Rick Warren - How To Break Free from Temptation and Sin

About a year ago, I got a note that says

this pastor Rick. Every morning I start out with great

intentions to change my ways. I think today is going

to be different, but it never is. Somehow, in some way,

I always seem to fall back into the same old

pattern of relating to people and my old bad habits.

Sometimes I feel like there's a tug of war going

on inside of me. Honestly, I really want to do

what's best, but I always end up disappointing myself and God. Rick.

I have tried everything, prayer, resolutions, self help tapes, even hypnosis.

Nothing seems to work. Why do I keep making the

same mistakes over and over and over. Why am I

so resistant to change? Why do I think? Why do

I do things that I know are bad for me?

I'm really discouraged and I need help getting unstuck. If

you're honest, every one of us have felt that way

at different times in our lives about different things in

our lives, because the reality of living on this planet

is good intentions are never good enough. Good intentions are

never good enough if your life is going to change,

if you're going to break free from the hang ups

in your life, from the stuff that messes you up,

from the past, and from your temptations, and from bad

thought patterns and all kinds of things. It's going to

take more than just well, I hope I'll do better tomorrow.

And the reality is we often get stuck in this

cycle of good intention, failure, guilt, confession, good intention, failure, guilt, confession,

and on and on, around and around in a circle.

Is that the way God wants you to live? No,

that's why you need well we're going to talk about

this week in the prayer of deliverance. Now, we've been

looking at each phrase of the Lord's prayer in depth

and in detail, and this weekend we come to lead

us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Now.

The fact is some of you want to start checking

out right now, So well, thank God, I haven't been

tempted in fifty years, right. We often think temptation is

an enticement or a llure to do something evil. We

could mean bad and nasty, the really bad stuff, murder, adultery,

and fornication, all of these different sins that other people do.

And we tend to think that temptation is just about

the big things in life. The forbidden the evil things

in life. But actually I found that Satan is much

more subtle in my life, and some of those things.

I'm not tempted to murder anybody. I'm just not. And

you can train your mind to think in certain ways

that certain things just don't tempt you anymore like they

used to in hard ways. But I made a list

off of the top of my head of what I

call the subtle temptation. I don't know if any of

you deal with any of these, but I do. Number one,

the temptation to do what works, not necessarily the right thing,

but what works. The temptation to do what's easy, like

when you're a parent and you set your kid down

in front of the television, them babysit, and a thousand

other ways we do what's easy. The temptation to do

what's quick, the temptation to do what works in the

short run, the temptation to do what is self serving

or best for me. I find myself often tempted by

the temptation to do what's unimportant, to not do what

really matters in life, the essential things in life, but

to do stuff that Why am I doing this? Why

am I frittering away my time, procrastinating, I'm doing the unimportant,

The temptation to do what I've always done, the temptation

to do what's right for the wrong reason, the temptation

to do nothing. When you see something that I know

I could help that person. I know I could help

in that situation. I know I could do that, But

you don't do anything when you see the poor, you

see the sick, or you see the needy. The truth is,

temptation is a lot more subtle than we think it is.

But the answer to the temptations that we experience in

life is this verse, which is the prayer of deliverance.

And the prayer of deliverance always leads us to the

path of escape. Now, Jesus said, you are to pray

thy kingdom. Come, I will be done on earth as

it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread.

Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin

against us. We've looked at that the last two weeks,

and he says, lead us not into temptation. Now, if

we didn't give into temptation, we wouldn't have to worry

about the two sentences before the sins, the guilt and

the resentment. They wouldn't have to worry about that one.

But God says that the prayer of deliverance is the

path of escape. And what is the path of escape?

I want you to take your outline, and I want

you to read this verse with me one Corinthians ten thirteen.

Read it with me. The temptations that come into your

life are no different from what others experience. Okay, stop

right there. If you say nobody knows what I'm going through,

you're wrong. The temptations that come your way are no

different from what others experience. We all have the same

basic temptations in life. You are not unique in the

fact that you're tempted. Some of your temptations are more unique.

But temptation is not you need. We all get tempted

and they're not any different. Then he says, and read

it with me. God is faithful. You will keep the

temptation from becoming so strong that you can't stand up

against it. Now, let me stop right there. When you

say it was so strong, I just have had to

give in. Then you were calling God a liar. Because

God says I will always make a way out. I

will never put more on you, or I will never

allow more on you than I put in you to

bear it up. And when somebody says I just couldn't

help myself, they're not telling the truth. Because the truth

is temptation is a choice, and you only do what

you choose to do, so don't blame anybody else. Temptation

is a choice to do do right or do wrong.

And he says, God will keep the temptation from becoming

so strong you can't stand up against it. And then

read the rest with me. And when you are tempted,

he will show you a way out so that you

will not give in to it. And I want you

to circle show you a way out, because this weekend

we're going to look at the way out. Number one.

The first step on the path to escape from the

prayer of deliverance, as the Bible teaches, is first to

have to identify what makes me vulnerable. I must identify

what makes me vulnerable. Now, notice I didn't say identify

what tempts you. You already know what tempts you. What

you may have never really thought through is what causes

me to be tempted by that? What makes me vulnerable

to that temptation. What makes me weak, what makes me susceptible.

And more important than knowing what tempts you is knowing

the when, why, how, where, and all the other factors

that go into that temptation. If you're serious about permanent

life change. Now, Jesus said this in Matthew twenty six

forty one. He says, watch and pray so that you

will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but

the body is weak. In other words, you may be willing,

you may want to overcome your temptation, but will not enough.

The spirit is willing. Have you learned that willpower is

not enough. It'll work for a while, but after a

while you get tired and willpower burns out. No lasting

change ever happens with willpower. I'm gonna lose weight, I'm

gonna stop smoking, I'm gonna whatever. Well, yeah, you can

force yourself for a while, but as soon as you

get tired, the will poops out. So he says, the

spirit is willing, but the body is weak. Now he says,

watch and pray. So when Jesus says, as you are

to pray, lead us not into temptation, he's even saying

that's not enough. It's important to pray the prayer of deliverance.

But besides praying, you aught to got it. You also

have to do some watching. And what is he saying

you need to watch for? You need to watch for

the circumstances that make you vulnerable. You need to identify

those and work with them. Explain what I'm talking about.

You know that the Bible teaches that every human being

is unique. There's nobody in the world like you. Everything

about you is unique. God never makes copies, he never

makes clones. He will never make anybody like you before

you or after you. And we call this your shape.

Your shape determines what tempts you. It's why some things

tempt you and don't tempt other people. Why some things

attempt other people don't tempt you. You have a unique

susceptibility to temptation based on your shape. Some are caused

by nature, your own said nature, and some are caused

by nurture. The way you grew up and if you

grew up in a house that was prone to blow

up in anger, you probably learned that pattern. If you

grew up in a house where you learned to stuff

your emotions, that's pattern you learned. So some temptations are

by nature, and some are by nurture, Some are caused

by your DNA, and some are caused by your environment,

Some are caused by your character, and some are caused

by your your circumstance. What am I saying is this,

you don't get to choose your temptations. You don't get

to choose them the things that really tempt you. Sorry,

it's just part of the negative side of your shape.

Now what does that mean. Well, the implication of that

is you cannot be self righteous about anybody else's temptation,

and you can't be self righteous about your own. And

what does tempt you and what doesn't. And so when

you see somebody who's tempted by drugs, or you see

somebody who's tempted by gossip, or you see somebody who's

tempted by pornography, or you see somebody who's tempted to overeat,

really doesn't matter where that temptation come from. From DNA,

from gene, from nature, from nurture, from environment, from choices,

from circumstances. All of those things fit into that. But

the fact is they're all the same thing, and one

is no better or less evil than the other. The

Bible says sin is sin, so we have no right

to judge and say, well, my sins are okay, yours

are nasty. How could anybody do that? Okay? Now, what

I'm saying is that you have a pattern of vulnerability,

and you better figure out what it is, because I

want to tell you for sure, Satan knows what it is.

Satan knows your vulnerable points, and he's plotting the moment

you wake up. If you wake up in the morning,

you don't hit Satan. Fir his face on just means

you're head in the same direction. To identify your pattern,

you identify what makes you vulnerable. Now to get specific,

let me give you five questions you need to ask yourself. First.

You need to ask yourself when am I most tempted?

You know? You need to figure out when are you

most tempted? You know I can handle any diet till noon.

I mean, that's nothing. It's the hours between about six

o'clock and midnight. That's my pattern of temptation. It's when

I want to eat everything in the refrigerator and buy

an extra refrigerator. Now I could go out and blame

my genes and say, you know what, I just came

from an obese family. Well, just because it's genetic and

me doesn't mean it's right or it's healthy. No, it

is not. It is not. And so you have to

say when am I most tempted? You need to ask where?

Where am I most tempted? Do you get tempted at

seven eleven's? Do you get tempted at a sports bar?

Do you get tempted at the beach? A lot of

you get tempted in front of a computer. You need

to know your area of vulnerability. When am I most tempted?

Where am I most tempted? Then? Number three? Who who

is with me when I'm most tempted? You need to

know your pattern of vulnerability. Who is with me? Am

I most tempted when I'm alone? Am I most tempted

when I'm with friends who lead me in the wrong direction?

You know you can't soar with the eagles if you're

flying with the turkeys. You need to figure this out.

This is your pattern. Identify what makes me vulnerable? When where? Who?

Number four is what what temporary benefit do I get

if I give in to the temptation? There's always a payoff?

You know the Bible even says that. The Bible says

there is pleasure in sin, It just says there's pleasure

in sin for a season. In other words, it doesn't last.

You have your kicks, then you get the kickbacks. So

what of the temporary benefit I give in when I

give in the temptation? Do I get comfort? Do I

get excitement? Do I get joy? Do I get pleasure?

Do I get a false sense of confidence? You need

to know what's the payoff when I do this? And

then the fifth thing you need to ask is how

how do I feel right before I'm tempted? Right before

I'm tempted? You need to know what your emotional triggers are.

You need to know what makes your you vulnerable? Is

it frustration? And then all of a sudden you get tempted?

Is it stressed you get tempted? Is it when you're bored?

You get tempted? When you're lonely, you get tempted? When

you can't sleep at night, you get tempted. You need

to know these things. Once you know that pattern, here's

a step number two. Plan to avoid it. You plan

to avoid it. You don't wait until you're in the situation, deside,

Am I going to give into this or not? No,

you decide before your emotions kick into gear. Now, the

Bible says, as plan carefully what you do now. Temptation

always begins with a natural desire in you. Temptation. If

you didn't have a natural desire, it would never key

into it. And often temptation is fulfilling a legitimate desire

in the wrong way, or fulfilling a legitimate desire at

the wrong time or in the wrong amount. You have

a natural desire to eat, You have a need to eat.

You have a natural desire to drink, to sleep, you

have natural sexual drives. These are natural. Where do you

think you got those? God gave them to you. Those

are not evil. What is temptation. Temptation is when we

abuse and misuse what God has given us. That's temptation.

When we abuse, use and misuse something that God has

given to us for good. Fire is good, but if

you amuse it, use it and misuse it, it's going

to burn up your house. Water is a good thing.

Your body is ninety percent water, but if you get

too much of it, you're gonna drown. And so there's

nothing wrong with water. It's just misused and abuse. It

becomes a temptation. So temptation what it does is it

turns a routine desire into a runaway desire. I gotta

have it, and I've got to have it now and

now now, now, wrong time, wrong way, wrong amount, and

it becomes more than any important, than anything else, and

it's all you think about, and any good God given

desire out of control becomes a sin. So you have

to plan in advance. I say, you know what I know.

I get tempted in sports bars. Well, simple, don't go

to sports bars. Okay, I get tempted to pick up

the porno magazines and seven elevens. Don't go to seven elevens.

It's real simple. If you don't want to get stung,

you stay away from the bees. So you know that

the when, the where, the why, the who, the what

the how that makes you vulnerable, and then you plan

to avoid that area. Step number three, I guard my heart.

I must guard my heart. Now, this is very, very

important because the Bible says, out of the heart. Everything

comes out of the heart a man speaks and all

of the issues of life. Temptation always starts inside of you.

We think temptation is on the outside. No, it is

not the triggers on the outside, but the temptation is

actually inside you. And if there were no natural temptation

inside you, based on your shape and your nature having

the attraction to you, it's like a magnet, you know,

if a magnet doesn't attract plastic because there's nothing inside

the plastic that's metal to pull it out. The Bible

says this up here on the screen James one fourteen.

We are tempted by our own desires that drag us

off and trap us. And look at this next verse.

The Bible says, it is inside you. It's inside you,

out of a person's heart. That's why you have to

guard your heart. Come evil thoughts, a sexual immorality, theft,

the desire to kill people, adultery, greed, wickedness, deceitfulness, that's

when you manipulate other people, lust, envy, slander, arrogance, and foolishness.

All these vile things come from not outside, but from inside.

And the Bible says this. Look on the back of

your outline. It says, do not give the death a

foothold circle the word foothold. How do you give the

devil a foothold. What is a foothold. It's a mental state.

It is a negative emotion. Anytime you hold a negative

emotion in your life for an extended period of time,

whether it's anger or worry, or fear or bitterness or

envy or jealousy or all of these other things, the

longer you hold that, you are allowing the evil one

to get a stronghold in your life, in your brain.

So you've got to guard your heart, all right. Number four,

The fourth thing you need to do is you need

to pray for deliverance. Pray for deliverance, and what I

mean by that is just ask for God's help. And

the Bible tells us God is ready to help. He says,

we're to pray lead us not into temptation, but deliver

us from evil. That is the prayer of deliverance, and

you ask God for help. Now, the prayer of deliverance

is often just one word help, Okay. It doesn't have

to be our gracious, heavenly Father. And knowing no you

can do when you come to the prayer deliverance, you

can do a microwave prayer help. Okay, you know I'm

walking through Keep my eyes straight. You know I'm going

through this time. I don't like this person. I'm gonna

have to deal with that clerk who's a jerk. And

I do not want to get impatient. I do not

want to get angry. I do not like the way

my relative treats me. And I'm gonna see them today.

And oh God, you got to help me because I

just I lose my Christianity when I'm around that person.

And God, I really need your help today because everything

in me just wants me to slugger you know, or

him or whatever. You know. You just that relative out

there who just irritates you no end, okay? And so

you pray for deliverance. Now, the Bible is full of

examples of people who prayed for deliverance. David, Daniel, Peter, Paul.

And God provides assistance for anybody who asks, why can

I expect God to help me when I pray the

prayer of deliverance? Because God has promised it. Look at

this verse Psalm fifty, verse fifteen. Call upon me in

your day of trouble. I will deliver you and you

will honor me. God says, you don't have to have

a long conversation. You can just say, hell, may day,

may day, may day, sos God, I'm facing something now

that will powers not enough to keep me being nice

to this person or whatever. God, I need to pray

the prayer of deliverance. And you know what, God's sympathetic

to your situation. He knows everything that's going on in

your life. He knows how irritating those people are. He

knows the things that tempt you. In fact, look at

this next verse. Jesus understands our weakness, for he faced

all of the same temptations we do, yet he did

not sin. So let us come boldly to our gracious God,

and then we will receive his mercy and grace to

help us when we need it. Notice, he says, Jesus

understands why is he sympathetic? Notice he faced the same temptation.

Underlying that Jesus faced the same temptation. Wait a minute,

You saying Jesus was tempted to get angry. Yes I am.

You're telling me Jesus it was tempted to have self pity. Yes,

you're telling me that Jesus had sexual temptations. Absolutely, you're

telling me that Jesus sometimes was fatigued, and tempted to

be cranky, absolutely every basic temptation. The Bible says he

was tempted in all ways like as we Yet he

sinned not that's the difference. He never gave in, And

so he had the freedom to choose. How do we

know that Jesus had the freedom to choose? I meant,

didn't he just have to be perfect because he was God? No,

he didn't. He had the freedom to choose. That's why

even at the cross the night before he's going to

be crucified, and he's thinking, I don't want to be crucified.

I don't want to go through all that thing. And

in the garden against him and he's praying and he's

struggling with it, and he says, Father, not my will,

not my will, but yours be done. What does that mean?

Jesus had a choice, and he suffered the same temptations

we do in life. And so he understands. And in

John six thirty eight he says, I didn't come to

do my will. I came to do the will of

the Father. He was God in a human body. But

even better is that he never sinned. What does that

mean he can help you overcome. And so the Bible says,

come boldly to God, come and say, mayday, Sos, I

need your help. God isn't ticked with you when you

get tempted. He's not gonna scold you when you tempt me.

He said, I'm ready here to help. So I pray

for deliverance. And then number five, this is a real

key on the six steps on the path to escape.

I turn my attention elsewhere. Here's the little secret to temptation.

Don't fight it, just refocus. Don't resist, refocus. Whatever you

have in your life that you resist, you're just nailing

it harder into your life. Whatever you resist persists. Did

you know that in the Bible, not once are you

told to resist temptation. We are told to resist the devil.

And that's a whole different issue. That's another sermon. But

in temptation, the key to overcoming temptation is not push back.

The temptation has just changed my focus, and all of

a sudden, I'm not interested in not anymore. When I

get a new focus, when I refocus, all of a sudden,

that which had my attention I forget about. It's not

that I'm resisting it, I just forget about it. And

that principle works in every single area of life. Whatever

gets your attention gets you. The battle for sin always

starts in the mind. That's why the Bible says this,

thinking about your commands will keep me from doing some

foolish thing. Why because if I'm thinking about your commands,

I'm thinking about truth. I'm not thinking about the dumb

stuff I could be doing. You focus on good things

in life, godly things in life, true things in life.

It's going to pull you that direction. I don't know

if you've realized this, but the more you think about something,

the more it upsets you, and it gets worse and

worse and worse, and it gets a stronger hold. Then

you repeat it and repeat it and reinforce it and

reinforce it. And you know, the first time you think

about that really upset me. The more you think, man,

that really did upset me. The more you thinking about man,

I am kicked off, then you know, and then you're

ready to drop an atomic bomb on that person. By

the time you've thought over and over, you know what,

it just gets bigger and bigger and bigger. So whatever

is tempting you, whoether its sex or food or anything else.

Whatever you focus on is going to pull you that direction.

That's what the Book of James says, chapter one. So

you don't fight a temptation. You just churn your mind

to something else. Look at this verse. We capture every

thought and make it obey Christ. We capture every thought. Now, friends,

what that verse says to do. That's a secret to temptation.

You're not good at that. You're not very good at it,

that capturing every thought and turning it to Christ, because

that takes practice. That takes practice. You can't always control

your circumstances. And by the way, you can't always control

the way you feel, but you can control what you

think about. That's always your choice. You can't always control

the way you feel, but you can control what you think.

And if you change the way you think, it changes

the way you feel, and that will change the way

you act. When Jesus was resisting temptation in the Bible

and Satan said turn these stones for bread, he did

and say, oh, no, I'm not hungry. He was hungry,

fasted for forty days. He just turned his mind to

something else. Quoted the Bible, Would you write this down

the more I fight it, the more it controls me.

The more I fight it, the more it controls me.

So the answer is, I'm not telling you to go

out of here and fight temptation. You can't fight a feeling.

But let me tell you how you ignore a very

powerful feeling. I just told it to you. You ignore it.

That's it. You don't fight a feeling. Can't fight this

feeling anymore. What you go gotta do is you just

ignore it. You refocus on something else, and the feeling

loses its attraction because of your attraction and attention on

something else. Look at the next verse Romans twelve twenty one.

Don't let evil conquer you, but overcome or conquer evil

with good. Now, what is this right underneath that? The

principle of replacement. That's what this is. It's the principle

of replacement. Fill your mind with truth, good thoughts, good things,

and it pushes out all the junk in your mind. Now,

learning this kind of stuff that I'm talking about is

this pattern of thinking is not easy, but it is

possib and you can learn how to do it. So

here are the steps. First five, identify what makes me vulnerable.

I know why I get tempted. Then I plan to

avoid those places. Just stay away from those things. Don't

watch that channel. Have somebody put a block on your

on your computer, your your wife, or on your on

your television or whatever. Guard your heart. Know when you're

when you're emotionally low, pray for God's help. Ask God

to give you deliverance. Pray the prayer of deluiance. Turn

my attention elsewhere. And then here's number six. And this

is the number one thing. Get a group and a partner,

the friends. I've been helping people through temptation for over

thirty years and nothing works like this. That's why I

keep talking about you need to have an accountability part

part You need to have a spiritual partner. You need

to have a spiritual friend. You need to be in

a small group. So I told you when we started.

The reality is willpower is not enough for permanent change.

You've got to get a group and you've got to

get a partner. Now, look up here on the screen,

the Bible says this. I love this a message paraphrase. Sheer,

muscle and willpower don't make anything happen. But every word

I've spoken to you, Jesus is a spirit word. So

it is life making, it's life changing. Change has to

come inside. Here's my question to you, is your pastor

somebody who loves you, how serious are you about breaking

free that thing that just you keep going back to it,

and you keep going back to it, and that habit,

that pattern of thought, that pattern of I always get

angry in that situation. I always get impatient in that situation.

I always tend to build myself up in that situation.

I always get whatever. How seriously are you interested in

changing and breaking free? Because if you are, let me

be very blunt with you, you will never do it

without support. You will never do it on your own.

I don't give you any hope of success in changing

by yourself. Zero. Because God has wired us in a

way that we need each other to grow. We need

each other to break free of habits and hang ups

and hurts. And you need accountability in your life. The

very thing that you want least is the very thing

you need most. You need a friend who checks up

on you, and you need a group that supports you.

The Bible says this, the Ecclesiastes for two are better

than one, because together, if one falls down, the other

can help him up. But if somebody is alone and

he falls into temptation, there's no one there to help

him up. It just doesn't work. So just quit kidding yourself.

If you could, you would, but you can so you won't.

And you're never gonna change without a group giving you

support and without a person giving you accountability. If there's

just one thing I could do as your pastor, it

would be to get you in a group and get

you with a person that you could be totally honest

with on the things that you think I don't want

to tell anybody about, because you're never gonna break free

until you share them. And if we were more consistent

in confessing our temptations to each other, then we wouldn't

have to spend so much time confessing our sins to

each other. I'd rather have you confess and temptations in

having to confess sin, wouldn't you. Yeah, following Christ does

not exempt you from temptation. Now, what I'm telling you

is on this earth, you're never gonna be sinless, but

it is possible to sin less. Okay, you're never gonna

be sinless, but it is possible to sin less. That's power. Heads.

Why don't you pray this prayer if you're ready for

a change. Dear God, you know all the habits and

temptations in my life that have tripped me up for years,

and you know the tempting situations I'm facing right now.

And you even know the temptations that lay ahead of

me this week that I don't even know about yet.

So I'm asking for your help. I'm praying the prayer

of deliverance, and I'm willing to follow the path of

your principles of escape so I can change and be free.

Help me to clearly see the patterns in my life

that lead to temptation. Give me the strength to start

avoiding them, to plan to avoid them. Help me to

refocus my attention on other things. When I'm tempted today,

I want to commit to getting in a small group

or starting a small group. Or I can be encouraged

and help others too and find a partner. Most important, Lord,

I need you to do some heart surgery on me.

Remove the negative emotions that make me vulnerable and replace

them with your love and your forgiveness and your trust.

I ask you, Jesus Christ, you start changing me from

the inside out, beginning Today, in your name, I pray

Amen