Awakened to Grace

Chad Roberts: Welcome to Awakened to Grace. I'm Chad Roberts, and I'm so glad you're joining us today. I believe God has connected us for a great purpose. Today you're going to hear a powerful sermon. But before we get to the sermon, I want to encourage you to check out my new book. It's called Blind Faith: Seeing God Through Darkness. It's published by our partners at Lifeway.

The reason I wrote this book is because I am 100% blind. And as I've walked this path of blindness, this path of suffering, well, I want to teach you how Christians can suffer well. I say that today my job as a blind pastor is to help people trust a God they cannot see. You can order the book right now anywhere that books are sold in any format. Even if you're not much of a book reader, you can even get it in audio where you can listen to it. I hope you'll go right now to the official website, which is blindfaith.life. Again, that's blindfaith.life. And I hope you'll not only get a copy for you, I hope you'll pick one up for someone who needs encouragement in their faith today.

If you want to take notes, I want you to notice today, tests are trials that come from God. They originate on outside circumstances and they are designed to cause us to grow. The Bible says in James 1:2-4, "Count it all joy, brothers, when you encounter trials of various kinds." You know that word encounter right there literally means a calendar appointment. Do you understand that? That when you and I go through trials in life, God is never shocked. When I faced blindness, God on His throne did not look at that and go, "Oh no, this was never supposed to happen to Chad. What are we ever going to do?"

Our trials do not surprise God. They're actually scheduled. They're actual calendar appointments. That's why when you face trials, you can count them as joy because God is in control. God is sovereign in your life. God has His fingerprint on them. So he says, "Count it all joy when you encounter trials of various kinds," knowing that the testing of your faith produces, and then he goes on with a list of great things: endurance and patience. But then he says in verse 13, "God does not tempt with evil, nor can He tempt with evil," and verse 14 says, "When you are led astray or when you are lured away..."

That's when sin, when it is conceived, and when sin grows up, it brings forth what? Death. Everybody on the same page with me right now? So here's my question: Can God lead us into temptation? I think the Bible answer is, while God knows you will encounter temptation, case in point Joseph facing Potiphar's wife, God does not create the temptation. He is not the source of the temptation, but rather what He does is He gives you grace and He gives you strength to go through it.

If you are led by Christ, if He is shepherding your life, you're not going to be led toward temptation and sin; you're going to be led toward the paths of righteousness. And temptation is not going to have quite the grip on you as if you are led in destructive paths. A few things about temptations, if you want to note this. Number one: We are all vulnerable to temptation. The question is not if I am tempted, the question is when will I be tempted? Temptation touches every single life.

I want you to understand, precious friend, I don't care how much you love God's Word, I don't care how rooted and grounded you are in your faith, I don't care how careful you are to obey the Lord and live a holy life, you are vulnerable to temptation. You are susceptible to it. So what is the key? The key is to be able to recognize it when it comes. The key is to be able to tell, is this a test sent from God in order to make me grow, or is this a temptation sent from Satan, from the evil one, that is designed to cause me to fall?

Remember, tests originate from God. They're outside circumstances that are designed to make you grow. The second point to that: Temptations originate from Satan, from the evil one. They come from within. How many of you know the dangers within? Pride, greed, jealousy, lust, bitterness, anger, and the list goes on and on and on. There are things inside of us that if we are not careful and we don't keep a godly check on, there are things that originate from within that are temptations, and they are designed to cause you to fall.

Does everybody see the difference? And when you're able to recognize the difference, then you'll know what comes from God, the tests, the trials. You'll know the purpose: they're designed to cause me to grow and they're outside circumstances. Therefore, I can count it all joy because God's in control of it all. And then you can recognize what are temptations, things that originate from within, things that are caused by Satan, things that Satan wants to cause to see you fall and to stumble.

I want to know what has God's fingerprints on it, and I want to know what has Satan's fingerprints on it. And when I can perceive the difference, then I can respond the appropriate way. Number two: Because we are all susceptible, because we're all vulnerable to temptation, temptation is inevitable. It's unavoidable. You will face it. The question is, can you recognize it? Martin Luther said it so well. He said birds can fly around my head, but I don't have to let them build a nest.

Listen, friends, you can face an onslaught of temptation, but you don't have to sin. Dietrich Bonhoeffer said it so well. He said temptation is in the bait, but sin is in the bite. Satan may put baits out in front of you, but you don't have to bite. Temptation is in the bait; sin is in the bite. When you learn the difference, you'll be able to face temptation. You'll be able to not enter into temptation. You'll be able to prevent it.

And then number three: We're all susceptible, temptation is inevitable, and number three, temptation is lifelong. Just because you enter into a new season of life, because you transition into a new phase of life, oh, let me tell you, temptation will be there waiting on you. You never outgrow it. You won't come to this stage or this phase or this season and think, "Oh, I'll be done with temptation at that." No, it's always going to be there. That's why we must learn three things.

You must learn number one: to recognize temptation. When you can distinguish Satan's fingerprints, when you can tell this is from the evil one, when you can tell this is designed to cause me to fall, you are on the fast track to preventing it. Listen, number one: recognize it. Number two: refuse it. Do you remember what Joseph did with Potiphar's wife? I preached a whole sermon on temptation in that series called The Life of Joseph. It was called Providence: The Life of Joseph. Go back and listen to that. When you refuse it, remember what Joseph did with Potiphar's wife? He refused her.

When you can recognize temptation, you'll then have the ability to refuse it. And then what do you do thirdly? You resist it. See, what happens with so many precious believers is they'll refuse a temptation and then they'll think, "Okay, I won that battle," and then we're shocked when it comes back again. Do you remember what Potiphar's wife did? She pursued him day after day after day. Friends, you may be in a situation where temptation is hot on your heels.

You may be in a situation where you got victory last month, you got victory last week, but you failed here. Listen, you may be in a situation where it's constantly pursuing you. Let me tell you, when you can recognize it, you can refuse it, and then you have to ongoingly resist it. Why? Because it's lifelong. Is this helping anybody today? Is this making sense? Resist the devil. James 4:7, that's what we're called to do. We're called to resist him.

And let me tell you, if you're somebody that you're waiting on God to take care of the temptation, you just think somehow in your head that it ought to just magically disappear, friend, that's wrong. You have to resist the devil, and God will give you grace to do it. Lead us not into temptation. What I think Christ is saying, you let God shepherd your life. God will not tempt you with sin. And because temptation is inevitable, because temptation is lifelong, it's always awaiting you. But God's not going to lead you to it.

While it's going to happen, you're not going to be led into it. Why? Because the great Shepherd, the chief Shepherd, He is going to lead you in paths of righteousness if you're willing to let Him shepherd your life. Now he says, notice this last phrase, "but deliver us from the evil one." What does he mean by deliver us? Here's the protection of this prayer. What I love about this, to me, this should reflect when we pray this prayer, this should reflect our heart of great dependence upon the Lord.

Just like I need daily bread, just like I need daily forgiveness in my life, do you know what else I need? I need daily protection from the evil one. I desperately need that. Do you? I need daily deliverance out of sin. I need daily deliverance out of my own pride. I need daily deliverance from arrogance. I need daily deliverance from the snares of the evil one. Oh, how I desperately need that within my life. Do you? This prayer teaches a great dependence upon the Lord for deliverance in our life.

Colossians chapter one teaches that we have been delivered from the domain, that means the power, it says we have been delivered from the domain of darkness into His marvelous light, into the light, into the kingdom of light. I want you to think about what that means. We've been delivered out of the power of darkness into His great light. Praise God. Let me tell you, our church ought to be in the business of delivering people. We ought to know how to do spiritual warfare. We ought to be able to recognize how Satan is ensnaring people's life.

Last night, talking about how grateful and how thankful I am for the doors and the opportunities that God is opening for us. Do you know last night was our 14th consecutive Saturday at Hunger First feeding? Last night we fed about 90 people last night. Glory to God. Last night I was able to share scripture. Many people were praying with people. We had about 20 go with us last night. Daniel and Christy Roberts ran point for us and they did a great job. Bobby and Susan ran point. They did a great job. Pastor Bill wasn't able to be there last night and I thought, "Boy, can we do this without him?" Let me tell you, Pastor Bill came in Monday morning and said, "Chad, I'm worried. I don't know if we're going to have enough food this week."

Do you have any idea how much food came in? We had 10 massive pans of fettuccine. Texas Roadhouse donated all kinds of salad and rolls. We had 100 rolls. We had 60 bananas and 100 cupcakes and 150 slices of watermelon. Some of you are going, "Man, I wish I was there. Why did I not go?" Yesterday was not the day to miss. Hallelujah. But let me tell you, we're doing far more than providing food. Listen now. William Booth, the man who founded the Salvation Army in the 1800s, General Booth said it's hard to preach the gospel to a man with an empty stomach, and that's true.

A couple of weeks ago, we did Brenner. Y'all know what Brenner is, don't you? Breakfast for dinner. Let me tell you, we better know how to deliver people. One of the young men that we're praying so fervently for, we're praying God opens his heart to the gospel, he was sitting beside Pastor Bill and he was eating his biscuits and gravy. And he told Pastor Bill, he got tears in his eyes and he said, "I hadn't had biscuits and gravy since my grandmother died." Friends, it opened his heart to the gospel. Pastor Bill shared Jesus with him.

I got to connect with him last night. He walked me to the car and said bye to me. Let me tell you, people's hearts are opening to the gospel. But listen, we better know how to deliver people. We better know how to speak Jesus over people. We better know what it means in Timothy when the Bible says that Satan has ensnared people, he's taken them captive. We better know how to break those chains in Jesus' name. And what a prayer when Jesus said teach us, listen, he teaches us how to pray, "but deliver us from the evil one." Friends, this is a great, great dependence upon Jesus. Do you live a dependent life, or do you live an independent life?

Are our churches so independent from God? It's been said that in so many churches today, the Holy Spirit could leave and no one would even notice. Would we, or would it be business as usual? Friends, we better live dependent upon the Lord. Deliver us, deliver us. Oh, we should have a heart of dependence. This is the protection of the prayer. And see, here's the thing, my friend. If you don't live with a dependency of Jesus—I feel the Lord right now have a word for fathers.

Fathers, I want you to listen to me. Dads, I want you to listen. Granddads, I want you to listen. If you don't feel a deep need for the protection of the Lord over your marriage, over your children, over their lives, over your home, could it be that you're living too independent away from the Lord? Do you recognize the spiritual war going on on behalf of the soul of your family today? Do you see it? Do you recognize it?

Fathers, I want to speak to you right now because if you saw the warfare over your children, you would have them in church every opportunity you could. You'd be speaking into their lives. You'd be tucking them in at bed, telling them God loves you, God has a plan for you. You'd be helping them prepare for their driver's license telling them God's protection over you. You'd be preparing them for dating, telling them God's protection over you. Do you recognize, do you perceive, do you see the great need of protection you have of the Lord over your family? Moms, do you see it? Do you speak it over your children, over your family?

If we could see it, then the Lord would give us grace and strength to be able to walk in it. Do we live lives dependent on the grace and the protection of the Lord Jesus Christ, or are we living independent of God's grace? And then lastly today, the evil one. Now, in some translations, the Bible says protect us from evil. There's a reason why it says the evil one. The original manuscripts say evil one. I think that's intentional, and here's the reason: It's not just a protection over sin; it's a protection over Satan.

Now, I want you to understand this: Satan is not God. Satan is absolutely not God. He's not omnipresent; he cannot be everywhere at one time. Satan is not omnipotent; he does not have all power. He's not omniscient; he doesn't know all things. Satan is a created being. But listen, Satan has a hierarchy. Ephesians chapter six, verse 12. There's a hierarchy to Satan's kingdom. It's highly organized and it's ranked.

When Paul wrote in Ephesians chapter six, verse 12, and explains the hierarchy of Satan, he writes in military terms. In other words, there is a ranking to the kingdom of darkness. And you and I need to know how to pray against it. You and I need to know how to stand against it on behalf of our children, our families, our co-workers, our friends, our church family, our city. We need to know these things. And there's great protection of the Lord today.

You may be here and you may feel very vulnerable. You may feel like you're a lost sheep today. Let me tell you, my friend, the Shepherd has been looking for you. There's protection with the Shepherd. And today, if you'll humble your heart, today if you'll humble yourself, the Shepherd will help you. He'll deliver you from temptation and from the evil one. Let's bow our heads today. Lord Jesus Christ, how greatly we need your help today. How desperately we're in need of you.

So today we pray as you taught: Lead us not into temptation. No, Lord, shepherd our lives. Lead us in paths of righteousness for your name's sake. Help us, Lord Jesus. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. God, will you protect us? Don't let Satan have a one of our children, not a one of our grandchildren, not a one of our great-grandchildren, not our marriage, not our peace, and not our joy. He's a thief and he comes to steal, to kill, and to destroy. Protect us, Great Shepherd. Protect us.

And Lord, as we seek to minister to our city, as we seek to minister to the poor and the homeless, may great grace be upon us. May your hand be upon us, Lord, and fill us with all power to do the work of God in this hour. As we're going to learn come January 6th, we're in the last of the last days. Help us to be sharp spiritually, not dull, not asleep, but awake, sharp, keen to what you desire to do. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen and amen.