Temptations versus Sin.—There is many a poor soul who, when tempted, feels as did Christian when passing through the Valley of the Shadow of Death; there were dinned into his ears and suggested to his mind so many evil things that he came to think they all welled up from within, when they came from the devil without. “Each man is tempted when he is drawn away by his own lust and enticed;” but the Enticer is Satan or his agent. It is the cherished thought that is sin. Temptation to the greatest sin in the universe is not sin; it is when we invite the temptation to tarry, when we allow it to fasten upon the hooks of fleshly lust. When we do so parley, compromise, cherish the temptation, we sin. When by God’s grace we put it away for something better—the only better thing which will effectually do it, is the Word of God—then we win. Thus by the sword of the Spirit we put to death the deeds of the body. Do not be discouraged because assailed by the enemy; cherish no sin, then, upon which he can hook his temptation. Then shall we say with Jesus, “The prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me.”