The Truth About Temptation - Part 2

Welcome to this edition of Power Point with Jack Graham. A little later in the program we'll tell you how you can get a copy of Dr. Graham's evangelism bundle. But first, here's the message, The Truth About Temptation, Part 2. Take your Bibles please and turn with me to the fourth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew.

Satan is described in the Bible as a roaring lion roaming about seeking whom he may devour. And you as a follower of Jesus Christ are no exception. In fact, we're told that temptation is common to all of us.

There are no exceptions. We all face the enemy. I need to remind you at the outset of this message that it is not a sin to be tempted. Jesus was tempted in every point even as we are tempted, yet without sin. He chose God and His will every time. And so can you choose the will of God and the plan of God for your life even against the onslaught of the enemy. Temptation is a test.

And if you pass the test you will be stronger, fortified in your faith and once again you will prove the faithfulness of God in your life. So that's why I want to talk to you today from this story of the life of Jesus at the beginning of His ministry as to how Christ Himself overcame temptation. And when He overcame temptation, when He defeated the devil in the desert, in the wilderness, He didn't pull rank.

He didn't call on executive privilege but rather He used the same weapons that are available to us. He went out to face the enemy in the desert as our champion and defeated Satan and as a result He is not only our representative but He is our example and has laid out before us a model, a matrix if you will as to how we also can overcome temptation. Look at verse 1 of chapter 4 of Matthew. Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights afterward He was hungry. And when the tempter came to Him He said, If you are the Son of God, command these stones become bread. But He answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Then the devil took Him up unto the holy city and set Him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to Him, If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down for it is written, He shall give His angels charge over you and in your hands they shall bear you up lest you dash your foot against a stone. Jesus said to Him, It is written again, You shall not tempt the Lord your God. And again the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And He said to Him, All these things I have given to you if you will fall down and worship Me. Then Jesus said to him, Away with you Satan for it is written, You shall worship the Lord your God and Him only you shall serve.

Then the devil left Him and behold angels came and ministered to Him. Really Satan has three kinds or types of temptations. Temptations that are directed at the physical appetite.

Temptations that are directed to our personal ambitions and temptations that are addressed to our spiritual allegiance. Satan showed Jesus all the kingdoms of the world and he said, Bow down Jesus. Bow down and worship me and I'll give you all of the kingdoms of this world. Now notice in the scripture Jesus didn't say, You don't have the right to do that.

You don't have the authority to do that. In fact Satan is described in the Bible as the God of this age. He's described as the God of this world.

He presides over the kingdoms of this world. And so when Satan offered the world and everything in it to Jesus he said, Just bow down and worship me. This was a real temptation. And let me just say parenthetically as well, these temptations were real to Christ. Seminary classrooms often debate whether or not Jesus could have sinned. Could He have sinned? And I remember these debates in the seminary classroom and it's obvious to me that yes Jesus could have sinned or else He would not have been tempted. In His humanity Jesus could have stepped outside of the will of God lest this would not have been a temptation at all. These were real temptations.

So He said, Bow down and I'll give you all of this. But we get temptations like this which the devil makes some mighty big offers. Satan the God of this age who is attractive and appealing is the angel of light. And remember this that Satan's real target in temptation is God Himself because He has always wanted to be God. That's what made the devil the devil.

In the very beginning described in Isaiah 14 even before the beginning of time as we know it. In Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28 we discover how Lucifer the son of mourning became Satan the father of the night. He rebelled against God. He said, I want to be exalted so that I can be worshipped. I will exalt myself above the throne of God.

I will be as the most high. And that's what got Satan kicked out of heaven. And yet that's always been his desire to be worshipped as God. And Satan says still today, just follow me.

Do what I want you to do and I'll give you a whole lot of stuff. I'll give you the kingdoms of this world. Yet the Bible says what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul. Even if Satan gave you everything it wouldn't satisfy the reason for which you were born and made by God. So there are the three kinds of temptations. Spiritual allegiance, personal ambitions and physical appetites. The Bible talks about the world, the flesh and the devil. Physical appetites, the flesh. Personal ambitions, the world. Spiritual allegiance, Satan. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye and the pride of life.

Satan makes it all look so good and so glamorous and so exciting and so wonderful. Why not yield? Why not say yes to temptation? Well, notice how Jesus responded.

Notice how he resisted and how you can resist as well. To the temptations concerning the flesh, the physical appetites. He responded with the authority of God's Word. In each case of temptation he said in response, it is written and Jesus gave the scripture. It is written, the scripture. It is written. All three times.

Again and again and again. It is written. It is written.

It is written. He responded with the authority of God's Word. God has given us a weapon not only to defend ourselves against the attacks of the enemy but to take the enemy down for this is the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God.

And the infallible, inerrant Word of God filled with its promises, filled with its power when it is wielded in the hand of the believer is strong defense and strong offense against the devil himself. So when Satan comes to you, for example, and says satisfy yourself, God's not going to take care of you. You need to take care of yourself. Jump ahead of God.

Do something that pleases yourself. That's when you will the Word of God. And that's when you remember that my God, Philippians 4 19, shall supply all of my needs according to his riches in glory in Jesus Christ. That's when you remember the Word of God and the promises that I am with you always, even at the end of the world.

That's when you're given the Word of God to stand upon day by day. It's not just quoting the Bible at the devil. You know, you can go right down the tubes quoting the Bible at the devil. It's not how many times have we been told in sermons, okay, what you need to do when you're tempted is just say some scripture. Well, you can go right down in flames quoting the Bible all the way. Jesus did more than just quote the Bible. He submitted his will to the Word of God.

He said, God, you're going to take care of me and I am trusting in you. Some of you are thinking my life is passing me by. I've not found that marriage partner yet. I'm not found my career path yet. I've not discovered God's purpose in my life yet.

I don't know why it seems like everybody else is having a great time and my life is going nowhere. So what I need to do is just do what I need to do to satisfy myself to move myself along. But that's when you remember Psalm 84 11 the Lord your God is a son and a shield and he gives grace and glory and no good thing will he withhold from them who walk uprightly. God will give you every good thing in your life that you need if you trust in him. How many times have we tried to run ahead of God and do it our own way saying this is what I want, this is what I need, this is what I have to have so I'll take it.

No. Triumph by the word of God. Live by the word of God. Submit yourself in obedience and compliance to the word of God in your life. Now it is important that you know the word of God in order to do this.

That's why I encourage Christians to memorize the scripture to meditate upon the scripture because when you're in the throes of a battle when you're in the midst of a spiritual struggle in your life you don't need to be looking for some verse you need to have the word of God solid and strong in your life. You're listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and today's message the truth about temptation part two. You have a God given calling to take the gospel to the world. That's why we've put together a special bundle of resources to help you grow in your love of the gospel and share it with others. This evangelism bundle includes three of Pastor Jack Graham's books the hope of Easter life book and God's promises for doubt filled days. This evangelism bundle is our thanks for your gift today. And thanks to a generous matching grant your gift today will be doubled. This is the last week to have your gift doubled so call today. Call 1-800-795-4627. That's 1-800-795-4627. You can also text the word PowerPoint to 59789. And don't forget to visit jackgram.org where you can shop our e-store give a gift online or sign up for Dr. Graham's free daily email devotional.

Our website again is jackgram.org. Now let's get back to today's message the truth about temptation part two. In temptations concerning personal ambitions this then is submission or commitment to the will of God. That's exactly what Jesus did. When Satan said jump off the temple precipice and I will deliver you do something spectacular take the shortcut. That's when Jesus responded once again it is written and he gave the scripture submitting himself to it and what did he say in Matthew chapter 4.

Let's look at it again. It is written you shall not tempt the Lord your God. Satan had said do it your way and God will bless you anyway.

But Jesus said that's a lie. Now it's difficult to submit to the word of God and the will of God in your life until you commit to the word of God and the will of God in your life. And if you're tempted with these personal ambitions what you need to do is renew and review your commitment to God's purpose in your life. To seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness knowing that all of these things whatever you need is going to be added to you in God's way and God's time and God's purpose.

God will always choose for you what you would choose for yourself one great Christian said if you had sense enough to choose it. So if you will come to a place of saying Lord your will anytime any place any circumstance any where you will find power to defeat the enemy but very quickly in those temptations concerning spiritual allegiance bow down and worship me. James 4 says submit to God and resist the devil. We should submit to the worship of God. You worship who and what you serve. Jesus responded with the word of God and said away with you Satan you shall worship the Lord your God and him only you shall serve. You worship what you serve and you serve what you worship.

So if you want to be strong against the enemy then worship God love God with all your heart your mind your soul and your strength. Now I could give you a lot of rules and regulations about the Christian life do this and don't do that. Do this and don't do that. I could say the best way to overcome a temptation is just say no. Just say no.

But we know that's much easier said than done don't we? So let me turn that around and what you really need to do if you want to truly be victorious over sin and temptation is just say yes. Say yes to God. Say yes to Jesus Christ because you will then discover when you say yes to him when you fall in love with Jesus Christ. When you love God passionately and he is the heart the soul the passion of your life then the world and the flesh and the devil with all of its power and allurement appeal and attraction you will discover that these things can't compare to him and all of the good things that he brings to your life. And all of those things so many of those things which we thought were so important that mattered so much once we truly yield to the love of God and worship him and serve him we will discover that these begin to fade.

I love that camp song that many of us sang growing up. Turn your eyes upon Jesus and look full into his wonderful face and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace. It's true. A little simple chorus is true. As you follow Christ as you love Christ temptations will decrease in strength and power in your life. I'm not saying you're never going to be tempted. We know that we can never escape temptation.

We've already affirmed that. I love to tell the story of an old seminary professor at Southwestern seminary by the name of J.D. Ray. He taught preaching at Southwestern for many many years. And he was talking about morality in the ministry and maintaining purity in the ministry and one of the young students raised his hand and said well Dr. Ray now Dr. Ray was about 85 at this time and he said Dr. Ray tell us as young preachers just getting started how old do you have to be before you're no longer tempted with you know things like lust and other women and so on.

He scratched his head and the old man said I don't know but it's somewhere past 85. So I'm not suggesting by any means that we will never get to the place where we never will be tempted at all. No but I'm saying that if you love Christ if you live for Christ even though you're as tempted as long as you live you can become stronger every day in Christ and less vulnerable to the attacks of the enemy. Your desire for Christ will mean more to you than any other desire.

Fall in love with Jesus. Say yes to him and Jesus will begin to change you from the inside out. He will change your attitudes. He will change your appetites. He will change your ambitions.

Worship him only. Now some of you are saying well you know this is too late for me. I've already said yes to temptation so many times and I feel like a loser. I feel like a failure.

I have fallen and I'm never going to get back up. Let me remind you that that is a temptation in itself that Satan brings and says you're a failure you can't get up you can't go on but Jesus has promised a new beginning. He has promised a new life for you. Jesus has said you can come to me. You can start over.

You can turn the page. You can be forgiven of your sin when you come to me in repentance. I will restore you and give you the strength to carry on and to be stronger the next time when you face those terrible temptations. But please whatever you do remember today that you have power in Jesus Christ to overcome every temptation.

You don't have to be defeated. You don't have to live in the grip of Satan. You can live in the grip and the power of God in your life. You can break the power of sin through Jesus Christ and you can break out and break through into the fullness of his blessing in your life and the forgiveness in your life if you like Jesus will submit your will to the will of God submit your life to the worship of God and submit your love to Jesus Christ. If you don't know Christ as your Lord and Savior you don't have a chance against the enemy. You say well temptation doesn't bother me I just kind of go with the flow.

Well that's your problem. And you need Christ in your life today. Some of you need to come to the place today in your life where you say Lord I realize this is no way to live. I know that I have sinned and broken your commandments and I don't want to live this way anymore. God be merciful to me a sinner. And then trust in Jesus Christ who died on the cross for all your sins past present and future. And you can be forgiven.

You can be changed. You can be cleansed by the power of his love. So invite Jesus into your life today. In fact right now right where you are just bow your head and say Lord Jesus I invite you to come into my life.

I ask you to be my Lord my God my Savior my friend. Welcome Christ into your life for he says whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Saved from what? Saved from our sin. Saved from the consequences of our sin.

Saved for a future and a hope with him. Say yes to Christ. You'll never be able to say no to sin until you say yes to Jesus.

Say yes to him today. You are listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and today's message the truth about temptation part 2. 3.2 billion people in our world still have no access to the good news of Jesus. And we must do whatever it takes to reach the lost with the hope of Christ. That's why we're excited to tell you about a matching grant that will double whatever you give today to help reach more people through PowerPoint. Your support will help broadcast the gospel into some of the most spiritually dark corners of the earth. We'll say thanks for your gift by sending you three of Pastor Graham's books to help you share the gospel right where you are. This evangelism bundle includes the hope of Easter life book and God's promises for doubt filled days.

This is the last week to have your gift doubled. So call today. Call 1-800-795-4627. That's 1-800-795-4627. You can also text the word PowerPoint to 59789. That's PowerPoint to 59789. And don't forget to visit jackgramm.org where you can shop our e-store, give a gift online or sign up for Dr. Graham's free daily email devotional.

Our website again is jackgramm.org. Pastor, what is your PowerPoint for today? Scott, people have dealt with the attacks of Satan for centuries and have overcome as victors in Christ. The ultimate example is Jesus himself. He was tempted in every way possible but he never gave in, not one time. And this means you and I as believers in Christ can also experience that kind of victory as he has given us the power to overcome temptation through the work of the Holy Spirit within. Remember that temptation is the seduction to fulfill a God-given desire in a God-forbidden way. And sometimes the reason it is important to face temptation is so that we can learn to be dependent, I mean totally dependent upon Christ. Jesus said, Watch and pray lest you enter into temptation.

So be prepared. And when you're moving forward in your walk with Christ, be ready for any temptation that Satan may throw your way and know that in any potential sinful situation, God will offer you a way of escape. So take it because sin may gratify momentarily, but it never satisfies.

If you submit to the will of God, stay grounded in his word, seek to live a life of worship and recognize temptation for what it is, then I believe you will be able to dodge Satan's lies every time. You can turn every temptation into a triumph and every vulnerability into a victory in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that is today's PowerPoint. Remember when you give a gift to PowerPoint, your gift will be doubled by a matching grant. Call 1-800-795-4627.

That's 1-800-795-4627. You can also text the word PowerPoint to 59789. Join us again next time as Dr. Graham brings a message about how God releases his power in our lives. That's next time on PowerPoint with Jack Graham. PowerPoint with Jack Graham is sponsored by PowerPoint Ministries.