Facing Temptation

[00:00:00] I want to welcome all of our visitors this morning. We're glad you're here. Trust that our time together can be a benefit, a help to us in growing and drawing closer to the Lord. This morning, I want to share a message entitled, Facing and Overcoming Temptation. [00:00:34] How many of you would say this morning that you have not had a temptation today? Nobody? Good. One of the things that we often don't recognize is when temptation comes, we don't recognize what it is. Does anyone have a temptation that you've faced that you'd like to share with us? [00:01:22] Everybody's looking. Oh. Temptation to push that pedal a little harder, huh? I noticed kind of a scared look on a lot of your faces when I asked that. You know, we're not really used to this. I was in a church quite a few years ago where it was their practice to have people come up and share where they had failed that week, where they had fallen into temptation. [00:02:06] And there was a line halfway back the side of the auditorium, people waiting, and when they told what they did, they didn't cover it over and they didn't make it look good. They spilled their guts and I've thought about that a lot of times. I wonder what that might do for us spiritually in growth if we were willing to be that open and honest with each other. Just say, hey, I blew it. I walked into this. I knew I shouldn't, but I did it and pray for me. [00:02:42] You know, anybody else? John? Okay, the struggle of wanting to have things that we can't afford. That's a struggle that we face, temptation. Temptation. Anybody else? Okay, the temptation to defend yourself. [00:03:18] That's a temptation that we all struggle with at times. That's good, I appreciate it. Oh, we got a little carried away there. Back up here. Okay, there's where we're supposed to be. Alright, so we want to talk this morning about facing and overcoming temptation. We want to ask ourselves some questions. What is temptation? What is temptation? Is temptation wrong? [00:03:50] Is temptation something that when it happens to us, it tells us that there's something wrong in our life? Where does temptation come from? Is it something that's just all around us? And if somehow we could put ourselves in some kind of a box somewhere, we could get away from temptation. You remember, those of you that listened to Odyssey, I believe it was, where one of the guys wanted to try to get into a place where there was no temptation. [00:04:29] Didn't work very good. Okay, here's a good question. Is God responsible for my temptation since He allowed me to have a sin nature? You know, if God wouldn't have given me a sin nature, if He wouldn't have put certain desires within me, I wouldn't have temptation. So it's God's fault, right? He's responsible. That's where a lot of people come out at. [00:05:00] They say, hey, God made me this way, so it's not my fault. Can I live without temptation? How many of you think that you can get to a place in your life where you will live without temptation? Does anybody think that's possible? Okay. In your life. In your death. Right. And beyond this life. Right. You're exactly right, Tom. [00:05:38] Can I blame my sin, and sin here is when we yield to the temptations that come to us. Can I blame that on anyone or anything besides myself? How can I overcome temptation? I think these are questions that we need to stop and think about. Now, I want us to understand temptation. This is you. We each have a mind and a heart. [00:06:12] And temptations come to our mind and our heart. On the one hand, we have good. On the other hand, we have evil. And there's things within us that draw us toward one or the other. We have influences that come into us, and we'll talk about this a bit more. The world, the flesh, and the devil are influences that come to us. They are outside influences. [00:06:49] The flesh is not outside, but the world and the devil are outside influences that come to us. Okay, there's something that draws us, pushes us, pulls us toward evil. What's that? It's lust. Now, when we talk about the word lust, right away there's something pops up in our mind. And we automatically think about lust as wanting something that is inherently wrong, but lust simply means desire. That's all lust really means, desire. It's a strong desire, but it's a desire that I have. [00:07:38] Now, on the other hand, we have truth bringing us, pushing us, pulling us toward righteousness. And so we have that going on within us. Now, let's just think a little bit. What is temptation? Temptation has several meanings in Scripture. It has the idea of a testing or an examination where it's something that shows what we have inside of us. [00:08:18] Temptation as we typically think of it is an allurement to wrong. It can also be a trial, an adverse experience. These are all different meanings of temptation in Scripture. Now, where does temptation come from? We looked at this already. When we think about temptation, we're talking about a number of things. [00:08:49] And it can vary from things that are normal, things that are legitimate, Things that come into our lives all the way to something that God strictly forbids and says is wrong. But we've got to remember that temptation comes to us mainly from our own desires. That's the main place it comes from. [00:09:22] And one of the keys to overcoming temptation is to start right here. How easy is it to deal with temptation if we say it's not my fault? We just avoid it. We just, you know, refuse to accept responsibility. We all know that the first step for anybody that's struggling in any area of life is to admit, it's my responsibility. I'm responsible. [00:09:59] Do you know that there's no one anywhere that can make you do anything without your choosing? They can't make you do anything. Now, physically, Jesus said, yeah, they can kill your body. They can cause you to do things in your body. But they cannot determine how you will respond, how you will react, what will take place in your mind and in your heart. [00:10:33] There is nothing that anybody can do to you that can destroy your joy in the Lord if you're walking in the Lord. So we've got to come to this place first. Secondly, we have the world. And this is really our environment. And what is the first thing that we think of and what we often train our children in when we deal with temptation? [00:11:04] And there's some truth here, don't misunderstand me, but what is one of the first things that we say? Well, you shouldn't be there. You shouldn't have those friends. You shouldn't be in that environment. And there's some truth to that, but we've got to be careful because the environment is something outside of us that only influences us. It does not control us like our desires. [00:11:39] Our desires often control us. And then we have the devil, and this is the same as spiritual forces. So we have these three areas that are influencing us and pushing us in a direction. Now, I want us to go over to James chapter 1, and I want us to look at what James has to say there. James chapter 1, verses 12 through 15. And this talks a lot about temptation, and it gives us some interesting things to think about. [00:12:18] James says, Blessed is the man that endureth temptation, for when he has tried, he shall receive the crown of life which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God. For God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man. But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed. [00:12:52] Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin, and sin when it is finished bringeth forth death. And he says, do not err, my beloved brethren. He goes on and talks about something. But I want us to just, I want us to think about what James is saying here. Let me just take my understanding of what James is telling us and put it kind of into my words, something where we can understand. James says, blessed is the man. [00:13:27] That's, this man is fortunate. He's well off. He's supremely blessed. So he's saying, you're supremely blessed if you endure. And this has the idea of perseverance. It has the idea of holding up under. It has the idea of going forward. So James is saying, you're very blessed if you are able to continue to be strong under temptation, or provocation, or solicitation. [00:14:10] For when he is tried, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to them that love him. Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God. The meaning here is, God has not been tempted. He is not temptable. In other words, let me explain it this way. If I am presented with a delicacy from a foreign country that those people would consider their best dish, [00:14:50] and I look at it and it turns my stomach, I'm not tempted, right? That dish does not give me any desire for it whatsoever. Absolutely none. So I have no temptation there. The temptation might be to do something else or run or whatever, but the dish itself does not tempt me. That's the way it is with God, with anything that tempts us. It's not a temptation to Him. There's no desire on His part for any of that. [00:15:33] So God isn't temptable with evil. There's nothing that Satan or anything or anyone could bring before God that God would say, Hmm, maybe I should. Not going to happen. Okay, so he says God isn't temptable and God does not tempt any man. It's not God that tries to scrutinize us, to test us, to entice us. [00:16:14] But every man is tempted, we face those temptations, when he is drawn away. And this word, drawn away, is really a good word. Because it pictures us being pulled, being dragged along. And what drags us along? Our own desires. Every man is tempted when he is drawn away. [00:16:45] He's pulled in a direction by his own desires. His own lust and enticed And that word enticed there has the idea of entrapped or deluded The picture here is very similar to a guy fishing He baits the hook He drops the hook And the bait into the water The fish looks and he sees something that looks good [00:17:20] And so, he goes after it. What happens when he bites on the bait? He's hooked. He's in trouble. And that's exactly the picture that James is giving to us. Matthew Henry said, The true origin of evil and temptation is in our own hearts. [00:17:51] Then he goes on and he says, Then when lust hath conceived, you have the temptation and the desire coming together and giving life to the temptation. He's using a metaphor here of reproduction. He says, here comes temptation and desire, they get together, and they produce a life. [00:18:26] And it bringeth forth sin. Then it gives birth. First it gives life, then it gives birth, And when it is finished, it's given fulfillment, it bringeth forth death, and it gives death. So there's a progression here. And I want us to see this, I want us to think about this as we look at this. One of the things we've got to stop and look at, don't blame God. [00:18:58] How many times have you blamed God for your temptation? I don't think I could count it. God, I just, I can't deal with this. You gave me this strong desire and I can't handle it and what am I going to do? James says, don't blame God. That's the first problem that we have in this and then we obviously can't blame anybody else. We've got to understand this sequence. [00:19:29] Number one in the sequence is my desire. Secondly, I get dragged away by my desire. What happened with Eve in the garden? Satan came and he said, Eve, what did God tell you? And she began to think and she began to desire. And as she desired, that desire pulled her in that direction, didn't it? [00:20:04] It dragged her, even though she knew what was going to happen, that it was going to bring separation from God, that things were not going to go well. And that's what happens to us. Then we're enticed or deluded by our desire, by my own desire. You know what? Sin always looks right at the time. It always looks right at the time. There's something within us, within our desires that says, [00:20:36] You know what? And how many songs, how many things have been written, how could something that feels so right be so wrong? That's the way we look at it. And it doesn't matter what area that applies. This is the sequence that's happening. And you take any temptation that you face and you look at it. This is exactly what happens. Our desire takes over and fools us, entices us, deludes us. [00:21:10] And we think that somehow, why do you think that there are so many rich and famous men in our day that have been destroyed because they followed their desires? Did they think that it was going to destroy them? No. They thought it was a way to fulfillment. They thought it was a way to something good happening. [00:21:44] Number four, sin is birth. Sin is given life within me by my choice. Number five, death comes. What did God tell Adam and Eve? In the day that thou sinnest, thou shalt surely die. This is a progression. God tells us, He explains it to us so clearly Look, this is the way it works So what are we going to do with it? [00:22:15] Now let's go back here and look at this diagram again Here we are, our mind and our heart We've got the good over here We've got the evil over there And Paul talks about this in Romans chapter 6 and 7 He says, there's something within me I want to do the good, but there's something in me that pulls me toward the evil And what is that? After the world and the flesh and the devil, what is that that drags us toward the evil and away from the good? It's that lust, that desire within us. [00:22:49] That's exactly what James is saying. Look, don't blame God. Don't blame somebody else. It's those desires we have within us that are pulling us away from the good and taking us toward the evil. Now, if we follow after truth, that leads us toward good, towards righteousness. And so we've got to understand this. This is so important in our lives. [00:23:19] It's so practical in our lives. There is not a temptation that we face that does not work this way. There's something, we can be standing solidly in the center of God's will, choosing good, choosing right, and here comes our desire. And it starts dragging us, it starts pulling us. And we sense, wait a minute, something's happening here. If we know the sequence, we know what's going to happen, then we're able to deal with it better. [00:23:58] And so it's important for us. It's something that we have to understand. Now, there's a really precious promise. This verse, every one of us needs to memorize this verse. 1 Corinthians 10, 13 There hath no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man. But God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted, above that ye are able, but will with the temptation also make a way of escape, that ye may be able to bear it. [00:24:35] That verse is very important for you and I in learning to overcome temptation. Now, did Jesus face temptation? Yes. Because He had a human body, He had desires like we have. And so, the Scripture tells us, He was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. And so that gives this verse, takes us to that and he says, look, the temptations that we face, they're common, they're universal, they come to mankind in every age, in every country, in every race, it doesn't matter. [00:25:23] They're temptations that face us all. But God is faithful. You see the difference here? James says, don't blame God. Paul says, look, God is faithful. God is there. He hasn't run away because you faced a strong temptation. He hasn't messed up because you're facing temptation. That's not what's happening at all. He won't allow you, the word suffer there means He won't allow. [00:25:59] God won't allow you to be tempted beyond what you're able to bear. The very first person, let me put it this way, the very first murderer Accuse God of giving him something that he couldn't bear. Remember what Cain said? God said, Cain, you're banished. Cain said, God, my punishment is more than I can bear. [00:26:32] How many times, be honest now, how many times have you told God, God, I can't handle this? We do it, don't we? We do it over and over. And you know what we're doing? We're telling God He's a liar. That's exactly what we're doing. We have got to bring our experience into line with truth. And we can say, God, I don't understand it. I don't see how you are working in this. [00:27:05] I don't see how you're being faithful in this. I don't see how there's a way out in this. But God, you promised me that there is, and I'm going to stand on that even if I don't see it. There's where we find help. There's where we find hope. There's where we find deliverance. God is there. He has not left us. He has not run away. He has not disappeared. It's so important for us to get hold of this truth. [00:27:37] Now, I want us to look a little bit at Jesus, the proven Savior. Hebrews, chapter 4, verses 15 and 16. Let's just look at these verses. For we have not an high priest, which cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. [00:28:14] What's he telling us? What's he telling us about Jesus? He's telling us that he's proven. Every temptation he faced, he defeated. Every temptation that came to him, he overcame. Now, if you're working on a job, and you've got a big job to do, and it's something that you've never done, or maybe it's something that you've done and haven't done well at, where are you going to go to get help with that? [00:28:55] You're going to go to somebody that doesn't understand that job? You're going to go and find the person with the most experience that you can find and relate to. That's exactly what he's telling us to do here. Look, when you face temptation, go to the one with the best and the most experience. The Lord Jesus. And he tells, the beautiful part about that is, he's talking to us, when we looked at Hebrews, we looked at this, how he's our high priest. [00:29:31] He's touched with the feelings that we have. Not the facts, the feelings. The feelings of our infirmities, of our failures, of our temptations, of the things we struggle with, those things touch him. And so we need to go to Him Now Hebrews chapter 2 verse 18 For in that He Himself hath suffered being tempted He is able to succor or give pity and grace to those that are tempted [00:30:07] I want us to notice in John 17 verse 15 Jesus' high priestly prayer He was praying for all of us When you read those verses there in John 17, remember that he's praying for you. And this is his prayer. This is what he prayed. I pray not that thou shouldst take them out of the world, but that thou shouldst keep them from the evil. [00:30:40] That's Jesus praying for us. That's his prayer for us. And then that may be something that could help you in facing temptation. Just a picture in your mind, Jesus praying for you that you can overcome. 2 Peter 2, verse 9, The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished. The Lord knows how to deliver His people out of temptation. [00:31:11] Saying exactly the same thing as 1 Corinthians 10, verse 13, Matthew chapter 6 verse 13 the Lord's Prayer We pray this prayer and we don't think of what we're praying Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever Amen Deliver us from evil [00:31:43] God has the power to do that So these are just some things that remind us of the reality of what Jesus has done for us and is doing for us It's not just history It's not just something that happened 2,000 years ago It's something that's a reality for us today And it means something It has purpose, it has value It's something that's there for us on a continuing basis, moment by moment, day after day, year after year. [00:32:21] No matter how old we are or how young we are, this is a truth that's very real and very precious. Now, I want to just talk with us a little bit about some practical tactics that we can use in dealing with temptation. I don't know how many of you listened to Nancy Lee DeMoss. My wife was listening to some of her. And she had a lady talking about memorizing. And this lady had some phenomenal stories about what memorizing scripture had done for her. [00:32:57] You want to find one tool that's probably the most useful tool for you. It's not a cure-all. There's people that know Scripture inside and out that still choose to do wrong. But this tool is one of the most profitable tools there is. You say, well, I'm older. I can't memorize. You can memorize. It's harder. Remember, it takes more work, but it can be done. [00:33:30] Memorizing Scripture is one of the biggest tools in overcoming temptation. What did Jesus do? When the devil came to Him and tempted Him there in Matthew 4, up there on the mountain, what did He do? It is written. It is written. It is written. He was able to quote Scripture for every temptation that came to Him. And I'll show you some practical ways to do that in a bit. The second part of this is to meditate on the Word. [00:34:03] You know why temptation becomes so strong to us? Because we start thinking about it. If you forget about it, it's not a temptation anymore, is it? You know, you watch a little child, and here they go, and they go over here, and they see something that they're not supposed to get into, and they look at it a little bit, and they decide they're not sure what they want to do, [00:34:36] but then they go and they start playing with something else. They forgot all about that thing they weren't supposed to get into. But if they stand there and look at it, and keep standing there, what's going to happen? You know why? Because they're thinking and thinking and thinking and thinking about that thing. When we meditate on the Word of God, it gives us something better to think about. [00:35:08] It helps us to deal with temptation. You say, well, that's well and good. Let's get down to where we live. Now, here's one thing that I read that one man did with a temptation that he faced. He sat down and he wrote a list of every consequence that could happen to him if he yielded to this temptation. And the list was pretty long. If I yield to this, this will likely happen. [00:35:43] This could happen. This might happen He wrote that list out And whenever that temptation came to him He looked at that list He said, wait a minute I don't want to go there I don't want that to happen I don't want this to happen And he realized some real benefit from that Here's one I learned a long time ago From Bill Gothard And it's one that really works. [00:36:15] I've used it myself over and over again. Whenever the devil comes to you with a particular temptation, you pick out a certain person that you know, maybe a person that's not saved, maybe a person that's struggling in an area, whatever. You pick out that person to go with that temptation. And whenever that temptation comes to you, You pray for that person. Now, if you're the devil, and you're trying to trap somebody, [00:36:50] and every time you put this bait in front of them, they start praying for somebody, what are you going to do? You're going to say, I've got to get some different bait. That's not working very good. And so there's a key here. Whenever that temptation comes, there's two things that actually happen. What's the first thing that happens? When we pray, what do we do? We get in touch with God, don't we? And so that's the very first thing that happens when we are dealing with this temptation. [00:37:27] Automatically, we choose to get in touch with God. The second thing is, it stops us from thinking about that temptation and from our desires pulling us that direction. So that's really an important one. Now, here's another one that goes along with that. And I've used this as well. Take a Bible verse or several verses that relate to the temptation that you're facing. Put it on a note card. [00:37:58] Put it on something that you can have in your pocket or in a place wherever you face that temptation. You know, Weight Watchers does that. They put something on the refrigerator, right? So you walk up to the refrigerator and it says, Once on the lips, always on the hips. And you look at that and away you go. You don't want it there. The same thing happens here. You put these scripture verses and you say, this is what God thinks about this. [00:38:32] And so you take those verses and you memorize them, you make them real, you meditate on them, you make them practical in your lives. And this is a good one. It's practical, it works. It's something that you can use as a tool for any temptation you face. Go to the Scripture. Find what the Scripture says. Put it on something so you have it available to where you live. And when that temptation comes, you go to that Scripture. And you just meditate on it. You memorize it. [00:39:02] You turn it over in your mind and think about what God's saying to you. There is a lot of things that we can do. And we talk about avoiding places where we face temptation and all of those things. But you know what? The key, the real key in temptation is taking temptation and turning it from my desire to God's desire. And if we're able to do that regularly, we find victory. [00:39:39] And that's all about what our Sunday school lesson was about this morning. The rich young ruler said, God, what do I ask Jesus? What do I have to do? I have this desire to follow you. And Jesus said, well, if you want to follow me, you've got to sell everything you have and give it to the poor. And he said, no, I don't want to follow that man. You see, his desire wasn't turned into God's desire. But you take Peter, and his desire was turned into God's desire later on. [00:40:09] You know, he said, God, we've forsaken all. Jesus, we've forsaken all and followed you. What's the benefit for us? And Jesus said, wait a minute, Peter. No, he took him along, and later on, Peter had learned to overcome those temptations. It didn't matter. How did Peter get there? Because his desires became God's desires. And that is the key to overcoming temptation. [00:40:42] To let our desires become God's desires. And as we do that, with every temptation that comes to us, God, what do you want? What do you want me to do, God? We know. We know down in, and you know what the trouble is? Am I giving up my desires for His? Or am I doing what I want to do? That's this whole thing of temptation in a nutshell. [00:41:14] Whose desires am I going to follow in my life? Let's stand together for prayer. Just going to ask you this morning, if you're dealing here just real recently with a really strong temptation, and by the way, this is something that I didn't mention, but one of the things you can do when you struggle with a temptation [00:41:50] is just have a friend that you can call and say, hey, this thing is really real. Pray for me. I am really struggling. That's another practical thing you can do and should do. If you're really struggling this morning with a temptation that you just can't seem to overcome, God, I just thank you this morning that you are so willing and so ready [00:42:33] that it's your longing, your desire for us to come with the feelings of our infirmities, our weaknesses, our failures, to come to the Lord Jesus, and find grace, strength, help for that time of need. Father, we've seen this morning so clearly from your word how our desires draw us away from what's good and right, from the truth. [00:43:07] And Lord, I pray that you help us, give each one of us a longing, a desire to make you happy, to please you, to see a smile on your face as we choose your desires over our desires. Help us, Lord, to see that throughout our day, throughout our life. [00:43:40] Not just to look at certain things and classify those as temptations, but to recognize every area of our lives, Lord, where our desires are taking precedence over your desires. God, I especially pray for those that raised their hands this morning and wanted to be remembered. I pray that you just work by your spirit, dear God, in each of their hearts. Help them to see clearly what you're speaking to them. [00:44:16] Help them to choose, Lord, your desires. We just thank you and praise you. In Jesus' name, amen.