inhand is to be tempted by sin.
Those two things go hand inhand.
Jesus himself was tempted and,of course, did not sin.
I love John Owen saying whichis temptation, is anything that

(18:34):
lures us from obedience?
The devil wants you to notparticipate in obedience you are
not alone in that and to yourpoint, man.

Speaker 2 (18:47):
we fight temptation together.
Yeah, amen, yeah.
Ray Oscar mentioned Christ inthe wilderness and the
temptations he faced from Satan.
What was the key to himovercoming Satan's temptations?
Ray in the wilderness, the.

Speaker 4 (19:01):
Iron Dome.
Yes, israel's got an Iron Domeand I'm fascinated by this very
sophisticated radar system thatdetects and neutralizes incoming
missiles.
And for the Christian, the Dome, the Iron Dome is the fear of
the Lord.
When Potiphar started,potiphar's wife started sending

(19:22):
missiles towards Joseph, startedpart of his wife started
sending missiles towards Joseph.
It was the fear of the Lordthat caused him to run, and
that's what we need.
An Martin said you can only getin the realm of deliberate sin
when you get out of the realm ofthe fear of God.
I'm going to repeat thatbecause it's so good.
You can only get into the realmof deliberate sin when you get
out of the realm of the fear ofGod.

(19:44):
Jesus said watch lest you enterinto temptation.
He said that to his disciplesand then he said this.
He said watch lest you enterinto temptation.
The spirit, indeed, is willing,but the flesh is weak, and
that's the key to understandyour flesh.
It's weak.
So you need the iron dome, youneed to cultivate the fear of
the Lord.
And I liken it to when you'rereading, innocently reading,

(20:04):
some article and there's a popthat comes in and you've got a
little X in the corner that'sthe size of a microchip and
you've got to touch it with yourfinger and if you don't, you're
into the site, an area youdon't want to go to.
It just takes you straight toit.
And that's what the wiles of thedevil is like.
What the wiles of the devil islike.
You just instantly go, phew, inyour mind Some filthy thought,

(20:26):
and you've got a tiny X thatyou've got to touch.
There's no temptation taken you, which is common to man.
God's faithful and has made away of escape.
That's the little X that you'vegot to touch so you can get out
of it.
And so what you've got to do iswatch and pray lest you enter
into that temptation, and theway to be always ready to touch

(20:46):
that X is to have the fear ofGod in your heart always, and
that's what we see with JesusEasy.

Speaker 5 (20:51):
I have a question for you.
He mentions the fear of theLord, but in addition to that,
every time Jesus is tempted, hequotes scripture.
How important is scripturememorization for us in fighting?

Speaker 2 (21:04):
temptation, huge right, psalm 119.
Flavorful your word have Ihidden in my heart that I may
not sin against you?
How can a young man keep hisway pure by keeping it according
to your word?
I'm telling you guys, there'sno discipline that has been more

(21:26):
helpful to me in times oftemptation than having memorized
scripture.
And again, what you're doing isyou're loading yourself up to
give the Holy Spirit anopportunity to activate God's
word at a given moment, in agiven instance.
That's what I love about it,because that's what God does.
It's His word and he brings itback to heart and mind.

(21:48):
I'm not waiting for anesoterical word from the Lord.
I'm not waiting for an audiblevoice.
It's His word, hidden in myheart, that the Spirit activates
and that he uses to guard me inthose moments.

Speaker 4 (22:01):
So that makes the enemy tremble, but also reminds
us of the promise that's in theWord yeah.
So it's got a dual purpose.

Speaker 2 (22:07):
Yeah and Oscar, that's what Jesus did, right?
I mean, satan hit him and hekept hitting him with the Word.
Right, I mean he hits him with.
You know, turn these stonesinto red.
Jesus was fasting.
Man shall not live by breadalone.

Speaker 4 (22:17):
I like the way you said hit him with the Word
Likens God's word to a hammer.

Speaker 3 (22:21):
It smashes the rock.

Speaker 4 (22:23):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (22:24):
And sword.

Speaker 3 (22:25):
Yes.

Speaker 2 (22:25):
It smashes the sword.
Good point, yeah, so anyway, hejust kept hitting him with the
word and um, and that's what weneed Mark Ray mentioned.
He quoted, but I want us togive it context watch and pray
lest you enter into temptation.
This is Jesus in Gethsemane,when he kept coming to the

(22:45):
disciples and the context wasprayer, because he said watch
with me and pray.
And three times he kept goingat them.
They're knocked out of sleep.
Watch and pray lest you enterinto temptation.
Prayer.

Speaker 1 (22:58):
Yeah, so, contextually, what you're
talking about is that you'realways in prayer, right?
So if I'm talking with God,it's hard to talk with the world
, right?
You can't flirt with the worldand be faithful to the Word,
right?
So if I'm in fellowship withGod, it's hard to be in
fellowship with the world.
So if I'm continually in prayerlike Ray is always in prayer,

(23:19):
always- P-R-A-Y-E-R Ray isalways in prayer.

Speaker 2 (23:25):
Continue, Mark.

Speaker 1 (23:29):
You can't enjoy a world in which you've already
been dead to right.
So I'm dead to the things ofthe world.
So when you try to engage inthose things like it's gonna
come up short.
It always will.
So when you are in fellowshipwith God in prayer and I love it
, paul Washer, when he intalking about prayer, he said
you know, the apostles neverasked Jesus to teach us how to

(23:51):
preach.
Maybe they did, but it's notrecorded that they did.
It was teach us how to pray,because there was something
about the communion that Jesushad with the Father that made
them covet that relationship.
So prayer is, I mean, the armyof God.
It marches forward on theirknees.
We'll never be able to do morethan our prayer life.

(24:13):
Pray through all things, right,it's not like here's my agenda
for the day.
Now I ask that you would justbless my agenda.
No, you are continually inprayer.
And remember when Jesus camedown from the Mount of
Transfiguration and they cameacross this demon-possessed
person and the apostles aresaying, hey, we try to cast out

(24:33):
the demons, but they wouldn't go.
And Jesus said this kind onlygoes out through prayer and
fasting.
He's not saying go out and pray, go out and fast, come back and
then you cast out the demons.
No, it was understood that theywere already fasted up, that
they were already prayed up.
It's like when you fast not ifyou fast, but when you fast.

(24:55):
It's like when you pray.
No, you are going to gothroughout your day today and
you will pray.
If your mind is going to wander, it might as well wander
through the imagination of howgreat God is and then enter into
communication with Him, who cando anything he wants according
to His nature.
You've been called intofellowship with a God who knows
how to make a butterfly brainright.

(25:16):
This blows our brains up, soprayer absolutely Amen.

Speaker 2 (25:22):
Yeah, you think of Ephesians 6, 18 to 20.
Praying always, with all prayerand supplication in the spirit,
being watchful to this end,with all prayer and supplication
for all the saints, and thatcontinual communion with the
Lord, I mean.
Jesus often withdrew into thewilderness and prayed.

(25:42):
He'd spend all night in prayer,communion with the Lord and
recognizing.
I love in James 2, it talksabout how Elijah was a man with
a nature of ours, but he prayedearnestly that it would not rain
and did not rain, and I lovethe fact that it pointed to the
reality that he had the samenature as us.
He was just a man.
In other words, is what itmeans.

(26:03):
He's like you Don't put Elijahup here Just a man.
He prayed and God moved andanswered, and so we need to have
that communion with the Lord.
Why are you looking at me, ray?

Speaker 4 (26:13):
I was just wondering if it's God's will that it
didn't reign for three years, orElijah was just being annoying.
I'm just going to wreck thewhole place.
I think it's interesting tonote that Jesus was led by the
spirit of the wilderness and yethe said in the Lord's prayer,
for one of our prayer, theLord's prayer, lead us not into
temptation.
And then, following that is,deliver us from evil.

(26:35):
The two go hand in hand Lead usnot into temptation, but
deliver us from evil.
I think it's very noteworthy.
You realize the word devil isfour-fifths evil.

Speaker 5 (26:47):
It's just got a D in front.

Speaker 4 (26:51):
So the D ruins it all no give place to the devil and
you give place to evil.
So you don't want to give placeto the devil and you give place
to evil.
So you don't want to give placeto the devil because evil comes
with it.

Speaker 1 (27:00):
Capture the thought before the thought captures you.

Speaker 4 (27:03):
Yes, don't make a nest in your bird.
Don't make a nest in the bird.
You sent us that videoyesterday.
I sent it.
Yeah, that was so good.

Speaker 2 (27:11):
Friends, we're talking about Luther's quote.
That made us laugh, you can'tkeep a bird from flying over
your head, but you can keep itfrom nesting in your hair.
And this guy had a.
His hair looked kind of nasty.

Speaker 4 (27:21):
It was a young guy with nice thick hair.

Speaker 2 (27:23):
Yeah, but a bird actually got in his hair and was
making a nest out of it andanother guy was trying to shoo
it and it was like trying topeck at his hand and stuff.

Speaker 4 (27:31):
So it kills Luther's quote, as you said, I know.
Speaking of unclean thoughts.
You can't stop birds flyingover your head, but you can stop
them from making a nesting inyour hair until you see this guy
on the video.

Speaker 5 (27:43):
And then, ultimately, what we're doing is we're
talking about spiritualdisciplines that help us with
temptation.
We've already talked aboutscripture memorization.
We've talked about prayer.
Another important one isfasting.
We see Jesus do this himself.
Important one is fasting.
We see Jesus do this himself,and fasting was formerly a very
common, regular rhythm practicefor the early Christians that I

(28:07):
sense we've lost an element ofit in our day today.
So many people don't fast, andthose who do might do it on very
rare occasions.
And why fast?
Certainly it draws you closerto the Lord in dependence at
that moment.
But something that TimothyKeller points out is that
fasting also prepares you fortemptation, he says.
Fasting trains believers toresist natural and lawful urges

(28:30):
so that when they face illicitpromptings they can say no.
In other words, when wewillingly participate in
neglecting ourselves of thingsthat bring us joy, that isn't
sin.
What we're doing is we'rebuilding up a spiritual muscle
to say no to when the devil istempting us with sin.

Speaker 2 (28:49):
That's so good, yeah, building that spiritual muscle.
And that's missing fromChristianity today Not the
magazine, but from Christianitytoday we do fast.

Speaker 4 (29:01):
This is a lawsuit.

Speaker 2 (29:04):
No, but we have this aversion to exercise.
I had a young man come up to mein Louisiana after I spoke at
the men's event and he wasasking me about wanting to
engage in certain spiritualdisciplines he's like.
But I'm worried, is thatlegalism?
And I said isn't it interestingthat anytime we hear about

(29:26):
anyone accomplishing greatthings in the world, when we
hear about an athlete oh, kobeBryant, he would do this, that
Oscar.

Speaker 5 (29:34):
Navarro.

Speaker 2 (29:34):
Yeah, steph Curry, he does this before practice and
after and all this stuff.
You know, we hear about actorsthat do method acting and
they're living that role out.
We never look and say, oh no,that's overboard, bro.
We go, wow, that's awesome.
Dedicated, devoted, anytime itcomes to the things of the faith
.
Oh, bro, you know, relax,brother, you don't want to get

(29:56):
too little, Don't be so heavenlyminded.

Speaker 4 (29:58):
you're no earthly use .
Yeah, brother.

Speaker 2 (30:00):
Brother Guys, this is ridiculous.

Speaker 5 (30:03):
I want to know why the bad Christian always says,
brother, yeah, it's always thebad Christians.

Speaker 2 (30:07):
No, no, it's so sad I had someone one day say to me
hey, is it wrong that I say?

Speaker 4 (30:11):
brother, you guys make fun of it.
No, no, it's not wrong.
It's wonderful.
It just means you forgot theperson's name.

Speaker 2 (30:15):
Hello brother, Anyway , but we have to ditch this jive
, you guys.
This is ridiculous.
Ditch this jive, this jive oflike discouraging Christians
from disciplining themselves forgodliness.
Look, I was thinking about thistoday Every time, not every
time, but in so many of thecontexts where you see Paul

(30:38):
mentioning salvation by grace,through faith.
Right, you have Ephesians 2, 8and 9.
By grace you've been saved,through faith.
That not of yourselves, it's agift of God, not of works, lest
anyone should boast.
And then he says what?
For we are his workmanship,created in Christ Jesus for good
works that God preparedbeforehand that we should walk
in them.
You see, in Titus 2, where he'stalking about the grace of God

(31:04):
that has appeared, bringingsalvation to all men has
appeared, bringing salvation toall men, teaching us to deny
ungodliness and all worldlylusts.
We should live soberly,righteously and godly in this
present age, right.
And then he goes on.
But then he says to remindthose who have believed in God
to be careful to engage in goodworks.
These things are, oh no, he setaside for himself his own

(31:24):
special people zealous for goodworks.
He just said the grace of Godthat brings salvation has
appeared to all men.
So we're saved by grace.
And then he says that he wantshis own people zealous for good
works.
So we're saved by grace.
And then he says that he wantshis own people zealous for good
works.
Then in chapter 3, for weourselves were also once foolish
, disobedient, deceived, servingvarious lusts and pleasures,
living in malice and envy,hateful and hating one another.
But when the kindness and thelove of God, our Savior, toward

(31:46):
man appeared, not by works ofrighteousness, which we have
done, but according to his mercy, he saved us.
Then at the end he says remindthose who have believed in God
to be careful to engage in goodworks.
These things are good andprofitable to men.
Highlights the grace of God,connects it to we should do good
works.
So, man, if we can connect withthat, as Christians we're saved
by grace.
Nothing we can do Clothed inthe righteousness of Christ,

(32:08):
100% independent of us.
But if we're saved, be zealousfor good works, Engage in good
works, Do good works.

Speaker 4 (32:19):
You know there's batteries in your flashlight
because you can see the lightshine.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (32:23):
Ooh Ooh.
I mean, who came up with that?
Ray, I did Try to stay humble.

Speaker 4 (32:29):
Try to stay humble Ray.
Well, by not saying no, itwasn't me, that's pride.

Speaker 5 (32:34):
I would, yeah, I mean , I would say to that person
like we resist because we arebecoming like Christ.
Romans 8, 29 says that thosewhom he foreknew he also
predestined to be that phrase tobe.
Why, like?
Why did God predestine To beconformed to the image of his
son?
In other words, this isn'tabout moralism.

(32:55):
This is about transformationThrough the power of the Holy
Spirit.
We become more like Christ aswe point our lives to Christ and
ultimately, resistingtemptations and spiritual
disciplines is about pointingour life to Christ.

Speaker 2 (33:12):
Yeah, Mark, I'd love you to touch on this.
We always highlight legalism,which is a reality, and we've
talked about it ad nauseum onthe program here, because it
happens.

Speaker 4 (33:24):
It had to be a good name for a podcast ad nauseum.

Speaker 2 (33:28):
I've never had anyone quote me more than the one time
on the podcast when I saidleave people alone, man, or
something like that in terms oflegalism.
But, mark, don't you thinkthere's a flip side of that,
where you have maybe we can callit antinomianism where people
give believers a guilt trip, whowant to not engage in certain

(33:49):
things?
I mean, who does that in theworld?
Man, I quit smoking.
Oh no, relax, bro.
No one does that.
If Christian says, hey, man, Istopped watching TV because it's
bad for me, hey, dude, relax,you can watch TV, brother, it's
fine, right?

Speaker 1 (34:03):
I mean, don't we need to let people Let people walk,
let people be people, let peoplewalk with God and have their
walks before God.
My wife sent a text to ourfamily text which is called the
Ohana text for family and shesaid that she's given up all
social media for a month, soshe's not going to see all the

(34:24):
interactions of the kids andeverybody has to do.
But what does she desire to do?
She wants to now fill that timewith reading some books that
she's behind on to Oscar's tipof the hat, because he's always
reading books and encouragingpeople to do so.
What do we do?
We didn't come back and say butmom, you're going to miss out
on so many different excursionsthat we're having all the

(34:47):
different outings that we arepartaking in.
Legalism, I think, is, by andlarge, pause and think through
this, birthed from the idea,from somebody, more than likely,
who just wants to walk with God.

(35:08):
Right, the problem is when yougrab a hold of that thing that
you're doing and you force thatonto somebody else, yeah Right,
I'm taking a break from socialmedia.
You know, I think we should alltake a break from social media.
Time out Exactly Good, mark,we're not all taking this break
from social media.
Maybe you do need to take abreak and, as a parent, you can
direct your kids where that alllies, but we need to be careful

(35:31):
on judging another man's servant.
We want to encourage them.
You're taking a break?
Hey, I would like to know howthat journey goes along with you
.
Why are you taking that break?
What do you want to get out ofthat break, and is this
something that you want to doregularly?
Hey, how can I keep youaccountable in the midst of this
?
How can I help you as you dothis?
If you're going to fastregularly, hey, let me know when

(35:52):
you're fasting.
Michael Jackson used to fastevery Thursday when he was part
of the Jehovah's Witness cult.
Right, trying to now earn hisway, trying to earn the favor of
Jehovah.
We're not serving God to gainhis acceptance.
We are accepted.
Therefore, we serve God, and wewant to walk that straight and
narrow path, right?

(36:13):
So, yeah, capture thosethoughts and be sensitive to the
leadings and the promptings ofthe Spirit of God and be willing
to surrender whatever is insideyour life that may be trying to
take up the throne where onlyChrist dwells.
You know how you are connectedto that one thing.
If that one thing was to beremoved, start going down your

(36:35):
life.
If social media was removedfrom your life, how would you be
If your kids were taken away?
If your spouse?
Would you be okay, becausereally the believer should be?
Oh, it's gonna be hard Notsaying it's not, but you're
gonna be okay.

Speaker 5 (36:50):
I just thought about my life without TikTok and look.

Speaker 2 (36:53):
Mark, man, that's so good and I would say like, for
example, someone like Laura whojust wanted to give up social
media for however long sheshould express it in such a way
she's talking about it to otherbelievers to where they wouldn't
walk away feeling condemned andlike a loser, and now she's
influencing them that they haveto do what she's doing but at

(37:15):
the same time, they need torespond in such a way where she
doesn't walk away feeling like alegalist or like she's you know
doing, you know going overboardor whatever.
You know that graciousnessbetween us as believers.

Speaker 5 (37:27):
I want to use, because we're using legalism and
antinomianism and I want to.

Speaker 4 (37:31):
Should you define antinomianism?

Speaker 5 (37:33):
Yeah, so that's what I wanted to do actually, and I'm
going to borrow a lot fromSinclair Ferguson.
He wrote a book on Galatians 5.
I'm not remembering the titleof the book right now, but if
you Google it it was like twoyears ago.
It was the best book I readthat whole year.
It was so good, wow.
And in it he does a really goodjob of explaining legalism and
antinomianism.

(37:53):
Legalism is utilizing the lawto save yourself.
Antinomianism is not payingattention to the law and its
role in your salvation.
And one of the things that'sbig takeaways from that book is
he says legalism andantinomianism are not two ends
of a spectrum.
They're actually twins birthedfrom the same womb.

(38:15):
And what he points out is thatthe antinomian is essentially
saying in their heart I knowbetter than God, I'm going to do
it my way, I'm taking his graceand I'm keeping for myself the
life I want to live.
The legalist says I know betterthan God, I'm going to use his

(38:39):
law to earn favor with him, butI want his favor and not him, so
that I can live my life the wayI want to live my life.
So you think about, like thestory of the prodigal son, the
younger brother leaves and takeshis inheritance.
That's the antinomian.
The legalist is the olderbrother in which stayed home.

(38:59):
But what the story of theprodigal son reveals is that the
older brother wasn't followinghis father out of love for his
father.
He was following his father forhis own inheritance, and so I
just thought it might be helpful.

Speaker 1 (39:13):
That's really good and the name of the book, why
Sinclair Ferguson is Devoted toGod.
Blueprints for SanctificationWow.

Speaker 2 (39:21):
Dude, it's fantastic.
Has Mr Ferguson consideredchanging his first name Sin
Claire Ferguson?

Speaker 3 (39:30):
Ray Comforts in town.
Oh, ray Comforts in town ohwhen you hear a thunderous
sneeze and someone's saying didyou get one of these?

Speaker 5 (39:41):
Sorry, real quick.

Speaker 2 (39:42):
Ray, why are you looking so forlorn over there?

Speaker 5 (39:44):
Forlorn.

Speaker 2 (39:47):
The word of the day Forlorn.

Speaker 4 (39:49):
It's like Saturday mornings.
I looked it up, knowing you'realone.

Speaker 3 (39:53):
Sorry.

Speaker 5 (39:54):
It's a different one that he wrote.
It's a different one that hewrote.
It's called the Whole Christ.
Legalism, antinomianism and theGospel of Assurance.

Speaker 1 (40:01):
It's a fantastic book , the one on Galatians 5?

Speaker 5 (40:03):
That is the one on Galatians 5, I believe.

Speaker 1 (40:06):
The one on Galatians 5 is Devoted to God.

Speaker 5 (40:07):
Blueprints for Sanctification.
Well then, I was wrong, but itwas definitely the Whole Christ.
That's the name of the book,oscar is lying, I'm a liar.

Speaker 2 (40:14):
Okay, ray, I'd like you to talk about how there's
deception and temptation,because a lot of times you know
we're looking at the big stuff.
You know Lying, stealing,killing, slapping Mark's hand,

(40:35):
stuff like that that one's notsin Big stuff.
But Satan is often subtle inhis temptations.

Speaker 4 (40:40):
Yeah, I was just going to use that word subtle.
Satan is very subtle and hecomes to us at our point of
weakness.
Jesus fasted 40 days and 40nights and when he was in his
lowest state the Bible uses anexaggeration, hyperbole and he
hungered.
He hungered.
I mean, 40 hours of fastingwould cause me to hunger, but I

(41:02):
love what Thomas Brooks said.
He said the only way to avoidcannon shot is to fall down.
Ooh, no such way to be freedfrom temptation.
Or there's no such way to befreed from temptation as to keep
low.
Isn't that good?

Speaker 2 (41:18):
That's good.
You need to send me that Ray.

Speaker 3 (41:21):
I don't want to do that.
You take it, then I have tokeep my word.

Speaker 2 (41:26):
So explain that Ray Lay low.

Speaker 4 (41:28):
Yeah, keep low, satan wants to shoot you down.

Speaker 2 (41:32):
Lay low from the answers of Genesis.

Speaker 4 (41:34):
Lay low, yeah so walk in humbleness of heart.
And that's when Jesus fasted 40days and 40 nights, the Bible
says.
Though he were a son, yetlearned he obedience by the
things that he suffered andbeing made perfect.
He became the author of eternalsalvation to all that obey him.
Salvation doesn't come throughobedience, but we're obedient
because we're saved, amen.
We walk in obedience, but we'reobedient because we're saved.

(41:55):
We walk in obedience.
And he was brought low throughthose temptations, that hunger
that consumed him, and that'sthe way to beat the devil Walk
in loneliness of heart, not inpride, because that's his forte.
Walk in loneliness of heart,lowly lowliness of heart,
humility of heart.
How do we do that?

Speaker 1 (42:12):
Mark, how do you have lowliness of heart?

Speaker 4 (42:16):
Yeah, fast for 40 days and 40 nights, that'll do
it.

Speaker 2 (42:19):
And kill you at the same time.
That'll lay you down.

Speaker 1 (42:21):
It's been said that humility is not thinking lowly
of yourself.
It's not thinking of yourself,it's just walking in this place
of man.
I've been forgiven much.
I don't deserve anythinggreater than hell.
I mean, if you really believedthat you shouldn't receive
anything more than hell, thenyou will be a very grateful

(42:42):
individual.
When somebody starts going offon you and speaking evil of you,
you would respond with well,you don't know the half of it,
right.
I mean, I can add a lot more tothe accusations by which you're
coming up against me.
A lot more to the accusationsby which you're coming up
against me.
How do I think lowly of myself?
It's just to get a greatervision of God.

Speaker 4 (43:01):
That's it, and look in the mirror.

Speaker 2 (43:02):
Yeah, mark.
To me that is the only way wecan do what it tells us in the
Word giving thanks always forall things to God, the Father,
in the name of our Lord JesusChrist.
Giving thanks always, and itsays in Colossians and
Thessalonians I believe this isthe will of God for you.
I mean it's God's will that wegive thanks always for all

(43:26):
things.
How is that possible?
What you just said?
When we realize what we deservein place of what we have,
literally we should be consumedin the eternal flames of hell.
And we're not Anything lesspainful than hell.
Anything less painful than hellis an undeserved blessing.

(43:47):
I can't see it any other way.
Maybe I'm wrong, maybe I'mblind.
I mean, it's like I used thisanalogy with someone recently.
I said imagine you were in somecrazy draconian country.
You're sentenced to a lifetimeof daily torture because of the
crimes you committed Legitimatecrimes.
You're guilty.
Daily torture.

(44:09):
Someone comes in, they poke youin the eyes, they rip your
nails out, they take your teethand pull them out.
I mean, every day it's some newtorture.
Will you get up?

Speaker 3 (44:16):
It's like the podcast .
Basically, you have to listento the podcast every minute of
every day.
France, France.

Speaker 2 (44:24):
France, france, but instead you get sent to an
American prison, not the ElSalvador prison that we're all
hearing about American prison,three square meals a day, going
outside.

Speaker 4 (44:39):
What's a square meal, whatever it's really in a box.

Speaker 2 (44:43):
You get to go out and play basketball with guys, you
get to have TV.
Now they give iPads in jails bythe way Prison sounds amazing.
Better than work.
So you get that instead forlife, and now you have any room
to complain.
You'd be every day.
This is awesome, because youdeserve nothing less than that

(45:05):
torture every day.
I don't know we need to getwith it.
Speaking of that, sorry, oscaryou go first.
No, no, no.
Beauty before age.
Ray, I am more humble than you,I'm humblest.
You go first.
Nope, I am more humble than you, I'm humblest.

Speaker 4 (45:15):
You go first.
Nope, okay, disclosure.
My humility demands disclosure.
I went into AI and says give mesome really good witticisms,
sanctified witticisms, abouttemptation.
And I said give me 10.
And these are the two that Igot that I thought were great.
The best way to flee temptationis to have a better place to go
.

Speaker 3 (45:36):
Ooh, I thought that.
I thought were great.

Speaker 4 (45:36):
The best way to flee temptation is to have a better
place to go.
I thought that's pretty goodand if you give the devil a
foothold, he'll turn it into astronghold.

Speaker 5 (45:46):
Those are good Ray.

Speaker 2 (45:46):
Too bad you can't claim them as your own.
That would have been nice.

Speaker 5 (45:50):
I love that first one and that's actually the point.
The first one's really goodbecause it's leaning into the
idea of the gospel, and thisgoes back to the idea of
legalism, antinomianism, whichis that ultimately, you can
memorize every word in the NewTestament.
You can fast, and yet you canpotentially still not experience

(46:15):
transformation.
And yet you can potentiallystill not experience
transformation.
You can still fall into sin.
Why?
Because you actually don'tfight temptation by suppressing
your desires, but by redirectingyour desires, and if all you do
is look inwardly to manage allof your impulses, you will end
up losing.
All of your impulses.

(46:41):
You will end up losing.
This is why Augustine talksabout the idea of reordering our
hearts.
Basically, what we need is a newaffection, and I think the key
to understanding this is Rachel.
In Genesis 29, jacob sees Racheland he immediately falls in
love, and we know he works forseven years, obedient,
disciplined, and afterwards hefinds out that he's only going

(47:04):
to have to work for anotherseven years.
Now you might ask like how doesthat remind us of Jesus?
Hebrews 12 says that Jesusendured the cross for the joy
set before him.
That joy, christian, is you,just like Jacob looked to Rachel
and said that will be thereward of my obedience.

(47:25):
Jesus looks at us and says youwill be my reward, and so what
that does is that when we cometo understand how God has loved
us, his love for us will cause alove for him.
When we fix our eyes on the onewho gave everything for us, he

(47:47):
will become everything to us.
So what we need to see is that,like you, the church is Jesus's
Rachel.
Is that, like you, the churchis Jesus's Rachel?
He becomes when we realize thathe becomes the one that
captures our imagination andthat understanding God's love
for us that is stronger than anywillpower than we could ever

(48:09):
devise of our own.

Speaker 2 (48:09):
Amen.
That's so important, oscar,yeah, we need to look to him.
He's our example in resistingtemptation and he is the one
that we're running towards.
Looking unto Jesus, the authorand the finisher of your faith.
Looking unto him.
And then, mark, there is areality of what's inside us that
people often forget.

(48:30):
Galatians 5, I say then, walkin the Spirit and you will not
fulfill the lust of the flesh,for the flesh lusts against the
Spirit, the Spirit against theflesh.
These are contrary.
So that's a reality thatChristians need to acknowledge.
How do we stand strong in themidst of that battle between the
flesh and the Spirit?

Speaker 1 (48:52):
I think that you run with the right people.
You run alongside people thatare like-minded.
You link arms with people thatare heading in the same
direction.
It's not enough to fleeyouthful lust, but we pursue all
these other things with otherswho call on the Lord out of a
pure heart.

(49:12):
Blessed is the man who walks,not in the counsel of the wicked
right.
You become like-minded to thosewho you hang out with.
So if you are going to hang outwith people that are just
entrepreneurs and that's allthey're thinking about, you will
somehow kind of catch thatright.
It will not so much be taughtas much as it is caught.

(49:33):
So we want to hang out withpeople that have good morals,
because bad company corruptsgood morals.
We want to run our race and runit well.
Surround yourself with peoplethat you think are running the
race and running well.
So run with the right peopleand run from wrong places.
So you find yourself inside ofa place where you typically

(49:56):
wouldn't be.
If you're going out to lunchwith your pastor, well then you
don't need to really be hangingout at that place as it is.
You have a problem with alcohol.
Don't go hang out and have yourDevo in the corner of the bar,
right?
You don't need to be winningpeople for Christ in the bar if
you have a problem with drinking, right.
So, yeah, I think that that'sreally what it is right.

(50:18):
The idea is just you link armswith people that are like-minded
, or people that are running therace, maybe a little bit better
than you.

Speaker 2 (50:25):
Yeah, and then also, you know, like he says there,
walk in the Spirit and you willnot fulfill the lust of the
flesh.
And that involves involvingyourself in the things that
God's Spirit is involved in,like we've talked about before
the Word, prayer, evangelism,right, I mean, when the Spirit
comes upon you, you'll be mywitnesses.
We don't know how to praise whowe are.
The Spirit intercedes.
The Scripture is called thesword of the Spirit, which is

(50:47):
the Word of God and fellowship.
Scripture talks about thefellowship of the Holy Spirit.
Ray Ephesians 6,.
We don't wrestle against fleshand blood.

Speaker 4 (51:00):
No, we don't, do we we?

Speaker 2 (51:01):
should, but it's not.
There's a spiritual battlegoing on.
What part does the armor of Godplay?

Speaker 4 (51:11):
Because it talks about resisting Satan's firm in
our faith.
Yeah, we should all be familiarwith Ephesians 6, verses 12
through to 20.
Listen to the armor of God, thesword of the Spirit, the feet
shod with the preparation of thegospel of peace.
That is one huge key.
That's often overlooked becauseit's lowly.
But if you have your feetalways ready to share the gospel
, have those beautiful feetcovered with the shoes, the

(51:32):
gospel shoes.
That's part of the victory,because if you're rowing the
boat, you're.
I haven't got a clue wherethat's going.

Speaker 2 (51:41):
Row, row, row your boat gently down the stream.

Speaker 4 (51:45):
Anyway, john MacArthur said temptations that
have been anticipated, guardedagainst and prayed about have
little power to harm us.

Speaker 2 (51:58):
Isn't that good?
Yes, read it again.

Speaker 4 (52:00):
Temptations that have been anticipated, guarded
against and prayed about havelittle power to harm us.

Speaker 2 (52:07):
Read it one more time , one more time you sound like a
Democrat.

Speaker 4 (52:13):
Yeah, it's watch and pray.
Just be aware of your ownweaknesses.

Speaker 2 (52:20):
Well, you know I often say that right Hebrews
talks about you have notresisted to bloodshed in your
struggle against sin.
I love that imagery Like, hey,look, you haven't gone all out.
And how often do we sayourselves or hear other
believers say, man, I reallywant to be free from the sin.
And when you ask what's beingdone about it, nothing really.

(52:41):
And when you ask what's beingdone about it, nothing really.
I mean, again, if I have cancerand there's a regimen through
which I can be saved from it andlive, but I don't appropriate
that and I don't participate inthat regimen, there's obviously
something wrong.
Either I don't believe that Ireally have cancer and it's
terminal, or I have a death wishand I really do want to die.
All right, I mean, if you guyshave that, you would have to
conclude it's terminal.
Or I have a death wish and Ireally do want to die, all right

(53:01):
, I mean, if you guys have that,you would have to conclude it's
one of those two.
They're in denial, they don'treally think they have it, even
though they're given lip service, they do.
Or they really do want to die.
They don't want to live anymore.

Speaker 4 (53:11):
It's interesting.

Speaker 2 (53:16):
We've been talking for this thought.

Speaker 4 (53:18):
I don't want to do that.
I can't be bothered.
No, you're going to get goneaway.
It's nice and old.

Speaker 2 (53:20):
Haven't thought about it yet.
No, but look, we've talkedabout it.
I have a serious problem, okay,are you praying intensively
about it?
Not just you know, lord, blessmy burrito and help me with this
.
Praying intensively, daily,continually.
Are you fasting over the issue?
Are you reading books on thesubject?

(53:40):
Are you getting counsel on it?
Are you memorizing scriptureand studying the word on it?
If you haven't done all those,don't complain that you have
this sin you're struggling withand don't say I just can't
overcome this, it's just itmakes no sense.

Speaker 4 (53:56):
Are there any books?

Speaker 1 (53:56):
that you could.
Disciplines of a Godly man yeah, but listen, if you can get
down what you just said, right,this is the litmus test to see
where you're at.
If you really care about whatyou are struggling with, go back
to listen to what EZ just said.
Go back 30 seconds and he justlaid down your pathway out of

(54:19):
that destructive path in whichyou've been found yourself
marinating in.
It's that simple.
Don't overthink it, don'tovercomplicate it.
One by one, go through thoseand if you're saying to yourself
, no, I'm not, then remember,return and repent.
This is the idea, and you'llcome out fine on the other side.

Speaker 2 (54:38):
Yeah, and guys, we're not prescribing something to
you that we don't do ourselvesright Like we.
I mentioned Elijah earlier.
He was a man, you know, withthe same nature as ours.
All of us here are sinners.
We're fallen men.
We struggle, especially Ray.

Speaker 3 (54:56):
Yeah, get right in on my sinner.

Speaker 2 (54:58):
But we need the same thing and we do the same things.
We get in the Word, we getaccountability, we read books,
we I mean you need that RightCon with.

Speaker 4 (55:08):
Science, knowledge.
Yeah, I was just thinking howpowerful the conscience is.
I was asking someone thismorning at the college.
I asked two guys one of theother, do you believe in
evolution?
And they said yes.
I said well, why did evolutiongive us a conscience?
The conscience that echoes thetruth of each of the Ten
Commandments you shall not lie,shall not steal, shall not
commit adultery.
Do you think God gave us thatconscience?

(55:29):
And they both nodded in twoseparate instances.
It doesn't make any sense thatevolution would furnish all of
humanity with this built,intuitive knowledge that the Ten
Commandments are right and justand true.
So that's what we need tocultivate as Christians when it
comes to temptation have aconscience that's tender towards

(55:50):
God and towards man.
And the key is to have aconscience that's tender towards
God, because you can dull yourconscience towards man, but
we've got to cultivate ourconscience towards God.

Speaker 2 (56:01):
That's good, ray.
Yeah, and I think it'd be goodto end on the note of Joseph.
We referenced him earlier.
I've actually been preparing anew message on Joseph that I'll
be teaching at purity events.
But you look at how Josephresponded to Potiphar's wife.
It says this is Genesis 39,.
Now, joseph was handsome in formand appearance one of me, not

(56:24):
us, one of me.
And it came to pass after thesethings that his master's wife
cast longing eyes on Joseph andshe said lie with me.
But he refused.
It's wrong to lie.
Yeah, he shall not lie.
But he refused and said to hismaster's wife look, my master
does not know what is with me inthe house and has committed all

(56:45):
that he has to my hand.
There is no one greater in thishouse than I, nor has he kept
back anything from me, but you,because you are his wife.
How then can I do this greatwickedness and sin against God?
So it was that, as she spoke toJoseph day by day, that he did
not heed her to lie with her orto be with her.

(57:06):
But it happened about this time, when Joseph went into the
house to do his work and none ofthe men of the house was inside
that she caught him by hisgarment saying lie with me.
But he left his garment in herhand and fled and ran outside.
What an example, you guys.
And basically my three pointsfor the message are going to be

(57:27):
first of all, joseph refused.
It said when she came andpetitioned him, he refused the
next one.
I'm going to use another R.
Why would I do that?
I don't know.
No, I didn't use an R for thenext one.
So first he refused.
Second, he reasoned you likethat today.
He reasoned, he started toreason with her Look, and he
began to recount all of God'sfavor and blessing upon him and

(57:51):
the betrayal against his masterwho entrusted him with
everything.
And then he reasoned.
And he reasoned what?
This was great wickedness.
And then he recognized this wasagainst God.
You know what I mean.
And he ran.
And third, he ran and then herapped.

Speaker 3 (58:09):
Thank you for taking my thunder.

Speaker 2 (58:11):
Hooray.

Speaker 3 (58:13):
Yeah, sorry saliva.

Speaker 2 (58:14):
He ran, he ran.
We need to run from sin.
Was it AI that told you thatquote?
Yeah, I'm going to change myname to Allen Iverson, so I can
say, ai said the answer man,it's true, but run.
We need to flee, flee youthfullust.

Speaker 4 (58:34):
That's an admittance of your own weakness.

Speaker 2 (58:37):
Yeah, yeah, don't try to act like again we've said it
before the people who thinkthey can't fall into whatever
sin will.

Speaker 4 (58:49):
The moth shouldn't resist the flame, it should fly.

Speaker 3 (58:53):
Fly from the flame Smile though, come on what was
up with that smile, ray.

Speaker 2 (59:00):
Yeah, so friends, he refused when it first came, but
she continued day after day, sohe resisted and then at the end,
when she really put him in thecorner, he ran.

Speaker 4 (59:12):
What about the?

Speaker 2 (59:13):
reason.
Oh wait, did I say reason?

Speaker 4 (59:15):
You said resist him.
Yeah, he reasoned.

Speaker 2 (59:19):
Oh, no, it's four points Refuse resist.

Speaker 4 (59:21):
What about responsibility?
Wait, oh no, it's four points.
Refuse, resist.
What about responsibility?
There's a risk.

Speaker 2 (59:24):
Wait, refuse, reason, resist, run Rumble.
What'd you say?
Rumble, Rumble.
Thank you for joining us.
My 400-point sermon, and errorand error and error.
Anyway, do that?
Do that, friends?
And yeah, refuse, then reasonthrough it, think about it, then

(59:46):
resist if the temptationpersists and then run, Run
toward God.
Do you like that, Mark?
Yes, Otherwise you'll regret.

Speaker 4 (59:54):
Ooh and then have remorse.
Ooh, because you didn't repent.

Speaker 5 (59:59):
Ooh.

Speaker 2 (01:00:00):
That was very riveting.
And then for lunch you'll havea chicken wrap.

Speaker 4 (01:00:03):
That would sound like a cow to me.
Chicken wrap.

Speaker 3 (01:00:07):
All right, you friends.

Speaker 2 (01:00:09):
There you have it, man guys.
I really enjoyed that.
Seriously, I really personallyfeel strengthened after today,
Reminded, oh reminded.

Speaker 4 (01:00:18):
Oh, there's another thing we need to do so there you
have it, friends.

Speaker 2 (01:00:21):
Don't forget the Evidence, study Bible.
Don't forget Living Waters, mugthe Evidence.
Oh wait, that's twice Evidence,study Bible, twice Living
Waters TV, the YouTube channel.
What else you mentioned someearlier?
Oscar Living Waters podcastYouTube channel.
All at livingwaterscom.

Speaker 3 (01:00:39):
Thank you for joining us, friends.
Friends, we'll see you nexttime on the podcast where we
have no idea what we're doing.

Speaker 5 (01:00:50):
That was the worst one.
It was just terrible.