Resisting Temptation

I'd like you all to turn to 1 Corinthians 10. Because I'm going to really exposit this passage. And I think you'll need to follow along with it. Actually, we gave a wrong text this morning. Romans 8-11. I have to admit that as I was looking over my text that was assigned to me about an hour before I left for church, I realized that I had left out one of the verses that Keith had assigned to me, because actually it was supposed to be 1 Corinthians 10, 13 and 14. And really what I wanted to focus on is chapter 10, verses 12 and 13. But really, I have something to say about 14, because I had, in anticipation of this sermon, read quite a bit in the chapters that Keith did today. So let me just dispense with verse 14 in 1 Corinthians 10, because it is a transition to what we're going to talk about tonight. So let me just read it. It's a very short verse, and it says thus, Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. Now, I think he gave me that particular verse because it takes us back to what we learned this morning, that Jacob, he fled from a land that provided a lot of temptation to sin. He was not in the promised land. He was not where he was supposed to be. He got there because he really deceived his brother and as a pretext for going there, he said he was going to find a wife there, which was a good thing. But the only reason he went there was because he was fleeing from his brother. So he was in a land that was not conducive to godly living. And as we learned today, that Jacob was still conniving, still trying to build up his flocks. And then God uses providence to move Jacob back from the land of Haran back to the promised land. So he escapes. So that takes us back to this word escape and back to the text that I want to talk about. So that's the bridge to the text. So let me just read the text. which is first Corinthians 10, 12 to 13. Therefore, let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overcome you. I'm memorizing the King James. Let me just read that again. No temptation has overtaken you except such as common to man. But God is faithful who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able. but with the temptation will also make the way of escape that you may be able to bear it." Maybe not so surprisingly, this was basically what we discussed in Sunday School this morning. I'm glad to see that Roy is out today because I said we're going to give a fuller explanation of what we talked about in Sunday School class this morning. Let me just start out by saying that Alistair Begg has said, I don't know if any of you know Alistair Begg, but he says a verse without a context is a pretext. A verse without a context is a pretext. And this is me saying this, except for Charles Haddon Spurgeon, who could take a text and fully expound it. But since he's the prince of preachers, I think Alistair's rule is right, that a text without a verse, a text without a context is a pretext. So let me just fully lay it out as to where I think the text is that these important two verses fall. And it goes all the way back to 1 Corinthians 9. Verse 24. And it carries on through, we could actually say 14, because 14 does carry a key word, which is therefore. So what I did when I looked at this passage 12 to 13 or this text, it said, therefore, so I said, OK, so that's something behind maybe or before. That's always the way you have to look at it. It's either before or behind. So I saw the word therefore, I said, let me look forward and in verse One of chapter 10, it says moreover. All right. So it says moreover. And that leads me back to another section, which is verse 24. And I want to say Jim Fitzgerald came up to me today and he said, I guess we're going to hear a lot of James James voice today. Well, I said, you know, if I would have had a commentary on First Corinthians, I would have turned there. But I don't have his commentary on 1 Corinthians, so I didn't turn there. And I said, you know what I'm going to do? I'm just going to do it myself. And I'm going to see what I can do with this text. But I did want to check myself to see whether I had the right context for this verse. So after I finished doing my entire study and laid it out, I went to Matthew Henry's commentary. And there he went back to 924 as the context for these verses. So I felt good about that. So that's how I found the links here. So my question is, and I will read I read the text. Now I'm going to say the passage, which starts in verse 24 of chapter nine and runs through verse 13. I'm going to say, who is this addressed to believers? or unbelievers? My answer is going to be both. And I say that, I'll go through this, because the word disqualified is used in verse 27. In 10.5, died in the wilderness. That sounds like disqualified to me. And in 10.12, we have the word fell. So this is addressed to unbelievers or people who have a false profession of their faith. It's also addressed to believers. We're told in 9.25 that we're to run for an imperishable crown. And then in verse 13, we're said that God is faithful to us and the us being believers. So we're going to look at both of these. What does it have to say to the unbeliever? What does it have to say with the false professor? What does it have to say for those people who think they're secure, but they're really not? And what does it have to say to believers? So I would say that, again, laying out my outline here, it warns unbelievers. It warns false professors. It admonishes believers. It convicts believers. And it encourages believers. All right, so let me just read and I'll read this in three sections, I'll read the whole thing, but I'm going to do twenty four to the end of chapter nine, that's section one, then ten, one through eleven. And I'm not going to take forever. That's going to be a pretty quick exposition. And then I'm going to wind up with our key text. 12 to 13. This is Paul speaking here. Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize, one in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. Therefore, I run thus, not with uncertainty, thus I fight, not as one who beats the air, but I discipline my body and bring it into subjection. Lest when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified. Well, let me just stick with that instead of reading the rest of it. I love sports, and this is a sports analogy. It's about a race, and it's about a fight. I was never in track and field, but I've competed a lot in my life. I always wanted to win. I wanted to come in first. That's what this verse is saying. There's nothing wrong with that. In fact, it encourages for us to run a race. It talks about the goal of an athlete. And there's an analogy here between an athlete and the Christian life. A spiritual race and a worldly race. And we have to take a look at both of those. So Paul says that an athlete runs to obtain an imperishable crown. And why does he want that? He wants it from self-satisfaction, that he's achieved something and he's better than someone else. In fact, hopefully he's the best in his profession. And I sometimes think, where are we? I know that some of us are students and are brilliant and are PhDs. And I have to say, do we want to be Do we want people to praise us for our intellect? What do we want? So we can fall, we can have these as idols, because that verse 14 said about having idols. What is that? And I speak to my, or do we want to know so much about the Bible that we can impress people about how well we can preach the gospel and preach the word? I preach that, say that to myself, too, because I can have a tendency to do that. Why do we want to compete? It's good, but it can be sinful. Maybe we wanna compete for fame, for money. There are many ways that an athlete will compete and why he wants to compete. He trains hard to win the prize, but in the end, what is the prize? It's a perishable crown. It's not gonna last. I think that somebody like Babe Ruth, who was the greatest baseball player, I think it's indisputable the greatest baseball player that ever played. And who cares about Babe Ruth? Where is he today? Who cares how much money he made or any of the present day athletes? They went after a perishable crown, not an imperishable crown. And it was only temporary. Fame is temporary. Even in this life, fame does not last. Don't get me wrong, we should want to do our best in life. We should always want to do our best, no matter what field we're in. We should always want to strive to be our best. But in the end, why do we want to be the best? Why do we want it? Is it for God's glory or for our glory? And an athlete is single-minded, so Paul says that's good. He should be single-minded. He should be determined. He should persevere through all the trials. There's a lot of hard work. But the goal of a spiritual athlete is to win an imperishable crown, and that imperishable crown is eternal life. And if we focus on that, an imperishable crown, eternal life, all of our trials, even though they will seem difficult, it puts things in a proper perspective, does it not? That even though we go through trials that sometimes we don't understand, we're racing for an imperishable crown that will last forever. And Paul says that is our goal. So the prize is eternal life. And Paul admonishes true believers to fight the good fight to the end. Persevere in your trials. I think of a runner particularly. He can be disqualified in many ways. He can jumpstart. He takes off before the gun sounds. And he gets disqualified. He doesn't get another chance. Some people, I think, want to go to heaven. without the trials. That to me is sort of like jump starting. I don't want the trials, I just want the reward, the crown, the imperishable crown. Other athletes might run out of their lane. That again disqualifies you. They know what lane they're supposed to be. Narrow is the way that leads to eternal life. They deviate from that and they go the way of the world. Other athletes, if you're on 100 meter dash, start out really quickly. Trial and I always challenge ourselves for races, and she'll start out with a real sprint, and I know that I'll overtake her eventually. Well, maybe not, because she's in such good shape now, but normally I could overtake her over a long haul. But if I'm just a sprinter, and I can run 50 meters, and I can't go the 100 meters, then I have not finished the race, and I'm disqualified too. So Paul tells us that we're to run this race to win the spiritual race to win so that we can obtain an imperishable crown. And he says he doesn't do this with uncertainty, but he's certain that that crown awaits him in heaven. At least theoretically, he knows that crown awaits him in heaven. But he says this in verse 27, but I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified. Now, I am a Calvinist and I believe in eternal security, but I also believe in human responsibility. And I don't think this is just about rewards. I think this Paul is saying, am I really a believer or am I a false professor? And so this is a real warning. And I'm going to get into that a little bit later as I discuss this passage. But I think Paul would constantly check himself to see whether or not he was going to disqualify himself. And then I'm going to read a verse at the very end to show you where Paul was at the end of his life. And Paul knew that he wasn't disqualified, but on his race, on his race to obtain eternal life, he wanted to make sure that he was going to obtain it. And he ran in such a way to obtain it. So I say that we have a warning here against presumption, presuming that you are a believer. Somebody once said to me that, I believe in Jesus Christ, and I believe that I'm a sinner, because it's an insurance policy. If it's true, I'm going to heaven. If it's not true, what have I lost? Now that's a person who, as a thought, presumes wrongly that he is going to go to heaven. So this is a warning to unbelievers, verse 24 and 27, because 24 says, run in such a way that you may obtain it, which by implication means you can run in a way that you're not going to obtain it. And verse 27, Paul says, Paul himself, the great apostle says, I myself, that I might be disqualified. So Paul says he disciplines his body and subjects it to the Lord. He keeps examining himself to make sure he is the Lord's. And I want to turn to a text now. James, our second Corinthians. 2nd Corinthians 13.6. I had that bookmark. I must have taken it out. 2nd Corinthians 13.6. It's one of my favorite passages. I was talking with Steve Gruber today, and I said, in studying for this, he made a comment to me, and I said, that's exactly what happened to me. Verses came into my mind. I thought of those and I went back to them and I see how all scripture is consistent. That's why you have to look at scripture, interpret scripture. That's one of the principles of doing any kind of Bible teaching. And it was just thrilling when you see various verses saying the same thing in various parts of scripture. So this is what I think what Paul was saying when he and this again is Paul in second Corinthians writing this examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know that Jesus Christ is in you unless indeed you are disqualified or in another version you fail the test. But I trust that you will know that we are not disqualified. So what Paul is saying is that you, as a runner, as a fighter, going on the spiritual athlete, that you are to continually examine yourself. And it's not a once and for all examination. I used to be afraid to say this because, you know, it sounded so bad that, you know, you always want to put a cloak and hide how you really think sometimes. But I've sometimes doubted my salvation when I have sinned. When I go through a trial where I know that I should have been stronger and I'm weak, I start doubting. Lord, how can a believer do this? How can he sink so low? How can he be in despair? And then I have to examine myself. And so I do examine myself. And what do I always come back to? The cross. The cross. And that's where it was all done. All the work was done on the cross. But we are to examine ourselves. And that's not a once and for all examination. It's continually. Are we just a false professor? Do we have all the knowledge in our head, but not in our heart? Are we obedient to the Lord? Because that's what we're going to find out. Are we doing the works that we should be doing? So I know that we're eternally secure. And I also know that works don't save us. But I also know that without works, no one will obtain the eternal crown. And this is the I read four Spurgeon sermons on this. None of it has crept into what I'm saying now other than this one statement. And it's a statement that we all know, but he always words things well. So let me just read that. Although we are sure that men are not saved by works. Yet, are we equally sure that no man will be saved without them. So we always have God's sovereignty and God's grace and man's responsibility. And so that's what this is talking about. And I always like formulas, being an engineer, and I always use this, that faith equals salvation plus works. Faith equals salvation plus works. Most people would say a little bit of faith or a lot of faith and some works, a lot of works, a little bit of works, but faith plus works equals salvation. That's death because the cross, if we try to mix our unholy works and even our best works are not perfect with Christ's perfect work on the cross, that is death. So faith plus works is death. Also, faith equals salvation minus works is death also, because there's no obedience. There's no fruit. There's no heart. I always say this. My children are Pantucks. They have to have some of my qualities. If they have none of my qualities, they're not my children. If God is my father and I have none of his characteristics, I'm not his child. So this is the context of what we're looking at here. We are saved by faith and by God's grace. But if there's no evidence of that, then we better be checking ourselves and we better be examining ourselves. And that's why it's a warning to everyone. I'm saying, do we want this prize of eternal life without obedience? It's not going to happen. It's not going to happen without obedience. OK, that brings us now to First Corinthians 10, 1 to 11. And as I read it, I'm going to emphasize this word all, and I'm not going to do much on this verse, on this section, but it is part of the context. And it is pretty powerful now concerning spiritual gifts. Brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant. You know that you were Gentiles carried away to these dumb idols. However, you were led. However, you were led. Therefore, I make known to you that no one speaking by the spirit of God calls Jesus accursed. And no one can say that Jesus is Lord, except by the Holy Spirit. I'm sorry, I'm reading the wrong section here. I turned there. I'm sorry. And moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers with this is the nation of Israel. Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, all ate the same spiritual food and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. But with most of them, and here's the warning, but with most of them, God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. Now, these things became our examples to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted, and do not become idolaters. As were some of them, as it is written, the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. Nor let us commit sexual immorality, as some of them did. And in one day, 23,000 fell. Nor let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted and were destroyed by serpents. Nor complain, as some of them also complained and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now, all these things happened to them as examples and they were written for our admonition. Upon whom the ends of the ages have come. So the word moreover, in verse 10, I don't know what the English Standard Version says, but it's probably a bridge word. So it goes back to 24. So Paul was saying, here's examples of people who were disqualified. They all sat in the same pews. They were all Israelites. They all took communion, you might say. They all passed under the cloud. They were all baptized. They were all there. They all claimed to be Israelites. These are the false professors. Not all of them, but many of them were. In fact, it says most of them died in the wilderness. So there was a body. This could be our church. Hopefully, we have the majority of people. There aren't false professors. I don't know. Only God knows the heart. But here's an example. They all participated. And it says all, all, all, all, all participated in the same things. And yet. But most, it says in verse five, God was not pleased with. They were, in quotes, disqualified. They thought they had eternal life, but they didn't. They thought they were going to have the imperishable crown, but they didn't. So Paul says, these are examples to you, examples of how not to live. And we know that they never made it to the promised land, did they? That generation did not make it to the, there were a few. Joshua and Caleb and maybe a few others who made it there, but that generation did not. Anyone, I think, over 20 did not make it into the Promised Land, other than the ones I mentioned. So the disqualified are an admonition, are a warning to us. So not all Israel is saved. Not everyone who calls himself a Christian is a Christian. Not everyone who calls himself a Christian is saved. So now we come to the text tonight. And that is. Verse 12, therefore, let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. I can look at that in two ways, and I think both of these are proper ways to look at it. I think someone who says. Well, first let me take the easier case first, or maybe not the easier one, but in line with what we just talked about. Someone who says, I'm a believer in Jesus Christ. I presume that I am. I said the prayer. I walked down the aisle. I participate in all the things. I go to church all the time. I'm here on a Sunday night. I must be a Christian, right? I've done all the things that people have done. And Paul says, no, you've made a false profession. You really aren't. You haven't striven for holiness and godliness. You haven't pursued that. Because that's what we're supposed to do. We're supposed to pursue holiness and godliness. It could be that this is talking about someone who thinks he's so strong and then falls into sin. That doesn't mean he's a false professor, but it is foolish to think a person thinks he can stand and puts himself in the way of temptation and then falls. And the Lord's Prayer leads us not to temptation. We should never pray that God puts us in a temptation. As we mentioned today in Sunday School class, if you know I think it's Proverbs that talks about a street where we know that there's a prostitute living, and we should never walk down that street if we want to go to, say, a place north or south and prostitutes on the way. We should go around it. We shouldn't put ourselves in temptation. So in that way, I think it's also in that sense, don't put ourselves in the temptation's way. Try to avoid it as much as possible. We pray that to God that he would not put us in the temptation, and God And if we pray that, then if we seek to follow God's way, we'll fall less and less. We should never say, oh, I'm too strong for that. That's not a temptation of mine. Believe me. I think as soon as you say that, God will show you that that is your weak point and you will fall even though you thought that was your strong point. So I've said some pretty things that are warning admonitions. So now let's look at a verse that I think contains both great comfort, great encouragement, and also a convicting verse. Verse 13. No temptation has overtaken you except such as common to man, but God is faithful. who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape that you may be able to bear it." Now, temptation. Temptation is a test. very often leads to temptation. They're not equal because we can say God gives us tests, God gives us trials, Satan tempts us. But in a trial or in a test, we can fail that test and sin. And in the temptation, we obviously can either give in to that temptation or resist that temptation. And so that brings me to another verse just to put the temptation in the context, because again, Scripture speaks the same no matter where you find it. Scripture interprets Scripture. And that is James 1. They had all these things bookmarked, but apparently they slipped out. Somebody want to read that for me? No, James 1, 12 to 15. Yes, honey. James 1, 12 to 15. for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those who love him. Let no one say when he is tempted, I am tempted by God, but I cannot be tempted by evil, nor that he can self-tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and is tight. Then when his desire has conceived, it is burnt thin, and thin when it is full-grown, brings forth death. So we can't say when I'm tempted, I'm tempted by God because God tempts no one to evil. God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone to evil. But this is how we fall into sin. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. And look at the downward spiral of this sin. He's enticed. Then he conceives it in his mind and he rolls it around in his head. I'm just thinking about a sexual sin now. We talked about this a little bit in our Sunday school class today. That you see a beautiful woman walking down the street. We can't help that. We can't help to recognize that that's a beautiful woman. But when we start thinking going beyond that, you know, someone said, and this is what I try to do, avert my eyes from that. Just keep looking ahead. But if we dwell on it. Or maybe slow down the car or slow down our gate or whatever it is, and then we wrestle around with it, and then it says that when the desirous can see it, it gives birth to sin and sin when it is fully grown, brings forth death. Death. Not that one sin, but see, it's a practice of sin. That's what we do. We give in to the sin all the time. And so in this verse, when we go back to our verse. If we always give in to temptation, we better check to see whether or not. We are God's child. So no temptation has overcome you except what is common to man. Now this to me is encouragement to us though. First of all, no temptation has overtaken you except what is common to man. How many times have you gone through a trial and you say nobody's else been through this trial before? But you know what? Everybody's been through that. That's what God says. There's nothing that happens to you that's uncommon. It's common to all people. You lose your job, other people have lost their job. Oh, how can I do it? I've got kids in college. Well, other people have had kids in college. You know, we always think that we're unique in this situation. But God says you're not unique. And that's a comfort to us, isn't it? Other people have gone through the identical trial and they've come out of it. And that's a great, great blessing just in that, to know that other people have gone through what you are going through, and they've come out victorious. So, our trials are not unique to us. They happen to all men, all people, not just to the disobedient, And we know, as Keith said today, we have missionaries in the foreign field to give their life. No one needs to see any result of that. So that's a tremendous temptation to desert the work. And yet, if God has called them there, they're going to continue on with their work. So there's temptations all around us, but they're not unique. Other people have experienced the same thing. And then the next verse. But God is faithful. You know, we could do a whole series. Every time I see the word, but I love it because normally it says this is what this is your strength. But here's what God's remedy is. Here it is. But God, but God is what is faithful. He is faithful to us. If we're his children, he is faithful to us. And He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able. That's a promise. So when you're in that trial, when you're in that temptation, you will never be tempted beyond what you can bear. Never be tempted. That's God's promise to you. Now, I don't think that God's... If the temptation is 100%, the temptation is probably going to be 99%. I don't know how else to word it. God's not going to give you a 10% Because the reason for a temptation or a trial is to grow you. So, in one respect, the greater the temptation, the greater the trial, the more mature you are. Because God expects you to have grown and to be a more godly Christian. That's the purpose of trials, is it not? To push us on, to make us more like Jesus Christ, to pursue holiness. And the only way we can pursue holiness is through trials, mostly. That's our life, to pursue holiness for a great reward, I might say, for a great reward, the imperishable crown. So he will not allow you to be tempted by what you are able to bear. So the temptation will be strong, but it will never be above what we can bear. God, who is sovereign, We'll make sure that that temptation never is greater than we can bear. Now, the temptation can come from many things, it can come from the world, the flesh and the devil doesn't come from the Lord. I think that's one of Luther's big things, the world, the flesh and the devil. But those temptations can never overcome you because God is going to make sure that is below your threshold, below your threshold of faith. And then it says, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape. And God does that, makes a way of escape that you may be able to bear it. Now, I'm going to tell a story at the end. It's quite an unbelievable story. It happened to me. But this verse just bore that out. But I'm not going to say it now, but I'm going to say that there was a way of escape that God provides for us. Sometimes it's just that God says, it's enough. You've passed the test. You've passed the temptation. And now I take away the test and the temptation. You've learned. And the quicker we learn, the less that trial will be there. So the escape, I think, though, is often, so God does provide that. But also, I think the way of escape is not to run away from the trial, but to overcome. So that's what we're able to do here. Overcome it. Now we don't overcome it in our own strength. We overcome it with the power of the Holy Spirit. Because we cannot do anything. So if we boast that we can stand, we'll fall. If we know that we cannot bear this temptation without the strength of God, the Holy Spirit, then we will be able to overcome and we can always overcome. So he'll provide a way of escape. So that to me speaks of God's providence and his sovereignty. So he's faithful. He's sovereign in his providence, we can we can provide a way of escape so that we can bear up under it so that we can defeat it. And I was thinking about this. OK, let's say you lost your job. You've got a lot of bills to pay. You can go on unemployment, which you're entitled to, and you can get that. And then you work for someone, and they pay you money under the table. Now, you could possibly take in your unemployment and doing work, which is good, and earning money doing that way, and get money under the table so you don't have to declare it, so you can still get all of your unemployment, or maybe get none of it because you've worked. That's the way the laws are written. You can have a way of escape there, can't you? I want to get all my unemployment. I'm going to work. I'm going to not declare that I made that money, and I'm still going to collect. Now, that's a way of escape, possibly, from your problem, but that's not what God's talking about here. That is sin. That is sin. So I just thought that this is something that, you know, maybe today is relevant of how we can escape a situation to pay our bills. But God says, you trust me, you do what is right. And I will bless you. I will provide. Don't on your own means try to circumvent the test or the trial or the temptation. I will provide for you. And then it's a convicting verse. Since God keeps us from temptations greater than we can withstand, we cannot plead our temptations as an excuse for sinning. So if God says that I'm not going to have you tempted beyond what you're able to bear, we can't say as Flip Wilson and I assume you have to be my age to understand who Flip Wilson is. He's a black comedian and his favorite expression would be was the devil made me do it. The devil was there enticing him, but the devil did not make him do it. If you were a believer, he could not use that as an excuse because God never tempts you beyond what you are able to bear. So to me, it says that there is you have no excuse for sinning. You have no excuse. We can't live a perfect life, but in each individual sin, I mean, we have the Theoretical ability to live a sinless life. But we will fall, God will restore us, but we have no excuse for sinning because God has said you will never be tempted beyond what you can bear. And so it's a rebuke and an admonition to us that never plead. I was unable to overcome that temptation. because God will not accept that as an excuse. I now come to a close on some of my application here. I think I've given you application through it, but this is my story. I've never seen a miracle, so I'm not going to call this a miracle, but I'm going to call it providence because that's truly what it was. And sometimes I think providence is even greater than miracle because God just supersedes the natural laws in a miracle. But in Providence, he brings thousands of events together that we don't even know about to get his result. So I think Providence is greater than miracles. So when I say that I saw something, God acted in a providential way. I was on a business trip to Mount Pillier, Vermont. I had the New England region. I was selling power plants for my company. And I was up there with two people who were in the gas. We were going to bring a gas line down from Canada down to Vermont. We wanted to sell some Vermont utilities the power that we were going to generate, and they had to buy the power from us if we could build the power plant. And I had a Westinghouse person with me, that's where I worked before. I was the salesman in charge of trying to put this project together, and we had two gas people. So we had three people, one from Westinghouse, two outside consultants bringing the gas line down. So anyway, we were going to go out to eat that night. which was fine. We all were staying in our hotel rooms. We agreed to meet at the gas people's room. It's an old hotel in Mount Peoria. It's the capital of Vermont. Large rooms, but very dark and everything. But anyway, we were in there and we had the TV on and we were just ready to go for dinner. We were going to go for dinner at like 6.30. We met in the guy's room at around six o'clock and we were going to go out for dinner. Well, this was 20 years ago. And we had one of these, they're not news shows, but they were sort of like the Oprah Show or something like that. I don't know how to describe it. And now again, none of you know who Wade Boggs is, but he was a great hitter for Boston Red Sox. And Wade Boggs at that time had a mistress, which nobody knew, but it came out about a month before this time, that he was married. But when he traveled to other cities to play baseball, he'd send a limo over for his mistress in, you know, every town. So they announced that they were going to have the mistress on. And they were going to talk about that. And I said, I don't want to hear that. Now, that was probably innocent. I mean, it wasn't going to, I'm sure they weren't going to get into all the details, but they were going to talk about it. And I didn't want that to happen. So I'm trying to get us out of the hotel, you know, like in 15 minutes, we're going to talk about, we're going to bring Wade Boggs' mistress in here. So I'm waiting around, trying to get them out of the room to go to dinner. And I can't, I can't do that. You know, I make, cause we had some snacks in the room and stuff like that. So we're eating. I can relate to snacks. I think you can too, right? You don't want to leave the room when there's snacks there, but I'm trying to get them out of the room and they're not moving. And I either taught on this verse, no temptation has overcome you, which is common to man. And I had said that that was on my mind because I had just talked about that the week before. And. No sooner had I finished the last line here that you may be able to bear it. Then there was a power outage in Mount Peoria, Vermont, all the lights went off and of course, the TV went off and there we were. in a fairly dark room because it was kind of late and late. It wasn't quite dark yet, but it was. It was pretty dark, but all the lights went out and the TV went off. I'm going to say as soon as those words got off. So I could say that I could see God provided the way of escape. I did not want to hear that show. And God did it. And so I could see lights in the distance. So it was like a partial blackout. And so we left the hotel room, walked the three or four blocks to where we were going to eat. Fortunately, the restaurant had its power on, but a whole section of Mount Peoria was dark. Did I see God's hand at work there? I did. Why God did that, I don't know, but I'll never forget that. And it was this verse. As soon as that last word got off my lips, the power went off. It was providential that I probably had that verse. So my thing is. Let me just end with a few scripture quotes here, blessed is the man whose strength is in you, God, whose heart is set on pilgrimage. That's Psalm 84, 5, whose heart is set on pilgrimage. Our heart is set on pilgrimage to get the imperishable crown. There's nothing too difficult for us to go through. to obtain something that will, to obtain eternal life. And Jesus is standing there in heaven with this crown reaching out to us. And he's saying, take it, obtain it. But the way to obtain it is not to get off the trail. It's not to do any of those because you'll be disqualified. It's to run the race that he set before us. Run it faithfully. Run it in godliness. In holiness, pursue it for all you can, because it's worth it. It's worth it. And that's when I go through trials, I say, what's laying before me? Eternal life with God. What could be greater than that? I can endure all things. I say that theoretically, but I'm saying that's but that's what I do. And that calms me. That gives me strength to go on and to overcome. And then I'm going to end with this. To me, it's the fitting climax to. This is Paul. In Second Timothy four, seven to eight, this is Paul who's just talked about he didn't want to be disqualified when he's preached to others, didn't want to be disqualified. He talked about the people in in Israel who were disqualified. He talked about take heed lest you fall. And here's Paul summing up his life. He's at the end of his life now. And this is what Paul says in Second Timothy four, seven to eight. I have fought the good fight. I have finished. The race, I have kept the faith, finally, There is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me on that day. And not to me only, but also to all who have loved his appearance." So that's what Paul says. Hopefully we can say as Paul, I fought the good fight. I finished the race. And we're never too old to do that race, and we're never too young to start the race. And the race is worthwhile. We'll have the crown of glory, but be faithful and holy and pursue them with all your might.