Overcoming Temptation

Let's take our Bibles tonight and let's turn to Luke chapter four and let's stand together out of respect for God's word. Luke chapter four. Beginning at verse one. And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan and was led by the spirit into the wilderness being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days, he did eat nothing.

And when they were ended, he afterward hungered. Devil said to him, if thou be the son of God, command this stone that it be made bread and Jesus answered him saying, it is written, that man shall not live by bread alone but by every word of God and the devil taking him up into an high mountain showed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time and the devil said unto him, all this power will I give thee and the glory of them for that is delivered unto me and whomsoever I will, I give it. If thou therefore shall worship me, all shall be thine. And Jesus answered and said unto him, get thee behind me Satan for it is written, thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, in him only shalt thou serve. And he brought him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said unto him, if thou be the son of God, cast thyself down from hands for it is written, he shall give his angels charge over thee to keep thee and in their hands shall they bear thee up lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.

Jesus answering said unto him and he said, thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God and when the devil had ended all temptation, he departed from him for a season. Let's pray. Our father, in heaven, we thank you for the opportunity we have to have our week of revival meetings. We thank you for the emphasis of the week of meetings. We thank you for the potential of lives being changed from this meeting and we ask Lord that tonight, you'll help us all with the word.

In Christ name, we pray, amen. Thank you. You can be seated. Well, we are seeking for a revival and the Bible says that without holiness, no man shall see the Lord and so the opposite of holiness is godlessness or ungodliness and ungodliness, of course, comes when we do things that God would not do. Now, we all deal with the temptations to be ungodly and to do ungodly things But what happens is then we decide, are we going to be godly?

Are we going to be ungodly? And every day, we have to make decisions, not just one time but many times throughout the day. And we have to learn that until the day we go to heaven, we're going to be dealing with temptation and we have to learn how to get victory over it. Now, this passage, Jesus was tempted by the devil and I'm not here to argue whether Jesus could have sinned or whether he could not have sinned but I do know that Jesus put this in the scripture and if it's in the scripture, it's there to teach us how we can fight temptation, maybe get some victories by learning from how Jesus dealt with temptation and so, as we need holiness in order for us to be in fellowship with God, I'm going preach on the subject of temptation and we're going to learn about dealing with temptation tonight by looking at the eyes of Jesus but we got a week where we'll deal with different subjects and I'm excited about what God's going to do. Now, how many of you would say that you have faced temptation at least several times in your life?

If not, every day of your life And so how are we going to deal with that? We could learn by looking at Christ. By now, first of all, in order to get victory over temptation, we have to quit making excuses. Now, the Bible says, there's 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 which you're able but will also with the temptation provide a way to escape that you may be able to bear it. Now, here's what God is saying.

You will be tempted but God will not allow you or me to be tempted above what we can get victory over. So, what that would mean is that no excuse is a good excuse. Now, the devil will whisper excuses in our ear to softness to temptation and what we have to do is quit listening to him and one day, I was thinking about some of the excuses that I would use in my life like everybody does this once in a while or everybody loses their temple once in temper once in a while. As somebody else uses an excuse, everybody else would in this situation. I began to think about the excuses that people make for the sin that they're doing and why it's okay and I looked over Christ's temptation here and I realized that Christ perhaps was given temptation.

Maybe the devil put excuses in his mind but he didn't listen to those excuses and what we have to do is quit making excuses. Now, the first thing that is an excuse to people often use, some use the persistence of the temptation. Alright, they'll say nobody could live for God under this constant temptation. Now, I used to think that Christ was only tempted three times in his life and I thought if I were only tempted three times, maybe I would have done pretty well but the fact is, Christ was not just tempted three times. He knows what it's like to be under constant temptation.

We only read about three temptations but Christ was literally tempted all of his life. Right now, we read about the three. One was jump off the pinnacle of the temple. One was turn the stone into bread. Another temptation was to bow down and worship me but we often overlook before that, it said something about this temptation period.

Alright, please notice verse two. It says, he was led by the spirit into the wilderness being forty days what? Tempted of the devil. Now, you know what this means? Christ was not just tempted three times here.

He went through forty days of temptation and then we only read about the three on the end. Now sometimes, I think if I would just hold out, the temptation will go away. For instance, to watch a television program that might not have been good for me to watch when I was a teenager. I would think if I hold out for thirty minutes, that temptation will go away. And sometimes it does.

When I would be in a place where there's an immodestly dressed woman, The temptation is to to take a second look and inappropriate look but the Bible says, let no I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes and how many evil things are acceptable? None. And I would think if I just hold out that temptation will go away when that woman is gone. But Christ couldn't do that. He went through forty days of temptation.

Non stop, back to back, and none of us have gone through that. Now, as a matter of fact, if you look at verse 13, it says, when the devil had ended all temptation, he departed from him for a what? Caesar. And that means a short period. In other words, at a later time, he would tempt Christ again and that's what happened.

How many remember that when Jesus was saying he was going to be crucified, Peter said, not so Lord, will not let that happen to you and Jesus said to Peter, get thee behind me, Satan. Satan. Now, why did he say Satan? Because God was Jesus was being tempted to quit and Satan was using Peter to get to Jesus to get the equipment for the cross and then right before he went to the cross in the Garden Of Gethsemane, Jesus was tempted. It says, he sweat great drops of blood and if you ever wondered why, he was taught the Lord tells us, he resisted on the blood.

Get this, striving against sin. Now, what that means is Christ's temptation was so heavy that he actually sweat drops of blood resisting the temptation and from the very beginning to the very end from the very beginning to the very end, Christ was being tempted and so when we say that we just can't seem to get our act together and we have this excuse that we're constantly under temptation. Nobody could live for God under this constant temptation. We have an example from Christ that we can get victory over temptation even when it's constant. Now, second excuse that people use is perhaps some use the period of the temptation.

Now, when are we going to be tempted to lose our temper? When people around us are acting like we want them to or when they're not acting like we want them to. When are we going to be tempted to get angry? When our kids are acting like devils or when they're acting like angels. When are you going to be tempted to not tithe?

When you have an extra million dollars in the bank and money to burn or when bills are tight and that money is tight and when are you going to be tempted to not go to church? When you're tired and when you're in a situation that seems to be difficult, then the devil whisper in your ear. Go ahead. Everybody would in this situation. Now, as you look at the life of Christ, you can learn that even a bad situation, you don't have to yield to sin and we're just talking about temptation tonight.

Many things we're going to talk about this week but the devil whispers excuses in our ear to softness to temptation. We give in and when we give in without holiness, we don't see the Lord. So, we've gotta get victory over these temptations. When people use that, the situation I'm in is why I do what I do. You don't understand brother Mike.

You don't understand what I'm going through. Now, when you look at Christ and you look at when was Jesus tempted to turn the stone into bread? Hungry. When he He had gone forty days with no food. I don't like to go four hours with no food.

Amen. Now, forty days with no food, he was tempted. He was very susceptible but in spite of the fact that the situation was rough, he didn't give in to temptation. Now, I'm just saying this is the example to follow. Now, don't use the persistence.

Don't use the period. Some people use the place of the temptation or the environment. Now, there are many places where Christ was tempted. First of all, and we're going to be quick on this in a place where no one sees. Alright, he was out in the wilderness.

Nobody was around and the devil did turn the stone into bread. Now, when you're in a place where nobody sees, the devil's going to come to you and say, go ahead. Nobody sees what you're doing. Anybody ever have that one come at you? So, we've gotta get smart and understand these are the tricks of the devil.

Now, when you're in a place where no one sees, remember, Christ was in a place where no one saw but he didn't give in. I remember going into a gas station to buy my wife a Diet Coke late at night. She's a Diet Coke a holic and it was time for her fix. And so as I went in to buy her her Diet Coke, minding my own business, pick up the Diet Coke, I see four, five men standing around talking filthy. I hear what they're saying and their laugh is that sick laughter if you know what I mean and so as they're talking filthy, I'm minding my own business.

I go to the counter, put the Diet Coke down, going to buy the Diet Coke, and the guy behind the counter who works there says, can I get you anything else tonight? I said, no, thank you. That's all and then again, he says, are you sure I can't get you anything else? No, thank you. That's all and finally, he asked me the third time, are you sure I can't get you anything else?

We've got some girly magazines back here. Now, I was shocked that he would ask me if I want a girly magazine but the devil will attempt anybody and the devil will put excuses in the mind of anybody and at that time, for less than a half a second, I had the devil put in my mind, hey, those guys are talking filthy. Those guys are laughing filthy. He offered it to you and they probably don't even know you're Christian and most likely don't know your preacher about maybe they did. But whether they did or didn't, I said, no.

I don't read that stuff. Now, even if you're in a place where nobody else is doing right, if you're in a place where everybody else is cussing, everybody else is filthy, everybody else is having sex out of marriage, everybody else is doing marijuana, everybody else is drinking a can of beer, a glass of wine. Bible says that God holds us accountable individually, right? So, don't let a place where nobody sees be a temptation to you. Now, the second place where Christ was tempted is a place where no one stands.

Now, he said, bow down and worship me and I'll give you all the kingdoms of the world. Now, could Jesus, could Satan have given Jesus all the kingdoms of the world? What do you think? I see some going like this and some going like that. Now, here's my opinion.

I think, yes, he could have given all the kingdoms of the world. Why? Who for the most part has the world been following? Satan or Jesus? Right.

Satan's called the prince of the power of the air because most people are following Satan. Now, get what Jesus might have been tempted with. If you bow down and worship me, you won't have to go to the cross and you'll still get all the kingdoms of the world and if you bow down and worship me, I'll give you all the kings of the world but Satan may have added this. That's what I'm saying. Bow down and worship me.

Everybody else is doing it. And so they were. And what I'm saying is even when we're in a place where no one sees, even when we're a place where no one stands, all those men were talking filthy, we still have to be accountable to God for what we do. The Bible says that Saul died for his transgressions that he didn't commit against the Lord. The third place where Christ was tempted is a place I call where no one suspects.

Now, what do you mean? At the temple. Now, how many of you would say, I wish I had a better environment to work in than the ungodly environment I have to work in? I would agree. Church is rough.

No, I'm kidding. I work at church, but I used to work in a machine shop where there were cussing men, there were filthy men, there were drinking men. I used to work at JC Penney's where there would be a Friday night party every week or Saturday night party every week And they would invite me week after week after week and try to make me a fool because I wouldn't go drink with them. Now, I can relate to wishing you would be in a better environment. Wishing maybe you were in a Christian school where everybody was really a Christian want to live for God but when you're in a place where nobody else stands, you stand.

Even when you're in a place where nobody else is doing right, you do right. And even when you're in a place that is a good environment, you'll find you're tempted. And what I'm saying is, if you wish you had a better environment, well, Christ was tempted in a great environment in the temple and sometimes our environments are good, sometimes our environments are not so good but that's not an excuse to sin regardless of the environment and even in the best of places, we're going to be tempted so we better learn how to deal with our temptation. Now, why is it important for us to get victory over temptation? Because without holiness, no man shall see the Lord.

He said, you shall be holy unto me for I, the Lord, am holy, have several you from other people that you should be mine. Now, can I go to heaven if I smoke a cigarette? Yes. I go to heaven by putting my faith in Jesus. Can I go to heaven if I use a cuss word?

Absolutely. Because I don't get to heaven because I quit cussing. I get to heaven because I put my faith in Jesus. Can I go to heaven if I have sex out of marriage? Yes.

That's not the question. The question is, can I have fellowship with God while I'm here on Earth and be involved in those sins? And the answer is no. So, we've gotta deal with temptation if we're going to have a spiritual awakening. We're going to have a relationship with God come to life and to be what it needs to be.

Now, the first thing we have to do is quit making excuses. Now, some people use the place of the temptation. Some people use the period or the type of the temptation. No one can stand under this type of temptation. Now, the types of temptation that we might be faced with in the Bible are the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.

Now, the lust of the flesh, Jesus, you can have some bread. Lust of the eyes. Look at all the kingdoms of the world. Look at all those kingdoms. Lust of the eye and in the pride of life.

Jump off the pinnacle of the temple and prove you are who you are. Now, history says that people were looking for the appearance of the Messiah in this way. The Bible says, he shall give his angels charge over thee to keep thee in their hand shall they bear thee up lest at any time thou dash thy foot against the stone and history says, that people around Jerusalem were looking for the appearance of the Messiah and one of the reasons, one of the ways that they were looking for him is they were looking for somebody to jump off the pinnacle of the temple and if he would land from the high peak without breaking a bone, they would know he was the Messiah. And there was a basis for that theory. It was based on the Old Testament where it says, he will give his angels charge with you to keep thee in their hand shall they bear the uplifting anytime thou dash thy foot against the stone and there was a guy named Simon Magus who jumped off the pinnacle and prove he was the Messiah.

That actually happened but he did not land very well and his body was broken and they knew him to be an impostor. Now, what would have happened if Jesus had jumped off the pinnacle of the temple? You know what would have happened? He would not have broken a bone. And if he would not have broken a bone, what would that have done?

That would have proved to everybody that he really was who he said he was, the Messiah. Now, do you ever get tired of the way people treat you? And when you get tired of the way people treat you, do you ever respond incorrectly because they treat you wrong? Well, Jesus was tempted to respond incorrectly and be done with all the mockers and just jump off and prove he was who he was. Now, his temptation might have been different than yours to lash out and verbally tell somebody off but the point and the basis and the essence of this temptation is the same.

He was tempted with pride. Now, what Christ shows us is that whether the lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, the pride of life, whether it's superior to temptation, the place of the temptation, the persistence of the temptation, we don't have to yield to temptation. And the first step to getting victory and change is quit making excuses. Alright. Now, what excuses are we making for our failures?

And I'm just saying one thing that'll help us to change. We're dealing with one thing tonight. Through the week, we'll deal with more things. But one major thing looking at the life of Jesus, how he dealt with temptation. Alright, first thing, quit making excuses.

Alright, now the second thing that'll help us is count your expenses. Count your expenses. Now, Jesus, if he had yielded to one temptation, there would have been a lot of expense for that and there's always an expense when we sin. Now, what would have happened if Jesus would have bowed down and worshiped Satan? What if Jesus would have tempt given in and turned the stone into bread?

What if he'd have done one little sin? Here's what would have happened. He could've never saved us from our sins because he would have sinned himself. Everybody follow me? Yes.

Everything that he looked forward to would have been destroyed. And sin has that ability to destroy us. There's always a consequence. Now, Adam and Eve, for one moment of sin, they ate of the tree that God said, don't. Alright, Caitlin.

You were talking about the Garden of Eden earlier today. And you said, why did Adam eat of that tree? I don't know but it sure was a bad move. Yeah. Now, when he ate of that forbidden fruit, it cost him things.

It cost him the Garden of Eden. It cost him eternal life. It cost him many things. He and that moment had consequence of he had to labor the rest of his life and eat by the sweat of his brow. Eve had consequences.

She had to have pain in childbearing and there were consequences because of sin. Now, one major consequence is sin always destroys your future. Now, they're kicked out of the Garden of Eden and all of the problems that come because of sin. Now, there are many that sacrifice the permanent on the altar of the immediate. The permanent on the altar of the immediate.

When I was a student at Bob Jones University, there was a marquee on the wall that you'd see in different places from Doctor Bob Senior, don't sacrifice the permanent on the altar of the immediate. Illustration, there was a young girl named Heather and she was in one of my meetings and I'd seen her many times as I've been in that church many times and this particular meeting, I found out that she had gotten into sin. She went into immorality with a young man. So, I went to her because she liked me and she knew I liked her and I said to her, Heather, I heard what happened. I heard you went into immorality and I heard you had sex out of marriage and I said to her, Heather, it's not the end of the world.

You can get up and you get going again and God will still use you and you can have a great life. Now, her response was kind of hard and kind of cold and I read between the lines that she still was not willing to obey God and when she was not willing to obey God, then she wasn't right with God. So, I asked her, Heather, this was not Heather Murray by the way. I said, Heather, did this teenage girl, you did get right with God, didn't you? And then she responded, no.

And I said, well, why? She said, I figured it was my life. I have a right to do with it what I want. Alright, first of all, if you want to do with your life what you wants and the God wants, you're going to mess it up. If you think that you have a right to do what you want to do, you go ahead and try that game.

It's not going to work and so this girl said, it's my body. I have a right to do with it what I want to do and so I asked her, are you a Christian? She said, yes. I said, have not you ever heard that the Bible says that you are above the price and your body does not belong to you belongs to God and you're the God glorify God in your body and your spirit which are God's and you do not have a right to do with your body what you wanted to do And then I said to her, Heather, do you want to marry that guy you had immorality with? She said, no way.

He's a bum. And I remember thinking, why are you having immorality with this guy that you think is a bum? And I said, well, you don't want to marry that guy. You say he's a bum. I said, do you want to marry a guy one time who's going to be godly, who's going to have you in church, raise your children in the Bible, and teach them about salvation to Jesus?

She said, yes, I want that. I said, then, why would you date a guy like this who's immoral and in sin and and into the alcohol and all of this stuff and she said, well, I want a guy like that someday but right now, I'm just having a little fun. I said, Heather, the way that you're living is destroying your future. I said, because you are immoral, because you are going to these parties where there's alcohol, if a guy who is spiritual were to come around and see you, I don't care how pretty you are. He would not want to touch you with a 10 foot pole.

Because the only way to catch a godly man is you gotta be a godly girl. And you're sacrificing your future on the altar of the immediate. Now, there was a man who had been involved in an affair. I didn't know how bad it was but he was involved not in one but in nine. And so, the pastor and I went to visit him and we visited him at his workplace over lunch and I said to him, I heard that that you fell into sin.

I said, you can get up and God can use you again. By the way, anybody in sin, God can use him again. They can get up, get going again but you've gotta turn from the sin. So, anyway, he says, Mike, I'll be honest with you. I have had nine women, not one, nine affairs, not just one but then he went on to stay to say with tears in his eyes, he says, not one of them met a thing to me compared to the woman that I lost, his wife.

And his sin, he thought was wonderful, brought consequences. Now, if you play with cigarettes, you will have consequences from cigarettes. If you play with sex out of marriage, you will have consequences from sex out of marriage. If you skip church, there will be consequences as you cool down spiritually and all the consequences that are there from sin. If you play with marijuana, you will pay with marijuana and there's not a sin that you can get in that doesn't have some consequence and we sacrifice the permanent on the altar of the immediate.

Now, think about sin and the damage. Is there any sin that you're playing with that you could be paying with? Now, what is the worst consequence of our sin? The worst consequence is we break our fellowship with God. I had a young man come to me and he said to me, I've got a pornography problem and I've got to get victory over it.

And I said to him, you'll never get victory until you never understand the number one consequence if you don't stop doing it. So I said, what is the worst thing that'll happen if you don't stop looking at porn? He said, I'm gonna get caught. So he was more concerned about getting caught by his mother than he was the real consequence. I'll tell it to you in a minute.

Then I said, that's not it. I can think of something worse. He said, you're right. If I don't stop looking at pornography, I could become a pervert. I said, that's true.

What you look at influences what you become. That's why somebody who looks at child porn will become a perverted person. And what you look at can affect what you do. And then he said, I'll become a pervert. I said, I can think of something worse.

He says, you're right. I could commit a crime against a woman because they can't control my lust and I could wind up in jail the rest of my life and that's true too but I said, I can think of something worse. He said, well, what is it? I said, the worst thing about your pornography is even if you never get caught, never do anything worse, never commit a crime against a woman because you cannot control your passions. Every time you do it, you break your fellowship with God.

You break your fellowship with God. Now, folks, why do we need to get victory over temptation? We don't wanna have anything come between us and God. Nothing come between us and God. So there's an expense there.

There's an expense there. Now, what do we get from our relationship with God? We get peace. We get peace. Now, I asked Dan when he got saved this morning.

How do you feel? He said, I feel great and then as we were talking about it, I said, the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, and peace. Then, he went from, I feel great to a beaming ear to ear smile because he knew that the moment that he got things close with Jesus, he got happiness. Now, there's nothing that we need in life more than anything than fellowship with God and the way we get that great happiness and fellowship with God is we've got to be first saved but then, we need to continue walking in holiness. Without holiness, no man shall see the Lord.

Now, years ago, my pastor used to tell a story and it was about a little boy and you may have heard it. He got his hand stuck in an expensive vase. Well, his mom tried breaking that, trying to get his hand out of that vase. She tried butter and lard and everything and she couldn't get his hand out and so finally, she broke her expensive vase and when she broke that expensive vase that she had put flowers in and she broke that very beautiful expensive vase, she saw that her little boy had his hand balled up into a fist. And she looked at her little son and said, have you had your hand balled up in a fist this whole time?

He said, yes, mommy. She said, why didn't you open your hand and mom could've pulled your hand out and she wouldn't have to break her expensive base? And a little boy said, I didn't wanna draw me a penny, mommy. And she pried his fingers open and sure enough, inside his hand was a little invaluable, tiny, copper penny. Now, do you get what he did?

He gave up this valuable vase that cost several dollars for a little tiny penny that was frankly worthless and when we sin, we think that we're getting when actually when we sin, we're giving up something of great value, our value, the value of our fellowship with God and our fellowship with God is the valuable vase. The sin is the copper penny and so when we look at this, get our thinking straight, quit making excuses, what excuse are you making for the sin you're involved in? Number two, count your expenses. If you continue in sin, there's great consequence. I talked about this morning.

There was that consequence for instance, remember the drunk driver. Remember that? His consequence was great and it's a true story. I was the one who arrived on the scene. I saw his lifeless dead body.

I saw his deformed broken body and the man played with alcohol and he paid with alcohol. There was a young man that years ago in one of my meetings, he got right with God. He got away from God. We get right with God away from God But he never got victory over temptation. He never got victory.

And he started with marijuana. Then he went to other drugs. He went to alcohol. And it was not too long. He was 23 years old.

And I got the phone call. Alan died. How? He had a whole lot of beer cans in his back seat. Now he did not think that there would be consequence, but sin always has a consequence.

Now, sometimes it's something dramatic like death. Sometimes it's dramatic like you lose your health. Sometimes it may be not even is noticed, but you break your fellowship with God and you don't even notice that you're not happy. But there's a consequence. Now, we have to get victory over temptation.

This is one message out of the whole week, but this is where I'm led tonight. Stop making excuses. What excuses are you making for sex out of marriage? Stop. No excuse is acceptable.

What excuse are you making for your sin habit? Marijuana. Stop. No excuse is acceptable. You can get victory over that.

What excuse are you making for anger? Stop. You can get victory over anger. I can remember years ago watching a Bob Newhart television show. I used to have people, as a matter of fact, come up and tell me, brother Mike, do you know who you look like?

I used to think, yeah, Tom Selleck. Right? No. They would come up and they say, you look like a young Bob Newhart. Anybody ever see the Bob Newhart show years ago?

Now, people come to me and they say, brother Mike, do you know who you look like? No, who? Bob Newhart. Where'd the word young go? But anyway, Bob Newhart was a psychiatrist.

If you've never seen him and he one time had this person come in who had this this problem that needed to get help with and I think it was getting nervous or something all the time and doing something odd and Bob Newhart sitting there quietly. He talks to her and she says, well, I have this problem and I do this when this happens and Bob Newhart very calmly sits there and he says, well, I think I know what your answer is. Stop. And she would just sign it like this and then it came up. She said, well, here's another problem I have and he said, I think I know what to tell you.

Stop it and then, over and over, he kept doing that and it was a comedy routine. Kinda shaking you up but the fact is, there are many of you that are making excuses in different areas of sin. Now, somebody might have an area in the sexual realm. Others might have an area in the anger realm. Somebody might have an area in the sin of commission, somebody else in the sin of omission, not doing things you should be doing.

Like, people say, I don't have time to read my Bible. That's a sin of omission. I don't have time to go to church. That's a sin of omission and what you have to do is stop making excuses because there's no temptation that comes your way that you cannot get victory over according to the word of God. Alright, number one, stop making excuses or quit making excuses.

Number two, count your expenses when you sin. There's always going to be an expense. What sin are you involved in that's going to cost you something? Stop. It may cost your health but it definitely will cost your relationship and fellowship with God.

Now, a third thing tonight, I wanna look at, I think it'll be a help to us is correct your errors. Count your expenses, quit making excuses, and now correct your errors. Alright, take your Bibles and turn back here to Luke chapter four and let's take a look at what Jesus did when he was faced with temptation. The only response that Jesus gave in the face of temptation, consistent response that he gave was a Bible response. Now, notice what he said in verse four and Jesus answered him saying, it is what?

Written. Written. I noticed verse eight. Jesus answered and said to him, get the behind me Satan for it is written. Written.

And then verse 12, Jesus answering said unto him, it is. Written. Written. It says said but that's the idea of written. Now, Years ago, I can remember reading this and how the Lord used it in my life.

The only response that Jesus had in the face of temptation was it is written. Period. It is written. Period. Now, you know what happens to us?

We say, alright, the Bible says, but this is the year 2017. And in 2017, everybody does it different now. And that's where we fail. The Bible says, but and that's where we fail. Right now, if you turn over to Genesis chapter three, you'll see what plummeted the whole human race into the mess that we're in and this is what will plummet your life into a downward spiral, spiral, and into a mess and if you will correct this mistake, if you're making it, it will change your future.

Now, Eve was told by the devil. You're, what God says is not that important and you'll see this. Now notice chapter three in verse one. Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made and he said to the woman, yeah, God said, you shall not eat of every tree of the garden and the woman said unto the serpent, we may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden but of the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, the midst of the garden, God has said, you shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest you die. Now, get it.

God has said, you shall not eat of it. God has said, neither shall you touch it. God has warned, lest you die. Now, notice what the serpent said in verse four. The serpent said to the woman, you shall not surely die.

Now, get it. God hath said this, but the serpent said, no, that's not true. You won't die. There won't be any consequence. And this is what plummeted her into the mess.

Now, it goes on and it says verse five, God did know that the day you eat thereof and your eyes shall be open. You shall be as gods knowing good and evil. When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, a tree desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof and did eat and gave all her husband with her and he did eat. Now, what plummeted us into the mess that we're in? It's when Eve said, God said, but.

Now, in this, you find, God said, but the serpent said, You see that? And then God said, but it was a tree desire to make me wise. It might help in this situation. God said, but. Now anytime you see God says, but it'd be fun.

God says, but it might help. God says, but the serpent said or others say. God says, but you're ready for a fall. Now here's what we need to do. We need to program our mind like a robot.

It is written period. It is written period. Now, there was an illustration that I gave one time. An illustration I gave was, as I was preaching on this passage, we have got to program our minds like a robot. You can make a robot say anything.

You can make a robot say I love you. You are handsome. You are beautiful. I love you. Now, that's why God didn't make a robot out of us.

So, we could say, God, I love you because we want to not because we have to. But we could program our mind like a robot like this. It is written. It is written. And program your mind like a robot.

It is written. Period. Now. Period. Period.

Not the Bible says but I think. Bible says, but others would. Bible says, but culture says, whenever we get away from the Bible says, period, we're done and what we need to do is think, it is written, it is written, It is written. It is written. And this is one way that we can begin to get victor over temptation starting with this little simple thing.

Quit making excuses, realize there's an expense if we sin, and program our mind, it is written. Period. When the temptation comes to lose your temper, it is written, let every man be slow to speak, slow to wrath. It is written, love your wives. When you're tempted to get angry it is written let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth but that which is good to the use of edifying.

When you're tempted to smoke a cigarette or do something even worse. It is written what know you not that your body is the temple of the holy ghost which is in you which you have of God. Therefore, glorify God in your body and your spirit which are God's. When you're tempted in another way, it is written, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not lie, thou shalt not, and whenever you find what is written, it is written, forsake not the gathering of yourselves together as a manner some is. If we could just program our mind to simple start, simple start, getting victory over temptation.

It is written. I'm gonna program my mind the best I can to just follow the blueprint. It is written, period. And that's how I'm gonna respond in my daily temptation. That'll help giving you some victory.

Now, I was at a teen camp and I had preached that and I had given that illustration and when I gave the illustration, a lot of young people walked down the aisle and they said, God, here's some areas where I've been making excuses. I'm going to stop making excuses and start getting the victory. Praise God. Two weeks later, I was in that same teen camp preaching and there was one of those teens who was at that two weeks earlier at that camp and he was a big guy. So, he and I went out to the basketball court and we were knocking it around a little bit and of course, I was dominating.

I don't remember if I was winning or losing but we're playing basketball out there and while we're playing and knocking around a little bit, I see something is written on his hand. So, I'm thinking, okay, this must be his girlfriend And she's written on his hand. And so I said to him, alright, let me see it. He goes, what man? What man?

I said, what's on your hand? He goes, oh, nothing, man. Nothing, man. I says, come on. Let me see it.

He goes, no. No. And so, I being this massive man that I am, I jump on him and I say, I'm going to look at it and I wrestle him down to the ground and he's going, and he's laughing and he's trying to hide it and I'm trying to pry his hand open to redo his girlfriend is and as I wrestle and I finally dominate and win because I am so massive. I finally peeled his hand open and there's nothing that young guy could do and when I peeled his hand open, I was going to then look to see who that girl was on his hand and you know what I saw in that hand? It was amazing.

I saw three words written on that teenager's hands two weeks after I had preached on temptation. Three words, it is written. Wow. And he reminded himself. That's why I wrote it down.

It is written. It is written. It is written. Set in a wicked thing before your eye. It is it is written.

Thou shalt love the Lord the God with all thy heart. It is written. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth and he was trying to live those three words And you know what he said? When I pried his hand open, he's still on the ground. I'm on top of him.

I'm totally floored that this young man was that mature spiritually to write on his hand. It is written. I was floored. You know what? His eyes teared up.

And he said to me, brother Pelletier, it works. It works. And as simple as that is, it's a start to getting back the holy life. Let's bow our heads and we'll have a word of prayer.