Telling the Truth

Guest (Female): Today on Telling the Truth, we'll hear from Stuart Briscoe as he shares more biblical wisdom for confronting temptation. But before we do, we want to help you grow strong in your faith as you conquer temptation by sending you Triumph Over Temptation, a powerful four-message series by Stuart and Jill Briscoe.

We'll send you a copy of Triumph Over Temptation as thanks for your gift today to help continue Stuart and Jill's legacy of helping others experience life in Christ. It's the last week to take advantage of this offer, so call today to request your copy of Triumph Over Temptation. 1-800-889-5388. That's 1-800-889-5388, or you can give online at tellingthetruth.org. Now, here's Stuart Briscoe's message, "How Should I Handle Temptation?"

Stuart Briscoe: One other passage in 2 Corinthians, the apostle Paul is talking here about something that he designates his thorn in the flesh. That's an inadequate statement. The word translated "thorn" here is the word for "cross," and it really is like a stake that was driven through the center of his life and was giving him desperate problems.

And he says that, "Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me, but he said to me," quote, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness," end quote. And then here's Paul's commentary on this: "Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses so that Christ's power may rest on me."

When would a man or a woman be interested in God's power resting on them? Well, the answer to that is when they realize how weak they are. It is only when we are aware of our weakness that we really are interested in deriving from His strength.

It is only when we recognize how vulnerable we are that we turn to Him in order that we might be protected by Him. It is only in the area of trial and temptation and testing that we turn to discover the grace of God in a unique way. And so God permits these things to come into our lives.

Now, the second thing is that whilst these things are permitted by God, they are promoted by Satan. And the reason for this is made very, very clear in Scripture. Scripture teaches that the enemy of our souls is totally committed to thwarting the outworking of the purposes of God. That God has a plan for our world, and Satan lives in constitutional, unrelenting opposition to all God's purposes.

Unfortunately, men and women get caught in this battle. We find ourselves in the middle of this great cosmic spiritual conflict. This showed up very powerfully one day when Jesus was talking to His disciples, and He said to them, "Satan has desired to have you that he might sift you like wheat."

Now, this picture of sifting you like wheat is not dissimilar to the picture I just painted for you of grinding up rock to purify the gold. When you're harvesting out in the Middle East in primitive days, or in the first century, you would simply beat up on that wheat to get rid of the chaff and finish up with the kernel of grain in it.

So Satan has desired to have you that he might beat up on you, Jesus says. But then, turning His attention to Peter, He said, "But I've prayed for you. And I've prayed for you that your faith doesn't fall, that your faith doesn't falter, and that when you are converted, when you come through this whole thing, you will strengthen your brethren."

Now, this is very fascinating. Satan is totally committed to destroying Peter. He's going to wreck this character. Why? Because God's purposes for Peter are that he will be the rock. But Satan's purposes are that he will be ground up and chewed up and spat out. But in this cosmic conflict, Peter is caught.

But Jesus prays for him and He says, "Now, when you come through this thing, you will come through in such a position that you can strengthen your brethren." Why? Because he himself has been strengthened in the situation. So Satan is diametrically opposed to the whole thing.

And God, in His infinite sovereign wisdom, permits this because He knows that, handled rightly, testing and trial and temptation will simply serve to help us grow and mature and be strengthened in order that we might strengthen others. Revelation chapter 12 talks about Satan as being the one who deceives the whole world. Deception is part of his stock in trade.

Let me tell you a story you've probably heard. It's about a man and a woman and a snake and a tree. Does that ring a bell? A man and a woman and a snake and a tree. It was just a tree among many trees. In fact, there were lots and lots of trees and just this one tree.

There were lots of trees were in the place that God had made called Paradise. And He'd put this man and woman in there, and it was a wonderful, wonderful place. You just try to imagine the most glorious place to live, and that was it. And God had made this place because He loved these people and He wanted these people to love Him in return.

Now, you can't make somebody love you. So if you're going to make somebody who is capable of loving, you've got to give them a will to choose to love. But it's pointless giving them a will if they don't have a choice. So you've got to give them a choice.

So God says, "I've got to get these people so that they would want to love me. That means I've got to give them a will. That means I've got to give them a choice. But I'll make it as easy as possible for them. This is what I'll do. I'll give them the whole of Paradise to enjoy and I'll give them one tree that they will not touch. That's easy, isn't it? No problem."

I mean, why would anybody want to mess with one little tree when they've got Paradise? Anybody in their right mind would say, "God, this is wonderful. If you want me to prove that I love you, that's easy. All I'll do is I will not do what you don't want me to do, and I will do what you do want me to do. And so I'll enjoy Paradise and I won't even go within 100 meters of that stupid tree."

That's how it's supposed to work. In actual fact, that is not how it worked. The old snake came along and he had a different line. He said, "Can you believe that God would be so mean as to deprive you of the privilege of tasting the fruit of that tree? Can you believe that God would be so mean and so ugly as to do that? What is the matter with this God?"

And he didn't say a thing about Paradise. All he did was focus on this wretched tree. And the incredible thing about it was that they believed him. This man and this woman believed him. And they said, "They're right. They're right. How could God be so mean and so ugly and deprive us and rob us of what it really means to know the fullness of life? And we would know it if we had that tree." And so they ate of the tree, and he deceived them. They were sucked into it.

Can you believe they were sucked into it? Of course you can, because it happens every single day. Because, you see, the devil's stock in trade is to try to persuade you that God's will is not good and it's not perfect and it's not acceptable, and that real life is to be found out there, ignoring what God has said. This is his line, and we suck into it constantly.

It's called falling for temptation. And the approach of the evil one is simply to thwart the purposes of God, to destroy the faith of God's people, and to deceive people into believing that for some reason, God does not want our best, and He really does.

Guest (Female): What's the right way to approach temptation? That's what Stuart Briscoe is talking about on today's Telling the Truth, and he's coming right back with a final thought for the day. Temptation is nothing new. It's been around since the dawn of man, and it's not going anywhere as long as we're on this earth.

You'll face temptation every day, but sometimes moment by moment. So we want to send you a special resource to help you stand strong in God's word when temptation does come along. It's a four-message series from Stuart and Jill Briscoe called Triumph Over Temptation.

And they created it to help you not only conquer temptation but to grow stronger in your faith as you do. This series will give you powerful biblical tools to defeat sinful desires and encourage you with the truth that every temptation to do wrong is also an opportunity to do right.

We'll send you Triumph Over Temptation as our thanks for your gift today to keep sharing the life-changing truth of God's word with people across the globe through the resources and teaching of Telling the Truth. This offer ends this week, so don't delay. Call today to request your copy of this resource. 1-800-889-5388. That's 1-800-889-5388, or you can give online when you visit tellingthetruth.org. Now, we head back to Stuart Briscoe.

Stuart Briscoe: Now, that being the case, we need to look a little more carefully into this whole thing of temptation. Notice the third thing, which is this: the temptation is produced by a variety of factors. Internal factors, external factors.

You remember the story of Job. Job had a bad day one day when he lost everything that he owned and everything that belonged to him, including his health, except one thing: his wife. And she was such bad news that it's a pity he didn't lose her as well.

In fact, of all the stuff he lost, she probably would have been the one he preferred to lose. And she comes along and she is a disaster. And she looks at the situation he's in and she gives him the most incredible piece of advice: "Curse God and die." That's Kevorkian stuff. Curse God and die. Get yourself out of here. You deserve the right to choose.

And the external circumstances that he went through were absolutely excruciating. And let's face it: the trials and the temptations and the tests of this cruel, harsh world, where Satan's having a heyday, are not to be underestimated.

The thing we've got to remember, of course, is this: that it isn't just the external things. There's something inside us that responds to these external circumstances. The epistle of James again, he says something here that's really very important for us. And this is what he says in verse 13: "When tempted, no one should say, 'God is tempting me.' For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He tempt anyone. Each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he's dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death."

Now, what he's saying here is this: God never solicits anyone to evil. He will certainly permit trials, temptations, testings to come in order that we might discover His power and strength in it, but He never solicits anyone to evil. You can count on that.

The problem is this: that we have within us what James calls evil desires. Evil desires are legitimate, God-given passions that have been perverted. You know what I mean. You can think of all the legitimate God-given passions, you know what they are, and then you can think of how they have become perverted, and you know how that has happened.

Now, the problem is this: when we have within us these perverted, legitimate, God-given desires, and they come up against these external circumstances that are extremely difficult, then the mix can be explosive. And if we're not careful, we can find ourselves succumbing to the situation because there is the outward pressure and the inward pull, and when they work together, then the potential for disaster is immense.

Paul goes a step further than this and, writing to the Corinthians, he reminds people that Satan will tempt us because of our lack of self-control. So put all this together: external circumstances that put great pressure on us, internal desires that have become perverted through fallenness, and lack of discipline and lack of self-control. Put all that together and you can see how temptations are responded to and people fall.

Now, God permits it, Satan promotes it, and various factors serve to produce it. The fourth and final thing, of course, is this: that this temptation and testing is profitable if handled properly. It is profitable if handled properly. And let me just outline this for you very quickly.

Number one, we handle temptation and testing properly when we are aware of the spiritual dynamics involved. That's what I've been trying to explain to you. Paul, writing to the Corinthians, says this: "We are not ignorant of Satan's devices." And I would ask you an honest question: are you ignorant of Satan's devices?

Are you aware of the spiritual dynamics that involve? Are you aware of the fact that when you get up in the morning, you're simply stepping out into a monumental spiritual conflict? Are you aware of that? If not, then there's a very high probability that you walk with blind eyes into the warm embrace of temptation and very often don't even notice what you're doing.

The second thing is that we need to be alert to what is going on around us. Galatians chapter 6 talks about some people who have fallen in their lives, they've yielded to temptation, and the responsibility of people in the church to help restore them.

But there's a word of warning to the restorers, and it says you yourselves have got to be very, very careful, considering the possibility that you yourselves will also be tempted. In other words, it is imperative upon us that we be aware of the spiritual dynamics involved and alert to the potholes and the pitfalls that surround us on every hand. The chances to go wrong are legion.

The third thing is that we need to be active in our response to the situation. Now, we are active in response to the situation when, first of all, we trust God in it. And let me refer you now to 1 Corinthians 10:13, which I read to you at the beginning of my talk. Let me remind you of what it says here: "No temptation has seized you except what is common to man."

Now, that's a trenchant statement. "No temptation has seized you except what is common to man." You see, what we say is this: "Well, my situation is quite unusual, and my temptations are absolutely unique. And therefore, God, because my situation is unusual and my temptations are unique, you'll have to make an exception as far as I'm concerned." And God says, "Forget it." Forget it.

This world is full of all kinds of tempting tests and trials, and there's nothing unusual about the one that you're going through. There's a million people who've got a similar situation. So there are no exceptions granted here.

However, He goes on to say this: "In the middle of these testings and trials and temptations, God is faithful." Faithful to do what? "He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you can bear." To which we respond, "You've got to be kidding." And God says, "No, I'm not. I will never allow you to be tempted beyond what you can bear."

So you cannot engage in Flip Wilson theology, which simply says, "The devil made me do it." The devil can't make you do it unless you don't believe that God would never allow you to be tempted beyond what you, in His power, could cope with.

Not only that, He goes on to say this: "And will, with the temptation, provide a way out so that you can stand up under it." He does not provide a way out so you can get away from it. He provides a way out so that you'll stand up under it.

Let me illustrate. Try to imagine an old steam engine where you've got a boiler with water in it and you light a fire under it. And the purpose of the fire is to boil the water so that you create steam. The idea of creating the steam is this is energy which you then channel so that it drives the engine that you want it to drive.

Now, of course, if you build up too much pressure in that boiler, the boiler bursts, and the whole exercise now becomes counterproductive. So, knowing that the boiler might burst, the engineers, being very sensible people, build in something called the safety valve.

And the point of the safety valve is to make sure that excess pressure is bled off, but that the correct amount of pressure is maintained. To let all the pressure out would defeat the objective. To allow the boiler to burst would defeat the objective. You need the right amount of pressure to drive the engine, and you need the safety valve to let off the excess.

Now, this is what Paul says: "No temptation that has seized you is common to man, but God is faithful. God is faithful, who will never allow you to be tempted beyond your ability in Him to cope with it, and will, with the temptation, provide a way of escape that you might be able to bear up under it." In other words, He'll put a safety valve on your boiler so your boiler won't burst. But He will maintain the right amount of pressure to drive the engine to achieve what He's got in mind. Do you believe that? That's the issue.

We need to be aware of the spiritual dynamics, we need to be alert to what is going on in our situation, and we need to be active in our response. And we're active in our response by trusting God in it. Secondly, by relating the situation to Him in prayer.

"Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven, give us this day our daily bread," etc., etc., "lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil." You've got to pray that God will deliver you in it. And the problem is, sometimes we don't want to be delivered in it.

There's the problem. We don't want to be delivered in it. We are enjoying our bitterness. We revel in our selfishness. We are thrilled that we're getting even through being vindictive. And let's face it: this relationship that we're in is sure providing some stuff that our marriage doesn't. And there's no question about it that we're getting our kicks through our pornography, and we are certainly finding that our depression goes through our booze.

So why would we want to be delivered from these things? And the answer, very often, is we don't. So let's be realistic about this thing. We've got to trust God in it and we've got to pray that He will deliver us through it. And then we've got to recognize the parable of the moth and the candle.

Guest (Female): This is Telling the Truth, and you've just heard Stuart Briscoe and his message, "How Should I Handle Temptation?" It's from the all-new Triumph Over Temptation series, and Stuart will be right back with a final thought for the day.

We all struggle at times with sinful desires and selfish motives. And when you do, you must remember that every temptation to do wrong is also an opportunity to do right. That's the empowering truth Stuart and Jill Briscoe wanted to help you grasp when they created their four-message series Triumph Over Temptation.

This series will equip you with powerful biblical truth to help you triumph over temptation and grow your faith in the process. Triumph Over Temptation is our thanks for your gift to keep sharing the teaching and resources of Telling the Truth with so many people around the world.

Generous friends like you keep broadcasts like this one going, reaching others with God's healing love so they can experience life in Christ and find strength to carry on with courage. So if you haven't given before, consider a gift today to help keep God's word going out around the world to you and many others. And remember: this is the last week to request your copy of Triumph Over Temptation when you call and give. Just call 1-800-889-5388. That's 1-800-889-5388, or you can give online when you visit tellingthetruth.org. Now, here's Stuart with one last thought about why God allows you to face temptation.

Stuart Briscoe: Problem with our approach to temptation so often is this: we little moths want to fly as close to the candle, assuming that we can keep it all under control. And Scripture says this: you've got to resist the evil and you've got to flee from it. And a little bit of common sense will go a long way.

So if you know where the temptation lies, stay away from it. Get rid of it. Move out from it. And in the power of God, in trusting Him, in prayer to Him, with an intense desire to grow through the situation, say as you get up in the morning, "Lord, so far today I haven't been grumpy and I haven't been greedy and I haven't done this and I haven't done that and I haven't done the other, but now I'm going to have to get up.

But this is what I'm going to do. I'm going to step out into a veritable minefield of opportunities to go wrong, every one of which presents me with the chance to do right. Thank you for this privilege. I embrace it and I step out today in dependence upon You, seeking to be obedient to You, and I ask that at the end of the day, as I go over the day, I might be able to ask myself the question: what were the opportunities I had today to go wrong, and what did I do with them?"

You answer those questions at the end of the day, they will lead you to appropriate confession and a genuine desire to grow in grace and then the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And there's the question: how am I handling the opportunities to go wrong?

Guest (Female): That's Stuart Briscoe on today's Telling the Truth. Before we go, we want to remind you that through the end of this week, when you give to continue Stuart and Jill's legacy of sharing God's word through Telling the Truth broadcasts like this one, we'll say thanks with the Briscoes' four-message series Triumph Over Temptation.

These encouraging messages will help you defeat temptation and grow in your faith as you do. So please, request your copy when you call 1-800-889-5388. 1-800-889-5388, or you can give online when you visit tellingthetruth.org. Thanks for being with us today on Telling the Truth. Come back next time for more biblical truth to help you experience life in Christ.