Welcome to THE V.O.I.C.E., and thank you for joining us as we weekly seek God’s guidance and help to stay godly in this wicked world. You know, the world has deceived so many Christians into believing that living for Christ is not worth it. They paint a false picture that the “here and now” is all that there is to live for. As Christian teens, we have got to be on guard against worldly philosophies such as that. Many Christians are absolutely throwing away any chance for eternal rewards by involving themselves in the world’s music, language, movies, lusts, pornography, alcohol, sex and other evils. They have been deceived into believing a lie of the devil.

One day, every teenager will stand before God Almighty and give a “detail by detail” ledger of their life (Rom. 14:11). Imagine the shame of many who will stand before their Savior Who gave everything for them, yet they gave nothing to Him. It would be like cheating on your fiancé the night before your marriage. Boy, just the thought of that makes your stomach sick! Why then would we as the bride of Christ cheat on Him by living in the sins of this world? Remember, Satan is the god of this world. If you are messing with the music or entertainment of this world, you are not only cheating on the Lord, but you’re sleeping with His worst enemy, Satan. I sure wouldn’t want to be caught at the Rapture in bed with Satan. Would you?

How can we keep from falling into the temptations of this world and stay pure for Christ? As we have discussed in previous issues, we must establish THE W.E.D.G.E. PRINCIPLE in our life. So far we have talked about two specific ways we can do this:

Write down your greatest temptations.
     Remember what God has commanded you.
     Rehearse the consequences of your sin.
Enter into a commitment with God.
     Establish convictions before entering chaos.
     Be resolved to run to remain righteous.
     Be committed to Christ no matter the outcome.

This week we will discuss the third step:

DESTROY ANY PRESENT AVENUE TO SIN

After you have located the specific sins you are most tempted to fall into and entered into a commitment with God to do right, you must Destroy any present avenue to sin. Read I Kings 20:1-13. The pagan king Benhadad came up against Ahab, king of Israel, and basically told him, “I’m going to rip you to pieces and take everything you own!” Doesn’t sound like Benhadad cares much at all for Ahab. Verses 19-21 explains how God gave Ahab a great victory over this enemy that was trying to take everything he owned. When you get to verses 32-33, you just can’t believe what happens. Ahab was in a position to do away with his enemy that was threatening to take all he had, but what does he do instead? He calls him brother and invites him to ride in his chariot! Is that how you treat something that just threatened to take everything you have? Do you think he made a wise decision? What do you suppose Benhadad will do once he has the opportunity to build another army? You guessed it! Ahab’s “brother” is going to be hot on his trail. I Kings 22:29-35 records how Benhadad raised another army with one objective: “just kill king Ahab.” Wow! Does that sound like a friend you would like to call “brother?”

Ahab made some classic mistakes that we often make with temptation and sin that God gives us victory over. First he made friends out of an enemy. He should have clearly seen that Benhadad was not out to help him but to destroy him. Let me encourage you not to make friends out of enemies. Perhaps some of you have made friends with drugs, alcohol, and premarital sex. You may think those things are friends, but they are out to steal everything you have: your innocence, your purity, and your mind. Maybe there are others who have made friends with Rock music, Rap music, or Country music. Let me just tell you that you are making friends out of enemies. The people who are behind these things are not out to bring glory to the God we serve. They are, in fact, opposing the God we serve. Rather than letting those things linger in your life, destroy any present avenue so that they will not come back to haunt you.

The second mistake Ahab made was to undo what God did for him. God helped Ahab to destroy his worst enemy. Then what does Ahab turn around and do? He lets Benhadad go so he can build a brand new army that one day will be responsible for killing Ahab. Excuse the expression, but what a bonehead!!! Many of you have made some great decisions to serve God, and He has given you some victory over the wrong music, wrong relationships, wrong habits, wrong friends, wrong words, wrong movies, and wrong thinking. I warn you, don’t go and undo what God has done for you. Don’t forget, He is the One Who won the battle for you. Perhaps God gave you victory over pornography, and you haven’t been in the garbage for weeks. God has given you a victory in that area. You would be crazy to go right back to it and undo all the time God has put between you and that sin. Let’s say you broke up with that guy or girl that God showed you not to date. It’s been a few weeks, and you’re finally starting to get over it. God has given you a victory, so don’t undo what He did by calling that person up. Destroy any present avenue to that sin. Don’t make any provision for that temptation. If God gave you victory over bad music or bad movies, don’t slip up and invite the sin right back in.

Finally, the last mistake Ahab made was that he forgot the price of sin. After awhile, he just forgot that Benhadad was about to come up to Israel, rip him up, and take everything he had. It just slipped his mind that in Benhadad’s heart was nothing but a passion to kill him. When he forgot the price of sin, he got soft toward sin and then paid big. Here he is at the end of his life bleeding to death with Benhadad’s arrow sticking out of his thigh, and he thought Benhadad was his friend. I encourage and challenge you not to forget the price of sin. Don’t forget that Rock music, MTV, sex, pornography, and other evils robbed you of God’s blessing on your life. They stole your walk with the Lord, took away your joy, stained your testimony, and attempted to leave you high and dry. None of those thing ever did anything for you. So, don’t forget the price of sin. Don’t start thinking that maybe those things aren’t so bad. Believe me, they are!!!

“What do I need to do then?” Good question. Do what Ahab should have done but didn’t: Destroy any present avenue to sin. If Ahab had only destroyed his enemy when he had the opportunity, he would have never died at his hand. If you will be wise and destroy those avenues to temptation, you will have placed a W.E.D.G.E. between you and sin. Send me a message and tell me some of the avenues to sin you have destroyed and give THE GALLERY some of the creative ways you did it. Talk to you soon.

Tell a friend about THE V.O.I.C.E.!!