Sermon Central
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Overcoming Temptation 2
Contributed by Donny Granberry on Aug 13, 2008 (message contributor)
Summary: The second part of a message on overcoming temptation. This message deals with how the Holy Spirit helps us to overcome temptation.
Overcoming Temptation 2
“How the Holy Spirit Helps us Overcome”
by Pastor Donny Granberry
Last Sunday night we studied:
• How to cope with temptation
• That Victory over temptation is possible
• The sources of temptation
o Our own carnal nature
o The world
o Evil Spirits
• The Battlefield of temptation
o The Mental Battle
o The Spiritual Battle
We ran out of time before we covered: “Never say “I can’t Resist”
4 Things a Christian can never say when he is tempted:
1. “I am being tempted by God”
“For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He tempt anyone.”
2. I am the only one who has ever been tempted like this.
“… no temptation has seized you except what is common to man.”
3. This temptation is too strong for me to resist.
“The one who is in you is greater than the one that is in the world.”
4. There is no way out of this temptation but to yield to it.
“But when you are tempted, God will provide a way out so that you can stand up underneath it.
Tonight we will look at “How the Holy Spirit helps us triumph over Temptation.”
No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.
Tonight I want to give you some practical steps you can take to win the battle over temptation.
1. Be Filled With The Spirit
If we as Christian’s desire help to be an over-comer, we need to be filled with the Holy Spirit.
I am not just speaking of the Spirit of Christ that comes in at conversion; I am speaking of the Baptism of the Holy Ghost.
The Holy Spirit will empower you to have victory over the world, the flesh, and the devil.
If we desire to have a spirit filled life, we need the experience of being filled with the Holy Spirit.
The baptism of the Holy Spirit will literally change your life.
8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: "Rulers and elders of the people! 9 If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a cripple and are asked how he was healed, 10 then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. 11 He is "`the stone you builders rejected, which has become the capstone.’ 12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved." 13 When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. 14 But since they could see the man who had been healed standing there with them, there was nothing they could say.
The Holy Spirit will be a helpmate to us to enable us to overcome temptation and sin.
o Live by the spirit, and you will not fulfill the desires of the sinful nature. (Gal. 5:16)
o Since we live by the spirit, let us keep in step with the spirit.
(Gal. 5:25)
To overcome temptation, we need to be filled with the Holy Spirit, we also need to …
2. Avoid Temptation
A very simple way to overcome temptation is to avoid those things that tempt us to sin.
Matthew 6:13 (The Lord’s Prayer)
Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.
We can ask God to deliver us from temptation, but then we must seek to avoid the same.
Make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lust.
MeMe & PaPaw – The Bloody Bucket. Roy I can’t go there.
That is like giving a recovering drug addict a job in a Meth Lab.
We don’t just need to avoid places of temptation; we need to flee from them.
(Joseph fled from Potiphar’s wife)
To overcome temptation, we need to be filled with the Holy Spirit, we also need to avoid temptation, and we need to …
3. Clothe Yourself in Christ
Clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful man.
How can you clothe yourself in Christ?
Putting on the FULL “armor of God.”
