Three Ways Temptation Destroy's

Three ways temptations destroys

1st Timothy 6:9

Right away this morning I want you to open your bibles with me to the book of 1st Timothy and when you get there let me know by saying amen--- 1st Timothy,,,chapter 6,

I want to tell you this morning that God is a great God.

God is a Loving God,

God is a patient God, God is a forgiving

God, who through His grace,

God is a saving God,

I want to tell you this morning if you do not know God, God says, Today is the day of your salvation. I want to tell you that up front because it is important for you to know not only does God love you, but He has a plan for your life and he is waiting for you to take the SECOND step. I SAY SECOND BECAUSE God has made the first by the sacrifice of His Son Jesus Christ on CROSS. And Now He is waiting for you to receive Him.

I am sure you can agree with me that there can be so many distractions in our lives today whether we are saved or not, Christians or not. We have our ministry life, church, work, home, life, friends, family; for some school, we are part of extra activities in our lives. It seems we are continually pulled in different directions. We want our hobbies, and let’s face most of us want our cake and to eat it too.

Sometimes we are going so much that we think we are untouchable or we are doing so much that we don’t have time to get into trouble or sin to infect our lives and this is furthest from the truth.

Often times what drives us is an un-hidden sin. Sometimes in the most business of our lives when we think we are the most indestructible we tend to let our guard down, when we least expect it trouble arises

Mark Driscoll the Pastor of Mars Hill Church said that we sin, and then we sin on how we sin and that’s how sinful we are.

You know it is funny that we dismiss sin, but Sin is a huge issue in our lives, and yet we don’t want to admit that it is.

Some Pastors have honestly admitted that they won’t talk about sin, hell, wrath, judgment, or The reason for the blood in the church because it is all negative.

But listen to me, this is the reason Christ died for you and me on the cross, because of the sin, because of hell, because the wrath, it is through His blood we are healed, through his sacrifice we have been cleansed. How you take that to be Negative or positive is up to you.

But I believe this…. that if we would finally decide to get real with ourselves about the sin in our life, then the blood of Christ should be the most positive thing.

I said if Christians would finally decide to get real with the sin in our lives- if we would face the truth about the desire of sin in our life then the sacrificial blood of Jesus will be the most positive thing in our life.

I have heard people who profess with their mouths they are Christians and yet they say they waking up is better than the “alternative”, probably for them, because they live a life of sin, but if die today, I am in heaven with my creator! How about you?

We know trouble will come and go in our lives and becoming a Christian certainly does not make our lives perfect by no means because we still live in the world.

Ann Landers said this about trouble

“If I were asked to give what I consider the single most useful bit of advice for all humanity it would be this: Expect trouble as an inevitable part of life and when it comes, hold you head high, look it squarely in eye and say, 'I will be bigger than you. You cannot defeat me.'”

Trouble may come but I believe that we can reduce the sin that often comes from trouble in our life by understanding it.

You see, We have to understand our condition, we get the right diagnosis, if we don’t have the remedy, or the cure then nothing will change. The sin will continue to rear its ugly head, and we will continue to lose the battle every day. And we cannot continue to do that folks.

SO the question is What desires do we have that over power our desire to follow Christ?

Let’s read 1 Timothy chapter 6 starting with verse 6

Now there is great gain in godliness with contentment, 7for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. 8But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.

Here is the key verse, listen to this are you ready..

9But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.

I want you to leave here this morning realizing that that you can be content with God.

You know we if could wake up every day and were content in the Lord.. if we just said everyday Lord I am content in you, it would kick the devil to the side. If you were just content with the Lord each day of your life- then when all the other things that happen in life; that are a big deal to everyone else, it is nothing to you because you are content.

This verse speaks the way of the world, Paul is telling Timothy about what the false teachers. They were teaching the way of the world when it came to possessions, and becoming rich and he needs to get a handle on them, just as we need to get a handle on our issues of becoming well off, or better then everyone else. We are people who follow our desires, we long for them and we will do anything to get them.

I want you to know when we love people and things of the world, the stuff in our lives, when we love them more than we love Christ, our desires are no longer pure, our desires become to be rich in them. Paul just said in the verses 7 and 8 “we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. 8But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be (WHAT) content.”

Are you content this morning? Those who are not content with what is provided to them want more, more things.

Scripture says 9But those who desire to be rich, here the word Desire is used to describe strong feelings for, not just to want it to be rich but to have strong feelings to be rich. This desire comes from deep within our hearts.

This statement Desiring to be rich, Many people believe only speaks about money. Paul certainly is talking about money in the verse 10, saying that “money is the root of all kinds of evil” but becoming rich is different for each person.

You see if a person is not content with what they have then the desire of their heart is have more, to get rich in that desire.

For most it would probably be defined as money, but for others they think they are rich with Power, mostly over other people. For some it is political power, financial, emotional, physical, and sexual and for some it is the position of authority over people.

For others it is wealth to include owning properties, houses, cars, boats, planes ect.

For some it is winning the Lottery, or winning at the Casino, they will risk their families, their houses to win.

For others, People are rich in Love, with other people, friends and family, and they would do anything to have that richness of love in their life. Lie, cheat and steal.

It just happens that money is needed to obtain the power, wealth, fame. Are you with me. And people will do whatever they can to get it, The money is not the desire, becoming rich is a deep desire equal to a woman desiring a man, that is how strong it is.

But, Paul tell us 9 those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, This desire to be rich: Can we call it just what it is?, It is to be better than everyone else in our own way, Pride. Thats really all it is. To have more money, a better truck, a bigger TV a bigger and better house, to covet our neighbor’s stuff, to see what he has and want to have it better, to include his wife and sometime his daughter (listen to me those half naked girls on the Victoria Secret commercials are Daughters, Granddaughters and wives of other men, and all of these are called temptations. Temptations should be our danger signals… It is a desire to have a bigger church than everyone else. It is a desire to have a better praise team than everyone else, better ministries- you see it can sneak into the church as well as our personal lives. and all of these are called temptations. Temptations should be our danger signals…

But danger of what?

In Our verse we find temptation does three things to us.

The first thing this temptation does is it snares us:

Guys have you ever been walking by the Television and that Victoria Secret commercial comes on and what happens, what is your first reaction?

Ladies the work out commercials comes on the beach bodies are there--- temptation snares us:

Let me put it this way: It is like fishing in a boat, your pole in the front of the boat and you’re in the back of the boat the bobber goes down because of the bite. What is your reaction? To jump after to get to the pole, but in realty you have the risk of turning the boat over to get to the pole. You will do whatever it takes to get to the pole to catch the fish. To include falling in head first or flipping over the boat and being in dangerous waters. It is an immediate reaction.

The temptation of Sin snares us like that.

A snare is a mechanical device used for catching animals, the temptation is the danger signal of a trap.

Listen this is the oldest trick in the book, In Gen chapter 3 records the fall of mankind.

Here is the temptation: Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”

4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman.

The snare is in the next verse, “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

The first thing this temptation does is it snares us, and if we want to beat temptation we have to beat It here. We cannot let the devil trap us by luring us into the snare with the desires of our hearts. We have to be watchful at every step.

—1 Corinthians 10:13 tells us

No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

When we see temptation we should look out for the snare and look for the escape route. Because God promises us that He provides an escape and that we can endure it the temptation…

That should fill us with great hope.

The Second thing Temptation does after snaring us, the temptations become foolish and full of harmful desires.

Your intentions could be good at the beginning but now that you are caught up in it, they become harmful. This word harmful means to cause harm, hurtful, pertaining to which causes harm.

Once we become vulnerable to the temptation through the snare, it is easier to fall into many foolish and harmful desires. Listen, Compromise leads to participation.

James outlined this same process: “Each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed (THIS MEANS they become entangled like animals in a trap and then dragged away). Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin” (James. 1:14–15).

Many people have lost their integrity or abandoned their faith for fifteen minutes in the spotlight or for a little sensual pleasure.

Think back to the beginning,

The temptation for Eve was the tree in the center of the garden because of the discussion with Satin, the tree by which God said they could not eat from, The snare is “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

You mean we will be like God? That is why we can’t eat from the tree?

Then, The temptation which became foolish and harmful desires for Eve was when she, You see it wasn’t the lie from the serpent: she doubted the authority of God,

Verse 6 of Genesis chapter 3 , “When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom (meaning she would become like God), she took some and ate it.”

Remember the woman said in verse 3 But God said “you shall not eat from the tree in the midst of the garden”, Why because they would die”

The temptation which became foolish and harmful desires for Eve was when she, doubted the authority of God.

You see we think of sin when we call it a sin, but the true fact is; Sin is defined as that which goes against the authority of God. God does not want you to sin.

But our temptations become harmful desires when we go against the authority of God.

The third thing Temptation does is plunge people into ruin and destruction.

This is total moral ruin, the remains of your life become destroyed, destruction is the action of someone being completely destroyed, the cause of someone’s ruin. This cause is often extended beyond the first person to another who has been hurt and another.

Adam and Eve’s total moral ruin happened after they ate the fruit, they did have knowledge, they were chastised by God, God removed them from His presence, by kicking them out of the Garden of Eden, which was Paradise, they also suffered death, because of the sin they suffered spiritual death and they eventually suffered physical death.

The First sin is considered to be the fall of mankind. Centuries later, generations later thousands of years later their sin is still affecting others today.

Here is what you need to understand, this is what you need to comprehend, to understand our condition, to have the right diagnosis, so that we can change. When we are tempted by anything, we have to resist,

In Matthew chapter 4 Jesus was tempted by Satin and each time he quoted scripture.

—Hebrews 2:18 says,

For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

Because if we don’t it will catch us in the snare and trap us, if we spend too much time there, it creates a longing desire, which turns to harmful desires, just like Eve, Satin the deceiver is in our ear talking to us “you surly won’t die” It’s just this one time” “God will forgive you”

And we see it as Eve seen the fruit, The deceiver shows us the sin as Eve seen the sin, it was good and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable,,,

There are people right now who have taken the fruit, and they are sitting at the point of total moral ruin, it could be pornography, alcohol, drugs, another woman, money, the pursuit of ungodly things in your life, soliciting prostitution, male or female or some other addiction in your life.

Just last week an NFL player who signed a 40 Million dollar contract with the Patriots- he had an endorsement with Muscle Milk and Puma he received a 12 Million dollar sign on contract. He lost it all, when he was arrested and charged for murder. He is sitting at the point of total moral ruin.

You know in 2011 The executive director of the Missouri Baptist Convention resigned "due to immoral behavior with a woman” I am not trying to slander him, I am making a point.

What happened? I will tell you, he was tempted, he saw this women and he was attracted to her, and it snared him, it could have been a smile, a touch, who knows and that longing heart’s desire, became harmful desires when he had immoral relations with her, then he couldn’t stop, which eventually ended for a man with undergraduate degree from Dallas Baptist University, Master of Divinity and Doctor of Ministry degrees from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, who spent his life in service to God, he has plunged into ruin and destruction. Total Moral ruin.

Because he was deceived, she was good, pleasing to the eye, she was desirable. The Satin does it to us every time.

The Good News for you today is that Jesus Saves, He forgives, and forgets, he rebuilds lives, and he can do all of that for you right now.

I don’t know where your heart is, only God knows that. But I know that all of us are tempted every day, have you let it go too far? Are you ready to get it all back?

Here is Gods Promise:

There is a way to escape

That we can endure the temptations

And that He will heal us from all unrighteousness.

All you have to do is come to Him and Be content in Him.