male announcer: In Touch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley. Next on “In Touch,” “Dealing With Temptation Wisely.” Dr. Stanley: Temptation is a part of life. Everywhere you turn, people are being tempted to this and tempted to do that and tempted to do the other, and usually defending their actions.
All the way back in the garden, Adam and Eve yielded to temptation. And what did they do? They blamed each other. And all the way to the presence of the New Testament, Jesus finds Himself being tempted by the devil, but each time victorious. The apostle Paul gave us a statement as he wrote to the Corinthian church that is probably the most powerful verse of Scripture in all the Scriptures, in all the New Testament and all the Old Testament, when it comes to being tempted.
So, I ask you this question: What is the most powerful temptation you face in your life today? That is, what’s the thing that really gets to you, the thing that really gets your attention, the thing that grabs you, the thing that makes you find yourself living in disobedience to Almighty God? Have you ever thought about what your particular weaknesses are? You say, “Well, I don’t have any.
” Then you–and here’s one you have: You’re totally deceived because there’s no such thing as no one not having any weaknesses at all. We may have to learn to deal with them and may have learned to deal with them, but are they there? Are you temptable? Yes, the person who thinks they are not is gone for sure.
You will be. So, what does the Word of God say about temptation? We’ve been talking about wisdom, living either foolishly or wisely, and the trials of life. Now, what about wisdom for the temptations of our life? I want you to turn, if you will, to 1 Corinthians chapter 10, verse 13. This verse says it all in behalf of a child of God.
It’s a verse you need to teach your children, teach your grandchildren. It’s a verse all of us need to have as a part of our defense against Satan because no one is beyond temptation. Listen to what he wrote to the Corinthian church, and he wrote it–and let me remind you of this. Somebody says, “Well, all these Scriptures are what was written to somebody else.
