Overcoming temptation: Christian sermon

Certain things that we know are wrong for us will tempt us. But, they are things that we want so much! How do we say no to temptation? Learning to turn our backs on sin when we are tempted by it leads us into Christian maturity.

Temptations are opportunities that either strengthen us or corrupt us. When they come along, we are given a choice to either turn away with God’s help or succumb to the temptation. Learning how to turn away from temptation requires developing a real relationship with God. A relationship that works requires two-way communication. We turn to God and ask for what we need and listen for His direction.

If we have managed to get this far in our walk with God, we’ve already had to deal with some temptations. Some of us left behind a train wreck of a life when we met Christ. Our temptations along our walk with Him may have been things like saying no to drinking or giving up gambling. In our Christian infancy, God gives us a lot of grace to clean up a bit so that we can learn enough about Him to become effective servants for Him.

He keeps a lot of temptations away from us early on and surrounds us with protection. Just as you would baby proof your home, so God baby proofs our lives. “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer 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.” (1 Corinthians 10:13)

But we are protected only for a short time, we can’t stay babies forever. God needs grown up Christians to spread the Good News about Him. As we mature, we will be less protected from the temptations of the world. We must learn to stand up on our own feet and deal with those sins that attract us. These kinds of situations build our strength when we meet them and overcome them.

How do we overcome them, though? How does the alcoholic say no to the drink that he knows will take his troubles away for a while? How does the former smoker say no to a cigarette when her nerves are all jangled and there are smokers all around? Each of us has those things that are a special temptation to us. Maybe it’s another piece of cake or a desire to blast a bully with a stream of our own angry words. We know the things that tempt us are wrong but they would feel oh so good at the time.

There is the key to sinful things. Their affect is temporal and transient. They make us feel better for a time but that feeling quickly dissipates and we are left feeling bad. Then another choice comes along. Do we do more things to ease the guilt or bad feelings we got from the first sin or do we turn to God and ask forgiveness? Another temptation faces us now. That’s the nature of temptation. When we allow one to carry us away, the next one is harder to deny.

Our model for behavior is Jesus Christ. He is the one we are striving to be like. He had to overcome temptations, just as we do. He was tempted by Satan, (Matthew 4:1-10), by the Pharisees and Sadducees (Matthew 16:1), and by His disciples (Matthew 16:23). We have to remember that Christ was fully a man. He was tempted. If the things He was tempted with were not things that He, as a man, would have liked or benefited from in some way, they would not have been temptations but mere occurrences. “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” (Hebrews 4:15) He overcame His temptations. If He is our model for behavior, then we can learn from how He succeeded at this.

While Christ was in the desert, Satan came to Him and tempted Him. For each of the things that Satan tempted Him with, Christ answered Satan with Scripture. Here is our first lesson, then. Know the Scripture. Be prepared for temptation with reassuring or strengthening Scriptures. By keeping our eyes on God, we keep them off of the things that would tempt us.

When the Pharisees and Sadducees tempted Christ, He rebuked them. He told them that giving them a sign from heaven proving who He was would not have convinced them, their minds were already made up. What He is doing here is something that Paul tells us to do in Galatians, “Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.” (Galatians 6:1) He was trying to point their error out to them, but they were beyond comprehension. When we are tempted, we should take our concerns to our fellow Christians so they can help us. When we do, we have to go with a heart that is willing to hear.

On the way to Jerusalem, Christ was tempted by His disciples. They wanted to keep Him from going there and thereby avoid being killed. Christ must have been sorely tempted here. Later in the Garden of Gethsemane, He asked God to take the burden of the Cross-from Him. At this moment, He was experiencing what Matthew later described as the spirit being willing but the flesh being weak. (Matthew 26:41) Christ’s answer for this kind of temptation was prayer.

This is our model for dealing with our temptations, too. Take them to God in prayer. Christ even gave us the model for prayer, “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.” (Matthew 6:13) For “The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations.” (2 Peter 2:9a)

There is no doubt that temptations are difficult to deal with and that we will not always succeed at dealing with them. However, God has given us an example of how to deal with them. And, when we fail, He is faithful to forgive. The key is to take both things, the temptations and the failures, to Him in prayer.

(All Scripture KJV)