Overcoming Temptation
Pastor Gary Tolbert
November 1, 2008
Intro:Ill. Die to self. God says that he wants us to be dead to sin. But we live in a wicked world; it is our very nature to sin. Just telling us to quit isn't enough. If just telling people to quit was enough then we wouldn't need courtrooms, jails, and prisons because the mistakes would only be made once. You can't tell someone to quit doing something they do by nature and expect them to stop. God knows that. (Jeremiah 13:23), Can a leopard change its spots?
Whether we sin or not is important. Sin brings death. Without the right medicine it will bring eternal death. Sin separates us from God. I don't want to be separated from God. I have had too much of that. There is a solution to temptation and this morning I want us to discover it together.
I. Sneaky temptations
The problem of sin and temptations starts long before the act is performed. In our society we are bombarded with some form of temptation almost every moment of every day. They come in the form of movies, TV, books, magazines, conversation, rebellion seen in society, dress, dance, drugs, food, seeing and hearing and smelling things that tempt us. The average adult is exposed to more than 500 advertisements a day; not all are evil by they are compelling. He consciously perceives about 75 of them; subconsciously who knows? But most of them whether conscious or otherwise are in our minds. The statement in the Bible is true: By beholding we are changed, (2 Corinthians 3:17, 18). Sometimes it is directly related to advertisements, sometimes it comes from within. Ill. Family night at the movies.
When we sin, we don't fall in a moment, the problem builds up over time and we may not even be aware of it until we fall. The enemy can plant suggestions in our minds, winning small victories until finally the major fall occurs. He whittles us down with sneaky stimuli until we belong to him.
It's unfortunate that the mind has no garbage disposal. We live in a corrupt world. It would seem that the best thing for us to do would be to get out of the world. The influence around us is often bad. But that goes against the desire of Christ: John 17:15, Don't take them out of the world. God never teaches the hermit life. We are in this present evil world and that includes being subjected daily to unholy stimuli but the evil need not be in the Christian, for God has made provision for that.
Jesus didn't grow up in a monastery or behind closed doors; he grew up in one of the worst cities of his day -- Nazareth. One man was heard to say that he didn't think anything good could come out of the place, yet Jesus did. Running and hiding may make us feel protected temporarily but it is not a good and lasting answer.
II. Steps in sin
It might help us to look at the sin problem and analyze it. We know that sin is like a disease; all mankind is afflicted with it. We seem to catch it at birth. In my study I have discovered that there are basically five steps to sin. 1-Temptation; 2-Consider; 3-Consent; 4-Plan; 5-Act. Ill. Candy. (Explain) When do we sin? Step # 3, consent. To be tempted or to consider the temptation is not sin. Jesus certainly did that when he was tempted of the devil but he never consented to it in his mind. It may be difficult for us to tell the difference between consider and consent but there is a fine line and when we cross it we have sinned. As long as the consideration is not followed by consent it is not sin.
But this also shows us that sin happens before the act. Matthew 5:27, 28, Lust is sin.
James 1:14,15,Byhis own evil desire. Some may remember a TV comedy show from the 70s called the Flip Wilson Hour. Flip Wilson, the comedian would often use the famous line "The devil made me do it." The biblical truth however is quite opposite. The devil cannot make you do anything. The devil can pressure you. The devil can persecute you. The devil can sorely tempt you, but God does not allow the devil the ability or the power to make you or me sin. For sin to occur, we must first allow the temptation into our minds. This desire or lust that we allow in can be a lust for alcohol, smoking, overeating, pornography, impatience, anger or swearing or some other thing. When the thought comes to mind, there's a door. You can allow the wrong thought in, or you can slam the door shut.
III. Solution
I have listed 5 principles that taken together can help us overcome temptation. It has worked for me through the years and believe me, not being raised in the church has left some awful challenges to deal with.
1- Educate yourself: If the Bible is read and believed then sin loses some of its power over us. In God's instruction to Israel he told them to relate to his word and his law in a way that they could see it and remember it. Deuteronomy 6:5-9, God's Word upon your hearts. Ill. Jewish leaders wore phylacteries, leather cases with strips of Scripture fastened to their arms and fore heads and between their eyes. It looks kind of funny when you see it. I don't think this is what God meant. But placing his truth in our minds is important. (Psalm 119:11), I have hidden your word in my heart. The Holy Spirit can really help us here.
1 Corinthians 10:13, A way out of temptation.
But this is not always enough. Just having Scriptures in your mind doesn't solve the problem. Those of us who have laid down long and well-established habit of wrongdoing are going to find a real battle when we try to change it.
2-We must cooperate: God is not going to reach down from heaven and remove a cigarette from our lips; nor will he physically take the whiskey bottle out of our hands, nor will he send a huge wind and blow all our pornographic material out of the house. These are things we choose to overcome, all the while claiming God's power to back up the choice that we’ve made. God has the power to give us victory. 2 Thessalonians 3:3, The Lord is faithful to strengthen and protect us from evil. (Jude 24), He is able to keep us from falling.
3-God gives the victory: (1Corinthians 15:57), Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through Jesus. We cannot earn it, we cannot do anything to achieve it; we can only accept it. It's not about willpower; it's about God's power. We don't need to pray and ask if it's God's will for us to stop sinning. We already know it's God's will. When we know that something is against God's will, we can confidently claim the victory he wants to give us. We simply choose to say no to that sin. "I choose to follow Jesus. I choose not to smoke or drink." Sometimes we have to say it out loud so we can hear ourselves say it. (Joshua24:15), Choose who you will serve.
4-Count yourself dead to sin. Romans 6:11, Dead to sin but alive to God. Consider it done; get up and act like it is done. Ill. Peter walking on the water, had no trouble until he took his eyes off Jesus and noticed the storm around him. (Matthew 14:30) He could do the impossible until then. We need to believe and accept it by faith that God has won the victory and is giving us the victory over sin.
If I was to offer you a gift, when does that gift become yours? When you have received it. I could hold it out and say, "Please take this, I'm really, really giving it to you, please take it." But until you actually take it, it never becomes yours.
We can say, "Lord, I need this victory. Lord I know I need to quit this sin, please help me Lord, give me the victory," and we can pray it and ask it, and God all the while is handing out his power to us, saying, "Won't you please take the power to back up what you want?" After asking, get up off your knees, and say, "Lord, I believe that you have given me the victory according to your will.”
Since we cannot physically receive it as a gift in a box, we need to go through the motions in our mind. "I choose to quit this sin." A second point is to say, "Thank you, God for the victory. I believe it. I receive it." If you say, "I choose not to respond to this temptation," that's when you claimed the victory from God. How can you succumb to the temptation that you've made a resolute choice against; you’ve thanked and accepted God’s power to back up that choice; and rejected the thought by saying, "I don't even respond to it?"
5-Put on Christ: Romans 13:14, Clothe yourselves with Jesus. Notice the two parts of this verse. First, "clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ." Begin and end every day with a thorough conversion. When you get up in the morning, you put on the Lord Jesus Christ by asking God for the Holy Spirit so you can walk in the Spirit and not in the flesh.
(Proverbs 16:3), Commit your ways Lord and your thoughts will be established. When you don't spend time putting on the Lord Jesus Christ, then when the temptation comes, you don't have spiritual power to fight it. (Galatians 5:16, 17), Walk in the Spirit and you will not fulfill the desires of the flesh. You are either going to be in the spiritual mind or in the flesh mind. When you walk in the Spirit, the fleshly things cannot have strength and vice versa. When you have the fleshly mind, the spiritual things do not appeal to you. The fleshly mind wants to smoke and overeat and drink and do things you shouldn't. Paul is saying, put on the spiritual mind and you will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh.
Also, don't make provision for the flesh. Many claim God's promise to be free of sin but they don't remove the temptation. We need to get it out of the house. Ill. Planned temptation.
One reason so many of us have such a hard time with our personal sins is that as we consider them smaller then, more hideous crimes and so we don't think of them as so bad. The problem is that we don't measure them by the same measuring stick that God uses.
The ultimate way to quit sinning is to have a deep sense of what sin costs. And the way to sense what it costs is to see what it costs God. It is only as we come face-to-face with the fact that the sin which we have deceived ourselves into thinking is small is in reality terrible enough to cause the death of His Son in order that sin can be forgiven. These things which we allow ourselves freely to commit will become loathsome in our sight. Pray to have a hunger for holiness.
While it is all right to study the deep theological prophecies, and we should, never let that keep you from the sweet, simple, trusting faith of a little child. If we knew a thousand times more than we know, it would still be true that only as we become converted and become as little children can we enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Conclude: Jesus died on the cross for our sins. He paid for our crime. If I continue in open sin, isn't that just like saying, "Jesus, what you did wasn't enough, you need to do it again?" When we sin it is like taking the nail and the hammer and pounding it into his hands and feet again. What does Jesus really mean to us? He went through a lot to give us victory, are we willing to go through something?
Overcoming Temptation
Pastor Gary Tolbert
John 17:15, Don't take them out of the world
(Please put in the slide on the “Five Steps” when I asked for it)
Matthew 5:27, 28, Lust is sin
James 1:14, 15, By his own evil desire
Deuteronomy 6:5-9, God's Word upon your hearts
1 Corinthians 10:13, A way out of temptation
2 Thessalonians 3:3, The Lord is faithful to strengthen and protect
Romans 6:11, Dead to sin but alive to God
Romans 13:14, Clothe yourselves with Jesus
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