Sermon Central
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Dealing With Temptation . 1 Corinthians 10:13 Series
Contributed by Shine Thomas on May 7, 2019 (message contributor)
Summary: Dealing with temptation is a blog on how we can deal with different temptations in our life. Si practical steps to deal with temptation.
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Dealing with temptation is a blog on how we can deal with different temptations in our life. Si practical steps
to deal with temptation.
Joke: A couple were struggling to make ends meet after building their dream home. One day they went shopping, the man went to the men’s clothing section and wife to the women’s section. A little later the wife came with a Rs. 10000/- bill for a saree she bought. “How could you do this?!” Man asked. “I was outside the store looking at the dress in the window, and then I found myself trying it on,” she explained. “It was like Satan was whispering in my ear, ‘You look fabulous in that dress. Buy it!'” “Well,” the husband replied, “You know how I deal with that kind of temptation. I would say, ‘Get behind me, Satan!'” “I did,” replied his wife,” but then he said, ‘It looks fabulous from back here, too!'”
Temptation is a part and parcel of our life. Temptation started right in the beginning in garden of Eden. Adam and Eve succumbed to temptation and they blamed each other. Temptation came all the way to Jesus who was tempted by the devil but each time Jesus got victory over temptation.
What is the most powerful temptation you have faced in your life? What is the thing that makes you live in disobedience to the word of God? Is it possible for us to deal with temptation?
What is temptation? Temptation is man’s compelling desire to disobey God and do things his own way. Temptations can happen in every area of life.
BBC Study on Sep. 2016 states 1.36 million people in India are divorced. That is equivalent to 0.24% of the married population, and 0.11% of the total Indian population. The study further states that 1 out of every 1000 marriage ends up in divorce in India.
Another survey says one of the top 3 reasons for divorce in India is because of infidelity because of live-in relationships, social networking sites, and office romances.
US study, Buss and Shackelford research says 30-60% of married individuals engage in infidelity, 2-3% of children are born as the product of infidelity. Shocking, infidelity is getting very common below the age group of 30.
NSSO (National Sample Survey Office) survey of 2016 on Indian household shows 31.4% of rural household is on loan and 22.4% urban household are living on loans.
Every moment of resistance to temptation is a victory – F. W. Faber
Temptation is everywhere these days and it comes in all forms of ways. Financial temptation, temptation for pleasure, position, privileges etc. Is the heart of man so deceitful and desperately wicked that even at its best it cannot put up a proper guard over temptation?
How do deal with temptation? Open your Bible to 1 Corinthians 10:13 No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.
The promise of that verse is thrilling. No temptation has overtaken you, no temptation is overpowering. Satan is not so powerful, the human heart is not so deceived that we are necessarily a victim of temptation. In this verse there are some principles and if we can understand them dealing with temptation becomes very easy.
1. Understand the means of temptation.
1 Corinthians 10:13 No temptation has overtaken you…
Temptation wants to take control of you. Temptation wants to overtake you. Temptation wants to dominate you. The Greek word for this can be translated as “test or temptation.” The interesting note about these words is that tests and temptations are two sides of the same thing. Life is full of tests, every test, every trial potentiates a temptation.
Illustration: There was an office accountant who had been new to his job. Everyone had left the office one night and on his desk someone had left a huge sum of money. He immediately took the money, put it in his brief case and went home. The next morning when he came to work he immediately walked into the boss’s office and put the money down on the desk and said, “Sir, somehow someone left this money on my desk and I don’t know who it was ” His boss looked at him in the face and said, “I put the money there, it was a test. You passed.”
Life offers us those kinds of tests. This man went to his house and could have thought, “Nobody will know,” and began to battle in his heart, ” I could use that money, and I have ten ways to explain how I need that money,” then it would have become a temptation. Once the external becomes the solicitation (battle or allurement) of the heart, it’s turned into a temptation.
