Summary: Third in this series based on The Navigators’ "Lessons on Assurance." By the way, I came to Christ through the Nav ministry in college, and these five lessons in this series were the first things I learned as a baby believer.

Cool Things We Can Count On from God’s Word

#3 – The Guarantee of Victory Over Temptation

1 Corinthians 10:13

Introduction

This last week I finally decided to get my glasses fixed. They weren’t broken, but I had been bothered from the beginning about the fact that the temple pieces were too long.

When the glasses came in, they just bent the temple pieces down and back. But I felt like they made me look like a real dorkoid.

So I finally got fed up and went to the place where I got them and asked if smaller temple pieces could be ordered for them.

It turns out that nope – one size fits all, which is one of the great fallacies of Western culture.

Have you ever seen one of those “one size fits all” hats on someone with a small head? The back of that cap sticks out about 4 inches, and it just doesn’t look cool at all, right? How do you think I know that?

Anyway, the lady says that they can’t order new temple pieces. BUT, she could do something about the ones I’ve got.

So she went in back and performed some surgery on my glasses, and guess what? They turned out great.

I asked what I owed, and she said, “Nothing – satisfaction is always guaranteed.”

That made me pretty happy, as you can probably guess.

But what struck me about what she said was this: the guarantee had always existed – I just didn’t know about it.

And because I didn’t know about it, I couldn’t take advantage of it.

Sometimes people can go their whole Christian life and not know about the great guarantees in God’s Word.

And the one we’re going to talk about today is a huge one.

We’re three weeks into a series entitled, “Cool Things You Can Count On From God’s Word.”

We’ve already looked at the guarantee of heaven for those who possess Christ, and the guarantee of answered prayer as we approach the Father in Christ’s name, counting on the merits of Jesus to gain an audience with the Father.

Today we’re looking at the guarantee of victory over temptation to sin.

You know, so many Christians walk through life feeling frustrated and defeated. And the devil loves that. The devil loves seeing Christians with their heads hanging, never feeling like they can get a handle on whatever they’re doing.

But the Bible is very clear that we can live in victory over sin.

Now, there are some really great brothers and sisters in Christ who will tell you that we sin every day in thought, word, and deed. And depending on how they define the word, “sin,” they may be right.

So just to make sure that you understand what I’m going to be addressing today, I want to define sin as “deliberately disobeying a known law of God.”

You know it’s wrong and you do it anyway.

We miss the mark sometimes, and sometimes we sin unintentionally and unknowingly. That’s not what I’m talking about.

I’m talking about doing something you know is wrong or not doing something you know is right.

This is so important because, as I mentioned, there are plenty of people who feel that they can never overcome the sin in their lives.

They resonate with the words of Paul in Romans 7, where Paul says –

15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do… and…I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out…and…For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do--this I keep on doing.

Anybody here relate to that? I can.

For some people, it’s a certain sin that you can’t seem to shake. Or maybe there are a number of sins that seem to keep you captive.

Or worse yet, you hold an unhealthy allegiance to a certain baseball team from Kansas City.

But whatever the case, you want to get to the point where this stuff is a thing of the past.

Well, I’ve got some good news for you! The same Paul who wrote these words lamenting his own struggle to get past some sins also wrote this passage we’re looking at today.

And my hope is that you will walk out of here today with real assurance from God that no matter what you’re struggling with, God can work within you to overcome it.

1 Corinthians 10:13 –

No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. 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 stand up under it.

I need to clarify something here: the title of the message says that we’re going to discuss victory over temptation, but what I’m really going to be addressing is allowing that temptation to lead you to sin.

You have to understand something very important here: temptation is NOT sin. Temptation is the OPPORTUNITY to sin.

If temptation was sin, Jesus would have been a sinner, and He was certainly not that.

Jesus was tempted by the devil to sin, as we see in Matthew 4, and the book of Hebrews also tells us He was tempted.

I don’t want anyone here to think that they are in sin just because they are being tempted.

But I want to point out very quickly three lessons we can learn from this passage.

1. Your temptations are not unique!

You need to understand that nothing you’ve encountered in your life is any different than anything that hasn’t been encountered by many others as well.

Folks, human nature hasn’t changed since the Garden of Eden. If it’s changed, it’s only gotten worse, but if you read through the Bible you’ll see that as far as our human hearts and inclinations go, nothing’s changed.

So don’t go around thinking, “Well, my situation’s unique, and my temptations are brand new, so I have an excuse.”

You ain’t fooling anybody but yourself with that one, bub!

Here’s the second lesson:

2. God knows your limitations.

Some people quote this verse when discussing how heavy our burdens in life can get in terms of being overwhelmed with a lot of bad stuff: “God won’t let you face more than you can handle.” Or “God won’t give you more than you can handle.”

But that’s a misrepresentation of the verse. The context is clear that Paul is discussing sin against God, not negative stuff happening.

God is saying here that no temptation you face will be more than you can bear with His help.

Nothing you face is so big that you and God can’t deal with it together.

It might seem overwhelming, but it’s not. If you know that God’s with you, then you have the opportunity to say no, using the power God has given you.

Third…

3. He will give you a way of escape.

There is ALWAYS an escape route. God ALWAYS provides a way out.

I can’t tell you what that will be in every situation, but when you’re faced with a temptation, you can always ask God to show you a way out.

And He will – He promises to do just that. And I’ve already talked about how God doesn’t lie about stuff. It goes against His character.

He’ll show you a way out of it. It may not always be easy, and it may cause you some discomfort or even pain, but it’s always better than following through on sin.

You: God has given you a way out of every

temptation – it’s up to you to take it!

- Look for the way out.

I already mentioned that God ALWAYS gives a way out of a tempting situation.

But it’s up to you to look for it. It’s probably more obvious than you think.

“Exit” signs in building. Had to be replaced because they weren’t up to doing an adequate job of telling people where to go in case of a fire or some other emergency.

- Run from the temptation.

This verse says that God has given us a WAY OUT of temptation, not a hammer to beat the stuffing out it!

So often people are told to fight the temptation, but that’s not what Scripture says. We’re supposed to get out of there!

Paul says to flee youthful temptations.

What about that verse where it says to “resist the devil and he will flee?”

Folks, we resist the devil by not allowing him to draw us into sin.

So run from temptation.

Then…

- Avoid putting yourself in situations where those temptations are available.

You need to look at your life and see just where it is you’re tempted, then alter your lifestyle so that you can avoid those areas of temptation.

If alcohol is your temptation, then you’re not helping yourself by hanging out at the bars. Pretty obvious, huh?

Or if you have a problem with lust, you probably should cancel your subscription to Sports Illustrated, or get rid of certain cable channels that are outlets for things that cause you to lust.

Believe me, we could spend hours just talking about ways to avoid temptation, but I think you get the idea.

If you want to address something specific in your life, please feel free to get hold of me, and I’ll be happy to work with you to see what we can do to help you in that particular area.

But if you’re not willing to change your lifestyle to avoid areas of temptation, then don’t come crying to God about not being able to get over it.

One of the ways out that God provides is the capacity to think of ways to avoid the temptation in the first place. Use the noggin He gave you, folks!

So look for a way out, run from the temptation, avoid putting yourself in situations where you are tempted, and lastly…

- Invite the Holy Spirit to fill you completely.

Really, this should probably be first, but I wanted to discuss this last, because it’s probably the hardest.

Why? Because when you do this, you’re saying to God, “Okay. I can’t do it on my own, I need your Spirit to live in me and give me the wisdom and strength to walk away from sin and toward Jesus. I need you to control my life and run the show.”

Do you understand why that’s so hard? It’s because you’re giving over control of your life to God. And we don’t like to do that.

The good news is that God knows how to run our lives better than we do and He knows what’s best for us better than we do, and He’s better at running our lives than we are.

When we allow the Holy Spirit to fill us completely, He works in us to change our hearts to being able to love God the way we should – with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. To walk away from sin and toward the Father. All that stuff Jesus talks about and that we can’t do on our own power.

Open your heart to the Spirit. Invite Him to come in and really make His home in you.

Folks, I need you to listen closely here, because this is important.

I honestly believe that if you and I will take this stuff seriously, and allow God to help us out in times of temptation, a person can go for quite a long time without deliberately sinning against God.

It could be days, weeks, or months, maybe even years. With the help of God, nothing is impossible. Have you ever considered the possibility of that before?

Some of you have, and it’s quite possible that you have gone for some time without deliberately doing something you know God doesn’t approve of.

And if that’s the case, then I say, “Praise God, man! That’s awesome!”

I hope that you’re humble about it before God, though.

“I haven’t sinned in 37 years!” Well, you just did, because if you’ve been reading the Bible all those years, you’d know that pride is a sin!

I just want to encourage you that long-term victory is possible, with the help of God, with His Holy Spirit filling you up completely.

He wants to help. He’s offered His help. He’s big enough to help. So why not let Him? Why not cry out for help to find the way out and help us walk out of the way of temptation?

There’s a great verse in Hebrews you might want to mark in your Bible and maybe even memorize.

Hebrews 2:18 –

Because He Himself suffered when He was tempted, He is able to help those who are being tempted.

You know one of the things I love about Jesus? He can relate. Isn’t that good to know?

He was tempted with food, power, and all sorts of things. Things that you and I face here and now.

So when we cry out to Jesus to help us find a way out and to take it, He says, “Got you covered. I know what you’re going through. Let’s get out of here.”

You can’t handle it on your own. You’re weak, just as I am. I need help from God and so do you. So call on Jesus to help you. He’s there for you. He really is.

You know what I can’t stand? It’s when people say that they won’t come to church because it’s so full of hypocrites.

First of all, it’s just an excuse for most people. It really is.

Secondly, it’s just not true. I believe that in those churches where they really believe that the Bible is God’s Word and that God knows what He’s talking about and that believe that Jesus is the only way to heaven, most people are truly wanting to live for Christ.

And while they may fail from time to time, they’re honestly looking to God to help them live for Jesus.

So how would you like to be part of a group that’s actively working to shed that label of “hypocrite?”

Whaddya say we try to prove that in this church, at least, hypocrisy is seen as the sin it is, and we’re looking to forbid it from being in our midst?

We’re not perfect by a long shot. But with the help of God, we’ll be people who are full of the Holy Spirit and faith, walking in loving obedience to God, able to have long-term victory as we encounter the temptations we will face until we’re in heaven.

But as I said before with other things, it has to take place in the hearts of the individuals in the church. It doesn’t happen to the group – it happens in individual people.

And when it happens in enough people, God can do something huge with those people as a group to impact our area for Jesus.

It starts in the hearts of you and me, as individuals.

So will you join me in asking God to do something in our hearts, beginning with you and me?

Let’s show the world that God’s still in the business of changing lives for His glory, and that He has an open invitation among this fellowship to do just that.

Let’s pray.