Pathway to Victory

Speaker 1

Hey, podcast listeners, thanks for streaming today's podcast from Pathway to Victory.

Pathway to Victory is a nonprofit ministry featuring the Bible teaching of Dr. Robert Jeffress. Our mission is to pierce the darkness with the light of God's Word through the most effective media available, like this podcast.

To support Pathway to Victory, go to ptv.org/donate or follow the link in our show notes.

Now here's today's podcast from Pathway to Victory.

Speaker 2

Hi, this is Robert Jeffress and I'm glad to study God's Word with you every day.

Speaker 3

This Bible teaching program on today's edition.

Speaker 2

Of Pathway to Victory.

And so, as we talk about Satan's plan to deceive you into disobeying God, I want you to turn to a familiar passage in James, chapter one.

We're going to look at what I call the Temptation Equation. We're revisiting this equation in terms of spiritual warfare, and frankly, it's something we can't hear often enough.

Speaker 1

Welcome to Pathway to Victory with author and pastor, Dr. Robert Jeffress.

Have you ever wondered why certain temptations seem to appear at just the wrong moment? The Apostle Peter warned us that we have an adversary who prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour.

Today on Pathway to Victory, Dr. Robert Jeffress reveals Satan's calculated methods and shows how to defend against his attacks.

But first, let's take a minute for some important ministry updates.

Speaker 3

Thanks, David, and welcome again to Pathway to Victory. Let me just say it straight and cut to the chase. Christians can be very naive. Here's what I mean. Sometimes we treat temptation like it's a piece of chocolate cake or a harmless guilty pleasure. But behind every innocent temptation stands an ugly enemy who's working overtime to bring us down. And Christians who ignore him will end up as spiritual roadkill. For this reason, we're spending these next few weeks exploring how to defeat our enemy.

My teaching series is called Spirit Wars. To complement this brand new study, I've written a brand new book for you and your family. It's called Suit the Armor of God for Kids. Founded squarely on Paul's teaching in Ephesians 6, this eye-opening book exposes Satan's blueprint to destroy your faith and your future. My children's book, Suit Up, gives your loved ones practical advice on how to win their unseen battles against the devil. Each interactive lesson equips you with biblical truth and easy-to-understand examples. And when you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory, I'd be happy to send you one.

One more thing before we begin, I'm hoping you'll join me next year for the Pathway to Victory Cruise to Alaska, June 13, 2026. You simply have to see Alaska's beauty for yourself. No photograph, no description can capture the sheer magnitude and majesty of this incredible land. All the details for the Pathway to Victory Cruise to Alaska are available at ptv.org.

More about my book and other resources later in the program. But right now, let's get started with today's message titled "The Temptation Equation Revisited."

Speaker 2

Mention the phrase "spiritual warfare" in a group setting, and people are likely to roll their eyes and count you as one of those nutty Christians. And yet the fact is, spiritual warfare is real, and it really is the explanation for most of the struggles you and I face every day. A respected British pastor, Martin Lloyd Jones, decades ago wrote in his book *The Invisible War* about the reality of spiritual warfare. He said, "Anyone who is not aware of a fight and a conflict in a spiritual sense is in a drugged and hazardous condition." The Apostle Peter was even more pointed when he said in 1 Peter 5:8, "Be on the alert. Be of sober spirit; for your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour." Whether you realize it or not, it's immaterial. You do have an adversary, and he has an objective in your life. What he'd love to do is rob you of eternal life, keeping you from trusting in Christ as your Savior so that you spend eternity with Satan in hell. That's his number one objective. But if he can't succeed there, he would like at least to rob you of all the benefits of being a child of God in this life.

Jesus describes Satan in John 10:10 as a thief who comes to kill, steal, and destroy. Never forget, Satan hates you, and he has a terrible plan for your life. But not only does he have an ultimate objective, he's got a plan to do just that: to either rob you of eternal life or at least to rob you of the joys of following God in this life. In Ephesians 6:11, Paul wrote, "Put on the full armor of God that you may be able to withstand the schemes of the devil." That word "schemes," *methodeia* in Greek, refers to a plan for catching prey. It's what the predator does to catch his prey. And the Bible says Satan has a scheme. He has, if you will, a blueprint for your destruction, for destroying everything that is important to you.

Last time, we began looking at what I call Satan's blueprint for your destruction. It's a threefold strategy that Satan uses to destroy everything of value and meaning in your life. Remember strategy number one: he would love to discourage you from worshiping God. He would love to send so many trials and times of testing in your life that you give up. That's exactly what he did with Job. Remember, Satan made God a wager. He said, "Let me have a hand in Job's life. Let me destroy everything important to him, and he will curse you." And so God gave Satan limited authority over Job's life.

In a period of what some people believe is a single day, Job received word that his possessions, all of them, his livestock, had been burned up. Job didn't have the Dallas police department and fire department working on his behalf, but they were all burned up in a single day. And not only that, he got news that a freak windstorm had caused the roof of a house to collapse and kill his ten children. If that were not enough, he felt the brokenness of his own health. His health broke, and he had these incredible boils all over his body. Remember, his wife voiced what Satan's goal really was. She said, "Job, why don't you just curse God and die?" Satan was trying to discourage Job.

I thought about that this past Monday in Central Texas, with the devastation of the flood. I thought of Job as I saw that devastation. You know, you can see it on TV, but you can't really see it until you're there in person and see those water marks 30 feet high, 35 feet high, and realize what those families went through and the loss of their children and their loved ones. So many of them, you can say, "Well, who was responsible for that flood? Was Satan responsible for that flood?" Well, God gave Satan limited authority in Job's time to produce a windstorm that took his children away. But it really doesn't matter whether it's Satan who caused the disaster or natural forces at work. Satan certainly was using that catastrophe, and he's using that catastrophe now to cause people to question God and say, "What good is a God who would allow something like this to happen?" His goal is very clear: to discourage people from worshiping God.

His second strategy is to distract you from serving God. You know, if Satan can't rob you of eternal life, he would love to create as much distance between you and God in this life as he can. And he does that by distracting you. Distracting with what? Well, Jesus talked about that in Luke 8:14. He said our spiritual life gets choked out by three factors: worry, riches, and pleasure. Focusing on having too much money or too little money doesn't matter which; just focusing on finances separates you from God. And thirdly, he talks about pleasure. Not that pleasure is wrong, but becoming a lover of pleasure. These three things Satan uses to distract you from serving God: discouraging, distracting.

Today we're going to look at the third strategy, and that is deceiving us into disobeying God. Strategy number three is to deceive you into disobeying God. This is really his favorite strategy because of the impact our disobedience has, first of all, on our life. Nothing creates more distance between you and God than unconfessed sin. When we sin, it's like we erect a barrier between ourselves and God. In fact, in Isaiah 59:2, the prophet said, "Your sins have become a barrier between you and your God." Now listen, if you're a Christian, it's not that you lose your salvation when you sin. It's not that God turns away from you, but when you sin, you're turning away from God. When you're engaged in active disobedience to God, you have no desire to fellowship with God. You're like a thief who never wants to find a policeman. You're not looking for a policeman; you're running from a policeman. It's the same way when we sin. It causes us to run away from God.

But disobedience not only affects us internally; it causes disillusionment among other Christians. When people see Christians fall into sin, it disillusions other Christians and non-Christians alike. For example, I bet you every one of us today could immediately think of a Christian we know who deserted his or her mate in search of somebody more appealing, or we know a Christian who allowed a preoccupation with money to trap him into dishonest business dealings, or who became ensnared in pornography or some other addiction. How many of you know a Christian who deserted his or her mate in favor of somebody more appealing, who has gotten interested and involved in dishonest business deals or gotten ensnared by pornography and some other addiction? How many of you know somebody? We all do.

It appears sometimes that such falls in people's lives are sudden. "Oh, I can't believe that happened suddenly." Most falls into sin do not happen overnight. They are the result of gradual activity in our life. I mean, think of a glacier for a moment. A giant glacier in Alaska that's remained in place for decades without any movement at all. But suddenly, one day, that glacier becomes an avalanche and destroys everything in its path. What happened? It wasn't sudden. Over a period of time, there have been slight, imperceptible changes in the temperature of that glacier. And not only that, there's been a shifting of the weight of that glacier until the avalanche occurred. It's the same way with Christians who fall into sin. It doesn't happen overnight. It's the result of imperceptible changes in our spiritual temperature. We become cooler and colder to the things of God. We have shifting priorities in our life. And all of those things work behind the scenes until our adversary, the devil, pushes us over the edge with just the right temptation. He wants to deceive you into disobeying God.

One popular Christian writer relates a phone call he received one day telling him that another prominent Christian had fallen into sin. This writer asked, "Do you think that this man, a follower of Christ in his heart of hearts, really wanted to fall? What man begins his journey wishing, 'I think one day, after 20 years of ministry, I'll torpedo the whole thing with an affair?'" No, he was picked off. The whole thing was plotted. He was set up for a fall. Unless you are aware that's what it is, you'll be taken out too. Since we do have an active adversary who's trying to take us out, we need to be aware of his methods.

As we talk about Satan's plan to deceive you into disobeying God, I want you to turn to a familiar passage in James, chapter one. We're going to look at what I call the temptation equation. Now, I know what some of you are thinking. You're thinking, "Pastor, have you lost your mind in your old age? Don't you remember you just preached about the temptation equation from James 1 a few months ago?" Yes, I remember it very well. But when we looked at it at that time, we were in a verse-by-verse study of James. I called it "How to Know if You're Really Saved." But here we're revisiting this equation in terms of spiritual warfare, and frankly, it's something we can't hear often enough. I'd encourage you to read these verses, memorize them, recite them every day, because they expose Satan's plan to take you out. If you really believe the Bible, you have to believe he has a plan to take you out, to destroy everything of value to you.

Look at verse 13 of James 1: "Let no one say when he is tempted, 'I am being tempted by God.' For God cannot be tempted by evil, and he himself does not tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust." Now, before we look at each of these components of the temptation equation, let me say a word about that word "tempt." The English word "tempt" means to entice to evil with the promise of gain. And that's what Satan does. He finds the right piece of bait to dangle in front of you with the promise of gain. Just indulge in satisfying this desire, and it will satisfy your deepest cravings. What the tempter doesn't tell us is this: sin never satisfies our deepest cravings; it only increases those cravings. Let me say it again: sin never satisfies our cravings; sin only increases our cravings.

I remember years ago reading an account of how Eskimos will catch and kill predatory wolves terrorizing their villages. What the Eskimos do is take a large knife with a huge blade on it and cover that blade in the blood of an animal. When it's frozen, they add a second coating to it and a third coating to it until the blade is completely hidden. Then they stick that knife upright in the ground. At night, the wolf is attracted to the scent of that animal blood and begins licking that knife, not knowing it's a knife. The more of that animal blood they consume, the thirstier they become, and the more rapidly they lick that blade. In fact, they're licking it so rapidly, they don't even notice the sharp sting on their tongue caused by the blade. They keep licking it so fast, they never realize that at some point they're no longer consuming the animal's blood, but their own blood. They keep licking and licking and licking until the dawn finds the wolf dead in the snow. What a perfect picture of the deception of Satan. Just do this, and it will satisfy. Sin never satisfies our lust; it only increases our lust. That's what James says in verses 15 and 16: "Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin. And when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Sin always leads to death." It may be the death of a friendship, the death of your career, or the death of your marriage, but sin always destroys.

Now, let's look at this temptation equation and explain each of the elements. I want you to write this down. See if you can remember it from last time. What's the temptation equation? Corrupt desires plus the right bait plus the wrong choice equals sin, and sin equals death. Now, let's take those individually. Corrupt desires: each one, verse 14, is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Sin begins with corrupt desires. Now that word "carried away," *elchomai* in Greek, means to be drawn with an inward desire. Not all of our inward desires are wrong. In fact, Jesus used the same word, *elchomai*, when he said, "If I be lifted up, I will draw all men unto myself." But we head towards sin because of corrupt desires. The desires themselves are not wrong. Did you know? Recognition, a desire for emotional intimacy, a desire for sex, a desire for food and clothing—those desires are not evil. But God has put boundaries around how we fulfill those desires. And that's where Satan, the deceiver, comes in. He wants to tempt us into believing what Adam and Eve believed: that God is trying to withhold something good from your life.

The reason God said not to eat of this particular tree is he knew it would make you like himself, and he's paranoid and doesn't want any competitors. That's what Satan told them, and they fell for that line. He does the same for us. He says, "God's restriction of sex only within the bounds of marriage is trying to rob you of great sexual fulfillment." When God says to give generously of your provisions to support his work, he's trying to rob you of financial security. God's instructions concerning humility and service to others will rob you of your deserved recognition. That's the lie he gives us: that if we follow God's grace guidelines, we're going to be robbed of something meaningful in our life. A corrupt desire is a desire that we try to meet in a wrong way. That's how our desires got corrupted when we tried to fulfill them in a way that is contrary to the will of God. By the way, we've got our great-great-great-great-great-great grandparents, Adam and Eve, to thank for that corruption. Their sin ensured that we are born into this world with a virus; it's called sin. We've been born into this world with a defective operating system. For you computer geeks, it's a deceptive, flawed operating system called sin. That means every time God tells us to do something, our natural response is to say no. And every time God tells us not to do something, our natural inclination is to do it.

So sin starts with corrupt desires, but secondly, it takes the right bait. When Satan succeeds in deceiving us into believing that God is trying to rob us of something good, Satan knows just the right time to dangle the bait in front of us. Now that's represented by the word "enticed." James 1:14 says each person is carried away and enticed. That word "enticed" is a fishing term. It means to hook with a piece of bait. It's what a fisherman does when he tries to catch a fish. I've told you before about my failed fishing attempt when I was in a previous church where we had this crusty old deacon named Bob, and I was convinced I was going to have a relationship with him even though other pastors had not succeeded in doing it. I was going to have a relationship with Bob. Well, Bob was a fisherman, and he decided to invite me to come out on a Saturday morning at 6 a.m. to fish in Lake Wichita. He no sooner had put his line in the water than there was a jiggle on it. He pulled it and got a whopper of a fish, left it dangling in the boat, put his fish line back in, and there was another one, and another one, and another one. I sat on the other end of the boat with my line in the water, not a tug on it, not one movement on it whatsoever. I said, "Bob, why are you catching so many fish and I'm not catching any?" He said, "Well, preacher, there are two secrets to catching fish. Number one, if you're going to catch a fish, you have to smell like a fish. Secondly, you've got to use the right bait." Not all fish are attracted to the same bait. You've got to know what bait to use. Ladies and gentlemen, Satan is a master fisherman. He knows exactly the bait to use to catch you, to hook you.

Speaker 3

God has put believers in a powerful position to overcome when we choose to access and deploy our divine defense. As your radio pastor and Bible teacher, I'm eager to teach you these keys to gaining victory over the devil. It's all clearly explained in my best-selling book called *Suit Up: The Armor of God for Kids*. Your children and grandchildren don't need to be the victims of the devil's attacks. Satan is no more threatening to them than a little mutt nipping at their heels. My book equips you with biblical instruction on how to defend against spiritual attacks. *Suit Up* is yours when you support the ministry of Pathway to Victory with a generous gift.

Before we wrap up today's broadcast, I'd like to share a letter I received from one of our listeners. Cindy wrote, "Pastor, I listened to Pathway to Victory on my way to a very stressful job every weekday morning. I cannot tell you how much your messages, filled with understandable and encouraging wisdom coming from the Word of God, helped me get through the workday. I just wanted to say thank you."

Well, Cindy, I'm so glad that this ministry has been an encouragement to you. For those who give financially to support Pathway to Victory, I hope Cindy's note is an encouragement to you as well because your generous giving is truly making an impact.

Let me add, keep in mind that the fall schedule is often a distraction to loyal supporters, and as a result, our giving levels decrease. Please, as God enables you, remain consistent and faithful. Thanks so much. Here's David to tell you more.

Speaker 1

You're invited to request *Suit up the Armor of God for Kids* along with our newest resource for adults, *Angels and Demons, Fact versus Fantasy*. That's when you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory. Make your gift today and request both books by calling 866-999-2965 or visit ptv.org. When your ministry gift is $100 or more, you'll receive both books plus the complete *Spirit Wars* teaching series on audio and video discs and a copy of Dr. Jeffress' bestselling book, *The Divine Defense*. Just call 866-999-2965 or go online to ptv.org. You could also send your gift by mail to P.O. Box 223609, Dallas, Texas 75222.

I'm David J. Mullins. Join us again Wednesday for Part Two of the message, *The Temptation Equation Revisited*, right here on Pathway to Victory. Pathway to Victory with Dr. Robert Jeffress comes from the pulpit of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas. You made it to the end of today's podcast from Pathway to Victory, and we're so glad you're here. Pathway to Victory relies on the generosity of loyal listeners like you to make this podcast possible.

One of the most impactful ways you can give is by becoming a Pathway Partner. Your monthly gift will empower Pathway to Victory to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ and help others become rooted more firmly in His Word. To become a Pathway Partner, go to ptv.org/donate or you can follow the link in our show notes. We hope you've been blessed by today's podcast from Pathway to Victory.

Oh, and one last thing before we go. Have you reserved your spot yet for the 2026 Pathway to Victory cruise to Alaska? You've been hearing me and Dr. Jeffress mention it, so what are you waiting for? Just picture yourself on the deck of Holland America's elegant Koningsdam and stepping out on deck to witness nature's grandeur. It's beautiful. These moments in God's creation will deepen your faith in powerful ways. It really will. Experience five-star dining, luxurious staterooms, and visit iconic ports like Juneau, Ketchikan, and Skagway. We're also bringing along our own Christian entertainment. You'll love it. Seats are filling up, so book your spot today at ptv.org.