Dr. Ron Sumners
June 6, 2004
Today we are going to talk about overcoming struggles - not the struggles that we face from without, but the struggles we face from within. We are going to talk about winning the battle over temptation.
A mother told her son that he was not allowed to go swimming that day. However, when he returned home that afternoon his mother noticed that his hair was wet, and he carried under his arm a wet bathing suit.
"Johnny!" his mother scolded, "I told you not to go swimming today." "I couldn't help it, Mom. I walked by the lake, and it looked so clear and inviting. I was just going to stick my feet in for a minute, and the water was so warm and felt so good. I just couldn't resist!" he said.
Mom looked at Johnny and said, "One question son, why did you take your bathing suit when you knew you were not supposed to swim today?" He replied, "Mom, I knew that I might be tempted!"
Webster's Dictionary tells us that temptation is "the act of enticement to do wrong by the promise of pleasure or gain." Isn't that just like the Devil, getting us to do something wrong by promising something good?
There isn't a day that goes by in any of our lives that we aren't tempted in some way.
Temptations come in a variety of ways; we are tempted to lie, cheat, gossip, overeat, to hold grudges, to steal, and to not give the Lord the first-fruits of our possessions, talent, and time. A four-year-old girl was caught by her mom standing on a stool in the kitchen eating cookies. Her mom had told her not to eat cookies before dinner. When caught red-handed and confronted by her mother, she said, "Mom, it's not my fault, honest. I climbed up on that stool because I just wanted to smell them, and my tooth got caught!"
Today, I want us to look at four undeniable facts about temptation.
Fact #1 is that temptation is inevitable. You can count on temptation to come. You may not be able to depend on many things in this world, but you can depend on temptation coming to visit regularly. James says, "Let no man say when he is tempted ..." James did not say, "If he is tempted." Being tempted is a sure thing.
It would be wonderful if we could live life without facing temptations, but we cannot. Just as sure as hardships are an unfortunate reality of life that we all must face at some time, so is temptation.
If you think you've found some wonderful, peaceful place or location where there is no chance that you will be tempted, my advice to you is that you do not go there, because you will be disappointed. The problem is that when you go there you will take your mind and thought with you. These are the vehicles of temptation. We will never go anywhere on earth where there is no temptation. As long as we live within these bodies of flesh and in this world, we will experience temptation.
It doesn't matter if you are a monk that lives in a monastery in the Swiss Alps, a student in Auburn or Tuscaloosa, a professor at a Bible College, or even the pastor of a church in Birmingham, Alabama - you will face temptation!
And sometimes when God allows us to suffer, we have the tendency to use our trials as an excuse for sinning. Hard times can often lead to temptation. When we are suffering, Satan is quick to come to our aid and offer us one of his solutions. Sometimes, he whispers in our ear that we need some pleasure in our life to ease the pain. The Devil will tell us that we should be angry at God - that a loving God would never make us suffer such an overwhelming loss in our life or make us endure such a tragedy. Sometimes he tells us that we should be bitter and resent God. Satan knows all the tricks and he will use the ones that fit our weakness and he will come at our weakest moment.
The second point is that temptation is never directed by God.
When we are tempted, we should never believe that God is tempting us. James tells us that "God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth He any man!"
How are you at accepting responsibility for your actions? When you do something wrong, do you admit it, or do you blame someone else?
Parents, your child comes home from school with a bad grade on a test. How many times have you heard them say, "It was the teacher's fault! She didn't explain how to do what she asked on the test." Something happens and you get angry and lose control. How many times have you heard someone say, "They provoked me and caused me to react the way I did? They made me mad! It was their fault."
There is an epidemic in our society today of people failing to take responsibility for their own actions, and also for their inaction. Everyone blames someone else - It wasn't my fault! McDonalds made me fat. The teacher didn't teach me to read. My wife didn't meet my needs. And this is the way it has been since the very beginning with Adam and Eve in the Garden. As soon as Adam and Eve heard the sound of God walking in the garden, what did they do? They ran and hid. And the Lord called out to Adam, "Where are you?" Adam answered and said, "I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid." And God said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree I told you not to eat from?" Adam answered and said, "The woman you put here with me, she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it."
Adam blames God! It was His fault because He had put Eve in the garden. Then he blames Eve because she had given him the fruit from the tree. But he didn't have to eat it, did he? So, whose fault was it? It was Adam's fault. He yielded to temptation. And when you fall to temptation and sin, in deed or attitude, the fault lies with no one except you.
The third fact I want to share is this: temptation is an individual matter.
After God questioned Adam, He turned to Eve and asked her, "What is this sin that you have done?" Eve said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate it." Who was Eve trying to blame? It was certainly not herself. She was the first person to truly coin the phrase "the devil made me do it!" The devil tempted her. He did not force her to eat the fruit. And ever since that day when Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, sin has been a part of the world. It is the "Adam nature" in all of us. As the old catechism rhyme stated, "In Adam's fall, we sinned all."
Where does temptation really come from? James answers that question in verses 14 and 15. "But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death."
It was Adam and Eve that brought sin and death into this world. And it was God's gift of grace through His Son, Jesus Christ, which gave us the opportunity to overcome sin and death, and to share heaven with God.
When you and I yield to temptation, it is an individual matter, and we can't place the blame on anyone other than ourselves. Nothing outside us is strong enough to cause us to sin, not even Satan. The Devil didn't make us do it, we made ourselves do it.
The final thought about temptation is this: Temptation that leads to sin always follows the same pattern.
I'm sure that most of you have done some fishing in your life. It is important to use the right kind of bait if you want to catch fish. Depending on what you want to catch, you might use night crawlers (worms), minnows, corn, blood bait, dough balls, or some other bait. You bait the hook and cast it into the water. When the fish sees the bait, it has to make a decision. The fish can stay safe in its hiding place, or he can go after the bait. If he yields to the temptation, goes after the bait, and gets caught, he ends up in the fire. He gets cooked for someone's dinner. That is exactly the way temptation works with us. The bait is dropped, and it looks really tempting. It appeals to us and interests us. It is something that we desire. We have a choice to make.
The best fisherman in the world is Satan. He knows the exact bait to dangle before us. He knows our weaknesses. He is infinitely patient and will just wait until we are weak enough to go after the bait.
So, our question today is "how do we handle temptation in our lives?"
Do you remember the TV show "Hee-Haw?" In one of the comedy bits, a patient goes to Doc Campbell and says he has broken his arm in two places. Doc Campbell gives this advice, "Stay out of those two places!"
There are places we need to stay out of too!
There was an overweight businessman who decided that it was time to lose weight. He began a new diet seriously, even changing the route he took to work to avoid going past the bakery. One morning, however, he arrived at work carrying a gigantic coffee cake. "This is a very special coffee cake," he explained. "I accidentally drove by the bakery this morning and there in the window was this coffee cake. I felt that it was no accident that I had driven past the bakery, so I prayed, 'Lord, if you want me to get that coffee cake, let me find a parking place directly in front of the bakery.' And sure enough, the 8th time I drove around the block, there it was!"
We tend to play around with temptation, hanging out near its edge, bringing our swimming suit, and driving around the block eight times.
Let me be a bit more specific; if certain movies make you weak and cause you to have certain desires that you cannot handle, you are setting yourself up for temptation and like the fish, you may get fried!
If you are weakened by relationships that you have with certain people, you need to avoid them. If you have a problem with gambling, don't go near the casino! If you are tempted with alcohol don't go near the bar or nightclub! Temptation to sin is nothing to play around with - there are situations and places that you need to stay away from.
David didn't walk away from temptation, he walked toward it. He knew exactly what he was doing on that rooftop when he saw Bathsheba.
A person is a fool when they know what weakens them, but they feed on it anyway. By constantly bringing temptation before your eyes, by driving around the block and letting them sit in your mind, you are playing into the hands of the devil.
If we are tempted to gossip, God has an answer for that too: don't do it! A bridle is not the answer for gossip, a muzzle is. Say nothing! Don't kid yourself into saying, "We just need to talk about them or that situation so we can pray more intelligently, or because we are so concerned for them that we feel that it is our duty to share with someone." You do that. Tell the Lord. He can keep a secret!
When you face sensual sin - run!
When you are tempted to gossip - hold your tongue!
When you are tempted to be lazy - work!
When you are filled with bitterness - forgive!
When your sin has been holding back from God what is rightfully His - give!
Is sin pleasurable? Yes. People will risk their reputations, their careers, even their families just to taste its flavor. If the bait on the end of the hook did not appeal to the fish, he would never go for the hook. Sin can be enjoyable and feel good for the moment. As pleasurable as it is, the enjoyment only lasts a short time. You sow, and then you reap what you have sown.
Committing adultery or having pre-marital sex may seem pleasurable at the time. But in the final analysis, the pain always outweighs the pleasure!
Drinking and hanging with your friends may seem like a good time, but when you see the blue light or, even worse, when the car is wrapped around the tree, or when you attend a friend's funeral, the pleasure is forgotten and regretted.
Do you think David experienced pleasure with Bathsheba? Sure, he did. Was it worth it to him when his child died and guilt ate away at him, stealing his strength, energy, and joy?
When sin looks appealing to us - when its pleasure is dangling on a hook right in front of us, we must remind ourselves that the pleasure of sin is temporary.
Esau traded his birthright for a bowl of porridge. In a moment of weakness, his belly was more important than his future. I pray that you will not be so foolish!
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