Ron Dunn Podcast - Ministry Of Temptation

Episode Date: November 10, 2021

Ron Dunn speaks on Temptation

There is something that all of us in this building this morning have in common. No matter who you are, or what you are, or what your position in life is, how educated you are or how uneducated you are, how spiritual you are or how carnal you are, there is one experience that all of us have had in common this week. And that is the experience of temptation. The Bible makes it very clear in a number of passages, that temptation is the opponent a lot of all of us. And failure to understand the meaning and the ministry of temptation can lead to a great deal of frustration and failure in the Christian life. I think it was about a year ago that we dealt with this passage in this chapter, but I have

felt all week the necessity for us taking two verses in this 10th chapter this morning and dealing with them again. Because as you and I come to know Jesus in a greater way, and as the experience of the Apostle Paul in Philippians 3 becomes ours when he said that I may know him, that I may come to know him as I've never known him before, there is going to be at the same time greater knowledge of temptation. And by that I mean experiential knowledge of temptation. You're going to be facing more temptation. And if you do not understand that there is a ministry of temptation,

then as a Christian you're going to be subject to frustration and failure. So I want you to listen as I read verses 13 and 14 of 1 Corinthians chapter 10. Verses 13 and 14. There hath no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man. But God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted above that you are able, but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry. There hath no temptation taken you. And the word taken means to seize and hang on. Doesn't that graphically describe some of the temptations you and I have to endure? It not only seizes us suddenly, but it just seems to hang on doggedly, stubbornly. And some of us

struggle with the same temptations day after day, month after month, year after year. And we wonder why it is that these things come upon us, and what can be the reason for all of this, and why it is that these things come upon us and what can be the reason for all of this and why it is that God allows some of these experiences to come to us and if it is God allowing us to do it or is it because we are still sinful and is it because we are still not right with God? And many times I have talked with Christians who when they face severe

temptation, their first reaction was, well, I must be wrong with God. Maybe he isn't really Lord in my life. Maybe I'm not his face. Now, you need to understand two or three things about temptation if you're going to enter into the ministry of temptation, and that's the title of the message this morning. I think it's remarkable how that everything that God brings into our lives, all allows to come into our lives, has a ministry to perform. Last Sunday morning, we talked about the ministry of the thorns. A few months ago, I preached on the ministry of failure, and I praised the Lord this morning that he is in such absolute control of all things, circumstances, and situations, that everything

that happens to me and everything that comes to me performs a ministry, even if it's tragedy. This past Saturday, yesterday as a matter of fact, we had some testimonies at this couple's retreat. And I was overwhelmed by two or three of the testimonies as young married couples stood and testified of tragedy in their life, of one child that had been run over by a car and killed instantly, and another one who had died of leukemia. And as these couples stood and gave testimony how God used that experience to bring them to Jesus and to bring their home together and to bring them to a full and abundant life, I sat there and I thought, isn't it amazing how God can even take the worst things that befall us and use them as

a ministry for his glory and for our ultimate good. And you need to understand this, Christian, that everything that happens to you does not happen because of some impersonal, unknowable faith, but it happens because there is a loving Father in heaven who is seeking to work out and carve out his purpose in your life. And there is a ministry to temptation. We're going to say three things about temptation as revealed in these two verses this morning. First of all, God permits the experience of temptation. God permits us to be tempted. Notice what the apostle says, there has no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man, but God is faithful,

who will not suffer or who will not allow you to be tempted above that you are able. Now that little expression, God will not allow you to be tempted, tells me two things. First of all, it tells me that temptation itself is not a sin. If it were a sin, God would not allow it to come to me. God allows me to be tempted. Temptation itself is not a sin. And I find increasingly that Christians don't understand this. The devil comes and tempts us, and at the same time, he accuses us because we're tempted.

He says, now you see, if you were really right with God, if you were really safe, you wouldn't have those thoughts. That would never occur to you. That desire would never well up within you if you were really right with God. But you need to understand that the temptation itself is no sin. The book of Hebrews says that Jesus Christ was tempted in all points, not a few, but in all points such as we, yet without sin, Jesus was led of the Spirit, driven by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. Jesus was sinless, and yet he was tempted. And when the devil tempts you, don't let him bluff you into thinking that that temptation itself is a sin. It is no sin. But this also reveals another truth to me, that God allows the temptation. That God allows the temptation. He permits the experience of

temptation in my life. Now, God himself tempts no man. God himself tempts no man. It says he allows the temptation. He himself does not tempt us. Listen to James chapter 1, verse 13. Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God. For God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man. But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed. Now, you say, well, what about those expressions in the Old Testament where it says God tempted Abraham and God tempted Israel. The word temptation

is used in two different ways in the word of God. It is used with the meaning to entice to evil, enticing someone to sin. God never tempts anyone in that manner. God never tries to get you to sin. He never entices you to evil. And so James says, when a man is drawn away to sin, when he has this impulse to sin, to do that thing which is unholy, don't ever let him accuse God of bringing that temptation. But temptation is used another way in the Bible, to put to the test, to try something to see if it is real or not. Now, God does tempt us in this way. He puts us to the test. 1 Peter chapter 1 speaks of the trial or the testing of our faith. In other words, God leads us into experiences to test us, to try us, to see if our faith that we profess to have is really genuine.

Abraham had made his profession of faith. He had said, Lord, I'm yours. Everything that I possess, everything that I love, I put you above all of that. And so God tried his faith and put him to the test. And God does test us and try our faith, but God never entices us to sin. The enticement to evil never comes from God, but God permits us to be tempted. Well, why does God permit us to be tempted? What is the ministry of temptation? I think there are two basic reasons God allows you to be tempted. And every person here this week has been tempted. Every person has been tempted. And some of you have yielded to the temptation and that sin.

Some of you have been confused by the temptation. And it's caused you to be filled with doubt and uncertainty about your relationship to God. Well, why does God allow this temptation to grab hold of me and just hang on doggedly? There are two reasons. First of all, God allows us to be tempted to expose us to our own weaknesses. Listen to Deuteronomy chapter 8, and God is giving here an explanation why he led the people into that wilderness for 40 years. In the second verse, Moses says, And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these 40 years in the wilderness. Now why did he lead them into the wilderness?

To humble thee and to prove thee. That word prove means to examine, to expose. To know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments or not. You know what the children of Israel had said on one occasion? Whatever the Lord tells us to do, we'll do it. And they were lifted up with pride and self-confidence. And God allowed them to be tempted.

He permitted the experience of temptation to expose to themselves the sinfulness and the wickedness and the rebellion that was in their hearts. You know, one of the easiest things for a Christian to fall into is spiritual pride and spiritual presumption. And you and I get to the place we think, I've arrived. I've arrived. You other poor creatures, you'll just have to look with all upon me because I have arrived. I came, I saw, I conquered all things. And God says, now you don't realize the wickedness that's in your own heart. You know, it's very difficult for us to see the weakness and the sinfulness that's in our own heart. And so God allows the devil to tempt us to evil so that I might recognize the sinfulness that's in my own heart. And every time I am tempted, whether I yield to that or not,

the very fact that I can be tempted, the very fact, the desire to yield to that temptation convinces me I still have a ways to go. And Paul says in this 10th chapter, you take heed lest you yourself fall. And in Galatians chapter 6, he says, brethren, if a brother be overtaken in a fault, you restore him and you wash out because you can do the same thing. And once in a while, you and I get the idea that certain things could never happen to us. And this failure that this fellow went through, well, that never happened to me. And we have the idea that we're better than they are. And we begin to look with a critical eye and a condemning eye upon them. And so God allows us to be tempted to expose to me my own wickedness and my own sinfulness.

But there's another reason, and I think this is the best reason and the most comforting reason. God allows us to be tempted not only to expose us to ourselves, but to enlarge our capacity for God. He allows us to meet conflict and difficulty and temptation in order to enlarge our capacity. You know, God meets a person on the level of his capacity, and God will give you as much blessing, and God will pour as much of his capacity. And God will give you as much blessing and God will pour as much of his fullness into you as you're able to contain. Now listen to Exodus chapter 23 verses 29 and 30. Now God is telling them how he is going to bring them to victory into the land of Canaan. And he says, I will not drive them, that's the enemy, out from thee in one year. He said it's going to take longer than a year. Rome was not built in a day and Canaan is not going to be

possessed in a year. It's going to take longer. Now why? Lest the land become desolate and the beasts of the field multiply against thee. By little and little I will drive them out from before thee until thou be increased and inherit the land. God says, I'm not going to drive all of the enemies out at once. And have you ever wondered why it was that when the people of Israel crossed over Jordan, that God did not immediately just drive out every enemy, but they took it one city at a time, one city at a time. Well, God says, you're a small nation. Not only are you small in number, you're small in spirit. And you don't really know me well enough yet to trust me in every situation. And if I were to just completely vacate the land of all enemies, you wouldn't be strong enough

and big enough to hold the ground that I give you. And while you're waiting to grow up spiritually and statistically, the beast would multiply and they would multiply faster than you multiply and the land would become desolate because there's not enough of you to occupy the land. So he says, I am going to give you victory by victory as you're able to take it, as you're able to contain it. Now this is true to the experience of most of us. Man, when we got right with God and we came to that place where we said, I'm willing to acknowledge Jesus as Lord in my life, it seemed as though every enemy in the land was completely

overpowered. We thought we were big enough to possess the land. We thought we were strong enough that we would never fail, that we would never fall. But you know what happened? The land became desolate. We found out we really weren't strong enough to take all the blessings that God was giving to us. We really weren't mature enough to trust him in all of these things that God was going to do for us. And so pretty soon we began to lose ground. Have any of you lost ground spiritually? Have you ever had that experience?

Sure you have. You've lost ground because you were not big enough, strong enough, mature enough to hold the ground that God gave you in victory. And so this is the way God works. And some of us are perplexed because we think, well, I thought I had victory. But today I met an enemy I didn't even know I had. Today I met an area of my life that I didn't even know existed. And sometimes we think, well, maybe I really didn't mean it when I asked the Lord to come into my life. No.

God brings you victory one city at a time. Just one city at a time, just one city at a time. Little by little, he's enlarging your capacity for fullness. And as God allows one temptation to come to you and you overcome that temptation, that enlarges you just a little bit. That increases you just a little bit. God allows another temptation to come to you. You conquer another city and that gives you time to increase and enlarge just a little bit. God allows another temptation to come to you. You conquer another

city, and that gives you time to increase and enlarge just a little bit. And what God is doing in our lives is enlarging our capacity so he can pour more of his fullness and more of his strength and more of his blessings in us. That's the ministry of temptation. And so when you're faced with temptation, you need to thank God for it. You need to realize that God is doing two things in this temptation. He's exposing you to the weakness and the sinfulness of your own heart so you won't be filled with pride and presumption. And also, he is making you larger so you can receive more of his fullness and more of his love and more of his blessing. And so God permits the experience of temptation. Second, God prevents extreme temptations. Now, it's a very comforting statement

that the apostle makes, but God is faithful. Who will not allow you to be tempted above that ye are able. There hath no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man. You don't ever have an uncommon temptation. Now, I want you to understand this morning, Christian, that if you ever yield a temptation, it's your fault. God never allows you to be tempted beyond your ability to bear it. God will not allow you to be tempted beyond your capacity, beyond your strength, because God is gradually enlarging you and he is not going to allow the devil to tempt you beyond your capacity to take that temptation and stand against it. This is why in the third chapter of Genesis when

the devil came to Adam and Eve to tempt them, he came in the form of a snake, in the form of a serpent. I am convinced that if God had allowed him to come in all of his power and in all of his majesty, Adam and Eve would have had no choice but to fall beneath the temple. But you see, God had already given to man dominion and rule and control over the reptiles and the serpents. And so God said, Satan, you can tempt my creation, but you're going to have to reduce your potential and you're going to have to become, come in the form of a serpent because man has dominion over you and I am not going to allow the Adam and Eve to be tempted above that which they are able. Now man had dominion

over that serpent, so he did not have to yield. And I want you to know this morning that because of the blood shed on Calvary, you as a child of God have dominion over the devil whether you know it or not, and you don't have to yield. There has no temptation taken you but such as is common to man. It's just human. It's never beyond your strength. I had a man come to me, oh it's been a year or so ago, and he said, Pastor, I have a problem. He said, maybe you can help me with it. He said, I have this problem of bad language. He said, I just curse all the time.

And he said, I can't help it. I cannot control my tongue. I cannot help it. I cannot control my tongue. I cannot help it. I curse all the time. I said to him, I've never heard you curse. I've been around you a great deal. I have never one time heard you say one foul word. And he said, oh, no, I wouldn't around you.

I said, well, then don't tell me you can't help yourself. If you can control your language around me, you can control it around anybody. You see, he thought he was helpless. He thought he just couldn't help using that kind of language. Now listen, if you can control that language around one person, you can control it around anybody. Don't say that that's beyond your strength. It isn't. I said, well, why don't you use that around me? He said, well, you're a preacher.

You know, as though that puts me in another category, you know, subhuman or subterranean or something. Somebody said one of the greatest days of my life when I discovered my pastor was human. Well, that's a very discouraging discovery for a great many people. But I said, well, why don't you use that language around me? He said, well, you're a preacher. I said, what do you mean?

He said, I have too much respect for you. I said, your problem is you have more respect for a human being than you have for Jesus Christ who dwells within you. There has no temptation taken you but such as is common to man and God is faithful. Do you believe that? God is faithful. He will not allow you to be tempted above that you are able, but will with the temptation make a way of escape that you may be able to bear it. You may be able to endure it. And you can. Now when temptation comes to you, you just thank the Lord. Say, thank you, Lord. I'm grateful that this temptation is just common to man, and I'm grateful that I'm able to bear it. And then you thank him for the next thing. God provides an escape from temptation. That's the third point. God provides an escape from temptation.

There hath no temptation taken you, but such as is common. The Greek word means moderate, moderate to man. But God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted above that you're able, but now notice this, but will with the temptation, right along with the temptation, also he will make, he will provide a way to escape. Every temptation that comes to you has with it a corresponding way of escape. There is a way out of every temptation. That word escape means a pass through a mountain canyon. And it is a picture of an army that has been stampeded into a box canyon, and there they are, pinned in. There's no way out.

The only way out is guarded by the enemy. They're doomed. They're finished. They're going to be wiped out. There's no way out of that mountain box canyon. But as they look, they discover a little wedge. They discover an opening. They discover an egress.

They discover a door in the mountain. There is a way to escape. And as they look for it, they discover they can slip out of that box canyon and escape the onslaught. That's the word that he uses there. You may sometimes feel like you're hemmed in with temptation and you're just in a valley surrounded by mountains that are too high to climb over. This is the way temptation comes to us. In James chapter 1, it says when you fall into temptation, it's just like falling into an open grave and falling into a deep hole and there's no way out. He says, listen, I'll make a way out. I'm faithful. You trust me. I'll make a way of

escape. You just look for it. There'll be a door you can get out of. Now, I want you to point out, I want to point out something to you that doesn't come out in your English versions of the Bible. Literally what the apostle says, but will with the temptation also make the way of escape. There is a definite article, T-H-E, in front of the word way. And the rule of Greek grammar says when the definite article is used,

it is referring to a specific and a definite thing. There is always not just a way to escape, there is always the way to escape. You know what that way is? Jesus says, I am the way. Jesus is always the way to escape. The way to escape. A man came to me yesterday in Colorado,

poured out the problem he had. Oh, it was a heartbreaking problem. He said, what can I do about it? I said, friend, the first thing is to recognize it's not your problem. It's God's problem. And the first step in victory is to see this isn't my problem. It's his problem. Jesus dwells within me.

And every demand that is made upon my life is really a demand made upon Jesus who dwells within me. I said, sir, the first step is for you to see that it is not your problem. You cannot handle it, so don't try. It is God's problem, and you commit it to him. There is the way to escape. You say, how can I escape temptation? When temptation comes to you, you remember God is faithful, and this temptation, God has honed down this

temptation. God has pressed down this temptation. God has limited this temptation. God has policed this temptation and has made certain that this temptation, this particular temptation that is coming to you is not beyond your capacity to take it. He tailor-makes temptation for you, or he lets the devil tailor-make it. The devil says, I want to tempt Job. God says, all right, here's what you can do. I'll give you this size, and you make it to fit him. And the devil has to obey the Lord. I don't know about you, but that gives me a great deal of comfort. And the Father says, all right, you can tempt that fellow, and here are his measurements, and you make it to fit him.

You can't make it any larger than he is. It's got to fit him perfectly. God is faithful. And so when temptation comes, I recognize, thank you, Lord, this temptation is tailor-made for me. It's not bigger than I am. It's not more than I can bear. And I thank you that there is a

way to escape. And Jesus, you're the way. And this is really your temptation because you're my life and you dwell in me. And this is my temptation. I'm just going to trust you and let you handle it and trust me. And as you've come to more and more in your Christian life to learn to depend upon the indwelling Christ and rely upon him and recognize that it's not your problem, it is not your difficulty, it is not your difficulty, it is not even your temptation, but it is Jesus who dwells within you and that's why he dwells within you to take all of this for you, to do your living for you. He not only did my dying for me, he does my living for me and that's the way to escape.

That's the way to escape. And so he says, wherefore, my beloved brethren, flee from idolatry. When you see the exit, run, don't walk to the nearest exit. When you see the way God has given you to get out of that temptation, you flee, you run,

and from the face of temptation and idolatry. He said, but preacher, what if I do yield? What if I do fail? Well, no cause for permanent defeat. 1 John 1.9 says, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. I say God has just taken care of everything.

There's just no way that the Christian who knows his book can miss out and lose. If the temptation comes to me, as it will, it's not more than I can take, and Jesus will provide a space. If I do fail and I do yield to that temptation, I can go to the Father, confess that sin, I am forgiven, I still stand in His presence. And God has just taken care of everything. God has taken care of the failure as well as the success of the victory. Maybe you failed this week.

Maybe you've met that temptation and have yielded to it. It's easy to get rid of that sin in your life just by confessing it, saying, Lord, I confess this thing. And you just name that thing. The Bible says the very moment you confess it to God, He forgives you of that sin, and He goes a step farther. He cleanses you from all unrighteousness. The Ron Dunn Podcast is available only for personal edification,

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