Defeating Parasites in our Life
Temptations
1 Corinthians 10:13
Slide
Introduction
I am sure you have all heard the word parasite before.
But do you really know what a parasite does?
Parasites invade a host and begin to live there. As it lives there, it begins to grow and robs the host of nutrients and can cause malnutrition and disease. Most parasites do not kill their hosts because they need them to survive.
But there is a type of parasite, a parasitoid, that when it matures, it kills its host.
This is what sin does in our life. This is what sin does in our life. It invades our life and robs us of nutrients and brings about diseased thinking and living and eventually brings death.
This is what James says about temptation and sin
James 1:13-15
13 When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me." For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; 14 but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. 15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
Sin is a parasite that eventually kills its host.
Now I don’t know anyone who enjoys having or invites a parasite into their life.
Then why do we allow sin to invade our life?
Because like parasites, sin often enters into us through things we might like.
Parasites can enter us through food, water, sex, or some other transmitting agent.
None of us would eat a plateful of parasites, but if it was disguised as something that we thought would bring pleasure or joy to us, we easily become deceived.
In the same way, none of us really want to go out and sin so that we bring harm into our lives.
But sin is so often disguised in packages that look appealing and we think may bring some pleasure, so we give in and it invades our life.
This is called temptation.
It is often only after we have given into temptation that we see the harm that is caused by sin. And even when we know the harm that it causes, we are sometimes so malnourished and diseased in our thinking that we are still tempted by these parasites in our life.
I want you to take a look at this clip from Fireproof.
Caleb has trusted Christ as his Savior, and knows the wrongness of viewing pornography, but is still struggling with it.
Let’s watch the clip and then talk about how we might be able to defeat the parasites in our life by overcoming the temptations to allow them in.
Show Video Clip – Fireproof - Breaking Free
First slide again
I want to read to you again what Caleb read in the Love Dare.
“Watch out for parasites. A parasite is anything that latches on to you or your partner and sucks the life out of your marriage. They’re usually in the form of addictions, like gambling, drugs, or pornography. They promise pleasure but grow like a disease and consume more and more of your thoughts, time, and money. They steal away your loyalty and heart from those you love. Marriages rarely survive if parasites are present. If you love your spouse, you must destroy any addiction that has your heart. If you don’t, it will destroy you.” Kendrick, The Love Dare. P. 112.
Parasites will not only suck the life out of your marriage, but they will suck away your ability to live the full life in Christ, whether you’re married or not.
The parasite of sin promises pleasure, but robs us of life.
The pleasure that is promised is what makes it tempting.
What is the parasite in your life?
Drugs or Alcohol
Perhaps for you it may be drugs or alcohol.
Oh, just pop a few pills or have a couple drinks and you won’t feel as bad any more. And initially it is true, but once you get sucked into depending on drugs or alcohol, it robs you of real life.
Pornography
Maybe it is pornography
“What’s wrong with a little look? It’s not like it harms anyone.”
Those are lies of Satan.
It harms those in the videos that you create a market for.
It harms your relationships
It harms families that are broken up by the addictions of pornography
It harms so many by the lost resources that are sucked into this industry.
The pornography industry is bigger than the NFL, NBA, MLB combined.
Statistics accessed on 9/3/2007 from http://www.pornsunday.com/media.html
Maybe it is something that is more socially acceptable.
Your Work
Maybe what tempts you and promises you pleasure but really robs you of life is your work.
Your work drives you.
Your desire to find fulfillment through your job ends up consuming you.
It spills over into time that you should be spending with or focusing upon the Lord
It sucks away time from that is rightfully time you should be with your family.
Self sufficiency
Or maybe, your work is just a symptom of what really is the sin for you, self sufficiency.
If I have enough money to care for myself and my family then my life will be great.
Not having to depend on anyone. You think if you don’t have to depend on anyone, life will be good.
God did not create us to be independent of Him or one another.
The events of this last week show how fleeting and foolish it is to have our hope in a net worth that can so quickly evaporate.
Well if these parasites of sin can invade our life in so many different ways, is there any hope for us to overcome these parasites, these addictions and sins that seem to offer pleasure but really rob us of life?
Thankfully, there is.
Turn with me this morning to 1 Corinthians 10:13 (p. 811)
Slide
We are going to focus on this one verse this morning and learn some truths about temptations that will help us overcome them.
This is one of the first verses I committed to memory and it would serve you well to commit this verse to memory too.
1 Corinthians 10:13
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.
The first truth we need to learn about temptations is that
Everyone experiences the pull of Temptation
Slide
1 Corinthians 10:13a
No temptation has seized you except what is common to man.
So often we think to ourselves that it is a sin to feel tempted.
Or that if we were holy, we wouldn’t be tempted by sin.
That is a lie that Satan wants to feed you.
Everyone faces temptations.
The Bible tells us that Jesus was even tempted.
Matthew 4:1 - Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil.
Hebrews 4:15 - For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are-yet was without sin.
Everyone feels the pull of temptation and the temptations that we experience have been experienced by others as well.
We are not the only one to have faced the temptation we are facing.
Others have faced them as well.
Again, it is not a sin to face temptation.
Christians, we have sometimes fed into this lie by making people who have faced temptations feel inferior.
We have the sins and temptations that are socially acceptable.
Struggles with workaholism and trusting in money we don’t think is as bad as
Struggles with pornography or even homosexuality.
The struggle with temptation is not the sin, it is the choices we make as we face those temptations that can be the sin.
Remember the passage in James I quoted earlier
James 1:14-15
14 but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. 15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
We need to recognize that we all face temptations and that is not the sin and we should be encouraged that the temptations we face others have faced before.
And not only have these temptations been faced before, but they all can be overcome through the power of the Lord.
That is because
God limits the power of temptation
Slide
1 Corinthians 10:13b
And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.
For those who have trusted Christ as Savior, we have a faithful God who cares about us.
As Christians, we do not just have our own strength to resist temptation.
For Christians,
for those who have received Jesus Christ as Savior,
for those who have the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit,
the power of temptation has been limited by the presence of Him who has faced temptation to the ultimate and yet did not sin.
Jesus Christ will strengthen us and keep us strong.
I love the doxology at the end of Jude
Jude 24-25
24 To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy- 25 to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.
That is beautiful.
Christ limits the power of temptation by the presence of His person in our life.
But not only does He limit the power of temptation through His strengthening you by His presence, but also
You have a path out of temptation
Slide
1 Corinthians 10:13c
But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.
This is extremely important to understand.
I want to tell you, before I knew this verse of Scripture, when temptation would come, my focus would be upon what was tempting me.
But after I knew there was a way out, I began searching for the way out.
And I want to tell you that once your eyes are not fixed on what is tempting you, it is a whole lot easier to overcome and take the path out of temptation.
So the promises of this verse are great to know and a great help in overcoming temptations and the sin that can become a parasite in our relationships and in our lives.
“Well that is great Scott, but I don’t think that just throwing a Scripture at it is going to stop me from being overcome with temptation and then sinning. Are there any practical ways that we can defeat the Parasites in our life?”
There absolutely are some ways that we see in Scripture that will help us to defeat parasites so we won’t sin.
One of the primary ways that the Bible tells us to defeat parasites and not sin is to
Hide God’s word in your heart
Slide
Psalm 119:11 - I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.
God’s word in our hearts and our minds helps us defeat parasites before they can get in and harm us if we adhere to what we know.
This is how Jesus battled Satan’s attempts to get him to sin; by using the Word of God.
When we know God’s word, we are better able to fight the battle that is being waged against us.
In Ephesians 6, the word of God is one of the pieces of armor that Paul tells us that we can wage this spiritual battle with and defend ourselves.
When we know God’s word, then we can be more assured of what God wants.
This was Eve’s problem.
She had forgotten or did not know exactly what God said and Satan was able to deceive her by twisting the words of God.
There are people today that don’t know God’s word and as a result sin against Him.
There are people that I am sure don’t think that pornography is that big a deal.
“Hey, you can look but don’t touch.”
But they don’t know what Jesus said in
Matthew 5:28, “I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
Hide God’s word in your heart so that you might not sin against Him.
A second way that the Bible tells us to defeat parasites and avoid sin is to
Walk in the Spirit
Slide
Galatians 5:16-17, 25
16 So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. 17 For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. … 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.
We have a spiritual nature as well as a fleshly nature.
The one we feed, the one we care for, is the one that will be stronger and dominate our life
.
Which nature are you feeding?
To find out, ask yourself
What am I listening to?
Ephesians 5:18-19
…be filled with the Spirit. 19 Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord,
Are we listening to things that do not edify each other or that exalt sin in our life
either on the radio or from other people?
We are feeding the wrong nature.
What are your eyes taking in?
On TV…On the Internet.
Psalm 119:37
37 Turn my eyes away from worthless things; preserve my life according to your word.
If you want to defeat the parasites in your life, then walk in the Spirit feeding your spiritual nature instead of your fleshly nature.
A third thing the Bible tells us to do is
Resist the Devil
Slide
James 4:7
7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Resist the devil.
If we would just resist the temptations that the devil places in front of us instead of giving in, God tells us he will flee.
Knowing this verse has helped me countless times when I have been tempted before. I know that I can resist in the power and strength of the Lord and by God’s promise, the devil will flee.
This is just what Jesus did. He resisted the devil and it says he left .
Luke 4:13
13 When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time
We have it on the promise of God that when we resist the devil, he will flee.
Finally, if we would just
Realize the Consequences
Slide
Of these parasites and sins in our lives.
James 1:15
15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
There are consequences to our actions and sin in our life produces consequences.
These parasites can
Destroy your family
Cost you your job
Even cost you your life or the life of someone else
Alcohol or drugs
The person who struggles with alcohol addictions doesn’t want to kill anyone, but continuing to drink can cause you to make poor decisions like driving when you are drunk. You are not thinking you want to kill yourself or someone else, but you have taken actions by drinking to drunkenness that make that a very possible outcome.
Pornography
Viewing pornography can cause you to destroy your family. View it on a work computer and you can lose your job.
There are so many possible consequences to allowing these parasites in our lives that if we would just keep them in the front of our minds, it would help us by the strength of the Lord to avoid these parasites and glorify Him.
Self Sufficiency
Putting your hope in material things so you can be self sufficient, can lead to depression as well as hurt your family. If you lead and teach in such a way as your family learns to rely on you instead of God, then you are setting your family and the future generations up for heartache and hardship.
Realize the consequences of your actions and it will be a help in defeating the parasites in your life.
Realize too that for some people there is no middle ground and drastic steps need to be taken.
Jesus said in
Matthew 5:30
30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.
If drinking is a problem, you may need to cut alcohol out of your life completely. You can’t have just one or 2 drinks.
If pornography is a problem, then you may need to take drastic measures with your home computer. Get rid of it, password protect it so your spouse has the only password, get accountability software that emails an accountability partner when a questionable site is visited.
If self sufficiency is a problem and you are consumed with having more money and stuff, start giving it away. Don’t just tithe, give large portions away so you don’t rely on yourself or money instead of God.
Conclusion
Ultimately, defeating parasites in your life is impossible without the Lord’s work to help you overcome.
What we ultimately need is a surrendered life.
We are going to close in a song, I surrender
(Worship team come up)
Make this your prayer to the Lord in whatever area that you are struggling in.
Tell the Lord that you give your life over to Him and ask Him for His help, His strength, His presence in helping you Defeat the Parasites in your life.
Let’s sing.
