Keys to Victory when Fighting Temptation - 1 Corinthians 10:1-13

1995. I had just graduated from college. I just got married, and for the first time in my life, the Kansas City Chiefs had had their most successful season. They were 13 and three. I had wanted to see them go to the Super Bowl just once in my lifetime. I was born a couple years after they were in the Super Bowl, wondered if I would die without ever seeing a Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl. And they were 13 and 3. The best record in the NFL, the number one seed in the playoffs, that means we'd have the buy, and that means we'd play all the rest of our games at home, to home victories, and you're in the Super Bowl, and to top it off, they were 8 no at home that year. So this seemed like a lock, 8 0 at home, 2 home names. They had the best defense in NFL. If you were a Chiefs fan back then, You remember the names Derek Thomas, Neil Smith, Dan Sallyamua, Dale Carter. These were the anchors of that amazing defense. At running back was Marcus Allen, one of the greatest running backs in the history of the NFL. This was our year. Two home wins, and were in the playoffs. They got out to a 7 0 lead in the 1st quarter, we were rolling, and that would be the last points they would score the rest of the game. Lynn Elliott would miss three field goals, and we would lose that game to the Indianapolis Colts 10 to 7 from what was a lock to sudden, heartbreaking defeat. Now, if you're a sports fan. If you have a team you love, a team you follow, you have a story like that. You have a story of a time where you thought victory was sure. Victory was secure, only to see it all come crashing down. If you're an athlete, or you were an athlete, or you were and you still think you are, but you're probably still not. You may have a story from your own experiences, a team you played on that was so good. You seemed so invincible. Victory seemed so sure, and then out of nowhere, your vulnerabilities were exposed, and you faced defeat. It doesn't just happen in athletics. It happens in many areas of life. We think that things are going to go so well. Things seem to be going so well. And if you base it on how things have gone in the past and how things are right now, the future looks really, really bright, and then our vulnerabilities are exposed, and we come to a disastrous or disappointing end of whatever we were hoping for. This happens all the time in life, and it can happen in our spiritual lives. We can think that things are going really well. and thinks that we are really on the right path and be blinded to our vulnerabilities, to be naive to our vulnerabilities and our spiritual life. Such was the case with the readers of the book of Corinthians, the letter to the church at Corinth, which is the book of the Bible we call 1 Corinthians. We've been going through this book for a while. If you'll begin turning there. We are going to be in chapter 10 today. And in this chapter, we're going to find a warning, a warning about overconfidence, a warning about being blind to our vulnerabilities, and the risk that puts us in spiritually. Now, to understand the background, We have to go back all the way to chapter 8. And when we were in chapter eight, I mentioned then, and other pastors who have preached since that have mentioned how all these chapters kind of tie together, from chapter 8 through our passage today. What happened in chapter eight? Well, they were facing a dilemma in the church, if you were with us then, you probably recall this, there were pagan temples in the city of Corinth, and they would be animals sacrificed to these pagan idols, these false gods. And then the meat from those sacrifices would be consumed at events in the temple or sold in the marketplace, and so the followers of Jesus had this dilemma. Is it okay to eat meat that came from animal that was once sacrificed to a pagan god? And they reach out to the apostle Paul, one of the missionaries of the early church, the man who writes this letter to them, and they say, how do we handle this conflict that we're having? Some people said we can eat the meat? Some people say we can't? And the conclusion, very quickly, is that's a fake God, that's harmless meat. If you eat that meat, it's not doing any spiritual harm to you. However, it creates a vulnerability for weaker brothers. Those who came out of idolatry to follow Jesus. When they say you eat the meat, harmless meat, but when they see you eat the meat, they might be tempted to eat the meat, and when they do that, they might be tempted to lapse back into their idolatry from which God saved them. And so he says, in your head, knowledge wise, yeah, the meat's fine, but have some compassion in your heart, for the difficult position you're putting these brothers and sisters in who came out of pagan idolatry. And so let's not eat the meat for their benefit. And so if you're a believer in that day who has, you think you have this all figured out, you think you have the right knowledge, you're going to take Paul's advice, okay, I won't eat the meat because I don't want to create vulnerability for the weaker brothers. Now Paul comes at you in chapter 10 and says, however, don't be fooled. You are also vulnerable. You're also vulnerable. You might think because you have it all figured out that you're not at risk. And in fact, your puffed up knowledge is what he called it in chapter 8. Your puffed up knowledge. What you see as a strength could, in fact, be a blind spot for you and put you at great risk. And while you're boasting in your knowledge, you are naive about your vulnerabilities. And this flawed thinking, he reminds them, could get them in big trouble. And to do that, he points them back to their predecessors. to their ancestors, to he calls their fathers. So what he's going to do in chapter 10, that we're going to be in today, he's going to say, you think everything is going so well for you. You think that you have this all figured out, but in fact, you are at great risk to spiritual failure, and he said, to prove my point, I'm going to remind you of the stories of our forefathers. I'm going to tell you about some people who, at one time, seemed like they had everything going for them spiritually. And yet, they failed to be faithful to God. And so there's a warning here. There's a warning about the temptations we face today. We all face a spiritual battle. This week, today, every day of our lives, we're at risk. Temptation is all around us, and we are very vulnerable to falling to temptation. And sometimes, when we think that we have it figured out, we think that we're really solid in our spiritual life, really solid in our spiritual growth, our relationship with God, we might miss some blind spots we have in our life. And so this passage is about opening our eyes, lifting up our heads, to pay attention to the vulnerabilities around us that might put us at spiritual risks. We're going to see today some keys to victory. Three things, if we get these principles, and we remember these this week, I think they're going to strengthen us in the fight against temptation that so often comes our way. So let's jump in. 1 Corinthians chapter 10. That's on page 957 of the Bible that's under the chair in front of you, if you want to find that Bible. Turn to page 957. You better track along with us here. The first 5 verses, the writer here, Paul, is going to remind them of the spiritual advantages enjoyed by their ancestors, and yet show them how it ultimately ended for them. So let's jump in and look at this. Verse one, I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud, and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drink from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. Nevertheless, with most of them, God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. So what he's going to say here is, that spiritual, he's going to start by reminding them in verse one to not be unaware of what's happened before them. Remember your history. Don't forget what happened to them. You often hear the phrase, it will go something like this. Those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Those who don't learn from the past or doomed to repeat it. It's a common phrase reviews. That's essentially what Paul is going to say here. If you don't learn from the mistakes of your ancestors, you're bound to follow in their steps. And so he puts forth their ancestors as an example of people who had everything going for them, and yet failed spiritually. The point's going to make is this. They had spiritual privileges, but not spiritual faithfulness. They had spiritual privileges, but not spiritual faithfulness. Let me show you, as we walk through this. They had spiritual privileges. What were those privileges? He outlines five of them, five advantages, five things they had going in their favor. Number one, verse one, they were all under the cloud. They were all under the cloud. What's this a reference to? So reference to when the Israelites, they were in bondage in Egypt, enslaved in Egypt. God sends Moses to go to Pharaoh and say, Release my people out of slavery. Pharaoh reviews us. God sends some plagues, and ultimately, Pharaoh releases the people, and they leave Egypt to head toward the promised land. Now, it should just take a month to get there. It's going to take 40 years to get there because of their unfaithfulness. And in that time, God is leaving them every day. The Bible says he led them by a pillar of cloud during the day and a pillar of fire by night. And so he said, your ancestors, everywhere they went, God was leading them, God was guiding them by the cloud. Also, their 2nd advantage, he says in verse one, is that not only were they under the cloud, they also passed through the sea. What is this a reference to? This is a reference to the divine deliverance God gave at the edge of the Red Sea. When they left Egypt, Pharaoh's army is now chasing them. God parts the Red Sea, leads Israelites through the Red Sea, and then the sea closes back in, wiping out Pharaoh's army. So they had the divine guidance of the cloud. They had the divine deliverance in the sea. And then third, in verse two, he says they were also, because of the cloud, and because of the sea, they were all baptized into Moses. Now, what does it mean they were baptized into Moses. I think he's just using a figurative connection, just a figurative comparison between their identification with Moses, in Israelites identification with Moses, and the followers of Jesus in Corinth, their identification with Jesus. When we're baptized, Paul would write to the Romans in 6 verse 3, do you not know that all of us have been baptized into Christ Jesus, we were baptized into his death. What does that mean? When you say, I'm going to turn from my sin and trust Jesus as my savior. I know that I have sinned, I know my only hope, for forgiveness is Jesus, and I want to repent and follow Jesus, the Bible tells us by all these examples between scripture, that those who followed Jesus were baptized. They were baptized to show, just as Jesus died and rose again, I have died to my old life and I've risen up to live a new person, to be a new person. So if you're a follower of Jesus, you've not been baptized, baptism is the way you should have professed your faith in Jesus. We'd love to talk to you about that. But what he's saying here is that if you have, following Jesus, you've been baptized as a follower of Jesus, you're now identified with him in the same way they were identified as the people of God under Moses through the cloud of the deceased, just a figurative connection that he's making there. Then he goes on verse to give a 4th advantage. In verse three. They ate the same spiritual food. And so the food, the spiritual food was the manna, spiritually provided, divinely provided by God, the manna from heaven, that they were able to eat to stay alive through all those years of wandering in the desert. And not only did they have spiritual food, They also had spiritual drink, he says in verse 4, all drink from the same spiritual rock. For they drink from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. He's recounting the time when Moses struck the rock with his staff and water poured from the rock. And we see that in the desert wandering. And there was a tradition that that rock, actually, among Jewish teachers that that rock actually followed them as they wandered the desert. And so God is divinely guiding them. He's divinely delivered them to the sea. He's divinely providing for them with the manna, and with the water, from the rock. And yet, despite all of this, verse 5 says, nevertheless. Nevertheless, with most of them, God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. All of the advantages that they had, all the experiences that they had, yet in the end, God was not pleased. Did you notice how many times the word all was used, one was reading those over and over, all were led by the cloud, all passed through the sea, all ate the food, all drank the spirit to drink, all of them. All of them. But how many got into the promised land, even know how many all of them make it to the promised land? Two, two. All of them were led, all of them were delivered. All of them were fed, all of them were provided for, only two get into the promised land, because the rest of them failed to be faithful to the Lord. Their idolatry, their immorality, their rebellion, four footed the blessing of entering the land. What's this point? verse 6. He says this. Now these things took place as examples. That's the first time he's going to use that word. He is going to use it again in verse 11. He's saying this whole thing. I'm telling you, is to don't miss the example before us. The same thing that happened to them could happen to you. That's the point he's making. Just as all of the Israelites had spiritual advantages, All of the followers of Jesus have spiritual advantages, and just like they failed, so we are vulnerable to rebellion. So he warns them. Notice verse 6, these things took place examples for us that we might desire evil as they did. Here's who we're prone to do. We are prone to desire more, no matter how much God gives us. So all of the, they had a cloud leading them. They had miraculous part of the sea, they had manna to eat, water to drink. God's provided everything could possible need, but yet they wanted more. And they turned to idolatry, and they turned to immorality. They turned to rebellion. And that's what's how, he says, Corinthians, y'all can do the same thing. You can be puffed up in your knowledge of all God's done for you, but if you're not careful, you're going to want more. That's just our sin nature. I saw that this week. I was thinking about this, desiring more. I was playing with my granddaughter, Marcy. She's almost 4 years old. And she was playing with her little people. Anybody kids have little people. You guys probably played these, your little Christy. Yours were whittled out of wood if you had these, back in your day. They were made from wood. They were. I have my wife's little people said, at our house, all right? And now they make them all kinds of different characters. She has little people nativity scene. We got Mary and Joseph and Shepherds. We had a little people target set with cashiers and the little puppy. We got a little people, chief says, Travis Kelsey, little people right here. And she had the whole village to play. She probably had 40 of them playing with these. And then her little brother, who's almost a year old, crawled over and got just one out of the box, and her three year old sin nature. rose to the surface, and it was on. There were tears, and there was, there was, it was terrible. Even though all of this that she had been given, she wanted this one over here, and that's our sin nature, no matter what God gives us, we're always going to want one more thing to be taken from somewhere else. And it rose up at her, and it rises up at all of us, and it was in the Corinthians, and it was in the Israelites, we always want something outside of what God has set before us. And despite all their spiritual privileges, they failed to be spiritually faithful. They had spiritual privileges, but failed to be spiritually faithful. So let's look at this. Let's look at their their lack of spiritual faithfulness, verse 7. Verse 7. Do not be idolaters as some of them were, as it is written, that people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. We must not indulge in sexual immorality if some of them did, and 23,000 fell in a single day. We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did, and were destroyed by serpents, nor grumble as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer. So we saw the list on the screen of all the advantages. But look now at the list of their unfaithfulness. One of the things they committed was idolatry, verse seven. They had no sooner stepped from the divinely parted sea, when Moses went up on the mountain to hear from the Lord, and was delayed in coming back, and they turned their back on God. And they coerced Aaron into creating for them a golden calf that they might worship. They turned all God that was doing. All God was doing. They turned to idolatry. Verse 8 tells us about their immorality. All that God was doing, and yet they turned to immorality committed with the Moabite women. And then verse 9 tells us about the testing of God. They began to complain about what God was doing, and what their life was like in the desert, and complained to Moses about God, and find the Lord says, I'm going to send a bunch of snakes to bite you. And many of them died by snake bite because of their testing of God's patience by their complaining. And then, verse 10, he writes about the grumbling that many of them did. And as a result of that, you could read in many places, but number 16, where the angel of death came upon them. So many stories throughout the book of Exodus and numbers of their unfaithfulness, despite all God had done, they committed idolatry, immorality, they tested him, they grumbled against him. They rebelled against them. So what's the point of all this? Look at verse 11. What was the point of this history lesson? He says, now these things happen to them as an example. But they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the age, into the ages has come. Now these things were written down for us, that we might learn from their mistakes. I think sometimes, we think about the Old Testament stories as an example of God's faithfulness, and we get encouragement from them. We just sang, right before this message. We sang about the things that God did in the past, and how we can trust him, and we can look to him. And so we look to the Old Testament stories, and we get great encouragement by the faithfulness of God in there. What Paul is saying here, though, is look at the Old Testament story is, and be warned. Sometime you read the stories of the Bible, and you're encouraged. Other times you read the stories of the Bible, and you better be fearful. You better be warned, look what God did. Because here here's the thing. I sometimes, you probably do it too. We start to think that we would have done things differently had we been in their sandals back then, right? We say, come on, guys, we had the sea was part, and the cloud, and the fire, and the man, and God was moving. And yet you were, I would have stayed faithful to Yahweh. No, we would have been doing the same things they did if we don't pay attention to their example. We're bound to repeat those same mistakes. We look to them as examples of what not to do. I remember there was a, years ago, there were these, like, if you worked in an office building in the 90s, probably, you had these motivational posters on the wall, like some nature scene and some motivational sprays. They were really popular. Someone started a parody of those and they would put these pictures with, like, ironic statements about DD motivating statements. And one of them, I remember, was a picture of a ship sinking in the ocean. It was halfway into the water, and the picture said mistakes. Maybe the purpose of your life is to serve as a warning to others. You ever feel like that? Sometimes your life is an example to others and sometimes your life is a warning to others. And what he's saying is, you're ancestors, they're a warning. They're a warning. When you were not faithful, what could happen? And so he continues in verse 12. He says, therefore, so he goes, I'm going to land the plane now on this point. He says, I'm going to tell you what all this was about. Verse 12. Therefore, let anyone who thinks that he stands, take heed lest he fall. If you think you've got it all together, you are very vulnerable. He said, your ancestors thought they had it all together, and only two of them got into the promised land because their lack of faithfulness. He drives home his point. By saying good beginnings, do not guarantee good endings. And all this could come crashing down for you. Now, verse 13, he gives them a little encouragement as he wraps it up. He says, no temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. No temptation is overtaking, it's not common to man. So it reminds them, your vulnerability is not unique to you. Your ancestors were vulnerable, your vulnerable, and Northland Church, we are vulnerable. All of us face the same temptations. Whatever you're facing today has been faced by someone before. In fact, everything you're facing today is being faced by someone else in this very room. Temptation is not unique. Their struggles, our struggles, are not unique. Good news is, he continues in verse 13, God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability. He's not going to put more on you than you can take. You can't say, that was a temptation that was just way too much for me. He said, God is not going to allow that to happen. But with temptation, he will also provide the way of escape that you may be able to endure it. There will always be a way out. He will not allow a temptation to be more than you can stand, and he'll never let you be pushed beyond your limit, and he'll always be there to help you through it, always. Always provide a way out if we look to him. He doesn't want them to be without hope. Yes, you are vulnerable, but God can see you through. Yes, you will face temptation, that's common to all humanity, but you're no longer a slave to it. Temptation is inevitable, but sin doesn't have to be. They'll ever always be present. There will be an ever present threat of temptation, but there'll always be the presence of God in the midst of it. It remind me if you go to a, if you go to a movie these days, you're probably going to see a public service announcement of where the exits are. And maybe today in the climate of these tragedies have happened at large scale events, if you're like me, you're always looking for the exit in any room you're in. If something goes down, if something goes bad, what's the quickest way out of this room? We ought to have that attitude toward temptation. When temptation comes, where's the exit? When temptation comes, where's the way out of what I'm facing today? And so we have this whole story here. What do we do with it? What's the application for our lives? Let me give you 3 keys to victory in the face of temptation of the battle with temptation. Three truths, really, that we can cling to. So you're going to be tempted today. going to be tempted this week. It's inevitable. It's going to happen. What are the three true we can cling to in the face of temptation? Number one, remember, you are not invincible. You are not invincible. Notice verse 12. Those 12 says, let anyone who thinks that he stands, take heed lest he fall. They were puffed up in their knowledge. And he wanted to say, You may think you have this all figured out. But you are incredibly vulnerable just as your ancestors were. Again, we think we would behave differently. It doesn't usually play out that way. It's a lesson here against overconfidence. Don't become, you think you're so mature, you think we're so smart, we think we all figured out. And you've heard this so many times, if you hear, like, a commercial for some investments, or some stock or mutual fund, where they always say, past performance is not indicative of future results. Past performance? Did I get it right? Okay, financial planners in the crowd. Past performances, non negative huge results. That applies spiritually. Just because things have gone well for you spiritually in the past, or just because you think you're doing really well spiritually right now, that does not guarantee your success in the face of temptation tomorrow. You are not invincible. I am not invincible. We will never come to a place in our Christian walk where we are free. From temptation. We will never reach a level of maturity, where the threat of temptation is not a very real and present threat in our lives. We see this all around us. It's heartbreaking. Anytime I'll hear a story of somebody having a moral failure. It's heartbreaking every story is, but the ones that are particularly heartbreaking for me is when I'll hear that story about older Christian leaders or pastors. Just recently, there was one that, this is kind of in social media circles, a well-known preacher, and author, and leader, Christian leader, who it comes out, he's like in his 70s, and this comes out. And you think years, decades of faithfulness, faithful preaching, and writing, and leading, and what he's going to be remembered for, is a moral failure at the end of his life. And this happens to people all the time, out of nowhere. You hear news of someone, and you're shocked. And I see it all the time. I'll run into someone, it helps a lot on social media. Someone will pop up on social media. I remember when that person was so faithful, and now it appears that they're so far from God today. I remember when they seemed so solid, so mature, so excited about their faith, so committed to Jesus. And now, from all appearances, they seem so far from the Lord. How could someone that seems so strong in their faith one day, seems so far from God today, because we're not aware of our vulnerabilities? We don't take it seriously. I've been thinking about our church this week, as I was thinking about spiritual vulnerabilities, and how we might begin to think we're invincible. I've been at Northland, and the 1st Sunday in March will be the 30th anniversary of the 1st Sunday Carrie and I came here. So we've been coming out in 30 years here, and the last five of those 30 have been amazing years at North, all of them have been, but just thinking about how God has been moving in our church, and the growth of the last five years has been very consistent. God has brought new families to our church, new people in our church. We've reached so many different age brackets and demographics, and people are coming to Jesus, and we've seen more baptisms we've ever seen before. People are giving generously to the ministries of our church and partnering in really excited ways. Every, seems like every couple weeks, someone comes with some new idea for a ministry that is gonna help our... church members grow in their faith or impact the community with the gospel and mission partnership. We planting churches, and we got another church we're going to be planting. Another church. That'd be our. I think it's our 10th church plant in March, is on decorated to go. God is moving. Don't think for a minute that we're invincible, Northland. If we take our eyes off of Jesus. We take our eyes off of the Word of God. If we give Satan a foothold, everything that God is doing could come to an end tomorrow, we are not invincible. The unity of our church is amazing. I've never felt so much unity in our church, that could end tomorrow if we let Satan wedge in here and disrupt the unity of this church. I'm so proud to be a part of a church that's so outward focused when it reach the community of gospel. You get your eyes off of that, and we turn inward tomorrow, so much of that could come to an end, the multiplication and all that. We are vulnerable Northland. We have to keep our eyes on Jesus. Do not let your guard down. What do we do with this? Here's the application. Be alert this week. Keep your head on a swivel this week. Don't let your guard down for a minute. Listen to what the Word of God says in 1st Peter 58, be sober minded, be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. Let me tell you reality. There is a very real and present enemy who hates you, and he hates your marriage, and he hates your testimony, and he hates your children, and he hates this church, and he hates our pastors, and he hates your small group. And he's on the prowl to destroy anything that God is doing and wants to do in your life. We must not let down our guard. And you may say, oh, I'm pretty aware of my blind spots. You can't be because they're blind spots. Now, I want to oversimplify this. I'm not the smartest one on the pastoral team. I'm the more simple one of all of us, But let me say, I know this much. Blind spot is a blind spot. You can't see it. You have vulnerabilities that you're not even aware of. This is why we call to the Lord often. God, open my eyes. God, show me my blind spots. Show me the weaknesses. Show me the vulnerabilities. Show me the things that I'm not aware of. Keep me focused on you, Jesus. Keep me grounded in your word, Jesus. Keep me on my knees. Holy Spirit. guide, and reveal, and convict, and illuminate everything in my life that I might not fall to the vulnerabilities around me. We are not invincible. That was the message. Your ancestors thought they had it all figured out, and only 2 of them made it into the land. We can fall to temptation. Second, He tells them you're not alone. You're not alone. Verse 13, no temptation has overtaken you, that is not common to man. Your temptation is not unique. What you're facing is common. I share that, I think that the scripture shares that. Because sometimes we can think that we're going through something that's so uniquely challenging beyond what anyone else is facing today. And what we see in scripture is whatever you're struggling with today, whatever your temptation is today, whatever your weakness is today, it's quite likely shared by many other people in this room. You're not alone in the spiritual battle that we're facing. If your marriage is struggling today. Yeah, I tell you, it's certain that probably some other marriage in this room is struggling. If you're dealing with some addiction today, it's certain that somebody else in this very room is struggling secretly with that same addiction you're struggling with today. Your secret sin that you think that, um, you would be embarrassed for anyone to know about because you think you're the only one that struggles with that secret sin, there's someone in this room carrying that same secret today, you're not alone. What do we do with that? The reason I say that is because we see in this the importance of community and vulnerability within community. You need to get in community with other people, knowing that those other people here in community struggle with the same things. That's why we wrote life groups at Northland. Because just hearing a sermon, we don't think ultimately is the end of it, now tonight, or this week, you can go to your life group, sit in a circle, and you can talk with other people who are having the same struggles you're having to apply that text that week to your life. You can hear from other people that, yeah, Matt, or Russ, or Tyler, or Dalton, someone preach that, but I'm really struggling with that, and someone else can say, I'm struggling, too, and now you have that community. You can lean into that community. Get into a discipleship group. Men, get 2 or 3 other men in your life. Ladies, 2, 3, the ladies' life, where you can confess sin to each other in that environment where you can have greater transparencies. And don't be afraid to invite accountability into your life. You're not the only one struggling. You're not in this alone. No temptation that you're facing today. There's no division you're facing today that is not common to some other man or woman in this room today. You're not alone. Lean into community. Invite vulnerability, invite transparency, invite, invite accountability into your life. And then finally, Remember this week, you're not a slave to sin. You were not a slave to sin. It feels like it. It feels like the temptation that keeps popping up. You're never going to be able to overcome. You keep falling to the same thing. It feels like it has a grip on you. Here's a promise from God's word. Just claim this this week, memorize it this week. Verse 13, he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability. It seems like it's more than you can take, but it's not. And with temptation, he will also provide the way of escape that you may be able to endure it. I want you to see the contrast here from where he starts and where he ends. Most of this passage was calling out their self confidence. Don't think that your knowledge is enough. What he ends with is God confidence. You cannot put your confidence in yourself, but you can put confidence in God. You cannot trust yourself, but you can trust the Holy Spirit. And so we put our faith, not in our knowledge or our ability, because we are vulnerable. We put our faith in Jesus, and we put our trust in the Spirit of God. We look for the exit, and we claim the promises of God that I am no longer a slave to sin. Romans 66. We know that our old self was crucified with him. In order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin, for one who has died has been set free from sin. This is what your baptism symbolized, follower of Jesus. I'm dead now, and I'm raising up to walk in a new life, and it's a struggle, and we all continue to struggle, but we can face it with confidence. Galatians 51. For freedom, Christ to set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. I heard an illustration one time, and I wondered if it was true. And I looked it up. And from what I've read, not only is it true, but there's actually a name for this. Have anyone ever heard of something called the baby elephant syndrome? You ever heard that? I had never heard that before. And I found it all over the place, the internet. Baby elephant syndrome. It comes from the idea that when we have a baby elephant, You can chain that baby elephant to a steak in the ground. And because that elephant as a baby is not very strong yet. When it tries to walk away from the steak, it can't. And it tries to pull against the steak, and it's unsuccessful. And so, the elephant gives up trying to break free from the stake in the ground. Now, as the elephant grows, it gets strong enough, more powerful, it actually now has the ability to kick loose from the stake, but it remembers back to when it was a baby, and it tried, and it failed. And so this phrase baby elephant syndrome. The idea that you tried something once and weren't successful, and so you've given up trying in the future. And I think that's what happens to us with temptation a lot. We say, well, one time, this started in my life, and I just couldn't break free, and I guess I never will. And so that's just that. Let me just encourage you, that you now have the power, not in your own ability. But if you're following Jesus and trusting Jesus and dwelt by the Holy Spirit of God, you have victory over sin. You can walk in victory this week. Claim this promise of God when the temptation arises. See it coming, because I know I'm not invincible. I'm going to have my eyes open. And I know that I'm not the only one to have it going through this, and I know I'm not going through it without the power of God at work in my life. You can have victory this week. I want to close with the good news, that if this week plays out like other weeks of my life, I'm probably going to fail, and so will you. And so the good news is when we fail, we do have grace, the grace of Jesus, the forgiveness of Jesus. And if you're struggling in sin today, you can turn to Jesus. You can turn to him for forgiveness, you can turn to him for his help, his guidance, and his victory that he can give you. If you've never given your life to Jesus and you say, I've never done that, well, let me tell you, you are a slave to sin. The only way out of the slavery we're into sin is through faith in Jesus Christ alone, turning from the sin that you can't break free from your own effort, we turn to Jesus, say, Jesus, I know you died on the cross so that I can have victory over something that I wouldn't have victory of without you. I can have forgiveness over something I would never be forgiven without you. Jesus, I'm turning to you. From my sin to you to receive your forgiveness, to follow you, to die to my sin, to die to my old life, to be raised up to live a new life with you. Would you pray with me? Take a moment just to reflect on what we saw here in God's word, and maybe your prayer is this. God, open my eyes to my vulnerabilities. God, I think I've become a little bit lulled into a false sense of security. And I need to be reminded of my vulnerabilities that I'm not invincible. Maybe it's God, would you help me find community? I feel like I'm struggling alone. And I see in your word that I'm not alone, and I want to walk with others who are struggling that I might find help. And maybe your prayers, God, help me claim these promises this week. I feel like I'm a slave. But your word tells me I'm not. So God help me, but the power of your spirit and work in me, help me to live as someone who's been freed from sin. Walk as someone who's no longer a slave. And if you never give me a life to Jesus, now could be the moment. Jesus, I know that I need you. Jesus, my only hope is you. My only hope for salvation. Is to turn to you. I'm powerless without you. Turn to him today and trust in him. Father, I pray that our eyes would be open this week. That our blind spots would be revealed. that we would be, um, open to be vulnerable, to confess to be held accountable. And I pray that we could walk in victory, let us experience the freedom that you've called us to. That we no longer need to bear a yoke of slavery to sin. The battle is tough. Temptation is inevitable, but let us claim the promises of your word in the face of it. We pray for your help in Jesus' name. Amen.