Overcoming Temptation | Rev. Terry K. Anderson

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

1 Corinthians 10:12

1 Corinthians chapter 10 verses 12, 13 and 14

1 Corinthians 10:12

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

Hebrews 4:15

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

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

1 John 2 · chapter mention

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

Romans 12 · chapter mention

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

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

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

Genesis 13 · chapter mention

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

I got love 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

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

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