When was the last time you felt vulnerable to a temptation? Our world is overflowing with enticements, and as Christians, we must constantly sidestep our personal danger zones. Sometimes the pull of sin is so strong that our excuses to yield accumulate more quickly than godly reasons to resist. In this message, Dr. Stanley outlines the reality of spiritual warfare and the believer’s resources for successfully resisting temptation and guarding against deception.
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when is the last time
you found yourself feeling very
vulnerable
in fact the temptation was so strong
that you just think i can’t handle this
and uh you found yourself
very very puzzled maybe because of why
you’ve
being tempted or you found yourself
thinking this is the same old temptation
i’ve faced over and over and over again
or you might say well this was so
alluring
so enticing so inviting how can i
possibly resist this
that’s the devil’s line that’s the way
he talks
so i would ask you this question when’s
the last time you found yourself facing
something that you really had to
struggle
with turn away from turning away from or
saying no
to you felt great pressure
you wanted to walk away you debated
about whether you could or not or should
or not oh you know
you should but whether you would or not
and maybe finally you walked away but
maybe finally you thought
well god understands and have i ever
heard this god understands
and you yielded whatever that temptation
was so we can think all kinds of things
but the truth is this
if you’re alive you’re going to get
tempted
and we’re living in the day when it’s
everywhere
whether you hear it on the radio or the
television or see it on the television
or signs or insults whatever it might be
we’re living in a sensual age
and temptation is everywhere
and people respond in several different
ways
they just yield or they fight against it
and survive or they fight against it and
steal yield
and then they have an excuse that
they’ve used
with god before now lord you know i this
is not fair
everybody doesn’t fear what i feel on
and on and on we go
the truth is that was the beginning of
sin
in the world with temptation adam and
eve it hadn’t changed
i mean when satan got through telling
eve how fantastic it was going to be to
have a bite of this fruit
it’s the same story it’s just different
elements involved
and so uh when you find yourself
in that position what what do you think
do you stop to think where is this
coming from
is this in my heart where is this coming
from i can tell you
it is a satanic attack
the devil knows exactly when you and i
are the weakest
he knows at what point and he knows
exactly
what it takes to get our attention
and to make us think i’ve just got to
have that got to have one of those
forget the price i’m going to have one
of those
satan has a whole line of excuses
that persuade us of what we deserve
and nobody’s perfect and god loves us
and he’ll forgive us and on and on and
on he goes
to set us up to position ourselves to
miss out on god’s
best blessings in our life so i want to
talk about facing
a satanic attack and if you’ll turn
to ephesians for a moment and
the first three chapters of ephesians
are three are the most beautiful
encouraging chapters in the bible
because it talks about a believer’s
wealth
what we have as a result of knowing
christ as our savior
and then beginning in the fourth chapter
and the fifth
uh here is our walk this is the way we
should walk
following the lord jesus christ
then we come to the last chapter and
we see there’s a battlefield and that is
a battlefield with satan
god is so good to us he walks with us
and yet there are times when
we are tempted and tried and so i want
us to look at you with the 10th verse
and as he concludes this this epistle
listen to what he says
finally be strong in the lord
and then the strength of his might he
didn’t say be strong in yourself
he said be strong in the lord in the
strength of his might
put on the full armor of god so that
you’ll be able to stand firm against the
schemes of the devil
for our struggle is not against flesh
and blood
but against the rulers against the
powers
against the world forces of this
darkness
against the spiritual forces of
wickedness in the heavenly places
all of us are going to face temptation
now
when you think about it i would just ask
you this question
think about what is the strongest
temptation you face in your life
today i don’t mean just this particular
day but
in your daily life today what’s the
strongest temptation
why do you think it’s why do you think
the devil has used that
to tempt you to turn you away from god
to walk in a different path to ignore
god’s warnings
to ignore his blessings his awesome
blessings in your life
but somehow you find yourself being
tempted
and getting in a position where the
blessings god owns to give you
he can no longer give you paul says
we’re to stand
firm against the schemes of the devil he
certainly has schemes
so the first thing i want to do is to
define what is a satanic attack
a satanic attack is a deliberate
willful assault by satan
upon an individual with the purpose of
doing them harm
either in their spirit soul or body or
all three
look at that a deliberate willful
assault by satan
upon an individual with a purpose of
doing them harm either in their spirit
soul or body or all three and when is
that any time
anywhere satan knows exactly when you
and i are the weakest
he knows exactly what it takes to trip
us up
he may know who is the best the trip is
up or what it is
and we were allured by what does it take
to trip us up
every single believer is faced with
temptation
and if you’ll think about today our
whole society
is geared to attempting us for something
you turn on the radio you hear it we
ought to buy this
you watch the television you ought to
buy this and see this i have that i have
him i have her
and you can look any way you want to
look
there is the temptation to have
oftentimes what we do not need
what we should not have and
the result of temptation is division and
destruction
and so if i should ask you what’s
satan’s objective in tempting you
you’re a fine christian person you love
god what’s his objective
first of all to draw us away from god to
himself
satan wants to draw us away from god so
he knows
exactly what it takes to get our mind
off of god
or for spiritual things onto onto
material things
or onto sensual things he knows exactly
what it takes
what does it take what’s his objective
it draws away from god and to himself
and to thwart god’s purpose in that life
in other words if the devil can change
thwart
god’s purpose in your life he’s got you
where he wants you
because remember this god has a will for
your life here’s a plan for your life
he’s got the best
and so satan is not going to say well i
want to destroy you
no he just wants to move your attention
from god spiritual things to earthly
things material things
sensual things and then to deny god that
worship and glory do to him that is
the devil isn’t one you’re worshiping
god
so listen he’s given us a whole plate
full of stuff
to get our attention away from god
because that’s his purpose
and then to destroy us satan’s
ultimate goal for temptation is
destruction
destroy our relationship to god destroy
our interest in him destroy our faith in
him
destroy our desire to pray destroy our
sense of eternal security
destroy destroy destroy destroy destroy
that’s his goal and yet we know that
and isn’t it interesting that in spite
of what we know how many sermons have
you heard in your life
you can’t even count them and i
certainly hope you’re going to hear a
lot more
but the issue is what are you going to
do about the truth that you hear
satan knows about the truth that you’re
listening to and here’s what he does
he shows up to distract you
from hearing the truth so you keep
moving in a direction that’ll take you
away from god
all of us face some kind of temptation
in life
i didn’t say every single day but listen
everybody has something that they can be
tempted by
it may be something that you keep having
victory over time after time after time
or you may feel defeated time after time
but satan’s goal is to get you away from
god
so he’ll tell you why you don’t have
time to read the bible
he’ll say first of all you you’ve got
you’ve got to be somewhere at a certain
time
secondly he says you don’t need to read
you don’t even you don’t even understand
you don’t understand why why read
something what about deuteronomy and
leviticus and
for ii kings why do you want to read the
bible
anything he can do to get your mind off
of spiritual things is what he’ll do
and he wants to
divide relationships anything to
divide families anything to bring
divorce
any kind of sexual sin anything that’ll
take your mind off god
that is you ought to buy this order by
that don’t ask god about it
you worked hard you worked 40 hours or
50 or 60 hours a week
you’ve been working all these years you
deserve it
so think about it you’re trying to reach
your goals in life and he’s working
against you
you’re trying to live a pure life he’s
working against you you’re trying to
save your money he’s telling you ought
to buy this
satan is your enemy now his strategy
can be found in three words just three
words
i mean as complex as we may think the
devil is
strategist three words the first one is
this
his first step is to deceive us that is
to lie to us if you believe a lie
you’ve taken the first step to an
absolute defeat
and sidon up with the devil
and oftentimes when people want to sin
against god
they’ll take the truth of god and try to
twist it all around
and watch this i can i can hear this
many times
but you don’t know about my situation
well god knows about your situation you
you don’t know how long i’ve suffered
well god knows how long you’ve suffered
well you know you don’t know how long
i’ve been in need
you can come up with all kinds of
excuses remember this god’s heard them
all
and they didn’t come from god they came
from the devil
but the issue is this god has the best
life for every single one of us and the
devil has his best to do what to deceive
us
and to divide us you think about how
many churches
get divided over somebody disagreeing
with us at nila
nations of divided churches divided
families divided friends divided
divided divided divided separate
separate separate
because then you’ve got chaos no love
criticism they say things they
would say one day they wouldn’t say the
next satan is a divider he’s a deceiver
he is a destroyer that’s his purpose to
destroy our testimony
to destroy our life physically they
destroy our finances destroy our
marriage
destroy our families destroy destroy and
destroy so deceive divine destroy
that’s all he needs deceive divine
destroy
the next time you feel tempted ask
yourself the question
is satan deceiving me and my feel
am i being divided from what all i be
doing and
am i headed to a destruction
if if a child of god if you a believer
will stop when you are tempted and ask
yourself those questions
am i being deceived
number one question is my mind being
divided
am i heading towards some destruction
ask yourself the question so
we need to be alert and watchful and as
a child of god
none of us can boast of being so strong
that we’ll never be tempted when
somebody says well i may be tempted
about some things but not that
satan just puts check by that one
none of us not any of us
can say i will never be tempted by this
that aila
we think we aren’t we we would almost
swear we wouldn’t be
and we could give you a lot of reasons
we wouldn’t be but the devil
wants a sense of self-confidence that’s
based
on mush no foundation but based
on mushy attitudes about what you really
will not do
and when i think of this great passage
of scripture
in um first corinthians 10 13
listen to what paul says everybody ought
to know this one
no temptation listen to that no
temptation
has taken you attempted you have tried
you
but such is is common to man
listen come unto man and
that being case god is faithful who will
not allow you to be tempted more than
you’re able to bear
but will with the temptation also make a
way of escape
that you can bear it we have a promise
from god
i do not have to do that i may want to
do it
i may want it more than anything else
but i don’t have to
if i don’t have to then i’ll make the
choice either i will i will not
and when i think about the condition our
nation is
in and the things that temp people
and the people who are being destroyed
being destroyed
self-destruction as a result of yielding
the temptation
deceive divide destroy so
whether it’s a nation whether it’s a
church whether it’s a family
satan’s busy so when you feel
tempted what do you do do you
watch this carefully is your first
response
a sudden desire to find
a real good sounding excuse
or when you attempted did you know it’s
if you say this is of the devil it’s not
who i am
it doesn’t belong in my life i choose to
i choose
to reject this we have a choice
now a person who’s unbeliever they don’t
have a kind of choice
i’ll tell you why because they have a
fallen nature
and so when satan comes home with a very
very strong overpowering
event in their life or presentation of
something they want
they already have three strikes against
them it’s the way they’ve been living
so it’s sort of easy to slip into what
you’ve been doing
when you’re a child of god you trusted
him as your savior
you begin on a platform of strength you
have the holy spirit within you
the first of all identify what you’re
facing
as a sin that it doesn’t fit your life
it isn’t of god and it’s destructive
it it cannot bring you anything that’s
good you have the holy spirit
the person who’s not a believer doesn’t
have that
and the word of god is our greatest
defense against the devil
because we don’t have to choose sin we
have the holy spirit living within us he
promises that
you have the holy spirit what does he do
he makes you aware of the temptation he
reminds you maybe
with some scripture or something he’s
already done in your life
that god will give you victory he
reminds you you do not
you do not have to yield to this it is a
choice you make
and we can blame it on other people well
my mother my father my sister my brother
my friend
my friends this that now that’s not the
issue
if you want to if you want to keep
living in sin all you have to do is
close this book
and don’t open it up and just you can
open up once a week
it’s not going to keep you from sinning
god has given us watch this he’s given
us his
written word and he’s given us the holy
spirit to live inside of us
in order to interpret that word for us
to remind us that the wages of sin is
death
and so we all have to face temptations
only you know how you handle them
somebody says well you know i think god
understands
that is not our excuse for
or our explanation for living in sin
because god wants the best for us and
and their christian experience does not
mean
that you’ll never sin against god
all of us at some point at times in our
life do things or say things or see
things or whatever it might be
we know a lot of god what do you do in
other words you just give up and say
well see
i’ve tried to live a christian life i
can’t so forget it no
the apostle paul never claimed
perfection the other person who can
claim that’s jesus
but a true believer when you attempted
you turn to god
lord here’s what i’m facing i don’t want
this in my life
i feel say help me jesus help me help me
help me jesus whatever it takes
you say well then suppose i yield anyway
you ask god to forgive you to strengthen
you to make you
aware of that in your life that that’s
an area of weakness
if i should ask you how many of you know
at least
one area of weakness in your life don’t
raise your hand no
please no but how many of you know
at least one area of weakness in your
life
we all do anybody who says they don’t
not telling the truth you know when if
for example if it’s a gossip if it’s
lust
if it’s uh overeating
if it’s the way you spend your money or
if it’s your lack of faithfulness or you
know one another whatever it might be
and besides that remember this god knows
it
in other words you never have to come to
him and say god by the way let me remind
you of something no
he knows there is a weakness i think
about how many families are destroyed
by somebody falling into temptation
whether it’s a teenager or whether it’s
their parents
think about people who go to jail
because they feel the temptation of
stealing
they can justify it other people have it
they don’t have it therefore they’ll
just
take what they want you can go right
down the list of every sin in the bible
we could give an excuse for it but it’s
not acceptable to god
now here’s what i want you to see you do
not have to
somebody says but i just couldn’t help
myself
you have god who will help you through
anything you face
you say well suppose i sin then what
here’s what he says if we confess our
sins
that if we agree with god about the
nature of our sins
if we confess our sins he’s faithful
and just to forgive me for my sins why
because jesus
christ is my savior i’ve yielded to him
as the lord of my life and this is a
point of failure and i’m asking you god
to forgive me
not on the basis that i deserve it but
on the basis that jesus shed blood
atoned for my sin and i have another
chance
god wipes away our guilt now
you say well i’ve been to god about the
same thing over and over and over again
well god knows whether you really and
surely are committed to him or not
and some say watch this some sins leave
scars
that you can’t erase
remember this statement the scars of sin
can last you a lifetime only the blood
of jesus can atone for them
but you know what scar is still there
and we have to thank god for his awesome
power to
enable us to overcome them so i’m simply
saying to you
whatever the weaknesses in your life
need to bring it to god
will they help you through it yes so i
would just ask you to consider in your
own life
what effect has temptation had on my
life
why have i reasoned that i could excuse
myself
why have i told god over and over again
that i’m different i grew up in a bad
situation
i grew up with parents who didn’t teach
me i grew up with alcoholic parents
i grew up with parents getting married
three or four times i did this i did
that i did the other god on the stands
listen carefully god understands but god
doesn’t excuse sin he’s willing to deal
with he’s willing to forgive
he’s willing to give you the strength
that you need but you
have to first come clean with him lord
here i am and i’m weak in this area
i desperately need you to do something
for me and my life in this area
in jesus name will they answer your
prayer yes he will
you say are we supposed to be perfect no
no
that’s why he says if we confess our
sins
agree with him about him he’s faithful
and just to forgive us and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness
in some sense we probably have all
confessed some things over and over and
over again
but we have the holy spirit
living within us to enable us to be
strong enough
to say no and the more times you say no
the stronger you become
you always have god enabling you
warning you and strengthening you to be
obedient to god
amen father we thank you for your love
for us
we thank you in the midst of this dark
generation which we’re living
that there is an awesome light that’s
eternal
it glows within our hearts that makes it
possible for us to live
godly and to walk clearly
plainly lovingly before you day by day
i pray lord this morning that somebody
seated here who is going through
some terrible temptation or maybe is
trapped by it right now
that you’ll give them this grace god
the grace to remember
they can be freed and the grace to
remember that you love them in spite of
all of it
and the grace to remember that your
power
is greater than the temptation they face
we love you we praise you we thank you
we’re trusting you
daily to be our guide
our savior our lord the master of our
life
show us how to live above sin lord in
every way
in jesus name amen
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