Overcoming Temptation, Sin and Guilt #93

Satan uses temptation like a battering ram to knock down our defenses.  If we let him in, we lose the battle and give in to temptation.  Once we sin, he delivers his knockout punch of guilt.  If we are not careful, guilt will eat us alive, keep us from seeking the Lord and render us “ineffective” in our Christian walk.  

If we want to FINISH STRONG, we need to overcome temptation, sin and guilt.  In this podcast, Brian, Terry and Dan will show you how to fight off Satan’s spiritual onslaught through the power of prayer and God’s Word.  This powerful one- two punch will empower you to fight back, defeat your enemy and ultimately win the biggest fight of your life.

Transcript

Dan Wheeler: 0:02

When I was a young boy, my dad decided to get me into archery. So he bought the target. And he put all these bales of hay and we got the bow and arrow. And I remember the first day I was trying to hit that target. Yeah, I just couldn't hit it. And finally, I was able to hone in, you know, it's that way, in our Christian life, sin is missing the mark missing the target that God's set out there. And guys, we've all broken one of God's laws, and we've sinned, but before we sin, we're tempted. And then after we sin, we have guilt. And we're going to talk about all of that on this edition of finished drawing. I'm Dan Wheeler, Terry Steen is in the house, Brian Rowland is in the house, while our virtual house and John Matarazzo are producers in the house. But guys, it's yes,

Terry Steen: 0:52

that reminded me remember, the one day we went down to the baseball field in college, we got bow and arrows, we went into the field. We shot him straight up in the air. And then we kind of looked at each other like it's just do and we're sitting there not moving and we're gonna show. I mean, we could have killed ourselves, but we thought

Dan Wheeler: 1:18

it was cool. We started playing a game with you to bump against the run. We did some strange things, but that's

Terry Steen: 1:24

how life is isn't it?

Dan Wheeler: 1:26

Strange? Yeah. Brian, have you ever missed the mark in our tree or otherwise? No, but I will tell you that. No, you've never missed him. No, we found the sinless

Brian Roland: 1:41

we lived in a corner and and it was a dead end street. So I had a basketball net and my drive. And my buddy Mike Enright had a basketball net in his drive. And so we play full court basketball back and forth. Oh, really, that's cool. We're always breaking out the windows in his dad's garage. So they did put this chicken wire over all the windows. And Mike says gives me a baseball. And he goes, throw it up there as hard as you can go, no break the window. He goes, my dad guarantees it will break through as hard as I could, right through the chicken wire and right through the window. Georgia comes out. And he goes, I did say that I did

Dan Wheeler: 2:15

so much for the guarantee. Well, you know, in life, we can't guarantee that we could even go a day without sending it. And we but our goal is to get better and to live a more righteous life. And you know, it starts early in life. And when you go back and trace it in history, Terry, it actually started in the Garden of Eden. That's where sin first happened.

Terry Steen: 2:39

It did. And that's where the temptation started. And obviously, the devil knows our nature. He is here on earth. He knows and it was so interesting that what he did, he just lured even and then Eve lured Adam in. And it was interesting that he distorted God's words what God said. He distorted to Adam and Eve, and they believed it. And in that interesting that that's what's happening today that God's words being distorted. And so we're seeing a culture, and we're seeing our own churches that are functioning in a distorted sense, because they're not following God's truth.

Dan Wheeler: 3:27

Yeah, I mean, Satan's whole approach was to lie to Adam and Eve, and we see so much lying. I mean, Brian, you know, with politicians, it's like, what do you believe anymore? And even watching the news, who is telling the truth, right.

Brian Roland: 3:41

It's truth. And I think that's what's happening in this day, especially it because it's, it's more like, who's there? Was there somebody it's in Congress right now, he lied throughout his whole campaign, but nothing's being done about it. I mean, that's what happens now.

Dan Wheeler: 3:54

Yeah. Well, Terry, we know that sin is missing the mark. But sin carried out the full effect results in death ultimately,

Terry Steen: 4:03

yeah, yeah. It talks about that in James one. And you know, it's disobeying God is breaking his laws. And so Satan knows that. So he's just like that. He uses that temptation, just like a battering ram. And he keeps hammering away and hammering or hammering away and we keep trying to fight it. And all he has to do is break through just enough to get that little opening. And then that's when he starts working his way in and that's something we have to work so hard to fight, isn't it? Yeah, it really

Dan Wheeler: 4:37

is. Yeah, I

Brian Roland: 4:38

think the one thing we got to realize too, and that people don't is that temptation is not sin. You know, it's it's like the input before it's a fork in the road. It's you got to make a decision. If you standard too long. You're gonna get hit by some. It's gonna take you out. We're in First Corinthians 1012 through 13 It says. So if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you Don't fall, there you are in the fork in the road. No temptation has overtaken you, except what is common to mankind, and God is faithful, He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can hear what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so you can endure it, I think that's a very important part right there to understand that God will make a way to escape, they'll make a way for you to flee temptation there, there'll be an opening, you can either it's your choice, or you have to make that, that turn and run away from it run from your temptation.

Dan Wheeler: 5:32

And we have to be looking for that way, if we're not done, we're just, you know, willfully disobeying God.

Brian Roland: 5:40

And the thing to remember too, is that you get past that, it's never gonna go, you're never gonna outgrow it. Temptation is always going to be there because that's what Satan is all about. I mean, he's, he's there to tempt you, he's there to lure you away. He's there to take you away from from your kingdom, got Christ's kingdom, and living with Him for eternity. And when you

Dan Wheeler: 5:58

look at what I'm sorry, go,

Terry Steen: 6:00

how just gonna say and also, you know, the more mature we get, the more advanced he gets in trying to tempt us and to attack us. And when we, when we make make it past when we don't sin when we when in the temptation, we have to be careful not to start getting prideful and think we've got this figured out, because that's when a big fall can happen.

Dan Wheeler: 6:26

Right? Yeah, yeah. You know, giving into temptation can and will kill you. That's what we need to understand spiritually. It happened in the Garden of Eden, right? What happened? After they sinned, they were kicked out of the garden, they were separated from God's physical presence, right? He was still there and available to them, but they couldn't be in His presence. And sin will keep you from God's presence, and it will also keep you out of the Bible. The Bible will keep you from sinning. But Cindy keeps you and that's where so, you know, we've got to be so careful. I mean, you mentioned maturing, Terry, and I know we're still working on that, all these years later,

Terry Steen: 7:10

really working on it.

Dan Wheeler: 7:12

But really, you get to the point where you realize you have to stop, stop sin right at that temptation. Point, because as Brian said, it's not a sin to be tempted. We sin when we give in and Satan's not gonna give up on us. Yeah, it's gonna kill battering. I like what you said to her. He is like, a battering ram. And then the result of sin, of course, is guilt. Now, we're all born with a conscience. And I always heard that, you know, your consciousness, kind of like, if you do something wrong, it hurts. It hurts you inside, like there's almost a ball inside your head, there's little, you know, prickers on the end, and every time you send it moves, and but if you keep sending after a while, they kind of wear away, and you're not as conscious of your son. Would you guys think that's a good analogy?

Terry Steen: 8:03

Yeah, I've heard it as a cube. There's a cube in your head, it's got the sharp corners. And so each time, the conscience you sin, and the in that corner hits you, and it hurts, but then you keep doing another one, and it hits you and every time that corner hits, it's starting to curve that corner, it's not so sharp anymore. It starts to get duller and duller. And then before you know it doesn't hurt. You don't notice it. And you're on that slippery slope.

Brian Roland: 8:36

I use the analogy of sandpaper, once you keep using sandpaper, and the more you use it, the more you use it, the more you use it. You just wear it right away. And there's nothing there. Yeah, same thing. Yeah, no effect.

Dan Wheeler: 8:46

So So Terry, it starts with the temptation. How do we win that battle?

Terry Steen: 8:52

Yeah, yeah. Well, you can do better than following Jesus example, Canyon. So that's always the first one, we go to Matthew, the fourth chapter, where he fought the devil with scripture. Every time the devil came at him. He had a scripture to come against him. And it was interesting to me that this was right before his ministry began. It was like he was needing to go through this test, to demonstrate His love for Christ. And that's something that I think for us, we're never going to get away from temptation. It's going to happen, but we have to learn to fight it. And we fight it with Scripture. And as we win, we reflect our love for Christ every time we win. And that to me, that's kind of a neat picture.

Dan Wheeler: 9:41

Yeah. And it's kind of like in sports. You know, when you start to have that success, you gain that victory, then you want to win. Yeah, and we need to want to win in our spiritual life as well. Yeah.

Brian Roland: 9:55

Well, Christ what I wanted to teach the disciples though, too, about temptation, and in the Lord's Prayer He goes and says in Matthew 613, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. So we're to ask God to deliver us to keep us from the evil one is going to be there, he's going to attack. But we have when we ask Christ to help us that put that barrier up, so we can then knock off those fiery darts, we'll we'll have that. Because we'll have our shield of faith up there. But he also says them in Matthew 2641, watch and pray, so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. And how true is that? We can say yeah, yeah, no one's gonna get me and next thing you know, you're gone. Oh, my gosh, I'm right back into this again. So it's watching prey who is cheap and constant prayer.

Terry Steen: 10:45

You know, it's interesting that we keep pounding prayer. We keep pounding using God's word. It's so foundational to Christianity. But everything leads back to it, doesn't it? Yeah, sure.

Dan Wheeler: 10:58

So we've talked about, you know, temptation. We've talked about sin, the result of sin is guilt, separation from God. And now we're, we're talking about overcoming, and God's Word, we got to watch and pray. But then Terry, there's something else we need to do. To resist and submit.

Terry Steen: 11:17

Yeah, exactly. And I thought you were going to cover that 1am I covering that one? Oh, I had

Dan Wheeler: 11:24

that I was doing three and you were okay. I am covering that one. We just want I just want to do to know what I was going to talk about. Okay. So James four, seven says, Submit yourselves to God, resist the devil, and he will flee. So as you know, we use God's Word we watch and pray. But submitting to God, I think is something we've got to do every day. And at the start of the day, and say, God, I'm submitting, you know, to you today. And like Brian said, He taught us to pray, Lead us not into temptation, you know, don't let me even go near it, that so then we don't have to be in that struggle. Let's just not even go there first, resist the devil, and he will flee from you. But I think the key to resisting is that submitting because that that strengthens us right away.

Terry Steen: 12:19

Yeah, that's exactly right. If you don't submit first, it'll be too tough for us to resist, won't it and then to take it another level, because the Bible talks further, about fleeing. Sometimes you're capable of resisting and the devil leaves you. But there are three specific things that the Bible talks about where it specifically says, Hey, don't even mess with it, get out of there and flee. And one of them is adultery. And that's talked about in First Corinthians 10. And adultery is basically anything that becomes b that comes between you and God. If there's something that's comes between you and God, or is tempting attempting to you flee, you leave that behind, because we shouldn't have anything come between us. And God. The second one is found in Second Timothy. And that's flee immorality, and that, that sexual temptation and those types of immoral situations where don't sit and think that you've got it together enough to just resist and the devil will go, you need to get out of there, you need to flee that situation. And then the last one is, is greed. If there's greed, we need to be out of there. And that, of course, is because all kinds of evil come from materialism. And when we're greedy, when we're being materialistic. There's so much that can come from that. So I thought it was interesting that there were three specific things that don't just resist, flee, and get out of

Dan Wheeler: 14:02

there. And I think the best one of the best examples of that in Scripture is Joseph with Potter for his wife, when she was trying to get him to have a relationship with her. And he finally she grabbed on his code, and he just left and he left the code. And then of course, that's how she accused him look at he left his code, right. He didn't care. He was doing what was right in God's eyes, not man's eyes. Yeah,

Terry Steen: 14:26

that's good.

Brian Roland: 14:28

Well, I think the one thing we can all agree on is you will not regret resisting sin, but you will regret giving in a mountain that's where temptation will grab you. But it's not just the giving in and the temptation, that's that's, that's going to grab you. It's the guilt that's going to come with it. And that happens to everybody. They fall into the trap when they're tempted and they fall and then as to guilt and they can't forgive themselves. God forgives him when they asked him to but they can't forgive themselves. And then it because it's almost like when you tell a lie, but you tell a lie to cover up line in a line of code, I'll add a couple of lines of code, you know, say it keeps getting bigger and bigger and bigger. It just gets eventually going to explode. And, and that's, that's, that's what's going to happen inside you and inside your heart. But so the result of falling into that temptation, of course, is sin. And we're dragged down a destructive path, and it's fulfilling feeling of having done wrong, and then not letting it go. But it is something over in James 417, there is a way that he told he told us so he was there for if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old has gone, the new is here. So that's where our forgiveness comes in. And then we have to let it go to you gotta go that Gil, because it's gone. He's washed it away. If you ask God about it, he thought about that, since he wasn't, it's been forgiven. But yeah, we hold on to it ourselves. And we cause more turmoil. And and we've caused ourselves to sin again, because of it because and to yield the temptation or not yield to temptation.

Dan Wheeler: 16:04

And you'd hope that we would learn from experience because, you know, I remember as a kid, one time, a friend, a couple of friends of mine, and I don't know why I followed along with the crowd, but he stole a pack of his mom's cigarettes, and went out in the woods and smoked him. And I was so afraid of it. And I didn't really inhale. But oh, my goodness, the guilt. That night, I went home and I think I used a whole tube of toothpaste, I was sure my mom would smell and I was afraid my teeth had turned yellow. Because smoking did that. It just and then that night, a cigarette commercial came on and my mom was like, Who would ever smoke? I mean, it kills all that guilt. You know. But then, you know, it's that wearing down to the conscience after a while, if you're not careful. Your guilt is not as strong and you're, you're moving away from the Lord more and more. Yeah,

Terry Steen: 16:58

I think that's true with the TV programs we watch. You know, you think about the years ago, the the clean and wholesome programs without the bad language without this suggestive things. And over the course of time, I think we've allowed ourselves I know, I have allowed myself to be more accepting of what I watched, or what I listened to, that is part of that slippery slope.

Dan Wheeler: 17:26

Well, we know guilt is destructive. Look what it did to Judas, when he realized what he had done. Yeah, he had sold the Lord for 30 pieces of silver, crazy. And he just he wanted to take it back. And the Sanhedrin they just said, Forget you, it's done. And he went out and hung himself. I mean, you know, the guilt can eat you alive and eventually kill you. And we we read in Romans 215, since they show that the requirements, the law written on their hearts, their consciences also bear witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them. And that's where your thoughts and your contact conscience is there for reason. And when you realize that you really sinned against God, how much you've heard him, that should hurt us deeply.

Terry Steen: 18:23

Yeah, yes, so true. And then and then that moves on to leading a life of regret and a feeling of worthlessness. And I just can't imagine, you just hope that at the end of your days, as you're laying on that bed, with your family around you, that you do not have regrets, you know, and that's something that we can deal with now. And like Judas, you talked about Judas and and then there's Peter, look at what Peter did when he denied Christ three times and the regret that he had there, and he just ran out weeping. And I was even thinking about I was thinking about examples. And even Jonah, when he ran the wrong direction, tried to get as far away from God as he could. It finally hit him. He finally had the regrets when the circumstances what he did was going to kill an entire crew of abandoned ship. And so he came to his senses and he repented and he immediately that's what we have to do. We have to go to Jesus immediately. We have to confess that's part of Satan's plan to try to keep us in that regretful worthless feeling that sin allows to happen.

Dan Wheeler: 19:50

Yeah, I think that the key is immediately in a little bit near the end. We're going to talk about David he was a great example but Brian for those that are just overcome I'm with regret and guilt and they're listening to this. They can be free from that

Brian Roland: 20:04

they can be, you can have freedom from guilt. And the Bible tells us this over in first John one nine where it says If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us of our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. I mean, it's right there all through is confessed to him our sins. And it's not just saying, Okay, God, I did this and forgive me and then walking away. I mean, it's there's no sincerity there. It's really truly asked him to, to forgive you of your sins, but also accepting Him into your life, and asking him to be a part of your life. Because when you accept Christ, He comes into your life, we always say comes into my heart. Well, what's the heart The heart is, is you It's like your soul. It's, and I'm not leaving the beating heart, but you're accepting Christ. And so you are representing him at that point. And the who wants to sin that you really want to try to avoid that. There's people talk about the fear of God. And I always say it's, it's not be fearful of God, I always say, I'm fearful that I'm gonna, I'm going to disappoint God, you want to step up and do the right thing, and not do the wrong thing. But we also know that we have to look forward and not turned back and over and in Philippians, 313 and 14, it says brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do, forgetting what is behind and straining forward, what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize, for which God has called me, heavenward in Christ Jesus, and you know, what is that prize? The prize is when we get to heaven, and we're standing before Jesus. And he says, Well done my good and faithful servant. Right? That is the prize. That's what we're looking for. That's the goal.

Dan Wheeler: 21:48

We can live our life in the rearview mirror, we have to put those regrets behind us because Christ came to make us NEW Second Corinthians 517 says, yep, If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things have become new. You can have a new start today. Repent of your sins, ask Christ to forgive you. He will He died for you. He wants you to move forward. We can't live our lives in the rearview mirror. And Terry, David was such a great example. I used to wonder how God could call David a man after his own heart after what he did. I mean, here he is. His first mistake. Was dwelling on Bathsheba, looking at her keeping his eyes on he should have bounced his eyes as we say, right,

Terry Steen: 22:38

right. Right, right. Yeah, it's it only gets worse. I mean, he did you think about a man struggle frequently is because we're attracted to the image of a woman. So we are always fighting that attractiveness and the lust and the things that go with that. And he allowed it in for him. Apparently, there was pride in there there was he was digging a deep hole. Next thing, you know, there's murder. Like, you know,

Dan Wheeler: 23:08

he was the king. He was in that power and maybe feeling like he could get away with it.

Terry Steen: 23:13

Exactly, exactly. So the neat thing is, is that he maintained a heart after God. And it's evident in the 51st Chapter of Psalm where we're reading about the prayer that David prayed to God, after he realized after Nathan came, and David immediately showed humility and repentance, and was on the right path to recovery, and listen to what it says, because first of all, you have to accept responsibility. It's so easy to blame other people. It's so easy to make excuses. But listen to this, because seven times in the first four verses, David says, My or I, and I won't read it all but in the he says, I bought, he said, blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, cleanse me from my sin, For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me and against you, you only have I sin. So first, you have to take responsibility for it, then you acknowledge it. And that's what he did in the third verse, I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sins before you. And so those are the first two things that he did that I think so critical, accept responsibility, right and acknowledge it.

Brian Roland: 24:50

And then he goes on, to confess, confess as the guide in which you started to read there in 51 Verse Four against you only you have lice and done what is evil in your sight. So you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge say he was going to accept what Christ was or what God was going to do, because as a punishment because he knew that he had sinned, he knew that he had sinned against God. And it was, it was It wasn't an outer sin. It was an inner it was a moral. So he knew that that he did this, he knew he would deserve to be punished for that. But he also knew that God removes the sin and over or even you just said it over and verse to wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. He'd asked forgiveness. But then in Psalm 51 Nine, said, hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquity, asking God just to blot it away, take it away, which is what Jesus does when he took for us when we asked for Him to forgive us of our sin. He died on the cross for that so he can blot away the sins that we've committed. He takes it on for us.

Dan Wheeler: 25:57

Yeah. And then he asked God to restore his joy, the joy of his salvation in verse eight. Let me hear joy and gladness. Let the bones you have crushed, rejoice, hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity. And over in verse 12, restored me the joy of my salvation, wow. And grant me a willing spirit to sustain me. So we see he accept the responsibility acknowledged his sinfulness confessed, remove the sin, restored, the joy in the name wants to renew his fellowship with God. He begs God in verse 11, do not cast me away from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me, guys. I've been there, where I had sinned, and I was in so much guilt and so much turmoil and I couldn't find God's presence. That's a horrible place to be. And I'll never forget the day it broke, he broke through. And I felt him again. It was like, Oh, thank you, Lord, and I never ever will go back to that place.

Terry Steen: 27:02

Yeah, yeah, that's neat. That's neat. And then he finishes it off. While actually there's a little bit more, but he begins to focus on the future, he begins to put it behind him. And he asked the Lord, he set up, hold me with your generous spirit. So he's putting that behind him. He wants God's Spirit to help and uphold him. And that's what we can have through God in our lives. So if there's anyone listening to this, and it's ringing true, that you've been tempted, you failed, you're walking in guilt, you haven't sense God's presence. Today may be the time right now may be the time for you to just turn that over to him, and allow him to uphold you with His Spirit. And maybe we should just take a minute to pray right now. For anyone, father. If there's anyone listening now, that is in that situation of being away from you being tempted, failing, feeling guilty, not forgiving themselves, not being able to come back to you, God, we just asked you to reveal yourself to them right now. Through your spirit. May they sense your presence? Maybe they haven't sensed it in a long time. Lord, give them that courage and that strength to ask you for forgiveness right now? Yes. Ask them or Lord, have them. Be able to stand strong through your spirit to fight the devil with the temptations God but remove the guilt. Yes, remove the guilt right now, God, allow them to draw close to your Lord, and begin to look ahead, begin to look ahead with the power of your spirit. And well thank you for it and your name, Lord, amen.

Dan Wheeler: 29:08

Amen. Thank you, Terry. If you're listening, and you just feel like you have blown it, run to Jesus run into him. Yeah, he's waiting with open arms. st wants you to wallow in your guilt and your shame and he wants you to think your life is over. And you can't do anything for him the rest of your life. He wants that. But Jesus says, I forgiven you, and I have a plan for you. And we're still going to win this thing together. And you can end your life as, as we were talking earlier, when you're laying there in bed on your final, you know, your final breaths and life. You don't want to have those regrets. You want to see Jesus waiting with open arms. Beth's thought she saw heaven. She knew where she was going. But guys, I think you know when we talk Talk about finishing strong at our age, our whole concept to form this ministry was, we've still got some good years left, we still have a lot we can do for the Lord. But you know what? Satan's gonna try and battle us. We're not free from it at our age, you guys, resist temptation, submit to God, flee from the devil run to Jesus.

Terry Steen: 30:21

And you know, I just ran across this 13th Verse, I read one more verse past. And this is what David did. And this is what we're doing right now, is, it says that this is David saying, after all these things, he says, Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners shall be converted to you. Yeah, there's good that can come out of this. But then you were talking about the state you were in back then. And now look what's happening right now you're fulfilling that verse 13. Do that, with anybody

Dan Wheeler: 31:02

still thankful for it? I never thought I could be where I am. But God makes all things new. He restores us. I'm so thankful. You know, that's one thing we we never can stop being grateful for what Christ did for us, and what he wants to do in your life. So another great addition, guys, any final thoughts? As we wrap things up,

Brian Roland: 31:26

don't you go forward and temptation. Stay away, run, run for it. Just like Joseph said, Run, leave your code. Just go.

Dan Wheeler: 31:36

It will ruin your life. But move forward with the Lord. Hey, thank you so much for joining us. We love you. We love the Lord. We want to help you reach out to us go to our Facebook page. We have one called fearless faith and our logo is three flames. You can go there and write us and inbox us. We'd love to pray for you. Thanks for joining us. We'll see you next time for another edition of finish strong.

John Matarazzo: 32:04

Thank you for listening to finish strong. For more information about finished strong and fearless faith. Check out their website F faith.org. Make sure that you rate and review this podcast to help more people accomplish their God given purpose so that together we can finish strong