How to Turn Temptations into Triumphs | Part 2

We'll be right back. The devil is the one who puts those doubts in your mind. The devil is the one who puts those doubts in your mind. The devil is the one who puts those doubts in your mind. The devil is the one who puts those doubts in your mind. The devil is the one who puts those doubts in your mind. The devil is the one who puts those doubts in your mind. The devil is the one who puts those doubts in your mind. The devil is the one who puts those doubts in your mind. The devil is the one who puts those doubts in your mind. The devil is the one who puts those doubts in your mind. The devil is the one who puts those doubts in your mind. The devil is the one who puts those doubts in your mind. The devil is the one who puts those doubts in your mind. The devil is the one who puts those doubts in your mind. The devil is the one who puts those doubts in your mind. The devil is the one who puts those doubts in your mind. The devil is the one who puts those doubts in your mind. The devil is the one who puts those doubts in your mind. The devil is the one who puts those doubts in your mind. The devil is the one who puts those doubts in your mind. The devil is the one who puts those doubts in your mind. The devil is the one who puts those doubts in your mind. The devil is the one who puts those doubts in your mind.

The devil is the one who puts those acceptances into your heart. And he came up with a sexual temptation, and his pulse quickened. He felt that rush of sexual urge, and there was an incredible sexual temptation to David. Now, his physical emotions, his sexual drive, which was given from God, was under bombardment from the flesh, his old Adamic nature, and he gave in and he fell.

Now, while Lot was not in that kind of a temptation, Lot was on an ego trip. But David's passions were under attack. His physical frame was under attack from the flesh. And so the external foe wars against the soul. The internal foe wars against the flesh. Now, what about the infernal foe, the devil?

What does he war primarily against? Well, you say the devil, he tries to get you to commit adultery, not primarily. The devil, he tries to get you drunk.

No, not primarily. The devil tries to get you on an ego trip, not primarily. The devil wars against your spirit. Now, what is your spirit? What is the difference between your spirit and your soul? Your soul is the sense of self-consciousness. Your spirit is the sense of God-consciousness.

You know God through your spirit, don't you? Plants have a body, but they don't have a soul. Animals have a body and a soul.

That means they have self-consciousness. But no animal has a spirit. Only man has a spirit.

You see, that's what makes man more than an animal. Man can know God, and the Bible says that God is a spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. And God's spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.

And the spirit in man is that vehicle of communication and worship and praise and spiritual knowledge. And what does the devil want to do? The devil is the one who tries to separate you from God.

Let me give you an example of what I'm talking about. Lot is an example of the world tempting the soul. David is an example of the flesh tempting the body. Simon Peter is an example of the devil tempting the spirit. Remember why Jesus said to Simon Peter, just before Simon Peter cursed and swore and denied Christ? Jesus said to him, Hey, Simon, Simon, Satan has desired you that he may sift you as wheat, but I have prayed for you that your what fail not?

Your what? Your faith. Your faith. I have prayed for you that your faith fail not. What was Simon Peter's temptation when he denied the Lord Jesus Christ?

Well, it wasn't on an ego trip. He wasn't under sexual attack or the lust of the flesh. His faith faltered.

His faith faltered. Satan desired him to sift him as wheat. Primarily what Satan wants to do is to separate you from almighty God. Now, let me just wrap this up now and talk to you for a few minutes about the subduing of temptation. How are you going to overcome temptation? Now, the Bible says here in our verse, there has no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man, and God is faithful.

Who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you're able, but will with the temptation make a way of escape? Now, the late, great Donald Gray Barnhouse has given us three very wonderful words here, and here they are, and I want you to listen to them. The word is flight, faith, and fight. Give those words, and I'll tell you how to use them now.

The key word is flight, F-L-I-G-H-T, flight. The lust of the flesh. What is the flesh? That's that old Adamic nature within us that's trying to use things, the flesh, to tempt us. Now, the Bible gives us these words. The Bible says, flee fornication. Flee fornication. Again, the Bible says, flee youthful lusts. You're not told to fight this kind of temptation. You're told to flee. Now, if there's a kind of a temptation, a magazine, a friend, a movie, a program on cable television that arouses things in you that are wrong, you're just told to get away from it, to flee fornication, just get away.

When I was in college, I had a motto on my desk that said this, He who would not fall down ought not to walk in slippery places. Flee fornication. You kids, when you date, you go to some secluded rendezvous and sit in that automobile. That's not fleeing fornication. That's asking for it.

It's like playing with matches in dry grass. You say, now, Lord, keep us pure. Well, you've got to flee fornication. You can't put this garbage in your mind.

You can't go to these filthy R-rated, X-rated things. You cannot watch that trash on television and expect to stay pure. If you're a man and you say, I watched that and it doesn't bother me, I'll tell you what. I believe you're lying. Well, you may not be lying. Either you're no man or you're Superman or you're a liar. But I believe you're just lying when you say it doesn't bother me.

It doesn't affect me. The Bible says, can a man take a fire in his bosom and be not burned? You can't put garbage in your mouth, would you? Why put garbage in your mind? You flee fornication. You kids, when you go to a date, go to a football game with 50,000 people around, and if you're going to have a kiss goodnight, do it on the front porch with the porch light burning and her father looking through the keyhole with a shotgun. What am I saying?

I'm saying you don't put yourself into that kind of a situation. If alcohol is a temptation to you, stay away from it. If you've got any in the cabinet, pour it down the drain. It'll burn the hair out of the sink. Just get rid of it. Get rid of that and you're trying to quit smoking? Well, don't keep that extra carton in the dresser drawer. Just throw it out. Don't give it to somebody. Just throw it out. You say, well, God made tobacco. He did.

He made it to kill insects, not people. Now listen, get rid of it. Flee fornication.

Learn to be a first-class coward. When Potiphar's wife tempted Joseph, Joseph was the servant in Potiphar's house. There was an ungodly woman in that house who had a sexual desire toward Joseph and she tried to get Joseph to commit fornication with her. When Joseph realized what was happening, when this wicked woman reached out and took Joseph and tried to pull him in bed with her, Joseph got out of there in such a way that he left his coat behind him. He just ran. He just saturated that place with his absence. He just got out of there.

Now we may laugh at that, but he kept his purity. I know some people today who are so stupid, they would say, now, Mrs. Potiphar, you ought not to act that way. Let's just kneel down by the bed and pray about it. No. You're not told to fight this temptation. You're told to flee. You're told to flee. Now, against the flesh, the key word is flight. But what about the world? How do you overcome the world? Against the world, the key word is faith.

John tells us in his epistle, this is the victory that overcomes the world, even your faith. Again, you're not told to fight worldliness. Remember what the Bible says? If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

Now pay attention. It doesn't say that the love of the Father is not in him because he loves the world. It says if any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. The reason he loves the world is because the love of the Father is not in him. Worldliness is simply a symptom that the love of the Father is not in you.

So how do you overcome worldliness? Well, suppose you're driving down the road and the red light comes on the dashboard of your car that says there's no oil in the crankcase. Well, how do you handle that? Can you take a hammer and just break that light and it's all settled? Oh, no. That red light on the dashboard just tells you there's no oil in the crankcase.

What you need to do is to pull into a service station and put some oil in the crankcase and the red light goes off. Right? Of course. Now, if any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. If you find yourself being worldly and this world is trying to squeeze you into its mold, I'm going to tell you what's wrong with you. You have not fallen into love with the Lord Jesus Christ. You're not seeing Christ and that's the reason you're having problems with worldliness. Don't fight the light on the dashboard.

Put some oil in the crankcase. Load up on the Lord Jesus. Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace. When you feed on Jesus and you're feasting on Jesus and the devil offers you a plate of stale crumbs, you say, no, thank you, I'm already satisfied.

Right? When you load up on Jesus, you don't have to be in the back alley eating tin cans with the devil's billy goats when you're already satisfied with the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, if worldliness is your problem, faith is your answer. Look to Jesus. See who Jesus is.

Let Jesus Christ satisfy you, okay? Now, against the flesh, the key word is flight, flee fornication. Against the world, the key word is faith.

This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Now, what about the infernal foe, the devil? The key word against him is fight, F-I-G-H-T. The Bible says we're to fight the good fight of faith. The Bible says in the book of James, we're to resist the devil and he will flee from us. You're not told to run from him. You're told to fight. Not in your strength, but in his strength. Have you ever thought of the devil fleeing from you?

Most of us, we've just kind of want to have a standoff. We just say, devil, if you leave me alone, I'll leave you alone, but he's not going to leave you alone. And he's not going to leave until you resist him in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

You say, well, how can I do that? And they overcame him by the blood of the lamb, by the word of their testimony, and they loved not their lives until the death. I want you to know that the devil cares nothing for your resolutions. He's not afraid of your good will. He's not afraid of your intentions, but he fears the blood of Jesus Christ. They overcame him by the blood of the lamb, the word of their testimony, and they loved not their lives until the death. When the devil comes and he gets on your case, you bring the blood of Jesus against him. You bring the word of God against him. You bring that commitment to the Lord Jesus against him, and when the devil knocks on your door and the devil comes after you, you don't have to take it. You don't have to take it.

So many are like that cat had his tail stepped on so many times, somebody come in the room and just turn around and stick it out and wait. I mean, just expect him for the devil to do what he's going to do. You don't have to take that stuff from the devil. I'll tell you what you can do, my friend.

I'll tell you what. You put your sin under the blood of Jesus and understand the power of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, and when temptation comes to you, don't be on the defensive. You be on the offensive and you say, Satan, I bring the word against you. I bring the blood against you. I bring Jesus Christ against you. I resist you in the name of God Almighty. My body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. It belongs to God.

You are trespassing on my Father's property, and in the name of Jesus, you be gone. Resist the devil and he'll flee from you, and don't tell me it won't work until you try it. Against the flesh, the word is flight. Against the world, the word is faith. Against the devil, the infernal foe, the word is fight. Be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might.

What an amazing reminder that when temptation comes, not if, when it comes, we are on offense, not defense. You know, at Love Worth Finding, one of our greatest honors is to come alongside you and pray with you and for you in every trial or temptation you might face. If you can go to our website, our homepage, lwf.org slash radio, and scroll down, you'll 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. We can't wait to hear from you again, go to lwf.org slash radio and scroll down to our prayer wall. Now, if you'd like to order a copy of today's message, call us at 1-877-LOVE-GOD to order how to turn temptations into triumphs. This message is also part of the insightful back to the basics series for that complete collection, all 18 powerful messages, call 877-LOVE-GOD, or you can order online at lwf.org slash radio, or write us at Love Worth Finding, box 38600, Memphis, Tennessee 38183. Now, 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. When temptation comes, remember you're not on defense.

You can be on offense, flee from fornication, feed on Jesus to avoid worldliness and resist the devil. We hope you'll join us next time for more profound truth, simply stated by Adrian Rogers, right here on Love Worth Finding. Recently, we received this encouragement from a listener who said, I want to tell you how much Love Worth Finding means to us during this pandemic. We've had to stay home these past few months and have listened to Adrian Rogers. My husband and I are amazed at how much Dr. Rogers could say in 25 minutes or so, and it was all relevant.

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