They also have to contend with the devil’s throwing every temptation he can throw at them every day to try to keep them from pleasing the Lord. It is a scriptural fact, as long as we live in these mortal bodies we will have to contend with this.
WHY IS THIS A PROBLEM?
Because, every Christian has two natures.
• The spiritual nature wants to please God.
• The fleshly nature (Adamic nature) is in direct opposition to God.
There are times in our lives when we are walking close to the Lord and our spiritual nature is in full control and temptation to sin is no problem.
Then there are times when we begin to drift from the Lord and soon the Adamic nature begins to try to control us and then temptation becomes a major problem.
Illus: It does not matter if a person is a preacher, deacon, teacher, choir member, or a lay person; we ALL have to deal with temptation. For example, Dr. Jack Hyles, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Hammond, Indiana, said when he was a young pastor he would hug the older women for there was no problem with temptation. But, he said that as the years have gone by, has had to stop that because the older he gets, the better the older women look.
It matters not how old we get, or how young we are; every child of God has to deal with temptation on a daily basis.
The Bible tells us that Christ had to deal with temptation.
The only ones who seem to not have to battle with Satan every day are the ungodly people. There is a reason for that.
Illus: This reminds me of the story of the black man named Sam. He was a servant to a wealthy plantation owner many years ago. One day the wealthy plantation owner said, “Sam, your loud praying at night is keeping me and the wife awake. I do not see why you need to pray like that. You are a good man already.” Sam said, “Sir, the devil has been working overtime on me lately, so I prayed for de Lord to help me!” The wealthy plantation owner said, “That’s odd. The devil doesn’t bother me. Why should he bother you?”
The servant said, “Master, it is like this; when we went duck hunting yesterday you shot some ducks and wounded others, but you sent me after the wounded ones.” The plantation owner said, “DO YOU KNOW WHY?” Sam said, “Yes Sir! It was because you knew you had the dead ones for sure, but the wounded ones might get away.” Then Sam said, “It is this way, master. The devil knows he got you for sure. That is why he doesn’t bother you, but he is not sure about me yet and that is why he keeps after me all the time.”
Temptations in this life are as much a part of life as breathing. When it comes to temptation, we need to consider at least two things.
I. HOW WE ARE TEMPTED.
Look at the various ways we are tempted by Satan.
A. He tempts us persistently.
This is exactly what Satan did with Christ. For example, forty days Satan threw every temptation he could throw at the Lord Jesus, and every time Jesus overcame every one of them!
Now, you would think after forty days that Satan would throw up his hands and say, “That’s enough! I give up! You win!” But Satan just kept right on tempting Jesus as long as Jesus lived on earth!
However, we are told in Luke 4:13, “And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from HIM FOR A SEASON.”
For how long? “...for a season.”
Illus: On one television broadcast, Evangelist, Benny Hinn was praying for a young man. When he got through praying for him, he stepped back and said, “Never again will Satan bother you!
Benny needs to read his Bible, or perhaps get another one, because God’s Word assures us for sure, as long as we live in these mortal bodies, we are going to have to contend with Satan’s trying to tempt us to sin. SATAN TEMPTS US PERSISTENTLY. Also...
B. He tempts us after mountain-top experiences.
We seem to be most vulnerable to Satan’s attacks just after “mountain-top” experiences.
Jesus had just come from His baptism.
• He could still hear the voice of John, the Baptist, as he pointed his finger at Him and said, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” (Jo. 1:29)
He was finally beginning to receive recognition for who He was...The Son of God!
• He could still hear the voice of His heavenly Father saying, “This is my beloved Son; in whom I am well pleased.” (Matt. 3:17)
Jesus had just had this tremendous experience when SATAN CRAWLED UP OUT OF HELL and for forty days threw every temptation he could throw at Jesus! However, Jesus would not sin!
Satan knows the best time to tempt Christians is not always when we are DOWN, but when we have just had a MOUNTAIN-TOP EXPERIENCE. Why do we seem to be more vulnerable after mountain-top experiences? When things are going right often we are not praying, “God, give me strength to resist the temptation to sin!” We have dropped our guard.
We must never make the mistake of thinking everything is going so great that we will never again have to be concerned about temptation. When we think we have reached this place we are on very shaky ground.
The apostle Paul warns us in I Cor. 10:12. We read, “Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.”
HOW ARE WE TEMPTED?
Satan tempts us PERSISTENTLY. He also tempts us when we have just had a MOUNTAIN-TOP EXPERIENCE.
As Christians, we need to know...
II. HOW WE OVERCOME TEMPTATION.
There are three things God’s Word lets us know to do to be able to OVERCOME THE TEMPTATIONS SATAN SENDS.
A. We overcome temptation by not making provision for it.
Not everyone tries to overcome.
Illus: Someone has said, “Many people who flee temptation leave a forwarding address.”
Illus: Someone else said, “Temptation often comes through a door that has been deliberately left open.”
Illus: This reminds us of the story of the little boy who was told he was not to go swimming on Sunday because it was the Lord’s day. His dad missed him, went looking, and found him, in his bathing suit, down at the creek. Dad said, “I thought I told you not to go swimming on Sunday.” The boy said, “I am not swimming on Sunday.” The dad said, “Then why do you have your bathing suit on?” He said, “I have it on in case I am tempted to swim.”
Illus: Another story is of a little boy who was often guilty of yielding to the temptation to steal a man’s apples off his trees. The farmer came along and saw him sitting on a fence under an apple tree and said, “Young man, are you trying to steal my apples?” The boy said, “No sir! I am trying NOT to steal your apples!”
When we make provision for sin we should not be shocked when we fall into sin.
Illus: Years ago an evangelist, Bob Harrington, became a very popular preacher. He could go into towns and fill coliseums. He had three things going for him:
• He was HANDSOME.
• He was funny.
• He could preach a good sermon.
Yet, even though he knew I Thess. 5:22 commands, “Abstain from all appearance of evil,” he would go into night clubs to pass out gospel tracts, even in ones where there were nude people. By leaving this door of temptation to sin open he gave Satan opportunity to cause him to sin. One day the temptation became so great he gave in. He left his wife for another woman and destroyed his ministry.
WE OVERCOME TEMPTATION BY NOT MAKING PROVISION FOR IT.
Illus: One lady said, “My husband sits around the house all the time watching pornographic movies on HBO, Cinemax and the Movie Channel.” She went on to say what is probably one of the dumbest things a woman could say. She said, “I know it is wrong for him to watch it, but I would rather have him home watching it than have him out messing with other women.”
GUESS WHAT?
It was not long before he got so turned on by what he was watching he soon decided his wife was not enough woman for him and he started messing with other women. You can not watch the slop operas and the other things television exposes you to and not be affected by it.
If some of you are going to OVERCOME TEMPTATION; if you are serious about wanting to please the Lord, some of you need to go home and...
• Cancel your subscriptions to some of those stations you have on your television.
• Cancel your subscriptions to some magazines you have subscribed to.
• Get rid of that wild music that you are pumping into your mind that encourages you to live an ungodly lifestyle.
• Tear some of those posters of ungodly people off of your walls.
• Break away from that evil crowd you are hanging out with.
WHY SHOULD YOU DO THIS?
When you associate with evil it is going to rub off on you. When you make provision for Satan and give him an inch, he will take a mile!
Too many of you are giving place to the devil in your homes and in your lives.
Eph. 4:27 says, “Neither give place to the devil.”
One of the ways Christ OVERCAME the temptations Satan hurled at Him for forty days was by not making any room for Satan to get into His life.
B. Secondly, we overcome temptation by commitment.
In the book of James we read, 4:7, “...Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”
Many Christians across America walk around saying, “Satan I resist you, in the name of Jesus, you have to flee!” WHAT HAPPENS? Satan does NOT FLEE. Those are not magic words, like the children used to say “abracadabra,” and expect something unusual to happen.
The fact is, you may say, “Devil, I resist you,” all day long and nothing will happen. Some people think they have not gotten mad enough and looked mad enough, so they get a mad look and very angrily say, “Devil, I resist you and you have to go!”
But guess what? Satan does not go anywhere. He is still there with temptations to sin stronger than ever.
After you realize just saying that you resist the devil does not work you need to find out why.
That is not all there is to that verse. Notice what God says first. First we are to “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” (James 4:7)
Look at the word “submit.” It is translated from the Greek word, “hupotasso,” which means, “To put under, be under obedience, subject yourselves.”
This is the same Greek word used in Ephesians 5:22, which reads, “Wives, SUBMIT yourselves UNTO YOUR OWN HUSBANDS, as unto the Lord.”
Notice she is not to submit to someone else’s husband, but to HER OWN HUSBAND. That is, he is the MOST SPECIAL person in her life and she would do anything to please him.
Some women have the ability to make OTHER MEN feel special, but NOT their own HUSBAND. For example:
• Some wives are very submissive to the boss at work, but not very submissive to their husband.
For example, a boss may say, “How about fixing a cup of coffee for me?” With a smile she immediately stops what she is doing and prepares a cup of coffee for him. But, just let her husband ask for a cup of coffee and she may retort, “When did you break your leg?”
Often a wife will dress up like a doll baby to go to work, and the boss will say, “You certainly look good today,” and she will smile and say, “Why thank you.” But when she comes home and her husband says, “Wow, you look gorgeous,” she may say, “Have you started back drinking again.
The point I am trying to make is that the Bible makes it clear that the wife is to SUBMIT TO HER OWN HUSBAND, AND HIM ALONE. He alone is to have that SPECIAL PLACE in her life!
Listen, you can not have a Christian marriage unless the wife is willing to SUBMIT to HER OWN husband. Why not?
Look at Eph. 5:23, “For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.”
She must BE WILLING TO SUBMIT to please her husband in order to have a happy marriage.
And, if a Christian IS WILLING TO SUBMIT TO GOD, he will have a victorious Christian life! The Lord Jesus is to have that VERY SPECIAL PLACE IN OUR LIVES, Him and no one else!
C. Thirdly, we overcome temptation by the power of God’s Word.
The psalmist said, Psalm 119:11, “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.”
The Word of God is spiritual food and if we stay in It we will be so full that there will be no room for anything else.
Illus: A man came to know the Lord as His personal Savior. But, as he walked to church, he had to pass a beer parlor he had frequented for years. Every time he got close to it, the temptation to go in was magnetic. But, he wanted to please the Lord. He prayed, “Lord, tell me how to overcome this temptation.” All of a sudden, before he got to the beer parlor, he noticed a lemonade stand. He went in and ordered the biggest glass of lemonade they had. He drank it, and ordered another. He drank so much lemonade he could not drink any more. Then he walked on down the street. When he came to the beer parlor he had no problem passing it. He was so full of lemonade he had no desire to drink beer.
When we are full of the Word of God, there is no room for the devil. This is why the Christian who wants to please the Lord is in the Word of God in daily devotions, attends Sunday school, and is at church every time the doors are open. He wants as much of the preaching of God’s Word as he can get.
When Satan tempted Jesus, the Bible says, “And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written...” Jesus was victorious over temptation because...
A. He made no provision for sin.
B. He was totally committed to God the Father.
C. He used the Word of God against Satan.
Conclusion/Summary:
You can overcome sin in your life. Let the Lord be more precious to you than any sin. You can overcome every sin that haunts you every day when you put Christ first. Perhaps you can think of a sin in your life that you know the Lord is not pleased with. It has robbed you of your joy and fellowship with the Lord. You will OVERCOME it only when the Lord means more to you than that sin, when He becomes so SPECIAL that you yield only to Him.
I Cor. 10:13 states, “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.”
I. HOW WE ARE TEMPTED.
II. HOW WE OVERCOME TEMPTATION.
