Mm. Temptation is everywhere in today's culture. No wonder Jesus taught his disciples to pray against it when he gave them the Lord's Prayer. Today, on Turning Point, Dr. David Jeremiah takes a closer look at the dangers of temptation.
You'll learn exactly how you fall into it and more importantly, how you can get out of it. Here's David to share more from his message. Prayer and Protection Part 1 Well, one thing I know for sure about these broadcasts during these particular days is that they're for everyone because the Bible says, There has no temptation taken you but such as is common to man. That means everybody has temptation. And it's not sinful to be tempted, it's sinful to yield to temptation.
We're learning that as we walk through these lessons. Actually, there were two messages on temptation in this series, but we have to carve these messages up in half.
So for radio, there's four. There's lesson number one, part one and two, and lesson number two, part one and two. And these are all from this particular section on temptation. Friends, if you have not already looked into the possibility of going with us to New England and Canada, I hope you will do that. We're leaving on October the 4th and coming back on the 11th.
And we'll have guest artists Michael Sanchez and Uriel Vega. We'll be on a beautiful Holland America ship, the America Zyderdam, and we're going to have a great time together. I've done this one before, and it is one of my favorites. I'm glad we get to do it again, and we hope you can come and be with us. Once again, the dates are October 4th through 11th.
Go to davidjeremiah.org for more information. Here is Prayer and Protection, Part 1, the second half. Come on. How many of you know that you learn more the night before an exam than you've learned the whole semester? How many of you know that, all right?
And you know that ultimately, in the whole process of things, that exams are important and they're good because they promote and they motivate you to learn, right? But how many of you get up in the morning and say, Oh God. Lead me into an exam today. How many of you pray that? I don't know anybody that prays that.
I used to walk into class praying, no, not today, God. Oh, not today. You all know that, don't you? Let me just ask you this question. If exams are good and they promote learning, why wouldn't you pray for them?
Just ask me that. You know why? Because whenever you take an exam, there's two possibilities, aren't there? You can either pass or you can fail. And the reason you don't pray for exams is because you know the potential.
that you studied all the wrong stuff. Or you know the potential to walk into that exam and not do well.
So you're not excited. You know that ultimately it helps you to be motivated to learn and it helps you to grow in your knowledge, but you don't pray for it because you don't pray for it on the basis of the weakness you sense in your own heart to not necessarily always be. Do you understand the analogy? Why does God say to us? You know, lead us not into temptation, very simply, because were to pray that knowing that in the midst of the trial We could be tempted, and we just want to confess by that prayer: Lord, I'm weak.
And I don't want to be put even in the place where I could be tempted. That's a good and positive prayer. It's in essence the replaying of the verse of Scripture that says: Let him that thinketh he stand take heed lest he fall. Don't get cocky about your spiritual life. Don't do, as I've heard some TV preachers do, stand up and challenge the devil and say, just bring on whatever you want to bring on, not me, friend.
Not me. I'm praying every day, lead me not into temptation. I've told some of you that God can never greatly use a man until He's greatly crushed a man. And I used to pray daily that I could be the exception. I used to be.
But you know what? I don't think there are any exceptions. And so What Jesus is teaching us here is this. When we find ourselves in prayer. We need to pray, Lord, I'm a weak human being.
And I'm not strong. But in you I can be strong. But Lord, just today, it's okay with me if you don't put me in the way of temptation. It's all right with me.
Now, if you don't like that prayer, you pray the opposite, okay? If you think this is a hard prayer, you can pray the opposite if you want to, but I don't advise it.
Now Having said all of this, How do you know? If in the midst of that you're being tempted. I read a statement that was in Leadership Magazine. And it says this, the devil is easy to identify. He always shows up when you're terribly tired.
and makes a very reasonable request which you know you shouldn't grant. That's a pretty good dossier on the devil, isn't it? And especially the tired part. How many of you know that when you're tired, when you're worn down, you're really susceptible to the things that he wants to throw into your pathway? I went back through, and I want to do kind of a post-mortem on temptation, if I might.
I want to give you six things to watch out for. In the midst of a trial, in the midst of a temptation, how do you know? That this is a temptation to take you away from God instead of to test the reality of who you are. First of all, the first step of temptation is always deceit. The first step is often the least obvious because of the very nature of what it is.
We're always given this false impression by the tempter that whatever wrong we do really isn't all that serious. I have played that over and over again with people of God who've gotten in trouble.
Well, I never thought there was all that much to it, Pastor. Not that much to it. Satan comes along and he massages your thinking process and he candy coats the whole situation and he deceives you into thinking that something in a clear, bright moment you would know is wrong. But somehow he deceives you into believing that it's, well, maybe close to the line, but not all that bad. You know?
Deceit.
Well, once you get through the process of deceit, the next thing that happens is. you find yourself caught up in delight. Satan makes You think that this is pretty good. He gives you a sense of fascination with it. You become delighted with the whole prospect of whatever the temptation might be.
He puts a a sense of Excitement in your heart about it. Then, when you've gone from deceit to delight, the third step is the step of desire. And this kind of gets a hold of your passion. It produces a powerful response within you, a deep and compelling desire. There's an arousal in the desire part of you.
It appears very pleasant, very reasonable, very much to your advantage to pursue this thing. You've talked yourself into it, you've got this hunger for it, a desire for it. Do you see what's happening? It starts with deceit. And then it goes to delight, and then it goes to desire, and then there's always this little place right in the middle of the process called deliberation.
Where you sort of take it out of the package and you play with it, you sort of put it in the screen of your mind and you think about it, you allow it to appeal to you, you listen, and then in the process of deliberation, you reach out and you take it. And after deliberation, let me tell you what's next. Defeat. Defeat. You proceed to act on the temptation.
Let me tell you, up through the fourth step, there is no sin. That is overt. Perhaps sin in the mind, sin in the heart, but there's no overt sin. But after step four, you have now acted upon the temptation and you are defeated. And some of you listening to me, you know, as I replay this whole system, it's just like you remember, you can think back through the things that have happened in your life, and it's exactly the way it happens.
And the reason I know it's the way it happens is because it's from the enemy, and he started this whole thing back in the Garden of Eden. He hadn't changed his mind one bit, he hadn't even changed his strategy at all. I'll show you in a minute. After defeat, you know what's next? And I've caught people on the rebound in this despair.
despair. I wish for my sake and for all of our sake. that I had a video camera. that could replay all the tearful moments in my study As people have told me, the hurt and the pain and the despair. That resulted in the material.
from their yielding to temptation. In case you're not sure, that's really What happens? I want you to read Psalm 32 and Psalm 51. These are the entries in David's journal after his sin with Bathsheba. and you won't have any trouble understanding his despair.
Now That's the way Satan always works. Always. He doesn't depart from it. You can't show me a situation where he uses any other strategy. That's his strategy.
Now watch. Satan led Adam and Eve to believe that eating the forbidden fruit would not really be that serious. Deceit.
Then he presented the picture to them of becoming gods, knowing good and evil. Delight. Then This had a tremendous appeal to them and aroused their desire to become great and wise, and it was pleasant and reasonable. Desire. And they actually Reached out.
and took it. Took it right in in a self-willed exertion against God. This was a deliberate action on their part, deliberation. And the result was that they sensed immediately that they had been taken in, they were victimized, they were naked and ashamed, embarrassed, and didn't want to see God. Defeat.
And the next thing we see them, They're walking out of paradise. with their heads down. Knowing. all that they had given up. Despair.
And I'm going to tell you what, when you face temptation in the scriptures, everywhere you see it appear on the pages of the Word of God, if you dissect it, you will find these six things. And I only tell you that because If you're on that road, And you've come to the first intersection. And that first intersection has got the seat written on the signpost. You're not too far down the road. The sinkhole isn't there yet.
But you keep going, and about between four and five blocks. There's a sinkhole and you're going to go in it. If you don't turn around, And get started back in the other direction.
Well, you say, Pastor Jeremiah, the Lord says, Lead us not into the way where we could be tempted because we're weak. If we're in that way, these are the things we should expect. What do we do? How do we keep ourselves? From being victimized by temptation.
Oh, that's a whole message in itself, and I've preached on it, and written on it, and talked about it. taught it in classes. I don't know that there is any time. Time that I could allot that would give you everything that the Bible says about it. I do know this, we all claim 1 Corinthians 10:13.
There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man. God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able, but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that you may be able to bear it. That verse in itself is filled with wonderful truth. But I remember one day. Of fighting through some of these thoughts and trying to find a strategy.
And let me tell you something: we ought to have a strategy for temptation. I hope you do. If you don't have a strategy, you're going to be a victim. You're not going to be victorious. And I wrote down on the front of my Bible five or six words that to me.
Kind of condense and crystallize the strategy that ought to be in the heart of every believer, knowing that temptation. It's there. We're all going to face it. Here are those words. Number one, Fight.
Fight. You say, I'm supposed to fight? Absolutely. Do you know why? If you don't fight, you'll be victimized.
You know, I'm so sorry to tell you that a lot of Christian people I know are pansies. You know why? Here's what they say. I don't know. I just I couldn't do anything.
It just happened. What do you mean it just happened?
Well, just, you know, Pastor, I'll just... I don't know, man. It just it just happened.
Well, nothing just happens, does it? Don't let it happen. The Bible says fight. Listen, James 4:7. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
1 Peter 5, 8 and 9, Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. We know that part, but did you read the next verse? Resist him steadfast in the faith. Fight! Ephesians 6:11 says, Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
God expects a little bit of effort on our part against the evil of our day. That means that you and I can't just be passive Christians. I don't have time to tell you all the ways to resist the devil, but you can certainly. Think of a few yourself. Second word in my list.
Follow. After you put down the word fight, then think about this. This is kind of the opposite side of it. James 4:7 and 8 says, Submit to God, draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. 1 Peter 2:21 says, For this you were called.
Christ left you an example to follow his steps. How are we supposed to be victorious over temptation in this sick world in which we live? You've got to fight against the enemy and you've got to make up your mind. You're going to stay as close to God as you can. You've got to follow him.
The Bible says, draw near to God. He'll draw near to you. Are you taking any steps toward God? Most people I know want to keep a safe distance. You know?
I like God, I like knowing Him as long as I don't have to get too close.
Well, the further the distance between you and the Lord, the greater the potential for you to fail in the hour of temptation. Draw near to God. And He'll draw near to you. How do you draw near to God? Through the spiritual disciplines of reading and praying and fasting and journaling and worshiping and all of the things you know.
Those aren't merits in themselves, but they're the avenues upon which grace walks. Draw near to God. Follow. Thirdly, Flea. And I just want to read these verses to you because It says here that there is a real sense in which it's important for you to fight some things, but there's two things you shouldn't try to fight, you should run from.
This is not cowardly, this is godly. God tells us in His Word: there's two things we should never try to deal with in a frontal exchange, but we should always run from them. Do you know what they are? Watch this. 1 Corinthians 10, 14, Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.
Don't ever get close to idolatry. Don't do anything that puts something else or someone else in God's place. Run from it. And then 2 Timothy 2.22, flee youthful lusts. Two things you can't deal with in a frontal attack.
Immorality and idolatry. And the Bible says in those situations you should always run. Get out. Get away. I tell kids the best equipment for victory over temptation is the best pair of Adidas money can buy.
Go get yourself some shoes and get out. Young people, let me tell you something. You may think, well, you know, it's all right to kind of play with temptation in the whole area of sexual things. No, it's not. You can't do that, you'll never win.
You will never win. That's why Jesus tells us in His Word to flee it, to get away from it, to put it away from us. Set up checkpoints to keep you from the process. If you don't, you will be victimized. I was talking to a young man from another part of the country who came to see me.
And he was telling me the story of his failure. And This man is a good man, but he's messed up his life, messed up his family. And he came to see me because I was far enough away, nobody would know, and we talked. And I said to him, Boy, I tell you, with all the stuff you've grown up with and with all your knowledge, how did you let yourself get into this situation? Why did you do it?
He said, You know, Pastor. I knew it was wrong. And I always thought that I could stop whenever I wanted to. But he said there was a place where we were driving in the car, and all the time we were driving, I knew in my heart that what we were doing was absolutely wrong and a violation against God, and I couldn't stop. We could not stop.
We could not stop. The pull of sexual temptation and idolatry is so strong that on these two occasions only, God said to us, Run. Flea. Get away. And parents, if you see your kids getting involved in something that looks like it's going in the wrong direction, you better put on the brakes quickly.
You better stop and say, no, don't play with that. Don't start down that road. Because it spells disaster. Fight and follow and flee. I remember Joseph.
Wonderful Joseph. Joseph, who when caught in the clutch of a predatory woman who wanted to take away his purity. ran out of the house and left his coat in her hands. because he knew it was better off without his coat than without his character. Joseph gives us an example, doesn't he?
And then finally, this is the last one: feed. Fight. Follow. Flee and feed. Did you know that the Bible actually says this?
Psalm 119, verse 11: Your word have I hidden in my heart. What's the rest of it, class? That I may not sin against thee. Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word.
When Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, even the Son of God, the divine Son of God, tempted by the enemy, could not and did not withstand temptation apart from the Word of God. Every temptation was met with. It is written, it is written, it is written. I don't understand why God's people feel like they have any right to succeed. in a life of holiness and purity.
when they spend no time in the Word of God at all. You can't do it. There is no way to ever succeed. I'm mystified when I realize that the struggle for godliness and righteousness. Is intensified in our culture today, and yet we see, if I understand the statistic across the country, people going to church less and less.
And people say, well, you know what, Pastor Jeremiah, I can't come to church on Sunday night. I mean, that's the only night we have at home with our family. We work so hard during the week.
So we just need Sunday night to sort of stay home and get things together. You know, I'm not going to argue if that's what you think God wants you to do, but I want to ask you this question: Is what you're doing on Sunday night, wherever you are, if you're not under the teaching of the Word of God, is that helping to feed you so that you can be More successful as a believer so that you can go on with God. But I want to challenge you. That if you're not feeding yourself and not taking advantage of every feeding you can get, You're in jeopardy. I've learned a lot on my own, and people have sent me stuff from everywhere about the immune system.
Some of it's good, and some of it's strange. But I tell you what I learned, what I know, and it's got a wonderful application to what we've talked about today. We have been given By God, a system. in our physical bodies. That was prepared to ward off disease.
It fights against the things that come out of the atmosphere that can destroy us. When a person gets A cancer. Or some other disease, if you trace it back to the root, it's because the immune system has become defective in some way.
So that the natural way of fighting off The disease. Is not allowed to work, and therefore the disease begins to take over. And when you go to school on how to deal with disease after you've had it or to try to deal with it in a preventative way. In all the literature that you read, they will continually talk about building up the immune system. Did you know that God has given to every believer an immune system?
He really has. He's given us a system. through his word. Through our salvation, that makes it possible for us to live healthy, righteous, godly lives. But you know what complicates the immune system in a human being?
And I have been so convicted by this. Junk food. Improper diet.
Sometimes an atmosphere where pollutants can get into your system and. violate the immunity program that God has. All of those things, and I was just thinking about it. All those same things are what keep God's people. from being strong and healthy spiritually.
He's given us the system that will keep us strong, but we don't feed ourselves right. And we think our immune system is going to be okay if we just fill it full of junk food. We allow all of the pollutants of the world's system to filter through us and just little by little tear down the immune system until there's nothing left to fight off. the things of the world.
So what do you do? You become conscious of your diet, you become conscious of exercise, you become conscious of atmosphere, you become conscious of all kinds of things that can make a difference. And you know what? This is a very interesting concept. And I read this whole book on this one little thought.
That the way this disease happens in people is through what they call free radicals.
Now, that's not a political thing. That's something that happens inside of you. You know what a free radical is? It's a cell. It's a cell within your body.
That doesn't function according to the pattern. It just all of a sudden. One day it just goes wammo and it just flies out of the pattern. And it goes and it joins itself to another cell, and it starts to develop what we call a tumor. Because it's gotten out of the pattern.
And they've done enough research on this now to know that there are certain things that cause free radicals. For instance, oxidization does that. To beat that, you gotta take vitamin E. You gotta take beta-carotene. This is not a health food lesson.
I just wanna tell you what I've been learning. You eat vitamin E, you take all kinds of vitamin E pills, and you take beta-carotene, and you put that together with vitamin C, and those three vitamins help. You. When it comes to free radicals, so that they don't, you know what? Temptation is like a free radical, isn't it?
It's out of nowhere. What happened? It just nowhere. I was going along and everything was just The way it was supposed to be, and then, man, a free radical. Got me.
Hm. I want to tell you something. The best way I know to keep that from happening is to get the right vitamins in your spiritual system. And if you do that, you can be a healthy Christian. Amen.
You know, temptation is inevitable, but yielding to temptation is not inevitable. It is the result of being careless. and not being faithful in what we need to do to Build ourselves up so that the temptation has no place to grab hold of us. and we're learning that as we study the Lord's Prayer. Tomorrow we'll go into the second half of this whole discussion.
This is part two of the first lesson, and tomorrow will be part one of the second lesson. We've never had four lessons like this, and it's kind of hard to describe them, so I don't want you to get lost. We're still talking about temptation, and I hope you'll be with us for the duration of this discussion. Hey, there's a study guide for this series, and there's a set of C Ds that you can get that will recapture everything we've been talking about. Go to davidjeremiah.org.
That's our website. There you can find out about it. And whatever you do, be sure and join us tomorrow right here on this good station. The message you've just heard came to you from Shadow Mountain Community Church and senior pastor Dr. David Jeremiah.
Has the Lord been moving in your life through this ministry? Tell us how at Turning Point, P.O. Box 3838, San Diego, California, 92163. Visit our website at davidjeremiah.org/slash radio or call 800-947-1993. Ask for your copy of David's new book for strengthening your prayer life.
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Visit TurningPointPlus.org for details. This is David Michael Jeremiah. Join us tomorrow as we continue the series Prayer the Great Adventure on Turning Point with Dr. David Jeremiah.
