Thank you so much for joining me today on Just Praise Him Radio. I'm your host, Glenda Lomax, and my job is to inspire you to a closer walk with Christ. Now here's the show. Hello believers, welcome to the Just Praise Him radio show. I'm your host, Glenda Lomax, and the title of my message today is The Anatomy of Temptation. This is the beginning of a series the Lord asked me to teach.
about sin he just said i want you to do a series on sin and i just said okay i would like to do a series of videos to go with it but my camcorder that i've had forever in a day The sound stopped working on it, so it's in the trash, and I have not been able to find another affordable one to buy, only paid.
I know like a couple hundred dollars for that one, I think, years and years ago, like in 2014 or 2015. So, I don't have another one right now. And I don't know if I'll ever get another one. Moving right along. Okay, so let's talk about the anatomy of temptation. Because before sin comes, we're tempted, aren't we? I'm going to be telling you a bunch of different definitions of temptation.
from different Christian leaders. My definition of temptation, to me, temptation is the enticing attraction of something you really, really want. and find desirable that Satan really wants you to take, but that is opposed to God's commands and or will for your life. Okay. What is the meaning of transgression? This is from lifehopeandtruth.com. The Greek word for transgression, which is sin.
In 1 John 3, 4 is anomia, and I'm probably saying that wrong, which is a combination of a, meaning without or against, and nomos, meaning law. So the literal meaning of anomia is without law or against law. The New King James Version translates this word as lawlessness, to live or conduct oneself as if there is no law. So the Apostle John defines sin as transgression of the law or lawlessness or law-breaking.
Essentially, sin is making a decision or living a lifestyle that violates the law of God. Today, we're going to talk about the anatomy of temptation. Before the sin. I have many times over the years been asked how do you distinguish something God is doing from something the enemy is doing in your life, including in instances of temptation. Let me quote another on this to give it clarity.
what is temptation seduction to evil solicitation to wrong it stands distinguished from trial thus trial tests seeks to discover the man's moral qualities or character But temptation persuades to evil, deludes that it may ruin. So you see the difference there? To me, this means a test strengthens you against sin. Temptation is designed to lead you into sin and, if possible, to trap you in it and destroy you. Fine line, isn't it? Pretty hard to tell which is which.
The one aims at the man's good, making him conscious of his true moral self, but the other at his evil, leading him more or less unconsciously into sin. God tries, Satan tempts. That's by Fairbain, quoted in The Words and Works of Jesus Christ, J.D. Pentecost. As far as I can tell, Fairbain is the Robert E. Cooley Professor of Early Christianity.
His research interests focus on the relation between the doctrines of the Trinity, Christ, salvation, and Christian life in the early church, especially in the 4th through 6th centuries. John Piper says that sin, lust for example, gets its power, this is a quote, gets its power by persuading me to believe that I will be more happy if I follow it. The power of all temptation is the prospect.
that it will make me happier. Key word there is prospect, y'all. Satan has to sell us a bill of goods, a delusion, in order to get us to sin. Keep that in your mind. E. Lutzer, Putting Your Past Behind You, Here's Life, 1990. Okay. Sin makes a lot of empty promises. Now, this is me speaking. In my opinion, sin makes a lot of empty promises. It promises what it...
It promises things it cannot keep. It lures us like a bright, shiny, fake lure on the end of a fishing line. You'll ever watch a lure in the water if the water's real clear? It'll sit there and spin around and catch the light. And it'll throw off reflections. It's real pretty, some of them. Danger dangles there and sparkles. But when the fish moves in for a tasty meal...
It becomes a meal instead. The fish becomes a meal itself. And that's what happens to us. If we take the bait, we become the meal. Some people fall into temptation, but a great many make plans for disaster ahead of time. Son ordered a father, don't swim in that canal. Okay, Dad, he answered, but he came home carrying a wet bathing suit that evening.
Where have you been? demanded the father. Swimming in the canal, answered the boy. Didn't I tell you not to swim there? asked the dad. Yes, sir. Why did you? Well, dad, I had my bathing suit with me. And I couldn't resist the temptation. He said, why did you take your bathing suit with you? He said, so I'd be prepared to swim in case I was tempted. That's making plans. That's making place for the devil, y'all.
Too many of us expect to sin and excite sin. The remedy for such dangerous action is found in Romans 13, 14. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof. Whenever we play with temptation, it is easy to drift into great danger. A woman was bathing in the Gulf of Mexico. She was enjoying the comfort of relaxing on an inflated cushion that kept her afloat.
When she realized that she had been swept about a half mile out from the beach, she began to scream, but nobody could hear her. A Coast Guard craft found her five miles from the place where she first entered the water. She did not see her danger until she was beyond her own strength and ability. That's by Chuck Swindoll from One Step Forward. Remember that. She was on a float.
And she did not even realize she was in danger until she was too far gone to help herself. Think about that. Think about someone who tries drugs. They don't realize that they're trapped until it's too late. Satan does that on purpose. He does that on purpose. And if we're not paying attention. A recent survey of discipleship journal readers ranked areas of greatest spiritual challenge to them. 1. Materialism 2. Pride 3. Self-centeredness
Four, laziness. Five, two of them tied up for number five, anger and bitterness. Number five was also the other tie with, I'm sorry, anger and bitterness was one and sexual lust was the other that tied with anger and bitterness. Seven, envy. Eight, gluttony. And nine, lying. Survey respondents noted temptations were more potent when they had neglected their time with God. 81%. Hello. And when they were physically tired, 57%. We've talked about all this before, y'all.
Resisting temptation was accomplished by prayer, 84%. Avoiding compromising situations, that's very important, 76%. And Bible study, 66%. And being accountable to someone, 52%. That is from Discipleship Journal, November, December 1992. That's a good magazine. Remember, y'all, Satan did not try to tempt Jesus until the last day of that 40-day fast in the desert. He was tired. He was worn out. He was hungry. Probably missed his family. Probably just wanted to go home to his bed.
So then he moves in for the kill shot, right? A common temptation Christians are faced with also now is the temptation to judge another who has fallen into sin. I guess that's always been a temptation for Christians. Satan loves to keep our eyes on the sin or supposed sins of others so we won't look at our own. Hear me on this, y'all. Anytime.
Satan draws your attention to somebody else's sin or a sin you think they might be doing. You need to get in front of a mirror and say, am I in something? And he's trying to hide it from me. Like the scent of pride that is so present in judgment. Just keeping it real, y'all. We can supplement our accountability to others by reading slowly through literature designed to challenge our Christian maturity. Consider as an example these questions related to sexual purity.
that I had to read carefully as I read Kent Hughes' Liberating Ministry from the Success Syndrome. Now, that's still the same part of this article I was reading it. Number one, are we being desensitized by the present evil world? Do things that once shocked us now pass us by with little notice? Number two, where do our minds wander when we have no duties to perform? Number three, what are we reading?
Are there books or magazines in our libraries that we would not want anyone else to see? I hope there's not. Number four, what DVDs or movies did we watch last week? How many hours do we spend watching TV? You want to get some worldly influence, you can get it all right there. How many adulteries did we watch last week? How many murders? How many did we watch with our children? Number five, how many chapters of the Bible did we read last week?
It's awful quiet out there right now. Paul Borthwick leading the way from Nav Press 1989. Okay. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust thereof. Romans 13, 14. We are supposed to flee temptation, y'all. And when you flee temptation, by the way, be sure you don't leave a forwarding address. Okay. You know, an easy way to understand this is to think about dieting, something I know very well.
When you're on a diet, you don't keep a stock of chocolate on hand, do you? And you don't make any trips to the donut shop either if you're me because I love donuts. I cannot eat donuts, but I love them. I have a stomach condition that does not allow me to eat donuts, which is probably a bonus in some ways. In the Australian bush country grows a little plant called the sundew.
It has a slender stem and tiny round leaves fringed with hairs that glisten with bright drops of liquid as delicate as fine dew. But woe to the insect that dares to dance on it. Although its attractive clusters of red, white and pink blossoms are harmless, the leaves are deadly. The shiny moisture on each leaf is sticky and will imprison any bug that touches it.
As an insect struggles to free itself, the vibration causes the leaves to close tightly around it. And then this innocent-looking plant feeds on its victim. That's from our Daily Bread, December 11, 1992. That makes me think of the Venus flytrap. I used to see those advertised all the time when I was a kid. I never had one though. This was how Susanna Wesley defined sin to her young son, John Wesley. She said,
If you would judge of the lawfulness or the unlawfulness of pleasure, then take this simple rule. Whatever weakens your reason, impairs the tenderness of your conscience. obscures your sense of God and takes off the relish of spiritual things, that to you is sin. That is a very, very well said definition of sin. That is from Resource, July, August, 1990. Okay, how does sin happen?
I'm glad you asked. Sin comes when we take a perfectly natural desire or longing or ambition and try desperately to fulfill it without God. Not only is it sin, it is a perverse distortion of the image of the Creator in us. All these good things and all our security are rightly found only and completely in Him.
Now let me read you this from the Confessions of St. Augustine. There is something terribly right about realizing that our struggle with sin is in many ways similar to an alcoholic struggle with drinking. It is never over. How often I find myself talking about sin in the past tense as if being a sinner is something I'm beyond. This was Augustine speaking. A page turned in the book of my life.
But sin is like alcoholism. Sinners are never cured. They simply decide to stop sinning, and it's a daily decision. That is from John Fisher, Contemporary Christian Music, September 1987, but it was apparently a quote by Augustine. You know what? Adam and Eve had a perfectly natural desire, the desire to be like God. nothing was wrong with their desire the wrong came when satan tempted them to fulfill that desire in the wrong way a way god had told them not to go think about that
That's like needing peace. And instead of your peace coming from walking with God and spending time in the word and prayer and avoiding sin, which takes away your peace, by the way, you start doing drugs, drugs like alcohol. Only bring a momentary false peace. Walking with the Lord brings a lasting peace. A real peace. It brings you a peace you cannot get any place else, y'all. That once you've experienced it.
You can't remember how to live any other way. Plus, it's legal and it's free. I'm just saying. I'm just saying. Okay, the aftermath of sin. Stephen Brown, Christianity Today. April 5, 1993 said, It was F.B. Meyer, I believe, who once said that when we see a brother or sister in sin, there are two things we do not know. First, We do not know how hard he or she tried not to sin.
We do not know the power of the forces that assailed him or her. We also do not know what we would have done in the same circumstances. Our pride tells us we wouldn't have sinned. But pride's a liar. Dr. Ralph Sockman writes about an experience he had while standing on the edge of Niagara Falls one clear, cold March day. Wrapped in white winter garments, the falls glistened in the bright sun.
As some birds swooped down to snatch a drink from the clear water, Sotwin's companion told how he had seen birds carried over the edge of the precipice. As they dipped down for a drink, tiny droplets of ice would form on their wings. As they returned for more drinks, more ice would weigh down their bodies until they could not rise above the cascading waters.
Flapping their wings, the birds would suddenly drop over the falls. That is the same thing that sin does to our lives. Can I just tell you that? Those drops form on our wings until we can no longer lift ourselves up above it. If we keep going back for more, if you, this is a word for somebody, this is a word for somebody. There's a woman listening to this and you have been going to a certain drug that is giving you relief from something you're going through.
I'm not sure, but I think it might be fentanyl. Woman of God, the Lord says to you, if you keep going back to that drug, that one's going to take you home because he said you're going to overdose. like maybe the third or fourth time you do it from now. Please don't. Please don't do it. Please don't keep going back to that. He will give you the peace. He's saying, I will comfort you if you will come to me. Instead of going to that, I will comfort you. And he will.
He will. I remember it right after I had the stroke and I lived in the townhouse in Princeton. It was a two-story townhouse with very steep stairs where they seemed steep to me because your balance is way off after you've had a stroke. And I'd never been around anybody who had had a stroke before, so I'd know anything. I now would never leave anybody alone for a month or two after a stroke because I know what you go through. But I was alone in that townhouse, and I remember being so afraid.
I remember being so afraid right after the stroke that I was going to become disabled and not be able to take care of myself. Y'all, I don't have anybody to take care of me, okay? When you're not married and you don't really have family, you don't have anybody to take care of you. There's one person in the family who would pretend to take care of me so they could take everything I have. And she knows who she is, but no one else. But after the stroke.
Everything was hard. It was just hard. And I remember being so afraid of not being able to just do normal, everyday things. Of course, I'm able to do them. But I didn't know. I'd never been around anybody who had a stroke. I didn't know what happened. I didn't know if you, you know, the doctors didn't know. They thought that I was going to keep having strokes. And I remember the doctor.
what he said he said it will take you most of a year to get back 70 or something of your abilities and i said with all due respect sir The God I serve is mightier than that. And this guy was from the Middle East. I don't think he was a Christian. He didn't take my answer very well. And I said, I'm not trying to disrespect you, but I'm going to believe for a different outcome than that. Guess which one of us turned out to be right. God was right, and I recovered a lot faster than that.
When you get a diagnosis that is negative, you have to speak against it and you have to come against it in your mind, in your heart, and if necessary, in your words. That doctor had some authority. That was the reason I came against his words, but I did so respectfully. I did not disrespect him, although he probably thought it was disrespect. It was, and I was very respectful. Somebody probably needed to hear that. Okay, moving right along.
Let me see where I was. So I can stop rambling off on rabbit trails here. Reports the Denver Post. Like many sheep ranchers in the West, Lexi Fowler has tried just about everything to stop crafty coyotes from killing her sheep. She has used odor sprays, electric fences, and scare coyotes. She has slept with her lambs during the summer and has placed battery-operated radios near them. She has corralled them at night, herded them at day.
but the southern Montana rancher has lost scores of lambs, 50 last year alone. Then she discovered the llama. The aggressive, funny-looking, afraid-of-nothing llama. Llamas don't appear to be afraid of anything, she said. When they see something, they put their head up and walk straight toward it. That is aggressive behavior as far as the coyote is concerned, and they won't have anything to do with that.
Coyotes are opportunists, and llamas take that opportunity away. Llamas are cool animals. Y'all, we're going to get to be around llamas in heaven. Apparently, llamas know the truth of what James writes. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. The moment we sense his attack through temptation is the moment we should face it and deal with it for what it is. Barry McGee said that.
I don't know if y'all have ever listened to Jesse Duplantis, but he's a really funny preacher down in Louisiana. And I've listened to him off and on for years. When I first became a Christian, he was one of the people that I would listen to occasionally because he makes you laugh. He has had many instances where women tried to get him into adultery. He's married.
And he handles it differently than anybody I've ever heard of. He tells the story so funny. All his stories that he tells, he makes them so funny. But he said he was telling this one. happened on a plane or something years ago that some woman started coming on to him or trying to make a date with him or something like that and he said he yelled adulterous
out on the plane and started saying all kinds of stuff. And I thought, wow, that talk about fleeing temptation, that's coming right up on it right there. But you have to come up with a way to deal with sin when it approaches you. Because... If you don't walk away, if you don't overcome it, it will overcome you. Okay, so you either flee it, run away from it, or you confront it and call it out. But don't give in to it.
Benjamin Franklin said it is easier to suppress the first desire than to satisfy all that follow it. That is the truth. Hindsight is always 20-20. On the TV show Hee Haw, Doc Campbell is confronted by a patient who says he broke his arm in two places. And the doc replied, well then stay out of them places.
And he may have something there. We cannot regularly put ourselves in the face of temptation and not be affected. When faced with the problem of temptation, we need to take the doctor's advice and stay out of them places. That's from sermonillustrations.com. The author is unknown. If I took myself into a bakery or a donut shop every day,
It would not take very long before I would be eating donuts and saying, oh, well, this one little cookie or this one piece of cake won't hurt. Or these four donuts over here. And then it would be half a dozen. You know how that works, right? Okay. What settings are you in when you fall? Look back on the times that you've fallen into sin. How did it happen? What drew you into the sin?
What drew you to the places where the sin happened? If you knew that there was a chance you would sin there, why did you go? You need to answer these questions if you want to stay out of the sin in the future. You need to look at your past and evaluate it, okay? It's very important. Charles Spurgeon said, learn to say no. It will be more use to you than to be able to read Latin.
We never see sin aright until we see it as against God. All sin is against God in this sense, that it is his law that is broken, his authority that is despised, his government that is set at naught. Pharaoh and Balaam, Saul and Judas, each said, I have sinned. But the returning prodigal said, I have sinned against heaven and before thee. And David said, Against thee, thee only, have I sinned.
That's W.S. Plumer quoted in J. Bridges' The Pursuit of Holiness. Proverbs 4, 25-27 Let thine eyes look right on. and let thine eyelids look straight before them. Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established. Turn not to the right hand, nor to the left. Remove thy foot from evil. If evil is happening, leave that place so you don't share in the guilt, okay? When I was in junior high school or...
I might have been a freshman in high school. I don't remember. I lived in this real, real small town in Texas that I won't tell the name of. And I had this friend. She had been my best friend for, I don't know, a year and a half or two years, and I just loved her to pieces. And this third friend joined our group, and she was okay. She was friendly enough, and I kind of liked her. Well, those two became closer friends, and eventually they started Smokin' Pot.
walking down the main street of the town smoking a joint, and I said, I'm out, I'm out. I was not a person who wanted to get in trouble. I did not want to spend my school year in the principal's office. That was just not my thing. I didn't want my mother to have anything else to worry about. She had enough handling my dad's shenanigans. She didn't need me to be having them too. And I removed myself from that group because...
I did not want to participate in that evil and whatever followed it. I missed my friends. But you know what I did? I created a new group that was even larger. And we had this special place where we would go eat lunch every day and we would sit there and laugh and play and have fun. And it turned out to be even better. You don't lose everything when you walk away from where the evil is, where your friends are.
You just go find new friends. And I didn't get in any trouble. Okay. I'm going to close this with tips for resisting temptation. Being tempted is not a sin. Giving in to the temptation and doing the sin is the sin. Here are some ways to resist it. Number one, avoid places where you know you will be tempted. If you are an alcoholic trying to quit drinking, stay away from places where alcohol is served. Not just the bars, but restaurants too that serve alcohol. Number two, know what triggers you.
If I am trying to lose weight, I know I have to avoid donut shops and bakeries and probably ice cream stores too. Number three, take up your sword. If you look, there is always a scripture to help you fight whatever battle you are in. Usually there's a bunch of them. Memorize one or ten and use them. Speak them out with authority anytime you are faced with temptation.
Because the wages of sin is death. That's not what you want. It'll be death to some part of your life. Number four, strengthen yourself in prayer. Pray beforehand if you even think you might meet up with temptation. Pray for the Lord to help you through it. If you cannot avoid it, pray for Him to help you. God always makes a way of escape. Pray to see it and take it.
And finally, number five, know yourself. Study the other times you have fallen to temptation. How did it happen? Why did it happen? How can you avoid it happening again? I hope this has been a blessing to y'all. I'm not sure what next week's episode is going to be, but I hope this has been a blessing to you in that by the time we finish the sin series, we'll all have learned some new stuff. We'll see what God has for us. Thanks for listening.
Jesus bless you. Y'all have a great week. Thank you so much for tuning in today to Just Praise Him Radio, sponsored by the friends and supporters of JPH. You can contact me by mail at my new address, Glenda Lomax, JPH Inc., P.O. Box 854, Altus, Oklahoma. 73522 or by email at jphtoday at gmail.com Don't forget to visit the website for prophetic updates at wingsofprophecy.blogspot.com. JPH is not affiliated with any non-profit organization, church, or denomination.
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