Breaking The Powerful Pull Of Temptation

This is a message that we can all identify with.

A. We are all subject to temptations, on a daily basis.

1. I know that it cuts us to the heart when we

give in to those temptations.

a. We feel like we have failed God, self,

and those around us.

1.) Those who cave in to temptation

are torn apart with feelings of guilt

and frustration.

b. So often we have cried out to God and

pleaded with Him to remove the

temptations that keep bringing us to the

brink of sin.

1.) As often as we have cried out.....

our cries have gone unanswered.

a.) Why does God not take away

this problem.....we want to

serve Him........we want to

remain pure from this world.

Let us look to God’s word and see if we can understand.

A. We MUST UNDERSTAND!

I. Let us understand temptation.......just what it is......

A. TEMPTATION IS AN APPEAL TO

PLEASURE..........

1. It is an appeal to SELF-SATISFACTION.

a. Most commonly it is generated by satan.

b. Often, however, we can place ourselves

in the pathway of temptation.

B. We must understand.....IT IS NOT A SIN TO BE

TEMPTED.

1. Many who do not properly understand the

difference between the temptation and the

sin.

a. Temptation is the urge to fulfill some

kind of improper satisfaction of the

flesh.

b. Sin is the actual fulfillment of that desire.

1.) This can be an actual, physical,

enactment of these desires.

2.) Sin can also be committed in the

mind......through fantasy.....the

acting out of the sinful desire in the

mind.

C. Not only is temptation not a sin.......it is actually

an indicator of just how spiritually strong God

considers us to be.

1. God will not allow satan to bring any

temptation into our lives that we CANNOT

HANDLE.

I Cor. 10:13 - 13No temptation has overtaken you except

such as is 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.

a. It isn’t that we cannot handle these

temptations........it is more, the fact, that

we MAY NOT WANT TO RESIST!

1.) Spiritual fact..........God will never

allow satan to hit us with a

temptation that He knows we

have no power over.......

a.) Spiritual fact........We CAN

RESIST ALL

TEMPTATIONS!!!!!!!

D. The word “temptation” comes from the Greek

word peirasmos which can also be translated...

“test”

1. Thayer (on peirasmos) - An experiment,

an attempt, a trial, proving.....

a. Specifically - The trial of a person’s

fidelity, integrity, virtue, and constancy.

2. A temptation, then, is a test.....an opportunity..

to pass this spiritual challenge.

a. It is an opportunity for spiritual success.

b. It is an exercise which has been designed

to strengthen a person against satan’s

further attacks.

1.) This is the reason that James writes

what he does in James 1:2-4.

James 1:2-4 - 2My brethren, count it all joy when you fall

into various trials, 3knowing that the testing of your faith

produces patience. 4But let patience have its perfect work,

that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

** Far from being the horrible monster that we make it.....

temptations are actuality the opportunity to succeed

in the testing and training grounds of this life.

1. Temptations that are resisted, strengthen us against

further temptations.

ILLUSTRATION: Never a temptation.....go through life

living perfectly, in the Lord......last few

moments of life, satan hits us with our

biggest weakness....our greatest

temptation.........the sin that would so

easily get us..............ALL WOULD

BE LOST!

a. These temptations that satan

throws at us are his own

undoing.....if we will resist

them.

II. We must understand what a temptation is....we must

be alert to it....we must understand just how a

temptation FEELS!

A. A temptation GRIPS A PERSON!

1. Going back to our text in I Cor. 10:13.....we

find the word that is translated, “overtaken”.

a. Temptations....overtake....a person.

1.) The Greek word, used here, and

translated, “overtaken”....is the

Word - eilhjen - which comes

from a Greek root word -

lambanw......why do I tell you all

of this history?

a.) Because the definition means

something in the Greek that is

lost in the translation.

** lambanw - To take by the hand, to lay hold of, to trap

or take by craft, to capture.

2. A temptation grabs, grips, captures, arrests....

a person.

a. It is a VERY POWERFUL feeling.

B. Only when a person remains strong in the Lord,

and allows God to work in and through this

person......can this person hope to resist this

terribly strong pull.

1. Only by the power of the Holy Spirit.......

actively working in one’s life, can one expect

to resist temptations.