In our upcoming Tuesday night study
we are dealing with something that all of us struggle with
temptation
and I know what your mind is thinking
but temptation is not always sexual
sometimes you are tempted to overeat
or you are tempted to gossip
or you are tempted to lie
or you are tempted to steal
or you are tempted to say you are sick
when you are not just so you don't go to work
temptation is all around us
but the Bible has a word for us this morning
1 Corinthians chapter 10 verses 12, 13 and 14
so if you think you are standing
watch out that you do not fall
no testing, no tempting has overtaken you
that is not common to everyone
God is faithful
He will not let you be tempted beyond your strength
but with the testing, with the temptation
He will also provide the way out
so that you may be able to endure it
verse 14 reads, therefore my dear friends
flee from the worship of items
thank you you may be seated
the grass withers and the flower fades
but the word of our God shall stand forever
Eskimos in Alaska
when they want to trap
a wolf
will take a knife and dip it in blood
over and over and over until it freezes
with the blood on that
blade and then they put the handle
of the knife in the ground
and a wolf can smell blood even when it is frozen
and the wolf will come to that knife
and start licking on that blade
and the warmth from the wolf's
tongue will melt the blood on that blade
but unbeknownst to the wolf
he is really licking a knife blade
and before long he licks that blade until his blood
is mixed with the blood from that warm blade now
and the wolf bleeds to death
because he does not know that he is his own
worst enemy
that's how insidious Satan and sin
really is
nobody wakes up in the morning deciding
to be an alcoholic
nobody planned to be addicted to drugs
nobody designed to fall into some
grievous sin
you just keep on going because it seems
like it's no harm at first
and before you know it like that wolf in
Alaska you have become your own worst
enemy
and he uses the same tactic
to defeat those of us who are Christian
the devil knows that he can never have our souls
because if you're Christian your soul belongs to God
but he knows that if he can cause
us to yield to temptation
then we will become powerless
useless in the kingdom of God
now hear me brothers and sisters because you are saved
does not make you immune from
temptation
can I run that by you one more time because you are a Christian
you are not in some bunker
some fallout shelter that will keep you
from temptation
on the contrary we are more likely to be attacked by
Satan because he already has the lost
person
temptation while it cannot be avoided
can be overcome
every believer
can now to turn temptation
in the triumph
when temptation arises
we usually respond in one of three ways
we give into it
or we spend every day fighting it in our own strength
or we overcome
temptation through the power of Jesus Christ
again temptation when the word is mentioned
the connotation is always something sexual
but you can be tempted of the devil to disobey God
and put something ahead of God that becomes
an idol
if you worship your job
if you worship your looks
if you worship your career
if you worship your home, your family, your money, your car
anything that you put in the place of God
that thing becomes an idol
and idolatry brothers and sisters is not the worship of false gods
it's worshiping the true God falsely
idolatry is not the worship of false gods
it's worshiping the true God falsely
God is spirit
and they that would worship him
must worship him in spirit and in truth
if you did not bring all of you to worship this morning
whatever you left behind is your idol
look with me this morning
at the who of temptation
who is the subject
of temptation
from Jesus being tempted of Satan in the
wilderness to a five year old child
being tempted to raid the cookie jar
and swear that they didn't steal any cookies with a mouth full
of crumbs
all humans are subject to temptation
we all have at least one area in
our lives where we are particularly susceptible
to sin
all of us have at least one area
some of us got eight or nine
but all of us have at least one area where the devil
can trip us up
Satan will not bother you with strong drink
if that's not your temptation
Satan will not bother you with cocaine if that's not your temptation
but Satan does know your Achilles heel
he does know the area in your life where you
are weakest and the area in your life where you
are not praying for strength
because if you tell
the truth every sin we commit
we enjoy
because it wouldn't make sense to sin if you didn't
enjoy it
your husband not looking, your wife not looking, you can say amen this morning
she's subject to temptation
you are subject to temptation, the sin is not the temptation
the sin is yielding to temptation
temptation
temptation brothers and sisters is not
sin
Hebrews chapter 4 verse 15 one of the brothers read it in our
Deacon devotion this morning, for we have not a high priest
which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities
but was in all points tempted like as
we are, yet without
sin sin enters the picture
when we surrender to temptation
in the text Paul says
wherefore let him that thinks he stands take heed
lest he fall
we are in danger when we think we have arrived
at the place where we are above
sinning
can I help you this morning
the only people in this church who are above sin
are the people sitting in the balcony
and as soon as they come
downstairs
they're going to be just as low down as the rest of us
now listen
God knows
God knows that he cannot
grow us spiritually without
opposition
people who train on weights they only get stronger
when they lift heavier weights
and God would not allow a weight to be put on you
that you're not able to bear
but God would not leave you weight less
because you will never grow in grace you'll never grow in spiritual strength
until you've picked up one thing and then God will
put something heavier on you and you can pick up that thing
then God will put something heavier on you and you can pick up that thing
and the strength does not come from you
the strength comes from
God and God alone
so who is the subject of temptation
that's me and that's you
let's look secondly at the where
of temptation
but where does the temptation come from
where is the source of temptation
verse 13 opens with the words
there has no temptation taken you
but such as is common to man
there are three primary
sources of temptation
the Bible, the flesh, and the devil
in the Bible the word for world
means system or order
the world system or the world order
first John chapter 2 and verse 15 says
love not the world, neither the things of the world
if any man loved the world
the love of the father is not in him
Romans chapter 12 and verse 2 reads
conform to this world
but be transformed by the renewing of your mind
that you may prove what is that good and acceptable
and perfect will of God
if you are worldly in your pursuits
you will not have the love of God
if all you think about is how good you look
and what you have
and who's on your Facebook page
and how many likes you get
and how many people you know
if you are always concentrating on you and everything is about yourself
everything is about yourself at grandisement
everything is about you trying to get ahead in the world
then the love of God is not in you
we need to hear brothers and sisters that born
into every one of us from the most
innocent child to the most godly adult
we have what is called a sin
nature
a leaning towards sin that we inherited
from our father Adam called our old
Adamic nature
all of us have what the bible calls
in us iniquity
that word iniquity means that there's something bent
crooked, something off
in every last one of us
every one of us here has a sinful proclivity
we bend and we break towards one thing or another
but all of us have a sin nature
and the devil knows what your sin nature is
the devil knows what your psychological
emotional bent is and he will always
bend you towards what you are bent
towards
let me put it this way that word iniquity means that there's
something crooked about us so every last one
of us this morning in lily grove missionary baptist church
is a crook
watch your purse
watch yourself on check make sure you got your
jewelry still on you are seated next to
a crook
now maybe their crookedness is not thieving
maybe their crookedness is not lying but by yourself
in Las Vegas
in New Orleans
you have
something wrong with you girl
there is a civil war
in the heart of every saved person
listening to me preach
chapter 5 verse 17 says
and the spirit against the flesh
and these are contrary the one to the other
so that you cannot do the things that you would
the apostle Paul
who wrote over half of the new
testament said every time
not every once in a while
but every time I desire to do good
evil is always present
have I got a witness here
and the good that I would do
I find myself not doing and the evil that I don't want to do
that's exactly what I do
and again not that I was
but that I still am
the world
the flesh and thirdly
the devil knows every weakness we possess
and moreover he knows how to exploit
that weakness
hear me brothers and sisters he exploits our weakness
so that God is dishonored
and we are useless in the kingdom
as the slanderer as the accuser of the
brethren the devil hates God
so he plots our defeat
in order to go before God to accuse us
of what we actually did
when the devil goes before God to accuse me
he's not lying
the thing I said I wouldn't do
that's what I do
I'm talking about Paul, I'm talking about Terry, I'm talking about Carlos, I'm talking about you
the very thing you said you were not ever going to
God if you deliver me I promise you I'll never do it again
Wooo
and then two months later
you say Lord
I know what I told you
but if you just have mercy according to your loving kindness
according to the multitude of your tender mercy
if you just blot out all my transgress
have I got any liars in here this morning
but God in his grace
God in his mercy
God in his goodness
will forgive you of your sins and cleanse you
from all
unrighteousness that's why some of us shout so much
because we've sinned so much
that's why some of us give God so much praise because we've got so much
to be grateful for
he looked beyond my fault
have I got a witness here
he looked beyond my foolishness
he looked beyond my mistakes
and gave me not one more chance
but another chance
and another chance
that's why I'm going to shout again because I need another chance
that's why I give him glory because I need
another chance
we come to church not because we've been so holy
we come because we need mercy
we need grace
we need power to overcome
that's the who
that's the where
the subject and the source of temptation
but let's look at the how
the seat of temptation
since we bear God's image
we are triune beings
tripartite beings
made of a soul
a body and a spirit
we need to understand brothers and sisters
and understand the areas that will come under attack
in our lives
to be forewarned is to be forearmed
the soul
speaks of your mind
your will and your emotions
sin always appeals
to your ego needs
sin always appeals
to your ego because every one of us
wants something
every one of us desire something
and when that need or that desire becomes
inordinate then it hurts
it bruises, it offends our ego
and the trick the devil
use on Eve in the garden
it works this morning
Satan hasn't changed his tricks
and you would think by now that we would know better
because he's been using the same trick over and over and over and over
and the reason he uses it over and over and over and over is because it still works
it works because first of all you think the devil has a red suit on
with some horns
and a pitchfork
but the devil wears Prada
the devil drives a motorcycle
the devil goes to the gym
the devil comes to church
and just like Lot
Abraham's nephew Lot
in Genesis chapter 13
we look, we lean
and we live in a lost world
Lot looked at Sodom
and then he leaned
towards Sodom and he wound up living
in Sodom
that's why the psalmist says, bless is the man
that walks not in the council of the ungodly because if you walk with him
you're going to stand with him
and before long you're going to start sitting with him
that's why you have to be careful of your company because evil communication
spoils good manners
there are some folk I have to stop running with
there are some people
you can't have in your company
I don't care how good a friend he is
when you start walking with Jesus
if they try to get you to go in the other direction
you may need to unfriend them
the devil comes at your soul
and says he knows he can't have that
the devil comes at your body, your flesh
the flesh, the body is a reference to our old
nature
we are tempted brothers and sisters to laziness
that's the sin too you know
sloth is one of the seven deadly sins
laziness
lust is a sin too
and not just lusting after a woman
but you can lust after
something that you're not supposed to have
something you're not supposed to eat
you can lust for power
you can lust for attention
you can lust to be seen
you can lust to be out front
so that if they want you to serve
they got to make you the president
if they want you to give they got to call your name
somebody ought to help me preach it this morning
but if you're serving God you don't care if your name is never called
you don't care if you ever get on the program because you're not doing it to be seen
if
when you give
I wish I had a witness the best of your service
telling the world that the Savior has come be not dismayed
if men don't believe you
he'll understand
and say well done
and then the spirit of man is the primary arena
for satanic attack
the devil knows that
since the soul is the seat of our self-consciousness
our spirit is the seat of our
God consciousness
the only reason you and I can relate to God
is because we have a spirit
of dogs and
cats and lizards and snakes
and any other animal you can name have souls
because they have will they don't have intellect
but they have a natural bent towards being whatever it is God
has created them to be but they can't relate to God
your dog is not
going to heaven
I know Fifi is cute
but put him or her in the
backyard and go to the pet store and get you another
one take that little fish and flush him down the toilet
because he's not going to heaven
you and I are the only creatures God made
that can communicate, relate to God
because God has put a little of himself
in every last one of us
what is man Psalm number 8 says that you're so mindful of him
and the son of man that you would even visit him you've made him a little lower
than the angels you've made him a little lower than yourself
and you have crowned him with glory
and honor
and say to knows that if he can attack you spiritually
say to knows that if he can depress your spirit
say to knows that if he can kill your spirit
you will come to church and sing the songs but they won't mean
anything to you
say to knows that if he can kill your spirit you can read the scripture and never be
impressed by it say to knows that if he kills your spirit
you can hear the gospel and not be moved by it but the spirit
of God has a way of quickening your spirit so that
what the devil tries to destroy God is building up
and the only way God can build it up you've got to come to church
you've got to hear the gospel
faith comes about hearing
and hearing
and hearing and hearing
and hearing and hear you got to keep
on hearing the word of God
we've talked about the who
we've talked about where we've talked about the how
I want to look finally at the what of temptation
and the what of temptation has to do with how you
subdue how you bring your passions
under control
there are three words to remember when facing temptation
and I'm through
flight, faith, or fight
psychologically
all of us have what is called a flight or
fight response to stimuli
if you encounter
an opponent that you can't fight
it's wise
to flight
if you can't beat them
don't join them
run
I think I've told you this before
when I was growing up I was always a good marble player
and I'd play marbles and if I couldn't win I would steal all the marbles
out the circle and run to my house
and the boys would get after me sitting there brown
and I would get after me because I'd stolen their marble
the big marble that they had
I stole those two
and I would run to 720 South Beallis street
7.0535 because I knew
that if I could make it to my house
and knock on the porch as I was running
my sister Wanky would come outside and put her hands on her big fat hips
and say what's going on out here
and all the boys would stop in their tracks
because Wanky could beat any boy in our cry
so if you can't fight
run
some of y'all like me
you're not a fighter
you are
you
to overcome the flesh
come on get your mind back in church now
to overcome the flesh we need to flee
you cannot expose yourself
to fleshly temptation
and expect to walk away untouched
Proverbs 6 and 27 says
can a man take fire in his bosom
and his clothes not be burned
verse 14 in our text calls upon us to flee
idolatry flee
flee youthful lusts
flee those things that would cause you to put anything
sinful before God's use of you in the kingdom
run do like Joseph did from a Mrs.
Potiphar run from the seduction
you remember Joseph's story
Potiphar put him over everything in all of his household except his wife
and Mrs. Potiphar had sexual designs on Joseph
and whenever the house was empty she would wait till all the servants were
out and then she'd go get her Victoria's secret and put it on
throw herself on the divan
and wait for Joseph to pass by and the Bible says Joseph
ran from the seduction because it's not a matter
of manhood it's a matter of spiritual
integrity
that's how you overcome the flesh
run I'm not a punk
I'm just running
no that ain't got nothing to do
with my manhood it has to do with my being able to
preach on Sunday morning somebody ought to help me talk
about it
to overcome the world we need faith that Jesus will take care of us
when we willingly
give up our inordinate attachment
to worldly things
you need to live your life with your hands wide open
so that when God is ready to take it from you are you from it
you can leave and bid this world farewell
to overcome the world we need that kind of faith
but to overcome the devil we have to fight
you cannot run away from the devil
but you can overcome him
through the blood of Jesus Christ
you have to face him in the power
through the blood of Jesus Christ
Satan does not fear you
Satan does not fear me
let me tell some super spiritual
person in here this morning who's going around here talking about
I bind the devil
the devil is in hell falling on the floor
at you because you call yourself binding
the devil how you going to bind the devil and God
and bound him yet
the devil is not scared of you
but demons tremble
at the name of Jesus
have I got a witness here
over your temptation call that name
if you want strength in your weakness call that name
if you want to live godly in Christ call that name
and he'll give you power to overcome
I need one or two witnesses here
who knows that as long as you're breathing you're battling
I said as long as you're breathing
you're battling with Satan and sin
you win some and you lose some
that's why you ought to come to church and celebrate when you win some
and you still ought to come to church and bow your head when you lose some
because the victory is not yours
the victory is not yours because the battle is not yours
it belongs to the Lord
brother and sister you remember David's story don't you
David went out to the valley of gas
and there was a giant there named Goliath
who was 9 feet 9 inches tall
the size of his sword's head was the size of a weaver's beam
his coat of brass weighed 150 pounds
everybody was scared to go out there and fight this giant Goliath
but David went out to the valley of gas
and his brother said what are you doing out here
David said is there no cause to put this giant down
and then Saul says well if you're going to go out there and fight with this giant
I need you to put my armor on
I wish I had a Bible reader
and put it in Saul's armor room
and put on all of Saul's armor
and then David said I can't fight with this
because I haven't tried it yet
I haven't proved it yet
but I got something in my hand that I killed a lion
one time I killed a bear
and they went out to the valley of gas
and they sent David a little boy out to the valley of gas
Goliath said am I a dog
that you send this little boy out here to fight me
Goliath said I'm going to take your little body
and break it in half and throw it up in the air
so the birds can feed on it
you come to me as a giant Philistine
but I come in the name of the Lord of Hosts
and I'm going to cut your head off
and raise your head in the air so that everybody will know
that there is a God in Israel
the battle is not yours
the battle is the Lord's
you got to put on the whole armor of God
you've got to put on the helmet of salvation
the breastplate of righteousness
you've got to have your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace
you've got to have on the girdle of truth
you've got to have the sword of the spirit
which is the word of God
unto my feet is a light
unto my pathway
have a head in my heart
that I might not sin against you
is there anybody here know there's power in the word
is there anybody here know there's deliverance
in the word
that know that one day that word
jumped off the written page and the word became flesh
and dwelt among us and we beheld
his glory the glory as of the only begotten
of the Father full of grace and truth
that word was born in Bethlehem
reared in Nazareth baptized in the Jordan
that word performed miracles in the desert place
that word repped over Jerusalem
that word prayed in Gethsemane
that word healed a sick gave sight to the blind
turned water in the wine raised Jairus' daughter
one Friday that word
went to a cross he died
but
Sunday morning that word
came out of the grave is there anybody here
know the only way
you got power this morning the only reason
you can shout this morning the only
reason you can wave your hand
is you got the word
why don't you tell somebody
I'm strong this morning
I'm rich this morning
I got joy this morning
I got love this morning
cause I got the word
and it alright and it alright
he walks with me
he talks with me he tell me
I am his own and the joy
the joy do you have joy
thank you for covering me
thank you for protecting me
thank you for saving me
thank you
I know he's alright
he will make a way
for you to be able to escape
he will open the door for you
he will let the sun shine in your life
he will turn it around
won't he do it
won't he do it why don't you hug somebody
why don't you shake somebody's hand
tell them whatever your problem
God will work it out
God will
I know he's alright
you don't have to fight the devil
by yourself and never fight the devil
on his ground
you bring him to your ground
bring him to church with you and the devil will flee
from you the scripture says
if you resist the devil
you will flee from me
when I was stealing my friends marbles
I would never fight on the halls of the street
I would bring them to the Bula street
because I knew if they get to Bula street
is over because you ain't going to ever beat me
and my sisters there
demand Jesus Christ
who became sin for us
that we might become the righteousness of God