Why Does God Allow Temptation in the Life of the Believer?: Power Over Temptation

The following message from Pastor Greg Laurie is made possible by Harvest Partners, helping people everywhere know God. If you would like to know how you can become a Harvest Partner, just go to Harvest.org.

That's Harvest.org. You quote God's Word. You quote it out. It is written. Satan is the king of the spiritual ambush. He lures us in, saying, No one will ever know. And after we've sinned, he tells us, I can't believe what you've done.

Everyone's going to find out. How can we stand against such an unscrupulous foe? Well, today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie points out we stand against our enemy in the power of God and the authority of His Word. It is a message called, Why Does God Allow Temptation in the Life of the Believer? Everyone gets tempted. Why would God allow us to be tempted? What possible good could come out of it?

Well, here is what you need to know. If you are indeed growing as a Christian, if you are progressing in the Christian life, you are going to come into the cross hairs of the devil. Why? Because now you have become a bona fide threat to his kingdom. If you find yourself constantly being harassed and tempted, that may be an indication you are on the right track. If you can't remember the last time you were tempted, maybe you are not worth tempting. Think about that.

See, so here is what we need to understand. Everyone will be tempted and even Jesus was tempted. Jesus did feel the pressure and the presence of temptation.

Now why would He go through that? So He would be able to help us to understand that He has walked in our shoes. We would understand that we serve a God that knows what it is like to face temptation and He sympathizes with us. In fact Hebrews 4.15 speaking of Christ says, This high priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all the same temptations we do, yet he did not sin.

So let us come boldly to the throne of grace of our gracious God that will receive His mercy and find grace to help us when we need it. So you can't say, Oh God doesn't know what it is like to live in the 21st century. God doesn't know what it is like to face temptation. Actually God does know what it is like and He faced it. But here is another reason why I believe Jesus was tempted. He occupied ground that we can occupy.

Let me restate that. Jesus faced this so we will see how we should face it. He gives us a template to follow for the next time we come under temptation.

So Luke 4. And we are going to read verses 1 to 13. Now Jesus being filled with the Holy Spirit returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness being tempted for 40 days by the devil. And in those days He ate nothing and afterwards when they had ended He was hungry. And the devil said to Him, Since You are the Son of God why don't You command the stone to become bread?

Jesus answered him saying, It is written, underline that phrase, Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word of God. Then the devil took Him up to a high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said, All this authority I will give to you and their glory for this has been delivered to me and I can give it to whomever I wish. Therefore if you will worship before me all of this will be yours. Jesus answered and said, Get behind me Satan for it is written, underline that phrase again, You shall worship the Lord God.

In Him only shall you serve. Then Satan brought Him to Jerusalem and set Him on the pinnacle of the temple and said, Since You are the Son of God throw Yourself down from here for it is written, notice the devil's quote in Scripture now, For it is written, He shall give His angels charge over you to keep you and in their hands they will bear you up lest you dash your foot against a stone. Did you know the devil reads the Bible? And the devil can quote the Bible out of context. Look at any cult today.

They have Bible verses to cite out of context to make their case. Reminds me of a story of W.C. Fields. A comedian from many years ago. He was a known alcoholic and known to be really a godless man. And one day someone saw W.C. Fields reading a Bible. And they were shocked. W.C. Fields reading a Bible.

And he had this really funny way of speaking. They said, Why are you reading a Bible W.C. Fields? He said, Looking for loopholes.

That is why the devil reads the Bible. Looking for loopholes. Looking for ways to misuse it. Looking for ways to misquote it. Looking for ways to take it out of context.

And the only way you are going to know right from wrong is by being very familiar with the real Word of God. Then you will spot a lie when you see it. I was talking with a police officer a while back who worked in currency and people producing phony money. Counterfeit money. And I said, How do you learn to spot a counterfeit bill? He said, We really try not to handle counterfeit currency. We spend most of our time handling the real thing. And then when we handle the fake or the counterfeit we know it immediately. And I think that is a great principle for us. You can spend the rest of your life researching every weird cult and every aberrant teaching out there. And trust me there is a lot of them. But the better thing to do is immerse yourself in God's Word and then when something comes along you will know immediately it is not from God.

Here is something we don't want to miss. The devil quotes Scripture yes but listen to this. He loves something out. The devil quoted the Bible but he loves something out. Here is what Satan said. It is written, He shall give His angels charge over you to keep you and in their hands they will bear you up lest you dash your foot against a stone. But here is what Satan left out. By the way he is quoting Psalm 91.

Here is what he left out. He will give His angels charge over you, listen, to keep you in all your ways. And in their hands they will bear you up lest you dash your foot against a stone to keep you in all your ways. Why did Satan leave that out?

Because he wanted Jesus to test the Lord instead of trust the Lord. See here is the idea. When I am in the will of God in His way I don't have to be afraid. Listen to this. I am indestructible. You are thinking you are nuts Greg. No I am indestructible until God is done with me. Nothing is going to stop me or stop you until God is done with you. So if I were to drink deadly poison and it wasn't God's time for me I would survive it. If I picked up a venomous snake and it bit me and it wasn't God's time I would survive it. And that is by the way what Jesus meant when He said you will drink deadly poisons and handle venomous snakes. He didn't mean we should have church services where we hand rattlesnakes around.

That is crazy. And that is not trusting God. That is testing the Lord.

And more than a few of these preachers are no longer with us because of it. So the idea is not let's do crazy things. Let's take unnecessary risks. Let's drink poison for fun.

Go out to the restaurant like a glass of strychnine please. No don't do that. But here is what it is saying. You are in God's will walking in His way. His angels will protect you until God is done with you.

And then His angels will carry you into God's presence. But until that day you don't have to worry about it. So don't worry all the time about if this is it. If this is it it is it.

If it isn't it it isn't it. That is up to God. But the devil was misquoting Scripture. Ok. One final point. Number six. What is the primary weapon we should use to resist temptation? Answer. The Word of God.

That is why I had you underline it is written it is written multiple times. Jesus stood on ground that we can occupy as I said. We are to follow His example. Notice He quotes Scripture. Verse 12 of Luke 4.

It is written you shall not tempt the Lord your God. You know as you look at Ephesians 6 which is a description of the armor of God. Have you ever noticed there is only one offensive piece?

And by offensive I mean something to attack with. We have a helmet of salvation that protects your head. We have a breastplate of righteousness that protects your vital organs. We have the boots of the shoes of the preparation of the gospel of peace that protects your feet and your ankles and your shins.

We have a shield of faith that protects your whole body. But there is only one offensive weapon and it is a sword. The sword of the Spirit which is what? That is right. It is the Word of God.

That is our offensive weapon. That is why we need to know the Word of God. Psalm 119 verse 9 says, How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to your word. Psalm 119 11 says, Your word have I hidden in my heart that I might not sin against you. Listen. It is great to carry a Bible in your briefcase or your backpack or your purse.

But the best place to carry the Word of God is in your heart. Commit it to memory. And say, Greg I can't. Oh yes you can. No I can't.

Yes you can. Because you memorize stuff all the time. Right? You know weird lyrics to songs. I know lyrics to commercials. I hate it. But I remember the song.

It drives you crazy. Or maybe you know sports course. Or you know lines from movies.

You can quote lines from films. You know all these things that you've committed to memory. Look you have room for the Word of God.

You just need to make a commitment to put it in there. Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment. So many listeners have commented on the encouragement they receive from these daily messages.

Like these posts on social media. Pastor Greg, 20 years ago I gave my life to Jesus after listening to you on the radio. God bless you always. Pastor Greg, God bless you all from Seguin, Texas. Thanks for being there for us. If it wasn't for your ministry Pastor Greg, I would have lost hope when my husband passed away last year.

Thank you so much for all you do. Has Pastor Greg heard from you? If these daily studies in God's Word have encouraged you, why not drop him a comment? Email him at gregatharvest.org.

Again that's gregatharvest.org. Well Pastor Greg continues now with his message, Why Does God Allow Temptation in the Life of the Believer? We're learning how to stand against our spiritual adversary. So here's how it works. So Satan comes to you in the realm of the mind and maybe he entices you to sin. So you sin. What does he do then? He condemns you. This is the devil's basic battle plan.

Entice. Condemn. Accuse you before God.

Just kind of keeps doing it over and over again. Hey why don't you do this? I'll never tell anyone. If you won't, you do it. And then he says, you're not even a Christian. God would never hear your prayer. You're condemned. This is why you need to know the Word of God.

Because when you've sinned you need to immediately go to Christ and say, Forgive me of my sin. I admit it. I'm responsible.

I'm sorry for it. And I turn from it. The devil says, Yeah but God won't forgive you. Here's where the Word of God comes in.

You say, Oh yeah? Well 1 John 1 says, If we confess our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. You quote God's Word. You quote it out loud. So the devil can hear it and so you can hear it.

It's quoted out. It is written. Satan says, See I will hear you condemned. God will not hear your prayers. No that's wrong devil. Romans 8.1. There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. So maybe you stumble and fall and Satan says, You'll never get up again.

You're never going to recover from this. This is the end. You say, No that's wrong. Because John 10.28 Jesus says, I'll give them eternal life and they'll never perish.

Neither shall anyone pluck them out of My hand. Philippians 1.6 being confident of this very thing that he who has begun a good work in you will complete it under the day of Jesus Christ. It's not over. God is going to finish what He starts. Then when tragedy hits and it makes no sense the devil says, God has abandoned you.

You say, No He hasn't. Jesus said, He'll never leave me or forsake me. And Romans 8.28 says there, God causes all things to work together for good to those that love God and are they called according to His purpose.

So you quote that scripture. Maybe a loved one is taken from you suddenly. The devil says, You'll never see them again.

Oh trust me I know this one well. After our son died I would try to go to sleep at night and I'd lay my head down on my pillow and here are the thoughts that went through my mind. I'll never see him again. I'll never hear his voice again.

Ever. And then I would just say, I would just sink into a black hole. And then I would just start quoting scripture to myself saying, No Jesus said He's the resurrection and the life and He that believes in Him will not die. And so it's a hope of life beyond the grave. Where the scripture says to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. And I would remind myself of God's Word. Here's what it would do. It would just sort of lift me up above it all.

You see. Because I had to think biblically. Because if I didn't think biblically it was going to be pure misery. So that's where you need to use God's Word and use it over and over again.

I want you to notice how the story ends. Luke 4.13. When the devil had ended every temptation he departed from him forever. Never to return again. Is that what it says?

No. And when the devil had ended every temptation he departed from him until an opportune time. It's like, I'll be back. Maybe sooner than later. Often when you least expect it.

Often in a way you weren't expecting. He'll be back. He's got a lot of tricks. So that's Satan. You know he's just looking for trouble. The Bible describes him as a lion sort of roaming around looking for someone to destroy.

Looking for someone to devour. But here's our hope as Christians. Greater is he that is in us and he that is in the world. Christ is greater than the power of Satan and we don't have to be afraid of him. Now we respect him in the sense that we know he's a powerful spirit being and we don't want to mess around. We don't want to have extended conversations with him.

We want to have as little contact with him as possible. But having said that, we know God won't give us more than we can handle and we're secure and safe in Christ. But here's the last thought I want to close with. Notice there's a thought in that statement because thoughts can go on long.

But this one won't. It's a relatively short thought. If you're not a Christian, you're super vulnerable. If you're not a Christian, you don't have the hope that Christ lives in you and is greater than the power of the devil. Listen to this. If you're not a Christian, the devil can effectively have his way with you.

He can pretty much manipulate you and deceive you and tempt you and if you kind of give in to it, you can go deeper and deeper into a vortex of sin where one day you can go so deep that you can actually be possessed by demons. Oh Greg, come on. Give me a break. You nuts?

I'm not nuts. You can still be possessed by demons today. There's still demons today where they can come and live inside of a person. You think someone's gonna be able to exercise a demon with a crucifix or some holy water?

No way. The only way to get the devil out of a person is to get Christ in a person and then there's no place left for the devil. That's the only thing.

That's it. Jesus comes and takes residence in the human heart and he is the sole occupant. Jesus is not into a timeshare program. I'm here for six months double.

You can have it for the rest of the time. When Jesus comes in, there's no room for Satan but listen, if Jesus isn't there, there's plenty of room for Satan and you're vulnerable. How are you gonna keep him away? Religion? Ritual?

Good moral living. I will eat proper foods. I won't do it. What about if it's organic?

Doesn't matter. You're vulnerable. What you need is Christ living inside of you. I didn't say you need to go to church. I didn't say you need a big giant Bible. I didn't say you need to even just say some spiritual things. You actually need Christ living inside of you.

So here's my closing question. Is Jesus Christ the son of God living you right now? Now, some of you would say, well, I don't know, I think, maybe. Hey, you know what? I think if God has taken residence in your heart, you'll know it. I know Christ lives in me.

I know it. How do I know? Because God has given me that assurance by his Holy Spirit. Do you have that assurance? Maybe the reason you don't have it is he doesn't live inside of you yet but that can change right now because Jesus, who died on that cross for you and me and bore your sin and rose again from the dead, now stands at the door of your life and he knocks and says, if you'll hear his voice and open the door, he will come in. Not religion will come in or ritual will come in.

No, he will come in. It's really true. He lives inside of us and he wants to live in your heart and forgive you of all of your sin. See, but man, I've done some really bad stuff. Yeah, God knows what you've done and Jesus died for it already and if you'll turn from that sin and tell God you're sorry for it, he'll forgive you and Christ will live in you and you don't have to stand around worrying about the devil anymore. You can just focus your attention on following Jesus. So we're gonna close in prayer right now and if you've never asked Jesus into your life, I'm gonna give you an opportunity to pray and ask him to come in. Maybe you've been under the power of some sin.

Maybe it's drugs, maybe it's alcohol, maybe it's pornography, maybe it's I don't know what. Just something has got to hold on you and you can't get free from it. You've tried to break free and you just go in deeper and you don't know how to get out. Listen, God will help you but you need to reach out to him and say forgive me because bigger than alcohol or drugs or anything else, it's the power of sin you need to be free from and only Jesus can do that for you. He's just a prayer away. Let's pray. Father, I pray for any person here and anyone listening or watching this who does not yet know you. Lord, would you help them to see their need for you and help them to come to you and receive your forgiveness tonight. In Jesus' name I pray.

Amen. And if you'd like to make a change in your relationship with the Lord today, Pastor Greg Laurie will help you do that in just a moment before today's edition of A New Beginning wraps up. Now hopefully you were able to hear all of today's message but if you missed any part, you can catch up by listening again online at harvest.org. It's a study called Why Does God Allow Temptation in the Life of the Believer? Or you can get a permanent copy on CD by calling 1-800-821-3300.

We can take your call anytime at 1-800-821-3300. And then we want to make available Pastor Greg's outstanding book called Jesus Revolution. The subtitle is How God Transformed an Unlikely Generation and How He Can Do It Again Today. You know, Pastor Greg, my son and his family used to live pretty close to some railroad tracks and trains came through quite a lot. I noticed that you can feel the rumbling before the train gets there.

That's right. Let me ask you, is there a revival coming down the tracks? Are you feeling some rumblings right now? My response would be I hear the train coming. It's coming.

No, it's Johnny Cash. Okay. I pray so, and I hope so. Because there's a lot of turmoil and trouble in our nation right now. And if God doesn't step in, I don't know how we're gonna heal this nation of ours. But God does give us a prescription for the healing of a nation from 2 Chronicles 7-14, which I've quoted before, and I'm sure I'll quote again. Because God says, If my people, which are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my faith and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and heal their land. We need the Lord to heal the nation. And we need to pray for a spiritual awakening. The last great spiritual revival in the history of our nation was the Jesus movement, also called the Jesus Revolution. By the way, Time magazine coined that phrase, and it was a revolution. It changed the church, it changed the nation, and I can tell you, it changed my life and the lives of thousands of other people, many of them young. Though it wasn't limited to young people, it was primarily a youth revival. Well, since I was there, I wanted to tell people what it was like.

I wanted to sort of take you back in time and try to put you in that place. But then I have take away truths that I've written in this book that you can apply in the hope that you can have a spiritual awakening in your life or in your church or in your community and in our country and indeed in our world. The Jesus movement was not confined to the shores of the United States. It spread around the planet, and we need to see it happen again.

And now with all of our social media and instant communication, it would be so exciting to give some good news to people instead of all this bad news and all of this fake news. We need God in America. We need God in our lives. We need to be returned to our original state. You know, I think sometimes we over spiritualize the word revival. Let's just use another word, restoration.

If I were to take an old beat up 57 Chevy sitting around in a junkyard and restore it to original condition, get the engine running, redo the upholstery, give it a new paint job, put it back out on the street, you'd say that is a beautifully restored car. We want to see our nation restored. We want to see our lives restored. We need to see a revival.

Let's pray for that together. And to help you learn more about what God did in the last great spiritual awakening, I want to send you a copy of my book simply titled Jesus Revolution. I hope that it will inspire you to pray that you will have your own personal revival. And I'll send you this book for your gift of any size.

Whatever you send will be invested into this ministry so more people can hear the word of God and so more people can come to know Jesus Christ. So order your copy of Jesus Revolution. Yeah, we hope you'll do that today. We have a copy waiting for you.

We'll get it on its way to you just as soon as we hear from you. Hey Dave, don't forget to tell them that. There's also a study guide that will send them along with their copy of Jesus Revolution, again, for their gift of any size.

Yeah, that's right. It's a great tool to help you study these insights on a deeper level and even lead a small group study. Learn how your Bible study group or home fellowship group can help pave the way for the next great spiritual awakening. So we hope you'll send a generous gift today and that you'll ask for Jesus Revolution along with the study guide. You can write A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, California, 92514. Or call 1-800-821-3300. We're here to take your call 24-7 at 1-800-821-3300.

Or go online to harvest.org. Well, Pastor Greg, you spoke today about having a relationship with the Lord. Someone can enter into that kind of a relationship with God right now, can't they? Yeah, they really can.

That's the amazing thing. I think people are surprised that it doesn't take years to become a Christian, it doesn't take months, it doesn't take weeks, it doesn't take days, it doesn't even take hours. You can believe on the spot. And I would like to lead you in a prayer where you can ask for His forgiveness, a prayer where you can receive Jesus Christ into your life as your Savior and Lord. So if you want Christ to come into your life, if you want Him to forgive you of your sin, if you want a second chance in life, if you want to go to heaven when you die, stop what you're doing and pray after me these words. Lord Jesus, I know I am a sinner, and I'm sorry for my sin, and I turn from it now, and I choose to follow you from this moment forward as Savior and Lord, as God and friend. Thank you for loving me and calling me and forgiving me. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. Amen. And listen, if you have just prayed those words with Pastor Greg and meant them sincerely, the Bible assures us your sins have been forgiven.

We're told the Lord is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And we want to send some resource materials to you that'll help you in your new relationship with the Lord. We call it our New Believers Growth Packet, and we'll send it without charge if you prayed for the first time today with Pastor Greg. Just ask for it when you write A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, California 92514. Or call our 24-hour phone number, 1-800-821-3300.

That's 1-800-821-3300. Or just go to harvest.org and click Know God. Well, next time Pastor Greg begins the final message in his series, What Every Growing Christian Needs to Know. We'll spend our time discussing how we can know God's will. It's not as elusive as you might think. That's next time here on A New Beginning. This is the day, the day when life begins. The preceding message from Greg Laurie was made possible by Harvest Partners, helping people everywhere know God. Sign up for Pastor Greg's free daily email devotions at harvest.org.