Overcoming Temptation
Introduction:
A mother told her son not to go swimming. However, when he came into the house his mother noticed that his hair and bathing suit were wet. "I told you not to go swimming," the boy’s mother scolded. "I couldn’t help it mom," he defended himself. "The water looked so good." "But why did you take your bathing suit with you?" "In case I was tempted."
In the 1980’s it was first lady Nancy Reagan who popularized the slogan "Just say no." Remember that? though simple and straight forward, that little two letter word can still be a difficult choice to make.
Whether you are on a diet and get in line at all you can eat buffett, or if you are taking a test and are tempted to cheat, or whether you are facing the temptation to sin, it can be difficult to just say “no”.
Temptation to do the wrong thing is very real. Are you ever tempted to do what you know is wrong? Do you ever give into those temptations? Do you ever struggle to do what is right in the eyes of God? Temptation to sin is a part of a Christian’s daily life, and most likely we will give in on a daily basis.
Many people are not concerned with doing the right thing. There are millions of people in the world who are content with their lives the way they are. They are convinced that they are good people and therefore have earned favor with God. When a person becomes content with the person they have become they stand in a very dangerous place. Before I get into the heart of this message I want to make it clear that we as people need to learn several vital truths. First, God is holy. The trait that the Bible repeats about God more than any other is not the fact that God is “love”, but rather that he is holy. That means he is perfect, and not only has he never done any wrong, evil or sin cannot come into his presence because he is holy. That is why God has to judge sin. Second, we are sinners. I know that it is not politically correct or very appealing of a thought but that is the reality. We all have sinned, the Bible tells us and fallen short of the glory of God. Third, we cannot earn favor with God. There is no way that we can ever be good enough to make ourselves right with God. I really do believe that most people are good people, but the problem is that one sin has separated us from a holy God. What Jesus did, was he came and bore the punishment for our sins that we deserved, he settled the wrath of God that should have been shown on us. That sounds great, who in their right mind wouldn’t be thrilled with that. Then since our sins have been forgiven does it really matter how we live our lives? Does it really matter what we do? Jesus has already died for our sins, so why do we still have to try to do what God says?
For some reason even after we have decided to become Christians and accepted what Jesus did for us we still choose to sin. Even after knowing the good we should do sometimes we choose to do what is wrong. That is never okay and that is never acceptable, but we are human and we struggle with sin.
Perhaps you feel tempted at times to do what is wrong. Maybe you feel tempted sometimes to say things that are improper, impure or out of place. Maybe you feel tempted to engage in things that you know are wrong. Maybe you feel tempted to continue in a bad habit. Maybe you feel tempted to avoid doing the things you ought to do. Perhaps you look at your life and you see there are certain things which you have wrestled with and struggled with since you have been a Christian. I want us to understand that temptation in not what is wrong, it is the giving into the temptation that is wrong. I want us to understand that temptation is not uncommon, I believe we all face temptation. If someone were to tell me they are never tempted I would quickly wonder what they were not doing to make them not a target. As long as there is a Devil in this world we will have a target on our backs because his objective is to keep us from God. Someone once said, “I wouldn’t be tempted if temptation wasn’t so tempting.” Sam Levenson said, “Lead us not into temptation. Just tell us where it is; we’ll find it.” Flip Wilson said, “The devil made me do it the first time, but ever since then I’ve been doing it on my own.” Oscar Wilde said, “I can resist anything but temptation.” We all deal with temptation. I want us also to understand that we can overcome. We are not doomed to failure.
Today, I am sure that each and every one of us has some things in life that we would like to overcome. I am sure that if you honestly looked inwardly you may see that you have some character flaw, some habit, some trait, some sin that you want to overcome. If you are like me, perhaps you have tried over and over again with sincerity, but you cannot seem to do it. Perhaps you have prayed about it, perhaps you have worked hard, but that struggle is still an issue in your life. I wish that there was an easy 10-step guide to overcoming temptations, but there’s not, it is not always black and white. I do, however, believe that God reveals to us some things that can help us to stand strong.
I want to look at the story of a man in the Old Testament who said “no” to the temptation that he was facing to do what was wrong and hopefully we can see that we too can say “no”.
Text: James 1:13-15
I. Realize Your Weakness
After Hurricane Katrina rocked the city of New Orleans, you could hear the word “negligence” on the news quite often. People talked about the negligence of having an evacuation plan and effectively getting people out of danger zones. People talked about the negligence of the State and Federal governments to act upon a problem that they knew existed. For years the proper authorities we warned about the dangers of a big hurricane in the city of New Orleans. People knew that because of the condition of the levees and the location of the city that a major hurricane could literally wipe the city out. Neglecting a big problem led to a major catastrophe. The reality is ignoring a problem does not make it go away.
The same is true for the things that we struggle with. A lot of times we like to act like we do not have struggles, or even worse we like to think that the struggles will just go away one day. Brushing our problems under the rug will not make them go away. We need to learn to admit our weaknesses. We think that as circumstances change or we enter a new stage in life then we will not wrestle with the same things anymore. Well, ignoring a sin problem in our lives does not make it go away. We need to make sure that we realize our areas of weakness, not in order to make us feel bad or guilty, but rather so we can know where we need to improve.
Psalm 139:23-24
David’s prayer was for God to reveal to him his weakness. It does not take long to see that Paul was painfully aware of his own sinfulness and struggles. We must realize that we have areas of weakness and we need to be able to identify them so that we can begin to fix the problem.
I imagine that as Joseph found himself all alone with a woman who desired him it was a tempting situation to be in. If he would have given in, who would have ever known? I imagine he must have been tempted to do what was right, but yet still he refused to do what was wrong because he did not want to sin against God. He had integrity. He was able to withstand the temptations that he had. There are going to be times in our lives that we are faced with tempting situations. We need to be able to recognize those moments and those areas of weakness and we need to be able to do our best to stay strong. We need to realize our own weakness and sinfulness so that we can better address the problem and overcome our temptations.
It is not wrong to face temptations in life. In fact we will all face them from time to time because there is a real Devil trying to get us to sin, but our goal needs to be to overcome and not give in.
II. Make Conscious Efforts to Stand Strong
I believe that God is very active in helping us to overcome temptations, but I believe a lot of times we are guilty of not taking any initiative on our own. We like to sit back and let God handle it. We say we need to have faith and wait on the Lord, and those things are true, Biblical facts in dealing with any aspect of life. We cannot overcome apart from God, but I also believe we cannot overcome unless we are willing. Sometimes we pray for God’s help with our temptations, and we should do that. In the Lord ’s Prayer Jesus taught to pray, “deliver us from evil.” However, we do not sit and wait for God to miraculously remove any temptation or struggle we have in our lives. Doctors say an alcoholic can never recover if he first does not want to help himself, and the same is true with us who are addicted to sin, by the way that is all of us. If we are serious about pleasing God and serious about overcoming temptations we need to make some conscious efforts before temptation ever comes, while it is with us, and after we have overcome. I do not believe that we just one day overcome all of our struggles, but I believe we need to make some effort to overcome ourselves.
a. Consciously Reading The Word of God
When we talk about the ways to stand strong against temptation we must begin by talking about the power that is the Word of God. I believe that by knowing the Word of God and by having a regular diet of God’s Word we are better able to withstand temptations. On the other hand not regularly reading the Word is like going into a battle against a fierce enemy without a weapon.
Ephesians 6:10-17
We learn many times in the Word of God that we are in a spiritual battle, and that our weapon is the Word of God. If we do not know the Word we become susceptible to temptations. Jesus was able to withstand temptations because he knew the Word of God. David said, “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against God.” I think that perhaps the greatest tragedy that exists in the world today is the failure of God’s people to pick up the Word of God and study it and learn it. Do you want to know why it is not uncommon to hear of Christian people doing obviously immoral things? I believe a large part of that is that the Word of God is not read enough by individuals outside of the church. I want you to ask yourself some possible painful questions. How much time do you spend at home reading the Bible? Do you spend more time watching T.V. or reading God’s Word? When is the last time that you just sat down to study and learn Scriptures on your own? We truly underestimate the power of the Word of God. Great things happen in our lives when we have a regular intake of the Bible. It is the Bible not any person that can change our lives, it is the power that comes through the Word that can convict us of where we are wrong, it is the Word of God that makes us wise unto salvation. Consciously making decisions to read the Word of God on a regular basis will help you when you are facing temptations.
b. Consciously Communicating With God
When we fail to communicate to God we sever ourselves from the Head, life giver, and Savior. Prayer is another one of the dangerously ignored tools that we as Christians have to help us in our times of weakness. Perhaps you have times in your life when you feel weak, when you feel vulnerable, when sin is crouching at your door, or when you do not think that you have the strength to stand strong against the Devil’s temptations anymore, I promise you that prayer can provide what you need to overcome. You may wonder how can talking to someone you cannot see help you in any way to make decisions to do what is right. Well, I do not fully understand how God works in our lives in answer to prayer, but I will tell you that I have experienced power to withstand temptation that never thought I would have. I also know that God is faithful to His promises and He promises to give us strength in our times of weakness and vulnerability. Remember it not wrong to have times of weakness, it is not wrong to be tempted, it is wrong to give into those temptations and even more wrong not to do our best stand strong against them. Communicating with God can give us the strength we need when we are being tempted to sin.
c. Consciously Being Around Godly People
I Corinthians 15:33
We as people whether we like to admit it or not are influences by others. This can be either positive or negative. I believe the Church in the book of Acts was so strong because they loved to be around each other. We too need to make every effort to devote ourselves to being around people who are going to make a positive influence on us in every aspect of life. Proverbs gives numerous warning about choosing our friends and companions wisely. I believe that is probably good advice. Perhaps you have some good friends and the more time you spend with those people you start to see that you pick up on some of their mannerisms and their sayings and they do yours as well. You become alike the more you are together. God made us to be relational people, and I believe that through making an effort to fellowship with Godly people we can better withstand temptation. I believe that is one reason why church attendance among other things is so important because it is an opportunity to be around godly people and to fellowship with people who make you a better person. Don’t tell Stephanie I told you, but one reason I allowed her to marry me was because she made me a better person. We need to be sure that we spend our time with people like that who will help us to develop the character and mind of Christ in our lives.
d. Consciously Avoid Evil
Proverbs 4:22-27
I believe that God knows what He is talking about when he gives warning about the things that we allow to enter our hearts. There is a big craze going on about what people are eating. People are very careful with the things they allow to enter their body. If I gave you some food and told you that it would make you very sick, it is highly unlikely that you would eat it, why is it then that we allow things into our hearts that are bad for the soul and sickening to God? I really do believe that the things that we watch and listen to has an impact on our lives. I have noticed that with myself, if I avoid evil things to the best of my ability than I am better able to withstand temptations. I understand that we cannot remove ourselves totally from the world and we are in the world, but not of the world, but I do not understand why God’s people seek to find entertainment in things that dishonor the name of God, mock sins that ailed our Savior to the cross, that have a preset agenda of promoting immoral behavior, and that seek to show people that certain sins are acceptable. It is unbelievable the influence that media has had on our lives. I want to give God’s people a warning today that may help you avoid temptations and may prevent some things from being a temptation at all, and that is to guard your heart for it is the wellspring of life.
The Great Wall of China was built over many hundreds of years to keep China’s northern enemies from invading. The Great Wall is so wide that chariots could ride across the top. It is one of the few manmade objects that astronauts can see from outer space as they look back on the earth.
But the Great Wall did not keep the enemy out. Do you know why? All the enemy had to do was bribe a gatekeeper. Despite the massive wall, there was an enemy on the inside that let the enemy on the outside in. So it is in our lives. The gatekeeper of our hearts must be faithful or the walls of restraint, the laws of God’s Word, will do us no good. We need to guard our hearts and not let the Devil have a foothold.
Jesus made it clear that what goes into your heart, will eventually come out in some form. I promise that by not watching certain television show, not listening to certain music, or not watching certain movies you will survive and you will not miss that much. We need to honor Christ in every aspect of our lives and that includes what we watch. I promise that guarding your hearts from certain things will help certain things never to be a temptation in your lives.
e. Consciously Focus on Pure Things
I do not believe it is enough just to avoid evil, but I also believe we need to make sure that our focus is where it should be. When our eyes are focused where they should be, we should never have to worry about straying off the path.
Philippians 4:8
I have learned that many times we bow down to temptations and struggles when our minds are idle or wandering. When our minds are focused on what is pure, however, it is harder to give in. It is not easy to enter into sin while at the same time our mind is flooded and consumed with pure thought. We can keep focused on that which is pure from the people we are around, to the things that we do, to the music we listen to, but the more our focus is on purity and what is good the stronger we become against temptations that Satan will throw at us.
III. Continue to Trust in God
As I have said before overcoming temptation is not a ten-step process or a black and white procedure for how to overcome a struggle you may have with sin. I believe that there are ups and downs in that process of our lives. There will be times when you are able to overcome and withstand whatever is thrown at you and there are other times when you have a hard time and feel like you are failing. I want to remind you that through it all we must continue to trust in God.
a. Trust in His Promise to Deliver
I Corinthians 10:11-13
God promises to deliver us from our trials and struggles. He never promises that it will be easy, but we do have a promise that we can overcome. Not because of any power of our own, but because of the power we receive because of Christ. It is important for us never to think or feel that we are able to deliver ourselves or overcome on our own, but any power we have to withstand temptation is because God has been faithful to deliver us.
b. Trust in His Promise of Grace
Also, we need to trust in God’s amazing grace. During the times that we fail and mess up we need to truth that God’s grace is sufficient. That does not make our sin acceptable or okay, but we need to realize that God has already paid the price for our sins and that we can be forgiven no matter what we have done.
II Corinthians 12:7-10
We can overcome temptation, but we need to realize we can’t do it by our own power on will power alone, we need God’s help. He has given us the tools, will we use them? Will we realize that it is not okay to persist in sin? Resist the Devil and He will flee.
