The following "Question" was asked by a member of the congregation at Grace Community Church in Panorama City, California, and "Answered" by their pastor, John MacArthur Jr. It was transcribed from the tape, GC 70-10, titled "Bible Questions and Answers."  A copy of the tape can be obtained by writing, Word of Grace, P.O. Box 4000, Panorama City, CA 91412 or by dialing toll free 1-800-55-GRACE. Copyright 1990 by John MacArthur Jr., All Rights Reserved.

Question

Correct me if I’m wrong, but last week, you said that the devil couldn’t put any thoughts in your mind?

Answer

“What I said was that if you are living a godly and a righteous life, and thinking on things that are pure and lovely and honest and so forth, and if your life is pure, that you have that protection, of the helmet of the hope of salvation and the breastplate of righteousness. But, if you’re sinful, I believe that there are ways in which Satan can activate your thinking processes towards sin.

Question (continued)

Well, I just thought that it could happen, because I’ve heard that you’re not guilty when you first think a sinful thought, but when you continue to think about it over and over again.

Answer (continued)

I’m so glad you asked that. Listen: when you think a sinful thought, that may have absolutely nothing to do with the devil. If it’s any encouragement to you, you could live your whole life from birth to death, and the devil never bother you once in your entire life. He’s not omnipresent. He’s fast, but he is not omnipresent. Well, he fell from heaven like what? Lightning. Lightning is fast, but there’s no reason to assume that he’s bothering you. You say, ‘Where do those thoughts come from?’ I’ll tell you where they come from. It’s very clear; you don’t have to expect the devil to do that. Listen. It comes right out of your own heart. That’s the sad reality of it. ‘Lust,’ when it conceives, says James, what? ‘brings forth sin.’ So, it comes right out of your flesh. In Galatians, you remember, chapter 5…the deeds of the flesh: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, dispute, dissension, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, things like these.

Your flesh will conjure those thoughts up…but you’re exactly right: the first time you think that thought is the temptation, not the sin. And if you turn away from that thought immediately, then you have not sinned. That’s right. Even Jesus was what? Was tempted. That meant the thought was planted. Now, in His case, did it come from flesh? No…it must have come outside of Him from the system, which Satan orchestrates to bring that temptation to our mind. And at first, instantaneous thought, Jesus always rejected it. So the first thought is not sin.

Added to Bible Bulletin Board's "MacArthur’s Questions and Answers" by:

Tony Capoccia
Bible Bulletin Board
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