Daniel Purposed in His Heart

Aren't you glad your blood is under that your sins are under the blood of Jesus.

Amen.

If you put in your Bibles tonight, turn to Matthew chapter four.

I'm going to go to Daniel, but y'all go to Matthew chapter four and I'm going to read a verse, a couple of verses in Daniel.

I did get word today.

Today was Antioch Baptist Church in Rome's third anniversary.

This is a church that we've been.

We are heavily, heavily involved in, heavily invested in church plant.

Three year anniversary.

Isn't it amazing?

Had 110 today, a new record for them.

And so I think I may try to remember the text, but I think three got saved or something like that.

And so appreciate brother Heath Van Zant doing a great job there and his wife and keep them in your prayers.

That's still just a miracle of God how they were able to purchase a 10,000 square foot building, a former church building, and remodel it.

And we had a part in that as well.

And so God's been so good.

Speaking of having a part, it's good to have Brother Graff with us tonight.

And they just kind of snuck in.

I don't know if y'all thought it was the Bible conference.

That's next week.

Brother Stewart's preaching this week.

It's just me.

It's just me.

So.

But Brother Graff pastors the Victory Baptist Church and Sanger.

And I just real briefly, I do want you to end in prayer tonight, Brother Graff.

But we had a part in this church years ago.

So Brother Graff took the pastorate.

What was the name of the church that was started that?

Gospel Light Baptist Church.

We helped start that church.

Some of you may remember back.

It's been a long time ago now.

We let them have our portable Baptistry.

And in fact, I think Brother Graff still has one of our blue petition rolling petitions.

Can I negotiate on that or.

I'm just kidding.

I'm messing with you now.

So yeah, there's a price.

And so we had a part in starting the Gospel Light Baptist Church.

Well, at the same time there was another independent Baptist church in town.

Was it called Tabernacle?

Tabernacle Baptist Church.

And so we helped start the.

Everybody stay.

Everybody got.

You got to stay with the timeline here.

We helped start Gospel Light Baptist Church.

And then a few years later, I don't remember how many years, two or three years later, Tabernacle Baptist Church was having, was, was down to nearly nothing.

And somehow we had a connection there.

And so they called Us asked us if we could help.

And so we went up.

Some of y'all remember, maybe that Brother Clark went up.

We, we.

We spent some money.

The first remodel of that building was done by our church, and we did some remodeling to get the building back at least presentable.

Brother Clark did a fantastic job.

He always does.

And then Harry shepherd went up there and took the church and was there just a few months.

But the whole intent was these two churches need to merge.

And through Brother shepherd and through some other things, God really worked.

And the two churches merged and Brother Graff became the pastor of the merging church.

The church that merged together, Victory Baptist Church, and has done fantastic since then.

Just God's really blessed there.

And it's been a blessing to hear the good testimony and just the good report on how God's blessed that church there.

So excited to have him here tonight.

So I thought, you think about church planting tonight.

We kind of sometimes forget about the investments that our church has made in various church plants, even here locally, and how that God has blessed those church plants and that the money.

And really it is.

I'm sorry, it is about money.

About the money we invested and the prayer, of course we invested that.

That has come back fruit for our labor.

Amen.

And so it's good to see, you know, success tonight.

You know, success story.

So, anyway, I guess I ought to preach.

We've been in the book of Daniel on Sunday night, and I don't want to deviate necessarily tonight, but I did want to.

As I got to reading and studying this week, I wanted to back up.

I know we have some new.

New members and new converts and those who may be watching online.

And so in Daniel, when Daniel we were in Daniel, chapter one, verses eight and nine is where we ended.

And so I want to read these two verses again to you.

Verse 8 says, But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's meat, nor with the wine which he drank.

Therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.

Now God had brought Daniel into favor and tender love with the prince of the eunuchs.

He purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself, that he might not defile himself.

There at the end, it says, and so I was thinking again about how we as Christians are faced with temptation.

Daniel and his friends were faced with temptation.

We only see four Hebrew children, Hebrew young men who stood and stood right in face of that temptation.

It was a test.

And apparently only four passed the test.

And there would have been hundreds of them, hundreds of young men who were carried out of Babylon.

And yet four only passed the test.

So how do you pass the test?

I don't think we really addressed this when we got to this point.

And I know some of this will be elementary to some of you, but it is important that we be reminded every once in a while that God has given us an opportunity and the strength and the grace to pass the test, to overcome the temptations that we face in our everyday life.

So I want to cover that tonight, just for a brief moment.

And we'll be in Matthew, chapter four and verse one.

Let's read that before we pray.

Verse one.

Then was Jesus led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted the devil.

And when he had fasted 40 days and 40 nights, he was afterward an hungered.

And when the tempter came to him, he said, if thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.

But he answered and said, it is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

I just want to point out that he's using the word of God against the temptation against the tempter.

Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, verse 6.

And saith unto him, if thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down.

For it is written, he shall give his angels charge concerning thee, and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against the stone.

And Jesus said unto him, it is not written.

Is it not written again?

Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God Again.

The devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and showeth him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them.

And saith unto him, all these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.

And then saith Jesus unto him, get thee hence, Satan.

In other words, get behind me.

For it is written, thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.

Then the devil leaveth him.

And behold, angels came and ministered unto him.

Let's pray.

Heavenly Father.

Lord, as we look for a short time at this subject, may we be reminded, Lord, that you have allowed things into our life, that you put things in our life, that we might experience the grace of God in our life.

Lord, help us, encourage us, strengthen us as we face tests and temptations.

We thank you and love you in Jesus name.

Amen.

All of us every day.

All of us every day.

Good stuff.

Face temptations.

Face tests our adversary.

The devil walketh about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.

Devil hates you.

If you're born again tonight, you're a child of God.

He hates you.

He wants to destroy you.

He wants to see you devoured.

I'm going to turn over to first John, chapter two.

Familiar passage if you've been a Christian very long.

And here we see the tools that Satan uses when it comes to temptation.

First John, chapter 2 and verse 16.

Now who is our enemy?

We know that the enemy is Satan.

We know the enemy is ourself Satan.

Sometimes we meet the enemy and it's us.

And it's us.

And then of course, the world also the world system is our enemy.

But first John 2:16 says, for all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye and the pride of life is not of our Father, but of the world.

And the world passeth away and the lust thereof.

But he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.

So the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye and the pride of life.

And I've always used a simple outline.

And the simple outline I got was actually from Dr.

Curtis Hudson.

Fun, fortune and fame.

That's what the devil offers.

Fun, fortune and fame.

Lust of the eye, lust of the flesh and the pride of life.

And these are used in combination with our own fleshly desires we speak of in James when we're cared about, carried away by our own lusts, also in conjunction with the world, as the world works on us.

And another outline we used around here a long time is against the world we use right faith overcometh the world.

Against Satan we use fight, fight the good fight of faith.

And against our own flesh we flee.

So flee, fight and flight, right?

So we flee also youthful lusts.

And so as we, as we battle temptation.

And that's really it.

As we face temptations, we need to be reminded over and over again that those temptations are there for a reason and that God has allowed those things in our life.

The verse I wanted to quote a while ago, now it's here in my notes.

Let me read it.

James 1:14 says, but every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed.

Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin, and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.

Again, temptation commences, continues, and Then consumes.

Unless we plan and deal with it.

We need to deal with it.

Need to confront it again.

God has a purpose in temptation.

God has a purpose in temptation.

Notice it says he was led there.

In Matthew, it says, and Jesus was led of the Spirit in the wilderness.

I know this is something we take for granted.

And there's new people here tonight.

But again, the Spirit led Jesus.

He wasn't out of the will of God.

I always think of the disciples after Jesus and the disciples had fed the 5,000 and he told the disciples to get in the boat.

In fact, the Bible says he constrained them to get in the boat.

Wasn't like he just said, hey, won't y'all get in the boat?

No, no, get in the boat.

And they got in the boat, go to the other side of the lake.

And when they got in the middle of the lake, a storm came.

Remember the story, But I want to remind you that it's Jesus who told them to get in the boat.

Now the storm came, but they were in God's will.

They were right where Jesus.

Where God had put them.

And so there's a purpose in temptation.

God has a purpose in temptation.

In this particular story, in this particular account, the purpose is to show Jesus that he was indeed God again.

To show and prove his deity.

Hebrews 4:15 says, for we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with our infirmities, but was in all points tempted or tested, like as we are, yet without sin.

I remind you tonight that though Jesus is tempted here in this passage, he could not sin.

It's not that he did not sin.

He could not sin.

Why?

Because he was God in the flesh.

And God can't sin.

And we also know again that he was sinless because he had no earthly daddy.

He had no sinful nature.

He had a sinless nature.

And so he never sinned in disposition, never sinned in desire, never sinned in deed.

He was the God man.

Then understand that God's purpose in temptation is meant to strengthen us.

God's purpose in temptation is to strengthen us.

Romans, chapter seven.

Remember now, Romans, chapter six.

Paul says, we do not have to yield ourselves as instruments of unrighteousness.

We don't have to.

I'm thankful that when I got saved, I was saved from the penalty of sin, but also saved from the power of sin.

And one day the presence of sin.

But I've been saved from the power of sin.

I don't have to give into temptation.

Animals and humans are different.

Humans are not animals.

And I'VE said this from the pulpit many, many times.

What's the difference?

Well, the difference is conscience, moral awareness, but also that light that God has given every man that cometh into the world.

The law of God that's been stamped on every heart of every person who's ever been born.

But that right of conscience, the ability to make a decision when tempted is human only.

Animals only have instinct.

They're tempted, they do it.

There's no ability brain wise, they can't make a decision, it's just they're gonna do it.

Where we as human beings, we can make a decision that separates us from animals.

You decide.

I decide whether I give in to the temptation or whether I have a split second many times to make that decision.

But I have that ability because of the way God made me to make that decision.

Now what's great about being a Christian is not only do I have moral awareness and I have a conscience that was given to me at birth, but now I have the Holy Spirit.

So I'm not only able to make a decision based upon my moral awareness, by the way that's been warped because of sin until you get saved, but now I have the Holy Spirit who can enable me to overcome the temptation.

In other words, God didn't just say, hey, you know, be holy for I am holy.

Now there you go.

No, he gives you the tools you need to overcome that temptation to be able to live a holy life.

And that's the Holy Spirit that abides in you and lives in you there to comfort and strengthen you and enable you to conquer, to have victory over temptation, to go the higher call, to conquer, to step on the promises of God, Step out on the promises of God like Caleb did and say, Joshua, I want that mountain.

It's amazing thought that we think about the promise of God that he said.

He promised to help us and give us grace in our time of need every time, every time.

So the temptation which we face, which Paul faced, I do think it's good to see that Romans 6 says we're not have to yield ourselves as instruments of unrighteousness.

Of course we know Romans 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 all lead up to a person who gets saved.

And then in verse chapter six it's like, okay, now get baptized and you don't have to yield yourself to temptation.

But chapter seven, Paul says, oh, the things I want to do, those are things I don't do.

And the things I do, I don't do, I shouldn't do, I do.

And he's O wretched man that I am, Paul said.

And Paul wrote over half the New Testament, and yet he battled temptation.

He also battled this.

He said, there's a war in my members.

There's a war going on on the inside.

The old man and the new man are duking it out.

They are.

They're fisticuffs.

Here we go.

But he said, I thank God, who's able.

He came to the conclusion the only way he's able to overcome and have victory is through Jesus Christ.

He said, I cannot live a holy life.

Somebody said the other day, the Christian life is impossible.

It's only through the grace of God we can live the Christian life.

So this temptation is an opportunity to have victory through Jesus Christ.

I know many of us have experienced that.

You come through a testing, you come through a temptation, and you come through it on the other side and say, man, God's so good.

God is so good.

So not only is there a purpose in temptation, but Satan also has a plan in temptation.

He absolutely wants to destroy you.

Temptation is a solicitation to evil.

Those forces that attack us and seek to work our ruin.

Satan wants to ruin you again, the lust of the flesh.

We think about that.

Our own flesh works against us so many times.

And Satan will wait, just like he did here.

After Jesus had fasted 40 days and 40 nights and was hungered, he came to him and tempted him.

He came to Jesus in his physically weak state to test him, to tempt him.

This is an ongoing habit of the devil.

He wants to get you when you're down, and he just wants to continue to kick you.

He wants to continue to kick you.

I began to think about various people that I've led to the Lord.

Years ago, I led a man to the Lord.

His name was Tinsley, Brother Tinsley.

And this was my first pastor.

This is man.

I was 20 years old.

He was an alcoholic.

And I had opportunity to lead the Lord in his home and his wife, just a sweet lady, and had a son.

And they're in the big metropolis of the city of Nocona, a city of 3,000 people came to church.

He was the very first one we baptized when I became pastor.

And we had a horse trough and I had bought a heater, you know, the little heaters.

Some of, you know, on a ranch or on a farm, you have these little heaters you can put inside the tank itself.

Well, I may have got the tank a little too hot.

And man, when he got down in there, that water was hot and he went down.

I baptized him and When I came up, he was red.

Cooked him a little bit.

I'm not exaggerating.

It was pretty hot steam coming off the Baptistery.

I'll never forget working with him, discipling him.

He would have been in his early 50s, had been a drunkard all his life, was able to maintain a job and actually had a pretty good job over in Gainesville.

He would drive that 30 minutes over to Gainesville, worked for the aircraft company over in Gainesville.

The problem is he had to pass like three liquor stores on his way to Gainesville.

Nocona at that time was dry.

In fact, Monte county was a dry county in those days.

But he had to drive.

He had to drive by one or two liquor stores.

He just never could get.

He never could overcome it.

He'd be on his way home from work and he'd stop and buy a beer or two and drink it on the way home.

Destroyed his life, destroyed his family's life.

He finally, in his early 60s, late 50s, went into a rest home.

I believe the man was saved.

And I believe that just constant conviction from the Holy Spirit continued to work on him and work on him and to the point he couldn't take it anymore.

It's amazing how the devil just keep beating you and beating you and beating you and beating you.

If he thinks he's got you down, he's going to stay on top of you.

He's a bully.

He's a bully.

That's why we kind of laugh sometimes that things come in threes, but seems like a lot of times if you have one problem, here comes another one.

Here comes another one.

Here comes.

It's almost.

It is not almost a biblical principle.

It's kind of like, hey, I didn't.

I didn't get the victory in the first one.

So I've gotten hit again, and the devil knows that I'm not.

And then he just takes until I finally say, lord, I can't do this.

Help me.

Then the devil knows he's lost.

Amen.

Amen.

Boy.

Satan loves to question truth.

I think verses three and six, he questions the truth of the word of God.

If thou be the Son of God, appealing to pride, same way he appealed to Eve when he said, yea, hath God said, questioning the word of God.

I mean.

I mean, he'll get you to question your faith.

I was just talking to somebody today about how a young man that I known whom was called to preach, attended Norris when I first got to Norris, back years ago, as a teacher, not as a student.

And to watch this young man who seemingly had his act together and his wife as well, and they're in the college doing so good and then one day doesn't show up and then doesn't show up for the next class.

And then I don't hear from him forever.

But one day I met one of his kids.

His kid was messed up.

Daddy had not just turned his back on God, had turned his back on the school and on his call to preach, but he had become an atheist.

And something had come into his life.

And I won't go into it from the pulpit, but something had come to his life.

It just destroyed him.

He let Satan destroy him and he began to question his faith.

Don't allow Satan to do that.

Satan constantly fights.

You think about Samson and Delilah.

She just kept asking for his secret.

What is your secret?

Where does your strength lie?

She didn't let up.

She just kept after him, kept after him, kept after him.

And that's what the devil does to us.

Satan promises, but he can't deliver.

Verse 9.

I mean, he promised, he promised Jesus the world, the kingdoms of the world.

That's a lie.

Couldn't do that.

And boy, does he lie.

That's the.

You know, it still amazes me that we got the cigarettes and stuff off of commercials, but we still got beer commercials now and again.

Like beer is far worse than cigarettes have ever done.

You say preacher, that's not right scientifically, blah blah blah.

I'm saying beer, alcohol has destroyed way more lives.

In fact, there's not even a comparison there than cigarettes have.

And yet they still show them.

You know, somebody, it's on a beach and they're playing volleyball and you know, it's nice, good looking people and well, I can just tell you that's a lie.

It's a lie because the devil feeds people.

That's what he does.

He feeds lies.

Satan promises no one will get hurt.

And again, teenagers, I'm telling you, I know we use this phrase a lot, but Satan loves that phrase.

If it feels good, do it, you know, But I can tell you that's a lie.

Tell that kid whose mom and dad are addicts.

It's unbelievable.

It's a lie.

Just because it feels good doesn't make it right to do.

Think about the man or woman trapped in pornography.

Oh, Satan loves to feed everybody lies when it comes to sin.

I want to remind you that God didn't give us rules so we would have no fun God set down some precepts.

He set down laws to protect us, to protect us from not only others, but from ourselves.

He has our best interests in mind.

And whether it's something we should do or something we shouldn't do, he always has our best interest in mind.

And the greatest illustration of that is parents.

We as parents lay down some boundaries for our kids.

Why?

So they won't have any fun?

No, we lay down boundaries so we can keep them safe.

That's what God does for us.

So God's purpose in temptation is to prove us and to strengthen us.

Satan's plan in temptation is to ruin us.

And he constantly fights, he constantly lies to us.

Again, temptation is a solicitation to do evil.

Again, there are forces that attack us and seek to work our ruin.

It's like encouraging us to go to a place we shouldn't go to, or to drink something we shouldn't drink, or to steal or to covet or to anger.

And on and on and on.

That temptation.

Testing, on the other hand, is a trial planned or permitted by God.

Those circumstances that test the strength of our conviction and character.

Seek to listen to this.

Improve us, Improve us.

Again, the loss of a job, sickness or financial hardship.

These are things that God can use in our life to help us and help us improve us and strengthen us.

Again, I think that's good to kind of know the difference between the two.

Again, the design of temptation is that Satan seeks to destroy you.

He wants to ruin your testimony.

He wants to ruin your effectiveness as a Christian.

He desires to sift you.

He desires to see us do wrong.

On the other hand, God's testing seek to strengthen us.

Not just strengthen us, but to strengthen our testimony to improve our future effectiveness as a Christian.

Such as overcoming that test when it comes to a job loss or when it comes to financial problems or whatever it may be.

And others are seeing you and seeing you overcome with the Lord.

Overcome those things in your life.

Again, we think about Abraham and others in the Old Testament whom God used and had trials come in their life and testings and temptations come in their life and see them, overcome them, sometimes give in to them.

But to see them continue to go forward, overcoming, overcoming and seeing those victories step by step as they grew in their faith.

I can give you a couple examples real quick.

And we think about testing.

We think about Abraham was tested in Genesis chapter 22 when God told him to offer up Isaac.

Again, the Old Testament uses the word tempt.

But Hebrews tells us.

Hebrews 11 tells us that that word tempt there means test.

That God tested Abraham.

Can I tell you that?

Absolute obedience.

That because of absolute obedience, Abraham passed the test.

And we ought to be obedient to God, otherwise.

Saul was told to wipe out the Amalekites.

Wipe them out?

Not just wipe them out, but wipe every cattle, everything, just to obliterate them.

What did Saul do, the king of Israel?

He listened to his men who were thinking about commuting mutiny.

He didn't destroy it all.

Here comes the wise priest, Samuel, and he says, I hear the bleating of sheep.

I hear cattle.

Saul, you were told to destroy it all.

What have you done?

And because of his lack of obedience, his incomplete obedience, and also a little something, he tried to offer up a sacrifice too.

That might have hurt him as well.

Actually, he did.

Saul failed the test.

Abraham passed the test.

Saul the king failed the test.

We think about Joseph being tempted.

Joseph passed the test, didn't he?

Who failed the test?

David with Bathsheba.

So we see the examples in the Old Testament.

All these things are there for us.

All these things we face every day.

Daniel was in Babylon.

Daniel away from mom and dad.

Daniel there, isolated there.

Daniel being exposed to Babylonian and the Chaldean doctrine.

And he was in this great university, you know, three year, no tuition, all the food you'd ever want.

The best of the best.

And yet Daniel, because of his character, because of a mom and dad who raised him in faith, gave him a godly name, stood the test, stood for right, had victory in temptation, had victory in his test.

As we look at, how do we overcome?

How do we as Christians face these tests?

Well, by using the word of God again.

It has so much to do with our daily walk.

As I said this morning, I'm thankful that the inward man is renewed day by day again.

Deuteronomy 8:3 says, man doth not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God doth man live again.

The key to having victory over Satan is God's word again.

Psalm 119, verse 11.

Thy word have I hid in my heart, that I might what, not sin against God?

You ought to have that memorized.

If you don't, Psalm 119, verse 11.

Think about Ephesians, chapter 6, verse 17.

It says, and taketh the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

Again, I think, and I appreciate when Brother Stone preached on this.

Understand that this is the sword of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit's weapon.

He Used it on you when you got saved.

He used the word of God on you to convict you, to bring you into a state of understanding.

To bring you into a state of understanding concerning your sin and concerning who Christ is.

And then accepting Christ as Savior.

But now Holy Spirit lives inside of you.

You're a Christian.

The word of God now abides in you.

You ought to have it memorized.

You ought to have portions of this memorized.

My dad's not here tonight, so I can talk about him a little more freely.

Because I again tell you that if you were to open his shirt, like, if you were to unbutton his shirt.

He has an S on his chest.

I'm telling you, that's the way I.

I still believe he's the best Christian I've ever met.

I know he attends here every Sunday.

I still feel my feelings for him haven't changed.

Some of the people that have been here a long time, y'all know I've talked a lot about him, and I think most of you would actually agree who have been around him.

He's a blessing.

But I'm thankful for a dad who practiced what he preached at home.

I'm thankful for a dad that early in life encouraged us to memorize Scripture.

In fact, there were certain times where he made us.

We didn't have master clubs when I was growing up.

We didn't have some of the things that we have here at the church that encourages those memorization of Scripture.

We were in a small church in the Kona, 35 people total there.

There wasn't a lot of children's programs.

Okay, there was no children's programs.

But we ought to encourage.

We ought to make our children memorize Scripture.

Early on, I was maybe fourth or fifth grade.

My dad made all three of us kids memorize Romans, chapter six.

What shall we say then?

Shall we continue in sin that grace should abound?

God forbid.

How shall we the dead to sin living longer therein?

Know you not that so many of us were baptized in Jesus Christ, Were baptized as dead.

Therefore we were buried with him by.

I can't quote the whole thing, probably still, but I'm thankful for that.

What shall we say then?

Shall we continue in sin?

That grace should abound?

In other words, are we going to sin just so that grace has to take effect in our life?

God forbid.

Paul says, how shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein?

In other words, he's saying we don't have to.

We don't have to sin.

And again, Romans 6 talks about not yielding ourselves as instruments of unrighteousness.

But I'm thankful for a dad who encouraged memorization of Scripture.

And I want to encourage you.

We've got a lot of young families here.

Now.

Encourage your kids when they do have master clubs and they do have Sunday school and they receive those verses that they're supposed to be memorizing, help them, encourage them.

Do some of that on your own.

You're ultimately responsible for the education of your kids.

Both education socially or, you know, but also spiritually.

Take that opportunity.

And by the way, this doesn't exempt you as an adult, especially if you got saved later in life.

You need to have a few verses memorized because that's what the Lord used against Satan, and that's what you use.

When that temptation comes, you ought to quote scripture to yourself.

Quote scripture, get thee behind me.

Satan is.

Quote scripture.

Meditate upon the word of God.

Get your Bible out and read it, because in it it has life, as we said this morning.

Has life.

It will strengthen you spiritually, strengthen you, help you to overcome.

Take the word of God.

I know.

I'm still amazed.

I'll have people come to my office for counsel.

And oh, preacher, I bet you never had this one before.

And 99% of the time I've seen it.

Because all these temptations are common to man.

The marital problems you're facing.

There are people in this room facing the same problem.

Without a doubt.

That temptation, whatever it may be, that test that you're facing, maybe it is a financial issue.

There are others in this room common to man.

But notice the rest of the verse.

But God is what?

Faithful.

God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted or tested above that you are able, but with the temptation also make a way of escape that ye may be able to bear it.

Somebody has said it this way, that, yeah, you may be in the.

You may be in the heat, but God always has his hand on the thermostat.

He's the one directing the heat or the cool wants it hotter, or at least Missy Spivey does wants it hotter and I want it colder.

God always has his hand on the thermostat.

When tempted, use the word of God.

I know we've heard this before, and it's certainly not nothing new, but understand that.

That the devil.

The devil is not all knowing.

The devil is not all powerful.

The devil sometimes we give too much credit.

Sometimes we don't give him enough, but sometimes too much credit.

I can't overcome the devil.

I don't have the strength to do so.

He's way more powerful than I am or ever be.

But I have one who can.

Use the word of God.

Hide it in your heart that I'm gonna not sin against God again.

We think about various temptations, whatever those may be, that they can be overcome by the word of God.

Satan is a liar.

He's a deceiver.

He wants to get you to question the word of God.

He wants to get you to question your faith.

He certainly wants to put you in a position to damage your testimony, man.

Remember what Joseph did when he was in that position.

He fled.

There's a children's song.

Been a long time since I sang this one.

I thought about this one today.

When that old Satan knocks on thy heart's door how many all know that one and says, may I come in?

I say no, no.

For Jesus loved me so and he took away my sin so he turns around and he runs away I wish he'd go away to stay if that old Satan knocks on thy heart's door Just say no, no, no.

We used to have the kids yell it.

No, no.

The B I B L E.

Yes, that's the book for me.

I stand alone on the word of God.

The B I B L E.

The Bible.

Satan's a liar and he loves to lie.

There's another saying.

The Bible will keep you from sin, or sin will keep you from the Bible.

But maybe be reminded that our strength by way of the Holy Spirit is found in His Word.

And that's why when you come to Heritage Baptist Church, you're going to hear every five or six weeks, or more often than that, read your Bible, pray every day, and you'll grow, grow, grow.

I keep thinking of kids songs.

God's so good, isn't he?

Let's charge hell with a squirt gun this week and just give the devil the what for.

You know, life is tough sometimes.

But I'll remind you, God has permitted whatever has come into your life.

Whatever's come into your life.

He loves you.

He cares for you.

Cast all your care upon him, for he cares for you.

And he's using whatever he's allowed in your life to strengthen you.

If you'll let him.

If you'll let him.

Let's all stand.