7 STRATEGIES TO OVERCOME TEMPTATION
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR
1. I heard about an elderly lady who came into a church one Sunday morning. A friendly usher greeted her and asked, “Hello Mam. Where would you like to sit?”
2. She said, “I would like to sit on the very front row.” He said, “Oh no, Mam, you don’t want to do that! Our pastor is very boring; he’ll put you to sleep. Let me seat you somewhere else!”
3. She was appalled. She said, “Sir, do you know who I am?” He said, “No Mam.” She said, “I am the pastor’s mother.”
4. He hung his head in embarrassment. Finally, he looked up and said, “Mam, do you know who I am?” She said, “No.” He said, “Thank God!” and slipped out.
B. STEPS TO OVERCOMING TEMPTATION
1. Today I’m talking about temptation.
2. We’re going to look at “7 Strategies to Overcome Temptation.” First…
I. REALIZE: EVERYBODY IS TEMPTED
A. DEFINITION OF TEMPTATION
1. Temptation means - “To entice to do wrong by promise of pleasure or gain.”
2. “To make trial of; test.”
3. “To provoke, incite, persuade.”
B. HOW WIDESPREAD IS TEMPTAION?
1. 1 Cor. 10:13 “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man.”
2. You are not alone. Everyone is tempted.
3. It’s normal to be tempted. You’re not a horrible person because you’re tempted.
C. IS TEMPTATION THE SAME AS SIN?
1. NO! To be tempted is not sin. However, if we dwell on the sin, then it becomes sin in the heart, even if we don’t do it. (Ex. Mt. 5:28; ‘adultery in the heart’).
2. Old proverb, “You can’t stop the birds from flying over your head, but you can stop them from building a nest in your hair.”
3. James said, “…after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death” (1:15).
4. The key is to NOT let the desire “conceive.” First Eve looked at the fruit, then she touched it, then she plucked & held it. Finally, she bit it. Desire conceived before she bit it. Don’t dwell on it; resist & reject it immediately.
II. KNOW THE 2 SOURCES OF TEMPTATION
There are 2 sources of temptation:
A. FROM THE DEVIL
“Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil” Lk. 4:2.
B. FROM OUR OWN EVIL DESIRES
“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 person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed” James 1:13-14. Often we are our own worst enemies!
III. BE AWARE OF WHEN TEMPTATIONS COME
A. AT OUR WEAKEST MOMENT
In our WEAKEST MOMENTS. Christ had been fasting 40 days when Satan tempted Him to use His power to produce bread.
B. WHEN UNDER PRESSURE
When we’re UNDER PRESSURE. Anxiety, fears, & other strong emotions such as anger or pride cause us to make choices not in line with God’s will.
C. WHEN PHYSICALLY SICK
When PHYSICALLY SICK. Usually when we’re physically down, our faith is usually down. When you’re ill, it’s often difficult to believe God for a healing. That’s why it’s important to call for the elders of the church to pray the prayer of faith. They can do what we’re struggling to do.
D. WHEN THERE ARE BAD CIRCUMSTANCES
When facing BAD CIRCUMSTANCES. This is when our faith in God or His provision/ protection of us is brought into question. It causes a theological crisis. Job was encouraged to curse God.
E. IF GOD IS TRYING TO PROMOTE US, like Joseph. Each time God moved him closer to the throne, it was a time of trouble for him.
IV. CONSIDER THE GOOD THAT RESULTS FROM TEMPTATION
A. SELF-DISCOVERY
1. “Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what [KJV – “all that”] was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands” Deut. 8:2, NIV. We often discover our weaknesses and our need for dependence on God.
2. ILLUS.: YOUR SINS WILL FIND YOU OUT
a. The story is told about a professional football player who didn’t like to obey curfew, and many nights he sneaked out. He would take blankets & pillows & put them under the covers of his bed, so that when the coach checked his room, it would look like he was sound asleep like all the others.
b. Well, in one city they stayed in a hotel where there weren’t enough extra blankets & pillows. So he improvised by taking the lamp from the nightstand by the bed & putting it underneath the covers. It looked just fine.
c. But when the coach came by for the bed check & turned on the light switch, the lamp was still plugged in, so that the bed lit up! "Be sure your sins will find you out."
B. CORRECTIVE
To halt the progress/ growth of wrong nature in us.
C. CHARACTER GROWTH
1. Being tested makes us stronger. If frequently purifies us from evil.
2. “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that
you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything” Jam. 1:2-4.
V. PLAN WHAT YOUR RESPONSE TO TEMPTATION WILL BE (If we don’t plan, we will be blindsided.) The Bible says, “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” James 4:7 (1 Pet. 5:9).
A. “SUBMIT” OURSELVES TO GOD
1. This means to determine to do the will of God. When we call upon God, He has promised to answer, so we’re summoning help from God.
2. We will receive grace! “But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound” Rom. 5:20.
3. “And he said unto me, ‘My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.’” 2 Cor. 12:9.
B. “RESIST” THE DEVIL
This is a military term (antitasso) which means to line up troops in battle formation against an enemy (Vine’s Exp. Dic., “resist”).
C. HE WILL “FLEE” FROM YOU
1. Walter Bauer’s Lexicon of the Greek Testament says “flee” (“pseugo”) can mean “to run away from,” like soldiers in a battle who run when they see their army defeated! Like Philistines when Goliath defeated.
2. Jesus has already won the decisive victory. Satan, though mortally wounded, puts up a pretense of keeping up the fight. However, when he’s resisted, he quickly acknowledges his defeat by running away! Praise God!
VI. HOW CAN WE PREPARE FOR TEMPTATIONS?
A. BE FULL OF THE WORD OF GOD
1. Psalm 119:11, “I have hidden your Word in my heart that I might not sin against you.”
2. Get a transformed mind. “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing
and perfect will” Rom. 12:2.
3. We’re supposed to “BE STRONG in the Lord, and in the power of his might” Eph. 6:10. This command presupposes that we can gain this strength from the Lord. We are to build up our spiritual muscles.
B. BE IN FELLOWSHIP WITH JESUS
1. “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory” Col. 3:1-4.
2. The strong presence of Christ in/with you will defeat temptation.
3. A Young woman said, “Satan was knocking at my door. I asked Jesus to answer the door. When He did, Satan saw Jesus and said, “Oops, wrong house!”
C. STAY IN THE HERD (CHURCH)
1. FOR HELP WHEN FAILS. “Two are better than one….If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up” Eccles. 4:9-10.
2. Wolf packs always try to separate out one animal from the herd, because there’s strength in numbers.
3. If we’re part of a church, the enemy can’t isolate us as easy. We get encouragement from others and they notice if we’re down or start to drop out. They come help lift us up. We need to belong!
D. GIVE NO PLACE TO THE FLESH
1. “Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the
desires of the flesh (sinful nature)” Rom. 13:14.
2. Avoid all appearance of evil, 1 Thess. 5:22.
3. Avoid places, situations, and people which might lead to sin. Anticipate trouble before it happens and avoid it. Don’t be at your girlfriend’s/ boyfriend’s house late at night; that is setting yourself up for temptation. Watch your thinking; don’t let yourself start dwelling on unwholesome things.
E. HUMOR
1. A country boy was running past a field. His friend saw him, “Henry, why are you in such a hurry?”
2. “Well, there’s a watermelon patch in that field, and I’m awful tempted to swipe one. I can’t keep my mouth from watering, but I can run!”
3. Sometimes the best way to avoid temptation is to flee, like Joseph from Potiphar’s wife. Do whatever gives you success over temptation.
VII. A HOPE: TEMPTATIONS ARE LIMITED
1. God limits the enemies’ temptation only to what we are able to bear! If we look to God for strength and deliverance, our victory will be guaranteed.
2. “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.” 1 Cor. 10:13.
3. JUDE 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…!” Praise God!
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION
1. What do you do if you have a temptation that seems to be too great for you?
2. John Burroughs, the naturalist, has long observed hawks. Hawks are birds of prey (hunt other birds for food), but they’re not as strong as kingbirds.
3. So when a hawk is attacked by a kingbird, his approach is NOT to have a lengthy battle.
4. Instead, the hawk, after beating off the initial attack, begins to climb higher and higher. The kingbird can’t flap into the higher, thin air.
5. So eventually the kingbird calls off the attack. That’s what we Christians must do. (7,700 Illus. # 6525).
6. When the enemy attacks, we shouldn’t pridefully think we’re up to the battle, but immediately move higher toward God.
7. As you come into the presence of God, you can be sure the devil will fall away, because he can’t stand the presence of God, which is grace & soft cloud toward us, but judgment & fire toward him!
B. THE CALL
1. Those tempted, stand. Prayer.
2. Salvation call.
