Shadowing Practice: Ongoing Sin | Paul Washer - Learn English Speaking with Video
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How does a Christian deal with ongoing sin?
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Well, first of all, we need to understand that if a person is a Christian, their heart has been regenerated,
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they've been made alive, they've been given a new heart and also the Holy Spirit dwells within them.
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So a Christian is going to experience changes, transformations.
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They are going to grow in conformity to Christ.
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Yet at the same time, we will never be free from sin on this side of heaven.
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I want us to look at 1 John 1.
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John says, verse 8, If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.
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One of the things that is so evident about someone who is a Christian, it's not that they're sinless,
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but that they recognize sin in their life.
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And when they see that sin, they confess it.
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A lot of times we don't see how extraordinary that actually is.
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We live in a world that is sinning constantly against God.
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And yet, so few people recognize their sin, take responsibility for their sin, confess their sin, mourn over their sin.
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So when you see a person who has professed faith in Christ doing these types of things,
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it is evident that they truly have come to know him.
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You see, a Christian will sin less, but they will not be without sin.
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But when they do sin, it will cause sorrow in their heart.
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It will lead them to repentance and the confession of that sin.
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He says, if we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.
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There are so many times when I will preach in a church and this very same thing will happen every time.
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Maybe I'll preach in a church about sin or about the necessity of being holy.
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And sometimes the Spirit of God will be working and many people will be broken over their sin.
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And what seems to be so unusual is this.
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The people who are usually the most godly, sincere, and devoted in the church are the ones most broken over their sin,
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while those who show little signs
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or evidences of having been born again sit there as though they had no sin at all.
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And what we're seeing is the working of the Spirit of God in God's people
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and the lack of that working in people who profess faith in Christ but really do not know Him.
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Now, he says this in verse 9, If we confess our sins,
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he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
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When the believer sins, the believer should confess that sin,
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turn away from it and ask for forgiveness.
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Now, what is confession?
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Confession literally in the Greek is a word homologo.
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And literally it means to speak the same thing.
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So if I am a Christian and I study the word of God and reading the Bible one day, the Lord convicts me of sin.
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Or let's say that a brother in Christ who dearly loves me sees
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that I'm not walking as I ought to be and he speaks to me about my sin.
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And I know it's from God.
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He's using the scripture.
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It really is true.
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I have sinned.
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When God tells me through the word of God or through the instruction of another believer or some other way,
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when God tells me that I have sinned, when he speaks to me, you have sinned, Paul.
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You were impatient.
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Confession is not just to say, I'm sorry.
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Confession is to speak the same thing.
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When God says, Paul, you've been impatient.
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Confession is when I say, Lord, I agree with you with regard to my sin.
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You say I've been impatient.
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You are right.
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I have been impatient.
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That's confession.
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And then asking for forgiveness.
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Forgive me for my impatience.
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Now, so we see here that even though a believer is going to be transformed and continue transforming,
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even a believer will experience change and conformity to Christ, we will still have to deal with sin in our lives.
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Hopefully it'll be a lot less as we grow, but it will be there and we have to deal with it.
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And we deal with it through brokenness and confession, recognizing that what God says about us is true and confessing it.
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Now, let me take you to another text that is very, very important, very important.
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In Psalms 119 11, David says, Your word I have treasured in my heart that I may not sin against you.
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How can we grow in conformity to Christ?
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How can we sin less?
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One of the essential, essential things we need is here in verse 11, the word of God.
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Look what he says.
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Your word I have treasured in my heart that I may not sin against you.
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Now, if you're listening to this, let me ask you a question.
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How much time do you spend in the word of God?
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How much time do you spend reading the word of God, studying the word of God, memorizing the word of God,
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meditating on the word of God?
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Most people, when they hear this question, they kind of bow their head and acknowledge not enough.
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Some even almost not at all.
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This is one of the reasons why that we have
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so little power over sin is because we spend so little time in the word of God.
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You know, you can't miss breakfast without starting to get hungry.
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You miss lunch, you're starting to feel weak.
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You miss lunch and supper and breakfast, you miss meals all day.
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And by the next day, you're probably even going to feel sick.
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Well, that is a physical illustration of a spiritual reality.
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You need the word of God.
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Sometimes people come to me and they act like, you know, growing is this great mystery that no one can solve.
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How can we grow?
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And then I ask them this question.
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Well, how much time do you spend in the word of God?
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And their answer is usually it can't be that simple.
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Show me some trick or some key to spiritual growth.
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And I said, I'm trying to.
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You need to spend time in the word of God.
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Now, look what he says again.
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Your word I have treasured in my heart that I may not sin against you.
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Now, let's change it a little.
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Your word I have not treasured in my heart so that I might sin against you.
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Do you see?
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It works both ways.
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If you're going to neglect your study of Scripture, the memorization and meditation of Scripture,
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then you're opening your life to less and less conformity and to more and more sin.
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Now, when I talk about the Bible and studying the Bible, how should you do it?
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Well, I don't have the only way to do it, but let me tell you something that's very important.
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Most people jump back and forth.
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They read one portion in one book and then maybe another chapter in another book, and they go from here to there,
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and they never really understand the counsel of God.
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They never really see the big picture.
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I would recommend that if you've never read the New Testament, start in the book of Matthew
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and read all the way through to the book of Revelation
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and do that several times and then go to the Old Testament,
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start in Genesis and read all the way through to Revelation and spend the rest of your life in that life discipline,
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whether it's three, four, five or 15 chapters a day.
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The important thing is that you're reading through the Bible systematically and you're beginning to see how all the pieces fit together.
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You're beginning to see the big picture of God.
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and the big picture with regard to God's salvation and God's will.
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Very, very important.
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Now, I want us to go to the book of James for a moment.
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And I want to show you something that is often overlooked, but it's been very helpful for me in my life.
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In chapter one, you know, James is talking about trials.
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And then after he's talking about trials, James comes down and he says this.
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Verse 13, let no one say when he is tempted, I am being tempted by God, for God cannot be tempted by evil.
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And he himself does not tempt anyone.
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When I'm being tempted to do something, I need to realize, first of all, this is not from God.
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And this is not according to God's will.
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And this is not conformed to God's character.
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I need to see sin for what it really is something
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that stands in opposition to everything that God is and everything that he desires.
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This is not just some little mistake.
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This is hostility.
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It's enmity.
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It's fighting against God and God's purposes in my life.
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And so I need to recognize sin for what it is.
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It's not coming from God.
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And when I'm living in this world
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and maybe a person asked me to do something or there's a possibility to do something over here.
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And I consider it in the light of scripture and I realize it's not something God would want me to do.
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I need to recognize this is not from God.
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I am a child of God and I should have nothing to do with it.
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There is nothing.
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We have no fellowship, no truce, no unity with darkness.
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with sin, with the devil.
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And so recognize when temptation comes, it's not from God and it needs to be rejected.
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Now, verse 14, it says, but each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust.
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Now, when a temptation comes and it enters into your mind, do this or look here.
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That's not sin.
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That's a temptation.
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That's not sin.
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It becomes sin when you give into it.
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When you give yourself over to it, when you devote yourself to it, when you deliver yourself to do that very thing,
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that's when it becomes sin.
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But when it first enters into your mind, look at that.
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No, that's not temptation.
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But here's what you need to understand.
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You can't play around with temptation.
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You can't play around with sin.
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It will grab you and it will grab you quickly.
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If you're out working in the fields in India or Pakistan
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and there is a big cobra and you've got a machete in your hand
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and all of a sudden that cobra rises up, you don't have you can't sit there and talk to it.
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You can't reason with it.
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It's going to strike in a matter of a second or two.
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You've got to take off its head or you've got to flee.
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You've got to get out of there.
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You can't play around with it.
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How many children do we know, at least in around that have been around me in my lifetime,
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that have sat there and played around with poisonous snakes having a good time.
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And then all of a sudden they get too close, they get too careless.
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And what happens?
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The snake strikes.
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When you see the temptation, when it appears, don't play with it.
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Don't meditate on it.
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Don't think about it kill it, get away from it, flee from it.
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We're told to flee from certain sins.
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You see, do you remember when when Cain was angry?
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He was very, very angry.
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And God said to him, sin is waiting at the door and its desire is to have you.
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You need to realize something.
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Sin is like a wild animal.
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And when it approaches, it wants you.
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It wants to devour you.
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It wants to destroy you.
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The Bible says the devil is like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.
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So don't play with this.
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Cut it off immediately.
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And here's another thing that's very important about sin.
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Don't go to places where sin is easy.
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You know, sometimes I've had to deal with men who have been converted out of alcoholism.
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And they say, what are some of the things I should do?
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I said, don't go back to the places where you used to frequent.
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Don't run with the same guys and don't go near those taverns and places where you used to drink.
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Physically stay away from them.
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This is very important on the internet and other things.
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Never put yourself in a position where you can be alone with temptation.
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Build guards around you to protect yourself.
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You've got to realize how weak you are
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and how strong the devil is and how strong sin and its lust can be.
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Now, it says in verse 15, then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin.
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And when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.
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Another thing that you need to realize about sin, it's deadly.
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You say, well, I'm a Christian.
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OK, you're a Christian.
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It's still deadly.
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How many Christian homes have I seen destroyed by sin?
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How many Christian ministries are no more because of sin?
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How many men who have been used mightily of God to do great things
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and then they fall into sin and it undoes everything that was good before?
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Sin is deadly, it's monstrous.
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You need to fear it, you need to run from it.
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Now, verse 16, this is the important part in dealing with temptation.
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Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.
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Every good thing given, every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.
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Now, what else should you recognize?
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When temptation comes, do not be deceived about the goodness of God.
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You see, in the garden, that's one of the first things that the devil did.
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When the devil was tempting
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Eve, he tried to make her believe that God wasn't good.
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That God had prohibited her from eating from all the trees of the garden.
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That wasn't true.
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And so the devil will basically always get you to think, well, God's not going to help you here.
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God's not going to meet this need.
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And so you need to succumb to this temptation.
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I'm offering you something because God won't offer you anything.
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And you need to realize when temptation comes, I'm not going to grab a hold of it.
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Why?
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Because God is good and he's got something better for me.
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Especially I tell this to young men who are who are not married.
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I say, you know, you have these temptations and these opportunities to commit immoralities and fornications and other things.
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And they're very, very strong to look at things on the Internet.
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Very, very strong and very, very evil and very, very damaging to the soul.
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But when those temptations appear, what should you do?
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recognize that God is good, that he has a plan.
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He has a plan even to fulfill those physical desires you have.
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He has a righteous plan and the devil is offering you a counterfeit plan.
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And when you see that counterfeit plan, you need to reject it because it is not the best thing for your life.
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It is not a good thing for your life.
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You need to wait because God has promised to give you good.
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That's where I find some of my greatest strength against sin is recognizing the goodness and the kindness of God,
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that whatever temptation comes, it is a counterfeit of the goodness of God.
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It's like a beautiful apple, maybe on the outside, but it's full of poison on the inside.
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But everything God gives is good on the outside and the inside.
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It is good through and through.
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So those are some of the ways in which we deal with temptation.
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But come on now, use some wisdom here.
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If you're awake 16 hours a day, you're in this world behind enemy lines 16 hours a day.
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Do you see that?
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You're hearing the world.
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You're being influenced by the world.
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If you do not spend time in the word of God, copious amounts of time, if you do not spend time in prayer,
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if you do not spend time in the good fellowship of a sound church with other believers, you're not going to be able to overcome.
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And don't go out there looking for some TV evangelist to touch your life and give you power.
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Don't look for some silly gimmick that's not going to help you with sin.
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What do you need?
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You need to study the word of God.
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You need to pray for strength.
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You need to be in the fellowship of a very strong local church under elders
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that care about your soul and under elders that are preaching the exposition of God's word.
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That's what you need.
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All right.
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Well, God bless you.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
The speaker keeps coming back to these words: sin, word, temptation. This video has 189 sentences and 2873 words to shadow. The speech runs for 17:54. The speaker talks at a natural 160 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 86% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| temptation noun | /ˌtɛmpˈteɪʃən/ | The act of tempting. |
| sin noun | /ˈsɪn/ | A violation of divine will or religious law. |
| confession noun | /kənˈfɛʃən/ | The open admittance of having done something (especially something bad). |
| devil noun | /ˈdɛvəl/ | An evil creature, the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. |
| verse noun | /ˈvɝs/ | A poetic form with regular meter and a fixed rhyme scheme. |
| believer noun | /bɪˈlivɚ/ | A person who believes; especially regarding religion. |
| confess verb | /kənˈfɛs/ | To admit to the truth, particularly in the context of sins or crimes committed. |
| treasure noun | /ˈtɹɛʒəɹ/ | A collection of valuable things; accumulated wealth; a stock of money, jewels, etc. |
| scripture noun | /ˈskɹɪpt͡ʃɚ/ | A sacred writing or holy book. |
| impatient adjective | /ɪmˈpeɪʃənt/ | Restless, short of temper, and intolerant of delays. |
| deadly adjective | /ˈdɛdli/ | Causing death; lethal. |
| goodness noun | /ˈɡʊdnəs/ | The state or characteristic of being good. |
| fellowship noun | /ˈfɛl.ə.ʃɪp/ | A company of people that share the same interest or aim. |
| flee verb | /ˈfliː/ | To run away; to escape. |
| preach verb | /pɹit͡ʃ/ | To give a sermon. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| carried away adjective | Made excessively emotional or excited, so that one goes too far. |
| come down verb | To descend, fall down, collapse. |
| fit together verb | To put the appropriate parts of (something) into a whole; to combine pieces that go together to create a finished object. |
| get out of verb | To leave, exit or escape from; to become free of. |
| go back to verb | To stem from; to originate in. |
| go out verb | To leave, especially a building. |
| read through verb | To thoroughly read something to check or proofread it. |
| take off verb | To remove. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- You say I've been impatient.
- You're starting to feel weak.
- How can we grow?
- You can't play around with temptation.
- You can't play around with sin.
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| “Used to” used to + verb — a past habit or state that is no longer true | used to frequent · used to drink |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | has been regenerated · they've been made · has professed |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | has been regenerated · they've been made · will be broken |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | someone who is · person who has · people who are |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 63 contractions and reduced forms, such as you're, don't, I'm. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: temptation /ˌtɛmpˈteɪʃən/, confession /kənˈfɛʃən/, treasure /ˈtɹɛʒəɹ/, impatient /ɪmˈpeɪʃənt/, fellowship /ˈfɛl.ə.ʃɪp/
- Long words — get the stress right: unusual /ʌnˈjuːʒ(u)əl/, extraordinary /ɪksˈtɹɔːrdɪn(ə)ɹi/, transformation /ˌtɹæns.fɔɹˈmeɪ.ʃən/, illustration /ˌɪləsˈtɹeɪ̯ʃən/, necessity /nɪˈsɛsəti/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like temptation, sin, confession.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.