Good morning. Welcome to Trinity Reformed Baptist Church, Jackson, Georgia. It's September 14th, 2014. Join us now as Brother Steve Martin brings us a message from the word. God sends things to us to minister to us, but we don't recognize them as being sent from God because they're not wearing a suit and tie and they don't look like they're a minister that we've ever seen before. And so we began by looking at things like failure, and weakness and hard circumstances and chastening. And today we're going to look at temptation. What in the world is God doing with temptation? Is temptation any part of God's plan for us? Is temptation God himself actually brings into our lives to accomplish certain purposes? And we want to look at that this morning. But let's read again. First Corinthians chapter 10, the first 14 verses where Paul's looking back at the Old Testament and said, here's an example where people really blew it. I don't want you to blow it. So pay attention. For I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud. There was the giant cloud by day that kept them cool in the desert, and they had a pillar of fire by night. and all passed through the sea at the Red Sea and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. Baptized here doesn't mean literally they were submerged in water, but simply that they were as baptism signifies our identification with Christ. So they were identified with Moses and all ate the same spiritual food and all drank the same spiritual drink. So they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them and the rock was Christ. Nevertheless, with most of them, God was not well pleased, for they were laid low in the wilderness. In other words, because of their disobedience, their murmuring, their rebellion, God laid them low in a number of different ways. Now, these things happened as examples for us. In other words, they didn't learn from their mistakes, but he said, we're writing these things down so you can learn from their mistakes. There's a phrase in golf, if you've ever played golf or watched golf, where two men have a putt to make and the farthest away from the hole always goes first. And maybe one man's ball is actually in line with the man who has a very long putt. So you put down a coin to mark your ball and then you take your ball away and the man who's farthest away putts first. And then the man who has a shorter putt puts his ball back by the marker, takes the marker, and then goes ahead and putts second. But you can watch the first man's ball and where it goes and figure out, aha, that's what I need to do with my putt. It's called going to school on the other man's putt. And Paul's saying here, if you're spiritually discerning, you can go to school on what these people didn't do and what they did do. You can learn from them if you're paying attention. These things happened as examples for us, so that we would not crave evil things as they also craved. Do not be idolaters, as some of them were, as it is written. Well, the people sat down to eat and drink and stood up to play. It was party time. Nor let us act immorally, as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in one day. Nor let us try the Lord, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the serpents. nor grumble, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now, these things happened to them as an example, and they were written down for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come." If you're sitting here today thinking, well, I don't have these kinds of problems, my life's pretty easy, I don't have these kinds of big-time problems or temptations, He says, therefore, let him or her who thinks he stands take heed, lest he does not fall. In other words, if you think that kind of stuff would never happen to me, you got one foot on the skateboard and the other one on a banana peel and you're about ready to fall. These things happen to everyone. If you think stuff like that wouldn't happen to me, you don't know your own heart and you don't listen to what the scriptures say about our human condition. Therefore, let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall. No temptation has overtaken you, but such as is common to man. You're not the only person in the world who has temptations. You're not the only person in the world who has a particular temptation. And God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you'll be able to endure it. Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. Case in point. The Bible makes it clear that temptation is appointed for all of us. We're fallen creatures living on a fallen planet and part of the strategy of the devil and part of the strategy of our remaining sin is to have a problem with temptation. If we fail to understand what God's doing by allowing temptation in our lives, we're going to have a whole lot of unnecessary frustration and failure in our lives. We need to understand the unique ministry that temptation brings from God to us. So we're going to try to do four things in our time together. Did there used to be a clock back there? Oh, it's right up here. Okay. It's a sundial, so you really can't see what time it is. We'll just have to go with what it is. getting clear our minds what temptation really is the first thing what temptation really is because some believers are really confused about what is temptation. Second of all, God permits the ministry of temptation. Third, God prevents impossible temptations. And fourth, God provides a way of escape from temptation. Let's look at the first point here that we need to make straight in our minds. What is temptation and what isn't it? Are you clear in your mind what a temptation is and what it isn't? Verse 13, it says, temptation has overtaken you. The idea that you're out on a walk and something comes up behind you and overtakes you, comes upon you, seizes you, takes hold of you and will not let go. Some of us struggle with the same temptation day upon day, week after week, month after month, year after year. I know one woman who, a secretary in a church that I used to preach at a lot, she shared She had a temptation, a trial that went on for 18 years before God lifted it. Why are these things happening? What is God doing? Some Christians wrongly conclude that temptation is the result of their not being right with God. If I was right with God, I wouldn't have these temptations. And that's not true. If that's not true, we'll come back to that. They think, well, maybe Christ isn't the Lord of my life, because I would think a person who's really walking close with the Lord wouldn't have temptations. And then the devil comes along and says, well, maybe you're not a Christian at all. So I need to understand certain things about temptation. OK, verse 13, God will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you're able. He works everything that comes into your life, nothing comes into your life that doesn't have His express permission. If you remember back to some of the earlier messages in the series, we referenced the book of Job and Job chapter 1 and 2, and the devil could not do a single thing to Job or his family until he asked God's permission first. And he could only do what God expressly gave him permission to do. So nothing comes into your life not a virus, not a molecule, not a temptation, not a trial, but that it doesn't have God's express approval to be in your life. But I think an important point I need to make for everyone here, and if you're a young Christian, or you're not a Christian, you need to understand this. Temptation is not sin. Now, sin is a three-letter word. Temptation has a lot more letters. You kind of go, yeah, I just noticed that now that you mentioned it. It's a different word from the word sin. I'm not being silly, but I'm being serious. Sin and temptation are not the same thing. If temptation were sin, then God would not allow you to be tempted, because the Bible itself says that God cannot be tempted by sin, and he tempts no one. In fact, we'll see also in a couple minutes, the Lord Jesus Christ was tempted, but the Bible also makes explicit he never sinned. A person can be tempted, sure, but sinning does not necessarily go with temptation. You can be tempted and not give in to the temptation and therefore not sin. For example, the devil comes and tempts you. I grew up, there was a TV show that we watched once in a while, still available on one of the rerun channels called Leave it to Beaver. And there was this really whiny friend of Wally's name, Eddie Haskell. And Eddie Haskell was, to use a technical term, a jerk. Anyway, Eddie Haskell is the kind of person who would tempt you to do something, and after you did it, you'd go, look what you did. Maybe you knew someone like that growing up in school. They were just the ordinary person in class. And they would get you in trouble by tempting you to do something, and then maybe blow the whistle on you after you did it. What a miserable person. But the devil's like that. He'll tempt you to do something, and he'll tempt you really hard. And then, when you do it, he goes, I can't believe you did that. You call yourself a Christian and look what you did. If you were a better Christian, you wouldn't have these temptations. Or real Christians don't have temptations. That's just not true. It's not true. It's not a sin to be tempted. I found that out how this worked. I was a new Christian. I was sitting in class in college. I can't remember. I think it was an English class. And I'm sitting there all of a sudden. An idea goes in this ear, rattles around and goes out this ear. And it was a temptation, and I go, whoa, where did that come from? I'm paying attention to the professor. I'm not daydreaming. I'm not thinking about other things. But I was suddenly tempted. I didn't give in to the temptation. I recognized it for what it was after a minute. But it was my first clue that you can have something come upon you that you're not looking for. I didn't wait for it. I wasn't trying to hitch a ride with it. It overtook me, and I'm sitting in class, and I suddenly had a temptation. In Hebrews 4.15, the author of Hebrews tries to encourage us with this word, that we have a Savior in a high place, Jesus Christ, who has been, in every respect, tempted as we are, yet without sin. In every respect, He's been tempted like you and I have. Pride, lust, envy, greed, jealousy, covetousness, a host of other sins, And he was tempted, but he never gave in. In fact, it's arguable that Christ was tempted more than anybody else, because invariably, inevitably, in some way, you and I give in on some temptations. Christ never gave in. Imagine how high the devil could ratchet up temptation if you don't give in the first time. And you don't give in the second time. And you don't give in the thousandth time. Imagine how high he can ratchet up the pressure to try to get you to sin. Christ never gave in, but the pressure must have been incredible. Temptation is an enticement to sin, but it's not sin itself. You shouldn't feel guilty as if you did something wrong because you were tempted. If you gave in to the temptation, that's sin, and you should feel guilty for giving in. But you shouldn't feel guilty simply to be tempted. The Lord Jesus was tempted, and it wasn't morally wrong. Martin Luther, I think, had a great quote on this. He said, it's not your fault if a bird flies over your head, but it is your fault if you let it build a nest in your hair. That's a whole other idea. This thing goes by fine, but you get your hair all set up and I don't have enough hair to build a nest. But if I did, what's the deal? It would be my fault to give the bird a nesting place. We need to be clear that God himself has no one to send. He will never has never attempted anyone to send. Look at James, chapter one. Look at James, chapter one. It could not be more explicit. James, chapter one, verses 13 through 16. Let no one say when he is tempted, I'm being tempted by God, for God cannot be tempted by evil and he himself does not tempt anyone. Could that be more clear? You should never say, I'm being tempted by God, for God cannot be tempted by evil himself and he himself does not tempt anyone. You know, the devil can't lean on God and tempt God to do something in someone's life. God isn't tempted by evil, and he never tempts anyone by evil. But each one, each person, is tempted when he's carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Well, I think a lot of Christians are deceived. I think they're deceived about what temptation is. They're just wrong in their thinking. And then sometimes they're wrong when they think that God is the one tempting them. That's not true. God allows the temptations, but he himself is not the source of the temptation. He will let the devil tempt you, but he himself will not tempt you. And we're going to clarify that. One of the things you might notice in the New Testament is that when God is doing something to check us out, it'll use the word test. When the devil's trying to do something in your life, it'll use the word tempt. But in the Greek, in the New Testament, it's the same word. Why the translation difference? Because it goes to motive. Why does God test anyone. Why does God put someone in a situation? Well, because he wants to prove what's true. He wants you to see where you're at. He's trying to assay you. He's trying to give you an analysis of your condition. So he puts you in a situation where he allows you to be tempted. Not because he doesn't know how you're doing, but because you and I need to know how we're doing. But when the devil gives you this thing, His motive is that you fall. Remember going back to Paul and his thorn in the flesh, and we talked about that a few weeks ago, and he said, in light of the surpassing revelations that I've had, I've seen heaven. I know what the eternal state looks like. I've seen heaven. Not this junk and these stupid movies of some eight-year-old kid who goes to heaven and comes home and writes a book about it. a revelation of an apostle that I've seen heaven, I've seen the real stuff. Half the stuff I don't have the permission to tell you what I saw. The other half, I don't have the ability to describe what I saw. So I'm not going to go there. But he said to keep me from becoming puffed up with pride. Now, what does You know, the devil would love it if Paul was puffed up with pride, wouldn't he? The devil would love it if Paul just, I used the expression the other day, swole up like a dog tick and burst. That's a graphic, but crudely it works for me. A demonstration of what we can be like with pride. Now that would serve the devil's purposes. God, but Paul, excuse me, the devil wasn't thinking that when he attacked Paul. He was thinking, I'm giving them this thorn in the flesh. It's not going to go away. It will make his life miserable. He won't function as well. It'll diminish his ministry. It'll be better for me and what I'm doing as the devil. Whereas, God says, I'm going to let you do that. It will make him miserable, and he will be tempted to think he's going to have a diminished ministry. But in fact, he'll have an enhanced ministry, because A, he'll be kept from pride, and B, he's been weakened, so he'll have to trust in me, and he's going to have an enhanced ministry. So God let the devil do this for God's higher purposes. The devil was tempting Paul to different things. God was testing Paul. That's the difference between the two words. Tempt is to entice to sin. God never does that. To put to the test is to see what's real. He puts us through different tests so that we can see the state of our souls. In 1 Peter chapter 1, Peter talks about the trial or testing of our faith. You know, in the parable of the four soils, some people naively think that three of the four soils were good soil, and that's not true. Historically, the churches understood that three of the four soils were bad soil, and only one was good soil. God doesn't care if you have a lot of leaves on your bush. He cares whether or not you have fruit on your bush. And the three soils, the number one soil falls on the sidewalk, the hard path, and nothing grows. And then you have, what, the rocky soil? No depth. It starts to grow up. It gets leaves. It looks like maybe something's happening here. But then persecution because of the word comes. and it wilts because it has no root. That person, we might have been tempted to think, they might have been tempted to think they were a real Christian because they got some leaves, they started going on, they started going down the Christian life a little bit, but they bagged that they quit as soon as they got tested. This is hard stuff and they quit. Then you have the rocky soil, excuse me, the thorny soil that starts growing up, but it's growing up in the thicket and all these other thorns and thistles and things like this. And it just gets choked out and never bears fruit either. It may have a few leaves here and there, but it never bears fruit. Only one is the good soil that bears 30, 60, 100 fold. The point is, is that God tests those who profess faith in Christ that they can see and others can see if they're real. Abraham had his profession of faith and what does God do? He puts him to the test. How much do you love me? How committed are you to this? Are you willing to sacrifice your own son, the son of promise, the son I gave to you when you were 100 and your wife was 90 and he was the son of a miracle? Are you willing to put to death the greatest thing that's ever happened to you? God tries our faith, but he never tempts us to evil. Now, so temptation is something that is allowed by God, but doesn't originate with God. Sin never originates with him. He doesn't have evil, sinful motives. But we can be tempted by the devil. Temptation is not sin. I hope you carry that home. It's not sin to be tempted. Jesus Christ was tempted for 40 days in the wilderness. Now, he didn't give in, did he? But he was tempted. Is Jesus Christ sinless? Well, yes. So then, to be tempted doesn't mean you're sinful. It just means you're under attack. Every time you're tempted, it's like yelling out, incoming, because you're under attack. OK, the question is, will you give in or will you resist it? Now, I'm going to belabor the second point. God permits the ministry of temptation. God allows us to be tempted to expose our own weaknesses. How are we doing, really? How are we doing, really? Wasn't there the verse that says, let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall? Earlier, when on the mystery of failure, we looked at Deuteronomy chapter 8, and a verse I read with chapter 8 verse 2 says, and you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these 40 years in the wilderness to humble you, to test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. And at the time I said, God wasn't interested in finding out what was in their hearts. He's God. He knows everything. He knows what's in their hearts. They're the ones who didn't know what was in their hearts. The children of Israel had earlier told God they'd do anything you tell us will do it. You give us something to do will do it. They were like Peter. They were full of themselves and clueless as to what God said was true about their hearts. Peter in the gospel accounts boasted, he says, I don't care what these knuckleheads do, but I'll die for you. I'll go to prison for you. Really, Peter? You don't know your heart very well. Tonight, before the rooster crows three times in the morning, you will have denied me three times. Peter had to see what was in his own heart, and so God let him be tempted, tested. God allows us to be tested and tempted so we can better see the true condition of our heart. For example, do you ever have a problem with spiritual pride? Spiritual presumption? They're recurring sins in believers because sin is ever so subtle. Let's say you came out of a really rough background. not much common grace, maybe in your home, you were a rowdy person, you come to Christ, you've been a Christian a couple years, then you read in the newspaper, you see something on TV, and you go, how do people do things like that? Stop, wait a minute. How do people do things like that? Where did you come from? What's your background like? Were you Snow White before you were converted? Are you not a sinful person? Do you not know anything about your heart? For us to see things that happen in our culture and adopt a self-righteous, holier-than-thou attitude shows our spiritual cluelessness at that point. I have arrived, you poor creatures, you'll just have to stand back and look with awe upon me, for I have attained such a great spirituality. You don't have to be a Christian very long to slip into something like that. We do not know the remaining sinfulness and wickedness of our hearts. Robert Murray McShane was famous as a Scots pastor in the 19th century. He was famous because he was a very holy man and people respected him, even at a young age. He died before he turned 30. He was a man who said, my people's greatest need as their pastor is my personal holiness. That a holy minister is an awesome weapons in the hand of Almighty God. But he also said later, he said, having seen my own heart, I know there is no sin that I'm not capable of. I'm going, this guy really has a bad case of being a perfectionist, because I'm pretty messed up, and there's still some stuff I wouldn't do. The Lord goes, really? Would you like me to take off all restraint and grace? Would you like me to put you in a situation where all restraints are off, the pressure is unbelievable? Would you like to see how you do in that context? No, Lord, I don't want to see. I'm capable of anything. One man, I've told this story before, but I know a man who was trying to encourage a woman whose husband had committed grievous sins, and he was explaining how his wife had left him for another man, moved in with the other man, lived with him for some time, and he said, that was the second worst day of my life when my wife did that. And this woman was kind of incredulous, and she said, well, what could have been worse than that day? He goes, well, about six weeks later, God showed me my own heart. That was the worst day of my life. I have a challenge for those of you who aren't Christians in the room today, and only two people have ever taken me up on this challenge, and they both became Christians. You have to be careful. If you want to know why you need to be a Christian, ask God to show you your heart. Everyone's not a Christian, because they've never seen their sin. They've never seen how they look to God. They've never seen the wickedness and the depravity of their heart. And they think they're pretty nice people. I know a woman who lived like incredibly wicked life, and she became a Christian when she was like in her thirties, after abandoning her Christian home and living in the dens of iniquity with drug dealers and all kinds of awful places. And she said, you know, during all that time, I could answer all the right Bible questions, but I never felt like a sinner. Not once did I ever feel like I was a sinner. But then when God began to work in her heart, all she could see was the sin. The two junior high boys are the only people who have ever taken me up on this. They went home after that challenge, and at different times, this is what happened. One to one, the parents got up, they heard someone crying. Their son was in his bedroom crying. What's the matter? I did what Pastor Steve challenged us to do. I asked God to show me my heart. I can't believe the crud and wickedness and pride and selfishness. Would you like to talk about it? You can't do anything for me. Christ has to save me or I'm undone. That is essentially what two different boys said on two different occasions, separated by a couple of years. If Christ doesn't save me, I'm undone. But they had never seen their sins before. Yeah, the Bible says I'm a sinner, la-di-da-di-da. But they had never felt like a sinner. They had never seen their grievous condition before God. They'd never felt like they were under God's just condemnation. They never felt like, if Christ doesn't save me, I'm doomed to hell forever. My sins are awful. My sins condemn me. They never felt like that. And as soon as they did feel like that, what's the first thing they go? I need Christ. I need a savior. And the only person who can save me is Christ. We're warned in this passage to take heed lest we fall. Again, we see people sin and we kind of go, oh, do people do stuff like that? Well, I don't know, have you been looking at your own life lately compared to the Word of God? How much of your own heart have you seen? In Galatians 6, we're admonished to help others who have fallen into sin, but to be careful not that we fall into the wrong holier-than-thou attitude and we fall into sin too. The second reason why God permits the Ministry of Temptation is to enlarge our capacity for God. What do I mean by that? Ron Dunn was really helpful here. Like I said, he was the author of the series and the names of some of the messages. I think he had about ten messages in his series and I had about sixteen in mine. I didn't steal his sermons, but I did take some of his titles and some of his ideas. This was helpful to me. He talked about God meeting us at the level of our capacity. and as we're able, he comes close and meets with us. He quoted from Exodus chapter 23, where God tells the children of Israel, I'm not going to let you defeat the enemies all at once. The different types, you know, the Malachites, Amorites, all the ite people, the Mesquitebites, all those people who inherited, inhabited Canaan. Because he said, you're not numerous enough to really hold the land. If you defeated the enemies, Most of it would still go wild and the animals would take over and go back to wilderness. So I'm going to let you incrementally defeat your enemies so that you can actually control the land. Have you ever wondered why God didn't drive out the enemies of the Israelites all at once? Because they were too little numerically and spiritually, and the same thing in our lives. God will enlarge our capacities by helping us, and he'll stretch us as he allows us to be tempted and we have to deal with the temptation. Every battle enlarges and increases our capacity for the Lord. Battle after battle, bit by bit, he will enlarge our hearts. A third major point is God prevents impossible temptations. Now, sadly, most of the time we go, that's every temptation I have is an impossible temptation, because it's just too hard and I have to give in. That's not true. You will not be allowed to be tempted beyond what you're able to endure. I can't endure this. Well, he says you can, and he says also my next point will be that he'll provide a way of escape. If you give in to temptation, the Bible says it's your fault. You can't say, well, God didn't really help me enough. It was just too overwhelming, too powerful. I couldn't help it. Or as Flip Wilson, the comedian, made a career out of saying, the devil made me do it. You had four pieces of pie and it's the pie demon. I don't think it's the pie demon. I think you gave in to temptation. God's promises that you provide a way of escape, so you'll be able to endure it. And if you and I choose not to believe what God says is true, well I know what he says, but this temptation is just too hard and I have to give in. Well then, that's our fault if we don't believe God. God is not going to allow the devil to bring into your life a temptation that you cannot endure. I think of the horrific temptations that Job went through. You lose your career, you lose all your living, you lose your house, you lose all of your children, and you get the messengers, the news, boom, boom, boom. You're left with your wife, whose counsel is, why don't you just curse God and die? Thank you, dear. And what could be worse? The devil had told God, Job doesn't serve you for nothing. You touch the good stuff in his life and he'll curse you to your face. And God let the devil take the good stuff of his life, and he didn't curse God. It says, Job, and all these things never sinned against God with his tongue. But you and I would be grievously tempted, wouldn't you? Imagine getting a phone call that you're fired and your pension's gone. And another phone call, oh, your wife and kids were killed in a car wreck. And another phone call that all of your future's gone. Oh, by the way, you're going to be covered with all these sores and this disease. Wouldn't you, at some point, be tempted to go, I'm going to curse God and die. My life was better before I was hooked up with the Lord. But God said he won't let that happen to you. And not every person's temptation is the same. In Genesis 3, for example, the devil came in the form of a serpent to tempt Adam and Eve. I think Ron Dunn had great insight here. The devil came in disguise as one of the beasts of the field. We know from scripture that he was the anointed sheriff who served in the very presence of God. Perhaps he was the most glorious of all the angelic creatures and perhaps that went to his head and he fell through pride. Now imagine if he came in the full splendor of a supernatural angelic being and came to Adam and Eve. they might be quite tempted to say, well, I was blown off my feet. I mean, this creature was just so much greater than we were, so awesome, so this and that. We couldn't deal with his arguments. We couldn't deal with his subtleties. We couldn't deal with his power, his charisma. We just gave in. That wasn't how the devil came to Adam and Eve. Here's a talking snake. Do we have anything in our handbook from God on talking snakes? No. OK. Why she was talking to a snake and didn't ask the devil? She didn't ask her husband for help. I don't know. But she finds herself talking to a snake and beginning to listen to him. They should have passed the test. God permitted the test. And we don't know why, except for his glory and our good. God did not allow them to be overwhelmed by a full display of the devil's power or splendor, but he did let them be tempted, and it didn't take a big, humongous, overpowering temptation. It just took a subtle one. Isn't that why God is keeping the good stuff from you? He knows if you rebel and do what he told you not to do and eat from the tree he told you not to eat from, That's where happiness lies in rebellion. It doesn't come from obeying God. It comes from doing your own thing. Are you guys stupid? Don't you get it? Well, they got it. And they fell. They sinned. They listened to the temptation. They believed the temptation. They gave in to the temptation. But verse 13 says, No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. You know, sometimes the temptation comes, we think, and I think sometimes the devil here comes alongside and helps us. You are the worst sinner in the world because other people don't have the temptations that you have. The stuff that rolls around in your head doesn't roll around in anybody else's head. The things that you're tempted to say, the things that you find yourself thinking. Real Christians don't think these kinds of things. They're not tempted to say these kinds of things. And there's a theological term for that. It's hogwash. That's not true. That's not true. He says here, no temptation has overtaken you, but such is as common to human beings. Other Christians go through the same struggles, the same temptations. Ron Dunn, I think, had an interesting insight on this. He had a man come to him who said, Pastor, I need some help. I have a bad tongue, a wicked tongue, and I find myself cursing and I can't stop cussing sometimes and using foul language. He said, I can control my language when I'm at church and I'm around you. Because Ron Dunn had said, well, I've never heard you curse or use foul language. Oh, pastor, I wouldn't do that around you. But he did it at work and he did it at home. Ron Dunn says, well, Why didn't you curse around me? Well, I have too much respect for you to curse around you, but I find myself tempted at other times. Your problem is that you're a man-pleaser. Your sin is that you're a man-pleaser, and you love what people think of you. So you want me to think well of you, so you don't curse around me, but the guys at work or around the house, you don't really care. And you give in because you're a man-pleaser. Your basic problem isn't that you cuss. Your basic problem is that you love the approval of men more than you love the approval of God. That's true. He thought that his problem was that I'm tempted to cuss and curse. But why does that bother me in the unique way that it does, and why does it only express itself at certain times? Because really, I'm being tempted to be a man pleaser, and I want you to like me, and I want you to think I'm a good man, maybe even a spiritual man, so I won't act around you like I'd act around other people. And so being two-faced is a form of temptation. When temptation comes, what should we do? Let me give a plug for tonight, not simply because I'm preaching, but because tonight is a very important message in the series on God's strange ministers. Most of the times, I think every time, I've looked at one of the strange ministers and given you some counsel that goes with that. But tonight I'm going to be looking at one of the best antidotes to whatever God throws in your life. Giving thanks on all things, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus. We're going to look at what the scripture says about giving thanks and the huge antidote it is to all these different things that may plague us. So tonight at 5.30, Lord willing, we'll look at that. But when temptation comes, can I consciously tell the Lord, thank you. I believe you're sovereign. I believe that you allowed this in my life. I believe that you allowed it for my good. And it says here that you will not allow me to be tempted beyond what I am able. Thank you that that's true. I'm looking for the way of escape. He says, I will not let you have impossible temptations, but I will let you have temptations that you'll have to deal with and you will grow as a result of this and you'll find out more about yourself when you do fall. You can't blame me. I'll let the devil do it to you, but you'll have to blame yourself because you chose to give in. You didn't believe that I wouldn't give you one beyond which you could endure. You didn't believe that I gave you a way of escape. And that's the final point here, is God does provide a way of escape from temptation. How do we know it's true? Because God says so. Have any of you seen Jesus Christ personally? Have any of you ever seen Jesus Christ? How many? How old are you? Is anybody here 2,000 years old? Let the tape reflect that no one raised their hand, that no one's actually seen Jesus Christ in the flesh. How about Paul or Barnabas or David or Daniel? How do you know anything about any of these things? Because you have a book that's inspired by God and God gives you grace by the Holy Spirit to believe this book and to believe what it says. Not just in total, but the individual's some parts. And God's Word says that God will provide a way of escape in all of our temptations. And that's true because God's Word never lies, because God never lies. For every temptation there's a way of escape. I don't have to give in. Now, Ron Dunn points out that the term translated way of escape is actually a description of a box canyon when you lead your squad of men into a box canyon only to discover there's no way out. How are we going to get through this? Well, there's a path through this box canyon, and you have to go through the path that's provided here. And God says it may be different in every circumstance, but I'll provide a way out of it. He will provide the way of escape, a definite way. What did Jesus say in John 14, 6? I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but through me. But let's explore just that first phrase. Jesus said, I am the way. The way what? The way to God? The way to salvation? The way to eternal life? But I think in our context here, we can honestly say, Jesus is the way of escape. How do we mean that? Well, is Jesus Christ God? Yes, and he's the one who came in our place. He died on the cross. My sins were counted to Christ. His righteousness is counted to me as my righteousness as a believing sinner. Christ is my representative in heaven at the right hand of God on the throne of the right hand of God, human flesh sits in the person of Jesus Christ, the God man will forever be the God man as a guarantee of my salvation. If Christ ever ceased to be the God man said, you know, I'm tired of wearing human flesh and I'm a divest myself of human flesh. My salvation becomes instantly questionable. But Christ is forever the God-man, forever united in perfect deity and perfect humanity, in order that there might be an assurance of salvation and a guarantee that He is my stand-in forever and ever. He's the way of escape. He rules my life and He governs my life. And nothing has come into my life that He has not sovereignly appointed. So when I say there's a way of escape, We look to the Lord Jesus Christ, who is our way. Lord, you're faithful. You've limited this temptation. Lord Jesus, you said it's not too hard for me. Lord, I'm looking to you to help me. You are my way. How should I deal with this particular temptation? And I can't give you a little cookbook, a little manual on spontaneity, or something like that. We have to walk with the Lord and pray for grace with each temptation. How would you have me to deal with this? When one of our heroes, Joseph, was tempted by Potiphar's wife, how did he deal with the temptation? He ran away. Flee. It says in our context here, in verse 14, my beloved flee from idolatry. Now, I think that's a good word, because idolatry is mentioned in the passage, but also, if anything else but Christ is number one in your life, you're an idolater. And if you flee to anything else to help you besides Christ, you're an idolater, because that thing has more of your trust than Christ does. That thing has more of your faith than Christ does. That thing has more of your attention and love than Christ does. So, I think fleeing is one of the best things we can do. How do you flee? Well, some people, by their temperament, like to just drill down and get really detailed and really scope on things and just... And for some sense, that's not a good thing. You're being tempted in your mind. Let's think about this really hard and we'll think about this temptation really hard. It would just be better to drop it and move on to something else. To drill down when you're being tempted in your mind isn't a healthy thing to do. It's just staying at that point and focusing on it rather than finding something else to give your attention to if you're being tempted from the neck up, if you're being tempted mentally. And so fleeing can be physically leaving, physically finding another place to be so that the temptation or the tempting person is not there. But in some other ways, the temptation is to change your way of thinking, find something else to think about. so that you don't just focus and fixate on this temptation. Christ is to be the person we go to. He is the way of escape. Lord, what would you have me to do? What can I do in this situation? I know a man in Philadelphia who, as a young Christian, was really growing and he had his secretary who had the hots for him and she would come on to him every day at work. And he was happily married and joyfully a new Christian and didn't know what to do. And his secretary was making life very difficult. He didn't want to go into work every day. So he told his pastor, Donald Barnhouse, and Dr. Barnhouse said, well, let me take care of it. The man had prayed about the temptation, had prayed about what to do, had talked to his pastor for counsel, and the pastor said, well, let's try this. So the next day, when the secretary came in, she went into the the head guy's office to talk to do her thing. And who was sitting there also was Dr. Barnhouse. And he began to talk to her about her soul. He began to talk to her about how God has saved this man and made him into a different man. And God help her if she was a tool of the devil to try to bring him down. And Dr. Barnhouse put the fear of God into her. And she never ever did that again. Now, it'd be great if we had somebody to talk to. Hi, I'm going through this temptation. Can you come by and help? Dr. Barnhouse has gone to be with the Lord. That's, take him off the table as an option. Now, maybe there's a person that we can get to help us. Maybe you should call another person and say, you know, and some, you know, they tell you if you have a background in drugs or alcohol, sometimes rather than be superstar, you call up somebody and say, I'm really being tempted right now to fall off the wagon. Would you help me? Would you pray with me? And we need friends to do that. It's not a matter of, I'll just be so strong. Temptation is never going to get me again. Well, that's makes for superstar movies, but not reality. We need to find the way of escape and ask Christ what that might look like in every context. I'm being tempted. Okay. I get this. I'm being tempted. I need to find the way of escape. Lord Jesus, you're my Lord. Help me to see the way of escape in this context. Final point, what if you fail? What if you give in to the temptation? You look a square in the eye, all this stuff buzzes to your head, and you go, oh, I'm just going to give in. So what do you do? Our God is provided for everything. We are weak sinners, and there's no cause for permanent defeat and despair, because Knowing our weaknesses, knowing our foibles, knowing how foolish we are, God has made provision for our unbelief and our disobedience and giving in to temptation. Do you not know the verse? I didn't memorize it. I just said it so much I didn't memorize it. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. I pray that daily. Why? Because I'm a sinner. I'm a saved sinner. I need grace daily. Some temptations I deal with, sometimes I don't. And when I fail to trust the Lord and I fail to appeal to Christ, to find the way out of temptation and I give in, I have to go to Christ every day. And if you're knowing something of your own heart, you must do it every day too. If we confess our sins, He's faithful. You can count on Him. He said this is the way. And he's just, he's righteous. Christ has already forgiven you for your sins. He has died for these sins too. He's faithful and just to forgive you of your sins and then to cleanse you from all unrighteousness. How great it feels to be clean. Have you ever had a really nasty job? You know, sometimes the job you're at now wasn't all the jobs you've had, but some are some nasty jobs out there. And I've had a couple of nasty jobs that were so bad at the end of the day, I would stand my clothes up. They were too nasty to put in the dish and the washing machine. And I had to wear them the next day. So I would stand them up in a mudroom or something like that. And then next I go out and put them back on and go back to this miserable job where you got filth on you. You got perspiration. You're down in a hole. I won't go in all where it was working, but it was just a nasty situation. And the highlight of every day was going home and taking a shower. Not a bath, because you're stewing your own juices, lady. You want to take a shower and get all that stuff off you. If we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness and all the filth. He's provided a way of escape that you can endure. Thank Him. The way is Christ. Appeal to Christ whenever you have a temptation. God's made provision for everything. And on the days when you don't look to Christ, you don't believe His promise, you fall to the temptation, He's made provision for that too. Our Lord is for us, and He's saying to us that we will make it to glory. Let's pray. Father, everyone in this room has been tempted. Every Christian in this room has been tempted, and they recognize that they're being tempted. I praise you that temptation is not sin, for the Lord Jesus Christ was tempted way beyond anything we'll ever face. It was ratcheted up so high, the pressure was unbelievable, but he never sinned. But we do. And he knows what it's like to be tempted. He knows what it's like when we say no ten times to the temptation, but the pressure gets great and our faith falters and we give in to the temptation and sin. If anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and he is the propitiation, the payment, the justification, not only for our sins, but for a whole world of sinners. Lord, we thank you that we can confess our sins and be cleansed and get right back up. Get right back in the game of life with our relationship with you unfazed. Help us to face our temptations and to believe your word and your promises for Christ's sake. Amen.