Every Temptation to Sin Can Be Overcome

I have quoted this verse before, but I want to repeat it again. It's a verse that has often come to my mind, 2 Peter 1, verses 12 to 15. 2 Peter 1, verses 12 to 15.

Here's Peter writing, verse 1, to all those who have received a faith like ours. And what does he say? He says, my aim is, verse 11, that you might have an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ, abundantly supplied to you. And therefore, because I want you to have an abundant entrance into God's kingdom, I will always be ready to remind you of these things, even though you already know them, and even though you've been established in the truth which is present with you.

Now, why did Peter repeat what he had preached probably many times before? I've thought of that myself, because I've often been prompted to share the same truths that I've often spoken to a church. And the Lord says for two reasons. One is, there are people who are, when they heard it earlier, they were not serious about their Christian life, so they never took it seriously.

But now they are, so they need to hear it again, and they're in the same church. Then there are others who were children, maybe seven, eight years ago, and they've grown up now. They're 16, 17 years old, and they are now eager to hear the truth.

So if we never repeat what we have said before, we are assuming that everybody has heard it, because I preached it six, seven years ago. But some of those people six, seven years ago were not mature enough to receive what you said then. And some of those people who heard you were 10 years old then.

They couldn't understand it. Now they are 17. So if a preacher seeks his own honor and says, if I preach that again, they'll say, oh, this guy already preached it before.

Then he's seeking his own honor. He's seeking his honor with the older believers in the church who don't understand why he's preaching it again, and who are themselves probably bored of listening to it again, which means they themselves are not serious. Now the very fact that God's given us a Bible that we read again and again and again and again and again, we never get tired of reading the same chapters and same verses again and again.

It is the same way in listening to God's word. And so all those who preach God's word, I always encourage them, don't seek your own honor by saying, I won't repeat that, because people who think I want all their message to preach, I say, let them think that. Are you worried about what they think? Are you concerned that people in that church should grow spiritually? Some who need to hear it 10 times before.

Charles Finney was a great servant of God who lived in the mid-1800s, the mighty servant of God baptized in the Holy Spirit in the United States. And after many, many years of experience, he said, I've discovered that most believers understand the truth only after they have heard it 10 times. I've never forgotten that.

I said, Lord, I'm willing to repeat every message 10 times so that everybody gets it. It's like when a teacher teaches in a class, a good teacher will not say, well, out of this class of 30 students, three of them are very clever. They understood it.

So I'm only going to speak to those three. I'd say that's a useless teacher. The good teacher will think of the three people who are absolutely dumb in that class, who are very slow in understanding, and will keep on repeating it and say, it doesn't matter if the other 27 hear it again, let them hear it.

But I want those three to understand it clearly. So that's how it must be for every servant of God. That's why Jesus frequently repeated what he had to say.

It was not just said once. He said it again and again and again. So Peter says the same thing.

I will always be ready, verse 12, to remind you, even though you already know them. And he says, as long as I live in this body, verse 13, I'm going to keep on stirring you up by way of reminder, knowing that very soon I'm going to leave this body, as the Lord has made clear to me. But even if I leave the body, verse 15, after I die and go to be with the Lord, I will still be diligent that after my departure, you will still be able to recall the things I taught you.

Look at the burden Peter had, that what he preached, the same people should hear it, even after he's left this earth and gone to be with the Lord. That was a true shepherd who really had a burden for his sheep and was not interested in his own honor. I'll tell you, there are very, very few preachers like that.

Most preachers I hear are always very careful that they should not repeat it again. I remember one traveling preacher whom I knew, he had a diary where he wrote down where all he had points for his sermons, he had pages and pages of sermons, and against each sermon he had written, preached at so and so place, preached in so and so church, so and so church. So when he goes back again to that church, he doesn't repeat it.

That is all seeking honor. I thank God I never kept a list like that because I say, I want to be in touch with the Lord. And if the Lord asked me to repeat a message 10 times, like he told Charles Smitty, I would repeat it 10 times.

So I can understand what Peter said. So what I want to share with you is something has been the burden of my heart for 50 years. Paul writes to the Corinthians.

Remember the Corinthians were the most carnal of all the churches. And there are always carnal believers in every church. And the carnal ones are those who never enter into a life of victory.

If you have not come into a life of victory over sin, please assume that you're one of the carnal ones and you need to hear this message. Because the Old Testament, as I said, there are two movements in the Old Testament. One is the movement of God's people from Egypt to Canaan.

It's a picture delivered from Satan's rule and going through the baptism of the Red Sea and coming into the life of victory in Canaan. The other is the movement from Babylon to Jerusalem in some of the other prophets, the latter prophets, which is a picture of moving out of some dead church into a living church. So believers need to experience both these, and both these are pictured in the Old Testament.

So here, 1 Corinthians 10, Paul is writing to the Corinthians. Those days there was no Babylon in Jerusalem. There was only one church in each place because Christianity was just beginning.

Now after 2000 years, there are plenty of Babylonian churches from which Christians are to be delivered. So in those days, the important thing was to lead people into a life of victory from Egypt, not to die in the wilderness, like the 600,000 Israelites died, but that they should enter into Canaan. And you know that in the Old Testament, only two out of those 600,000, Joshua and Caleb enter the land of Canaan.

The proportion is so small. And I think the proportion is about the same today, that out of 600,000 born again believers, two will enter the life of real victory over all sin. So we got to be serious.

Now Paul is concerned that these carnal Corinthians who are like that 600,000 should not wander around in the wilderness, but enter the promised land. So he says in 1 Corinthians 10, brethren, I don't want you to be unaware that our fathers, that was those Israelites were led by the cloud, passed through the sea. Now these are miraculous experiences.

The Red Sea splitting open is a miracle. The cloud leading them day by day by day for 40 years is a miracle. They experienced those miracles, yet it says God, verse five, was not pleased with them.

Do you know that a lot of people for whom God does miracles, He's not pleased with them? Do you know that a lot of people whose prayers God answers, He's not pleased with them? Nobody in the Old Testament experienced such fantastic miracles as these Israelites. I mean, if you got bread dropped from heaven for one day, you'd never forget it for the rest of your life. These Israelites had bread dropped from heaven every day for 40 years.

They had water coming out of a dry dead rock. They had snakes being supernaturally killed by God, just by looking at a wooden cross and things like this, and yet God was not pleased with them. That teaches us one lesson.

Don't be satisfied that God answers your prayers. That is no indication that God is happy with you and the Old Testament example of the Israelites is the clearest proof of that because many Christians think, oh, God answered my prayer. He must be happy with me.

No. Jesus said God makes the sun to rise on the righteous and the unrighteous. He sends rain on the wicked and the good.

Two farmers, one is an atheist and one is a wholehearted believer, they both plant seeds into their farm and both get an equal amount of rain. The ungodly atheist and the God-fearing believer both get the same amount of rain from heaven and both get an equal crop. In fact, if the other atheist works harder, you'll get a better crop.

So it's got nothing to do with God's blessings are given to everybody, even to ungodly people, but that does not indicate that he's happy with us. So don't evaluate your life by how much God has blessed you. The only way to evaluate your life is whether you have overcome sin in your life.

Never, never evaluate your life by any other standard. And if you want to know whether you overcome sin, if you want to know your house is built solidly on a rock, just read Matthew chapter five, chapter six, and chapter seven. And you'll see the type of sins mentioned there, which are subtle things.

He's not talking there primarily about adultery and theft and no, no, no, no, he's talking about more inward sins like seeking honor and doing things to impress people and inward attitudes towards others and not loving your enemies. I mean, those types of sins, how many Christians think about that? I don't love my enemies. That's a sin.

Very few people even think like that or getting discouraged and gloomy. Nobody thinks of that as a sin, but it is you read Matthew chapter six in the last 10 verses, you'll see that even that is a sin. So Matthew five, six, and seven speak of a fairly high standard of the Christian life.

And at the end of that sermon, he said, if you listen to these words and obey them, you will build your house on a rock unshakable for all eternity. But if you listen to these words, like you're listening now, and you don't take it seriously, whatever you may say, whichever church you belong to, CFC or any other church, you are building your house on sand. And one day it'll crumble and collapse.

So we have to take seriously the sins mentioned in Matthew five, six, and seven. So the fact that God blesses us materially, physically, even gives us some revelation in the word is no indication that he's happy with us. So we read here, they were all baptized was to apply this to yourself.

They all ate the same spiritual food. That means a bunch of people all read the same Bible and they get revelation from it. And they all drank the same spiritual drink.

That means they all received the Holy Spirit. And yet with most of them was five, God was not well pleased. Most of them means out of 600,000, 599,098 people.

God was not happy, happy only with two. And then it says in verse six, this is written in the Old Testament as an example or a warning for us. And what is it to teach us? That we should not crave for the things that they crave for.

They were not happy with bread that came from them. Bread is enough to keep you alive. And God decides what is good for them.

Every day he dropped them bread. And they said, we want some meat. I'll tell you, you don't need meat to live.

There are a lot of people who never eat meat in their whole life. And sometimes they live longer than those who eat meat. So, but they craved essentially, they craved for things and we should not crave for six or anything which is outside the will of God.

Don't crave for something that you see somebody else have. This happens very often to believers. They see somebody else having a particular type of car and they crave for that type of car.

You already got a car, but maybe it's not the latest model or something like that. There's a craving for something more, something better. It's all a craving for honor, for comfort, for ease.

And a lot of people don't think there's anything wrong in Well, you don't, it's not a question about heaven. People only want to go to heaven. I'd say, I tell such people, don't waste your time sitting in a CFC church.

There are umpteen, hundreds of churches you'd go and sit in and go to heaven. I'm not interested in teaching people how to go to heaven. I'm interested in leading people to please the Lord, to please the Lord.

Those are the only people I want to minister to. The others can go. I say goodbye to them.

Oh, you're already born again. That's all you want. Please go somewhere else.

I'm seeking to, I don't want to waste time with people who are not seriously interested in following the Lord in order of pleasing. And I hope my dear brothers and sisters, you who listen, I hope you have a great desire to please the Lord and not just a selfish desire that I can live casually here. And so long as I get to heaven, when I die, that's enough.

I believe that people who go to heaven like that will have regret, not for one or two years, not even for a hundred years, but for all eternity. I cannot, I cannot imagine for myself, I'm not here to judge you, but imagine I think of myself, I say, supposing, and the Lord has saved me from sin and so many things he's done for me in all these 60 years I've been a believer, 65 years. And if all I do is I want to somehow go to heaven when I die, that's all my desire.

And I live very casually and don't commit any gross sins and I'm careless about my thought life, careless about my speech, getting angry. And of course, every time confessing, asking the Lord to forgive me, every day, keeping my conscience clear about sinning every day and asking God to forgive me my anger and forgive me my anxiety and forgive me my love of money. And every day, cleansing myself, cleansed in the blood of Jesus.

And finally I get to heaven, having accomplished almost nothing for the Lord on the earth, except confessing my sin regularly. I believe, I'm not here to judge you. I believe for myself, for thousands and thousands and millions of years in eternity, I will feel, I will have regret.

I will feel like saying, Lord, send me down to earth again to prove my love for you. And the Lord says, no, you all have only one chance to prove your love for me. That's the opportunity you had on earth.

You can't go back there again, I know that. So what I'm saying is there are certain things we miss the opportunity, we never get it again. To prove your love for the Lord in a world that detests him in the midst of a Christianity that is corrupt and backslidden.

I tell you, brother, sister, this life is the only life you will get to prove your loyalty and your love for the Lord. You'll never get a chance once you leave. So make full use of this opportunity.

You know, for example, if you're told in a some earthly situation that it's only in the next one month that you'll be able to make a lot of money, very easily you can do something. The government has instituted something where you can go and gain some money. But that will expire by the end of next month.

You don't have to do much, but the government will give you that much money. Tell me which of you will not go and take advantage of that. We all need money to live on this earth and be glad to have a little more.

We take advantage of it, sure. And we rush to before the deadline and you won't wait till the last day. Make use of it as long as the offer is open because you know one day it'll be over.

Even believers will be more keen to do that than to say, Lord, my life is going to be over one day and I want to please you. That's the most important thing for me. So it says here that most of them, God was not well pleased in 1 Corinthians 10.6. This happened as an example for us that we should not crave for the things they crave for.

And don't be idolaters like them. What is an idolater? An idolater is anyone who worships someone other than Christ. It doesn't have to be a wooden idol of stone.

You worship yourself. You worship your own comfort. You worship your own pleasure, your own satisfaction.

That is an idol worship. You worship anything other than Christ and doing his will in your life. It is an idol worship.

I personally look at it like this. Every time I seek to do my will, when I know that is not God's will, or I don't even bother to seek God's will, my will has become an idol that I'm worshiping. I don't know whether you see it like that.

I see it very clearly because Jesus throughout his life, he said, not as I will, but as thou wilt. Jesus' entire life can be summed up in one statement. He never did his own will, but did the will of his father.

That is a verse I love quoting and I'll keep on quoting it till it's imprinted on everybody's mind. John chapter 6 and verse 38. John chapter 6 and verse 38.

Let me read verse 37 first. 37 is the verse that all of us love. That's the verse that gave me assurance of salvation 65 years ago.

Him that cometh to me, I will never cast out. What a wonderful assurance. The Lord will never cast you out if you come to him.

It doesn't matter how bad a sinner you are. You can be the worst sinner, murderer, prostitute. To come to Christ in repentance, he will not cast you out.

That's a great comfort. That's the first step. So after we have come to him, we have to move into the type of life described in verse 38.

That is, we enter through the narrow gate. That is verse 37. We come to the Lord and then we walk the narrow way which leads to eternal life.

And that is described in verse 38. So verse 37 is the gate and verse 38 is the way we have to walk. That's the way he walked.

How did he walk? I have come from heaven never to do my own will, but only the will of him who sent me. Jesus' entire life, morning till night, was governed by, is this the father's will or is it my will? Now, very, very few Christians seek to even live up to this standard where they say, every day, Lord, I want to do your will and not my own. Now, the one advantage of the person who lives to do God's will alone, he may have a lot of trials like Jesus had many trials.

He may be misunderstood, hated, criticized, and even tortured like Jesus was. But at the end of his life, he will be able to say like Jesus' father, I have finished the work you sent me on earth to do. How many of you have that passion? I don't mean a weak desire.

I mean a passion, not a weak desire, but a passion. Say, Lord, before I leave this earth, I want to finish the work for which you brought me out of my mother's womb some years ago and allowed me to live healthy for so long. There must be a purpose.

I want to fulfill that purpose. I don't care how much money I earn in this world. I don't care what I accomplish or what I don't accomplish.

I want to finish the work you gave me to do. And I'm not going to compare myself with others. I'm only going to compare myself with Jesus Christ.

My dear brother, sister, please, I urge you, you'll thank me in eternity. I guarantee you'll thank me in eternity. If you take seriously what I'm telling you now, say, Lord, I don't want to please men.

I don't want to do anything but your will in my life. Please show me. I came from heaven, verse 38, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me.

In that one sentence, Jesus describes the 33 and a half years of his life. Even when he was a little boy, he did not do his own will. You know how difficult it is for a 10-year-old not to do his own will.

If you have children, you know. We read in Luke's gospel chapter two, that when Jesus was 12 years old, he came back from the temple after teaching the scholars there, came back home. He was a great Bible scholar at the age of 12.

He knew more than the priests. But it says in the last verse of Luke chapter two, he came home and submitted to Joseph and Mary, who were not Bible scholars, who did not know 1% of the Bible as he knew it. Imagine submitting to parents who don't know 1% of the Bible that you know.

That's a real example in submission. That's what he did. He never did his own will.

The father said, submit to them. Never mind whether they know the Bible like you or not. That's not important.

Submit to them. Supposing you have an elder in your church who doesn't know the Bible as well as you know it. Yeah, there are cases like that.

Elders may be godly people, but they may not be good teachers of the word, but they are humble, God-fearing people, and God has made them elders, but they may not be able to speak God's word as powerfully as you can. Will you submit to them? Go to the last verse of Luke chapter two and learn from Jesus how he submitted to people who did not know even 1% of the Bible that he knew, Joseph and Mary. That is submission.

That is obedience to God. So that is what we have to bear in mind. Let's read here in back to 1 Corinthians 10.

We must not grumble, 1 Corinthians 10, as they grumbled and were destroyed. These things are written for us as an example. Look at that emphasis.

1 Corinthians 10 6, this happened to them as an example. Verse 11, this happened to them as an example. I say, Paul, I already heard you say this.

No, Paul says, you have to listen to it again. Paul, you mentioned it in verse six. No, I have to repeat it verse 11.

These things happened to them as an example, and they are written for our instruction. And so let the one who thinks he knows everything, verse 12, be careful that he doesn't fall. It's not knowledge that's going to matter in the final day.

It's a question of whether you fall into sin or not. And when you fall into sin, don't ever say, listen to this, when you fall into sin in your thought life, in your attitude to somebody, or in something which you call a mistake, which God calls sin. Don't ever say, well, that was too strong for me.

Pause for a moment. Tell me, do you feel that some sins are just too strong for you? You just cannot conquer them. You seem to fall into it again and again and again and again.

You say, that's too strong for me. Well, the Holy Spirit says, that's a lie. That's a lie of the devil, that that sin is too strong for you.

If you're not a child of God, agreed. If you're not born again, I agree, that sin is too strong for you. But if you're a born again child of God, even if you're born again yesterday, here is a promise.

No, verse 13, 1 Corinthians 10 No temptation has ever come to you, but which God allows all men to face. And he will ensure, you know that God has got a control over all events, people, circumstances on the face of the earth. And it's very difficult for us to understand this, how Almighty God can handle billions and billions.

There are 7 billion and more people on the earth, and how Almighty God can watch each one of them, what's going on in their thoughts, words, even, I mean, God watches as if there were only one man on the earth. You believe God can watch if there's only one human being on the earth? You believe God could watch over every little thing that's going on in that person's life, his thoughts and his words and his actions and how he's being tempted? Yes. God's ability is such that he can deal with each of us as if we were the only human being on the earth.

I mean, God looks at me, I believe as if I'm the only human being on the earth. He will not allow me to be tempted beyond my ability. I'll never say God has forgotten about me.

He's got 101 other things to do. He does not have 101 other things to do. As far as I'm concerned, I'm the only one in God's eyes.

And you can say that too. This is what gives me faith. This is what gives me faith that when 7 billion people are praying to him, he listens to my prayer.

Because I have a good conscience. The only time he will not listen to a person is when he doesn't keep a good conscience. You haven't forgiven somebody.

Brother, forget about it. God will not listen to you. You hurt somebody and you did not ask his forgiveness.

Forget it. God will not listen to you until you settle that with that person. You keep on doing something deliberately, which is going against God's will.

God's not going to listen to you till you confess that and say, Lord, I want to give it up. He's not asking you to give it up. He's telling you desire to give it up and ask me for the power to help you to give it up.

That's what he's saying. And if you're battling it, God says, fine. But if you're not even battling it and you're not even confessing it as sin, he's not going to listen to your prayer.

God listens to the prayers of many people who are defeated by sin because they're still praying, Lord, I want to be free. I want to be free. I want to be free.

They may be defeated by sin for 10 years. God will listen to them all those 10 years if they have a desire to be free. But if a person sits back and says, well, I can sin, God will forgive me.

He won't even listen. God will not listen to that person's prayer even once. That's the reason why many prayers are not answered because God sees this person as a very casual attitude towards sin.

There's one thing God hates, that sin. He doesn't hate that enemy whom you hate. God hates nobody on the world.

God so loved the world. And if you want to know how much God hates somebody whom you don't like, maybe you don't like your mother-in-law. Maybe you don't like that boss in the office.

Maybe you don't like your neighbor who's irritating you all the time. Whatever you may feel, God loves that person. He loves that person so much that he sent his son to die for that person whom you don't like.

Yeah, it's true. Think of somebody you don't like. Let me tell you that God sent his son to die for that person.

Remember that. God will never allow you to be tested beyond your ability. Now, if you're not a believer, if you're not a born-again Christian, you will be tempted by 101 things that are beyond your ability because you're like a branch that's been cut off from the tree.

Helpless. But if you are in Christ, his Holy Spirit will go through you and help you. You will never be tested beyond your ability.

That's like, you know, we read in the Old Testament. You know the story how they sent 12 spies into the land before they entered Canaan. They'd come out of Egypt two years ago.

They came to the borders of the land of Canaan, which is a picture of the life of victory. And they sent 10 men. They sent 12 men, rather.

They the land and secretly find, look what type of people there are. Do you think we can overcome them? And 12 of them went and said, boy, these guys are huge. So we look like grasshoppers in front of them.

That's exactly what they said. They're such huge giants that we look like grasshoppers. We can never conquer them.

We better die in the wilderness and go there and be slaughtered by them. That's what 10 out of the 12 spies said to Moses. But two of them, Joshua and Caleb, they said, we also felt we were very small, but if God is with us, you know what they said? You know what? You read that in Numbers chapter 14.

They will be like bread that we can eat. How tough is it to eat bread? You don't even have to chew it. Just bite it and it gets swallowed so easily.

And that's what Caleb said. These people are like bread. They cannot stand before us.

Is it because Caleb had more muscles than the other 10? No. He said, our God will fight for us. So it was not a question of Caleb versus that giant or Joshua versus that giant.

It was that giant versus God who supports Joshua and Caleb. That's the difference. So when you look at some sin in your life, look at it like one of the giants of Canaan who is so difficult to conquer.

You say, I can never overcome that. I tried and tried and tried for years to overcome that bad habit, maybe lusting with my eyes. For some people, a terrible sin of pornography where they destroy themselves with adultery in their mind.

They think it's such a light thing. It's not a light thing. It's evil.

And if you're a married man, it's a million times more evil. They don't take it seriously. They allow the giants to rule this land, this body, which is purchased by the blood of Jesus Christ to belong to a temple of God.

And you allow this temple of God to be polluted with this idol of pornography or some hatred towards another person. Some of you may not be tempted with pornography, you're ladies. You've got a bitterness and a hatred of somebody that is just as bad.

You allow that to rule your body. It's evil. It's idolatry.

You're worshiping a sin more than Jesus. And yet you say that you're a child of God. That's how it was with those 10.

You know what God said to those 10? He said, I gave you two years to come here. But you would not go in. Now, none of you will enter the land.

Finished. Don't ask me for a second chance. And you read that in the Old Testament.

They got so disturbed when they heard Moses saying, you guys will never enter the land. They said, okay, okay, we are ready to go and fight. And they tried to go a second time.

Moses said, don't go. They'll thrash you. And sure enough, they got thrashed.

God did not give them a second chance. But with us, God has been very merciful. He's given us many chances.

This is not the first time you're hearing me preaching this. Dear brothers and sisters, take sin seriously. In your thoughts, in your attitudes towards other people, in your language, even in your languages, husband and wife to each other, and in your attitude to money and unrighteousness and money matters, in your actions, take sin seriously.

It's like a doctor saying, take cancer seriously. You go to some villager, an uneducated villager in some remote village in some country, and you tell that man he's got cancer. He'll laugh and sleep peacefully that night.

He doesn't know how serious cancer is. That's how some believers are. Oh, anger.

Yeah, I get angry now and then. What to do? It's been a habit. It runs in my family.

My father and grandfather are also like that. It's like saying my father had cancer and my grandfather had cancer. It's okay.

I'll get cancer. Nobody takes it like that when it comes to sickness. I'll tell you something.

Sin is worse than cancer. Believe me, it is. Cancer can rob you of life on this earth.

Sin can rob you of eternal life. So don't ever say that any sin is too strong for you unless you're an unbeliever. If you're an unbeliever, I agree with you 100%.

If you're not born again, you've not received Christ into your life, I agree with you 100%. Some sins are too strong for you. Maybe many sins are too strong for you.

But if you claim to be a born again child of God, you cannot say that any sin is too strong for you. That is contradicting God's word which God says, no, I will not allow you to be tempted, middle of verse 13 here, 1 Corinthians 10, 13, beyond your ability. Supposing you're traveling somewhere and you're going to take a flight or a train.

In India, there's more trains. And you carry a lot of luggage. Will you ask your four-year-old son to lift a heavy suitcase? No.

If you have luggage, your children will carry the lightest. And you will not even ask your wife to lift a heavy suitcase. You'll lift it yourself.

Why is that? We know how much weight each of us can handle. And if you're a wise father, you will distribute the luggage according to weight with each of your children and take the heaviest things yourself. And that is how the Lord allows us to be tempted according to our ability.

If we have such wisdom in not allowing our children to carry a weight that is heavier than they can handle. I tell you, God has got more wisdom than you, not to allow you ever to be tempted beyond your ability. I thank God that that reality hit me many years ago.

Before that, I used to say, Lord, it's too much for me. I'm tempted. I can't overcome it.

I can't overcome it. I finished with it. 50 years ago, I changed my attitude towards temptation.

Just one thing. I said, Lord, I believe your promise that you will not allow me to be tempted beyond my ability, just like I will never allow my young little child to lift a suitcase or any weight that's too much for him. You're a better father than I am.

He will not allow you to be tempted, but with the temptation, he will give me the ability to overcome it. That means if your son has to, little boy has to lift something, you'll help him to lift it. That's what God says.

I won't leave you alone there. I'll see you struggling and I'll help you to lift it. But you have to ask him, Lord, this is a bit too much for me.

Help me. He will run to your assistance. You know that, you know the verse in Hebrews chapter two, it's a great verse.

It's helped me many, many times. The promises in the Bible are so good. These are like checks.

If you get a check for a million dollars, what do you do with it? You frame it up and hang it on your wall and admire it every day. Somebody sent me a check for a million dollars. Well, you won't get one cent of it.

You have to put your signature behind it and put it in the bank and cash it. Here is the promise. It says Hebrews chapter two and verse 18, the last verse.

Since Jesus himself was tempted in what he suffered, he is able to run to the aid of those who are tempted. He doesn't walk. He runs to help those who are tempted.

It's like a dad seeing his little child struggling to lift something and he runs and says, son, my girl, I'll help you. And he helps that boy or girl to lift it. Do you believe your heavenly father will do that for you? At any time, I believe he'll do that for me a thousand or a million times a day, every day of my life.

That when he sees me struggling with something, he will come to help me. But I have to ask for it. Ask.

See, turn over the page to Hebrews chapter four. Since verse 15, since we have a high priest who can sympathize with our weakness, why? Because he is tempted like us yet did not sin. He was tempted and knows the tremendous power of temptation.

Jesus was tempted to be angry. He overcame that. He was tempted sexually.

He overcame that. He was tempted to be lazy. He overcame that.

He was tempted to be bitter. He overcame that. He was tempted to be unforgiving.

He overcame that. Always, anything that came, he overcame it. And he knows even the strongest temptation that comes to any human being, he faced it already.

Therefore, that word therefore is very important. Verse 16. That is why we can draw near that we can receive the same grace that he got in the time of his need.

Do you know that Jesus got grace from his father to overcome sin? That's a great word. Do you know when Jesus started getting grace to overcome sin? From the time he was a little child. See Luke chapter two.

Sin shall not have dominion over you. You know the favorite verse we have in CFC, Romans 6.14. Sin cannot have rule over you as long as you are under God's grace. What about Jesus? Did he overcome by some inward power or did he need grace as well? Well, let's see what scripture says in the gospel of Luke when he was a little child.

Luke chapter two, verse 40. The child Jesus continued to grow and become strong, increasing in wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him. Then think of Romans 6.14. When grace is upon you, sin cannot rule over you.

That's Romans 6.14. And here is the first example of that in Luke chapter two, verse 40. Grace was upon him, so sin could not rule over him. And why was grace upon him? God gives his grace to the humble.

There was no partiality. He did not show partiality to his own son when he came to earth. If Jesus was not humble, he would not have got grace.

From childhood, he was humble, showing us that we must teach our children to be humble from childhood. When they accomplish something wonderful, they do well in some sport or a game or in school, and they come home, teach them to be humble and to give the glory to God and not to take the honor and credit for themselves. Jesus was humble, so the grace of God was always on him.

We want the grace of God to be always on our children. How can you ensure that? Teach them from childhood to be humble, never to be proud of anything, any gift they have, any ability they have, any accomplishment, or anything that makes them better than some other person. Immediately teach them, give the glory to God, and don't touch that honor yourself.

Don't think it was you. Go to tell your child, it's God, my son, my girl. It's God who's given you that ability.

It's not because you're better than that person. God gave you some ability. Give God the glory.

So important, so very, very important that we can teach our children these things from childhood. And so we read in Hebrews 4, therefore, let us come to the throne of grace that we can, first of all, receive mercy. That means forgiveness for all our past sins.

You've heard me say that many times. Mercy is for our past life. Grace is for the future.

Mercy is for forgiveness. Grace is for overcoming sin. That's why you never read of grace in the Old Testament.

The first person on earth to receive grace was Jesus Christ. And if you ever find in the Old Testament that someone received grace from the Lord, that's not a proper translation of the Hebrew. It's not the grace spoken of in the New Testament.

The grace, John 1.14 says very clearly, John 1.14, grace came to this earth for the first time when Jesus Christ came to earth. John 1.14 is very clear. The first time grace came to this earth was when Jesus Christ came.

Nobody had grace before that. They had mercy. Many times the Psalms you read about the Lord, His mercy endures forever.

Today, we, Hebrews 4.16, get mercy and grace. Jesus never needed mercy because He never sinned. From childhood, the grace of God was upon Him.

He never sinned once, so He never needed mercy. We need mercy constantly. Even after we get grace, we slip up.

Then we need mercy. Lord, forgive me. We need mercy plus grace.

But so it says here, when we come to the throne of grace, we first of all receive mercy. That means our past sins are plotted out. Then, don't stop there, then find grace.

And you can get that grace only if you ask for it. You know when the Bible says, you do not have because you do not ask. You know that verse? You do not have because you do not ask.

Turn to James 1. It speaks here about the need for wisdom. The same principle applies to grace. If anyone lacks wisdom, James 1.5, let him ask God.

And it will be given generously. Wisdom in the New Testament is not algebra and physics and chemistry. No, no, no, no, no.

Wisdom is to partake of God's life. That's the only wisdom the Bible speaks about, to partake of that overcoming life of Jesus. And if you lack it, and we all lack it to some extent, what should we do? It says in James 1.5, we must ask God.

Lord, I don't have the life of Jesus that overcomes sin all the time. I want it. And what did God do? It says he gives generously.

You ask for a little bit, he'll give you 10 times what you ask for. That's not the meaning of giving generously. You ask for a cup, he'll give you a bucket of it.

Or he'll give you a river of it. He'll give you abundantly. But there is one condition.

You must ask in faith without doubting. Verse six. But if you doubt, there is a promise for those who doubt also.

Did you know there's a promise in the Bible for those who doubt when they pray? You thought there was a promise only for those who ask in faith. Here's the promise for those who ask in doubt. Here it is.

Verse six and seven. The one who doubts when he asks, that man should not expect to get anything from the Lord. That is the promise from God.

You will get nothing from me. That's also a promise. You ask in doubt, you will get zero from God.

But that's why it says you must ask in faith. Why? Well, faith is based on the fact not that I'm such a good person. Faith is based on the fact that my heavenly father will love me exactly like he loved Jesus.

Do you know this great verse in Romans 8 verse 29? Romans 8 29 says that God's purpose is that Jesus might become the first or the eldest among many brothers and sisters. So he has predestined. Predestined means long before we were born.

We were the born again children of God. Long before we were born, God who knew the future, destined. You have a destination my brother, sister.

And that destination is not to make you a millionaire, thank God. Something better than that. To make you a younger brother or sister of Jesus Christ.

Is there anything to beat that? He predestined that you might become like Jesus one day. That's the first thing. Conform to the image of his son.

So that Jesus would be the eldest among many brothers and sisters. That is predestined. Your future has been written down.

That one day you are to be the younger brother or sister of Jesus Christ. And that's why he's taking you through various trials. It says in verse 28 he makes all the trials and difficulties Romans 8 28 to work together for your good.

And you know what that good is? That good is that you might become like Jesus verse 29. So that he'll be the first among many brothers. The good is not that you'll make more money or that you will marry a prettier girl or a more handsome man.

That's not the good. Those are all nothing. He'll make you like Jesus Christ.

Make that your goal. Say Lord that is the good I want. Nothing else.

He will do it. And he allows all these things to come into our life in order to make us like Christ. There is no way to become like Christ without trial.

And it says in Hebrews 4 15 that Jesus was tempted in all points like we are. And that is how he could be our forerunner. Forerunner means he's gone ahead in this race and says see how I overcame? I want you to overcome like me.

And Paul said follow me as I follow Christ. Why did the apostle Paul who was so faithful go through so many trials in his life? Because he had to be an example to those behind him. You and me.

Why does God allow trials in your life? I'll tell you. I don't know what your trials are. But I'll tell you God allows it so that you can be an example to other people who are looking up to you.

There are people who are looking up to you whether you know it or not. There are people maybe in your church or maybe your relatives or friends. They're looking up to you.

Yeah. I know many many people are looking at me to see how does he react in some situation? How does he how does brother Zach react when people accuse him falsely? How does he react when people irritate him? Or how does he react when people praise him? That's also a temptation. There are people who are watching you and you have to be a good example to them.

He allows God you to be tested and tempted in numerous ways so that you can say like Jesus and like Paul. Follow me. Paul said follow me as I follow Christ.

I want to say to all of you brothers and sisters if you have received Christ as your Lord he will make you an example to people who are younger than you in Christ. Even if you were born again last year there are people younger than you in Christ and he wants you to make you an example to them. You young people.

God wants you to be an example to many other young people in your locality, in the school that you go to, your friends, relatives. He wants you to be an example to them and for that he allows you to face trials and temptations. So it's a wonderful thing.

God wants us to enter into the promised land of victory and overcome every Canaanite giant. No sin will be able to rule over you. He will not allow you to face a giant that is too strong for you.

If you read the book of Joshua I don't have time to show it to you but God did not allow Joshua to suddenly in one week overcome all the giants in the land of Canaan. It took many many years. He first went into Jericho.

You know that story. And without even lifting a finger they got overcame Jericho. God's power the walls fell down and the people were defeated.

What did they do? God defeated them. In another place in Joshua we read God made the sun to stand still. Can you imagine that? Because the battle was not yet over.

In order to put enemies all to be defeated and it was getting dark. It was getting evening. God said okay the sun is going to stand still.

You know geography wise what that means. The earth stopped rotating. The earth was rotating on its own axis and suddenly the earth stopped rotating and the sun remained in the same place shining on the land of Israel where Joshua fighting fighting fighting fighting and this earth stopped for a whole day until all the enemies were defeated and then the earth started rotating again.

It's amazing what God would do to help people to get victory. And if God did that for people who followed Moses in the old testament you think he won't do it for you and me who follow Jesus? All these things written in the old testament are to strengthen our faith. If God did that for people who followed Moses and Joshua he'll do much more for me who follows Jesus Christ.

You say that to the Lord. He's got tremendous plans for you my brother sister. He wants to make you an overcomer even if you're defeated right until today.

He's going to change the direction of your life. Those Canaanites that are conquering you those temptations that you said are too strong for you are going to come under your feet. You say that Satan you can't fool me anymore.

Today I got faith and I will get my answer from the Lord. These sins that trouble me my anger and my lust and my unbelief and my irritability and my complaining and grumbling and all that I'm going to conquer every one of them. Say that say that to the devil.

Dear brother sister God wants you to be a conqueror. He wants you to be more than a conqueror. I'm closed with Romans chapter 8. Please turn to Romans chapter 8. Verse 35.

Romans 8 35. Who can separate you from the love of Christ? Tribulation that means trials and difficulties and persecution. Distress that means all types of problems you face that press you down.

Persecution or famine that means you can't you don't have money to buy enough food. That's a type of famine or not enough clothes to wear or danger or perhaps one day somebody's going to chop off your head because you're a disciple of Jesus. Nothing nothing can separate you.

Verse 35. From the love of Christ. No it won't separate you from the love of Christ and it'll chop off your head but it'll you'll be united with Christ.

Therefore verse 37 in all these things we I like the King James translation we are more than conquerors. We're not just conquerors but more than conquerors in Christ. So he says I am convinced Romans 8 verse 38 39.

Neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor things present nor things to come nor powers nor height nor depth nor any created thing will be able to separate me from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus my Lord. Say that say those verses from Romans 8 verse 35 to 39. Memorize them Romans 8 35 to 39 and quote that like Jesus quoted scripture whenever he was tempted.

You quote these verses when you are tempted Romans 8 35 to 39 saying I'm not going to wander in the wilderness and be defeated like those 600,000 who didn't trust God. I trust God. I'm more than a conqueror in every situation.

Let's pray. Please bow your heads and as we pray I want to invite you to say Lord I don't want to forget what I heard today. I want to meditate on it in the days to come.

I wanted to bring fruit in my life starting from right now starting from tonight. I want to bring fruit in my life. I'm going to begin tomorrow onwards in a new way.

As I begin the day I'm going to be reminded of what I heard today and every day I'm called to be more than a conqueror in Christ. Heavenly Father I thank you for these my precious brothers and sisters some young some old. For every one of them you have a wonderful plan and it doesn't matter how many years they've been defeated.

It doesn't matter one bit even if their faith is weak. With their wee tiny hands of faith like a little one-year-old child puts their tiny fingers holding their mother's hand and the mother holds that tiny finger's hand of that child. We know you hold us and you will not leave us.

In the moment of temptation you will hold us close to you like a mother holds a child close to it in the midst of storm and difficulties. We know that you care more for us than any mother loves a newborn child. It's what your word says we believe it.

I pray that every one of us here will believe it and that there'll be a significant difference in our life from tomorrow onwards. Not an up and down experience but a slow and steady progress upwards from this day. We believe it.

We pray because we pray in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.