Enduring Temptation S10e38 1cor10:13

If you are feeling tempted and overwhelmed, this 7 minute podcast is for you.  If you are wondering exactly how to stand up under temptation, please listen.  If you wonder where God is during the hard times, then you have come to the right passage.

You are NOT alone during temptation.  You are not the first to be seized by this temptation. God is not the SOURCE of temptation, but He is the SOLUTION.  He is faithful.  For some reason, He has chosen to ALLOW temptation up to an endurable level (with His help). He always provides a moral escape hatch to every temptation.  God is faithful.  He is allowing temptation, but not allowing it to overtake you.

This is one of the most real-world, rubber-meets-the-road truths of the Bible.  I am glad you are here.  Listen to the podcast and subscribe at bewithme.us

Transcript

Michael Smith: 0:00

Good morning, my brothers and sisters, welcome to episode 37 of be with me and we're going to talk today about enduring temptation. This is going to be one of the most encouraging powerful, reassuring and even humbling. passages from the Bible, only two verses today. This is from First Corinthians chapter 10, verses 12 and 13. First Corinthians chapter 10, verses 12 and 13. Open your Bibles. Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed, lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you, that is not common to man, God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability. But with the temptation, he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. No temptation has overtaken you or seized you that is not common to man, God is faithful. He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability. But with the temptation, he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure or stand up under under it. So I'm calling today enduring temptation, there's two things you can do with temptation. One is you can yield, yield to it, and temptation immediately grows, goes away. Or you can endure it you can stand up under it. And we're going to find out today, how do you do that. And the only way to do it with this is with the presence and the providing of God. That's where the encouragement comes in. He's in this passage of, of people from the Old Testament, he's calling on reminding people about how people in the Old Testament made bad decisions, they were overthrown by their temptations. And they're used as good examples of being bad examples. So catastrophe befalls them. And then we approach this humbly. So we have to ask, Are you stronger, wiser, more obedient, have more of an allegiance than the people of the Old Testament? So the posture certainly is not hey, I got this. I can do this without God, no, the posture is, even Paul remember said in chapter two, verse three, that he came to the Corinthians with weakness and fear and with trembling. So the the pride is not the answer here, do not become proud, but fear and, and approach this topic humbly. So first thing, No temptation has overtaken you or seized you that is common demand. So you will think and I think that when I am tempted, that I am alone, that I'm the first that I'm the only and nobody understands how powerful this temptation is. If they only understood, then they would, you know, cut me some slack. And temptation is described as a seizing you know, it's almost like it grabs ahold of you and it shakes you. overtaken us, whether it be lust or gluttony, or anger or unkindness, or any immoral action. And what it says what it's asking us to do is agree with the temptation or contrary is to agree with God and say the truth. So the first thing I do is, so let's agree with God that I am being tempted. I am not the first others have gone before me. And what I am experiencing is common demand and universal you're not the first a person so let's, let's discard that lie that that I I'm alone in this, and that I'm this is not common to mankind. Alright. Second thing is the big thing is about God. So this is a passage about your temptation. And then also, it's about God. And if that's that he is has said, He is faithful, He is present. If this isn't the number one characteristic of God, it's the number two characteristic of God. So here's the crazy thing is he didn't cause your temptation, but he is present in it. Remember what it says in James, chapter one? Let no one say when he is tempted, I'm being tempted by God, for God cannot be tempted with evil and he tempts no one but each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. So don't blame God for the temptation, but do blame God or rely on God for the solution to this. So he is present. So during this evil thing that's happening to you temptation, he is present. So you are not alone. You have a Savior that understands this. He came down and actually had the same temptations of you. You think Jesus wasn't tempted by whatever your temptation is? Yes, he was. So here's the thing is he has this insane say that he will not let he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, now up to your ability and right on it. And so the temptation is not beyond your, your temptation is not beyond his ability. It's not his understanding of our ability. He is present before, during and after the temptation. So where the rubber is meeting the road in your temptation, God is present in that, in a sense, he's the God of temptation, not as the cause, but as the present person. He's not the source of it. But he is the solution to temptation. God is not the source of our temptation. But he is the solution. He's not he didn't fall off the throne when we got tempted. He is sovereign, he allows it, but it's a filtered allowing it's an assessed and quantified. So he wants us to show our abilities during temptation. We're not victims, there's none of this, you know, the devil made me do it. He wants you us to flex our temptation resisting muscles. That is he always gives us a moral option of escape and with it with each temptation, there is a door here he says he provides a way of escape. Always, he always there's always an escape hatch. There's no exception. He's the provider of this. So when we are tempted, we can either make temptation go away by yielding, or we can stand up under it and that way, temptation doesn't end we just have to stand up under it. That's the option for escape. There's never been never a requirement for disobedience. Okay, so conclusions. Number one, you are not alone. When you are tempted. You are not unique, we have a faithful God and He is the source, not of the temptation but of the solution. And who is this God that meets us there? In temptation, he is the one that provides an escape and that the Escape is a way to stand up under either to make the temptation go wait are more likely to make you stand up under it. So let's confirm God's faithful let's prove him right let's prove that he has provided a way of standing up and let's not be overthrown by sin, let's not be overthrown by the sin but be overtaken by God's presence and His provision of a way of escape and in so doing prove him true. He's provided the person that his his faithful God is faithful. He's provided the way of escape that we may prove, endures, endures of temptation. No temptation has overtaken you. That's not common demand. God is faithful. He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability with a temptation. He will also provide a way of escape that you may endure. Thanks for listening