Temptation - Part 2 - 1 Corinthians 10:13

0:00Lay Forust And To My path, thy Word is a lamb unto my feet, and delight unto my path, my path. Welcome to Searchlight, a survey through Scripture with Pastor John Corson. It is our desire to bring you a systematic study of the entire Bible, chapter by chapter

1:00book by book. On our last Searchlight program, we began talking about dealing with temptations. In our study, we found a very comforting verse in 1 Corinthians chapter 10. Verse 13 tells us two important things about temptations. The first is an enlightening premise, and that premise is that our temptations are common to every man. We are not unique, and Jesus Himself was tempted in every way that we are tempted, yet was without sin. The second thing that we learned is an encouraging promise, and that promise is that God will not allow us to be tempted above what we are able. He will always give us a way out if we choose it. Today, we are going to see how all of this works out practically in our lives. With our study, here now is Pastor John. Always there will be, in the moment of temptation, a way of escape.

2:05Absolutely. You say, well, John, that's great as far as it relates to theory that makes a nice, comforting theology. But how does that work out practically? How does that flesh out in my situation, where I am vulnerable to murmuring about my job, or lusting after that lexas, or prone towards immorality? How does it work out? How does it flesh out, listen gang, whenever you want to know, whenever I am in a situation, I need to know how some theology fleshes out. You always look to the one who is the word becoming flesh, Jesus Christ. It's called the incarnation, the word becoming flesh and dwelling among us as John one tells

3:07us. See, we're not talking theology or theory, but we can see it work out practically. Turn with me quickly to Matthew chapter 4. And we'll see how this fleshes out. Jesus tempted in Matthew chapter 4 in a very real and profound way. And yet he shows us the way of escape for you and me when we are tempted in our situations, you see. Now at the end of chapter 3, Jesus Christ been baptized in the Jordan River. As he came out of the water, he heard a voice from heaven saying, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. Why, how would you like to hear that on the way home today? A voice from heaven saying that you, you specifically are his beloved son or daughter in whom

4:12he is well pleased. It must have been a glorious hour for Jesus to hear audibly the voice of his father from heaven saying to him tenderly, I am well pleased with you son. This is my beloved son. Immediately after that, he is driven into the wilderness or the desert where he is about to be tempted by Satan in a profound and significant way. Fasting for 40 days and 40 nights. He is now physiologically at the point of death. For you see, we are told that when you fast for that length of time, you lose your appetite completely. But when the appetite returns after a fast of that length, when the appetite comes back, it's warning you that you've got to eat right then or you'll die.

5:15It's your body saying you're starving. You've got to eat. You're on the threshold of death. So here is Jesus. Being fasted for 40 days, he was now versed to hungry, which means he is on the verge of death physically. At that point, the tempter Satan comes to him and says, if thou be the son of God. Now what did Jesus just hear? He said, this is my beloved son, the Father declared. Satan says, if that's so, if what you do, you'll die. What you heard is true. If you are the son of God, why are you dying of starvation? Command that these stones be made bread. The first temptation was that of being tempted to doubt the Father's provision. Hey, why are you hungry?

6:16And Satan will whisper that same kind of temptation in your ear or in mind. Aren't you satisfied? Materially, sexually, relationally, vocationally? I thought you were God's child. I thought you were born again. I thought you were a church goer, a Bible studyer, then why are you hungry? Why are you craving? And he, Satan, is trying to get Jesus to doubt the provision of the Father. That's still what he does to you and to me, to try and get us to doubt the provision of the Father. What did Jesus do? He said, it is written, quoting Matthew, pardon me, quoting Deuteronomy chapter 8, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. Notably, I believe, forcibly.

7:17Jesus said, it is written, Satan, that man is not satisfied or satiated by material bread, but by the word of God. And I suggest to you that he, in these 40 days, was in the word, or explained that in a moment. It is written, Satan, that man shall not live by bread alone. Well then the devil, verse 5, took him into the holy city, into Jerusalem, and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said, well, if you be the Son of God, and now Satan quotes scripture, Psalm 91, it is written, or if pardon me, if you be the Son of God, cast yourself down, for it is written. And now quoting Psalm 91, he shall give his angels charge concerning thee, and in their hands they shall bear thee up, less than any time thou dash thy foot against the stone, Satan can quote scripture, hey, why don't you go and jump?

8:24Are you afraid that the father is not going to protect you? Jump, take a leap of faith, jump, and see how the father comes through for you because it is written. And he quotes Psalm 91, but notice this Bible students, Satan can quote the scriptures, but he left out a very important segment. For in Psalm 91, it says, he shall give his angels charge over thee to keep thee in all his ways. Satan forgot to insert that phrase, to keep you in his ways, not to do your thing. Now listen, here's the temptation, not just the father's provision, but the father's protection. Jump off. Start the business, take a leap of faith, name it, claim it, blab it, grab it, jump, doesn't the father promise to provide for you, doesn't he care about you?

9:24He's not going to let you hit bottom, he's not going to let you crash. Jump, jump, jump in the name of the Lord, jump, jump into that relationship. Oh, he hasn't directed it, he hasn't given you approval for it, but just trust the Lord, man, jump, jump on in. You see, and this temptation, whether it be into business or into a financial decision or into a relationship, we say, okay, I'm going to jump and my father's going to protect me. In a minute, careful, that's the temptation of the enemy. Jesus answered and said, verse seven, watch this, please note this Bible students, it is written again, I have that word again circled. Why? Satan called a scripture, although he left out a key phrase, but Jesus said compare scripture with scripture. Again it is written, and here's where so many people crash in the name of faith.

10:27They take one scripture and they jump off and they crash and they wonder what happened. It's because they are not looking at the full orb of God's counsel. That's why it's important to be a student of the word, chapter by book, steadily, consistently getting the full counsel. Yes, Satan, you're quoting from Psalm 91, but it is written again. And now he comes back, quoting a balancing truth, and that is from Deuteronomy 6, thou shall not tempt the Lord thy God. I'm not going to tempt my father. I'm not going to jump off and tempt him to see me through. I'm not going to put him to that test. If he wants me to jump, then he'll set me up and he'll tell me when, but I'm not going to just do what I want to and expect for him to see me through. It is written again. I will not tempt my father, you see. In a third time, the devil took him to an exceedingly high mountain, verse 8, and showed

11:30him all the kingdoms of the world and said, all these things I'll give to thee if you fall down and worship me. I'll give it to you right now, Jesus, Satan said, and he could. For you see, in reality, the title deed to the earth was turned over to Satan in the Garden of Eden. This world is presently being influenced, dominated by the devil. That's why there's rapes and wars and famines and problems. It's being dominated by the devil. Adam and Eve gave Satan the title deed when they chose to sin in the Garden of Eden. Now Satan says, just bow down to me and worship me and I'll give you the world. He could have done that. But you see, Jesus then could have taken the world politically, materially, but if he didn't go to the cross and die redemptively, then we would be damned eternally. Jesus said, uh-uh.

12:31Satan was suggesting in this temptation, hey, why wait for the promise of the Father? In Psalm 2, the promise was given that all these kingdoms will be yours, Jesus, but why wait? Can you really count on that promise coming to fruition? So the third temptation deals with trying to doubt the Father's promise. We see there in order then, Satan trying to get Jesus to doubt the Father's provision. Number one, doubt the Father's protection. Number two, doubt the Father's promise. Number three. Grab it yourself. Just bow down and worship me. Get the hint, Satan, verse 10. It is written and he quotes again from Deuteronomy chapter six, thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shall thou serve. I'm going to worship the Father. I'm going to not worship you, Satan, for it is written in Deuteronomy six, I should worship

13:34only him, you see. Interesting. Now, think with me, I commend you for your attention, but don't miss this. It's important. In this we see the way of escape. Whatever temptation that I'm struggling with, whatever battle I'm wrestling through, this is the way of escape for me. It's the way of escape for you. How does it flesh out? No temptation is unique to me. It's common to all men. It's common to the Son of man. And he will not allow me to be tempted above what I am able, but with that temptation will provide a way of escape. How? Look at Matthew 4. Here's the key. What did Jesus do? The scripture, the scripture, the scripture. Three things to note down quickly for you note takers. First of all, stay in the word.

14:36Number one, stay in the word if you are going to overcome temptation. Last, fornication, murmuring. All of the stuff that can really trip you up, you got to stay in the scripture. Stay in the word. Jesus was. Notice in all three of these quotes, it's from Deuteronomy six, seven, and eight. I believe personally that that's where he was having his devotionals that day. I believe that he was using those texts because that's where he was. They're all in such close proximity to each other. Be that as it made, Jesus was a man who knew the scriptures. Stay in the word. It is the sword of the Spirit. All around you, there are all kinds of tempting messages being pushed on you. All around you there is pollution trying to seduce you.

15:38What do you do? Stay in the word. In 2 Kings chapter four, you can read it later, a light of the prophet was there with his boys, young men that he was discipling. What a fixed breakfast. It was potage. They took spoons and began to dish up and then they spatted out and said, this is better. This is poisonous. And one of the fellows said, man, pour out the potage. This is a mess. This is bitter and poisonous. Alisha said, don't do that. Take that good meal over there and pour in the meal into this present potage. And as they poured in the good stuff, the poisons were naturally and beautifully dissipated. The key man to overcoming the poisons and pollutions of our culture is not to try and pick out the poisons as much as it is to pour in the meal.

16:41Pour in the meal. Pour in the good stuff. How shall a young man cleanse his ways? David says, thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee. That's the key. Pour in the meal. Pour in the meal. Stay in the word. Jesus was. And so when his temptation came and it was intense, much more than will ever comprehend. He was able to say it is written. It is written. It is written. Number two, not only stay in the word, but speak out the word. Stay in the word. Number two, speak out the word. In each of these instances, Jesus spoke audibly. Satan cannot read your mind. He cannot look into your heart. And Jesus here shows us the power of speaking out the word. In the book of Hebrews, it says that concerning the promises that are given to us, that we

17:47are to do something with those promises, I'll read it to you there in chapter 13. It says, as he hath said, now quoting from Joshua, I will never leave the nor for safety, so that we may boldly say, the Lord is my helper, I will not fear what men shall do to me. Hebrews 13, six or five and six pardon me. He hath said that we may say, not think, not know, not even pray. He hath said that we may say. And I suggest to you that if you're speaking out the scriptures in the moment of temptation, if you speak it out loud, if you speak it when the temptation is there, right then, it's going to change the atmosphere that you're in. If you start speaking out scriptures, you say, well, I don't know any scriptures.

18:51Stay in the word that you can speak out the word. You can have something heavy is coming down or some temptations welling up and you start spouting scriptures, watch what happens to the people around you. Watch what happens to the situation that you're in. Satan splits when he hears it is written. It is written. It is written. It is like fingernails on a blackboard. The sound of it is written causes him to flee even as he did with Jesus. I challenge you. I challenge you to seriously try this the next time you're tempted. Whether you're with one person or a group of folks, whether murmuring is going on or the temptation for fornication, I challenge you whatever it might be, speak out loud the scriptures and watch how it changes the atmosphere radically. It's amazing.

19:53People will flee from you. Number three, not only to stay in the word and speak out the word, but this is the most important, submit to the word. See, you see, when Jesus was using these verses from Deuteronomy in the hour of his temptation, he wasn't using those verses like a magic charm to cause Satan to flee away. Jesus was saying, I will not tempt, you see. I'm not going to do this. You're telling me to jump and let God rescue me if it doesn't work out? No, I will not tempt my father. I am submitted to the word. Now, here's the difference between Satan and the Savior. Both knew the scriptures. Both spoke the scriptures, but Satan is not submitted to the scriptures. You see, that's the difference. Jesus was in the word.

20:54He spoke out the word and he was submitted to the word. He was going to do what the word said, and that is where the power is. For example, you find yourself wanting to knock your boss or come down on your wife, murmuring, gossiping, whatever it might be, but you've been in the word. And even though you think your boss deserves it because he's persecuted you brutally, you say, wait. The scriptures say that we're to bless those who persecute and despitefully use us to pray for them, not curse, but to bless and pray. So right now, I'm not just courting that verse, but right now, at this moment, Lord, bless my boss. May you have a fabulous day to day. May things just work out for him in ways that will just blow his mind. You see, now you're submitted to the word because you're doing it. It's not enough just to know it or even to say it.

21:56You got to submit to it like Jesus did. He said, it is written that I am not to tempt the Father. Therefore I will not tempt. It is written I'm to worship only the Father. Therefore I will not worship you. You see, that's the key. But if I do these things, as Jesus modeled them for me, I believe in every case, there'll be a wide open door through which I can escape very easily. If I stay in the word, if I speak out the word, if I submit to the word, Satan will flee from me, even as he fled from Jesus in this very important story. So I'm free. I'm free from rules and regulations of religiosity, but I don't want to abuse my liberty and miss out on the blessings of the spirit-filled, promised land life that he wants me to enjoy.

23:01Therefore, I've got to watch out for certain things. Those that are very real, I understand that it's a word of warning, but here's the word of warming. Oh, Lord, You've promised that my temptation is common to other man, understood by you, and that you're not going to allow me to be tempted above what I am able to go through, but will provide the way of escape. In Jesus I see in you the way of escape is to use the word, to stay in it, to speak out the scriptures, and to submit to them. And I choose to do that in this situation, and you every time I guarantee it will be free. Stay in the word, speak out the word, submit to the word, and man, the enemy will flee.

24:04And that's what we want, isn't it? We want the enemy, the destroyer, to flee, and that can happen as we use the word of God properly. When we stay in the word, speak out the word, and submit to the word. This teaching is also available on the Searchlight website at johncorson.com. You will also find on the website, Pastor John's Books and Other Bible Study Resources. Again, the address of the website is johncorson.com. This is joenns.com. Pastor John is often encouraged us to spend time each day contemplating the word of God. One great way to do this is with a daily devotional. Pastor John is put together three daily devotional that cover the entire Bible. A pillar by day, and a day of feasting, are taken from the Old Testament.

25:05A day's journey is a devotional from the New Testament. Each daily devotional has 365 short meditations and are presented in John's insightful and practical style. You may order each daily devotional from our website at johncorson.com. Searchlight is a listener's support ministry. We appreciate your prayers and support. May the Lord richly bless you.