Friday, May 28, 2004
Well, I opened the refrigerator, and there it was - The Pig! See, years ago someone bought it, put it in the refrigerator for a while and then it disappeared. I thought he had gone to the bacon factory, but no, the pig is back! See, this pig is actually plastic, and whenever you open the door, this plastic pig starts oinking at you. It's annoying, but it does make you think about what you are about to do to yourself.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The No-Regrets Alarm."
Well, our word for today from the Word of God - very familiar verses - Matthew chapter 6. Jesus said in verse 9, "This then is how you should pray." This is what we commonly call, of course, "The Lord's Prayer." Remember this phrase? "And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one." Now how many times have you prayed that? Well, it's an important prayer. We almost don't think about the words, "Lead me not into temptation ... deliver me from evil." In other words, "Lord, help me see where the temptation is, and help me steer away from it. Keep me from anything the Devil might be trying to get me to do." How? Through His Holy Spirit. In fact, Jesus said that the Holy Spirit whom He called "The Comforter" would do that. He said it in John 16:8. He promises that the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, when He is come, will convict the world of sin. He also said in John 14:26 that, "He will bring to your remembrance all the things that I have taught you." In other words, the Holy Spirit is going to bring to mind how Jesus feels about it.
Now the day you put your trust in Jesus as Savior, God planted in your soul a sin alarm. Somebody planted a gluttony alarm in our refrigerator. There's this noise that makes you stop and think before you reach for something. It's annoying, but that pig can keep you from doing something you will regret later - like tomorrow on the scale!
Now we need some noise inside of us when we are about to reach for something that we are going to later regret. And God delivers us from evil if we will listen to the inner alarms He triggers when we are about to sin. He says something like, "that's not the truth - don't lie. That's not pure - don't watch it. That's going to hurt - don't say it. That's going too far - don't do it." See, one alarm in us is what I call "scripture breaks." God brings to your mind a statement from the Word of God that keeps you from making a mistake if you listen. D. L. Moody said that when you think sin, you ought to think scripture. That's why it's important to commit to memory verses that God can later use to warn you away from the edge. Psalm 119:11 says, "I have hidden your Word in my heart, so that I will not sin against You."
Now another sin alarm is what I call "shame warnings." Many of us still carry a sense of shame from the sins of our past. And God has erased those from His book, if you've brought those sins to Jesus' cross, but sometimes the shame feelings are there for a long time after God has forgiven us. Right? And that's not all bad because God can remind you with those of the damage that comes with saying yes to that temptation. He uses "shame warnings" from the past. So listen to them.
One other sin alarm that God uses when you are reaching for something that could hurt you is "spirit tremors." It's this uneasiness in your spirit that this just isn't right. It's probably the stirring of the Holy Spirit. Listen to that inner warning. But respond immediately to the "scripture breaks," to the "shame warnings," to the "spirit tremors" before sin drowns them out, and you grab a plate full of regrets.
After a while, I got immune to that pig warning, and I finally just put it away. Don't do that with the Holy Spirit alarm system inside you. Do not quench the Spirit of God, because He knows the price tag for what you are about to grab.