How to Turn Temptations into Triumphs | Part 1

Does being a Christian mean we're immune to temptation?

Listen to Adrian Rogers. Welcome to Love Worth Finding. As we just heard from acclaimed pastor and Bible teacher Adrian Rogers, being saved does not make us immune to temptation. Everyone is subject to temptation. But as Christians, we have the power not only to overcome that temptation, but actually use them as a means to grow in our faith. In order to do this, we must know exactly where these temptations come from so we can have a proper defense against them. If you have your Bible, turn now to 1 Corinthians chapter 10.

We'll begin in verse 12 as Adrian Rogers reveals how to turn temptations into triumphs. We've talked to you about how to be sure you're saved. We've talked to you about what happens when a Christian sins.

We've talked about how to be sure you're secure. We have talked to you about how to be cleansed if you do fall into sin. And now today, how to turn temptations into triumphs, not simply to overcome temptation. But actually, to use temptation as a means to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Look at the Scripture, if you will. Verse 12, Wherefore, let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall. There hath no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man. But God is faithful, who will not suffer you or allow you to be tempted above that ye are able, but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that ye may be able to bear it. Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry.

Well, what a wonderful passage of Scripture this is. Man in general tries to overcome temptation or deal with temptation in three ways. Some people just simply give into it. They're like the lady who said, I can overcome anything but temptation. They just yield to it. And we have a philosophy today that says, don't worry about temptation.

If it feels good, just do it. Whatever is natural is beautiful, and whatever is beautiful must be right. And so these people live like animals. Animals eat when they want to eat, and drink when they want to drink, and sleep when they want to sleep, and mate when they want to mate.

We have preservation, self-propagation. We have a generation of people who are living just like animals, and why not? They've been taught in school that they have evolved from animals. They're just a more intelligent animal, and we ought not to be surprised when they try to live like one, should we? So there are folks who just simply say, well, just give in to temptation.

Then there are other folks who, on the opposite extreme, they spend all of their time fighting temptation, and energy of the flesh. And they fight, and they fail, and they fight, and they fail, and they fight, and they fail. They're very much like the little boy who was sitting under the farmer's apple tree. And the farmer saw him and said, what are you trying to do?

Steal an apple? He said, no, sir, I'm trying not to. But a lot of times we try not to, but we do. But of course, the way is neither just simply giving in to temptation, nor fighting temptation in the strength of our flesh, but overcoming temptation through the Lord Jesus Christ and turning temptation into triumphs." Now, I want to give you several things that begin with the letter S as a memory device to help you to remember them as we think about how to turn temptations into triumphs. And the very first thing I want you to think about is this, the subjects of temptation. Who is tempted? Who are these folks who are the subjects of temptation? Well, the Bible tells us in verse 12, "'Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.'" Now, that's just simply a warning to all of us. We're all subject to temptation.

You say, even you, Pastor Rogers, of course. You say, well, I didn't know that preachers are tempted. Well, the Lord Jesus was tempted, and certainly Satan would aim his biggest guns at those in the ministry or spiritual leaders. The truth of the matter is that all of us are faced every day with unbelievable temptations in all kinds of areas.

Pride and materialism and dishonesty and greed and the lust of the flesh and all of these. And being saved will not make you immune. That brings me to say this, it is not a sin to be tempted.

We know that because Jesus was without sin, and the Bible says that Jesus was tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin. But this verse is a warning against pride. Verse 12, "'Wherefore, let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.'" The proud man tempts the devil to tempt him. And if you think that you cannot fall, you are headed for a fall. Now, the man who is trying to fight temptation in his own strength also is a man that may be headed for a fall.

Well, that brings an interesting question. If God really loves us, why doesn't God make it impossible for us to be tempted? If God really loves us, why doesn't God just kill the devil? Why doesn't God just remove every allurement so we would not be tempted? Well, if God did that, you would lose something, and I would lose something.

You and I would both lose the power and the ability to be overcomers through the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I used to play football back in the olden days and when the earth's crust first hardened. And when I played football, I can tell you that it seems like I have deposited buckets of blood and gallons of sweat on that football field. And we would work and practice and connive and hit and do all of these things, go through all of these difficulties in order to take a bag full of zipped-up air across a pasture and a white line on that field.

It really kind of sounds dumb when you think about it. But when you finally get that piece of pigskin over that white line, they call that a touchdown and everybody goes bananas. We have done it. We have taken that ball across that line. Well, we're trying to do that, and there's a group of fellas on the other side saying, you're not going to do that.

You are not going to. And we're over here saying, oh, yes, we are. And they're over there saying, oh, no, you're not. That's what the game's all about, ladies. That's the whole thing.

All right, now, I have figured it out. That's really a foolish way to do is to come out there when those other guys are there. What we need to do is come out there about 2 a.m. in the morning when the other team is not out there, and then we can take that ball and shove it over that white line as many times as we want, right?

Well, yes, theoretically, we could do that, but why don't people do that? Because that's no victory. That's no victory.

If there's no opposition, there's no victory. God has not called you to a life of ease, but he has called you to a life of victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. And thanks be unto God who causes us always to triumph in him in the Lord Jesus Christ. So, the subjects of temptation. We're all subject to temptation. Even the Lord Jesus was tempted, yet without sin. Secondly, I want you to notice the source of temptation. Now, look in the next verse. The Bible says, "...there hath no temptation taken you, but such as is," what? Come to man. You say, Pastor Rogers, I have a very special temptation.

No, you don't. You have a garden variety temptation. All temptation is very common, and we are all have the same kinds of temptation from the same sources. Actually, there are only three sources of temptation, the world, the flesh, and the devil.

Have you got it? The world, the flesh, and the devil. Now, get that in your mind, because that's important for you to understand later on. You know, the Bible says in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 and verse 23, "...and I pray God, your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." Now, the devil is going to tempt you in the area of the spirit, the soul, and the body. And how is the devil going to tempt you in the area of the spirit, the soul, and the body? He's going to tempt you with the world, the flesh, and the devil. Now, this is going to seem complicated for just a few minutes.

So, just concentrate, and then it will all come together. What is the world? When we say the devil is going to tempt you, are you going to be tempted with the world? What is the world? Well, we're not talking now about the people of the world. That's not what the Bible means when it says the world. God so loved that world that He gave His only begotten Son. If God loves that world, you ought to love it. It's fine to love the people. And He's not talking about the planet, the rocks, and the trees, and the birds, and the bees, and the fleas.

He's not saying that these things are wrong. No, the material world is good and wonderful. Who made this world?

This is my Father's world. He created it. When God swung this planet into space, when God scooped out the seas and heaped up the mountains and flung out the sun, moon, and the stars, God said, that is good. So, never let the devil tell you that the material world is evil. It is not evil. Things are not evil.

The material world is not evil. But the Bible says we're to love not the world. Let me give you some verses, for example.

Just jot these in the margin. 1 John 2 and verse 15, We love not the world, neither the things that are in the world, for if any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. Or Romans chapter 12, verse 2, the Bible says, Be not conformed to this world. Or James 4, verse 4, Friendship with the world is enmity or warfare with God. You say, well, pastor, if it's not the people of the world and it's not the earth, it's not the planet, what is the world? Well, the word world is the word cosmos. And it means a system, an order. You see, there is a system, an order, a philosophy that the Bible calls the world.

It is entrenched and systematized evil. And you and I are not to love it. I think I can illustrate this. Over in 1 Peter chapter 3, verse 3, God is telling a saved wife how to be beautiful and attractive to her husband. And it says, Who's adorning? Let it not be that outward adorning of the plaiting of the hair, putting on gold, or the wearing of apparel, but let it be the hidden person of the heart. And the word adorning in 1 Peter 3, verse 3, is the word that is the word translated world in over a hundred other places in the Bible.

It's the word cosmos. And it says, Who's adorning? Let it not be the fixing of the hair, the putting on of jewelry, the wearing of clothes. There's a reason why when a woman puts her face on, you know, she puts on what? Cosmetics, see.

What's she doing? She's putting her face in order. Now James is not saying it's wrong for a woman to wear cosmetics. Sometimes people say, Do you think it's a sin if women wear makeup?

I think it's a sin if some women don't. He's not saying it's wrong to wear cosmetics any more than it's not wrong to wear jewelry. As a matter of fact, God speaks of his saints as his jewels.

He talks of that city in heaven as a city made up of jewels. He's not saying jewelry is wrong. If you say that it's wrong to fix your hair, it's wrong to wear jewelry, according to 1 Peter 3, you'd have to also say it's wrong to wear clothes. Because he said, Don't let your clothes be your adornment. He's certainly not saying in order to be spiritual we go around and start naked. And he's not saying that a woman in order to win her husband to Christ goes around looking like an unmade bed or barn that needs to be painted. He's not saying that. What is he saying?

He's saying, Who's cosmos? Let it not be the world, the order of the hairdresser, of the fashion store, of the jeweler. Don't just let that world mold you. Don't let that world squeeze you in. Don't let that be what motivates you and guides you and controls you. Don't let that be your world.

Now the guy is saying, That's right, tell them preacher. He'd say to you, Whose world? Let it not be the world of sports. Or whose world? Let it not be the world of business. Whose world? Let it not be the world of politics. Whatever it is, you name it. If it's not the kingdom of our Lord and his Christ, if number one in your life is not Jesus Christ, you're worldly.

You have bought into a system no matter what it is. It doesn't have to be hideous. The world does not have to be the dive, the discotheque. It doesn't have to be the gambling den, the house of prostitution. Just the world. The word is the cosmos, a system. Now that's one source of temptation, the world.

I call the world the external foe, the external foe. Now, there's another source of temptation, not only the world, but the flesh. Now, what is the flesh? Well, you say, I know what the flesh is. That's what covers your bones.

No. I'm not talking about the flesh in that sense. The Bible doesn't use the word flesh to mean the muscle and the skin and the sinew and the bone and the corpuscles that are in your body. It sometimes does, but when it uses the word flesh to speak about temptation, it uses the word flesh in a different sense. The Bible says in Galatians chapter 5 that the flesh lust against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh. What does he mean when he says the flesh?

He's talking about an inclination that you have to do evil that is in you, an inherited predisposition to sin. It, we sometimes call it the old man. We call it the old nature, the Adamic nature. It is called the flesh. You have it and I have it. We were born with it.

We got it from our parents who got it from their parents who got it from their parents who got it from Adam. I mean, it is the flesh and it's in you and it's in me and there is, I want to tell you, in you a predisposition to sin. Now, don't look so holy.

Just nod your head. It's in you. And the Bible calls this predisposition to sin the flesh. Now, so many times we want to say, well, the devil made me sin. The devil can't make you sin. If the devil could make you sin, you'd have a perfect alibi. You see, sin is an inside job.

It comes from your flesh. The devil will help you to sin. The devil will tempt you to sin. The devil will encourage you to sin. But the devil uses your flesh and I've got news for you. If there were no devil, you would go on sinning.

You could do it all by yourself, all by yourself. A little boy called his little sister a bad name, hit her with a broomstick and spit on her. My mother remonstrated with the naughty child and said, you shouldn't have done that. The devil made you do that. He said the devil made me call her a bad name. And the devil made me hit her with a broomstick, but spitting on her was my idea.

I think we would be surprised how much of it is our idea. It comes from that old Adamic nature, that predisposition to sin. Now, the third source of temptation is the devil. I call the world the external foe. I call the flesh the internal foe.

I call the devil the infernal foe, the infernal foe, the devil. There is a devil, a real devil, and the devil wants to get you to sin. And so the devil uses the world and the flesh to tempt you to sin. And here is the anatomy of a temptation. Think of the world as a match.

Think of your flesh as a pool of gasoline. Think of the devil as someone who strikes the match and throws it. And there you have the anatomy of a sin, how the devil will use the world and the flesh to get you to sin. Now, if you're tempted, you're going to be tempted either in the area of the world, the flesh, or the devil. The external foe, the internal foe, the infernal foe, those are the sources of temptation. Your temptation is very common.

It's common to man. Now, let's think about the seat of your temptation. That's the third S. Where will you be tempted? Not with what will you be tempted, but with what will you be tempted. Remember that scripture I gave you just a few moments ago, 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 and verse 23, and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. You are a spirit, a soul, and a body. You are made in the image of God, and God is a triune God, and you have a triune nature. You are spirit, soul, and body. You're one individual, but there are three parts to the human nature. And you're going to find out that when you're tempted, you're either going to be tempted in the area of the spirit or the soul or the body. And it's very interesting that you understand this because if you don't understand this, you won't know exactly how to fight. Now, we said the world is what?

The external foe. Let me tell you where the world will tempt you. The world will tempt you primarily in the area of your soul. Now, what is the word soul? The Greek word soul is the word suke.

We anglicize it and say psyche. Your soul is your mind, your emotions, and your will, your psyche, your ego, yourself. The person that lives inside this body, that is your soul. With your soul, you have psychological life. And the world, this cosmos, this system, will tempt you primarily in the area of your soul, in the area of your ego. That's what it is to be worldly. You just own an ego trip if you're a worldly Christian. You own an ego trip.

Let me give you an example of that. Remember in the Bible when Abraham and Lot, his nephew, were having a range war? At least the cowboys were having a range war. And magnanimous Abraham said to his nephew, Lot, Lot, listen, let's not have that strife. We're brothers, Lot. We ought not to be arguing like this.

Lot, I'll tell you what. You just choose. If you want to go in this direction, I'll go in that direction. The land's before us. Just choose.

Just take what you want. And the Bible says there in the book of Genesis that Lot lifted up his eyes toward the well-watered plains. There he saw that tall grass, and he knew that would be good for his cattle, and so Lot went east. He pitched his tent toward Sodom and Gomorrah. Now, why did he do that?

Was it because of the swinging cities, Sodom and Gomorrah? Did he want to go down there because of the sin in Sodom? Oh no, that isn't why he went down there. He went down there because he wanted more grass. Why did he want more grass? For his cattle. Well, was he missing any meals? Was he hungry? Did he need more cattle? He didn't need more cattle. He was already fabulously wealthy. He just wanted to be the biggest rancher in all Palestine.

That's all. He wasn't trying to make more money. He was just keeping score.

He just wanted to be a big shot, and because he wanted to be a big shot, because he was on an ego trip, he said, I want that. And he was trying to feed his soul on the things of this world, and that's a temptation, and many today are being tempted exactly that way. This world system says you've got to have more, you've got to do more, you've got to be more. That's the world, all that's in the world, the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life is not of the Father, it's of the world.

And it wars against the soul. And coming up tomorrow, we'll hear part two of this convicting message. In the meantime, maybe you're listening today and you have a heavy heart. At Love Worth Finding, one of our greatest honors is to come alongside you and pray with you and for you. If you can, go to our website homepage at lwf.org slash radio and scroll down to find our prayer wall. There you'll find the option to either submit a prayer request or pray for others. This resource is one of our favorite ways to keep the ministry and the community praying continually for one another's needs.

Let us hear from you today. Again, go to lwf.org slash radio and scroll down to find our prayer wall. Now, if you'd like to order a copy of today's message, call 1-877-LOVEGOD and order the title, How to Turn Temptations into Triumphs. This message is also part of the insightful Back to the Basic series for the complete collection, all 18 powerful messages. Call that number 1-877-LOVEGOD. Or you can order online at lwf.org slash radio or write us at Love Worth Finding, Box 38600, Memphis, Tennessee 38183. You know, many of the messages in this series are also featured in our new resource called the What Every Christian Ought to Know Study.

Utilize this tool at lwf.org slash radio. Well, thanks for studying God's Word with us today. Remember these powerful words from Pastor Rogers, if worldliness is your problem, faith is your answer. Keep your eyes on Jesus today and be sure to tune in next time for the powerful conclusion of how to turn temptations into triumphs right here on Love Worth Finding. Recently, a listener wrote with a word of encouragement I want to share with you. He said, whenever I witness to someone, I recommend Love Worth Finding to them and they come back and tell me they've understood the gospel better than they ever have. We love receiving notes like that because our passion is to equip you with messages and resources so that you can share the gospel with a lost world. That's why when you donate to the ministry this month, we want to send you our Factors of Faithfulness Discipleship Tool. The seven-week study features powerful insights from Adrian Rogers as you begin building relationships and making disciples as instructed in scripture. Call with a gift right now, 1-877-LOVEGOD. We'd love to send you our Factors of Faithfulness Discipleship Tool or give a gift online at lwf.org slash radio. And again, thanks for your generous support of Love Worth Finding.