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TALKING YOURSELF OUT OF SIN "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it." (I Cor. 10:13) We quote that verse often for the purpose of showing that God never allows Satan to overpower us. When it comes to sin, we always have a choice and there is always an escape, if only we will take it. But it's also important to note that that verse is sandwiched between two other very important verses. The verse before it says, "Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall" (vs. 12), and then the verse after it says, "Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry." (vs. 14) Both verses, like verse 13, speak heavily of sin PREVENTION. By taking heed lest we fall, we are acknowledging that at any moment we might choose sin, regardless of our intentions, and by fleeing from sin we are showing our zeal for righteousness and our desire to remain pleasing to God. That is, rather than having our hand on the door knob of sin, we have the door shut and latched while we move cautiously away practicing sin prevention. NO CONFIDENCE in the flesh is a far superior attitude to the Pharisee attitude that says, "Oh, I would never do a thing like that!" Given the right opportunity and circumstance, the wise believer assumes that he might do pretty much anything, so an ounce of prevention is always worth a pound of cure. Paul said to "make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof" in Romans 13:14. That means instead of practicing sin CONFESSION, we need to be practicing sin PREVENTION. And this is true with both, sins of commission (doing that which is against God's law; I John 3:4) and sins of omission (failing to do that which God has commanded; James 4:17). You know as well as I that the devil has a long list of excuses to help people step into sin. He'll have you saying, "Well, a little bit won't hurt" and "everybody else does it." "It all depends on how you look at it," he'll tell you, or "You deserve a little fun." Of course, the list goes on, because the devil makes it easy to sin by making it easy to talk yourself into sin. But what if you countered that with YOUR OWN talking points? Instead of talking yourself into sin by saying, "I know when to quit" or "My conscience doesn't convict me," what if you hauled out a list of reasons why you should NOT commit the sin? What if you carried a laminated "escape" card in your wallet or purse at all times to help you escape sin when it presents itself at your door? It sure couldn't hurt anything! We KNOW the points that the devil has listed on his sin card, but what do we have on our escape card? Let me give you some things that such an escape card might have on it. Perhaps you could make your own . . . I. GOD IS WATCHING You might go ahead and do it, but you won't do it alone. God will have a front row seat for the whole thing! Sure, you already know that, but you won't think of it much while being tempted, and the devil sure won't remind you, so remind yourself! Talk yourself out of sin by repeating those three words: GOD IS WATCHING (Pro. 15:3). II. YOU'RE GETTING TOO CLOSE Just like the "rumble strips" along the highway are there to keep you from hitting the ditch, remind yourself BEFORE you hit the ditch of sin. Satan won't tell you that, so tell yourself. Consult with yourself like Nehemiah and say, "TOO CLOSE! BACK AWAY!" That might sound silly, but it just might keep you from sin, so do it. Talk yourself out of sin! III. YOU HAVE MORE IMPORTANT THINGS TO DO Be a responsible adult and enjoy the honor of doing the RIGHT thing instead of the carnal and sinful thing that will yield no honor whatsoever. This is carnal and far beneath your character level. You have more important things to do. It's hard to sin when you're staying busy. It's the IDLE mind that's the devil's workshop, not the busy and productive mind. IV. YOU DON'T HAVE TO DO THIS It's incredible how we move so easily and smoothly toward sin without much of a fight, yet at any given moment I can remind myself, "You don't have to do this! You still have a choice, so choose righteousness!" V. YOU'RE GOING TO GRIEVE THE HOLY SPIRIT Ephesians 4:30 is pretty clear about that, so remind yourself. Jesus did always those things that please the Father (John 8:29), yet here I am about to DISPLEASE the Father and grieve the Holy Spirit! Do I really want to do this? That just might send that gossip or that whiney complaint back to hell where it belongs. That might be all it takes to quench that evil spirit of revenge or jealousy. VI. THIS COULD HURT SOMEONE You might not see how, but someone will be negatively influenced by your sin. Even if no one knows about the sin, they will notice a decrease in your zeal for God, and that's never a good thing. At best, it can lead to gossip, and it might even lead to someone following your sorry, sinful example. VII. YOU'RE SURRENDERING TO THE FLESH No matter how much you enjoy it, this is not a victory. You are being defeated by the flesh. Instead of nailing your flesh to the cross, it is nailing you to sin! Call it what you want, but God calls it defeat and death (Rom. 8:13). True victory comes with crucifying the flesh, not yielding to it. Surrendering to carnality is never a victory, whether it's carnal actions, carnal words, or just carnal thoughts that get too much free time in your mind. VIII. THIS WON'T LAST The satisfaction or thrill that might come with this sin will be very brief, and then it's all over. The devil never tells you that, so you must tell yourself. The pleasures of sin are only for a season (Heb. 11:25), and it just isn't worth it. Take the high road above sin and live with eternal honor and glory. IX. THIS WILL DECREASE YOUR VALUE Whatever spiritual value you have earned for yourself up until now is about to be compromised and devalued. The world might teach that all people are equal, but God's word is clear in stating that some are more valuable to God than others because of their profitable service (I Pet. 3:4; Pro. 31:10; 3:15; 10:20; I Tim. 5:17; Mat. 13:23), so why would you compromise that? You're better than this. It's not worth it. Take the escape and don't decrease your value. X. YOU'RE GOING TO BE SORRY You might enjoy the sin for a short time, but payday always comes. Sowing is always followed by reaping (Gal. 6:7-8), and God's chastening hand always falls on his disobedient children (I Cor. 11:30-32). Then if that's not enough, you'll stand one day before the Judgment Seat of Christ (II Cor. 5:10-11). Tell yourself often, "You're going to be sorry!" It could save you from a multitude of sin. If you are born again, then you are a saint, not a sinner, and you do not have to sin. If you do sin, it is only because you are crossing over into enemy territory and fighting for the devil and against the Lord. The devil won't tell you that, but you just saw ten ways in which you can tell yourself and maybe talk yourself out of sin. May God be your Helper.