Temptations Men Face Series

leave the impression that your dad is a failure if he doesn¡¦t provide you with those same things¡K

b. You can really help your dad combat the temptation to materialism if you stop comparing and say,

--¡§They have nice things, but Dad, I¡¦m glad you¡¦re at my games and you take time to listen.

Thanks.¡¨

3. Heb. 13:5 ¡V Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have,

because God has said, ¡§Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.¡¨

III. LUST

--Lust is probably the most common and the most difficult, temptation for men.

A. Popular speaker and author, Tommy Nelson, tells of a nightmare of seeing a picnic with hundreds of

people playing around a lake. Everyone seems to be enjoying themselves. But then he hears a scream

and to his horror he sees an alligator splash out of the water and seize a young man by the leg to drag

him under. But people just go on as though nothing happened. No one says anything about the

alligator.

Then a few minutes later there¡¦s another commotion and another alligator jumps out of the lake and

devours an old man. The family is devastated. But people settle back down. Little children play on the

edge of the lake. No one says anything about the danger. No one puts up a sign warning of the

alligators. Everyone pretends they don¡¦t exist. It¡¦s just not polite or appropriate to talk about

alligators¡K

1. Nelson says that¡¦s the way it is in the church.

--One by one, good men are getting snatched into lust, swallowed up in pornography, and the church

sits silently, saying nothing, pretending that it¡¦s not happening.

2. It¡¦s not appropriate to talk about it! But Satan is devouring an incredible number of men with this

temptation

3. Jesus talked about lust

--Mt. 5:27-28 ¡V You have heard that it was said, ¡§Do not commit adultery.¡¦¡¨ But I tell you that

anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

B. The book Every Man¡¦s Battle suggests 99% of men would say LUST is their number one temptation.

1. One of the reasons American Christians have to fight lust is that we live in such a seductive society.

--We¡¦re inundated with visual stimulation at every turn.

2. Television, the Internet, movies, and billboards flash images that catch our eye.

3. Every man battles lust almost every day of their lives

C. There are five principles we need to understand when it comes to lust.

1. Principle #1: We need to understand that God has created men with an inner attraction to physical

beauty.

--Adam was instinctively attracted to Eve. That¡¦s the way God created him.

a. However, most sin is an abuse of a God-given desire.

1). The desire for rest is God given; abused it becomes laziness.

2). God created us with a sexual drive for procreation and for the expression of love and the

experience of intimacy in marriage

a). Sexual attraction is God-given, but out of control it becomes lust.

b). It¡¦s not lust when you notice a pretty woman.

--It is lust when you look with passionate thoughts and you covet what is not yours.