Love Worth Finding

Adrian Rogers: Young people don't see this today. Young people don't listen to the word of God. First of all, they say it's really not my fault. Somebody made me do it. God wouldn't have made me this way. It's all right. Society doesn't blame me anymore.

Nobody's to blame. Or God, You're to blame, or Satan, you're to blame, or circumstances, you're to blame, or glands, you're to blame. No. Listen to me: You will not beat the game. You will not. The blame game is a fun game to play, but you will always be the loser.

Guest (Male): Welcome to Love Worth Finding, featuring the powerful and insightful biblical lessons of acclaimed pastor Adrian Rogers. In part one of today's message, we learned that sin is an inside job; it begins within. As long as we live, there will be temptation.

We can play the blame game all day long, but we'll ultimately lose. How can we stand firm against temptation? If you have your Bible, turn now to the Book of James, chapter one. We'll begin in verse 12. Here's Adrian Rogers to share how we can stand firm even when the devil provokes our flawed appetites and fatal attractions.

Adrian Rogers: Now here's the message today, and I want you to get it down in your heart and in your life. Sin is an inside job. It starts in you. Notice again what he says in this passage in verse 14: "Every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust, his own lust, and enticed."

Do you have that? Now what he is saying here is that a sin is very much like a seduction. Like a man may seduce a woman, or a woman may seduce a man. That's what the word "drawn away" literally means. Now here's point number one, and get it down good: There is a courtship that leads to a consent.

Now the devil is going to court you. Temptation will come your way to entice you. Every man is tempted when he is drawn away. Do you see that word "drawn away"? You know what that word literally means? It was used in that day of men who were trappers, who would trap animals, or it was used of fishermen who would catch a fish with a bait or a lure.

It's a word to entrap, to ensnare, to allure. This is what it's all about. I remember the first bass I ever caught with an artificial lure. I thought no bass could be this stupid. Somebody said, "You take that piece of wood with those hooks on it and throw it out there by those lily pads."

And I was with some other people, and I wanted them to think I was a macho man and these guys believe in this kind of fishing. I'm going to believe in it. And I walked up and down the bank of that canal there, and the guys were way off over there. I could hear them talking and just nonchalantly I'm throwing that thing out.

I was getting it snarled up and trying to undo it, finally get it back again. And I threw that plug out, and all of a sudden, the water exploded. And I saw this thing come out of the water. It was one of those things where he just knocked the plug out of the water, but it was in his mouth.

That line tightened and the fight was on. It was so exciting! I didn't even reel him in; I backed him out and pulled him out. What a dumb fish! What a dumb fish! Piece of wood with paint on it and hooks in it. But there was something in that bass that said, "I want that."

And he went after it, enticed, drawn away. But he uses the word here not to talk about bass, but about people. Every man is drawn away of his own lust. Here is the anatomy of a sin: There's a courtship that leads to a consent. The devil flirts. The devil has his bait.

He tries to draw you away. It begins with a flirtation. Now the devil will throw the match, but the devil has to have the gasoline of an unholy desire in order for it to do some good. Now Satan throws out the lure. Satan throws out the bait. Satan lights the match. He does all of this.

He draws people away. But there must be with that courtship, there must be a consent. The sinner says, "I do." There's a courtship that leads to a consent. You cannot blame God, you cannot blame the devil, you cannot blame circumstance. The Bible says you are drawn away of your own lust.

Point number one: The courtship that leads to consent. Point number two: The consent that leads to conception. First there's a courtship, then there's a consent, and then there is a conception. Look if you will now in verse 15: "Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin."

There comes an unholy union that brings an unholy child, and that unholy child is sin. The mother of sin is inward lust. The father of sin is outward attraction. And when these come together, there is a sin that is produced. There's a fatal attraction—that's the father.

There's a flawed appetite—that is the mother. And when these two come together, there is a conception. Now when a baby is conceived, many times there's great joy in the physical realm. People say, "Look, we're having a new baby in our home." So it is sometimes with sin.

Whatever it is, at the moment, it may seem so joyful, it may seem so pleasant, it may seem so beautiful, it may seem so natural. And so you may be going on right now, high, wide, and handsome, living in sin, having a wonderful time. "Lust, when it hath conceived, bringeth forth sin."

What a beautiful baby! Any kind of sin. But now here's the third thing: There is the conception that leads to a consummation. There is a courtship, there is a consent, there is a conception, and then there is a consummation. Look at it again in verse 15: "Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin; and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death."

When it is finished—that means when it is literally full-grown. So you can't see sin when it's a baby. You must have been a beautiful baby, but baby look at you now. You can't see sin when it feels so good, when it seems so natural, when it seems so right.

You think perhaps you've beat the game, but you've not. The soul that sinneth, it shall surely die. The wages of sin is death. Sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. First sin fascinates, then it assassinates. First it thrills, then it kills. "Lust, when it hath conceived, bringeth forth sin; and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death."

The child of lust is sin and the grandchild of lust is death. And lust, when it hath conceived, bringeth forth sin; and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. Lust, sin, death—LSD. Now young people don't see this today. Young people don't listen to the word of God.

First of all, they say it's really not my fault. Somebody made me do it. God wouldn't have made me this way. It's all right. Society doesn't blame me anymore. Why, we even have a no-fault divorce. Give me a break. Nobody's to blame.

Or God, You're to blame, or Satan, you're to blame, or circumstance, you're to blame, or glands, you're to blame. No. Every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed. And lust, when it hath conceived, bringeth forth sin; and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.

Listen to me: You will not beat the game. You will not. The blame game is a fun game to play, but you will always be the loser. Now notice how sin ends. Let's just take some things. For example, alcohol, liquor. Everybody tells us it's all right to drink today.

We've humanized God and liquor-ized society, minimized sin. What are the most beautiful advertisements on television and in magazines and on the billboards? The liquor advertisements. The liquor advertisements. Even at Christmas, you see those Clydesdales going through that snow.

Now is that not beautiful? Is that not a beautiful ad? They never show some teenager with his face sliced up having gone through a windshield. They never go down to the emergency room. They never show the drunkard in the gutter covered in his own vomit with flies.

They don't show that. They don't show the last; they only show the first. These guys sitting in that bass boat and they say, "It never gets any better than this." They're right; it always gets worse. At the last, at the last, at the last, it biteth like a serpent.

Down in Florida, I had an artist to paint a billboard to put on the parking lot in the church in Fort Pierce, where I was pastor. And it showed some garbage cans and a big rat about eight inches long and a drunkard down there with a broken bottle lying by those garbage cans in a back alley.

And I had put underneath that painting "The finished product of the brewer's art" because there was a beer that was advertising "The finest product of the brewer's art." So I just put "The finished product of the brewer's art." And put that up on the parking lot for the boys and girls to see.

I got a call at home and a man said, "Are you Adrian Rogers?" "Yes, I am." "Are you the pastor of that church?" "Yes, I am." He said, "Well, I am the distributor for thus and such a beer." And he said, "You've got a sign on your parking lot I need to talk to you about."

I said, "Fine, I'll meet you as soon as you can get in my office; I'll be there." Went right down, I sat down, I said, "What do you want to talk about that sign for?" He said, "That sign discriminates against my product." I said, "Your product is brewed with tears, thickened with blood, and flavored with death, and if I were you, I'd get on my knees right now and ask God Almighty to have mercy on me."

He said, "Wow." He said, "I don't think I'm going to get anywhere with you." He said, "That looks like grounds for a lawsuit." I said, "I do, too." I said, "Please sue me. I want my picture on the front page of the newspaper. I want that billboard on the front page of the newspaper."

And I said, "You've got a lot of nerve. You come into our homes with your advertisements, you come with your billboards, you come with magazines, you come with this and that, and I put one billboard on a parking lot for boys and girls in Sunday school, and you don't like it."

I said, "I'll make a deal with you. You take down all your signs, I'll take down mine." At the last, it biteth like a serpent and stingeth like an adder. The devil doesn't want you to see the end. What about immorality? Everything today is run by sex.

Proverbs 5, verses three through five. Listen to this: "For the lips of a strange woman drop as a honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil." Oh, honey lips. Listen to what God's Word says: "But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword. Her feet go down to death, and her steps take hold on hell."

You're not going to break God's laws. God says, "Flee fornication." I mean, you're not going to break them with impunity; you're broken on them. God's Word says, "Thou shalt not commit adultery." Sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.

Friend, we could talk about so many things. Human pride. You say, "Well, I don't have to listen to this preaching." No, you don't. You say, "I have my own ideas." You may. Proverbs 14, verse 12: "There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death."

You can say, "I have my own religion. I have my own ideas. I'm going my own way." Well, help yourself. But the end thereof are the ways of death. Sin, when it is finished—former pastor of this church, Dr. R.G. Lee, said, "You can eat the devil's corn if you want to, but he'll choke you on the cob."

The bread of deceit is sweet, but afterward a man's mouth shall be filled with gravel. So what do we have? We have a courtship, we have a consent, we have a conception, we have a consummation. Sin, when it is finished. Now, let's see if we can wrap this up.

Where is the problem? Sin is an inside job. Remember Mark 7, Jesus said all these things come out of the heart. Out of the heart. You can't blame anybody else. Every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed. This is an inside job.

Well, you're not going to get rid of temptation. As long as you live, as long as you exist, there will be temptation. So what are you going to do? The only thing you can possibly do is to have an inward change, to get your heart changed.

And if you don't get your heart changed, Satan's not going to stop tempting you. So you've got to get your heart changed. You see, you've got to get your "wanter" fixed. That's what Jesus did for me when He saved me. I want to tell you something: I sin all I want to, because I don't want to.

I don't want to. Because something happened in me when Jesus saved me. An old-time preacher named Lester Roloff—he's a great old preacher—Lester Roloff told one of the most incredible stories about a man who was having difficulty and he went to see the doctor.

And he said, "Doctor, I want you to do something for me." And by the way, the name of the doctor was Doctor Law, L-A-W. Doctor Law said, "Well, what's the matter?" He said, "It's my eyes. My eyes are looking at the wrong kinds of things; I'm looking at pornography. And my hands; my hands are doing things and taking things that don't belong to me."

"And my feet; my feet are going places I ought not to go. And my problem is my eyes, my hands, my feet." And Doctor Law says, "No, that's not your problem. Your problem is your heart." "No," he says, "No, no, no, it's my hands, my eyes; I ought to know." Doctor Law says, "Trust me, it is your heart."

"Well, okay, Doctor Law, can you give me some medicine?" "No." "Can you give me some exercises?" "No." "Well, Doctor Law, what are you good for?" "I only diagnose. And I'm telling you you've got a fatal disease, and it's going to kill you, and your problem is your heart."

"But Doctor Law, you mean I'm going to die? Is there no hope?" "Oh, yes, there's hope." "Well, what kind of hope?" "Well, you need a heart transplant." "A what?" "You need a new heart." "Well, well, can you do that surgery?" "Oh, no, I don't do that surgery. I just diagnose."

"Well, who does it?" "Doctor Grace." "Doctor Grace? Well, where's Doctor Grace?" "Right across the hall." "Do I have to make an appointment?" "Oh, no. He'll see you immediately." "What will it cost?" "Nothing." "You mean he can give me a new heart?" "Yes."

"You mean he'll do it right now?" "Absolutely." "You mean I don't have to make an appointment; I can just go in?" "Yes. And it won't cost anything?" "No." "Will it hurt?" "It sure may. It may hurt. But you need a new heart. Step across the hall and tell him that I sent you."

And the man steps across the hall and knocks on the door, and there comes the most kind-looking man he's ever seen, Doctor Grace. And he says, "Doctor Grace, Doctor Law sent me here. And he says I've got a bad heart. Can you do anything for me?" "Yes, I can."

And Doctor Grace puts me on his table and reaches in with his hand and takes out my heart. And when I see it, it is so vile. I'm still awake during this operation. It's vile, it stinks, it's loathsome. I never dreamed how corrupt my heart was.

And then Doctor Grace puts within me a new heart. Immediately, there's a change with my eyes, with my hands, and with my feet, because I have been given a new heart. Now friend, if you read in James chapter one, that's what James is talking about after he talks about that old heart, that old desire, that old lust.

Then he says, "Of His own will begat He us." That is, we are born again. First of all, there's the conception of sin, but then there's the conception of the new birth. Of His own will He begets us with His word. I'm not perfect. You say, "I already knew that, pastor."

I'm not perfect. But Jesus gave me a new heart. He gave me a new heart. And I have within me today the strength and the power that I need to live victoriously and I don't have to make excuses. I don't have to try to blame God or circumstances.

But I can say by the grace of God I am what I am, changed. Changed. You need a new heart today, and I'm telling you Doctor Law cannot save you. Doctor Law just says the wages of sin is death. Doctor Law's made a good diagnosis, but Doctor Grace'll save you today.

His name is Jesus. Would you pray a prayer like this? Pray it out of your heart: Dear God, I am a sinner, and the problem is my old heart, and I stop making excuses. Lord, I stop trying to blame somebody else. It's me, it's me, it's me, oh Lord, standing in the need of prayer.

Oh, Lord Jesus, give me a new heart today. Change me, save me, Lord Jesus. Jesus, I believe You died on the cross to pay for my sin. I believe that God the Father raised You from the dead. And I believe You'll save me if I trust You. I do trust You today. Save me, Lord Jesus.

And if you prayed that prayer, I want you to thank Him. Pray this way: Thank You for doing it. I don't look for sign or ask for feeling; I stand on Your Word. Begin now to make me the person You want me to be. In Your holy name I pray. Amen.

Guest (Male): If you've prayed to receive the forgiveness that Jesus has offered you, we'd love to also offer now an insightful resource on our website. It's the "Discover Jesus" page. You'll find answers there that you may need about your new-found faith.

We also want to hear about it and celebrate with you. On the website, there's a response section where you can share your decision with us. Go to LWF.org/radio and click "Discover Jesus" at the top of the page. Again, LWF.org/radio and click "Discover Jesus." Welcome to God's forever family. We can't wait to hear from you.

Cary Vaughn: Hi, this is Cary Vaughn, and this program has been brought to you by Love Worth Finding, a non-profit ministry showcasing the powerful preaching and teaching of Pastor Adrian Rogers. We operate solely through the generous gifts of individual supporters just like you.

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